Netflix updates Android app, expands device support

Tired of content providers bossing you around, telling you what you can do with your own phone? Good, because Netflix is sick of telling you kids to keep off its lawn. Following a recent update, the outfit's Android app now officially supports the LG Revolution, Motorola Droid, Casio G'zOne Commando C771, and any unsupported device that just happens to work on its own. In addition to adding official support for the aforementioned trio (and of course, some minor bug fixes), the stream king removed a device check that previously blocked unsupported handsets from attempting playback. Your mileage may vary, but the folks over at Droid Life are reporting success with both the Droid X and Droid X2, as well as the Xperia Play. That's no guarantee for you and your unsupported device, but at least you have the freedom to fail. That's nice, isn't it?

Android Central

Android Market

Madfinger announces new Shadowgun game, with Tegra 2 and Kal-El support

Madfinger Games, the Czech Republic-based company behind Samurai II: Vengeance, has just announced Shadowgun -- a futuristic, shoot 'em up game for Tegra 2-equipped Android phones and tablets. Available on both the Tegra Zone app and Android Market, Shadowgun promises to bring console-quality graphics and performance to mobile platforms -- presumably with the extra geometric detail and high-res textures we've seen in other Tegra 2-tailored games. Madfinger is also developing a version for devices powered by NVIDIA's forthcoming quad-core processor, alluringly known as Project Kal-El. Price and availability have yet to be announced.

Droid Life, Android Central

Madfinger Games

Google is blocking Android Market movie rentals on rooted devices because of copy protection

Rooting your Motorola Xoom won't stop you from getting an LTE hardware upgrade, but it will throw up a roadblock if you're trying to watch movies rented from YouTube / Android Market. Android Central points out a Google support document that details the "Failed to fetch license for [movie title] (error 49)" message users will see when they try to play a movie on a rooted Android device. Only Xooms with Android 3.1 have access to the service right now, but once support rolls out to all Android 2.2 or higher devices in a couple of weeks some will have to choose between their superuser privileges and Google's nascent movie offerings (at least until someone figures out a workaround anyway). So far rooting and jailbreaking hasn't put a stop to other movie rental services for mobiles (iTunes, Netflix) so even if Google blames the movie studios for the policy, it seems like an odd restriction for the company behind the "open" platform to have.

Android Central

Android Market help

Slingbox inventor releases Crestron R2 Control App for Android, teases something big

Own a professionally installed Crestron home automation system? Then check this out mister moneybags. Former Sling boxer, Blake Krikorian, has turned his home automation hobby into a full-fledged Android app ready for download. The R2 Control App will set you back $99 (hey, it's Crestron) from the Android Market and give you control over your 2-Series and 3-series systems from anywhere in the world via WiFi or cellular data networks. At least it will after an authorized Crestron programmer enables it. The app works natively with Mobile Pro / Pro G projects built for Crestron touchscreen or iOS devices and automatically resizes the UI to the native resolution of the Android device you're using.

Great, we guess, but what we find most compelling is what Blake teases about the future. We had a chat with the Slingbox inventor who shares our concerns about the current state of home automation and believes that the industry is "on the brink of something big" that could finally take it to the mass market. Given his entrepreneurial lineage and clear home automation interests, we're more than a bit intrigued by where this might go now that Blake and Google are in the mix.

Android Market

Android 3.1 on the Motorola Xoom: hands-on

That  Android 3.1  update that Google announced during I/O is slowly rolling  out to 3G  Xoom owners as we speak. How'd we know such a thing? Why, it  just landed  on our in-house Xoom, of course! Most of the changes to  Honeycomb are  happening under the hood -- better HTML5 support, faster  performance,  and USB host functionality for connecting peripherals like  game  controllers and mice -- but there are some improvements  that  will be a lot more obvious to the user. Perhaps our favorite is  the  addition of resizable widgets. For the moment only the email and  Gmail  inbox, calendar and bookmarks widgets can be stretched or shrunk,  but  we're sure others will follow. We're particularly appreciative of  the  expandable calendar widget, which always felt a tad cramped. The  task  switcher also received a much requested upgrade and now lets you  scroll  through your last 18 launched apps, instead of just the five  most  recent. Lastly, the Android Market now offers movie rentals,  alongside  books and apps, which range in price from $1.99 to $4.99 for  24 hours of  playback. There isn't a ton of revolutionary stuff going on  here, but  it's certainly a welcome and worthwhile update. Check out  the video  after the break to see Android 3.1 in action.