New Stuff this Week

It has been a week of many interesting things…

This morning I opened Google Reader and found it had been updated with a new interface and a tie-in to Google+; the same has happened for Blogger.  I like the new look, but the new navigation & search bars are taking up about 20% of my viewable screen of my laptop (1440×900)- hopefully there will be a way to change/turn these off in a future post.

I found an easy way to root my Verizon Sony xPeria Play (R900x) and I was able to use Root File Explorer to free up some  space by removing the Verizon crap-apps (Verizon Navigator, MyVerizon, Verizon Apps, etc) and my removing the built-in apps that can be moved to SD card once re-installed (Skype, Kindle, etc).  There is a good post on XDA Developers that has info on which apps are safe to remove and where they are located.

I am still waiting on my Google TV update on my Sony NSZ-GT1 player.  I received an email stating that updates will be rolling out ‘over the next few weeks’, but I want this update now!

It appears that USPS has updated their tracking page; it now looks like it belongs in the 21st century.

I am so ready for the Galaxy Nexus phone to be released on Verizon; hopefully Verizon will not screw me over by charging $200+ more for a subsidized phone with a 2 year contract renewal vs. new subscribers on the same contract.  If this is the case, I will be porting my number over to Google Voice, canceling my Verizon account and coming back as a new user (except that I will loose my ‘unlimited’ data plan- d’oh!)