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Whether you’re a fan of Facebook Home or not, the company’s social home screen app did introduce a nifty concept called chat heads. The idea is that when you get a new message, it doesn’t hide out in a notification tray. Instead a bubble with your contact’s picture pops up, and you can tap it to read a message or respond to it without leaving the app you’re currently using.
The developers behind the Paranoid Android custom version of Android liked the idea… and decided it should work with every app. Now it does. It’s called Halo, and now it’s not limited to devices running Paranoid Android. The source code is now available for anyone to bake into a custom ROM.
Here’s a roundup of tech news from around the web.
- Paranoid Android’s Halo goes open source, coming soon to other ROMs
The multitasking and notification system Paranoid Android built for its own custom ROM is now available for anyone to build into their own Android ROMs. [Paranoid Android on Google+] - Mozilla adds support for x86 chips to Firefox Beta for Android
A growing number of Android devices are shipping with Intel Atom processors. And while many apps already support x86 chips without any modifications, some don’t. Soon Firefox will be one that does. [xda-developers] - Apple’s new Mac Pro will feature AMD graphics chips
Apple may have chosen new Intel processors for its updated Mac Pro desktop computers, but the company’s equipping the little powerhouses with dual graphics processors from AMD. [ZDNet] - Xbox One game console coming in November for $499
Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One in May, but didn’t bother mentioning a price at the time. Now we know how much the next-gen game console will cost, and when it’ll launch. It’s already up for pre-order. [The Verge] - Apple introduces OS X Mavericks
After running out of cat names, Apple showed off the first version of OS X with a California-themed name, sporting tabs, tags, improved multi-display support, and more. [Apple] - $62 CQ802 is the cheapest Android TV stick with an RK3188 CPU
Tiny Android boxes that let you run apps on your TV are nothing new… and neither are models with speedy RK3188 processors. But this is the cheapest model I’ve seen yet. [CNX Software]
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