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Nearly two years ago Google started letting Android tablets owners use multiple Google accounts on the same device. This lets families, friends, frenemies, or just about anyone share an Android tablet with each user getting their own homescreen and app data, among other things.
But up until now multi-user support has only been available on tablets… not phones. Now it looks like we could see support for Android phones with multiple user accounts when Google launches the next major version of Android this fall.
Here’s a roundup of tech news from around the web. You can keep up on the latest news by following Liliputing on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.
- Multi-user support is probably coming to Android smartphones with the Android L release this fall
Google hasn’t officially confirmed the feature… but a Google employee came pretty close when responding to an item requesting multi-user support for phones in the Android issue tracker by saying “the development team has implemented this feature” and it’s coming in the “next public build.” [Android Police] - Reports: Windows 9 (or “Threshold” will drop the Charms menu, add virtual desktops
The next version of Windows is expected to bring back a version of the Start Menu to make life easier for notebook and desktop users. Now it looks like Microsoft might also be adding support for virtual desktop spaces (sort of like you get with OS X, Ubuntu, and many other operating systems) and killing the swipe-from-the-side Charms menu introduced with Windows 8. [ZDNet] - Codestarter install is a script for installing Ubuntu on the Acer C720 Chromebook (aimed at beginner developers)
There are a number of ways to install Ubuntu or other Linux-based operating systems on a Chromebook. This is one of the simplest, and it creates a dual-boot system that lets you choose between Ubuntu and Chrome OS at launch. It’s also optimized to help kids learn how to code. If you don’t need Codestarter’s extras, you can try the Eyecreate Ubuntu installation script which they forked their code from. [Codestarter] - Giv Mobile offers “unlimited” talk/text/data plans starting at $29 per month
The cheapest plan only includes unlimited 2G data. You can pay extra for up to 4GB of 4G LTE data. Giv Mobile operates on T-Mobile’s wireless network. [Giv Mobile] - BLU Studio C Mini and Studio 5.0 C HD are low-cost, unlocked Android phones for $150 or less
These are budget phones… but on paper they compare pretty favorably with Motorola’s Moto E and Moto G budget phones. And they’re cheaper. [Android Police] - Silent Power is crowdfunding a small, fanless PC with a silly looking heatsink… which may be a horrible idea
News about this funny looking fanless PC made the rounds a few days ago, but I didn’t pay much attention because something just didn’t smell right. Fortunately somebody’s done a bit more thinking about the topic than I have, pointing out all the reasons the Silent Power PC is probably a non-starter. [Hack A Day]