This has gotta be the funniest video I have seen in a long time. Not only that but it does a fairly decent job at showing the frustration some of us are feeling with this Google Apps fiasco. This video was posted by Youtube user osokrayzay today.

Now that is an odd mouthful. For those who do not understand what it means, Rosie is the home screen HTC wrote that shows all those nice widgets. Hero is the phone the wrote the nice UI for and haykuro is the one who got it all from them. I have reports from the man himself that while it looks great, the speed is a bit lacking. The HTC Hero has better specs than the G1 and therefore can handle it a bit better. No word yet on when/if there will be a release. Watch the video below for the latest on Rosie from haykuro.

The first (but hopefully not last) Droid Dev Challenge is coming to an end. Developers, you do not have much time to get your submissions into me. Please read the rules on submitting your entries to me. The rules and submission guidelines can be found on the contest page.

We have had many Android developers express interest in the contest, and some have started submitting their Android widgets already. As you can see from the sidebar, there is a nice chunk of change sitting in the prize pot. Good luck to all of the developers and may the best widget win!

JesusFreke releases a Cupcake update for all Dream devices. This includes the G1 (US and
UK) and the ADP1. The previous release only covered the ADP1 (which most users just flashed anyways). If you have not flashed the cupcake RADIO update, you will want to do that soon after flashing this update.

Information and links to the updates can be found here: http://android-dls.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=526

As always, these updates can be downloaded and applied using JFupdater, which can itself be found on the market.

Haykuro, with the help of a Magic owner was able to find a method to obtain root access on the 2nd Android device. They found that fastboot was left unlocked and allowed for unsigned images (unofficial) to be flashed. A boot.img that was unsecured was flashed, giving root access in adb, which then gave them the power to flash a modified recovery. As we all know from the G1, having the modified recovery is the main step required to be able to flash custom roms. Haykuro has offered to build a JF-like rooted rom for the Magic community and is probably working on that now. >Full instructions on how to gain root access and flash the modified recovery on your HTC Magic/Sapphire can be found in the wiki.

JesusFreke released his Cupcake (Android 1.5) udpates for ADP1 tonight. The mirrors can be found here.

You will still need to update to the new radio which is not packaged inside the update. I will add the radio to the JFupdater list BRIEFLY tomorrow so those that want to wait for that can. Keep in mind, since the radio does not change your OS version it will always show as an update even if you have already flashed it (hence the brief time I will leave it there).

We are still waiting for someone to find the URL for the G1 OTA that has been rumored but not proven to be released. If you are able to get us this url, please contact me with it. Thanks in advance.

A user at >XDA-Developers (haykuro) has been playing around with a rom from an HTC Sapphice/Magic and has made it run fairly well on the G1. I flashed it last night and have been messing with it (not much, its pretty incomplete because he is still working on adding back some stuff he had to remove to make it work). Overall impression is that it looks better, runs better and has a lot more features. Lots of stuff we were expecting our G1 to have when we bought it will be added. They have added video recording, soft keyboard and a few features you know about, plus a lot that you do not. If you are not a stranger to flashing roms I would suggest you head on over there, download the latest version (he updates it as soon as he can get things fixed) and try it out. Make a nandroid backup first so you can restore if you need to go back to a JF build because it is not 100% functional.

[RiS] has released the first non beta version of JFupdater, the application that makes the update process for JF rom users a lot easier. This app checks for new updates, downloads and will flash them with your permission. It only works for the official (technically unofficial) JF roms. Anyone using a JF rom should download this from the market (and make sure to give it 5 stars to offset all the idiots who download it and say “it dunt werk what iz dah root?”) and try it out. You can search for it by typing “jfupdater” in the search section of the market.

It went almost unnoticed for some, but for most it was assumed to be in the 1.4x updates. Goes to show you just how much we read and how much we skip when new information comes out. The new radio that came with RC33 was left out of JesusFrekes update.zip because flashing the radio should not be done repeatedly and some people are reflashing updates rather often (for themes and other reasons).

Some are now saying that the next update from T-Mobile will cause your device to be bricked if you do not have this radio. While I cannot confirm this I can link to the radio so you can flash it. Here is the quote from JF about why it was left out and information about it.

A .nbh image has been released that will revert your RC30 G1 to RC29 which gives you the good ‘ole root bug. This will allow you to get root access and flash a modified image that will allow you to keep root without the bug part. For steps on doing this and the needed files, visit the >wiki page.