If you just so happen to live in Sweden, Denmark, Norway or Finland, Netflix would like you to know they've not forgotten about you. In fact, the latest update available in the Google Play Store opens up the Android app to those regions along with improved subtitle support for Android 4.0 and above.

Plus, while it's not noted, the app does seem to respond a little bit better over previous versions. By that we mean, it no longer takes 2 minutes to scroll through items causing you to forget what you were intending on watching in the first place. That's a good thing.

These holo app updates just keep coming. The NPR News app has received a very nice facelift and integrated new Android design guidelines to fit in with other popular apps on the platform. You get properly laid out search, refresh and menu buttons and an overall simple UI. The changelog also notes that its a bit easier to browse and play sound clips or whole shows right from the main screen. Above all, the app isn't over-designed, and you have to commend it on that.

As always, if you've yet to download the NPR News app, grab it at the Google Play Store link above.

It's pretty easy to get your Google Calendar entries onto an Android device, as the services come baked right into the OS. However there are some instances where the Google Calendar may have been replaced by the OEM, for something they felt was a little more in tune with their design. (We're looking at you, S Planner.)

Today Google has released the Google Calendar app for everyone to download. It's the same app you would get if you running a Nexus (or vanilla Android) device, but packaged up and placed into the Google Play Store. If you're on OEM skinned device, this is a great option that has all the expected features included within as well as some added bonuses --

•  Snooze events directly from a notification if you’re not quite ready and want to be reminded later.
• Use predefined messages to send quick "I'll be late" updates to your event participants directly from the notifications or the event itself (of course, you can always write your own).
• Pinch to zoom in and out of a day.
• Set a home time zone to help you manage your time better when traveling.

There are some issues to be aware of, though. As noted in the Google Play Store, HTC devices appear to not play along all that nicely with it. If you're wanting to still give it a go, the link is live right now. You'll need a device running Android 4.0.3 or above.

Source: Google

It looks like we were dead on for the Isis launch date, limited as the rollout may be. Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah will officially be the first areas to support the Isis starting on October 22. As is there are about 340 Isis-ready merchants in each city. 

Right now, the only device that we know for sure will support Isis is the Droid Incredible, though Motorola, LG, and Sony have all pledged to create compatible hardware. Supported credit cards are currently limited to American Express, Capital One, and Chase, though I'm sure more will come in due time. Just like Google Wallet, Isis will enable tap-to-pay schemes with NFC-enabled smartphones. It can be used for coupons and loyalty cards too, but paying for stuff is the main thing. The only real difference here is that Isis is a joint venture between Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. It's something of a strategic necessity if U.S. carriers want a solid foothold in the mobile payment game without having to play by Google's rules. 

Sure, Google Wallet might have a hefty head start, but with any luck, the competition will spur on speedier development and increase adoption overall. It's still hard to imagine a nearby future where paying for everything (or even anything) on a day-to-day basis with your phone is normal, but I'm sure many of us stand to be early adopters.

How often do you use Google Wallet? What would it take for you to switch over to another service? Do you think a carrier-run solution with the support of hardware manufacturers is more likely to gain broad acceptance, or will Google's natural habit of wriggling into ubiquity win out? Anyone in these early markets willing to give Isis a go?

Source: @PayWithIsis

Android launchers -- comprising the basic makeup of homescreens and the app drawer -- hardly are scarce. And they tend to share features, emulating the stock Android launcher while tweaking things and adding features. 

Action Launcher is from developer Chris Lacy, the driving force behind the Tweet Lanes Twitter client, and it goes in a different direction, though still with some familiar features. 

We've gotten a good look at a preview version of the launcher. Hit the break for our take.

Love or hate Angry Birds, the Star Wars nerds among us have to be looking forward to seeing what the tie up between the two brings to the table. We know it's coming, we know when it's coming to be precise, but we're still a little in the dark as to what the gameplay will entail. 

It'll likely be the Angry Birds style of gameplay we've all become oh so accustomed to over the years, but it's how the Star Wars world integrates into this that intrigues us. This latest trailer gives us perhaps a little clue. After Han Solo is done talking up the Millennium Falcon, what's that we see? A catapult adorned on the top of the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs? Interesting. 

Source: Rovio (YouTube)

We're big fans of Hailo, the service that lets you hail and pay for a cab using your Android device. It helps make commuting through London less of a struggle, and we like that. Almost a year on from its first inception in the UK, Hailo has since branched out to Dublin and to Toronto. But, from today, the service finally arrives on U.S. shores beginning with Boston. 

While Chicago and New York City are both currently under active development, it's Boston that gets the nod as the first to experience the service. By partnering with licensed taxi drivers, Hailo offers not only an easy way to flag down a cab, but also offers a guarentee of safety to its users. 

The app itself is free to download, and if you're in Boston and decide to try this out, hit us up in the comments with your experience. 

Source: Hailo via TNW

If you haven't gone all in with Chameleon Launcher it's quite understandable. While a beautiful next-level launcher it is, the entry price of $10 and somewhat limited feature set has made it a hard to justify purchase for some folks out there. The latest version may change some minds though as Chameleon has now reached v1.1 status and brings along with it performance enhancements, UI refinements and major feature additions. Some of which, have been long asked for by users:

• Native Android Widget Support - Thats right, Chameleon widgets and native Android app widgets can now live side by side on your home screens. Android widgets in Chameleon work exactly as they would on the standard Android launcher, even while living inside our grid block containers. It’s almost like unicorns are real!
• Chameleon Widget SDK 1.1 - One of the big, yet hidden features of v1.1 is the updates to the Widget SDK. There is a lot of plumbing that has been added that allows for access to local device data using Android Services. The Chameleon Widget API docs will be updated in the near future with details and examples. We have also published a design section on the make a widgets documentation site outlining how to handle CSS markup for your widgets, and handling widget resizing. You can find that here.
• Twitter Widget - The Twitter widget has gotten the biggest boost out of all the widgets in this update. There are now inline options for reply, retweet and favorite. Retweeted tweets are also now displayed as per Twitters display guidelines. The cherry on the top of this enticing sunday is the ability to display your lists. Yummy.
• Calendar Widget - For those who need to stay super organized, the calendar widget now supports an All Calendar view as well as an Events List view.

Overall, the update looks pretty pleasing. They've also gone ahead and corrected plenty of bugs in the system as well, including a major one wherein Chameleon tended to freeze upon start up. Whether or not the changes make it a more viable purchase remains to be seen but if nothing else, it shows support is still going strong and updates will keep on coming. If you've not checked out our hands-on review -- you can have a look at Chameleon right here.

Source: Chameleon

Users in our forums are reporting that their Verizon Galaxy SIII (S3) handsets are pulling down a moderately sized (62MB) OTA update. Unfortunately, this isn't the Jelly Bean update that most users are hoping for -- you're still on 4.0.4 for now -- but it does seem to be bringing some useful enhancements. The latest software version, VRALHE, brings the Enhanced Zooming feature to the browser, email and more. It also claims to fix an issue with device restarts, as well as enhance stability in Google Play.

All good and necessary updates, but let's hope the next OTA is to Android 4.1. Take a look at the support document for the update at the source link below, then head to the forums and let us know how the update process went for you.

Source: Verizon (PDF); Android Central Forums; Thanks, Christopher!

The official Twitter for Android app has been updated with a couple small but useful additions today. First off, the profile layout has been better designed to work on larger screens. As more and more people buy Android tablets, it's a good thing that Twitter is paying attention. We just hope they can continue this feature creep and add some more functionality to the app. Additionally, the changelog indicates there have been a few bug fixes in this update.

At this point, we don't see much reason to choose the official Twitter app considering how many great third party choices there are out there. But with the increasing restrictions on these other clients coming in the future, we're glad the official app is at least improving at some rate. Take a look at the update at the Google Play Store link above.