ES File Explorer returns some SD card support to your KitKat device (root required)

In a recent update to the Android operating system, Google made some changes to how external SD cards can be handled by apps within the system. The result, basically, is that applications have been stripped of their former ability and permissions to read and write files on an sd card. With file explorer apps being some of the hardest hit by this change, ES File Explorer has decided to fight back, having launched an update to their app that brings back full SD card read/write access, at least for those that have their phone rooted.

ES File Explorer is a wonderful application, it offers solid file management tools and an ever expanding list of extra features that you may not have expected out of a file explorer. For file management, you can expect much of the same functionality as you would find on any other operating system. Create folders, move/copy/paste your files between folders, rename files and folders, it can even zip and unzip (RAR) compressed folders. This same functionality extends well beyond your local device, as you can access your Google Drive, Dropbox, Box and other cloud storage locations using the same tools. The tabbed interface will also let you get into FTP servers, SMB/Windows shares and Bluetooth shares alike.

The folks behind ES File Explorer have thought about almost any method of file storage and access that you may need, as such, extra features to the app include a download manager, a built-in web browser, the ability to not only access FTP servers, but to turn your device into an FTP server itself to share specified folders, and more. ES File Explorer can even start up its own wifi hotspot for other devices to connect with. In the end, there is little that you cannot do with ES File Explorer when it comes to accessing your files, and once you’ve got them, the app even has built-in photo gallery and media players to put your files to use.

Google’s decision to remove external SD card support has been met with some hostility. Users are not happy about this decision, especially those that have invested hundreds of dollars on buying SD cards and applications which have been incapacitated by this change. ES File Explorer had a history of bypassing the default Android constructs by offering root capabilities, including access to system files. This same spirit is evident in their recent update, version 3.1.2 brings the root-only ability to once again read and write files to an external SD card. Check for the update on your device, or hit the Google Play Store to download a fresh copy.

The update to ES File Explorer will not bring back the required permissions to all of your affected apps. It is still great to see a big player at least create a workaround to an otherwise annoying security upgrade. We hope that Google finds a way to securely return this functionality in the future, or at least to introduce a new level of app permissions to let us users decide if we trust apps with all of our precious files saved on our external SD cards.

Have you been affected by the KitKat external SD card limitation? What is your number one app that you can no longer use as you used to? Are you more willing to root your devices, or find a cloud storage solution for your files? So many questions, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Smart watches and glasses: More ‘tech’ than ‘wearable’?

Google Lets Anyone In The U.S. Become A Glass Explorer For $1,500 Starting April 15

Google isn’t doing its consumer launch of Glass just yet, but it is doing the next best thing: Opening up the Glass Explorer program to anyone in the U.S. starting April 15. That’s right, as of next Tuesday, any American resident can grab a Google Glass unit for $1,500 plus applicable taxes, and these will ship with your favorite shade or Glass-specific frame included, too.

The program opens its doors at 6 AM PT on Tuesday (9AM for you east coasters), and there are only limited spots available, so it’s probably going to be first-come, first-served. This is still a very expensive piece of hardware, and Google is very clear about this still being the Glass Explorer program specifically, so that comes with all the caveats about this being bleeding edge tech that’s prone to some bugs and refinements yet to come.

Google has previously expanded Glass Explorer program availability by giving the first round of Explorers invites for their friends and family, and now clearly wants to do as much as possible to open up the floodgates for a much broader beta pool.

If you’re outside the U.S., Google is still intent on saving you $1,500; the search giant says that it’s “not ready to bring Glass to other countries” as of yet.

Expanding the Explorer pool doesn’t mean the issues Glass has faced of late around public perception will go away, but it does mean that Google can gather feedback from a wider user group, and one that’s more likely to include people not constantly connected to the tech world and eager to adopt tech as early as possible. That’s probably still going to describe most of those willing to spend $1,500 on joining a beta pool, but when you’re pioneering face-based computing, it’s probably best to get as much early input as you can.

If you want to get reminded about the April 15 6 AM start time, sign up here, or just bookmark it and return to start Exploring.

How to Enable Box Sizing in Internet Explorer 7 [Quicktip]

We have covered CSS3 Box Sizing in a previous article. Box Sizing, with the value of border-box, allows us to retain the element width and height, regardless of the additional padding and border it has.

This makes measuring and defining element size easier. However, CSS3 Box Sizing would not function in Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and earlier versions, as you can see below.

Both of the columns that you see in the above screenshot have width, height, padding, and box-sizing specified. But as IE8 does not recognize the box-sizing property, the second column is pushed down when their total width exceed their parent container’s width.

You will have to adjust the size for each column accordingly to make them fit in it, which could be a very tedious task depending on the number of elements that you need to handle. If your website has to support IE7 (for whatever reason) while also preserving CSS3 Box Sizing, you can use the following trick.

Recommended Reading: A Look Into: HTML5 Shiv And Polyfills

Box Sizing Polyfill

To make IE8 (and below) acknowledge Box Sizing, we can use a polyfill. This polyfill comes in the form of an HTC file and is developed by Christian Schaefer. Download the file from the Github repository and put it in, for example, your CSS folder.

Create a CSS stylesheet, dedicated for Internet Explorer. Add the link in the HTML document this way so it will only be served in IE7.

<!--[if lte IE7]> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/ie.css"><![endif]-->

Then put the following code in the ie.css. This CSS rule below will apply box-sizing for all elements.

* { behavior: url(css/boxsizing.htc);}

A few things to note when applying this trick:

The url path of boxsizing.htc must be relative to the HTML files location, otherwise it will fail to work.

Paul Irish also has a tip to apply box-sizing in pseudo-element with *:before, *:after. But, since IE7 as well as IE6 does not support pseudo-element, there is no reason to use pseudo-element selectors in this case. And as you can see above, we don’t include them in the code as well.

The Result

Here, we have two columns with the parent container’s width set to 500px. The column width are set to 50%, so each column should have 250px width, even though we also set padding for it. Let’s open Internet Explorer 7, and launch the Developer Tool (F12).

Go to the Layout tab of the Developer Tool to see the column size in detail. You should see that in IE7 the column now includes padding as well as borders as part of the total size. In our case, the box width remains at 250px.

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How to Enable CSS3 Border Radius in Internet Explorer 8 and below

CSS3 gives us the ability to create rounded corners with the border-radius property. But as you might already know, this new feature is not recognized in Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) and its earlier versions. So when you apply CSS3 Border Radius to an element, it still appears as a box with pointed tips.

You may find a lot of different advice on the Internet suggesting you ignore IE8. You wish you could do so. But if you’re working on a website for a government institution or a bank, you may not have a choice. You still have to make the website look as nice as it does in modern browsers, which includes the ability to apply CSS3 Border Radius.

If you really have to make your website IE8-ready, while being able to use the CSS3 feature, we have just the tip for you.

Recommended Reading: Beginner’s Guide to CSS3

CSS3Pie

CSS3Pie is a kind of polyfill for CSS3 decorative features. Aside from CSS3 Border Radius that we’re going to discuss in this article, CSS3Pie also supports Box Shadow and Gradients, though it’s limited to the Linear Gradient type.

Download CSS3Pie (here). Put it inside your project directory – I placed it in the css folder. As you can also see from the screenshot below, I’ve created one stylesheet as well as one HTML file.

Open the stylesheet in code editor and set one of the elements in the HTML file with rounded corners, like so:

.border-radius { height: 100px; width: 100px; background-color: #2ecc71; -webkit-border-radius: 50px; -moz-border-radius: 50px; border-radius: 50px;}

As the element’s width and height are both 100px, and the border-radius is set to 50px, the element will become a circle:

In IE8, as we expect, it would still be a square (sigh), but don’t worry.

To enable the rounded corner effect, insert this line: behavior: url(css/pie.htc);, like so.

.border-radius { height: 100px; width: 100px; background-color: #2ecc71; -webkit-border-radius: 50px; -moz-border-radius: 50px; border-radius: 50px; behavior: url(css/pie.htc);}

Note that the file path in url()has to be either an absolute path or relative to the HTML file. You can also add this line in a separate file.

You may have a stylesheet that is designated for Internet Explorer. You can put behavior: url(css/pie.htc); within that file, but ensure that it’s declared within the same CSS selector, like so.

/* declared in ie.css */.border-radius { behavior: url(css/pie.htc);}

Refresh the page in IE8. The rounded corner should now come into effect (ta-da!). It should work in IE7 as well.

Troubleshooting

Internet Explorer may behave unexpectedly. If this does not work (maybe the rounded corner does not take effect, or the selected element has disappeared), adding the position and zoom property should solve the problem:

<style>.border-radius { behavior: url(<?php echo get_template_directory_uri() ;?>/css/pie.htc); position: relative; zoom: 1;}</style>

Using CSS3 Pie in WordPress

You have finished putting your website in HTML form. You also utilize pie.htc in the website to enable CSS3 in IE8. At this stage, you are ready to transform the website into a functioning WordPress theme. In this case, as WordPress is dynamic, where pages may serve in different level URLs, we have to specify an absolute path.

You can either change the path in CSS like this:

.border-radius { behavior: url(http://localhost/{website}/wp-content/themes/{the_theme}/css/pie.htc); position: relative; zoom: 1;}

Or add internal styles in the header.php, this way:

<style>.border-radius { behavior: url(<?php echo get_template_directory_uri() ;?>/css/pie.htc); position: relative; zoom: 1;}</style>

Final Thought

Having cool things such as CSS3 Border Radius work in IE8 is fascinating, and CSS3Pie makes that happen, while giving us one less reason to hate IE8.

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