In order to integrate the Firebase dependency, we need to update Google Play Services to version 8 or higher. However, it has conflicts with ActionBarSherlock, so ABS needs to be removed and the app needs to be updated to use the standard APIs from AppCompat.
[x] remove ActionBarSherlock
[x] swap ABS and Android AppCompat dependencies
[x] remove references to ABS and replace calls with AppCompat
In order to integrate the Firebase dependency, we need to update Google Play Services to version 8 or higher. However, it has conflicts with ActionBarSherlock, so ABS needs to be removed and the app needs to be updated to use the standard APIs from AppCompat.