Posts Tagged: cell-phones

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26
Jul 10

Google Maps for Android update adds Yelp-like interface



(Credit: Google) Business-ratings app Yelp

…perhaps the post office, movie theater, or bakery.
As with Yelp, searching with the new Places interface delivers a sponsored link and information about businesses in your neighborhood, including an address, rating (if available), user reviews, and whether the business is currently open or closed for the day. You can also star it to add it to your favorites. Tapping the entry bring up more business details, such as the price level, Wi-Fi hot spot information, Web site address, as well as shortcut buttons to plot the location on a map, get directions, call the business, or get a Street View image.
The app worked seamlessly in our quick tests in downtown San Francisco. However, its results page isn’t as visually slick as Yelp is, and you can’t add your own review (or snippets of a review) from the app. It’s no surprise that Google scours Yelp, along with CitySearch, GrubHub, Yahoo, and other sources, for information about each establishment. For Google, aggregating data from around the Web is key to its Place…

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Google Maps for Android update adds Yelp-like interface

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6
Jul 10

LG announces plans for Android-based tablet

The South Korea-based company announces a tablet using Google’s open-source operating system but offers no further details. Read this blog post by Steven Musil on Crave.

…Comment reply Submit Cancel The posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited. Click here to review our Terms of Use. Report offensive content: If you believe this comment is offensive or violates the CNET’s Site Terms of Use, you can report it below (this will not automatically remove the comment). Once reported, our staff will be notified and the comment will be reviewed. Select type of offense: Offensive: Sexually explicit or offensive language Spam: Advertisements or commercial links Disruptive posting: Flaming or offending other users Illegal activities: Promote cracked software, or other illegal content Comments (optional): Report Cancel E-mail this comment to a friend. E-mail this to: Your e-mail address: Send me a copy of this message Note: Your e-mail address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the e-mail and in case of transmission error. Neither your address nor the recipients’s address will be used for any other purpose. Add your own personal message:…

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7
Jun 10

Jobs to developers: Stick with the winning team

Facing growing competition from Google Android and an amassing army of appealing smartphones, Steve Jobs played defense Monday. At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference where Jobs introduced the iPhone 4, he also spent a good amount of time selling his already popular platform to his audience of developers.

…Jobs demonstrates the iPhone’s reach in the U.S.
(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

“We will sell our 100 millionth iOS device,” he said. That includes iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads. And in case the developers in the audience weren’t clear on what he meant, he underscored that point: “There is definitely a market for your applications.”

That’s pretty obvious already, what with 8,500 iPad apps after two months on sale, plus 250,000 iPhone apps. He emphasized the giant lead his platform has over competitors when he revealed that there have been 5 billion apps downloaded total from the App Store.

Jobs also addressed iPhone market share (No. 2 after RIM with 28 percent) and mobile browser market share: the iPhone is No. 1 with 58.2 percent. “That’s 2.5 times as much as Android’s 12.7 percent. This may help you put things in perspective,” he said, to some laughs. He cited Nielsen data for both, which contradict some statistics that came out a few weeks ago that showed Android sales had surpassed iOS device sales…

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Jobs to developers: Stick with the winning team

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7
Jun 10

How does Google make money on the Android?

Google’s child Android is dominating the smartphone space. So we now question Google, on how they benefit from the Android phones- financially? Paid Content reports that Google has signed revenue-sharing deals with the major wireless carriers who support Android phones.

….
The revenue sharing deals appear to be advertising revenue shared with carriers that support Android. For handset makers, the revenue comes in when they include Google applications like search, maps, Gmail etc which is not a requirement for Android phones. Well, the details are sketchy since Google is not as open as Android. Google declined to comment on their agreements stating they are private and confidential.
By being nosy, we found that the deal is applicable only to handsets that are Google branded like the Droid, Nexus One and G1. It excludes any phone that uses it own User Interface like HTC Evo or Samsung Behold II. Since, all Google applications will generate advertising revenue, Google can still afford to share their revenue. In fact, Google has nothing to loose. At present, direct revenue generation is only from the search application.

So, does this make Google look cheap? This is a common technique employed by Microsoft, HP and other giants to generate revenue. AOL, MacAffe or even less…

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How does Google make money on the Android?

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4
Jun 10

Google Goggles Coming Soon to iPhone

Back in December of 2009, Google launched Goggles - a mobile image recognition beta application for the Android Operating System. In a presentation Thursday

…recently released Latitude API that provides location-based services, access to the Goggles technology would allow developers to build visual search and image recognition applications without reinventing the wheel. The downside, however, is being locked into Google’s ecosystem and technology a fate some developers would rather avoid. The benefit of using Google APIs, especially for apps requiring server work like Goggles, is the back-end cloud infrastructure that Google provides for the developers.
The back-end is where Nalawadi says Google can provide the best service. As he pointed out to me when I caught up with him following his presentation, the Goggles project is not so much a venture into the field of augmented reality as it is an extension of Google’s search engine capabilities and personalization technologies. Nalawadi used a famous Wayne Gretzky quote to explain that Google isn’t skating to where the puck is, but where the puck is going to be.
Google knows its strength is in managing large amounts…

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Google Goggles Coming Soon to iPhone

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25
May 10

WWDC 2010: An Apple Wish List

Steve Jobs has turned up the hype for his WWDC 2010 keynote. The conference for Apple developers begins June 7, and Apple’s chief executive has emerged once again through e-mail, saying Apple fans “won’t be disappointed” and that there’s “Not a chance” Google’s Android is surpassing the iPhone.

…T tries to rope people into long-term commitments, the less attractive it’ll be.
iPad OS 4 Details
Jobs was all about the iPhone when he outlined the next iPhone OS upgrade in April. iPhone 3GS users will get their long-awaited multitasking, Artwork: Chip Taylorwallpaper, and home screen folders this summer, probably soon after WWDC, but the update for iPad won’t arrive until the fall. If there won’t be any new features — my unfulfilled wishlist for the iPad is mostly the same as with the iPhone — I’d at least like to see the new OS in action on the big screen.
Return of the Mac
WWDC is typically the venue for announcing new MacBooks and MacBook Pros, but Apple already took care of that in April. A new version of Mac OS X also seems unlikely, as Snow Leopard launched less than a year ago. What’s left? Maybe a refresh of the MacBook Air, hopefully with better battery life. It’s long overdue even if the ultrathin craze has passed.
The Elusive Verizon iPhone
I still think that an iPhone for…

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WWDC 2010: An Apple Wish List

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23
May 10

Complete list of features from Android 2.2 Froyo | DKgADGET

Google announced Android 2.2 tagged as Froyo with huge set of improvements forcing users upgrade their firmware unofficially, as manufacturers will take sometime to release Froyo. Here, we don’t want to go into that story, instead would like to highlight all the set of newly updated features in Froyo.

…concerns.
New and improved browser, claimed to be the fastest browser available on Mobile handsets.
Compass support for Google Maps in the browser, earlier it was only available in Google maps software which was to be launched separately.
Improved Google Voice Search, recognizes long and complicated sentences easily. It even breaks sentences and executes two commands from a single sentence.
Adds Flash 10.1. It is basically a slap on face of Apple.
A widget that helps you search your Android device, apps for market and little more.
Ability to search within app data.
Improved crash reporting to developers, sends out vital details about the crash so it can be prevented or fixed in the future.
Over the air application update of softwares. Also added the feature to update all applications at a time, instead of updating one at a time.
Streaming your non-DRM home music library straight onto your Android device, Apple needs to counter this one somehow with a service of their own!
Purchase your music over the air…

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Complete list of features from Android 2.2 Froyo | DKgADGET

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22
May 10

Android Challenges iPhone, Users Win

Analysis: Google and Apple both seem to take the competition between Android and iPhone as an existential, company-defining battle.

…O, it’ll be held at San Francisco’s Moscone West. Apple hasn’t even formally announced that the event will include a keynote, but I’m assuming there’s a good chance I’ll sit in the same auditorium I was in yesterday, listening to Steve Jobs talk about the next iPhone. Even if he never mentions Google by name, he’ll surely aim some little jibes in the direction of Apple’s competitors, if only during the inevitable prefatory bit where he updates attendees on iPhone’s competitive position. Even if he doesn’t, we already know that he thinks Android is out to “kill” the iPhone.
Google and Apple both seem to take the competition between Android and iPhone as an existential, company-defining battle. They’re both pouring awesome resources into their work. They’re building really good products which, for all their similarities, express strikingly different visions of what a mobile platform should be. And the market appears to be more than big enough for both companies to do well.
It’s great — some of the…

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22
May 10

Android’s Gingerbread: Another Android From The Oven | gizb

Through WebM video format, we came to know that Google’s upcoming Gingerbread version of its Android OS is currently designed to be released in Q4 2010.

…Froyo is the Android 2.2 version which will make your Android phone 465 percent faster than the previous Android 2.1.
WebM is Google’s new open source video codec, built on the VP8 codec that was initially developed by On2. Last year, Google purchased On2 for $124 million USD. For audio, the codec uses open source Ogg Vorbis.
According to afterdawn.com, open source codec is Google’s answer to the current HTML5 video format war. HTML5 allows for native video embedding in web pages, removing the need for plug-ins like Adobe’s Flash or Microsoft’s Silverlight. The standard does not specify which format will be used, and that has led to Apple and Microsoft pushing the expensive H.264 format, while Google, Opera, and Mozilla among others are pushing for free, open source formats.
As eurodroid.com reports a suggestion that Gingerbread might be also Android 3.0 but still no word of confirmation is received yet. If true, it could be version 2.3 or 2.5, or Google might go crazy and label it 5.0 simply to annoy Apple….

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Android’s Gingerbread: Another Android From The Oven | gizb

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21
May 10

Google Android 2.2: Questions and Answers

Google’s next-generation Android operating system has arrived. Here’s everything you need to know about Android 2.2 and what it’ll do for you.

…My oh my, the air is smelling sweet today.
Google took the wraps off its next-generation Android operating system, Android 2.2, Thursday morning. Android 2.2 — better known by its codename Froyo — will add even more power and flexibility into the growing ecosystem of Android smartphones.
So what’s Android Froyo all about, and what’ll it do for you? Here are answers to all your burning questions.
What are the biggest new features in Android 2.2?
Where to start? The most significant core changes to the Android operating system revolve around these four points:…

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Google Android 2.2: Questions and Answers

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