Add your own aspects for placesWhen you’re rating places on the go in Maps using Google Places with Hotpot, you could always quickly leave feedback on a specific aspect or characteristic of a place, such as the food or ambiance. Before, we’d automatically include aspects about places that were commonly mentioned in reviews. Now, you can add your own aspects for each place. So if you think a place has a beautiful view or great music, you can add it yourself and quickly share it with the world.

New Google News for Opera Mini

| 12:42 PM

cross-posted from the Google News blog

While the Google News team has been hard at work redesigning our service for smartphones, we’ve also been thinking about our milllions of users around the world who access the web not from a smartphone, but from a feature phone, using Opera Mini as their browser.

So we have rolled out a redesigned Google News for Opera Mini in all 29 languages and 70 editions of Google News. This includes an enhanced homepage featuring richer snippets, thumbnail images, links to videos and section content without explicit navigation, a convenient search bar, comfortably spaced links and the ability to access your desktop personalization on your phone.

We hope that this will improve the news browsing experience for Opera Mini users around the world, including millions of people using a feature phone as the primary point of access for the web. See it here in the Indian Hindi and Nigerian English versions.

 


So, pick up your feature phone and point your Opera Mini browser to http://news.google.comto catch up on news anytime and anywhere. For more information or to share your feedback with us, please visit our Help Center.

Posted by Arun Prasath, Tech Lead and Dimitris Meretakis, Product Manager

Undo certain Gmail actions in your mobile browser

Monday, April 18, 2011 | 4:21 PM

Sometimes when I’m using Gmail on my phone, I delete a message by mistake or label it incorrectly. Sure I can fish the message out of my Trash or remove the label and apply the correct one, but that takes several steps. Even just a few seconds is usually enough time to catch those annoying mistakes.

Now when you use the Gmail mobile web app, you’ll have a small window of opportunity to undo four key actions: archive, delete, add or remove a label, or move a message/conversation.

When you take one of these actions, Gmail displays a yellow bar that recaps what you just did and allows you to undo it:

This bar stays in position even if you move to another screen (e.g. moving to ‘Menu’ from ‘Inbox’). If you don’t happen to catch your mistake in time, not to worry: all four actions can still be undone through other means (e.g. you can move a message from Trash back into your Inbox).

Try it out at gmail.com in the browser of your Android or iOS device.

Update: 9:09am Pacific time 4/19/11 - This update is available for phones running Android or iOS, but not tablet devices with the two-pane Gmail UI. It is also now available for BlackBerry OS 6.0 phones.

Video Chat on Your Android Phone

Thursday, April 28, 2011 | 1:49 PM

Sometimes, the expressions on a person's face can mean much more than what they say. To help you stay in touch with your friends and family, we’re launching Google Talk with video and voice chat for Android phones.

You can now video or voice chat with your friends, family and colleagues right from your Android phone, whether they’re on their compatible Android tablet or phone, or using Gmail with Google Talk on their computer. You can make calls over a 3G or 4G data network (if your carrier supports it) or over Wi-Fi.

  

In your Google Talk friends list, a video or voice chat button will appear next to your contacts and you can simply touch the button to connect with them. Any text chats from the person you’re talking with will be overlaid on your phone’s screen so you can read them without having to leave the video. And, if you need to check something else, the video pauses automatically so you can go back to your phone’s home screen or another app. The audio will 

Share and personalize your Google Goggles experience with Goggles 1.4

| 10:27 AM

Since its launch, we have worked to make Google Goggles faster and more accurate when returning search results for a wide variety of images. Today, we are taking several steps to make Goggles a better and more personal experience. Goggles 1.4 for Android devices introduces an enhanced search history experience, the ability to suggest better results to Google if we are not able to accurately match your image, and improved business card recognition.

Enhanced search history
The new search history experience lets you search your Goggles results, make personal notes on specific results and share your results with friends. When you add a personal note to a Goggles result, the note will appear in your search history. I’m trying to learn more about wine, so when I taste something new, it’s easy for me to add a note to help me remember what I liked about the wine. Later, I can search my search history for words in my note to help me find that bottle that went so well with steak. Read more about how to enable search history for Goggles here.

Suggest a better result
We are constantly working to improve the accuracy of Goggles at recognizing certain categories of items, but visual recognition is still a complicated task. With Goggles 1.4, you are now able to suggest a better result when Goggles cannot find an image match, or the quality of the result is poor.

To send your suggestion to Google, tap “Can you suggest a better result?” on the results page. You can then select the relevant part of the image and submit a tag. Tags will be used to improve recognition in object categories where Goggles already provides some results, like artwork or wine bottles.

iPad 2 vs. original iPad: what's changed?

Shockingly enough, Apple found plenty of things to tweak and update on its spectacularly successful iPad. Alright, so the screen resolution didn't improve and we didn't get that ultra-speedy Thunderbolt connector on board, but the iPad 2 is thinner and lighter while somehow becoming more powerful -- a 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 SOC lurks within. Check out our full breakdown of the key spec differences in the chart after the break. It's great fun, we promise!

P.S. - While you're poring over these stats, don't forget that Apple's decided to slap a $100 price cut on the original iPads, making them eminently more desirable today than they were yesterday.

iPad

iPad 2

Display	9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD	9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD
Resolution	1024 x 768	1024 x 768
Processor	1GHz Apple A4	1GHz dual-core Apple A5
Graphics	PowerVR SGX 535	?
Memory	256MB RAM	?
Storage	16GB / 32GB / 64GB	16GB / 32GB / 64GB
Front camera	none	VGA
Rear camera	none	720p
Cellular radio	EDGE plus triband HSPA	EDGE plus quadband HSPA or CDMA / EV-DO Rev. A
WiFi	802.11a/b/g/n	802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth	2.1 + EDR	2.1 + EDR
Accelerometer	3-axis	3-axis
Gyroscope	No	3-axis
Thickness	13.4mm	8.8mm
Weight	680g (WiFi), 730g (WiFi + 3G)	601g (WiFi), 607g (Verizon), 613g (AT&T)20

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The iPad 2!

Apple has just made its second-generation iPad official! It features a 1GHz dual-core A5 chip and,finally, cameras, both on the front and rear. The new CPU is said to be up to twice as fast, with graphics performance up to nine times better than on the original iPad, while power requirements have been kept the same. Battery life is, consequently, unaltered, with Apple promising 10 hours. Pricing, too, has been left unchanged, starting at $499 for a 16GB WiFi-only iPad 2 and stretching up to $829 for a WiFi + 3G SKU with 64GB of storage. The new tablet will come with an HDMI output capable of 1080p -- which will set you back $39 for the requisite dongle, called an Apple Digital AV Adapter -- but there will sadly be no rumblings of Thunderbolt connectivity here. What you will get is an enlarged speaker grille on the back, as expected, and the same 1024 x 768 resolution and IPS LCD screen technology as on the original iPad.


720p video recording at 30fps will be on tap from the rear-facing camera, which can also do a 5x digital zoom if you're into that kind of thing, whereas the front-facing imager will record at a more modest VGA resolution, also at 30fps.

There's a new cover for the device, which is best defined by Steve Jobs himself: "We designed the case right alongside the product. It's not a case -- it's a cover." Basically, it's a magnetic flap that protects the front and automatically wakes and puts the device to sleep according to whether it's open or closed. Guess we know what that proximity sensor was about now. These Smart Covers will cost $39 in plastic or $69 if you opt for leather.

The iPad 2 is 33 percent thinner than its predecessor, at a mind-melting 8.8mm, and a little lighter at just over 600g, while paintjob options have been expanded: you'll get a choice between white and black. It'll be available on both AT&T and Verizon, and all variants start shipping on March 11th. Apple Retail Stores will start sales at the unusual hour of 5PM, which will probably make online pre-orders the fastest way to get yours.


PRESS SHOTS

















LET US KNOW IF YOU ARE GOING TO BUY IT!

Check out the iRotary Dialer for iPhone

The Movaya team just released our second self-published iPhone application - the iRotary Dialer!

We all love the iPhone, but many of us reminisce about simpler times, like when we actually had to remember phone numbers and dial the phone. Well, now you can take your iPhone back in time with the iRotary Dialer.

For only $.99, you can select from 4 classic phones and experience the authentic sounds and dialing of years gone by.

Download it now from the AppStore for $.99 by clicking here.

Amazon Launches Blackberry Shopping App

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced its latest mobile offering for customers– “Amazon App for BlackBerry”.

Designed specifically for the BlackBerry, the app offers customers who use a BlackBerry device with a track ball a quick and simple way to find, discover, and buy products from Amazon.com and thousands of other retailers.

“Since launching our popular iPhone shopping app in December, customers have been asking us to bring a similar experience to the BlackBerry, and we are thrilled to make it available to customers today," said Sam Hall, Director of Amazon Mobile. "In addition to their favorite Amazon shopping features, BlackBerry users can now access the Amazon Remembers feature for a fun and easy way to build a list of photographs showing products they want to remember for later, make price comparisons across multiple merchants, and purchase.”

Amazon Remembers helps customers keep track of items they see in their daily lives and even tries to match photos of products to the same or similar products available on Amazon.com. Customers simply snap photos with their BlackBerry and the photos are automatically uploaded to Amazon.com, which then tries to find products similar to the ones in the photos. As soon as the customer receives the results, they can then purchase the item immediately or "remember it" for later in their Amazon account.

In addition to Amazon Remembers, the Amazon App for BlackBerry offers customers access to their Amazon.com account and favorite shopping features wherever they are, such as:

• Purchase using Amazon’s 1-Click ordering and Amazon Prime
• Track packages or modify orders using the Your Account feature
• Receive personalized recommendations
• View editorial and customer reviews
• Get the Gold Box Deal of the Day
• Access to their Wish List

The Amazon App for BlackBerry is available on any Blackberry device with a trackball for free directly from Amazon.com at www.amazon.com/blackberry_appor downloadable directly from any BlackBerry with trackball atwww.amazon.com/bb.

I downloaded it to my Blackberry Curve 8310 this morning and it works great. The download is simple and the app installs into my applications list.

I can sign in using my Amazon.com username and password and immediately set-up Mobile 1-Click which allows me to 1-click purchase items from my phone without having to type in a credit card.

I played with the Amazon Remembers feature by taking a picture of a 1GB Kingston microSD card and within a few minutes had the product returned to me with purchase options.

In my opinion, Amazon has nailed it again and if I was any other retailer, (bricks and mortar or online) I would be VERY WORRIED about Amazon. A friend of mine in the MCommerce space recently said that "Every offline retailer is essentially becoming a showroom for Amazon.com." and I think this is becoming more and more true.

Apple Approaches 1 Billion Downloads

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) haslaunched a clock that is rapidly ticking up to mark the one-billionth iPhone application download. The countdown reveals the lightening fast pace that applications are being downloaded from the nine-month old mobile store.

As of 3:30pm PST today, the count stands at over 930 million downloads.

In addition, Apple also revealed a list of the top 20 paid and free applications of all time (see graphic to the left.)

1 Billion Application downloads in 9 months is a phenomenal number.

21M iPhone sold

21M iPhones Sold

Yesterday, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported selling 3.8 million iPhones during the past three months, generating $1.5 billion in revenues. That brings total iPhones sold to over 21 million units and combined iPhone and iPod touch sales of about 37 million units.

Apple's COO Tim Cook had some bold comments in the analyst call, calling the 37 million units an "enormous platform for developers," adding that with the recent changes introduced with Apple's iPhone 3.0 SDK, which went beta in March and is expected to be released to customers this summer, Apple and its development partners will soon "unleash a whole new level of innovation that keeps Apple years ahead of everyone else."

TextGuard makes spam text message blocking easy for SmartPhone users

Spam text messages can be a problem for mobile phone users. Just like annoying marketing calls, you can receive text messages from different companies on your mobile phone at odd times. If these unwanted text messages start coming regularly, they can be a real pain. Most service providers provide call blocking capabilities, but they do not provide services which can help you block spam text messages. This is when mobile phone users look for alternatives which can help them block unwanted SMS Text messages and spam text messages.

Mobile phone users may also need to use a phone utility to help them block unwanted SMS text messages from an ex or from an annoying co-worker. In other cases, a parent might be interested in blocking unwanted text messages on their kids mobile phones to guard against bad influences or to protect them from spam messages which could be harmful to them. Companies can also use these mobile phone utilities to monitor the activities of their employees and to block unwanted text messages on company provided mobile phones to save on mobile phone bills.

TextGuard is a handy mobile phone utility which allows SmartPhone users to effectively block unwanted text messages on their mobile devices. The utility has been developed for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry users to help them secure text messages which are sent and received on their mobile phones. The utility monitors and tracks all messages and archives them on a central server, which is accessible for later retrieval through a website admin panel. TextGuard offers 3 different plans designed for individuals, businesses and corporations.

Once you download and install the utility, you can login to the website with the provided user name and password and access your account. You will see a record of all incoming and outgoing text and email messages saved on the server. Call records are also saved on the server, allowing users to block certain numbers if they do not want to receive text messages or calls from them. The server provided easy access to all the information, which can be organized and retrieved later on. Users can quickly and effectively block any numbers to stop communicating with the. The utility is not only handy in terms of blocking unwanted spam text messages, but it can also help you keep backup of all your communications, which makes it extremely useful for businessmen, who might want to keep a backup of all their daily activities. The archived data also acts as a backup and can help you in cases like mobile theft or lost or stolen mobile.

Users can register online on the website at www.TextGuard.com and download the 30 day free trial of the software.

Cellphone Calls from 29,000 feet

Can You Hold On Honey? I Have to Climb This Mountain Real Quick.

For all you cell phone users out there planning on climbing Mt. Everest, you can breathe a little easier now. Earlier this week Nepal Telecom, Nepal’s largest telecom company, announced that they plan to build a cell phone tower that will provide coverage for up to 3,000 calls at a time. One can only assume that limit will never be reached.

Nepal Telecom has a base of 2.8 million customers, about a tenth of all people from Nepal, and 60% of all cell phone users in the country. The company has installed seven satellite antennas around the mountain, and will be providing coverage as early as June this year. The Nepali company hopes to provide an alternative to those who have rely on satellite telephones when taking the climb.

Let’s hope we never hear about an avalanche caused by a chatty climber.

Gavin Nachbar is a freelance writing cell phone talker who he, himself, never plans on climbing Mt. Everest.

EA and Glu Report Mobile Game Sales Results

EA and Glu Report Mobile Game Sales Results

Two of the biggest mobile game developers in the world, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU) announced quarterly results this week.

While EA's overall business continues to struggle, mobile was a bright spot with the company reporting that their mobile revenues were up 24% year-over-year to $189 million. For the fiscal fourth quarter, EA Mobile recorded $48 million in revenues, up 14% year-over-year.

Glu reported revenues of $20.8 million, compared to $20.6 million in the first quarter of 2008 which represents less than a 1% increase year over year.

If I was a Glu shareholder I'd be pretty disappointed with Glu's results. Although EA is a bigger company , the mobile games business is growing fairly rapidly (see post coming soon) and Glu should be growing at a similar pace to EA.

If you read Glu's full release and if you've been following the company over the last year, a lot of their lack of growth is due to the fact that Glu was very late to the iPhone party. They've started to ramp up lately with a number of high quality releases on that platform including the very fun Glyder title, but it's clear that they've still got a lot of work to do to get their business to take off further.

EA, on the other hand, was early to the iPhone an their games have done very well. Just in the past couple weeks, EA announced five new iPhone titles and executives said they expect to introduce 30 games for the iPhone this year.

iPhone Game Review - iZombie Death March

The folks at Sonic Boom recently released their latest iPhone game -iZombie: Death March

I downloaded the game last night and had a great time killing lots and lots of Zombies. The game is very straight forward - you play as a lone gunman surrounded by Zombies who come at you from every angle. Simply touch the screen where you want to shoot and "pow!" the Zombies go down.

There are 6 missions or chapters to choose from:

1. Point Blank
2. Guardian
3. Bunker
4. Graveyard
5. Runaway
6. Extraction

And in each chapter you can choose from four different difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Death Wish or Nightmare. As the descriptions indicate, the chapters get increasingly more difficult.

I played all 6 chapters and mixed in varying difficulty levels. My personal favorite (pictured) is Runaway where you are in the back of a pick-up truck gunning down Zombies while trying to drive away from some crazy monster chasing you down the highway.

The game is also made more interesting with the clever storyline that is displayed between chapters. There are some great quotes in here including my favorite:

"Time flies when you have a gun."

There must be something weird going on in the Zombie space because between this game and Popcap's new PC game "Plants vs Zombies" I've been spending too much time killing zombies, but boy, is it fun.

SonicBoom is offering iZombie Death March for an introductory price of $1.99 through iTunes. The game is very well done and it's a fun diversion for 5 minutes or longer. I highly recommend downloading this title and don't be surprised if you find yourself groaning BRAAAAAAINS!! every now and again after playing it.

Major Xbox 360 Annoucement Next Week!

It look like there will be a major annoucementy for the Xbox 360 next week from Microsoft, according to Major Nelson (Larry Hyrb’, who announced in his latest podcast that Microsoft has something big planned for the Xbox 360.

Next week I’m going to be down in San Francisco. We are having an invite-only press event that we’re going to have some cool news that I’m not quite fully briefed on, but we have a lot of news that we’re going to be announcing. Just telling you guys, you’re going to be really happy when you hear all the news, that’s all I can say.
We are not sure exactly what Microsoft has to announce, although it could be to do with a range of new Kinect games for the Xbox 360 that have been developed in house by Microsoft.

White iPhone 5 In The Works!

The white iPhone 4 still hasn’t gone on sale, and now we are hearing rumors that Apple is working on a white iPhone 5, lets hope this one is actually available at the iPhone 5 launch.

According to the Economic Daily news, Wintek has secured an exclusive deal with apple to supply touch panels for the white iPhone 5.

The company has declined to comment on whether it has been awarded a contract for the white iPhone 5. We wonder if the white iPhone 4 will actually go on sale before the white iPhone 5 is released.

iPad 2 Case Hints At New Slim iPad Design!

We have already seen a couple of cases which are reported to be for the new iPad 2, and also a reported screen protector, and now the guys over at 9 to 5 Mac have got their hands on a new case, which they are saying is for the new iPad 2.

We have already heard previously that the iPad would be slimmer than the first generation iPad, although from the looks of this case it could be quite a bit thinner.

Head on over to 9 to 5 Mac and have a look at their video, which outlines some of the possible features in the new iPad 2.

LG Optimus Black At The Mobile World Congress

LG will exhibit the LG Optimus Black at the Mobile World Congress. Measuring 9.2mm thick, the phone features a 4-inch NOVA display that is touted to be energy saving without sacrificing its readability under any lighting condition. What’s more, the LG Optimus Black also has a special Gesture UI, WiFi Direct, a 2-megapixel front facing camera, the Google Android 2.2 OS and a 1,500mAh battery. Stay tuned for more updates. 

Leaked Pictures Of The Upcoming NEC MEDIAS N-04C Android Smartphone

Here are several leaked pictures of the new NEC MEDIAS N-04C. Measuring 7.7mm thick, the Android-powered smartphone features a generous 4-inch display, Felica NFC service, a 1Seg TV tuner and the Google Android 2.2 OS. See more pictures after the jump. More

Nokia To Release Low-cost Windows 7 Phones Very Soon

Nokia has collaborated with Microsoft to release affordable smartphones in the near future. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has confirmed that “we have become convinced that we can do that very quickly”. These upcoming smartphones will run on the Windows Phone 7 as its platform. Stay tuned for more updates. 

ZTE Netphone 501 Smartphone

Here’s a look at another upcoming smartphone from ZTE, the Netphone 501. Showcased during this year’s MWC, the handset packs a 3.2-inch 240 x 400 touchscreen display, a 5.0-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot (up to 8GB), an accelerometer sensor, a web browser, email, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G. Unfortunately, there’s no word on pricing and availability yet.

Consumer Cellular Offers Motorola WX345 For Free

The new Motorola WX345 low-end cell phone is now available via Consumer Cellular for free (with a $35 activation fee). In case you didn’t know, the Motorola WX345 is a flip phone, which has large and easy to use keys, a speakerphone, a digital camera, an MP3 player, an FM radio and Bluetooth. The handset also features hearing aid compatibility.

Three UK Releases Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 Android Smartphone

Three UK has decided to release the Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830. This affordable Android smartphone is priced at £199.99 ($323) on Pay As You Go, or for free on a variety of contracts starting at £25 ($40) per month with a two-year contract. As a reminder, the Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 comes jam packed with a 3.5-inch (320 x 480) capacitive touchscreen display, an 800MHz processor, a 5.0-megapixel AutoFocus camera, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and the Google Android 2.2 Froyo OS. [DialToSave]

HTC

BestBuy has recently unveiled the pricing of the highly anticipated HTC Thunderbolt. The handset will retail for $299 with a new 2-year contract agreement. This new LTE-capable handset has a 4.3-inch (800 x 480) touchscreen display with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, an 8.0-megapixel rear-facing camera with HD video recording, a front-facing camera for video calls, HTC’s new Sense UI, wireless DLNA support and run on Android 2.2 OS. The HTC Thunderbolt will be available starting February 28, 2011. We will keep you posted. [BestBuy]

iPhone game: Bubble MegaShift – Free game of the day

Break groups of balls with same color and get a high score. Now with cool MegaShift option! Your high score and max burst score will be kept. Five different themes, no interference with iPod audio, ability to undo last move, autosave on exit, and many more features.

How to fix the iBook problem after Jailbreaking iOS 4.2.1 with GreenPois0n

All you have to do is to add this repo in Cydia “http://repo.insanelyi.com” and then search for the “iBooks Fix” tweak. Tadaaaaaa…

Snkowbreeze.

Sn0wbreeze 2.2.1 jailbreaking tool for iDevices got released today by iH8sn0w. Sn0wbreeze like blackra1n, redsn0w and PwnageTool is yet another jailbreaking tool for iPhone and iPod touch which can be used to create custom .ipsw files. Head over to this page to download sn0wbreeze 2.2.1.

iPad 2 Review [Humor]

Heres a review of the iPad 2  Check it out after the break.

Read More »

Data Control app for iPhone – Free for today only

Data Control will manage your iPhone’s data usage for both your provider’s data traffic and WiFi data traffic. By monitoring the data usage, Data Control will allow you to select the appropriate data plan from your provider. Data Control monitors data usage from the device itself and is not reliant on setting up or logging into your provider’s web site.

WiFi2HiFi iPhone app – Stream all your music to PC / Mac

Use WiFi2HiFi to turn your iPhone into a wireless audio receiver for your stereo system or sound-dock. Combined with the desktop app WiFi2HiFi Station you can listen to whatever audio program is playing on your computer. Plug your iPod or iPhone into your hi-fi and enjoy your favorite music program, web radio or streaming service in crystal clear stereo quality. WiFi2HiFi Station acts like an additional audio output on your computer. This allows the application to provide streaming support for all popular audio programs on the Mac and PC.