Sunday, February 28, 2010

What's new in Palm webOS 1.4?

The latest update to Palm webOS is now arriving on your phone via an over-the-air update. The update is now available for customers on the Sprint network in the US and on the O2 UK, O2 DE, O2 Ireland, and Movistar networks in Europe. [February 27: The update was released today for customers using the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus on Verizon Wireless.] The update is expected to be available for Palm webOS phones on other networks soon. Highlights of the latest update include:

* The ability to capture, edit, and share video: Not only can you easily shoot video footage from your Palm webOS phone, but you can also make quick edits and upload your footage to YouTube or Facebook (or send them via email or MMS) with just a couple of taps. See the video capabilities in action in the video below.

* Get more done faster: The Calendar, Phone, Messaging, and Email apps have all been enhanced with new features to simplify common tasks (many based on feedback from our customers). For example, in the Calendar app, you can now dial a number that appears in the subject of an appointment. In the Email app, you can now sort by date, sender, and subject. In the Phone app, the Call log offers more options to easily connect to a contact (such as via SMS). And there are some new shortcuts for zipping from one app to another (for example, moving from a chat view to a phone call with that person). You¹ll also see improved performance in these apps.

Source: http://blog.palm.com/palm/2010/02/whats-new-in-palm-webos-14.html

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Android,iPhone-Fastest Growing Smartphone

Android and Apple's iPhone OS were the fastest-growing smartphone platforms in 2009, with sales of the iPhone OS overtaking those of Windows Mobile, research company Gartner said Tuesday. Symbian and Research In Motion's BlackBerry still lead the market, it said.

Worldwide sales of smartphones running Symbian totaled 80.9 million in 2009, up from 72.9 million a year earlier. Because total smartphone sales grew faster, to 172.4 million from 139.3 million a year earlier, Symbian's market share declined to 46.9 percent, Gartner said. Second-place RIM's market share rose to 19.9 percent from 16.6 percent in 2008.

Apple's smartphone OS took third place. Apple sold 24.9 million iPhones in 2009, compared to 11.4 million in 2008, taking its share of the market to 14.4 percent.Get the latest tech news on your iPhone with IDG's ITnews iPhone app.

Microsoft's smartphone OS dropped to the fourth spot as its market share fell from 11.8 percent to 8.7 percent, and sales dropped by about 1.5 million phones. The launch of a new version, Windows Phones 7 Series, appears to make it a more competitive platform, but as phones based on the rewritten OS won't show up until late this year, sales will continue to struggle during most of 2010, according to Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.

Android was only the sixth largest smartphone platform in 2009, with a market share of 3.9 percent. However, that looks likely to change soon. Android phone sales really started to pick up during the fourth quarter. Four million out of a total 6.8 million units were sold during the last three months of 2009. Sixty-nine percent of those were sold in North America, driven by Verizon Wireless's promotion of the Motorola Droid, Cozza said.

While the smartphone market is booming, total worldwide mobile phone sales of 1.2 billion units were down about 1 percent compared to 2008.

Source:Infoworld

Friday, February 26, 2010

10 billion songs downloaded from iTunes and counting

Apple’s iTunes has reached the milestone everyone has been waiting for – its song download count just reached the 10 billion mark. The Cupertinos have been tracking this milestone for the last couple of weeks. The consumer who downloaded the magical number song will be getting $10,000 iTunes Store gift card.

Apple is yet to announce the name of the individual who is the winner of this promotion. This is great news for Apple’s music store which has been in the mainstream since 2003. This landmark says a lot about the strong and firm position iTunes has in the music industry.

This is not the first milestone that Apple has reached. Its App Store has already provided download for 3 billion apps. I am pretty sure that the game is far from over for Apple and it will continue to touch new levels. How do you see Apple’s latest milestone? How many songs have you downloaded from the music store?

Source:http://www.geekword.net/itunes-10-billion-songs-downloaded/

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Blackberry Can Now Read E-Books

Amazon says that demand from users led to the development of a software e-reader for BlackBerry.Amazon launched on Thursday (18/02/2010) an application for BlackBerry Kindle. Thus, users of smartphones from Research In Motion (RIM) now have the functionality to read digital books purchased by Amazon’s online store, and synchronize them with the reader Kindle and other devices that support the e-book.

With the launch of the BlackBerry line joins the iPhone and iPod Touch that already have the application. The software also is available for Windows PCs. Amazon has plans to take the same product for Mac and the newly launched iPad.

Electronic books purchased by Amazon’s site can be downloaded to the Kindle via the wireless technology Whispersync. By launching applications Kindle, Amazon paves a way to sell as many books as possible. According to the company, the idea of bringing the application to BlackBerry refers only to meet user demand.

“Since the launch of the iPhone application last year, customers have asked us to provide similar experiences for BlackBerry line, and today we offer this,” said Ian Freed, vice president of Amazon Kindle in a statement.

According to The New York Times Amazon’s 420 thousand e-books available, including 102 of the 112 best-seller. How to use Amazon technology copyright protection itself, the store has less than half of electronic books available on competitors such as Sony and Barnes & Noble, which support a standard e-book open.

Still, the Kindle leads off with the market for e-reader. In presenting the results of the fourth fiscal quarter, last month, the chief executive of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, said that for every ten physical books sold, he sold six e-books.

Source:Ub-News

Now Tweet Using Yahoo Services

The world of social media seems to be getting smaller and smaller, and in an effort to consolidate networking outlets, Yahoo announced Tuesday a partnership with Twitter to integrate the microblogging site's feeds into its various online properties.

You will now be able to access your personal Twitter feeds across Yahoo's products and properties, including the homepage, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Sports and others.

The Internet giant has joined hands with the micro blogging website to bring real-time Twitter content on Yahoo services like Profiles, Search etc. The best part here is that all Yahoo Account holders would be able to send Twitter updates without leaving the respective Yahoo services. For example, users would be able to view and reply to Twitter updates from Yahoo Mail itself.

The deal means that Yahoo!'s more than 600 million users around the world will now be able to update all of their social networks in one simple step. For example, anyone with a Yahoo! ID can check their e-mail and news and also access and update their Twitter feeds through any one of these channels, which allows them to stay even more up-to-the-date with both information and people.

Yahoo! users can now see real-time public Twitter updates on a variety of topics while browsing Yahoo's news, finance, sports and entertainment sites, something Yahoo says will "drive deeper user engagement and create new and compelling opportunities for developers, advertisers and publishers."

For Twitter, the Yahoo partnership will expand the reach of its real time updates and demonstrate the value of its service in new settings.

"The information in one single tweet can travel light-years farther with this Yahoo! integration," Twitter cofounder Biz Stone said in a Tuesday blog post. "Tweets in more places brings relevance where and when you need it most."

Yahoo will also have access to the Twitter service known as "Firehose," which is "a full feed of public tweets sent to Twitter and our partners every second of every day from all around the world," Stone wrote in the blog post.

Yahoo's Twitter integration deal comprises of three key areas:

Access Twitter feeds from anywhere in Yahoo:
People will be able to access their Tweets across Yahoo's many products and properties, including the homepage, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Sports, and others, letting them check in more easily on what's happening with the people and things they care about while on Yahoo.

Send Twitter updates from Yahoo:
People will be able to update their Twitter status and share content from Yahoo in their Twitter stream, so they can easily share their Yahoo experiences with their friends and followers on Twitter.

Real-time public Twitter updates in Search and other Media properties
Yahoo Search, News, Finance, Entertainment and Sports wills how real-time public Twitter updates across myriad topics.

Last August 2009, Yahoo announced integration of Social features in its Mail, Messenger and Search. This is yet another big day for Yahoo after its search deal with Microsoft got green signal last week. With this content-sharing partnership, Yahoo has leapfrogged Google and Microsoft's integration of Twitter in their Internet search only. We can now say that Yahoo has responded to Google Buzz in a different manner altogether.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Will Twitter Roll Out an Advertising Platform?

Twitter’s long-awaited advertising platform was the subject of much speculation among bloggers on Tuesday. Twitter will roll out an official advertising platform, likely within the next month or so, one of the company’s executives told an advertising-industry conference, according to a report in Media Post.

Declining to confirm exactly when Twitter would release the platform, Anamitra Banerji, head of product management and monetization at Twitter, told MediaPost ...that "we are working on an ad platform, but it's only in the test phase." When asked how it would work, Banerji says it will be "explicitly clear that a sponsor paid for the ad," and it will be "relevant and useful, so the user doesn’t think of it as an ad."

As reported on tuesday, the company says they receive and distribute about 50 million tweets a day,, or about 600 Tweets every second, reaching a popularity almost as high as Facebook. With that kind of growth, it makes sense that the company would want to take advantage of that user base and provide advertisers with a way to reach and target them. What remains to be seen is how the service implements ads, and whether or not users revolt against the commercialization of their social network.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Google Earth Arrives in Android Market

When Google announced the Nexus One last month, it also showed off Google Earth for Android for the first time. And now, it's finally available. Looks like it's an Android 2.1 app (it doesn't show up in the Market on my 2.0.1 Droid), and pinch-to-zoom is fully enabled.

There are a number of layers available for Google Earth, including Places, Businesses, Panoramio, Wikipedia, Roads, Borders and Labels, and Terrain.

"Use Google Earth to explore the world from the palm of your hand. Fly around the planet with the swipe of a finger, as you view the same 3D imagery available in the desktop version. Search by voice for cities, places, and businesses. Browse layers of geographic information including roads, borders, places, photos and more”

Google Earth is a hefty app, taking up about 22.5 megabytes of space of your phone's storage. You can download by scanning or clicking the QR code to the left.

Monday, February 22, 2010

T-mobile announced the RIM BlackBerry storm 2 9550

The smartphone will be delivered in black and silver. Blackberry Storm2 is available at T-Mobile. The handset Blackberry Storm2 for £35 per month contract over 2 years that includes 600 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited internet and Blackberry internet included. T-Mobile have already declared that the RIM BlackBerry storm 2 9550 will be available in February ,embedded in the announcement is also Phil Lander, T-Mobile account director at RIM, confirming that RIM will launch their official Twitter client soon.

The manufacturer went with the smartphone, no new roads, because that unit has been further optimized and large experiments was largely abandoned. The errors of the first Storm are now a thing of the past, the new Storm not only offers an improved SurePress technology, but also WLAN, HSDPA, GPS, Bluetooth, a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash as well as 1 gigabytes of internal memory.

BlackBerry supports A-GPS and geotagging can find streets and places so much easier. However, this is not enough to replace a navigation system to be fully satisfying.

The bar phone comes with dimensions of 112.5 x 62.2 x 13.95 mm on the market. For many users, this phone is, however, pose a serious problem, because the unit weighs whopping 160 grams, which is significantly harder than the competition.
The OS here is the BlackBerry itself and is called the BlackBerry OS. The platform is a proprietary development. If the system version 5 to the BlackBerry OS is used.

In the CDMA network standard, CDMA2000, GSM 1800, shall, 1900, 850 and GSM 900 for a better reception. UMTS makes for a good reception at this point the standard W-CDMA.

Truly outstanding is the built-in battery. The Li-ion battery is at a maximum power of 1400 mAh, thus creating a standby time of 270 hours and a maximum talk time of 500 minutes. For a BlackBerry, which has generally always been a slightly smaller display, it is very important to deliver a really good performance.

The TFT LCD screen and a maximum resolution of 360 x 480 pixels making it ever a good beginning has been made. 3.25 inches on the large display can loosely be described up to 65,536 different colors.

The advanced smartphone features besides a really nice digital camera on the back of the phone. The maximum resolution is 2048 x 1536 pixels. For the user, further advantages in the handling by the built-in LED flash and the 2-fold zoom.

So users can shoot plenty of photos and can store many different files on the phone, is a 2000 MB internal dynamic memory be for cutting. Extends to them the memory is still not, they can easily expand this by card, here in the formats microSD, microSD and TransFlash.

The built-in with 256 MB of RAM is also very neatly fitted and works with the processor quickly and easily, without much stuttering and similar difficulties.Mobile TV over UMTS receive them, unfortunately, is on the entertainment media, a radio, not present. After all, subscribers can use over the 3.5-mm jack plug their own headphones.

If users want to expand the comprehensive phone book yet, then they begin to equal the best in their contacts, because they can not just add a picture or e-mail addresses their loved ones, but also add a few more numbers and assign special ring tone to the contact.

Among the usual functions as a calendar, scheduler, alarm clock and voice control, and the speakerphone and the stopwatch. Users can read with a mobile phone via the Document Reader entire Excel, PDF, PowerPoint and Word files in peace.

An MP3 player is also available to them, can create playlists as desired quickly and dominates all popular formats. Even Cover Arts are displayed and quickly synchronized.

If we are in our last point of connectivity to the mobile Internet. They come over GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA into the net. Via wireless connection to the Internet. Only with HSCSD and HSUPA, the BlackBerry Storm 2 9550 cannot serve to connect with other external devices, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR provides a maximum range of 10 meters.

Source: http://ub-news.com/news/t-mobile-announced-the-rim-blackberry-storm-2-9550/9317.html

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Preview of AIR on Android

As thousands of mobile companies and developers converge on Barcelona for this year's Mobile World Congress, the AIR team is delighted to announce a preview of Adobe AIR on Android. We are excited to publicly show a sample of AIR applications running on an Android phone.

Using Adobe AIR, developers and designers will be able to build standalone applications to target devices running the Android operating system. These very same applications can also be deployed as desktop AIR applications on Windows, Mac, Linux, and also as applications on the iPhone using the Packager for iPhone .

If you are in Barcelona, come by our booth to check out the exciting apps that we have running on an Android device. For the rest of you, we have some video demos of AIR on Android @ http://www.adobe.com/go/airmobile

Developers using AIR on Android will be able to leverage mobile-specific features--such as multi-touch, gestures, accelerometer, GPS, and screen orientation--to deliver richer and more immersive user experiences across multiple operating systems.

Prior to the availability of AIR on Android, developers will be able to create mobile applications targeting the iPhone using the Packager for iPhone solution that we announced at Adobe MAX 2009. They share the same APIs to make the applications portable. We've worked with several developers on the applications below to get them running on AIR Android. Most of these applications are currently available in the Apple App Store today!

Source:http://blogs.adobe.com/air/2010/02/preview_of_air_on_android.html

Friday, February 12, 2010

Google Shuts Down MP3 Blogs

Google has shut down a number of popular MP3 blogs on its Blogger service for copyright infringement. More shutdowns are promised.

Over the course of the past day, the Google-owned blogging service Blogger has shut down a number of popular mp3 blogs, including Pop Tarts Suck Toasted, I Rock Cleveland, LivingEars, and It's a Rap. If you follow the links to any of those blogs, you'll see that they've been wholesale deleted. All you'll find is the Blogger message, "The blog you were looking for was not found." The apparent reason? The music posted on the blogs allegedly violates Blogger's terms of services.

From Google's official blog:

Earlier today, word spread about some popular music blogs that were recently removed from Blogger. While we make it a policy to not publicly discuss individual users or their accounts, we wanted to clarify a few things about how and when Blogger enforces its Terms of Service as they relate to our DMCA policy. Last summer, we updated our enforcement of the DMCA. Our current policy is that when we receive a DMCA complaint, we: 1) Notify the blogger about the complaint by e-mail and on the Blogger dashboard. 2) Reset the offending post to ‘draft’ status, allowing the blogger to remove the offending content. 3) Send a copy of the complaint to Chilling Effects.org. When we receive multiple DMCA complaints about the same blog, and have no indication that the offending content is being used in an authorized manner, we will remove the blog.

The blogs being shut down often offer free downloads authorized by labels in order to promote releases. They also post a disclaimer that unauthorized downloads will be removed upon request. Obviously, those disclaimer notices do not protect MP3 bloggers from charges of copyright infringement.

Source:http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/02/google-shuts-down-mp3-blogs.html

OpenOffice hits 300 million downloads as Version 3.2 ships

OpenOffice is the free, open source office suite that exists as an alternative to Microsoft Office. And does a brilliant job of it. Today has seen OpenOffice.org 3.2 released, and the community has taken the opportunity to congratulate itself on hitting the 300 million downloads mark.



I use OpenOffice and so, it appears, do millions of other people. The open source alternative may not be as popular as the Microsoft Office standard it exists to counter but it’s an invaluable set of tools for those who do use it.

OpenOffice.org 3.2 is now available to download, with faster start-up times, improved compatibility with file formats, and new and improved features being the order of the day. The community is now urging all OpenOffice users to upgrade to the latest version, with those still using OpenOffice.org 2 needing to upgrade their software urgently.

OpenOffice has now been downloaded more than 300 million times as it starts its tenth year of availability.

Source: http://tech.blorge.com/

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Facebook Surpasses 100 Million Mobile Users

Facebook has hit another important milestone, the social networking giant now has more than 100 million mobile users. Facebook’s mobile user base has almost doubled in less than six months, as it had around 65 million mobile users in Sep, 2009.

The current mobile growth rate is spectacular in a sense that Facebook is adding mobile users even faster than it is adding web users. Facebook had around 300 million users in Sep, 2009 – which has increased to 400 million users – an increase of 25%. However, the mobile user base has increased by almost 53% in the same time period.

Facebook’s mobile offering supports all major device manufacturers including Nokia, Android, Windows Mobile, Sidekick, Blackberry, INQ, Sony Ericsson, Palm and the iPhone. In addition to this Facebook is being used across all major operators across the world.

Facebook’s announcement further points out that the company has redesigned the mobile sites m.facebook.com and touch.facebook.com to enable users to access Facebook from any mobile browser in more than 70 languages. In addition to this, Facebook now handles text messages from more than 80 operators in 32 countries.

Facebook’s announcement corroborates Opera’s recent survey results. Opera’s survey findings showed that Facebook’s mobile usage on Opera Mini mobile browser increased by around 619% in 2009 alone.

Source:
http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/02/mobile-100-million/

Think big with a gig: Our experimental fiber network


Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic, streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the web and discussing a unique condition with a specialist in New York. Or downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes. Or collaborating with classmates around the world while watching live 3-D video of a university lecture. Universal, ultra high-speed Internet access will make all this and more possible. We've urged the FCC to look at new and creative ways to get there in its National Broadband Plan – and today we're announcing an experiment of our own.

We're planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 giga bit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone. Here are some specific things that we have in mind:

  • Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it's creating new bandwidth-intensive "killer apps" and services, or other uses we can't yet imagine.

  • New deployment techniques: We'll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we'll share key lessons learned with the world.

  • Openness and choice: We'll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we'll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.


  • Like our WiFi network in Mountain View, the purpose of this project is to experiment and learn. Network providers are making real progress to expand and improve high-speed Internet access, but there's still more to be done. We don't think we have all the answers – but through our trial, we hope to make a meaningful contribution to the shared goal of delivering faster and better Internet for everyone.

    As a first step, today we're putting out a request for information (RFI) to help identify interested communities. We welcome responses from local government, as well as members of the public. If you'd like to respond, visit this page to learn more, or check out our video on You tube


    Official Google Blog: Think big with a gig: Our experimental fiber network

    Wednesday, February 10, 2010

    Introducing Google Buzz

    We've blogged before about our thoughts on the social web, steps we've taken to add social features to our products, and efforts like Open Social that propose common tools for building social apps. With more and more communication happening online, the social web has exploded as the primary way to share interesting stuff, tell the world what you're up to in real-time and stay more connected to more people. In today's world of status messages, tweets and update streams, it's increasingly tough to sort through it all, much less engage in meaningful conversations.

    Our belief is that organizing the social information on the web — finding relevance in the noise — has become a large-scale challenge, one that Google's experience in organizing information can help solve. We've recently launched innovations like real-time search and Social Search, and today we're taking another big step with the introduction of a new product, Google Buzz.

    Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It's built right into Gmail, so you don't have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there's always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don't have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox, so you're sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time.


    Official Google Blog: Introducing Google Buzz

    Google now offering limited phone support for the Nexus One

    We saw the hints that phone support was going to be added for Nexus One owners, and, well, it is now available. Current Nexus One owners and those waiting on an order are now able to call in and speak to a live operator by dialing 888-48NEXUS (888-486-3987).

    The call center will be in addition to the currently existing email and support forum and will be open for calls between 7am and 10pm PST (10am and 1am EST).

    As for the reasons to call the new Google support line, well those are a little limited. It seems that the call center will be handling issues dealing with an existing order (status and shipping issues).

    Which means the remaining issues will still fall back to either HTC or T-Mobile. According to the Nexus One Contacting Support page, calls for technical support, repairs or returns will still be handled by HTC. And as you would have most likely guessed, any calls regarding your T-Mobile service will still be handled by T-Mobile.

    Basically, it you have an issue with your order you will now have someone to call.

    Source
    :http://androinica.com/

    Tuesday, February 09, 2010

    Jailbreak iPhone 3GS/3G/2G on 3.1.3 Firmware With PwnageTool

    Finally the iPhone Dev-Team has released the PwnageTool 3.1.5 for Mac OS X which can be used to jailbreak iPhone OS 3.1.3 on iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS (older bootrom) and iPod Touch 1G and iPod Touch 2G non-MC model. The latest PwnageTool 3.1.5 allows you to update your iPhone Firmware without changing the baseband. If you had already upgraded your iPhone 3GS to 3.1.3 firmware, then your baseband will be upgraded from 04.26.08 or 5.11.04 to 05.12.01 and the baseband cannot be unlocked.

    So if you are a Mac user, you can download PwnageTool 3.1.5 to upgrade the firmware of your iPod or iPod Touch to 3.1.3 without changing the baseband. After you had successfully jailbroken your iPhone, you can use ultrasn0w to unlock it so that you can use a sim of your choice.



    Source:http://www.techhail.com/iphone/

    Gmail to get social features to compete Facebook

    According to Wall Street, Google is planning to pimp Gmail to make it social network place that will allow users to exchange status and updates with friends and family members. It also let users to share web content links or stories which make it in direct competition with Facebook and MySpace.

    No official comment was not received from Google about reshaping Gmail, however, company has reportedly invited journalists and bloggers to its events which is scheduled on Tuesday in the Mountain View, California.

    The status update will ultimately emerged with other Google services such as YouTube and Picasa.

    Sources:http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/102813.htm

    Monday, February 08, 2010

    BlackBerry to get Gmail syncing?

    Seems there is no shortage of BlackBerry Internet Service information these days. The BIS 3.0/3.1 documents contain a few long awaited changes. The folks over once again tipped off to more BIS 3.0 information. After having looked at the files, some of what we had learned from the last leak was once again confirmed. Check out the run down.
    • GMail - The enhanced plugin will get an update which allows for read/unread status of email.

    • Open Office- Open Office documents will gain support for presentations, text, speadsheets.

    • WMA Support - Long awaited handling of WM Audio will be supported now in attachments.

    • Email Setup /Validation - An enhanced email set up application will be added. Increasing security for end user and methods of email validation/revalidation uponPIN changes.

    • Carrier Enhancements - Error messages will now be more indicative of who they should be related to. ie: "If you are having a problem please contact .

    • Other -Carrier based tools such as BIS Admin which help with troubleshooting customers.

    Nice updates most importantly out of all of it would be the GMail, Open Office and WMA support as I see it. The email validation and settings is something that some users will appreciate especially first time users, those familiar won't even likely notice until it comes time to change a device. Can't say I like having to wait for all these changes to happen but it's good to know they are coming. Now how about a new browser since I didn't really have an issue with the email before?

    Source:
    http://crackberry.com/blackberry-internet-service-3-0-details-leaked-again

    Love and the Super Bowl

    If you watched the Super Bowl this evening you'll have seen a video from Google called "Parisian Love". In fact you might have watched it before, because it's been on YouTube for over three months. We didn't set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search. Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and it's had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience.

    If you like it too, we hope you'll watch the others. Enjoy.

    Official Google Blog: Love and the Super Bowl

    Facebook Webmail Approaching?

    There’s a strong rumor saying there’s an internal Facebook project developing to be released to the public soon: Facebook’s Webmail.



    As greedy as it could sound to you, it really doesn’t seem like a big shock, Facebook is the biggest social network available with over 350 million users and with an amazing growth in the last few years. Constantly looking for new ways to expand; a while ago we’ve showed you an interview of Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckeberg, that said Facebook is not intended to be a simple website, they are looking to represent your identity in Internet.

    There isn’t much information about the project, which already has a codename: Titan and that your mail address will be the same used in your vanity URL. In my case should be augusto.a.alvarez@facebook.com. And of course, you will be able to set E-Mail Clients like Outlook or Thunderbird to access your mail using POP or IMAP protocols.

    The webmail really sounds like a very possible next step. Could we expect next a bigger instant messaging experience?

    Source: http://crenk.com/facebook-webmail-approaching/

    Saturday, February 06, 2010

    X2 launches new tablet computer, dubs it the iTablet


    Fresh off the heels of Apple’s iPad launch, UK manufacturer X2 today announced the launch of a new tablet computer that they have dubbed the iTablet, according to several UK sites. A slick marketing move, though Apple might not think so.

    The iTablet comes in either 10.2-inch or 12.1-inch sizes and includes an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, 250 GB hard drive, a 3G chip and runs Windows 7. Coming in at 35mm thick (Apple’s iPad is 13.4mm), the iTablet might seem a bit clunky. Though the reason behind the thickness makes sense, the devices offers USB 2.0 ports, HDMI out support and a 1.3 megapixel camera.

    According to the company website, X2 manufacturers several different tablet computers and its clients are mainly in the industrial, commercial, military and government sectors. The company’s other tablet computers are much more rugged and enterprise focused than the newly launched iTablet.

    While I commend X2 for trying to push into the personal computing space, the iTablet feels more like a glorified netbook based on its specs than the competitor to Apple’s iPad that the name might suggest.


    Source:
    http://digital.venturebeat.com/2010/02/05/x2-itablet-ipad/

    Motorola Droid Gets Google Maps with Multi-Touch Suppport

    After the addition of pinch and zoom on the Nexus One, it is turn of the Motorola Droid to get that feature too on the same new Google map app version 3.4.0 (available on the Android Market) . The Gallery and the browser with P-A-Z capability have to wait a little longer however.

    Other enhancements included in this update:

    * Starred items from Google.com now sync with maps
    * Search suggestions from maps include maps.Google.com search history
    * Night mode navigation

    Source:http://solsie.com/2010/02/motorola-droid-gets-map-with-multi-touch/

    Friday, February 05, 2010

    WordPress for BlackBerry v1.0 releases officially

    The beta days are over.We’ve been following WordPress for BlackBerry for quite sometime now, and were waiting for the new official version to roll out leaving beta behind. Many of you may seem to not care for the update at first, but wait til you see the new features in this build:

    • Ability to record and upload videos from your phone. We now support both 3gp and 3g2 formats on older generation BlackBerry devices.

    • Introducing support for the HD video service VideoPress.

    • Streamlined UI and functionality relating to comment moderation

    • Overall enhancements to the speed and stability of the app


    If you’re browsing via PC or Mac, click here to check out the video demo for WordPress v1.0 to get a better idea of what it has to offer. Convinced yet? You can now download WordPress for BlackBerry from the BlackBerry App World absolutely free.

    Source:http://www.pocketberry.com/2010/02/04/wordpress-for-blackberry-v1-0-releases-officially/

    The Symbian open source opportunity

    The announcement that the Symbian platform is now wholly open source represents a unique moment for the mobile industry as a whole. The most widely distributed smartphone platform, the biggest migration from proprietary to open source software in history; delivered 4 months ahead of schedule (go to here to navigate different aspects of the open sourcing). Symbian also represents the largest addressable market for developers in mobile.

    The migration is backed by the foundation’s broad commitment to openness: Any individual or organization can now take, use and modify the code for any purpose, whether that be for a mobile device or for something else entirely. Openness also includes complete transparency in future plans, including the publication of the platform roadmap and planned features up to and including 2011. Anyone can now influence the roadmap, contribute new features and build market opportunity.

    Here are a couple of links to additional videos you might want to review. We’ll post them here later too.

    For Chris Davidson on being open source go here,

    And here for chief architect Daniel Rbio on the Symbian System Model.

    Source
    :http://blog.symbian.org/2010/02/04/symbian-is-open/

    Thursday, February 04, 2010

    Advantages of Custom Software Development

    “Custom Software Development" is considered more important these days in the IT scenario. Though this is not a new technology in IT, it has vastly improved a number of specific functions within the whole IT organization. It is gaining popularity as it is a bright new chapter in the field. It comes with it's package of advantages and each firm,whether small or big is looking forward to avail all it's benefits and services. Now the business world is becoming dependent on new techniques. In that case, custom software development is of tremendous use. Each and every business firm is ultimately planning to make it's way to custom software development.

    Now the question arises where do we need the Custom Software Development? Each firm whether small or big has it's own business functions and requirements. Therefore, in order to fulfill these requirements, the firms have to tailor-made products to execute in an efficient manner. This is where Custom Software Development comes into play. With the help of custom software development your business will reach new heights and for good results.

    In today's age of competition, custom web development is one answer that meets the specific needs of the clients. The major advantages of custom software development includes it's cost-effectiveness, high quality scalable custom solutions that can perform and deliver quick results. In addition, it saves your money and time too. This is why it is gaining popularity among various business fields. It offers you solutions as per your needs, and you will not find anything that is not of any interest to you.

    Although, custom software development offers you a lot of relaxations but it can be effective if and only if you approach a right software developer. Every software development initially begins with studying the business requirements, preparation of records, execution of plans and following standard development life cycle processes at each stage of the project.

    A software developer should be chosen accordingly. Such as he should be able to justify your business and perform according to what you want out of your business. Moreover, the software developer must be experienced in multifaceted project management. He should be responsible enough to complete the project successfully within the given time limits. The relation between the developer and you as a client should be maintained. Thorough communications should be made. Both the parties, the developer as well as the client, must be able to understand each other's requirements. And also work on the common objectives to meet those requirements.

    Basically, the selection of custom software development depends on you. And the above mentioned points will be helpful in ensuring that your organization gets the maximum benefit at the most reasonable price.

    A1 Technology, Inc. an Offshore Outsourcing Company offer cutting-edge solutions by using technology in a more productive and effective way. Our cost effective solutions are efficient procedures for both industry leaders and small companies to reduce expenses and retain a competitive advantage.

    A1Technology is a leading Offshore Software Development Company in India. We possess specialized aptitude in Custom Software Development, E-commerce Software Development using custom software programming including .NET, C#.NET, PHP, Open Source, JAVA, J2ME, J2EE, Oracle, Mobile Application and AJAX.

    Ovi Maps Navigation Downloaded 1 Million Times In First Week

    Nokia is more than pleased with the take-up of the new Ovi Maps, announcing over 1 million downloads of the free sat-nav service in the first week.

    The five most popular phones to get the service are the Nokia N97, N97 Mini, Nokia E72, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the new Nokia 5230 - even more impressive considering the N97 was a latecomer to the upgrade party.

    Nokia's Executive Vice President Anssi Vanjoki was suitably elated with the rapid take-up:

    " This is great news for our 3rd party application developers. Within a matter of days there is an installed base of more than 1 million active users all potentially hungry for new and innovative location-aware apps.

    When we announced free walk & drive navigation we knew it would be a game-changer. The number of people now using their Nokia for navigation, and as a result looking for more location-aware software, is growing faster than even we predicted."


    Bringing free turn-by-turn navigation to Symbian phones has been an interesting move for Nokia, both putting their handsets within striking distance of dedicated GPS devices at an attractive price-point, as well as re-invigorating interest in Symbian as a legitimate platform for developers.

    Source
    :http://darlamack.blogs.com

    Monster Acquires Yahoo Hot Jobs for $225 Million


    Monster has announced that they will be acquiring the “assets” of Yahoo HotJobs for $225 million in cash. I’m not going to scrape the press release, you can read it here. I wonder what will be left of Yahoo after all of their consolidations, partnerships and sales. Yahoo says today’s sale will allow them to focus on their core businesses and, “delivering exceptional experiences to users, partners and advertisers.”

    Here are the specific particulars regarding the agreement on top of the HotJobs acquisition, “Monster and Yahoo! have also entered into a three year commercial traffic agreement, to take effect upon the closing of the acquisition, in which Monster will become Yahoo!’s provider of career and job content on the Yahoo! homepage in the United States and Canada. The traffic agreement calls for performance based annual payments calculated by clicks and expressions of interest, subject to annual floors and ceilings.

    In addition, the traffic agreement provides Monster with an exclusive right for a period of time following the closing of the acquisition to negotiate similar traffic agreements with Yahoo! properties on a global basis, including countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, subject to certain limitations.”

    The job aggregators including Simply Hired and Indeed are doing well because they pull in jobs from multiple sources. But many of the jobs that the aggregators pull in come from Monster and that means Monster most likely made money on the initial job posting.

    The interesting thing here is that Web 1.0 is still alive and kicking. It’s also interesting that when you look at so many categories, the Web 1.0 site in that category is still the biggest player.

    As a side note, I still think Yahoo will wind up with AOL – the more they sell off, the more appealing the merger would be. Especially as both businesses get even closer in terms of offerings.

    Source:http://www.centernetworks.com/monster-acquires-yahoo-hotjobs

    Tuesday, February 02, 2010

    Steve Jobs calls Adobe 'lazy', says Google can't 'kill the iPhone'

    Apple CEO Steve Jobs isn’t holding back with how he really feels about Google and Adobe - at least according to Wired and some anonymous sources over in Cupertino.

    According to the Wired piece, Jobs let loose on his Silicon Valley neighbors/frenemies during an Apple employee Town Hall-style meeting.

    The highlights of the speech? Starting off with Google,Jobs fired off that Apple “did not enter the search business,” rather that Google “entered the phone business” and “they want to kill the iPhone” with the HTC Nexus One. But Jobs won’t let that happen on his (probably touchscreen) watch.

    He then allegedly roared that Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” motto is, well, “bullshit.” (But now that quote is being disputed.)

    Then on to Adobe, Jobs just thinks they’re plain “lazy.” And if you ever wondered why your MacBook is crashing, it’s all Flash’s fault, he said, continuing on that HTML5 is the way of the future. (Maybe he’s just upset because everyone made a big deal that the iPad doesn’t really handle Flash and it was so obvious at the press event last week.)

    So is any of this true? Maybe some of the language is questionable, but I wouldn’t really be surprised about any of this. It’s just business, not personal, right?

    Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=11925

    Revealed: Which social networks pose the biggest risk?

    One of the nuggets of interesting data inside the newly-published Sophos Security Threat Report 2010 reveals which social network people believe poses the biggest security risk.

    We polled over 500 firms, and 60% felt that Facebook was the biggest danger:



    We shouldn't forget, of course, that Facebook is by far the largest social network - and you'll find more bad apples in the biggest orchard.

    The truth is that the security team at Facebook works hard to counter threats on their site - it's just that policing 350 million users can't be an easy job for anyone. But there is no doubt that simple changes could make Facebook users safer. For instance, when Facebook rolled-out its new recommended privacy settings late last year, it was a backwards step, encouraging many users to share their information with everybody on the internet.

    Although LinkedIn is considered to be by far the least threatening of the networks, it's worth remembering that it can still provide a sizeable pool of information for hackers.

    Targeted attacks against companies are in the news at the moment, and the more information a criminal can get about your organization's structure, the easier for them to send a poisoned attachment to precisely the person whose computer they want to break into.

    Sites like LinkedIn provide hackers with what is effectively a corporate directory, listing your staff's names and positions. This makes it child's play to reverse-engineer the email addresses of potential victims.

    If you haven't already done so, download the Sophos Security Threat Report 2010now.

    http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2010/02/01/revealed-social-networks-pose-biggest-risk/

    Monday, February 01, 2010

    BlackBerry Bold 9700 launched in India

    Research In Motion has refreshed its Bold smartphone line-up in the country with the launch of BlackBerry Bold 9700.



    With a 2.44-inch TFT LCD display, the phone offers a resolution of 480x360 pixels. Featuring a full-QWERTY keyboard touch with sculpted keys and chrome accents, the phone packs a wide range of communication and multimedia features.

    Bold 9700 supports 3G HSDPA networks and is equipped with 624 MHz processor and 256 MB on-board Flash memory.

    The phone has a built-in GPS, Wi-Fi, 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus, 2X digital zoom, flash and video recording. As for battery, the phone supports talktime of upto 6 hours and standby time of upto 21 days/504 hours.

    Bold 9700 also supports BlackBerry App World which features a catalog of mobile applications. The phone is available for Rs 31,990.

    Source:http://infotech.indiatimes.com/

    ​Modern browsers for modern applications

    The web has evolved in the last ten years, from simple text pages to rich, interactive applications including video and voice. Unfortunately, very old browsers cannot run many of these new features effectively. So to help ensure your business can use the latest, most advanced web apps, we encourage you to update your browsers as soon as possible. There are many choices:

    Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0+

    Mozilla Firefox 3.0+

    Google Chrome 4.0+

    Safari 3.0+


    Many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers. We’re also going to begin phasing out our support, starting with Google Docs and Google Sites. As a result you may find that from March 1 key functionality within these products -- as well as new Docs and Sites features -- won’t work properly in older browsers.

    2010 is going to be a great year for Google Apps and we want to ensure that everyone can make the most of what we are developing. Please take the time to switch your organization to the most up-to-date browsers available.

    Posted by Rajen Sheth, Google Apps Senior Product Manager


    Official Google Enterprise Blog: ​Modern browsers for modern applications

    E-book price war Amazon Vs. Macmillan Books

    The New York Times notes that books from Macmillan, one of the largest U.S. publishers, have been removed from Amazon.com. The post says that Amazon made the move in a disagreement over pricing. The publisher has asked Amazon to lift e-book prices to around $15 from $9.99. “Amazon is expressing its strong disagreement by temporarily removing Macmillan books,” the Times reports.

    As the piece notes, Macmillan is one of the publishers signed on to sell books through the new Apple iBooks store. Macmillan sells books under the Farrar, Straus & Giroux, St. Martins Press and Henry Holt brands. The Times notes that the books can still be purchased from third parties on the Amazon site.

    The Times reports that Macmillan proposed selling books for the Kindle under the same terms it will offer to Apple for the iPad. Under that model, the publisher sets the price, and revenue is split 70/30, with the larger share going to the publisher. Macmillan told Amazon it could keep buying e-books under the existing model - paying 50% of hardcover list price while pricing wherever it chooses - but that Macmillan would delay those editions by seven months after the hardcover release.

    Neither company is commenting on the record.

    It’s a fascinating battle, which at the heart revolves around this question: who gets to set prices for electronics books: the publishers or the sellers?