Google Nexus S and the iPhone will be Taken to Space by Atlantis

The most recent Space Shuttle voyage will take Android alongside the two iPhones as soon as Atlantis launches on Friday, NASA said the day before. Two Google Nexus S phones will be taken to the International Space Station to inflate the features of SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites), drones used to test spacecraft techniques and satellite maintenance.

The phones will produce the floating pods freedom to be controlled from the ground, cameras for a first-person view, and additional performance than they would cover on their own.

An upgrade will transform the devices into efficient servant robots for the crew, the Intelligent Robotics Group's DW Wheeler told CNET. Among the possibilities are scanning materials or looking for clear flaws. The goal is to ultimately keep ISS crew members paying attention on their missions and not on basic tasks.

The phones' installation is estimated to take place in September or October.

Carrying both of the two major American smartphone platforms can be symbolic for Atlantis. For many, Apple and Google at the same time represent the new forefront of US technology while the Space Shuttle is bowing out over 30 years after it too was the cutting edge. The iPhones and Nexus S phones are both being used to conduct experiments that wouldn't have been achievable on Earth or before modern smartphones.

Atlantis is scheduled to launch at 11:26AM Eastern and, appropriately, will have live streaming coverage optimized both for Android and iPhone viewers.

SPHERES

Via Electronista

Technorati Tags: iPhone,Nexus,Google,Apple,Android

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First YouTube Video EVER Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary

It's been a landmark week: we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill, and the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Telescope.

April 23 marks a lesser known, but nonetheless important, event: the fifth anniversary of the first video uploaded to YouTube.

YouTube was founded February 14, 2005, but the first video to hit the site--a 19 second clip of YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim at the San Diego zoo--didn't come until April 23, 2005.

Check out the first-ever YouTube video below, then we want to hear from you: What is your favorite YouTube video ever? And why?

From : huffingtonpost.com

Technorati Tags: Youtube,Video

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Google (finally) pays bounties for Chrome bug reports Up to $1,337

Google will begin paying bounties as high as $1,337 to researchers who privately report high-severity security bugs in its Chrome browser and Chromium open-source project.

The "experimental new incentive," which Google announced Thursday, is for external researchers only.

It addresses a key complaint among many researchers that the security of far too many applications is built on the backs of people who receive no compensation for the countless hours they spend discovering and reporting critical vulnerabilities.

"It's a step in the right direction because it's compensating security researchers for their time in looking for vulnerabilities," said Dino Dai Zovi, a researcher who last year launched a campaign with the rallying cry "No more free bugs". "A lot of companies treat vulnerabilities as accidental discoveries, which is really not the case."

From : theregister

Technorati Tags: Google,Bug,Money,Chrome,Browser

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Schmidt: "Android Adoption Is About To Explode"

During Google's third quarter earnings conference call today, one message came out loud and clear: Google's mobile strategy is starting to pay off. "Android adoption is about to explode," declared CEO Eric Schmidt, explaining that all the "necessary conditions" are set for growth: There are now 12 Android phones out there (most recently the Motorola Cliq) across 32 carriers in 26 countries.

The whole Android strategy, of course, is to offer an low-cost, fully-featured, open-source OS and hand that to the cell phone manufacturers so that they can concentrate more on designing desirable hardware. And what does Google get out of all that? More mobile searches, which could be one of its biggest sources of growth in the coming years.

Already, Google is teasing at what may be in store. During the call, Google executive mentioned at least three times that mobile searches on Google were up 30 percent from the second quarter. Of course, they wouldn't say how many total mobile searches there were or what percentage of all searches they represent (probably still a very small subset), but they are very bullish about the company's mobile prospects.

In response to a question about how material mobile searches are to Google, CFO Patrick Pichette replied:

Again, we don't give the detail numbers. On a quarter over quarter basis, mobile searches grew 30% on Google. It tells you something about the mobile space, the smartphones, and how they are transformative. They are basically transforming how people live on a mobile basis. If we move forward the adoption of these mobile phones by lowering the cost because it is open source, think of how many searches [that will produce]. 

From : washingtonpost.com

Technorati Tags: Adroid,Google,Schmidt

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Google offices ablaze after rooftop barbecue goes wrong

A blaze broke out at Google's British headquarters today, when a rooftop barbecue got out of control.

The blaze broke out on the roof patio of the company's London offices at lunchtime, the fire brigade said.

Around 5,000 Google staff and employees from other firms based in the six-floor building were evacuated.

Within minutes nearby workers had posted pictures of the blaze on the social networking website Twitter.

A spokesman from Google said: 'We have free food for staff at our offices and today was a barbecue day. We were having a barbecue on the patio where the fire started, but we're waiting to hear from the firefighters whether the two are linked.'

Firefighters were called just before 2pm to Victoria in south west London and spent two hours bringing it under control.

A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said: 'We attended a six-storey building on Buckingham Palace Road. We had four fire engines in attendance with 20 fire fighters.

'A small patio area on the fifth floor was alight.'

He said there would be an investigation once the fire was put out.

The Google spokesman added: 'There was no serious damaged to the building and thankfully no one was hurt. We're all back in the offices now.'

The internet giant has developed a reputation for being one of the world's most employee-friendly businesses.

In its world HQ in California, staff have access to volleyball courts, swimming pools video games, ping pong, pinball machines and even a baby grand piano.

The only people found wearing suits and ties are visiting businessmen, 'Googlers' wear jeans, t-shirts, sweaters and on occasion some even show up in pyjama bottoms.

Other perks include free haircuts, dry cleaning and laundry, child care, car services and five onsite doctors available for employee check-ups; all free of charge.

From : dailymail

Technorati Tags: Google,Blaze,Office,Fire

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Google Chrome OS Announced

After eons of speculation stating that Google is secretly working on an OS, they finally are, except it’s not so secret anymore.

Google has just announced the Google Chrome OS, which is targeted towards netbooks and, as the name may hint to you, mainly intends on providing you with a more web-integrated OS solution with easy access to Google’s vast and widely used online suite of services.

Google Chrome OS will be a lightweight and open source operating system that is going to be powered by the Linux kernel. It will run on both x86 and ARM chips. As more and more people are turning away from software and looking to the web to do more and more of their daily tasks, especially now with cloud computing and the ability to store your data on the cloud and access it anywhere, such as OS that is integrated with said tasks may come in handy for netbook users who need to do just this and don’t need the wide array of features provided by “competitors” such as Windows and OS X.

As stated on the Google blog, this will be a simple, lightweight browser specifically made to browse the web that is tied into the cloud so that your documents are synced and accessible anywhere somehow. Not much was said about the exact features that will be implemented in Chrome OS, but I’m interested in seeing what said features will be and how this will stack up to some of its real direct competitors such as Gazelle, Microsoft’s own attempt at the browser + OS fusion.

source: geeksmack.net

Technorati Tags: Google,Chrome,Operating System

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Microsoft's New Search Engine Puts Porn in Motion

Your kids may get a bang out of Bing — and that's not a good thing, Internet safety experts warned on Monday.

Bing, Microsoft's new search engine (www.bing.com), went live in the U.S. this weekend, aiming to challenge and possibly unseat industry titan Google.

But bloggers and Internet safety experts quickly discovered that one of Bing's "features" is that it takes only a few clicks for anyone — of any age — to view explicit pornographic videos without even leaving the search engine.

In its bid to beat Google, Microsoft has unveiled a slate of convenient features for Bing, including an "autoplay" tool that lets users preview videos simply by hovering a mouse over them.

That asset may become a liability, because users can get a taste of porn videos on Bing instead of having to go to a smutty Web site — an innovation other search engines have yet to offer.

Technology blogger Loic Le Meur noticed the issue early Monday after testing video search on Bing.

What he found was a cornucopia of pornography that he said transformed the search engine into its very own pornographic Web site.

"You are now on a porn site without leaving Bing. Amazing," Le Meur wrote on his blog.

Bing, like other major search engines, lets users set filtering preferences at one of three levels — strict, moderate or simply off.

Online safety advocates argue that search engines need to do much more to cut off underage access to pornography — because the filters can be circumvented easily with just one click.

Quoted from Foxnews.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Search Engine,Porn

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Wolfram Alpha Versus Google, who is the winner?

LONDON - Wolfram Alpha is a new search engine that could recast the way we use the website.

As a new competitor of Google, often compared to Google.

Since launch last week, the  millions website users want to try the ability of this new search engine.

Stephen Wolfram, creator of the website says this on the first 24 hours Wolfarm Alpha started life online, he has received 10,000 messages as feedback from our users.

"Feedback that they send a very useful and entertaining. They give a lot of advice for Wolfarm Alpha progress in the future," he said as quoted from the Telegraph, Tuesday (5/20/2009).

Some analysts trying to compare Wolfarm Alpha with Google's to know the importance in which ability is often compared between Google and Wolfarm.

Here are five Wolfarm Alpha comparison with Google:
1. Estimated weather
Wolfram Alpha: the present results are grid-style seem less visually satisfying as is done by Google. However Wolfarm Alpha presents the latest information about the temperature, conditions, wind speed and relative humidity. Even equipped with the same historical weather data that occurred on the same day in different years in the past.

Google: With as many as 4,340,000 search results, Google also provides a glimpse weather in particular regions with the temperature data and weather forecast three days future.

Which is better? for practical use, Google is winning in this case. Meanwhile, Wolfram Alpha has advantages in providing historical weather words.

2) What is 46 km per hour in a matter of feet per second?
Wolfram Alpha: Results from Wolfram tells that 46km per hour, equivalent to 41.92 feet per second. This information is very helpful to know the speed in meters per second, miles per minute even in knots.

Google: While Google can do many tasks and the conversion only with the 1.8 m in ft, for example, but Google should admit the benefits of Wolfarm Alpha in this case. If users want to get the answers questions such as this precisely through Google, must avoid the acronym. While Wolfarm Alpha can do this better.

3) Plot Ai(x)

Wolfram Alpha: When typing this sentence, analysts do not know the purpose this question. However, Wolfarm Alpha respond with a graph showing two believed that the sense of a genius mathematic owned by Wolfarm Alpha.

Google: What about Google? This search engine provides search results of 674,000 that is not useful. Fact, for this Wolfarm Alpha be more responsive and genius in responding to difficult questions such as this.

4) The characters in Star Wars
Wolfram Alpha: this search engine respond to questions with answers Spock-like, appears to be Wolfarm Alpha does not seem confident with the answers that result in a search engine.

Google: top results on Google showed the link to the Wikipedia page of a site that displays detail information of a characters in Star Wars. This adds the benefits of Google.

5) The highest mountain
Wolfram Alpha: In surprise, the results do not reveal anything on this search. Apparently an error occurred on the input language search bar. When replaced with a sentence that is correct, then Wolfarm Alpha search results display the five highest mountains. However, it can be seen that Wolfarm Alpha does not have the capacity in correction input language automatically.

Google: Instead, as predicted earlier, Google is more responsive. Google automatically presents a list of 100's highest mountain with the height data, the point coordinates, and completeness of data supporting the other more comprehensive.

Visit: Wolfram Alpha and Google.com

Technorati Tags: Google,Versus,Wolfram Alpha

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Street View under fire in Japan

Google's Street View service suffered a second blow this week after numerous complaints in Japan forced the firm to start reshooting all the photos.

Cameras attached to the Street View car were "too high" for Japanese buildings, allowing them to see over walls into private areas.

Google said it would lower the cameras on its cars by 40cm (16in).

On 12 May, Greece's data protection agency ordered Google to stop filming because of privacy concerns.

In a statement, Google said it would make "locally appropriate modifications to ensure a better user experience".

"We have lowered the height of the camera due to the unique characteristics of many Japanese roads; they tend to be narrow, without pavements and driveways, and houses are built close to the street," the statement said.

"We think the new camera height allows us to get a high-quality image of the street while respecting the privacy of homeowners."

The Street View service covers 12 cities in Japan, including Tokyo and Osaka.

Timeline

First launched in the US two years ago, Street View now covers nine countries including the United Kingdom, and Google wants to expand the service to cover all of Europe.

Users zoom in to a location in Google Maps, and then drag the "Pegman" icon above the zoom bar on to a given street.

A picture of that street appears, which users can control to get a 360-degree view of the area or to progress on street level, throughout the city.

Google says the service shows only imagery already visible from public thoroughfares.

However, it has come in for criticism from some quarters, being accused of an invasion of privacy.

Earlier this week, Greece's data protection agency banned Google from expanding its Street View service in the country, pending "additional information" from the firm.

Authorities want to know how long the images will be kept on Google's database and what measures it will take to make people aware of privacy rights.

In the UK, residents near Milton Keynes blocked the driver of a Google Street View car in April when he started taking photographs of their homes saying the service was "facilitating crime".

The Pentagon has also banned Google from filming near or inside its military bases, saying it posed a "potential threat" to security.

Source : BBC

Technorati Tags: Google,Street View

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Google unveils new tools

Google has announced a new application it hopes will make internet searches more relevant. The Google Search options will let users sort their results in several new ways to narrow their search down.

These include showing only pages with a certain type of content, those organized by date or time and graphical searches.

There is also a 'related searches' option. This feature suggests other possibilities that could aid searches. A 'Wonder Wheel' uses graphics to show people how related topics are clustered together.

Google Search options could prove particularly helpful for searches that are hard to express with keywords (such as 'Show me discussions about the Oscars in forums') or when you want to explore topics more broadly or refine them.

The tool will be available immediately so that when a user inputs search terms into the search box, there will be a 'show options' link.

Despite being the most popular search engine in the UK, the web giant said it could not afford to take anything for granted and has more new tools on the way.

Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice-president of products, said: "The race in search is far from over and innovation and continued improvement is absolutely pivotal. "

There are three new products in the pipeline worth watching out for. Rich Snippets will give additional information about the content of suggested website links. For example, a restaurant review may include menu prices.

Google Squared, which is expected to be made publicly available in a month or so, takes information from the web and displays in a spreadsheet. For example, a query for a small dog typed into the search box will bring up a table showing photos of various dogs, their origin, weight and height.

And the company also wants to reach out to the stars with Skymap. This application is for mobile phones using the Android operating system. By using a smartphone's GPS capabilities it will display the constellations and show the person where they are standing and which way they are pointing.

Source : vnunet.com

Technorati Tags: Google,Search Engine

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Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil secrets

Government of Japan angry due to a service owned by Google, Google Earth. In one collection, Google Earth detail reveals the location of the existence of caste in Japan that actually has been eliminated.

Caste system living in the era of feudal rule in SHOGUN and they apply the rules with a very loud.

With their presence a secret location, Japan is not likely to want to have discrimination in the community. Through the Department of Justice, Japan to shake on Google.

As a response, Google issued a formal statement to this case. Quoted from CNBC on Monday (5/4/2009), Google said, "We really put the attention on the big issues of human rights and did not aim to break it".

Now a map of old Japan was repaired by Google, as well as a reference point in the village Buraku, the lowest caste isolated by Japan because of their lifestyle that are associated with mortality.

Technorati Tags: Google,Japan,Secret,Map

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Gmail Enables SMS Messaging From Chat

Only a few days after the launch of its new task manager, Gmail has introduced a new feature allowing users to send free SMS messages through its integrated Chat. To activate the feature, visit the Gmail Labs page and scroll down until you see the appropriate listing (you may also want to activate a few of the other nifty features while you’re at it).

To send a message, just type a phone number into the search box at the top of the chat window on the left side of the Gmail interface, and hit ‘Send SMS’. Numbers can be associated with contact names so you don’t have to keep manually entering them. Recipients of these messages can respond by simply hitting ‘reply’ on their cell phones to send their own SMS message (Gmail ties a unique phone number with each of your contacts).

According to the Gmail blog post, the site is currently testing out the service with US phones only for now (messages can be sent from abroad, they just need to be directed at a US phone).

Gmail first toyed around with the feature in October, but wound up pulling it from Labs for a few weeks because of a number of glitches. This time, it seems like it’s here to stay.

This isn’t by any means the first chat service to offer free SMS messaging - major chat networks like AIM have been doing this for years. But it’s a handy feature, especially for the many people who use Gmail all day long.

Source : techcrunch.com

Technorati Tags: Gmail,SMS,Chat,Messaging

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Google Street View, auto-correction prefs in iPhone OS 2.2 beta

A list of enhancements that may arrive in the next version of the iPhone operating system continues to grow with the unearthing of Google Street View support and an auto-correction toggle hidden in the most recent beta of the software.

Last week AppleInsider reported that the first private beta of iPhone Software 2.2 included a redesigned Safari address bar, as well as a new version of the App Store application with interface tweaks and a new bug report feature.

While those changes are visible to developers testing the software, a post at MacRumors details support for a few other features that have thus far remain inaccessible to developers, as they're not yet fully activated in the betas.

Among them is a preference to turn off the iPhone's text auto-correction. A request for this functionality was recently the subject of an online petition that has since received over 20,000 signatures.

Another feature is support for Google Street View in the iPhone's Maps application. Street View provides 360 degree panoramic views of major cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas using still photographs that have been stitched together. Google and T-Mobile recently highlighted support for Street Views on the G1 -- the first Android-based handset due to go on sale later this month.

Separately, and most critically, iPhone Software 2.2 appears to contain the groundwork for emoji icon support. Emoji is a form of Japanese clip art that can be inserted in sentences to spruce up email messages. A lack of emoji support was recently cited by the Wall Street Journal as one of the barriers to adoption faced by the iPhone in Japan.

Apple has offered no indication of when it plans to release iPhone Software version 2.2 and it's unclear whether the aforementioned features will be included in the release or held back for a future update.

Source : appleinsider.com

Technorati Tags: apple,iphone,google,gadget

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Google agrees to brief delay of Yahoo ad deal

WASHINGTON —  Google Inc. agreed to delay the start of a Web advertising partnership with rival Yahoo Inc., giving U.S. antitrust regulators more time to review the deal.

Under a plan announced in June, Google would provide advertising next to some of Yahoo's search results. The companies voluntarily held off for three months to give regulators time to assess whether the alliance will hurt competition.

Microsoft Corp., the No. 3 player in Web search, and a large group of advertisers, have protested the deal because together, Google and Yahoo control more than 80 percent of the rapidly growing U.S. market for search advertising.

Two weeks ago, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told The Associated Press he would not wait much beyond the intended Oct. 11 start date.

But in a statement Friday, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company said that since it was still in talks with the Department of Justice, it has agreed to "a brief delay" in implementing the agreement while the discussions continue.

The deal with Google represented a much-needed escape hatch for Yahoo, under pressure from shareholders to prove it could recover from lackluster financial performances after spurning a rich takeover offer from Microsoft.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source : foxnews.com

Technorati Tags: google,yahoo,microsoft,ads

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How Android Hurts Microsoft

Think "baby seals" with regards to the clubbing Google gave Microsoft today.

"Whack, whack, whack" was the sound coming out of New York, where Google, HTC and T-Mobile launched the Android-based G1. The mobile phone goes on sale Oct. 22.

Google clubbed Apple, too, but Microsoft will be the more seriously injured. Today, Google officially launched its alternative platform to the Windows PC. Microsoft is frakked.

The Android-based G1 is Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's worst fears bundled together in a tidy package: Google, Web applications, open source and a platform alternative to Windows. Worse: easy access to Google's plethora of online services—including Calendar, Contacts, Gmail, Google Talk, Maps Street View and YouTube—via single sign-on. There is a single point of connection and synchronization to Google's goodie bag. Get this: No PC is required. Google syncs from the Web to the phone. Microsoft has got nothing like it, but should.

As I've blogged before, sync is the killer application for the connected world. In 2007 I warned: "If Google gets synchronization right before Microsoft, it's game over." Something else I warned: "If Google and its partners can bring to mobile devices what they have to the desktop, I predict it will be game over for Microsoft. Windows' relevance will diminish before the Web platform."

I can't blog this enough times: The PC era is waning. The cell phone is more personal than the PC, and it has great Web 2.0 platform affinity. The cell phone's destiny is inevitable. Mobiles will replace PCs as the most widely used personal devices; today, they're more adjuncts. There's a role reversal rapidly coming. For many teens using T-Mobile Sidekicks or businesspeople tapping BlackBerrys, the transition already is here.

Google Like Glue

But Google's clubbing of Microsoft is a more complex action than that. The first Android-based cell phone begins a transition that could solve some big problems for Google:

* Search isn't sticky enough. For all Google's search success, another provider is but a new Web address away. Search isn't sticky. People can easily change search providers. Applications are stickier. Hardware is stickiest. People who buy G1s will get the Google brand (on the back) and easily accessible Google-branded applications and services.

* Google is dependent on Microsoft for its success. For all Google's search dominance, the main means by which most people consume the information company's goods and services is the Windows PC. Google can't control Windows or the user experience there. Microsoft can make decisions about user interface design, Web applications integration or other platform characteristics that have huge impact on Google products—and Microsoft has huge incentive to keep computing relevance from shifting to the Web from the PC. Android-based cell phones give Google control on the emerging computing platform.

* Google didn't have its own operating system and development platform. The Web 2.0 platform is compelling, but it's not enough. As I've repeatedly blogged, the next successful computing platform must have software plus hardware plus services. In May, I blogged that Microsoft had solved the Google problem. But I'm no longer convinced. The first Android-based phone and Google's Chrome browser are game-changing. Google now has an independent platform and in the right place.

Cell phone manufacturers ship more mobiles each year—1 billion units—than the entire Windows PC install base. In many emerging markets, cell phones are the first Internet-capable devices many people own. The phenomenon is well documented from past technological transitions, where the new market skips over the old thing for something newer. Google has seen the future. Why hasn't Microsoft? The company is too bound to the desktop.

I can't express how much Microsoft has screwed up here. Compared to the iPhone or G1 UIs, Windows Mobile is clunky and chunky. There is no integrated application store, which is a killer concept, by the way. More importantly, there is no compelling integration or synchronization with other Microsoft products or services. Microsoft is driving integration from Internet Explorer 8, and I've long expected it with Windows 7, too. But not in mobile. Windows Live for Mobile has potential, but it doesn't compare to a Google-branded phone, running a Google operating system that links and syncs with Google services.

source: microsoft-watch.com

Technorati Tags: google,microsoft,android

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Google's Android Arriving Tomorrow

The big news this week will be the announcement for the first Android device from Google, HTC and T-Mobile. T-Mobile sent out invitations to the media to "experience the first Android-powered phone" on Tuesday, September 23rd.

A video demo from Google demonstrates the device's browser and interface of the upcoming device. The new device is said to be priced at $199 and "showcase the Google brand" and incorporate a swivel-out full keyboard along with an accelerometer and a large touch screen.

The new platform will obviously draw comparisons with Apple's iPhone. Google is promoting the openness of its platform at a time when Apple is seeing more criticism about its App approval process. Google will be introducing its own Android Market which provides developers a central repository for application sales and distribution. At launch, the Android Market will only offer free applications, but billing support should be coming at a later date. Unlike the App Store, the Android Market has no approval process and any developer can upload any application.
One of the particularly successful iPhone developers, however, is staying away from Android. Steve Demeter, who made headlines last week for having made $250,000 in sales of his iPhone game Trism, told AlleyInsider that the availability of multiple handset models could introduce more headaches than its worth:

“Do I want to be spending 6 months to write the game, and another 6 months making it compatible? If I had Trism available for Android, and there are 50 Android devices and every time one of them crashes (the users) contact me, do I want that?”

Instead, Demeter has been hiring and is working on 5 more iPhone games.

Source : macrumors.com

Technorati Tags: google,android,gadget

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Google buys Korean blogging software company

Google Inc has bought Korean blogging software developer Tatter and Company, the two companies said on Friday. The companies did not disclose how much Google paid for the acquisition.

Tatter co-chief executive Chang-Won Kim announced the deal on his personal blog in an entry titled "We've been Googled!", saying that the acquisition would help Google increase its market share in the country.

Kim described Google's market share in Korea as "minor" and said Korean Web users mainly use portals such as Yahoo Inc's.

Korea has the ninth-highest number of Internet users in the world, according to Internet World Stats, a Web site that tracks such data.

Google said in an e-mailed statement the acquisition will "allow us to enhance our publishing tools in Korea."

Tatter owns a blogging platform called Textcube, which Kim said was popular among Korean bloggers. Blogs are Web journals where people typically write opinions and link to other material on the Internet.

As part of Google, the company will try to introduce Textcube to bloggers outside Korea, Kim added.

Google already owns a blogging software called Blogger, which it acquired in 2003.  Continued...

Technorati Tags: google,blogging

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Download Google Chrome (BETA)

Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

One box for everything
Type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and web pages.

Thumbnails of your top sites
Access your favorite pages instantly with lightning speed from any new tab.

Shortcuts for your apps
Get desktop shortcuts to launch your favorite web applications.

Download : google.com/chrome/

Technorati Tags: browser,google,internet

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Google Enters the Browser Wars

A new superpower just entered the long-simmering browser war: On Tuesday, after years of secret work, Google, the world's most-popular search engine, will unveil its own browser, called "Chrome.

The software, which is in beta, will be distributed for free to PC users in over 100 countries via Google's blog. (Mac and Linux versions are in the works.) Word of the impending launch accidentally leaked Monday when Google mistakenly sent a comic-book-style announcement, detailing Chrome, to a blog.

"On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple," Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management, and Linus Upson, Engineering Director, wrote on the Official Google blog Monday afternoon. "To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go."

Chrome looks like a "best of" browser, incorporating — and in some cases, improving upon—a few of the most popular features of its competitors. Like Firefox's "awesome bar," Chrome's search blank keeps track of keywords in a users' previous visit, allowing one to type in, say, "baseball" to pull up any web pages he'd visited recently that pertained to that sport. Like Firefox, it also supports "tabs" as a way to open and keep track of multiple windows, though Chrome puts the tabs above the search blank rather than below. There's also a privacy function — which bloggers have dubbed the "porn mode"—that allows users to privately visit sites without Google or their History files recording the visits.

That feature, by the way, is also included in Microsoft's newest version of its popular browser, IE 8, which went into its second beta release last week.

With a 72% share of the browser market, Microsoft is the real target here. Far from sinking into irrelevance, desktop computer browsers have continued to evolve and become even more integral to how we use the Web. Whoever controls that experience can leverage it to the detriment of website owners—in ways that must keep the Google guys up at night. For instance, IE 8 makes it far easier to find something without going through Google search. When you search within IE 8, you're presented with a number of buttons, such as "Search Yahoo" or "Search Wikipedia."

"It shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone that Google's doing this," said John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, the world's second-most popular browser. Noting the aggressive direction that Microsoft is taking, he added: "I think Google has some nervousness around issues of control and ownership."

Over the long term, Firefox, which recently released its 3.0 version — downloaded more than 8 million times, a record — could be collateral damage in the Browser War. Google has long been a patron of its open-source browser, and pays a kind of "click back" to Mozilla for directing its 200 million users to Google search. In 2006, the last time Mozilla released its numbers on the subject, Google had paid the company $65 million. "It's north of that now," Lilly said. He noted that Google recently extended its relationship with Mozilla until 2011, which gives it plenty of time to maneuver. Likewise, as powerful as Google is in the search world, it only has, by some measures, around 135 million monthly users — a far smaller population than Firefox's users.

Indeed, getting people to actually download software, even free software, is a lousy business and takes lots of experience. Lilly, who is usually a calm fellow, appeared to be especially unperturbed by Google's encroachment into Firefox's terrain. "The most surprising thing about Google's announcement today was this — everyone has been talking about the mobile future," he said. "But desktop browsing is the really contested field right now."

Source : time.com

Technorati Tags: google,browser,internet

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Adsense: Sharing Your Ad Space

A number of publishers have asked us if it's acceptable to place multiple publishers' ad code on the same page or site. Often they'll run into this issue when two AdSense publishers manage a site together and both want to display their ads, or if a site owner hosts content and ads from other publishers on the same page as their own.
The answer is that yes, we do allow this. But before you place your ad code on the same page or site as another publisher, here are a few important points to keep in mind:

• The maximum number of products per page will remain the same.
• If you don't own the site, you'll need to receive permission from the site owner to display your ads on their pages.
• We're unable to divide earnings between accounts, so any revenue generated will be credited to the account associated with the ad unit that was clicked or viewed.
• Any shared site that displays Google ads must also comply with our program policies.
• You're responsible for the content of any page where your ad code appears. Before placing your ad code on another publisher's site, we recommend reviewing the site for any policy violations.

And one final tip before giving your code to another publisher -- try using our Allowed Sites feature to monitor where your ads are appearing and keep your account in good standing.

source: AdSense Publisher Support

Technorati Tags: google,adsense,advertisement

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