Archive for the ‘Google’ Category
The Google Online Store only sells one product: the Nexus One Android smart phone. Now, the store has been taken down and the Nexus One is no longer available through this specific channel.
When asked about the move, Google stated that the Nexus One has already achieved what Google wanted and expected of the handset. With many other Android devices already being released, it is hard to imagine that the Android community would insist that the handset stay available.
Either way, Vodafone UK is still offering the handset on certain contracts. Since it has not been announced how much stocks they have or how long they plan on offering the Nexus One, those who intend to own this Google branded smart phone ought to get one as soon as possible.
The Nexus One, despite not being a major selling handset, is actually an impressive piece of technology. The device comes with a 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen display, providing users with both amazing visual quality as well as responsive and accurate touch controls. The 1GHz Qualcomm MSM7227 Snapdragon CPU gives the Nexus One all the necessary power and speed to handle any app and feature without skipping a beat.
The handset also comes with a 5 mega pixel camera, support for WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and all the usual smart phone features. Google has added in an upgraded version of the speech detection software –which gives the Nexus One speech to text features. Users can even use speech commands to initiate search queries as well.
This handset is loaded with Android 2.1 Éclair, and is compatible with the new Android 2.2 Froyo update. Froyo makes the Android OS run faster (both the UI and browser has been upgraded), and it will also be compatible with the newly launched Adobe Flash Player version 10.1.
Tags: 5-mega-pixel, AMOLED, Android-2.1-Eclair, Android-2.2-Froyo, Google, Google-Android, Google-Nexus-One, Qualcomm-Snapdragon, Vodafone
There were plenty of impressive games that were released for the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System (also known as the Super Famicom in Japan). While most of these impressive titles are stored in cartridge format to be played, there are various PC accessories that would allow owners to store backup copies of the ROMs to their computer.
This little feature is taken full use of by the Android operating system. With many apps that allowed the smart phone to run emulations of old game consoles; these ROM backups can be played once again –providing the Android with a large library of impressive game titles.
Lucasart’s Metal Warriors is one such title. While the game itself was not so well known, the small circle of fans that have been able to try out the game will attest to its well made storyline, impressive gameplay and high replay value. Sadly, since the Google Android SNES emulation’s two player options are limited, it is hard to make full use of the game’s extended feature of letting to players duke it out.
The story mode however, remains fully intact. The game places players in control of a mech pilot, able to run up to six types of robot battle machines that are found in the game. While the pilot itself is a fragile little human armed with only a pistol, he can be made to pilot any empty mech found in the game –and this is where Metal Warriors truly shines.
Each of the 6 machines has their own unique forms, strengths, capabilities and limitations. Being able to pilot each properly takes practice and effort –but is ultimately very rewarding. The graphics are also very impressive. The sprites are well detailed and the mechs take battle damage in the form of dents, paint damage and eventually, loss of parts before it is fully destroyed.
Tags: apps, emulation, games, gogle, Google-Android, SNES
Fans of the Android smart phone have been enjoying the many apps and extra features that are available for the Android handset. Here are three choice Android apps that users will certainly appreciate on the Android smart phone.
First up the list is the Task Manager. There is a significant chance that your smart phone is being bogged down by apps and functions that you do not use or need –causing the device to act erratically or even slow down when you need to do something quick. And while computers will easily let you shut down any unneeded functions, the feature is not commonly found in smart phones, which means that precious resources could be gobbled up by hiding apps.
The Task Manager is an Android app dedicated to fishing out those hidden apps running in the background so that you can shut them down. The only drawback is that users need to manually do the process for each boot up.
Train Times UK is one of our favorite apps as it keeps users on time all the time. Missing a train is a serious problem when you are pressed for time and with this app, you can stay on top of the schedule by actually knowing when each train will making specific stops. Since the app connects to the live online timetables for UK train operators, most of the data is accurate –still, for very important matters, it still pays off to give the operators a quick call to confirm a schedule.
Last on our list of Android Apps is the Google Maps Navigation app. Chances are, you might have already gotten this app right after Google announced that they are delivering free voice guided navigation. Compatible for version 1.6 Donut and above, this impressive app combines the vast data stored in Google maps with Street View and GPS data.
Tags: apps, Google, Google-Android, smartphones
The Google Android mobile platform is well known for being one of the most intriguing and feature packed operating systems ever relapsed. Since the OS is open source, there are plenty of impressive apps that fully utilize the hardware and software features present in Android devices –giving the handset an unprecedented range of capabilities. Of course, not all apps are made to be outright functional; some of these Android apps are just outright fun to use. Here are some of our favorite Android apps to play around with.
The Ghost Radar may seem like a cheap gag tool, but it does function in a very eerie manner. The handset tries to detect information using the smartphones’ available hardware such as microphone, WiFi, Bluetooth and other transceiver-type components. When the readings go beyond the normal rate, the spike will cause the ghost radar to give users an approximate location of the source of the anomaly. According to developer Spud Pickles, the app is effective for up to a range of about 50 yards. No guarantees that you will actually find ghosts with this, but it certainly makes for an interesting app to walk around empty hallways with.
If you do not feel like hunting down ghosts, you might want to chase after criminals in your neighborhood –or at least know their faces well enough to know that you have to avoid them. RJGII has developed the Most Wanted app which gives you an updated list of known criminals and updates from the most wanted lists. On a side note, the app also lists missing persons and children, which might be pretty useful when you are deciding whether to call the police or the local social office.
According to the developers, these two apps are compatible with the upcoming Android 2.2 Froyo.
Tags: apps, free-games, Google, Google-Android
If you have tried playing this game, then the first thing you might think is that it’s a port of Space Invaders. Actually, it is not. Radiant is a completely new game from Hexage and is a major tribute to the old arcade shooters in the style of Space Invaders, Centipede and Galaga and more. What might throw players off are the blatant duplicates of the Invaders from Space Invaders, but aside from that, this game delivers plenty of original space shooting graphic bliss.
Playing Radiant is easy; simply steer your ship around while shooting down aliens, UFOs and giant space rocks while pickup up the power up items that appear along the way. In terms of skill, the first few stages are easy to breeze by, but later parts of the game will make newbies cringe in horror at the oh-so-expected bullet hell waves. Still, there is nothing in Radiant that cannot be beat without a little practice and the game is made in such a way that repeated playthroughs do not feel so bad.
One interesting aspect about this game is that players can actually upgrade the basic spaceship. This means that handling the later and larger waves of enemies and tougher bosses can become easy if player plan their upgrades carefully. Of course, the best upgrades to get are those that suits one’s play style.
The only downside to this game title is that it does get a little straining on the eyes. The bloom and glow effect of the play ship and the enemies (as well as the laser effects and other things) tend to burn the eyes –especially when playing in dark areas. The audio also gets a little bland, but the sound effects are strong and crisp –with the rewarding explosions for every alien ship you bring down.
Tags: Android, Android-apps, games, Google, Radiant
Instead of wasting time, effort and valuable resources on pursuing Google with a criminal case –in regards to the unsecured WiFi network data that has been collected by the street car, the Information Commissioner has seen it fit to allow Google to pursue its own solutions in deleting or destroying the reported 600GB of information than has been gathered from the UK and many other countries.
The refusal to “declare war” against Google might be considered by some people as a very passive and irresponsible manner to handle the situation, but with the data already long been in Google’s hands, there is no real way to ensure that interference from any government group would actually help. In many cases, this is a wise step to take.
Google’s Eric Schmidt has already been the first to step up and admit the problem and what the company will do to remedy the situation. Many other countries are already investigating the case against Google as well. With a company that is already cooperating with the government and is pursuing its own internal solution processes, stepping in would only lead to further delays. The Google Street Car was originally meant to make a visual map of streets for the Street View web service as well as log a map of WiFi networks.
Still, the fact that such a problem existed in the first place shows that there is a need for people to become more educated about data security and internet protection practices. Many users of WiFi routers are still not familiar even with the most basic safety procedures. In many ways, the world is lucky that it was Google’s street car that collected the data –at least Google is willing to step up and take the responsibility.
Had the data been collected by another party –one with malicious motives, then that is the real cause for concern.
Tags: Google, Google-Street-View, ICO, Wifi
Google’s translation service has far surpassed many other similar services on the internet. With the large span of their operations as well as an extensive language database, Google’s translation features are among the most sophisticated and reliable in the planet. Of course, it comes with the territory, Google’s search engine is the fastest and most used of all.
Their translations service has since expanded heavily to mobile phones –which are often the go-to gadget of choice. Google Goggles received an update that enabled for the visual scanning and translation of text. Google voice translate also received its second batch of supported languages. Of course, the core Google Translate function is still updated, in fact, five new languages were just added in recently.
Research scientist Ashish Venugopal makes a statement:
“At Google, we are always trying to make information more accessible, whether by adding auto-captioning on YouTube and virtual keyboards to search or by providing free translation of text, websites and documents with Google Translate. In 2009, we announced the addition of our first ‘alpha’ language, Persian, on Google Translate. Today, we are excited to add five more alpha languages: Azerbaijani, Armenian, Basque, Urdu and Georgian — bringing the total number of languages on Google Translate to 57.”
“These languages are available while still in alpha status. You can expect translations to be less fluent than for our other languages, but they should still help you understand the multilingual web. We are working hard to ‘graduate’ these new language(s) out of alpha status, just as we did some time ago with Persian. You can help us improve translation quality as well. If you notice an incorrect translation, we invite you click ‘Contribute a better translation’. If you are a translator, then you can contribute translation memories with the Translator Toolkit. This helps us build better machine translation systems especially for languages that are not well represented on the web.”
“Collectively, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Georgian and Urdu have roughly 100 million speakers. We hope that these speakers can now more easily access the entire multilingual web in their own language.”
Tags: Google, Google-Goggles, Google-Talk, Google-Translate
Google thinks big. Big meaning they want to be visible in virtually every medium they can possibly cover. That being said, Google is out to showcase the Android operating system’s power by bringing it to your television screen. That is going to be the biggest screen used to surf the web and access their variety of online services.
Now this would only be possible if they have actual television and technology partnerships running. That is why they enlisted the help of Sony, Intel and Logitech to bring the online experience to your television screens. For branding and product distribution, Sony is on the job. Intel will be providing the hardware powering the product as a whole and Logitech will provide the navigation related peripherals.
While Google TV is still an unconfirmed project, the New York Times has confirmed that the companies involved all have pending jobs from Google. This project may still be hush-hush for now but the sources having Android related projects are a dead giveaway.
All of the big names involved in the project obviously have a stake in the success of it. Google’s aim is easy to see, they want to reach beyond the smart phone world to showcase the power of the Android. Sony will benefit the most from selling their brand of LCD TVs and the actual set-top boxes. Logitech would get the profit from the accessories and peripherals needed for the product and Intel would have steady revenue from their Atom processor.
If the project is a success, Google TV may be appended as a feature built inside new television models to get rid of the required set-top box. Who doesn’t want PC power built right into the television? If this venture comes into fruition, then Google TV will definitely dominate the market since it is already a loved operating system. Thanks to the Google Android on smart phones of course.
More details about Google TV can be found at Geek.
Tags: Android, Android-TV, Google-TV
Incumbency and culture are two easily misunderstood topics. And unlike what Steve Ballmer says it is more of a “Chicken and Egg” scenario than as cause and effect.
According to the man behind Microsoft’s Bing, the Google search engine got it right when no other search engine can. During the early days of Google, there was plenty of steep competition among different search engines. Systems such as Alta Vista, Lycos, Infoseek and Ask Jeeves were among the first on the scene. Right before Google came around; Yahoo! was dominating thanks to the addition of its free webmail service –rivaled then by Hotmail and similar web services.
Google did not arrive until three years after Yahoo! and yet the search engine easily bested every single other service out on the net –quickly gaining the top spot and favoritism among users. When Google expanded to offer even more services, people began flocking the site for invites to try out the then-invite only Google Mail service.
According to Steve Ballmer, it is all about simply getting it right first. But to take that explanation at face value would be to imply that Google got lucky. In fact, it was more than luck; Google became successful because they approached the concept of web searching differently –in a well mannered method that made them the most reliable search engine to be used.
Google’s presence singlehandedly changed the way keywords and SEO works.
To say that incumbency is without ties to Google’s culture is a big mistake for the man who presented the amazing Windows Phone 7 user interface. There is something about Google’s internal culture that has made it the success that it is today –to say otherwise would be an affront to the genius behind the company.
Get to read more about Steve Ballmer’s opinions about Google at the Guardian UK.
Tags: Google
Well, this is simply speculation for now. But Facebook has finally gotten its 2006 patent approved and they now own the rights to creating the news feed of social network updates.
It may sound silly as they filed the patent back in 2006 way after Twitter was already on the scene. Still, this is very significant because this actually gives Facebook the leverage to fight it out with other social networking sites. So far, Facebook seems to have no desire to enforce their newfound power, though it is probable that they are going to be able to get more approved patents with this one already under their belts.
So, back to the title at hand, what about Google Buzz?
Google Buzz originally started out as a harmless idea from Google, but with the sudden implementation of the service, many people were put in a very dangerous position that has exposed the contents of a contact list. Many private email addresses have been compromised and in the very end, Google had little to nothing to offer in terms of actually doing something.
Facebook ought to take down the Buzz. Not that the two companies need to foster an enmity, but at least with Facebook’s legal claim, Google can easily fold up this sad excuse of a social networking tool and chalk it up to legalities. It is an easy way out for the tech giant.
The bottom line here is that it’s a good thing that Facebook has gotten the patent approved. It has been almost four years in the making and at least they know how to handle social networking. They are the most successful social networking site and they are continuing to grow each year.
Read more about the patent approval for Facebook at the Guardian UK.
Tags: Facebook, Google-Buzz
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