Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Next Web

The Next Web

Link to The Next Web

YouTube signs biggest premium sports partnership in MLB Japan deal

Posted: 31 Aug 2010 02:54 AM PDT

Google’s massively popular video sharing website YouTube has penned a deal with MLB Advanced Media, the media and internet subsidiary of Major League Baseball, providing Japanese baseball fans with on-demand, full-length MLB games via its website.

The deal is YouTube’s biggest premium sports partnership to date and will allow Japanese MLB fans to catch highlight reels of every game from both the 2009 and current seasons on the MLB.JP’s YouTube channel. The videos shown will be ad-supported but will be completely free to view, going online within 36 hours of completion.

YouTube will look to capitalise on the opportunities offered by ad-supported sporting coverage, an initiative that first gained momentum when YouTube partnered with the Indian Premier League (IPL) to stream live cricket matches and highlight coverage.

MediaPost writes that ad-supported video will become the fastest growing of YouTube’s three primary revenue streams, with eMarketer estimating that ad-supported mobile video revenues will reach a 60% compound annual growth rate (GAGR) over the next 4 years.

With YouTube recently adding full-length feature films to its website, negotiations for sporting coverage might give us a look into how Google will move forward in talks with major Hollywood studios as it continues to mull over the possibility of pay-per-view video rentals.

Apple looks set to announce its offering on September 1st, it could be an exciting time for the consumer as Google and Apple look to move into the televisual market.

Original title and link for this post: YouTube signs biggest premium sports partnership in MLB Japan deal

Samsung Galaxy Tab Will Feature CDMA, Verizon Bound

Posted: 31 Aug 2010 01:27 AM PDT

You can’t move without seeing either a shot or additional information on the yet to be announced Samsung Galaxy Tab. For those of you living in the US, or anywhere with CDMA mobile networks, you may be pleased to know that the rumoured CDMA version of the Galaxy Tab is no longer a rumour and is almost certainly Verizon bound.

BoyGeniusReport received a leaked screenshot of Verizon’s stock database, with a clear mention of the Samsung Galaxy Tab in amongst a number of other search results. The model number seems to tally with the mention of a number of smartphones and tablets in Verizon’s leaked roadmap, adding further credibility to the leak.

That said, we only have two days until Samsung take to the stage at IFA 2010 in Berlin, all will become clear then.

Original title and link for this post: Samsung Galaxy Tab Will Feature CDMA, Verizon Bound

Google rolls out real-time Blogger stats for all

Posted: 31 Aug 2010 12:22 AM PDT

It’s perhaps a surprise that this feature hasn’t been available before now, but Google has announced that all users of its Blogger blogging platform now have real-time stats available to them.

After a few weeks’ testing as a ‘Blogger in Draft’ feature, Google says that all users now have a new ‘Stats’ tab on their dashboard.

The stats offer real-time tracking, updating almost immediately each time your blog is viewed, and Google Analytics-style insights into your audience like top search keywords, countries and browsers. Following the test period, Google says it has tweaked the service to offer the ability to filter out a user’s own visits, as well as visits from search engine crawlers and other bots.

Native stats are something that rival platforms such as Wordpress and Typepad have offered for several years, so it will be a welcome addition for Blogger users who until now have had to deal with custom code in order to insert external stats packages into their blogs.

Original title and link for this post: Google rolls out real-time Blogger stats for all

Gmail introduces Priority Inbox: The importance filter for your email.

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 08:20 PM PDT

If you’re anything like the us here at TNW, you’re bogged down by email. Heck, we all are. In fact, people celebrate an empty inbox as if it were a national holiday. Given the staggering amount of Gmail users in the world, Google has had an opportunity to get really in touch with what you read, what you don’t, what’s important and what’s not.

Taking that information, Gmail has a new feature called Priority Inbox.

The idea is that, as you open your Gmail, it will be tagged and sorted by importance so that you’ll be able to more easily see what needs attention and what can wait until later…sometimes much later. Best of all, if Gmail happens to make an incorrect prediction, you can manually adjust the system as easily as you would add a star or delete a message:

Message importance is decided using the same sort of algorithm that drives Gmail’s infamous spam protection. With that in mind, I absolutely can not wait to get this into my Google Apps inbox for The Next Web.

According to the Gmail Blog, we’ll start seeing Priority Inbox rolling out to users over the next few days, including Google Apps users who should see it within a week. Like all new Gmail features, you’ll see the large red text up near your Settings and Labs links at the top right of your Gmail. Once you have it, your inbox will be broken into 3 sections:

The top section holds your important messages, while the new middle section will display your starred items. Maybe they’re not immediately important, but they will be soon? Put a star on them to keep them easily in mind. The bottom section, finally, displays all of the rest of your email.

Individual messages, then, can be given higher or lower priority by selecting them then using the + or – buttons on your bar. Google also suggests setting up filters for your “must-have” email, as filters will now support an “Always mark it as important” option.

Overall, I can tell you that in the few minutes that I’ve had to use Priority Inbox, the results have been outstanding. Not that you should be surprised. If you’re a Gmail user, then spam generally isn’t something you have to deal with. Now, because of that same type of algorithm, wasting time on unwanted mail should soon be a thing of the past as well.

Original title and link for this post: Gmail introduces Priority Inbox: The importance filter for your email.

Google gets into the badges game – for your electricity bill

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 04:31 PM PDT

Google Powermeter, a service from Google.org to help you converse electricity (note: unless you are getting your power from one of three providers in the world, you’ll have to purchase a third-party – and expensive – device to use this service), has added personalize recommendations and game mechanics a-la-Foursquare to try to spur people into saving power, by introducing badges earned by carrying out the recommendations.

We’ve got to say, this is certainly taking game mechanics to an entirely new place.

You’d be forgiven if you mistook a post on the Google.org blog today as a post on the Foursquare blog:

“Collecting badges is a fun way of keeping track of your accomplishments to reduce energy waste and save money. And you might even strike up some friendly competition among family and friends to see who can collect the most badges the fastest!”

Of course, it’s great that Google is doing everything that it can to help people conserve power, but from a services perspective, it will be extremely interesting to see if giving badges to users in this context actually works. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere to find out exactly what all of the badges are, but in the screenshot provided by Google below, you’ll see two gold badges: one that looks like a thermometer and one that has a TV in it (we have no idea what recommendation either badge corresponds to):

Original title and link for this post: Google gets into the badges game – for your electricity bill

Google Translate gets better definition with new interface

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 03:22 PM PDT

Google has given Google Translate a face lift that it plans to roll out worldwide over the next few days (it’s live for us now).

The new look is cleaner and intended to highlight the many ways that users can use Translate, including in Gmail, search, and through the Chrome extension. It’s a nice graphical upgrade, and though Google uses the word “functional” in it’s blog post on the announcement, we don’t really see what has changed functionally. We’ve emailed Google for clarification. Here’s what the new design looks like:

Google ends the post by asking for people with stories about Google Translate to send them in. Google is also highlighting how Translate works behind the scenes, and provided this video done by JESS3 called “Inside Google Translate“:

Original title and link for this post: Google Translate gets better definition with new interface

Don’t check in everywhere you go guys!

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 03:08 PM PDT

Original title and link for this post: Don’t check in everywhere you go guys!

Stuck on music? GetGlue has something new and great for you.

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 02:58 PM PDT

GetGlue, a social network for entertainment, with > 5M unique ratings and check-ins for shows, movies, music and books every month, recently launched an Android app and new mobile site, now has something new to offer for those of you who love music.

Today GetGlue has announced their first set of branded rewards for music fans – Maroon 5 Stickers. Maroon 5 is the first band to announce their stickers. According to GetGlue, there will be an "exciting pipeline of recording artists and bands that will follow with unique rewards in the coming weeks."

The music addition is a grand feature, but why Maroon 5 you ask?  GetGlue's Maroon 5 stickers are aimed at promoting the Maroon 5 2010/11 tour and their upcoming new album called Hands All Over.

How does one acquire Maroon 5 stickers?  Glad you asked.  According to GetGlue, "The basic fan sticker can be earned by checking into Marooon 5 using GetGlue apps or GetGlue.com. The other three stickers – superfan, a tour sticker, and the Hands All Over album sticker are secret. Maroon 5 will be giving hints on how to earn these stickers via their Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as during the actual tour."

The fun doesn't stop there though, with GetGlue announcing an additional batch of new rewards for fans of various networks and the shows thereon, including: HBO, Showtime, PBS, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros Home Entertainment, Random House, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Barnes & Noble and others to reach and reward their fans.

The first of the new, aforementioned, partner updates are with HBO.  GetGlue is working with HBO to provide exclusive rewards for fans of upcoming HBO shows, including Boardwalk Empire.  As of last week, GetGlue has a permanent unit on the True Blood home page, encouraging fans to check-in while watching to earn exclusive stickers from HBO.

GetGlue is also unveiling new HBO rewards that tap into HBO characters. To earn these stickers, users need to like their favorite shows, characters and stars.

Other partnerships include  HGTV, which now offers stickers for the fans of their popular House Hunters show, and Showtime, where the new season of Dexter begins at the end of September.  GetGlue will be providing an exclusive sticker for the season premier as well as other exclusive rewards throughout the season.

Finally, and for those with an iPad this is grand news, GetGlue for iPad will be launching in early September.  Another way to access GetGlue's already great features.

Are you a GetGlue user and if so, how do you access the service?  If you are so inclined, you can follow things I enjoy by clicking here.  You don't have to, but it would be nice if you did.

Original title and link for this post: Stuck on music? GetGlue has something new and great for you.

Top ten tips for taking your iPad back to school–that don’t have to do with apps!

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 02:34 PM PDT

My bag with everything I carry

Everything is pointing to this school year being the year of the iPad, and while there are lots of articles on what apps to get, I haven’t seen any on the stuff you need to take your iPad to school with you. And since I’ve been carrying around my iPad for some time now, I thought I’d pass onto you my top 10 tips for taking your iPad back to school (or even just out and about):

  1. A good case. Myself, I like the thin and functional case from Apple, but it is limited in how you can use it as a stand. Other cases offer more options, but also add bulk to the case.
  2. The right bag. I have a small bag from Mountain Equipment Co-op (they actually call it “small bag”) that I purloined from my wife. It fits everything I have on this list and plenty more if needed. Yes, I carry a man-purse, man-bag, murse, satchel, whatever.
  3. Cable and charger. I always have an iPod/iPhone/iPad cable with me. It started when I got an iPod and then found that iPhone owners tended to forget theirs so… As for the charger, well you just never know when you might run low, better to have it than not. You can also charge your iPhone with it too!
  4. Pogo sketch. Sometimes it’s easier to draw,what you’re thinking or describing than to type it. I use several apps like Penultimate, etc to sketch an idea or map out something I’m thinking.
  5. iPad Camera Connection Kit. I’ll admit I’m a late-comer to the whole camera connection kit, but beyond using it for importing photos there are lots of things like connecting keyboards, headphones, even hard drives (jailbreaking required) that you can use it for (see MacLife).
  6. Apple Wireless Keyboard. I tried the keyboard dock first and returned in within 24 hours. The dock is just too limited. The wireless keyboard is awesome and perfect when you want to tap out something a little more long form (like this post, in fact). One tip here: flip one of the batteries backwards to keep it from turning on in your bag.
  7. Extra batteries. Yeah keeping a couple of extra AAs in your bag might seem like overkill, but you never know, and they are small. Plus you can lend them to friends in need.
  8. SD cards & flash drives. Just keep one or two extra in your bag. You can use the SD cards to transfer more pictures and movies to your iPad. Flash drives? Well they are just plain handy.
  9. Microfibre cloth. Face it, iPads get smudgy fast. Since I wear glasses I always have a cloth in my pocket, except I found the larger, fuzzier cloths that we have for the house are so, so much better.
  10. Earbuds. Doesn’t matter if they are the basic Apple ones, fancy noise canceling (I love my Shure’s), or what, just have them to both let you listen to music and keep from bugging people with beeps and stuff from your iPad.

Those are my main tips. Sure, as you can see from the picture, I carry a lot more in my bag (pens, mechanical pencil, gum, notebook, bus passes, shopping bag, USB cable), but those are the 10 things that I think are must haves for being out and about with your iPad. If you’re like me, you might find that with the right stuff on hand (like the keyboard), you can forgo carrying your laptop most of the time. The one thing that I haven’t tried, and just might soon, is if your school has those “traditional” desk/chair combos, getting a smal spring clamp to clamp your iPad case to the desk might be a good idea. I’ve found that standing in landscape mode the whole thing to be a little tippy, but maybe clamping it to the table might help.

These have been my 10 tips, do you have any to add? Do you have a case or bag that you like more? Share!

Original title and link for this post: Top ten tips for taking your iPad back to school–that don’t have to do with apps!

Some Google services reportedly unavailable in Russia

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 02:13 PM PDT

We’re hearing reports of a number of Google services, including Search and Maps, being unavailable in Russia. According to a tip from a TNW reader reports are flooding in from “Moscow, Saints Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Saratov [and] Belorussia”. A quick search on Twitter seems to confirm the rumors.

We’ve reached out to Google and will let you know as soon as we find any more information. There is, as of now, no outage noted on the Apps Status Dashboard from Google.

Update 1: Interestingly, it seems that Google’s encrypted search will work fine.

Original title and link for this post: Some Google services reportedly unavailable in Russia

Wikileaks now hosted from an underground nuclear bunker

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 01:58 PM PDT

One of the world’s most controversial websites now has one of the world’s coolest datacenters.

Andy Greenberg at Forbes has picked up on a Norwegian report that Wikileaks‘ servers are now hosted in Sweden’s Pionen datacentre, housed inside a Cold War-era underground nuclear bunker. 30 metres below Stockholm, it reportedly has a single entrance with half-metre thick metal doors.

The move has been initiated by the Swedish Pirate Party, who began looking after Wikileaks’ hosting this month. “We have long admired Wikileaks”, the Pirate Party’s Rick Falkvinge told Norway’s VG, claiming that as his party is hosting Wikileaks, an attack on Wikileaks is also regarded as an attack on a political party.

Moving to a nuclear bunker is probably little more than a symbolic move. The company repsonsible for the bunker told Forbes that its location was “A kind of metaphor" for its commitment to resist any sort of intrusion, physical or legal.

Wikileaks has gone from being a little-known website to headline news over the past few weeks. Its high profile Afghanistan leak made an impact around the world and has resulted in calls for its closure, while founder Julian Assange has claimed to be the victim of a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign after allegations were made about his private life recently.

All this attention isn’t likely to die down any time soon. Gossip blog Gawker has today launched WikileaksLeaks.org in an attempt to rake up stories about the little-discussed internal operations at the organisation. Among the stories its looking for are “Documents relating to Julian Assange's Swedish sexual molestation case: police reports, affidavits, etc.” and “Financial information: Who supports Wikileaks? How much money do they receive in donations and grants? What does Wikileaks do with this money? How is the money managed?”

Original title and link for this post: Wikileaks now hosted from an underground nuclear bunker

The auction [not] has ended: HP might acquire 3PAR for $2 bn – Updated

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 01:48 PM PDT

Updated at bottom of post. The auction, apparently, has not ended.

After tossing bids back and forth last week between HP and Dell, a price of $2 billion has finally been reached in the 3PAR acquisition. That is, translated, $30 per share of the California-based storage company.

The deal is, no doubt, due to both HP and Dell seeing a sharp decline in their PC sales while sales in the cloud-based systems market continue to rise. PC Magazine tells the story that the $2 billion valuation of 3PAR by HP is “the highest premium offered in such a bidding situation among more than 19 thousand different deals” that have been tracked by Bloomberg over time.

With 2 billion dollars of your shareholder’s money riding on the line, the deal had best take off in a huge way for HP. An continually-growing market of cloud-based resources, however, softens the potential shocking blow of the acquisition.

Edit: In an interesting twist, we were notified via Twitter from a source claiming that Dell is a “client” of his, and telling us that we should dig further into this. Upon digging, here’s what we’ve found.

  • 3PAR intends to take the HP deal, if Dell does not counter-offer with a better one.
  • At present, 3PAR still has a merger agreement in place with Dell, so it is required to push that agreement to its shareholders.
  • 3PAR intends to terminate the agreement “three business days” after this past Friday. The best guess, then, is that the agreement should terminate on Wednesday, barring a counter-offer from Dell.

Coincidentally, we’ve also learned that you shouldn’t always believe what you read, because some sources make some pretty ballsy statements based on conjecture.

Original title and link for this post: The auction [not] has ended: HP might acquire 3PAR for $2 bn – Updated

Google Reader goes big with a fullscreen mode and more

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 01:00 PM PDT

One of the greatest parts about Google Reader is the ability it gives you to totally immerse yourself within the stories, while still remaining functional to its other features. Seeing this, Google has made that immersion even more complete by adding a new fullscreen option:

According to the Google Reader blog, you can use your “F” key to toggle fullscreen, and then also use “shift+u” to show or hide the navigation panel, without having to leave fullscreen.

Another change, which we started to hear buzz about late last week, is in your Google Reader trends page. Now, you can finally see what sources you’ve clicked most, as well as a count of all of your read items. Well, at least until you cross 300,000. At that point, Google will “stop counting for performance reasons”.

So give a look at your Google Reader and let us know what you think of the fullscreen option. Sadly, it appears that you can’t access the fullscreen version via an iPad, but please let us know if we’re wrong about that.

Original title and link for this post: Google Reader goes big with a fullscreen mode and more

Twitter launches Site Streams to eliminate rate limits for tweets about you

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 12:04 PM PDT

Twitter has just announced a new beta service called Site Streams that sounds like it will blow our minds.

Based on the new Streaming API and working with OAuth (which probably not coincidentally will be required starting tomorrow), “Site Streams allows services, such as web sites or mobile push services, to receive real-time updates for a large number of users without any of the hassles of managing REST API rate limits,” says Twitter on its Twitter API Announcements page.

Site Streams will NOT initially include a user’s Home Stream, but will deliver Direct Messages, Mentions, Follows, Favorites,Tweets, Retweets, Profile changes, and List changes. Twitter is limiting access during the beta period to these limits:

  • Applications are limited to a total of 100,000 simultaneous users during the beta period unless prior arrangements are made.
  • Keep your number of streams below 1,000.
  • Limit the follow count to 100 users per stream. Clients must occasionally compact users onto a smaller number of connections to minimize the total number of connections outstanding.
  • Open no more than 20 new connections per second and exponentially back-off on errors.

Also, Twitter says that, “Desktop applications should continue to use the User Streams endpoint. Services must use the Site Streams endpoint.” This is very interesting: will this continue past the beta stage? Twitter also says on its Site Streams developer site page that, “During the beta testing period, sites are encouraged to first pull and cross-check test data from both Site Streams and the REST API to develop confidence in correctness and robustness,” and emphasizes that developers should focus on privacy.

Twitter also points out that, “Currently the friends messages delivered to Site Streams will always be empty. These will be populated when home timelines are supported and requested,” and that Site Streams only work with JSON right now.

Basically, what this seems to promise is a way for websites and apps that let their users sign into sites with OAuth to quickly integrate a real-time flow of updates – without actually seeing it in action yet, it sounds like it could be a kind of competitor to Facebook widgets that have become pretty ubiquitous among many websites, including major publishers. It will be very interesting to see the first few implementations of Site Streams.

Original title and link for this post: Twitter launches Site Streams to eliminate rate limits for tweets about you

Exclusive first look at Tour Wrist version 2.0 for iPhone and iPad.

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 11:42 AM PDT

One of the slickest iPhone apps on the planet is Tour Wrist, and it’s about to get even better.

Tour Wrist (free) is the closest one can come to teleportation.  With Tour Wrist one can visit travel destinations one minute, hotels and restaurants the next, or even look inside new cars and homes.

Simply by moving your iPhone up, down, or in any other direction, the user gets a 360 degree view of what one’s chosen to view.

With powerful search and sort tools, Tour Wrist gives you the power to travel, remotely.

This past week I was fortunate enough to get advance copies of the updated iPhone/iPod Touch version and their all-new iPad version of Tour Wrist.  To say they are scrumptralescent is putting it mildly.

Tour Wrist iPhone/iPod Touch Version 2.0:

Combining real–time accelerometer and magnetometer data, Tour Wrist precisely tracks each mobile device as the user moves it through space. Simultaneously, the application uses this movement to control loaded virtual tour imagery and displays the corresponding field of view on each mobile device's screen. The experience is tactile and completely immersive, allowing users to intuitively navigate real–world environments remotely.

The experience is absolutely stunning.

Select your tour:

Explore any aspect of your selected tour in landscape mode by moving your i-Device in any direction:

Tour Wrist for iPhone/iPod Touch Version 2.0 is even better than the original version if you can imagine that, made even more so if you are using an iPhone 4, with its incredible screen.

But what of the iPad version of Tour Wrist you ask?

Tour Wrist for iPad:

For the iPad, one gets equally great features only on the iPad’s larger screen.

Select your tour by browsing the map, or conducting your own search:

Browse your tour by turning your iPad in any direction:

Tour Wrist version 2.0 is too good to put into words, but there’s more than simply what’s been described above.

Other features of Tour Wrist include the ability to save searches, mark tours as favorites, browse featured tours, the ability to check-in and in doing so, receive special features, app related announcements, and rate tours.

And the most amazing new feature of Tour Wrist?  Tour Wrist's counterpart recording app is coming soon. This will allow any iPhone 4 user to easily create and share beautiful, immersive AmaTours without any prior experience or the need for additional equipment (no more $70 lens required!) Furthermore, Tour Wrist Manager is on the way, providing a free library management web application that allows power users to mass-manage their content.

Tour Wrist is a grand, grand, app.  I cannot sing its praises enough.  While I was very lucky to get to preview Tour Wrist for both the iPhone and iPad from the developers, Spark Labs, the updated Tour Wrist won’t be ready until early September. As soon as this free, yes that’s free, app is updated, we will let you know.  Until then download the current version here, and eagerly wait for the updates.

Have you used Tour Wrist?  Likes/dislikes?

Original title and link for this post: Exclusive first look at Tour Wrist version 2.0 for iPhone and iPad.

India gives RIM 60 extra days as new proposals earn reprieve

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 11:40 AM PDT

It’s become something of a soap opera but it finally looks like there might be an end in sight for RIM as they look to appease the Indian government over access to encrypted messages sent using its devices.

Reuters reports that RIM will give India access to secure data as of September 1st, after the Canadian mobile giant offered new proposals to the Indian government which will be subject to a 60 day assessment period. At the time of writing it is not known what the proposals entail.

The issue centers around the encryption used by RIM to securely protect emails and messages sent using its services. The Indian government argue that militants will be able to send encrypted messages that authorities cannot decipher, creating political instability. This led to government officials imposing a August 31st deadline on access.

RIM have apparently give some access, allowing the Indian authorities to become operational as of September 1st with sources expecting RIM to set up a server in the country to allow unrestricted access to all BlackBerry communications passing through the country.

Google and Skype will be watching the matter with interest as it is thought that Indian authorities will move to request access to the servers of both companies who both encrypt communications for its users.

Original title and link for this post: India gives RIM 60 extra days as new proposals earn reprieve

Bing for Mobile comes to Android. You are likely to be annoyed.

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 11:20 AM PDT

The problem with having a phone that runs almost entirely based on Google products is that it’s sometimes difficult to have good integration with products from any other source. While Bing for Mobile (presently only available on Verizon phones) does have some great features, it’s too overpowering for an Android application, and as the title said, is likely to annoy some users.

The Features

First off, let’s get it out of the way –  the application is good. It’s beautiful and really well done. It fits with the Android UI nicely. Having said that, here’s a rundown of the features:

  • Image of the day with hotspots
  • Endless scrolling search
  • Integrated voice search
  • Bing Maps, with Points of Interest
  • Local ratings
  • Local reviews
  • News

The hotspots on the images are a really cool feature, in and of themselves. They’re great ways to learn about the daily photos and to explore our world via your phone. The same “cool” factor applies to almost all of the Bing features, in fact. Every one of them is integrated really well into the application itself. The UI is very Android-centric, with the sliding drawer at the bottom of the display. It fact, it’s so elegant that it brings up the issue at hand with why I don’t like the application.

The Problems

I bet you didn’t know that you just downloaded a new browser, did you? I bet you also didn’t realize that when you try to go to your bookmarks, you can’t, because you’re in an entirely different application. Instead of the search function of Bing allowing you to click on a link that then goes to your Android browser of choice, Bing locks you into its garden, taking you to your requested page within the application itself.

For some, this might not be a big deal. For me, it’s a deal breaker. I wasn’t forewarned of this. I was downloading something that I can use for quick search. I didn’t want a new browser.

Overall, the app feels like it’s trying to take over my phone. It functions as a UI replacement for many thing, including searches for all sorts of products. If you’re into that sort of thing, and you’re a big fan of Bing results, then this isn’t such a bad idea. For me, it feels like a Bing-flavored sandwich of which I’m being forced to take a bite.

Preference

In the end, this is what it comes down to. For me, I already have integrated search on my Droid. I don’t need an overlay of another application to do simple searches. This is especially true for any application that’s going to lock me inside of it. If this isn’t your case, then I can highly recommend the app. It is, as I said, beautiful and very well done.

Original title and link for this post: Bing for Mobile comes to Android. You are likely to be annoyed.

Google announces new Google Mobile YouTube Channel

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 11:07 AM PDT

In order to further highlight how important mobile is to Google (as if we hadn’t already noticed), Google has officially announced its new Google Mobile YouTube Channel. While Google announced the channel just now, it has apparently been live for a short time already.

The channel features a Rubik’s-Cube-like video box that lets you rotate it to find new videos in “3D”. The videos are all about how to use Google on your mobile phone, be it an Android device or not.

According to the Google Mobile Blog:

“In our channel's "featured" section, we highlight some of our mobile search capabilities — like search by voice, sight, and location — that really help you take advantage of your phone's unique technology. Since we understand that these represent new modes of searching for many of you, we're going to launch some new videos that help illustrate the variety of practical and fun ways that you can use these features.”

The channel allows visitors to sort videos by mobile platform or by mobile app, and has improved sharing features, and replaces a previous channel (Google notes that you’ll have to subscribe again to the new channel, i.e. subscriptions won’t be carried over).

Original title and link for this post: Google announces new Google Mobile YouTube Channel

Xbox LIVE Gold Subscription Prices Revised (Increased)

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 10:02 AM PDT

Xbox LIVE has been steadily growing in terms of users and the content available. Major Nelson from the Xbox team blogged about the price revisions they plan to being in to effect from November 1.

Following are the new Xbox LIVE Gold subscription prices for US, UK, Canada and Mexico:

live-prices

Prices for all other countries remain the same for now. Existing subscribers can avail a discounts of $20 if they apply to renew their yearly subscriptions soon. With Kinect and Windows Phone 7 coming out soon, might be a good idea to get a subscription.

Original title and link for this post: Xbox LIVE Gold Subscription Prices Revised (Increased)

ActiveSync For Hotmail Now Live

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 10:02 AM PDT

As we reported last week, Microsoft today has finally provided a much requested feature for Hotmail users: ActiveSync support for push notifications.

The integration means that you can now have your email, contacts and calendar pushed to and synced with your phone. Liking, deleting and adding any of that content will now sync with your web/desktop client.

From the reaction to our earlier post, we know that many Hotmail users are thrilled with this news. Here is a video from the Inside Windows Live blog:

Original title and link for this post: ActiveSync For Hotmail Now Live

The Next Web, Here you can watch The Next Web online. Recently it is the latest update serial play for the The Next Web.The Next Web is fully Eng Subbed, and avail in eng sub. Now it is availab le to watch online. you can watch The Next Web by the given links below, click on The Next Web Parts below to watch online. The Next Web Vidoe is source of Mega Video, Youtube etc, so you can watch The Next Web without any issue.

The Next Web Part 1

The Next Web Part 1

The Next Web Part 1

Tags: The Next Web, The Next Web watch online, full The Next Web video, The Next Web download, The Next Web torrent, free The Next Web, The Next Web megavideo, The Next Web full, The Next Web eng sub

Posted by ADMIN at 4:04 AM  

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)