Google I/O kicks off today, and one of the announcements you can look forward to is a new Google Maps service. Google accidentally teased major changes ahead of its official unveiling by opening up a new webpage that allowed users to request an invite to a new Maps service.
That page has now been pulled, but not before screenshots began making their way around the Internet.
Pinterest has updated its official app on both Android and iOS with several big features. Users can now receive push notifications for things like comments, mentions, and repins. “@” mentions have also been added for messaging friends on the service. Pinterest will now show you search suggestions as you type, like Google.
An iOS exclusive feature is the ability to send a pin to someone directly within the app. You can also invite friends to pin on group boards.
Pinterest is a free download and today’s update is available in Google Play and the App Store.
Source: Pinterest
On iOS, Cydia is the premier way to load unsigned apps onto your jailbroken iPhone or iPad… but since Android supports side-loading, it has no place on Google’s operating system, right?
Wrong, apparently. Today, the devs behind Cydia and Mobile Substrate have announced that Cydia is coming to Android. But it won’t be quite what you think.
I have a confession to make: I own a BlackBerry Z10, and I love it. I think its BlackBerry 10 operating system is terrific — it’ll be even better when it gets more apps — and I haven’t been this excited about a new platform since I got my first iPhone. Seriously.
I certainly don’t want to see BlackBerry sinking anytime soon, then.
But I can’t help but wonder whether BlackBerry might have just shot itself in the foot by announcing BlackBerry Messenger for Android and iOS.
At its BlackBerry Live event in Orlando, Florida, BlackBerry just announced that its popular BlackBerry Messenger service is going cross-platform. This summer, BBM will finally be available on Android and iOS — and it will be completely free.
Apple has confirmed it will seek to add Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 to its ongoing patent-infringement lawsuit against the Korean electronics giant.
In a statement filed in the U.S. District Court in California on Monday, Apple said it has analyzed the Galaxy S4 and “concluded that it is an infringing device and accordingly intends to move for leave to add the Galaxy S4 as an infringing product.”
Nearly three in every four smartphones sold during the first quarter of 2013 were running Android, according to the latest statistics from the analysts at Gartner. Google’s operating system grabbed a whopping 74% of the market share during the three-month period, while Apple’s iOS came in second with 18.2%.
Companies choosing to build Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Symbian powered devices might want to look away now.
Nokia has this morning announced its new Lumia 925, a Windows Phone smartphone with an aluminum frame that hopes to step up Nokia’s fight against Apple and Samsung. But does the Lumia 925 really have what it takes to compete with the iPhone 5, the Galaxy S4, the HTC One, and other high-end smartphones?
We’ve put together a spec-by-spec comparison to help you decide whether Nokia’s new flagship is worth the switch to Windows Phone.
Nokia has today announced the Lumia 925, a new Windows Phone flagship that will be hoping to steal market share away from Apple and Samsung in 2013. The device boasts an aluminum frame and offers an 8.7-megapixel rear-facing PureView camera — both of which are firsts for Nokia’s Windows Phone devices.
The official SoundCloud apps for Android and iOS have today been updated to add support for Google+ Sign-In, allowing you to use your Google+ account in place of Facebook or Twitter. What’s more, there’s also support for Google+ sharing.
How would you like to burn through your monthly mobile data cap in 16 seconds flat? The answer to that question is probably ‘not very much’ but none-the-less, that’s where technology is headed, with Samsung now saying that they’ll have the world’s first 5G devices on the market by 2020.
I’ve decided to use Google Now exclusively for a long list of tasks. I’m calling it the Google Now Diet.
Here’s why I’m doing it. New technology is great. Trouble is, we’re all stuck with habits formed by old technology.
For example, when you want to search, what do you do? I habitually type in a search in the URL address bar or go to Google.com.
When I want to give myself a reminder, I tend to open the Gmail app on my phone and send myself an email.
And when I want to play a YouTube video, I thumb through the apps, find the YouTube app, open it, tap on the search field and type in the name of the video or song I’m looking for.
I know that Google Now does all this stuff easier, faster and better. Yet my habits were formed in olden days before Now existed. So I forget to use Google Now.
The good news is that there’s a way to break old habits and form new ones. And that is the diet concept — limit yourself only to the new way of doing things.
And that’s why I’m going on the Google Now diet.
Google has been forced to hand over Android source code documents sought by Apple in an ongoing patent-infringement lawsuit against Samsung.
The search giant initially argued that it was not required to give up the documents and that it would be too burdensome to collect them, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal in San Jose, California, has given the company two days to give them up.
Google Babel, the new communication service from Google, has been renamed Google Hangouts ahead of its public debut at Google I/O next week, according to an unnamed Google employee. Babel had been its name internally throughout the service’s development, but that moniker has now been dropped by Google.
Android doesn’t look like it’s about to lose any of its market share to competing platforms any time soon. During the first quarter of 2013, Google’s platform powered a whipping 59.9% of all smart mobile devices sold as total shipments hit 308.7 million units.
Apple’s iOS, on the other hand, was installed on just 19.3% of devices — despite the success of its iPhones and iPads.
For the last two years there has been a lot of speculation that Amazon is working on its own smartphone to go head-to-head with Apple and Samsung’s offerings.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Amazon Kindle Phone is real, and that it might come with a high-tech glasses-free 3D display.
Samsung’s recent success in the smartphone market with devices like the Galaxy S II, the Galaxy S III, and the Galaxy Note family have helped the company grab market share by the bucketload, and with that comes heaps of cash.
The Korean electronic giant now has almost $40 billion in cash and cash reserves, which, after taking away its debt, equals 31.2 trillion won ($28.5 billion) in cash stockpiled for a rainy day.
An amicus curiae or amicus brief is when someone who is not a party in a lawsuit offers information that bears on the case but that has not been solicited by any of the parties. It’s used mostly as a way to make sure that various issues that wouldn’t otherwise come up are heard in court, in hopes against an overly broad legal ruling that might have widespread repercussions. Amicus curiae means “friend of the court.”
Got all that? Good. Maybe now you can understand Apple’s issue with Google trying to issue an amicus brief urging the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals to overrule Apple’s request for a sales ban on Samsung devices. Friend of the court? More like co-defendant.
Gameloft has today launched Blitz Brigade, a new online multiplayer game, on Android and iOS. It’s a class-based first-person shooter that’s clearly heavily influenced by Valve’s Team Fortress titles, and it’s a whole lot of fun.
Facebook is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire mobile navigation app Waze for between $800 million and $1 billion. Talks between the two companies began around six months ago, and a term sheet has already been signed, according to business daily Calcalist.
Apple wants to see documents related to Android source code in its ongoing patent infringement suit against Samsung. The Cupertino company has asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal to force Google to hand over the information, which it is allegedly withholding improperly, Bloomberg reports.
Samsung loves bashing its competitors, and it often does so in advertisements for new Galaxy products. So it’s no surprise that the Korean company has programmed its S Voice assistant to bash the iPhone. Ask it if it’s ever used Apple’s popular smartphone and S Voice delivers a scolding response.
The RunKeeper apps for Android and iOS have today been updated to add a number of new features, the biggest of which is support for the Pebble smartwatch. Users can now see all kinds of data, such as their pace and the distance they’ve ran, with a quick glance at their wrist while they’re on the go.
Viber, the popular cross-platform messaging service for smartphones, is no longer just for smartphones. The company has today launched new desktop applications that allow you to chat with friends; send stickers, emoticons, and photos; and make calls from a Mac or PC.
Rovio has launched a new service called Rovio Accounts, which allows you to pick up your saved games on any mobile device. So if you complete ten Angry Birds levels on your Android smartphone, you’ll see the same progress when you login on your iPad.
Rovio Accounts isn’t just compatible with Angry Birds, but other titles from Rovio as well. The service will initially launch worldwide inside The Croods, as well as in the original Angry Birds game for iOS in Finland and Poland.
