An Unofficial Android Store Will Provide All The Apps Banned By Google

Unlike getting hold of iOS apps, it’s always been possible to trawl the web for software that doesn’t appear in the Android Market. But that process is about to get even easier, because soon there will be an unofficial store for banned Android apps.

Koushik Dutta, a member of the team behind CyanogenMod and the creator of ClockworkMod, announced that he is in the process of creating an app store that will be home to apps that have been banned from Google’s official Android Market. That will include customs ROMs, retro gaming emulators pulled due to copyright complaints, unofficial tethering apps, Visual Voicemail apps, one-click rooting apps, and, well, whatever else Google says can’t feature in their store.

This will, I’m sure, be of most interest to those who have already rooted their Android handset, as it will provide a one-stop shop for the customs ROMs and apps those devices can make use of. There’s no denying that having all that stuff in one place will be more useful than having to trawl the web. Those who haven’t rooted their handset will still be able to make use of the store though, as there are plenty of normal apps that have to be banned from Google’s store, especially if they violate copyright or a mobile operator’s need to generate revenue from value-added services, like tethering.

I just wonder if it can completely avoid being shut down. One of the reasons that such a wide range of unofficial ROMs and apps continue to survive is that they’re so broadly distributed that it’s difficult to hunt them all down. Put them all in one place and that’s no longer the case.

Article: RSS via Gizmodo

Tags: Android, Android Market, Apps, Google, Hacks, ROMs

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Google+ passes 90,000,000 users

Google‘s social network, Google+, may only have been operational for little over a year, but it has already accrued over 90,000,000 users according to CEO Larry Page. Announced as part of Google’s Q4 2011 financial results today, the milestone comes just four months after Google+ was opened up to general public registrations. However, it’s still in the shadow of the Facebook behemoth.

Facebook was believed to have 800m active users back in September 2011, and has been aggressively promoting site changes since then in an attempt to increase popularity and engagement. Earlier this week, Facebook launched Timeline Apps, part of its Open Graph promotion to increase the amount of personal data shared on each users’ wall.

Still, Google’s achievement is a credible one, given it came significantly later to the social market than rivals. The search giant has boasted that it added at least one new feature to Google+ each day since July 2011, most recently the ability to initiate YouTube video recording directly from the service itself.

“Four months ago, when we opened to the public, we were not sure what kind of reception we would receive. Your feedback has helped us build this service, and we can’t thank you enough for your enthusiastic support” Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of Social at Google, said today, unsurprisingly taking to Google+ to celebrate the milestone. Gundotra also quoted anthropologist Margaret Mead, likening her famous quote “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” to the early-adopters of the social network.

Article: RSS via SlashGear

Tags: Google, Social Networks

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Update to Google Maps improves battery life, public transit options and more

A new version of Google Maps has hit the Android Market today, which simultaneously brings fresher location tracking within Latitude and better battery life — two welcome improvements that seem contrary to one another. There’s also a couple goodies included for the transit-minded folks, as Navigation has been updated to better estimate location when GPS signal is lost, and the number of route options for public transit users has been increased from three to four. Sure, the changes are rather incremental, but who’s honestly going to argue with greater battery life? Not us, that’s for sure.

Article: RSS via Engadget Mobile

Tags: Android, Apps, Google, Google Maps, GPS, Navigation

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LG reveals first Google TV

LG Electronics will showcase their new TVs powered by Google TV at CES in Las Vegas next week. Running on their own L9 chipset, the LG Smart TV is a brilliant mash up between Google’s Android OS and LG’s Smart TV technologies. The Google TV will feature ARM-based chipsets, allowing for a reduction in power consumption.

The LG Google TV comes with the “Magic Remote Qwerty” and a user interface based on Android Honeycomb. The Magic Remote Qwerty is a combination of its voice-controlled Magic Remote with a QWERTY keyboard. With the LG Google TV users can expect an interface and main screen designed for convenient browsing. Those hoping to do a bit of multi-tasking, don’t fret. The search, social networking and TV functions can be run simultaneously.

LG’s Google TV will come equipped with LG’s own CINEMA 3D technology.The built-in 2D to 3D conversion engine allows any 2D content to be viewable in 3D. CINEMA 3D glasses, which are battery-free and relatively affordable, will be required for viewing 3D content. This TV looks promising, however, one specification that has yet to be released is size. But with CES just around the corner, we won’t have to wait much longer for that information.

Article: RSS via SlashGear

Tags: Android, CES 2012, Google, Google TV, LG, Smart TV, TV

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Google Majel voice recognition for Android to start war of words with Siri

Could be with us by end of year

Reports have come in from AndroidandMe that Google is planning a new natural language system called Majel, and that this Android voice recognition software could be with us by the end of 2011 and bring Siri-like features to Android mobiles.

Named from the Federation computer in Star Trek, Majel would likely replace Android’s current voice recognition software Voice Actions, but rather than specific commands having to be vocalised, users would be able to make use of Majel’s natural language algorithms in order to bring about a far more complex and, hopefully accurate, system. Much like iPhone 4S users can with Siri.

The apparent 2011 release date comes from speculation involving a rumour that engineers at Google’s special ideas lab, Google X, are aiming to finish their first release by the end of the year.

Presumably this early iteration will be based around web search, before moving onto the more taxing task of delivering in-phone functions. However, regardless of the timing of the launch Google is in an excellent place to deliver a great product as its massive data reserves should act as a useful tool for language analysis.

Article: RSS via Pocket-lint

Tags: Android, Apps, Google, Majel, Siri, Voice Control, Voice Recognition

Posted in Android, Apps, Google, Smartphones | 1 Comment »

Google releases Chrome 16 update with multi-user sign-in

Google has posted the final stable release version of Chrome 16. This update to the Chrome browser was mainly focused on supporting multiple account sign-ins so that more than one user can share the same browser. This way you can access your own bookmarks, extensions, web apps and more, while also being able to bring this personalized experience to all your devices.

New user accounts can be easily created under the Options and Preferences section by clicking “Add new user.” A new instance of Chrome then appears with a badge at the top left indicating which user the instance belongs to. Clicking on the badge shows a drop down list of other signed-in accounts that you can switch to.

This makes it more convenient and less of a mess to sync bookmarks, apps, and extensions, especially when multiple people in a family are using the same browser. However, it is not intended to secure your data and you can easily switch between any accounts that are signed in.

Article: RSS via SlashGear

Tags: Google, Google Chrome, Web Browser

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Google introduces Currents: magazine-like news reader for Android and iOS (video)

Google’s rumored Flipboard competitor is finally here, and it’s ditched the Propeller codename for something a little more appropriate: Currents. The app is available for both Android and iOS — in tablet and phone-friendly formats — and delivers a more magazine like reading experience for perusing your consumable content. The free app offers you a swipeable, graphics-heavy way to read material from partners like AllThingsD, PBS, Huffington Post and Fast Company, as well public Google+ feeds and RSS. You can even import your Google Reader subscriptions — and it all gets cached for offline viewing. Of course, the whole thing is integrated with Google+ too, for quick and easy sharing. For publishers, Google is providing self-service tools for customizing how their content is displayed in the app. You can go download it now in the Android Market and in the iTunes App Store for free but, before you go, check out the video after the break to see it in action.

Update: It looks like Currents is US only for the time being. Sorry international readers, you’ll just have to find some other way to shove traditional magazines towards extinction.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LOcUkm8m9w

Article: RSS via Engadget

Tags: Android, Apps, Google, Google Currents, iOS, RSS

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Google hits 10,000,000,000 app downloads milestone, celebrates with 10p apps

Big number

Google has just announced that Android customers around the world have downloaded more than 10 billion apps.

“One billion is a pretty big number by any measurement. However, when it’s describing the speed at which something is growing, it’s simply amazing. This past weekend, thanks to Android users around the world, Android Market exceeded 10 billion app downloads—with a growth rate of one billion app downloads per month. We can’t wait to see where this accelerating growth takes us in 2012,” said the company in a statement on their blog.

To celebrate the fact, SwiftKey, currently the UK’s number one paid for app on Android, is being reduced to £0.10p / €0.10¢ / $0.10¢ from Tuesday – Wednesday to celebrate.

The promotion is the start of 10 premium apps getting a huge discount over the next 10 days

SwiftKey X, which replaces smartphone keyboards with one that uses natural language technology to make typing easier, is being featured on the first day of the celebration from 6pm GMT, at an incredible 95% off its list price.

Joe Braidwood, CMO of SwiftKey, said: “We’re really thrilled that Android Market chose to showcase SwiftKey X on day one of such an incredible milestone. It’s exciting to think about how many people across the world will be able to unlock the power of SwiftKey today at such a low price.”

Other apps to be included will be:

Asphalt 6 HD, Color & Draw for Kids, Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, Fieldrunners HD, Great Little War Game, Minecraft, Paper Camera, Sketchbook Mobile, Soundhound Infinity and Swiftkey X.

Article: RSS via Pocket-lint

Tags: Android, Android Market, Apps, Google

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YouTube Gets Its Biggest Makeover Ever, Becomes More Google-Like

We already knew about YouTube’s redesign, which tech-savvy readers have been enabling for the past 10 days. As of now, however, the new YouTube is available to everyone.

Unlike parent company Google, which tends to roll out redesigns over a period of days, YouTube pressed the button and switched the homepage for every user worldwide at 4:30 p.m. ET Thursday.

So what’s the change all about? One word: channels. The world’s most popular online video service now sees itself as a descendent of cable TV, with millions of channels rather than hundreds — and it’s doing its darndest to encourage you to use it that way.

The first new thing you’ll see is an “add channels” button in the top left-hand corner of the page. Under that you’ll find your top 10 favorite channels, which you can “pin” to the top of the page.

“The future of the YouTube experience has channels at the center of it,” says Margaret Stewart, director of User Experience at YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, Calif. “It’s a container for all the world’s video, and it needs to be the best home for that.”

YouTube is also tweaking the colors of its logo and adding a soft gray background to the videos. In a sign that the service is becoming more integrated with its parent company — and that more employees are going back and forth between San Bruno and the Googleplex in Mountain View — Stewart says the redesign includes “subtle alignments with Google’s visual style.”

Part of that process, naturally, includes integration with the Google+ social network. But YouTube is also making it easier to post videos on Facebook and Twitter, too. And the channel change also came to YouTube apps on platforms other than the web. For example, it just became a lot easier to access YouTube channels on your Xbox.

There are four new channel templates that content creators can use, including one template designed for networks (with prominent featured content) and one for bloggers (with the most recent content first). Executives and designers at the company emphasize that this just the beginning of the redesign; more channel-focused changes and channel templates are coming soon.

Check out the YouTube video below, which introduces the channel redesign, and read up on the new YouTube user manual. And let us know in the comments: Has the strategy worked? Will this make you use YouTube channels more?

Article: RSS via Mashable

Tags: Google, Video, YouTube

Posted in Google, Internet, Videos | No Comments »

Galaxy Nexus OTA update quietly rolls out, addresses volume bug

Google, as promised, has begun rolling out an OTA update for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, in response to a curious volume bug affecting many European users. According to Android Central, “several” Nexus users have reported receiving the update, bundled in a package that weighs a little less than 1MB. Early reports indicate that the refresh only addresses the volume issue, though it appears to be rolling out on a piecemeal basis. If you’ve already updated, let us know how it’s treating you in the comments, below.

Article: RSS via Engadget

Tags: Android, Europe, Galaxy Nexus, Google, OTA, Smartphones, Software Update

Posted in Android, Google, Samsung, Smartphones | No Comments »