Want to text from your iPhone or iPod touch? Well you are in luck! There's a free app for that! textPlus has a free app that allows you send free, unlimited text messages. (See video to the right)
Your textPlus username makes having a cell number unnecessary, even if your friends don't have textPlus! As long as your friends have a text plan they can text to your username from any phone.
Any cell phone can be used to send text messages to textPlus. As an example, your friends can text your username to 60611 (text 'drew' to 60611) from their flip phone, iPhone, Sidekick, Blackberry, whatever.
textPlus also allows group texting. You can Text with a bunch of your friends at once, like reply-all in email. Your friends don't even have to be a textPlus user.
A map of the New York City subway system is now available for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Symbian powered smartphones thanks to Google Maps for mobile.
Now you can carry the NYC Subway map in your pocket. Several weeks ago Google announced Layers which allows users to view many layers of information on mobile map at the same time. This new feature was used to create the NYC subway map.
One cool feature is that with the NYC subway map, users also get step-by-step public transit directions by using the "Get Directions" menu, and then selecting the public transit icon.
Visit m.google.com/maps from your smartphone to download the latest version of Google Maps for mobile with Layers.
Best Buy Mobile today announced a retail partnership with Google that will help bring Google Mobile App to consumers and expand their mobile experiences. Best Buy is the first retailer in the U.S. to work with Google to distribute Google Mobile App on smartphones sold in store.
Google Mobile App makes it fast and easy to search Google from your mobile phone. Key features include:
One-click access to Google - search Google without having to navigate to the internet
Search by voice - speak your query in plain English
My Location - search for local businesses without having to type your current location
Google Suggest - search for suggested queries and businesses that appear as you type
Links to other Google apps including Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube
Google recently introduced expanded mobile reporting features in Google Analytics to help developers monitor how people are using specific parts of their iPhone and Android applications. The same Google Analytics reports that provide insights into website traffic and engagement are now available for mobile apps.
Redfin, an online brokerage for buying and selling homes, recently tested Google Analytics on their mobile application. (See video to the right).
According to Google, "As with websites, there are two basic categories of user interaction you can track: page views and events. Since mobile apps don't contain HTML pages, developers simply determine when their apps should trigger page view requests. Google Analytics then aggregates this data in the Content reports to display the number of visits, session length and bounce rates. The data gives insight into how your users interacted with the app.
Google announced today that Google search by voice is available for Nokia S60 phones, and now understands Mandarin Chinese. (See video above). The application is for version 3 of Nokia S60; more recent phones running version 5 (touch screen) are not yet supported.
The new version of Google Mobile App now places a shortcut to Google search on Nokia phone's home screen. This allows users to search using their voice or by typing. Users can search for anything, from "movie times", to "fish 'n chips", to "masala dosa."
Back in August of 2007, we reported that The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) confirmed that Google will launch a cell phone within a year. The WSJ claimed Google had developed a cell phone prototype to ultimately give away free cell phones and service to subscribers. The Google was to be bundled with advertisements from its search engine, e-mail and Web browser software applications and considered a major threat to existing carriers like Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.
Nothing ever came of the Google phone until today. Today TheStreet.com is reporting that Google will be launching an Android powered smartphone by the end of this year. The Google phone will be available via retailers and not via telcos. This is according to Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar, who has been in contact with Google's design partners about the plan.
Google announced today Google Maps Navigation (Beta) for Android 2.0 devices featuring a GPS navigation system which includes 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance and automatic rerouting. Unlike most navigation systems, Google Maps Navigation is built from the ground up to take advantage of your phone's Internet connection. (See demo video above).
The first phone to have Google Maps Navigation and Android 2.0 is the Droid from Verizon. Google Maps Navigation is initially available in the United States and is free.
Below are seven features of Google Maps Navigation because it's connected to the Internet:
Asurion Mobile Applications, a provider of people-centric mobile applications, has a free app for Android powered devices called AddressBook. The app allows mobile phone contacts smart and social. (See video below).
With the numerous social media services, AddressBook cuts through the chatter to ensure you’re always up to date with social feeds, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, from your most important contacts, placing them directly into your phone’s AddressBook.
Users can get the updates they want and interact easily with their key contacts all from a central location without bringing the social network “clutter” into their mobile phone. AddressBook uses an open framework, allowing developers to continuously add features and functions.
Verizon Wireless today officially unveiled DROID by Motorola, the first smartphone powered by Android 2.0. DROID by Motorola features the brainpower and breakneck speed of a modern smartphone, designed to outperform where other smartphones fall short. The DROID goes on sale Nov. 6.
The DROID comes with:
High-speed Web browsing
Voice-activated search
Customizable large screen,
Access to thousands of Android applications and
Hundreds of widgets
DROID by Motorola has a solid exterior, intelligent interior and is one of the thinnest full-QWERTY slider phones available. It is a no-fuss, high-tech, location-aware, voice-recognizing, over-the-air updating, multi-tasking machine – and it is available just in time for holiday wish lists.
Up until now, Google Voice required you to pick a new number called a Google Number. Taking your calls via your Google number offered call recording, call screening and getting text messages via email. Google realized that everyone don't want to switch to a new phone number, so Google has created a lighter version of Google Voice for people who are willing to give up some features in order to keep their existing phone numbers.
Now you have a choice to get Google Voice with your existing number or with a Google Number. When you sign up to use your existing number, you'll still have access to many of Google Voice's features, like Google voicemail as explained in the video to the right.
If you already have a Google Voice account, you can add Google voicemail to any cell phone you've linked to your account.
Google announced that Google Custom Search is now formatted for mobile phones. Google Custom Search allows web site owners to add Google-powered search boxes to their websites. With Google Custom Search you can include one or more websites, or specific webpages, get results on your own website and customize the look and feel of the results to match your site.
If you have a web site and add a Google Custom Search box to it, when your users visit your site on an Android-powered phone, iPhone, iPod Touch, or Palm Pre, they will see optimized search results formatted for these devices. When they search your web site, they are redirected to a Google-hosted Custom Search results page created specifically for your Custom Search engine. If you'd like to serve these mobile results from your own web site, you can host your own version of the mobile Custom Search home page.
Microsoft and Google have signed agreements with Twitter to allow Tweets in Google's and Bing's search results. Microsoft has signed an agreement with Facebook to allow Facebook updates in Bing's search results. It's expected that Google will also make a similar deal with Facebook.
According to Marissa Mayer of Google, "We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you'll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information."
Lowell McAdman, CEO of Verizon Wireless and Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google has released a joint statement about finding common ground on an Open Internet.
According to both companies, "Verizon and Google might seem unlikely bedfellows in the current debate around network neutrality, or an open Internet. And while it's true we do disagree quite strongly about certain aspects of government policy in this area--such as whether mobile networks should even be part of the discussion--there are many issues on which we agree. For starters we both think it's essential that the Internet remains an unrestricted and open platform--where people can access any content (so long as it's legal), as well as the services and applications of their choice." Read the entire statement here.
Google today announced that version 3.2 of Google Maps for mobile is now available for BlackBerry. This release contains many of the same features Google recently launched on Windows Mobile and S60, including Layers.
Layers allow users to easily view various types of information on their map and are especially helpful in situations when they are traveling somewhere new. For example, users can turn on the Wikipedia layer to read entries about nearby places, then use the transit lines layer to help map out a route. Or user can use the My Maps feature of Google Maps to create a collection of places they are planning to visit on your trip and then use Google Maps for mobile to access it from the road. Users can also turn on the Google Latitude layer to see your friends' locations.
Panoramio, a community of people sharing photos of places (owned by Google), which are sometimes displayed on Google Earth and Google Maps as photo layers, have launched a new application that makes it easy to upload photos to Panoramio from the Apple iPhone.
Per Panoramio, "The philosophy behind the app is to keep it simple: sign in (only the first time), pick a photo from your device or take a new photo, and upload it straight to Panoramio. If available, the geoposition will be automatically set, and you can optionally add a title to the photo."
Google is working hard to release an Android version.
Interestingly, Panoramio has monthly for people to submit pictures to various categories. The contests have 28 winners each month who win prizes. Visit http://www.panoramio.com/contest for more information.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. has announced the launch of nook, the Barnes & Noble eBook reader. nook features many industry firsts as it is the first Android-based eBook reader and the first to offer a color touch screen for navigation along with a best-in-class E Ink display for an immersive, enjoyable e-reading experience.
For fast connectivity, nook is the first eBook reader to provide, at no additional costs to customers, both 3G wireless access on AT&T’s mobile broadband network and access to Wi-Fi for Barnes & Noble in-store browsing and enjoyment. And to help friends share their joy of reading, nook is the first eBook reader to offer digital lending for a wide selection of eBooks.
nook, the Barnes & Noble eBook reader, will begin shipping at the end of November with a price of $259.00. Barnes & Noble is taking pre-orders now at www.nook.com and in stores starting today. In celebration of nook’s launch, Barnes & Noble will also offer a free eBook of Malcolm Gladwell’s widely acclaimed best-seller, “The Tipping Point,” for the first 10,000 customers to pre-order nook.
Verizon Wireless is preparing to launch a new smartphone powered by (Google) Android 2.0 by Motorola named Droid.
The Motorola Droid features:
Full physical QWERTY keyboard
5 MP camera with night mode and flash
Speech recognition
Widget support
Verizon Wireless has a launched a teaser site for interested users to sign-up to be informed when they can purchase the Droid. To the right is a video shown on the teaser site.
T-Mobile recently announced the availability of the Motorola CLIQ with MOTOBLUR which is the first Android-powered device from Motorola. The Motorola CLIQ is available starting November 2.
Google has announced Quick Search Box (QSB) for Android phones which allows users to quickly search your phone and the Internet right from your phone's home screen. No need to launch the Web browser anymore. (See demo video to the right).
When users type in their phone, Quick Search Box provides suggestions as user’s type, limiting the amount of keystrokes required.
QSB provides one single search box to let users search content on their phone, including apps, contacts, and browser history, as well as content from the web, like personalized search suggestions, local business listings, stock quotes, weather, and flight status, all without opening the browser. No need to have one search box for the web and another for the phone.
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