Google has just released in the U.S. a new version of Google Talk for the iPhone and iPod Touch browsers. You can now talk with them while you're on the move in addition to sending your friends Gmail messages from your iPhone.
On your iPhone browser go to www.google.com/talk, log in and start talking. Google Talk runs entirely in the browser so there's no need to download or install anything. There are a few differences from using Google Talk on your computer. For example, in to receive instant messages with Google Talk on your iPhone, the application needs to be open in your Safari browser. When you navigate away to another browser window or application, your status will be changed to "unavailable" and your Google Talk session will be restarted when you return.
Tele Atlas, a provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, today announced that Google has signed a long term license agreement with the company that gives Google access to Tele Atlas maps and dynamic content in more than 200 countries around the world.
The agreement spans Google's current and future map-based services and navigation offerings across mobile, online and desktop environments. These include the Google Maps and Google Earth services and mobile applications such as Google Maps for Mobile. The agreement also gives Tele Atlas access to edits for its maps from Google's community of users, whose suggested changes can help the company further increase the quality and richness of Tele Atlas maps.
Last November Google predicted that cell phones developed on its Android platform would be available second half of 2008. However, Android handsets, developed by Google and more than 30 partners are struggling to meet delivery for the fourth quarter of this year. The partners include more than 30 technology and mobile leaders including Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile.
It seems T-Mobile USA should deliver an Android powered cell phone in the fourth quarter of this year, however, Sprint Nextel Corp will not. China Mobile, which boasts 400 million users will launch Android powered handsets late this year or early 2009. Now word on any the other carriers.
Google has a new version of Google Maps for Mobile (Version 2.2) that allows you to get transit directions in all the same places as the web version of Google Maps, including Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Vancouver, and over 40 other cities in North America.
This version of Google Maps for mobile even has features not yet available on the desktop version of Google Maps. For example, you can find the last transit trips of the day (to figure out how late you can stay at the party) and more easily browse through earlier or later trips. The My Location feature, available on most phones, also makes it easier to set the start point of your journey.
To see how the transit feature of Google Maps for mobile works, take a look at the video to the right.
Google is being sued for refusing to ban online ads from fraudulent mobile services, despite evident ad policy violations.
The case is a result of New Jersey resident Jenna Goddard who claims she used Google to search for the keyword "ringtone" and related terms in December 2007. When she clicked on an AdWords ad, she was taken to a fraudulent mobile subscription services web sites which failed to display pricing information as required by Google's mobile services ad policy.
When Jenna Goddard entered her phone number the sites promising free content, her mobile account was charged for "unwanted mobile content services in the form of 'premium text messages.' "
The incident has turned into a class-action lawsuit on behalf of others believed to have been subject to deceptive cell phone services that have been advertised on Google.
Sprint and Google today announced a partnership aimed at more deeply integrating Google applications and services into Sprint customers' mobile experience. As part of the deal, Google will become Sprint's preferred mobile search provider and Sprint users will have easier access to Google Maps for mobile, YouTube and more.
Sprint and Google are committed to providing users with the most dynamic mobile experience possible. Both companies have actively advocated the importance of an open mobile ecosystem and understand that users should have more choice when it comes to selecting and accessing content on a mobile phone.
Opera Software today announced that its Opera Mini browser for mobile phones is available for the Android platform. The technical preview release is available at labs.opera.com, inviting the Android development community to test the fresh build and share feedback with Opera for the forthcoming beta.
Android is Google's open source platform that is open for developers to create new and innovative applications for cell phones.
Opera Mini, boasting more than 40 million users worldwide across mobile platforms, enables Web browsing from low-to-high resource handsets by compressing data at a remote server before sending content to the phone applet for rendering.
With a simple, user-friendly interface, Opera Mini powers innovative features for real, desktop-like Web browsing from a mobile phone, including Small Screen Rendering, Zoom, synced bookmarks and integrated Google search. With Opera Mini optimized for Android, open handset developers can include a tried and tested, full Internet experience.
Today Google filed plans with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) outlining plans for low-power devices that use local wireless airwaves to access the "white space" between television channels. The plan is called "Wi-Fi 2.0 or Wi-Fi on steroids" by Google. However, U.S. broadcasters and makers of wireless microphones oppose the white-space fearing the devices would cause interference.
The new generation devices could deliver data transmission speeds of billions of bits per second, which is much faster than the millions of bits per second available on most current broadband networks. This would allow wireless users to watch movies that are currently difficult on slower networks.
In February 2009 TV broadcasters will switch from analog to digital signals, freeing up space for the white-space airwaves by the end of 2009. Google believes the white-space spectrum is the place to operate new cell phones and wireless devices based on Android.
Google a few weeks ago launched a plug-in for Symbian devices that put a Google search shortcut onto the phone's home screen.
The shortcut reduces the time it takes for you to get answers from Google by eliminating the initial search steps (e.g. finding the browser application, opening it, and navigating to Google.com before entering your query).
The same plug-in has been available for BlackBerry devices since last December. Today, Google make this available for Windows Mobile devices too.
Windows Mobile users can download the plug-in at mobile.google.com to start searching faster than ever. Google users are able to get Google search results up to 40 percent faster. BlackBerry and Symbian users with the plug-in installed search 20 percent more than those without it.
Today Google announced the launch of Google Gears for mobile, a mobile browser extension for creating rich web applications for mobile devices. The first version is now available for Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Mobile 5 and 6. It's a fully functional port of Google Gears v0.2 that can be used to develop offline capability into your mobile web applications.
You can also create slick and responsive applications by hiding latency issues through controlled caching of data and storage of information between sessions. We're also working to bring Google Gears for mobile to Android and other mobile platforms with capable web browsers.
There is a huge variety of mobile operating systems which makes it tough to build rich applications that work on every device. Google Gears for mobile allows developers to deploy applications directly to mobile browsers rather than develop native applications.
Opera today made Google the default search engine in Opera's mobile Web browsers. Now anyone using Opera Mobile or Opera Mini can access Google's powerful mobile search directly from the browser start page, meaning they'll be able to quickly and easily get the information they need, whenever and wherever they need it.
Opera Mini's ongoing success is a proof of the mobile Web's adoption by mainstream consumers. Because Opera Mini targets feature phones that have traditionally possessed limited browsing capabilities, millions of people have made the personal choice to download and install Opera Mini to their phones. These consumers tend to use the mobile Web more frequently and actively than consumers with more static, less dynamic mobile Web browsers. Every month, Opera Mini users browse more than 1.7 billion pages, with much of that traffic generated through the search function in the browser.
Google has been the default search option on Opera's desktop browser for seven years.
According to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal, Google is considering using balloons for wireless communications using Space Data Corporation current technologies.
Space Data Corp. currently launches 10 balloons a day across the Southern United States to provide telecommunications services to oil companies and truckers. The balloons fly 20 miles into the stratosphere covering thousands of square miles below. Each balloon carries a payload of electronics, about the size of a shoebox that acts like a mini cell phone tower.
The inexpensive balloons, about $50 each, are good for only 24 hours before they burst in the thin air of the upper atmosphere. The electronic gear is encased in a small Styrofoam box that drifts gently back to earth on tiny parachutes.
Google has released Google search for S60 powered cell phones. The new application places a shortcut to a Google search box on the idle screen which is also accessible via the usual application launcher. This feature is only available on devices with either a Ctrl or pencil/edit key.
By entering a search query and hitting the search button the Internet opens up and takes you to the results page for that Google search in pretty much one step. To download the new application visit mobile.google.com and find the Search Download link.
Last Tuesday Nokia and Google announced that Google's search engine will be integrated with the Nokia Search application. The integration will begin in select markets with the Nokia N96, Nokia N78, Nokia 6210 Navigator and Nokia 6220 classic.
Google search will be extended to additional Nokia handset models in the future. Ultimately, Nokia will make Google search available to its customers in over 100 countries around the world, serving mobile owners speaking more than 40 languages.
Nokia and Google today announced that Google's popular search engine will be integrated with the Nokia Search application.
The integration will begin in select markets with the Nokia N96, Nokia N78, Nokia 6210 Navigator and Nokia 6220 classic. Google search will be extended to additional Nokia handset models in the future. Ultimately, Nokia will make Google search available to its customers in over 100 countries around the world, serving mobile owners speaking more than 40 languages.
Nokia Search, now with Google, offers fast and easy access to web information from the handset. In addition, Nokia Search also makes it possible for users to search content on their device and use local search engines for a complete search experience. Nokia Search is available on many devices and provides direct access with one click from the active standby screen, saving users time and steps in their searching.
British chip designer ARM will demo a prototype of Google Inc's Android mobile phone platform next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. ARM hasn't released any working model of the phone it plans to show at Mobile World Congress or who would supply the parts.
Google plans to deploy phones and services using the Android platform commercially in the second half of this year. However, recently Google extended the submission deadline for the first Android Developers Challenge to 14 April 2008.
Google established an alliance of more than 30 carriers, handset makers, software firms and chipmakers in November to develop Android, which is based on open-source software and designed to make the Internet work better on mobile phones.
Last November Google announced plans for a mobile software platform named Android. Android is an open source platform that is open for developers to create new and innovative applications for cell phones.
Google has extended the submission deadline for the first Android Developers Challenge to 14 April 2008. Based on the feedback from developers, Google has made significant updates to the SDK (Software Development Kit) that will be released in several weeks.
The following is the updated time line:
April 14, 2008: Deadline to submit applications for judging
May 5, 2008: Announcement of the 50 first round winners, who will be eligible for the final round
June 30, 2008: Deadline for the 50 winners of the first round to submit for the final round
July 21, 2008: Announcement of the grand prize winner and runner-up
Google is also pushing back the deadline for its $10 million Android Developer Challenge. The timing now means the challenge and the Android SDK will launch about a month later after Apple is expected to release its guidelines for building applications for the iPhone. Apple’s developer kit is expected later this month.
It seems that Google will get its wish of "open-access" for wireless devices and services. Bids for a national bundle of licenses known as "C block" of spectrum in the 700 megahertz range reached the $4.6 billion to trigger "open-access" conditions. The company that wins that spectrum will be required to provide open network access to any device that is compatible with the network
Google has been pushing hard by getting the FCC to require the winning bidder to open networks built on the spectrum to other service providers, devices and software. Google has said it might put up $4.6 billion itself or more in the auction. However, it's not clear if Google has submitted a bid. The FCC is keeping bidders identities secret until the auction is over. If Google is bidding, the company most likely competing with Google for that spectrum is Verizon Wireless.
The C block is the auction's big prize. It accounts for about one-third of the total spectrum up for sale.
Today you will be able to view virtually all of the videos on YouTube on your cell phone. YouTube has announced it is expanding its mobile service. Starting today, users equipped with the latest generation cell phones will be able to view the tens of millions of YouTube videos. In 2006 YouTube started their mobile service, however, only a few thousand clips were available for viewing.
YouTube also announced that mobile access will have many of the same features such as its Web site which include the ability to rate videos and share clips with friends. The company estimates that more than 100 million devices worldwide should be able to access the expanded mobile service. The handsets must have streaming capability and have a 3G operator.
YouTube, owned by Google, is trying to make it easier for people to upload videos from their phones with a new application that can be installed on some handsets. The "YouTube for Mobile" program initially will work on limited list of devices that include some Sony Ericsson and Nokia models.
NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and Google Inc. today jointly announced that they formed a partnership that includes providing search services, search-related advertisement and potential applications to i-mode users.
The two companies will also collaborate to enhance the user-friendliness of i-mode services, by making various Google services easier to access through i-mode handsets. The default pre-loading of Google Maps application into upcoming DoCoMo i-mode handsets is one of the initial initiatives being discussed.
Google, one of the largest search engines in the world, is aiming to fulfill the mission of "organizing the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." i-mode, the pioneering mobile Internet service provided by DoCoMo, boasts nearly 48 million mobile Internet users. By connecting i-mode with various services provided by Google, the parties together intend to increase accessibility, user-friendliness and further develop the usefulness of mobile Internet services in the Japanese market.
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