Google has announced updates Google Latitude with check-ins and Google Places in 30 languages. Now you can start checking in at places with the updated Latitude app for iPhone. With Google Latitude, you can see where your Latitude friends are on a map and choose to continuously share where you are.
You can also choose to check in at specific places, such as your favorite restaurant or a park, to add more context to your location. You'll be able to not only let friends know that you’re just around the corner but also let them know the actual coffee shop that you’re at in case they want to join you. If Latitude is set to continuously update your location, you’ll also be automatically checked out when you leave. This way, friends aren’t left guessing if you’re still there or not before heading over to join you for a latte.
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Sprint announced the upcoming availability of the 20th 4G device and fourth 4G phone, Nexus S 4G from Google. Coming to Sprint this spring, it will also be able to take advantage of the unprecedented controls and services enabled by Google Voice integration built into the Sprint Network.
Manufactured by Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), a leading global mobile phone provider and the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the United States2, Nexus S 4G comes packed with a pure Google experience using Android 2.3, Gingerbread, the fastest version of Android available for smartphones. It is powered by a 1GHz Samsung application processor that produces rich 3D-like graphics, faster upload and download times and supports HD-like multimedia content along with a dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to make playing mobile games, browsing the Web and watching videos a fast, fluid and smooth experience.
“Nexus S 4G shows the strong commitment Sprint has to Android, and when combined with our 4G network capabilities, it gives customers the option of a pure Google experience,” said Fared Adib, vice president – Product Development, Sprint.
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Google announced today that Sprint customers will now be able to use their existing Sprint mobile number as their Google Voice number and have it ring multiple other phones simultaneously. (See video above). | |
Nokia Beta Labs today announced Shoot and Tag. If you are fed up of making movies on your phone and forgetting where the good bits were then find out how to jump to the right scenes in an instant. (See video above).
Shoot and Tag does for home-made movies what HTML links did for web surfing, by creating a simple way of navigating to the correct place with just one click and what’s more, it does it automatically. | |
Google has updated Google search on your iPhone or iPod touch making it faster and easier when you use the redesigned Google Search app, formerly Google Mobile App. (See video above).
There are now more ways to interact with the app. When browsing through search results or looking at a webpage, you can swipe down to see the search bar or change your settings. For those who use other Google apps, there’s an Apps button at the bottom of the screen for rapid access to the mobile versions of our products. | |
Google has announced that Google Instant Previews is now available on mobile for Android (2.2+) and iOS (4.0+) devices across 38 languages. Similar to the desktop version of Instant Previews, you can visually compare search results from webpage snapshots, making it easier to choose the right result faster, especially when you have an idea of the content you’d like to see. See video above. | |
Last Tuesday evening, Google's Android team was made aware of a number of malicious applications published to Android Market. Within minutes of becoming aware, Google identified and removed the malicious applications. The applications took advantage of known vulnerabilities which don’t affect Android versions 2.2.2 or higher.
For affected devices, Google believes that the only information the attacker(s) were able to gather was device-specific (IMEI/IMSI, unique codes which are used to identify mobile devices, and the version of Android running on your device). However given the nature of the exploits, the attacker(s) could access other data, which is why Google has taken a number of steps to protect those who downloaded a malicious application: |  |
Google announced that Google Maps Navigation (Beta) will now automatically route you around traffic. With more than 35 million miles driven by Navigation users every day, this should add up to quite a bit of time saved! Navigation now uses real-time traffic conditions to automatically route you around traffic.
With Google Maps Navigation you don’t have to do anything to be routed around traffic; just start Navigation like you normally would, either from the Navigation app or from within Google Maps. Before today, Navigation would choose whichever route was fastest, without taking current traffic conditions into account. It would also generate additional alternate directions, such as the shortest route or one that uses highways instead of side roads. Starting today, our routing algorithms will also apply our knowledge of current and historical traffic to select the fastest route from those alternates. That means that Navigation will automatically guide you along the best route given the current traffic conditions. |  |
Google has launched an “open now” feature which lets you filter local search results to show only businesses that are open right now, based on their listed hours. Other local search options available globally include filtering by star ratings (find a highly-rated restaurant for your first date) and by distance (especially handy when you’re on foot).
Other improvements include the addition of images, reviews from around the web and bigger buttons for viewing a map or calling a business directly. Each business’s open hours are also shown in the result snippets.
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Google recently announced some updates to the official Google Reader app for Android. The updates include:
Unread count widget - choose any feed, label, person, or “all items” and get the unread count on your home screen. Clicking on the widget takes you to straight to that stream.
News ticker widget - if you prefer a bit more information, you can add a larger size widget that cycles through items on any stream you want in Reader. Clicking any headline will take you to the article, while clicking the folder will take you to that stream.
Mark previous as read - if you’ve used the mobile version of Reader before and missed this feature, it’s now back! As you scroll down your reading list, hit “Mark previous as read” at any time to only mark things above the screen as read.
In addition to these new features, Google now have an official Russian translation as well.
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Google today launched Google Translate for iPhone which can be downloaded from the App Store. The new app has all the features of the web app, in addition to various significant new additions designed to improve your overall translation experience.
The new app accepts voices from 15 languages, and like the web app, you can translate a word or phrase into one of more than 50 languages. For voice input, just press the microphone icon next to the text box and say what you want to translate.
The new app also features:
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Google has introduced the Android Market website that lets you browse and search for great apps right from your web browser. (See video above).
The website makes it easy to find new apps with a bigger, brighter interface. You can send apps directly to your Android device with just a few clicks. Google has built in new social features, too. You can share apps with your friends through Twitter. And you can read and post app reviews directly to Android Market from the web or from your device.
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Google has announced that Google Shopper is now available for iPhone as a download in the App Store. Google Shopper turns your iPhone into a shopping assistant, so you can learn more about products and read relevant user reviews, compare prices at online and local stores and save/share products for later consideration
If you’re not sure about making a purchase or are building out a gift list, you can “star” products for future consideration. You can also share items with friends across your social network to let them know about products you love or great deals you've found.
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SpeechTEK Europe’s opening Keynote features Google’s Engineering Director, Dave Burke, who will discuss and demo Google’s latest developments in cloud-based speech for mobile and the web, and touch on some of the company’s future plans in this important area. Google has been making big investments in cloud-based speech recognition services and applications, particularly for the Android and Chrome platforms. Google’s Chrome is estimated to now have over 120 million users.
The SpeechTEK Europe (London, 25 & 26 May) programme published this month and includes in-depth coverage of the state of the speech tech industry in Europe. With 50 expert speakers from a wide range of global business environments - including Google, Barclays Bank, Deutsche Telekom, Ovum, Nuance, Loquendo, Openstream, Voxeo, Belgian Railways, Telecom Italia and Cable & Wireless – the event makes a compelling case for including speech solutions in today’s business, both to improve customer care, benefit staff, decrease operational costs and boost competitiveness.
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Google today announced that Number Porting is now available for all existing Google Voice users allowing them to make their mobile number they've always used their Google Voice number, so it can ring any phone you want—or even your computer. (See video above). | |
Google recently released Google Places with Hotpot in Google Maps for Android, and now its available for the iPhone. Google Places with Hotpot allows you to find places you’ll love while you’re out and about, no matter what mobile device you use. And Places with Hotpot not only helps you find places near where you are, it gives you the best places to go for you by personalizing your search results.
Google Places lets you quickly search for places nearby and personalizes the results based on places you’ve rated. Places gets you started with a few popular search categories, but you can also tailor the list by adding your own favorite searches. This makes it fast and easy to find the best places for you with little fuss.
If you want to make things even tastier, visit google.com/hotpot from your desktop computer. Here you can add friends to the mix and quickly rate all the places you already know. Once you’ve added friends, you’ll find your results seasoned not just with reviews from around the web and recommendations based on your own personal taste, but also with your friends’ opinions too. | 
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Google has announced the launch of a new version of Google Goggles (1.3) that’s faster and smarter than ever before. Goggles 1.3 for Android scans barcodes almost instantly. All versions of Goggles can now recognize print ads in popular magazines and newspapers. Google Goggles 1.3 can also recognize puzzles and provide answers to help make you faster than a Sudoku champ. See demo video above. For more information visit http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/01/google-goggles-gets-faster-smarter-and.html. | |
Google has announced Google Maps 5.0 for Android, with two major new features: 3D interaction and offline reliability. (See demo video above). Now you can tilt while zoomed in (left) or use compass mode (right) to orient yourself with 3D buildings. The new update uses vector graphics to dynamically draw the map on your device as you use it, allowing you to interact with it in new ways: | |
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