All Articles Tagged Google

UPDATED: Looks like Google is partnering with MySpace’s iLike and with Lala for their iTunes music competitor. TechCrunch again has the details:

From information we’ve gathered from sources, the new service will be integrated into Google search. Users will be able to stream songs directly from Google via partners iLike and LaLa. Additional information around the music query will be provided to users as well (presumably any relevant results from YouTube as well as information already available in Google’s existing music search – example). One source said that Google will organize music searches in a way very similar to the way they do public company stock searches today. Users will also be offered the opportunity to purchase songs for download, we’ve confirmed.

Original post after the break!

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The first screenshots of Google’s upcoming Android 2.0 Eclair OS have leaked and, aside from being a cream-filled, chocolate covered confectionary of a codename, eh… we’re not quite sure what to make of them. They’re better, but are they HTC Sense UI better?

TiPb made no secret about thinking Android 1.0 (did that one have a tasty codename? Snickerdoodle maybe?) looked a tad under-polished, and 2.0 certainly improves on that, and adds in Exchange support (like iPhone 2.0), Facebook integration (like webOS Synergy), improved WebKit browser (as fast as the iPhone 3GS?), maps with data layers (like PlaceBase?), unified email inbox (yes!), YouTube widget, big honking buttons for use while driving, voice control (like iPhone 3GS).

Check out Boy Genius Report for the full gallery and Android Central for Casey’s commentary, then come back and tell us if this is the Android you’ve been looking for…

First up, the highly anticipated HTC Hero is in Android Central’s house, and Casey gives us a look at the decidedly non-Google Android phone and SenseUI, something closer akin to HTC’s previous Windows Mobile powered TouchFLO3D. And we think he likes it:

We believe that you’ll be stunned at how easy it is to use and how polished it all works. If you’re looking from the myTouch 3G or T-Mobile G1, you can’t help but be jealous of the Hero. The UI offers a great experience while still maintaining the same lovely Android and even adds a better browser! We have no hesitation in saying that the HTC Hero is the best Android phone available and after using HTC Sense, will be for quite some time.

Next up, I don’t think we’ve ever mentioned “Motorola” and “competition” to the iPhone in the same paragraph before, but with the introduction of the CLIQ, their first device running Google’s Android OS, do we have to stop chuckling at the mere concept?

Maybe. We often say (okay, Chad often says) that Apple designed the iPhone for RAZR users — the first dead-simple, consumer-friendly smartphone. Well Moto built the RAZR, and now they’ve built MOTOBLUR, a new, hyper-social network focused new layer on top of Android designed to hook the heart of the Twitter/FaceBook generation (yes, Icebike, I campout firmly in the former). And they’ve put it on a G1/Dream-style horizontal slider.

Have they succeeded? Engadget says:

Let’s be very clear: though it fares pretty competitively against the aging crop of Google-powered devices on the market today, the CLIQ isn’t the Android phone to end all Android phones. Then again, it’s not supposed to be — at least, we hope it isn’t — because a smallish HVGA display and an overworked, outmatched MSM7201A core aren’t going to win any believers that haven’t already been won over by HTC’s stable. What the CLIQ does do, though, is lay the groundwork for something better — a Motorola that doesn’t cause eyes to roll, a Motorola that makes aspirational phones that people can want to own again.

One thing’s clear, however. The competition is focusing on the social networks, something Apple’s never been historically good at, and something they may still not quite understand. Is it an achilles heel for the iPhone? Not yet, especially not with the App Store. But there’s no MOTOBLUR or widgets or Synergy in the App Store yet, and likely there won’t be given SDK restrictions. So, Apple, howsabout 4.0?

Roughly 3 weeks ago Google (finally!) added Gmail to their Google Sync service, allowing iPhone users to add push email to the previously available contacts and calendars. It wasn’t a solution for everyone, since it used Microsoft’s ActiveSync, which allows for only one account per device, and many users already had a business Exchange server in that slot. For those without Exchange, however, it’s awesome, right?

Or is it? We’ve had many readers tell us it works great, and others who’ve had some problems — enough that we want to ask, how’s Google Sync working on your iPhone?

Let us know in the poll above, and elaborate as needed in the comments!

(And we’ll insert yet another plea to Apple and Google to give us Gmail via IMAP IDLE in the Mail app already!)

Looks like Google Wave, the big G’s cloud-based take on next-generation communication and collaboration, already works on the iPhone. No big surprise, though, it’s browser powered and the iPhone still has the slickest browser in mobile. Google even showed it off on an iPhone during its debut at IO 2009. TechCrunch, however, found this interesting little bit of behavior:

Just like with any Web page on the iPhone, you can save a bookmark on your Home screen, and it creates a little icon which launches mobile Safari to that page. When you save the Wave bookmark to your Home screen, however, something different happens. You go to Wave, but without the Safari wrapper which allows you to navigate to another page or search the Web. Instead, it looks more like a regular app and there is no way to navigate away from it. Everything else works the same as in the mobile browser version.

This feature, as TechCrunch states, has been available to iPhone developers for a while, and helps blur the line between highly localized WebApps, and highly cloud-dependant widgets. If you’re using Google Wave on your iPhone, let us know how it works for you. (And if you work for Google, send us an invite so we can try it.)

Search Google.com from your iPhone (or Android or webOS device) and notice the brand-spanking new Options drop-down on the top right. Tap it a list Google’s Mobile Blog says:

Finding the exact information you need sometimes requires filtering and refining your search results. Earlier in the year, we launched a collection of tools called Search Options which enable you to easily and quickly do this from a computer. Today in the US, we are making Search Options available on Android/iPhone/Palm WebOS devices so that you can slice and dice your mobile search results as well. For example, suppose you are shopping at a store for a camera, and you would like to see what users have been saying about a specific model within the past week. You can do this simply by searching for the name of the product. Then, on the search results page, use “Options” to filter by “Forums” and refine further by choosing “Past week”.

Let us know how it works for you…

[via PreCentral.net]

Google today flipped the switch on Google Street View for Canadians, making it available to Canadian iPhone users for the first time via the built-in Maps App. According to the CBC:

The service is now available in Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, Vancouver, Squamish, B.C., Whistler, B.C., Ottawa, Kitchener, Ont., and Waterloo, Ont.

Due to concerns brought by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, faces and license plates have been blurred out, and a method to request privacy-based image removal has been created.

So, Canadian readers, can you find your favorite local landmark on your iPhone now?

Google’s “Email 2.0″ service, called Google Wave was announced back at the I/O conference, and has now entered a limited beta (in terms of number of people invited, no telling how long the service itself will be in beta).

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

Since Steve Jobs probably isn’t getting an invite anymore, if Google — or anyone else — has any to spare, please send them TiPb’s way and we’ll happily pick up the iPhone testing slack. (Shameless, yes. Joking, not one bit).

Back in July, Apple stealthily acquired Placebase, a mapping company that provides a service similar to Google Maps, but with more robust customizations and set of APIs, called Pushpin, for layering data sets over maps.

Google and Apple have been steadily moving from friends to frenemies of late, with the advent of Android and CloudOS, the whole Google Voice and Google Latitude rejection brouhaha, and Google’s CEO leaving Apple’s board. TiPb’s conjectured that Apple might see Google as trying to take over everyone else’s platform as well, so it makes a certain amount of sense (especially given their history with the Mac) to have in-house backups for all the services Google currently offers for the iPhone. A billion-dollar data center might factor into that as well…

Given that Apple wrote the iPhone Maps app themselves, and just used Google for the backend, a switch to Apple Maps might even be transparent to the end user. TiPb’s also discussed Apple’s philosophy that the interface is the app, which again shows why Apple might be hesitant to give UI over to Google through Google Voice or Latitude — they can’t swap that out as easily.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see what an Apple Maps might look like…

(via 9to5mac and Computerworld)

UPDATE: Google’s response, with commentary from Casey.

According to sibling site Android Central, Google has sent a cease & desist order to well-known Android custom ROM maker, CyanogenMod.

Google is not happy that CyanogenMod is distributing closed source Android applications like Gmail, Android Market, YouTube, etc. [...] CyanogenMod explains that he’s not breaking any copyright issues because he develops specifically for Google Experience devices (G1 & myTouch 3G), devices that already include said closed source applications.

Casey asks if this could be a sign of Google finding their inner evil. We re-hash our own cliche: any company sufficiently powerful is indistinguishable from evil. It’s just that Apple (and Microsoft) tend to get called on it more.

But, hey, if any clever Android modders want to port that Gmail app over to the iPhone Jailbreak community, we promise we won’t object…