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New Media News Every Morning

Google Voice Goes Public

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Heralded by some as a potential Skype killer, Google has finally allowed the masses to sign up for Google Voice without having to scout for an invite online (provided you live within a certain country that is).

A little over a year ago, we released an early preview of Google Voice, our web-based platform for managing your communications. […] Today, after lots of testing and tweaking, we’re excited to open up Google Voice to the public, no invitation required. […]

Just to clarify, though we’ve opened up sign-ups, Google Voice is still limited to everyone in the U.S. for now. (Official Google Voice Blog)

For now Google Voice acts more like a forwarding service than a true VoIP phone service, so for now Skype currently has the edge over its deep pocket rival.
[Read more…]

Originally posted on June 22, 2010 @ 3:06 pm

Bing Goes Social, Threatens Google On iPhone

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It looks like Microsoft’s Bing may have just upped the ante for search on the iPhone by fully embracing two of the largest social networks in the US.

Now you can connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts and see combined status updates from your friends from within the Bing app. But that’s easy. When we asked what else we could do with this personal intelligence, we looked at the data behind how people were using their social networks. Turns out that over 40% of the time when people ask ambiguous queries that don’t have a defined answer (like where should I go to eat tonight), social networks are faster at providing a great answer than traditional search engines. (Bing Community Blog)

Although Google has already included Twitter within their search engine results, Bing’s personal integration of Facebook and Twitter should make the latter more relevant against the search Titan (who is looking rather bland).

Social integration wasn’t the only feature Bing offered users, as they have also included a feature that may help the smaller rival compete against Google Goggles. [Read more…]

Originally posted on June 22, 2010 @ 1:47 pm

Apple Hates Left Handed People. Just Ask iPhone 4

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It looks like those of you who were lucky enough to pick up an iPhone 4 may have to adjust your mindset back a few centuries and embrace the superiority of us “right handed folk” now that Steve Jobs has confirmed that iPhone 4 was never designed for lefties.

Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases. (via Engadget)

For those doubting or hoping that this “anti-left” anomaly will not affect their precious iDevice, you may want to check out the video below and fork up an extra $29 for Apple’s glorious solution. [Read more…]

Originally posted on June 25, 2010 @ 10:30 am

Google Kills Off Android App

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It looks like the search giant was forced to remove a couple less than honest apps from Android devices after they discovered that the mobile programs did not perform the function detailed by their creators.

Recently, we became aware of two free applications built by a security researcher for research purposes. These applications intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads, but they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data — or system resources beyond permission.INTERNET. As the applications were practically useless, most users uninstalled the applications shortly after downloading them.

After the researcher voluntarily removed these applications from Android Market, we decided, per the Android Market Terms of Service, to exercise our remote application removal feature on the remaining installed copies to complete the cleanup. (Android Developers Blog)

Unlike iOS where apps must survive a tribunal in order to appear on the app store, Android Apps are automatically uploaded as soon as they are submitted (which might explain why the software is gaining market share despite iPhone 4). [Read more…]

Originally posted on June 24, 2010 @ 7:03 pm

YouTube Knocks Out Viacom

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Today is a good day for Google. Not only are Android phones selling faster than expected, but it looks like the courts have dismissed Viacom’s lawsuit against YouTube.

Today, the court granted our motion for summary judgment in Viacom’s lawsuit with YouTube. This means that the court has decided that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement. We’re extremely gratified by this decision and the now established judicial consensus that online services like YouTube are immune from liability when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them protect their rights online. (Official YouTube Blog) [Read more…]

Originally posted on June 23, 2010 @ 4:52 pm