Google Launches Music Beta!!!

Google has finally rolled out its own music locker and streaming service at the ongoing I/O developer conference in San Francisco.

Music Beta by Google, like Amazon’s recently launched Cloud Drive service, will let users store their entire music collection on the cloud. However, the service will offer more memory than what is being offered by Amazon.

Users will be able to access and stream their music files on any desktop or laptop via web. The company has also released an Android app for smartphones and tablet devices based on the popular platform.

Google, however, won’t allow its users to share music with their friends and purchase music as it failed to ink a deal with record labels. The company had been negotiating with record companies for a long time but then decided to launch the service without licenses, just like Amazon.

The company said that users will be able to listen music even when they are offline as the service automatically stores recently player music on their device.

“With the new service, your music and playlists are automatically kept in sync, so if you create a new playlist on your phone, it’s instantly available on your computer or tablet. You can use a feature called Instant Mix to create a playlist of songs that go well together,” the company explained, Smart Company reports.

Google Chromebooks: The Chrome OS!!

The first laptops running on a Google-designed software system will go on sale in the US and six other countries next month.

The June 15 release date announced Wednesday means the lightweight laptops will hit the market nearly two years after Google Inc. began working on an operating system based on its Chrome Web browser.

Since then, Apple Inc.'s iPad and other tablet computers have become hot sellers. The growing popularity of tablets has raised questions about how interested consumers will be interested in buying Google-powered laptops specifically tailored for Web surfing.

Samsung Electronics Co. and Acer Inc. are making the first Chromebooks. They will sell for $349 to $499 at Best Buy and Amazon.com Inc. in the US. The cheapest IPad sells for $499.

Acer's Chromebook, at $349, will have an 11.6-inch screen display and up to six hours of battery life. Samsung's version, selling for $429 to $499, will have a 12.1-inch screen and up to 8.5 hours of battery life. Both models will have keyboards, but no hard drives for storage. The machines will be like computer terminals dependent on a connection to the Internet. The laptops come with 16 gigabytes of flash memory - the kind found in smartphones, tablet computers and some iPods. They have slots to plug in other storages device you buy separately.

The Chromebooks also will be sold in Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain.

In an effort to get people to use Chromebooks, Google is offering three-year subscription plans to businesses and schools similar to how the mobile phone industry subsidizes devices up front and make the money back over the life of a service contract. For a monthly cost of $28 per user in businesses and government agencies and $20 per user in schools, Google provides the laptop, tech support and a warranty for the duration. Google will replace the Chromebooks at the end of the three years.

Chromebook's long-awaited debut will intensify Google's competition with Microsoft Corp., whose Windows operating system remains the foundation of most personal computers.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have long felt that Windows computers took too long to power up and were too clunky to operate. They believed that Windows' drawbacks were discouraging people from spending even more time online, where they could click on ads sold by Google.

To address the perceived problem, Google announced its plans in July 2009 for a Chrome-based operating system that would enable computers to turn on in a matter of seconds and encourage more Web surfing.

"The complexity of managing computers is really frustrating for users out there," Brin told reporters Wednesday at Google's conference for software developers. "It's a flawed model."

Brin, who began focusing on special projects earlier this year, said he didn't have enough information to comment on a Justice Department investigation into the online ad system that generates most of Google's revenue. The company disclosed Tuesday that it has set aside $500 million to settle the probe. It provided few details.

Besides attacking Microsoft's Windows franchise, Google's Chromebook also will represent another challenge to Apple, which makes Mac computers as well as iPads. Google and Apple have been engaged in a fierce competition in the smartphone market for the past two years.

Google itself has joined the tablet computer craze by creating a special version of its Android software for mobile devices. Apple sold nearly 20 million iPads during the tablet's first year on the market. and analysts expect people to buy tens of millions more tablets from Apple and other manufacturers during the next few years.

10 Reasons Why Windows 7-Based Tablets Won't Work...

With the HP Slate 500 now available for purchase, some are wondering if Windows 7 is an effective operating system for tablets. For its part, Microsoft believes it is. The company has said time and again that it believes Windows 7 is ideal for customers that want more out of tablets than what they're currently getting from devices such as Apple's iPad or Samsung's Galaxy Tab. 

However, Windows 7-based tablets just don't seem to be the best choice for customers. Microsoft's operating system suffers from some serious drawbacks that make it a less-than-ideal choice for both consumer and enterprise customers. As much as Microsoft might want to get behind its platform—as it should—the OS falls short in too many areas for it to be a real competitor to iOS or Android. 

Here are the reasosns why Windows 7-based tablets just won't work as expected. 

1. Tablets don't need full-fledged operating systems 

Apple has proven that tablets just don't need full-fledged operating systems to be a success. The company's iPad boasts iOS, which, by all accounts, is far less capable than are Mac OS X and Windows. Samsung's Galaxy Tab runs Android, which is also under-powered compared with desktop alternatives. So far, consumers—and even some enterprise customers—haven't taken issue with that, and they aren't likely to in the future. 

2. Security concerns 

Security is a major concern for IT staff whenever an employee leaves the office. At least for now, Android and iOS are most likely safer than Windows. They still allow users to be susceptible to phishing scams, but Windows-based malware won't affect those operating systems. That eliminates a significant portion of the security concerns both companies and consumers currently have with operating systems. 

3. Mouse and keyboard first 

Even with Windows 7 in tow, it's important to remember that Windows was designed for use a mouse and keyboard. As a result, it won't work as well as it should in a tablet-style device. Android and iOS, on the other hand, were designed with touch screens in mind. That's an important distinction, and it will help drive consumer interest in those platforms.

4. Apple matters most 

When it comes to tablets, it's hard to find a single company—Google included—that is as important as Apple. Steve Jobs and Apple were instrumental in bringing tablets to the mainstream. Apple's iPad is easily leading the way in the tablet space—at least so far. Could that change? Sure. But if that does change, it will no doubt be Google taking the top spot. Microsoft and Windows 7 just don't have what it takes to overcome Apple's importance in this niche market

5. Google is attracting vendors 

Speaking of Google, the company is doing a fine job of attracting vendors. In fact, it's expected that, in addition to Samsung's Galaxy Tab, products that run Android will arrive on the market in 2011 from LG, Acer, and other providers. Considering both Microsoft and Google are offering an operating system for vendors to include in their products, the companies are competing for the same development dollars. So far, at least, Google looks to be ahead. 

6. Tablets are an escape from Windows 

Don't underestimate that part of the allure of a tablet is that it's an escape from Windows. Devices such as the iPad or the Galaxy Tab allow consumers to bypass most of the security concerns, as well as all the quirks that make Windows so useful on desktops, but less useful on tablets. When it comes to tablets, consumers want to use products that are designed with those form factors in mind. And, to date, Apple and Google are doing the best job of delivering on that. 

7. There's a long history there 

Let's not forget that Microsoft has been heavily invested in the tablet space for years. Windows XP Tablet Edition is one of the more notable tablet offerings extant. Yet, it never caught on much beyond the enterprise. It wasn't until Apple offered the iPad that tablets officially became a product for mainstream users. If Microsoft hasn't had success in the past, what would make one think it can turn this around in the future? 

8. Enterprise-only? 

There is some debate over the viability of Windows 7-based tablets in the enterprise. On one hand, the operating system doesn't seem a good choice for companies that want a simple, intuitive experience for employees. However, Windows is heavily entrenched in the enterprise, and it's the operating system that employees know. It's hard to see Windows 7-based tablets becoming successful in the consumer market, but they might have a slight shot in the enterprise. Unfortunately for Microsoft, though, that won't be enough to take down Apple or Google. 

9. The “time and effort” question 

Running Windows 7 can be a pain. It is arguably one of the better operating systems Microsoft has released on the desktop, but it still requires constant attention from users regarding both security and general housekeeping. It's a robust operating system that doesn't offer the ease of use and simple upkeep that its competitors offer. That's not necessarily a problem on the desktop, where that kind of upkeep is expected, but it is a problem in the tablet space. 

10. Software considerations 

One of the key aspects of a tablet-based operating system is a healthy supply of simple third-party apps. Apple's App Store and Android Market are packed with mobile apps. But Microsoft's platform doesn't have a mobile app store, in that sense. Granted, Windows 7 boasts support for Windows programs, but is that what consumers are really looking for in a tablet? Some might say yes, but, when it's all said and done, one can easily argue that mobile apps will rule the day in the tablet space. 

In the case of tablets, Android seems to be the future of the business. Microsoft need to work hard to create a little space in the tablet market. 

How to Stop Bom Sabado Worm? Here is the way!

Everyone whose orkut account has been affected with the Sabado Worm, can use this simple trick to get out of this issue. People whose account is not yet affected, please follow the below steps to keep this worm away from your accounts.

The worm injects a hidden iframe containing a malicious javascript [do not click this] http: //tptools. org/ worm . js [do not click this], which steals the user cookie which contains the password in an encoded form. Even though the attacker does not get to know your password, they can login to your account using your credentials by impersonating the cookie to fool the identification system. 

So a trivial solution is to diable javascript, another solution is to disable iframes or u can take an advanced measure by blocking the domain http : // tptools . org / by editing your hosts file and redirecting it to a safe address, say 127.0.0.1 go to C:>windows>system32>driversetc There is a file named %u2018hosts%u2019. It is a read-only file. Go to it's properties and un-check the read-only option and edit it with you favourite editor. add this line at the end of it 127.0.0.1 tptools.org save it. and then restart your network interface. ( in simple words, just reconnect your internet connection ). Bingo!! the worm%u2019ll became useless!!!! 

Orkut is attached by Bom Sabado Worm!!!

In a major XSS (cross-site scripting) attack this week, Google owned Orkut was flooded with "Bom Sabado" scraps.

The word "Bom Sabado" means "Good Saturday" in Portuguese, which is the also the official language of Brazil, one of the last remaining Orkut bastions in the world.

The worm seems to be posting scraps with the text "Bom Sabado" and also adding affected users to new Orkut groups. Such XSS attacks have targeted Orkut in the past too.

Experts have advised users to avoid logging on to Orkut till Orkut engineers fix the hole and also not to click on any suspicious links. Orkut had just last month announced new updates to the website.

Earlier this week, the popular microblogging website Twitter was also at the receiving end of an XSS exploit. The attack, which emerged and was shut down within hours Tuesday morning, involved a XSS flaw that allowed users to run JavaScript programs on other computers.

Earlier on Sep 2010, the most popular social networking hub with more than 500 million users, Facebook, also faced networking glitches due to an outside technical problem. It was Facebook's most tragic outrage in its history.

YouTube tests new live streaming platform!

The world largest video sharing service, YouTube is testing a new live streaming platform. The trial would continue for two days - September 13-14. The new service begins as a limited trail with four participating partners.

YouTube had previously hosted live streaming of events such as the U2 concert at Rose Bowl and season three of the Indian Premier League (IPL). YouTube will evaluate the results of the test before planning a roll-out for its partners worldwide.

The new YouTube platform integrates with the existing YouTube channels and broadcasters need only a webcam or an external camera to use the feature, when it is made available.

With the new service YouTube adds to the competition of websites such as, ustream.tv, livestream.com and justin.tv.

YouTube's IPL live streaming had exceeded the website's expectations. The official IPL channel on YouTube racked up nearly 55 million views, against YouTube expectations of around 10 million streams.

Does that mean a free Television Era's begining??

Google Instant: A new faster search system in real time!!

Internet giant Google today introduced "Google Instant", an enhanced version of its search engine that locates the content defendants as the user enters the terms to search. Google adds innovation and speed thanks to its new search function has been presented Wednesday at a news conference.

With this new feature, the user will not have to complete the search, because the results will appear as you type the text, which saves 2 to 5 seconds per search, and "more than 3,500 million seconds a day and a eleven hours every second "globally, the company said.

This breakthrough was described by the Vice President of Search Products at Google, Marissa Mayer, as a "fundamental change" in how to locate content on the Internet.

The new search system will be available in the U.S. throughout the day today for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 8 and next week will start in domains related to six other countries: Spain, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. The company goal is to offer in the coming months this instant service to a greater number of languages and countries.

In addition to automatically predicting the content that appears on the screen without pressing the button "enter", "Google Instant" includes a system of "auto" of terms to help guide users to refine your search.

Google is betting that in a world of nearly instant communication that search is going to have produce an answer just as fast as updates are spat out from Twitter or other real-time Web services. It's a bit chaotic at first and will certainly throw a few searchers off their game as well as make those in the search-engine optimization game a little anxious.

Should it prove popular with users, however, Google Instant is also the type of search innovation that might be difficult for competitors to duplicate in a matter of weeks or even months, giving Google a distinct advantage heading into a new era of Internet search.

Apple and Google are preparing to bring the Internet to television

After years of timid attempts, technology companies have decided to bet heavily on the integration of the Internet on television with the launch this fall in the U.S. of novel devices to interact with the "idiot box."

The updated Apple TV, which was filed this week, we must add the anticipated sale of products Revue Google adapter-TV- or its competitor Boxee Box, expected a market still looking for an efficient way to spread the liability viewer restless spirit of the Internet.

To date, those wishing to enjoy Web content while watching TV they have done acquiring some of the faces flat screens with Internet applications or purchasing devices that are a bridge between the two universes as XR Roku, Tivo or Apple TV. However, none of these devices can freely surf the Internet and are limited to providing access to a number of content such as YouTube, Flickr, Facebook or channels rental of films and series such as Netflix and Amazon VoD.

Aims to fill a void that Google with its Google TV service will be available built into Sony TVs or via modem Reveu box manufactured by Logitech, whose estimated price could be around $ 200.

Google TV platform, and includes the above applications, is designed to surf the Web from your TV using Google Chrome as if they used a computer, follow the same philosophy as creators of Boxee, a software to watch series and movies Internet, which developed the Boxee Box. That device, valued at $ 199 and is slated for release in November, which will be announced as the largest set of applications for viewing content available on the Internet, also serve to surf the Internet.

The new Apple TV filed Wednesday by the company CEO, Steve Jobs, will seek another approach is less ambitious in terms of interaction, but more simple and economic management, $ 99. The device will hit U.S. stores in October with the idea of becoming a home video store with competitive rates and access to some Internet applications, an offer similar to that currently includes Roku XR, which moves in the same strip of price.

A matter of time to know what vision ends up convincing the viewer, the most interactive Google or Apple the most practical of a commercial pulse is called upon to modify more or less the way television is consumed. Amazon also announced its jump to this growing sector.

Key players in this technology race are content providers, mainly the large television networks and Hollywood studios, which since the advent of the Internet have seen a loss of income, especially in DVD sales, a business area would suffer even more.

Google may launch their music service along with Android 3.0!

You may have heard a thing or two about Google’s music service, likely to be dubbed Google Music.  The idea was discussed at I/O back in May, which expectations we would see something around September.  Well, September is here, and we’ve really heard nothing new about Google Music, until now.

Reports are now coming in that sources are revealing that Google Music may be landing sometime around Christmas.  Sources are also revealing that Google is planning to launch the service along with Android 3.0.  There’s only one catch, it seems that Google Music, being spearheaded by Andy Rubin himself, is having zero luck in signing deals with any major record labels.

Music is not the only area where Google is reportedly having difficulty getting content providers to come on board.  There have been numerous reports that they are having an equally difficult time swaying studios and networks to partner with them over Google TV.  One thing is for certain, though, and that is Google had better hurry up and get some record labels on board, or they will be launching a shiny new music service with no music to be found.

Gmail's Priority Inbox Auto-Filter importent E-Mails!

Google Inc. can sift through more than a trillion Web links in a matter of seconds, but can the Internet search leader help people wade through their overflowing e-mailboxes?

That's the challenge Google will try to tackle Tuesday with the introduction of a tool called "Priority Inbox" in its Gmail service.

The feature relies on formulas devised by Google engineers to automatically figure out and highlight which incoming messages are likely to be the most important to each Gmail user.

Users who opt to turn on the Priority Inbox will see their messages separated into three categories. "Important and unread" e-mails will be at the top followed by messages that have been previously stamped with a star by an accountholder. Everything else appears at the bottom.

Switching back to the standard view of the inbox can be done with a click on a link along the left side of the Web page.

Google's e-mail analysis is based on a variety of factors, including a person's most frequent contacts and how many other people are getting the same message. The content of the e-mail also is factored into the equation.

Although it might unnerve some people, the notion of Google's computers scanning through the content of individual e-mails isn't new. Google has been doing it for years to determine what kinds of ads to show to the right of e-mails and to block junk e-mail commonly known as "spam."

With more than 100 daily e-mails pouring into some inboxes now, people now need help to identify "the bacon and baloney" along with the spam, said Keith Coleman, Gmail's product director.

Google helped create the information clutter six years ago when it introduced its free Gmail service with a then-unheard of 1 gigabyte of storage per account. Other e-mail services quickly expanded their capacity limits to remain competitive, and now most inboxes can store multiple gigabytes of information.

Google updates its privacy policy!

Google has relooked and renewed its privacy policy after the settlement of privacy lawsuit over its Buzz. The users are warned with new privacy policy when they visit the Gmail website.  The company faced the lawsuit due to disclosure of private information including all contacts of Gmail.


“Long, complicated and lawyerly—that’s what most people think about privacy policies, and for good reason. Even taking into account that they’re legal documents, most privacy policies are still too hard to understand,” Associate General Counsel, Mike Yang, said in the Google’s official blog.

He further said that Google is not changing anything with regards to policy. He indicated that only thing that will be changed is the wording of the language.  “So we’re simplifying and updating Google’s privacy policies. To be clear, we aren’t changing any of our privacy practices; we want to make our policies more transparent and understandable,” he further said.

Google is going to delete 12 product-specific policies because of the duplication with Google main policy. In simple words, any policy that is being covered by both Google’s main policy and product specific privacy policy will be removed from product’s privacy policy.  Google is also updating the main privacy policy by “cutting down the parts that are redundant”.  The new privacy policy will be effective from October 3.

Gmail: The Bug That Turned Email into Spam is fixed!

Google has fixed a bug with Gmail. The bug caused some of its accounts to repeatedly send email messages over and over.

The bug affected less than 2.5 percent of the Gmail users. It involved odd behavior including the repeated messages. 

The bug was resolved Thursday night, according to Google's Google Apps dashboard.

"The problem with Google Mail should be resolved," Google's tech support staff wrote. "We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better."

MrEvan, a Google employee, also added his own apologies. "Thank you again for the patience you have shown, and sincerest apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you," he wrote. "I too have friends and professional contacts and absolutely understand the value of those relationships and how it could be very frustrating to have bothered some of those folks unintentionally. While I can't take the messages back with some sort of magical Undo Send, I totally sympathize with your situation. Please understand that the Gmail Team has worked tirelessly to investigate this issue and get it solved for you. Your reports were very helpful in our investigation."

At a press conference announcing the integration of Google Voice and Gmail this week, Google executives were asked about the number of Gmail users. Executives declined to provide an exact number, although comScore numbers cited by The Wall Street Journal put the number at over 160 million, putting the maximum number of users affected by the bug at about 4 million users.

Google denies testing out unmanned spy drones

Google has denied reports that it is looking to use unmanned flying spy drones to augment its Street View and Maps features in the future.

Earlier news reports claimed that Google was working with one German manufacturer, Microdrones with the latter company claiming to have sold an unmanned flying drone to Google.

Microdrones has already supplied such unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to British police and special forces.

Speculation as to why Google would want to purchase and use such a device began in earnest, particularly after Microdrones' CEO Sven Juerss told German business publication Wirtschafts Woche that:

"The drones are well suited to deliver up-to-date image material for Google Maps."

Google denies drone plans

When contacted about the news, a Google rep told TechRadar that the company was, "always looking at ways to improve our mapping services," though was quick to add that, "as part of this effort we explore many different technologies but we are not using or testing this one."

The Google rep also informed us that Google currently has no current 'business relationship' with Microdrones, suggesting that the current spate of news stories was based on little more than the fact that the company has bought a single flying drone from the Germany company.

Additionally, while Google claims that it has no current plans to roll out the use of such flying photographing drones to augment Street View or Google Maps, should the company want to pursue such a plan in the future it is also likely that Google would require authorisation from the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to ensure the use of such unmanned drones was not a threat to public health.

A CAA spokesperson told PC Pro earlier this week that: "Any systems like this would need CAA approval, particularly if it was a new system that we hadn't seen before, [as] we didn't know how safe the device was.

"The prime consideration would be over safety and if it is a system that we have already approved that would be taken into account."

"A lot would depend on the purpose. For example, a celebrity wedding might attract special attention, and the area that it planned to fly in might make a difference, but if the UAV was safe then we would consider allowing use."

You can see more about German drones manufacturer Microdrones over on its website.

Android Game Isn't Actually a Game

Another malicious application has been found from the Android Market. A game called Tap Snake isn't just a game, it turns out to be a client for a commercial spying application called GPS SPY.

The Tap Snake game looks like an average "Snake" clone. However, there are two hidden features. First, the game won't exit. Once installed, it runs in the background forever, and restarts automatically when you boot the phone. And secondly, every 15 minutes the game secretly reports the GPS location of the phone to a server.

GPS SPY is a simple mobile spying tool and only costs $4.99. When bought, the application advises you to download and install the "Tap Snake game" to the phone you want to spy on. During installation, the game is registered with a keycode to enable spying. This means that the spy has to have physical access to the phone he wants to spy on.

In many ways, GPS SPY / Tap Snake can be seen as a little brother of mobile spying tools like FlexiSPY. GPS SPY is developed by a Russian developer based in Texas, Mr. Max Lifshin ("Maxicom").

We expect Google to remove Tap Snake from Android Market soon.

As we noted above, we fully expect that Google will pull Tap Snake from the Android Market. But it's also possible that they'll once again flip Android's kill switch and it will be interesting to see if Tap Snake meets Google's kill criteria. 

Oracle Vs Google: and The Winner is Microsoft!!!

Oracle's suit against Google has one clear winner: Microsoft. With Google's Android tied up in litigation, and Oracle becoming the latest villain in the open source community, Microsoft has a chance to make inroads in the mobile market and elsewhere.

Oracle is suing Google, claiming that Android infringes on Oracle copyrights and patents that are related to Java. Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman said in a statement:

"In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement."

Google begs to differ. Android doesn't use Java in Android, but instead a Java compatible technology called Dalvik. Google claims the Oracle suit is "baseless," and will fight it.

No matter what happens with the suit, though, it hurts Google, and helps Microsoft at a time when Microsoft is particularly vulnerable in mobile. Android use has skyrocketed, jumping to 17.2% market share today compared to 1.8% a year ago. Meanwhile, Windows Mobile has become practically a footnote in mobile, dropping to 5% of the market.

Android's success has been fueled by the large number of phone makers building smartphones based on it. Those phone makers, though, may be scared away by this suit. IDC analyst Al Hilwa told Computerworld:

"This is a typical intellectual property value defense lawsuit, but it can have serious consequences on the Android market and its adoption by OEMs."

Those OEMs could easily turn to Windows Phone 7 when it ships this holiday season, helping Microsoft increase its market share.

Microsoft can also be helped because Oracle will now become public enemy number one in the open source community, rather than Microsoft. This suit could mean very big trouble for the open source community, because they could be in Oracle's cross-hairs next. And unlike Google, most of the open source community doesn't have deep pockets to pay for lawyers to defend them. He writes:

"If I were Google or any other company that has shipped Java spins-offs, I'd be worried. I have a sinking feeling that patent cases, such as this one, are going to be far more troublesome for Linux and open source than any of the bogus SCO copyright claims were...This does not bode well for free and open-source software."

Via its acquisition of Sun, Oracle owns quite a bit of open source software, including MySQL and OpenOffice. Those both compete against Microsoft software. It may be that Oracle's Google suit will chase people away from using the company's open source software, and if so, it could mean an increase in market share for Microsoft.

What I personally thing is that Friday the 13th didn't turn out to be a good one for Google, but it may well be good luck for Microsoft.

Google looks out to include Paypal payments for Android Apps

If you want to pick up a new app on an Android-based smartphone, you have one option with which to pay for your new purchase: Google Checkout. At least, for now—sources indicate that Google is chatting with eBay's PayPal business to bring the latter as a secondary option for smartphone-based payments.

While that doesn't necessarily help the speed of the transaction—Google Checkout is, after all, is still a fairly convenient method for purchasing applications—it does help Google attract users who, for whatever reason, have simply opted not to use Google's single payment service for their purchases.

Integrating Paypal would open up Android phones to the service's 87 million active accounts, which would surely go a long way toward increasing the propensity of a user to pick up a new application on a whim—especially if the Paypal service is integrated into the mobile operating system in a similar style to how purchases work on Apple's App Store.

"As an Android user, I'd certainly be more inclined to buy apps from the Android Market if PayPal was a payment option," writes Intomobile's Marc Flores. "Make it a one-click feature and perhaps I'll even go nuts loading my EVO 4G with new applications."

Neither Paypal nor Google are discussing the alleged talks, which may or may not lead to a finalized deal between the two companies, reports Bloomberg.

According to the research firm Gartner, Google's Android operating system is now the most popular piece of smartphone software in the United States. Sales of Android-based devices rank third of any smartphone in the world in 2010 thus far, nestled behind RIM and Symbian's respective sales of 11.2 million and 22.3 million units. Apple's iPhone sales rank fourth at 8.7 million, or a market share of 14.2 percent to Android's 17.2 percent.

It's quite a turnaround from this same time period one year ago, when Apple commanded 13 percent of the market to Android's 1.8, and Symbian carried the majority market share at 51 percent. Microsoft's Windows mobile phones continue to lag with only 3 million units sold in 2010, a market share of a paltry 5 percent (itself, a decrease from 2009's 9.3 percent)

I think that if such a move is true from Google's side, it could make the Android a popular one!

Android: Is Google Voice Actions before the time???

Google Voice actions is a “cool” new feature for Android (Froyo 2.2). With this new feature you are able to tell your phone what to do, with just your voice. How about some of these examples:

1) “send text to bob hey are you coming for lunch or what?”
2) “note to self don’t forget our anniversary”
3) “listen to bob marley”
4) “call the hot tub factory”

Pretty cool stuff — everything just works the way you would expect. Kind of. The feature is awesome, but after all is said and done, I think there may still be a few issues that need to be worked out before people can effectively make use of this.

The biggest problem with things like this is that people don’t know how to talk to computers yet. What do I mean by that? Well, if you look at a similar problem, searching the web, you will notice that talking to a search engine and your buddy across the cubicle wall is completely different.

In real life, the more detailed your question is, the better your answer is. But when talking to a computer, the more detailed your question is, the worse you answer is — people have learned how to use keywords to get the best results.

The same is true with voice actions — when talking to a human, the more detailed your “command” is, the better your results. If you make any kind of detailed call to action for a computer, you will get worse than bad results. The problem is that people don’t know how to effectively use keywords in every day speech.

When a user attempts to use a keyword, they end up having to think — people get frustrated when they have to think when they speak. Speaking is supposed to be effortless — and if the recipient of a message doesn’t understand, it’s job is to clarify. Currently, there is no “clarify” option when talking to your phone, and therefore, it’s really tough to formulate an accurate command on the fly, until you have practiced a lot.

So, if practice makes it workable, then why is that an issue? People lose interest when it’s easy to fail — and right now, it’s really easy to fail. This feature isn’t much different from other stuff already on the market, but hopefully in later versions, I will be able to say stuff like:

1) “uh, can you get collin on the line?”
2) “send a text to uhh… tony that says i’m… umm… out of the office and…. …. … not to bother trying to call me until tomorrow”
3) “what’s that band playing at GM Place… err, I mean the cube tonight?”

People don’t formulate perfect sentences when they speak naturally — but computers currently expect it. I’ll be interested to see what this type of technology works like in 5 years — but as of right now, I dont’ care for it. I used it once, and it failed — I’m done.

Oracle sues Google over Android!

Oracle Corp sued Google Inc, alleging patent and copyright infringement in the development of the popular Android smartphone software.

The suit, filed on Thursday in California federal court, claims that Google "knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property" in developing Android, Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman said in a statement. "This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies."

Oracle acquired Java through its $ 5.6 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems earlier this year. Analysts said the suit against Google could signal that Oracle intends to be more aggressive in seeking licensees for Java, a technology that is used in many types of Internet-based products.

Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison has said he views the Java software as a key asset, pointing to its use in a variety of electronic devices, from PCs to DVD players.

"Sun's corporate philosophy was obviously very different from Oracle's in terms of enforcing the Java patents," said Edward Reines, an IP litigator at Weil Gotshall who is involved in separate patent litigation against Oracle.

A Google spokesman said he could not comment on the lawsuit as the company had not had a chance to review it yet.

Analysts say Google's Android operating system uses portions of Java technology.

About 200,000 smartphones and other devices based on the Android operating system are sold each day, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said at an August 4 conference.

The case is Oracle of America Inc v Google Inc, in US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Orkut changes it's appearance!

Since past couple of weeks Orkut is undergoing minor changes whcih people didn't much notice. But, finally they made it visible to all the users. The Orkut face has changed! They have introduced new appearance to Orkut. They changed the layout to an extend and added an easy access for your favorite application. 

Now you can choose to send a private scrap to a friend. On the new orkut, before posting a scrap, just change its visibility to "private", and that scrap will remain visible only to you and the person receiving the scrap, so it stays completely secret. 

Orkut has made it absolutely clear who else can see the content you’re looking at on orkut. Every scrap (as well as photos, videos, etc) will now have a privacy label, so you can easily tell who else can see it. These are exactly the same as the privacy levels that we already had on photos: private, friends and public. 

Orkut has become a secure place than before. Here you can have a private conversation with your friend via scrap and noone is gonna peep into that. 

I am relaxed now as I don't worry about my private scraps being expossed to whole the world!

Gmail makes changes to it account!

Google has made some updates to the Gmail experience with a heavy focus on contacts. The company says that out of all of the feedback it gets about Gmail, most of it is about improving the contacts experience. 


New contacts features include:


Keyboard shortcuts (go to Contacts and hit "?" for the full list)
Sort by last name (look under "More actions")
Custom labels for phone numbers and other fields
The ability to undo changes you've just made
Automatic saving
Structured name fields, so you can adjust titles, suffixes, and other name components
A bigger, more prominent notes field
In addition to these, Google has slightly altered the look of Gmail. Mail, Contacts, and Tasks links have been moved to the top left. Compose Mail is now a button rather than a link. A smaller header area puts the first message in your inbox higher on the screen. Finally, the select all, none, read, unread, and starred links that used to be above messages are now in a drop-down menu, next to the archive button. 


The features has been rolled out in everyone's account. The company also says that Google Apps users will have to wait because they're working on making domain-specific features work well with the new interface. The company seems to be paying more attention to the security piece as well. The users are asked to verify their alternate email account and the phone number to overcome several attempts to hack the Google account across the globe.


I am excited to see the new changes. It looks like my favorite Gmail would become my favorite email account for ever! :)