Extensions must have While Using Google Chrome

The new extensions and features introduced to Apple’s premium browser Safari, following last week’s release of Mountain Lion, may have been a long time coming.
But many of us who use Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer or Google Chrome will already have become accustomed to the world of browser extensions for our every day use.
Extensions have almost become a necessity, enhancing your web surfing experience. Firefox, Explorer, Chrome and now Safari all possess incredible functionality in the form of add-ons, which you can install within seconds.
Just a few months ago, we reported how Google Chrome recently overtook Internet Explorer as the world’s most popular browser. With easy synchronisation between computers and over 50,000 Chrome extensions available for you to use, you begin to see why it is gaining in popularity.
The best browser extensions are those that feel like built-in features, so we decided to select the 10 best for essential web browsing to make using Chrome even more enjoyable:

Chrome to Phone

Android user? Excellent. Install the Chrome to Phone app to your phone and launch the Chrome to Phone extension icon on your browser. In a matter of seconds you’ll be able to push web links, maps and phone numbers to your Android device and open them up when you’re out and about. A must have extensions for all Android users.
➤ Chrome to Phone

RadioPlayer

For UK audiophiles only, Radioplayer is an online radio player giving you access to radio stations from across the UK and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. With up to 320 stations, listen and rock to your favorite music, podcasts and shows straight from your browser. No additional software needed, you can store your favourite channels and set presets, which will automatically launch for the next time you tune in.
➤ RadioPlayer

Send from Gmail

You’ll find numerous Gmail extensions on the Chrome Web store – some good, some not so good. Send from Gmail falls in the former. Unlike other extensions, Send from Gmail will enable you to compose an email right from the extensions bar. It provides a button that will create a Gmail message when clicked, using the page title as the subject and selected page text and link address as the message. Handy.
➤ Send from Gmail

Google Dictionary

Google’s Dictionary extension is a joy to use. Quick, easy and effective, it does the difficult things with ease. Double-click any word to view its definition in a small pop-up bubble. Or if you like, view the complete definition of any word or phrase using the toolbar dictionary. Foreign languages are also catered for making this an must have extension on your browser. You’d be lost without it.
➤ Google Dictionary

Stylish

An unknown gem, Stylish restyles your web pages with the help of a user styles manager. Install new skins and themes for your favourite sites and take out irrelevant content. Change colors and completely redesign an entire site. Want to remove ads from Facebook or change the color of your Twitter page? Use Stylish to do this plus a whole lot more.
➤ Stylish

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Gtalk users experience brief outage

Google's IM services are gone through the outage today Users complaint that they are not able to log in to there accounts.There were some users who were able to log in to their accounts, but their contacts weren’t displayed. However, it now seems the services have been restored for some users.
Google has stated, “We’re aware of a problem with Google Talk affecting a majority of users. The affected users are able to access Google Talk, but are seeing error messages and/or other unexpected behavior. We will provide an update by 7/26/12 5:20PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change.”

Let us know in comments below, if you experienced the outage.

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What's New Android 4.1, Jelly Bean

Jelly Bean, is the fastest and smoothest version of Android yet. Jelly Bean improves on the simplicity and beauty of Android 4.0, and introduces a new Google search experience on Android.

• Everything in Jelly Bean feels fast, fluid, and smooth. Moving between home screens and switching between apps is effortless, like turning pages in a book.
• Jelly Bean features improved performance throughout the system, including faster orientation changes, faster responses when switching between recent apps, and smoother and more consistent rendering across the system through vsync and triple buffering.
• Jelly Bean has more reactive and uniform touch responses, and makes your device even more responsive by boosting your device's CPU instantly when you touch the screen, and turns it down when you don't need it to improve battery life.

What's New in Jelly Bean

Accessibility

• With Jelly Bean, blind users can use 'Gesture Mode' to reliably navigate the UI using touch and swipe gestures in combination with speech output.
• With the new accessibility focus feature, you can move a cursor between controls to maintain a target for the next action or a source for the next navigation event. You can double tap anywhere to launch the current item with accessibility focus.
• Text traversal in accessibility now gives you more control – choose to move between pages, paragraphs, lines, words or characters.
• TalkBack, a screenreader for Android, now supports gestures to trigger actions, to navigate applications, and traverse text.

Android Beam

• With Android Beam, you can now easily share your photos and videos.
• Instantly pair your phone or tablet to Bluetooth® devices like headsets or speakers that support the Simple Secure Pairing standard by just tapping them together

Google Now

Google Now brings you just the right information at just the right time. Cards appear throughout the day at the moment you need them, and appear as a notification when they're important.

• Weather card: When you start your day, Google Now shows weather for your current location and work.
• Traffic card: Get traffic conditions and alternate routes before you leave home or work.
• Transit card: When you're near a bus stop or a subway station, this card shows you what buses or trains are next.
• Places card: When you're on the go, Google Now will suggest nearby bars, restaurants, and places of interest.
• Flight card: See flight delays and traffic conditions to the airport for flights you've recently searched for.
• Sports card: You can see live scores and upcoming games and also buy game tickets on the fly.
• Currency card: When you're traveling, quickly check the local conversion rate.
• Translation card: When you're in a foreign country, you can quickly translate words into the local language.

Source: Android

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Apple iWallet Delay is a Win For Rival Google [Rumors]

An ongoing rumor that Apple's new iPhone 5 would integrate near field communication (NFC) technology, allowing the smart phone to become a digital wallet, may be put to rest soon.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple said they’d postpone the NFC technology before jumping into the market. This is a rare move for a company known for taking the lead in innovation and presenting its users with unprecedented technologies that end up being life-changing for most.

Though last month Apple was granted an NFC-related patent called “iWallet” from the United States Trademark & Patent Office, the company has decided to postpone its release until users adopt the technology somewhere else.

iWallet would have permitted users of the upcoming iPhone 5 to keep track and control of financial transactions through their handheld devices. iWallet would also have allowed iPhone 5 users to gift iTunes products to fellow users through a NFC chip that can be integrated into iPhones and iPads for “digital interaction.”

However, in the increasingly competitive rivalry between Apple and Google the latter seems to be taking the lead as "Google Wallet" -- Google’s own NFC solution -- is already in negotiations with major credit card companies to provide the mobile commerce service through Android devices.

But in what seems like an acknowledgement of Google’s lead – at least in this particular technology – Apple has decided to hold off and opt instead for using its recently launched iOS app “Passbook” to offer its users the possibility of collecting coupons, gift cards and plane tickets. Only time will tell which will come out on top in the growing mobile commerce sector.

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Google Nexus 7 Tablet coming to retailers Auatralia soon

Fear not, good people of Australia, the word on the street is that the Google Nexus 7 tablet we be available for you to purchase in local retail stores in the very near future. According to Gizmodo.au you will be able to pick up the new Android tablet from the following stores: Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Dick Smith, Bing Lee, The Good Guys, Retravision, Radio Rentals, Officeworks, EB Games, Costco, BSR and authorised ASUS resellers. Priced at $319 for the 16GB variant consumers purchasing the tablet through these retailers will pay an additional $20.00 compared to the online price direct from Google but ASUS have stated that this is due to the costs associated with shipping to Australia.
Source- Gizmodo

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Jelly Bean Vs iOS 6 [Comparison]

June has been a huge month for mobile OSes. The major players, Apple and Google, have both demonstrated and released betas of their latest smartphone/tablet operating systems.
But which OS deserves the King of the Mobile World title? We tossed each new system build into a Thunderdome-style ring to determine which one lives, and which gets tossed into the badlands while Tina Turner sings an epic ballad.
Before we start, a few caveats: Apple’s NDA prohibits Gadget Lab from writing about unannounced features in iOS 6. So, if iOS 6 has a remarkable feature that doesn’t appear in the list, it’s because we respected the developer embargo. Also, neither OS is completely locked down and final, so features can be updated, changed or even removed before the final build. Finally, we’re only comparing new features that directly go head-to-head. For example, Android has much more robust data-management features, but because iOS doesn’t even really try in this area, we didn’t include data management as a mini-battle in this article.
With all that said, release the beta-code hounds!

Siri vs. Google Now Voice Search

Google didn’t give its new challenger to Siri an official name. Instead, the voice-dictation and information-sleuthing tool is wrapped up in Jelly Bean’s Google Now search feature — and it’s just, well, there without a lot of fanfare. Perhaps Google opted out of giving voice search a name because the feature is bereft of personality. The female voice of Android’s search feature is more human-sounding than Apple’s robotic Siri, but there’s nothing very engaging about Google’s new functionality.
Siri is like a friend with a slight hearing impediment. The Google Now voice is a robot that sounds really good.
Voice quality aside, results are hit-and-miss for each system. Siri soars at presenting facts and minutia from Wolfram Alpha, while Google Now hits the more pedestrian Wikipedia for its information. On the surface, both sources are great for quick bites of knowledge, but Wolfram Alpha’s high-precision results and Siri’s presentation make Apple the go-to platform for trivia.
Unfortunately, once you receive your information in Siri, that’s about it. There’s no way to expand upon the information or search the internet unless Siri offers up search in the first place. On the flipside, Google Now presents not only the snippets of information it decided you needed, but also quick access to Google search results with an upward swipe. As for pure voice-recognition prowess, Siri has an easier time understanding natural speech queries, but Google Now was able to decipher the names of our favorite Mexican restaurants. This is something Siri was unable to grasp.

Apple has gone to great pains to ensure that Siri’s sports, weather and movie results are now informative and beautiful in iOS 6. Google calls its equivalent Jelly Bean graphics “Knowledge Graphs” — illustrated cards, more or less, that include photos, maps, and other Googly art conventions. These are informative, but not nearly as pretty as what Apple delivers.
But what really puts Apple over the top is the ability to post Facebook status updates and tweets from within Siri in iOS 6. Try the same thing in Jelly Bean, and Google’s OS informs you, “This device cannot perform the action you requested.” Considering that Android has had Facebook and Twitter integration for a while, this is a disappointment.
The final nail in Google’s coffin is Siri’s ability to open apps with your voice. This is perfect when you have hundreds of apps on your iPhone, but not so perfect if an app has an odd name. For example, when we asked Siri to launch Rdio, she kept informing us that we didn’t have an app call armadillo. Still, the app-search function usually works, and it’s a huge benefit.
Verdict: Both voice-controlled search functions work great if you know the limitations of each service. Siri looks nicer, but its social integration and app launching is what really gives it a leg up over Google Now.

Maps vs. Maps

While Apple’s new, home-grown Maps app has a wonderful satellite 3D view that makes Google’s equivalent look like someone smashed in a bunch of buildings, Google’s feature set destroys most of what Apple has to offer.
Apple lacks any sort of street view for address-by-address navigation and location searching. This is a problem, as real-world images of storefronts will always beat dull, gray overhead views of buildings. And while Jelly Bean pushes turn-by-turn navigation to another app, its turn-by-turn features still blow away iOS 6′s. Google’s offering also provides the ability to create routes that avoid tolls and freeways; user-defined mapping layers (like terrain, traffic and transit lines); and the Latitude service, which helps you geo-locate friends who opt-in.
Perhaps most importantly, Google offers offline map viewing — a glaring omission for iOS 6. Simply select an area you want to view while offline, and then download that map data to your Android device. It’s an essential tool for those times when your carrier connection has dropped out, or you’re not able to access Wi-Fi. And it’s as simple as cropping out a localized map with the drag of a finger. The city of San Francisco ate up a modest 1.5MB on our Nexus 7 tablet.
Verdict: Apple’s first attempt at a home-grown mapping app is nice, but it can’t beat years of Google experience in building out a mapping infrastructure. In fact, we’re waiting impatiently for Google Maps to appear on iOS.

Notifications

Android had proper notifications before iOS. But just because you’re first, doesn’t mean you’re best. Apple’s notification scheme does one thing that just kills Android: It pushes notifications to the lock screen (and it’s been doing this since iOS 5). Jelly Bean’s audible alert is nice, but it involves too many steps to see what needs your attention. With iOS, the information is presented right on the screen — no need to unlock the device, or pull down to view notifications.

Jelly Bean’s integration with Google+ is stunning when a photo is shared on your G+ account — the image appears full width in your Android notification’s drawer. But the world needs more than just Google+ integration. Facebook and Twitter status updates in the iOS notification screen are perfect for quick updates.

We’re fans of expanded email notifications in Jelly Bean, but even these are not enough to help Android win the notifications competition.
Verdict: Google may have been first to notifications, but Apple has mastered the game. Google needs to look beyond Google+.

Social Networking

Putting notifications aside, Jelly Bean’s deep integration with social media is stellar, and it all ties into Android’s open APIs. For example, Jelly Bean’s Gallery app is totally exposed, allowing third-party developers direct sharing access. In short, any image in your Android Gallery can be shared with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ as well as apps like GroupMe, Dropbox, Foursquare and surely more to come.
iOS 6 has deep Facebook and Twitter integration, but if you want to share something from the Photos app to another third-party network, you need to launch that service’s app.
Verdict: While Google is keen on pushing Google+ to everyone, everywhere, it still plays more democratically than Apple.

Google Play vs. iTunes Stores

Google and Apple have taken different paths when it comes to selling wares to customers. Google keeps all of its stores in one app, while Apple has split the iTunes store into multiple locations. Want an app? Launch the App Store. Need a songs? Launch iTunes. The iBooks app contains books, and even podcasts have recently been given their own app.
Android’s one-stop shop means you don’t have to open multiple apps to find what you’re looking for. However, it does lead to a cluttered UI on the main splash page where users end up selecting the portion of Google Play they want to purchase media from. Apple’s multiple apps approach cuts down on clutter, but reduces discovery. Searching for a movie won’t also lead to a result that contains that movie’s soundtrack.
In truth, both approaches are flawed. Neither is impressive, nor a horrible mess. They both work moderately well in their own ways.
Verdict: It’s a draw.

Safari vs Chrome

The browser battles are back. But instead of Netscape versus Explorer, it’s Safari (Apple) versus Chrome (Google).
OK, it’s not really like the browser wars of old, but Safari versus Chrome is still a nagging debate. When it introduced Jelly Bean Wednesday, Google announced that Chrome would be the default Android browser. Why it took so long? Google only knows.
Chrome features unlimited tabs, and the ability to sync your Google account with bookmarks and currently open tabs on other devices. But the best Chrome feature is still its unified search and URL field.
Safari also syncs bookmarks and open tabs, but it lacks a unified typing field, which is odd considering Safari for OS X will have a unified field in Mountain Lion. Regardless, Safari makes up for unified URL/search with the ability to post photos from the mobile browser to sites like Craigslist. But Safari’s real kicker is its built-in “read it later” feature called Reading List.

Verdict:
This one’s tough. We could call it a draw, but even soccer has done away with ties. While a unified field is great, the Reading List gives iOS 6 the edge.
According to our count, the iPhone wins. But just barely.
Before you Apple fans start hectoring your Android-owning friends, remember that both platforms contain other features that are just as compelling as the ones above. iOS’s over-the-air Facetime, photo streaming, VIP email and Passbook are great features. Jelly Bean’s Location-aware Google Now is your new personal assistant, and Data usage is perfect for users on a data diet.
The biggest mark against Android — and something that wasn’t mentioned in the smackdown above — is that Android users are usually stuck with the OS version that came with their handsets. So, while Jelly Bean might be the bees knees, unless you buy a new Nexus device in July, you’re saddled with whatever OS your handset maker feels like supporting. At least iPhone owners get the latest-greatest.

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Google Now at newly launched landing page

What do we want? Google Now. When do we want it? Google…now. Easily one of the coolest features shown off as part of Android’s Jelly Bean update, the system of smart cards is designed to learn about the location and search habits of users in order to create automatically updated tiles of information that are available at the touch of a finger. The idea is that Google will answer your question before you even have it.

What’s the score to the game? Google Now knows your favorite team and keeps you updated. How long will the commute to work take? Again, Google Now predicts where you are headed and when you will be going to offer route advice. Those are just a couple examples of what the service can do, and if it is half as cool as it sounds on paper it is sure to become a mainstay of the Android OS. In case you need a refresher on just what Now is all about, Google has launched a landing page to provide a few more details. And then ask yourself the question: Google Now or Google Big Brother?
[via Google]

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Google I/O 2012 Google launched its Nexus Tablet with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at just $199

Today at Google I/O 2012 Google launched its Nexus Tablet with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at just $199. It has a 7 inch 1280×800 display, Tegra 3 chipset, a front-facing camera, 9 hours of HD video (talk time in tablet speak) and 300 hours of standby time, WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC. It’s only 340 grams light so it’s very easy to hold.

It also have 1.2-megapixel front camera IPS-based LCD are traits we’d normally look for in a pricier tablet. Google Priced it for just $199 for a dainty 8GB model and $249 for a 16GB version. There’s no SD card slot.
You can read a book or magazine on your phone, and pick up where you left off on the tablet. They’ll give you movie and TV show recommendations based on what you watch. Google also takes Maps indoors, with interior schematics and even photos, but the Nexus 7 tablet brings a new twist to that familiar nav experience with 360-degree venue photos.

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Google Unveiled The Android 4.1 Jelly bean

At Google I/O 2012 Google announce the new version of android Jelly Bean Android 4.1. The Devices Samsung Galaxy Nexus ,Motorola Xoom and Nexus S will get Android 4.1 Jelly Bean by this july.
Lots of small refinements are present across the board in Jelly Bean and the most notable one is performance. Project Butter aims to make your device run as smooth as, well, butter. Google put up a video comparing two Android handsets, one running Ice Cream Sandwich and the other running Jelly Bean. There’s a clear difference in favor of Jelly Bean in animation frame rates.Triple buffering also boosts the graphics rendering and vsync timing ensures no frames get ahead or behind. Touch responsiveness is improved in Jelly Bean as well.

Jelly Bean also has little features that improve the overall experience like the ability to send a quick message to a caller after rejecting the call or swipe up in a set of photos (similar to HP’s webOS) to remove one or comment and like a Foursquare check-in directly from the notification without having to switch to the app itself — though for the latter, developers will have to implement the functionality first before users can take advantage of it. When you move widgets around on the home screen, they will automatically resize around apps or move apps around so it fits better. Again, all these little things add up.

Check out live stream. All coverage here.

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Google TV Taking on Apple TV

Seems like everyone’s playing catch up lately, right? First Microsoft’s Surface tablet is announced, and now Google TV looks like it’s getting an update that’s sure to put a little heat on Apple’s own hobby initiative.
Apple refrained from mentioning its TV product during the World Wide Developer Conference last week. According to Fox News, an announcement about an update to Google TV is coming at Google’s own developer conference this week, Google I/O. What will it include, we wonder?

Apparently, one of the demos scheduled this week is planned to show how Google TV will combine listings, Netflix, and DVR capabilities in one Google-flavored place. Users will be able to use a smartphone app (any guess as to what OS it will be for?) to access and play the shows.
Other manufacturers plan to get users streaming their videos from Android-powered phones, just like AirPlay on the Apple TV/iOS ecosystem. The Google developer support pages also show some topics for conference sessions that fit right in with this new focus. Two examples include “Bring Your App to the Big Screen,” and “Command and Control in Your Living Room: Building Second Screen Apps for Google TV.”
Seems like the clash of the technology titans continue on this week. It will be interesting to see if Google can effectively match the AppleTV in terms of features and popularity, or if they might be able to leapfrog it a bit – a sure win for fans of competition.
Source: Fox News via TechnoBuffalo

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Google Play Music Now Lets You Recover Deleted Music

Google Play Music received a “how-the-hell-did-they-not-think-of-this-before” update giving users the ability to recover cloud-deleted music for up to 28 days. Recovering deleted music is as simple as selecting the “gear” icon in the upper right hand corner while in the web Google Music player and selecting “Music Trash” from the options. From there, you can permanently delete or undelete music in your trash can.
Keep in mind that once permanently deleted, music purchased from the Google Play Store will have to paid for all over again, should you later reconsider. Just avoid unless completely necessary. For example, if a drunken night out yielded an impromptu download of Kesha (above) — perm delete with extreme prejudice. In fact, might want to purge your entire music collection just to be safe, lest you catch a disease.

Source - Google Play

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Google Nexus Tablet With Android 4.1 May Be Revealed in Google I/O

Till now Amazon kindle fire is the best seller in low cost android tablet but now google had made the tablet on android 4.1 which is priced at $200 which can cut the sales of the Amazon kindle fire 
According to the leaked documents Google’s next Nexus-branded product, and true to last month’ s whispers, the lost presentation slide reveals that the tech powerhouse’s new toy will be a 7-inch slate named the Nexus 7.

What’s more, an 8GB version of the Nexus 7 will be priced at a low $199, while a larger 16GB size will cost a still-affordable $249. The full list of revealed specs imply the new tablet will be a direct competitor to the Fire, also an Android slate with a 7-inch screen and a $199 price tag.
Other details show that the Nexus 7 will run Android build number 4.1, or what could be known as Android Jelly Bean, and that a 1.3-GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor with a GeForce CPU and 1GB of RAM will power the new operating system.

The Nexus tablet’s 7-inch screen will house an IPS display with an advertised 178-degree viewing angle and an HD resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, which handily outstrips the Kindle Fire’s 1024 x 600-dot display. There’s another avenue techies suspect the Nexus may trump the Kindle Fire and that’s access to Google content centers like the Play store for apps, movies, and music. Amazon launched its own App Store to supply the Kindle Fire with Android software but its tablet doesn’t support Google’s built-in digital store front.

The Nexus also has a 1.2-MP front camera, a battery rated for 9 hours of life, NFC, and support for Google Wallet. So is the Google Nexus 7 tablet the 7-inch slate to rival the Fire? We’ll have to wait until Google I/O starts this Wednesday to find out for sure. Even if the answer is yes, however, Amazon has been rumored to release an update to the Kindle Fire with a new display. No word on when we could see that new Kindle, but this has been a busy summer for new hardware and software announcements.

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Android 4.1 Jellybean is expected to be unveiled at the Google I/O 2012

Google's new version of Android 4.1 Jellybean is expected to be unveiled at the Google I/O 2012 developer conference next week. The good news though is that the Galaxy Nexus does appear to be the first handset to receive the update to Android 4.1, with the Google Play entry in question suggesting that the update will arrive ‘soon.’ With Google I/O just days away, rumors have been abound that Jelly Bean will be announced at the event. Google’s policy has always been to get new updates out to Nexus devices first, while carriers and OEMs add their software and skins to the update prior to pushing it out to their own devices. It has always been the main reason to plump for a Nexus device when choosing a new Android smartphone, and it seems Google is continuing its release trend.
The information is seen on the listing for the smartphone in the store, along with an image showing a slightly redesigned search bar and app launcher. We will have to wait for Google's official unveiling of Android 4.1 for more details than what we see here, however.

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Google files for a patent on peer-to-peer location finding

Crowdsourcing map data itself isn't a surprise; it's been the cornerstone of OpenStreetMap and is about to get a big boost through iOS 6. Crowdsourcing actual positions is still a relatively untapped resource, however, and Google thinks that it might just be the ticket to getting a device's location when GPS alone doesn't cut it. Much as your current phone uses triangulation between cell sites to help speed up a position lock, a technique in a new Google patent application uses the physical distances between nearby devices to get a complete picture, even if GPS is completely on the fritz. The peer-to-peer technique still needs an internet connection to reach the central service piecing information together -- there isn't much help if you're in areas where reliable internet access isn't always guaranteed. Likewise, there's no certainty that Google will use the patent in a future build of Android or Chrome OS. If it does, though, at least some of us may say goodbye to the days of our map positioning going haywire the moment we drive through a tunnel or step into an office without WiFi.

Via - Engadget

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Download Google IO 2012 app

Google I/O is less than 7 days away and promises to be another exciting event. It officially takes place at San Francisco’s Moscone Center from June 27th – 29th and this is where we’ll hopefully see Google unveil a few Nexus devices, plus the rumoured Jelly Bean OS. We’ll be there live covering the entire event, but if you’re also heading down, or want to follow the daily activities, then you best be downloading the official Google I/O app. The app is good for Android devices running OS 2.2 and up and here’s a list of features:
- View the conference agenda and edit your personal schedule
- View detailed session, code lab, and speaker information, speaker bios, photos, Google+ profiles
- +1 sessions right from the app
- Participate in public #io2012 conversations on Google+
- Guide yourself using the conference map
- Get a reminder a few minutes before sessions in your schedule are due to start
- View information about companies in the Developer Sandbox
- Keep up with announcements from the I/O team during the conference
- View your schedule on your Android 3.0+ device’s home screen using an app widget
- Play back “I/O Live” session video streams on your Android 3.0+ devices
- Automatically sync sessions in your schedule to your Android 4.0 device’s calendar
- Beam session details from your Android 4.0, NFC-enabled device to another using Android Beam
Download the app here from Google Play

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Amazon Kindle for Android Updated With Enhanced Tablet Support

Amazon’s Kindle for Android recently received an update specifically geared towards tablets. So if your slab happens to moonlight as an e-reader, then you’ll surely want to grab this latest software push. If you’ve never tried Amazon’s Kindle app before but have been thinking about giving it a spin, check out the changelog below for details of what you can expect.

• Tablet users: customize your reading experience with new margin and line spacing controls.
• Tablet users: see two pages side-by-side in landscape mode.
• Fixed a bug that required some users to re-register when returning to the app.
• Several bug fixes.

These much welcomed improvements can be updated directly through your device or downloaded via Google Play.

Source: Google Play

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Sprint's intent to launch its own mobile wallet app

As the Sprint is the official carrier partner of Google's Wallet mobile payment service. But now it looks like the carrier it self intend to offer a mobile payment service of its own in the near future. As Presentation slides detailing a Sprint Touch Wallet app have leaked to the internet.
The slides, obtained by Android Central, detail how the yet-to-be-announced Sprint Touch Wallet app for Android smartphones will work. Like the Google Wallet app, the Sprint Touch Wallet app uses the phone's Near Field Communications (NFC) features to make payments at participating retailers. The app features PIN code security, can handle multiple payment cards, and also appears to support loyalty cards. Yes, it seems to take everything right from Google Wallet's playbook.

It is not yet clear which retailers Sprint has made deals with for the Touch Wallet app, but the slides hint that McDonald's, Target, Starbucks, and others are possibly on board. It is also not clear which banking institutions Sprint has worked with, or when the carrier intends to launch the actual app.

Google Wallet has had a lot of difficultly gaining traction since its launch last year, and it is currently only officially supported on Sprint's Android devices. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile have stayed away from supporting Google Wallet since their mobile payment joint-venture Isis is due to launch later this year. Further crowding the space, Apple's recent announcement of its new Passbook app for iOS 6 leads many to believe that it will launch an NFC-based mobile payments system of its own, perhaps with the launch of the next iPhone.

With Sprint planning to launch its own mobile payment service on its Android devices, it makes us a bit worried for the future of Google Wallet. Sprint's app will compete directly with Google Wallet on its Android smartphones, and the carrier could certainly opt to drop support for Google Wallet if it so chooses. Time will tell if this will happen or if both options will coexist peacefully, but this isn't exactly great news for 

Source: Android Central

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Google links Orkut profiles with Google Plus

Google apparently is now allowing users on its first ever social network Orkut, to link their profiles to their Google+ account. What we can take from it is that users will be sharing their posts on both social networks simultaneously. However, it seems that the move includes many other things according to the official blog post. Google said, “After you link your profiles, your Orkut profile photo and name will be the same as your Google+ photo and name. In addition, you will be able to share all your public Google+ posts with your Orkut friends.

Your Google+ posts to limited audience or specific circles will remain on Google+ only and will be subject to your privacy settings. As a result, linking your profiles will also make it easier for your Orkut friends to find you on Google+.” If you’re thinking that that isn’t exactly what you want for your Orkut account, the company insists that you have the power to decide whether or not you want to agree to the integration of your two profiles but that doesn’t do much to alleviate the constant worries about Orkut’s future since the launching of Google+ back in mid-2011.

With that said however, Orkut had its initial accomplishments of large numbers of users in countries like Brazil and India. However, Facebook beat them out recently and since then Brazil now has about 48 million Facebook users rather than the highest amount of Orkut users which reportedly hit 34 million back in December of last year. With the popularity of Facebook increasing, could this be Google’s attempt to combine its strengths to give it a strongest possible fighting chance? Could this be the beginning of the end of Orkut? Do let us know what you think about this with a comment below.

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Google confirms Gmail outage

Internet search giant Google has confirmed and acknowledged that a small percentage of their Gmail users did experience an outage. Just how small? We are looking at less than 0.11% of Gmail users out there, where they were unable to access Google Mail since approximately 9:00 a.m. ET this morning. According to Google, all is fine and dandy now, so nearly 400,000 folks who were affected earlier this morning can continue their lives without worrying about the sky falling down on their heads. One good thing about social media is this – once something goes awry, you can always share your experience with others and see whether what you say jives with what others are talking about. Needless to say, many Gmail users who were affected by the outage turned to Twitter to ask around for others who are in the same boat. User @JudsonCollier was quite broken inside, saying that “life is broken” without Gmail, while @akist0n must have had quite the attack with a simple word of advice: “#panic”. The most important thing is, at least Gmail is now up and running.

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Google and ASUS may announce its debut Nexus tablet at Google I/O next month

Google and ASUS may announce its debut Nexus tablet at Google I/O next month
Just yesterday, we reported that according to a post from DigiTimes, it seems that Google and ASUS’ Android collaboration for a Nexus tablet is expected to start shipping in June, and word has it that it will cost $149. Corroborating those claims are the folks from Techno Buffalo who claims that one of their “trusted sources” has informed that that the tablet will indeed be arriving in June and will be unveiled at Google I/O which will be taking place towards the end of June. Supposedly the Nexus tablet will based off NVIDIA’s “Kai” reference design which manages to pack a quad-core Tegra-3 processor into an affordable device.
While DigiTimes may have reported a price tag of $149, the Kai tablet is expected to cost $199, so we guess we will have to wait and see for ourselves. Adding on to the rumors, Techno Buffalo’s sources have also informed them that the rumored Nexus tablet will come with Android 5.0 “Jelly Bean” preinstalled, although we are a bit skeptical considering that the majority of Android devices are still running on Gingerbread 2.3, let alone Android 4.0 Ice Cream sandwich. Either way with Google I/O about a month away, we guess we don’t have to wait too long before we find out if the rumors will pan out, so check back with us then for the details. Until then we recommend you take this information with a grain of salt.

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