Google

Begun the Search War Has! Google+ Social Search Results in Bing Defections

January 13, 2012

Could Google's recent change "Search, Plus Your World" be a "Netflix" faux pas causing a similar mass exodus of users from Google to Microsoft's Bing search engine? Well, at least one high-profile website, Gizmodo has one of its columnists jumping ship. The new search integrates Google+ (Google's Facebook competitor) content directly into search results. It includes "personal results" which include Google+ status updates, Picasa photos, blog posts, etc. that have been privately shared with you as well as your own content. It will also examine your past searches and display results based on your search activity or what you clicked on.

All the personalized search results pushes other relevant content down by being placed at the top of the page.

Posted in Google, Internet, Microsoft, TMCnet

Google to Offer Free Tablets?

January 5, 2012

Several media reports are claiming that Google is going to be offering their own tablet soon, including DigiTimes which said, "As Google reportedly may launch an own-brand tablet PC to compete against Apple's iPad, sources from Google's upstream supply chain believe that Google, instead of Apple, may actually be targeting Amazon's 7-inch Kindle Fire as its major competitor."

The Amazon Kindle Fire had torrid sales for the Christmas holiday season, certainly earning its "Fire" moniker. You can't go wrong with a $199 tablet device that surfs the web, runs apps, and consumes entertainment content using Amazon Prime, which features a Netflix-like streaming service in addition to Amazon's other paid digital content - e-books, music, etc. Amazon gambled consumers would consume paid content to recoup their losses and it has paid off handsomely.

This purported Nexus tablet will come with a 7" display, run Android's latest Ice Cream Sandwich and will be priced under $199 to undercut even the mighty Amazon Kindle Fire. What is Google thinking? They're thinking the same thing Amazon is thinking - take a loss on the hardware and subsidize the cost of the tablet by selling digital content, such as movies, books, and music.

Posted in Android, Apple, Gadgets, Google, PDAs & Handhelds, TMCnet

Google to Keynote at Super WiFi Summit in Miami

January 3, 2012

TMC's ITEXPO has had its fair share of high-profile keynoters, including Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, Bob Metcalfe, former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, former HP Chair Carly Fiorina, Digium / Asterisk founder Mark Spencer, and of course TMC's very own Rich Tehrani on multiple occasions. We've also had representatives from Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo, Avaya, Nortel, Polycom, and other telecom / wireless heavyweights. Now in 2012 TMC lands a Google keynoter! Google will keynote at ITEXPO's co-located Super WiFi Summit.

Richard S. Whitt is Director and Managing Counsel for Telecom and Media Policy for Google Inc.

Posted in Asterisk, Avaya, Cisco, Google, ITEXPO, Nortel, Skype, Technology and Science, Wireless

Lync for Android Launches!

December 14, 2011

Today, Microsoft released Lync for Android. In an interesting twist, it appears Microsoft released Lync for Android before Apple iOS. It seems more and more these days that Android is getting the app love before the popular iOS platform.

Lync 2010 for Android includes features such as rich presence, instant messaging, audio conferencing, and calling features.

Posted in Android, Google, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP, Wireless

Skype 2.6 for Android Sports Image and Video Sharing

December 13, 2011

Skype just released Skype 2.6 for Android, with a new feature that lets you send photos and videos to your Skype buddies. I haven't tested this yet, but I'm going to assume there isn't a size limit and no compression being performed on your images or video. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, i.e. longer transmission times, but better image quality.

Posted in Android, Google, Skype, VoIP

Microsoft Lync Mobile Client Launches in 3 Days!

December 9, 2011

Back in August I told you Microsoft informed me that the Microsoft Lync mobile client was coming "very very soon". Microsoft told me the mobile Lync client would support both voice and video on Android, Apple's iOS and Windows Mobile 7, explaining, "it will dependent on the device, but it will be enabled at some point at time." They pointed out that some devices don't have a front-facing camera so having a videoconference via a mobile Lync client wouldn't necessarily make sense.

Well, at the Lync mobile "partner-only" virtual event some more details about the long awaited mobile Lync client has been released. First, the launch date. According to this tweet, Lync Mobile clients will be on the market / launched on December 12th.

Posted in Android, Apple, Google, Microsoft, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP, Wireless

Samsung Mocks Apple Fanboys in Hilarious Galaxy S II Ad

November 23, 2011

Business Insider's Steve Kovach has an interesting interview with Todd Pendleton, Samsung's Chief Marketing Officer, and Brian Wallace, Samsung's VP of Strategic Marketing, on a new ad campaign that mocks Apple fanboys and promotes Samsung's top-of-the-line Galaxy S II Android phone. Steve writes:
I mostly use Apple gear, including an iPhone, and even I thought the ad was clever. It's an interesting take on a smartphone campaign. Instead of touting specs and features, Samsung is going right for Apple's jugular, mocking the fanboy culture while saying "hey, there are other great smartphones out there too." It's a ballsy move.

Posted in Android, Apple, Gadgets, Google, Mobile Phones, Wireless

Netflix Brings Revamped Interface to Android Before iPad

November 15, 2011

Apple's iPad may be the tablet market leader right now, but certainly not for long. Today, a report was released by Gartner saying that 50% of all mobile phones sales are Android. That may explain why Netflix gave some love to the Android platform via a slick new user interface before Apple iOS. I can't remember any major app or new version of a major app coming to the Android platform before iOS.

Posted in Android, Apple, Google, Home Entertainment

iOS 5 hides an Android-like autocorrect keyboard bar - Here is why it sucks

November 10, 2011

There's a cool hidden feature in iOS 5, which hides an Android-like autocorrect keyboard bar. Android fans everywhere are crying foul! You can enable it even without jailbreaking.

Here's the tutorial (via Sony Dickson)

1. Download iBackupBot
2.

Posted in Android, Apple, Google, TMCnet, Wireless

Adobe Surrenders Mobile Flash - Steve Jobs FTW, Users FTL!

November 9, 2011

I had hoped that with Steve Jobs' passing that Flash for the iPhone/iPad might now be possible, but alas with today's news from Adobe that they're killing off mobile Flash, my hopes were bitterly crushed. It's not that I'm a huge fan of Adobe Flash on mobile devices, but it's the best technology that just plain damn works! I can't tell you how many times I've surfed the web on my iPhone 4S and iPad and I can't play an embedded YouTube clip. If you're on an Android device, you have no problems playing any YouTube content.

A commenter to my blog article has a good point when he writes: There are a number of educational applets that I would like to use in the classrooom but I can't in the iPad because they are in Flash and Java. See http://phet.colorado.edu/ to see things that real educators have spent a lot time on that have real value in the classroom that are blocked by this stupid obsession. Make Flash and Java an option that users have to make an effort to enable. Put up all the warnings about battery life and security you want (much like MS does for certain actions), and let the end-users take responsibility for what they want to do. Perhaps I should have bought an Android smartphone instead of the new iPhone 4S. I think my 4S will be my last Apple smartphone unless Flash-dependent sites like YouTube, Break.com, Hulu, and other websites adopt HTML5 very quickly.

Posted in Android, Apple, Gadgets, Google, Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Wireless

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next

VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Google