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Google Launches Latitude for iPhone

Written on July 24, 2009 by Olly Farshi and 6 people have commented

In another move in Google’s continued bid to dominate the entire internet — albeit with useful and occasionally innovative services — the search giant has officially launched Latitude for the iPhone.
Latitude allows users to locate and track each other, via their cell phones. Since its original launch back in February this year, it’s been rolled [...]

Google Brings Local Web Search to iPhone via Safari

Written on July 16, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 5 people have commented

As you may already know, one of the improvements that came along with iPhone 3.0 was mobile Safari’s ability to access the iPhone and iPod touch’s geolocation services. Geolocation is quickly becoming a feature that more and more web developers are looking at implementing, especially given that the recently released Firefox 3.5 and Chrome 2.0 [...]

Google Chrome OS: Hype, Hope or Humbug?

Written on July 09, 2009 by Tom Reestman and 15 people have commented

So there’s a new OS that’s based on the web, relies primarily on a web browser, and whose native apps are web apps. Old news, you say? We already know about Palm’s WebOS. No, I don’t mean that one. This one will primarily target netbooks. Still old news, you say, because we know a modified [...]

Google OS Announced: How Will it Affect Apple?

Written on July 08, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 22 people have commented

Late yesterday evening, the folks at Google made official what many have suspected for months, or even years: They’re working on an operating system. The new OS, dubbed Chrome OS after Google’s recent entry into the ongoing browser wars, will have speed and Internet connectivity as its two top priorities, and be based on a [...]

App Review: oMaps — Offline Mapping for iPhone

Written on July 01, 2009 by Olly Farshi and 19 people have commented

Due to hefty 3G roaming rates, Apple’s Maps app just won’t cut it when you’re out of the country. The oMap app lets you download maps for offline viewing — dodging a shocking bill post-vacation.
The iPhone is an almost perfect companion for travels to distant lands. With a bit of foresight and time set aside [...]

Google Quick Search Box Officially Released

Written on June 10, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 12 people have commented

Sometimes really useful software comes in small packages. Just about six months ago, I stumbled upon the developer preview of Google Quick Search Box (QSB) for the Mac, and I’ve been using it ever since. Google should be proud, because generally speaking, I shy away from desktop search applications, including their own Google Desktop for [...]

Apple Bringing Geolocation to Mobile Safari

Written on June 01, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 2 people have commented

Since Apple doesn’t provide detailed release notes with each of their beta installments, it’s understandable that details about less obvious features and changes would only come to light gradually, as people poked around and tried different (and sometimes unusual) things with their devices. Computerworld’s Seth Weintraub was fooling around with the Mobile Safari browser included [...]

Yahoo Going All-In With iPhone App, Abandons Other Platforms (For Now)

Written on May 20, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 6 people have commented

I admit I was surprisingly impressed with Yahoo for iPhone when it first came out, and an update within the last week brought even more improvements, but I’m not sure the app is so spectacular that Yahoo should pour all its effort into it at the expense of other platforms. But that’s what it’s thinking, [...]

Free MobileMe Alternative: How to Set Up Google Sync for Mac and iPhone

Written on May 13, 2009 by David Klein and 33 people have commented

MobileMe, Apple’s online personal information management (PIM) solution, has withstood quite the controversy. While some of the more fortunate subscribers, like myself, have had only positive experiences, others had to wait several months before syncing worked without reporting cryptic errors or silently failing.
My only gripe was the buggy MobileMe web site. Problems were numerous, such [...]

FTC May Force End to Google-Apple Love Affair

Written on May 05, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 8 people have commented

No one can deny they’ve been chummy. Google and Apple skip about Silicon Valley, hand-in-hand, developing new tech together that is perfectly suited for the Apple hardware it makes its way onto, despite having competing smartphone OS platforms.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has decided to step in on the little dance going on between the [...]

How-To: Put Google Calendar and Tasks in Your Menu Bar

Written on April 22, 2009 by David Klein and 17 people have commented

Don’t you wish there were an easier way to quickly view upcoming appointments and your task list?  If you’re a fan of Google products, then follow these steps for an easy-to-use solution.  In the end you will have two new items in your menu bar: one for Google Calendar and one for Google Tasks.
What You [...]

Google Updates Gmail and Calendar for iPhone

Written on April 08, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 2 people have commented

Yesterday, Google dropped a number of updates and improvements for their web-based Gmail and Calendar apps for the iPhone. A lot of the changes made are on the backend, so while you may not see a huge difference right away, you will likely notice snappier and more consistent performance in both apps, though I found [...]

Yahoo for iPhone Released: Worthwhile Alternative to Google?

Written on April 02, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 8 people have commented

With all the attention in the arena of iPhone applications being fixed squarely on Skype for the past few days, it almost escaped my view that Yahoo has finally released their free Yahoo Mobile app, which we reported on in February. The app’s release coincides with a revamp of their entire Yahoo Mobile web portal, [...]

Android Pulls Tethering App? Goodness! You Mean “Open” Isn’t Open?

Written on March 31, 2009 by Tom Reestman and 16 people have commented

The hoopla around Google’s Android mobile OS, and the resulting apps in the Android Market, is pretty strong. It’s laid on thick and fast. You know the drill; it’s “open” so it’ll be free from all the constraints imposed by The Man, etc.
Oops, maybe not. I’m not sure why people believed the steaming pile of [...]

Google Ends Free Text Messaging Party for iPhone Users

Written on March 13, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 5 people have commented

The iPhone, despite aggressive attempts to block such efforts by AT&T (with Apple’s help), did occasionally offer some apps that actually managed to save users some money in one way or another. For instance, for a while, people could tether their phones to their computers in order to share the data connection without having to [...]

Netbooks to Become the New OS Battleground

Written on March 10, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 22 people have commented

Microsoft has already experienced the power the netbook has to open up operating system options for PC consumers, since it saw Linux distributions being included as the default operating system on consumer-oriented machines for the first time with the advent of the small, affordable, feature-light machines. They’ve since managed to gain a foothold in the [...]

Android Open vs. iPhone Closed: Is It Really That Simple?

Written on February 23, 2009 by Tom Reestman and 13 people have commented

Mark Sigal at GigaOM wrote a nice article that questions if, essentially, “open” is all it’s cracked up to be.
I’ve written about this before, and agree with Sigal’s take. He sums up one aspect of it especially well when he says:
The reality is that openness is just an attribute -– it’s not an outcome, [...]

Weekly App Store Picks: Feb. 21, 2009

Written on February 21, 2009 by Olly Farshi and 1 person has commented

The weekend seems to have rolled up super-fast, so welcome one and all to the Weekly App Store Picks.
Before we jump in to this week’s apps, let’s take a gander at recent happenings in the world of Apple.
First up, as a frequent tweeter, I was pleased to learn about desktop tweeting without a client app earlier [...]

Yahoo Mobile Coming, Google Likely Doesn’t Care

Written on February 17, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 2 people have commented

The search engine that had a strong claim on the web long before upstart Google came along may be down, but they aren’t out. They’re planning a massive undertaking, a cross-platform release of a mobile suite of applications that, at least according to them, could revolutionize the way you use the web from your mobile [...]

Google Sync Beta Now Available for iPhone

Written on February 09, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 13 people have commented

Jealous of MobileMe users but not willing to part with $100 and/or wary of its seemingly persistent problems? Have no fear, Google’s here.
Google Sync Beta, that is, which is now available for the iPhone (and Windows Mobile, but c’mon, honestly). With it, you can sync your Google Calendar and your Gmail Contacts over the air, [...]