Apps – AMP

Google Fit update brings Android users real-time exercise tracking

In a statement on the official Google Chrome Blog, the browser’s developers have announced the availability of a new version in the stable channel. It brings some performance improvements and a handful of new features.

Google’s development efforts on Chrome have been moving forward at an impressive pace. The company is iterating very quickly on new features and stabilizing them as they trickle down through the various release channels. The most noteworthy new features introduced in the stable release of Chrome 9 are support for WebGL and Chrome Instant.

WebGL is a relatively new standard that emerged in 2009 with the support of the Khronos group. It provides a set of JavaScript APIs that wrap the functionality of OpenGL ES, allowing developers to render 3D graphics in the Canvas element. Mozilla and Apple have also adopted the standard and have their own increasingly mature implementations. Google officially supports WebGL with hardware-accelerated rendering in Chrome 9. To take the feature for a spin, you can try out some of the WebGL demos at the Chrome Experiments website.

Another major feature in Chrome 9 is support for Chrome Instant, the browser equivalent of Google’s instant search innovation. As the user types a URL, the autocompletion mechanism will automatically load pages. This feature is integrated into the browser, but is not enabled by default. Users who want automatic loading will have to opt-in by toggling a preference in Chrome’s settings panel.

Users can download the latest version of Chrome from Google’s website. For more details about some of the bug fixes, you can refer to the release notes.

YouTube Kids, the family-friendly video app, is now available outside the US

Mozilla has rolled out an eleventh beta release of Firefox 4, the next major version of the browser. In addition to the usual assortment of bugfixes and performance improvements, the new beta also adds support for a “Do Not Track” setting.

The implications of behavioral advertising are a growing source of concern among privacy advocates. In an effort to appease regulators, the most prominent Internet advertising companies voluntarily offer a cookie-based opt-out service that allows users to indicate to advertisers that they don’t want to be tracked. It’s a good start, but Mozilla sees a lot of room for improvement.

The browser vendor recently proposed a simpler and more seamless solution which involves adding an optional header to HTTP requests. The header can be used to transparently inform advertisers that the user doesn’t want to be tracked. It’s a better long-term approach than the cookie-based solution because it’s easier to manage and integrate into existing software.

Mozilla has implemented the feature in Firefox 4 beta 11. The browser’s preferences dialog has a new checkbox that the user can toggle to control whether the opt-out header is transmitted to servers. The setting is disabled by default, but is relatively easy for users to find and enable.

As we explained when we compared the tracking opt-out philosophies of Google and Mozilla last month, the downside of introducing a new Do Not Track mechanism is that won’t actually work until it gets buy-in from the major advertising companies. As far as we know, the new header isn’t actually recognized by major advertisers yet.

Due to the lack of industry support, toggling the new setting will have no real effect for users at this time. It seems premature to be exposing the feature through the Firefox user interface, but doing so could potentially help to encourage broader adoption by advertisers and other browser vendors. It’s worth noting that the advertising industry has been relatively supportive of opt-out technologies in the past, so there is hope that Mozilla’s solution will gain some traction.

Best Android browsers: 6 of the best for surfing the net

Google Now, the mind-reading personal assistant for iOS and Android, has gotten a ton of updates lately, making it the perfect smartphone companion for…well, anything. Here’s a list of the coolest stuff it can do

10. Keep Your Commute Simple

You spend a lot of time driving (or riding transit) between work, events, seeing friends, and everything else. Google Now can make it a lot easier.

9. Keep an Eye on Stocks & Sports

You probably already know about this one, since it’s been there since the beginning.

8. Travel Without Stress

If you’re leaving town, Google Now knows it—and can provide you with a ton of useful information

7. See How Far You’ve Walked (or Biked)

If you have Location Reporting and Location History enabled on your phone, Google Now will pop up a card once a month that estimates how far you’ve walked or biked, based on your phone’s accelerometer (Android only).

6. Go Shopping, Online and In-Store

You probably already know that Google Now will provide tracking information for packages you’ve ordered online.

5. Stay Up to Date on Movies, Books, and TV Shows

When you search for a movie, book, TV show, music artist, or video game on Google, it’ll remember—and give you information about it in Google Now.

4. Access Tickets for Upcoming Events

If you have a concert or other event coming up—and you were emailed the ticket—Google Now will remind you of the event, tell you when to leave, and give you one-tap access to the email with your tickets.

3. Keep Up With Your Favorite Web Sites and News

You probably know that Google Now will give you information on things you’ve recently searched, but it can do more than that.

2. Get Reminders Anytime, Anywhere

As if all the above weren’t enough, you can tell Google Now to remind you of just about anything, right when you need it the most.

1. Ask Your Phone Anything

Of course, Google Now does most of the above on its own, but you can ask it just about anything and get a smart answer, too.

How to Back Up and Restore WhatsApp Chats with Google Drive

Microsoft today announced that it had wrapped up work on Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), and would start delivering the major upgrade on Feb. 22 through Windows Update.

The company said it had reached the “release to manufacturing,” or RTM milestone for both Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, and was shipping the code to PC and server makers today.

Customers who subscribe to either TechNet or the Microsoft Software Developer Network (MSDN) can download Windows 7 SP1 starting Wednesday, Feb. 16, the same day companies with volume license agreements can grab the upgrade.

The general public must wait until Tuesday, Feb. 22, when SP1 hits the Windows Update service. Microsoft typically reserves the last Tuesday of each month for shipping non-security updates.

Snapchat’s Live Stories now show you moments from multiple angles

Podtrac, TNS and eMarketer have put together a few reports indicating the effectiveness of podcast advertising relies on its longtail, as contrasted with the instant gratification methods more prevalent in other types of Internet based advertising like Google’s AdSense or YouTube’s overlay ads for video. The companies studied podcast advertising from February 2006 to March 2008 across multiple product categories and ad types. Unaided awareness for podcast ads was 68%, compared with 21% for streaming video and 10% for television

In eMarketer’s analysis of the data, Doug Keith, president of Future Research Consulting was quoted as saying: “The data suggest audiences are paying close attention to show content and the embedded ads within them which greatly increased ad effectiveness in the studies. The high unaided ad recall figures are no doubt the results of a less cluttered environment.”

t’s great data, and bodes well for the producers in the podcasting world looking to make their bones and their living producing audio and video content. As James Lewin at Podcasting News notes, though, since the data comes from a company that makes their living evangelizing podcasting, the data is a bit suspect. What makes it even more suspect is the fact that it comes from PodTrac, a monetization group that unfortunately has a reputation amongst the podcasting producers’ community for a lack of responsiveness to talent inquiries, a severe shortage of advertising opportunities, and a history of slow payments.

Google+ is now faster for the few who use it

It has been almost a year since Intel and Nokia began converging their respective mobile Linux platforms to create the MeeGo project. The effort has attracted interest among hardware vendors, but hasn’t quite reached the stage where it is ready for mainstream consumer devices. A growing body of evidence suggests that the wait might soon be over.

Nokia had hoped to deliver its first MeeGo-based product in the fourth quarter of 2010, but pushed back the launch into 2011. Nokia’s MeeGo debut device was originally expected to be the rumored N9 handset, but the subsequent flow of conflicting rumors and leaks has left little in the way of clarity, leaving broad speculation in their wake.

The latest round of rumors suggests that Nokia is still aiming to bring the N9 to market, but that it will be powered by an Intel Atom processor. This seemingly dubious suggestion got a boost last week when Intel showed off a smartphone with the company’s Medfield SoC.

We are also starting to see some signs that Nokia is polishing up MeeGo for a product launch. In a brief and informal note posted on the Qt Labs blog earlier this week, Nokia’s Henrik Hartz acknowledged that Nokia has temporarily closed the MeeGo-themed branch of its Qt Quick components project. The contents of that branch will allow third-party Qt applications to conform with the MeeGo look and feel. Nokia says that this code is being finalized and that the developers are “unable to make certain pieces of the final user experience public” during the last stages of development.

A Finished Version of Firefox for iOS Is Finally Available on App Store

Free hardware has somewhat become the norm lately, if you want to promote your new platform (at least if you aren’t Apple or Google). We hear that HP is apparently planning to hand out WebOS tablets and Intel just confirmed that it has given developers MeeGo netbooks.

How do you convince developers to start using and developing for a new platform. Hardware would help and that seems to be a common theme these days. Remember Microsoft, which handed out more than 30,000 Windows 7 phones? Or Google, which beta tests Chrome Os with 65,000 ChromeOS notebooks (and hopes that developers will start developing many more apps for the Chrome Web Store)? Intel does it on a much smaller scale with MeeGo.

At a recent meeting with about 140 developers in Arizona, the company gave out MeeGo netbooks to “qualified developers”. The hope here is, as well, that developers will actually use the netbook to build MeeGo apps. “By the end of the night, developers learned that with MeeGo they can rapidly create a variety of experiences across many computing device types, as well as have an opportunity to make money with their applications,” Intel’s Rhonda Peters wrote in a blog post.

The success of smartphone and tablet platforms seems to be a numbers game. 140 netbooks are a start, but it may not be enough to see a big impact. The first MeeGo version that will make it into consumer devices is, as far as we know, currently scheduled for a late April 2011 shipment date. We have no idea whether there will be MeeGo netbooks on retail shelves, but we do know that the company plans on having MeeGo tablets in U.S. retail by June.

If you are a developer interested in MeeGo, we have no idea whether Intel is giving out more free netbooks. However, you could always try and contact the company through its AppUp developer program.

Rdio Will Shut Down and Sell Some of Its Assets to Pandora for $75 Million

One of the strengths of Google’s Android mobile operating system is its support for customization. Android enthusiasts can augment the capabilities of their Android device by replacing key components of the platform with superior third-party alternatives.

There are a growing number of really great third-party home screen implementations and Web browsers that users can install directly from the Android Market. Some of the popular Web browsers include Opera, Skyfire, Firefox, and Dolphin HD. We plan to write up a full comparison at some point in the future, but decided to start by giving you a close look at our favorite: Dolphin HD.

MPAA sues Hotfile for “staggering” copyright infringement

File locker Hotfile.com has found itself the next target of the Motion Picture Association of America’s war on file sharing. The MPAA announced Tuesday that it had filed a lawsuit against Hotfile on behalf of 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures, and Warner Bros. accusing the site of direct infringement, facilitating copyright infringement “on a staggering scale,” and raking in the cash while doing it.

The MPAA argues that Hotfile not only encourages its users to upload illegal content, but actively discourages them from uploading files for personal use, because the site offers incentives for users to upload the most popular files (which invariably end up being copyrighted movies). And because the site charges membership fees before people can download the content uploaded by others, the MPAA says Hotfile “profits richly while paying nothing to the studios” for the bootleg files.

“In less than two years Hotfile has become one of the 100 most trafficked sites in the world. That is a direct result of the massive digital theft that Hotfile promotes,” MPAA general counsel Daniel Mandil said in a statement. “The theft taking place on Hotfile is unmistakable. Their files are indeed ‘hot’ as in ‘stolen.’ It’s wrong and it must stop.”

The charges in the MPAA’s complaint include direct infringement (as Hotfile is the one distributing the works), inducement of infringement, contributory infringement, and vicarious infringement (for making a profit on infringing files). The DMCA’s Safe Harbor provisions should protect site operators from being held liable for content uploaded by users, but the MPAA claims that the site continues to compensate its users for uploading popular files even after having received takedown notices. If Hotfile admins had direct knowledge of infringement, but failed to do anything about it like the MPAA says, then Safe Harbor isn’t going to provide any protection.

The other catch is that Hotfile doesn’t provide any sort of index or listing of the files that have been uploaded by members. Instead, the site relies entirely on third-party sites to link to the files, and the MPAA argues in its complaint that “almost all of these link sites are blatant pirate sites.” In fact, the complaint alleges that Hotfile paid various sites to promote its links, knowing that most of the files being linked were illegal.

The lawsuit against Hotfile is hardly surprising; content creators are constantly fighting traditional torrent sites and other P2P offerings, and have increasingly gone after cyberlockers and cloud storage solutions for helping users trade copyrighted music, movies, and TV shows. The MPAA wants Hotfile to be shut down, of course, but would also like a cut of whatever juicy profits might be found.

Bing caught copying search results from Google

In a case of Internet espionage that makes the antics of double agent Cold War operatives seem like frivolous child play, Bing has been caught stealing search results from Google with its Bing toolbar and IE8’s Suggested Sites feature.

Google first suspected foul play in May 2010. By October 2010, with Bing results beginning to look uncannily like Google’s, it knew something had to be done about it — and so, in true, nerdtastic style, Google set up a sting to prove that Microsoft was actually behind the wholesale mimicry of Google’s search results.

Google injected “synthetic” results into its search engine — fake queries and results that no real user or engine would ever generate. Then, on D-Day, December 17, about 20 Google engineers were asked to run the test queries with Internet Explorer 8, Bing Bar and Suggested Sites. By December 31, some of these fake results began appearing on Bing. See the examples after the break — it’s damning.

For a full discussion of Bing’s antics, and what repercussions Microsoft might have to face, read the original Search Engine Land post.