News by on Thursday September 22, 2011. Sponsored links, if any, appear in green. Location-based social network Gowalla has lived in the shadow of foursquare for most all of its two-plus year existence. Now the company is attempting to differentiate itself from foursquare by shying away from the check-in model and becoming more of a local guide application. Accompanying this shift in thinking are new apps for the iPhone and Android that embrace the new features in Gowalla. Gowalla is attempting to be more than just a place where you can see where your friends have checked in. The new redesign includes local travel guides comprised of recommendations from experts and suggestions from friends in your social graphs. Gowalla is calling these "Social Guides." The guides are being launched for 60 different cities today, as well as in theme parks and national parks thanks to partnerships with Disney and National Geographic. Each Social Guide has pictures, recommendations, and lists of places to visit for specific things that you are looking for. For instance, you can look up all of the great coffee shops found in New York City and see pictures and suggestions for each one. You can "love" (that's right, "love," not "like") various places and lists so that your connected friends can see what interests you as well. Users can add to the Social Guide database by creating highlights and lists in places that they visit. Gowalla is expanding the check-in feature with more options, and has renamed it "Stories" to better reflect what people do when they check-in at a location. Additionally, users can now follow other users without identifying them as friends or requiring a follow-back, much in the way that following on Twitter works. Along with all of these new features are new apps for the Read More
News by on Monday August 29, 2011. Sponsored links, if any, appear in green. Following the update to the iPhone version of foursquare from a couple of weeks ago, the location based social network has updated its Android client with many of the same features. With the latest update, Android users can check into events at specific locations, and enjoy some redesigned screens in the app that looks nicer and are easier to use. Much like the iPhone version of foursquare, the Android version will now present events to add to a check-in when users check in at movie theaters, music venues, and sports stadiums. Additionally, foursquare has added the in-line image previews for users' friend lists that debuted on the iPhone app a couple of versions back. Finally, the Android app has been given a bunch of updates to various screens that provide a fresh, modern look to the app. You can grab the updated foursquare for Android app from the Android Market now. [via foursquare] Read More
News by on Wednesday July 06, 2011. Sponsored links, if any, appear in green. In a break from its regular tradition of debuting new features in its iPhone app, location-based social networking app foursquare has updated its Android app with a new, exclusive notifications tray. Within the notification tray is all the activity that you or your friends have been up to recently. If a friend comments on a check-in or photo you posted, or they complete one of the tips you have left, there will be a notification in the the tray. It will also alert you if the location you are at starts swarming or if you are ousted as a mayor. In addition to grouping all of the notifications in one place, the new foursquare app for Android gives you much more granular control over what activity will notify you and how. You can choose to be notified on the phone or via email, or both if you desire, for a number of activities. You can also mute notifications for an hour, or until the next morning to get a peaceful, foursquare-free sleep. The new features are available in the latest version of foursquare for Android, which can be downloaded from the Android Market now. Foursquare promises that it is working on incorporating the new features into its iPhone and BlackBerry apps, and plans to release those updates soon. In the meantime, iPhone and BlackBerry users can check out the notification center at the foursquare website. [foursquare via TechCrunch] Read More
Newsbrief by on Wednesday April 27, 2011. Sponsored links, if any, appear in green. Amazon has released a small update to its MP3 app for Android that adds lock-screen music controls and other features. The Amazon MP3 app allows users to play back music stored both locally on their Android phone or tablet and on their Amazon Cloud Drive. In addition to the lock-screen controls, Amazon MP3 will now utilize the equalizer modes found in Android 2.3 Gingerbread and 3.0 Honeycomb, as well as remembering the last playing song after the device goes to sleep. Bluetooth headsets can now skip back to the previous song with their on-board controls. Amazon MP3 is free and now available in the Android Market. source: Android Market, via: Read More
News by on Thursday April 14, 2011. Sponsored links, if any, appear in green. Google has updated its Google Translate application for the Android smartphone platform. The new version of the app now allows users to listen to translations in Japanese, Arabic, and Korea in addition to the 21 languages previously supported. The company claims that it has greatly improved the quality of the synthesized speach in 15 of the languages, as well. Google Translate for Android currently offers text to text translations in 58 different languages. It is available directly from the Android Market on smartphones and tablets running Android 2.1 or later. Read More
Newsbrief by on Tuesday March 01, 2011. Sponsored links, if any, appear in green. According to TechCrunch, Facebook has just purchased Beluga, a messaging application that's available for the iPhone, Android smartphones, and on the web. Beluga allows users to chat with one another, as well as create group chats to share images, location, and more. Details on the purchase are still slim, but TechCrunch says that Facebook bought "both the product and the team," and that the service will remain active for the time being. We'll keep you updated if we hear more. source: Read More
Newsbrief by on Monday February 21, 2011. Sponsored links, if any, appear in green. Verizon Wireless has updated its V Cast Music app for its Android smartphones. The latest version lets users browse and purchase full track songs, ringtones, and ringback tones, all in one place. Songs are available for $0.69, $0.99, or $1.29 each, and Verizon says there are discounts if you purchase a song with a corresponding ringback or ringtone bundle. The update is available for phones running Android 2.1 or newer and is available now in the Android Market. source: Verizon, via: Read More
Newsbrief by on Thursday December 16, 2010. Sponsored links, if any, appear in green. Skype has updated its Android application with support for installing the app directly to your the phone's SD card. Skype also says that the application will now work properly on Samsung Galaxy S phones that are running Android 2.2 or later. Sadly, Samsung and the respective U.S. Galaxy S carriers offering the phones have yet to provide an official Android 2.2 Froyo update. For now, it looks like European Galaxy S owners will be the only ones with full support. Head over to Skype's website for more information. source: Skype, via: Read More
