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Google Latitude

| FREE | Google

Find My Friends (iOS 5) versus Google Latitude (Android) | Crave - CNET - Technology News - CNET News

iOS 5's Find My Friends is visually compelling and simple to use. When it comes to GPS-based friend-finding apps, you either love them or you don't. Google has been a big believer on its Android platform for some time, integrating Google Latitude into all of its Android phones. Apple's iOS 5 update brings a separate downloadable app, Find My Friends (shortened to Find Friends once it installs). In many cases, it's another iOS 5 feature that's very similar to those existing on rival mobile platforms, but there are some features all its own. This weekend, I buddied up with some CNET friends to see how Find My Friends differs from Latitutde and which of the two apps I prefer. One thing to note: Latitude and Find My Friends only work within their respective ecosystems. iOS: Find My Friends The free app is easy to download, once you know to look for it in the App Store. Otherwise you may be searching maps wondering how to activate the feature. Right off the bat, this is a graphically rich app, with a textured, leather-bound look in sepia tones. It's also incredibly simple to navigate, part of that simplicity owing to the fact that there's not terribly much to do. After all, the primary purpose of any location-aware app is to be able to track where people are at a given time. This, Find My Friends does through reading out a text location, and by plotting buddies on a (Google) map. The additional features are respectable: being able to hide your location, reach out to buddies from the app through text (or iMessage), launch a FaceTime call, and get directions to your friend's location, for handier meeting-up. There's also a great management feature for adding someone temporarily, like during the course of a 2-hour Read More

NOOK for Android by B&N

| FREE | Barnes and Noble

Nook Color Android app store coming in April along with Flash support | Crave - CNET - Technology News - CNET News

According to the HSN Web site, Barnes & Noble is launching the Nook Store in April and giving Flash support to the Nook Color. While plenty of people have "rooted" their Nook Colors with custom firmware that allows them to access the Android Market and download applications, most Nook Color buyers have stuck with the official firmware that came with the device. If you're in the latter group, you'll be happy to note that you'll soon have access to Barnes & Noble's version of an app store, which is due to launch in April, according to the HSN Web site, where the Nook is being sold for $299.90. While the HSN site doesn't offer a specific launch date, it does have some nice nuggets of info: None of this comes as much of surprise, as Barnes & Noble has been showing journalists apps running on the Nook Color from the day it launched. But it has taken a little longer than we thought for the company to launch an app store for the device. It's worth noting that Barnes & Noble seems to be shying away from actually calling the Nook app store the Nook App Store, which may be a good idea considering Apple just sued Amazon.com for naming its Android app store the Amazon Appstore for Android. Apple says it has trademarked the term "App Store." As for HSN selling the Nook Color for $299.90, that's $50 more than you need to spend for the Nook Color (its list price is $249.99). Sure, the HSN Nook Color has some e-books preloaded on it, but they're all public-domain titles you can load up yourself--for free. (HSN will reportedly start its "sneak peeks" of the updates sometime this Saturday.) We'll have an in-depth look at the Nook Color update once it Read More

Shazam

| FREE | Shazam Entertainment Limited

Music app Shazam gets new Facebook features | The Social - CNET News - Technology News - CNET News

Shazam's mobile app Shazam, the mobile application that has enthralled millions of listeners with its ability to detect and identify a song--largely ending the need to Google lyrics--has gotten a little bit more social. Namely, the latest update to its iPhone app (and soon Android app) added Facebook integration, which wouldn't be a terribly big deal except that the social music space continues to be so interesting to watch. Now, when you "tag" a song by running it through the Shazam system to identify it, or just open up the app for browsing purposes, you have an option called "Shazam Friends" that lets you see a feed of songs that your Facebook friends have tagged lately. This makes it significantly easier to navigate friends' individual song discoveries--something that a new music-sharing app that launched to positive buzz at SXSW earlier this month, Soundtracking, has as its centerpiece--and may mean that people will now start spending time on the Shazam app for reasons other than identifying the soundtrack to the local Urban Outfitters store. "Our new feature not only allows Shazamers to see what their friends on Facebook are tagging, but they can also listen to the track and go on to purchase it," Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher said in a statement. "Shazam Friends is an exciting new feature for our community of Shazamers, that will make it easier than ever before to learn about new music and share those moments." The app already had basic Facebook and Twitter share buttons (as does a competitor, SoundHound), but basic social-media sharing for music hasn't had the best track record of late--iTunes Ping, after a much-hyped launch, has turned out to be one of Apple's more disappointing product offerings in terms of usage and uptake. Three million songs are "Shazammed" each day, the company Read More

Adobe Photoshop Express

| FREE | Adobe Systems

Adobe tweaks Photoshop Express site, Android app | Web Crawler - CNET News - Technology News - CNET News

The biggest change, besides an increase in overall speed on the Web version of Photoshop Express, is that the site no longer requires users to register in order to use it. Unregistered users can now upload their photo, make edits, then download it without any administrative barriers. Adobe has also separated each tool into its own unit, similar to what it does with the library and develop modules of its Photoshop Lightroom software. As part of the re-organization, Adobe has given its slideshow tool a dramatic facelift, with the inclusion of customizable themes. By default, users get only one, called "midnight," which is a simple one-color background for your photos to sit atop. There are 40 other themes available for subscriber's of Adobe's Plus subscription plans. Besides these, Plus subscribers get a few other extras like dedicated storage space and extra photo editing effects. Other tweaks to the site include a more thorough look at a photo's EXIF metadata, a way to post your photos to Facebook and Twitter, the inclusion of user ratings and comments that users can see within the photo organizer, and a simpler way to find the company's tutorials. On the mobile side, Adobe has updated the Android version of its Photo Express application to include support for user videos. If a user has uploaded videos to their Photoshop Express library--either from their phone, or back on their computer--they can now be played and shared from within the app. Adobe also says it has tweaked how efficient the app is at uploading photos to Facebook. Though not a part of Wednesday's news, Adobe has been broadening its mobile application coverage, as well as pushing out cross-platform updates in closer succession. When the company first released its Photoshop app for the iPhone, it was about a month before Read More

Viper SmartStart

| FREE | Directed Electronics

Viper's SmartStart car control app hits Android | Web Crawler - CNET News - Technology News - CNET News

The Viper SmartStart app on a HTC Nexus One. Android users with Viper remote start systems who have wanted to use their phones to lock, unlock, and start their cars are now in luck. On Thursday, Viper creator Directed Electronics is making its Viper SmartStart app available on the Android Market, as well as through its site. The company released the same version of the app for iPhone users back in October and to BlackBerry users at January's CES. The app, which contains no new or additional features over those versions lets users start their car using their phone, as well as doing things like locking and unlocking doors, opening the trunk, and setting off the panic alarm. The app is free, though it requires that users have Viper's SmartStart security hardware installed in their car, as well as an active subscription to the company's $29.99 a year security service. As mentioned in previous coverage, new SmartStart buyers get a year of this for free when they buy the SmartStart hardware, which runs anywhere from $499 for a new installation, or $299 to add o an existing Viper alarm system. Since releasing this remote unlock and start technology for mobile devices, other hardware makers have gotten on board with apps that share information with on-board vehicle computers. Most notably it's been OnStar, which has its own series of apps for General Motors cars, including a special one for the Chevrolet Volt. It lets Volt owners user their mobile phones to do all the normal things like toggling car door locks, honking the horn and turning the headlights on an off, as well as more vehicle specific tasks like running vehicle battery diagnostics. Read More

NOOK for Android by B&N

| FREE | Barnes and Noble

B&N launches Nook for Android, changes branding strategy | Crave - CNET - Technology News - CNET News

Nook for Android, a free app, is available now for devices running Android OS 1.6 or higher. Barnes & Noble has been saying it would soon be launching an Android version of its eBookstore app and now it has done so. But what's interesting about the announcement is that Barnes & Noble has decided to move away from its BN branding and go with Nook as the name of choice for its digital reading platform. The company says the new Android app is the "first eReader software to feature Barnes & Noble's new Nook-centric branding, leveraging the strength of the company's Nook brand across its entire eReading offering. Nook for Android will soon be followed by an updated Nook for iPhone, Nook for iPad, and others in the coming months." Nook for Android is compatible with devices using Android OS 1.6 (or higher) and offers similar functionality to the iPad version. You can obviously shop the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, but Barnes & Noble is also touting its LendMe feature, which allows you to share "eligible" e-books for up to 14 days with friends (you can only lend out an eligible title once), who can read digital titles on a Nook e-reader, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, a Windows PC, or a Mac enabled with free BN eReader software. Like the Kindle app, once you have the app installed on your device or PC, you can access your B&N digital library from any of your devices. By further embracing the Nook brand, Barnes & Noble appears to be pursuing a similar strategy to Amazon, which has labeled its e-reader apps with the Kindle brand while it continues to promote its standalone e-reader devices, the Kindle and Kindle DX. Recently, Amazon lowered the price of the Kindle in response to Barnes & Noble Read More

MP3tunes

| FREE | MP3tunes, Inc

MP3Tunes adds uploads from Android | Digital Noise: Music and Tech - CNET News - Technology News - CNET News

Music locker service MP3Tunes lets you make your music collection available on any Internet-connected device, but first you have to upload your music to MP3Tunes Web servers. This is no problem if all your music is on your computer--just use the free MP3Tunes LockerSync app. But what about songs that you bought on your phone? Until now, you've had to find a way to get those songs back to your PC, then upload them from there. The MP3Tunes app for Android phones lets you upload songs directly from your phone. Not anymore, as long as you're using an Android phone. On Monday, MP3Tunes updated its free Android client so that you can upload songs directly from your phone to the MP3Tunes servers, without ever connecting your phone to your computer. The company has posted a YouTube video showing an Android user buying a song from Amazon's MP3 store on a phone, uploading it to MP3Tunes, and then listening to it on a wireless-connected iPod Touch (which uses the free Airband app to connect to MP3Tunes). Unfortunately, it doesn't work the other way--Airband won't let you upload music from your iPhone or other Apple device to MP3Tunes. (MP3Tunes blames Apple's App Store restrictions.) Still, this example shows the power of having your music stored in a single cloud-based location, rather than scattered across multiple personal data stores. The update is part of a broader MP3Tunes initiative called Buy Anywhere, Play Everywhere. The company has also done a lot of behind-the-scenes work so that songs from one store will play properly, with all song data and album art included, on devices from other companies. For instance, songs downloaded from iTunes will be available almost immediately on your Android phone, as shown in this demonstration video. MP3Tunes offers 2GB of free storage, and you Read More

YouTube Mobile

| FREE | Google

YouTube revamps mobile Web site | Relevant Results - CNET News - Technology News - CNET News

SAN BRUNO, Calif.--YouTube has redesigned its mobile site, hoping to get more and more smartphone users watching its videos through the browser, rather than through native applications. YouTube's new mobile site should go live Wednesday afternoon. The company will unveil the new design at m.youtube.com this afternoon, said Andrey Doronichev, product manager for YouTube Mobile, during a briefing Wednesday morning here at YouTube's headquarters. The main idea is to replicate the desktop PC-based YouTube experience in the mobile browser, or to at least get as close as possible, he said. At the moment, mobile YouTube visitors play around 100 million videos a day, Doronichev said; roughly equivalent to the same number of videos that were being played on the original YouTube site when it was acquired by Google in 2006. But the mobile site itself is hard to navigate, and the primary source of mobile YouTube viewing--the native iPhone application--has lagged behind the development pace of what's now possible in the browser, he said. The new site, as might be expected from a Google effort, is an HTML5-compatible site that provides much faster navigation and better video quality than the old mobile site, Doronichev demonstrated Wednesday. It was also designed to be more touch-screen friendly than the older site, with better navigation options. The motivation behind the redesign is clear: Google and YouTube want more mobile users watching video through the browser, rather than native applications. That allows Google to control the advertising experience those viewers see rather than the handset maker, and fits in nicely with Google's the-browser-is-the-operating-system philosophy for the future. Mobile users should be able to check out the new site Wednesday afternoon, but a few bugs will prevent iPhone 4 users from being able to see the new site right away, Doronichev said. Those should be fixed Read More

nuTsie iTunes Music Player

| $9.95 | nuTsie

HP buys mobile music company Melodeo | Digital Noise: Music and Tech - CNET News - Technology News - CNET News

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard has acquired Melodeo, a Seattle-based start-up that specializes in music applications and services for mobile devices, the companies confirmed on Wednesday. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but an anonymous source told TechCrunch that the price was around $30 million. The acquisition vaults HP into the battle for mobile music services. Shown here, Melodeo's Nutsie for Android lets users access iTunes playlists on their mobile phone. HP has acquired the company, and now could bring the service to its WebOS mobile platform. I've written about Melodeo's products a couple of times, most recently in January, when I got a demo of a forthcoming update to Melodeo's Nutsie app for Android phones. Nutsie (the name is an anagram of iTunes) runs on several mobile platforms, and gives users a way to get music from the iTunes library on their computer to a mobile device over the air. Unfortunately, the current version of Nutsie only allows users to transfer iTunes playlists, not full libraries, and users can't navigate to single songs. It's more like Internet radio based on each user's personal iTunes library than true portability. This was supposed to be fixed in the update I saw, which would let users upload their entire iTunes libraries to Nutsie's servers, then let Android phones access those full libraries over the air. Basically, Melodeo was building an online music locker, like what MP3Tunes offers. It sounded like a great solution for Android's weak spot in music, and I even speculated that Google might acquire Melodeo. But the updated Nutsie app hasn't come out yet, and when I contacted a spokesman about two weeks ago, he told me that Melodeo had some big news coming up that was delaying its product plans. This was it. So what's HP going to do with Melodeo? Read More

Google Voice

| FREE | Google Inc.

Four major holes in Google Voice | Crave - CNET - Technology News - CNET News

After a long invite-only period, Google Voice is now open to all--for free (click to enlarge). I like Google Voice, I really do. But now that the search giant has thrown open the gates to make Google Voice free for anyone in the U.S., many more people will get the opportunity to pick and praise. After all, it was Google's multipronged voice service for forwarding phone numbers, sending free text messages, transcribing voice mail, and making voice messages accessible online that recently got me out of a bind with a broken phone. Still, there are persistent foibles in the less-than-perfect service that Google bought a scant three years ago when it was still called GrandCentral. The call-block, listening-in, and call-forwarding features are great, and visual voice mail is and has been a plus. But inconsistencies, especially with the computer-aided transcription of voice mail messages and with phone number mess-ups in the Google Voice mobile apps, have continuously disappointed. We overlooked some drawbacks in the name of a free service that has essentially been in closed beta since 2007, and therefore subject to a little leeway, but all that is about to change now that it's open season. Google Voice already had more than a million subscribers while it was still in invite-only private mode, and I suspect millions more callers will be less forgiving once the thrill of accessing another hot Google service wears off. Consumer pressure will surely cause Google to throw more resources at the system's holes, and also give it an opportunity to monetize by adding more targeted advertising, planning waves of premium features for consumers, and selling corporate plans to companies managing a mobile workforce. I welcome the compliments and critiques that will hopefully lead to the changes, and Google should too. So if you're listening, Google, Read More