It appears that the initial rumours of Google’s online storage service are coming true, after all. We talked about a possible screenshot that showed the service in action. Now, there are fresh rumours that the service may be launched as early as next month. TalkAndroid has got their hands on a screenshot of the the new service. There’s a clear mention of 5GB of free space being made available with the service. There’s a Download Google Drive button as well, which suggests that a local OS installation is possible as well. Of course, the domain http://drive.google.com will also be accessible to mobile phones, tablets and desktop users using a web browser. The subdomain is currently active on Google’s site, but it throws up a 404 error, as of now.
It's coming soon!
There was initial news that Google would be providing 2GB of space with the service, but that has clearly been upped to 5GB. The service should offer great integration between all of Google’s services as well as all the devices that their users use. Google should, however consider upping that space to above the 20GB mark as there are already services that offer much more storage space. Microsoft’s service SkyDrive offers 25GB of free space to its users. If Google Drive does launch in the next couple of weeks, it’s safe to assume that future releases of Chrome OS and Android - Jelly Bean will have Google Drive integrated into the OS.
Google’s Drive service should compete with other major free online storage services, such as Box.net and Dropbox. The last screenshot we had talked about included a software installation, which means that the service would be accessible directly from the desktop, possibly from Windows Explorer. The ability to quickly save files to the cloud without having to manually access a web page and use the web interface would be great. This would be a neat little feature to have on existing Google Android and Chrome OS devices. Being able to directly store documents and data directly through the operating system would be handy.
Nokia had decided to shut down their mobile money service in order to concentrate on their core areas. Looks like, location-based services are a part of their core business, for the company has launched a ‘Traffic Feature’ on Nokia phones for users across two of the nation's busiest cities - Mumbai and Delhi. This service aims at offering comprehensive, real-time traffic information to over 26 million people who can view the real-time traffic and plan their route, accordingly. These traffic updates are made available for Symbian phones on Nokia Drive and Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 on Nokia Maps.
Real-time update
This service seems like a relief to all those irked by traffic issues. It would solve the traffic hassle that we face on a day-to-day basis. Moreover, its ability to offer real-time traffic information will enable its users to quickly decide on an alternate route, avoiding delay to important events. However, this would also depend on how efficiently the service works. The service is powered by Navteq Trafffic Pro real-time traffic service that provides detailed information on traffic speeds on motorways, main and secondary roads to ensure accurate estimated arrival times and more. It is offered by Nokia Location & Commerce keeping in mind diverse global traffic collection network.
“Location is at the core of our vision for the future; we aim to empower people, via location-aware technology, sensor-rich devices, and the internet, to explore and enjoy the increasingly hybridised physical and digital world around us. Our aim is to introduce new services such as traffic update, which will make consumers early adopters of the latest technology for a stress free and productive life”, said Vipul Mehrotra, Director, Smart devices, Nokia India at the launch.
The company is also said to develop platform services for device manufacturers, application developers, Internet services providers, merchants, and advertisers.
“The launch of this traffic feature on Nokia smartphones reflects the ever-growing consumer appetite for more interactive location based services beyond traditional turn-by-turn navigation. Going forward we will continue to introduce more location-aware services that represent the future of mobility for consumers in India”, added Rajat Tandon, Director Sales, Nokia, Location & Commerce.
It looks like both Sprint and Virgin Mobile are about to get a new budget Android smartphone on their networks in the US, the LG Optimus Elite, which you can see in the photos below.
According to the guys over at PocketNow, the LG Optimus Elite will come with a 3.2 inch HVGA display and a 5 megapixel camera with a built in flash.
Processing will be provided by an 800MHz processor, unfortunately that is all we know so far, and both devices are expected to retail for under $100 on both networks.
It has been discovered by researchers at Philadelphia’s Drexel University, that credit card data on older Xbox 360 systems that have been traded in or sold on. may be vulnerable to being hacked fro the previous owners credit card information. The team has discovered that even restoring your console to factory settings won’t remove some of the data stored on the Xbox 360.
Using just a handful of common tools, almost any hacker or modders can remove the Xbox’s hard drive and recover credit card data or other personal information, which has been entered by previous owners. Speaking to gaming website Kotaku, researcher Ashley Podhradsky explained:
“Microsoft is doing a “disservice” to its customers by not doing a better job of keeping personal data protected. Microsoft does a great job of protecting their proprietary information. But they don’t do a great job of protecting the user’s data.”
Read the full article over on the Kotaku website.
Nintendo has announced that it will partner with development company Green Hills Software to create and implement a development solution for its coming Wii U game console. The company will provide its MULTI integrated development environment to help third parties more easily and efficiently write code for the impending system. It will hopefully help third-party game makers to come on board and support Nintendo in the next generation.
“We selected the Green Hills Software solution because it generates highly optimized code, and Green Hills provides excellent global support,” Nintendo senior managing director of integrated research and design Genyo Takeda said. Nintendo has a great, storied history and of course has moments of industry innovation and record sales. But despite all that, it doesn’t have a super great record of developer relations.
A Nintendo console needs only a Mario game, a Pokemon game, and a Zelda game to be profitable. There are no other franchises in the entire industry like that. But it doesn’t mean Nintendo can not care about third-party developers. The Wii is a case study in the direction that a console takes when it isn’t receiving huge amounts of envelope-pushing support from other players in the industry. Hopefully this partnership with Green Hills Software is a point in the right direction.
LivingSocial has abandoned its location-based “Instant” deals service before it ever made its mark. In addition, company co-founder and former president Eddie Frederick has left the site, and it’s assumed that his departure was not by choice. Frederick likely had an active hand in developing the Instant platform, which has been described as essentially being dead on arrival. Internet success isn’t as easy as it looks.
LivingSocial is the #2 deal website, behind Groupon, but it hasn’t managed to successfully turn itself into anything other than “another Groupon.” The Instant site was supposed to be something that could differentiate itself in the marketplace. However, while Groupon is an Internet success story on the scale of Facebook and YouTube, LivingSocial is just keeping its head above water for now.
In fact, last year it ended up with a $558 million net loss, with only $245 million actually collected in revenue. But there’s a lot of faith that the site can transform into something bigger. It has received more than $800 million in venture capital funding. Part of that was based on presentations LivingSocial made about Instant. These location-based deal services are all over the Web but few of them have become success stories. Now, LivingSocial Instant will be transformed into a local food and delivery service, another muddled market. We’ll see how that goes.
It looks like Microsoft has acquired two new domains names which are related to its Xbox console, the domain names are XboxFL.com and XboxFL.ent, and were discovered by the guys over at Fusible.
There are no details as yet on what Microsoft has planned for the two domains names, and they are currently being redirected to Microsoft’s Bing.
It could possibly be some sort of new service from Microsoft, or maybe even the name of their next Xbox console although many of us are expecting it to be called the Xbox 720, which certainly sounds a lot better than Xbox FL.
Earlier today we head RIM’s latest financial results, where the company had made made a loss of $125m for their last financial quarter, And RIM’s CEO Thorsten Heins said that they would be concentrating on their core market of business customers.
This led to speculation that RIM would be abandoning the consumer market for BlackBerry devices, and now RIM has confirmed that they will continue to develop blackberry devices for consumers.
RIM’s MD of global sales and regional marketing, Patrick Spence said that ”We remain committed to all of our Customers (consumer & enterprise) and are enhancing our support/solutions for enterprise” and “[our] goal is to help our enterprise customers capitalise [sic] on the opportunities presented by consumerization while minimizing risks.”
It will be interesting to see what RIM has planned and whether they are able to turn their fortunes around.
We finally have some information on the launch date of the HTC One X here in the UK, the device will be available from the 5th of April, and retailers will start shipping the handsets out to customers who have pre-ordered on the 4th of April.
The guys over at Unlocked Mobiles just sent us these photos of the HTC One X, and the handset will be available for £497.98 SIM free including taxes.
As a reminder the HTC One X features a quad core 1.5GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and it features a 4.6 inch HD Super LCD 2 touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels.
You can find out more information about the SIM free HTC One X over at Unlocked Mobiles.
Users of CSound music programming language who own an iPad might be pleased to earn that a new Csound iOS application called CSound Touch will be arriving on Apple’s iPad device very soon.
Csound is a programming language designed and optimised for sound rendering and signal processing. The language consists of over 1300 opcodes, the operational codes that sound designers use to build “instruments” or patches.
Csound Touch is a new app that lets you to render, process, compose, and perform with the Csound language. The Csound Touch iOS application comes supplied with a large library of synthesis, signal processing, and MIDI instruments which users can use or customise to their exact needs.
Csound Touch also includes tutorials, manuals, and examples to help new users learn the Csound music programming language if you have never used it before. Pricing and availability for Csound Touch are to be announced shortly.
Sceptre makes a bunch of different TV sets that range from small screens to bigger screens. The company is particularly known for making brightly colored TVs sized more for small rooms or dorms than the living room. The company’s latest set is a 40-inch unit boasting ultra green status.
The set has an estimated yearly cost to operate of only $14. The power sipping TV has a 38.5-inch viewable area and sells for under $400. The TV is Energy Star 5.3 certified and has full HD resolution. It has three HDMI inputs and a single USB port.
The contrast ratio is 5000:1 and the TV has a 60 Hz frame rate. The LED backlighting is good for over 50,000 hours and the TV can be wall-mounted. The TV will be available at Target, Walmart, and at several online retailers.
Nokia Beta Labs has got a nifty new application for their existing Series 40 Touch and Type phones. Now you can follow your favourite local news quickly and easily from your phone's homescreen. The news is always fresh and you don't need to worry about your battery consumption, thanks to their new ‘Nokia Notifications’. And with only two clicks you can open a story in the browser to read and explore more. Nokia Reader is simple to set up: just start it and the nearby content starts to automatically flow in. You can also select your favourite news sources from the online directory of the major news sources.
Read on the go!
Here are a few of the key features of Nokia Reader:
- View local and international news
- Easy access to Internet
- Battery-friendly
- Latest topics on home screen
- Online directory
- Cloud storage for your selections.
- Supports Nokia Browser
In case you're having problems getting Nokia reader on your phone’s homescreen, you can get help from a quick how-to guide that should suffice for this relatively easy install. The content of the directory is based on your location and the phone's language setting. Reader fetches the list of news sources from the backend server. It downloads and installs an add-on called Notifications. It then uses this optimized push notification mechanism for pushing the news from Internet to the Reader application.
Here’s how you can add the Nokia Reader on your phone's home screen:
1. On homescreen touch and hold on any area on display.
2. Select "Personalise view"
3. Select the place you would want to have the Nokia Reader.
4. Select "Nokia Reader" from the list.
5. Select "Done" and answer "Yes" when it is asked to save the changes.
6. Now Nokia Reader will always show the latest topics directly on the home screen
The application has been tested on a couple of phones. Nokia Reader is available for Series 40 touch and type devices and has been tested to work with the Nokia C2-02, Nokia X3-02, Nokia C3-01, Nokia Asha 303 and Nokia Asha 300. It’s part of Nokia’s Beta Labs, so there could be slight bugs with the usability of the application, but as of now, according to their Beta Labs, it works pretty neat on the above devices.
