Hasta La Gadget!

Google’s Android Market now has a web client. Finally! And guess what else, it’s already live. Hit the source link below to get exploring. It’s very simple, really, you can browse the entire Market catalog on your desktop or however else you’re accessing the web, you can purchase anything that takes your fancy, and then — via the magic of over-the-air transfers — it downloads and installs onto your Android handset. A neat My Market Account section will let you nickname your registered devices to make them more recognizable as well.

Google has also just announced that Android will soon support in-app purchases. Widespread developer interest has been cited as the major reason for doing it, so you’ve got those lovable coders to thank for the oncoming wave of micropayments you’ll have to deal with in your Android apps. The in-app purchasing SDK is releasing to devs today and will be “live to users prior to the end of this quarter.”

Update: Invalid request. Yep, that’s the message we keep getting when we try and download an app. Google promises that it should be working soon…

Update 2: And now it appears to be working!

Android Market gets a web store with OTA installations, in-app purchases coming soon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good news for the people of Egypt: internet connectivity has been almost universally restored. Bad news for the people of Egypt: they’ll need at least a few weeks to catch up on all the Twitter mentions they’ve accumulated while being away.

Egypt comes back online, has a ton of unread feeds to catch up on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After the desktop stalwarts of Windows 7 and Mac OS, the world’s third most popular platform for web browsing turns out to be Apple’s iOS. The software that makes iPhones, iPod touches and iPads tick has been identified by Net Applications as responsible for over two percent of the global traffic data analyzed in the web statistician’s latest report — the first time iOS has crossed that threshold. The UK and Australia had more than five percent each, while the USA clocked in at 3.4 percent. Leaving operating systems aside, Chrome has continued its steady growth on the browser front and now stands at a 10.7 percent share, more than doubling its slice from this time last year. Internet Explorer overall has dipped to its lowest level yet, at 56 percent, however Net Applications indicates IE8 is showing nice growth. So at least it’s looking like we’re finally ready to bury the zombies known as IE6 and IE7, whatever other browser we choose to migrate to.

Continue reading iOS now accounts for 2% of global web browsing traffic, Chrome rounds the 10% mark

iOS now accounts for 2% of global web browsing traffic, Chrome rounds the 10% mark originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s last Android-centric event, Google I/O in the middle of last year, treated us to a pair of delectable demos that may now finally be turning into mobile realities. One was a web client for the Android Market with OTA installations — you just browse to an app you want to install while on your desktop and choose to push it to your Android device — and the other was a cloud-based music backup and streaming service. The latter has since picked up the moniker of Google Music in subsequent rumors, and today both are receiving some speculative support for a launch at tomorrow’s Honeycomb event. Android and Me has an insider source claiming the web-based Android Market is finally ready to roll out, whereas BusinessWeek reports Andy Rubin is heading up Google’s digital music team and also has software ready for release, potentially at some point this month. Given the importance of both new additions, it’s highly logical for Google to at least announce and show them off once more tomorrow. Then we can get back to waiting for the next Android update.

Google Music and web-based Android Market could be announced tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo  |  Android and Me, BusinessWeek  | Email this | Comments

Google’s announced on its official blog a small project they’ve quickly cobbled together to help Egyptians (who –in the midst of protests — are having serious connectivity issues) communicate via Twitter. With almost no connection to the internet through normal channels, Google has made it possible for anyone to send a Tweet simply by dialing one of several international phone numbers (+16504194196, +390662207294 or +97316199855) and leaving a voicemail. What happens next? The service Tweets the message using the hashtag #egypt via the Speak to Tweet account.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Google, SayNow, and Twitter team up to make Tweeting from Egypt possible via voicemail originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 06:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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