Google Now boosts events and planning for Android

This week Android 4.1 Jelly Bean recieved an update inside itself, that being Google Now – this update works with Google Maps, Navigation, and more, to bring you updated information about everything around you. This update works with Appointments to bring you to the bus that’s closest, tells you how long it’ll be to walk, how long the bus will take, and everything in-between. Flights are included – status, terminal, and delays.

Google Now works with Sports in that it’s got updated sports scores, your favorite teams included from your already loved bits from Google+. This update works with Travel – with cash exchange rates, translations, and current events. Google Now works with traffic, will get you where you want when you want, and can understand your requirements no matter what you’re going to use to get there.

If you’re headed to a Minnesota Twins game, you’ll get game scores, ticket information, shows food information around the area (if you’re downtown Minneapolis, that’s a lot), and connects to Google Maps to bring you there.

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Have a peek at our Jelly Bean timeline below and stay tuned all week to each of our portals!
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Google Now boosts events and planning for Android is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Jelly Bean issues new NFC and Notification features

This week we’ve got a whole bunch of updates to the Android system with no less than two big updates to the elements that are already powerful on the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich system. One of the changes included in the NFC world is an update to Android Beam – here in this update we’re a able to easily transfer not just photos and app suggestions, but videos as well!

In notifications, we’ve got the same lovely notification features we’ve had before, including the swiping away of already read items. Inside notifications for Gmail, Google has included a set of canned responses, such as “I’ll be there soon.” For TuneIn Radio – and other radio apps in the future – you’ve got brand new mini controller notifications.

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Pulse has perhaps the most awesome boost of all, it being able to be expanded in a way that allows you to see several tappable icons next to one another. This is only the beginning of the large amount of treats included in this lovely update – check out our I/O 2012 portal and out Android portal to get up to date all week!


Jelly Bean issues new NFC and Notification features is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Jelly Bean boosts homescreen workability

This week Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was introduced at Google I/O 2012, with a full update of your homescreen interface. This update will increase your ability to move elements around in several ways, with automatic moving of icons when they’re in the way, automatic resizing of widgets when they do not fit, and pushes back and forth in a much easier way. This update will come to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus first, and will be pushed ot the rest of the Android world soon.

This update to Jelly Bean includes elements from all around the Android device, including Bluetooth, accessibility, and language updates across the board. The camera has been boosted, there’s Voice Recognition offline, and more! Stick around all day and week to see all of our I/O 2012 action, and hit the timeline below for more Jelly Bean as well!

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Jelly Bean boosts homescreen workability is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Future-Predicting Phones Will Speed Up App Launches [Phones]

Even with a fancy A5 processor or who-knows-how-many-core Snapdragon chip, smart phones sometimes can’t quite keep up and apps take far longer to load than we’d really like. A team of engineers, however, is building software that predicts the future in order to speed things up. More »

Windows Phone 7.5 getting official web presence

This week the folks at Microsoft responsible for the mobile sect of their world have promised a dedicated homepage for Windows Phone version 7.8 specifically. This page will be the future home for Windows Phone 7.8 news, not unlike the page that currently exists for Windows Phone 7.5 and brings with it some excitement surrounding this nearly-next release of the Windows Phone platform. While the next wave of Microsoft smartphones will be rolling out with Windows Phone 8, you’ll be back on Windows Phone 7.8, and you’re going to like it, whether you think you want to or not.

Of course there are quite a few relatively large changes to this next-generation update to the Windows Phone user interface when it comes down to it, beginning with the most obvious: the addition of a tile size. You’ve got colors, three sizes of tiles, and ultra-easy to re-arrange goodness. Next you’ve got an announcement that Audible just hit the Windows Phone app market, and that Words with Friends, Draw Something, and the online banking system PayPal will all be hitting the market soon.

Above you’ll see a brand new Microsoft-made hands-on video focusing specifically on the start screen, with Windows Phone 7.8 live and in-action – this just one of a vast collection of content bits we’re sure will be appearing on the Windows Phone 7.8 homepage soon. The basic push for this version of Windows Phone as a viable alternative for those not quite entirely happy about the fact that their devices will not be upgraded to version 8 of Windows Phone is plain to be seen. Microsoft will certainly be continuing to make an effort to appear fair for legacy users moving forward, you can bank on it.

Have a peek at our own Eyes-on with Windows Phone 7.8 and check out the video from the big event earlier this month here:


Windows Phone 7.5 getting official web presence is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Android Jelly Bean statue appears at Googleplex [UPDATE]

Less than 24 hours before the biggest Google developer event of the year, Google I/O 2012, over at the Googleplex the newest Android software version has been revealed: Jelly Bean. Just as suspected due to leaks, tips, and the fact that each of the treats thus far have been alphabetically inserted, Jelly Bean will come right after the update that’s live now: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Now we’ve just got to figure out what version number this treat corresponds with, and of course what the actual software updates will be.

We’ll be at Google I/O 2012 all week long bringing you updates on this software as well as everything else Android, Chrome, and Google’s online apps as well. I/O is an event that’s not to be missed by all Google-loving developers as well as seekers of the next big things in the mobile universe. Have a peek at our Jelly Bean timeline below to see everything that relates to what we’ve seen thus far of this ghost of an operating system as well.

The photo above comes from Google Developers on Google+, another fabulous place to check out our updates on this event at SlashGear+. And of course stay up to date through our Google I/O 2012 portal all week as we bring the updates as quick as a bunny from all corners of the software-sphere. Also don’t forget the hardware – we’ve already seen a glimpse of what very well may be the tablet that’ll be revealed this week, Nexus style – stay tuned!

UPDATE: Nothing new has been revealed on the contents of the software, but the statue has apparently been continuing to get updated throughout the day. As far as Google’s Louis Gray can show, this may well be the same Android we know and love, just filled with a few more sweets than before – it’s symbolism!

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Android Jelly Bean statue appears at Googleplex [UPDATE] is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Snap Clap App: Clap Your Hands, Say Cheese!

There must be a better way to take pictures of yourself without having to painstakingly set up the timer and running all the way to join the others who are already posing for the picture. It’s pretty clear who’s in charge of setting up the timer by just looking at the photo: just pick out the guy or girl with the haphazard hair and frazzled expression.

There are triggers and remotes for this kind of thing, of course. But if you can’t be bothered with that and don’t mind clapping to show the world you’re happy (and that you’re eager for a picture), then you can get the Snap Clap app for iOS devices instead.

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It’s basically a simplistic trigger app that snaps a picture – every time you clap your hands.Now you’d probably have to worry about you clapping your hands in the photos, but that’s better than looking all haggard and unkempt, right?

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The cool thing is that the app also has some post-processing tools up its sleeve, such as filters that you can apply to change the look and feel of your photos. Snap Clap can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store for $0.99 (USD).

[via Chip Chick]


Qualcomm to deliver Snapdragon SDK to Android developers

Qualcomm to deliver Snapdragon SDK to Android developersAt this year’s Uplinq conference, Qualcomm hit Android developers with some exciting news. In the coming months, the chip maker will deliver a Snapdragon software development kit (SDK) that will provide devs with access to the “next-generation technology and features” embedded in its processors. Through APIs, the kit will allow application architects to leverage facial processing, burst camera capture, surround sound recording, echo cancellation, sensor gestures, low power geofencing and indoor location capabilities. Initially, the SDK will only be available for the S4 8960 wafer, but Qualcomm hopes to include more models over time. Head past the break to have a gander at the full press release.

Continue reading Qualcomm to deliver Snapdragon SDK to Android developers

Qualcomm to deliver Snapdragon SDK to Android developers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Casio’s PicapiCamera iPhone app is the world’s first to use visible light communication technology

PicapiCamera, developed by Casio, is the world’s first iPhone app which uses visible light communication technology.
To send and receive data via the app, the message to be sent is encoded using red, green and blue flashing lights and shown on the display. The receiver points their iPhone at the flashing lights and the data is transferred.
“There are two approaches to communication using visible light. One is to embed data in the light from illumination sources, by turning it on and …

Adobe Lightroom 4 floats into the Creative Cloud

Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom 4 has joined the Adobe Creative Cloud, meaning users of the subscription-based software rental service can now add the tool to their portfolio. Released to the Mac App Store last month as a standalone purchase for $149, Lightroom 4′s addition to Creative Cloud means you could be using it today for as little as $29.99 per month.

That’s if you’re already a CS3, CS4, CS5 or CS5.5 individual customer; for everyone else, membership of Creative Cloud is priced at $49.99 per month based on an annual contract, or $74.99 on a month-to-month basis. Your money also gets you access to all the Creative Suite 6 apps, including Photoshop CS6 Extended and Premiere Pro CS6.

Creative Cloud also works as a cloud backup and sync service, with 20GB of space included in each membership. That can be accessed from the desktop, from mobile devices, and through a browser-based login for offsite work, and there’s the option to host up to five sites too.

If the price doesn’t appeal, then, the synchronization tools might sway you over to the cloud option instead. Adobe promises to continue adding to its subscription service, which already includes Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Muse.

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Adobe Lightroom 4 floats into the Creative Cloud is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.