HP enables Google Cloud Print on ePrint printers right out of the box

Man, remember when transferring data to your printer required a big fat cable and physical proximity to your ink spitter? Thankfully, we live in more refined times now and HP and Google have hooked up to deliver the first printers with driverless Cloud Print support, making the whole thing that extra bit easier. HP ePrint printers were already sophisticated enough to receive instructions via email and now they’re casting aside the need for a connected PC to talk to Google’s Cloud Print service as well. All you need is your machine’s @hpeprint.com email address and then you’re away, zipping pictures and text from your smartphone, tablet or laptop to the HP paper decorator. It’s all seamless and wireless and probably feels like the future when you’re doing it. We’d tell you, but we stopped printing stuff in 2004.

Continue reading HP enables Google Cloud Print on ePrint printers right out of the box

HP enables Google Cloud Print on ePrint printers right out of the box originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Complains About Google to the EU

google-vs-bing.jpg

At least there’s an upside to having the European Union in on speed dial. Microsoft this week issued a formal complaint against Google, citing antitrust concerns over Google’s seemingly unflappable control over Internet search. The EU launched the investigation into Google’s business practices last year, following complaints issued by three companies. A formal complaint from Microsoft may well cause the intensify the investigation.

Microsoft SVP Brad Smith outlined the complaint on his blog last night. “We’ve […] decided to join a large and growing number of companies registering their concerns about the European search market. By the European Commission’s own reckoning, Google has about 95 percent of the search market in Europe.”
Smith acknowledged that his own company’s Bing engine is “the only viable competitor to Google,” having nabbed around a quarter of US, when Bing-powered Yahoo is factored in. 
Google told the Financial Times that it’s “not surprised” that Microsoft lodge the complaint. “For our part, we continue to discuss the case with the European Commission,” the company added, “and we’re happy to explain to anyone how our business works.”

Google Finally Fights Back Against Android Fragmentation [Android]

Openness has always been Android’s beauty and its curse. Google’s mobile operating system is available to any manufacturer that wants a slice, meaning you see it everywhere! It’s also historically been a place for hardware specialists and carriers to flex their software muscles, leading to custom alterations—skins—that often leave an elegant smartphone solution ugly, unusable, or both. More »

Google tightening control of Android, insisting licensees abide by ‘non-fragmentation clauses’?

A storm seems to be brewing over the realm of Android development. Bloomberg’s Businessweek spies have received word from “a dozen executives working at key companies in the Android ecosystem” that Google is actively working to gain control and final say over customizations of its popular mobile OS. That might not sound unreasonable, and indeed Google’s public position on the matter is that it’s seeking to stabilize the platform and ensure quality control, but it does mark a major shift from where Android started — an open source OS that was also open to manufacturers and carriers to customize as they wish. Not so anymore, we’re told, as apparently Mountain View is now demanding that content partnerships and OS tweaks get the blessing of Andy Rubin before proceeding. The alternative, of course, is to not be inside Google’s warm and fuzzy early access program, but then, as evidenced by the company recently withholding the Honeycomb source code, you end up far behind those among your competitors who do dance to Google’s pipe.

Things have gotten so heated, in fact, that complaints have apparently been made to the US Department of Justice. They may have something to do with allegations of Google holding back Verizon handsets with Microsoft’s Bing on board, ostensibly in an effort to trip up its biggest search competitor. Another major dissatisfaction expressed by those working with Android code is that Google needs an advance preview of what is being done in order to give it the green light — which, as noted by a pair of sources familiar with Facebook’s Android customization efforts, isn’t sitting well with people at all. Google and Facebook are direct competitors in the online space and it’s easily apparent how much one stands to gain from knowing the other’s plans early. As to the non-fragmentation clauses in licenses, Andy Rubin has pointed out those have been there from the start, but it’s only now that Google is really seeking to use them to establish control. The future of Android, therefore, looks to be a little less open and a little more Googlish — for better or worse. As Nokia’s Stephen Elop puts it:

“The premise of a true open software platform may be where Android started, but it’s not where Android is going.”

Google tightening control of Android, insisting licensees abide by ‘non-fragmentation clauses’? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft lodges antitrust complaint against Google with European Commission, ignores irony

So Microsoft doesn’t like anticompetitive behavior, huh? Since when? Brad Smith, General Counsel for the Redmond rabblerousers, has posted a lengthy blog post outlining Microsoft’s concerns with “a pattern of actions that Google has taken to entrench its dominance” in online search and ads, which he claims is detrimental to European consumers. Funnily enough, half the post is about Google’s legal issues in the US, but we’ll set that aside for now. What this boils down to is that Microsoft is finally taking the gloves off — Google accused it of pushing other companies to do its dirty work — and is now adding its name to the list of objectors to Mountain View’s stranglehold on search in Europe. The European Commission is already taking a regulatory looksee at Google’s tactics, so this isn’t sparking off a new investigation, but it does add the glamor of two big names locking legal horns yet again. Hit the source link for Brad’s exposition of Google’s villainous wrongdoings.

Microsoft lodges antitrust complaint against Google with European Commission, ignores irony originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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QR Codes: Goodbye and Good Riddance [Rip]

With the great NFC race looming, Google is axing support for QR Codes in their Places service. QR codes made a noble play for the hearts and minds of nerds, but honestly, I hope this is the first step towards their complete and utter annihilation. More »

Android PlayStation emulator PSX4Droid pulled from Market, timing pointing at Xperia Play (updated)

Uh oh, the day has finally come. We just gathered from Joystiq (and confirmed ourselves) that the renowned Android first-gen PlayStation emulator, PSX4Droid, has been pulled from the Market. The reason? Its author, ZodTTD, said Google informed him that it was a matter of “Content Policy violation,” however the fact it’s taken eight months for Google to take action suggests it might have a little something to do with the imminent launch of the Xperia Play, which will have its own mechanism to power the original PlayStation’s games. Another mystery is that it looks like other emulators such as SNesoid (SNES), GameBoid (Game Boy) and, in particular, FPSe (PlayStation) appear to be safe for now, which might suggest that there are other reasons behind this removal; but still, the timing suggests otherwise. On the bright side, we can always rely on third-party app markets.

Update: Here’s a super generic statement we just received from Google regarding this matter:

“We remove apps from Android Market that violate our policies.”

Android PlayStation emulator PSX4Droid pulled from Market, timing pointing at Xperia Play (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More HTC Pyramid pics leak, now with less blurrycam and extra specs

It looks like the steady stream of leaked HTC Pyramid pictures shows no signs of slowing down. While we’ve recently seen shots of the back and the front of the device, we’re now getting the full monty, courtesy of xda-developers. Thankfully, Mr. Blurrycam toned things down this time around: there’s a spread of the phone with its battery cover removed, and screenshots detailing additional specs. The HTC Pyramid is expected to land on T-Mobile at some point with a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 768MB or RAM, a 4.3-inch qHD (960×540) display, font-facing camera, 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, HSPA+, and Android 2.3.2 (Gingerbread) with Sense 3.0. Hit the source link for more photos.

[Thanks, egypt and Andrew]

More HTC Pyramid pics leak, now with less blurrycam and extra specs originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 21:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Month Later, Android Tablet Platform Has 50 Apps

Motorola's Xoom, the first Android tablet to run "Honeycomb." Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Motorola’s Xoom tablet is the first promising alternative to Apple’s iPad, but the sickly condition of Android’s tablet app ecosystem may end up stalling the platform’s progress.

One month after its launch, the Xoom currently has about 50 native apps available for Android 3.0 Honeycomb, Google’s version of Android optimized for tablets.

That’s pitiful compared with the iPad, which was released last year with approximately 1,000 native apps on launch day. The Xoom debuted with a paltry 15 Honeycomb-native apps available for download in its catalog.

50 apps is a pretty small number, and the actual total may be even smaller. The official Android online market, as well as other online message forums for Android enthusiasts, place the number of Xoom apps somewhere close to 50. But this number hardly seems accurate, as it includes existing Android applications which have been re-sized to take advantage of the tablet’s larger screen. The number of apps with interfaces made specifically for the tablet is probably diminutive.

Still, it’s unclear why more developers haven’t taken the short cut and re-sized their apps for Honeycomb. It could be that developers aren’t sold on the idea of re-sizing their apps to fit more screen real estate, as opposed to “building a true tablet experience that takes advantage of the new platform’s possibilities,” iOS developer Justin Williams told Wired.com in an interview.

And even if developers wanted to create such a “true tablet experience,” they’re hard-pressed to do it without the source code for Honeycomb, which Google is currently keeping a tight reign over. The big device manufacturers working on Honeycomb-powered hardware — like HTC, Motorola and Samsung — all have early access to the code, but only after licensing agreements were made with Google. Smaller developers don’t have this luxury.

“Apple was wise to have the tools out there months in advance of launch,” Williams said, “as compared to Google who made them available only a short time before.”

To be fair, the Xoom is currently the only Android tablet on the market running Android 3.0. Once the glut of Honeycomb-running hardware devices arrives — like the June release of LePad from Chinese electronics manufacturer Lenovo, which was delayed specifically to ensure the tablet will run Honeycomb — we could reasonably expect to see more tablet-optimized applications available. Samsung’s redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1 will also run Honeycomb, and will also launch this summer.

“Google needs more hardware,” says Williams, “and they need to get developers excited about building tablet experiences, not just larger screened phone apps.”

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

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What Is Google +1? [Video]

Google is introducing a new feature in Google search results today: +1. But what is it? A new social network? A social thingy? A social search engine? Is it even social? More »