android

For those of you waiting for the Motorola Cliq, it looks like you're about 19 days away...from presales. T-Mobile has thrown up a promo page on its Web site, teasing the countdown to presales of the Cliq. Unfortunately, there's still no official word about a specific release date or pricing, but the smartphone is expected for the holiday season.

Dubbed as the first phone with social skills, the Cliq is Moto's first Google Android device and features the company's Motoblur software, which brings a number of social networking features to the Android platform. The Motorola … Read more

Updated 5:45 p.m. PDT with more details about e-mail push.

Some of you who have been restlessly awaiting the arrival of Google's official Gmail push solution for mobile phones can relax now. On Tuesday, Google expanded the over-the-air syncing capabilities in its Google Sync service to include Google's e-mail--but only for the iPhone and iPod Touch (version 3.0), and for Windows Mobile phones.

Google Sync began as a beta service to sync Google calendar items and contacts to iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Symbian Series 60 phones. Owners of iPhones, iPod Touches, and Windows Mobile phones … Read more

Using smart phones as navigation tools is all the rage these days, what with a slew of applications available for the iPhone and Android platforms that utilize those devices' built-in GPS systems in determining users' real-time location.

One such service is from Waze, which in August released its iPhone app after being available on Android for several months. Waze's service is meant to help drivers figure out where they are and how best to get where they're going, all with the help of a large community of other motorists.

Among the information that Waze provides are traffic flow, … Read more

Google released the latest Android software development kit this week so that developers could begin to test their applications for the looming Android 1.6 update. End users can expect to see the update as early as next month, but I went ahead and loaded an early version on my phone to preview the latest changes.

Possibly the most notable update is the new quick search box, which includes a redesigned search framework to make finding things on your phone easier than ever before. Users can search through apps, contacts, browser history, music, the Web, and more. The quick search … Read more

Sprint was one of the first carriers to join the Open Handset Alliance when it was founded in November 2007 to promote Google Android. However, unlike T-Mobile, which released the T-Mobile G1 and the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G, the carrier wasn't so quick to offer an Android handset to its customers because it simply didn't think the operating system was "good enough"; that is, until now.

Starting on October 11, Sprint will offer its first Android device, the HTC Hero, for $179.99 with a two-year contract and unlimited data plan. We've actually had a few … Read more

T-Mobile may have an exclusive on the new Motorola Cliq for now, but Moto CEO Sanjay Jha says his company is "in talks with all large operators in U.S." to offer its Google Android handset. This news is in addition to the Cliq's entry into the European market next year under the Dext name.

In addition to the major carriers, Jha said he is "fairly hopeful we will begin to engage with all the U.S. operators." This could open the door for some of the regional operators to offer Android devices. Cellular South … Read more

That beautiful silvery comet you saw in the sky recently was actually astronaut urine. No joke. We also avoid talking about pee for most of the show. Bing is still on the rise and Facebook is making money. Wow. Things are looking up all over. Just be careful when you look up. There's astronaut pee up there.

Facebook grows and makes money http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8258117.stm

Bing grabs 10 percent of search market http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10354394-75.html… Read more

Red Hat is generally credited as the industry's leading open-source company, but it's a distinction that is as meaningless as it is incorrect. While Red Hat's revenue directly derives from the open-source software it develops and distributes, other companies like Sun, IBM, and Google actually write and contribute far more open-source code. It may be time to stop talking about open-source companies and get back to the importance of open-source code.

Open source is increasingly the foundation upon which software and Web companies depend. MySpace made waves on Tuesday by open sourcing Qizmt, a distributed computation framework (… Read more

Google announced Tuesday that the Donuts are ready.

Those smartphone developers waiting for the next version of Android, code-named Donut, will not have to wait any longer now that the Android 1.6 software development kit is available for download. As expected, Donut is not a major release of Android but adds a few goodies that developers might want to consider.

For example, Android can now run on CDMA phones used by the likes of Verizon and Sprint, adding more potential partners to the Android world. The latest release also adds a text-to-speech API (application programming interface) for developers to … Read more