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"MapsofWorld.com, a leading producer of atlases and maps, launches the first world atlas and map application for the Android Tablets. Games, a currency converter, distance calculator, and other helpful utilities make the application a traveler's delight."
All those smart atlas and maps applications - you thought they weren't for Android users? Well, not anymore. The folks at MapsofWorld.com have now launched the first advanced world atlas application for Android Tablets. The application is designed to provide detailed information about every country to users, and is a must-have app for travelers, researchers, and teachers.
Built on Map Server Technology, the application allows the user to calculate the distance between any two points on the world map. Users can also save and email customized maps. With a detailed view of all countries, World Atlas and Maps application from MapsofWorld.com promises to become an essential tool for travelers.
Two features of the MapsofWorld.com World Atlas and Maps application that make it the perfect companion for travel are the games feature and the option that allows users to save pictures from their trips. Users can brush up on their map and flag knowledge even while they wait for a flight.
Aside from being the most advanced atlas available for Android Tablets, MapsofWorld.com's World Atlas and Maps application also provides some snazzy utilities including a handy currency converter, a display of weather predictions, and the ability to map your location. This application is designed with the user in mind.
Android Tablet owners can grab the new app from the Android Market by clicking here.
Comcast launching Netflix competitor Streampix, coming to Android devices in the future
Cable TV provider Comcast is looking to expand into the streaming video subscription model that’s being led by Netflix with a service called Xfinity Streampix that may launch with Android support in the coming year. Details for the service are not yet available, but Comcast may be able to offer a competitive advantage over Netflix with the ability to stream shows right away after airing on cable TV, rather than having to wait through delays before offering them to consumers.
The TV provider announced that Disney-ABC, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers Digital Distribution and Cookie Jar Entertainment have all signed on as initial content partner. The new service is described as complementing the Xfinity On Demand app right now, but if Comcast wants to build the service as a separate subscription offering to non-Comcast or non-Xfinity subscribers, then it may also debut as a stand-alone app.
Another competitor to Xfinity Streampix would be Hulu Plus, which unfortunately is only available on select Android devices due to licensing and security, creating a fragmentation on the Android market. It’s unclear if Streampix will also be available to limited devices as well.
Google is getting into the patent wars fray, first by buying Motorola, and now by filing a new Siri-like patent for Android. Is the search giant worried that Siri could eclipse Google Search?
Not to be outdone by the rumors that Apple’s iTV will (eventually) arrive with a built-in Siri of its own, Google has filed for a patent for a voice-based remote control that would tie into Google TV.
The great thing about Patently Apple is that they not only cover Apple patents, but rival patents as well. And given how patents and trademarks are the most deadly weapons in the gadgets sector, they will most likely remain busy for the foreseeable future.
They broke a new Google patent that I think is actually a rather big piece of news. The new patent reveals an innovative concept that would allow Android users to give voice to commands vis-a-vis a Siri-like feature that would in turn control smart televisions — ostensibly that could rival Apple’s rumored iTV. PopHerald explains: “According to Patently Apple, the patent was described as a cloud-based technology that will allow voice commands from Android phone or tablet to interact with a Set-Top Box, Smart TV and other devices. For starters, the Android device equipped with the unannounced “Siri-like” application must have an internet access in order to control the supported TV. Sounds Apple-ish? Not really because if I’m not mistaken, Google is the first to file the patent.”
Recent reports that Siri leverages the unique "Wolfram Alpha" search engine is further proof that Apple is looking to differentiate its search methods from Google. Clearly, Apple snuck themselves into the search market with Siri, and now Google is trying to sneak into the advanced voice recognition market sector.
What remains to be seen is who will come out on top. Android was the first to advance voice recognition in its operating system, but what is in place now doesn’t even come close to what Siri offers. On the other hand, Google has dominated the search business — some would say that Google invented it — and it may be presumptuous for Apple to think they could ever cut into Google Search’s market dominance, especially considering that Yahoo and Bing have many more years of search experience under their belts, and still have not managed to mount a serious affront to Google.
The Google patent was filed in September of last year, so there are obviously no details as to when this technology will see the light of day in Google’s rapidly developing Android home-based ecosystem. But with the iTV supposedly on the way, and Samsung working on its own voice-based remote, the answer could be sooner rather than later.
LINUX VENDOR Canonical will show off a Motorola Atrix 2 running its Ubuntu for Android Linux operating system to mobile phone vendors at Mobile World Congress (MWC).
Canonical's Ubuntu Linux distribution is arguably one of the most popular consumer friendly versions of Linux available, and the firm will tip up at MWC with a Motorola Atrix 2 smartphone that when placed in a dock can run a full-blown desktop Ubuntu Linux installation. According to the firm, smartphones will be able to ship with Ubuntu for Android this year.
Ubuntu for Android is a version of the Linux distribution that remains idle on an Android smartphone until it is plugged into a dock. Once it is plugged in, Ubuntu starts up, taking input from a keyboard and mouse and sending display output to a monitor.
Richard Collins, product manager at Canonical told The INQUIRER that the firm's choice of prototype device was simply to start a conversation with other handset makers. Collins said, "We don't have any relationship with Motorola with respect to this particular product, so we have independently selected that particular hardware because of its capabilities, particularly in terms of power and performance, and developed our own prototype for MWC to engage a number of handset manufacturers."
However Collins poured some cold-water over thoughts that Canonical has already got a fully working version of Ubuntu running on smartphones just yet. He said, "We haven't got an Ubuntu operating system running as a smartphone platform just yet, at the moment in terms of this particular prototype we are focused on what the hardware manufacturers current position is with the various silicon vendors they are working with on ARM."
According to Collins, "A number of Android OEMs have already been engaged and we have have discussions ongoing right now." However he wasn't able to give us specifics or a launch date, other than to say Canonical could meet a 2012 launch date.
Canonical's choice of Motorola's Atrix 2 is not that surprising. Motorola's device already has open-sourced Webtop, which is a cut-down version of Ubuntu. However Canonical's latest effort is meant to show a "full desktop operating system on a smartphone", said Collins, and one that isn't restricted to a Motorola device that few outside of the US can acquire.
Even though Collins said Canonical has worked with ARM for a long time, Ubuntu on ARM is something of an unknown. Intel's Medfield is aiming to bring the x86 architecture to smartphones, an architecture where Canonical's Linux distribution has a proven history, and Intel and its mobile phone OEMs could well take advantage of it.
Asked whether this familiarity will help Canonical, Collins said, "Our legacy in terms of the laptop environment is very much around hardware using Intel, and that can be leveraged to work with particular handset manufacturers that might have a strategy focused on x86 platforms." He continued, "Industry is evolving to potentially work with both ARM and Intel architectures and that is something from our point of view that is an advantage to us."
As for why Canonical chose to wait until now to launch its Ubuntu on Android effort, Collins pointed to the expected explosion of quad-core system-on-chip (SoC) processors from Nvidia and Qualcomm during 2012. Interestingly, processing power might not be the biggest issue, as handsets with Ubuntu for Android will have to store a full, albeit tightly packaged, version of Ubuntu along with Android itself, which Collins said will require 2GB of storage.
Most importantly, Collins claimed that while the smartphone was undocked and running Android, Ubuntu for Android will not use any power at all. It is expected that docks will have external power connectors, however in order for this concept to become popular a standard dock interface used by all mobile phone vendors will be required.
Although Canonical won't show a full-fledged installation of Ubuntu running on a smartphone at MWC, if the mobile phone OEMs do a good job of building Android Ubuntu devices, those could be useful for those who don't want to lug around desktop replacement laptops.
Android-powered Google Glasses: The augmented reality HUD dream is coming
By the end of 2012, Google will launch a pair of Android-powered, augmented reality, head-up display (HUD) glasses. Anonymous Google employees, speaking to The New York Times, say that the glasses will resemble a pair of Oakley Thumps (pictured above), will have 3G or 4G connectivity, a forward-facing camera, GPS, and a full array of movement sensors. They will cost “around the price of current smartphones.”
Unlike Google’s upcoming home entertainment system, a pair of wearable Google Glasses makes an awful lot of sense. Google’s arsenal of real-time, mobile, location-aware services is second to none; Search, Latitude, Goggles(!), Maps, Places/Hotpot, Navigation, AdSense, Transit, Wallet, Offers, Product Search, Translate, Voice, Music — each and every one of them could be built into a pair of Android-based spectacles, and boy would the end result be awesome.
Let’s take a look at what life with a pair of Googgles would be like.
You wake up, shower, and put on your Google specs. Latitude records your movement and marks you as “awake.” Brushing your teeth in front of the mirror, Maps tells you that there’s traffic on the way to work. Hopping into the car, Navigation shows you a different route to work. As you pass Dunkin’ Donuts, Places warns you that the remains of a rat were recently found in a cup of coffee — but at the same time, Offers tells you that a cup of coffee and a donut is only $1. While stopped at some lights, you check out a hottie crossing the road, and Goggles pops up their Google+ profile. You could even snap a photo or quick video, with that front-facing camera. At the office, or perhaps back at home in front of the TV, Translate would mean that you can understand any written or spoken language
All the while, Music is piping favorite tunes through your earbuds — or perhaps via Bluetooth to your car stereo or your Google home entertainment system — and Wallet means you never have to reach for your credit card or train ticket. It goes without saying, of course, that you could also make phone calls — either with 3G/4G Voice VoIP, or plain old GSM.
In short, Google could finally kick start the wearable computer dream. This has been a long time coming, and ultimately inevitable given the continued miniaturization and commoditization of computer chips.
As utopian as this sounds, though, it’s important to ground Google’s AR glasses in reality. To begin with, the first Google Glasses will only have a subset of the features listed above. Battery power density remains an ever-present issue, too, both in terms of bulkiness and longevity — though with a much smaller display than a smartphone or tablet, it’s possible that the Googgles won’t be much heavier than a pair of active 3D glasses, and a few hours of active use should be possible.
Then there are the privacy, security, and ethical repercussions to consider. The New York Times piece mentions that Google X labs, the team behind the glasses, wants to “ensure that people know if they are being recorded by someone wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in camera.” Obviously, though, the repercussions of a wearable computer that a) knows where you are, and what you’re looking at, will require a lot more than a blinking red “record” light on the front of the specs. The phrase “tracking cookie” takes on a whole new meaning when Google also correlates your real-world activities with your online presence. Remember, Google is ultimately an advertising company, where eyeballs directly translate into money — and it’s hard to get any closer to your eyes than a pair of augmented reality glasses. When you look at a car dealership, Google will be able to display ads from a competitor. When you sit in front of a computer, or TV, or stare through a shop window, the glasses will be able to track your head movements and report back on the efficacy of display ads. Perhaps most excitingly, when you read a newspaper or book or other static medium, Google could even overlay its own, interactive ads.
If Google can allay our concerns — or make the experience awesome enough that our concerns melt away — then augmented reality really will be as powerful as I’ve described. It was only yesterday that David and I discussed whether tablets or smartphones would lead the future of mobile computing — and now it seems like we should’ve considered a third option as well: glasses. For Google, assuming it manufactures these glasses through its new Motorola subsidiary, this could finally be a way to generate revenue from something other than search, and without facing off against Apple and Samsung. Genius.
Read more at The New York Times, or check out the Sony SmartAR demo and some in-car examples to see what augmented reality head-up displays are capable of. I wonder how soon after release, developers will root their sunglasses?
what you’re looking at, will require a lot more than a blinking red “record” light on the front of the specs. The phrase “tracking cookie” takes on a whole new meaning when Google also correlates your real-world activities with your online presence. Remember, Google is ultimately an advertising company, where eyeballs directly translate into money — and it’s hard to get any closer to your eyes than a pair of augmented reality glasses. When you look at a car dealership, Google will be able to display ads from a competitor. When you sit in front of a computer, or TV, or stare through a shop window, the glasses will be able to track your head movements and report back on the efficacy of display ads. Perhaps most excitingly, when you read a newspaper or book or other static medium, Google could even overlay its own, interactive ads.
