google

Google released on Wednesday a new version of the software development kit for its open mobile platform called Android.

The new SDK has a new user interface, a geocoder that lets developers search for businesses as well as translate an address into a coordinate and vice versa, support for new media codecs, and code that lets developers create layout animations.

One thing missing is change to the telephony package, laments one developer on the Android Developer discussion on Google Groups.

"This is very disappointing, especially because we were told in the Android coding day in Israel that the telephony package will be updated soon," the developer wrote. "We still cannot detect the ingoing/outgoing call number or send DTMF tones properly." Prototypes of Android phones were shown at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday. Google launched Android in November along with and the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 34 handset manufacturers, carriers and chipmakers that have said they plan to support Android products and services. Products are due out later this year.

Here are some screenshots, via the Hello Android blog:

… Read more

Sourceforge boasts 169,282 registered projects. The actual number of active projects may be as low as 15,000. This is still an impressive number, but it may not be enough to stave off the Google threat.

Just two years after Google kicked off project hosting on its Google Code site, Google is reporting that it now hosts over 80,000 projects. Given how new it is (and how infrequently Sourceforge prunes its projects, if at all), it may well be that Google now has more active projects hosted on its Google Code site than Sourceforge.

The real question, of … Read more

Phone madness continues on in Barcelona, Spain, as the second day of GSMA Mobile World Congress comes to a close. Vodafone's CEO said he sees the mobile web as the future, Microsoft announced MSN Direct availability on Windows Mobile devices, and Yahoo launches OneConnect, a new tool that lets mobile phone users to aggregate their social-networking updates and messaging in one spot on their phones. T-Mobile also finally announces plans to launch 3G in the U.S. by summer 2008. There's also hope for an Android phone, as well as an Austrian version of the iPhone by the … Read more

Google's Android platform has emerged as one of the sleeper hits of the GSMA World Congress in Barcelona. Though it exists only in prototype, show attendees are flocking to the Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and ARM booths were demos are available. The TI booth was was packed to the gills when I passed by, so I headed to the ARM booth instead. There, I got a short demonstration of a prototype. As my colleague Maggie Reardon reports, there's not a lot to say at this point. The welcome screen featured a plain black background with a series of generic … Read more

Besides having some pretty cool TV programming (Smash Lab not included), The Discovery Channel has had some interesting forays into small, standalone Web sites. Just this past weekend I checked out the MythBusters slow motion video clip viewer, and today brings Discovery: Earth Live, a 3D globe that, like Google Earth, can display various layers of information.

There are eight standard layers to choose from that range from cloud cover to rainfall averages. To complement the layers is a listing of featured stories that reference specific time periods and show up as tiny pins on the map. Among the more interesting is one of Hurricane Katrina that lets you track precipitation and the temperature of the sea as the storm developed.

Besides messing about with the layers, users can create their own maps to link to, or embed on blogs. Unfortunately these end up as a pretty, but overly simplified spinning globe widget. There's no way to link to other news stories or control where the story is supposed to show up on the map, you're simply able to show off the various layers (one at a time) to others. I'm interested to see if Discovery ends up opening it up to allow users to create richer, more contextual layers that make use of the push pins a little more. In the meantime, it's a little half-baked, but definitely fun to look at.

You can check out the whole experience here, or click the read more link below to play around with the embedded version.… Read more

Yes, I know Yahoo rejected Microsoft's bid of $31 per share. But that's just standard negotiating strategy in the world of mergers and acquisitions.

Sure, Microsoft's offer - a 60% premium over the price of Yahoo's stock at the time - was designed, not only to get Yahoo's board's attention, but to back them into a corner. If no other suitors emerge - as I predicted in a prior post - it's an offer Yahoo's board can't refuse without risking shareholder litigation or revolt.

But that doesn't mean Microsoft didn't leave itself any wiggle room, and Yahoo's board knows that. They also know that this is Microsoft's big chance, perhaps its only chance, to jump to number 2 in internet search and advertising and challenge Google. That means Yahoo has some negotiating power.… Read more

Almost every U.S. T-Mobile customer wants to know when the carrier will be activating its 3G network. After all, it is the only major carrier in the United States not to offer 3G. Though it has slowly begun introducing 3G-capable handsets, the carrier has remained maddeningly vague on when the service will activate.

But a news conference at the GSMA World Congress, T-Mobile CEO Hamid Akhavan dropped a few hints. When I asked him when the magic day will come, he didn't give an exact date but he did promise it would happen by this summer. Akhavan said … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--The Internet is the future of mobile and carriers need to be more selective about the technologies they choose if they want to succeed, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin said during his keynote speech here Tuesday.

Sarin, who was speaking on the second day of the GSMA's Mobile World Congress, said that mobile operators need to be at the forefront of developing new services for cell phones, such as music, games, and video. If they don't take an active role now, he said, they risk losing their relevance in the market.

"Operators need to invest to bring … Read more