A popular social network that has a strong following on the web and on the iPhone is now taking aim at the Android market. Brightkite, a slick little app that lets you check in at any location and share photos and notes with your friends, is available for free in the Android store as of this week. Current Brightkite users won't be disappointed with the Android version, and Android users will appreciate how it takes advantage of their device's location-based services.

The long-awaited app - there were reports over a year ago that it was in the works - takes advantage of Android's built in Google maps to let you visualize your friends' locations instead of reading them in a list. It also uses Android's notifications to alert you to any new activity in your friend stream. As an iPhone owner, I'm loathe to it admit it, but this looks even better than the iPhone version of the app. The maps, especially, are a great touch.

I really, really want to be Dutch right now. After taking a look at Layar, a mobile Augmented Reality browser that's currently only available in the Netherlands, I can't wait until similar technology is available in the rest of the world. Layar uses the camera and location-based services of your mobile device -- Android devices only, so far -- and overlays information on the camera image.

This is flying-car level tech, the kind of stuff that sci-fi nerds dream about, and it's got plenty of practical applications for the average user, too. Although Layar is still in its early stages, this is the technology that's going to make it possible to point your phone at a restaurant and see prices and reviews, or point it at a transit stop and see schedules. One the features Layar is pushing is the ability to create your own layers, so it could be used for everything from business to gaming. Every cool piece of tech has its downside, though, and I imagine advertisers are salivating a little bit about the possibilities something like Layar presents.

Android users can now search Google Maps using voice commands, and access Google Transit info from their mobile devices. To use the voice seach, just speak an address or a search term while you're using Google Maps for Android. Google says it currently understands American, Australian and British accents. They've also added store hours, prices, ratings and reviews to their results.

Google Maps for Android also now includes transit and walking directions for over 250 cities, just like Google Maps on the web does. Although it didn't make the headline of Google's blog post, the are also some improvements to Google Latitude, the new(ish) location-based service. You can now make Latitude update your location continuously as long as your phone is on, and use the new "Updates" feature to leave location-specific comments about the places you go.

Gmail Mobile just received a couple of updates that bring it even closer to the full Gmail experience: keyboard shortcuts and faster autocompletion for contacts. When Google says "keyboard shortcuts," the emphasis is on the "keyboard" part. You'll need to have an Android phone with a physical keyboard, like the G1, to use them. If you do, Gmail on your phone now supports all the same shortcuts you can use in desktop Gmail, so you can navigate your mailboxes or jump to the next message with a single keypress.

Faster autocompletion can be used by Android and iPhone users alike. Autocompletion has been reported on some blogs as a new feature, but Google's own blog post suggests that addresses just complete faster now, thanks to caching of results from previous address book searches. This means that possible addresses should now come up as you type, making it even quicker than before to send a message from Gmail Mobile.

Sharing your location via a mobile device is a great way to let friends and family know where you are, and encourage people you know to meet up with you. The challenge is in making it as easy as possible for the right people to see your location while hiding it from random Internet strangers. Glympse is a clever new approach to the problem, allowing location-sharing on a time limited person-by-person basis.

Using Glympse is as simple as picking a contact and a duration. Your contact will be able to see your location from their mobile device or computer for that duration of time. It's the simplest solution imaginable to a pretty complex problem. Right now, Glympse is only available for Android devices, but it's coming soon to Windows Mobile phones, iPhones and Blackberries.

Moblin has already received a lot of praise in the media for its innovative interface and intelligent features, and now there's one more reason to be excited by the Intel-backed project.

Intel's Anand Chandrasekher, VP of their ultra-mobile group, showed off a device running Moblin 2.0 which also sported a number of Android applications during a speech today at Computex. Apart from generating excitement in the users community the news gives cellular providers added incentive to carry Moblin-powered devices, since many already have Android Marketplace revenue sharing agreements in place with Google.

Don't forget, Canonical recently unveiled their plans to enable Android applications in Ubuntu as well - which would likely include the Netbook Remix. Even if netbook manufacturers favor UNR or Moblin over Android for an operating system, it looks like users won't have to worry about missing out on killer Android apps.

[ via PC World ]

ThinkFree offers a cross-platform suite of office applications that can be used on Windows, Mac, Linux, or on the web. And now it looks like the company is developing a full office suite for Google Android as well.

ThinkFree Mobile for Android will provide Google Android users with spreadsheet, presentation, and word processing applications. The application is compatible with Microsoft Office 97, 2000, XP, 2003, and 2007.

Users will also be able to store up to 1GB of data online using ThinkFree's web based office suite, which means you can begin editing a document on your computer, sync it to the web, and continue editing on the go with your mobile device.

There's no word on pricing yet, but ThinkFree Mobile for Android is due out later this year. In July an initial version with document viewers should be available. A full version with document editing capabilities should follow in Q4 of 2009.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

While Google Android 1.5 "Cupcake" just started rolling out to T-Mobile G1 users, Google is already working on the next version of its operating system for mobile phones. Google Android 2.0 is carrying the code name "Donut," and today Engadget got to check out a demo of some of the new features that will be included in the update.

One of those features is a new "Android Search" tool that will let you search both locally and online at the same time. In other words, you can search your contacts, calendars, music, and any enabled application installed on your Android device at the same time.

Donut also includes a text to speech API. You can find more photos from today's demo at Engadget.

If you've been waiting for all the goodies in the Android 1.5 release (titled Cupcake), wait no longer. According to the T-Mobile forums, the rollout officially began a few days ago.

If you aren't the patient kind, AndroidGuys shows you how you can take a few minutes and do the upgrade yourself without waiting for T-Mobile to initiate it for you.

The most highly anticipated feature in Android 1.5 is the on-screen keyboard. I've been using a hacked pre-release 1.5 version for a few weeks and I can say that on-screen typing is definitely as useful as I always thought it would be.

Other niceties in 1.5 include video recording (bringing G1 users up to spec with iPhone and Curve counterparts) some updates to the camera (blurry photos no more!) and a few simple visual enhancements which make you wonder why they weren't there all along.

Viva la Googlephone!

(Thanks David!)

While Google Android is built on the Linux kernel, all of the applications for the mobile operating system actually run on a custom Java runtime. In other words, Google Android doesn't run most native Linux applications, and most Linux distributions can't run Google Android apps... yet. But Canonical is working on software that would allow Google Android programs to run natively on Ubuntu Linux.

Right now that wouldn't really be that exciting, because most Android programs are designed to run on a cellphone. After all, would you really want to run the iPhone version of Safari or the Windows Mobile version of Word on your desktop computer when there are far better word processors and web browsers designed for desktop operating systems?

But in the long run, this could expand the developer community for both Ubuntu and Google Android. If you develop an app for one, it might not be that much work to get it to run on the other. The move could also make it much easier to come up with ways to synchronize the data on mobile devices running Google Android with a desktop computer running Ubuntu.

Development is still in the early phases, so it's possible that the whole project could lead nowhere. But the screenshot above (grabbed from Scott James Remnant's Twitpic stream) of Google Android programs running on a machine with Ubuntu Netbook Remix installed certainly suggests a world of possibilities.

It just became a really good idea to take your Google Android device shopping with you. Android now packs a barcode scanning feature that plugs into Google's Mobile Product Search database, so you can compare prices on items you find and see if it might be cheaper to buy online. The scanner currently works best with media like books and dvds, or with electronics, but more products are being added all the time.

To enable it, browse on your Android phone to Google.com, select "More" and then "Shopping" and Product Search. Then click on the Scan Barcode button. This should install the software on your device. To use the app once it's open, you can just point the red line over a barcode, and Android should do the rest. If it doesn't work for the item you want, you can still resort to old-fashioned keyboard search.

[via AppScout]

Zoho has launched a new mobile interface for its web-based office and productivity applications. That includes a mail and calendar app, as well as word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and database utilities.

To launch the mobile version of Zoho, just visit m.zoho.com in any mobile browser. Or if you just want to see what the interface looks like, you can use the same URL in a desktop browser.

Zoho says the mobile interface supports mobile devices running Windows Mobile, Symbian S60, and Google Android as well as the iPhone and BlackBerry devices.

Zoho Mobile is available in English and Japanese. The team plans to develop mobile interfaces for additional Zoho office applications in the future.

The move means that mobile phone users who are unhappy with the built in office applications on their devices have another alternative -- although one that you'll have to use up some mobile minutes in order to use.

As if the G1 wasn't slick enough already, Google's latest update is packing tons of new features for both end users and developers that will make it an even stronger competitor for the iPhone.

Version 1.5 introduces two key features that users were clamoring for: softkeys and accelerometer support for switching display between landscape and portrait modes. Another major introduction is the ability to record video and upload directly to YouTube. Likewise, photos can now be quickly shared via Picasa.

The Webkit-based browser has been turbocharged and now features a tabbed bookmarks and history page, in-page search, and copy/paste. Enhancements for YouTube video playback have also been added as has full Bluetooth stereo support.

Android's Linux kernel has been updated to version 2.6.27, and OS 1.5 also boasts many API additions for developers like secure widgets, location awareness, text prediction, and speech recognition.

More details about the 1.5 update can be found on the Android SDK site.

Google Calendar for iPhone and Android just got an important update that makes it a lot more viable as your main mobile option for keeping track of events. Specifically, you can now edit events directly from the mobile interface. According to the Official Google Mobile Blog, editing events in mobile calendar was the number one request from users on Google Product Ideas.

This move makes so much sense. It's nice to have a calendar you can check at a glance -- and with Google Calendar, you'll still see your recently viewed events even when your device doesn't have an Internet connection -- but it's a huge handicap if you can't change your RSVP status or other details about your appointments. If you were unsure about switching to Google Calendar because it lacked editing features, you might want to reconsider now.

Road warriors rejoice, Google has beefed up the engine that powers the mobile version of GMail. The rollout begins today, though only for users of the English version. If that includes you, make sure your iPod Touch or iPhone is running firmware version 2.2.1 or later or you'll still see the old version. Android users won't have any such concerns.

A number of slick new features have been added, including the "floaty bar" which follows you as you scroll through your inbox and provides quick access to archiving, deleting, and marking options. Say goodbye to repetitive scrolling when applying actions to multiple messages! The search bar has also been moved to the top of the interface to provide easier access.

Message display has been cleaned up a bit and the improved back end will help make coping with crummy network connections a bit less bothersome. The new engine - which leverages HTML5, Gears, and more aggressive cahcing - will also make it easier for Google to deploy new features and provide further performance increases in the future.

[via Google Mobile Blog]