android posts

Google Listen is a podcast application for Google Android. In a nutshell, it allows you to find, download, and listen to podcasts from your Android-powered smartphone. Want to listen to episodes of This American Life on the go? Just search the directory for the show, hit the subscribe button, and Google Listen will download the latest episode for you to listen to.

But Google Listen has another trick up its sleeve. In addition to subscribing to individual podcasts, you can also subscribe to "searches." Say you want information about Barack Obama, Google Android, or Oscar Nominations. Just enter your query in the search box and check the subscribe box on the results page. Now the latest story from any podcast or web audio that Google determines is related to your search will be available in your subscriptions.

The folks behind the popular Urbanspoon iPhone app (oh yeah, and web site), have launched an app for Google Android devices. Here's how it works. You want to pick a place to eat? Just fire up the Urbanspoon app, give your phone a good shake, and Urbanspoon will find a restaurant in your area.

Not looking for a completely random surprise? You can choose the neighborhood you're looking to dine in, hit the lock button, and Urbanspoon will randomly select a style of cuisine and a price level. Or you can lock in those categories, if say, you're looking for cheap vegetarian food in Old City Philadelphia.

If you don't actually want to shake your phone, you can also just hit the shake button.

One Urbanspoon finds a restaurant, you can call to make a reservation by tapping the phone number, read reviews by clicking the button at the bottom of the screen, or just read more about the restaurant by clicking the name.

[via Mashable]

(Can you tell that I'm trying to spice things up around here?)

We've actually been discussing how to 'sass-up' Firefox Friday Five. Interviews with Mozilla developers? Add-on creators? Perhaps we could even get a perspective from competitors -- how does Microsoft intend to combat Firefox? With Chrome and Firefox both being open source and effectively having a shared code base, can either one of them ever be dominant?

Anyway, another quiet week from Mozilla itself, but there's been plenty of news about Firefox -- so let's get going!

1. Firefox for Mobile is coming to Android, thank God

I think we all knew Firefox would come to Android eventually, we were just getting a little nervous -- what with the Nokia/Maemo version being released, and no news of any other version except a stillborn Windows Mobile alpha.

It's still early days for the Android version (it's just a full port of the desktop version at the moment), but one has to assume, with Android taking off and the Google Tablet possibly on its way, that Firefox for Android is now a priority for Mozilla.

Dropbox, a file-storage service that's getting a lot of well-deserved hype for its desktop product and its iPhone app, is expanding to at least two new mobile platforms this year. Android and Blackberry users can look forward to syncing files from their phones to their Dropbox accounts in the near future. With 4 million users already onboard, expanding to new mobile devices could position Dropbox as the leader in the growing cloud-storage-and-syncing space.

An email sent to current Dropbox users announced the two new clients, but didn't give a specific release date for the new "mobile magic." We haven't been able to dig up any more specific info about when you might be able to hold Dropbox in your hot little hands, but Kevin C. Tofel at JKonTheRun speculates that an announcement might be forthcoming at the Mobile World Conference later this month. I'm going to guess that's too soon, considering that Dropbox isn't done hiring Android developers yet, but we'll have to wait and see.

Seesmic is one of the most popular twitter clients for Google Android (there are also Seesmic apps for BlackBerry, Windows, Adobe AIR for Mac and Linux, and a web client). You can use the Android client to keep track of your Twitter timeline, replies, direct messages, and profile. And of course you can send updates. You can even include links and photos taken with your Android phone's camera.

Last night Seesmic rolled out version 1.2 for Android, which includes support for multiple Twitter accounts. Now whenever you post a message, you can select to have it sent to one or more Twitter accounts associated with the mobile app. You can also switch between accounts to see the latest updates from your contacts on each account.

Another new feature in Seesmic 1.2 for Android is the ability to remember your scroll position. In other words, if you've been scrolling down your timeline and new updates come in, they'll show up at the top of the page but you won't lose your place. You can disable this feature and always stay at the top if you prefer.

For a complete list of changes, check out the Seesmic blog. Seesmic 1.2 for Android is available as a free download from the Android Marketplace.

[via Mashable]

Apparently "Android" is a four-letter word in Cupertino. The flash card app Flash of Genius was a finalist in Google's Android Developer Challenge, and the developers thought that was worth mentioning in the description of the iPhone version of their app. Apple didn't agree, and sent the developers an email asking them to remove the Android line from their app description, under threat of an "interruption" in Flash of Genius' availability on the app store.

I like Apple, but does anyone else think this seems a bit like a movie gangster cliché? It's just shy of showing up in a dark pinstripe suit, carrying a baseball bat and saying "It would be a shame if anything happened to your ... availability in the app store." There's no official ban on mentioning Android, as far as we know, so the email said that the description "contains inappropriate or irrelevant information." Apple mentioned the Android award specifically, though, without referring to Flash of Genius' other boasts about mentions in books and newspapers.

What's the deal, Apple? Is this a one-time fluke that deserves an apology, or are we going to see all Android mentions consistently removed in the future? For Flash of Genius' part, they're contacting Apple to find out if there's any acceptable way to mention their award without getting their app booted from the store.

[via Cult of Mac]

The Google Android smartphone operating system has a decent built in audio player, which is great if you feel like copying your music collection to your phone. But you can also listen to thousands of online radio stations using the free Android Online Radio app which is available in the Android Marketplace.

You can use the app to search for audio streams in the Shoutcast or Icecast directories. There's also a list of user populated channels, and AAC and AAC+ channels. Most of these directories are sorted by music genre, or you can just use the search bar to find the station you're looking for. I was able to find two of my favorite online radio stations and add them to my favorites in just a few seconds.

If the radio station you're looking for isn't in the directory, you may be able to add it manually.

Once you find the station you're looking for, either in the directory or in your favorites or recently visited tabs, you play the audio stream using Android Online Radio. You can also set the clock on a sleep timer which will shut off the media player after a set period.

The team at Automattic is committed to making mobile blogging work with WordPress, and they're proving it with a new Wordpress Android app. WordPress for iPhone finally became usable with version 2, and the Android app seems to have skipped over the awkward growing pains the iPhone version went through. It already supports posting and editing on multiple accounts, as well as comment moderation.

You can easily upload photos from your phone to your blog with the WordPress app, but it's not entirely reliable. ReadWriteWeb found that photo uploads crashed the app on their Nexus One. Your mileage may very. If the phenomenal improvement between v1 and v2 of the iPhone app is any indication, the Android app will work its kinks out quickly. Besides, there's nothing else quite like it in the Android Market. Whether you're hosting your own WordPress blog or using wordpress.com, your Android phone is now blog-ready, and that's pretty cool.

Check out Wordpress's official demo video after the jump.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Mozilla's Firefox browser may not be available for Android yet, but they can prove they're working on it. Some screenshots of a pre-alpha version of the browser have slipped out, and they show the full Firefox interface instead of the mobile UI we've seen on Maemo devices. That will probably change, though, according to Moziilla developer Vladimir Vukićević. As you can see from the screenshot above, they're running the full Firefox UI right now to put the maximum strain on the Gecko rendering engine. If the full UI works in testing, the mobile version should have no problems.

As for progress on features, Vladimir reports that "mouse events sort of work, toplevel windows sort of work, keyboard doesn't work yet but shouldn't be hard to hook up. This is running in an emulator at the moment for ease of debugging, but it's working just fine on physical hardware as well." So, the Android version is in pre-alpha and the Windows Mobile version is in alpha, but there are no plans to bring to Firefox for Mobile to other platforms, according to Mozilla's wiki. Sorry, iPhone, BlackBerry and Symbian users!

[via AndroidCentral]

Good news, Nexus One users! Owners of Google's flagship Android phone are getting an over-the-air software update today (it may already be installed on your phone) that includes a new version of Google Maps, a fix for some of the phone's 3G problems, and ... multitouch support! Eat your heart out, iPhone. Now Android users can pinch and zoom with the best of them in the browser, gallery, and Google Maps.

There's a demo video of the new touch gestures after the jump, but the Google Maps update is worth talking about, too. Your starred items and search history now sync from the web version of Google Maps, so you can check for directions before you leave the house, and then pop them up quickly on your phone once you're on the road. Google's augmented reality app, Google Goggles, is also part of this software update. Just open it up from All Apps, point your camera at something, and search.

[via Engadget]

The folks over at CNET have been doing some investigative reporting of the finest calibre: it turns out that Google censors a very odd set of words. Some of the words on the list are the regular mainstay of such things -- the f-word, the s-word and even the c-word (no, not that one).

It seems that Google Voice (or, more specifically Voice when running on Android devices) replaces censored words with a rather bland and completely useless '####' when transcribing your calls and searches. Back in January it came to light that Android running on the Nexus One was censoring offensive terms, but most of us thought the censorship was was a feature and not actual censorship. Google says that the technology is meant to prevent the misrecognizing of offensive words -- you might be saying 'country', but the phone might interpret it as... something much more malevolent.

Now it turns out that the list of naughty words might be a lot more arbitrary. Is 'Lolita' really similar to another offensive term, or easily misunderstood? 'Whorehouse' is also blocked -- I guess it sounds a bit like, er... boar house? 'Beer house' said by a drunk? Who knows...

I'm sure Google will be quick to correct it, if there is in fact a problem -- they're one of the biggest advocates of free speech, after all.

DoubleTwist is an iTunes alternative that can sync your media library with tons of mobile devices, not just those made by Apple. The app has supported Android devices for some time now, and a brand-new partnership with T-Mobile means it will be used on many more Android phones in the future. The wireless provider has licensed DoubleTwist, and will now pre-install it on a selection of Android devices, as well as promote it to T-Mobile customers.

This looks like a great move for both T-Mobile and DoubleTwist. The phone company that doesn't carry the iPhone (although that could change soon) meets the music app best known for supporting non-iPhone devices. They're like peanut butter and jelly! Google wins, too, because there's no built-in Android app that syncs music, videos and playlists anywhere near as seamlessly as DoubleTwist does. The only thing missing from the pre-installed Android version of DoubleTwist is Amazon Mp3 Store integration, but you can get that by downloading and installing the standard version of the app.

[via TechCrunch]

If you're looking to make VoIP calls on your Android phone, London-based Truphone might have the app for you. Truphone just released an update to its Android app that makes it compatible with Google's Nexus One. It now works on five Android devices.

In stark contrast to the VoIP situation on the iPhone, where developers frequently run into problems with Apple's approval process, Truphone's developers apparently worked closely with Google.

The Nexus One is an ideal device for Truphone because of its open nature. Because Google's phone isn't locked to any particular carrier, it can use SIMs from any of Truphone's mobile partners (of which Vodafone UK is the largest so far), and take advantage of local calling rates through those companies.

Why would you choose Truphone over any other VoIP provider? Well, the ability to make free calls to Skype users is a pretty sweet selling point. If you own a Nexus One or an iPod Touch, Truphone is the only serious game in town for Internet calling at the moment.

Finally, if you're in Europe, you might pick Truphone over Skype and other competitors because of its growing base of partnerships with mobile providers. Unfortunately, Truphone has made no deals with US providers thus far, but it's nice to dream about.

[via Techcrunch Europe]

Do you remember how great it felt to switch from T9 to a full qwerty keyboard on your phone? No more laborious multiple taps just to get one letter! Well, the developers of an app called Swype are hoping you'll get the same feeling when you compare their product to the software keyboard on your Android device. Swype brings a new way of typing to Android phones: instead of tapping each letter, you just swipe your finger to the next letter you want to put in. It may take some getting used to, but it may also be totally awesome and from the future.

Of course, the premise of Swype raises some questions: is this fancy new typing limited to a specific Swype app? What about error correction? It sounds like it's easy to make a typo when you're swiping like that! Well, fear not, because Swype's keyboard is available within existing apps, including browsers.

You can even change between Swype and standard typing on the fly. As for error correction, Swype will make suggestions, but it won't autocorrect to the first possibility. You actually get a handy list of possible words you could have meant to type (er, swipe?). If you make a mistake, you can double-tap any word to pick from the list again.

To get a feel for how Swype works, check out a demo video recorded by Mobilecrunch.

So far, Swype has an Android beta version that works on the Droid and the Nexus One, with support for other Android phones presumably coming later this year.

[via A VC]