Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Google Nav kicks payware apps in the nads

Google just announced a FREE beta version of a turn-by-turn mobile GPS navigation app, with voice and text input. Right now, it's just for Android OS 2.0; iPhoners will have to wait. (Incidentally, this is another reason that, contrary to my earlier post, Android phones will gain momentum, ugly though they may be.)

Attention Garmin, Tom-Tom, and AT&T Nav: "My name is Google Montoya. Prepare to die."

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

GMusic? Nooks and crannies


It sounds like the name of a new rapper, but Gmusic (Google Audio?) is the next service to bring legitimacy to Android, and another nail in Amazon's coffin. Searching for music by

Along with this one.


Thursday, October 15, 2009

Google (almost) launches eBook store


Um,
as I was saying...

In 2010, Google will put the hurt on Amazon's book-selling business with Google Editions. Amazon should still do okay (for a while) as an online department store and cloud storage provider, though. Borders.com and BN.com are DOA.

Talk about blowing a lead... yeeesh.

Fix for duplicate iPhone 3.0 Calendar contacts


After updating to iPhone OS 3.0, I noticed several duplicated Calendar events and Contacts. I found this fix, which works like a champ.

Note: choose "Delete from my iPhone" when you delete the MobileMe account. This will wipe out your contacts and calendar until you re-establish the MM link, but it's the only way to bounce all the dupes on your phone at once.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Zeo Sleep Thingy




I don't know what this is, exactly, but I'm pretty sure that I need one.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Whoops!

From the You Mean to Tell Me... department, MS deals another blow to their fans, just after releasing cool new mobile and desktop operating systems.

I swear to God, if it was not for the fact that Microsoft is walking around with $60 billion cash in it's pocket, I'd say this was dead company walking.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

iPhone or Android? Place your bets!



Apple just bought Placebase, the private label mapping company behind Policy Maps. This is yet another indication that Apple and Google, once united against Microsoft, have begun to creep apart.

As a small team of fledgling iPhone app developers, this leads me to wonder whether to bet on Apple's iPhone or Google's Android as the main platform for our wares. Google is ultra-capitalized, but Apple knows hardware, and the company has been around almost as long as Microsoft. While the iPhone owns the smart-phone mindshare now, Google is making steady, quiet inroads, just as it has always done- with search, with advertising, with Gmail, with Google Maps, with Google Docs, and more. It's hard to bet against either one.

The futurist in me wants to bet on Google. But the iPhone is just so damn sexy! How can anyone resist it? *sigh...* I'm going with Apple, for now.

Any takers?