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20,000 film scenes now available on YouTube
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Internet, Movies,
Google's YouTube has signed a deal with MovieClips.com to apparently replace the thousands of movie clips users have uploaded with authentic, licensed replacements.
The more than 20,000 licensed movie clips may be found at YouTube MovieClips, a partnership with the MovieClips.com site.
Using the company's proprietary technology, a team of Content Curators assigns up to 1,000 points of relevant data points to every scene relating to everything from action to mood to setting, and prop, the site said. "Our goal is to promote the discovery of movies," said MovieClips co-founder Richard Raddon, in a statement. "By making our clips accessible on the biggest video platform on the web, we unlock the power of movie clips to promote feature film purchase and rental."
What this means, then, is that users can search for "say hello to my little friend" and either see a number of clips on YouTube itself or the licensed, HD version of the climactic, violent conclusion to the Al Pacino classic, Scarface. It's worth noting that the clips on YouTube are just a few seconds long, while the Movieclips.com clip is 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
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How good (or bad) are apps for Android tablets?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Google, Handhelds, Software,
The following is a column sent to us by Skip Ferderber. We though it hit home on a lot of points, and decided to republish it with his permission:
Let’s start with a popular tech-talk premise especially among Apple iPad afficionados: Among the reasons Android tablets come up short is because there are only a handful of apps specifically optimized for them.
If there’s no big bucket of optimized Honeycomb apps, then it’s too soon to get an Android tablet ... not when you can get an iPad with more than 100,000 tablet-optimized apps.
The tech blogosphere (including yours truly) reported early on that only 10 apps were specifically redesigned to take advantage of the Honeycomb operating system, the Android software specifically engineered for a new generation of powerful tablets with heavy-duty processing power and bright high-resolution screens such as the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. A March Wired article reported it had found only 50 Honeycomb-optimized apps.
Well, hold on there, buckaroos.
What happens when non-optimized apps — the same apps you use on your Android smartphone — are run on a Honeycomb tablet? What’s the user experience like? Can you live with it? I decided to find out.
Click to continue reading How good (or bad) are apps for Android tablets?
Android is running on half of the smartphones in the world
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Google, Software,
Are almost 50 percent of the world's smartphones running Google's Android? According to Monday data from Canalys, Android ended the second quarter with 48 percent of the market, with Asia Pacific leading the charge.
Globally, the smartphone market is up 73 percent from last year, with 107.7 million devices shipped in the last quarter. Of the 56 countries tracked by Canalys, Android topped 35 of them, with 51.9 million shipments overall.
Why the boost? Canalys pointed to strong Android support from major handset makers like Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, ZTE, and Huawei. Android holds 85 percent of the market in South Korea and 71 percent in Taiwan alone.
Apple came in second place with 20.3 million iPhones sold and 19 percent of the market, which was enough to overtake Nokia's Symbian platform and make Apple the world's top smartphone vendor.
Click to continue reading Android is running on half of the smartphones in the world
Logitech Revue dropped to $99, company clarifies customer returns comment
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Home Entertainment, Internet,
The Logitech Revue price drop announced last week went into effect yesterday. The company also issued a clarification to deny that more customers are returning Google TV Revue boxes than buying them.
Starting Sunday, the Logitech Revue with Google TV is available for $99, down from $249. The company also said it will roll out an automatic software update later this summer, which will add Android 3.1, a simplified user experience, and access to the Android Market.
The price drop is the second for the Revue this year; Logitech dropped it from $299 to $249 in May. That, however, did not help sales and during a recent earnings call, the company said that "returns of the product were higher than the very modest sales."
Logitech later issued a clarification to say that it did not mean that more Revues were being returned than purchased.
Click to continue reading Logitech Revue dropped to $99, company clarifies customer returns comment
Logitech Revue price slashed from $249 to $99 due to low sales
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Home Entertainment,
Back when the Logitech Revue was first announced for about $300, we knew the device wouldn't sell. Google TV was a new, unproven product, and Google wasn't even the company that was technically doing the selling of the devices. Yet somehow, Logitech didn't realize that, and the Revue has sold very, very poorly. So poorly in fact, that there's a major shakeup going on at the company as its now seeking a new CEO. The official word is that people have been returning their purchased Revue boxes faster than others are buying new ones, and that's just not good. In an effort to increase consumer adoption, Logitech has slashed the price of the Revue down to $99--a $150 reduction in price. So, anyone plan on picking up one of these? Hey, it'll be getting an Android Honeycomb update sometime soon.
Google closing Google Labs to streamline product lines
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Google, Internet,
Google is shutting down its Google Labs experimental project incubator as part of an effort at "simplifying and streamlining" the company's product lines, the search giant revealed on its official blog Wednesday.
Referencing Google CEO Larry Page's recent memo to employees explaining the company's decision to retire its Google Health and PowerMeter services, Bill Coughran, a Google senior vice president for research and systems infrastructure, wrote that shuttering Google Labs was also part of the company's new agenda of "prioritizing our product efforts."
"While we've learned a huge amount by launching very early prototypes in Labs, we believe that greater focus is crucial if we're to make the most of the extraordinary opportunities ahead," Coughran wrote in a blog post titled "More wood behind fewer arrows."
"In many cases," he wrote, "this will mean ending Labs experiments—in others we'll incorporate Labs products and technologies into different product areas. And many of the Labs products that are Android apps today will continue to be available on Android Market."
Click to continue reading Google closing Google Labs to streamline product lines
Google+ app now available for iPhone
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Social Networking, New Apps, Google, Free Apps,
Apple has finally approved the Google+ iOS app, and it's now available for your downloading pleasure from the App Store. Now you can get your Circle on using your iPhone. Nice.
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Google-owned Photovine is now live - but what is it?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Software,
Another photo service is about to enter the digital space. The Web site for Photovine is live but lacking in information, other than a teaser video.
Photovine was built by a company named Slide which was acquired by Google in 2010. Google reportedly paid about $228 million for Slide.
The skimpy homepage is labeled "Photovine," with a tag that reads "plant a photo, watch it grow". There is one sentence under that reads, "Photovine is a fun way to learn more about your friends, meet new people, and share your world like never before."
The app is displayed in use on an iPhone 4 to the right of the text. That's thoroughly confusing given that Google owns the Photovine trademark. It stands to reason that an Android phone would be more apropos.
Click to continue reading Google-owned Photovine is now live - but what is it?
Google+ to to add address book import feature
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Internet,
Google will allow users to upload their address book into Google+, importing contacts that might not otherwise be on the company's new social network.
"We've been listening to feedback from our users who want more flexible ways to find their friends on Google+," Rohit Khare, a Google product manager, wrote in a Google+ post on Tuesday night. "One of the most flexible tools is an address book uploader, and I wanted to share the good news that it will be rolling out to everyone over the next few days."
Under the new uploader, users will be able to take their address books (in CSV formats) or vCard electronic business cards, and roll them into Google+. However, Khare pledged to keep the imported contacts separate from the other, existing Google Contacts, and to only store the ones that a user puts into Circles.
Click to continue reading Google+ to to add address book import feature
Toshiba Thrive comes to Best Buy on July 10
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Handhelds,
The Toshiba Thrive finally has an official U.S. release date, although the news comes from retail partner Best Buy rather than the tablet maker itself.
Best Buy on Thursday confirmed that Toshiba's 10.1-inch Thrive tablet running Google's Android 3.1 Honeycomb will be available for in-store purchase on July 10. Toshiba, unlike more publicity minded tablet makers, never named an official release date for the Thrive, though Best Buy and other Toshiba retail partners began taking pre-orders in mid-June.
Toshiba's new Wi-Fi-only tablet "joins a rapidly expanding tablet selection at Best Buy, which is re-designing both its in-store and online tablet presentation to enable customers to learn more about and easily compare new devices as they become available," the retailer said in a statement.
A big clue that the Thrive would be made available on Sunday arrived earlier this week when the Best Buy website's Thrive pre-order page began listing delivery dates of as early as July 10 for customers pre-ordering 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB Toshiba tablets.
Click to continue reading Toshiba Thrive comes to Best Buy on July 10
