Category: GReader

Google has just announced Android 3.1, and it’s rolling out to Verizon Xoom 3G customers today. It brings with it a range of improvements and refinements including resizeable widgets, and a new host mode that will let you import photos to your tablet directly from your digital camera, and take advantage of a “ridiculous” number of USB devices, even including Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 controllers. It also includes Google’s new Movies app that will let you rent thousands of movies from the Android market, a new Books app, a new video editing app dubbed Movie Studio, and updated versions of most of Google’s main apps, including a “faster” web browser with a new Quick Controls menu — and to top things off, the OS will be hitting Google TV sometime “this summer” as well. Unfortunately, there’s still no firm word on when it will hit non-Xoom 3G tablets, although Google did mention that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 that it’s giving away to everyone at IO will be getting the update in the “next couple of weeks.”

Google announces Android 3.1, available on Verizon Xoom today originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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36 OEMs, 215 carriers, 450,000 Android developers all over the world, Google wants to say “thank you!” Android has recently crossed its 100 millionth activation milestone, and is also growing at its fastest pace yet: 400,000 devices activated each and every day. There are now 200,000 Android applications in the Market, which have accumulated a total of 4.5 billion installs, at a rate which Google actually says is accelerating. These figures have all been cited as a way to illustrate Google’s mobile momentum, which is evidently not even thinking about slowing down.

Google reaches 100 millionth Android activation, 400,000 Android devices activated daily originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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J.D. Power and Associates released their 2011 Canadian Wireless Customer Satisfaction Study today and the winners for each region are Videotron, Koodo Mobile and SaskTel. J.D. Power notes the study “examines perceptions of wireless customers with their service and retail experience” in seven areas on a 1,000-point scale: cost; network quality; account management; customer service; […]

Related posts:

1. Sony Ericsson ranked highest among wireless mobile phones brands in the J.D. Power and Associates Canadian Wireless Customer Satisfaction Study.
2. Virgin Mobile dominates the “2009 Canadian Wireless Customer Satisfaction Study”
3. Fido awarded Wireless Canadian Customer Satisfaction Award

It was pretty much known about since last night, but Microsoft and Skype have now obliterated any lingering doubt in the matter: the Redmond-based software giant will acquire the internet telephony company for a cool $8.5 billion in cash. Xbox and Kinect support are explicitly mentioned in the announcement of this definitive agreement, as is Windows Phone integration — both the gaming and mobile aspects being presumably key incentives for Microsoft to acquire Skype. Importantly, this purchase shouldn’t affect Skypers outside of the Microsoft ecosystem, as Steve Ballmer’s team promises to continue “to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.” Skype was first sold for a relative bargain at $2.5b to eBay in 2005, who in turn sold most of it off to Silver Lake in 2009 at an overall valuation of $2.75b, and now Redmond is concluding proceedings by tripling those earlier prices and offering Skype a permanent home. A new Microsoft Skype Division will now be opened up to accommodate the newcomers, with current Skype CEO Tony Bates becoming president of that operation and reporting directly to Ballmer. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year and you can read Microskype’s full announcement after the break.

Update: Microsoft has just disclosed a couple more details about the deal. It was signed last night, May 9th, though the price was finalized on April 18th. You can follow a live stream of Steve Ballmer and Tony Bates’ presentation right here.

Continue reading Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype for $8.5 billion becomes official

Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype for $8.5 billion becomes official originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver, announced Monday that they are separating.

Following rumors of Facebook and Google eyeing a deal to acquire Skype, we now have a new contender who is none other than the beast from Redmond, Microsoft. According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, Team Ballmer and the VoIP company are finalizing a negotiation that’s worth more than a whopping $7 billion, and they could be making an announcement as soon as Tuesday. Given that this figure will be a new record for Microsoft in recent years, it’s clear that Ballmer’s very keen on securing this popular voice calling service for his own amusement — perhaps Windows Phone will eventually come with integrated Skype features? Or maybe he just wants to slot in some ads between our calls? Only time will tell, and for the sake of Redmond, hopefully nothing turns sour between now and tomorrow.

Update: All Things D’s Kara Swisher has confirmed that the two companies will be announcing their deal early tomorrow morning. Stay tuned!

Microsoft close to buying Skype for more than $7 billion? (Update: announcement tomorrow) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 May 2011 22:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google translate has nothing on the Wild Dolphin Project which is developing a two-way communication system for dolphins. Crazy as it seems, the Florida-based group hopes to create a new language derived from the sounds of the animalsn in the wild. More »

While our federal government continues to spend its taxpayers’ money on useless things like the U.S. Senate, the Pacific island nation of Samoa is doing something awesome: Time-traveling. Into the future! More »

A jury has been selected in the trial of a Yorkton, Sask., man accused of killing his daughter’s boyfriend.

Android: Constantly changing your phone’s settings to match your location, save battery, or otherwise fit your current conditions can get annoying quickly. Llama automates settings changes by detecting factors like where you are, what time it is, and what your phone’s doing. More »

If you’ve run out of beef jerky and had your free Hulu Plus trial go bust, you’re certainly not alone. Don’t get bored: more bits of new hotness are coming to your console, and they’re coming soon. An internal document leaked to our good friends over at Joystiq looks to confirm that the big Xbox 360 spring update will hit on May 19th. However, it’ll come in six “separate groups” to “ensure a high quality deployment,” so you might not get it until the end of the month, and everyone will have to wait until May 27th to get Avatar Kinect. What else is new? Well, there’ll be the slightly larger disc format and support for PayPal, opening the door to a bold new world of personal finance information able to be hacked from your console.

Xbox 360 spring update coming May 19? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 May 2011 17:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In just a few hours, Google I/O will begin and Google have updated their blog with some details of what to expect.

Google I/O is a yearly event that Google hosts in San Francisco over 2 days. The main focus is developers, so there’s plenty of workshops and talks on how…

Paul Thurrott’s Supersite for Windows
Microsoft’s PowerToys for Windows XP included a neat little utility called Image Resizer. And now it’s back, but in modern guise, and ready to address your image resizing needs. …

Been jonesing for more news about Microsoft’s upcoming Mango OS update? So have we, and now all of us, VIPs and commoners alike, can circle the 24th of May as the date when Redmond will dish the full details of its next major software release. Notably, the mango(ish)-colored invite makes no mention of Windows Phone 7 anywhere, leading us to suspect that Microsoft will likely upgrade its mobile nomenclature as well as feature set. We’ll be there whatever happens, liveblogging the full preview event and keeping an eye out for launch details for this fruity new OS.

Microsoft’s next major release of Windows Phone will be previewed on May 24th, and we’ll be there live! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 May 2011 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Michelle Chen, Software Engineer

If your calendar ends up full of many different types of events (film nights, lunch dates, and doctor appointments, for example), there’s now an easy way to categorize them using colors.

Just click on an event, then click the colored square in the top left of the pop-up bubble and pick a new color. If you don’t see this option quite yet, hang tight — it'll be there for everyone within the next day or so.

Only you and anyone else you’ve given edit access to your calendar will be able to see the colors you choose. This has been a feature request from many of you for some time, and we hope you enjoy using it as much as we do.