.::REALITYRECALL::.

Apple fans like to tout just how many apps there in the Appstore–OK, OK, there’s quite a few–but Android completely dominates when it comes to the percentage of free applications.

By what margin does it dominate? Over half the applications in the Android Marketplace are free compared to less than a third of the iOS applications. What’s interesting about the numbers is how close the raw number of free applications is. Both the Appstore and the Market have roughly 130,000 free applications available for download with Android in the lead; the Appstore has 121,845 apps and the Marketplace has 134,342. What is significant is how Android has pulled ahead and how the large portion of the total available apps are free on the Android Market and how that reflects the greater Android culture.

Interested in more stats about the two? Hit up the link below for more infographics covering the changes in iPad app development and popularity as well as the overall shift in the mobile app ecosystem.

There Are Now More Free Apps for the Android Than For the iOS Platform [TechCrunch]

50+ Tools & Techniques to Remove Image Backgrounds in Photoshop, pt 1	Geek Rants: Why Do So Many Web Sites Fail to Use Print Stylesheets?	Max Out the Multi-Monitor Magic Under Windows 7

Firefox 4? Too furry. Internet Explorer 9? Too blue. Google’s Chrome? Just the right amount of shine — or is it? The company introduced a flat new logo for the browser and now that logo is gracing the software’s latest stable release. Chrome 11 is now available, the biggest changes being a number of security and bug fixes, some of which “may be kept private until a majority of our users are up to date with the fix.” The new version also delivers speech-to-text and, perhaps more importantly, text-to-speech. There are other enhancements too, but really you’ve probably already left us to update. Are you still there? Hello?

[Thanks, noob]

Google launches Chrome 11, flat icon is here to stay originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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(Cross posted on the Google Docs Blog, and Google Enterprise Blog)

Increasingly, people are using mobile phones to access information — from email to web browsing to editing documents. Part of getting work done on the go is being able to easily access, edit and share content, which is why we’re happy to announce the new Google Docs app for Android.

With this new app it’s easy to filter and search for your content across any Google account, then jump straight into editing docs using the online mobile editors. The app also allows you to easily share items with contacts on your phone, right from within the app.

1. Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?
Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.

The big hubbub that arose last week around location tracking within the iPhone has now received its due response from Apple itself. Firstly, the Cupertino company claims it does not, and has no plans to, track users’ iPhones. What it’s actually doing is “maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location,” which are then used to provide speedier calculation of your position when you want to use the device’s maps or other location-based services. The data collection that was recently brought to the public attention represents, according to Apple, the location of WiFi hotspots and cell towers around you, not your actual iPhone. Still, the fact iPhones have been shown to store as much as a year's worth of data is considered a bug by Apple, who plans to limit that period to a week in a future software update. The additional issue of data being collected after users turned off Location Services is also a bug, also to be fixed by Apple in that upcoming update. Left unanswered, however, are the questions of when Apple "uncovered" these bugs, as it claims, and why the fix for them is only coming now. Specialists have known about this behavior since at least September of last year. Either way, the software remedy is promised over the next few weeks, while the next major iteration of iOS should encrypt the cache file that's been the subject of all the scrutiny. You'll find the full Q&A after the break.

P.S. — One of Apple’s answers seems to disclose an extra bit of new information: “Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.”

Continue reading Apple officially answers questions on location tracking, says it doesn’t do it

Apple officially answers questions on location tracking, says it doesn’t do it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVO and MyTouch 4G owners have been able to enjoy the virtues of video calling via Qik for some time, but Skype’s latest acquisition is finally letting a few more phones in on the action. Qik Video Connect now works with some devices running Android 2.1 and up, iPhones, iPad 2s and any iPod Touch with a camera — letting Apple fanboys and Android apologists speak face to face over 3G, 4G, and WiFi with the device of their choosing. It’s not the first app to do cross-platform video calling, but it is the only one with Qik’s video mail and video sharing services. The catch? It’s only currently available on ten Android handsets, though dev teams are “busy getting Video Chat ready on additional phones.” Let’s hope they work quickly.

Qik Video Connect gets Android and Apple users seeing eye-to-eye originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 02:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not sure how this slipped past us at the Sony Android tablet event, but turns out the electronics giant also teased a couple of interesting VAIO laptops. First up is a “Freestyle Hybrid PC” that slides between tablet mode and laptop mode — very much like the Samsung Sliding PC, but with a seemingly slimmer bottom-half sans trackpad (though we can just about spot a pointing stick on the keyboard). No word on specs, prices, or availability here, but you may recall our proven tipster mentioning a 9.4-inch screen and a $799 launch in the fall. Could this be it? We shall see.

Also shown alongside is a swanky “Ultimate Mobile PC” — pictured after the break — with a hint of USB 3.0 and HDMI on a slim body, but again, there’s not much else to go with this slide. Hey, at least we now know it’s time to start saving up for these bad boys.

Continue reading Sony teases ‘Freestyle Hybrid PC’ tablet slider and next-gen ultra-portable laptop

Sony teases ‘Freestyle Hybrid PC’ tablet slider and next-gen ultra-portable laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 01:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dropbox sure has been in the news a lot lately. Two weeks ago Neowin reported that a major security flaw in the service can expose customer files to anyone on the Internet. Now it appears that the company has been trying to shutdown an open source project called Dropship, a…

Here’s something to ponder — will Hulu Plus launch on the Xbox 360 before or after we can sign back into the PSN and change our passwords try out the PS3’s latest version? Sony better hurry, since copies of the June issue of OXM have been spotted that claim the service will launch April 29th, kicking off a month-long giveaway of items including vacations, game systems and Hulu Plus subscriptions to random users. Joystiq confirmed with OXM that the date is actually in the magazine so all that’s left now is the official word, a new app on our dashboards and plenty of gesture and voice controlled madness.

Hulu Plus comes to Xbox 360 April 29th according to OXM originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re taking this with a grain of salt, since it applies only to users of the cross-platform Appcelerator Titanium development environment, but it appears that Windows Phone 7 is facing an increasingly uphill battle for mobile mind-share. At this point it should go without saying that a platform lives and dies by its developers and, according to Appcelerator, they’re growing less and less interested in creating apps for Microsoft’s smartphone OS. Only 29-percent of devs responded to the company’s quarterly survey that they were “very interested” in putting their wares on WP7, a fall of 7 points from last quarter and far less than market leaders Android and iOS. News is even worse for RIM, which saw a fall of 11-points in developer interest for BlackBerry, and now trails the folks from Redmond. Again, this survey is based only on the responses of 2,760 developers using a particular product, so we’d refrain from calling the results incontrovertible. Still, it reinforces something that even a casual observer could discern: BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 have a tough row to hoe. Two more charts after the break.

Continue reading Windows Phone and BlackBerry struggle to attract developer attention

Windows Phone and BlackBerry struggle to attract developer attention originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are some pretty good sub-$100 Android phones out there on the market, but they require a bit of compromise when it comes to performance and software updates. Here’s why you’re probably better off ignoring them. More »

Shared by Terren

If I saw one of these I don’t think I’d find these all that cute.

It’s looking like things are just as bad as we feared and that “external intrusion” got a little deeper than we might have liked. In an update on its PlayStation.Blog, Sony just confirmed that the ongoing PSN outage was caused by “malicious actions,” which we already knew, but continues by indicating that there has also been “a compromise of personal information.” Exactly what that means Sony isn’t saying, and it stops short of saying that credit card data for PSN and Qriocity users has been exposed, but the company does say “your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.” Yes, it may have been obtained — even Sony isn’t sure. There’s no further ETA for when PSN may be back up online or when you might be able to finally sample Portal 2‘s delicious online co-op mode, but at least you can still watch Netflix.

Update: Our friends at Joystiq are reporting that Connecticut Senator Blumenthal is rip roarin’ mad about the situation, “demanding answers” from SCEA president Jack Tretton. Right now, we’re more curious what Kevin Butler has to say about things.

Update 2: Sony UK is shedding more light on just what data has been exposed, and frankly we were happier when it was dark. By the sound of things, everything Sony had about you has been accessed. There’s a full list after the break, so only click on through if you dare.

Update 3: Sony’s just posted a clarification regarding the delay of their response: in a nutshell, PSN was shut down after the intrusion on April 19th, and the company needed to work with outside experts to “understand the scope of the breach” before posting the full lowdown earlier today. For those interested, Sony has a lengthy FAQ page regarding this incident.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Sony provides PSN update, confirms a ‘compromise of personal information’ (updated)

Sony provides PSN update, confirms a ‘compromise of personal information’ (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Which do you think emits more CO2: four guys running one mile, or four guys driving one mile in a hybrid car? If you’ve read the headline, then you already know the answer is quite surprising.