Apple Finally Approves Google Voice App - GV Connect

Apple finally approves Google Voice App (the second time) and it is available on the iTunes store now here for $2.99 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gv-connect/id347835665?mt=8

GV Connect is a native iPhone/iPod Touch application for your Google Voice account. The app features the following:

• Place calls using your Google Voice number rather than your mobile number.
• Send and receive text messages (SMS) from your Google Voice
• Listen to voicemails and recorded conversations right on your device (pause, rewind, fast foward)
• Mark messages as starred, block senders, delete conversations
• Set call forwarding, do-not-disturb), rediections
• Retina displays

I suspect the FTC inquiry on Apple’s blocking of a native Google Voice app sparked the change.

o2 dongle laptop

The internet used to be all about sitting in front of a computer at home or in the office. Now though, thanks to the evolving world of mobile technology we can all stay online pretty much wherever we go. With a bewildering array of gadgets on the market it can be a tough call deciding on which one to go for though, and new products and deals hit the shelves on an almost daily basis.

If you’re looking for a mobile device that can keep you hooked up to the internet both at home and while you’re out and about then there are essentially two options – the laptop or the smartphone. There are pros and cons for going down either route and while laptops have been around for longer, smartphones are fast becoming a real challenger to mobile computing on a laptop, although smaller screens and keyboards will always be the major drawback for some.

Now that laptops have come down in price (you can even sign up for free laptops with mobile broadband) and have been joined by the smaller netbook option it’s possible to pick up an excellent machine for a very small outlay. Some mobile broadband deals even offer a laptop for free, although these generally fall under longer-term mobile contracts of around 24 months. Laptops will need a dongle connected to a USB port on the machine in order to access a mobile broadband network of your choice, but lookout for coverage and data limits when comparing the many and varied deals out there. Lookout for battery life if you’re planning on computing on the move too and durability is another important factor.

A smartphone, meanwhile, makes a great deal of sense if you’re looking for a powerful computing experience on the go, but don’t want the bulk of a laptop or netbook. The screen and keyboard will, of course, be rather more limited, but thanks to a smartphone being an amalgam of the best bits of a computer and the choice cuts from a phone, there’s not much you can’t do on one of these devices. The smartphone also has all of its connectivity options built-in to the unit, so there’s no messing around with dongles.

However, a smartphone can suffer similar problems to the laptop when using mobile services, with coverage and network traffic issues contributing to a slow performance. You may not be able to connect at all in some cases. Data usage is also something to watch out for with smartphones, and both handsets and laptops shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for home broadband services. Current technology doesn’t really make either gadget ideal for downloading large amounts of data such as movies. Things will improve as technology evolves, but mobile gadgets are currently more of a supplement to existing services rather than a replacement.

Whatever mobile computing device you choose, it’s likely that the mobile broadband speed you get will generally be less than the ‘up to’ advertisements you see all over the place. However, it’s a good idea to get some impartial advice from a comparison website like Broadband Genie, which will not only show you the best deals but also save you money on a laptop, smartphone or both.

About the author: Rob Clymo writes on behalf of www.broadbandgenie.co.uk, the independent comparison website for broadband, mobile broadband and smartphones.

Following the tablet footsteps laid by Apple, Google has built a Chrome OS tablet with help from HTC, and the device will launch on Verizon Wireless’ network come November 26th, 2010 — a date known otherwise as “Black Friday” in 2010.

The tablet is speculated to sport a 1280×720 display, 2GB of RAM, a 32GB solid-state drive, and WiFI/Bluetooth/3G wireless connectivity. Not bad. No word on front face or back camera yet though.

As for now, we would advise you to take the above information in with a grain of salt, at least until some more information on this so-called tablet is made available.

What are your thoughts? You want one?

Top 5 Useful and Free iPhone Apps

There are thousands of apps available to use on your iPhone, iPod and now your iPad as well and, surprisingly, many of the best are free to download.

The following list shows 5 of the very best free apps that also happen to be extremely useful as well.  There are loads of apps out there that can help make your life that bit easier so it’s well worth going through them to find the ones that will apply to you and your life.

Here are a few of the best useful apps out there that are well-worth a look.

Thetrainline – For those of you who commute to work by train, Thetrainline is a free transport app that outshines all of the others – and it’s free. The app can help you to plan your journey, obtain offline results and timetables and also has a location-aware ‘next train home’ option.  All of these features are available on Thetrianline’s clear and streamlined interface. There are of course other train apps available but many will cost you upwards of £5 and when you can get this one for free and it does the job – why look elsewhere?

Skype – This is a great money-saving app and allows you and your friends to chat to each other for free via your Skype app. The interface is simple and usable, enabling anyone with a Skype account to make free calls to other Skype users and also offers you the ability to make cheap calls to anywhere in the world. Pay as you Go users will find this app particularly useful but so will iPod touch owners as this app also allows them to make calls to other Skype users.

Dropbox – There are many apps out there that transfer content between your computer and your device but this one is free and actually a lot easier to use than many of the paid ones out there.  Any files you want to sync up – just drop them in to a folder on your computer and Dropbox will enable you to access them.

Around Me – Around Me is a great app for when you’re out and about.  It works out where you are and then shows you all the local banks, bars, petrol stations and restaurants etc that are in your vicinity.  The app is really useful when you happen to be in unfamiliar surroundings and the ‘augmented reality’ landscape mode is great for getting to know the area, just be aware that this new technology isn’t completely there yet so expect that you may come across a few little errors.

Moneysupermarket.com Voucher App – No matter what you’re looking for, moneysupermarket.com will no doubt have a voucher for it that will help make savings on your purchases. There are thousands of free discount codes and vouchers on this iPhone app that can help all UK shoppers save money on whatever they want to buy.

Apple iTunes Cloud Lala Very Cloudy

Many people expected that Apple would offer your iTunes music and movies over the cloud after it acquired Lala.com last December. That is of course after Apple obtained the appropriate music licenses to do so. Lala, the music serviced, shut down after being acquired by Apple this past May.

The Lala team leadership that went to Apple after the acquisition seems to leaving. Bill Nguyen, Lala’s founder, is known to be press friendly and against Apple’s culture of secrecy. Another founding member has left the company leaving Apple’s media cloud plans in a haze.

Google, on the other hand, hired Elizabeth Moody, an attorney with deep experience negotiating digital-music deals. Record executives expect Moody will help cut the first cloud music licensing agreement. Google has told label managers that it wants to launch a music service this year.

Apple is not worried though since it is still the #1 online and offline music store and jukebox.

However, in this fast pacing media game, tables can turn very quickly.

InnoPocket have launched HexaPose Stand for Apple iPad. The HexaPose Stand is made of solid aluminum and tough polycarbonate with a chic design tailor-made for the Apple iPad. It comes with a rotatable pivot which can allow you to freely rotate your iPad horizontally or vertically. The pivot can also be adjusted 3 ways for different viewing angles for surfing, reading, gaming or movie viewing. HexaPose Stand is the perfect gadget for your iPad if you use iPad at home just as your PC. It makes your iPad look like an iMac.

Features

• Clip-on, sleek looking table and desktop stand for your iPad
• Solid and strong aluminum base
• Precision molded polycarbonate frame to hold the iPad securely
• Hold iPad in both landscape and portrait orientation
• Multiple viewing angles for surfing, reading or movie viewing
• Cutout gives access to iPad’s dock connector for charging and syncing

MSRP: US$49.99

About InnoPocket

Founded in 1999, InnoPocket designs and manufactures a complete line of custom cases for laptop, PDA, smartphones, MP3 players and gaming devices.

GadgetMETER’s Take

This would be great for a keyboard and desktop solution as well.

Contact
InnoPocket
Website: http://www.innopocket.com

Captcha Fail - Hideous Secretaries

Captcha is the scrambled text that shows up requiring the user to enter manually to prevent automated bot systems from spamming. Every once in awhile, a funny captcha appears that is worth sharing. This particular captcha comes from craigslist.org. How many hideous secretaries have you seen?

In similar news, Google acquired reCAPTCHA, which is a service to secure websites while at the same time helping computers learn to read old and scanned text. The scanned text and the second is a random. reCAPTCHA determines statistically how often users get the scanned word correctly. If it is a high degree of accuracy, then the system assumes that is the word.

Leveraging user input through captcha text is a scalable approach to scan all the books that Google wants to do with a high level of accuracy. You know how they say that eventually, we all work for Google?