04
Apr
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According to its Twitter account, car rental company Zipcar appear to be working on an Android app. This is pretty good news for Android owners out there that use Zipcar for their transportation needs, as an iOS app has been available for quite some time.

That means you'll be able to find a Zipcar, book it, and unlock it - all with your Android phone. If you live in San Francisco or another big Zipcar town, you'll know just how useful this will be.

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If you are not familiar with Zipcar or how it works, take a look at their official site.

04
Apr
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The popular Android music player PowerAMP received an update this morning with new features and numerous bug fixes. Take a look at the change log below:

New:
- PowerAMP now has open API for 3rd party developers. Please check PowerAMP site for reference, samples, and complete Widget Pack sources
- PowerAMP now can be moved to SD card. You can still use PowerAMP widgets if you install PowerAMP Standard Widget Pack
- added Dolby/SRS support for HTC Desire HD (and few other HTC phones with Dolby/SRS) (Equalizer => DHD button)
- added song number/total counter (Settings => Look And Feel Tweaks => Show Track Counter)
- auto-advance option for queue (Settings => Auto-Advance Settings)
- PowerAMP now re-shuffles lists on repeat
- playlist/queue reordering can be now toggled on/off via special icon in list headers
- PowerAMP now shows embed lyrics from tags in its Album Art area.

04
Apr
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On March 31st, the Android Developer Console, which developers use to publish their apps to the Market, started experiencing issues that ranged from 404s and disappearing applications to missing statistics and apps that no longer obeyed.

As more and more panicking developers chimed in with similar experiences to multiple support threads, the only response from Google so far came from an employee named Ash back on the very first day, apologizing for the inconvenience and then shortly after announcing that all issues had been fixed.

Except they weren't.

The next day was April Fools' - nice prank, Google. Reports from devs all over the world kept flooding support forums, but Google was not responding anymore, even though April 1st was Friday - a workday, and this was no laughing matter (although they did fix something obviously more important).

31
Mar
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Just in time for the UK release of the Sony Xperia Play, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited (can we just say SCEEL for short?) has started to release Playstation games on the Android Market. So far, only five games have been released, including Syphon Filter and MediEvil, but I'm sure that many more are on the way (Metal Gear Solid, anyone?). Naturally, I tried to install one of these games, only to be denied.

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However, according to yesterday's leak, we should see the Xperia Play hit Verizon stores in the US on April 14th, so it won't be too much longer before that dream becomes a reality.

31
Mar
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As a direct result of Amazon releasing its (awesome) Cloud Player, music streaming service mSpot has upped its free storage to 5GB. mSpot works almost exactly like Amazon Cloud Player – upload your music, download the app, and stream to your heart's content. Unlike Amazon, however, the most storage that you can get from mSpot is 40GB ($3.99/month) with no plans in between the basic (5GB) and premium (40GB). On the upside, you don't have to shell out the annual fee right away - paying $4/month rather than prepaying for a year could attract some consumers to the service.

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mSpot works on Windows and Mac, with apps available for iOS and Android.

31
Mar
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Finding and buying a house can be an overwhelming experience, but fortunately for us, real estate website Trulia have released an Android app to aid the process. The app has some nice features, like using GPS to search nearby areas (you can also manually enter locations). It also allows you to save your favorite places, shows full pictures of homes, helps find open houses and saves them to your calendar, and even utilizes voice recognition – all you have to do is announce the city and number of bed/bathrooms that you’re looking for. Very cool stuff.

ss-0-320-480-160-0-3253a7dbc85d940b08b31205e5cfe2056dbc2e46 ss-2-320-480-160-0-76486929bf43a6360cb7402747d7a6c1d6f84c5c ss-4-320-480-160-0-51a56c63d8b1d0daa718c89fba5fd50f598d6bff 

I did not take the screenshots, so please do your best to ignore the task killer.

31
Mar
AA

Earlier this year American Airlines released the official version of their app, and to promote it they are launching the "Mobile Million Sweepstakes". One lucky winner will be awarded one million AAdvantage air miles, and one winner each day for 30 days will also receive the Barnes & Noble NOOK Color.

All you have to do to take part in this giveaway is reside in the U.S. and download the American Airlines Android app from the Android Market. Then simply watch the video and register through the pop-up. If you don't own an Android phone, there is an alternative online entry form for you poor misguided souls.

30
Mar
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When the Nintendo 64 emulator first came out, many users were overcome with joy - it was the first and only emulator for Android, and nostalgia was overwhelming. However, a short time after, N64oid simply disappeared. Worried threads popped up around the Internet, and with today's disappearance of PSX4Droid, we couldn't help but wonder whether the two incidents are related.

You can breathe easy though - N64oid is safe, at least according to a few people who received responses from the developer regarding the disappearance. The truth is, due to some compatibility and performance complaints, yongzh, the developer, made a decision to pull over into a pit stop and give the app a bit of a tune-up.

30
Mar
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If there is one thing I despise in the world of Android, it is piracy and specifically Android sites that let you download paid apps, oftentimes for a monthly membership fee. Most Android developers are not large corporations, but rather independent, smalltime individuals to whom every download counts. Today's story, therefore, gives me added pleasure, because in it, pirates are implicated in one of the most embarrassing ways I can imagine.

An application, masking itself as a non-existent version of the paid app called Walk and Text, was uploaded to multiple pirate Android app markets across North America and Asia.

30
Mar
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If you use Dropbox on your Android device and either like to live on the edge or help the company test out the latest betas, you will want to check out this post on the Dropbox forums, announcing a new public beta v1.0.9.3 with some new translations, Honeycomb improvements, new Lock Code support for the security-conscious, and other fixes. Forum replies also indicated that some sort of a folder opening bug got fixed in the process, though I am not sure what exactly that bug was in the first place.

Check out the changelog, then proceed to the direct download link, and once you've tested everything out, head back to the Dropbox forums to post your feedback:

Release Notes

  • Internationalization (French, Spanish, German, Japanese)
  • Lock Code now protects your Dropbox from prying eyes.