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Mar

Paypal Wants Developers To Come On Down For App Challenge

Posted by Will Shanklin in News

In an attempt to generate extra buzz for using their payment system in Android apps, Paypal has started a contest for developers with a grand prize of $25,000.

Remaining vague in the competition's criteria, the eBay-owned company simply asks devs to integrate secure payments into their Android apps, adding that they would like "something new, something surprising, something with business potential." In addition to the $25K grand prize, the runner up will receive $15,000, followed by $10,000 for third place (much more generous than the kitchen appliances they give you on Wheel of Fortune).

Paypal lists some "important deadlines" for anyone interested in entering:

May 14 – Deadline to submit your application for approval
June 3rd – Deadline for making changes
June 7th – Application live in an Android Marketplace
June 29th – Winners announced

May the best secure payment system in a mobile application win.

Mar

WiFi-only Motorola XOOM Headed to Sam’s Club, Possibly Priced at $539 - Droid Life- A Droid Community Blog

Wi-Fi-Only Motorola XOOM To Cost $539 At Sam's Club?

Posted by Will Shanklin in News, XOOM

It seems like only yesterday we were watching Steve Jobs reveal the second iPad and wondering how Android tablet manufacturers would react (actually, it was yesterday). Now we have news that the Wi-Fi-only version of the Motorola XOOM will be priced at $539 at Sam's Club.

Previous rumors suggested the price for the non-carrier version of the tab would be $600, so this is a bit of a surprise. Of course, wholesale warehouses like Sam's and Costco are usually able to sell for much less than other retailers (they rely mostly on memberships for profit), but this is more of a discount than would typically be expected.

Mar

Party Like It's 1996: Nintendo 64 Emulator Released In The Android Market

Posted by Will Shanklin in Applications, Games, News

Maybe you can think twice about picking up that new Nintendo 3DS: over a year since development began, the first official release of N64oid, which lets you play classic Nintendo 64 titles on your Android device, is now available in the Market. This is the latest offering from yongzh, the developer behind NESoid, SNESoid, and several other highly-rated emulators for Android.

While emulators for pre-mid-1990s' consoles are commonplace on a variety of mobile devices, the generation that featured N64 and the first Sony Playstation took a huge leap in terms of performance, so developing working emulators for titles from those machines takes considerably more time and commitment from talented developers.

Mar

RBC Predicts That Android Will Dominate The Tablet Market By 2014

Posted by Will Shanklin in Android OS, News

The General Manager of RBC Capital Markets (a major investment bank based in Canada) sees the global tablet market growing by leaps and bounds over the next few years (no surprise there), but he also foresees Android ultimately wearing the crown as market leader. Take his soothsaying as you wish, but GM Mike Abramsky's predictions carry a lot of weight with investors' bank accounts, so you can bet that his words were chosen very carefully.

Abramsky acknowledges that the iPad will likely remain the clear leader in the short-term but adds "... we expect Android to dominate (40% share Tablets by 2014), given its broader support from OEMs and carriers and expected budget-priced Android Tablets from Asia." He envisions many tablet manufacturers dropping like flies as the market becomes more condensed: "Too many vendors entering the market sets up for a pending shakeout" (though he isn't likely referring to major players such as Motorola, Samsung, HTC, or LG).

Mar

Google Maps Updated to 5.2 - More Foursquare-esque Features Added

Posted by Will Shanklin in Applications, News

Google Maps for Android was updated to version 5.2 today, and the influence of mobile check-in services is becoming more and more apparent with the addition of four social location features.

While v5.1 added Latitude check-in functionality, Maps v5.2 brings the ability to post reviews of places to Twitter. Additionally, Google Latitude friends can now be pinged, beckoning them to check-in where you would like them to be (they will then receive a 'request'). In case you need a little inspiration for your next destination, the update also lets you search for a place to check-in from Latitude. Finally, Maps v5.2 allows you to explore hotspots in your area.

Mar

NVIDIA's Tegra 2 Dual-Core CPU Confirmed To Be Powering Some Galaxy S II Handsets

Posted by Zak Stinson in Galaxy S II, News

On Wednesday night, NVIDIA confirmed a rumour that had been swirling around for the last few days. According to a presentation they gave and attended by the folks at ITProPortal, NVIDIA's dual core Tegra 2 chipset is powering three major handsets right now: the Motorola Atrix, the LG Optimus 2X, and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S II.

When first announced, the Galaxy S II was said to be packing the Exynos, Samsung's own SoC. Now it is clear that they will be releasing two versions of the new device, either with their Exynos Chipset or NVIDIA's. ITProPortal speculates that Samsung is doing this to boost the number of handsets that can be moved to market, as production of the Exynos is still ramping up.

Mar

Android Will Likely Be Getting A Blackberry Messenger App

Posted by Will Shanklin in Applications, News, Rumors

Last Updated: August 20th, 2012

While most Android users don't likely spend a lot of time thinking about what's going on in RIM's land of Blackberry, it has been revealed that one of the popular smartphones' mainstay features, Blackberry Messenger, will be coming to Android and iOS. The popular chat service known for its speed, conversation threads, and easy PIN contact transfer will most likely arrive later this year.

Up to this point, Blackberry Messenger has been a closed service, only available on Blackberry phones. Some found opening it up to other platforms to be a confusing business decision by RIM, as BBM has been one of the perks that has kept many of their customers from migrating to a rival OS like Android, but RIM will apparently hold back some key features like picture and video transfer only for customers on their phones.

Mar

Google's Human Body Browser Is Now Available (Again) For Honeycomb Devices

Posted by Zak Stinson in Applications, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Google Body, the Google Earth-style anatomy app announced at February's Honeycomb event, has finally hit the market. After spending the month as a web app, owners of a shiny new Honeycomb tablet can glide through skin, muscle, bone, organs, veins and nerves with the swipe of a finger.

Note: Yesterday, Google published Google Body and then almost immediately pulled it for an unknown reason before we even got a chance to announce it. Today, it seems like the app is finally available again.

Those lucky ones of you who get to play with the app may notice there is only a rendering of the female anatomy for perusing.

Mar

Updated: DroidDream Is Bad - But We Think We Found Something Even Worse (Maybe)

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, News

Update: After having a back and forth with Android Security, there's some disagreement as to just how malicious these apps we linked in this post are. We may have jumped the gun here, so hold tight, and we'll keep you informed.

First off, no, we're not trying to be sensationalist. And I'll admit up front that we're a bit light on details at the moment, but we've got a guy who is a professional, seasoned coder, and that's not the type of guy whose opinion you ignore. With that said: yes, we really think that we found something worse.

Among the flood of (mostly) related security/piracy tips we received in the wake of the DroidDream discovery was something that was worth a closer look: two more developers who were putting up more stolen apps.