android

Imagine uploading your photos from your digital camera and from your mobile phone to Facebook and Flickr using the same software interface. Now imagine downloading a YouTube video to your phone by clicking a browser bookmarklet. You can do both in Dazzboard, a new media Webtop in open beta that fast-tracks your photos, songs, and videos to and from your mobile device to your computer or the online world.

There is a catch: the USB leash. You've got to plug the device into the computer via USB. The trade-off is being able to manage the phone's media content from a computer dashboard, which is infinitely more comfortable than managing it from the device's tiny interface. If you're not on the move, dashboards like Dazzboard offer most of the convenience of mobile management, and are overall much easier on the eye.

Here's how Dazzboard plays out. After registering for a free account, plug your device--like your mobile phone, digital MP3 player, or Sony PSP (or all three in succession)--into the computer by way of a USB cable. You may need to switch some devices, like BlackBerry and Windows Mobile phones, into mass storage mode for this to work (see FAQs). Dazzboard's "universal" device manager recognizes the device and lets you bilaterally interact with music, photos, and videos. You can upload content to the Web or to the PC, or quickly transfer media from your computer or from the Web to your device.… Read more

Though Android allows you to use multiple third-party e-mail accounts, the most feature rich is Gmail. A computer is still required to get the full Gmail experience on your phone, but the official Google mail service offers tight integration with your contacts and has many tie-ins with other Android applications.

Contacts After activating a new Android phone, you'll need to enter your contacts. It is easy to copy existing contacts from your SIM card, but transferring contacts from e-mail and other apps takes a few more steps. So how can you make it happen? The best solution is to … Read more

On this week's Dialed In, a tan and relaxed Bonnie joins us back in the studio to discuss a gallery of new phones for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. We also gab about Apple ending the Palm and iTunes party, upcoming Android updates and the dangers of texting while walking. And, of course, we report on our latest reviews and take your questions.

Bill Gates wonders why Google would want to make a browser-based operating system. In fact he wonders what exactly a browser is anyway. We also have some crazy Steve Ballmer quotes and some crazy stats of how many people respond to spam.

Bill Gates on Google's Chrome OS http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286308-56.html

Ballmer: what IS this thing!? http://paidcontent.org/article/419-microsofts-microsofts-ballmer-on-google-chrome-os-who-knows-what-this-t/

Gates: Natal to bring gesture recognition to Windows too http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286309-56.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286772-56.html

TechCrunch receives … Read more

Google is ready to bring Google Voice to a place where it really makes the most sense: the smartphone.

Android and BlackBerry owners who are also Google Voice users will be able to use the service directly on their handsets starting Wednesday, said Vincent Paquet, senior product manager for Google Voice and a co-founder of GrandCentral, the product currently known as Google Voice. Google Voice, which is expected to be available at some point Wednesday, lets users assign a single number to ring their home, work, and cell phones, and also get voice mail messages as text transcriptions.

With the … Read more

To Bill Gates, Google's Chrome OS looks a lot like a familiar foe: Linux.

"There's many, many forms of Linux operating systems out there and packaged in different ways and booted in different ways," Gates said in an interview with CNET News this week. "In some ways I am surprised people are acting like there's something new. I mean, you've got Android running on Netbooks. It's got a browser in it."

Gates said it was hard to really say much about Chrome OS, since Google has said so little about how … Read more

A report surfaced on Monday claiming that the new Acer Aspire One Netbook featuring Android will start shipping in August. The price of the Netbook is still unknown.

The computer reportedly will have the Google mobile operating system installed but will be configured as a dual-boot system, also shipping with Microsoft's Windows XP.

In June, just a few days after Acer announced that an Android-based Netbook would hit store shelves, the company told Digitimes that deploying a dual-OS strategy was in its best interest.

"(Acer Chairman) Wang pointed out that the dual-OS strategy is much safer for Acer, since consumer acceptance of the Android platform is unclear for the time being," DigiTimes reported. "Acer will be able to promote Android as a value-added feature, similar to Asustek Computer's Express Gate, to account for any price premium."

It's an interesting decision. To hedge its bets, Acer has decided that consumers wouldn't want an Android-only Netbook. So if you're looking to buy one of these computers, you'll have two operating systems from which to choose. Which OS would you pick?… Read more

Google and T-Mobile held a joint news conference last week to discuss their upcoming promotion for the new Google Android-powered MyTouch 3G phone. While the code names of upcoming Android updates like Eclair and Flan were an obvious focus of the conference, I found the most important revelation to be the expansion of payment methods for Android Market.

Thanks to a coming update, Google Checkout will now support multiple billing systems and T-Mobile customers will be able to charge purchases directly to their monthly bill. Also, while the sign-up process for Google Checkout is not difficult, removing it is one less barrier to a potential purchase.

Google Checkout has been the only payment option since the Android Market first launched paid applications. Despite a few initial download glitches related to credit card authorization, the service has performed relatively well since. Purchases are easily completed in seconds and instant refunds are available during the first 24 hours.

… Read more

Apple's popular App Store has proven that selling mobile applications for smartphones is a hot business, but can all these copycat application stores expect to find the same success as the App Store?

Companies, such as Nokia, Google, LG Electronics, Research In Motion and Microsoft are hoping they can. Since the Apple App Store came on the scene a year ago, these companies have each announced plans for their own application stores.

LG Electronics, the third largest mobile handset maker in the world, is the latest to announce its store. On Tuesday, the South Korean device maker announced it … Read more