Google has announced that it has acquired the Mobile Ad Network AdMob for $750 Million. This acquisition will enhance Google’s foray into mobile advertising , while also giving advertisers and publishers more choice in this growing new mobile space.

In a statement, Google’s Susan Wojcicki, Vice President of Product Management, said that, “Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time. AdMob is the quintessential Silicon Valley startup — generating impressive year on year revenue growth — and we’re excited to welcome this talented team to Google”.

We have been continuously watching from past few months on how mobile space is growing, with great phones with full Internet browsers and vibrant app marketplaces coming out  and driving the mobile internet usage exponentially. And with great mobile advertising products and effective monetization of the mobile content we think it will skyrocket the growth of mobile internet further more.

What do you say?  Pass on your comments below.

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The Google Maps team always does some interesting work. The latest addition to GoogleMaps Mobile is Layer for the NYC Subway . If you are in a city which has a underground or any railway system, you are always forced to carry a map of the trains always so that you never get lost. When in London I was always carrying the TubeMap .  It’s humanly impossible to memorize the network of trains and routes especially when you are a first timer in a new location. But what I found interesting is that even locals use the maps so much to get from one place to  another. Now NewYorkers using the SubWay can celebrate .Google has added a layer for the NYC subway routes on a map to help you  navigate the New York City subway system. To see this new layer while viewing a map of New York City, just click the Layers menu and then turn on the Transit Lines layer. To download new version of maps just hit m.google.com/maps from  your mobile.

Warning :  Most underground train systems don’t have network coverage and Google maps might need a working data connection to download data. So make sure you use the app to plan your trip when you have a signal !

Read

• Google Adds Turn by Turn Navigation. Releases Maps Navigation for Android 2.0
• Google Maps Mobile 2.3 brings Street View to Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile
• Google Maps v3.0 released.
• Google Navigation will come to iPhone, but only if Apple approves

If you said “Yes” to any one of the above, here is some amazing news to you all. Google has now launched Voice Search for all the Nokia S60 Phones.

Just download the Google Mobile App onto your Mobile Phone and you are all set to search the web by Voice. An alternate way to get Voice Search onto your phone is to visit m.google.co.in from your phone’s default browser and downloading the Google Mobile application.

Downloading the Google Mobile Application places a shortcut to Google search on your Phone’s home screen which makes it very easy and very fast to search for anything on the Web. Pressing the call button for a while, activates the voice search so you can speak your query and search for that particular Query. And if you are in Bangalore or Gurgaon, you can just turn on the “My Location” feature to give you the most relevant results nearby.

Here are some screenshots of the application. Check them out.

Check out the video below to see demo of Google Voice Search and also to learn to search by voice using simple commands.

• Google Launches Mobile App for Nokia S60 smartphones
• Google Gear for Windows Mobile
• Google Adds Turn by Turn Navigation. Releases Maps Navigation for Android 2.0
• Google Navigation will come to iPhone, but only if Apple approves
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Google which announced Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 yesterday, told today that Navigation could also come to the iPhone, if and only if Apple approves it.

In an article to AppleInsider yesterday, Google said “Apple is a close partner, we would like to support the iPhone with Maps Navigation. Millions of users experience Google Maps on the iPhone. We will continue to work with Apple to bring innovation, including Latitude and Navigation, to users but you will have to speak to Apple about its availability”.

However, with the recent dispute between Google and Apple over the banning of Google Voice App from the App Store where Google claimed that Apple had formally rejected the application and Apple shot back that they are still checking out the application and have not rejected it yet, I highly doubt that Google Maps Navigation will ever make a debut on the iPhone.

What do you say? Do tell us your views below.

• Google Adds Turn by Turn Navigation. Releases Maps Navigation for Android 2.0
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• Google Gear for Windows Mobile
• Apple iPhone Games
• Google Voice Search Arrives To Nokia S60 phones

Lots of people including Me have heavily relied on Google Maps Mobile to get directions to any unknown place that we may land upon. However, sometimes getting only the directions don’t work since you cannot see them while you are driving.

To solve this issue, Google today released Maps Navigation (beta), A highly upgraded version of the present Maps software which will be free and available on all Android 2.0 devices by default.

This new release comes along with everything you would want in a navigation system similar to GPS Devices , like 3D views, Turn-By-Turn voice guidance and Automatic Rerouting taking advantage of your phone’s GPRS/EDGE/3G connection.

Important Features of this Release are:

1. The Most Recent Map and Business Data: Your phone now automatically gets the most up to date maps and business listings from Google Maps which is continuously improving, all thanks to various user contributions and businesses activation.
2. Search in Plain English: You can now simply enter the name of a business, a landmark or just about anything you want to find into the built in search box, and Google will find it for you. Then show you the direction upon the button press “Navigate“.
3. Voice Search: You can also voice search your destination instead. Just hold down the search button to activate voice search, then tell your phone the place, you want to find and navigation will start automatically.
4. Traffic view: Google Maps Navigation now gets live traffic data over the Internet. you can get the current traffic conditions via traffic indicator light present at the corner of the screen which glows green, yellow or red according to the traffic conditions. you can also get more details on the traffic conditions by tapping the light to zoom out to an aerial view showing traffic speeds and incidents ahead. And if the traffic looks very bad, you can also choose an alternate route.
5. Search along route: You can now also search along your route specific businesses like gas stations, restaurants or parking to give you results that falls on your route.
6. Satellite view: Google Maps Navigation now provides you the same satellite imagery as Google Maps Desktop. Just turn on the satellite layer for a high-resolution, 3D view of your upcoming route.
7. Street View: You can now just double-tap the map to zoom into Street View, which will tell you the turn as you will see it, with your route overlaid.

Here is a Video Demo of the new Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0

Google Maps Navigation will feature first on the upcoming Moto Droid from Verizon and will be initially available for free in the United States.

• Google Navigation will come to iPhone, but only if Apple approves
• Google Voice Search Arrives To Nokia S60 phones
• BlackBerry to get Google Local Google Talk
• Google phone’s Android SDK Released
• Google Maps Mobile 2.3 brings Street View to Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile

Google, today added Gmail support to Google Sync for iPhone, iPod Touch and Windows Mobile devices. This will surely help people who want push notification support on their iPhones as Google sync just offers the same. So users who like to keep their inbox updated just need an always-on connection.

Besides that, Google sync also allows you to sync  just your Contacts, Calendar, or Gmail, or any combination of the three. Personally speaking I would sync a combination of three. Who wouldn’t want their contacts to be sync? for that matter even your schedule? Checking mails is the first thing I do after getting up in the morning; or when travelling; in fact all the time.

Just visit m.google.com/sync on your computer or visit their how to if you already have Google sync on your phone.

• Gmail mobile launches
• Google Navigation will come to iPhone, but only if Apple approves
• Google phone under works ?
• BlackBerry to get Google Local Google Talk
• Google Gear for Windows Mobile

The Android Team has just released its SDK for Android 1.6 codenamed “The Donut”.

So whats new in the “The Donut“:

1. It now has support for both CDMA as well as GSM.
2. It now supports more screen resolutions, which in return will allow Android apps to work on more devices.
3. The new APIs include a gestures framework and text-to-speech engine.
4. Donut now provides access to the new and improved Android Market.
5. It now provides a Quick Search Box for Donut Users, which allows searching directly from the home screen with suggested results while a person is typing.

Devices with Android 1.6 running are expected to be out as early as October ‘09. Apps developed for older versions of Android will continue to run on Android 1.6. However do test your existing apps on the Android 1.6 SDK to make sure they run as expected.

Android Team also added that over the next several weeks, they will publish a series of blog posts to help the developers get ready for the new developer technologies in Android 1.6.  The topics on which posts will be covered are:

1. How to adapt your applications to support different screen sizes
2. Integrating with Quick Search Box
3. Building gestures into your apps and
4. Using the text-to-speech engine.

Download Android 1.6 SDK

In the meantime you can also check the official video of Android 1.6 along with its new features below:

• Google Open Handset Alliance and Android is official
• Google G1 now available to Android developers in India
• Open Handset Alliance adds 14 members including Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, and Vodafone
• Google phone’s Android SDK Released
• Google Adds Turn by Turn Navigation. Releases Maps Navigation for Android 2.0

You can jump to the images tab in your phone browser and get image results for your search term. Google will arrange about 8-14 images per page depending on your mobile screen. Once you click on a small thumbnail it takes you to a page with a larger version of the image with a link to the website and cool next and previous links to pick other images.

Have you used image search on your mobile phone ? Confused about names of actors or people ? try googling for the name

Guess what we searched for ?

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None Found

This is supposed to be a Touchscreen Windows Mobile phone. It will come with Windows Mobile 6.5 pre installed. The features can be seen in the picture below:

The release date for the Leo is not known. the handset might also be released under a different name as Leo could just be a codename.

HTC Click

the HTC Click is a low-cost Android based smartphone. Specifications are unknown but we will let you know if they arise.

Read

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• HTC HD2 Announced!
• HTC Leo Touch Pro 3 Pics

Look ma , No keys !

The phone has a teflon coating which you could find only on non-stick pans so far. But this coating on a phone means that the phone will hold on to your hands tighter.

The top features the proprietary htc usb port which hopefully will be replaced by a stand microUSB connector in future !

The front row comprises of the call , home,menu, hangup keys on row 1 and the track ball , search and back keys on the 2nd row.

5 Megapixel Camera on the Rear with Auto-Focus .. Don’t understand why HTC hates to place inbuilt flash on Android phones.

Unboxing Video Below

You can get this one at a store soon worldwide for around USD 700 or Rs.35000 or you can install the Hero firmware on your good old G1

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