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Google Places API brings out Autocomplete for better predictions

google places

Google as a part of improving their continuing effort to help 3rd party developers, has brought out Google Places Autocomplete to make things easier for developers to add location awareness to their applications. What does this mean for developers? Well, by adding location-awareness to your application it bring tons of value and joy to the users. The Places API Autocomplete service, a feature of Google Places API and the Google Maps API v3’s Places Library, brings the same type-ahead-search technology from Google Maps to third party apps, helping you soothe some of the users’ address entry frustration. Continue reading “Google Places API brings out Autocomplete for better predictions”

Apple Might Be Cutting iPhone 5C Production

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Reports say that Apple might be reducing the production of it’s iPhone 5C by 50% – from 300,000 units to 150,000 units. The source which leaked of the iPhone 5S and 5C before their announcements, claims that the reason behind this is the fall in the Grey market pricing for the phone.

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Microsoft to release Remote Desktop apps for iOS and Android this month

Remote Desktop has been a popular feature for Windows PCs for a long time, mainly used to remotely help your friends or family, usually for troubleshooting. The Server-Client methodology has enabled the clients to exist on many platforms. In fact, the Remote Desktop Protocol is widely known to be used in third party apps, but as always, nothing comes close to the apps done by the people who created it. Microsoft are doing just that, by releasing Remote Desktop apps for iOS and Android later this month, according to the company’s own press release.

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Ground Miles app launched by Bupa, makes fitness tracking social

Fitness enthusiasts now have yet another option to track their daily walks and runs. Ground Miles is a new app developed by Bupa which is the company behind Max Bupa and is meant to encourage you to walk a bit more. Makes sense coming from a health insurance brand! The app was launched in association with the World Health Federation and is a ‘personalized and motivational’ walking app. The application uses GPS to keep a track of the distance you’ve walked and even helps you locate walking routes.

What sets it apart from the wide range of similar apps available out there is the social bent to the app. The app helps you find walking clubs, compare scores against family members and friends. There’s the usual stats like walking quotient, number of steps taken, distance walked and calories burnt. The Ground Miles app also has a gamification angle to it where it awards badges on the basis of goals crossed. Continue reading “Ground Miles app launched by Bupa, makes fitness tracking social”

Google Search for iOS gets push notifications for reminders

Google today announced a slew of improvements in its mobile search application to celebrate 15 years of Google Search. The improvements include an update to the iOS app that will bring reminder notifications amongst other features. Some of these features are already available on the Android app. The update will also help enable a seamless search experience across multiple devices and platforms. The search app will now sync across mobile devices and platforms and so a reminder set on one device will reflect on others as well. Users will need to be logged in to their Google account for this.

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BBM for iOS is now live

The very popular BlackBerry messenger (which was exclusive to BlackBerry devices so far) has now gone live on the iOS App Store. To be available around the globe over the next 24 hours, the application is now available on the New Zealand App Store.

The application is also expected to hit the Android Play Store any moment. The App Store description points out of some of the features that sets BBM apart from the likes of Whatsapp which has accumulated a huge market share of its own. Continue reading “BBM for iOS is now live”

Micromax to preload BBM on all its Canvas Smartphones

BlackBerry messenger, one of the most popular instant messaging services, had announced its arrival on iOS and Android platforms earlier, but it looks like manufacturers are already warming up to the concept of pre-loading it on their devices. Micromax is the one of the first manufacturers to announce that it will pre-load BBM on all of its Canvas Smartphones starting from the first week of October. But of course existing users too, can download the BBM app through the play store, irrespective of the device they own.

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IDC – Windows Phone posts the fastest growth in 2Q13, Android leads the market at 79.3%

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Last quarter, we saw how Windows Phone marketshare finally leaped ahead of BlackBerry, and the trend seems to continue here. In the second quarter of 2013, Windows Phone has posted the fastest growth amongst the top 5 smartphone OSes with 8.7 million units shipped, according to IDC, which lines up with growth expectations from other analysts. While the growth percentage is less than what Windows Phone had last quarter(133% – Q1, 77.6% – Q2), it is certainly good news for Windows Phone’s uptake as an operating system. On the other hand, Android shows no signs of slowing down while it is the exact opposite for Apple which has its marketshare reduced from 16.6% to 13.2% while growing slower than the market at 20%.

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Twitter updates Android & iOS apps, adds login verification and photo galleries

Twitter just pushed out an update for its iOS and Android applications which primarily adds new security related features. It is now possible to use login verification and approve such requests directly from the phone. Two factor authentication had been added to Twitter web a few months back but the updated version of the app will remove the need for SMS based verification. A push notification will show up on the application that will allow users to approve login attempts. Additionally, it is possible to get a backup code in case you don’t have an active data connection on the phone.

Additional features includes a new photo gallery that shows results in a mosaic like grid and lets you see more images in a go. The gallery will also show up under user profiles. An improved search experience is also part of the update which will provide more context and information on people who show up in Twitter searches. Continue reading “Twitter updates Android & iOS apps, adds login verification and photo galleries”

Apple loses marketshare as Android tablet sales surge – IDC

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What started with Kindle Fire is now the leading form factor in the tablet space. Yes, thanks to the booming small tablet market, Android is surging ahead at no. 1 spot in the tablet space too, with Apple losing marketshare and not growing along with the market. IDC had released its Smartphone marketshare analysis recently, which saw Apple growing at a slower pace than the others and that seems to be the case in tablets too.

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Google Chromecast Unboxing and Demo

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Google launched the Chromecast last week and we already managed to get hold of this interesting device on FoneArena. So what does a Chromecast do ? It is basically a dongle for your TV which lets you watch online video and more on your large screen TV. You can watch Youtube , Netflix , Google Play movies and your Chrome brower tab on your large screen TV using this tiny little dongle which connects to it using the standard HDMI socket.Most modern TVs would draw power from the HDMI itself but certain older ones like mine would require external power. Nice that Google has decided to include a HDMI extender and also a power solution in the box. Watch the unboxing and a short demo in the video below

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csAuKHAcV1A

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Age of Empires to land on iOS and Android in 2013, more first party games later

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In a landmark change to the mobile gaming scenario, Microsoft has decided to bring some of its hugely popular first party titles to iOS and Android beginning with the Age of Empires in 2013. This is facilitated thanks to a license agreement by Microsoft with Klab, a mobile game developer in Japan which plans to port Age of Empires within this year to iOS and Android.

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Disney’s Monsters University game now available on Android and iOS

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Monsters University, the fun animated prequel to the Monsters Inc. movie that released a long time back, has just landed in theatres worldwide today and co-inciding with the release is a brand new game from Disney – Monsters University(yes, the same name as the movie) for iOS and Android. The game features two mini games inside it, and promises to bring more mini games in future updates. It is available for download on the iTunes app store for iOS and the Google Play Store for Android.

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Tablet shipments expected to exceed total PC shipments in 2015

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IDC, the analysis company that analyses several markets every quarter has released a report that Tablet shipments are all set to overtake total PC shipments in 2015. With a rapidly growing tablet market, IDC notes that the landscape is changing after the flood of low cost Android tablets with screen sizes less than 8 inches, which might contribute as much as 57% of the total tablet market in 2017, while the rest is constituted by bigger tablets, mostly the iPad. The iPad mini too might be a proven driver in the sales of small tablets.

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Android at 75% marketshare, Windows Phone finally ahead of BlackBerry – IDC

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Previously, a month ago, IDC released statistics for the whole mobile phone market, which highlighted the smartphones overtaking feature phones for the first time ever in the first quarter of 2013. Now, they have revealed the marketshare of smarphone platforms, which makes for a very interesting analysis altogether. Android has kept on soaring with a 79.5% change YoY, and a massive 75% marketshare, a number even the yesteryear Symbian failed to achieve with its massive presence. The total shipments of 162.1 million devices is in line with what Google announced last night, of the 900 million activations till date.

Apple, while at a distant second place with just 17.3% marketshare rules the smartphone market together with Android, taking over 92.3% of the whole smartphone market. The surprising addition and change here is from Windows Phone, which has finally leapfrogged BlackBerry with a measly 3.2% marketshare and a whopping 133.3% growth change YoY.

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