Live Search for Windows Mobile

Live Search is a handy application that runs on your Windows Mobile phone. This demo shows exactly how you can use Live Search to find restaurants, get maps and turn-by-turn directions, and even text the restaurant info to a friend with one click. And do it all on your Windows Mobile phone. Check it out.

The HTC Touch Pro

The new HTC Touch Pro and its closely related sibling, the HTC Diamond, give the Touch a much-needed makeover, inside and out. Besides ditching the old unit’s shapely riverstone styling for an exterior with some (literal) edge, the Touch Pro adds snappier Internet access, a brand new user interface, and perhaps most importantly, a full QWERTY keyboard.

The Diamond and Pro are nearly identical. Both feature 2.8-inch touch-screen LCD screens set into slim rectangular bodies that are almost reminiscent of a Zune, with 3.2-megapixel cameras in the back. The Pro, however, has been cleaved down the side to accommodate a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard within. While the “Pro” name and HTC’s marketing team push this as a business feature that will allow the phone run with the likes of a BlackBerry or BlackJack, there’s no question that even casual texters will appreciate the tactile buttons for typing. It does add some bulk, though: the Pro gains over a quarter inch in thickness and a full 55 grams of weight, making it 66 percent heavier than the Diamond.

Inside, much has changed as well. A much faster 528 MHz processor keeping things zipping along at its heart (compared to the 201MHz TI chip in the old Touch) more RAM (228MB), and the latest version of Windows Mobile (6.1) to take advantage of it all.

The connectivity, the Touch Pro keeps up with the latest cell carriers have to offer by providing 3G HSDPA Internet that can reach download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps. HTC also includes a customized browser designed to give a desktop-like experience by zooming and panning, along with some Web 2.0 apps that have been tailored to the phone, like YouTube and Google Maps. Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, and GPS also come standard, rounding out the phone’s impressive wireless options.

Those in Europe, Asia and the Middle East will be able to pick up the Touch Pro late this summer

Key HTC Touch Pro Specifications:

Size: 102 x 51 x 18.05mm
Weight: 165 g
Connectivity: WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
Display: 2.8-inch VGA touch screen
Camera: 3.2MP, with the second VGA camera for video calling
Internal memory: 512 MB flash, 288 MB RAM
Expansion Slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
Keyboard: Slide-out 5 row QWERTY keyboard
Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g
GPS: GPS/AGPS
Interface: HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB 2.0, audio jack, and TV out in one)
Battery: 1340 mAh
Talk time: GSM: up to 8 hours
Standby time: GSM: up to two-weeks
Chipset: Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528MHz
[Source]

Blackberry Refused The Indian Government Request

There are only around 115,000 Blackberry users in India, but they’re causing the government a problem. It seems that the country’s security services and department of technology haven’t been able to unencrypt text messages sent on the Blackberry, and they’ve asked Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian company that makes the device, for the master key, worrying that criminals and terrorists might take to the device.

They’d expected co-operation, but they’ve been met with a refusal. RIM claims that its technology prevents any third party – even the company itself – from reading messages sent over the network. In The Times of India RIM was quoted as saying:

"The Blackberry security architecture for enterprise customers is purposefully designed to exclude the capability for Research in Motion (RIM) or any third party to read encrypted information under any circumstances."

Research In Motion, the company that makes the Blackberry phone, has refused demands by the Indian government to decrypt suspicious text messages.

India is joining other countries in its worries about being able to crack texts on the Blackberry.

Multi-Touch in Windows 7

Multi-touch is one of the big technology trends these days: Bill gates recently demonstrated a display integrating multi-touch at the recent D6 conference and unfortunately received little more than lukewarm feedback. Albatron is one of the first companies demonstrating what appears to be a production ready multi-touch device: Having played with the LCD at Computex.

Imagine Apple’s iPhone display on a large scale: Albatron integrated sensors on both sides of the touchscreen display. Robert Doncevski, sales director at Albatron, demonstrated the screen and its features to us and as far as we could see, controlling an operating system is a breeze. You simply only use your fingers to start and close applications. Bill gates’ demonstration may have been rather underwhelming, but seeing a multi-touch LCD actually in front of us made it clear that this technology works much better than we expected. Playing around with Google Earth was a blast.

Albatron integrated the technology into a 22" LCD providing a resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels. According to Doncevski, multi-touch is not affected by typical touch-screen limitations. Screen sizes of 24” and above simply require a third sensor on top of the screen. That’s it.

You don’t have to have supernatural powers to predict that this display may become a huge hit when Windows 7 becomes available. At this time, the display works with the current crop of Windows XP users, while Vista is the default operating system.

Demonstrating Multi-Touch capabilities in Windows 7

Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

Google Now Opens AdSense To Third-Party Ads

Google on Monday said it is now accepting third-party ads on the Google content network in North America.

The change comes because Google now has a process to review third-party ads to make sure they comply with the company's format and content policies.

For Google and its AdSense publishers, this means a larger advertising inventory and the potential to earn more money through the placement of those ads. For advertisers, this means that ad campaigns can be managed using a consistent software application, whether it's provided by Google or another ad serving company.

Because third-party ads could include malicious content, Google is requiring ad providers to be certified in order to serve ads on its network.

The following companies have been certified so far: 1) Advertiser ad servers: DoubleClick (DFA) and Mediaplex; 2) Rich media agencies: DoubleClick Rich Media, Eyeblaster, EyeWonder, Interpolls, PointRoll, and Unicast; 3) Research firms: Dynamic Logic, IAG Research, InsightExpress, and Factor TG.

A Google spokesperson said that the company had discussed certification with Atlas representatives and that Atlas could be certified at some point in the future. The spokesperson said she could not comment on possible inclusion of ads served by Yahoo.
[Source]

AMD Game!

In a move that could mean the revival of the PC gaming, the chip maker AMD announced a new program, AMD Game! Yes, that’s right! Not a new technology or something like that, but a new program.

Called AMD Game!, the program is conceived to help consumers select perfectly suited PCs for high-definition gaming, the company explained. Of course, as you can imagine, AMD-powered PCs.

AMD GAME! platforms will include AMD Phenom processors, the upcoming AMD Turion Ultra processors, AMD Athlon processors, ATI Radeon HD 3000 series graphics, and AMD chipsets.

Acer, Alienware, Logitech and Microsoft are joining AMD to ensure consumers can easily identify PCs that deliver HD gaming, the company added. Hardware and PC components that carry the AMD GAME! logo let PC buyers and do-it-yourself gamers know they will have an exceptional gaming experience.

AMD Game! is just one the latest company’s efforts toward the gaming PCS. In March, AMD unveiled a new motherboard, created especially for gamers and multimedia lovers. The AMD 780 Series motherboard GPU [video] will be the core platform component for the AMD desktop PC platform codenamed “Cartwheel” and AMD notebook PC platform codenamed “Puma”, the chip maker said. Both are scheduled to launch in Q2 2008.

The new platform supports AMD Phenom 9000 series quad-core processor or Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor.

The AMD 780G chipset is the first chipset created by the company that offers DirectX 10 game compatibility.

For the gamers AMD offers ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology, that harnesses the graphics power of both a discrete graphics card and the motherboard GPU in tandem, delivering in some applications up to 70 percent improvements in 3D performance.

Also, the AMD 780G chipset brings a full HD experience with support for the latest and most demanding formats, including VC-1, MPEG-2 and H.264 to the mainstream PC. Featuring the AMD Unified Video Decoder (UVD), it directs HD playback to the better-suited GPU rather than to the CPU so consumers may enjoy a smooth HD viewing experience.

The PCS built around the AMD 780G could be ideal for Home Theater solutions as they will offer a broad range of video interfaces, including DisplayPort, DVI and HDMI.

During the same month, AMD unveiled two new AMD Phenom X3 processors that were initially announced last year in September.

Labeled AMD Phenom X3 8400 (2.1GHz) and 8600 (2.3GHZ), the new processors are intended to be paired with the AMD 780 series chipset.

Firefox 3 Gets First Release Candidate

The highly anticipated Mozilla Firefox is finally out on the market. Firefox 3 Release Candidate in known as an intermediate step between the beta version and the final release and it will be used by developers to test their codes against the browser before its official general release.

The new Firefox will be easier, faster and surely more secure. The aspect changes are very insignificant, but the usability changes definitely make up for it.

The new address bar begins searching the user’s bookmarks and web sites history for matches as soon as an address begins to be typed in.

Both history window and the bookmarks window are displayed together in an Structured Query Language (SQL) database. Several new options are now available, including dragging an URL from the history column directly into a bookmarks folder. Also, a new Smart Bookmarks offers a complete categorization of the user’s folders, guided by the most frequently visited, recently bookmarked, and recently tagged web sites.

Firefox’s memory management and speed were also improved, passing the Acid2 test and managing to score 71 out of 100 on Acid3, with only 4 points behind Safari 3.1. A number of issues when dealing with web sites such as Gmail or Windows Live Mail still need a fix but without a doubt all problems will be resolved for the final version.

A large number of changes have been made by Mozilla for the user interfaces on Vista, XP, Mac OS X and Linux, changes requested
[Source]

Orange To Help iPhone

In the latest agreement to put the iPhone in the hands of international users, France's Orange said Friday that it has signed a deal to offer the popular smart phone in parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In a brief statement, Orange said it will supply the iPhone in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and its African markets later this year.

Earlier this month, Telecom Italia said it had signed a deal to bring the iPhone to Italy. Vodafone also said it had secured the iPhone for its customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

Also this month, Mexico's America Movil, which has 159.2 million wireless subscribers, said it plans to offer the iPhone to its Latin American audience later this year. Last month, Rogers Communications announced a partnership to supply iPhones to its Canadian customers.

Some observers speculate that Apple could soon release the next generation of the iPhone, which will run on the faster, newest cell phone technology known as 3G. The company said this week that Jobs will be speaking at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco next month, when he could presumably make such an announcement.

Apple also plans to release new software next month for the iPhone, which will make it better suited for corporate users and offer new programs, such as mobile games designed for its touch-screen and motion-sensing interface.
[Source]