The Samsung Galaxy Nexus Has Google Beam

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has Google Beam which allows you to instantly share websites, contacts, applications and more through the NFC connectivity. The handset also has an impressive curvy design and powerful hardware that enable it to offer fast and efficient functionality.

The handset is the first to run the new Android 4 operating system which introduces an entirely new user interface designed to make moving around it easier and faster. It replaces many icons with a more simplistic approach. It includes a new home screen and 360 degree action bar along with a visually pleasing holographic backdrop. The latest Android OS entitled Ice Cream Sandwich also includes many new preinstalled applications, and will allow you to download the first new applications for the OS when they become available. Among other new features are the Beam function which uses the handsets Near Field Communication technology along with Face Unlock. This simple feature allows you to simply show your face to the phone via its front camera and then unlocks it on recognition.

As well as the front camera for unlocking, video calling and self-portrait shots; the Galaxy Nexus offers an impressive 5 megapixel rear side camera which includes an LED flash and up to eight times digital zoom. Additionally, the camera has auto focus and a zero waiting time for the shutter which is automatically controlled, allowing you to instantly snap a shot or begin videoing in full High Definition once you shortcut to the camera itself. Once you have snapped shots or captured video you can also watch them back on the large 4.65 inch display with super AMOLED technology, which provides a stunningly vivid interface. Additionally, there is an internal user memory of 16 gigabytes along with a microSD card slot for up to 32 gigabytes at any time respectively.

The handset also offers a music player and good messaging along with Google Plus Messenger and Google Talk, which together help you to keep in contact with friends, as well as the integrated social networking features and applications such as Facebook and Twitter respectively. The phone also includes an entire range of Google services directly integrated including Gmail and music services, much like the Samsung Galaxy Note. Connectivity meanwhile, includes both USB and Bluetooth 3 with enhanced data rate.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is a slim and elegant handset which provides fast access to your friends and the Web along with many other features through the powerful OS and 1.2 gigahertz processor. The phone brings everything to life through its impressive interface and High Definition capabilities.

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What Is The Google Cell Phone Tracker?

Many people are not aware that Google has a cell phone tracker. In fact, the product is not advertised as such, but can be used as this type of technology. It is a great feature to have on your phone if it is ever lost or stolen. This type of cell phone tracking can be done with Latitude, and it is absolutely free.

Here is how it works. First, you have to sign in to your Google account. If you don't have one, it is free to sign up. Latitude is also free to use, like most of the Google apps. Once you are signed in and on the site, you just have to choose your phone and enter the number. Once you do this, a confirmation will be sent via SMS to your cell phone. You will have to follow the instructions in that message in order to link your phone to the Latitude account. Once this is complete, you can track the phone.

There are many ways that this can be useful as a mobile tracker. If your phone is ever lost or stolen, you can use the tracker to see exactly where your phone is at any given time. You can also use this feature to track people in your family. Once the phone is active with the Latitude account, it can be traced using the program. This means that you can activate a phone with Latitude and give it to your children. You will always know where they are as long as they have their phone on them and it is turned on.

There are other free cell phone tracker services out there, but most of them are not as reliable as the Google website. In addition, with the Google site you know that your phone can only be tracked using the account it is linked to. This keeps other people from being able to track you by using the mobile tracker to see where you are with your phone at any given time. This is a huge privacy issue that Google and other companies are working hard to avoid. However, the service can be extremely helpful, especially if you left your phone somewhere and don't remember where you left it. You can track the phone down and know exactly where it is. If your phone is stolen, you can track the phone and report the theft and its location to the proper authorities in an attempt to get it back.

You will always be able to find what you're looking for with the Cell Phone Tracker.

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Google helping Bletchley Park Trust to rebuild Block C

 

Google and the Bletchley Park Trust have announced a fundraising scheme aimed at restoring Block C, a building used to index every scrap of intelligence gathered and decoded by the Park's codebreakers during World War 2 (Photo: Google)

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Search giant Google has teamed up with the Bletchley Park Trust to kick start a fundraising effort to rebuild the records center known as Block C. A Google-supported garden party was held within the grounds of the famous WW2 decoding center last week to start off the restoration fund, which aims to transform the now derelict building into a visitor and learning center.

It's not the first time Google has joined forces with the Trust to preserve a piece of history. Last year, Google contributed US$100,000 towards an effort to save a collection of scientific material and papers relating to the wartime codebreaking work of Enigma genius Alan Turing, which had been put up for auction. In spite of public donations to the tune of GBP23,000 (US$37,432) also being raised, things looked decidedly hopeless until the National Heritage Memorial Fund stepped in and secured the winning bid. The papers are now safely housed in a special display at Bletchley Park.

Now Google is helping to transform a dilapidated building last used in 1984 into a new visitor and learning center for Bletchley Park and the UK's National Museum of Computing, which is housed in H block on the site and is home to Colossus - the world's first electronic programmable computer.

During WW2, personnel at Bletchley Park intercepted coded messages from the German war machine, decoded them and fed the intelligence to the Allied forces. Every scrap of intelligence intercepted and decoded by codebreakers at Bletchley Park was meticulously cataloged, cross-referenced and indexed in a huge punch card setup housed in Block C. At the height of its activity, some two million punch cards per week were used by workers in what Google has described as the "search engine at the heart of Bletchley Park's decryption activity."

It's estimated that the efforts of the Park's 10,000 plus personnel shortened the war by at least two years and saved more than 20 million lives.

The Google-supported garden party was held on August 4 within the grounds of Bletchley Park, and was organized by folks at the search giant like Claudia Baker and Lynette Webb, staff at the Park and computer scientist Dr. Sue Black. Visitors were treated to Pathe news clips from WW2, a special auction, music and speeches galore from the likes of Google's Peter Barron and Bletchley Park WW2 veteran Jean Valentine.

The event raised over GBP10,000 (US$16,281) towards the Block C restoration fund, which is an excellent start, but more funds will be needed before work can begin on its transformation.

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Microsoft makes Google look silly with two tweets

With just two tweets Microsoft has managed to make Google look very silly and stopped anyone feeling sorry for the search company over losing out in recent patent bidding wars. We all know that Android is doing very well on smartphones and tablets with over 550,000 devices being activated on a daily basis. This isn’t

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Microsoft makes Google look silly with two tweets

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Google and Microsoft patent slapfight continues

Still not sure exactly what happened at Google this week? It’s like someone accidentally delivered espresso for the decaf pots. Meanwhile, over in Redmond, Microsoft’s legal team discovered how to use Twitter, but not any of the complimentary services that allow you to put a single coherent thought into an extended tweet. If you haven’t been following

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Google Hangouts Review - Google+'s Video Chatting Application

Recently, Google has opened to the public its Google+ service in a bid to finally get into the social networking game, after its complicated Wave and, to some extent, Buzz projects were unsuccessful. Google+ is very exciting in and of itself, but one of its coolest features is Google Hangouts, its group video chat service.

Bottom-line: Google Hangouts looks great and is both fun and easy to use. As with your Google+ status updates, you can choose which groups of people you want to invite to your Google Hangouts session, making it easy to start a video conference in seconds.

Pros:  Browser-based, so nearly anyone on any system or web browser can use Google Hangouts. It is incredibly intuitive so anyone can easily start using this video chatting service.  Voice and video quality are also great. The YouTube integration makes Google Hangouts fun to use.

Cons: The need for an invitation to Google+ to get started. If there’s a user being inappropriate during a hangout, they can be reported but not kicked out of the video chatting session. Also, on first use, you may need to update your plugins and restart your browser.

Price:  Free, but currently requires an invitation to Google+.

To get started with Google Hangout, users need to install the Google Voice and Video plugin. This lets you use video in Hangouts, Gmail, iGoogle, and Orkut (another social network owned by Google). The plugin takes around 30 seconds to install. After that, you’re all set to start using Google’s newest video chat service.

Each hangouts session can hold up to 10 people using video.

When creating a hangout, you can choose which group of contacts, or circles, you want to invite to your video chat. A post will then appear on all relevant streams letting people know that a hangout is happening and it will list all the people currently participating.

If you’ve invited less than 25 people, each will receive an invitation to the hangout. Also, if you invite users who are signed into Google+’s chat feature, they’ll receive a chat message with an invitation to the hangout. Users who have been invited to a hangout but try to start their own, receive a notification that there’s already a hangout going on. Then, they get asked whether they want to join the existing session or create their own. Each hangout has its own web-address that can be shared, making it easy to invite people to hangouts.

It’s worth keeping in mind that hangouts are created by one user, but everyone that’s invited can invite others to your video chat. Also, it’s impossible to kick people out of a hangout.

While Google Hangouts is not a business-specific tool, it’s a great alternative to Skype when it comes to hosting larger, but informal, video chats, especially since group video chat on Google is free but Skype charges for it.

My favorite Google Hangouts feature is the YouTube integration, since it lets everyone watch videos together in real-time. One drawback so far is that the video isn’t synced between users, so while the videos being watched are the same, they could be at a different place for each user.

Once one of the chatters clicks on the YouTube button, the group can choose the video they want to watch, by doing a simple search. When a video is being played, microphones are muted to avoid echoes, and those on the video chat need to click on the ‘push to talk’ button in order to be heard by other participants. Whenever this happens, the sound of the video goes down, so it doesn’t have to be paused for people to be heard. If the YouTube video is muted, the ‘push to talk’ button will disappear, and the microphone volume is activated again. If a user decides to unmute their microphone while a video is playing, the video will be muted.

I found it to be not only fun, but useful watching videos during a hangout. Users can upload videos and presentations relevant to their video chat to YouTube, and easily share them with all their participants. Best of all, even when watching a video, you can still see your video chat participants, as their image is displayed below the YouTube video. There’s no need to reshuffle your video chat screens in order to see all of your participants.

While there are other great video chat / conferencing tools around, Skype has managed to reign supreme in this arena up until now. But with its ease of use, lack of downloads, YouTube integration and great looks, Google Hangouts seems poised to take over Skype as the most popular video chat service in the market.

One of the main benefits of Google Hangouts is that as long as you (and those you’re talking to) are on Google+, you can start a video chat in just a few clicks, and in a matter of seconds. Skype requires people to download and install its software, and also to create an account. Since Google Hangouts works with Gmail, there are no additional user names or passwords to remember, as long as you have access to a Gmail login.

source from about.com

Google+ On Again Off Again, Let's Hangout Sometime

Google+ invites have been very inconsistent. Just when you think you can send an invite or have received one and finally get in, Google closes new membership down again. (It really does seem like Google's doing that mean Lucy football trick and we're just poor Charlie Browns still going for the kick.) There's an odd Google+ "have and have not" dynamic going on now, a lesson in supply and demand, and more to be said about the lure of beta services, but for now, I want to say this--come join my circle when you get in and maybe we can hangout some time.

I'm not big on video chat, though. I know Facebook/Skype, Google, and even Apple with FaceTime are betting big on the video frontier--which means it will be big--and I know there are definitely advantages of video conferencing for distributed teams. I'm just not personally there yet. Still, Google+ Hangouts is one of the best features of Google+ -- its group video chat is free and it's fun to use (we like Skype for business, but it really is hard to beat free).

You can find me on Google+ at http://gpus.to/melaniepinola (a shortened link rather than that awkward numerical one thanks to Google+ vanity URL service Google Plus Nick, via Lifehacker). If you need invites or want to offer your invites with others, please feel free to post in the comments.

Related: Google Hangouts Review | Google+ for Android

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source from about.com

Office 365 vs. Google Apps, Google+ vs. Facebook

Ah, happy week, when tech giants roll out new products and battle metaphors are unleashed. Earlier this week, Office 365 came out of public beta and was soon after pitted aginst Google Apps. Then Google+ hit the scene, threatening all at once Facebook, Twitter, and Skype.

Numerous opinion pieces around the web have pointed out why the new services will (or won't) be able to kill the reigning service providers. VentureBeat writes that Microsoft's Office 365 will clobber Google Apps because it looks and acts just like the native Office apps (true--preservation of Office document formatting is one of several Office Web Apps advantages over Google Docs and Zoho Docs). Google itself has blogged that there are 365 reasons to use Google Apps over Office 365.

As for Google's social service, Google+, Business Insider's Steve Kovach writes that it's like Facebook with no people (i.e., nothing Facebook fans would jump ship for) and GigaOm agrees that Facebook is probably safe but Skype should be worried, but Dave Taylor writes on the Huffington Post that Google+ runs circles past Facebook.

With all the opinions and comparisons, it may be hard to make an informed decision about which service is best. If you need to decide between using Office 365 or Google Apps, however, chances are your decision is already made for you based on whether you use Microsoft Office for work and require that complex formatting fidelity or other business case, or if you're already using the cheaper Google Apps service or are drawn to Google's broader collaborative capabilities.

In the broader scheme of things, though, maybe this isn't really a war. As Walter Adamson writes, both Office 365 and Google Apps will be winners--the services help each other gain recognition for cloud productivity and increase development.

Pitting Google+ against Facebook and predicting which will come out on top is also just fun for bloggers to do--like comparing Android and iOS or Mac and PC. Well, maybe it's a little more fun and a refreshing new thing to debate. So which is your pick?

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source from about.com

Google+ for Android: One of the Best Features of Google+

Google+ Android App

Google+ is like the social network you never knew you wanted, and it's getting high praise. One of the biggest reasons to be interested in Google+ (even if you're like me and feel dragged into social networking) is the awesome Google+ Android app.

The app keeps you up to date with your network contact's updates ("streams") and also lets you manage your profile and circles. It works fairly well in this regard. Clicking the "Stream" button will show you updates from people in your circles; you can add your own update or take/upload a photo from that screen as well. Clicking Circles shows you your lists of extended network contacts and their published contact information, and you can search for/add additional people.

One of the best features of the app, though, is Instant Upload, which automatically uploads your photos and videos as you take them to Google+. Photos and videos you take from your phone are automatically uploaded and are visible only to you until you share them. If you've ever had issues trying to share photos on Facebook from your mobile, you can see how this is a big deal.

Another interesting feature on the Android app is the Huddle "super-fast group messaging" for your circles. Apparently you can send short messages, SMS-like, to your circles or invite individual people to join the group messages. Google's Disco group texting service is like this, but it doesn't work with Huddle, which is a bit odd. I didn't have anyone to test the Huddle service with, but imagine when Google+ takes off lots of people will be huddling together.

Extending the new social platform to mobile is obviously very important if Google wants to make this a success. After all, most of Facebook's traffic comes from mobile. It looks like Facebook really may have something to worry about.

If you were able to get a Google+ invite, let us know what you think of either the service or the Android app.

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source from about.com