Google Goggles is now available in the Apple iTunes Store.

Earlier last week, Google made the announcement that Goggles, its popular Android app, is now available for iPhones and iPod Touch in the iTunes App Store. The app which allows users to do searches by taking pictures of objects with their phone's camera. The result of those searches may varies depending on the object photographed; for instance, the pictures of a street sign or a landmark will reveal things such as a Google map of the area along with articles or Wikepedia entries related to the area.
To app can be had by downloading the Google Mobile app for iPhone which will give users much more features such as voice search, location recognition, contact search and others Google services.
Here a video to see how the feature works:



For more, see AppScout.com

Field Agent is an app that pays you to do different tasks.

Since the introduction of the iPhone, developers have rushed to come up with all kind of apps that cover the whole rainbow from the very useful to the very silly and useless. Some are free and will probably remain so for lack of a market willing to pay for it, and some cost a fee to download.
Now enters a new app called Field Agent that is free to download but even more, promess to pay you as you use it. Well, sorta, since the pay is not tied to the use of the app per say.
What the app does, is to pull some location based tasks that willing users can sign up to do and get paid for their efforts.
According to the New York Times, they are not even worth doing unless you find yourself in or near the location where the task in hand is to be performed. Generally the tasks consist of filing out a survey, checking the prices of certain products in a store, or taking the picture of products on store' shelves and the pay is around $2 in most cases.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Cortado Workplace is a free app that let you print from your smartphone.

Blackberry and iPhone owners now have the possibilities to print files right from their devices by using a free app called Cortado Workplace from a company named Thin Print AG.
Imagine being on the road with your smartphone as the only device with you and be able to print e-mails, computer files, photos or documents from your phone and onto a networked printer. All that is possible after you download the free app; from there, you will be using the company's cloud server to store for free files up to 1 gigabyte with a maximum of 3 megabytes per file, according to the New York Times.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Ways to increase i-Phone signal.

With the explosive popularity of iPhone, comes a drawback: its well documented spotty signal reception. iPhone owners have not been shy to express their displeasure with the quality of service provided by AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone. But fortunately, there are some readily available solutions to help enhance the reception quality for iPhone; some are free and some are not. Here are some simple solutions suggested by the New York Times.
The starting point would be to check to see if you have Apple latest operating system by plugging the iPhone into a computer via its USB cable. When its 3G coverage is weak, iPhone owners can switch to the Edge network or simply reboot their phones. An extreme way to increase signal performance, would be to completely reinstall the phone software but not before backing up all your data.
When all that fails, a signal booster may be the answer according to the NYTimes.
In that regard, products like CellRanger available at get www.getcellranger.com or zBoost offered at www.wi-ex.com are credited to drastically improve iPhone signal quality.
Even AT&T seems to recognize that they have reception issue when it offers its own signal enhancement product called MicroCell whith one time charge.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Tools for generating strong secure passwords.

One of the downsizes of today's highly digitalized world, is the need to use a host of passwords for almost any activity Online. With the plethora of passwords comes the need to remember them when needed, which on itself can be a challenge. But with the threat of security breach, there is an added challenge to come up with strong and secure passwords that are not easy to figure out. One can already see the dilemma here: the need for more secure passwords and the one to remember them when needed. There are some digital tools usually referred to as password managers, available to help solve that dilemma and they varies in sophistication and effectiveness.
Some of them are totally free while others require a license or subscription. The nice thing about them, is they almost all use encryption to ensure maximum security, and they allow the generation of incredibly hard to pick passwords without the need to remember them, having only to remember a master password. The New York Times has run through some of these passwords generating tools and here are some of them listed here: KeePass, a free open source software originally built for computers running on Windows, but now availble for Mac, Linux etc. Mobile versions of the application are available for many mobile devices including the iPhone and Blackberry.
Second on the list of the New York Times, is LastPass, which it said, is a browser plug-in that works on Mac, PC and Linux.
1Password is another tool considered by the Times as user friendly; people who want to try it can download it and do so for free for 30 days. After that, it will cost $39.95 for a single user.
RoboForm is another option for PC users and comes in a free and a paid version depending on your preferences. The paid one will cost you $29.95 for one license and for about $10 more, you can add more features like USB storage, secure login information etc.
PC users have another option called Password Vault costing $ 29.95 for a user and last but not least, is
i-Wallet a solution that uses biometric instead of a master password and costs $39 for a license according to the Times.
The list may end here, but the choice for password managers is almost as unlimited as ever.

For more, see NewYorkTimes.com

Droid, Motorola newest smart phone is a nice alternative to the iPhone.

This past Wednesday, Verizon Wireless introduced the much anticipated Motorola Droid slated to be a serious contender to the iPhone. The Motorola Droid would be the first device to use Google Android 2.0 operating system which is an open source. Describing it, PC World magazine said: "It boasts a beautiful high resolution screen, multitasking apps, free turn-by-turn GPS navigation system and both a touch keypad and hardware keypad."
All those above mentioned five features are a stab into the heart of the iPhone's core given the fact that the iPhone doesn't offer either of them. Take the case of the free GPS navigation that come with the Motorola Droid for instance, not offered by iPhone, it can be had in the form of an app costing $100.
As mentioned above, one of the most attractive aspect of the Droid phone is the fact that it runs on a open source, which allows interesting features to be added to the phone. One of those features is the integration of multiple social networking and e-mail accounts into the phone's contact list.
This means that contact and calendar information can be synced with Microsoft Exchange e-mail services and also other Web e-mail accounts, as well as, social-networking sites like Facebook. The new version of the software has support for Microsoft Exchange, which is huge because it means that corporate users can sync their work e-mail with their phones.
Also, a search function was added to the SMS and MMS messaging feature and the software has been updated to support a camera that includes a built-in flash, a digital zoom, a scene mode etc.
The new Droid will go on sale November 6th, costing $200 after a $100 rebate and requiring a two year contract and a $30 monthly data plan.

For more, see PC World.com

Starbucks coffee launches my Starbucks App for more convenience.

As if its stores were not ubiquitos enough, Starbucks wants to put a store right in the palms of your hands, for iPhone phones owners at least, in the form of an app. That was made possible with the introduction last month of two Starbucks apps respectively called myStarbucks App and TheStarbucks Card, available at Apple's store. While the myStarbucks App has been released to the general public already, The Starbucks Card is still in the testing phase, mainly in the West coast with yet no release date to the general public. In the other hand, myStarbucks app is available for download free from the iTunes store.
According to the NYTimes," the myStarbucks App, which is usable anywhere, lets you store the recipe for your favorite coffee concoction and to share it with other people." If you need some help with your selection, the myStarbucks App has a flavor selector that will let choose a coffee made with your favorite flavors like earthy or nutty. It also gives you a peak onto the nutritional information relevant to your selection.
And as you would have suspected, the myStarbucks App has a store locator built into it with multiple possibilities like search for the closest store or by the kind of amenities offered ( diapers changing station anyone?)
The Sarbucks card being tested in selected cities in the West Coast, is more intriguing in the sense that it will let people pay for their coffee via a bar code embedded on the phone's screen.Quoting the New York Times, TheStarbucks Card "works just like a regular Starbucks card, in that you buy credit then use it against your orders. When you want to buy a drink, turn on the app, and your screen will show a barcode. The store will scan the barcode and the dollar value of the drink will be subtracted from your purchased credit."


For more, see NYTimes.com

Vark is a free app that provides answers to those nagging questions.

Ever been engaged in a ragging trivia battle with a bunch of your buddies but could not agree on any of the answers provided by anyone and wished that you have some sort of a referee at hand to provide the final answers? Well, like the ads said, there is an app for that, and it is called Vark available at Vark.com.
According to the New York Times, Vark is available free for the iPhone and works this way: You will need to go register at Vark.com and list your areas of expertise and your Facebook page because it will use your social network as well your friends' networks to assemble the widest circle possible. But still quoting the New Y0rk Times, it will work without a link to Facebook by sending your question to selected volunteers, experts in the field of your question. If you have signed up using your Facebook page, when you ask a question , only a handful of people in your network or your friends network would be asked to provide an answer
which usually arrives within five minutes via instant-message, e-mail or through the iPhone itself.

For more, see NYTimes.com

New models hit the pocket size projectors or microprojectors market.

Since last year, a wave of microprojectors also known as pico projectors, have the market place. They are pocket size gadgets that can play a video on an iPhone or some handful other smartphones and transform almost any surface to a 60-inch screen.
The first one to hit the market was the Optoma Pico PK 101 by a company called Optoma USA.
One year after its introduction, the Optoma now retails at most places for $229 except at Best Buy who has it listed at $299.
After all the buzz garnered following its introduction, now there are two new entrants in this niche market.
One of them is the Cinemin Swivel by WowWee Technologies and the other is the 3MPro1020 by 3M.
Both these two new devices are a significant improvement from the Optoma Pico and they are both hitting the market this month and strikingly enough, they both retail for $350.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Bigwords is a free iPhone app that helps find deals on texbooks.

On the eve of a new school year, college students everywhere are gearing up to face a dreadful ritual: where to find and how to pay for those ever costly textbooks. With college textbooks averaging $100 a piece, it is no secret that they represent one of the biggest expenses for college students who spend between $700 and $1,100 a year in that category. This is not new considered the fact that a 2004 federal study found that Textbooks prices nearly tripled from 1986 to 2004, rising an average of 6 percent a year or twice the inflation rate. With that in mind, it was just a matter of time before the ubiquitous iPhone and the ever growing Apple's apps store appears in the picture with a solution. It comes in the form of a free app called Bigwords from a company by the same name.
The the app works by taking the burden of searching for availability and price comparisons off the shoulders of users. Whether you are looking to buy a new, used, digital books or just renting, all you have to do is enter the books' titles, authors or ISBN codes into the app vast database and hit the price-comparison button.
From there, the app goes to work searching about 30 different sources like Amazon.com, CourseSmart.com, textbooks.com and figures out the best deal by taking in consideration, factors like shipping costs and any discounts you may be entitled to.
Searches can be customized so to look for books by their condition, exclude books from third-party sellers like the ones on eBay, or from specific stores.
To complete your transaction, you have the choice to stay within the app and do it right there or you can have your "shopping bag" transferred to a PC via e-mail for finalization at your convenience.
To make its point, Bigwords claims that the average saving is 66% for new books and more than 35% over online purchases made without using it.


For more, see NYTimes.com

CourseSmart LLC offers e-texbooks free for subscribers, on iPod.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that CourseSmart LLC , an e-textbooks provider for college students with more than 7,ooo titles, is making its collection available on Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, free for its subscribers.
Typically, students rent an e-book for 180 days and during that period, they will have full access to their textbooks, can consult their digital notes and do researches for a specific word or phrases right from their iPod or iPhone.
At the end of the subscription period, students will lose access to the titles. But at nearly 5o% savings per tittle for 18o days which is typically the length of a semester, that is not a bad trade off considered the short shelf life of a physical book and the hassle of figuring out what to do with it at the end of a term.

USAA bank to let customers deposit checks via iPhone.

USAA Bank, a privately held financial institution who serves primarily military personnel and their families, announced last week that it will start offering a free iPhone application that will allow its members to make check deposits through the phone.
To use the feature, a costumer will have to take a picture of both sides of the check with the phone camera and then send the image to the bank check processing center. From there, the deposit will be processed electronically without the customer having to mail in the physical check, which can just be discarded. But for now, the service will be limited to customers with some type of credit and insured through USAA.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Fluent News delivers news on the go with iPhone app.

Among the multitude of apps for the iPhone, one turns out to be particularly useful for people on the move with the need to constantly check on the news. A new iPhone app called Fluent News by a company by the same name, is a news aggregator designed initially for the iPhone but available for free to any phone with a browser. When fired up, the screen shows up a list a list of headlines and a summary with the possibility to read the whole story by clicking on it. The news are divided onto 12 categories like business, entertainment, technology etc and only story per topic is shown, helping keep the interface free of clutter.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Realplayer SP Beta, an solution for mobile download.

In today age of smart phones, portable devices and Internet videos, one thing was kind of missing, a sure way to convert those videos and transfer them unto those multiple platforms. That was until now with the release of a free download software by RealNetworks Inc, called RealPlayer SP beta.
According to the Wall Street Journal, "the RealPlayer SP with SP standing for social and portable, is a free download that, once installed, grabs videos from the Web, converts them to the right format and transfers them to over a dozen portable devices." Those devices include the ones by iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm ,T-Mobile, Nokia and others.
Another use for the RealPlayer SP, is for downloading and saving videos unto a PC for later viewing or sharing.
The only drawback for that kind of use, is that RealPlayer SP is only supported by PC running Windows operating system, with a Mac version in the works, still according to the Wall Street Journal.
For people looking for more, there is a premium version called RealPlayer Plus SP priced at $40 that offers a DVD playback among others things.

For more, see WSJ.com

Snipi, an organizational tool for your Online shopping.

If you ever shopped Online and did some comparison before deciding, you know how cumbersome that can be: saving Web pages, seeking someone second opinion, making lists etc. Now, there is a solution to help you organize your next Online shopping expedition; it is called Snipi, a free download from Snipi.com. The application as the name suggests, works by letting you gather your Online shopping results in one place by assembling pieces of information about a product from different Web pages and organizise them in lists. Those lists will be stored on your personalised page within the application and available to you anytime.
The snipi application has a mobile version for the iPhone that when accessed, shows the latest updated of the lists created using a PC.
But as of right now, the application and its toolbar which allows you to use all its functions, only works as a browser plug-in with Mozilla's Firefox. Light versions for both Internet Explorer and Apple's Safari are in the works.
On the upside, Snipi has some handy features like save pictures or videos of items you are interested in, a built-in tool that allows you to share your findings with friends on Facebook, Twitter or Wordpress blogs.
It also has a comparison shopping tool which works best for durable goods like electronics and not so for apparel.

For more, see WSJ.com

Doing good and tracking it, made easier by DoGood app.

Among the plethora of apps available at the Apple store, a new one stands out in two areas: fun and utility. That new app called DoGood, is the invention of a group of students at the University of Michigan.
The free app challenges users to do a different good deed each day, a small act of kindness , like "Make someone laugh today," or "Thank a teacher," "Give someone a hug," etc. Once the deed is done, it can be recorded by clicking "done." The app also keeps count of how many people did a good deed that day and a detailed tally of how many times a particular deed was repeated each day. It goes even further by letting you post and read stories about every deed. The app has a search function for tracking previous entries and also a statistics display screen.
One of the coolest part of the app is its ability to integrate with Facebook and Twitter to allow your friends to follow and maybe be inspired by your deeds.


For more, see Cnet.com

Palm Pre is an worthy alternative to Apple's iPhone.

The long-awaited Palm Pre lived up to the hype when it launched on June 6 with a responsive touchscreen and an engaging interface along with the company's much anticipated webOS operating system.

The Palm Pre which has had some buzz built up since its splashy lunch in January, isn't perfect but definitively does not disappoint.

The Palm Pre smartphone retails for $200 and comes with a two-year contract from Sprint .

For more, see engadget.com

Sirius radio coming to iPhone.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Sirius radio is planing to unveil an iPhone application in the coming weeks; a Blackberry version is already available. According to the WSJ, few details are shared about the new application but chances are that it will be a subscription based service. So for now and in the foreseeable future, one of the only options out there to get free and customizable music online, remain with services like Inernet radio Pandora.com.

Glympse, a new easy way to share your whereabouts

If you ever been in a situation where you wanted to effortlessly and continuously share your whereabouts with someone or several others, this new mobile application called Glympse by Glympse.com , may be worth giving a consideration.

For now, the application only works with T-Mobile's G-1 phones and according to the New York Times, versions for the i-Phone, Windows Mobile phones, BlackBerrys and other portable devices, are on the work. Here are the basics on how the service works : You download the application from the Android Market which is the G1 kind of version of Apple's App Store.

From there, you can start sharing your whereabouts with anyone with Web-enabled phone or PC. Every time you want to do so, you begin the process by opening the application and enter the phone number or e-mail address of the person or persons you want to share that information. The length of time for which you can be tracked, is by default set at 30 minutes with the option to extend it.

Beside your actual location which is tracked by your phone's GPS system, you can include other information like your destination or your own message or one of the scripted ones.

The last step is to hit the "send" option, and there you are beaming your position or destination like an airplane to a to a control tower.

For more, see techcrunch.com

Mobile applications help for house hunting.

In this down housing market and with signs of houses for sale popping up everywhere, it would been nice to have a mobile tool pointing you out to properties in the market as you drive by a neighborhood. Well two new applications by Zillow.com and Trulia.com, two online real estate power houses, offer just that with some degrees of usefulness.
One thing that they both do, is to point you to some houses on sale in a chosen neighborhood using the built in phone's GPS. But each of the two applications have its own flaws: they sometimes do not have a house on sale listed in their databases or in the case of Trulia, fail to compile a list of the closest homes for sale in a given neighborhood.
Zillow's application was introduced last month and works only with iPhone, while Trulia's works on more phones and both services are free.