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

New Facebook changes to allow users to get more conrol when sharing and to own their own data.

Last week, Facebook unveiled some changes to its site in the hope of making it more accommodating to its millions of users. In a nutshell, the changes are meant to give users more control over the personal information they share on the site with different categories of people. For that purpose, Facebook has come up with the idea of allowing its users to divide their "friends" into different groups that can be public or private and differenciated by the depht of what can be shared with them.
Another issue addressed by the changes, is one that has raised a lot of questions in the past:data control. Critics have long blasted the social network giant over who can access users' data and what they can do with it. Facebook has taken the steps toward satisfying those critics thanks to two new features.
The first "one is a dashboard feature that allows users to keep track of information-sharing settings from third-party apps, such as plug-ins to other websites" according to the Wall Street Journal. Also, the dashboard displays exactly what personal information the apps of users' friends are pulling from them.
The other criticism leveled towards Facebook has always been about its take on data ownership. With the new changes, Facebook appeared to adopt a new attitude towards the issue.
The other new feature allows people to export the information they have entered into Facebook into one compressed zip file. With the information download feature, users become owners of their own data files, and could take them to other services the Wall Street added.

For more, see WSJ.com

Skype Mobile is now available to all Android phones owners with any carrier.

Skype Mobile which until now was only available to Android phone owners using Verizon Wireless in the U.S., is now open to anyone owning an Android phone on any network. The only requirement is that the phone has Android 2.1. With Skype Mobile, users will be able to make calls using 3G networks and Wi-Fi worldwide and Wi-Fi only in the U.S. The new app also allows all Android users to send and receive IMs through Skype for free, and hold conference calls with other Skype users for free. Charges apply when you start to use the app to include or call numbers that aren't Skype users according to AppScout.
Still according to AppScout, "current Skype users will be able to pull down their existing contact lists, and place calls to other Skype numbers for free." If you want to call non Skype users, you'll have to sign up for a calling plan or pay as you go. You'll have to sign up for a calling plan or pay-as-you-go if you plan to call non-Skype numbers, like traditional land-line telephones and other mobile phones. You'll also pay to receive calls to your Skype number from people who aren't using Skype.
The new Skype app also allows you to synchronize names and numbers between your Android phone's native contacts list and your Skype Address Book, so you can place calls to your friends using the Skype app back at your computer as well and vice versa. Instead of managing two contacts list, Skype combines them.

Watch here a demonstration of the app:

For more, see AppScout.com

Square mobile credit card processing solution makes taking credit card payments accessible to anyone.

Ever wondered why is it that only companies and business in general accept credit cards as a method of payment? Well a San Francisco company has been asking the same question and has come up with a solution designed to brake that monopoly. The service is called Square Up from a San Francisco company called Square .
One reason behind the statu quo until now may have been the number of red tape and countless fees associated with setting up a credit card merchant account. Now for a moment, forget about all that. According to the New York Times, the Square Up system practically get rid of almost all fees reducing them to a bare bone of a couple: a transaction fees representing 2.75 percent of the total, plus 15 cents.
Concerning the equipment, all you need is an iPhone, Android phone, iPod Touch or an iPad and a half-inch reader attachment if you own any of the Apple devices while Android phones owners whose devices is equipped with a card-swiping slot, do not need any other piece of equipment.
To set up the whole system, you would need to download the app which is free.
Beside the low transaction fees, another beauty of Square Up is the fact that you only pay as you use it; if you don't, you don't owe anything.
To "ring" a transaction, just swipe the customer's card into the slot and have him or her sign their names on the phone's touch screen with their fingers. In case the customer is not physically present, just like any merchant would do, just have them provide their cards' required information.
From that point on, your phone connects to Square's server, process the transaction authorizes the purchase, sends a receipt by e-mail to the buyer and logs the transaction on your personal Square Web page. There, a tidy table that you can download as a spreadsheet, reports your income for the day.
To sign up with Square Up, you will have to provide your bank routing and account number allowing Square Up to deposit your money according to the New York Times.
But there is a little hang concerning the transfer of the money to your account: only the first $1,000 of each week's transaction ends up in your account immediately. Any amount over that may take up to a month pending review by the company's auditors before reaching your account. If you expect to use the service to process amount exceeding that threshold, there is a way to get around that $1,000 limit by providing Square Up with more information about your business when you first sign up.

For more, see NewYorkTimes.com

New improved Line2 app has added unlimited text messages at a lower price.

Line 2, an iPhone app that allows you to make phone calls with your iPhone using a Wi-Fi hot spot wherever there is a weak cellphone signal and to turn an iPod Touch or iPad into a full blown cellphone for as little as $15 a month, has gone through some enhancements and is now better than before.
At a cost of $10 a month, Line 2 gives you a second phone number for a second phone line complete with its own contact list, voicemail while turning the iPhone into a dual-mode phone which means it can make and receive unlimited calls for free Wi-Fi connection.
The new and enhanced Line 2 have features like the possibility to delete recent calls entries, transfer incoming calls to your Line 2 number to your iPhone's when Line 2 is not running. The new Line 2 app will also you to send and receive unlimited text messages when in a Wi-Fi hot spot even without an AT&T text plan according to the New York Times.

For more, see NewYorkTimes.com

Clue is a free and easy to use Web site testing service.

Some Web sites owners may spend a lot of time and efforts building their portals and not see their labor bear the fruits that they would have expected. It can be that their sites do not get a lot of traffic or they can't transform the traffic that they get into more business. The fact that a Web site is not producing the desirable results can be linked to many causes, like the fact that visitors do not recall much of the site after a visit. If you own a Web site and suspect that may be the case with yours, you don't have to stay idle and hope for the best.
Fortunately, there are some tools available today that allow you for testing your site visitors' memory of your site. Some of them like FiveSecondtest.com are very comprehensive but come at a price. On the other hand, Clue is a free tool from Bay Area interaction design and design strategy firm ZURB, that lets you create a 5-second interactive memory test that you can use to test what people remember about your product according to the New York Times.
Here are how the test works:Go to Clue and enter the URL of the site that you want to test and Clue will take a screenshot of the site and return a link that you can give to your test subjects.
Once you got the results, you can then work on twisting your site look, feel or content to match what you actually want them to remember about you and your product.
The service is free and is mainly aimed at small business and retailers with little time or resources to devote to running a Web site.

For more, see NewYorkTimes.com

How to hide from some friends while chatting on Facebook.

Wanting to chat with your Facebook friends but stay invisible to some of them? There is a way to do just that. It is called Friend List feature which let you set who can see you while you are Online. You can set the feature by clicking the Chat tab inside the chat window and see which of your friends are also signed into that chat. From there, you just follow the step by step instructions leading to the creation of a Hide on Chat category or your ticket to some peace of mind from those you do not want to be bothered by

For more, see NewYorkTimes.com