Jake Smith

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YouTube has released a simple editor available on the web for users who want to make changes, before actually uploading a video. The editor isn’t anything ground breaking, but adds the ability to add small changes like stabilizing, color changes, and rotation. The new editing features also work on videos that have already been uploaded. If you don’t like changes you can revert back to the original, or upload the changes as a totally new video. We’re sure Google will add more editing features over time, but in the mean time give it a try!

At the Innovation Qualcomm event in Istanbul, Qualcomm outlined their new line of “S4” mobile processors (following their new naming scheme). The new single, dual, and quad-core processors will be able to pack up to 2.5 GHz’s in speed, almost doubling what’s available on the current market. Spec wise, the new processors will bring the ability for Adreno Graphics, 3D, 1080p HD, and 3G and LTE connectivity as a standard.

Qualcomm’s quad-core processor will compete directly with Nvidia’s “Kal-el” quad-core processor due out around the same time. CES and Mobile World Conference should be about the time we see phones announced with these processors underneath.Expect these phones to be fast! (via Pocket-lint)

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The official announcement by Google regarding Honeycomb for Google TV is just around the corner, and more and more leaks of the OS running on Google TVs are popping up. Today’s leak (seen in the video above) even includes video of the Netflix app optimized for the big screen — score!

You’ll also notice that besides Netflix, other Honeycomb optimized apps are appearing on the Market. A search in the Market for Google TV will return results like, “Fox News for Google TV”.

If you’re feeling adventurous, instructions for installing this latest build on a Logitech Revue are posted over at GTVHacker, but please be aware that this could brick your device. But at $69, it doesn’t seem like as big of a deal. The official announcement should be coming any day now..

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According to an SEC filing made by Motorola today (seen after the break), Motorola was able to get $3 billion more out of Google before they were acquired for $12 billion — even without any other bidders present.  But it isn’t that simple.

Today’s report contradicts August’s, saying Andy Rubin actually assisted in the acquisition when he reached out to Motorola first. It was previously stated that Rubin has no knowledge of the acquisition until the buyout was close to being announced. Rubin and company reached out to Motorola to buy patents, after losing the Nortel deal according to the filing.

The story continues as follows: Motorola’s Sanjay Jha told Google that Motorola wouldn’t only sell patents, rather the whole Motorola Mobility sector. Motorola than rejected two of Google’s offers which were $30 and $37 a share respectively, until both companies finally settled on a final price of $40 per share. Google, it appears, was in a hurry to get the deal done and bid pretty close to Motorola was after in order to avoid going to a long, drawn out auction process.

(via Business Insider)

SEC filing after the break:

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Google has launched Travel search which will debute across select cities today. The new search is the first product to emerge from ITA, a company Google acquired in April. The new Travel search uses similar methods that you’re used to in traditional Google search. As you can see, a simple search like “flights from New York to San Francisco” returns results under the “flights” category.

With the flights category, flights that pertain to your search will be displayed — where you can see the airline and then purchase tickets. Users are then guided to the airline’s website to actually book the flight.

More screenshots after the break: (via Search Engine Land)

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The parent company of the popular Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com, Philadelphia Media Network has today launched a new program that gets Android tablets in the hands of newspapers subscribers. Subscribers will now be able to purchase an Archos 10 from the paper for $99, with a two-year subscription to the paper.

The Archos 10 tablet isn’t exactly new to the block, being more than a year old. The tablet features a 10.1-inch display, 1 GHz processor, front-facing VGA camera, and preloaded newspaper software for reading.

Tomorrow, the Archos 10 will go on sale for $99 with a two year subscription to both The Inquirer and The Daily News, which cost $9.99 per month each, or for a combined $12.99 per month together…

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The fine folks over at the Touch-Droid forums have posted a guide that outlines exactly how-to port Android to the HP TouchPad. A lot of consumers bought the HP TouchPad duing the fire sale last month, only to realize WebOS isn’t exactly the greatest mobile OS out there. Luckily, fine developers everywhere have been working on a port.

The steps outlined are pretty technical, so this isn’t exactly for the feeble — yet. We expect developers will probably get a much simpler version up soon. But for those of you who are up for the challenge, this should work for now. Check out the instructions over at the forum, and the video above. We’re not sure exactly how stable this build is.
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Google has just notified Google Books users via email that they can now purchase books through Google’s eBookstore website. This workaround comes after Apple shut off Google’s in-app book store on the Google Books app — available on the iTunes App Store. As seen in the image sent with the email, Google suggests you add this website to your iOS device’s homepage. Email from Google:

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT USE THE GOOGLE BOOKS APP FOR YOUR IPAD, IPHONE, OR IPOD TOUCH, YOU CAN DISREGARD THIS MESSAGE. 

Dear Google eBooks customer,

We are writing to let you know about important changes to your Google Books app for your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Due to Apple’s new policies, you can no longer shop for Google eBooks within the app.

But don’t worry, you can install the Google eBookstore on your iOS device using the easy steps in this email, and continue to buy the books you want quickly and easily. For further assistance and more detailed, step-by-step, visual instructions, please visit our Help Center article or you can contact us.

Video tour after the break:

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Engadget has posted Sony showing off an updated Google TV set-top box running Honeycomb. We’ve been expecting Honeycomb to hit the platform all summer after seeing it leak, but this demo shows a much more stable version ready for release. As you can see above, Android apps are running on a Google TV.

Last month, Google released the SDK for developers to begin optimizing apps for bigger television screens. Apps have seem to been Google TV’s number one requested feature, which would give the platform a lot more functionality. We’re hopping this hits as soon as possible! Read more at Engadget

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Google has just released a HTML 5 optimized Music Beta player for the mobile web, announced via Twitter. Upon first launching the webpage, Google asks for the allowance of 25mb to be stored on your device. After, you are presented with a full run down of all of the artists you uploaded to the service. Once you have selected a preferred song, you are taken to a “Now Playing” page. Yes, if you haven’t realized already it works a lot like the music.app. This feels so sleek! 

Check it out in the video below:

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A new report by Foss Patents’ Florian Mueller this afternoon implies that Motorola will be given the lead to innovate with new versions of Android and be able to issue the lead device, before any Android OEMs get the chance. The report comes after an internal document (seen above) was published to the public by the judge of the current Oracle vs Google proceedings.  This Verizon/Motorola lead device is the XOOM tablet.  The next one will be Samsung.  Anything beyond that is speculation.

Hasn’t Google been developing a lead Android device for the last two years — aka Nexus and Nexus S?

With Gingerbread, Google released the updated OS on the Nexus S before it was given to any other OEM. They picked a specific OEM, in this case Samsung, to begin working on a device they pictured to be ideal for this version of Android to run on. Same with the original Nexus, which Google picked HTC.

All of this worry comes after Motorola was acquired by Google. Many analysts, speculators, and journalists assume that Google will turn to Motorola as being the one stop for releasing their new versions of Android. Compare this to what Apple does: one device that rules them all.

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Joshua Topolsky of This is my next

Verizon Wireless officially announced the long-awaited Droid Bionic to be released tomorrow, and we are very excited to a look at the reviews that along with the announcement. The general consensus is that the Droid Bionic is a winner, if you’re looking to take advantage of Verizon’s badass 4G network and shell out the $299. We’ll add more reviews as they come in.

Joshua Topolsky / This is my next

This is not the killer handset that I think a lot of people were expecting it to be — it’s a good phone on a great network that will keep you satisfied… for now. As usual with Android phones, there always seems to be something else just around the bend, and you’ve got to figure out if you’re going to take the next exit, or keep on trucking. Let’s just say that the Droid Bionic isn’t a bad place to pull off and grab a cup of coffee.

Continue after the break:

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AllThingsD is reporting that along with Amazon, Yahoo, and Dish Network, Google has made a bid for the free video streaming service Hulu. AllThingsD doesn’t provide any details quite yet, but we can imagine Google’s bid is in the range of $1.5 – $2 billion — just like the other three companies are offering. AllThingsD can’t confirm if Google has made a definitive bid, or is just offering a sum of money.

Google chariman Eric Schmidt said at a conference in Europe last month that Google isn’t ready to give up on Google TV. He cites possible Google TV downfall is due to the scarce amount of set-top boxes rather than full television sets.

The acquisition of Hulu would sure be a break through for Google TV. Currently, almost every large television network is blocking streaming to Google TV, making the content lineup almost non-existent. With Hulu and its partners, Google could open up a whole new realm of content to the service.

AllThingsD has indictated that Google has made clear to Hulu that they are ready to offer a large sum of cash for the product, and we know they’re not scared to do it. Hulu isn’t exactly sure what their stance is on selling quite yet, but we’re sure to hear more in the coming weeks.

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Just like Twitter, Google has unveiled the suggested user list for Google+. The list is broken up into several categories, some examples being: Entertainment, News, and Sports. If you find someone on the list you’d like to stay up to date with, you can add them into one of your circles — just like throughout the rest of the service. People are added to the list based on their +1s, reshares, and Hangouts. More categories are even on the way!

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler has come up with quite the exclusive this afternoon, which includes almost all of the details on Amazon’s new Kindle Tablet. TechCrunch wasn’t able to post pictures, but they reassure us they played with it — and they said it’s quite the delight, calling it “solid“. Citing the report, the 7-inch version will be released sometime by the end of the year for $250, and if it’s a success, the 10-inch will launch sometime in Q1. As for the operating system, it will be running Android, but not the kind you and I are used to.

The specs for this device are reported as follows: a 7-inch screen, single-core chip, modified Android, no physical buttons, no camera, and 6GB of internal storage (MG notes some of this is speculation). Did you read that no camera part? Wow.

Google’s Android Market is nowhere to be found. In fact, no Google app is anywhere to be found. This is Android fully forked. My understanding is that the Kindle OS was built on top of some version of Android prior to 2.2. And Amazon will keep building on top of that of that over time. In other words, this won’t be getting “Honeycomb” or “Ice Cream Sandwich” — or if it does, users will never know it because that will only be the underpinnings of the OS. Any visual changes will be all Amazon.

Continue after the break:

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Aardvark has announced in a blog post this afternoon that Google has shut them down. For those of you who don’t quite remember Aardvark, a question and answer site, was acquired by Google for $50 million in 2010. Today, Aardvark is being closed, and the team will be moved to Google+ and other products.

We’ve been excited to share these lessons within Google over the past year, especially as part of the effort behindGoogle+.  It has been gratifying to see how well this project is doing — even in these early stages, Google+ has already become a great place to share knowledge online, eclipsing the original vark.com! — and there is much more to come very soon.  In this and other projects at Google, the Aardvark team remains committed to developing powerful tools for connecting people and improving access to information.

The closure of Aardvark comes along with Google’s closure of Labs we reported on last month. Google’s CEO Larry Page has gone on record saying Google is killing off smaller products, in order to put “more wood behind fewer arrows”. This is evident when Google killed Labs, Slide, and now Aardvark.

Update: Google has also announced the closing of Google Desktop.

Update x2: Google has posted the full run-down of what is being closed.

Continue after the break..

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As reported by Google Operating System, Google will release a “smarter” spell checker in a future update of Chrome. Currently, Chrome only uses the dictionary to spell check, not taking context into consideration. The future update, however, will work like Google Search’s “did you mean” feature.

Google has been hesitant to add the updated spell checker citing privacy concerns. As Google Operating System explains, a JSON-RPC request is sent to the “did you mean” service in the background, where the context-menu will then be updated. It will be interesting to see how fast Google can get results to come back.

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Lenovo announced on stage at IFA today the IdeaPad A1 — which rings in at just $199. The devices specs are nothing revolutionary, as expected with the price: 7 -inch 1024×600 display, 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, 18GB, 16GB, or 32GB storage options, SD and microsD reader, 3-megapixel shooter, VGA front-facing camera, and Android 2.3.

The 8GB version will be available for $199, but has no plans of making its way to the United States. The 16GB and 32GB versions do however, ringing in at  $249 and $299 respectively. Do these specs look close to the Galaxy Tab from last fall..by any chance? But hey, we’ll take the price. (via AndroidPolice)
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While it wasn’t announced on stage at IFA this morning, Samsung has just announced the Galaxy S Wi-Fi this afternoon. The Galaxy S Wi-Fi is packing Android 2.3 on a 3.6-inch screen HVGA display, 1GHz OMAP processor (why not Sammy’s own?), 8GB or 16GB of storage, microSD card slot, GPS, mic for VoIP calls, 2-megapixel shooter, and VGA front-facing camera. As of now, the 3.6-inch is confirmed to go on sale in the U.S. for $229 in early October, but if you’re in the U.S., check out the 4-inch version…but hold up.

We’re hearing reports that Samsung will be announcing the similar 5-inch device before the Holidays this year. We expect the specs to be pretty similar, but obviously a slightly bigger screen.

Check out more pics of the 3.6-inch player after the break: (via Geeky Gadgets)

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Announced by the company in a blog post, Google is now partnering with FedEx to offer Google Docs uploading inside of Print Online. Print Online is FedEx’s service that allows users to upload documents to be printed at a local FedEx stores for pickup. But what happens when you write your documents inside of Google Docs, and not Pages or Word? With the companies new partnership, you will now be able to upload files directly into Print Online from the cloud.

Tuesday, Google also announced in a blog post that support for one click Cloud Print has been added — along with the ability to add page numbers. As you can see in the screenshot after the break, Cloud Print is easy — with just one click you can print to any printer (as long as its setup) from any device or OS. The Cloud Print feature is currently available only in documents and spreadsheets. Furthermore, the new page numbers feature is a must for those of us who use the MLA format on a daily basis. The ability to add page numbers is definitely a feature Docs has been lacking..

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With the last manned mission to the Space Shuttle, Google announced in a blog post that the company accompanied two Nexus S smartphones to venture into space — for the second time. As seen in the video above, the two devices will remain on the Space Station to help robots perform tasks for astronauts.

A couple of our engineers built an open source sensor logging app that NASA decided was perfect for running diagnostics with the SPHERES. You can download the same app yourself from Android Market. NASA was interested in Android because it’s an open source platform, which makes it easy to customize the software on the phone to meet the specifications required to fly in space and work with the SPHERES. Nexus S was also a good fit because of its various sensors and low-powered, but high-performing, processor. 

NASA chose Android because of its open source platform, which is pretty understandable because for the most part NASA is pretty open. Check out the app if you’re interested.