Google getting larger in Apple's rearview mirror

San Francisco: It seemed Android smartphones was all anyone at a telecoms industry pow-wow in California talked about this week.

After years alone in the limelight, Apple Inc's iPhone now shares it with a slew of devices built on Google's operating system.

At the CTIA wireless industry show in San Francisco, Android smartphones, such as Motorola's Droid, Samsung's Galaxy S and HTC's Evo, dominated displays and conversations.

Sales of the iPhone are still growing at a healthy clip and its annual smartphone launches generate hype that rivals only dream of matching. In addition, Apple could get another boost if Verizon Wireless gets the iPhone on its network next year, as many expect.

But Android is giving Apple a run for its money in the consumer market, according to research data. Android was the most popular platform among US customers who bought smartphones in the past six months, despite the launch of the iPhone 4 in June, Nielsen reported.

"Anybody who watches it with a keen eye would be crazy to assume that Android wouldn't gain more share than Apple over time," Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves said.

"They've got more devices, they're going to be on more networks across a wider spectrum of price points."

Android has effectively expanded the smartphone market, which had been dominated by Apple in the consumer space and Research in Motion in the business world.

ComScore said Android gained 6.6 percentage points of US market share from May through August, while Apple remained essentially flat and Research in Motion - which makes the BlackBerry - shed 4.1 percentage points.

ComScore put Apple's US smartphone market share at 24.2 percent and Android's at 19.6 percent.

For more detail: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/google-getting-larger-in-apples-rearview-mirror/132732-11.html

Google voice: The next killer app

Google Voice takes voicemail to a new level, thanks to a number of features that will be a boon to those frequently playing voicemail phone-tag.

One feature allows you to set up personalised greetings for particular callers or particular types of callers.

So, for instance, you might want to set up a fairly formal greeting for business associates, while friends and family would hear a whimsical voicemail message, complete with music and sound effects.

Even more useful, however, is Google Voice's ability to transcribe voicemail messages into text. With this enabled, you could automatically receive an email transcription of a voicemail message while you're in a meeting.

You'll also have an instant record of all voicemail messages received - thanks to Google Voice's integration with Gmail - and you can easily forward a voicemail message by email as well.

The transcription capability in Google Voice is a transformative feature that might make you say goodbye to listening to voicemail messages the usual way, and it works surprisingly well.

Call screening

For anyone who hates the peremptory nature of carry-everywhere cell phones and smartphones,Google's call-screening feature will be welcome. With it, you can preview who is calling and then determine whether to answer the phone or send the person directly to voicemail. The choice is one-touch simple.

Voice also makes it easier than traditional phone services to block particular callers. Can't seem to shake pesky calls from a business or acquaintance? Just select the record of the calls in Gmail, and follow the instructions for blocking unwanted calls.

Using Google Voice

Once you've set up a Google Voice number, there are multiple ways that you can use it. Firstly, it is available as an internet-based application, through your Gmail or iGoogle account, with a simple and clear interface.

In this sense it's very much a competitor of Skype, which up to now had pretty much locked up the internet telephony market.

Skype still has the edge over Google Voice in some ways. In particular, there's no video conferencing feature in Google, whereas in Skype, one-on-one video calls are easy and fun.

Google Voice's conferencing feature - which requires adding additional callers to your current call as the calls come - is arguably less friendly than Skype's as well.

But Google Voice's crowning achievement is that it can be used from most smartphones - removing you from the need to be at your computer to make or receive calls and potentially cutting down drastically on your cell phone bill.

BlackBerry, Android, and Nokia users can point their phone's browser to m.google.com/search to get the right version of Google Voice installed on their phone. iPhone users need to get Google Voice from iTunes.

Once installed on your smartphone, though, most of what makes Google Voice worth having is available at your fingertips, no matter where you are. That's why, once fully rolled out, Google Voice may just be the next must-have app for the masses.

For more details follow: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/google-voice-the-next-killer-app/132629-11.html

15 Hot New Technologies That Will Change Everything

The Next Big thing? The memristor, a microscopic component that can "remember" electrical states even when turned off. It's expected to be far cheaper and faster than flash storage. A theoretical concept since 1971, it has now been built in labs and is already starting to revolutionize everything we know about computing, possibly making flash memory, RAM, and even hard drives obsolete within a decade.

The memristor is just one of the incredible technological advances sending shock waves through the world of computing. Other innovations in the works are more down-to-earth, but they also carry watershed significance. From the technologies that finally make paperless offices a reality to those that deliver wireless power, these advances should make your humble PC a far different beast come the turn of the decade.

In the following sections, we outline the basics of 15 upcoming technologies, with predictions on what may come of them. Some are breathing down our necks; some advances are still just out of reach. And all have to be reckoned with.

• Memristor: A Groundbreaking New Circuit


• 32-Core CPUs From Intel and AMD


• Nehalem and Swift Chips Spell the End of Stand-Alone Graphics Boards


• USB 3.0 Speeds Up Performance on External Devices


• Wireless Power Transmission


• 64-Bit Computing Allows for More RAM


• Windows 7: It's Inevitable


• Google's Desktop OS


• Gesture-Based Remote Control


• Radical Simplification Hits the TV Business


• Curtains for DRM


• Use Any Phone on Any Wireless Network


• Your Fingers Do Even More Walking


• Cell Phones Are the New Paper


• Where You At? Ask Your Phone, Not Your Friend


• 25 Years of Predictions