VISA develops Payment Software For Google Phone.
Visa Inc. announced it’s developing mobile payment software for the new wireless phone powered by Google Inc.’s Android system. The software will allow Android users to receive near real-time alerts about purchases via their mobile phones and the software use location-based mapping technology to find ATM machines and nearby stores where users can redeem special Visa offers. The software will be broadly available to U.S. consumers by the end of the year. Visa also announced an agreement with U.S. Bank, lead bank of US Bancorp, to launch a mobile money transfer pilot program.
Twitter Launches Election Site.
Microblogging site Twitter launched election twitter page which displays all of the tweets discussing about the presidential candidates, in real time. Users can also filter the main time line of posts by candidate name. The feed can be paused by scrolling the mouse over the tweets.
“We’re filtering hundreds of Twitter updates per minute to create a new source for gathering public opinion about the presidential election and a new way for you to share your thoughts.”, Twitter said about their new service.
Update : According to one of our reader Simon Owens , C-SPAN has launched a Debate Hub that provides this function as well. It also allows users to mashup and edit videos from each debate, even while the debate is still going on. You can find the hub over here: http://debatehub.c-span.org/
Sony and Toshiba top laptops
Sony and Toshiba laptops scored highest in a poll to find which home computers are the most reliable. The two brands got 93 per cent reliability in the “Which?” Computing annual survey. Overall, laptops scored 87 per cent for reliability, compared with 80 per cent for desktop computers. Apple, Compaq and Dell chosen as the top desktop brands.
Adobe Unveils PhotoShop CS4
Adobe today announced Adobe PhotoshopCS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended, the highly anticipated, new editions of the professional industry standard software for digital imaging. Photoshop CS4 will be available as stand-alone applications or key components of the Adobe Creative Suite 4. CS4 for Mac OS X on Intel based and PowerPC based systems and for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista platform are scheduled to ship October 2008. Estimated price for Adobe Photoshop CS4 is US$699.
T-Mobile G1 with Google’s Android.
T-Mobile today unveiled the highly anticipated T-Mobile G1, the first mobile phone built around Google’s open-source, Linux-based Android platform. The T-Mobile G1 has full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard. The phone has a dedicated, physical Google search button and comes pre-loaded with Google maps and an innovative “Compass” mode. The G1 also includes Wi-Fi and integrates with Amazon’s music service. The phone will support multiple browser windows. The G1 has a couple of other things the iPhone omits: copy and paste functionality and a so-called MMS program, which sends photos to other phones without using email.
Bill Gates Invests in Bio Fuels
The San-Diego based Sapphire Energy, is trying to make second generation bio fuels out of algae. The company hopes to make the fuel can be made available commercially in three to five years for a cost of $50 to $80 per barrel. It plans to produce about 10,000 barrels a day, and last May it announced that it succeeded in creating “ASTM-certifiable 91 octane gasoline”, the premium fuel at the pump, from algae. Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment is putting money in the firm.
BlackBerry to Boost Mac Support
BlackBerry maker RIM plans to release a set of new tools which will address a number of longstanding complaints from Mac users. Currently, some of the important functions offered by BlackBerry Desktop software for Windows is not available for Mac. New Mac tools are expected to be released during the first half of next year.
TATA launches BlackBerry In India
While security issues arising from the BlackBerry service is still under investigation by Indian government, Tata Teleservices, a mobile services company in India, launched BlackBerry mobile services. The Indian government requested RIM earlier this year to provide access to e-mails and other communications sent or received on BlackBerry devices. But RIM denied the request saying the encrypted information send across the BlackBerry infrastructure cannot be read by anyone even it self.
Apple Issues Safety Alert for Power Adapter.
Apple on Friday announced the Ultra compact USB Power Adapter Exchange Program. Apple says under certain conditions the new ultra compact Apple USB power adapter’s metal prongs can break off and remain in a power outlet, creating the risk of electric shock. Apple recommends users who are using the ultra compact adapter that came with their iPhone 3G to stop using them immediately until they receive a new, redesigned adapter.
Listen Music on Yahoo Search.
Yahoo launches a new feature on its search pages which allows users who search for an artist with available content on Yahoo! will be able to listen to songs by the artist right on that page. The Yahoo Search music playback is powered by Rhapsody and offers full-song playback for more than 5 million tracks. Each user can listen to 25 free full-length tracks every 30 days. Once 25 songs have been played, users can subscribe to the Rhapsody Unlimited streaming service or continue to listen to an unlimited number of 30-second samples until the next month begins. Yahoo!’s FoxyTunes Player enables the on-demand, web-based playback of music within Yahoo! Search and throughout Yahoo! Music.
McCain Invented the BlackBerry
“If John McCain hadn’t said that ‘the fundamentals of our economy are strong’ on the day of one of our nation’s worst financial crises, the claim that he invented the BlackBerry would have been the most preposterous thing said all week”, said Bill Burton, Barack Obama’s campaign spokesman,in response of the comment made by a top McCain policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Earlier McCain policy adviser told reporters “You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create”, showing his blackberry. McCain has acknowledged that he doesn’t know how to use a computer and can’t send e-mail. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is a Canadian company.
GPS Bicycles by Yahoo.
GPS bicycle, only time can tell whether this innovative step can help Yahoo to beat Google at the next turn. These GPS-enabled bicycles comes with cameraphones which have been set to take pictures automatically between time intervals and these photos will uploaded to Flikr right away. These bicycles are currently in use in San Francisco and New York, although they will soon be dispatched in Singapore, Denmark and the UK. Each bicycle equipped with solar panel which provides the power for the camera and a special software takes signal from mobile phone’s accelerometer to capture an image every minute whenever the bike is in motion. The Nokia N95 will be the handset of choice.
