Continuous improvements with Google Goggles 1.7

With Google Goggles, you can quickly add someone to your contacts, learn about paintings, translate foreign text, and even solve Sudoku. Starting today, with Goggles 1.7 for Android, we’re making your visual search experience much faster and providing better results with new features like continuous mode, improved text recognition and contributed results.

Skip the shutter with continuous mode

Continuous mode is a quick and easy new way to use Goggles. You can now get results instantly without having to take a picture - no shutter press required! Goggles will scan the scene continuously so you don’t need to worry about taking multiple pictures. The new continuous mode works best with books, products, artwork, and landmarks. Snapshot mode is still available, and has some tricks that aren’t in continuous mode yet, including translating text and adding a contact. Also, images recognized in continuous mode sessions won’t show up in your Goggles Search History, so if you’d like to refer back to something, such as a painting in a gallery you should use snapshot mode.

Goggles also scans multiple items in continuous mode

Get richer results with text recognition

Starting today, when Goggles recognizes a portion of text, you’ll get results that have a close match to the text you’ve scanned. Let’s say you’re reading a magazine article you really like and want to share it with your friends. Just point Goggles at a part of the page, and instantly find a link to an online version to share immediately or read again later. You won’t even need the entire article in the frame. Goggles will also pull up more information from pages around the web where that text is mentioned, so its easier to learn about what you’re seeing.

Goggles finds web results to provide more information

More comprehensive results with your suggestions

Since Goggles 1.4, you’ve been able to suggest better results when Goggles doesn’t recognize what you’re searching for. To date, hundreds of thousands of submissions have been made to improve Goggles. Starting today, if you choose to suggest a better result or submit a new object altogether, your suggestion could become a result for the next user who searches for a similar object with Goggles. I’ve added a snapshot of the album cover from my old band so that my fans can use Goggles to find out about our music online. Now, if a fan searches for the cover of our album, they will see the information I suggested, along with my name and link to my Google profile.

Submitting the result for my band’s album cover

Google Goggles 1.7 is available for all Android devices, but you’ll need a device running Android 2.3 or newer to use Continuous Mode. Scan the QR code below to download, or visit Android Market. Tell us what you think on our Google + page.

Download the new Goggles in Android Market

Posted by David Petrou, Software Engineer

Blackberry Budget Update 2011

Sample worksheet gives you an idea of the cost of producing, harvesting and marketing blackberries in North Carolina. It includes worksheets for machinery, materials, yields, labor, production costs and returns. An in-depth financial analysis and overview of the operation is given based on the numbers you plug in.
http://ncsu.edu/enterprises/blackberries-raspberries/management/blackberry-raspberry-budgets-pricing/

10 Billion Android Market downloads and counting

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog and Android Developer's Blog)

One billion is a pretty big number by any measurement. However, when it’s describing the speed at which something is growing, it’s simply amazing. This past weekend, thanks to Android users around the world, Android Market exceeded 10 billion app downloads—with a growth rate of one billion app downloads per month. We can’t wait to see where this accelerating growth takes us in 2012.

To celebrate this milestone, we partnered with some of the Android developers who contributed to this milestone to make a bunch of great Android apps available at an amazing price. Starting today for the next 10 days, we’ll have a new set of awesome apps available each day for only 10 cents each. Today, we are starting with Asphalt 6 HD, Color & Draw for Kids, Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, Fieldrunners HD, Great Little War Game, Minecraft, Paper Camera, Sketchbook Mobile, Soundhound Infinity & Swiftkey X.

Of course, none of these apps would have existed if it weren’t for the developers who created them. Every day, these developers continue to push the limits on what’s possible and delight us in the process. For that, we thank them.

Please join us in this 10-day celebration and check in every day to see what new apps our developer partners are making available on Android Market - for only a dime.

Posted by Eric Chu, Director, Android Developer Ecosystem

Update...

Just wanted to check in with you guys.. I am currently on my laptop here in the hospital.. We have been here all day and when we went home just a bit a go I changed clothes and got the computer. Mr. Jaggers looks much better tonight and we are getting ready to go eat.. And I will be back to talk more later. I have just had so many emails that I wanted to say thank you for. He looks much better now but its still a long road for him.

Anyway.. thank you very much.

K Jaggers

♥

Updated: Essential Apps For The Blind And Visually Impaired.

 

iPhones have changed lives for the better with the most amazing opportunities coming to a group that seems least likely to benefit from the sleek glass design. Steve Jobs insisted that iDevices be useable by everyone, including those who are visually impaired. By using VoiceOver, app developers are able to give access to even those who have no vision. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of developers do so.

This AppList features some of the most amazing accessible apps we could find! With your iPhone you can send for a taxi, describe colors, read aloud, get walking directions, warn about people approaching and much more.

7 months after first publishing this AppList, we have tested and approved so many apps that we created a separate AppList just for accessible entertainment apps which will be published shortly.

We would like to thank the dozens of AppAdvice readers who suggested apps for us to test.  For those who enjoy our Visually Impaired AppLists, we would like to recommend a web site that has been set up for the visually impaired by the visually impaired to share app information AppleVis.  As always, we also wish to again thank Austin Seraphin of Behind The Curtain for his advice.

Finally, we want to thank the amazing developers who were thoughtful enough to comply with Apples suggestion by making their apps voiceover friendly.

Essential Apps For The Blind And Visually Impaired

Updated: Essential Apps For The Blind And Visually Impaired. is a story by AppAdvice.com

AppAdvice - iPhone, iPad, iPod, App Reviews + News

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Updated: Essential Apps For The Blind And Visually Impaired.
Stella Violano
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:33:45 GMT

Tech the Halls: 12 Christmas Decorations for Geeks [PICS]

 

1. Pantone Christmas Baubles

Color-code your Christmas with these stunning Pantone baubles.

Cost: $14 each or $62 for a set of five

Click here to view this gallery.

Here at Mashable we love the holiday season. Decorating your home, cubicle and heck — even your car — is all part of the fun.

However, traditional decs just aren’t geeky enough for our tech-loving tastes. To this end we’ve scoured the web for festive ornaments with a geeky or social media twist.

From Angry Birds to LEGO via Santa-Bots, we think you’ll like our 10 cool Yule creations. For more Dev & Design coverage:

 

Tech the Halls: 12 Christmas Decorations for Geeks [PICS]
Amy-Mae Elliott
Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:37:40 GMT

New Android Mobile app for Starbuck Customers

 

New Android mobile application for Starbucks' fans: secret recipes, coupons, nutritional information and more!

(PRWeb December 05, 2011)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/12/prweb9010600.htm

New Android Mobile app for Starbuck Customers
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:17:58 GMT

Home Theater Products For $199 or Less - 2011 Holiday Gift Special

 

You don't have to spend a lot of money for a home theater gift. There are actually a lot of surprisingly good home theater gadgets priced at $199 or less, that make great holiday gifts. For my look at my current favorites, check out my Top Picks for Home Theater Products Priced at $199 or Less. Also, for more gift possibilities, check out my Top Home Theater Gifts for Holiday Shoppers.

Follow Me On Twitter and Facebook

Home Theater Products For $199 or Less - 2011 Holiday Gift Special originally appeared on About.com Home Theater on Monday, December 5th, 2011 at 06:00:27.

Permalink

Home Theater Products For $199 or Less - 2011 Holiday Gift Special
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 06:00:27 GMT

Dell halts online sales of Streak 7 tablet, turns toward a new mobile future

 

You might wanna pause for a moment of silence, because it looks like Dell has just discontinued its Streak 7 tablet. As the folks over at Streak Smart recently noticed, the Android slate has mysteriously disappeared from Dell's website, replaced only with a note to confirm that it's no longer available online. Dell, which axed the smaller Streak 5 back in August, provided us with the following statement:

Dell remains committed to the mobility market and continues to sell products here and in other parts of the world. Streak 7 delivered a unique experience for customers who wanted a larger screen-size yet the freedom of staying connected to their personal and professional content while on the-go. It continues to be available in many markets through retail, distributors and carrier partners such as Optus in Australia. A 10-inch version of the tablet, Streak 10 Pro, is currently offered in China, offering the ultimate digital divide between work and life. The Venue and Venue Pro devices, as well, continue to earn accolades for performance, design and functionality around the world. We also recently launched the Latitude ST, a 10-inch Windows 7-based touch-screen tablet designed for vertical markets such as education, finance and healthcare in November of this year. We remain committed to expanding our reach beyond PCs with a targeted set of open, standards-based mobility solutions and services designed for commercial and mobile professional customers.

So Dell isn't leaving the mobile space entirely, and it doesn't look like the Streak 7 is completely dead, though based on the above statement, it certainly seems to be on its way to pasture.

Dell halts online sales of Streak 7 tablet, turns toward a new mobile future originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Streak Smart  |  Dell  | Email this | Comments

Dell halts online sales of Streak 7 tablet, turns toward a new mobile future
Amar Toor
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:32:00 GMT

Windows 8′s Answer to the Mac App Store Comes Into Focus Tuesday

 

After years of leaving it to Windows software makers to sell their own wares, Microsoft’s flagship operating system is finalizing its plans to get into the app store business.

The move won’t come until the debut of Windows 8 — expected next year — but Redmond will share more details on Tuesday at an event in San Francisco.

Microsoft revealed that Windows 8 would have a built-in software marketplace back when it first showed the revamped interface at our D9 show in June, though at that point the company wouldn’t comment on the “Store” icon that was clearly visible in the home screen it showed. Microsoft did offer a few more details at its Build developer conference in September.

I’m sure we’ll learn a lot more on Tuesday (and naturally, AllThingsD will be on hand to get the full skinny) but here’s what we already know.

As of earlier this fall, the plan was that the store will be the exclusive way for developers to distribute new-style Windows 8 apps. Microsoft didn’t share the business details at its developer conference, though some documents made reference to some sort of revenue-sharing arrangement. The store will support free and paid apps, as well as trial versions and in-app payments. Businesses will also be able to make available internal apps to their workers using the store mechanism.

Traditional Windows apps will continue to be sold in the same way they have been — directly from developers and through online and brick and mortar stores. The store won’t be a way for users to directly purchase older-style Windows apps (the ones that run on Windows 7 and earlier versions in addition to Windows 8), but developers of those apps can create a landing page for those apps so they can be found in and linked to from the store.
The Windows Store itself is a new-style Windows 8 app that is linked to from the main start page.

Thanks to the iPhone, app stores are all the rage these days. Google has one for Android and Apple has transferred the concept to the Mac, with the marketplace it built into Lion.

Even though it is basically just following the trend, putting an app store in Windows is a big bet for Microsoft. Windows remains the company’s most important product and a key source of its revenue and profit. Inserting itself into the software distribution process opens up a potentially huge new income stream for Redmond, but also risks alienating developers — many of whom are trying to figure out just how much attention to give Windows these days, especially since new-style Windows apps use a different set of programming languages than those Microsoft has traditionally employed.

While Windows is one of the last to the app store game, Microsoft has considerable experience in this realm, already running online app stores for the Xbox and Windows Phone.

Among the key details to watch for on Tuesday will be what Microsoft’s business terms for software developers including the cut it hopes to take and other policies.

It will also be interesting to see if Microsoft has more to say about when it might release a beta version of the software. It handed out an early developer preview at the Build conference, though that edition had none of the code for the store. Developers will clearly need to start kicking the tires on the store fairly soon if Microsoft wants to have its virtual shelves stocked at launch.

Windows 8′s Answer to the Mac App Store Comes Into Focus Tuesday
Ina Fried
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:00:58 GMT

Google SketchUp 8.0.11752

 

Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create 3D models of anything you like.

 

Google SketchUp 8.0.11752
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:58:27 GMT

Apple’s Claim of Android Rip-Off Awaits U.S. Trade Agency Ruling

 

For two years, Apple Inc. has told the world that phones running on Google Inc.’s Android operating system are iPhone rip-offs. Now Apple is about to learn whether a U.S. trade agency thinks its claims have merit.

Apple’s Claim of Android Rip-Off Awaits U.S. Trade Agency Ruling
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:08:34 GMT

The Next Chapter For Apple vs. Android: HTC At The ITC This Week (Ingrid Lunden/paidContent)

 

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:
The Next Chapter For Apple vs. Android: HTC At The ITC This Week  —  Last Friday Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) saw a setback in its multinational fight against alleged patent infringements by Android when it was denied an injunction on Samsung's Android devices in a U.S. Federal Court …

The Next Chapter For Apple vs. Android: HTC At The ITC This Week (Ingrid Lunden/paidContent)
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:30:00 GMT

DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 434

 

This week in DistroWatch Weekly: Reviews: antiX M11 News: Mint as an Ubuntu killer, how Mandriva was built, Red Hat's syslog controversy Statistics: Lies and statistics Released last week: VectorLinux 7.0, Clonezilla Live 1.2.11-23 Donations: LiVES receives US$300 New distributions: FDGnuX, Tango Studio, VESTA Reader comments Read more....

 

DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 434
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:00:39 GMT

Galaxy Nexus first look video and impressions

 

The Galaxy Nexus smartphone I ordered on Sunday from the U.K. has arrived. I haven't played enough yet, but the little time I've had with the first Android 4.0 smartphone has been most impressive. The best way to put the experience? Android has finally grown up.

 

Galaxy Nexus first look video and impressions
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:27:06 GMT