http://www.wiredb.com/ Best selection of technology news. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:44:04 -0500 http://www.wiredb.com/1710/First_Official_Preview_Video_of_Android_2.0_Is_Now_Available The Android team just released the first official video overview of the upcoming Android 2.0 release. The video, which is geared towards developers, shows off a number of interesting new features, including an improved accounts manager, better contact syncing, easier access to the Android Bluetooth API to connect devices and support for devices with different screen sizes. The demo also shows the smarter contacts application which now features a very smart new 'quick contacts' feature. The contacts application now highlights all the different ways to get in touch with a contact when you click on their avatar.SponsorLots of New FeaturesFor now, only developers will have access to Android 2.0. Regular users won't be able to get their hands on this update later this year. The update features some impressive new functions, including support for synchronizing and managing multiple email accounts, an improved keyboard with a smarter dictionary and a browser that will be more like Safari on the iPhone, with support for double-tap zoom and HTML5.Here are some of the new features that users can expect to see in Android 2.0:Contacts and accountsMultiple accounts can be added to a device for email and contact synchronization, including Exchange accounts. (Handset manufacturers can choose whether to include Exchange support in their devices.) Developers can create sync adapters that provide synchronization with additional data sources. Quick Contact for Android provides instant access to a contact's information and communication modes. For example, a user can tap a contact photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person. Other applications such as Email, Messaging, and Calendar can also reveal the Quick Contact widget when you touch a contact photo or status icon. EmailExchange support. Combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in one page. MessagingSearch functionality for all saved SMS and MMS messages. Auto delete the oldest messages in a conversation when a defined limit is reached. CameraBuilt-in flash support Digital zoom Scene mode White balance Color effect Macro focus Android virtual keyboardAn improved keyboard layout to makes it easier to hit the correct characters and improve typing speed. The framework's multi-touch support ensures that key presses aren't missed while typing rapidly with two fingers. A smarter dictionary learns from word usage and automatically includes contact names as suggestions. BrowserRefreshed UI with actionable browser URL bar enables users to directly tap the address bar for instant searches and navigation. Bookmarks with web page thumbnails. Support for double-tap zoom. Support for HTML5.CalendarAgenda view provides infinite scrolling. Events indicate the attending status for each invitee. Invite new guests to events. Discuss Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:07:00 -0400 http://www.wiredb.com/1709/Introducing_Google_Social_Search_I_finally_found_my_friend39s_New_York Your friends and contacts are a key part of your life online. Most people on the web today make social connections and publish web content in many different ways, including blogs, status updates and tweets. This translates to a public social web of content that has special relevance to each person. Unfortunately, that information isn't always very easy to find in one simple place. That's why today we're rolling out a new experiment on Google Labs called Google Social Search that helps you find more relevant public content from your broader social circle. It should be available for everyone to try by the end of the day, so be sure to check back.A lot of people write about New York, so if I do a search for [new york] on Google, my best friend's New York blog probably isn't going to show up on the first page of my results. Probably what I'll find are some well-known and official sites. We've taken steps to improve the relevance of our search results with personalization, but today's launch takes that one step further. With Social Search, Google finds relevant public content from your friends and contacts and highlights it for you at the bottom of your search results. When I do a simple query for [new york], Google Social Search includes my friend's blog on the results page under the heading "Results from people in your social circle for New York." I can also filter my results to see only content from my social circle by clicking "Show options" on the results page and clicking "Social." Check out this video for a demo:All the information that appears as part of Google Social Search is published publicly on the web — you can find it without Social Search if you really want to. What we've done is surface that content together in one single place to make your results more relevant. The way we do it is by building a social circle of your friends and contacts using the connections linked from your public Google profile, such as the people you're following on Twitter or FriendFeed. The results are specific to you, so you need to be signed in to your Google Account to use Social Search. If you use Gmail, we'll also include your chat buddies and contacts in your friends, family, and coworkers groups. And if you use Google Reader, we'll include some websites from your subscriptions as part of your social search results.To learn more about how Social Search works behind the scenes, including the choices and control you have over the content you see and share, read our help center article or watch this video:This feature is an experiment, but we've been using it at Google and the results have been exciting. We'd love to hear your feedback. Oh, and don't forget to create a public Google profile to expand your social circle and more easily find the information you're looking for (including that New York blog).Posted by Maureen Heymans, Technical Lead and Murali Viswanathan, Product Manager Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:30:00 -0400 http://www.wiredb.com/1708/Use_Google_Voice_with_your_existing_number Up until now, if you wanted to use Google Voice, you needed to choose a new number (a "Google number"). Taking calls through your Google number allows us to offer features like call recording, call screening and getting text messages via email. But we know not everyone wants to switch to a new phone number, so it made sense for us to create a lighter version of Google Voice for people who are willing to trade some features for the ability to use their existing numbers.We're excited to announce that you now have the choice to get Google Voice with your existing mobile number OR with a Google number.If you sign up using your existing number, you'll still get many of Google Voice's features. Most notably, you'll get all the functionality of Google voicemail, as explained in this video:If you already have a Google Voice account, you can add Google voicemail to any mobile phone you've linked to your account. If you're not yet using Google Voice, you can request an invite or ask a friend with a Google Voice account to send you an invitation. When you receive the invitation to sign up, you can choose to use Google Voice with your existing number — or to get a Google number for additional features.Google Voice is about giving you more control over your communications. We hope this new option makes it easier for you to manage your messages and personalize your voicemail experience.Posted by Craig Walker, Vincent Paquet & Pierre Lebeau, Product Managers Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.wiredb.com/1707/Google_Voice_now_works_on_your_mobile_number Google is using another clever tactic to get mobile users to use their service. Today on the Google Voice Blog, they've announced that Google Voice is available to people who don't want (or aren't sure if they want) a Google phone number.read more Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:06:00 -0400 http://www.wiredb.com/1706/CNN.com_launches_cleaner_more_personalized_design The new homepage of CNN looks great. I love the grid layout and clear headlines. The colors are bold, but they don't interfere with the content. CNN added the "News Pulse" tab to their main navigation. It's different view of the news based on what is popular, how many comments, or what the subject matter is. There is also a better view of your profile on CNN. You can save stories, view your comments, and see news relevant to your locale. This is step in the right direction for CNN. They have had a good design in the past, but now it's even better. Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:49:00 -0400 http://www.wiredb.com/1705/Internet_set_for_change_with_non-English_addresses_____AP AP - The Internet is set to undergo one of the biggest changes in its four-decade history with the expected approval this week of international domain names — or addresses — that can be written in languages other than English, an official said Monday. Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:58:00 -0400 http://www.wiredb.com/1704/Microsoft_seeks_ISO_security_certification_for_its_cloud_services Microsoft Corp. wants to get its suite of hosted messaging and collaboration products certified to the ISO 27001 international information security standard, part of an effort to try and assure customers about the security of its cloud computing services. It comes amid broad and continuing doubts about the ability of cloud vendors in general to properly secure their services. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:09:00 -0400 http://www.wiredb.com/1703/Microsoft_results_top_expectations_shares_jump_____Reuters Reuters - Microsoft Corp's results smashed Wall Street expectations on Friday, sending its shares up 8 percent, as the PC market improved and sales of its Windows software and Halo video game were stronger than expected. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:59:00 -0400 http://www.wiredb.com/1702/Zurich_Insurance_admits_big_data_loss Half a million customer recordsZurich Insurance has admitted losing the personal account details for more than half a million people more than a year ago.…Offloading malware protection to the cloud Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:42:00 -0400 http://www.wiredb.com/1701/Microsoft_launches_Windows_7_____AFP AFP - Microsoft's much-heralded Windows 7 operating system made its global debut on Thursday. Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:07:00 -0400