News

Google+ iPhone App Now Live In The App Store [+PHOTOS]

19 July 2011 6:02 PM

Google+

Google+’s iPhone app is now live in the App Store, and you can download the free app here. (Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4. Requires iOS 3.1 or later)

From Google’s description of the app, Google+ for mobile makes sharing the right things with the right people a lot simpler. Huddle lets you send super-fast messages to the people you care about most. And no matter where you are, the stream lets you stay in the loop about what your friends are sharing and where they’re checking in.

Similar to the web product, Google+ for iPhone includes Circles, your stream of updated from contacts, and Huddle, for group messaging in your circles.

While the Google+ Android app was ready to go on day one, the Google+ iPhone app had remained in review with Apple. Until now, iPhone users have had to access a mobile web version of Google+ in Safari, which wasn’t nearly as feature-filled as the Android app.

It appears that the iPhone app and Android app are fairly similar in functionality except for the instant upload feature that is included in the Android app. Instant Upload automatically uploads videos and photos to your Google+ album in the cloud.

As Larry Page told us last week “Google+ now has has over 10 million users who have created profiles (after two weeks), and these users are sharing and receiving 1 billion items per day.”



Precious Google+ invitation on eBay 99 Cents

1 July 2011 12:59 PM

I am sure that Google+ is the next coming of, well, at least Facebook.

Should I get an invitation, I will definitely invite Sen. Harry Reid, Dick Cheney, Col. Ghaddafi, and Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest of the Los Angeles Lakers) to my Solving the World’s Problems Circle.

However, I am still feeling a touch skeptical about Google’s claim that demand for an invitation to the network is so “insane” that it has had to close it off to newcomers.

You see, fine economists believe that when demand is vast, this vastness is immediately reflected in the market. And what greater market is there than eBay?

(credit screenshot Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

So I sauntered over there to see what vast, inflated prices were being demanded by those who had been lucky enough to have been graced with a Google+ invitation.

Just a cursory look at the prices suggest that the insanity of the demand might have received some excellent and swift Freudian therapy. For it is perfectly possible to gain access to this incredible, extraordinary, new, new thing for a mere 99 cents. (I’m assuming everything on eBay is genuine. Generous, perhaps)

Indeed, as I write one seller, wilco_eba from the Netherlands, is offering his or her invitation for less than the price of a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle. This is not the only seller who is offering access to Google+ for this meager figure. (Wilco_eba is even offering “free shipping”.)

The highest price I can find on eBay is the curious $17.97, which goes to suggest that perhaps the world isn’t yet tearing down doors and out its own hair in order to gain access to, um, the Hangout facility.

Perhaps, in time, being one of Google+’s in-crowd will be more precious than, say, tickets to Lady Gaga or, um, Jethro Tull.

all credit: news.cnet.com

“Jackass” star Ryan Dunn killed in car accident at 34

20 June 2011 4:44 PM

Sad: Jackass star Ryan Dunn was killed in a car accident early this morning.

Reality TV daredevil and Jackass star Ryan Dunn was killed in a car accident in the early hours of this morning.

The 34-year-old died in a one car collision near his home in West Goshen, Pennsylvania at around 3.30am following a night out with friends. An unknown man was also in the car at the time and was also pronounced dead at the scene.

As yet, the cause of the accident and the circumstances leading up to it are not yet known but just hours before the accident, Ryan had tweeted a picture of himself with two male friends, all of whom were holding what appeared to be alcoholic beverages.

Ryan rose to fame as part of the stunt crew for the MTV show Jackass, which ran from 2000 to 2002. He then featured in Bam Margera’s Viva La Bam from 2003 to 2006 as well as all three of the Jackass movies.

It was actually Bam Margera’s mother, April, who confirmed Ryan’s death by calling into Preston and Steve’s radio show on WMMR 93.3.

Just hours before his death, Ryan Tweeted this picture, of him enjoying a night out with friends Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2005872/Jackass-star-Ryan-Dunn-killed-car-accident.html#ixzz1PpbEeyDE

His Jackass co-star and friend Steve O was reportedly too distraught to speak when approached by RadarOnline.com for comment.

Ryan was famously involved in a golf cart accident during the filming of the first Jackass movie during which Johnny Knoxville was injured.

He was driving the golf cart with Knoxville as a passenger when he tried to launch the vehicle over a sand bunker.

Knoxville was thrown from the cart which then landed on top of him, knocking him out.

The crew: Ryan (far right) was part of the cast for MTV show Jackass

Photos from the car accident:

Accident that killed Jackass star Ryan Dunn on Rt. 322.

Taken at the scene of the accident this morning

MobileMe runs till June 2012 – no refunds?

7 June 2011 1:35 AM

If you went to MobileMe's page on Apple's website Monday 6th June 2011, this is the message you saw.

It’s great news for many that Apple is offering free email, contacts and calendars, but it irks those people who have recently paid the $99 annual fee for the MobileMe service. Here’s what they need to know, and what Apple hasn’t yet explained.

MobileMe isn’t shutting down. It may be “dead” but Apple is giving everyone who paid for the service another 12 (and a half) months. The company stated that the service will shut down on June 30, 2012.

MobileMe may run for another year, but as of now, there are no new subscribers. Apple is refunding anyone who bought the subscription box with a code, provided they have not yet used the code. If you have the code, or recently paid up, you will simply have the MobileMe service until it shuts down. (If you have a family pack, you can still create family member accounts.)

Hello, iCloud!

The much-talked about iCloud service from Apple was officially detailed today by Steve Jobs himself at the Apple WWDC keynote in San Francisco. Apple will now let you store your files on their servers, but the real application for Apple fans here will be the syncing possibilities iCloud opens up, and that’s what Jobs focused on the most in his speech today.

iCloud is free of charge for everyone – iOS device users, Mac users and PC users alike. All devices registered to you will be able to communicate with iCloud, and all applications on your devices will be fully integrated with it. The service will automatically push new data to all of your other devices. Buy an iBook, and it will be automatically downloaded to your other devices. Take a picture, same thing happens. Store a contact on your iPhone, the iCloud pushes it immediately to your iPad.

Almost everything about the iCloud is automatic. Once a day, your data will be backed up to the cloud, wirelessly. This means all of your data – if you buy a new phone, you can enter your Apple ID, and everything saved to your old phone will be automatically downloaded to your new phone.

iCloud has a few little advantages depending on which app you use it with. When reading an iBook, your progress will be automatically pushed to all of your devices, so you can pick up immediately where you left off on your book when you switch between your iPhone, Mac, and iPad. Photo stream will upload your camera roll to the cloud and push to all other devices. This works with PCs, too, using the pictures folder. iOS devices will then store the 1000 most recent photos, due to storage space considerations, while Macs and PCs will store all photos from all devices.

This isn’t a permanent storage solution, though. Files are stored on iCloud for up to 30 days, meaning this is more of a wireless syncing platform with rolling cloud storage. It’s also not a streaming service – files and apps are downloaded to your devices, so no form of media can actually be streamed from the cloud. There will be 5 GB of free storage available to everyone in iCloud, but purchased items like books and music do not count toward that limit.

iCloud seems to be more of a wireless syncing platform than a storage solution, and is certainly not the streaming media center many were hoping for. But, it is fully integrated with all apps, and to say it’s easy to use would be a little misleading. You don’t really use iCloud at all. You set it up on your devices, and it does the rest in the background, pushing new and updated files and apps to all of your devices in (literally) seconds. It is amazingly fast. iCloud will work over Wi-Fi connections, and will completely replace MobileMe, which will cease to exist after iCloud is fully implemented, which will be sometime this fall, alongside iOS 5.

I’m not going to pretend I’m not looking forward to this, but I will miss the MobileMe gallery, if there’s no suitable replacement. And as for the people who paid $99 for a premium service that won’t be premium in three months, I guess Apple is happy to charge you the early adopter tax. Like you’re surprised!

More on this at:
Apple Announces iCloud at WWDC – Goodbye MobileMe – ChipChick
MobileMe runs till June 2012 – GadgetBox

Jai McDowall wins Britain’s Got Talent 2011

4 June 2011 10:15 PM

Move over Susan Boyle. The Ayrshire star becomes first Scottish performer to win Britain’s Got Talent.

has won , making him the first Scot ever to win the show. In a shock result, Jai beat bookies favourite Ronan Parke to take the top spot.

The 24 year old received a standing ovation on tonight’s BGT final after he performed a confident rendition of To Where You Are.

After his performance, Simon Cowell said: “Jai this was very well timed, this was you at your best. I loved the staging, the choir and the drama. For the first time I saw you come out on stage believing like you could win. Jai I don’t think the vocal was perfect, it was a little bit monotone, but it was still terrific congratulations.”

The Hoff said: “Jai you sang beautifully. It looked like half of Scotland was here.”

Michael McIntyre said: “I echo what David said. You should be very proud of yourself. You delivered. I think the whole of Scotland will be voting for you.”

And it seems they were. Amanda Holden dubbed him the “dark horse of the competition” and she was right.

Jai, from Tarbolton, Ayrshire, was practically speechless, but thanked everyone for voting.

The singer was originally dibbed the new Susan Boyle but he has now gone one step further then Su-Bo and has lifted the BGT crown.

What now for Jai? Once the realisation has sunk in, he hopes to get a part in a West End show or even a chance to star on Glee! Let’s hope those TV bosses are watching. Congratulations Jai good luck.