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BREAKING: Google Buys Motorola for $12.5 Billion

15 August 2011 1:15 PM

Google has purchased Motorola Mobility, a company that makes many of the phones its Android operating system runs on, for $12.5 billion — a 63% premium on its current share price.

The acquisition, Google said in a a statement, “will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem.” The company will continue to be run as a separate business.

Buying a hardware company is an unusual move for Google.

More to come… follow this post for updates via Mashable.

Apple Launches iCloud Beta [+PHOTOS]

2 August 2011 1:48 AM

Apple Launches iCloud!

Apple has unveiled the beta for , the company’s new suite of media streaming and cloud-based services.

The new beta, which is available to all users with an Apple ID, features web-based version of Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Find my IPhone and iWork. They are accessible if you visit www.iCloud.com while using iOS 5 (available to Apple developers) or Mac OS X Lion. It does not include Apple’s cloud music services, including iTunes Match.

Apple also unveiled the pricing structure for iCloud. The first 5GB of storage on the service are free. An addition 10GB will cost $20, 20GB will cost $40 and 50GB will retail for $100. It’s a good deal more expensive than Amazon Cloud Drive, which gives 20GB of space for $20 and lets users store an unlimited amount of music for free.

We’re playing around with the iCloud beta now, and while we’ll have more to report, our initial conclusion is that the iCloud beta is a modified version of MobileMe. It includes similar interfaces, which isn’t a surprise. The addition of iWork support is a welcomed addition though, as is the simplistic and universal interface for all of Apple’s cloud services.

We’ve taken some screenshots of the beta and embedded them below. Check them out, and let us know what you think of the iCloud beta in the comments.

[source: Mashable – Credit: Ben Parr]

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

BGT wannabe Jessica Hobson sobs as Simon Cowell brands her “Silly”

3 June 2011 4:46 PM

slated Britain’s Got Talent wannabe Jessica Hobson’s performance on last night’s show and branded her dress ‘silly’, leaving the teen in tears.

Dec tried to comfort Jessica as she burst into tears upon hearing Simon Cowell's comments.

The music mogul slammed Jessica’s rendition – which saw her belt out Beyonce song Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), accompanied by two dancers – as ‘ridiculous’ and she had to be comforted by presenter when she started sobbing on the ITV1 show Britain’s Got Talent.

who is joined on the judging panel by , and of course Told the 19-year-old singer “It started fine then it got increasingly worse.”

“Whoever came up with the idea of putting you with the two dancers – it was ridiculous.”
“You would have been better singing on your own and not with the silly dress.” – said.

Jessica sung a slowed-down version of Beyoncé's Single Ladies before speeding it up as she joined two dancers on stage.

Popera singer Jai McDowall and dancer Steven Hall made it through to the final of the talent competition, with Simon opting for the 53-year-old telecoms expert’s hilarious dance medley over 35-year-old singer Edward Reid.

He said: “I’m going to go with what I think the public want – and that’s Steven.”

Scottish star Jai, who performed Evanescence’s Bring Me To Life – went straight to the final after winning the biggest proportion of the public vote.

Don’t worry! you can still support Jessica Hobson and make her dreams still happen by joining her official facebook page or follow her official twitter!