Of course, you can get this functionality from Shazam and some other apps. However, if you are running Android 4.1+, the feature is now completely inline with the operating system instead of being a third party app.

All you have to do is touch the mic, say “What’s That Song”, and wait for Google to do its magic. The listening takes all of 15 seconds before Google Now either spits out the song name or cannot find it. Judging by the link to the Play Store and testing some songs, we found out that Google Now will only recognize songs that Google is selling in Google Play.

Overall, Google Now got almost all of my songs correct and in good time. Plus, as mentioned before, the feature does not require a third-party app and has a sleek and simplistic design.

Do you enjoy using Google Now? What cards are your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.

The post “What’s That Song” Feature Added to Google Now appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

When Apple first introduced SIRI to the iPhone 4S, it was only a matter of time before major competitors followed suite with their own variants. Instead of flat-out copying Siri though, Google Now has done an excellent job at creating a Siri-like experience while maintaining its own unique certain functions and capabilities that help set it apart. Not content to just let things lay, Google is planning on bringing some of that same Google Now functionality to its Google Search application for iOS devices. With the Google Search app you can naturally ask about things like weather and get real results. While the search functions won’t provide full assistant capabilities, they certainly will make using Google Search a lot easier.

According to Google, the app is on its way to iTunes in the next couple of days.

[ source ]

The post Siri’s Competition Heats Up, Google Search iOS App Gets Voice Functionality appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

I would say, that’s why we are hooked to Google in the first place. And the internet giant is making millions out of it too. Now they are planning to take personalized advertisements and Google’s trademark “search suggestions” to the next level by getting into much more personal realms.

Google has applied for patent, technologies which can be used to record and analyze the background noise when we make phone calls. The idea is to get a picture of the environment we are in so that they can dish out the right advertisements for us. They are even planning a system to monitor the pictures we click.

Creepy would be a total understatement for this latest endeavor from the company we have started to love hate so much.

But Google is adamant that their “Advertising based on environmental conditions” will not amount to spying or will not trespass our privacy. They merely want to listen for things to pick up on stuff that could be used for advertising. Like if it is snowing, they can pitch to sell snow shovels. And they will be doing it using computers and algorithms like they usually do with our mails and internet search patterns. So human element and related naughty doings can be avoided.

Google released a statement saying that the patent filings needn’t mean that they would employ the technology in the future. But going by the signs, Google is not just dreaming of creating a world where sellers (companies) can eaves drop on our conversations and lives to get ideas on how to sell their products to us; they are planning to pioneer in it.

This is totally not done, especially in the so called free world we are in. But then are we really free. Personalized advertisements are a big hit even as we speak. I myself, at times, find it a tad convenient at having found an ad which takes me to something I had Googled for just seconds before.

Like I mentioned earlier, a whole new level of “creepy” is awaiting us just around the corner.

The post Google Plans to Eavesdrop on Phone Calls to Provide “Better Personalized Advertisements” appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

There was no denying that the previous Google iOS/iPad app needed a makeover, badly. Google announced today that such a makeover had finally arrived with major interface enhancements and overall better performance. The update has a much improved UI and brings several new features that make the interface more gesture-drive and visual orientated.

As an example of the new gesture-driven features, if you select a result it now slides in as a pane from the right and you can slide it back to the right to return to your search results. The iOS app certainly takes advantage of the large screen of the iPad, and looks rather good in landscape as well. Viewing image results is also more visual and gesture-based. If you tap on an image it brings up an image carousel where you can easily swipe to browse through related images.

The app also adds instant search, meaning that it starts browsing for search options even as you type out what you are looking for. This isn’t a new feature for Google and is present on the desktop, but still it’s nice to see it here as well.

The app seems like a fairly solid choice for search, especially for Google fans. Probably one of the most exciting things about this new app is that it actually works like it’s intended to. This might sound like something you should just expect out of an app already, but as Google’s  Gmail app proved at it’s launch in early November, it doesn’t always work out that way.

To get a better look at Google’s iPad Search in action, check out the video below:

The post Google Updates Its Search App For iPads appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Watch your energy consumption

Get on Google PowerMeter and track your energy usage, keep tabs on peak hours and learn how to reduce and save. You can do this with many different devices, here’s a list of supported ones that can help you keep an eye on power consumption:

Devices to monitor Power Consumption

• AlertMe
• Blueline
• Brultech
• Current Cost
• Digi
• eGauge
• PowerHouse Dynamics
• The Energy Detective (TED)
• WattsUp
• Wattvision

Your best bet for today though, just shut everything down, go out in the sun, explore nature and have some fun.

Photo: CurrentCost meter

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Nearly every browser on the desktop, iPhone, or Blackberry, allows the user to choose their search engine. However, Windows Phone 7 has tied up with Bing as its default search engine, which means that Bing would block any attempt to browse using any other search engine from the start screen.

To compete with Bing on WP7, Google has developed its own app – Google Search for Windows Phone 7, which it launched on November 11. As Google Mobile team programmers Jon Skeet and Nick Radicevic note in a blog post, this app “provides quick and convenient access to a rich set of search results.” Users can download the app for free for all Windows Phone 7 devices and languages from Windows Mobile Marketplace.

Google’s search app uses the phone’s GPS to localize searches, gives suggestions as you type, and keeps track of previous searches. The search results appear in a browser window, which allows access to images, local and news results as well, the features missing on Bing app for WP7.

Since Microsoft has all but made it a mandate for phone carriers that its Bing search engine be deeply integrated on Windows phone 7, it would be interesting to watch whether this move bails Microsoft out of its flagging smartphone market share, or users download Google’s Search app for WP7 and ding the Bing!

The post Google comes to Winphone 7 as an app, not an option appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

TomTom Navigation App with real-time traffic updates for the Apple iPhone version 1.3

I’m not much of one to use standalone GPS navigation devices, I can’t even recall the last time I needed one as I prefer to use the free Google Maps application on my Nokia smartphone.  But that’s not to say traditional GPS makers aren’t gonna go down without a fight.  TomTom, still one of the world’s leading providers of navigation solutions and digital maps, is shifting their focus to the world of smartphones. More specifically, enhancements for the iPhone TomTom app.

TomTom’s press announcement explains how full real-time traffic information will be available from the TomTom iPhone app (version 1.3), getting you around those nasty traffic jams rather than taking what is suggested as the fastest route. Need to stop at a dry cleaners, perhaps a falafel? You can find out by accessing the local search powered by Google.

Nifty pinch and zoom is one of the neatest advanced features added to the Version 1.3 list of enhancements, new map updates, automatic day/night mode, music fading, and the ability to save locations from other iPhone apps are also added to the TomTom app.

Existing users get the update for free. New customers can buy the app that includes US maps, for $59.99. If you want to add Canadian maps, the total price is $69.99. The traffic portion is $19.99 extra for 12 months of service.  Other versions available are for the U.K. & Ireland, Western Europe, Australia and South Africa.

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