I wouldn’t say that I use it terribly often, but Google Goggles is an amazing little app. I take a picture of something — almost anything — and it will recognize what it is. If it’s a product, I can then do a quick online search for reviews and pricing information. eBay wants to do the same thing with its mobile apps.

eBay CEO John Donahoe announced at the Innovate eBay new developer conference that the company plans on rolling out image recognition technology in is mobile offerings before the end of the year. Once again, the core concept mirrors that of Google Goggles. You’re out in the world, you take a picture of something you want, and the eBay app starts searching through its online marketplace for similar products that you can bid on and buy.

Since this is eBay, the image search will be geared more toward buying products and related products. As such, snapping pictures of clothing and furniture may work a heck of a lot better (assuming they’ve got the algorithm nailed down) than with Google Goggles. The latter doesn’t recognize apparel all that well, for instance.

The post Image search coming to eBay mobile apps a la Google Goggles appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

YPrintIt is a free app that lets you design and send digital business cards using QR codes. The app offers hundreds of templates.

To give someone your business card, you show them the QR code that is generated when you create the e-card, and they take a photo of it with the QR code reader. If they don’t have the app, they can take a regular picture on their cellphone and view it once they install it.

The virtual business card can be sent an unlimited amount of times, and with real time data sync too, so every time you change your information your contacts will receive an update about it. Also, if your contact shares that card with someone else, you can log into your account online and see has received it.

The app is available for iPhone and Android, with the Blackberry version coming later this year.

[YPrintIt]

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The next time you order a trenta-sized iced mocha frapp, you won’t need to whip out your wallet. You’ll just need to flash your iPhone at the barista.

Starbucks has rolled out its mobile payment system nationwide, hitting up nearly 7,000 company-operated coffee shops around the United States. The idea is that you can load up your Starbucks account with some funds (just like how you would with the physical Starbucks Card), boot up the iPhone app, show the barcode to the scanner, and enjoy your cuppa joe.

Yes, I said barcode. The mobile payment system being implemented by Starbucks uses a special 2D barcode rather than the near-field communications (NFC) technology being shoved into products like the Google Nexus S smartphone. They say that NFC just isn’t popular enough yet. “Once there are more users,” says Starbucks Card category manager of innovation Chuck Davidson, “we will adapt.”

In addition to the Starbucks Card app being offered on iOS for iPhone and iPod touch, there is also an app being launched for BlackBerry as well as one currently in development for Android.

I’m not convinced that this is necessarily any faster than whipping out an actual Starbucks Card, since you have to load up the app and show the barcode for it to work, but it is good to see that they’re innovating by doing more than making bigger cups and unveiling new logos.

The post Starbucks mobile payments roll out with barcodes, not NFC appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Everyone is still trying to catch up to the ever-growing flood of apps available through the iPhone’s App Store, but Google Android is certainly starting to pick up steam. According to some unofficial reports from AndroLib, Android Market is now loaded with over 200,000 of those little programs for your favorite Google-flavored devices.

It’s important to note that this figure is highly unofficial. Google itself announced reaching the 100,000 app milestone on October 25. It’s really unlikely that the app count effectively doubled in time for the holidays, but it’s possible that Google was slightly under-reporting when it made that announcement two months ago.

The great thing about Android, at least from Google’s perspective, is that the platform is picking up steam and consumers have a lot of choice when it comes to Android-powered handsets. Whether you’re rocking a T-Mobile G2, Sprint Epic 4G, or Verizon Droid X, you’re knee-deep in the Google pool. That certainly helps from a development standpoint, reaching an increasingly large audience.

No, the number of apps in Android Market is not quite as plentiful as its iOS counterpart, but you also have to reallize that both marketplaces contain a fair bit of fluff material too. Really, how many fart apps do you need?

[TNW]

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No, this number is nowhere near as impressive as what you’d find through the App Store for the Apple iPhone and other iOS devices, but it represents a major milestone for Microsoft’s latest mobile operating system. If you happen to be rocking something like the Samsung Focus or HTC Surround, you can now go to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace and find no fewer than 5,000 apps.

Remember that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace has only been open for a little over two months, and the whole WP7 platform is still very much in the early adoption stage. To put things into perspective, Windows Phone 7 only took a little over two months to meet the 5,000 app threshold. On the flip side, Palm’s webOS has been out for a year and a half and it is only now hitting 5,000 apps. That says something right there.

While there are certainly a number of free applications available through the WP7 Marketplace, it’s also noteworthy that the average price of an app got about a ten cent bump to $1.52 last week. The $500 “I Am Rich” app surely had something to do with that.

Of the 5,000 apps, about a fifth are mobile games. That just goes to show you that gaming on smartphones is definitely a big thing, even when it comes to a Microsoft platform. There is Xbox Live on there after all.

[WPCentral]

The post Windows Phone 7 now with 5,000 mobile apps (and growing) appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

I don’t think that Google has to do very much to spark some new interest in the Android Market, because the app developers are already recognizing the huge potential that it offers since it opened up to global markets, but that’s not stopping the search engine giant from giving the app marketplace a small overhaul. Even Google needs a new wardrobe from time to time.

A “significant update” to the overall design is coming down the chute, giving Android Market a whole new look. This follows shortly after word of a new rating system wherein all app developers have to designate their submissions as suitable for users of different age groups: All, Pre-teen, Teen, and Mature. Anything involving alcohol, for example, gets pegged as Teen or higher.

The new features on the soon to be revamped Android Market only apply to devices running 1.6 or higher. Google says that the update will “improve merchandising of applications, streamline the browse-to-purchase experience, and make it easier for developers to distribute their applications.”

In addition to a new carousel-styled home screen, Android Market will now allow for apps up to 50MB in size. Does the non-expandable Google Nexus S have anything to worry about? 16GB still provides for a lot of 50MB apps.

[Mobile Syrup via Google Blog]

The post Google’s Android Market about to get an extreme makeover appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The screen where it all begins.

JailbreakMe is a web-based process of jailbreaking the iPhone, and its smoother than a ferry ride home from Alcatraz.  Although it’s good news if your a timid Apple device owner who is hungry for “unsanctioned” apps, it raises security questions about such an escape.

JailbreakMe unlocks your iOS device by taking advantage of a simple flaw in the way the iOS renders Adobe PDF files.  By setting an iOS device free, you can get apps outside of the iTunes App Store, like Cydia, on your iPod, iPhone or iPad.  If you get a bit scared and need to get back in the Apple box, no problem, just restore your device in iTunes. Even though the Library of Congress ruled this month that jailbreaking is legal and does not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, its of course going to put you in the hot seat with Apple if you ever try to make a warranty claim. Apple cautions that these practices will terminate your warranty.  Despite Apple’s warning, it’s estimated that 3 million jailbroken devices already exist.  But as the number of jailbreakers increase, so is the likelihood that Apple will fix this flaw in an attempt to banish competitors and security threats from their sacred utopia. Besides, what else could this flaw be used to gain, aside from any personal information you may have on disk and a bunch of Apple devices in their stores.

Pranksters have been going into Apple stores and visiting JailbreakMe, then cracking the very demo devices Apple uses to sell to customers. Now of course, this is like tossing some camp fuel on that already roaring fire. If people want to keep JailbreakMe around, their going to have to be a little more hush about it. Apple has already taken steps and blocked Jailbreakme.com from their in-store Wi-Fi network. The next step is a fix for the terrifying exploit, which Apple says is coming this week. As it stands, any website carrying the malicious code that you visit can in effect crack your iDevice and retrieve all your private data, now that’s a bit scary.

You simply go to MobileSafari, enter JailBreakme.com, then push the slider to the right to begin the jailbreaking exploitation process. It downloads, it Jailbreaks, you sit tight.

The information regarding this security hole has been made public by the U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team. The good news is this will force a fix to be made sooner rather then later. The bad news, now malicious clones will be spawned, and until the fix is released, be very careful of what sites you visit on your Apples.

The vulnerability uses FreeType, and this is how it works:

FreeType is a font engine that can open and process font files. FreeType 2 includes the ability to handle a number of font types, including Compact Font Format (CFF). FreeType is used by a number of applications, including PDF readers, web browsers, and other applications. FreeType 2 contains a flaw in the handling of some CFF opcodes, which can result in stack corruption. This can allow arbitrary code execution.

By causing an application that uses FreeType to parse a specially-crafted CFF font, a remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system. This can occur as the result of opening a PDF document or viewing a web page.

Stay tuned for more updates this week.

JailBreakMe.com [The one and only]
Apple to patch JailbreakMe.com flaw this week [ZDNet]
Apple Blocks Jailbreakme.com From Stores, Pranksters Undeterred [Wired]

The post JailbreakMe takes advantage of iOS security flaw: Why you need to worry about it appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

How big? Unlike the App Store, which only works on the Apple platform, this combined app store from PocketGear and Handango will have a catalog of more than 140,000 paid and free titles, available for download by more than 4 billion consumers worldwide. The app store supports Android, Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, Linux, and Java.

Among some of its development partners are Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, RIM, Microsoft, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon Wireless. With this acquisition, PocketGear President and CEO Jud Bowman will retain his current position, whereass the current chief executive at Handango, Alex Bloom, will take on the role of Chief Operating Officer of PocketGear.

“This is an exciting time in the app store market and we’re thrilled to be joining forces with PocketGear,” said Alex Bloom, CEO of Handango. “As we increase our scale, not only can we further accelerate speed to market of new devices and applications in a rapidly changing marketplace, but we’re also better positioned to help our distribution and developer partners increase the overall revenues per download from both paid and free apps.”

The post Handango acquired by PocketGear, creates giant cross-platform app store appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The Palm Ares SDK is a web-based software development package that lets you code and create apps for the webOS-based Palm Pre and Palm Pixi. This is quite different from Mojo, which is Palm’s more traditional webOS SDK.

The development environment with Ares is completely web-based, meaning that you don’t have to download and/or purchase any additional tools to turn your app ideas into a reality. Well you’ll still need some knowhow, but you don’t need much in terms of a “hardcore coding background.”

To take the Palm Ares SDK out for a test spin, head on over to the official page at ares.palm.com. Let us know how it goes.

Source: Engadget

The post Develop Apps from the Web with Palm Ares SDK appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The interface worked for some basic tweeting, but it really didn’t go much further than that. Accessing the mentions and messages was a bit of a pain and the overall look left much to be desired. Thankfully, the Twitter crew have finally addressed this issue with a major redesign.

If you point your mobile browser over to the mobile Twitter site, you’ll see that it is now very clean-looking and actually functional. There are even little icons for replying and retweeting! This is a vast improvement over the mobile site of old.

It should be noted that the new site is located at mobile.twitter.com. If you want to see the old mobile site, you can still see it at m.twitter.com.

The new site is optimized for WebKit browsers, including iPhone, Android, Symbian, and webOS. It will also work with BlackBerry, but I hear it doesn’t play nice with Opera for winMo.

Source: Gizmodo

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