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GameFly to begin publishing smartphone apps, will launch its own Android game store
Having already made headway into the digital frontier last year, video game subscription service GameFly is now ready to expand its sphere of influence into the world of mobile. The company's aspiring for greatness, announcing this morning that it plans to begin publishing iOS and Android titles as early as this summer. And that's not all, folks: we can expect to see the GameFly GameStore, a gaming-oriented competitor to the Play Store and Amazon AppStore, sometime this fall. In addition to its goal of being the biggest and baddest kid on the block, GameFly intends to don the role of philanthropist, setting aside a fund to assist struggling devs who might just need a few extra bucks to finish the next mobile masterpiece. If you fall in this category, the company's already accepting submissions, so read through the press release below to get all the necessary details.
Google hastily updates Play Store, fixes broken Market on Motorola devices
Motorola Droid RAZR fans were left out in the cold when Google decided to pull the wraps off its revamped content hub. The new Play Store app didn't seem to bond too well with Motorola's Blur OS skin, leaving phones scanning desperately for a non-existent Android Market and trapping users out of the app version of the store. Google's got on it quickly though, with a new Google Play update out now, righting what was once wrong. According to Droid Life, wiping the new hub's application data in settings should coax the update out instantly. And you'd think the two would talk about these things.
SwiftKey X for Android hits v2.1, fingers party everywhere
Rejoice, virtual keyboard aficionados! SwiftKey X 2.1 for Android tablets and smartphones just became available today, and brings a bunch of new features and bug fixes to your favorite touchscreen device. Since our hands-on with v2.0, TouchType has updated its on-screen keyboard using the feedback it gathered from its 25,000+ VIP members. The new version of SwiftKey X adds blog personalization, insights about your typing (shareable with friends), heat-map visualization (see screenshot above), localization / language enhancements, and an auto caps toggle. We've been using the final build of SwiftKey X 2.1 on our Nexus S for the past couple of days and noticed some improvements in terms of typing speed and accuracy. Pricing remains $4.99 for SwiftKey Tablet X and $3.99 for SwiftKey X. Full PR after the break.
New Google search app for Android gets outed, pulled
While not in the realm of some of Sony Ericsson's gaffes -- as far as pulled images and news, that is -- Google did its level best by throwing up a new version of its integrated search app for Android and then promptly pulling it. New features in the magically disappearing app include: a svelte new interface with categorized results which puts web hits up top then contacts and more in the rows below. Also added is the ability to long press search history to remove questionable search items and country-specific results in countries with Google domains -- think Google.ca, Google.ch, and so on. This may be part of the big search monster's ongoing efforts to "evolve the Google design and experience" across all platforms. Sadly, search fanatics out there will have to wait to get their hands on this as Google fixes whatever evolutionary gremlins have wandered into its code.
SwiftKey X virtual keyboard launches for Android tablets, we go hands-on (video)
We're no strangers to SwiftKey here at Engadget HQ, and today TouchType is launching a major new version of everyone's favorite Android virtual keyboard -- SwiftKey Tablet X for devices running Honeycomb, and SwiftKey X for devices running Android 2.x. Both applications improve upon the original by using TouchType's Fluency 2.0 artificial intelligence engine, a unique predictive phrase system which learns how you write. New features include cloud learning, which analyzes how you type in Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, and text messages to predict phrases in your style, plus keypress technology which continually monitors your typing precision and adapts the touch-sensitive area for each key to improve prediction accuracy. SwiftKey now supports 17 languages (with more coming soon) and is smart enough to interpret three languages at once. There's also a handful of other enhancements, including support for themes which allow users to customize the look and feel of the keyboard. And that split keyboard option we first encountered at CES? It's there of course, in the tablet version. We've been testing SwiftKey Tablet X on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for a few days now, alongside SwiftKey X on a handful of phones (including the Nexus S and the EVO 3D), and it's probably the best virtual keyboard we've used on Android yet. In fact, it's now replacing the stock keyboard on all our HTC Sense-equipped handsets. Prediction accuracy improves quickly after you start using the keyboard, and we liked having the option to turn off the spacebar-triggered auto-completion of words and phrases. Another useful feature is the ability to display arrow / cursor keys on the phone version. The supplied themes are attractive (especially Neon), and the layouts are intuitive -- although we'd have preferred the numbers to be arranged in a row instead of mimicking a numpad. Both applications are available today only for $1.99 in the Android Market. Regular pricing is $4.99 for SwiftKey Tablet X, and $3.99 for SwiftKey X. Take a look at our screenshot galleries below, and hit the break for our hands-on videos and more. %Gallery-128376%%Gallery-128378%
Gameloft CFO calls app development 'an ugly scene'
Gameloft's CEO Alexandre de Rochefort spoke last weekend at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in Paris, and gave a particularly stark view of this growing global app market. While a lot of big time developers are bullish on the app market and its possibilities, de Rochefort presented a more tempered view. He called it "an ugly scene," and said that "the smartphone market is not a goldmine for developers. It's a bit like playing the lottery." He's got a point -- there are some major developers making a lot of money selling their apps on the App Store (and Gameloft is one of those), but there are also thousands, if not millions, of developers out there whose apps just can't seem to find the public's interest. And low-budget, one man developers might have trouble even recouping the costs of their apps if not featured by Apple or the press, not to mention huge developers who risk huge budgets on games that might not fly. Of course, some may say that's business, and for the most part, they'd be right. But a lot of times the app market is portrayed as a new gold rush, with millions of dollars of revenue available for anyone who releases an app. That's not quite the case, especially a few years into the app scene.
iSuppli: Apple will snag 76% of app download market in 2011
Yesterday, iSuppli released new projections for the app download market. In those projections, iSuppli stated that Apple will snag 76% of the app download market in 2011. That market share will garner Apple $2.91 billion in revenue. iSuppli, of course, attributes Apple's app download market share to the popularity of its iOS devices. However, as more Android phones flood the market, Apple's app download market share is expected to decline in future years. But that decline isn't enough to knock the Cupertino company out of the top spot. By 2014, Apple will still command 60% of the app download market, iSuppli estimated. In breaking down the download numbers for 2011, iSuppli expects Apple's App Store to have the most downloads at 10.3 billion, followed by Google's Android Marketplace with 5.8 billion downloads. Next comes Nokia's Ovi Store with 1.1 billion downloads, followed by BlackBerry's App World with 772 million downloads. [via MacRumors]
Panasonic opens up Viera Connect apps to other manufacturers, SDK to devs & gets Hulu Plus
As the connected TV battle continues to heat up, Panasonic is arming its Viera platform by bringing in allies. Dubbed Viera Connect, it builds on the old Viera Cast system by opening up the SDK to developers, and increasing the audience by opening up access to its middleware and market for other device manufacturers. Falling somewhere between Samsung's more closed Samsung Apps experience and the Google TV approach, Panasonic's 2011 TVs and Blu-ray players will come out of the gate with apps like MLB.tv., Hulu Plus, NBA Gametime, Asphalt 5, Tetris and more. Even videogame peripheral manufacturer Thrustmaster is getting in the mix with two wireless gamepads. Check the press release for all the details and new apps for this year.
Swiftkey Android keyboard goes HD, adds new tongues and improved language prediction
Even the most loyal Android user is bound to kvetch about the stock keyboard at some point or another, and while Swype has definitely grabbed the hearts of a good many Froyo users, Swiftkey remains our third-party keyboard of choice. After escaping beta just a few months ago, TouchType has just outed an 'HD' build that's designed to cope with many of the higher-resolution displays being used on today's gargantuan Android phones. Moreover, we're guessing that this was done to look a bit better on devices like the Galaxy Tab, and there's no denying that the new design elements are a real step forward. Aside from the makeover, the app is also gaining five new languages (Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Danish, Norwegian and Polish), improved language prediction quality and a new US layout that nixes accented characters. For those who've yet to try it, the latest version can be tested for a full 31 days, after which you'll be coerced into ponying up $3.99 for the real-deal. Hit the source links below (or the QR code shown here) to give it a go.
Lego's MINDroid Android app remotely controls Mindstorms NXT robots
Hardcore hobbyists have been controlling their Mindstorms NXT creations with all sorts of paraphernalia for years, but now Lego itself is stepping in to lend a hand. The new MINDroid app just splashed down in the Android Market, and it enables Android 2.1 (or greater) handsets to dictate Mindstorms NXT robots over Bluetooth. According to Lego, tilting / turning the phone can make the robot move forward, turn to the sides, and by pressing an action button on the phone's screen, activate the 'Action' motor. Given that the download will cost you absolutely nothing, what are you waiting for? Your robot army awaits your commands.
Study: select Android apps sharing data without user notification
Come one, come all -- let's gather and act shocked, shall we? It's no secret that Google's Android Market is far easier to penetrate than Apple's App Store, which is most definitely a double-edged sword. On one hand, you aren't stuck waiting a lifetime for Apple to approve a perfectly sound app; on the other, you may end up accidentally downloading some Nazi themes that scar you for life. A curious team of scientists from Intel Labs, Penn State and Duke University recently utilized a so-called TaintDroid extension in order to log and monitor the actions of 30 Android apps -- 30 that were picked from the 358 most popular. Their findings? That half of their sample (15, if you're rusty in the math department) shared location information and / or other unique identifiers (IMEI numbers, phone numbers, SIM numbers, etc.) with advertisers. Making matters worse, those 15 didn't actually inform end-users that data was being shared, and some of 'em beamed out information while applications were dormant. Unfortunately for us all, the researchers didn't bother to rat out the 15 evil apps mentioned here, so good luck resting easy knowing that your library of popular apps could be spying on you right now. Update: A Google spokesperson pinged up with an official response to the study, and you can peek it after the break. Update 2: Looks as if the full study (PDF) has been outed, with the 30 total apps named. Here they are: The Weather Channel, Cestos, Solitaire, Movies, Babble, Manga Browser, Bump, Wertago, Antivirus, ABC - Animals, Traffic Jam, Hearts, Blackjack, Horoscope, 3001 Wisdom Quotes Lite, Yellow Pages, Dastelefonbuch, Astrid, BBC News Live Stream, Ringtones, Layer, Knocking, Barcode Scanner, Coupons, Trapster, Spongebob Slide, ProBasketBall, MySpace, ixMAT, and Evernote. Thanks, Jordan! Update 3: Flixter, the company that makes Movies, has chimed in with this: "At Flixster, we do not and never have sold any personal or identifiable confidential information with anyone. We do use non-identifiable location information (e.g. metro-area) to show more relevant ads, as does almost every mobile app that relies on advertising. Users have to opt-in to sharing their location when they install the app, and how we use information is explained in detail (for those that care) in our privacy policy." Update 4: And here comes The Weather Channel's comment: "Regarding our Android app – Our customers and their privacy are very important to us. In our Android application, TWC does not share any of your personally identifiable information with advertisers or third parties. TWC does track location – which users consent to at install – for the purpose of providing you the most relevant and accurate weather conditions based on your location." Update 5: And there's more, this time from Barcode Scanner: "Barcode Scanner has never collected or sent personal information. There is no "third party" server to receive such info any way. Barcode Scanner has never requested location information, or phone or user ID ("phone state" permission in the TaintDroid paper). It didn't help that the paper originally reported that the app had these permissions -- it has been fixed since. The app can't send information it can't collect in the first place. The application has always been open source; anyone can inspect exactly what it does (http://code.google.com/p/zxing). We have a complete statement on app permissions (http://code.google.com/p/zxing/wiki/FrequentlyAskedQuestions). Finally, the authors of the paper have in fact confirmed Barcode Scanner was not one of the "guilty" apps: http://appanalysis.org/letter_oct-01-10.html" Update 6: The hits just keep on coming. Today, the developers of Astrid have both addressed privacy concerns and added a detailed EULA to the newest build. They've also added the ability for users to opt-out of analytics through the settings menu
Swiftkey beta brings new keyboard, world class predictive text to Android
The software and language engineers at Swiftkey have been toiling on this app for the past two years, and at long last, it's being made available for precisely nothing to anxious Android users. Hot on the heels of Swype's own beta, the Swiftkey beta is now available to download directly from the App Market, and once installed (along with language packs of your choice), it can be used in place of your stock Android soft keyboard. We've never been the biggest fan of Google's factory keys, and while we still feel that Swiftkey's letters are a tad on the skinny side, it's definitely an improvement. But that's not where the magic's at -- this software has an uncanny ability to guess what your next word will be, and it actually looks at your prior SMS list (if allowed) in order to "learn" how you converse. In our early tests, we're pretty darn impressed, and yes, it's definitely worth the $0.00 price tag. Get your download on right now, or hop past the break for a video demonstration if you still need convincing. [Thanks, Martino]
Google Open Spot alerts Android users to freed parking spaces
Oh, sure -- this has certainly been tried before, but given that things like this need a critical mass of followers to be effective, we're particularly jazzed about Google's own initiative. Dubbed 'Open Spot,' this bloody brilliant Android (2.0 and up) application enables motorists to search for unclaimed spaces that have been reported by other Open Spot users, and once they head elsewhere, it allows them to mark their spot as open and available. Once a spot is marked, the color gradually fades from red to yellow the longer it remains unclaimed. We've given it a quick test here on our end, and while it seems snappy enough (and yes, we definitely received a Karma Point for every space we dropped), the obvious omission is the ability to add notes to each marked place. There really should be a way to denote whether a spot is metered, covered by some wacky city permit law or submerged in a foot of water -- here's hoping the next update will enable comments. Hit that source link (or just open up the App Market) to grab it for free, and jump on past the break to see how your fellow city dwellers feel about this marvelous invention.
Google flexes biceps, flicks Android remote kill switch for the first time
We knew Google had the power to remotely remove Android apps -- Microsoft and Apple have backdoors into their mobile operating systems, too -- but it's always a little disconcerting to see a kill switch used. Such is the case today, as we've just heard Google unleashed the hounds this week, siccing bits and bytes of remote deletion power on a pair of "practically useless" but still Terms of Service-infringing apps. Curiously enough, Google admits that most who'd downloaded these programs had deleted them already, and that this "exercise" of the remote application removal feature was merely a cleanup operation. Google says users will get a notification beamed to their phone if an app is removed, however -- so as Big Brother as that all sounds, at least the company's being nice and transparent about the whole matter, eh? Update: To be clear, the developers of the offending apps had already removed them from the Android Market, so this was technically a cleanup. The only question is why Google would go out of its way to mop up an app that absolutely no one would miss. [Thanks, Matt]
