Feb 17

eyecontrol earphones 535This is crazy. At this year’s MWC (Mobile World Congress), a company called NTT Docomo reveiled a headset that you can control with your eye movement. When you are listening to music on your new or refurbished cell phone, you can use this technology to control volume and to skip tracks.

Want to turn the volume up? Just roll your eyes all the way up. It’s just the opposite to turn it down. To skip tracks, look as far as you can to the left or to the right. Apparently, the left and right side of your eyes emit positive and negative electrons, and this headset can register them. Check out the video below for a demonstration.

At first, this seems to be a little overkill, but it really would be convenient to be able to control your music without having to use your hands.

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Feb 16

GBuzzBBLast week, I posted about Google Buzz and how it integrates with your Gmail account, but I didn’t really get into what it means for your new or refurbished cell phone. As opposed to Google Buzz on your PC or Mac, you don’t need to have a Gmail account to use Buzz on your mobile. If you have a smart phone running Android or an iPhone, you should be pretty excited about what Buzz will bring to your world.

What I find coolest about Buzz for your mobile is that when you press the “Nearby” button, your are shown all the recent Buzz posts, from everyone – not just people you know, in your vicinity, listed in order of proximity. Okay, so it’s Friday night, you live in the city, and you’re bored. You hit the “Nearby” button, and you see posts pop up all around you like, “Drink Up Buttercup goes on in 15 minutes,” and, “The new Frida Kahlo exhibit is beauuutiful,” and, “Open Bar at Las Vegas Lounge till midnight,” etc, etc.  Because the Buzzes are tagged with GPS, you see from exactly where the person posted the Buzz. You now have a list of things to do of which you were previously unaware.

Think of what that means if you’re a business owner. Because you don’t have to be “following” people to see their Buzzes when you’re using the Nearby feature, you could Buzz your nightly promotions, and they’ll pop up on mobiles all around your vicinity.

The possibilities are really endless. Say your power goes out – post a Buzz like, “Anyone else’s power out?” and your neighbors may immediately respond, “Not on our side of the street.” How about, “HELP! Our dog Boomer ran away!” Someone down the street might reply saying they found him. What if you’re new to a city and you’d like an insider’s perspective? It’s as simple as Buzzing: “Where can I get the best cheesesteak around here?” “Tony Jr’s on 8th, duh.” Done deal.

To get Google Buzz for your phone, visit http://www.google.com/buzz and click on the button at the bottom right that says: “Get Buzz for your Phone.”

Again, happy Buzzing.

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Feb 12

olympics10-opening-hpThe Winter Olympics are finally here, and the opening ceremony kicks off tonight at 9pm EST! Knowing that it’s tough to keep up with all of the different events, Google has made it easy to follow along via your computer and your new or refurbished cell phone.

To follow along from your phone, simply visit Google and do a search for the sport that you are interested in, and the latest info about game results, schedules, medal count, and more will appear right above the search results.

For more in-depth information about the games, check out Google News for your mobile by going to google.com/games10/m on your phone.

Go U.S.A!

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Feb 09

1444417344-GoogleBuzzLogo68I know, I know, another Google Article. But this is huge – well everything Google does is huge, but this couldn’t go un-posted. Basically, if you are not using Gmail by now, you need to get with the program. Google has released and is rolling out Google Buzz today, which is pretty much Google’s version of Twitter/Facebook. The best part of Google Buzz is that it’s already integrated with Gmail so you don’t need to sign up for anything, and it works with your new or refurbished cell phone.

Like with all of Google’s releases, the easiest way to get a feel for how it works is to watch the video on their site. Google Buzz allows you to post status updates (obviously), but it also does so much more and, apparently, with much greater ease than Twitter or Facebook. It seems that sharing and viewing photos is incredibly easy, and updates get sent to your inbox where you can quickly and easily reply.

If you go to the Google Buzz site, there is a button to “Try Buzz in Gmail.” I clicked it about five minutes ago and it’s still not in my Gmail, but according to Google, it may take a few minutes to register. If you get Buzz, please comment and let us know what you think of it. Happy Buzzing!

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Feb 09

Phone360_681565aReports have been released confirming Google’s efforts to create software that will translate languages via your new or refurbished cell phone. If successful, this could be on of the biggest breakthroughs in bringing the world together since the Internet itself.

The applications and technologies that Google has released over the past year leave me with no doubt about their abilities to create such a program; the only question is how soon will it be ready. Think about it. Google has already released voice to text translation via Google Voice, phones running Android now have the ability to search via voice, and anyone who has used Google Translate knows that it works remarkably well – in real time! I’d wager that its inevitable Google combines these technologies to eliminate language barriers as we know them.

Franz Och, Google’s head of translation services, commented, “We think speech-to-speech translation should be possible and work reasonably well in a few years’ time.”

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Feb 05

google_logoThe good people at Google are constantly providing new services and apps for your new or refurbished cell phone. Here are some of there latest developments:

On Jan. 27th, Google sent out a notice proudly announcing that Google Voice is now available for the iPhone and Palm Web OS. Commenting on the benefits of their new advancements, the release stated: “AppCache lets you interact with web apps without a network connection and local databases allow you to store data locally on the device, so you don’t lose data even when you close the browser.”

On Jan. 29th, Google announced that their Popular Image Search for mobile devices running the Android platforms and for the iPhone. To use the feature, simply go to www.google.com and click on the Images link as you would if you were on your computer.

This past Wednesday, Google released something pretty impressive called personalized suggestions and synchronized starring for Google Maps on Android devices. The idea is that a truly “smart” phone would be synchronized with your computer and know exactly what you are trying to do at all times. The scenario is this: You’re on your computer looking for a bookstore in your area. You find one and Google map its location. Now you can either print the information, write it down, or re-look it up from your phone when you get close. With personalized suggestions, your phone will know what you Google mapped on your computer when you open Google maps on your phone, saving you the time of having to re-search it.

Synchronized starring allows you to star multiple locations in Google Maps on your computer, which will then appear when you open Google Maps on your mobile. These features are available in the new 3.4 version of Google Maps.

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