If Microsoft could not make Internet Explorer 6 Â users to upgrade to IE8 Google might actually succeed in doing so. And what could be a better way of forcing users to let go of the old IE6 web browser? – By disabling YouTube support. But Google is not doing this to make IE6 users upgrade to IE8 but rather to a more advance browser which could either be Google’s own Chrome browser, IE8, Opera Mini 10, Safari 4 and Firefox 3.6.
So if you’re still using IE6 and try to visit YouTube, you will see a message prompting you that you are using an older browser and that while you may still enjoy watching videos, after March 13, YouTube will stop supporting it. And unless you upgrade to newer browsers you will no longer enjoy new features that will be introduced after the said date. The message will appear for three weeks until you upgrade to a newer browser.
Interestingly, while Microsoft is not really that active and pretty succesful in convincing IE users to upgrade to the latest version, Google’s strategy might actually work. I’m pretty sure majority of these IE6 users will not want to miss out on the good things that YouTube is about to offer in the future.
Another interesting point here, which I think Microsoft should be thankful for is the fact that Google is forcing users to abandon IE6, it is still suggesting IE8 as an alternative browser.
Let’s see whether this strategy will gain Google more users for its Chrome browser  and whether users will finally stop using IE6.
The latest report on the mobile phone industry released by Gartner clearly shows why iPhone and Android are the new mobile platform to beat as sales of their corresponding mobile handsets great significantly in 2009. Interestingly, both platform gain were at the expense of a decreasing market share of previous smartphone market leader – Symbian OS which is used by Nokia devices.
Actually 2009′s may be one of Nokia’s worst year as both its units sales as well as Symbian’s market share both suffered from significant lost last year. Is Nokia finally losing its clout on the mobile phone market? It may seem so, thanks to the growing market share of smartphones such as the iPhone and Android phones.
In fact, both iPhone and Android platforms market share in 2009 were up by 14.4% and 3.9% respectively. Symbian’s market share went down from 52.9% to 46.9%. RIM is at a steady spot with 19.95 market share while Windows Mobile’s market share also went down from 11.8% to 8.7%.
So what do all these figure mean? Several things actually. First, Apple has overtaken Windows Mobile in the smartphone market share. And this is bad news for Microsoft especially since impressions about the latest version of Windows Mobile was not quite good. Will Microsoft continue on a losing streak when it come sto its mobile product offerings? Second, the Android seems to be the OS to watch out for this year. Surely, Android’s market share will continue to grow this year as more Android devices are coming out.
And of course Nokia and Symbian badly need to rethink their marketing strategy this year. Specifically Nokia need to spark up user interest to its smartphone offering.
FarmVille fans who also happen to have the Google Nexus One, rejoice! Recently, some modders were able to install the HTC Desire ROM that  brings HTC Sense and  Flash 10.1 support to Google’s flagship mobile phone. If you still don’t believe that HTC Sense on the Nexus One can support Flash 10.1, well here’s a proof – Redmond Pie has posted a short video showing FarmVille being played on Facebook.com on the Nexus One browser.
The result, although not as flashy and clean as you may expect is still something worthy of perhaps rooting your Nexus One and going through all the trouble of installing the HTC Desire  ROM. Well, I mean if you’re a huge FarmVille fan and you couldn’t stop playing it. Well, here’s your chance to play the game even while on the go, on your  the Nexus One.
If you don’t want to go through the trouble of installing the ROM, you might want to wait up for future upgrades of Android OS as it is rumored to have Flash capability already. But if you can’t wait that long, follow these steps to install the HTC Desire ROM with HTC Sense UI on your Nexus One.
I’m not really thrilled by the fact that installing the HTC Desire ROM on Nexus One will bring Flash 10.1 which will allow you to browser flash-based sites including FarmVille since I’m no t going to take the chances and brick my phone. What I’m particularly excited about is the fact that this feature could be in the next version of Android OS.
Google is really making sure that all its mobile products and services that it has released for the iPhone get into its flagship mobile device, the Nexus One as well. The latest of these products is the cool Google Earth mobile app which has just been outed and ready for use on Android 2.1 phones, which if you might have guessed by now include the Nexus One.
So, what does the Google Earth for Nexus One offers? Many good things actually. The app is taking advantage of the phones 1GHz processor, advanced 3D graphics and of course Android 2.1 OS. Â With those, you’ll get a cool mobile app that is on its fastest version so far – with smooth framerate rendered on a beautiful 800×480 screen resolution.
Google Earth for Android, or should I say for Nexus One packs in some great new features as well, which is not present in its iPhone iteration. The roads layer for one was carried over from the desktop version of Google Earth. This layer tells you where you are when viewing Google Earth on top of the satellite imagery.
Another nice feature takes full use of the Nexus One’s voice recognition functionality into Google Earth search feature. You can speak out a location name to search for its exact location on the globe.
The app also lets you browse photos, places and local businesses no matter where those are located. It also allows you to customize your own version of Google Earth.
You can grab the Google Earth for Android app from the Android market by searching for it on your Nexus One phone. Google says it will soon be available to other Android phones with version 2.1 or later of the mobile OS.
I’ve downloaded the app on my Nexus One, and so far the app seems pretty good.
Wal-Mart has been in the DVD retailing business for quite some time now. And while this has been doing good for them, the company lacks one service which has been the the more popular way of bringing digitial movies to U.S. consumers – video-on-demand service.
But Wal-Mart may be preparing up to enter this arena soon, as New York Times is reporting that the video company is eyeing Vudu, an online movie service provider. Although the deal has not been confirmed yet by both companies,reports had it they have began informing Hollywood studios about the deal.
If the deal is indeed true, Wal-Mart maybe facing up stiff challenge against the likes of iTunes, Netflix and other online video-on-demand services. While Vudu for its part has been pretty much making some noise especially during the recent CES Event wherein the company managed to struck some deals with LCD TV manufacturers in putting Vudu services in their products.
Previously, Vudu has been advocating the use of a separate device that would connect to home TVs but could not manage to get some leverage. Since then, the company concentrated on delivering online movie service instead.
We’ll see whether this deal would make some headway in the coming days. It will be exciting to watch how Wal-Mart would put up a challenge against iTunes, Amazon, and other big names in the video-on-demand service. And whether which one will emerge as the households’ choice of VOD provider.
Are you still using a third-party site for accessing your Twitter account? I mean frankly, why would you do, if you can just head over to Twitter.com, log in to to your account and there you go. But then, there might be some of you who find the old Twitter.com interface to plain boring already, hence the need for an enhanced way of viewing Twitter.
And that’s where Seesmic, more popularly known for their mobile Twitter application for iPhone and recently Android phones comes in. I mean Seesmic, the web application. For those of you who have been using Seesmic for the web, you’d be glad to know that it has just been updated with several new features as reported by Mashable.
First of these features, and perhaps the most important one is conversational thread which aggregates Twitter conversations and displays these into pop-up chronological view of @replies between you and other users. You can see this thread whenever there is a link that says “in reply to” on individual tweet.
Then the web app’s contact manager also received an update. Â It now has a new address book-like tool that provides you with various information about your followers, people you follow as well members of any Twitter lists you’ve created. What’s good about this new contacts manager is that you can send messages, unfollow or follow Twitter users from the interface.
Other new features of Seesmic for web include list management, intuitive drag and drop functionality, inline photo uploading and sending geolocation information together with your tweets
So, if you’re using Seesmic web app, log in to your account and check out these new features.
Recently, Google has quietly released a new shopping app for Android phones. Available for free from the Android market, Google Shopper is a smart shopping app that lets you purchase items online by various means plus do some product searches including reviews and ratings by other consumers.
As a mobile shopping app, Google Shopper lets you scan barcodes, album art, book covers and then use those information to search for the product online. From there you can directly purchase the item using the application.
But aside from purchasing products online, you can also use the app’s search function which is powered by Google Product Search engine. You can search for product reviews, prices, specs and more. You can do these using your Android phone’s screen interface or through voice search.
The app also lets you save your shopping and search history, star your favorites, as well as share your product finds through Gmail, Facebook, Twitter and other mobile services.
I downloaded the app on my Nexus One and I would have to say that it is indeed a pretty sleek-looking app. Banking on Google’s mobile infrastructure and massive product databases which it cull  from various online sources, the app would be a good tool to have if you want to quickly find out about products you encounter everyday. Since it is a mobile app, that goes without saying that you can use this feature even while on the go.
You know the drill, right? Search for Shopper from the Android market and download the app for free.
Comcast has just launched it new Secure Backup and Share service with the aim of helping you reduce the risk of losing important files that are saved on your computers. In short, it’s a cloud storage service with a facility for sharing some of the files you store easily.
While there maybe free services of this kind available online, Comcast however will offer the service for a fee. If you’re an existing Comcast subscriber you automatically gets 2GB of file storage for free, or should I say as an incentive for subscribing to its Internet service.
But of course, 2GB of storage won’t be enough for you, so you can always upgrade to a paid account. A 50GB storage plan will cost you $4.99 monthly or $49.99 annually. While a 200GB storage plan will set you back for $9.99 monthly or $99.99 annually. Those two options give you enough storage for all your photos, videos, files and other digital documents.
And since you are paying for the service, Comcast assures that all your files are in good hands. They’ve got a secure and reliable protection system plus a file restoration facility in case disaster strikes and your files are destroyed.
For file sharing and access to files, Comcast gives you a site which you can share with your family and friends. Â You and your friends and family can access the said site from any Internet connection as well as on your mobile phone.
So, if you’d rather store and back up your files on a highly secured server, you might want to give Comcast Secure Backup and Share service a try.
Google Voice is one of the most important products that Google put a lot of stake on. Hence, we really couldn’t blame them for going out of the way to make this endeavor a success. But apparently, Google Voice doesn’t s seem to be getting the mileage, or perhaps usage that it wants to have.
What could be the reason for this? Google thinks that their service is overwhelming for its many users. So, to remedy this and perhaps to spike up interest towards it, Google has prepared a series of videos explaining, demonstrating and exploring the said communication service.
In case you’re  like me who have never experienced using Google Voice and is wondering what it does and how it can make your communication life better, I suggest you check out all the videos. But if you’re don’t have the time and just want to know what Google Voice is – it’s actually a communication service provided by Google with various features ranging from call screening to voicemail transcription to the ability to send and receive SMS by email. What’s good about Google Voice is that it allows you to use one number for all your communication transactions.
The series of videos explaining the service include the following:
And while you’re at it, you might want to subscribe to the Google Voice YouTube channel to be notified of new videos about Google Voice in the coming days.
It seems that Amazon doesn’t want me to miss its Kindle app. After getting Kindle for iPhone and Kindle for PC, here comes its latest iteration – Kindle for BlackBerry. I was actually waiting for the Kindle for Mac but it seems that this would still take some time. To think that I just got a BlackBerry Bold 9700 a fews ago. So, there you go folks, if you’re a BlackBerry User you may now download Kindle for BlackBerry.
The app syncs across all your Kindle accounts of course. So that when you purchase an e-book from the Kindle store through your BlackBerry app, you can still read from your PC, iPhone, iPod touch and possibly soon on your iPad, if you’re planning to get one. Of course, it goes without saying that it’s also available on the various models of Kindle e-Reader, whichever you have right now and whether you are planning to get one soon. More →
