Admob has just released its February 2010 Mobile Metrics Report and the data is showing some interesting trend in the worldwide mobile traffic scene.  Key point is the fact that Admob’s worldwide traffic for smartphones contributes 48% to the total mobile traffic in February 2010. This is a big increase from last year’s 35%. And guess where those traffic are coming from? – heavy application usage on iPhone and Android phones.

Meanwhile the other two mobile categories, feature phone and mobile Internet devices also get some increase in traffic.  Although overall traffic from feature phones decreased to 35% from 58% in the same period last year, its absolute traffic still increased by 31%. For mobile Internet devices, worldwide traffic grew to 17%. Most of the traffic from this kind of devices came from the iPod Touch, Sony PSP and Nintendo DSi.  Would these change once the iPad is shipped? That remains to be seen. But as well know the iPad belong to this category.

For the traffic per smartphone category, as expected the iPhone still gets the biggest chunk of mobile traffic as monitored by AdMob. Share of smartphone requests for the iPhone increased from 33% to 50%.   For Symbian platform, the share of request decreased from 43% to 18%. And guess which platform is getting Symbian’ share of request?  Obviously it’s the Google Android mobile platform. In fact Android is now the fastest growing mobile OS on a year-over-year metrics.

The top five Android devices as noted by AdMobe are the Motorola Droid, HTC Dream, HTC Hero, HTC Magic, and the Motorola CLIQ.

To be honest about it I forgot all about Google Bookmarks since the first time I encountered it. And that was a long time ago. For awhile I thought it ceased to exist since Google was not really active in promoting it. Until now, as Google just announced a new of Google Bookmarks – List.

In case you’re not aware, Google Bookmarks lets you save shortcuts to your favorite webpages and navigate to them easily and quickly. Google Bookmarks are similar to your usual bookmarking facility, desktop or browser except for the fact that items you bookmark are not saved on your computer but on your Google account instead.

Previously, Google Bookmarks allow you to organize your items by categories.  Now, the new feature lets you organize your bookmark items by lists.  Google Bookmarks lists are easy to manage and update but more importantly can be shared to others.  Even better is the fact that your friends and contacts can add items to your shared lists as well. Hence, making Google Bookmarks an online collaboration tool.

In addition, you can also view videos and other content such as reviews, maps and more on your list.

List is currently an experimental feature of Google Bookmarks. To try it out, simply visit  Google Bookmarks on google.com.

We all know that texting while driving is a big no-no. In fact some countries prohibit doing those two activities at the same time and may get you arrested if found guilty. But what if you’re on the road and you need to check a very important incoming message? Well, you can always pull over and check your phone. But that wouldn’t be unwise to do while you’re driving on the freeway. Thanks to Vlingo’s BlackBerry app checking your incoming text messages is now possibly while driving and won’t require you to use your hands.

Vlingo just announced version 4.5 of its cool BlackBerry app with an added feature called “SafeReader.” Any guess on what this feature can do? Ok, SafeReader reads all your incoming messages aloud allowing you to digest your incoming email and text messages while you drive. The spoken messages are delivered audibly to ensure that you understand what the email and SMS messages are saying.

In case you’re not using Vlingo on your BlackBerry app yet, now may be the right time to do so. Aside from this cool “SafeReader” feature, the app also features a powerful speech-to-text technology that lets you compose and send text or email messages, call a friend, search the web, update your Facebook status, use instant messaging, add contacts and calendar entries and other nifty features – just by speaking into your phone. The “SafeReader” feature expands this features by reversing speech-to-text to text-to-speech.

Cool, right? To get the app, simply point your BlackBerry’s browser to www.blackberry.com/appworld or www.vlingo.com. Once installed on your BlackBerry device and before driving, simply press a button, speak to the device and say “Start SafeReader” and your incoming messages will be delivered audibly, without fail through spoken words.

When the issue on the e-books pricing of those who will be in the iPad’s iBookstore started spreading, many are saying that it will be to Amazon’s advantage.  The Kindle Store’s average price for an e-book is pegged at $9.99 and Amazon is even sacrificing some sales just to maintain this pricing even at a loss for them.

Analysts are saying that the iBookstore will not be able to compete against this pricing and that e-books to be sold will be priced higher than the e-books sold in the Kindle Store.

That may not be necessarily true at all.  The blog AppAdvice got hold of a preview that shows otherwise. It seems that most e-books that will be sold in the iBookstore  are also priced at $9.99. In fact, out of the 32 e-books that were on the New York Time’s Bestsellers, 27 titles have $9.99 price tag.

In fact 4 of  the top 5 bestsellers will be sold in the iBookstore for $9.99.

If the iBookstore will be able maintain this price ceilings for most of the books that will be made available once the iPad is launched, Amazon is definitely facing a stiff challenge to their well established and widely accepted e-book business.  Indeed Amazon has all the reason to be worried and should start working on various enhancements to the Kindle store as well possibly on the Kindle device as well.  But except for the lack of color display and other computing functionalities, I think Amazon may have already exhausted all possible features that it could probably include in the Kindle.

So, will you be buying the iPad and use it as an e-book reader and purchase your e-books from the iBookstore? Or will you use the Kindle App for Tablets which will also run in the iPad and purchase your e-books from the Amazon Kindle Store still?

At the ongoing International CTIA Wireless 2010 gig, Yahoo has just launched two new mobile search related feature for the iPhone and iPod touch owners – Sketch-A-Search and the new Yahoo Search Mobile. According to Yahoo both these iPhone apps promise to change the way you use mobile search through fun, entertaining and easy to use interface with location aware feature.

While touch-enabled search feature is nothing new in the iPhone, Yahoo extends this further by making Sketch-a-Search a little unique.  What the app lets you do is to find information about a particular business establishment in a particular area by simply drawing a circle around a general area on the Yahoo map. The app will then display placemarkers representing the different establishments on that area. You can then tap on each of the placemaker to find out what these establishments are and get  reviews, browse photos, check prices and other information related to that business establishment. Yahoo Sketch-a-Search is currently available only for the U.S. audiences but Yahoo promises to include international markets in the future as well.

Meanwhile, the new Yahoo Search Mobile is now better and more efficient with integration of voice search, embedded maps and information from various Yahoo Verticals – Finance, Movies, News and other sources. Location-based search results are also enabled to make it easier for you to find local establishments in specific areas.

Honestly, these two new mobile search features are pretty impressive.

Yahoo Search Mobile and Sketch-a-Search iPhone apps are available for free download from the iTunes Apps Store.

Digg has just launched its new buttons and widget generator tool for publishers to easily integrate Digg on their blogs and websites.  These newly improved smart Digg buttons and widget generator were launched this early to prepare publishers for the upcoming launch of the newly redesigned Digg.

While some publishers have previously integrated Digg in their websites well, the previous process however required customization work through the Digg API. The new button and widget generator can easily help you integrate as well as blend the Digg buttons and widget to your websites.

Now for some new features of the Digg button that you are about to create:

• Buttons no longer take users to Digg, traffic stays on the publisher’s domain
• Dynamic display of live Digg count – statistics have shown this increases likelihood of user interaction
• Faster load time
• Customizable look and feel – includes a new “medium” button size and an unstyled option so a publisher can create their own custom designed Digg button
• Related stories from the publisher’s domain to users that click the button
• All existing smart Digg buttons will auto-upgrade in the coming weeks – however, it is recommended that publishers review the new documentation for optimization tips

While Digg widgets also get the following new features:

• Headlines now link directly to the publisher’s content with the Diggbar instead of the Digg permalink page
• Customizable – more customization options without requiring publishers to use the Digg API
• Tabs & columns – ability to add multiple tabs to a widget as well as make a double column widget
• Thumbnails – by default a thumbnail is attached to each story when available
• Fallback content logic by domain – if there is insufficient content to display, the widget has logic to backfill with relevant content from the same domain

Ready to create your Digg buttons and widgets, check this and this.

For Justin.TV’s take on the iPhone market, it’s better late than never. While others have already made some applications that allowed online video streaming a long time ago, Justin.TV is banking on its million of users to make their iPhone venture a successful one.

Unfortunately though, Justin.TV’s iPhone doesn’t allow you to record your own video and stream it live yet. Although this feature is set for a future release. Still, the application is worth taking a look at as it brings some pretty good features.

The app lets you connect to your existing Justiv.TV account or create an account if you’re new to Justin.TV within the application.  The moment you logged in to Justin.TV via the app, you will be presented with a list of featured videos and screen caps.  You can tap on any of these videos and watch it stream on your iPhone. If you want to watch more videos other than the ones suggested by the app, you can always use the app’s search function. The app will also let you delete video channels from the menu initially given to you.

Another major feature of the Justin.TV iPhone app is the chat facility that you can find at the bottom right-hand corner of the video screen. It allows you to chat from within the app. You can also share channels with friends via the iPhone’s email facility. Future plans include sharing on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.

The Justin.TV app is available now for free download from the iTunes Apps Store.

Via NewTeeVee

Knowing the lackluster performance of Palm’s dynamic duo, the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus did not discourage AT&T from getting the two smartphones. AT&T just announced that it will be releasing the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus with all the goodness of WebOS under its various data plans.

And are these data plans enticing enough to convince you in getting one if not both of these phones? Let’s see.  AT&T is offering the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus for just $149.99 with $49.99 discount and a $100 mail-in rebate if you opted for a two-year contract.  You will also get AT&T Wi-Fi access at U.S. hotspots as part of their unlimited data plan.

Both Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will support AT&T services such as AT&T Navigator, AT&T Address Book, YPMobile for finding local businesses. And of course, you’d also get to enjoy the specs and features of both Pre Plus and Pixi Plus smartphones running on Palm webOS.  Among these features as multitasking on apps, Palm Synergy, unobtrusive notifications, and universal search.

In addition, Palm webOS apps can be integrated into core webOS functionalities includng contacts, layered calendars, notifications and GPS. You might as well add the rich catalog of apps available at the Palm webOS applications store.

So, what will it be? Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus on AT&T or Google Nexus One?

If you were Steve Jobs running Apple which is about to release a magical and revolutionary product that has one of its features going up against the Amazon Kindle, will you allow the Kindle application on the iPad apps store? I mean knowing pretty well that this will compete with the iPads iBooks application?

Well, it seems Amazon is hoping that Apple will not mind this at all. After all, the Kindle for iPhone and recently Kindle for Mac were approved. But the thing is the iPad iBooks is not yet fully operational and full operation will commence only as soon as the iPad is released to consumers.  Publishers are expected to get into the iPad frenzy, making sure that their e-book catalogs make it through the iBooks app store.

Still, there’s no harm in trying. After all Amazon was clever enough to market its upcoming Kindle app  not as specific to the iPad but for other tablets as well. Hence calling its Kindle Apps for Tablet.

Kindle Apps for Tablet will have the same features as the other iteration of the Kindle app. Be it for the iPhone, BlackBerry, PC or Mac. Specific for Tablets are some enhancement in the user interface including:

• Tailored to the size, look, and feel of your tablet computer
• Customize background color and font size to ease eye strain
• Adjust screen brightness from within the app to make reading easier
• Page turn animation replicates the look of turning a page in a book. Or choose Basic Reading Mode for a simpler and unadorned reading experience

So there, will you be getting your e-books from the Kindle Store once you get your iPad or will you stick to the plan and get it from the iBooks app store instead?

Finally, folks in the UK who have long been waiting for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 to arrive on local shores can soon get their hands on this Android-powered device. T-Mobile UK is now  accepting orders for Xperia X10 although the product page says that you have to wait for 10 days to get the unit after you placed your order.

T-Mobile UK is offering the Xperia X10 on a £35.00 per month data plan which will lock you to T-Mobile contract for 24  months. With that you’ll get free 900 minutes, 500 texts, flexible boosters and unlimited internet. If you find this price a little bit pricey, you may want to hold off you order and wait if Vodafone will offer the Xperia X10 at a better deal. But if you can only wait for 10 days, then place your order now.

In case you’re interested with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, some of its key features include the following:

• 8 MP camera with zoom and flash plus video capture
• 3G, GPRS, Bluetooth and GPS
• TV on your phone
• Mobile Jukebox
• Media Player (audio, gmes, video)
• 8GB memory card
• 5.5 hours talk time
• 340 hours standby time
• Timescape
• Mediascape
• Access to thousands of apps from the Android Market
• 1GHz Processor
• HSPA and WiFi
• 3.55mm audio jack

You might also want to check for the Android version that this phone is getting before you decide to take the plunge.