Software
Quake 3 ported to Android 2.0
Feb 25th
Are you a big fan of the old Quake 3 game? If you are and you own a Android 2.0 device, here is a piece of good news for you. Quake 3 has been ported and run successfully on Motorola DROID.
At the moment, the port is optimized to run on a device with keyboard like DROID. However, since it is open source and in future we may see it optimized for other device without keyboard like Nexus One. The game is reported to run at a speed of 20 – 30 fps now and will be even slower when the map is huge and detailed. I think the port will be optimized and run faster along the way.
If you are interested to run the game on your device, you can find more information from the project page here.
[via tweaker]
Google Earth has come to Android
Feb 23rd
After several delays, the Google has finally come to Android devices. It is now available in the market. However, it is for Nexus One only but will be available for most of the Android 2.1 devices later.
It is a huge application. The download takes about 5Mb and it will be blown up to about 22Mb after install. There are a number of layers available for Google Earth, including Places, Businesses, Panoramio, Wikipedia, Roads, Borders and Labels, and Terrain.
If you want this beautiful app that has been available on you desktop to be on your phone, download it from market or scan the QR code here.
New HTC Sense on Android 2.1 comes with pinch-to-zoom on home screen
Feb 11th
You might be wondering what are the new features that the new HTC Sense on Android 2.1 may get. And here we have a nice video showing a good implementation of multitouch – pinch-to-zoom on the home screen and you will get all the home panel screen arranged in a 2-3-2 pattern. And you just tab on anyone of them to go straight to the panel. It looks like a nicer implementation of Nexus One’s long press on the bottom screen to get the 5 panels.
Below is the video demonstrating the new feature. You may want to skip to 6:60 mark as the front part of the video is showing the long startup and initial setup of the phone.
[via htcsource]
Google launches Buzz – to challenge Facebook and Twitter
Feb 10th
Google just launched Buzz – a social networking tool with just about anything you can think of – status, share photos, share locations, etc.
Buzz is built into Gmail, some of you may have seen it in your Gmail already. And it is available for mobile users as well. Go to buzz.google.com, and you’ll be taken to a Web app that lets you see and create Buzz messages. You can see messages from people you “follow” or interact with often, or you can see messages from people nearby.
It is also integrated into Google Maps, download the latest Maps version 4 to your mobile phone and you will see “Buzz” layer available for the map (I am not able to do this in Singapore, any reason?) And using the voice search feature on Android phone, just say “post buzz” and you will be taken to the page to post your buzz.
Will this new effort from Google going to take over Facebook and Twitter? Only time will tell.
1.4 millions downloads of the free Nokia Ovi Map for the first week
Feb 4th
People like free things, and it is proven again. The Ovi Map from Nokia has been downloaded for 1.4 millions times since it went free last week. An on average, it is one download every second.
The response has been so good that it’s exceeded Nokia’s expectations according to Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia Executive Vice President. And the countries that top the 5 are China, Italy, UK, Germany and Spain.
It is hard to resist when you are offered a free good stuff, even you might not be using it 
However, the move from Nokia can add more problems to the Navigation Device companies like TomTom and Garmin. They were already having problems since Google released the Google Map Navigation few months ago.
Well, the fittest and strongest will survive.
The press release is after the break.
[via engadget]
Apple rumoured to dump Google and use Bing as default search
Jan 21st
This make sense as Google is becoming the common enemy of Apple and Microsoft.
With Google’s strong push of Android in the market and works from Google to integrate their services tightly to the platform, it will slowly capture the mobile search market and soon the mobile market.
And with the recent purchase of Admob (a mobile ads company) and release of its first Android phone, Nexus One, to the market, the big G has shown its interest to conquer the mobile market as well.
So it is obvious that Google is stepping into Apple’s iPhone territory. And Microsoft’s Bing has to find its way to more mobile devices besides its own Windows Mobile. The alliance between the two companies will slow down Google’s attack.
Well, we will see whether it will happen soon.
[via businessweek]
Palm’s latest web development platform for WebOS – Ares, available for public beta
Dec 18th
After a short while of private testing with developers, Palm’s latest killer development platform, Ares, is now opened for public beta.
This development platform is built entirely on web, developers do not need to download anything. Just goto http://ares.palm.com to start coding, visually. The platform is also made easy for developer collaboration and app submission to Palm’s App Catalog.
Ares includes
- Complete integrated development environment
- Drag-and-drop interface builder
- Code editor
- Visual debugger
- Log viewer
- Source control integration
- Fingertip access to the full library of Mojo UI widgets
- Push-button project & scene creation
- Drag-and-drop file upload
- Instant project upload & download for seamless desktop/cloud workflow
- Preview apps in the browser
- Run apps directly on the webOS emulator or device (requires SDK installation)
- Use Ares in Safari, Chrome or Firefox
By releasing Ares, Palm is hoping to get more developers to develop for the WebOS platform and eventually more apps for WebOS platform.
What do you think, developers?
[via precentral]
