HP re-enters Wireless Domain

Yesterday, HP returned to the wireless world with the announcement that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which the company will purchase Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm webOS mobile operating system, at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion. The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors.

HP�s global scale and financial strength combined with Palm�s unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP�s ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm�s unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications. While Palm gains the financial muscle to compete more aggressively with smartphone giants, Apple and Blackberry.

�Palm�s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP�s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices,� said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. �And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market.�

�We�re thrilled by HP�s vote of confidence in Palm�s technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP�s longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS,� said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer, Palm. �We look forward to working with HP to continue to deliver industry-leading mobile experiences to our customers and business partners.�

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Palm stockholders will receive $5.70 in cash for each share of Palm common stock that they hold at the closing of the merger. The merger consideration takes into account the updated guidance and other financial information being released by Palm this afternoon. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of domestic and foreign regulatory approvals and the approval of Palm�s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close during HP�s third fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2010.

The New Image Search for Android and iPhone

When you do an image search, we find that it is typical that you will look through many pages of search results. So in the redesign of Google Image Search for mobile, available today for iPhone 3.0+ and Android 2.1 devices, we focused on making it easy to quickly see as many image thumbnails as possible:

• The thumbnails are square to maximize the number of images we can get on the screen at one time so you can scan them quickly
• You can swipe to see the next or previous page of results, or tap the large, stationary 'Next' and 'Previous' page buttons
• We optimized for speed so that the images appear quickly when you browse

When it comes to viewing the images, we now make them as large as possible by introducing a special image viewing page:

• The black background emphasizes the image and the buttons fade after a few seconds so you can just see images with little distraction
• Easily browse through the images by swiping from picture to picture

To try this new version of Image Search, just go to www.google.com on your phone and tap on “Images.” The new experience is available in 38 languages worldwide. Whether you like to look through pictures of prom dresses, impressionist paintings or 猫　ジャンプ we hope you love this update to Image Search for mobile.

Update on 6/2 @ 5:40 pm: This version of Image Search is now available for all Android and Palm webOS devices.

Posted by Leo Ting, Software Engineer, and Nick Fey, User Experience Designer

New Place Pages for mobile

Last fall, we launched Place Pages which organize relevant and useful information about places on Google Maps. Since then we've been developing a version, available now, which gives you access to the same useful information optimized for your mobile phone. For example, in the video below, the Place Page for Mama's restaurant in San Francisco shows location information, customer ratings, opening hours and what people are saying about the restaurant in summary format.



To get more details on opening hours or on customer specific comments related to the food, service or ambiance, simply click on those respective sections to show more information instantly. The Place Page also provides links to useful websites where the user can read full reviews about the place. Lastly, if address and cross street information is not enough, click on the map button and you will be taken to a full screen dynamic map which is pannable and zoomable. In this way you can quickly see the restaurant's location in the context of the entire neighborhood.

To try this yourself, go to google.com on your phone's browser and search for "mama's sf". On the search results page, click on the listing for Mama's restaurant to go to the Place Page. This mobile optimized Place Page is currently supported on Android-powered devices and iPhones/iPod touches in the US.

Posted by Dan Zivkovic, Software Engineer, and Karen Groenink, User Experience Designer, Mobile Search

Making your app searchable using self merge-joins

A picture is worth a thousand words, and as developers, you know that a working code snippet can be worth even more. The developers at scisurfer.com have agreed to share a few of their code snippets with you today. The snippets outline how they full text index their content and make it easily searchable for their users.



---



Many applications can benefit from full text search. Using Brett Slatkin's presentation at Google I/O, the implementation is pretty straight-forward. The following article gives you a practical introduction of how to implement full text search on GAE. The code is GAE/J + JDO only, but the concepts can be easily converted into Python or JPA.

Goals

• Develop a guestbook example (much like the one shipped with the SDK), but with searchable text


• The full text search should be fuzzy, within some reasonable limits

Some things before we start:

• Self merge-joins and list properties: You can query an entity efficiently based on list properties via self merge-joins. We will not talk about that in detail, but you should watch Brett Slatkin's excellent talk at Google I/O '09 about the topic. It should answer most of your questions: Google I/O 2009 - Building Scalable, Complex Apps on App Engine.


• Full Text Search (FTS): FTS is a really huge topic, and it can be done in a myriad of different ways. Check out wikipedia for a primer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_text_search


• The art of stemming: One of the most basic things done to enable some form of inexact search is called "stemming". It's the reduction of words towards their basic form. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stemming

The project

The whole project is available on Google Code http://code.google.com/p/guestbook-example-appengine-full-text-search.



A live demo is available at http://guestbook-example-fts.appspot.com/

The project - walk-through: indexing

• guestbook.jsp: This file is the first file that is loaded. You can enter new entries into the guestbook (GuestBookEntry) or search all guestbook entries.


• GuestBookEntry.java: A simple JDO file with persistent fields. However, there is one special field: fts. It is a Set of Strings. The set will be filled with the terms that allow for a full text search. If you inspect the constructor, you will see a call which is responsible for making this GuestBookEntry searchable:
  
  
  
  

  SearchJanitor.updateFTSStuffForGuestBookEntry(this);

  
  
  
  


• SearchJanitor.java: The updateFTSStuffForGuestBookEntry method gets a GuestBookEntry and chops it into single words using:
  
  
  
  

  SearchJanitorUtils.getTokensForIndexingOrQuery(...);

  
  
  
  


• SearchJanitorUtils.java: The getTokensForIndexingOrQuery(...) method uses Apache Lucene and Lucene Snowball to extract words from the given string. But it does more: The Lucene Snowball stemmer reduces the words to the basic form which enables fuzzy search. A search for Kids or Kid will return the same results. kid (lowercase) and Kids will also return the same results.

Indexing summary: So far, we have an entity (GuestBookEntry) that will be filled with a set of Strings generated from it's content. So far, so good. But the real search component is missing.

The project - walk-through: searching

• search.jsp: This file gets a parameter "search" and presents results for that search. It does that by consulting:
  
  
  
  

  List searchResults =
      SearchJanitor.searchGuestBookEntries(searchString, pm);

  
  
  
  


• SearchJanitor.java : The searchGuestBookEntries method does all the magic. It again chops the search string into single, stemmed words (using the SearchJanitorUtils) and constructs a query that searches for all these Strings in the fts field of entity GuestBookEntry.

StringBuffer queryBuffer = new StringBuffer();
queryBuffer.append("SELECT FROM " +
    GuestBookEntry.class.getName() + " WHERE ");

Set queryTokens = SearchJanitorUtils
    .getTokensForIndexingOrQuery(queryString,
        MAXIMUM_NUMBER_OF_WORDS_TO_SEARCH);

List parametersForSearch = new ArrayList(queryTokens);

StringBuffer declareParametersBuffer = new StringBuffer();
int parameterCounter = 0;

while (parameterCouter < queryTokens.size()) {
  queryBuffer.append("fts == param" + parameterCounter);
  declareParametersBuffer.append("String param" + parameterCounter);

  if (parameterCounter + 1 < queryTokens.size()) {
    queryBuffer.append(" && ");
    declareParametersBuffer.append(", ");
  }

  parameterCounter++;
}
    
Query query = pm.newQuery(queryBuffer.toString());
query.declareParameters(declareParametersBuffer.toString());
List result = (List) query
    .executeWithArray(parametersForSearch.toArray());

Searching summary: We have a search.jsp that uses the same stemming as in the indexing part to translate a string into a searchable set of strings. This set of strings is then in turn queried against the datastore (in the form of self merge-joins on one field). Mission accomplished: the guestbook application can now do full text search, including alternate "fuzzy" spellings of given words.

Limitations of the approach

• 1MB limit on entities. You cannot store more than 1MB in one entity. You can work around this limitation by generating more than one entity or by creating relation index entities as described in Brett Slatkin's presentation.


• Number of search terms is limited (to roughly 5). You cannot search for a unlimited number of query terms, as you are doing a (potentially costly) self merge-join. But in most cases the results the user will get with a limited set of search terms will be fine.


• If you get too many results this approach will not work. You have to make sure you are searching in a subset of the data with less than ~200 results. That's up to you. If you do not have many entities you are querying this error will never show up. If you have thousands of entries you should make sure you are only getting subsets. E.g. by only retrieving the "best" results (for whatever your application's secret sauce is). Alternatively, you can achieve this by only looking at results from a particular day or other small window.

Where to go from here

• Use reference entities to avoid serialization costs (as outlined in Brett Slatkin's talk)


• Add key-only queries for more efficient searches http://gae-java-persistence.blogspot.com/2009/10/keys-only-queries.html


• Add memcache support for faster queries http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/java/memcache/overview.html


• Add some secret sauce that enables you to "rank" results


• Precompute date and sub-timestamps to allow you to search for them. Don't search for date ranges, which don't work with merge-join, but instead search for exact values, like 2010-04 (all entries in April 2010)

About us

This approach has been successfully applied in our GAE project http://scisurfer.com/ (scientific knowledge management). We added some secret sauce of our own for ranking, but in general, this method works (and scales) really well for us.



Please feel free to contact us about this post, or our project anytime at raphael.andre.bauer@gmail.com.



Thanks!

Nico Güttler, Dominic Jansen, Raphael Bauer (http://corporate.scisurfer.com/)





Posted by Fred Sauer, App Engine Team

Games on App Engine: An interview with Jay Kyburz, developer for Neptune’s Pride

One of the many classes of application that App Engine facilitates building is online games, particularly collaborative ones. Games often start off small, but can see incredible growth rates as people convince their friends to join, and App Engine’s seamless scaling makes handling these sort of traffic spikes a breeze. Recently, we got together with Jay Kyburz, developer for the game Neptune’s Pride, and asked him a few questions about his game, and how App Engine has worked out for him.

Q. Can you tell us a little about Neptune’s Pride?

Neptune's Pride is a real-time multi-player game of strategy, intrigue and galactic conquest. The game is played over several weeks, and players can log in at any time to upgrade their stars, dispatch their ships and most important of all, conspire with the other players.



Neptune's Pride is not like most web strategy games. The game itself is very simple, which allows players to focus on high level strategic decisions, teamwork and diplomacy.

Q. How long did it take to build your back-end on App Engine? Did you build it from scratch, or port it from another setup?

Neptune's Pride is my first App Engine game, and in fact my first web-based game. It's difficult to say exactly how long was spent developing the back-end as the game grew organically.



One thing I can say is that I spent much less time working on server code than I do working on the interface. Less than 5% of my time is spent writing code that runs on the server.

Q. Which runtime did you implement Neptune's Pride in?

Python, I love Python! Python is my language of choice for any project. Plus, the Java runtime didn't exist when I first started working on Neptune's Pride.



If there were a Javascript runtime I would consider using it, only so that my client and server code were written in the same language. What I want to know is why browsers don't have Python interpreters?



[Ed: There is a Java-based Javascript runtime available, at appenginejs.org.]

Q. What tip(s) would you offer new developers still exploring or just getting started with App Engine?

The power of App Engine is that you don't need to think about App Engine. "It just works!"



If you're a small developer like me, you don't really care much about what’s happening on the server. Some engineers want to tinker with things and know they have total control. My application’s interface is far more important.



I don't know if this is good advice, but one thing I wish I had done differently would be to have fewer, larger models.



There are a few occasions where I thought It would be a good idea to break a model up because some of the time I only need a subset of the data. I use reference properties to connect my models together so it's no work to retrieve the extra data, however it introduces additional requests, and additional points of failure. I think I would have preferred to just pull more data out of the database with fewer requests.

Q. Your core application is a game - how do you use App Engine to support what has traditionally been a client-centric type of app?

Actually, I didn't really tackle this problem very well. My game code was written as a stand alone Python application with no knowledge at all of the underlying database. Every time the user logs in or gives an order to one of their units, I just pull the whole structure out of the database, un-pickle it, process the order, and shove it back in.



This was fine for Neptune's Pride where a game can have no more that 12 players and has a finite set of data.



I have already started planning a game, more like an MMO, were all players can interact with each other and play on a "global" playing field. This game will need to be much smarter about how data is stored and retrieved from the database.

Q. What App Engine tools or APIs have been particularly useful in developing Neptune's Pride?

I don't know I can point to any one API or tool that has been particularly useful. Isn't the power of App Engine the fact that it's a one stop shop?

Q. What led you to choose App Engine as the platform to use?

Because it was easy. I know its not a very exciting thing to say on the App Engine blog, but really I chose it because I don't want to be thinking about my server, I want to be thinking about my game. App Engine allows me to do that.

Q. Are there any features that you're looking forward to, or that will be particularly useful for you?

I like the sound of background servers that run longer than 30 seconds. I have a couple of processes now that prune data out of the database, these operations are slow. Perhaps I shouldn't bother given how cheap storage is, but I like the idea of my application running forever with no human interaction.



These cleanup operation are the only things that occasionally throw Deadline Exceeded Errors.



Comet communication sounds like something I should be interested in!

Q. If you could change one aspect of App Engine, what would it be?

Another difficult question! Nothing is really getting in my way.



Google has so many great services and tools. I'd like it to be even easier to hook them all up together. If I were going to ask the App Engine team for any one feature it would be to have a look at all the other services out there and make sure it's easy to access them, then give me some code I can just copy and paste into my app :)

Q. Have you had any difficulty scaling your app as it increased in popularity?

Nope, again everything has just worked. As somebody who is new to all this I don't really even know what kinds of problems to expect as I scale, or what performance I should expect, or even the definition of a lot of users. All I can tell you is that I've seen no performance change between 2k requests and 200k requests a day.



I did hit my quota one day, and as a result the game was down for about 4-5 hours. Now I like to keep my usage under 10% of my quota so that if I do experience a spike in traffic there is plenty of room to grow.



I imagine if I grow much bigger I will need to change the application’s interface so that it’s easier for you to find a game, or join your friends in a game. I'm holding off making these changes because I'm also trying to work out the best way to build "social" tools into the game.



I want players to be able build a network of friends they enjoy playing against, then provide some tools to help them stay in touch and coordinate the creation of new games or other events like competitions.

Q. Have you used Appstats? Did you learn anything surprising about your app, and did it have an impact on your app's performance?

I did implement the stats when they first came out but didn't find anything very exciting. I simply confirmed what I already knew, which was that my game code is the slowest part of the application.

Q. Your monetization strategy is quite novel for an online game. What has the uptake and user response been like? Would you recommend it to other developers?

Actually, I just thought I was doing what everybody else is doing these days, a virtual currency. I chose it over a subscription model so players have the freedom to spend it as fast or as slow as they like.



I'm not sure I will use it on the next game. I've been considering a non renewing subscription rather than extracting credits from players every time they join a game. Pay once, forget about it, and enjoy all the sites features as a premium member.

Q. What peak QPS do you see currently? What is your latency for different types of requests?

The game peaks at about 6-8 Requests/Second. Average CPU is about 280ms (130 API).

Q. Any tips to help me overrun the interstellar empires of the rest of the App Engine team?

Know when to strike!

Posted by Nick Johnson, App Engine Team

Search by Voice Comes to Google Maps 4.1 for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones

We understand that typing on phones isn’t as easy or fast as talking into them. As a result, we’re big fans of letting you search in Google Maps for mobile in the most natural way possible -- with your voice! Not wanting the BlackBerry and Android folks to have all the fun, today we’re happy to announce Search by voice in Google Maps 4.1 on Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones.

Search by voice lets you easily search for anything by simply speaking your search terms instead of typing them. Just open Google Maps, press your phone’s “call” button, and clearly speak your search term like “Park Plaza.” Search by voice works with all the kinds of searches Google Maps for mobile already supports, including places, addresses (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway), specific businesses (The French Laundry), or types of businesses (sushi restaurants new york).

You may also notice a few other additions, including a redesigned settings page with Search by voice language choices. Choose your preferred language from the supported options, including multiple English accents and Mandarin Chinese. Also, if you find a problem with any information in Google Maps, you can use the “Report a problem” option to let us know.

To get started, install the latest version of Google Maps for mobile 4.1 for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 by going to m.google.com/maps in your phone’s standard web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile). This update is available in all the countries and languages where Google Maps for mobile is currently available.

Visit our Help Center to learn more or tell us your feedback and questions in our Help Forum. Give us suggestions and vote on other people’s on the Mobile Product Ideas page.

Posted by Yuliang Wang and Yifei Zhang, Software Engineers, Google Mobile Team

Google Buzz Layer Now Available for Google Maps On Your Computer

(Cross-posted from Google LatLong)

With Google Buzz for mobile, you can choose to post publicly and include your location, providing context for your followers and allowing others to see what you have to say about a place on a map. We’ve received a lot of requests to make the Google Buzz layer available on desktop Google Maps, and today we're doing just that.

Now you can use Google Maps from the comfort of your computer to find out what people are saying about places near and far. If you’re new to the public Google Buzz layer, check out some tips for exploring the Buzz layer on Google Maps for mobile to see a few of the fun ways people have already been using it on their phones, sharing everything from breaking news to restaurant recommendations.



To view the Google Buzz layer from your computer, go to Google Maps in your web browser and select Buzz from the More... menu in the top right corner of the map. Find an interesting area like your neighborhood and select any available icon to see what’s going on there. In the post’s window, click on the name to see the author’s public profile, the timestamp to comment on the post, or the place to see it in Maps. The Google Buzz layer is available for maps.google.com in all currently supported languages.

The desktop layer is view-only, however, you can post using Google Buzz for mobile from the web app (buzz.google.com) on your phone, Google Maps for mobile, the Android widget, and more.

Posted by Ana Ulin and Evan Parker, Software Engineers, Google Mobile and Maps teams

App Engine SDK 1.3.3 Released

Today we released version 1.3.3 of the App Engine SDK for both Java and Python. This is a minor release that includes changes and a few issue fixes for the datastore, administration console, and when deploying applications. For more information on all the changes, please read the 1.3.3 release notes for Java and Python.

Additionally, the Python SDK has a new experimental feature that gives you the option to use SQLite as the datastore stub backend. Using SQLite within the dev_appserver should speed up performance of your local datastore when testing on large datasets. (Note that this feature does not add SQL support to the App Engine SDK or service.) If you try out this feature, please give us your feedback on the App Engine Python users group.

1.3.3 is now available on the App Engine download page. As always, we welcome your feedback on the App Engine group.

Posted by The App Engine Team

Explore the UK and Ireland with Google Maps Navigation

Despite recent travel disruption due to Eyjafjallajökull, those of us marooned in the UK and Ireland have enjoyed lovely sunny weather. It’s the perfect excuse to take a road trip, wouldn’t you agree?

With Google Maps Navigation (beta), now available in the UK and Ireland for Android devices 1.6 and higher, traveling by car couldn’t be easier. Like other satnav devices, Navigation includes 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance, and automatic rerouting. But because Google Maps Navigation is connected to the Internet, it also features powerful functionality you can’t get from other satnav services, including the most up to date map, business, and traffic data, access to satellite and street views, and of course, search.

With Google Maps Navigation, you can search by voice, and in plain English -- just press the voice search button on your Android phone, say “navigate to Sainsbury’s,” and Navigation will open automatically and guide you to the supermarket. Running out of petrol? You can search along your route for nearby petrol stations, cash points, restaurants, and car parks, without exiting the navigation path.

Google Maps Navigation is available in the US, UK, and Ireland. And like other Google Maps features, Navigation is free. To get Google Maps Navigation on your Android phone, search for “Google Maps” on Android Market and download the latest update. Visit the Google Maps Navigation page to learn more and watch a video, or check out the help center if you have questions.

posted by Sara Rowghani, Product Marketing Manager

Stranded Microwaver in Europe

Brian Battaglia is the Sales and Marketing Manager for Integra Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high power rf/microwave transistors (i.e. LDMOS). He e-mailed his friends and acquaintances today to say that the volcano in Iceland that has shut down air travel in Europe has stranded him in Rome during a business trip. I asked Brian if he would like to share his story on this blog for our readers. Break out your violins fellow microwavers, here's his tale of "Whoa in Rome".

[from Brian's e-mail]

David,

I don�t know much about blogging but I always have stories to tell.

One week in Europe including Sweden, Rome and Italy. After a few days in Stockholm at the S.E.E. (Scandinavian electronics event) my flight arrived in Rome on Thursday last week. Upon landing I checked my blackberry and saw several messages � from my mom, girlfriend and boss � concerning the volcano eruption which I had not heard about yet. I may have been one of the last flights out of Sweden since this was big news by the time I landed. Somewhere between baggage claim and customs I found the VP of Amplifier Design of Integra who had just arrived from Los Angeles and we made our way to Rome. We had meetings on Friday and were not planning on leaving until Sunday so the volcano seemed like a temporary disruption that would clear up soon surely by the weekend.

On Friday we visited Selex Systemi Integrati a big customer for high power RF transistors globally. The cancellations started expanding across Europe but we weren�t leaving until Sunday and that seemed far away. Saturday was site-seeing (St. Peters/Vatican City/Pantheon/Trevi Fountain) in Rome with plans to leave the next day if the skies opened up. Sunday morning the news seemed hopeful as the no-fly zones were intended to be removed that night. However it soon became apparent that the European agencies were being extremely cautious and the delays kept coming. The stress of the situation mounted quickly � another hotel night accommodation � same hotel, same room, a little over double the price! New tickets purchased through US travel agency that showed flights leaving EARLY Monday morning i.e. 6:30AM. This meant ordering taxi for 3:30AM and 2:30AM wake up calls.

A quick check of the Internet near midnight brought bad news � additional delays over all of Europe. Although we booked on a US domestic carry the flight was routed through Amsterdam. KLM of the Netherlands wished to start flying on Monday but the government would not allow it. This meant cancelled flight and cancelled taxi, however, my Italian must not be so good since the wake-up call still came! The problem is that the airspace has not been cancelled for a few days�no what they are doing is saying everything will open in 12 hours and that has been repeated for the last five days. So every time you check it seems ok but as the 12 hours get closer it moves another 12 hours. It reminds me of the bar back in NY with a sign saying �Special: Free Beer Tomorrow� and when you return the next day of course the same sign in place.

For clothing first you use your casual dress which soon runs out, then back to your business clothes which eventually run out, so today I am wearing a soccer jersey with the name of the local team captain on the back. With decent Internet connections work can still be done as hot ash does not stop emails from piling up. All and all I don�t expect much sympathy from friends, family and colleagues with being stranded in Rome for a week: history at every turn, great fashion, food and wine. Wednesday is Italy�s National Birthday and all museums were free. Thursday is my birthday and Friday we have flights back to US via Chicago via Chicago. Maybe.

Good luck Brian, we hope you make it home in time for your birthday.

Engineer leaves his work behind in a bar

OK. Here�s the story as I initially heard it on American Public Media�s �Marketplace�, driving home from work yesterday.

Last month in Silicon Valley a very important cell phone was left behind at a bar -- what is widely believed to be a prototype of the new iPhone that Apple's officially going to release in a couple of months. The phone wound up in the hands of Jason Chen, the editor of the technology website Gizmodo.com.

In the news report, this phone was described at one point as Apple�s new 4G phone. Which initially grabbed my attention since I immediately thought they were talking LTE (whoa, that�s news), but I have since come to realize, that they were talking 4th generation iphone operating system. Oh well, it was still worth visiting the Gizmodo site and getting the skinny on the whole story and what the web site reporter�s investigation of the phone revealed before they returned it to Apple.

http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone

Turning back to RF/microwave related concerns, I reviewed the gizmodo story with an eye out for relevant information. Here are some snippets about the new iPhone that relate to its radio. Among the most visible changes, is one of functionality over looks. The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic. Why the plastic back?



"The plastic back is the most obvious of the design choices. The iPad, with its all aluminum back, has seen its Wi-Fi reception radius reduced. The iPhone 3G version comes with a large patch on the top, probably big enough to provide with good reception. But the new tiny iPhone doesn't have the luxury of space: It needs to provide as much signal as possible using a very small surface. Industrial designers and fashionistas might be dying to get rid of the plastic back, and go iPad-style all the way, but the wireless reception is the most important thing in a cellphone. A necessary aesthetical-functional trade-off."



The �editors� then took apart the phone. Once open, they noticed that the battery takes up around 50% of the phone, give or take. Diving deeper became much trickier. There are a total of around 40-50 screws inside the phone, positioned at various angles that were almost frustratingly impossible to get to. The main logic board is one very weird piece of this puzzle. Unlike the iPhone 3GS teardown, which revealed a large logic board along with another part down by the dock connector, this design only has something maybe 1/3 of the size, along with one or two extraneous parts. Basically, the guts have shrunk drastically. The board was encased in metal all around so nothing could get through. EMI or IP protection?








Unfortunately, the editors failed to report on the front-end technology, changes to the antennas, power amps, switch modules and other RF components, etc. Oh, well, that�s information for a different audience than they were writing for, I suppose. We need a microwave editor for that. I'll have to ask my publisher for the new iPhone when it's available legally. The chances of me getting one are about as great as me being able to rip it apart.

Perhaps the bigger lesson is not to leave your work behind at the bar.

Next Generation Networks conference and Green Basestations Summit

The Next Generation Networks conference and Green Basestations Summit is scheduled for next week (April 19th - 23rd) in Bath, UK. The conference will feature twenty keynote operator presentations as well as speakers from leading global Investors, Analysts, OEMS, Vendors and Industry Associations.

Building on last year's highly successful event led by 12 Leading Operator Keynotes, including Cable & Wireless, China Mobile, Orange, T-Mobile, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, TeliaSonera and Vodafone, the 2010 conference is targeting its content to attract senior managers from across the mobile industry with topics that include:

• Building a Sustainable Wireless Broadband Future - Exploiting the Next Wave of Growth
• Enabling Technologies - Realizing True Mobile Broadband
• Convergent Networks - Delivering an Optimal Service
• Breaking Through - The Challenge of In-Building Coverage
• Opex & Capex - Preparing the Network for an Upturn in Wireless Broadband Demand
• Beyond The Spectrum - Bringing Clarity of the Mobile Broadband Picture
• U-Tube, Facebook & Twitter - What Innovations Will Make A Difference

This event will be a focal point for information and debates on the key topics of LTE, Network Sharing, ROI, Femtocells, OPEX/CAPEXsavings, Business Models, Technology Innovation and Sustainability.

New this year, will be workshops on Picocells/Femtocells - Enabling Operators to deal efficiently with 3G and 4G Capacity Demands (NGN Conference) and Cost Savings for Hybrid Power Deployment with Generator Powered Basestations (Green Basestations Summit) - all included in the conference price.

The Iterative Web App: Redesign of the Compose Page

On April 7th 2009, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Compose view redesign

You're on the subway and you get the brilliant idea to host a TV viewing party for your friends for the premier of Conan O'Brien's new show. You pull out your phone (or your iPad) and start typing names into the compose page at gmail.com. (Yes, it works on the subway.) You've added Naveed, Suzy and 7 others before you remember that Naveed made you eat grass at the last BBQ. You want to remove him from the list but his email address has scrolled way out of view. Argh! After some intense scrolling and lots of backspaces, you finally manage to get rid of Naveed's email address.

Enter our redesigned Compose page. It has new address fields that automatically expand to fit all the email addresses that you're entering, so you'll never have to worry about this type of problem again.

As always, when you start typing an name into the new compose view, you'll see possible contact choices in the autocomplete dropdown. When you select a contact from the autocomplete dropdown, only the person's name is entered into the address field. This saves screen space and won't leave you thinking "man, who is hikingfan@gmail.com?" when you're reviewing an email before sending.

Once you select a contact from the autocomplete menu, you'll also notice that the contact becomes an object that you can tap on. Tapping on a contact opens a detailed view that let's you double-check the person's email address or remove them from the email. Yes, this means you can remove an email address in two taps!

Some other nifty new features which will help you compose your emails faster:

• Remove the contact you just added by tapping Backspace.
• Press the '+' button to see your top contacts, or hide them by pressing the '–' button.
• If for some reason autocomplete fails you and the person you are trying to reach is a Gmail user, just type their Gmail username and a comma, and we'll take care of the pesky @ sign and the rest (so [hikingfan] becomes [hikingfan@gmail.com].)
• The page now fills the entire screen, giving you more space to see what you're writing.

This update is available for Android, iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch devices. We always love to hear what you'd like to see next, so be sure to leave your feedback in our Help Forum or the Mobile Product Ideas page!

Happy composing!

Posted by Andra Adams, Software Engineer Intern, Google Mobile

Google Mobile App for iPad now available in the App Store

We’re pleased to announce that a new iPad-friendly version of Google Mobile App is now available in the App Store worldwide. By “iPad-friendly”, we mean that this new version has been designed to show neatly on the iPad’s screen, and that the usual features of Google Mobile App for iPhone, like search by voice and My Location, work well. From the Apps tab, you can also easily navigate to Google’s web-based apps, such as Gmail, which was recently optimized for iPad.

While this first version of Google Mobile App for iPad is essentially the same app we’ve built for iPhone, we’re working on improving Google Mobile App so that it takes advantage of iPad’s features. Stay tuned as we continue to make it and other Google products even better on this new type of device.

To download Google Mobile App to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch (requires OS 3.0 or higher), search for “Google Mobile App” in the App Store or just visit http://itunes.com/app/googlemobileapp.

Posted by Alastair Tse, Software Engineer

AT&T Leans on Femto-cells to Support iPhone Coverage

I�ll admit that I get jazzed when I read a news item in the mainstream media that has some Microwave technology playing a leading or supporting role. So I was pleased when I read this story appearing in the New York Times on Wednesday that discussed how AT&T was addressing spotty iPhone service that occurs in locations where there are a shortage of cellphone towers. The solution, �a miniature cell tower in your living room� was described as a mini-tower, the size of a couple of decks of cards that looked like the Wi-Fi hot spots at cafes and could redirect calls from congested cell towers to home Web connections. Hhhmmmm, sounds like a femtocell to me.

The Times reported the story of Christina Zachariades, 28, a Manhattan resident who already pays $130 a month for iPhone service but cannot receive or make calls in her fifth-floor apartment on the Upper East Side. Despite the additional cost to consumers, the technology is poised for big sales, thanks to price drops but also because of the entrance into the market by AT&T. Other companies � Verizon, for example � have already marketed their mini-towers for niche use to customers in places with limited cellphone signals, like basements or homes with particularly thick walls.

The article went on to describe how industry analysts stated that "mini-towers, known as femtocells, are poised for spectacular growth. Shipments should grow from 571,000 this year, to 1.9 million next year, to 40 million by 2013, according to iSuppli, a market research firm. Falling prices are helping propel sales. Two years ago, for example, consumers would have paid $500 or more. "

Cisco, Samsung and Netgear are among the companies that make the towers; Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, which make chips for phones, have also developed products. Francis Sideco, an analyst at iSuppli, said there were still bugs to be worked out before femtocells become a mass-market product like wireless routers or storage devices, which were once hard to market.

Over the long term, basic economics favors mini-towers in homes over big towers, said Pasquale Romano, chief executive of 2Wire Inc., a company in San Jose, Calif., that is developing one of the devices. Ramano claimed that it didn't make sense for carriers to spend money building large towers in residential areas because most people are not home during the day; as it is, AT&T already plans to spend $8 billion this year on improving its wireless coverage, including on big towers, according to public filings.

The price for the AT&T device could fall to $49 if consumers buy a broadband or in-home calling plan, and could be free to customers who buy both. Still, marketing mini-towers has its risks for AT&T. Even though it expects the towers to improve signal quality and take pressure off its network, they could displace landline telephones because wireless consumers will not need a second phone number.

At Microwave Journal, we�ve been following the Pico- and Femto-cell markets for a number of years now with news, articles and application notes from a variety of sources. Earlier this month we reported on the completion of the Femto Forum�s first Femtocell plugfest (Femto Forum Completes First Femtocell Plugfest ). GaAs power amplifier supplier, Anadigics has been targeting this market since 2008 (ANADIGICS Enters Femtocell Market ) and provided us with a white paper that same year

Last May we reported that femtocells, which were virtually non-existent in 2006, and deployed by one operator in 2007, would make up 61 percent of small cellular base station revenue by 2013, according to reports In-Stat.

Highlight's from last year�s In-Stat report included:

• Femtocells, picocells and microcells are expected to surpass 15 million units by 2013.
• Worldwide annual femtocell semiconductor revenue will approach $400 M by 2013.
• Sprint was the first to market with a femtocell-based service in 2007, while others entered the market in 2008.
• In mid-2009, Airwalk introduced a new enterprise femtocell. These products have the capacity of a traditional picocell and the ease-of-use of a femtocell.
  
  
  
  

Universal search features in Google Suggest for mobile

Last December on the Official Google Blog, we announced how universal search features in Google Suggest could show useful information while the user is composing a query from the Google home page. Today, we are bringing this same functionality to mobile phones so that getting answers while on the go is even faster and easier. For example, let's say you're flying to London and want to know: Is my flight on time? Or what is the exchange rate of the pound? As you type the flight "Ba 284" or "Usd in pounds", the answers are provided right below the search box, without having to wait for the results page. Other searches that show answers include weather (e.g., "weather london"), stock quotes (e.g., "intc"), current time (e.g., "time london"), calculator (e.g. "29*37") and unit conversion (e.g., "220 miles in km").

To try this yourself, go to google.com on your phone's browser and type your own query to see these special results under the search box. Note that if you don't see these results at first, try refreshing the page in your browser. The functionality is currently supported on Android-powered devices, iPhones/iPods and Palm WebOS devices in the US.

Posted by Toshi Tajima, Google Mobile Engineering Team

Happy Birthday

Today marks a special day for us on the App Engine team. It was just forty-six years ago today that IBM announced the IBM System/360. As Wikipedia puts it, “It was the first family of computers designed to cover the complete range of applications, from small to large, both commercial and scientific.” One of the unique aspects of the S/360 was that customers could start with a small system while being confident that they could upgrade their system to scale to larger workloads without having to rewrite their application code.

We’ve come a long way since the days of 7.2MB disk drives and when systems with 256KB of main memory were considered large. Customers haven’t changed all that much though. Developers still want a platform which makes it easy to build, easy to manage and easy to scale their applications. That’s exactly what inspired us to build Google App Engine.

It was two years ago today that we launched App Engine to the first 10,000 developers. Those developers formed the start of today’s vibrant community of over 250 thousand developers. Each day your apps collectively serve over 250 million pageviews. Since it’s our Birthday we thought we’d share our traffic graph with you.

It all started on April 7, 2008 with the Python runtime. And, after a somewhat false start with the FORTRAN 77 runtime, we were able to successfully launch App Engine for Java, along with a number of other exciting features, on our first anniversary.

Those of you who have followed along closely know that we didn’t stop there. We’ve kept up the pace, launching a significant new feature almost every month since then. The datastore team has added everything from key-only queries, kindless queries, ancestor queries inside of transactions and query cursors to configurable datastore deadlines, opt-in eventual consistency and a whole new way of replicating data across data centers. Meanwhile the rest of the team hasn’t skipped a beat, delivering a number of new platform capabilities including Task Queues, XMPP support, incoming email and blobstore. We even affixed our own shipment of delete buttons to the Admin Console.

This is probably a good time to call out one of our recent favorites though. It’s an instrumentation library which provides great data and insights. It comes bundled with the SDK and can be easily enabled in your application. Of course we’re talking about Appstats. If you do one thing this week to celebrate our birthday and improve the performance of your app while helping to make the web faster, you should enable Appstats. You might be surprised what you learn about your own app or you might even win a t-shirt.

Of course it’s often the little things that count: API fetch from blobstore, expanded URL fetch ports, DoS API, IPv6 support, removing the 1000 row result limit, Java unit testing framework, custom admin console pages, Java app pre-compilation, datastore stats, wildcard domains, per request statistics in HTTP response headers, SDK dataviewer and stable unique id for users to name a few. If you saw something in that list you didn’t know about, be sure to read 10 things you didn't know about App Engine, visit the ever growing list of great App Engine articles, and, while you prepare for Google I/O 2010, be sure to review the excellent and highly informative App Engine sessions from previous years. The Java developers among you are of course already reading the App Engine Persistence Blog.

We want to take this opportunity to thank you for your tremendous support. Hearing your feedback is really important to us. It helps us stay on course. Your feedback has also helped drive the list of things we’re working on.

We know many of you like the big features and the new APIs we’ve launched. We have graphs that show you’re using them. But, we often don’t get enough detailed feedback on how you’re using these APIs, whether they’re working really well, or whether there’s room for improvement. Let us know how we’re doing. We’d love to hear what your favorite APIs are and how you use them, especially if you’re doing something interesting you think others might like to hear about. Also, tell us about your favorite little feature. What’s that one thing that made your life easier?

Please don’t mind the crumbs as we enjoy some cupcakes.

Posted by Fred Sauer, App Engine Team

Google Maps 4.0 for BlackBerry adds Search by Voice, Google Buzz, Starring, Labs, and More

We’ve been rolling out new versions of Google Maps for mobile at a fast pace lately, and the first Google Maps for BlackBerry update of 2010 is a big one. For version 4.0, we’ve added new features to help you find places faster, post from those places with Google Buzz, star them for quick access, and more.

Search by voice
For starters, we’ve added Search by voice to all BlackBerry devices to save your overworked thumbs. Simply press and hold the green “call” button, speak your search, and see your results quickly appear without typing a single letter. Try it now for any search, like the name of my favorite hometown pizza place, “Punch Pizza in Minneapolis.” You can also search by voice for addresses like “802 Washington Avenue Southeast” or search for other another pizza place to try by speaking, “pizza restaurants.” Currently supported languages include multiple English accents and Mandarin Chinese.


Google Buzz
Google Buzz for mobile also makes its debut on BlackBerry phones in Google Maps 4.0 (see availability). Use the Google Buzz layer to see what’s going on around you or to post to the layer yourself. Check out the many ways to explore the Buzz layer in Google Maps for mobile, including sharing pictures, news, and more. From the Maps main menu, select Layers > Buzz to enable the layer; open the menu and select “Post Buzz” to add your own public post from a location or place.


Take your searches and starred places to go.
Just like in Google Maps on Android, the BlackBerry version now provides personalized search suggestions from your maps.google.com search history. If I previously searched for “Punch Pizza” at home, I can simply type “pun” into Maps on my phone to see “Punch Pizza” at the top of the suggested search terms. Make sure you’ve signed in to your Google Account (Menu > Sign In) and have Web History enabled for your account.

Signing in to your Google Account also synchronizes starred items between maps.google.com on your computer (My Maps > Starred items) and phone (Menu > Starred Items). I’ll do my heavy pizza research at home, star several pizzerias I want to try, and browse the list in Google Maps on my phone when I’m ready to eat.

Wait, there’s more!
Also check out other new features added with 4.0:

• Use Labs to try experimental features like the Scale Bar or Terrain layer (great for hiking enthusiasts!).
• See nearby businesses at an address or location by selecting a point from the map.
• Report a problem with the map data or a business listing.

To get started, install the latest version of Google Maps 4.0 for BlackBerry by going to m.google.com/maps in your BlackBerry’s Internet Browser. The update for BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrators and users, including support for BlackBerry OS 5.0 phones, is available here.

Visit our Help Center to learn more or tell us your feedback and questions in our Help Forum. Give us suggestions and vote on other people’s on the Mobile Product Ideas page!

Posted by Ole CaveLie, Software Engineer, Google Mobile Team

Gmail for mobile integrates with Google Buzz

When Google Buzz for mobile launched in February, we created the mobile web app at buzz.google.com so you could post buzz on the go. Depending on your inbox integration settings buzz gets sent to your Gmail inbox when people @reply you, comment on something you’ve posted, or comment on a post after you.

With the latest iteration of Gmail for mobile, we’ve worked to integrate buzz with your mobile inbox. Now, you’ll see buzz in your inbox on your phone just like you do in the desktop version of Gmail, complete with the little Google Buzz icon. When you open a buzz post from your inbox, you can perform all the standard functions, such as liking the post or commenting, just as you can from the desktop Gmail inbox.

To try this out, simply go to gmail.com in your iPhone or Android browser.

Alex Kennberg, Software Engineer, Google Mobile

TweetDeck and Google App Engine: A Match Made in the Cloud

I'm Reza and work in London, UK for a startup called TweetDeck. Our vision is to develop the best tools to manage and filter real time information streams like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. We offer products like our TweetDeck desktop client built on Adobe AIR, and our iPhone application. We are happy to say that we use App Engine as key part in our backend.

We're a small startup, so early on we started to look for tools that would give us the biggest bang for our buck. Combined with the fact we love Python, we thought it might be worth taking a look at what Google App Engine had to offer. The first feature we started playing with was the mail sending facility.

It was easy! Sending mail was a single call-- no messing around. Combined with the fact that it was sent via tried-and-tested Google Mail servers, this meant that we had a simple mailing solution where we didn't have to deal with spam blacklists, mail retries or SPF records. We could really see App Engine being our sole email provider for transactional emails (new users and forgotten passwords), but also for newsletter-type mailing.

When we got started, our existing backend was hosted on Amazon EC2 and SimpleDB, and we knew that we needed a way for the two systems to communicate with each other. App Engine provides all the basic tools to define any sort of resources you want--but more importantly, it has the Python standard library. We implemented a small mail API, with authentication provided by an HMAC-SHA1 of the request information and a shared secret key. The API has been made extremely general: its JSON input format contains fields to send messages to blocks of email addresses that are either defined in the request itself, or which exist as a template in App Engine (templates are defined as strings in a Python module).

The whole setup currently works quite well. We're already extending our mailing system to use App Engine's task queues-- exposing a number of queues to break large mailing jobs into a series of subtasks, thus spreading mailing sending over a large period of time. We have plans to make an even tighter bridge between our EC2 systems and App Engine, which involves keeping our subscriber list entirely in App Engine, and adding and removing from that list as appropriate.

We also use App Engine for various other prototypes and smaller applications that are part of our product. We use it to serve our "TweetDeck Recommends" feed, and we've even developed small tools to apply TweetDeck fan badges on Twitter homepage backgrounds using the Imaging API! The lesson from us, of course, is that using something like App Engine doesn't have to mean everything runs on it. It's an extremely good platform for creating APIs or smaller parts of your application that do specific tasks, and do them well. Think of it as the UNIX metaphor applied to the Cloud.

We love that we've been able to grow the functionality that Tweetdeck provides by progressively using more of the cloud. App Engine provides the perfect platform to compose new services quickly, iterate on them in production, and scale with demand as Tweetdeck's install base grows. Thanks to App Engine and the cloud, there's nothing holding us back from tackling the needs of our user base.

Here is a video interview of Reza and the Tweetdeck team.

Guest Post by Reza Lotun @rlotun, TweetDeck

Satellite LTE Network Planned by PE Firm

Harbinger Capital Partners plans to deploy a LTE network over spectrum owned by a few satellite companies which would create an open wholesale wireless network available to anyone who wants to offer mobile broadband. The new network will rely initially on 23 MHz spectrum owned by SkyTerra (which is owned by Harbinger) and could later include spectrum from Terrestar Networks, another satellite firm in which Harbinger holds a stake.


The network could help ensure competition among the major wireless carriers because of the conditions the FCC has placed on the spectrum that the private equity firm plans to use as part an agreement to let Harbinger take control of SkyTerra. SkyTerra would be a wholesaler, and that traffic from the wireless carriers in the U.S. cannot comprise more than 25 percent of the traffic over the SkyTerra/Harbinger network. This means AT&T and Verizon could not buy up huge chunks of the network or spectrum to keep others off of it.

The planned network would launch before the end of 2011 and cover 9 million people (trials initially planned for Denver and Phoenix). Then cover 100 million people by the end of 2012, 145 million by the end of 2013 and at least 260 million people in the United States by the end of 2015. Harbinger said in its statements to the FCC that all major markets will be installed by the end of the second quarter of 2013.

However, the 36,000 base stations that Harbinger plans to use, along with the tower sites, backhaul, etc. with a terrestrial network will require billions of dollars. Verizon and Clearwire have already started building out their networks and are investing billions. It is hard to see how Harbinher could afford to do this. According to SkyTerra, the network will have no less than 23 MHz of spectrum, consisting of 8 MHz of 1.4 GHz terrestrial spectrum, access to 5 MHz of 1.6 GHz terrestrial spectrum and 10 MHz of MSS/ATC L-band spectrum. Through a cooperation agreement with Inmarsat and associated waivers of the Commission�s ATC rules, by 2013 Harbinger will have access to an additional 30 MHz of ATC spectrum.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Wireless Wee Wee

I recently came across Simavita that makes wireless monitoring devices for assisted living residents to monitor when they go to the bathroom and logs the events for analysis to improve their comfort level and coordinate scheduling of changes, etc.

The main component is a remotely monitored disposable continence aid � the SIMpad�. It is fitted with a sensor strip (SIM�strip) that is completely safe for the wearer. A reusable SIM�box fitted to the front of the SIMpad transmits sensor readings wirelessly to a central monitoring station (SIM�server). A key component of the system is the SIMsystem� Manager, software running on the SIMserver that incorporates an algorithm to analyse the sensor readings and provide an assessment of the continence event in real time; alerting the carer if required.

The SIMsystem Manager automates the process of analysing sensor readings from a sensor strip inside a continence device, capturing observations from carers and presenting the data back to care staff in a manner which simplifies decision making. The SIMsystem consists of:

The SIMbox, when fitted into the individual resident's stretchpants (SIMpants), transmits sensor readings from the SIMstrip in the SIMpad over a wireless network to the SIMserver. The SIMsystem Manager software running on the SIMserver then detects key information about continence events and determines when to alert care staff about an event requiring attention. Alerts are sent via text message to the carer's mobile phone, or via the facility's paging system if preferred. As carers are often unable to immediately respond to events, the software will display a summary log of alerts and manual observations can also be entered. The final bladder chart includes all observations in one easy-to-read report.On completion of the 3-day assessment, the SIMsystem Manager produces shift, daily and 3-day reports that may be used by carers for the development of continence care plans.

The SIMbox and SIMnetwork have been built for ZigBee� for low-power and low-range wireless applications. The SIMbox can operate continuously for at least 100 hours before the batteries need charging. The SIMnetwork platform consists of SIMboxes, SIMchargers, SIM repeaters which can extend the network, and a SIMgateway for connection to the central SIMserver. The SIMboxes are specially designed to be of minimal size and maximum battery life, to be flexible and compatible with a range of clinical applications.The SIMnetwork meets the essential requirements of the Australian1 & European2 standards and therefore is deemed EMC compliant so it is approved for use in healthcare facilities.

What will they think of next for M2M applications!

Google services on the iPad and tablet computers

Here at Google we’re really excited about the promise of tablet computers, which will be great for browsing the web and using apps. We’ve been working hard to optimize our services for the new format - larger touchscreens, increased portability, rich sensors - and we’d like to share some information about our progress so far.

While surfing the web on your iPad, we expect many of you will want to check your Gmail. If you go to gmail.com in your browser, you’ll see something different than what you’re used to on the desktop. We’re releasing an experimental user interface for the iPad built on the Gmail for mobile HTML5 web app that we launched last year for the iPhone and Android devices. Those devices have large screens compared to other phones, and tablets like the iPad give us even more room to innovate. To take advantage of the iPad’s large display, we’ve created a two-pane view with your list of conversations on the left and messages to the right.


To try this new interface, go to gmail.com in your browser. We recommend adding a homescreen link for easy access. As this interface is experimental, expect changes as we continue to develop and optimize. Also, please let us know any ideas or feedback that you have. You can also access Gmail on the iPad through the native Mail app using the IMAP protocol.

Additionally, the iPad ships with a number of Google services pre-installed. As with Mac computers and the iPhone, you’ll find Google Search in the top right corner of Safari. The YouTube app for iPad is built-in, so you can watch HD videos and read and write comments. The new Maps app on iPad takes advantage of high-resolution satellite and Street View imagery, includes a new terrain view, and lets you search for local businesses and get directions. Just like on the iPhone, you can also go to the App Store to download Google Mobile App with search by voice. Of course, Google Mobile App was originally designed for the iPhone’s screen dimensions, but we’ve adapted it to work on the iPad and we’re looking into new ideas to make the app even better.

As you use Google’s web-based applications on iPad, you’ll notice that you sometimes see the desktop user interface and other times you see the mobile interface. We’ve evaluated the behavior of each Google web app using the iPad Simulator, and we are serving the interface we feel works best. If you’d like any help using our products on iPad, please click the 'Help' link within the product.

We’re particularly excited by how tablet computers create the opportunity for new kinds of user interaction. Here on the mobile team, we often talk about how mobile devices are sensor-rich: they can sense touch through their screens, see with a camera, hear through a microphone, and they know where they are with GPS. The same holds true for tablet computers, and we’re just starting to work through how our products can become even better on devices like the iPad.

Update on April 4, 2010 @ 12:30 AM: The new Google Mobile App for iPad is currently not yet available in the App Store. The version that you can download now is the iPhone/iPod touch version.

Update on April 13, 2010 @ 11:40 AM: The new Google Mobile App for iPad is now available in the App Store.

Posted by Punit Soni, Product Manager, Google Mobile

Grunt, Woof and Moo to you too

(Cross-posted with the Google translate blog)

For millennia man and animal have tolerantly coexisted, separated by language and the development of opposable thumbs. Today we can proudly say that we have overcome one of those hurdles. Presenting Google Translate for Animals, a new application available in Android Market.



This application allows you to record animal sounds and have the sounds analyzed and translated by Google Translate into any of the 52 supported languages. With animal translation you can finally understand why Spot keeps peeing in your closet or why Pickles keeps leaving dead mice in the tub. No longer must humanity struggle to comprehend when Lassie warns, “Hurry, Timmy’s fallen down the well!”

The technology isn’t perfect yet, so you may discover some translations that don’t make perfect sense. The algorithms are always improving however, thanks to the large corpus of cute cat videos that have been uploaded to YouTube.

We think that this is an exciting step in understanding and communicating with the world around us. Stay tuned for the addition of “old car” and “stomach” to the translation capabilities of the application this summer.

Posted by Woof Woofington, Product Barketing Manager via Google Translate for Animals

Our newest Mobile Search feature: Where am I?

Many of our improvements to search quality come from analyzing actual search queries. We’re constantly trying to surface more relevant search results in as many situations as we can.

Well, I’m happy to announce that for those of you who turn to Google in search of, “where am I,” we finally have a better result. Starting today, just go to Google.com on your phone in the US, search for “where am I”, and wonder about your own whereabouts no more.

Note that in this alpha release, we are finding that our results can be slightly off. However, accuracy should improve with greater usage. So if at first the answer is not what you’d expect, please continue to try it over the next couple of days and ask your friends to do the same.

Posted by John Eric Hoffman, Software Engineer

Stars in mobile search

Earlier this month on the Official Google Blog, we announced how stars make search more personal by allowing you to mark and rediscover your favorite content. Today, we are extending this feature so that you can get to your favorite content on your phone, anytime, anywhere. For example, if you previously searched for "car reviews" and starred a few sites that were useful while researching cars on your computer, searching for "car reviews" on your phone will allow you to rediscover your starred items. If there are additional results that you want to star while on mobile, simply click the star marker beside the result, and you will be able to see it later when searching from your computer or phone.

To try this yourself, go to google.com on your phone's browser, sign in to your Google Account and do a search. Star a few results and then do the search again to see your starred items appear at the top of your results. To see the same starred items between computer and phone, make sure you are signed in to the same account. The stars in search functionality is currently supported on Android phones, iPhones/iPods, and Palm WebOS devices in the US.

Posted by Zhen Wang, Google Mobile Engineering Team