Google has recently filed for a patent that may just have early navigators rising from the dead to sue for royalties. This new patent would allow a user to have their location determined by landmarks around them. It would work by having a user take a picture of a landmark, upload it to Google, and then receive information about their location. The whole idea sounds impractical considering you can just fire up your Google Maps/Navigation but Google claims it can come in handy when in a foreign country and finding signs or assistance in your native language could be difficult. I’m not buying that and I have my own theory.
If you were looking forward to the major update that was supposed to hit the MOTOACTV today, you’re going to have to wait a couple extra days. The update which will bring 40 new activities along with a few other features is now on for Friday March 9th and hopefully this time it will actually happen. We’re assuming Motorola delayed the update due to a certain Apple event that pretty much occupied everyone’s day today. Thankfully Moto didn’t leave us completely empty handed; a video is now up on Youtube showcasing the new features for all you fitness freaks to sweat over. Give the video a look and occupy yourself with some sit-ups until the update hits this Friday.
Yesterday Google threw us a curve ball when they suddenly killed off our beloved Android Market (I still think they should be tried for murder) in favor of their new Google Play marketing scheme. Whether or not you’re a fan of the new name and logo (which I’m not), one thing I’m sure you’re a fan of — deals! Google kicked off the rebranding with some sweet deals in their 7 Days To Play promotion. For seven days various media will be discounted to the insane price of $.25. Today is day two, which means you have 6 days left to play and we have today’s list of great deals for you after the break.
It all began with a Dream, and that dream led to over 850,000 Android devices now being activated each day. HTC takes us back by announcing unlock bootloader support for the HTC Dream. You heard that right, you can now root Android’s roots. If you happen to have an unrooted Dream laying around and feel like kicking it old school, head over to HTCdev.com and go back to the future — just try not to create a time paradox while your tinkering around.
Having a device that’s “Playstation Certified” hasn’t meant much thanks to a dismal Playstation Suite. Promises of premium exclusive content has fallen short due to the lack of development. In an attempt to gain increased developer interest, Sony has announced it will be releasing an open beta version of the Playstation Suite SDK next month with an official version to follow later in the year. While the open beta will be free to all, the offical release will cost $99 annually and will allow developers to distribute their content through the PlayStation Store. Sony has to do something to entice consumers to purchase a “Playstation Certified” device and while having the branding alone is a nice incentive, without content, it’s nothing more than a marketing ploy.
