The miCoach app turns an Android-based smartphone into a personal coach, according to Adidas. Its features include pace-triggered voice coaching, personalized and sports-specific training plans, workout calendar, and workout feedback.

The personalized sports-specific training plans allow users to adopt their training plans according to the sport they practice, including football players that want to be faster and stronger. It also allows for different running plans, depending on whether the user wants to lose weight or train for a marathon. The pace triggered voice coaching will tell users how fast to run to reach their goals and how much further they have to go during a session.

The company didn’t detail which version of Android will be compatible with the miCoach application. In August, the application was launched for the iPhone and BlackBerry, and has, so far, racked up about one million downloads, Adidas said.

More information visit http://www.pcworld.com/article/219575/adidas_to_bring_exercise_app_to_android.html.

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BeyondSoft Consulting makes it easy to find an outstanding Android contractor for your company’s project.

I’m not sold that the Echo will be a huge hit however: the device lacks a 4G radio for Sprint’s WiMAX network, for starters, and dual displays are likely to eat through a battery faster. Perhaps that’s why Sprint is including a second battery with the Echo? Regardless, Sprint is once again turning to Android to help boost subscriber numbers.

This week also saw updates of current Android apps and announcements of new ones. Twitter for Android received an overhaul this week: the new version makes it easier to search for friends and trends while also refreshing the user interface for simpler addition of photos and location. The new version also strengthens integration with the contacts database on an Android device, helping to add more of your friends to Twitter. I’ve tested the new Twitter on both a Nexus One handset and Galaxy Tab and the new features have me considering a permanent switch from Seesmic, my long-time favorite mobile Twitter client.

Coming in late March to Android is free software to remotely control a Sonos music system. Not everyone has a Sonos, of course, but for those that do, the new Android app will bring functionality similar to the current Sonos software for iOS devices. With Wi-Fi in more devices than ever, smartphone apps are taking the place of those “old fashioned” single-purpose wireless remotes. Also on the application front is the potential ability to run Android apps on non-Android phones. This is possible because all Android software runs in a virtual machine, or a software implementation of hardware. Myriad will be showing their Alien Dalvik virtual machine next week, and if it takes off, could expand the Android software ecosystem beyond devices running Google’s platform.

After last week’s Honeycomb event, Google was relatively quiet on the Android front this week, but did make mention of Android 2.3.3, or what I like to call Gingerbread Plus. The minor update to Gingerbread expands support for NFC, or near field communications, a wireless method for purchases or data exchange. The new features include support for apps to read or write to any standard NFC tag as well as limited support for direct peer-to-peer connections between devices with NFC chips. While payments are typically associated with NFC technology, the new features added in Android 2.3.3 could help allow future handset apps to unlock doors or transfer data over short distances.

For more information visit http://gigaom.com/mobile/android-this-week-dual-displays-app-updates-nfc-expands/.

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BeyondSoft Consulting makes it easy to find an outstanding Android contractor for your company’s project.

The company said “Livestand” will be released in the first half of 2011, initially on tablets, and then to mobile phones and browsers, will present personalized content results from various publishers, starting with Yahoo’s content portfolio of Sports, News, Finance, Flickr, omg!, and the Yahoo Contributor Network, chief product officer Blake Irving said.

Yahoo said LiveStand will be available to users as an iPad and Android tablet application with a mobile phone and browser version to follow.

Demonstrated in a magazine-style format, content will be personalized based on a variety of factors and user’s exclusive interests, location, and time of day, Yahoo said. The platform expects to attract publishers with an uncomplicated, one-size-fits-all approach to producing content. Livestand has been designed for portable devices, so that articles, photos, videos, graphics and ads are optimized for the screens and interfaces of mobile phones and tablet PCs, the company said.

“The magazine knows what type of story you are reading; it privately knows where you are and where you been,” Irving said while briefing reporters on Yahoo!’s plans.

“What we are building is really device and operating system agnostic,” he said. “Tablets allow beautiful execution, and we will bring it into smaller forms down to mobile phones and then port it to PCs (personal computers) and TV.”

“With Livestand, we are using ad formats that evoke the emotion of TV advertising with a highly-visual magazine-like experience,” Irving, said in a blog post. “And they are combined with the effectiveness of an Internet ad that is data-rich, actionable, even location aware. It is all personalized and in context — just like our content.” To receive an early invite, go to Yahoo’s Livestand homepage and click to “Like” it on Facebook.

Furthermore, the platform will have embedded social media capabilities that publishers can take advantage of to engage readers and foster interaction among them, Yahoo said.

“Livestand delivers the best of magazines and the best of the Web,” said Irv Henderson, vice president of product management for Yahoo Mobile and Connected Devices, during a press conference.

“Adoption of tablets and mobile phones is exploding, and digital media is not keeping up. Consumers cannot find the publications they buy off the newsstand, and publishers and advertisers cannot reach the audiences they want to serve,” said Irving.

“The more you use this, the better it is at telling what you are interested in.” “It is a digital platform and we are its first customers,” Henderson said.

News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch last week unfurled “The Daily” a digital newspaper created specifically for Apple’s iPad, in the latest move in his drive to get consumers to pay for news online.

Although Yahoo officials only demonstrated Livestand featuring content from Yahoo properties during the press conference, they said the company is already working with an initial set of external publishers, whom they declined to name.

Livestand will let publishers generate revenue both from advertising and from subscriptions.

“At Yahoo, we see tablets as a catalyst that will allow advertising dollars to shift from TV and print to digital,” Irving said.

For more information visit http://news.ebrandz.com/yahoo/2011/3871-yahoo-preps-digital-newsstand-for-ipad-and-android-tablets.html.

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BeyondSoft Consulting makes it easy to find an outstanding Android contractor for your company’s project.

Topics : Fastest Growing Companies , NATO , Department of Defence
“Communication and information sharing via e-mail isn’t just done in the office,” said TITUS chief executive Tim Upton in a statement. “Our customers worldwide need to be able to protect information sent via their mobile devices.”

Mr. Upton added Good Technology has expertise in multi-platform mobility for both government and enterprise, which will help provide TITUS’s clients with the ability to keep confidential messages secure on a range of devices.

The partnership will allow TITUS’s classification labels to work with Good Technology’s mobile client classification software for the iPhone, with the two working together to provide support for Google Android devices.

TITUS – which was named one of OBJ’s Fastest Growing Companies and won an Employees Choice Award in 2010 – boasts more than 1.5 million users for its technology from more than 300 military, government and enterprise customers worldwide.

Its client list includes NATO, the Australian Department of Defence and the United States Air Force.

For more information visit http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2011-02-09/article-2211265/TITUS-to-put-tech-on-iPhone,-Android-with-Good-partnership/1.

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BeyondSoft Consulting makes it easy to find an outstanding Android contractor for your company’s project.

The voice and text translation application has long been available in mobile app form for phones running Google’s own Android operating system, but hasn’t until today been available as an iOS app.

The Web search giant did, however, roll out a Google Translate HTML5 mobile site all the way back in August of 2008, which allowed iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users to use many of the same features available on Android devices.

One feature not avilable on the iOS version of the app is the experimental Conversation Mode, which (for Android users) allows two people who speak two different languages to speak into a phone with the phone translating back to them in their respective tongues so a conversation can be held.

With Google Translate, users speak a word or phrase into their i-devices in one language and the app produces a translation via a computer-generated voice or text.

The app can accept voice input in 15 different languages and translate back to users in 50 languages. The computer-generated speech function can speak back to a user in 23 languages, Google said.

Text translations provided by the app can be zoomed in for easier reading or sharing on screen.

The release is Google’s fourth for the iOS since September after the arrivals of Google Voice, Google Latitude and Google Places with Hotpotfor the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The Google Translate app is a free download and requires iOS 3.0 or later — which means it works with even first-generation iPhones — and is in Apple’s App Store now.

For more information visit http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/02/google-translate-app-hits-the-iphone.html.

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BeyondSoft Consulting makes it easy to find an outstanding Android contractor for your company’s project.

Nokia describes the mobile market as an environment that is intensely competitive and plagued by component shortages. The Finnish manufacturer saw a 2.4% decline in unit shipments in Q4 2010 year-over-year, despite smartphone introductions such as the Nokia N8 and Nokia C7. These models contributed to a 38% increase in smartphone shipments for the company year-over-year, but feature phone shipments took a significant hit.

Apple and ZTE, on the other hand, increased their year-over-year unit shipments by 86.2% and 76.8% respectively. IDC reports that ZTE is succeeding in its Chinese home market, steadily spreading to developing regions such as Africa and Latin America as well as making inroads in developed markets such as Western Europe, the U.S. and Japan.

While Apple and ZTE aren’t directly comparable, they do share one overall goal: to rule the 4G era. ZTE has been rapidly expanding in both the GSM and CDMA worlds in recent years, and naturally wants to become a key player in the new 4G LTE era. And as stated above, that’s going to happen on a global scale.

LG Electronics’ unit shipments declined 9.7% year-over-year in Q4 2010. IDC says an aging portfolio and lower prices within emerging markets left the company vulnerable to the competition. ZTE is clearly among the key companies that are pressuring LG and Nokia in the feature phone segment.

LG’s answer to increased competition in the feature phone market is to bet on smartphones for Western markets. We reviewed the Quantum (Windows Phone 7) and Optimus T (Android 2.2) late last year. Upcoming smartphones include the Revolution, one of Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE Android phones, as well as the NVIDIA Tegra 2-equipped Optimus 2X.

While Nokia and LG were forced to make cuts in overall unit shipments, there’s one big player that is still going strong: Samsung, of course, which saw a 17.3% increase in Q4 2010 unit shipments year-over-year.

Samsung is currently working on TouchWIZ 4 to run atop Android 2.2 and 2.3. The company will announce the Galaxy S2 during the Mobile World Congress next month, which will sport a dual-core processor and a Super AMOLED Plus display. The dual-core processor is rumored to be the NVIDIA Tegra 2.

IDC says that the continued success of the Galaxy S smartphones was driving the shipment volumes for Samsung last quarter. The company sold nearly 10 million units of those phones worldwide in 2010. The Verizon iPhone will soon challenge the Fascinate and Continuum, but Samsung has the Stealth V in the making for Verizon Wireless.

The Samsung phone that really shines, however, is the recently released Nexus S for T-Mobile (and rumored to spread to AT&T). It’s running stock Android 2.3, which combined with a Super AMOLED screen brings expectations for smartphones to a new level. If Samsung plays its cards right, Nokia should worry more about Samsung than Apple and ZTE.

The full-year numbers below reveals that RIM is also still going strong, and given the upcoming BlackBerry 6.1′s focus on third-party apps and improved Web browsing, in addition to its already well-known BlackBerry services, the Canadian manufacturer just adds to the fact that it is an intensely competitive mobile market indeed.

For more information visit http://www.infosyncworld.com/reviews/cell-phones/hot-smartphones-drive-western-market/11748.html.

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BeyondSoft Consulting makes it easy to find an outstanding Android contractor for your company’s project.

Buzz up!While responding to queries, Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop said indirectly that the Finnish company may adopt operating systems like Google Android or Windows Phone 7. Analysts opinionated that Elop’s former connection with Microsoft may help him to connect his current company with former. If all things work well, we can expect Nokia smartphones running on Windows Phone 7 OS.

“In addition to great device experiences we must build, capitalise and/or join a competitive ecosystem. The ecosystem approach we select must be comprehensive and cover a wide range of utilities and services that customers expect today and anticipate in the future,” Elop said while commenting on Nokia’s financial figures.

Currently, Nokia handsets are running on Symbian and MeeGo operating systems. With the emergence of Android OS, other giants like Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericsson shifted to this and gained more popularity with a wide range of products. Also, Apple introduced energizing changes to their iOS that powers the iPhones. This lead to the decline of Nokia’s market share.

Now, Nokia has identified the need to change the ‘ecosystem’ for a better future. If Nokia decide to adopt Android or Windows, then it will be the end of Symbian, the world’s most popular mobile operating system. Anyhow let us wait and see whether Nokia axes Symbian to embrace Android or Windows phone 7.

For more information visit http://news.oneindia.in/2011/01/29/tech-nokia-adopt-android-windows-os-symbian-aid0102.html.

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BeyondSoft Consulting makes it easy to find an outstanding Android contractor for your company’s project.

Hosted by: BeyondSoft Consulting

Please Register online at:
http://android-iphone-career-feb2011.eventbrite.com/
 

Workshop Schedule & Information

Date: Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Time: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Venue: Access Growth, 2953 Bunker Hill Lane, Suite 400, Santa Clara, CA

4:00 pm: Workshop Registration, Networking, pizza and drinks
4:15 pm: BeyondSoft Consulting Orientation
                   Including: Services, Benefits Information, Job Placement, and available Developer Training
4:30 pm: Presentation of “Developer’s Resume Development” & “General HR Interviewing Tips”
4:45 pm: Go over popular Technical Interview Questions – Android & iPhone
5:15 pm: Discussion of “Hot Trends” in the Android/iPhone Development Industry
5:45 pm: Questions & Answers
6:00 pm: Conclusion

Headquartered in Santa Clara, BeyondSoft Consulting specializes in clients ranging from startups to enterprise entities in North America, and is rapidly expanding. “BeyondSoft Consulting is in a dramatic growth period, driven by several significant partnership and project wins.” said David Cao, Vice President of BeyondSoft Consulting, “To keep pace with the considerable influx of new work, while providing the same high quality service, we have added a number of excellent Android programmers to our team, since we successfully held several Android Top Gun Training Camps over the past few months.” 

The Android Top Gun Training Camp is a customized, job-oriented training program of Android development for people who have already learned the initial basics of building an Android app. The hands-on training camp, which is an integrated two-day training course, is taught on-site in Silicon Valley and customized to the specific needs of BeyondSoft Consulting’s clients. 

In addition to training, BeyondSoft Consulting also hosts regular job seminars, including full job fairs. Early next month, BeyondSoft will be welcoming developers from the entire Bay Area to sit down with technical recruiters, and start the discussion about becoming a developer for BeyondSoft Consulting. 

With proven expertise in staffing services, BeyondSoft Consulting offers a wide range of Android contractors for the Android platform, including app development, back-end integration, solution architecture, and designing embedded systems. With many years of experience in Java and embedded development, BeyondSoft Consulting’s Mobile Application Developers have deep domain knowledge in all-things-Android. Furthermore, with wide connections to industry associations and professionals, BeyondSoft Consulting can find and recommend the best resources, matching the client’s requirements in a timely manner. Leveraging its competitive advantages to help clients generate new mobile business, especially in the Android field, BeyondSoft Consulting can better serve customers and help improve the productivity of their workforce. 

For more information, please visit http://beyondsoftconsulting.com/onshore-staffing-solutions/android-contractors-consultants/

The STRaND-1 (Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator) is being made from advanced and off-the-shelf components by Surrey Satellite Technology, a spinoff of the University of Surrey, and the university’s Surrey Space Centre. The project has a few stated goals.

The first is to see if a smartphone can function in the hostile environment that is space. It will live in a protective case, and a computer on the satellite will put the phone through a number of tests to determine which components (sensors, video cameras, GPS systems, Wi-Fi radios, and so on) do and don’t work in orbit.

If enough parts of the handset pass muster, the custom software will be tested next. If that works as planned, the smartphone will be used to operate parts of the satellite. The phone’s cellular radio won’t be used, as there are no cell towers in space (yet). Instead, the team will communicate with the phone using the satellite radio technology already in place. That said, some of the phone’s other systems–processor, RAM, storage, and camera, just to name a few–will be used.

A camera will likely be outfitted so the controllers on the ground can see the screen. This will allow the scienticians to control the phone with their own custom software packages. The ability to load custom software payloads and its open-source nature is the reason why Android was chosen as the first phone OS for the stars.

The satellite will rely on its own GPS, guidance, and thrusters, but will use the phone as a backup to the main computer. Then, if all goes well, it will take over as the main “brain” and control the satellite’s functions.

“If a smartphone can be proved to work in space, it opens up lots of new technologies to a multitude of people and companies for space who usually can’t afford it. It’s a real game-changer for the industry,” said Chris Bridges, STRaND-1′s lead researcher.

If all works out, the research could lead to reduced costs and sizes of future satellites, which to some is backward thinking. While in the past, technology for the space program has lead to innovations in consumer technology, this is just the opposite. And that is why it’s cool.

Smartphone makers, of course, have been in a race for years trying to cram more and more advanced technology into smaller and smaller handsets. Smartphones are essentially pocket-sized computers, though fairly advanced. The latest batches have gigahertz-and-faster processors, which make them more powerful than some laptops people were buying just a few years ago.

Couple that with the massive amounts of flash storage, cameras, GPS receivers, radios, and USB ports, in addition to the ability to run advanced software, and suddenly they become attractive alternatives to the custom computers most satellites use as a brain.

For more information visit http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20029402-1.html.