Category Archives: Media

Latest Swype Beta update features Nuance’s Dragon Dictation software

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by George Heymann|@techeadlines

technology-headlines.com

There are a lot of great keyboards for Android. I have been an especially fickle consumer regularly jumping between a number of excellent choices. If you haven’t had a chance to use Swype with Dragon Dictate you’re in for a treat, it’s a great keyboard with an easy-to-use and very accurate voice recognition app that allows you to speak your text and have it transcribed automatically.

The latest Swype keyboard beta integrates directly with Nuance’s latest Android app Dragon Go which utilizes advanced language modeling for an up to 40% increase in prediction accuracy. The application learns over time as you use it, building up a personal language profile for you.

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CyanogenMod 9 boot animation posted

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by George Heymann|@techeadlines

technology-headlines.com

I have been a CyanogenMod fan for some time now, I’m currently running a custom CM7 Gingerbread rom on a couple of my smartphones. I have briefly run an early Alpha version of a CyanogenMod 9 ICS Rom that is surprisingly stable and responsive for such an early version of the ROM.

I really enjoyed using the ICS ROM, but went back to the Gingerbread ROM because the camera is not yet supported on the Alpha ROM. As soon as this feature is added I will be re-flashing my phone to CM9. (Boot animation video after the break)

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Near Field Communications (NFC) mobile payments FAQ

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By Michael Koploy

ERP Analyst at Software Advice

According to US research advisory Gartner, mobile payments may be the next “big thing” for retailers. The firm expected 38 percent growth of mobile payment users last year, totaling 141 million.

While this may seem like a lot, the industry still has a long way to go and there are a number of roadblocks ahead, according to Sandy Shen, Gartner Research Director. “The biggest hurdle is the need to change user behavior by convincing consumers to pay with mobile phones instead of cash and cards,” says Shen.

Retailers can play a large role in changing user behavior, and the first step is learning more about the technology. Software Advice often hears from retailers that are curious about mobile payments, so they put together a FAQ. Here are answers to three of their top questions.

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Scalado “Remove” lets you capture a clear view.

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by George Heymann|@techeadlines

technology-headlines.com

Have you ever wanted to capture a photo in a busy area without capturing a number of strangers in the shot as well? Up till now this has been all but impossible enter Scalado Remove, a technology that automatically highlights and removes any unwanted object from a captured photo. Scalado claims it’s the first Object removal software to be released on a mobile device.

Remove promises to solve this photographic conundrum by detecting and removing unwanted objects by touching the selections on the screen after capturing the image. Imagine capturing a photo and letting the camera remove the unwanted people for you! All of this can be done after the image is captured using post-processing to selectively remove anyone moving around, or select your subject and remove anyone else in the frame.

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Chrome for Phone

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by George Heymann|@techeadlines

technology-headlines.com

Google introduced Chrome for Android Beta today that brings many Chrome desktop features to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phones and tablets.

Some of the Chrome for Android features include:

  •  Browse fast with accelerated page loading, scrolling, and zooming
  • Search and navigate directly from the omnibox
  • Open and switch between unlimited tabs in an easy-to-view stack
  • Send pages from desktop Chrome to your smartphone or tablet with one click and read them on the go, even if you’re offline
  • Browse privately in Incognito mode
  • View open tabs: Access the tabs you left open on your computer (also signed into Chrome)picking up exactly where you left off.
  • Get smarter suggestions: If you visit a site often on your computer, you’ll also get an autocomplete suggestion for it on your mobile device, so you can spend less time typing.
  • Sync bookmarks: Conveniently access your favorite sites no matter where you are or which device you’re using.

Facebook to push advertising into the news feed on mobile devices.

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by George Heymann|@techeadlines

technology-headlines.com

Facebook is set to begin showing advertising to mobile users according to a recent Reuters report.

Facebook allegedly has already entered in negotiations with advertising agencies for displaying ads which it is calling “featured stories” in the news feed seen by users providing Facebook with a new source of revenue.

Facebook mobile users could see the advertisements as early as March ahead of its $5 billion dollar public offering, according to the Financial Times sources.

It is unclear at this time if we will see these “features stories” added to the web version of Facebook as well at some point.

Samsung Galaxy III, Skype & InstaCam for Windows Phone, Blackberry Resurrection?

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Smartphone Briefs

By Chris Coleman|@PhoneKnack

Reports have surfaced that the latest edition to the Samsung Galaxy family, the Samsung Galaxy III will measure in at a relatively slim size of  7 mm. The Droid RAZR, which is currently one of the thinnest phones on the market measures in at 7.1 mm, so you can imagine how thin we are talking.

The Samsung Galaxy III is rumored to be released this upcoming May and will feature a 8megapixel rear camera and 2megapixel front-facing camera. Look for the device to run on Google’s latest operating system, Android 4.0(Ice Cream Sandwich). Multiple reports have cited that the Galaxy III will sport 2GB of RAM, have a quad core processor, and will also be 4G LTE compatible.

If this news is all true, the Samsung Galaxy III will be a hard phone to beat this year.

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Screenshot It for Android allows you to capture, crop, draw and annotate your screenshots.

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by George Heymann|@techeadlines

technology-headlines.com

Screenshot It is a Android application developed by Edward Kim that enables users to take a screenshot of their phone’s screen. Once the screenshot is captured you can crop, draw and annotate screenshots then save as a .jpg or .png to the phone or share on your favorite social media site.

The application works on all rooted Android phones and many phones and devices including my Honeycomb HTC Flyer tablet without root access.

Other features include:

  • Screen shot status bar button
  • Screenshot widget button
  • Shake to screen shot
  • Delayed screenshot timer
  • “Share” menu integration
  • Custom save directory

Titan II and Lumia 900 set launch date, Xbox games coming to other platforms? Google Music Updated

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Smartphone Briefs

By Chris Coleman|@PhoneKnack

AT&T is hitting the ground running in 2012, opening the year with two Windows Phones. Both the HTC Titan II and the Nokia Lumia 900 are hitting shelves on March 18th. The HTC Titan II can be yours for $199.99 on a new two-year contract. It features a whooping 4.7 inch screen, a 16megapixel camera, 1.5 GHz processor, and will run on AT&T’s LTE(4G) network. The Nokia Lumia 900 on the other hand will be only $99.99 but still gives the Titan II a run for it’s money. The Lumia has a slightly smaller 4.3 inch screen, with a 8megapixel camera on the back, and a 1.4 GHz processor, however, it has a larger battery compared to the Titan II. Like the Titan II, the Lumia is also compatible with AT&T’s LTE(4G) network.

This year is starting off very well for Microsoft and their Windows Phone line, look for them to continue to make a push in the smartphone market throughout the rest of this year

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iOS 5 tethered and untethered Jailbreak now available for iPhone 4S and iPad2, Seidio Extended battery for Galaxy Nexus available for order.

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Smartphone Briefs

By Chris Coleman|@PhoneKnack

On January 20th, Greenpois0n released their tool to jailbreak (unlock) the iPhone 4S or iPad 2. The jailbreak will support iOS 5.0 and iOS 5.0.1 according to Greenpois0n, however the tools were only available for the Mac. The Greenpois0n team has now released the Windows version, which can be found by following this link.

Whited00r , a well known iOS community modding site has come forth with a way to get some features of iOS 5.0 on your older generation iPhones and iPods. For those who have an iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch and are interested in basking in the glory of i0S 5.0, Whited00r has your back. Make sure to follow this link and from there, simply pick your device. Sound off in the comments after the break with what you think of iOS 5.0 being on old-generation Apple products.

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