Google adds three new features to Realtime search

googleIn 2009, we firstly reported that Google finalized an agreement with Twitter to allow the search giant to index tweets to display them in search results as part of a push to make search results more timely and relevant.

The deal was worth about $15-million, and at the same time, Twitter made a similar deal with Microsoft’s Bing search engine at a reported cost of $10-million.

Today, Google made the “most significant” enhancements to its Google Realtime search, adding a few new features.

Google added a new tool to filter search results based on geographic location, allowing users to see results such as tweets only from specified regions.

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RIM makes final offer to avoid India BlackBerry ban

blackberryThe Waterloo, Canadian-based maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, Research In Motion (RIM), is having final negotiations with top-level officials from the government of India in an attempt to satisfy security concerns that would avoid a nation wide ban of the BlackBerry.

In the most recent developments today, Research In Motion offered the government of India to organize and lead an industry wide forum on mobile communications and privacy, and their relationship with national security.

The government of India argues the BlackBerry platform is the only communication medium in the country that currently cannot be monitored, and that terrorists and criminals could use the messaging phone to freely communicate securely without worrying about government monitoring.

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September Apple press event to yield new iPod Touch, iTunes TV show rentals

apple-ipadApple has scheduled a press conference on September 1st in San Francisco where the company will use the event to make at least three major announcements.

The first announcement will be that iTunes users will be able to rent TV episodes provided by content providers for $0.99 per episode for a two day period.

The content will be served without advertisements, but the content will only be available for only a two-day period.

The content will become available in iTunes one day after the television broadcast date.

Users would be able to watch the shows on their iPhone or iPad devices during the rental period.

Rumored content providers include ABC, NBC, NewsCorp, and Fox, which will include many popular prime-time shows, including “Lost”, and “Family Guy”, among other popular shows.

This new direction from Apple will help solidify its market position as chief rivals such as Netflix Inc. expand their delivery capabilities across more mediums such as direct streaming from the top gaming platforms such as Microsoft’s X-box 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 gaming console.

The second big announcement: Apple is expected to unveil the next generation iPod Touch, that is expected to be the same as the iPhone 4 in all aspects, but it is unknown of the device will also include the front-facing camera and FaceTime support.

The third announcement the company is expected to make is that it would offer Apple TV for $99, which could be used to stream content, including the TV show rentals from iTunes, directly to your home theater system.

The Apple stock (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trading down half a percent at $238.8 per share with three-hours remaining in today’s trading session.

Google Goggles coming to iPhone, pending app store approval

googleThe search giant, Google, has just announced it would bring its visual search application Google Goggles to Apple’s iOS platform, making the application available for iPhone and iPad users.

Google Goggles is already available for Google Android powered mobile devices through the Android Marketplace.

Google Goggles retrieves useful information from a picture a user snaps along with their respective GPS position.

The company is dubbing the product a universal visual search tool.

However, although the app works great on certain queries, it is still in beta, but the company says future updates will make the product more effective and useful with more accurate and relevant information.

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43 top iphone apps and games to download

So, you were lucky enough to get your hands on a new iPhone 4 after waiting for hours in a line at the Apple store. Now what do you do? Well, you load it up with apps, of course, and there are plenty to choose from, with over 200,000 apps in Apple’s App Store.

With so many, you can spend days sifting through lists to find the best apps and games, and now, we have done all of that hard work for you, with a list of the top 43 apps we found in the App Store, including free and premium apps.

With thousands of apps, this list is in no way exhaustive. If we missed a cool app that you think belongs to this list, drop it in the comments and we might just add it.

Let’s get straight into this: here are the top 43 iPhone apps in no particular order.

Navigon GPS Navigation

Price: $59.99 – iTunes

Comments: GPS navigation on your iphone. Navigon is the same price as TomTom, but you might want to go with TomTom as it offers more features.

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RIM must stand its ground in foreign BlackBerry ban threats

blackberryResearch In Motion (RIM) Corp., the Ontario-based maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, has reached an agreement with the Saudi government, preventing the banning of core BlackBerry features.

The Saudi government claimed core BlackBerry features present sufficient risk to national security that it would have been forced to disable the key features for all users in the country, including for all foreigners traveling to the Kingdom.

The features in question include both BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) and BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), including BlackBerry Messenger, email, and browsing.

The Saudi’s claimed (including many more nations like India, and the United Arab Emirates, among others) that the platform is far too secure where government officials are not able to monitor BlackBerry data.

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HMV launches digital music store, competition is greatly intensifying

hmv-logoThe once top retailer of music CDs, HMV, has struggled in recent months facing intensifying competition from digital retailers, and peer-to-peer Internet networks where people illegally share their music free of charge.

The result has been a significant decline in earnings for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, such as HMV.

The HMV stock (LON:HMV) has lost a significant amount of its value in recent months, reflecting slumping earnings and lost market share.

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Google seemingly embracing HTML5, as YouTube videos set to support the standard

google-logoGoogle today started to add support for embedded YouTube videos based on HTML5, and not on the traditional Flash platform the company currently uses to power videos.

Users could already embed HTML5 videos, as the company continues to test the platform that many argue is more secure and more efficient than Adobe’s proprietary Flash platform.

One of the most publically critical companies to criticize the Flash platform is Apple, who banned the platform in its popular products, including the iPhone 4 and the iPad tablet computer.

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Netflix to offer movie streaming in Canada

netflix-logoThe popular movie and TV show streaming and rental service, Netflix, has announced it would expand its streaming content service to north of the boarder starting some time in fall.

The company currently offers content streaming from the cloud to a variety of consumer electronics, including televisions, through Microsoft’s gaming console the Xbox 360 (including the other current next-generation gaming consoles), and personal computers, among other devices.

The company only said it would expand its reach into Canada in fall, but declined to release information relating to a more specific time frame or possible pricing.

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Google to stop selling Nexus One smartphone directly to consumers

google-android-logoGoogle has just announced the company would no longer sell its flagship Nexus One Android powered smartphone directly to consumers.

The company said in a statement found on the product website that it has received the final batch of shipments from its manufacturing partner, Taiwanese-based High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC), and that it would not be selling additional units after the final inventory is depleted.

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