At the tail end of last month, the FTC dropped their inquiry into the Google Wi-Fi Street View kerfuffle, satisfied by Google’s argument that their collection of user Wi-Fi data was a screw up, the data wasn’t particularly useful, and that Google had made changes to prevent this from happening again. That supports studies from earlier this year showing that Google vehicles were moving too quickly, and changing channels too frequently, to really collect much useful information from the unsecured hotspots passed.

The FCC this week confirmed they too have been investigating Google, adding their inquiry to several already underway by numerous state attorneys general. Meanwhile, Joe Barton, most famous recently for apologizing to BP for their “unfair” treatment during the gulf oil spill, is accusing Google of lying:

Key Republicans and Democrats in Congress have indicated that the privacy issues raised by Google’s Street View data collection could be a factor when lawmakers consider new Internet privacy legislation next year. Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, a senior Republican lawmaker, suggested last week on C-SPAN that Google’s data collection wasn’t accidental and that it was “something to look at.”

So why is Barton, a guy who apologized to AT&T for FCC efforts to protect consumers, concerned about Google? Barton’s traditionally a pretty loyal political player for AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, who may be trying to make a little extra policy hay out of Google’s screw up. A new battle looms over privacy laws, and numerous companies (including Microsoft and AT&T) are trying to get privacy laws passed that make disrupting Google’s market power a priority, and consumer protection an afterthought.

The more fear that can be raised concerning Google, the easier it will be for companies who supposedly loathe regulation to get Google heavily regulated. While Google screwed up here, raising very serious questions about how clueless Google is about what they’re doing on a daily basis, there’s no evidence their Wi-Fi collection problem was intentional or malicious. And unlike like some companies that trample privacy laws, Google has at least been very honest about the fact they screwed up.

Link to the original article…

Logitech this week fully unveiled their GoogleTV-based broadband video device over at the company blog, and began pre-orders via their website. The skinny: the $300 Logitech Revue with Google TV comes with a wireless keyboard and directional pad, a flurry of Google apps (including Netflix support) and broadband streaming capabilities.

There’s also a slew of accessories, including a $150 HD video chat camera, a $100 larger keyboard, and $130 mini controller.

Dish Network meanwhile says they’re going to sell the device for $179 instead of $300 but charge an ongoing yet to be determined monthly fee.

Link to the original article…

I’m writing this while waiting for some work to be done on my car; but if anything I am sitting here reminded how over the last 2 days or so, I have been reclaiming my original setup due to the disastrous OTA by AT&T for my Samsung Captivate.

And celebrating how the Android communities helped me out in more than just a few ways.

So what happened? While out and about, I noticed that the phone was communicating with AT&T and downloading something. Since I am on that ultra-restrictive 200mb data plan per month, I canceled it. Bad thing to do.  According to MANY reports at the XDA-Developers forums, that is the last thing you want to do. In fact that is one action that will actually brick your phone. Not the lag fix, not gaining root access to your phone, not overclocking to 1.2ghz, nor flashing community sourced firmware.

No. Canceling an OTA update may brick your phone. And is there a warning? Nope.

So after a few hours of frantic searching and research, I used Odin to flash back to JF6, obtained root again, installed ROM Manager, used the Clockwork Mod to flash the Cognition 2.1.1 update that included the JH7 OTA update, applied the Voodoo lag fix, recovered from my Titanium Backup of my apps and fine tuned the settings and contacts.

And speaking of the contacts; that service from AT&T sucks. It will overwrite instead of merge each and everytime. Not cool AT&T. Y’all already on my bad side. Due to the restrictive data and a healthy fear of getting overcharged for data of all things.
AT&T… I cannot say that I’m happy with you. Android community; you’re the true heroes in my book.

If the Android community has helped you out, I insist that you donate to them. I have.

Why did you get a smartphone with the fastest processor and huge amount of RAM and a graphics processor that makes a prior generation video game system green with envy? For animated weather, that’s why.

Okay… perhaps not. But still, this application for Google Android phones is real impressive to say the least.

The exquisitely realistic video effects of cloudiness, rain and snow provide the vivid sensation of current or future weather conditions for more than 50,000 locations over the world.

• Animated daily weather forecast
• Realistic Video effects of cloudiness, rain and snow
• Multiple scene backgrounds
• Global world weather
• 50,000+ locations worldwide
• Auto update forecast

Currently on sale from $9.95 down to $4.95 for the Pro version in the Android Market, there’s also a Free version for your phone as well with widgets being promised sooner than later.

[ Links: Animated Weather Application for Android, MobilityFlow ]

Looking more sinister than the previous keyboard enabled HTC G1, the HTC Desire Z is one slick looking piece of kit. Due to debut with Android 2.1 with Android 2.2 (Froyo) will be released shortly as a firmware upgrade.

Due to the Samsung supplied AMOLED shortage, this HTC will have an Super LCD instead. And the Desire Z will have the typical GPS, A-GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA connections. Disappointing bits, besides the Android 2.1 is that it comes with only a 5MP camera with a single LED flash. No word on which carriers will get this nor price yet.

Read further details about the HTC Desire Z.

After making a ton of cases for the Apple iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, OtterBox is finally making some cases for Google Android phones.

The Android™ revolution is in full swing with HTC’s EVO™ 4G and DROID Incredible leading the way. OtterBox® now has both of these hot smartphones covered with its Commuter Series® protective cases. Rich with functions and sporting vibrant touch-screens, the EVO and the Incredible are screaming for some added protection.

While not yet announced for all of the Android based phones, this is a good start. Can’t wait until they make one for my Samsung Captivate.

Prices start at $34.95, the OtterBox cases have become the de facto manner to protect your cellphone while maintaining full functionality.

[ Links: OtterBox Communicator for HTC Droid Incredible, HTC EVO 4G ]

Despite a few hiccups, Google’s launch of VoIP integration for Gmail has gone rather smoothly, with the company stating they placed over one million phone calls (about one out of every 3,000 phone calls made that day) the first day the service was live. According to Google, more than 200 million people worldwide are active Gmail users, and all of the company’s users in the U.S. now have access to this new functionality. Google is allowing users to make free calls to either the U.S. or Canada at least until the end of the year, hoping to ramp up adoption quickly as they take aim at Skype and Skype’s 560 million registered (124 million active) users.

Link to the original article…

Google finally is showing off what exactly that Gizmo Project purchase can do for you. Earlier this year, Google Voice was made available for all US citizens, finally leaving the closed beta since it’s Grand Central days – yet another Google purchase. Anyway, it works as easy as follows:

Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of the year and calls to other countries will be billed at our very low rates. We worked hard to make these rates really cheap (see comparison table) with calls to the U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan and many more countries – for as little as $0.02 per minute.

Dialing a phone number works just like a normal phone. Just click “Call phone” at the top of your chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name.

Also, last week, Linux users got the ability to finally use video chat via the browser too. Gmail is getting even better and better.

[ Links: Official Gmail Blog ]

Choosing good fonts seem to be one of the hardest parts of a web design. How can you choose a good looking font without using the same 2 or 3 websafe fonts over and over? You can probably work a traditional font into your design, but even the standard Times New Roman or Helvetica isn’t present on 100% of computers. Here are some ways to use the latest technology to make sure that you get the font you want on your site.

HTML 5 / CSS 3 Embeded Fonts

Let’s get this out of the way first. It is possible to embed a font in your webpage and send it to users. This would be great, except for the fact that it has all sorts of issues. For one thing, it has major compatibility issues. You have to do quite a bit of CSS and HTML magic to get it to work exactly the same on all browsers. Even if you get it to work, then there’s still the issues of getting a font. Technically, this counts as redistributing a font, so you can’t do it unless you are licensed to use the font (which is expensive), or use a public domain font (which can work, but there are many bad free fonts out there and only a few good ones).

The Free Way: Google Fonts API

The Google Fonts API is a great free service which lets you use any of the fonts in their (somewhat limited) directory for free. All you have to do is add a header link to your HTML to import a stylesheet, and then you can use the font.

The Paid Way: TypeKit

Same thing as Google Fonts API, only it costs – but they have a way bigger and better selection of fonts. You can sign up and use their service to legally and easily embed fonts on your site.

About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics. To read more blog posts by him, go to laptop computers.

It’s been already noted that Motorola is building an Android-based tablet to be sold by Verizon later this year, with functionality tied to FiOS TV. Now come reports that HTC is building a Chrome-driven tablet computer for Verizon that will launch on November 26.

Tablet mania has clearly infected many ISPs, who will either be offer TV Everywhere Internet video apps for tablets (Comcast, Cablevision, AT&T, Time Warner Cable) or offering tablets themselves later this year. Much like the recent netbook craze, expect ISPs to give these things away at a subsidized price point if you sign a long-term wireless broadband contract.

Update: Verizon today also expanded on their iPad application ambitions today in great detail.

Update: Seems like this was a hoax. Damn.

Link to the original article…

Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle purchased Sun, the maker of Java in April 2009 for $5.6 Billion. Fast forward to August of 2010, Oracle has now announced that they’ve filed papers to sue Google over patent infringements of their acquired patent pool from Java.

Oracle Corp. said Thursday it has filed a patent and copyright-infringement lawsuit against Google Inc. Oracle said in a statement that Google’s Android system for mobile phones infringes on its patented Java technology.

Google spokesman Andrew Pederson said the company can’t comment because it has not yet reviewed the lawsuit. Oracle, which makes database software and other technology, acquired the Java computer programming language and related technology when it bought Sun Microsystems. That deal that closed in January.

Java can be used as a platform for building applications for computers, websites and smart phones and other mobile devices. In its complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Oracle said Google’s Android operating system software consists of Java applications and other technology. As such, it infringes on one or more parts of seven different patents — something Google should know, Oracle argues, because it has hired former Sun Java engineers in recent years.

Oracle also said Google’s Android also infringes on Oracle’s copyrights in Java. Oracle is seeking an injunction to stop Google from further building and distributing Android, plus higher monetary damages for willful and deliberate infringement.

Guess that Ellison had to find a way to pay for that Sun acquisition after all. I wonder how this will work out, especially since Java went GPL v2 in 2006. We’ll see.

After three years of being an iPhone owner and wanting to avoid the Apple iPhone 4 and its “antennagate”, I finally made the switch to an Google Android based phone. For the uninitiated, the Samsung Captivate is part of the Samsung Galaxy S series that typically include their somewhat trademark 4 inch Super AMOLED screen, the Samsung Hummingbird processor and the TouchWiz UI enhancements. The Samsung Captivate has these features and a bit more:

• 4 inch WVGA Super AMOLED display
• 1GHz Hummingbird processor with PowerVR SGX540 GPU
• Android 2.1
• 16GB of internal memory
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, A-GPS
• 5MP camera with HD video recording
• 3.5mm headset jack
• MicroSD card support

And in typical geek fashion, the first thing I did was to root the phone, then start removing the AT&T applications which cannot be uninstalled the direct way. I am not too happy with how AT&T has locked down portions of the Android Market – for instance, Where is a free app that AT&T wants you to pay for its usage. I’ve had it on the Apple iPhone and if I emulate a T-Mobile SIM, I can have it again for free.

I’m still getting used to the Android workflow – having e-mail and Gmail and they both sync can get confusing. Android 2.1 also will not allow for multiple calendars, it will only synchronize to the first one you input on your accounts/sync portion. That somewhat bothersome; however all one needs to do is share your calendars between your multiple Gmail accounts and they’ll all sync up with the Calendar app.

There are other weird things that will take time in my transition; however it’s not all weird. The phone is faster than my iPhone 3GS and even seems faster to me than even the iPhone 4. It’s also a world class screen that’s real readable in direct sunlight. I mean, totally readable. And so far, I’ve found most of the “must have” apps – Where excluded – in the Android Market. GOGII textPlus, WordPress, Seesmic, Paypal, Google Voice, Evernote, Nimbuzz… and I’ve only started to look.

So three years later, have I finally jumped from a walled garden to a semi-walled garden without incident? This was a still rather locked down phone and I’ve had to add the ability to load my own *.apk files, but so far, I can recommend Android to a wide group of folks whereas the Apple iPhone was more for people that wanted a media phone. Android 2.1 offers a great experience and 2.2 (Froyo) is right around the corner (September is the rumor).