Wikipedia defines lobbying as the act of attempting to influence decisions made by government officials. A lot of companies do it to persuade members of regulatory agencies to act in their benefit.
You can actually tell a lot about a company by how much they spend on lobbying and what they lobby for. That's what makes the recently released congressional lobbying disclosure reports so interesting...
Google's Nexus 7 tablet is admittedly off to a surprising start, with demand crushing expectations as the pricier $249 16GB model has been out of stock over at the Google Play Store for a couple days now. While the Internet giant is ramping up production, an inaugural advert for the device was posted today at the official Google Nexus channel on YouTube.
Though Google's advertising is becoming increasingly cheesy lately (and it's always been this way, cynics might add), this particular commercial is clever on many levels, I think. But you be the judge - it's included right after the break...
Opera (yes, the browser people) published its first ever State of Mobile Advertising report this week, a study regarding the effectiveness of advertising on different mobile platforms.
As you might have expected, Apple's iOS came out on top. Despite Android's lead in overall marketshare, users seem to browse the web and click on ads more on Apple's mobile OS...
Google is feeling lots of heat lately as Apple, Microsoft and Oracle show some notable progress with Android lawsuits. Apple in particular holds a number of patents that cover trademark features the iPhone popularized, like slide to unlock and other multitouch gestures.
The Internet giant should also beware of the latest Apple patent grant which covers virtually all of the iPhone's user interface innovations. Perhaps in realization of its defensiveness, Google has changed tactics.
The company is now arguing that because the iPhone has become so popular, Apple's proprietary and patented inventions should really become industry essential patents. Seriously?
Sparrow for iPhone debuted in February of 2011 and remains to date known as a kick-ass email client for both desktop and mobile. Those that love Sparrow appreciate its best-in-class Gmail support, clean and minimalistic interface and just the right set of features.
But Sparrow got snapped up by the Internet giant Google today (looks like this is becoming somewhat of a pattern for Google). From what we know so far, the Sparrow development team will be “working on new things at Google” and they "do not plan to release new features for the Sparrow apps".
This likely means 'no' to the promised iPad version and another 'no' to push alerts for incoming messages. It's assumably a sad day for Sparrow die-hards, so I just put together a little poll to gauge your feelings on the subject of today's unexpected acquisition...
Dang, Google just acquired the popular Mac and iOS email client Sparrow. The value of the transaction or terms of the deal have not been made public, though The Verge thinks Google paid under $25 million for Sparrow. According to a blog post announcing the acquisition, this deal will help the Sparrow team "accomplish a bigger vision", one the team says "can better achieve with Google". Hopefully that means buying some notification servers, though Sparrow's email to customers is anything but encouraging. Full details below...
Now that Google Chrome has been out for a while on iOS, it's a good time to sit back and reevaluate its value. Should you ditch Safari for Chrome? Is Chrome good for jailbreakers? How do you get more out of Chrome?
Inside we'll take a look at various ways that you can make your Google Chrome experience more rewarding. Even if you're not a jailbreaker there are plenty of ways you can still benefit...
Google unveiled the Nexus 7 last month to much fanfare. And although its price and screen size don't really line up with the latest iPad, many reviewers are still using Apple's tablet as a point of reference.
You've probably already seen all of the speed and performance comparisons between the two slates, but what about durability? That's right it's drop test time. Nexus 7 versus the iPad, round one, fight!
The way Google Chrome for iOS handles its refresh/stop functionality is a bit unorthodox. You have to first open a menu, and then tap the refresh or stop button to perform the action.
While it may seem like a small deal, I've found that this extra step is a bit frustrating in real world usage. Thankfully, as you may have guessed, the jailbreak community has responded with an answer.
EasyRefresh for Chrome is that answer — it's a jailbreak tweak that adds a traditional refresh button to Google Chrome for iOS...
Mozilla's Firefox OS may be driven by HTML5 but it sure looks a lot like an unusual cross between iOS and Android. It's already got strong support from carriers and now the first screenshots depicting the user interface and various system apps have surfaced.
The interface looks distinct enough to stand on its own, even though Mozilla clearly borrowed some of the best design practices from iOS and Android...
Google chairman Eric Schmidt offered some candid remarks when venture capitalist Peter Thiel asserted the search company has no creativity as to what to do with its $50+ billion cash hoard. Google is like a bank that generates an enormous cash flow, but it's no longer a technology company, that's Thiel's challenge to Schmidt. Watch him destroy Google's chairman in a video embedded right after the break and feel free to opine down in the comments...
A few interesting observations from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster's note to clients (via Fortune), issued this morning. Munster conducted his annual cell phone survey and found out that nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of polled respondents would pick an iPhone as their next handset. Only one in five (19 percent) plan to go with Android and just 2.5 percent, or one in forty, will stay loyal to their BlackBerry, a result of RIM's downturn.
What's more, 51 percent of respondents who planned on making the iPhone their next smartphone (whether current iPhone users or not) said they were waiting for the next iPhone...