Category: Mobile Tech

Google has introduced a new Android application called Google Goggles. No, they’re not Google’s version of the dreaded “beer goggles”, but rather a way you can search by taking a photo. Here’s a snippet from Google’s blog:

In a nutshell, Goggles lets users search for objects using images rather than words. Simply take a picture with your phone’s camera, and if we recognize the item, Goggles returns relevant search results. Right now Goggles identifies landmarks, works of art, and products (among other things), and in all cases its ability to “see further” is rooted in powerful computing, pervasive connectivity, and the cloud.

That’s pretty frickin’ cool. I’m sure the app is a bit limited at this time, but I’m also sure that it will become more useful with each passing month. Being able to snap a photo of a product or a place with a mobile phone and getting more information on it via search is just amazingly powerful. Hopefully Google will extend Goggle to other platforms…or someone will finally make the Android phone of my dreams. Either way, I’m anxious to try this product out!

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The legal dispute between AT&T and Verizon over the latter’s television commercials has been dropped. According to Gizmodo, AT&T has dropped the lawsuit. Here are the legal scribblings:

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED by and between Plaintiff/Counterclaim Defendant Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless (“Verizon Wireless”) and Defendant/Counterclaim Plaintiff AT&T Mobility LLC (“AT&T”) that pursuant to Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: (a) Verizon Wireless’s claims against AT&T in the above- captioned action are hereby dismissed without prejudice, and (b) AT&T’s counterclaims against Verizon Wireless in the above-captioned action are hereby dismissed without prejudice.

*sigh* What a stupid waste of money. In my silly dreams, I’m begging AT&T to hit my donation button instead of spending money on its next stupid lawsuit…or maybe it can use some money to make its network not suck.

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CrunchPad, an exciting Internet tablet being developed by TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington (among others), was supposed to be unveiled before the end of the year. Instead, the project has died due to a curious legal skirmish. According to Arrington, Fusion Garage (TechCrunch’s partner) CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan nuked the project through a strange series of emails. He wrote:

Bizarrely, we were being notified that we were no longer involved with the project. Our project. Chandra said that based on pressure from his shareholders he had decided to move forward and sell the device directly through Fusion Garage, without our involvement.

Err, what? This is the equivalent of Foxconn, who build the iPhone, notifiying Apple a couple of days before launch that they’d be moving ahead and selling the iPhone directly without any involvement from Apple.

That’s pretty nuts. Fairly, Arrington admitted that this is his side of the story and Fusion Garage will surely spin it another way. Arrington wanted the CrunchPad to be, “a tablet computer that I could use to consume the Internet while sitting on a couch.” I’m totally down with that. I use my iPhone to check on my site, post some tweets, and read Facebook during television commercials. I wish I could do all of that stuff on a device with a larger screen. It’s sad that a cool and possibly revolutionary product will miss the market due to shareholder greed.

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Gameloft, one of the oldest and biggest names in mobile phone games, has cut its development investment in Google’s Android platform. The Washington Post quoted Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort as saying:

We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like … many others. It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone. Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue.

While he has a point about the Android Marketplace not being as “neat” as the iPhone App Store, I think this is an amazingly shortsighted move. Android handsets have only started popping up on three of the four major American carriers this fall. A number of analysts have predicted that Android will be the leading smartphone platform by 2012. Being first and being established on Android would be a wise move for Gameloft, but I’m guessing the bean counters are only looking at immediate returns.

Do you think Android has a big future? Or is Gameloft doing the right thing by cutting the cord early?

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