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Hands-on, nearly instant photofinishing direct from your smartphone

By Chris Foresman

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Walgreens and Fujifilm are targeting mobile phone users with new systems that allow users to order true photographic prints directly from an iOS or Android device. Both companies launched APIs this week that allow app developers to integrate print ordering directly from their photo-related apps. Fuji is configured to mail finished products to customers from a centralized lab, while Walgreens allows pickup from the nearest of its 7,900+ Walgreens stores.

Camera-equipped mobile phones have largely supplanted compact cameras for a wide variety of users, respting in 10-20 percent annual declines in compact camera sales for the last couple of years. While smartphones allow users to easily share photos via social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr, getting photo-quality prints is usually the last thing on many users' minds.

College Kids Aim to Make 52 Apps a Year in South Carolina

By Kathleen Chaykowski

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Mobile software startup 52apps has an ambitious goal: create a new application for the iPhone or iPad every week. Just as ambitious: do it with college students in South Carolina, far from the engineering hotbeds of Silicon Valley, New York or Austin, Texas.

The company, based at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, can create an app in five days with "premade programming Lego blocks," said Chief Executive Officer Steve Leicht, one of three non-students at the company who work for free. That means a chunk of code can quickly add GPS features or the ability to share content on Facebook or Twitter, helping the small team compete with experienced developers.

Sony Xperia Ion review (AT&T)

By Brian Bennett

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The good: The affordable Sony Xperia Ion has solid call quality and swift 4G LTE that ties into Sony's vast entertainment empire.
The bad: Lackluster images and video belie the Xperia's claimed 12MP camera. It's also held back by an old processor and an outdated OS.

Google TV Box Gets Movie Streams From Android 4.0 Smartphones, Tablets

By Agam Shah

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An upcoming Google TV box based on Android 4.0 OS and an ARM processor will come closer to smartphones and tablets with the capability to play direct movie streams from Android 4.0 mobile devices, a set-top box maker said on Wednesday at the Computex trade show in Taipei.

Honeywld Technology, a device maker, is making a Google TV set-top box that allow TVs to play movies streamed directly from Android smartphones or tablets, said Bryant Liu, a manager in the sales division of the company. The set-top box will also be able to synchronize multimedia content including pictures.

Barclays new app transfers money by mobile phone

By MARK HENNESSY.

THE ERA of the cashless society has moved a step closer, following the launch yesterday in Britain of a new mobile telephone payment system by Barclays Bank - the first of its kind in Europe.

Using Barclay's PingIt, a customer will be able to send up to £300 daily to another person knowing only their mobile number, as long as the receiver's bank details are registered with ¡®PingIt'.

For now, only Barclays' 11.9 million current-account holders will be able to send money, using a five-digit PIN, though anyone with a UK current account can receive funds through the system.

With Updated App, Path Hints at a Mature Business Model

By Mike Isaac.

SAN FRANCISCO, California - It's practically a Silicon Valley proverb: Build your user base, and the money will follow. The problem is that if you grow too big, too fast without a monetization plan, you'll end up taking round after round of money from venture capitalists just to keep up, without the means to make any of your own.

Path, the self-proclaimed 'personal' social network, has often looked like it was falling into this trap. As users are limited to 150 connections, traditional advertising has a more difficult time going viral on Path's network than, say, Facebook's or Twitter's. With a new version rolling out to users, however, the fast-growing startup may soon have more revenue on the horizon.

On Thursday, the company introduced Path version 2.1 of its iOS and Android apps. More importantly, Path announced it was opening up its application programming interface to the first major partner to integrate with the network: Nike.

Path updated to include Nike+ integration, music matching, camera enhancements

by Joe Aimonetti.

Summary: Popular mobile journal sharing app Path has been updated, now with the ability to share your runs through Nike+, find and share the music you're listening to, and add cool filters to photos.

Are you a fan of Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? Shazam? Nike+?

Would you be interested in a service that essentially combines the functionality of all these mobile apps into one sleek and simple-to-use program? Then perhaps you should give Path a try.

New iPad adopts simple product naming Steve Jobs brought to Apple in 1997 B

By Daniel Eran Dilger.

iPods and iOS devices

When Apple introduced the iPod in 1999, it continued to remain "the new iPod" through several generations before being named the iPod Classic to differentiate it from the architecturally different iPod mini (and its replacement, the iPod nano) as well as the simple iPod shuffle.

Each successive model generation retained the same descriptive product name, without serial numbers or new name suffixes to highlight differences in their chipset or other features. One exception to this rule was the short-lived, premium fourth generation iPod named "iPod Photo" in 2004. It was later renamed "iPod (with color display)," then replaced with the video capable fifth generation "iPod" in 2005, which Apple purposely avoided naming "iPod Video," even as consumers often referred to it as such.

New iPad adopts simple product naming Steve Jobs brought to Apple in 1997 A

By Daniel Eran Dilger.

Apple's latest iPad, originally anticipated to be named iPad 3 or iPad HD, was simply called "the new iPad" during its introduction. This isn't a new change in naming products at the company however; Steve Jobs initiated it 15 years ago when he returned to lead Apple in 1997.

Apple product names in the 80s

Apple's initial mainstream product was the Apple II, introduced in the late 70s and updated in a series of revised models differentiated by a character suffix: first the Apple II+, then the enhanced Apple IIe, the compact Apple IIc, and eventually the 16-bit Apple IIGS, with letters emphasizing its new graphics and sound capabilities.

Google as Benevolent Dictator Yanks Apps With Kill Switch: Tech

By Jordan Robertson, VIA:businessweek.com.

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Finnish developer Janne Kytomaki said he knew something was amiss last year when he noticed dozens of best-selling applications on Google Inc.'s Android Market listing the same incorrect author.

Kytomaki ran tests, identified the mislabeled software as a fast-moving attack and published the findings online.

Google responded swiftly. It yanked the apps from the marketplace and, using a little-known tactic to keep the malware from spreading, flipped a kill switch that reached into more than 250,000 infected Android smartphones and removed all vestiges of the software.

First look: Norton's 2012 desktop, smartphone security push

By Ellen Messmer, Network World

Norton today released an updated version of its Norton 360 desktop and mobile security software, while also rolling out a new licensing arrangement for combined PC, Mac and Android use.

In addition, Norton announced a novel plan for a new kind of customer support called "Norton One" that involves individualized unlimited assistance for customers who are mystified by computers, security and software -- if they're willing to pay the annual membership fee.

ANALYSIS: Antivirus software sales expected to show strong growth in 2012

Google's Motorola Mobility Deal Gets Green Light from U.S. and Europe

By Trefis Team, forbes.com.

Google received approvals for its proposed Motorola Mobility acquisition from both the European Commission as well as the U.S. Justice Department on Monday.

However, regulatory approvals in China and Israel are still pending. The acquisition plans were made public in August last year when the two companies announced that they have come to an agreement under which Google would buy out Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in cash. Google has maintained that the acquisition was made with Motorola’s strong patent portfolio in mind as it would help it better defend its Android mobile platform from lawsuits filed by Apple and Microsoft.

However, we believe that Google has bigger plans in mind. While the addition of more than 17,000 Motorola patents will no doubt strengthen Google’s patent portfolio, we believe that the 63% premium that Google has paid for Motorola’s rather under-performing mobile business needs a bigger justification in the form of a grander mobile hardware play.