Google Hotel Finder

Last year Google introduced a experimental tool, Hotel Finder. Basically Hotel Finder allows users to search for Hotels and compare prices from sites across the internet. You can search by star ratings and/or the price. Today Google extended the functionality by adding 'Hotels by Travel Time' to its experimental tool.

You can now filter hotels based on travel time either by public transport or by foot. If you are a tourist visiting a new city for a conference and want to make sure you stay close to the conference center, than Google's HotelFinder is a pretty neat tool to identify hotels in the vicinity.


Source: Google Hotel Finder

BlackBerry 7.1 OS Update

Cell Phone providers around the world will start rolling out The BlackBerry 7.1 OS upgrade over next few weeks. Two most anticipated features in this update are using BB as a Wifi hotspot, and enabling Wifi (UMA) calling if supported by your carrier. Full list of features added to BB 7.1 are highlighted here:

• Mobile Hotspot: Turn your BlackBerry 7.1 OS device into a Wi-Fi® router anywhere, anytime! The new OS seamlessly provides Internet access for up to five Wi-Fi devices, including laptops and tablets.
• Universal Search: For this new release, we wanted to focus on the intelligence of our system and our apps – in other words, we wanted to create an intuitive experience that does the thinking for you. For example, Universal Search now has a new auto-suggest feature that that intelligently filters Bing® search results to offer you a variety of relevant Web sites based on your search terms.
• BlackBerry® Tag: Share contacts, media and files, and even invite friends to BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM) through a simple touch. BlackBerry Tag unlocks near field communication (NFC) capabilities for everyday use and makes sharing a lot faster and much more personal.
• Wi-Fi® Calling (where available): With BlackBerry 7.1 OS, you’ll be able to make Wi-Fi calls using your carrier’s Wi-Fi calling service (aka UMA-lite or GAN-lite). Wi-Fi calling allows you to save your talk time minutes and make phone calls over any Wi-Fi network. Not all carriers offer such a service so check with your carrier for availability.
• FM Radio: The BlackBerry 7.1 OS update will let BlackBerry® Curve™ 9360 and 9380 smartphone customers enjoy FM radio. The Curve models include a built-in FM radio so you can tune in to local FM radio stations. Simply plug in your headset to boost the reception (it acts as the antenna). Plus, no data usage or data plan required!

Source: BlackBerry Blog

Samsung introduces 2 new dual sim smart phones

Samsung introduced 2 new dual sim smart phones, the Galaxy Y Duos and the Galaxy Y Pro Duos. Both phones will have a 832 MHz processor and a 3 mp camera. The Galaxy Y Duos is a full touch screen phone whereas the Galaxy Y Pro Duos will sport a full qwerty keyboard along with a 2.6 inch touch screen.

Both phones will initially launch in Russia beginning Jan 2012 and than rest of the world. There will be no Ice Cream Sandwich love for the Galaxy Duos as they will run on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).

Pentagon Approves Android Devices at Department of Defense

For many years BlackBerry has been the only device approved for use at Department of Defense (DoD) mainly due to the security features available in Blackberry. Recently DoD, for the first time, approved the use of Android devices by its staff. Currently the only device approved for use is the Dell Venue running Android 2.2.

Apple's iPhones and iPads are not far behind. iOS devices are also being tested at DoD. I wonder once iOS devices are approved and more Android devices added to the list of approved phones how many staff members will jump the BlackBerry ship?!?!

Republic Wireless Goes Truly Unlimited

Recently Republic Wireless announced it is going to get rid of the "fair use threshold" on its unlimited plan. Republic Wireless will now offer unlimited talk, text, and data for $19 a month without any restrictions. Back in November Republic Wireless launched its cellular service to offer a hybrid mobile solution. Whenever you are connected to WiFi they will route your calls through the Internet and when you are not connected they will piggy back on Sprint's nationwide network.

Republic Wireless's "fair use threshold" received lot of criticism for marketing a unlimited plan which was in reality not a unlimited plan. According to their blog, “Some of your feedback about our CUI concept and fair use thresholds ranged from confusion to extreme criticism, with a wide variety of thoughts and suggestions in between,” Republic Wireless’s general manager Brian Dally said in a company blog post. “Some judged our marketing to be ‘deceptive.’ Others felt our concepts were just too complicated, and unnecessary to expose to end users.” He continued, “Rather than revising our fair use policy, we’ve decided not to have one at all. There will simply be no thresholds, and no risk of losing service.”

Wikipedia raises $20 Million

Wikipedia, started in 2001, has become one of the most reliable source of information available on the internet. Interestingly Wikipedia is written collaboratively by largely anonymous Internet volunteers who write without pay. Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles (except in certain cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism).


Each year Wikipedia asks its 470 Million users to donate some money to keep the site running. This year the company raised $20 Million from more than 1 millions donors around the globe. Company's operating budget for 2012 is $28.3 Million. According to Wikipedia the remaining money will be collected from additional donations received year-round and grants.

DropboxAutomater - Added features for your Dropbox Account

Automate your Dropbox

Everytime someone puts a file in our shared Dropbox folder,
I get a text message to my mobile - automatically!

Show all actions

1. Login with Dropbox

Dropbox provides 2GB network space for free. Users can store any type of files and folders on Dropbox which can be synced with all devices. However, Software Engineer Manuel Berger, has taken Dropbox to the next level with DropboxAutomater.

DropboxAutomater is a free tool which allows you to specify custom actions on the files uploaded to your DropBox account. For example you can set DropboxAutomater to convert all files uploaded to folder 'Test1' to PDF format. You can also set DropboxAutomater to upload all pictures saved in 'Test2' folder to your Facebook Account.

Here is the full list of things DropboxAutomater can Automate for you:

• Documents
  • Convert to PDF
  • Summarize
  • Translate
  • PDF to TXT
  • Upload to Google Docs
  • Upload to Slideshare
  • Sign PDF (electronic signature)
• Pictures
  • Upload to Facebook
  • Upload to Flickr
  • Downscale
  • Rotate image
  • Write text on image
  • Photo effect
  • Stamp a logo on the image
  • Stamp a map on the image
  • Stamp a "dislike" on the image
• Any file
  • email
  • Zip file
  • Save it to another Dropbox-folder
  • Rename
  • Upload to FTP-Server
  • Encrypt file
  • Decrypt file
• Send info
  • Tweet
  • Set Facebook status file
• And constantly growing...

To sign up for DropboxAutomater simply go to http://dropboxautomater.com and click on "Login with Dropbox". You will need a Dropbox account to be able to use this service.

Source: DropboxAutomater