Android download total passes 4.5 billion

With a billion in just two months

Android downloads have passed the 4.5 billion figure - up 3.5 billion compared to this time last year.

The boom in Android popularity is highlighted by the fact the last billion downloads occurred in just 60 days.

Speaking at the launch of Google's "Sites Mobile Landing Pages -?Google Mobilize", Ian Carrington, Google's mobile?advertising sales director for northern and central Europe highlighted that whilst Apple celebrated 10 billion downloads back in January, the rate of Android growth should be enough to make the Cupertino collective sit up and take note.

"A year ago that [download figure] was one billion, and that first billion took two years to happen," he said.

Back in May, Pocket-lint reported how the Android Market was predicted to be on course to overtake Apple's App Store in terms of the number of apps on offer by August this year.

As it stood then, Apple had around 380,000 apps in the App Store and Google was offering almost 295,000 in the Android Market but crucially, the Android Market had 28,000 new apps added in April, whereas the App Store only increased by 11,000.

However, there were reports at the end of May that Apple had reached the 500,000 app figure so it's not clear when, or indeed if, Google may now overtake its big rival (current estimates for the Android market stand at around the 400,000 mark).

What is clear is that the rise in Android popularity and the wealth of Android devices in the market (at a wide range of budgets) does pose a serious threat to the Apple app stronghold.

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Tags: Android Market Mobile phone apps Android apps Android Google App Store

Android download total passes 4.5 billion originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:20:20 +0100

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Now in Marketplace: Angry Birds!

At last. Angry Birds is now available in the Windows Phone Marketplace?a few hours ahead of schedule and so fresh it hasn?t even been rated yet!

Be the first?or just hunker down with your phone and get dem pigs.

The game, the last in Xbox?s Must Have Games series for Windows Phone, is free to try and $2.99 to buy.

 

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System Center Orchestrator 2012 Beta

The System Center Orchestrator 2012 Beta product provides the capability of automation of workflows (Runbooks) across other System Center and 3rd party products.

The System Center Orchestrator Beta product provides the capability of automation of workflows (Runbooks) across other System Center and 3rd party products. These runbooks are created in the Runbook Designer, deployed via the Deployment Manager and run and monitored locally or remotely via the Orchestrator Console.
Feature Bullet Summary:

• Management Server
• Orchestrator Console
• Runbook Designer
• Deployment Manager
• Web service for reporting

 

Download details System Center Orchestrator 2012 Beta

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Water boatman uses singing penis to enter record books

Well, er, erm... Ahem...

The 2mm water boatman insect is the loudest creature on Earth in relation to its size, according to scientists in Scotland and France.

In addition, the feat is?achieved?through the frantic rubbing of its, ahem, penis.

The insect can reach a volume of up to?99.2 decibels by agitating its member against its abdomen, effectively singing for a mate in a bizarre courtship ritual. And the end result is the equivalent of listening to a loud orchestra while sitting in the front row. Admittedly, though, they tend to play instruments, rather than play with their instruments, so to speak.

For a study published in?journal PLoS One, boffins adopted small underwater microphones in order to record the insects. And they discovered that, on average, the?Micronecta scholtzi attained a volume of?78.9 decibels, similar in noise level as a passing train. Both elephants and blue whales emit louder sounds, 117 dB and 188 dB respectively, but each of them a clearly far larger than the water boatman.

The reason humans aren't?deafened?by the noise created by the tiny insect's todger, however, is that around 99 per cent of the volume is lost while passing through the water to air.

And our mums said that it was sight that's affected by such things.

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Tags: Online Science Nature World record

Water boatman uses singing penis to enter record books originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:59:00 +0100

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Amazon to shut down California affiliates over new sales tax law

If things continue down their current path, Amazon's affiliate program will eventually go extinct in the US. Late Wednesday, California joined the growing list of states attempting to collect sales tax from online retailers like Amazon in an effort to help close the state's vast budget deficit. Amazon, in typical fashion, has aggressively pushed back, warning its California-based affiliates that they'll have their revenue streams cut off as of September 30 if the law ends up being enacted. (Update: Amazon has informed its California affiliates that it's shutting down the program immediately and not waiting until September.)

California's new law, signed by Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday, requires online retailers to collect sales tax even if they have no physical presence in the state. How does that work when federal law states they have to have a brick-and-mortar store to qualify? Like the many other states before it, California counts Amazon affiliates who reside in California as a "physical presence." So, if Joe Blow runs a personal blog with affiliate links to Amazon products (you know, to make a few bucks on the side), he is effectively "selling" Amazon products and making money from them via his home in California.

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HP in talks with Samsung to license webOS

Palm OS to spread its wings

Back at the beginning of June, Pocket-lint reported from Qualcomm's event in San Diego where HP senior vice president Jon Rubinstein hinted that webOS may not be restricted to just HP devices in the future, and that there was a?possibility?that some "special companies" could indeed offer the platform on their devices.

And now HP CEO Leo Apotheker has confirmed that the company is in talks with other manufacturers with a view to licensing the mobile platform - with Samsung being touted as a possible partner.

There was no naming of names from the HP boss though. "We are talking to a number of companies," he said, speaking at an event in Beijing. "I can share with you that a number of companies have expressed interest. We are continuing our conversations."

He stated that there was no rush in pushing though any deals, saying "there is no time pressure to do this".

Samsung declined to comment on the rumours that it is in talks with HP, but did deny that it is looking for a major breakaway from Google amid concerns that Android is closing up shop with regards to modification on handsets.

"Samsung will continue to strengthen its relationship with Google to provide ultimate values to customers," said Samsung’s Jason Kim.

At the Qualcomm event Rubinstein hinted that he'd like to see webOS rival Android by going cross-brand.

"We're not announcing anything today and our model is not to be a licensing business but clearly there is tremendous strength in being able to build entire ecosystems to deliver a unified experience," he said.

"I think that we'd be more than willing to partner with one or two special companies.?Somebody who brings value to the ecosystem."

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones HP webOS Samsung

HP in talks with Samsung to license webOS originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:36:45 +0100

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