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There are a ton of people who want Microsoft Office on there iPhone. No luck with that yet but there is good news in the world of online office suites: You can now edit Google Spreadsheets on your mobile phone. Well if you have a Android based phone, Nokia S60 or iPhone. The bad new is that the editing on the iPhone is reportedly a bit kludgy. Editing a Google sheet on an Android based device works very well. No joy for those wanting to edit Google Docs or presentations, for now the only file you can tweak on the go are Googlesheets. But you know how these things go, editing docs and presentations can’t be too far off.

Via Tech Crunch

What is the greatest most company in the world that gives you stuff for free where others would charge like crazy? That’s Google of course. What company never misses a programming trick? that’s Google. What company also makes open source software for cell phones? Google. Why did Android lack the obvious addition of multi touch? Because Apple asked them not to do it.

At least that is the story presented by Venture Beat. The deal is that Google decided not to include multi touch just because the company views Apple as a reliable partner. Plus Apple probably said “please.”

This gives an interesting insight into the Palm Pre saber rattling. Apparently Apple is perfectly willing to let people ape the iPhone but the moment any company starts using gestures Apple gets a little hot under the collar.

You know you want your Gmail pushed to you. I mean the five minutes between auto checks is simply intolerable. What if you had some really important e-mail, perhaps something from a Nigerian prince who needs your help transferring billions of dollars, and the three minutes between the time the e-mail was sent and the moment when iPhone automatically checks e-mail was the difference between you getting in on the deal or not? Unacceptable.

Good news, over at Google Mobile Help an actual Google em;loyee endorses the notion that push e-mail is on its way to the iPhone.

The iPhone is a pretty spiffy PDF viewer. If you have a document or a book in PDF format you can use your iPhone to read the thing and all the usual gestures will work. Scrolling, pinching, dragging it around with one finger etc. So you might be wondering why the iPhone would need a ebook reader. It doesn’t but what would be nice is a way to find all those ebook you want to read. Easily. In one spot. Google (as always) to the rescue. Point your browser to http://books.google.com/googlebooks/mobile/#Home and you’re at a nifty virtual library of all kinds of great literature. The library is setup to be very iPhone friendly so you won’t have any problems.

Source: Tech Fragments

iPhonematters has taken a quick glance at what the iPhone at Wal Mart might mean before. But when we took a look at it firm conclusions were hard to reach. did the iPod start selling even more crazily because it was at Wal Mart or was the iPod at Wal Mart because it was selling like crazy? Reaching a firm conclusion either way is difficult. Doesn’t mean Wal Mart isn’t excited to have the iPhone though, check out this screen shot:

Just because iPhonematters can’t quite decide if the Wal Mart made the iPod ubiquitous or if Wal Mart just wanted to get in on the inevitable ubiquity doesn’t mean other folks can’t reach a conclusion. Don Reisenger at CNet is certain that the iPhone at Wal Mart is the move that will take the iPhone clean over the top, ensuring domination of all competitors. Is Don right?… more...

Chances are you know the Christmas Eve drill. The kids are so excited about Santa the little swine won’t go to sleep no matter how much extra bourbon you put in their egg nog, how much nyquil you shove their throats and no matter how many benadryl “vitamins” you slip them.

The kids are going to win so why fight it? After all half of being a great general is knowing when not to fight and fighting when you’re going to lose is just silly. Especially silly now that you have so many tools at your disposal to keep the little buggers happy. What should your go to tool be if you an iPhone? Why the Santa Tracker of course. You already know what the Santa Tracker is even if you don’t realize it. When you were a kid it might have been on the late news, that smarmy weather guy with the obviously for TV name (Rocky Hale or something) would throw up the radar with a badly superimposed Santa on it.

Sure, you could pull it off on your computer but with Santa Tracker on the iPhone… more...

Apple has moved 12 million + iPhones since the introduction of the do everything device. That is a fantastic number, there is no doubt that the iPhone is a runaway hit. But there are other over performing phones out there, other phones that have the ‘real” internet that have exceeded sales expectations.

The most recent one is the Storm. RIM has been making great stuff fro a long time but the storm, despite some reviews, is selling much better than anyone imagined. First there were the lines. If you got to a Verizon store a little late on the release date they would tell you to order it on the net and you’d have it in six or seven days. If you waited a day the website changed from six or seven days to an estimated ship date of 12/15. Obviously RIM was unprepared for the demand.

But RIM and Apple aren’t the only game in town. Turns out that HTC and Google have an entry in this horse race: The G1 available only from T-Mobile.

So you’ve got the carriers covered. If you’re an AT&T type person you’ve got the iPhone. If you use Verizon you get a Storm.… more...

Here’s the quick and dirty version: Google’s new voice search App breaks the rules of the App store. How can you be sure? Google admitted to CNet that the Google search App uses an API that is not in the SDK.  There you have it, Google broke the rules and, thus far, there aren’t any repercussions coming from Cupertino.

This, as expected, causes a ton of controversy. Is Apple blatantly playing favorites? Is it okay when Google breaks the rules but not okay when Pull My Finger does? Heck, Flash can’t even get a sniff from Apple because they break the rules and there are a ton of people who want Flash on the iPhone (there are a ton of people who don’t as well). So is Apple sucking up to Google? Maybe but probably not.

There’s an old saying that it is better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission (that’s how I get new Macs after all) and it is a pretty safe wager that Google didn’t submit the updated search app with a note saying: “Dear Apple, We cheated.” More likely Google just… more...

G’day Mr Google. I tried out your voice searching today, and sorry it sucks. Ok, so you made the disclaimer it works best with a North American accent. Sorry, but that ain’t good enough. You see, I’ve used reQall’s voice recognition and it craps all over yours - North American accent or not.  But I thought you guys were the ones with the money; I thought you guys had technology and experts to burn.

reQall isn’t my favourite task manager - actually, truth be known, none are (anyone who wants to code the world’s best To Do app, call me). It is the nicest looking though. But it’s voice recognition blew me away. With no training at all, and with my dinky-di, true blue Aussie, non-American accent, it was getting, I reckon, around 90% recognition.

I did a short test with the following statement:

“Hello, this thing gives you only thirty seconds. I am calling from ***, in Victoria, Australia” (Yes, I live in asteriskville)

Okay, reQall interpreted that as:
“Hello, this thing gives you only thirty seconds. I am calling from [??], and Victoria, Australia” So it couldn’t recognize my town name and misheard the “in” as… more...

Is the Google Mobile app available yet? If not, why not? (as of 10:08 Sunday night it wasn’t). Well, Google Mobile App was available but it was the same old lame Google Mobile App as before. The one you want is:

Sadly that app isn’t available yet. Too bad because that is a completely killer app. If Apple has a lick of sense it will get that one out as soon as possible and whip up some commercials showing it off. Sure, Urban Spoon is mildly diverting (Me hungry, me can no pick food!) but it is more gimmicky than truly useful.

Which app do you think worries RIM and Verizon more?