There’s no question that iTunes dealt some heavy blows to WinAmp over the years. But with a new Android app that aims to manage music between the smartphone and a computer, perhaps it’s time for WinAmp to make a comeback.
WinAmp for Android is out of beta, TechCrunch reports. In addition to music playback and download management, the MP3 player now supports wireless syncing to the desktop and Shoutcast radio stations.
Lately, the more I hear about Android tablet plans, the less excited I get.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still quite interested in Android tablets in general. But when Acer announced that it’s launching 7- and 10-inch tablets next spring, it might as well have been Asus, LG or Motorola. In my mind, they’re all the same.
Last Gadget Standing Nominee: Looxcie
Price: $199
When I was a kid, I freaked out my sister by theorizing that human beings would someday be able to use miniature cameras to record their entire lives for later playback. I believe that the cameras I envisioned would be implanted in the user’s forehead–but except for that tiny detail, Looxcie (great name!) is the invention I had in mind.
Looxcie looks like a rather oversized Bluetooth headset–and can, in fact, work as one. But it’s also a video camera that’s continuously buffering thirty seconds’ worth of footage. What you see, it sees–and if you push a button, it’ll save the last half-minute and keep on recording. You can transfer the video it captures to your Android phone for saving and sharing; an iPhone app is on its way.
I still like the idea–and I bet it would still freak out my sis.
For all the cool stuff that’s going on with Web-based apps for smartphones and tablets, not much has happened yet with tools that let you edit documents right in your browser. But Google just added support for editing Google Docs word-processing files on Android 2.2 and iOS devices. (The Google Docs spreadsheet already has a somewhat peculiar editing mode.)
Here’s a video explanation:
Sadly, I’m at the Web 2.0 Summit, sans the one gizmo I really want to try this on–an iPad.
We all know that the iPad is a magical and revolutionary product at an incredible price–Apple keeps reminding us. According to Nvidia’s CEO, the next wave of Android tablets will get the magical part right, at least.
Google’s YouTube Remote app for Android might ease the pain of changing the channel on web video, so to speak.
The free app controls YouTube Leanback on the desktop or on Google TV. Once synced by user account on both devices, the app can play, pause, rewind, fast forward and adjust volume on YouTube clips. But the killer feature, I think, is the ability to find new videos or add them to a queue.
Back when I subscribed to cable, changing channels was the most inelegant part of the experience. You press the “guide” button, and your picture becomes a thumbnail, surrounded by a wall of programming information. Because this is so distracting, you’re under pressure — from your family or whoever else is watching — to find a new channel as quickly as possible so you can get back to the big screen.
Barnes & Noble has been intimating that Android applications for the upcoming color version of its Nook e-reader will be different from those already downloadable from Google’s Android Market. But exactly how? For one thing, people accessing Android apps on the Nookcolor tablet won’t necessarily even need to know–or care–anything about Android, explained Claudia Romanini, the head of Nook developer arm Nookdeveloper, in an interview this week.
Instead, developers creating apps for the Nook e-reader will be urged to build “reader-center apps that will blend in seamlessly with our reader’s tablet environment,” she told me.
Last Gadget Standing Nominee: Sony Ericsson LiveView micro display
Price: About $85
Everyone likes Android phones with humongous screens, right? Sony Ericsson is betting that some folks who own those phones would like to keep them in their pocket or purse and control them with the LiveView, a tiny squarish display that can communicate with several of the company’s Xperia handsets via Bluetooth. It can display information such as incoming calls, Facebook and Twitter updates, and “now playing” details on music, and you can wear it on a clip, fasten it to your keychain, or even strap it on like a wristwatch.
The LiveView automatically scans your Xperia phone for compatible applications, and will be available in “selected markets” by the end of this year.
The new version of Twitter for Android (thankfully) looks a lot more like the iPhone one.
At the Android developers website, Google has some ostensibly encouraging statistics: More than three quarters of Android users are now running version 2.1 or higher.
The stats are based on how many people have accessed the Android Market in the last two weeks, so while it’s not a completely accurate measurement of total phones, it does help developers understand what versions are most popular among app shoppers. At this point, app makers can use tools and features specific to Android 2.x and still reach the majority of active Android owners.
But with more updates on the way, this seemingly unified market isn’t going to last. Android 2.3 is rumored to be coming soon, and Android 3.0 will follow. Though we don’t know whether existing phones will get either of these upgrades, Android’s track record isn’t encouraging.
