Skype enables video on more Android smartphones

Skype has released version 2.1 of its application for Android, which allows more smartphones and tablets based on Google's operating system to use its video calling feature, it said in a blog post on Thursday.
The company published a list of 17 devices that can now make video calls, including the HTC Desire, HTC Thunderbolt, Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.
Initially, the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro and the Google Nexus S were the only phones compatible with the feature.
Users with Android 2.2-based smartphones that aren't on Skype's list should still be able to make video calls, according to the company. The feature can be enabled by going into "Skype settings" after launching the application and selecting "enable video calling."
If a user can't see the video calling settings, it means their Android phone does not meet the minimum requirements needed, according to Skype.
In addition, the new version of Skype for Android has bug fixes and performance enhancements, which should further improve the user experience of Skype on Android-based smartphones.
The updated application can be downloaded from Android Market or Skype's website.

Want A Better Search Experience On Your Honeycomb Tablet?

Google believes search on tablets could and should be easier and we’re inclined to agree with them.  With that, the company has stated via their mobile blog that they’ll be revamping the search experience on devices running Honeycomb 3.1 and up.

As part of our effort to evolve the Google design and experience, we’ve improved thewww.google.com search experience on tablets. We’ve simplified the layout of search results pages and increased the size of page contents like text, buttons and other touch targets to make it faster and easier to browse and interact with search results in portrait or landscape view.
The search button located below the search box provides quick access to specific types of results like Images, Videos, Places, Shopping and more. Just tap to open the search menu and select an option to see results in one category.

Thanks to the update, images will now render largely with improvements and enhancements that will make your search a much better and enjoyable experience.  You should now benefit from faster loading of thumbnails and be able to tap finger friendly links with ease.  If you’ve been able to spot the update on your tablet already, we’d love to hear about it.  Feel free to drop a comment or two below.  We’re glad to see Google pushing Honeycomb in the right direction with these improvements.  I’m looking forward to the day when my tablet can fully replace my laptop.  We want there to be no limitations!  Hit the break for another screen shot. 

Cloud-based mobile OS goes live in China

Alibaba, the Hangzhou-based group of internet businesses (not to be confused with Ali Baba - the finest Kebab establishment in Southend-on-Sea), has pipped Mozilla to the punch by announcing a mobile OS that is cloud-powered.
Soon to be available in Alibaba's native China, Alyun will first see action on the K-Touch Cloud-Smart Phone W700. Mozilla recently launched its Boot to Gecko project which is intended to produce its own cloud-based mobile platform.
Alyun offers a variety of  cloud services such as "email, internet search, weather updates and mapping and GPS navigation tools" and, like Mozilla's idea, supports web-based apps rather than OS specific ones. Users will also have access to 100GB of AliCloud storage, accessible through both PC and Windows.
However, Alibaba states that it will also be "fully compatible with Android-based applications". This will apparently work through an emulator, although the details are sketchy.
What we do know is that Alibaba has big plans for its Alyun OS - it plans to get the platform up and running on other devices including big-screen mobile phones and tablets "in the coming months".

Google Buys More Ammunition In The Global Patent War

Google bought a portfolio of patents from IBM, Bloomberg reports.
This is another step in the global patent arms race, which got even hotter recently because of all the patent litigation swirling around Android and the many battles between Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Google, Oracle, HTC (did we miss anyone?), and Google losing the $4.5 billion Novell patent auction.
The Bloomberg headline says Google bought "inventions" but of course Google did the opposite. What Google did was buy abstract legal rights as a form of racketeering protection. No one in the software industry thinks software patents help innovation; instead, they hamper it. Instead of buying inventions, what Google did--was forced to do, like all other tech companies--was spend money that could have gone to invention and instead spend it on what is essentially an enormous innovation tax.

Google Maps 5.8 lets you upload photos for a Place

Google Maps was updated to 5.8 and with it comes some nice improvements:

• Upload photos for a Place
• My Places as a simple way to manage the Places you’ve starred and recently viewed
• Descriptive terms for Places in search results
• Add a new Place on-the-go when checking in

The biggest change has to be the photo uploader. You can now contribute photos of places to help others decide where to go. Often people like to see what a place looks like before making their decision. I am also digging that you can now add a place. Many times I wanted to check into a place, but couldn’t because it wasn’t there.

Apple looking to enhance battery life with redesigned 'jelly rolls'

Battery life in future iPhones and MacBook Pros could be improved with Apple's concept for a new, redesigned battery containing multiple "jelly rolls" enclosed in a single pouch.

Jelly rolls, also known as Swiss rolls, are found in cylindrical, rechargeable batteries, like a typical AA, AAA or D batteries. In the design, anode and cathode material is laid down and divided by a separator, and then rolled up into a hollow cylinder.

Apple is now looking to expand on the jelly roll design, according to a new patent application discovered this week by AppleInsider. The filing, dubbed "Battery with Multiple Jelly Rolls in a Single Pouch," aims to improve the existing lithium batteries found in most electronic devices, including the iPhone, iPad and portable Macs.

The application notes that lithium-polymer batteries are convenient, because they include cells that are packaged in flexible pouches that can be tailored to fit into small portable electronic devices.

A lithium-polymer battery can achieve a packaging efficiency of between 90 percent and 95 percent if a jelly roll is enclosed in a foil pouch. Multiple pouches can be placed side by side in order to form a battery.

But to further improve the efficiency of batteries, making them smaller and even more efficient, Apple has proposed a new kind of battery cell with a set of jelly rolls found in a foil pouch, rather than just one.

Just like in a rechargeable AA, Apple's concept includes a cathode and anode divided by a separator. Conductive tabs within the battery cell would connect cathodes and anodes from the jelly rolls found in the pouches.

"The use and placement of multiple jelly rolls of different lengths and thicknesses within a pouch may allow the creation of a custom battery cell that maximizes the use of free space within a portable electronic device and provides greater capacity, packing efficiency, and/or voltage than battery cells that contain only one jelly roll per pouch," the application reads.
This kind of custom battery could be designed to specifically fit the needs of the device in which it is found. In one example, Apple describes a laptop with a battery pouch and multiple thin jelly rolls housed behind the display of a laptop computer.

"Along the same lines, jelly rolls of various thicknesses and lengths may be sealed in a pouch to create an asymmetric battery cell that fits around other components (e.g., processors, printed circuit boards (PCBs), memory, storage, etc.) inside the enclosure of a mobile phone," it states.

The application made public this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was first filed by Apple on Jan. 26, 2010. The proposed invention is credited to Ramesh C. Bhardwaj, Taisup Hwang, and Richard M. Mank.

Apple's interest in improving batteries is not new. Earlier this year, a separate filing described a concept for dense lithium cells that could increase the capacity of rechargeable batteries without increasing their size.

The company has also expressed interest in building its own external battery pack that would allow for recharging when a power outlet may not be available. In one example, the company described a battery pack built into its standard charging cable for devices like an MacBook Pro or iPhone. 

Motorola Xoom Android 3.1 update starts tomorrow in India

The Android 3.1 update for the Motorola Xoom may only start in August in Europe, but apparently it can arrive outside the US earlier than that. According to FoneArena, Motorola has officially announced that the update will start rolling out in India tomorrow, on July 29.
The update will come over-the-air, and your tablet will notify you about its arrival and ask you to install it. The update will finally activate the SD card slot in the Xoom. Multitasking has been improved, and widgets are now resizable too.
There’s also keyboard and mouse input support over Bluetooth, support for most joysticks and gamepads via USB or Bluetooth, a File Manager comes preinstalled, and high performance Wi-Fi access can now be maintained by apps even when the screen is turned off.
The size of the update will be around 40 MB. If you’re itching to get Android 3.1 on your Xoom, you can start manually checking for the update tomorrow by going to Settings > About tablet > System updates. Other countries are also poised to receive the update soon: Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Though it’s unclear right now whether the rollout will start tomorrow in these countries as well. Anyway, regardless of where in the world you’ve purchased a Xoom from, the Android 3.1 update is on its way to you.