The new update should also have improved autocomplete predictions based on who you email the most. It was only a matter of time before Google added these features to Gmail, seeing as its been included in its search engine, as well as several of its other services, for quite some time. The new autocomplete improvements are a much more welcomed addition than Gmail’s pop-out compose window.

Google also shelled out an update to its Gmail offline and mobile apps last month. The Gmail Offline and mobile web apps have been updated to look more like the iOS version of the Gmail app. Everything is much more clean and much more simple. The new mobile web app is available for most mobile devices, including the iPhone, Android, Kindle Fire, and Blackberry.

Google also added support for full-sized photo uploads to Google+ straight from your desktop. It rolled out an update to improve spell check for the Google Chrome browser, and just today, it updated its Chrome for Android app which now syncs autofill and password data from your computer to your Android device. Google has been on a roll with its updates, and we’ll most likely see some more very soon.

[via Google]

Kindel is unable to divulge any information regarding the project nor his current position at Amazon, but he states that the project has extreme potential. He stated to GeekWire that it was an opportunity that he could not refuse, and that “the idea that I can work in such a principled and customer focused company is really exciting to me.” There are a few speculations about what Kindel’s new project may be.

Many speculate that Amazon hired Kindel to work on its potential Smartphone device. It believes that Kindel has invaluable experience in the mobile sector of the technology business that can help them create a stand-out device. The Amazon smartphone is rumored to be revealed next year, giving Kindel enough time to mark out development plans for the device. With Kindel’s knowledge and Amazon’s huge user base of Kindle Fire users, they may be able to shell out a great, affordable device.

Of course, if he isn’t working on the Amazon smartphone, there are still plenty of other services that Amazon is working on. Amazon is supposedly working on a music subscription service. They’re working on a ton of original video content, with them just releasing the series “Betas” earlier last week, and they have a bunch of acquisitions in tow that they may modify in the near future. We should find out what Kindel will be doing with Amazon soon, so stay tuned to SlashGear for the info.

[via GeekWire]

Feedly announced that Google Reader users would be able to seamlessly migrate their RSS feeds over to its service. The service even offers similar features to Google Reader, alongside its own special features. The service allows you to view your RSS feed in a condensed style (Title View) for those of you who have so many updates in your Google Reader feed that you have no time to scan through them individually.

Along with offering similar features to Google Reader, Feedly also has plenty of features that will attract new users. Users will be able to view their stories in a more aesthetically pleasing way, like “Magazine” style, or “Cards” view, and there are options to customize your launch page, your featured articles and more. Of course there are a lot of things Feedly can improve on, so for the next 30 days, it will pay close attention to its users’s feedback in order to improve its user experience as much as possible.

Importing your Google Reader feed into Feedly is very painless. All you have to do is sign into your Google Account and Feedly will automatically sync your Reader’s feeds. You will have to do this before Google Reader is cut off on July 1st however. Feedly is also available for many platforms, inluding: iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. It’s one of our top 5 alternatives to Google Reader.

[via Feedly]

Dave Winer, the creator of the first version of RSS, stated on his blog that he won’t miss Google Reader. He stated, ‘Never used the damn thing. Didn’t trust the idea of a big company like Google’s interests being so aligned with mine that I could trust them to get all my news.” He continues to say that he didn’t like Google’s “Mailbox” approach when it came to RSS feeds, and that he likes the “river of news approach”.

Winer believes that Google Reader shutting down is a good thing for RSS. He believed that Google was in the business of controlling the news, especially with services like Google Now. Google Now brings you the latest updates on stories you have recently searched for and/or read. He said that it’s bad because one, it’s snooping on your information and searches, and two, it’s deciding what news “you don’t see”.

While Winer does have some interesting points, the point of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds is to frequently publish updated works from subscriptions, which Google Reader had done exceedingly well. Unlike what Winer said, I believe that Google Readers did have a choice of deciding what type of news stories came to them, and Google in no way tried to omit any of that information out of its Reader service.

[via ZDNet]

This is a shocker to many of the loyal Google Reader users (like me) who use Google Reader to keep up with the latest news from their favorite websites (ahem). Many users have voiced their disappointment through various social media portals, like Twitter and Facebook. Users are now scrambling to find an alternative RSS reader that can live up to the Google service’s glory.

Along with Google Reader, services Apps Script, CalDav API, Google Buliding Maker, Google Cloud Connect, Google Voice App for Blackberry, Search API for Shopping, and Snapseed Desktop for Mac and Windows will all be shutting down as well. This is all part of Google’s “second Spring cleaning.” Along with its first Spring cleaning, Google will have shut down a total of 70 of its features and services.

For those of you who want to save your Google Reader data in order to export it somewhere else, you can head over to this Google Takeout link. You’ll just have to sign into your Google Reader account, and verify your password once the archiving is complete. So where will you go next Google Reader users? Feedly? Pulse? Flipboard?

[via Google]

If you still don’t have service, sit tight, because the company claims that service should return for everyone at some point today. Even better is the fact that AT&T will credit those who were affected by the outage, so your next bill might be a little lower than it usually is. Paying less is always a good thing, even if you did have to deal with a service outage for the better part of a week.

Speaking to The New York Times, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel spoke of the outage. “U-verse service has been restored for the vast majority of our customers affected by the outage,” Siegel said. “We expect any remaining customer issues will be resolved this morning.” Apparently, the outages were caused by a botched software update, so it seems that AT&T has fixed the issue and is definitely ready to move on from this sticky situation.

The outages affected many consumers in a number of different states, seemingly stretching across the south of the US. We’re glad to hear that AT&T is bringing U-Verse back for most today, but we imagine that the company has quite a few angry customers to deal with now. Were you one of the many who were affected by this service outage?

DSLReports says that its users in several states including Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Georgia, and Arkansas are reporting outages, with AT&T confirming the outages in Florida to The Miami Herald. In its confirmation, it didn’t say why the outages were happening, only saying that it has a “team of engineers and technicians” working on coming up with a fix.

Some of these folks have been experiencing service interruptions since Monday morning, so the fact that they haven’t been fixed yet may suggest a big problem for AT&T. Indeed, it sounds like the company isn’t going to divulge the cause of the problems, as similar statements are lacking any significant details. Perhaps AT&T doesn’t yet know what’s causing the problem? It seems unlikely, but with the company remaining tight-lipped about the issues its having, we suppose it’s possible.

The good news is that a few U-Verse subscribers are reporting restored service, but for the most part, it seems that outages are still plaguing customers. With AT&T’s vague statements, it’s impossible to know how much longer these outages will last, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope that they don’t go on much longer. Keep it here at SlashGear, as we’ll let you know if AT&T makes any new announcements on the outages.

[via FierceIPTV]

Thirty-one percent of the set of surveyed Apple product owners responded that they had a much more positive view of Apple after they had an experience with the company’s tech service. Out of those surveyed, 40 percent of Apple product owners noted that they had been to the Apple Stores’ Genius Bar. Of those that visited the Genius Bar, nearly 90 percent said they were either extremely satisfied or very satisfied – in other words, it’s difficult to have a bad experience with an Apple Genius.

One of the big reasons that the Genius Bar is so satisfying, it would seem, is the large amount of users that get service there without having to pay any cash for a visit. Comparing users who accessed general tech support with Apple to those who visited the Genius Bar, 78 percent got free service from the former while 88 percent got free service from the latter. NPD Group notes that the correlation between free service from Apple and the consumer’s satisfaction was “major”.

Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, spoke up about the study, saying that Apple’s tech service appears to be a notably positive experience where traditionally accessing such service has not been pleasing for the average customer.

“Tech support is a great service for the consumer, but more importantly it’s a brand-building element for the retailer and manufacturer. People tend to associate any type of tech support as a negative experience, but Apple has demonstrated that those ‘negatives’ can be turned into positive brand experiences and result in a trip back to the store.” – Baker

Also according to the study, 53% of Apple consumers were “extremely satisfied” with their in-store experience, this percentage higher than any other type of service interaction. The study also found that “younger consumers” were surprisingly more likely to want to use Apple’s in-store service than any other group at 45% of respondents in that category – this is surprising, of course, because this youth market has otherwise been found to prefer more virtual interactions. Baker continues by noting that Apple’s model here is one that’s being recognized by retailers across the market.

“Retailers are rediscovering the value that services can offer the consumer. Store foot traffic has declined over the years leaving fewer and fewer in-person interactions. Having a strong tech support in-store model helps fill the transaction void and builds brand awareness and satisfaction.” – Baker

There were 2,000 respondents in this study, notes the NPD Group, with the sample comprised of USA citizens of 18 years of age or older. This study was completed with an online survey through NPD’s online panel in May of 2012, and as NPD notes: “Some of the participants were pre-identified as consumers who had returned or needed tech support on consumer electronic devices in the past 12 months.”

[via NPD Group]

With Getaround, owners had to list their car and name a price themselves, and then communicate back and forth with potential renters to set everything up. With Getaway all of that is done for you, so you just have leave your car with the folks at Getaround and let them do all the work. Not only does this cut back significantly on the time investment, but Getaround tells Mashable that it could potentially lead to more money, as the Getaway team will determine the pricing of your car.

In fact, Getaround founder Jessica Scorpio says that after initial tests, some owners were making as much as $1,000 per month. Owners who take the time to list everything through Getaround typically make an average of $350 a month, so those who opt to go with Getaway could potentially make more money than those who do all the work themselves with Getaround’s standard service. Of course, Getaround performs background checks on all potential renters, so you can rest assured that your car isn’t going to be placed in the hands of someone with a terrible driving record.

Currently, Getaround is only available in San Francisco, San Diego, Austin, and Portland, with Getaway only available in San Francisco and Chicago. Getaround recently received $13.9 million in funding, however, and with that money, Scorpio hopes to expand Getaround into more areas across the country. Expect to hear more form Getaround soon, as Scorpio says that the company is still on the lookout for new business partners. By offering a service as attractive as Getaway sounds, we’re thinking it won’t be long before Getaround secures that additional funding.

In case you’re not familiar, the Google Voice service lets you sign up for a free phone number that you can use as your universal contact number that acts as an online PBX, centralizing all your voice messages and forwarding incoming calls to the mobile devices you assign.

With the update today, Google Voice is adding two new groups of callers. The first is for the people already in your address book and lets you customize the experience for those callers. It also lets you screen anyone that’s not yet in your address book. The second is for anonymous callers, or those who are without a caller ID.

[via Google Voice Blog]

The first approach involves instituting a 300GB monthly data cap for basic services, such as its Internet Essentials, Economy, and Performance tiers, while offering increasingly higher data caps for each successive tier of high speed broadband, such as its Blast and Extreme plans. Customers that use more data than allotted for each tier can purchase additional gigabytes in increments.

The second approach is to just increase data caps for all tiers to 300GB per month and still offer additional gigabytes at increments. Either way, data caps will be boosted to at least 300GB per month for all plans. It hasn’t been announced yet which markets would be involved in the trials.

[via PC Mag]

The new comparison tool will be built into Google’s search page. When users enter a search term related to credit cards and bank accounts, Google will return a box showing a selection of offers above the rest of the search results. For instance, if you typed in “credit cards,” the box would show the best cards in a number of categories, such as those offering the best balance transfer rates or cards best for those with poor credit history.

When you click on ones of these offers, you will be shown a chart of competing offers, listed in the order that Google thinks that you will most likely want. For instance, if you selected “balance transfers,” then the cards offering the lowest rates on transfers and the longest balance transfer periods will likely be listed first.

Several major banks and credit card providers have already signed up for the program. However, companies don’t have to sign up to be included in the results. Google intends to maintain maximum transparency in their business relationships with the banks and card providers featured.

- Thanks, George!

[via Telegraph]

PlayMemories Online appears to be Sony’s attempt to enter the cloud media and storage arena and to tie together all of its various products through an online platform. The service would allow its customers the ability to sync and access their photos and other media across all their devices. For instance, the photos can be viewed using Sony’s Bravia TVs or digital photo frames, while Sony’s WiFi-equipped cameras can send images and videos directly to tablets and smartphones to be uploaded to the PlayMemories Online service.

Sony also recently announced a new photo editing suite for the PlayStation 3 that can be used together with PlayMemories Online, meaning users can manipulate their photos directly through the gaming console. In fact, users can also edit their photos via the PS Vita and the PSP.

The service will kick off on May 25, offering 5GB of free storage. It will launch initially in six countries, including Japan, the US, Canada, Germany, France, and the UK. The service will work with Sony cameras using a PlayMemories Home software for Windows or Mac and will work on smartphones and tablets using an Android app that will be available on Google Play.

[via Engadget]

Affected users were met with a 500 error page when they attempted to access their Gmail accounts this morning. Google quickly became aware of the issue and did acknowledge the problem on its Apps Dashboard, but did not go into detail as to what might have caused the downtime.

We’re aware that some users are experiencing an error when accessing their Gmail. We’ve implemented a fix and users should be able to access their mail shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thanks for your patience.

Not long after reports on the outage made the rounds, Google updated that the problem has been resolved, but still offered no explanation.

The problem with Google Mail should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better.

The Livescribe Echo smartpen can record a user’s handwritten notes as well as audio—a combination the company calls a pencast. With Dropbox integration, it will automatically sync the notes and audio recordings directly to a folder in Dropbox. Simply use the enclosed software to sync the smartpen with your Dropbox account.

However, the Echo smartpen doesn’t exactly sync notes and audio recordings on the fly. In order to sync your pencasts with Dropbox, you will have to dock your Echo with your PC as the smartpen itself doesn’t support any WiFi capabilities.

Google has released a new app for Android users called Floor Plan Marker that will help improve the accuracy of its indoor maps. The company had launched its indoor mapping initiative last November with Google Maps 6.0 that provided indoor maps and navigation for major shopping centers and airports in the US and Japan.

To expand and improve its indoor mapping, Google is enlisting business owners and map enthusiasts to help provide indoor location data through the Floor Plan Marker app. Business owners are encouraged to upload floor plans of their buildings and use the app to help gather data about nearby WiFi hotspots and cell towers.

The app gives you onscreen directions to follow and then to provide feedback by placing onscreen markers to indicate your location. The data collected will help Google improve the accuracy of triangulating your exact position inside a building, especially with being able to determine which floor of a building you’re on. The app is free to download but can only be used by those who upload a floor plan.

[via TechCrunch]

Sources say that the cuts are aimed at the product, research, and marketing units of Yahoo where many thousands of the company’s more than 14,000 employees may lose their jobs. However, the decision isn’t set in stone yet and the company won’t be making the entire cut all at once.

Yahoo is still trying to figure out how to ditch its ad technology group and search business, which together have 2,500 staffers. Thompson has reportedly had discussions with Microsoft and Google regarding this matter.

The new focus for the company will be on media, advertising, and other yet to be named “future” initiatives. The new structure is expected to be comprised of a global media division that encompasses Yahoo’s communications and search business along with ones focused on global and regional sales. There may also be a smaller group of about 50 employees focused on future innovation.

Previously, Google had introduced a similar feature that could estimate travel time, but that was based on historic rather than real-time traffic data. It also provided two scenarios, but the traffic data was based on average conditions for an area instead of the actual conditions at the time of your travel.

The new feature utilizes data gathered from Android users that enable the My Location feature through Google Maps on their devices. The more Android users that participate the more traffic data Google Maps is able to collect in order to provide the real-time estimates. So it’s possible that you may not see current traffic information for a certain route because no data has been collected from any Android users on that route.

[via Google Blog]

OpenStreetMap is run by the non-profit OpenStreetMap Foundation and works like Wikipedia with all the mapping data provided by volunteers. There have already been half a million volunteers providing mapping data to the service, which can be used by both consumers and businesses for free.

But what really helped spur the growth of OpenStreetMap is Microsoft. The software giant has reportedly donated valuable map data along with big dollars to the non-profit. It also uses OpenStreetMap data for its own Bing Maps service.

Back in November 2010, Microsoft even hired back OpenStreetMap founder Steve Coast to work as Principal Architect for Bing Mobile, allowing him to work on both Bing and OpenStreetMap. Coast is now working on developing open-source software that will make it easier for developers to get data from OpenStreetMap.

[via PC World]

The Verge spoke with Parks at SWSX, where he revealed that family plans are “definitely coming.” Parks had mentioned that he is paying for three separate accounts in his own house, indicating that he understands the desire for a simpler consolidated family subscription package.

The introduction of family plans is also aimed at getting more people in a household to spend on a Spotify subscription, although Parks did not elaborate on the pricing structure or when the new plans might launch. But to get an idea of what Spotify needs to match or beat, we can look at rival Rdio, which currently offers a family plan at $17.99 per month for two users and $22.99 for three. Additional sub-accounts are billed at full price.

[via VentureBeat]

Intel has been pitching the idea to media companies over the last several months, revealing plans to create a “virtual cable operator” that would deliver TV programming in bundles similar to the subscriptions sold by cable- and satellite-TV providers. Intel may take more of an a la carte approach that will give consumers more options in selecting the programming they want.

Intel will not be providing internet service but will be manufacturing the set-top box and has already demoed a preliminary user interface for browsing the programs. However, the company has yet to secure any programming deals and has so far only requested rate cards from program providers to gauge the costs involved.

Video calling via Skype on Android has been limited but the company continues to test and support new devices. Skype is expanding the whitelisted devices, ensuring that more handsets will support its video calling and provide an optimized video experience.

Some of the latest whitelisted devices include the HTC Amaze 4G and the Motorola DROID RAZR. Overall, almost any device running Android 2.2 Froyo or above can try out Skype’s video calling feature. When you first start up Skype on a new non-whitelisted device, the app will let you know whether video calling can be turned on.

The app is free, but the service may require a 3G cellular plan when you are not connected to WiFi. The app can be downloaded at the Android Market.

The forum post reveals that the new TiVo set-top box will be available only in the following ten major US cities: Chicago IL, Denver CO, Los Angeles CA, New York NY, Philadelphia PA, Phoenix AZ, Sacramento CA, San Francisco CA, Seattle WA, and Washington DC. A nationwide rollout for other markets is still being evaluated.

However, this new TiVo-powered DVR will carry a $5 per month TiVo service fee in addtion to the $7 DVR service fee and the $10 HD Access Fee. With the new TiVo box, users will be able to access all of DirecTV’s live, on-demand, and pay-per-view videos. Updates will be downloaded via satellite and remote DVR functions are supported.

[via CNET]

The app itself is free, however, you still need to purchase one of Iridium’s satellite phones to act as the hotspot access point to share the satellite data connection with your iOS devices. And as you may have heard at some point in time, satellite phones and service aren’t cheap. The phone itself will cost about $1,000 to $1,500 while the bandwidth is charged at $1 per minute of usage.

But if you’re the seafaring kind where data connections are shoddy if existent at all and you must stay connected, you can at least do so now and still be connected on your iOS device. Iridium also recently launched its AxcessPoint WiFi hotspot apps for the BlackBerry, Mac and Windows laptops.

[via Engadget]

Starting off, the deal brings only a few titles to YouTube, such as the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, “Cars” and “Cars 2″, but Google says that hundreds more are on the way. Animated classics such as Alice in Wonderland as well as the newly envisioned Winnie the Pooh are also available today. Extras and behind-the-scenes clips will also be featured.

The new Disney and Pixar titles add to YouTube’s existing collection of over 6,000 titles, including the 3,000 movies from NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. The movies can be rented and watched online via your computer or through the YouTube app on Google TV. Rental prices range from $1 to $4 and must be watched within 24 to 48 hours. You can find more details on YouTube’s movie rental service here.

[via BusinessInsider]

When you go to checkout on Apple’s online store, you’ll see a new delivery option called “Pick up.” The program is only limited to the San Francisco area stores but will eventually be rolled out to other Apple Stores in the US. You can pick up products within an hour if they are listed as “Available now,” and you can designate someone else to pick up your order.

Additionally, Apple retail stores will also begin accepting returns for online orders. This saves customers from having to ship items back to Apple and cuts down on the return process. These new services should roll out to all stores in the US in time for the holidays.

[via AppleInsider]

RIM has already detailed previously the cause of the outage, citing a hardware failure within its infrastructure. A failover backup system that was designed to handle such a “core switch failure” also failed to function as intended. This has caused a huge backlog of data with messages clogging up RIM’s servers, which is what’s now causing the service to go out in other parts of the world.

The company assures that the issue did not stem from a hacker attack or other security breach and that users will be able to recover all data and not lose any messages due to the outage. However, RIM did not specify when it might be able to restore the service and whether users would be compensated in any way for the loss of service.

[via AllThingsD]

The service first went down yesterday in the early morning, flooding Twitter and other social networks with plenty of complaints from angry users who could no longer access emails and BlackBerry Messenger on their devices. RIM has been apologetic from the start, but has so far only explained that they’re working on the problem.

The new statement from RIM details that the downtime was caused by a core switch failure, which was supposed to failover to a back-up switch. Apparently, neither one worked as previously tested and the outage is now going on two days. The issue caused a backlog of data that RIM is still clearing out and the company has not given a timeline as to when the service will resume.

The statement is included below:

“The messaging and browsing delays being experienced by BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure. Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested.

As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible.

We apologize for any inconvenience and we will continue to keep you informed.”

[via Pocket-lint]

The new feature is available starting today on select carriers around the world. Those carriers include AT&T, Verizon, and Cellular South in the US; Vodafone, O2, and Orange in the UK; Vodafone Italy; Rogers Communications in Canada; VIVA Bahrain; and TIM Brazil. Twitter is working on expanding the service to other carriers.

Twitter has enhanced its Tweet by text message service in the past with the addition of a Fast Follow feature that lets anyone instantly receive Tweets on their phone by sending a text message, even without a Twitter account. Twitter also offered SMS Commands, which are a one-word commands that you can text to Twitter to get information, including Suggest, Stats, and Help.

[via Twitter]

The Friends Lists function has now been optimized so that it’s easier to filter which status updates you see on your News Feed. You can also more easily share status updates with only certain groups in your Friends Lists directly via the News Feed screen.

The News Feed now makes sure that you don’t miss any important updates, especially if you don’t check Facebook that often. The “Top Stories” and “Most Recent” filters have been removed and now the feed automatically adjusts to show the most important events since the last time you checked your feed.

However, you can still filter and tweak your News Feed using the Friends Lists filter as well as by marking or unmarking updates as “Top Story.” You will also notice that photos in the News Feed will now appear larger and be more prominently displayed.

And finally, the new ticker feature will appear at the top right of your screen, where you’ll be able to see and join in on real-time updates from your friends. Hence, it works like the “Most Recent” filter that was removed from the News Feed. In this way, the News Feed essentially focuses on the past or on the important updates you might have missed, while the ticker focuses on the present.

[via Mashable]

The new video editing capability can be found under the “Edit Video” button and already uploaded videos can now be edited and still retain the same address or be saved as a new video. There are a total of 14 filters at the moment, including Black and White, Cross Process, Lomo-ish, Thermal, and Cartoon effects.

Additionally, any changes made to a video are non-destructive, meaning you can easily flip back to the original. Copyrighted videos or videos with over a thousand views can be edited as well, but must be saved as a new video. The feature is expected to roll out globally over the course of this evening.

[via YouTube]

To give you an idea of what Google Offers has to offer, the first deal in Austin will be a $5 voucher for $10 worth of food and drink at a popular local Mexican restaurant, Juan in a Million. In Boston it’s gourmet ice cream from Toscanini’s Ice Cream, again a $5 for $10 deal. Washington D.C. deal seekers get a $3 for $6 offer on Falafels from Amsterdam Falafelshop. And in Denver, users can get $20 worth of merchandise for $5 at three retail locations of the Tattered Cover Book Store, while Seattle users can pay only $9.50 for a $19 one-day admission to the Seattle Aquarium.

The Offers service is Google’s answer to Groupon after the search giant’s plans to acquire the daily deal site for $6 billion fell through. For those of you not located in any of the supported markets, you can still sign up to get notifications should the service roll out in your area.

[via Google]

According to The Daily, a source familiar with the situation says that the service involves Amazon placing large computerized locker systems at various 7-Eleven stores across the country, with the first prototype already installed at a 7-Eleven store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The lockers will work like temporary PO Boxes for Amazon purchases.

Once you place an order, you can select which local 7-Eleven to deliver to. After the package arrives, you will receive an email notification along with a bar code. With that you can head to the designated 7-Eleven and let the locker machine scan the bar code on your phone to reveal your PIN number. You then enter that PIN number to retrieve your shipment.

The system is still in early testing phases, but if successful could mean widespread deployment across the country by next summer. The Daily, however, did not get an official comment from Amazon regarding the locker system.

[via The Daily]

The .Co TLD is not as popular yet, but many other large companies and startups have already begun adopting it. Amazon currently has A.Co, Z.Co, and K.Co while Twitter has T.Co and Overstock as O.Co. The .Co domain registrar is actually run out of Colombia with the support of the government, but thanks to the adoption by the tech industry, it is now more known to represent “company” instead.

Google plans to use its G.Co as a shortcut to all its products and services with some of the domains to go live later this afternoon. Heading to the G.Co site right now brings up a message reassuring users that all G.Co shortcuts will take you to an official Google product or service.

The Goo.gl shortcut that the company acquired back in 2009, will not be discarded. It will continue to be available to the public for use to shorten URLs across the web. The G.Co shortcuts, however, can only be created by Google themselves and will only point to products owned by Google.

[via TechCrunch]

A Brief History

The concept of money has continually evolved over the ages. First came standardized currency. This was a lot more efficient than bartering with physical goods, but carrying around large sums of coin was bothersome and dangerous. Checks stepped onto the scene as a far more conveniet way to make large payments and avoid carrying around lots of money. The only downside was that you had to wait for checks to clear. After electronics became more prevalent, the credit card took center stage. It could be accepted or rejected almost instantly and it was small and convenient to carry. But now Google thinks it has a better way.

How does it work?

Google Wallet is a combination of 3 things. First of all, you need the Google Wallet app on your mobile phone. Secondly, you would need a phone that is Near Field Communicator ready. Essentially, this is a device that can send information short distances without the need of wires. Unfortunately, this technology is just now entering the mobile phone market. Thankfully, Google has a sticker that would add NFC capability to almost any phone. The last thing you would need is a store that accepts payment with Google Wallet. The stores themselves will also need a special NFC to accept your payment, which will make the number of stores using Google Wallet pretty sparse. The more popular Google Wallet becomes, the more stores will invest in the technology. Luckily American Eagle, Subway and Macy’s are already on board, so you won’t go hungry or naked if all you have is your Google Wallet.

What Other Benefits Does It Have?

Google Wallet has a huge benefit for retailers and consumers alike. Any retailer would be able to make a coupon, right inside the Google Wallet App. You could then search for coupons and save them in your Wallet. When you go to check out, the coupon would be applied automatically. Hopefully retailers will actually take advantage of this feature, because if great coupons were available in Google Wallet, people would be far more likely to use it, rather than pulling out a credit card. Another benefit is how fast and easy payment would be. Check out this post to see how easy it is. There’s also the benefits of not carrying a wallet stuffed with credit cards.

Do you need an Android Phone to Use Google Wallet?

At the moment, yes. But if Google wants to make Google Wallet a truly universal experience, every phone on the market will need access to the Google Wallet app. Even though Google would be willing to share, other phone makers might not like the idea of Google Wallet being on their phone. Google had this same problem with Google Maps. Even though it was one of the best map apps around, it wasn’t available on all phones. Eventually demand was strong enough, and Google Maps can be found on pretty much any device. The public generally gets what the public wants, so as long as Google Wallet is good enough, it should have no problem spreading to other devices.

Should you use it?

There are some obvious setbacks at the moment, such as getting a phone with NFC, and having access to the app itself. There also needs to be more stores willing to install NFC readers, and Google will need to make it really easy for people to get and NFC sticker for their non-NFC enabled phone. The good news is that none of those hurdles are insurmountable, especially with Google’s resources. I would use Google Wallet in a heartbeat if I could. There are also some really neat features that could be implemented in the future. Imagine an alert popping up on your phone when you check out at America Eagle. “You are $30 away from your $100 clothing budget. This purchase will put you over $22. Continue?” and I’m sure Subway paid with a phone is way better than Subway paid with a credit card!

ALSO keep up with the latest Google Wallet news at this portal. What’s your opinion? Are you all for Google’s way of making payments, or are you sticking with the good old plastic?

Facebook Questions shows up at the top of your news feed and profile pages and is like an option you can share like pictures, videos, status updates, and links. You can create your question and let others freely answer, or you can create a limited number of answers people can choose. After typing your question you click “Add Poll Options” to make the possible choices people choose. You can even set up a picture with your question if you want to decorate it. So if you want to poll people with the question “What should I eat tonight?”, you can add a picture of a hamburger and make it one of the choices, or just let people freely type in their answer.

The new feature is very much like Yahoo! Answers and allows people to poll the entire Facebook community. If you see another question that interests you, you can “Follow” it and you will receive notifications when a new answer is submitted. There is no privacy settings for Facebook Questions so be careful because it’s not limited to only your friends, anyone can respond. Facebook suggests that if you want to poll only your friends, just make a status update and put your question there.

[via L.A. Times Blog]

Now if you’d like to get a featured phone, you’ve got a whole different deal going for you. You’ll have to choose between the mysterious $1.99 “pay as you go” plan, the $15 for 150MP, or $29.99 for unlimited. It’s a sad day for the old $9.99 / 25MB plan because it will be murdered. In a harsh, heartless move by Verizon, they’ve decided to keep frozen the costs of USB modems at $39.99 for 250MB or $59.99 for 5GB. All of this is 3G data pricing. 4G plan pricing, Verizon notes, will be released much closer to the 4G network launch.

The unlimited usage plan is always the magical one. I remember when I first picked up a Verizon wireless internet hotspot and purchased the highest amount of data they had available – I used it up in three days. Those days of limited data are ending. Long live the single price for allowance into the club of unlimited usage! Forever will that empire stay strong. Until it’s all free.

[Via Engadget]

The Unlimited plan for $49.99 also abolishes roaming charges as well, meaning you can call anywhere in the country as long as you have signal for the $49.99 a month. As standard with no-contract phone plans, there’s no credit checks or anything like that, but as a result, there’s no subsidization of the phones, so you’re likely paying full price for a fewer-feature phone. The new Texter’s Delight plans offer people who text more often than talk the chance to spend their monthly bill on more texts than minutes. 1000 texts for $14.99 a month or Unlimited for $19.99 will give users all that texting, IMing, and MMS ability and the option to make phone calls for only $0.10 a minute. The new Pink Slip Protection plan is built into the new suite of minute plans on Virgin Mobile: the $29.99, $39.99, and $49.99 Unlimited plans. Texter’s Delight customers will also have the option. The Pink Slip Protection is retro-active for customers who opt-in for the program through June 30th. To qualify, a customer must have been a Virgin Mobile customer for 2 consecutive months.

This plan will compete directly with the Boost Mobile $50 unlimited minute plan being offered currently by the iDEN carrier. These Pay as you Go and Pre-Pay plans are great for poor college students and others who might not have the credit or steady income to support an expensive phone habit for two years. Personally, I would like to see more pre-pay options and fewer contract-based plans. I wouldn’t mind paying full price for the devices if I had the choice to leave my carrier whenever I wanted. It would force better customer service from the companies, and prevent consumers from being locked into contracts they can’t pay. It would be a better environment for consumers overall. So I say congratulations to Virgin and Boost Mobile for giving us choice in a very scary market. Now please get some phones that are actually cool.

In an interview with Variety, Curt Marvis, the President of Digital Media from Lionsgate disclosed Nintendo’s plan to provide the increasingly popular movie service on Wii and that could happen as soon as this year.

“The thing that is clearly a force in digital are the game devices. I think when we see the Wii come into the market with the ability to stream movies, which I think is maybe going to happen as soon as this year”

Lionsgate’s message is clear, Movie is coming to Wii this year. In Japan, Nintendo has inked deal with Dentsu ad agency to launch a video service last year. The capability is there but subscribers will have to settle with standard format video and that also raises question with the lack of onboard storage banking the content.

So the obvious question is, would Nintendo flash the unit to support USB-based external drive? A homebrew SDHC card option is not going to cut it.

In addition to implement better AF, Canon also published a service notice to the dared “Err 99” occurrence that’s related to mirror operation. A common operation error code that’s designated for all Canon’s DSLR.

The fixes mean the much confused and many “dot” series of current Mark III production would get even more complex. The upside is issues are being addressed but would definitely hurt resell value.