• Android Ice Cream Sandwich: One OS To Rule Them All

    // Gradly // Android, blog, google, News No Responses

    The next version of Android dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich– following the naming convention of a dessert beginning with the next letter of the alphabet, will bring us a new unified version of the system and will definitely bridge the gap between tablets and phones ending the fragmentation as we all know it.

    Ice Cream Sandwich will be the newest version of Android, and it’s going to bring the goodness of Honeycomb to phones, along with Gingerbread features to tablets, a new multitasking capabilities for less memory management issues, resizable widgets and a new user interface. The update coming in Q4 of this year.

  • Google Launches Streaming Cloud Service ‘Music Beta by Google’

    // Gradly // Android, Apple, blog, Cloud, Featured, google, News No Responses

    Google debuted its own streaming music service at its I/O developer conference Today morning. The service dubbed “Music Beta by Google,” will act as a “digital locker,” where users are able to store their music in the cloud instead of on their local hard drives or mobile devices.

    After uploading your existing music library to a remote server, you’ll be able to stream your music to your Android phone or web-connected PC. As long as you’re connected to the internet, you’ll be able to access your music wherever you go. You’ll be able to add up to 20k songs, and it’s free while its in beta mode.

    “We’ve been in negotiations with the industry for a different set of features, with mixed results,” she told Billboard the night before the announcement was made. “[But] a couple of major labels were less focused on innovation and more on demanding unreasonable and unsustainable business terms.”

    According to sources familiar with the matter, Google had hoped to let users “beam” their digital music collections into a cloud-based locker system by recognizing the files and mirroring them in the cloud. Google has a reputation for getting what it wants, but instead, due to a breakdown in negotiations with major labels Sony Music and Universal Music Group, Music Beta by Google reportedly lacks label licensing for its Music Beta service.

    As we posted before, he service is currently invite only, with priority given to those attending Google I/O as well as those who own Motorola’s Xoom tablet. Registration can be found at Google.music.com.

  • Microsoft Has Acquired Skype For $8.5 Billions

    // Gradly // Acquisition, blog, Featured, Microsoft, News 2 Responses

    As reported early today, Microsoft has officially announced on Tuesday the acquisition of Skype.

    The software giant announced the deal on Tuesday, valued at $8.5 billion cash. Both Skype and Microsoft’s board of directors have approved the deal and Microsoft will create a new business division especially for Skype. Skype CEO Tony Bates will assume the title of president of the Microsoft Skype Division, reporting directly to Ballmer.

    Microsoft and Skype today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype, the leading Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype.

    The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities. The combination will extend Skype’s world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft’s existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services.

    With 170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010, Skype has been a pioneer in creating rich, meaningful connections among friends, families and business colleagues globally. Microsoft has a long-standing focus and investment in real-time communications across its various platforms, including Lync (which saw 30 percent revenue growth in Q3), Outlook, Messenger, Hotmail and Xbox LIVE.

    Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.

    [Image courtesy winrumors]

  • Apple’s New Data Center to Run iOS 5 Voice Recognition Powered by Nuance Technologies

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, News, Rumors, Tech. No Responses

    Another view of Apple’s relationship with Nuance Communications offered up tonight by TechCrunch and this time claiming that, having dug into the ties between both companies more deeply, Apple could already be using Nuance technology in its yet-to-officially-open North Carolina data center.

    In digging into the information about the relationship between the two companies, we had heard that Apple might actually already be using Nuance technology in their new (but yet to be officially opened) massive data center in North Carolina. Since then, we’ve gotten multiple independent confirmations that this is indeed the case. And yes, this is said to be the keystone of a partnership that Apple is likely to announce with Nuance at WWDC next month.

    More specifically, we’re hearing that Apple is running Nuance software – and possibly some of their hardware – in this new data center. Why? A few reasons. First, Apple will be able to process this voice information for iOS users faster. Second, it will prevent this data from going through third-party servers. And third, by running it on their own stack, Apple can build on top of the technology, and improve upon it as they see fit.

    Nuance technology, which already used to power personal assistant Siri, is expected to be “a big part” of iOS 5, reportedly set for introduction at Apple’s software-centric Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off June 6.