Software, Mobile | featured news

Google on Wednesday began fixing a security flaw that affects some 97% of Android smartphones.

"Mango," the next major update to the Windows Phone mobile operating system, will include several notable enhancements for consumers, including turn-by-turn navigation, built-in barcode scanning, voice-to-text speech input, on-device podcast support and a music identification service similar to the popular mobile application Shazam, but available within Bing. Mango, also known as Windows Phone 7.5, is due out this fall.

The average price for a gallon of gas is again approaching $4. But this time, drivers can cope by using their smartphones.

What if you could see the cellphone photos taken by everyone within 150 feet of you? Would you be hesitant about potentially seeing yourself captured in one of those photos or would you be smiling as your inner voyeur jumps in joy?

A major software attack that distributed malicious programs to around 260,000 Android phones has put pressure on Google to do more to secure its market for smartphone apps.

A new report predicts that revenues from downloadable applications will reach $38 billion by 2015. It may be hard to remember, but when the Apple iPhone had its debut in early 2007 there were only a few apps available for the device — no Angry Birds, Doodle Jump or Netflix.

Apple's App Store reached landmark 10 billion downloads on Saturday, further underlining the lead of the iPhone-maker in mobile online software battle, a counter on front page of the store showed.

Swype's technology lets users of touch-screen keyboards type -- if you can call it that -- by using their fingers to connect the dots between letters in a word. Users don't have to lift a finger from the screen to type a word or worry if their aim is a little shaky, because Swype's software can smartly and accurately figure out what they meant to say.

When I finally got the latest iPad and iPhone OS all loaded up, I came to realize that it only delivers on all promises if you spend a small fortune on a bunch of new stuff.