The official Android Developer blog has today announced that the second Android Developer Challenge is now open for submissions.

App developers are required to submit their applications to one of ten categories which include:

• Education/Reference
• Games: Casual/Puzzle
• Games: Arcade/Action
• Social Networking
• Lifestyle
• Productivity/Tools
• Media
• Entertainment
• Travel
• Misc

For each of the ten categories, the following prizes will be awarded:

• 1st prize: $100,000
• 2nd prize: $50,000
• 3rd prize: $25,000

With overall prizes available across all categories:

• 1st prize: $150,000 (meaning the overall winner will receive $250,000)
• 2nd prize: $50,000 (meaning the 2nd prize winner will receive up to $150,000)
• 3rd prize: $25,000 (meaning the 3rd prize winner will receive up to $125,000)

Entrants are reminded that all submissions must be entered before 11:59:59pm Pacific Time in the United States on August 31, 2009.

The Developer blog also stresses the importance of using only published APIs for the submitted applications, as some judges may be testing the apps on new or untested Android handsets.

Plan on entering the challenge? Let us know in the comments!

android-developers.blogspot.com + code.google.com/android/adc/

[via Talk Android]

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ARCHOS is taking on quite the challenge. The company has sent out an invitation to a September 15th event where it is largely believed they’ll unveil an Android Internet Tablet. Keep in mind this is just where the challenge BEGINS:

Rumored specs include:

• 5-inch WVGA touchscreen
• HDMI Output
• 720p video
• OpenGL library support
• Flash support
• 500GB Storage
• 7-hour video battery life
• Cortex CPU
• 3.5G Connectivity

ARCHOS will definitely need to convince developers that submitting to such a market is worthwhile. Like Android, developers will be wooed much more easily once more of these types of devices are launched. But will other manufacturer’s submit to ARCHOS own application distribution attempt? I suppose it depends on the circumstances and legal arrangements.

[Read Full Article via Pocketables]

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It makes sense with a smartphone to listen to lots of audio content. Audio content for many users isn’t limited to music though. Podcasts are a big thing for many smartphone users and Google has unveiled a way to find even more podcasts to enjoy from your Android device.

Google has announced Google Listen, described as an audio search engine and it acts as a podcast manager. Using the app, you can subscribe to audio feeds and download new content over the air. The app has its own search bar where you can enter a term for a type of podcast you are looking for.

Once the term is entered, the app will find podcasts that relate to the search term and rank them in order of relevance. Once you find the podcast you are looking for, it can be streamed immediately and you can play multiple podcasts from a queue to create a digital magazine. The app can be downloaded now at the link below.

[via Google Labs]

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I just installed and was experimenting with the new Mobile Defense application by Neevo, and this thing is like Lo Jack for your Phone!  Once installed you can track your phone to within feet of its location and then set off an alarm on the phone which is basically a siren at the phones max volume. You can also lock the phone from the website. According to their website you can also backup and restore your phone but you can find in the FAQ section that they are re-engineering these things and hope to have them back online soon. The only draw back that I saw is that they like the other apps in this category all send an SMS message to the phone in order to connect to it each time. This would be alright if you were just trying to locate your phone, like if you left it in a taxi or something. But if someone stole your phone this would tip them off as the message comes from noreply at mobiledefense.com. The thief could at this point just wipe your phone back to factory default and you will never see it again.

To try this app out you need to download it from the Android Market and then signup from within the application. You can then go to the website and connect your phone.

“Mobile Defense was developed in response to the ever-growing need for security and privacy protection on mobile devices. As an industry leader in both personal and enterprise mobile security, we have developed the world’s most advanced solution to safeguard your phone. Once installed Mobile Defense allows you to remotely locate, lock, backup, wipe, and more!”

Here’s a video I found on YouTube

[youtube IJtoIyxfHkQ nolink]

Article Source: Google Android Blog

By: Daryll Bennett

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Android Forums members have been wondering about TomTom for Android since November 2008. It’s time for that discussion to continue as TomTom execs have clearly implied the company is working on a TomTom Android application:

“We cannot ignore such a successful platform as Android. HTC is an important partner of ours and Android is becoming increasingly important too.”

[via Phandroid]

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AT&T admits to deal with Apple over VoIP services

by Chloe Albanesius

Apple has not rejected the Google Voice iPhone app, but it does have serious concerns about its ability to usurp existing iPhone capabilities, Apple said in a Friday filing.

AT&T, meanwhile, denied any involvement in Apple’s decision regarding the Google Voice app, but it did admit that AT&T and Apple have an agreement whereby Apple will not take steps to enable an iPhone to make VoIP calls without AT&T’s consent.

[Read Full Article]

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You’ve probably heard about the iPhone & Google Voice fiasco, but if you haven’t let us fill you in. Google has an AMAZING service called Google Voice (formerly Grand Central) which had been available via the web. Recently Google took the “beta” label off Google Voice and published mobile applications for both Android Market and the iPhone App Store that would allow users of each platform to enjoy the best possible mobile experience/integration.

Only iPhone users couldn’t enjoy anything because the Google Voice Application was rejected from the iPhone App Store. The FCC responded almost instantaneously, launching a full investigation into the actions of both AT&T and Apple in their move to block the application. The FCC asked each company to file a report outlining their involvement in the rejection, and those reports were completed and submitted today.

[Read Full Article]

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A few days ago we reported that while the G1 will likely continue to get minor updates and bug fixes, the evolutionary updates (Cupcake => Donut => Eclair) might be over. Noting a tweet from a Google Engineer himself, things certainly didn’t look good. The cause for worrying has been blown out of proportion and greatly exaggerated according to a tweet from a different Android engineer, Dan Morrill.

So there you have it:

• The G1 isn’t dead
• The G1 will continue to get necessary updates at worst, and could likely get larger scale feature updates as well
• Donut could still come to the G1
• Donut might = 1.6 (Not 2.0, we love you Tyler)

Alright G1 owners… sound off!

[Read Full Article]

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We’ve seen the consumer targeted Android Hub concept and although it hasn’t yet come to fruition, we’re sure it will. Take that same “next generation deskphone” idea to the business world and you have what Cloud Telecomputers is calling their Android-based Glass platform.

[Read Full Article via Phandroid]

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According to DigiTimes sources – which can’t always be trusted might we add – Microsoft is adopting a dual strategy pitting two different offerings to challenge Android and the iPhone. Windows Mobile 6.5 will compete against Android while Windows Mobile 7 (when it launches in Q4 2009) will attempt to slay the iPhone.

Microsoft plans to adopt a dual platform strategy to promote its Windows Mobile OS (operating system) so as to take aims at both Android- and iPhone-based platforms, according to sources at Taiwan handset makers.

[Read Full Article on Phandroid]

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