Facebook brings Internet push to India

MUMBAI - Facebook Inc. has tied up with India's Reliance Communications Ltd to offer free access to a handful of online services in India, broadening its campaign to boost Internet use in the developing world.

India, the world's second-biggest mobile market, will become the first country in Asia to get the new Internet.org app, which targets mobile phone users.

The app, aimed at low income and rural users, will offer access to more than 30 web services, including job listings, healthcare and education sites, as well as Facebook's own social network and messaging services.

It will be provided via the Android operating system.

Facebook has partnered with more than 150 wireless providers over the past four years to offer free or discounted access to its social network, but the new app is the first time the company has added services beyond its own website.

The service comes to India after having launched in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Colombia.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Baidu Japan offers app to replay recordings on Android devices

TOKYO - Baidu Japan Inc. said Monday it has released a Japanese-language application that replays voice recordings on devices running on the Android operating system.

The new Simeji ver. 5.3 app can replay recordings of up to 15 seconds via e-mail and social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook, according to the Japanese arm of Baidu Inc., China's largest Internet search engine operator.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Google launches unified digital content store

SAN FRANCISCO — Google on Tuesday introduced a new online store called Google Play, offering consumers a one- stop marketplace for music, movies, books, applications and other digital media content.

The Google Play store will create a unified digital entertainment destination that combines the company’s Android Market app store, as well as other stores including Google Music and the Google eBookstore.

“Google Play is entirely cloud-based so all your music, movies, books and apps are stored online, always available to you, and you never have to worry about losing them or moving them again,” Jamie Rosenberg, director of digital content at Google, wrote in a post on the company’s official blog.

The new store is seen as Google’s latest move to compete more directly with technology giants like Apple and Amazon in selling digital content.

With Google Play, a user can store up to 20,000 songs for free and buy millions of new tracks, said Rosenberg.

The marketplace will also offer over 450,000 Android apps and games, the world’s largest selection of e-books and thousands of movies for users to download, browse or rent.

The launch of Google Play started on the web from Tuesday and the upgrading will be rolled out over the coming days on smartphones or tablets running Google’s Android operating system.

source: interaksyon.com