The Satellite AR app, which allows users to track satellites in the sky above them, uses the GPS signal on your device as well as its compass if your device has the hardware, to show what lies in the skies above them. The yellow line on the augmented reality shows the projected path of the satellites and can be used to visually track the estimated path of the UARS projectile.

As the satellite falls to the surface of the earth, most of the satellite is expected to disintegrate as it enters the atmosphere, however 26 pieces are expected to crash along a 500 mile path. The largest piece to fall is approximately 500 pounds. For you North American readers, NASA has ruled out the continent as of late Wednesday.

Check out the Satellite AR app on the Android Market here.

[via NYTimes]

“Test Drive lets customers truly experience an app before they commit to buying. It is a unique, new way to shop for apps,” says Paul Ryder, vice president of electronics for Amazon.com. “Our customers have told us that the sheer number of apps available can make it hard to find apps that are high quality and relevant to them.”

What differentiates the the Amazon App Store from others is their Test Drive capability. Customers can shop from any computer platform and Amazon includes a virtual Android Phone that allows users to test drive the app before paying for it. It also allows new Android users to experience Android for themselves before committing to the platform. Customers will also be able to shop directly for apps directly on their Android device.

And users will be able to benefit from Amazon features like user recommendations and reviews and 1-click payment options. And like the iTunes App Store, all apps must be sumitted and approved by Amazon before they are offered for sale in the Amazon Appstore. This should help to combat the growing number of third party apps that have been wreaking havoc on the Android platform of late after being repackaged with malware.

March 22, 2011 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Introducing Amazon Appstore for Android

Customers Can Try Apps Before They Buy with New Test Drive Feature

Angry Birds Rio for Android Available Exclusively in the Amazon Appstore—Free for a Limited Time

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced the launch of the Amazon Appstore for Android at www.amazon.com/appstore. Customers can now find, discover – test! – and buy Android apps using the convenient shopping experience that Amazon customers know and love. An innovative new feature called “Test Drive” will enable customers to test apps on a simulated Android phone. Customers control the app through their computer using a mouse.

“Test Drive lets customers truly experience an app before they commit to buying. It is a unique, new way to shop for apps”

“Test Drive lets customers truly experience an app before they commit to buying. It is a unique, new way to shop for apps,” says Paul Ryder, vice president of electronics for Amazon.com. “Our customers have told us that the sheer number of apps available can make it hard to find apps that are high quality and relevant to them. We’ve spent years developing innovative features that help customers discover relevant products. By applying these features – plus new ones like Test Drive – we’re aiming to give customers a refreshing app shopping experience.”

In addition, the highly anticipated Angry Birds Rio for Android debuts today, exclusively in the Amazon Appstore. For a limited time, customers have the opportunity to download it for free. In fact, the Amazon Appstore will offer customers a paid app for free every day.

Customers can shop in the Amazon Appstore from any computer using a Web browser. They can also access the Amazon Appstore directly on their Android phones or tablets, once they’ve installed the Amazon Appstore application. When customers purchase an Android app from the Amazon Appstore they can use the app on any of their Android devices.

The Amazon Appstore will include popular Amazon features like personalized recommendations, customer reviews, and 1-Click payment options. There will also be detailed product descriptions, including screenshots and video content that shows apps in action. In order to ensure customers have the best possible experience with the apps they purchase, all apps are Amazon-tested before they’re made available in the Amazon Appstore.

For the first time ever on the Android platform, ad-free versions of Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons will launch today exclusively in the Amazon Appstore. The Amazon Appstore also features a selection of bestselling and new apps from top developers, including Pac-Man, Doodle Jump Deluxe, Evernote, WeatherBug Elite, Zagat to Go, TweetCaster Pro and more.

“The Android platform’s openness provides a great opportunity to reach new customers,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds. “We are thrilled to offer the Angry Birds suite of Android games using the easy and trusted shopping experience that Amazon is known for.”

Developed in conjunction with Twentieth Century Fox, Angry Birds Rio features the animated stars of the studio’s upcoming motion picture, RIO, debuting in theaters worldwide on April 15. Angry Birds Rio will launch with 60 dedicated levels, with more content to follow via app updates.

Visit www.amazon.com/appstore today to get Angry Birds Rio for free and browse thousands of apps at great prices.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle, Kindle 3G and Kindle DX are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle 3G and Kindle DX utilize the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Kindle is the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, and www.amazon.it. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com’s financial results is included in Amazon.com’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

GetJar already has a head start on the competition, however, with over 1.5 billion app downloads reported. Competitors to GetJar’s dominance in the Android marketplace include Amazon, Wholesale Application Community (an alliance of dozens of smaller app concerns) and app suggestion sites like AppBrain.

And while the retailer plans to ride the Android wave to retail dominance, they are also expanding out to both Blackberry and iOS platforms, seeking to bleed off some of the success tha Apple has enjoyed with well over 10 billion app downloads since 2008.

And the venture capital that GetJar has secured has put them well on the way to accomplishing both goals.

[via Gigaom]

Jokes aside, it’s a great feature for those Twitter users who follow a considerable number of people. I had a chance to finally use it while building and installing themes with Twidroyd Factory last night. There are some people that I follow on Twitter that although they have a great message and I don’t want to unfollow or block them, their message is just not always of interest for a myriad of reasons. This feature addresses this nicely.

“Mute a Twitter user” is very intuitive and easy to use. You manage who is muted and duration from users profile pages. Just hit “Mute User” from the menu button and you are prompted with your options. There is even an option to notify the user that you are muting their Tweets, although that could prove, shall we say, interesting on the virtual playground. (Why do I feel like we are in store for “muted” or “unmuted” battles?) Twidroyd does warn that you are only hiding users Tweets on Twidroyd and that Tweets will still be visible on Twitter.com. That simple to use!

I am afraid to ask you to sound off below. Twitter, we can still be friends, right?

[via Twidroyd]

The vain side of me has to admit, there’s something cool about typing in the words “John’s Theme”.

[Via Twidroyd on Twitter]

The current iPhone platform already supports OpenGL ES, which brings a new level of visual realism to 3D gaming on mobile devices.  Supporting OpenGL could facilitate for programmers who’ve already created games using the technology move more effortlessly to Android while maintaining high graphics performance.

We’d love to see some visually fantastic 3D games debut on the Android platform; this particular decision will greatly aid developers in that particular quest.

Listings in the App Directory can be as simple or as info-rich as you want, and the whole thing is organized by category with user-ratings and commenting.  You can also see which software is getting the most attention or the most feedback.

We’ve got a number of new features planned that should roll out over the rest of this week, again answering some of the more common requests we’ve had over the past few months.  Let us know what you think – we’re always open to suggestions!

According to ZDNet UK, IBM announced at its Lotusphere conference in Florida that they will release a secure Lotus Notes client for Android devices. The app will be free to download, but you’ll have to buy the Lotus Domino server software in order for the app to work.

The mail, calendar and contacts app will run on handsets with Android 2.0 and higher (sorry Android 1.6 and 1.5 users), and will be the second major secure email platform outed for Google’s free mobile OS. Back in December 2009, Good Technology launched an email client that isolates and encrypts sensitive data on Android-powered phones.

So far there’s no word from IBM on the specific features of Lotus Notes Traveler for Google’s open-sourced mobile OS or when the Android email app will be made available. Will you get it when it comes out? Let us know in the comments.

The offline playback means that playlist contents are cached, and can be replayed while the Android device is temporarily without a 3G or WiFi signal or indeed switched to airplane mode.  A third-party app delivering catalog access was released back in August, but removed at the request of the company themselves.

Spotify Mobile for Android (and the iPhone/iPod touch app, which has also been released today) is available for download now, and requires a subscription to Spotify Premium.  That costs £9.99 per month ($18); currently Spotify is only available in the UK, France, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Spain, though a US launch has been tipped for as early as the end of 2009.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ALGPknOsiU[/youtube]

[via SlashGear]

As the video demo, below, shows, you don’t have to wait for individual letters or even words to be recognized before moving on.  Instead, the text-entry box effectively scrolls across, creating more space to write; you can squeeze a couple of words on-screen at a time.

Vision Objects provide handwriting-recognition engines to a number of partner software companies, so it’s possible we could see an Android version of MyScript using the technology from another developer.  No word on when that might happen, though.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCpwfUD024E[/youtube]

[via UMPC Tips]

The app also supports on-device searches and custom playlists, with straightforward access to the company’s huge catalog of tracks.  It’s also synchronized with their existing desktop app, meaning you can search for and add a track on the desktop and have it sync for offline playback on the cellphone.

As a desktop Spotify user, this is just what I’ve been waiting for.  The company has previously said that they’d be requiring mobile users to sign up for their premium service (which cuts out the adverts that intermittently pop up for free account holders) and frankly this looks well worth it.  No word on when we could expect to see a release; they’re promising more details at Google I/O.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ALGPknOsiU[/youtube]

Since the GP2X is capable of playing classic titles from the Neo Geo, Sega Genesis, Master System, Game Gear and Commodore 64, among others, that means there’s a huge back-catalog of potential games.  In this demo video, Jrioni plays Marvel vs Capcom and Samurai Shodown, among others.

No word on when – or even if – we can see a release of the emulator, but there undoubtedly seems to be demand for it.  Another of Jrioni’s projects is streaming video to the G1 via VLC and vnc. 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezr9LJrGJiU[/youtube]

[via Engadget]

Generally, location-sharing software works in one of two ways: either a one-off alert, which usually sends out a set of GPS coordinates either by SMS or email, or an ongoing connection as in Google Latitude.  While Latitude does allow for privacy settings, such as turning on and off tracking on a per-contact basis, it’s something the user needs to remember to switch.

What Glympse offers, instead, is a range of time-controlled tracking invitations.  These can run from a single instant, through minutes and several hours.  No special software is required by the recipient; instead they merely receive a link which takes them to a web-based map; the sender can also prematurely end or extend the invite.  The Glympse app is currently available through the Android Market as a free download, but the company is planning Windows Mobile, iPhone and BlackBerry versions.  More details at their FAQ here.

[Thanks notxel21!]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg-MsCQJ6n4[/youtube]

Compounding the problem is the fact that the Android Market won’t allow more than one version of an app, which means developers aren’t able to simply create a new, 1.5-friendly update and leave the existing version in place for those without Cupcake.  Instead, Big in Japan face creating a new build that’s also backward compatible with earlier versions of Android, something they conservatively estimate should normally take around two to three weeks of development.

However according to some reports, Cupcake will be pushed as an over-the-air to Android device owners in just two days, and it’s already live in Spain.  That means three weeks of development needs to be squashed into two days, never-mind any time for testing:

“The good news is that we will release our new version whenever Cupcake is pushed OTA to users.  The bad news it will be untested.  It will have bugs, bugs that we will fix.  Please bear with us and realize that we don’t have much choice in the matter” Alexander Muse, Big in Japan

As Alexander notes, the Big in Japan team are likely more prepared for the coding challenge ahead than many others, particularly those part-time developers who have been cooking up Android apps in their spare time.  The public perception of Android as a platform depends in no small part on the success and stability of its third-party software; have Google shot themselves in the foot by allowing carriers to rush out Cupcake 1.5?

[Image via]

Rich formatting is supported, such as bold, italics, underline, font color, alignment, bullets and numbered lists, together with tables, bookmarks and comments. Documents To Go will also display footnotes, endnotes and track-changes, while the Excel part of the app supports a full 111 functions, together with cell formatting, row and column preferences and auto-fit options.

There’s also integration with DataViz’s new RoadSync Beta, which brings Exchange ActiveSync push email to the Android platform.  Currently a free beta in the Android Market, RoadSync supports both email and Exchange contacts.  It’ll be free until May 31st; full pricing is yet to be announced, but as a guide RoadSync is priced at $29.99 for PalmOS and $49.99 for S60.

As for Documents To Go, that’s normally priced at $29.99 but, as a launch offer, it’s just $19.99.

Sipdroid uses a WiFi connection to make VoIP calls between devices – in the video below, the second phone (non-Android) is called from Sipdroid running on the G1.  According to the comments at YouTube, Sipdroid is on target for a May release; dates aren’t certain, as while the project started out open-source it’s now been moved to closed development.

While that’s all very exciting, we’ve a feeling Sipdroid will fall victim to the same distribution agreement terms & conditions as tethering apps have.  Just as Google pulled tethering software from the Android Market because it contravenes T-Mobile’s ToS, most carriers also have non-VoIP clauses in their contracts.  That could be enough reason for Google to block Sipdroid.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Igo7brlRo[/youtube]

[via Phandroid; thanks Nikotttin!]

“Google enters into distribution agreements with device manufacturers and Authorized Carriers to place the Market software client application for the Market on Devices. These distribution agreements may require the involuntary removal of Products in violation of the Device manufacturer’s or Authorized Carrier’s terms of service” Google Developer Distribution Agreement

That agreement, when taken with T-Mobile’s terms of service that do not permit tethering, has given Google reason to pull the software from official distribution.  It’s a decision that has raised more questions over just how “open” the Android platform is:

“Android phones are supposed to be released for other carriers in the future, right? Does this mean that apps in the Market have to adhere to the ToS for only T-Mobile, even when other carriers sign on? Will all apps have to adhere to the ToS for every carrier that supports Android phones?” Seth, WiFi Tether for Root Users contributor

Given that Android-based devices are already available unlocked, it seems unfair that those users – who may be with carriers that permit tethering, or have already paid for the functionality – should not have access to the software.  In addition, some of the apps reportedly banned do not solely offer carrier tethering (e.g. sharing the cellular data connection via USB or WiFi) but Bluetooth tethering, where the cellphone acts as a bridge between a WiFi broadband connection and a Bluetooth-equipped device that lacks its own WiFi.

One potentially unwelcome outcome could be carrier-specific versions of the Android Market, where users would have only partial access to the full app catalog depending on what their carrier allowed.

[Thanks Andon!]

There’s also IM functionality, with support for MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk and Twitter, as well as the ability to make voice calls through Google Talk for the price of a local call.  Next to be added, according to Truphone, will be Skype, with both voice calls and instant messaging supported.

However early testers of the software have been less than impressed, with particular complaint about the way VoIP calls are handled.  Rather than being fully carried over the data connection, calls from Truphone to non-Truphone numbers involve dialling to a local number, at which point Truphone reroute over their servers:

“The Truephone portion of the app works the same way as the Skype client calling a Truephone Anywhere number and routing the call over the phone network then onto there severs and over the internet, so costs you minutes out of your contract. Uninstalled” liamw

We’d be interested to hear any more feedback users have about Truphone; let us know in the forums.  The app is also available on the Apple iPhone, the Apple iPod touch, Blackberry and Nokia devices.

[Thanks Paul!]

The session is basically an introduction to creating Android applications using the SDK and developers tools provided. Software Engineer for Google, Omer Shakij, will be speaking to people and giving a walkthrough of building a non-trivial application and use it as a basis for discussing the carious facets of the Android application framework.

On the agenda they have an Overview of resources available to Android developers, Hello Android, Few API Demos from the SDK, HTC G1 Live Demo and a Q&A Session. If you reside in Pakistan and would like to attend this workshop then head over to the registration page for more details.

If you wouldn’t mind taking a trip over to the Crunchies Awards page and casting a vote for them it would be fantastic. They really have a shot at winning this award and we feel they deserve it more than anything. The developers over at Big In Japan have put countless hours of support into making sure Shopsavvy is as up to date as possible.

All it takes is 5 seconds of your time and two clicks of a button to cast the vote. On a side note tell us what you think of the application. Where does it exceed expectations and where can it use a bit of improvement. Your input helps this application get better every day.