Amazon No Longer Blocking Kindle Fires From Accessing Web Version Of Android Market

A lesser known fact about the Kindle Fire — when entering “market.android.com” in the device’s web browser, the device would actually forward you Amazon’s own Appstore instead of Google’s world famous web version of the Android Market. Pretty frustrating and somewhat alarming to some users as they were essentially being blocked from accessing a website which in this case, was Google’s app Market.
Well, some good news came out of that “root breaking” update we told you guys about earlier. Apparently, Amazon wised up and is no longer blocking users from accessing the web version of the Android Market in their device’s browser. And although Kindle Fire owners wont be able to install any of the apps from the Android Market (web), they can still browse music to upload to Google Music or movies, books, etc. Yay, freedom!
[Via GigaOM]

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[Download] Android Market 3.4.4 Rolling Out, Users Reporting Great Speed Enhancements

It seems Google’s got a new version of the Android Market rolling out for everyone. Its version number is 3.4.4 and the most noticeable change (aside from a slight difference in verbiage for the auto-add shortcut option) is just how fast the application performs.

As the application is as image rich as it’s ever been we understand why some older devices struggle to handle it smoothly. But users are reporting that the application provides significant speed improvements and folks on devices as old as the HTC Hero are no longer gnashing their teeth trying to work their way around the market without it stuttering.
The silent update may not have been pushed to your phone yet but fret not as the APK has already been uploaded for public downloading. No root required. [Download via Android Police]
From what I can see they’ve also put trailers in the photo carousel on app listings so you won’t have to scroll down to press play anymore. Neat and simple, yet convenient.

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10 Billion Apps promo, day 9: EzPDF, Guns’n'Glory and Zenonia for 10¢

The penultimate day of Google’s 10 Billion Apps promotion is upon us, and thankfully there’s a fresh batch of apps and games to pick up on the cheap. Google is celebrating more than 10 billion (with a b) app downloads with apps discounted to just ten cents / pence, a discount of more than 90% in most cases. Today’s batch of new apps includes EzPDF, Guns’n'Glory and Zenonia.

Here’s the list of new apps so far: Collapse!, Deer Hunter 3D, EzPDF, Guns’n'Glory, MX Moto, Sleepy Jack, Tank Riders, Toddler Tapping Zoo, and Zenonia. If you didn’t pick up SwiftKey X already, you’ve got another chance today. Google’s focus on games remains, but it’s nice to see them throw in another utility, in the form of the very solid ExPDF. If you often find yourself viewing Adobe documents on your phone or tablet, it’s well worth the dime.

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22 SMS Toll Fraud Apps Removed From Market

Google’s done some more malware cleaning lately. The latest infection to the market was pegged ReFraud and consisted of 22 apps which consisted of code that would send text messages from your phone to premium SMS services unbeknownst to the user. Of course, these apps are disguised as run-of-the-mill everyday apps such as wallpapers, horoscopes and fraudulent games.
No worries, though, as Lookout has already notified Google and Google has already removed them from the market. Lookout urges users to update their Mobile Security application to get the latest malware and virus definitions to make sure you’re not downloading any of these apps. [Android Guys]

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Google’s 10p apps for today – Train Conductor 2: USA, HD Widgets, Flight Track and more

Christmas has literally come early once again, with Google adding another collection of Android apps to its 10p discount listings. Today sees another game and repeats-heavy collection of apps, with a shameful FIVE duplicates from earlier promotional days.
Here’s today’s list of 10p discount apps:

Flick Golf
Slide IT Keyboard
Sketchbook Mobile
Where’s My Water
Christmas HD
HD Widgets
Instant Heart Rate PRO
Flight Track
Train Conductor 2
Shazam Encore

It looks like this one…

…is the best of the bunch on offer today. There’d better be some BIG GUNS lined up for the last couple of days, else this promotion’s going to end with an almighty whimper.

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10 Billion Apps promo, day 7: Super KO Boxing 2, Flight Control and Doodle Jump for 10¢

Google’s celebration of 10 billion Android Market app downloads continues into its seventh day, with a catalog of heavily discounted games and entertainment apps. The Android creator is partnering with top developers on the Android Market to mark down paid apps to jut 10 cents / pence, focusing on the ever-popular game section. Today’s deals include Super KO Boxing 2, Flight Control and Doodle Jump.

Here’s the list of today’s newly discounted apps: Doodle Jump, When I Get Bigger (another “Little Critter” motion book), Flick Soccer, SUPER KO BOXING! 2, Blow Up, Roll in the Hole, Block Breaker 3 Unlimited HD and Flight Control. SoundHound and Beautiful Widgets, the first paid Android app to reach a million downloads, are repeats from previous days. To see and buy all the apps on one page, click here.
With Google repeating two apps every day in the ten-day promotion, it looks like the final tally of almost-free paid apps will be somewhere in the 85-90 range. That’s a lot of money saved if you’ve been keeping up daily, since most of the apps go for between $2 and $6, and a full collection of the discounted apps would set you back less than $10.

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10 Billion Apps promo, day 6: BackStab HD, Captain America, and SimCity Deluxe for 10¢

Google’s 10 Bilion Apps celebration rolls on to its sixth day, with another crop of 10¢ apps dominated by popular gaming titles. As the Android Market passed an astonishing 10 billion total app downloads, Google has partnered with the top developers in the Android world to price their apps at an impulse-buying 10 cents/pence, with ten featured apps every day until this coming Wednesday. Today’s highlights include BackStab HD, Captain America, and SimCity Deluxe.

Here’s the full list of new discounted apps: NFL 3D Live Wallpaper, SimCity Deluxe, Just Me and My Mom (an interactive kids’ book based on the popular “Little Critter” series), BackStab HD, Jenga, Raging Thunder, Backbreaker Football, and Captain America. Endomondo and Great Little War Game were both featured on previous days. Check them all out by going to the Android Market home page on your device, or click here for the web version. Yesterday’s discounted apps are still available, but not for long – hurry up if you want them!
As Google demonstrated, games make up the largest portion of Android Market’s downloaded apps, so it’s understandable why they’re focusing on the segment for these discounts. If you try to download today’s apps right away you may run into problems due to a massive demand on Google’s servers, but they’ll likely help you out… perhaps even giving you the apps for free. If you’d rather not deal with the hassle, just wait until this evening (tomorrow morning for Europe) and you can probably get them with no trouble.

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Old Android Market missing out on 10 cent deals, get the new market here

In case you haven’t noticed, Google is running a promotion giving out some of the most popular apps from the Android Market up for just $0.10¢ each to celebrate hitting 10 billion downloads from the Market. This has been a huge hit with Android fans but yesterday I realized if you have an older Android Market on your device, you could be missing out on all these deals.

Looking at the photo above the new market (right) front and center it shows the 10¢ apps and once you tap you see all 10 of today’s premium apps. If you’re running the old Android Market (left) like many from T-Mobile including my very own myTouch 4G Slide or other phones that for some reason still have yet to receive the latest Android Market you are missing out on all these deals. There are probably hundreds of thousands of users with old markets spread across all the Android devices.
My completely stock myTouch 4G Slide will NOT update to the new Android Market on its own and a quick Google search shows I’m not alone. If you happen to know what apps are being offered today for 10¢ you can find them, but you have no notification up top or any way of seeing them all in one neat place like the new Market. My friend kept asking what promotion I was talking about til I realized he wasn’t seeing them on his outdated Samsung Vibrant.
If you have the old Android Market the only way to see exactly what apps are on sale is the web market by clicking here. Don’t you worry though because we have you covered. Download the latest Android Market below and enjoy everything it has to offer (including Google Music) as well as these amazingly awesome 10 billion app deals.
Android Market v3.3.11 (new) — Download
Download that on your phone and install right over the old market and you’re good to go — Enjoy!

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10 Billion Apps promo, day 5: The Sims, Age of Zombies, and SlideIt Keyboard for 10¢

Google’s celebration of 10 Billion Android Market downloads marches on, and just like the last four days. there’s plenty of vastly reduced premium apps on offer. Google’s chosen some of the most loved apps on the Market and droped them to a ridiculous 10 cents/pence price. Today’s highlights, spotted early by the keen-eyed folks over at Reddit, include The Sims 3, quirky shooter Age of Zombies and SlideIt Keyboard, AKA “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Swype.”

The full list is as follows: Apparatus, The Sims 3, SlideIt Keyboard, Snowfall Live Wallpaper, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD, Season Zen HD (live wallpaper), Pano (panoramic camera), Drop7, Age of Zombies and Kids Connect the Dots. As usual the banner on the Android Market home screen isn’t up yet, so just use the links above as needed. Yesterday’s deals are still in effect at the time of writing, but they won’t last long!
The flurry of amazing price reductions has put a serious strain on Google’s payment servers, and a lot of Android users are experiencing problems getting their apps to register to their accounts. Luckily Google is feeling generous, and if you can’t purchase the apps right away, the company might just give them to you. If you’d rather avoid the whole mess, wait until the evening to download your new apps – it’s worked for me so far. While you’re waiting, be sure to check out Google’s graphical breakdown of its app achievement.

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Android Market apologizes for downtime: Free Apps

You may not have experienced it, but the Android Market (and even Google Wallet) had been down intermittently just yesterday and part of today. Apparently, Google’s answer to solving many of the accidental cancellations was to simply offer “free access to all the apps you attempted to purchase” during their 10 Billion Downloads promotion. The Android Market has been celebrating with 10 cent app sales, and the titles were so hot that they had caused issues during checkout.

Fortunately, a fellow over at Reddit posted a screenshot of a no-reply email from Google with instructions on how to obtain your “lost” app. it turns out that the application is located in your “My Apps” section of the Android Market and labeled as either “Purchased” or “Not Installed”.
If you would like to avoid your chances at an Android Market problem, Google suggests that the most popular time people download applications is 9PM on Sunday – so I’d try to avoid this timeframe. Also, keep your eyes peeled for the $0.10 promotional deals if you haven’t already! Day 1 had titles like Asphalt 6 and Sketchbook Mobile. Day 2 consisted of Fruit Ninja, Beautiful Widgets and a few others. Day 3 saw ADW, Tetris and Homerun Battle – and today you can nab Need For Speed, Jelly Defense, and Farm Frenzy! Of course we’ll keep you up to date daily – so you can always check back with us if you can’t find them on your own!
[via Reddit]

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Google’s 10 Billion Promo for 12/9 Listed

It’s day four of Google’s 10 Billion Promo where they’re celebrating 10 Billion apps downloaded in the Android market. Every day for 10 days, they’re selling premium apps for just $.10 each. Some of the applications and games listed are great, and even the not-so-great apps might be worth your attention at just a dime. Today’s apps? Have a look below:

• Spirit HD
• Shazam Encore
• Sentinel 3: Homeworld
• Farm Frenzy
• Toddler Spanish
• Need for Speed Shift
• Jelly Defense
• Game Dev Story
• Baseball Superstars 2011
• My Beach HD

I already see a few in there that I’m going to be taking advantage of. Be sure to grab them up without delay. Considering you could get the whole bunch for a dollar it doesn’t really make sense to hesitate on pulling the trigger.

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Android Market now includes permalinks to user reviews

When opening the Android Market and navigating to any application on your home PC, you’ll find that you now have the option link to specific user reviews. This is a feature that we honestly wouldn’t have “needed”, but nevertheless it may come in handy. I am no app developer, nor have I ever aspired to become one – but I assume it would be very beneficial to save particular reviews for future tips on improving my application.

Pictured below is an actual screenshot showing you where the permalink can be found on the page; it’s rather small so I hope this helps you out. It doesn’t actually take you away from the application and leave you with a single page dedicated to the review, but rather indexes the selected review to the top of the stack for easy viewing. All in all, it does make sense to have permalinks to user reviews; if such a feature were left out of any general online forum, it would be rather detrimental to quickly share single posts.

Now that this feature is live and publicly available, we’ll see how popular (or static) it becomes. The ability to forward a well thought out review of an application to a friend may help them decide if it’s worth the purchase price. Also, when a fellow blogger would like to quote such a review, we can now direct you right back to the source. True, it’s not entirely needed – but without interconnectedness the internet wouldn’t have done so well.
[via Android Central]

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Android Market hits 10 billion app downloads, celebrates with 10¢ app sale

There’s a lot of Android phones and tablets out there – pushing 200 million at last official count. That’s a lot of people downloading apps form the Android Market. Today that number may have surpassed 10 billion total app downloads, and to celebrate, Google’s offering a handful of premium apps for just 10¢ (£0.10 in the UK.)

The premium apps on offer are as follows: Soundhound, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD, Minecraft Pocket Edition, SwiftKey X, Ecomondo, Great Little War Game, SketchBook Mobile, Fieldrunners HD, Color & Draw for Kids, and Paper Camera. This is no small promotion; many of these apps have hundreds of thousands of paid downloads already, and the discounts start at 90% and go up. There’s no indication of when the sale will end, so if you want any of the apps listed here, download them now.

We haven’t heard anything official on the 10 billion app promotion. The total may not have even been passed yet – it could be that Google’s drumming up excitement to reach the milestone, with a little help from some high-profile Android developers. In any case it’s a sweet deal on some very in-demand apps, so go for it if you haven’t already.

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Android Market gaming applications now available in Korea

Those of you in Korea can rejoice as many gaming applications previously unavailable in the Android Market can now be purchased. Considering Korea is the second largest consumer of Android applications worldwide, this will mean great growth in gaming developers’ profits. This service has already gone live, so expect an average rise in purchases and downloads now.

Brush up on your Korean (or simply use Google Translate) to translate your app descriptions and push them to Korea’s market so you can take advantage of a brand new audience. Purchases will be billed directly to local carriers, so expect them tacked onto your monthly bill.
Our Android friends in Korea have most definitely been waiting for this moment for two years, so the temptation to buy games has definitely been building up. I couldn’t imagine an Android Market without the “Games” section included, it actually wouldn’t feel like the Android Market at all. I’m sure many people have found alternatives to download their games previously, but making sure they are on track within the official Android Market will make sure they have access to 100% of it.
[via Android-Developers Blog]

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Android Market offering entire albums for $1.99 this Cyber Monday

How could we finish off Cyber Monday without taking advantage of another great deal in the Android Market? Well it turns out the it’s offering entire select albums for $1.99 until 12am PST. Funny enough, if you click to view songs in the album – they still run at their original pricing.

For example, if you want to purchase Money (2011 – Remastered) from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album, you would still need to fork over $1.29 for the single. But for only 70 cents more you’ve got all 10 songs and a great deal to brag about. Other artists with discounted albums include (but are not limited to) Drake, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, and our absolute favorite Justin Bieber.
Google Music has really started with a boom, and if it becomes more popular I foresee us seeing even more deals on a regular basis. After all, artists on Google Music receive a much higher profit margin than say those using Apple’s iTunes. And if none of the discounted albums strike your appeal, just keep your eye out for Google’s free song of the day – you might just get lucky.
You’ve still got a few hours left before this deal leaves the table, so take advantage of it while you can!
[via Android Market: Music]

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Android Market website updated to support rooted devices

Google has updated their Android Market website to allow any user, with the Android Market installed of course, to push applications for automatic download on their devices. Many rooted devices haven’t had a problem with this feature before the update, but those that owned a NOOK Color, HP TouchPad, or the new Kindle Fire were not recognized before the update.

And why wouldn’t Google want to offer their millions of applications to even more people? They clearly want its users to take advantage of the ability to download applications from their website and push them to their rooted phones and tablets. This update clearly helps both parties, although it still has a few bugs. One of which includes the Android Market constantly requesting to update applications that were not directly installed from the Android Market. I’m sure the kinks will get worked out soon.
Im sure developers are thrilled with this update even more than the average person. For instance, the new Android 4.0 ROM (still in development) for the Nexus S 4G doesn’t auto update applications once moving to it. It’s much easier logging into your account online and selecting your device to quickly push your daily applications back into place; and now this feature will forever be available to everyone.
[via liliputing]

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Google offering Android Market movie rentals for 99 cents during the holidays

If you are enjoying the holidays with family or traveling and would like to watch a new movie then Google has you covered for the holiday season. Starting today Google will be offering the top 12 movies from the Android Market for just $0.99 cents — It’s the $0.99 cents holiday movies deal.

Now I know the first thing that might come to a few readers mind is Redbox — but those aren’t on your Android phone or tablet now are they? Most movies are $2.99 or $3.99 from the Android Market, especially new releases like what they are offering in this deal. Making this a good time to try out and rent a few movies on your favorite Android device(s). I’d like to recommend the Change-Up as it was hilarious and Olivia Wilde is gorgeous!
I’ll be traveling for Thanksgiving and plan to watch a movie or two on my Galaxy Tab 8.9 while enjoying the drive and this will definitely come in handy. It appears to only be for the US and hopefully they’ll change or add a few more after the first week but no details other than what was stated above were given. Now if you are rooted you wont be able to stream movies normally. So we’ll remind you of the streaming movies on rooted devices fix in case anyone is interested. Head down to the market and check out all the holiday special movies for just $0.99 cents.
Android Market: Movies
[via @Android]

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ICS tablet interface shows up in Android Market screenshots

By now you’ve probably been inundated with screenshots and hands-on photos of Ice Cream Sandwich on the Galaxy Nexus. But one thing that’s currently missing is a good look at Ice Cream Sandwich’s tablet interface. Well, it looks like Google just couldn’t wait for an ICS update and started playing around on their own – screenshots of the tablet interface can be found on the Android Market listing for Google Music.

You can see that ICS on a tablet-sized screen looks a lot like Honeycomb – no real surprise there, as it’s sharing a lot of the same digital DNA. The only really obvious way to tell that the Music app is even running on Ice Cream Sandwich is the new navigation buttons (matching the Galaxy Nexus) and the color scheme around the notification area. For another look at ICS running in tablet mode, check out the official promotional image from Google.
One of the most important additions to the Android base in Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) is that the same software can run on phones and tablets while scaling to match the size of the applicable screen. So far ICS hasn’t shown up on any tablets in the wild, though the Asus Transformer Prime will most likely be the first to get an official update. You might be seeing homemade ICS ROMS spring up for popular Honeycomb tablets like the XOOM and Galaxy Tab 10.1 soon, as independent ROM developers dig deeper into the Ice Cream Sandwich open source code released last week.
[via Droid Life]

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Google Music unveiled with Android Market integration, stays free

In a creatively-teased event in Los Angeles this afternoon, Google finally pulled the wraps off its long-awaited music store. Hundreds of tech press were crammed into Mr. Brainwash Studio, where the details were finally hammered out. Google has been testing the streaming music waters for since May with its Google Music Beta program, but today it comes to everybody in the country.

Streaming and Syncing
Google Music is now open to everyone in the United States. The uploading and streaming properties are intact: you can upload up to 20,000 songs to Google, completely free, and stream it to any device. Users can upload their music selectively using the Google Music desktop application from Windows, Linux or Mac. The Google Music app for Android, updated today, will tie into users’ digital locker saved on Google’s servers. You can stream the music to unlimited Android devices and access it from a desktop browser. An interesting new feature is a pin manager: simply pin songs or albums to your device to save a local copy, to make sure you can get to it even without a connection.
Android/Market integration
As expected, Music has been added to the Android Market along with Movies and Books. Google is offering “millions of songs” in the updated version of the Market, including suggestions based on your current music collection. Once a song or album is added it goes straight into your digital locker – no download necessary, unless you want it. All songs get a free 90-second preview, and come in at a high-quality 320kbps files.
The Market also gets some interesting social features, as your Google+ contacts can recommend music, which you can then check out. Friends will receive one free full play of recommended music that has been shared, a feature that’s completely new to the music industry.

The Music store is live at the web version of the Android Market, and will be rolling out to Android devices in the next few days.
Sony Music, Universal, and EMI have all signed up for the service – so far, Warner Music is not on board. Numerous independent labels are also debuting with Google Music. Google is actively pursuing more music partnerships. Some exclusive Google Music content includes six as-yet-unreleased Rolling Stones concert, as well as Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam and Shakira. Busta Rhymes’ new album will be available only on Google Music, and the first track is a free download right now.

Independent Artists
Independent artists can share their music through the Artist Hub, which publishes music directly to the Android Market. Artists can set their own prices (even free!) and establish their own band profiles on the Google Music service. Artists get 70% of the revenue from their songs with no album or track fees, and they can sell music against their YouTube videos.
T-Mobile integration
T-Mobile customers will be able to pay for new music through their phone bill, just like they can with apps. The functionality hasn’t been added just yet, but should be coming very soon. T-Mobile will aslo be giving their customers free exclusive content from Drake, Maroon 5, Busta Rhymes and others through the end of the year.
Google didn’t mention pricing, but a quick look at the web version of the Android Market shows most individual tracks at 99 cents, with some featured albums as an all or nothing purchase.
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Adobe pushes last major Flash update to the Android Market

Earlier this week Adobe announced plans to abandon Flash on mobile platforms, to much weeping and gnashing of teeth. They still intend one more major release, Flash Player 11.1, and it’s available in the Android Market now. The 11.1 update brings bug fixes and stability to the Android version, including a particularly nasty audio problem on the Samsung Galaxy S II.
11.1 will be the very last version update, unless Adobe changes its mobile strategy. Smaller bug fixes and security updates will follow, and a good thing too, since Flash is historically insecure. But there will be no more features added to Flash for Android, since Adobe has decided to focus on its AIR platform and HTML 5. The move has drawn ire from Flash developers and derision from Apple advocates, who recall the extremely public spat between Steve Jobs and adobe over iOS’ lack of Flash support last year.
The move came after a major restructure at Adobe, which saw hundreds of employees laid off. In this economic environment, Adobe simple doesn’t have the resources to pursue as many software vectors as it did before. (I note however, with a distinct lack of surprise, that the price on the Adobe Creative Suite hasn’t dropped in these lean times.) According to a former Flash manager, a lot of the issues Adobe faced came from a late start, after underestimating the iPhone and Android’s impact on the smartphone market.
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