The free StubHub app for iPhone and Android was updated this week to include the ability to download tickets directly to your device.

This feature, known as mobile ticketing, takes StubHub from just a service for buying and selling tickets and transforms it into a tool you can show at the gate instead of a paper ticket.

With the update, you can find tickets for sporting events and concerts and download purchased tickets directly to your device, rather than having to print out your ticket from an email. For entry into events, you’ll need to zoom in on the barcode to show the full ticket.

For now, this feature is limited to StubHub’s collaboration with the San Francisco Giants, but they’re expecting more national teams and venues to follow. Between training staff and acquiring the technology required for this kind of barcode scanning, it’s not certain how long it will take for more venues to get on board.

via IntoMobile

StubHub app updated, gets mobile ticketing is a post from: mobiputing

Swedish superstore Ikea has released a digital version of its popular catalog for Android devices. That’s the good news. I know people who treat the catalog like a magazine and flip through it for fun even when they’re not shopping.

The bad news is that the app can’t be installed to an SD card, so if you try to install it on an Android smartphone it will download 50MB of images, text, and other data and leave little room on your phone for other apps.

The catalog features about 4,000 pictures and about 2,000 products. You can flip through pages, jump to a page by number, visit first last, previous or next, or zoom in for a better view. There’s also a tablet of contents, bookmarking feature, and you can search the catalog’s text. When you tap on the plus sign next to any product you can view a detail page with a picture, price, and other information.

Ikea is rolling out the catalog app in phases around the globe. The US version went live earlier this month. It will hit Spain, China, and other locations soon… including Sweden, where it will be available Thursday.

Ikea’s app is basically just a portable catalog — but if you’re looking for an app to use in-stores, you might want to check out free (and unofficial) Ikea Picking List which helps you keep track of the items you want to pick up at the store’s self service section as you stroll through the aisles.

via reddit

Ikea Catalogue comes to Android (might not fit on your phone) is a post from: mobiputing

Google isn’t the only company building support for NFC (Near Field Communications) technology into its mobile payment apps. PayPal showed off a new app today that will allow you to transfer money simply by tapping two phones together.

You just fire up the PayPal app on your phone and set it up to send money or receive money. Once the phones come into contact you’ll still need to enter a password or PIN before the transaction is complete, so it won’t be easy to transfer money using a stolen phone and hopefully you won’t accidentally send your buddy $100 by accident just because your phones are placed net to one another on the coffee table.

The app currently works on the Google Nexus S, which happens to be the only Android phone available in the US with NFC.

PayPal unveiled the new app at the MobileBeat conference today. You can check out a demo video after the break.

PayPal demonstrates NFC app for transfering money between two phones is a post from: mobiputing

Google Shopper is an Android app that began its life as a sort of mobile price comparison tool. See an item in a store, but not sure if it’s being sold at the best price? Just whip out your Android smartphone, scan the barcode with your camera and Google Shopper will let you know if it’s cheaper online — or even at another nearby store.

Last month Google rolled out an update adding local “Offers” divided up into Eat and Play categories. These offers allow you to find local businesses that are offering coupons for food, recreational activities, or other items.

Today the company announced a new update which adds to the Offers features with a new “Today’s Offer” tab which will show a different major promotion each day — if you happen to live in Portland, San Francisco, or New York City, where Offers are being tested at the moment.

Honestly, that’s the only major change I can see in the new app although Google’s official blog post would seem to suggest that several other features that have been around for a month are also new. Eventually Google will roll Google Wallet integration into the app, allowing you to pay for purchases with your phone.

Google Shopper is available as a free download from the Android Market.

Google Shopper update for Android plays up “offers” is a post from: mobiputing

Online auction site eBay has released a major update to its Android app, adding a whole slew of seller tools. The eBay app for Android which was released last year only included tools for searching and tracking auctions and making purchases.

Version 1.5 now allows users in the US and UK to list items, upload photos from ta phone, and use a barcode scanner to find information about the item you’re selling and automatically fill out item details.

You can also use eBay 1.5 for Android to revise auction information, relist items from your unsold list, or use the “sell one like this” feature when you find an item on eBay that’s similar to the one you want to list.

The app even allows you to close an auction, mark an item as shipped, or contact a buyer. Basically you can now have the whole eBay experience on your phone, no PC required since you can list an item on your phone, manage your auctions, and even let your buyer know that the package is on the way the moment you drop it off at the post office.

There are also a few tweaks to the buyer tools in the latest update including the ability to refine search results by free shipping, location, and other criteria.

eBay 1.5 for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market.

eBay adds barcode scanning, seller tools to Android app is a post from: mobiputing

Google has rolled out an updated version of its mobile shopping app for Android which adds support for nearby offers and coupons. You can still use Google Shopper 1.5 to search for products using online and local stores. But you can also now click the “nearby Offers tab from the home screen to see if any nearby businesses are offering deals.

The offers are divided into Eat, Play, and All tabs. You can view a list or see the offers plotted on a map. And Google Shopper lets you save coupons and other offers for later.

Each offer lets you know at a glance how deep the discount is, when you need to redeem the coupon by, and how far you are from the business offering the deal.

I fired up the app this morning to see if there were any good deals I might want to check out for lunch… and I have to say I’m pretty underwhelmed by the collection of offers in Philadelphia at the moment. But hopefully the number of deals will expand over time.

Google Shopper is available as a free download from the Android Market.

Google Shopper for Android adds nearby coupons is a post from: mobiputing

The Google Nexus S phone which launched earlier this year is one of the first US smartphones to include NFC, or Near Field Communications technology which is used overseas to allow people to make purchases from retail stores using a phone instead of a credit card. But hardware only gets you so far. You also need the software to back it up, and while the inclusion of NFC technology in Google’s flagship phone was a good indication that the company had something up its sleeve, it wasn’t until today that Google spelled out its vision for turning your phone into a credit card.

Google is introducing two new services: Google Wallet and Google Offers. They’re designed to let you store multiple credit cards, loyalty cards, and gift cards on your phone, as well as coupons and other promotions. The result is a much thinner wallet that offers more features… but you’d best hope your phone doesn’t run out of juice before you get the checkout line.

Google Wallet is basically a system that lets store your credit card information on your phone (or info for multiple cards). MasterCard’s PayPass system will allow you to tap your phone and a checkout to make a payment without revealing your credit card data. MasterCard says over 300,000 merchants already have the PayPass system in place

Google is field testing Google Wallet right now and plans to launch a public beta of the service soon. At launch it will be available in a handful of major cities including New York, San Francisco, and Portland.

Google Offers is a new coupon/discount service. You can sign up for email notifications, and the service will also connect with other Google services including Search, Maps, Latitude and Shopper to show offers that may be of interest when you’re searching for information or checking into a location.

When you make a purchase or save an offer, it gets stored in your Google Wallet account. And retailers who work with Google can offer loyalty cards through the Google Offers and Google Wallet system so that you don’t have to carry around a dozen different cards to get frequent shopper promotions.

Initially the Google Nexus S will be the only supported phone, but as more NFC-capable Android phones hit the streets Google will expand the service.

Google introduces platform to turn your phone into a wallet is a post from: mobiputing

Social reading site Goodreads has finally launched an Android app, and so has online apparel store Zappos. Music store 7digital now lets you purchase and download music on an Android device, and xBackup lets users with jailbroken iOS devices backup and restore all of their jailbroken apps for easy re-installation.

Here’s a roundup of some mobile app stories on our radar from around the web:

• Goodreads social reading app now available for Android
  Goodreads is a web site that makes reading social by letting you show your friends what you’re reading, read reviews, maintain lists of books you’ve read and want to read, and much more. The company has offered an iPhone app for a while, and now Goodreads is finally available for Android. [Android Police]
• 7Digital music store for Android now lets you purchase and download tracks
  The 7digital music store offers more than 14 million MP3 tracks. But up until recently you had to purchase those songs on a computer and transfer them manually to your phone if you wanted to listen on an Android device. Now the latest Android app supports on-device downloads. [Android Community]
• JotNot for iPhone is a document scanner for iOS
  JotNot Scanner is a free (or cheap if you want to go ad-free) app for scanning documents on an iPhone. The app also removes shadows and other noise from photographs. [CNet]
• xBackup lets you backup and restore your Cydia apps
  Worried you’ll have to reinstall all of your jailbreak-only apps the next time Apple pushes an iOS update and you have to jailbreak your phone yet-again? xBackup makes it easy to create a backup of all your apps downloaded from the Cydia store, and then you can use the app again to restore after re-jailbreaking. [iPhone Download Blog]
• Zappos launches Android shopping app
  Ever wish you could shop for shoes, clothes, or housewares while you’re on the bus? Now you can. [Android Police]
• Android Injector lets you install non-Market apps on Android
  If you have a phone provider who prevents you from installing apps that aren’t available in the Android Market, Android Injector can help. This free app lets you download an APK installer file to your desktop computer, plug in your phone via a USB connection, and install the app manually. You don’t need to install the Android SDK or root your phone. [xda-developers]

Mobile App News Roundup is a post from: mobiputing

Google Shopper is a mobile app for that lets you search for for the best deals from your phone, either by entering text or scanning a barcode or cover art with your phone’s camera. It comes in handy when you find something in a store that seems a bit overpriced and you want to check and see if you can find a cheaper price online or at a nearby store.

Now you can also use Google Shopper for Android to scan magazine ads and search for feature products. Honestly, this sounds like the sort of upgrade that’s meant to appeal to marketers more than shoppers, but in some way it makes the experience of reading a printed magazined feel a little more like surfing the web. You can’t click a hyperlink on a magazine page to open a new page, but now you can sort of “click” on the ads… with your phone’s camera.

The latest version of Google Shopper also adds support for QR code scanning (in addition to old fashioned barcodes), better filtering, some bug fixes, and new user interface which is a lot more… blue, than the earlier versions. The new UI also shows featured items on the start screen as well as big buttons to start a new search by typing, talking, or scanning. You can also view saved searches that you’ve added a star to, or view your history.

Google Shopper 1.4 is available as a free download from the Android Market.

Google Shopper 1.4 for Android overhauled, now with Magazine ad scanning is a post from: mobiputing

Google has added Sprint to the growing list of wireless providers that support carrier billing for the Android Market. That means Sprint can purchase apps from the android Market and select the “Bill my Sprint account” option to have the charges show up on their monthly phone bill instead of charging a credit card.

Carrier billing options are also available from T-Mobile and AT&T in the US, and SoftBank, KDDI, and NTT DOCOMO in Japan.

Google adds carrier billing from Sprint to the Android Market, is a post from: mobiputing

Mobile apps have a well-deserved reputation for being cheap, with $0.99 to $1.99 being a pretty common price for software that would easily set you back far more on a desktop computer. But if a buck is still to much to pay, you might want to check out App Hunter. It’s a free app that finds popular free apps in the Android Market, and also tracks apps as they go on sale.

For instance, popular racing app Asphalt HD normally runs $4.99, but it’s currently on sale for $0.99. And TurboFly 3D, which normally costs $2.73 is on sale right now for $0.98. Both show up today in the “On Sale” tab in App Hunter.

There’s also a “Hot Free” tab which shows you popular free apps, while New Free shows you a stream of recently released free apps.

That’s really about it for features. App Hunter doesn’t let you search or filter apps in any way. But if you keep an eye on App Hunter you may be able to find some good bargains. When you find an app you want to download, just tap it and App Hunter will open up the download page in the Android Market.

If you’re looking for a similar app for the iPhone, you might want to check out App Shopper, which offers far more features. Unfortunately App Shopper isn’t currently available for Android.

App Hunter is available as a free download from the Android Market for Android 1.6 and up.

Update: AppsFire for Android (and iOS) offers more features, including a list of apps with demos, personalized recommendations, and a search function. But the user interface is also a lot more cluttered.

via Download Squad

App Hunter helps you track Android app price drops, sales is a post from: mobiputing

The bargains come from The Dealmap, which gathers its data from Groupon, LivingSocial, Restaurant.com and other services. If you’re wondering why you should use Bing instead of the Dealmap web site or mobile apps, it’s because the Bing user experience is optimized for mobile and you can use it without installing a single thing on your phone. Just click the Deals button from the Bing mobile web site and let your phone share your location, and a list of local businesses offering deals will appear.

The top of the screen plots the deals on a map, and there’s a drop-down menu letting you sort deals by distance from your current location or expiration date.

You can also use the filters at the top for the page to look for saved deals, nearby deals, or sort by category. And of course, Bing wouldn’t be much of a search engine if you couldn’t  also search for deals by entering keywords in the search box.

Bing Deals is available on most desktop browsers and on mobile browsers on iOS and Android devices. Because the service relies on HTML5, Windows Phone 7 isn’t currently supported. Microsoft’s mobile platform should get an HTML5-capable web browser later this year.

Bing brings local deals to iOS, Android search pages is a post from: mobiputing

Google Shopper is a mobile app that’s been available for Android phones for a while, making it easy to scan an item at the store and see if you can order it cheaper online. Now Google Shopper is also available for the iPhone and iPod touch.

You can use Google Shopper with your device’s camera to scan a barcode or cover art for books, CDs, or DVDs. You can also tap the Voice Search button and tell Google Shopper what item you’re looking for. Or if you want to be old-fashioned about it, you can enter a search query in the text box.

Search results can be sorted by price, relevance, or seller rating. You can add a star to an item to find it again later. And you can check availability at local stores or online shops. Google Shopper also shows you product reviews and other details when available.

Google Shopper is available as a free download from the App Store. Android users can grab the app from the Android Market.

via ReadWriteWeb

Google Shopper now available for iOS is a post from: mobiputing

MasterCard’s ATM Hunter app is a pretty nifty tool that lets you find the closest cash machine based on your location. You can click on any listing for detailed information about the ATM in question including its distance, position on a map, and feature (although there’s no key or legend letting you know what those features are).

Scan to download

The app showed up in the Android Market recently, and while it works pretty well for me in Philadelphia, some users have complained it isnt’ very accurate in other parts of the globe.

But if the user interface doesn’t look like it was designed for Android, that’s because it wasn’t. The free app has been available for iOS for a while, and the Android version looks like a direct port.

That would probably be fine, although the back buttons at the top of the screen are clearly a bit redundant on most Android phones. But the funny thing is that MasterCard forgot to change the product description. The Android Market listing says you can “Find ATMs located around the world with your iPhone’s GPS, by entering an address or an airport location, from wherever you happen to be.” That’s  pretty neat trick if you’re using an Android phone, not an iPhone, isn’t it?

I suspect the product listing will be updated soon. It’d be nice if someone at MasterCard also updates the UI a bit.

Update: The project listing has been updated. It now says “Find ATMs located around the world with your Android’s GPS.” I’m not sure that’s grammatically correct (shouldn’t it be “your Android phone’s GPS?”) but it’s certainly an improvement.

via Android Central

MasterCard launches ATM Hunter for Android, forgets Android isn’t iOS is a post from: mobiputing

Google has pushed out a new version of Shopper, its mobile shopping app. Like earlier versions the new Google Shopper app lets you scan barcodes or cover art to check online prices for an item at a number of stores — possibly saving you from overpaying at the book store or supermarket. You can also search by entering text or do a voice search.

Scan to download

The new version adds additional filter options, so you can sort listings by relevance or price, or filter by price, store, or brand. The release notes say you should also be able to filter by “free shipping,” but I haven’t actually encountered this filter option yet… although it may only be available for some products. For instance, when you search for “iPod,” the only brand that’s available is clearly Apple. But when you search for “SD Card,” the brand filter offers a wide range of options. Maybe I just haven’t searched for an item where Google is aware of free shipping.

There are also a number of bug fixes, and a front page that looks a little more crowded thanks to a banner showing featured products from Google’s partners.

Google Shopper is available as a free download from the Android Market.

Google Shopper for Android lets you filter by free shipping is a post from: mobiputing

The Google Shopper app for Android does a pretty good job of letting  you stroll through the aisles of a store, scan the barcode on a box of cereal and find out if it’s cheaper at another store. But ScanLife is a new app that goes a bit further.

Scan to download

You can use ScanLife’s Android app to scan virtually any barcode or QR code to get more information about a product. The service will then search for online prices for new, used, and refurbished versions of the product. You can also find user reviews, coupons, and other information.

I tried scanning a few items around my house, including an old (but classic) video game box, and even a box of staples. ScanLife had no problem recognizing each item and finding relevant data — although I didn’t notice a lot of reviews.

There’s also a “Related Products” tab, which appears to be a bit of a work in progress. It told me that “Time Out with Britney Spears” was related to my box of staples.

ScanLife is available as a free download from the Android Market, but after you scan a few barcodes, be prepared to fill out a brief survey to keep using the app.

via Android Community

ScanLife scans barcodes to compare prices, find coupons, reviews is a post from: mobiputing

Restaurant and business rating/locating service Yelp rolled out the ability for mobile users to “check in” to locations recently. Now there’s a good reason to actually do that: Yelp has added support for check-in offers. This lets businesses offer discounts, coupons, and other promotions to visitors who check in at their shops.

An updated version of the Yelp app for Android hit the Market yesterday bringing support for check-in offers. When you visit the Check-Ins tab of the app, you’ll now find a list of nearby locations that you can check into — as well as a bar at the bottom of the screen showing a promotion in your vicinity.

Update: Check-in offers are also now available on Yelp’s iOS app.

Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a good way to browse locations by promotion. So you’re stuck looking at that one promotional bar at the bottom of the screen. You can refresh the listing by exiting the Check-Ins section and coming back to see another promotion.

But if there are locations you regularly visit, you’ll be able to see any offers on their Yelp pages with the new Yelp app.

Yelp is hardly the first company to offer this features. Foursquare and Facebook already offer businesses the opportunity to provide offers to customers who check in using their mobile apps.

Yelp adds support for check-in offers is a post from: mobiputing

Dealnews Black Friday App

This app comes from the folks at Dealnews, a bargain-hunting site which also happens to power many of the daily deals on computers and electronics that I post at Liliputing.

When you first fire up the app you’ll see a list of stores. Click on any store to see items which are part of that store’s Black Friday sales.

You can also sift through ads by category or search the site. Once you enter a search term, you can also filter by category or store.

Many of these deals are available online, so when you click on the details page you can click  “Buy Now” button for some items, or save an item to your account. At the bottom of the page you’ll also find buttons that let you share deals via Facebook, Twitter, or Email.

The Black Friday app from Dealnews is available as a free download from the Android Market and the iTunes App Store.

The Dealmap

While the Dealnews app gives you a rather macro view of bargains from all sorts of sources, The Dealmap app lets you know what’s on sale right around you.

When you launch the app, you’ll see a pop-up asking if you want to see Black Friday deals. The app will then show you a map with icons hovering near locations in your area that are running Black Friday promotions. Click on any icon for more information, and then click on Deal Details to share or save the deal, click-through to order the product, or view the address of the store where you can pick up the item.

Dealmap is available for free from the App Store and Android Market.

You can find some more screenshots after the break.

Two mobile apps to help you find Black Friday deals is a post from: mobiputing

Google has launched an updated version of Google Maps for Android. The key new feature is a recommendation engine based on Google’s new Hotpot service.

Scan to download

Here’s how it works. As you use Google Maps to find places (such as restaurants, coffee shops, stores, hotels, and so on), you can now rate places using a new home screen widget. As you rate places, Google will get a sense of your preferences and start offering you personalized results.

Hotpot takes things a step further by letting you share your recommendations with your friends, and vice versa. As you add friends, their recommendations ill start to show up in your search results.

I’m not really all that impressed with the home screen widget, which shows you a list of all sorts of nearby places. If you’re in an area that’s densely packed with stores, restaurants, and other establishments, it can take a while to find the one you actually want to rate using the drop-down list, although you can always resort to searching.

While the new features are only available for Android users today, Google plans to roll out a Places app for iPhone soon which will allow users to rate places and get recommendations. iPhone users can also use the Google web app in their browser.

Google Maps 4.7 is available as a free download from the Android Market and supports Android 1.6 and up.

Google Maps 4.7 for Android adds personalized place recommendations is a post from: mobiputing

While shopping for a new vacuum cleaner this weekend, my wife had a few items that she wanted to look at which had received high marks from Consumer Reports. Unfortunately, the first store we went to didn’t have any of those items in stock, so I whipped out my Nexus One, fired up the Google Shopper App, and used the local search results to see if any nearby stores carried the item we were looking for.

Unfortunately, once we drove to two of the stores on our list, it became clear that Google Shopper’s local search results are not updated in real-time. While Best Buy, Walmart, Target, or another national retailer might carry the item you’re looking for, that doesn’t mean it will be at your local store — and Google Shopper can’t tell the difference.

Milo can.

At least, that’s the promise behind the Milo app, which detects your location when you conduct a search and lets you know which nearby stores actually has the item you’re looking for in stock. We eventually wound up finding a pretty good vacuum, but I wish I had Milo this weekend.

Milo has partnered with stores throughout the US, and has listings for about 50,000 retail stores and 2.8 million products.

You can also check out Milo by using the company’s web-based local shipping service.There’s also a mobile web site which you can use with an iPhone or other smartphone.

The Milo app for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market.

via Lifehacker

Milo Android app shows if items are in stock at nearby stores is a post from: mobiputing

GrubHub is a web-based service that lets users find restaurants that deliver food. The company also offers an iPhone app that lets you search for restaurants by name or cuisine style near your location and either browse menus for online ordering or place a phone call to make an order. Today GrubHub added an Android app to its lineup.

Scan to download

The service currently has listings for about 13,000 restaurants in 13 cities including Boston, Chicago, LA, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington DC.

On the home screen you simply enter an address or hit the “search current location” button, and hit Find restaurants. If you want to filter your search, you can type something in the “what would you like” box, but you don’t have to. You can also filter search results by style of cuisine.

Once you find a listing you like, you can tap it for more details and reviews, or hit the big Call or Order online buttons to either place a phone call or view an interactive menu.

Overall the app works as you’d expect, and I can definitely see how it could come in handy. Unfortunately it’s not without its quirks. For instance, every time you go back to the main screen you’ll have to re-enter your address or hit the current location button. The app doesn’t seem to have any intention of remembering where you were the last time you searched or placed an order. That’s great if you regularly order food from lots of different locations, but a bit annoying if you’re trying to conduct a few searches before deciding what you want for dinner.

GrubHub for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market.

Update: It turns out this is just a public beta. The full version will let users login to access saves preferences including locations and credit card numbers.

GrubHub launches Android app for menus, food delivery is a post from: mobiputing

Out of Milk is a free app for Google Android 1.5 and up that lets you create three different types of lists: Shopping, To Do, and Spice Rack.

Scan to download

The To Do list is probably the simplest of the bunch, letting you create multiple lists with as many items as you like. When you’re done with an item on your list, just tap on it and click “Done.” You can also edit, move, or delete items on your list.

The Shopping list works pretty much the same way — but there’s one killer feature: Support for barcode scanning. Want to add items to your shopping list without taking the time to tap out words on the keyboard? Just scan the barcode on that empty cereal box in your cupboard and Out of Milk will add the item to your list.

The Spice Rack lets you create a list of spices in your cabinet and includes a preloaded list of common spices so you can just pick the ones you have instead of entering them manually.

Out of Milk also lets you share lists by email or SMS.

The only thing keeping me from switching from Astrid to Out of Milk full time is that it currently doesn’t offer a way to synchronize your tasks with an online service such as Remember the Milk.

via xda-developers

Out of Milk for Android makes shopping, to-do lists easy is a post from: mobiputing

At its most basic level, Google Shopper is a price comparison tool for Google Android phones. You can search for products by text, voice, or by scanning a barcode and Shopper will let you know where you can buy the item online or in a local store and how much it will cost you.

Scan to download

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because Shopper also features product reviews, history (for keeping track of the items you lookup, and in the latest version Google has also added related products and YouTube product videos.

You won’t find related products or videos for every item you look up. But when they’re available, videos can definitely give you a better sense of whether you really want to plunk down cash on that particular item, while the related product links will help you find alternatives. For instance, when I searched for the Eee PC 1005PE netbook, Google showed me listings for several other netbooks from Asus, Acer, and HP, with the average reviews and prices listed in the details.

Google Shopper is a free app that’s available for all versions of Android, but you’ll need to be in the US or UK to find relevant product listings.

Google Shopper for Android gets related products, YouTube videos is a post from: mobiputing

Poynt is a mobile application that lets you search for people, movies, and businesses including restaurants and gas stations. The app is location-aware, and makes it easy to search for listings close to your current location.

Poynt originally launched as a BlackBerry app, but it’s now available for Android as well, as a free download from the Android Market.

Scan to download

You can either search for a business by name or type. Or you can use the browsing functions to do things like sift through nearby restaurants by cuisine. Once you find a listing you want more information about you can tap on it to bring up more options — allowing you to place a call, view directions, plot the business on a map, or visit its web site.

Unfortunately the restaurant listings don’t appear to have menus. But if you’re looking for movies you can browse by title or theater. You can browse for gas stations by location or best prices. And there’s even a reverse telephone lookup function that lets you find a business listing by entering the phone number.

The free app is supported by ads in the search results, and you’ll find a fairly large number of sponsored listings in the search results. But you can scroll past them pretty quickly.

You can find more screenshots after the break.

via Android Central

Poynt brings local search to Android is a post from: mobiputing

Google has pushed out an updated version of Google Maps for Android. As the company points out, this is the sixth update in the last six months. The biggest change in the new version is a new Places feature.

You can add a dedicated Places button to your home screen. Tapping on the icon will open the new Places tab in Google Maps, which lets you search for places near your current location. Or you can tap on icons for access to common searches such as Restaurants, Coffee, or Gas Stations. You can also add custom searches to this page.

The update also adds business hours to place pages, as well as other details such as menu links and parking information. You should also see compass information and distance information, letting you know how to get to those nearby places.

Google Maps 4.4 is available for Android 1.6 and up, and you can download the app for free from the Android Market.

Google Maps 4.4 for Android includes a major Places upgrade is a post from: mobiputing

Trying to find something to do this weekend? How about tonight? Goby can help. The app offers up information about all sorts of activities from dining to attending live music concerts to visiting museums or hiking trails. And thanks to the magic of geolocation, Goby will automatically find stuff near you — wherever you are.

Scan to download

Goby covers every city, town, and region in the US, which means that you can find things to do near home or when you’re on the road. You can view results on a map, find phone numbers, and share activities through Twitter, Facebook, and email.

As with most apps of this sort, I’ve found that Goby is pretty good — but not perfect. For instance, when I searched for vegetarian restaurants, the closest it found to my home is 0.5 miles away — even though I live just a two minute walk from an excellent vegetarian sandwich shop. Your results may vary.

The app is available as a free download for the iPhone and iPod touch, and Goby recently launched a fee app for Google ANdroid as well. You can download it by scanning the barcode to the right.

Goby helps you find stuff to do in your neighborhood is a post from: mobiputing

A few months ago eBay launched an Android app for tracking auctions, making bids, and doing most of the things you’d expect to do with a mobile eBay application. The only problem is that it was limited to US residents. This week eBay took its Android app international, making it available in Australia, Canada, and the UK.

All available versions of the app support making payments through PayPal, searching for items by voice, leaving feedback, and viewing your “My eBay” information.

The company also announced that both of its iPad apps are now available internationally. The eBay Selling app is now ready for download in Germany and the UK, while the eBay for iPad app is available translated into French, Italian, German, and Spanish and available for download from iTunes in 77 countries.

via TechCrunch

eBay launches Android, iPad apps internationally is a post from: mobiputing

The PriceGrabber web site lets you search for the best prices on all sorts of items ranging from gadgets to furniture. Now you can do the same thing on an Android phone with the new PriceGrabber App.

PriceGrabber indexes thousands of online retailers, so when you enter a search term the app can show you prices at a number of stores — allowing you to find the store with the best price, or if money is no object, then the store that you trust the most.

In addition to using the search bar, you can also hit the menu button and select Barcode to scan an item’s barcode. Say you’re in a store and want to know if you can find a better deal on that item you’re holding in your hand. Just grab your phone, scan the barcode, and figure out whether you’re getting a good deal.

If all of this sounds familiar… that’s because so far I haven’t described anything that’s in the PriceGrabber app that’s not also available from the Google Shopper app — also available as a free download from the Android Market. But PriceGrabber’s app does have one feature that sets it apart — a Gift Shaker.

Here’s how it works. You select a category (Books, Auto Parts, Cameras, etc) and a price range ($ to $$$$). Then you shake the phone or pull the on-screen lever and PriceGrabber will find an item that meets your criteria and show you prices at several stores. Odds are you’re not going to actually find any gifts this way… unless you really wanted a $13 book on weatherization and insulation and PriceGrabber just happened to know that. But it’s a neat time-waster that’s a bit like windows shopping across a few thousand shops at once.

PriceGrabber also offers mobile apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

via Android Guys

PricerGrabber launches Android app for comparison shopping is a post from: mobiputing

Yelp has released a major update to its mobile restaurant search and review app for Google Android. Like the original Yelp app, Yelp 2.0 for Android lets you search for businesses based on your location, read reviews, bookmarks sites, and do pretty much everything you can do on the Yelp web site except for writing reviews (because Yelp doesn’t want short messages filled with typos). But Yelp 2.0 also adds a few new features that make the mobile app truly mobile.

Scan to download

First up, there’s a new augmented reality feature called Monocle. When you click the Monocle button from the main menu, a screen will pop up showing you the view from your phone’s camera. Point your phone in any direction to start seeing restaurants, bars, or other businesses near you. The snippets show names, types of cuisine, distances, and average reviews. Click on any snippet to open the Yelp page for that business.

There’s also a new “Check-In” feature, which puts Yelp in competition with Foursquare, Gowalla, and other sites that let you compete with other users to see who uses the local Starbucks most often. I’m not really sold on the whole check-in experience at the moment, but as more and more businesses start offering coupons and other perks to customers who check in on a regular basis, I guess this feature could come in handy.

Yelp’s iPhone app already has both the Monocle and Check-Ins features, so the new update isn’t so much revolutionary as it is a step toward making Yelp’s iPhone and Android apps equal.

Yelp 2.0 for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market.

Yelp 2.0 for Android adds augmented reality, check-ins is a post from: mobiputing

Google’s on a roll. Hot on the heels of a Google Maps for Android update, the Google Mobile folks have rolled out a new version of Google Shopper. The app was already one of the best comparison shopping tools around, letting you search for product prices online by snapping a photo of a barcode or cover art or by entering a search term or using the voice search feature.

Scan to download

Now Google Shopper 1.1 ups the ante with local store search. That means you’re not just limited to seeing if that dishwasher detergent you’re looking at is cheaper online than in the supermarket… you can actually see if it’s cheaper at the drug store down the street. Tap on a local store listing and a screen pops up asking if you want to get directions, turn by turn navigation, view the location no a map, view the store web site, or place a phone call.

The new version of Google Shopper also adds support for UK merchants and prices, and a new links section with links to IMDB, Wikipedia, and other internet sites where you can get more information about products.

Google Shopper is available as a free download from the Android Market.

Google Shopper for Android adds local store search, UK merchants is a post from: mobiputing

Layar’s Reality Browser is an augmented reality app for Android and iPhone that lets you find real-world stuff by looking through you’re phone’s camera. Basically, you point your phone in a direction and choose the layer you want to use, and Reality Browser will show you icons for nearby restaurants, Twitter users, or just about anything else that can be plotted geographically.

Today Layar is rolling out version 3.5 of its Reality Browser. The new version doesn’t wait for you to open a layer or enter a search term. When you first launch Layar Reality Browser 3.5, the app will show you points of interest that are near you.

For instance, I installed the new version this morning and when I first launched it, Layar showed me a few local cafes and pubs, a Wikipedia entry for architect Louis Kahn, and tweets from Twitter users within a few hundred meters of my house.

The data is drawn from some of the most popular layers available to Reality Browser users. You can also still manually apply a layer find upcoming eents in your neighborhood, crime reports, apartments for rent, or other information.

Layar Reality Browser 3.5 is already available for download from the Android Market. The updated iPhone app should be available soon.

You can find more screenshots after the break.

Layar updates its Reality Browser, makes finding real-world stuff easier is a post from: mobiputing

PayPal on an iPhone app

PayPal has introduced a new Mobile Payments Library for Google Android, which developers can incorporate into their apps. In other words, say you’re using an eBook reader or music player on Android and it offers the ability to search or browse for new books or music. If the developer used the API, you’ll be able to check out using PayPal.

The solution isn’t quite as elegant as Apple’s method for conducting in-app transactions. Basically if you purchase media while using an app on an iPhone, you’re billed the same way you would be billed if you downloaded media or an app from the iTunes Store. But using PayPal will offer developers a way to take cash or credit card payments easily just by signing up for a PayPal account.

Of course, Google and your wireless carrier dont’ get a cut of the action this way, but PayPal does.

PayPal’s mobile payment library is also available for iPhone OS developers.

via MobileCrunch

PayPal launches support for in-app payments on Google Android is a post from: mobiputing

There are a number of Android apps that make it easy to keep track of your expenses, organize them by category, and even compare them with a budget or keep track of the money in your bank account. But over the last few years, one of my favorite Windows Mobile Apps has been a dead-simple expense tracker called Expense Diary, so I was looking for something similarly easy to use for Android when I happened upon Hello Expense.

Scan to download

Hello Expense definitely has a few more bells and whistles than Expense Diary. But at its core, it’s a simple app that lets you jot down your expenses and keep track of them. It can come in handy whether you’re the sort of person that likes to track all of your expenses, or if you’re just on a business trip for the weekend and want to make sure to document your deductible spending.

The main screen allows you to enter a dollar amount, a date, and a memo. You can also set up different expense categories and choose one for each item you enter.

Then you can view your expenses by week, month, or category — or just look at all of your expenses on one page.

Hello Expense is available as a free download from the Android Market. You can scan the image to the right for a download link.

More pictures after the break.

Hello Expense: Free expense tracker for Android is a post from: mobiputing

You may have noticed that I frequently post QR codes/barcodes when writing about Android programs. That’s because they’re the easiest way to give you a sort of download link for Android apps. While I can give you a link to an iPhone app which you can use to download the program using iTunes, there is no desktop client for Android. But using a barcode scanner, you can just point your camera at a QR code on your computer screen to open up the Android Market page for that app.

All you need is an Android phone with a camera and a barcode scanning application. One of my favorites is the cleverly-titled, Barcode Scanner from ZXing Team. It’s available as a free download from the Android Market and works with all versions of Android.

mobiputing.com

In addition to QR codes, Barcode scanner lets you scan the barcodes on books, CDs, or other products. It also features integration with Google Shopper which makes it easy to compare prices, or you can just search Google for more information about products.

But back to QR codes, all you have to do is fire up the Barcode Scanner app and point your camera at your computer screen when you see a QR code. Barcode Scanner will recognize what kind of code it’s looking at and provide you with the option to open the link in a browser — which will automatically take you to the android Market where you can download the app. You can also share links via email or SMS.

Looking for a way to create your own QR code? Smarterware‘s Gina Trapini suggest using Kaywa’s QR-Code Generator which lets you encode a URL, phone number, SMS, or up to 250 characters of text as a QR code.

For instance, you can scan the QR code on the right to visit the mobiputing home page.

Update: Google recently launched a web-based version of the Android Market. Most users can visit market.android.com in a desktop web browser, sign in with their Google account, and send software directly to their phones by clicking a button. This doesn’t completely make QR codes and barcode scanners obsolete though.

First, there are already thousands of web sites with QR codes on them, and I don’t expect anyone to go through and manually update all the links. But more importantly, QR codes aren’t just for download apps. They can also be used to let you open a web site, view pictures, or explore other data with your phone.

QR codes are also used for downloading apps for other platforms such as Windows Phone 7.

If you’re looking for places beside the Google Android Market to download apps you might want to check out our list of 18 places to download Android apps.

How to scan QR codes to download Android apps is a post from: mobiputing

Google has rolled out a new feature for its mobile shipping site: Now you can tell if the items you’re looking for are in stock at partnering stores near your location.

The feature only works in the US. But if you’re in the States and you happen to have a iPhone, Android, or WebOS phone, here’s how it works. Just fire up your mobile browser and navigate to google.com. Click the “more” button and select “shopping” and enter a search term.

If the item you’re looking for is available in a nearby store, you should see a little blue dot in the search results. Right now Google has a small list of retailers signed up, including Best Buy, Sears, Pottery Barn, West Elm, and Williams-Sonoma. But I have a feeling Google will be adding new partners soon.

Google Shopping for mobile makes it easier to find in-stock items near you is a post from: mobiputing