Having released the first version of the mobile platform Android SDK, Google has announced Android Developer Challenge - a competition for developers. The competitions will be held in 2 parts: at the beginning of the next year and at its end, when first Googlephone will be available for purchase.

The total prize fund will make $10 million. The best developers who will take part will get from $25 000 to $ 275 000. According to the experts the current version of SDK shows that the company is planning to become a trusted player on the mobile market.

One week after the announce of the mobile platform Google published the initial version of Software Development Kit, SDK, which can be downloaded now and free. At the same time the company announced the competition with the prize fund of $10 mln.

Sergey Brin, the president and the founder of Google, says:

“We’ve already created a number of applications for the platform Android, but they leave much to desire. The best applications must be designed by independent developers. We would like to reward such authors and support them as much as we can.”

Some of the applications will be preinstalled on the forthcoming Googlephones which are planned to be released in the seconds part of 2008.

The competitions will be help in two separate stages: Android Developer Challenge I and II.

The first stage will be held on January 2 to March 3, 2008. The jury will be made up of experienced developers and the members of the group Open Handset Alliance founded on November 5, 2007. The jury will choose 50 developers who will be given a chance to participate in the 2nd stage that will be held on May 1, 2008.

The top 10 developers will get $275 000 each, and the next 10 - $100 000 each. The best products will be announced at the end of the May of 2008.

According to the official representatives of Google, the current version of SDK is the initial. It means that in the near future we’ll se a number of beta-versions and the final release. The current SDK features the means of development, libraries, documentation, demonstration projects and great volumes of basic info. Moreover, SDK features API (Application Programming Interface) for the usage of local services, sending sound and video. According to the documentation the Googlephones to come will work in the GSM/EDGE networks of the 2 and 3 generations plus Wi-Fi. SDK can be access though a Windows, Mac OS X or Linux powered PC.

According to the experts, the contest is a wise and well-considered step by Google which is likely to draw attention to the new open platform. Taking into consideration the variety of technologies described in the initial version of SDK, one can conclude that Google plans to enter the market competition as a serious and strong player.

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Your employer has just given you a costly phone? Don’t get fooled, he might intend to spy on you with the help of the device!

All the kinds of spyware, bugs and navigators have on the market for quite a long time. But now spying is getting even easier.

If you want to spy on your lover or subordinate, all you have to do is to download the new application KoolTrax. It is not an expansive application and moreover has only reuirement – a phone with Windows OS and GPS.

Let’s see how it works. First you have to install the application BlueMap on your PC, and KoolTrax - on the phone you want to spy on. Ob the screen of the PC mark the borders which the owner of the phone mustn’t cross. That’s it – you are ready for spying. The moment the lover/subordinate is beyond the marked area you get a mail, SMS or a message on your PC. As you see, it is simple.

If you cannot afford to buy a phone with GPS for every employee, don’t get disappointed. At the moment the developers are working on the Java version of the application. In a short time the application will be made available for everybody. Look out, you spongers and truants!

By the way, the Japan company Takahashi has released anti-soliciting mobile software. The application has been created for avoiding “playful hands” on trains. After pressing a special button the app shows 3 messages on the screen of your phone:

1. Sorry, did you just touch me?
2. Soliciting is a crime
3. Why not go to the nearest police station?

If a girl wants to avoid the ado and scandal, she can simply show the criminal the screen of her phone!

If you think that the problem of “playful hands” is ridiculous you’d better not be that confident! In 2005 the Japan police arrested over 2000 criminals who solicited women on trains. And that is just the cases that were reported to the police!

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Nokia is working on the promising technology that Haptikos. The development, which as been going on for 10 years already, is finally entering its final stages. The new technology will enable the production of sensor displays with tactile feedback when the text is entered. This technology might be the death for average keypads.

At the moment vibrations is used for the feedback. Nokia’s new technology will enable real feedback from the sensor display of the device. To put it simply, your fingers will have the feeling of an average PC keypad while working with a virtual keypad. Yes, you will feel so familiar pushes and clicks!

Roope Takala, the leading manager in Nokia’s  research lab, says that the technology that lies in the heart of the invention is not that complicated. 2 mini piezoelectric sensors are placed under the surface of the sensor display. The purpose of the sensors is to feel the oscillation of the display (with the amplitude of 0.1 mm) and produce the feedback. But such a simple technology raises the question: why did it take over 10 years to invent such a keypad? The major part of the time was taken to tune the display so that the feedback is caused be every single touch on the keypad.

The problem of closing the technology Haptikos to perfection is the way our fingers feel. While typing the fingers experience 2 kinds of feelings – from pressing a button and its back movement. Both these feelings are enabled by the new Nokia’s technology. It seems that the developers have coped with the task successfully: when pressing the buttons of a virtual keypad on the sensor display (Internet- plane-table plane-table was used as a pre-production model) the first investigators were feeling the same as when using an average keypad. When they pressed any button they felt the familiar click and the movement of the button. As the investigators pointed out it was hard to believe that you type on a sensor display, but not on a keypad.

The first platform to be installed with Haptikos will be Nokia S60. Some sources say that Nokia will realize the technology in the forthcoming Nokia S60 Touch phone. At the moment a team of developers is working on the feedback in graphic editors and scrolling.

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