Google today took the lid of an update for its Windows Mobile YouTube app, taking it up to Version 2.4 and bringing a few new features online.

There are now search suggestions (which you see above), along with "My Account" settings and a new homescreen that's redesigned for larger screens.

Head on over to m.youtube.com/app to download the latest version. [Google Mobile]

Synerge Tech Solutions has released Google Analytics Mobile. As the name implies, Google Analytics Mobile allows you to access your web site's Google Analytic's data directly from your Windows Phone. For those not familiar with Google Analytics, it is a program that tracks your website activity ranging from the number of visits to where your site visitors are located (geographic regions).

Google Analytics Mobile connects directly with Google's servers and offers the data in table, chart or graph forms. The mobile app also has the ability to generate reports from the data in Google Analytics. Synerge Tech Solutions is offering Google Analytics for $4.99 and it is available at the Synerge website.

Read: wmpoweruser.com 

For those of you syncing your Gmail and such using Google Sync, you’ve probably noticed that it hasn’t been feeling like itself the last couple days (not the first time). According to Google’s Mobile Help Forum, the issue stems from an extended problem with one of Google’s datacenters.

This problem only affects users running Google Sync, meaning a manual update should allow you to reach your data just fine. It’s also worth noting that this only seems to be a problem for Windows Mobile, iPhone, and S60 devices. Also those of you using a third party tool such as the SEVEN Beta, PushEffect, or XImapPusher to get your Gmail should be immune.

[via the::unwired]

Google has given their mobile synchronization a little more gusto by adding the ability to remotely wipe all data from your Windows phone, lock idle devices, and password access for each phone. These improvements are only for the Google Apps Premier and Educational customers.  So those of us who use Google Sync won't be able to enjoy these features.

Google may very well be setting the stage for businesses to choose Google Apps over the more costly Microsoft Exchange. Google has even set up a costs savings calculator on the Google Apps website.  The administrative features are also available for those using iPhones and Nokia E series phones.

Read: googlmobile.blogspot.com

Today, Google announced its new service called Google Buzz. Think of combining Twitter, Google Latitude and Gmail and you have Buzz.

Actually, if you've been using FourSquare...it's exactly like that. We're not saying it's not nice, just it's not really new. It is certainly an interesting move on Google's part though not unexpected. In fact, Larry Dignan at ZDNet thinks Google's real target here is Microsoft's Sharepoint.

What hath Microsoft to say?

“Busy people don’t want another social network, what they want is the convenience of aggregation. We’ve done that. Hotmail customers have benefitted from Microsoft working with Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and 75 other partners since 2008.”

We're not sure pushing Hotmail (isn't it Live Mail now guys?) is the way to go, but at least they're adamant about it.  We guess.

Regardless, Windows Mobile users are the first to get this with Google Maps 4.0 which was just released this afternoon. Rejoice!

As seen from the screenshots, you can add Buzz as a Layer to your maps. It ties in nicely with Latitude for your location by bringing up popular businesses and locations of interest near you.  You can then simply select the location, write a few comments and even add a picture for others to see.  Still confused? Check out Google's own video tutorial for more info.

Overall, it's quite nice, even if it apes FourSquare and since people would rather not sign up for yet-another-service, we'll place out bets with Google.

And yes, My Location/Latitude appears to be now fixed with CDMA.

Read more on Google Buzz here.  

Download the new Google Maps for Windows Mobile at m.google.com from your Mobile Internet Explorer.

Has anyone else noticed that they can't sync Google Gmail via Activesync over the past few days? At first I thought it was just me but soon came to find that the "Error Synchronization" message was being displayed on other Windows phones.

The official error code is 0x8600050c (Communications Error) and in looking over at Google Mobile's Help Forum, there are a few solutions available.

The first suggestion is to delete the current Exchange Server relationship and re-create it. Another solution suggests to un-check the email option in Activesync, reboot the phone, re-check the email option and sync.  The latter seems to have the most success.

We couldn't find anything official from Google on the cause of these errors or of a "official" solution. If we hear of anything we'll pass it on.

Of all the other smartphones and all the other operating systems we've looked at over the course of the third annual Smartphone Round Robin, none is as similar to Windows Mobile as Android. That's a little odd, as Windows Mobile at its core is rapidly aging, and Android is one of the newest players of the bunch. But it's true.

With Windows Mobile you get a high customizable operating system, with myriad options available to manufacturers, carriers, modders and end-users. We're constantly preaching the benefit of custom ROMs, chopped up from official releases and recompiled into smaller, faster packages. Android? Same thing. It's available on most major carriers, in several form factors (though front-facing QWERTY keyboards haven't really materialized), and with multiple versions of the operating system.

So is Android merely Windows Mobile's brother by another mother? Will its rapidly rising market share (and mind share) swallow up Windows Mobile and everyone else in its way? Let's talk about that a little after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

We assume you've heard the whole China-Google-IE6 debacle that's going on, along with the the Apple-Google falling out, so it really comes of no surprise that Microsoft is using this opportunity to edge Bing over Google search.

In fact the rumor du jour is that Apple is seriously considering replacing Google search as their default search engine on the iPhone with Bing.  And why not?  Bing has turned out to be a big hit for Microsoft, which is no small feat considering the competition.

We expect as Google gets bigger and more powerful this will happen more often. How long do you think Firefox will continue their relationship with Google and Chrome? We've also heard recent inside report that some OEMs are not happy with Google and the Nexus One for obvious reasons.

Sure if Microsoft pulls this off, it's partially because they're a pawn, but a win is a win in business. Plus the better Bing does, the more money Microsoft can sink into fixing our Bing for Mobile 5.0 application, ahem.

[Businessweek via The iPhone Blog]

Don't know if you've heard the latest comments made by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, but in a recent interview he stated "I think judgment matters,...If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

This drew a huge negative reaction from privacy proponents and the Google backlash received some more momentum. Combined with controversial Rupert Murdoch's threat to de-list themselves from Google (due to Google profiting off of Fox New's reporting) and Microsoft literally stepping in and offering them a better deal and we're getting odd bed fellows.

Here's one more.

Asa Dotzler, Mozilla's director of community development, on his personal blog has now linked to Bing and appears to be urging Firefox's development away from Google as their default search engine. We'll leave the details of the Google and Firefox alliance to the great article at ArsTechnica, but this raises the question:

Has the age of Bing begun?  Does Microsoft actually stand a chance to beat Google on their own turf?

What's your personal preference on your Windows phone: Google or Bing for search?  Take theh poll and sound off in comments on your reasons why and what you think about Google's ever-expanding dominance in your personal information management.

Google has once again taken the lead in innovation by rolling out their QR code based 'Favorite Places on Google'.

A QR code, seen above, is a 2D tag system that is gaining popularity as the standard for matrix codes.  Google is sending out decal codes to 100,000 local businesses that are the most searched on Google.  In turn, they can place these decals in their store front.  When a tech-savvy (and probably Android wielding) customer walks by, they can scan the code and pull down coupons, information, reviews, etc.

Pretty brilliant.

The question is where is Microsoft on this front? A few years ago they had a QR development program called 'Windows Live Barcode', later renamed 'Confucius'. It then vanished and presumably reappeared as 'MS Tag' which is now a proprietary matrix code system, albeit a very nice one. However, QR code support is gone.

There are really nice third-party alternatives right now for Windows phone, specifically 'BeeTag' (download here) which works flawlessly on our Touch Pro 2 (give it a shot, scan the above QR code). But in order for Microsoft to at least match what Google is now doing, they'll have to put QR code support back into MS Tag, something we hope they will do. Furthermore, can MS Tag survive up against QR now that Google is actually deploying it?

On another front, Google is also now offering 'Google Goggles': a visual identification and search program for Android (see demo here).  PC World has confirmed with Google that "other platforms" are planned but no time-frame is given. In the meantime, Microsoft and Bing, we await your response.