'Google Now' with voice search is now available for Android ICS 4.0

Google Now, the latest voice search and personalize application from Android, has been in the news till it released. The application was developed to use in Android Jelly Bean. Since then developers were trying to make it compatible with the most used Android version, IceCream Sandwich. Now the result is out and ICS gets Google Now.

The application became so popular that there were videos out showing 'Google Now' beating Apple's Siri in performance. The application is very much user friendly and fast responsive to voice commands. The update also bears the same features. Senior members from www.xda-developers.com has released the apk file and the steps for installing the application. This post brings up those details below.

Instructions and Downloads


**The device must be running on ICS 4.0

For ARMv7 devices

There are four separate apks that each serve a different purpose. You may choose to use these with either the ARMv7 or ARMv6 (at your own risk). The ARMv7 instructions link above has all of these availbale as flashable zips.

1.) Auto launch, double take, & no blank screen version. This version has the double take problem but eliminatees the invisible/distorted screen problem, and it has auto launch working sometimes. 

2.) No double take & no blank screen version. This version does not show the card results twice (double take) and also the invisible or distorted search results. The problem with it is that it eliminates the auto launch feature.

3.) No double take version. This version does not show the card results twice (double take), and the auto launch function works properly. The problem with it is that when search results show up, you may need to move your finger on the screen to get it to show up, other wise they look distorted or simplay are invisible.

4.) mikeyxda's APK Version 1. This version resolves the double take, invisible screen, and auto launch problems, but sometimes the cards don't show up.

5.) mikeyxda APK version 2. This version resolves the double take, invisible screen, and auto launch problems. Sometimes the red mic screen doesn't show up. To fix it, press the normal mic, then hit menu > refresh to bring back the red mic. That's should get everything back to normal.



For ARMv6 Devices

1.) Rename GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk in system/app to GoogleQuickSearchBox.bak

2.) Rename the "Velvet-Thes0o-5.apk" that you downloaded ( http://www.mediafire.com/?hbtjvbzwbbaf3yj ) to: "GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk" 

3.) Place the renamed .apk in the system/app folder and set the permissions to rw-r-r

4.) Reboot

OR

1.) Rename GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk in system/app to GoogleQuickSearchBox.bak

2.) Try to install the downloaded .apk off your sd just like any other .apk

OR

1.) Download and Flash (http://goo.gl/svDEF) through recovery -- AOSP ONLY


Voice Instructions for ARMv6

1.) Download the "Voice Search for Google Now!" app from the download link below

2.) Either open up the app, hold down search or tap on the dedicated widget that comes with the app to launch the voice search

3.) The app will use ICS's voice-to-text engine to get your answer, and then enter it into the Google Now v5 app from before. All you have to do is hit enter and then congrats, you've got working voice search!

4.) Check back at Jonny_G's thread for the latest information and updates. 
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1770100

Downloads

**copy and paste the link in address bar

• APK Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?hbtjvbzwbbaf3yj 
• ZIP Download: http://goo.gl/svDEF-- AOSP ONLY
• Voice App Download:  https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11388416/GoogleNowVoiceSearch.apk 

what is Working:
-It boots!
-searching through the text-box works
-location services work
-info cards work
-notifications work without modifying build.prop
-Voice now works through Jonny_G's app

what is Not working:
-Can't exit the app using the back button on the Google Now 'Cards' screen
-Full Jelly Bean voice search

Sources

• http://www.xda-developers.com
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1747224
• http://www.xda-developers.com/android/google-now-with-voice-search-finally-working-on-ics/
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=29756226&postcount=2856

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Jelly Bean : Android Gets Better

Android, the most popular mobile platform gets even better with the latest pin up, Jelly Bean. Jelly Bean 4.1 is the fastest and smoothest version of android ever. Android have been improving through out its dream run and so in Jelly bean, reports say.

Androids most popular version IceCream Sandwich has seen some of the amazing phones ever in it, including Galaxy S2, Galaxy Note and finally the one that amazed the world , Galaxy S3. Now its time for Jelly Bean. Reports says the Jelly Bean updates for popular smart phones are ready for release. 

We will come up with updates, stay connected to our rooting section.

Key Features

• Vsync timing across all drawing and animation done by the Android framework, including application rendering, touch events and display refresh

• Triple buffering in the graphics pipeline

• Enhanced accessibilit

• Bi-directional text and other language support

• User-installable keyboard maps

• Smarter Keyboard

• Automatically resizable app widgets

• Bluetooth data transfer for Android Beam

• Offline voice dictation

• Improved voice search

• Google Now

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Google Launches Music Blog Magnifier

Google Launches A Music Blog To Remind People That Google Music Beta Still Exists. Music blogs operate on a shoestring budget. Not so Google Magnifier, unveiled by the search advertising giant on Wednesday afternoon to help music fans discover music, learn more about the bands they like, and add free tracks to their Music Beta by Google lockers.

Yes, Google has entered the content business. While it has collaborated with Arcade Fire, Danger Mouse, and others on HTML5 videos, and with U2 and other bands on YouTube concerts, Google Magnifier looks to be a straight-up music blog — albeit with a few Google-y twists.

Edited by digital music veteran Tim Quirk — the former senior vice-president of Rhapsody and current head of global content programming for Google Android – Magnifier will deliver “great music and the people who make it, including videos of live performances, interviews with artists, explorations of different musical genres and free songs that you can add to your Music Beta collection.”

Today, visitors to the site can grab two free tracks from My Morning Jacket — similar to the way MP3 blogs offer songs for free, except you can sideload every track on Magnifier directly into your Google music locker without the hassle of downloading and then re-uploading the tracks. You can stream everything in your account to up to eight devices, including Android smartphones and tablets and Google TV, for free.
Magnifier also plays nicely with another new Google product, the Google+ social network. Readers won’t notice any of the usual Twitter and Facebook sharing buttons. Instead, the only built-in sharing option is to rate a post “+1″ on Google+. In a sense, this fills in the missing social piece of Music Beta by Google, which the company confirmed last week had no ties “yet” to its social network. The two are connected now, sort of, because people can share tracks with friends as they add them to their lockers.

We did a double-take upon learning that Google — a company that just more than doubled its size with its purchase of Motorola — was starting, of all things, a music blog.
But the move makes sense on at least two levels. People looking for great free music handpicked by Quirk — who really is an expert, having programmed music for Rhapsody back when it was still called Listen.com — and his team will find that in order to stream that music, they’ll need to create a Music Beta by Google account. This will encourage people to sign up for a free account, which can store up to 20,000 songs.

This music blog also adds a valuable discovery layer to what would otherwise be a generic music locker, just like the others. The danger with any service like Music Beta by Google is that plenty of users — possibly even the majority — might register for the free version and never return, but Magnifier gives them multiple reasons per day to use it.

 

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Google features gamming on Google+

Google today announced a gaming element for Google+, the social network the company launched at the end of June. The new offering lets Google+ users play games from within the social network, including some that can be played with other Google+ users.
Some of the launch games include Rovio's Angry Birds, PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz, and Zynga's Poker. It's a tiny collection compared to what's offered on Facebook, which has made a booming business by offering social games that players can click away at while remaining within the social network's walls.
According to Google engineering director David Glazer, the initial batch of games was intentionally kept small so as to "get the kinks out of our APIs." Glazer said Google would be adding more developers and features "in small steps" ahead of a public release.
The release comes just a few weeks after a Google+ help page cropped up detailing a "Games Stream." Before that, snippets of site code were discovered that mentioned game invites, along with a Google Games logo that was being hosted behind the scenes. In addition, a Google job posting sought a product manager for a "brand-new business" called "Games at Google."
When will users get access to games? In a post announcing the feature, Vic Gundotra, Google's senior vice president of engineering, said that the feature is being opened up to the Google+ community "gradually" and that everyone would be getting it "soon." The social network itself remains invite only, requiring users to sign up for access as Google expands what it's called a "field trial."
To combat game-related score updates from clogging up user feeds, Google says people will only see updates if they play games on the service, keeping those who don't from seeing them at all.
"If you're not interested in games, it's easy to ignore them. Your stream will remain focused on conversations with the people you care about," Gundotra wrote.
Facebook offered a similar tweak to its own news feed late last year after noting that "tens of millions" of wall posts related to applications were being deleted by users who no longer wanted to see them. Both that and Google's approach keep it more limited based on the audience.
In related news, Facebook is said to be planning to announce updates to its gaming platform tonight.
Google+ hit 25 million users last week according to a report from ComScore. That report pegged Google's current growth rate at about 1 million users per day, growing at a faster rate than both Facebook and Twitter in each of those service's early years

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Google to Buy Motorola Mobility

Since its launch in 2007, Android has not only dramatically increased consumer choice but also improved the entire mobile experience for users. Today, more than 150 million Android devices have been activated worldwide--with over 550,000 devices now lit up every day--through a network of about 39 manufacturers and 231 carriers in 123 countries. Given Android's phenomenal success, we are always looking for new ways to supercharge the Android ecosystem. That is why I am so excited today to announce that we have agreed to acquire Motorola.

Motorola has a history of over 80 years of innovation in communications technology and products, and in the development of intellectual property, which have helped drive the remarkable revolution in mobile computing we are all enjoying today. Its many industry milestones include the introduction of the world's first portable cell phone nearly 30 years ago, and the StarTAC--the smallest and lightest phone on earth at time of launch. In 2007, Motorola was a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance that worked to make Android the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. I have loved my Motorola phones from the StarTAC era up to the current DROIDs.
In 2008, Motorola bet big on Android as the sole operating system across all of its smartphone devices. It was a smart bet and we're thrilled at the success they've achieved so far. We believe that their mobile business is on an upward trajectory and poised for explosive growth.
Motorola is also a market leader in the home devices and video solutions business. With the transition to Internet Protocol, we are excited to work together with Motorola and the industry to support our partners and cooperate with them to accelerate innovation in this space.
Motorola's total commitment to Android in mobile devices is one of many reasons that there is a natural fit between our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers everywhere.
This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform. Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android's success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences.
We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one recent patent auction to "protect competition and innovation in the open source software community" and it is currently looking into the results of the Nortel auction. Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google's patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

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Google to get Motorola for $12.5 billion

The internet search giant is into the handset business. Google announced the they are going to by Motorola. Google said it would pay $40 a share in cash for Motorola, a 63 percent premium to the company's closing price on Friday.
The deal shakes up the Android world. For the first time, Google will have a direct hand in the mobile business that it has fostered from a distance. While it provides the Android software critical to running millions of smartphones and tablets, it has yet to get into the design and manufacturing business itself, aside from a few experimental models with handset partners such as HTC and Samsung Electronics.

Motorola, along with HTC, was a major early supporter of Android. Chief Executive Sanjay Jha scrapped the company's other projects and focused solely on Android, which paid off immensely when Verizon Wireless chose its original Droid to push as its hero phone during the 2009 holiday season. The company more recently had a flagship phone come out with the Atrix for AT&T, which Chief Executive Randall Stephenson used at one point, and also partnered with Sprint Nextel. Last month, it reported stronger second-quarter results, and hinted at a stronger fourth quarter.
But the company has struggled recently. While the Atrix featured heavy promotional support from AT&T, it wasn't a breakout hit. Its first tablet, the Xoom, failed to make a dent in the market, even after a price cut. And the company's long-delayed Droid Bionic for Verizon Wireless isn't expected until next month. The 4G capability for its Xoom is still unavailable despite hyping the feature at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
Google Chief Executive Larry Page said on a conference call that Motorola will be run as a separate unit of the company.
Google, however, attempted to maintain its neutral stance in Android land even after the deal.
"Our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community," said Andy Rubin, senior vice president of mobile at Google. "We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices."

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