Google has confirmed today that their impressive image recognition app Goggles will soon be made available on the Apple iPhone.

Goggles has been available to Android 1.6+ users for a few months now.

iPhone users have been stuck with a similar app dubbed oMoby, but reviewers agree the software is slow and inaccurate.

Google recently updated Goggles to support text recognition and text translation, but that part of the software is still very buggy.

Regardless, as Goggles continues to update, it is best to see it on as many devices as possible, so feedback can come from a wider market.

You can read more about Goggles here: http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/#text

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Last week we reported that Foxconn was raising worker salaries 30 percent amidst a flood of worker suicides at their Chinese factory.

The company, probably best known for manufacturing the Apple iPhone among tons of other electronics we use daily, has been massively criticized for its working conditions, and low wages.

Today, Foxconn has announced that they will be raising worker wages, a second time.

On top of the basic salary hike of 30 percent, workers can conditionally make 70 percent beginning in October.

"While overtime work was always voluntary, this wage increase will reduce overtime work as a personal necessity," says Foxconn.

Until last week, workers had been making Ұ900 ($132) per month. Now, workers can make up to Ұ2000 ($293) per month if they pass a 3-month performance test.

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According to Japan's Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association (CESA), piracy on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP has cost the industry $41.6 billion USD since June 2004.

The group began conducting research in June 2004 and ended in late 2009.

Research was done by tracking the downloading done of the top 20 software titles in Japan from 114 piracy sites.

CESA says that amounted to $10.4 billion in piracy losses, and the region accounts for 25 percent of the entire global software market so the total posted above was Japan's "losses," multiplied by four.

The report says P2P networks like Gnutella were not included, and says the $41.6 billion number may actually be conservative.

In the world, the U.S. was the "busiest region" for piracy, followed by Japan and then China.

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The HTC EVO 4G has broken Sprint's one-day sales record for a phone, says the carrier, which is the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S.

Running the Android operating system and boasting impressive specs, the smartphone is expected to have sold 320,000 units on June 4th, the day the device launched.

The estimate comes from research firm FBR Capital Markets who says Sprint likely saw 100,000 new customers and 220,000 upgrades. Sprint did not confirm the numbers.

Sprint was quick to boast about the 4G capabilities of the phone, saying users could stream World Cup matches live, with no lag.

Under the hood is a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB ROM, 512MB RAM, a 1500 mAh battery and an 8GB microSD card. The device has a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive multi-touchscreen display (with pinch to zoom), Android 2.1 with Sense UI, Google Search, Google Maps, Google Talk, Gmail, Google Goggles, YouTube, Google Calendar syncing, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot capability for connecting up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Additionally, the device has GPS with Sprint Navigation, a Digital compass, Bluetooth 2.1, a 3.5mm headset jack, FM radio, Amazon MP3 store, Qik video sharing, HDMI out a kickstand for hands-free viewing, an 8MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash (and 720p HD video recording) and an additional 1.3MP front-facing camera for video conferencing.

The device costs $200 with contract.

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According to Microsoft spokesperson Gavriella Schuster, the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 should be released next month, as a public beta.

The release of the service pack should move the OS forward onto the systems of more corporate users, as many IT admins will not upgrade a system to a new OS until at least the first SP.

Microsoft explains that SP1 will not be a big deal, however, as it "will not contain any new features that are specific to Windows 7 itself. For Windows 7, SP1 will simply be the combination of updates already available through Windows Update and additional hotfixes based on feedback by our customers and partners. In other words, customers can feel confident about deploying Windows 7 now!"

Making good on that claim, Schuster notes: "Several organizations of all sizes are already in the process of deploying Windows 7 and not waiting for SP1. In fact, we've already sold more than 100 million licenses of Windows 7."

The release coincides with the Microsoft ending support for Windows XP SP2, with the company advising current XP SP2 users to upgrade to SP3 or move to Windows 7.

An official release of SP1, out of beta, is expected in late September.

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Steve Jobs moved on from discussing the Apple App Store to the company's iPhone products. According to Jobs, iPhone now has 28 percent of US smartphone market, behind RIM at 35 percent. In terms of mobile web browsing, the iPhone commands a 58 percent market share.

Joking that some attendees have "already seen this," Jobs moved on to introduce iPhone 4, saying it has 100 new features. The iPhone 4 is 9.3mm thick, about 24 percent thinner than the iPhone 3GS was. It includes a micro-SIM tray, a new camera on the back with an LED flash and new front-facing camera. It also adds a second mic on the top for noise cancellation purposes.

The new 5 megapixel camera features 5x digital zoom and adds 720p HD video capture at 30 frames per second. Apple also will be releasing an iPhone version of its iMovie video editing software that will make it possible for users to record and edit video. It will be available for $5.

Three antennas are integrated into the design; one for UMTS and GSM, one for Bluetooth and one for WiFi and GPS. The phone supports 802.11n wireless networking and quad-band HSPDPA/HSUPA networking which theoretically can support 7.2Mb/s download and 5.8Mb/s upload. Jobs joked that these figures are theoretical because carriers don't support them just yet.


Driving the new iPhone is the Apple-designed A4 chip which puts an emphasis on power management and space saving. Combined with the new battery, Apple says this will boost talk time to 7 hours. The battery can provide 300 hours standby time, 10 hours WiFi web browsing, 40 hours of music, 10 hours of video or 6 hours 3G web browsing.

The device keeps a 3.5-inch display but pushes the resolution to 960x640, amounting to 4 times more pixels than the previous model. The pixel-per-inch count of 326 is a big improvement over the previous 163 pixels-per-inch achieved with iPhone 3GS, and made possible with the new "Retina Display" technology.

Showing more confidence in the platform for gaming, iPhone 4 adds a three-axis gyroscope. In addition to the accelerometer, it provides the iPhone with six-axis motion sensing. Developers can also utilize new CoreMotion API for position information.

For Jobs' infamous "One More Thing" moment, he demonstrated video chatting capabilities using either camera on the device in landscape or portrait mode. However, the video chatting feature, called FaceTime, is only supported between iPhone 4 handsets over WiFi for now at least for the rest of the year, most likely due to cellular provider limitations.

The iPhone 4 will become available in black and white, priced at $199 for a 16GB model and $299 for a 32GB model (same AT&T contract, but Jobs said that AT&T would be making a generous upgrade offer). The iPhone 4 goes on sale in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France on June 24 before rolling out in other countries over the coming months. Pre-orders begin June 15. (Images below, click to enlarge.)  

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs arrived at WWDC 2010 in San Francisco today to a standing ovation from a typically large crowd. The first thing Jobs touted was the success of the company's iPad tablet. So far, over 8,500 native iPad applications are available and iPad owners have downloaded over 35 million so far. Each iPad has an average of 17 apps.

The iPad has proven successful in the ebooks area too, with 5 million books downloaded in the first 65 days from iBookstore. Jobs said that Apple now has a 22 percent market share of the eBooks business. A new iBooks app also will allow the viewing of PDF documents with notes and bookmark abilities.

Onto the App Store, we learned that 15,000 apps are submitted every week, with 95 percent being approved within 7 days. The figure includes updates to existing applications. Apps that make false promises, use private APIs or have stability problems account for the majority of all App rejections.

For Netflix users, a Netflix app for the iPhone was demo'd and will be available this summer. The app, naturally, supports streaming movies to the iPhone (any video available through Netflix Watch Instantly). Zynga CEO Mark Pincus revealed that the popular FarmVille game will be coming to the iPhone later this month. Touting over 70 million active monthly users, Zynga said players will even be able to purchase iPhone-exclusive items, such as a Snow Leopard.

Activision confirmed that a Guitar Hero application will be available for iPhone. It features some new tapping and strumming mechanics compared to other platforms to suit the iPhone control possibilities. The app will be available starting today.

Roughly 225,000 mobile apps are available, with over 5 billion downloads, according to Apple. The company has paid out over $1 billion in revenue to developers.

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