CamFind is pretty cool, but why did it give me a Yelp listing for "Star Trek" instead of local showtimes?

Your iPhone's camera is good for a lot more than just snapping photos. For example, it can translate foreign-language signs, menus, and other printed materials in real time. And grade the foods at your grocery store. And scan documents on the go.

CamFind turns your camera into a search engine, allowing you to look up information just by pointing the lens at any real-world object or location. And it's pretty darn cool.

The app works a lot like Google Goggles, but offers more features and, based on my informal tests, better accuracy.

All you do is point your iPhone at something, then tap the shutter icon. If it's a movie poster, CamFind will find a trailer, local showtimes, links to IMDB and Wikipedia p... [Read more]

Chrome 27 for iOS includes voice search, but puts its microphone icon in a different location from Android's Chrome.

As Chrome usage grows on mobile devices, the latest iOS version of the browser finally arrived Monday with the same voice search feature that its cross-platform siblings have.

Chrome 27 for iOS (download) incorporates voice search, which uses Google's own voice-recognition database and not the Nuance-driven Siri.

As with other Google services that use its voice search, including Google Now for iOS, voice search in Chrome for iOS will read back to you your query as it pulls up the familiar blue-link list of Google search results.

One interesting difference between voice search on Chrome for iOS and Chrome for Android is that Google has moved the microphone icon that you tap to initiate a voice search. In iOS Chrome, it appears as a... [Read more]

Skype (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)--the free VoIP app that lets you voice- or video-chat with other Skype users across the world--has become an ubiquitous tool for everyone from grandmas and grandkids to multinational corporations.

Now, the VoIP software ventures into the realm of interior design, with a "Cool My Couch" photo contest that promises the winner a free couch and Skype-enabled TV. To enter, simply submit a photo of your couch along with a caption explaining why you deserve to win. That's it.

A couch that is simply falling apart may not be enough to win. Get creative!

The photo contest is open to all U.S. residents who are members of Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Users can enter the contest by submitting their photo and caption via the ... [Read more]

In worldwide mobile browser usage, Google's Chrome has begun carving out a niche.

The Android version of Chrome has begun carving a niche for itself in the mobile browsing market.

In May, usage of the mobile version of Google's browser on smartphones and tablets accounted for an all-time high of 3.2 percent, according to Net Applications' usage statistics. That figure may not sound like a lot, but the browser only crossed the 1 percent threshold in November 2012, and it's now surpassed Microsoft's IE at 2 percent of mobile browser usage.

At the same time, Google's unbranded Android browser, which predates Chrome, appears to be waning. Its usage dropped from 22.9 percent in April to 20.7 percent in May, Net Applications said.

Apple's Safari continues to dominate mobile browsing, whose growth is outpacing the more mature and stable situation with personal-computer browsing. Even though Apple faces a serious competitive threat from Android phones, Safari still cleaned up with 60 percent of mobile browsing activity in May, Net Applications said.

Chrome is only available on devices running on Android 4.0 or later, which means the large number of phones running version 2.3 of Google's mobile OS can't use it. However, Firefox and Opera both work on the earlier versions of Android, and indeed now ... [Read more]