Google added 750 people to its Manhattan office in 2011

The internet giant has expanded heavily with 4 new NY offices and adding 38% more staff in the recent years, especially in New York City. After acquiring four New York companies and going on a hiring spree for its media and advertising arms, Google now has about 2,750 employees in New York City, a 38% increase from 2010, the company told The Wall Street Journal. Check out the new offices designed after the city below. Not sure if I could concentrate with all the playground around but certainly a great environment to foster ideas and creativity.

(via wsj)

HTC reports Q2 revenues up 58.5 percent

HTC‘s second-quarter revenues reached TWD 60.53 billion, up 58.5 percent from the year-earlier period. June revenues amounted to TWD 23.86 billion, up 66.7 percent year-on-year. Second-quarter net profit at the smartphone maker rose to TWD 8.64 billion from TWD 6.51 billion a year earlier. HTC said results in Q2 and June were better than expected and at record highs, showing good execution of its brand and scale strategies.

This is the direct consequence of the recent releases of their cutting-edge smartphones like Evo, Desire and HD2 which run the powerful OS Android. Google confirmed recently it is now activating 160,000 Android phones a day, up from only 100,000 a day in mid-May—indicating a monthly growth rate of 60 percent.

(via telecompaper)

google chrome speed test

This Dumb Decade: The 87 Lamest Moments in Tech, 2000-2009

Nice collection of dumb moments in tech over the last 10 years.

Google Zurich

Ever wanted to have look into the Google offices in Zurich? Last thursday, journlist had the chance to walk through the google zurich. Here a video from a Heute journalist (in Swiss German ; ) Have a look>

(posted via m.wordpress.com)

Faster Google search app for Smartphones

A new Google search application for Nokia phones makes getting to the search box and receiving results much faster, Google said Thursday on its blog. The app shortcut is embedded on the phone’s idle homescreen, so you can search without launching a browser.

(via moconews)

Gmail on BlackBerry

  Long time no post, which is related to my start on the new job.

However, I have just fixed my Gmail problem on my BlackBerry (BB). It is not a major thing, also probably a “rookie-to-bb” issue, but very useful to know as it affects the Gmail and Gmaps applications. I downloaded the apps via mobile.google.com and all went smoothly. When I filled in the username and password, however, the message “Network Error: java.lang.Runtime Exception: Unexpected server response: 401 Unauthorized.” appeared.

To fix this problem you have to go to Options > Advanced Options > TCP: set APN to orangeinternet, (leave username and password
blank)

That is all… My BB journey has just started but I hope I will not have many issues with it : )

(thanks to Rob Bevan)

Super Tuesday on YouTube

Central point for opinions, interviews, analysis etc. on www.youtube.com/supertuesday

Facebook apps

Facebook has a vast amount of applications in store… but the vast majority is useless in my opinion. But the fact that all the application come from third parties is impressing and aligns completely with the idea of Web 2.0. Nevertheless, you already have a mess on your “dashboard” (when you logged in) if you have more than 20 active friends. However, with the announcement of Google’s OpenSocial more applications will come and most of all it will be easier for developers to create applications for various social sites such as Facebook, Ning, Hi5 and more by working with one single API.

With the rapidly growing number of social apps you better keep track of SocioApps, a London based web development team working on social application mainly for Facebook but also develops for other communities by using OpenSocial.

I am now going to remove the “Which Friends Character Are You?” because I do not think that I have the character of Monica

Consumer choice on wireless devices

It is no longer a secret that 2008 will be a good year for wireless devices as they will provide a greater playground for their users. That means less restrictions, more applications, better network coverage with a higher bandwidth and better price plans to encourage the usage. Personally, I would use the mobile Internet more often if surfing would be cheaper. At the moment I am using Gmail, Gmaps, ShoZu and some news sites.

There is an interesting article on usatoday.com:
Race is on for Mobile Web’s pot of gold