Starbucks app for Android video

Starbucks had finally released its app for Android powered handsets. The app can turn your handset screen into the barcode on your Starbucks card and get scanned at the register to pay for your drink. There are also some other features of the app, including the ability to help you find a specific Starbucks location using Google Maps.

Starbucks made a little video showing you what the Starbucks app can do. Simply pick up your Android phone, head over to the nearest Starbucks location and let the coffee retailer's app do its magic.



source: YouTube via AndroidCentral

March of Heroes is Gameloft's first game with the Unreal engine

 

Gameloft is surely one of the best mobile game developers out there. It just revealed a trailer for one of its first games with the new Unreal engine graphics technology, and said it will be available for both Android and iOS.

The game is called March of Heroes and is a first-person shooter, everyone's favorite type. The graphics are breathtaking, so we can't wait for this title to hit the application stores.

When will March of Heroes be released, and how much it will cost are minor details that Gameloft didn't consider necessary to share. Have a look at Gameloft's official March of Heroes trailer in the video below.

Source: GSMArena

Windows Phone 7 is now the "most secure" smartphone OS

Android and iOS have Windows Phone 7 squarely beaten when it comes to phone sales. But the recent security threats and privacy issues surrounding Android and iOS works in Microsoft's favor.

Microsoft claims that WP7 is inherently more secure because of memory compartmentalization: "We keep applications away from the bones of the OS. When an application fires up, the OS will give it a dynamically allocated security bubble, for lack of a better word, and every app has its own one of those."

These so called 'security bubbles' are in contrast to both Android and iOS, in which some apps have been found to steal information from one another. Microsoft says that "there's no other smartphone on the market that's as secure."

What do you guys think? 
Will this make Windows Phone 7 competitive with iOS and Android, or WP7 can never get to their level?

Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below.

source: Silicon Republic via WMPoweruser

Sprint pleads to the FCC to block AT&T – T-Mobile merger

Since AT&T said they plans to purchase T-Mobile for $39 billion, Sprint has been scared of the deal for its negative impact on the US market. Of course, we all know that the real reason they're scared is because the nation's third largest carrier is concerned about its own survival as a profitable company.

Efforts to prevent the merger are being taken and now Sprint has officially pleaded to the FCC asking it to block T-Mobile's acquisition from AT&T. If both companies merge, they would cover 43% of the nation's wireless subscribers with Verizon providing for another 39% of the market. That potential duopoly might hurt fair competition amongst carriers and cause a rise in service costs.

If the merger gets approved by the FCC, Sprint is likely to become the underdog of wireless carriers with a market share far behind that of the leading duo – AT&T and Verizon.

What do you guys think? Should the merger take place? Or would the potential duopoly affect you in a negative way? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below.