04/08, 4:00pm
Google Hotpot now permanent in Places
Google on Friday was happy enough with the state of its Hotpot location recommendation service to make it a permanent staple of Google Places. The once experimental feature will now be subsumed into the place pages on the web and in mobile apps. Uniting the two should have a practical benefit by simplifying the link between the basic place information and how the places have been reviewed.
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03/31, 6:35pm
Google joins NFC Forum as Places goes NFC-only
Google made two big pushes towards NFC that culminated in its formal link to the technology on Thursday. It officially joined the NFC Forum as a principal member and now had the same importance as companies like CSR and Intel, which raised their statuses to the same level. The sign-up gave Google voting power for decisions on marketing, standards, and the technology involved in implementing NFC in the future.
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03/10, 11:50am
Radio Shack starts up iPhone trade-in deal again
Radio Shack on Thursday brought back its iPhone trade-in deals another time and added new check-in deals. Anyone can trade in an iPhone 3G or 3GS in good condition and get a $75 credit towards any iPhone in the store. An iPhone 4 drops to $125 or $225 on a contract; buying an 8GB iPhone 3GS not only gives the phone for free but adds a $25 gift card for the store.
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