Although the technology is still at a nascent stage, if Apple has its way, Twitter and Facebook will soon begin to look like preliminary forms of social networking. According to a patent application filed by Apple, a new App from the company will allow users to meet new people who have similar interests and are present in the vicinity.

The users’ problem, as defined by Apple, is that the current popular social networks require people to know their future Facebook friends beforehand. If they are adding new people to their network, they need to first talk to them to find out whether their interests match or not &#151 and this first conversation is often embarrassing or awkward. To make this effort, users need to invest time and effort before they come to know whether they have shared interests or not.

Apple believes it can solve this problem by asking for people’s permission to share their interests with other iPhone users in the area. If two iPhone users have something in common, they can also agree to meet with each other.

To get the information, Apple would ask users to fill a questionnaire, and the phone would utilise usage data as well &#151 which may include places traveled, songs downloaded etc. &#151 to find out more about users while matching them with prospective friends.

Apple has filed for patents in the social networking space earlier as well, but those apps require users to know each other before they can share their location data with others.

In the patent application it has filed, Apple says, “Common interests and experiences of two or more users located close to each other can be identified from content, including automatically created usage data of mobile devices. Usage data of a mobile device can be created based on activities performed on the mobile device (e.g., songs downloaded), a trajectory of the mobile device (e.g., places traveled), or other public data available from the mobile device (e.g., pictures shared).”

There has been a spate of news in recent times when various big names on the Internet decided to work their way around Apple’s App store and started developing HTML5 based web apps. The Financial Times was one of the earlier names which decided to go this route, which believed it would have to make some compromises while going for HTML5 app instead of native app.

Users have to go to the Browser to access the Financial Times app, and they can access most of the features available in FT’s iPhone native app. Users can even read articles offline, due to the enhancements made using HTML5.

Such web apps also have the benefit of working across all platforms whereas native apps have to be reworked on if they have to be made compatible with Android or Windows Phone 7.

Another similar piece of news has come from Facebook, where about 80 developers are developing a Facebook version which will open in Safari browser and bypass the iTunes app store from Apple. The project has been codenamed Project Spartan. If everything goes according to plans, whenever users point the browser to Facebook, a dropdown menu will allow them to launch the apps.

The benefit for the users?

Again, the same web app can be accessed from iOS and Android devices too.

A South Korean credit card company, Lotte Card has expressed its desire to go the hybrid way – means the core app was created writing HTML5 which was then wrapped around native iOS and Android code to make them suitable for both the platforms.

Probably it decided to go the hybrid way because if their app was based solely on HTML5, they would not have been able to use camera and address book of the phone. At the same time, it takes more work to make an HTML5 based app work well compared to native apps, but the users needn’t worry about it, it’s the headache of publishers.

Google Movie service, which so far was available on Android 3.1 based tablets with 3G and Android 2.2 running smartphones, has now been extended to the WiFi only Xoom tablets as well.

Google Movies has over 3,000 movie titles from Universal, Sony and Warner Bros that users can rent or purchase.

During the initial phase, in which only selected tablets got the service, seems to be an attempt by Google to test the service with a smaller audience before making it a large scale service. The testing seems to be over and so the service is making way to tablets like Xoom WiFi.

These movies are also available through YouTube for purchase and rental. The rental price starts at $1.99 (about Rs 90). Movies rented through Youtube can be watched on Android tablets and phones and vice-versa.

It will pose a big challenge to OEM services like HTC Watch and Samsung Movies, titles of which can only be played on their own branded devices. For example, HTC Watch service only works on HTC devices and so does the Samsung services.

On the other hand, the Google Movie service will work across all the devices including on non Android devices (Youtube is available across all platforms). Moreover, they have much more titles compared to these OEMs (Samsung Movies has approximately 500 titles).

Yesterday only we had reported about the new season of the Angry Birds game that is due for launch sometime this month. But even before that Rovio Mobile, the creators of the game, has announced the launch of a new update for the original game.

Called as the Angry Birds Mine and Dine, the new update is set underground with the backdrop of a mine where the pigs are hiding and the birds are all set to revenge them. The new update adds a total of 15 new levels to the existing game and a whole new definition of fun as well in the process. A couple of new Golden eggs have also been added to the levels for the players to find out and unlock bonus levels as well.

At present, the update is available for download only for the Apple iOS and Google Android running devices. It is expected that Rovio Mobile will soon launch a similar update for other devices as well including the recently launched Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system.

The update is available free of cost and can be downloaded on to the device via the application store. Again, this is an optional upgrade and users who wish not to install can continue playing the Angry Birds game without any problems.

Google has come out with yet another update of its maps service. The updated Google Maps 5.6 will now let you view places with ‘Best Ever’ ratings and awards, received by the listed restaurants.

Google Places is a feature of Google Maps service that provides information to the user about different places like restaurant, bars, hotels, ATMs, gas stations and other necessary places. Google Places offers users to make a virtual ‘check-in’ at a place and also give a rating to it.

Using the location search data base and places’ listing, the Google Maps also details of places near to the user’s location. If a restaurant listed with Google Places has received an award, then it will be mentioned in its description when accessed from Google Maps.
Besides, Google Places will now let you give a Best Ever rating to your favourite place where you had most amazing and satisfactory experience.

Update your Google Maps application to version 5.6.0 from the Android Market or you can visit this link to download the update from web version of Android Market.

A Facebook application, specifically designed for the Apple iPad, is now reported to be in testing phase and due for release in coming weeks. The New York Times has reported that the Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg has been “heavily invested” in the App features and made necessary design decisions.

There has been no official Facebook App for iPad till date. People familiar with Facebook’s plans told NYT that the app has been under development since last year. After going through several iterations, the application is now under final testing phase.

The individual who’ve seen the Facebook app for iPad said that the photo and video experience offers full Resolution and full screen images.

The Apple iPad users are dependent on third party apps like Friendly, iFace to access Facebook on their devices. Even the web interface isn’t good enough for the avid Facebook users. Facebook intends to make up with the new Facebook App for iPad.

Apparently, the iPad 2 owners would be able to record and upload videos directly using the Facebook App.

If the Facebook App for iPad has taken over a year to develop then the design, features and user interface should be ground-breaking. Several users already have high expectations and only time will tell that whether the application will add another feather to Facebook’s hat.