CNN has announced the launch of its news based application for Android devices. With this, Android users can have direct access to CNN’s global resources right from news reports to interviews, user generated content, pod casts and much more.

Users can choose the way they want the news to be delivered on their devices in the form of text, audio file or photographs. One can also watch on demand videos for different news items and will also be able to choose between the intentional and the US version of news feed at the touch of a button.

“Android users are extremely discerning, and will accept nothing less than a first-rate app that showcases high quality, world-class content &#151 and enables them to share it,” said Louis Gump, vice president of Mobile at CNN.

Social media networking has not been excluded from this application either. Text stories and images can be shared directly from the App via email, Facebook or Twitter. The CNN App features push-notification for breaking news alerts as well.

The application also comes with an online widget that allows the user to view the latest headlines from a variety of categories directly from the phone’s home screen, without even opening the application.

The CNN application is available as a free application for Android based devices around the world and is compatible with Android versions 2.1 and above. Users can download the application directly from the Android marketplace on their device or can follow the link to download.

If you are a party animal or a shopaholic, or if you’re interested in cultural events, then here is an application you will love. Mobiesta is available for leading platforms such as Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Symbian.

With this free application you can receive complete information about your favourite events in five Indian cities: Delhi/NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune. More cities will be added shortly.

Mobiesta uses your phones’ location to help you find local places of interest such as restaurants, shopping malls, discos and pubs, movie theatres, health and beauty salons and more.

The App has information in nine categories that include musical fiesta (music concerts etc.), stage, theatre and play, amusement parks and kids, shopping fiesta (the best discounts, shopping festivals and so forth), exhibitions and fairs, multiplexes, malls, food fiesta, and health and beauty.

You can go to your smartphones’ application market, such as the Android Market or Ovi store. Alternatively, you can send ‘Mobiesta’ to 56677 to get the download link. The application is free of cost.

Facebook version 1.5 for Windows Phone 7 has been released with little fanfare, perhaps due to the slight visible changes it brings. The new App works somewhat faster as users can easily switch between screens, and even scrolling has become a better experience.

Those who expect something new with Facebook chat or notifications would be disappointed. The name of the auto refresh setting has been changed. It’s now called ‘cache expiration’ (an old term), which could be more complicated for people who are not tech savvy.

On the notification listings, people can touch anywhere to go to the post; whereas earlier they had to touch a small part of the notification.

Some find it difficult to scroll through the entire app list to find out which app to run. Other users said that pinning the apps in the start screen itself, which involves a lot of scrolling, is not that smooth.

The user also needs to fix the camera settings each time he wants to take a picture.

People who have Windows Phone Marketplace on the start screen can download the updated Facebook version by following a link when they receive a notice about the update. Alternatively, they can avail it from the app store.

With more than 300,000 devices activated per day globally, Android is seeing rapid adoption in the post-PC era. Android works quite well with Google Apps, but Google is also trying to increase the Android’s adoption by IT at businesses and schools.

And, to this end Google has announced three updates. These products will be available to all Google Apps for Business and Google Apps for education customers.

The first update is for Google Apps Device Policy application, which allows employees to quickly secure a lost or stolen Android 2.2+ device by locating it on a map, ringing the device, and resetting the device PIN or Password remotely via the new ‘My Devices’ website.

The other update gives Google Apps administrators an option in the control panel to “Encrypt Data on Device”, which will now include requiring encrypted storage on Android 3.0 tablets. Devices will need version 2.0 of the Google Apps Device Policy app.

Google has also introduced a new corporate contacts app, Google Apps Lookup, which makes it easier to find and contact people in your organisation. Type (or speak) the name or email address of a coworker, and then tap to call, email, IM or send a text message. Lookup pulls information from the Google Apps directory, so IT administrators need to enable “Shared Contacts” in the control panel before employees can use Lookup on their Android 2.1+ devices.

Google has also said that it will bring in more updates to make Android better suited for enterprise customers. These updates will make Android much more secure even for other consumers, whose phone is out of the enterprise security zones.

Currently Blackberry smartphones dominate the enterprise segment, and Google will be able to beat this dominance only if it is able to provide similar amount of security and control to Android devices.