Browser maker Opera just released a new version for Android with a slew of new features, an upgraded design and better performance. And, for the first time for Opera, it is not running on its own Presto rendering engine.

Opera for Android is running WebKit.

In February, Opera said that it was ditching Presto in favor of WebKit, the open source browser engine that powers the likes of Apple's Safari browser and Google Chrome. The release of the new Opera for Android is the first "final" (gold version, not in a beta stage) release of Opera running WebKit, according to Falguni Bhuta from the Opera communications team.

Opera's decision caused a bit of a hullabaloo among the browser community. Mozilla's Robert O’Callahan said at the time that it was, "a sad day for the Web." O'Callahan and other browser enthusiasts lamented the loss of Presto, as it was one of only a small handful of browser rendering engines available to developers. Including WebKit, the others are Mozilla's Gecko and Microsoft's Trident for Internet Explorer.

New Features Come To Opera

Rounding up the new features for Opera, users will find some interesting capabilities:

Discover - A new feature to Opera for Android, "Discover" helps users find new articles with just a swipe from the homescreen. Opera has selected relevant global and regional news sources to give users a way to find what it going on around them.

Off-Road mode - Opera Mini has long been known for its compression technology that helps users minimize how much cellular data their browser is using. This often helps when you are having trouble getting a data connection or are roaming and is new to the full Android version of Opera. 

Combined address and search bar - Basically, Opera just created its own "omnibox" that allows you to type in website URLs or search from the same field.

Tabbed browsing - Not specifically new in the final Opera for Android version, but the UI has changed a bit from the last version and offers private browsing.

History - Easier to find your browser history. Swipe to the right to access content from the left of the homescreen.

Save for later - Allows you to download a complete webpage so as to read it later or while offline. Goes well with the "Off-Road" mode when you just want to be able to load an article or a website for later review but know that you are not going to have access to cellular data or Wi-Fi. 

Customizable navigation bar - Top or bottom, put the navigation bar where you want it.

New Speed Dial - Opera's "Speed Dial" feature now syncs with bookmarks to provide easier access to frequently visited websites from Opera's homescreen.

The new version of Opera can be found for free in Google Play.

If you like using online tools to hunt and gather your food, take note: Seamless and GrubHub, two of the better-known players in the mobile food-delivery business, announced today that they will be merging their services.

GrubHub, which is privately owned, features the most restaurants of the two services, claiming 20,000 eateries in their online ordering network, compared to Seamless' 12,000. Seamless users, then, are going to get the better end of the deal right away, with the inclusion of GrubHub's additional dining options. GrubHub users should benefit from Seamless overall service, which is generally held in higher regard.

The consolidation might help both vendors overall, with one less mobile ordering service for restaurant owners to have to work with to get customer orders coming in.

This is a big bite of business: in 2012, the two organizations sent approximately $875 million in gross food sales to local takeout restaurants, resulting in combined revenue well in excess of $100 million, today's press release indicated.

No terms of the deal between privately held GrubHub and the public Seamless company were revealed, though Fortune Senior Editor Dan Primack tweeted this morning that "Seamless investors will hold majority stake in combined co w/ GrubHub."

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Meet Jolla, the smartphone that almost never came to be.

When Nokia decided to jump off its burning platform a few years ago and go with Windows Phone, there were no people more disappointed with the decision than the hundreds of engineers that had been working on the company’s own mobile operating system, MeeGo.

These were developers that had put in countless hours to make MeeGo the platform of the future and the initial results were intriguing. The Nokia N9 was a beautiful phone (its core design would eventually be the basis of the first Nokia Windows Phone, the Lumia 800) with interesting functionality that, at the time, bested Android in utility. When Nokia scrapped MeeGo, these developers were out of a job and, worse, had the rug pulled out from under a beloved project.

So, they banded together to keep the project going. And the result is Jolla, a smartphone from Finland running an operating system called Sailfish, born on the legacy of MeeGo.

What Is Jolla?

Pronounced “yo-la,” Jolla as a company is the continuation of the “Mer” project. The Mer project was initially a fork from the Linux-based MeeGo designed to bring as much of the old Maemo operating system (MeeGo was formed as a conglomeration between two operating systems, Maemo and Moblin) to Nokia’s hardware as possible. Mer was eventually suspended when most of the development resources started going to MeeGo.

When Nokia dropped support for MeeGo, the Mer project was resurrected. It was intended to provide a new environment for the many developers and engineers who had worked on the open-source project, from Nokia or elsewhere. MeeGo itself morphed when it was began being supported by the likes of the Linux Foundation (backed by Intel and Samsung among others) and became Tizen. 

These old Maemo engineers just won’t admit defeat to their original dream and just realize that MeeGo/Maemo is, for all intents and purposes, dead. So now we have Jolla and a prototype smartphone searching for an audience.

The Jolla Smartphone

The first Jolla smartphone is a 4.5-inch, dual-core, 4G LTE enabled device with 16GB of internal storage and a replaceable battery. It runs the gesture-based Sailfish OS which, presumably, will operate a lot like the old Nokia N9 based on MeeGo Harmattan. 

Jolla is now available for pre-order and will be shipped first to European countries. The price tag is a reasonable €399 and Jolla expects to begin shipping by the end of 2013. Basically, Jolla is now asking people to support the project through pre-orders in a very Kickstarter-like fashion, imploring the community to get behind the project, or “The Tribe,” as Jolla co-founder Marc Dillon describes it. 

Based on Linux, Sailfish OS will be compliant with Android apps. This will allow Sailfish OS developers (the very small handful that currently exist) to port Android apps to Jolla, much in the same way that BlackBerry developers can port Android package files (APKs) to BlackBerry 10. 

The Drawback Of Open Source Democratization

Developers often complain that Android is a fragmented ecosystem. Too many different CPUs on different screen sizes from different manufacturers to make sense of it all. Yet, if you compare Android to what happened to the MeeGo community, Google’s mobile operating system seems tame.

Android always had a champion in Google to keep it on point. This contrasts with the Maemo/Moblin/MeeGo/Tizen/Jolla community that has had so many competing interests and egos that development has never really produced anything tangible other than a few interesting prototypes (like the Nokia N9 and now Jolla).

The Jolla group is essentially the most disillusioned of them all. Some have also called them the most creative and innovative while also being the most stubborn and arrogant. And now this team, finally, has what it wants – its own company and smartphone.

Since at least the 1990s, when personal computers first became commonplace, public policy experts have worried the ill effects of a Digital Divide. That is, a learning, socialization and economic gap across socio-economic status, race and gender caused by unequal access to computing resources.

No need. The Digital Divide has now been bridged by smartphones - the most advanced personal computing devices ever. While personal computers were disproportionally used by the rich, the white and the male, smartphones are more likely to be used by Blacks and Hispanics than Whites, and by girls as equally as boys.

Whites Trail In Smartphone Ownership

According to a Pew research survey conducted last year, 49% of Hispanics and 47% of Blacks own a smartphone, compared to only 42% of Whites. The survey also revealed than men and women were about evenly split (46% to 45%, respectively) in smartphone ownership, as were suburban and urban residents (49% to 48%, respectively).

Only The Income Gap Remains

Mobile computing is a fast-moving revolution that is spreading online access to all who welcome it. In fact, the majority of adult Americans and more than a third of teens now own a smartphone. That said, household income remains a differentiator - there is still a clear gap in smartphone ownership between rich and poor.

Expect this too to disappear very soon as prices continue to fall.

Android smartphones and the latest Nokia Asha devices, for example, are available for less than $100 (no contract needed) all around the world. In the U.S., many smartphones now come free with a carrier voice and data plan. Prices for devices and services will almost certainly continue to drop.

In an interview with Bloomberg last month, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen noted that "$50 Android smartphones" would be available this year.  Carriers that demand fees that millions cannot afford are likely to be routed around - by Google fiber as likely as legislation. Fewer and fewer people, particularly in the United States and other rich countries, will be denied always-on, any-place connectivity to the global Web.

The Smartphone Is The Computer

Naysayers like to retort that smartphones don't fully erase the Digital Divide because, even more than tablets,they are primarily "consumption" devices. While "real" computers, the argument goes, can be used to create things and do real work, smartphones are all about downloading content and chatting on Facebook. 

Work is changing, however, in many cases to take advantage of the spread of smartphones.  Such changes may, in fact, disproportionately favor minorities. A separate Pew study last year revealed that Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to use their mobile devices for a wider range of activities than do Whites. 

(See also Teenagers & Smartphones: How They're Already Changing The World.)

Further, some have called the notion that smartphones are not designed for "real work" an elitist view: 

To discount identity performance, socialization and other activities on social media as not productive, not educational, not meaningful, pure entertainment and a waste of time offensively reduces less privileged folks as “an other,” less worthy and less human.

Productivity Divide?

If smartphones connect an increasing number of Americans to knowledge resources, job opportunities and cultural amenities, are they  delivering a clear and calculable economic benefit equivalent to that provided by PCs? 

It seems that economic analysis has simply not yet caught up with the impact smartphones are having on work and the economy. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that already today's smartphones possess the computing power of a "desktop" in 2005 and that "at heart [smartphones] are like all computers before them. They are efficiency engines, a means of saving time, bridging distance, reducing cost."

Nonetheless, the Journal acknowledges that proving smartphones' aggregate economic value remains difficult: 

Yet there's something bizarre going on. Even as an estimated 130 million smartphones roam the U.S. streets, economists can't quite find them.

Still, as the Journal also states: "Can you find an area of life and business not being affected by the devices?" 

Global Phenomenon

The situation may be even clearer overseas. Already, 89% of the developing world has a mobile device. It's a solid assumption that these mobile phone users will soon transition to smartphones. Indeed, smartphone sales now eclipse traditional mobile phone sales. According to the International Telecommunication Union, "mobile broadband" subscriptions have grown from 278 million in 2007 - when the iPhone was first introduced - to 2.1 billion this year.

These numbers continue to grow - and researchers say the trend is already making a big difference:

• Bridging The Digital Divide In Developing Nations Through Mobile Phone Transaction Systems - University of West Georgia
• Mobile Finance Options Changing Lives In Developing Countries - Bankless Times
• Mobile Technology's Role In Combating Global Poverty And Enabling Entrepreneurship - Brookings Institution
• Alleviating Poverty: Mobile Communications, Microfinance And Small Business Development Around The World - Brookings Institution

As smartphones continue to spread to every demographic group in every corner of the world, there's just no more room for the Digital Divide. That's a big deal, and likely to bring significant economic, social and cultural effects over the coming months, years and decades.

(See also The Numbers Are Clear: Mobile is Taking Over the World.) 

Lead image courtesy of Shutterstock.

I'm a devoted Pathhole—a hardcore user of mobile social network Path. For all that I make fun of Path's twee, artisanal, and bespoke nature—on a recent visit to its lovely office in San Francisco, I was tempted to ask CEO Dave Morin if his software engineers were cruelty-free—I have a soft spot for the service that brings me updates from a small circle of friends, which I then festoon with emoticons.

If anything might convert me into a Glasshole, the name I've adopted for the ostentatious neophiles who have started sporting Glass, Google's Internet-enabled camera-and-display headset, it might well be Path.

Path CTO Nathan Folkman demonstrates Google Glass.

Morin and Path CTO Nathan Folkman recently showed me a version of Path for Google Glass. (Google recently signaled that Path would be one of the first Glass apps available.) It turns out that two key features of Path make it perfectly suited for Glass—in a way that larger social networks like Google+ and Facebook may never catch up to.

I've formed this opinion based on brief experiences with both Glass and the Glass version of Path, so take them with a grain of salt. But even those glimpses suggest an uncanny fit between software and hardware.

Small Screen, Meet Tight Friends

The first advantage Path has is its insistence that you limit your friends to a tight list of 150. I find this kind of in-or-out listmaking agonizing. It reminds me of when my husband and I invited people to our wedding reception, which, now that I think about it, had a headcount of about 150. But now that I've put in the work, I find my Path friends really are the ones I like to hear from frequently throughout the day.

Contrast that to Google's built-in Glass sharing options, which require you to go to a website to set up a limited number of contacts in advance. 

This Android tablet is mirroring what Path CTO Nathan Folkman sees on his Google Glass heads-up display.

The second is Path's stripped-down simplicity. Originally designed for mobile, it's actually even more effective on Glass. In my experience, people typically share short updates about where they are or what they're doing—things that are too mundane for Twitter, too intimate for Facebook. In form, tone, and length, they're just right for Glass's screen, floating just above your right eye.

Google+ updates, which you can of course get on Glass, are often too long for the Glass interface. And the thought of getting my Facebook News Feed—an option now that Facebook has a Glass app—through Glass seems overwhelming.

But Where Is The Money?

There are perpetual questions about how Path will find enough users and make money. Glass will not answer those. Folkman, Path's CTO, estimates that some 300 Glass testers have downloaded the Glass version of Path. (Google hasn't given out numbers, but that's likely a large portion of the Glass population.)

For what it's worth, Morin tells me the company has been making progress on the business front. It has likely crossed 13 million registered users, and its main source of income—charging users for custom icons they can include in messages—has drawn both derision and dollars. Little-noticed deals with the likes of Sprint and Kyocera suggest that the company may find ways of making money from partnerships with wireless carriers and handset makers, too.

An update from a friend's check-in at Google I/O displays on Path CTO Nathan Folkman's Glass display.

Folkman says the Glass effort, on which he's spent about 20 percent of his time recently, has helped him think about constructing an application programming interface for partners, and also designing Path notifications for smart watches and other lightweight, small-screen devices.

So if we are at the brink of a revolution in mobile computing where we trade smartphones for wearable devices, Path's experimentation may pay off—if not for the San Francisco-based startup, then for others who take careful note of its innovations.

Photo by Owen Thomas for ReadWrite

The universe of apps for Google Glass, initially limited to the New York Times and the social network Path, is expanding rapidly. Google on Thursday announced several more entries to its Glassware stable: Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Tumblr, CNN news updates, Elle fashion features and a Glass-only game called Ice Breaker.

Look for more Glass apps to surface as the augmented reality goggles move closer to a public rollout later this year. 

Amazon's 1-Click arguably offers the best shopping experience on the Web—desktop and mobile.

But 1-Click has been slow to expand beyond Amazon's walls. While Amazon offers the convenient checkout service to retail-website builders, competitors are understandably loath to embrace the e-commerce giant's tools.

Now a wiser, bloodier Google has re-entered the fray, taking lessons learned from Amazon and applying them to its own "1-Click" solution for Google Wallet, Instant Buy.

But Google's road to riches won't lie through a button on a website. That's the route it took in traditional Web e-commerce, with its older Google Checkout service, which Wallet replaced after it failed to unseat PayPal and other, more traditional credit-card-processing services. Instead, Google's placing its bet on terrain where it has the upper ground: Android apps and Gmail.

Google announced Google Wallet Instant Buy on Wednesday at its annual I/O conference. Instant Buy, a set of tools for Android developers, is a complement to the Google Wallet API that the company announced last fall. Instant Buy should probably be thought of an evolution of the Wallet API - the older API filled in payment information, while the new version offers a button to "Buy with Google". Instant Buy serves to both authenticate the shopper and actually pay for the purchase, with an intermediary step to confirm. It's a two-click solution the first time a shopper logs in, but then it's down to one if they save their Google login information with the app.

Why is this important? Because buying products via a smartphone can be a brutal experience, requiring dozens of steps to enter payment and shipping information - and users aren't inclined to stick around if they get frustrated. More than 90 percent of mobile users leave a mobile site without buying anything, according to Mike Putnam, vice president of mobile at fashion site RueLala. 

For a merchant, a simple, painless buying experience is a virtual necessity, given the rising numbers of mobile shoppers. Last Cyber Monday, for example, about 11 percent of all purchases were made via smartphone, according to IBM, about 90 percent more than the year before. This year, about 15 percent of all online retail sales will take place via mobile, according to eMarketer. 

But payment buttons aren't exactly new. So how does Googl plan to get an edge? The familiarity and ubiquity of Gmail, for one. Google also added the ability Wednesday to pay by email, clicking a "$" sign to "attach" a few bucks, much like a document or picture. The funds simply go into the recipient's Google Wallet, where they can be redeemed for real money (via a connection with a bank account) or used to buy movies, games and apps from the Play Store.

PayPal and Dwolla, among others, have offered pay-by-email for years. But PayPal and Dwolla don't have one of the most popular email platforms in the world, tacitly encouraging users to send money at the push of a button. That's one of the more important hooks that the new Wallet offers, a Google spokeswoman said. Eventually, it's possible that Google could push Wallet back into the real world - where it first started out, of course. 

What Are The Secrets To Success? Lock-in And Context

In a horse race, a jockey's tools are the whip and blinders. So it is in mobile payments. The most effective way of retaining customers is to eliminate the possibility of going elsewhere. Within the mobile space, the most effective blinder is the app. If you click Amazon's mobile app to buy a router or garden hoe, chances are you're not going anywhere else. Amazon knows that you can shop elsewhere, pay a higher price, and enter your information across all of those dozens of fields - or you can simply stay and buy with one click.

Payments by Amazon, of course, is Amazon's one-click solution, ported to the Web. But check out Payments by Amazon's customer list: the biggest name is probably Ace Hardware. Payments by Amazon offers the same one-click payment that Amazon does, but for the consumer,  without the context of Amazon.com, it's just another provider. And for most merchants, Amazon is the enemy.

Google's hold over the customer is weaker. Within Gmail, users simply don't have the choice to send funds via any other provider, but they can simply use PayPal or Dwolla and send money to the same email address. But what Google offers is what Payments by Amazon can't: context. Within the Play Store, Google is building recommendations for movies, music, and apps, based on your own preferences and what your friends have recommended. 

Payment providers have a number of arrows in their quiver. PayPal offers the ability to pay via its service at retail locations. Dwolla users can pay via Facebook and Twitter. But attendees at Google I/O suspect that the next step is for Google to begin building profiles of real-world purchases, so that if the Gap adopts Google, visitors to its online store will know what their Google+ friends bought. Virtually every other payment provider lacks the social integration that Google includes. 

The idea behind products like Google Wallet—where you could leave your wallet at home and pay for everything by tapping your phone—never really took off. Why? Numerous technical reasons have been suggested—a lack of infrastructure, resistance from financial institutions—but the conversation so far has focused on the problem of paying for things. And paying for things isn't as important as the shopping experience itself, and providing the context for an informed decision that the customer is excited about.

"I’m not saying that there are no advantages to mobile payments," Nick Holland, a former Yankee Group payments analyst, recently wrote. "However, the opportunity for consumer/merchant value addition seems to be less around the transaction and far more around augmenting the retail experience. The mobile payments obsession is missing the point."

And that happy coincidence may well benefit Google.

Photo by Nick Statt for ReadWrite

We're still weeks away from Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 10-14, but one thing's for sure: Plenty of iPhone and iPad users are hoping for a fresh design and a more open, customizable experience. 

Last week, ReadWrite asked our esteemed readers what you're hoping to see in iOS 7. The two biggest take-aways:

1. ReadWrite readers want iOS to be more customizable.
2. ReadWrite readers would really like Android-style widgets on their iPhone and iPads.

(Before we go any further, though, let's be totally clear: These results are not statistically representative of iOS users generally, but they do illuminate what many ReadWrite readers would like to see in iOS7.)

Make iOS More Customizable

When asked if iOS should open up and become more customizable, almost two thirds (64%) of respondents said Yes. Just 28% - less than a third - thought Apple should retain its strict, top-down control because this is how the company ensures a bulletproof user experience. 

That justification might be historically true, but it's becoming harder for Apple to ignore just how effectively Google is managing to catch up in terms of Android's UX design, while not sacrificing the flexibility Android has traditionally granted its users. For years, Apple fans could laugh off Android as a rusty, imperfect copycat with a lot of growing to do. And they were mostly right.

But grown it has, and now Android is a more potent competitor to iOS than ever. With its chief competitor offering a far more customizable experience, Apple faces growing pressure to loosen its grip on iOS and give more control to its users. There's no guarantee that Apple will do that (and even if it does, the changes will no doubt be gradual), but the user demand seems clear. 

No Wonder Jailbreaking iOS Is So Popular 

This desire for greater control is exhibited in the growing popularity of jailbreaking - the unauthorized removal of Apple's limits on how people can use iOS. Even though there is no jailbreak available for the latest version of iOS, there are at least 30 million jailbroken iOS devices, according to Cydia creator Jay Freeman's website (Cydia is the "alternative to Apple's app store for 'jailbroken devices' "). Granted, that's a small percentage of the more than 500 million iOS devices Apple has sold to date, but the demand appears to be growing. When the evasi0n jailbreak tool for iOS 6 launched earlier this year, it was so popular that not only did people trying to access crash the site hosting it, but they crashed the Cydia app store and caused performance issues that lasted for days. With 7 million devices cracked in four days, evasi0n was the most popular iOS jailbreaking tool yet. 

Typically, when we write about the jailbreaking phenomenon here on ReadWrite, the chorus from Android-loving commenters is consistent: Google's mobile OS has been able to do XYZ for years, you doofus. Get a clue. Switch to Android. Snark aside, these folks have a point. Many of reasons people jailbreak their iPhones and iPads are indeed features that come natively on Android, or are at least a Google Play app download away.  

In our survey, ReadWrite asked readers to list the features they'd most like to see in iOS 7. The second most-used word in the responses was "customization." Other popular requests included improvements to iOS's multitasking, quicker access to settings, multiple user profiles and improvements to the Notification Center. 

Give Us Widgets Or Give Us Death!

Overall, the most commonly requested feature was the inclusion of widgets on the home screen. The use of icons displaying live data has long been familiar to users of other operating systems and has even found its way into at least one iOS 7 preview mockup. Apparently, lots of iOS users are sick of looking at the Weather app icon and seeing the same sun that's been shining since the iPhone first launched in 2007. 

In total, 734 people responded to our survey. Are these just a bunch of Android fans flooding our Poll Daddy widget with pro-Google sentiment? Hardly. Not only did we give Android die-hards a chance to reveal themselves in the first question, but 61% of responses were made from iOS devices. Another 13% came from Mac computers. 

Anything else you're dying to see in iOS 7 when it's announced next month? Let us know in the comments. 

Related Reading: 

• Why Jailbreaking iOS 6 Is Popular Enough To Break Cydia
• Why Apple Really Needs To Kill It With iOS 7
• Apple's iOS Design Changes Threaten To Delay The Next iPhone
• Will Apple's New Design Changes Kill The Luster Steve Jobs Loved? 

Ah, college — also known as “the most expensive wi-fi connection you’ll ever have.” The modern classroom is alive with the clicking of laptops and tapping of smart phones, and it’d be naive to think their owners are just dutifully taking notes. 

Enter a new breed of educational apps that aim to re-engage those same students via the smartphones that distract them. These student response apps run on students’ personal smartphones to turn class lectures into a two-way dialogue. Students can use the apps to participate in class lectures, discussions and even competitions, all without looking up from their phones.

How They Can Work

Jason Bazylak, a University of Toronto lecturer in mechanical engineering, teaches one of the largest engineering courses on campus, with more than 1,000 freshmen in stadium seating. To make participation less intimidating, Bazylak requires his students to download and use Top Hat in class. 

“It takes a lot of courage to raise your hand and shout out questions in a group that big,” he told ReadWrite. “I wanted to support the quiet students who might not speak up otherwise.”

Top Hat lets Bazylak modify and tweak his lecture in real time. After each subject segment, Bazylak uses the app to text the class a multiple-choice question they can answer on their cell phones. If 96% or more of the class gets it right, he moves on to the next topic. If they don’t, he continues on the same topic until he’s certain the class has grasped it.

The app also lets students text questions to Bazylak’s teaching assistant to help guide the discussion. Sometimes, his assistant simply texts answers back. If the question is a frequent one, however, he shares it with Bazylak for him to lecture on. Bazylak said these student driven questions end up compiled as a study guide before tests. 

I found Bazylak through Top Hat’s highlighted success stories page. The professor said he wasn’t compensated for his testimonial. This June, he’ll attend the Canadian Engineering Education Convention to present a paper on his use of the relatively new app. 

Saturated Response

Top Hat joins a market saturated with similar products. Poll Everywhere claims to have 100,000 educators as customers, which just might make it the current market leader. eClicker Presenter delivers class results after every session. Socrative, still in beta, teaches through mobile games. 

All of these apps offer roughly the same functions, including options to present students with quizzes, polls, and discussion questions during class for real time learning and instantaneous feedback. All without requiring students or teachers to spend much — sometimes any — money on software or equipment.

Top Hat, for instance, costs students roughly $20 a semester; Bazylak requires them to buy it the same way he might require purchase of a textbook.

No Reply At All

Mobile response apps aim to shift student in-class activity from raised hands to lowered phones. But they don’t do anything to minimize the original distraction. If anything, they might make it easier to get away with texting and gaming during class.

It's also difficult to tell if response systems are effective for student engagement. A 2008 study at the University of Toronto polled 715 students about whether or not they felt that response systems — that is, hand-held clickers; this was way before smartphones were as common as they are today — were effective for learning. About half didn't think they helped. A cursory glance at dozens of related studies reveals similarly lukewarm results.

Bazylak told me that while response apps work for him, they’re not a magic bullet. 

“It’s not learning in a box, it’s a tool,” he said. “Some lecturers aren’t as welcoming to questions as others. The tool is only as conducive to learning as the lecturer will allow it to be.”

There’s another place where students can turn lectures into two-way discussions — the Internet, with its forums, wikis, message boards, and search engines that provide instantaneous answers to whatever students need to know. The bigger question raised by response apps, in fact, might be whether it's the lecture hall itself whose days might be numbered.

Photo courtesy of The University of Iowa Libraries on Flickr, CC 2.0

Google has formally demanded that Microsoft yank its new YouTube app for Windows Phone, which allows users to skip ads and download YouTube videos — both of which violate YouTube's terms of service. The Verge has the full text of Google's cease-and-desist letter, which is dated today.

ReadWrite reported on the Microsoft app's apparent rule-breaking last week.

Updated 10:24am PT on May 16: A Microsoft PR representative emailed us a statement in response to Google's letter:

YouTube is consistently one of the top apps downloaded by smartphone users on all platforms, but Google has refused to work with us to develop an app on par with the apps for other platforms. Since we updated the YouTube app to ensure our mutual customers a similar YouTube experience, ratings and feedback have been overwhelmingly positive. We’d be more than happy to include advertising but need Google to provide us access to the necessary APIs. In light of Larry Page’s comments today calling for more interoperability and less negativity, we look forward to solving this matter together for our mutual customers.

What's in Google's Wallet?

Under the Wallet name, Google has been mostly selling failure. It's offered a confusing array of payment services—most notably, a way of paying for items in stores by tapping your smartphone to a device on the counter.

That in-store payment service has been, let's say it, an outright disaster. But Google is sticking with Wallet—at least in name—with two new services unveiled Wednesday at Google I/O, its annual developer conference held this week in San Francisco.

The first, Google Wallet Instant Buy, allows developers—the focus of Google's efforts of late—to build Wallet as a checkout option on mobile apps, sparing the agonizing dozens of steps required to input a credit-card number, billing address, and other information needed to buy.

The other, like eBay's PayPal service, lets Google Wallet users send money via email.

Eyes On The Payment Prize

Google has long aimed to become a payments player. It knows that many of its searches drive people to e-commerce sites where they conduct transactions. Handling the actual purchase would give it the ultimate informational signal that an ad is effective.

And Google accepts billions of dollars of payments a year—though mostly from small businesses buying search ads, rather than from transactions in goods and services.

More recently, though, the growing number of Android smartphones has created a base of consumers who have signed up for Google Wallet—whether they realize it or not—in order to buy apps and digital content on the Google Play store.

Google hoped to extend that consumer base into purchases in retail stores, but it made a series of bad choices, from the NFC wireless hardware it insisted on to the executives it chose to oversee the project. (Two have left, and one has taken a new, unspecified assignment within the company.) Very few merchants ended up accepting Google Wallet in stores, and very few consumers ever had access to it.

There were rumors that Google was going to unveil one more run at retail payments at I/O by rolling out a plastic Google Wallet card—essentially a regular credit card, linked to a user's Google Wallet account, for buying things anywhere MasterCard was accepted. But that product reportedly ran into glitches, and the most recent head of Google's payments push, Osama Bedier, left the company.

Back To The Web

By bringing payments back to its Web roots, Google is essentially mimicking the architecture of PayPal. The main reason for offering email payments seems to be feature parity with PayPal. But Google has one big advantage over PayPal—namely, its ability to build Wallet into every Android phone and its hugely popular Gmail service.

Right now, the in-app Wallet checkout feature seems geared for e-commerce on the go, rather than purchases in stores. But it's easy to imagine this new instantiation of Google Wallet getting used in stores, too.

How would this work? Think of how Apple lets you pay for Apple Store purchases with an app, charging a stored credit card. Or how Square lets you buy a coffee by saying your name—no card swipe required. Or how you can get a ride in an Uber town car without having to sign a paper slip.

Could Google help merchants build apps that allow customers to pay for purchases without digging into their pockets—no credit-card swipe or smartphone tap required? This makes the most sense for ordering items ahead of time for pickup. But it would be simple to speed that up. Maybe Google Wallet would generate a virtual gift card that old-fashioned cash registers could scan.

The threat to Google's never-fading payments dreams is that others may get there first. Braintree and Stripe are already popular with app developers, and work on more than just Android. Meanwhile, Square, PayPal, Groupon and others are colonizing retail checkout counters with iPads.

Those rivals should not rest easy, however. Google has shown a stubborn determination to enter the payments business that it hasn't demonstrated with other more experimental projects. And with these latest products, sensibly designed around how developers and consumers actually want payments to happen, it may have finally gotten its cards laid out straight.

Is there anything that Google didn't announce at the keynote of its Google I/O developers conference Wednesday morning? 

Google just unleashed a fury of new features for all of its properties today at the Google I/O keynote. We saw new developer features for Android, a variety of tools  and functions for the Chrome browser and OS, a boatload of pictures and communication features for Google+ (along with a redesign), the expansion of Google’s Knowledge Graph, new music, new maps for mobile and more. It is enough to make your head spin just thinking about how much stuff Google is doing these days.

But there were things we thought we might see from the I/O keynote that did not show up.

A New Version Of Android

We were almost certain that Google would at least provide a small new update to Android. Whether it was Android 4.3 Jelly Bean or Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie (or any mix thereof), how could Google go through an entire I/O and not update its most important platform? 

Android has seen 900 million activations. Google Play Android apps have been downloaded 48 billion times. Android has become a mature, stable platform. Google does not really need to push out new Android updates at a breakneck pace the way it has done in the past. Today’s Android news seemed more about helping the developer ecosystem and community catch up with the platform, to make their lives easier and make them more money. 

Hardly Any New Hardware

Google announced a new version of the Chrome Pixel for Chrome OS and a “Nexus” version of the Samsung Galaxy S4. 

We were not really expecting much in terms of hardware from I/O this year, but compared to 2012, the new gadgets were really sparse. Google did not announce a new Nexus device (because there was no new version of Android). That means no new smartphone or tablet, no updates to Google Glass, no set top box for your television and no smartwatch. 

No Major Upgrade to Chrome OS

Chrome was a major topic during the I/O keynote. Google featured the mobile Web, the Chrome Pixel and demoed HTML5 and responsive design features.

Yet Google did not do anything groundbreaking with Chrome OS. Google’s desktop operating system never really seems to take major jumps - instead seeing a constant stream of new updates and features. Chrome may not seem like it is evolving much on a day-to-day or month-to-month basis, but look back a year and you will notice that it is significantly different today than it was at last year’s I/O. 

Google Glass Makes No News

Google co-founder Sergey Brin did not make an appearance at all during the I/O keynote. Hence, neither did his pet project, Google Glass. After all the announcements on Android, Chrome, Search, Maps, Google+ and everything, Google's most-hyped new product these days got no mention.

Larry Page addressed a question from Robert Scoble on Glass at the end of the keynote, but that was about it. It seems that Glass is not a substantial part of Google's future. It is cool, fun, geeky, but kind of a side show.

Note, lead image by Nick Statt was altered to create an empty podium.

Mobile versions of websites are so 2009.

You know those clunky, stripped-down versions of sites with addresses that tack an "m." onto the beginning, and serve up a dumbed-down, limited version of their content? If Google has its way, those sites are headed for the dustbin of history.

At I/O, Google's developer conference held this week in San Francisco, executives Sundar Pichai and Linus Upson showed off examples of websites that traveled smoothly from desktops to tablets to smartphones. A website for the upcoming second installment of the Hobbit movie franchise let you soar above Middle Earth on many devices. And a racing game had cars leaping from smartphone to tablet to laptop.

The vehicle of this, of course, is Google's Chrome Web browser, which is now available across all those platforms (including, as of last year's edition of the I/O conference, Apple's iPhone and iPad).

The point of the demonstrations: You should be able to build your website once and have it adapt to different computing environments, a notion called "responsive design." Rather than force the creator of a website to design for specific screen sizes and interfaces - like keyboards versus touch screens, say - or force users to go through contortions to use websites optimized for the limitations of the wrong device, websites should just sense what computing device is being used and reconfigure themselves accordingly.

Just a few years ago, that sounded like a pipe dream - hence, the proliferation of mobile-optimized websites standing alongside full desktop versions.

At ReadWrite, we haven't just been writing about responsive design. Since last October, when we launched a major redesign of our site, we've been living it. So we're naturally biased in favor of this concept.

It will take time and effort to rearchitect websites for this reality. And there will always be those holdouts- particularly within large, slow-moving businesses - who insist on designing for older versions of Web browsers or mobile devices. Legacy technologies which haven't made the cross-platform leap, like Adobe's fading Flash, need to be winnowed out. But those problem areas will increasingly be the exception, not rule.

Let's just have one Web. That seems easier.

Photo by Nick Statt for ReadWrite

If you build a lot of Android apps, you know there are certain aspects of the process that make you want to rip our your hair. Google understands your pain. Even better, it's offering some relief.

Instead of focusing on a new version of Android specifically to kick off the keynote at Google I/O this morning, Google focused on new tools and services that will make developers' lives easier. Google VP of Android product management Hugo Barra announced a variety of new services for Google Play, location and gaming. 

Android Studio

The biggest new feature for developers is Android Studio, a dedicated Google-made integrated development environment (IDE) custom-made to simplify the process of building, testing and deploying Android apps. In particular, with Studio, Google aims to solve one of the longest running and bigger problem for Android developers: fragmentation.

Developers often cite the variety of screen sizes and different Android versions as one of their biggest headaches. With Android Studio, developers can render their apps in real time across any type of screen size that Android supports. Studio can also help translate apps into different languages straight from the console.

Maps & Location

Google also announced new ways for developers to tap features of Google Maps in their apps. The new Google Maps API version 2 aims to make it easier for developers to add Google Maps straight into their apps while also improving the speed with which maps render.

Google said it's also been working to improve the battery drain that turning on smartphone location services can cause. The company claimed that Android location services will use less than 1% of a device's battery per hour. If that holds up in the real world, it would represent a major improvement over the current location performance on Android.

Google also announced three new application programming interfaces —i.e., hooks for developers to use Google services in their apps — for Android location:

• Fused Location Provider -- location is faster to acquire, more accurate, low power location mode that uses less than 1% of battery per hour.
• Geofencing -- Can have up to 100 geofences active per app. 
• Activity Recognition -- Help users track their physical activity. Machine learning classifiers to help people "quantify" themselves. 

Google Cloud Messaging

Google said its Cloud Messaging service is delivering 200,000 push messages every second. That is 17 billion messages a day. Google claims to have 60 milliseconds latency, half of what it was when Cloud Messaging was announced last year.

Among the new features in Google Cloud Messaging are Persistent Connection and Upstream Messaging (from the app to your server, GCM does all the client side functions for you). Cloud Messaging will also be able to synchronize notifications between Android devices so you can send a message to a user's tablet or Android smartphone in one shot. 

Gaming

Google is putting a major focus on Android games at I/O this week and announced a variety of new APIs for Android games. None of these are especially groundbreaking, although they really make Android gaming perform a lot like Apple's iOS Game Center.

• Cloud Save: The ability to save game play to the cloud and play among multiple devices. 
• Achievements: The ability to earn badges based on performance.
• Leaderboards: The ability to have a leader board among your friends on a specific app. Instead of having to raise the global rankings, play against your friends.

The one mild stroke of genius here is that Google is rolling these APIs to both iOS and the Web, meaning that it can extend its gaming experience outside of Android. 

Google Play Developer Console

The Google Play Developer Console was announced at I/O 2012. The goal is to help developers manage and monetize their apps. Five new features were announced for the developer console:

• Optimization Tips: Analyzes app and how it is doing in the Play Store and gives you tips to get it to perform better.
• App Translation Service: Allows you to get professional translations from the developer console. Russian!
• Usage Metrics: Google analytics metrics directly in the Google Play Developer Console.
• Revenue Graphs: Simple tool as a tab in the dev console to see how much money you are making.
• Beta testing and staged rollouts: Three tabs, alpha testing, beta testing and production. Can use Google+ and Communities to get beta testers. Can manage the rollout in one go. That is huge so you don't push out bugs to thousands or millions of users.

The biggest announcement here is the beta testing and staged rollouts. This is something that iOS developers have been asking from Apple for a while.

What are the biggest new features in building for Android? What are you most excited by? Is it the Android Studio that helps you render from a dedicated IDE? Or the beta testing and stage rollouts? Let us know in the comments. 

Lead image by Nick Statt for ReadWrite

Designing a mobile app can seem simple when you are sketching it out on the whiteboard. But when you actually sit down in your developer environment and get cracking, turning your ideas into reality is not always so easy.

That's only the beginning, of course. What if you need to design your app for both the iPhone and Android? You will very quickly learn that you cannot just cut and paste your design from one platform to the other. Android and iOS frameworks share some basic principles, but when it comes to design, they are as different as ebony and ivory. 

For instance, the notification bars in iOS and Android may look similar, but they perform different functions on each platform. And did you know that the action bar interface icon for iPhone is 20x20 pixels, while Android's is 24x24 density-independent pixels? Do you know the difference between a pixel and a density-independent pixel?

Here’s a quick reminder, from StackOverflow: Density-independent Pixels - an abstract unit based on the physical density of the screen. These units are relative to a 160dpi screen, so one dp is one pixel on a 160dpi screen. The ratio of dp-to-pixel changes with the screen density, but not necessarily in direct proportion. Note: The compiler accepts both "dip" and "dp," though "dp" is more consistent with "sp."

Sometimes you just need an easy chart to remember these kinds of things. Mobile cloud-service provider Kinvey created a quick infographic going over the basics of iOS and Android design for easy reference when you are pulling out your hair trying to port your iPhone icons over to an Android app (or vice versa). Check it out below.

What are your biggest app design problems? Let us know in the comments.

I am a pioneer (ahem, Explorer) tasked with testing the developer edition of Google Glass, arguably technology's biggest quantum leap forward since the advent of the tablet. The start of Google I/O today will no doubt bring a critical mass of Glass wearers into San Francisco, making its social implications more relevant than ever — especially come happy hour.

But since hardware benchmarks, unboxings and rigorous teardowns are so 2012, I to set out to review Google Glass with one noble (if amorous) goal. I wanted to wear the device on a full-fledged, real-life, real-stakes date and see what happened. 

This is that story.

Glasshole examined

Whose Idea Was This, Anyway?

Sure, a romantic evening on the town wearing a Star Trek-remixed smartphone on your face might ward off your average weirdo, but I like to live well beyond the doldrums of social custom. Which is to say that my editors suggested the idea and I blame them for everything. They may have been joking - I'm not actually sure. Everything began innocently enough on our weekly over-caffeinated Skype call. The rest is history, especially the bivalves. 

This is how it goes: I propose that a cute girl of interest (her name is Rebecca) accompany me to dinner and drinks... and mention my one wearable, Bluetooth-enabled caveat. As it turns out, she's game for the experiment, curious about Google Glass and accepts my invite. Cue nerd panic.

Google Glass On The Half-Shell

My frantic pre-date self pep-talk logic goes like this:

• Glass is more interesting than it is obnoxious.
• My natural charm, good looks and modesty will provide a diversion.
• Working theory: Glass will actually prove less obtrusive than a smartphone in a social setting.
• Okay maybe in a distinct minority, but I think Glass looks super rad. 
• Date has some warning and is partially familiar with Glass. Date has expressed positive possible romantic interest in prior social scenarios sans Glass.

Oysters, not through Glass

Pre-date risks, social, romantic and otherwise:

• I own the only Google Glass in Portland (at the time of shipping, anyway). Here, it makes for a lot of awkward, enthusiastic and inescapable extended social interactions.
• Date is a suspected technophobe.
• Date could take privacy concerns very seriously and literally flip table, walk out of restaurant.
• Date may think I am surreptitiously taking photographs of her (true) and get creeped out.
• Normal date risks (bad hair days, epic failure) amplified by social risk of full documentation via Internet.

A Date With A Glasshole, Documented In Realtime

For dinner, we agreed on an authentic cajun place/oyster bar in North Portland with stiff drinks and plenty of exits.

Paying really close attention

Taylor: Do you generally like technology? How do you use your mobile devices?
Rebecca: Sure, I like technology. That said, I'm not crazy in love with it. I do use my iPhone 5 almost constantly. I listen to podcasts and stream music all day at work. I text up a storm every 15 minutes... at least. I check my email, Instagram and Facebook every hour or so.

T: What's the first you heard about this whole Google Glass thing?
R: I first heard about it about five months ago. I thought it would be a great for people who need to be available all of the time for work. But I knew it [wasn't] for me.

T: So what do you do for work? 
R: I am a vintage dealer and leather craftsman.
T: That's pretty old school. You make like... non-virtual 3D objects? Whoa.

T: Were you nervous at all when I told you that we were going on a formal "date" with me wearing Glass and I was going to write a story about it?
R: I wouldn't say nervous. A little apprehensive, but overall excited and curious.
T: A lot of people probably would have been weirded out. If I wasn't already a major weirdo, I would have been weirded out. Cheers to that!

A toast #throughglass

#Glassgumbo

The Full-Disclosure Glasshole Date Debrief

A day after the date, I check in to see how she thinks things went. You know, for the story. At some point she called Glass a "breakup-inducing cyborg face device," so I was a little nervous about this part, I admit.

T: So, like, why did you agree to do that? Was it weird?
R: It was kind of weird. But the face that Glass was attached to is so damn charming. And it was promising oysters and tequila. Who could resist?

T: Fair enough. Flattery will get you everywhere.
R: I was also curious to see the general public's first reaction to it. People looked for any excuse to come up and talk to you about it. It was the first thing our server asked us, remember? "I've gotta ask: What's up with that glass visor thing?" Everyone sitting near us was staring. You might as well have been wearing a huge squirrel costume.
T: Next time I will wear my huge squirrel costume. That's more of a date 2.0 thing, I think.

T: Squirrels aside, do you think there are rules around technology and date etiquette?
R: There are most definitely unspoken rules around dating and phones. And, yes, I tend to obliviously violate them.
T: Okay so maybe I got mad at you for texting back and forth with a friend while we waited for our entree. Was that hypocritical?
R: Well, yeah... at least a little. You were also on your Android phone too. We were both on our phones on that date - not just on Glass. I have pictures to prove it.
T: Oh. Er... my bad.

Oystahhhs

R: There are rules. No phones on fancy date night. It's a time to connect with a person that's important to you.
T: Oh, so you're saying that I'm important to you? The truth comes out! Maybe this was all a ruse to get you to say that you liked me?
R: [Possibly creeped-out silence]

T: So, uh, let's get down to brass tacks. Do you think Google Glass is going to turn us all into zombie cyborgs who don't care about other humans? There are apps for virtual kissing, you know.
R: I think Google Glass is going to turn the people who are already predisposed to being zombie cyborgs into zombie cyborgs. I think it's easy to own and use Glass with respect and class to the people around you. It really depends on the person wearing them.

T: What about how I used Glass during our date? Was it distracting or rude?
R: I thought you were super classy. You only talked to it (to send texts) when you needed to. And I love that you could take candid pictures of our experience, that part was great. But in the back of my mind I worried I didn't have your full attention.
T: You did... I swear!
R: But the fact of the matter is there was a thing on your face that also had that attention. I had trouble seeing my way around it, literally. A phone in a bag wouldn't get checked [until] the date is over. Not that mine was in a bag...

T: How much did you enjoy our landmark social experiment on a scale of 1 (total catastrophe) to 10 (impromptu marriage in Vegas)?
R: I'd give the outing a 7. I definitely wouldn't want you to wear it to my birthday dinner or anything. But it was a fun to see other people react to a thing that they really didn't understand... especially during Happy Hour.

T: So how did you think the end of the date went? Did Glass affect that?
R: You mean when I lifted Glass from your face and with one careful motion slid it into its specialty Japanese microfiber case with a hardshell bottom?
T: You had me at "microfiber".

T: So, um, do you want to get drinks this weekend?
R: I would love to go on another date with you. But will Glass be coming?

That Wasn't So Bad, Now Was It?

I have to admit: The world beyond Glass does have its perks.

All photos by Rebecca Barron and Taylor Hatmaker.

Square, PayPal, and Groupon all made news today with the common goal of getting small businesses to junk their cash registers for Internet-connected devices that promise to bring the simple act of settling accounts into the future.

Change With Your Coffee

I work from home, but every morning I wake up, take a shower and go straight to work from my local coffee shop. About half of those days I stop at the neighborhood ATM kiosk to grab some cash. Call it quaint, call it archaic, but my local coffee shop only takes hard currency.

The coffee shop, 1369 in Cambridge's Inman Square, is really the only reason I bother using cash at all. 1369 is a little old school, a little hipster. Cash sales were kind of its “thing.” That’s why I was surprised the other day when I ran into 1369’s owner, Josh Gerber, and he told me that the coffee shop was going digital with the Square Register.

To me, this is disruption personified. No longer are we talking about some abstract concept of how smartphones and tablets could change businesses at the local level. We are seeing it in action on a tangible scale on the street, in our neighborhoods and, yes, at our local coffee shops. 

Mobile Reshapes Main Street

Leading the charge in this changing business landscape are companies like Square, PayPal, LevelUp, Intuit, Groupon, Revel and a variety of others. The task these companies have taken on is no easy challenge – each aims to redefine the point of sale and replace one of the most common items for Main Street business: the cash register.

The chosen vehicle to replace the cash register? The iPad.

Call it the iPad-ification of the point of sale or the mobilization of American’s businesses. We are now starting to see distinct results from several years of ecosystem growth and product releases intended to change the way that basic commerce is conducted. 

Square is the leading disruptor. It was the company that made the original card-swiping device for the iPhone and, later, the iPad. With its Square Register software, it introduced one of the first connected point-of-sale solutions. Today, Square took that a step further by announcing the Square Stand, a full replacement for the cash register that holds an iPad, includes a built-in credit-card swiper and allows business to connect cash drawers and receipt printers. The Square Stand, due out in July, is available for pre-order for $299.

Not to be outdone, PayPal announced at the same time a new program called “Cash For Registers” where it will buy old registers from businesses that wish to install PayPal Here, its own iPad-oriented point-of-sale system—and it's waiving payment-processing fees for the rest of the year.

Groupon also unveiled a new iPad-friendly version of its Breadcrumb point-of-sale software today.

Already, Revel Systems uses the iPad and Intuit can install any variety of smartphones or tablets into an effective register replacement. 

Conceptual To Implementation

Four factors are driving the implementation of iPad point-of-sale systems in small and medium-sized businesses:

• Install cost: It is often cheaper to buy an iPad and a couple of accessories that it is to go through a major point-of-sale vendor like Aloha or Micros, whose devices can cost thousands of dollars apiece.
• Interchange: The classic credit-card readers often have a variety of hidden costs for the business. They take a few percentage points of the total sale and often have a monthly fee or minimum that must be reached by the merchant, driving up their take to an effective rate of 3 to 5 percent for many merchants. Square charges interchange of 2.75% with no hidden fees on swiped transactions. A company like LevelUp does not charge interchange, but rather makes money as a marketing and advertising platform, offering incentives to users. 
• Mobile acceptance: A couple of years ago (even last year, when we first noticed the iPad point-of-sale trend), smartphone and tablet adoption were still in relative infancy. That has changed in a big way extraordinarily quickly. In just a few years, smartphones are now the norm. Second and third wave mainstream consumer adopters are now looking at them not as some weird fad but as practical tools for solving problems.
• Ease of use: Anyone can hit a few buttons on an iPad and swipe a credit card. Proprietary register systems pose a training nightmare. 

Square's new Stand product promises to be more durable than the older plug-in card swiper. Square merchants like Blue Bottle were known to stock multiple replacement swipers in case one went bad—but no one wants to fiddle with hardware while customers are waiting.

PayPal is taking a less prescriptive approach than Square's integrated hardware and software, but it too is pushing iPad-based solutions. It rolled out an iPad version of PayPal Here in March, with one nice feature from its parent company, eBay: Merchants can scan barcoded inventory for easy input into the register's list of items for sale.

"The reason the iPad is such a great device is it's touchscreen; you can integrate it with devices like receipt printers; it's relatively affordable," says PayPal president David Marcus. "It's the ideal device."

Marcus says PayPal's seen many merchants upgrade from the smartphone version to the iPad version.

"We just want to accelerate the inevitable," Marcus says of PayPal's move to offer free payment processing to merchants who take it up on the register turn-in offer. The cash register "is a dumb device," he says, that doesn't handle features like loyalty tracking or remote ordering.

At 1369, Gerber knew that he would eventually need to go digital, at least to the bare minimum of accepting credit cards. Yet, the average check at 1369 (or really any other coffee shop) is in the $4-$5 range. When you are processing a lot of small transactions, that interchange rate becomes painful. That is why it is good for businesses when payment processors battle on interchange and lower rates for everybody.

We are now in a phase in the Mobile Revolution where we are seeing concepts become reality. This is not just some startup CEO saying, “I am going to change the world” or a huge gadget manufacturer telling us that this is the next big thing. These are real implementations we can see, feel and touch, in our neighborhoods and at our coffee shops. 

Photo via 1369 Coffee House

Owen Thomas contributed reporting to this story.

As the world goes mobile, businesses around the world are rushing to build app they hope will take center stage on your smartphone home screen. Most are not worth the bother. This seems especially true for apps from non-tech companies, too many of which seem to be poorly designed attempts to create intrusive commercials.

But not every app from non-tech companies fit that description. It turns out that you don't have to be an Amazon or a Google to deliver a great app experience. 

Each of the six apps profiled below fully delivers on the company's core business - making me want to remain (or become) a customer. Beyond that, they are all surprisingly intuitive and helpful. The key characteristic they share? An overriding concern for the user: 

1. CVS Pharmacy: Primary Needs

The CVS app makes great use of multiple smartphone functions. You can easily find a nearby store, use digital coupons to save money, then collect points for additional savings - all within the app.

Scan your prescription's barcode with your smartphone camera to have your medications refilled. If you want a picture from your smartphone's camera printed out, that's easy, too.

The CVS app is simple to use and packed with helpful customer-facing features. If my parents used a smartphone, I would get them this app. The iPhone version of the app has 4.5 stars and nearly 16,000 reviews. 

[iPhone] [Android]

2. In-N-Out Burger: Loyal Following

Not being from California, I am at a loss to explain the cult-like popularity of this burger chain. But, the app is as as good as a Double-Double. Basic, well-made, and exactly what the user wants.

The In-N-Out app offers turn-by-turn navigation to the nearest In-N-Out outlet. Users can store their gift points in the app. For the faithful, the app includes a full menu (including the not-so-secret menu; Animal Style anyone?), downloadable content and the "history of..." In-N-Out. Well done.

[iPhone] [Android]

3. Chase: Personal Service

Perhaps nobody likes dealing with their bank. Though I think this app is great, with more than 71,000 reviews in iTunes alone, it scores only a 3.5 rating. Frankly, I wish my regular bank's app was this good. 

In fact, for what this app allows me to do, and for how easy it is to operate, it not only outdoes other bank apps, it's far more handy than many mainstream tech apps.With the Chase Mobile app, you can scan and deposit checks into your account. It's easy to set automated text alerts - such as for being notified via SMS when you have low balance. You can pay bills through the app, get a complete overview of all your Chase accounts, transfer money, review your transaction history, find a nearby ATM, click-to-call a Chase representative - all very easily, in my opinion.

[iPhone] [Android] 

4. MLB.com: Content-Rich

If you're not a baseball fan you may not care about the MLB's "At Bat" app. This is wrong.

At Bat app's ease of use, it's incredibly dense feature set, and its simple, well-crafted design offering various additional levels of content, all billed through the app, are a thing of beauty. App developers for all content-rich sites should study At Bat.

With this app, users get the latest scores, the latest news, can track their home team, and favorite players. Set notifications for team and players - and know instantly if your favorite pitcher is chasing a no-hitter, then tune-in.  

Want more than animated game graphics? For very reasonable fees, At Bat offers options to listen to any game (home and away feeds). Pay a bit more and you can watch nearly any game, live. Games are also archived and condensed for later viewing. 

At Bat is simple to use, understands its fan base - and their varying levels of fanaticism - and offers greater content depth for each level of user. I suggest every sports league in the world just copy MLB.com's At Bat app. 

[iPhone] [Android] 

5. Grainger: Servicing Core Customers

Grainger sells all manner of industrial supplies, power tools and equipment for builders and contractors. It's been in business since 1927 - but the company obviously understands the importance of technology to support its mission, as its app is great. 

Looking for a highly specific product among thousands of options? Type it or speak it into the search box. You can have the product shipped to you or a nearby store, and track its progress in real-time. You can even get product reviews from other contractors. 

Your shopping cart and data are synched across your computer and smartphone. That's important for contractors who may need to access Grainger from a job site or back at the office. Plus you click-to-call for help, tap for the nearest location,and share purchase/needs lists with co-workers. This app knows what the company's customers need and works hard to fulfill them.

[iPhone] [Android] 

6. Lululemon: A Sense Of Community

Lululemon sells clothes and accessories, primarily for yoga, primarily for women. Its app, Om Finder, is not a shopping app, however. Instead, it focuses on helping users find the nearest and/or best yoga studio, yoga teacher or yoga class. 

The Om Finder app is simple and purposeful. It's all about helping the customer be their best at the thing Lululemon's clothing is best suited for.Users can share tips about a facility or teacher, connect with others through the app and maintain a schedule of their yoga sessions.

Sure, it's not all altruism. Many people who practice yoga are likely to purchase (still more) clothing from Lululemon. This is a smart way for the company to support its business, help its customers and foster a sense of community, all with a single, simple app. Other businesses - not just retailers - should follow Lululemon's lead.

[iPhone only] 

Great Apps Are Everywhere

The shelf life of most apps is not long. The apps listed above, however, all make my life easier, better, happier or more productive - without annoying me, intruding upon my personal space or bombarding me with junk.  

While very different, all these apps offer important lessons in how companies of all types can use mobile applications to please customers, extend their mission and leverage the power of community.

Nearly five years ago, a smartphone came out that few thought much of. Little did people know that the device would be a harbinger for the next half-decade of mobile innovation, pushing boundaries of technology and launching a fundamental shift in how people interact with computers.

That phone was the HTC G1, the original "Google Phone." It was a clunky, bug-ridden touchscreen device with a slide-out physical keyboard. The G1 did not sell particularly well. The buzz at the time was over Apple's still relatively young iPhone and varying BlackBerry devices, like the original Bold 9000.

Let's not say that the G1 was the beginning of the Mobile Revolution. There are neither beginnings nor endings in the turning of the wheel of technology. But it was a beginning.

The beginning of the Android Era.

It is amazing to look back at the last five years of Android and see just how far the devices that run Google's mobile operating system have come. From the G1 to the Nexus 10, the hardware, software and everything in between has gone from buggy, crash-prone phones to finely tuned devices that dominate mobile computing. Google and its manufacturing partners have done well in a half decade of innovation. What will the next five years bring?

Google is expected to announce a new version of its Android mobile operating system at its I/O developers conference, which runs Wednesday through Friday this week. Google refreshed its flagship Nexus line in November, and new Android chief Sundar Pichai recently downplayed expectations for major new products at I/O, a change from last year, which saw major launches like the Nexus 7 tablet.

Instead, in a sign of Android's maturation, Google will likely put the focus on devices from its hardware partners, like Samsung and HTC—a sign of Android's increasing maturity as a platform. Let's take a look back at the devices that brought Android to this pivotal point in its history.

HTC G1

Released: October 22, 2008

Hardware: 3.2-inch screen (320x480), 1150 mAh battery (removable), slide-out physical keyboard, 256 MB internal storage (expandable external storage), 192 RAM, 3.2 megapixel back camera.

Firmware: Android 1.0

The G1 (also known as the HTC Dream) was the first of Google's flagship smartphones. At the time it was a bit of a curiosity, mostly interesting for how it introduced Google properties (like Maps, Street View, Calendar and Search) to the smartphone market. The G1 was limited to T-Mobile in the United States.

Motorola Droid

Released: October 17, 2009

Hardware: 3.7-inch screen (480x854), 1400 mAh battery (removable), slide-out keyboard, 512 MB internal storage (expandable external storage), 256 MB RAM, 5 MP back camera.

Firmware: Android 2.0 (Eclair)

Boom goes the dynamite. The Motorola Droid was the first true Android smartphone to be popular with the masses. It was released to Verizon with heavy marketing targeted at what the Droid could do that an iPhone could not, like multi-tasking. The "Droid Does" slogan became a popular part of the geek lexicon and was Motorola's high water mark in the smartphone wars. The Droid shipped with the original Android 2.0 "Eclair" version but was quickly updated to a much more stable version in Android 2.1.

Nexus One

Released: January 5, 2009

Hardware: 3.7-inch screen (480x800), 1400 mAh battery (removable), 512 MB internal storage (expandable), 512 MB RAM, 5 MP back camera.

Firmware: Android 2.1 (Eclair)

The Nexus One was the first Android device commissioned directly from Google to serve as the flagship of the operating system. The One was built by HTC (an altered with HTC's "Sense" skin for its Incredible smartphone) and immediately became the sexiest Android smartphone on the market. The Nexus series has since become known as the "guide" device for new versions of the operating system. The Nexus One also marked an experiment by Google to bypass the carriers and sell directly to consumers through its website. The One was also one of the first Android smartphone to ship with Near Field Communication (NFC) functionality. This experiment did not take among consumers and most subsequent Nexus devices were offered through Google alongside subsidized versions from the likes of AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint. Google did not release a Nexus device for Android 2.2, with updated firmware for the Nexus One serving as the de facto flagship for Froyo.

Nexus S

Released: December 16, 2010.

Hardware: 4-inch screen (480x800), 1500 mAh battery (removable), 16 GB internal storage, 512 MB RAM, 5 MP back camera, VGA front camera.

Firmware: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

Samsung really started its rise to the top of the Android pyramid in 2010 with the release of its wide-ranging Galaxy S smartphones. Google tapped the Korean manufacturer for the next two Nexus devices, starting with the Nexus S. The device was the flagship for Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which is still the most-used version of the operating system years after its release.

Motorola Xoom

Released: February 24, 2011.

Hardware: 10.1-inch screen (800x1280), 6000 mAh battery (non-removable), 32 GB internal storage, 1 GB RAM, 5 MP back camera, 2 MP front camera.

Firmware: Android 3.2 (Honeycomb)

Google took a break from the Nexus line with Android 3.2 Honeycomb and went with Motorola for the flagship device of the operating system. Honeycomb and the Xoom turned out to be a complete albatross in the Android ecosystem, never gaining traction with consumers or developers. In fact, Honeycomb was so lampooned for being "half-finished" that Google never even released the normally open source Android kernel code and very few devices were ever made that used the operating system. Honeycomb was supposed to be Google's answer to the Android tablet conundrum. To this point, the only Android tablets that had been released ran some version of Froyo or Gingerbread, Android versions that were suboptimal for large screen devices. Honeycomb ultimately served as the stepping stone between Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich, which married the smartphone and tablet capabilities of Android and made it much easier for developers and manufacturers to create applications for a variety of screen sizes. 

Galaxy Nexus

Released: November 17, 2011.

Hardware: 4.65-inch screen (720x1280), 1750 mAh battery (removable), 16/32 GB internal storage (no external memory), 1 GB RAM, 5 MP back camera, 1.3 MP front camera.

Firmware: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

In many ways, Android phones made a giant leap at the end of 2011. Screens started to get bigger (eventually much bigger) and Android got a lot smarter, easy to use and out of its own way. This was epitomized with the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich. Android can almost be categorized into two phases: Android 2.3 Gingerbread and everything that came before and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and everything that came after. Starting with the Galaxy Nexus, Android smartphones have run smoother, been more secure, had bigger screens and hardware specifications that are all almost nearly double what came before.

Nexus 7

Released: July 13, 2012.

Hardware: 7-inch screen (800x1280), 4325 mAh battery (non-removable), 8/16/32 GB internal memory (no external memory), 1 GB RAM, 1.2 MP front camera.

Firmware: Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)

The first Nexus tablet was announced at Google I/O in June 2012 and shipped a couple weeks later. The Nexus 7 cemented the market for lower priced tablets (next to the Kindle Fire at $199) with smaller screens in the 7-inch variety. From a hardware point of view, the Nexus 7 was not the most sophisticated tablet ever to be released, but it showed that Android has the ability to seamlessly run on tablet-sized screens while also highlighting the capabilities of Jelly Bean as a tablet operating system. Google refreshed the Nexus 7 later in the year to give it cellular connectivity. 

Nexus 4

Released: November 13, 2012.

Hardware: 4.7-inch screen (768x1280), 2100 mAh battery (non-removable), 8/16 GB internal memory, 2 GB RAM, 8 MP back camera, 1.3 MP front camera. 

Firmware: Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)

The latest Android firmware is version 4.2, the second instance of Jelly Bean (much in the same way that Android 2.0/2.1 were both Eclair). The Nexus 4 from LG was released at the end of 2012 with two other devices -- the Nexus 10 from Samsung (below) and the upgraded Nexus 7. As yet, adoption of Android 4.2 has been minimal as it is an iterative update to what already existed in Android 4.1, with some minor feature upgrades. While many people consider the Nexus 4 to be a superb instance of an Android smartphone, it was criticized for its lack of 4G LTE, of which most new smartphones have included by default. The phone was made available through Google Play store (along with it tablet siblings) and on T-Mobile.

Nexus 10

Released: November 13, 2012.

Hardware: 10.05-inch screen (1600x2560), 9000 mAh battery (non-removable), 16/32 GB memory, 2 GB RAM, 5 MP back camera, 1.9 MP front camera.

Firmware: Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)

Samsung came back to produce the first branded large-screen (8-inches or up) Nexus tablet with the Nexus 10. The tablet was the first large screen to roll out with a flagship Android update since Motorola released the Xoom tablet with the Honeycomb release in February 2011. 

What will this week bring at Google I/O 2013? Will we finally see Android 5.0? Or is there another update to Jelly Bean (Android 4.3)? We will be everywhere at I/O next week bringing you news of Google's latest gadgets, apps and developer news. Stay tuned.

In front of a packed house at the Marriott World Resort in Orlando, BlackBerry President and CEO Thorsten Heins proudly showed off the company's newest devices, including the low-end Q5 designed for developing markets, talked-up the company's updated BB10 platform (10.1) and announced that BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) was going cross-platform. 

Heins was generally upbeat, declaring this year the company's "best launch year ever," all the while gleefully taking swipes at the competition. The market will decide, of course, though this morning's celebratory keynote was clearly designed to ensure all that BlackBerry has emerged from the last few years of painful market declines and is eager to take on the competition.

Z10. Q10. BB10.1.

Heins took some of his shots at Apple and Microsoft, mocking those who suggest that "people want the desktop experience" on a tablet or smartphone. "Really," he mocked. "It simply doesn't work. That's why we built BB10 specifically for a pure mobile experience. We don't serve the desktop market. We are mobile first - the original mobile first." 

Heins then showed off the Z10, which he described as "Perfect for people who want the all-touch experience."

Heins also briefly channeled Steve Jobs: "One more thing: the famous BlackBerry keyboard," he said as he introduced the Q10. "The best physical keyboard on the market today. No one makes keyboards better than BlackBerry." (The Q10 is expected to go on sale in the U.S. by June.)

After showing off the company's two new flagship devices, Heins made the case for why BlackBerry remains relevant in the mobile world. In last four months, he noted, apps for BB10 have increased from 70,000 to "over 120,000" and one third of all developers are now targeting BlackBerry as "their prime platform," Heins claimed.

Heins also took the opportunity to introduce "BlackBerry Channels," a media-rich social messaging service. He also reminded the audience of the scope of the company's messaging service. "BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) has more than 60 million users. More than 10 billion messages are sent every day. Twice the number of any other messaging service."  Another audience wow: BBM is now "cross platform."

BlackBerry Goes Global With Q5

One surprise of the keynote was Heins' introduction of a completely new "BlackBerry device at a global price range." He held up the small, colorful Q5 - "our latest Qwerty device, specifically designed for emerging markets. I know it's going to be a big hit."

Though he did not provide much detail regarding the Q5, it appears to be a direct competitor to Nokia's popular Asha line.

BlackBerry On The Offensive

Throughout his presentation, Heins was delivering the smack downs - alluding that Apple's iOS, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone each had fundamental weaknesses - and that only BlackBerry was "mobile first." Heins suggested that BlackBerry's pure mobile focus could lead the company and its new BB10 platform to a global resurgence.

"We are working to win back our traditional customers," Heins said, "BlackBerry 10, as a platform, is entirely new. This is not an update to an old BlackBerry OS."

This will not be easy. BlackBerry (formerly RIM), finished 2012 with a 8% global smartphone market share - a significant drop from the previous year. Worse, these numbers are almost entirely based on the company's once-dominant user base of BB7-based devices. By the first quarter of this year, the company failed to even place in the top 5 of all smartphone vendors. For all Hein's positive talk, he provided little in the way of actual sales or distribution data.

Despite the many positive proclamations of BlackBerry's CEO, as the company shifts to a new touch-based and app-centric smartphone operating system its future remains in doubt. Android, iPhone or even Windows Phone may leave little opportunity for the Canadian company to move forward.