Time Inc. is one of the largest branded media companies in the World. The Time Warner division reaches more than 110 million Americans every month with magazines like Time, People, Instyle and Sports Illustrated. All of these titles and more will be available digitally via Tablets by the end of the year.

Time Inc. released the following press release today at 9:30 am EDT:

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As part of Time Inc.’s industry-leading effort to deliver its iconic brands everywhere consumers want them, the company today announced that all 21 of its U.S. titles will be available as tablet editions by the end of 2011. Time Inc. will be the first major U.S. magazine publisher to make all of its titles available on all leading tablet platforms, with products designed specifically for this medium.

“Having our entire portfolio available on tablets will create a significant new digital reach for our advertisers.”

Brands including INSTYLE, REAL SIMPLE and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY will now join PEOPLE, TIME, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and FORTUNE with digital tablet versions. To date, Time Inc.’s digital magazine and other content apps have been downloaded more than 11 million times. Hundreds of thousands of current print subscribers have upgraded their subscriptions to include the tablet editions at no extra cost, with thousands more being added each week. Time Inc. has also sold more than 600,000 digital single copies of those four titles.

“Now is the time for us to make this bold commitment. In the coming year, there will clearly be many more consumers using tablets, accelerating demand for content and driving advertiser interest. We are putting ourselves in a great position to take advantage of these opportunities,” said Maurice Edelson, EVP and a member of Time Inc.’s interim management committee. “Having our entire portfolio available on tablets will create a significant new digital reach for our advertisers.”

Today, the company also announced an agreement with Barnes & Noble to sell digital subscriptions and single-copy issues of FORTUNE, PEOPLE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and TIME on the NOOK Color starting later this month, with the rest of the portfolio to follow by year-end. The Barnes & Noble agreement adds the NOOK Color to a growing list of platforms where Time Inc. distributes its digital titles, including Apple iPad, Android Marketplace, HP TouchPad and Next Issue Media’s store.

Time Inc. offers consumers an All Access approach that includes print and digital subscriptions, as well as digital-only subscriptions and the ability to purchase single copies. Additionally, each of Time Inc.’s 28 million print subscribers will have the option to upgrade their subscription to include the digital edition at no additional cost. The digital editions will be presented using reader software that is native to each platform.

Print ads will be incorporated into the tablet editions. The company plans to report digital sales and subscriber information to ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations) beginning in January 2012. Time Inc. research shows consumers place a high value on digital editions that include ads.

I get many people asking what the best office app for Android is. Now we have compared the top four office applications for Android to allow you to see some of the features they have. If you have an office app that you like not listed here let us know and we may add it to the list to help others when looking for an Office app.

We are going to be comparing are “Documents to Go”, “Picsel SmartOffice”, “QuickOffice Pro HD”, “Polaris Office”. Within these apps we will be comparing some of the most important features of an Office app.

Documents to Go ($14.99)
Very good at rendering fonts and other formatting with symbol fonts recognized. Pictures and other rendering of graphics are a bit blurry with some imaging features missing. Does not interpret cropped graphics at all. No transitions or animations. Does not have a slideshow mode included, slides move left to right not up and down as expected. Also there are options to insert and duplicate slides which is a redeeming feature. When displaying tables the surrounding text tends to get messed up a bit. There is no pinch zoom option which is disappointing. Supports cloud integration with Google Documents.

Picsel SmartOffice ($5.99)
Renders fonts and other formatting well but doesn’t recognize symbol font. Pictures and other rendering of graphics are a bit blurry with some imaging features missing. Does not interpret cropped graphics at all and when tried all surrounding text is messed up. No transitions or animations. Does have a slideshow mode included with a 3D view option available and slide overview on the right. When displaying tables everything fits in cells and renders as expected. Suuports cloud integration with Dropbox.

QuickOffice Pro HD ($14.99)
Average rendering of fonts and other formatting and does not recognize symbol font. Pictures and other rendering of graphics are a bit blurry with some imaging features missing. In most cases images are very pixelated and tend to render incorrectly. Does not interpret cropped graphics at all. No transitions or animations. Does have a slideshow mode included allowing insertion of new slides from camera or storage and has a slide overview on the left. When displaying tables the text doesn’t fit within the cells correctly and tends to mess up the surrounding text as well. Supports cloud integration of the following apps; Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, huddle, Sugarsync and MobileMe.

Polaris Office (comes with some ASUS devices)
Character spacing is very narrow although it does seem to render fonts and formatting about like the others. Pictures and other rendering of graphics are almost perfect with a few inconsistencies with ms office objects. Interprets cropped graphics although not very well. No transitions or animations. Does have a slideshow mode included with a slide overview option. Everything within tables displays as expected although text squishes together inside the tables. Supports cloud integration with Google Docs and Box.net.

Overall none of the office apps stand out as a complete winner although if we have to pick one it would be polaris office. Now that we have all four from testing though i’m sure they will each have their uses in different situations.

The Pokemon Team has announce that they will be releasing an Android and iOS Pokemon game. This game will be released with the name Pokemon Say Tap in Japan this summer. There is no exact release date nor any timeframe for US availability although the ball is rolling. For all of you Pokemon fans out there this will be an official release by the Pokemon Team and not a 3rd party developer.

 

Satoru Iwata at Nintendo has been completely against free games with paid features up until this point so we aren’t sure how the system in game will work yet. Apparently the larger game developers are taking notice of the grow in mobile gamers and we are happy to see them interested.

I am an advocate of healthy living in what you eat, how you exercise and just being informed in general about what is deemed healthy by Medicine and Science but proven to be unreliable in practice.

Facts to get you started:

• Its illegal in the US to treat cancer by any means other than chemotherapy, surgery or radiation.
• Only around 6% of doctors in the US have any formal nutrition training.

Not to get too personal but I lost my mother in January of this year (January 10th 2011) at the age of 53 to Leukemia and Health has been an important subject in my life since.  I have since (after much research) learned that most cancers can be treated with high doses of Vitamin C (Gerson Institute).  While I really don’t eat healthy nor do I exercise as I should its important that others know what resources are out there to improve their health.

I have been looking throughout Health related apps on the Market and have found a few that are worth using in your daily life.

1. Ask Karen – While not specifically an app it is a mobile .gov site dedicated to answering your questions about food. Ever wanted to know if what you made for diner last night (that you accidentally left out all night) is still ok to eat? or maybe what is in pork that can be harmful to you if not stored properly. This is a great resource for these questions and more.
2. Alternative Medicine Android App – Most people when not feeling well have conventional medicine as the first thought that pops into their head. While the pharmaceutical industry is a multi-trillion dollar industry they are businesses and interested more in your money than your actual health. If you think about it why would medicine ever want to cure you? If people could look past the quick fix and focus on the underlying issue they would see that the human body is built to heal itself. This being said there are alternative medicines out there that will help your body fight an illness and fix the underlying cause instead of masking it for a while.
3. Super Foods Android App – This app will show you super foods that will help your body get all of the nutrition you need. While multi-vitamins are helpful in supplementing what your body needs they will not be as effective as they are in uncooked raw foods. These vitamins need to be in foods of higher doses to be truly effective and this app will show you what those super foods are.

While I have only mentioned a few resources here there are many out there and if I leave you thinking about better health I have done what I intended. Also please keep in mind the next time you go to the doctor and get a prescription that its a business that cares about temporary health not healing.

Gameloft who has made it a point to keep their games out of the Google Android Market until recently decided its not such a bad idea.

NOVA 2 HD Available Now!

We can confidently say that N.O.V.A. 2 HD is the greatest first person shooter for Android devices.  If your a first person shooter lover then you need to check out N.O.V.A 2 with its crazy 3D graphics, multiplayer capabilities, and addictive gameplay.

N.O.V.A 2 HD is finally in the Android Market!

 

A custom electronics industry magazine called CE Pro Magazine ran a full page ad in their most recent issue that hints towards an android app for TiVo.  While they already have an iPad app they are releasing iphone and Android apps as well.  We aren’t sure yet if it will be for Android Phones or Tablets at this point.

The Article in CE Pro Magazine is as follows:

TiVo For Android Magazine Ad

We could have assumed at this point that everyone will create an Android App for their services since the community is growing so fast.  A service as large as TiVo would be no exception.

Sony now offers their cloud music service on the Android Market.  While many others have been promising these cloud music services Sony has delivered and made it available now.  Below is the official press release on Sony’s new “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™” App.

“Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™” App Now Available on Android Market

Listen to over seven million songs at anytime and anywhere

TOKYO, June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Corporation (“Sony”) announces the immediate availability of the “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™” App on Android Market in the U.S., France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand(i).

http://m.qriocity.com

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110615/AQ20272)
The cloud-based, digital music service gives music lovers streaming access at anytime and anywhere(ii) to an ever expanding catalogue of currently over seven million licensed songs from major labels including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music as well as leading independent labels and major publishers worldwide.
Users can now enjoy the service on Sony Ericsson’s Android-based mobile devices including Xperia™ arc, Xperia™ PLAY, Xperia™X10, Xperia™X8 and Xperia™ neo as well as Android-based third party devices(iii). Users can also continue to access the service on a wide variety of internet-connected Sony devices including 2010 and 2011 models of network-enabled BRAVIA® HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc™ players and Blu-ray Disc Home Theater systems as well as the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) and personal computers including VAIO®(iv) personal computers.
“‘Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity’ offers extensive breadth of content, easy music discovery and personalization through a synchronized music experience across a variety of compatible home entertainment and portable devices,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. “‘Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity’ for Android is the next evolution of the service which enhances the value proposition for our customers.”
Powering the back-end of the service are Omnifone and Gracenote. Omnifone provided its award-winning platform services to develop and deliver the service across a range of device platforms as well as licensed the service with rights holders around the world to provide a global catalogue of over seven million tracks, while Gracenote’s music identification and discovery technologies and Global Media Database create a rich experience for subscribers, letting them enjoy their existing digital music collection and discover new artists and albums.

 

Lookout Mobile Security has identified 26 new apps on the Android Market presumed to include the DroidDream malicious code that hit Android Market a few months ago. These 26 applications were found thanks to Android developers that noticed their apps being repackaged and uploaded to the Market under a different developer name. These developers notified Lookout Mobile Security who identified them as malware after putting the apps through their scanning software. After alerting Google, all 26 apps that were known to be infected were removed from the Google Android Market.

You can never beat common sense when installing anything onto your device but Lookout Mobile Security makes it so much easier. Always make sure to check exactly what permission newly installed apps are requesting BEFORE YOU INSTALL and not after. Although, I’ve also heard that apps don’t necessarily need to display all permissions they require if a developer doesn’t want it to.

Scan to Download Lookout Mobile Security

Hopefully Google can start scanning the apps themselves as they are uploaded and require some sort of approval process. I’m not saying that they need to decide who can and cannot place their apps in the market, more of a quick check that the app doesn’t already exist and that there isn’t a flipping virus in it. I download apps from all over the place but those that only use the Google Market should be safe even those without common sense.

In Angry Birds Rio, the original Angry Birds are kidnapped and taken to the magical city of Rio de Janeiro, where they eventually escape their captors and set out to save their friends, Blu and Jewel–two rare macaws and the stars of the Fox motion picture, Rio. Angry Birds Rio pairs the physics-based gameplay of the original game with unique twists based on the film.

• Three fantastic episodes with 90 exciting levels
• Completely new achievements
• Special hidden fruit trophies to discover
• Spectacular boss fights–the ultimate test of your Angry Birds skills
• Expect plenty more to come: episodic updates continue throughout 2011

Angry Birds RIO is by far one of the most popular apps for not only Android but iPhone and now Google Chrome.  Anyone you talk to will tell you that they have played at least one form of Angry Birds and RIO by far has the best storyline, graphics and smoothest gameplay of them all.  We here at Android Advice recommend this if you play no other game on your Android phone.

Get a free paid android app every day! Sounds like a catch right well its a reality for those of us with Android phones and the Amazon App Store. Amazon has created its own clone of the Google Android Market with one huge benefit.

Every day they have a free paid app that they give away.

To download the Amazon Market scan the QR code below:

The only stipulation is you must check allow apps from unknown sources on your phone.
Settings -> Applications -> (make sure Unknown Sources is checked)

Enjoy your free apps