Cell Bytes

Users around the world have been begging for it, and Google is finally responding with the addition of 20 new countries to the list of those that can purchase paid apps in the Android Market. We first caught wind that more countries were being cycled in last week but today makes the announcement official. In addition to the 20 countries just added, over the next two weeks there are plans to add paid apps in the Android Market for an additional 18 countries.

Countries added to the list include Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan. Total paid app support now site at 32 countries world-wide.

A happy day for both Android users and developers who will get to reap the benefits of a much larger audience who can purchase their apps. Rejoice in the comments below.

[via Android Developers Blog]

Reuters informs us that Google has been collecting personal information for years now, with the aid of its Street View camera-packing cars. Apparently, this was done by mistake, because of wireless networks without password protection.

This announcement was made yesterday and the collection of data took place in countries like the US, France, Brazil, Germany and Hong Kong. The search engine giant is looking at disposing of the data right now. Google didn’t say what kind of data was collected, but security experts claim that it might be email content and passwords, plus web surfing activity.

That’s quite a lot of personal information, all collected through a project that used the Street View cars in order to gather data on WiFi hotspots to provide location-based services. The reason for accidental collection of data was the inclusion of a code from a separate experimental project.

It remains to be seen what Google will use the data for, but right now they claim that it wasn’t even checked.

[via Reuters]

Are you an Android developer living in Latin America? Heck, even if you aren’t from Latin America you may not want miss out on a series of talks and seminars focused on application development for Android. The dates are fast approaching, but you can still register for the time being, so get to it if you fancy a trip to one of three locations throughout Latin America where you will get hands-on time with the latest Motorola Android devices and a wealth of information regarding app development and marketing.

The dates and locations:

• Mexico City, Mexico – April 27, 2010
• Buenos Aires, Argentina – April 30, 2010
• São Paulo, Brazil – May 5, 2010

Head over to the MOTODEV Summit page for more info and to register.

Well, this is a bummer. We understand some of you may not have any problems whatsoever with your 3G (seriously, please don’t attack me in the comment section this time), but there are still a significant amount of people out there longing for strong 3G to play nice with their Google Nexus One.

Unfortunately, Google seems to have done all they can. Ry Guy – A Google employee tasked with communicating with users on Google’s official forums – chimed in to update us on Google’s efforts to get their radio signals acting straight:

“Hey guys,
I’ve seen some recent speculation on this thread about an OTA to improve 3G connectivity and I want to give you an update on the situation.

While we are continuing to monitor user feedback regarding the 3G performance on the Nexus One, we are no longer investigating further engineering improvements at this time.

If you are still experiencing 3G issues, we recommend that you try changing your location or even the orientation of your phone, as this may help in areas with weaker coverage.
-Ry Guy”

This doesn’t mean that Nexus One is done receiving updates, though (nor does he say anything about 3G improvements being dead forever), but for the time being you’ll just have to “deal” with it. On the plus side, he seems to suggest that twisting and turning your phone could garner better results. I’m not sure if that’s good enough for you, but it’s something.

On another note: this could be what’s taking the Nexus One so long to make its way to other carriers (like the American CDMA ones). I’m sure Google and HTC are working diligently to improve their hardware, and hopefully we’ll see a refresh of devices on the GSM side, as well.

[Thanks, Gizmodo]

According to app store analytics group Distimo, free applications Android Market have found their way to 46 countries, up from only 25 a few weeks ago. Among countries new to the party are Brazil, Thailand, and Israel. The number of countries with access to paid apps in the Market has grown to 13, adding Australia to the list.

Distimo also ranks the top selling apps, and their latest list puts Beautiful Widgets at the top followed by MyBackup Pro and Advanced Task Manager. On the gaming end, the top listed sellers for the market come in as Robo Defense, Jewelllust, and Tower Raiders GOLD.

Good to see the Android Market is making its way to so many new places. There is no telling where our little green friend may go!

[via Distimo Blog]