The 12 best apps for your new Android device

So, you found a brand-new Android device under the tree a few days ago. Congratulations! Now what? In this post I'm going to recommend the very best apps to get off on the right foot with Android. If you've been using Android for a while, chances are you know most of these. Still, you might find a hidden gem or two. These are all based on my own use, so while the list is subjective in nature, these are not just shiny apps we've noticed in the market -- they have all been tested in real life for quite some time. Here goes:

Un service de téléphonie vidéo Skype bientôt sur iPhone

La solution de téléphonie sur IP devrait annoncer son nouveau service vidéo mobile début janvier.

16 Handy iPhone Apps for Better Blogging

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

The statistics indicate that small businesses with corporate blogs receive 55% more web traffic than small businesses that don’t blog. That’s why it is so important for companies to explore the possibility of adding blogs to their marketing and social strategies.

Blogging isn’t just writing posts. You have to choose images for your posts, monitor your blogging platform and analytics, market your blog and constantly think about new post ideas.

To keep your blogging activities flexible, there are several iPhone apps that you can use. This allows you to keep up with your blog no matter where you are.

These 16 apps will help you do just that. Add your favorite apps for blogging in the comments below.

Firefox Beta 4 disponible sur Android Market

Via le site blog.mozilla.com, Mozilla a annoncé la disponibilité de Firefox Beta 4, la version pour Android de son célèbre navigateur.

The Top 40 iPhone Apps of 2010

Editor’s note: This guest post is written by Alex Ahlund, the former CEO and founder of AppVee and AndroidApps, which were acquired by mobile application directory Appolicious. You can read his previous iPhone app picks here and here

The iTunes App Store is huge. More than 300,000 apps huge. I’ve watched this monster start from nothing and turn into a billion-dollar industry in only a few short years. We’ve been approaching this point for some time now, but it’s more apparent than ever that app exposure is of critical importance. A healthy majority of iOS app users discover new applications directly from their device as opposed to using iTunes. If you look specifically at the iPhone, the amount of real estate for discovery is only available to a very small percentage of the total apps.

Why You Should Use Google Apps with a Personal Domain Instead of Your Gmail Account

When it launched, millions of us grabbed free Gmail addresses, and associated Calendar, Docs, Voice, and other apps followed. But personal domains are cheap, and claiming an @yourname.com address to use with Google Apps is easier than ever. Here's why you should.

Future-Proof Email Address that You Control

It's scary, but it's true: There's a possibility that Gmail might not always be the coolest email service in the world. For all we know of the future, there might be two hackers in a garage right now re-inventing the inbox. There might be some desktop software that merges the convenience of the cloud with killer OS integration. Or you might just decide some day that, heck, Yahoo has more of what you need, or that Google's reach across your data is too deep.

You should have an email address that's as portable as your cellphone number—meaning you can switch email providers without losing your current address. With your default @gmail.com address, that's not really an option. With your personal domain, it is.

Sure, if you're using a Gmail address, you can technically access your account from other clients through IMAP, auto-forward email, and otherwise stream your messages out. But if you ever decide on a new line of work, a different kind of username (sayonara, SpookyPrince15@gmail.com), or a new email service, you're better off having your own domain. Your options for forwarding and import are more robust when you control your own domain, and you never have to send one of those click-and-pray "Hey everyone I've ever emailed throughout time—my address has changed!" messages.

With Google Apps installed on your own domain, your data is still running through Google's own servers. But Google's pretty good about portability, and if it starts looking like they won't be down the road, you've got side door where you can step on out and maintain your identity elsewhere. The great part about using your own domain is that you're not tied to any one email service provider. You can pick up and move your domain to another email provider any time you want.

Professional Polish, Family Friendly

Maybe your Gmail address is a bit better than PookieLuv4Life@gmail.com. Gmail, too, holds a more proper imprimatur than AOL, Hotmail, or other eyebrow-raising domains. It still holds true that having an email account on your own server, with a name you can change at any time, makes good sense.

If you do freelance work on the side, it's easy to create another account (design@smith.com), one that pipes into your main personal account (john@smith.com). If you decide to help organize a fundraiser, it's a few minutes to create another account for that (fundraise@smith.com), one that doesn't give away your personal address to folks you'll only message once or twice. When your kids get to the age where they get web-savvy, you can set them up with an email address (tina@smith.com and johnjr@smith.com) that you have ultimate control over. And for relatives with occasional tech troubles, you can throw them a lifeline and set them up on your server, too.

It's Not That Painful to Switch

The hardest part about getting your own domain name these days is finding a URL that isn't taken—and that's only hard if someone has already registered your exact name. Get a little creative, use a reliable but cheap name registrar, buy a little hosted space and set up the free Google Apps on that domain—some hosts do that automatically for you. And nearly every mobile platform where Google offers some kind of syncing, an Apps address works just fine.

Note: For a full walkthrough of switching from a Gmail account to Google Apps, read Whitson's detailed take on migrating your entire Google account to a new one.

When you've got a domain name and space, you'll find that nearly all of Google's services are available to Apps users. Not every single app, as commenter mawcs points out, but if you can live without History, Buzz, Google Storage, Health, Powermeter, and Profiles, or at least live without for the time being, you're on your way. Even if you have other Google-assisted domains to log into or control, there is an early version of multi-account sign-in available that covers the Apps basics.

In other words, it's possible to live out the entire Google experience—Mail, Calendars, Sync, Docs, even Voice—with your own domain name, rather than Google's Gmail.

Via lifehacker.com