Reports are starting to trickle in from around the globe that the Amazon Android App Store has gone live in internation territories other than the USA.

Already available across the pond for a few months now, Android users from the UK, India and Australia are among those claiming to now have access to the Amazon store.

However, it may be that this release is a little premature on Amazon's behalf. Speaking to Android Police, they have revealed that they have "...not announced any plans for international expansion".

Still, if you've managed to get the store up and running on your handset, you'll now have the access to the benefits of a daily free Android app from the Amazon store.

We'd hazard a guess that this unintentional release was Amazon testing the water ahead of an international reveal for their Coyote and Hollywood rumoured Android tablets.

Retro arcade fans rejoice! The superb MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is headed to Android devices thanks to the developer Seleuco, the brains behind Xpectroid ZX Spectrum Emulator and the earlier iMAME4All iOS app.

MAME4Droid is compatible with over 2,000 old-skool coin-op roms, and includes features such as auto-rotate, programmable keys and aspect ratio and scaling options.

The app supports Android devices running version 2.1 and upwards, with 2D Hardware Acceleration for 3.0, and native support for Honeycomb tablets.

However, as this emulator is built on a version of MAME that doesn't support save states, you're going to have to finish any Donkey Kong or Metal Slug sessions in one go. Just like in an old, real arcade then, eh?

Hit the video above for a sneak peak, and then grab the free download by clicking here.

Following the success of the Firefox browser built for Android phones, Mozilla are now hard at work building an app for Honeycomb tablets. Ian Barlow, one of the Mozilla design team, has revealed a sneak-peek at what to expect when the browser goes slate-sized.

Taking advantage of extra screen real-estate, Firefox for Honeycomb takes a surprisingly minimalist approach, without scrimping on the familiar Firefox features like the Awesomebar and tabbed browsing.

Hold the tablet in landscape mode and your tabbed pages will constantly sit on a left-alligned tab bar. Turn the tablet into portrait mode and they'll slide away into a drag-down toolbar from the top of the screen.

All the syncing of history and bookmarks that have made Firefox so popular over the years return too.

No word on a release date yet, but with things moving at a far faster pace in Mozilla's labs these days, we'd hazard a guess at it being just a few weeks away.

Topshop are hoping their student customers are as tech-savvy as they are fashion-concious with their new campaign, a social gaming app that offers real-world prizes to those who play.

Teaming up with the location-based SCVNGR app, Topshop are offering a 20% discount and the chance of a £500 shopping spree to UK students who undertake the game's many challenges. Players will rack up points by finishing the fashion-themed tasks, such as taking snaps of the the best "back to college" outfits or those who best identify key season trends.

It's not the first time Topshop have gone digital in order to promote themselves; they've previously ran campaigns with camera app Instagram and have also live-streamed their own catwalk show online in the past.

"We're always looking for new and innovative ways to engage our customers," said Mary Homer, Managing Director of Topshop.

"Following the popularity of SCVNGR in the US we wanted to offer our student customers the ability to interact with our brand, on and off-line in a more fun and engaging way."

To get involved, download the free SCVNGR app from iTunes or the Android Market, and then use the app to search for Topshop.

Forget Angry Birds; if you want a real gaming time-sink, you want to be playing the blocky world creation/tower defence madness of Minecraft. A cult hit on PC's, owners of Xperia Play gaming smartphones can now get their hands on the first Android based mobile build of the game.

Minecraft thrusts your blocky hero/architect into the middle of a randomly generated island. It's then up to you to create tools, gather resources and build a fortification to defend against nasty monters and further explore the world around you.

Minecraft Pocket Edition at launch will focus on "creative aspects of Minecraft." So far it's just a create mode available, but in keeping with Minecraft's PC roots, this is just an alpha build that will be built upon with future releases to include an adventure mode too. Take a sneak peak at what to expect in the video above.

Features in the first version include:

• Randomized worlds
• Build anything you can imagine
• Build with 36 different kinds of blocks
• Invite and play with friends to your world (local wireless network)
• Save multi-player worlds on your own phone

"We have tried to put in the features that make sense for playing on a mobile device while still keeping the core of the Minecraft experience," developers Mojang told Kotaku.

"You will be able to select blocks on the touchscreen or just scroll through them with the circle and square buttons on the Xperia Play device. The first version also supports multi-player on a local wireless network allowing you to create a world and invite friends to build together."

Pick it up here from the Android Market for £4.26.

iPhone owners may be holding thier breath for the launch of iOS 5 and with it the iMessage instant messaging service, but Facebook have pipped them to the post with their own IM service, Facebook Messenger.

An Android and iOS app, it works similarly to BlackBerry's BBM service, a Wi-Fi or 3G messaging service that lets you chat on the go to your Facebook pals, as well as offering location info, archived messages and the ability to group message not ony Facebook pals but mobile contacts too.

"When you're on the go, coordinating a bunch of people can be tricky, especially if plans change at the last minute," said Lucy Zhang, Beluga co-founder and Facebook engineer.

"With Messenger, you can quickly start a group conversation and message everyone at once. If you choose to add your location, the people you're messaging with can easily find each other on the map. You can also attach photos, so everyone else can see and comment on what you're looking at."

Launching today, its rumoured to contain code supporting video chat in the future, so keep an eye on the relevant app download stores to get Facebook Messenger on your device later today.

While you wait, click below for some images of the iOS version.

Onkyo have revealed that they've have produced a free Android app to control their 2011 range of networked home cinema receivers.

The Onkyo Android app will touch down in August, available for tablets and smartphones, and will allow users to stream music to the receivers without turning on their televisions.

Working over a home Wi-Fi network, the app lets you navigate all of the recievers' functions by touch, letting you adjust volume and tone, switch sources and control what's playing back in individual zones if you have a multi-room set-up.

It'll work especially nicely with the Spotify-enabled TX-NR609, which we reviewed here back in May.

The BBC are launching a new Android app aimed at building a map of 3G coverage across Britain. Running for the next month, the app will collate data from across the land to help find where 2G and 3G hotspots and blackspots are.

Though mobile operators have carried out similar mapping attempts, the BBC's 3G map is significant for at least two reasons. Firstly, it's the the first independant 3G map of the UK, standing aside from the personal marketing interests of the mobile networks. Also, as the map works automatically in the background to deliver the data to the BBC, it should be more accurate as it does not require the user to manually send data, which could lead to patchy results unless all involved regularly sent the updates.

To get involved, Android users can click here to grab the UK 3G Survey app. It will send anonymous info back to the BBC and their data network analysis partners Epitiro using minimal bandwidth automatically.

After a month, the BBC will publish an interactive map, showing you where to get the best coverage will browsing on the go.

As well as announcing the that 10 million users had signed up to the new Google+ social network, Google CEO Larry Page took Thursday's quarterly earnings call to reveal the latest statistics for the Android platform. And it's all looking rather rosy for Google's mobile OS.

Daily Android device activations have now reached a whopping 550,000 a day, a figure Page labelled "crazy". It's led to a total of 130 million active Android devices worldwide, up 30 million from the 100 million devices Google boasted of at their I/O conference in May.

Android Market app sales figures are looking great too, with 6 billion sold so far. It's a huge leap over Google's earlier predictions of 4.5 billion app sales by this time.

Of course, these figures are still overshadowed by iOS and iPhone's dominance; 200 million iOS devices have been sold as of last month, with iTunes App Store sales topping 15 billion.

but given that Android is still only 3 years old, they're very healthy numbers for Google. Given the rate at which the platform is growing, there could quite easily be over 220 million Android units activated by Christmas.

Evernote, the digital scrapbook service that archives and syncs your notes, photos and voice memos across multiple platforms, gets an Android makeover for tablets today.

Taking its cues from last year's iPad app version, you're presented with a homescreen with a "Snippet View" left hand panel that lets you get a quick glimpse at the content of your collected notes, as well as a larger viewing area to the side.

A revamped keyboard adds shortcut buttons to the navigation controls for making new notes and searching your library. Previous seraches are saved for quick access later on, while the location that your notes were taken can now also be used to search your scrapbook.

Social networking functionality and sharing features get a boost thanks to better Facebook and integration in the single note view, as well as adding the ability to make rich text notes.

Rounding off the new features is an improved widget for Android users, with a larger view now an option. Smartphone performance is also now "dramatically faster".

The app can be grabbed from the Android Market today by clicking here, free of charge.

Owners of select Android phones with the Skype app today get an update that lets them use the popular VoIP client to make video calls too.

Working over both Wi-Fi and 3G connections, users can use both front facing cameras and rear facing cameras (usually of a higher quality) within the calls, using a spruced up interface to switch on the fly between the two.

It's not only Android-to-Android video calling here either; you'll also be able to video chat with Skype users on iPhone, Macs, Windows PCs and HDTVs with webcam functionality too, making it far more useful than the iOS-only FaceTime app from Apple.

There's also a slew of other additions too, such as a more intuitve main menu and a "mood message box" letting you broadcast whether you're happy, sad, confused, befuzzled or anything inbetween.

So far it's only compatible with HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, the soon-to-be-released Xperia Pro and Google Nexus S handsets, but those who can access the new features can get a quick preview by hitting the video above.

Today's App of the Day is a multi-platform sat-nav app called Waze. Totally free, Waze relies upon its community of users to deliver real-time traffic and mapping updates.

By driving along with the app open, Waze users passively share info on routes and traffic information with other users, generating alternative routes on the fly. Users can add specific notes to points of interest during their travels too, geo-tagging photos of points of interest within the app or highlighting traffic-trouble hotspots.

"Driving Groups" within the app also allows Waze users to connect with fellow drivers who share the same commute, route, destination or freinds and colleagues, sending specific data relevant to those users only. Each group can have a corresponding Facebook and Twitter accout, meaning that Waze users have no end of ways to connect and share travel information; the perfect network for taxi or shipping fleets for instance.

With the Waze app so dependant on user-generated data, Waze have cleverly added a gaming-style incentive to the app. Real-world prizes are awarded by the Waze team to those who consistently give the most valuable on-the-road info to other users.

"Being based on a live and highly engaged community of drivers is what sets Waze apart," says Yael Elish, Waze's VP of Product.

"Our traffic information and other reports are user-generated and 100% real-time, pooling the power of the local driving community to help everyone improve their daily commute and save time. It's that human element, drivers working together for the common good on the road,that excites our users and puts us in an entirely new category."

Waze is available now through all major smartphone app store portals.

Sadly cyber bullying is a very common thing with way too many youngsters making hurtful calls and sending offensive text messages.

If you do know of someone who is being bullied point them in the direction of a new app that has been launched for Android phone owners.

Block'em allows people to block out unwanted calls and texts without the hassle of having to change their number. And to avoid further confrontation, the person will not know they have been blocked leaving you with the upper hand.

Block'em is available from the Android App store for only £1.79, with 70% from every purchase going direct to the NSPCC. The app is also available for BlackBerry.

Helen Perry, founder of Block'em, said: "Block'em will not stop the playground bullies, but it will stop them from coming home with you. Block'em gives young people the control and confidence to put a stop to bullying via mobile phones in a non-confrontational way."

"We all know how hard it is to ignore a text, even when you know it's not going to be nice, but Block'em simply removes the temptation by stopping unwanted calls and texts. The Block'em App is about empowering young people who are feeling harassed but we'd still urge youngsters to talk to an adult if they're being bullied in any way."

For more information about how to stop them with Block'em visit their Facebook page or www.blockem.co.uk.

OnLive, the cloud streaming gaming service, announced the launch of a new app at the E3 conference that will allow console-quality games to be played on iPads and Android tablets.

The OnLive Player app will work much like other versions of the service, streaming the video content of games controlled by a player from powerful super computers located in OnLive's remote HQ. However, this new tablet version of the service will allow for motion controls through the tablet's accelerometers as well as touch-screen controls when enabled by the game developers. Ubisoft's forthcoming "From Dust" god-sim (pictured) was demoed using these new functions.

In a move that will frustrate Nintendo following their Wii U launch, the new OnLive tablet app will also carry much of the "unique" functionality offered by the Wii U controller. As well as using a HDMI port with the OnLive Player app to mirror the tablet to a flatscreen TV, the app can also be used to show independent gameplay elements on both separate screens, or even allow personal-screen multiplayer experiences if two or more players are locally playing with OnLive tablet apps.

All tablet app versions will also be fully compatible with OnLive's more traditional Universal Wireless Controller.

OnLive currently offer a tablet app called the OnLive Viewer, which is restricted to trailers, user-generated gameplay "bragging" clips and news on the service.

Via: Joystiq

Google have given their Android Market app store a bit of tidy up, in what games developers must feel is a long-overdue cull of emulator apps. Those looking to play retro console games on their Android handsets are going to have to search a little harder to find the apps that allow them to do so now, as they've been unceremoniously removed from the store.

Emulator apps such as N64oid, Ataroid, Gamboid and Snesoid are now all MIA on the Market. The news follows the recent removal of the PSOne PSX4Droid emulator app, removed just prior to the launch of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play handset, likely as it was against the interests of the retro-gaming focussed smartphone's high-profile launch.

It appears then that Nintendo have been in touch with Google's legal teams, leading to the latest bout of emulator removals.

Emulators represent a bit of a grey area in gaming legality; emulator software in itself isn't illegal, though downloading ROM game files to play on them is. Some argue that owning the original retro cartridges means that ROM files are legal in the sense that they are a digital back up, while others state that regardless of ownership of the original cartridge downloading ROM files is an act of piracy.

It's an interesting move also in regards to the terms of the Android Market. While Google can validly remove any app at will, their about-turn on an entire category of apps in a matter of days will raise eyebrows. One of Android's main draws is its somewhat unsanitised, cowboyish app store; for the sake of potential malware, you do get access to some app gems that wouldn't make their way onto Apple's App Store, for instance.

Yong Zhang, developer of many of the apps that have been removed, has now had his entire Android Market developer account removed, meaning he can now longer trade there.

Don't worry if you still want an Android emulator fix though; Zhang has moved all his wares onto the SlideME third-party Android app store, and is even offering the emulators free of charge so that those who have already bought, and lost access to, the apps do no have to pay for them twice.

iPhone and iPad owners have been able to enjoy quality news coverage from the BBC via a dedicated app for some time now, but as of today Android owners can keep abreast of the lastest in local and world events with the launch of the BBC News app for devices running Google's operating system too.

Running on all Android builds from version 1.6 upwards, it will run without Flash, though you'll need Adobe's plug-in and at least Android 2.2 to access the live video stream of the BBC News channel embedded in the app.

The BBC highlight the main features as:

· Simple design with scroll functionality to enable efficient browsing;

· Font controls to increase or decrease the story text size.

"A lot of people have been asking when the BBC News app will be made available on Android devices, which is understandable given the platform's growing popularity. So, I'm delighted to announce that from today the BBC News app will be available to download from Android Market in the UK," said Anthony Sullivan, Executive Product Manager for News, BBC Future Media.

"An increasing proportion of our audiences now access BBC News via mobile devices. This trend isn't new - licence-fee payers have been able to access BBC News on mobile phones through their browsers for around nine years - but it's increasing. We have responded by delivering BBC News Online to devices via apps to ensure a simple, intuitive user experience, with opportunities for personalisation."

Grab the app by clicking here.

Minecraft, the blocky crafting and adventuring PC game that surprised gamers the world over with its charming visuals and indie ethos, is headed to Android devices. The smartphone version of the desktop game will launch at E3 initally as a Sony Ericsson Xperia Play exclusive, with controls optimised for the handset's slide-out keypad.

Minecraft creator Notch will not helm the game himself, but has passed development duties over to his teammates Aron Neiminen and Jens Bergensten.

"When playing on smartphones you will have a different screen size compared to PC, different hardware, different attention spans and thus the game needs to be customised to fit the mobile specifications," an anonymous Mojang employee told Gamasutra.

No news yet on the games release date, cost, or how it will shape up against the full fat PC version, but we're expecting everything to be revealed at Sony Ericsson's E3 press conference on June 7th.

iOS versions of the game, with full touch control schemes, will launch later in the year.

Google TV is to get an Android Honeycomb-based update this month which will bring with it a handful of new features for the platform.

The most notable of all is the introduction of the Android Marketplace to the system. With the Honeycomb 3.1 update, users will be able to access the app store on their televisions and make purchases. Google are also urging developers to build twin screen apps that could be controlled by an Android handset or Honeycomb tablet, which would then link up to actions on a flatscreen TV.

Elsewhere, Google TV will have a bit of a UI overhaul, simplifying the control scheme and brining it in line with the style of the Honeycomb variant of the Android OS.

It all sounds like a very nice update for Google's beleagured TV platform, which despite oozing promise, has been met with mixed reviews and has yet to fulfil its full potential.

With that said, we're still waiting for Google TV to ship to the UK, something which Google are taking their damn sweet time about doing. Get a move on Larry!

Lucky owners of a Sonos multi-room speaker system today have a brand new option when it comes to controlling their audio set-ups, as the company have today revealed their Sonos-compatible Android application.

A free app, similar in functionality to that of the iPhone app previously available but fine-tuned to make use of the Android OS's Back, Menu, Home and Search buttons, it will allow you to control the volume of all Sonos speakers around the house, as well as offering full playback controls, playlist editing and management of online sources such as Spotify and Last.FM.

The app also makes use of Google's voice search funtionality, meaning fans of bands with long names such as "...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead" needn't get RSI when huning down their tracks.

We caught up with Sonos senior product manager Craig Wisneski yesterday, who gives a quick demo of the app in the video above.

You can grab the app by clicking here.

Sonos also today announced Airplay compatibility with Apple devices to go along with their speaker systems.

A free firmware update to Sonos System Software 3.4 along with an AirPort Express add-on from Apple (pictured above), will allow Apple devices such as iPads and iPhones to by-pass the Sonos software, negating the need to index tracks before they are available wirelesly, as well as opening up the potential for streaming music found within apps.

The set-up process can be found by clicking here.

Three billion apps have now been installed onto Android devices, Google revealed at their company quarterly earnings call this week. The snowballing figures come just a few months after the company announced they had hit the two billion milestone.

By comparision, it took almost two years (twenty months) for the Android Market to hit its first billion downloads, showing how the mobile OS has grown exponentially over the past few months. Downloads are up 50% since Q4 of last year, with a web-based version of their app store launching in early February.

Apple remain top of the app download pile with 10 billion downloads hit through their App Store, but with 350,000 new Android devices being activated every day, and the operating system already overshadowing the market share iOS has earned, it's unlikely to stay that way for very long.

Via: TechCrunch