Microsoft SkyDrive apps for Android ,iOS , Mac, and Windows coming Soon

SkyDrive integration is already on its way to Windows Phone 7 devices, but there’s word now that Microsoft’s cloud file storage and sync service is going to be popping up on a number of other platforms as well. According to a job posting spotted by Liveside, Microsoft is developing SkyDrive mobile apps for iOS and Android as well as desktop apps for Windows and Mac. 

With Microsoft doing its best to entice users to sign up for its cloud services and apps, SkyDrive has become an essential component to the company’s consumer strategy. SkyDrive was used to launch Microsoft’s Office Web Apps and it’s integrated tightly into the Windows Live Essentials 2011 apps, too.

With its increased importance to Microsoft’s cloud strategy, it’s certainly no surprise to hear that the company is working on apps for competitor’s platforms. Microsoft already offers several apps for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and there’s also a Bing app for Android. Native SkyDrive apps will provide a kind of “gateway” experience that encourages users to experiment with (and hopefully fully adopt) Microsoft’s other cloud-enabled apps once their files have been synced.

Microsoft has been busy shining up SkyDrive this year, too, revealing a full HTML5 makeover of the web app back in June. With 25GB of free storage available to users and totally free Office Web Apps on hand to enable collaborative document editing with no costly locally-installed software, it’s definitely a service worth checking out if you haven’t already.If you’re already making use of SkyDrive, stay tuned: it’s going to get even better once you’ve got cross-platform mobile access to all your files.

MoboTap’s Dolphin browser is Now Available for iPhone

It's already popular with Android smartphone owners, and from today users of Apple's mobile devices can also try out MoboTap's Dolphin browser.Having been downloaded to Android smartphones some nine million times, it’s safe to say that the Dolphin Browser has been something of a success for developer MoboTap. And from today the free app is also available for Apple’s mobile devices.

The new iOS app brings with it many of the features enjoyed by Android users and will compete for attention with the likes of iPhone’s native Safari browser and the third-party Opera Mini option.A popular feature of MoboTap’s browser not found on others is its gestures capability. This enables you to navigate the web with a quick swipe of the finger. For example, make a “v” gesture on the screen and you’ll be swiftly taken to the bottom of the web page.

You’ll find a gesture list within the app showing you the swipes you need to make in order to perform functions such as refresh a web page, open a new tab and add a bookmark. You can even add new gestures for new functions – how about a “D” for the Digital Trends homepage?The browser also features what its developers call Webzine. This allows you to populate a page with thumbnails from a list of more than 100 popular websites. Click on a thumbnail and you’ll be taken to a simplified version of the webpage, drawn from the site’s RSS feed, allowing for a less cluttered reading experience.  

Other features include:
Speed Dial: “Put favorite sites on Speed Dial. Stop looking around in your bookmarks. Forget about typing out long URL. Just put your favorite sites on Speed Dial.”
 
Tabbed browsing: “Real tabbed browsing. Feel like you are on a desktop. Add tabs within Dolphin just like you would on a desktop.”
 
Sidebar: “We implemented two side bars for you to access Bookmark and Tool Bar without going through complicated clicks.
 
”The new iOS app is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices and requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Google vs Apple: Who's the leader of tech industry?

In the news, people are well aware of the iOS vs Android war. Both operating systems and the companies behind them wage open battle in their quests for mobile domination. Otherwise, there are no arenas where the two tech giants go head to head… at least openly.

Behind the scenes, a more heated battle than the public one wages every day. It’s not the technology that drives these companies but rather the people behind their technologies. As a result, getting the best people available is always at the top of the priority list.

Apple, Google, and other Silicon Valley giants have been actively recruiting the best people in the technology world. They do what it takes to attract and often “steal” the brightest minds and most imaginative innovators. Who’s winning the battle?

Often, the best way to see is to look at acquisitions. There is almost always an element of talent-buying behind every purchase. Coming up with the systems and programming behind technologies is easy. Getting the people who had the original concept and fleshed it out to a working product is a bigger motivator.

In short, it’s a land grab.This infographic by GPlus breaks down the current war tallies as we know them publicly. Behind the scenes, the war is probably much bloodier than this.