Android

The Federal Trade Commission hired a top Washington litigator to run its antitrust investigation of Google Inc., signaling that the agency might be preparing a lawsuit against the world's largest search engine. The FTC is bringing in Beth Wilkinson, who is known for winning the death sentence against Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. Wilkinson, 49, has never lost a case. Google disclosed in June that the FTC had opened a broad antitrust investigation of its business practices.

While you're waiting at the stores on Black Friday, why not check to see if that deal you're blowing the day for is available online for less money or less aggravation. Here are some key smartphone shopping apps for the holidays. Amazon Deals is one of several Amazon.com applications from AMZN Mobile L.L.C., which has Amazon apps for both Apple and Android devices. This one for iPhone delivers a stream of sales, a "deal of the day," and timed "lightning deals" available for the next few minutes.

While you're waiting at the stores on Black Friday, why not check to see if that deal you're blowing the day for is available online for less money or less aggravation. Here are some key smartphone shopping apps for the holidays. Amazon Deals is one of several Amazon.com applications from AMZN Mobile L.L.C., which has Amazon apps for both Apple and Android devices. This one for iPhone delivers a stream of sales, a "deal of the day," and timed "lightning deals" available for the next few minutes.

In the eternal quest for a better external keyboard to make typing on smartphones and tablets easier, Verbatim has debuted a battery-powered wireless Bluetooth folding keyboard, with big, responsive keys on a solid plastic base, that measures just 6-by-4-by-3/4 inches thick when folded. The keyboard pairs easily with most iPhones and iPads, as well as with many Android and some BlackBerry devices. It even has a little pullout stand that should work with most phones, and shortcut keys for the iPhone and iPad.

City tourism and convention officials unveiled the Find Your Philly mobile application Monday at the Independence Visitor Center. Find Your Philly on cutting-edge SCVNGR (pronounced scavenger ) technology features five high-tech "tours," or treks, for exploring the city's arts, sciences, history and culture, as well as the expanding Convention Center. Philadelphia becomes the first city in the world to use the application that can be downloaded on iPhone and Android and also playable through SMS enabled devices.

The idea of introducing yourself to the world with a fantastically ambitious, genre-splicing, sci-fi concept album about a 28th-century android that features guests as disparate as OutKast rapper Big Boi and psychedelic indie rockers Of Montreal might seem weird to some people. But not to Janelle Monae. "That's just part of the Great Divide," says the 24-year-old behind The ArchAndroid , the full-length debut that was inspired by Fritz Lang's 1927 classic futuristic film Metropolis and is easily the most dazzlingly varied platter of pop music to come out in 2010.

Auto sales numbers show car shoppers are venturing back onto dealer lots. Many are toting smartphones and tablets, too. Even when you're car-shopping on Craigslist, car-hunting applications will help you identify the better deals. Looking for the nearest Lamborghini or Lotus dealer? The Edmunds app, by the car site Edmunds.com, is free and advertising-supported for Android and Apple. Using your device's location service, the app finds dealerships, maps the way there, and provides shoppers' comments about dealers.

Going back to school means filling a backpack or - more and more often - a digital device with textbooks. Here are some ways to get that chore done with smartphone applications. Amazon Student , by Amazon Mobile L.L.C. for Android and Apple, is one of many free apps from the online retail powerhouse. This one is tooled for school, with an image of a satchel of books gracing the home screen. Amazon lets you scan a bar code to buy or sell textbooks - except, of all things, Kindle e-books from Amazon.

It's a good thing for CBS that technology hasn't progressed too far in the year 2104. When the network's new space rangers jump through doorways and start firing, their ultra-suave ray-gun-like high-tech blasters still bang away real loud, and bullets ricochet all over the place in those all-steel 2104 spaceships. That should keep the Dukes of Hazzard fans happy. CBS has begun '93 trying to be all things to all people. Its Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which premiered last week, seeks to combine three genres: medical, Western and family.

Smartphone applications can ease the business of trading contact information with new acquaintances and facilitate on-the-fly video conferences, thus enhancing your social-networking capabilities. Bump , from Bump Technologies Inc., is a free app for iPhone and Android that passes contact information or photos from one smart device to another by, yes, bumping them together. The move does not depend on both parties having the same type of phone, and it looks magical. What happens is that both devices communicate with Bump Technologies' cloud servers, which detect the smartphones' locations and their simultaneous "bump" to make an educated guess that the devices are trying to contact each other.