There’s been a whole lot of love given to Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch since the App Store debuted. And the preceding twelve months. Maybe too much.

But the competing Android-powered T-Mobile G1 is getting its moment in the spotlight: carrier T-Mobile is spending an estimated $1 million on a two-day web-wide ad blitz for the phone today and tomorrow.

Which leads us to ask: which Android apps are worth a try? And which ones are so good that we’d fork over our hard-earned cash?

The Good…

IM+ All-in-One Messenger [Handango Store] - Granted, this app is at a serious premium to the equivalent setup now offered for iPhone users. A $19.95 premium, to be precise. Alternatively, the option available in Apple’s App Store is free. But, if you want to equip your G1 with a multi-protocol instant messaging utility, IM+ is the thing. What has us sold on this one? You can demo the app for a week without cost.

Mobiola Video Studio [Handango] - The name is terrible, we’ll admit, but the getting content from YouTube, and WMV, AVI and iTunes-compatible formats to your G1 sound downright kick-ass. That’s the upside. The downside, meanwhile, is it’ll cost you $5 more than IM+. Yep, $24.95. Again, a demo is offered, which you’ll want to jump on to see if its technological mettle is akin to your own before having to pay the piper, but you may well love it to pieces, so consider yourself one Andy Jackson and one Abe Lincoln poorer.

EasyTranslator [Handango] - You may not be able to buy the Google G1 through official outlets the world over like you can with the iPhone, but you damn well can pay $5.95 for translations that include, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Italian, and of course, English.

Golf Tracks [Handango] - Let’s face it. You’re going to want to use your $179 G1 to do things that you could ordinarily do just fine with a paper pad and a pencil. Like tracking your golf score. Yes, for $4.95 Golf Tracks can be yours. And no, a score card is not all it is. It links to Google Maps so you’re able to view the course as a satellite snapshot. In case you get lost around hole 6 or 7, perhaps. Demo is available.

Par 72 Golf II [Handango] - Perhaps you don’t want to walk out onto the golfing green whatsoever. That’s fine. Virtualize the experience with Par 72 Golf. It delivers a 3D environment complete with “three 18 hole courses” featuring “hills, water, sand traps” and more. Spiffy, eh? This one will run you $9.99. Unlike Golf Tracks, a demo is not available.

Vegas Pool Sharks [Handango] - You know where this list is going, don’t you? Games, games, and more games. As has been the case with the iPhone, so goes Android as well. So how about some billiards, folks? This development comes from RESETgame, the same developers that created Par 72, R and costs an equal amount, too. No demo to play, either.

TETRIS [Handango] - Suffice it to say that this one will be among the most popular games shopped to Androiders. (Or is it just Androids?) At $7.99, it costs precisely the same as the iPhone option, and presents three modes of play. Depending on your fascination with this classic title, that could be a bargain in the long run.

Android File Manager [Handango] - $9.99 for a file manager may not seem like such a smart purchase, but if you’re interested in seeing all that lives on an SD card installed in your G1, this is the thing for you. As an iPhone owner, I really couldn’t go without my copy of DataCase. If Android File manager evolves into anything resembling that utility, it’ll be a real keeper.

…And The Bad

SMobile VirusGuard [Handango] - How’s mobile antivirus software that costs $9.99 sound to you? If you can help it, stay clear until a roundtable of security experts has their way with it.

GoogHelper [Handango] - Web search is a wonderfully useful thing. But having to pay for the privilege doesn’t seem very appealing. Which is what this piece of kit is equipped to do. If you can’t manage to resist, download the trial before you splurge the $5.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Google Android Market Goes Live With 50+ AppsFirst Complete Software Suite to Operate on Google Android SurfacesGoogle Opens Android Market to Developer SubmissionsG1 is to iPhone What Linux is to Mac OSStats: Android Market is No App Store Killer, But Not a Dud EitherGoogle Gets More British Support for AndroidGoogle Android SDK is Live

Source:Mashable!

This article is part of the Open Web Awards, an open, international contest for the best websites and services.

Do you still use a traditional start page? With alternatives like RSS readers, social networks, and news aggregators, services like My Yahoo and iGoogle might seem old fashioned, but tens of millions of people still start their Web browsing with them every single day. That was obvious when iGoogle recently pushed out an unpopular redesign and watched negative comments stream in from users around the globe.

Nonetheless, start pages continue to evolve as users’ online interests change. Netvibes added social features of its own to keep up with the Facebooks of the world, Pageflakes threw in the towel and sold itself to LiveUniverse, and My Yahoo is suddenly an important piece of Yahoo’s larger social strategy.

So where do you start your Web browsing in 2008? Nominate your favorite start page using the widget below:

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—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Netvibes Ginger Launches to the PublicNetvibes Ginger: 50 Invites for Mashable ReadersNetvibes Launches Universes: Customized Public StartpagesNetVibes - Another Funky Ajax Start PageRichard MacManus: Live.com has Nothing On NetvibesOpen Web Awards: Nominations for Start PagesFrostfirehive Launches Underpowered Netvibes Rival

If you use Google Reader, you’re probably familiar with “Canvas View,” a way to read the full text of all your new feeds from multiple sources on one Web page. Today, that view is coming to iGoogle, allowing you to view Google Reader and dozens of other applications and websites in full within the iGoogle interface. This is a big change versus the widgets (or gadgets in Google terms) that most start pages employ, which simply provide a snippet of content and link out to an external site.

In addition to Google Reader, you can now access canvas view gadgets for applications such as iLike and Flixster, as well as Google products including Docs, Maps, and Google Talk. A number of content partners like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are also offering canvas view gadgets, allowing you to read those publications in-full from within the iGoogle interface.

Essentially, the canvas view gadgets are like iFrames on steroids, allowing you to access a whole bunch of services without ever leaving iGoogle. Compared to links that pop open stories in new windows, the user experience is certainly more enjoyable, and for companies that are able to become highlighted partners, it should be a way to gain more traffic.

Technically, I still use My Yahoo as my start page, primarily because of its integration with Yahoo Finance that allows me to track dozens of different stocks, industries, and model portfolios. But, considering all of the Google services I keep open all day (Gmail, Google Reader, Google Docs, GTalk), iGoogle suddenly looks like something that could save me a lot of time. It’s a simple change, but one that currently makes iGoogle a bit more attractive than many of its competitors.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:iGoogle Gadgets Get Social with New Developer SandboxiGoogle Tests Chat, Open Social, and Activity FeedsiGoogle Themes Directory is LiveiGoogle Gets Five New ThemesiGoogle Gets Optimized for the iPhoneiGoogle Has A Bunch Of New ThemesFacebook Apps: iGoogle, LivePets, Vuvox

One might think it a stretch to take a label given to Mussolini by history and place it atop Silvio Berlusconi’s head, but that’s precisely what The Pirate Bay have done. Why for? The Italian government’s organizing of a clean sweep of Italian ISPs to prevent access to the BitTorrent website.

Indeed, Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde is annoyed, according to TorrentFreak, and is claiming discrimination by fascism. The block put in place by ISPs is said to have been implemented with a formal government request issued Friday. TPB presented a brief explanation on its blog concerning the matter, and is for the moment asking Italian users to redirect their browser to another .org address, dubbed “La Baia.”

Berlusconi, Italy’s Prime Minister between 1994-5, 2001-6, and now 2008 once more, has a particularly strong desire to do away with copyright infringement on the Web. He is the founder and majority owner of Fininvest, a media and finance conglomerate that controls much of the nation’s television market within the Mediaset empire, as well as the film company Medusa.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:PirateBay Now Operating From Sinai DesertPrince Gears Up to Battle YouTube, Pirate Bay and eBay tooGoogle Transit Route Planning Now Works In EuropeMySpace Blocks Revver?Turkey Blocks YouTube for the Zillionth TimeNewsFlash: Internet Porn Parts Can Prevent Certain Career PathsRecord Label, Claiming Losses To P2P, Closes; Uploads Music Library To Pirate Bay

Source:Mashable!

DEFCON, the “underground hacker convention” currently underway in its sixteenth gathering at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, gave a mic to SecTheory CEO Robert Hansen (not to be confused with R. Hanssen, the former FBI agent infamous for spying against the U.S. for 20+ years), who proceeded to peg Google as slipshod in its pursuit for all the world’s knowledge. Widgets, too.

Fan of Google Gadgets, are ye? Know this, then. Hansen claims that the platform which supplies iGoogle with various applications from its own treasure trove as well as those of outside sources is vulnerable to phishing attacks, according to Dan Goodin of The Register. Specific attacks might include:

- causing a victim’s browser to access a router and change domain name system server addresses or other sensitive settings;

- port scanning a network to conduct surveillance;

- using cross-site request forgery techniques to force victim PCs to follow links to malicious sites.

Hansen spoken the now common refrain of a phishing hazard that could compel “less tech-savvy users who don’t know to check the browser bar (to verify URL authenticity)” to potentially compromise their security. The risk of divulging data is heightened by the fact that a URL with the name ‘gmodules.com’ presents itself when the hole is exploited, said Hansen, which might deceive people otherwise conscious of peculiar changes within the address bar.

Hansen brought this discovery to the attention of the audience at DEFCON after Google  security engineers purportedly explained that “the redirection was a feature rather than a flaw.” In response to an inquiry about the vulnerability, the company told the AFP that it “checks gadgets for malicious code rarely finding any, and that it removes tainted programs.”

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Google Gadgets Can Talk to Each OtherNext Up: Widgets in Search Results?Google’s Venture Initiative Enables Ecosystem Around GadgetsGoogle Finance Adds New Gadgets and an APIGoogle Gadgets on Blogs and WebpagesGoogle Desktop Gadgets for Your StartpageGadget Ads!