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Zinio comes to Android tablets, gives you 24 magazine issues for free

The iPad has yet to transform the publishing world as many expected it would, but some healthy competition from Android tablets should help to keep that process in motion. Zinio's reader app is now available on select Android 2.2, 2.3, and all 3.0 tablets, bringing  Esquire ,  National Geographic , and 20,000 other magazine titles to the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and a half dozen other devices. And, to kick off the launch, Zinio is picking up the tab on the most recent issues of 24 top magazines, as long as you download by June 15. Digital subscriptions are still often more expensive than their print counterparts, but at least Android tablet owners will have a safer place to hide their issues of Playboy . Zinio

Sony Ericsson sets up its own channel in Android Market, relegates 'My apps' link to a menu item

Open up Android Market on your Android device today and (most of) you will see a familiar set of three headings -- Apps, Games and My apps -- bidding you welcome. Do the same on your  Sony Ericsson Android phone, however, and the last item in that list might no longer be there. That's because SE has decided to introduce its own "channel" to the Market, wherein you'll find a load of Xperia handset-specific  junk  software and other specially curated bits that your smartphone is adjudged to be in need of. The change means you'll need to open up your menu to get at your own apps, but that shouldn't be an entirely unfamiliar activity for Android users. Sony Ericsson may be the first manufacturer to pull this switcheroo, but it's following in the well-worn footsteps of Verizon and T-Mobile in the US. And speaking of carriers, Sony Ericsson says this change is operator-dependent, so if you're nice and lucky, your operator won't bother to roll this out. ...

Google snags PushLife, will probably use it to push music to your Android phone

At last year's Google I/O we were tantalizingly teased with the idea of music streaming to our mobile devices. Since then, there have been hints and leaks, but nothing official from Google on when or how this new service would be rolled out. Well, now we can add a big piece to that puzzle with the news that Google has acquired mobile entertainment company PushLife, which has been developing a music app of its own for the Android and BlackBerry platforms. PushLife offers one-click purchases from an integrated music store, an overview of tunes you have both on your smartphone and on your computer (with the ability to access both sets on the phone), and automatic playlist syncing with iTunes or Windows Media Player libraries. There's even more fanciness, such as recommendations based on the song you're playing, artists bios and photo galleries, plus the inevitable Twitter and Facebook integration. The Canadian startup is believed to have cashed in to the tune of $2...

Google creating YouTube 'channels', spending $100 million on original content?

You can do quite a lot with a sufficiently large catalog of semi-popular footage, but original content is king, and today the Wall Street Journal is reporting that YouTube will sink $100 million into original programming. The idea, according to the usual anonymous sources, is that Google will reshape the home of Keyboard Cat into a television network of sorts -- with channels for different topics -- and a good number of them featuring "several hours of professionally produced original programming a week." That sounds like a drop in the bucket compared to the raft of footage that YouTube's amateurs put out, of course, and it wouldn't be the first time we've seen Google invest in original work, but we'd be lying if we said we wouldn't enjoy kicking back with even a smidgen of the pulse-pounding possibilities that some 4096-pixel-wide footage could offer. YouTube is reportedly attracting talent right now, say the WSJ 's spooks, and intends to eas...