Over the past few months now, Google has been slowly rolling out new features to their Google Mobile search engine. The latest, called "Open now" allows users to search for places in their local area that are well -- open now based on their listed hours.

Be it a pizza shop, shopping center or whatever the case may be. No one likes to get ready and head out to a place only to find out they closed 15 minute before you got there. So using the open now feature while search will only show you places that are open in your local area that you may visit.

If you're looking for more information, Google will break it down further for you by distance, star ratings and you can also read reviews and see images of places especially if that place is a restaurant or hotel. Currently it's only enabled for the U.S. like most things we expect Google will roll it out to other areas over time. [Google Mobile Blog]

Don't look now, but it would seem that people love them some Angry Birds. A shocker, we know. Rovio announced at the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) that the free-with-ads Android version of the popular game had been downloaded an astounding 30 million times. What is even more impressive is that Rovio claimed five million downloads back in early December. They said they were pulling in $1 million in ad revenue back then, so some quick math would estimate that they might be raking in north of $6 million per month now. That's a lot of irate avians. [Joystiq]

With all the new devices coming out and their updated specs a lot of folks look towards gaming on the Android platform now more then ever. Bigger screens, higher resolutions, dual core processors and the power to push some crazy graphics all makes for some great game play. Have you come across any games that blew your mind lately? If so, let us know about it in the Android Central forums.

• Motorola Atrix 4G Forums - NVIDIA Tegra Zone released finally!
• Motorola XOOM Forums - Broken or Unstable apps / List them here
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Forums - Gameloft HD Games on the Tab
• Android Applications Forums - Find yourself some new games to play
• Android Central Lounge - Post all games you know or love to play

If you're not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today.

Youtube link for mobile viewing

In your daily dose of "Nope, no release date for the HTC ThunderBolt just yet," we bring you a commercial that's been floating around. And it's pretty darn good, as you'd expect from HTC and/or Verizon. And, nope, there's still no release date. [Android Central Forums]

PayPal is offering prizes of up to $25,000 to developers to come up with the best use of PayPal secure payments in an Android app. The PayPal X Developer Challenge runs until May 14, so there's plenty of time to get your ideas turned into code and uploaded to the Android Market. PayPal says its looking for "something new, something surprising, something with business potential, something that integrates PayPal payments."

First prize is $25,000, $15,000 for second and $10,000 for third, and all three will also receive marketing and PR support from PayPal to help generate interest in their apps. [PayPal]

The Samsung Captivate just got its official Android 2.2 Froyo update. So it's only fitting that the CyanogenMod community project just released an initial CM7 Gingebread build. That's right, Android 2.3.3 for the Samsung Captivate. It's being billed as a usable test release, but undoubtedly bugs will crop up. Give it a whirl if you want -- you'll be glad you did. [via XDA]

No, your eyes do not deceive you. What you see here supposedly is a display at a Sam's Club trainer store (a faux store where they show real stores how it's done) with a Wifi-only Motorola Xoom. At least, that's what the display says. No telling when it might actually be coming, and considering the price tag shows it running Android 2.0 "Homeycomb" -- there's a Photoshop contest waiting to happen -- well, we'll just have to see, won't we.

As for the $539 price? We'd still like to see a sub-$500 listing, but it's certainly a little more in the ballpark. [Droid-Life via Android Central Forums]

Verizon just released a very unexpected OTA update for the HTC Droid Eris. No, seriously -- look! The latest update to hit the Eris brings the little guy to ROM: 2.41.605.6 and the Radio: 2.42.01.04.27. Sadly, this is not Froyo. Remember, the Eris isn't getting Froyo.

Here is a list changes from the update:

• Improved Bluetooth connection performance with Mercedes-Benz E350 automobiles.
• New Twitter authentication allows users to login to their accounts with ease.
• The Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) display,  showcasing the strength of the incoming signal on the device, has been visually improved. 
• Visual Voice Mail (v1.0.19) now comes preloaded.
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 calendars can now be synced with the device.
• Videos, pictures, and audio multimedia messages can be sent and received with or without text included.
• Videos, pictures, and audio multimedia messages  sent to devices on other wireless carrier networks will be received.

Head into the the Android Central Forums to see what others are saying about the update. [Verizon (.pdf file)]