The more we rely on smartphones, the more we rely on apps to perform many daily functions — from killing time with a mobile game to helping small businesses easily accept credit card payments. With the launch of Apple’s App Store, this concept of small, focused applications spread back to the desktop.
Buzz around voice recognition technology is louder than ever, thanks to the debut earlier this month Apple’s iPhone 4S with Siri. But Apple isn’t alone in the space. Voice recognition startup SoundHound says it has seen impressive user growth over the past year. Read More »
Long-time GPS hardware maker, Garmin, released its first fitness app for $0.99 in the iTunes App Store and Android Market. Gone are the days when companies can focus on single-purpose hardware; thanks to smartphones, sensors and connectivity, software is where the real action is at. Read More »
With Android gobbling up market share, it was just a matter of time before it took the lead in app downloads from Apple’s iOS. That’s what happened in Q2 with Android commanding 44 percent of overall app downloads compared to 31 percent for iOS. Read More »
Nokia Maps, arguably one of the company’s best software products, now supports offline maps in Google Android and Apple iOS browsers, thanks to HTML5. The “neighborhood maps” are fairly small in geographical size but can help save money for those on limited mobile broadband plans. Read More »
I’m a simple man, and at times I like simple games. At its core, Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunter ($0.99 until Oct. 24) is a simple game. The object is to defeat various monsters in an arena setting, and it does a good job of delivering that. Read More »
On Friday, Zite introduced a new update to its iPad app that includes a feature called Sybil, which allows Zite to create and switch between multiple profiles on one device. Zite can now recommend uniquely tailored content to more than one individual in a single household. Read More »
For years, owners of Android phones have generally gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to having great apps. But venture capital firms are finally starting to realize that the Android market should be much more than just an afterthought. Read More »
HipGeo aims to put all details related to your travel — photos, check-ins, comments — in one place with an app that passively keeps track of your movements. Afterward, you can easily create a slick, animated travel diary. Here’s what I found when I used it … Read More »
A little over a week after releasing its App Player for Windows software that lets computer users run Android apps, BlueStacks now says that it has raised a strategic investment from AMD and Citrix Systems along with funding from existing investors. Read More »
Facebook Messenger has been around for a while now, and on Wednesday it got an update that introduces new features that could make it a more compelling competitor for other group messaging services. It also borrows a trick or two from recent Facebook web updates. Read More »
One of the most popular third-party web browsers for Android devices, Dolphin, gained support for cloud-based synchronization on Wednesday. The updated software syncs browsing preferences, bookmarks and even on-screen gestures over the web to other Android devices running Dolphin and the Webzine feature shows improved controls. Read More »
Whether you’ve got a new iPhone 4S, an iPad 2 or on older iOS device, Instapaper is a must-have application. Now, a huge new update ups the game all around for an already great product. Here’s a first-hand look at what’s new and notable. Read More »
Google’s anticipated launch of Ice Cream Sandwich and the Samsung Nexus Prime phone is coming on Oct. 19. Meanwhile, Google announced that 190 million Android devices have been activated around the world. Those device owners can now speak to each other more easily with Google Translate. Read More »
This week we bring you the first game I’ve seen that takes full advantage of what iOS 5 and iCloud can mean for gaming: Scribblenauts Remix. In addition to being a fun puzzle game, Scribblenauts also takes syncs saved games across iOS devices using iCloud. Read More »
Along with major OS updates for both OS X Lion and iOS, Apple released a boatload of software today in the form of new apps and updates to old favorites. Here’s a quick look at what’s new, what’s changed, and what we think about that. Read More »
Opera released updated versions of its Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers for Google Android devices on Tuesday. The new software includes a mobile broadband meter showing how much data has been used for browsing. Will device owners give up browsing preferences for less data usage? Read More »
Fab.com, the design flash sales site, is on a roll with 750,000 members since launching four months ago and $100,000 in sales revenue each day. And now its fulfilling its members’ No. 1 request with mobile apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Read More »
The iPad dominates tablet Internet traffic, according to a new comScore study. Apple’s slate accounts for 97.2 percent of all tablet data use in the U.S., meaning the iPad is still the device tablet users prefer for accessing mobile data services, despite eroding sales share. Read More »
Good Technology, which has enabled companies to extend security and management to a fleet of employee devices, is looking to extend its technology to independent software developers, corporate customers and systems integrators, by allowing them to build apps that can ride on Good Technology’s secure platform. … Read More »
An Android version of Trover, the snappy mobile app aimed at letting travelers share photos of their off-the-beaten-path discoveries, is now available. For a social app like Trover, which is only as good as the content its users contribute, expanding to Android is key. Read More »
I’d hate to live in the fictional condo depicted in Monsters Ate My Condo. It’s a vertical matching game where the goal is to sacrifice floors of your condo to monsters to ensure the tower doesn’t collapse, and it plays a little like Tetris meets Bejewled. … Read More »
The mobile app economy is growing faster than earlier predictions, now expected to account for 98 billion downloads by 2015. Consumers want their smartphones to have numerous functions and apps, which drive downloads. Meanwhile, music services could be slowing digital music sales. Developers should take note. … Read More »
One of the apps unveiled at Apple’s media event on Tuesday was Cards, an official Apple product that lets you send physical greeting cards easily to loved ones around the world. The official Cards page on Apple’s site now has new details about the service. Read More »
Hoping to solve the challenge of developing mobile apps for multiple platforms, Myriad announced its Alien Dalvik 2.0 product. With it, developers can create an Android app that runs on any number of non-Android devices; even Apple’s iPad, which Myriad will demonstrate next week at CTIA. Read More »
It seems like every day sees the debut of a new photo app with all the social sharing bells and whistles. But Waddle, a new iPhone app launching Wednesday, is most noteworthy for what it doesn’t do — and that’s a refreshingly simple thing. Read More »
Cloud data storage can be awesome. But the fact is, most of us still use personal computers to store the bulk of our data. Polkast, an app for Android and Apple iOS, lets you access all the files on your PC from your mobile device. Read More »
Apple could prepping to unveil a new content delivery strategy for apps, according to some code uncovered in the latest iTunes beta. Specific references are made to app rentals in iTunes 10.5 beta 9, released on Friday, which could change the way we shop for apps. Read More »
Washington, D.C.’s largest and oldest daily newspaper, the Washington Post, launched a free Android application on Monday. I tested the software and found it to be intuitive to use and full of valuable news content, photo galleries and real-time local data for the metro D.C. area. Read More »
John S. Wilson of Policy Diary sees some strong similarities between Google’s mobile operating system Android: They’re both open, free (aside from patent issues), and just a utility. Android means different things to different companies, and ultimately, this could be Android’s downfall into irrelevance. Read More »
With Oktoberfest in full swing and people around the world celebrating beer, it seems an appropriate time to review some iPhone great apps for real beer lovers. No beer pong apps here; these are all about enjoying the actual beverage itself (responsibly, of course). Read More »
At $7.99, ShadowGun is one of the pricier titles I’ve recommended. But it’s well worth the price of admission for graphics alone. Add in a unique cover system (at least as far as iOS games) and universal support, and we have a winner for this week. Read More »
Mobile backend provider Kinvey found 73 percent of iOS and Android apps are basically static and don’t connect to a backend. IOS apps fare better with 35 percent of apps connecting to cloud backends while 18 percent of Android apps connect to these services. Read More »
Just like TV, mobile usage is highest during prime time, peaking at 9 p.m., according to Flurry. But just as important is the fact that mobile app use is relatively higher throughout the day than both Internet and TV, only eclipsed by TV in prime time. Read More »
Shazam, a popular music tagging mobile app, announced on Thursday that it would remove the five-song limit from the free version of its iOS software. Why? More tagging leads to more sharing, more Apple iAd impressions and more revenue-generating music purchases from partners. Read More »
The iPhone and Android app that helps you find day-of deals on hotels is expanding from a small number of major cities to last-minute vacation destinations. Hotel Tonight, currently in 23 major markets, is announcing 14 new, smaller markets where it will offer curated day-of deals. Read More »
Hipmunk, the San Francisco-based travel search startup, has finally brought its travel search application to the Android operating system. Hipmunk for Android, which for now only facilitates flight searches, is impressive because it retains all the slickness of the company’s web and iOS offerings. Read More »
If one thing became clear at this year’s GigaOM Mobilize conference, it’s that all the buzz about mobile technology is completely warranted. Since numbers speak louder than words, here are some of the most interesting stats that surfaced on stage at Mobilize 2011. Read More »
People have been asking to bring iPads, iPhones and Android phones to work for a few years now, but this is the year that IT departments everywhere are actually embracing it. Every enterprise will deploy smartphones and tablets to their workers over the next year. Read More »
Grey Area co-founder and CEO Ville Vesterinen, at GigaOM’s Mobilize 2011 on Tuesday, discussed a growing trend: location-based gaming. One of the company’s most significant discoveries about mobile games has to do with how little they seem to actually be played on the run. Read More »
QR codes, those tiny 2D codes are big on is hype, with proponents touting them as the bridge between the offline and online world. But that offline to online bridge is structurally flawed and may be keeping many brands from reaching their audience effectively. Read More »
Though the number of iOS and Android apps continues to grow by leaps and bounds, Yaron Galai bets that the trend of developing native apps is a short-term fad. Here’s why he thinks companies should reexamine their app strategy. Read More »
Heroku is reporting it saw more than 33,800 Facebook applications launched on its service since the social network giant unveiled new features at yesterday’s f8 conference. On the official Heroku blog, Adam Seligman notes “that’s more than 20 a minute.” Read More »
Ace Striker for iPhone lets you take to this skies in virtual versions of historic battles. It’s a top-down shooter with a retro vibe that lets you unlock upgrades through in-app purchases. It’s simple, and the graphics aren’t dazzling, but it’s also a lot of fun. Read More »
Floop, a recently launched iPhone app coming out of stealth mode on Friday, lets you instantly poll the world, your friends or your neighbors, and track the results through real-time visual feedback. Floop is a sophisticated tool with amazing potential, but also some hurdles to jump. Read More »
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social-reading apps the network launched with The Washington Post and other outlets would change the “way the news industry works,” but it feels more like those outlets have signed over a big part of their destiny to an AOL-style portal. Read More »
There has been a growing revolt in the publishing community against the idea that iPhone and iPad apps are the best route to digital dollars. The Financial Times shuttered its apps this month while a popular essay by another publisher lamented that apps were a “collective delusion” and an expensive failure.
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