Now there’s an app to help you dodge bullets
photo: Thinkstock
Researchers have developed a new app and hardware module that will help you find the direction of gunfire. Read more »
QWERTY out, KALQ in: the new fast keyboard for touchscreens
A model that combines thumb movements with English-language tweets created a new keyboard layout to optimize thumb typing on tablets. Typing with KALQ was 34 percent faster than on QWERTY. A free Android app will be released in May. Read more »
Twitter plays its platform hand, and it is the one holding all the Cards
Twitter wants to get on the good side of third-party app developers with some new features for its expanded-tweet Cards, but the main focus of these new features is still to cement Twitter’s control over its ecosystem. Read more »
FT launches “second generation” web app, says online payments will soon be much easier
The FT launched a new version of its iPad offering, a move that reinforced the publication’s contrarian web-only mobile strategy, and an FT executive predicts that the problem of collecting mobile payments outside of app stores will soon be solved. Read more at paidContent »
Does the future of mobile content belong to apps or the web?
photo: Verve Wireless
A long-running debate over apps has taken a new turn with the rise of the mobile web and the proliferation of tablets. At paidContent Live on April 17, leading publishers will share their thoughts on whether the industry should embrace or abandon them. Read more at paidContent »
What it takes to be a mobile hit: Five friends, zero VC dollars and lots of chutzpah
John Arrow is the 26-year-old CEO of a four year old mobile application company that has 375 employees. Here’s how he managed to grow his business while growing as a leader at Mutual Mobile. Read more »
Privacy in the mobile age? You’re doing it wrong, say EU regulators
A group of data protection officials from across Europe has published its opinion on smartphone apps. It makes for ugly reading, as the fragmentation of the mobile ecosystem renders compliance near-impossible. Read more »
Facebook updates Timeline design with cleaner layout, focus on content
Facebook announced some tweaks and updates to its Timeline on Wednesday, simplifying the layout and emphasizing content recommendations only a week after the updated news feed design made similar advances. Read more »
Readdle joins effort to improve iPhone’s calendar with new Calendars app
If you have room on your schedule, there’s another iOS calendar app to check out. This one’s from the same developers as PDF Expert and Scanner Pro. It’s free and simply called Calendars. Read more »
PayPal revamps developer program with new iOS SDK, retooled APIs
photo: PayPal
PayPal acknowledges that its developer program hasn’t exactly wowed web developers and app makers in the past. But the company plans to make amends at SXSW. Read more »
Why, again, isn’t there an iPad-optimized Instagram app?
When you look at the ownership trends among tablets, and particularly iPads, it starts to become rather puzzling that there aren’t as many photo apps made specifically for the iPad. Read more »
Twitter kills Tweetdeck apps for iPhone and Android in favor of web apps
Twitter announced that it’s shutting down its Tweetdeck apps for iPhone and Android, encouraging users to take advantage of the Tweetdeck web app instead. Read more »
Craigslist still has no official app, but here’s a pretty good substitute
Craigslist has never released a mobile app, but Mokriya, a company that has worked on apps for Hipster and Sidecar, has licensed the classified site’s data for its new app, Mokriya Craigslist. Read more »
How switching to Android helped me deal with my addiction to connectedness
There are many things I like better about my Android phone compared to my old iPhone, but one of the big ones is something that is missing: namely, all those irritating real-time notifications Read more »
The secret to tackling mobile, cloud and big data? Treat them as one.
It’s no secret that mobile, big data and cloud computing are transforming IT. Sanjay Poonen, president of SAP’s mobile division, says companies need a single unified strategy to tackle them, not three separate ones. Read more »
Old McDonald had an app: FarmLogs lands $1M to modernize farm management
photo: FarmLogs
This is no Farmville. FarmLogs’ software-as-a-service tells you when the rows need tilling, when the fields need watering and when the crops are ready for harvest. Read more »
Why big data will be even bigger in 2013
GigaOM Research analysts Jo Maitland and George Gilbert discuss the cloud in 2013: what to know, who to watch, and crazy predictions for the coming months. Read more »
Google’s big push to make better iOS apps than Apple
By creating a bevy of new iOS apps, what Google has been up to is becoming more obvious. It’s made it its mission to not just compete with Apple with the Android platform and Nexus mobile devices, but battle Apple on its own platform. Read more »
How publishers are getting over the app debate: 3 examples
photo: Everett Collection
Fewer publishers are treating apps as a make-or-break business decision. Instead, a shift in the economics of app making means publishers can choose from a wider variety of app options that are tailored to the type of content they produce. Read more at paidContent »
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How consumer media will change in 2013
Many of the biggest stories in the connected consumer space occurred mostly offstage in 2012, from Apple’s new media services to policymakers in Washington. Overall, the past 12 months have laid important groundwork for significant advances in the connected consumer space. The year 2013 should be eventful. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
FTC: Apple, Google don’t have to police app stores for kids’ privacy violations
The commission instituted new rules that state app makers have to get parental consent when it comes to sharing the personal information, like photos and location. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple and Google lobbied heavily to get an app store exemption into the rules. Read more »
Upgrade to iWork iOS apps means better compatibility with Word, iWork for Mac
Keynote, Numbers and Pages, Apple’s house-made apps for presentations, spreadsheet work and word processing, should share documents better with the update thanks to increased compatibility included in a new update released Tuesday. Read more »
3 apps to help you avoid a Thanksgiving dinner disaster
Your mobile phone or tablet can’t cook your Thanksgiving meal for you, but they can definitely get you out a jam if you cook yourself into a corner. Here are three apps that will make the ordeal of Thanksgiving dinner easier. Read more »
Bloomberg launches financial app store, offers Angry Bonds
Financial giant Bloomberg has opened an app store in which it wil take 30 percent of revenue. The move is significant because it is the first time the tightly-controlled company is opening up its rich pools of data to outside developers. Read more at paidContent »
Techstars-backed Pickie raises $1M for Flipboard-like app for shopping
Pickie, a recent graduate of TechStars New York, announced Monday that it has raised $1 million in seed funding from a range of investors, including DFJ Gotham, Betaworks and Liberty City Ventures. The startup uses social data regarding products to generate personalized iPad-based magazines for shopping. Read more »
Podcasting 101: The best of the rest of iOS podcasting apps
The one big omission in Apple’s reimagined Podcasts app is the ability to organize and create playlists for your podcasts. If this feature is still important to you, you may want to consider one of these third-party alternatives. Read more »
Most app developers make less than $500 a month (chart)
And things are even tougher for developers of advertising-supported apps. Read more »
Android app development growing at a faster rate than iOS (chart)
Both iOS and Android use is growing, but app developers are adopting Android at a faster rate, according to a recent GigaOM Pro survey. See our chart for more details. Read more »
Your phone will soon be your new doctor
Soon, your phone will know more about your health history and fitness goals than your doctor does. And according RunKeeper founder Jason Jacobs, when this plays out at scale, it will change the dynamic between you, your doctor and the traditional healthcare system. Read more »
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Development strategies for the app-developer community
App developers are the cornerstones of the multibillion-dollar app market, but the overall community remains largely unknown. As app downloads increase, organizations that can bring tools, resources, and a collective voice to this group will be an important factor in the evolution of mobile-app development. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Google Play reaches 25 billion downloads, 675,000 apps
photo: Google
Google Play is now up to 25 billion app downloads, a little behind the pace of Apple’s App Store which hit that mark in March of this year. Google Play also has 675,000 apps overall compared to 700,000 for the App Store. Read more »
Education apps maker Duck Duck Moose nabs $7M led by Sequoia, Lightspeed
Duck Duck Moose, a San Mateo, Calif.-based company that makes educational smartphone apps for kids, has raised $7 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Stanford University. Read more »
iOS’s lead over Android in app monetization is shrinking
For a long time iOS app monetization was far and away better than on Android. But as monetization strategies change in the app world, the statistics are changing. Android is no longer as far behind. Read more »
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Mobile 2012 and beyond
Whether it’s the iPhone 5, the importance of LTE, or BYOD trends disrupting the enterprise, there are always technologies, trends, and companies changing the way we define mobile. Here are some noteworthy segments to watch in the coming months, from location-based shopping to apps to wireless networks. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The Mobile 15: Our picks for the most innovative companies
These are the companies, startups and giants alike, that are changing or could potentially change the mobile landscape in the most profound ways. Read more »
So you’ve created an app; now why hasn’t anyone discovered it?
Most developers underestimate how hard it is to be successful in Apple’s App Store. And even if Apple improves things, it’s not going to be enough. Ouriel Ohayon, cofounder of Appsfire, looks at why this problem is so hard to solve. Read more »
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A near-term outlook for the mobile app marketplace
In the five years since the iPhone hit the market, Apple and Google have delivered more than 40 billion cumulative downloads of apps. Other sources predict the app marketplace will swell to surpass 66 billion downloads in 2016, a growth fueled by tablet, entertainment, and enterprise apps. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Defining the new office suite: 5 essential apps for work
With the adoption of iPads, tablets and smartphones into our work flow instead of just sitting at a laptop computer here are five categories of apps positioned well for becoming a fundamental part of our day to day work environment in this mobile era. Read more »
Amazon Appstore opens for business in Europe
photo: Amazon
Amazon is taking its Appstore for Android abroad for the first time, launching it in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The move was expected, and its eems to pave the way for an international launch of the Kindle Fire. Read more »
Zite’s new Android update ditches support for large-screen tablets
photo: Zite / Google Play
Personalized tablet magazine Zite is releasing a large upgrade to its Android app Tuesday afternoon. Among the changes: The end of support for large-screen Android tablets, enhanced sharing options and bug fixes. Read more at paidContent »
