Facebook says the app has been rewritten so it’ll not only open and scroll faster, but news feeds and notifications will load right away. To do that, Facebook rewrote it as a native iOS app, doing away with HTML5. Read more »
With a reported 50 percent of all smartphone owners not knowing how much mobile broadband their handsets use each month, data usage tracking tools are becoming valuable utilities. Boingo just added one to its Wi-Finder for iOS app, which can help save you money. Read more »
Standalone GPS navigation makers continue to face the battle against smartphones and location based service apps. At least one of them is embracing the change: TomTom first added support for Facebook Places and now it includes Foursquare, making it easier to get directions and check-in. Read more »
Things was my task management tool of choice in the pre-cloud era. When Cultured Code announced recently that, finally, after four years that cloud syncing was finally here, I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to try it out. Here’s my take on the new software. Read more »
Global positioning systems provide better location accuracy over solutions that use Wi-Fi networks, but just how much better is GPS? Yelp sifted through its check-in data to see and not only found out the accuracy variance, but also an interesting location tidbit on iPhones vs Androids. Read more »
After months with a sub-par user experience, the Google Play store is gaining needed improvements. Application updates comprised of just changed code now helps limit mobile broadband use while gift cards and wishlists are coming soon, per the latest version of Google Play. Read more »
A number of connected watches have hit — and been funded on — Kickstarter lately, but the newest doesn’t just show information from a smartphone; it works as a hands-free speaker phone. The watch also supports voice commands so you can use it directly with Siri. Read more »
Where’s the party at? That’s the question Vamos is trying to answer with an iOS app that aggregates and overlays Facebook event data on a map, for real-time and hyperlocal discovery Read more »
Smartphones can enable an amazing level of connectivity, but they can also allow that activity to be monitored and used in controversial ways. But for mobile marketing to realize its full potential, consumers may need to sacrifice their privacy to one degree or another. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The iPad “Flipboard for video” app Vodio is shrinking down to iPhone size starting Tuesday. We talked to the Tel Aviv-based Vodio about why the iPhone came next for the app instead of Android tablets. Read more »
Overall handset sales slumped last quarter as consumers face economic challenges or are waiting for newer phone models. But Android keeps outpacing iOS devices while handsets from Research In Motion and Nokia continue to drop, although Windows Phone is showing signs of sales life. Read more »
Social travel recommendation app Trover has slowly undergone a makeover the past month or so. CEO Jason Karas talked with us about how Trover’s users were the ones who turned the travel app into an aspirational, entertainment-oriented app that is only somewhat related to real-life travel. Read more »
FlightTrack Free is not replacing the popular, paid FlightTrack or FlightTrack Pro apps. It’s a separate, scaled-down version of FlightTrack with a redesigned interface. Mobiata, FlightTrack’s creator, plans eventually to add in-app purchase options. Read more »
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web that you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: Apple and Samsung’s mutually beneficial partnership, the history of Apple’s branding, the next phase of iPhone, Google adds more features to iOS apps, and Apple still dominates mobile profits. Read more »
We know that Apple started seeing some validation of the 7-inch tablet market some 18 months ago. Those reasons still apply, but there are even more to consider today. Here’s another look at a handful of observations on why Apple should enter this market. Read more »
So long YouTube; Apple has pulled the app from the latest iOS 6 beta. Of course, you can still watch YouTube in Safari and Google is reportedly writing a YouTube app for the iTunes App Store. Maybe we see a better YouTube experience as a result. Read more »
How long has Apple been thinking about a smaller iPad? Since they read impressions about the Galaxy Tab 18 months ago. Matt shares experiences with Nexus 7 cases — and explains what pickleball is — while both hosts discuss the Chrome OS and T-Mobile’s new (old) Galaxy Note. Read more »
What really draws you in is the speed of the 3D environment, the detail of the in-game elements, and the nostalgic familiarity of the gameplay. This may well be one of the games you keep on your device longer than just a weekend or two. Read more »
The Berlin startup, which has been quietly developing its technology duirng a bootstrapped first couple of years, has gone into closed beta while revealing funding from VCs and SoundCloud and GameForge co-founders Read more »
Despite its current decline, RIM is a different firm today than it was in 2007, with new management, a full awareness of its shaky position, an upcoming OS release and a number of lingering advantages that can still be leveraged. Here’s how it just might survive. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Mobile analytics companies provide app publishers with data about their users. Hiptype, a Y Combinator startup, wants to do the same thing for ebooks. That could be huge for data-starved book publishers — except that for now, Hiptype only works on platforms that support HTML5. Read more at paidContent »
App discovery is one of the biggest challenges that faces iOS developers today. The acquisition is part of Appsfire’s mission to help developers and those in the mobile business understand the trends surrounding Apple’s gargantuan mobile app store, which now counts over 650,000 apps. Read more »
With the growth of sensors and microelectronics, the potential uses of wearable-computing technologies now reach to health and fitness, gaming, fashion, disabilities and augmented reality. Most importantly, the widespread adoption of wearables will drive the form function and market for mobiles in vital ways. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As the Pebble smartwatch proved, to help sell a wearable device, you need support for iOS. Thanks to the new iOS 6 software, which now supports text message sharing over Bluetooth, the MetaWatch team is banking on Apple fans to fund its new Strata smartwatch. Read more »
With the release of OS X Mountain Lion on Tuesday, and updated versions of the iWork apps (which also now have Retina display support) I can finally sync and edit files across all my Apple devices. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to set this up. Read more »
Proloquo2go, a communication assistance app for those who have difficulty speaking, is getting an important update Wednesday. Thanks to a major undertaking in text-to-speech, the iOS app now has real children’s voices that will play when a picture, phrase or word is tapped on screen. Read more »
In another sign of the changing culture at Apple, the company is planning to speak at one of the premier information security conferences, Black Hat 2012, for the very first time. Bloomberg reports that Apple representative is set to address the conference about iOS security. Read more »
Operating on the theory that there are better ways to find great iOS apps than skimming the “top downloaded” lists on the App Store, Appsfire has published its first-ever alternative rankings that highlight the best apps, not just the ones with the highest download count. Read more »
Fotopedia users in China account for the largest chunk of its iPad audience by far. So naturally the travel app photo magazine for iOS is launching an app featuring the country itself. It arrives Thursday to coincide with the launch of the new iPad in China. Read more »
Tablets featured prominently in the connected consumer space, both as a product category and as a component of broader platform strategies by major OS providers Microsoft, Google and Apple. Meanwhile Facebook began laying the groundwork to add payment processing to its platform. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple and Google still dominate the smartphone space, but look out for Microsoft, which finally has some muscle behind its mobile strategy. Meanwhile mobile-browser developers went head-to-head with native apps, and Facebook continued to buy mobile expertise via acquisition. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Smule, the music app maker behind I am T-Pain, Songify, Glee and LaDiDa, is now venturing into rapping with the release of AutoRap. The app, launching on both iOS and Android, takes spoken words and turns into a polished rap with cool hooks and effects. Read more »
Social TV is any application, website or software that allows viewers to interact with television programming and share that interaction with others. Startups in this space hope to combine ubiquitous second-screen technology with well-established audience behavior to drive new value around shows. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple is investigating a workaround that lets iOS users get in-app purchase content for free. This weekend it used a variety of legal channels to try to resolve the security breach, including taking down the demonstration video on YouTube and getting PayPal to block donations. Read more »
On Thursday the team behind Jetpac plans to announce it has raised a $2.4 million Series A round of funding for its iPad app that lets you use your friends’ travel photos to search for vacation destination or just fuel your own wanderlust. Read more »
As expected, Twitter updated its mobile app on Tuesday for both iOS and Android devices, suggesting that users get more than ever before from 140 characters. The new updates are welcome, but also show that Twitter is maturing far beyond its original usage scenario. Read more »
Google just released a native Google+ app for the iPad, which includes support for Google’s Hangouts group video chats. The video chat service is also coming to the iPhone, and both devices are getting limited support for Google+ Events. Read more »
Cloud-based storage and cross-device syncing of media content are two of the most competitive areas in consumer IT. Apple, Google and Amazon see cloud-based media services both as a way to increase attachment to their platforms and a means to extend and amplify their broader strategic goals. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Conference organization TED already publishes ebooks. Now it’s selling them through a new app, Ted Books for iOS. Readers can also buy subscriptions. Read more at paidContent »
An issue that caused the App Store to send out buggy app updates to iOS users has been identified and fixed. Late Thursday Apple issued a statement saying it found there was a snafu with DRM code from one of its servers. Read more »
