app store

Apple Reforms App Approval as Facebook Developer Vows "Never Again"

Chris Dannen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:18:46 -0500

Just a day after being publicly excoriated by an influential developer, Apple has introduced new tweaks to its App Store approval process to make it more friendly to submissions.

Joe Hewitt, developer of Facebook for iPhone and an in-house Facebook employee, has vowed never to develop for iPhone again. Widely considered the most popular app in the iTunes Store, Facebook for iPhone set benchmarks for UI and interaction design on the phone.

AP Tightens Grip on Internet News With App-Making App

Kit Eaton — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:29:34 -0500

The Associated Press has just rolled out a service to make it simpler for news publishing companies to make apps for practically every smartphone out here. And guess what? In typical "we own the news" AP style, the finished apps can grab feeds from the AP.

Facebook's Dashboard Revamp Spotlights Games and Other Apps

Chris Dannen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:05:36 -0400

Facebook wants you doing more stuff on Facebook. Earlier this week, users saw themselves Yenta'd back into stale relationships by Facebook's long-lost-friend algorithm. Now the site is trying to lure you deeper into its apps and games, neither of which have been quite the pinnacle of technological achievement that they rightfully should be.

Hack My Ride: Ford Opens Up Sync Software Development Kit for In-Car Apps

Chris Dannen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:20:28 -0400

Ford is planning to open its Sync in-car computing platform to third party app developers, the automaker tells FastCompany.com.

The idea is still nascent and there is no hard-and-fast timeline for release, says Prasad Venkatesh, who leads Vehicle Design & Infotainment at Ford. Just how drivers would use in-car apps is still being researched as well. (Below, a present-day Sync system in a Ford Mustang.)

Google Wave to Get App Store: What the Heck?

Kit Eaton — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:26:48 -0400

We understand how Apple's insanely successful App Store has inspired many copycats in the smartphone industry, and even beyond.

Microsoft Video Mocks Apple, Android; Makes Ass of Self

Chris Dannen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:21:52 -0400

Microsoft has a new video on the YouTubes that mocks Apple's App Store. Or means to. Inadvertently, it seems, it attempts to mock any number of companies--Google, Apple, Palm, Blackberry--for making good smartphones that run good software. Is Microsoft bullying the real smartphone innovators for being too smart? Are we in 6th grade? What the hell?

Here's the video:

Rock Band for iPhone Launches to Thunderous Applause

Clay Dillow — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:05:24 -0400

Living room rock gods, take note: the battle of the bands is on, and this time the arena is portable. Electronic Arts, MTV Games, and Harmonix have finally launched Rock Band for the iPhone, challenging Tapulous's monopoly in the "rhythm music" space currently cornered by the popular Tap Tap Revenge series.

Layar iPhone App Now Available, Augmented Reality Is No Longer Science Fiction

Kit Eaton — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:37:33 -0400

Who Cares About iPhone App Piracy?

Chris Dannen — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:42:55 -0400

In the old software world, torrent sites and other piracy dens were the publisher's nemesis. But these days, few iPhone app developers spend much time thinking about piracy, even though it's very much a reality in markets worldwide.

Apple App Store: Upskirts Yes, Satire No

Chris Dannen — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:37:34 -0400

It's fatuous to attempt to understand the App Store approval process, but in the past, there have been a few rules: weirdly obscene or prurient-minded things aren't so well-received (think "baby shaker" app), and apparently, neither are satirical postcards that mock Bernie Madoff.

Google-Verizon Taking on Apple-AT&T

Kit Eaton — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:52:03 -0400

Google and Verizon have just announced a "groundbreaking" agreement to maximize the chances for success of the Android OS in the U.S. smartphone market. Their intended target? Beating Apple and AT&T at their own game.

Google Wants to Save Newspapers With a Micropayment Engine

Kit Eaton — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:13:30 -0400

We know Google loves to jab its fingers into many different pies, but this latest effort is interesting: Google's developing a micropayment engine, and looks to be courting the ailing newspaper industry as customers for its service.

Facebook Aims for the Heart of Mobile Social Networking: Apps

Kit Eaton — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:37:20 -0400

When I joked everything would soon be wired to a social network the other day I didn't realize how close I was to the mark. Because social net giant Facebook is angling to become the vehicle that lets everything on your smartphone get social.

Four Ways to Make Apple TV Fabulous

Kit Eaton — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:45:48 -0400

My Life With a Hackintosh--and How the Movement Suggests a New Model for Innovation

Farhad Manjoo — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:00:00 -0400

Not long ago, I got my hands on one of the slowest, ugliest, and least-user-friendly Macintosh laptops the world has ever seen -- and I love it. My Mac sports a couple of features that others can't match. First, it's tiny and lighter than Apple's vaunted MacBook Air. Even better, its portability doesn't carry a premium; it set me back only about $500, a third of what Apple charges for the Air.

More AR Apps Hit the App Store: London Bus Routes and Yelp

Kit Eaton — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:37:49 -0400

Seemingly moments after the first "real" augmented reality app hit Apple's iTunes App Store, more have arrived. One is a London version similar to that first Parist Metro app, and another is from Yelp, the customer-driven business review portal. Both have snuck under Apple's radar.

How Do You Design a Great iPhone App?

Cliff Kuang — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:45:53 -0400

Good design's about the details, but rarely do you get to see the designer's mind chewing over the myriad decisions that produce something great. Which is why this video is awesome. It documents all of the adjustments that went into created the UI for their Convert application:

First Augmented Reality App Lands in App Store--Will Apple Let It Stay?

Kit Eaton — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:08:13 -0400

We recently described a lot of ways augmented reality (AR) is going to appear on a mobile device near you soon.

Is Nokia's App-Enabled Booklet Netbook Trying to Beat Apple's Tablet?

Kit Eaton — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:17:57 -0400

This is hot news on the InterWebs this morning--Nokia's apparently going to move into a totally new market: It's making a PC, a netbook number that's also integrated with the Ovi App Store. Is Nokia taking on Apple's iTablet?

Six Overlooked iPhone Apps

Chris Dannen — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:43:05 -0400

Apple likes to tout that there are 50,000 apps in the App Store, but that means that plenty of good apps fall through the cracks. Here are six that didn't make it into Cupertino's TV ad campaign, but should have.

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iPhone Users: Get Google Voice Back!

Chris Dannen — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:08:15 -0400

This morning, the tech world watched in disgust as Apple rejected Google's new iPhone Voice application from the iTunes App Store, and subsequently pulled all third-party dialer apps that allowed users to make Google Voice calls from their Apple devices. While AT&T users fume--is it possible for them to hate Ma Bell more? There is still hope of getting Google Voice working on your iPhone again, it's just going to take a little messin' with.

Why Is Apple Stifling Google Voice for iPhone? [Updated]

Kit Eaton — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:31:28 -0400

Google's amazing Voice may be changing the whole telephony game, and it's happily rocking on BlackBerrys and Android phones. But you won't see a Voice app on the iPhone, since Apple's officially killed it.

What We Want From an Apple Tablet

Chris Dannen — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:05:54 -0400

In a word: Apps. Apple is said to be planning a tablet, and it'll live and die by its app store even more than the iPhone. Here's what we'd need to be convinced to fork over our hard-earned dollars for the chance to cruise the Tablet App Store. (Below, a Mac Tablet mockup, courtesy of ZDnet.)

Hardware Done Right

Smartphone App Wars: Palm's Mojo Application SDK Stumbles Into Battle

Kit Eaton — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:55:13 -0400

Palm just waved its magic wand and abracadabra'd the Mojo Software Development Kit into public reality. It's the software that developers have been waiting for, and it could turn the Pre into something much more interesting.

Apple's Latest Figures Prove There's Just One App Store to Rule Them All

Kit Eaton — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:36:36 -0400

Apple just dropped the official statistics on the iTunes App Store's first year in business, and they're astonishing, on all sorts of scales. Turns out over 1.5 billion apps have been downloaded by iPhone users across the world.