Apps

Why Free Apps Turn Me Off
February 21, 2013

Of the 300 million-plus people using iOS 6 in one form or another -- and millions more using iOS 5 -- I get the feeling I'm a dying breed. Why? I generally dislike and distrust free apps. I can blame some of this on the overwhelming influence of games, kids, and the psychology of the masses.

All Things Appy: Top 5 Android Kitchen Apps
February 20, 2013

Distinction's Cocktail Flow features a cabinet system that lets you inventory your bar and then proposes cocktail recipes based on what you've got. This is functionality that really shows off the power of app over website or book. Shopping suggestions for augmenting your bar, along with a budget guesstimate, tell you how many new types of cocktails you're going to be able to make and at what cost.

BeyondPod Takes the Tedium Out of Podcast Playlist Creation
February 15, 2013

I was horrified by the prospect of Google's Listen podcast manager app for Android being discontinued when I first heard the news some months ago. The idea of having to find again, pay for and then configure an alternative podcast app was annoying. I could really think of better things to do with a few bucks and my time -- like buy a coffee.

Mobile Devices Help Chart the Future of Marine Navigation
February 15, 2013

Daniel Collins, an avid sailor and sailing instructor, has traveled solo across the Gulf of Mexico and up the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. to Nova Scotia, using only his iPhone and iPad for navigation.He's part of a new breed of boaters who use tablets and smartphones in addition to -- and sometimes in lieu of -- traditional onboard electronic navigation and chartplotting systems.

M-Commerce Is on a Tear, Survey Says
February 14, 2013

Mobile commerce sites showed growth during the 2012 holiday shopping season as they gave consumers more on-the-go options for buying and researching products, according to the latest ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index. ForeSee, a customer experience analytics firm, saw the Index jump two points over Christmas 2011 to a score of 78 on a 100-point scale for its Holiday Retail Edition.

Yahoo Picks Up Speed With Alike Acquisition
February 14, 2013

In case investors have any doubts that Yahoo sees its future in mobile, events of the past few days should dispel them once and for all. News surfaced Tuesday that Yahoo has acquired Alike, a mobile app that guides users to find nearby venues and places to visit. Also on Tuesday, CEO Marissa Mayer sketched out her vision for Yahoo at an investors conference hosted by Goldman Sachs.

MindNode Makes Mind Mapping a Mind-Blower
February 12, 2013

Mind maps don't have anything to do with identifying the contours of your brain -- although they may give you an inkling about how your mind works. At the heart of a mind map is the idea that we don't think in rigid hierarchies. The old-fashioned tree outline with heads, subheads and so forth can nicely organize a theme, document or white paper, but it isn't how people think or the way the brain works.

Toy Tech: In Search of the Light App-tastic
February 12, 2013

The tablet computer craze that has users of all ages launching Angry Birds and making Temple Runs is profoundly influencing toy makers as well. "We are moving into a new realm of toys that the industry finds quite exciting," said Jackie Breyer, editor-in-chief of The Toy Book.

This Qwiki Keeps the Smiles Coming
February 11, 2013

When Apple selected Qwiki for iPhone as an Editor's Choice app, I ignored it, then came back to it wondering what the heck it was: The icon has a couple of blocks and maybe a horizontal head shaped like a "Q," which vaguely looks like, well, I'm just not sure. I get more info from most fluffy white clouds.

Kindle Fire Users to Get Pennies From Heaven
February 06, 2013

Amazon announced Wednesday that it will be offering a virtual currency, called "Amazon Coins," for purchasing apps, games and in-app items on Kindle Fire. The new currency will become available in the U.S. this May. At launch, Amazon plans to give Kindle Fire users tens of millions of dollars' worth of free Amazon Coins to spend on apps in the Amazon Appstore.

Napkin Takes Visual Editing to a Higher Level
February 05, 2013

Aside from their intended purposes, napkins have been known to be used for such things as jotting down the next big idea at business lunches. It's that unintended purpose that inspired the folks at Aged and Distilled software to create their markup app called "Napkin." Napkin gives you a set of professional tools for visually editing content.

Little Inferno Gleefully Ignites the Deep Dark Pyro Within
February 04, 2013

From what I've seen of humanity, there's a little pyro locked inside most of us. Maybe it's a universal longing to chase away the darkness with warmth and light, or maybe it's just a genetic quirk coded into our DNA from the days of the Ice Age when cooking up a wooly mammoth meant survival. Or maybe we just really like to see things burn.

FlightPredictor: Don't Leave Home Without It
February 01, 2013

Gregstoll's FlightPredictor app takes FlightCaster.com's powerful flight prediction data and wraps it into a mobile app, in this case, for Android -- and what a great job Gregstoll, FlightCaster and its data supplier FlightStats have done. FlightPredictor for Android uses historical flight data going back 10 years, along with real-time conditions.

All Things Appy: 5 Best Windows 8 Music and Video Apps
January 30, 2013

Welcome to All Things Appy. We scour the app stores and bring you the definitive top five available free apps in a particular genre for a particular platform. Here's TechNewsWorld's selection of the best music and video apps for Windows 8. One thing worth mentioning is that Windows Media Center is no longer included in base versions of Windows.

PopClip and Unclutter: Big Utility Comes in Small Packages
January 29, 2013

Size isn't always a measure of an app's usefulness. Sometimes you can get more utility from a small app than you'd get from larger one that you use only occasionally. Two such useful programs are PopClip and Unclutter. While PopClip can help you cut down your keystrokes during the day, Unclutter can keep you from losing your mind trying to rifle through the mess on a chaotic desktop.

If a Photo Is Worth 1,000 Words, Vine Gives Tweeters at Least 6,000
January 28, 2013

While Twitter allows users to communicate in 140 characters or less, its new app Vine extends and enhances that brevity while retaining the social networking roots of Twitter. So what is Vine, exactly? It's a service that lets you take super short video clips and share them with the world of Vine users. Plus, it lets you connect Vine to your Twitter feed.

NY Subway App's on the Right Track
January 25, 2013

Some of my earliest memories are of high school commuting days standing on railway platforms in biting cold weather, day after day, leather-soled shoes absorbing any body heat like an air-chilling coil in an air conditioner. I commuted to high school -- some years ago now -- back in the old country using a rickety, drafty, nationalized rail network. That was when the trains ran.

Chinese New Year Inspires Line-Cutting Apps
January 24, 2013

It is known, rightfully so, as the largest annual migration on Earth -- and the ticket lines, even on the Web, are accordingly long. But there's an app for that -- a few of them, actually. The Lunar New Year, also called the "Spring Festival," has inspired apps that allow people to cut in line, so to speak, on China's rail ministry website.

Mozilla Lures Devs to Firefox OS With Shiny New Toys
January 23, 2013

The Mozilla Foundation on Tuesday announced that smartphones running its Firefox OS will be available to developers in February. The preview phones are being produced in collaboration with Geeksphone and Telefonica. The idea is to entice devs to create apps for the Firefox OS. "These devices have not been designed for consumers," said Mozilla spokesperson Diane Zuniga.

All Things Appy: 5 Best iOS Health and Fitness Apps
January 23, 2013

Many of us have got health and fitness on the mind as the new year gets under way, and the smartphone is proving itself to be a remarkable little healthcare provider. Among the useful apps in this vein is MyFitnessPal, which stores more than 2 million types of food in its database and provides a free barcode scanner to look up foods you've eaten -- or are about to.