In a new blog post entitled "A second spring of cleaning" this afternoon, Google announced that it was going to be closing down a number of its projects and services over the next several months.
Included in the shutdowns is Google Reader—a popular RSS news aggregation service, which a number of apps and users still depend on to serve up headlines. Keep reading for more details....
Last year, Twitter acquired popular music discovery service We Are Hunted. The company developed proprietary search technology than can continuously scan the Internet to identify trending new music around the world.
And according to a new report, Twitter is getting ready to launch a new standalone app based on that technology called Twitter Music. The app, which is expected to debut on iOS, will bring music discovery to the masses...
eBay-owned PayPal operates in 190 markets and in 25 currencies around the world and has more than 123 million active accounts.
The company has had the PayPal Here iPhone app available on the App Store since March of last year. The free software has now been released on the iPad, marking PayPal's first tablet app ever.
Essential to merchants who prefer PayPal and want to get paid directly at the point of sale, the program works in conjunction with a free credit card reader to let you scan an item’s barcode for faster checkout, wirelessly connect to a cash drawer and printer, track sales activity and more...
Apple has posted two new iPhone commercials this evening. The first one is entitled 'Brilliant,' and the second is 'Discover,' and both of them follow the Cupertino company's recent marketing trend for its iOS devices.
The spots start out with a slew of quickly flashing descriptive words, landing on a final one just before jumping into a quick app demo. And they repeat this a couple of times to an upbeat soundtrack. Check them out...
Occasionally, an app escapes the watchful eye of Apple's review team and gets released on the App Store despite ignoring Apple's stringent rules for third-party iOS development. HiddenApps by David Goelzhaeuser, a 15-year-old German iOS developer, is one such example.
The whole point of this free application is to let you hide Apple's stock apps from your Home screen, like Passbook, Newsstand or Stocks - no jailbreak required.
It can also disable Apple's iAds altogether and give you access to a Field Test mode which gives you precise readings of your cellular signal strength. You better download as it's going down in 5, 4, 3, 2...
Last year saw the rise of social networking apps. While not as dominant as games, apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Skype helped revenue for the category skyrocket nearly 90 percent, compared to the previous year. Likewise, social networking apps flew to third place on Apple's App Store, behind only games and productivity. That's a notable jump from 2011, when social apps ranked only twelveth.
Revenues for the category on the App Store jumped 87 percent year-over-year in January 2013, with a 30 percent rise in monthly downloads now accounting for fiver percent of total downloads. On Google Play, social networking apps became the number one category, besides games, an app research firm announced Friday...
Are reviewers of entries to Apple's App Store being threatened with death? That is the implication lawyers for the iPhone maker gave a California federal court earlier this week.
Despite the allegation, a judge overseeing a privacy lawsuit against Apple ordered the company to reveal how it reviews submitted apps, as well as condemned a three-month wait for internal documents.
Today is the deadline for Apple to turn over to U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal its process for gathering documents it must submit to plaintiffs. Attorneys for the plaintiffs charge the firm with collecting location data of iPhone owners without their permission. Earlier this week, Grewal issued the order, writing he cannot rely on Apple to turn over documents first requested in November 2012...
Since our first look at PanoPerfect for the iPhone, it has become more widely accepted as a great way to share only panoramic photographs. I am a big fan of the ability to take panoramic photos with my iPhone and it only makes sense that HalfPeeled provides a great new way to view and share them. As featured in the App Store's "New and Noteworthy" section, PanoPerfect lands for the iPad and boasts a new web browsing feature...
Facebook has just updated its Messenger iOS app with a few new features and "other improvements and bug fixes." The new Facebook Messenger version 2.3 is all about enhancements to group conversations, says the social networking behemoth. It contains one feature I've been yearning for ever since the program's debut on the iPhone: you can finally name a group by tapping on the top of your active conversation.
And just like Facebook's main iOS client (and a growing number of other third-party apps for the Apple platform, for that matter), you can now get to your active group conversations by swipe left, which reveals them in your sidebar. I've included a few screenies along with other nice tweaks right after the break...
After discontinuing its mobile TweetDeck apps for iPhone and Android in favor of the web client, the micro-blogging service Twitter today refreshed its iOS client with better search, refined layouts, support for traditional Chinese and other perks.
Unfortunately, this update also kills off support for external video services like Mobypicture, Vodpod and Posterous as the company supposedly is building a rumored video uploading service of its own.
Note that Posterous, a micro-blogging platform Twitter bought a year ago, is shutting down for good on April 30. Twitter also recently acquired Vine and launched a corresponding brand new app for recording and sharing short 6-second clips that can be easily tweeted out and viewed in-line on Twitter. With this update, TwitVid and yFrog are now your only video uploading choices in Twitter’s iOS app...
Is Apple operating a monopoly? That's the question before an Oakland, California judge. Tuesday, the iPhone and iPad maker urged the court to dismiss a lawsuit filed in 2011, alleging the company runs a monopoly by offering apps for the smartphone only on the App Store. Apple underscores it doesn't set prices for third-party software and argues charging developers 30 percent to distribute items for iPhones, iPods and iPads on its App Store does not violate antitrust laws...
Google Tuesday morning pushed a new version of its native Google Maps application for the iPhone and iPod touch. It's the first update since the Internet giant released a standalone Maps software for Apple's platform in December 2012, racketing up ten million downloads in just two days and becoming the App Store's top free iPhone app in no time. New features in Google Maps version 1.1 for iOS include integration with Google Contacts, local search icons that make finding places of interest faster and easier and more...