Apps

Google ostensibly close to buying WhatsApp for $1 billion

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 7, 2013

WhatsApp, the cross-platform instant messaging application for smartphones, is rumored to be close to negotiating a landmark acquisition deal with Google. Sources reportedly close to the negotiations claim the Internet giant is considering dropping a whopping one billion dollars on the popular service that as of March 2013 had a cool 200 million users, a hundred million ones on Android alone.

The report ties nicely with talk of a new instant messaging brand from Google called Babble, and even more so given Facebook with its new Home UI layer for select Android devices is basically encouraging its one billion users to use its Messenger service right from their Lock screen or from whichever app they happen to be using at any give moment...

Apple pulls AppGratis, App Store curation and promotion software

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 7, 2013

Enough has been said about so-called Apple dictatorship and app rejections on iDB so far and although I, for one, am usually first to support Apple in its curation efforts because it keeps junk away from the App Store, sometimes the company rejects submissions for competing with its own software or over offering a feature Apple plans on introducing in the near future.

Now, Apple's been after various app discovery apps for some time, even more so in this latest example involving AppGratis, a service which curates programs from the App Store and makes paid apps free for a day via revenue-sharing deals with their creators.

In fact, it's the revenue-sharing scheme which appears to go against Apple's rule which forbids software providing access to other third-party programs by using marketing tactics similar to Apple's App Store promotions...

Real Racing 3 gaining cloud saves, Hunter game mode, new cars and 100+ events

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8rendr6pI0

If you're a fan of free-to-play Real Racing 3 (which, by the way, looks absolutely stunning on the A6 and later devices, like the iPhone 5 and iPad 4), you're in for a treat as Electronic Arts today announced an upcoming content update which will bring several new cars, a bunch of new challenges and events, a new game mode and cloud saves across all your devices.

As you can see from the above trailer for the Real Racing 3: Chevrolet Update, developer Firemonkeys is teasing at least two new cars, the Chevrolet Cobalt SS and the Camaro ZL1. I've included more tidbits right after the break...

Flurry: one-third of app time spent on games

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

The average U.S. smartphone or tablet user spends two hours and 38 minutes on their device, the majority inside an app.

Just over half an hour is spent inside a mobile browser, while more than two hours each day is spent inside apps, such as Facebook.

According to the mobile analytics firm Flurry, games top the list of most-used apps, while Facebook is threatening to overtake Safari, Apple's dominant web browser, Opera Software's Opera Mini and other popular mobile web browsers as the most-popular way to access social and other content on the web...

Google: missing iTunes Store search links only technical mistake

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

If you're one of those conspiracy theorists, there's a bit of a tempest in a teapot happening over Google's search results. On the surface, it appears web links to iOS apps hosted on iTunes are being buried under related but not Apple-endorsed web sites. Meanwhile, some iOS apps from Google prominently appear at the top of search results. Is Google, which promotes its Android mobile operating system as an alternative to Apple's iOS, using its mammoth search database as a competitive weapon?

Or are Apple fans seeing phantoms? The Mountain View, California-headquartered Internet giant blames it all on a technical problem...

Major SkyDrive update: revamped UI, full-res photos, iPhone 5 and iPad mini support

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

There's a good reason why Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage client for iOS has seen its last update in June of last year: revenue sharing. Per Apple's rules, third-party software is required to share 30 percent of proceeds from in-app sales with Apple.

For example, when you fire up Dropbox's excellent iOS client and upgrade to a paid storage tier within the app, your iTunes credit card on file gets charged and Apple earns its 30 percent share.

Though Microsoft wanted to introduce that same functionality into the SkyDrive app, it wouldn't share any revenue with Apple. Neither party would budge and a spokesperson previously said Microsoft was "in contact with Apple regarding the matter."

The two parties have supposedly reached an amicable solution because Microsoft today announced SkyDrive 3.0, a major new version rocking an overhauled interface, support for the iPhone 5 and iPad mini and a few other features...

Badge Clearer gets rid of icon badges without disabling them

Cody Lee ∙ March 30, 2013

Yesterday we showed you a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to customize the look of your app icon badges. And today, we've got something for those of you who'd rather just get rid of them. Introducing Badge Clearer.

Yes, I'm well aware that there are already a few tweaks out there that clear app badges. In fact, we just reviewed one a few weeks ago called Clear Badges. But this one goes about doing it a little bit differently than they do...

How to embed Vine clips in web pages

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Twitter's Vine is fine for random sharing of six-second videos and today they issued an interesting new update promising to make embedding own or someone else's clips easy as a pie. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

The new version won't let you just grab an embed code in-app. For reasons beyond our comprehension, the software sends you to a special web page where the embed code can be created.

It's not the end of the world, but the solution is cumbersome and inelegant, though it works. To start injecting those beautiful Vines into your blog posts, web pages, email newsletters or pretty much into any other other type of HTML content, just follow our quick guide and you should be fine...

Ahead of Opening Day, MLB refreshes iOS apps with new features, revamped UI

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 29, 2013

Major League Baseball (MLB) has some of the most highly-regarded sports apps on the App Store.

Specifically, MLB.com's At Bat and At The Ballpark software includes rich content such as in-game audio, live video streams, highlights, news and more for the entire MLB season, from Spring Training to the World Series.

With just a few days until Opening Day, MLB has updated both apps with some welcomed and timely new features, including a revamped interface, even deeper Passbook support and more multimedia content, to name just a few of them. Jump past the fold for additional details...

Limit your usage of up to 5 apps with AppCapPro

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

When we reviewed AppCap, a jailbreak tweak that offers digital willpower by allowing you to place limitations on the amount of time you spend using apps, back in February, we said we'd like to see multiple app support.

And it looks like the developer Binh Tran heard our plea, because he's just released a new 'Pro' version of the tweak that allows you to set up usage limitations—date, time, frequency—on up to 5 different applications...

Google tops Apple as leading App Store publisher

Ed Sutherland ∙ March 28, 2013

Obviously, home field advantage doesn't hold sway when it comes to app stores. That's the message from a new report showing Google the leading publisher on Apple's App Store while Facebook downloads outnumbered Google on the Mountain View, California company's own marketplace.

Although Apple led apps downloaded from its App Store in December, iOS video and mapping apps from Android's Google topped its smartphone rival during January and February. Meanwhile, a Facebook app grabbed the top spot on Google Play, reinforcing the importance of social networking downloads in generating app store revenue...