Apps

Google rolls out new iPhone app: YouTube Capture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0sOzdXce6o

Google on Monday released a brand new software to simplify the process of uploading videos to YouTube from your iPhone or iPod touch. Dubbed YouTube Capture and provided as a free download from the App Store, the app lets you record and touch up videos with color correction, stabilization, trimming and the ability to add free music tracks from YouTube prior to uploading your finished work. Moreover, you can upload to Google+, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube simultaneously...

Chitika: iOS 6 adoption only rose 0.2% after Google Maps release

Judging from the comment sections on our Google Maps posts, and other feedback from around the web, it seems like quite a few people were holding out for a Google Maps app release before upgrading to iOS 6. And it makes sense, given some of the horror stories we've heard.

But according to Chitika, a large mobile ad network who regularly tracks iOS adoption rates and other mobile trends, iOS 6 adoption only rose 0.2% after Wednesday night's debut of the Google Maps app, suggesting it had no immediate impact on the number of iOS 6 users...

Google+ holiday treats: better photo experience, conversation cards, more fluid UI

With over a hundred million active users, Google+ is, as Eric Schmidt put it, "a viable competitor to Facebook" and its nearly one billion users. This morning, the search firm is issuing new iOS and Android builds that enable a bunch of holiday treats. On the iOS side, you can now swipe through photo albums inline or tap once to see the photos full screen. New conversation cards are also available for highlighting specific content, from longer snippets to bigger photos to comments that slide in beneath each post...

Orchestra unveils Mailbox, a fresh take on iOS email

Since word got out that Google purchased Sparrow, folks have been clamoring for a new third-party email client for iOS. Sparrow is still available in the App Store, but the team has said that because of the acquisition, it will not be receiving anymore updates.

Enter Mailbox, a next-generation email client that looks like a cross between Sparrow and Clear. The app was unveiled by Orchestra, the company behind the cloud-based to-do app, today and it has a lot of people talking. Keep reading for a video preview...

Apple launches Best of iTunes 2012 charts

Apple today posted a comprehensive list of the top iTunes sellers in 2012, ranging from e-books and podcasts to television shows and movies to apps and songs. The charts representing the best iTunes content in 2012 list the top sellers for every iTunes category. Paid and free apps are listed separately, and then again for the iPhone and iPad. Go past the fold to see if your favorite apps made it on the list...

Amazon’s Instant Video app updated with iPhone and iPod touch support

Amazon released its video player app as an iPad-only affair back in August and today the online retailer has updated the software with support for the iPhone and iPod touch. The new universal binary is still provided on a free of charge basis, though the videos, of course, must be purchased from Amazon. That the Instant Video software now works natively on all form-factor iOS devices is no doubt a good news for those of you who get your entertainment from Amazon. The program allows you to download videos for offline viewing and comes with an included selection of top Prime Instant Video titles included in the app...

Google Maps becomes the App Store’s top free iPhone app

Google released its native Maps iOS app last night and, perhaps predictably, already the much-expected software has surged to become the top free iPhone app on the App Store. This just goes to illustrate that competition is a good thing and how eager people have been to have that native mapping experience from Google on their iPhones.

The program features a sleek interface and features missing from Apple's in-house offering, namely the excellent Street View and public transit directions, in addition to a number of the usual features ranging from Zagat restaurant reviews and turn-by-turn navigation, local Google search and more...

1Password 4 lands in the App Store

As promised, AgileBits has released 1Password 4 for the iPhone and iPad today. The update to the popular password-keeper is actually an all-new app, with several improvements over its predecessor like a revamped UI, new features and more. Plus, AgileBits is offering a steep discount on the new software for a limited time. More details after the break...

Yahoo updates Flickr app with the obligatory Instagram-like filters

Following Instagram's update that added a new Willow filter and yesterday's big refresh of Twitter's iOS client that now lets you crop a photo and apply up to eight brand new filters before tweeting it out, Yahoo too has joined the fray by revamping its aging Flickr iOS client this morning. And guess what? The redesigned app also touts filters as Yahoo attempts to stay relevant in the social photography space. There are sixteen unique camera filters to choose from, twice as much as in Twitter's app (and also powered by Aviary). More features and screenies right after the break...

FTC investigating children’s apps over privacy concerns

The US Federal Trade Commission released a report yesterday regarding mobile apps that are aimed at children. It has been investigating kids titles from both the App Store and the Google Play marketplace, and has found that there has been little done over the past few years to address privacy concerns. These apps are still collecting kids' data, and sharing it, without their parents' knowledge or consent...

Twitter app update with Instagram-like filters now available for download

As I reported yesterday, Twitter has updated its Android app with the promised Instagram-competing photo filters, a first for the micro-blogging service seeking to supplant Instagram as your favorite photo sharing service. That, my friends, is a pretty tall order given Instagram's popularity, the Facebook backing and a growing number of new features Instagram's gaining. Be that as it may, Twitter has waited until this morning to roll out filters to its iOS client.

You're gonna love the ability to snap a scene, edit the photo with the filters supplied by Aviary and tweet out your work without jumping back and forth between Twitter and your go-to iPhoneography app. You can grab the free download right now from the App Store. More on other features right after the break...

Shazam redesigns its fugly apps: larger artwork, Google+ sharing, offline tagging

Shazam, a music identification service popular with smartphone owners, today issued a nice update to both its free and paid iPhone apps. For starters, Shazam version 5.5 integrates better with iOS 6 by invoking the standard system sheet when sharing tags to Facebook (really, what took so long?). More importantly, you can now record audio snippets offline for later matching, something I've been yearning for since the dawn of time.

Google+ sharing is also supported, as is searching by name, title, tag date or location. Last, but certainly not the least, the app's fugly interface has been overhauled with larger artwork for music, TV ads, or shows, a prettier listening screen and generally nicer-looking interface that's easy on the eyes and more in line with Apple's iOS Human Interface Guidelines.

These features are in addition to September's update (when Shazam raised $32 million in funding), which has brought out the interesting ability to tag any television show on any channel in the United States...