Windows 8 app store revealed in leaked screenshots, ready for beta testing? (Updated)

Over the last few months, Chinese site cnBeta’s been busy dishing out alleged screenshots of Windows 8 at its infancy, though few have caught our attention until this new batch came along. Assuming this isn’t the work of some cruel joke, it appears that Microsoft’s next flagship OS will be shipped with its very own built-in app store, which is simply dubbed Windows App Store at this stage (and now we see why Redmond keeps fighting the good fight over the “App Store” trademark). As with previous Windows milestone builds, the final appearance may differ slightly, but word has it that this new store’s passed its internal tests and will soon go beta. While it’s too early to tell, here’s hoping that this feature will open the floodgate to a whole bunch of cheaper Windows software.

[Thanks, Stephen]

Update: Turns out the above screenshot had already appeared on waybeta last month, and the actual news here is that now we seem to have a Chinese version of the app store, possibly by way of a language pack.

Windows 8 app store revealed in leaked screenshots, ready for beta testing? (Updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 23:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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B&N accepting Nook Color app submissions, because you can never have too many app stores

The upcoming firmware update for the Nook Color is shaping up to be a hefty one for the e-reader-turned-Android tablet. Barnes & Noble has now announced that it’s officially opening up the device to developers, and will be taking app submissions through its developer site effective immediately. The Nook has long been one of the best bangs for your buck in the ever-expanding world of Android tablets, and all that’s left now is Honeycomb — and no, the hacked port doesn’t count.

B&N accepting Nook Color app submissions, because you can never have too many app stores originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Grooveshark ‘Baffled’ After Getting Booted From Android Market

Grooveshark users can stream any of the 6 million songs in its catalog to their mobile devices — except for Android and iOS users. Photo courtesy Grooveshark.

Popular music-streaming service Grooveshark got yanked from Google’s Android Market over the weekend, and the company isn’t happy about it.

“Google notified us on Saturday that it had removed our app from the Market,” Grooveshark’s Ben Westermann-Clark told Wired.com in an interview, “but frankly, we’re baffled by this. We’re always compliant with DMCA regulations to make sure that we operate within the law and respect the wishes of content owners.”

Grooveshark wasn’t above taking a shot at Android’s relatively open app ecosystem, either. The company issued this statement:

Unlike Apple’s iPhone ecosystem, Android is an open platform, and Google is traditionally a supporter of DMCA-compliant services –- indeed, Google itself relies on the DMCA for the very same protection that Grooveshark does.

Google often champions its Android Market as open when speaking of the platform. Unlike Apple, Android has no vetting process for the apps that are submitted to the market. However, Google has removed apps from the market and even remotely deleted them from customers’ phones when it’s found apps that misrepresent themselves or that could be malicious.

Grooveshark remains in the dark as to exactly why it got ousted. All it knows is that the Recording Industry Association of America, a copyright watchdog and lobbying group, was involved.

“We haven’t received any specific information from Google about what in the developers’ terms of service, exactly, we need to address to be readmitted to the marketplace — only that Google received a letter of complaint from the RIAA,” the company said in a statement.

Wired.com’s request for comment from the RIAA was not returned.

Google isn’t going into specifics. “We remove apps from Android Market that violate our policies,” a Google spokesperson told Wired.com.

Google’s removal of the app comes several months after Apple’s expulsion of Grooveshark from its App Store for iPhones and iPads. “As an IP holder ourselves, we understand the importance of protecting intellectual property,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told Wired.com in August. “Due to objections by rights-holders, the Grooveshark app has been removed until resolution is reached by both parties.” The removal was prompted by Universal Music Group U.K.’s takedown request.

Grooveshark isn’t a stranger to litigation. EMI was engaged in a copyright-infringement lawsuit with Grooveshark in 2009, but the record company dropped the charges after agreeing to a licensing deal with the music service.

Much like Europe’s Spotify, the Gainsville, Florida-based Grooveshark is a “freemium” (free trial period with an eventual $9 monthly fee to continue) streaming-music service for mobile, It lets you play any tracks hosted in its catalog of over 6 million songs. The service is also accessible through its web interface for free.

Grooveshark differs from competing apps like Pandora or Rdio in that it’s user-sourced. In other words, it’s like a YouTube for music.

And, says Westermann-Clark, “like YouTube, Grooveshark pulls content when copyright owners come in and ask for it.”

Grooveshark remains available for download on RIM’s BlackBerry App World store and HP’s webOS store. The app can still be loaded onto your iOS device — if you jailbreak your phone.

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Android Continues to Grow, But Developers Are Frustrated

The HTC Thunderbolt uses Google’s Android platform, which is making huge strides in popularity despite developer complaints. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Google’s Android platform has been growing steadily since its release in 2008. Now, one out of every three U.S. smartphone owners is using an Android-based device, according to a recent report.

So why aren’t developers more excited about the platform?

Of the 69.5 million Americans who owned smartphones as of the end of February, 33 percent used Android devices, according to a report from ComScore. It’s a leap of 7 points in a period of only three months.

The growth of Apple’s iOS remained stagnant, seeing only a 0.2 percent increase over the same period of time. Competitors Microsoft, HP and RIM were the ones who suffered as Android grew, with drops of 1.3 percent, 1.1 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively. The five companies’ smartphone market share is shown in the table below.

Smartphone Market Share

  • Company
  • November 2010
  • February 2011
  • Google
  • 26%
  • 33%
  • RIM
  • 33.5%
  • 28.9%
  • Apple
  • 25%
  • 25.2%
  • Microsoft
  • 9.0%
  • 7.7%
  • HP
  • 3.9%
  • 2.8%

 

The growth is partly a numbers game. One of Google’s advantages is the sheer number of phone models running Android. Hardware makers have announced more than 10 different Android devices in the first three months of this year, far more than those running Google’s competitors.

By contrast, HP announced two new phones in February (the first mobile phone hardware release from the company in far too long), only one Windows Phone 7 device has appeared in 2011, and we’re probably not going to see the iPhone 5 anytime soon.

For all of Android’s success, however, the platform has yet to fully satisfy its application developer base. Baird Research shared the results of a recent developer survey with Wired.com, showing that more than 50 percent of developers questioned “view fragmentation” — the disparity in software versions across device manufacturers and handsets — to be a “meaningful or serious” problem. Developers also expressed concern over the fragmentation of the app ecosystem on Android, saying they generally preferred a “unified, single-store experience like Apple’s App store.”

For customers who enjoy Android’s openness, the lack of a single app store is hardly a problem. Those who wish to go outside the walled garden of Apple’s iOS (but don’t necessarily want to jailbreak their phones) can do so fairly easily on an Android device — or they can use alternative app stores, like Amazon’s.

But for developers who wants their programs to make serious money, a nonunified app ecosystem may be less than desirable. Fully 74 percent of respondents said developing for Apple’s iOS gave the best opportunities for paid-app revenues, and twice as many developers claimed their apps were more visible in Apple’s app store than they were in the Android Market.

We may see a shift in developer attitudes as Android continues to mature and further improve its app ecosystem. Google launched the Android Market web store in February, and just last week it officially enabled in-app billing, allowing developers to charge customers for items purchased within an application.

In addition, a several developers have made six-figure revenues from Android apps, with a couple scoring million-dollar paydays.

With the promise of big money, and a huge base of customers to target, developers have a strong incentive to continue coding for Android. Indeed, despite the complaints, 71 percent of respondents said that they have developed apps for the platform.

Whether they’re currently satisfied with Google’s OS or not, it looks like developers will continue writing code for it.

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ContourGPS Connect View app hands-on

The $350 ContourGPS sits among the top-tier of consumer-friendly helmet cams, but it’s always posed one major problem: you can’t really tell where it’s pointing. Sure, it shoots a pair of wicked lasers out of the front, but it’s always a challenge to gauge the extents of its 135 degree lens. We knew there was a secret trick in there waiting to be unleashed, which we got to play with at CES, and now here it is. Contour has released its Connect View functionality for iOS, letting you view live footage from the camera right on your phone. Keep reading for our full impressions.

Continue reading ContourGPS Connect View app hands-on

ContourGPS Connect View app hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Apr 2011 16:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android Trojan Highlights Risks of Open Markets

Android users who go outside the official Android Market must be careful which apps they install. Photo (of an HTC Droid Eris) by Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Android enthusiasts have long championed Google’s “open” philosophy towards the smartphone platform. The recent appearance of a new Trojan horse in unofficial Android app venues, however, may cause users to think twice about how open they want the platform to be.

The app in question, Android.Walkinwat, appears to be a free, pirated version of another app, “Walk and Text.” The real version is available for purchase in Google’s official Android Market for a low price ($1.54).

If you download the fake app (from unofficial markets for Android apps) and install it, it redirects you to the actual app on the Android marketplace — but in the background, it sends the following embarrassing SMS message to your entire phone book:

Hey,just downlaoded [sic] a pirated app off the internet, Walk and Text for Android. Im stupid and cheap, it costed only 1 buck. Dont steal like I did!

Egregious spelling and grammatical errors aside, the text message serves as a reminder of the risks to those willing to go outside of the official Market for apps.

“Someone downloaded the app, inserted their malware, and uploaded it onto other non-official marketplaces,” Symantec mobile team product manager John Engels told Wired.com in an interview.

In other words, if you go outside the official Market, things may not be what they seem, and there’s no guarantee that what you download is what you actually want.

Google maintains clear content policies on all apps that are uploaded to the official Android Market, and developers know well enough in advance what those policies are, and how not to break them. Whenever an app in clear violation of Google’s policies shows up in the Market — like, say, a piece of malware — Google’s Android engineers are often quick to quash it.

But if you’re not one for pesky rules and regulations and want to see what the non-Google-sanctioned markets have to offer, all it takes to access them on an Android device is for you to uncheck a box on a settings page, allowing your phone to install apps from “unknown sources.”

To a certain degree, this isn’t a huge issue for the novice user. Many outside applications are hosted on file sharing websites that users like your grandmother probably aren’t frequenting. And unless they’ve tried to install these outside applications by sideloading them, they’ve probably never unchecked the unknown source’s permissions box to begin with.

But last week’s debut of Amazon’s new App Store may have changed that. In order to install Amazon’s App Store on an Android device, you first must uncheck that permissions box. While there may be no immediate risks associated with downloading apps from Amazon’s App Store, it opens the door for users to allow other unofficial — and therefore riskier — apps to be installed on their devices, from other sources.

“As soon as you flip that switch and go away from the Android Market, which is the one place where most people go, then you are putting yourself at some risk,” security researcher Charlie Miller told Wired in a previous interview.

“The threat will persist so long as people continue to download pirated software from peer-to-peer networks,” Webroot threat research analysts Armando Orozco and Andrew Brandt told Wired.com.

They say sticking to the Android Market is your safest bet, but if you’re still compelled to go outside the official box for your apps, whether it be to Amazon’s App Store or another unofficial market, you should “scrutinize the permissions the App requests, and don’t install it if it wants access to certain functions (like the ability to send SMS messages) that the app shouldn’t need to access.”

But doesn’t staying within the confines of the Android Market defeat the purpose of choosing a platform with such an “open” philosophy? If you want a stricter, closed system with stringent regulation on its apps via a review process, you might as well buy an iPhone.

“Android users enabling sideloading doesn’t necessarily lead to piracy or installation of apps from unsafe sources,” says Alicia diVittorio, a spokewoman for Lookout Mobile Security. “In fact, it’s great to have another source for consumers to download apps from a reputable brand like Amazon.”

Indeed, Amazon’s Appstore isn’t a great deal different from Apple’s App Store: Both companies require an intense review and approval process before making any developer’s submitted applications available for purchase.

Essentially, there’s an inherent risk that comes with downloading apps for a device with an attitude of openness like the Android. Even the official Market is susceptible to infiltration by malware, as evidenced by the swath of malicious apps pulled from the store earlier this month.

But in a relatively free and open domain such as Android’s, the risk remains the price of admission.

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Vimeo’s gratis iOS video editing app punks iMovie in its own house, available now

Still waffling over that bank-shattering $4.99 iMovie purchase? We get it. Thankfully, you’ve held out long enough for the free market to come and rescue you (again) — Vimeo has just launched a legitimate alternative into the App Store today with a far, far more luscious price tag: $0.00. The official iOS app checks in at 20.1MB, and offers the ability to upload, manage, edit and watch your videos (as well as those conjured up by others, naturally). It’ll handle edits and uploads for both SD and HD footage, and there’s even support for pausing / resuming uploads, sharing via your favorite social networking website, and a view to statistics — if you’re into that type of narcissistic thing. The app’s up for grabs down in the source link below, and while we’re hearing that some folks are hitting upload snags every so often, we’re sure the v1.0 build will be refreshed in short order. Oh, and for the iPad and Android contingent? Your copy is en route, but a helping of patience is requested.

Continue reading Vimeo’s gratis iOS video editing app punks iMovie in its own house, available now

Vimeo’s gratis iOS video editing app punks iMovie in its own house, available now originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zapd iOS app creates your next website in seconds flat, seriously (video)

Sure, the end result looks like a highly styled Tumblr, but let’s repeat this: it’s created on your phone. For those who are flat terrified of coding (or simply don’t have the time to stay on top of a so-called “blog”), PressPlane has created Zapd — a free iOS app that allows the creation of picture-led sites in seconds flat. The app truly is as streamlined as the company advertises it to be; load up a few images (or take a few), select a website style, find a decent web connection, and watch as things are published and shared with your pals on Facebook and Twitter. Enough chatter — peek the video below to see where we’re coming from, and give that iTunes link a look if you’re hoping to join what’s next. You know, now that your honeymoon with Color is thoroughly over.

Continue reading Zapd iOS app creates your next website in seconds flat, seriously (video)

Zapd iOS app creates your next website in seconds flat, seriously (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft and Apple Employing Linguists in App Store Trademark Battle

Is Apple the rightful owner of the words “App Store?” Well, that all depends on what your definition of “is” is. And it also helps to have a pretty firm grip on what the terms “app” and “store” mean. Thankfully, both sides of this argument (Apple and Microsoft) have employed linguists in this war of the words. 
Now the legal battle features such gems as, “The compound noun app store means simply ‘store at which apps are offered for sale,’ which is merely a definition of the thing itself–a generic characterization.” That one’s from Microsoft-hired linguist Ronald Butters. It’s a direct response to Apple employed linguist Robert Leonard’s statement that the phrase i s a trademarkable proper noun. 
How valuable is the employment of a professional linguist in this battle? Well, for the record, Apple paid Leonard $350 an hour, and Butters got $400 an hour from Microsoft. 

Microsoft keeps gunning after Apple’s ‘generic’ App Store trademark, brings in a linguistics expert

We’d say this was getting silly but that would imply that it wasn’t already. Microsoft and Apple are still at each other’s throat over the latter’s trademark application for the term “App Store,” with Microsoft now bringing in a Dr. Ronald Butters, Professor Emeritus at Duke University and a man with a taste for hardcore semantics. He says the compound noun “app store” is perfectly generic in that it “does not merely describe the thing named, it is the thing named.” In a wildly geeky turn, he references the potential for someone discovering a use for masers and trying to trademark the term “maser store” in response, which would seem immediately and logically absurd. An app store, says the good doctor, is no more capable of being trademarked than a grocery store or a stationery store or a computer store.

Of course, as with most trademark disputes, what’s truly at stake here isn’t linguistics, but a big fat wad of consumer goodwill. Having previously been quite uncomfortable with the idea of buying additional software for his mobile phone, Joe Consumer has nowadays grown quite accustomed to dropping little chunks of change on smartphone apps, and the terminology that sets his mind at ease most readily is indeed “app store.” Preventing others from using that well established moniker would clearly be a significant competitive advantage for Apple and it’s pretty hard to argue with its contention that it’s responsible for generating the goodwill that sits behind it. Then again, we reckon Android’s Market, webOS’ admittedly small App Catalog, and other moves by the likes of RIM, Nokia and Microsoft itself with WP7, haven’t done the app store cause any harm either, so in purely ethical terms it still seems a little rich for Apple to be claiming the app store crown all to itself. As to the legal battle itself, it’s descending into quite amusing minutiae, but its outcome will be of great interest to most of the aforementioned mobile ecosystem purveyors.

Microsoft keeps gunning after Apple’s ‘generic’ App Store trademark, brings in a linguistics expert originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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