Maybe you’re not the most accurate when it comes to snapping photos. Maybe you’re always just a little too late, or a little too early. Congratulation on being a human like the rest of us. Window’s Research new camera application—BLINK—can give you a hand with that (the picture-taking) on Windows Phone 8. How? The shotgun approach. More »
Even though Twitter doesn’t have as many active users as Google+ and Facebook, I still prefer to use it as my go-to platform to share all of my future meals, communicate with celebrities and share my random thoughts. Tweetbot for iOS has been the premier Twitter application for both hardcore and casual Twitter users, and it’s received an update that adds a ton of support to some third-party services.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Get Smart Shoe Phone Makes A Comeback, T-Mobile Roadmap Reveals More Smartphone Releases, 
This week the analysis team at Gartner has made it clear that they expect the mobile app market to be more than 50% made up of apps that are cross-platform, aka “hybrid apps”. These apps will be working with a combination of the “portability” of HTML5 Web apps with a native container for each different device, regardless of mobile OS. This means that, as many high-end apps release today already do, so will a much more vast cross-section of brands bring their apps to iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and more.
The team at Gartner spoke up about how they’re seeing more context awareness appearing as an important element for brands appearing on mobile devices. This means that while a webpage is fine for a company that wants to represent themselves in a really basic way, it’s only through apps that can access your smartphone’s hardware features that they can be really, truly engaging. If you’ve got an app that can use your device’s GPS to locate the nearest store instantly, it’s much more convenient than a “find your local store” button in a webpage that comes before several more clicks before completion.
Gartner speaks through their research vice president Van Baker who suggests that their advice “would be to assume the enterprise will have to manage a large and diverse set of mobile applications that will span all major architectures.” He goes on to note that applications should be considered in how they’ll be “enriched or improved by the addition of native device capabilities and evaluate development frameworks that offer the ability to develop native, hybrid and Web applications using the same code base.” It would appear that the next generation of app development will require a solution other than the current method of “get every device on the market and test it out yourself.”
This look at the future appears to be based not just on the fact that many top companies already have app representation on multiple devices, but on the idea that the development of apps must be simplified in order for a truly hybrid environment to exist. If it’s not easy to do, some platforms will miss out – and companies creating these apps will miss out as well. Consider a world where a team of inventors makes an energy drink that some people cannot ingest because they can’t swallow it – everyone loses!
[via Gartner]
Gartner: Hybrid apps take 50% of mobile market by 2016 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
One of the best Twitter clients on iOS received a big update today. Tweetbot now adds support for a number of services, including Vine, Flickr, 1Password, and Google’s Chrome web browser. Links will now be able to open in Chrome instead of Safari, and images from Flickr and Vine will open up a preview under the tweet in the app.
Many users prefer Chrome over Safari for a lot of different reasons, and now Tweetbot makes it easy for you to specify which browser you want to open links in. Also, if you use 1Password, you can use the app’s built-in browser to log you into websites automatically, a handy feature for those wanting to stay secure online.
On top of that, embedded Flickr and Vine views are also available. Instead of having to tap a link in a tweet to open up a Flickr image or Vine video, you can now see a small thumbnail that shows up inline with the rest of the tweets in your feed. These updates aren’t big by any means, but it’s a significant update, and it’s nice to see the developers behind Tweetbot giving the app some attention.
All of these services that Tweetbot now supports have become more and more popular recently. Google Chrome on iOS is one of the most popular browser choices on the platform, and Flickr has become the new go-to source for sharing images after the Instagram fiasco. And with Twitter’s new Vine app, mini-videos are starting to take over the microblogging platform.
Tweetbot for both iPhone and iPad costs $2.99, and the update is available now in the iTunes App Store.
Tweetbot for iOS updates with Chrome, Vine, and Flickr support is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Have no friends to have dinner with? No problem, there’s an app for that. And it’s very, very sad. More »
We got to see a lot of funny and great commercials during the Super Bowl last night, including a short teaser for Star Trek: Into Darkness. However, at the end of the trailer, you’ll notice that the link to the official app uses a new AppStore.com vanity URL, which is the first time we’ve seen such a thing in public.
A document from Apple’s developer webpage was released last week talking about the new shorter URLs, but this is the first time we’ve seen it in action. Going to AppStore.com/StarTrekApp will take you to the app’s page in the app store, instead of using the longer URL form that involved a bunch of numbers that no one would be able to remember.
The vanity URLs will be able to allow developers to create shorter links for developer app pages, as well as landing pages for both iOS and Mac apps. These new URLs will no doubt increase the exposure that developers give their apps. In the past, promotors would simply display a banner or icon that said to look for the app in the App Store, but now they can add in a direct link, which will certainly increase the exposure of the app.
If you’re up for a little history lesson, the late Steve Jobs actually acquired the AppStore.com domain from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff as a personal gift in 2008 after the iTunes App Store was officially announced. And not like it’s a huge surprise or anything, but the Cupertino-based company and Amazon are currently in a legal battle over the “app store” name, in which the court ruled that it was a general term and was not to be trademarked.
[via CNET]
AppStore.com vanity URLs teased during Star Trek teaser is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Tesla has released a beta version of its Tesla Model S app for Android in the Google Play Store. With this app, Model S owners can communicate with their vehicles via their mobile unit no matter where they are located, doing such things as checking out its charge status or warming it up on a cold night. Owners can download it now.
The Model S app for Android gives users quite a bit of hands-off control of their car. Aside from the aforementioned ability to remotely warm it up or cool it down by turning on the heat or AC, users can also initiate a charge process (assuming it is plugged in), or stop it if desired. As the app’s description notes, this can even be done when it’s parked in the garage, thanks to the lack of dangerous fumes.
The app allows owners to keep track of the car’s location and its movements via an on-display map, particularly useful if you’re letting someone else borrow it and want to keep an eye on where they’re going. There are also some features that are good for security, such as the ability to honk the horn from your smartphone or tablet when the car is parked.
Drivers can also use the Model S app to flash the lights, which is useful for locating the car in a large parking lot or scaring away someone who might be trying to get into the vehicle unnoticed. The car’s panoramic roof can be set to vent or to close via the app’s controls, and, of course, the locks can be controlled. For those who download the app, keep in mind that is a beta version, and Tesla notes that there are some glitches with the user interface.
[via Google Play]
Tesla releases beta Tesla Model S app in the Play Store is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Yikes. Path, which got in trouble around this time last year for stealing your entire address book without your permission, might have another privacy snafu on its hands. The app will automatically geotag your photos even when you’ve completely disabled Location Services for the Path app. It’s basically doing something you explicitly told it not to do. More »
A year ago Path’s app for iPhone received a lot of criticism because it was discovered that the app was accessing users’ contacts without permission. The developers quickly made things right and released an update to fix the permissions. However, the FTC caught them anyways and fined them for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (since some users were under 13).
Path has agreed to settle with the FTC and pay an $800,000 fine for “allegedly collecting kids’ personal information without their parents’ consent.” In addition to the fine, Path is implementing a “comprehensive privacy program,” which includes a requirement that it conduct privacy assessments from third-party sources every other year for the next 20 years.
In the complaint, the FTC said that the user interface of Path’s iOS app was misleading and provided consumers no choice regarding how their personal information was collected. The app had the ability to find friends using the users’ contacts, but the app didn’t address that it would be accessing contacts in order to do so.
May this be a lesson for Path and other developers who walk the line of privacy issues. While an $800,000 fine would basically be pocket change for Facebook or Google, that amount of money for a startup isn’t anything to scoff at, and we’re sure that Path will be walking on egg shells for awhile from this point forward.
UPDATE: Path has posted up a response about the FTC settlement.
[via The Next Web]
FTC fines Path app $800,000 over unauthorized data collection [UPDATE] is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
When you look down at your smartphone and think about how much it’s made your life easier and better, you’ll probably think about how the Internet is at your fingertips or how you can share filtered photos with friends or send texts without ever having to speak to anyone. You’ll probably think that’s why the smartphone was invented. You’d be wrong. The reason we have smartphones? For an emergency condom delivery app. More »
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
