Google just crossed the rather staggering 25 billion apps downloaded mark, and to celebrate it’s offering some heavy discounts. For the next five days you can download apps from top developers (Game Loft, EA, Rovio, and others) for just 25 cents a pop. And that’s just the app side. More »
Google Play crossed a rather significant milestone this morning: something to the tune of 25 billion app downloads. While the accomplishment is weighty enough on its own — especially given that the store also offers books, music and movies, which aren’t included in this tally — Google is celebrating in symbolic style with a number of apps and games for sale at just $0.25 over the next five days. Among the mix of discounted titles, you’ll find publishers such as Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Rovio, Runtastic and Full Fat. Not to stop there, shoppers will also discover a curated collection of 25 must-own movies, 25 banned books, 25 albums that changed the world and 25 top-selling magazines.
With today’s announcement, it was revealed that 675,000 apps and games now live in Google Play — a healthy increase when compared to 600,000 titles and 20 billion installs just three months ago. As you might expect, Apple still claims the largest selection with 700,000 titles in its App Store, although with such a thin separation between the two, we may see Google Play eclipse its rival in short order.
Google Play hits 25 billion app downloads, holds celebratory yard sale with $0.25 games originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Considering that the number of Android apps has almost caught up to the number of iOS apps, it would suggest that there seems to be more or equal interest by developers in creating apps for Android. Interestingly though, according to a survey conducted by Appcelerator of more than 5,500 developers, it has shown that iOS still remains of high interest and based on the graph above, it would suggest that interest in developing for Android is on the decline.
Of course this isn’t the end-all of surveys nor is it definitive as 76% of the developers polled have still expressed interest in developing for Android. However this is measured against the 87% of January of 2011, suggesting that even though interest is still high, it has fallen by a bit. Some have speculated that this might be due to iOS monetizing better, but what do you guys think? Any developers for iOS/Android out there like to share their views?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Spotify for Android updated with NFC sharing capabilities, Survey finds more than half of mobile users distrust apps installed on their phones due to privacy concerns,
If your ecosystem of choice happens to be the Barnes & Noble platform, you’ll be happy to know that the book retailer is now offering Nook Video, a service that lets you buy digital copies of your favorite movies and TV shows directly from your Nook device.
But that’s not all, the service stores content in the Nook Cloud, much like Amazon’s digital locker, so that you can watch the content from anywhere, including other tablets, TVs, the web, and smartphones using free Nook Video apps.
Though the bookseller is a bit late to the digital video game, Nook Video is a fully functional service, packed full of content and integrated with Ultraviolet. That means users who own Ultraviolet-labeled DVDs or Blurays will have a digital copy available to them in the Nook Video app.
Barnes & Noble is partnering with HBO, Sony, Starz, Warner Bros Entertainment, and even Walt Disney Studios to bring you your favorite content, including The Avengers, Brave, Toy Story 3, The Artist, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, True Blood, Game Of Thrones, The Dark Knight, The Hangover, and the Harry Potter movies.
Movies and TV shows are available to rent or buy, and just like the Nook Reading apps, Nook Video apps will save your place in various movies and TV shows across devices, so you can switch between Nook tablet and smartphone without missing a beat.
The service will debut this fall, though exact availability is unclear.
Not content at stopping with its recent European tour, Google Play Books has made the trip to Japan and brought back a handful of new features. In addition to support for reading Japanese books in a vertical, right-to left layout, Mountain view now lets users tap on names of geographical spots within text and see them pinned to a Google Map alongside the option to find more information using Larry Page’s favorite search engine or Wikipedia. A freshly added translation feature takes user-highlighted words and phrases and spits them out in the reader’s language of choice. Particularly studious literature lovers can now mark up their digital books with notes and highlights that sync to the web and across their personal fleet of devices. A new sepia tone theme also joined the existing day and night views on their journey abroad. Hit the source links below for more details and the download.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Google Play Books app arrives in Japan, adds translation, place info, highlighting and more originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Pushing war and world hunger to the back of the line, the next important issue that technology is tackling is mismatched and missing socks. A company called Blacksocks has developed what it’s claiming are the world’s first smart socks that make them virtually impossible to mis-match, and incredibly easy to find in a basket overflowing with laundry. More »
Over the next few weeks, we can surely expect iOS developers from all over the globe to start pushing out updates to make their applications better interact with Apple’s iOS 6 and that all-new screen found on the iPhone 5. And, because we know some of you choose Chrome over Cupertino’s built-in Safari browser, we thought we’d single out the fact that Google has outed a new version of the app which makes it friendly with the new iPhone’s larger display as well as the most recent variant of iOS. Aside from the iPhone 5 / iOS 6 compatibility, though, Mountain View also bundled in some undisclosed stability and security improvements in version 21.0.1180.82 (!) of the web browsing application. As is usually the case, you’ll find the updated Chrome goods in the App Store — link for that is just down below.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile
Google updates Chrome app for iOS 6, makes it friendly with the iPhone 5 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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With Apple having recently introduced its novel Passbook feature in the latest version of iOS, it’s only natural for app makers to try and take advantage of such miscellaneous hub. With that in mind, Gyft — a 2012 TechCrunch Disrupt finalist — has made its application fully compatible with Cupertino’s newfangled iOS 6, adding support for the iPhone 5’s 4-inch screen and, most importantly, the ability to add gift cards from many retailers to Passbook; some of which include Amazon, Target, Lowe’s, GAP, American Eagle and Starbucks. You can grab the Gyft (v1.2) application now directly from your iDevice, or there’s always the link below if that makes it slightly easier for you.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software
Gyft for iOS now compatible with Passbook, adds gift cards from more than 200 retailers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The iPhone 5 has only been available for a few days, but some iOS developers have wasted no time in pushing updates for their apps. Of course, all iOS apps are compatible with the iPhone 5, but some developers are releasing updates so their apps can take advantage of the extra screen space. Some of these developers delivered their updates on Friday, the day the iPhone 5 was released, while a steady stream of iOS devs have been launching updates throughout the weekend and into this week.
Mashable reports on 20 apps that have been updated to take advantage of the iPhone 5′s screen, including Instagram, Tumblr, Foodspotting, and Color Splash. A number of games have been given updates as well, with titles like Infinity Blade 2, Temple Run, and Minecraft Pocket Edition all ready to go with your iPhone 5.
On the flip side, Engadget reports on a handful of apps that received updates on the iPhone 5′s launch day. A number of apps from major companies are there, including Facebook, Kindle, Evernote, and Flipboard. Twitter and Tweetbot have both been updated as well, with Tweetbot actually beating Twitter to the punch in this particular update race. These just scratch the surface, however, as a ton of developers are racing to get their updates out for iPhone 5 users.
The nature of these updates range – for instance, some are just small, simple updates, while others have a little more heft to them, adding things like a new UI or all new functionality. Over the coming days and weeks, we’ll be seeing many more developers push iPhone 5 updates for their apps, so if your favorites still haven’t been updated yet, it’s likely only a matter of time. Have your go-to iOS apps been updated for the iPhone 5 yet? Also, be sure to have a look at our iPhone 5 review to find out if the latest iDevice lives up to the hype!
iOS developers deliver app updates for iPhone 5 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
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At my cousin’s wedding a few days ago, the hosts asked us all to use an app called Wedding Party to collect the guests’ smartphone pics taken during the event. Now, a few days later, I have a stream of photos shot by dozens of family members at the event. More »
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