Apple Store app arrives in Apple App Store

This is one of those things that makes you wonder why it hadn’t been done already. Apple’s just unleashed an Apple Store application for its iDevices designed to pretty much give you the online Apple Store experience — but perhaps without the crazy on-again, off-again antics of this morning. All that’s required is a device with iOS version 3 or above, and you’ll be able to read reviews, locate local brick and mortar Stores, check out new and featured products, and — importantly — buy or pre-order the latest goodies Steve and co have bestowed upon these lands. Alas, we tried to do just that with the iPhone 4 and were met with the familiar “we’ll be back soon” message. So the app might work, but Apple’s store is still struggling.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

P.S. – The app looks to be US-only for now. Sorry world, Apple doesn’t love you enough.

Continue reading Apple Store app arrives in Apple App Store

Apple Store app arrives in Apple App Store originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Week’s Best Android Apps [Android Apps]

No, Android fan boys and girls, you’re not imagining it. We’ll be rounding up the best new Android apps every two weeks from here on out. This week, apps that make you smarterer. More »

Microsoft updating Live app suite, declares Windows ‘better than Mac for photos, hands down’

Looks like it’s blowhard season up in Redmond these days, as the latest word from Microsoft on its Live Essentials suite of apps has been accompanied by the brash pronouncement that it’s now markedly superior to Apple’s efforts in Mac OS X — at least when it comes to photos. This verdict was delivered by Brian Hall, General Manager for Windows Live, and is backed by a laundry list of new features we can expect by the holiday season of this year. Windows Live Photo Gallery and Movie Maker will soon be able to link up directly to sites like Flickr, Facebook and YouTube — which will allow for painless uploads as well as pulling in any additional tagging done on Facebook. New photo stitching and retouching abilities, along with face recognition (rather than mere detection) are also being touted, but the ultimate arbiter of the new software’s utility will obviously be the real hands-on experience for users. We shouldn’t have to wait too long for that, as a beta version of the freely downloadable (on Vista and 7, XP holdouts are no longer being served) suite should be making the rounds in the coming weeks.

Continue reading Microsoft updating Live app suite, declares Windows ‘better than Mac for photos, hands down’

Microsoft updating Live app suite, declares Windows ‘better than Mac for photos, hands down’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 06:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WebOS Apps Stand Out Because There’s Less Competition

Hungry to earn a buck, many programmers are making apps for the two leading mobile platforms: Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android OS. But a few developers say they feel luckier playing with the underdog: Palm.

“I made some of the crappiest apps for the Pre, and Palm is giving me $1,000 for each,” software programmer Pete Ma (right) bragged to Wired.com last week during a developer conference, adding that each of his five apps took less than an hour to code.

Ma submitted five apps to Palm’s Hot Apps challenge, a contest designed to attract developers to the comparatively diminutive WebOS platform serving apps to Pre and Pixi customers. The incentive? A $1 million prize pool rewarding up to 221 apps based on their ranking. The top-ranked app will win $100,000, the next 20 apps will earn a $20,000 reward, and the subsequent 200 apps will win $1,000 each. Currently, the top-ranked app in the competition is Pandora, a popular music-streaming service. Ma says his apps are in the running for the smallest of the awards.

Though many credit Palm for pioneering the smartphone, the company has struggled in the mobile space for the past few years. And as an app platform, Palm’s WebOS barely registers. Apple’s iPhone currently leads the app race with a massive 200,000 apps, and Google’s Android platform follows with 50,000 apps. Palm’s WebOS App Catalog, by comparison, serves about 2,800 apps.

A Palm spokesman estimates that there are more than 1 million WebOS users total. That number is pitiful compared to the 90 million iPhone OS users (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad customers). Meanwhile, Google says 100,000 Android phones are activated every day.

Given Palm’s smaller customer base, it’s unlikely we’ll hear phenomenal success stories where WebOS developers generate six-figure incomes with a hot-selling app. By contrast, a few lucky iPhone App Store developers have struck it rich. However, HP’s acquisition of Palm may lay the groundwork for a bigger customer base, which could eventually lead to more serious dough. An HP exec recently said the company is working on a WebOS-based tablet due out in October.

Before the platform gets bigger, Ma encourages developers to get an early start on WebOS, when there’s less competition. In fact, Ma laughed at the admittedly poor quality of his apps. One app called Fantasy Chat, a jokey program to chat with a robot, is ranked number 211, putting Ma in range to win $1,000. Another app, Playboy Covers, currently ranked 240, is on track to win Ma cash by next week. Three other apps will likely hit the top 221 soon as well, according to Ma’s estimations, based on average downloads.

The cash prizes are only a temporary incentive, as the contest ends June 30, but Ma said the quick escalation of his apps in the WebOS App Catalog are a testament to the potential to succeed in a store with fewer competitors.

“People should give WebOS a chance,” Ma said. “It’s a great platform if they’re lacking downloads on either Android or iPhone. Nobody was downloading my Android app.”

A Palm representative said the purpose of the Hot Apps challenge was not only to increase visibility of the WebOS platform, but also to raise awareness of the flexible tools that Palm developers can use. For example, the Palm’s Plug-in Development Kit allows people who have already coded iPhone apps with C++ to easily port their apps over to WebOS. So even if coders are already invested in the iPhone OS platform, they can make a simple tweak to their app and share it with the WebOS audience as well.

Palm offers a 70-percent cut to developers for each app sale — the same as the App Store’s model. Also, developers have the choice between serving their apps through the official WebOS App Catalog, which involves undergoing an approval process similar to the App Store’s, or they can self-publish their apps on the web.

“What we’re hoping to do is give developers a choice in how they develop and a choice in how they distribute their application,” the spokesman said.

The Los Angeles Times offers a news app for WebOS, and developer Ken Schwencke said he enjoyed the simplicity of the platform. However, he said he was wary of investing more in the WebOS app in the near term, despite HP’s pending acquisition of Palm.

“I’m excited to see what HP has in store for WebOS, but honestly, I’m cautious about spending more development time on the app right now given the uncertainty surrounding WebOS’s future,” Schwencke said. “I’d say if you’re developing a suite of apps on other platforms, it’s worth it — if nothing else for the exposure and the good will it will generate with users.”

Photo of Palm Pre and Palm Pixi: Jim Merithew/Wired.com. Photo of Pete Ma courtesy Pete Ma.

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JooJoo creator rips into the iPad, says an app store only sells ‘stripped down versions of actual websites’

Fusion Garage CEO and JooJoo creator Chandra Rathakrishnan has certainly discussed the iPad before in talking up his own tablet, but nothing could have quite prepared us for the bit of bombast he unleashed on the occasion of the iPad’s international launch. While he started out with the usual line that the “JooJoo delivers the entire Internet — including Flash-based websites,” he soon took things to a whole new level, saying that “we don’t see the need for an app store,” because “an app store sells stripped down versions of actual websites” — stripped down websites like Brushes, KORG iElectribe, and Real Racing HD, we suppose. Believe it or not, however, Rathakrishnan didn’t let things sit there, and apparently went on to describe the iPad as just “another storage device with web capabilities.” Of course, there’s at least a chance Chandra was actually paying the iPad a compliment, since a “storage device with web capabilities” would be a pretty big step up from the JooJoo.

JooJoo creator rips into the iPad, says an app store only sells ‘stripped down versions of actual websites’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 15:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skype Mobile with video support coming to Android Market later this year?

Skype’s PR folks have been unusually loquacious today, as they’ve responded to a query about whether HTC’s EVO 4G would get a Skype client with a deep and meaningful forward-looking statement, underpinned by a promise of an Android app “for all consumers globally to download regardless of carriers.” This universally available addition to the Market should arrive “later this year,” but what’s important about it is that it’s preceded by a lengthy spiel about Skype’s ambition to “set the bar on mobile video calling,” which it also intends to do this year. Does this necessarily mean that Skype video calling is coming to Android in time for us to wish granny happy Hanukkah over video chat? No. Is it a well constructed insinuation to that effect? Hell yes. Read the full statement at the source, or find the juiciest excerpt after the break.

[Thanks, Jeremy]

Continue reading Skype Mobile with video support coming to Android Market later this year?

Skype Mobile with video support coming to Android Market later this year? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 06:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bluetooth Headset is Controlled by iPhone App

Sound ID describes its new 510 Bluetooth headset thus: “The world’s first Bluetooth headset with its own iPhone App.” That about sums up an incredibly neat and inexplicably new idea.

Earpiece sits stuck to the side of your face making you look as dorky as any other BT-headset, and you can answer calls and change volume using the button and touch-strip on the device. But there is also a companion iPhone application which adds more features.

The A2DP headset talks to the EarPrint app and lets you monitor battery level, call people back and activate a Find-Me mode to help you track down which sofa cushion it is lost under. You can also fine tune the sound while in a call simply by dragging your finger in two dimensions on-screen to tweak the signal processing applied to the three microphones.

This is, clearly, how all Bluetooth devices should work. The app is free and available now (Sound ID smartly got the App Store approval process out of the way first) and the headset will be ready to buy in early June, for $130.

Sound ID 510 [Sound ID via Oh Gizmo!]

EarPrint [Sound ID]


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