Applications Archive

  • Apple Store app arrives in Apple App Store

    Apple Store app arrives in Apple App Store

    Posted on June 15, 2010 | No Comments
    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 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Apple rolling iBooks out across iOS 4 devices, get your Winnie the Pooh now

    Apple rolling iBooks out across iOS 4 devices, get your Winnie the Pooh now

    Posted on June 11, 2010 | No Comments
    No shock and awe here, Apple's already given us plenty of warnings, but we thought we'd drop you a friendly note to say that if you've upgraded to iOS 4 early, your copy of Winnie the Pooh is flying at you right this minute. Tipsters points out that they get a notification encouraging them to download the heretofore iPad-exclusive iBooks app, though they're finding they have to do it via their desktop iTunes client rather than over the air. Ah well, Apple's probably being extra cautious with moving those big wooden bookshelves into the smaller dimensions of your iPhone or iPod touch. We've not been able to get the app running on our iPhone 3G, so perhaps this is another of those features you're not going to be able to enjoy on older hardware -- we hope it's just us though.

    [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

    Apple rolling iBooks out across iOS 4 devices, get your Winnie the Pooh now originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • DIY: Control your Hexapod robot with your iPhone

    DIY: Control your Hexapod robot with your iPhone

    Posted on March 8, 2010 | No Comments
    Check out this custom made iPhone app that robotics student Robert Stephenson created. Robert wrote this app to control his Hexapod robot using the the user inputs on the iPhone. Roberst control method includes the touchscreen and accelerometers to manipulate the forward and reverse controls. Robert has done several videos about his project, it’s definitely [...]

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  • Sony Ericsson starts taking submissions for Android version of PlayNow

    Sony Ericsson starts taking submissions for Android version of PlayNow

    Posted on December 24, 2009 | No Comments
    Manufacturers and carriers are showing commendable restraint in avoiding totally bastardized, walled-garden versions of Android on their handsets (for the most part), but they're not avoiding it altogether -- take Sony Ericsson here, for instance. The company has announced that it's expanding the reach of its PlayNow app store to cover Android in concert with its launch of the X10, which presumably means that users will be juggling a minimum of two sources for third-party wares on this thing. Long-term, this kind of needless fragmentation seems like one of the greatest threats to Android's ability to become and remain a heavyweight player in the smartphone ring -- but then again, what do we know? It's not like these guys haven't already figured out how to dominate before with UIQ... ah, wait. Anyhoo, yeah, back to the topic at hand: devs are now invited to submit their Android apps for inclusion in the PlayNow store, so hey, you may as well -- the phone's looking to be a hottie, so it can't hurt to have your stuff featured on there, we figure.

    [Thanks, wimbet]

    Sony Ericsson starts taking submissions for Android version of PlayNow originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • T-Mobile Top Picks brands the Android Market, magenta-style

    T-Mobile Top Picks brands the Android Market, magenta-style

    Posted on December 15, 2009 | No Comments
    T-Mobile's been keen on making its Android customers aware of particular apps since the launch of the myTouch 3G and the App Pack, but there's a problem -- App Pack is its own app, which is kinda unwieldy when you've already got the Market sitting there. That's where Top Picks appears to come into play, the carrier's next-gen effort to inject some of its opinions into its users' app selection process by integrating directly with the Market, much as Verizon has done on the Droid. Customers can expect to get updated with Top Picks "over the next couple of weeks," though it requires Android 1.6 -- we're guessing that means no CLIQ or Behold II love for the time being.

    T-Mobile Top Picks brands the Android Market, magenta-style originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Android Market hits 20,000 apps, over 60 percent free

    Android Market hits 20,000 apps, over 60 percent free

    Posted on December 15, 2009 | No Comments
    Quantity rarely equals quality, of course, but it's still fairly notable that the Android Market has now managed to top 20,000 apps just a little over a year after it opened its doors -- Apple's App Store had over 50,000 apps a year into its existence, for those keeping track. Even more interesting, however, is the distribution of free and paid apps in the Market. According to AndroLib, fully 62.2% of the apps available are completely free, compared to just 37.8% that are paid apps. That's in stark contrast to the App Store, which now has over 100,000 individual apps, of which (by some recent counts) a hefty 77% are paid applications -- although only 30% of total App Store downloads are for paid apps. What does it all mean? Well, that's open for debate. But one thing's for sure: the rest of the app store contenders are going to have to work some special pie chart magic to come out looking good in this battle.

    Android Market hits 20,000 apps, over 60 percent free originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Nokia taking Ovi Store criticism to heart, planning revamped version to rival App Store

    Nokia taking Ovi Store criticism to heart, planning revamped version to rival App Store

    Posted on December 11, 2009 | No Comments
    Not quite sure if you've noticed, but some pretty significant shifting is going on in the heart of Espoo. Just days after Nokia announced that it would be closing up its flagship shops in London, New York and Chicago, in flies this: a new Ovi Store is already in the works, and if all goes well, it'll be available for public use as early as next Spring. For those keeping tabs, that's right around a year after the (admittedly tumultuous) launch of the existing platform, which has yet to live up to the firm's own expectations according to George Linardos. In case you're wondering (and c'mon, you're wondering), Mr. Linardos is the head of products at Nokia's media group, and in speaking with the Financial Times, he confessed that the Ovi Store "had been outpaced by Apple." He also admitted that the chorus of complaints from end-users were driving the next version, noting that his company has "screens up in [their] offices running Twitter feeds [of gripes] all day long." In fact, he likened the act to "sitting there and getting punched in the face."

    As for the next go 'round, he's looking to take a "tortoise and hare" approach when it comes to competing with Apple, who he himself claims "radically changed" the world around us when the App Store was introduced. As it stands, George sees the Ovi Store as a "jambalaya" of services, with Ben Wood -- an analyst at CCS Insight -- proclaiming that "none of those [work] properly." In the future, Ben has confessed that Ovi needs "to get all their ducks lined up, including hardware, software and services." So, what exactly will said ducks look like early next year? We're told that new features will include "in-application payments, a redesigned user interface that makes apps easier to discover and faster operation," and beyond that, the outfit is also looking to toss in recommendations based on the app purchases of their friends. This is definitely stirring stuff to hear from someone deep within Nokia's lairs, and it certainly makes us all the more excited to see what the next generation will bring. Nothing like a little competition in the market place to really light a fire up under someone's posterior, right?

    Nokia taking Ovi Store criticism to heart, planning revamped version to rival App Store originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • iPhone orchestra at the vanguard of smartphone music-making push

    iPhone orchestra at the vanguard of smartphone music-making push

    Posted on December 7, 2009 | No Comments
    The relationship between cellphones and music has almost always been a quirky one, producing bouts of the surreal punctuated by an occasional flourish of the sublime. Latest to join the melodic fray are Georg Essl from the University of Michigan and his "mobile phone ensemble." Each of the participating students has designed a noise-making app for his or her iPhone, which is used in conjunction with the built-in accelerometer and touchscreen to make (hopefully beautiful) music. Though we may consider this a gimmick for now, Professor Essl is most enthusiastic about the future prospects of utilizing smartphones to make music with legitimate aspirations. The debut performance of this newfangled orchestra is on December 9, or you can check out a preview in the video after the break.

    [Thanks, Ry]

    Continue reading iPhone orchestra at the vanguard of smartphone music-making push

    iPhone orchestra at the vanguard of smartphone music-making push originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • David Hockney paints with his iPhone, results not typical

    David Hockney paints with his iPhone, results not typical

    Posted on October 11, 2009 | No Comments

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    Artist David Hockney isn't afraid of picking up new media -- over the years, he's used Polaroids, photocollages, and even fax machines to create his art -- in addition to regular, old-fashioned painting. Now, he's taken to using his iPhone to create new works of art. The resultant "paintings" have been exhibited at the Tate Gallery and Royal Academy in London, as well as galleries in Los Angeles and Germany. Like artist Jorge Colombo (whose iPhone fingerpainting was featured on the cover of The New Yorker), Hockney uses the iPhone app Brushes to create his works. In an interview with the New York Review of Books, Hockney notes that he prefers and still uses the original version of the app, not the more recent updates. Hmm... maybe the reason our own Brushes paintings stink is because we're using the update!

    [Via All Things D]

    David Hockney paints with his iPhone, results not typical originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Dev finds Windows Marketplace DRM severely lacking, easily circumventable

    Dev finds Windows Marketplace DRM severely lacking, easily circumventable

    Posted on October 8, 2009 | No Comments

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    Microsoft's Windows Phones just left the chute a few days ago, and already it seems that ye old DRM is getting talked about -- and not in a good way. According to one Chainfire over at XDA-Developers, the so-called "copy protection" involved in keeping applications in place rather than strewn across a neighborhood of handsets is a pitiful joke, requiring just five minutes of tinkering to save the CAB files that the Marketplace app downloads to a separate folder. In other words, that relocated CAB file could be distributed to all of your friends, turning a single purchase into freeware for as many people as you know (or don't know, even). So, Marketplace devs -- does that make you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside, or what?

    [Thanks, GreeKNastY]

    Dev finds Windows Marketplace DRM severely lacking, easily circumventable originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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