Apps

Feeling overloaded by social recommendation apps? Get ready for another one hitting the market, although this one says it will come with a twist: LoveThis, the social recommendation service that launched last year with $2 million in funding, today has launched an iOS app to let friends recommend across 10 categories, from books and films to places to eat. But unlike apps like Amen or Foursquare that rely on people using the app to suggest or tag things, this one says it will also take into account recom...

Crowdsourced journalism startup Fresco News has just scored a notable partnership which will bring photo and video footage shot by ordinary citizens to several local Fox newsrooms around the U.S. Using the company’s iPhone app, participating Fox-owned stations will be able to send out assignments to the app’s users, who will then submit content to be used on-air. Users will…

YouTube is world’s largest video responsibility but, while it is in a league of its own, the Google-owned service hasn’t embraced the short clip style of Instagram, Vine and other popular video apps....

Fans of entertainment social network GetGlue have been subjected to a bumpy ride over the last few months. In November, the startup announced that it had agreed to merge with TV loyalty service, Viggle in a deal worth as much as $70 million. But the numbers didn’t look too good, and the merger was delayed again and again. Finally, last month, the deal was called off and, in spite of the botched…

Imo.im, which you probably know as the multi-platform free instant messaging product for the web and mobile devices is launching its own real-time social network today. For now, the network is only accessible online, but the company says it will soon integrate the new features into its mobile app lineup, which currently includes apps for the iPhone/iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia devices.

It wasn’t worth it for celebrities to respond to their endless digital fan mail until now. TipTalk lets them set a price for a private text, photo, or video response. The idea is that in their downtime, they could forge deeper relationships with their audience while earning enough to warrant at least a few seconds of their attention.Considering how the public comment reels light up…

Mobile wait listing service for restaurants, NoWait, is now expanding the rollout of its consumer-facing mobile app to reach diners nationwide, the company says. The app shows you a list of nearby restaurants, wait times, and distances, and lets you join wait lists from your phone. It first arrived on the market last September in NoWait's hometown of Pittsburgh, where in three months' time it…

Audible, one of the web's leading audiobook retailers, today updated its iOS app with full support for Apple's iPad. Until now, the Amazon-owned company's app had been optimized only for iPhone and iPod touch, forcing iPad users to either view it at a reduced size or enlarge the app using iPad's scaling feature, neither of which are exactly optimal solutions. Audible now utilizes the extra screen real estate offered by Apple's tablet with a sleek new graphic-heavy design that puts audiobook cover art...

Cloud storage service and device maker Pogoplug is unveiling its latest offering today: a new service for mobile users that offers 5 GB of free online storage. To use “Pogoplug Cloud,” you first sign up directly from your mobile phone or tablet (iOS or Android 2.2+), then download the app and begin the upload process. And that’s where Pogoplug really begins to shine: it automatically uploads the photos and videos from your device to the cloud – no sync required.

Fiction app Hooked launched last fall, aiming to reinvent fiction with short stories modeled on text message conversations. Next up: Letting readers write their own stories.That arrives today with the launch of Hooked 2.0. Any Hooked reader can now create characters and then write their story one message at a time. They can also include photos and videos.The idea of typing out a full story…

Google has updated Google Maps for Android and iOS to alert you when a faster route becomes available. In other words, if you’re stuck in a traffic jam, Google Maps will let you know exactly when it makes sense to take that detour:...

There's snow falling relentlessly on the East coast, so it might be a very long weekend. But you won't lose your mind while you're cooped up inside. Here are plenty of new apps for your iPad to keep you occupied so cabin fever never has a fighting chance.

Today sees the launch of Viber, a brand new, free iPhone application (iTunes link) that basically functions the way pretty much every iPhone user wishes Skype’s mobile application would. My educated guess is that this will become a stunningly big hit in no time. Viber for iPhone allows you to make 100% free calls to other Viber users over 3G and WiFi, is capable of running completely in the background without draining your battery (even when the app isn’t actually running in the background, but more on ...

This week's list includes Yahoo's new esports app, an app that tracks TV shows for you and an app that lets you put your face on celebrities' heads.

OpenTable is taking its restaurant reservations service into a new vertical today, the company says: mobile payments. According to a post on the OpenTable blog, a pilot program is currently underway in San Francisco which allows diners to not just book a table, but also pay for their meal right in the OpenTable iPhone app. “Select restaurants” are testing partners for the new service…

A group of MIT students created an app at a PennApps Hackathon that can do amazing things, connecting multiple iOS devices into a single, interactive screen. The app itself, which doesn’t require any kind of jailbreaking or special access and is currently available in the App Store for free, is impressive enough, but Mosaic has much bigger plans: They’ve also created an SDK to let other developers…

“Explore: photos taken nearby”. Instagram may be looking to follow in Foursquare’s footsteps and give you more to do than just post and browse the main feed with today’s iOS app update that merges Popular with search to create its own Explore tab. It also added new Facebook sharing controls, visual and speed improvements, better commenting, autocomplete for search, and revamped profiles. For now you can only search for users and hashtags, but I envision Explore blossoming to let you home in on photos fr...

Next time you open the YouTube app on your iOS or Android phone, you’ll be greeted by a new homepage experience.Before, YouTube would show you a list of recommended items with small thumbnails, followed by a few more lists of recommended videos about topics you’ve recently shown interested in. Now, you’ll see a single feed of recommended videos that are all presented with…

As Virgin Atlantic begins testing Google Glass as a check-in tool, its American counterpart has announced the launch of a custom social network designed to connect passengers in flight. Virgin America and Here On Biz, a location-aware social app centered on business connections, have collaborated to make the app work at 35,000 feet by leveraging Gogo's in-flight Wi-Fi network and an API that calculates an aircraft's location in the sky. Those using the app will be able to message others on their flight,...

I'm terrible at keeping track of things, so much so that my dentist once threatened to put a GPS tracker on me. I typically operate on a day-to-day basis; my appointments either involve me arriving three hours early or breathless, panic-stricken and just in the nick of time. As such, I kind of took as a little bit of serendipity when I started using 6Wundkinder's free Wunderlist 2.0. Finally, a tool designed to help me fix my pathological lack of organization....

Apple released its iTunes Rewind 2011 and App Store Rewind 2011 today, the company’s annual lists detailing of the top selling apps, music, TV shows, movies and podcasts for the year. This year, the biggest winner on the apps front was Angry Birds, which ran away with the number one spot on the iPhone and iPad in all categories except top free iPhone app, which was awarded to Facebook. Apple also selects its own favorite applications, and one of our preferred apps, Instagram, won the honor of being App...

Opera is on a bit of a privacy tear at the moment. Last month, the company integrated a free and unlimited VPN (virtual private network) into the developer version of its web browser, and last week, it added built-in ad blocking to its desktop and mobile software. Now, Opera has launched a new VPN app for iOS, and, again, it's free to use with unlimited data....

Phlo, the iOS app that lets you search multiple websites and services at once, is now available to download for free, having previously been charged at $2.99....

Alert.Us, a recently launched mobile family safety application, has some interesting ideas about the direction that these sorts of GPS tracking apps should go. In fact, says CEO Antoine Martin, the company’s goal is to have kids actually accept and recommend the app. That’s a bit different from the other parental control or safety apps on the market today which generally launch with the needs of…

When iOS 4 was released, many iPhone 3G owners felt pains associated with having a slower device due to an OS that was more processor intensive. Has the 4.1 update finally closed the door on the issue of iOS 4 running sluggishly on the iPhone 3G?