store

So, congratulations! Perhaps you're the owner of a new iPad this holiday season. If so, you've come to the right place. Apple's tablet is incredibly easy to use, but there are still plenty of ways to set up and optimize your iPad to take advantage of everything it has to offer. Some of these suggestions may be obvious; others might not.

Regardless, here's what I do when I take a new iPad out of its crisp white box. I think you should do the same. At the least, these tips should help you get on your feet.… Read more

Google Play is on a growth spurt, but Apple is still tops in app sales.

Over the past four months, Google's app store saw its daily sales jump by 43 percent across the 20 countries measured by analytics provider Distimo in a report out today.

At the same time, sales growth for Apple's App Store rose just by 21 percent on a daily basis. That's slowed considerably since January, when the App Store's daily sales growth was 51 percent.

As Distimo points out, however, the daily revenue values in the App Store were already much higher … Read more

There are plenty of iOS devices on holiday wish lists this year. Which means there's bound to be plenty of iOS devices under trees, waiting for anxious kids to unbox and begin using them.

On the other side of those iOS devices are parents, like you, trying to figure out how to limit the amount of spending on games, apps, books music and movies their kids (or perhaps themselves) can do in iTunes.

Today I found a feature in iTunes I didn't know existed; the ability to set up a monthly iTunes allowance for specific Apple IDs. Brilliant! … Read more

Anyone wanting to download the SpongeBob Diner Dash game from Apple's iTunes app store today is out of luck.

Nickelodeon has removed the app from the store after an advocacy group filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging the game violated children's online privacy rights by collecting their e-mail addresses without parents' permission.

According to the Center for Digital Democracy, which filed the complaint earlier today, cable network Nickelodeon and mobile game-maker PlayFirst are misleadingly marketing the game and are violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

SpongeBob Diner Dash is a free app … Read more

The holidays have arrived. I'm sure with the launch of the new iPads, many young ones may find them, or possibly iTunes gift cards, in their stockings. In light of this, I bring good tidings.

Starting December 21 and running through January 2, Disney Publishing has specially priced some of its more popular titles, including Tangled: Storybook Deluxe; Brave: Storybook Deluxe; Finding Nemo: Storybook Deluxe; and Cars 2: Storybook Deluxe. Normally retailing for $6.99 with the exception of Cars 2 at $5.99 in the iTunes App Store, they will all be reduced to $2.99. … Read more

The Raspberry Pi isn't just desserts any more. With the announcement today of the Pi Store, a market for apps, tutorials, games and tools for the super-cheap credit-card-size system, the Pi is now looking more like a full meal.

According to a post on the Raspberry Pi blog, the store runs as an X app under Raspbian where apps and other content can be downloaded and uploaded for moderation and addition to the virtual shelves. From the very beginning, the Raspberry Pi project has had a focus on getting kids around the world interested in programming, hence the moderation of the Pi Store. So don't go looking for malware or bikini pic aggregators there anytime soon. … Read more

Amazon's new Chinese Kindle store is reportedly being investigated by Chinese authorities over charges that the store does not have a license to sell e-books in the country.

China's GAAP (General Administration of Press and Publication) agency requires that digital publishers operating in China must receive at least one of four licenses to publish, copy, distribute, or import ebooks, according to blog site MIC Gadget.

But Amazon allegedly did not obtain any of the required licenses. Instead, the company reportedly borrowed a license from one of its partners, which is against the law in China. Amazon did apply … Read more

Being unable to resist buying a lot of iPhones is uncomfortable enough. It's worse coupled with being unable to avoid being handcuffed.

This can be the only conclusion after a full and thorough police investigation into the tasering of a woman outside the Apple store in the Pheasant Lane Mall of Nashua, N.H.

Should you not have had the opportunity of enjoying this footage, I have embedded it again. It appears to show a woman on the ground being subdued and tasered by more than two police officers. They are bigger than she is.

The Union Leader of New Hampshire now reports … Read more

iOS users searching for holiday gift ideas can head on over to Apple's App Store.

You can now directly send a paid app to someone as a gift, a feature that was previously available with iOS 5 but disappeared when iOS 6 debuted this fall.

To use the feature, open the App Store app on your iOS device. Choose a paid app that you'd like to gift. Click on the Share button in the upper right corner. The Share options window appears with a new icon in the lower right called Gift. Tap on the Gift icon.

You'… Read more