apps

When I was at Macworld a couple of weeks ago, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I had my eyes peeled for upcoming iPhone apps. Certainly the new 17-inch MacBook and the updates to iWork and iLife were at the top of my priority list, but once I started walking around the show floor, my mind quickly turned to iPhone apps.

There were several on display, but one game at the Freeverse booth from developer Strange Flavour caught my eye immediately. I didn't say anything about it in previous posts because I wanted to wait until it … Read more

Apple's Web site now displays a banner that proclaims that the iTunes App Store has more than 15,000 apps and 500 million downloads. This is after only six months of the App Store's operation, so it's a significant milestone for Apple.

Before Christmas last year, Apple announced that the App Store had only 10,000 apps and 300 million downloads.

The new numbers show an amazing increase in downloads from the App Store when compared with the old milestone.

Apple did not break these numbers down by free versus paid apps, but regardless, this is a … Read more

The Apple iTunes App Store boasts over 10,000 applications and approximately 300 million downloads just six months after its launch, although App Store rules have been relaxed, the ecosystem is still more restrained than some would like.

We've written about many of the barred apps (here and here ). At issue has been Apple's often inconsistent interpretation of the iPhone app approval rules. Acting in it's own interest and those of it's partner AT&T, Apple has blocked tethering and VoIP apps from the iTunes App Store, and taken other measures to protect the bandwidth … Read more

An e-book submitted to Apple's App Store has been approved after the author removed language that apparently offended Apple.

CNET's David Carnoy wrote a book called Knife Music last year, and attempted to submit it to the App Store as an e-book. Apple rejected his application for containing "objectionable content," which appeared to be a couple of uses of that four-letter word that starts with F.

But Carnoy decided to remove that type of language from the book, which he said didn't amount to all that many words in the first place. Upon resubmitting the … Read more

Google on Thursday offered administrators of its Premier version of Google Apps more control over the passwords their users choose to access data in Gmail, Docs, and other hosted applications.

Google Apps administrators can now set a minimum password length and will be able to see how strong each user's password remains over time. They can then suggest that users change them if the passwords become weakened. Password strength degrades as the words and names on which they are based become more common and more subject to dictionary attacks.

"Customers were asking for (this) and looking for better … Read more

Paper Football is a fun, free app that simulates the classic, two-player, football-like game that's usually played on classroom desks or school cafeteria tables, with fingers for goalposts and a folded-up piece of notebook paper for a ball.

Much as in real Paper Football (or Flick or Finger Football), you take turns flicking the ball across the table, trying to score a touchdown by going over the edge without falling off. Once you score, you go for an extra point by trying to flick the ball through a "goalpost" formed by the opposing player's fingers. Paper … Read more

We're guessing that they won't surpass iBeer in popularity any time soon, but this is big news for the App Store: Apple has quietly started allowing Web browser applications in.

According to MacRumors, a small bunch of browser apps were recently let into the App Store. They include the free Edge Browser, the historyless Incognito ($1.99), the tabbed WebMate ($0.99), and something called Shaking Web ($1.99) that attempts to make Web sites easier to read.

Previously, Apple had not approved third-party browsers for the App Store; its own Safari browser is preinstalled on the iPhone. … Read more

Updated January 14, 6:08 a.m. PST, to reflect Google's official announcement.

Google on Wednesday launched a new authorized reseller program for Google Apps. It will let partnered businesses wrap up Google Apps with their own services in special bundles that can be resold. This includes things like localized customer service, hardware installation, file migration, and special hosting for things that fall outside of Google's built-in Sites service.

Google has been pilot-testing the reseller program with 50 companies since last summer. Now it's open to anyone, and will be available everywhere in the world. As a … Read more

A New York State court judge denied on Monday Amazon.com and Overstock.com's attempt to avoid lawmaker demands that the online retailers collect sales tax from New York state residents, even though the companies don't have a physical presence in the state. Neither company has commented on the decision, but there is a strong possibility that the case could move into the Court of Appeals as Amazon and Overstock continue their fight.

CollegeWikis, an online group for college students to send messages and create their own groups based on class year, dorm, or courses, has become Regroup.com. … Read more