apps

The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel is a free weather-monitoring application that provides many more features than Apple's built-in Weather app. You can find paid weather applications that are more specialized, but The Weather Channel (sponsored by the eponymous cable channel) offers a lot, including forecasts (hourly, 36-hour, and 10-day), quick access to Weather Channel local and regional video forecasts, severe weather alerts, and a dynamic map (which you can use to see everything from rainfall to "feels like" temperatures and the UV index). You can also set favorites and go back to recent locations which makes The Weather Channel … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 861: Ice blue and the hot breaths

We've got a host of Black Friday news today, like Apple retail stores matching online promotions; Sony still refuses to lower the price on the PS3, but they will let you get a PlayStation credit card and a $150 discount (along with whopping interest rates, of course, so pay that sucker off right away, mmkay?); and Nintendo has a couple of new DS Lite bundles on offer instead of the DSi. At least one of them comes in ICE BLUE. Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 861

Apple retail stores will match reseller prices http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10107987-37.html… Read more

KickApps raises $14 million for expansion

KickApps, a company that offers on-demand social networking and widget platforms, announced Tuesday that it raised $14 million in Series C funding. The round was led by North Atlantic Capital, Softbank, Spark Capital, and Prism Ventures.

The funding will be used for expansion into new markets, as well as product development, which the company believes, will help it spur growth in the market.

"KickApps is aggressively extending the scope of services we provide online publishers in a number of important ways," said Alex Blum, KickApps CEO in a statement. "As a next generation website operating system, our … Read more

Google admits breaking App Store rules

Google acknowledged breaking the official rules of Apple's iPhone software development kit when it created the latest version of the Google Mobile application for the iPhone, but denied a more serious charge.

A Google spokesman confirmed Tuesday that Google Mobile uses undocumented APIs (application programming interfaces) in order to use the iPhone's proximity sensor to prompt a verbal search. iPhone developers were only supposed to use the APIs that Apple published in its SDK when they create their applications under the terms of that agreement.

Google has denied, however, a more serious charge that it was linking to … Read more

Featured Freeware: AppTrap

Sometimes the best interface is no interface at all. Compared with other Mac uninstall programs, AppTrap is simplicity itself--and it really does seem to provide the uninstall functionality that Apple "forgot" in OS X.

AppTrap is not actually an app but rather a System Preference pane, which you install and then it runs in the background (and you can set AppTrap to automatically start at log-in). Whenever you drag an application to the Trash, AppTrap will prompt you to delete all the application's related files, including any files installed in that application's cache, library, or application … Read more

iPhone apps of the week

Note: The iPhone 2.2 firmware update is now available. Connect to iTunes to get all the details. My app update issue is fixed!

One of the great things about my job writing about iPhone apps is I sometimes get to look at what's coming up in the future for the iPhone. I was invited to a small gathering of developers and reviewers this week to see the latest games and apps from premiere software companies. The future of iPhone apps looks great.

While many of the apps were must-haves, one of the best of the bunch was a … Read more

Cooliris adds YouTube search, image save to iPhone app

Cooliris has put out a useful update to its iPhone application that adds YouTube videos to its search results. This joins the image search that made the application so popular to begin with.

You might be asking yourself how this is helpful since the iPhone comes with an official YouTube application. The answer to that is that Cooliris' presentation is slightly more appealing. Where the official YouTube app forces you to scroll down a long list, with Cooliris you can simply rock your phone back and forth an endless array of thumbnails until you find something you like. Videos play … Read more

Google Mobile for iPhone breaks App Store rules

If Google wasn't Google, there's a fair chance that its new mobile application for the iPhone wouldn't be allowed in the App Store.

That's because Google Mobile is tapping into iPhone technology that is supposed to be off-limits to third-party developers, according to research done by Daring Fireball's John Gruber and Ars Technica's Erica Sadun.

The latest version of the search giant's mobile iPhone application has been well received, but it might be impossible to duplicate or improve upon the application, unless developers are willing to break Apple's rules for iPhone applications.… Read more

Squishy driving

JellyCar is an inventive and whimsical free game in which you drive a bouncy car through a series of 2-D puzzles on 15 short levels. What makes JellyCar unusual (besides its goofy soundtrack) is the game's "soft-body physics," which make your car and everything in the game world extremely squishy and reactive. The fairly simple controls make great use of the touchscreen--you can drive left and right, temporarily "inflate" the size of your car, tilt your device left and right to rotate the car, and pinch and zoom to change your view of a level. … Read more

Channel your inner Link with 'Ocarina'

Smule has quickly become my favorite iPhone app developer.

It's not that their apps have been particularly useful, but they're the ones I get the most excited about. From Sonic Lighter to Sonic Boom and Sonic Vox, these guys are IMO currently the masters of fun, cool, quirky iPhone apps.

Now they're going completely bohemian with their latest release, Ocarina. According to Smule, this is the first true musical instrument for the iPhone with no precompiled riffs.

By simply blowing into your iPhone's mic you'll create sound, and by holding the "holes" on … Read more