apps

Telenav Scout app getting 3D landmarks, traffic improvements

Navigation software provider Telenav announced a few future updates for its Scout navigation app for Android and iPhone today that should make the app run more smoothly and help you to get where you're going faster.

Scout will be updated to take advantage of vector-based graphics, which should bring along faster performance, a sharper appearance, and smoother interactions with the app. The improved map screen also gains 3D buildings and landmarks in major U.S. cities; the map zooms in as you approach an upcoming turn and adjusts the virtual camera angle to give visual landmarks to look for.… Read more

AppGratis tries petition to shame Apple on app removal

Facing what appears to be an indefinite ban of its software from Apple's App Store, French app discovery service AppGratis is trying to make a case for itself with an Internet petition.

A new page that went up over the weekend gives users a special e-mail address to send their pleas to if they want to "save" the company. So far, the initiative has accumulated more than 608,000 such messages, according to the page's official tally.

AppGratis was removed from Apple's App Store earlier this month. The software would alert users to a daily … Read more

Microsoft updates Windows 8 News, Maps, other apps

Microsoft has updated its various Bing apps for Windows 8 in a move designed to make them quicker to use and easier to customize.

The News app now lets you manage the different news categories that appear in the app. You can add or remove categories for world news, technology, politics, business, and entertainment, and sort the order in which they appear. You can also add a particular news source or RSS feed to your featured sources and to the Windows Start screen so that you can more quickly access their stories.

The News app's app bar has also … Read more

Picture Buddy 1.0.1 Review

The iPad is a kid's dream toy. It plays games and movies, and is a finger-painting easel waiting to be tapped. So there are dozens of apps that allow children to tap, dab, and paint the screen to their heart's content. Picture Buddy is yet another of these apps, and while it doesn't bring anything new to the table, its cute presentation and simple interface are perfect for a young child.

The app is very simple, and you just start it and tap to get going. There will be a palette of colors and a slider to … Read more

Twitter launching music discovery app

CNET Update tweets to the beat:

Twitter is launching a new music service that will suggest songs to listen to based on accounts you follow or artists that are trending. As the world waits for the official launch, Ryan Seacrest seems to be enjoying it.

Android users can experience Chat Heads on the Facebook Messenger app, rather than download the Facebook Home interface.

Also in this tech roundup, I bring you the highlights from the DigitalFocus technology showcase, which includes the Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat, the Linkase Wi-Fi signal booster for smartphones, the new Duracell Powermat iPhone 5 wireless charging … Read more

Bump for iPhone loses iTunes music sharing

Bump, the application that lets users share everything from contacts to photos and files, no longer supports iTunes music transfers.

The company announced the feature loss yesterday in its App Store update, saying, "we're sorry, but we are no longer permitted access to iTunes audio files on the device." Bump didn't say why it was forced to remove the feature, but it's likely that Apple took issue with its functionality.

Previously, users were able to share iTunes tracks with other Bump users. The audio files could also be shared on computers.

It appears that the … Read more

Intel releases Web-based app programming kit

Intel has released its first version of Web-based programming tools to help developers make mobile apps for Android and iOS.

The free software, called Intel XDK, isn't brand new. It's a rebadged version of the AppMobi software that Intel acquired in February. XDK lets people create software that uses the so-called HTML5 foundation, a collection of standards designed to advance the Web beyond static documents toward dynamic applications, then convert those apps so they can be used on mobile devices.

Intel announced the XDK release at its Intel Developer Forum show in Beijing this week. The software is … Read more

Apple-AppGratis flap triggers threat from French minister

Fleur Pellerin, France's digital industry minister, is taking Apple to the public woodshed for pulling the AppGratis service from the App Store, saying the tech giant's "brutal" treatment had put the French startup in danger. She now plans to ask European regulators to more closely regulate digital platforms including search engines and social media.

"I recall that the French are the world's second largest developers of software applications behind the United States for mobile devices," Pellerin was quoted as saying in LeMonde Informatique. "What is the sense of investing if, overnight, the … Read more

Man traces stolen laptop to Iran, blogs photos of new owners

It's a sad occasion when a laptop is stolen. All that money, time, and personal data just disappear into the night. This is the Tumblr story of a boy and his stolen laptop. Dom Deltorto lives in London. In early February, he says, someone broke into his flat and made off with his MacBook Pro and his iPad.

Deltorto was prepared for just such an incident. He had installed Hidden App on his laptop, a program that tracks the laptop's location and sends back images of the thief. However, Hidden App still needs to be connected to the Internet to work. After more than a month of radio silence, Deltorto reports that his MacBook suddenly came online, but it wasn't in a place where he could just call the London police and have them recover it.… Read more