Mobile software

Previously available only in its beta form, RealNetworks' RealPlayer for Android today makes the jump to its full version. The free app offers an all-in-one interface for playing music, watching videos, and viewing photos.

The video viewer is pretty standard with its basic playback controls. Meanwhile, the photo viewer steps it up a notch with a slideshow option and even an integrated music player, so you can set a musical soundtrack to your photos. And finally, there's the music player, which takes up the bulk of RealPlayer's interface. It offers playlists, search, and browsing by artist, album, song … Read more

You may be familiar with the TouchWiz shortcuts on Samsung Android devices -- well Quick Launch is similar in how it works, but not how it looks. Instead, this lock-screen replacement is bit more modern than TouchWiz, which means it pairs nicely with the Ice Cream Sandwich/Jelly Bean design style.

Since you're going to be using the lock screen each time you pick up your phone, it may as well be something you like to look at. In addition to looking good, the lock screen should have added functionality that compliments the many features of your actual device.… Read more

The newest update to Google Translate for Android adds Google Goggles' optical character recognition (OCR) technology, so you can translate text using only your device's camera lens. Whereas previously you had to type, hand-write (onscreen), or say your text aloud in order to use the app, this new feature requires none of the above.

To use the new OCR feature, just push the camera button at the bottom of the main translate screen. This activates your camera and opens a viewfinder just below the translation field. After you take your picture, brush the text you want to translate, and … Read more

iPhone? Check. Android? Check. For most mobile apps, that's enough. Popular news reader Pulse, however, has decided that its next frontier is something you may have heard of before called the World Wide Web.

Pulse's Web app at Pulse.me is built entirely from HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, and indicates that the future-Web technologies are rapidly approaching a state where they can easily re-create native app experiences in the browser. The site is accessible from most major browsers on traditional PCs and mobile devices. With the touch-focused Windows 8 and its associated touch screen hardware coming at the … Read more

Samsung is on the verge of releasing an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for its Galaxy S III smartphone, according to a recent SamMobile report. The mobile blog claims that internal testing of the new firmware is complete and that a public-ready version is ready. All that stands in the way, or so it seems, is a final approval from the Google team. … Read more

Microsoft has completely overhauled its Windows Phone Dev Center and added some extra ways for developers to get paid.

The company today announced the changes in a blog post, saying that the site, which allows developers to do everything from submit applications to download software development kits, was completely rebuilt "from the ground up." The design itself comes with a healthy amount of white space and a streamlined, basic feel. According to Microsoft, the redesign aims "at providing faster access to common tasks."

For developers, however, the key additions come by way of availability and payments. … Read more

Nuance, a company that plays a part in some of the most well-known speech-recognition services on the market, has unveiled its own intra-app service, called Nina.

With Nina's help, iOS and Android developers can bring speech recognition, text-to-speech, and voice biometrics to their individual applications. Nina works much in the same way as Siri, allowing users to provide voice commands that the technology then follows. And with the open software development kit, Nuance says that it can be integrated quickly into existing apps.

Nuance has played an integral role in Siri's development. Nuance provided technology to Siri before … Read more

Google today issued a wide-ranging update to its Developer Program Policy, with the aim of making "Google Play a great community for developers and consumers."

The search giant zeroed in on two issues it's seeing across the Google Play landscape: "deceptive app names and spammy notifications." From now on, developers will not be allowed to use app names or icons that are deemed "confusingly similar to existing system apps," the company wrote in an e-mail viewed by CNET. Google didn't say what would make a respective application confusing.

On the spam front, … Read more

Samsung's Music Hub app launched on the Samsung Galaxy S3 in Europe back in May, but it's taken until now for the subscription music service to hit our shores. CNET got an eyeful (and an earful) of the Music Hub app on several GS3 devices ahead of launch. Since the software was preproduction, there may be some slight differences between what we saw and the final product.

What it is The most important thing to know is that even if it comes preloaded on your phone, the Music Hub isn't free. Fueled by Samsung-owned mSpot, the mobile … Read more