apps

Apple has begun notifying the parents how they will be compensated for large bills racked up by their children through unauthorized use of in-app purchases in games and apps sold through the App Store.

An e-mail sent by the "Apple In-App Purchase Litigation Administrator" describes how the approximately 23 million people, as part of a class-action lawsuit, can apply for compensation. Parents have until January 13, 2014, to claim a $5 iTunes gift cards for charges less than $30, according to the e-mail. The maximum compensation parents can expect is the total amount charged during a single 45-day … Read more

Please lie down on my chaise longue and tell me the last time you were truly, madly angry.

Was it when someone took away your stuffed Yogi Bear? Was it when someone in a bar said you dressed like an incompetent mobster? Or might you be occasionally prone to rage when your sports team misses a free throw that would seal a game? (Hullo, San Antonio. I trust it's sunny today.)

Though to the rest of the world it seems as if Americans can get angry at the mere suggestion of disrespect, when it comes to technology, we are … Read more

Even the most die-hard Android fan has to admit that it has taken Android quite a while to catch up to Apple when it comes to quality tablet-optimized apps. You can't blame Google entirely, though. With the dramatic launch of their tablet-only Honeycomb OS, Google tried hard to rally Android developers around building great tablet apps. Why it took developers another year to answer that call for tablet apps is another whole story.

The good news is, Android tablet owners now have a fantastic assortment of apps to choose from. Apps that don't merely scale up the Android … Read more

There's a lot of language Web sites out there. Some are definitely more well-known than others, but what if you want something that works really well on your device? That's when it's time to use an Android app instead of just a Web site. Here are three of the top language-learning apps on Android.

Most of Babbel's language packs feature 3,000 vocabulary words (though you'll need to download more data to complete the language pack). The vocabulary is divided into categories, so if you need to learn words related to … Read more

These days, big-budget blockbuster movies are usually accompanied by story-driven mobile games. They usually tie in with the movie plot in many ways, and sometimes they put you in the shoes of the main character. The idea behind these types of games is great, but more often than not, they are completely disappointing.

With that in mind, I found four that are actually not so bad. Sure they're not perfect or even great, for that matter. But they do have specific qualities that make them enjoyable, especially for big fans of the movies.

Monsters University: Android (99 cents) | iOS (99 cents) … Read more

For a long time I've been a fan of N2A Cards, which sells a simple plug-and-play way to turn Barnes & Noble's Nook tablets into full-blown Android tablets. After all, if you've got good hardware, why not unlock its maximum potential?

Now Kindle owners can get in on the action. N2A's new N2Aos service will install Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) on your first- or second-generation Kindle Fire, replacing Amazon's heavily customized -- and, some would say, limited -- operating system with the real deal.

There are, of course, a few important considerations.… Read more

Hey, guys, remember Vine? That's what we might be asking each other if this whole video-on-Instagram thing pans out.

If you haven't heard, Instagram today announced the addition of video capturing and sharing capabilities to its widely used photo app. The new features are now available on both Android and iOS, and so far, users seem to be really excited about the moving pictures.

But how exactly do Instagram's new features stack up against Twitter's video-sharing baby? While Instagram's update may have borrowed copiously from the Vine (also available for iOS and Android) experience, the … Read more

WhatsApp's active user base could be a cause for worry among some tech companies and wireless carriers.

The messaging service announced Thursday that it has more than 250 million active users -- making it on par with Skype, Facebook Messenger, and Twitter, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Twitter's most recent numbers show more than 200 million monthly active users, while Skype's are 280 million and Facebook Messenger's aren't reported but its app is ranked sixth in free apps in Google Play, according to the Journal.

In the U.S., WhatsApp is ranked first in … Read more

Apple uses its Mac App Store program as the means for providing not only third-party software, but also OS X system software and updates. When you choose Software Update from the Apple menu, the system will open the App Store, which will check the computer for all software purchased and managed through the store. However, in some instances the download doesn't complete and the program may even hang, showing a spinning pinwheel cursor. You may not even be able to restart your computer, which obviously can be frustrating to deal with.

There are a couple of approaches you can … Read more