Apps

Amazon Instant Video app comes to iPhone, iPod Touch

Amazon has finally delivered its Instant Video streaming app to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The company announced the app's availability today, saying that over 30,000 titles in the Prime Instant Video library will be available for users to stream. In addition, the application allows for access to over 140,000 movies and television shows that can be downloaded for purchase or rental.

Amazon's Prime Instant Video is available only to customers who sign up for the company's $79-a-year Prime membership. With that, customers get free two-day shipping, as well as "free" access to … Read more

Google Maps already No. 1 among free iPhone apps

Google Maps didn't take long to capture the top spot among free iPhone apps.

Driving back into iTunes earlier today, the app had already reached first place after the first several hours. It's also garnered close to 8,000 reviews at this point, almost all of them earning five stars.

The new app offers all of the features that made it an iOS standard in the past but with a cleaner look and feel.

You can search for your destination by typing or speaking it. The app handles specific addresses as well as the names of businesses and … Read more

FCC wants texting apps like iMessage in text-to-911 plan

The Federal Communications Commission wants to require all cellular carriers and Internet-based messaging providers to support text-to-911 messages.

While the four largest U.S. wireless carriers have already signed on to the plan, the U.S. agency today proposed guidelines that would require "over the top" text messaging apps -- those capable of sending text messages to phones -- to be part of the initiative, which is expected to operational by 2014. Apps that would presumably be part of the initiative include Apple's iMessage, BlackBerry's BBM, Android's MightyText, and Saumsung's ChatOn, among others.

While … Read more

Flickr's new iPhone app puts mobile front and center

Flickr released an overhauled iPhone app today, capping a year of effort to reclaim its lost glory with software that it believes will become central rather than peripheral to using the photo-sharing site.

The new app is designed to show off individual photos better, to ease sign-up for new users, to speed photo browsing, and to improve discovery. Better smartphone support was critical, given how much activity has moved to mobile apps.

"Engagement to a high percentage is happening on mobile," said Markus Spiering, head of the Flickr product at Yahoo. "It really brings Flickr into the … Read more

Hulu Plus for Android rolls out children's section

Watching "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Caillou" on Android devices just got a little easier today.

Hulu Plus announced that it updated its Android app with Hulu Kids integration. With this new feature, parents are able to make sure their children don't stray from their kid's shows by using a "Lock For Kids" button. Parents can also search Hulu Kids to find popular shows from different networks and age groups.

Hulu Kids launched in November featuring dozens of children's TV shows from Nickelodeon, PBS, Lionsgate, and more. The kid's feature has its … Read more

Software at CES: Second screens take off, developers target TVs

CES is coming in early January, but contrary to popular belief, it isn't just about gadgets. A lot of software vendors make the trek to Las Vegas to show new and updated versions of software for just about every platform.

With the app stores for Apple, Google, and Windows exploding with new offerings over the course of 2012, we think this year's CES will have more new and updated software on hand than ever before.

As the in-house software editors at CNET, we have put together a list of predictions for this year's CES, from the probable … Read more

Watch Siri open a garage door

Despite owning an iPhone 5 for several months, I find myself using Siri only when someone else wants to see how it works.

A video created by a Raspberry Pi enthusiast motivates me to learn about Siri's unadvertised side -- as a place where hackers can use special software to teach Apple's voice assistant new commands. One such person found a compelling use for the $35 Linux-based Pi and Siri: the ability to open a garage door with a push of a button and a simple spoken sentence. … Read more

We're putting CNET video on every screen

This is exciting!

Starting today, you'll be able to watch full-length CNET shows on your Xbox 360. Later this month, you'll be able to do the same on your Samsung Smart TV.

CNET is proud to create shows and videos that you'll want to watch everywhere, including your living room with a bowl of snacks nearby and your feet on the coffee table. Longer shows like Always On with Molly Wood and Brian Cooley's On Cars have already taken off on Roku and YouTube; now we're putting them on even more screens.

Our goal is … Read more

Getting started with Twitter photo filters

Twitter has updated its Android and iOS apps with photo filters, following through on the rumors from just a few days ago. The release is timely, considering everyone's favorite photo-filter app, Instagram, just recently pulled integration from Twitter. The benefit of using the Twitter app to filter your photos is that they'll show up natively in Twitter.com and in the mobile apps. Instagram photos appear only as links now, requiring a browser window to view them at Instagram's Web site. If you prefer displaying your filtered photos within Twitter, here's how to get started with … Read more