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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

Burner brings 'disposable' phone numbers to Android

After enjoying much success on iOS, Burner, the app that provides "disposable" phone numbers, has finally made its way to Android.

Have you ever wished you could have a temporary phone number for things like Craigslist purchases, job searches, or other short-term projects? Well, Burner provides just that. Think of it as an app that can disguise your phone. It gives you a temporary phone number from which you can place calls and send messages or receive calls and messages. Its phone numbers work exactly like the one provided by your carrier, but they stop working after a … Read more

Rumor Has It: Apple 'iTV' may require some bling

Remember the "iTV"? Of course you do. It's that fabled HDTV that Apple has reportedly been working on for forever and ever. Apple analysts are beside themselves, trying to predict what the TV will include, how much it'll cost, what will be its killer feature.

This time, an Apple analyst went above and beyond, predicting that the TV will come with some pretty blingy accessories to help Apple infiltrate all aspects of your life. We can't wait.

Also this week, the next-gen Xbox might be announced soon; a Google rumor is denied before we even … Read more

Digital comic not banned over gay sex images, says iOS app publisher

Note: This story was originally published at 8:57 a.m. PT under the headline "Apple bans digital comic over gay sex images, say its creators." It was republished at 11:55 a.m. PT with new information from Comixology about the root cause of the holdup in the comic's availability and a new headline to reflect that change in the story.

The ban on the latest issue of the digital comic "Saga" was apparently due to confusion over Apple's policies and not its images portraying gay sex. At least, that's the word … Read more

Chrome for iOS gets wireless printing, full-screen browsing

It seems like just last week that Google was rolling out updates for its Chrome browser for iOS.

In fact, it was: Last week, Google added sharing and history features to Chrome for iOS.

Yesterday, Google brought a few more worthwhile features to its mobile browser: support for AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, and full-screen browsing. Version 26.0.1410.50 also lets you save any Web page as a PDF to your Google Drive account.

Full-screen browsing works just like in Safari: When you scroll up, the Omnibox (i.e., address bar) disappears to give you a bit more viewing … Read more

Deletion of Apple's AppGratis a sign of things to come -- report

It looks like AppGratis might not be the last app-discovery application to be removed from Apple's App Store.

Apple is planning to remove several app-discovery programs currently available in its App Store on the same grounds that it removed AppGratis, All Things Digital is reporting, citing people who claim to have knowledge of Apple's plans. The site's sources say that Apple is worried that app-discovery applications that help promote programs from other developers threaten the App Store's rankings.

AppGratis was removed from the App Store last week in a move that shocked Simon Dalwat, chief executive at AppGratis. … Read more