iOS

'Haunting Melissa': App-only film delivers horror to mobile

In recent years, we've seen people dabble in bringing a narrative film experience to mobile phones. It makes sense -- there's an interactive personal screen in your pocket that allows you to pick up content wherever you go. But neither the interactive film "Tender Loving Care" (starring John Hurt) nor the Dutch film "App," which interacted with your iOS or Android device during cinematic screenings, picked up much traction.

"Haunting Melissa," by film producer Neal Edelstein, might have what it takes. Available globally as a free app on iOS, the film is accessible, and it's using the flexibility of mobile devices to experiment with the genre. … Read more

Delete Foursquare check-ins using the Android, iOS app

After a rough night out on the town, looking at your Foursquare history is a good way to figure out where you were (assuming you were coherent enough to use your phone). Sometimes you may not like what you see and want to delete any trace of where you were as fast as possible.

Or you could have innocently checked into the wrong venue and need to delete the error from your history.

Well, you can delete any check-ins directly from your Android or iOS device. I'm not sure when the feature was added to either app, but previously … Read more

Zinio Z-Pass gives you three magazines for $5 per month

I love a good magazine. That's why I'm hoping digital distribution services like Next Issue and Zinio can help usher in the age of the digital periodical.

Yesterday, Zinio gave it a little nudge by unveiling Z-Pass, a sort of a la carte subscription option: three magazines for $5 per month.

According to the Zinio press release, "The monthly cost of a Z-Pass is the lowest available in the market for a multiple-magazine subscription model." That's technically true, but with a huge asterisk: Next Issue (a sort of Netflix for magazines) costs $9.99 per … Read more

Apple iOS 6 devices get nod for U.S. military use

U.S. military members will now be able to use the iPhone 5, along with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and BlackBerry 10 devices.

The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has approved the use of Apple iOS 6 devices on the Defense Department's networks, the agency said in a statement Friday.

That means the DOD can provide iPhones and iPads running iOS 6 to its employees, though employees cannot use their own devices on the military network, a DISA spokeswoman told CNET.

"It doesn't mean [Apple is] getting a contract with us or anything like that,&… Read more

Google Now vs. Siri: Virtual assistants duke it out (video)

Good assistants -- the kind you can't live without -- are hard to come by. For starters, they should always be on time; any lag simply won't do. They should also get things right the first time, because who has time for inaccuracies? And, last of all, the assistant should be so good, they're always a few steps ahead of their boss.

Those are pretty high expectations, but Google and Apple both think they've got the magic to meet all those requirements and more. The secret, it turns out, is to hand off the work to … Read more

Consumer spending on iOS games outpaces 3DS, Vita

An increasing number of people are deciding to dedicate their cash to Apple's iOS rather than traditional gaming handhelds, according to a new study.

A joint study performed by research firms IDC and App Annie found that during the first quarter of 2013, total spending on iOS App Store games outpaced that of dedicated handhelds such as Nintendo's 3DS and PlayStation Vita. It was the first time that iOS games outpaced the traditional devices. In the fourth quarter, iOS was slightly behind gaming handhelds in total spending.

For now, Google Play is still a distant third, tallying about … Read more

Android beats iOS with 52 percent of ad impressions

Android scooped up more than half of all ad impressions seen by Millennial Media last quarter, according to the ad network's new MobileMix report.

For the first quarter, Android won 52 percent of all impressions (the number of times a mobile ad is displayed), up from 49 percent in the year-ago quarter.

In second place, iOS accounted for 39 percent of all impressions, up from 33 percent. That left the third spot to the BlackBerry OS, which saw its slice of ad impressions cut in half to 7 percent from 14 percent. Microsoft's Windows Phone also witnessed a … Read more

Windows Phone jumps to third place in smartphone market

Microsoft's Windows Phone grabbed third place from BlackBerry in global smartphone shipments in the first quarter, market researcher IDC said Thursday.

Windows Phone accounted for shipments of 7 million smartphones, earning itself a market share of 3.2 percent last quarter. That was a gain from the first quarter of 2012, which saw shipments of 3 million and a market share of 2 percent.

Over the same period, BlackBerry saw its fortunes fall. Last quarter, shipments fell to 6.3 million from 9.7 million in the year-ago quarter, while BlackBerry's market share dropped to 2.9 percent … Read more

Apple's App Store downloads hit 50 billion

Apple's App Store on Wednesday passed another major benchmark, topping 50 billion app downloads.

That's according to the countdown timer on Apple's Web site and in iTunes. Apple also confirmed the benchmark on Twitter:

We just hit 50 billion app downloads. Thank you. It couldn't have happened without you. #50BillionApps tw.appstore.com/hgE

— App Store(@AppStore) May 15, 2013

The person who downloaded the 50 billionth app will get a $10,000 App Store gift card from Apple, and the 50 people who downloaded apps right after that each will receive a $500 gift card. … Read more

Get started with the new Google Hangouts app for iOS, Android

Google, on Wednesday, unveiled some new and some enhanced products that Android, Chrome, Maps, and Web users are sure to love. One of the new products announced was Hangouts. Now, I know what you're thinking: Google+ has had Hangouts for a while, and you're right. But Google has taken Hangouts out of Google+ and built it into a standalone instant messaging app for mobile devices.

The app, available on iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android devices allows users to keep a unified chat experience in sync across not only the devices listed above, but also within Chrome, Google+ … Read more