App

Google is preparing an online store in which it will sell third-party business software to Google Apps customers, according to a report.

The Wall Street Journal says that Google's store could arrive as early as March with the works of third-party developers available as enhancements to Google's office productivity software suite. It appears the store would allow Gmail and Google Docs users to purchase add-ons for niche features too specialized for the mainstream Google Apps product.

Google already has a directory of sorts for these types of applications. The Google Solutions Marketplace contains lists and reviews of third-party … Read more

EnvIO Networks has just released the latest batch of usage statistics from its iPhone app Chorus. The app, which launched in November, acts as a social network for Apple's App Store. It lets users share what apps they're buying, as well as recommend purchases to others--two things Apple's own store does not offer.

According to the company, Chorus users have invited an average of 75 friends. The numbers below are based on "tens of thousands of user interactions and download attempts" from the month of December.

Note: All links open up in iTunes

Top 10 … Read more

If you're among those wondering why Apple's new iBooks e-reader app may have looked vaguely familiar, the answer is Apple may have ripped off the user interface from an existing iPhone app, according to Wired blogger Brian Chen.

The app in question is a popular book-reading app called Classics, which rounds up a bunch of public-domain titles in a slick-looking package that features a user interface with various titles perched on a bookshelf.

The article also suggests that the UI similarities extend beyond the top-level interface. "The pages emulate the look of a printed book page," … Read more

The iPod Touch and iPhone, defying many disbelievers, have, as a collective platform, succeeded in transforming gaming as much as they have transformed the smartphone industry. Low prices and a massive App Store library, it can be argued, helped the iPhone and iPod Touch out more than the platform's often better-than-expected graphics. We expected Apple gaming to take off, and indeed it has--in the portable space, at least.

The new Apple iPad hopes to take gaming even further, but the hurdles are higher this time. Everyone doesn't need a tablet, which is a significant challenge to iPad adoption. Millions of iPhone/Touch game players proliferated because millions of people need portable media players or phones, and found that it was easy and cheap to game on the same device they had in their pocket already. On the other hand, at $499, a 16GB iPad will have the same storage capacity as a PSP Go, which costs $249. Though the iPad lacks a memory card slot, its screen and battery life look to be far superior.

The good news is, the iPad looks set to run all App Store games, playing them in original resolution in a smaller window or doubling the pixels to full-screen mode on its 9.7-inch IPS screen. The iPad sports a custom A4 processor that should be much more robust than the iPhone/iPod Touch processor, which opens up potential for even more impressive iPad-specific titles. … Read more

CNET Download's Seth Rosenblatt just dug himself out of the avalanche of software that his team reviews every year. And in his hand was a list of the worst downloads of the year.

And he's willing to share. By worst this year, Seth means the biggest failures, so the coding, presentation, and features of these apps might be decent, but they let us and their customers down in a big way.

Go watch the video, listen to the trivia question, then come back here and post your comments and answer below. We'll draw a random name from … Read more

We published a report last week about the release of Apple's new MobileMe Gallery app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Now shortly after that, Apple has released a series of knowledge base articles that you might have missed. We'll go over those here and discuss some other problems users have encountered with the app.

Removing the Gallery app from your iPhone/iPod Touch

Apple advises that removal of the Gallery app from your mobile device will only remove the app, its cache of files, and its settings. Data in your MobileMe Gallery, located at http://gallery.me.… Read more

Few will have noticed that Amazon.com is getting into the developer game for its Kindle e-reader.

It doesn't help that Amazon is launching its third-party developer program in the midst of Apple's tablet hoopla, but that's not the core problem.

The big problem is that Amazon's program offers developers less than Apple's equivalent. A lot less. And it's way too late, as ZDNet's Jason Perlow opines.

We are presently inundated with application stores. Every device seems to come with its own app store these days--each an island within the larger ocean of … Read more

Most Mac users default to Apple's good-but-not-great Mail program to manage their e-mail. But given Mail's serious deficiencies (e.g., weak to nonexistent integration with calendaring and contacts), a variety of open-source initiatives are underway to bring a full-featured e-mail client to the Mac.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that there appears to be little to no coordination between the different groups, leading to duplication and fragmentation of efforts.

Zimbra, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mozilla Raindrop, and a new project initiated by NetNewsWire founder Brent Simmons, Letters.app, all seem to be heading in the right … Read more

We had the pleasure of chatting with Jared Cohen, Senior Adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today. He gave us some more insight into Secretary Clinton's speech about the freedom on the Internet, specifically relating to China. We also clarify that Verizon is not booting people off the Internet--but apparently Cox is. So take all that stuff we wrote yesterday about Verizon and just put Cox in there.

Joining us is Jared Cohen, Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Clinton’… Read more