apps

Apple apologizes for Baby Shaker

Updated at 3:00 p.m. PT with word from Sikalosoft.

Apple issued a statement Thursday apologizing for allowing the Baby Shaker application onto the App Store.

Just hours before the App Store offers up its 1 billionth download, Apple was forced to acknowledge that perhaps the most notorious iPhone application ever constructed was "deeply offensive" and a "mistake." Baby Shaker appeared on the App Store Monday, and was pulled Wednesday after a media frenzy grew following the discovery of the application by the founder of a shaken baby syndrome foundation.

Apple's statement follows in … Read more

The 404 327: Where we're nervous magicians waiting in the wings

Some Blues Traveler and a box of Glazed Pop'ems warm us up for another fantastic show. Just the three of us today. Justin is still trying to recover from his night out with the Jasmine France.

On today's show, we geek out a little bit when we discuss the new "Star Trek" movie by director JJ Abrams. Caroline McCarthy got a sneak peak at it last night, and makes Wilson, the only Trekkie on the show, jealous. Justin gets into the finer points of things when he argues which is better: "Battlestar Galactica," "Star Wars," or "Star Trek". Wilson thinks this is a no-brainer.

Also on today's show, find out why Kevin Smith got "Wayne Gretzky-ed" off NHL.com's blog. Google makes it a little easier to build a custom search profile. Unfortunately, they can't take those drunken, nude pics of you off the Web. And two dudes get a $26,000 bill from T-Mobile after they send each other over 217,000 text messages. That's true bromance. The box to send the bill alone cost $27.55.

We honestly can't think of worse app for the iPhone than the apparent baby-shaking app! We can't even pretend to make a joke about this one. We're just surprised that it made it passed Apple's strict vetting.

Finally, Wilson's subway stalker calls The 404 and tells us about her upcoming surgery. He's shaking in a corner about it. Send us your voice mails at 1-866-404-CNET (2638). Stalkers welcomed.

EPISODE 327 Download today's podcast |  Subscribe in iTunes |  Subscribe in RSS… Read more

Apple removes 'Baby Shaker' from App Store

Apple has removed the Baby Shaker application from the App Store, just hours after it was discovered.

The application still shows up in the App Store search, but upon clicking on the title, an error message appears. Baby Shaker, a game in which the user is invited to silence a baby's cries by violently shaking an iPhone, appeared on the App Store Monday despite Apple's policy of banning "offensive" iPhone applications.

Company representatives have still not responded to inquires about how Baby Shaker made it into the App Store in the first place. In the past, … Read more

Apple's billionth app celebration page leaked

According to a report on iClarified.com, MacMagzine.com.br reader JosZe' discovered a counter embedded in the code for Apple's home page. The code checks to see if the time and date on your computer is past the time and date that the billionth iPhone app is downloaded. Currently, that time is estimated to be 14:12:20 on April 23, but you can bet that between now and then, Apple will tweak and adjust its estimate as required.

This much-anticipated event comes less than one year after the iTunes App Store opened--an astounding nine months. In contrast, … Read more

Apple approves 'Baby Shaker' for App Store

Updated 1:25 p.m.: Apple has pulled Baby Shaker from the App Store.

If you needed any further proof that Apple's App Store approval process is horrifyingly out of whack, consider one of the latest additions to the App Store: Baby Shaker.

A company called Sikalosoft is currently selling a $0.99 iPhone application called Baby Shaker, as of Monday. The object of Baby Shaker is to stop the incessant crying of an infant pictured on screen by violently shaking the iPhone, at which point two red "x" marks appear over the baby's eyes. "… Read more

Apple's 1 billionth app download predicted for April 23

We could stare at the countdown tickers on Worldometers all day. Wow, 10.3 billion toilets have been flushed so far today! So it's no wonder we love the Apple App store contest with its mesmerizing flipping numbers counting us down to the 1 billionth app download, when some lucky punter will win shedloads of Mac stuff and a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

As the hour approaches--we're topping 988 million and change at the time of this writing--Mobile Squared, a U.K. research company, is helping us game the system by figuring out when the crucial moment … Read more

Your iPhone: A matchmaker and romance adviser

We recently became aware of two iPhone applications striving to improve your dating and romantic experiences. The popular online dating service Match.com created one, and the other is offered by iDear Applications Combined, the two have the potential to make your love life a bit more...interesting.

Match.com

Match.com's native iPhone application brings mobile dating to the site's over 15 million members. The app, Match.com ( iTunes link), is free and lets users edit their profile, upload photos, and even use an opt-in location-based feature to find singles in their area.

The location-based feature might … Read more

Report: Hulu app coming to the iPhone soon

Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that a dedicated Hulu application is indeed on its way to the iPhone and should be here in just a few months.

SAI says the application will work over Wi-Fi and AT&T's 3G network, meaning that users will be able to view programming anywhere with a fast data connection.

Rumors suggesting that an iPhone-friendly version of Hulu swirled around this time last year, however, they predated the launch of the App Store, and Hulu flat-out denied that one was being worked on.

This time around, though, it's far more plausible, with … Read more

Flickr trends highlighted via Google-based app

What do you do when you can use the Internet to data-mine a collection of billions of photos?

Find out whether cats are more popular than dogs, of course. Or whether good outdoes evil. Or the Yankees beat the Mets.

The FlickrTrends application takes advantage first of the API (application programming interface) at Yahoo's photo-sharing site, Flickr, which can show how many photos have been tagged with a particular word over a period of time. Second, it uses Google App Engine to present the relative popularity of two tags in chart form to show what's waxing and waning. … Read more