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Mar

NASA Releases Augmented Reality App With 3D Models Of Real Spacecraft Like Curiosity

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

NASA is kind of awesome. In case you live under some red rocks, the organization sent this crazy robot to Mars that sends us back high-resolution photos. The future is amazing. Of course, there's nothing the space administration loves more than curiosity (which is why they named the Mars rover after it), and it's aiming to fuel yours with this 3D model explorer.

In a somewhat odd move, instead of simply providing the 3D models themselves, the app requires you to print out some markers. Then, as you've seen in other AR apps, you point your camera at the page and the model appears.

Feb

Google Releases Hindi Input App, Adds Transliteration Keyboard And It's Kind Of Awesome

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Speaking two (or more) languages is cool. Typing in two or more character sets is decidedly less cool. Bilingual speakers who know, say, English and Spanish can have an easy enough time typing since they share a (mostly) common Latin alphabet. However, English/Hindi speakers may have a harder time bouncing between scripts because they use entirely different character sets. Enter Google.

In addition to providing a regular Hindi keyboard (below, right) which takes up multiple pages of letters, this app also offers a transliteration keyboard. For the layman, transliteration involves converting text from one character set to another, though not actually translating the words themselves.

Feb

AccuWeather Gets Holo-ified, Automatically Looks Beautiful Because Holo

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

AccuWeather is one of the leading apps for getting more information than you could ever possibly need about the position of the sun, clouds, and the statistical likelihood that precipitation will fall from the sky. It has not, however, been the leader in Holo interfaces among weather apps (the Weather Channel beat it to the punch last week). Today, it catches up, though, with a brand spanking new UI.

It's not just menu bars and Roboto that are being added for this interface overhaul. The company has also improved the widgets, allowing them to be resizable. Which, you know, all widgets should be.

Feb

Secunia PSI Is A Tech Preview Of A 'Security' App That Scans A Few Other Apps And Gives You Useless Information

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

There are a lot of security apps for Android that go a little ways into overkill territory. Whether you're talking about superfluous task managers or "virus scanners" that may provide some minimal protection while generating more fear than is warranted, Android has a persistent problem with companies applying a Windows-era mentality on a completely different OS. Secunia PSI, however, takes the cake for being one of the least effective apps on the Play Store.

Here's how it works: Secunia scans your apps for possible vulnerabilities. Not actual infections, mind you. It just checks to see if the currently installed versions of your application match any known security holes.

Feb

Adobe Releases Photoshop Touch For Phones, Pisses Off Tablet Users By Making It A Separate $5 App

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Adobe has kind of a scattershot mobile strategy. On the one hand, it released six apps back in 2011 for tablets that ranged from okay to awesome. On the other hand, it killed off five of them last year. The tablet versions cost $10 each. Pricey for an app, but Adobe knows how to bring it's A-game. Today, it's bringing it again with a phone version of Photoshop Touch. A distinct piece of software for $5.

Nearly all of the features of the tablet version are available here, including layer support, selective editing, and an array of touch-friendly gestures and menus that made the original app so dang nice.

Feb

Keep Your Pants On: Snapchat For Android Finally Updated With Video Support

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Apps/Games, News

If you've never heard of Snapchat, god! You guys are so behind the times! This app is like MMS and Mission Impossible all in one! Except it's not Mission Impossible because that's an old person show and who cares about Tom Cruise anymore? No time for watching movies when we're busy sending self-destructing pictures to each other. Set a timer on a message and, once it runs out, the recipient can no longer see your photo. That's how Snapchat has always worked and now the Android version can send videos as well!

If you have to ask why someone might need an app that destroys photos and videos after they've been seen, then perhaps you're not the target market.

Feb

TestFlight, Having Served Over 300,000 Apps, Announces Private Beta For Android

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Development, News

Popular beta testing platform TestFlight has officially announced its arrival to Android in private beta form, in a post to the TestFlight blog. If you're wondering how popular TestFlight really is, the same post should provide some reference: the service has been trusted with smoothing the process of beta app deployment for over 300,000 iOS apps. Needless to say, its expansion to Android is big news.

Of course, Android already has HockeyApp.net, and the Play Store offers private app deployment, TestFlight provides the ingredients for an impressively sleek beta testing process with secure deployment, tracking, and – perhaps best of all – centralized feedback.

Feb

Beautiful Widgets Hits v5.1, Brings New Widgets For Tablets, Improved Layouts For 4x1, Beta Channel, And More

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Today is national app update day. Not officially, but it sure feels like it. We've already seen updates to high-profile apps like Google Drive and Any.DO, but Beautiful Widgets may have set the bar for excellent updates on February 20th, 2013. The day's not over yet, but this one's a doozie.

So, what sorts of newness does it bring? Lots. Lots of sorts of newness. Like the option to select Weather Underground (wunderground) as your default weather service. You can also get rid of geolocation and set your location manually, if you so choose.

There's also a new feature called "Lifestyles" on the forecast screen – this lets you plan your activities around the weather.

Feb

New York Times App Updated With A Night Mode And Customizable Widget

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Last Updated: February 22nd, 2013

The New York Times, old guard or not, is still a huge source of news to a lot of people and to the company's credit, it's paying a decent amount of attention to its mobile apps. Now the publication is issuing an update that brings a night mode that inverts the colors for easier night reading. As someone who likes to minimize the amount of bright white light blasting into my eyes, I appreciate the option.

Additionally, the company is adding a customizable widget that, frankly, gets nearly everything right: it's resizable, you can customize which categories show up in the feed, and there is an easy button to change the widget settings if you should so choose.

Feb

BBC Sport Mobile App Launched For Android, Just In Time For Six Nations And The End Of The Premier League Season

Posted by John Thompson in Applications, News

The BBC finally launched an Android version of its BBC Sport app today, bringing all of the content from the BBC Sport website to you without making you visit through the browser.

The app has arrived just in time for "squeaky bum time" in the English Premier League, and the score of every single game that is being played in the Football League will be available to view as each game progresses.

Just like on the BBC website, live text commentary will be available for big games, such as Champions League and Premiership clashes, with video clips being made available to play through the app too.