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Jun

Cut The Rope Finally Coming To Android This Friday?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Games, News

In probably the least subtle unofficial announcement possible, the Cut The Rope developer team (via Twitter) sent us a message with this picture:

Now, whether there is supposed to be an "Amazon" there is unknown. If so, they might want to change the spelling - lest they give Apple some ammunition in its recent litigation. And if it is an Amazon Appstore release, that means it's likely non-US Android users won't be able to access it for a couple of weeks. Bummer.

Still, Cut The Rope has long been promised for Android, and it's good to see the developer team has been hard at work making that happen.

May

[Amazon Appstore Lawsuit] An App Store Is Not A Store For Apps, Says Apple (No, Really, They Said That)

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, News

Yesterday, in the Federal Court for the Northern District of California, Apple filed its response to a counterclaim (filed by Amazon) in its ongoing suit over Amazon's use of the word "Appstore" in its new Android... app store (what else am I supposed to call it, Apple? An app acquisition service?)

The counterclaim contained one of the single greatest premises for a trademark lawsuit I have ever seen (not that I've seen that many):

Apple denies that, based on their common meaning, the words “app store” together denote a store for apps.

- Apple, Inc., 2011

Now, from a legal perspective, this makes a bit more sense given what Apple is arguing (not to say that the merits of their case don't look shaky.) From a common sense perspective, this is one of the most hilariously backward things I (and I'm sure you all) have ever read.

Apr

For The Conversationalists - Today's Free Premium Amazon Appstore App Is Trillian (Normally $4.99) [4/16/11]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

After a bunch of relatively uninteresting premium apps given out for free in Amazon's Android Appstore, today's offering is really quite refreshing. Users of the desktop version of Trillian will instantly recognize their beloved multi-network IM client's logo, and those new to it will find its features quite impressive:

support for AIM, Facebook, Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, and, of course, Google Talk
Trillian synchronizes contacts, avatars, statuses, and accounts between Android, Mac, Windows, and Web clients
push notifications for those on Android 2.2+
multiple chat windows, emoticons, and more

While Trillian is no longer my client of choice on the desktop (Digsby took that spot), I must say that if you're looking for a great multi-network IM client on Android, it's hard to go wrong with this [normally $4.99] offering from Cerulean Studios.

Apr

For The Scientist In You - Today's Free Premium Amazon Appstore App Is Wolfram Alpha (Normally $1.99) [4/7/11]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Could it be? Is Amazon offering another useful app that I actually want to own for the 2nd day in a row? That's pretty much a first so far, with the Shazam Encore/SwiftKey tag team being a close second. What makes today's deal especially valuable is that there is no free version of Wolfram Alpha at all, so combined with 4.7 stars and over 1,800 reviews in the official Market, getting today's free app right away is pretty much a no-brainer.

When Wolfram Alpha was introduced back in 2009, it sent shockwaves through the Internet and the scientific community due to its incredible artificial intelligence and instant usefulness in myriads of both highly scientific and day-to-day computations.

Apr

Now We're Talking - Today's Free Premium Amazon Appstore App Is The Excellent PicSay Pro (Normally $3.99)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Deals, News

After a few days of relatively disappointing free premium apps of the day in the Amazon Appstore, today we have a real treat - the Pro version of a photo editing app PicSay. Before I go on, I must note that this is the only photo editing app I actually bought quite a while ago, after playing around with the free version. It's no wonder - the app has 4.8 stars and over 11,000 ratings in the Market.

PicSay Pro is one of the easiest and most versatile programs for quickly editing, saving, and sharing photos. And did I mention it's fun?

Mar

Amazon Appstore Doubles Down: Farm Frenzy And Newsweek Mobile Both Free Today

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, Deals, Games, News, Tips & Tutorials

That's right, Amazon's offering not one, but two free apps on the Amazon Appstore this morning! You can pick up the popular HeroCraft title Farm Frenzy along with the official Newsweek Mobile app from Amazon free of charge.

I don't know about you - but I can't tell which is which.

Newsweek Mobile offers Amazon's "Test Drive" in-browser emulation, so you can try it from your browser before making the 15 second commitment to put it on your phone. Anyways, load up the Amazon Appstore (if you can) and grab these freebies while the getting is good.

Update: We've gotten in touch with Herocraft, the developer of Farm Frenzy, about extra permissions that their game uses (such as access to contacts).

Mar

Amazon Is On A Roll: Today's Free Premium Android Appstore App - SwiftKey Keyboard

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Deals, News

Without taking a break from yesterday's free Shazam Encore deal, Amazon is continuing its daily giveaway of awesome premium Android apps with another one of our favorites - SwiftKey Keyboard.

SwiftKey normally costs $1.99 in the Android Market ($1.79 in the Amazon Appstore), but for the next 24 hours, U.S. residents will be able to download it to their Digital Lockers for free, thereby claiming it forever. Even if you are not a fan of SwiftKey just yet, there is no reason to pass on this deal if you can get it - just do it now, then think and decide later.

Mar

Amazon Appstore's Free Premium App Of The Day: Shazam Encore (Normally $5)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Deals, News

To those who can access it (read: U.S. users), the Amazon Appstore may seem like one of the best things since sliced bread - it trumps Google's own web-based Android Market in almost every way. One of such differentiating features is the Goldbox-like Free Premium App of the Day concept that, like Groupon and its competitors, was introduced to provide great deals to consumers and giant spikes in traffic to app developers.

Of course, it was no surprise that the first such premium app given away was Angry Birds: Rio (though, it remains free to this day and was clearly more of a marketing ploy), but the next few apps were not really that exciting.

Mar

Nostalgic For Heroes Of Might & Magic? Highborn From The Guys Who Made Command & Conquer Is Now Exclusively In The Amazon Android Market

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News

When I was growing up in the 90s, one of my favorite games I probably spent a combined year of playing time on was Heroes Of Might And Magic, a turn-based strategy that you can play for weeks. Since each move lasts as long as you want, it's easy to keep playing whenever you have a free moment (or a block of 5 hours in my case), and the vast number of strategies, heroes, units, and resources provided for almost infinite replay value.

While not exactly HOMM, today I was very excited to see a new game, called Highborn, made by the guys at Jet Set Games, who in turn used to work in Westwood Studios, the company that made equally as infamous Command & Conquer (+ Red Alert) back in the 90s.

Mar

[Updated] The Amazon Android Appstore Now Live - Angry Birds Rio Is The First Free App Of The Day [Download]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, News

Moments ago, after months of preparations and precisely on the rumored release date of March 22nd, the Amazon Android Appstore finally went live.

Update: The Amazon App Store is now back up, but it looks like it's US-only. Also, the Test Drive is not available anymore, at least for now.

If the appstore is still down for you, try downloading the app using this direct link to the appstore APK (I got it via an SMS from Amazon): http://amzn.to/getappstore. You should be able to log into your account, browse, and download apps this way.

You can filter apps by featured categories, such as Instant Trials, Bestsellers, Top Rated, New Releases, Free, and Deals, as well as conventional categories, such as Games, Music, News & Weather, etc.