App

Angry Birds Comes to Google Chrome (FREE/GAME)

12 May 2011 1:37 AM

Angry Birds

Angry Birds (Credit: Rovio)


The most popular mobile game in history has officially made the move from mobile platforms to the personal computer thanks to some help from . The new version of can now be downloaded for the app store of the .

Millions of users who enjoy the addicting birds vs. pigs game can now take their addition to the next level with a version of the game specifically developed for the chrome browser. Rovio, Angry Birds’ mother company was quoted on its blog as saying:
“This is only a beta release of the game, and so far we have 63 levels of the original game available, with an additional 7 special Chrome levels. We are working on bringing more levels to Chrome, and planning on making the Mighty Eagle available as an in-app purchase option.”

At the recent Google I/O developer conference the head of Rovio Peter Vesterbacka demonstrated the game on the Google Chrome browser. The company used the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) to develop the Web-based app which is hosted on the Google App store. According to Versterbacka developing a web based version of the game was impossible until now because of the graphics requirement of the game, but the latest version of Chrome and the new app store gives them just the right tools for the job. There are hoping to create more levels (some of them unique to chrome) and take the game out of beta as soon as possible. In the future players will be able to purchase premium levels using Google’s in-app payment system but the basic version will most probably stay free of charge.

Downloading the game is simple. Open the following link using Google Chrome. Install the Angry Birds app and enjoy some Birds vs. Pigs action.

Apple unveils subscription service in App Store

15 February 2011 11:22 PM

Apple launched a subscription service at the App Store for magazines, newspapers, videos, and music bought through its App Store.

In a move that goes a long way to addressing concerns of many in the magazine and newspaper sectors, Apple said today that publishers will be allowed to set the price and the length of the subscription term. The processing of payments will be Apple’s job and handled within the App Store. Apple will collect 30 percent of the revenue.

“Our philosophy is simple,” Steve Jobs wrote in a statement. “When Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share. When the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing.”

“All we require,” Jobs continued, “is that if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app.”

The Apple iPad has proven to be a popular media-consumption device and magazine and newspaper executives are typically excited about the tablet’s appeal as an e-reader. But to get their content on the iPad, some in the newspaper and magazine sectors are dissatisfied with the money Apple once offered–a 30 percent cut forever. They were also unhappy with the amount of control Apple would exercise over subscriptions and user data.

But this latest offer from Apple Inc is more publisher friendly, said Chuck McCullagh, a former senior vice president with the Magazine Publishers Association of America.

“Apple should become a significant channel and this might reduce pain [for publishers],” McCullagh told CNET. “If Apple brings a customer to app it gets 30 percent. When publisher brings new or existing subscriber, Apple gets nothing. That is an advance.”

But McCullagh, who is now a consultant and advises magazines on their digital strategies, also still sees some sticking points. Apple’s requirement that publishers must offer the same subscription for the app as it does out of it, could “bump into the common publisher practice of selling subscriptions at different prices across [distribution] channel’s,” McCullagh said. Some of those channels include the publisher’s Web site, direct mail and newsstands.

Apple said this is the same digital-subscription billing service that the company recently launched with The Daily app, created by News Corp. for the Apple iPad, In that case as with the latest announcement, Apple is giving subscribers the option to provide personal information, such as name and e-mail address, to publishers. This won’t meet the needs of the publishers, McCullagh said, adding that publishers don’t want third parties overseeing their relationship with readers.

Apple said that the relationship between the publisher and the App Store isn’t exclusive. Publishers can sell subscriptions on their own site or offer free access to existing customers, Subscriptions can be weekly, monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, biannual, or annual.

Publishers must provide their own authentication process within the app for subscribers who have signed up for service outside the App Store, according to Apple.

Chuck McCullagh is the father of CNET.com reporter Declan McCullagh.

Apple App Store Ready To Hit 10 Billion Downloads

14 January 2011 7:00 PM

It won’t be long before Apple App store customers help the company reach the 10 billion programs downloaded level, as is shown by the company’s own giant app download counter (pictured above).

To put the 10 billion mark into perspective at the end of September 2009 the company sat at 2 billion apps downloaded, by January 2010 they were at 3 billion and then through 2010 their numbers more than tripled.

Download sales have been of course helped by not just the Apple iPhone series of devices but also the Apple iPod Touch and the very quick success of the Apple iPad.

The 10 billionth person to download an app from the store will receive a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, even if the 10 billionth mobile application is a free one to procure.

You can find the rules for the $10,000 prize by clicking here.

TweetDeck Finally Comes To The Web As A Chrome App!

8 December 2010 4:11 AM


You can get TweetDeck, the popular realtime stream reader, as a desktop client, on your iPhone and iPad, or Android phone. But up until now, there was no Web browser version (unlike Seesmic, which is best known as a browser-based app). Today, TweetDeck released its first Web client as a Chrome app in the new Chrome Webstore.

“It’s definitely our best version of a desktop TweetDeck so far,” says CEO Iain Dodsworth.

You can sign in with your existing TweetDeck account, and add different realtime streams in different columns—Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare checkins, Google Buzz. Soon it will support Gmail as well. ChromeDeck, as it was codenamed during development, borrows some UI elements from its most recent Android app. There are combined columns labeled Home (all timelines from various accounts), Me (all mentions and messages directed at you such as Twitter @replies), and Inbox (direct messages, and soon Facebook and Gmail messages).

The Chrome app is supposed to be faster, more stable, and less of a memory hog than the desktop AIR version. Once you “install” it onto your browser, it exists within its own tab. And it is always available for you, with any other apps you install, when you launch a new blank tab.

The first thing you notice if you are a regular TweetDeck user is that it is completely silent. That silence won’t last long, however. Dodsworth & Co. is working on “getting some TweetDeck sounds recorded and added to all the apps” in an effort to try to “create a social soundscape whereby you don’t even need to look at your screen and you have a sense of what’s going on.” Oh boy, my wife is going to love that. Bleep, Zoink, Boop.

I prefer the silence. (Silent-mode, please). The other thing you notice is how things pop up when you need them to and disappear when you don’t. Click on the compose box up top, and it expands to give you room to write, add images and your location, and select to which accounts you want to send out your message. Hit reply in your stream, and a reply box zooms up to the top of the column along with the Tweet or message you are responding too, all in-line. Smooth.

Source: techcrunch.com, By Erick Schonfeld.

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Nokia Phones Get Official WordPress App

1 November 2010 1:00 AM


Aofficial app for users of the popular WordPress blogging software is now live on the Nokia’s fast-growing Ovi Store for mobile apps. It lets you blog on the go, and it rivals the other platforms in features so Nokia-using bloggers have plenty to be happy about.

WordPress already released official apps for Android, iPhone and BlackBerry so people can update their WordPress blogs from their mobile phones. The apps work for blogs hosted on WordPress servers and for blogs hosted elsewhere that just use the WordPress platform and content management system (CMS).

Since WordPress is an open source project, you can also grab the source code for the app — just in case you’re extra savvy and want to make some modifications. The app supports WordPress 2.7 and up as it is but talented coders should be able to build in support for proprietary versions of WordPress and extra features to boot.

Like its counterparts on other platforms, the Nokia app is free. It’s not yet compatible with Symbian3 devices like the N8, C6, C7, but it works just fine on the N97 Mini and the X6. Head over to the Ovi Store to download it if you’re a Nokia user.

Who’s willing to bet that Windows Phone 7 is next?

Source mashable.com