The Good NET Guide

Posts Tagged ‘introduction’

One of the advantages of having a plethora of app directories for iPhone and Android devices, is the wealth of additional data that has emerged regarding users buying and downloading habits. Facebook-based app directory mPlayit has a few compelling stats out today that show that games are four times as popular among iPhone users than among the Android user base. BlackBerry users are twice as likely to be looking for games content than Android users, eventhough BlackBerry devices are primarily used for business purposes.

According to mPlayit, 83 percent of Android app activity on the directory/store is related to non-game related mobile apps, and 17 percent of activity is towards downloading and checking out games. On the other hand, 36 percent of iPhone app activity is related to non-game related mobile apps, with 64 percent of activity towards gaming on the device.

Other trends identified by mPlayit include the massive growth of location-based apps, with Loopt, Foursquare and Gowalla all receiving attention on the directory by users. But mPlayit says that even lesser known location-based apps such as FastMall and AroundMe on iPhone are receiving an increased number of downloads. Evernote continues to dominate on the Android, iPhone and BlackBerry platforms, in the Lists & Notes category. Barcode-scanning apps are also increasingly popular, holding the top Utilities category slot for iPhone and BlackBerry, and the second Shopping category slot for Android and iPhone.

The fact that that Android platform doesn’t support gaming as well as the iPhone is not new. But with the introduction of powerful Android devices such as Motorola’s Droid and most recently, Google’s Nexus 1, gaming apps and functionality has improved on the device. Especially now that both devices have multi-touch technology. That being said, it may take a bit longer for both developers and users to catch on.

MPlayit /2009/11/18/myplayit-launches-mobile-app-discovery-directory-on-facebook/”>launched its Facebook app that allows users to discover, share and recommend a variety of mobile apps back in November and covers apps available for the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Mobile (Java) devices. Mplayit’s directory of apps includes a dedicated page for each app where Mplayit will post videos of the app (created either by the developer or pulled from YouTube), a detailed description of the app and reviews. You can also click to buy the app from various app markets, including Apple’s App Store and the Android Market. Once you start clicking on various app and downloading apps, Mplayit will begin to recommend apps to you based on your behavior on the site.

Social travel guide tripwolf has released an updated iPhone app that ramps up the company’s freemium offering with the introduction of in-app purchases for destinations where tripwolf has more in-depth information.

The premium content is garnered from the startup’s existing partnerships with travel guide publishers, which is supplemented with user-generated content from the tripwolf community. Additionally, the iPhone app offers a bunch interactive features, including photo-uploads, the ability to vote for locations, write reviews, search for points of interest, and add new locations or places to the tripwolf travel guides.

Your Tuesday afternoon just got a super-shot of excitement, as Panasonic unveils four new digital cameras: the ZR3, TS2, ZS7, and ZS5! Take your pick of ultra-compact, mega-zoom, waterproof, or GPS.

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Four — count ‘em, four! — new Panasonic cameras announced

I have bad eyes. A lot of nerds do and I can unforunatly see myself needing something like this before I leave this earth. But I’ll be damned if I pay $149.95 for it at Hammacher Schlemmer

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Wireless magnifier broadcasts tiny text to your gigantic TV

I love CEO spats.

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MagicJack CEO: netTalk is garbage! netTALK: No we aren’t!

My buddy Lou tells this story: he was with his girlfriend at the time and he got a call from a couple they knew. They couple invited them over for “boardgames and wine” and Lou said “Sure.” Then his girlfriend told him that they were not going over for boardgames and wine because, in that couple’s special code, “boardgames and wine” as some sort of weird partner swapping game involving lots of booze.

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OLED board game pieces promise to take Carcassonne into the far future

In a move that baffles and, in a way, excites, Sony has released the Dash, a $199 “personal Internet viewer.” It’s basically a 7-inch tablet that will cost $199. It looks absolutely nothing like the Mylo , which is very good news Within the device, an internal accelerometer supports vertical flip, allowing for two optional viewing angles: upright, ideal for a table or nightstand; and tilted, perfect for a countertop. It also supports multiple user profiles and channels, allowing several members of the household to create and maintain their own customized view of the Internet

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Sony releases the Dash

We got shut out of the Panasonic presser (shame on them), but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer. Lucky for you, Electric Pig has a solid blow-by-blow of the event, and Giz got some great shots of the camera itself. There were other devices announced, of course, but this is the coolest thing if you ask me.

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Panasonic finally releases its 3D camcorder, and it looks like WALL-E

Here’s the Nexus One, all ripped up . They found a few interesting tidbits including the 1GHz Qualcomm processor and all of the GSM chips that power this little mother.

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iFixIt tears down the Nexus One

Earlier this morning Microsoft outlined some of the major new changes coming to Bing, including the introduction of the new Bing Maps (you can see our full coverage here). A few minutes ago, the Bing Maps Beta went live for everyone, bringing with it a number of innovative new features sure to keep the Google Maps team on their toes. You can try out the new beta here. But there’s one catch: in order to tap into the site’s new features, you’re going to have to have Microsoft’s Silverlight installed.

There are a number of new things to check out here. First, there’s Streetside, Bing’s answer to Google Street View. The controls are nearly identical to Street View, allowing you to virtually stroll down the road and pan around to look at the buildings you’re passing. But Bing is doing some innovative things here. In Google Maps, when you leave one area and walk down the street to another, the images blur together for a moment in a sort of “light speed” effect. Bing is taking a different approach: it’s actually building 3D models based on its images, so you can smoothly walk down the street, at least in theory. In my experience this is still slow and pretty glitchy (I’ve seen some odd polygon loading issues), but you can see that it’s going to be very cool once it’s more polished.

Unfortunately, you’ll find that Streetside isn’t nearly as comprehensive as Google Maps — I just tried to take use it in Palo Alto (where TechCrunch HQ is located) and the option wasn’t available. Here’s a map showing how much of the Bay Area is covered by Streetside:

Bing Maps is also taking advantage of Microsoft’s very cool Photosynth technology, which we’ve covered extensively over the last few years. The technology can take multiple photos and stich them together to create a 3D environment that you can “walk through” by clicking on each new photo. It’s a little bit like Street View, but these Synths are usually built around a landmark (like the Statue of Liberty) and let you see the subject from many different angles. It generally works quite well, but Photosynth has never gotten much attention from the public. Integration in Bing Maps will likely introduce these synths to a much larger audience.

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