Apps: News

In March, Twitter announced that it would be shutting down its TweetDeck iOS and Android apps. That's bad news for TweetDeck devotees, but good news for Twitter--I'm betting that the social network plans to funnel users to its own app, which offers basic functionality but allows the company to display paid tweets (better known as ads).

After years of languishing mostly unchanged, Flickr--the one-time leader in photo-sharing sites--finally got a major overhaul on Monday. With the update, everyone now gets 1TB of storage (for photos up to 200MB and videos up to 1GB or three minutes each), and the site itself got a massive facelift. I took some time to play with the new-look Flickr, and while the updated photo sharing service is a solid upgrade overall, it feels unfinished to a degree.

Samsung will host a $US800,000 contest for developers that build apps for the Galaxy S4 using the company's peer-to-peer software interface.

Gartner predicts that one quarter of enterprises will have their own application store by 2017, and that Australia will keep pace with this global average.

We may not have a new version of Android to drool over, but at least we've got more feature-filled, better-looking maps. At its Google I/O keynote, the company announced an enhanced version of its popular Google Maps service. The demos shown on stage drew some applause out of the otherwise listless attendees, and I was itching for the chance to put this improved version of Maps through its paces.

Brandon Ashmore, who calls Mentor, Ohio, home, has just had a very good day. Apple has announced that Ashmore download the 50 billionth app from the App Store.

A new feature released Tuesday from children's app maker Kidaptive lets parents track the progress of what their children are learning inside the company's first story and game application.

Apple's App Store is about to hit 50 billion downloads, here's how to have the best chance of winning $10,000.

An update to Windows 8 is in the works, codenamed Windows Blue.

The iPhone app is the most popular way for Australian customers to order Domino’s pizzas, outside of desktop ordering.

Brace yourselves: Google will definitely announce a new flavor of Android at Wednesday's Google I/O keynote. It remains to be seen whether the new build will be a full version jump to Key Lime Pie or a more incremental update, but if rumors prove true, Google's mobile OS should move in a more game-oriented and social direction.

Have some business travel planned? Get ready to put on a happy face, chat strangers up and expand your professional circle at the next conference or seminar. Here are some trusty iPhone apps to help you network.

Facebook Home's ratings may be lukewarm, but the social network interface is spreading to more smartphones. Home for Android is now available on the flagship HTC One and unofficially it works with Samsung's Galaxy S4.

The combination of highly virtualised environments inside enterprise networks, along with an explosion of mobile traffic, are exposing the limitations of existing networks, and driving the need for a new era of dynamic and scalable networks of the future, IDC researchers said in a panel discussion at Interop this week.

More than a year ago, Microsoft invested $US300 million in Barnes & Noble's plan to spin-off its Nook business. At the time, the deal promised a few tablet-centric possibilities. Would Nook tablets dump Android in favor of Windows? Would the Nook catalog be part of an entertainment-centric device like the still-mythical Xbox Surface?

Facebook has attracted "just about" 1 million downloads of its Home application in its first month of availability.

If social networks were ice cream flavors, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter would be hopelessly vanilla.

Google Maps is rumored to get a UI overhaul next week. According to the Google Operating System blog (an unofficial Google blog), the new interface will nix the sidebar and overlay all the information on top of a full page screen.

Facebook has asked Microsoft to remove 41 unofficial and clone 'Facebook' apps from the Windows Phone store as the social network prepares to introduce its official app for the platform.

I'm all in with Microsoft. I've got Windows 8 running on my primary work machine, I subscribe to Office 365 Home Premium , and I use almost every online consumer service that the company offers.