When you buy an Android app from the Google app store, they give the app maker your full name, email address and the neighborhood where you live. This occurs without clear warning every single time you buy an app.
If you can’t trust Google’s app store, how can you trust them for anything?
Maybe Eric Schmidt can answer that for us.
Security firm Lookout has detailed a clever new bit of Android Malware lurking in the Google Play store. The good news: unless you’re downloading questionable Russian clone apps, you’re probably not affected. The bad news: that hasn’t kept it from being downloaded a few million times.
Nice going Google.
A good look at the smartphone market by Benedict Evans.
Two iconic products will be forming an alliance later this year: the iPhone from Apple and the Beetle from Volkswagen. From that point on, the smartphone will interface to vehicle functions of the Beetle and Beetle Cabriolet via a specially developed app (“Volkswagen Car Net The Beetle”) and a docking station.
Sounds great.
One song is already available for download. The album hits the store on June 11.
World-renowned animator and triple-Oscar-winner Richard Williams presents ‘The Animator’s Survival Kit’ for iPad.
Taking the globally bestselling Kit to a whole new dimension, this app provides the underlying principles that every animator needs. Aspiring or professional, digital, classical or stop motion, animators can now engage with Williams and his work like never before. Watch unreleased films or interact with over 100 animated examples — learn from the legend himself.
Dave Addey showed me this app while I was in Dublin for the Ull Conference and it was stunning.
The finished product looks really nice.
Federico Viticci:
It may be called “gaming the system” or “forecasting downloads” — in both cases, I don’t think that “showcasing” apps by finding loopholes in the Developer Guidelines and leveraging advertising techniques as tools to manipulate Apple’s ranking algorithm is good for the App Store. I believe this is true for AppGratis and any other native iOS app that is based on this premise. It’s in Apple’s right — and developer agreement — to ban apps that work in this way.
Good story from Federico — worth a read.
AskingPoint includes “Rating Booster,” the smart rating widget that uses your analytics to ask only your best users to rate your Apps. Proven to increase sales dramatically!
By Developers for Developers.
Patrick Rhone takes you through all the things you’ll need to do if you want to be a consultant. The advice is good for any business really.
What makes mobile typography special is the restrictive nature of mobile screens; they are small and used in brightly lit areas so that it is difficult to see anything. Therefore, when it comes to typography for mobile devices you have to be very careful about how you go about it. Most people would agree that there are three big components that help making mobile typography great: size, contrast and spacing.
This is classic. One headline blares “LG Display Gets Boost from Apple” while another trumpets “Slowdown in Apple orders weighs on LG Display’s first-quarter profit.”
Okay, which one is it?
Philip Elmer-Dewitt takes a look at who’s behind the Apple-bashing. There are certainly others, like the WSJ, but this is a good start.
TweetDeck AIR, TweetDeck for Android and TweetDeck for iPhone will be removed from their respective app stores and will stop functioning on May 7. Our Facebook integration will also stop on May 7.
To continue to offer a great product that addresses your unique needs, we’re going to focus our development efforts on our modern, web-based versions of TweetDeck. To that end, we are discontinuing support for our older apps: TweetDeck AIR, TweetDeck for Android and TweetDeck for iPhone. They will be removed from their respective app stores in early May and will stop functioning shortly thereafter [see update]. We’ll also discontinue support for our Facebook integration.
A very interesting article by José Luis Antúnez. Every answer leads to another question, but they are all pieces that need to be worked out.
Paul Kafasis on Boston.
Seth Godin:
The original CD ROMs, for example, often had a home screen that started with a bookshelf, and you clicked on the ‘book’ you wanted to ‘open’ (excessive use of quotations intentional). Here’s the thing: bookshelves are a great idea if you want to store actual books on an actual shelf. They’re a silly way to index digital information, though.
I agree that design can’t get in the way of how we use something, but Skeuomorphic design also adds a level of familiarity to the new digital products we’re using. I’m still a fan of using it.
I love this. Photographer Flora Borsi adds herself to historic photos holding a modern item like a smartphone or camera.
I love those commercials, but this line has to be the best.
His beard alone has experienced more than a lesser man’s entire body.
If you need to do anything with PDFs, you need PDFpen. You can add a signature, make changes to text and images, correct a typo, fill out forms–and that’s only the beginning. Got a scanned document? PDFpen includes OCR so you can convert that scan into text that can be searched, copied, and corrected. Want to remove sensitive info such as tax ID numbers from your PDF before sharing it? PDFpen can perform redaction, removing the stuff you want to keep private.
The big news is that PDFpen 6 is now available, and the new features make it more powerful and easier to use than ever. The interface and tools have been updated and improved. And now you can export your PDFs to Microsoft Word format for sharing or editing. If you want to see the new features in action, check out the great video by David Sparks where you can see the new features.
Buy PDFpen for $60 in the Mac App Store or directly from Smile. Or buy PDFpenPro for $100 and you’ll get advanced features like form creation tools and document permission settings. Find out more at Smile Software.
If you need to do anything with PDFs, you need PDFpen. You can add a signature, make changes to text and images, correct a typo, fill out forms–and that’s only the beginning. Got a scanned document? PDFpen includes OCR so you can convert that scan into text that can be searched, copied, and corrected. Want to remove sensitive info such as tax ID numbers from your PDF before sharing it? PDFpen can perform redaction, removing the stuff you want to keep private.
The big news is that PDFpen 6 is now available, and the new features make it more powerful and easier to use than ever. The interface and tools have been updated and improved. And now you can export your PDFs to Microsoft Word format for sharing or editing. If you want to see the new features in action, check out the great video by David Sparks where you can see the new features.
Buy PDFpen for $60 in the Mac App Store or directly from Smile. Or buy PDFpenPro for $100 and you’ll get advanced features like form creation tools and document permission settings. Find out more at Smile Software.
Matt Drance:
Do you enter uncharted territory, make your own mobile operating system, and hope people switch?
Of course not. You make your competitor’s system yours — overnight. Facebook Home is a trojan horse designed to steal the Android experience, and the Android user base, right out of Google’s hands.
It’s a brilliant move by Facebook, especially since Google is trying so hard to compete with Facebook. I chuckle every time I think about it.
Daniel Eran Dilger did such a great job with this article.
Dan Frommer:
My guess is that many — most? — of these people are Facebook users, and could easily see some utility in having Facebook features highlighted on their phones. And — bonus — Facebook’s software looks good. Much better than the junk that ships with typical low-end Android devices.
I agree with Dan. Facebook has a lot of users that couldn’t care less about what phone they have. They check email and Facebook — that’s who they are going after with Facebook Home.
Honestly, I’m not surprised. In the mobile market, Microsoft has proven over the years that it doesn’t know what customers want.
Thanks to Doxie for sponsoring The Loop this week. There’s never been a better time to go paperless. Doxie scans your paper – simply, automatically, and with no computer required. Just push the button and insert your sheet. Doxie scans anywhere in your home or office with a built-in rechargeable battery and memory.
When you’re ready to organize, sync scans to your Mac or iPad, just like a digital camera. Doxie’s elegant Mac app creates multi-page searchable PDFs you can save or send to Evernote, Dropbox, or via iMessage. Doxie even works with your iPad with both Apple’s Lightning and 30-pin SD Card Reader accessories.
Available now: the rechargeable Doxie Go for just $199.
Lex Friedman has a great article on the app economy and some of the excellent work developers do to make the apps we all use.
It translates guitar notes into computer keystrokes.
Seriously? This is what they have to battle the iPhone?
[Via DF]
MG Siegler sums it up nicely.