by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
One of the frequently heard complaints about iPhone applications is that with more than 85,000 options, finding good ones can be tricky and time-consuming. Could the answer be yet another app?
Envio Networks on Tuesday is launching Chorus, a free app that shows users the ones their friends are trying out and suggests ones that might interest them. The Andover, Mass.-based company, which has received funding from Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners, specializes in social-networking technology and saw the Apple device as a good showcase for what it can do.
by Jessica E. Vascellaro, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Facebook Wednesday threw its software developers a bone, releasing a “roadmap” of forthcoming features to help them plan their products. They include new ways for software applications, like games, to messages Facebook users when their friends want to play Scrabble, for instance.
by Evan Ramstad, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Samsung Electronics Co.’s profits are on the rise again as its chip and display businesses recover from operating losses earlier this year. The turnaround recently helped push its market capitalization past Intel Corp.’s for the first time.
Money. Would you spend it on apps? It seems apposite to ask, since something of an argument has blown up inside the blogosphere over the upcoming release of Tweetie 2, a Twitter client…
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Had the urge to abandon city life and tend a cornfield instead? Millions of others are getting their agricultural fix on Facebook, thanks to the fast-growing game FarmVille.
FarmVille, which social-gaming company Zynga launched on June 19, is a free Facebook app that lets members grow produce and raise animals.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Nonprofit organizations seeking to harness Facebook can get the most bang for their buck by using fan pages in addition to groups, streamlining their app usage and livening things up, one of its marketing execs said Friday.
Pages operate like profiles for organizations or businesses, can only be created by official representatives and can add applications, while groups are unofficial and can be created by any user.
by Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
In a megastore as big as Apple’s iPhone App Store, the secret to success is getting noticed. With more than 65,000 apps in 20 categories, app developers have come up with different strategies to accomplish that.
One focus is getting on Apple’s ranking lists, which people regularly comb through to find apps they want. Apple ranks free and paid apps based on the number of downloads.
Here is the latest comic from our Joy of Tech friends at Geek Culture, Nitrozac and Snaggy. Joy of Tech appears three times a week in the Voices section of this site. (Click on the image to see a bigger version.)
Here is the latest comic from our Joy of Tech friends at Geek Culture, Nitrozac and Snaggy. Joy of Tech appears three times a week in the Voices section of this site. (Click on the image to see a bigger version.)
by Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Apple is about to remove the shackles from developers of applications for the iPhone.
While iPhone users have mostly praised the steady stream of games, guides and other programs released thus far, many developers have been frustrated by their inability to do more, such as allow users to purchase digital content within an application.
by Josh Marshall, Editor and Publisher, Talking Points Memo
Until quite recently, I’d seen a Kindle only once. It was at a friend’s house, only for a moment, and my general impression was that it was clunky and only borderline readable.
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