Tag: REVIEWS

It's only been a day since the Android team announced the rollout for the Android Market update, which would bring new app categories, new developer options, and a sleeker interface -- but leave it to the Android community to get ahold of the updated package early. The APK was posted in a thread at the XDA Developers forum, and was promptly put to the test by dozens of devs and users alike. ...

Cortex is a must-have Chrome extension for anyone who shares links via social media. Instead of adding a button or right-click-activated contextual menu to your browser, Cortex pops up an innovative sharing circle when you hold down your mouse button. The circle looks cool, sure, but it's also a quick way to share stuff on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instapaper without even clicking. Just ...

When you look at some apps it's pretty clear that the design of the user experience was left a little late in the development cycle. It's common practice to employ a designer to finish off what the developer has already put in place, polishing the pixels if you will. That's certainly not the case with The Feed, as its claim to fame is that it's been made purely by a design firm, Ocean ...

TechSmith, with the launch of Snagit more than 20 years ago, is the definitive veteran of screen capture technology. Camtasia Studio, launched almost 10 years later, is now at version 7.1 and remains the best screen recording and video editing suite out there. TechSmith's latest tool, however, is an interesting mix of both Snagit and Camtasia. It's called Jing, and it makes sharing screenshots ...

With all of the social networking and "check-in" services that are available these days, you might think you've seen it all. But there's one currently untapped, check-in-able experience left and that's media. GetGlue, a free app by AdaptiveBlue, thinks it has that niche covered, and in essence, it's like Foursquare for media. The idea is that every time you watch a TV show or movie, listen to ...

If you're sick of Apple Mail, a new app called Sparrow might be the antidote. This lean, mean app is to email what Tweetie is to Twitter. By that, I mean that it borrows a lot of Tweetie's sexiest UI elements, including the interface for switching between accounts, the hotkeys and the sidebar navigation. Apart from looking great, the app has a very small screen footprint, with the full text of ...

I'm not quite sure if this one counts as 'news', and you'll probably want the 30 seconds of your life back afterwards, but anyway: Marco Arment (of Tumblr and Instapaper fame) has compiled a list of the most commonly used words in 1- and 5-star App Store reviews. In true American style, awesome and worth are at the top of the 5-star list. As Marco points out, it's very nice to see simple so ...

Clicker.com is like the TV guide of web shows (and TV shows online). It doesn't get as much hype as Netflix and Hulu, but does offer a lot of video content. Clicker is mostly worth talking about because of the iPhone app, though. Basically, it points you to content from all the video sites you watch for free (YouTube, Break.com, Revision3) and adds the ability to buy iTunes videos. With ...

Could MessageParty be the newest chat trend? It's an iPhone-only, location-based chatroom. That means you can jump in and start talking to people near you, in your city, or even in the worldwide "everybody" room. It's easy to set up, using Facebook Connect to log in, and there aren't a lot of frilly features. There aren't even direct messages, which really keeps the "party" in MessageParty. Just ...

The Incident's retro pixel graphics look anything but iPhone-esque, but this little gem of a game takes full advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer and touchscreen. You control a guy who's caught in a falling heap of every kind of debris you can imagine. Think Tetris, but instead of blocks you have to deal with couches, cars, Easter Island heads, and more. Oh, and instead of arranging the ...

If you're a mayorship-obsessed, Foursquare-loving, check-in fiend with an iPhone, Mayorama could be the best 99 cents you spend this week. It promises to show you the status of your mayorships -- how many check-ins you have at each venue, and how many to go until you become mayor -- and give you a list of targets (nearby vulnerable venues you can check into). Even if you're just wondering how many ...

If you've got some time to kill on your iPhone or Android device, StumbleUpon's new mobile apps are a good bet. I've been testing the iPhone version of StumbleUpon this weekend, and it has everything you'd want from a StumbleUpon mobile experience. The app's free, and it's tailored specifically to mobile browsing, so it beats opening the StumbleUpon website in Safari. There's a toolbar for ...

Earlier this week I reviewed NESoid, a tidy little Android app that lets you play the vast library of NES games on your smartphone. It's no surprise that my 600MHz smartphone can emulate the NES's 8-bit 1.8MHz (really!) processor -- but boy was I shocked when I installed PSX4droid and found I could (almost) play Final Fantasy VII on my phone. Note: just like the NES emulator, it's almost ...

Today... my Android phone arrived! Yes, I finally bit the bullet and bought one. I had hoped that someone would send me a review sample of a sexy HTC or something, but alas... cheap bastards... Anyway! This means you'll now be treated to reviews of Android apps. Most of them will be free and available from the Android Marketplace, but I will also occasionally turn my attention to the slightly ...

Last week news broke of Rdio, the new brainchild of the Kazaa and Skype creators. Everyone was very briefly elated until they found out a) it's USA-only, and b) it's still in the middle of private beta testing. Still, thanks to the kindness of a Download Squad reader, and some network hacking (I live in the UK), I can now tell you all about Rdio! If you prefer pictures, there's a high-resolution ...