Applications

AppToyz, the firm behind the AppBlaster augmented reality iPhone gun which proved popular last year, has revealed its smartphone-based offerings for this Christmas season. New toys include a fishing game which mounts an iPhone onto a toy fishing rod, a portable Karaoke machine, a quiz game with buzzer buttons, and an updated AppBlaster v2.0.  Read More

Along with the various new features to individual applications that mark any full revision to Adobe’s Creative Suite, this year’s CS6 release saw the introduction of a new subscription model called Adobe Creative Cloud. We recently had a chance to chat with Adobe Creative guru Michael Stoddart who walked us through some of the new changes implemented in CS6.  Read More

Microsoft has updated its My Xbox Live application, and now Android users can access their Xbox Live games, friends, and achievements, from anywhere. iOS users also received an update, adding the ability to use their phones to remotely control the Xbox 360, a feature that is expected to come to Android phones in the future. With My Xbox Live, Android users can enjoy a fully-featured Xbox Live client, as well as one of the best looking applications on the platform, as it does a great job of replicating the "metro" look of Windows Phone 7.  Read More

What if you take the world's most iconic jock and install the brains of some of the smartest tech nerds on the planet? Well, you get the Micro-Stang by West Coast Customs (WCC) and Microsoft. The custom car is the epitome of old meets new, taking the timeless looks of a 1967 Mustang and updating it with all kinds of cutting edge technology that the average Mustang - whether from 1967 or 2012 - will never have.  Read More

The company behind the now-abandoned Kno digital textbook has announced the beta release of a new digitized textbook reading application for the iPad. The free to download Textbooks for iPad app offers students access to a vast library of exact digital replicas of real-world textbooks with the added bonus of an enhanced, interactive reading experience, some useful organizational tools and social sharing features.  Read More

Barnes & Noble has taken the opportunity afforded by an Android OS update to bring some tablet-like functionality to its NOOK Color e-Reader. The version 1.2 firmware update brings specially-designed apps, full-featured email, enhanced browsing and new multimedia content. It's available now for free manual download but existing devices will be automatically updated via built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi over the coming weeks.  Read More

Gone are the days when we simply used our mobile phones for calling people – now we can conduct our own ECGs. We’ve already seen iPhone and Android applications that can create ultrasound images and that measure air pollution. Now tech companies IMEC and the Holst Center, together with TASS software professionals, have released a new heart rate monitoring application.  Read More

Spending time at an airport waiting for connecting flights or just trying to negotiate your way to your hotel can be frustrating, especially if you're on a tight schedule or budget. Like lots of problems we encounter these days ... there's an app for that. This one – FLYsmart – maps and displays all the immediate information air travelers may need, so backpackers can easily navigate their way to the cheapest form of transport leaving the airport or the business traveler can make layovers as hassle-free as possible.  Read More

Apple has caused a lot of confusion for iPhone app developers by banning them from creating apps using any compiler not created by Apple, but then approving apps that break this rule – even going so far as to promote them in the App Store. Finally it looks like Apple has seen the light (and presumably the benefits) and announced that it has relaxed restrictions on its iOS developer license, opening the doors to native Flash and AdMob applications – as long as the resulting apps do not download any code.  Read More