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Filed under: Developer, Photo

Flickr collects cool photo apps in its new App Garden

Flickr has an open and very powerful API that's been around since 2004. Five years later, developers have built an enormous number of great apps and cool toys for Flickr. Now you can browse and discover Flickr apps in one central location, the new App Garden. Apps in the garden range from stats to importing/exporting to integration with other sites.

Although Flickr has chosen some featured apps to display prominently on the front page, any developer can submit to the App Garden. The Garden itself isn't the only place apps are being promoted around Flickr. On each photo page, along with the info you regularly see, you'll now see which app the photographer used to upload the image - as long as it's an app has already been submitted and listed by Flickr. If you're a developer, you have plenty of incentive to submit your app, and if you're a Flickr power user, you'll definitely want to check out what's already been posted.

[via Flickr Blog]

Filed under: Business, Apple, iPhone

Apple allows free-to-paid demo apps on iPhone

One of the biggest complaints about Apple's iPhone App Store has been the lack of any way to try an app before you buy it. Apple has addressed that issue by allowing free-to-paid app upgrades. This means apps that used to have two separate versions, free and paid, will now be able to merge into a single download, with the ability to buy an upgrade from within the app.

Apple has been pretty strict about rejecting demo versions of apps although "lite" apps have been allowed. Basically, developers weren't allowed to give away a feature-crippled free version of an app for the purpose of upselling customers to a feature-complete paid version. That rule made Apple look harsh compared to competitors like Android, which offers a trial period after which users can get a refund on an app they don't like. If Apple isn't going to do something like that, allowing demo capabilities is the next best thing.

[via TUAW]

Filed under: Developer, Social Software, Microblogging

Oneforty: an app store for Twitter

I know there are a lot of third-party apps and services built on Twitter, but I had no idea how many until I heard about Oneforty. Oneforty is a Twitter app store that currently lists a staggering 1,300+ apps. These include everything from Twitter clients to third-party services that add additional features to Twitter using the API. Oneforty is in private beta right now, but you can request an invitation to get a look at the goods.

You currently can't buy apps from Oneforty itself, but you can click through to the iTunes App Store or the site of each individual application. Apparently, plans are in the works to sell the apps directly from the Oneforty website. The site is sorted by category and ranked by popularity, making it easier to find the apps you're looking for. I'm not sure developers are going to be wild about Oneforty: considering the business challenges iPhone developers face because there's a central clearinghouse for all apps, I'm sure they're hoping Oneforty attracts some competitors.

[via TechCrunch]

Filed under: Fun, Commercial, iPhone

My goodness, my Guinness -- now on the iPhone!

I'll admit right of front that I wish this app was free - it's the least Guinness could do after all the beer money I've spent on their lovely tar-black brew over the years. $1.99 isn't a bad price, though -- especially if you want to ensure your iPhone survival app kit contains valuable pint-enjoying tools.

Right now, the coolest feature is the Guinness pub locator. In most states, you'll be able to quick tap in and find nearby establishments that will happily feed your Guinness craving. Why most states? As it turns out, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia aren't keen on people using apps like this.

They are, of course, more than happy to tax your liquor consumption, so it seems a little odd to me that they don't want you to be able to find a pint on your iPhone. But that's a discussion for another day -- back to the app!

Read more →

Filed under: Developer, Social Software, web 2.0

Ning gets 90+ OpenSocial-powered apps

Ning, a popular web service that lets you set up your own Facebook-style social network (and hosts it for you) just added something that Facebook and MySpace have had for quite a while now: apps. Like applications on those other, bigger, networks, Ning Apps are powered by OpenSocial, a much-hyped API for building third-party apps that work on multiple social networks. Open Social has been around for years, making slow progress: maybe becoming available on Ning's 1.5 million different sites will help.

Ning Apps allow network owners to provide additional functionality to their users, often through integration with other sites. For example, Ning is currently highlighting video apps from Qik, Hulu and UStream and collaboration apps from Box.net and Google Docs. In total, there are more than 90 apps available, with more coming soon, as the Ning team explains on the official blog.

Customized site designs are a big draw for Ning, and the apps have all been designed to match your network's appearance, so you don't have to worry about becoming a Fugly Friday candidate when you add new features. Apps also integrate with Ning's tabbed navigation, letting you add an app as a separate tab that you can organize and rearrange. OpenSocial developers can also build their own Ning apps, so don't despair if you don't see one you want - it might be on the way soon.

[via CNET]

Filed under: Web services, Search

uQuery: search the iTunes app store ... without iTunes

If you're curious about iPhone apps, but you either hate iTunes or just hate the hassle of downloading and installing it, you're in luck. uQuery is an app store search engine with no iTunes required. Even if you do have Apple's proprietary music software installed, sometimes its built-in app store search can be frustrating to use. uQuery gives you more control over your search results.

Granted, not too many iPhone owners are going to be without iTunes (although maybe you don't have it on every computer you own), so the better search results are uQuery's biggest draw. You can quickly filter apps by price, category, and when they were added to the store. Unfortunately, you still iTunes to buy the apps, but at least uQuery helps you find them.

[via AppScout]

Filed under: Internet, Social Software, Web

Facebook officially supports Twitter publishing from pages


A recent post on the Facebook blog revealed a new (and potentially exciting) feature for Facebook pages. Built by a summer intern, the functionality was done after "many people asked [them] to make Facebook and Twitter work better together." Over the next few days, the feature will be rolled out to the admins of Facebook pages, allowing them to choose what content they wish to publish directly to Twitter.

The new feature requires users to opt-in at a new page on Facebook's website. While not everyone uses Facebook pages, this does leave the door open for further official support between Facebook and Twitter and could mean support for individual profiles too. There are a number of 3rd party alternatives available, but this marks the first step from Facebook itself to work with the folks at Twitter.

Filed under: iPhone

How to get paid iPhone apps for free, legitimately

Sometimes paid iPhone apps become free for a period of time as a promotion, but who's promoting the promotion? If you don't know an app exists, and you have no way of hearing that it's free, you're not going to get in on the deal. That's where FreeAppAlert comes in. The site publishes a daily list of new free apps, and normally-paid apps that have become free. It's like winning an iPhone shopping spree every day!

You can subscribe to the FreeAppAlert website, or get alerts on Twitter or Facebook. It's not as if all of these apps are going to be great, but this site should appeal to the people who leave the ubiquitous "this app costs too much" reviews on every paid app in the store.

[via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Utilities, Features, Social Software, web 2.0, Web

10 Facebook apps you might actually want to install



Facebook apps are pretty controversial, as far as developments in the world of social networking. When they first arrived on the scene, some people rejected them as ugly and useless, while others loaded their profiles with as many apps as they could find. I admit, I was in that first camp for quite a while. But, while I'm still disappointed with Facebook apps in general, I also have to admit that we've come a long way since the days of pirates versus zombies and throwing virtual sheep at one another. Here are 10 Facebook apps that I think represent the best of Facebook:

Integration With Other Social Sites


1) Dopplr: Where Next?

What It Does: Displays your upcoming trips from the excellent travel-centric social network Dopplr on your Facebook profile.

Why You Need It: Because telling people where you are by manually changing your "current town" on Facebook is passé and a waste of time when you have Dopplr. With this app, friends can easily see when you're leaving town and when you're getting back.

2) Upcoming

What It Does: Integrates your Facebook events with local events from Upcoming. Lets you add events and view events from either site.

Why You Need It: You're using Facebook to create, browse and confirm events anyway. You might as well make sure you don't miss anything because you forgot to check both sites. Upcoming also suggests events in your area, so you might find out about a cool opportunity that would have otherwise passed you by.

Read more →

Filed under: Internet, Features, Productivity, Apple, iPhone, Search, Lists

5 iPhone apps that will make you a hero

You don't need to be super-strong, invulnerable or able to fly to be a hero. Sure, that worked for Superman, but don't forget that Batman got out of all kinds of tough situations just using his gadgets. Maybe you don't have a tricked-out car or a utility belt, but if you have an iPhone, you can be a hero, too. Here are some iPhone apps that might help out:


1) Urbanspoon

Superpower: Settling arguments about where to eat

When you're out with a date (or a group of friends) and nobody can decide where you're going to eat, Urbanspoon's iPhone app can come to the rescue. Just put in some search terms (or don't, whatever) and shake it. It'll give you a restaurant that will hopefully settle your argument without any hurt feelings over who got to choose. If you end with a place that nobody likes, just shake again. It's also handy when you're by yourself in a new neighborhood and want to sample the local eateries, so you can use it to be your own hero, too!

2) HopStop

Superpower:
Getting anywhere fast in some big cities.

Before you complain: yes, I know this only works in a handful of cities, particularly New York, Chicago, Boston and DC. The thing is, it works so well you might as well have superpowers. I can't count the number of times I've overheard someone on the phone in Manhattan saying, "Why don't you just HopStop it?" HopStop is well known for giving some of the best point-to-point directions via subway or cab, and telling you how much it'll cost to get there. Plus, it's expanding to new cities all the time.

Read more →

Filed under: Features, Commercial, Freeware, Open Source, Lists

16 (or so) apps I'm thankful for

It's Thanksgiving day for those of you in the United States, time to reflect upon the things for which you're truly thankful. While I'm sure there are many more noble things to list, this is Downloadsquad, after all, and what would be more fitting than a list of programs I appreciate?

16. Cabos. I rarely use a Gnutella client any more. When there is the odd song stuck in my head that necessitates a one-off download, Cabos is what I use. It's got a clean, simple interface, and it works - and that's really all I'm after.

15. Flash Player. Damn you, Adobe. Now that v10 has taken care of some of the CPU and memory issues, it's hard to begrudge Flash. There are just way, way too many addictive little games and excellent web applications that have been built using it.

14. FastCopy. My boss also runs a DJ business, and transferring his multi-hundred gig library from drive to drive was starting to drive me insane. After stupidly giving Windows a crack at the job once, I quickly hunted down a better tool for the job. FastCopy with the buffer cranked up made (relatively) short work of the task.

13. Find and Run Robot. It's not quite a flashy as the more popular Launchy, but it's much lighter on resources and gets the job done just as well. There are also tons of great extensions for it. For those who swear by the power of the keyboard, FARR is a must have.

Read more →

Filed under: Business, Developer, Fun, Internet, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Facebook Apps 4 sale on eBay

Facebook Apps 4 sale on eBay

Forget about listing your 'Web 2.0' company on eBay, selling your Facebook app is the in thing to do.

With the launch of the Facebook developer platform, a slew of great Apps have come out, leading the company into a superstar. Logbook, an application where users can add and review movies, books and music is built on top of the Amazon affiliate platform and accepts Google ads. This money generating application is now newly listed on eBay and with 25 bids, the price currently sits at $510. Could this spark a new trend in the Facebook saga? With Facebook recently launching a $10 Million grant fund dedicated to funding companies that have the sole purpose of building dedicated applications, you can bet there are a slew of startups that will just not make it into the fund and choose to unload the app for another developer to work their magic.

Written in PHP and using MySQL on Apache, this application could have a lot of potential for those that put a little marketing effort. There are currently only about 90 users. (all friends and family of the developers no doubt.)

UPDATE:
appmrkt is a place where developers can buy and sell Facebook applications.

[via mashable]

Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Google, web 2.0

Google getting GoogleDrive.com ready

Google getting GoogleDrive.com readyThere's more evidence that the mythical GDrive, Google's mysterious Google storage hard drive, could be real.

Google has apparently updated the name servers on GoogleDrive.com as noted by Garett Rogers. This could be one of the final steps necessary in launching the online storage solution. Could it be built into Google Apps? Or maybe a standalone service? We will have to wait and see.

GoogleDrive.com has been on quite a journey since its original registration in 2004. It sat parked until in 2006 it expired and picked up by a squatter. Then in July of 2007 Google's official domain management company took control on it. Now it's been transferred to Google servers.

Take a look at some other interesting domain names Google owns.

Filed under: Business, Design, Developer, Internet, Productivity, Google, Beta, web 2.0

JotSpot = Google Wiki? and the launch of Google Presentations

JotSpot = Google Wiki? and the launch of Google PresentationsThe word on the web is that Google could be transforming JotSpot into a Google Wiki.

Google acquired the WYSIWYG wiki website creator last October, and there have been numerous discussions about what they could be doing with it. From making it into the GDrive storage location for storing and sharing spreadsheets, calendars, files and photos, to integrating it into Google Apps as a business wiki. With the moving of the JotSpot help and support pages being transferred under the Google name this April, there is now a Google Apps service code name for 'jotspot'. This all means that Google is most likely building JotSpot into Google Apps accounts, and could be in the final testing phases before its release.

Stay tuned for news from the Office 2.0 Conference being held in San Francisco next week, Google could be dropping some news on this as well as the launch of Google Presentations.

Filed under: Business, Google

Google Apps Calendar Maintenance

Google Apps Calendar MaintenanceCalling all Google Apps users, your schedule might not be spot-on this Thursday.

Users of Google Apps can expect some downtime during routine maintenance of the Google Calendar Thursday April 26th, from 8AM to 9PM. As is expected with any sort of maintenance, downtimes may and will occur and in this case Google Calendar might not be accessible for some time. Scheduled maintenance during daylight hours, what gives, Google?

This blow to users scheduling sure does make us wonder if Google Apps is worth using for our main scheduling application. It is understandable that system upgrades have to occur in order to improve services, it just sucks that we are now forced to suffer.

For Google Apps support you can check out http://www.google.com/support/a/

Drop a comment on Thursday to let us all know if you were affected by the maintenance and approx. how long your downtime lasted for.

UPDATE: More info on the scheduled maintenance from Google:

Why are we doing an upgrade?
We are updating some of our servers as we continue to improve Google Calendar. This is a normal maintenance update, and as with all updates we look to minimize the impact to our end users.

How will this impact my end users?
The impact to your users should be minimal. Only a subset of your users should be affected by the upgrade. These users may have trouble accessing their Google Calendars for a short period of time, generally less than 5-10 minutes each.

Will Google Calendar be down from 8AM to 9PM PDT?
No. This is the window of time that the maintenance upgrade will take place. During this time some users will experience issues accessing their calendar, but only for a short period of time each.

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