While many cable companies have turned to the iPad as a way to build a better navigation system, there’s at least one app that’s trying to build TV-like navigation for web videos. Nowbox, which is available as a free download on the Apple App Store, has succeeded in letting viewers surf through channels of web video on the iPad in the same way they would click through channels on their TVs. To set up, Nowbox asks users to specify categories of entertainment that are of interest to them, then to link their YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Once that’s done, they’ll be shown a TV guide-like navigation pane that will look familiar to anyone who’s ever seen a cable channel guide. All of which is the point — Nowbox demystifies the online video experience by serving up channels in the same way most viewers are already used to seeing them. It has a few other perks as well: for one thing, users are served up a continuous stream of videos, making online video viewing more akin to the type of non-stop stream they’re used to seeing when watching regular TV. Users can swipe back and forth through videos on a particular channel, and since Nowbox pre-caches those videos, they play pretty much instantaneously. Users can star videos as favorites, save them for later or share with friends and followers on social networks. With more than half a million video views under its belt in less than two months since launch, Nowbox is expanding the app’s feature set to make it even easier to discover new content. For one thing, Nowbox has added a channel of video recommendations based on the categories of content that users signed up for. It’s also added an indicator to highlight new videos as they appear in Read More
DoubleTwist, a popular free media play application for Android, has improved its software to include over-the-air podcast subscriptions. The new feature is available as part of the DoubleTwist Pro in-app upgrade, a $4.99 fee that also adds AirPlay support, wireless media synchronization from a PC or Mac, and other functions. I’ve long used DoubleTwist on my Android phones and tablets for a number of reasons. The software easily syncs media from an iTunes or other media library, although it will play DRM-free content. As a media player, it has all of the functions most users are looking for and it even imports song ratings from iTunes, as well as playlists and play counts. About the only thing missing was support for podcast subscriptions, which are now in the new release. Loading Picture 1 of 8 The Podcast section is clean and offers a wide variety of content, all categorized by channel. As in past updates for other media types, DoubleTwist cuts the computer cord with its new Podcast support. You can directly subscribe to a show on your handset and the app will pull down the latest episodes using the handset’s connection. There’s a settings option to only download new podcast episodes over Wi-Fi so you don’t have to worry about using up your cellular data plan. Some may feel that a $4.99 upgrade to get podcast support is steep. I’d agree if that’s all the in-app purchase added. But it brings more features into the mix as well: a multi-band equalizer, high-resolution album art downloads for any missing images, Wi-Fi media synchronization and, perhaps my favorite feature; AirPlay. I’ve demonstrated AirPlay in the past, which alone was a $4.99 purchase in the DoubleTwist AirSync app. Using it, you can wirelessly send audio or video to an AppleTV, a Sony PlayStation 3 or Read More
Microsoft added Android support for its OneNote mobile app, enabling smartphones and tablets running on Google’s mobile platform to take notes from their device. The software syncs through Microsoft’s Windows Live SkyDrive and to both OneNote for Microsoft Windows and the OneNote web app. OneNote for Android is free for the first 500 notes, and then costs a one-time fee of $4.99 for unlimited usage. The price is certainly right to try OneNote if you’re an Android user: 500 notes will tell you for sure if the app meets your needs. And for many users, it likely will. I say that as a long-time user of OneNote when I used my first Microsoft Tablet PC in 2004. I found OneNote to be a powerful organization tool as I could create different notebooks for different contexts, such as work, personal, blogging ideas, and more. The full software paired well with my tablet because it supported ink notes, which it would then index for search by using optical character recognition. Such support isn’t available in OneNote for Android, unfortunately, but the mobile app is still quite capable. You can still have different notebooks, each of which can hold text, images, and bulleted lists. Missing however, is a OneNote widget, drawing notes and support for voice notes. Still, current OneNote users on the PC that also have an Android handset will be happy with the new app. And they should be, because it extends the use of a tool that’s already part of their toolkit. But I don’t see Microsoft gaining many new OneNote customers out of this development. Evernote is widely considered the dominant player here; ironic because eight years ago, it was an up-and-comer against OneNote on tablet PCs. Instead of embracing one of the fastest growing mobile platforms early on, Microsoft waited Read More
Screenshot of JetBlue's iPhone app (click to enlarge) Well-designed websites and snazzy mobile apps aren’t just for travel search engines anymore. JetBlue Airways just debuted its own native app for the iPhone, an app that lets users search for and book flights from their mobile phones. The low-cost airline also unveiled newly redesigned web and mobile sites with clean user interfaces and new features such as personalized flight recommendations based on users’ travel history and geo-location data. It goes to show just how much startups such as Hipmunk, HotelTonight, Room77 and others which have spurred innovation in the travel industry’s more established players. And more such developments are on the way: A recent Airline IT Trends survey found that 90% of airlines are increasing their investment in mobile capabilities, according to a report by CNN published this past fall. Another notable example of this larger trend is luxury hotel chain The Four Seasons, which last month gave its website a makeover that taps into social media and incorporates user-generated reviews and photos of its properties. In all, it’s nice to see large corporations such as these tapping into newer technologies and investing in mobile app development — realizing that spending the money on making these tools can ultimately drive more business. Of course, as these established travel companies step up their games in a bid to bring customers directly to their sites, aggregation engines will in turn have to bring even better user experiences to the table. It’s a competitive cycle that should ultimately benefit us consumers more than anyone else, which is always a good thing. Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial. Read More
Super Bowl weekend is upon us, and this year, the big game is going to be streamed live online for the very first time. Who wants to see the game between the Giants and the Patriots on a tiny laptop screen, you might ask? Cord cutters and other folks without cable or even a TV set for one, but the live stream also comes with some extra perks that the TV broadcast won’t offer: Viewers will be able to select from different camera angles, pause the game and other fun stuff. Are you one of those people who just watch the game to catch a glimpse of the ads? No worries, you’ll find all of those online as well. There is also a bunch of second-screen action going on this year to deliver tweets and other extra content to your cell phone or iPad while you watch TV. And speaking of mobile: You’ll even be able to watch the entire game on your handset. You know, in case that laptop screen is to big, or you happen to be away from both Internet and TV. Here’s our growing list of online resources for Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday 02/05: We’re gonna update this list with additional links in the coming days. Stay tuned! Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial. Read More
What’s the best way to get kids to draw? Well, you can start by having them draw butts. Yep, that’s the premise behind a new iPad app from New York start-up Madbrook that is launching its Butt Art – Kids Learn to Draw Zoo Animals Step-by-Step app today, joining two Everything Butt Art physical children’s books the company already has in bookstores. The hook behind the free app might sound a little gimmicky but the company has some interesting ideas about how to make drawing more interactive and engaging not only for kids but their parents. The app starts with the idea that kids can learn by drawing the shape of a butt, which can become the basis for a lot of pictures and objects. The app is equipped with a lot of the simple arts tools you would expect in a drawing app, like paintbrushes, pencils, erasers, colors and stickers. But it also has some nice touches like a smart centering feature when zooming out and multiple layers. The idea is that kids ages 4-11 will pick different animals and learn to draw them using animations and step-by-step lessons, which can be turned off. And all of the finished products can be saved to a gallery. What’s interesting about Butt Art is that it’s connected to a backend (Get it? backend) so parents can get notification emails every time their children finishes a new piece. So that means they can check out the new work online and they can also share it via Twitter and Facebook. The artwork can also be posted to an online activity feed that notes the child’s profile, date, and the colors used in the image. Children also earn badges for achievements while drawing. That’s helpful because it means parents are able to encourage their children on their progress Read More
Path, the mobile app for cataloging your daily activities and sharing them with a relatively small circle of contacts, has updated its app for the iPhone with the debut Wednesday of version 2.0.5. The key new part of the update is the addition of a new effect called “Depth” that brings what’s known as tilt-shift capabilities to Path’s photo taking feature. Tilt-shift photography lets you adjust the depth of field to take photos in which certain items are in focus and others are out of focus. The proliferation of affordable, high quality digital cameras has made tilt-shift photography increasingly accessible and popular with mainstream shutterbugs, so it’s a nice addition to the Path app, which has had a big photo-sharing component since its inception. An example of tilt shift photography effects. It bears mention that there are a number of dedicated tilt-shift apps for iOS devices already on the market, and Instagram also added the capability to the 2.0 version of its app that launched back in September. More than anything, Path’s latest update shows that its team is working hard to keep its service fresh and relevant in an ever-growing world of apps that compete for users’ time and attention. Adding useful new features in an incremental way is a good way to do that. Also in the iPhone app update, Path added the capability to tap, pinch, rotate, and zoom photos and videos while viewing them at full screen. Path’s Android app has not been updated in a similar way, which may be because there is so much discrepancy between the camera capabilities on devices that run the Android operating system. Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial. Read More
T-Mobile added a new family locator service to its suite of carrier-specific Android apps on Tuesday. Owners of T-Mobile handsets will now find FamilyWhere, powered by Location Labs’ Safely software, in the T-Mobile section of the Android Market on their smartphones. With Safely installed, family members can find each other from their phone or a browser, even if the other family phones aren’t equipped with a GPS radio. Safely has proven to be a popular people-locator solution, so T-Mobile isn’t partnering with an unproven startup. Coinciding with the T-Mobile news, Location Labs announced that its Safely service has now returned one billion premium “locates” on top-tier U.S. carriers. And by premium, it means paying subscribers: T-Mobile customers can use Safely free for 30 days, but after that, it’s $9.99 per month for up to 10 devices on an account. Clearly, a billion location requests is a huge milestone; location services are becoming more important as a growing number of people, including kids, are making smartphones central to their lives. And without an iPhone, T-Mobile has no free “Find My Friends” iOS app. I do wonder, however, how many paying FamilyWhere subscribers T-Mobile will pickup when Life360 offers the same type of service for free and has been growing like gangbusters. Regardless of sign ups, this is another example of carriers trying to add value services; a growing trend as they hope to avoid becoming fast, dumb pipes. Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial. Read More
Pixable, a photo viewing aggregation service, has won praise for the smart way it organizes photos and orders them by relevancy for users. Now, we’re seeing that users are catching on in a big way and have turned the iOS mobile app into a daily addiction. The New York City company told me it recently eclipsed the 1 million download mark on iOS, with almost of all of the downloads happening in the last few months of last year. But while noteworthy, that’s something that a lot of apps are able to pull off. What’s really interesting to me is how sticky Pixable has become for users, who are engaging continuously at a pretty impressive rate. Pixable says that its users are viewing 100 million photos a month and opening the app on average 11 times per month. Some 60 percent of those users are still active on the app since it launched in April while 60 percent of users also use the app on consecutive days. The Pixable app primarily aggregates Facebook and Twitter pictures, with fuller support for Facebook right now. It organizes photos into various categories such as top of the day, week or month, new profile pics, most recent photos. Pixable also aggregates Instagram, Flickr, yFrog, Twitpic photos and YouTube and Vimeo videos within a user’s Twitter feeds. Where Pixable shines is in how it uses machine learning and algorithms to process more than 70 signals, helping it to surface the most relevant pictures for users. It will try to measure the affinity between users and the strength of their relationships, taking into account things like common schools, or cities and how much they interact. It will also look at “likes” and comments to determine if it’s a picture that a user wouldn’t want to miss. Inaki Berenguer, Pixable’s CEO and Read More
A key advantage to owning an Android phone with a 720p display is that you can watch content in true high-definition. The 1280 x 720 screen on my Galaxy Nexus is what I call “an HDTV in my pocket.” I’ve been renting high-def videos from the Android Market, simply because they’re stunning to look at. But there’s a huge problem: After watching the rentals, the massive media files aren’t disappearing from my phone. I noticed this after my CES travels earlier this month. During that trip, I downloaded some HD content to the Galaxy Nexus so I could view it on the plane. That part of the process worked just fine, and I enjoyed both Pulp Fiction and Limitless. The Google Videos app supports streaming, but I chose offline use because I didn’t want to use in-flight Wi-Fi. So I “pinned” the two rentals for offline use and had them downloaded to my phone before the trip. About a week after watching the movies — each of which had a 24-hour viewing window once started — I noticed that my Galaxy Nexus only had about 3 GB of available storage. The phone comes with 16 GB of internal storage; about 13 of which is usable. By using the Apps function in the Android’s Settings and then sorting the apps by size, I found the culprit: the Google Videos app was using up more than 7 GB of storage. That’s interesting by itself, because I wouldn’t have thought movies files would be part of the app’s storage limit. Instead, I expected the movies to be part of the media storage section. Once I realized the movies were considered to be part of the application, I went into Videos to unpin them or delete them. Nothing worked. Unless I’m missing it, I see Read More
