Apple Picks Instagram As The “iPhone App Of The Year”

Apple released its iTunes Rewind 2011 and App Store Rewind 2011 today, the company’s annual lists detailing of the top selling apps, music, TV shows, movies and podcasts for the year. This year, the biggest winner on the apps front was Angry Birds, which ran away with the number one spot on the iPhone and iPad in all categories except top free iPhone app, which was awarded to Facebook.
Apple also selects its own favorite applications, and one of our preferred apps, Instagram, won the honor of being Apple’s “iPhone App of the Year.”
Angry Birds, which is available on iOS as both a paid and free application, not only dominated the year-end lists as the number one download in several cases, it also occupied additional slots on multiple lists for its spinoffs, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio.
Several other games also appeared on the year-end listings, including Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope, Tiny Wings, Doodle Jump, Plants vs. Zombies and more.
In terms of non-games, consumer-friendly brands like Netflix, Facebook, Skype, Kindle, Pandora, CNN and Twitter, plus Apple’s own Pages and GarageBand, made the list.
As for Apple’s editorial picks, it was Instagram as the favorite for iPhone, and photo app Snapseedfor the iPad. Runners up for the “app of the year” title included VidRhythm (iPhone), Band of the Day (iPhone), djay (iPad) and Jamie’s Recipes. (iPad)
Game of the year went to Tiny Tower (iPhone) and Dead Space for iPad.
All the runners-up and top 30 lists can all be viewed here in iTunes, where you can also find the results for the non-app categories. (That’s not our thing. But congrats, Adele).
The complete top 10 lists are below:
Top Paid iPhone Apps:
1. Angry Birds
2. Fruit Ninja
3. Angry Birds Seasons
4. Cut the Rope
5. Tiny Wings
6. Angry Birds Rio
7. Words With Friends
8. Camera+
9. Doodle Jump
10. Plants vs. Zombies
___
Top Free iPhone Apps:
1. Facebook
2. Pandora Radio
3. Words with Friends Free
4. Angry Birds Free
5. Skype
6. Netflix
7. Angry Birds Rio Free
8. Groupon
9. Fruit Ninja Lite
10. Twitter
___
iPad Apps
Top Paid iPad Apps:
1. Angry Birds HD
2. Pages
3. Angry Birds Seasons
4. GarageBand
5. Angry Birds Rio HD
6. Penultimate
7. Fruit Ninja HD
8. Cut the Rope HD
9. SCRABBLE for iPad
10. Keynote
___
Top Free iPad Apps
1. Angry Birds HD Free
2. The Weather Channel for iPad
3. Netflix
4. CNN App for iPad
5. Angry Birds Rio HD Free
6. Kindle
7. Skype for iPad
8. Calculator for iPad Free
9. Pandora Radio
10. Calculator Pro for iPad Free
Source:http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/08/apple-picks-instagram-as-the-iphone-app-of-the-year/

Xbox 360 Dashboard update review (fall 2011)

Kiss that old "New Xbox Experience" goodbye -- the Xbox Dashboard just went full Metro. Microsoftteased the console's latest overhaul back at E3, promising to "change living room entertainment forever." The following months saw leaks, previews and betas, all leading up to today, the eve of the Xbox 360's Fall Dashboard update. Is the new dash the game-changer it hopes to be? Hit the break, and we'll find out together.

User Interface

If you didn't catch the hint from Redmond's Windows Phone and Windows 8 interfaces, let Xbox Live deliver the final word: Metro is Microsoft's new baby. Last year's dashboard update flirted with the new look by flattening out NXE's cascading tiles. The contemporary update keeps the Metro, but abandons NXE's crossbar-style navigation for a horizontally oriented experience. The console's various channels now headline the top of the screen, listing the familiar "games," "music" and "video" sections between the new Bing search feature and the console's settings page. A few of the channels have been renamed -- "My Xbox" is now "home" and a very Zune-esque "social" replaces "friends." Core content hasn't changed much, but the way you access it has, with yesterday's single-file tiles retired in favor of single page Metro layouts, packing more than twice as much information on screen as the previous Dashboard. Sound cluttered? It isn't. Most of the space was saved by cycling spotlight content through a large, central tile, and the entire layout is padded by a liberal amount of free space. If anything, the new design highlights how much extraneous content each channel has -- two to three tiles in each major category seem to be exclusively dedicated to advertisements or spotlight content.

That's not to say there isn't plenty of content to sift through; each channel leads to a wealth of subcategories. Games, for instance, ultimately ushers users to the games marketplace, which pulls up a six page line-up of categories, listing Picks, Featured, Games, Add-ons, Extras and Demos, each with their own layout of options. You can scope out a "season pass" subscription landing page, various advertisements, a pre-defined "most popular" filter, or simply dive in to the alphabetized games marketplace.

Although we typically dig the cleaner Metro layout, the games marketplace was the one place where we missed the old dash's crossbar. At its core, the revision is quicker, more efficient and a generally better experience, offering a horizontal scroll of five items per page, teasing a sixth one off of the end -- but if you want to hop to another letter in your alphabetical search, you'll have to retreat back a level and start over. A minor gripe to be sure, but we would have liked to flick a thumbstick north or south to switch letters. Overall, the marketplace layout is clean, and is shared by most apps. Category filtering and other options sit just above the horizontal scroll's west side, creating a uniform look across the games, music and video marketplaces that's easy to navigate.

The new Dashboard layout is sleeker, snappier, and just a hair quicker than its predecessor. Placing all of a channel's options front and center make it easier to find what you're looking for, and the single page revision eliminates all but the most necessary and basic of scrolling. By embracing Metro, the Xbox finally looks like a Microsoft product, donning the same uniform as the outfit's smartphone OS and upcoming Windows revision.
Kinect integration: sound and motion

When we last saw the Metro Dashboard update, it reminded of us Windows 8, with Metro pages sliding left and right at the flick of a finger -- or at least the wave of an arm. Today's Xbox brings Kinect integration to the top level, refining the ideas behind the now defunct Kinect hub, and implementing motion control through most of the console's menus. The process isn't new, but the console wide implementation is. Waving into Kinect summons the familiar hand-shaped cursor, allowing you to hover over menu items and navigation icons to select them, and hovering over the teasing slivers of the next and previous pages will allow you to swipe your arm to change screens. With the exception of the settings menu, a few pop-up windows, and the Xbox guide, Kinect motion control permeates the entire Dashboard experience. It's a neat, satisfying trick, but performing somewhat grandiose gestures just to navigate a menu can wear on a man. Tired of holding our arms in front of us, we decided to try something else.

"Xbox," we commanded, "games." Whoosh, went the console, quickly landing us in the games hub. Voice control goes almost as deep as gesture control, and is infinitely easier to use. This too, was once available in the Kinect Hub, but the contemporary implementation is heavily refined. Choosing an item on screen? Now you can call it what it is -- picking "Netflix" from an app list instead of "item 3." The console prompts you for the correct command, pulling up a menu at the foot of the screen with a list of option, and peppering the menus speaking text for each item. Generic "item" prompts do pop up from time to time, but most content can be called upon with its own name.

Even though everything about voice control is a marked improvement over the basic functionality of the Kinect hub, it has its share of rough edges. Utilizing the new Dashboard's media controls by voice was an exercise in frustration, movies and music repeatedly overpowered the Kinect's microphone, leaving us shouting awkwardly at our TV and reaching for a proper controller. We stuttered a bit on navigation as well -- although voice control is fairly persistent, the Kinect sensor will stop listening if you jump between applications of functions. Hopping over to the games marketplace after finding the title of your choice in a Bing search? Be ready to prompt the console to listen again, voice control will close in the interim. Hiccups like this break the flow of control, stopping an otherwise smooth experience dead in its tracks. We also had a tendency to mix up the console's "previous" and "go back" commands, which backpedals search or list results, and return to the previous menu, respectively. Despite a few minor gripes, Kinect voice control is by far the laziest content navigation system we've ever used (the good, relaxing kind of lazy), and stands out as an exceptionally cool novelty. It's not the most efficient way to navigate the Dashboard -- that honor is still held by the traditional Xbox 360 controller -- but it is by far the most fun.
Bing search

Much like Metro itself, Microsoft's single-syllable search brand is becoming a staple in the outfit's products -- it's integrated into Windows Phone, it's bound to make an appearance in Windows 8 and now it's on your Xbox. Despite the search engine's digs on the web, you won't be perusing the archives of Engadget on your console anytime soon -- Bing search Xbox is a strictly local affair, and will only sift through content available over Xbox Live. Sound limiting? It isn't -- the Xbox games marketplace is jungle, and until now navigating it was a tiresome, unintuitive task.

Looking for the classic X-men cartoon? Great, Bing found it -- now do you want to buy it on the Zune video marketplace, or watch it using your Netflix subscription?

Today? "Xbox, Bing Fallout 3." There's your game, plus a wealth of related trailers, premium themes, add-ons and even related music selections. Bing search is comprehensive, it doesn't just search the games, music, video marketplaces independently, it searches everything simultaneously, even apps. Looking for the classic X-men cartoon? Great, Bing found it -- now do you want to buy it on the Zune video marketplace, or watch it using your Netflix subscription? The console gives you the option upfront, immediately telling you where you can find what you're looking for, and giving you the chance to choose how the content is delivered.

Bing doesn't mind unspecific searches, and allows you to search by title, director, actor and genre. The experience is very sleek, and is one of the finest features of the Dashboard update. It's worth noting, however, that a lot of the joy of the Bing experience is tied to its implementation of voice recognition -- yes, the same comprehensive search is available to Kinect-deprived gamers, but the hunt and peck text entry the traditional controller offers is decidedly less magical. Silent types and and diehard Xbox 360 chatpad users aren't too bad off though, Bing autofills suggestions as you type, which ought to keep chicken-peck data entry to a minimum.
Beacons

As you may have guessed from the "friends" section's modified moniker, Xbox Live is a social community -- playing with friends is half of the point. If you're hankering to use your Gold status for more than convenient access to Netflix, you'll want to pay attention to Beacons. Quietly announced at E3, and recently introduced on Xbox.com, Beacons let Xbox users flag their multiplayer cravings and broadcast them over Facebook. We didn't get to put Beacons to practical use during out testing period, but our friends' flagged games hovered over their avatar's head in our friends list -- had any of us actually wanted to play the same thing, our consoles would have notified and nudged us in the right direction.

We noticed, however, that not all Beacons are equal. Set your flag on Xbox.com, and you'll be immediately be able to add a custom comment, but won't be able to broadcast it to Facebook. Activating a Beacon via the Xbox Dashboard gives you easy access to "share on Facebook" option, but initially forces you to use a generic "I want to play this game with friends," comment, only allowing you to edit the Beacon after the fact. Both avenues lead to the same Beacon, but the discrepancy seemed a bit odd. Still, we see these flags as a welcome addition to Xbox Live; they're easy to use and ought to make multiplayer sessions a little easier to organize.

Achievements are getting a social bump as well, scoring their own "share on Facebook" brag button. Selecting and sharing a particular achievement is a fairly minor update, but at the very least gives you something to throw back in the face of your PSN spamming friends.
Apps and TV

The old Dashboard can still be seen peppered throughout a handful of old apps (last.fm, in particular), something Microsoft told us would be rectified as new and updated apps roll out in the coming weeks. A new set of design standards have been pinned to ensure that that partner apps don't stray too far from the Dashboard's uniform experience, while still adding their own touch of flair. Netflix is a prime example -- while the Hulu Plus, Epix and Dailymotion apps embrace Redmond's Metro layout, the stream king offers its own design evolution. The new Netflix app retains its vertical list, but previews each category's horizontal scroll in a vertical cascade of film covers. Highlighting a title drops a brief description at the foot of the screen, and selecting it jumps right in to the program. A mini guide is available while content is playing, allowing users to change episodes, rate the title, and even jump to related content without exciting the stream -- these features area all unique to Netflix, which, in contrast to the basic design and function of its neighboring apps, shows how vanilla or custom a particular app can be.

The beta Microsoft lent us wasn't equipped with the Dashboard's impending live TV integration, but we visited some representatives from the outfit in San Francisco to get a brief look. Like Netflix, Hulu, and Last.fm, TV on Xbox is an app-based affair -- but don't ditch your cable box just yet, most of the console's television offerings will only be available to subscribers of each respective service, and even then some networks will only offer on-demand content, or limited selections of their full library of channels. Still, the app integration is appealing, offering an aesthetically pleasing (and Metro flavored) alternative to your chosen provider's standard program guide.
Cloud storage

Xbox Live profiles are now universally accessible from the cloud. Players behind the Xbox Live Gold paywall also have access to cloud based storage for save games -- a boon for gamers who migrate between consoles, or upgraded to slimmer Xbox, for various reasons. The Xbox's cloud storage feature needs to be activated through the console's settings page before it can be used -- our system offered us 511MB of cloud space after we switched it on. Uploading data to the cloud was as easy as saving games to a memory card, we effortlessly traded data with the Xbox hard drive using the console's data management tools.

Naturally, cloud saved games won't be available if you aren't connected to the internet, but a sudden disconnection won't ruin your day. We pulled our console's ethernet connection out midway through a session of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but the Xbox had no trouble loading or saving our game, and didn't default back to its hard drive until we exited to the Dashboard. When we plugged the console back in, the saved games we created while offline were right there, in the cloud, seemingly stored locally in the interim. Half a gig of cloud storage isn't a ton of space (heck, our Skyrim save data totals over 1.3GB in of itself), but we can definitely dig the convenience of accessing saves remotely without lugging around a memory card. We didn't get the chance to access our Xbox Live profile remotely via the cloud, but as we understand, it's as simple as signing in at home -- the old "gamertag recovery" feature is dead and gone.
Wrap-up

We were pretty tickled by this year's dash update when we played with it back in September, and not much has changed today. The final product is sleeker than the developer build we saw last, which wasalready a cut above the old dash. The flat, Metro squares put the console in a Microsoft uniform while providing better access to content in a more appealing style. Navigation is quicker, snappier, more enjoyable, and downright futuristic feeling when paired with a Kinect sensor and voice integration. The new dash even seemed to boot our old Xbox 360 Elite up a few seconds faster than the old guard, clocking in 22 seconds from "on" to home screen as opposed to the previous Dashboard's 25 second clock time. By the time the new dash caught up to the old, the Kinect sensor had finished its warm up and was ready to take commands.

We would have liked to see motion or voice control dig a little deeper -- there are still some corners of the Xbox that need a controller to be navigated properly, namely the settings page, Avatar editor, and a handful of prompt screens. But, other than these minor shortcomings, the Dashboard's Metro overhaul succeeds in revamping the console interface into a more intuitive, user-friendly and appealing environment. It is, without a doubt, the biggest and best change since NXE, and we won't miss the old "new experience" one bit.

Source:http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/05/xbox-360-dashboard-update-fall-2011-review/

HCI Roommate III puts Android powered TVs in hospitals

Many companies have tried their hand at Android-powered TVs and set-top boxes outside of the Google TV ecosystem before, but HCI's Roommate III is apparently the first line destined for the sterile environment of hospitals. These 22- to 42-inch wall mounted LCD HDTVs run an unspecified flavor of Android that supports apps, web browsing, and a built-in whiteboard. Things like accreditation status, outcomes studies, and incidence of medical errors will probably still be our main concerns in picking a hospital, but if these displays catch on then our doctors can describe our next elective surgery with the help of Google Body.
Source:http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/05/hci-roommate-iii-puts-android-powered-tvs-in-hospitals/

Introducing Memo Touch, a tablet designed for elders with short-term memory loss

Here's a product you don't see every day: a tablet designed specifically for senior citizens -- albeit with rather limited functionality. The Memo Touch is designed as a reminder tool for those who struggle with short-term memory loss, and can be used to deliver gentle cues when its time to take a medication, go to the doctor and the like. It's collaborative, too, as family members may add calendar events, phone numbers and to-do items, or even share photos and personalized messages, all from the product's companion website. Based on the Archos 101, the Memo Touch sells for $299 and requires a six-month ($174) or 12-month ($300) subscription. For those who don't take to the new-fangled gadget, the tablet carries a three month return policy, where purchasers may opt to receive a refund or have the tablet restored to its Android roots. Hey, it's one more way of keeping that rascally parent under your thumb, anyway. Overbearing children will find a full press release after the break. Now, where'd we put thatdamn tablet?
Source:http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/02/introducing-memo-touch-a-tablet-designed-for-elders-with-short/

Spotify gets app-happy with new platform

Don't say we didn't warn you. As previously reported, today's Spotify "what's next" event in New York City is all about the apps. The Swedish music streaming service's CEO Daniel Ek took the stage today to officially unveiled its new app finder, a platform aimed at bringing users music related info like info like lyrics, events and magazine record reviews. Announced partners include Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Last.fm, Billboard, Pitchfork and more. The company considers the platform the next step in a social strategy that the company began with Facebook integration, a move that brought a vast number of new users to the service.According to Ek, Spotify is using the platform to add features of its own, as well, including new Facebook-style social stream that lets you see what friends are doing on the service in real-time.

source:http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/30/spotify-gets-app-happy-with-new-platform/

NASA gets in on the app store action, keeps the pickins slim

Seriously, who is left without an app store at this point? Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Microsoft, NVIDIA, even the US Army has an app outlet to call their own. Now multi-national corporations and DARPA are being joined by NASA, which opened its own depot called apps@NASA over the holiday weekend. The goal is to provide employees and contractors with access to agency data and systems on the go. For the moment, there ain't much there. WebTADS is a time tracking app available for iPhone and BlackBerry, while NASA Contacts is, well, a contacts app for looking up the deets of your aerospace colleagues, but it's an iOS only affair. We expect the selection will be expanded soon and, fingers crossed, Android and WP7 will be added to the mix in the not too distant future.
Source:http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/30/nasa-gets-in-on-the-app-store-action-keeps-the-pickins-slim/

What's next for Spotify? Apps, apparently

We may have to wait until noon ET today to get the official word on "what's next" from Spotify, but The Wall Street Journal has kindly given us an early peak into what we can expect a few hours from now -- namely, apps. The Swedish music streaming service is apparently getting ready to go all Facebook on us, offering up apps galore. When it launches today, the service's "app finder" will include magazine reviews, concert listings, lyrics and the like, so you'll never have to guess at what Tom Waits is saying again.
Source:http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/30/whats-next-for-spotify-apps-apparently/

Samsung draws in developers with S-pen SDK for Galaxy Note

Ever since the mighty Galaxy Note first popped up at IFA we've been curious about that S-pen and how it'll make its way into our real-life workflow. Samsung promised there'd be an SDK back at its October London launch and it's finally here, letting developers get busy adding some S-pen magic to their apps. Version 1.0 lets you add a basic canvas, a pop-up for pen settings (opacity, line color and so on) as well as erase and un/redo. Sure, ICS might natively support stylus input, but as Samsung is keen to point out -- with its capacitive tip and configurable button -- a simple stylus this is not. And remember: until the Note gets an ICS update, you'll be scribbling all over that snappy Gingerbread install anyway. Tap that source link if you want to get your hands on the goods, and let the tic-tac-toe commence.

Source:http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/29/samsung-draws-in-developers-with-s-pen-sdk-for-galaxy-note/

Google Wallet unofficially finessed into Galaxy Nexus, complete with complimentary cash

Galaxy Nexus owners may start looking to their phone whenever that pesky bank account is dying for some hurt. Although Google's latest smartphone doesn't officially support its mobile payment scheme, a few clever developers have introduced a functional workaround. Early reports suggest that Citi MasterCards can't be added (yet), but thankfully, the gratis Hamilton courtesy of Mountain View comes without a hitch. To get started, you'll need to unlock your phone's bootloader and install MoDaCo'scustom ROM. From there, a Google Wallet patch must be applied, and its permissions then changed. The process isn't exactly for the faint of heart, but we know our readers are more than capable -- you'll find instructions in the source. Best yet, the crew at BGR verified this newfound functionality by purchasing enough sugar to make our teeth hurt. And why not? After all, it was on Google's dime.
Source:http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/28/google-wallet-unofficially-finessed-into-galaxy-nexus-complete/