app

iPhone users have been inundated with apps that make a variety of different realistic sounds--some rather innocent and others quite crass. Now, your iPhone can make realistic cops-and-robbers sounds, too, with Bang!Bang! (iTunes Link) for $1.99.

The app recreates the sounds of firing different firearms using "cinema quality effects sourced from Oscar-Winning Sound Designers," according to the developer. In our experience, the "gun" sounds so real that it might be dangerous to use the app in the wrong circumstances--say, in a corner store or a crowded theater.

Bang!Bang! requires you to hold your … Read more

When Google announced that Google Calendar users could read events even while not connected to a network, the feature was only for organizations using Google Apps for their Internet domains. Now the offline calendar feature can be used more broadly, though.

The feature is available by clicking the "Offline Beta" link in the upper right side of the page. Clicking on it walks the user through an installation and initial synchronization process.

As with offline Gmail, the service uses Google's Gears software to store a copy of the calendar data on a person's computer so it … Read more

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Research In Motion launched its application store--dubbed BlackBerry App World--and the pricing model will immediately draw comparisons to Apple's App Store setup. That comparison, however, only goes so far.

For starters, App World's pricing model has raised a bit of a ruckus because it veers a bit from Apple's scheme. But a business audience isn't going to sweat a $2.99 application compared with a 99 cent minimum-price app. And RIM's audience is likely to even pay higher prices, if the App World … Read more

Apple's success with iPhone applications wasn't preordained, but the company had a huge leg up on the competition with a hit device, a mature software platform, and the one of the biggest online stores on the planet.

"They had all three sitting there, and that's very difficult to create in this industry," said Travis Boatman, vice president of worldwide studios for EA Mobile, creator of iPhone games such as Spore and Sim City.

But for all the work Apple has done to make the iPhone a success over the past year, its future lies in … Read more

If you don't feel like spending more than $300 on the Kindle 2, Amazon's free Kindle ebook application for the iPhone and iPod Touch may be a much more affordable, if imperfect, solution.

We compared the Kindle 2 and the Kindle application for the iPhone/iPod Touch, and came to the conclusion that the Kindle iPhone application is great for reading short passages, but the Kindle 2 is better for longer reading.

Also, you can't get subscriptions on the iPhone version and you can't buy books from within the application. Still, $359 is a lot to … Read more

I'm not embarrassed to admit that I have a rather intimate knowledge of the inner workings of Deadheads. This may or may not have to do with the fact that I am related (closely) to more than a couple of them. And if I know anything about this particular community, it's that they are fanatical, which is why they are the perfect audience for a $6 photo app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Of course, this is not just any photo app, it's the new Grateful Dead Photomosaic App and it is awesome--and I'm too … Read more

On day one of our special report on making a business out of green tech, reporter Martin LaMonica talks about how some green-tech companies have changed their business models to adapt to the dearth of venture funding.

Also in this podcast: one start-up that might make you rethink your cable TV service; Amazon releases e-book Kindle app for the iPhone; and Research In Motion goes to great lengths to protect intellectual property.

Today's stories:

Start-up offers alternative to subscription TV

AMD chipmaking arm launches as Globalfoundries

Windows 7 gets down to business

Office 14 crawls toward beta… Read more

Tim Geisenheimer joins the show today along with our favorite former intern, Mark Licea. We talk about Tim's new Kindle 2 and how Amazon decided to release a free iPhone app. That's $359 down the drain for Tim. Along the way, we discuss the Red Ring of Death for the Xbox 360 and a surprise guest appearance by Justin Yu himself, who reveals he's been suffering from multiple outbreaks of yet-to-be-classified STDs.

The Geisenblogger himself shares a little bit about his online persona in the form of his Tumblr, Wordpress blog, and Twitter. "Thriller" has got to be one of the best albums ever made, but Michael Jackson apparently has a stash of songs he won't release to the public until after his death. While we're not too excited about that after the failure of his "Invincible" album, we are excited that he is trying to make right with Sir Paul McCartney for supposedly bequeathing the Beatles collection to him after his death. Take this all with a grain of salt as this is coming from the Internet and The 404.

A woman in Florida gets more than she bargained for when she calls 911 three times to report that McDonald is not giving Chicken McNuggets to her. It sounds crazy until you realize that McDonald's tried to offer her a cheeseburger called the "McDouble" instead of a refund. Finally, if you're a Sprint customer, the company is offering $100 in the form of a Visa gift card if you refer a new Sprint customer. For those of you who managed to sneak in the SERO plan, here's a way to get three months of free service.… Read more

Updated 4:24 p.m. PST with RIM's response about a March launch and more information on the app store.

BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion announced that its upcoming application storefront will officially be called BlackBerry App World. The developer site will be updated Wednesday night to make appropriate changes but will be live again by 7 p.m. PST, according to RIM. In addition, anyone interested in finding out when the store goes live can sign up for alerts on the BlackBerry App World site.

RIM opened up application submissions in January, and the store is scheduled to … Read more