Mobile

A new mobile application centering on President Barack Obama and his daily activities has launched. But it hasn't launched where you might expect.

The U.S. Government Printing Office and the National Archives' Office of the Federal Register announced today that they have launched the Presidential Documents app (PDF). The program comes with access to all of the president's executive orders, speeches, approved acts, and White House press releases, among other documents.

However, while developers are constantly delivering new applications to mobile marketplaces, like Apple's App Store and Google Play, the government agencies balked at that idea. … Read more

Facebook friends can now share data with one other courtesy of a new promotion from NetZero.

The new 4G Data Share plan lets NetZero subscribers dole out 1GB of data each month to fellow subscribers on Facebook, with up to five friends getting 200MB a piece.

To partake in the promotion, you need to subscribe to any one of NetZero's five 4G mobile broadband plans, starting at 200MB for free and going up to 4GB for $49.95 a month.

You'll also need to buy NetZero's 4G USB stick or its 4G hotspot device. Both items are … Read more

Google has revved up its mobile Maps Web app through the addition of Street View.

As of today, users who launch Google's Maps site on their mobile device can see and navigate a Street View angle of different spots around the world.

Enabling Street View requires just a tap.

After launching the Maps app, enter the city, landmark, or other destination that you want to see. The site highlights the location and its surrounding area. Tap on the person icon that appears in the lower right corner. If the location is Street View-enabled, a separate tab opens in your … Read more

The New York Times is testing the mobile waters with a new Web site optimized for the iPad.

Created using HTML5 and formatted for the iPad, the new mobile Web app is designed to supplement the paper's print edition and Web site. The app is available to subscribers of the Web site and to home delivery customers who link their accounts with one of the digital access options.

Unlike the Times Web site, which delivers stories in a traditional format, the app presents the news in a variety of different views.

The Trending section displays the top 25 trending … Read more

Apple iOS users can once again download apps, music, and other items without being trapped in a Terms & Conditions loop.

Yesterday, people posting in Apple's Support Communities and elsewhere started complaining that they couldn't get past the new Terms & Conditions screen. Recently updated, this screen requires iOS users to agree to Apple's lengthy list of service requirements before they can download items.

Despite agreeing to the terms, users kept seeing the same screen pop up over and over again, stopping them from downloading new apps, music, books, movies, and TV shows.

But as of this … Read more

Microsoft's Internet Explorer still grabs more than half of all traffic among browsers, at least as viewed by Web tracker Net Applications.

Leading the desktop browser market for September, IE took home a share of 53.6 percent. That left Firefox in second place with 20 percent and Chrome in third with almost 19 percent.

Trailing the top five were Apple's Safari with 5.2 percent and Opera with just 1.6 percent.

IE's lead has dipped over the past few years. A high of 79 percent in November 2007 fell to a low of 51.8 … Read more

How can you tweet in iOS 6? Let us count the ways.

The latest version of Apple's mobile OS offers eager tweeters a variety of ways to get their message out. Here's a look at a few different ways to tweet.

The old standby, of course, is to just fire up the official Twitter mobile app or a third-party Twitter client for iOS. From your favorite Twitter app, you can either type your tweet or use your iPhone's built-in voice dictation to speak your tweet.

You can tweet directly from the Notification Center without having to call … Read more

Apple's iOS users seem more willing to try new things than those running Android.

Advertising network Chitika yesterday released the results of a report on browser usage across mobile platforms. The company found that Safari, the default browser in iOS, is used by 85 percent of the folks running that operating system. Chrome, which sat atop the App Store's listing of free applications for several weeks over the summer, took 3 percent of the iOS market. All other browsers, including Dolphin and Atomic, combined for 11.9 percent share.

Interestingly, Android users are less likely to branch out. … Read more

Spot a mistake in Apple's Maps app? Instead of just getting mad, you can report the problem to Apple.

The iPhone maker has been taking it on the chin since last week when users began uncovering a slew of gaffes in the new app. Errors such as missing cities, mislabeled locations, incorrect pins, and duplicate islands prompted people to give the app a collective thumbs down.

Users who search for a specific city or landmark and find an error can at least alert Apple to the glitch. To do so, tap on the right arrow or information icon next … Read more