download

Google Play enables smart app updates, conserving batteries

Google has enabled a Google Play feature that promises to save Android app users time and bandwidth.

The Web giant is now offering the ability for app users to download delta updates from its Google Play, the folks over at the Android Police blog have discovered.

Previously, an updated app meant downloading it again in full, which could put a strain on a device's battery if the app was large and the connection slow. The new smart downloads allows users to avoid downloading the app in toto, send only the incremental difference between the old and new versions, thereby … Read more

Purported Google Play gift cards surface, good for music, movies

Will the Google Play store soon get its own gift cards?

The folks over at Android Central today published photos of what they claim are Google Play gift cards. The Android site, which received the photos from an unidentified source, shows two cards that can be redeemed for $10 or $25 in the marketplace.

The alleged cards themselves are black with the Google Play logo. At the bottom, the card indicates that it can be redeemed for "music, movies, books, apps, and more."

It would only make sense for Google to offer up gift cards that can be … Read more

Third-party apps ditched in iTunes search for 'podcasts'

Hey, Apple, where did all of the podcast apps go?

Two iOS developers yesterday took to Twitter to report that Apple's iTunes is failing to display third-party iOS apps when users search for "podcasts." Apple's own Podcasts app, however, is being displayed in the results.

In a note to Instapaper creator Marco Arment, iOS developer Shahruz Shaukat noted that "iTunes only shows the Apple's Podcasts app when you search for Podcasts." In response, Arment said he too was only able to access Apple's app upon searching for "podcast" and "… Read more

Get a $17.50 music credit with an eMusic subscription trial

eMusic is the little music service that could.

The company has been around since just about the dawn of the MP3 era, yet it's rarely mentioned in the same breath as Amazon and iTunes or Rhapsody and Spotify. Heck, it's rarely mentioned at all.

And yet it chugs along, offering one of the better deals on music downloads you'll find anywhere. In fact, if you sign up for a free 14-day trial, the deal just got a little sweeter.

Specifically, when you register for an eMusic subscription, you'll get a $17.50 credit, which is good … Read more

Save streaming videos for later with YTD Video Downloader

YTD Video Downloader is a great little piece of freeware for downloading and converting video...if you can ignore the aggressive upselling and multiple browser add-on bundling offers. It quickly downloads video from YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.tv, Vevo, and more than 60 other supported video sites, converts video to the standard formats for iPad, iPhone and PSP (MP4); iPod (MOV); cell phone (3GP); Windows Media Video (WMV); Xvid MPEG-4 (AVI) and MPEG Audio Layer 3 (MP3), and also plays back videos in a very basic player.

YTD Video Downloader automatically loads whatever URL you've got saved to your primary … Read more

Samsung to reinstate the Galaxy S3's search function

Never fear, a fix is supposedly near. Samsung confirmed today that the recent "stability update" on the Galaxy S3 that rendered the on-device search function useless was going to be repaired immediately, according to the BBC.

"The most recent software upgrade for the Galaxy S3 in the UK included the inadvertent removal of the universal search function," the company said in a statement, according to the BBC. "Samsung will provide the correct software upgrade within the next few days."

Reports of the bunk update surfaced earlier this month when S3 owners found out that … Read more

Twitter to release tool that exports users' tweet history

Twitter is developing a new tool that will let users export their whole tweet history -- everything from smart observations to those embarrassing tweets that people may not want to remember.

"We're working on a tool to let users export all of their tweets," Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said in a meeting with The New York Times yesterday. "You'll be able to download a file of them."

As of now, users can only search back through the last few thousand posts. And even though third-party sites and apps let users backup their tweets, they … Read more

Android comes under fire from game developers on piracy

Madfinger Games recently lowered the price of its Dead Trigger game from $0.99 to free on the Google Play Store. The reason, it announced, was because of the "unbelievably high" amount of illegal downloads on Google's Android devices despite the game's inexpensive price, according to the Guardian.

Here's what Madfinger Games said on its Dead Trigger Facebook page:

Regarding price drop. HERE is our statement. The main reason: piracy rate on Android devices, that was unbelievably high. At first we intend to make this game available for as many people as possible - that'… Read more

SanDisk Memory Zone

SanDisk Memory Zone not only lets you poke into your internal and removable memory sources, it also integrates with several online storage services, making it the ultimate hub for monitoring and managing your mobile device's memory.

The app opens up to a list of your device's memory sources, including internal memory and memory card (if available). To dig into a source, simply tap an icon and scroll through its contained files. Here, you can see exactly what's consuming all your memory, and even view files by type (music, photo, video, document, app, etc). From the home screen, … Read more