All Tech Considered posts about Apps
by Steve Henn
Advertisers want to hear what you have to say, and many are about to roll out new kinds of ads you can actually have a conversation with. Marketers are hoping to leverage the power of voice and the kinds of technologies that power Apple's Siri to start selling us all sorts of things.
by Steve Mullis
Yahoo recently bought Summly, a news-summarizing app, for $30 million. But the company is ditching the app and only keeping the small team and the algorithm that drive it. So could this signal a change in companies buying fewer actual products and services and instead taking gambles on algorithms?
by NPR Staff
For a fee, Silent Circle erases messages from both the receiver and the sender's phones. The app's creators got the idea after hearing an all-too-familiar story: A friend of theirs inadvertently read a text meant for someone else.
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by NPR Staff
A new smartphone app allows users to document falling precipitation in their location. The mPING app aims to help weather officials program radar to determine exactly what's falling near you. For example, is it hail or mixed rain?
by Lizzy Duffy
Twitter's Vine video app is just 2 weeks old, but it's already been updated to add a 17+ rating. However, any user can just click "OK" to get around the age limit. Internet safety advocates say social media sites aren't doing enough to protect younger users from inappropriate material.
by Steve Henn
NPR's Steve Henn says the new Google Maps for iPhone is not only better than Apple's maps — it's also much better than the old Google app that had been on the iPhone from Day 1.
by Sarah Harris
NCPRScientists and citizens are filling up a database on dead critters with their smartphones. The EpiCollect app pulls data such as location, speed limit and the carcass's condition. Wildlife ecologist Danielle Garneau says the project tracks animal movement and may help protect species in the future.
by Steve Mullis
Volunteers say the campaign's high-tech get-out-the-vote effort, called Project ORCA, was plagued by logistical problems and a broken app that failed when they needed it most — on Election Day.
by Dan Bobkoff
Tech companies like Google, Facebook and Zynga are on a shopping spree. They're buying small startups with innovative products and apps. But many times the buyers don't care about what the small companies were producing. They just want the engineers.
by Laura Sydell
Apple introduced its new mobile operating system along with its much-hyped iPhone 5. It includes a mapping service of its own, featuring Siri's voice. Problem is, she may not know where she's going. Complaints have been pouring in from around the globe about mislabeled and missing streets, towns and more.
by Anthony Kuhn
Lower taxes weren't the only thing that attracted Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin when he made his new home in Singapore in May. The World Bank lists Singapore as the easiest place to do business. Increasingly, money and talent are drawn to the city-state's tech sector.
by Elise Hu
In his first interview since Facebook's troubled IPO, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized the company's mobile-centered future, his commitment to mission over fun and explained why he doesn't code much anymore.
by Steve Henn
For the third time in a month, Apple has rejected a proposed app that tracks American drone strikes. The company says the app is "objectionable and crude"; the developer says he wants to encourage more dialogue about drone attacks.
by Lauren Silverman
People have long looked to computers to meet potential dates. Some are now using their smartphones, too. A growing number of phone apps are using internal GPS to locate other potentially compatible singles nearby. But to date, far more men than women are signing up for the services.
by Steve Henn
A growing number of companies hope more consumers will soon be making purchases with mobile phones. More retailers are also using technology that turns devices like tablets into cash registers.
