Accessibility links
apps apps
Stories About

apps

Wednesday

Wednesday

Online Marketers Take Note Of Brains Wired For Rewards

Popular online games like FarmVille use powerful reward systems to get players to spend real-world money on virtual items. Zynga/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Zynga/AP

All Tech Considered

Online Marketers Take Note Of Brains Wired For Rewards

Are you addicted to technology? Do you check email obsessively, tweet without restraint or post on Facebook during Thanksgiving dinner? Many techies and marketers are tapping into powerful reward mechanisms in our brain to make their products as compelling and profitable as possible.

Online Marketers Take Note Of Brains Wired For Rewards

Listen · 5:39
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/204621796/205058141" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Patients Lead The Way As Medicine Grapples With Apps

How many calories in that bite? My Fitness Pal and other fitness and nutrition apps can help find the answer. Heather Rousseau/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Heather Rousseau/NPR

Shots - Health News

Patients Lead The Way As Medicine Grapples With Apps

WBUR

Smartphone apps can help count calories or detect a heart attack. People are embracing them to manage many aspects of their health. But medical apps are largely unregulated now, so there's no easy way to be sure which ones are trustworthy and which ones aren't.

Patients Lead The Way As Medicine Grapples With Apps

Listen · 4:24
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/192777704/193194555" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Speak Up! Advertisers Want You To Talk With New Apps

Drinks columnist David Wondrich is seen on Esquire's new Talk to Esquire app, which allows users to interact with several of the magazine's columnists through voice recognition. Screengrab via YouTube hide caption

toggle caption
Screengrab via YouTube

All Tech Considered

Speak Up! Advertisers Want You To Talk With New Apps

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.

Speak Up! Advertisers Want You To Talk With New Apps

Listen · 2:57
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/177345718/177371308" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

More Than Just Angry Birds, Apps Can Have A Humanitarian Side Too

University of Washington computer science student Laura McFarlane and her team work on their smartphone app aimed at helping girls being illegally trafficked get help. Sara Lerner/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Sara Lerner/NPR

All Tech Considered

More Than Just Angry Birds, Apps Can Have A Humanitarian Side Too

KUOW

There's a trend in the startup world toward combining business and smartphone apps with altruistic goals. From human trafficking to helping farmers in Uganda, experts say, there's a market for doing social good with technology.

More Than Just Angry Birds, Apps Can Have A Humanitarian Side Too

Listen · 4:15
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/175388230/175439205" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

After Yahoo Acquires Summly, Is Buying Math The Next Tech Bubble?

Nick d'Aloisio displays his mobile application Summly, which Yahoo recently purchased for a reported $30 million. But the Internet company is killing the app and integrating the algorithm that drives it into its own technology. Matt Dunham/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Matt Dunham/AP

All Tech Considered

After Yahoo Acquires Summly, Is Buying Math The Next Tech Bubble?

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?

Monday

'Consumer Reports' Offers Tips For Doing Taxes Online

While many people look to tax preparation services for help, Tobie Stanger, editor at Consumer Reports, says online tools are often cost-effective. iStockphoto.com hide caption

toggle caption
iStockphoto.com

All Tech Considered

'Consumer Reports' Offers Tips For Doing Taxes Online

More self-preparation tools have become available this tax season. Some people may be anxious about doing their taxes online, but an expert from Consumer Reports says it's worth a shot.

'Consumer Reports' Offers Tips For Doing Taxes Online

Listen · 4:47
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/173246283/173399254" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

In New York, Taxi Apps Raise Objections From Competitors

New York City rules will soon permit yellow cab drivers to accept rides through smartphone apps. Richard Drew/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Richard Drew/AP

All Tech Considered

In New York, Taxi Apps Raise Objections From Competitors

WNYC

Following the lead of cities like San Francisco and Washington, D.C., New York wants to permit passengers to use smartphone apps to find a yellow cab. But the prospect of change has prompted a lawsuit from private car services, whose passengers already use smartphones to hail drivers.

In New York, Taxi Apps Raise Objections From Competitors

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/172018635/172470366" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Want To Keep Your Messages Private? There's An App For That

Cell phone communication can be hacked, tapped or otherwise tampered with. A new app aims to change that. iStockphoto hide caption

toggle caption
iStockphoto

All Tech Considered

Want To Keep Your Messages Private? There's An App For That

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.

Want To Keep Your Messages Private? There's An App For That

Listen · 3:43
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/172258256/172263750" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Wednesday

Skin Doctors Question Accuracy Of Apps For Cancer Risk

Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Mannino checks a sailor for skin cancer the old-fashioned way during a screening exam at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in San Diego. MC2 Dominique M. Lasco/U.S. Navy hide caption

toggle caption
MC2 Dominique M. Lasco/U.S. Navy

Shots - Health News

Skin Doctors Question Accuracy Of Apps For Cancer Risk

Smartphone apps that assess moles for skin cancer risk missed threatening moles one-third of the time, say dermatologists who tested some of the apps. The apps could give people a false sense of security about their skin.

Tuesday

Wednesday

Smartphone Apps Offer Few Shortcuts For Those With Food Allergies

The iTube platform, left, uses colorimetric assays and a smartphone-based digital reader to detect potential food allergen. A screen capture of the iTube App appears on the right. UCLA hide caption

toggle caption
UCLA

The Salt

Smartphone Apps Offer Few Shortcuts For Those With Food Allergies

Plenty of apps promise to make life easier for people with life-threatening allergies to nuts and other foods. One scientist even invented a smartphone-based lab to detect potential allergens. But asking "Does that have nuts in it?" may actually be a better and safer option than pulling out your phone.

Who Could Be Watching You Watching Your Figure? Your Boss

Mobile apps and devices track a user's health statistics. But those data are sometimes sold and can end up in the hands of employers and insurance companies. iStockphoto.com hide caption

toggle caption
iStockphoto.com

All Tech Considered

Who Could Be Watching You Watching Your Figure? Your Boss

KQED

Those of us trying to get in shape after overindulging this holiday season can get help from a slew of new devices that monitor steps climbed, calories burned and heart rate. But companies and venture capitalists in new startups hope to make money in a new way: by selling the data right back to the people tracking their activity — and to their employers.

Who Could Be Watching You Watching Your Figure? Your Boss

Listen · 4:29
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/167970303/168059113" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Many Apps For Children Still Raise Privacy Concerns, FTC Says

Who's collecting information about her? Peggy Turbett/The Plain Dealer /Landov hide caption

toggle caption
Peggy Turbett/The Plain Dealer /Landov

The Two-Way

Many Apps For Children Still Raise Privacy Concerns, FTC Says

The agency says that among its most troubling findings is that many apps for kids share such information as geolocations with third parties. Developers need to do more to improve privacy protections and to tell parents what they're doing, the agency reports.

Many Apps For Children Still Raise Privacy Concerns, FTC Says

Listen · 2:35
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/166878852/166901324" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript