Kick Off Pinball

iOS: http://bit.ly/12tj75k

Android: http://bit.ly/10DiJPy

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

for iOS: http://bit.ly/11QJoiC

Mega Run

For Android: http://bit.ly/13AKnOg
For iOS: http://bit.ly/10HBXqp

Sniper Shooter

for iOS: http://bit.ly/10Pcybi

Sonic Dash

for iOS: http://bit.ly/16CUIQK

They need to be fed

for Android: http://bit.ly/14mImIl

One Tap Hero

for iOS: http://bit.ly/10HpGOI

When it comes to updates, it’s better two (or more) at a time. That’s what Android users are getting today for two of the most used Google apps: Chrome and Drive.

Chrome for Android gets fullscreen browsing

First off, Chrome for Android has been updated to version 27 which finally brings to phones one of the most anticipated features: full screen browsing. From now on, users just need to scroll down the page and the toolbar will disappear, making the most of the available space in the screen. However, that’s not the only new feature that version 27 comes with. Searching is easier now: the query keeps visible in the omnibox after tapping “search” which enables users to tweak it for a more accurate search. No need to type (or swype) the query over and over again.

Tablet owners are also getting their share; a feature that was surprisingly missing on tablets: Tab history. To make it pop up, users just have to long-press browser back button. Such easy. Finally, the browser has been optimized regarding performance and stability. Some minor bugs has been fixed and the outcome is noticeable. Haven’t updated it yet? What are you waiting for? Click the widget below and start enjoying these new features.

According to Google, Chrome for iOS is getting version 27 update in the next few days. It’s bringing voice search feature that recently got Chrome for desktops. What’s more, it is expected some other improvements regarding faster navigation and cache management.

Google Drive: cards & scan

It seems that the folks at Mountain View are trying to extend Google Now’s interface to all their apps. At least, that’s the path they’ve taken with Google Drive, which last update has been unveiled a few hours ago. Thus, Google Drive for Android has been facelifted with a card-style layout (Google Now style) to make easier finding the files you store in there. Cards, displayed as thumbnails in a grid, are way more attractive than a files text list. Besides attractiveness, it seems more efficient too: since the file content is previewed, users can find what they are looking for faster and manage files in a handy way. Thumbs up for that. The other big feature that this new update introduces is Scan. From now on, users can capture any physical document and upload them to Google Drive in a matter of seconds. The integrated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology allows turning any “captured” document into a PDF. Simply click “scan”, snap a photo of the document and Drive app will turn it into a PDF, ready to be upload and stored. Sounds good, isn’t it? I’m pretty sure this is going to save your *** too many times. Finally, two more features. First, an improved editing experience in Google Sheets: font types and sizes, as well as cell text colors and alignments are now editable. Second, Google Drive now comes with Cloud Print support through Cloud Ready printer, which allows to order printing from your smart device to wireless connected devices.

Check out other Google apps for Android and iOS

Source: Android Official Blog & CNET

That’s apparently just a temporary change, though, as Google’s Director of Product Manager for Real-Time Communications Nikhyl Singhal has now confirmed that both outbound and inbound calls will “soon be available.” Unfortunately, he’s not getting any more specific than that for the time being. He did, however, reiterate that “Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice,” and that “making/receiving phone calls is just the beginning,” further adding that “future versions of Hangouts will integrate Google Voice more seamlessly”, so it’s pretty clear that Google is placing all of its messaging service chips onto Hangouts for the foreseeable future.

In a post on Google+ (shown below), Singhal noted that while Hangouts can’t yet make outbound phone calls it can receive calls made to your Google Voice number.

A couple of months ago we discovered Towelfight 2 (for Android and iOS), a retro-inspired adventure game that pleasingly surprised us due to its oddity, humor and frantic-pace. Now, the folks at Butterscotch Shenanigans are about to launch a new title that feels like a sequel despite not being such a thing.  Quadropus Rampage shares bizarreness, humor and genre with Towelfight 2. However, it gets away from top-down 8bit-ish visuals to feature isometric view (Diablo style), cartoonish graphics and even a wilder rhythm.

Tumblr includes more than 100 million blogs, has over 300 million monthly unique visitors and it grows fast, really fast. The mobile app is also increasing in popularity and Yahoo states that their combination could help each other create advertising opportunities: Tumblr could use Yahoo’s advertising technology, and improve media network and search experiences. About the latter, Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO, said that “Their body is 50b posts and 5 billion posts of original content so search is already vast. We see an opportunity to integrate with search and provide that.”

Previously, Tumblr had worked with services like Spotlight highlighting, making tumblr brands more visible. However, the revenues were not really high and Yahoo is ready to fix that, promising not to lower the usage and attraction. In the same way, Yahoo will benefit from Tumblr’s younger audience (18-24).

The transaction has been made for $1.1 billion and the deal will close the second half of this year. “Our strategy is to let Tumblr be Tumblr,” stated Mayer finally.

Source | Yahoo & Techcrunch

Although it’s a topic that people is unlikely to be aware of, the most important things that mobile development has brought are new opportunities for nearly all kinds of disabled people. Yes, it’s true that we are still far from where we would like to be, but the upcoming of a new era is in the air. We already saw walking sticks with GPS and smartphones able to check one’s pulse back in the Barcelona MWC13, but if you stop to think about it, the best is still to come. And we aren’t talking about Google Glasses, because we would need a whole article just to name the possibilities.

In fact, one of the sessions within Google i/o last week was titled “Enabling Blind and Low-vision accessibility on Android”. Yes, it wasn’t the most popular keynote but it deserves some attention, because it seemed that Google was one step behind Apple in this regard, in their own particular race with a so interchangeable first position.

We can’t forget that many smartphone features branded as secondary are indeed critical for some customers. Both Google Talkback and Siri, even when they must be in constant development, are one step further towards a complete integration with impaired vision needs. Even beyond is BrailleBack, in case you are interested. Big companies are raising awareness about this, and in the aforementioned keynote a way to optimize any app and make it compatible with Talkback in just five steps. Here’s the link.

Anyway, what must be kept crystal clear is that accessibility is and will be a key point for any app, operative system or device to come. Betting for accessibility is not only a safe bet because of an ever-growing market, but also something morally and ethically necessary. In this regard, we shouldn’t ever stop working on it. XXIst century technology is great, but not as great if it isn’t available to everybody and we all can use it altogether.

Thanks to our friends at El Androide Libre for highlighting this topic.

Image above via Updates Zone.

Alexis Valerio

Senior PR Manager

[Editor's note: This interview was originally posted on March 13th 2013 as part of our MWC13 coverage]

We met a lot of kind people back at the MWC, but we’d like to highlight Peter’s interview with Alexis, who’s able to win anyone over thanks to her charm and beauty. In addition, she works for and believes in NARR8, perhaps the most interesting project seen all over MWC.

AppsZoom: First off, what’s NARR8? In a time of nonsense gaming and timewasters, how did you get started a project about reading comics and how does it feel to reach the top of the lists?

Alexis Valerio: NARR8 is a free app and digital publisher of motion comics, nonfiction series and interactive novels in a range of genres. Founded in October 2011 by veteran game developer and artist Alexander Vaschenko, NARR8 spawned from Vaschenko’s love for comics and the idea of bringing them to life with fluid animation, interactive features and original music and content. After receiving funding from IMI.VC, Vaschenko launched NARR8 in November 2012 to rave reviews. Since our launch, we have hired a combined total of 130 employees in both our Moscow and San Francisco offices, host 400k + users and acquired the #1 spot in the Top Free Apps store! We are overwhelmed and excited by this accomplishment and look forward to many, many more!

AZ: With NARR8 stories come for free and are original, how is so?

AV: We at NARR8 believe that stories are more than just words on a page. Our focus is to create an entirely new and engaging experience, and to do so, we have ten in-house studios that create content that is original, creative and ongoing (content is updated weekly). Plans are being considered for future monetization; however NARR8 will always remain free to download.

AZ: Your stories cover a wide array of genres, including furry, sci-fi and fantasy. What more we’ll be able to read?

AV: Currently, NARR8 hosts stories and series from genres including: sci-fi, fantasy, furry, horror and history and life sciences. These genres will continue as long as our readers show interest in them. Our interest is to deliver something for everyone, with plans to release five brand new series soon touching on genres such as non-fiction series, possible romance series, life and leisure content and “edutainment” stories – which combine education and entertainment, turning the learning process into a fun, interactive experience.

AZ: What about the future? Is there any secret plan we should know?

AV: We will soon be launching an iOS update with ramification fetters that allow the reader to collect NARR8‘s (tokens) to unlock features, stories and more. We are also planning to team up with third party publisher, but are keeping our lips sealed – for now.

AZ: A lot of AppsZoom users understand English even when it isn’t their mother tongue, but we’re sure they would like to know if stories are going to be translated into other languages.

AV: Definitely! Russian and English versions are currently available for download on iOS and Android 4.0+ platforms, as well as Google Play. In mid-to-late March we will be launching in Portuguese, Spanish and Korean, with many more languages already in the works for 2013.

AZ: Let me insist in a key point: you have dared to launch an app based on reading the comics you create. We have to say that is, to say the least, unexpected.

AV: NARR8 is more than just an app. Everyone here is an avid enthusiast of comics, reading and gaming and believes in our mission of creating quality art. We’re not a company that sticks to the trend, NARR8 strives toward originality and innovation, and is dedicated to delivering one-of-a-kind content that will create a community for fans like ourselves – who want to be a part of something collaborative, creative and fresh.

Interview by Peter Warrior, AppsZoom

]]> http://blog.appszoom.com/2013/05/17/interview-with-narr8-at-mwc13/feed/ 0 http://blog.appszoom.com/2013/05/17/preview-joy-pets-a-game-that-helps-real-rescued-pets/ http://blog.appszoom.com/2013/05/17/preview-joy-pets-a-game-that-helps-real-rescued-pets/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 10:05:23 +0000 Emmanuel Lund http://blog.appszoom.com/?p=5362 We love when apps meet good causes. That doesn’t happen very often though. However, SoJo Studios is one of those developers committed to make the world a better place by binding entertainment and social causes. Play for Good is its motto, and this time they are coming up with Joy Pets a  game that enables players to help real rescued pets when they play. Expected release: early in the summer 2013.

Joy Pets is a virtual pet caring game that helps real animals in local animal shelters nearby. Player must look after a virtual pet performing basic stuff like feed him, clean him, play games with him and, after all, making the most to guarantee his welfare. On condition that the game will be graphically acceptable, these features justifies already launching the game.

However, they keystone in Joy Pets lies on its social purpose: when you adopt your virtual pet you’ll also “adopt” a real animal located at a nearby shelter (can be selected from the app). That adoption will turn into a narrow relationship through Joy Pets. Thus, the more “Joy” (in-app currency) you earn playing with your virtual pet, the more real support you provide to your “adopted-puppy” ( in-app purchase system is expected too). Likewise, if the pet you support is finally adopted by a family, you can choose another real animal near you to keep contributing to the cause. In a few words: the more you play, the more you help animals.  That simple premise can be carried out thanks to Sojo Studios partnership with The Animal Rescue Site (a part of GreaterGood.org) and The Petfinder Foundation.

However, that’s not the only way you can help them. There’s an ongoing IndieGoGo campaign powered by this partnership oriented to everyone, but specially for those people who can’t wait to donate to this lovely cause. Donors will get special gifts and bonus gold to spend in game according to the amount contributed.

SoJo Studios is doing a great innovation job here, seeking (and actually providing) ways to bring together entertainment, collaboration and social good and shaping it on accessible products. Big up them!

Twitter for Google Glass allows you to share photos to Twitter and also receive notifications from users you want to stay in touch: the hashtag used is: #throughglass and will be included in the tweet. On the other hand, Facebook for Google Glass is also pretty easy to use: you just need to visit your MyGlass page, click on the Facebook card, allow access and finally add your desired public as sharing contact (Only Me, Friends and Public).

As for the games, Icebreaker is one of the first games to be available for Glass. For installing any apps, visit the official page.

Source | The Next Web

Bittersweet. That’s the feeling that the sixth annual Google I/O conference seems to be evoking in the public after its first day. It doesn’t mean that Google didn’t introduce good new features, apps and products yesterday. Actually, it did, and we are about to explain of all them to you in a summarized way. However, most of these features were quite anticipated due to the prior published leaks, and lack of surprise is always a little disappointing. In addition, two of the most awaited novelties, Android 4.3 (or 5.0) and new Nexus range, weren’t even mentioned. Neither Motorola X Phone or Nexus 4 white version. Sundar Pichai, Head of Google’s Android, announced it a few days ago in an interview published at Wired.com:

This year Google I/O is going to be different. It’s not a time when we have much in the way of launches of new products or a new operating system. Both on Android and Chrome, we’re going to focus this I/O on all of the kind of things we’re doing for developers, so that they can write better things”.

That’s fair warning.

Impressive Android OS growth

Android is already the most used mobile OS in the world, with an impressive growth of 1.5M new activations everyday and a total amount of 900M.e 48 billion apps have already been downloaded from Google Play. Those are dizzying numbers that, still, aren’t enough for Google which is eager to bring its services far beyond the Western markets. Pichai, in the introductory keynote even said “ Considering the population of the world a 7 billion approx., Google has a long way to go to Android world domination”. To infinity and beyond.

Hangouts

After a lot of speculation about a new messenger service powered by Google which was supposed to be called Babel, Mountain View has come up with Hangouts for Android, iOS and Chrome, an app that brings all Google’s messenger services together. Thanks to Hangouts, Google finally jumps into cross-platform instant messaging  market, where the struggle for the domination is already being fierce.  Hangouts, actually is an evolution of GTalk (you must update GTalk app in your mobile device to get Hangouts) that also includes interesting features already provided by G+ Messenger, like group videocalls and push notifications.

Google Music All Access

Actually, it seems that Google wants to catch up with all that markets where it was at a disadvantage. One of them is, of course, its streaming music service: Google Music. Until yesterday, Google Music allowed to upload your own music and to download paid albums/songs from Google Play. In other words, it lacked of a subscription model, keystone of its competitor’s success. All Access subscription is aimed to end up with that gap. Besides classic album purchasing mode, subscribers can now access all Google Music streaming catalog, make streaming stations and create playlist in the cloud by $10 a month. There’s a 30-day trial now and a $7.99 promo subscription for those who sign up before June 30.

Google Play Games 

We’ve been talking about this new service for a few days now thanks to a leak from our colleagues at AndroidPolice . Yesterday, Google officially presented Google Play Games, its own gaming platform where users can store scores and achievements on online leaderboards, join multiplayer games and manage installed video games. Google Play Games is initially coming to Android and Chrome but soon will be available for iOS. That’s a clear move against the successful Apple’s Game Center. More than 20 games are already available, mostly by important developers like Gameloft and Glu Mobile.

Google+ and Google Maps: New interface and features

Google+ is still far from being the most used social network. Google doesn’t give up on it though, since they know the importance of a social platform on its whole ecosystem. Thus, they keep adding new features and redesigning it. If you have visited your G+ account today, you’ve noticed it already. A whole new design that puts the focus on the visuals and makes navigation easier to users. In fact, there’s a new way to upload, edit and manage photos. Deep layouts, auto-hashtags, analysis tools and even an enhanced auto cross-platform sign-in.  New features that provide a better user experience.

Apple is making leaps with its mapping service and Google is somehow feeling its throne threatened. Since attack is the best form of defense, Google has also launched a new version of Google Maps, totally revamped, with a more intuitive navigation through maps, more accurate recommendations, new rating system and easy access to reviews from friends. In addition, the recommendation engine has been enhanced in order to guarantee that the app learns properly from the users: the more you use the app, the better recommendations you get. There’ll be both a desktop version (click here to preview it shortly) and an Android/iOS version which is expected for the summer.

Gmail: Send money as attachments

Google Wallet has been finally integrated into Gmail and pretty soon users will be able to send money attached in e-mails like they attach photos and files. That’s aimed to be an important boost to Google Wallet, which’s been a low-adopted service for users so far. Cash sent via Google Wallet (and any account connected to it) is fee-free, even if the recipient doesn’t have a Gmail address. However, if you pay using your credit/debit card there’ll be a 2.9% transaction fee. In the upcoming  months, only over-18-years-old U.S. users will be able to enjoy these new features. There’s no more details concerning its international release. However, it won’t be available on Gmail mobile app so far, just through Google Wallet mobile website.

Galaxy S4, special Google Edition

Despite no Motorola X Phone or new/revamped Nexus were presented yesterday, we’ve got some good hardware-related news. A special Google edition of the outstanding Samsung Galaxy S4 is about to roll out. This version drops Samsung’s TouchWiz interface to come with stock Android OS and unlocked bootloader. Since this special edition ‘wears’ same stock Android OS than the Nexus range, they will be updated at the same time. In other words, unlike original Samsung Galaxy S4, this Google Edition won’t have to wait to get the latest Android OS version. Galaxy S4 Google Edition will be available starting June 26 at $649 from the Google Play Store.

 Android Studio

Finally, developers’ time. Overall, Google I/O is developers-oriented conference, right? Good news for them: Google announced a new Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Android called Android Studio. It includes multiple layout tool for smartphones and tablets, a real-time simulator to preview any changes in the code, an enhanced developer console, a translation app and some tools to help developers generate more revenue from their apps (analytics, tracking, ads impact, etc.). Hugo Barra, VP of Android Product Management, stated “this is just a tease of all the new features in Android studio”. We guess they’ll be unveiled in the next two days. Developers are in luck.

It has become a rule of Google I/O Conference to spend the first day keynoting and announcing new stuff  that mostly meets the interest of the general public while leaving the other days to deepen on developers-oriented new features. Anyway, there are still two days of Google I/O Conference 2013 left. We’ll be posting updates on anything relevant. Keep tuned.

Source: TechCrunch & TheVerge