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Apple approves 100,000th app, and then some

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The road to application approval hasn’t always been smooth, with apps approved and then pulled, or outright banned on rather shaky grounds, but that hasn’t stopped Apple powering to 100,000 approved apps in the iTunes App Store.

The web site Appshopper.com has counted 102,485 approved applications and 93,659 available.

That’s a mind-boggling number, and unfortunately says nothing about the quality of those applications. Bear in mind that there are many variations on the same theme, and some (a lot) of them are complete and utter rubbish. [Read more…]

Originally posted on October 30, 2009 @ 11:01 am

Tiscali launches “Music for Life” download service

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Just when you thought there were no companies left jumping on the music download bandwagon, along comes UK ISP Tiscali with their offering.

tiscali-music-for-life-banner

Claiming a catalogue of 6.5 million tracks, including artists such as Johnny Cash, Paul Weller, Temper Trap, The White Stripes, and Adele.

It can boast this number of tracks because it has partnered with eMusic. That means you won’t necessarily get all the latest tunes as you might on services like iTunes, but still have access to a decent range of music. [Read more…]

Originally posted on October 29, 2009 @ 7:58 am

Barnes & Noble collaborates with Adobe on extending EPUB ebook format

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Online book retailer Barnes & Noble, which earlier in the month launched its nook ebook reader, has been collaborating with Adobe to standardise the EPUB ebook and content protection standards.

It means that users aren’t restricted to using a nook to read books purchased at the B&N store, but can also use e-reader software for iPhone, PC, BlackBerry and more, as well as access content copy-protected by Adobe technology. [Read more…]

Originally posted on October 30, 2009 @ 4:51 pm

British illegal downloaders could lose Net connection

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Proposals to cut off people who persistently download files illegally from the Internet have been washing around for several years now, but today Lord Mandelson, the UK government’s secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, laid out plans to introduce tough measures to combat illegal filesharing.

Opposed by leading ISPs, who fear that they will be forced to introduce costly and inconvenient monitoring and recording systems, Lord Mandelson did say that he had “no expectation of mass suspensions”, instead outlining a “three strikes” approach whereby persistent offenders would still have the right to appeal if cut off from the Net. [Read more…]

Originally posted on October 29, 2009 @ 9:15 am

Google builds Wikipedia custom search engine

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google-wikipedia-custom-search-screenshotThe power of Google’s custom search, which has been available to webmasters for around three years, is now to be found on Wikipedia.

It’s common for Wikipedia to be used for research purposes now, despite the occasional curveballs it throws out, and now Google’s search technology should make it easier to find relevant information more quickly.

A key feature is contextual search which only considers pages that are linked to a particular Wikipedia entry. This is great when a word has multiple meanings, as it helps to sift out irrelevant information. [Read more…]

Originally posted on October 27, 2009 @ 8:09 am