Christmas Day Was Huge for App Downloads

Good article in Fortune here on how app downloads were up, up, and up on Christmas Day 2012.

Link:

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/12/28/apple-iphone-ipad-christmas-sales/

Apple: iOS Won't Include YouTube

Apple Inc's new version of its iPhone and iPad software will not include a pre-loaded app for Google Inc's popular video website, YouTube, Apple said on Monday.

Apple said in a statement on Monday that its license to include the YouTube app in the iOS operating system "has ended." Apple noted that "customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the app store."

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the company's YouTube license included any financial terms, or on whether Apple planned to replace YouTube with another pre-installed online video app from a different company.

YouTube has been among a handful of apps that come pre-loaded onto the screens of Apple's mobile devices since the original iPhone was introduced in 2007.

Want to Punch Tim Tebow?

You can if you have an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad and you download this new free app.

It's called Punch Tebow, and you can do just that.  Just punch, tap or touch the screen where you want to hit the Bronco's starting QB and he will react accordingly.

See Tebow before and then after he gets punched.

If you hit him at the right angle, his head will snap back.

I dished out more abuse on the former Heisman Trophy winner in one session than the Steelers defense did in their entire playoff game yesterday.

It's mindless, it's fun, it's a waste of time.  But it's pretty cool.

Google Releases iOS App for Gmail, then Pulls It

It's only taken four years, but Google finally got around to releasing a native Gmail app for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.  Then it got pulled from the App Store.

The new app is fast, looks nice, and adds a number of features that you don’t get with the web app.  But there apparently is a security flaw.

The Gmail app supports push notifications and audio alerts — or at least it’s supposed to.  It also allows you to autocomplete addresses by grabbing contacts from your local address book as well as your Gmail account.

The Gmail app includes touch-based gestures including the ability to refresh your inbox by pulling down on the screen. You can swipe from left-ro-right on the screen to navigate through your folders and

Priority Inbox settings. You can also now attach images to an email message.

When you use the Gmail app on an iPad, there’s a split-pane view that lets you get a good view of your what you are reading or writing.

We'll have to see exacly why it was pulled and what changes make take place.

iPad Free App of the Week: Snapseed

Finally, an iPad photography app that doesn't insult your intelligence.

Get Snapseed for FREE from 9/20—9/23 and get the app Apple named their iTunes App of the Week in August!

Snapseed makes any photograph extraordinary and puts a fun high-quality photo experience right at your fingertips.

Now anyone can enhance, transform, and share their photos with ease using incredibly advanced features from the leader in digital photography software!


Features:
• Easily browse and adjust your photos with a single tap using Auto Correct
• Tweak your photo to perfection with Tune Image
• Use Selective Adjust to enhance specific objects or areas in your photos
• Experiment with fun and innovative features like Drama, Vintage, Grunge, and Center Focus
• Add Borders for incredible finishing touches
• Email your creations or share them on Facebook and Flickr

SUPPORTS:
• 6.25 MP images for iPad, iPhone 3Gs, and iPod Touch (3rd and 4th Gen), 16 MP images for iPad 2 and iPhone 4 (larger images will be automatically down sampled)
• JPEG and TIFF photos
• RAW photos (requires iPad or iPad 2) transferred using the Camera Connector Kit (if files show up as a small thumbnail, go to Settings > Location Services and turn this setting to On for Snapseed. This is required to allow Snapseed to use the iOS RAW processing)