One of the big buzzwords in the 2012 election has been, of course, “job creators” (with the very existence of said group a matter of intense debate), but it seems if you buy and use a lot of apps, you’re one of them. They should lower your taxes to 15% and subsidize the bailout of your house.

Seriously, though, it seems the “app economy” segment of the tech sector- while it often concerns farming fake crops and spoofing phone numbers- actually translates to serious dollars. While that in and of itself isn’t news, the fact that this is also translating to some significant jobs numbers according to a new TechNet study is pretty interesting. According to the data, a net 466,000 jobs have been created- with 311,000 actually making the app donuts and the balance of about 155,000 jobs administrating app-related jobs in functions like payroll.

The Los Angeles Times quoted one analyst on how news about the app economy and its effect on business in commerce is a good indicator for economic progress overall:

“This is a telescope into what the future looks like,” said Michael Mandel, the economist hired by TechNet to put together the report. “This is one part of the economy that is actually expanding and hiring. Once you point people in that direction, they can realign their compass pretty quickly.”

Mandel, who is the President of South Mountain Economics and the former Chief Economist for BusinessWeek, added:

“The App Economy, along with the broad communications sector, has been a leading source of hiring strength in an otherwise sluggish labor market.”

Do you dump money into the apps sector with increasing frequency?

‘App Economy’ Has Created Nearly 500K Jobs Since 2007 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Purchasing a shiny new Smartphone comes with the option to install a bunch of shiny new apps and while users are purchasing those apps at a rate of billions of dollars each year they often skimp out when it comes to actually operating them.

According to a recent Pew Researcher Center study 68% of Smartphone users use five or fewer apps on a weekly basis while 17% of users say they don’t access their installed apps at all.

One analyst tells USA Today that 80% to 90% of apps that are downloaded will eventually be deleted because of a lack of use. That means to have a successful long-term app a develop only needs to have a 30% retention rate.

It’s not all bad news for mobile app developers. It turns out that apps users want to use on the Google Android platform take up a lot of their time, up to 60 minutes each day with an average phone use time of 90 minutes. The research found very similar results for Apple iPhone users.

While quick downloading and dumping of mobile apps is common it’s not necessarily a bad thing since one in five apps on the Top 50 download list each month is new, allowing for more exposure for developers who are fighting for space in an overcrowded arena that features more than 1 million apps among the world’s top four mobile operating systems.

Do you find yourself downloading many apps but then deleting most of them after little or no use?

Mobile Apps Quickly Lose Appeal Once Installed [Survey] is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s probably the rare person in this social media age who has not wondered what would happen to their Facebook and Twitter accounts in the event of their unexpected (or perhaps, more sadly, expected) death.

What would people say to you? And what would your last post be? You could get an answer to at least the second question with a new app- one many find a bit morbid- called “If I Die.” The app is interesting, transmitting a message you’ve composed ahead of your trip to the Great Hereafter. The way it works is that you leave a sort of Facebook will, a final video note to your friends and followers recorded before your passing. (Duh.) When you die, three pre-selected “trustees” must confirm your death to the service.

When all three are in agreement that you are, in fact, pushing up daisies, the service pushes out the message to your nearest and dearest via social media, giving them one last interaction with you before your Facebook account is memorialized and your Twitter feed goes silent. Although some have dubbed the app a bit disturbing, others have noted that especially in the instance of terminal illness, a person will have the comfort of knowing that they can control their final words to friends via the “If I Die” app. Digital media specialist Karalee Evans of agency Text 100 explains:

“The person that has recorded the message is controlling how their social networks find out about their passing. And it could be something that helps to mitigate that flaming by switching the power balance.”

I like to think of myself as an early adopter, but as someone who lost someone very dear to me coming up on a year now, I have to say I’d have mixed feelings about something like this. On one hand, it does give you a tiny bit more closure- if that sort of thing even really exists- in the event a friend passes on suddenly. On the other? What if they mention you? What if they don’t mention you? Grief is a strange, easily influenceable emotion, and it is with no small amount of feeling old I posit that such a prospect is very unsettling indeed.

Would you consider a final message to your loved ones from beyond? Would you feel soothed by such a message if someone you cared for passed on?

“If I Die” App Posts Your Final Message to Facebook After Your Demise is a post from: The Inquisitr

An enterprising hacker has managed to coax the $99 Apple TV set-top box into running full screen iOS apps.

Steve Troughton-Smith’s hack lets users run iPhone and iPad apps on a big-screen TV at an eye-massagingly lovely 720p 1280 x 720 resolution. In various demonstrations posted to YouTube (one of which you can is embedded below), Troughton-Smith shows apps such as Safari, Facebook and Angry Birds running on a cracked Apple TV box with the help of witchcraft some clever coding.

Apple has so far not enabled full screen iOS apps on the Apple TV box, or granted access to the App Store through the device. It has been known from the beginning that Apple TV can run iOS apps, but Apple has limited this capability, for obvious reasons – the Apple TV box is a mere $99, somewhat cheaper than an iPad or iPhone.

Below you can watch Troughton-Smith himself showing off his handiwork. Also, the hacker has since finished work on a hack that adds Apple IR remote control support to iOS apps!

[Via Slashgear]

Apple TV Hacked to Run iOS Apps [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Angry Birds aside the mobile app market is often touted as being the next big money maker for developers and since all we hear is how people are getting all these apps on their mobile phones and tablets it is pretty easy to fall for the hype.

Then reality sets in and we find out things aren’t necessarily as rosy as they would have you believe and this is evidenced by a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life group which found out that less than half of the people who download these apps end up paying for them.

Pew surveyed some 2,260 adults over the age of 18 between July and August, of which 916 were conducted over cell phones and found that only 16 percent of those who downloaded apps ended up paying for them.

One interesting fact the Pew survey did find was that tablet users were more likely to pay for downloaded apps in contrast to cell phone users.

As for what they paid the breakdown came out at 52 percent paid $5 or less for an app and 17 percent were willing to pay more than $20 for an app.

via CNET Crave

Apps aren’t the big money maker everyone would have you think they are is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple on Thursday filed a USPTO patent request for “In-Application Purchasing.” The patent request appears to cover most app store functions currently available on the market, allowing users to purchase content from outside sources while inside another application.

The patents also shows variations on the process, including using an HTML5 web app to bring up purchased content.

While some of the patent appears to show universal uses Apple also points to several top level features that are currently implemented with iOS app purchases.

The original version of the patent was filed in April of 2010 and if upheld it could cause problems for Google Android, Microsoft WP7 and RIM users who all utilize in-app purchasing for free and paid programs.

It’s likely that basic functions of in-app purchasing will not qualify for trademark protection since they will likely be considered “basic technology” however Apple could at least protect some of their proprietary systems.

The move by Apple could also end up complicating a Lodsys lawsuit campaign that is already attempting to collect other “in-app” purchases.

Do you think Apple and their Apple Store system have any right to patent in-app purchasing systems which are used by most major operating systems at this time?

Apple Files For “In-App Purchasing” Patent, Looks To Shut Out Competitors is a post from: The Inquisitr

We’ve been kind of following the coming Chicken Little moment when the UARS satellite comes crashing to earth, the only problem is that we have no clue as to where that final moment will happen.

As Dan Evon here at The Inquisitr noted in a post earlier

NASA has been updating the satellite’s progress all week as they monitor its path to earth. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite was orbiting 100 miles above earth this morning, and NASA expects the satellite to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere later tonight.

But the organization still doesn’t know where the UARS satellite will land. They did say, however, that it was possible for the satellite to hit the United States.

Well AGI the makers of an augmented reality app for the Android smartphone and tablets, called Satellite AR, already has a rather cool app that lets you know what satellites are passing over head at any given time by just pointing your phone, or tablet, at the sky overhead. Now in light of this impending flame-out of UARS the company has added a temporary button to their app that will let you keep track of the satellite’s impeding demise.

You can grab a copy of the app as well as instruction on how to use it from the AGI site.

via Crave

Android users safe from crashing NASA satellite thanks to an app for the phone and tablet is a post from: The Inquisitr

The U.S. jobs market may be bleak but such is not true for the App Economy. A research from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business said that the proliferation of Facebook and mobile technology apps has given birth to a new industry and has added at least 182,000 new jobs. It was estimated to have contributed more than $12.19 billion in wages and benefits.

With more aggressive estimates, the Facebook App Economy alone created a total of 235,644 jobs and adding a value of $15.71 billion to the US economy.

Il-Horn Hann and Siva Viswanathan, co-directors of the Smith School of Business, measured the number of people employed to build, develop and consult on Facebook applications using data provided by the social network.

Il-Horn Hann, director of Smith’s School of Business, said:

“Our findings confirm that social media platforms have created a thriving new industry. As Facebook and other platforms grow, we will continue to see job growth and the ripple effects of these advances in the U.S. economy.”

The App Economy also led to job creation at businesses that supply app developers, and in sectors that reap the benefits of increased household spending by app developers and suppliers from new app economy jobs.

Given this, maybe we should just start thinking on how to convert the entire U.S. economy into a Facebook app. This is a joke obviously but maybe we’ll recover.

Facebook Apps Create 182,000 New U.S. Jobs Worth $12.9 Billion is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’m not quite sure how to feel about this one.

On one hand, it’s a cool idea to flesh out the ubiquitous designer/writer standard issue Moleskine out for technophilic traditionalist who use the devices. On the other, Moleskines really are one of those things that are pretty much all about esthetics- page texture, the sleek binding, that snappy little elastic band to hold in papers, pictures and old tickets. Can it really be translated to a tiny, glowing screen? (I say this as someone who has entirely forsaken paper books and gleefully anticipates their obsolescence- I hold no particular affection for the printed page, the smell of books, their “warmth” or any similar bollocks.)

Alas, I was unable to find out directly. The app won’t even talk to my iPhone, and wouldn’t download to my iPad either. Maybe it’s just me, but it could be buggy. MSNBC was a bit more successful in getting the Moleskine app to run, and describes it thusly:

The app is slightly more elaborate than a notebook, but it still mimics the general feel of a traditional Moleskine as well as an app can. Users can select a notebook paper style — plain, ruled, or squared — as well as one of several note taking tools. There are ways to add images, edit text, sketch basic things, organize thoughts, geo-tag items, and share notes via email or social networks.

Some aspects of the app seem to make it crash, users report, but overall, the Moleskine app is probably more fun to use for everyday note taking than the iPhone Notes app that comes standard. Have you successfully test driven the Moleskine app? Is it an interesting version of an old classic or kind of silly?

[Image]

So, there’s a Moleskine app for iPhone and iPad… is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ever posted an embarrassing tweet, check-in or Facebook status update while under the influence of alcohol?

Ambien is actually a notorious offender here (given its tendency to drop your inhibitions while not affecting your speech or grammar), but alcohol is the most common precipitate when it comes to mortifying morning after replies. Whether you’ve checked in at six or seven local hotspots or merely unleashed a series of “WOOOOO!” updates on Facebook, cleaning up the social media mess can be a bit of a chore when hungover. (There is yet no app to scrub the puke from your bedroom carpet.)

Although you can’t make anyone else “unsee” a mortifying status update, sometimes it can be a bit embarrassing to even have to sort through iffy updates when you sober up. A new app in the iTunes store takes care of the deleting for you, scrubbing Facebook and Twitter of all your sobby updates @yourexgirlfriend. Enter the time you started partying, and the app goes to work on deleting without forcing you to relive the night in all its hooch-soaked glory. (Now, if it could prevent tagging by your friends from that night, that would be really cool.)

Once the app has erased the evidence, however, there’s no getting it back. But better safe than the subject of a screenshot on Reddit with over 1,000 upvotes.

“Last Night Never Happened” deletes your drunken Facebooking so you don’t have to is a post from: The Inquisitr

Foursquare’s blog has a new post about updates to the worldwide location-based check-in game with Foursquare 3.0, leading off with some upgrades for businesses, but then getting down into what we all really want from Foursquare- specials.

Aside from social butterfly cool-points, Foursquare’s biggest draw most certainly is perks for users. (A Carrabba’s habit borne largely from intense kitchen laziness, for instance, meant I got dessert on the house at every visit because I was the mayor.) Foursquare 3.0 is awash in these consumer-friendly add-ons, describing a wealth of them in the update.

First off is Flash Specials, like a doorbuster on Black Friday. Flash Specials reward the early birds checking in, and running during a limited period but carrying some heavy discounts, like a $20 gift card at Sports Authority to the first person to check in. Friends Specials are available when you check in with companions, with perks like 24% off any item at H&M or a free cookie at Whole Foods when you check in with friends.

Swarm Specials are tied to several Foursquare users at a location, like the one for Applebee’s where if there are five checked in users at an Applebee’s after 9pm, everyone gets a free order of mozzarella sticks. And then there are Newbie Specials, to entice people to check-in for the first time at a certain location. Radio Shack is offering a 20% off deal for Foursquare Newbies on “participating” items.

Has Foursquare earned you significant perks or details at places you regularly visit? Has it lured you to try a new place due to an available special?

Foursquare 3.0 has even more nifty features, deals is a post from: The Inquisitr

I have reservations about the long term usability of the whole apps thing that we are seeing advancing like a tsunami in our increasing mobile oriented world whereas people like Robert Scoble suggest that without a solid apps ecosystem companies, like Microsoft and its Windows Phone 7, are bound to fail.

Well thanks to the folks at Flowtown we have a new infographic showing us how important apps have become to this point.

What do you think?

via Windows Observer

Apps to rule the world [Infographic] is a post from: The Inquisitr

iPhone users, your list of excuses to skip Confession on Saturdays just got a little bit shorter.

Despite some relatively progressive stances for Christians on positions such as science and evolution, the Catholic Church gets a lot of (okay, mostly deserved) flak on the internet for its sins. But say what you will about certain endemic to or pervasive in the church, Catholic Church leaders are also pretty with-it when it comes to social media. And just this week, the church broadened its embrace of web apps and platforms by sanctioning an iPhone app created by three laypeople under the guidance of two priests to walk lapsed or simply nervous parishioners through confession.

Before you get too excited about not having to look at Father Jack when you spill about getting drunk and groping your secretary, the app doesn’t offer absolution. However, it does help you sort through behaviors you might have engaged in that are sins- a function anyone who has blanked when it comes to that point can appreciate. The app’s site, littleiapps.com, describes it thusly:

With a personalized examination of conscience for each user, password protected profiles, and a step-by-step guide to the sacrament, this app invites Catholics to prayerfully prepare for and participate in the Rite of Penance.

The app, emblazoned with a very Catholic but stylized Sacred Heart, is available for $1.99. And for penance? There are several rosary apps available for iPhone as well, including “Holy Rosary Deluxe Version” for $1.99.

Bless me father, for iHaveSinned: New iPhone ‘confessional’ app is a post from: The Inquisitr

Gowalla announced an upgrade to their service today, integrating the app with its two biggest competitors.

Also on the docket is integration with Twitter and Tumblr, but Gowalla 3 is only available for iPhone until January. (iPad, Blackberry and Android integration is expected to follow then.) In a post on their blog describing how “stoked” they are about the new features, Gowalla says:

In fact, we’ve made checking in at your favorite places even easier with a new, faster check-in interface. We debated calling this “quick” or “express” check in, but it doesn’t really need a gimmicky name. We just made it better. Simply tap the Check In button that is universally present in the tab bar and based on your previous history and current location, we’ll auto-fill where we think you are. We get it right about 80 percent of the time. In the cases where our best guess was a little off, it’s super easy to select the correct location with a couple quick taps. Then you can quickly and easily share where you are with your friends on Gowalla, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Tumblr… We’ve combined them all into a single, connected activity feed with all your friends, regardless of the service they checked in on.

The post also discusses “Highlights,” which are now “baked into” Gowalla’s Spots. Highlights will, according to Gowalla’s posts, also allow users to read Foursquare tips at the very same location. Another updated feature is “Bookmarks,” allowing you to save places you wish to visit in the future and access them later.

One feature that sounds pretty cool is the “Notes” functionality, enabling users to leave messages for friends set to open on their next check-in at a spot. The upgrade is available now on iTunes- do the new features give you more reason to use the service, or are you married to Facebook Places or Foursquare?

[Gowalla Blog]

Gowalla hooks up with Foursquare, Facebook Places is a post from: The Inquisitr

Back on December 2009 it appears that Apple applied for a trademark for their famous ad tagline “There’s an App for That” and word out today is that they have been granted the trademark for it.

Here’s that it covers:

Retail store services featuring computer software provided via the Internet and other computer and electronic communication networks; retail store services featuring computer software for use on handheld mobile digital electronic devices and other consumer electronics.

Oh joy, more fodder for the Apple lawyer machine.

via Geekosystem and TUAW

Guess who trademarked “There’s an App for That”? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Literally the most awesome iPad app ad you will ever see is a post from: The Inquisitr

I have to say that Fox’s sci-fi show Fringe is one of my favorites however I’m not sure how some mobile app is going to do anything for the show. However I’m not Fox or AppNation and they both seem to think that Fringe fans out there will be able to come up with some unique and fun apps – to the tune of $10,000.

Yup, Fox, in conjunction with AppNation, are running a developer contest to see who can create the most “mindbending” app around the popular show. From AppNation’s Pimp My App Contest announcement:

Do You have what it takes to build the coolest app on the planet for one of the coolest television shows on the planet?? You’re assignment is simple: Create the coolest, groundbreaking, mindbending app for the Fox hit show “Fringe” and pocket a cool 10 large along the way. It costs nothing to enter, we have some cool official “Fringe” assets to get you started, and, other than that, you are limited only by your imagination. Just read and agree to the simple rules and criteria, fill out the short registration form, and get to work! Hack on…

The winner of the contest gets to rejoice in fame and a cool $10G’s – not bad.

Create a “Fringe” app and win big is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sure, news about Apple taking down, or refusing to include apps in its iPhone App Store because they are deemed as being of questionable moral standing but their newest take down borders on gatekeeper stupidity.

While I am sure that Apple can justify its earlier take down of iChatr – an iPhone version of ChatRoulette, other which known as count down to genitalia exposure in 3… 2… 1, but word comes today about a DLP Mobile app that got rejected.

Apple’s reason for the rejection? The submitted screenshots for the app were deemed “obscene, pornographic, or defamatory. Well OMG it must have been some terrible purveyor of moral degradation – right?

Um.No.

The app developed by DLP Mobile is a mirror app that is nothing more than a lighted vanity mirror. From their Facebook page is this simple description for the original Mirror for the iPhone 4:

• Uses the built-in forward-facing camera to turn the iPhone 4 into a lighted vanity mirror.
• Comes with adjustable light settings: day, office, evening, and home.
• Users can customize their mirror by adding unique frames around the display.

However Apple considers the updated version that was submitted for approval not up to their puritanical standards. This is the letter that the DLP Mobile team got from Apple concerning the rejection is as follows (from the team’s blog):

SUBJECT: Mirror App: Application Submission Feedback
Dear Mr. [redacted]

Thank you for submitting your application to the App Store. Unfortunately, Mirror App cannot be posted to the App Store at this time because the screenshots provided contain content that is objectionable for certain age groups. This is in violation of Section 3.3.18 from the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement that states:

“Applications may be rejected if they contain content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, sounds, etc.) that in Apple’s reasonable judgment may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory.”

The application screenshots must meet the requirements for a 4+ rating (no objectionable material) since these images are visible on the App Store by all users even when purchasing is restricted by the application’s rating. The inappropriate images have been attached for your reference.

While your iTunes Connect Application State is displayed as Rejected, it is not necessary to upload a new binary. Once you have made the necessary modifications, please reply to this email and we will proceed with your application review.

Best Regards,

App Review Team
iPhone Developer Program

Oh and the pictures that caused the app to be refused?

These are them.

Yup. A lot of porn going on there.

Apple show once more it has a warped sense of what is disgusting and pornographic is a post from: The Inquisitr

Foursquare is one of those things people either love or hate, usually quite vocally either way.

Many people not playing the game get annoyed at the constant Twitter updates from Foursquare-playing friends, but if you’re playing, you might dig on cheaper Frappucinos at Starbucks or warnings about possible terrorist attacks in New York City. Players are also aware of the frustration that looms when someone local steals your mayorship and you can’t seem to get it back no matter how many damn times you eat at Chipotle this week.

Although Mashable suggests that a new site WhenWillIBeMayor.com flirts with cheating on Foursquare, all the site really does is reveal how many more check-ins are needed at a venue to achieve mayor status. You can search by venue name or location, or by number of check-in and top venues. A cursory search shows me that there are several venues that I can wrest mayorship from a fellow player of merely by checking in one more time.

In a blog post earlier today, WWIBM addresses the “gaming” the game issue, and I’m inclined to agree. Definitely not cheating:

Maybe by now – you’ve seen the Mashable article about WWBIM. If not – you should read it prior to reading this post. I just wanted to post a quick follow-up on my thoughts on “gaming” foursquare via WWBIM. The article make a point that WWBIM is “gaming” the system to determine when you’ll get mayorships. The point of WWBIM isn’t to “game” the system – but just to give you an idea on how you are doing. “Gaming” to me – is affecting the outcome of something, while I think we are just providing “guidance” on mayorships.

With all the new promotions out there to become Mayor of venues to gain discounts at your favorite shops – I figured that this would be a great application to track that progress – and the indent wasn’t to allow people to game the system – rather give them insight into their history on foursquare.

Besides, thanks to this site I know that I’m only one check-in away from a buck off coffee milkshakes at a local, lonely Starbucks. Whee!

Steal back your Foursquare mayorships with WhenWillIBeMayor.com is a post from: The Inquisitr

Quick, someone call the Foursquare cops!

You can put the pants down and step away from the Metrocard, Foursquare users, as for the time being, you won’t be able to check-in anywhere on Foursquare. Your morning Americano, commute stop and arrival at your office will all be lost to the annals of time because Foursquare is currently displaying the “pouty princess.” (Did Mashable just coin that term?)

The official @foursquare account as been silent thus far about the reasons behind the outage (that seems to have begun at least four hours ago) but scattered Twitter reports seem to indicate that the service has been inaccessible across the board. As a user of Foursquare, I know there have been a few times where check-ins have timed out and it seems the service is indeed down (I’ve always blamed AT&T for sucky iPhone coverage) but has anyone seen this wee girl on their Foursquare web login pages before? Have you experienced a Foursquare outage, and if so, is this the longest so far the service has been down?

Don’t bother going anywhere, people, Foursquare is down is a post from: The Inquisitr