mobile apps

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on mobile apps:

Not that into him? Tinder lets you hook up your pals

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It's the sharing economy, ok?
It's the sharing economy, ok?
Photo: Tinder

Swipe left for no, swipe right for yes. That’s how Tinder used to work.

Now you’ll be able to send Tinder profiles along to your friends, playing matchmaker along the way, with a little tap on a Share icon, which is rolling out to users as we speak.

When you find that cute person you think would be perfect for your BFF, you can now send his or her Tinder profile along. You’ll get dibs at the front table for the wedding, of course.

Amazon barges into mobile payments ring

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$1 trillion
Pay with Amazon buttons have plenty of ammo given the over 200 million Amazon accounts.
Photo: Roberto Baldwin/The Next Web

Amazon will start taking more advantage of the millions of credit cards it has on file with new “Pay with Amazon” buttons. The expansion to Amazon Payments will allow third-party developers to include these buttons in their mobile apps and have users quickly sign in to process payments. Since all their payment information is already with Amazon, checkout processes should be much speedier without having to reenter everything. It looks like Apple Pay and PayPal need to watch out.

Making your own mobile app is now super quick and easy

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adsy

Look, making an app that will run on your iPhone is hard.

Luckily, adsy.me just made it chimp simple for normal folks like you or I to make a mobile app right on your iOS, Android or computer. You don’t need to download anything, learn to code, or even leave your touchscreen.

Make an app to show off your disco band, complete with links to Soundcloud, or share recipes with your friends, linking them to your favorite chef sites. Explain your passion project and connect your Twitter followers to a wealth of knowledge that you can curate on your very own mobile app.

Seriously, if you want to make a mobile app and have no clue about C++ or Xcode compilers or other such fooferaw, adsy.me is your best bet.

iOS And Android App Ads Can Reach A Huge, If Fragmented, Audience [Study]

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Advertising and mobile analytics company, Flurry, has released some new stats on the reach that mobile apps seem to be enjoying. The take-away here is that the number of people using mobile apps in any given day, at least the apps that Flurry tracks, seems to be growing into a sizable group of people, albeit a bit fragmented across platforms and devices.

Flurry estimates that there were 224 million active mobile users in apps tracked this past February across iOS and Android, which is a bit more than the number of active users (221 million) during the same month on laptop or desktop computers, as measured by comScore, a similar company that tracks computer user data.

Facebook Mobile App Use Sees Huge Increase On iOS, Android, Says Analyst

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According to mobile industry analyst, Bernie Evans, Facebook reported a huge growth in mobile app Facebook use, with Android users growing from 66 million users in September 2011 to 175 million users this past September. iPhone users also increased greatly, with the number of users of the iPhone Facebook app growing from 91 million last year to 140 million this year.

iPhone And Online Ordering Has Become Mainstream And Big Business

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Ordering and paying for food using a mobile app or website has hit the mainstream.
Ordering and paying for food using a mobile app or website has hit the mainstream.

Many fast food and restaurant chains now offer iPhone apps that facilitate ordering for delivery or pick up. A number of services, like Splick-it and Grubhub, also help facilitate such orders through an iOS app, offering independent restaurants to compete with the chains. Beyond apps, there are web-based services like Mealeo that offer the same functionality. Despite being a relatively new phenomenon, online and mobile ordering has become a serious business – over two-thirds of Americans use such services on a regular basis.

In fact, of those two-thirds of Americans, most say they tend to order more from a mobile or web service than they would over the phone or in person.

NFL Teams May Be Embracing The iPad, But NFL Stadiums Aren’t Yet Ready For iPad-Owning Fans

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Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, will be one of the few stadiums to offer fans Wi-Fi and app access during NFL games.
Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, will be one of the few stadiums to offer fans Wi-Fi and app access during NFL games.

NFL teams may be embracing the iPad, but the league seems a bit mixed in its approach to fans carrying iPhones, iPads, and other mobile devices. Despite a plan announced earlier this summer that NFL stadiums would be equipped with large-scale Wi-Fi access along with mobile apps for fans to use while at a game, the NFL has decided to take a much more cautious approach to game-day technology.

Earlier this year, amid reports that tickets sales for NFL had fallen for a fifth straight year in a row, the league announced free Wi-Fi and some ambitious in-stadium perks for fans willing to put down the money to see their favorite team play in person. Unfortunately for most fans, only five stadiums will be offering these features during the 2012 season.

VA And Bon Jovi Launch Mobile App Contest To Help Homeless Vets

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Vet Reach Out is one of the finalists in the Project REACH app contest sponsored by the VA and JBJ Soul Foundation.
Vet Reach Out is one of the finalists in the Project REACH app contest sponsored by the VA and JBJ Soul Foundation.

Department of Veterans Affairs is no stranger iOS devices or to developing custom apps to help deliver key services to veterans and their families. In fact, the VA’s CIO last year said that the agency needed to become “iPad friendly” in order to effectively support the agency’s physicians, nurse, and other medical staff and an iOS pilot program was launched earlier this year.

More recently, the VA has been looking for ways that mobile technology can help homeless veterans find food, shelter, and other critical resources. To achieve that goal and raise awareness of veteran homelessness across the country (one out of six homeless adults in America is a veteran), the VA has teamed up with JBJ Soul Foundation, the non-profit charity created by music legend Jon Bon Jovi to launch an iOS/Android app contest called Project REACH.

Make Personal Finance Fun With Toshl Finance Pro [Deals]

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Toshl

Some folks just aren’t all that great with money. For some it’s because it’s just not something that’s fun to do. They have all the knowledge and understanding, but it just a boring bit of drudgery that they can’t be bothered to give it the care and attention it deserves. Perhaps if it was more fun to deal with, it’d make things a whole lot easier – and better.

Enter Cult of Mac Deals…and Toshl Finance Pro.

This simple and intuitive web-based application (and mobile app) is a personal financial assistant that, believe it or not makes finance fun. It helps you note down your expenses and income, and plans your finances with detailed budgets so you can be on-top of every penny. And Cult of Mac Deals has an offer for a one-year license of Toshl Finance Pro for only $10 – which is worth more than every penny.

Last Chance To Grab This Mobile App Testing Video Course [Deals]

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CoM - Mobile App Testing Course

There’s nothing worse then prepping your app for launch and then finding out you missed one crucial step to ensure it looked solid across all platforms. Keep in mind that just because you’ve “built” a mobile app, that doesn’t mean it is going to be ready for market. Without testing, your app’s not going to cut it. Not in the least.

Cult of Mac Deals has got a great deal on a video course put together by Robert V. Binder that will teach you ways to test out your software to make sure it’s ready for your audience. This video course is applicable for Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile, Palm OS and mobile apps using HTML5.  And it’s available from Cult of Mac Deals for only $49 — a savings of $80 off the regular price!

But this deal is coming to a close…

Learn How To Test Your Mobile App Before You Launch [Deals]

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CoM - Mobile App Testing Course

There’s nothing worse then prepping your app for launch and then finding out you missed one crucial step to ensure it looked solid across all platforms. Keep in mind that just because you’ve “built” a mobile app, that doesn’t mean it is going to be ready for market. Without testing, your app’s not going to cut it. Not in the least.

This is why we’ve got a video course put together by Robert V. Binder that will teach you ways to test out your software to make sure it’s ready for your audience. The great part? This video course is applicable for Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile, Palm OS and mobile apps using HTML5. So you’re covered on all fronts. And no background in programming or software testing is required.

The even greater part? It’s available from Cult of Mac Deals for only $49 — a savings of $80 off the regular price!

iPhones & iPads: A Big Challenge To IT, But Vital To Business

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iPad_Image

Mobile devices are now so common in the workplace that we’ve reached a tipping point where providing mobile options for many desktop apps has become a requirement for businesses. That’s the findings of a new survey from Symantec on mobile device use in business.

The survey, initially reported by InfoWorld, identified that not only are the numbers of mobile devices increasing, but also that the tasks they perform are increasing. A dramatic number of companies are now seeing core business tasks being completed on mobile devices. That’s driving the need for companies to develop comprehensive mobile apps for access to corporate information systems.