App of the Week: SportStream

App Name:  SportStream

Price: Free

Available Platforms: iOS, Windows, Desktop

What does this app do?  The Yankees are playing the Blue Jays this weekend and the Red Sox are up against the Orioles. For football fans, the Patriots are playing the Bills and the Jets are playing the 49ers. Pepper in some college football and there’s a lot to keep up with, and likely you are going to do some of that on Facebook or Twitter.

That is where an app like SportStream becomes intriguing. The San Francisco-based company launched its social media app this week for the iPhone, and aims to be the go-to second screen experience for game lovers who want to chat, see stats, follow commentary or tweet their own.  The app allows you to follow several games at once on your phone, tablet or desktop.

Log in with your Facebook or Twitter account and you will see a list of games being played on a given day. Tap on a specific game to follow, such as the Dolphins game against the Cardinals, choose to follow it and the app will display real-time, dynamically updated tweets and posts.

But here’s where SportStream aims to differentiate itself from just your average aggregator:  the app uses a custom-built data engine to cull from a variety of leading contributors, such as journalists, fans, bloggers, and players in order to deliver relevant, meaningful content to users. SportStream CEO Bob Morgan, who worked with his development team to create this tool, sees connecting fans with rich media as an important piece to the app’s success. “We’re excited to see the quality of information and how low-latency it is.”

As you scroll through the conversations, you can reply to a post, retweet, or mark it as a favorite. Select the Chat button at the bottom of the screen and jump into a specific game’s chat room, or tap the Stats button to see scores and play-by-play information, too.

Is it easy to set up? Download the app from the iTunes store and log in with your Facebook or Twitter account. You can also log on by going to their website and navigating from your desktop.

Should I try it?   SportStream elegantly integrates real-time updates on games as well as relevant conversations — a must for those who love to participate through social media.

However, the app has some hefty competition. For example, ESPN ScoreCenter and MLB.com At Bat are also available for Android users and both offer video.

Still, SportStream’s ability to curate and filter quality editorial content and conversations make it watching the game of your choice a fun, smart experience.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Bad Piggies now available on iOS, Android and Mac OS X

Rovio’s next anticipated title – Bad Piggies – is now available for download. The first platforms to get it are iOS, Android and Mac OS X.

The gameplay of Bad Piggies is closer to Amazing Alex puzzle game, rather than the Angry Birds platformer.

Bad Piggies (SD, HD) is free on Android, costs $0.99 (SD) and $2.99 (HD) on iOS, while the Mac version will set you back $5. Rovio is preparing Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 versions as well, but the pricing and the availability is yet to be announced.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

App of the Week: Scout by Telenav

Telenav

Price: Free ( Scout Plus begins at $2.99)

Available Platforms: iOS, iPhone, iPad, and Andriod

What does this app do?   With the buzz surrounding Google Maps and Apple Maps for iOS 6.0 this week, it’s hard to believe there’s even more noise out there regarding navigation apps, but there is! Telenav, a Sunnyvale, Calif. based company that focuses on navigation services released its Scout app for Android this week.

Scout offers a customizable dashboard for commuters and pedestrians to help you plan, navigate or alter your commute.

The start screen functions as a mobile dashboard divided by a map, a tab labeled “Places” with icon shortcuts for categories such as coffee, gas, ATMs, and nightlife,  and a tab labeled “Drive.”

Tap on the drive option, punch in your destination and Scout will list a few different route suggestions with mileage and drive times at the top of the screen. You also get turn-by-turn navigation and a route tab below lets you check the real-time traffic conditions. You can re-route if you need to by selecting “Avoid Segment.”

At the bottom of the screen, there are icons for your dashboard, maps, places, and customizable extras, such as restaurants you marked as a favorite. The app provides a voice recognition feature, too. Tell it to “Find Donuts”  and you will not only see the places near you that sell those calorie packed circles of tasty goodness, but also reviews and relevant deals. Once you select the location, and the app will scout the route for you.

Is it easy to set up?  Getting started requires a few steps.  Once you download Scout, you are prompted to log in with your email and create an account with scout.me if you do not already have one. You are then presented with an option to upgrade to a few different premium accounts. You can skip this and move ahead to the free app’s feature set.

Should I try it?   Overall, this is app offers some well-executed features such as its voice activation, turn-by-turn navigation as well reviews of restaurants or other destinations you choose to go.  However, you will find the same functionality in Google Maps and Apple Maps. There isn’t much to draw away users who are already entrenched in Google or Apple Maps, but if you are new to mobile navigation apps and want to give it a try, you will find Scout useful.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

App of the Week: RetailMeNot

App Name: RetailMeNot

Price: Free

Available Platforms: iOS (iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone), Android

What does this app do?

You’re out and about on a Saturday and wander by Barnes & Noble. You think to yourself, “I hear people are really into that book ’50 Shades of Grey.’ You want to read it to find out what everyone is talking about, but you don’t want to pay retail price.

Hey! Here’s an idea — pop open the RetailMeNot app and see if Barnes & Noble is offering a coupon.

RetailMeNot, owned by WhaleShark Media, Inc., released a version of its popular coupon saving site for Android last week, adding to its available application platforms. The online coupon site lets shoppers browse, save, and share coupons for everything from clothing and entertainment to health and automotive products.

The home screen gives users the option to browse coupons by category, or swipe through a carousel of daily deals. You can tap on a coupon to get more detail about an offer, such as the expiration date, as well as share it with friends through email, Facebook, and Twitter. You can save deals for later, or claim them for online or in-store use. A tab at the bottom of the home screen allows you to search deals by top-rated coupons, popular stores, and your saved coupons, too.

Though the interface is simple to use, there are other coupon apps out there RetailMeNot will have to compete with, such as The Coupons App, Coupon Clipper, and the local deal site Groupon. One advantage these apps have over RetailMeNot: it’s easier to find local deals based on your ZIP code.

Is it easy to set up? Download and go!

Should I try it? The interface is simple, with a carousel of tiles allowing you to flip through the top daily deals easily. However, RetailMeNot primarily offers deals for large chain stores, so if you’re interested in deals in your neighborhood, like fitness classes at your favorite boutique gym, you may be out of luck.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

EA: No more single player-only games on PlayStation 4, Xbox 720

EA talks up its future as a purveyor of free-to-play games played across all platforms. The casualty of this strategy? Single player games.

EA Labels president Frank Gibeau has been particularly vocal about the future of EA lately. The executive is adamant that the company’s new focus doesn’t mean EA will abandon the game console market in favor of mobile and PC. It’s all the same ecosystem after all.

“For all the investments we’ve made in mobile and social, we never abandoned consoles,” says Gibeau in a brochure distributed at the Cloud Gaming USA Conference and Exhibition, “We are working closely with the console manufacturers and we are VERY excited about the Gen4 consoles that will be launched in the months and years ahead.”

“Gen4” consoles are Microsoft’s Xbox 720 and Sony’s PlayStation 4 respectively, and possibly machines from other competitors as well, like Boxer8’s Ouya and Valve’s rumored Steam Box.

Fans of Electronic Arts single player games of the past five years don’t have much to look forward to on those platforms though. If anyone is waiting for the return of creative visions like the original Dead Space, DICE’s Mirror’s Edge, or classic BioWare efforts like Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, Gibeau’s got bad news: EA is done with single player-focused games.

“I have not green lit one game to be developed as a single player experience. Today, all of our games include online applications and digital services that make them live 24/7/365.”

That’s not to say that EA’s games will be devoid of single-player campaigns, only that they will all be augmented with multiplayer and social modes. Mass Effect 3 is a perfect example. The game can be played and enjoyed alone, but to get the complete story experience you have to buy additional DLC as well as play online with others.

In the wake of E3 2012, Electronic Arts’ executives have been preaching a new gospel. You’ve heard the goods news! The future is a place where we all play together, on every device simultaneously, and pay what we want for the privilege, forever and ever amen. EA’s future is free-to-play. It’s cross-platform play. It’s day one DLC for triple-A releases like Mass Effect. Is the pattern emerging for you? Do you see EA’s path forward?

Comedic drama aside, yes, Electronic Arts is aggressively redefining its entire business to accommodate for the new gaming market, a place where people expect to be able to play a game of Sim City on their mobile phone, then continue it on PC, and even on their living room console and each base level version of it is free. Grand! Shareholders should have faith in the new model.

EA is sacrificing a vital element of its business, though, in its mad dash to make every game appeal to every potential customer. Single player games still thrive when done right. Look at Bethesda’s Fallout and Elder Scrolls series, Mr. Gibeau. Something to keep in mind as you force studios like BioWare that specialize in single player games to change.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

App Of the Week: ooVoo

Image credit: ooVoo

App Name: ooVoo

Price: App is free; $2.99 per month for premium service.

Available Platforms: iOS (iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone), Android

What does this app do?
Video chat may seem as commonplace as email or text messaging with applications like Skype, Facetime and Fring, but instant messaging and video chat site ooVoo recently kicked it up a notch with an updated app allowing its users to take advantage of a 4-way video display. The app supports up to 12-way video chats and up to four video displays on your mobile screen at once.

ooVoo’s app lets users sync their contacts. One tab lets you see your ooVoo contacts, another your Facebook contacts, and a third tab displays them all in one list. Within the application, double click a contact to make a call. By tapping on the Facebook tab and double clicking on a contact, ooVoo will send a link to your contact’s Facebook account inviting them to call you through Facebook — not seamless, but getting there.

Some handier features include text chatting while simultaneously video chatting, as well as the ability to share links. Push notifications, too, for mobile users, allow people to see if they’ve missed a call or message even when the app is closed. You can also invite friends to join through Facebook, twitter, or an email.

Is it easy to set up? Once you download the free app, you can sign in using your Facebook login and password, or sign up through the ooVoo site.

Should I try it? The app’s strength, apart from its four-way video display and contacts integration, is in its versatility — it works across Mac and PC operating systems as well as multiple mobile devices including approximately 250 Android phones and tablets. This is a good option if you are looking for a multi-party video chatting solution.

Let us know if you have any app of the week suggestions on Twitter at@TechThisOutABC.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Viber to land on Symbian, Bada OS and Series 40

Viber keeps expanding its reach and is about to welcome three new mobile platforms on board. Until recently the service was only available on Android, Apple iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry.

Now though we hear that three new platforms will be getting support for Viber – Nokia’s Symbian OS and the Series 40, as well as the Samsung’s Bada OS. Granted all three of those are almost dead, but there are still plenty of people out there using devices powered by them so kudos to Viber for taking care of them.

The developers also took the occasion to announce that Viber’s constantly growing user base has now reached an impressive milestone – 100 million users wordwide.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

App of the Week: Pinterest for iOS and Android

Image credit: Pinterest

App Name:  Pinterest

Price: Free

Available Platforms: iOS (iPad and iPhone), Android

What does it do?  This image-based sharing app allows users to select, or “pin,” visual items and place them into virtual bulletin boards, a perfect way to categorize your favorite things,  such as artists you like, or all those muscle cars you dream of owning one day,  and then share them with friends. The iPad, iPhone, and Android apps launched a week ago and  gives you the flexibility to pin from anywhere you are whenever you wish.

The layout is simple, displaying tiled images that cascade in columns down the screen. You can swipe from left to right as you browse, and a menu button on the top left-hand corner provides you with categories of pins from which to choose, such as architecture, food and drink, and animals. When you tap on an image, you can like it, “repin” it to one of your own boards, or share it with others using your Facebook, Twitter or email account. You an also surf the web within the app and use the “Pin” button to post original items.

The iPhone app provides a two-column layout allowing you to see more as you navigate, and the iPad app allows you to resume browsing the site after viewing a board. The much anticipated Android app is optimized for all sizes and speeds of Android’s phones and tablets and is available at the Google Play Store and the Amazon App Store for the Kindle Fire.

Is it easy to set up? Yes. As simple as simple gets. Log in with your email, Facebook or Twitter account. Signing up for the service is easiest via the website though.

Should I try it? The easy-to-use layout and flexibility of this app lets you keep collecting and sharing images of things you like, make you laugh or make you think while sitting at home, or out and about on the town. So, yes, you should try it.

Let us know if you have any app of the week suggestions on Twitter at@TechThisOutABC.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com