mobile apps

The FDA’s New App Lets You Look Up Any Drug, Except the Fun Ones

The US Food and Drug Administration has released a new mobile app that lets users search for information about any drug the agency has approved. The new app is called Drugs@FDA Express, and it’s a lite version of the Drugs@FDA webpage, which has been active for several years. Using the new app, users can search…

How to Open Zip Files on iOS and Android

The world’s most popular compressed file format doesn’t play all that nicely with smartphones. Try and open a Zip file on iOS or Android and you’re likely see a polite error message or worse. But all it takes is a well-chosen third-party app or two to ease the Zip pain, and we’ve picked out a…

This Virtual Nurse Is (Almost) Ready To See You Now

Meet Molly, a virtual nurse that could someday provide follow-up care to patients, assess their condition, and provide caregivers with the information they need. The company behind the technology, Sense.ly, just raised $1.25 million to take the product to the next level. “Please state the nature of the medical emergency.” Okay, sure, she’s not quite…

Report: Facebook Prepping New App for Private Sharing Called “Moments”

Facebook is reportedly testing an app codenamed “Moments” so people can share posts with a smaller circle of friends. TechCrunch reports multiple sources have confirmed the existence of this app, including one who has seen a live internal version. Here’s what they know so far: The product is currently being “dogfooded” by Facebook employees to…

Foursquare 8.0: A Lot More Yelp-Like, A Lot Less Fun

The Foursquare weening process has been a slow one. First, Swarm appeared. A few months later, it took our check-ins. And now that the original, watermelon-adorned app overhaul is finally here, it’s a bit of a letdown. Of course, the most obvious change is Foursquare’s decision to jump on the ever-popular (although unfortunately innuendo-less) rebrand…

Disquiet: 15, 10 & 5 Years Ago This Week (2014.03)

Curating and DJing, mobile sound apps, Gavin Bryars’ cellphone. This would be roughly the week of January 13 through January 19. 5 Years Ago (2009): I wrote about videos by Lauren Lavitt and Sara Blaylock shown as part of a group exhibit at the Michael Rosenthal gallery in San Francisco. (The above image is Blaylock’s.)…

Windows Phone Finally Gets Instagram (And a Bunch More Apps)

Instagram is finally officially coming to Windows Phone via Nokia Lumias, Nokia just announced at Nokia World. Yes, you can finally stop using that silly Hipstamatic workaround. https://gizmodo.com/windows-phone-just-got-instagram-sort-of-744346543 The photo-sharing app will launch on Windows Phone in the “coming weeks.” And to sweeten the deal, Windows Phone is also getting Flipboard, Vine, Temple Run 2,…

You don’t have to open Instapaper for the read-it-later app to update anymore—the iOS version of the app now automatically adds your saved articles in the background.

Blow This (Chihuly Glass Blowing) App

Paging Dale Chihuly enthusiast Marissa Mayer. You can make your own incredible glass sculptures in the same style of the artist with an iPhone app. Just blow into the microphone, then choose your color, and texture, and then. Just admire the picture. You can’t actually 3D print the items you design or anything, but it…

Battery Status: Always Know How Much Juice You’ve Got

Keeping track of battery life on your phone can be a major stressor for the obsessive compulsive. Battery Status is the perfect app to put those worries to bed. What does it do? Gathers reports on your battery life and average charge times. Graphs battery drain speeds and gives you a detailed log of your…

Card Lust: A Beautiful Excuse to Send Digital Notes

Yesterday you got some sweet new gifts. Now it’s time to write thank you notes. Card Lust is an easy, thoughtful way to do that. What does it do? Lets you choose from 12 different beautiful cards handpainted by artists Elspeth Tremblay and Sara Hingle to send to friends or family via Facebook, email, Instagram,…

NORAD Tracks Santa: Follow the Big Guy on Any Smartphone

Santa is already in action in Asia and Europe. Where is he exactly? NORAD will tell you on this lovely Christmas Eve. What does it do? Shows you where on the annual gift delivering quest ol’ St. Nick and his eight reindeer are. Why do we like it? Because it’s totally fun, kids love it,…

The Six Best Instagram Alternatives

Look, you really shouldn’t be freaking out about this Instagram policy change. So they might sell your photos. Big deal. Your pictures are probably crappy anyway. I know mine are. But in the event you’re worried, here are some alternatives. https://gizmodo.com/stop-whining-about-your-personal-data-on-instagram-you-5969221 Hipstamatic: This is the OG of alt camera apps. Before people were using Nashville…

The Xfinity App Lets You Download Shows Now

Want to take a show with you on your streaming app? You need Comcast—the Xfinity app just got a pretty nice update that lets you actually download programs to your iOS or Android device. Now you can binge on Homeland without worrying about your internet connection messing up the stream. [Google Play, App Store]

You Can Watch Amazon Instant Video on Your iPhone Now

One of the great things about Amazon Prime is it lets can stream a lot of movies and TV shows. And now you can do it through an iPhone app too. Amazon Instant Video has existed on the iPad, but the new version is totally updated for the iPhone 5’s extra bit of real estate.…

Find My iPhone Gives You Driving Directions To Your Lost Phone Now

Lost your iPhone, iPad, or Mac? Well, butterfingers, now you can hunt it down in your car, because Find My iPhone will give you driving directions to your misplaced device. The new navigational feature is only supported on iOS 6. And hopefully Find My iPhone doesn’t get you lost in the process of retrieving your…

Atlas by Collins: A Thorough, Evolving Digital Global Map

Maps are great, and they come in many forms that show different features of the planet we inhabit. You can see many of those different styles of maps in HarperCollins’ new Atlas app. What does it do? Lets you explore the world in a variety of 3D, interactive globes. Why do we like it? It…

Here’s The Most Popular Apps On Android, iPhone And BlackBerry

Here’s an interesting set of charts from Nielsen analyzing the most popular apps on each smartphone platform. As you can see, app usage is pretty uniform across the board. Smartphone users love Facebook, Maps, Pandora and the Weather Channel. There’s only one really glaring exception across the platforms. Apple’s iPod and iTunes are huge on…

Apple Dominated With Nearly 100% of Mobile App Sales in 2009

Say what you will about platforms, but in 2009, Apple’s App Store absolutely pwnd the paid mobile app space—selling 99.4% of the $4.2 billion market single-handedly, according to ars technica. All this data is based upon research by Gartner, who claims that, should sale trends continue, Apple could retain 2/3 of the paid mobile app…

Google Voice About to Get More Amazing By Letting You Port Your Number

If you call Jason, his iPhone, Pre, Ion and pants all ring because he has Google Voice. The service’s biggest downside is that you have a new number to deal with—but TechCrunch says number porting is coming. https://gizmodo.com/grandcentral-sputters-back-to-life-as-google-voice-add-5168592 That means you’ll be able to port the phone number you’ve had for 5 or 10 or…