Top 5 iPhone apps for traders and investors

One of the most popular articles I’ve ever written on Marketwatch.com was called “Best iPhone and Android Apps for Investors” from back in 2010, when the word “apps” was still new lexicon for anybody who wasn’t a computer nerd. And I remain an app addict, telling myself and my wife that I’m doing research when I’m on an app. And truly I am.

I  remain so bullish about the app world that I recently acquired Scutify.com that had my favorite iPhone app – Scutify iPhone app athttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scutify/id673974489 (currently at #9 in the finance app category at the Apple App Store).

Back in 2010, there had been several hundred million smartphones out there that people wanted apps for. Fast forward to today, and there will be more than one billion smartphones sold this year alone, and units sold in the last quarter of this year will likely top the total number of smartphones in the market back in 2010.

I was adamant back in 2010 that this smartphone/app explosion was going to lead us into an “App Revolution Stock Bubble,” and, boy, are we in one now. I don’t know when the app bubble will pop or how big it will be by the time it’s over, but the fact is that it certainly isn’t over yet. Meanwhile, no matter what happens to the valuations and business models of the smartphone and app world in the next few years, there will still be billions of people downloading hundreds of billions of apps and opening those apps trillions upon trillions of times every year.

Full disclosure ahead of time, I would have put the Scutify iPhone App at #1 as well as the Marketwatch iPhone app in my top five.

Read on and download these apps to help you become more informed by (and more addicted to) your iPhone than you ever thought possible. And tell your spouse that you, too, are doing research for work when you’re on one of them. It’ll be true.

Scutify - Real-time tweet feeds for each symbol, quotes, newsfeeds, and my personal favorite part of the app — the “Latest Scuttles” which longer and better versions of market- and stock-related tweets.

And then -

Bloomberg — Bloomberg has built its brand on technology, and the Bloomberg app is reliable, though not as deep and easy to surf as I might like. Regardless, it’s one of the main apps I open to read as I sip coffee in the morning.

TD Ameritrade Mobile – I use several different trading platforms, and this is my favorite broker app to trade on. It’s quick, intuitive and unlike some of the other broker apps, doesn’t try to be a Bloomberg Terminal in a box, when it never will be.

Yahoo! Finance — I stopped using this app as much after I downloaded the aforementioned Scutify app, but Yahoo! Finance remains a must-visit resource, and the app is pretty darn functional too. They need an update though.

StockTouch — Beautiful visuals of charts and stock quotes, but a bit lacking in depth of information under those visuals. I find I use the app mainly on extreme up or an extreme down day in the stock market to see if there are any major stocks out there going against the trend.

CNBC — I  sure feel like a sell-out citing the CNBC app, given that I was a mortal enemy of theirs while I was an anchor at Fox Business, but it’s a good app and I take pride in trying to be objective, so what the heck.

Using Your Smartphone to Get Things Done and Remember Everything

Mobile Smartphone

• Receipts– If I make any significant purchase, I will take a snap shot of the receipt in case I need to return it and need proof of purchase.

• Ideas– If I see an item I’d like to purchase or would make a great gift, I also snap a photo and tag it under gift or shopping. Browsing the web (on my computer or phone), I will clip anything interesting or of use to Evernote for further reference.

• People– I also use Evernote to record business cards of people I meet. Sometimes I’ll upload a portrait of them if there is ever a non-socially-awkward way I can snap their photo.

• Mind Dump– Say, it’s not that I’ve seen something that’s given me an idea, but an idea just comes to me. While typing in a smartphone, for me at least, isn’t the most ideal way of recording my thought, talking to my phone would be. Especially if I’m driving and there’s no way of using my hands. Later I can transcribe the idea or process it into a task.

It seems earlier this year I, along everyone was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the iPhone 4to theVerizon Wirelessnetwork. Many folks who work at home were debating about which is the best smartphone to use – theMotorola Droidor Apple iPhone. I finally upgraded to the iPhone 4in order to get more done.

Last July I had purchased the Android smart phone but only kept it for one week before I turned it back in for a LG Fathom. Although the Fathom served me well for awhile, I couldn’t really keep in constant contact with the social networks and groups I belong to on Facebook and Twitter.  Using the iPhone smart phone also helps me to keep my email in-box up-to-date by responding promptly to the PR requests I get for product reviews and brand ambassador campaigns.

Not working mom, not only do I have to keep track of my household schedule and social engagements, as a grandmother I also have to keep track and stay on top of the dates when I’m called upon to babysit!

After doing my research, I purchased a new iPhone 4 online, and couldn’t be happier. This mid-life baby boomer likes to consider herself a techie geek grandmom!

The following guest post provides some information that will clue you in on how to get things done and remember everything by using a smart phone:

Simply being a good parent can be extremely difficult and stressful at times. It’s like a second job but even more important and challenging. Particularly once your children are old enough to visit places and go to school but too young to drive, the amount of things, errands, and appoints you’ll have to remember could fill a book. It’s just about impossible to remember it all.

Productivity Apps to the Rescue

Luckily we live in the age of technological innovation and cloud computing. Yet still, many people who even have their hands on the right technology aren’t fully aware what their capabilities are. Let me tell you that if you own a smartphone – which includes an iPhone, Android, or Windows Phone 7 – you have no excuse to ever forget anything. With the plethora of productivity apps out there across all phone platforms, there is something for everyone.

Filing and Reference

For anything that you ever observe and think, “Hey, I might want to remember this later,” there is Evernote. I use it as a complete reference file system for anything worth remembering.

Evernote is available for all smartphones, android or iPhone, and is an extremely versatile, productivity powerhouse. Everything you record, you can find online. Finally, you can have a small, portable system that has everything you would ever need, down to the last receipt.

Getting Things Done, Project Management

For those of you not familiar with the getting things done(GTD) system, I suggest you check it out and maybe even give the book a read. Essentially, it simplifies project management by turning projects into a series of actionable items rather than an arbitrary list of “stuff.” For instance, say you have a long list of “stuff” you need to have solved, and one is “get a job.” That is kind of a moot list item; wouldn’t it be better to put “edit and update resume,” “search on craigslist and monster,” and other things like that?

Well once, you have all these actionable items defined, you can them categorize them into respective categories, and some of them to your todo list today. A great tool for managing all this actionable items is Nirvana. It’s simple but still allows you to organize actions and projects, as well as actions with waiting periods or scheduled actions. I use this as a project overview app once I’ve processed reference material in Evernote into actions. Like Evernote, Nirvana is available for Androids and iPhones. For Windows Phone 7 users, I recommend the Microsoft native One Note app.

Remember Your Appointments and Errands

While Nirvana and Evernote can be enough to suffice for a complete productivity system on your smartphone, there are easier and more convenient ways to schedule appointments and make quick or “rough” todo lists. For this purpose, I recommend ReQall, which allows you to make appointments which send alerts and reminders straight to your phone, all by voice. Simply tell the phone what you want to remember, and when you want to remember it. That’s it! Yes, there are plenty of other features that you can have with this app as well, but I mainly use it for the convenience of quick, on-the-fly scheduling and reminders. For more important or long-term projects, I’ll schedule them in Nirvana as well. ReQall works for the iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and pretty much any phone that can receive texts, so you don’t even need a smartphone for this one (thought the app is nice).

10 best iPhone apps that do Photoshop tricks

Too bad there's no such thing as Photoshop for the iPhone. Short of that, there are dozens of apps specifically designed to enhance (or in some cases, devolve) photos. Out of all the best, we've narrowed them down to ten. We downloaded, installed and tested them all, and here's our assessment, along with links to each one in iTunes, prices, screen shots and commentary.

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1. Color Splash ($1.99)

Its palette: Select your pic, and the app will turn it all gray. Then you paint over the areas with any color you'd like just by tracing your finger over them.

Our color commentary: Color Splash is easy to use and works extremely well, resulting in arty-looking photo effects.

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2. Camera Bag ($2.99)
Its bag o' tricks: Choose a photo on your iPhone (or take a new one), and then run it through filters that simulate pictures from 1962, 1974, a fisheye lens, the Helga camera, a Polaroid SX-70, and five others.

Why it's our bag: We enjoyed putting shots through the aging process, doubling up some of the filters for extra-cool effects, and revisiting the unique imaging characteristics of some old favorite cameras.

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3. TiltShift ($2.99)
Its angle: Simulates a tilt-shift lens to create a scene where everything has that illusion of being teeny tiny.

Our angle: Using multitouch to shape the focus oval to just the right spot in the pic makes this app seem like it's performing magic, turning a plain wide shot into a bird's-eye view inside a tiny toybox.

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4. Oil Canvas (Free)
Abstract: Turns ordinary pics into arty oil paintings.

Our impressionism: Start with broad brush, and as you fingerpaint with progressively smaller brushes, more detail emerges until you've turned a commonplace photo into a faux Van Gogh.

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5. Photo fx ($2.99)
Filtered: Simulates physical lens filters with software.

Unfiltered: Tiffen, the filter company, knows a thing or two about lens filters, and its Photo fx software gets such realistic-looking results, we wish they were available for Photoshop, too. Sure, you could create vignettes, ultra contrast, glows and halos on any pro-level desktop software, but it would never be this easy while still giving you adjustability.

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6. Magic Touch ($0.99)
Toolkit: Performs a variety of Photoshop-style image edits, such as cloning, brightness, and color dodge and burn.

Our Hammer: This is the closest app to Photoshop in our group here, giving you crude yet effective control over color, contrast, and saturation, as well as letting you create some impressive cloned effects. Notice how we turned a perfectly sunny scene into a cloudy day with just a few strokes of a finger.

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7. 'stachetastic ($0.99)
Hair goals: Puts photorealistic mustaches on pics.

Our close shave: Unusually effective, with realistic results. Yes, that's me in the pic above, and no, I don't have anywhere near that much hair. Now all we need is the ability to blacken a tooth (you can even place horns on heads), and our facial graffiti machine will be complete.

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8. FAIL Maker (free)
Attempt: Adds FAIL, PWNED, WRONG, or your own custom taunt to any pic, and then uploads it to the FAIL website for all to see.

Pwned: Easy to use app that we're so glad nobody had at that party last night. This one gets mild scorn, though, for the ads at the bottom, but it's hard to complain much when it's free.

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9. Pano ($2.99)
Overview: Stitches together up to six pics for a 3,600 x 600-pixel panorama

We stitch it together: Leads you through the taking of each shot, and then quickly does an admirable and accurate job of stitching them together, depositing the results in your iPhone's photo album.

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10. PhotoKeys Photoshop Remote ($3.99)
The remote possibilities: Turns the iPhone into a tool palette for Photoshop.

Our key: If none of the above apps on this list does the trick, why not just use Photoshop itself? After a quick install of its server software on your Mac or PC, this app turns your iPhone into a remarkably responsive, lag-free touchscreen (via Wi-Fi) for changing tools in the Photoshop palette — handy especially if you keep your iPhone in its dock next to you.

New iPhone Provides Launchpad for Biometric Apps

MADRID—Biometric apps may be the next to catch fire following the launch of the new iPhone 5S.

Fingerprint recognition is the main new feature in Apple’s latest smartphone, the first digital device with a simple, reliable fingerprint reader. This is used not only to unlock the phone, but also to authorize purchases from Apple’s App, iTunes and e-book stores.

Electronic handwritten signature apps work a lot like that. You write your signature on the touchscreen, using your finger or a pointer, and the app authenticates it. This technology, already used by some corporations to cut down on paperwork, is now making strides in the health care and financial services.

Now, the No. 1 issue in everybody’s mind when such technologies are discussed is security. This is especially the case after a group of hackers earlier this week showed how to unlock an iPhone using an image of a fingerprint instead of the real thing.

That isn’t great news for the industry, but not so bad as it appears either, says Antonio Vila, formerly with Microsoft and one of the founders of Smartaccess, a Spanish start-up that is looking to make a splash in the e-signature business.

“Fingerprint technology has been around longer and there are many levels of quality in sensors, it makes sense that it’s easier to crack for hackers if they are not using a expensive technology,” Mr. Vila says.

E-signature apps typically use various ways to ensure proper recognition, Mr. Vila adds. After all, the point isn’t that two signatures are exactly the same—no mere human can perform that feat—but that the app recognizes the way the user writes it, which would make the iPhone fingerprint hack harder to replicate.

Even Smartaccess, a small company that is only looking to hit €1 million ($1.3 million) worth of annual sales by 2014, has an expert calligraphist in staff. As a way to show how seriously it takes the security angle, the start-up uses an app at public events, which allows the public to try and fool the software by forging the signatures of famous people, such as Marilyn Monroe. There are prizes for the best forgers.

Smartaccess plans to make this app available at the Google Play online store soon, Mr. Vila says.

Jon Perera, vice president of EchoSign—a bigger company that was acquired by Adobe in 2011—calls security worries by potential users of e-signatures “misguided” and notes that such apps provide security safeguards that surpass ”anything possible with physical copies or fax transmissions.”

Generally speaking, the industry is succeeding in dispelling concerns. Smartaccess estimates the global growth in the wider e-signature market in 2011—the last year for which full data is available—was 48%.

The multifactor authentication market, where biometric methods like fingerprinting and e-signatures compete or combine with older ones such as passwords and PINs, is expected to grown well over 10% in coming years. In the U.S., the country where biometric systems are most commonly used, some 10% of businesses already use electronic signatures, and EchoSign says this may rise to 40% within two years.

Savings are the main reason for this. Softpro, a German firm, sees savings of up to $15 a document processed, and others say the cost of internal contract processing may be reduced by 50% to 75%, in part by dramatically reducing the need for couriers.

Best iPhone apps for homework management

Whether they're juggling multiplication tables or calculus differentials, students of all ages can always use a little help when it comes to homework management. With multiple assignments in a variety of classes, kids are required to stay on top of worksheets, quizzes and tests.

But they aren't the only ones who could use some organizational assistance in the homework department. Teachers with due dates for multiple classes and parents who want to check on their children's progress could also use a little smartphone support, too.

Try these five iPhone apps created to help keep track of homework. Check to see which work best for students, teachers, parents or all three.

1. iStudiez Pro

Ideal for: Students, teachers, parents

Download: iStudiez Pro

Sporting a colorful and user-friendly design, iStudiez Pro allows you to organize complicated schedules, prioritize homework, receive push notifications before assignments are due and even track your grade point average. Helpful features allow students to input rotating or block schedules and even account for holiday weeks. You can also add your instructor's e-mail, phone number and office hours. Homework can be prioritized based on due date or even class. Perhaps the best part is that you can send all of your data to your e-mail address by pushing a single button.

Educators will find this app handy for organizing classes and assignments. With the ability to input grades, you can keep track of how well students are doing in class.

Parents can keep track of kids' assignments with this well-organized app. Since assignments are broken down by classes, parents can check in to see if homework is done or if the kids need additional guidance.

2. myHomework

Ideal for: Students

Download: myHomework

Great for college as well as high schoolers and younger students, myHomework allows you to prioritize homework assignments as well as track them on a user-friendly calendar. The simple interface lets you differentiate whether an assignment is a paper, test or just regular homework and color-code assignments as into upcoming or even late categories. And because each school operates on a different schedule, myHomework allows you to set up block scheduling for your classes. While the app itself is free, the ability to sync between your iPhone and the website on any computer as well as to receive assignment reminders costs $1.99 per year.

3. Evernote

Ideal for: Students, teachers, parents

Download: Evernote

Whether you're taking notes in history or English, you can keep everything in one place with Evernote. This free app lets students of all ages access clippings, URLs, and notes from an Evernote hub, which is accessible via iPhone or from a laptop or desktop computer. You can also collaborate with fellow students by sharing notes via the app. And instead of your jumbled mess of notes, Evernote allows you to organize via a clear notebook sorting system.

Teachers can access lesson plans and class notes through Evernote. They, too, can collaborate with other teachers by sharing documents for class. Parents are able to look over their children's homework on the go. Kids can share papers or other work with Mom or Dad, and they can read it over an iPhone or computer.

Evernote also offers a premium service for $5 a month or $45 a year that allows you to upload more data, collaborate with others, and work offline. But don't be scared off by the subscription fee — you can get a lot done using the standard service.

4. School & Stuff, Grades and Timetables

Ideal for: Parents, teachers

Download: School & Stuff, Grades and Timetables

Tracking children's performance in school just got easier. With the School & Stuff, Grades and Timetables iPhone app, parents can enter information about each child's classes, grades, extracurricular activities, and school contact information, creating a visually appealing family directory. Teachers can input each student's assignment and grades based on letters or percentages. At a glance, both parents and teachers can see how a student is learning.

5. TeacherPal

Ideal for: Teachers

Download: TeacherPal

Teachers of all grades are serious multitaskers, and it helps to keep everything from assignments to grades to attendance in one spot. TeacherPal allows educators to organize students and their work by photo. Simply click on a picture to see a child's grades, how many times they've missed class, and which assignments they struggled with. The app also lets you add extra info, such as parents' email addresses and phone numbers.

Mailbox iPhone app suffers from serious Javascript flaw, researcher discovers

A serious vulnerability has been revealed in the popular Mailbox iPhone app, used by many hipsters as a replacement for the traditional Apple or Gmail apps on their iPhones and iPads.

Italian security researcher Michele Spagnuolo – who has previously found security flaws in 

Google, eBay, MailChimp and Yahoo – discovered that the Mailbox app will execute *any* Javascript which is present in the body of HTML emails.

The makers of the Mailbox app have been aware of the security vulnerability since the end of May 2013, but the vulnerability is still there.

Now Spagnuolo has published a video on his blog, demonstrating how the flaw can be exploited in various ways.

The examples demonstrated are fairly innocuous – largely showing how apps can be automatically opened by just viewing an email in Mailbox, or sending messages via Twitter or SMS (with user confirmation required).

However, it’s easy to imagine how the security hole might be abused to track when users open emails, or exploited in more malicious ways for the purposes of spreading malware or phishing attacks.

The apps automatically opening when the user simply views an email inside the MailBox app. Spagnuolo says that he didn’t have access to a tripod and so couldn’t use a proper camera.Mailbox, of course, was acquired by Dropbox in March of this year.

Although it may not be a surprise for a small firm of app developers not to have spotted this security hole, you would certainly hope that Dropbox – which should be used to protecting the privacy of millions of users with its cloud storage software – would take the issue more seriously.

If you are a Mailbox user who is concerned that pranksters or online criminals might exploit the flaw, then the best advice – until the software is patched – is probably to switch to a different client.

The Mail app which ships with iOS, for instance, does not allow Javascript to execute.

Facebook for iOS gets an iOS 7-style redesign

Following the public release of iOS 7, which features a completely overhauled user interface and new design elements, we're gradually seeing updated third-party apps that sport a new look in line with the new operating system.

One of the major app redesigns has been done by Facebook for its iPhone app. The social networking service has completely revamped its iOS app not just for iOS 7 but also for other versions of iOS including iOS 5 and iOS 6.

Facebook has always used a more custom design instead of going with iOS style navigation elements. However, the updated app in a way switches to more iOS-like navigation with a new bar at the bottom of the app, that features buttons for News feed, Friend Requests, messages, notifications, and a More button that offers a menu which was previously included in a sliding pane at the left hand, a feature that some people also call the Hamburger menu.

The bar is white in colour with grey text and icons for passive tabs and blue text and icon for the active one in iOS 7. The same bar is black and follows the old iOS design scheme on iOS 5 and iOS 6. The top header is also translucent on iOS 7.

The More menu features the user profile, Nearby Places to check-in, other Pages that you're moderating, Groups, Events, Friends lists, Photos and other options.

The app header features a Search button and a button for bringing the Chat sliding pane at the right hand.

The News Feed tab also offers three buttons at the top for posting a status message, uploading a Photo and Checking in at a place.

The Facebook app for iOS is a universal app, which means the same app also runs on the iPad. However, the iPad counterpart still retains the original UI elements including the sliding pane at the left hand and three small icons for Friend requests, Messages, and Notifications at the top header. However, the header now sports blue colour.

The new app is now live on the iTunes App Store. However, it could take some time till you see an update option, while it rolls out to all regions. 

Yahoo Launches Redesigned iPhone App

 Yahoo on Wednesday unveiled the latest update of its flagship app for the iPhone in connection with the release of iOS 7. The redesign includes the ability to save articles, get alerts for breaking news and eye candy like cinemagraphs.

The upgrade is part of Yahoo’s broader overhaul of key content properties across the desktop and mobile, with the aim of providing a more modern and consistent look and across its main sites and screens. The Yahoo app got a major revamp in April with the integration of a Summly-style news feed following the Web portal’s acquisition of the newsreader app.

The latest version of the app still features story summaries after clicking on a headline, but the feed is now more consistent with the news feed on the redesigned Yahoo desktop home page. That means the app feed also includes Streaming Ads -- Yahoo’s native ad format.

Among the main new features is “My Saves,” which allows users to tag content for later reading in mobile -- and soon on the desktop as well. “That means that if you save something while you’re on your computer, you can read it on your phone later,” stated a Yahoo blog post about the new app today. Yahoo app users will also now receive alerts on breaking stories at the top of the screen as well as indicating how many articles have been added since the app was last accessed.

Instead of showing headlines and summaries overlaid on photos, the new Yahoo app shows thumbnail images alongside headlines as on the desktop. But after clicking through, stories are topped by larger images, some of which include cinemagraphs -- photos that have moving elements. This tweak reflects integration of the Tumblr aesthetic, following Yahoo’s purchase of the social blogging service in May.

Yahoo said the changes overall are intended to make the app “cleaner, faster and more engaging.” According to comScore data released this month, the flagship Yahoo app isn’t as popular as some of its other apps tied to specific properties. Yahoo Stocks and Yahoo Weather were the only Yahoo apps among the top 15 based on reach as of July.

On the mobile Web, however, Yahoo ranked third behind Google and Facebook, with 81.7% reach among U.S. iPhone and Android smartphone users. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer last week said at an industry conference that Yahoo now has 350 million monthly active mobile users. Internally, she noted that the company’s mobile team has grown by a factor of 10, with its series of acqui-hires playing a big part.

Apple Solicits Developers For iOS 7 App Updates As September 18th Release Nears

Apple has released the Gold Master (GM) version of iOS 7 to developers, according to reports from Twitter. This is significant because the GM version is likely the last official pre-release version of an iOS release before the final arrives.

In addition, Apple is now reaching out to developers in its program to solicit updates that ready their apps for iOS 7. An email, forwarded to us by a developer, features the following text:

iOS 7 will soon be in the hands of hundreds of millions of customers. Reimagine your app’s interface with the clarity, translucency and depth of iOS 7. Integrate APIs for AirDrop, multitasking, games, and camera, as well as new APIs that take advantage of the powerful new capabilities of iPhone 5s.

In it, Apple encourages developers to ‘reimagine’ their apps for the new ‘depth’ and translucency of iOS 7. It also, as usual, promotes new APIs like AirDrop that it wants them to take advantage of. Apple often promotes and features apps that use the newest features of iOS.

This encouragement, which is already being heeded by many developers if the beta invitations we’re seeing are any indication, will cause a huge shift in the look and feel of your apps. Expect less three dimensional illustration, more animation and depth of layers. A lighter, brighter look is on the way to your favorite utilities.

The GM seed version is 11A465, and likely features the final tweaks to iOS 7 that we’ll see before it arrives on September 18th for iPhone and iPad. Typically, the GM version of iOS 7 is the exact same version that will arrive over the air or via iTunes to users. It’s the edition that Apple is shipping on all of the devices already winging their way towards the U.S. from its suppliers in Asia.

Google offering Chrome's Data Compression feature to select iOS users

Google is rolling out the data compression feature on Chrome for iOS to select users. Since there's no Chrome Beta for iOS, Google's inviting limited users to try the feature, which allows users to save data bandwidth, as it renders pages through Google proxy servers. The feature was first enabled with the Chrome for iOS update in July, and strangely enough, the company is still treating it as a limited preview now, despite promising a rollout then.

Selected users get a "You're invited. Join a limited preview of a new feature from Chrome. Save bandwidth and browse more securely" message when they open the app. After tapping the 'Enable' button, the app offers a 'Reduce Data Usage' toggle. Google also displays the message that when the feature is turned on, Chrome uses Google servers to compress pages the user visits before downloading them. However, this does not include SSL and Incognito pages to address privacy concerns. It also mentions that Chrome's Safe Browsing system will also be used to detect malicious pages and protect users from phishing, malware, and harmful downloads.

Chrome's data compression option also appears under 'Bandwidth Management' in Settings, and displays a graph and percentage of the total data savings achieved. There's a second option through which users can choose to always preload pages via Google servers or only when they're on Wi-Fi.

The compression feature was first tested on the Android version by Google in March, though activating it then had required additional steps. Following this, it started offering the Bandwidth Management feature via the Settings on Chrome Beta for Android, starting April.

The code related to the feature also mentions Google's SPDY proxy servers. SPDY, a short form for Speedy, is Google's experimental protocol for transporting content over the web, designed specifically for minimal latency. It forces SSL encryption for all websites (even non-secure ones) to speed up browsing.

Many browsers including Opera Mini, Amazon's Silk browser, and Nokia's Xpress browser use proxy servers for compressing and keeping website data, while delivering web pages to users' devices, cutting their data consumption and boosting website loading speeds.

Apps start offering self-destruct functionality for Facebook and Twitter posts

The Snapchat app popularized the concept of sending photos and videos that self-destruct in minutes and new apps do the same for posts on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Smartphones and mobile apps have made sharing photos faster and easier than ever, but privacy has become a growing concern. Designers have created new apps because they said people want to control who sees their content and for how long on social media sites.
"Most of these ephemeral media apps have been focused on private messaging. But this is more to do with control and cleaning things up so that the average user can't see what you've posted in the past on social networks," said Pierre Legrain, a developer of Spirit for Twitter, an app that can auto-delete Twitter posts.
Secret.li, an iPhone app, lets users can take a photo with their iPhone's camera and post it to Facebook knowing it will be automatically deleted an hour, day, or week after it is posted.
"Publishing is so easy but privacy is so obscure," said Deepak Touwari, co-founder of Secret.li, based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
After taking a photo with the app, users can decide who they want to share it with and for how long. Recipients will see a scrambled or hidden version of the photo, which they can open and view completely in the Secret.li Facebook or iPhone apps. After the photo is deleted it also disappears from Facebook and Secret.li.
"We see it more like a photo shedder application," said Touwari, adding the motivation behind the app was privacy.
"(Social networks) are great keepers of memory but very poor keepers of context," he said.

nother app for iPhone and Android, called Facebook Poke, which was created by Facebook, allows users to send their friends messages, photos and videos and decide how long they can view it.
Spirit, a web app for Twitter released last week, lets members of the micro-blogging site add a hashtag to their tweet so it will auto-delete. Users authorize their account and add hashtags such as "#30m" or "#10d", which will delete their tweets after 30 minutes and 10 days respectively.
Legrain, a former Twitter employee based in Palo Alto, California, said the motivation for the app was privacy. Part of the value of Spirit for Twitter, he added, is its ability to filter out content that loses accuracy or relevancy over time.
"If you're a meteorologist or weatherman tweeting about an unfolding hurricane, you want the info on Twitter to be as relevant and accurate so tweets from half an hour (ago) shouldn't be there," he explained.
Legrain attributes the popularity of the apps to the growing privacy concerns among consumers.
"With the ongoing privacy scares, people are thinking about what they put out there now and looking for ways to have more control," he said. "People now feel they have slightly more control than they had yesterday," he added.

Zomato's updated iOS app comes with a new interface, mood-based recommendations

Zomato, the popular online and mobile restaurant guide, has updated its iOS app, completely overhauling the user interface and has added new features.

The updated Zomato app offers a much simpler user interface, in line with the resecnt redesign of the Zomato website, with the home screen offering large swappable images of nearby restaurants that lead to their respective listings, in addition to options to browse restaurants and search for them by entering keywords for name, location, cuisine or dish.

The Browse Restaurants option takes you to a menu that offers mood-based recommendations. So, you can select if you're looking to get food home delivered, going out for a meal, going out for drinks or just catching up with friends. Selecting the location is the next step, following which, the app offers a list of restaurants that match the criteria.

There's a separate screen for location based restaurants search through which you can sort restaurants based on the distance from your current location. You can apply additional filters such as ratings, whether the restaurant is open at the time of the search, cuisine, budget and other aspects.

There's also a 'Featured Content' section that offers lists such as top 25 restaurants, foodie leader board (for regular users), and featured reviews, among other content.

Users can also post pictures for restaurants they've visited in case they just want to post picture reviews. Pictures can be posted through the restaurant's listing page or through a section within the app that allows users to upload reviews and pictures of restaurants.

Users can also add restaurants to their Wishlist or mark them as 'been there' and favourites from their respective listings page.

For the uninitiated, Zomato provides information such as scanned menus, mapped coordinates, pictures, ratings, contact details and user reviews for restaurants across a number of locations in India, New Zealand, UK, South Africa, Philippines, and Dubai.

Estimote Details iOS 7 iBeacon Support For Its Contextual Proximity Shopping Devices

Estimote, a Y Combinator graduate and Hardware Alley exhibitor here at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013, was able to talk about something today that it’s never been able to before: how its product will work with Apple’s new iBeacon tech in iOS 7. iBeacons allow developers to communicate with iOS devices via Bluetooth Low Energy, in order to provide them with contextual info based on their immediate surroundings.

Back in July, John Biggs wrote about Estimote and its initial product, which is essentially a rock-shaped device which uses Bluetooth low energy to allow a retailer to do things like communicate deals to shoppers based on which aisle they’re in, for instance, or by letting them even send a payment token from a smartphone, with variable proximity programmable by the retailer, so you could either tap to pay or just get close to a terminal.

The tech was impressive enough as it is, but now that Apple has introduced iOS 7 and made its iBeacons feature official, Estimote’s Chris Waclawek explained that it’ll be much, much easier for companies to build software for iOS devices that can work with Estimote in a variety of ways. The company plans to make a variety of different kinds of hardware that can take advantage of iBeacon, to make things like abandoned shopping cart follow-up a realistic and easy-to-implement possibility for brick and mortar stores.

This would work by allowing retailers to detect how long they’re spending in fitting rooms, for instance, so that they can tell when a shopper has spent say 20 minutes trying something on, and then walked out without purchasing that item. They could then follow-up with a specific coupon for that article, allowing them to try to complete a sale that otherwise would’ve definitely been beyond reach.

Waclawek explained that Apple’s decision to embrace Bluetooth LE for these kinds of uses by developers means that NFC and QR codes are definitely dead at this point, since Bluetooth allows for much greater range and doesn’t require combining with any other tech for handshaking or anything else. He’s clearly excited by the prospects now that iBeacons is out and developers will have access to the tech.

Apple Secures License For iPhone To Run On China Mobile’s Network Standard

Apple has secured the final government license needed to run the iPhone on China Mobile’s proprietary wireless network. After years of negotiations, this is the latest of several recent signs that Apple may finally be able to release its smartphone through China’s largest carrier. We reported yesterday that cellular device specifications for the iPhone 5C and 5S models also point to variations for both devices that support TD-LTE, the variety of LTE that China Mobile uses.

The license was granted by China’s Telecom Equipment Certification Center, which is overseen by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). If China Mobile does indeed start supporting the iPhone, this will be the first time the device has been released by all three major carriers in China. Landing an agreement with China Mobile is especially important to Apple because it has 740 million users, or more than half of the estimated 1.2 billion mobile subscribers in China.

The company has tried to secure an agreement with China Mobile since 2011, when Steve Jobs reportedly traveled to China to negotiate with the carrier. Meetings with China Mobile, as well as the MIIT, were also key parts of Tim Cook’s visit to the country in January.

China is Apple’s most important market outside the U.S., but sales of the iPhone have been under pressure there thanks to competition from Android smartphones, which now account for over 70% of smartphone sales, compared to the 22% share held by iOS. In Q2 of this year, Apple posted its biggest quarter ever for the Greater China region, with $8.8 billion in revenues. But in Q3, revenues were down 43%, but still accounted for 14% of the company’s overall revenues.

Apple is trying to boost sales by ramping up its operations in China. For example, more than 300 openings posted by the company were spotted on LinkedIn. Its focus on Chinese consumers was also underscored by its first ever iPhone launch event in Beijing earlier today.

Unless China Mobile or other carriers decide to subsidize the iPhone, prices for both models in China are still at a premium: the 5C will start at RMB4488 ($733) and the 5S model will be RMB5288 ($864). For the 5C, that represents a 33% increase over its price in the U.S.

Apple’s September 10 iPhone Event Now Official As Invites Sent To Press

Apple has just sent out invites for a September 10 special event focusing on iPhone. The event is set to take place at 10 AM PT on the 10th at the Apple Campus in Cupertino, according to the invite, which will probably come as no surprise to those who watch the company and the rumors surrounding its impending product launches.

Apple is said to be unveiling multiple devices on the day, including a lower-cost iPhone “5C” as it’s been dubbed in the press, as well a more expensive iPhone 5 successor, possibly called the iPhone 5S. The 5S is supposed to have an improved camera, as well as improved internals and a new gold color option, while the iPhone 5C will reportedly feature a plastic backing with internals essentially unchanged from the iPhone 5. The invite features the phrase “This should brighten everyone’s day,” along with a graphic depiction of multi-colored dots, which suggest leaks of iPhone hardware with different color casings are on the money at least.

A lot of attention will be on what Apple reveals at this event, not only because it could mark the first time Apple announces more than one new iPhone model launching at or around the same time. There’s also iOS 7, Apple’s first major visual overhaul of its mobile OS, which is due to arrive likely around the same time as the iPhone ships. That’s probably going to happen on or before Sept. 20 or thereabouts, if early reports prove accurate.

Other highlights of the show will likely include more details about iTunes Radio, which should launch to US users at least along with iOS 7. But hardware will probably be the star of the show, as the world tunes in to see what Apple plans to do to increase the global reach of its smartphone devices, extending it to markets that previously might have felt the pricing pinch with Apple’s decidedly premium approach to mobile thus far.

We’ll be in attendance at the event live, bringing you all the latest on Apple’s brand new smartphone plans for 2013.

iPhone 5C packaging, documentation pictured

iPhone 5C or the low-cost iPhone has been the subject of various leaks in the past. Continuing with the series of leaks that have hit the Internet before Apple's rumoured September 10 iPhone event, new pictures of Apple's alleged iPhone 5C have surfaced online.

We had seen alleged pictures of plastic retail packaging featuring white plastic boxes marked 'iPhone 5C' with the Apple logo, in July. This time, the iPhone 5C is present inside the same iPod touch-like box complete with a transparent plastic lid.

The iPhone 5C pictured inside the box, matches with the previously leaked images of the phone, and features iOS 7 with the wallpaper of the phone matching the colour of its Red (Pinkish Red) back casing (it's most likely a screen sticker in the packaging representing the actual home screen). The site also offers similar pictures of the White, Yellow and Blue iPhones.

iPhone 5C or the low-cost iPhone has been the subject of various leaks in the past. Continuing with the series of leaks that have hit the Internet before Apple's rumoured September 10 iPhone event, new pictures of Apple's alleged iPhone 5C have surfaced online.

We had seen alleged pictures of plastic retail packaging featuring white plastic boxes marked 'iPhone 5C' with the Apple logo, in July. This time, the iPhone 5C is present inside the same iPod touch-like box complete with a transparent plastic lid.

The iPhone 5C pictured inside the box, matches with the previously leaked images of the phone, and features iOS 7 with the wallpaper of the phone matching the colour of its Red (Pinkish Red) back casing (it's most likely a screen sticker in the packaging representing the actual home screen). The site also offers similar pictures of the White, Yellow and Blue iPhones.
iphone5c-documentation.jpg

The pictures, first posted on iapps.im, also 'confirm' that the front panel of the iPhone 5C would be Black.In addition to this low quality photo, purported images featuring some documentation that comes with the iPhone 5C and the phone's SIM-eject tool have also appeared on Chinese microblog Weibo. The pictures were spotted by 9to5Mac.

The documentation captured in the pictures features the same Black coloured front panel that we've seen in previous leaks and shows the iPhone 5C running iOS 7. It also suggests a White wallpaper, colour matched with the phone's White back. The website notes that the documentation is semi-oval shaped, to fit the semi-oval plastic box of the phone revealed in other images.

The low-cost iPhone or iPhone 5C has leaked several times. Alleged pictures of the iPhone 5C have revealed a plastic polycarbonate body back panel in White, Blue, Red, Yellow and Green colours, a round camera lens and LED flash, Apple logo and iPhone branding. It's expected to be powered by a dual-core CPU, and have a 4-inch screen, just like the iPhone 5, with a resolution of 640x1136 pixels. The iPhone 5C is rumoured to have 1GB of RAM, and come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage variants. It'a also likely to sport an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.2-megapixel front facing camera camera and run iOS 7 complete with Siri which would be available in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish.
A number of rumours including some by credible publications and journalists have confirmed September 10 as the most probable date for Apple hosting a special event to announce the new iPhone(s). Apple has not sent any invitations or announced an event officially, yet, though it typically sends out official invitations only a week before the actual event, so one can expect them any time.

Apple Patents iOS Unlocking Methods That Determine Level Of User Access To Device Features And Software

A big request from parents regarding iOS has been that Apple implement user accounts on its mobile devices, in order to make it so that a parent can sign in with greater access to device features and apps than a child, for instance. It’s a system that already has an analogue on the desktop, and that Google has seen fit to implement with multiple user accounts with varying levels of permissions for tablets running Android 4.3 and higher. A new patent granted to Apple today (spotted by AppleInsider) describes a way of changing device access depending on who’s doing the accessing.

Apple’s newly-awarded patent describes a system wherein the method used by a user to unlock a device via gesture-based input would determine what apps are made available, as well as what hardware functions. So, for instance, one gesture (could be the drawing of a specific shape or letter with a finger tip) might allow access only to games content on the phones, while another could offer up access to an entire category of apps provided through corporate deployment, but not to other features.

The system Apple has patented also allows for gestures to unlock the phone directly into specific apps, so that one could launch the email app and keep a user within that bit of software exclusively, for instance. Other incarnations could limit access to certain phone features, including the camera and mic, or to in-app purchases, locking down a device for worry-free sharing with a child.

Aside from finally effectively enabling “guest mode” on a device, this patent in action would allow Apple to build a lockscreen launcher that can be operated not only via gestures, but also by voice and by keyboard, mouse or stylus events (all of which are covered by the patent). The potential applications, for use not only among parents but also in schools, in secure data enterprise environments and more are extensive, so hopefully this is one of the patents that Apple actually puts into practice.

Microsoft Enters Into $7.2B Deal To Buy Nokia’s Devices And Services Business And License Its Patents

In a surprise move, Microsoft announced Monday evening that it has inked a deal with Nokia to acquire “substantially all of Nokia’s Devices & Services business, license Nokia’s patents, and license and use Nokia’s mapping services.”

The total price of the deal is EUR 5.44 billion in cash, which is currently worth $7.17 billion in U.S. dollars. The Devices and Services business acquisition accounts for EUR 3.79 billion of that, with the patent licensing deal making up the remaining EUR 1.65 billion.

Nokia and Microsoft inked a partnership back in 2011, but this is clearly a much more serious collaboration of the two companies.

Also as part of the deal, Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop will be stepping aside as Nokia President and CEO to fill a new role at Microsoft as “Nokia Executive Vice President of Devices & Services.” Being that Elop has emerged as a leading rumored contender for the soon-to-be-vacant spot at the helm of Microsoft, this could be a strong signal about the future of Microsoft’s executive leadership.

In a press release announcing the news, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the following:

    “It’s a bold step into the future – a win-win for employees, shareholders and consumers of both companies. Bringing these great teams together will accelerate Microsoft’s share and profits in phones, and strengthen the overall opportunities for both Microsoft and our partners across our entire family of devices and services. In addition to their innovation and strength in phones at all price points, Nokia brings proven capability and talent in critical areas such as hardware design and engineering, supply chain and manufacturing management, and hardware sales, marketing and distribution.”

Although this seems like the end of Nokia as we know it, it sounds like for now the company is still planning on moving forward as a standalone entity of some sort — although with a very different strategy. Risto Siilasmaa, Nokia’s board chairman and current interim CEO following the departure of Elop, was quoted in a press release as saying “this is an important moment of reinvention and from a position of financial strength, we can build our next chapter… the deal offers future opportunities for many Nokia employees as part of a company with the strategy, financial resources and determination to succeed in the mobile space.”

This is breaking news with potentially large ramifications — we will update this post with more information, and follow up with more analysis and news.

Apple’s iPhone Trade-In Program Going Live Across The U.S. Today

Apple will be expanding its iPhone trade-in program nationwide starting today, according to a report from CNBC’s Jon Fortt which we’ve confirmed with our sources. The program allows customers to walk into physical retail stores and exchange an older model device for credit towards a new one. The program has already been piloted at a number of select locations over the past few weeks, TechCrunch reported previously.

The program works by giving iPhone owners a chance to trade in non-water damaged devices in good working order, for between $120 and $250 or so depending on the condition of the device, what model it is and other factors. As part of the stipulations of the trade-in, customers have to walk out with a new contract as well as a new device. It only applies to customers shopping for a new iPhone, so you can’ t just trade an older model in for store credit or towards a different purchase, according to our original sources.

Apple’s intentions for building its own in-store trade-in program were originally outed back in June, when it was revealed that it would partner with Brightstar Corp., a distributor of mobile devices, in order to offer the deal to users. Apple has previously offered up iPhone trade-ins via PowerOn thanks to its “Apple Recycling Program,” but this is in retail stores instead of only working via mail, and specific to iPhones, rather than covering a range of Apple hardware.

The program is launching well ahead of the rumored debut of the next version of the iPhone, which is supposedly slated to be revealed at a September 10 event and could go on sale around September 20. Apple likely wants to give its retail staff and users time to get used to the program and become aware of its availability, as well as perhaps help clear out inventory channels ahead of the launch of new devices in the fall

We’ve reached out to Apple for additional comment and will update if they provide more info.

Update: Apple has provided the following statement regarding the program’s launch today –

    iPhones hold great value. So, Apple Retail Stores are launching a new program to assist customers who wish to bring in their previous-generation iPhone for reuse or recycling. In addition to helping support the environment, customers will be able to receive a credit for their returned phone that they can use toward the purchase of a new iPhone.