Mobile software

CBS launches full-episode streaming for iPad, iPhone

CBS today announced that it has launched a new, free app for the iPhone and iPad that allows for full-episode streaming to Apple's mobile devices.

The app provides access to full-length episodes of CBS' top shows, including "NCIS," "The Good Wife," and "How I Met Your Mother." The latest episodes of daytime and late-night programming will show up within 24 hours after airing. Prime-time programs will hit the app eight days after their initial broadcast.

For now, the apps are available to iPhone and iPad owners. CBS, which owns CBS Interactive, the company … Read more

WhatsApp now available on BlackBerry 10

WhatsApp for BlackBerry 10 is now available in BlackBerry World, which means droves of new users will get the ability to send and receive messages without having to pay for SMS.

In WhatsApp for BlackBerry 10, users get the ability to exchange messages with other users, no matter what platform they may be on, all through a carrier data connection or Wi-Fi connection. The app also offers instant push notifications for incoming messages and full integration with BlackBerry contacts.

While Android and iOS users might be scoffing at the news, the addition of another platform should, in fact, affect them, … Read more

DoubleTwist for Android adds MagicRadio

DoubleTwist, one of our favorite music players for Android, today gets a new feature that could help the app lure users away from competitors like Pandora or Spotify.

Called MagicRadio, DoubleTwist's new feature is meant to be a "holistic" music discovery service that can take into account your overall musical tastes as it programs stations for you to enjoy. The company hopes this add-on can attract users who are looking for more-nuanced stations than a Pandora search box and a simple artist name can produce.

While MagicRadio can certainly create stations based on simple parameters like artists, … Read more

Use Easy Uninstaller to quickly remove downloaded apps

When looking for an app that does something in particular, you may find yourself installing a handful or two for a bit of trial and error. While space on your device may not be an issue, you won't want to keep all of the apps that fail to perform the way you need them to. At this point, you're faced with the fun task of either going to the Google Play Store, or opening the Applications menu in the Settings area, to remove the apps you don't want. How fun! OK, not really.

If this is a … Read more

The astoundingly cheesy iPhone app launch from Domino's

In the world of "so bad, it's good," this may well qualify as bad. Or good.

It's Domino's Pizza selling a new iTunes app in Japan. Because if there's one thing pizza needs, it's an iPhone app.

Domino's wants you to know that no expense was spared in the creation of this app. So it wasn't going to sink to using Brad Pitt, Jack Nicholson, or Leonardo DiCaprio to sell it.

No, it was going to employ that versatile performer Scott Oellkers. Should you have been unaccountably held up in North Korea playing basketball, Oellkers is the president of Domino's Japan.… Read more

New apps unveiled at SXSW

Every year, the geekiest of geeks make their annual pilgrimage to Austin, Texas, for the increasingly hip and increasingly crowded South by Southwest festival.

The event is split into three branches for film, music, and interactive, but we at CNET tend to focus on the last of these, for obvious reasons. SXSWi, as the tech-focused portion of the festival is sometimes called, acts as a sort of gigantic picnic-slash-cocktail-party for tech entrepreneurs, investors, and even regular enthusiasts to mingle at and talk bits and bytes.

And while the sentiment has noticeably tapered off a bit this year, many app developers … Read more

Lost without TweetDeck? Try these alternatives

The folks at Twitter announced Monday that the standalone TweetDeck apps for mobile will no longer be supported after May of this year. While Twitter says that it is putting more resources toward the Web version (which can easily be used on the desktop), there are surely plenty of people who are upset that their beloved mobile clients are going away.

For those of you looking for an alternative to TweetDeck, here are a few mobile apps that should prove adequate for your tweeting purposes.

TweetDeck alternatives for iOS

Tweetbot ($2.99) is an extremely popular Twitter client for good … Read more

Apple could let you sell your iTunes content to other people

Want to sell that movie you bought on iTunes but never watch? You may be able to one day if a new Apple patent filing ever comes to life.

Published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and filed last June, an Apple patent application named "Managing Access To Digital Content Items" conjures up a system for legally selling or loaning iTunes items to another person.

The method involves transferring digital access rights from the original owner to someone else. Once those rights are transferred, the new owner would gain access to the content while the … Read more

Why more mobile OSes are good for you

commentary How do you feel about Firefox as an operating system? Or Ubuntu on your phone or tablet? Is Windows Phone 8 worth switching to? BlackBerry 10 means that the company formerly known as RIM isn't dead yet, right? And what the heck's a Tizen, anyway?

Depending on the OS, these questions and more will begin to plague mobile phone reviewers, phone providers, and consumers at large within the year at the most, and probably sooner.

Some people think this is a bad thing.

Yesterday's IDC report that smartphones will overtake feature phones in global sales this year … Read more