Apps

Shortly after the iOS translation app "Word Lens" was featured in a prominent iPhone commercial from Apple, the developer behind the app has been snapped up by rival Google.

In TechCrunch Disrupt NY's Startup Alley this week, we came across Roger Obando and Louis Huynh, co-founders of Kamino, a new mobile app offering crowdsourced city guides. Unlike the recommendations found in professional guidebooks, Kamino instead offers what they call "urban hikes" -- guides created by locals and plotted on a map that help to introduce visitors to the best their neighborhoods…

In an update to its iOS app on Wednesday, United Airlines added an anticipated in-flight entertainment service that harnesses onboard Wi-Fi to stream movies and TV shows to users for free.

We all know that apps are a daily part of our lives. After all, 56% of people on the planet own a smart phone, and according to Flurry, people are starting to spend more time using apps than they do watching TV.

Between all the Heartbleed revelations, and figuring out which passwords you now need to change, you may have overlooked some of this week's best new apps. Luckily, Mashable creates a roundup each weekend of our favorite new and updated apps, so you won't miss out. See also: Hands On With Carousel: Dropbox's New Photo-Organization App This week's list includes Dropbox's new photo-organization app, the first Family Guy mobile game and an app to prevent jet lag.

Whether you've suffered your way through midterms or you're just ready to ditch the office for some warm weather, spring break is upon us. Grab your skimpiest bathing suit and load up on the SPF. See also: 10 Romantic Vacation Spots Where You Can Actually Get Away But before you take off, you also might want to consider loading up your cell phone with a few apps to make sure that you're not working any harder than you have to once you're beachside.

What things do you want to accomplish before you die? What's on your "bucket list?" Me, I just want to take one solid, multi-hour nap, but I know there are people out there with slightly larger goals in mind. For them, a new mobile application called, heh, BucketListly, works to serve as both a motivational dream journal and a way to share your travel experiences and stories with others.

Ulmon, the travel app developer behind the popular CityMaps2Go apps, has raised its first round of funding, a seed investment from Global Founders Capital, VC started in 2013 by Oliver and Marc Samwer of Rocket Internet fame and Delivery Hero's Fabian Siegel. The exact amount was not disclosed but TechCrunch understands it's under $5 million. Ulmon had 6 million iOS and Android downloads in 2013…

London is a big city with a rich history, containing a population of more than 13 million people. I fell in love with it when I worked there as a motorcycle dispatch rider for more than 15 years, and it's a love affair that continues today. Even though I haven’t lived in London since the late '90s, I still know where to go on a big night out. But so do a lot of other people who don’t have the same understanding of the city -- all it takes is a smartphone with the right apps.

Looking for a quicker way to find the drive time between two or more points, and optionally get directions? Google Maps may still be everyone’s go-to mapping application on mobile, but a new iPhone app called ETA is launching today to offer a simpler, faster and generally less cumbersome experience. However, the app isn’t really competing directly with the mapping giants themselves.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick took the stage with Jason Calacanis at the 2014 LAUNCH Festival today to introduce a new feature for his company’s app. Rolling out soon is the ability to receive push notifications that will tell you when surge pricing goes down so you don’t have to constantly check the app....

If you’ve ever pounded the pavements in a fancy pair of running shoes, you’ve probably also strapped a mobile phone to yourself to track and record your every movement. And there’s no shortage of apps to help you do just that....

Disrupt Europe 2013 alumnus, What Now Travel, hasn't even launched its mobile roaming busting travel guide app yet but it's already forged an alliance with the tourist board in the city it's been concentrating on for its first full launch (London).

Thanks to Google Now, other virtual assistants, and mobile applications that can tap into our location to feed us information at will, consumers are being conditioned to think of information-gathering as more of a passive process, these days. One company tapping into that larger trend is Hitlist, a mobile application that watches your favorite travel destinations and alerts you when fares become…

Mileways, the Munich-based social app for frequent flyers, just got a little more useful. The iOS app has added integration with AirHelp, the flight compensation startup co-founded by Morten Lund, to make it easy for travellers to claim compensation should they face delay, cancelation or overbooking when flying to and from the EU.

came and went, and we served up a gargantuan summary of some of the best apps to hit the App Store over the 12-month period ending in December. Now, with 2014 well and truly underway, here’s a quick snapshot of some of the best new iOS apps from January....

As some app development teams race to include as many new features in their navigation apps as they can, others are creating complementary features outside those same apps. Perhaps there is no ‘one’ best solution anymore.

In a year that saw Apple finally pass the one million milestone in terms of live applications in the App Store, it’s fair to say there’s a deluge of file-managers, smart calendars, budgeting tools and funky cameras to sift through to get to the real gems....

SWell, one holiday week has drawn to a close, and another is nearly upon us. Frankly, that means a slow-ish week for apps. And yet! There were still some notable newbies to the app scene. Download these babies and let your phone feel as bloated as you do.Multi-Platform UpdatesTranslateSPowered by Translate.com, this free Android & iOS app accepts written, spoken, or photographed input, translating in over 75 different languages. The best part is the community translate option, where logging in through...

Another European on-demand car service is finding investors more than willing to bet on its own fast-growing business, as it, too, follows Hailo into the U.S. market. Already operating in over 20 cities across the U.K., Russia and Israel, GetTaxi opened its doors for the first time in the U.S. in August, looking to take on Uber and others by providing New York City passengers with a low-cost black…

Whether you're new to the iPad or looking to add to your app collection, 2013 brought in a healthy dosage of innovative, addictive options for Apple tablets.

SFeel that holiday spirit in the air? It smells like pine trees and whatever toy parents are beating each other up over this year. Share the giving spirit and present your phone with some sweet new apps. Multi-Platform UpdatesViberSThis week's update brings the ability to make VoIP phone calls to any phone number, landline or mobile, for an allegedly low rate (calls to other app users are free). The app also displays your phone number on caller ID, so your far-flung friends need not know you're calling...

Leo Grand, by his own admission, didn't know the first thing about computer programming four months ago. The 37-year-old man was living on the streets of New York City in late August, when a complete stranger approached, offering a choice between two months of coding lessons and $100 in cash. Grand opted for the lessons, and 3,621 lines of code later, he has released his first mobile app.

Some local recommendation apps tell you where you can go to eat, dine or be entertained, as rated by things like proximity, price or user reviews. Others aim to offer a more personalized experience, helping you find places you would actually want to visit, based on your own personal interests. Zofari, a new company trying to build what's best described as "a Pandora for places," is in this latter…

Facebook-based social travel apps may have run their course. Jetpac, a gorgeous but ultimately slow-to-grow travel app for iPad, which last year raised $2.4 million in Series A funding, is shifting its focus today with the launch of its new Jetpac City Guides for iPhone. These visual guides cover millions of venues in 5,000 cities worldwide, but in a different way than you might expect: by…