It's hard to remember that when Apple released the first iPhone in 2007 on June 29, there was no App Store. For the best part of a year, you could only use the apps that some folks in Cupertino decided you needed. A year later, Apple opened the App Store, with just 500 apps, and opened the floodgates to developers who have created a massive range of software.
Outside of ordering chicken nuggs for potential Lifehacker articles, I wasn't a big fan of McDonald's "mymacca's" app. It was clunky and constantly kicked me out - not things I was all that happy with when you're trying to order fast food. But now, Maccas has overhauled the app! So how is it?
About 60 apps have been dumped from the Google Play Store after it was revealed the apps were infected with malicious software that either displayed scareware or porn ads, or tried to trick people into accessing and paying for premium services.
While it might sound like shooting fish in a barrel - Google Play is working with HackerOne on a bug bounty program to find vulnerabilities in "in-scope" applications distributed through the Play Store. The number of apps in scope is limited but is expected to expand over time and covers remote-code-execution vulnerabilities and corresponding Proofs of Concept that work on Android 4.4 devices and higher.
Google is well known for its capacity to try new things, give them a year or two and then drop them if things don't pan out as expected or they can't turn a good idea into a revenue raising one. Which is why something in a recent MSPowerUser article piqued my interest. Google has 91 different apps in the iOS App Store. Is this a sign of great platform support or an indication that things are out of control at the Googleplex?
Android: Google is rolling out a small but significant update to the Play Store, adding in a refreshed My Apps screen that makes it much easier to manage everything you have installed.
Kindle Fire tablets are some of the best, cheapest Android tablets around, but they're limited to Amazon's app store, which is more than lacking compared to the thousands of apps available on the Google Play Store. With a little tweaking, though, you can run any Android app on them. You can even get the entire Google Play Store on some devices.
In May, Google launched YouTube Music in Australia to a few cheers, a few groans and a lot of, "Don't they already have a music service?" In fact, they have several: Google Play Music and YouTube Red, for starters. But don't be fooled -- they seem separate, but they actually compliment one another.
Google just made the entire library of Android apps available to Chromebook owners -- but for now, just the Chromebook Flip. After trying a few, my Flip is now one of my most useful devices. There are still some rough edges, but in the near future, you'll have a much more reason to buy a Chromebook.
