Apps
Living in Miitomo: what Nintendo's first smartphone app is all about
Tim Biggs After taking Japan by storm last month, Nintendo's first ever smartphone app Miitomo has launched worldwide on iPhone and Android.
Culture
Apple's first foray into original TV is a series about apps
![Will.i.am is working with Apple on its debut series.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/2/d/c/l/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gnr5iv.png/1458879946680.jpg)
Emily Steel TV executive behind Netflix original series 'Marco Polo' will direct Apple exclusive featuring Will.i.am.
HDTV, OLED, UHD, HDR, WTF?
![This year the AFL grand final will screen on free-to-air in HD for the first time, but is that reason enough to buy a ...](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/j/3/z/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gnj2xu.png/1458799195161.jpg)
Peter Wells This year has marked a turning point, with television manufacturers focused once more on picture quality, but is it time to upgrade your HD TV? First, we have to look at 2016's marketing buzzwords, and see which you care about.
Apps
Taxi booking app ihail waved through by ACCC
![Following the ACCC's draft decision to deny the app, ihail made 'a number of significant modifications'.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/p/h/y/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gno3ox.png/1458606865103.jpg)
Rae Johnston After twice knocking it back, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has finally authorised a collaboration between taxi networks and Cabcharge to launch and operate a new smartphone taxi booking app, called ihail.
'Apple helped me crack iPhones like clockwork'
![A New York judge has set a precedent in the US government's pursuit of iPhone encryption details from Apple.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/7/6/p/e/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gnl1uc.png/1458171384806.png)
Christie Smythe For years, cops who wanted to break into iPhones knew the drill. What's different in Apple's standoff with the US government this time?
Apps
Google tests app that lets you pay with little more than a smile
![The days of swiping or insterting cards, or paying cash, could soon be over if Google gets its way.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/c/2/v/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gnc29m.png/1457360564826.jpg)
Hayley Tsukayama Google has announced that it's testing a payment program called 'Hands Free' that lets users pay for goods without having to reach into their pockets.
Apps
Gasbuddy bringing crowdsourced cheap fuel app to Australia
![Gasbuddy lets motorists report petrol prices to each other in real-time.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/a/k/x/9/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gnajpi.png/1457321257598.jpg)
Andrew Colley Australian motorist will from today for the first time have access to a smartphone app that lets them use crowdsourcing to hunt down cheap petrol.
Robotics
Robot dad: I built a smartphone bot to spend time with my kids
![Matt Walker is Robot Dad.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/8/j/n/p/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gn8hqy.png/1456976228318.jpg)
Hannah Francis Matt Walker made the best out of a bad situation - divorce - by building a telepresence robot to hang out with his kids from halfway across the globe.
Apps to augment your muscles and your reality
![Data Man tells you if you're blowing your data usage cap.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/7/c/x/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gn7cpa.png/1457552617070.jpg)
Cynthia Karena We look at apps for fitness, for augmented reality, and one if you've been looking at apps too much.
Apps
These occupations get the most right swipes on Tinder
![The science shows certain groups getting pushed to the bottom of the pile on Tinder, but societal attitudes mean talking ...](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/x/y/i/w/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gn5x4r.png/1456690186788.jpg)
Lisa Bonos Certain jobs make some users luckier in love than others, according to a list released by Tinder.
Social Media
Twitter adds GIF search feature
![The Twitter Inc. logo is displayed on the screen of an Apple Inc. iPhone 6s in this arranged photograph taken in New ...](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/q/z/w/d/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gmx2pc.png/1456706405508.jpg)
Hannah Francis You're about to get many more distracting GIFs in your Twitter feed.
Apps
Taylor Swift follows Kim Kardashian in getting own mobile game
![Taylor Swift, the most popular person on Instagram, will get her own mobile game this year.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/m/0/9/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gmm7y2.png/1455262367289.jpg)
Grammy-award winning pop star Taylor Swift is making her first foray into the world of mobile gaming by partnering with Glu Mobile to develop a new game, the company has said.
Apps
Nintendo details first ever mobile offering, launching in March
![More than 200 million Mii characters have been created across Nintendo systems so far, a number that's set to grow with ...](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/l/c/v/y/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gmla29.png/1454556250770.jpg)
Nintendo's first app made exclusively for mobile devices will launch on Android and iOS in March, and is the first of five apps the company will launch between now and the end of March 2017.
Apps
Every app that Apple has tried to kill
![The app graveyard is filling up with Apple's victims.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/k/4/7/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gmjhh2.png/1454443425322.png)
Darren Orf Apps die — often. It's all part of the technological circle of life where alpha predators in multi-billion dollar dens feast on more vulnerable, less cash-infused prey. And one company that has always had an insatiable T. Rex-level hunger is Apple.
Apps
Deleting Facebook app could speed up your phone
![Facebook seems to be bad for your phone.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/0/p/j/b/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gmjdn1.png/1454387945529.jpg)
Tim Biggs Following claims late last year that the iOS Facebook app was draining iPhone batteries, a new flood of similar reports is circling the web, this time concerning Android phones.
Google finally learns to talk like an Aussie
![How far to Yackandandah? You beaut!](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/f/w/o/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gmfp55.png/1453950388828.jpg)
Sydney Pead Slang words like 'arvo', 'footy' and 'Maccas' have been added to the search engine and Google Maps vocabulary.
Games
Donald Rumsfeld launches 'Churchill Solitaire' iPhone app
![The game's logo in Apple's App Store.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/e/5/m/l/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gme4cq.png/1453777287095.png)
Sophie Jamieson The only way to win at Churchill's Solitaire? Never, never, never give in.
I left Facebook because it made me lonely
![Facebook, MetLife, Transocean and Qualcomm among the S&P 500 companies posting quarterly results today.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/0/7/c/p/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gmb7gt.png/1453675962476.jpg)
Nat Duncan It wasn't until I decided to "leave" Facebook, to deactivate my account, that I realised just how insidious and sect-like this social media phenomenon is.
Apps
Apple's new Music Memos app gives you your own back-up band
![The new Music Notes app lets you record song ideas at the press of a button, and add accompaniment that plays along.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/a/j/m/b/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gmahs6.png/1453342577406.jpg)
Jefferson Graham If you love to fool around with musical instruments, Music Memos is one of the cooler offerings from the Apple toolbox, and should keep you busy for hours.
Apps
WhatsApp, the smartphone messaging app, to make its service free
![Jan Koum, the chief executive and co-founder of WhatsApp.](/web/20160403092439im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/8/o/p/v/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gm8ojk.png/1453154886324.jpg)
Mark Scott Popular internet messaging app will sell advertisers access to its customers for revenue.