A Review of The Mac Desktop App Store

Firstly, to use the Mac App Store, you’ll need to upgrade to OS X 10.6.6 via Software Update. Once installed, you’ll have access to the App Store via a blue App Store icon in your Dock or via your Menu Bar. The new icon looks a lot like the new iTunes icon. Start the app and you will be greeted to a view which would remind you of the iTunes store. On the top you have a simple bar with forward backward controls on the left, icons to the five main categories of the store in the middle and a search bar on the right.

Apple’s new Mac App Store will also drive the average market price for Mac applications downward, because price point will largely factor into total downloads and, by association, whether or not apps make the top charts and get featured more prominently. We’ve already seen that race to the bottom occur with iOS applications, where the average price of apps is around $4 (less if you include games).

The act of downloading an application couldn’t get easier. You just click on the download button and the App Store will ask you for your Apple ID, which is the same one you use in iTunes. If you don’t have one you can make one within the app itself. This ID is required even if you want to download free apps. Once everything is done and you press download, you will see the app icon just jump out of the App Store window and go to your dock. There you will see a download bar on it and once it finishes downloading it will bounce once to alert you. One thing we noticed is that apps downloaded from the Store will go straight to the dock, whether or not you want them there and you will have to manually remove them later.

Overall, the Mac App Store will make the process of finding and downloading applications that you want or need much easier for the end user. Now it remains to be seen how well the developers respond to the Store and whether they would choose to put their apps there, knowing they will have to pay 30% of the cost of the app to Apple, which they can avoid if they just continue the way they do now through their own website. And unlike the iPhone, the Mac is not restricted to downloading apps only through the App Store. But if Apple’s track record is anything to go by, we feel that the Mac Store is going to be a success.

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The Samsung Galaxy S2 Perfectly Showcases The Benefits Of The Android Market

The Samsung Galaxy S2 has proven to be a tremendously popular choice in the competitive smartphone market. In this article I will take a look at some of the benefits of one of its most useful features, Android Market.

Android Market allows uses of Android powered smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S2 to browse over half a million different applications from various categories. One of the main benefits of this is that users can customise their phone by only downloading the apps they want, and are most likely to use based on what they use their phone for. It also means that the functionality of the handset can skyrocket, as the versatility of the apps on offer means that users can carry out a surprisingly varied amount of tasks on their phone. Below I will look at some of the categories in the Android Market, and some examples of the apps in these categories.

Social
Social networking is a major part of millions of people’s lives these days. This is reflected when you look at the top free apps in the Social category. At the time for writing, Facebook and Twitter hold the first and second positions on the list respectively. These apps allow users to carry out many of the tasks that they can on the websites on a normal computer. You can update your status or post a new tweet, send and receive friend requests and like and comment on other people’s posts. Other notable social networking apps also in this category are the likes of Four Square and Picasa. The internet connection and touchscreen functionality of phones like the Samsung Galaxy S2 mean that these apps are easy to use wherever there is an internet connection.

Games
Thanks to high resolution touchscreens and powerful processors, smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S2 make great mobile gaming devices. The ever popular Angry Birds currently hold the number 2 spot in the top free games in Android Market. This simple but addictive strategy game simply requires the use of the touchscreen to launch the angry bird characters from a catapult in order to destroy structures and enemies. It is a simple concept, but this has now received over 500 million downloads across all platforms, with a large amount of these coming from Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy S2. There are of course, thousands of other game titles, with diverse genres ranging from racing games and first person shooters to Sudoku and other puzzle games.

Obviously, this article only highlights a very small percentage of what’s on offer from the Android Market. When choosing your next smartphone, be sure to investigate its ability to download additional applications. Phones which run the Android platform such as the Samsung Galaxy S2 or HTC Sensation are great choices thanks to the choice offered by the Android Market.

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Digital Cameras – How to Get the Best Discount on Digital Cameras

The digital camera revolution has taken the industry by storm the market has suddenly found good profits by developing digital cameras. Consumers have become aware of the ease of use and the inexpensive production of prints as well as the option to create many other things with their images. Digital cameras are now made by some of the largest electronic manufacturers and are no longer a specialty product they once were. As a result we now find heavy competition in the market as each manufacturer strives for their share on the market in an ever expanding competitive market. The benefit of competition between retailers and manufactures means that we the consumer can get some really great discounts on the cameras we want. In a lot of instances I have been able to walk in to a store and have told them what I would like to pay and it has been accepted. This is as long as your offer is reasonable and is not insulting there intelligentsia. A tip I go by is to never purchase a digital camera when it has just been realised, this is when the product will be at its most expensive, and you will find retailers will not be flexible with pricing.

Firstly do you research and get a price from several retailers, then wait until the price has dropped sufficiently and you are happy to spend that amount, sometimes this can only take a few weeks as competitors flood the market with new and better technology.

One of the best ways to purchase good digital cameras is through the Internet. Here you can search for discounts on different types of digital cameras, Evan cameras that that are not normally sold in your country, with features and benefits that far out way on what is on offer at your local camera or electronics retailer.

The Internet also offers the biggest range of brands from all over the world, this allowing you to purchase from any store at a discounted price. Also remember that what might be a new release here, may be old technology in other countries, like Japan or China. These online retailers may already be discounting to make room for the latest products. To summarise I have listed two different ways of purchasing a digital camera one is direct from your electronics or camera retailer, or on line. They both have the good and bad benefits, if you are the type of person that needs to see, touch and play, then obviously you need to bay through your chosen retailer, the down side is that you may pay a little more than when purchasing on line. But if you like the broad selection and are happy to take a small risk and can make a purchase purely based on technical literature then you can benefit the enjoyment of a cheaper price. Also remember that most on line business have a returns policy so if for some reason you are not happy you may be able to return the product. But remember to read this policy before purchasing.

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