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The Difference Between the Top 10 iPhone & Android Applications

Maybe the best example of the differences between iPhone users and Android users is the difference between the top apps for the respective devices. Here are the lists of top apps from Retrevo:

Top 10 iOS Apps
  1. Angry Birds
  2. Angry Birds Rio
  3. Tiny Wings
  4. Fruit Ninja
  5. Where’s Waldo?
  6. Tetris
  7. Words With Friends
  8. The Sims 3
  9. Cut The Rope
  10. Plants Vs. Zombies
Top 10 Android Apps
  1. Beautiful Widget
  2. Rom Manager *Premium*
  3. Root Explorer
  4. Fruit Ninja
  5. Better Keyboard
  6. Robo Defense
  7. SetCPU
  8. Weatherbug Elite
  9. Titanium Backup Pro
  10. Power AMP *Full Version*

As much as Android fans love to tout how customizable their phones are, I think the fact that the top apps are almost all ways to change CPU settings, manage RAR archives, and other random hardware tweaks is a little crazy. I’m not sure what a normal Android user thinks when they first check the app store and sees this kind of stuff.

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Bypass Lane: Skip the concessions line with an app

Bypass Lane: Skip the concessions line with an app

Bypass Lane is a service that lets you use your phone to order food and then skip the concessions line at ballparks. It’s a great looking app and well designed website too. There’s an HTML5 web app along with native apps for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. I originally saw it advertised at the Ballpark in Arlington. I didn’t get to try the app at the game (the service isn’t available up in the cheap seats) but it seems like a great idea to avoid long lines at a big game.

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CSS transitions & media queries

Seen it happen accidentally since nearly the beginning of the responsive web design movement, but great writeup on how CSS3 transitions can add some fun to your responsive designs.

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Why Mobile Apps Will Soon be Dead

A great article talking about the many advantages of the mobile web. A couple of great notes from the article. First, on the reach of the World Wide Web compared to the app stores:

One word: distribution. There are 2 billion web users versus 50 million iOS users.

And what’s in it for developers…

With web apps, developers could code once and be reasonably confident their app will work on any object — phone, tablet, laptop, etc. — with a standards-compliant browser. The implications for developer time and resources are profound.

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Dribbble introduces Browse by Color

Incredible. Pick a color use the color picker, browse pages and pages of shots that use that color. You can even define your own hex value, color variance, and color minimum. Great source of inspiration. Check out the blog post describing how it works.

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Another example of why QR codes are dead on arrival.

Another example of why QR codes are dead on arrival.

A QR code on a cup from Taco Bell. The explanation text on what to do with it is six times as big as the QR code itself and requires two URLs for help. This is way easier than just showing a simple URL to type in.

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Video

Kevin Durant POSTERIZES Brendan Haywood in Western Conference Finals

Holy crap what a dunk by Kevin Durant. He didn’t score as much as in game one but that throwdown certainly turned the momentum in the Thunder’s direction. Great comment on the YouTube page, “That was so dirty I switched? to porn when my mom walked in.”

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Think Apps are All That Matters for Mobile?

Great stats on the mobile websites for Facebook and Twitter outpacing their respective mobile apps.

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Olly Moss’ Awesome Cut Out Silhouettes

Olly Moss’ Awesome Cut Out Silhouettes

Monty Burns, John McClane, Daniel Son, and more. Incredible work, just like the rest of Olly Moss’ stuff. See the rest of his collection.

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Classes of Mobile Web Apps

Great overview of the different options when creating mobile web apps from Brian Fling. Spans from iPhone only to universal apps.

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