Apple buys Matcha.tv video app

Apple may hope the move will boost its video recommendations service

Matcha.tv ran on iOS, Apple’s operating system, and offered comprehensive listings of all films and programmes available on television, streaming video services and digital video stores – such as iTunes and Amazon.

It allowed users to queue the videos they had chosen, log in to social networks to see what their friends were watching and liking, and also offered video recommendations.

But the app closed in May with no explanation given. Its CEO, Guy Piekarz said only that the service was not gone for good but would be developing in a new direction.

Matcha.tv was still growing at the time and regularly featured among the most popular items in Apple’s App Store.

The acquisition was reported by the VentureBeat website, which cited a source claiming Apple had paid between $1m and $1.5m for the application.

Apple refused to comment on the reported purchase directly, only telling the site: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

It is unclear at this stage what the Californian company plans to do with the app, though analysts have suggested it will be used to boost its video recommendations service, drawing users away from Netflix.

CEO Tim Cook has talked about Apple’s plans to "revolutionise" the TV industry.

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Los Angeles Times News App Review

The Los Angeles Times has completely redesigned its iPhone news app (US$1.99), and the new version is now available for download in the iTunes store. There are several good choices among iPhone news apps, so the LA Times app faces some stiff competition.

Los Angeles Times News App

Plenty of local content

The homepage of the Los Angeles Times iPhone app is divided into six sections, including headlines, photos and L.A. Now (a section that focuses on local Los Angeles news and traffic). Under headlines, users can access a variety of news categories, such as local, national, business, sports, and entertainment. Under the columnists tab, you can browse opinion articles sorted by author. The LA Times news app also has some nifty social features, including an L.A. Tweets section that displays recent tweets from the Times’ various Twitter accounts.

Articles can be shared via Facebook, email, or Twitter, and you can also save articles to your favorites for later reading. The Los Angeles Times news app also supports offline caching, so you can read articles later -- even if you don’t have an Internet connection.

The photos section includes a handful of photo albums. While the photos are easy to browse and include detailed captions, the albums seem rather old and date back to news events that happened over a week ago. This may change, however, as the app is rolled out. 

Sports fans will particularly like the LA Times app. The sports section automatically displays the top headlines, but you can also sort news by your favorite teams, including the Dodgers, Lakers, Clippers, Ducks, and college teams like USC and UCLA. Entertainment junkies will also enjoy targeted content like specific blogs for American Idol or celebrity gossip.

Simple interface

The app itself is very easy to use, even if the interface is boring. Unlike the flashy CNN app, the Los Angeles Times keeps things simple. Headlines are plain black text on a white background, although some are illustrated with thumbnails. The LA Times app includes ads, but they are rather unobtrusive and usually only show up at the bottom of select articles.

The Bottom Line

The Los Angeles Times did a good job with its news app. Although it’s not the sexiest news app available, it does contain a great deal of content -- especially for Los Angeles residents -- and it is super simple to use. If you want a basic app for browsing the latest news headlines, the LA Times app is not a bad choice. However, there are several excellent news apps that are available for free, including The New York Times or AP Mobile.

Source: http://ipod.about.com/od/iphonenewsappreviews/fr/LA-Times-News-App-Review.htm

Bento iPhone App Review

The Bento app (US$4.99) revolves around a variety of templates that help you organize pretty much all aspects of your life. From diet logs to business expenses to to-do lists, Bento covers all the bases.

Interested in organizing your to-do list? Check out our list of the top list apps for the iPhone.

Bento iPhone app

A great way to organize your to-do list

Bento is excellent as a to-do list app. It allows you to create ‘collections’ to organize your tasks, so you can create separate lists for work, home, etc. For each item on your list, you can specify a priority, due date, and notes; you can also assign an item to a specific person or project. This ties in with Bento’s projects tab, where you can set everything from project leaders, budget, priority level, and team members. This collaboration -- between to-do lists and projects, for example -- is what sets Bento apart from other productivity apps. 

The Bento app also has a variety of business-friendly features. The inventory template tracks quantities, location, serial numbers, purchase dates, and costs. You can even attach pictures. I’m also a big fan of the expenses template, although I’d like to have the ability to attach scans of receipts. The search feature is also a highlight, since you can find keywords within any of your existing templates. 

A few downsides

Some of the templates are less helpful. The diet log, for example, has a lot of promise, but it doesn’t automatically calculate calories for the food you’ve eaten. Specific diet apps like SparkPeople (an app from the developers of SparkRecipes) are a better choice if you want to count calories. The recipes template also lags far behind dedicated recipe apps -- it’s basically an area to add your own recipes, and I’m not sure I would ever feel motivated enough to type out an entire recipe on my iPhone keyboard.

Bento is also available for the iPad, and I have to admit that the interface for the iPhone app is disappointing in comparison. The iPad app is stunning and has numerous nice design touches, whereas the interface on the iPhone app is rather plain and uninspiring. Even though there is less room to work with, I would love to see the iPhone app look just a little more like the iPad version.

The Bottom Line

I’ve heard about Bento for months now, but I never got a chance to check it out. Now I understand firsthand what all the buzz is about. Bento is a full-featured app that can meet a variety of needs for business or personal use. Although some of the templates are a little wimpy -- the diet log and recipes especially -- I would use the Bento app for a variety of productivity and business tasks.

What You’ll Need

The Bento app is compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch (a separate version is available for the iPad). It requires iPhone OS 4.2 or later.

Source: http://ipod.about.com/od/iphoneappsreviews/fr/bento-iphone-app-review.htm