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AppShopper returns to the App Store with new social discovery focus
AppShopper, a popular app-recommendation tool, disappeared from the App Store this past December when Apple ruled it didn't meet the company's updated store guidelines. The guideline that AppShopper specifically violated states, "Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected." Given that was the entire thrust behind AppShopper, it seemed the app was doomed. Today, however, AppShopper relaunched as App Shopper Social, a new approach to the old idea that got them in trouble in the first place. Rather than the app specifically making recommendations to you like the old model, the new app makes social recommendations based on your friends who use the app. And who is the first friend recommended to you upon booting up the program? Why, it's App Shopper themselves. These recommendations show up in your "Stream." You can find new friends via a built-in Twitter search function or by manually adding user names. By focusing on social recommendations, the company has been able to work around the Apple Store guideline regarding market place confusion. Version 1.0 of the new app is still lacking some of the features users may remember from its original incarnation, including the "What's New" and "Top 200" lists. In addition, the iPad app hasn't been updated yet. The company has promised these issues will be fixed in future updates.
Layar lays the AR on thick with worldwide Stiktu app rollout
Layar's no stranger to the AR game. The company's been acting as an enabler of sorts, putting its Player and Creator dev tools into the hands of the masses across iOS and Android for some time. Now, the outfit's making Stiktu -- a social app that attaches augmented reality tags on everyday objects -- available outside of its previously defined European borders for worldwide consumption. Users who download the platform will be able to set virtual drawings, images or text to objects and leave those invisible markers behind for other curious parties to scan and discover. The practical applications aren't exactly obvious, but as a crowd-sourced scavenger hunt, it'll do just fine. Hit up the source below to download the goods on your platform of choice.
Google shutters Slide, founder Max Levchin moves to greener pastures
It's been barely a year since Google acquired Slide for a cool $200 million, but today comes news that the Mountain View crew has decided to dissolve its social apps unit, and that renowned entrepreneur Max Levchin will be leaving the company to "pursue other opportunities." Sources close to the matter told All Things D that the decision was announced at an internal staff meeting yesterday afternoon, and that most of Slide's 100 employees will likely shift over to YouTube. A Google spokesperson later confirmed that the unit will in fact be shuttered, but didn't reveal further details of where the displaced employees will land, saying only that the majority will remain onboard. Google didn't offer a concrete explanation for the decision, though Slide had been acting as a largely autonomous and peripheral branch, and was never fully integrated into the company's larger social team. Its apps, moreover, never really took off, and are due to be phased out over the course of the next few months -- including tools like SuperPoke Pets, Disco and Photovine. And then, of course, there's Levchin -- the man who founded the company just a few years after co-founding PayPal, and who currently serves as Yelp's chairman of the board. His immediate plans remain unclear, though we and the rest of the tech world will certainly be keeping a close eye on him, wherever he lands next.
