NBC Politics Launches Free Elections App for iPad and iPhone

NBC Politics Launches Free Elections App for iPad and iPhone
May 3, 2012 by Alex Fitzpatrick on Mashable

NBC Politics launched a new iPad and iPhone app Thursday that lets users keep tabs on the latest news coming out of the 2012 race to the White House.

The app, which is free, first opens to a page of recent headlines. Users can tap a headline to get the full story, including images and video. A daily “tip sheet,” which is a round-up briefing of the latest political news and headlines, is also included in the app. Candidate profiles give users full biographies of the presidential candidates. Also featured: Video clips taken directly from the latest episodes of NBC’s many news shows.

“With all eyes on the 2012 election, the NBC Politics App delivers the best political content and reporting -– wherever you are,” said David Gregory, moderator of NBC News’ Meet the Press. “This all-access, easy-to-navigate resource puts the full power of NBC News in your hands, from the top headlines and stories to innovative features that allow serious political junkies to dig even deeper.”

For you political geography geeks out there, the app has two different sets of maps: one that shows real-time results from primaries and, eventually, the general election, and another that’s a game-based election simulator.

The real-time results map is visually inviting and simple to use, although the county-by-county results pull down from an outside web page, which can feel awkward and is occasionally buggy. However, if the data gets updated promptly on election nights, it could prove to be an excellent poll-watching tool.

The simulator presents a national election map, then challenges users to guess which way each of the 50 states will lean – heavily Democrat or Republican, slightly Democrat or Republican or neutral. Depending on your guesses, either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is bestowed the presidential seal.

The truly nerdy amongst us will be disappointed to know that you can’t — yet — predict results on a county-by-county basis.

There’s a sharing element, too — users can easily post articles or video from the app to their Facebook or Twitter feeds.

NBC’s new app was designed by Method, and is available for download in the App Store.



Source: Mashable.com

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These Are the Greatest Apple App Store Hits of All Time

These Are the Greatest Apple App Store Hits of All Time
By Stan Schroeder For Mashable

To celebrate its 25 billion App Store downloads milestone, Apple has released a list of the most popular iPhone and iPad apps of all time.

Topping the list of free all-time favorites for the iPhone is Facebook, followed by Pandora Radio, Words With Friends Free, Skype and the Weather Channel.

On the paid iPhone app front, Angry Birds is leading the pack, followed by more of games: Fruit Ninja, Doodle Jump, Cut the Rope and Angry Birds Seasons.

The list of most popular paid iPad apps is once again dominated by disgruntled avians, with various Angry Birds flavors taking second and third place. Pages, Penultimate and Scrabble for iPad have taken first, fourth and fifth place.

The most popular free iPad app is Angry Birds Free, followed by the Weather Channel, Netflix, Skype and Kindle.

A quick analysis of the full top 25 lists reveals that iPad users install a lot of children’s games and entertainment apps, as well as office apps, such as apps from Apple’s iWork suite. Gaming is extremely popular on both platforms, while camera-related apps such as Camera+ or Instagram thrive on the iPhone.

And yes, the iPad paid apps are vastly more expensive than iPhone apps – most iPhone apps on the top list cost $0.99, while iPad apps usually cost $1.99, often more.

You can see the full lists here (iTunes link).

[via Macstories]