Valve plans to sell apps via Steam ranging from “creativity to productivity”
Everybody wants their own app store and cloud, and Valve is no different. The source of many of the greatest games in the past few years (Portal 1 and 2, people!), Valve’s Steam game platform has become renowned for its ease of use in buying games and the Source game engine is no slouch, either.
Steam is about to open up a whole new world of apps beyond games, however. Full blown applications are due to hit the Steam platform September 5, and will range from “creativity to productivity” as Valve’s Mark Richardson is quoted in Forbes.
The Steam mobile app accidentally leaked its own appsplosion last month, showing off categories such as ‘Accounting’ and ‘Photo Editing.’ Obviously a lot of those app categories are useful when making games, and it would be terribly cool if Steam Greenlight was somehow tied to a series of tools for creators to build games that went straight to the store. Steam would, in effect, have an end-to-end ecosystem for game developers.
According to Valve’s statement, its customers want their apps on Steam, and Valve is prepared to let them. Perhaps this is partially motivated by Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s perception of Windows 8 as heading down the road of a closed platform, and Valve wants a foothold? Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what apps appear on Steam.
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Spotify’s mobile app finally hits BlackBerry App World
Spotify’s BlackBerry app exited beta and was made freely available to a selection of compatible handsets back in December, but it still wasn’t available in BlackBerry’s official app store. Until now that is.
The app was first announced back in October but was available only as a preview for users who wanted to give it an early try and provide feedback. When it was launched properly just before Christmas, users had to direct the browser on their phone to m.spotify.com and follow the installation instructions.
However, as with Spotify on other mobile operating systems, you can now access the app directly from the manufacturer’s official store, in this case BlackBerry App World.
With 2.5 stars out of a possible 5 so far, it’s not fairing terribly well. But now at least it will gain more exposure and perhaps get a bigger uptake from the BlackBerry community.
➤ Spotify: BlackBerry
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Flipboard Officially Opens Up Their Android Beta To Interested Testers
Well, that was quick. The news of an impending Flipboard Android beta only began making the rounds earlier this morning, and now the Flipboard team has opened up the beta process to anyone interested in taking the plunge.
Users interested in taking the pre-release version of the app for a spin can mosey over to Flipboard’s Android landing page, where they can sign up for the beta and wait patiently to receive a download link in their inbox. The confirmation email mentions that the waiting period could stretch up to 24 hours, though we’re hearing that plenty of people are receiving their download links without too much of a delay.
I managed to get the new version of the app up and running on my trusty Galaxy Nexus, and so it far seems plenty responsive (not to mention handsome) despite its beta label. Scrolling through lists of sources to cull content from is terribly snappy, and I can only detect the faintest bit of lag as I touch those sources’ icons to see more. Assuming you’ve got some robust hardware at your disposal, you probably won’t run into too many issues.
Not every device will be as lucky, though. I downloaded and tested the app onto my backup handset — a not-terribly-old myTouch 4G — and was told upon installation that the device “does not meet the minimum requirements is not supported by Flipboard.” After selecting some categories to add to my Flipboard, the app stalled out. I guess it’s a good thing Flipboard decided on the route they did, and with any luck the final product will be free of hiccups when the more widespread launch takes place in the coming months.
Your mileage will certainly vary — that’s sort of the point of this whole exercise — and the Flipboard team would appreciate any feedback you intrepid testers may have. If the app happens to force close, be a good citizen and report the issue instead of just closing the app and starting from scratch, will you?
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Gadget Of The Week: The Parrot AR.Drone 2.0
There are plenty of ways to get your flight school kicks with your smartphone or tablet — this missile shooting Griffin chopper comes to mind — but few manage to ooze as much style (or cost as much money) as Parrot’s AR.Drone 2.0.
Getting the thing ready to fly is surprisingly simple. Once you’ve popped the battery into place, and turned the thing on, the Drone creates its own Wi-Fi network that the control device connects to. From there, just fire up the FreeFlight app on your iOS or Android device and you’re off to the races.
The big draw for some will be the ability to record the Drone’s aerial journeys. In addition to providing the pilot with an idea of where the drone is going, the small camera pod mounted on the drone’s nose is capable of capturing photos as well as 720p video. The camera’s small sensor means that quality tends to take a hit in low light, but the bigger issue for some is the tendency to see a wiggling effect in recorded video because of the four rotors whirring away.
Let’s be honest here — it’s not the most useful thing to have in your gadget closet (doesn’t everyone have one of those?) unless you’ve got a thing for aerial photography or not-so-covertly spying on people. What it lacks in pure utilitarian functionality it makes up for in sheer fun. There’s something terribly fun about tilting your smartphone around and watching this little quad-rotor aircraft dart around in response to it.
It’s even surprisingly easy to fly, provided you start out slow and put in a few minutes of fiddling first. Sadly, our Mobile Editor Matt Burns didn’t take that rule to heart, as he quickly crashed our own Drone at Disrupt. C’est la vie, but be prepared to do your due diligence if you don’t want to screw up a pricy piece of machinery. That said, Parrot has made it terribly easy to wow your friends with some neat aerial tricks — just double tap a button from within the app to make the Drone flip, and take in the applause.
The Drone is a hell of a lot of fun to play with, but there’s always that price tag to consider — it’ll run you a considerable $299. The responsible thing may be to take that money and use it to buy a rock-solid juicer instead, but I think your mental well-being is better served by the ability to explore the skies (or annoy your neighbors).
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