The free StubHub app for iPhone and Android was updated this week to include the ability to download tickets directly to your device.

This feature, known as mobile ticketing, takes StubHub from just a service for buying and selling tickets and transforms it into a tool you can show at the gate instead of a paper ticket.

With the update, you can find tickets for sporting events and concerts and download purchased tickets directly to your device, rather than having to print out your ticket from an email. For entry into events, you’ll need to zoom in on the barcode to show the full ticket.

For now, this feature is limited to StubHub’s collaboration with the San Francisco Giants, but they’re expecting more national teams and venues to follow. Between training staff and acquiring the technology required for this kind of barcode scanning, it’s not certain how long it will take for more venues to get on board.

via IntoMobile

StubHub app updated, gets mobile ticketing is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon has released a new mobile app for iOS aimed at students. You can use Amazon Student to buy items from your phone or scan barcodes to check prices so that you can decide whether to buy that textbook or video game in the store or if it would be cheaper to order it from Amazon. But the company’s existing Amazon app for iOS does those things too.

What’s new in the Amazon Student app is a “sell your stuff” option that lets you scan the barcodes on your books, DVDs, games, or other items and find out how much Amazon will offer you in trade-in value. You can then ship your items to Amazon for free and Amazon will give you a gift card for that value.

Don’t expect to strike it rich using this app. I dug up an old college textbook which is still selling for $32 on Amazon, and the app told me I could get a whopping $3.26 if I traded it in. Amazon only offered 50 cents for a DVD I scanned.

But if you’re looking for a way to make your next textbook purchase a bit more affordable and you’re too lazy to go through the hassle of listing your old items on eBay, the Amazon Student app may come in handy. If you’re only dealing with used textbooks though, you can probably get a better bargain by selling them back to your school’s bookstore, assuming there’s a buy-back program in place.

Amazon Student app for iOS lets you sell buy, sell used textbooks and more is a post from: mobiputing

Apple has released a new version of the mobile Apple Store app for iOS. The app still lets you browse for Apple products and make purchases from your mobile device, but there are new features including the ability to customize your orders and a new in-store mode.

The in-store mode will let you get help and support quickly when you’re at an Apple Retail Store. For example, you can walk into a store and the app will know your store’s location. The app will also ask if you’d like to speak to a specialist.

Surprisingly, the app is not universal, meaning the iPad currently lacks support for the update. If you have an iPhone running iOS 4.0+, you can download the updated app for free from the App Store.

via 9 to 5 Mac

Apple’s Store app for iPhone gets more configuration option, major enhancements is a post from: mobiputing

Google has rolled out updates for two of its iOS apps today: Google Search and Google Shopper.

The Google Search app snow includes larger fonts, tappable search results, and an option to disable voice search via gestures. But the biggest change is that Google says the app should be up to 20% more responsive. Apparently the company had received complaints that the last update made the app much slower than previous versions of the official Google app for iOS.

Google Shopper 1.2 for iOS, meanwhile, has been updated to look more like the latest version for Android. It includes the new blue color scheme, filters for search results, featured lists for browsing, and support for scanning QR codes and print advertisements. There’s also a new history view.

Both Google Search and Google Shopper are available as free download from the App Store.

Google updates Google Search, Shopper apps for iOS is a post from: mobiputing

Groupon is a daily deals site that offers local bargains in hundreds of cities in 44 countries. But while you could sign up for the Groupon daily email or visit the web site in any of those locations, up until recently the company’s iOS app only worked in the US. Now Groupon is available in all 44 countries where the company offers deals.

For more on how Groupon works and how the service compares to its closets competitor, LivingSocial, you can check out a recent article I wrote for Laptop Magazine.

In a nutshell, you can use the mobile app to see the latest deals, make purchases, and view Groupons you’ve previously purchased. You can also flash the app at most locations to redeem your coupon code instead of printing it out to take with you.

Groupon for iOS is availabl as a free download from the App Store.

via IntoMobile

Groupon for iOS goes international is a post from: mobiputing

Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, and plenty of other services let you “check in” to locations using your phone. Want to let your friends know where you’re having lunch of coffee in case they want to join you? Just check in. As an added bonus, many businesses will offer coupons to customers who check in regularly.

Bizzy is a service that also lets you hit a button on your phone when you’re at a store, restaurant, or other business. But instead of checking in, Bizzy wants you to check out. The idea is that instead of firing up the app when you enter an establishment, you use it when you’re done to rate your experience.

You can rate locations, share short tips, and share locations on Facebook or Twitter. Bizzy will also ask you questions to find out which coffee shops, restaurants, groceries, or other locations are already among your favorites.

With this date, Bizzy can find other users with similar tastes, which is a great way to find new places you might be interested in checking out. And the more you check in, the more Bizzy will be able to offer tailored recommendations based on your preferences.

Bizzy is certainly an interesting concept, and even if you don’t go in for the whole social aspect of check-ins, the service could help you find new places to check out if you use it long enough for the app to get to know you — if that doesn’t sound a little creepy.

You can download Bizzy for iPhone for free from the App Store.

via All Things D

Bizzy for iPhone lets you “check out” instead of in is a post from: mobiputing

The bargains come from The Dealmap, which gathers its data from Groupon, LivingSocial, Restaurant.com and other services. If you’re wondering why you should use Bing instead of the Dealmap web site or mobile apps, it’s because the Bing user experience is optimized for mobile and you can use it without installing a single thing on your phone. Just click the Deals button from the Bing mobile web site and let your phone share your location, and a list of local businesses offering deals will appear.

The top of the screen plots the deals on a map, and there’s a drop-down menu letting you sort deals by distance from your current location or expiration date.

You can also use the filters at the top for the page to look for saved deals, nearby deals, or sort by category. And of course, Bing wouldn’t be much of a search engine if you couldn’t  also search for deals by entering keywords in the search box.

Bing Deals is available on most desktop browsers and on mobile browsers on iOS and Android devices. Because the service relies on HTML5, Windows Phone 7 isn’t currently supported. Microsoft’s mobile platform should get an HTML5-capable web browser later this year.

Bing brings local deals to iOS, Android search pages is a post from: mobiputing

If you travel a lot for business, you know what a headache it can be to save and file all of your receipts and then enter all the data onto expense reports. A new smartphone app called capturengo is designed to make the process a lot simpler.

Here’s how it works. You pull out your BlackBerry or iPhone, snap a photo of your receipt and upload it to capturengo’s web service.The site will save the images in an IRS-approved format.

Then you can login to the capturengo web site from any computer to review and manage your receipts and add the data to an expense report which you can download or print.

You can also forward receipts from web sites or email. The service also lets you snap screenshots of business cards and manage the data online.

The basic service is free, and lets you submit up to 50 receipts or business cards per month. Unlimited service runs $99 per year.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to really test the service because while I was able to download and install the capturengo app on my iPod touch, the app wasn’t able to detect my camera.

Capturengo is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store and BlackBerry App World.

via Business Insider

capturengo: Scan receipts with your phone, organize expense reports on the web is a post from: mobiputing

Google Shopper is a mobile app that’s been available for Android phones for a while, making it easy to scan an item at the store and see if you can order it cheaper online. Now Google Shopper is also available for the iPhone and iPod touch.

You can use Google Shopper with your device’s camera to scan a barcode or cover art for books, CDs, or DVDs. You can also tap the Voice Search button and tell Google Shopper what item you’re looking for. Or if you want to be old-fashioned about it, you can enter a search query in the text box.

Search results can be sorted by price, relevance, or seller rating. You can add a star to an item to find it again later. And you can check availability at local stores or online shops. Google Shopper also shows you product reviews and other details when available.

Google Shopper is available as a free download from the App Store. Android users can grab the app from the Android Market.

via ReadWriteWeb

Google Shopper now available for iOS is a post from: mobiputing

MasterCard’s ATM Hunter app is a pretty nifty tool that lets you find the closest cash machine based on your location. You can click on any listing for detailed information about the ATM in question including its distance, position on a map, and feature (although there’s no key or legend letting you know what those features are).

Scan to download

The app showed up in the Android Market recently, and while it works pretty well for me in Philadelphia, some users have complained it isnt’ very accurate in other parts of the globe.

But if the user interface doesn’t look like it was designed for Android, that’s because it wasn’t. The free app has been available for iOS for a while, and the Android version looks like a direct port.

That would probably be fine, although the back buttons at the top of the screen are clearly a bit redundant on most Android phones. But the funny thing is that MasterCard forgot to change the product description. The Android Market listing says you can “Find ATMs located around the world with your iPhone’s GPS, by entering an address or an airport location, from wherever you happen to be.” That’s  pretty neat trick if you’re using an Android phone, not an iPhone, isn’t it?

I suspect the product listing will be updated soon. It’d be nice if someone at MasterCard also updates the UI a bit.

Update: The project listing has been updated. It now says “Find ATMs located around the world with your Android’s GPS.” I’m not sure that’s grammatically correct (shouldn’t it be “your Android phone’s GPS?”) but it’s certainly an improvement.

via Android Central

MasterCard launches ATM Hunter for Android, forgets Android isn’t iOS is a post from: mobiputing

In Japan you’ve been able to pay for goods with your cellphone for a while. But starting today you can do the same thing int he US… at least at Starbucks. Since last time I checked, Starbucks covers roughly 57 percent* of the square footage of most metropolitan areas, that’s a pretty good start.

Here’s how it works. You install the free Starbucks Card Mobile App for BlackBerry or iOS, load up your account with cash (using PayPal or a credit card account), and walk into any of the 7500** Starbucks location in the US and flash your mobile app at the cashier. They’ll scan your phone’s screen to bill your account.

On the off chance that you don’t randomly stumble across a half dozen Starbucks locations in the course of your day already, you can also use the app to find nearby stores.

In the future, we may all use NFC, or Near Field Communications technology allowing you to just bring your phone near the cash register to pay. For now, scanning bar codes on the mobile app are about as close as we’re going to get in the States.

via Mashable

* This is not a real statistic.

** Believe it or not, this is a real figure.

Starbucks begins accepting payments from iPhone, iPod and BlackBerry is a post from: mobiputing

Mobile check-in service Foursquare has added two new features to its iPhone app: photos and comments. The company says these are two of the most frequently requested features, and here’s how they’ll work: When you check-in to a location, your friends can comment, letting you know they’re nearby, the burgers suck at the place where you’re getting lunch, or whatever. You can also take a photo when you check in, allowing you to show the meal you’re eating, the decor of the restaurant, or other relevant (or irrelevant) info.

While check-in photos you upload are only visible to your friends, you can leave tip and venue photos which are available to the larger Foursquare community. Foursquare can send you push notifications (if enabled) when your friends comment.

You can download the latest version of Foursquare for iOS from the app store. An updated version for Android with support for photos and comments is due out later this week, while BlackBerry users should get the same features next month.

Foursquare adds support for photos, comments is a post from: mobiputing

Check-ins are the new microblogs. While services like Twitter and Facebook let you share your latest thoughts with your friends in a few short characters, apps like Foursquare and Gowalla have made a name for themselves by letting you “check in” to a physical location with your phone. You can stop by your favorite bar, restaurant, clothing store, library or any other location and let the world know you’ve been there — not by pulling out a can of spraypaint and tagging the walls, but by clicking a button on your phone.

The only problem is that there’s a growing number of ways to check-in, and who wants to fire up their Yelp, Facebook, Foursquare, and Gowalla apps to check-in to every network?

Gowalla has launched a new version of its mobile app today which makes things a lot simpler, because you can check-in to multiple networks all from one face. This might seem a bit counter-intuitive since on the face of things, Gowalla competes with Foursquare. But it could actually be a pretty smart move, since now you don’t have to choose between the two services. You can just link your Foursqare and Facebook accounts to Gowalla, along with Twitter and/or Tumblr and send updates to contacts on all of those networks at once.

The new app also adds support for bookmarks and notes, which let you leave a note for yourself or a friend. That way your friend can find your note next time they check-in at a location.

Gowalla 3 for the iPhone is available as a free download from the App Store. Updates for the company’s iPad, Android, and BlackBerry apps should be available soon.

Gowalla 3 adds support for Facebook, Foursquare check-ins is a post from: mobiputing

Restaurant and business rating/locating service Yelp rolled out the ability for mobile users to “check in” to locations recently. Now there’s a good reason to actually do that: Yelp has added support for check-in offers. This lets businesses offer discounts, coupons, and other promotions to visitors who check in at their shops.

An updated version of the Yelp app for Android hit the Market yesterday bringing support for check-in offers. When you visit the Check-Ins tab of the app, you’ll now find a list of nearby locations that you can check into — as well as a bar at the bottom of the screen showing a promotion in your vicinity.

Update: Check-in offers are also now available on Yelp’s iOS app.

Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a good way to browse locations by promotion. So you’re stuck looking at that one promotional bar at the bottom of the screen. You can refresh the listing by exiting the Check-Ins section and coming back to see another promotion.

But if there are locations you regularly visit, you’ll be able to see any offers on their Yelp pages with the new Yelp app.

Yelp is hardly the first company to offer this features. Foursquare and Facebook already offer businesses the opportunity to provide offers to customers who check in using their mobile apps.

Yelp adds support for check-in offers is a post from: mobiputing

Dealnews Black Friday App

This app comes from the folks at Dealnews, a bargain-hunting site which also happens to power many of the daily deals on computers and electronics that I post at Liliputing.

When you first fire up the app you’ll see a list of stores. Click on any store to see items which are part of that store’s Black Friday sales.

You can also sift through ads by category or search the site. Once you enter a search term, you can also filter by category or store.

Many of these deals are available online, so when you click on the details page you can click  “Buy Now” button for some items, or save an item to your account. At the bottom of the page you’ll also find buttons that let you share deals via Facebook, Twitter, or Email.

The Black Friday app from Dealnews is available as a free download from the Android Market and the iTunes App Store.

The Dealmap

While the Dealnews app gives you a rather macro view of bargains from all sorts of sources, The Dealmap app lets you know what’s on sale right around you.

When you launch the app, you’ll see a pop-up asking if you want to see Black Friday deals. The app will then show you a map with icons hovering near locations in your area that are running Black Friday promotions. Click on any icon for more information, and then click on Deal Details to share or save the deal, click-through to order the product, or view the address of the store where you can pick up the item.

Dealmap is available for free from the App Store and Android Market.

You can find some more screenshots after the break.

Two mobile apps to help you find Black Friday deals is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon has launched a new iOS app that you can use to do a little comparison shopping from the aisle of the local store. Not sure if Target, Best Buy, or your local grocery store has the best price on that thing you’re looking at? Just snap a photo, scan a barcode, or speak the name of the product into your iPhone and Amazon Price Check will let you know how much the item costs from Amazon.com.

That’s all well and good, but there actually plenty of other mobile apps that will show you the best prices from a number of stores, including he PricerGrabber apps for iPhone and Android, and Google Shopper (which is currently only available for Android).

Still, if you’re a big fan of shopping on Amazon, I can see how the Price Check app would come in handy.

The app also works with the new iPod touch, but since the camera doesn’t autofocus, you can’t scan barcodes. You can only snap photos or speak the item name, which means you’ll need to rely on speech and image recognition which is pretty good, but not always perfect. The snap-a-photo feature currently supports books, DVDs, CDs, and video games, with more categories coming soon.

Amazon Price Check is available as a free download from the App Store.

via TechCrunch

Amazon launches Price Check app for iOS is a post from: mobiputing

Boutiques’ main menu - is this really from Google?

Take a look in the “New and Noteworthy” section of Apple’s App Store this week and you’ll notice a new, free shopping app called Boutiques. What makes a shopping app noteworthy? Simple, Google made it.

Boutiques, a website that doesn’t look like any other standard Google property, is a high-fashion store where you can shop virtual boutiques based on the styles of celebrities, designers, amongst others. The website is easy to use, with lots of social features, and has search options you’d expect out of Google.

So, why the native iPad app — what’s the difference between the two?

The Boutiques iPad app, unlike the website, is all about the imagery – there is very little text. Storefronts are browsed by a flick of the finger instead of clicking through a bunch of links. Once inside a store, swiping left to right through the items feels like rifling through clothes on a rack. You are even greeted with a familiar, welcoming chime when you launch the app, similar to the sound you hear upon walking into a shop.

Tapping an item of clothing brings up more information

Like the website, the app lets you narrow your search by several categories, such as silhouette, designer, and color. If you’d like, you can virtually window shop through everything. You can follow your favorite boutiques, “Love” items, leave comments, and share what you like via e-mail.

There is a search field in the upper right corner that is always there so you can search from anywhere in the app. Unfortunately, the app does not download data to the iPad — so if you don’t have an internet connection, no shopping for you.

Social features are built right into the app

Some features that the website has that the iPad app doesn’t include a quiz that lets you set up your own boutique based on your personal style preferences, a “Hate” option for items, and detailed boutique style preferences.

Overall, the Boutiques app is stable with a friendly user interface and easy search options. For the fullest Boutiques experience, I’d suggest going to the website first to set up your own boutique then hopping over to the iPad app to socialize and shop. Boutiques.com is brand new and Google promises more selection on the site, so expect updates to the iPad app as well.

Boutiques for the iPad is available as a free download from the App Store.

Google’s Boutiques comes to iPad: Hello, virtual window shopping is a post from: mobiputing

The Google Android version of Amazon’s mobile app has had this feature for a while, so I was actually a bit surprised to discover this morning that it’s a new feature for iPhone users. But it’s definitely a welcome addition.

Unfortunately, Amazon appears to have forgotten that the new iPod touch also has a camera. The Scan a barcode option doesn’t show up on the iPod touch. Hopefully a future update will remedy this problem — although to be fair, product barcode scanners are a lot more useful on the iPhone which has 3G data capabilities allowing you to get online and check prices almost anywhere — not just in locations where there’s a WiFi hotspot handy.

The Amazon mobile app for iPhone is available as a free download from the App Store.

via CNET

Amazon iPhone app now includes a barcode scanner is a post from: mobiputing

Google Goggles visual search has been available for Android phones since December. Now Google is launching a version of Goggles for iOS. It’s part of the latest Google Mobile App for iPhone. The app is available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 running iOS 4. iPod touch users need not apply.

You should be able to use Goggles as a visual search tool, which means you can use the Google Mobile app to search by text, voice, or image.

As with the Android app, the iPhone app lets you point your phone camera at certain types of objects to identify them and pull up relevant search results. Right now that works best with book covers (or bar codes), DVD covers, wine labels, artwork, or famous landmarks.

You can check out Goggles for the iPhone in action in Google’s demo video below.

Google Goggles comes to the iPhone is a post from: mobiputing

Trying to find something to do this weekend? How about tonight? Goby can help. The app offers up information about all sorts of activities from dining to attending live music concerts to visiting museums or hiking trails. And thanks to the magic of geolocation, Goby will automatically find stuff near you — wherever you are.

Scan to download

Goby covers every city, town, and region in the US, which means that you can find things to do near home or when you’re on the road. You can view results on a map, find phone numbers, and share activities through Twitter, Facebook, and email.

As with most apps of this sort, I’ve found that Goby is pretty good — but not perfect. For instance, when I searched for vegetarian restaurants, the closest it found to my home is 0.5 miles away — even though I live just a two minute walk from an excellent vegetarian sandwich shop. Your results may vary.

The app is available as a free download for the iPhone and iPod touch, and Goby recently launched a fee app for Google ANdroid as well. You can download it by scanning the barcode to the right.

Goby helps you find stuff to do in your neighborhood is a post from: mobiputing

A few months ago eBay launched an Android app for tracking auctions, making bids, and doing most of the things you’d expect to do with a mobile eBay application. The only problem is that it was limited to US residents. This week eBay took its Android app international, making it available in Australia, Canada, and the UK.

All available versions of the app support making payments through PayPal, searching for items by voice, leaving feedback, and viewing your “My eBay” information.

The company also announced that both of its iPad apps are now available internationally. The eBay Selling app is now ready for download in Germany and the UK, while the eBay for iPad app is available translated into French, Italian, German, and Spanish and available for download from iTunes in 77 countries.

via TechCrunch

eBay launches Android, iPad apps internationally is a post from: mobiputing

It’s kind of shocking that this app didn’t come out two years ago. The mobile app lets you place orders or pre-orders for products, which means you can use your iPhone 3GS to place an order for an iPhone 4 like the good member of the consumer culture that you are.

The Apple Store app is available as a free download from the App Store, but it’s only available in the US at the moment.

While you’d think launching the Apple Store app on the same day that the iPhone 4 goes up for pre-order would have been a good idea. But it turns out that the Apple Store web site has been down for much of the morning so far… and that means that when I fired up the Apple Store app this morning I was greeted with the familiar “We’ll be back soon” message. But you can check out a few screenshots courtesy of Apple after the break.

Apple Store app now available in the App Store (no, really) is a post from: mobiputing

Layar’s Reality Browser is an augmented reality app for Android and iPhone that lets you find real-world stuff by looking through you’re phone’s camera. Basically, you point your phone in a direction and choose the layer you want to use, and Reality Browser will show you icons for nearby restaurants, Twitter users, or just about anything else that can be plotted geographically.

Today Layar is rolling out version 3.5 of its Reality Browser. The new version doesn’t wait for you to open a layer or enter a search term. When you first launch Layar Reality Browser 3.5, the app will show you points of interest that are near you.

For instance, I installed the new version this morning and when I first launched it, Layar showed me a few local cafes and pubs, a Wikipedia entry for architect Louis Kahn, and tweets from Twitter users within a few hundred meters of my house.

The data is drawn from some of the most popular layers available to Reality Browser users. You can also still manually apply a layer find upcoming eents in your neighborhood, crime reports, apartments for rent, or other information.

Layar Reality Browser 3.5 is already available for download from the Android Market. The updated iPhone app should be available soon.

You can find more screenshots after the break.

Layar updates its Reality Browser, makes finding real-world stuff easier is a post from: mobiputing

PayPal on an iPhone app

PayPal has introduced a new Mobile Payments Library for Google Android, which developers can incorporate into their apps. In other words, say you’re using an eBook reader or music player on Android and it offers the ability to search or browse for new books or music. If the developer used the API, you’ll be able to check out using PayPal.

The solution isn’t quite as elegant as Apple’s method for conducting in-app transactions. Basically if you purchase media while using an app on an iPhone, you’re billed the same way you would be billed if you downloaded media or an app from the iTunes Store. But using PayPal will offer developers a way to take cash or credit card payments easily just by signing up for a PayPal account.

Of course, Google and your wireless carrier dont’ get a cut of the action this way, but PayPal does.

PayPal’s mobile payment library is also available for iPhone OS developers.

via MobileCrunch

PayPal launches support for in-app payments on Google Android is a post from: mobiputing

Most major cities in the US have curbside recycling programs, making it easy to recycle some paper, glass, plastic, and metal. But what about items that you can’t just chuck out with the weekly trash, like mercury thermometers, batteries, cellphones, or other potentially hazardous materials? There are a number of places you can take those items to recycle them — if you know where they are. And it turns out there’s an app for that.

iRecycle is an iPhone app that maintains a list of locations for recycling about 240 different materials. Just enter the type of material you want to recycle and iRecycle will spit out a list of places where you can drop it off.

As a number of people have pointed out in the App Store reviews for iRecycle, the app works best if you happen to be in a major city. But that’s largely because there are a probably more recycling drop off locations in big cities. But I gave iRecycle a test run and it seems to know the closest places to my house to drop off batteries and plastic shopping bags. So it does seem to work pretty well in my corner of Philadelphia.

You also might want to give a call to the stores or other drop off locations before hopping in your car and driving ten miles only to find out there’s been a mistake and you can’t actually recycle your 47 inch plasma TV at the library (but you might be able to at the nearest Best Buy).

But overall, iRecycle makes the job of finding a responsible place to dispose of your waste a lot easier.

You can download iRecyle for free from the iTunes App Store. And you can find more screen shots after the break.

via Mashable

iRecycle for the iPhone helps you recycle batteries, light bulbs, computers is a post from: mobiputing

While some folks would advise against buying any packaged food products with more than 5 ingredients, odds are you’ve picked up a box of something yummy only to get it home and realize it has peanuts, fish, or some other item that you either shouldn’t or can’t eat hidden away in a long list of ingredients.

The best way to avoid this problem is probably to read everything carefully while you’re in the grocery store aisle. But who has the time? Now there are a handful of new apps showing up in the iTunes App Store that can help shave some time off your label-reading routines… plus help you identify items with long and confusing chemical names.

As a disclaimer, I haven’t actually been able to test any of these apps myself, because I have an iPod touch instead of an iPhone — and all three apps listed below require a camera.

FoodEssentials Scanner is a tool that lets you scan the barcode of a product to view food labels on your phone. You can also see highlights for  additives, allergens, or other nutrient or ingredient items. You can also scan multiple items and view them side to side to make a comparison.

FoodEssentials Scanner is available from the iTunes Store for $4.99.

If your problem isn’t allergens, but dietary restrictions, there’s another series of apps that may have you covered.

Vegetarian Scanner lets you point your iPhone camera at the list of ingredients. The app will attempt to auto-focus the camera (you’ll need an iPhone 3Gs to play), and compare the ingredients with a database to let you know if there are any animal-based products in the food.

At least that’s how it’s supposed to work in theory. The reviews on iTunes suggest that the scanner doesn’t work very well.

Vegetarian Scanner is available for $1.99 from the iTunes Store.

Halal Scanner is from the same developer as the Vegetarian Scanner. But instead of checking to see if there are any meat products in your food, it will check to see if the product is Halal, or permissible to eat under Islamic law.

Halal Scanner costs $1.99 from the iTunes store. There’s also a free Lite version which lets you browser the ingredient database, but which doesn’t work with the camera.

via Gizmodo and appmodo

iPhone apps scan food ingredients to identify allergens, dietary restrictions is a post from: mobiputing

Yahoo launched two new search apps for the iPhone and iPod touch today. Interestingly, they both rely on Google Maps to some degree, rather than Yahoo Maps. But that’s OK, because in one way or another, each search app is kind of awesome.

The first is the new Yahoo Sketch-a-Search app, which lets you find restaurants in any given area by drawing an outline on the map. You can draw a straight line, a circle, or an Italy-like boot shape and Sketch-a-Search will let you know where you can eat in that area. Tap on any pushpin for more details.

You can also filter your search results by cuisine, mood, and the number of stars the restaurants have received in user reviews.

The second app is a more straightforward search utility. But Yahoo Search for the iPhone doesn’t just provide you with boring looking blue links on a white background. Instead results are presented from high profile sites with iPhone-friendly links. Look up a movie and you’ll likely get results from IMDB, Wikepedia, and movie review sites. If it’s currently in theaters, you’ll also be able to find show times.

Look up a location, and you’ll get a map, among other results.

I’m pretty impressed with both applications. But it’s not like Yahoo! is the first company to launch food or general search apps for the iPhone. The company faces a fair bit of competition in both areas.

Yahoo Search and Sketch-a-Search are both available as free downloads from the iTunes App Store

via Mashable

Yahoo launches two new search apps for the iPhone is a post from: mobiputing

Google has rolled out a new feature for its mobile shipping site: Now you can tell if the items you’re looking for are in stock at partnering stores near your location.

The feature only works in the US. But if you’re in the States and you happen to have a iPhone, Android, or WebOS phone, here’s how it works. Just fire up your mobile browser and navigate to google.com. Click the “more” button and select “shopping” and enter a search term.

If the item you’re looking for is available in a nearby store, you should see a little blue dot in the search results. Right now Google has a small list of retailers signed up, including Best Buy, Sears, Pottery Barn, West Elm, and Williams-Sonoma. But I have a feeling Google will be adding new partners soon.

Google Shopping for mobile makes it easier to find in-stock items near you is a post from: mobiputing