The Week in iOS Apps: What a Crock

What a Crock! If you are a lover of slow-cooked foods, we have the finest-ever iOS app ever created, just for you this week. Crock-Pot Recipes If your household is anything like mine, you'll probably agree that the $4 Crock-Pot Recipes app for iPhone and iPad--the first official Crock-Pot cooking app!--is the finest, most-anticipated offering in the App Store's history. And every month, you can make an in-app purchase...

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Google sees one password ring to rule them all

Google thinks it might have found an answer to the vexing problem of forgotten or weak passwords: "physical" passwords, which might come in the form of a piece of jewelry such as a ring. In a research paper, two of its engineers write that current strategies to prevent the hijacking of online accounts, including the two-step identity verification system, are insufficient, partly due to the constant threat of attacks that exploit...

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Google embeds indoor Street Views in search results

Google has added indoor Street View results to general searches, allowing you to see if the ambiance of that downtown restaurant matches the online review. Google began mixing indoor business Street Views in search results this week for those companies that have supplied the Google with panoramic interior imagery. The 360-degree tours inside businesses and shops are not actually taken with Google Street View cameras....

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EC: Samsung may have abused FRAND patents

Samsung's efforts to seek injunctions against Apple for standards-essential patents in the mobile phone market may be an abuse of its dominant position and a violation of European Union antitrust rules, the European Commission said Friday. The commission, in releasing a statement of objections to Samsung's patent conduct, said it was concerned that Samsung was seeking injunctions on patents where Apple is willing...

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Facebook's $1 message test opens inboxes to strangers

For a small number of Facebook users, a buck is now all it takes to get a message into someone's inbox, even if the recipient isn't a friend. The experiment seems enabled in part by Facebook's new policies, which remove the capability to block messages from people you aren't friends with. Under this policy, the main Inbox is reserved for messages from friends, or for other messages that Facebook's algorithms deem important....

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Facebook launches Poke app, reinventing feature

Facebook has reinvented its Poke feature with a new standalone iOS app that lets you send messages, photos and videos to your friends on the social networking service that disappear within 10 seconds of someone opening them. While it might have been a while since any of your friends on Facebook have used the feature, now you can check out the app released Friday. Supposedly coded with help from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Poke joins...

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