Apps

SAN JOSE — Christine Egy Rose realized she was on to something powerful. Instead of the awkward monosyllabic two-minute exchange her 2-year-old son, Jackson, typically had over a video chat link with relatives, he spent a full 50 minutes happily working on a shared drawing with his grandmother in Florida, using the video chat's embedded drawing feature that Egy Rose was developing. Egy Rose's mother-in-law, feeling so much closer to the little boy in California, was almost in tears by the end of the chat.

Las Vegas was the perfect setting for this year's International Consumer Electronics Show, because the giant manufacturers that dominate the event placed a huge collective bet on 3-D. All of the best-known consumer electronics brands -- Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, LG, Toshiba and Sharp -- announced plans to sell television sets this year that are capable of displaying three-dimensional images. Sony and Panasonic also declared that they would subsidize forthcoming 3-D TV channels from ESPN and DirecTV, respectively.

Pondering a cruise? There's an app for that. In fact, you'll find several you can use for planning, booking and enjoying cruises. Unless otherwise noted, all apps work on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad (a few may also offer a specially designed version for iPad). BlackBerry and Android availability noted as applicable. Most are free or cost less than $5. Before you cruise Cruise Finder, by iCruise: This must-have app has itineraries for every major cruise line, searches for hot cruise deals and includes photos, deck plans, etc., for more than 220 cruise ships.

That Retina display on the new iPad is both a blessing and a curse. Sure, it offers superior color accuracy and clarity of detail. But it really does make bad photos look just a little bit worse. Does the update of the Facebook iPad app make the photos there look any better? Sort of. The high-resolution photos and HD videos sparkle. The rest, well, they're as bad as they ever were. Blame the photographer. In the 4.1.1 update , the user interface has become sharper.

With an app and a smart phone, you'll find it easy to plan your family vacation. You can book a flight, reserve a hotel room, find a mall, scout an adventure or rent a car while lounging at your favorite diner or waiting for that foursome to play through. The apps below work on Apple iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads; availability of BlackBerry and Android versions are also noted. Alaska Airlines Pros: Schedule flight notifications, generate boarding passes, select seats Cons: Unable to book flights, track mileage or send push notifications Cost: Free Info: http://www.

NBC launched two apps Thursday for both iOS and Android, including one that will let select users stream every single event at the Olympics from their mobile devices. The apps are NBC Olympics Live Extra, which will let you stream, and NBC Olympics, which will only provide highlights. Both are free and available now, but users who want to watch every event from their smartphone or tablet will need a cable, satellite or telco subscription supported by the app. Live Extra will have more than 3,500 hours of programming and will show video from all events and all 32 sports.

Microsoft today officially launched Windows 8 and the new Windows Store. The company said Windows 8, its latest operating system, will be available for purchase online and in stores today starting at $39.99. The operating system retains Windows' traditional desktop but also adds another view that is heavily geared toward touchscreen devices. Windows President Steven Sinofsky said that more than 1,000 computers have been certified for Windows 8 and that there will be some Windows 8 PCs that'll sell for less than $300.

Apple has announced its iTunes Best of 2012 winners, and its two top apps include a movie special effects editor for the iPhone and a sketching app for the iPad. Action Movie FX took top honors for the iPhone category. The app is free and lets users shoot short scenes that are then enhanced with special effects such as falling rocks and vehicles and various types of missile attacks. Additional special effects, such as tornadoes and alien attacks, can be purchased within the app. PHOTOS: Apple, from Foxconn uprising to a Mini roll-out For the iPad, Paper by FiftyThree was named app of the year.

It's not that the creative team at Spotify doesn't trust its listeners -- more than 3 million are paid subscribers -- they just want to make it easier for users to discover the more than 16 million tracks on the popular online music streaming site. So, Spotify is slowly unveiling a series of artist-curated apps to ramp up the service's ability for music discovery.  “People said although they loved having the data, they wished we'd given them some ways to get started with it,” said Chester French frontman D.A. Wallach, who serves as Spotify's artist-in-residence.

The apps on your smartphone or tablet are all bought and paid for, right? They may be paid for, but it doesn't necessarily mean you own them. Last week, iOS fans of Electronic Arts game Rock Band got a little shock when a warning popped up on their screens that the music would stop May 31. "Dear Rockers, On May 31, ROCK BAND will no longer be playable on your device. Thanks for rocking out with us!" The message said the game wasn't going to be updated due to the upcoming shutdown.