Twitter Buys iPhone App Tweetie

Twitter, Path blamed in privacy controversy

(NEWSER) - Leading smartphone apps are taking a lot more of our information than we realize. If you use Twitter's "Find Friends" feature, the company receives every phone number and email address in your address book—a fact that Twitter hadn't clarified, the Los Angeles Times reports. The company now says it will fix the problem. But it's just one of many companies storing user information with a view toward ultimately using it for advertising. More»

(NEWSER) - Apple is closing in on a $700 million, all-cash deal to buy Twitter, Gawker reports. Silicon Valley sources say an agreement could be announced as early as next month at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, and the iPhone is reportedly the force behind the deal: Its users already post countless Twitter messages on Tweetie and other Apple apps. More»

Adds pop-up notifications, photo uploads

(NEWSER) - Google+ has arrived as a free app for your iPhone. Its user interface is similar to Facebook’s, writes Josh Lowensohn at CNET , and it improves upon the mobile-browser version. It provides a way to upload photos from your phone, but it lacks video chat, and “the Circles organizing is just a big list of contacts, versus the drag-and-drop experience you'd get on the desktop.” Head to CNET for Lowensohn’s full review . More»

Bathroom gadget automatically twitters weight

(NEWSER) - Want the world to follow the ups and downs of your body weight in real time? A French company has just the product for you: the WiFi body scale, equipped with a wireless connection to post your weight and body fat to your Web page and iPhone—and to tweet them automatically to your Twitter followers. "What's next?" in the world of embarrassing apps, wonders David Colker in the LA Times . "An app to let the Twitterverse know how much debt you're carrying?" More»

Families boot up computers, phones on waking

(NEWSER) - When it comes to morning routines, the modern family has a new set of priorities, many of which require a screen, the New York Times reports. “It used to be you woke up, went to the bathroom, maybe brushed your teeth, and picked up the newspaper,” says an expert. Now, “I’ll be the first to admit: the first thing I do is check my email.” More»