appSpotlight is live!! Find the best apps.
It is a big day for us here at webOSroundup. After months of work, teasing, testing, and squeezing we have finally launched appSpotlight!!
So what is appSpotlight? I will get to that, but first let me give you a bit of context.
A bit of history…
As you all know WOR has always been focused on apps and developers. We love us some news, but ever since the beginning we have focused on reviews and app news. Early this year we hooked into the Palm catalog feeds and became one of the first sites to have a full webOS catalog with appRoundup. We wanted to be more than just a catalog…we wanted to help you all find the best apps for your devices. With appRoundup we let you know which apps were being talked about the most at any one time. We had a lot of success with appRoundup, but, to be perfectly candid, it never worked as well as we had hoped. However, it provided us with a great foundation allowed us to take the webOS catalog in directions no one had ever tried…thus appSpotlight.
What is appSpotlight?
To say appSpotlight is simply appRoundup 2.0 would do it a pretty big disservice. The goal of the new site is the same, but we go about it in a lot more ways. Let’s break it down…
1. The App Wall: If you visit appSpotlight you will immediately notice a ton of icons flying at you.. This is what we lovingly call the AppWall and instead of simply being a bunch or random icons it actually lets you know, in a visual format, which apps are hot right now. How do we do this? Well we bring together information from a lot of sources including which Metrix apps have been recently downloaded, which apps have been tweeted about recently, and which apps have been “spotlighted” by someone in the community. We take all of this data (which is a ton let me tell you) and we randomly grab a few hundred and create the wall. The more often an icon appears, the more popular it is right now.
2. Intelligent Search: In appRoundup we had a basic search that sorta kinda let you find what you are looking for. With appSpotlight we took it to a whole new level. When you search on the front page you will see a list popup that contains apps, developers, and even categories of apps that you may be looking for. You can select one that comes up to go right to it, or you can hit “go” to see the entire list of goodies. We hope that this greatly aids you in your search for the best apps.
3. Buzz: This is similar to the functionality in appRoundup where we look through the twitterverse to see what people are talking about. We redid the algorithms so the searching is much more accurate (although still not perfect).
4. Gurus: This is a cool feature (we think anyway) that lets you get a glimpse of what apps well known people in the webOS community love.
5. Categories: Know what kind of app you want but just not which one? Our categories page can help you out. It shows you all of the apps that people have spotlighted so you can see which ones are the best.
6. You!!: The coolest new feature is that you can get involved. If you love a specific app you can let the world know about it by signing up and spotlighting your favorites.
Update!! - I knew I forgot something! Another very neat feature is our homebrew collaboration. We have always been big homebrew supporters, but with appSpotlight we have taken it to a whole new level. As of now we have the most complete homebrew catalog of any webOS site. With appSpotlight you can find homebrew apps, patches, and even kernels!! Sweet eh?
So there you have it…appSpotlight. We are very excited about it, and we hope you will get signed up and let the world know which apps you like best! Hope you like it!
