Monkey Write Learn Chinese, winner of the Galaxy Note S Pen App Challenge Best Overall App Grand Prize.

In an effort to show off the content-creating potential of its large-screen, pen-enabled Galaxy Note device, Samsung Mobile today announced the winners of its Samsung Galaxy Note S Pen App Challenge. In all, over $200,000 were awarded to the winning app developers, with a grand prize of $100,000 going to Square Island for its Monkey Write - Learn Chinese app.

Entries were judged by a five member panel of representatives from AndroidCentral.com, AT&T, BlueRun Ventures, Gameloft, and Samsung Mobile, who evaluated not only the quality and originality of the idea, but also the overall user experience. There was also a "Popular Choice" category that was judged by the public through online voting. As expected, the biggest winners all made great use of the Note's integrated pen through unique drawing functions and challenges.

The winnings apps include:

Best Overall App

• Grand Prize ($100,000): Monkey Write Learn Chinese by Chiu-ki Chan of Square Island
• Second Prize ($50,000): ... [Read more]

Group photos are always difficult to take. You end up taking multiple photos of the group, hoping that one comes out with the majority of people looking at the camera and smiling.

Unless you or a family member have some good Photoshop skills, combining the photos into one to get the best shot isn't an option. Well, if you have an iOS device and the group-photo blues are getting you down, GroupShot is going to make your day.

GroupShot allows you to import your group photos and then, by only using your finger to indicate the area you want to change, it creates the perfect group photo. Watch the video below for a glimpse of the "magic" in action.

Pretty neat, right? Obviously, if the background or lighting has changed between photos, there will be some issues. But, as long as the photos are fairly similar, you should see great results when using GroupShot.

You can get GroupShot from the App Store for 99 cents.

Adobe's CS6 and Creative Cloud balloons outside San Francisco's De Young Museum earlier today.

SAN FRANCISCO--Adobe took over the modern art collections on the De Young Museum's off-day today to introduce its Creative Suite 6 and a modern, cutting-edge synchronization system called Creative Cloud.

What we already know about the Creative Cloud is this: It's a significantly cheaper way to get access to the Adobe Creative Suite, with the major difference being that you pay a monthly fee instead of a buying a one-time, "perpetual" subscription. The Creative Cloud license gets you access to the entire phalanx of software in the Creative Suite, along with online storage, synchronization, and cloud-only apps. It will cost $49.99 per month for people new to Adobe, or $29.99 per month for people with legacy licenses from CS3 through CS5.5.

What we just learned sharpens the picture of Creative Cloud at launch. When it becomes available to the public, the $29.99 upgrade will only be available for three months, through August 31, 2012. If you subscribe during that period, you'll be locked into the lower rate for 12 months, said Adobe President and CEO Shantanu Narayen at a press conference this morning. Students new to Adobe will also get the discounted price... [Read more]

When Clear was first released, it quickly became the No. 1 paid app in the App Store, helping iOS users everywhere become more organized. Immediately after release, it was discovered there was three hidden themes in the app. We covered how to unlock the themes shortly after, and then began to wait patiently for an update with new themes.

With today's update, our wish has been granted, and thanks to Touch Arcade, we already know the hidden themes and how to unlock them. In total, there are seven new themes you can potentially unlock.

Path Similar to the theme rewarded to users for having Tweetbot installed, there is now a theme for having Path installed. You don't have to be an active Path member, it just has to be installed on your device. To complete the unlock if you have just installed Path, navigate to the Theme option in Settings and open it. You'll then be alerted of the new theme. 

Gifted There is also a new... [Read more]

This Lego-supplied screenshot is a bit disingenuous, as Super Hero Movie Maker offers no depth-of-field option. But it's still tons of fun.

As a parent, there's nothing quite so satisfying as watching your kids express their creativity. Doesn't matter if it's with a set of blocks, a box of crayons, or an app that turns long sequences of still photos into superhero-themed movies -- it's just thrilling.

On Saturday, I gave my 9-year-old son a five-minute tutorial on using Lego Super Hero Movie Maker, a new app that lets Lego fans create nifty stop-motion animations using their own minifigs (i.e. little Lego people).

By Sunday, he'd already created several hilarious movies, the best of which involved a giant praying mantis catching and devouring several minifigs (hey, who says the good guys always get to win?). And he was just getting started -- Super Hero Movie Maker was an instant hit.

The app takes a simple, straightforward approach to movie-making. First, you choose one of about a dozen title cards, which you customize with the name of the movie and director.

Next, you start snapping frames, which is literally as simple as setti... [Read more]

App developers looking to make some cash might want to ditch paid titles for free offerings that include in-app purchases, according to a new study.

After downloading an upgradable freemium game in a mobile app store, 40 percent of consumers decided to make an in-game purchase, according to research firm NPD. Most, however, were men. The analysts found that while women are more likely to have played freemium games, they're "among the least likely to pay for an upgrade."

Freemium games have become increasingly popular in the mobile marketplace. The titles are free to download and play, but in order to take advantage of advanced features or functionality, developers charge gamers for access.

Several studies over the last several months have highlighted the value of in-app purchases. Research firm IHS said back in January that in-app purchases accounted for $970 million in sales last year, representing 39 percent of all spending. By 2015, that figure could grow to $5.6 billion, or 64 percent of the market.

Related stories

• Amazon Appstore adds in-app purchasing, following Apple, Google
• ... [Read more]

Heikki Makijarvi, senior vice president of business development at Deutsche Telekom, and Lookout Mobile Security CEO John Hering.

San Francisco-based Lookout Mobile Security and European telecommunications behemoth Deutsche Telekom announced today that they have entered into a partnership that representatives say will offer significant benefits to both companies.

"Deutsche Telekom is very good at network-side distribution, while we're very good at software and innovating," Lookout CEO John Hering told CNET explaining the collaboration.

Heikki Makijarvi, senior vice president of business development at Deutsche Telekom, also expected good things to come from the partnership. "There is a major demand for security and privacy in Germany and European market. It's probably one of the best places in the world to build privacy innovation," he said. However, he added, Silicon Valley is better for software and app innovation.

Lookout's primary app offers numerous features under a freemium business model, including anti-malware scanning, contact and image back-up, lost device location, remote data wipe, and privacy analysis. It also makes apps like ... [Read more]

The dark interface that works in Photoshop seems misplaced in Illustrator. I immediately changed it to Light.

The new stroke width tool is one of my favorite features. You can now create entire basic objects from a single stroke, which you can then convert to a complex path. (Click for larger view)

There aren't a boatload of updates to this version of Illustrator, just a select few interesting ones. In addition to performance boosts, Adobe has updated its tracing engine, introduced a new pattern creator tool, added variable-width strokes and the capability to apply gradients to strokes, and tweaked the interface. Toolsets can tear off the toolbar instead of just fly out, which is nice for the frequently used sets.

It looks drastically different on startup because it defaults to the same dark gray as Photoshop, but here I switched it back to the lighter setup. I'm not sure why -- maybe because it's so print-centric -- but I just feel like Illustrator should be light. Adobe has also tweaked the content of some of the panels as well as the way the tools orient. Small changes, like the addition of hex... [Read more]

Adobe Systems is about to begin a difficult -- but smart -- transition.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company will overhaul its core software business in May when it launches a subscription service called Creative Cloud, which bundles its new Creative Suite 6 products with a swath of other products and services. To make it a success, it'll have to convince customers that it's a better value than traditional software licensing.

Here's an indicator of how hard the change will be: A CNET survey in March showed a frosty reception, with 41 percent of respondents viewing Creative Cloud negatively, compared with 32 percent who viewed it positively.

And 62 percent reacted negatively to its price: Creative Cloud costs $50 monthly with a year's commitment or $75 monthly with an month-to-month option that's easier to switch on and off. A Team edition for businesses will arrive later this year at a cost of $70 per month per user for an annual commitment. And to lure existing CS3, CS4, and CS5.x customers who might be tempted to pay for perpetual-license upgrades, Adobe has an introductory offer of $30 per month.

The centerpiece of the service is access to the full Creative Suite 6 product line, which includes ... [Read more]