The head of today’s Fresh Apps list is Facebook Messenger, an app that gives you the ability to send voice calls over the Internet to Facebook friends, as well as text chat with them and share photos straight from the photo roll on your device. We’ve also got a new app from Billboard for checking out what’s hot in music, and an app that will help you get primed up for the Academy Awards when they happen next Sunday. Read about all three below.
Facebook Messenger (iPhone, iPad) $2.99
Integrating with your Facebook account to work with Facebook’s Chat feature, Facebook Messenger allows you to make VoIP calls to your Facebook friends on your iPhone, iPod Touch or desktop. The ability to make voice calls to Facebook from your phone is probably reason enough to drop $3 on this one, nevermind all the standard messaging stuff the app does.
Messenger also gives you all kinds of regular Facebook functionality. You can send photos to your Facebook friends directly from your phone’s camera roll, and of course, you can use Facebook Chat in its text form, complete with push notifications. You can also see friends’ Facebook walls and profiles within the app’s embedded browser, and Messenger keeps track of your message history (along with your VoIP calls) for your convenience, too.
Billboard.com Charts (iPhone, iPad) Free
Keep up on what’s popular in music with Billboard’s charts app, which lets you check out what’s holding down the Top 10 spots on numerous Billboard charts and compare it to the standings during the last three months. The app also links you to the tracks in iTunes, so you can preview and buy them straight away.
In addition to just checking charts, the Billboard.com Charts app lets you purchase a subscription to Billboard Charts that’s good for four weeks. The subscription gives you access to the full versions of all 10 of Billboard’s charts, plus five more popular charts as well. If you’re a music junkie looking for new stuff, you might want to see what Billboard can recommend.
Oscar Backstage Pass (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
The 83rd Academy Awards are less than a week away, and if that really excites you, check out this app from the producers of the awards show. Oscar Backstage Pass is a companion app that gives exclusive access to things other TV viewers won’t see from home — things like a whole bunch of exclusive video.
On the night (that’s next Sunday), the Backstage Pass app basically gives you a backstage pass using your iPhone’s Internet connection. You can stream video from the Kodak Theater, the Governor’s Ball and the Red Carpet through the app, but it’s not the same thing you get on TV: the app lets you access cameras positioned around the events and check out what they’re seeing, which only app users will have access to.
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