Yahoo!'s IntoNow app uses your phone's microphone to identify whatever TV show you're watching in real time based on the show's audio track. Once the show has been identified, you can use IntoNow to find out which of your friends have already seen the episode you're watching or which happen to be watching the same show at the same time. All roads lead to discussing the episode in question — though not until the commercial break, of course. You don't want to miss any important plot twists or riveting reality-show banter.

Price: Free

Link: Android | iPhone

 

---

 

Reading news on a smart phone has taken a backseat to highly polished, magazine-like tablet apps, but one smart-phone news reader stood head and shoulders above the rest this year. Feedly pulls whatever you follow on Google Reader, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and other popular Web services and presents it to you in a thoughtful, easy to use interface. And for when you're in front of a computer, Feedly is available as an extension for Web browsers Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

Price: Free

Link: Android | iPhone

 

---

 

With some of the best original programming on television, HBO finally found its way to smart phones this year. The app provides subscribers with more than 1,400 episodes of streamable HBO content, including customized playlists and the ability to create a "Series Pass" for each of your favorite shows.

Price: Free (requires HBO subscription)

Link: Android | iPhone

 

 

 

---

Twitter's redesign today has one major goal: To get the microblogging service out of Facebook's shadow.

And whether Twitter execs are aware of it or not, in so doing they're taking advice from Sean Parker--the founding president of Facebook, who might know a thing or two about social media.

I spoke to Parker about Twitter during a conference last month in Tucson, Arizona. Parker was late to join the Twitter bandwagon. He blasted out his first tweet--an apology to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg--in early October. "Sorry Zuck, I had to do it eventually," he wrote.

Parker, being Parker, quickly amassed more than 100,000 followers, and today that number has climbed to almost 345,000.

Still, Parker told me he wasn't sold on Twitter. He wasn't convinced all those followers meant much, or that they were even human beings. Were his followers really paying attention to what he tweeted? How would they even see his stuff?

Parker's complaint is one I share and hear often: The river of tweets rushes by so quickly--especially if you're following several hundred people--that it's way too easy to miss the stuff you might care about most.

---

(CNN) -- An update rolling out Tuesday for the Xbox Live network aims to do what Microsoft has been teasing for a while -- turn a platform designed primarily for video games into one that will be the major hub for all television viewing.

Microsoft promises the update, which it calls "the future of TV," can "transform every Xbox 360 into an all-in-one device to enjoy your entertainment."

"The update is another huge step toward realizing our vision of bringing you all your entertainment, shared with the people you care about, in an easy way," Marc Whitten, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Xbox Live, wrote on the official Microsoft blog.

The Xbox was the first gaming console to include Netflix and has since added entertainment partners such as ESPN, Hulu Plus, AT&T U-verse and last.fm. But Microsoft, hoping a bevy of new apps will up the ante, is adding content from 40 new partners while making existing content easier to view.

---

(Search Insider) The technology world has been buzzing about the recent introduction of the iPhone 4S. As a device and platform, it’s sleek, smart, intuitive and accessible to users of all ages. It turns the most complex of tasks into a very elegant and satisfying experience.

---

---