PLANET OF THE APPS: 6TH SEPTEMBER 2011

It's a Tuesday, so a round of applause please for tech-head Stuart Dredge for the latest in the world of apps....

NEWS

Tetris is free for Android

Tetris has been out for donkeys years, selling hundreds of millions of copies on Game Boy and just about every other device which now includes Android.

Amazon and Sony tablets

Amazon is making a tablet that's expected to go on sale by Christmas. It'll be an Android tablet that's half the price of the iPad, with music, movies, e-books and its own app store built in. Sony also announced its first two tablets last week, with the same idea - its own music, movies, e-books and app services are all on board. The main thing: this Christmas isn't just about iPad if you want a tablet.

Deezer to compete with Spotify in the UK

The latest streaming music service in the UK is Deezer, which is hugely popular in France, and is now crossing the channel. It'll have apps for iPhone and Android (but will also be usable on your computer, TV, tablet etc), and costs the same as Spotify.

REVIEWS

LadyBird Classic Me Books (iPhone / iPad)

Remember those instantly-recognisable LadyBird hardback books from your childhood? Inevitably there's now an app for them - you get one for free with the initial 69p download, and then buy the rest for £1.99 each. Gingerbread Man, The Little Red Hen, Goldilocks etc; they're all there.

O2 Academy (iPhone / Android) UK mobile operator O2 has released an iPhone app for its O2 Academy venues, which lets fans search upcoming listings, chat to other people, watch videos, buy songs and plan their evenings out. However, the app also has an interactive map used to navigate content from various artists, including video diaries, audio tours of their hometowns and virtual busking. This is served up using The Power Of Augmented Reality, with users encouraged to hold their phone up to the real world to find markers for their nearest O2 venue and access this content. N-Dubz, Charlie Simpson, Kids In Glass Houses and Frank Turner have all contributed, with others to follow. An Android version of the app is due out later this month.

The 9/11 Memorial (iPad)

US filmmaker and author Steven Rosenbaum made a famous documentary about 9/11 and the Twin Towers, and now he's built this iPad app compiling photos, videos and other information about the original towers, the day of 9/11 and the construction of the 9/11 Memorial in its place. A beautiful and moving app - and one that shows how interactivity/timelines can really work well for this kind of subject.