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Apple releases iOS 7.1 with CarPlay support
After pushing out several betas, Apple's finally ready to roll out its latest firmware update to the masses. iOS 7.1 is now available as a free download, and as expected, it adds a few new features to the mix. The new update should be heading your direction if you own an iPhone 4 or newer, iPad 2 or newer, either iPad mini or a fifth-generation iPod touch. Among the usual smattering of tweaks to the iOS UI and bug fixes, the most notable feature improvement is the inclusion of CarPlay support and fixes for the random reboot problem many iOS 7 users have been experiencing.
Daily App: MyScript Calculator solves your hand-written math equations
Typing math problems in calculator can be tedious, especially when you have complex equations to solve. If you want to write out your problems instead, then you need to check out MyScript Calculator from Vision Objects. MyScript Calculator provides a large canvas on which you can write out your equation. When you are done writing, the app automatically will convert your writing into type-written numbers and calculate the answer for you. If you don't like the automatic answer, a new feature recently added to the app allows you to turn off auto-answer and use a "Calculate" button instead. The app supports the standard operations such as multiplication and division as well as a wide array of complex functions used in trigonometry and calculus. One of the useful features of MyScript Calculator is its ability to solve for unknowns. Just insert an "?" into an equation with its answer and the app will fill in the correct value for the unknown. It also supports gestures which allow you to strike-through or scratch out numbers you want to remove from your calculation. MyScript Calculator was recently updated for iOS 7 and includes a new new operators (n-root, hyperbolic functions) and new rounding options that let you choose between rounded and truncated results. It is available for free from the iOS App Store and works on both the iPad and iPhone.
Findery app lets you discover the world around you using annotated notes and maps
Findery (free) hit the App Store today, and I expect it is going to be a successful app launch. Findery has been in beta a couple of years, so it already has a lot of content. Many new apps launch with very little user-contributed content, which is a weakness in my estimation. Findery allows people anywhere in the world to add notes, photos or video to illustrate the interesting things they see or experience. "Every place has a story, or a thousand stories," said Caterina Fake, founder and CEO of Findery. "Findery brings places to life, be they where you stand or where you hope to go." The app doesn't require an account if you just want to browse, but part of the fun is sharing. Members can leave notes that are public or private, and the app helps to organize a member's notes, reports activity on their notes, and provides information on followers. The app is easier to use than describe, and you can check out the idea and the content on the Findery website. A good example is best taco recommendations around the US, but topics can be really anything, from historical oddities to best surfing locations. Findery has elements of Yelp and National Geographic, Facebook and Instagram, yet in total it is a unique experience. Once you have the map, you can scroll and zoom to any place in the world and see what information people have uploaded. I tried the app from my small town in Arizona, and surprisingly there were quite a few items of direct interest to me. Obviously, the beta users have been busy. If I wanted to, I could leave my own notes on some of the local topics, or follow those who were making notes. The app is ad-free, but at some point it will likely be monetized. I found using the app easy and fun, and I learned some things about my area I would not have known otherwise. Findery is not universal, and it requires iOS 7 or later. It is optimized for the iPhone 5. I consider Findery a good 'find'.
The Learnist app brings its crowd-sourced collection of information to your iPhone
Learnist debuted in 2012 as crowd-sourced learning platform with a heavy emphasis on images and videos as a way of conveying information. Learnist pulled its old iOS app and recently debuted a new iPhone app that does a wonderful job of presenting this multimedia content. Often called the Pinterest of online learning, Learnist has a large library of user-generated multimedia lessons called "learnboards." The new Learnist app is a front for this library, allowing you to browse these boards on your mobile device. You can find boards on almost any topic, including technology, arts, crafts, history, cooking and more. Once you start thumbing through boards, you easily can lose an hour of your time. Learnist allows you browse through boards by categories, or search for either a topic or another Learnist user. Each board pulls in content from various sources on the web and compiles them into a neat and very readable package. The app provides a synopsis of the online content and then opens the full article in an in-app browser if you want to read more. When you are done reading, you can save a board to your reading list for future reference. You also can share the content via Facebook, Twitter, email and messaging. Though most of the content is user-generated and free, the app now features premium boards created by experts and celebrities, such as Mythbuster Kari Byron and film director Gus Van Sant. These premium offerings can be purchased for 99-cents via an in-app purchase. I purchased the Kari Byron set on science experiments for kids, and it was well worth the dollar that I spent on it. The Learnist app is available for free from the iOS App Store.
My cat Cinnamon reviews Friskies Cat Fishing 2
Cinnamon isn't the smartest cat on the block. He's adorable, a little bit chubby, and remarkably cuddly, but he's also a bit of an idiot. He eats his brother's food even though we yell at him every single day, he chews on power cords despite being shocked and nearly killed by one, and if you leave a dryer sheet in the laundry room he'll consume it whole. That being said, he's also an extremely skilled hunter that can snatch a house fly out of the air and jump 5+ feet up a wall to go after a laser pointer. So when I noticed that Friskies had launched a new version of its Cat Fishing app -- which Cinnamon had taken a great liking to years ago -- I decided I'd let him review it. I launched the app, called Cinnamon into the room, and waited for the fireworks to start. But they didn't. My little buddy just sat there and stared at the screen as the colorful fish swam about, with nothing in the way of an instinctual drive to attack. In fact, I think Cinnamon wanted to befriend the fish more than anything. I'm not sure what has changed in either the app or my cat since the original Cat Fishing game sent him swatting at the screen in a furry of hunger and angst, but it's not there anymore. When the app sensed that Cinnamon wasn't paying attention (after 30 seconds without interaction) it meowed loudly in a feeble attempt to elicit a reaction. It got one. Once Cinnamon heard the app's desperate meowing, he decided it was time for a snuggle, and as you can see in the photo at the top, he and my iPad are now best friends. Or they were best friends for roughly 45 seconds, at which point Cinnamon stood up, sneezed onto the screen, locked eyes with me as if to say "I guess you'll be cleaning that up now..." and walked back into the bedroom to fall asleep until dinner. Cinnamon clearly enjoyed his brief time with the app, and although he's too dumb (or too smart?) to go after the digital bait, it's definitely worth your time to download the free app and see if you can fool your own furball.
Photo Grid Collage Maker is capable and free
Photo Grid is a free (ad supported) app with lots of options for creating collages, as well as video slide shows accompanied by music. You can select the aspect ratio for the photos, and choose from more than 300 layouts. The layouts that appear depend upon how many photos you have. You can also select background colors, frames, text, and stickers. Your finished collage can be shared with the various social networks, emailed, or saved to your camera roll. I have used the app on several of my pictures, and find it straightforward. You point the app to your photo roll, select the photos you want to use, and the rest is pretty obvious, with controls along the bottom of the screen. There is also a feature that lets you create videos with photos. There's isn't a lot of flexibility there. Once your photos are selected, you can't change the order. And there are no dissolves between photos, which I think is a requirement for a nice looking slide show. The photos just cut from one to another. You can add music easily, and the app takes care of the timings and conforms the music to your slide show duration. Photo Grid works well and it is a universal app that costs nothing. It does have ads, and they can be distracting. I pressed a 'next' button on screen, and got more ads, when I thought I was advancing to the next screen of the program. Even with my caveats, Photo Grid has a wealth of features at an appealing price of free. I still like Diptic as a paid app for collage creation, but the creators of that app are getting carried away with too many in-app purchases. Photo Grid requires iOS 6 or later to run and it is optimized for the iPhone 5.
iExit gets new features and is now free
I liked iExit when I reviewed it a couple of years ago at US$0.99. Now I like it even more. Added features, a nicer GUI, and it's free. Unlike most navigation and POI-based apps, iExit highlights what's just beyond highway exit ramps. If you are looking for food, gas, coffee, hospitals, rest stops, you name it, iExit will point it out. The app has a new iOS 7 look, and 25 preset searches, but you can search for anything by typing in any description you like. Search results include a list of destinations, a one-touch call button, relevant web links, a Google Street View image and a directions button which lets you choose Apple Maps or Google Maps (via either the app or a browser). If you are nowhere near an interstate exit, the app will tell you that, and give you distances to the nearest exits, and then a single click tells you what businesses and services are at that exit. You also get a small map to tell you where the destination is in relation to the exit. I used the old version quite a bit on road trips, and this new version is slicker, has an updated database, and the Google Street View feature is potentially helpful. In using the app, I found that sometimes the Street View photo was facing the wrong direction. I'm not sure if that is a flaw in the Google software hooks or iExit, but sometimes that feature was less than helpful. iExit needs iOS 6 or later. It's a universal app and it is optimized for the iPhone 5. If you travel by car at all I think iExit is worth putting in your Travel or Navigation folder.
Dragon Dictate 4 released today with new features and speed enhancements
I've been a longtime fan of Dragon products, which seem to be at the very top of the line of speech recognition applications. I used an earlier version of Dragon Dictate to write large portions of a book, and I frequently use it for email as well as general control of Safari by voice. Nuance Communications has released Dragon Dictate version 4 today. The new version now includes the features of what used to be a separate product called MacSpeech Scribe. This functionality, which was introduced in the previous version of Dragon Dictate, has been considerably enhanced in function and performance. You can play a sound file into the application, and it creates a profile for the voice, which then results in a pretty accurate transcription of what was said. Many other voice recognition apps require an Internet connection because the processing is being done on a remote server. Dragon Dictation is all Mac-based, so you don't need WiFi or a data connection to let Dragon do its magic. I have spent about a week using DD4 around my home office. I noticed right off the bat that it is faster than version 3.5, and control of other applications like Apple Mail and Safari are smoother. Version 4 has also added precise control of Gmail, making creating, editing and sending a message a completely hands-off affair. Apple's Pages is also directly supported, so you can do all your formatting of text and speak other commands that would otherwise require mouse moves to a menu. It should be noted, however, that Pages 5.1 reduced support for AppleScript, so you don't get quite the range of options that you did with earlier versions. Big mistake, Apple. As a test of transcription, I downloaded a couple of podcasts. You point the Dragon application to an audio file, and it starts taking in sounds to turn into text. You then highlight a sentence of the converted sound file and make any corrections to the text. If needed, it's possible to play the audio file to hear what actually was said. Dragon needs about 60 seconds of corrected text to create a conversion profile, after which you play the sound file and the transcript appears in faster than real time on your screen. I played a 15 minute sound file into Dragon Dictate and it had the transcript ready in about 5 minutes. Things are surprisingly accurate -- better than 99% in my tests -- but one issue is there are no automatic paragraph breaks, which makes for a pretty large chunk of text to navigate. I have suggested to the Nuance folks that the app should automatically insert paragraphs based on pauses in speech, counting sentences, or every 20 seconds or so. Transcription is a great feature for students who want to preserve a lecture, or anyone wanting to turn recorded speech into editable text. The microphone needs to be pretty close to the speaker though, as you won't capture usable audio at a distance. Supported audio files include .mp3, .aif, .aiff, .wav, .mp4, .m4a, and .m4v. One nice way to record audio is to use the voice memo app that comes with iOS. When the recording is complete, email the file to yourself and let DD4 transcribe it. I tried that with a 40 second file and the transcription was perfect. Are all transcriptions mistake-free without editing? No, but Dragon Dictate 4 sure beats hours of typing. You will usually have to make some corrections. Of course Apple has long been involved in text-to-speech, and Mavericks has a built-in dictation function. It does need an internet connection, but you can download a large file that will allow local processing of speech just like Dragon does. Although neither company admits it, it's likely that Siri and Apple's OS X dictation are really Nuance products. Apple dictation is not nearly as powerful as the Dragon Dictate product, but it works well for basic dictation. If you want to dictate to your Mac while also controlling various apps without ever picking up a mouse, Dragon Dictate is the app for you. There is a certain joy and freedom that comes with seeing your words accurately appear on screen. I also love using Safari with voice only, initiating Google searches, clicking on links by voice only, and scrolling pages up and down. Dragon Dictate 4 requires an Intel Core Duo CPU running at 2.4 Ghz or faster. The app currently supports both OS X Mountain Lion and Mavericks. A headset/microphone is included with purchase, but I did fine training the app with my Blue desk microphone. On my Mac laptop, I did quite well using the built-in microphone. By the way, this review was mostly written using Dragon Dictate 4 by dictating directly into our content editor on Safari. Making hyperlinks still involves using a mouse for part of the work. Dragon Dictate 4 sells for US$199.00. An upgrade from version 3 or 3.5 is $99.00 during this month. After that upgrade pricing for previous owners with a valid install of Dragon Dictate or MacSpeech Scribe is $149.00. Dragon Dictate 4 can be bought directly from Nuance or resellers.
Instapaper updates iOS app with AirPlay support and more
The popular webclipper Instapaper updated its iOS app late last week with a number of new features that will ensure you'll never have forget to check out something you saw on the internet. First up is the addition of AirPlay support for Apple TV. Instapaper is already a solid way to save videos for future watching, but thanks to this iOS update Apple TV owners will no longer be stuck the brutal frustration of watching their clipped videos on a tiny phone screen. If you find yourself having a hard a time reading particularly long articles on your phone's screen, and long for the smooth e-ink of your Kindle, Instapaper feels your pain. That's why the update also introduces the ability share Read Later articles directly to your Kindle. Sadly for free users, this feature is only available to premium subscribers. Of course the company has made it easier than ever to sign yourself up for the paid version of the app. Version 5.1.5 finally adds the option to sign up for an auto-renewable subscription to Instapaper. Once you sign up the app will ask for your email, zip code; while this may rub some users the wrong way the developers have provided the following explanation on their blog. Before purchasing the renewable subscription, you'll need to agree to share some personal information, including name, email address, and ZIP code. As per our privacy policy, we promise that we will neither access nor store this additional information. It is simply a requirement of the auto-renewable subscription process, likely due to the feature being available first for magazine and newspaper publishers. So if you subscribe, please don't be alarmed when you see it in the dialog box: Also, auto-renewable subscriptions are managed directly through iTunes, and so you'll have to return to iTunes to unsubscribe (not that you'd ever want to!). To unsubscribe you go to iOS Settings » iTunes » Apple ID » Manage button under Subscriptions setting. Support for back gestures via pagination have also been enabled, so if you use pagination you can now swipe left from the first page and then swipe right to return to your articles. Finally the Instapaper Daily function has now been integrated into the Browse section, showing you the top article each day. The update announcement blog also says the team is working on their most ambitious update since being acquired by Betaworks in April of last year. As for what surprises they have in store for us when it launches, we'll just have to wait and see. You can find the updated version of Instapaper, as a free download, right now in the iTunes Store.
Pic Scanner has been improved and the price lowered
I last looked at Pic Scanner last summer, and found it barely better than snapping a picture with Apple's camera app. Pic Scanner could do multiple photos but there weren't too many features, and the free version wasn't very flexible. If you wanted to share an image, you had to make a in-app purchase of US$2.99. Here's what the app does: Put some photos down on the table, and group them close together. The app takes a photo, then auto-crops so you have each photo as a separate file. There are filters, like sepia, black and white and others, and there are enhancement tools like sharpen and tonal balance. Thing are much better in this new version. The app is still free, but still limited in saving and sharing pics. You can now scan 10 photos or groups of photos, up to four at a time, and share three times. Then you need to buy the app, which for March only is $0.99, a much better deal. This new version makes higher resolution scans on the iPhone 5 and 5s, and there is a sharpen filter. Four photos can now be auto cropped instead of three, and the app integrates with Google + and Dropbox. The app offers a new spirit level to reduce distortion in your photos, and the whole app has had a pleasant re-design for iOS 7. I tried the app on some really old, low-resolution photos I had taken in college with a crummy film camera. The app accurately cropped each photo, and the enhance option did balance the color a little better, and sharpened things up. The developers suggest placing your existing images on a white background before snapping them with Pic Scanner, and that's good advice. On a wooden desk the app had problems cropping and auto selecting the photos, so I just put everything on a piece of white printer paper and everything worked well. Pic Scanner isn't as effective as a hardware photo scanner. I used my inexpensive Epson XP-400 scanner/printer and got a better quality scan, but then I needed to get that scan into Photoshop to clean it up and color balance it. It did a better job, but at a much higher software/hardware expense. Pic Scanner works as advertised. The universal free version will let you see if it will work for you, and I think for many casual users it will be just fine. The free version gives you a little more latitude to experiment, and if you have to buy it's a much better deal at $0.99.
WunderMap: The weather app gets a "wunderful" update
It seems like it was only yesterday that I was writing about Weather Underground's iOS WunderMap app. Today, the company announced the availability of a new universal version of the free application, bringing the weather mapping capability to iPhone and iPod touch users as well. For many users of the app, that would be enough of an update to be worthy of celebration, but there's more that has been changed – in fact, in a day of testing before the app went live, I was frankly amazed with what Weather Underground has done with the app in about eight months. To begin with, the app now has a new, iOS 7-friendly design that is much easier to use and navigate. Radar and satellite imagery download much faster – I was impressed with how quickly I could load the animations that show how clouds and precipitation are moving into my area. One thing I've loved about Weather Underground as a weather website is the availability of webcam data, so you can actually do "eyes-on" verification of the weather conditions being reported. WunderMap now provides full-screen webcam imagery and –- when possible –- traffic-cam access. Last but not least, I was impressed with the new icon for the app. Rather than go with the typical boring iOS 7 flat icon, the WunderMap developers created a very descriptive and colorful icon that shows one of the PWS (Personal Weather Station) indicators that you're able to pull up on one of the map layers. Those layers –- the default map showing weather stations, radar, precipitation, temperature, infrared satellite, webcams, wind, US fronts, visible satellite, regional temperature, severe weather, hurricanes, active fires and fire risk –- can be viewed singly or layered on top of each other. Animations over time are available with a single tap on the lower right side of the app screen, and a legend showing what colors on a layer mean are also more easily visible now. The app is free to download, but you'll see ads when switching or otherwise editing layers. An in-app purchase is available to turn off the advertising for a year for US$1.99, and if you happen to be a contributor to Weather Underground by providing your Personal Weather Station data, ads are turned off by default. For weather geeks or those who are just curious about what's happening locally –- or around the world –- the WunderMap app is definitely one every iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch owner should install.
Voila screen recorder for OS X
OS X has a number of handy screen capture tools built in. There are standard keyboard shortcuts for capturing still images and QuickTime Player can capture basic screen recordings. However, sometimes you need a little more from your capture tools and, if that's the case for you, then check out the latest version of Voila, which is our Daily Mac App. Voila has just celebrated its fifth anniversary and developer Global Delight has released version 3.7 in honor of that. Among the updated features of the new version are a number of much-requested additions including the ability to record video in 60 frames per second, tighter social media sharing integration (Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo have been added), and a number of features related to OS X 10.9 Mavericks including Messages and AirDrop sharing and improved tagging functionality. Another nice improvement is for those with Retina MacBooks: Voila 3.7 allows users to scale down Retina display images by up to a factor of two. This is incredibly handy as it reduces file sizes and also ensures that your screen captures will look good on non-Retina displays. The main benefit of Voila is not the new features, but the continued improvement of existing features. For starters, Voila has an excellent content management system built in. Under its Organizer tab you can quickly sort your captures via images, videos, or even files you have trashed. Voila also has a number of Smart folders set up or you can create you own, all of which makes finding your captured media quick and easy. Voila also offers a ton of tools and effects to use on your captures. One of my favorites is the rubber stamp tool, which allows you to make it appear as if you've stamped a screen capture with, for example, a "PAID" stamp or an "APPROVED" stamp, among others. Another really nice features is that screen captures aren't just limited to fullscreen, a single window, or a cropped area of the screen. You can capture multiple windows at once and even have non-standard shape captures, such as circles and free-form shapes. When you're done capturing, Voila makes it a snap to import your captures to iPhoto, email them, print them, or share them via Messages, AirDrop, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Voila is US$29.99 in the Mac App Store.
App updates you don't want to miss
It has been a busy few weeks in the App Store with a bunch of app updates landing on iOS and OS X. Grab a cup of joe and check out our list of notable updates from the past few weeks! You can also follow them on a rolling basis on our website. iOS Apps Transloader [iOS Universal; Category: Utilities; Free] Transloader lets you download URLs from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to your Mac via iCloud. Version 2.0 now features an iOS 7 design, stores URLs from your clipboard instead of asking you to act on them right away, provides better feedback on the progress of downloads on your Mac, and allows you to share URLs with other users of Transloader via AirDrop Listen: The Gesture Music Player [iPhone; Category: Music; Free] A music player you can use without looking at it. Version 2.0.2 adds An option to show or hide iCloud music items, Two-finger volume control, Two-finger scrubbing control, support for background app refresh and more. Halftone 2 [iOS Universal; Category: Photography & Video; $1.99] Halftone 2 re-imagines what it means to turn your photos into professionally-themed comic book pages on a touch device. Version 1.1.8 adds faster processing, iTunes file sharing, Aviary image cropping tool and more. Hipjot [iPhone; Category: Productivity; $1.99] Hipjot is a slick notes app, featuring a unique slide keyboard that lets you input words SUPER fast. Version 2.12 adds a new topright menu for the notes page, support for QWERTZ, AZERTY, DVORAK, COLEMAK, geolocation and more. Hatch [iPhone; Category: Games; $1.99] What if a tiny pet hatched on your phone? If it loved you, would you love it back? Version 1.2.1 and 1.2.2 adds a new exchange program for unwanted blankets and decor items, new blankets and fixes. Fragment [iOS Universal; Category: Photography & Video; $1.99] With Fragment, you now have the power to transform any image into totally unique, one-of-a-kind prismatic art you'll want to share with everyone. Version 1.2 adds 8 new shapes and stability improvements to solve some crashing issues. News Republic [iOS Universal; Category: News; Free] THE definitive news app with an elegant design, unrivaled news coverage and a simple, delightful interface optimized for iPhone and iPad. Version 4 overhauls the iPhone app with a new look and new One Feed view that allows you to read all your topics and the latest important articles in one place. Puffin Web Browser [iOS Universal; Category: Utilities; $2.88] . Puffin Web Browser is the premium version of the Puffin family, and comes with unlimited hours of Adobe Flash support over cloud. Version 3.5.1 adds P2P Flash Video support and bug fixes. MindNode [iOS Universal; Category: Productivity; $9.99] MindNode makes mind mapping easy. Version 3.0.2 adds the the ability to open documents in a folder using a URL scheme, makes improvements in text editing, outline mode and more. Todo - To-Do & Task List [iOS Universal; Category: Productivity; $4.99] Todo - The ORIGINAL To-Do and Task List is the world's first, and one of the most popular, powerful, and award-winning to-do list and task manager iOS apps. Version 7.0.3 adds support for the new version of TextExpander, improves quick menu and screen navigation performance and more. Faded [iPhone; Category: Photography & Video; $0.99] Faded is the premier all-in-one photo editing app for the iPhone. Version 1.2 now saves camera settings, shows a higher resolution image in Grid Preview, and bug fixes. VLC for iOS [iOS Universal; Category: Photography & Video; Free] VLC for iOS is a port of the free VLC media player to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Version 2.2.0 brings a new iOS7 UI, new multitouch gestures, GDrive integration, Dropbox streaming and more. Calendars 5 by Readdle [iOS Universal; Category: Productivity; $6.99] Calendars 5 is smart, excels in both tasks and events and runs on any iOS device you might have. Version 5.3 is a major update that brings event invitations, ICS import and notification center support for invitations. GoodNotes 4 [iOS Universal; Category: Productivity; $4.99] GoodNotes lets you take notes and annotate PDF documents. Version 4.0.4 is adds user experience improvements, bug fixes, and stability improvements. Version 4 is a complete rewrite of the app to support iCloud and iOS 7. OS X Apps Transloader [OS X; Category: Utilities; $4.99] Transloader lets you download URLs from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to your Mac via iCloud. Version 2.0 brings a new design, several minor bug fixes and support for more sharing websites. Pixelmator [OS X; Category: Graphics & Design; $29.99] Full-featured and powerful image editing app for the Mac. Version 3.1 improves RAW file support, allows you to turn off auto-select, restores effects like Pointillize, Pixelize, Mandala, Concert, and Projectile and more. Nozbe To-do and Project Management [OS X; Category: Productivity; Free] Nozbe is a tool that helps busy professionals and teams organize time and projects. Version 1.9 adds improved project sharing, push notifications and Evernote reminders support. MenuBar Stats [OS X; Category: Utilities; Free] MenuBar Stats lets you easily monitor your system resources. Version 1.2 adds new Disk module, new Smart Battery management through configurable notifications and bug fixes. HDR Darkroom 3 [OS X; Category: Graphics & Design; $39.99] HDR Darkroom 3 has come to the App Store to bring you the best in High Dynamic Range photography processing. Version 1.0.2 improves RAW image handling, HRD synthesis and more.
App updates you don't want to miss - January 9, 2014 edition
It has been a busy few weeks in the App Store with a bunch of app updates landing on iOS and OS X. Grab a cup of joe and check out our list of notable updates from the past few weeks! You can also follow them on a rolling basis on our website. iOS Apps Assassin's Creed Pirates[iOS Universal; Category: Games; $4.99] Become one of the most feared pirates of the Caribbean in this exclusive Assassin's Creed adventure on smartphones and tablets! Version 1.1. allows you to discover the mythical Nassau, a new playground, featuring 10 new secondary missions and 12 new treasures! Alien Hive [iOS Universal; Category: Games; Free] Swipe tiles to make matches, combine eggs to hatch cute baby aliens, and then help them fully evolve into Supreme Aliens. Version 3.0 improves game balance, revamps the boost system and allows you to level up and increase the power of Supreme Aliens. Camera+ [iPhone; Category: Photography & Video; $1.99] Camera+ will make you love taking photos on your iPhone. Version 5.0.1 is a stability release that improves the performance of Clarity and Clarity Pro. It also fixes some crashes in the app and the API. Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $9.99] Hero or villain, savior or conqueror... you alone will determine the destiny of the entire galaxy. Version 1.1.1 adds support for the iPad, widescreen play on the iPhone and improved lighting and graphics. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $6.99] Rockstar Games brings its biggest release to mobile yet with a vast open-world covering the state of San Andreas and its three major cities. Version 1.0.1 adds updated controller mappings on supported controllers and fixes for annoying crashes. GoodReader for iPad [iPad; Category: Productivity; $4.99] GoodReader® is the super-robust PDF reader for iPad. Version 3.20.0 overhauls the app with a new look for iOS 7 and new or improved features like colored tagging and a background audio player. GoodReader for iPhone [iPhone; Category: Productivity; $4.99] GoodReader® is the super-robust PDF reader for iPhone. Version 3.20.0 overhauls the app with a new look for iOS 7 and new or improved features like colored tagging and a background audio player. Plex [iOS Universal; Category: Entertainment; $4.99] Version 3.3.3 adds new higher quality settings for recent iOS devices and a handful of bug fixes. Fantastical 2 [iPhone; Category: Productivity; $1.99] With its powerful natural language event and reminder creation, DayTicker, calendar, and week view, Fantastical 2 is the fastest and friendliest scheduling app you'll ever use. Version 2.0.4 improves the navigation within the app, adds support for bold text accessibility option and improves the reliability of App Icon Badge. Screens VNC [iOS Universal; Category: Utilities; $19.99] Screens is a beautiful, yet powerful Screen Sharing and VNC client that lets you connect back to your Mac, Windows or Linux PC. Version 3.1.7 improves performance with AirPlay (no more crashing). Terraria [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $4.99] Adventure to the ends of the earth, and defeat villainous bosses along the way. The world is your canvas. Version 1.1.7 adds support for the new Logitech PowerShell Controller. Maxthon [iOS Universal; Category: Utilities; Free] Maxthon Cloud Browser is the world's fastest & smartest mobile web browser. Version 4.5.0 adds a new iOS 7-compatible design, a new start page, a customized news feed timeline and more. OS X Apps Collective [OS X; Category: Utilities; $0.99] Meet Collective. Clipboard history for your Mac. Done right. Version 2.0 adds a handful of new features including favorites, shortcuts, a detail bar, a menu bar and performance refinements. Baby Monitor 3G [OS X; Category: Lifestyle; $4.99] A video and audio baby monitor for any Mac and iOS device. Version 2.0 now allows your Mac to work as the baby station in your child's room. Droplr [OS X; Category: Productivity; Free] Drag anything to Droplr's icon in your menubar and Droplr will give you a short handy link that you can share with your friends, family, and co-workers. Version 3.5.0 adds Droplr Draw, a quick screen shot annotation tool to mark up your screenshots with arrows, shapes, and text, before you share them. Droplr is also now a paid service.
App updates you don't want to miss - December 13, 2013 edition
It has been a busy few weeks in the App Store with a bunch of app updates landing on iOS and OS X. Grab a cup of joe and check out our list of notable updates from the past few weeks! You can also follow them on a rolling basis on our website. iOS Apps Plant Nanny [iPhone; Category: Health & Fitness; Free] Plant Nanny combines health with fun to remind you to drink water regularly. Update to version 1.4.8 includes new plants, flowerpots, and scenes. Also some special items for Xmas. Warhammer Quest [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $4.99] The first Warhammer game to arrive on iOS. Version 1.2 includes a New Witch Hunter Warrior, Necromancers and Skeletons Enemy Pack, Vampires and Zombies Enemy Pack and Vampire Count Tileset. Minecraft – Pocket Edition [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $6.99] Minecraft is about placing blocks to build things and going on adventures. Version 0.8.0 is a major update bring new Minecarts, rails and powered rails; New crops and food types; new textures and colours and more. MoneyWiz - Personal Finance [iPhone; Category: Finance; $4.99] Have all your accounts, transactions, budgets and bills in one place. Version 1.5.0 includes full screen reports, improved UI and better syncing across devices. Tydlig - Calculator Reimagined [iOS Universal; Category: Utilities; $4.99] Tydlig is a revolutionary new kind of calculator that sheds the legacy limitations of old devices, for a truly modern calculation experience. In version 1.1 , Tydlig is now a universal app and includes a new clear button. Fantastical 2 [iPhone; Category: Productivity; $3.99] Fantastical 2 is the fastest and friendliest scheduling app you'll ever use. Version 2.0.3 includes Waze support, updated TextExpander support and bug fixes. CameraBag 2 [iPhone; Category: Photography & Video; Free] CameraBag 2 is the world's first hi-fi photo app, featuring a massive number of the highest-quality styles and adjustments in an elegant, minimal interface. Version 2.3.0 now preserves metadata. MindNode [iOS Universal; Category: Productivity; $9.99] MindNode makes mind mapping easy. Version 3.0.1 includes a new shortcut to delete nodes and connections and a handful of bug fixes. ARGUS - Motion and Fitness Tracker by Azumio [iPhone; Category: Health & Fitness; $1.99] Argus turns your iPhone into a sophisticated health and fitness device as it monitors and manages your activities. Version 2.8.63 includes fitbit import, new activity recording dashboard, more stats in activity details screen and more. Note Anytime [iOS Universal; Category: Productivity; $1.99] Capture, share, and access your inspiration anytime, anywhere in this note taking app. Version 2.0 includes new pens, password protection, search/replace text and more. EPOCH.2 [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $2.99] The epic saga of post-apocalyptic robot combat continues. Version 1.1 includes 64-bit support, new armor type, new weapon and more. Elements For Dropbox - A Markdown Notes and Writing App [iOS Universal; Category: Productivity; $4.99] Elements is a dedicated Markdown and Dropbox powered writing environment for iOS. Version 2.8 includes new iOS 7 inspired UI, multi-markdown support, new font options and more. Terraria [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $4.99] Adventure to the ends of the earth, and defeat villainous bosses along the way. The world is your canvas. Version 1.1.5 includes new christmas theme with a new Christmas pet that' summoned with a new ornaments and presents from vanquished foes. OS X Apps Airmail [OS X; Category: Utilities; $1.99] Airmail - The powerful mail client with a minimal design and intuitive interaction. Version 1.3 includes collapsable folders, advanced search, integration with calendar and reminders, integrations with 2Do and Evernote and more. iStudiez Pro [OS X; Category: Productivity; $2.99] Take charge of your schedule and put iStudiez Pro to work for you. Version 1.2 adds support for OS X 10.9 Mavericks. iMuscle 2 [OS X; Category: Health & Fitness; $4.99] iMuscle 2 provides users with the ability to zoom into an area on our 3D human body and tap on a muscle to reveal exercises and stretches targeted to the development and/or rehabilitation of that specific muscle. Version 3.9 includes OS X 10.9 compatibility, new input controls for reps, weights, etc, improved filters and more. Skitch [OS X; Category: Productivity; Free] . Screen cap an image and make a friend laugh with you or inspire a student by labeling the insides of a robot. Versoin 2.7.1 includes the labeling of high-resolution images in the bottom bar as "hi-res", the option to export hi-res images at low resolution and more.
Twitter releases major update for iOS with improved timelines, DMs, more
Twitter released a major update of its iOS app today. Twitter version 6.0 features an all-new design and way to interact with your Home, Activity and Discover feeds. Now users can simply swipe between them in the Timeline. Another huge improvement: Easier access to Direct Messages, which now have their own dedicated button at the bottom of Twitter's toolbar. DMs also get some photo love because now users can attach pictures to send with direct messages. This update sees continued refinement of search by allowing you to access tweets in search results from people near you and people you follow. Notifications are more refined. Now you can choose to view only replies, retweets and favorites from people you follow. Lastly, Twitter 6.0 now supports Safari's Reading List, allowing you to save web articles directly to Safari so you can read them there later. Check out the full release notes below: What's New in Version 6.0 New design. • Refreshed look and feel. Home, Activity and Discover now available by swiping in Timelines. Easier access to DMs. Share photos in Direct Messages. • Send and receive photos via DMs. Notifications from your network. • Choose to view replies, retweets, and favorites from only the people that you follow. Search got even easier. • Access tweets from people you follow and near you, directly from search results. Safari Reading List support • Save web articles to read later with Safari Reading List. Twitter 6.0 is a free download.
WhatsApp updated for iOS 7 with new broadcast lists, shared location features
WhatsApp released a new version of its app with a major facelift and some new features. The popular third-party messaging app is one of the most used cross-platform instant messengers on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone. The latest iOS update brings the much anticipated iOS 7-inspired visual refresh to the app. The icon is less glossy and flatter, and the app internals are blue, grey, and white and flat all over. But WhatsApp also received a number of new features with the latest release as well. The app now features "broadcast lists" which allows user to send messages to groups of people, be they classmates, a group of friends, or work colleagues. The new WhatsApp also includes a number of new location sharing features, including support for 3D maps and the ability to hide places. Check out the full release notes below. WhatsApp is a free download. What's New in Version 2.11.5 - new iOS 7 User Interface - broadcast lists: communicate with your classmates, work colleagues or just friends by messaging many people at once. - improved share location: 3D map view, hide places, search places - large thumbs: see more - new notification alerts and sounds: WhatsApp Settings > Notifications > New Message. - application will now use your device text size as configured in iOS Settings > General > Text Size - new improved User Interface for managing your blocked contacts: WhatsApp Settings > Chat Settings > Blocked - crop image before sending Reminder: you can backup your WhatsApp conversations into iCloud. Simply visit WhatsApp Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Backup and tap on "Back Up Now"
Almost all of your notifications can now display on Samsung's Galaxy Gear
Another day, another phone gets update post. But this time, it's a smartwatch -- Samsung's Galaxy Gear -- that's party to a software refresh and it's going to bring you closer to that Go! Go! Gadget dream. According to Sammobile, an update to the Gear Manager app now lets you add nearly every type of notification for display on your wrist. So, you won't need to trawl forums any longer for an unofficial workaround. There's even an option to open a particular notification on your associated smartphone. In all, it's really nothing revolutionary and it in no way makes the case for a smartwatch purchase. But if you took the plunge and bought a Gear, it's just one more thing you can do for $300.
Tweetbot 3.1 released, missing features return
Back in October, popular Twitter iOS client Tweetbot got a major makeover with version 3.0. However, not all fans of the app were happy, as some of the features of the previous versions had been cut out. With the release of Tweetbot 3.1 today, many of those missing features have made it back into the app -- as the developer said they would. Here's a rundown of all that is back (and what's new, too): What's New in Version 3.1 - Using a list as your timeline is back (hold down on "Timeline" title to reveal the menu) - Right swipe to quick reply (short swipe and release for custom action) - Resize text within the app (Settings > Display) - Option to set square avatars and hide timeline badges (Settings > Display) - Email conversations or share via Storify - "Last tweet x minutes ago" is back in the profiles (under recent images) - Removed "Retweeted by" string so there's less chance of truncation - Lots of bug fixes Tweetbot developer Paul Haddad also tweeted today that Night Mode will be coming to Tweetbot in the near future. Tweetbot 3.1 is on sale for US$2.99.
Twitterrific 5 gains redesigned profile layout, more
The extremely popular third-party Twitter client Twitterrific 5 has been updated with several new features, including a redesigned profile layout, a new pull-to-refresh animation, the ability to view banners with a tap and the ability to swipe up words on iPhoto and the image viewer to dismiss it. Twitterrific has always been on point with adding new features and taking advantage of new iOS hardware and APIs. It was updated in September to support iOS 7's look and feel and again updated in October to support the 64-bit A7 chipset. The app has received critical acclaim for offering users features that the official Twitter client app lacks. Here's a complete list of all the improvements and bug fixes and the latest version of Twitterrific: What's New in Version 5.5.3 IMPROVEMENTS • New layout for user profiles • New pull-to-refresh animation • View profile banners by tapping on them • Swipe upwards on a photo in the image viewer to dismiss • Various performance enhancements throughout the app BUG FIXES • Fixed a bug that prevented users from being displayed in people search • Fixed a bug where the pull-to-refresh control would disappear • Pinning the sidebar open on iPad doesn't prevent VoiceOver timeline access • Reauthorization not needed after refreshing in the background while locked • Scrolling past DMs and mentions now properly marks them as read • Deleted tweets no longer re-appear after refreshing • Fixes for various crash on launch issues Twitterrific 5 is a universal app and for a limited time it's 50 percent off, so it will only cost you US$2.99.
