Year: 2014

‘Age of Empires: World Domination’ coming to iOS this summer

Last summer we noted that development studio KLab had reached a licensing deal with Microsoft to bring its popular Ages of the Empire franchise to mobile devices. And today, KLab gave the game an official title and a vague release date. 'Ages of Empires: World Domination' is coming to iPhones and iPads this summer...

Apple updates iMovie for Mac with new title options, speed effects and more

Apple pushed out a notable update for the Mac version of its iMovie software this afternoon. The release, which brings the app to version 10.0.3, includes a handful of new features—like new title customization options—and various other improvements.

iMovie users can now sort events in the app's side bar by date, and change the font, size and color of new titles. Additionally, you can crop and rotate clips in events and add speed effects to clips using the Adjustments Bar. We have the full change log below...

‘Articon’ turns app icons into album art when playing music

Articon is a jailbreak tweak that can spice up your Home screen by adding album artwork on top of the now-playing music app. The album artwork used by Articon is the same artwork that appears in the app that you use to play music.

You might think that Articon's effects would be limited to the stock Music app, but that isn't the case. I was able to successfully have album artwork on my Spotify app, and even Amazon Instant Video—yep, it works with video playing apps as well.

If you're looking for a way to change up the look of your music or video app icons, then Articon is a tweak that might interest you. Have a glance at our video walkthrough inside for more information.

iOS, OS X and key iCloud services not affected by Heartbleed, Apple confirms

If you've as much as glanced at what's your inbox lately, chances are you've encountered messages in which your favorite apps and services announce emergency password resets in the wake of Heartbleed, a nasty bug that's attacking millions of websites. And unless you've been sleeping under a rock for the past week, you must be aware by now that a shockingly high number of websites are at risk.

The latest security scare stems from a devastating flaw in the OpenSSL software many websites use to authorize login sessions and encrypt and transmit user data. Long story short, the exploit allows attackers to easily scoop up the website’s encryption keys, passwords and user content, prompting tons of emergency password resets by some of the Internet's most popular services.

But what about your Apple ID? Have the keys to your account in the Apple cloud been compromised? How about iCloud or the App Store? According to an Apple spokesperson, its iOS and OS X platforms are protected against Heartbleed. Do I hear a collective sigh of relief?

Ubisoft’s Trials Frontier racer now available in the App Store

Good news gamers, the official mobile version of Trials is now available. First revealed at E3 last year, Ubisoft's Trials Frontier is a mobile-exclusive entry in the popular stunt biking series, and it landed in the App Store this morning with support for both the iPhone and iPad.

For those unfamiliar with Trials, it's a long-running platform racing franchise famous for its crazy characters and physics-based gameplay. And this new mobile version adds in a mix of social features, allowing you to challenge your friends and compete against other racers...

Real-time web notifications go live on Twitter.com

Twitter is on a roll lately. After enabling photo tagging in mobile apps recently and introducing prettier user profile pages on the web yesterday (the design is reminiscent of Facebook profiles), the company Thursday started rolling out another new feature: real-time web notifications on Twitter.com.

That's right, those notifications you get from Twitter on your phone are now popping up in the web interface as well.

These in-browser alerts are optional and can be disabled for retweets, favorites, follows, replies, mentions and more. The notifications are actionable so you're able to reply, favorite, retweet and follow right from the alert. It's a staggered roll-out over the coming weeks so be patient if you don't yet see web notifications on Twitter.com...

Jaw-dropping iPad Pro concept: MagSafe, better multitasking, surround sound and more

So, is there a room for a new-category device, something between the tablet and the notebook? If you ask rumormongers, apparently there is.

Those of you who've been keeping tabs on the rumor mill are aware that Apple may or may not release a rumored 12.9-inch iPad this year - the latest intel points to a 2014 launch.

Maybe that's why we're not seeing compelling iPad Pro concepts, except for this one, but that has changed today thanks to Ramotion, an iPhone app development company. You may remember Ramotion for their previous eye candy concepts such as the OS X 11 mockup with an iOS 7-style flat interface or this one envisioning what Viber's iOS 7 redesign should look like.

Ramotion's Denis Pakhaliuk, was kind enough to send a couple high-resolution iPad Pro renderings my way, to share them with you guys. Their mockup will knock you off your seat so check out the images below the fold and meet us in comments...

Case maker’s iPhone 6 model hints at a larger display, thinner design

Most of the reports we've seen thus far regarding the iPhone 6 point to a larger display and much thinner profile. And earlier today, our friends over at Nowhereelse.fr posted new evidence to support that theory: a case maker's model for the handset from Chinese case manufacturer Elam.

As you can see in the photo above, the design of the phone looks very similar to what we've seen so far. Note the device's extremely thin profile, rounded corners and larger display. It looks very much like the device we've been seeing lately in purported schematics and designer mockups...

Facebook removing messaging feature from iOS app in favor of Messenger

Feeling chatty? Love Facebook? Good, get ready to embrace Facebook's polished Messenger app if you haven't already.

That's because the social networking giant is reportedly gearing up to kill chatting in its main iPhone and iPad application (available free in the App Store) and force users to download the nicely done Messenger software, also a free download.

The writing has been on the wall ever since Facebook revamped the Messenger app and rechristened the full-featured messaging tab in its mobile client as 'Messenger'. Instead of showing your messages, tapping that tab yanks you out of the Facebook app to launch Messenger...

pushNotify is available on Cydia: forward push notifications to your Mac

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mtw7x2_2Yg

pushNotify, a tweak that lets you forward your iOS push notifications to your Mac, is now available on Cydia. Jeff took the tweak for a spin a couple days ago, which you can see in action in the video above.

pushNotify is available in the BigBoss repo for $0.99. It also requires a companion app for your Mac that you can download for free.

Is that something you'd use? If you haven't already tried it, please make sure to tell us what you think.

If you're on the fence about getting this tweak, have a look at Jeff's full review of pushNotify.

T-Mobile’s Operation Tablet Freedom: 4G LTE iPads at Wi-Fi prices, free data through 2014

It is no secret that T-Mobile CEO John Legere is not one to mince words or back down from competition. Thus far, he’s delivered. The Deutsche Telekom-owned carrier, the fourth largest in the United States, has taken aim at rivals once again by unleashing the latest three-phase initiative that solves another customer pain point.

The new Uncarrier moves started yesterday with the announcement of a new Simple Starter Plan that includes unlimited talk and text with 500MB of 4G LTE data with no overage fees, for just $40 per month.

Thursday, T-Mobile made another huge announcement. For a limited time only, the carrier is offering 4G LTE tablets at Wi-Fi-only prices, with its interest-free financing that requires no downpayment and spreads the retail price of the device across 24 monthly installments.

Knowing Apple’s cellular-capable iPads cost $130 more versus their comparable Wi-Fi-only models, that’s a not-to-be-missed $130 savings right off the bat. Also, if you add a tablet to your voice plan, T-Mobile will treat you to up to sixteen gigabytes of free high-speed 4G LTE data through the end of the year...

‘Priority Hub’ brings the Blackberry 10 priority hub feature to iOS 7

Looking for a better way to sort your Lock screen notifications on iOS 7? Then try out Priority Hub, a new Blackberry 10 inspired jailbreak tweak that just landed on Cydia's BigBoss repo.

Priority Hub allows users to group Lock screen notifications by app, allowing one to easily see notifications pertaining to a single app at a time. It's a great way to simplify the iOS 7 Lock screen and make it easier to read at a glance.

We've taken Priority Hub for a test drive via our hands-on video walkthrough. Check past the jump for the full scoop.