Year: 2014

SanDisk unveils Lightning-enabled flash drive for iOS devices

SanDisk, an American maker of flash memory storage solutions, on Thursday announced an external flash drive that connects to iPhones and iPads via Apple's proprietary Lightning port. The iXpand Flash Drive along with an accompanying iOS app makes it easy to transfer media and documents between an iOS device and a computer through a USB port.

Available in 16 and 64-gigabyte varieties for $59.99 and $119.99, respectively, the accessory is now available through the SanDisk webstore. The $79.99 32-gigabyte edition will be offered exclusively at Best Buy starting Sunday, November 16.

Numerical, a beautiful iPhone and iPad calculator without the equal button, goes free

As something of a calculator nut, I can never get enough of gorgeously designed calculator experiences. For most people, the stock Calculator is more than enough to run a quick calculation here and there.

Apple, sadly, isn't shipping its Calculator on iPads, forcing you to search the App Store for a third-party solution. But you don't have to be a calculator nut or part with your cash to enjoy doing math on your Apple devices.

That's because developer Andrew J Clark of Very Tiny Machines has just slashed his beautifully done Numerical: Calculator Without Equal app from $2.99 to zero bucks.

Download Numerical at no cost from the App Store.

VSCO Cam 4.0 drops with iOS 8 and iPhone 6 support, iPad UI, Sync, Journal and more

If you needed an excuse to make VSCO Cam part of your iPhone photographer's toolkit, here's one. On Thursday, developers issued a substantial update to the free iOS app which brings a thoroughly redesigned user interface.

Now a universal app for all form factor iOS devices, VSCO Cam runs natively on iPads and brings out full support for iOS 8 and the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus resolutions.

This release is packed with half a dozen interesting new features, among them integration with VSCO' new mobile publishing platform dubbed Journal.

Download VSCO Cam free in the App Store.

Sunrise gets iOS 8 widget, Google Tasks and Eventbrite apps and iPhone 6 support

After gaining push support for Google Calendar, enhanced search and Todoist integration back in September and issuing a few maintenance updates since, Sunrise, the popular cross-platform calendar and to-do application, on Thursday launched a major new version in the App Store.

Sunrise now features native display support for the new 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus resolutions so it will no longer run enlarged on the new iPhones.

You can now authorize both Google Tasks and Eventbrite services for use in Sunrise and there's a brand new widget for the Today view of the Notification Center on iOS 8.

Respective iOS and OS X edition of Sunrise are available free in the App Store and Mac App Store.

Call of Duty: Heroes launches globally on iOS

Following an August soft-launch in select markets, publisher Activison on Thursday released its free-to-play Call of Duty: Heroes in App Stores around the globe.

Seemingly inspired by Clash of Clans, the iPhone and iPad combat strategy game features nice 3D graphics and lets you command an army of elite soldiers, heroes, drones and more.

You begin as a commander of a small outpost and as the game progresses you must conquer new territories, customize and build up your base, lead your heroes into battle and even take direct control of weapons such as the first-person chopper gunner.

Download Call of Duty: Heroes free from the App Store.

DigiTimes: Apple getting ready to ramp up Apple Watch production

Apple's suppliers are “gearing up” to ramp up Apple Watch production ahead of its early-2015 release, Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes said Thursday. While not the most accurate of sources, DigiTimes usually gets supply chain rumors right.

Apple's retail boss Angela Ahrendts recently told employees that the Apple Watch will be launching in Spring 2015. The device will start out at $349 for the entry-level model with aluminum chassis and plastic band.

The stainless steel model should be priced at $500, with an 18-karat gold variant commanding a price tag between $4,000 and $5,000, according to the rumor-mill.

2K releases ‘XCOM: Enemy Within’ expansion as standalone game

2K games this morning released XCOM: Enemy Within for iOS, an expansion for its popular turn-based military sim XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Fans of the franchise will recognize the title, as it was released to PCs and consoles around this time last year.

2K is calling Enemy Within a "standalone expansion" due to the fact that it features the core gameplay of Enemy Unknown, and builds on its storyline, but it's a completely separate app. You do not need one of the games installed in order to play the other.

Continuity Keypad adds a beautiful phone dialer to OS X Yosemite

Out of all the features that Apple introduced with OS X Yosemite, Continuity is one of the most convenient and useful. With its ability to handoff apps between devices, make and receive phone calls, and send SMS messages from the desktop, Continuity has become one of the most-used features of OS X Yosemite. But despite its newfound call-handling features, Yosemite lacks a dialer for quickly making phone calls to numbers not in your address book, and that's where Continuity Keypad comes into play.

Scanbot for iOS goes free, Pro edition 40% cheaper

Scanbot, a PDF scanning utility with built-in QR code scanner, hit a major milestone as its users have scanned over five million documents to date. To celebrate this achievement, German developer Doo GmbH is giving away the basic edition of Scanbot for the next 24 hours, a $1.99 saving.

Moreover, Scanbot Pro is marked down 40 percent and now sells for $2.99 instead of the regular asking price of $4.99 a pop, representing a cool saving of two bucks.

This is the first time Scanbot Pro has been made available at a discounted price in the App Store. Grab Scanbot at no cost for the next 24 hours and upgrade to Scanbot Pro via a one-time In-App Purchase at 40 percent reduced price.

AT&T offering $50 bill credit for iPhone upgrades purchased through Apple

AT&T is right now offering a $50 bill credit to Next customers who purchase a new iPhone from Apple's online and retail stores within the next two months. Neither company is actively marketing the promotion, but, as spotted by MacRumors, it does appear in the fine print of AT&T's Next plan.

All late model iPhones qualify for the deal, including the 5c, 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, but there are stringent requirements. The iPhone must be purchased on an existing line as an upgrade, it must be financed using AT&T's Next plan, and it must remain active and in good standing on Next for 45 days.

YouTube app update adds new music homepage with YouTube Mix

Google updated its iOS YouTube client this morning, bringing the universal app to version 2.16.11441. The update is fairly minimal, but it does include a new music homepage and YouTube Mix integration, making the music listening experience on YouTube "better than ever."

The new music homepage allows you to do things like play albums right from search, and it will now offer you song recommendations based on your previous listening habits. It also allows you to listen to an endless YouTube Mix playlist, built using your favorite songs and artists.

Let’s Talk Jailbreak 81: Shake it off

Episode 81: Sebastien and Cody finally join the jailbreak party after Pangu for Mac is released. We discuss a ton of new jailbreak tweaks, the future of jailbreaking, and much, much more.

Subscribe via RSS

This episode has no sponsor, but you can always support Let’s Talk Jailbreak and iDB by downloading our OS X Yosemite Interactive User Guide in the iBooks Store.