It's the weekend again, and if you've found yourself looking for a way to fill the hours of a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon, you've come to the right place. We've compiled a list of some great apps and games that were released this week, that we think are worth checking out.
In addition to Google Photos, Google announced at I/O today that it would be bringing another Android app over to iOS: Google Cardboard. The Mountain View tech giant says the software will "bring virtual reality to your iPhone."
For those unfamiliar with Cardboard, it debuted at last year's I/O conference with the promise of bringing affordable virtual reality to the masses. All it requires is a cardboard viewer that you can either make yourself or buy for $20.
Apple has just named “Hyper Square” its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to download the popular arcade puzzler for both iPhone and iPad for free—a solid savings of $1.99.
For those who haven't played Hyper Square before, it's premise is fairly simple: place all squares in their respective targets as fast as possible. As the difficulty increases, watch the amount of time you have get reduced to fractions of a second.
Apple has acquired augmented reality startup Metaio, according to a recently surfaced legal document. A spokesperson for Apple confirmed the purchase to TechCrunch, saying "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
The filing claims that shares of Metaio were transferred over to the Cupertino firm between May 21st and 22nd, so it seems the acquisition was completed fairly recently. The company, which was essentially an offshoot of an AR project at German automaker Volkswagen, was founded in 2003.
Google hosted its annual developer conference this morning where it talked about Android M, Android Pay and other initiatives. It also announced a new cloud-based storage service for your photos and videos called Google Photos, and it's available on iOS today.
At first, Google Photos sounds a lot like iCloud Photo Library and other storage services: automatic back ups, integration with compatible apps, quick editing and sharing tools, and the ability to sort by various metrics. But there a few features that set Photos apart.
Did the GarageBand app crash midway while you were recording? In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to recover your recording if GarageBand has crashed on your Mac.
It appears that Apple has formed a partnership with Postmates to offer same-day order delivery via its Apple Store app. As noted by MacRumors, the app has begun showing a same-day delivery option for folks in the San Francisco Bay Area, and several folks have already taken advantage of it.
For those who aren't familiar with Postmates, it's a logistics company that runs a network of contracted couriers who deliver goods locally. It's available in roughly 20 major cities around the United States, but it appears in-app ordering through Apple is currently limited to San Francisco, CA.
In addition to Apple Watch talk, Jeff Williams made some other interesting comments at the Code Conference on Wednesday. During his interview with Recode, Apple's SVP of Operations seemingly confirmed the company's rumored interest in cars.
"The car is the ultimate mobile device," Williams nonchalantly noted, in response to a question regarding what the Cupertino firm will do with its staggering cash hoard beyond returning money to investors. "We are exploring a lot of different markets."
CBS CEO Les Moonves says his network will “probably” sign a deal with Apple for its upcoming streaming TV service. Speaking at the Code Conference on Wednesday, Moonves told Recode's Kara Swisher that he met with Apple's Eddy Cue last week to discuss the service.
“The talks are still early, but we’re very excited about it,” he told Swisher. The executive went on to say that he believes the age of the 200-channel universe is slowly dying, and if companies like Apple are going to offer trim 15-20 channel packages, CBS has to be included.
Great news Minecraft fans, Mojang announced today that it's bringing "loads of new features" to Minecraft - Pocket Edition in the near future. The team says it will be submitting the update for iOS, Android and Windows Phone this week.
Perhaps one of the most notable new features in the update is Skins. Players will soon have the ability to customize the way their characters look in Minecraft PE by either uploading a Skin, creating a Skin, or purchasing a new Skin bundle.
Those of you who enjoy app deals will be interested to know that Sky Guide is available for free right now. Apple is currently offering promo codes for the award-winning star-gazer, which typically costs $1.99, within its Apple Store app.
For those who aren't familiar with it, Sky Guide is a star and constellation guide that automatically aligns itself when you hold your device up to the sky. There may be many apps like it, but none of them are more beautiful or easy to use.
Apple on Tuesday seeded the fourth beta of the upcoming OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 software to both developers and public testers. The update, labeled build 14E26a, is available through the Update tab in the Mac App Store, and the Dev Center for all registered Mac developers.
OS X 10.10.4 has been in testing since mid-April, and we have yet to see it bring about any significant user-facing changes or new features. It appears that the release will be more of a maintenance update, as Apple attempts to iron out remaining bugs and other known issues.