Doodle Jump SpongeBob SquarePants goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Apple has named Nickelodeon's "Doodle Jump SpongeBob SquarePants" its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you could grab the special SpongeBob edition of the popular platformer for free—a solid savings of $2.

In the game, players are tasked with restoring order to Bikini Bottom after Plankton and his crew steal the Krabby Patty Secret Formula. You do this by helping Doodle Jump SpongeBob jump up and across the sea, blasting bubbles at anyone who gets in his way.

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Microsoft releases Invite for iPhone for organizing and scheduling group meetings on the go

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Not to be outdone by Google which just released a note-taking iPhone and iPad app called Keep, software giant Microsoft today rolled out a brand new productivity app of its own, Invite for iPhone.

A Microsoft Garage project, Invite was designed to help groups “agree on a time to meet, even when they can’t see each other’s schedules.”

Recognizing that scheduling group meetings is no easy task on desktop, let alone on mobile, Invite keeps things simple enough to help you effectively coordinate multiple people’s schedules on a small screen.

You simply suggest times that work for you, and then invite attendees. After attendees select all the times they can attend, and once everyone has responded through Invite or via the web interface, you simply pick the time that works best for everyone and your group meeting is a go.

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Google’s Keep app makes its way into App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 24, 2015

Following its Android debut nearly two and a half years ago, Google's note-taking mobile software, called Keep, is now available to download from the App Store.

Featuring Google's Material Design, the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad app offers a nicely rounded set of features commonly found in other note-taking apps but with less bloat and clutter. Needless to say, Keep benefits tremendously from seamless integration with other Google products and technologies.

Notes created in Keep can be accessed, edited and managed on iOS, Android and on the web, via a Keep web app. Google Keep is a free download so give it a try and let us know how you like it in comments.

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The Satechi Apple Watch Mount makes a great steering wheel companion

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 2, 2018

The Apple Watch offers great convenience as it gives you access to messages, phone calls, music controls, maps, and more, directly from your wrist, making your life that much easier in everything you do. If raising your wrist to look at your Apple Watch is a simple gesture, sometimes it can be a dangerous or distracting one, such as when you're driving or riding a motorcycle for instance. Enters the Satechi Apple Watch Mount.

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Apple releases iOS 9.1 beta 2 for public beta testers

Jeff Benjamin ∙ September 24, 2015

After seeding iOS 9.1 beta 2 to developers yesterday, Apple has updated its public beta portal to lend 9.1 beta 2 access to participants in its public beta program. If you're already a member of Apple's public beta program, and you're currently running iOS 9.1 beta 1, you can access the update right now via an OTA software update. If you're not a current public beta participant, you may sign up via Apple's beta website.

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New PCalc update takes advantage of the Taptic engine in Apple Watch

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Well-regarded calculator app PCalc received an update today, which allows it to tap into the Apple Watch Taptic engine for subtle feedback on button presses. In watchOS 2, Apple opened up the hardware to developers, allowing them to take advantage of the Digital Crown, accelerometer, heath sensors, microphone, speaker, and Taptic engine.

Slowly but surely, more apps are beginning to trickle into the App Store that take advantage of these enhancements, and PCalc, already a wonderful app in its own regard, does an awesome job of using the Taptic engine to provide distinct feedback that feels different from anything else.

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Rumors swirl about a potential iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Over the last few hours, rumors have swirled on reddit and other places that we could see a jailbreak released for iOS 8.4.1. While I certainly can't vouch for the validity of these rumors, I am nonetheless intrigued by such a prospect.

Although the great new features found in iOS 9 would make it hard for me to personally backtrack to iOS 8, I understand that some of you would jump at the chance if it meant being able to jailbreak.

The good news is that if a jailbreak is released for iOS 8.4.1, everyone, at least as of this writing, can enjoy it. That's because Apple is still signing the iOS 8.4.1 firmware for all devices. When this will change is anyone's guess, but Apple usually closes its signing window for older firmware in relatively short order.

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Tip: ask Siri to remind you about things you’re looking at in your apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 10, 2019

Siri's Proactive features let you do so much more, and in a more intelligent fashion than ever before. In addition to suggesting apps, people, locations and more when you use Spotlight Search, iOS also lets you ask Siri to actually create context-aware reminders for what you’re looking at on the screen of your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

Asking to be reminded about things you’re looking at in apps like Safari, Mail and Notes that you want to follow up on later can be a tremendous productivity boost.

The feature is a great time-saver when you cannot currently deal with what you're doing right now, and would like to get reminded about it at a later stage, but are too lazy to create a reminder yourself. Here's how it works.

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Apple lists top 25 apps infected by XcodeGhost

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 18, 2017

Apple today refreshed its official XcodeGhost FAQ webpage, listing the top 25 iPhone and iPad apps on the App Store that contain the widely reported though mostly harmless XcodeGhost malware.

In addition to WeChat, one of the top messaging apps in the world, Rovio's Angry Birds 2 and China Unicom’s Customer Service app, most of the listed apps are distributed on the Chinese App Store only.

“If users have one of these apps, they should update the affected app which will fix the issue on the user’s device,” writes the company. “If the app is available on App Store, it has been updated, if it isn’t available it should be updated very soon.”

Apple has pulled many of the infected apps and said it's working closely with developers to get impacted apps back on the App Store.

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Fosmon’s portable mini keyboard is the perfect companion for your iPhone 6 or Apple TV

Lory Gil ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

If you tend to type a lot on your iPhone 6, and not just texting your buddies for dinner plans, then you could probably use an external keyboard to help speed things up.

Fosmon makes a portable mini keyboard that is about as small as an iPhone 6 and comes with a trackpad and arrow keys. While the track pad is only useful for non-iOS products, the arrow keys provide a movable cursor while you type.

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New video illustrates how much of a difference OIS makes in the iPhone 6s Plus

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

We speculated about the difference between the iPhone 6s and the 6s Plus when it comes to the lack of optical image stabilization in the former. We've even read first hand accounts of how much of a difference it makes.

But seeing is believing, and this new video really emphasizes the differences between taking video with the iPhone 6s, a device that lacks OIS, and the iPhone 6s Plus, which features OIS built in. If you plan on taking lots of handheld videos with your new iPhone, you don't want to miss this.

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