Vimeo gains finely graded notification settings, more informative layouts

Following up on its August update which brought out uploading functionality in addition to some interesting private sharing options, Vimeo on Thursday issued a brand new version of its iPhone and iPad client.

Now at version 5.1.1, Vimeo's video pages have gained more informative layouts with the title, creator, play count and other information.

Active Vimeo users often complained about an avalanche of notifications from the site. Feeling their pain, the video sharing site has finally made it possible to cherry-pick notifications to receive in the Vimeo app.

Jump past the fold for other Vimeo 5.1.1 highlights.

Telltale posts first trailer of upcoming ‘Game of Thrones’ game

After dropping some details regarding its upcoming 'Game of Thrones' game last week, Telltale Games today released its first trailer. The video sets the stage for what could be Telltale's biggest releases, given how popular HBO's GOT franchise has become.

The game will tell the story of the House Forrester, a noble family from the north of Westerns, loyal to the Starks Winterfell. Players will take on the role of different members of the Forrester household, and determine their fates. Here's the new trailer.

Evernote for Mac rewritten for speed and energy performance, iOS app gets Work Chat and more

Evernote, the popular note-taking and productivity platform, on Thursday issued a major refresh to its Mac app while adding a new Work Chat for sharing and collaborating to the iPhone and iPad client, among other items.

After a complete rewrite, Evernote 6.0 for Mac is now significantly faster, more reliable and consumes less energy than ever before.

As if that weren't enough, the new Mac app comes with half a dozen new features, including sleek new look optimized for OS X Yosemite, search improvements, the ability to resize images and tables, to mention just a few.

iOS and OS X editions of Evernote are available free of charge.

You can now privately share tweets in DMs

After previewing future platform enhancements and features during its Analyst’s Day event, the popular social service Twitter on Thursday began rolling out one of the mentioned new features: the ability to private share a tweet through Twitter's direct messaging function.

Think about sharing tweets privately with any of your followers in terms of discussing public content in private conversations, the micro-blogging platform suggested.

To do this from Twitter's main iPhone client, long-press the tweet in your timeline and choose the new “Share via Direct Message” option. The person you share a tweet with will get a push notification, said the company.

Moreover, the tweet will display directly in the conversation.

The iDownloadBlog + Sphero bonanza giveaway

Christmas might still be a month away but we want to beat Santa Claus to the punch and offer you a chance to get something fun without you having to wait until December 25th. That is why we teamed up with the folks at Orbotix, the company behind the famous Sphero, to offer you a chance to win one of the three connected gadgets we're putting up for grabs.

Sega’s Football Manager Handheld 2015 hits iOS

Japanese games maker Sega on Thursday rolled out Football Manager Handheld 2015 to the App Store. Featuring improved look and feel, a brand new match engine, a Scouting Agency feature and new world rankings with dynamic league reputation, the latest installment in the award-winning Football Manager series lets smartphone and tablet gamers live out the dream of managing their favorite real-life club.

And with enhancements such as richer club stats and a Manager Achievements page to get a run-down on all trophies, awards and achievements won, Football Manager Handheld 2015 should be an insta-buy for anyone in the market for a football manager.

The iPhone and iPad download will set you back ten bucks a pop. Additional features such as challenges and an in-game editor are available through In-App Purchases.

You can now adjust focus and lighting of photos in Facebook Messenger

Facebook on Thursday issued a small update to its Messenger app for the iPhone and iPad, bringing out additional features to touch up the photos you take within the software using the built-in camera feature.

Now available in the App Store at no cost, Facebook Messenger 16.0 fixed an issue with sending messages while introducing a pair of new controls to adjust the focus and lighting of photos you take in the app.

Foxconn building $2.9 billion plant to churn out displays exclusively for Apple

Foxconn, the world's top contract manufacturer and Apple's favorite gadget assembly shop, is planning on burning NT$80 billion, or approximately $2.6 billion, on a brand new manufacturing facility in Taiwan that will produce displays exclusively for Apple, Bloomberg reported Thursday morning.

The plant will employ more than two-thousand workers and is being built after “an urgent request for exclusive capacity” from Apple, indicating that the iPhone maker is anticipating growing demand for its devices in the coming years.

Zagg offers 40% off their Sparq portable battery pack

For the next 48 hours, Zagg is having a sale on its line of portable battery packs, offering 40% off the Sparq, an iPhone backup battery that I've actually reviewed a while ago. The Sparq comes in two different flavor. The ZAGGsparq 1220 will give you one extra charge and comes will only one USB port, while the ZAGGsparq 3100 will give you no less than two extra charges for your iPhone and comes with two USB ports allowing you to charge two devices at the same time.

Both variations have been heavily discounted by 40%, significantly reducing the price to only $23.99 for the Spar 1220 and $41.99 for the Sparq 3100.

Carousel by Dropbox gains native iPad UI, sharing to Instagram and WhatsApp and web app

Released in April of 2014, Carousel is a great app to enjoy all your photos stored in Dropbox, but I've always resented that it didn't have a native interface on the iPad. The Dropbox-owned software has received a refresh Thursday, at last adding the native interface on Apple's tablets.

In addition, Carousel now lets you share images from your Dropbox to Facebook-owner Instagram mobile photography service and WhatsApp mobile messaging platform. And as a nice bonus, the team has thrown in a compelling Carousel web app.

Carousel is available free in the App Store.

America First Credit Union’s Visa cards now accepted in Apple Pay

America First Credit Union said in a media release Thursday that cardholders can now use its America First Visa credit and debit cards with Apple Pay. In addition, as explained in a FAQ outlining the service, customers can also use their Visa Business credit and debit cards with Apple's mobile payment service.

Apple Pay is accepted at more than 220,000 retailers and does not require any special merchant equipment aside from a standard NFC-enabled terminal.

Kingdom Rush Origins arrives to App Store

There goes my productivity: Kingdom Rush Origins for the iPhone and Kingdom Rush Origins HD for the iPad have been released in the App Store today priced at $2.99 and $4.99, respectively.

Created by Ironhide Game Studio, Kingdom Rush Origins is a prequel to both the original Kingdom Rush game and the sequel titled Kingdom Rush Frontiers.

Once again, the player will be tasked with defending mystical lands from sea serpents, Gnoll tribes, enchanted creatures and twilight elves and commanding an arsenal of “unique towers, epic heroes and mighty powers that will help you crush your foes and save the world once again.”

The game features a bunch of new levels and spells, eight new special towers, thirty new enemies, nine new heroes, more than seventy achievements, three difficulty modes and more.