Virgin Mobile brings contract-free iPhone 5s/5c down to just $385/$315

Virgin Mobile, a subsidiary of Sprint, has discounted contract-free iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c to just $385 and $315, respectively, representing significant savings over Apple's respective asking prices of $649 and $549 for the entry-level models with sixteen gigabytes of storage.

If you do the math quickly in your head, that's $264 off the iPhone 5s and $234 off the iPhone 5c. You'll need to sign up for one of Virgin's unlimited data plans starting at $35 per month ($30 if you choose to auto-pay by PayPal or your credit/debit car).

These deals are web exclusives and valid for a limited time only...

Tweetbot for Mac gains thumbnail size option and three-finger swiping

Tapbot's popular Twitter client for iOS and OS X, Tweetbot, has been refreshed on the Mac with a few fixes and two new features.

Version 1.5, now available in the Mac App Store as a free upgrade to existing users, lets you choose the size of inline image thumbnails in your timelines, a feature developers added to the iPhone and iPod touch client earlier this month.

And for those who take advantage of multitouch gestures in OS X, Tweetbot now supports swiping left and right with three fingers to navigate through your timelines without having to manually click on the back button...

Avadon 2: The Corruption HD review – the role-playing adventure continues

Spiderweb Software makes amazing role-playing adventure games that let players follow deep storylines and utilize teams of fighters in order to complete missions and destroy bad guys.

Avadon: The Black Fortress HD first launched in mid-2011, back when companies were not as interested in putting expansive, explorative games on the iPad. Today, there are plenty of team-based RPGs to satisfy my love of the genre, but Avadon holds a special place in my heart.

Two-and-a-half years after the first story made it to the iPad, Spiderweb Software has finally launched its sequel, Avadon 2: The Corruption HD, in the App Store…

Winocm shows off untethered iOS 7.1 jailbreak on iPhone 4

Well known hacker and future Apple employee winocm posted a video demonstrating an untethered jailbreak of iOS 7.1 earlier today. The video, which he posted to YouTube, shows off what appears to be an untethered jailbreak on a Verizon iPhone 4.

In a brief tweet, winocm sent out a link to the video with the caption 'iOS 7.1 untethered boot.' Now, details regarding the clip are very scarce right now, but the fact it exists is fueling hope for folks on newer firmware wanting to jailbreak their devices...

Medium launches read-only iPhone app

After somewhat of a brief delay, Medium's app finally landed in the App Store today. It's for the iPhone only, and has a focus on reading and recommending stories. In fact, that's about all it's capable of doing right now, as there's no way to write using the app.

"It’s a simple app because every week, thousands of people come to Medium to write," says Medium's founder Ev Williams in a blog post. "They share their stories, their ideas, their dreams and visions. That’s the hard part. We’re just helping amplify their voices."

Theme Thursday: Inversify, Ayza, VectrOS and more

It is quite impressive that even as this eighth edition of Theme Thursday has come upon us, there are still a number of quality Winterboard themes being released each week. It is equally as impressive how collaborative the theming community is in general, as a number of iDownloadBlog readers and others continue to share themes with us that they feel are deserving of making this column. This week, we are proud to share Inversify, Ayza, Rollypop and VectrOS. Here they are…

Luna Calculator puts a unique twist on a basic calculator app

I don’t normally focus too much attention on calculator apps. Some of them can be pretty cool. But for the most part, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. There has to be something special about a calculator app to catch my attention.

Luna Calculator is an app that has something special. In addition to the simple mathematical equations that the average calculator app includes, this one lets you create lists of numbers and save them for future reference…

Ridge Racer Slipstream goes free until next Thursday as Apple’s Free App of the Week

Today, like any given Thursday, Apple is refreshing its Free App of the Week promotion by making a new iOS tittle free for the next seven days.

Last week's promotion brought us the free download of Mildmania's Darklings [review], a gesture-driven endless atmospheric adventure game that incorporates visually enticing Noire-style graphics akin to Limbo and Badland.

Today, Namco Bandai's Ridge Racer Slipstream has gone free as the App Store's new Free App of the Week.

Normally a $2.99 download, but now available free in the App Store until next Thursday, Ridge Racer Slipstream recreates this ultimate arcade racing franchise on your iPhone and iPad with pretty graphics, Career and Arcade game modes, twelve beefy cars with plenty of horse power, over a hundred racing competitions across six Grand Prix series, real-time multiplayer and lots more...

Asphalt 8 with Twitch broadcasting, The Great Wall tracks, new cars and more now available

Earlier this week, Gameloft, the prolific maker of mobile games, has announced a partnership with the live streaming video game platform Twitch that would bring the first ever mobile streaming game experience to Asphalt 8: Airborne.

The following day, Gameloft teased the forthcoming update and it's now live in the App Store so best thing you grab it now and live stream some action right away.

In addition to Twitch integration, Asphalt 8 now includes six new tracks scattered throughout the gorgeous Asian-inspired location, the Great Wall, as well as new soundtrack, new cars, new events in career mode, an improved main menu and more...

Fortune ranks Tim Cook 33rd in list of world’s top 50 greatest leaders

Although a number of pundits pushing the popular 'Apple is doomed' narrative these days might disagree with me, I think Tim Cook has done a solid job at Apple thus far. Sure, its stock is currently way down from its peak, but the company is still turning a large profit.

And if you don't believe me, checkout Fortune's new list of the world's 50 greatest leaders. Ranked at #33, Cook is one of only two leaders from Silicon Valley to make the list, which includes the likes of Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama. The other is Amazon's Jeff Bezos...

GarageBand for Mac gains three new Drummers, can now export to MP3 and more

If you're an aspiring musician and a user of Apple's free music-making software for the Mac, you should know there's a new GarageBand update sitting in the Mac App Store.

The free GarageBand version 10.0.2 edition contains multiple enhancements to Accessibility and adds the option to export a song as an MP3 file.

The latter is much welcomed as you were previously required to export songs as QuickTime or some other format and then use iTunes or a similar app to manually convert the digital file into the commonly used MP3 format. There are also some new Drummers, but more on that after the break...

Christian Bale reportedly front-runner for Steve Jobs role in Sony’s biopic

Academy Award-winner Christian Bale is said to be the front-runner for the Steve Jobs role in Sony's upcoming biopic about the Apple founder. And if you're a fan of the Cupertino company, or just a fan of good movies in general, this is exciting news.

Bale is highly regarded in Hollywood for his ability to play a wide range of characters—he's done everything from a sociopathic serial killer to the cape crusader—and his commitment to the art. He once dropped 60 pounds in just a few months for a role...