Apple

TeeVee 3 updated with iOS 8 Today widget, interactive alerts and now free

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

TeeVee 3, a TV show-tracking app that I reviewed in May by Tomas Perzl of the Czech Republic and Slovakia-based CrazyApps Team, now lets you tweet out upcoming episodes or mark the ones you've seen as watched, directly from the notification itself, and also see which shows are coming next in the Today view of the iOS Notification Center, thanks to its iOS 8-focused update released yesterday.

Other new features available in this excellent iPhone and iPad app include new sorting options (Alphabetically, Reverse, AirDate and Unwatched), the ability to delete a show by long-pressing it in the list and several bug fixes.

As a cherry on top, the team has decided to discount the $2.99 app to zero bucks, for a limited time, in an effort to bring in new customers. If you're going to grab the latest TeeVee 3.1 update, please keep in mind that the app now requires iOS 8.

Twitter’s iPhone app gains interactive notifications on iOS 8, revamps profile pages

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 18, 2014

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service, is rolling out a brand new profile experience on Twitter for iPhone, in addition to another cool new feature — support for interactive notifications for incoming tweets on iOS 8 devices — the startup announced in a blog post Thursday.

While the new profiles will be available for everyone using iOS 7 or above, the ability to interact with alerts on the Lock and Home screen is not because this capability is part of the great new features available only in iOS 8.

The survival guide to waiting in line for iPhone 6

Sébastien Page ∙ September 18, 2014

We're almost there, folks! After months of rumors, speculations, and leaks from "sources familiar with the matter," iPhone 6 will be launching tomorrow Friday at 8am. For many of us, this is arguably one of the most exciting days of the year. If you have pre-ordered your iPhone 6, then you'll likely be waiting for it from the comfort of your home, or maybe it will just be waiting for you at the door when you come back from work.

But for those of us who haven't pre-ordered and opted to get in line to pick up an iPhone 6, some decisions have to be made, and a game plan has to be drawn. Today, I'll share with you some of the things I've learned from waiting in line for an Apple product several years in a row. This is not rocket science, but it might as well be.

Flipboard receives iOS 8 Share menu extension, support for iPhone 6 screens

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 18, 2014

Like many other popular apps, Flipboard, the beloved social news magazine for the iPhone and iPad, has received a nice update today bringing out support for iOS 8's Share sheet extension which allows you to more conveniently collect what you love into Flipboard magazines across Apple's ecosystem.

Now available free of charge in the App Store, the new Flipboard 2.3.8 also includes support for the bigger screens on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Kindle update brings iOS 8 Today widget, translation cards, copy & paste and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Thursday morning, the online retail giant Amazon has released the new Kindle 4.5 for the iPhone and iPad in the App Store, bringing out a Today widget and compatibility fixes for Apple's latest iOS 8 software update, in addition to the ability to copy passages of text from e-books, look up translations and more.

The 40.4-megabyte download is universal so any iPhone, iPod touch or iPad is supported natively as long as it's compatible with iOS 7.0 or later.

Safari 7.1 for Mavericks is out with encrypted Yahoo searches, DuckGoGo and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Apple on Thursday released an update to its desktop Safari browser for Macs running OS X Mavericks which contains improvements to compatibility and security while introducing a pair of new options for strengthening your privacy when searching.

The first such feature turns on SSL encryption for all Yahoo searches conducted from Safari's search field. As a result, no one can eavesdrop on what you're searching for online.

The other adds DuckGoGo, a search engine that does not track you (Google won't like this) as a built-in option in the search field. Note that Safari in iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite already includes DuckGoGo as an option.

Safari 7.1 has arrived on the heels of yesterday's OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 update which contains Safari 7.0.6 and improves the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.

Gameloft updates Modern Combat and Asphalt with iOS 8 Metal-powered graphics

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Following up on yesterday's public release of the free iOS 8 software update for Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod touch mobile devices, French games maker Gameloft on Thursday unleashed a pair of updates for its two highly-successful titles: Modern Combat 5: Blackout, a first-person shooter, and Asphalt 8: Airborne, a crazy racing game driven by a powerful physics engine which has you performing dynamic, high-speed aerial stunts.

Both games are now powered by iOS 8's new Metal framework which provides low-level access to the GPU inside the Apple-designed A7 chip (the iPhone 5s, iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display) and its A8 counterpart (the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus). When played on these devices, both of these games benefit from close-to-the-metal access to graphics cores, without the overhead of the OpenGL graphics run-time.

Real Steel is Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 18, 2014

It's Thursday and Apple's editors have slashed another app to zero bucks in the App Store's weekly Free App of the Week promotion.

Free until next Thursday and replacing last week's Free App of the Week, the addictive puzzler Bicolor, movie tie-in Real Steel by Reliance Big Entertainment has now gone free for a week, until next Thursday.

Representing a $0.99 saving, Real Steel for the iPhone and iPad is based on the 2011 Dreamworks movie starring Hugh Jackman which takes place in a secret world in the not-so-distant future where boxing has gone high-tech.

Instead of human boxers, players control sophisticated boxing robots weighing over 2,000 pounds and reaching up to eight feet tall. Featuring lush graphics, fast-paced action and addictive mechanics, Real Steel is a nice time-killer. And with all-new Tournament and Survival modes, it should keep you busy.

Apple and U2 working on secret project to tempt fans into buying music again

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 18, 2014

Apple has been working with the popular Irish rock band U2 on a secret project that should result in birth of a brand new music format designed to tempt music lovers again into buying both whole albums and individual tracks, according to TIME Thursday.

As a longtime partner of Apple, the Irish band helped the Cupertino firm push the iPod music player into the mainstream by producing a special edition U2 iPod in 2008.

Apple is also one of the biggest proponents of U2 lead singer Bono's Product(RED) initiative to fight AIDS. And earlier this month, U2 played at Apple's iPhone 6 event and is currently giving away its latest album, “Songs of Innocence”, for free on iTunes.

Apple launches new privacy-focused site with government request figures and more

Cody Lee ∙ September 17, 2014

Apple this evening launched a new privacy site in an effort to increase transparency on how it protects user data, and to educate users on how they can better protect themselves. Additionally, Tim Cook has posted an open letter to Apple Customers detailing the various sections of the new site, as well as Apple's stance on user privacy.

The move follows recent bad publicity for Apple, in which its laxed iCloud security measures were blamed for the hacking of high profile celebrity accounts, which resulted in a slew of nude photos being leaked. The company maintains that its servers were never breached, but Tim Cook promised to double down on security anyway.

Apple updates Pages and iMovie for iOS 8 [updated]

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Following its release of iOS 8 this morning, Apple has begun updating its mobile apps to support the firmware. It looks like Numbers and iMovie were first on the list, with both apps showing up in the App Store's Updates tab today touting iOS 8 compatibility.

The change log for Numbers is fairly brief, mentioning only support for iOS 8, iCloud Drive compatibility, and stability improvements and bug fixes. iMovie's update, however, is a bit more extensive, bringing about new features like slow motion and video filters.

Update: it looks like Apple has also pushed out iOS 8 updates for Pages and Keynote as well.

Update 2: iMovie was experiencing issue so Apple apparently pulled it from the App Store. It should be fixed and come back quickly.

Update 3: as expected, Apple resolved the issue quickly and iMovie is once again available in the App Store.