Apple

Angry Birds Star Wars II goes free, adds 30 new ‘Master Your Destiny’ levels

Finnish games maker Rovio Mobile, best-known for its Angry Birds franchise, today released a "Master Your Destiny" update adding an additional thirty new levels to Angry Birds Star Wars 2. And for the third time since it launched late last year, Angry Birds Star Wars 2 has switched from paid to free.

What are you waiting for? Grab Angry Birds Star Wars 2 free of charge in the App Store now....

Tempo Smart Calendar 1.4: Reminders, Waze integration, events in natural language and more

Available free of charge in the App Store, Tempo 1.4 adds several long-expected features like Waze integration for community-based traffic reports, native support for iOS Reminders, more timely notifications for flights and conference calls, updated contact details on Profile Cards and more.

Perhaps the biggest new feature, Tempo 1.4 now lets you add events in plain English. The app will parse your spoken query and recognize the days of the weeks, time, holidays, repeating events and more. Jump past the fold for the full list of changes...

Apple releases iTunes 11.3, including all-new iTunes Extras for HD movies for Mac and Apple TV

Apple has just released a brand new iTunes 11.3 update which enables iTunes Extras for HD movies on Mac computers. Moreover, iTunes 11.3 finally brings back iTunes Extras to the $99 Apple TV media-streaming box after Apple killed support for this useful content-enhancing feature back in 2010.

As if that wasn't enough, the company confirmed that these interactive menus with featurettes, behind-the-scenes videos, director's commentary and other interactive assets will be coming to iOS 8 in Fall...

Minecraft – Pocket Edition 0.9.0 update brings infinite world size and more

With nearly sixty million copies sold across all platforms, Mojang's Minecraft is quite a phenomenon. And now, the highly-anticipated update to the game has landed on the App Store.

Now available for $6.99 in the App Store, Minecraft – Pocket Edition version 0.9.0 for the iPhone and iPad vastly enhances the popular blocky sandbox game with the addition of infinite world size, new monsters and caves, a bunch of new blocks to work with, new places to explore and much more...

Sega unleashes Sonic Jump Fever on the App Store

Having initially soft-launched in the Canadian App Store, Sega has now made Sonic Jump Fever available worldwide. Keeping true to its promise, the Japanese games developer and publisher has released the game as a freemium download with an optional Special Ring Bundle available via a $0.99 In-App Purchase.

Sonic Jump Fever challenges you to compete against friends for high scores in fast-paced vertical jumping challenges. "Unleash Fever Mode and push Sonic into hyper-speed for earth-shattering scores," teases Sega...

Another Google app hits iOS: AdWords Express

The Internet giant Google is among the most prolific app publishers on Apple's mobile platform - the company has dozens of apps available on the App Store. You can now safely add a new entrant to the list of Google's iOS apps - AdWords Express.

Available free of charge for the iPhone and iPad, it lets you manage your AdWords Express for small businesses.

The software makes it easy to edit your ads, choose where to show advertisements, see how many calls, clicks and vies your ad is getting, access detailed ad stats and analytics and more...

Apple reportedly orders 68 million iPhone 6 units ahead of launch this Fall

Apple is apparently so confident that the iPhone 6 will be its fastest-selling handset that it's reportedly ordered a massive 68 million iPhone 6 units ahead of the Fall launch.

According to Chinese media reports, Apple is expecting high demand for the handset. It's not just the case of pent-up demand, however.

Provided rumors are true, this Fall will bring the first iPhablet in the form of a 5.5-inch iPhone 6, a popular form factor that should help bring customer who have switched over to Samsung back into the fold...

Fleksy iOS 8 keyboard launching this Fall with support for 40 languages

When iOS 8 launches this Fall, users will finally be able to install third-party keyboards, in line with Apple's newly found openness and extensibility.

Popular Android keyboards like Swype, Fleksy and SwiftKey, as well as specialized soft-keyboards such as Adaptxt and Minuum, are all currently being ported to iOS 8 as we speak.

Fleksy already teased its upcoming iOS 8 keyboard and promised to be one of the first third-party keyboards on iOS 8. And now, the company has confirmed in a media release that the Fleksy keyboard should be available when iOS 8 launches this Fall...

Questionable report revives iPhone haptics rumor

Since the original iPhone's inception, Apple's been expected to add haptic feedback technology to its iconic smartphone. This hasn't happened to this date, despite several Apple patent filings related to an enhanced haptic feedback on mobile devices.

A new Chinese rumor has been making rounds on the web Thursday, reviving the old-standing rumor which calls for an iPhone with haptic feedback.

According to sources, the next iPhone(s) will incorporate tactile feedback in order to augment the sense of touch with subtle vibrations when virtual keys are pressed...

WSJ: TSMC starts shipping 20nm A8 chips to Apple

It's been long rumored that Apple for years has been working with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest independent chip foundry, on building its in-house designed processors that power the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV devices.

Thus far, several conflicting reports have indicated that TSMC has been running test production of the upcoming A8 processor for months now, with other sources insisting that the Taiwanese chip foundry was unsuccessful kickstarting mass-production over ongoing yield issues.

A report Thursday by The Wall Street Journal has it on good authority that TSMC finally began shipping its first batch of microprocessors to Apple in the second quarter...

Tim Cook says Apple plans to release corporate diversity data

As we reported earlier, Tim Cook is in attendance at Allen & Co.'s annual Sun Valley conference in Idaho this week. The conference is a major  gathering for executives in technology and media industries, and has in the past facilitated high profile negotiations.

During a Q&A session this afternoon, Cook was asked if Apple planned to release data on its corporate diversity—something the company has been criticized over many times— at any point. Cook said it will eventually, but right now it's "more focused on actions."

Disney iTunes sales briefly halted in Japan over licensing dispute

Folks in Japan may have noticed that newer Disney movies like Frozen and Thor: The Dark World have been unavailable for purchase in iTunes over the past few days. You could rent the titles, but the option to buy them had been removed.

Good news this morning though, as it looks like Disney has resumed iTunes sales in the country. Variety is reporting that the temporary halt was due to difficulties in negotiations over the renewal of the old contract between the two firms...