Microsoft's latest iPad app comes in the form of the new MSN UK app, which was made available today.
The app allows UK users to keep up to date on MSN UK news articles, as well as watch video and even stream them to an AirPlay-enabled device such as an Apple TV.
If the whole thing looks eerily familiar then there's a very good reason – the MSN UK iPad app bears a striking resemblance to the Pulse news reader app which has been around for some time now...
Apple's Siri is certainly not alone in trying to be our digital assistant that knows everything and can help us in any way we ask. Quite how successful Siri is in its quest will depend on how you use it and whether your accent fits, but that's something we've already discussed to exhaustion.
One new app which is aiming to take on Siri goes by the name of Evi, which we're sure was chosen for one reason and one reason only – it sounds just like its competition.
Evi is available for both iOS and Android, with the latter being free and the former towing a $0.99 price tag. The discrepancy is apparently down to the need to pay Nuance for the voice recognition engine – an engine that is not used in the Android version. At less than a dollar we'll not complain too much...
In general, App Store updates are a good thing; it shows that the developers are continuing to support their apps, squashing bugs, etc.
But if you have tons of App Store apps like I do, the constant updates can be more of an annoyance. What to do?
If your device is jailbroken and running iOS 5, check out Update Hider for iOS 5.
Fortune Editor Adam Lashinsky is releasing a book next week entitled Inside Apple. The book is expected to contain several secrets regarding the Mac-making company that aren't currently considered public knowledge.
Excerpts from the title have been spilling out onto the web over the last few days. Yesterday, we told you that the book taps iOS executive Scott Forstall as Apple's next CEO. And today, a story has surfaced regarding Eddy Cue...
Popular iPad app Flipboard just launched on the iPhone a few months ago, allowing users to flip through articles easier on a smaller screen. Today, Flipboard has introduced a new section to their iPhone app called 'iPhoneography'. The iPhoneography section allows users to view beautiful images taken with an iPhone, aggregated by Flipboard.
As more and more people begin to move away from taking photographs with a digital camera and do it with their iPhone instead, this seems like a great addition by the Flipboard team. Flipboard uses sources like the most popular Instagram photos and other blogs for content...
Apple's iTunes is far from ideal as a home for the App Store, but we've made do with it for so long that it just sort of feels like home. Apple has made a subtle change to the way iTunes displays app information on a computer.
Until now, the only way to see an app's description was to click it and wait for iTunes to refresh itself and display the app's own page. Now things are a little less clunky, with a new preview option added to app listings.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. We love Mario Kart as much as anyone, we grew up with it in various incarnations across all manner of devices, which is why this is even more maddening.
Mole Kart, available for download from Apple's App Store right now, is what can best be described as a Mario Kart clone. That is, it's basically Mario Kart, but without the buttery smooth animations and Nintendo charm. We are not talking about Mole Kart being similar in that it's karts racing around a track, either. Mole Kart is so similar to Mario Kart that if you have played the Wii version of the game then you'll already know the tracks involved in this iOS clone.
It's that much of a rip-off...
The iPad has more than a few accessories already, but we've not seen one quite like this and, to be honest, we don't really know what to think about it.
Shown off at this year's CES, the GameChanger by Identity Games gives gamers a way to turn a $500 iPad into a board game, which sounds both awesome and incredibly boring at the same time. The idea is simple: use the board as the main game board with the iPad providing digital interaction, either asking questions or providing other uses.
The iPad connects to the GameChanger using its dock connector, giving the game board a connection with allows it to feed information back to the tablet. This allows the game app to tailor the experience according to where pieces are on the game board, for example...
Shazam made its name as a music recognition engine, helping users find tracks based on the music that was being played at a club, on TV, or just about anywhere. The software was one of the first in the App Store, and certainly one of the biggest success stories of its generation.
As the years have passed the app has seen new features added, and the download numbers have continued to increase. Now the team behind that app has released a new, improved music solution called Shazam Player, and we're going to go ahead and assume it's going to be just as popular as its older brother.
Shazam Player is built to completely replace the iOS music player, taking over music playback duties and adding in that Shazam magic, with social aspects thrown in for good measure.
TomTom is obviously one of the biggest players in the navigation business, and with standalone devices selling alongside the company's mobile apps, it's also one of the most dominant.
Not happy to rest on its laurels, TomTom has been showing off a new version of its popular iOS app at this year's CES, and it's a little different. Namely, this incarnation uses social networks like never before, with Twitter and Facebook being used to actually help with navigation.
Version 1.10 of the current TomTom apps will take in the new social features, with abilities such as navigating to recent checkins on a network being added throughout the app. Notifications of expected arrival times and more can also be shared the other way, keeping your friends and family up to date on proceedings...
If you're a Call of Duty Elite subscriber and happen to have an iPhone, then today is a big day for you, because Activision's accompanying iPhone app has now made its way to the App Store.
Call of Duty fans will be able to check their career stats, formulate strategies, and change weapon loudouts on the fly, all from the comfort of their iPhone.
The free Call of Duty Elite app allows gamers to make alterations that can be pushed straight into the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game, meaning players are always ready for action.
Amazon has launched a new web interface for its Kindle store, completely bypassing Apple's in-app purchasing system for items that are bought through App Store apps.
The original Kindle app for iOS included links to its own Kindle web store. Apple took offence to this move by Amazon, leading to Amazon removing the links for fear of having the entire app pulled from the App Store for violating Apple's guidelines. From that point on, anyone wanting to buy Kindle books on an iOS device had to reach the store manually, with no mention of it inside the Kindle app.