App Updates

Pocket adds new features, introduces Premium tier

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Pocket (formerly Read It Later), is a popular read-later service that lets you save content you don't have the time to read right now. You can then enjoy saved items later on all your mobile/desktop devices and in the web UI.

Saved stories are stripped of all unnecessary graphics, ads and other bells and whistles that clutter online articles. Folks who research a lot like bloggers tend to use read-later services as their central repository of URLs.

For example, I use Pocket to keep stories containing snippets of information that I may or may not use in my future writing. There's just one tiny problem: a saved URL is no good if an article gets deleted on the web. Enter Pocket Premium, your new subscription Pocket library that keeps a permanent copy of anything you save to it...

Beats Music drops annual subscription fee to $99, free trial extended to 14 days for everyone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2018

Hot on the heels of officially announcing the major $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics LCC., and ahead of its SVP Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi's joint appearance at the Code Conference tonight, Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre's four months old music service has just sweetened the deal.

The startup has dropped the price of Beats Music yearly subscription free to $99.99, down from $119.88.

Additionally, the previous 7-day free trial of Beats Music has now been extended in a “no strings attached” move to fourteen days to all users...

Chrome iOS update brings improved handling of search queries and other treats

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 28, 2014

Google has issued a brand new Chrome iOS browser version, bringing out several nice-to-haves and refinements to its popular Safari alternative for the iPhone and iPad.

In addition to the usual stability improvements and bug fixes, the new Chrome build 35.0.1916.38, available free in the App Store, improves upon its handling of right-to-left input method for Arabic and Hebrew in Omnibox, which in Google's parlance stands for the browses combined search and address box.

More importantly, the app will now display your exact search term in Omnibox instead of the long search query URL, just like Apple’s Safari. And upon landing on Google's redesigned mobile search results page, the browser now makes it easy to refine your search queries and view more results...

iTunes 11.2.2 update arrives with podcast bug fix and stability improvements

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 28, 2014

Apple has just released a new version of iTunes. This is a third update to the company's desktop jukebox application in less than two weeks.

iTunes 11.2.2 is now available through your Mac's Software Update, offering several stability improvements and fixing a bug related to the software's handling of podcasts.

The update is recommended for all iTunes users and should be now available for Mac and Windows via the Mac App Store's Updates tab or as a standalone download via Apple's website...

Adobe Revel now offers 2GB of free photo storage

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2018

Adobe updated its Revel client for iOS today, bringing the app to version 2.3. The update brings about a few design tweaks, which make the app easier to use, and a handful of bug fixes, but the big news here is the bump in free storage.

Free accounts for Adobe's cloud-based Revel service now get 2GB of storage space, or enough for around 1000 photos. That's quite the change from the previous model, where non-paying Revel users were limited to just 50 uploads/month...

iPhone email client Dispatch picks up folders, new triage features, phishing detection and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 1, 2018

There's certainly no shortage of email clients on iOS. Which reminds me, there used to be a time not that long ago when Apple wouldn't allow third-party email clients on iOS. Silly rules, eh? Dispatch, one of the most efficient iOS email apps, strives to make you more productive by making it easy to get rid of emails by swiping, respond faster with snippets, process emails with other task-based apps and more - all in the name of achieving the inbox zero nirvana.

Our own Lory Gil who reviewed Dispatch last August came away impressed with a robust set of email management capabilities and an accessible, easy-to-grasp interface. Today, Dispatch developers have brought the app to version 2.0. It's a pretty substantial update offering not only a brand new icon and a refreshed look, but a whole host of useful features which strive to boost your productivity even more...

Real Racing 3 gains Le Mans Prototypes, night racing, split-screen multiplayer and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 27, 2014

I don't think people give Electronic Arts and Firemonkeys the credit they deserve for relentlessly updating free-to-play Real Racing 3, one of the finest racing titles available in the App Store.

Following its February 2013 debut, the freemium game has thus far received at least a dozen content updates, each of which is a winner in its own right. For example, in mid-April it's brought us open-wheel vehicles and other treats.

Today's 'Le Mans' update puts you behind the wheel of the Le Mans Prototypes - the ultimate endurance racing cars. It also includes the eagerly-awaited night racing mode on the classic Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, the ability to link up to four devices via Bluetooth for an immersive split-screen multiplayer and much more...

Reeder 2 gains iOS 7 Background App Refresh, refinements, bug fixes and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 27, 2014

Reeder, a popular RSS client for iOS and OS X by Italian developer Silvio Rizzi, has been bumped up to version 2.2 today.

The $4.99 iPhone and iPad application has notably picked up support for Background App Refresh, an iOS 7 technology which delivers new app content automatically and in the background, so the app is always up-to-date whenever you fire it up.

Reeder 2.2 also includes visual tweaks such as a new loading progress indicator for the in-app browser and refinements like a new setting to disable favicons for subscriptions and article lists. The full list of changes is right after the break...

Update your Tweetbot iOS apps before they stop working

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 14, 2018

The Tapbots issued updates for their Tweetbot Twitter clients on iOS last night, bringing the iPhone app to version 3.3.2 and the iPad version to 2.8.8. Both change logs note that these are critical updates, and that older versions of Tweetbot will soon stop working.

The developers published a post on their blog to better explain the situation, noting that folks from Twitter's Platform Operations group contacted them a few weeks ago asking them to make a small change in the way that Tweetbot talks with the Twitter API...

TeeVee 3 premiers: native iPad UI, iCloud/Trakt.tv sync, fullscreen iOS 7 layout and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Last summer I covered TeeVee, an elegant TV show-tracking app by Tomas Perzl of the Czech Republic and Slovakia-based CrazyApps Team.

I was sufficiently impressed with its clean and unobtrusive user interface and a robust set of capabilities designed to make it dead simple to retrieve useful information about your favorite TV shows, track the ones you're watching on a regular basis and what not.

A year in the making, the new TeeVee 3 is now available in exchange for $2.99 (free to existing users). The app is now finally optimized for the iPad and refreshed with a brand new iOS 7-styled interface. It sports iCloud/Trakt.tv integration, delights with its beautifully done fullscreen browser that uses edge-to-edge poster images and much more.

Hit the jump for the full reveal...

Medium app updated with iPad support, user following, and more

Cody Lee ∙ May 23, 2014

Good news this morning for fans and users of the Medium blogging platform. Its developers have pushed out an update for the iOS client, which brings the app to version 1.2, with a handful of new features and iPad support.

Originally launched back in March, the Medium app was iPhone-only, but today's release makes it universal. It also adds a new recommendation notes feature, and the ability for users to directly follow their favorite authors...

Pixelmator 3.2 is out: all-new Repair tool, Lock Layers feature, 16-bit channels and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 22, 2014

After previewing Pixelmator 3.2 a little more than a month ago, the team on Thursday released the updated software for public consumption.

Bumped to version 3.2, Pixelmator's 'Sandstone' update is now available free in the Mac App Store to those who own this popular Photoshop alternative for the Mac. The headline new feature: a much improved Repair tool.

It uses “the latest breakthrough technologies” to make it easy and fun to remove dust, blemishes and entire objects from your images, “with an unsurpassed level of precision and quality”.

Also on tap in this Pixelmator update: a Lock Layers Feature and 16-bits per channel support for all Macs (previously, only the new Mac Pro supported higher-fidelity color channels)...