App Updates

Roku updates iPhone app with AirPlay-like content streaming

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 8, 2013

Good news, Roku set-top box users! A significant update to Roku's iOS app has just been issued, enabling an AirPlay-like functionality that works with photos, music and iOS video content. In a nutshell, a new Play on Roku feature works similar to AirPlay, a media streaming technology from Apple. The freshly updated app can now stream content stored on an iPhone, iPad or iPod directly to a bunch of Roku's set-top box products. Jump past the fold for more information...

Google updates Play Books with rentals and sepia mode, starts rolling out textbooks

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2016

I like Google's Play Books app even though it's severely crippled due to Apple's policy of prohibiting links to external stores, which doesn't make it very useful if you want to browse and download some new reading material to your device (to shop books, visit Google Play in your browser).

Other than that, it's a solid reading app and perhaps a nice gateway drug to Google's other content stores.

It's been a while since Google last updated Play Books so today saw an interesting update which has brought out three useful features. I've included the description and a few nice screenshots right after the break...

Infuse 1.3 drops: AirPlay, Wi-Fi file transfers, fullscreen TV out and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

FireCore, the guys who brought you the aTV Flash Black for jailbroken Apple TV boxes, back in April launched their iOS media player app, Infuse, on the App Store.

My initial review praised the attractive user interface and support for more than a dozen non-iOS media formats, but criticized lack of wireless media transfer capability and non-existent AirPlay support, including lack of subtitle streaming over AirPlay which has seriously hampered Infuse's potential to become my go-to iOS media player.

Staying true to its promise, the team in the meantime has been hard at work expanding on the app's initial feature set. I've been testing today's 1.3 update for the past week or so and I'm happy to report that - much to my delight - the new version addresses most of the initial complaints I had with it.

Read on for the full reveal...

WhatsApp adds unlimited voice messaging

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 7, 2013

WhatsApp is arguably the most popular cross-platform mobile messaging solution out there and while it currently lacks a desktop client (unlike its rival Viber), it's just become a whole lot more useful by introducing a significant new feature: voice memos, a pet project of its CEO over the past six months.

Unlike Facebook's Messenger iOS app that requires three taps to make a voice recording, it only takes a single tap to record and send a voice memo in WhatsApp. And no, it's not a staggered release: the new WhatsApp with push-to-record voice messaging is available now simultaneously on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Nokia...

Feedly unveils Pro features with RSS search and Evernote support

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 6, 2013

Feedly, one of the many Google Reader alternatives vying for your attention following the closure of Google's popular web-based RSS client, opened its cloud app for everyone in June. By now, the service has already grown to an astounding 13 million users.

Banking on its popularity, the startup has now started rolling out a new Pro paid tier that enables advanced features like RSS search, Evernote integration and more for $5 per month...

NFL iOS app updated for the 2013-14 season, adds Verizon-only streaming

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

As first noted by AllThingsD, The National Football League has updated its iOS software for the upcoming NFL season. Among other changes, the official NFL Mobile 8.0 app boasts a revamped appearance, with stats and data updated for the 2013-14 season. As the new version now combines two previously standalone apps, one from the NFL itself and the other by Verizon, it comes with a premium streaming feature - but only if you're a Verizon iPhone owner.

Jailbreakers should proceed with caution as the new app isn't supported on jailbroken devices. If you're into professional American football, you're probably aware that the 2013 NFL regular season opens Thursday, September 5 (the Baltimore Ravens are playing against the Broncos in Denver). I've included more details about the new NFL Mobile 8.0 app after the break...

Camera+ brings effects layering to iPhone, new Hollywood filters and borders

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 10, 2018

My favorite iPhone photography software, taptaptap's Camera+ for the iPhone and iPad, has been updated today with some long-expected improvements. Specifically, the tremendously useful effects layering feature, which was first added to Camera+ for iPad last September, is now at last available on the iPhone. Now the new Camera+ 3.9 for iPhone finally lets me layer two or more effects for unique results, with each layer having its own intensity.

Effects layering is non-destructive (your originals are always preserved) and indispensable for complex touch-ups or creating your own custom effects. In addition to that, both the iPad and iPhone build now comes with a brand new effects pack and contains other improvements, all mentioned right after the jump...

Viber update brings ‘seen’ status, photo doodles, new emoticons and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 31, 2013

The popular cross-platform instant messaging software Viber has been updated to version 3.1, bringing a few noteworthy improvements.

In addition to fun new emoticons and a new 'Seen' status that lets you know when your messages have been seen, Viber version 3.1 features expanded support for the Viber Desktop application on Windows and Mac.

If you have the desktop app on your Mac or Windows PC, you can can now seamlessly transfer a call in progress from your iPhone to your desktop. There are other improvements in this Viber update as well, mentioned right after the break...

Showtime Anytime app, now with Live TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 30, 2013

If you watch cable on your iPhone and iPad, you're probably aware of the Showtime Anytime iOS app which gives subscribers on-demand access to every single episode of a dozen exclusive Showtime TV shows, plus championship boxing and 60 Minute Sports.

But Showtime fans have long been yearning for the ability to watch live television programming on their iPhone, iPod and iPad devices and now their prayers have been heard...

Shazam now lets you buy multiple songs at once through iTunes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

The music discovery engine Shazam has been on a roll lately. May brought an exclusive background television-tagging features to Shazam for iPad and last month the company added a new Pulse feature to ease music discovery by analyzing the trending real-time charts. In today's update, your Shazam apps have received another useful feature: multi-track purchase...

Google Drive iOS app can now open links in Chrome or Safari

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 24, 2013

Google is building a nice little ecosystem around Apple's iOS by feverishly updating its iPhone and iPad warez with deep cross-app integration. For example, earlier this month the Internet giant refreshed its Chrome iOS browser with the ability to open URLs for YouTube, Maps, Google+ and Drive in Google’s native iOS apps instead of the browser.

Notably absent from that update: the Google Drive client for the iPhone and iPad. Well, Google saw to that with today's Drive iOS release which can now open links in Google's Chrome or Apple's Safari browser. Google Drive version 1.5 also adds support for inserting rows and columns using the “+” button in Google Sheets...