App Updates

Cut the Rope gains a new Steam Box of 25 levels

Red hot UK developer Chillingo has refreshed its popular physics-based puzzler, Cut the Rope, with a brand new Steam Box containing 25 levels. The charming game invites you to feed candy to your little monster.

Released two years ago, it's been downloaded 250 million times across platforms. With this new update, which is free to those who've purchased the game, Cut the Rope now sports a whopping 325 levels spread across thirteen boxes and Chillingo is promising more to come. Just like Angry Birds, Chillingo has been constantly adding new content to Cut the Rope with free content packs.

Rovio also yesterday updated its Angry Birds Space game with 30 new aquatic levels and while I'm a huge fan of the series, I must admit I've been feeling a little Angry Birds fatigue lately so this Cut the Rope update should keep me busy. It's very entertaining and I love its charming characters and crisp graphics. If you haven't already, I urge you to at least check out a out free demo version...

‘Pig Dipper’ update adds 30 new aquatic levels to Angry Birds Space

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCPD3z6iWWE

Rejoice, Angry Birds fans. Just like clockwork, Rovio has updated its Angry Birds Space game with an ambiguously titled Pig Dipper episode bringing thirty new galactic-aquatic levels to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android devices. This episode introduces a new planet called Splash that features pigs in boats - how bizarre is that?.

Also look for strange aquatic extraterrestrial life and water-based physics allowing for some nice trick shots. The game adds power-up specific leaderboards and amuses with the stuff like inflating the pigs with Pig Puffer and creating black holes with Space Egg, to name a few. I wonder if the giant fish is the boss...

Instagram app updated with new Mayfair filter and the usual bug fixes

Instagram has been taking a lot of heat this past week and while everything seems to almost be back to normal, what better way to remind everybody that Instagram is the best way to share underexposed waffle pictures than releasing a new filter?

Just about 10 days after launching the new Willow filter, the Instagram app has been updated with one new filter labeled Mayfair, as well as the usual bug fixes...

Popular Rockmelt social browser now available for the iPhone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaKQP-TuCgg

Rockmelt social browser has been available on the iPad for nearly two months now and today the team refreshed the app, adding the all-new iPhone and iPod touch experience. Rockmelt version 2.1 is available now as a universal binary supporting all form factor iOS devices natively. On the iPhone, the program boasts a design “optimized for the thumb alone" (they must have watched Apple's iPhone commercials) while offering the familiar feature set.

You'll still enjoy a Pinterest-like streaming interface with scrollable tiles and navigate your way around the app via gestures. As a bonus, the app keeps all your Rockmelt copies across different devices in sync, just like Google's Chrome browser does...

Flickr for iPhone gains better sharing features

Yahoo really seized an opportunity by giving its Flickr iOS app a much-needed love in last week's major version 2.0 update, didn't it? I mean, the app couldn't have arrived at a better time just as Facebook has suffered a major PR blow due to the public outcry concerning Instagram's new terms of service. Seven days later, Yahoo brings us a new Flickr update. Based on customer feedback, Flickr version 2.01.772 is now available for download, sporting several interesting new features missing in the previous release...

Rovio launches Christmas song, adds 24 levels and new power-ups to Angry Birds Rio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwd99PfFwpw

Curl up with some hot cocoa and a holiday song from Finnish mobile games developer Rovio. The team has just updated Angry Birds Rio, its marketing tie-in with the 20th Century Fox animated film Rio. The fresh content pack brings 24 new levels and power ups, including a "special delivery" TNT Drop, Samba Burst, Sling Scope laser targeting and Super Seeds to supersize your birds.

There are twenty free power ups in total to boot from, with an additional power up added each day. Plus, you can collect stars to unlock eighteen special Star levels and earn feathers to unlock six Mighty Eagle levels. Rovio also created an Angry Birds-themed holiday song titled “Fly Me Home Tonight” in honor of the festive season...

Viber gains emoticons, locations, stickers and group conversations with up to 40 participants

Viber, the popular IM and VoIP software for smartphones, joins a rash of holiday updates by releasing a new version of its iPhone and iPod touch client. Viber version 3.2, now available free from the App Store, makes text messaging more fun by giving you the ability to share stickers with friends and enrich your communication with emoticons. Also new is the enhanced group messaging feature supporting group conversations with up to 40 participants. You can also share locations in messages and the app is now optimized for the iPhone 5's taller display and plays nicely with iOS 6...

Camera+ finally gains full-res sharing

Camera+'s inability to share snaps at full resolution on Facebook has been ticking me off for some time. I prefer to share my images in full-res whenever possible, but the otherwise perfect Camera+ app stubbornly kept insisting on reducing my uploads to a paltry 1,024 pixels horizontally.

Thankfully, the annoying limitation is gone now. What's more, developer tap tap tap has also bumped up the quality a bit for Twitter, Message and web link sharing, meaning you’ll get higher quality shares even if you don’t change a thing.

The iPad version now does a better job handling atypical image formats and the team is already talking about the upcoming version 3.8, "which is right around the corner".

In addition to "a few other really cool things", this will be the update you've been waiting for, one that will finally converge the features in both iPhone and iPad version of the program...

Google+ holiday treats: better photo experience, conversation cards, more fluid UI

With over a hundred million active users, Google+ is, as Eric Schmidt put it, "a viable competitor to Facebook" and its nearly one billion users. This morning, the search firm is issuing new iOS and Android builds that enable a bunch of holiday treats. On the iOS side, you can now swipe through photo albums inline or tap once to see the photos full screen. New conversation cards are also available for highlighting specific content, from longer snippets to bigger photos to comments that slide in beneath each post...

Amazon’s Instant Video app updated with iPhone and iPod touch support

Amazon released its video player app as an iPad-only affair back in August and today the online retailer has updated the software with support for the iPhone and iPod touch. The new universal binary is still provided on a free of charge basis, though the videos, of course, must be purchased from Amazon. That the Instant Video software now works natively on all form-factor iOS devices is no doubt a good news for those of you who get your entertainment from Amazon. The program allows you to download videos for offline viewing and comes with an included selection of top Prime Instant Video titles included in the app...

Yahoo updates Flickr app with the obligatory Instagram-like filters

Following Instagram's update that added a new Willow filter and yesterday's big refresh of Twitter's iOS client that now lets you crop a photo and apply up to eight brand new filters before tweeting it out, Yahoo too has joined the fray by revamping its aging Flickr iOS client this morning. And guess what? The redesigned app also touts filters as Yahoo attempts to stay relevant in the social photography space. There are sixteen unique camera filters to choose from, twice as much as in Twitter's app (and also powered by Aviary). More features and screenies right after the break...

Twitter app update with Instagram-like filters now available for download

As I reported yesterday, Twitter has updated its Android app with the promised Instagram-competing photo filters, a first for the micro-blogging service seeking to supplant Instagram as your favorite photo sharing service. That, my friends, is a pretty tall order given Instagram's popularity, the Facebook backing and a growing number of new features Instagram's gaining. Be that as it may, Twitter has waited until this morning to roll out filters to its iOS client.

You're gonna love the ability to snap a scene, edit the photo with the filters supplied by Aviary and tweet out your work without jumping back and forth between Twitter and your go-to iPhoneography app. You can grab the free download right now from the App Store. More on other features right after the break...