App Updates

Shazam redesigns its fugly apps: larger artwork, Google+ sharing, offline tagging

Shazam, a music identification service popular with smartphone owners, today issued a nice update to both its free and paid iPhone apps. For starters, Shazam version 5.5 integrates better with iOS 6 by invoking the standard system sheet when sharing tags to Facebook (really, what took so long?). More importantly, you can now record audio snippets offline for later matching, something I've been yearning for since the dawn of time.

Google+ sharing is also supported, as is searching by name, title, tag date or location. Last, but certainly not the least, the app's fugly interface has been overhauled with larger artwork for music, TV ads, or shows, a prettier listening screen and generally nicer-looking interface that's easy on the eyes and more in line with Apple's iOS Human Interface Guidelines.

These features are in addition to September's update (when Shazam raised $32 million in funding), which has brought out the interesting ability to tag any television show on any channel in the United States...

Find My iPhone, now with driving directions to lost devices

A small but noteworthy update to Apple's Find My iPhone software has just surfaced on iTunes. The iPhone and iPad app which lets you locate stolen or misplaced devices on a world map has gained ability to provide driving directions to your lost gear. This capability requires the new Find My iPhone app version 2.0.1 or later and iOS 6 or later. Apple has also enabled another tweak where Play Sound, Lost Mode and Erase buttons appear separately from the main map view. Unfortunately, the repugnant stitched leather theme is still all over the app...

Angry Birds turn 3, Rovio celebrates by releasing Angry Birds 3.0

A lot of people still can't get enough of Angry Birds even if many are getting fed up with Rovio milking the franchise for all its worth. If you belong to the former camp, go ahead and download Angry Birds 3.0, a major update to the original game that yesterday celebrated its third anniversary. The update is free to owners of the original 99-cent bird flinging game.

So, what's on tap for Angry Birds after three years? For starters, the new version brings proper support for the iPhone 5's taller screen and provides fifteen new birthday-themed levels filled with some "explosively delicious cake". Jump past the fold for more info...

AgileBits teases 1Password 4 for iOS, coming December 13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha_4nrGyGPk

In an epic Hollywood fashion, AgileBeats, the makers of the 1Password utility, today teased an upcoming major update to its iOS client. "1Password 4 for iOS is coming", the company proclaims but doesn't provide much in way of details. A blog post only says the app's "coming soon", but the trailer offers the more specific launch date: this coming Thursday, December 13.

1Password for the Mac ( a $50 value), iPhone (a $7 value) and iPhone/iPad (a $10 download) take the pain out of remembering passwords for various services by storing your existing passwords in a centralized, secure database. The software also lets you create strong passwords and effortlessly fill in forms by integrating with your web browser...

Instagram gains enhanced camera, new Willow filter, nice little tweaks

iPhone photography fans, rejoice. Instagram today pushed an incremental update to its mobile app for iOS and Android, bringing a few improvements in the camera department, a brand new filter and more. The camera interface has been revamped with a nice Instagram-themed shutter button. The camera now displays a preview of the most recent photo on your camera roll and you can turn on an optional grid separately for the camera and the scale & crop screen.

You may also appreciate the enhanced Camera Roll picker as it now lets you quickly access the last photo taken, though that capability is inexplicably available only on the iPhone 5. More on other changes and the new Willow filter right after the break...

Google updates Shopper app: GoodGuide ratings, nicer UI, promotions, nearby sales

As I whined recently, the Android version of Google's free of charge Shopper app was updated with new holiday shopping features on November 8. Today, at last, the iOS build has received some way overdue love. Just like Tuesday's Gmail and YouTube updates, the refreshed Shopper app represents a major overhaul. It boasts a faster and cleaner interface focused on bigger product photos and has a few enhancements that will help you survive the holiday shopping frenzy.

There's an all-new screen listing sales promotions, GoodGuide ratings, an improved search with image-centric results, the new sales screen that lists special offers and sales promotions in your area and support for push notifications for new content and features...

Apple updates 12 Days of Christmas app for the 2012 holiday season

European fans have grown accustomed to Apple's holiday promotion called 12 Days of Christmas because they can count on a free download every day in a period following Christmas and until early-January. It's not just apps, Apple usually gives away songs, books and music videos as well.

A dedicated app is crucial to the promotion and today the company has updated the 12 Days of Christmas app for the iPhone, iPod and iPad with gifts for the 2012 holiday season. Download it now to get your free gift starting with December 26, the day after Christmas. The only downside: the promotion is valid outside of the United States only...

Snapseed goes free, gains new filters and Google+ sharing, hits Android

Lots of good news today for fans of the popular iPhone photography app Snapseed that Google acquired back in September. Snapseed 1.5 has just been released, featuring built-in sharing to the Google+ network, a huge boon for Google's Facebook killer. By the way, the search firm in today's blog post called Google+ "the fastest-growing network thingy ever". Snapseed, Apple's iPad App of the Year, also has gained an updated Frames filter with new photographic frames that can be colorized, in addition to a brand new Retrolux filter.

Basically a Hollywood style filter, Retrolux includes a bunch of different film styles souped up with a range of "different scratches and textures as well as light leaks to create a truly retro look for your photos". And if you happen to be on Android and have been yearning for Snapseed, you can go and download it straight from Google's Play Store right now...

Completely revamped Twitterific 5 for the iPhone and iPad goes live

Iconofactory has been teasing a completely redesigned Twitterific app since last weekend and now the software is being rolled out to international App Stores, starting with New Zealand and Australia. ”Rethought and rebuilt from the ground up", Twitterific 5 represents a complete redesign of the app you know and, hopefully, have come to love. Its refreshed look is news in and of itself given Iconofactory's artistic expertise and knowing Twitterific won an Apple Design Award.

Twitterific 5 brings with it a brand spanking new iPad interface and includes offline support, multiple account support, customizable themes, threaded DM view and timeline syncing using iCloud or Tweet Marker. More than a dozen other enhancements have made it into this update. I'm sure this release will put Iconofactory's baby back into the game. Jump after the break for additional info and screenies...

Upcoming iTunes 11 update will restore duplicate song detection

I hope you've grown accustomed to the new, highly visual library views focused on media artwork in iTunes 11 and don't mind Apple dropping Cover Flow because that feature ain't coming back. What Apple will add to the redesigned jukebox software is the ability to detect duplicate song, which mysteriously disappeared with the latest iTunes update. That's what the Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg heard from his own sources within Apple. The company reportedly told him it will restore the duplicate song detection feature "in a minor update of the program"...

YouTube app goes iPad, adds AirPlay, iPhone 5 support

Following up on its sweet Gmail refresh earlier today, Google's just announced with a post over at the official YouTube blog a long-expected update to its nice YouTube iPhone app. For starters, the program finally runs on the iPad natively, which means you can now search for kitten videos using your beloved tablet and enjoy them in high-definition on that beautiful 9.7-inch Retina display.

The software also takes full advantage of the iPhone 5's bigger display and lets you stream YouTube clips to your badass TV through the Apple TV hockey puck and using AirPlay, a wireless media streaming technology from Apple. Accessibility, video playback improvements and other perks come included with the package. But first things first...

Amazon updates Kindle app with X-Ray for Books

After updating its Kindle e-reading app for the iPhone and iPad last month with the X-Ray for Textbooks feature, the online retailer Amazon today refreshed the software, having added the useful X-Ray for Books capability. Basically the “bones of the book”, as Amazon puts it, X-Ray for Books helps you learn more about notable characters, places and phrases with nice descriptions from Shelfari.com and Wikipedia. In addition to this feature, the new Kindle app also boasts Manga image rendering improvements, per iTunes release notes. The new Kindle app is still a free universal binary and it looks great on all iOS form factors, including the iPad mini...