Apple today announced a pair of major changes that will be coming to the App Store this fall, which it said were designed to help grow developer app’s business and engage with new and existing customers.
Both the rumored search ads and various subscription enhancements will soon be available across any app category, games included.
After learning last month that Apple could terminate iTunes music downloads for good by 2018, Digital Music News is back with some new tidbits of information. Insiders say Apple is “keeping their options open” regarding the rise of Apple Music subscriptions and the streaming service potentially replacing music downloads altogether.
Augmented reality startup Magic Leap, which created the Leap Motion Controller for the Mac, has been awarded a design patent today by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a virtual reality headset which looks like a Star Wars helmet or something straight out of the Robocop movies. According to Andy Fouché, Magic Leap's Vice President of Public Relations, the patent does not represent the finished product.
The new twelve-inch MacBook is the future of Apple's notebook lineup, but the MacBook Pro family being overdue for a refresh doesn't necessarily mean that the MacBook Air will be going away. According to the fairy reliable Japanese blog Mac Otakara this morning, citing an unnamed Chinese supplier, Apple will be announcing some updated MacBook Airs and Pros later this month, possibly at WWDC.
Slack, a cloud-based, cross-platform team collaboration service, has rolled out support for voice calling, the team announced yesterday. With it, team members can call one another without leaving Slack, and calls even have an emoji response feature.
Calls are currently voice-only, but Slack says that features like video calling and screen sharing will come in the future. Slack is available across iOS, OS X, the web and other platforms.
Apple's iTunes U application has received a refresh in the App Store, bringing out a few new features. For starters, iTunes U 3.3 for iOS now takes advantage of third-party Document Provider extensions.
This enables iPhone, iPod touch and iPad owners to easily add new materials from various cloud services for which they have an app installed on their device, such as iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox and so forth.
Music and media identification service Shazam pushed a new update to its mobile application in the App Store which enables offline mode. The feature used to be present in Shazam from day one before it was temporarily removed in the overhauled app.
With it, you can still Shazam while offline and the app will name any songs you captured in offline mode when you're back online. Shazam is a free app. The paid $6.99 Shazam Encore app is available to those who want to get rid of ads and use advanced features.
It looks like Apple is going to once again be providing a live stream of its WWDC keynote address this year. On Tuesday the company updated its event website with a note that a stream of its keynote will go live on June 13 at 10:00 am (PST).
Users will be able to tune in on their Mac and iOS devices, via Apple's Safari web browser, and on Apple TV. Second and third generation ATVs will feature an Events channel, and fourth generation models with tvOS will get a standalone app.
Google today announced it's launching a brand new iPhone application aimed at those who wish to turn their Live Photos into animated GIFs. Aptly named Motion Stills, the app turns Live Photos into Motion Stills with Google’s stabilization technology and cinematic backgrounds.
These Motion Stills can then be shared as looping GIFs on social media. Motion Stills is available free in the App Store.
If every day is a game, then there should be prizes, right? Foursquare's Swarm app has started offering just that, real-life perks depending on where and how often you check in. Called Swarm Challenges, this is yet another feature that Foursquare has brought back to Swarm from its main mobile application, which is now focused on places reviews while Swarm is all about the check-in game.
After seeding iOS 9.3.3 beta 2 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 beta 2 to the registered members of the Apple Developer Program yesterday, these new betas are now available to public beta testers who are signed on the Apple Beta Software Program.
Public beta testers can apply these updates through the Software Update mechanism on devices enrolled into the Beta program that run a prior iOS/OS X beta.
After launching in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, China and Singapore, Apple Pay is about to make its debut in Switzerland on Monday, June 13, German-language financial outlet Finews reported this morning.
It will reportedly be supported at launch by Swiss private bank Corner Bank but it's unclear from the report whether major banks UBS and Credit Suisse will work with the service beginning next Monday.