Apple

How to delete your Vine account

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 20, 2015

I think you'll agree with me that Vine has become quite a phenomenon. A short-form video sharing service owned by Twitter, Vine is the place where many people go to share and watch six-second looping video clips, some of which are quite amusing and engaging.

But if you've watched one too many vines and have decided that you won't be active on the service going forward, it might be a good idea to deactivate your account.

In this post, you'll learn how to deactivate your Vine profile through the mobile app and permanently delete all its underlying data.

How to hide revines from users you follow

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 26, 2015

If you use Vine, sooner than later your feed will become polluted with reposts (revines, in Vine talk) from those you follow on the service. Besides, it's really annoying having to scroll through a hundred or more revines from a user before getting to one of their own clips.

Thankfully, reducing information overload on Vine isn't as hard as it sounds as the app lets you block revines from a person and show only their original posts.

In this tutorial, we'll teach you how to hide revines from anyone you follow on the service with just a few taps. This should help make your Vine experience a little more focused and less cluttered.

Black Friday deal for movie lovers: four blockbuster Mac apps for the price of one

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the United States! And what better way to celebrate this holiday than a not-to-be-missed deal that offers some substantial value for your hard earned cash.

You've probably heard of a Mac developer called Softorino, no? They're behind Waltr, a super fast Mac app that makes converting any video into an iOS-friendly file format a simple drag-and-drop affair.

As it happens, Softorino has teamed up with other developers from different parts of the world to bundle four powerful Mac applications at 73 percent off for just $24.95.

All four apps in Blockbuster Kit were created specifically with movie buffs in mind and are well-known to Mac fans: Global Delight's Boom 2, Ben Lenarts and Eelco Lempsink's Beamer 3, Eltima's Elmedia Player Pro and Softorino's own Waltr. These apps regularly retail for a total of $90 so you're looking at some substantial savings here.

Lara Croft GO gets its first expansion

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 26, 2015

Just in time for Thanksgiving, Square Enix's Lara Croft GO for iOS has received its first expansion pack following the game's August 2015 debut in the App Store. Titled “The Shard of Life” and available at no charge to those who have purchased the game, the update packs in more than two-dozen additional levels and a bunch of new monsters to defeat, costumes to unlock and gemstones and artifacts to discover.

Apple patents technology that would allow iPhones to detect touches while wearing gloves

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 26, 2015

Did you know that your iPhone's multi-touch display cannot detect touches while you're wearing gloves? That's because the iPhone uses capacitive touchscreen technology that takes human body capacitance as input and gloves block your fingers from touching the screen directly.

A new patent application Apple filed for with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) in the summer of 2014 was published this morning.

Titled “Glove Touch Detection”, it seeks to fix this problem via dynamically adjusted threshold values, which would permit the touchscreen to register touch events while the user is wearing regular gloves.

Preview: Infuse for Apple TV + developer interview

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

As an Apple TV believer since its inception, I'm ashamed to admit that I've never jailbroken my device even though the lack of downloadable media player apps that would let me play “foreign” video file types has been driving me nuts.

When the latest Apple TV launched, I immediately got in touch with James Abeler, better known as prominent jailbreak developer FireCore, who happens to be the brains behind the ultimate Apple TV jailbreak, aTV Flash Black, and the creator of a versatile iOS media player, called Infuse.

As someone who has been pretty much cheerleading Infuse since its April 2013 debut, I was extremely impatient to find out if an Apple TV edition of Infuse would be on par with its iOS counterpart.

James was kind enough to add me as a beta tester so I was able to play with Infuse for Apple TV for about a week, and here's what I was able to gather.

How to save Vine videos

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 22, 2017

Who knew 6-second-long looping video clips would turn out to be so much fun? If you're into short-form entertainment, there's probably no better place to get your daily fix of user-posted clips, some of which are quite interesting—I've seen whole how-tos compressed into six seconds—than Vine.

The problem is, both Vine the website and mobile app prohibit you from saving your favorite clips to your computer or mobile device. Thankfully, there are apps for that, too.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to save Vine videos to your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Mac using a nifty little utility and a free of charge web app.

Gorgeous platformer Leo’s Fortune hits the Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 25, 2015

Leo's Fortune, a gorgeous action platformer with beautiful artwork that debuted on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad in April of 2014, is now available on the Mac.

A $6.99 download from the Mac App Store, this premium title is free of advertisements and In-App Purchases. Leo's Fortune has won numerous awards and is one of the best platform games available on any platform.

Our own Lory Gill called it arguably the most gorgeous iOS platformer she has played in a while, writing in her review that fans of platform games should pick up Leo's Fortune in a heartbeat.

Apple releases ‘Someday at Christmas’ ad with Stevie Wonder and Andra Day

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2017

Apple today posted a nicely done television commercial featuring blind musician Stevie Wonder and soul, R&B, jazz and blues singer Andra Day. The holiday-themed ad cleverly promotes the Mac and VoiceOver and Accessibility features.

Pixelmator for Mac goes half price, iOS version discounted to $1.99

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 25, 2015

Pixelmator for OS X, the Mac edition of the powerful image editing application which debuted on iOS in October 2014, has gone half price in the Mac App Store today. In addition, the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad edition of the software has been discounted to just $1.99 in the App Store.

Selling regularly for $29.99, Pixelmator for Mac can now be downloaded for just $14.99, a steal given the app's rich set of powerful image editing features, tools, brushes and more.

Apple buys motion capture firm Faceshift

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 25, 2015

Apple has acquired a Zürich, Germany-based startup FaceShift which provides a proprietary technology for real-time motion capture that was used in the latest Star Wars film and in production of a number of high-profile video games. Apple has officially confirmed the deal in a prepared statement to TechCrunch.

Speculation is rife as to how Apple might be taking advantage of such a sophisticated motion capture technology in its own products, including potentially using it to power real-time avatars for FaceTime video chats.

Reeder 3 is out: Safari View Controller, 3D Touch, Split View multitasking, iPad Pro support & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 24, 2015

It feels like yesterday, but it's actually been more than two year since Reeder 2, the second major version of a popular RSS client for iOS and OS X by Italian developer Silvio Rizzi, was released in the App Store.

And while the Mac edition of Reeder was bumped to version 3.0 in September 2015, it left us wondering whether a major update to the iOS version might be in tow.

Well, today Reeder 3 hit the App Store and it's a free update for everyone who already owns the app. There's a lot to look forward to in Reeder 3, here's a quick overview of major new features.