Apple

Apple seeds watchOS 2 beta 3 to developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 8, 2015

In addition to releasing a third developer preview of OS X El Capitan and seeding iOS 9 beta 3 with Apple Music to members of the Apple Developer Program, Apple on Wednesday also released watchOS 2 beta 3 for developers.

It follows watchOS 2 beta 2, which was seeded to developers just a little over two weeks ago, and the first watchOS 2 beta that was posted minutes after last month's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote talk had wrapped up.

The latest watchOS software update must be applied through the Apple Watch companion app on an iPhone with iOS 9 beta by going to the General -> Software Update section.

Apple seeds third OS X El Capitan beta to developers

Cody Lee ∙ July 8, 2015

Apple on Wednesday released the third OS X El Capitan beta to developers. The new build is available to registered developers via the Updates section of the Mac App Store or through Apple’s Developer Center.

Today's update comes roughly two weeks after Apple pushed out the second beta of OS X El Capitan, and around a month after its initial release in early June during Apple's World Wide Developer Conference.

Apple believes new iPhones with Force Touch are going to be massively successful

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 8, 2015

According to a report Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal newspaper, Apple is putting high hopes into a forthcoming mid-cycle “S”-upgrade to the present-generation iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones.

The company apparently believes that an 'iPhone 6s' and 'iPhone 6s Plus' which, among other things, sport new color options and Force Touch technology for sensing deep presses on the screen, should prove massively popular as it reportedly ordered its suppliers to build a record 90 million units this year.

Magic Duels, a new Magic the Gathering game, hits App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 8, 2015

Wizards of the Coast, a U.S.-based publisher of games primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, today released a brand new iOS game set in the Magic the Gathering universe.

Magic Duels, a free-to-play download for the iPhone and iPad, is now available worldwide following a recent soft-launch on the New Zealand App Store.

This strategy card game challenge you to arm yourself with a deck of dazzling spells and fearsome creatures in order to win battles and unlock more powerful cards to add to your ever-growing collection.

Google Maps revamps transit directions, adds image galleries and new sharing options

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 10, 2017

Google Maps for iOS has been refreshed in the App Store with a trio of useful new features ahead of a brand new native Street View for iOS app due in mid-August.

Google Maps for iPhone and iPad now sports revamped public transport directions while adding new choices for alternate routes and real-time data about your arrival time.

Newly added sharing features include options to post Google Maps locations to Facebook and send map URLs to your Facebook Messenger friends. There's also a brand new image gallery which presents various photos of a location in a grid view.

Fleksy Keyboard goes free forever, now auto-suggests themes, extensions and more as you type

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 8, 2015

Fleksy Keyboard, one of the first and arguably the most popular third-party keyboards available in the App Store, has been slashed to zero bucks permanently. The iPhone and iPad app used to retail for 99 cents a pop and went free briefly just twice following its App Store debut last fall.

What's more, the new price point is valid forever moving forward. Those who have previously bought the app will be treated to new themes and extension slots worth $8 as a gift. In addition to the price cut, developers have refreshed Fleksy Keyboard with some notable personal assistant-like features.

Standalone ‘Showtime’ streaming service debuts on Apple TV for $10.99 per month

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 7, 2015

After CBS announced a month ago that it would soon appease cord-cutters by rolling out a standalone video-streaming service over the Internet, Re/code revealed Tuesday that the network's premium cable television service called Showtime is now available through the Apple TV, no cable subscription required.

The standalone video-streaming service is available on Apple's $69 media-streaming box in exchange for a flat monthly fee of $10.99 with iTunes billing. A free 30-day free trial is available provided you have set up a valid payment method in iTunes.

A matching iOS app is coming at a later stage.

Samsung bracing itself for another profit drop after miscalculated Galaxy S6/Edge demand

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 7, 2015

Samsung just can't catch a break.

Although Korean investors thought the flagship Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones would turn Samsung's fortunes around, the financial freefall continued when the South Korean conglomerate said Tuesday it expected to report a decline in revenue and profits when its second-quarter results go public later this month.

As the Wall Street Journal noted today, the unfortunate development marks Samsung's seventh straight quarterly profit decline. A source attributed worse than expected results to seemingly lackluster sales of Samsung's latest flagship handsets and a gross miscalculation in demand for the Galaxy S6 versus the Galaxy S6 Edge.

Bloons Tower Defense 5 for iPhone and iPad named IGN’s Free Game of the Month

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 7, 2015

IGN has partnered with Ninja Kiwi to name Bloons Tower Defense 5 for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad its free game for the month of July. This popular tower defense download is available on a first-come, first-serve basis so make sure to redeem your copy following the instructions provided below.

This promotion is only available through IGN so don't bother visiting the App Store, where Tower Defense 5 for iPhone and iPod touch currently sells for $2.99, with the iPad edition fetching an additional $4.99, so you're looking at a cool $8 saved.

Infuse 3.4 is live with folders, background audio, landscape lock on iPhone and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Infuse 3, an elegant and versatile player for virtually any video file format you can think of created by jailbreak developer FireCore, has picked up a slew of new features and improvements in Monday's version 3.4 update.

Infuse 3.4 makes it easy to organize your videos using folders, delete ones you no longer need from the ticket view, continue playing audio in the background after leaving the app to quickly check your email, and more.

At long last, Instagram is increasing photo resolution to a sharper 1,080-by-1,080 pixels

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

I love Instagram but have always had a first-world problem with its paltry photo resolution. In today's age of ultra-crisp mobile screens, 640-by-640 pixel images just don't cut it anymore. Well, it took only a couple of years but Instagram just announced that it is rolling out support for bigger, crisper images on both iOS and Android.

“We're rolling out 1080x1080 uploads (and higher-quality viewing) for Instagram on iOS and Android,” Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger wrote in a tweet today.

The company's iPhone application wasn't updated today with support for uploading and viewing crisper photos so it's likely a silent update on Instagram's servers. The official company blog did not share details about the sharper photography experience at post time.

Microsoft’s new opinion-gathering app removes the friction around event planning

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Microsoft has released a brand new iPhone and iPad application in the App Store. Called Tossup, it was designed to make event planning and opinion-gathering a cinch by basically collecting answers from your friends to any questions you pose to them.

You can present people with a quick Yes/No poll, ask them to find and pick a restaurant, to agree on when to meet, invite them to extend the opinion about any topic and more.