Apple

Dreamy sleepwalker adventure Back to Bed named Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Back to Bed by Bedtime Digital Games has been named the App Store's new Free App of the Week in Apple's ongoing weekly promotion. This awesomely done three-dimensional indie puzzler has never gone free since its August 2014 debut on the App Store and normally retails for $3.99 a pop.

Do yourself a favor and grab the game right now before you forget about it and the price goes back up next Thursday. This one's unlike many other freebies on the App Store, in that it does not contain advertising nor In-App Purchases to spoil the fun.

Tweetbot for Mac adds support for Twitter-hosted GIF and video image previews

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

To make the wait until a massive (and way overdue) Yosemite overhaul of Tweetbot, the most purchased Twitter alternative on the Apple platform, developer Tapbots on Thursday pushed a small yet important update to Tweetbot for Mac.

This new version at last added official support for Twitter-hosted animated GIFs and video image previews. In addition to these enhancements, this edition of Tweetbot saw improvements in storage and memory usage.

So now when someone attaches an animated GIF to their tweet or records a video in Twitter's native video format, you'll see the video thumbnail inline. Previously, it wouldn't show any thumbnail at all, leaving you with clickable URLs that opened in a browser.

Noted analyst says Apple may call next line of handsets ‘iPhone 7’, with major changes

Jake Smith ∙ April 2, 2015

Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities claims Apple may call the next line of its iPhone the "iPhone 7", instead of the "iPhone 6s" like previously thought. The name change will be because of significant changes to the iOS user interface, including Force Touch technology for better interaction, the analyst says.

New iPhones help Apple capture record smartphone share in China

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Apple's been making some impressive strides in China, its second-biggest market by revenue and home to a population of 1.33 billion people.

On the weight of strong sales of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, the Cupertino firm has now hit an all-time high share, with iOS accounting for a record 27.6 percent volume share of the Chinese smartphone market versus 17.9 percent a year ago.

Kantar data for the three months ending in February proves the iPhone 6 has remained the country's top-selling smartphone in the period. It's grown from 9.5 percent of sales recorded in the previous period ending in January to 10.2 percent ending in February. Xiaomi's iPhone 6 Plus lookalike, the RedMI Note, took the second spot, followed by Apple's 5.5-inch phablet-class iPhone 6 Plus, which grabbed the third place.

Force Touch could be exclusive to iPhone 6s Plus

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 5, 2017

If a new report out of Taiwan is an indication, Apple's pressure sensitive Force Touch technology should make an appearance later this year on an iPhone, but exclusively on a bigger 'iPhone 6s Plus'. Prior rumors have called for pressure-sensitive screen on both 'iPhone 6' and 'iPhone 6 Plus' this fall.

Pressure sensing marketed as Force Touch was first announced on the Apple Watch last fall, making its way later into the trackpad of the newly rolled out twelve-inch MacBook and updated MacBook Pro notebook. On the Watch, the feature taps tiny electrodes positioned around the screen which distinguish between a tap and a press.

Skype adding 12 new languages to iPhone app, Skype Qik gains 8 new video effects

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Microsoft today announced a pair of updates to its Skype for iPhone and Skype Qik for iPhone apps. Skype 5.12 for the iPhone will introduce a dozen new localizations over the coming week while Skype's Qik app has added eight fancy video effects.

“Within the coming week” Skype users on the iPhone will be able to take advantage of additional country support with Croatian, Slovak, Catalan, Vietnamese, Thai, Hindi, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Turkish and Estonian languages.

Twitterrific 5.1 gains drafts, better muffling & muting and much more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2018

Twitterrific, a slick Twitter client from The Iconfactory available for the iPhone, iPad and Mac, has been refreshed in the App Store on Thursday.

At last, the iPhone and iPad client lets you save unfinished messages so you can work on them later. A major update, Twitterrific 5.1 also includes the ability to view and manage your list of muffled usernames, URLs and hashtags.

You can now add keywords to the terms that can be filtered or turn any muffled term into a full mute: just swipe left on the item in the list and select the Mute option.

Microsoft releases Office Lens scanning app for iPhone on App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Microsoft on Thursday launched a brand new scanning application for the iPhone, called Office Lens. Available free of charge in the App Store after first launching on Windows Phone a year ago, Office Lens is a handy capture app that turns your smartphone into a pocket scanner.

The app lets you crop, straighten, enhance and makes pictures of whiteboards and documents readable.

Scans of your docs are automatically saved to OneNote and are editable on any device, though you can save them into OneDrive or your preferred cloud storage service.

Apple’s slick process for dealing with Watch purchases and walk-ins detailed

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Contradicting a recent 9to5Mac report which said only try-on appointments will be possible come April 10, sources told The Mac Observer that the appointment-only process will reportedly accommodate walk-in purchases, using a system similar to one recently instituted at Genius Bars in Apple's real stores worldwide.

The Genius Bar will handle walk-ins by taking your phone number, allowing customers to run their errands and go about their business until they receive timely updates from the Genius Bar related to waiting times via SMS. Apple's already using this system to handle purchases and is reportedly intending to tap it for the Watch as well.

Waze now tells you how long you’ll be stuck in a traffic jam

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Waze, a crowdsourced GPS, maps and traffic service owned by Google, has refreshed its iPhone and iPad application with a few new features.

Now available at no cost in the App Store, the new Waze 3.9.4 is much faster than before. More importantly, it has added a cool new feature which tells you how long you'll be stuck in a traffic jam.

Other features like navigation, route select and re-routing have been sped up significantly, an important feat given that you'll be using the app while driving.

IGN names Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series its Free iOS Game of the Month

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series debuted in the App Store in December 2014 and is now available free of charge as part of IGN's Free Game of the Month promotion. The game retails for $4.99 a pop in the App Store, but you can grab it free through IGN's promotional webpage here.

The official HBO licensed game bundles the first episode at no cost, with additional episodes available as a $4.99 In-App Purchase each. Episode 2 titled “The Lost Lords” was released in February and last month brought us Episode 3, headlined as “The Sword in the Darkness”.

How Apple Watch was researched and developed

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Kevin Lynch, who was a former Adobe executive in charge of the Flash platform before Apple poached him to lead Watch software development as its Vice President of Technology, has shared a number of interesting tidbits related to the years of Watch research and development in an extensive piece published by Wired on Thursday.

Apparently, Jony Ive and his design team presented an idea for a wrist-worn device during one of design meetings for iOS 7. Lynch, who was hired after the project was already underway, didn't even know what he would be working on at Apple.

The team spent more than a year adjusting the device's Taptic Engine to feel just right on your wrist, even sampling sounds from bell clappers and birds to lightsabers in an effort to turn them into physical sensations. And the device itself underwent many prototypes and iterations before Apple's Board signed off on it.