Apps

Noise, Write.as, BeCasso and other apps to check out this weekend

If you're looking to relax this holiday weekend with leftover turkey and a new app or game, you've come to the right place. In the latest edition of our Apps of the Week roundup, we've selected some awesome titles including a music-making app, an anonymous blogging client, a paint-style photo editor, and some great new games for you to check out.

This Mac app lets you switch between recently used apps via Touch Bar

With all of the time-saving shortcuts available for Apple's stock apps on the Touch Bar, you'd think Apple would have brought the macOS app switcher to the the new MacBook Pro's OLED strip. That's why developer Maxim Ananov set out to create an app, called TouchSwitcher, which does just that. With TouchSwitcher, you can switch between your recently-used apps on the new MacBook Pro right from the Touch Bar.

DirecTV gains Single Sign-On support in iOS 10.2 and tvOS 10.1 betas

Single Sign-On, a feature that remembers and uses your cable/satellite logins across compatible video apps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV, was originally promised months ago and should finally go live alongside public releases of iOS 10.2 and tvOS 10.1 next month.

As noted by MacRumors, AT&T's DirecTV service is now being listed as a Single Sign-On compatible app alongside the previously listed compatible providers: Dish, Sling TV, Hotwire and GVTC Communications.

Facebook is testing an upcoming Find Wi-Fi feature in the mobile app

Facebook appears to be testing a new location-based feature that permits some users to identify free Wi-Fi hotspots through the social network's mobile application for the iPhone and iPad.

As reported by The Next Web, some users, myself included, are now seeing a Find Wi-Fi option in the app's side menu, between the Nearby Places and Nearby Friends options. Tapping it puts up a prompt asking to grant Facebook access to your location so it can find public Wi-Fi hotspots around you.

GBA4iOS creator launching new SNES, Game Boy & Nintendo 64 emulator in beta this December

Developer Riley Testut, the brains behind a Game Boy emulator for iOS called GBA4iOS, said on Twitter yesterday that he is now focusing his energies on a brand new software designed to emulate the hardware of popular SNES, Game Boy and Nintendo 64 consoles. He's calling it Delta and it's launching this December in beta although a teaser website does not reveal if this will be an app that you'll be able to sideload onto an iOS device without jailbreaking.

Best Mac Bundle: save up to 90% on Parallels, 1Password, TextExpander + 5 more apps

If you or someone you know owns a Mac and could benefit from apps like 1Password or TextExpander, you're going to want to check out this promotion from the folks at Parallels. It's called the Black Friday Mac App Bundle, and it can save you up to 90% on 8 top-shelf Mac apps and services.

Included in this package is Parallels Desktop 12, which allows you to run Windows and other operating systems on your Mac, the popular password management app 1Password (the latest 'Families' edition), and key shortcut creator TextExpander. We have a full breakdown of the apps below.

Infuse 5 is out: Up Next, Split View, PiP, iCloud sync, cloud streaming & more

aTV Flash Black developer Firecore today released Infuse 5, a major new version of his versatile media player for the Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It's the single biggest Infuse update Firecore ever released and they've been working on it for the better part of the year.

Infuse 5 packs in a bunch of goodies, including iCloud sync, a new “Up Next” discovery list for the Apple TV, Split View and Picture in Picture support on compatible iPads, cloud streaming and much more.

Niantic hosts another double XP event for Pokémon GO during Thanksgiving week

Pokémon GO players had a chance to participate in the Halloween event last month, in which ghost Pokémon spawns were increased, distances to hatch eggs were decreased, and double candies was rewarded for the entire week the event ran for.

Now, Niantic has announced a second event coming to the game in celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday this week, but this time the rewards are a little different.

Listen, Later, Firefox Focus, and other apps to check out this weekend

Looking for ways to pass the time before next week's holiday mayhem? You've come to the right place. We've put together a great list of apps for you to check out this weekend including a service for anonymous communication, a quick and easy reminders app, and a new private web browser. And as always, we've also picked out some awesome games for you to try.

Twitter for iPhone and iPad gains support for rich notifications on iOS 10

Twitter for iPhone and iPad, a free download from the App Store, now supports rich notifications on iOS 10 that come complete with embedded images and the usual options for interacting with tweets without having to open the app.

Pressing a rich Twitter notification on the Lock screen or in the Notification Center with 3D Touch pulls up an expanded view of the tweet with an enlarged image thumbnail, along with the usual options such as Like and Retweet.