Apps

The Sims 2: Pet Stories hits Mac App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2017

Tired of good ol' Sims? How about Sims with pets? Based off of The Sims 2 engine, this classic Sims title returns to the Mac—courtesy of Electronic Arts and Aspyr Media—with updated graphics and several other enhancements and is available for the first time on the Mac exclusively through the Mac App Store.

With native display support for Retina and 4K Macs, gesture support for zoom and rotate, drastically improved performance and other tweaks, you can now care for and train those lovable yet unpredictable pets as you compete for Best in Show at the most important local pet show of the year.

Cartoon Network’s Attack the Light game goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ December 17, 2015

Apple on Thursday refreshed its weekly App of the Week promotion with a new game called Attack the Light - Steven Universe Light RPG. You can find the title, which is based on the hit Cartoon Network show, in the App Store for free for the next 7 days.

The game is of the roleplaying adventure variety, in which you must help Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems capture missing monsters. Throughout your journey, you'll encounter various puzzles and tactical challenges that will help your character level up.

Facebook Messenger gains Photo Magic feature, per-chat customization and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 17, 2015

Less than twenty-four hours after rolling out Uber integration within Messenger, Facebook today announced a brand new update that enables per-chat customization and other enhancements for the popular messaging platform.

And as promised, the application now provides the Photo Magic feature to users in more countries following its recent soft-launch on Android in Australia.

Billed as an easier way to privately share photos with friends, Photo Magic taps into Facebook's advanced face recognition algorithm to automatically recognize people in your photos, offering to share them via Messenger.

Rockstar brings Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories to iPhone and iPad

Cody Lee ∙ December 17, 2015

GTA fans rejoice! Rockstar Games has ported another title from its popular franchise over to iOS. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is now available in the App Store for iPhone and iPad, for $6.99.

Liberty City Stories follows former-wise-guy-turned-hit-man Toni Cipriani as he returns home to Liberty City. During his absence, the city became overrun with political corruption, drug trafficking and union strikes, and it's up to Toni and the Leone family to get things back under control.

Badland 2 hits the App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

A year and a half following the original Badland game's debut in the App Store, Helsinki, Finland-headquartered developer Frogmind Games on Thursday released a sequel to the highly acclaimed side-scrolling platformer and Apple's former 'Game of the Year' award winner.

Badland 2, a $4.99 download for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, improves upon the original concept with levels that extend and scroll to all directions.

In addition, the game introduces new and interesting elements such as liquids, flamethrowers, frost, magma, water and volumetric burning light. To celebrate the launch of the sequel, Frogmind has discounted the original Badland game to $2.99, down from its regular asking price of $4.99.

Mileage tracker app Jerrycan: learn how your driving impacts your fuel bills and environment

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 17, 2015

Today I want to highlight an interesting new app, Jerrycan for iPhone by Pavlo Grozian which lets you track your fuel consumption and fuel expenses. Unlike most mileage-tracker apps in the App Store, Jerrycan shows you how individual driving impacts the ecology with wealth of information at your fingertips including overconsumption peaks, pollution emission, fuel waste and driving efficiency.

And with individual tips and guides, Jerrycan can teach you to drive wisely, waste less fuel and improve your fuel efficiency.

Adobe releases Post, an iPhone app for turning photos and text into share-worthy graphics

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 17, 2015

Photoshop maker Adobe on Thursday released Post for iPhone, a brand new application for turning text, photos and graphics into eye-candy illustrations for instant sharing on social media and elsewhere.

With professionally designed templates and filters, gorgeous typography with resizable fonts, one-tap color adjustments, a curated selection of fonts and shapes and more than half a million free photos, creating instant memes should be fun.

Pixelmator expands Apple Pencil Tilt support to 30 more brushes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Hot on the heels of last week's update that brought out official integration with Apple's iPad Pro and support for pressure-drawing with the Apple Pencil and 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s, Pixelmator for iOS today received another update which expands Apple Pencil's Tilt feature to an additional 30 brushes.

Pixelmator 2.2.1 for iOS also sports faster Distort tools and includes several fixes that improve the experience.

Bing for iPhone gains barcode scanner for comparison shopping, Uber and GIF support

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2015

Microsoft today pushed a nice update to Bing for iPhone, just in time for your holiday shopping spree. The refreshed app brings some welcome enhancements to iPhone users of the app, including a barcode scanning feature for in-store price comparison, Uber integration with real-time data, support for animated GIFs and other user experience changes and optimizations. Bing 6.1 for iPhone is available free in the App Store.

You can now request a ride with Uber through Facebook Messenger

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2015

Uber, the popular ride-sharing service, is now available through Facebook Messenger. Yup, you read that right—you can now call an Uber and request a ride within Facebook's mobile Messenger application.

As announced on Wednesday, the new Transportation feature permits users of the Facebook Messenger app in the United States to request a ride from Uber, without ever needing to download the Uber app or leave a conversation.

Facebook Messenger gains 3D Touch shortcuts, message requests and snowflake animations

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2015

Facebook has released an update to its Messenger software in the App Store, bumping the app to version 52.0 and bringing out 3D Touch shortcuts on the Home screen for owners of the iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus.

Just press Messenger's icon lightly with 3D Touch and up pops a menu with the New Message option, along with handy shortcuts for starting a chat with your top three most-frequently messaged contacts.

Lightroom for iOS gains iPad Pro & 3D Touch support, camera with real-time presets and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2015

Adobe today unleashed a major update to its Lightroom photography application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad in the App Store.

Both Lightroom for iPhone and Lightroom for iPad apps now feature full support for the iPad Pro's high-resolution screen and iOS 9'2 Split View and Slide Over multitasking modes, in addition to an all-new built-in Adobe camera with shoot-through presets.

You also get split-tone adjustments, a Notification Center widget to launch the Adobe camera, full support for 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus and much more.