Apps

Slash Keyboard review: /find things to share right on your keyboard

Sometimes, there is a song or a cat video, or an iDB article that you just have to share with someone. Oh, but you forgot to grab the link before you got into a chat with your buddy in Hangouts.

That's OK. Slash Keyboard makes it possible for you to find and share all manner of content right from your iOS keyboard without having to leave your chat. We took it for a spin and have a review of Slash Keyboard for you right now.

Cut the Rope 2 goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple on Thursday named ZeptoLab's Cut the Rope 2 its App of the Week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you'll be able to pick up the popular physics-based puzzler for free for both iPhone and iPad—a small but notable savings of a buck.

For those who aren't familiar with Cut the Rope, it's a cross-platform gaming franchise that revolves around feeding candy to a little green creature named Om Nom. Version 2 features new locations to explore, new characters, and fresh gameplay elements.

Tumblr app updated with support for Live Photos

Yahoo-owned Tumblr today rolled out a major update to its iPhone, iPod touch and iPad application in the App Store, bringing out official support for Live Photos, introducing 3D Touch Home screen shortcuts and a few other enhancements. Tumblr 5.0 for iOS also makes its messaging feature available to everyone today, lets you send a post to any Tumblr and toss it with the tap of a button.

Google Photos launches shared albums

As promised back in September, Google Photos has now begun rolling out shared albums on the web and in its mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Arriving just in time for the holiday season, a shared album allows friends and family to add photos to it. Those who have joined a shared album will receive a notification about any changes and newly uploaded photos.

If it sounds similar to Apple's own iCloud Photo Sharing, that's because it is, with one crucial difference: shared albums on Google Photos aren’t designed for a social world—you can't like, comment on or caption them.

Product Hunt overhauls iOS app, adds audio player, live chatting, 3D Touch support and more

Product Hunt, a Y Combinator-backed website and mobile app for sharing and discovering new products, on Thursday received a major 3.0 update in the App Store, its biggest update since the app was introduced over a year ago.

Featuring a brand new design, Product Hunt now includes live chat and a built-in audio player for listening to podcasts. An expanded search feature lets you zero in on apps, websites, gadgets, games, podcasts and books—and you can now search Product Hunt within iOS's Spotlight feature.

But that's just tip of the iceberg as Product Hunt 3.0 packs in new profile pages, expanded Collections features, enhanced product pages and much more.

GoPro releases companion Apple Watch app

I hope for your own sake that you're not one of those irresponsible guys who can be seen interacting with GoPro's mobile app on their smartphone while skating, parachuting or cycling. If you are, however, you might want to download GoPro's latest iPhone app which now includes a native Apple Watch app that lets you start and stop recording with a simple tap on your wrist.

Less time spent starring at the smartphone screen gives you more time to avoid those obstacles. What do you mean, you don't skate?

Pixelmator updated with support for iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and 3D Touch

Just two days after Pixelmator for Mac got updated with several new features, the iOS edition of the app has received a major update in the App Store this morning.

Pixelmator 2.2 now works great on the iPad Pro and takes full advantage of Apple's $99 Pencil stylus accessory. In addition, Pixelmator now includes full support for 3D Touch gestures on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

Pandora launches app for the new Apple TV

Pandora on Wednesday launched an application for the new Apple TV. You can find it by navigating to the App Store in tvOS, and scrolling through the Featured page where Apple currently has the app highlighted in the 'Best New Apps' category.

The new tvOS client is obviously somewhat limited compared to its iOS counterpart, but it will allow you to sign into your Pandora account and listen to your customized Radio stations. You can also access tabs like Create Station and Now Playing.

Duet Display now works on iPad Pro, lets you run iOS and Mac apps together

Duet Display, a terrific app which turns an iOS device into an external display for the Mac, has been updated in the App Store with official support for the iPad Pro and major performance improvements on both iOS and OS X.

The best thing about the updated app is its ability to allocate one-third of the iPad Pro, iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 4' display for iOS apps, with the remaining two-thirds of the screen real estate dedicated to Mac apps.

Dual-screening using an iPad Pro and Duet Display comes with zero lag, developers claim. Crafted by ex-Apple engineers who worked on the iPad and iMac, Duet Display through its desktop helper app appears as an external display hooked up to your Mac or Windows PC via the USB port.

Apple releases Best of 2015 charts on iTunes

Apple on Wednesday posted its annual Best of 2015 charts on iTunes. “We debated. We argued. Everyone had favorites, but to make this list of 2015's finest, there could be no doubts,” wrote the company. “What you see here made the cut—they're the most visionary, inventive and irresistible apps and games of the year.”

Apple named Twitter-owned Periscope the App of the Year and Square Enix's excellent Lara Croft GO its Game of the Year.

Workflow, the popular iOS automation app, is listed as the Most Innovative App of 2015 and Dark Echo the Most Innovative Game of 2015. Facebook-owned Instagram is the Best App on iPhone 6s while Pixel Toys' Warhammer: 40,000 Freeblade took home the Best Game on iPhone 6s award, thanks to immersive 3D Touch controls.

Here's the full list of titles the topped Apple's charts in 2015.

You can now download Microsoft’s Cortana personal assistant to your iPhone

After rolling out a beta of Cortana for iOS to a limited number of beta testers in late-November, Microsoft today released the software to everyone via the App Store.

A free download, Cortana for iOS helps you get things done “by letting your PC and iPhone work together,” as per the official description. The app takes advantage of your schedule, interests, contacts and reminders to deliver personalized results.

What are you waiting for? Go ahead and give Cortana a try right now!

Apple: much-improved Remote app with full Siri Remote functionality in the works

Apple's fours-generation Apple TV is getting a proper remote app described as a viable replacement for the bundled Siri Remote, John Paczkowski, Managing Editor with BuzzFeed News, wrote this morning.

In an interview with Eddy Cue, Apple's Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, Paczkowski learned that a much-improved remote app for the Apple TV 4 is currently in the works.