Apps

Sid Meier’s Starships launches for iPad and Mac

Announced back in January, Sid Meier's Starships, an interstellar companion to Civilization: Beyond Earth, launched Thursday for the iPad and Mac.

Available in the App Store and Steam for fifteen bucks each, the premium strategy game published by Firaxis and 2K Games has you assuming command of a starship fleet.

You'll be discovering beautiful new worlds and completing various missions to preserve intergalactic peace while building a planetary federation and strengthening your fleet to secure your homeworld.

Crescent Moon Games launches Paper Monsters Recut on iOS

Nearly everyone with an iPhone has heard of Paper Monsters. The adorable 2-D platformer won our hearts three years ago for being one of the best in the genre at the time.

Crescent Moon Games pulled their beloved title from the App Store earlier this week and has replaced it with the PC and Wii U version, Paper Monsters Recut. One of the best aspects of this new title is that it does not feature in-app purchases. We’ve got a game review of Paper Monsters Recut for you today.

BBM for iPhone updated with Touch ID and landscape support, ad removal and more

The latest BBM for iPhone update is now available for iOS users in the App Store, featuring support for Touch ID-based fingerprint verification, a custom PIN feature, the ability to remove in-app advertising through an In-App Purchase and more.

The free messaging software can now at last be locked with a passcode and Touch ID to keep your messages hidden from prying eyes. You can set how long you would like BBM to remain unlocked before a password is required again.

Full-width timeline photos launching today on Twitter for iPhone

Twitter, a 140-character messaging service and a social platform, today said that it's supersizing photos in mobile apps for the iPhone and Android.

Bigger photos should make browsing profiles on Twitter for iPhone “even more fun” while allowing for more visual impact, according to a tweet issued Wednesday.

The visual types are going to have a field day seeing full-bleed images in their timeline. Suffice it to say, this is a cool improvement compared to small thumbnails that needed to be tapped on to enlarge.

Twitter for iPhone and iPad is available free in the App Store.

Review: Nokia’s new HERE for iPhone mapping app gives Apple and Google a run for their money

After launching its HERE mapping service on iOS only to pull it in December 2013 over unfavorable reception (it was based on HTML5, had limited features and wasn't optimized for iOS), Nokia last September and again in December promised to deliver a mapping experience the iPhone deserves.

Today, the company has made good on that promise and released a sleek new navigation and mapping software for the iPhone with the features and the polished feel that you'd rightly expect from a mapping app.

Nokia HERE features a nicely done user interface that honors iOS aesthetics while delivering a set of advanced features like turn-by-turn directions, rich database of points of interest and perks which cannot be found in Apple Maps, Google Maps and many other competing products, such as offline navigation and maps.

I've had a few days to play with the app ahead of its launch, this is what I was able to glean from my hands-on time with HERE.

Meerkat lets you stream live video to Twitter

During Apple’s Spring Forward event, you may have noticed a few tweets that started off with “|LIVE NOW|” followed by a hashtag for “meerkat” and a link. If you haven’t had a chance to experience it yet, the Twitter verse now has a way to live stream video content.

Meerkat is a video client that allows users to live stream video directly to their followers on Twitter. It is live. If you click on the link after the video has ended, you will miss out.

Here’s how to tell which Apple Watch case size is for you

Following word on Apple Watch pricing on Monday, you may be asking yourself: Which Apple Watch case is best for me? Apple is offering two different size cases - 38mm and 42mm - and which case you choose could have an effect on comfort, price, and looks.

Luckily, Apple has updated its Apple Store iOS app with a sizing chart to help you make the decision. Using actual size images, it's as easy as placing your iPhone on your wrist to see which Watch looks, and works, the best.

Tempo gets a facelift, now optimized for iPhone 6 screens and with reminder improvements

Tempo Smart Calendar for iOS received a significant update today. The iPhone and iPad application now has a new look and feel and takes full advantage of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus resolutions while introducing several improvements to reminders.

Moreover, the team has improved Tempo's localization to several languages and made other notable change that elevate your overall experience with the software.

Google releases new Calendar app for iPhone

As promised in November, Google today released a new Calendar app for iPhone. The app features the company's highly regarded Material Design UI, and a host of powerful features that should appease folks in the Google ecosystem.

Among those features is its close integration with Gmail, allowing it to cull data from your inbox. So say you receive a confirmation email after purchasing concert tickets, the app will automatically add that event to your calendar.

These are some of the Apple Watch apps you will be able to download on launch day

Now that the cat is truly out of the bag in regards to the Apple Watch, attention can finally turn to what we will be doing with the thing once we get it onto our wrist. Apple has updated its website to showcase its own in-house apps such as Messages, Maps and Mail. Beyond the Apple apps that we will be using day in, day out, it's the apps that third-party developers create that will really decide whether the Apple Watch is a hit or a miss.

Apple knows this as much as anybody, which is why it has also pushed a new web page to its site that covers some of the biggest apps that we will probably be downloading come April 24th.

The number of apps that Apple has given some exposure to is quite large, so instead of going through them all here we're going to highlight some of the apps that we are particularly looking forward to or just simply think look awesome. There are more on the way too, with developers working hard to be on the App Store come day one.

The stock Apple Watch apps you will be able to use out of the box

Apple's big Watch event saw the arrival of a whole new MacBook as well as some Apple TV stuff and an entry into the world of medical research, but it's clear which of these everyone was the most interested in. Having announced the Apple Watch during the iPhone event late last year, yesterday was when we got our best look yet at what the Apple Watch will be able to do as well as how much it will cost. We also now know when we will be able to get our hands on one - it ships April 24th.

Even though the Apple Watch had been outed before though, the most interesting thing beyond the price as far as we are concerned was always going to be what the watch was actually capable of and whether there would be any cool apps to play with. Apple has shared a collection of the Apple Watch's built-in apps as well as some third-party offerings, and they look rather scrumptious.

Here's a rundown of what included first-party apps you can expect to be tapping away at come the end of April. We'll be covering third-party apps in a separate post.

Infinite Cosmos review: play a space-themed shooter for all eternity

Simple arcade shooters are some of the most exciting video games to have ever been created. No matter what your skill level, weaving through space debris and avoiding oncoming attacks can challenge anyone’s abilities.

Infinite Cosmos is a retro style, space-themed arcade shooter that puts you in the cockpit of a minimally armed, low armored spacecraft as you blast your way through enemies, asteroids, and anything else that gets in the way. We’ve got a hands-on game review of Infinite Cosmos for you today.