Apps

‘Old Man’s War’ author John Scalzi writes interactive comic book Midnight Rises for iOS

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Science fiction fans are sure to know Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, which is the story of an aging citizen that decides to join the army to defend Earth against alien invasion and help discover new planets to colonize.

Midnight Rises is a new book by the famous sci-fi author. This adventure features a redheaded hero on an interstellar research facility that is about to embark on a dangerous mission. Not only is this book written by Scalzi, but it also features artwork by comic book legend Mike Choi, most famous for his illustrations on Witchblade, X23, and Astonishing Thor.

Slow Shutter! available for free within the Apple Store app

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Those of you who enjoy app deals may be interested to know that Slow Shutter! has gone free for a limited time. Apple is currently offering promo codes for the popular camera app, which typically costs $1.99, within its Apple Store app.

Slow Shutter's flagship feature is its ability to capture long-exposure photographs. This means that you can create the kind of beautiful photos of moving objects (think moving cars at night) typically reserved for more expensive cameras.

TwitShot spices up your tweets with an image

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how many characters does that equal to? I'll let you do the math while I introduce you to TwitShot, a new app that automatically extract images from links and attach them to your tweets, offering a perfect illustration of what you're tweeting about.

You might have noticed that tweets that contain an image can grab more attention when scrolling through your timeline, and that is exactly what TwitShot is capitalizing on. It just wants to make your tweets more attention-grabbing by attaching an image extracted from the link you want to tweet.

Todoist shows off its Apple Watch productivity app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 23, 2015

When I think of it, the more it seems to me that the Apple Watch will be a boon to my productivity. For instance, the Watch will send me meeting reminders and calendar invitations, which beats having to pull an iPhone out of my pocket.

Todoist, a cloud-based task and project-management service, promises to do the same for to-do lists. Their Watch app is nearly finished and now developers have shared screenshots (via TechCrunch) and a video which demonstrates how Todoist will bring to-do lists and task management to the wrist.

Twitter rolls out instant timeline for new users, curating tweets automatically

Jake Smith ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Twitter is working to cater to new users and make it easier for them to get started with the service with an instant timeline feature. Instead of requiring new users to go out and follow Twitter users on their own, the instant timeline feature brings in content without going through the traditional setup process.

After Twitter scans your contacts in the signup phase, it will automatically present new Twitter users tweets based on who their contacts are and who they follow on Twitter. Essentially, Twitter is guessing which accounts and topics might interest you.

Speedr 2, iou, LoneAlarm, and more apps to check out this weekend

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

We recently held a poll to discover the types of apps our readers would like to know more about. From the poll, we discovered that you guys would like us to spotlight more utility and productivity apps. So, this week’s list includes some of the usual content, plus a handful of utility apps that we think might interest you. Check out our list below, and please keep the comments coming. We read them and your suggestions are helpful.

Apple wants some Watch apps ready in two weeks

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 30, 2015

According to sources who spoke to MacRumors on condition of anonymity, Apple told certain developers to have their Watch apps ready by mid-February.

Ostensibly, among them is one of biggest Apple Pay partners who was reportedly asked to prepare an iOS app with WatchKit support and have it ready to launch in the App Store by February 12.

The wrist-worn gizmo is arriving in April, Apple CEO told investors on an earnings call earlier this week. Conventional wisdom says testing third-party apps ahead of the launch is necessary to ensure key Watch apps work properly and, more importantly, don't create a major drain on the battery.

Another possibility: carefully-selected developers get a chance to show off their apps at a launch event, assuming there's any. In addition to furthering the Watch narrative, featuring third-party apps in live demos at another event would go a great length toward explaining what the Watch is really for and maybe turn us all into believers.

Sounds plausible?

MacID review: unlock your Mac using Touch ID

Lory Gil ∙ January 30, 2015

Thanks to Bluetooth LE connectivity, users are able to connect their smartphones to their computers to share content between devices quickly, easily, and without being too taxing for battery life. On iOS and OS X, you can even do stuff like lock or unlock your Mac. Mac ID for iOS is one such app. Not only can you set it up to unlock your computer, but you can also lock it and wake the screen remotely. We’ve got a hands-on review of MacID for iOS for you today.

New Adobe apps: Digital Editions e-book reader and PaintCan for turning photos into paintings

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 30, 2015

Adobe has published a pair of new applications on the App Store, Adobe Digital Editions and PaintCan. The former allows you to access and manage e-reading material in Adobe's DRM-protected format on your iPad, with editions for Windows and Mac PCs also available for achieving cross-platform nirvana.

The latter, as the name suggest, is an easy-to-use painting software for creating nice-looking artworks from your favorite photos using either one of the preset brushes with different textures or your own brushes customized to your liking.

Twindr is like Tinder for Twitter

Sébastien Page ∙ January 30, 2015

If Twitter and Tinder could mate, they'd probably give birth to something close to Twindr, a new app that aims to clean up your Twitter feed by allowing you to quickly unfollow accounts. The concept is pretty simple. After authorizing the app to get access to your Twitter account, you will be presented with cards of accounts you follow. Swipe right to keep following. Swipe left to unfollow.

Psych is a minimalistic psychedelic game

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

When I was a kid, I loved playing Frogger. Jumping between lanes, trying to avoid cars and hopping on logs, trying to avoid crocodiles was intense and exciting. Psych uses a similar mechanic of hopping from one moving platform to another, but uses minimalist graphics to create a 21st century gaming experience.

Facebook launches new Place Tips feature in your News Feed, rolls out Facebook Bluetooth Beacons

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 30, 2015

Yesterday, Facebook announced a new feature in the hope of fending off threat posed by Foursquare and Yelp, both of which rule the crowd-sourced location discovery market.

Place Tips, as it's called, injects useful information about the place you're right at, including your friends’ recommendations and “fun, useful and relevant info,” right inside your News Feed.

But don't your worry, you can turn it off at anytime!