Apps

Good deal: 96% off Mac app bundle featuring Ember, Fantastical and more

Heads up Mac users, StackSocial has just launched an awesome bundle promotion for software that includes 8 premium Mac applications and an OS X/Web developer course that teaches you how to make apps in HTML, CSS and Xcode for 96% off their normal retail prices.

The bundle features high profile titles like Fantastical, the popular calendar app by Flexibits, and Ember, Realmac Software's highly regarded image manager. There's also AfterShot Pro 2, Disk Drill Pro 2.3, Capo 3, and more. Keep reading for a full breakdown of the promo.

Experience Instagram in a whole new way with Grids for Mac

There's no shortage of unofficial Instagram clients for the Mac, even if the vast majority of them offer limited functionality and clunky user interfaces. Enter Grids by ThinkTime Creations, a beautiful new way to experience Instagram on your Mac with its adaptive grid-based interface, deep interactions and a number of other compelling features.

The $1.99 app, which launched earlier today, offers full Retina display support, native full-screen mode, notifications for new feeds, the ability to interact with your followers, their Instagram snaps and videos and much more.

Microsoft launches Skype Qik, its own ephemeral video messaging app

Tuesday, software giant Microsoft launched a brand new ephemeral messaging app, Skype Qik, in a bid to take on the likes of Snapchat and other applications in the increasingly crowded ephemeral messaging space.

“Imagine if you could reinvent the Skype experience, taking into account how messaging, selfies and app culture have changed the way we communicate,” reads the blurb.

The free of charge iPhone app is based on Microsoft's $100 million acquisition of the mobile video provider Qik three years ago. Microsoft retired the original Qik app soon after, clearing the way for a re-introduction of the reimagined Qik software for iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

As the name suggests, Skype Qik is being promoted through the Skype brand, itself owned by Microsoft. Matter of fact, Qik runs alongside Skype to provide an ongoing form of video chat allowing you to share laughs, and chat with groups of friends.

Live an entire life in 10 minutes with “I am a Brave Knight”

Some might argue that traditional gaming has gotten boring. So boring that developers have started working on ways to create new, unique titles that work outside of the normal boundaries in an effort to provide a completely different gaming experience.

I am a brave knight looks to feed into that different experience with a title that is so out-of-the-box, it can’t really even be called a game. It will only take you about 10 minutes to journey through one man’s life from childhood to death. Are you brave enough to make it?

Stop what you’re doing and grab Cycloramic for iPhone 6, free for a very limited time

Chances are you've heard about Cycloramic, a stupendously amazing iPhone photography software which allows you to capture stunning, accessory-free 360-degree video using custom vibration patterns in your device and an Apple power adapter.

If you haven't taken the plunge yet, please don't pass on this opportunity as Cycloramic has just gone free for the first time ever.

A $1.99 saving, only the iPhone 6 edition of the app is free, and for “a very limited time”, according to developer Egos Ventures. The iPhone 5/5s version, which hasn't been discounted and is available for $1.99 a pop, relies on the handset's squared base and the vibration motor to spin the device around its axis.

Audiko lets you create ringtones right on your iPhone

I’ve been using the same ringtone for about two years now. It’s not so much because I love the sound, although I do (it’s the “Enchanted Tiki Room” song). It’s that I’m too lazy to create new sounds to use.

Audiko is a ringtone creator that lets you make your own tracks right on your iPhone so you don’t have to download music off of the web. You can use your favorite songs, quotes from movies, or even the sound of your buddy snoring.

Facebook now lets you comment with stickers in posts, groups and on events

The social networking giant Facebook on Monday unveiled a new feature: stickers in comments. This marks the first time users are allowed to send stickers in comments to (hopefully) add some depth to their posts and better express how they feel about topics of conversation.

Originally started as a hackathon project in New York, stickers were then rolled out to Facebook Messenger and quickly took off from there.

To comment with stickers across Facebook, just tap the smiley face icon in the bottom-right of any comment field in Facebook's desktop interface or mobile apps. Facebook has enabled stickers in comments in all posts from people, in groups and on events.

Use them sparingly as these huge smiley images take up more space compared to your regular emojis.

Mailbox optimized for iPhone 6 screens, Mac beta client now available to everyone

Fans of the popular Mailbox email client, rejoice! A compatibility update became available Monday, bringing native display support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus that lets you see more of your emails rather than be limited by a blown-up interface.

Mailbox 2.3.1, a free download, also brings the ability to customize your swipes further and includes a pair of fixes, one resolving issues with rendering of some emails and the other squashing a bug affecting delivery of Push Notification for new messages in iOS 8.

The best apps for writing

National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) takes place every November. The goal is to write a 50,000-word novel between Nov. 1 and 30. That means, participants need to average about 1,667 words per day for 30 days straight. I tried it once. I made it to about 7,000 words and gave up. It’s harder than it sounds.

If you are preparing for this year’s Nanowrimo contest, or you are simply looking for some good apps to help increase your writing productivity, we’ve got a list of what we think are the best apps for writers. Check them out and let us know which one you think is the best.

Inferno 2 review: dual-stick arcade action at its finest

Creating a well made, action-packed twin-stick shooter game for iOS is not an easy task. It seems like most touchscreen dual-stick controllers are so bad that they basically ruin the gaming experience. The developers of Inferno 2 have mastered the dual-stick controller and managed to make a fun game at the same time. We’ve got a full review of Inferno 2 for you today.

Prompt 2 review: the best SSH client for iOS

The iPad can't be used for real work, can it?

Even after all this time, there is still some debate about whether the iPad can be used as a real computer. I'd argue that even the iPhone can prevent me from having to pick up one of my Macs, especially now we have the larger screens courtesy of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

To me though, it's not so much about the hardware, but rather the software that runs on it that will decide whether any iOS device is up to the task. The App Store is littered with word processors of all kinds, apps for shoving numbers into spreadsheets and even plenty of software that will help you give a presentation on a projector. That's all well and good, but for me real work starts with a command line and an FTP server. Thankfully, Panic has my back on both counts.

Both Transmit and Prompt have been born out of the hard work that goes on inside Panic, and the latter has received a hefty update very recently indeed. So hefty in fact that this new 2.0 version is a whole new app that requires purchasing all over again and at $9.99, it's not the cheapest app on the App Store.

But it is one of the best.

Video shows how to access hidden settings in Instagram’s Hyperlapse

Instagram's recently released Hyperlapse app, built for recording time-lapse videos, has received a lot of praise for its UI design and function, but there's no denying that it's a bit short on features—or so we thought. Apparently the app has a hidden menu with several options, including 1080P video capturing and more.