Apps

Noisli review: sleep well to the sounds of nature

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 27, 2018

I’ve been getting wonderful, full nights of sleep lately thanks to this new app I’ve been testing. I’m one of those people who love being lulled to sleep by the comforting sounds of ocean waves, waterfalls, and chirping birds. I never leave home without some kind of audio aid for sleeping.

Noisli is an audio app that features realistic sounds of nature. What makes this app stand out from the rest is its iOS 7 theme. Get a good night’s sleep while being soothed with the visually comforting, colorful glow of your iPhone screen. Check out our Noisli review after the break…

Apps of the week: Adobe Voice, GoodReader 4, Adventure to Fate, and more

Lory Gil ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

For me, there is never enough time in the week to get through all the great apps and games that come out. Even some of my favorite titles get lost in a folder somewhere as I make room for the next batch of cool stuff.

If you need inspiration for a Mother’s Day gift, want a good app for storing and organzing PDFs, or are just looking for some fun games to play this weekend, we’ve got a list of apps and games to help you out…

Apple Store app offering ’Rhonna Designs’ photo editor for free right now

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Apple is currently offering the popular photo editing app 'Rhonna Designs' for free right now in its Apple Store app. Users can skip the $1.99 price tag by launching the app, and tapping on the promotional banner to receive their redeem code.

The offering is part of a larger effort by Apple to get more people to use its retail app, and ultimately purchase more products. The company's online sales jumped some 24% over the last year, making it the 2nd largest web retailer behind Amazon...

Facebook streamlines its iOS offerings: Camera and Poke pulled from App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 9, 2014

The writing has been on the wall for quite some time now for Facebook's ill-fated Poke and Camera apps.

Ever since releasing the revamped Messenger - and especially the beautiful Paper app - it's been clear to me that the outdated Poke for iPhone and the meaningless Camera would be headed to the technology graveyard.

Starting today, Camera and Poke can no longer be downloaded from the App Store.

Facebook has discontinued these two programs because their functionality has long been folded into the firm's main iOS client, as well as into Messenger and Paper...

Vimeo app updated with all new design, faster playback and more

Cody Lee ∙ May 9, 2014

Vimeo users will be happy to hear that the video streamer rolled out a new version of its iOS client today. The update brings the app to build number 4.1, and features an all-new design, as well as various other improvements.

The new design is noticeable from the second you launch the app. It has sort of an iOS 7 feel, with lightweight elements and streamlined menus, and overall navigation has been improved. More details and screenshots below...

Sumotori Dreams adds humor to ragdoll graphic sumo wrestling

Lory Gil ∙ May 9, 2014

Sumo wrestling dates back hundreds of years and is a revered tradition in Japanese culture. The goal is to push your rival out of the ring, or force him to touch the ground with something other than his feet. It shows off a wrestler’s strength and dexterity against his opponent.

Sumotori Dreams takes all the tradition and reverence out of Sumo wrestling. What is left is a pretty hilarious ragdoll simulation that will give you the giggles for the rest of the day…

Nintendo’s first mobile app to be for ‘Mario Kart TV’ web service

Cody Lee ∙ May 9, 2014

Nintendo continues to stand against the idea of porting its popular games to iOS or Android, but it's not writing off mobile completely. Earlier this year, the company confirmed it was working on 'service apps,' which would serve as a bridge to bring more customers over to its console platform.

And this week, we get a good idea of what at least one of those apps could look like. During its financial results briefing yesterday, Nintendo announced that it's planning to release an app for Mario Kart TV—a web service that allows players to access and share videos captured from Mario Kart 8...

Gameloft talks Modern Combat 5: Blackout classes and unified progression system

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 8, 2014

As my colleague Cody informed you, French games maker Gameloft recently shed more light on its highly anticipated Modern Combat sequel, titled Modern Combat 5: Blackout.

Coming to mobile later this year, Modern Combat 5: Blackout takes place in such locations as Venice, Italy and Tokyo and involves the main character Phoenix securing a transport of weapons of mass destruction from a particularly well-armed terrorist group.

This is a nice excuse for action-packed combat sequences and a bunch of nicely rendered orange explosions. Before you jump straight for comments, there's much more to this game than meets the eye. A new Gameloft blog post published Thursday offers new details on the game's unified progression system and its four soldier classes...

Instapaper introduces Highlights, revamps web UI

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 8, 2014

The popular read-later iOS app Instapaper (I prefer the free Pocket app, formerly Read It Later) has received an interesting update this morning bringing out a new Highlights feature which lets you create and save passages of text from any article, useful to keep those quotes and important notes handy. The biggest threat to Instapaper's further adoption is its pricing structure: unlike the free Pocket, Instapaper is a $3.99 value...

Warhammer 40,000: Carnage brutalizes the App Store

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

In the mid 1980s, a science fiction-fantasy tabletop miniature game won the hearts of role-play game fans that were tired of the same old stuff. The Warhammer world was born. To this day, you can walk into practically any board game store and a group of gamers will be sitting at a table with their boxes of tanks and armies of tiny fighters.

Warhammer 40,000: Carnage is a side-scrolling run-and-gun arcade style game set in the Warhammer 40K universe. Pick your side and hit the ground running because the enemy is waiting for you…

Hipstamatic takes aim at Instagram and Vine with new Cinamatic video app

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 8, 2014

Our youngest audience may be totally oblivious to this, but back when hipsters were not cool yet and way before Facebook-owned Instagram and Twitter-owned Vine made mobile photo and video sharing popular, there was Hipstamatic.

And just when you thought that Hipstamatic has given up on mobile photography, the photo editing pioneer is back with a new video sharing app called Cinamatic.

It's available now for $1.99 in the App Store, here's what it brings to the table...

Yahoo News Digest has gone global

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

Yahoo's News Digest iOS app isn't just gorgeous, it's a great time saver, too. For those unfamiliar with Digest, it uses Yahoo-owned Summly technology and algorithmic and human editorial curation to aggregate and summarize the day's most important topics from a variety of trusted sources and premium media outlets.

With your news delivered twice a day, it's a great way to start your day in the morning and wind down in the evening, without spending too much time catching up on the most important news.

The catch? The news it serves focuses on U.S. and UK markets. But not anymore: as of today, the new version of the app serves news globally, with both international and Canadian editions of the Digest now available...