Apps

Facebook updates Pages Manager app with new iOS 7 design

Facebook has posted an update for its Pages Manager this week, bringing the app to version 2.2. The update includes some new tagging features, some performance improvements and an all new design for iOS 7.

For those unfamiliar with Facebook's Pages Manager, it allows admins to interact with their audiences and keep tabs on activity for their pages by doing things like viewing Insights and replying to private messages...

Meet Tydlig, gorgeous new free-form iOS calculator

Apple's stock Calculator app hasn't changed much since the iPhone's inception, except for a light new interface introduced as part of the overall iOS 7 makeover.

It gets the job done, for the most part, and is good enough for average users who just need to perform simple on the go calculations every now and then. On the downside, Apple's inexplicably refused to make its Calculator app available on the iPad.

Worse, the company's refrained from implementing new features to make complex math or stringing calculations together easier. Enter Tydlig by Andreas Karlsson, a beautiful free-form calculator app for the iPhone and iPad which debuted earlier this month.

Not only is Tydlig a fine piece of software that reminds us what the stock app should have been, it actually tries to re-imagine what a mobile calculator app designed for touch interfaces should be like.

Yes, the world actually needs a calculator app done right...

Yahoo Screen gains watch-later queue, channel personalization and search suggestions

Yahoo's Screen for iPhone and iPad app debuted in September as your one-stop shop for an endless world of web video, as well a Yahoo's own premium and licensed video library. It's a nice app which puts not only the world of kitten videos, but also such TV shows as Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report - along with Yahoo Originals featuring Jack Black, Ed Helms, Zachary Levi, Cheryl Hines, Rachael Harris and more - under your fingertips.

The struggling Internet giant on Monday gave Screen for iOS a nice little update with new features like the handy ability to personalize your channels, save videos for later viewing, as-you-type search suggestions and other goodies...

Philips Hue updated for iOS 7, adds new features

Philips Hue, the pricey iPhone-controlled personal wireless lighting system, has captured Jeff's imagination with its ability to control lighting when away from the house, turn on lights when pulling into the driveway, set timers to adjust lighting at certain periods during the day, etc.

The companion Hue app, a free download from the App Store, allows you to easily control your Hue lighting through your iPhone with just a few setup steps.

The software was originally designed around a non-standard interface and today got refreshed for the iOS 7 look and feel while adding sidebar navigation, introduction demo and a few other nice-to-haves...

Ecoute music player receives major iOS 7 makeover, gains Last.fm scrobbling

Ecoute by Louka Desroziers and Julien Sagot of PixiApps used to be my fav third-party iPhone music player - MacStories editor Federico Viticci even named it his best iOS music player following its August 2012 debut.

A couple other alternative music players have been released since, most recently the gesture-based Beat and the $1.99 Panamp (formerly Couch Music Player).

This past weekend, PixiApps have piqued my interest all over again with Ecoute 2.0 for iPhone and iPod touch, a major rethinking of the software with iOS 7-optimized appearance, song scrobbling via Last.fm and more...

The Walk review: a fitness app disguised as a game

One of the most fun ways to get in shape came in the form of a clever fitness app disguised as a game called Zombies, Run! With it, users would follow a story that involved saving peoples lives and escaping brain eaters by sprinting and jogging while the app was running in the background.

The Walk is a very similar fitness app. Users complete a certain amount of exercise in order to unlock the next piece of the story. Only with this app, you don’t have to run and if you hate zombies, you won’t have to listen to them moaning as they chase you…

Gist intelligently summarizes your news articles

Many people turn to their iOS devices as a way to catch up on news and consume reading materials, keeping updated with daily happenings. Other than Twitter, there are few options to instantly give a short synopsis of a story or news blurb.

Personally, I use Flipboard, but even it utilizes the entire article. If you are pressed for time or only want the key points of an otherwise much larger article, a new app called Gist is aiming to provide only the quick details of news articles...

Yahoo Weather app updated with iPad support and more

Yahoo posted a significant update for its weather app this weekend, bringing the software to version 1.5. The update includes the ability to share the weather via Mail, Messages and social media, as well as iPad support.

That's right. Folks who really like the beautiful design, layout, and interactions of the iPhone Yahoo Weather app—things that made it one of the most popular weather apps of 2013—can now experience it on their tablet...

Vine updated with ability to hide revines when browsing user profiles

Twitter's Vine app, which happens to be one of our favorite social networking apps, was updated this weekend with a handful of improvements. The new version, which is marked as 1.4.5, includes bug fixes, support for new languages and a new feature.

And that feature is a big one. After updating, Vine iPhone users will have the ability to hide revines when browsing a user's profile feed. So that means you will no longer have to scroll through countless revined videos to get to a user's self-made content...

The 10 best productivity apps of 2013

If your New Year's resolution is to get more organized, you probably need an app to help you make your resolution come to pass. You may even need an app to help you come up with a list of resolutions to set next year.

This year was a great year for productivity apps. Since Apple announced the iOS 7 redesign, app developers pushed it into overdrive to redesign, recreate, and rework their apps. Plus, some great new titles found their way into the App store this year. The writers at iDownloadBlog have come up with a list of their favorites and below is a list of the 10 best productivity apps of 2013. Don’t forget to tell us which one is your favorite for our Best Apps of 2013 list…

Apps of the week: GTA San Andreas, The Room Two, Wisely, and more…

Did you already get all of your holiday shopping done? Probably not. I know I haven’t, and I’m a fairly well organized person. What I should be doing this weekend is finishing up all of my holiday chores. What I will likely be doing is playing games on my iPad.

If you are waiting in line for your gift purchases, trimming the tree, or baking holiday cookies this weekend, we have a list of apps and games that you might find worth picking up…

Yelp updated with local movie listings, in-app ticket purchasing, and more

Yelp has posted a nice little update for its iOS client today. The update, which brings the app to version 7.4, sports a number of new features including movie listings and in-app movie ticket purchasing courtesy of Fandango.

Also new in the app is in-line review business photos. Yelp now shows business photos taken by Yelp users next to their review, so you can get a better idea of how popular a club is, or how delicious a particular entree was...