Bartender is a Mac app that helps users declutter their menu bar by allowing them to easily hide, rearrange, and manage menu bar icons according to their preferences.
Keep your menu bar clutter-free with Bartender
Apps
Readdle rolls out PDF Expert 5 with iCloud, shared folders, new Review mode and more
The Ukraine-based app maker Readdle today released a big update to its PDF management app, PDF Expert for iPad. The software makes reading, annotating or editing PDF documents on your iPad a snap, with advanced capabilities like highlighting and handwriting support, the ability to sign your PDFs digitally (useful for contracts and other legal documents), insert text and stamps and more.
PDF Expert can even merge multiple PDF documents into one so it's much like the OS X Preview app feature-wise.
The fifth major iteration offers such enhancements as the new shared-folder capability, AirDrop sharing, a revamped file manager, iCloud storage and sync for your PDFs and lots more. The full breakdown is after the break...
Amazon Cloud Player now available in BMW Apps and MINI Connected-equipped vehicles
In time for today's rumored iOS in the Car launch across select Honda vehicles, Amazon has announced a new version of its free Cloud Player for iPhone and iPad which integrates straight with the dash. Cloud Player is the online retail giant's official cloud-storage client which lets you access your MP3 files residing in the Amazon cloud. Today's update makes it easy for music lovers to play songs through their BMW Apps and MINI Connected-equipped vehicles' in-dash system...
Ember, digital scrapbook Mac app, is now available for iPhone and iPad
In keeping with its promise to bring Ember to iOS in December, Realmac today released the iPhone and iPad version as a free download in the App Store. Basically a companion for Realmac's Ember for Mac, the iOS app features iCloud sync, photo collections with advanced natural language search, the handy ability to automatically sort screenshots imported from your iOS Camera Roll into Phone and Tablet collections, sharing via Mail, AirDrop, Messages, Twitter and Facebook, and lots more.
Jump past the fold for the full breakdown...
FileMaker Pro 2013 released with deeper iOS integration, web-based data entry and more
Following a website leak yesterday, Apple subsidiary FileMaker, formerly Claris, today announced a brand new version of its namesake cross-platform relational database application for Mac and Windows PCs. FileMaker Pro 13 comes with more than fifty new features and a new pricing scheme.
The new features include stronger AES 256-bit data encryption, additional tools inside companion iOS apps that support one-step creation of iPhone and iPad database layouts, a brand new HTML5-based support for easy data entry using any standards-compliant web browser such as Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome and much, much more...
Get inspired to take photographs with OKDOTHIS
It happens to everyone. You’ve got your fancy DSLR camera and a brand new lens that you’ve only used once. It sits by the front door, waiting for you to take it with you the next time you head out for a walk, but it seems like the only time you take pictures anymore is when you go on vacation.
OKDOTHIS is a photography app that inspires you to go out and take pictures that are outside of the box. It is not just for DSLR enthusiasts either. If you enjoy iPhone photography, this app could inspire you as well…
WhatsApp iOS 7 update is out with new design, broadcast lists and more
The highly anticipated iOS 7 update for WhatsApp finally landed in the App Store this afternoon. The update brings the iOS client for the popular messaging service to version 2.11.5, and includes an all new design, new features and various improvements.
One of the big new features in 2.11.5 is called broadcasts lists, and it allows you to send messages to many people simultaneously. So say for instance you have a list of your classmates or work colleagues, you can message them all at once instead of individually...
Paper by FiftyThree picks up palm rejection, erase and blend features for Pencil
FiftyThree, the fine people who brought you the excellent iPad drawing program aptly named Paper, have been taking pre-orders for their companion high-quality stylus, the Pencil, for more than a month now. As we explained in the announcement post, the Pencil uses power-efficient Bluetooth 4.0 technology to communication with the application running on your iPad.
But it's the marriage of high-quality Pencil hardware and premium Paper software which enables seamless features such as the ability to carve away parts of your drawing using a built-in eraser, without having to switch in-app tools first.
With first Pencil shipments arriving later this week, FiftyThree has refreshed Paper for iPad with hardware-specific support for the advanced blend/erase capabilities and the palm rejection feature which disregards spray input when drawing on the iPad's touch-sensitive screen...
Following complaints from Apple, TextExpander gives up Reminders trickery
Over time, I've managed to purchase a lot (too many?) of apps for my iOS devices and Macs. But if you asked me to name one instant purchase I have never, ever regretted, I'd easily pick TextExpander by Smile Software in a heartbeat.
This handy utility doesn't come cheap: the Mac edition will run you $34.99, and then an additional $4.99 for the touch-optimized version for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
Despite dropping forty bucks on this particular app, I've recouped my investment many times over in just a few short months, by cutting down on the time spent typing common terms and phrases. TextExpander lets me create handy shortcuts which automatically expand during text entry.
For example, I have the 'iDB' shortcut set up to auto-expand to 'iDownloadBlog'. Same with common URLs, brand names and other oft-used snippets of text. The problem is, the curious little trick the app employs to manage and sync those snippets across third-party iPhone and iPad apps that integrate with TextExpander hasn't sat well with Apple.
The App Store review team has refused to approve a recent update on the grounds that Smile's use of the stock iOS Reminders app for shared snippet storage is no longer acceptable. In response, Smile has introduced a new snippet-sharing method and updated an accompanying SDK for third-party app makers...
Shazam now connects with Rdio
Shazam's music fingerprinting app for the iPhone and iPad is continuously getting better and more useful after each new update. Right following the September 18 release of iOS 7, Shazam mobile apps were immediately updated with iOS 7-friendly design and technologies.
And just a month ago, the app was refreshed with the handy artist updates, the ability to see what your friends have tagged and a new newsfeed-like interface for real-time updates and interactions with the Shazam community.
On Monday, Shazam got bumped to version 7.2 which brings a very interesting feature: if you're a Rdio user, you can now listen to your Shazam tracks as an Rdio playlist. A few other goodies are included in this Shazam update, listed after the break...
Apple’s website leaks FileMaker Pro 13
FileMaker, formerly Claris and now an Apple subsidiary, has been enjoying great success with its namesake cross-platform relational database application for decades now. FileMaker 12 was released nearly two years ago for the Mac and Windows PCs. There has been a lot of talk lately about the next major upgrade, FileMaker 13, but little in terms of leaks.
Well, the online Apple Store saw to that: in several countries, placeholder URLs along with website entries went prematurely live, presumably by accident. Furthermore, some versions of FileMaker Pro 12 have been seemingly discontinued in those stores, indicating that FileMaker 13 could be easily around the corner...
iDB’s Cyber Monday Deals Roundup
Folks who chose to skip all of the Black Friday mayhem this weekend will be happy to hear that a new wave of deals on apps, consumer electronics and other products are on the way. And there's no crowd-fighting or line-waiting required.
Tomorrow is known as Cyber Monday, a marketing term created for the Monday after Thanksgiving to promote online shopping. And once again, a number of retailers and manufacturers will be offering major discounts on their products.
And again, iDB has you covered, as we've collected all the best offers and put them in one, easy-to-read list. Presenting our Cyber Monday Deals Roundup...