Apps

Paper by FiftyThree picks up palm rejection, erase and blend features for Pencil

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

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

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 5, 2018

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

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 2, 2013

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

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 2, 2013

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

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

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...

Shiori: my favorite Pinboard utility for the Mac

Jeff Benjamin ∙ November 30, 2013

In episode 002 of Let’s Talk iOS we talked about Pinboard, and why it’s such a useful service for saving bookmarks. I won’t get too much into the specifics about Pinboard on this post, so I urge you to listen to that episode if you haven’t already. The episode does a good job of explaining the methodology behind Pinboard, pricing, etc.

What I do want to talk about is an awesome Pinboard utility called Shiori. A free download for OS X, Shiori is a Pinboard utility that allows you to quickly add new bookmarks to your Pinboard account and just as quickly search all of the contents of your account.

Shiori runs in the menu bar, and both its add and search functions can be accessed by a pair of useful keyboard shortcuts. Have a look inside as we go hands on with Shiori on video. If you’re at all interested in saving bookmarks for the longterm, then I’m positive you’ll find Shiori useful.

We Play: Super Hexagon

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

The iPhone and iPad are serious gaming devices. If you ask me, games are one of the best perks about owning an iOS device. The problem is that, just like with virtually every other genre of app on the App Store, there's an abundance of games available and many of them can be quite terrible.

With that in mind, I've decided to start a new series showcasing some of the games available on iOS. Unlike a normal post, I'll actually add video along with commentary of myself playing the game. By doing this, you'll be able to better gauge whether or not the game is right for you.

I'll be doing this a lot with new releases, but I'll also dig back in my stash of previous gems that everyone should know about. The first game in this series is a game that's been available for quite some time now—the legendary Terry Cavanagh's Super Hexagon. This is far and away one of my favorite games for iOS, because it has the perfect mix of drama and replay-ability. Watch me play Super Hexagon after the break.

Yoink is an awesome drag and drop utility for the Mac

Jeff Benjamin ∙ November 29, 2013

Sometimes dragging and dropping items between multiple windows and full screen apps and folders can be challenging. But dragging and dropping doesn’t have to be a tedious or perplexing task. One of my favorite utilities for the Mac is called Yoink, and it allows you to simplify the process of dragging and dropping on OS X.

Its description in the Mac App Store states that Yoink simplifies drag and drop between windows, apps, spaces and fullscreen apps. As a long time user of the tool, I can vouch for developer Matthias Gansringler’s description. As you’ll see in the video walkthrough that follows, Yoink is one of those apps that you don’t realize you need until you see it in action. Have a look inside for the full walkthrough.

Boxie goes free: everyone can now prettify their Dropbox

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 13, 2018

As a Dropbox power user on a daily basis, I am very dissatisfied with their mobile app because it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of advanced capabilities, so much so that I've recently become a Boxie convert and never looked back.

This awesome Dropbox client for the iPhone and iPad used to cost two bucks so I imagine the price tag must have put off a lot of would-be users, especially give Dropbox’s own official iPhone and iPad client is free in the App Store and good enough for most of casual Dropbox users.

Those who depend on Dropbox will be happy learning that developer Tapwings has now completely removed barrier to entry because starting today, you can download Boxie free from the App Store (the price cut is permanent).

Dropbox fans would be wise to immediately treat themselves to this awesome app which will soup up your Dropbox experience with the elegant user interface while allowing for some advanced features not supported by Dropbox’s own app.

I'm talking stuff like moving an item in a folder via drag-and-drop, per-folder sorting, ZIP archive extraction, direct Dropbox-to-Dropbox transfer and lots more...

Spotify update brings Browse mode to iPad, lets you follow friends/artists and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 26, 2016

The Swedish streaming music startup Spotify has pushed a new update to its free iPhone and iPad client today. The new Spotify 0.9.1 enables the Browse mode on iPads, while bringing the ability to follow friends and artists, enabling the search/public toggle for playlists on the iPhone and introducing more responsive searching and revamped playlists, along with the usual bug fixes and performance improvements.

Spotify, which received its major iOS 7 update on October 22, two months ago brought out the completely revamped Browse tab. Basically a new way to search for music, Browse taps a simplified interface for finding your favorite artists and albums or discovering new ones with just a few taps.

Browse used to be iPhone-only, but today's update brings the feature to iPad devices as well while replacing the old What’s New view...

iTranslate goes universal, adds native iOS 7 iPad UI

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 19, 2018

I generally dig software by German developer Sonico Mobile. As I'm not a native English speaker, you could imagine Sonico's free translator and dictionary program called iTranslate is one of the apps I always keep on my Home screen no matter what. I'm happy to report that the team has now produced a universal binary which perfectly adopts to iOS 7 by functionality and design.

The new iTranslate for iPhone and iPad is now available free in the App Store, bringing with it the native iPad interface featuring revamped appearance for iOS 7 aesthetics. Check out the screenshots and additional tidbits right after the break...

iTV Shows 3 lets you track your favorite TV shows in style

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

For some people, watching television is a ritual that cannot be disrupted. I have a few friends that won’t even go out on certain nights because they don’t want to miss their shows. Keeping track of past and future episodes can be a daunting task if you are an avid TV viewer.

iTV Shows 3 is a powerful TV tracker that uses multiple comprehensive databases to help you keep a schedule of shows you want to watch. Plus, TV tracking has never looked so good with this interface…