Apps

Shazam previews now play right in Twitter

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 29, 2016

Apart from bringing out the ability to purchase multiple songs at once through iTunes back in June, the music discovery service Shazam has been pretty quiet in terms of its iPhone and iPad app, releasing only a few maintenance updates. Today's version 6.2.1 update changes that.

The just-refreshed application now features way faster song recognition on older devices and brings integration with Twitter, allowing everyone to play tweeted out Shazam song previews right in Twitter, thanks to Shazam's new Twitter Card.

The micro-blogging service recently released an iOS music discovery app called #music so this Shazam update ups the ante in terms of social music discovery. More tidbits right after the break...

Apps of the week: Radium, Age of Thrones, doo, Blackbar and more…

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 26, 2018

The days are getting shorter and the ocean breeze is making its way inland. That’s when you know that the season is changing. I know that summer is on its final legs when Anime geeks from around the country converge on my tree lined city streets in massive hordes of school uniforms and giant robots. That’s where I’ll be this weekend.

Whether you are looking for a game to occupy your time in line at a convention or need an app to help make your pictures of cosplayers look better, we have a few apps that are going to make your weekend better…

Blackbar review: a text-based adventure that is missing the text

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 13, 2018

You type, “Get ye flask.” The game responds, “You cannot get ye flask.” Sound familiar? Then you know a little something about old school text-based adventures. It was always so difficult to figure out the correct way to type an action.

Blackbar is a text-based story that requires a similar activity. Only, instead of trying to command the character to perform an action, you must find the correct word to fill in the blank…

Bunny Bonker reinvents whack-a-mole for a more modern sensibility

Lory Gil ∙ Updated March 14, 2018

I know I’m going to get razzed by some of our readers for spotlighting this app today. It is super cutesy, based on a Chuck-E-Cheese game, and features a whistle-performed indie song that makes you think of an Amazon Kindle commercial.

But, mark my words, Bunny Bonker is challenging and fun and at least half of you will thank me for telling you about it…

Apple’s Passbook is now a registered trademark

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 30, 2013

Passbook, Apple's iOS app for collecting coupons, board passes and other digital cards, is now a registered trademark. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published the trademark registration Friday. This makes a clean sweep for the app, after its icon was trademarked by Apple earlier this month.

Apple had filed to trademark the app in 2012, just two months after unveiling Passbook during its annual June Apple World Wide Developer Conference.

Today's announcement comes as Apple continues efforts to trademark the term 'startup' as part of its retail services ahead of the expected September launch of the iPhone 5S/5C...

Photoristic makes photo editing on your iPad a treat

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

If you are feeling disillusioned with Apple’s iPhoto for iOS app and want a little more control over your image editing options, there is another (said in the voice of Yoda).

Photoristic HD is a photo-editing app that lets you use professional quality tools on your iPad. Fix lighting flaws, brighten flat photos, and turn a near-perfect shot into the perfect picture with just a few taps…

Yahoo gives Flickr iOS app live filters and pro editing tools

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 29, 2013

There has never been a better time to dive deep into iPhone photography. With Twitter's Vine popularizing impulse sharing of short video clips, Instagram ruling the photo sharing space and having acquired the video startup Luma, it may seem as if the outcome of this rivalry will be determined between Facebook/Instagram, Twitter/Vine and Google and its Google+ Photos.

But people seem to be forgetting about Yahoo and its Flickr photo sharing service. After being neglected for so many years, the awoken Internet giant under Marissa Mayer's leadership has made some notable strides in the mobile photography space.

And with today's major update, Yahoo's Flickr iOS app has gained some interesting mobile photography features that instantly make it on par with the aforementioned giants. Here's the full breakdown...

Abyss Attack review: a traditional vertical shooter game

Lory Gil ∙ Updated March 14, 2018

A few days ago, I told you about the vertical shoot-em-up (shmup) game M.A.C.E. As a follow up for fans of games like the Raiden series of long ago, we’ve got another vertical shmup for you, only this time it’s underwater.

Raiden takes place on the ground, M.A.C.E. takes place in space, and Abyss Attack takes place in the dark recesses of deep sea…

Test your memory with The Impossible Line

Lory Gil ∙ Updated March 14, 2018

Do you remember playing the game of Memory? There would be a bunch of cards, face-down, on the table and you had to remember where each one was in order to find its mate and make the match.

The Impossible Line is a casual puzzle game that tests your ability to remember where objects are, but this is not your kid’s card-flipping memory game. You’ll be bouncing off of walls if you don’t remember where they are…

Mailbox updated with cloud search, account-specific signatures, Chrome support

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 13, 2018

As far as I'm concerned, Orchestra's excellent email application Mailbox - now owned and maintained by Dropbox- needs only a few little touches to become the ultimate mobile email client. With today's not-to-be-missed refresh, Mailbox has become the closest thing to email nirvana, at least for me.

Didn't use Mailbox because it wouldn't let you customize signatures on a per-account basis? Solved!

The annoying inability to search every message in your Gmail account? That too! And as a bonus, Mailbox can now open links in Google's Chrome iOS browser...

ESPN’s News and Deportes channels added to Apple TV and iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

Less than 48 hours after Apple added new video content from Vevo, Weather Channel, Disney Channel, Disney XD and Smithsonian Channel to its $99 Apple TV set-top box, ESPN announced Wednesday it's enabled access to two new channels - News and Deportes - on the Apple TV and iOS devices, through the WatchESPN software for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

This is important because ESPN is a global powerhouse.

Owned as a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation, the U.S.-based cable and satellite television channel is a lot of people's go-to source for all things sports...