Apps

Apple releases brand new Logic Pro X with Virtual Drummer, updates MainStage

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2016

Good news for fans of Apple's pro audio software as the company has just announced this morning an update to MainStage 3 and a major new version of Logic Pro with Virtual Drummer and Flex Pitch features, plus an iOS Remote application to go along with it. Apple pulled a Final Cut Pro X here as Logic Pro X appears to be a reboot of the previous version.

The next-generation audio editing for the Mac, according to Apple's global marketing chief, features a set of advanced tools and a modern new interface designed to streamline the process of creating professional quality music. "Musicians are going to love creative new features like Drummer, Flex Pitch, Track Stacks and the Arpeggiator," he was quoted in a press release...

eBay Exact launches on iOS, lets you buy customizable 3D-printed merchandise

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2018

The online auctioning giant eBay on Friday launched a brand new iPhone application called eBay Exact, designed to let customers buy customizable 3D-printed merchandise on the go.

3D printing with eBay (a first for the firm) is as easy as selecting a product, choosing from a variety of materials (including plastics, wood and metals) and designs and using customized engraving to add your own personal flare to create a unique item.

eBay partnered with 3D printing leaders such as France-based Sculpteo, Brooklyn-based Makerbot and Canada-based Hot Pop Factory on a cherry-picked selection of products that include iPhone cases, figurines and jewelry...

Sony’s Music Unlimited iOS client enables offline mode and 320kbps streaming

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 24, 2018

Sony back in May promised to update the iOS client supporting its Music Unlimited service with the much-needed offline playback and support for high-quality 320kbps AAC streaming. The refreshed software was originally meant to surface in the App Store shortly, but it got lost in the approval limbo. Sony finally today put out a press release announcing availability of Music Unlimited version 1.3.1 with offline playback, high-quality streaming and more...

Infographic: four days without apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 28, 2017

Mobile apps have in no time become a true addiction in our smartphone-obssesed society. We use them day in and day out - to the point where we can't imagine our lives without those lickable Home screen icons. As Apple gave each user five premium apps and games for free as part of the App Store's fifth anniversary, eBay too celebrated the occasion by conducting an informal survey that challenged 200 iPhone owners with surviving four days without their favorite apps...

MLB.com At Bat iOS app refreshed ahead of All-Star Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 11, 2013

As New York preps to take the center stage for the upcoming All-Star Week, the Major League Baseball has released a timely update to its official iPhone and iPad app, MLB.com at Bat, which streams free and paid-for games, highlights and backgrounders while providing rich and detailed statistics like standings, schedules and rosters.

The All-Star Week update allows fans to follow All-Star Week live from New York, including the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, and watch in-progress video highlights within the Gameday Plays interface. The iPhone interface has been revamped and both smartphone and tablet editions have received other changes, listed right after the jump...

Algoriddim previews djay 2, coming soon to iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

There's no shortage of apps for DJs on the App Store. For instance, one of the ten apps and games Apple made free as part of its 5 Years of the App Store promo is Traktor DJ (normally a $20 value), an excellent piece of software that appeals to pro DJs. Even the famous iOS hacker pod2g, known for his jailbreak releases, took notice of the trend and created his own app that will make you the star of every party, podDJ.

In my view, Algoriddim's djay for iPhone and iPad is arguably the best-known and certainly one of the first DJ apps to grace the App Store. Two and a half years following its App Store debut, the successor to djay is coming soon to an iPhone and iPad near you, Algoriddim confirmed Thursday. I've included a nicely done promo vid after the break...

You can now embed Instagram photos and videos in web pages, here’s how

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 10, 2013

Instagram's insistence on requiring people to use its mobile apps exclusively never really sat with me. In a time when people can embed all kinds of content in web pages, here we are unable to embed our Instagrams in blog posts.

But times are changing fast. After Twitter's Vine service came along, we soon gained ability to embed those five-second recordings pretty much everywhere (here's how).

And just as Instagram video became a reality, I suspected it won't be too long before we could embed 15-second Instagram clips across the web. Indeed, web embeds for Instagram photos and videos launched today and we've got the full details below the fold...

Google shows off new Google Maps features, coming soon to iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 10, 2013

As announced on Google's official Lat Long blog yesterday, the company has begun rolling out a major update to Google Maps that was first showcased at Google I/O 2013 in May. The company has issued a promotional clip to detail some of the new features, now available to Android 4.0.3+ users as a free download on the Play store. Although the new build hasn't hit the App Store yet, Google said it will be soon available for iOS 6+ devices...

iOS 7 smooths out iPhone apps on non-Retina iPads

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 9, 2013

With each passing day we learn more about the subtleties and under-the-hood tweaks that have made their way into the third beta of iOS 7. Today, I want to talk about the iPad's 2x compatibility mode. Hasn't it always bothered you how iPhone apps run pixel-doubled on your iPad mini and other non-Retina iPad devices, resulting in jagged corners and edges and just all-around pixelated appearance?

You can tick that issue off as iOS 7 Beta 3 added a new feature that makes every iPhone app look very clear running on an iPad 2 or iPad mini, in a manner reminiscent of a tweak for jailbroken devices by Ryan Petrich, called RetinaPad...

Apple’s lawsuit against Amazon over ‘App Store’ name ends in draw

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 9, 2013

Apple and Amazon have taken off the gloves back in 2011, apparently deciding the 'App Store' name is big enough for both companies. An Oakland, California district court pulled the plug on the dispute at the request of the two app providers. The decision to walk away from just who owns the 'App Store' title follows Apple agreeing not to sue Amazon, according to a report this morning...

Dropbox-owned Mailbox gets Dropbox attachment integration

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 13, 2018

Dropbox, the popular cloud-storage startup, kicked off DBX today, its first-ever developer conference. Dropbox is now 175 million users strong, way up from the 75 million users registered just last November.

The new APIs the team introduced today at DBX promise to make it easier for app developers to integrate Dropbox data synch. Now, iOS developers are expected to take advantage of these new frameworks pretty soon.

Yahoo, for example, has immediately added support for Dropbox attachments to its Android client (it is coming soon to the iOS edition of Yahoo Mail). As Dropbox acquired Mailbox in March, we're not surprised the team just pushed a Mailbox update which lets you send attachments from Dropbox, even if the files don't physically reside on your device.

Better yet, you can now attach any file type you can think of, regardless of whether or not your device understands it. This has got to be the awesome news for fans of cloud productivity (count me excited!) and regular users who could only attach Camera roll images prior to this update...