Apps

Mr. Runner 2: The Masks confirmed for April 24

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 10, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnfyM6xs7sg

Mr. Runner, in case you aren't aware of it, is Zing Games' endless runner with an interesting side-scrolling twist and nice retro-like graphics. People downloaded it over five million times so it has some respectable following out there. Two and a half years later, Zing is set to release a sequel, titled Mr. Runner 2: The Masks.

Exploiting the side-scrolling mechanics further, Mr. Runner 2 adds a bunch of colorful backgrounds that should shine on Retina screens (art direction indeed looks stunning), 32 level across four dream-like worlds worlds with different themes and challenges, plus the new cartoony characters.

I'll be on the lookout for this one when it hits the App Store on April 24, that's for sure. By the way, there's more to this trailer than meets the eye. Read on for the full disclosure...

LookAway Player brings Galaxy S4-like Smart Pause eye-tracking to iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Samsung has been promoting its eye-tracking technology, which debuted on the Galaxy S3, for some time now. As an S3 owner, I must say I wasn't impressed with the handset's ability to automatically shut down the display when looking away: it's taxing on the battery and not very reliable. With the Galaxy S4, which is scheduled to go on sale by end of April, Samsung is doubling down on eye-tracking with a few related new features like Smart Scroll and Smart Pause.

And now, a new iPhone app has been released which brings the Smart Pause-like functionality to the iPhone...

Major Foursquare update focuses on search and Explore recommendations

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Celebrating its fourth anniversary, the location-based social networking service Foursquare today pushed a major new version of its mobile app, bringing out new features that tap over 3.5 billion check-ins users have made on the service thus far. "With the new Foursquare 6.0, we’re crunching all our data to show the best of what’s nearby, anywhere in the world, the second you open up the app," the team wrote in a blog post Wednesday. Here's what's new...

Twitter’s Vine is now App Store’s new #1 free app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Here's a reminder that Vine still exists: just six months after being acquired by Twitter and about two and a half months following its iOS debut, the Vine app is now the number one free software on the App Store. By comparison, Twitter's own iOS client sits at No. 35.

Vine's success is no small feat given that App Store charts are normally populated with a bevy of well-known games and entertainment titles which, by the way, command mobile app usage.

What's more, Vine is a really quirky piece of work: for Christ's sake, we're talking an app which lets you share ultra-short six-second clips here. Yet, a bunch of other video sharing programs can only dream of rising on top of App Store charts. So, what's the secret ingredient Vine has that similar programs lack?

Apple claimed $3 out of each $4 top app stores made in Q1

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

In the latest sign of the importance apps play in smartphone adoption, more than thirteen billion downloads were recorded during the first three months of 2013, according to a Monday report.

The survey of the four leading app stores also found Apple, Google and others earned $2.2 billion from apps, an eleven percent increase over the final quarter of 2012.

Whereas Apple leads in terms of revenue - and by a large margin, too - Google's Play Store, thanks to a large installed base of Android devices, has the upper hand in terms of download count. Specifically, the App Store collected 74 percent of the revenue of top app stores, while Google Play led registered 51 percent of apps obtained...

Google talks Search iOS app design

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 9, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fpggknHC2c

When it comes to UI design, Google up until recently used to make what you'd call Spartan programs, more often than not resembling old-school software your parents might use. What a difference a leadership change makes: after co-founder Larry Page took over from Eric Schmidt as Google's CEO in April 2011, we started noticing radical changes to how the Internet giant approaches app design.

I think it is safe to say that some of Google's contemporary iOS apps are starting to look arguably better than Apple's. But what's so special about Google's newly found design language? To answer that question, Google recently uploaded an interesting video to its Life at Google channel on YouTube. The entire clip is dedicated to highlighting how the new app design philosophy lends itself to the nimble, streamlined and interactive search experience on the Apple tablet...

Famed Mac dev Panic teases mysterious iPad app, coming tomorrow

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Panic is one of my favorite Mac developers, was even more so in the pre-iPhone days when top-notch Mac apps were somewhat few and far between.

Now, Panic has successfully transitioned itself to the world of concurrent Mac/iOS development, having released a very nice iOS SSH app aptly named Prompt.

And if you're a web developer, an iPad version of Coda is a must-have. The firm has kept mum on its future iOS releases, but they've been obviously working behind the scenes on a major new app. Both a tweet and the Panic web site now tease the upcoming software, with a ticker on panic.com reading "current status: this Wednesday, a brand new iPad app from Panic."

UPDATE: we think we know what the app is about and you're going to love it! Go past the fold for the full disclosure...

HBO Go, now with AirPlay multitasking and Games of Thrones interactive enhancements

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 8, 2013

HBO's free iOS streaming software is a nice companion app provided you're already subscribed to the service.

And if you believe the continuing ramblings, the Time Warner-owned premium cable network is considering offering additional subscription options in the not-so-distant future, potentially allowing cable-cutters to subscribe to HBO for online-only access.

In the meantime, HBO has updated its Go app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with two new useful features. The first will appeal to the fans of HBO's Game of Thrones series as they can now enjoy enhancements related to the show's interactive experience. The other improvement includes AirPlay multitasking capability. What's that, you ask?

Google Drive update adds landscape editing on iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 8, 2013

Google continues to refine its Drive cloud storage client on Apple's iOS platform. Just last month, the Internet giant has rolled out support for pinch-to-zoom on slides, QuickOffice integration and, multiple media uploads, to name a few. And previously, the software has added such handy capabilities as native and collaborative editing of both documents and spreadsheets on iOS devices. Monday morning, Google pushed another maintenance update that adds landscape support for document editing on the iPhone and iPod touch, in addition to minor bug fixes and faster performance...

Google ostensibly close to buying WhatsApp for $1 billion

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 7, 2013

WhatsApp, the cross-platform instant messaging application for smartphones, is rumored to be close to negotiating a landmark acquisition deal with Google. Sources reportedly close to the negotiations claim the Internet giant is considering dropping a whopping one billion dollars on the popular service that as of March 2013 had a cool 200 million users, a hundred million ones on Android alone.

The report ties nicely with talk of a new instant messaging brand from Google called Babble, and even more so given Facebook with its new Home UI layer for select Android devices is basically encouraging its one billion users to use its Messenger service right from their Lock screen or from whichever app they happen to be using at any give moment...

Apple pulls AppGratis, App Store curation and promotion software

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 7, 2013

Enough has been said about so-called Apple dictatorship and app rejections on iDB so far and although I, for one, am usually first to support Apple in its curation efforts because it keeps junk away from the App Store, sometimes the company rejects submissions for competing with its own software or over offering a feature Apple plans on introducing in the near future.

Now, Apple's been after various app discovery apps for some time, even more so in this latest example involving AppGratis, a service which curates programs from the App Store and makes paid apps free for a day via revenue-sharing deals with their creators.

In fact, it's the revenue-sharing scheme which appears to go against Apple's rule which forbids software providing access to other third-party programs by using marketing tactics similar to Apple's App Store promotions...

Real Racing 3 gaining cloud saves, Hunter game mode, new cars and 100+ events

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8rendr6pI0

If you're a fan of free-to-play Real Racing 3 (which, by the way, looks absolutely stunning on the A6 and later devices, like the iPhone 5 and iPad 4), you're in for a treat as Electronic Arts today announced an upcoming content update which will bring several new cars, a bunch of new challenges and events, a new game mode and cloud saves across all your devices.

As you can see from the above trailer for the Real Racing 3: Chevrolet Update, developer Firemonkeys is teasing at least two new cars, the Chevrolet Cobalt SS and the Camaro ZL1. I've included more tidbits right after the break...