Entertainment

New video streaming service ‘Vessel’ out now, includes one year free subscription

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has been hard at world building a new service dedicated to helping the world keep track of their favorite popular YouTube artists and channels, as well as other web shows. Wishing you could watch the next FunnyOrDie release before all of your friends do? Well, now you can.

Vessel is a video streaming service that gathers up some of the more popular web series channels and displays them in a news feed way so you can watch new content. With a subscription to Vessel, you can even see new episodes before the rest of the world does.

Bitstrips: share fun comics starring you and your friends

Lory Gil ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Remember Bitstrips? It came out a few years ago. You could make funny little comic strips starring yourself and your Facebook friends. It was all the rage. It even won a few awards last year.

The Bitstrips app just received a major update that makes the customizable comic strip even better. Now, you can create comic scenes using your own photographs.

iPhone version of Procreate now available in the App Store

Lory Gil ∙ December 19, 2014

Procreate is arguably one of the most advanced artist apps in the App Store. With it, users can create incredibly detailed digital paintings using a vast array of tools and brushes, huge canvas sizes, and unlimited color options. The app has only been available for the iPad since its launch in 2011.

Procreate Pocket, which just launched in the App Store this week, is the iPhone version of its larger, more advanced counterpart. Now, you can create artwork on the go and easily transfer it to your iPad to add the finishing touches.

Disney’s Movies Anywhere out for Android, makes cross-platform movies a reality

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 2, 2018

In a somewhat ironic twist of fate, Disney is helping blur the lines between Apple's and Google's respective ecosystems with Tuesday's release of its Movies Anywhere app for Android, now available free of charge in the U.S. Google Play Store. That's right, the app now lets folks buy and enjoy Disney content on both iOS and Android devices.

The movie-curating app debuted as an iOS exclusive in February 2014 with support for free streaming of any Disney, Pixar and Marvel content previously purchased from Apple's iTunes Store. Any of the 450 Disney movies you bought using the app would immediately register as purchased inside the iTunes Store.

Now that Disney Movies Anywhere is available for both iOS and Android, not only can you watch your Disney movies across Apple's and Google's platforms, but also purchase any Disney, Pixar or Marvel Universe movie on Google Play and have it available on iOS and vice versa.

Coloring for Grown-Ups will turn your sad life into a child’s activity

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 6, 2018

Coloring for Grown-ups is a clever website dedicated to colorable pages of real-life adventures for the over-twenty-somethings out there. The site has been around for a few years and the co-founding duo, Ryan Hunter and Taige Jensen, have managed to produce three physical coloring books filled with adult-minded illustrations for the kid in you.

The Coloring for Grown-Ups app recently found its way into the App Store. It is filled with dozens of pages of illustrations dating all the way back to the first web publications. We did some coloring ourselves, and have a hands-on review of Coloring for Grown-Ups for you now…

Microsoft releases SNIPP3T, a new app for tracking celebrity news

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 29, 2018

Microsoft has released a new app for the iPhone today called SNIPP3T. It describes the software as a 'Celebrity News' app, that aggregates all of the latest gossip on your favorite Hollywood stars from around the web into one convenient stream.

The app is actually really well designed, and as you can imagine, it's heavily tied into Microsoft's Bing search engine. Fans can read recent news articles on celebrities, subscribe to their news streams, and view curated Profile pages for more info...

How to get HBO and HBO Go without paying a ridiculous $100+ cable bill

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 21, 2014

For all the talk about television networks and cable providers jumping into the 21st century with apps for accessing premium entertainment on the go, through just about any device, cable cutters are all to painfully aware of one huge caveat - you have to be subscribed to your cable or satellite television provider in order to enjoy premium television shows on your devices.

HBO, by and large the most prominent provider of original television shows, has an excellent HBO Go service available on multiple platforms, but again - you need to be a cable customer which means paying a ridiculous cable bill of hundred bucks per month or more.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Turns out you can in fact enjoy shows like Game of Thrones, True Detective, The Leftovers, Silicon Valley and more, without committing your soul to a cable provider. You only need to know the magic word to keep HBO without paying for the additional 500 channels you never watch...

Gap between Roku and Apple TV is widening

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 9, 2014

A lot has changed since a Frost & Sullivan Consumer Video Devices Market report last August determined that Apple’s $99 Apple TV was the most-used set-top box in terms of content streaming, owning a whopping 56 percent share of streaming device sales, more than twice the share of the #2 Roku, which took 26 percent share of sales.

A month later, Roku said its set-top box was more popular for streaming than Apple TV and now a report from researcher Parks Associates reveals that a gap between Roku's and Apple's device is widening...

Facebook’s iPad app gains new sidebar solely dedicated to entertainment and games

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 16, 2014

Facebook on Monday pushed an update to its iPad client to put more entertainment (and ads) into your hands.

Realizing that seven out of each ten people who use Facebook for iPad played a Facebook-connected game in the past 90 days, Mark Zuckerberg & Co. are now testing a new sidebar within the iPad app, specifically created for entertainment content and game discovery.

The iPad-exclusive section provides game trailers and in-game footage, as well as Trending videos/news articles, social notifications for native Facebook games, as well as those offered on the web, and much more.

Note that this experiment is currently limited to Facebook's iPad users in the United States and there's no word when it could launch globally. Additional tidbits can be found right after the break...

Steve Jobs biographer: Apple’s supposed Beats buy about video, not headphones and music

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 16, 2016

By now, everyone has already chimed in with their two cents on what Apple's rumored Beats buy might mean for Apple's reputation in music - even our own Cody Lee has summarized the more popular theories floating around out there.

It's commonly accepted that Beats Electronic, LCC. co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine will be taking on senior roles at Apple after Beats buyout, with their grand introductions as Apple executives apparently set to take place at WWDC.

Bloomberg thinks Apple will keep Beats as a separate brand and improve its headphones design and another source speculated that the deal could lead to high-resolution music on iTunes.

But according to Steve Jobs's biographer Walter Isaacson, none of this is true as the deal is actually about video, not about headphones or streaming music...

Apps for cord-cutters

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Since the beginning of cable (it used to be called "pay TV"), people have been complaining about having to pay too much money for channels they don't want. Unfortunately, cable providers had solid contracts with networks and weren't willing to make compromises for their customers.

Things have changed a lot since the days of pay TV and you can now get much of the content you really want, without having to pay for 100 channels that you don’t. We've got a list of apps for cable subscribers who are finally ready to cut the cord.

The best apps for movie lovers

Lory Gil ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

I like to think of myself as a movie lover. I worked at an independent theater in my town during my entire college years. I used to go to the movies a lot more often than I do now, but I still make time to go whenever I can. These days, it's so easy to watch blockbuster hits at home that I almost prefer the comforts of my living room more than a dark theater.

Whether you prefer to make a bowl of popcorn at home, or like to sneak a bag of candies into your favorite theater, we have a list of what we think are the best apps for movie lovers…