Apps

Yelp app updated with new video review feature

Yelp posted an update for its mobile app yesterday that's been garnering quite a bit of buzz in the tech community. The update, which brings the client to version 8.1, adds a new feature that enables users to post and view video reviews.

Using your iPhone, you can now take 3-12 second videos of your experiences at your favorite bar or business and post them to Yelp via the mobile app. You can also view videos in-app, giving you a better idea of a place's atmosphere...

NPR launches new curated news radio app ‘NPR One’

NPR launched a new mobile application today which aims to make news radio more tailored and accessible. It's called NPR One, and it curates a mix of NPR radio segments and news articles based on your location and interests.

Now, this won't replace NPR's existing mobile apps, which allow you to listen to nationally syndicated programs and local programming.  But what it does do is provide a simple way to listen to relevant, public news radio streams...

Facebook disabling messaging in main mobile app, forcing users into Messenger

It appears that folks using Facebook's Messenger service will soon have to download the standalone app, or look at other messaging options. Over the next few days, the social network is going to disable messaging from its main iPhone and Android apps.

The move is an attempt to push users over to Facebook Messenger, which the company says will have several benefits. For one it will enable it to streamline the mobile chat experience, and two, Facebook says users respond faster when using Messenger...

Beats Music gains Tune Your Taste, Sentence History, Verified Badges and more

Beats Music, a music-streaming service that uses a combination of algorithms and good ol' human curation to make it easy to enjoy music based on your location, activities and other criteria, has just been updated with several new features.

The free iPhone and iPad app, now sitting at version 2.2, has brought out the ability to further tailor music to your tastes by changing your favorite genres and artists.

And, folks can now view their most recently played songs from The Sentence. Also, avoiding fake profiles is easier than ever because the app now has verified profiles - just look for a new red checkmark indicating a profile has been "certified as legit by Beats"...

Tweetbot 3 quietly rolls out animated GIF support via iOS media player

You're probably aware that Twitter began supporting animated GIFs via its web interface in mid-June. If so, you may also recall that Twitter's iOS client has picked up support for this popular file format a mere week later.

The feature isn't exclusive to the company's own mobile apps: Twitter soon after updated its API to let makers of third-party clients implement direct GIF sharing via pic.twitter.com links.

Tapbots' Tweetbot, one of the best Twitter clients for the Mac and iOS devices, does not officially recognize animated GIFs. That's why tapping a pic.twitter.com GIF link in Tweetbot for iPhone opens the detail view for the tweet itself rather than play the embedded animation inline.

This has been driving me nuts - but not anymore. As it turns out, Tapbots yesterday issued a maintenance update to Tweetbot for the iPhone and iPod touch which apparently adds support for animated GIFs via Twitter's pic.twitter.com links. Strangely enough, the official release notes make no mention of this nice little addition whatsoever...

Official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie game arrives

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the official mobile game of the upcoming movie, has made its surprise debut on the App Store, well ahead of the movie's August 8 premiere.

Created by the same that which brought you Combo Crew [Universal, $1.99], this movie tie-in classes as a classic beat 'em up where you play as one of the four classic turtles.

You'll have to learn powerful combos and counter-attacks to defeat Shredder's minions, chain multiple attacks to build up your Turtle Power meter combo to unleash your other turtles and much more.

The $3.99 iPhone and iPad game sneakily includes a bunch of In-App Purchases to boost your scores and stats...

Wii-like dance party in the living room via Apple TV? Yes, please!

Back in June, India-based Rolocule Games teased its upcoming Dance Party game which would supposedly bring multiplayer fun to the living room with a little help from Apple's AirPlay technology and the $99 Apple TV media-streaming box.

At first, I was skeptical. But as Dance Party launched earlier today in the App Store as a free download, I've come to the realization that my fears were unfounded.

Yes, the game indeed works as advertised!

Dance Party really has to be seen live to be fully appreciated. Much like dance games on the Nintendo Wii, users mimic the onscreen dancer to get feedback on how they are doing. The game is basically airplayed from an iPhone to the Apple TV and takes advantage of Rolocule's award-winning motion tracking technology called Rolomotion...

‘TMNT: Rooftop Run’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Attention gamers, Apple has just named 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run' its App of the Week for this week. This means that through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the game for both iPhone and iPad, for free—a sizable savings of $4.

TMNT fans will feel right at home in this endless-combat-runner. Set in New York, the game pits Leo, Donnie, Raph, Mikey and other unlockable characters against the Foot Clan and company, and players must run, jump, fight and even drive to save their city...

BioShock may finally be coming to iOS

We've been hearing rumors since 2008 that 2K was bringing its popular first person shooter BioShock to mobile platforms. At one point, they actually released a trailer for the game, and named IG Fun Studios as its mobile port partner.

But somewhere along the way, the concept got shelved, and was never mentioned again—until now. Yesterday, 2K tweeted the above photo followed by '#discuss,' and many believe it's a hint the BioShock mobile project is back in gear...

Penultimate episode of Walking Dead: The Game – Season 2 now available

It'd be an understatement to say that Telltale’s iPhone and iPad adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead” comic book series has a strong following out there.

The incredibly popular episodic game series is comprised of five individual chapters, with Episode 3 of Walking Dead: The Game – Season 2 (the sequel to the original Walking Dead: The Game) having arrived back in May

Today, Episode 4 landed in the App Store as a free update to those who already own the $4.99 graphic adventure game. The penultimate episode is titled “Amid the Ruins” and introduces new twists to the story of Clementine...

Get one month of unlimited Marvel comics for $0.99

The annual Comic-Con is kicking off later this week in San Diego, California. To celebrate the gathering, comic book publisher Marvel Comics is now offering unlimited access to its massive online comics archive for only 99 cents.

Called Marvel Unlimited, it includes more than 15,000 titles - mostly digital replicas of printed editions, some enhanced with digital extras. Seriously, comic fans shouldn't miss out on this offer.

The promotion is valid for the next seven days and comes with no strings attached - pay 99 cents and enjoy a month of Marvel Unlimited access - online, on desktop and through Marvel's free mobile app...

Microsoft’s OneDrive for iOS now supports AirDrop, adaptive video streaming and more

Having more than doubled free OneDrive tier from seven to fifteen gigabytes of cloud storage, Microsoft today rolled out an update to its free OneDrive client for iPhone and iPad.

In addition to the inevitable bug fixes and performance improvements, OneDrive now lets you share files via Apple's AirDrop technology and includes HLS support which lets it adapt to your available bandwidth when video-streaming...