New Apps & Games

Experience Instagram in a whole new way with Grids for Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

There's no shortage of unofficial Instagram clients for the Mac, even if the vast majority of them offer limited functionality and clunky user interfaces. Enter Grids by ThinkTime Creations, a beautiful new way to experience Instagram on your Mac with its adaptive grid-based interface, deep interactions and a number of other compelling features.

The $1.99 app, which launched earlier today, offers full Retina display support, native full-screen mode, notifications for new feeds, the ability to interact with your followers, their Instagram snaps and videos and much more.

Borderlands: The Pre Sequel launches on Mac alongside console and PC release

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Aspyr Media, the games publisher specializing in porting top AAA games to the Mac, on Tuesday announced immediate release of Borderlands: The Pre Sequel, the latest installment in the popular Borderlands franchise by 2K and Gearbox Software.

Combining aspects of shooters and role-playing games, the game has you floating through the air while taking enemies down from above using new ice and laser weapons, exploring the lunar landscape with new vehicles allowing for more levels of destructive mayhem while gradually unfolding the story behind Borderlands 2 villain, Handsome Jack and his rise to power.

Microsoft launches Skype Qik, its own ephemeral video messaging app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Tuesday, software giant Microsoft launched a brand new ephemeral messaging app, Skype Qik, in a bid to take on the likes of Snapchat and other applications in the increasingly crowded ephemeral messaging space.

“Imagine if you could reinvent the Skype experience, taking into account how messaging, selfies and app culture have changed the way we communicate,” reads the blurb.

The free of charge iPhone app is based on Microsoft's $100 million acquisition of the mobile video provider Qik three years ago. Microsoft retired the original Qik app soon after, clearing the way for a re-introduction of the reimagined Qik software for iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

As the name suggests, Skype Qik is being promoted through the Skype brand, itself owned by Microsoft. Matter of fact, Qik runs alongside Skype to provide an ongoing form of video chat allowing you to share laughs, and chat with groups of friends.

Reckless Racing 3 now available in the App Store

Cody Lee ∙ October 8, 2014

Great news Reckless Racing fans, the third iteration of Pixelbite's popular top-down racer is now available on iOS. You can pick up the new game, which is universal, so it'll work with both your iPhone and iPad, for $4.99 from the App Store.

The original Reckless Racing debuted in 2010, as a delightful birds-eye-view rally racing game with beautiful graphics. Reckless Racing 3 continues that tradition with dirtier tracks, better visuals, and its largest selection of cars and trucks ever.

Facebook developing brand new mobile app for anonymous sharing

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 7, 2014

Facebook is reportedly close to releasing a brand new mobile application said to let its users communicate among themselves without using their real name or Facebook account, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Already likened to a Whisper/Secret clone, the anonymous chatting app is expected to be released in the coming weeks, according to two people briefed on Facebook’s plans.

The software would mark a notable reversal for the social networking giant, which has more than a billion active accounts and whose business policy largely revolves around encouraging its customers to use their real name to identify themselves on the service.

Google rolls out News & Weather iOS app

Timothy Reavis ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Google began the rollout of its latest iOS app, News & Weather, Tuesday afternoon in the App Store. The newest in Google's collection of 43 apps on iOS, News & Weather displays news headlines on a variety of topics and features a detailed weather forecast view for cities of your choice.

News & Weather, which is rolling out in multiple countries, packs quite a large amount of customization in the way of personalized content, and users' settings appear to sync with their Google account. Until now, this app was only available to owners of Android devices.

Former Microsoftie releases Talko for iPhone, a new take on unified messaging software

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's former Chief Technical Officer and Chief Software Architect, has released a brand new iPhone application which promises to “give people their voices back,“ as journalist Steven Levy put it in a hands-on post on Medium.

Named Talko, it combines phone calling, text messaging, virtual conferencing and photo sharing into a single app that lets you talk to people, exchange messages, organize conversations with #tags and audio bookmarks, share photos in an Instagram-y fashion and more.

The app is available free in the App Store.

Take control of your camera with Manual

Timothy Reavis ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

With the introduction of iOS 8 came new developer APIs allowing apps to have exacting control of several camera adjustments, including exposure, focus, and shutter speed. Manual is a photography app that implements these new freedoms in a beautiful package, granting users full control of their photos.

I went hands-on with Manual for a few days, venturing into my highly "unphotogenic" yard in an attempt to gather a few decent shots with both Manual and iOS's stock Camera for comparison to see exactly how much of an advantage the ability to manually adjust camera settings can give.

Halfbrick Studios launches completely redesigned Fruit Ninja game

Cody Lee ∙ October 2, 2014

Halfbrick Studios has released today what it is calling the "biggest update ever" to Fruit Ninja. The popular game, which has garnered nearly 700k reviews on the App Store, has been redesigned from the ground up with new content, gameplay elements and more.

At its core, most of the mechanics are still the same—the game is still about slicing fruit as quickly and efficiently as possible. But there are a lot of additions, such as new experience and currency systems, which are used to buy various upgrades and power ups.

iOS 8 Translator Keyboard lets you translate text from one language to another

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 2, 2014

You can now put Translator Keyboard by developer Steven Barnegren on your list of system wide third-party keyboards available in the App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices running iOS 8 or later.

First spotted by MacRumors, the $1.99 iPhone and iPad software makes it easy to translate any text to 44 different languages (and translate from 30 languages) by choosing your source and target language straight from the keyboard.

Official Pokémon trading card game now available on (Retina) iPads

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2014

The official Pokemon trading card game which was demoed in August is now available for the iPad in the App Store. Titled Pokémon TCG Online, the 504-megabyte download supports any iPad with the Retina screen and online multiplayer.

The game challenges players to collect a deck of Pokémon cards, customizes and use them against other computer opponents or human players in battles.

Your decks and card collection are stored in your Pokémon Trainer Club account so you can easily switch devices with ease without losing anything.

Jawbone launches all-new HealthKit-enabled Up software, no fitness band required

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

San Francisco, California headquartered wearable products company Jawbone on Monday released a brand new Up software for the iPhone in the App Store (not to be confused with the firm's existing Up app).

Announced earlier in the month, the app features iOS 8 HealthKit integration, personalized fitness advice and other features, but without requiring Jawbone's UP or UP24 fitness band.

The app lets you share Up's food, fitness and sleep tracking data with iOS 8’s Health app, and vice versa. Jawbone has opened up its platform to third-party development so more than a hundred health and fitness applications and accessories for the iPhone and iPad now integrate with Up, with or without HealthKit, including Strava Running & Cycling, Wello, IFTTT, RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal.