Apps

Google has announced that Hulu has added Chromecast support to its Hulu Plus app, enabling online shows to be viewed on the big screen – something it promised back in July.

Now you can easily enjoy your favorite shows, such as “Modern Family,” “New Girl” and “Parks and Recreation,” on your big-screen TV by casting from Hulu Plus on your mobile phone or tablet. It’s the same intuitive, remote-free experience you’ve come to enjoy with the other Chromecast-supported apps, and is as simple as pressing the Cast button which will now appear in the app …

Chromecast is a small, $35 stick that plugs into the HDMI port of a TV set or monitor and allows users to stream content, such as YouTube and Netflix, from devices like computers, tablets, and smartphones. Think of it as a tiny, cut-down Apple TV with functionality limited to AirPlay-style casting of content. It’s available from Amazon with free shipping. The Hulu Plus app is available for both iOS and Android.

9to5Toys Last Call: Beats earbuds $50, Samsung WiFi Blu-ray player $37, Just-Mobile giveaway, GoPro HERO3+, more

Oct 1 2013 - 3:00 pm PT

From 9to5Toys.com:

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+.

Today’s featured deals:

Beats by Dre urBeats earbud headphones w/ mic $50 shipped (Reg. $100)

SOLD OUT Samsung WiFi Blu-ray Player w/ Netflix and Youtube (Refurbished) $37 shipped

Giveaway: Just-Mobile HeadStand precision-engineered aluminum headphone hanger ($50 value)

Mac Bundle 3.0 Ft. Camtasia 2 and 9 other explosive Mac Apps. Name your own price. Ends tonight!!!

Other great deals from today:

New! Save 10% on most Amazon Warehouse items: TVs, Video Games, Computers, more
New! GoPro’s new HERO3+ cameras are smaller, more capable, and ready for next-level action
New! $25 for $50 worth of protective gear from Speck for your iPhone, iPad, Galaxy and more
New! Game/App Deals: NBA 2K14 now available on iOS, 50% off Batman Arkham games for Mac, iOS freebies, more
New! 1-year magazine subscriptions: Maxim $3.50 (Reg. $48), Motor Trend $4.50 (Reg. $60)
New! The X-Files: The complete series and movies on DVD for $90 shipped (Reg. $330)
New! Belkin announces Express Dock for iOS devices w/ adjustable dial to accommodate cases

Added a refurbished Apple Lightning cable for $8 to our ‘Best Of’ list.. http://t.co/iQwmZR1S4z

— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) October 1, 2013

The best deals that are still alive:

Logitech K810 Bluetooth Illuminated Keyboard $50 (Reg. $100), K400 w/ touchpad $30 (Reg. $40)
Lifeproof iPhone 5 Frē water/dirt/snow/shock proof case $40 shipped (Reg. $80)
Apple iPod Touch 16GB 5th gen. (Refurb.) $149 (Reg. $229 new)
Pre-order: Breaking Bad complete series on Blu-ray w/ replica money barrel, Los Pollos Hermanos apron, more
Apple online store now offers 128GB iPad starting at $679 (up to $140 off new)
3M Projector Sleeve for iPhone 4/4S $80 shipped
Vizio 40” 2.1 home theater sound bar with wireless subwoofer $140 shipped (Reg. $200)
ViewSonic PJD6221 XGA 3D ready projector (refurb): $210 (Reg. $451 new)
The best Apple-certified (MFi) Lightning cables in various lengths, colors, and styles
Google Chromecast now in stock at Amazon $35 with free shipping

Mac software bundles:

Parallels is getting into the bundle game with its own “update bundle” which includes the Parallels 8->9 Update (which you need to run on Mavericks). Included is a 6 month subscription to Parallels Access for iPad and the CleanMyMac 2. Offer ends after this weekend.
TuneUp iTunes cleaner $30 – Ends in 2 days!
The Mac Freebie Bundle 2.0: 10 Apps To Enhance Your Design, Photography & Productivity
$50 MacUpdate Bundle: Snapheal Pro, Civ V Gold, PDF Pen, TechTool Pro 7, ScreenFlow, more – Ends in just over 2 days!

New product announcements & reviews:

Valve announces Steam Machines hardware beta for SteamOS
Amazon freshens up the Kindle Fire HD, now starts at just $139
Roku announces refreshed lineup of devices starting at $50
Belkin announces YourType Wireless Keypad to extend your Mac’s keyboard

Apple adds Vevo and NHL channels to Apple TV in Germany (Update: UK gets NHL too)

Jordan Kahn Oct 1 2013 - 7:32 am PT

Apple-TV-Germany

German Apple blog Macerkopf notes that Apple TV users in Germany today have been greeted with new content in a server-side update that includes Vevo and NHL channels. Vevo first landed on the Apple TV for US, Canada, and other countries back in August alongside a big update for the platform that also brought content from Disney, the Weather Channel, Smithsonian, and others. The National Hockey League channel, however, has been available in many countries since an Apple TV update back in 2011.

Apple has been adding a ton of new content to Apple TV in recent months fueling rumors that a major revamp to the platform could be on the way. Most recently the company added new content from Major League Soccer and Disney Junior in the US.

Update: Users in the UK are also reporting receiving access to the NHL channel:

There's @NHL now on #AppleTV !! Get in!! New season starts… tomorrow? Here's hoping the UK sub options are good!

— Tony McGuire (@tmcgvideo) October 1, 2013

https://twitter.com/betterthan/status/384985585146146816

Paper by FiftyThree app now lets you create & order customized Moleskine books

Jordan Kahn Oct 1 2013 - 6:58 am PT

Paper by FiftyThree, the popular sketching and illustration app, today announced that it has teamed up with Moleskine to offer its users the ability to create and order customized 15-page Moleskin books directly from the app. The partnership with Moleskine means you’ll get a quality, hand-assembled 15-page foldout book on sustainable matte paper, but it also means you’ll have to hand over $40 USD in the process:
Expand
Expanding
Close

9to5Toys Last Call: Klipsch/Logitech noise-cancelling headphones from $100, 1TB USB3 portable HD $50, iPod Touch 5g 16GB (Refurb) $150, iPad 128GB, more

Sep 30 2013 - 3:00 pm PT

From 9to5Toys.com:

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+.

Today’s featured deals:

Noise-Cancelling Headphones: Klipsch Mode M40: $145 (Reg. $350), Logitech UE 6000: $100 (Reg. $160)

Samsung USB 3.0 portable HD: $50 shipped, 1TB Western Digital: $53 shipped

Apple iPod Touch 16GB 5th gen. (Refurb.) $149 (Reg. $229 new)

Mac Bundle 3.0 Ft. Camtasia 2 and 9 other explosive Mac Apps. Name your own price. Ends in 1 day!

Other great deals from today:

New! Apple online store now offers 128GB iPad starting at $679 (up to $140 off new)
New! Logitech K810 Bluetooth Illuminated Keyboard $50 (Reg. $100), K400 w/ touchpad $30 (Reg. $40)
New! Pre-order: Breaking Bad complete series on Blu-ray w/ replica money barrel, Los Pollos Hermanos apron, more
New! Sony 5.1-Channel Home Theater System with DVD Player, Remote, and HDMI $80 (Reg. $128), Vizio sound bar $140 (Reg. $200)
New! Dell 23″ 1080p full HD IPS LED monitor (Refurb.) $99 shipped (Reg. $167)
New! ZyXEL cloud-enabled wireless N 720p surveillance camera w/Night Vision, iSecurity+ $40 shipped (Reg. $120)
New! Western Digital My Net N900 HD dual band wireless router: $49 shipped (Reg. $160)
New! VIZIO 55″ or 70″ 1080p Smart TV with Apps $660-$1300/ 3M Projector Sleeve for iPhone 4/4S $80 shipped

The best deals that are still alive:

Lifeproof iPhone 5 Frē water/dirt/snow/shock proof case $40 shipped (Reg. $80)
Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 (Mac/Windows) $73 shipped (Reg. $100)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wii: $30 shipped (Reg. $50), Free $50 Amazon credit w/ Xbox 360 purchase, more
Vizio 32″ 720p LED Smart HDTV $240, Sceptre 32″ Class LCD 720p HDTV $190
ViewSonic PJD6221 XGA 3D ready projector (refurb): $210 (Reg. $451 new)
Apple Airport Extreme 5th Gen (Refurb): $80 shipped (Reg. $180 new)
Save 25% on any OtterBox iPhone 5 Defender case or up to 15% on everything else
The best Apple-certified (MFi) Lightning cables in various lengths, colors, and styles
Google Chromecast now in stock at Amazon $35 with free shipping

Mac software bundles:

Parallels is getting into the bundle game with its own “update bundle” which includes the Parallels 8->9 Update (which you need to run on Mavericks). Included is a 6 month subscription to Parallels Access for iPad and the CleanMyMac 2. Offer ends after this weekend.
TuneUp iTunes cleaner $30 – Ends in 2 days!
The Mac Freebie Bundle 2.0: 10 Apps To Enhance Your Design, Photography & Productivity
$50 MacUpdate Bundle: Snapheal Pro, Civ V Gold, PDF Pen, TechTool Pro 7, ScreenFlow, more – Ends in just over 2 days!

New product announcements & reviews:

Valve announces Steam Machines hardware beta for SteamOS
Amazon freshens up the Kindle Fire HD, now starts at just $139
Roku announces refreshed lineup of devices starting at $50
Belkin announces YourType Wireless Keypad to extend your Mac’s keyboard

Extreme Reality SDK gives any iOS game Kinect-like motion control, now open to all devs

Jordan Kahn Sep 30 2013 - 12:19 pm PT

2 Comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2t1wM-Bnlg

Extreme Reality, a company that has been developing motion capture technology that Sega and others have used in PC & mobile games, today announced it is opening up its SDK to all developers. The software works with any 2D camera and allows devs to easily capture and analyze motion for games and apps. Think Microsoft’s Kinect, but with Extreme Reality motion is captured with an iOS device’s built-in FaceTime camera rather than bulky, expensive external hardware:
Expand
Expanding
Close

NBA Game Time iPad app updated for 2013-2014 preseason

Jordan Kahn Sep 30 2013 - 8:16 am PT

The official NBA Game Time app has been updated today with support for the upcoming 2013-2014 NBA preseason. Preseason games for the 2013-14 season, the 68th NBA season, will kick off on Saturday, October 5th.

Version 5.0 of the free NBA Game Time app for iPad is available now on the App Store.

Another popular sports app, Yahoo’s Sportacular Pro, received a recent update that brought iPad support and a redesigned experience with new content and features.

What’s New in Version 5.0

Enhanced support for the 2013-2014 NBA preseason.

Review: Tricky Letters serves up daily messages to keep you inspired

Sarah Guarino Sep 29 2013 - 3:04 pm PT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4LX-6DTX00

Tricky Letters is a new app that serves daily inspiration. The app is simple to use and delivers its content in a unique, cute way. You receive letters everyday at random times that contain wisdom, inspiration, meaningful quotes, and art. Tricky Letters stands out in that it doesn’t serve up content on demand. Instead, it only delivers content when the app decides to.

More M7 details: data storage, battery life, Android motion coprocessor adoption

Scott Buscemi Sep 29 2013 - 10:46 am PT

11 Comments

When the iPhone 5s launched with the M7 motion coprocessor on September 20, Azumio’s ARGUS fitness app was updated that same day with M7 compatibility. I’ve been an ARGUS user for quite awhile, as it syncs with my LifeTrak and can also independently track steps in the background throughout the day even without a wristband.

The app is now the #1 free Health & Fitness app in the App Store and has been featured as one of the top “Designed for iOS 7” apps.

Seeing that the app gained M7 compatibility so quickly – it was the first one that I noticed and I haven’t been able to find one that added it before them – I was curious about how ARGUS was able to take advantage of the M7 so quickly. I had the opportunity to speak with Peter Kuhar, product manager for ARGUS at Azumio. He was able to break down some of the intricate information surrounding the M7.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Review + Giveaway: Velocity helps you get through your reading list faster

Sarah Guarino Sep 26 2013 - 12:23 pm PT

5 Comments

Velocity is a new speed reader app for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad that helps you read faster by presenting one word at a time using a technique called Rapid Serial Visual Presentation. Studies have shown that using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation helps increase reader’s reading speed because it forces the reader to stop reading out loud inside their head (subvocalization), and suppresses the tendency for eyes to backtrack the line while reading and searching for the end of the sentence. Generally a reader’s average reading speed is two hundred words per minute, but Velocity supports reading speeds up to one thousand words per minute.

Update to Google Search iOS app to bring cross platform notifications

Jordan Kahn Sep 26 2013 - 11:29 am PT

iPhone Triptych - Clear Background

Google is celebrating its 15 birthday and today announced a number of improvements to search on mobile devices including an incoming Google Search app update for iPhone and iPad that will enable notifications for reminders & more across platforms:

With this update, you can get notifications across your devices. So if you tell your Nexus 7, “OK Google. Remind me to buy olive oil at Safeway,” when you walk into the store with your iPhone, you’ll get a reminder. We’ll also show you Google Now notifications so you’re not late to your cooking class.

You’ll start noticing many new improvements to search on Android and iOS today, but Google says the cross platform notifications will arrive within a couple weeks through an update to the Google Search iPhone and iPad app.

More on all of Google’s new features for search on mobile on 9to5Google.

Major update to VLC for Mac adds 4K support, improved MKV support, interface improvements and more

Benjamin Mayo Sep 26 2013 - 5:57 am PT

8 Comments

VideoLAN has released version 2.1 of its popular open source video player, VLC. The update — codenamed “Ricewind” — brings new audio processing to the app, to improve both processing performance and audio fidelity. There is full support for surround sound outputs in addition to new effects and many new supported metadata formats for audio.

On the video side, the app has ported the OpenGL output to OpenGL ES, making ports to iOS and Android much easier. Notably, VideoLAN says that VLC is now ready for Ultra-HD content (otherwise known as 4K). The app update has also focused heavily on improving MKV compatibility, including better seek performance and subtitle metadata support.

9to5Toys Last Call: New Roku players, Save up to 25% at OtterBox, $50 OfficeMax gift card for $40, New Kindle Fire HD, more

Sep 25 2013 - 3:00 pm PT

From 9to5Toys.com:

A large majority of the deals we cover each day come from a variety of ‘Daily Deal’ websites or are so popular that they don’t even last 24 hours. We know you can’t be at your computer every second, so we’re going to round up the best deals each day to make sure you have a fair shot at the deals you want. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys.com so you never miss a deal... Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+.

Today’s featured deals:

Roku announces refreshed lineup of devices starting at $50

Save 25% on any OtterBox iPhone 5 Defender case or up to 15% on everything else

$50 OfficeMax gift card for $40 shipped

Back in stock! Apple iPad 4th gen. w/ Retina display 16GB WiFi (black or white) $425 shipped (Reg. $499) http://t.co/zr9ZnN2gzV

— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) September 25, 2013

Other great deals from today:

New! Amazon freshens up the Kindle Fire HD, now starts at just $139
New! Apple is now shipping new iMacs, but savvy buyers should hold off just a bit longer
New! Valve announces Steam Machines hardware beta for SteamOS
New! Game/App Deals: Bioshock Infinite $20, FIFA 14 freebies, iOS deals, more

Western Digital My Passport 2TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive $100 shipped (Reg. $150) … http://t.co/QLbuYRWxiT

— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) September 23, 2013

The best deals that are still alive:

Apple Airport Extreme 5th Gen (Refurb): $80 shipped (Reg. $180 new)
Iron Man 3 is now available on DVD/Blu-ray, here’s the best current deals
Pioneer DDJ-T1 & S1 DJ Controllers at $100 off: $600 shipped
Samsung Solid State Drives: 840 EVO 250GB $165 (Reg. $250), 840 PRO 256GB $200 (Reg. $270)
Western Digital 3TB Elements External USB 2.0 Hard Drive $95 shipped
MOTA 4000mAh Portable Power Block for smartphones & tablets: $30 shipped (Reg. $70)
The best Apple-certified (MFi) Lightning cables in various lengths, colors, and styles
Acer 11.6” C7 Chromebook 2GB, 16GB SSD (Refurb.) $140 shipped (Reg. $199 new)
The Flexibits Mini Mac Bundle: Fantastical & Chatology $20 (Reg. $40) – Ends tonight!
Google-owned QuickOffice goes free on iOS and Android, 10GB of Drive space offered
Logitech Harmony smart control w/ iOS integration and simple remote as low as $80 shipped (Reg. $130)
Google Play ‘Free For Fall’ music promo featuring 12 free or discounted tracks from Phoenix, MGMT, Kaskade, and more
Google Chromecast now in stock at Amazon $35 with free shipping

Mac software bundles:

Mac Bundle 3.0 Ft. Camtasia 2 and 9 other explosive Mac Apps. Name your own price.
TuneUp iTunes cleaner $30
The Mac Freebie Bundle 2.0: 10 Apps To Enhance Your Design, Photography & Productivity
$50 MacUpdate Bundle: Snapheal Pro, Civ V Gold, PDF Pen, TechTool Pro 7, ScreenFlow, more

New product announcements & reviews:

Belkin announces YourType Wireless Keypad to extend your Mac’s keyboard
ChargeKey is a USB Lightning charging cable on your key ring
Sony launches new mini home console, the Playstation Vita TV

Instagram releases redesigned app for iOS 7 w/ higher resolution photos & video

Jordan Kahn Sep 25 2013 - 11:12 am PT

Instagram version 4.2 is available on the App Store now.

Just about every big app has been getting an update and in many cases a refreshed look for the release of iOS 7, and today a completely redesigned Instagram app is hitting the App Store. Instagram made the announcement on its blog and also highlighted a few new features arriving with the new app alongside the UI overhaul.

Version 4.2 of the app will also include larger photos and videos that bring an increased resolution and allows content to stretch right to either side of your display while browsing your feed. Instagram noted a few other design tweaks on its blog:

In grid view, we streamlined things so that your content will also appear larger. We led our redesign with a focus on clarity to keep the feel of Instagram clean, simple and grounded in the photos and videos you discover and share.

The updated app also includes circular profile pictures, but notably does not yet directly support the slow-mo video feature that Apple introduced with the iOS 7 camera on the iPhone 5s.

Popular Twitter client Echofon completely redesigned for iOS 7

Mark Gurman Sep 24 2013 - 5:37 pm PT

Popular Twitter client Echofon has been completely redesigned for iOS 7. The new version is mostly structured the same as its predecessor, but it trades in the black tab bar and blue navigation bar for a mostly white-look. The new client actually looks like many of Apple’s new pre-bundled iOS 7 applications. Alongside iOS 7’s launch, Twitter redesigned its official app for iOS 7, and we previously covered several other iOS 7-designed app updates. Echofon is available in either a free (Ad-supported) version or a $4.99 option. Screenshots of iPad (universal) version below:

Pixelmator pushes 2.2.1 update, modernizes file format for significant performance gains

Benjamin Mayo Sep 24 2013 - 8:01 am PT

Pixelmator has pushed a point update to the Mac App Store. Despite its minor bump in version number, the update brings a lot of helpful changes. The timing is ‘intriguing’, as it coincides with Adobe’s announcement of a new version of Photoshop Elements from this morning.

Pixelmator quotes a 2x performance improvement when saving documents, as a result of a move to a new file format. For instance, when saving to iCloud, Pixelmator can now push small deltas of what has changed between saves, rather than saving the entire image every time. This speed up is noticeable in use, with projects saving nearly instantaneously on a Retina Macbook Pro.

App Store stops by 950K apps on its way to 1 million

Jordan Kahn Sep 24 2013 - 7:40 am PT

5 Comments

apps-ios-itunes

Last time Apple checked in during its Q3 2013 earnings report it announced the App Store was home to 900,000 apps and over 375K designed specifically for iPad. Today, the App Store has now reached 950,000 apps and quickly approaches 1 million with Apple accepting 50K new apps in the last two months alone. The news comes from app discovery service Appsfire, which regularly tracks new and updated apps added to the App Store.

Apple often celebrates milestones for its App Store with some type of giveaway or contest for users. Earlier this year it made a number of premium apps available for free to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the App Store and also gave away a $10,000 App Store gift card to announce the 50 billionth app download. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple do something similar for the 1 millionth app on the App Store.

Apple has likely seen an increase in new app submissions in recent weeks, as a long list of developers update and release new apps to accompany last week’s launch of iOS 7 and the new iPhones. At the current rate, it will take Apple just another couple of months to hit the 1 million mark.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Adobe updates Photoshop and Premiere Elements 12 with professional features and Cloud access

Seth Weintraub Sep 24 2013 - 2:49 am PT

This morning, Adobe announced Photoshop and Premiere Elements 12, an upgrade to their consumer photo and video editing tools for Mac and PC. A year to the day from the release of Elements 11, this release focuses on cloud organizing, sharing, syncing and editing photos and videos with Adobe Revel Cloud. New features like Content Aware Move and Auto Smart Tone for Photoshop and additional FilmLooks and Subject Spotlight for Premiere headline the updates.

What’s New in Photoshop Elements 12:

Photoshop Elements 12 gives you new options for perfecting and sharing your favorite memories with friends and family. Organize, edit, enhance, and share more quickly and easily thanks to bold icons, a helpful Action bar, and the ability to choose from Quick, Guided, or Expert editing modes so you can edit your photos the way that works best for you.

Take your photos with you wherever you go: Easily view, relive, and share your Elements photos on your smartphone and tablet. And finally—unlock the photos from your mobile device, and see them in your Elements albums back at home.

Share: Quickly and easily post on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, and more. Share your Elements photos in Private Web albums, and view them on your smartphone or tablet.
Easily move objects: Move objects in a photo and have the background automatically filled in with Content Aware Move.

Add your personal touch in an instant: Use one-touch Frames, Effects, and Textures to add depth to your snapshots.

Correct pet eye: Remove green, yellow, and other “pet eye” discolorations as easily as you remove red-eye in photos of people.

Make it uniquely yours: Get intelligent photo corrections with Auto Smart Tone, which learns your preferences in a snap.

New in Premiere Elements 12:
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apps

iMessage makes the jump to Android in the form of a shady unofficial app (updated: removed)

Mike Beasley Sep 23 2013 - 9:59 pm PT

29 Comments

Update: The app has been removed from the Google Play Store.

Earlier this month, iMessage Chat for Android appeared on the Google Play store. The app is by no means an official Apple-created iMessage solution for Android, but the creation of a third-party developer named Daniel Zweigart. Surprisingly, according to a few users who have tried the app, it actually works. You can send messages from your Android device to your iPhone or iPad, and vice versa.

However, it’s quite possible that the Apple IDs and passwords being entered into the app are being collected by the developer for nefarious purposes.

[tweet https://twitter.com/b3ll/status/382364776497545216 align=’center’]

If you’re really curious about how the app works, software developer Adam Bell has discovered that it connects to Apple’s iMessage server posing as a Mac mini. Cydia creator Jay Freeman (aka saurik) has also noted on Google+ that the app forwards all communication from Apple to a server running in China. That means every message you send or receive using this app is being processed—and possibly stored—on a server run by the creator.

[tweet https://twitter.com/b3ll/status/382369290243952640 align=’center’]

However, Steven Troughton-Smith also points out that the app has the ability to download and install software in the background, meaning it is capable of putting malware on your phone without your knowledge. Given this information, we highly advise staying away from the app.

[tweet https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/382369055887589376 align=’center’]

Should you decide to try downloading the app from the Google Play store, we recommend only testing it with a throwaway Apple ID that has none of your payment or personal information attached. We really can’t stress that point enough.

iOS 7 How-to: Redeem iTunes gift cards with your device’s camera

Sarah Guarino Sep 23 2013 - 11:02 am PT

iTunes gift cards are a great gift for iOS Device users. They can be used to purchase content from the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore. However, entering in the string of characters to redeem the gift card balance has typically been a pain with the touch keyboards on iPads, iPhone, and iPod touches. Like iTunes 11 on the Mac, iOS 7 moves to solve this problem. You can now use your device’s camera to scan in the code.

Go to the main/featured page in whichever store you choose and to get to the redemption screen, scroll all the way down, and press on redeem:

Apps

Apple now allows customers to check iPhone retail availability via Apple Store app

Mark Gurman Sep 23 2013 - 8:04 am PT

12 Comments

In line with our report from last week, Apple has flipped the switch in its Apple Store app to allow for customers to check availability for the new iPhone models at Apple Stores. The process is similar to the one for Personal Pickup on Apple’s online store.

To check for availability on the iPhone and iPod touch Apple Store app, navigate to the buy iPhone page, add your iPhone to the cart, then choose “Check Availability.”

The app will show you a list of your favorite and nearby stores. With Personal Pickup, you can order an iPhone through the app and then pick it up at your local Apple Store. With iPhones now shipping in October, this might be your best bet at soon getting an iPhone 5s.

Review: Perfect Shot for iOS 7 helps with group camera shots

Sarah Guarino Sep 21 2013 - 8:49 am PT

7 Comments

Perfect Shot by TapMedia is a new iOS 7 app that is designed to make it very easy to take the perfect pictures of their friends and family. While holding either an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, to take a picture, Perfect Shot detects how many people are in the image. The app monitors and detects everyone’s sets of eyes and their smiles. Once everyone in the group is not blinking and smiling, the app automatically snaps the photo, without the need for the user to press the shutter button.

Perfect Shot also can detect when you (yourself) are in prime position for a photo. The “selfies” I’ve taken of myself with this app are the best I’ve ever taken on an iPhone. They sometimes even look like professional head shots. My eyes are centered and straight, as opposed to being crooked or unfocused because I’m concentrating on the act of trying to take a good shot of myself.

iOS 7 How-to: Set up Automatic App Updates

Sarah Guarino Sep 20 2013 - 6:52 am PT

15 Comments

In earlier versions of iOS, the system would notify users of available App Store updates with a badge on the icon (seen above).

You had to open up the App Store, press the Update button, then press Update All. It was rather annoying to keep up with all the apps that needed updating. Sometimes by the time you finished updating, more apps would need updating.

Now with iOS 7, the apps will now automatically update. To make sure that the apps are set to automatically update, go into Settings and scroll until you see iTunes and App Store.