Big changes are coming to the community-based music streaming service SoundCloud as the company today introduces a new subscription service for the first time.
The new feature, dubbed SoundCloud Go, will allow users to listen to SoundCloud music both offline and ad-free for $10/month:
Update: The Miitomo app is now available on the U.S. App Store.
The game is already available in Japan— that’s how Jeff managed to go hands-on in our first look video earlier this month— but today Nintendo confirmed that its first iOS game, Miitomo, will officially arrive in the US on March 31st.
The game isn’t exactly bringing over any of Nintendo’s very popular first party franchises to iPhones and iPads, but it does feature known Mii characters and, as we noted in our review, the release feels very much like a Nintendo title:
When you first start Miitomo, it’s immediately recognizable as a Nintendo title. It feels like someone took my Nintendo Wii and shrunk it down to fit inside of my iPhone 6s. The music and sound effects, most notably, are of the characteristic Nintendo style. The Miis themselves look just like the Miis on the game-maker’s handheld and home consoles. The writing — witty, with just a hint of corniness thrown in for good measure — is classic Nintendo.
Nintendo noted in its press release today that Miitomo was downloaded over a million times in the first three days after launch in Japan and it also managed to become the #1 most downloaded free app in both the App Store and Google Play.
While Nintendo didn’t mention other countries by name today, it did say that “several other countries” will receive the title on the 31st alongside users in the US.
Check out our review of the game from earlier this month to get a first look before it officially arrives in the US and other countries on the 31st.
As promised, Pangu has released a jailbreak for the 4th generation Apple TV. This jailbreak, a first for the Apple TV 4, is capable of jailbreaking units running tvOS 9.0 and tvOS 9.0.1.
If you have an Apple TV that’s running a later version of tvOS, there is unfortunately no way to downgrade back to jailbreak-eligible versions. Instead, you can use our handy guide in order to find an eligible Apple TV at your local brick and mortar retail store. We’ll be sure to follow up with a full guide that shows you how to jailbreak the Apple TV 4.
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Steve Jobs, the official Sony biopic film for Walter Isaacson’s Jobs biography, received a muted response at the box office. The film received decent reviews from critics with an engaging story and unique approach to filming and movie-making, with Aaron Sorkin conjuring the plot around just three Steve Jobs product keynotes.
If you didn’t get the chance (or chose not to) to see the film at the movie theater, you can now buy it on Blu-ray and DVD from today. The film was also released on iTunes as a digital download last week, but it seems Apple is intentionally not promoting the movie on its store — the film has got no special placement on the iTunes storefront.
Content from shows on popular networks including HGTV, Food Network, and Travel Channel are now available with apps launching in the App Store for the new Apple TV.
The apps offer much the experience offer in their iPhone and iPad counterparts, and require users to sign-in using a cable TV account. Like the iOS apps for HGTV, Travel Channel, and Food Network, users can sign in with accounts from AT&T U-verse. Bright House Networks, Cox, Comcast XFINITY, DIRECTV, DISH, Google Fiber, Optimum, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS, and a long list of others.
In each of the apps, users will find the usual selection of on-demand episodes and clips from popular shows on each of the networks, as well as access to a Live TV stream of what’s airing on the channels.
You can download the HGTV, Travel Channel and Food Network apps on the new Apple TV now.
Google has quietly launched a Chrome beta for iOS through TestFlight, the beta distribution service Apple acquired last year and integrated into its own developer services. Google has yet to make an official announcement for the beta release, but users can already sign-up and download the beta when visiting Google’s Chrome beta download page on iOS.
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Alongside the release of iOS 9.1 today, Sprint announced that the update officially enables access to the iPhone’s Wi-Fi calling feature for all of its users. That means Sprint users will join T-Mobile and AT&T customers in the US in being able to take advantage of the feature that offers Wi-Fi-assisted voice calling for poor coverage areas and the ability to accept calls on other Apple devices including iPods, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watch.
Following today’s release of iOS 9.1, iPhone customers on Sprint will gain access to Apple’s enhanced Wi-Fi calling feature… “Customers already enjoy seamlessly responding to texts and email from a variety of great Apple devices,” said David Owens, senior vice president, Product Development at Sprint. “Now they can bring that flexibility to the primary phone number their friends, family and colleagues know best. This great feature puts the power of device choice in our customers’ hands.”
Sprint customers will have to update their iPhones to iOS 9.1, released earlier today, make sure Wi-Fi Calling is enabled in the iPhone’s Settings, and sign into the same Apple ID and iCloud account across devices.
Apple’s iOS 9.1 release includes enhancements to its Live Photos feature, over 150 new emoji, refreshed wallpapers, and the usual fixes and improvements for a long list of other features and bugs. We have the full rundown here.
Makers of the popular Camera+ app, a $3 third-party photography app for iPhone with around 14 million users, today launched its first free version in an attempt to attract even more users to the platform.
Dubbed simply “Camera+ Free,” the app’s creator gave us the rundown on the free experience, noting that it offers the same experience as the paid app minus some of the more advanced features like manual shooting controls and the app’s “The Lab” editing suite. Instead, the free app offers up focus, exposure and macro shooting settings, scene modes including clarity, and 3 free filter packs. Beyond that, users will be able to add-on some of the more advanced features to the free version using in-app purchases, allowing them to essentially unlock the full experience of the paid app.
We want to get the app out to as many people as possible. We currently have 14 million users, but we’d love to see more people using and falling in love with our app. We think by offering people a free version, more people who typically don’t pay for apps will give it a try. If they like it then they may buy some in-apps or just spread the word about our app. – Camera+ cofounder Lisa Bettany
The free version of the Camera+ app is available on the App Store now.
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Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service previously only allowed users of Amazon’s own Fire-branded Android devices to download content for offline viewing, but today the company announced it’s expanding that privilege to all iOS and Android users.
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Xdbr60wcg]
Square Enix announced earlier this year at E3 that it would bring back its beloved Final Fantasy VII title as a remake for consoles, PC, and iOS. Today, the iPhone and iPad version of the game officially arrives on the App Store.
While we learned previously that Square Enix wouldn’t be using its Luminous Engine for the remake, the game’s iTunes page does confirm that the iOS title is a direct “port based on Final Fantasy VII for PC” and arrives without any changes to the original game’s storyline. It’s also made some enhancements specially for the iPhone and iPad version…
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BlueStacks, a free desktop Android emulator that lets users play any mobile game or app on the big screen with a mouse and keyboard, has mostly been limited to PC users until today. But Mac users are about to get access to the software that the company says already has around 90 million users on Windows.
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Skype today released version 7.7 of its Mac app and with it is rolling out a new web link preview feature that will automatically provide snippets of web content in chats when sharing links.
With web link previews, you no longer need to type the: “check out this funny cat video” alongside the actual link to the cat video. When you send the link in chat, a rich visual preview of the web page is automatically displayed, making it much easier to see what’s been shared. Finding a link in your chat history also becomes quicker, saving precious time to let you focus on the conversation.
The previews will only show up if a link is the only thing in the message, so it won’t break up long blocks of text that happen to include a URL (an annoyance with similar web previews in other chat apps). Skype also notes that it puts “extra focus on optimizing for video and image content, so we encourage you to try links to video, image or even gifs first.”
The update also includes a couple bug fixes:
You can access the feature by downloading the latest version of Skype for Mac, version 7.7, here.
A reader has spotted that iOS 8.3 includes some new configuration options for password entry in the iTunes and App Store. Labelled as ‘Password Settings’, the new view allows users to configure how frequently Apple should ask for the user’s iTunes Store password for purchases. This includes allowing users to choose to allow free apps to be downloaded, no password necessary.
The first option allows users to require passwords immediately or expire after fifteen minutes. This option has existed in previous versions of iOS, under the Restrictions settings. However, the toggle below — ‘Require Password’ for free downloads is an altogether new option. It allows users to download free apps (and other iTunes content) with no need to type a password. Paid content still requires authentication based on the options above.
The setting is currently disabled on iOS 8.3 devices we tested, although presumably it will activate by the time iOS 8.3 is released to the public.
It’s finally here. The Pangu team has released its iOS 8 jailbreak tool for Mac. This will provide a one-click jailbreak solution for anyone without a Windows computer. Previously the tool was only available for Windows, which could also be used within a virtual machine on OS X, but now it’s native.
Borderlands: The Pre Sequel, the latest installment in the popular Borderlands series, launches today for Mac on the same day as the console and PC release. The Mac version of the game is developed by Aspyr and includes cross-platform multiplayer and a promise of all future DLC:
Discover the story behind Borderlands 2 villain, Handsome Jack, and his rise to power. Taking place between the original Borderlands and Borderlands 2, the Pre-Sequel gives you a whole lotta new gameplay featuring the genre blending fusion of shooter and RPG mechanics that players have come to love… Float through the air with each low gravity jump while taking enemies down from above using new ice and laser weapons. Catch-a-ride and explore the lunar landscape with new vehicles allowing for more levels of destructive mayhem.
The game is available starting today for $59.99 through GameAgent (the web store run by developers of the Mac version, Aspyr) as well as through Steam. Aspyr said previously that it’s planning a Mac App Store release of the game for October 16.
The game requires a Mac running OS X 10.9.4 (Mavericks) or later and at least a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, and 13GB of hard drive space. Supported video cards include NVIDIA GeForce 8800, ATI Radeon HD 2600, or Intel HD 3000 with 256 MB of Video Memory.
Following a release for iPad back in March, HBO’s Game of Thrones Ascent game developed by Disruptor Beam & Kongregate is now available for iPhone. The game already racked up around 2,500,000 players on Facebook and the web before making its way to iPad in March, and it comes to the App Store with new art, optimized imagery for Retina displays, and Game Center leaderboards.
With Game of Thrones Ascent, fans can immerse themselves beyond the books and show, living the life of a noble in Westeros, working with (or against) each other in a persistent, authentic game world. Taking part in thousands of story-driven quests, players delve deeply into the lore and develop their own lands and reputation among the Great Houses. Players explore an expansive world filled with deep political and social play involving diplomatic agreements, pacts, marriages, and betrothals. Through Alliance challenges, players work with hundreds of others to accomplish great tasks and rise to the top of the Power Rankings.
The developers update the game weekly and alongside new episodes of the TV show when it’s airing. That includes new quests, in-game items and more that follow the storyline of the show.
Game of Thrones Ascent is available for iPhone now as a free download on the App Store.
According to a report from TMZ, Kim Kardashian’s latest game for iPhone and iPad is set to take in $200 million with Kardashian’s share coming in somewhere in the neighborhood of $85 million.
Sources familiar with the deal tell TMZ … Kim’s cut is 45% of net profits. The game — “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” — is set to gross a reported $200 million this year alone.
We’re told the actual expenses associated with the business are relatively low. A straight 45% cut of $200 million totals a whopping $90 million. To put this in context … according to Forbes, Kim made $28 million last year.
Keep in mind that the app itself is free. All of that revenue is from in-app purchases like a $59 “Huge Star Pack” and other in-game items users purchase while playing celebrity in the Glu developed game. Expenses for the games are reportedly somewhere around $10 million, but there’s no word on if these numbers take Apple’s 30 percent cut into account. The revenue estimate of $200 million is reportedly for this year alone after the title launched back in May.
The Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app is available for iPhone and iPad on the App Store.
After a brief public beta period, the popular RSS client Reeder is out with the first update to its Mac software since Google Reader broke support Reeder last year.
The new version supports a number of RSS services that have proven popular since Google Reader ended (like Feedbin, Feedly, and Feed Wrangler), and it now serves as a standalone RSS client without syncing so you won’t have to depend on an RSS service to use the app in the future.
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WPcentral notes that the upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update introduces support for Apple’s Passbook iOS app, allowing users to load coupons, tickets, boarding passes, etc, designed for Passbook into the Microsoft Wallet app.
While the Microsoft Wallet app will be able to load the various coupons and loyalty cards usually reserved for Passbook, it’s still a little unclear exactly what’s going on behind the scenes. Microsoft appears to be allowing users to download the Passbook files and rendering its own card for Microsoft Wallet, but the report speculates Windows Phone won’t be able to tap into the push notifications Apple’s uses to update cards like on iOS.
There seems to be some confusion over whether or not Mircosoft is officially supporting Passbook in one way or another, but with a developer preview of Windows Phone 8.1 rolling out today, I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this soon.
Dropbox is introducing its latest product today, a photo and video management app called Carousel that integrates many of the features from the photo storage service Snapjoy acquired by Dropbox back in 2012.
The company unveiled the app at an event today in San Francisco as a gallery to store and share all of your photos and videos. The app is built for quick and easy sharing of one or multiple photos to phone contacts or email addresses (even if the recipient doesn’t have a Dropbox account), allowing you to get around the upload limitations usually associated with sharing photos. With everything backed up in full resolution directly to Dropbox, it essentially becomes a standalone app to manage just photos and videos that you want to store in Dropbox.
With Dropbox, we built a home for your photos and videos but never gave you a great way to experience them. We’d like you to meet Carousel, the newest member of the Dropbox family. It’s a gallery that houses your entire life’s memories. Even more, Carousel lets you share and relive these memories in private conversations with friends and family.
Carousel is now available as a free download on the App Store for iOS and the Play Store for Android.
[tweet https://twitter.com/carouselapp/status/453949761830154240]
The company also made some other product announcements today including news regarding versions of its Mailbox app for Android and Mac OS X.
Firefox today released the latest version of its desktop browser for Mac, Linux, and Windows and in the process added one much welcomed feature for Mac OS X users: support for Notification Center. This means that web apps and sites taking advantage of Firefox’s web notifications feature will now also appear for Mac users in the Notification Center.
Version 28 of Firefox also introduces a few new behind the scenes improvements including VP9 video decoding, volume control for HTML5 audio/video, and a number of other fixes.
Firefox 28 for Mac is available to download from the Mozilla website now.
We were quite impressed with the redesigned Infuse media player from developers FireCore when it first launched version 2 last month. The app, which supports 14 video formats and 1080p playback, is today getting an update to version 2.2 with a few notable new features and performance enhancements.
The update includes some features highly requested by users including the ability to download files form network shares for offline playback, as well as new “rich cover art and video info” when browsing network shares. Other new features include a new list view option, a volume boost setting, and an option to disable metadata fetching.
A full list of improvements in today’s update below:
The Infuse 2.2 update should be hitting the App Store any minute.
On the second day of Apple’s “12 Days of Gifts” promotion, the app is now offering a free download of Rovio’s ‘Tiny Thief’ app. This morning the 12 Days of Gifts app was offering a free pilot episode of TV show Once Upon a Time, but Apple appears to have now switched the gift to the ‘Tiny Thief’ app. It’s unclear if Apple mistakenly offered the TV show download for a short period of time or if it plans to offer various gifts throughout the day as part of the promotion.Yesterday the 12 Days of Gifts app was offering a free download of Justin Timberlake performances from the recent iTunes Music Festival.
Rovio actually dropped the price of Tiny Thief from $2.99 to free a few days back, and the app remains available for free directly through the App Store as well. You can grab Apple’s 12 Days of Gifts app on the App Store in select countries.
Apple has officially kicked off its “12 Gifts of Christmas” promotion by offering a free download of four live songs (two of which have videos) from Justin Timberlake’s performance at the iTunes Festival in September.
Previously available as the 12 days of Christmas app in a few countries internationally, this year Apple has released a new “12 Days of Gifts” app that is available in the U.S. for the first time. Starting today through January 6, users will be able to download the app to access one free gift a day. The gifts are usually content from across the iTunes, iBooks, and App Stores, with today’s gift coming as a free download directly on your device through iTunes.
Download the free 12 Days of Gifts app for iPhone or iPad now to access your free gift.
