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Microsoft launches Bing-powered celebrity stalking app

Mark Gurman Aug 11 2014 - 1:59 pm PT

2 Comments

Microsoft today is rounding out its portfolio of apps for iOS with a new program called Snipp3t. The awkwardly named free app is essentially Microsoft’s solution for stalking celebrities like Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and Miley Cyrus. As Microsoft explains:

SNIPP3T (pronounced “snippet”) is an app that lets you stay up-to-date on the celebrities you care about most. Building on Bing’s massive knowledge repository containing information on billions of people, places and things, we were inspired to build a custom app specifically targeting one of the areas we know people search for most often – famous people. Whether we admit it or not, most of us love to follow what’s going on with our favorite celebrities. From social media, YouTube, entertainment news sites and celebrity bloggers, there’s certainly no shortage of sources out there. Unfortunately, today we have to jump from site to site or toggle through a galaxy of apps to get the full scoop. While we can find the big stories, it can be difficult to see how different snippets of news are related to one another.

Using the database at the core of the Bing search engine, the app can track approximately 10,000 various celebrities and provide news updates, photos, and videos. The app also lets you connect to other fans tracking the same celebrities.

As for me, I won’t be downloading this app, I’ll stick to catching TMZ on TV while channel surfing every now and then. But if keeping tabs on Bieber’s latest egg throwing incident or Kanye West’s latest fight at LAX is your thing, this app may suit your needs.

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• Apps & Updates
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• Mac App Store

The Sims 2: Super Collection hits Mac as Peter Molyneux’s ‘Godus’ lands for iOS

Jordan Kahn Aug 8 2014 - 6:31 am PT

7 Comments

Two new games are arriving today with Mac users getting access to a new The Sims 2: Super Collection and iOS gamers getting their hands on the latest creation from Fable creator Peter Molyneux.

The Sims 2: Super Collection includes the return of the classic title for Mac exclusively on the Mac App Store and with it you get all of the downloadable content including 6 expansion packs and 3 additional content packs. The collection is available on the Mac App Store now as a single download for $29.99. Developers Aspyr noted, “We’ve completely overhauled The Sims™ 2 to work with modern hardware and OS configurations, optimizing performance with a new renderer, and we are supporting native resolution.”

Up next for games today is the latest from Peter Molyneux, creator of Fable and other popular titles for consoles and PC, with the release of ‘Godus’ for iPhone and iPad. The god simulator of sorts has received some teasers up until now through its Kickstarter campaign, but today the game is finally available on the App Store as a free download.

The Sims 2: Super Collection – $29.99 Mac App Store

Godus for iPhone and iPad – FREE App Store

• Apps & Updates
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Yelp updates iOS app with Bing-powered review translation feature

Mike Beasley Aug 7 2014 - 2:41 pm PT

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Yelp has updated its iOS app with a new feature that automatically translates foreign-language reviews to a users’ native tongue. The feature is powered by Microsoft’s Bing translation service. It currently works for 15 languages, according to a Yelp blog post:

The translation feature works for all 15 officially supported Yelp languages: English, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, French, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, and Japanese.

The update doesn’t appear to have rolled out on the App Store just yet, but the company says it will be available later today. The Yelp app is free for iPhone and iPad.

• Apps & Updates
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• 1Password

1Password for iOS goes on sale as developer confirms iOS 8 update will be free for current users

Mike Beasley Aug 7 2014 - 2:13 pm PT

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AgileBits, the team behind the 1Password security app that we’ve reviewed in the past, announced on in a company blog post that the upcoming iOS 8 update for the software will be free for all owners of the current version of the app.

The update, which is expected to debut around iOS 8’s launch this fall, is currently in a semi-public beta and takes advantage of new features in the operating system like Safari extensions, Touch ID, and more. If you don’t already own the current version of the iOS app, you can grab it at the steeply-discounted price of $9.99. The Mac version is also on sale for $34.99 (Reg. $50).

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Foursquare’s location discovery-focused app overhaul now available

Zac Hall Aug 6 2014 - 8:39 am PT

2 Comments

Earlier this year Foursquare announced its plans to split check-ins and social features from location discovery and reviewing features from its mobile apps. Swarm, the new app focused on check-ins, launched earlier this year in May while Foursquare gave its users some time to become familiar with having two apps for two different purposes.
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• Yahoo
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Yahoo Mail iOS app adds improved search w/ filters for files & photos

Jordan Kahn Aug 6 2014 - 7:34 am PT

2 Comments

Yahoo updated its Mail app today for iPhone and iPad with a new and improved search experience that makes it easier to find emails and specific content within emails when searching for contacts.

With the updated app, users can now apply filters after searching for a contact that will filter results by emails, photos, or files. The update will make it easy to, for example, find a specific attachment within an email or conversation.

The update also includes unspecified performance improvements and bug fixes.

The updated Yahoo Mail app for iPhone and iPad, version 3.2.0, is available now for free.

What’s New in Version 3.2.0

– We’re excited to introduce you to our new and improved search experience. Now, when you search for a person’s name, you can easily filter the results by emails, photos, or files. We hope you love it as much as we do! Please drop us a note at aerogram-feedback@yahoo-inc.com with your thoughts or suggestions.
– Performance improvements
– Bug fixes

• Apps & Updates
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• iPhone 5s

Original BioShock game coming to iPhone and iPad soon

Benjamin Mayo Aug 4 2014 - 5:35 am PT

4 Comments

2K games has announced that it is bringing the original 2007 BioShock game to iPhone and iPad later this summer, via Engadget. Graphics have been toned down significantly from the original Xbox title, but the game will no doubt offer plenty of nostalgia for fans of the series.

“BioShock delivers a true triple-A first-person shooter game experience on the iOS platform, by sending players on an underwater adventure to explore the submerged Art Deco city of Rapture, fighting deranged survivors of a failed objectivist utopia and genetically modifying their own DNA to gain superhuman powers.”

Although pricing and other specifics is not yet known, Engadget says that the developer 2K games wants a ‘premium game’ to carry a ‘premium price’, seemingly in the $10 to $30 range. Although visuals are substantially behind-the-curve of modern iOS games, the game will at least support MFI Game Controllers for more tactile interaction. BioShock will launch in the coming months, for iPad 4 and later, iPhone 5 and later.

• Apps & Updates
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Make OS X Yosemite’s dark mode turn on automatically with this neat utility

Benjamin Mayo Aug 4 2014 - 4:39 am PT

25 Comments

Although OS X Yosemite is still a few months out from public release, the public beta and developer seeds means the OS is already seeing wide adoption — hence, apps for Yosemite are already starting to surface. In fact, the unreleased OS already makes up 18% of Mac users on 9to5Mac, already the second most popular version of OS X.

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Facebook tells its iOS users to continue expecting app updates every 4 weeks

Mark Gurman Aug 1 2014 - 9:52 am PT

15 Comments

If you’re an avid Facebook user on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, the social networking giant has some good news for you. In yesterday’s 13.0 update, Facebook informs users that app updates with speed and performance enhancements will be arriving every four weeks. That’s about monthly. New features and other enhancements will come along the way, Facebook says, and those changes will be noted appropriately. Facebook seems to want users to get the latest iOS app updates as soon as possible, so it is recommending that users enable iOS 7’s Automatic Downloads feature via the iOS Settings app. A couple of years ago, Facebook said it would be bringing new updates to its mobile applications every 4-8 weeks, but this marks the first time that Facebook is actively notifying users of this development approach. Facebook seems to have begun monthly updates around February, but at least we now know the company has no intention of stopping that pattern.

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• Apps & Updates
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• Messaging
• Slingshot
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Facebook’s photo messaging app Slingshot updated w/ easier reactions, My People tab, more

Zac Hall Jul 31 2014 - 1:21 pm PT

1 Comment

After first launching earlier this month, Facebook has today released a feature update to its new photo messaging app Slingshot.

The new version allows users to reply with a reaction to photos without having to first reply with another photo. The launch version structure was a bit more convoluted as it required you to respond with a new photo as well. The new version allows you to respond with a photo, video, or just text.

The update also allows you to connect with your contacts and Facebook friends with inviting more people to use the app, and a new My People section shows you other Slingshot users. The update also features the following under-the-hood improvements:

• Shoot crisp, clear videos even faster than before
• Improved reliability for sign-up confirmation codes
• Plus, a bunch of bug fixes and other tweaks to keep things running smoothly

In addition to launching Slingshot earlier this month, Facebook-owned Instagram released a quick-photo messaging app called Bolt in a select few countries earlier this week.

The latest version of Slingshot is rolling out now in the App Store.

• Apps & Updates
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Facebook’s now required Messenger gets full screen videos and images

Zac Hall Jul 31 2014 - 12:04 pm PT

2 Comments

Facebook released version 9.0 of its Messenger app for iOS today bringing an improvement to how photos and videos are viewed. Previously trapped to a smaller section when shared, photos and videos in messages can now be viewed full screen like you would expect.

It’s a small improvement to Facebook Messenger, but now that the social network is stripping messaging functionality out of its primary Facebook for iPhone app, you can expect to see even more focus in this space in the future. For example, Facebook recently released a dedicated version of Messenger for iPad after years without it.

You can grab the latest version of Facebook Messenger for iOS on the App Store.

• Apps & Updates
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Crowdfunding service Indiegogo launches iPhone app

Jordan Kahn Jul 31 2014 - 8:10 am PT

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Crowdfunding platform Indiegogo today announced that it’s finally launching an app for iPhone and iPod touch that comes alongside a new look for the website. The app includes features for both users discovering and supporting projects and those managing Indiegogo campaigns they’ve launched:

A full list of features in the first release is below:

Supporting Indiegogo campaigns

• Discovering new campaigns through recommendations based on past activity and preferred categories
• Exploring and following campaign categories
• Claiming campaign perks
• Sharing favorite campaigns with friends

Managing Indiegogo campaigns

• Receiving notifications each time a contribution is made to a campaign
• Monitoring campaign comments
• Posting campaign updates and photos
• Thanking contributors
• Sending custom messages to phone contacts and Facebook friends
• Promoting campaigns on social networks

At launch the Indiegogo app is available in English, Spanish, German, and French. The app is available for free on the App Store now.

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Yahoo Finance updated with new design, pre- and after-market data, news section, more

Zac Hall Jul 30 2014 - 9:37 am PT

0 Comments

Yahoo has released a new version of its Finance app for iPhone and iPad featuring the addition of a new tab bar for quicker navigation and other visual changes. The update still features the basement view on the left as well as the search view for adding stocks to your watch list on the right, but the overall app is organized much cleaner now.

The new tab bar consists of the primary Home view for information related to stocks you’re tracking, a new News tab for following general finance news and information, and a Markets view for an overview of U.S., Europe, and Asia finance data.

The updated version of Yahoo Finance also adds support for viewing pre-market and after-market data for items on your watch list. Yahoo Finance 2.2 for iPhone and iPad is available on the App Store.

• Apps & Updates
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Microsoft OneNote iPhone, iPad, & Mac apps updated with new features

Jordan Kahn Jul 29 2014 - 4:06 pm PT

8 Comments

Microsoft updated its OneNote apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac today with a number of highly requested features including the ability to insert files, lock and unlock protected sections, PDF printouts, and much more.

In addition, the update also includes the ability to organize notebooks by moving and reordering sections and pages, support for formatted text copied from other apps, and an option to create notebooks and save them to OneDrive for Business.

The updated Microsoft OneNote for iPhone and for iPad is available on the App Store now. A full list of what’s new is below:

What’s New in Version 2.3

•Insert Files – You asked, we listened. Now you can insert files into your notes, open them with a double-tap, and easily share them using AirDrop.
•Protected Sections – Now you can lock or unlock password-protected sections created in OneNote for Windows.
•PDF Printouts – Add a PDF printout to any notebook page, then add your own notes.
•Organize Notebooks – Now you can move and reorder sections, and move pages anywhere you want in OneNote.
•Formatted Text – Copy and paste formatted text between application – whether it’s an article from Safari or a document in Word, any content you paste into OneNote will look great!
•Creating Notebooks – Now you can create notebooks and save them to OneDrive for Business. Have multiple accounts? No problem! It’s easy to select exactly where you want to store your new notebook.

The Microsoft OneNote for Mac app gets a similar update today plus the ability to share a page from OneNote through email. 

• Apps & Updates
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Instagram soft launches previously rumored ‘Bolt’ one-tap photo messaging app

Jordan Kahn Jul 29 2014 - 1:47 pm PT

2 Comments

Following a leak earlier this week that appeared to show an upcoming photo messaging app from Instagram, today the app officially launches in a short list of countries abroad (via TechCrunch). The app, which is reportedly a Snapchat competitor of sorts with one-tap photo messaging, is rolling out today for users in Singapore, South Africa, and New Zealand on both iOS and Android.
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• Yelp

Yelp for iOS updated with the ability to upload short videos with reviews

Mike Beasley Jul 28 2014 - 4:51 pm PT

2 Comments

Yelp has updated its iPhone application with the ability to add short videos (3-12 seconds) to reviews. The app has allowed photo uploads alongside reviews, and according to The Next Web users are uploading over 23,000 photos a day.

You can grab the updated Yelp app now from the App Store for free.

What’s New in Version 8.1.0

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, well now on iPhone you can take 3-12 second videos of your experiences at your favorite local businesses. So that’s worth like… 30 frames per second multiplied by video length… (pulls out calculator)… between 90 and 360 thousand words! Whoa.

Along with this new feature we also also added some polish to our app and fixed a bunch of bugs. Enjoy!

• Apps & Updates
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NPR One app arrives on iPhone with curated public radio streams

Jordan Kahn Jul 28 2014 - 2:13 pm PT

1 Comment

Alongside the release of its new app for Android today, the new NPR One app has just arrived on the App Store for iPhone users.

NPR One is the new audio app that connects you to a stream of public radio news and stories curated for you… Great storytelling and rigorous reporting that informs, engages, inspires and surprises—from the ends of the earth to your own city or town—available to you whenever, wherever.

Not to be confused with its NPR News apps already available for iPhone and iPad, the new app offers users a more personalized experience by providing a curated stream of news based on your preferences. It also focuses solely on audio streams rather than mixing written stories like its full news app. It does so by curating stories from public radio stations around the country while mixing in local station news:

*Features*
– A personalized stream of NPR and local station news and stories
– Skip, rewind, pause and share
– Search for your favorite shows, stations and podcasts
– International, national, regional and local content
– A simple, intuitive interface

The new NPR One app is available as a free download for iPhone now.