Latest

Site default logo image

Hilton hotels to let you use your iPhone as your hotel key from next year

lock

Queuing up at a hotel check-in desk is often the last thing you want to do after a long flight. Starting next year, you’ll be able to bypass the front desk altogether in Hilton hotels, your iPhone serving as as your hotel room key.

We’ve seen the same thing in smaller hotel groups, but Hilton’s adoption of the technology moves it very much into the mainstream. The group told the WSJ that it will begin introducing the new door locks next year, and expects to complete the global roll-out by the end of 2016.

The Hilton app already allows you to check-in electronically, but currently you still need to collect your room key from the front desk – which kind of defeats the object. With the new system, iPhone check-in will send a key code to your phone which can then be used to unlock your door.

Bluetooth-controlled door locks for home are also expected to be a big thing this year, with products on the way from Okidokeys and August.

Kamcord now uploading 1hr of mobile gameplay video every min, launches redesigned social iOS app

Site default logo image

Kamcord, the SDK that lets iOS developers offer gameplay recording and sharing functionality, is today launching a redesigned community iOS app while announcing some impressive new milestones for the service.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Square gets automation-savvy with new IFTTT channel

Site default logo image
square

<a href="http://9to5mac.com/2013/05/14/square-announces-new-square-stand-hardware-for-ipad-now-available-for-pre-order/" target="_blank">Square Stand for iPad</a>

The mobile payment service Square is getting even smarter thanks to the automation service If This Then That. An entirely new set of possibilities for features that will benefit merchants and mobile payment customers has been unlocked thanks to Square integration with If This Then That, or IFTTT, through a dedicated Square channel on the popular automation service. At the time of launch, a total of 78 other channels supported by IFTTT can be connected to the mobile payment service’s channel and triggered by sales, refund, and settlement data from Square…
Expand
Expanding
Close

Pixite’s new 3D photo editing app Matter debuts on iPhone and iPad

Site default logo image

Pixite is out today with a new photo editing app for iPhone and iPad called Matter. The app allows you to embed and manipulate 3D objects in your photography or photos from others to give your photos an impressive science fiction effect. This is achieved by Matter’s ability to intelligently apply shadows and reflections that match your photography to its library of 3D objects. You can see examples of images edited in Matter above and more details about the photo editing app below…
Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

CNN iPhone app exposing login info of its iReporters unencrypted, according to security researchers

Update: Apple tells us CNN submitted fixes for both their iPhone and iPad apps that are now live on the App Store.

Security researchers at Zscaler claim to have found a security flaw in CNN’s iPhone app that exposes personal login and passwords of its users. The CNN app for iPhone, which includes an iReport feature that allows users to sign-up and submit news stories, is reportedly not using SSL encryption for registration/login and SSL certificate pinning like its Android app counterpart and sending the personal user info to and from the app unencrypted. The report notes that CNN’s iPad app is not subject to the same vulnerability as it currently doesn’t have the iReport feature:

The current CNN for iPhone App (verified on Version 2.30 (Build 4948)) has a key weakness whereby passwords for iReport accounts are sent in clear text (unencrypted). While this is always a problem, it’s especially concerning that this relates to functionality which permits people to anonymously submit news stories to CNN. This occurs both when a user first creates their iReport account and during any subsequent logins.

As can be seen, both transmissions are sent in clear text (HTTP) and the password (p@ssword) is sent unencrypted, along with all other registration/login information. The concern here is that anyone on the same network as the user could easily sniff the victim’s password and access their account. Once obtained, the attacker could access the iReport account of the user and compromise their anonymity. The same credentials could be used to access the user’s web based iReport account where any past submissions are also accessible.

Zscaler said it notified CNN of the security flaw on July 15th and that the company confirmed it’s investigating. The CNN app for iPhone received an update today with “bug fixes” listed in the release notes, but the company is yet to confirm if the update was to address the security flaw detailed by Zscaler.

Hands-on: Fantastical 2.1 for iPhone & iPad adds snooze, invitation/birthday notifications, keyboard shortcuts, more

Site default logo image

We’ve already taken a close look at Fantastical 2 for iPhone and Fantastical 2 for iPad, and today Flexibits is releasing Fantastical 2.1 for both platforms with a list of new features and discounting Fantastical for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Among the list of changes include new snooze functionality, event invitation notifications and badges, notifications for upcoming birthdays, external keyboard shortcut support, and more. Below we’ll take a look at each new feature added to Fantastical for iPhone and iPad…
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple TV to gain FXNOW channel w/ new Simpsons World content within 12 months

Site default logo image

Apple-TV-June-2014

The Apple TV will soon be getting more content thanks to a new FXNOW channel set to debut on the platform in the near future, according to two new reports (via iLounge). The news comes from the Television Critics Association Press Tour with TV writer Jason Lynch reporting the FXNOW channel will arrive on Apple TV within 12 months. The FXNOW channel, which is already available on iOS devices via an app for iPhone and iPad, offers on-demand video streaming from across the FX, FXX, and FXM networks.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

AMC debuts trailer for ‘The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land’ mobile game arriving w/ season 5

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aiRboM4fok]

AMC announced today that it will release a new mobile game for The Walking Dead early next year alongside season 5 of the hit TV show. The TV network is teaming up with Next Games to develop the title and today shared the first trailer for the game that it plans to show off at Comic Con International later this month.

The game, titled The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land, will allow players to experience the world of the iconic show through gameplay exclusively developed for smartphones and tablet devices. Developed by Next Games in close collaboration with AMC, the game will feature themes familiar to the TV series, where characters fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic, walker-infested world. A recurring theme of choosing the right survival strategy and making the most human choices possible is at the heart of the first-of-its-kind game.

Telltale games already publishes a game based on universe of The Walking Dead comic book series, but this is AMC’s first official game based on its TV show version of the franchise. It isn’t, however, sharing many details on what we can expect from gameplay other than the description above or specifics on platforms.

The Walking Dead Season 5 is coming this October and the game, The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land, will hit smartphones and tablets early next year when the mid-season premiere of Season 5 airs.

Site default logo image

PackPoint handy packing checklist app now available on iOS

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hugJHCHvWJ8]

There’s nothing worse than arriving at your hotel for a trip, unpacking and then realizing you’ve forgotten something vital – like your MacBook  power supply, to pick an entirely random example **cough**. Packing checklists offer a good solution, but what you need for a business trip in the winter will be very different to what you need for a holiday in the summer.

PackPoint is an app that asks you a series of questions about your trip, then generates suggested packing lists based on everything from the forecast weather to the things you expect to be doing there. Previously only available on Android, it’s now available for iOS. Going out for a fancy dinner at some point? PackPoint will ensure you remember suitable attire. Business trip? Your VPN fob and gets added in along with the ubiquitous laptop and power.

You can edit the suggested lists by removing suggested items and adding in your own ones. The result is highly-customized packing checklists that should ensure nothing is forgotten.

Best of all, the app is completely free. You can download it now from the App Store.

Site default logo image

Upcoming Twitter for iPhone update will allow you to browse your entire DM history

Twitter has announced that an upcoming update to its mobile clients will allow users to go back and review their entire direct message history. Currently the app only provides a limited look back, but that restriction will be removed in a new version that will also make deleting messages more reliable across its web and mobile platforms.

[tweet https://twitter.com/Support/status/490260546818543618 align=’center’]


Expand
Expanding
Close

iPhone app Numerous previews iOS 8 Notification Center integration

Site default logo image

We’ve already seen a few developers preview how new technologies introduced in iOS 8 make new features possible. Last month we saw 1Password’s iPhone app take advantage of the new access developers have to Touch ID and systemwide Extensions with their iOS 8 beta, and a number of health and fitness app developers have discussed their excitement for Apple’s new HealthKit tool. Today the developers of the fairly new iPhone app Numerous have previewed in a blog post their plans to include an app widget for presenting numbers from the app in the new Today view in Notification Center coming to the iPhone and iPad in iOS 8…
Expand
Expanding
Close

Buffer releases official app for Mac, lets you add to your queue from the menu bar

buffer mac

Buffer has released its first official app for the Mac today, bringing an easy way to add content to your Buffer queue right from the menu bar. Buffer already lets you share social media updates from multiple accounts at once via its web, iOS, and Android clients, but now you can do much the same via Mac OS X.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

Facebook rolling out Mentions iPhone app for verified public figures

Facebook-Mentions

Facebook is releasing a new app today called Mentions, an app exclusively for public figures with verified pages that previous reports noted the company was experimenting with.

According to Facebook, the app is made specifically for actors, athletes, musicians, and other influencers and makes for a better experiencing when sharing content and interacting with fans. The app puts a bigger focus on sharing and viewing mentions from other users opposed to viewing content posted by others. The mentions tab in the app, which provides a stream of replies to your content from other users, is something other Facebook apps don’t offer that will benefit public figures spending a lot of time interacting with their audience. Facebook told Recode that “celebrities who have tested the app have been posting twice as much as before.”

See what fans are saying about you and join the conversation… Share your story by posting updates, sharing photos or videos, or hosting a live Q&A… Get streamlined notifications about your posts, including mentions from other influencers or the media.

The new Facebook Mentions app is arriving on the App Store today for verified public figures with public profiles in the US. At launch the company says that will include “tens of thousands” of users, but it eventually has plans to roll it out internationally to more users including public figures without verified public profiles:

Mentions is currently only available for people with verified Pages in the US. We plan to roll out to more countries and verified Profiles in the coming months. If you are an admin of a verified Page, you can request access to Mentions directly. If you are a public figure, you can also download the iPhone app to request access.

Site default logo image

Amazon brings its mobile ad network to iOS apps

Amazon-Mobile-ads-iOSAmazon announced today that it’s bringing support for its Amazon Mobile Ads API to iOS, allowing app developers to place ads from the Amazon Mobile Ad Network in apps across platforms. The ads were previously only available to display on Android and Fire OS devices.

The Amazon Mobile Ads API lets you place high-quality display ads from the Amazon Mobile Ad Network in your app, helping you better monetize your apps and gain access to highly relevant ads from brand advertisers, including Amazon and its subsidiaries. Starting today, both Interstitial and Banner ads can now be displayed across iOS devices in addition to Android and Fire OS devices.  Beginning on July 25, 2014, ads can also be displayed on the Fire phone.  As a developer, you can now monetize your apps with the Amazon Mobile Ads API across iTunes, Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore while taking advantage of multiple targeting features.

The Amazon Mobile Ad Network rolls out to iOS today for users in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.

Amazon has more detailed info about the API on its blog for developers that want to get started integrating the ads in iOS apps.

Site default logo image

HBO’s Game of Thrones Ascent game arrives on iPhone

GOT-ASCENT-iPhone-05

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.

Site default logo image

Google releases official Analytics app for iPhone with Real Time reports

Screen Shot 2014-07-17 at 6.03.25 AM

Google has added yet another official application to its iOS App Store portfolio: Google Analytics. Analytics is Google’s popular service that allows website owners to manage and view data such as page views, demographics, and the technologies users utilize to access the website. The iPhone app also has the neat Real Time reports feature that allows website owners to view how many people are on the website at the current time. Google launched an optimized version of the Analytics app last year on Android and debuted a related AdWords app on iOS just last week. Like all Google apps, the Analytics program is on the the App Store for free.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

Google Wallet iOS app adds gift cards, invoicing, ability to send money from debit cards for free

 

Google-Wallet-gift-cards

Google today announced new features for its Google Wallet app for both iOS and Android that makes it easier to manage gift cards and request and send from debit cards.

Like Google Wallet already allowed for loyalty cards, the app now lets users store, redeem, and check gift card balance:
Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

Jawbone’s UP iPhone app gets new weight management & food-tracking features

UP-Food-tracking-appJawbone today announced new weight management and food-tracking features via an update for the UP by Jawbone fitness tracking app that pairs with its UP wearables.

Jawbone’s entirely new food-tracking interface for UP helps you simply log food and water, quickly assess the healthiness of foods, and easily track progress toward your target weight… The UP Insight Engine™ provides intelligent guidance around your food choices, calorie consumption and weight goals, helping you understand how each of those is related to activity and sleep.

Highlights for the version 3.2 update include the ability to set goals for weight and calorie intake while using new tools for logging and tracking food consumption. It’s also teaming up with food apps like HealthyOut, Munchery, Nutrisystem, and PlateJoy to sync data and automatically track food ordered through those services.

The updated iPhone app is available on the App Store now.

More details on the new features are in the company’s press release below:

Jawbone Launches New Weight Management Features For UP

After Steps and Sleep, Jawbone’s UP App Now Offers an Easier, Smarter Way to Track Food and Manage Weight

SAN FRANCISCO, July 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Jawbone® today unveiled new weight management features for UP® , the system that helps you manage your weight, sleep better and stay fit.

Jawbone’s entirely new food-tracking interface for UP helps you simply log food and water, quickly assess the healthiness of foods, and easily track progress toward your target weight.

The UP Insight Engine™ provides intelligent guidance around your food choices, calorie consumption and weight goals, helping you understand how each of those is related to activity and sleep.

“UP and UP24 have inspired millions of people to get engaged in their own health – we’ve shown that living better really is a universally popular proposition,” said Travis Bogard, vice president of product management and strategy at Jawbone. “For the nearly three out of four Americans that are overweight or obese*, living better often includes weight loss. Our new food and weight features for UP, combined with some exciting new food apps we’ve added to the platform, make UP the most complete solution for weight management and a healthy lifestyle.”

Simplified Weight Management

Jawbone’s new and intuitive food-tracking interface for UP delivers an easier, smarter way to track what you eat and manage your weight:

  • Personalized Food Library: Quickly see and select from the foods you eat most frequently, right from the front and center of your food-logging screen. More than a quarter of meals logged in UP include regularly consumed items, making easy access to them a time-saving shortcut. UP also surfaces foods that are commonly paired with the items you’re eating via Jawbone’s intelligent food database. Enter eggs, and UP will show you other items that may be included in your meal, like bacon, toast, or potatoes.
  • Access to Restaurant Menus: With half of meals in the US eaten outside of the home**, UP now lists dining establishments nearby based on your location and lets you quickly log menu items from many restaurants you visit. Quick access to menus lets you instantly select what you’re eating and automatically import calorie information when available. At local restaurants where nutrition information may not be on hand, add nutrition details and UP will save it in your library for future visits. Jawbone’s data science team will aggregate data entered from multiple users, making it available to the entire UP community for a more complete restaurant menu database.
  • Food Score: Use UP’s food detail screen to quickly evaluate how healthy a dish is at a glance. UP shows you the breakdown of healthy nutrients to less healthy nutrients for any given item, along with a new Food Score to help you quickly asses the overall healthiness of individual items and full meals. You’ll also see a rolling average of the score throughout your entire day.
  • Weight Goal: Log your weight and set a personal goal in the app to see your progress toward your target weight. UP will recommend a daily calorie goal and balance calories burned versus calories consumed to show you your remaining allowance for the day. And as you log new meals, a convenient progress meter shows you the number of calories you’ve already consumed – and how many you’ll be adding with each new item.
  • Insights: A completely redesigned Insight Engine for UP makes its intelligent guidance and useful health tips even more accessible and intuitive. Complete with new food-specific insights and opt-in “Today I Will” commitments, you’ll be motivated to try original recipes, reinforce your diet with fiber and protein, and start building new food habits to keep you on track.

New Food Apps on the UP Platform

Jawbone teamed up with several meal planning and delivery services to take the UP system a step closer toward the promise of automatic logging and customized meal recommendations:

  • Order a fresh, chef-prepared meal from the daily menu of Munchery , now in San Francisco and Seattle, and have it delivered that night When you connect your Munchery account with UP, each meal ordered will be automatically entered for you in UP’s food-logging system, including detailed nutrition information.
  • Use HealthyOut to order healthy meals from nearby restaurants nationwide, at any time.
  • Use the Prep Pad WiFi connected scale from The Orange Chef Co. ™  to create recipes that can be automatically logged in UP. Prep Pad can also factor in your activity from UP to provide more personalized meal recommendations.
  • Get meal plans and recipes from PlateJoy that are tailored to your preferences and customized based on your activity and sleep from UP – complete with ingredients delivered to your home.
  • And coming soon, you’ll be able to choose recipe recommendations from NuMi™ by Nutrisystem® that are personalized based on your calorie goals, lifestyle preferences, and the time of day. UP will automatically log the recipes you select, and NuMi will use your activity and calorie information to make even smarter recommendations.

Backed by Industry-Leading Experts

Jawbone’s new weight management system and food tracking tools have been backed by leading dietitian Ashley Koff, RD, an international nutrition expert and regular commentator on health and food issues.

“Food journaling is proven to be an effective method for weight management and weight loss, but writing everything you eat down with pen and paper isn’t convenient for most people. What Jawbone has developed is a really simple solution to this challenge,” said Koff. “While calorie counting is a key part of weight management, the balance of your nutrient intake is equally, if not more, important. It’s great to see a simple Food Score –  intelligently developed using several nutrient ratios – alongside calorie counts in the UP system to show you at a glance how well-balanced your food is.”

Development of the new features has been led by Laura Borel, a product manager at Jawbone and founder and former CEO of Nutrivise, a consumer nutrition company acquired by Jawbone last year. Nutrivise delivered personalized and automated meal recommendations based on a user’s unique biometrics and dietary preferences, and was voted “most promising health company” by Stanford Medicine X in 2012.

Available on July 16

UP by Jawbone™ 3.2 for iOS is available today as a free download from the App Store. The UP or UP24™ wristband is required for the app.

Site default logo image

ESPN Fantasy Football for iOS updated with new notifications and social media support

 

Football season is only a few weeks away and while you’re busy making preparations for your office’s annual draft, ESPN has updated its Fantasy Football app. In addition to a refined UI, the revitalized software lets users create a team or league directly from within the app, tracking trades, injuries, scores and more.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Chrome for iOS update adds Cast support to web pages, gets a tweaked icon

Site default logo image

chrome-ios

Google has released an updated version of the Google Chrome application for iOS today, bringing at least one interesting new feature to the app: mobile websites that have Cast support will now work with all of your Cast-capable devices. It’s unclear how the feature works at the moment, but according to the release notes, developers are going to need to add support to their webpages before they can take advantage of the feature.

Also, as will likely be praised by iOS users everywhere, the version 36.0.1985.49 update goes the way of Google Hangouts and finally gets rid of the infamous “lip” located at the bottom of the app icon:


Expand
Expanding
Close

Site default logo image

Scribd for iPhone updated with redesigned book view, improved library management, and more

The Scribd iPhone app has been updated with several design tweaks and functionality improvements today that make browsing and reading even easier. The new version includes a redesigned book view with descriptions and the ability to read user reviews. Browsing between books is now seamless, and an updated library manager allows you to download books to your phone or add them to collections.

You can grab the Scribd update for free on the iOS App Store. The change log is below:

  • A redesigned book page that includes in-depth descriptions, reader reviews, and related books
  • Seamless book-to-book browsing
  • Streamlined management of your Library – tap the new “+” sign on books to instantly save them to your device, add them to your library, or add them to a collection
Site default logo image

Snapchat introduces Geofilters, bringing special filters to specific locations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJx6R5zbIfk

The well-renowned social snap-sharing application Snapchat today introduced a new feature it is calling Geofilters, bringing you special custom-designed graphics that can easily be applied to photos taken in specific geographic locations. In the above video, a couple of girls take a snap at what appears to be a bicycle shop, and a quick swipe to the right places a small yellow bicycle tire on the top-left of their photo.

As mentioned on the official Snapchat blog, privacy disclaimer and all:

We’ve had a lot of fun drawing up new filters for special locations in Los Angeles and New York. Swipe right on the preview screen to check them out – they’ll change depending on which neighborhoods you’re in! Although you’ll need to enable location services for this feature, we don’t store your location.

Right now, Snapchat has only incorporated these filters at specific locations in Los Angeles and New York, but it will be interesting to see if the company expands the feature to other locations in the future — or maybe even opens these filters up to be crowd-sourced in some way. It doesn’t appear that you need to update your Snapchat client to take advantage of Geofilters.

Site default logo image

PayPal takes a page from Passbook, adds virtual loyalty cards to iOS app

PayPal has updated its iOS app with support for loyalty cards from a long list of selected retailers. The app allows you to select one of the supported companies from the list and scan the barcode on your loyalty or discount card, then saves the data in a digital wallet. The update puts PayPal in competition with Apple’s stock Passbook application, which also allows for storage of loyalty cards and other similar information.

The update also includes bug fixes and removes the ability to scan a check using the device’s camera to deposity money in your PayPal account. You can grab the version 5.5 update for free on the App Store.

What’s New in Version 5.5
Loyalty cards, login, and more!

• Link all of your favorite loyalty cards to PayPal. Carry virtual versions on your mobile. Your wallet deserves the break.
• Vroom! Faster logins are here. We did some work behind the scenes to speed things up for you.
• No bug is safe! We’re finding and fixing them as fast as we can.
• We’re no longer offering the “scan a check” feature. Not to worry. You can still add money to PayPal directly from your bank account.

Site default logo image

Shazam’s iOS app becomes a bit more useful with new Rdio integration

Shazam, the popular music identifier service that will be integrated into Siri this fall with iOS 8, has received an update today for iOS that brings a major new feature. Shazam has essentially turned its app into a streaming music service of sort by integrating deeply with Rdio. Now, if you tag a song using Shazam, you can listen to the complete song via Rdio right within the Shazam app. In our brief testing today, the functionality seems to work well. You do need the Rdio app installed and an Rdio account.


Expand
Expanding
Close