Skype for Web adds calling to mobile phones & landlines, guest mode, notifications, more

After launching Skype for Web worldwide back in June, today the previously chat-only web app is adding support for making phone calls and other new features.

After launching Skype for Web worldwide back in June, today the previously chat-only web app is adding support for making phone calls and other new features.

AirParrot 2, the popular Mac utility that lets you wirelessly broadcast content from your desktop, now has an iOS companion. The app, appropriately entitled AirParrot Remote, lets users control nearly every facet of AirParrot 2 from any iOS device sharing the same Wi-Fi network.
If you’re familiar with the look of AirParrot 2 on Mac, then you’ll feel right at home with AirParrot Remote, as they look strikingly similar. Watch our video demonstration for a look at some of the things that AirParrot Remote can do.
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Wikipedia today has released an update to its iOS app that adds a host of new features and capabilities. The latest version of the app offers a redesigned interface that places a focus on “exploration” as opposed to the normal quick fact-checking that we’ve come to use Wikipedia for. The update also adds features like 3D Touch support, Handoff support, and more.

In addition to releasing the first developer preview of Android N earlier today, Google this evening has rolled out updates to a pair of its iOS apps. Both Google Drive and Chrome for iOS have been updated with a few new features.

Remember six months ago when Snapchat introduced its crazy selfie lens feature that sort of went viral? Facebook wants in on the “how’d you do that” action too so it bought the recently launched app Masquerade (stylized as MSQRD) to instantly have access to its own selfie filter features. Masquerade, which only launched on iOS in December, works similarly to Snapchat’s filter feature seen above by using facial recognition over video to transform faces with comical filter effects.

Google is on a roll lately with readying its iOS apps for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro announced last September and released last November.
Google’s YouTube app gained native resolution two weeks ago, but lacked iOS 9 multitasking features like Split View and Picture-in-Picture, then yesterday we saw Google Photos update with iPad Pro support in an update that actually includes Split View and Slide Over features.
Now it’s the Google Docs apps turn, at least to start, as the latest version of Google Docs for iOS adds native resolution support for the iPad Pro.
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Yoink is a utility available on the Mac App Store that I find to be extremely useful. When you begin dragging a file on a Mac with Yoink installed, the utility’s interface appears on the side of the screen. Yoink serves as a temporary holding area for files on your Mac as you move them between apps, folders, and wherever else in the Finder.
There are few apps that I consider to be must-haves on OS X, but Yoink is certainly one of them. Moving files around the Mac is easier with Yoink installed, especially if you make the most of using full screen apps. Watch our video walkthrough inside to see how.
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Google Photos already lets users backup and view an unlimited number of high-resolution photos and videos for free, and Google recently added a button that lets users manually purge downloaded content to make room for more free storage. There’s a new update awaiting Google Photos users today that adds support for the latest software and hardware features on iPhones and iPads.

Pebble Time smartwatch users are getting a few notable updates today including a redesigned iOS app alongside the latest firmware for the watch itself that brings new features, fixes and enhancements.

Final Cut Pro X has gone through a lot of changes since it first debuted as a reboot back in 2011. Since then, the app has grown up significantly, but it’s been able to retain its relatively low barrier to entry in the process. Final Cut Pro X is remarkably simple to learn, but it has a fairly high ceiling for growth.
In this initial tutorial, I’m going to cover some of the basics about one of the fundamental aspects of Final Cut Pro X: library management. Knowing how Libraries are created and what they contain is extremely important. It’s one of the first steps in really getting to know Final Cut Pro X.
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Great news for content creators wishing to manage their YouTube videos on the go. YouTube Creator Studio, the mobile app version of YouTube’s Creator Studio platform for managing video content, has received a notable update.
The 1.7.93 update, released today, now allows users to watch videos directly inside of the Creator Studio app. In previous versions of Creator Studio, users were forced to open the YouTube app or a Safari browser to watch their content.
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Signs of change are beginning to surface on the App Store after December 17th’s notable leadership changes involving Apple’s Worldwide Marketing SVP Phil Schiller. That move happened after growing discontent from Mac App Store developers, who noted communication breakdowns and overall frustration with the direction that the Mac App Store was headed in.
Schiller is now in charge of all App Stores, taking over responsibilities from Eddy Cue, which most prominently include the iOS App Store and the Mac App Store.
It’s been less than three months since the move occurred, but we’re already beginning to see a change in the way the App Store operates. For example, we’re now seeing more regular updates of the Best New Apps section at the top of the App Store’s Featured page. In a tweet today, Schiller acknowledged the changes and indicated that more changes were on the way.

An interesting new app by David Barnard (from Contrast, maker of Launch Center Pro) and friends is hitting the App Store today: Rando. It’s a straightforward — albeit strange — concept.
You choose to send a GIF, a quote or a picture (from your Photo library). You then choose a recipient contact and send them a random piece of media. You can even risk doing this completely blindly: the app will blur out the content so you can’t see it until its been sent to a friend.

Vimeo is out with a new version of its iOS app today that adds support for iOS 9 features, improves content discovery, makes video sharing faster, and more. iPad users will be happy to learn that Vimeo now supports iOS 9’s picture-in-picture feature for video playback when using other apps. The video service has also tuned up video discovery features and recommendations in the latest version of their iOS app.

Apple’s Cards app introduced in 2011 and discontinued two years later remains one of my favorite iPhone apps to date. The service was fantastic: snap photos on your iPhone, then turn them into personalized letterpress cards sent through the mail to friends and family. Stamp and envelope included, you’d pay $2.99 for anywhere in the US or $4.99 for anywhere around the world. You can still send personalized letterpress cards using Photos on the Mac, but the service was perfect for me as an iPhone app.
I’ve tried a handful of similar iPhone apps since Cards shut down with Postly being the latest and perhaps most modern. Available for iPhone and iPad, Postly lets you create personalized postcards from your iPhone that deliver worldwide for $1.99.

Adobe is out with an updated version of Lightroom for iPhone and iPad today which includes one highly requested feature. Starting with versions 2.2, Lightroom for iOS supports full resolution image output. This means quality is retained when editing and sharing photographs using Lightroom whether the image was shot on the device or imported from another device.

Kanye West must actually be $50 million in debt like he claimed, as today he’s getting called out for exposing his own illegal downloading activity in a tweet.

IBM today announced that it’s launching the first app that will run on its new Watson Health Cloud for ResearchKit — SleepHealth — as it also makes that platform available to researchers building their own apps that work with Apple’s ResearchKit.

Hound, a voice search application from the creators behind SoundHound, has been released today for iOS. Hound’s application focuses on bringing users quick, accurate voice driven search results in a way I only wish Siri could. Implementing Google Now-style cards, Hound’s interface is direct and to the point. Users are presented with a list of similar topics they can search for, and even given examples of the complex queries Hound can handle.

GIF Brewery has long been my go to app for creating high-quality GIF animations on the Mac. It’s always been relatively easy to use, yet features powerful enough options for serious GIF-creators.
With GIF Brewery 3, several notable new features have been added to the mix, including the ability to record video directly in app via your Mac’s screen, FaceTime camera, or even iOS devices. This update turns GIF Brewery into an end-to-end solution for creating GIF animations directly from your iPhone’s screen or other media, which can be extremely handy for things like tutorials and memes.
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Google today has rolled out an update to Google Maps on iOS, bringing the app to version 4.16 and introducing a pair of new features. The update adds detour/pit stop support to the app, as well as adds support for 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
GoPro has been having a rough time as its stock price has stumbled over the last few months. Its signature action camera is a niche product and competitors are releasing cheaper clones that replicate most of the same functionality. Now, GoPro has acquired two mobile video apps to offer a complete capture and editing solution for its users.

Square Cash, Square’s app that allows users to send money to each other for free, saw a new update today that puts it more inline with competitors. With Cash Drawer, Square Cash now let’s users hold money within the app instead of transferring it immediately out to their own accounts. This behavior directly mimics functionality that Venmo and PayPal bolster.

Update: Some builds were infected by malware. Version 2.92 is clean and removes the malware files.
uTorrent may be the most popular BitTorrent app for the Mac, but the open-source Transmission client has its fans among those who want to steer clear of all the adware. The app doesn’t bundle toolbars, pop-up ads or anything of that ilk.
Most had assumed that development ceased a couple of years ago, but Softpedia spotted a surprise release yesterday – the first in two years …