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First look: Clear, the iOS app that vets your social media history for indiscretions

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Going for a sensitive job, or just friended your new romantic interest on Facebook, and want to make sure your drunken post from six months ago isn’t going to come back to bite you? That’s the experience Hipster co-founder Ethan Czahor had when he was hired as Jeb Bush’s chief technology officer. Journalists went digging and found some extremely embarrassing posts that led to his resignation.

He’s now put that experience to good use, though, beta-launching Clear, an app which aims to vet your social media history for offensive or insulting posts and offer you the ability to delete them (not to be confused with the to-do list app of the same name). I decided to take it for a quick spin … 
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Apple releases Xcode 6.3.1 with bug fixes for debugging

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Apple today released Xcode 6.3.1 with bug fixes. According to the release notes, the release includes fixes for debugging, Interface Builder, and Playgrounds. The update is available via the Mac App Store and on the Mac developer center. Xcode 6.3 was released earlier this year with significant enhancements to Swift and the Xcode application.


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Adobe debuts Lightroom 6 and Lightroom CC, standalone and cloud alternatives to Aperture

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Following months of rumors, Adobe is today announcing Photoshop Lightroom 6 and Lightroom CC, the latest versions of its popular photo editing and organization software. Sharing the same code, design, and much of the same functionality, the two Lightroom releases are separated into purchasable (Lightroom 6) or subscription (Lightroom CC) versions, only the latter of which can sync with Adobe’s mobile applications. Apple notably recommended Lightroom as a replacement for its recently-discontinued Aperture professional photo application, and worked with Adobe to build an Aperture library importing tool to aid users during the transition.

Lightroom manages large photo libraries, while offering photographers powerful tools for RAW and JPEG image adjustment. Now solely a 64-bit application, Lightroom 6/CC promises huge speed improvements when applying prior effects to images, as well as newly added tools and brushes. As shown in the embedded video, facial recognition has been added, enabling functionality similar to Apple’s Faces feature from Aperture and iPhoto. A new HDR (high dynamic range) tool uses two images to create a composite photo with more vivid colors and detail, while brushes such as radial and graduated filters have been added. The app has also gained new slideshow options, automatic panorama stitching, video slide shows, and many other features.

Photoshop Lightroom CC can be downloaded now as part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography subscription service for $9.99 per month; a prepaid year of CC Photography access is normally $119.88, and currently on sale at B&H Photo Video for $99.88. Photoshop Lightroom 6 can be ordered for $149 as a standalone download. Adobe has also released version 1.4 updates to its mobile apps Lightroom for iPad and Lightroom for iPhone with support for Lightroom CC, improved cropping, and TIFF file support. Both iOS apps are now available for free from the App Store, but require Creative Cloud subscriptions.

One Drop for iPhone & Apple Watch is a dashboard & community for managing diabetes

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The iPhone has become a mature platform for health and fitness software in recent years, especially since iOS 8 introduced HealthKit and the dedicated Health app followed by ResearchKit and a new set of medical apps. Today a new app called One Drop is launching with an ambitious goal: to help people with diabetes live a happier and healthier life.
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TuneIn Radio adds real radio stations to CarPlay + Apple Watch controls

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TuneIn Radio is the latest addition to Apple’s short list of App Store apps that work with the iPhone’s CarPlay feature. The service streams “over 100,000 real radio stations from around the world, including sports, news, talk, and music.” The latest version of TuneIn for iPhone brings radio station streaming to the CarPlay interface and includes Apple Watch support for controlling stations from your wrist.
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Chrome for iOS adds 1Password & LastPass extension support, new widget with voice search, more

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After just releasing a new version of Chrome for the desktop, Google is out today with an updated version of Chrome for iPhone and iPad. Version 42 includes a new widget in the Today section of Notification Center, support for 1Password and LastPass and other app extensions, plus more.
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Yahoo shows off apps for Apple Watch: Weather, Sports Fantasy, & two News apps

Yahoo today announced its plans to bring four of its apps to Apple Watch in time for the device’s April 24th launch date.

Yahoo is planning to update its Yahoo Weather, Yahoo Sports Fantasy, Yahoo News Digest, and Yahoo News Hong Kong apps with support for Apple’s new wearable, today giving a first look at the experience. 

The company provided a breakdown of what you can expect to see on your Apple Watch with each of the apps:

  • Yahoo Weather App on Apple Watch will feature morning updates and evening forecasts through notifications. With a Glance, users can find out if it’s a t-shirt or sweater day with Yahoo’s new “feels like” feature, or learn more about the conditions outside by tapping into the app.
  • With the Yahoo Sports Fantasy App, users can see what’s going on in their matchups or check on their lineup for injuries with a Glance. They can even talk smack with their league using the Apple Watch dictation feature.
  • Yahoo News Digest brings users in the U.S. the most important story on the hour, every hour so they are always up-to-date. Enjoy new microsummaries, visual atoms such as a map, stock ticker or infographic that bring the story to life, and a brand new speed reading feature to get you in-the-know in seconds.
  • With the Yahoo News Hong Kong App, users in Hong Kong will receive breaking news delivered to their wrist and enjoy the top 10 headlines of the hour with a Glance.

Here’s a look at the News Digest and News Hong Kong apps:

You can expect updates to the Yahoo Weather, Yahoo Sports Fantasy, Yahoo News Digest, and Yahoo News Hong Kong apps by April 24th.

Microsoft releases ‘Halo: Spartan Strike’ top-down shooter for iPhone & iPad

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Microsoft Studios is today releasing a new top-down shooter set in the Halo universe for iPhones and iPads (in addition to Windows mobile devices and Steam for PC).

The game, developed by Microsoft Studios, 343 Industries, and Vanguard Games, is set during the timeline of Halo 2 and follows a Spartan supersolider on “30 challenging missions while leading UNSC troops through cities and jungles with an all new arsenal of weapons, abilities and vehicles.”

The company is also making Halo; Spartan Assault, the first top-down Halo shooter it developed, available on both iPad and iPhone today. It’s available in a $9.99 bundle with the new Halo: Spartan Strike title:

Also available on iPad, iPhone, and Steam is the Halo: Spartan Bundle. The bundle includes both Halo: Spartan Assault – the original Halo top-down shooter that plays through the historic first missions of the Spartan Ops program as Commander Palmer – and Halo: Spartan Strike for $9.99 ERP.

The iPhone and iPad version of the game is available for $5.99 on the App Store.

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Astropad gains support for FiftyThree’s Pencil stylus with latest update

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Popular graphic design iPad app Astropad has today announced a new partnership with FiftyThree, the company behind the Paper app and accompanying Pencil stylus. Astropad has revealed that version 1.1 of its iPad app adds deep support for the Pencil stylus by FiftyThree. With support for Pencil, users will be able able to draw from their iPad directly into Photoshop and other apps on the Mac.


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IFTTT’s Do Button and Do Note apps get Apple Watch, iPad support

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If This Then That (IFTTT), the service that lets users automate tasks from a long list of other mobile apps and web services, is about to launch two apps for Apple Watch.

Do Button, its iOS app for controlling hardware and software connected to the service with a single tap, and Do Note, a notepad app that uses IFTTT to save and share to other services like Google Calendar, Evernote, and Twitter, will both be receiving updates for Apple Watch by tomorrow.
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Tumblr for iOS adds blog creation, trending tags widget, quick video embedding, more

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Tumblr is out today with a brand new version of its blogging and community app for iPhone and iPad. Version 4 adds several new features like the ability to create new blogs from your iPhone or iPad and create video posts quickly by pasting YouTube or Vimeo URLs into a new post. The update adds a new widget for the Today section of Notification Center on iOS 8 for quickly seeing which tags are trending on Tumblr when you’re not using the app and much more.
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Skype 7.7 for Mac adds web link previews, fixes

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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:

  • Fixed an issue where some users cannot start Skype due to a corrupted index
  • Fixed an issue preventing some users from disabling “User XYZ went offline” notification

You can access the feature by downloading the latest version of Skype for Mac, version 7.7, here.

Wikipedia for iOS updated w/ design tweaks, ability to share facts as images, more

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Wikipedia today has announced a major update to its app on iOS. The update adds a handful of new features to both the iPhone and iPad Wikipedia apps. First off, the update makes a few design tweaks to the appearance of articles. At the top of every article now is a large header image. Previously in Wikipedia on iOS, header images would appear smaller and below the first paragraph of text.


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Calling Dick Tracy: Glide iOS app brings live video messages to Apple Watch

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Glide, the app that lets users send live video messages, today becomes the first to bring the feature to Apple Watch. With an update to Glide’s iOS app, users of Apple Watch will be able to receive live videos messages right on their wrist, although it’s a one-way experience for Apple Watch as the device doesn’t yet include a camera; your responses will be limited to text.
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Microsoft updates Office 2016 for Mac preview, launches companion apps for iPhone

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Microsoft has updated its preview version of Office 2016 for Mac with several new features and a number of bug fixes. It has also launched two companion apps for the iPhone, Office Delve (above) and Office 365 Video.

Office 2016 for Mac allows meeting attendees to use Outlook to propose new times for meetings to which they’ve been invited, and allows organizers to modify proposed meetings and send updates. Word gets macro recording, online template search and new proofing tools. Excel is given new analysis tools and a “solver” feature. Powerpoint gets bug fixes and better support for VoiceOver … 
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EasyJet’s new app provides end-to-end proactive guidance to air passengers

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European no-frills airline EasyJet seems to have taken a full-service approach to its new app, dubbed Mobile Host. The app aims to provide proactive, location-based guidance to passengers from one end of their journey to the other.

The app begins with check-in reminders, guides you to the baggage-drop if you have luggage, tells you when your gate is open and navigates you there, opens your boarding pass when you get there, and directs you to the correct baggage carousel on arrival. The service goes live at London Gatwick Airport today, with other airports to follow.

easyJet’s Mobile Host is a joint initiative with Gatwick and combines live data from the airports information systems, using Google indoor maps, together with a passenger’s booking details, location and flight time.  The result is personalised instructions and updates for passengers during their journey.

The app is currently iPhone-only, and is available in seven languages. The new app was not on the App Store at the time of writing, but if you download the current app, it should update.

EasyJet last updated the app a few weeks ago to add support for the Apple Watch. It was one of the first European airlines to support Passbook boarding passes, and started using iBeacons for location-based alerts last summer.

Pandora Radio adds Apple Watch app for remote music control, favoriting songs, more

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Apple revealed the first look at its all-new Music app for iPhone and iPad with the first beta release of iOS 8.4 today, which brings a new look to iTunes Radio among other major changes. Pandora Radio, the similarly-modeled music streaming service that’s arguably superior to iTunes Radio in music variety and selection, released a timely update this evening adding Apple Watch support to its iPhone app ahead of the new wearable device’s release on April 24th. Pandora Radio’s WatchKit app for Apple Watch will include a glance for swiping up from the watch face to identify the song currently playing from the iPhone app.


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Apple Watch gains pill reminders, doctor consultations & more from a dozen new healthcare apps

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As Apple continues to approve more Apple Watch apps following the device going up for pre-order late last week, a long list of healthcare companies are showing off apps for the Apple Watch at the HIMSS 2015 conference this week in Chicago.

Inlcuded are apps from HCSC, WebMD, Kaiser Permanente, Dexcom, HealthTap, Vocera and many others, enabling everything from health records for patients to medication reminders and continuous glucose monitoring on the Apple Watch. Head below for a full list of healthcare apps for Apple Watch on show:
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Apple’s iOS 8.3 update blocks access to apps from desktop file managers like iExplorer

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Apple has seemingly moved to block desktop apps that allow users to manage files on their iOS devices in its recent iOS 8.3 update, as noted by MacRumors. Many popular file transfer apps, such as iFunBox, iTools, iExplorer, iBackupBot and PhoneView, have experienced the issue that prevents users from accessing file directories for apps on iOS devices. The apps were previously a popular way for users to install software on iOS devices that Apple does not allow in the App Store, like game emulators.
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Google’s free photo editing app Snapseed 2.0 gets lens blur, layers, new UI, more

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Snapseed, the excellent free photo editing application, today received its first major update since Google purchased developer Nik Software back in 2012. Version 2.0 arrived in the App Store with a brand new user interface and a huge collection of new features, most notably including spot healing, lens blur effects, perspective transformation, and a non-destructive editing system that can copy edits from one image to another. The app remains universal across iOS devices, and now has a minimalist UI with Material Design influence.

While Apple’s Photos application improved considerably with the release of iOS 8, Snapseed’s unique ability to selectively fix small parts of photos — such as improving the brightness level of one dark face in an otherwise bright image — has kept it relevant as a key iOS photo editing tool for years. Snapseed 2.0 expands upon that feature, letting you apply filters and brushes selectively with a brush tool. You can also go into individual layers and make adjustments to changes that were previously applied during the editing process.

Snapseed 2.0 is available for free from the App Store now. Additional details are after the break…


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