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6,561 'Apps' stories April 2010 - August 2014
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Learn about the latest news for iOS, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV apps

Apps for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS power our modern world. 9to5Mac will update you on the latest news, review, and updates for all types of apps. “There’s an App for that”.

The term came became part of our vocabulary when Steve Jobs announced The App Store as part of the iPhone 2.0 software update in 2008.

Over the years, the term has become as common as kleenex for describing applications on all of our devices. Apple’s platforms have apps for just about anything from finance, banking, sports, social media, podcasting, music, and more. We have a guide for helping you discover the best ones as well. Apps are now on everything from our TV, to our smartphones, on our laptops, and all the way down to our wrists.

As new ones are released or existing ones have major updates, the team here at 9to5Mac will bring you the latest news and reviews. If you want to follow along with video footage, be sure to follow 9to5Mac on YouTube. Scroll down below our latest updates on all things relating to applications on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.

BioShock for iOS brings the classic console shooter to the small screen

Avatar for Mike Beasley Aug 27 2014 - 7:48 pm PT
3 Comments
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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=savBvN9Jz5g]

Earlier this month, 2K Games announced that it would be bringing its landmark horror-shooter BioShock to the iPhone and iPad. Tonight, the game finally arrived on the App Store in most of its original glory. The story, game mechanics, level design, and audio have all be ported to the mobile devices, though the graphics have been toned down to make it run on phones and tablets.

BioShock is set in the underwater would-be utopia of Rapture, which has been overrun by its own psychotic, drug-addled citizens on one especially-unfortunate New Years Eve. Players take on the role of Jack, who arrives in Rapture after a plane crash that leaves him stranded in the middle of the Atlantic, and must utilize a selection of upgradable weapons and genetic enhancements to track down Andrew Ryan, the madman running what’s left of the city.


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Instagram details the technology behind its new Hyperlapse app

Avatar for Zac Hall Aug 27 2014 - 11:40 am PT
3 Comments

As you can see above, Instagram’s new Hyperlapse app that debuted yesterday is one of the most simple apps on the surface. It does two things: shoots video in either portrait or landscape and changes speed from 1x to 12x for a time-lapse effect. There’s not very much other user interface aside from the record button and speed slider (and the share screen after you save a video), but under the hood there’s a lot of really smart stuff going on with Hyperlapse.

For those interested in all the under-the-hood work that went in to Hyperlapse’s video stabilization and time-lapse features, Instagram’s engineers behind the app have published a blog post detailing the technology that makes it all work.

The blog post goes into Hyperlapse’s approach to video stabilization, time-lapse stabilization, and adaptive zoom to detail how it all works under the surface. Below is a snippet including a chart describing one of the algorithms used by the app.

Video stabilization is instrumental in capturing beautiful fluid videos. In the movie industry, this is achieved by having the camera operator wear a harness that separates the motion of the camera from the motion of the operator’s body. Since we can’t expect Instagrammers to wear a body harness to capture the world’s moments, we instead developed Cinema, which uses the phone’s built-in gyroscope to measure and remove unwanted hand shake.

The diagram below shows the pipeline of the Cinema stabilization algorithm. We feed gyroscope samples and frames into the stabilizer and obtain a new set of camera orientations as output. These camera orientations correspond to a smooth “synthetic” camera motion with all the unwanted kinks and bumps removed.

If you’re interested in the wonkier side of capturing video and software, give Instagram’s post a read and check out Hyperlapse for iPhone and iPad on the App Store.

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9to5Toys Last Call: Retina iPad mini $320, Acer 27″ 2560×1440 monitor $300, Seagate 5TB HDD $160, more

Avatar for Aug 27 2014 - 9:02 am PT
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Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call updates:

 

Apple iPad mini w/ Retina display 16GB WiFi: $320 shipped (Reg. $399)

Acer 27-inch widescreen monitor $300 (orig. $450), LG 60-inch HDTV $800 (orig. $1300), more

Storage:

LaCie is now shipping the fastest, highest-capacity Thunderbolt 2 storage solution

$50 iTunes gift card for $42.50 shipped (15% savings) or 25% off several denominations for readers in the UK.

Small States: Inside the world of Grado headphones, giveaway worth $495 dollars


Other new deals:


More tech deals still alive:

Apple Deals:

Home/fashion/magazines/games/media:

New products/ongoing promos:

Google/Microsoft/misc tech:

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Starbucks offers one free month of Lumosity’s premium service as first in-app purchase Pick of the Week

Avatar for Sarah Guarino Aug 26 2014 - 8:16 pm PT
1 Comment

Starbucks has been continuously updating how its customers can redeem its iconic Pick of the Week promotion. Last year, the chain started offering digital Pick of the Week through the Starbucks app. Starbucks then updated its app to support redeeming Pick of the Week cards with the device’s camera. Now for the first time, the Starbucks App is offering an in-app purchase as its Pick of the Week: a month of Lumosity‘s service.

The Lumosity app contains several different brain teasers that are based on neuropsychological and cognitive tasks designed to challenge users. The premium subscription is worth $15 and includes more than 40 games online, performance tracking, a personalized brain training experience with daily exercises, and comparison to others in the same age group.

This promotion will expire on November 18th and has to be activated on an iPhone or an iPod Touch via the Starbucks app. Once it is activated, the premium features will be available on all platforms.

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Yahoo Screen app for iOS adds personalized video feed of NFL Now content

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Aug 26 2014 - 11:15 am PT
0 Comments

Yahoo announced a new partnership with the NFL today that brings content from the recently launched NFL Now network to Yahoo apps on the web, iPhone and iPad.

Earlier this month Apple added the NFL Now channel to the Apple TV and before that dedicated apps for iPhone and iPad launched on the App Store. Yahoo is hoping its experience through the Yahoo Screen mobile app (and later the Yahoo Sports app) will offer a better way to view the content:

With NFL Now, each morning you’ll receive a free, personalized video feed based on your favorite teams and up-to-the minute news. As a lifelong (tortured) Washington fan, I log in every morning on my way to work to stay up to date on RG III and Alfred Morris news, along with preseason highlights.

The feature is already available in the Yahoo Screen app for iPhone and iPad following an update earlier today and will soon come to the Yahoo Sports app as well.

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Square Cash now lets you send money over text messages, add notes to payments, more

Avatar for Zac Hall Aug 26 2014 - 10:38 am PT
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Square launched its app Cash last fall making the process of sending money from your bank to other people over email, and today the company is introducing the next major version of its app. Square Cash 2.0 introduces a list of new features including the ability to now send a transaction over text messaging in addition to email and attach notes to payments for adding context to a transaction. Below you can see the full list of changes in the new version.

What’s New in Version 2.0

Everything is better in Cash 2.0!

• Send cash to any mobile phone number via text message.
• Faster, optimized sending interface.
• Import your address book for quick contact selection.
• Add a note to your payments.
• Pick a profile picture.
• Choose push notifications, text messages, or email notifications.
• Manage all of your email addresses and phone numbers in one place.
• Quickly approve incoming requests from a push notification or text message.
• Invite friends via text message and get $1 when they join.

Square Cash 2.0 is available for free on the App Store.

 

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Apple TV also gains SVT Play channel in Sweden & public broadcaster NRK in Norway

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Aug 26 2014 - 10:18 am PT
3 Comments

In addition to adding a channel for premium TV service Showtime in the U.S. and other markets today, Apple has also rolled out two new apps for markets abroad. Starting today, Apple TV users in Sweden will get access to SVT Play, an on-demand video service run by broadcaster Sveriges Television that already had an iOS app equivalent. 

Another service rolling out to Apple TV users abroad today is a channel for Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. The company said today that the app offers 40,000 programs on-demand free to all users. A screenshot of the new app from NRK is above (on the right). 

You can read more on the release of the Showtime app for Apple TV in the US here. Apple TV users in Norway and Sweden can expect the new channels to hit their second and third-gen Apple TVs today.

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WatchABC & NPR One iOS apps add Chromecast support, ABC now AirPlays to Apple TV

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Aug 26 2014 - 9:40 am PT
2 Comments

A couple notable mobile apps for both Android and iOS are receiving updates today that bring Chromecast support including NPR One and the WatchABC apps. 
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9to5Toys Last Call: iTunes cards 15% off US/25% off UK, MLB.TV $12, TRENDnet travel router $20, more

Avatar for Aug 26 2014 - 9:00 am PT
0 Comments

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call updates:

$50 iTunes gift card for $42.50 shipped (15% savings)

Samsung 840 Pro Series SSDs: 256GB $140 (orig. $250), 512GB $320 (orig $500)

Audible Anniv. Sale: 100 top-selling audiobooks for only a couple dollars each

Belkin charge & sync iPhone dock w/ built-in Lightning cable $14 Prime shipped (orig. $35)

Small States: Inside the world of Grado headphones, giveaway worth $495 dollars

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7r–vMuoVo?rel=0]

Smart buys: our favorite back to school tech essentials

Other new deals:

More tech deals still alive:

Apple Deals:

Home/fashion/magazines/games/media:

New products/ongoing promos:

Google/Microsoft/misc tech:

Instagram introduces Hyperlapse to stabilize and speed up your video

Avatar for Zac Hall Aug 26 2014 - 8:22 am PT
6 Comments
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Facebook-owned Instagram is introducing a new video capturing app for iPhone and iPad (and Android soon) called Hyperlapse. The photo (and video) sharing social network recently soft launched a new app called Bolt in Singapore, South Africa, and New Zealand that focused on quickly photo messaging friends, but Hyperlapse is more like an advanced feature that could have been found within Instagram. Hyperlapse offers up a unique way to capture and edit video using processor smarts to make panning shots smoother and  add a time-lapse effect similar to the iOS 8 camera app.


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Review: Parallels Desktop 10 brings even tighter OS X/Windows integration, overall performance improvements

Avatar for Stephen Hall Aug 26 2014 - 7:33 am PT
30 Comments

Last week, Parallels launched the upgrade to v10 of their software and today, you can now get the full version online.

Parallels Desktop has long been one of the go-to applications for using your Mac to virtualize a wide variety of operating systems, and many considered its previous version 9 as more than sufficient for getting this job done. While the software shining point has always been its ability to run Windows truly parallel to the standard Mac OS X desktop, this version of Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac takes multiple strides forward, making it even easier than before to incorporate Windows-only applications—or applications from other x86 operating systems including Android, Chrome, Linux, etc.—into your Mac-based workflow.

Perhaps most importantly, Parallels again ups the ante in speed both in launching and runtime, turning virtualization into a native-feeling experience.


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Dropbox for iOS updated w/ search support within Word and PowerPoint documents, larger GIF support, more

Avatar for Zac Hall Aug 25 2014 - 12:42 pm PT
1 Comment

A minor update to Dropbox for iPhone and iPad is out today bringing a few new features and enhancements.

With Dropbox version 3.3, the app now supports search within Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint documents. Dropbox says this improvement is due to “new, higher fidelity previews” available in this version. The latest update also adds larger animated GIF support and “smarter caching” which users with low storage availability will appreciate.

The latest version of Dropbox is rolling out now on the App Store.

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9to5Toys Last Call: Grado headphones giveaway, LifeProof nüüd iPad mini case $25, TiVo Roamio OTA, more

Avatar for Aug 25 2014 - 9:55 am PT
1 Comment

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call Updates: 

Small States: Inside the world of Grado headphones, giveaway worth $495 dollars

LifeProof iPad mini waterproof nüüd case $25 (orig. $120), more

TiVo targets cord cutters with new Roamio OTA DVR

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7r–vMuoVo?rel=0]

Smart buys: our favorite back to school tech essentials

WD Elements 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive $85 shipped (orig. $130)

Other new deals:

More tech deals still alive:

Apple Deals:

Home/fashion/magazines/games/media:

New products/ongoing promos:

Google/Microsoft/misc tech:

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Swing Copters update makes Flappy Bird sequel slightly less impossible

Avatar for Zac Hall Aug 25 2014 - 7:47 am PT
6 Comments

If you’ve tried and thrown in the towel on Swing Copters, the follow up game from Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen, you may want to give besting your high score another try this morning.

An updated version of the game was released today, tweaking the gameplay and bringing it closer to the difficult-but-not-quite-as-impossible levels of its popular predecessor Flappy Bird.
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Spotify iOS app adds enhancements for managing albums, Finnish language support

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Aug 25 2014 - 6:31 am PT
1 Comment

Spotify updated its iOS app today for iPhone and iPad and with it brings a couple of handy enhancements for managing albums.

The updated app now includes the ability to “save whole albums to Your Music directly from the album page.” Users will also now be able to get quick access to an album’s release year or total play time by swiping any given album’s header.

In addition, version 1.6.0 of the app brings Finnish language support, a feature recently rolled out to the Spotify app on other platforms. 

The updated Spotify app for iPhone and iPad is available on the App Store now.

What’s New in Version 1.6.0

New: Save whole albums to Your Music directly from the album page. Check out release year and total play time by swiping the album header.
New: Spotify now speaks Finnish.
Fictitious: This app was designed by David Hasselhoff.

Crowdsourced app gets CPR volunteers to cardiac arrest victims fast

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Aug 25 2014 - 5:09 am PT
10 Comments
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When someone’s heart stops, there are just minutes to save them from brain damage or death; by the time medics arrive, it can be too late. This is the problem former San Ramon Valley Fire Department chief Richard Price set out to solve with the crowdsourced iOS app, PulsePoint.

Price came up with the idea for the app after a tragedy that happened feet from where he was sitting, reports Re/code.

He was off-duty at a local deli when he heard sirens. Emergency vehicles pulled up and he rushed outside to see what was going on. A man in a shop next door had collapsed and emergency responders were unable to revive him.

“He was on the other side of the wall, I couldn’t see him,” Price says. “He lay there unconscious with no one doing CPR. I had a (automated defibrillator) nearby in my vehicle.”


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Skipping the US Customs and Border Protection queues? There’s now an app for that …

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Aug 25 2014 - 4:06 am PT
16 Comments
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection is trialling an iPhone app that allows travellers returning to the United States to bypass the normal immigration queues by entering their details into the app and getting a QR code containing their electronic approval.

You still have to show the code to a CBP officer, but you can bypass the normal queues and use a special Mobile Passport Control lane that should be significantly quicker … 
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Upcoming Secret update removes ability to access photo library or post real names, adds Flickr search, polls

Avatar for Mike Beasley Aug 22 2014 - 5:13 pm PT
2 Comments
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The popular anonymous social sharing network Secret may be under fire in Brazil, but in the U.S. and abroad the software lives on, and today received a big new update on the Android platform, with the iOS version expected to be released sometime over the next few days. The new version both adds and removes several capabilities to the app.

One of the most important changes in the new build is the removal of the ability to access photos saved to a device’s photo library. The camera is still fair game, but Secret is attempting to cut down on personally-damaging photos by taking away the option to upload older images.

That’s not to say that the camera is the only way to upload photos, though. The app now supports Flickr search so users can still find just the right photo for their posts without the need to go through their photo libraries.


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9to5Toys Last Call: LG 42″ LED HDTV $300, WD 2TB portable HDD $85, Belkin Bluetooth adapter $24, more

Avatar for Aug 22 2014 - 9:01 am PT
0 Comments

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call Updates:

LG 42-Inch 1080p 60Hz LED HDTV $300 shipped (orig. $550)

Storage Deals:

Belkin Song Stream Bluetooth Music Receiver $24 Prime shipped (Reg. $40+)

Reversible USB Lightning cable available for purchase ahead of its potential launch alongside iPhone

Apple Deals:

Other new deals:

  • New! Games/Apps: PlayStation 4 bundle $400 ($460+ value), DualShock 4 $40, more
  • New! Daily Deals: Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone: $49, Geneva WorldRadio: $95, more
  • New! Sony aims to up your tennis game with new racket sensor


More tech deals still alive:

Home/fashion/magazines/games/media:

New products/ongoing promos:

Google/Microsoft/misc tech:

Apple removes Secret app from Brazilian App Store for not conforming with local laws

Avatar for Mike Beasley Aug 21 2014 - 6:39 pm PT
15 Comments
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Following a recent ruling that Apple would have ten days to remove the anonymous social app Secret from its Brazilian App Store, Apple has complied with the order. The justification for the removal, according to a source close to the situation, can be found in section 22.1 of the App Store Guidelines:

Apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users. It is the developer’s obligation to understand and conform to all local laws

As noted by the judge, the Brazilian constitution prohibits anonymous freedom of expression, which essentially makes Secret and other apps like it illegal with that country.

Per Article 5, Section IV of the Constitution of Brazil:


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iWork for Mac and iOS updated with bug fixes and stability improvements, iMovie for Mac with iCloud fixes

Avatar for Mike Beasley Aug 21 2014 - 2:21 pm PT
5 Comments

Apple has published updates to all of the apps in its iWork suite on the Mac and iOS platforms. Pages for iPhone and iPad was bumped to version 2.2.2, while Pages for Mac reached version 5.2.2. Keynote for Mac was updated to version 6.2.2 and its iOS version went to 2.2.2. Both versions of Numbers were also updated, with the iOS version coming to 2.2.2 and the Mac version hitting 3.2.2.

Each of today’s update has the same exact change log:


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Intuit debuts redesigned Quicken 2015 for Mac with free mobile apps

Avatar for Zac Hall Aug 21 2014 - 9:33 am PT
12 Comments
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Intuit is out today with a new version of its personal finance app with the release of Quicken 2015 for Mac. The latest version of Quicken boasts an overhauled design to simplify the app as well as “new investment capabilities”, Intuit says. The new Mac version is accompanied by a sync compatible, updated Quicken Money Management app for iPhone which supports snapping and saving receipts as well as displaying charts on-the-go…


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9to5Toys Last Call: Monoprice Lightning keychain $13, Samsung 1TB EVO SSD $380, Hitman GO for iOS $2, more

Avatar for Aug 21 2014 - 9:08 am PT
0 Comments

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call updates:

Put a 6-inch MFi Lightning cable on your keychain for $13.49 (Reg. $14.99)

Storage Deals:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9kJxrLSwHU?rel=0]

Hitman GO for iOS/Android now available at 60% off: $2 (Reg. $5)

Apple Deals:

Other new deals:

More tech deals still alive:

Home/fashion/magazines/media:

New products/ongoing promos:

Google/Microsoft/misc tech: