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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.

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Dropbox launches new “Carousel” photo & video gallery app

Dropbox is introducing its latest product today, a photo and video management app called Carousel that integrates many of the features from the photo storage service Snapjoy acquired by Dropbox back in 2012.

The company unveiled the app at an event today in San Francisco as a gallery to store and share all of your photos and videos. The app is built for quick and easy sharing of one or multiple photos to phone contacts or email addresses (even if the recipient doesn’t have a Dropbox account), allowing you to get around the upload limitations usually associated with sharing photos. With everything backed up in full resolution directly to Dropbox, it essentially becomes a standalone app to manage just photos and videos that you want to store in Dropbox.

With Dropbox, we built a home for your photos and videos but never gave you a great way to experience them. We’d like you to meet Carousel, the newest member of the Dropbox family. It’s a gallery that houses your entire life’s memories. Even more, Carousel lets you share and relive these memories in private conversations with friends and family.

Carousel is now available as a free download on the App Store for iOS and the Play Store for Android.

[tweet https://twitter.com/carouselapp/status/453949761830154240]

The company also made some other product announcements today including news regarding versions of its Mailbox app for Android and Mac OS X.

Mailbox goes beyond iOS, now available on Android and coming soon to OS X

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Dropbox announced today that Mailbox, the popular gesture-heavy email client it bought last year, will soon be launching a desktop version of its software.

The company also announced a set of new features like Dropbox account sign in and syncing and delete automation coming soon to the iPhone and iPad versions that will debut first in a version available for Android; this marks the first time the email software will be available on another platform aside from iOS as Mailbox is available on the Google Play Store today.

Users interested in using the beta version of Mailbox for OS X (screenshot preview below), which is said to be very minimal and rely on the trackpad for gesture-based interactions, can sign up on Mailbox’s website to learn more about the upcoming beta.
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9to5Toys Last Call: OtterBox iON iPhone battery case $40, Jaybird Bluetooth earbuds $40, app deals galore, more

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: TwitterRSS Feed,FacebookGoogle+ and subscribe to the new Safari push notifications feature.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call updates:

  • Download 10 popular country music songs from iTunes for free

Smartphone Battery Cases: OtterBox iON for iPhone 4/4s $40 (Reg. $130), uNu ultra-slim for Galaxy S4 $39 (Reg. $69)

Jaybird Freedom Bluetooth Earbuds with microphone $40 shipped (Reg. $70)

Apps:

ASUS RT-AC56U Dual-Band Wireless AC1200 Gigabit Router $90 shipped (Reg. $180)

Other great deals from this weekend:

More great deals still alive:

New products/useful info:

 

Microsoft’s Office for iPad team talks development process, Ballmer, and more during Reddit AMA

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As Microsoft continues its Office for iPad marketing campaign, the team that developed the productivity software has taken to Reddit for an AMA, or Ask Me Anything, to answer questions and discuss the development process behind Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for iPad. By measure of upvotes, the most popular question as of the time of this writing asked when Office for iPad would gain the ability to print, something Apple’s iWork suite and many of apps already offer, to which the team replied “in due course” while noting the high demand of the feature.

But the team didn’t stop there; Microsoft’s Office for iPad team also shared photos of their lab (as seen in the above photo), talked about the development process for bringing Office to the iPad, and even addressed the notion that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer held Office back from the iPad…
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9to5Toys Last Call: Jabra Solemate Mini BT speaker $65, Titanfall for Xbox One $45, hard drives, Beats headphones, more

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: TwitterRSS Feed,FacebookGoogle+ and subscribe to the new Safari push notifications feature.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call updates:

Games/Apps: Titanfall on Xbox One $44 shipped (Reg. $60), 5-15% off XBL/PSN/Steam gift cards, iDownloader Pro $1 (Reg. $3), iOS freebiesmore

Hard Drives:

Other great deals from this weekend:

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NBC iOS app finally lets you AirPlay its free full-length episodes to Apple TV

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NBC updated its mobile app for iPhone and iPad today with one big update for iOS and Apple TV users: the ability to AirPlay content from the mobile app to your TV via Apple TV.

The update is a big deal for a couple of reasons. The most notable being the fact that NBC offers full TV episodes for free through its mobile app, without the requirement of signing into your existing cable subscription like many other popular network apps. NBC has always been one of the go to apps for cord cutters, and now they’ll be able to beam that content onto the big screen using an Apple TV and AirPlay. Getting a lot of this content on the Apple TV previously required a subscription to Hulu or signing into a cable subscription. 
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Adobe debuts Lightroom Mobile for iPad with powerful, on-the-go photo editing

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After briefly leaking earlier this year, Adobe is finally ready to show off its Lightroom Mobile for iPad software for photographers and photo editors. The iPad application borrows many of the essential features from the powerful desktop software and is optimized for the touch input user experience key to the tablet. We’ve taken a sneak peek at Lightroom Mobile for iPad, and we have all the details on Adobe’s latest Lightroom update.
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9to5Toys Last Call: Seagate 2TB desktop HDD $70, OtterBox Defender for iPad mini $28, PNY 32GB USB3 flash drive $14, more

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: TwitterRSS Feed,FacebookGoogle+ and subscribe to the new Safari push notifications feature.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call updates:

Amazon Gold Box: 50% off PC Components/Peripherals: Seagate 4TB USB 3 Hard Drive $130, more

Network Laser Printers: Canon all-in-one monochrome $95 (Reg. $199), Brother color $266 (Reg. $400+)more

 

Daily Deals: Apple iPad Air 32GB WiFi $540, Buffalo AirStation Extreme AC 1200 Gigabit Dual-Band Wireless Router $75, Beats Tour headphones $39, more

 

Logitech PowerShell MFi iPhone game controller w/ built-in battery $50 shipped (Reg. $100)


Other great deals from this weekend:

    • New! Games/Apps: Battlefield 4 $40, FIFA 14 $40, 1 month free Xbox Live Gold, 75% off Feral Mac games, iOS freebies, more
    • New! Microsoft Surface Pro Tablets: Refurbished 64GB $399 (Reg. $499 new), 128GB $500 for .EDU emails (Reg. $600)
    • New! Google Nexus 7 16GB (2nd gen) and Chromecast media player: $199 for .EDU emails ($265 value)
    • New! Headphones: Parrot Zik Wireless (White): $320 shipped (Reg. $400), MEElectronics D1P in-ears: $25 shipped (Reg. $50), more

More great deals still alive:

New products/useful info:

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Amazon updates Instant Video iOS app with iOS 7 inspired redesign

Amazon has just updated its Amazon Instant Video app, which provides access to its catalogue of over 40k movies and TV shows, with a redesign of the entire UI inspired by iOS 7.

Amazon isn’t listing any new features in the iTunes release notes other than bug fixes and stability improvements, but you’ll also find a new icon and some UI tweaks that come as part of the new redesign. The overall navigation of the app remains the same but buttons and icons within have been flattened along with streamlining of other UI elements to make the app fit in with Apple’s iOS 7 redesign.

The redesign isn’t just for iPhone users, as the iPad version has been given a similar facelift:

The updated Amazon Instant Video app version 2.4 is available now on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

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9to5Toys Weekend: Logitech PowerShell iPhone controller $50, Toshiba 5TB desktop HDD $190, AirPlay receivers, more

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: TwitterRSS Feed,FacebookGoogle+ and subscribe to the new Safari push notifications feature.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Logitech PowerShell MFi iPhone game controller w/ built-in battery $50 shipped (Reg. $100)

 

Toshiba 5TB Canvio Black USB 3.0 Hard Drive: $190 shipped

 

Network A/V Receivers w/ AirPlay: Denon 5.1-Ch. $200 (Reg. $400), Yamaha 7.2-Ch. $450 (Reg. $650)

 

Google Chromecast streaming media player $30 w/ free shipping (Reg. $35)


Other great deals from this weekend:

  • New! Games/Apps: Buy 2 games Get 1 Free at Target, 50% off BADLAND for iOS, Rune Gems FREE, more iOS freebies
  • New!  Daily Deals: Logitech Harmony Remote refurb $160, Pyle Bluetooth headphones $35, Griffin smartphone controlled helicopter $24, more
  • New! Logitech M325 (Red) Wireless mouse: $8.49 shipped
  • New! Case Logic Compact Systems Camera Medium Kit Bag: $6 w/free Prime shipping
  • New! 2600mAh USB power bank external battery key chain charger $5 shipped
  • New! Philips AD7000W/37 Fidelio SoundAvia Wireless Speaker with AirPlay: $62 shipped
  • New! Magazine subs: Bloomberg Businessweek (for 3 yrs.) $20 (Reg. $150 – $749), Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Car & Driver, more
  • New! Infinity Primus P143 Bookshelf speakers: $40/ea shipped
  • New! Monoprice iPhone 5/5s case 5-pack: $10 +$3 shipping
  • New! Foscam Wireless/Wired Pan&Tilt IP/Network Camera w/ 8 meter Night Vision: $50 shipped
  • New! EPOCH.2 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is IGN’s FREE game of the month (Reg. $5)


More great deals still alive:

New products/useful info:

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Kensington Lightning dock $20, Incase backpacks 50% off, Sony 4K AV receiver $220, more

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: TwitterRSS Feed,FacebookGoogle+ and subscribe to the new Safari push notifications feature.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Kensington AbsolutePower iPhone dock with built-in Lightning port and AC adapter $20 shipped (Reg. $50)

Select Incase MacBook backpacks and cases 50% off at Best Buy

Sony 7.2-Channel 4K AV Receiver $220 shipped (Reg. $300)

Other great deals from today:

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New products/useful info:

Get selected travel apps free via new Expedia app Media Lounge feature

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If you do a lot of travelling and like your travel apps, you can now get some paid iPhone apps free of charge through a new Media Lounge feature in the Expedia app.

To access the offers, you need to download the free Expedia Hotels & Flights app, complete your traveller profile and then hit Extras to see what’s on offer. The first offer is Over, an app that allows you to create customized artwork from your travel photos. Normally priced at $1.99, it’s free when you download it via the Expedia app … 
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Apple seeds OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 build 13D33 to developers

After seeding the fourth OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 beta (build 13D28) to developers a week ago, Apple today pushed out another pre-release version of the update, Mavericks 10.9.3 (build 13D33). Like previous builds, Apple is once again asking developers to focus on Graphics Drivers, Audio, Safari, and Contacts/Calendar USB sync via iTunes.

The new beta release is available now through software update and Apple’s developer channels.

One feature users can expect when the update is released to the public is the enhanced support for 4K external monitors we discovered in the first beta. Apple recently started seeding versions of the update to AppleCare employees alongside a pre-release version of iTunes 11.1.6 that will restore the ability to sync contacts and calendar data to iOS devices locally. The ability to sync contacts and calendar data to an iOS device from a Mac was removed previously (to many complaints) but remained possible through iCloud syncing.

iPhoto for iOS update adds white border printing option alongside various bug fixes

Following a slew of updates to iWork, Apple has released a minor update to iPhoto for iOS, part of its iLife suite. The update adds a new border printing option. When ordering prints, you can now frame your photos with a white border. As usual, the update also includes miscellaneous bug fixes and “other improvements”.

What’s New in Version 2.0.1

• Add a white border to photos when ordering prints
• Includes bug fixes and other improvements

iPhoto costs $5 on the App Store, but new iOS device purchases automatically unlocks the app for the registered account for free.

Microsoft says Office iPad apps hit 12 million downloads a week after release

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After announcing the release of the Office for iPad apps late last month, Microsoft announced today that the separate Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for iPad have collectively reached 12 million downloads a week after release. The number also included downloads of the OneNote app for iPad, which has been available for a couple of years leading up to the release of the Office apps, but Microsoft didn’t provide a breakdown of sales by app.
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Vine adds private video messaging, profile theming in latest update

 

Vine has just released its ‘biggest update yet’ to the App Store, bringing one-on-one video messaging to the service for the first time. Analogous with Twitter DM’s, Vine’s VM’s work in the same way — hosting private conversations outside of the main stream. As you might expect, conversations can include short video clips as well as text messages.

You can start a conversation directly to a recipient, or bounce off a public Vine for inspiration. Just share the Vine to as many as friends as you want to start a message. It’s important to note you cannot have group conversations (yet). If you share a Vine to more than one person, a separate thread is created for each recipient.

Version 2 also adds some new customization options for your Vine profile. In Settings, you can theme your profile with a specific color which then shows to all other Vine users.

Vine can be downloaded on the App Store, for free.

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Facebook Messenger for iPhone updated with free calling support

Just a week after Facebook added group management to its Messenger app, the social network is out with yet another update to the messaging service: free calls for everyone.

The feature allows you to call your Facebook friends who also have the app over WiFi for free (you can call over cellular as well, but this uses data, of course). Free calling is especially beneficial to users who communicate internationally as calling rates tend to get pricey in that area.

Messaging threads now include a phone icon for prompting calls from the app, and the actual phone user interface resembles the native iOS Phone UI prior to iOS 7.1 introducing a tweaked design to the Phone app.

Facebook-owned Whatsapp is poised to introduce VOIP support in an upcoming update as well. Screenshots of Whatsapp in-app calling leaked earlier this year.

Facebook Messenger 4.1 is available for free on the App Store.

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9to5Toys Last Call: Mpow Bluetooth headphones $33, iOttie iPhone car mount $12.50, Wacom Bamboo iPad stylus $11, more

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: TwitterRSS Feed,FacebookGoogle+ and subscribe to the new Safari push notifications feature.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call updates:

Bose introduces new colors and designs to their high quality line of headphones

D-Link Whole Home Router w/SmartBeam Coverage, Gigabit, USB SharePort $20 shipped (Reg. $49)

uNu DX iPhone 5/5s 2300mAh MFi Protective Battery Case (multiple colors): $50 shipped (Reg. $90)

Save 40% on handcrafted DODOcase accessories for iPad, iPhone, and other gadgets

Other great deals from today:

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IFTTT app update brings support for push notifications, new iPad version

If This Then That (IFTTT), the popular web service that allows users to automate tasks from a long list of other mobile apps and web services, is today announcing an update to its iOS app that also introduces full support for iPad and new features for the iPhone version (via TNW).

The most notable new feature is push notification support, allowing any IFTTT “recipe” to result in a push notification to your iPhone or iPad. While you could already get push notifications to show up in a recipe from many apps that send out their own, this will bring universal support for the feature allowing a push notification for any recipe you can think of.

IFTTT allows users to setup “If this then that” recipes that act as rules for when a certain app or web service should begin automating a task. For example, users could setup a recipe that automatically uploads photos posted to Instagram by a certain user directly to Dropbox. With today’s update, users can now setup recipes that end in a push notification being sent to their iPhone or iPad.

The iPad app introduces a new take on the IFTTT mobile UI and the updated app also brings a new Recipe Collections feature that highlights a curated selection of recipes grouped by category. 

The updated IFTTT app is available now in the App Store as a free universal download for iPhone and iPad.

Doo moves beyond document syncing, releases Scanbot for iPhone

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Earlier this year, the developers of the document-syncing application Doo announced that the company was shutting down its backend and removing its app from sale. The company wasn’t going anywhere, however, and had plans for a brand new product that would be revealed soon.

Today, the company has taken the wraps off of its newest app, Scanbot, which allows users to scan documents into their iPhone and store them as PDFs or JPGs on a variety of cloud services. We had a chance to talk to Frank Thelen, CEO of Doo, about why the original service was shuttered, how the company decided on a new direction, and and what lies ahead for Scanbot.
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Review roundup: Is Office for iPad worth ninety-nine bucks a year?

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Image: smallbiztrends.com

The iPad edition of Microsoft Office has been a long-time coming. This was, it now seems clear, no accident: Microsoft wanted to attempt to boost sales of its ill-fated Surface tablet by pointing to the lack of Office software on the iPad.

Now that the company has accepted the inevitable, that most people would rather have Office on their iPad than buy a Surface, the question is: was it worth the wait … ? 
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9to5Toys Last Call: DODOcase 40% off, iPad mini 64GB WiFi+LTE $430, Apple Design Award Mac app bundle $20, more

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: TwitterRSS Feed,FacebookGoogle+ and subscribe to the new Safari push notifications feature.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Last Call updates:

ZAGGkeys Flex Bluetooth iOS/Android Keyboard with stand $30 shipped (Reg. $80)

Free Coupon for Two Months of Audiobooks from Audible ($30 value)

Daily Deals: Slingbox Pro HD TV Streamer refurb $80, Samsung 50″ LED HDTV $800, ZyXEL Wi-Fi Range Extender $25more

Other great deals from today:

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inMarket lets specific brands, not just retailers, target shoppers using iBeacons in-store

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http://vimeo.com/83270004

inMarket, an in-store marketing platform that recently started rolling out iBeacons to retailers, today announced an interesting new twist for the platform: the first consumer packaged goods brand to take advantage of iBeacons in a retail environment. That means that rather than the retailer controlling the entire iBeacon experience and the location-based notifications that get beamed to shoppers, inMarket’s Mobile to Mortar (M2M) platform is giving that same opportunity to the individual brands on the store’s shelves. We’ve also learned it’s about to expand and continue its rollout of iBeacons in retail locations across New York, Boston, and Miami.  
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Adobe announces new features for After Effects, Premiere Pro & more coming to Creative Cloud

Adobe announced a few product updates today at NAB 2014 in Las Vegas including updates to all of its video apps in the Adobe Creative Cloud suite including Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. Among the standout new features are Live Text Templates, autosave, and Masking and Tracking features for Premiere Pro, as well as Master Keying effects and Typekit integration for After Effects:

  • Timesaving editorial features in Premiere Pro CC. New features include Live Text Templates that let users edit text in After Effects CC compositions directly in Premiere Pro CC; Autosave to Creative Cloud for automated backup of projects; and a new Masking and Tracking feature that provides accurate masks that follow subjects and blur out faces and logos, crucial for newsroom editing. In addition, the new Master Clip effect in Premiere Pro and SpeedGrade changes the effects applied to original clips and ripples down through all instances of the clip.
  • Powerful new updates to After Effects CC include Keying effects to provide better keying results with compressed footage; and Typekit integration with Premiere Pro CC and After Effects CC provides users with access to a growing library of fonts worth $30,000, that can be used on the desktop.

Also getting an updated today is Adobe Anywhere, Adobe’s collaboration platform for After Effects CC and Premiere Pro CC. It adds real-time project backups, Rough Cut Support for Prelude CC, :After Effects CC media processing for direct integration between Anywhere and After Effects CC.”

In addition, Adobe showed off new features coming to the rest of its CC video apps. A full list of new features and more on what’s new and coming from Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, Adobe SpeedGrade CC, Adobe Audition CC, Adobe Story CC Plus, Adobe Prelude CC, and Adobe Media Encoder CC is here.