Apps

Amazon announced today that it’s releasing Amazon Cloud Player for Mac, a desktop client for its Amazon Cloud Player service that was previously released only for PC users earlier this year. You’ll be able to store all of your Amazon and iTunes music, browse and purchase Amazon MP3’s 25 million strong song catalog to purchase new songs, and also take advantage of features like AutoRip for getting free digital copies of CDs or vinyl purchased through Amazon’s AutoRip collection.

Once uploading and purchasing music for your Amazon Cloud Player app through the new Mac App, you’ll be able to access your whole collection on any device through apps for iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android devices, Roku, Sonos, and Samsung TVs.

You can download the Amazon Cloud Player for Mac app for free here. The 45MB download is available for Macs running OS X 10.6 and up.

Amazon Cloud Player for Mac features include:

One-place for all your music: Play your Amazon and iTunes music all from one place, even when offline.
A music library that is always up-to-date: Cloud Player automatically detects and adds new music to your library even if you bought it from iTunes or ripped a CD. The app does all the work for you.
An integrated MP3 Store: You can shop from the Amazon MP3 catalog of more than 25 million songs and discover new music with personalized recommendations, all without having to leave the app.
AutoRip: Buy an AutoRip CD or vinyl record from Amazon and a free MP3 version of the album will be added to your Cloud Player for Mac library.
Built for speed: Forget bloated players with extra features you don’t need or use. Cloud Player for Mac is lean, mean and made for your music. It’ll get you from launch to play in seconds.
Music management made simple: Download your MP3 purchases automatically or with one click. Export your music to other music players. Create and manage playlists using simple drag-and-drop.
Instant search & play: Find music easily and quickly. Type anywhere to search for an artist, album or song and play directly from the search results.
Rich artist content: See artist photos, bios, tweets, and gorgeous, large album art.
Anywhere access: Music purchased using Amazon Cloud Player for Mac is securely backed up in the cloud for free and made instantly available on any Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Samsung TV, Roku, Sonos, PC or web browser.

9to5Toys Last Call: Logitech/ZAGG iPad keyboards from $20, Anker 5-port USB charger $16, Logitech Mac trackpad $30, more

Oct 28 2013 - 3:00 pm PT

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

Today’s can’t miss deals:

iPad Bluetooth Keyboards refurbished w/ free shipping: Logitech Ultrathin $30, ZAGGkeys Mini 7 $20

Anker 5-port Family iPad/tablet/iPhone USB Charger: $16 shipped

Logitech rechargeable multi-touch trackpad for Mac $30 shipped (Reg. $60)

Get a free $5 Starbucks card with their new “tweet-a-coffee” promo https://t.co/SaTDJWKCBm

— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) October 28, 2013

Today Only: Free Redbox 1 day DVD rental (or $1.20 off game/BR) with code LTYN674T

— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) October 28, 2013

Other great deals from today:

New! Apple authentic Lightning to 30-pin adapter (Refurb.) $10 shipped (Reg. $30 new)
New! $10 towards Toys R Us purchases for $5: Save on Toys, Games, Electronics, more / $10 for $20 to Overstock
New! Game/App Deals: Tiger Woods 14 Historic Edition $10, Xbox 360 Kinect holiday bundle $240, Calculator HD Pro: FREE, iOS freebies, more
New! Apple 4th gen. Time Capsules: 2TB $170 (Reg. $299), 3TB $229 (Reg. $399)
New! Apple iPad mini 16GB WiFi $280
New! Griffin PowerDock 5 charging station for iPhone, iPad, Android: $80 shipped (Reg. $100)
New! Pyle Rugged and Waterproof Wireless Marine Grade Portable Bluetooth Speaker $45 shipped (Reg. $145)
New! Toshiba Canvio 1.5TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive $70 shipped (Reg. $100)
New! Gateway 22″ Class LED Backlit 1080p Monitor $100 shipped (Reg. $120)

The best deals that are still alive:

Up to $300 off Canon lenses and FREE accessories w/ purchase of select DSLR cameras
Get a free Sonos wireless bridge ($49 value) w/ the purchase of any Sonos Play wireless streaming speaker
The best Apple-certified (MFi) Lightning cables in various lengths, colors, and styles

Mac software bundles:

The SuperStacked Mac Bundle: Over $3,000 Worth Of Premium Developer & Designer Tools – $48 today, but price increases everyday it’s on sale.

New product announcements & reviews:

JBL releases new Pulse Bluetooth speaker covered in LEDs that dance along to the music
Amazon increases free shipping order threshold to $35, Prime becomes even more valuable in run up to holidays
Pyle Audio releases new mini Hi-Speed HD sports camera
Synology introduces new, faster SOHO NAS w/ hot-swappable drives for $330

Clear iOS apps updated with support for iOS 7’s Background Refresh

Jordan Kahn Oct 28 2013 - 9:05 am PT

The popular Clear productivity apps for iOS have been updated today with support for Apple’s Background Refresh feature new in iOS 7. That means your lists in Clear will now update more often, refreshing from iCloud in the background so they’re always up to date across all of your devices running Clear.

The update is available for the $1.99 Clear app for iPhone and the $4.99 Clear+ for iPhone and iPad now. Developer Realmac Software also teased that it’s working on other big new features for a future update:

We’re hard at work on some great new features for Clear – and today we’re releasing a small update to Clear and Clear+ to take advantage of a great new iOS 7 feature: Background Refresh.

iOS 7 launches your most frequently-used apps in the background throughout the day, allowing them to refresh their data. This means that, with today’s update, Clear will refresh your lists from iCloud to ensure they’re always up to date on all your devices.

NBA Game Time apps updated for 2013-14 season w/ iOS 7 redesign, new free content, and much more

Jordan Kahn Oct 28 2013 - 7:02 am PT

The NBA Game Time apps for both iPhone and iPad have been updated today with a redesign for iOS 7 alongside full support for the 2013-2014 regular season and new content for both free and paid subscribers.

On top of the redesign pictured in the screenshots above, the apps add home and away broadcasts for every game and archives for each nationally broadcast game for those that have an NBA League Pass. It also adds new content for free users, however, including the Game Recaps, Team Video, Player Statistics, Team Rosters, and Team Statistics features previously only available to paid users.

Version 5.1 of NBA Game Time also includes alerts for live streaming videos and push notifications for League Pass subscribers.

NBA Game Time is available for free from the App Store now as separate downloads for iPhone and iPad.

What’s New in Version 5.1

Redesigned and Optimized for iOS7

Full support for the 2013-2014 NBA regular season

NBA League Pass subscribers will now be able to enjoy both the home and away TV broadcasts from every game.

NBA League Pass subscribers will now be able to enjoy archives from each nationally broadcast game.

Game Recaps from every game now free.

Team Video from every team now free.

Player Statistics, Team Rosters, and Team Statistics now free.

Live Video alerts let you know when we’re streaming press conferences and events live.

League Pass Push Notifications now let NBA League Pass users know when games they can watch get exciting.

Many performance improvements.

Review: RoboMouse HD is a classic strategy game reinvented for the iPad

Sarah Guarino Oct 27 2013 - 12:00 pm PT

RoboMouse HD is a new iPad strategy and tower-defense game from LongKoo Studio. It features a straightforward premise and easy-to-pickup gameplay mechanic that can be quickly learned, but takes time to master. While the strategy game genre is not lacking for entries, RoboMouse HD is a fun addition to the existing landscape that can provide hours of fun. Keep reading for our full review to find out why you should grab your own copy.

Review: Wibbitz for iPhone creates video summaries from news articles

Sarah Guarino Oct 26 2013 - 12:00 pm PT

Wibbitz is a free innovative news-reader app for iPhone that creates a video summary of text articles from major news outlets. It features political, sports, business, technology, and entertainment news providers such as CNN, BBC, Huffington Post, FOX, TMZ, and Sports Illustrated. Some specific local outlets such as the Jerusalem Post, UK Telegraph and Korea News are also available. The app summarizes the text and images in the articles into videos between one and two minutes long.

Boxie Dropbox iPhone app gains passcode lock, smart text selection & folder-by-folder sorting

Sarah Guarino Oct 25 2013 - 9:36 am PT

Boxie, a new Dropbox client that was launched last week, is already receiving significant updates to make this an even more powerful alternative to the Dropbox app.

Boxie version 1.1 has a lot of behind-the-scenes improvements and optimizations. The update fixes issues with deleting items and offline access. It also adds support for more language including Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Dutch, German, and Portuguese. The new version introduces new error notifications when uploading items into a shared folder fails. It also adds automatic smart selection of text when renaming folders.

New folder-by-folder sorting options let Boxie remember your sorting settings for each folder rather than the app as a whole, allowing you to use customized views in each folder without having to change the view every time you change the folder. Last but not least is an important security setting that allows you to set a passcode to open Boxie, complete with customizable time interval settings and the ability to securely wipe local data.

If you have not tried Boxie yet, check out our in-depth review to learn more about all the features and benefits. Boxie is available in the App Store for $2.99.

New iWork & iLife apps go for simplicity, upset power users all over again

Jordan Kahn Oct 25 2013 - 9:33 am PT

119 Comments

Following the introduction of Apple’s new iWork apps at its iPad Air event earlier this week, an increasing number of users have taken to Apple’s support forums to voice concerns over the removal of features as the apps receive new simplified user interfaces that bring them more in line with the iOS versions. Several pages of complaints from users in Apple’s forums point out that many features, those mostly used by power users, have been removed from Apple’s new redesigned version of Pages:

Why does Apple get rid of so many useful features in new pages? iWork 13 has been a huge disappointment and nothing more than a downgrade to match the capabilities of the iOS iWork apps. If Apple simply made performance upgrades to iWork 09 I would have been happy. I hope there is a way to get back to the most up to date version of iWork 09.

—

It comes down to this. Apple has discontinued Pages in its entirety. You can no longer download it or purchase it, and Apple won’t support it. Apple has simultaneously introduced a completely new and different product, also called Pages, that is designed for different users and different use cases. Despite the name, it is not a successor to Pages (old), except in the licensing terms, it is completely a completely different species of animal. Those of us who depended on Pages (old) cannot use Pages (new). We have to save all our Pages files in a widely used format and import them into a new word processor that supports the formatting.

Pages isn’t the only app, users are also hitting Apple’s forums to list features that have been removed from the redesigned versions of Keynote, Numbers, and iMovie:
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Tweetbot 3 becomes top paid app in several countries, developers discuss future enhancements

Mark Gurman Oct 25 2013 - 8:25 am PT

7 Comments

Since its launch yesterday, popular Twitter client Tweetbot 3 for iPhone has topped the paid app charts in several App Store-supported countries across the world. A look at AppAnnie’s data indicates that the new application is the top paid app overall in 35 countries, and it is the top app in the Social Networking category in 70 countries. As Tweetbot developer Paul Haddad notes, these impressive launch day statistics are evidence for why developers should charge for major app updates…

New iOS Remote icon in iTunes tips upcoming app redesign for iOS 7

Scott Buscemi Oct 24 2013 - 6:43 pm PT

12 Comments

As discovered by 9to5Mac reader Nicholas, Apple’s Remote application might finally see an iOS 7 makeover alongside a redesigned icon that is seen in the latest version of iTunes (version 11.1.2). While many of Apple’s apps were updated yesterday, Find My Friends, iBooks and Remote didn’t see iOS 7 redesigns or new releases.

When adding a new remote to iTunes, the potentially new icon is shown in the device dropdown. It matches the grid system and looks like an iOS 7 icon. The app was last updated January of this year and currently sports an iOS 6 design.

Fandango movie tickets app redesigned for iOS 7, gains improved search

Mark Gurman Oct 24 2013 - 5:14 pm PT

Fandango, the popular app for browsing movies and theater information, has been redesigned to fit iOS 7’s new interface aesthetic. The new design is simpler and has lots of white space. In addition to the fresh design, the app includes improved trailer playback in the main menu, more powerful search, and exclusive video content.

How to get your free iWork apps for Macs purchased after Oct. 1

Jordan Kahn Oct 24 2013 - 3:41 pm PT

When Apple unveiled its updated iWork suite during its iPad Air event earlier this week, it also confirmed that it would be making the apps free for all new Mac purchases. That means new Macs shipping with Mavericks would allow users to download Pages, Keynote, and Numbers– previously $20 each– for free from the Mac App Store. That offer also extends to Macs purchased on or after Oct. 1 and yesterday Apple made an Up-To-Date Program available on its website for those that purchased qualifying Mac.

Apple has instructions on its website for applying for the Up-To-Date Program, which requires users to enter their Mac’s serial number, purchase date, and provide Apple with “an electronic copy of a dated, itemized sales receipt indicating the marketing part number(s) of the qualifying product(s) purchased.” Apple will then send codes to customers within 24 hours of confirming the purchase that can be redeemed on the Mac App Store to download the apps.

For those that purchased between Oct. 1 and Oct. 22, you’ll have to apply to the program by Nov. 21. Purchases made after Oct. 22 will have 30 days to qualify.

Apple also says that the program is only for the United States (50 states and the District of Columbia) and Canada, but it’s unclear if it will have similar programs for customers in other countries.

Tweetbot 3 for iPhone arrives: gorgeous new design, same great features

Mark Gurman Oct 24 2013 - 3:03 pm PT

13 Comments

For many years, Tweetbot from Tapbots has been my favorite Twitter app and definitely my most used app on iOS. The application includes several powerful features wrapped up in a quick, smooth interface. However, the design began to look dated with the launch of iOS 7, Apple’s revamped iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch operating system, last month. For several months, the Tapbots crew has been hard at work on a complete, end-to-end redesign of their flagship app, and it is available now via the App Store. Check out my complete review…

Are LinkedIn users largely disinterested in its new Intro service?

Zac Hall Oct 24 2013 - 10:36 am PT

Yesterday LinkedIn presented a new service called Intro that integrates LinkedIn contact information directly in your iPhone’s Mail app, but it looks like the social networking service is launching to a rather dismal reception.

According to a quick poll held by Polar, more than 80% of users answered negatively when asked if having email proxied was worth native LinkedIn headers.

Personally, I found the setup process especially unfriendly for the audience being served (it’s much more technical than downloading an app via the App Store). Of course, if you have no quibbles with LinkedIn mediating your email for the benefit of a little integration, you can try the service for yourself here.

Us?

This sounds like my worst nightmare “@MikeIsaac: linkedin basically integrating with the iPhone email app in a big way.”

— Seth Weintraub (@llsethj) October 23, 2013

Vine iOS app updated w/ ‘Time Travel’ editing features & ‘Sessions’ for saving drafts

Jordan Kahn Oct 24 2013 - 9:29 am PT

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

Vine updated its iOS app today with a few new features that allow users to save and maintain multiple drafts of posts and edit their vines before posting.

The first new feature Vine is calling “Sessions.” These are essentially drafts of posts that you can save and access for future editing before posting:

Save any post and come back to it later –– work on up to ten posts at once. Simply tap the new icon in the bottom right corner of your camera to save a new session or open an existing one.

Vine is also including new editing features that it’s calling “Time Travel”. These features allow users to “remove, reorganize or replace any shot within a post at any time.” Now, when shooting a video you’ll see a new green bar that allows you to organize shots as well as a new “Edit” button when in preview mode.

https://vine.co/v/hpMLHZea65u

BlackBerry Messenger for iOS updated with bug fixes for iOS 7.0.3

Mark Gurman Oct 23 2013 - 7:22 pm PT

Today, BlackBerry has updated its BBM app for iPhone and iPod touch with bug fixes, performance improvements, and some minor interface tweaks. Notably, the update also includes a fix for a font-related bug for users running the recently released iOS 7.0.3. BBM officially began rolling out on iOS and Android earlier this week. The update is available on the App Store and comes on the same day that BlackBerry announced 10 million users of BBM on non-BlackBerry devices.

9to5Toys Last Call: Sony Class 10 SD cards 60% off, Samsung 840 Pro/Kingston HyperX SSDs, 12-mo Xbox LIVE $40, more

Oct 23 2013 - 3:00 pm PT

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

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Sony speedy Class 10 SD Cards 60% off at Amazon: 16GB: $10, 32GB: $18, 64GB: $34

Solid State Drives: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB $195 (Reg. $270), Kingston HyperX 120GB $80 shipped (Reg. $130)

$50 iTunes gift card for $40: Save 20% on future app, music, movie, book purchases

Other great deals from today:

New! 50% off Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 14, ~~12-month Xbox LIVE gold membership $40~~, iOS freebies, more
New! Amazon increases free shipping order threshold to $35, Prime becomes even more valuable in run up to holidays
New! Powerbag Instant Messenger bag w/ built-in 6000mAh charging system: $30 + $5 shipping (Reg. $100)
New! Apple iPad 2 64GB WiFi + 3G (black or white) $430 shipped
New! This Week In Entertainment: DJ Khaled, Katy Perry, The Internship, The Conjuring, more
New! Samsung 32GB Google Nexus 10 WiFi Android tablet $350 shipped (Reg. $499)

The best deals that are still alive:

Get a free Sonos wireless bridge ($49 value) w/ the purchase of any Sonos Play wireless streaming speaker
Klipsch Image ONE Premium on-ear headphones with Mic and Apple controls $60 shipped (Reg. $150)
Synology DS213+ DiskStation 2-Bay (Diskless) NAS $299, 4TB Seagate NAS drives $180, 2TB WD Red $99
Neat Scanners 50% off (refurb): mobile $90 shipped (Reg. $180 new), desktop $275 (Reg. $369 new)
Roku 3 1080p streaming media player w/ private listening mode $85 Shipped (Reg. $100)
Microlab Bluetooth Wireless Portable Stereo Speaker $38 shipped (Reg. $50)
The best Apple-certified (MFi) Lightning cables in various lengths, colors, and styles

Mac software bundles:

The SuperStacked Mac Bundle: Over $3,000 Worth Of Premium Developer & Designer Tools – $45 today, but price increases everyday it’s on sale.

New product announcements & reviews:

Pyle Audio releases new mini Hi-Speed HD sports camera
Synology introduces new, faster SOHO NAS w/ hot-swappable drives for $330

Mac App Store bug allows iWork trial users to update the entire suite for free (Update: Aperture, too)

Mike Beasley Oct 23 2013 - 2:36 pm PT

159 Comments

Users who have previously downloaded the free 30-day iWork trial and kept it on their systems found themselves able to update to the latest version of Apple’s productivity suite for free yesterday due to what is apparently a bug with the way the store finds copies of the software purchased through other sources.

Since the Mac App Store now detects boxed copies of iWork and allows them to be updated to the Mac App Store version, it seems the trial versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are perceived by the App Store as being a full purchased copy. This allows users to install yesterday’s updated apps without having to pay anything.

LinkedIn debuts Intro with iOS Mail integration

Zac Hall Oct 23 2013 - 1:10 pm PT

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77sh3jwB7pQ]

LinkedIn announced new software today called LinkedIn Intro, and it’s available for fans of the professional social networking site to try out now.

Basically, LinkedIn Intro connects your Apple Mail inbox, whether it’s iCloud, Yahoo!, AOL, or Gmail, to your LinkedIn account and contacts without requiring a new mail app.
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Popular universal IM app IM+ Pro redesigned for iOS 7, adds sync & typing status

Sarah Guarino Oct 23 2013 - 8:56 am PT

4 Comments

IM + Pro 7,a feature-rich messenger app, has been redesigned to reflect iOS 7’s user-interface style. Today’s update also adds several new features and become a universal app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

It allows users free texting, sending photos, videos and voice messages. It supports a dozen IM services including Skype, Facebook, Twitter DM, AIM, iChat, ICQ, MSN, LiveMessenger, Jabber, Yahoo, Google Talk, and MySpace. It supports Group Chats in Skype, AIM, ICQ and Neighbors.

New features include setting up multiple accounts per service, typing notifications, iCloud sync and beep mobile-to-mobile messenger alerts. If you forget your iOS device at home, you are always able to log on from a computer using their website. IM + Pro 7 is available in the App Store for $4.99.

Opinion: What is really driving Apple’s new-found fondness for ‘free’?

Ben Lovejoy Oct 23 2013 - 7:44 am PT

54 Comments

Photo: abc.e

Apple surprised many yesterday by making the update to OS X 10.9 Mavericks free, rather than the $20 it cost to upgrade to the previous release, Mountain Lion. The company also surprised some (though not us) by doing the same for its previously chargeable iWork apps.

There’s been a lot of commentary today about this being an attack on Microsoft, and I do indeed think there’s likely to have been a fair amount of sweating in the corner offices at Redmond as they watched yesterday’s keynote. But Microsoft execs aren’t the only ones I’d expect to see wearing worried expressions today: I suspect the same is true across at Mountain View.

Before we get to Google, let’s start with Microsoft …
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Evernote app updated with customized homescreen layout, mapping & improved saved searches

Ben Lovejoy Oct 23 2013 - 5:39 am PT

The popular Evernote productivity app was updated yesterday to offer the ability to customize the homescreen, view notes on a map and improvements to saved searches.

Premium users can now change the order of the homescreen buttons, or remove altogether the ones you never use. Just hit the Edit button at the bottom of the screen. Users can also view notes in a map view or by tapping on the name of a location (handy for notes on particular places, probably less so for unrelated notes you happened to take in the back of a cab somewhere) and create and remove saves searches directly from the search results.

If you haven’t yet tried Evernote, check out our in-depth guide. Evernote 7.1 is available on iTunes as a free app, with in-app upgrade to get premium features.

Microsoft offers free iPhone app for its subscription-based Dynamics CRM enterprise service

Ben Lovejoy Oct 23 2013 - 4:23 am PT