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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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Oops – watch those ‘Incognito Mode’ web searches, Chrome’s latest iOS upgrade no longer forgets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61SzHpGGFRs

If you’ve been carrying out any dodgy searches in Incognito Mode in the iOS 7 version of Google Chrome, you may want to wander casually into settings to delete the search history (looking toward the sky and whistling helps): it appears that Incognito Mode currently isn’t. All searches performed in the private browsing mode are available in search history once you return to normal browsing.

The above video is rather swift, and has no commentary, but what it shows is erasing history to start with a clean slate, entering Incognito Mode, visiting a website, returning to normal browsing and then viewing search history at Google – where the supposed private web session shows up.

Note that you do need to visit Google to see the history: it doesn’t show up when simply using the combined URL/search bar.

Google updated the app last month. The company has not yet made any statement on the bug.

Thanks, Robin

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iTunes Radio gets new competition as Rdio iOS app offers free personalized stations

Rdio has launched a free personalized radio stations option within its iOS and Android apps. This is a more controllable version of the You FM feature added back in August.

Like iTunes Radio, you can’t choose a specific artist or track, but you can create a radio station based on a song, artist or genre and then listen to the stream Rdio creates based on your selection. Unlike iTunes Radio, Rdio’s free streaming service is ad-free, at least for now.

New subscribers also get a 14-day free trial of the Rdio subscription service, allowing you to play specific tracks. Once the 14 days end, however, you’ll revert to radio stations only unless you sign-up at $9.99 a month to keep the paid service.

Rdio is a free download on iTunes.

Adobe working on an iPad app for presentations called ‘Ginger’

Adobe is currently testing a new presentation app for the iPad similar in purpose to PowerPoint and Keynote, via CNET. The project is currently called Ginger. Although details are sparse, it seems to be focused on the creation of sales pitches and what Adobe calls “explainer videos”. Adobe has said that the app is in the beta stage of development, but is yet to confirm whether the app will ever be publicly released.

On Ginger’s minisite, there are a few demos of what the app could create. One example presentation is embedded below …


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Review: 1Password 4 for Mac is a massive, feature-packed update

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Back in December, AgileBits released 1Password 4 for iPhone and iPad. The app presented a completely revamped take on password security, but lacked feature parity with the Mac version of the software.

Today, 1Password for Mac has been updated to version 4, bringing a ton of new features to the Mac. In fact, the update brings so many new capabilities that the Mac version of 1Password has now surpassed the iOS version in features. This is a massive release with a completely redesigned interface, overhauled browser extensions, support for new types of saved items, enhanced security, and more.

Find our complete review below:


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Snapchat introduces “Stories”, a narrative built with snaps

[youtube=http://youtu.be/gPzZevSbgGk]

Snapchat, the popular photo messaging app that is used to share over 350M photos every day, has added a substantial feature in the latest version of their app: Snapchat Stories.

The Verge has a great piece on the new feature:

“Stories: a rolling compilation of snaps from the last 24 hours that your friends can see. You create your Story as you go about your day by tapping “My Story” above the friends you want to send a snap to. Or, you can tap a new shortcut button in the app’s camera screen to instantly post a snap to your Story. But unlike conventional snaps, Stories don’t disappear in a puff of ephemeral smoke after you’ve watched them. You can watch a friend’s (or your own) Story over and over.”

Each Story is the sum of all the snaps you’ve added over the last 24 hours, which means its size is always fluctuating. What doesn’t change is that every piece of the Story is less than a day old, so viewing one might be the fastest way to see what a friend’s been up to. Snapchat may not look much like Facebook, but with Stories, the company is taking its first steps toward competing with Facebook’s most important product: News Feed.

Rather than falling for pressure from users to add a “send all” button or allow for groups, the company appears to be pushing for the new Stories feature as a way to share moments with all of your friends.

Snapchat is free in the App Store.

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Netflix 5.0 for iOS brings HD and AirPlay streaming to iOS 7 devices

Netflix has just released version 5.0 of their iOS app, bringing Netflix HD and AirPlay streaming to iOS 7 users.

With AirPlay streaming, videos can be streamed from the device to an Apple TV while running the background. The feature no longer relies on AirPlay mirroring, so users aren’t tied to the app while watching videos on their TVs.

From my personal experience with version 5.0, the iPad app isn’t working with AirPlay streaming yet, but HD is available. On the iPhone, AirPlay streaming (in the background) is working as well as HD.

What’s New in Version 5.0

* Netflix HD for iOS 7
* AirPlay streaming for iOS 7 (requires disabling AirPlay mirroring)
* Playback optimizations
* Stability improvements

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iCloud Mail push notifications return in Germany as injunction gets lifted in Apple/Motorola dispute

Since more than a year ago, Germans have not had access to push notifications for iCloud Mail services following a dispute between Apple and Motorola in the country that forced Apple to disable the feature. Now, as noted by German Apple blog iPhone-ticker.de, Apple has now confirmed that push notifications services have been switched back on in the country. The news comes following Apple’s success in getting the original injunction lifted after posting $132 million bond, according to FossPatents:

After the Federal Patent Court’s preliminary ruling, Apple filed with the Karlsruhe-based appeals court a motion to stay enforcement against Google’s will. In early September, the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court granted it. I published my own (obviously unofficial) English translation of the order. The order revealed that Apple had to post a 100 million euro ($132 million) bond to get the injunction actually lifted. The paperwork for all of this apparently took a few weeks and presumably Apple’s technical staff conducted some internal tests before finally reactivating the push notification feature for end users — which it did today.

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Hulu Plus iOS app adds support for Chromecast for big-screen viewing

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Google has announced that Hulu has added Chromecast support to its Hulu Plus app, enabling online shows to be viewed on the big screen – something it promised back in July.

Now you can easily enjoy your favorite shows, such as “Modern Family,” “New Girl” and “Parks and Recreation,” on your big-screen TV by casting from Hulu Plus on your mobile phone or tablet. It’s the same intuitive, remote-free experience you’ve come to enjoy with the other Chromecast-supported apps, and is as simple as pressing the Cast button which will now appear in the app … 

Chromecast is a small, $35 stick that plugs into the HDMI port of a TV set or monitor and allows users to stream content, such as YouTube and Netflix, from devices like computers, tablets, and smartphones. Think of it as a tiny, cut-down Apple TV with functionality limited to AirPlay-style casting of content. It’s available from Amazon with free shipping. The Hulu Plus app is available for both iOS and Android.

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9to5Toys Last Call: Beats earbuds $50, Samsung WiFi Blu-ray player $37, Just-Mobile giveaway, GoPro HERO3+, more

From 9to5Toys.com:

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

Today’s featured deals:

Beats by Dre urBeats earbud headphones w/ mic $50 shipped (Reg. $100)


SOLD OUT Samsung WiFi Blu-ray Player w/ Netflix and Youtube (Refurbished) $37 shipped

Giveaway: Just-Mobile HeadStand precision-engineered aluminum headphone hanger ($50 value)

Mac Bundle 3.0 Ft. Camtasia 2 and 9 other explosive Mac Apps. Name your own price. Ends tonight!!!

Other great deals from today:


The best deals that are still alive:

Mac software bundles:

New product announcements & reviews:

  • Valve announces Steam Machines hardware beta for SteamOS
  • Amazon freshens up the Kindle Fire HD, now starts at just $139
  • Roku announces refreshed lineup of devices starting at $50
  • Belkin announces YourType Wireless Keypad to extend your Mac’s keyboard
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Apple adds Vevo and NHL channels to Apple TV in Germany (Update: UK gets NHL too)

German Apple blog Macerkopf notes that Apple TV users in Germany today have been greeted with new content in a server-side update that includes Vevo and NHL channels. Vevo first landed on the Apple TV for US, Canada, and other countries back in August alongside a big update for the platform that also brought content from Disney, the Weather Channel, Smithsonian, and others. The National Hockey League channel, however, has been available in many countries since an Apple TV update back in 2011.

Apple has been adding a ton of new content to Apple TV in recent months fueling rumors that a major revamp to the platform could be on the way. Most recently the company added new content from Major League Soccer and Disney Junior in the US.

Update: Users in the UK are also reporting receiving access to the NHL channel:

https://twitter.com/betterthan/status/384985585146146816

Paper by FiftyThree app now lets you create & order customized Moleskine books

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Paper by FiftyThree, the popular sketching and illustration app, today announced that it has teamed up with Moleskine to offer its users the ability to create and order customized 15-page Moleskin books directly from the app. The partnership with Moleskine means you’ll get a quality, hand-assembled 15-page foldout book on sustainable matte paper, but it also means you’ll have to hand over $40 USD in the process:
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9to5Toys Last Call: Klipsch/Logitech noise-cancelling headphones from $100, 1TB USB3 portable HD $50, iPod Touch 5g 16GB (Refurb) $150, iPad 128GB, more

From 9to5Toys.com:

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

Today’s featured deals:

Noise-Cancelling Headphones: Klipsch Mode M40: $145 (Reg. $350), Logitech UE 6000: $100 (Reg. $160)

Samsung USB 3.0 portable HD: $50 shipped, 1TB Western Digital: $53 shipped

Apple iPod Touch 16GB 5th gen. (Refurb.) $149 (Reg. $229 new)

Mac Bundle 3.0 Ft. Camtasia 2 and 9 other explosive Mac Apps. Name your own price. Ends in 1 day!

Other great deals from today:

The best deals that are still alive:

Mac software bundles:

New product announcements & reviews:

  • Valve announces Steam Machines hardware beta for SteamOS
  • Amazon freshens up the Kindle Fire HD, now starts at just $139
  • Roku announces refreshed lineup of devices starting at $50
  • Belkin announces YourType Wireless Keypad to extend your Mac’s keyboard

Extreme Reality SDK gives any iOS game Kinect-like motion control, now open to all devs

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2t1wM-Bnlg

Extreme Reality, a company that has been developing motion capture technology that Sega and others have used in PC & mobile games, today announced it is opening up its SDK to all developers. The software works with any 2D camera and allows devs to easily capture and analyze motion for games and apps. Think Microsoft’s Kinect, but with Extreme Reality motion is captured with an iOS device’s built-in FaceTime camera rather than bulky, expensive external hardware:
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NBA Game Time iPad app updated for 2013-2014 preseason

The official NBA Game Time app has been updated today with support for the upcoming 2013-2014 NBA preseason.  Preseason games for the 2013-14 season, the 68th NBA season, will kick off on Saturday, October 5th.

Version 5.0 of the free NBA Game Time app for iPad is available now on the App Store.

Another popular sports app, Yahoo’s Sportacular Pro, received a recent update that brought iPad support and a redesigned experience with new content and features.

What’s New in Version 5.0

Enhanced support for the 2013-2014 NBA preseason.

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Review: Tricky Letters serves up daily messages to keep you inspired

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4LX-6DTX00

Tricky Letters is a new app that serves daily inspiration. The app is simple to use and delivers its content in a unique, cute way. You receive letters everyday at random times that contain wisdom, inspiration, meaningful quotes, and art. Tricky Letters stands out in that it doesn’t serve up content on demand. Instead, it only delivers content when the app decides to.


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More M7 details: data storage, battery life, Android motion coprocessor adoption

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When the iPhone 5s launched with the M7 motion coprocessor on September 20, Azumio’s ARGUS fitness app was updated that same day with M7 compatibility. I’ve been an ARGUS user for quite awhile, as it syncs with my LifeTrak and can also independently track steps in the background throughout the day even without a wristband.

The app is now the #1 free Health & Fitness app in the App Store and has been featured as one of the top “Designed for iOS 7” apps.

Seeing that the app gained M7 compatibility so quickly – it was the first one that I noticed and I haven’t been able to find one that added it before them – I was curious about how ARGUS was able to take advantage of the M7 so quickly. I had the opportunity to speak with Peter Kuhar, product manager for ARGUS at Azumio. He was able to break down some of the intricate information surrounding the M7.
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Review + Giveaway: Velocity helps you get through your reading list faster

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Velocity is a new speed reader app for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad that helps you read faster by presenting one word at a time using a technique called Rapid Serial Visual Presentation. Studies have shown that using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation helps increase reader’s reading speed because it forces the reader to stop reading out loud inside their head (subvocalization), and suppresses the tendency for eyes to backtrack the line while reading and searching for the end of the sentence. Generally a reader’s average reading speed is two hundred words per minute, but Velocity supports reading speeds up to one thousand words per minute.


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Update to Google Search iOS app to bring cross platform notifications

iPhone Triptych - Clear Background

Google is celebrating its 15 birthday and today announced a number of improvements to search on mobile devices including an incoming Google Search app update for iPhone and iPad that will enable notifications for reminders & more across platforms:

With this update, you can get notifications across your devices. So if you tell your Nexus 7, “OK Google. Remind me to buy olive oil at Safeway,” when you walk into the store with your iPhone, you’ll get a reminder. We’ll also show you Google Now notifications so you’re not late to your cooking class.

You’ll start noticing many new improvements to search on Android and iOS today, but Google says the cross platform notifications will arrive within a couple weeks through an update to the Google Search iPhone and iPad app.

More on all of Google’s new features for search on mobile on 9to5Google.

Major update to VLC for Mac adds 4K support, improved MKV support, interface improvements and more

VideoLAN has released version 2.1 of its popular open source video player, VLC. The update — codenamed “Ricewind” — brings new audio processing to the app, to improve both processing performance and audio fidelity. There is full support for surround sound outputs in addition to new effects and many new supported metadata formats for audio.

On the video side, the app has ported the OpenGL output to OpenGL ES, making ports to iOS and Android much easier. Notably, VideoLAN says that VLC is now ready for Ultra-HD content (otherwise known as 4K). The app update has also focused heavily on improving MKV compatibility, including better seek performance and subtitle metadata support.


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9to5Toys Last Call: New Roku players, Save up to 25% at OtterBox, $50 OfficeMax gift card for $40, New Kindle Fire HD, more

From 9to5Toys.com:

A large majority of the deals we cover each day come from a variety of ‘Daily Deal’ websites or are so popular that they don’t even last 24 hours. We know you can’t be at your computer every second, so we’re going to round up the best deals each day to make sure you have a fair shot at the deals you want. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys.com so you never miss a deal... Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+.

Today’s featured deals:

Roku announces refreshed lineup of devices starting at $50

Save 25% on any OtterBox iPhone 5 Defender case or up to 15% on everything else

$50 OfficeMax gift card for $40 shipped


Other great deals from today:


The best deals that are still alive:

Mac software bundles:

New product announcements & reviews:

  • Belkin announces YourType Wireless Keypad to extend your Mac’s keyboard
  • ChargeKey is a USB Lightning charging cable on your key ring
  • Sony launches new mini home console, the Playstation Vita TV
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Instagram releases redesigned app for iOS 7 w/ higher resolution photos & video

Just about every big app has been getting an update and in many cases a refreshed look for the release of iOS 7, and today a completely redesigned Instagram app is hitting the App Store. Instagram made the announcement on its blog and also highlighted a few new features arriving with the new app alongside the UI overhaul.

Version 4.2 of the app will also include larger photos and videos that bring an increased resolution and allows content to stretch right to either side of your display while browsing your feed. Instagram noted a few other design tweaks on its blog:

In grid view, we streamlined things so that your content will also appear larger. We led our redesign with a focus on clarity to keep the feel of Instagram clean, simple and grounded in the photos and videos you discover and share.

The updated app also includes circular profile pictures, but notably does not yet directly support the slow-mo video feature that Apple introduced with the iOS 7 camera on the iPhone 5s.

Instagram version 4.2 is available on the App Store now. 

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Popular Twitter client Echofon completely redesigned for iOS 7

Popular Twitter client Echofon has been completely redesigned for iOS 7. The new version is mostly structured the same as its predecessor, but it trades in the black tab bar and blue navigation bar for a mostly white-look. The new client actually looks like many of Apple’s new pre-bundled iOS 7 applications. Alongside iOS 7’s launch, Twitter redesigned its official app for iOS 7, and we previously covered several other iOS 7-designed app updates. Echofon is available in either a free (Ad-supported) version or a $4.99 option. Screenshots of iPad (universal) version below:


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Pixelmator pushes 2.2.1 update, modernizes file format for significant performance gains

Pixelmator has pushed a point update to the Mac App Store. Despite its minor bump in version number, the update brings a lot of helpful changes. The timing is ‘intriguing’, as it coincides with Adobe’s announcement of a new version of Photoshop Elements from this morning.

Pixelmator quotes a 2x performance improvement when saving documents, as a result of a move to a new file format. For instance, when saving to iCloud, Pixelmator can now push small deltas of what has changed between saves, rather than saving the entire image every time. This speed up is noticeable in use, with projects saving nearly instantaneously on a Retina Macbook Pro.


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App Store stops by 950K apps on its way to 1 million

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Last time Apple checked in during its Q3 2013 earnings report it announced the App Store was home to 900,000 apps and over 375K designed specifically for iPad. Today, the App Store has now reached 950,000 apps and quickly approaches 1 million with Apple accepting 50K new apps in the last two months alone. The news comes from app discovery service Appsfire, which regularly tracks new and updated apps added to the App Store.

Apple often celebrates milestones for its App Store with some type of giveaway or contest for users. Earlier this year it made a number of premium apps available for free to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the App Store and also gave away a $10,000 App Store gift card to announce the 50 billionth app download. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple do something similar for the 1 millionth app on the App Store.

Apple has likely seen an increase in new app submissions in recent weeks, as a long list of developers update and release new apps to accompany last week’s launch of iOS 7 and the new iPhones. At the current rate, it will take Apple just another couple of months to hit the 1 million mark.
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