Apps

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As always, we’ll update the list of new apps and updates below as they hit the App Store:

Evernote 5 for iOS: Following the introduction of a new desktop version, Evernote is teasing the upcoming release of Evernote 5 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch on its blog today. Version 5 of the iOS app is completely redesigned and includes a new Quick Note button, a “Recent Notes” list on iPad, as well as “Views for Notes, Notebooks, Tags, and Places.” We get a preview of the new app in the video above.

Amtrak version 1.3: The official Amtrak app has added Passbook support today with the new eTickets now accepted at all stations:

From the integrated eTicket screen you select the action button to add it to Passbook. Passbook eTickets can be shown and scanned by conductors onboard Amtrak trains nationwide.

Podcasts version 1.1.2: Apple updated its Podcasts app today with a few new features and enhancements:

• Tapping a podcast in Top Stations now reveals episodes you can play
• You can now easily turn on automatic downloads for all subscribed podcasts in Settings
• Addresses an issue where previously played or deleted episodes unexpectedly reappear as new
• Resolves an issue where Podcasts may unexpectedly play after a phone call or alarm
• Includes additional stability and performance improvements

iOS App Sales:
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Angry Birds Space version 1.3.1: Ten new Mars levels today for Angry Birds Space and the HD iPad version:

-Navigate 10 volcanic new levels, including the Mars Curiosity Rover boss level!
Get three stars on all levels to unlock a new antenna egg level!
-Hunt for the hidden rover to unlock a super-secret bonus level!
-All new space eagle bonus levels, one per episode! Get 100% on the space eagle destruction meter to unlock 5 new levels!

Path for iPad: Path announced on its blog a new version of its iOS app is hitting the App store later today that will bring a Path experience tailored specifically for iPad. The blog post described some of the enhancements for iPad, including: the ability to see “the day on one screen and swipe to see previous days”, and redesigned full-screen and landscape-views to show more content.

Air Patriots: Amazon Game Studios is launching its first mobile game on a number of platforms today including iPhone and iPad. The title is a tower defense game allowing you to “control a squadron of planes by drawing the paths they will follow to engage the enemy.” You can get it for free on the App Store now with a $3 map pack available as an in-app purchase.

Clear for Mac: We have covered the slick designed “Clear” to-do list app for iPhone in the past. Developers Realmac Software have now officially announced a Mac version of the app landing in the Mac App Store on November 8th for $14.99. The app includes iCloud support for easily managing lists across the iOS and Mac versions, and a “gestural interface built for your trackpad.”

SlingPlayer Mobile version 3.1: 
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With most cellular carriers moving away from the beloved unlimited data plans of yore, many smartphone users now find themselves trying to cut back on data usage while still doing all of the things they want or need to get done on their phones. Unfortunately, that’s sometimes harder than it sounds. Some apps may seem simple enough, but could actually be downloading massive amounts of data in the background. Users could also be using an app much more than they realize, resulting in overages, fees, and a strong feeling of contempt for carriers.

Until now, there has been no way for iPhone users to track down which apps on their phones were using large chunks of their data plan without their knowledge. Fortunately, the good folks at Onavo have heard the cries of outraged users on limited data plans and come to our rescue.

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Borderlands Legends: We knew it was coming and today 2K has finally released the iOS version of the Borderlands franchise. It’s not exactly the full Borderlands you’re familiar with from consoles, but first impressions seem to be strong.

Borderlands Legends is the latest addition to the Borderland franchise, specifically designed for mobile and tablet. Control Mordecai, Lilith, Brick and Roland and take out the oncoming waves of enemies. Collect in-game cash by destroying enemies and purchase new weapons. Earn experience and level up your characters, unlocking new skills and abilities! Each character has their own set of unique skills and abilities, use them wisely to survive!

Cards version 2.0.1: Apple has updated its Cards app for creating and sending physical, personalized greeting cards on iPhone and iPad. One new feature in the update is the ability to “Easily swap photos in cards containing multiple photos.” There are also a few fixes to common issues:

• Easily swap photos in cards containing multiple photos
• Fixes an issue that caused previously mailed cards to display as drafts in Card History
• Fixes several issues that caused the app to quit unexpectedly

Paper by FiftyThree: If you look closely, a few of the features added to the popular “Paper” app today were actually leaked by Phil Schiller on stage during the iPad mini event earlier this month. New features include a Mixer for playing with shades, a new color palette, and and pressure input via the Expressive Ink Engine:
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Need for Speed Most Wanted: EA is out with the iOS version of its latest Need for Speed title today. It previously released Most Wanted for consoles and teased the iOS version, but now the app is officially on the App Store for $6.99. The game features over 35 customizable cars, touch and tilt steering, and EA Origin support to check leaderboards across platforms.

Evade a relentless police force while you clash with street racers. Race and chase hot cars like the SRT Viper GTS, Porsche 911 Carrera S, Hummer H1 Alpha, and many more. Feel the intensity of no-brakes-allowed street racing with realistic full-car damage for the first time on mobile.

Nike+ Kinect Training: Nike already has a few different iOS apps tied to its Nike+ gear. Today the company launched an iPhone app designed to work exclusively with Nike+ Kinect Training for Xbox 360. The app syncs with your personalized training workouts from the game, allowing you to access all of the content from your console on your iPhone.

You can track your programme progress, explore your workouts, get Challenge reminders, connect and cheer on friends and prepare for upcoming sessions.

ooVoo Video Chat version 1.3.0: A nice update goes to the free, 12-way HD group video chat app today:

* Support for iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5th generation with 4-way display
* Landscape video mode on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
* Improved connectivity
* Bug fixes for iOS 6

Yahoo! version 2.3.3:
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Angry Birds Star Wars: Rovio has been teasing the Star Wars edition of Angry Birds for a few weeks now, but today we get our first look at gameplay from the new title. The game appears to be just a Star Wars themed version of the traditional Angry Birds gameplay. Rovio has more on its Tumblr. Angry Birds Star Wars will hit the App Store on November 8th.

Netbot for App.net: The App.net client made by Tweetbot creators Tabots is receiving a nice update today that brings push notifications, as well as an “experimental post search” feature. In addition, the update includes a number of fixes and improvements and is also available to the iPad version.

-Push Notifications
-Experimental Post Search
-Various other fixes and improvements

Discovery Channel HD: Discovery Channel updated its iPad app today to include “an interactive second screen experience synchronized to the premiere of two MythBusters episodes.” The episodes are airing this Sunday, November 4th at 8pm. The update also includes optimizations for iOS 6.

GAME mobile app: One of UK’s biggest game retailers is launching a new iOS app today that offers access to its Game Reward and Gamestation Elite programs.

Find My Friends version 2.0.1:

• Temporary friends are listed under Followers in the Me tab
• Friends’ notifications regarding your location appear in Me > Followers

Pandora Radio version 4.0: One of the biggest updates today goes to Pandora Radio’s iOS app. On top of new sharing options and redesigned user experience, the update also introduces a ton of new features. Full list below:

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Philips announced today that it would launch what it called “the world’s smartest LED bulb” exclusively at Apple stores starting tomorrow. The bulbs themselves work like any standard light bulb, but they use a bridge plugged into your router to allow you to personalize lighting settings and timers. This of course is not the first app-enabled product for the home to hit Apple Stores. Apple already sold the first and second-generation of the Nest Learning Thermostat.

The hue bulbs provide all “shades of white, from warm white light to cold with light,” as well as a selection of colors and pre-programmed settings. You can even use a photo from your device as a color palette and save and program settings to activate at certain times of day. Philips said the hue bulbs consume 80 percent less power than traditional bulbs.

Philips will sell a hue starter kit at Apple stores tomorrow that consists of three 50Watt hue bulbs and the hue bridge. That will sell for $199. You’ll also have the ability to purchase additional individual bulbs for $60 and add up to 50 to your existing hue bridge.

Philips is even offering the hue app and an open source platform to developers:

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Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: Rockstar Games announced on its blog today that Grand Theft Auto Vice City’s will officially make its way to iOS in celebration of the title’s 10th anniversary. Rockstar is promising a release this fall and more details in the weeks to come:

In conjunction with the anniversary, we’re pleased to announce that we’ll be releasing an Anniversary Edition of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for select iOS and Android devices later this fall. This upcoming version will bring the full experience to mobile devices, featuring native high-resolution graphics and several enhancements unique to the iOS and Android platforms. Stay tuned for more details in the weeks ahead including a list of compatible iOS and Android devices.

Tweetbot version 2.6: 

-Support for Twitter’s new header image
-Ability to create custom locations
-Various other fixes and improvements

Instamac: Released on the Mac App Store today, Instamac is a streamlined Instagram client for Mac that is currently selling for 99 cents. We’ve been playing with it and have nothing but positive first impressions. It will go up to $4.99 after 24 hours, so we suggest picking it up now.

HipChat version 1.8: 9to5’s favorite group chat app gets a big update today with iPhone 5 support:

* Lots of performance improvements, especially for large groups
* iPhone 5 support
* Fix edit mode for Active Chats
* Start app on Active Chats display instead of Lobby
* Clear password on signout
* Mark users as away when they background the app (ensure notifications get sent when app is not visible)
* Keep reconnect banner displaying until app reconnects (even when switching views)

American Express version 3.1.0:

-Get fraud warnings, account alerts and credit-related notices delivered to your mobile device.

Evernote 5 for Mac: Evernote is teasing the latest version of its Mac app today that boasts over 100 new features (via MacStories). A video introduction of the redesigned app is below:
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Parallels for Mac virtualization software has been getting major updates this year with the recent release of version 8, making it even easier to run Mac and Windows apps side by side. In version 7, it made it a lot easier to upgrade and buy copies of Windows directly from within the app, and we even had a Windows 8 developer preview up and running. Unfortunately, with today’s launch of Microsoft’s Windows 8, Parallel’s is warning Mac users that the app is not ready to update to the new OS.

In a support document on the company’s website, it issued a “critical and urgent Windows 8 service advisory” telling customers it should wait before upgrading from an existing installation of Windows to Windows 8:
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Bad Piggies version 1.1.0: Rovio has updated its new Bad Piggies title with 15 new levels today, as well as a new free sandbox level. The update also includes its biggest sandbox level yet, called “Field of Dreams”, as an in-app purchase.

 The Bad piggies finally did it — they finally got the eggs! But can they hold on to them with the Angry Birds in hot pursuit? Even under the cover of darkness, they’ll need all of their best machines to stay ahead! 

-Fly through 15 tricky new levels with the birds on your tail!
-Take cover in a brand new moonlit theme!
-Unleash your creativity on a free new sandbox level!
-Introducing the Field of Dreams: Our biggest sandbox level yet, now available for purchase!

National Geographic Magazine version 2.1: With this update the free app is now available to National Geographic subscribers on the  iPhone:

• Now available for iPhone!

Kindle version 3.4: A nice update to the Kindle iOS app comes following Apple releasing new features for iBooks. The app now supports Japanese with vertical text & Manga, an option to read books in the publisher suggested font, and a new “Caecilia” font choice. Also included is X-Ray for Textbooks:

X-Ray for Textbooks gives you instant access to all the most important terms and concepts in a book, with glossary definitions, links to relevant textbook pages, and related content from Wikipedia and YouTube (available on many of the most popular print replica textbooks)

Cut the Rope version 2.0: Popular Chillingo title Cut the Rope is getting updated today with new levels, iPhone 5 and Game Center support, and more. The HD iPad version gets the same update. 
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Today SonicoMobile, the creators of iTranslate Voice, released a brand new multi-language translation app for the iPhone. The aptly-named Languages provides translations between twelve different language combinations and sports an iBooks-like interface with a few adjustments for improved usability.

For a full review and screenshots, click here.

Pocket, the bookmarking service formerly know as Read It Later, just released a slick new Mac version of their iOS app. The new app sports most of the features you’ve come to enjoy if you’ve used the iPhone and iPad versions, and the design is similar enough to the mobile versions that you’ll feel right at home the second you start it.

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Angry Birds Seasons version 2.3.0: Rovio updated its Seasons edition of Angry Birds with 30 new levels for Halloween and much more. The HD iPad version gets the same update.

BOO! The pigs are hiding in their spookiest location yet: a haunted house! The Angry Birds will have to brave ghosts and ghouls to get their eggs back — if they can survive the house first! Are your eyes playing tricks on you or did that painting just move?!

-Explore the scary secrets of the brand new haunted house!
-Try to survive 30 all new spooky levels!
-Shiver and shake to the ghostly new Halloween music!
-Use the brand new ghost bricks for fun trick shots!
-Say hello to Frankenswine and the other pigs, all dressed up for Halloween!

Square Register version 2.4: Square is officially rolling out its payment service internationally today with the Canadian launch and an updated Square Register iOS app. Full details in the company’s press release here.

– Square Register is now available in Canada!

Opera Mini version 7.0.5:

 – Integration with iOS Facebook framework (iOS 6+)
– Improved performance when saving large images
– Fixed freeze after sharing via email
– Fixed video playback on youtube.com (iPhone and iPod)
– Performance and stability fixes
– Added support for iOS 4.2.1
– Various iOS 6 related fixes

Music Unlimited version 1.2: The iOS app for Sony’s subscription music service gets a decent update today with the ability to “Create channels inspired by your favorite artists” and more:

· My Channels – Create channels inspired by your favorite artists.
· Playlist management – Create and edit playlists on your mobile device.
· Some features have been improved.

Lumify version 2.0: One of our favorite new social video apps gets a big update:
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Coupons.com announced today that it is adding Passbook integration to its mobile site, allowing users to save dozens of coupons from leading retailers directly to the iOS 6 Passbook app. While the company is not making its entire selection of coupons available to iOS users initially, it does have a long list of notable retailers included in its Passbook-Ready gallery accessible on iOS devices. The company’s mobile app has not yet been updated with the Passbook functionality, but visiting coupons.com will prompt you to visit and add Passbook coupons.

Users of iPhone 5 or iOS 6 simply visit www.coupons.com on their mobile phone, select the Passbook button, and tap Add to Passbook for the coupons they want. Then, just show the offers in Passbook at the cash register for instant discounts.

Some of the retailer partners the website is currently offering Passbook coupons for include Barnes & Noble, Macy’s, Old Navy, OshKosh B’gosh, PETCO, PetSmart, Sears, Michaels, and Avenue. The coupons display the expiration date, a scannable barcode, and instructions to show cashiers how to process the offer:

Each Passbook “coupon” includes a description of the offer (such as “Save up to 20% on Your Entire Order”), the expiration date, and a scannable barcode. An “information” button at the bottom right corner of the offer provides instructions for cashiers on how to process the coupon (including a numeric code that can be manually typed into the cash register if the barcode is not scanning automatically) and additional information (such as purchase requirements).

The company highlighted a few of the offers currently available to Passbook users, and it noted the gallery would be updated frequently:
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