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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.

Juicebox brings slick HTML5 image galleries to iOS

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John Nack, Adobe’s principal product manager, has taken to his usual forum on the Adobe blogs to share a new HTML5 gallery recently debuted by developer Felix Turner. Turner is known for his PostcardViewer and other Photoshop-compatible image gallery applications that inspired Adobe to include Flash support in Photoshop’s built-in Photo Gallery. Turner’s new HTML5 gallery, called “Juicebox“, also works through Photoshop and Lightroom plug-ins (or through the company’s own app), and it has impressive options for iOS galleries.

A simulation of a Juicebox-Pro gallery on an iPhone (here), and demos of all the customization options are on the company’s website. Juicebox is available through a free lite version and paid licenses ranging from $50 to $99 for 1 to 5 domains, and it has a WordPress plug-in available. The Pro version packs over 70 additional configuration options, the ability add audio and watermarking, a Javascript API, and access to CSS and PNG files. Slick and responsive HTML5 galleries like these on iOS are definitely needed.

Late last month, Adobe launched its CS6 suite of 14 apps alongside its Creative Cloud service.


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Sony releases ‘Music Unlimited’ Spotify competitor as iOS app

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Looking to usurp rival competitors like Spotify and MOG, Sony today launched its Music Unlimited streaming service as an iOS app. We told you in January that it was coming, but today the free app officially hits the App Store with subscriptions starting at $3.99 a month for varying access to the service’s 15 million+ songs and playback features. There is also a 30-day free trial of the premium service.

Previously only available to Android users and Sony products such as PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray players, the service offers two paid subscriptions options, including: a $4 Basic plan that provides basic channels and access to your own library; and a $10 Premium account giving you access to on demand playback for Sony’s catalogue, offline listening. The more expensive packages also offers the ability to create playlists, and access charts, new releases, and premium channels. Unlike Spotify, which recently debuted its iPad app, the Music Unlimited app does not have an iPad-specific version.

The Sony Music Unlimited app is available in the New Zealand App Store now, and it should hit the United States and other supported markets soon. As of March, Sony offered the service in 14 countries including the U.S., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. A full list of features for Basic and Premium subscribers is below:


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Latest Mountain Lion update brings iOS-like automatic downloads for apps

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The latest update to OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 3 seems to have partially enabled iOS-style automatic app downloads in the App Store. Like on the iPhone and iPad, when you buy and install an app on one of your Macs, all of your other Macs logged into the same App Store account will automatically install the app too.

Unfortunately, the feature does not seem to be working completely. While the App Store will still offer to enable automatic downloads (as seen above), it does not actually install anything when you purchase apps from another computer. However, it does apparently show the app as being installed when you view it in the App Store. There is a good chance we will see at least one more developer preview, or at least a GM, in the coming weeks that should fully enable the feature.

Thanks, Zach!

Facebook rolling out new “Pages Manager” app for iPhone

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Facebook has just broken out another feature of their main app and released Pages Manager for the iPhone. The app appears to function just like the main Facebook app, but with all of the features dedicated to fan pages. It also features some new features like access to Facebook’s Insights for tracking analytics data, such as the number of people sharing your page and the total number of people who have been exposed to your brand through the page. Pages Manager available right now in New Zealand, and will be out in the US soon.

More screenshots after the break.

Thanks Daniel!


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Google launches Google+ integrated ‘Schemer’ app for iPhone

Google launched its Schemer social networking mobile app today as a free iPhone app in the App Store. It originally launched as an invite-only service in December, and then it released on Google Play in April. The service is a social network “all about the schemes” that allows you to post your plans for future activities, meet with friends, and get activities, or “schemes” recommended to you.

Get the full story at 9to5Google.

(via GigaOM)

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Apple, Disney discuss bringing WatchESPN feature to Apple TV (update: no)

Update: Bloomberg has updated its story to say that Disney and Apple are actually NOT in talks to bring the WatchESPN service to the Apple TV.

No deal is imminent with Apple, said Amy Phillips, a spokeswoman for Bristol, Connecticut-based ESPN.

“We’re not having conversations with Apple about authenticating WatchESPN,” Phillips said.

According to a report from Bloomberg, which cites ESPN executive Sean Bratches, Apple is currently in talks with Walt Disney’s ESPN network to bring the WatchESPN app, currently available for iPhone and iPad and recently opened up to Comcast customers, to Apple TV:

ESPN subscribers with AppleTV would gain access to the network’s Internet service on their sets. The sports network, which today announced programming for the TV season starting in September, said a deal isn’t imminent.

Bratches spoke with Bloomberg in an interview today:

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Wolfram Mathematica coming to the iPad

It would appear that Wolfram, the company behind the Siri search engine, is bringing its original product, Mathematica, to the iPad. In response to a comment on Reddit, when asked if there was an iPad version of Wolfram for iPad in the works, Stephen Wolfram said, “stay tuned.”

What Is Mathematica?

Almost any workflow involves computing results, and that’s what Mathematica does—from building a hedge fund trading website or publishing interactive engineering textbooks to developing embedded image recognition algorithms or teaching calculus.

Mathematica is renowned as the world’s ultimate application for computations. But it’s much more—it’s the only development platform fully integrating computation into complete workflows, moving you seamlessly from initial ideas all the way to deployed individual or enterprise solutions.

Mathematica is huge in science/engineering education and application—a few of the many areas where the iPad is making huge inroads in personal computing.

Cheers Rudy!

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Open source QuickTime component Perian closing its doors soon

Dubbed the “Swiss-army knife for QuickTime,” open source QuickTime component Perian is finally closing down shop. The team of the six-year-old project announced the news today on their website and said the project will retire 90 days after Perian’s final release. The team also said the final release is coming soon and “may or may not work” in the upcoming Mountain Lion, and it will feature a ton of fixes. Luckily, it does not look like Perian’s technology will be hung out to dry, because the Perian team plans to put the source code on Google Code or Github when the time comes. This will allow developers to modify code and add new features for users to enjoy in an open source format.

Perian has been the go-to tool for those looking to add a slew of regular and not-so regular file and video types to QuickTime’s compatibility list, such as WMA, MPEG-4 Part 2, H.263, H.264, and more. Windows Media Video was pretty much the only popular video format that did not make the supported list.

Is anyone really bummed out?


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Review: DropCloud for iOS

[slideshow]

Note: Some of the screenshots in this slideshow are from the current beta version.

I love the CloudApp file sharing service, and I’ve tried my fair share of CloudApp clients for my iPhone. Unfortunately, most of the iOS clients that are currently available have been abandoned by the developers, receive few updates, or just aren’t that great. Enter DropCloud.


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Sparrow to charge for push notifications with yearly subscriptions

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The last we heard, iOS email client Sparrow said push notifications were coming “with or without” Apple. Apple has decided not to extend the privilege of VOIP apps to Sparrow, which, due to latency issues, are allowed to keep an open network connection in the background for processes like notifications. The alternative forces non-VOIP, third-party apps—such as Sparrow– to send push notifications from its own servers. The company initially said it would not implement push notifications due to security and cost concerns, but confirmed in a blog post today, while announcing Sparrow v1.2, that it will soon offer push through a yearly subscription:

 

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Adobe releases iPad versions of ‘Collage’ & ‘Proto’ apps

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Previously available only to Android users, Adobe released its Adobe Collage app to iPad users today for assembling “modern, conceptual moodboards.” It also released the Adobe Proto app for iPad that allows you to create prototypes of websites and mobile apps.

The Collage app allows users to import content from select Adobe Creative Suite applications, including PDFs, PSDs, and AI files, as well as upload and access existing content stored in your complimentary 2GB Adobe Creative Cloud account. Once you have content imported from Adobe apps or the Web, the app provides a canvas, multiple pen types, text tools, various fonts, and other tools for incorporating images, video, text, and drawings into a collage-style piece of art.

Adobe’s Proto app allows you to “sketch website and mobile app wireframe layouts with simple finger strokes on your tablet’s touchscreen” using a CSS grid system, WebKit preview, jQuery support, and the ability to sync wireframes to Creative Cloud and to Dreamweaver CS6.

The Adobe Collage app for iPad is available on the App Store now for $9.99, and the Adobe Proto app is available for the same price (here). Adobe also updated its Photoshop Touch iPad app today with a ton of new features including new 2,048-by-2,048 resolution settings, auto-sync for Creative Cloud, new languages, and much more. A full list of features for Proto and Collage is below:


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Adobe Photoshop Touch updated to version 1.2

The Adobe Photoshop Touch iOS app received a slew of fixes and small new features this morning after being updated to version 1.2 overnight. The most notable feature in version 1.2 is a new maximum resolution of 2,048-by-2,048 pixels for images. The default measurement will still be 1,600-by-1,600 pixels, but for those looking for a little more can change it in the app’s settings. Sadly, Photoshop Touch still is not Retina-compatible. Other new features include:

  • Automatic synchronization with Creative Cloud
  • Available in 6 languages (English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Italian)
  • Added export to PSD and PNG via Camera Roll or email.
  • Improved rotate and flip image workflow.
  • Added ability to transfer images to desktop via iTunes.
  • Added two new Tutorials.
  • Added four new Effects (Watercolor Paint, HDR Look, Soft Light and Soft Skin).

As for fixes, Adobe corrected the supported languages in iTunes and fixed an issue with logging in via Facebook. You can grab this update over on the App Store.
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Angry Birds creator confirms name of next game to be ‘Amazing Alex’

Are you such an Angry Birds fan that you just cannot wait for the next game out of Rovio? Luckily, for you, that time seems to be coming soon. As noted by The Next Web, Rovio’s CEO announced on a Finnish TV channel that the Angry Birds successor is called “Amazing Alex.” The game will have an educational aspect, and it will be based around “a curious young boy who loves to build things.” Rovio is looking to the game Casey’s Contraptions as a building block.

Making this game high quality is key for Rovio —if they want this game to have a huge success like Angry Birds. Angry Birds is considered one of the most popular mobile games of all times. It hit a total of 1 billion downloads, which helped push the company to a first-quarter revenue of 75.4 million euros ($106,3 million USD). Those kinds of numbers for Amazing Alex will be hard to come by.

Rovio’s CEO Mikael Hed is aware he needs to keep those standards. He said “quality pressure is high,” and they want “to maintain the high standard Angry Birds fans have come to enjoy.”

The release date for the new game was not given.


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RadioShack is offering $50 discount on iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S

RadioShack is having a $50 discount sale on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S on all carriers until June 30. The deal is valid at every RadioShack location and can combine with trade-ins through the company’s Trade and Save program. Target is also offering a similar $50 price cut on the iOS smartphones. That means the 8GB iPhone 4 is $49, and the 16GB iPhone 4S is $149, etc., at both retail stores.


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Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 hits the Mac App Store for $150

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[slideshow]

Along with the $80 Photoshop Elements, Premiere Elements and Revel, Adobe now offers its popular pro/sumer photo management software Lightroom 4 in the Mac App Store for $150.

Though it generally gets better reviews than Apple’s own $80 Aperture, it is almost double the price and can often be found offline for less.

Adobe fans are hoping the titles continue and with the recent release of Creative Suite 6, there are many other opportunities for Adobe in the Mac App Store. Apple, as always, gets 30 percent of the take in the Mac App Store, so Adobe might not be willing to throw a huge chunk of its cash cow Apple’s way.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 description follows:


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Redesigned Google+ for iPhone released, featuring a crisper UI and larger profile pictures

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Google released a pretty substantial update to its Google+ for iPhone app this afternoon by adding a much crisper user-interface that actually makes the app a bit more enjoyable to use. The update is very welcomed, because the first version of the Google+ app was not very well received by the community. It was very bland and not the easiest to navigate. However, with the new update released today, that seems to have changed.

As you can see in the gallery below, the updated UI makes the app much more appealing and easier to use —perhaps now passing Facebook’s iOS app. Here is a run down of the features from Google:

  • Whether you post photos or articles or text, we’re making ‘em look gooood.
  • We’re adding crisper fonts, larger profile pics and a friendlier homescreen.
  • We’re making the stream easier to scan, and easier on the eyes with overlays, gradients and other visual elements.
  • Conversations fall into view as you move forward and backward in time.
  • Optical cues (like parallax) help the mind linger on individual posts.
  • Important actions like +1 now float atop the stream, making it easy to endorse all your favorites.

You can check out the update over on the App Store.


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Gameloft’s ‘N.O.V.A 3’ lands in App Store with impressive console-quality visuals

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EKlKaJnbFek]

Gameloft has done a pretty good job of promoting the latest title in its Halo-inspired sci-fi FPS franchise known as “N.O.V.A- Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance.” Yesterday, it launched a new trailer for the iOS game (above), and today the follow-up to the first two critically acclaimed games, N.O.V.A 3, is finally going live on the App Store.

With vastly improved visuals thanks to real-time dynamic lighting and shadows, “movie-like” depth of field effects, and improved ragdoll physics, the new game is even closer to console-quality graphics and one of best looking iOS titles we have seen since Unreal Engine-powered Infinity Blade. New features include 12-player multiplayer on six maps, enhanced vehicle gameplay, and a ton of new weapons and enemies.

The universal app is already live on the New Zealand App Store for $9.99 and should hit the U.S. store any minute now. We will keep you updated.

A full list of new features below:

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Apps & updates: Dolphin Browser, Watch ESPN, Evernote, Expensify, more

The most notable app updates today landed for the Dolphin browser iOS apps and Evernote app, but we also get significant improvements to the Watch ESPN app for Comcast customers, a major update to Expensify, and other fixes and features for eBay and Vimeo.

Dolphin Browser for iPad v4.2: In addition to a high definition and “sleeker browsing experience” for the new iPad’s Retina display, the app has also been updated with the following:

-Keyboard: Your last used keyboard layout will reopen for fewer switches.
-Browsing History: Past sites and searches shown in suggestion list while searching in URL bar.
-Various stability and performance improvement.

Dolphin Browser (iPhone) v4.1: A decent update for the iPhone Dolphin app brings browsing history and keyboard improvements from the iPad update, as well as a new Tab Restore feature and a number of fixes.

Evernote Version 4.2.0: The universal Evernote app received a huge update today with a ton of new features, improvements, and redesigned UI elements. We also get support for Photo Stream images as attachments, a new audio recorder, and “more powerful note editing capabilities.”

Watch ESPN Version 1.6: ESPN’s universal iOS app for watching live sports and shows from the network has been updated to allow Comcast customers with ESPN in their TV package to access all content from the app.

Expensify Version 3.20: The popular “#1 app for business travellers and road warriors,” Expensify, received a major update today bringing a new “Expensify Trips” feature, time tracking, pinch to zoom receipts, and tons of fixes. Here is how the new Trips feature works:

Forward your travel itineraries to receipts@expensify.com and let SmartScan pull out the details for fast access inside the app. Includes: streamlined presentation, pre-flight travel alerts, reminders displayed in the app 24-hours before each reservation, offline access, etc.

Other apps that received updates today include fixes for crashing during syncing videos in the Vimeo iOS app (Version 2.0.4), and a redesigned eBay Fashion app (version 1.6.0) with a new look and improved sharing and search capabilities.

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Apps & updates: Twitpic for iPhone, SoundCloud fixes, Wall Street Journal gains Retina support

The folks at popular Twitter image uploading service Twitpic released their own app today on the App Store. The app allows you to easily edit photos with a number of filters and other effects, such as cropping, brightness, and orientation. Twitpic for iPhone also offers the ability to view all pictures and videos of the people you are following on Twitter, as well as the ability to comment on Twitpic pictures, and the option to see the most popular pictures shared on Twitpic for the day. You can check out the new app here.

Furthermore, there is also some nice app updates today: SoundCloud has been updated to version 2.1.9, which features a fix for an issue where users could not navigate after signing up/ logging in—definitely a bummer. For those of you who use the Wall Street Journal iPad app to find your daily news, you will be happy to learn that the app gained Retina display support, which is just perfect for the new iPad. You can grab the SoundCloud update here, and Wall Street Journal update here. A few others include: a Washington Post update that can be found here; Madden NFL 12 here; and, TNT for iPad here.


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Microsoft: ‘iCloud might not be enough for you’

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=agth2M00lvk#!]

We covered the release of Microsoft’s new SkyDrive for Mac and updated iOS apps last month, and today the company is once again trying to convince iCloud users to make the switch. On the Office for Mac blog and SkyDrive blog, Microsoft posted a video today titled “iCloud not enough? Try SkyDrive,” alongside the following three reasons to choose its cloud service over Apple’s:

Access files and Office docs, anywhere:

With iCloud, you can only access certain files across devices—like iWork files or photos you take on your iPhone.

With SkyDrive, you can access or manage any file from anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether the file is a document, photo, video, PDF, or anything else—just drag files to theSkyDrive folder on your Mac and they’ll automatically be available on youriPhone, iPad, or PC. If you don’t have your devices with you, you can still access, view, or edit any file by signing in to SkyDrive.com on any browser.

Share and work toegether with anyone:

With iCloud, you can only collaborate with people who have the right software.

But with SkyDrive, you can share any type of file—even big ones up to 2 GB—with anyone. SkyDrive works seamlessly with Office. Anyone you share with can view or edit Word,PowerPoint, or Excel files using Officefor Mac, Office for Windows, or withOffice Web Apps in their browser (it’s free!).

Your notes, everywhere:

With iCloud, you can access notes across your devices but can’t share them.

SkyDrive and OneNote, both free, are integrated so you can take notes, track to-dos and lists all in one place, and share your lists with friends and family so they can coordinate shopping or other tasks you’re working on together. You can share and keep your lists automatically updated from any device.

Microsoft also linked to a page with instructions for moving from iDisk to SkyDrive.

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Apple now credits Open Street Map under iPhoto acknowledgments

When Apple released iPhoto for iOS on March 7, many quickly realized that Apple was not using Google Maps as it usually does for mapping, but rather maps from the OpenStreetMap project. Apple offered no official credit to the non-profit project, which collects a series of maps from over 500,000 people worldwide. However, it appears that Apple has finally credited OpenStreetMap in its latest iPhoto update, as the non-profit project tweeted the news last night.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/#!/openstreetmap/status/198101512201834497[/tweet]

While OpenStreetMap is available for anyone to use, the project does ask for one-line of attribution (via TPM). Apple now mentions OSM under the iPhoto acknowledgements in settings.

That wasn’t so hard?

Apps & updates: eBay for iPad, The Daily for iPhone, Google Currents Retina support, more

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A number of notable apps were released or updated today on the App Store like the release of previously iPad-only news app The Daily, which was originally launched by News Corp last year. We also get a new iPad app from NBC offering video coverage, interactive tools, and live election results for breaking political news, as well as a completely redesigned iPad app for eBay, and more.

The Daily: Like the iPad version, The Daily iPhone client is free with a selection of content accessible to everyone. However, you will need to grab a $20 per year or $2 per month subscription to access the entire app, which is considerably less than the $40 per year and $1 per week offered with the iPad version.

eBay for iPad: This app received a huge update today bringing support for Retina displays, a redesigned home screen, “ultra-high resolution item images,” and many enhancements made to search results and notifications. The online auction and shopping website also noted it added some of the top requested features from users, such as: revise listings, back button, and improved search.

Google Currents: It is not a huge update, but Google updated its free magazine-style news app today with support for iPad Retina displays and the usual bug fixes.

NBC Politics: NBC’s new universal iOS app provides coverage of all-things politics with video coverage including interviews and shows like “Andrea Mitchell Reports” and “Morning Joe.” It also offers an interactive “Battleground Map,” real-time live election results, candidate profiles, and sharing features.

Lowe’s Virtual Experience: Lowe’s released a universal iOS app today allowing you to view 3D models of its major appliances available in its physical retail locations. It employs augmented reality to allow you to view and walk around the products in your home—as if your kitchen was the showroom.

Assassin’s Creed Rearmed: Ubisoft’s latest iOS spin-off of the Assassin’s Creed franchise was updated today with bug fixes for crashing during the character selection screen. But, more importantly, a new “Synergy” feature now allows you to “hack the Animus and use normal abilities in spectacular ways.” There are a eight abilities, such as: Smoke Bomb Immunity, Instant Trap, and Killing Knives.
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Spotify for iPad finally lands in the App Store

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yXdD-2wJUac]

There were leaks last month showing what might have been our first look at the Spotify iPad app, but today the company officially launched its long-awaited app with a blog post and the video above. The free app has already landed in the App Store as a universal download (an update for users of the iPhone app), and the service offers a 48-hour free trial for non-Premium subscribers with the ability to increase it to 30 days.

Our iPad app looks great. We’ve included Retina graphics and high-definition album art to make browsing a pleasure. Enjoying all the world’s music instantly on your iPad has never been easier. And with the brand new full-screen view and AirPlay integration, Spotify and your iPad are perfect for each other, both as your pumped-up living room stereo and your lean, green music machine when you’re on the move.

Compared to Spotify’s iPhone experience, the iPad app has been completely redesigned with a layered UI more familiar to Facebook iPad app users and packs most of the service’s features apart from the recently launched Web apps. It also includes a new full-screen mode with Retina graphics to take advantage of the device’s display and AirPlay support. Missing is “Collection” view and few other features only accessible through the online service.

The full set of features, as described by Spotify community manager Andres Sehr, is below:

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Apple releases minor updates to iMovie, iPhoto, and Garageband for iOS

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Apple has released minor software updates for iLife for iOS. The suite received major updates on March 7, the day of the new iPad announcement, and today’s updates focus on slight enhancements and bug fixes.

iMovie 1.3.1: 

This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of minor issues, including the following:
• Adds the ability to access Help when editing a project on iPad
• Resolves an issue where the incorrect frame was shown after splitting a clip

iPhoto: 1.0.1:

• When publishing a journal to iCloud, the URL of the journal can now be copied using a Copy Link button
• Addresses an issue that could cause duplicate photos to appear in Photos view
• Includes stability improvements

Garageband 1.2.1: 

What’s New in Version 1.2.1
• Fixes an issue that could lead to crashing or missing songs when sharing to iCloud
• Resolves an error when logging into SoundCloud using a Facebook account
• Addresses minor issues related to performance and stability

Cards and iTunes U also saw minor bug fix updates.


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