Apps

Noted jailbreak and App Store application developer Adam Bell added another great tweak to his arsenal: Overflow. The jailbreak-only adjustment brings the Cover Flow effect (like swiping through album covers when rotating the iPhone) to the iOS home screen’s application dock. As you can see in the video after the break, it works great with Chpwn’s Infinidock tweak —an alteration to iOS that allows users to store an infinite amount of apps in the dock. Bell’s tweak costs $0.99 in the Cydia store, and it works on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. You can watch a video of the tweak in action after the break:

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Verizon Wireless made 26 of its live FiOS TV channels available for online streaming on the Xbox 360. In a new report, GigaOM had the chance to sit down and talk to a Verizon representative at CES 2012, who said a similar app would be available for the iPad sometime this year. Verizon originally announced the streaming app about a year ago and a half ago, but the company held back from releasing it. Verizon accredits the hesistance to making sure networks have the same reliability as IPTV services so streams do not crash.

Verizon also rolled out a similar app to Samsung’s connected Blu-Ray players and televisions today. The iPad app will presumably be available free to those who subscribe to Verizon’s FiOS TV service. We look forward to seeing the app land sometime later this year. Obviously, this will only be available for paying FiOS customers.

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Skype just announcedthe latest beta for Mac with version 5.5. The release includes a number of improvements including an upgraded call UI, and an option to accept a call with video enabled or disabled. Other enhancements include optimizations to stabilization and call quality.

Today, we’re pleased to announce an update to Skype for Mac with the launch of Skype 5.5 for Mac Beta… We have improved the discoverability of Call UI like Windows and iOS that users can easily mute, send video, share screen, send file and add people during a call.

As always, you can download the latest version, Skype 5.5 for Mac, from Skype’s website.

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You are probably familiar with Shazam’s iOS app that lets you identify the name of the song being played, but today, Shazam launched a new iOS app called “Shazam Player.” Shazam Player is free and aims to be a more feature-packed alternative to the default iOS music player.  Shazam Player offers options like streaming lyrics; tour dates from artists, YouTube videos, artist biographies, and even the ability to buy new tracks from iTunes within the app.

Besides the ability to play music, Shazam Player can also identify songs similar to the original Shazam app can. From there, you can launch iTunes from within the app to preview or purchase the song. You can share music with your Facebook and Twitter friends. The ability to view tour dates and bios from your favorite artists right within the app is very cool.

Shazam Player certainly is not as lightweight as Apple’s music player, but it does add a great list of features. If you are big on listening to music, this might be the perfect app for you. Try Shazam Player in the App Store!

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TomTom unveiled a new version of its iPhone and iPad app at CES 2012 that utilizes data from social networks like Facebook and Twitter to provide users with enhanced navigation to friends, places, and events.

The press release does not provide much information on exactly how TomTom is using social network data, but the company claimed it would be a source for turn-by-turn navigation features baked into the current iOS apps. TomTom will obviously have to avoid user-generated data that might be inaccurate, but it is unclear what specific data the app will access. From the screenshots above, it appears you will be able to easily navigate to friends who have recently checked-in (with their location) to a social network.

The new app, version v1.10, will also allow you to share your destination and ETA through email, SMS, Twitter, or Facebook. Managing Director Consumer at TomTom Corinne Vigreux explained:

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In September, leaked documents emerged revealing Comcast was working on a live TV streaming service for iPad called “AnyPlay“ and now the company announced the service will roll out today. To start out, AnyPlay will only be available to Xfinity HD Triple Play subscribers located in Denver and Nashville, but the company plans to roll out to additional markets “in the coming months”.

The service will be accessible through the current Xfinity TV app. Comcast revealed exactly how it works:

the AnyPlay device works the same as any other set top box in the home, but instead of delivering the incoming channel lineup to a television, AnyPlay delivers the lineup to the Wi-Fi router on the home network. The router then distributes the secure video signal to the iPad or Xoom over your home’s wireless network. So as long as your tablet is within range of the home wireless router, you can turn it into another television screen.

In related iPad video streaming news, Showtime announced the Showtime Anytime iPad app today that brings Showtime Anytime subscribers over 400 hours of content. The app appears to only be available to AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS customers, but the press release does mention Comcast support “will be launched soon” and others will be added in the future.

Some of the content accessible form the app includes TV shows “Dexter,” “The Big C,” “House of Lies,” and movies “The King’s Speech,” “The Hurt Locker,” and “Inglorious Basterds.”  The company plans to launch an iPhone app for Showtime Anytime sometime early this year.

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Amazon today launched touch-optimized Kindle Store for iPad as a standalone web app accessed through the iOS Safari browser. You may remember that the online retail giant released Kindle Cloud Reader in August —also a web app that works great on Apple’s tablet, but this is an entirely different experience. Available on the iPad at www.amazon.com/iPadKindleStore, the web interface totally feels like a native app. It is smooth, natural and supports familiar touch gestures, like swiping left and right to brows the store’s virtual shelves. The design calls for big cover images, large buttons and elegant typeface that’s easy on the eyes, unlike some other HTML5 web apps that feel cluttered on a 9.7-inch screen and cause eye strain…

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The iCade is an attachable accessory for the Apple iPad that functions as a portable arcade cabinet, but now the device’s manufacturer unveiled three new products under the popular line that toggle the iPhone and iPod Touch.

ION Audio showcased the products at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The manufacturer recreated the original arcade setup by ditching the cabinet exterior in favor of landscape support.

The first product is the iCade Mobile for iPhone 4/4S or iPod Touch. According to Engadget, it is a handheld with gaming buttons and a D-pad, which subsequently adds 1.5-inches onto each side of the iOS mobile device. The iCade Mobile also allows users to switch between portrait and landscape mode. ION said it expects about 100 games to be compatible with the product, and the retail price is currently set at $79.99 USD.

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Pictures for each new iCade product are displayed after the break.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4vTqozhDWo]

Epic Games and Chair Entertainment, developers of the popular on-rails, hack-and-slash iOS franchise called “Infinity Blade,” just announced the two titles have earned over $30 million since the first game launched in the App Store in December 2010. Assuming “earnings” accounts for total earnings, Apple’s 30 percent cut would be $9 million.

Epic Games, Inc. and its award-winning Salt Lake City-based development studio, ChAIR Entertainment, today announced that earnings from ChAIR’s blockbuster Infinity Blade video game franchise have eclipsed $30 million in just one year since the introduction of the original game. One of the most popular gaming franchises to be launched on the App Store, the award-winning series has also created significant licensing interest in the underlying Unreal Engine 3 technology from developers worldwide.

In the announcement (via Joystiq), the developers also noted that Infinity Blade II reached over $5 million in net earnings since its release last month on Dec. 1, 2011. In comparison, it took the first Infinity Blade title three months to achieve that milestone. The first game now accounts for more than $23 million of the franchise’s earnings.

The original Infinity Blade is available as a universal download for $5.99 here. Infinity Blade 2, which IGN gave a “Perfect 10” score, is available for $6.99. The companies also noted a number of other products in the franchise were released, including the Infinity Blade: Awakening digital novel (on Amazon here), and the Infinity Blade: Original Soundtrack.

Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps said the following in a statement:

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An odd application made its way onto the iPhone App Store called “GameStore” a few days ago. The application was deemed an Apple internal testing tool for their iOS in-app-purchase system, and the June 2009 date -the month of the event in which in-app-purchase was formally announced- on the application’s store page seems to affirm that.

You recently purchase the GameStore app. The app was made available for sale prematurely. We apologize for the problem and have refunded the purchase amount back to your account. These funds will be applied to your original payment method within 5 business days.

The application was quickly removed from the App Store, and today, buyers were informed that refunds for the application were issued to their iTunes accounts. Interestingly, Apple noted that the “GameStore” application went live on the App Store “prematurely.” We do not want to read too much into Apple announcing this GameStore application was publicly released early, especially because of the June 2009 date attached to the application,  but one can infer that it is an App Store dedicated to gaming software.

Thanks, Jordan from App of the Day and Cole M!

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UPDATE: The Guardian reported tonight, Jan. 4, that Apple is “believed to have ruled itself out of the running” for the rights to stream Premier League football content.

Despite much speculation from media outlets, such as The Daily Mail, it seems Apple has not even discussed the idea of bidding, and the company is unlikely to make an offer after the conclusion of this season.

Furthermore, The Guardian said Apple’s primary competitor in the streaming device market, Google, is “considered a more likely bidder.”

Reports surfaced late Jan. 3 claiming Apple wants to stream Premier League football content to its Apple TV service.

The Premier League will consider bids for next season after the rights to screen football games expires at the end of the 2011 to 2012 season.

The Daily Mail reported Jan. 3 that both Apple and Google are interested in purchasing rights to Premier League content for their respective Apple TV and Google TV services. Such streaming content is considered premium and could help solidify Apple TV in the United Kingdom while boosting iPad sales.

Apple’s U.K. iTunes subscription infrastructure is secure, but Apple TV is struggling due to a lack of streaming apps offered within the country. Apple TV in the U.K. presently offers a subscription package to Major League Baseball. Therefore, a Premier League app would compliment the available selection considerably.

The Mail did not quote sources but said the involvement of Apple and Google would “give the [Premier League] a hugely competitive market at a time when the price of other TV sports rights are in decline.”

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Apple subsidiary FileMaker Inc., just announced they shipped over 1 million units of Bento, their personal database tool currently available for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Originally released in 2008, Bento is now available in seven languages with dedicated clients for iPhone and iPad ($4.99) that sync with Bento for Mac currently available on the Mac App Store for $49.99.

Vice President of Marketing and Services for FileMaker, Inc., Ryan Rosenberg said the following in a statement:

“Bento’s elegance has led to sales of more than a million units, meeting the needs of customers ranging from ranchers and mobile dentists to personal trainers and rock bands. With Bento on your iPad, iPhone, or Mac it’s easy to organize your contacts, track projects, plan events and manage just about anything.”

The full press release is available after the break.

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It’s Caucus Day in Iowa, and most Americans will be tuned into their favorite news channel to see who the winner will be.  This year, though, the elections entered the twenty-first century due to The New York Times’ “Election 2012” free iPhone application available through the App Store.

According to the NYT, the app gives iPhone users “news, opinion, polls and live election night results,” from its own publication and other top sources, while providing “the best campaign coverage anywhere.”

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Update: Apple has now pulled the GameStore app from iTunes and the App Store.

Spotted by Flo’s Weblog at Schimake.com, an application called GameStore, published by Apple, made its way onto iTunes Dec. 31. What exactly GameStore is used for -at this point- is still unknown. At first glance, it appears to be some type of internal test app for in-app purchases and payments.

The official description for the app through its iTunes page is as follows: “This application allows you to buy different things from within the app.” Inside the app, there appears to be in-app purchase content for racing games under the “Products List” tab. Tapping one prompts you to buy the content, but the content itself does not seem to be functional. Other tabs within the app, include: “Shopping Cart,” “Payment Q,” and “Settings.”

While the app is listed as published on Dec. 31, 2011, viewing it from within the App Store on an iOS device shows a post date of June 9, 2009. It is likely this is simply an internal tool used for testing in-app purchase functionality that was published accidentally on iTunes. The app is currently still available through iTunes for $0.99.

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We broke the news yesterday that developers Steven Troughton-Smith and the TheMudKip were working on bringing iOS applications to the Apple TV in a native experience. We have been updating with the developer’s progress since our initial report, but now a major leap was achieved: full-screen applications. Troughton-Smith was awesome enough to exclusively pass on the images (above and below) of full-screen applications in action.

The port was initially able to run multiple applications side-by-side on a display connected to an Apple TV, but now the developers have figured out a way to run iPad applications —because of the artwork resolution— at a full 720p resolution. The possibilities of what applications can do at the full television resolution on an Apple TV seems endless, and the two types of application presentations (side-by-side and full screen) show the versatility of this application porting.

Since the developers have achieved this feat by rewriting the springboard itself, we will surely see some more innovation as their work progresses. As Troughton-Smith posted on Twitter: “Remember how the unofficial iPhone applications back in ‘07 forced Apple’s hand in creating an App Store? I’d like Apple TV to get the same treatment.” However, we hope this becomes something more than just an unofficial tweak.

Update: Video below:

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[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htC9sHr34K0″]

Video of iOS apps running side-by-side on Apple TV.

Developer Steven Troughton-Smith has been working with a developer named TheMudKip to add iOS application functionality to the Apple TV. The tweaking is still in its early stages, but the concept of running applications was at least proven. In order to accomplish the task of running iOS applications on the Apple TV, the software that powers the app launcher, the iOS Springboard, had to be rewritten.

Rewriting the springboard also allowed for another neat, new feature: side-by-side apps. This concept was demonstrated as early as WWDC 2011 on an iPad, but is much more powerful and important on a device like an Apple TV. One can imagine opening several news applications to have a big view of what is going on in the world, or having different chat applications for different services simultaneously in use. We will update on the progress of this hack as more information comes in. More images after the break:

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Google’s Android Market is now home to a couple not-so convincing Siri clones, both of which use Apple’s official Siri icon and one that attempts to mimic the UI. Developer Viewide is even marketing one of the applications called “Speerit” as “REAL Siri for Android”.

Speerit (pictured above), is for now only available in Korean, but the developers plan to support English in a future update. As Electronista pointed out: “Differing results on the weather widget suggest it’s not actually asking Apple’s servers.” The app is available on the Android Market for free.

Another app, called Siri for Android, as picked up by The Next Web, made a point of clarifying it is simply a Siri icon that acts as a shortcut to Google’s Voice Actions. Although, like Speerit, it too boldly uses what appears to be Apple’s official Siri icon.

Also, the app’s name, “Siri for Android,” beside the developer’s name, “Official App,” could give users who don’t know any better the impression it is some type of official Siri port. The app is also available for free in the Android Market.

No word on whether Google or Apple plans to take action. Controversial or knockoff apps being removed from the Android Market and the App Store is not uncommon, but it is clearly a bigger concern for the Android Market’s easygoing review policies.

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

Popular developer of jailbreak applications chpwn released another powerful tweak for iOS users, this time an enhancement to the software’s multitasking feature. The tweak is called Zephyr and it brings new multitasking gestures that are inspired by Meego’s Swipe interface. The foundation of Meego-known for running on the now defunct Nokia N9-was the ability to maneuver around the operating system with edge swipes.

The Swipe navigation method was very smooth on the Nokia N9 and the port through Zephyr to iOS is just as handy. As you can see in the video above, a user just has to flick up from the bottom of their iOS device’s display to open the multitasking bar. In addition, you can swipe in from the edge-just the like the iPad on iOS 5, but one with one finger-to move between applications.

“I think this is probably the most efficient way to multitask on the iPhone,” said Grant Paul (chpwn) in his video demonstration of the tweak. From what we can see, we tend to agree. The tweak was inspired by a tweet from popular developer Steven Troughton-Smith from just a couple of week ago.

“iOS on the iPhone really needs edge-swipe multitasking gestures,” said Troughton-Smith. “Or similar. I’ve said this before. Anyone make a JB tweak for such?”

Zephyr is currently exclusive to jailbroken iPhones and iPod touches and the edge swipes are not currently customizable for features other than multitasking. Paul promises additional functionality through future updates. The tweak is currently available through the Cydia jailbreak application market for $2.99. For those interested in comparing Zephyr’s edge swiping to Meego’s, we have a video demonstration of the Meego interface navigation after the break.

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(We’re offering a $10 discount/free Parallels MacBook Air contest this week)

If you are not new to Parallels, you will already be familiar with its ability to run Windows in a virtual machine within OS X. You might also be familiar with its Coherence view mode that allows you to run Windows and Mac OS applications side by side, rather than a full-blown Windows 7 in a separate window. However, Parallels Desktop 7 takes it to the next level with some of the deepest Windows/OS X integration yet.

The name of the game for the new Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac is definitely OS X Lion integration. Pretty much every new UI feature incorporated into Lion has been integrated into Parallels, and thus Windows 7. We put the new version to the test with both Windows 7 and Windows 8 developer preview on last year’s iMac with 4GB of RAM.

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The message shown to developers until today

Although Apple said iTunes Connect would be shut down from Dec. 22 until Dec. 29, Apple put the website back up today – one day early. iTunes Connect is the portal for Apple iOS and Mac developers where they can upload and submit new applications, make changes to their App Store pages, obtain promotional codes, check sales reports, and more.

Apple application developers typically see sales increases due to the jump in iOS device sales during the holidays. A report from yesterday claimed that Apple saw 12 times its typical iOS device activation statistic on Christmas Day alone.

Additionally, some developers have reported, in the last couple of days, that its price changes scheduled for Dec. 25 have started to appear. Price changes were delayed from appearing on Christmas Day, but have still begun appearing before Apple’s previously noted reopen date for App Store submissions and changes.

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

Facebook recently introduced a new feature for profiles called Timeline, and the social network giant describes it as “[telling] your life story with a new kind of profile.” The feature, as demonstrated for the web in Facebook’s promotional video shown above, places all of your photographs, interactions, status updates, and more on a timeline that starts from the day you were born.

The feature works great on the desktop web and mobile version of Facebook’s website, and now Facebook plans to bring Timeline to the iPad’s Facebook application. Timeline was supposed to come to the iPad in December, but the feature’s release was pushed back due to last minute bugs found during advanced testing. Facebook is now planning to launch the update between mid-January and late January. Read on to learn more about Timeline for iPad…

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