9to5Mac Reviews

A beautiful new weather app called Weather Line launched this morning in the App Store. Weather Line is designed for iOS 7, and it adopts the updated design language and icons introduced in iOS 7’s native Weather app. The app is also compatible with iOS 6 for those using older devices like the iPhone 3GS or fourth-generation iPod touch. It provides a much deeper level of detail than you’ll find in the default Weather app.

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For the last few weeks, I’ve been testing out both the RAVPower Wireless Charger and the xRobot Power Bank, two unique takes on the conventional way to charge your devices. While both products come from the same family, their functionality couldn’t be farther apart. Let’s take a look how both worked.

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Launch Center Pro 2 <3

David Barnard’s Contrast (previously App Cubby) shipped a massive update to the quick shortcut app Launch Center Pro for iPhone today.

Launch Center Pro 2 delivers an iOS 7-inspired user interface and a gorgeous new icon as well as several new features including Dropbox backing up and restoring, various themes, action sharing, and more.

People often ask why anyone would need a separate app to do what their home screen does, but as Contrast’s tag line explains, it allows you to “Launch actions, not just apps!” I’ll share a few of my favorite actions below.

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Dropcam has been around since 2009, but only truly became a player in the app-enabled home security space early last year with the release of the Dropcam HD Wi-Fi video monitoring system. It separated itself from the normal cast of IP video cameras by offering an insanely easy setup process, beautiful software, and effortless mobile device integration (iOS/Android). These wireless cameras have become so popular that Dropcam is now processing more video than YouTube on a daily basis.

Building on the success of the Dropcam HD, the San Francisco-based startup is now launching the Dropcam Pro. It will not be replacing the HD, but rather joining it as ‘step-up’ version for users who want to get the absolute most out of their video monitoring setup. The Dropcam HD will now be known simply as “Dropcam.” We had the opportunity to spend an entire week with the Dropcam Pro. Keep reading to find out if it lives up to the high expectations set by its predecessor.

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Update: Since this post was originally written, Ultimate Ears has released the Boom 2 and replaced the Mini with the Roll

Last year,  we took the best Bluetooth speakers we could find and put them head to head in one big ‘mega review‘. When all was said and done, the overall best in the field was the Ultimate Ears (UE) Mini Boombox which retailed for $99.  Since that time, we’ve reviewed plenty of others including new standouts like the $149  JBL Charge and the $199 Bose Mini Soundlink which we found to be fantastic, higher-priced alternatives.

A few weeks ago, Ultimate Ears dropped their prices on the Mini Boombox at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy and a new Mini Boom app hit the App Store. We reached out to Ultimate Ears on the matter and (long story short)  got ourselves the new UE Mini Boom demo units that launch this morning. How did they stack up against the competition and the previous versions?

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We’ve had a lot of experience reviewing the best portable Bluetooth speakers on the market but what haven’t yet covered speakers so small, you can actually wear them, put them on your bike, or listen to them in the shower. We have two for you today.

The first of these is the $30 Divoom Bean, a small, durable little Bluetooth speaker that looks a little like a ‘smurf lock’ and is the size of a large egg with a carabiner attached (blue above).  It weighs almost nothing and it charges via a micro-USB port on the bottom. It only has 2 buttons on it, a power button and ‘phone’ button. You’ll need to change volume from your phone or other A2DP Bluetooth device and this device seems to automatically switch off after a few minutes of inactivity. It also functions as a speakerphone.

How did it fare in our tests?
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I managed to pick up an iPhone 5s yesterday and have been trying out its new features and enhancements. Here’s my review of the device after using it for 24 hours…

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After 6 generations of iPhones, it’s rare to see unique cases anymore. With 100s of options available, if you’ve seen one, you’ve mostly likely seen them all. That’s why I was surprised to come across the PureGear Retro Game Cases for the iPhone 5 and 5s, an incredibly uniquely designed way to protect your phone. How does it work? Read on for the full review.

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Prologue: I’ve been a Parallels Desktop user since the Windows XP days (and recently reviewed the latest version, Parallels Desktop 9). However, I’ve always been watchful of VMware and their offerings. This review of Fusion 6 is from my perspective as a Parallels user and potential switcher.

Mac users who need to pull up Windows, Linux, or guest OS X virtual machines usually don’t care too much for the whistles and bells of the virtualization software – they simply want a solid, fast experience to get in, run professional programs or play a few games, and get out. For VMware Fusion users in particular, they tend to care more about the CPU performance for professional apps rather than 3D graphics and frame rates. 
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Since the introduction of the App Store, developers have been writing applications that attempt to extend the usability of your iPhone beyond what the device itself can do. From credit card readers to lightbulbs to fitness accessories, it seems like almost anything can be controlled with an iPhone now. The iSpy Helicopter is no different. If you’re familiar with the concept of the Parrot AR Drone, the iSpy Helicopter will immediately make sense. With just your iPhone, a special app, and a small transmitter that plugs into your headphone jack, you can pilot your own mini helicopter. How well does it work? Read on to find out.

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

With over 90% market share in Mac desktop virtualization software (according to NPD), Parallels is the clear leader in the industry. Now, Parallels has introduced Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac, bringing in new features, improving performance, and preparing for Mavericks and Windows 8.1. How does this version stack up? Is it worth the price? Read on to find out.

Performance

With the software at its ninth version, some may be content with their version of Parallels and think the upgrade isn’t worth the price. However, as a previous PD8 (and all the way back to PD3), allow me to be straight-forward: this upgrade gives the biggest noticeable performance boost ever. The company claims the updated software provides 40% better disk performance, 25% faster virtual machine shutdown times, 20% faster virtual machine suspend times, and 15% faster web browsing and 3D graphics.
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An increasing number of cameras these days have wifi built-in, allowing instant viewing of photos on your iPhone or iPad, and from there instant sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and so on. Which can leave those of us with less sociable cameras feeling a little left out in the cold.

Eye-Fi has offered solutions to this for some time, in the form of wifi-equipped cards that you can insert into your older or pro camera and transmit the images to a PC or Mac. This approach worked, after a fashion, but had two big problems. First, setup was far from easy, and second, transmission was via a wireless router. Fine at home, where you probably didn’t need it, not so fine when out & about, where you probably did.

This was the problem the Eye-Fi Mobi set out to solve: a $50 (8GB) or $80 (16GB) SD card that transmits photos direct to an iOS device running the free Eye-Fi app, with no router required. I decided to give it a try … 
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From time to time, I find myself needing to send some files from my Mac to my iPhone, or from my phone to my computer. This is especially true with things like screenshots for reviews. In the past I have used Photo Streams or email to get the images from my phone to my Mac, but both of those are a little more annoying than they need to be.

Using a Photo Stream requires me to open iPhoto on my Mac, which means it will probably take forever just to grab a few images. For email I have to select all the images from my Camera Roll and either mail them five-at-a-time from the photos app, or copy them, switch to Mail, paste them into a message (which somehow bypasses the absurd five-image limit on in-line sharing in the Photos app) and then address the message to myself and wait for it to send, then wait for it to arrive on my computer.

There are also a ton of apps that allow you to connect to your phone through a web browser to transfer files, but those require the app to be running on your phone, and for the app to be in a specific mode to receive the files. It’s not seamless and it’s not as effective as it could be.

This is not a good workflow. That’s where DeskConnect comes in. DeskConnect is an pair of apps for iOS and Mac that avoids all of the unpleasantness of connecting the two devices and allows you to seamlessly send files from one to the other.

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According to a new report from research firm Fiksu, which regularly tracks changes to App Store charts, Apple might be experimenting with new algorithms for iTunes and App Store rankings that incorporate user ratings. Apple previously only used the number of downloads and how fast an app was being downloaded in order to rank apps for its top charts, but Fisku thinks it has recently started incorporating user rankings:

In late July, we first began to notice apps unexpectedly shifting position without a corresponding increase or decrease in downloads. Upon closer inspection, we discovered these position changes correlated with the apps’ ratings. As evidenced by the graph below, apps with ratings of 4 or more stars received a rank boost in late July and have maintained that rank throughout August. Poorly rated apps with less than 3 stars received the opposite treatment about two weeks later, dropping off precipitously in rank and staying that way. Average rated apps, between 3 and 4 stars, suffered a slight degradation in rank but have generally been less affected.

The report also notes that, in recent weeks, Apple appears to be updating App Store charts every three hours opposed to the 15 minute intervals it was using previously. Fisku speculates that the increase could be to help prevent manipulation of the app charts, noting that “three hours allows enough time to identify anomalies and remove apps before they suddenly appear at the top of the rankings.” 
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ReadQuick, the speed-reading app for iPad, has been updated to version 1.5 today. The new version brings the app to the iPhone and iPod touch.

For those who aren’t familiar, ReadQuick is an app that presents a new way to read web articles. Rather than present you the entire article as one page, ReadQuick shows you the entire article one word at a time. That may sound inconvenient, but it turns out it’s actually much nicer than it sounds. Keep reading for our full review of the brand new iPhone version.

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I’ll admit, when I first heard that Ashton Kutcher would be the star of a movie about Steve Jobs, I was less than thrilled. How could someone from That 70’s Show ever accurately portray one of the most influential figures in technology of all time? These negative thoughts in mind, I was pleasantly surprised with ‘Jobs’, which opened nationwide yesterday.

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