This kind of giveaway is just too good to ignore. In a nutshell, two lucky winners will walk away with an iPad Mini. That’s just…awesome.
So if you’ve ever hoped, wished, dreamed, or thought about getting an iPad Mini this iPad Mini Giveaway is right up your alley.
After announcing back in October that it will bring Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to Android and iOS to celebrate the game’s 10th anniversary, Rockstar Games went quiet on the release, leaving us all to wonder when it would finally arrive. It even had me searching the App Store for ‘Vice City’ on a daily basis in the hope that it would suddenly appear.
The company has now confirmed, however, that Vice City will hit the App Store and Google Play on December 6, priced at $4.99.
For developers, distributing promo codes can be a pain in the neck. Apple gives its third-party devs the ability to share an app with a limited number of users—a feature that is often used to give bloggers like myself early access to software before it comes out. That way we can test and get familiar with a certain app in order to provide helpful feedback and possibly write a review.
A new Mac app called Tokens offers developers a drastically improved method for generating and distributing their app promo codes.
Apple’s App Store first made its debut on the iPhone 3G back in July 2008, much to the delight of iPhone owners whose only taste of third-party software prior to that was with web apps. Now, just over four years on, it has received more than 1 million app submissions.
Back in October of 2010, iOS developer Applidium brought VideoLAN’s legendary VLC media player to the App Store. Unfortunately, the universal app had a short shelf life, as it was pulled at the request of VideoLAN a few months later. The issue revolved around VLC’s General Public License (GPL) licensing agreement. Because VLC is open source software, it was technically illegal for Applidium to sell a port in Apple’s DRM-restricted App Store.
Fast forward more than a year later, and a change in VideoLAN’s licensing means that VLC can be legally brought back to the App Store in all of its glory.
Nintendo, unlike many software developers, has chosen to ignore the goldmine that is Apple’s App Store by refusing to develop its titles for iOS. It’s almost guaranteed that the Japanese company would make an absolute killing if it just brought fan favorites like Super Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon to our iPhones and iPads. But president Satoru Iwata is adamant it will only develop titles for its own hardware.
There are signs, however, that Nintendo is cracking. It just released its first paid iOS app, a mobile version of the Nintendo 3DS’s Pokédex, to customers in Japan.
Memory. Not only do you have one, but you’ve probably played any number of card-flipping memory games in your life… possibly on the App Store, where there are over 50 of such games that promise to test the limits of your recollections.
Those games are now under attack, as Apple is sending notices to developers demanding that they remove the word “Memory” from their titles. It’s not Apple’s fault, though: rather, a German company is gunning for them, claiming it owns the trademark for the word in dozens of European, African and South American countries.
Tap Tap Tap has updated its hugely popular Camera+ app for iPhone today, introducing a stack of great new features and lots of improvements. It claims to have “made the impossible possible” by introducing a front-facing flash, in addition to a horizontal level, live exposure, and more.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II launched today, and with it comes a new update to the Call of Duty Elite app for iOS. In addition to support for the latest game, the app brings an “all-new iPad experience,” which includes a new feature called Elite TV that allows you to live-stream Black Ops II gameplay and multiplayer guides.
It’s been almost a month since Apple began shipping the iPhone 5, and we’re still waiting for some of the biggest apps to be updated for its larger 4-inch display. Fortunately, as of today, eBay and Skype are not longer on that list.
Spotlight is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated features of iOS. I know so many people who don’t use it, yet I find it indispensable when it comes to searching for emails, notes, contacts, and apps I’ve hidden in a folder somewhere. And with SLightEnhancerSearch, a new tweak for jailbroken iOS devices, it’s even better.
SLightEnhancerSearch enhances Spotlight by introducing the ability to search YouTube, Twitter, Amazon, the App Store, and lots more — right from your home screen.
Every so often, an iOS developer attempts to make a quick buck by creating a simple app, naming it after a hugely popular jailbreak tweak, then releasing it in the App Store with the same logo and screenshots. That’s exactly what JB Solutions has done with IntelliScreenX, a $0.99 app that promises to be the ultimate notification center for your lock screen. In reality, it’s nothing more than a nasty alarm clock.
Microsoft’s awesome Xbox app for iOS got a major update this week, and it’s kicking off this week’s must-have apps roundup. It’s accompanied by another great update to Clear, a terrific list-management tool; plus a nifty counting app for iPhone, and a new photography app that lets you apply awesome effects to your photos.
As you might have guessed, Rovio’s latest App Store release, Angry Birds Star Wars, kicks off this week’s must-have games roundup. It’s accompanied by a gorgeous action RPG called Wraithborne, a new word game from EA, and a great side-scrolling platformer called Storm the Train.
After a long hard fought year, Apple plans to let employees take some extra time off for Thanksgiving, and just like last year, they plan to close iTunes Connect for a week during Christmas, meaning developers won’t be able to push out app updates from December 21st till December 28th.
Apple sent an email to developers earlier today confirming that iTunes Connect will be closed for the holidays. iTunes Connect is the developer portal used to manage applications to sell in the App Store, meaning developers won’t be able to submit new apps or app updates during that time.
If you’re a fan of productivity apps then you’re probably familiar with Evernote and its amazing features. Not only does Evernote have a host of great productivity features, but the dedicated developer team behind it is always churning out new updates.
In the biggest update to Evernote in years, Evernote 5.0 is a complete redesign of the app’s UI. The main goal of the redesign was to make all major functions in the app accessible within two taps. Along with the new interface, a number of features have been added to Evernote 5.0.
Here’s the release notes on all the new goodies:
Fantastical is an awesome little calendar app originally developed for OS X by Flexibits. It sits in your Mac’s menu bar and provides you with quick and easy access to your appointments and reminders. You’re probably already familiar with it; we’ve covered it a number of times here on Cult of Mac, and we’re big fans.
Which is why we’re pleased to tell you that Fantastical is coming to your iPhone.
We’ve been hearing that Microsoft has been working on a version of their Office suite specificall for iOS for a while now, but now it appears that the first screenshots have leaked, and it will be coming to the App Store in early 2013.
Readability has updated its iOS app to bring a new grid view to the Top Reads and Longform Picks curated reading lists on the iPad. Version 1.2.3 of the app also promises “even more sync speed improvements” which should make Readability even snappier than it was before.
Shortly after the iPhone 5 made its debut back in September, the team behind Sparrow announced that it would be updating its email client for the handset’s new 4-inch display — despite its decision to cease development of the app after joining forces with Google.
It seems we could be waiting some time for that update, however: Sparrow has revealed that Apple rejected its latest release for violating its App Store terms.
If you’ve had a horrible experience with Apple’s new Maps app, you’re probably anxious for Google to hurry up and get Google Maps back onto your iPhone. The Google Maps app is reportedly in development and should be ready for launch by the end of 2012, but some people at Google say they’re not optimistic that Apple will approve the app.
According to a new report, Google employees think that Apple will reject the app once Google submits it for approval because Apple will want to “keep moving forward in an effort to make its obviously inferior product better.”
Sony has become the latest company to bring its digital book service to iOS with the new Reader app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Available to download for free from the App Store, the app offers access to all the books you have stored in your Reader library, and allows you to sync your bookmarks between other Reader devices.
We’ve got some great new apps in this week’s must-have roundup, including Path, which finally makes its debut on the iPad; a nifty utility for monitoring the data consumed by your iPhone apps; plus a great new cooking magazine that every foodie should have installed on their iPad.
This week’s must-have games roundup kicks off with the latest Need for Speed title from EA games, which is quite possibly the best arcade racing game available on iOS right now. We also have an excellent dual-stick shooter from Gameloft, Disney’s Wreck-it Ralph, and more.
Apple’s cracking down on apps that have no other purpose but offering emoji — that cute emoticon character set popular with some text messengers — and are kicking developer’s apps out of the App Store if they do nothing else. The reason? iOS 6 already does emoji.