apps - page 63

Instapaper 4.2 has just hit the App Store, and it’s a pretty big update. The headline feature is a new iBooks-style page-turn animation, but there is a lot more in there besides.

Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom 4 can now be bought from the Mac App Store. The RAW photo editing app joins Adobe’s own Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, and is Adobe’s first full-featured flagship application to make it into the store.

Facebook just announced the App Center, a place for discovering and installing social apps/games that tie into Facebook’s developer platform. Apps offered in the App Center will be available on the web and mobile, including Android and iOS devices.

If you think Facebook is trying to take on Apple and Google’s storefronts directly, fret not. The App Center will be part of the official Facebook application and send mobile users to their respective storefronts, whether it be Apple’s App Store or Google Play.

Yes, it’s true — well, at least the part about iOS getting a beautiful Google+ app update before Android. The only logical explanation I could come up with for this travesty is that Vic lost a bet during a friendly game of golf with Tim. At least that’s the story I’m telling myself as I weep in a dark corner.

Kidding aside, the new Google+ app looks beautiful, and although iOS users get to use it now, it will be coming to Android soon enough — and is supposed to include a few extra surprises for us Android folks (that won’t win me back Vic! — Okay, maybe it will).

Rovio has experienced unparalleled success with their Angry Birds franchise and has just recently announced it has surpassed 1 billion downloads! That’s pretty insane, and what makes it even more impressive is the fact that since its release, the game hasn’t really changed much. To think Rovio was able to pull this off by simply switching up themes and adding more levels is mind boggling.

Speaking of Polaroid, the ailing-but-once-awesome instant photo company has come out with its own iPhone app. And guess what? It’s yet another Instagram clone, only it’s not free and it even has extra in-app purchases.

The app is called Polamatic, and it lets you snap photos, add filters and grames, and then upload them to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr or Instagram (just like Instagram!). The schtick here is that the frames aren’t just any old Polaroid-ish
frames. No, they’re actual scans of “new, used, and vintage Polaroid frames.”

We have some great news for those of you who aren’t ashamed of purchasing digital comics. Marvel has signed a multi-year deal with comiXology, the largest digital comics platform, to exclusively distribute single issue English-language digital comics worldwide. Marvel fans will have a plethora of sources to obtain these digital comics, including the Marvel apps available for Android and iOS .

Four apps enter, but only one can reign supreme! Listen to us passionately pitch our favorite apps of the week then vote on which one conquers them all on the latest CultCast.

Plus — is the iPhone 5 getting a 4-inch retina screen? And is Apple about to kill off Macbook DVD drives? Don’t miss us Yay and Nay our way through all those rumors and more – subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes.

It looks like Square has yet another competitor in the mobile payments arena. Global payment leader VeriFone has announced SAIL, a credit card reader much like Square’s, that will attach to a number of mobile devices. While VeriFone may have a little catching up to do, they have the advantage of an extensive network with a commanding percentage of retail transactions passing through their service.

comScore’s new mobile behavioral measurement service, Mobile Metrix 2.0, has revealed that the lion’s share of media engagement comes from apps. I don’t find this to be surprising, as apps are usually much easier to use versus most mobile site counterparts. However, I was a bit surprised to learn that as much as 82 percent of time spent with mobile media happens via apps. That’s a pretty high percentage and makes having a mobile app for your media almost a necessity.

Back from when the internet was too slow for video, we had animated GIFs. Now, in the days of fiber connections and YouTube, we still trade GIFs. Or we would, if we actually knew how to make them.

Enter Gifture, an Instagram-a-like app which makes animated GIFs instead of still photos. It shoots sequences, puts them together and lets you apply filter before sending them off to the web to share.

Twitpic, the photo-sharing service for Twitter, has finally gotten its own standalone app. You can use is to post pictures to Twitter from your iPhone, and you can also browse previous photos you have uploaded to the service (and you probably will have some there already, as many Twitter apps use Twitpic).

You can also use the app as a client to browse photos taken by people you follow on Twitter.

One of the features iPad users have been consistently calling for since the device made its debut back in 2010 is multi-user support, which would allow families and small businesses to share one device between a group of people who all have their own account, with their own wallpaper, their own apps, and their own settings.

According to one iOS developer who recently contacted Apple about this feature, the Cupertino company is aware of the issue, and it is currently being “investigated by engineering.”

An update to the GPS photo-tagging app PlaceTagger brings support for the iPad, and also shows us exactly what iCloud was meant for. The v2.0 version not only lets you import photos via camera connection kit and then tag them right there on the iPad — it also syncs the GPS data seamlessly to the Mac version so you can tag photos right there. No tedious exporting of GPX files (unless you want to), nor even having to fix time discrepancies with the iPad and the camera’s clocks.

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The brand-new version of AirServer is being billed as “The Game Console For Mac.” Like previous versions of the software, AirServer runs on you Mac and turns it into an AirPlay receiver, allowing you to stream music, video, photos and even games to the Mac’s big screen, just as if it was an Apple TV. What’s new, though, is the ability to stream games from two players simultaneously for big-screen head-to-head action.

Is Apple secretly plotting to become your next wireless carrier? It could happen sooner than you think. And will the iPhone 5 sport a widescreen 4-inch retina display? It’s a rumor rundown on our brand new CultCast!

And you asked for it, you got it — we’ve gathered a list of our most-loved apps of the week, and we’re ready to pick the best of the bunch.

Catch all that and more on this week’s CultCast.

After months and months of waiting, Spotify finally released its iPad app this week, and it does not disappoint. It features a terrific interface optimized for the iPad’s larger screen, plus plenty of other great features. There’s no wonder why it’s at the top of this week’s must-have iOS apps roundup.

Other picks include a great little app for controlling Bluetooth from your home screen, an impressive photography app from Polaroid, an innovative new web browser, and more.

The uber-popular social drawing app Draw Something, appears to be drawing less attention ever since Zynga bought out the game’s creators OMGPOP for $200 million. According to Atlantic Wire magazine, the month after Zynga’s purchase, the app saw a 5 million user drop in daily usage. That’s a pretty significant drop, whether directly related remains unknown, but it’s either that, or people have simply lost interest in the game.

TriggerTrap is another app which works with an accessory cable to remote trigger you DSLR. Compared to other trigger app/cable combos, TriggerTrap distinguishes itself by also triggering the iPhone’s own camera, should you wish, and by its crazy range of triggering modes.

Let’s face it, having the best laptop in the world doesn’t exempt us road warriors from having to deal with reality. Batteries are so much better these days, sure, but they’re still the failure point for most of us traveling types. In between charges and external battery boosters, it’s up to us to keep an eye on how fast the old power cell is draining. The app in today’s tip should help with that very thing. Go figure, right?

If you want a great Simplenote-compatible, note taking app for your Mac, then you should download the free and excellent Notational Velocity. If you want a harder to use, bigger and — some might say — uglier app to do the same thing, then Metanota is just the thing for you.

According to reports from Twitter, the music subscription service Rdio, appears to have secretly launched in the U.K. and France. While Rdio has yet to chime in on the subject, users in those locations are now able to sign up for a free 7-day trial of unlimited listening. Everything seems to work, although I’m hearing quite a few people in the U.K. are unable to stream or download a significant number of albums (probably why we haven’t heard an official announcement from Rdio).

Penultimate, one of the two best pen-and-paper apps for the iPad, has gotten a Retina upgrade. This is a pretty big deal, as the feel and look of the ink, plus the responsiveness of the app, are what make it so great. Now, with super-smooth, hi-res graphics, can it keep its crown?

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Although several rather bizarre rumors have claimed Apple will integrate a projector into a future iPhone, it seems a little unlikely — at least for many years. But thanks to PoP Video, you can add your own projector that displays 960 x 540 video for just $99.

RunKeeper makes fitness apps for a variety of smartphones and is widely considered the premiere platform for tracking and sharing workout information. Today the company announced that it will be the first third-party service to partner with the Pebble watch, a record-breaking Kickstarter project that has collected over $8 million in funding. Pebble sports a customizable interface that can connect with apps and smartphones like the iPhone and Android.

Thanks to the partnership with RunKeeper, Pebble owners will be able to see live fitness data and control RunKeeper without touching their smartphones during a workout.