iOS - page 21

Hours before WWDC kicks off, a series of blurry leaked photos appear to show Apple’s next generation operating system, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, in action.

Two different sources of photos have been posted online: the first on the Reddit Mac community by a poster using a throwaway account, who claimed to have taken the photos himself at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. These images have since been deleted.

Shortly after Twitter user UI designer Doney den Ouden posted another image, citing a “reliable anonymous source.”

Assuming that the photos are genuine, they reveal several interesting changes in the look and feel of the OS — making it far closer resemble iOS. For instance, there is now a Control Center, along with a slightly rejigged Safari, with larger buttons for bookmarks and frequently visited sites, similar to the version of Safari found on the iPad.

For any Apple coder, attending the annual Worldwide Developers Conference is a coveted opportunity. But for the young recipients of WWDC 2014 Student Scholarships, a free ticket to the event means more than an adventure in geekery; it’s the crowning achievement of their blossoming careers.

Take Shaan Singh, a 14-year-old developer and designer whose iPhone finance app Budgetize helped him bag a scholarship to WWDC, a prize that’s something like winning a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

“It’s a big honor for me to be selected because I made an app that I feel was creative and smart, and Apple thinks so too,” he told Cult of Mac. “I’ve always admired Apple’s design, and I’m excited that they like mine too.”

If you’re a fan of Disney’s Oscar-winning animated smash hit Frozen, you may experience excited chills at the news that you can now sing along to all your favorite songs from the movie on your iPad using the new Disney Karaoke: Frozen app.

As apps go, it’s pretty darn (n)ice, with nine songs and music videos from the film on which you can either listen to the original vocal performances, or mute the voices to sing by yourself.

One of the biggest knocks people tend to make at the iPhone is its battery life. While we all have busy lives, it’s imperative for our devices to last the long haul with us. In today’s how-to find out how to save more of your iPhone battery with just five quick and easy tips.

Take a look at the video to see what to do.

Readdle today rolled out its biggest update yet for PDF Expert 5, one of the finest PDF editing apps for iOS. It adds support for continuous scrolling and calculations, improves performance, and makes PDF Expert a universal app — so you only have to buy it once to use it on both iPhone and iPad.

Write, the distraction-free note-taking tool that’s been a great success on iOS, is ready to make writing easier on your Mac.

Whether you’re a student, a blogger, a novelist, or simply too forgetful to remember what you need to pack your holiday, Write’s incredibly simple design and clutter-free user interface can make writing a more enjoyable experience. But don’t let its minimal beauty fool you — Write is packed with handy features.

The Guardian — a.k.a. the British newspaper known for breaking news of the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013 — has just launched its new and improved iOS app.

The upgrade adds a cleaner design, alongside a more personalized user experience for iOS users. What this means is ramped-up interactivity, thanks to the integration with GuardianWitness, the newspaper’s user-generated content platform which allows readers to contribute comments, photos, and videos.

One of the best perks about having an iPhone is that it naturally does a pretty good job at running well. Although, after time many users have found that their iPhone runs slower and doesn’t perform as well as it used to. In today’s how-to find out how to help your iPhone run smoother in just five quick tips.

Take a look at the video to see what to do.

Mobile developer Vivid Games has dropped a new trailer for its forthcoming open world actioner Godfire: Rise of Prometheus and — wow!

If I wasn’t excited about getting my Greek mythological badass on prior to watching these tantalizing glimpses of what’s to come, then I certainly am now. In short: the game looks incredible, with epic boss battles, gorgeous graphics, and all the blood and guts you could hope for.

Our iPhone’s have the ability to do so many things but the core of its purpose is to help us communicate through talk and even text. While it can be easy to simply type a message and send it off, the messaging app in iOS 7 is capable of doing so much more. In today’s how-to find out how you can take full control of the iOS messaging app and take your messaging to the next level.

Take a look at the video to see what to do.

Free public domain audiobooks app Audiobooks (kind of like Audible for the poor-dible) has just received a notable upgrade.

Coinciding with the app’s fifth anniversary, Audiobooks 6.0 features a redesigned interface — improving significantly on the iOS 7 overhaul which arrived last September. The improved interfaces adds book covers for easier searching, along with a better library and file management system.

The upgrade also sees the addition of around 1,600 new audiobooks to the app’s free catalog, along with the addition of podcast support.

Facebook’s Chat Heads first debuted back in April, 2013 as a central UI element in the new Facebook for Android, the Facebook app on iOS, and the laughably ill-received ‘Facebook phone,’ the HTC First. Just like it sounds, a Chat Head is a bubble-like chat indicator that hovers over everything else until you read the message and then dismiss it by dragging it to the trash.

Some people love Chat Heads as a whimsical alternative to the omnipresent UI indicator. Some people despite it as the perfect example of design excess: a disruptive nagging ‘feature’ that forces a user to go through a tedious interaction every time a message is received in order to dismiss it. However you feel about Chat Heads, though, you can now have them on your iPhone’s default Messaging app… if you have a jailbroken device, that is.

Scientific calculator app Archimedes has received its first significant update in quite a while.

Adding the expected iOS 7-compatible design tweaks, the app also adds a number of useful improvements. The first of these relates to Archimedes’ plotting function. Curves now feature fluid navigation and crisp rendering, and are adjusted in real-time as their associated formulas are edited.

Apple’s been big on education under Tim Cook’s leadership — whether that be pushing for iPads in schools around the world, or teaching people to code in Apple Stores.

Apple’s latest Editors’ Choice in the App Store continues this educational theme, with a brain-training app called Elevate designed to help improve articulation, reading and listening focus, writing abilities, and information-processing speed.

Phrases like “it’s a comic book brought to life” are usually hyperbole, but that’s not the case for SXPD, a new iOS game which blends gorgeous black and white comic art with compelling gameplay.

Described by developer Little Chicken as “essentially the world’s first true game-comic book hybrid,” SXPD is a racing game interspersed with kinetic Comixology-like comic book interludes — upping the story-driven quota far beyond what we’re used to seeing in video games. In all there’s a 42-page digital comic book included, which is broken down into 6 chapters for you to play through.

If you’re an iPad-owning fan of turn-based tactical games, you’ll be happy to know that popular Nintendo DS game Panzer Tactics DS has received an iPad remake.

Called Panzer Tactics HD, the game puts players in 1939 Europe and allows them to engage in three mission-extensive campaigns — creating tactics as part of the German Wehrmacht, the Soviet Red Army and the Western Allies.

Notifyr is a great new iPhone app which lets you route iOS notifications over to your Mac.

Optimized for Bluetooth low energy (LE)-compatible iPhones and Macs, it allows you to receive notifications regarding phone calls, text messages, and iOS apps (such as WhatsApp messages, or Instagram follows) in the right-hand corner of your Mac’s display.

Given the extra security you find at airports these days, we’re grateful for anything that makes the experience of checking in and boarding your flight that bit quicker and easier.

With that in mind, Southwest Airlines has just posted an update for its official iOS app, adding several notable improvements, including faster access to tools like the Checkin and Mobile Boarding Pass options, right from your home screen. There’s also info about your upcoming trip card on your homepage, which means that you can view information related to Flight Status, Boarding Position, and Gate Information more easily than ever.

Better yet, the app update coincides with support for mobile boarding passes being added at 28 airports around the United States — rather than just Austin, where the technology was previously trialed.

Today Apple made some upgrades to its web-based version of the iWork suite that are more suited for those working in large teams. The number of people that can collaborate on a single document has been doubled to 100, and the maximum storage size for files and docs has also been increased.

Cult of Mac Deals regularly offers “name your own price” bundles, and we’ve got another here for you that assembles 9 apps and an iOS course that really deliver the goods…and the savings!

These types of bundles are time-limited opportunities to buy a collection of apps for whatever you want to pay! The bundles are exclusively constructed and are made for anyone looking to discover the best apps from around the globe. And The Name Your Own Price Mac Bundle 5.0 is no exception.

Like Scarlett Johansson’s phone number, wine is something I’d like to know a bit more about. It’s good to hear, then, that popular wine assistant app Hello Vino (great name!) has just been given a sparkling update in time for spring.

The update adds support for a massive 140,000 store and restaurant locations to help you pick out the perfect wine. It also adds improvements to the app’s search engine, which is powered by wine-searcher.com and features more than 6 million wines.

Super Monkey Ball was one of the real gems of the GameCube era, and now a version of it is set to bounce its way onto iOS this summer.

But this isn’t your grandpappy’s Super Monkey Ball. According to SEGA, the game takes inspiration from the classic arcade game, pachinko, and features AiAi and the rest of his monkey pals as they attempt to thwart the evil machinations of the dastardly Prof. Boscis.

Apple is finally giving iOS developers the opportunity to provide promotional codes for in-app purchases. EA will be one of the first to take advantage of the new scheme with a Real Racing 3 promotion that will allow players to redeem free in-game gold that would usually cost $1.99.

Mailbox, the popular gesture-based email app owned by Dropbox, has received a small but significant update.

First up are bug fixes, which (among other things) sort out the frustrating problems that have plagued the “reply” and “forward” features of the app’s iPad edition.

More importantly, however, is the app’s integration with App Links, the free and open-source initiative introduced by Facebook last month, that allows quick and straightforward linking between apps.

Facebook vs. Snapchat: round 2… fight!

After turning down a $3 billion acquisition offer late last year, Facebook is reportedly working on out-Snapchatting Snapchat with a new video messaging app, referred to internally as “Slingshot.”

The service — which lets user send short messages to one another with just a few taps — could be launched as early as this month, although as of yet Facebook has not signed off on it.