iOS - page 32

Rockstar Games has been re-releasing its GTA catalog on iOS platforms for the past few years. GTA 3 appeared as a 10th-anniversary port back in late 2011, and revered follow-up Vice City turned up a year later. San Andreas’ arrival isn’t a surprise, then, but it’s certainly a pleasant treat — a bit like when that Christmas gift you’d been requesting all year finally turns up under the tree.

For those unfamiliar with this particular entry, it follows the rise and rise of former gangbanger Carl Johnson — aka CJ — as he returns to Los Santos to find his mom dead, his family in ruins and his former gang marginalized. From there it’s a climb back to the top, as CJ takes on local gangstas and corrupt cops en route to re-establishing control of the streets.

BBM has been a huge success on Android and iOS, and so although they may be rival platforms, that won’t stop BlackBerry from porting over its biggest and best BBM features to keep its messaging service alive.

In 2014, the Canadian company will rollout major updates that add BBM Channels, BBM Voice, and new sharing features — and you can see them in action in the video below.

The built-in iOS Reminders app has two big advantages: it’s ubiquitous, and it syncs flawlessly between devices. This makes it a great back end for other apps’ reminder systems, which is handy as the reminders app is a nightmare. Viewing and checking off completed tasks is fine, but creating them? Even Siri starts to seem attractive.

Luckily, you can now use an app called This Week to create and use your reminders. Better still, it excels at adding and managing due dates, which is the weak point of Reminders’ already weak task-creation offering.

No matter how you feel about Apple and the iPhone, it’s impossible to deny that the device completely revolutionized the mobile industry when it was launched in 2007. Without it, the smartphones of today may have been completely different.

Take Android, for example. It’s the biggest competitor to the iOS operating system that powers the iPhone, and it’s now the world’s largest mobile platform — but the iPhone is the reason Android is what it is today. Google started work on the software way back in 2005, but it scrapped everything and started again the day after iPhone was revealed to the world.

Real Racing 3 for iOS has received a stocking-filler of a Christmas update in the form of a handful of new features and tweaks — the major one being the addition of a multiplayer mode allowing users to race against multiple friends in realtime via Game Center.

In the world of minimalist text editors that do geeky things like support Markdown, iA Writer is one of the best. Made by Information Architects in Tokyo, the app has sold over 1,000,000 copies in the App Store since its release in 2010.

The followup to iA Writer has been released today on Mac and iOS. It’s a jaw-dropper. Talk about the perfect balance of a lightweight interface and awesome feature set.

Congratulations! You have a brand-new iPhone 5s, 5c, iPad Air or iPad mini with Retina, right? Well, even if you got a new-to-you hand-me-down iPad 3 or iPhone 4S, Cult of Mac has you covered with a ton of non-obvious tips and tricks to get you up and running with speed and style.

I used to be a printer opportunist. Find me the cheapest printer in the store, who cares, they’re all the same.

Which, honestly, is true for a technophile like myself (within a certain price range, anyway). I have a Wi-Fi network, spare cables, and a ton of different apps that will let me print from my various Macs and iOS devices.

Not so, however, for someone like my parents. When I went to buy them a printer a few months back to go with their new iPads, we found out that even the AirPrint printers need a WiFi network. They don’t have one (I know, don’t ask).

That’s where the Epson XP-950 comes in. Yes, it’s a high-quality up-to 11X17 photo, paper, and disc printer and scanning device, but the killer feature here? Directly printing from an iPad to the printer without an actual Wi-Fi network to send the print job across.

Oh, and it’s super easy to set up and use.

Earlier this year, Cult of Mac cited a study from Distimo stating that developers with a hope of cracking the Top 10 paid apps needed to be making in the region of $47,000 per day.

Well, after a strong year for mobile, that number has been revised slightly.

According to Distimo’s 2013 Year in Review report, global revenue for the 200 highest grossing apps in the App Store stand at more than $18 million — a figure which breaks down to around $90,000 average for the top apps.

Czech Republic-based Madfinger Games just released a huge update for Dead Trigger 2 on the iTunes App Store and Google Play, just two months after its initial release.

The first person zombie shooter already has over 10 million downloads, and this massive Christmas update, with its new additions and added zombie-killing gadgets, will nearly double the game content for all.

In addition, the Madfinger team has updated the original Dead Trigger with support for new devices so even more folks can join in on the fun.

Nineteen months after reaching its $500,000 target on Kickstarter, a new crowdfunded game developed by a former Metal Gear Solid and Halo developer is set for release on iOS this Thursday. 

Okay, so December’s generally a fairly quiet news month, but that does mean that we get to look back and remember the year which preceded it.

Well, it seems Apple is getting similarly misty-eyed about the year that was 2013 (either that, or they want to gloat about the phenomenal success of the App Store this year) since the company has just released its annual “Best Of” list — revealing the top iPhone and iPad apps according to the numbers.

UPDATE: Facebook has now confirmed auto-playing ads will rollout this week. See the update at the bottom of this post.

Facebook’s auto-playing video ads, which first appeared on iOS last week, will be seen by all users on all platforms later this week, The Wall Street Journal reports. You’ll see them on your desktop as well as your mobile devices, and they will play automatically as you scroll through your timeline.

Budding musicians out there in the Cult of Macosphere may be interested to check out new app, Caustic, which promises to offer an impressive rack-mount synthesizer for iOS, featuring a total of 14 different machines and multiple effects.

Yes, the beatings and bright lights of GTA: San Andreas have finally been squeezed onto iPad and iPhone screens. But that’s not the only good news this week regarding iOS ports of big-name classics.

Transport Tycoon, an elegant SimCity-like game that focuses on planning, constructing and managing a transportation empire, has just released a free version of its iOS port, which was originally released at the end of October.

Pebble has rolled out a new update to its hugely popular smartwatch, finally adding a Do Not Disturb mode, multiple alarms, better performance on iOS, and numerous new features and improvements. 

The Room Two launched today on the iTunes App Store. As the sequel to Apple’s 2012 Game Of The Year (The Room), it has a lot to live up to.

Our reviewer called it a “must download” game, and we picked the original locked box puzzle game as an iOS Game of the Week.

The Room Two promises more of the same, and that’s not a bad thing. Developer Fireproof Games found the perfect mix of eye candy, just-tough-enough puzzle solving, and a haunting soundtrack in the first game, so any more of that is extremely welcome.

Fleksy, the developer of an innovative third-party keyboard for the blind, launched its own integration software development kit (SDK) by partnering with four other app developers to include in their software.

The partners include Launch Center Pro, Wordbox, GV Connect and BlindSquare, and they’ll demonstrate the innovative approach to keyboarding for everyone.

At an event in New York City today, Instagram announced Instagram Direct, a new feature that allows users to share private photos and videos with their friends and loved ones. It will be baked into the existing Instagram app for Android and iOS with an update that’s rolling out today.

Clear, the wonderful to-list management tool for Mac and iOS from Realmac Software, is finally going to get Reminders next February. It’s one of the most requested features from Clear’s more than one million users, and it will make the app even more useful than it already is.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was undoubtedly a reason to buy a Sega Genesis back in 1992, but if you thought it was decent then, you should check it out the new remastered version for Android and iOS.

The title has been completely rebuilt for mobile devices, and it boasts exclusive new content including access to the mysterious Hidden Palace Zone and an all-new “Boss Attack mode,” plus improved graphics and audio.

As expected, Spotify has today announced a new music streaming service for Android and iOS that won’t cost you a penny to enjoy. It’s not traditional Spotify streaming as you know it, though; the new “Shuffle” feature lets you pick an album or artist then delivers tracks in a random order.

Ever feel like the fact that using a tablet during takeoff and landing was banned for passengers — while allowable to pilots — was a bit of a safety double-standard?

Ages ago, my Cult of Mac brother in arms John Brownlee argued as much — and now it seems that European safety watchdogs are on his side, too.

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The myLIFTER is a Kickstarter project for a small-yet-powerful, Bluetooth-enabled winch controlled by an iOS app — and it’s loaded with all kinds of other ingenious features, like programmable distances and the ability to link a chain of myLIFTERS together to lift heavier stuff.

Here’s something you don’t see often: It’s an Android phone sporting a 30-pin connector. Blasphemy! Heretical! Nonsense. PhotoFast’s i-FlashDrive, which allows fast transfer of files between Android and iOS, is here to promote peace and understanding between all — even the heathenish Windows.