iOS - page 76

iOS contact aggregation app, Brewster, updated today and added a feature that might make you wonder why it wasn’t there in the first place: the contacts on your iPhone itself. While Brewster already pulled contact info from your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, LinkedIn profile, Gmail account, and Foursquare contacts, this is the first time its connected directly to the native iPhone contacts you carry around with you every day.

LOS ANGELES — It felt like a wrap party for a big-budget Hollywood flick at Disney’s El Capitan Theatre, complete with fancy food and big names like Pixar chief John Lasseter in attendance. But Disney’s Infinity announcement on Tuesday was a massive project in which Pixar, the Disney-owned digital animation studio that once belonged to Steve Jobs, played only one of the major roles.

As it was revealed, Infinity is an amazing, massive, cross-platform, multiplayer game system based on figurines from the Disney catalog of movies — right now most of them specifically from Pixar titles.

“It will be global, and it will live across all platforms: console, mobile and online,” Lasseter said on Tuesday.

All platforms? Unfortunately not. Perhaps Disney has forgotten that Steve helped build Pixar into the powerhouse it is today; because while a Windows version will be present along with versions for all the major console systems at Ininity’s June launch, there won’t be a Mac version — at least, not at first.

Steve Jobs used to like Larry Page and the guys at Google, until they went and made their own smartphone operating system by copying iOS. Steve Jobs was livid. He threatened “to go thermonuclear war” on Google over Android, and the relationship obviously soured.

Now that Larry Page is the CEO of Google, he’s got a lot to worry about, but Steve Jobs’ thermonuclear threats haven’t seemed to bother him. In an interview with Wired’s Steven Levy, Page was asked about competition, and Jobs’ threats of war, but rather than going on an anti-Apple rant, Page’s answer was pretty calm, cool, and collected.

I’m guessing you take a lot of photos with your iPhone or iPad, right? I know I do. After taking them all, or saving them from web pages or text messages, they tend to add up. But how do you know how much space they’re taking up, specifically, on your iOS device?

Here’s the short and simple way to figure that out, plus an extra tip to boot.

The popular Dolphin Browser for Android and iOS has been updated today to introduce a number of handy new features. In addition to one-tap sharing to Facebook and Twitter, users can enjoy Evernote clipping, and the ability to sync bookmarks and tabs between Dolphin and their desktop browser.

Amazon has today launched a new web app for the iPhone and iPod touch that allows users to purchase more than 22 million tracks directly from the retail giant’s MP3 store. Amazon says the HTML5 app has been optimized to work seamlessly inside Apple’s mobile Safari browser, and any music you purchase will be transferred instantly to your Cloud Player library.

As we reported a couple of days ago, the iOS game from the National Rifle Association (NRA), NRA: Practice Range, has been coming under fire from various media outlets and political organizations for being a shooting game that is rated for anyone four years of age and up.

Apparently, Apple heard some of the outcry, and revised the rating in the App Store, which now says the shooting game is “Rated 12+ for the following: Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence.”

Facebook promised that their updated Facebook Messenger app would allow iPhone users to call one another for free thanks to the magic of VOIP calls. The feature has been rolled out to other countries, but Facebook just rolled it out to the U.S. today.

The Free Call feature allows you to call any of your Facebook friends who are also using the Facebook Messenger app. Rather than using the minutes on your cellular plan, the calls are made using your data connection so you’re not using up any minutes.

If you haven’t already got more Final Fantasy than you can handle on iOS, then prepare yourself for Final Fantasy All The Bravest, a new Square Enix title that’s hitting the App Store tomorrow. Already available to those in New Zealand, this is a “touch-action RPG in which you continuously battle enemies to advance through the game’s many stages.” If you’re a Final Fantasy fan, it’s likely to be another worthwhile purchase.

Pangolin is a cute little puzzle-platformer for iOS that might either drive you mad with rage or mad to the point of insanity. Or both. It’s tricky, challenging, and offers plenty of repeat play opportunities.

Apple and Amazon are set to enter settlement talks over Amazon’s use of the term “Appstore,” Bloomberg reports. Apple has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the retail giant, claiming that its Android software store could be confused with its own App Store for iOS. A U.S. Magistrate Judge has now ordered the pair to enter talks and try to settle the case ahead of the trial.

Temple Run from Imangi Studios is one of the most successful games on iOS, racking up more than 75 million downloads during 2012 alone. If you’re one of the many players who are still addicted to it after all this time, you’ll be delighted to know that Temple Run 2 is hitting the App Store tonight.

Amidst rumors of a mysterious smartphone and new iPad apps, Facebook held a big press event today at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The topic was search, or more specifically, social search. It’s a new feature Facebook is calling “Graph Search,” and the beta has started rolling out already. It will be available for all of Facebook’s one billion users soon.

Think of Graph Search as Google with a more personal touch. Facebook is leveraging everything it knows about you to help you connect with people who like what you like. Instead of leaving Facebook.com to get your results, all of your social data and timeline history is mined and collated inside Facebook’s walls. That’s good news for Facebook, and bad news for Google.

Awhile back we showed you a great concept for a redesigned iOS Notes app. The concept was part of Cult of Mac reader and designer Adrian Maciburko’s iOS 7 “Crystal Interface” idea. Now Maciburko has shared a redesigned Game Center interface that does away with the skeuomorphism in iOS 6. No more woodgrain or felt textures.

Poster, arguably the best WordPress blogging app for iOS, has received a major new update today, which adds a ton of new features and improvements. In addition to support for custom post types, version 2.0 brings the ability to edit a post’s excerpt and insert images anywhere you like, and the option to remove a post’s featured image. Check out the update notes below for the full list of changes and improvements.

Fruit Ninja is one of the all-time greatest games from iOS. What’s not to like? You get to pretend that you’re a samurai in training who slices and dices his way through waterfalls of falling fruit. It’s simple and addictive.

Now there’s a new fancy device that will actually let you play Fruit Ninja in the real world. Well, almost the real world. At CES a Russian company named Displair was showing off their device that creates a vertical wall of water vapor that has a projector attached to display images and a built-in camera to sense user inputs.

What it amounts to is the most expensive game of Fruit Ninja ever created. Here’s a video of the device in action:

This Day in the Rolling Stones is the latest app for music lovers of a certain age who want to find out exactly what Mick and the guys were up to every day of their careers. It wants to be all Hot Stuff) but ends up more like a Biggest Mistake.

I’m not a big fan of using a stand for an iPad, but if I were, I’d be dying for this recycled iMac G4 iPad stand. It looks nearly identical to the 15-inch G4 iMac, except the screen is smaller and it’s running iOS instead of OS X.

If you want to know how to make your own, there’s a step by step photo guide right here.

Source: Reddit

A British police force has been mocked for launching a new iPhone driving game that “bares an uncanny resemblance” to the hugely popular video game Grand Theft Auto, according to the Daily Mail. The free title from Northamptonshire Police made its App Store debut last Thursday, and allows players to complete a number of (lawful) driving challenges.

Some users feel it offers the same kind of experience that Rockstar’s title does, but you won’t be tasked with transporting drugs, taxiing prostitutes around, or killing gang leaders.

So the Consumer Electronics Show is over for another year, and for those who’ve been in Las Vegas covering it for us, it’s back to normality. While we allow the Cult of Mac team to sober up, it’s time to look back at the best gizmos CES had to offer. There were thousands of products on show — far too many to cover in one week — but there were a handful that really stood out.

We’ve put together a list of awesome things that we were blown away by, including smartphones, accessories, gadgets, and more. Check it out and tell us what you’re most looking forward to getting your hands on in 2013.

This week’s must-have apps roundup begins with PodDJ, the first iOS app from Pod2g, the mastermind behind a number of hugely popular jailbreaks for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. We also have a terrific app called 1 Second Everyday, which will help you put together a movie that includes one second from every day for the rest of your life; a handy timer app for iPad, and more.

If you’re into iOS but don’t know how to turn that passion into revenue, then the latest Cult of Mac Deals offer will be just what the doctor ordered. With The Master iOS Programming Course, you’ll be able to turn your iOS passion into a new lucrative hobby – and for just $47 to boot!

Kicking off this week’s must-have games roundup is Joe Danger, the motorcycle stunt game you’ll find on iOS. It’s accompanied by a wonderful platformer called Little Amazon, a unique puzzle game called Wake the Cat, a classic beat ’em up called Take My Machete, and more.

When Microsoft launched the Surface with Windows RT, it was supposed to be the answer to all of their iPad problems. It runs on cellphone chips, yet still looks like regular Windows 8. It’s supposed to be awesome. But sales of Windows RT tablets haven’t been strong, and now Samsung is saying that they’re second guessing the platform.

In a recent interview at CES, Make Abary, Samsung’s senior vice president who oversees the company’s tablet business, said that Samsung has decided they won’t launch their Windows RT tablet in the U.S. after discovering there’s not much demand for them.

The Caliber Advantage is yet another iOS gaming pad, but this one has one major advantage: It comes from Zagg, well-known accessory maker and purveyor of some of the finest iPad keyboards known to mankind.