iOS - page 84

One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.

This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.

We’re running a little behind, so playing catch up today by posting our first and second day picks along with our choice for December 3rd.

Our Day 2 choice? Clear, iOS’s best and most beautiful list-maker.

One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.

This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.

We’re running a little behind, so playing catch up today by posting our first and second day picks along with our choice for December 3rd.

Our Day 1 choice? FitBit, an awesome iOS accessory that can help you get healthier and more fit in no time.

Samsung has once again taken the top spot for mobile market share in the United States after attracting more than a quarter of mobile subscribers. The Korean company claimed 26.3% of the market as of October 2012, but rival Apple is quickly catching up. The iPhone maker saw the highest level of growth among cellphone manufacturers, and managed to overtake LG to take second place.

Following its acquisition of Instagram earlier this year, Facebook is said to be eyeing up another popular service. Cross-platform messenger WhatsApp could be the next item on the social network’s shopping list as the company looks to extend its mobile presence, according to sources close to the matter.

Fantastical — the incredible calendaring app from Flexibits — is kicking off this week’s must-have apps roundup, and it’s accompanied by KitCam, a great new photography app that gives Tap Tap Tap’s Camera+ some real competition. We also have some big updates to Apple’s Remote app and Vimeo.

Kicking off this week’s list of must-have iOS games is Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio, a terrific skating game in which you rollerblade around a fictional city and tag buildings, rival gang members, and more with spray paint. It’s accompanied by Pong World, the first official Pong game for iOS; a massive update to FIFA 13, and more.

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The jury’s still out on what effect the firing in August of some key players at Hipstamatic will have on the app itself — but the toy-camera simulator is still pumping out the FreePaks, those cute virtual lens-and-film pairings that often tie in with some pop-culture reference. This time it’s based off the star-stuffed Gangster Squad flick, set to be released early next year. Oh, and they’re giving away a Canon 5D Mk III in a contest, if you’re interested.

If you haven’t gotten enough of Robert Kirkman’s uber-popular Walking Dead series, you’ll love this. On his Twitter feed today, Kirkman posted a link to the the website for new, also episodic, iOS game, The Walking Dead: Assault.

It looks much more like the comic than the recently finished season one of Telltale’s The Walking Dead game, and allows you to play as one of the characters from the original series of Eisner Award-winning comic books, published by Image Comics.

As long as sports have existed, so have sports-related injuries. One injury in particular that has managed to capture the spotlight over recent years, is of course, the concussion. Head injuries, particularly concussions, have become a serious issue in both professional and youth sports.

We’re entering the time of year of giving, and a great way to give is to offer protection to your devices so that you can have peace of mind in the case that one of them goes missing. Well, there’s technology out there that won’t only help you track down your lost or stolen devices – but will give you the ability to provide the police with the exact location of your device (along with pictures of the thief in the case of theft). And we’re giving you a great deal on this technology here at Cult of Mac Deals!

Prey is open source software that gives you a 24/7 tracking and recovering capabilities so you can recover your lost or stolen devices. It keeps track of your laptop, phone, and tablet whenever stolen or missing — easily and all in one place. The best news about Prey? Cult of Mac Deals is offering it for just $49 for a very limited time!

New on the store this week is Etsy for iOS, and it’s beautifully done. Taking cues from apps like Flipboard and sites like Pinterest, Etsy is an exceptionally neat way of browsing and buying from the site that’s full of interesting hand-made things.

It’s been 40 years since Atari released the first Pong game, and to celebrate the milestone, the company just released the first official Pong game for iOS. Called Pong World, the title delivers a new way to play the classic arcade game, in addition to a colorful new look and a whole host of new features.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is making its way to Android and iOS on December 6, and I couldn’t be more excited; it’s my favorite title in the series, and I’m looking forward to playing through it again. To celebrate its release, Rockstar Games has just launched a new Vice City trailer. If you’re a fan of the game, you have to check it out.

Redbox Instant by Verizon, the Netflix competitor by, well, Verizon, just became a bit more real today, as details released onto the web.

According to GigaOm, the streaming video service will charge customers as little as $6 per month, have apps for Android, iOS, and Xbox 360, and will go live as early as December 17.

Apple’s App Store has been the undisputed revenue king since its inception, however, its once enormous lead is now quickly shrinking. That leading edge over Android is an argument that’s becoming moot as the Play’s revenue continues to grow at a ravenous rate. According to App Annie, an industry leader in app store analytics and marketing, Google Play’s revenues have skyrocketed 311% in the last year, compared to the App Store’s more conservative 12.9%.

In a new interview with the BBC, Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive who is often referred to as the “father of the iPod,” insists Scott Forstall “got what he deserved” when he was fired by Apple back in October. Although he refused to speak about his relationship with the former iOS chief, Fadell says the decision to let him go was completely “justified.”

I was never a big fan of the Dreamcast, but it did have a couple of titles I really liked. One of those was Jet Set Radio, a hugely enjoyable game in which you would skate around a city and mark your turf by “tagging” walls, billboards, and rival gang members with spray paint. I’m sure you’ve already heard of it.

Now you can enjoy this awesome game on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad — because it’s just hit the App Store.

Earlier this month, we told you the awesome calendar app Fantastical is making the leap from Mac OS X to iOS. It’s now available to download for your iPhone — priced at just $1.99 — and like its desktop counterpart, it’ll change the way you use your calendar forever.

Ever wanted to remove all those recently contacted emails from the drop down list in your Mail app on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad? The lists gets kind of long, and maybe you just want to narrow it down to the folks in your list of contacts, rather than all the folks you’ve contacted recently.

You can do this fairly easily on your iOS device, provided you don’t mind removing one address at a time. The address also has to not be in your Contacts on the device, either.

There are various techniques one can use when dropping a horrible review for an app. You could give it a single star and move on. Or say it’s worthless. Or list a specific problem with the app hoping it gets fixed in the future. Or you could go with the all caps/rant approach.

Each method is effective in its own way, and iOS user Bmwworld knows them all. Except he sadly thinks that Google Earth is a live satellite feed of the world and is getting really pissed that his car never moves on the app, or that he can’t run outside and wave at the camera. In a storm of frustration he left the magnificent rant/review you see above in the App Store. We applaud him for his beautiful incorrectness and award him with the Best Worst Review of the Week award.

Rovio is gearing up to release its first new episode for their most recent hit, Angry Birds Star Wars. This new episode includes our favorite snowy planet Hoth, chock full of pig driven AT-AT walkers. The update is set to go live sometime tomorrow and should keep you Rebel Alliance Angry Birds lovers busy for a bit.

500px launched an awesome iPad app last year, which allowed us to browse the site’s stunning photography from the comfort of our armchairs. We’ve been itching to have the same experience on our iPhones ever since, and today it’s here — a new 500px app for iPhone and iPod touch.

Skype has issued an update to its iOS app that introduces support for Microsoft accounts, and a number of new features. Users can now login to the app using their Messenger, Hotmail, and Outlook.com credentials and then merge their accounts. And if you’ve got an iOS device with a Retina display, you can enjoy animated emoticons. Finally!

Here at Cult of Mac, we love Checkmark, the terrific task management app for iPhone. In fact, we think its awesome location-based reminders make it the perfect alternative to Apple’s own Reminders app. If you haven’t already discovered it yourself, then now’s the perfect time, because Checkmark is on sale for $0.99 just this week.

Like Spotify, Rdio offers unlimited music streaming for a monthly subscription fee. Today Rdio unveiled a completely redesigned iOS app in the App Store, and it’s available now as a free download for subscribers.

Clean and simple design has always been a plus for Rdio, and the new iPhone and iPad apps reflect that design taste.