Rovio, one of the most successful iOS developers around, has slashed all of its iPad games to just 99¢ for a limited time. That includes all titles in the Angry Birds series, the new Bad Piggies game, and Amazing Alex. Has Christmas come early?
Just as they did yesterday with the iOS App Store0, Apple today has launched their Best of 2012 awards for the Mac App Store… and this time, the clear winners are actually clear winners instead of head-scratching WTFs.
Almost three months after making its debut in the United States, Apple’s iPhone 5 goes on sale in China and 32 addition countries today. As is often the case when Apple launches a new gadget, fans lined up in droves in an effort to get their hands on the Cupertino company’s latest smartphone before it’s all sold out. Some stores, however, were unusually quiet.
When Apple rolled out a new App Store redesign with iOS 6, the Cupertino company removed the ability for customers to gift apps and games to their friends via email. Just in time for Christmas, that’s now back, making gift-giving for those getting new iOS devices a whole lot easier.
Ok, so we may not be rockstars (yet), but we just hit 1,000,000 downloads of The CultCast, our fun, quirky, totally off-base podcast covering everything in the wonderful world of Apple. That’s like earning a platinum record! Now we know what Led Zeppelin felt like… But we couldn’t have done it without our smart, good-looking, worldwide audience supporting us all the way. If you’ve ever listened to an episode of The CultCast, thank you, we love you, and we would like to hold your hand.
But enough self sycophancy! On our newest episode, we talk Google Maps reborn on iOS. We’ll tell you what we love, what we don’t, and if it scratches the itch we’ve all had since the demise of the last Google Maps.
Plus: why Twitter wants to be your next Instagram, and a new Flickr app rises from the ashes—but is it too little too late?
Join us on our newest CultCast! Subscribe now on iTunes, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App.
Yeah, this is one of the least surprising rumors you’ll hear all day. But it’s sure to delight those who are holding out for an iPad mini with a Retina display. According to industry sources in Taiwan, Apple will indeed be “enhancing” the display resolution of its second-generation iPad mini, introducing a 2058×1536 panel with 326 pixels-per-inch.
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.
What’s the prize for Day 14? A wonderful little app called Hueless that will drain all the color from your photos..
Have you ever used Google Chrome on your iOS devices to listen to music on YouTube, only to find it stops playing when you close the app? Sometimes that’s a good thing — you don’t always need videos to continue to playing in the background when they’ve been closed. But sometimes it’s annoying, like when you’re listening to music.
Thanks to the app’s latest update, you can prevent that from happening.
A very long three years ago, one of the very first appcessories we ever saw was this crazy-looking hardware clock that mimicked a virtual clock on the face of the iPhone. Whee! Yeah, we weren’t too impressed either. But these guys have the right idea about how to make the iPhone a better clock: add a massive snooze button.
What are you supposed to do with all the Apple logo stickers you get with each iPhone, iPad, and Mac purchase? Like, yeah I guess you could put one on your car if you’re into that, but then what do you do with the other 24 stickers you’ve collected over the years?
Redditor ebinellis decided to go super-meta and make an Apple sticker made out of Apple stickers. He says it’s still a work in progress, but unless he turns it into a Steve Jobs Apple-sticker-mural we think his work here is done.
Source: Reddit
The critically acclaimed RPG The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is now available on the Mac App Store. The development team promises that your choices really do matter, and will determine the fate of the people and kingdoms in the game. You’ll fight blood-thirsty monsters as protagonist Geralt of Rivia, as well as navigate politics, lies, and gorgeous environments.
Ever since 2008, when its first smash-hit, Ocarina — an app that turns your iPhone into a playable flute — debuted, Smule has proved itself over and over again as a magical outfit guaranteed to drop jaws with every release. Their newest app, Strum, is out today, and it’s no less wondrous an app than any of their previous efforts. But there is one very big difference: Instead of sticking to their musical background (one of Smule’s founder is, after all, an assistant professor of computer music at Stanford), they’ve taken their music fairy dust and sprinkled it on the world of video.
Today Facebook released an update to its popular iOS app that brings multiple speed improvements and a new feature. Version 5.3 speeds up the timeline profile view for the iPhone, and the News feed now loads even faster on both iPhone and iPad.
A new addition greatly improves the photo uploading experience in Facebook’s app. You can finally choose a specific album to upload to from your device’s Camera Roll. Finally.
Facebook rebuilt its app from the ground up to optimize it for iOS months ago, and since then the app has been updated with a Share button, redesigned photo uploader, Gifts, and other interface improvements. Today’s update can be downloaded for free in the App Store.
Source: App Store
Apple released iTunes 11 about two weeks ago, and now the software’s first update has been released in the Mac App Store. iTunes 11.0.1 brings back the ability to find duplicate items in a library. Apple excluded the feature in the first version of iTunes 11, but the company promised to add it back in a future update.
Besides the ability to display duplicates, Apple has included some bug fixes for iTunes Match, AirPlay and multiple stability improvements.
This afternoon Apple quietly updates its iCloud System Status webpage with a new design that presents more details information about outages for specific services, such as iMessage and Siri. Several widespread outages have plagued iCloud in recent months, and Apple’s new layout is more transparent about the downtime and how many users are affected.
After unveiling its updated iPhone 5 BookBook case, Twelve South has announced BookBook for iPad mini, Apple’s smaller tablet. The case sells for $70 and is available now online.
Weighing 7.5 ounces, this newest BookBook is made with genuine leather and there are dual zippers on the top and bottom to allow full access to ports. The case comes in three colors: Vintage Brown, Classic Black and Vibrant Red.
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.
It’s Day 13! Time to get your tower defense on with Fieldrunners 2.
I’d say the single most annoying part of my mobile experience is when I accidentally click on a strategically placed ad. Most of the time, ads are placed in close proximity to where a user needs to touch in order to scroll or advance — not to mention there’s little screen real estate to begin with. Thankfully, and surprisingly, Google has been working on making accidental clicks a thing of the past.
Despite Tim Cook’s revelation that he uses the iPad’s virtual keyboard most of the time, anyone who writes for a living will still be using an external keyboard. And today’s test subject is the Brydge+, a $220 Bluetooth keyboard which does its best to turn your iPad into a tiny notebook.
We’ve been waiting for someone to make a great iOS Gmail app ever since the Sparrow team was bought by Google this year. Sparrow is still great, and the Gmail app has gotten better, but the experience of using email on a smartphone still feels unnatural and archaic.
A few apps have tried and failed to change mobile email, but app development company Orchestra thinks they have the right answer with their new app Mailbox. Blending an email inbox with a Clear-styled to-do list, Mailbox provides a modernized take on mobile email that is simply beautiful.
Here’s what the app looks like in action:
Year in review lists are usually pretty exhausting, but with millions of apps to choose from in the App Store there’s a pretty good chance you missed some great new apps that came out in 2012. Apple just unveiled their App Store Best of 2012 page and it’s packed with goodies.
The App Store Best of 2012 is divided into numerous categories of apps so everyone will find something they enjoy. Apple didn’t stop with just the App Store though. The Best of 2012 list also includes selections from Music, Movies, TV Shows, Books, and even Podcast.
You can check out all the goodies right here.
Tweetbot is our favorite Twitter client for Mac. We love it so much, we’ve even included it in our Cult of Mac Advent Calendar. Even though the app is a bit costly at $19.99, it’s worth every penny because of the love and dedication poured into the app from the Tapbots team.
The latest version of Tweetbot for Mac was just released on the Mac App Store and it’s full of new features. The update includes some new global hot keys, better notifications, along with numerous other features and bug fixes.
Here are the full release notes on everything that’s new in Tweetbot for Mac 1.1:
Android has been dominating the iPhone in terms of market share, but if consumers decide to buy what they really want right now the two platforms’ roles might be reversed. In a new survey, Apple analyst Gene Munster found that 53% of smartphone buyers plan to buy an iPhone 5.
Whether those prospective iPhone 5 owners actually go out and buy the iPhone 5 is a whole other story, but Munster says that interest in the iPhone 5 is growing despite the Maps app fiasco.
It’s that time of year again, time to look back at a year of new apps and highlight the ones we liked the most.
So we’d like some help from you, gorgeous Cult of Mac readers – who are all looking particularly good today, might I add? We need to draw up a shortlist of candidates, apps that made a splash on your home screens during the last 12 months.
Which ones delighted you? Which ones entertained you? Which ones left you giggling like a little kid? What about the free apps you wished you could pay for? Or the paid-for apps that you thought were ridiculously cheap? Which were the apps you rushed to tell your friends about, because you were so excited?
Help us out – post your thoughts and suggestions in the comments. Next week we’ll round up your suggestions, mix in a few of our own, and run a poll in which you can vote and decide the winner.
Thanks folks! We’re looking forward to seeing your recommendations.
Readdle has today updated its popular PDF Expert app for iPad to introduce a number of new features that include Google Drive syncing, integration with the PDF Converter app, faster PDF rendering, and more. It also promises “dozens” of other improvements, and it’s available to download from the App Store now.