Sorcery! on iOS reincarnates Fighting Fantasy books for tablets (video)

Sorcery! on iOS reincarnates Fighting Fantasy book series for tablets and smartphones

If you’re going to bring the well-loved, 30-year-old Fighting Fantasy book series to digital screens, you’d better do it right. Fortunately, Sorcery! does. The game is based on the original choose-your-own-adventure series written by Lionhead Studios co-founder Steve Jackson, with a few modern adjustments. The iOS game sidesteps the need for organic books and (unfortunately) our tried-and-tested multi-fingered bookmarking system, digitally keeping note of all your decisions along the way — in short, no cheating. Making use of the new medium, there are now touch-based sword fights to help break up the wordy play-by-play descriptions of what you’re doing. The initial installment is available now for $5 at the App Store, with the remaining three parts expected to follow later this year.

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Source: Sorcery (App Store)

Blockbuster releases On Demand video streaming app for iOS

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Blockbuster announced its entrance back into the video streaming game in January after pledging to exit that market late last year. Today, Blockbuster’s reincarnation as a video streaming service continues, as the company rolled out its On Demand app for iOS, bringing “thousands” of movies to iPads and iPhones running iOS 4.3 and up. By adding Apple devices to the fold, Blockbuster can now shoot movies to the majority of mobile devices — previously it was only available for Android (plus Mac, PC, Roku and Samsung Smart TVs). So, if you’re looking for 1080p video with 5.1 surround streaming to your Apple-fied mobile screen, your download awaits.

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Via: 9to5 Mac

Source: App Store

Instagram’s new ‘Photos of You’ feature lets users tag each other (video)

Instagram 35 lets users tag each other in photos

It was just a matter of time, really. We’re well acquainted with Facebook letting us tag friends in our photos, so it’s no shock that a similar feature has just spread to the social network’s mobile darling, Instagram. The Android and iOS apps will both hit version 3.5 today, letting users tag others in a shot (whether or not they’re human). A new Photos of You section has also been added to members’ profiles, where you can see any photo linked to that account. As you might imagine, Instagram is already trying to head off potential privacy issues — account holders have until May 16th before their Photos of You sections become public, and settings will let them turn down connections to any revealing (or simply inaccurate) images. The update is already available through the iTunes App Store and should be landing soon in Google Play. Hit up the source links if you’ve ever wanted to see how other Instagrammers see you.

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Via: Instagram

Source: App Store, Google Play

Adobe working on Lightroom app for iOS, can edit RAW images

Adobe is planning to release a professional-level photo-editing app for iOS that will be similar to the company’s Lightroom editing software. Adobe plans to add the ability for the app to sync with Lightroom so that users could edit photos on their iOS devices and send them back to their computer for finalization.

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Adobe’s group product manager for Lightroom, Tom Hogarty, demonstrated an early prototype of the app on The Grid, which is an online web show hosted by photography guru Scott Kelby. Hogarty goes through some of the features of the app, including adjusting the temperature of a photo, as well as edit RAW files right in the app.

Lightroom iOS demo starts at 18:09:

The app will be constantly synced through the cloud, so while you make edits on your iOS device, the changes will appear on the file on your computer in Lightroom. You can edit certain things like exposure, clarity, shadows, highlights, and white balance, as well as zoom in to 100% for fine detail work on an image.

Of course, the app isn’t a full-fledged version of Lightroom, so you won’t be able to do any of the more advanced stuff, but it still looks like a decent way for photographers to edit their images on the go using something more advanced than iPhoto. Adobe hasn’t named the app yet, but it could be an extension of Lightroom, such as Lightroom Mobile or something along those lines.

[via CNET]


Adobe working on Lightroom app for iOS, can edit RAW images is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Angry Birds Friends now available on iOS and Android, is totally free

Angry Birds Friends now available on iOS  Android, is totally free

It’s hard to believe, but there is seriously another Angry Birds game headed to mobile today, dubbed Angry Birds Friends. Like its Facebook counterpart, the game is focused on social versions of standard Angry Birds mechanics — flinging various bird types at various structures protecting pigs, with the ultimate goal of destroying said pigs. The twist in this iteration is that your score is tracked and stacked up against friends via Facebook, meaning that people on all platforms (Facebook, iOS and Android) can play against each other. Should you be wary of shelling out more cash for fowl, worry not, as Angry Birds Friends is free (supported by ads, as you might imagine). It’s available now on both iTunes and the Google Play store.

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Source: Rovio

Traktor DJ gets remixed for iPhone, brings big features to small pockets (video)

Traktor DJ gets remixed for iPhone

Traktor DJ for iPad showed us what can be done when you resist the urge to simply shrink your existing software or just slide it under a touch interface. Since its iOS debut, the folk at Native Instruments have spent the last couple of months cautiously considering how best to transplant the same waveform-based interface over to the iPhone. Today, you can find out. You get everything you find in the iPad version, like three band EQ, filters, hot cues and effects –along with the same key, tempo and timbre matching utilities, plus library sharing with the full-fat desktop version. The UI isn’t the only thing getting downsized, either: this iPhone-friendly version costs just $4.99 (compared to $20 on the iPad). That should leave enough change to drop a few on party rock anthems.

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Source: iTunes

Adobe working on Lightroom for iOS, uses cloud compute to edit RAW files (video)

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Photoshop Touch? Bah. Real photographers use Lightroom, but since the software makes your average PC sweat, you’re not likely to see it available on a tablet. Adobe, however, thinks that it can get around the limitations of mobile hardware with a cloud-connected version of Lightroom that’d let iOS users edit RAW files on the go. In the latest episode of The Grid, Lightroom chief Tom Hogarty showed off an early build of the app on his iPad 2, which uses Smart Previews to show users the changes that they’re making while the grunt-work is handled elsewhere. Naturally, Hogarty wouldn’t commit to a launch window, but if you’d like a glimpse of the future, head on past the break and start watching the video at the 19-minute mark.

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Via: CNET, AppleInsider

Source: The Grid

iOS 7 team poaching Mac coders to meet WWDC preview deadline

Apple has shifted engineers from work on OS X 10.9 to double-down on iOS 7 development, leaks suggest, juggling staff so as to ensure the new iPhone and iPad platform is ready in time for WWDC 2013. The significant refresh of iOS – which is believed to see a “flattening” of the interface, away from the so-called skeuomorphic designs that have persisted through existing versions – has been coder-intensive, sources tell AllThingsD, though there’s confidence that iOS 7 “will ship on time.”

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Chatter of just how much of a challenge the mobile overhaul was turning out to be peaked earlier this week, with unofficial reports from inside Apple suggesting that the extent of the company’s plans may force a staggered release of sorts. As well as aiming to change the aesthetics of iOS, chief designer Jony Ive is also believed to be looking to rework certain core apps, including email and calendar.

Whether those refreshes would be ready in time for the main iOS 7 release was unclear, the insiders pointed out, with some concerns that their arrival might be pushed back into 2014.

So as to avoid any delay – though, to be fair, Apple hasn’t yet pegged a public release date on iOS 7 – the company has been “borrowing” engineers from the Mac team to work on the iOS project. It’s a move that has some history; Apple did the same back in 2007, shifting OS X coders to the iOS 5 team so as to meet its deadlines for that release, too.

The end result may well be worth waiting for, though. Though iPhone and iPad sales have remained impressive, there has been a growing call for the company to look at the cleaner, less fussy examples set by rival platforms and reconsider its wood- and leather-effect designs, which attempt to mimic real-world materials or devices, in most cases unnecessarily.

iOS 7, therefore, will be “de-glitzed” according to one unnamed source, with elements like the green-felt finish in Game Center to be removed in favor of a more authentic finish. That’s also been described as “a much-needed ‘de-Forstallization” by another source, referring to former interface chief Scott Forstall who left the company in 2012, and who was known as a strong supporter of skeuomorphic design.

Exactly what parts of iOS 7 will be ready for WWDC in June 2013 remain to be seen. If the preview takes the same form as in previous years, however, Apple will likely pick ten key features to highlight and save the rest until closer to release.


iOS 7 team poaching Mac coders to meet WWDC preview deadline is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Twitter updates iOS and Android apps, lets users see what’s trending around the world

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Twitter’s developers are a busy bunch, (allegedly) working on an app for Glass and updating code for Macs in the last week. Today, they released yet another round of new software for iOS and Android, bringing some new functionality along with the requisite bug fixes and unnamed “improvements.” After updating, both sets of users will be able to see trends from around the world, as opposed to just those happening in the immediate area.

Additionally, iOS users can now invite friends to join Twitter from within the app — in case anyone still knows an unfortunate soul who’s not already pecking out 140-character missives — and both author and retweeter names will be included in replies to RT’s. Meanwhile, Android users also received easier access to swap between accounts and change settings using the menu button. If you haven’t grabbed the update already, well, you know the drill, your download awaits.

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Via: Phonescoop

Source: App Store, Google Play

Task management app / service Astrid is Yahoo’s latest acquisition

Astrid Tasks and Todo list is Yahoo's latest acquisition

Under new CEO Marissa Mayer, Yahoo has been working on expanding the services it offers across multiple platforms and its latest move on that front is the acquisition of Astrid. The Astrid Tasks and To-do list app is a popular productivity manager on Android and iOS, particularly notable for its tie-ins with Google Calendar and the ability to assign tasks to others. In a blog post, CEO and co-founder Jon Paris announced the company will be joining Yahoo’s mobile team with a goal of “making the world’s daily habits more inspiring and entertaining.” As for existing users, the service will continue to work as-is for 90 days, and those who have paid for annual subscriptions to add on file storage, backup and more can expect refunds from Yahoo. There will also be a way for users to download all their data, although there aren’t any details on that yet. Astrid had received funding from Google Ventures, among others, but as shown by the launch of Google Keep it seems the usual giants in tech will be focusing on in-house ways to offer productivity features.

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Source: Astrid Blog