Apple picker Facebook may try to compete with Snapchat again, another promising communication service was introduced, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and 3 is coming to Mac, notifications from iOS can also be received on Mac with the help of a special application, and the djay 2 application, for example, received an interesting update. Read that and much more in the 21st App Week.
News from the world of applications
Facebook will probably try to compete with Snapchat again (19/5)
Facebook is undoubtedly one of the biggest players in the field of mobile communication today, thanks to its popular Messenger and thanks to the recently purchased IM service WhatsApp. However, there is one area where Facebook is not so dominant yet, and that is sending pictures, where Snapchat is by far the most successful app.
In the past, Facebook tried to defeat this service with its special Poke application, but it was not successful and after a while it was pulled from the App Store. According to magazine reports Financial Times however, the billion-dollar corporation has not given up the fight and should soon launch a new special application, Slingshot, which will allow sending short video messages between users. However, no official information has been published yet.
Source: 9to5mac.com
Controversial game Weed Firm pulled from AppStore (21.)
As the name suggests, the main content of the game Weed Firm was to take care of your own marijuana garden. But at the same time, you had to be on your guard against the police and competition.
The desire for a virtual marijuana garden was shared by so many people that Weed Firm became the most popular free game for iPhone. However, it received negative publicity in the mainstream media, which was at least one of the main reasons for its removal from the AppStore.
The same fate met the game Flappy Bird: New Season at the same time, but for different reasons. It was a very exact, but probably not authorized, copy of the original Flappy Bird. Even the identical names of the developers were given.
Source: cultfmac.com
New applications
Ringo offers an alternative to Skype and operators
The most important feature of the new Ringo communication application is the use of the classic way to transfer a phone call (just as it happens with a call through an operator), so there is no need for an Internet connection and the connection is of better quality, independent of WiFi or 3G signal strength. In addition, your standard phone number will be displayed to the called party.
The information about the application states that it is significantly cheaper than the "competition". It's pretty clear that they're referring to Skype, which costs $0,023 for a call (to a standard mobile number or landline) for US users. Ringo offers a price of $0,017 per minute of call and $0,003 if the number called is US.
Ringo is currently available in sixteen countries, including: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and 3 are coming to Mac
The first installment of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was ported to Mac OS X in 2011, and now two more installments are coming. They are available along with the complete add-on content that can be downloaded with the game, completely free of charge. Players can use single-player and multi-platform multi-player, and in case of purchase via Steam, "versus" mode using the Steam Works service.
The port was made by the biggest company in this business, publisher Aspyr. Both games are available for purchase on GameAgent, the second part for $15 and the third for $30. There is also an online tool available here to check if the game will run smoothly on your Mac.
Notifyr or notifications from iOS on Mac
Notifyr is a great new iPhone app that will allow you to stream any iOS notifications to your Mac screen. The service works via low-energy Bluetooth, so it is very gentle on the battery of both devices. However, a possible disadvantage is that because of this, Notifyr can only be used on an iPhone 4s or later, and your computer must also be among the more modern ones. MacBook Air from 2011, Mac mini from the same year, MacBook Pro and iMac from 2012 or the latest Mac Pro are supported.
A relatively serious problem could also be the fact that the Notifyr application uses a private API and it is therefore likely that it got into the App Store by mistake through the approval process. So if you care about the app, don't hesitate to buy it before it gets downloaded. Notifyr can be purchased from the App Store for a price 3,99 € on iPhone with iOS 7 and later.
Lockscreen Wallpaper Designer
A new app by "tiny developer" Erwin Zwart aims to solve the problem of inappropriate background images on a locked iOS device. It often happens that it is not easy to read the thin text showing the time and date. Lockscreen Wallpaper Designer allows its users to select a cut-out in the middle of the given wallpaper (in the shape of a circle, star or square with rounded corners), which will display the selected area in its original form, while blurring the rest of the image in a similar style to what happens in iOS 7. it retains its "declarative" value, but is redesigned to serve its purpose much better.
The app is available on the AppStore for an introductory price 89 cents.
Important update
djay 2
The popular multi-platform DJ application djay has come up with an interesting new feature. This is access to the Spotify music service. Until now, it was only possible to work with music stored directly on the user's iOS device. However, connecting to Spotify allows access to more than twenty million songs that the service offers.
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So that the user does not feel frustrated with this huge selection of music, a new feature of the application has also been introduced. It consists in recommending other music based on the one you are currently listening to/working with. Genre, rhythm, speed, scale in which the composition is, etc. are analyzed. The application can thus analyze how well the next song will go together with the current one. Spotify connectivity is available for both iPhone and iPad. Spotify integration has not yet been announced for Mac, but it is possible that it will happen sometime in the future.
To celebrate the connection, djay 2 is available for free on iPhone and half price on iPad for a limited time. If djay users want access to Spotify's libraries, they need to pay $10 a month for a Spotify Premium account - a seven-day free trial is also available. djay 2 for iPhone download free in the App Store, the version for iPad then for 4,99 €.
WWDC
The update to the official Worldwide Developers Conference app doesn't bring any new features or big news like last year's video integration. It has only changed into a new orange design in the style of iOS 7, and the schedule of events confirms that the conference will start by default on Monday, June 2 at ten in the morning (19:00 our time). The application is available for free in App Store.
Medium
Also worth noting is the update to the official app of the great blogging service Medium Founded by the founders of Twitter, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, this social journalism network is home to some really interesting and quality articles, and it also impresses with its beautiful design. Medium has had its iPhone app for a long time, but with the latest update, the app has turned into a universal app, so you can use it fully on your iPad as well.
The content of the Medium application consists of articles written in English by amateur and professional journalists, which are sorted into different categories. You can star your favorite articles, share them on Twitter and so on. The full integration of Twitter also has the advantage that if you log into the application using this social network, you will get access to your own page with articles generated according to your previous activity. You can download Medium for free from App Store.
We also informed you:
- Collect information in Evernote on iOS
- O2TV Go offers the best TV programming for iOS as well as live streaming
- Pixelmator 3.2 brings a new patch tool, 16-bit channel support, and more
- With TeeVee 3, you can now manage your favorite series on the iPad as well
- OmniGroup has released the long-awaited OmniFocus 2 for Mac
Discounts
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Authors: Michal Marek, Tomas Chlebek
