BlackBerry World is officially six years old today having launched at 1:01AM EDT on April 1st, 2009 known then as BlackBerry App World. To celebrate the occasion, if you look in BlackBerry World right now, the carousel should be showing you a birthday section where you can download rather predictably, six apps for free including Follow Mail, SoundScape, Max Contact Manager and more.

What did BlackBerry App World look like back then? Glad you asked. Check out this video ‘BlackBerry App World A to Z with Adam Zeis’ from back on October 9th, 2009. And happy birthday BlackBerry World!

We all love to save a bit here and there and if you’re looking to pick up some apps, why not look at this selection from QtHelex? They’ve brought us apps such as ClipMan Clipboard Manager, BlackBullet, Battery and System Analyzer and more. We’ve looked at these apps before and the developer puts a lot into the apps and engages with users too.

Read More »

Disney has brought the classic side-scrolling action of DuckTales: Remastered to the iPhone and iPad.

Just like the original 1989 game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Disney’s DuckTales puts you in the role of Scrooge McDuck, traveling your way across the world, defending the McDuck fortune from Magic De Spell and the Beagle Boys. The game takes you to five locations, including the Himalayas, Transylvania, and the Moon to recover the Five Legendary Treasures.

DuckTales: Remastered features familiar gameplay elements such as Scrooge’s pogo jump and cane swing. You can collect power-ups that will make you temporarily invincible or increase your health. Bluetooth controllers are also fully supported.

In updating the look of the original game, the characters and environments are now hand-drawn. The remastered version also features the voice cast of the original DuckTales game. For for casual players, Disney has added an easy mode, while old fans can try their hand at the new Extreme difficulty mode.

DuckTales: Remastered is available on the App Store right now.

• $9.99 – Download Now

iOS devices saw record sales in China in early 2015, particularly the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Apple captured 27.6% of the Chinese smartphone market, thanks primarily to the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. China Mobile accounted for 59% of Apple’s total iPhone sales in China for the three-month period ending in February 2015, the iPhone 6 was the top-selling phone in China during that time.

From Kantar Worldpanel:

“In urban China, Apple iPhone 6 remained the best selling phone in the three months ending in February growing its share to 10.2% compared to 9.5% registered in the three months ending in January”, explained Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. “The iPhone 6 Plus was the third best selling smartphone after the iPhone 6 and the Xiaomi RedMI Note.

iOS also saw some growth in Europe, growing by 2.9% over last year. European customers cited reliability and design as their primary reasons for purchasing an iPhone 6 over competing smartphones. The iPhone 6 was also the best selling smartphone in the U.K, as well as the U.S.

Source: Kantar Worldpanel

Blizzard has now released the first of five “wings” for its Blackrock Mountain expansion of the hit collectible card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. It’s now available for the iPad.

Players of the game can purchase each wing for $6.99 each or all five for $24.99. Here’s what Hearthstone fans can expect from this new single-player expansion:

In Blackrock Mountain, Hearthstone players find themselves amid a war between powerful forces battling for control of the legendary mountain. Deep within the mountain’s core, duelists go toe-to-toe against fierce minions, including Dark Iron dwarves, fire elementals, and dragons, while facing off against legendary menaces from the Warcraft universe, such as Ragnaros the Firelord. Card-slingers who extinguish these villains will reap a mighty reward—31 scorching new cards inspired by the mountain and its denizens, bringing a wealth of new tactical options to the ever-evolving Hearthstone metagame.

The expansion will go live on Friday, April 3 in Europe and Asia. Each of the other four wings in Blackrock Mountain will go live each week during the month of April. Blizzard plans to release a version of Hearthstone for the iPhone sometime later this spring, joining the iPad version.

• Free with IAP – Download now

Source: Blizzard

For the second time this week, Apple has released a new build of OS X 10.10.3 to developers and public beta testers.

Build 14D130a of OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 is available for developers from the Apple Developer Center, as well as the Mac App Store. Public beta testers can also get the update from the Updates section of the Mac App Store.

OS X 10.10.3 contains the new Photos for Mac app. The app will let you view, manage, and edit your iCloud Photo Library on your Mac, and will replace Apple’s current iPhoto and Aperture applications when it launches to the public at some point this spring.

OmniFocus for iPad has hit version 2.1, and is now available as a universal app on the iPhone.

OmniFocus 2.1 not only brings iPhone compatibility, but also a host of new enhancements. Pro users get several new features, including a customizable Notification Center widget, a tiled home screen in the app, and perspective creation on the iPhone.

The iPhone version of OmniFocus 2.1 gains several new features, not previously available in the standalone iPhone app. Check out the full list below:

• Landscape Support — Landscape orientation is now supported on iPhone.
• Review — The Review perspective is now available on iPhone.
• Perspective Creation (Pro) — Create perspectives on your iPhone
• Project Perspectives — Perspectives which use project hierarchy are now supported on iPhone
• Grouping and Sorting — Grouping and sorting are now available on the iPHone.
• Platform Parity — In general, all of the features of OmniFocus for iPad are now available on the iPhone in this Universal app. If you can’t find something, let us know!

The update is free for existing OmniFocus 2 for iPad owners, and is rolling out through the App Store right now.

• $39.99 – Download Now

Right now you can save 50 percent off the price of the Mac app, lowering it to $14.99.

Pixelmator is fantastic Mac image editing software (it’s also made for iOS). The deal is only for one week, so get yourself over to the Mac App Store and buy it.

Whether you use your Mac to draw and illustrate or edit existing imagery, Pixelmator is an essential app. It’s one of my favorites — I picked it for Best Mac apps for photo editing. Don’t take my word for it, though. Apple put it on their Mac App Store “Essentials” list and also gave the software a coveted Apple Design Award (an annual award given at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference).

The software sports an impressive list of features: Drawing and retouching tools, 160 effects, color-correction tools, painting and selection tools, layer styles, compatibility with Photoshop, 16-bit per channel support, and much more.

Last November Pixelmator went to version 3.3, adding a new Yosemite-inspired redesign, support for iCloud Drive, Handoff and other new features.

Even at $30, Pixelmator is a heck of a value, especially compared to the cost of other image editing software (cough Photoshop cough). But at $15? It’s a steal.

• $14.99 – Download now

Drexel University and the Free Library of Philadelphia have teamed up to introduce an ‘iPad vending machine’ that lets residents to rent the tablets for up to four hours at a time.

From the Drexel News Blog:

Residents of Philadelphia’s Mantua and Powelton Village neighborhoods bordering Drexel’s campus will be able to use their Free Library of Philadelphia card to sign out an iPad and use it for a maximum of four hours. With a swipe of their Drexel ID, students will also be able to check out an iPad. Users won’t have to worry about personal data being stored on the iPad as all information entered will be removed once the iPad is returned to its slot in the kiosk.

The introduction of the iPad kiosk follows up a previous laptop-lending program that proved to be quite successful:

“Based on the success of the laptop lending kiosk in our library, self-service technology has proven to serve as an easy, attractive option for access to items we know our library users want,” said Danuta A. Nitecki, PhD, dean of Drexel Libraries. “We are exploring more opportunities to share technology via kiosks as well as new options for enriching the learning spaces where our Drexel community engages with information. It has been exciting to work with colleagues at the Free Library to think how tools might help our neighbors gain access to self-help training and practice discovery of information sources.”

The iPads will come pre-loaded with select educational apps, as well as those for photo and video editing. Some of the pre-loaded apps include BrowZine, an app that allows users to browse scholarly articles, and language-learning app Mango Languages.

Source: Drexel News Blog

The BlackBerry Passport is a beautiful and unique device. That’s what I think, anyway. I have a tried a few cases already and use them on and off because sometimes you just want to show the Passport off in all its glory. However, I have dropped my Passport a few times so I do want a case to protect it. That’s when I came across the Ringke Fusion case. The case is see-through, so it doesn’t cover up the logo on the back and you can still protect your device from bumps. 

Read More »