It's that time of year again, and if you've sufficiently recovered from all the over-indulgence and big tech savings over the Thanksgiving weekend, you'll be more than ready for round two. Christmas is just around the corner, and developers usually cut the prices of their apps amid the celebrations. This is all fine and dandy, but with hundreds of thousands of entries to the famed App Store, it's hard to keep track of what's cheap and also, worth purchasing at the discounted rate. Luckily, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users have the appropriately named App Santa at their side to help them to discover and take advantage of these bargains.
As most of you will have gleaned, BlackBerry is a struggling brand just now, and the decision of the Canadian company to roll its prized BBM out to Android and iOS was seen by many as a sign of its desperation. In October, we learned that BBM for Android and iPhone was would also, at some point, offer free voice calls to other users of the app, but despite the confirmation BlackBerry's VP Andrew Bocking on its imminent arrival, it looks as though we won't be getting the feature until early on next year.
We've seen iPhones of the computer generated variety be used for marketing before, and we've even seen CGI iPhones used to create an impressive domino effect in previous videos, but with Christmas just around the corner it was only a matter of time before the two were merged into one truly great video. And now it's happened.
Instagram is a big player in the mobile space these days, and it was already growing into a big deal long before Facebook splashed the cash to bring it under the social network's roof. It has shown no sign of slowing its progress since that acquisition either, even launching an Instagram for Windows Phone app for those that have been waiting impatiently for such a thing to be released.
One of the great things about the release of the Walter Isaacson biography detailing the life and times of Steve Jobs, was that we learned much more of events and instances that we'd only previously gathered the crux of. We hear names, we see keynotes, we enjoy products; but the ins and outs of what exactly goes on tend to remain obscured from the public eye - at least until another extensive book hits the market. Fred Vogelstein’s Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution, is a self-explanatory tale of two modern-day tech titans, and The Atlantic has posted an interesting piece dissecting a particular chapter about the release of the iPhone and notably, Google's reaction.
Apple's OS X Mavericks was first announced back at this year's WWDC, and although it hasn't really brought any earth-moving changes, it has somewhat enhanced the desktop operating system from last year's Mountain Lion. Having rolled out very recently, work as been ongoing with regards to changes and improvements, and today, Apple has seeded the first OS X 10.9.2 Mavericks beta to developers.
Christmas is a great time of year for tradition. We all have our little foibles and the chances are that our families have their own little ways of doing things around Christmas. One custom that has become quite large around the world over the last few years is the idea of the Secret Santa.
Google's Glass is the poster child of the smart glass boom, and as seen in the latest XE12 software update, things seem to be progressing exceptionally quickly. Although the extent to which we, the consumer, will take to the product is currently unknown, the snippet's we've seen so far of Glass in action across different fields has certainly helped to ramp up interest. In the latest, we're treated to a vicarious look at an MMA fight from the eyes of a referee, and whether or not this sport takes your fancy, the perspective from Glass is rather incredible.
Grand Theft Auto 5 may have released all the way back in September now, but following an extremely successful launch, the holiday gifts just keep on coming from Rockstar Games, publisher of the all-conquering series. Having just pushed a massive update to GTA Online for those on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Rockstar has come through with another treat for mobile gamers in the form of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for Android. The title, which is widely regarded as one of the best of the entire series, made its way to iOS just last week, and has finally landed at the Google Play Store. More details can be found after the break!
Last week, developer Zeptolab released a teaser trailer of its eagerly anticipated Cut the Rope 2 release, and now, for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users at least, it has finally made its way to the App Store. An Android version is somewhat uncertain, and the developers claim to be an iOS exclusive, but if history has taught us anything, then the Android version should bear fruit next year, in the meanwhile, if you've been waiting for your next fix of this candy-swinging adventure and just so happen to own an iOS device, early Christmas presents don't get much better than this!
