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Windows Phone to get an official File Manager in the coming weeks

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May 4, 2014

Windows Phone 8.1 has brought many user requested features to the table, including a notification center, but a decent file manager is still missing from the OS. Even though there are many third party options, but some fail to deliver on quality, while others aren’t free. Luckily for Windows Phone users, Microsoft has announced via Reddit that Windows Phone will be officially getting a file manager in the coming days. If all goes well, we could see the file manager by the end of May.

Microsoft didn’t divulge into the specifics, but was considerate enough to post six screenshots of the upcoming app. The app will allow for creating new folders, deleting files and moving them. It won’t probably be anything ground breaking giving access to system folders. Will the File Explorer help Windows Phone open us the ecosystem a little more or not, is debatable, but it will surely add to making the OS better than before. Find the screenshots below.

[Source]

Beats Music 2.0 gets universal on iOS with iPad support

Chetna Chauhan

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May 2, 2014

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Beats Music 2.0 gets universal on iOS with iPad support

As promised, Beats has released version 2.0 of the Beats Music app in the Apple App Store. The update makes the app compatible with iPad and iPad mini along with iPhone and iPod.

The iPad version of the app isn’t simply a stretched out version of the app and makes use of the extra real estate. It retains all the unique features of the iPhone version, including Just for You, the Sentence, My Library, and an offline mode. The app can switch to portrait and landscape mode depending on the orientation. It also allows for in-app subscription that was introduced in the last update earlier this month, that seemed to have helped the app’s popularity on the store. Here’s the changelog for version 2.0:

● A stylish and sophisticated interface designed specifically for the iPad’s larger screen
● All your favorite features including Just for You, the Sentence, Find It, My Library and Offline Mode
● Dedicated support for both landscape and portrait modes
● In-app subscription and account management via your iTunes account
● Find Your Friends — adds the ability to find and follow your Twitter friends on Beats Music

With an iPad version, Beats would be hoping to steal some more customers from competitors like Rdio and Spotify. You can download the app for free from here, but it requires a $9.99 per month subscription to stream your favorite tracks.

OneNote for iPhone gets some user requested features in the latest update

Sharang Sharma

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May 2, 2014

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With competition getting tighter around productivity suits for smartphones and tablets, Microsoft is listening to customers more than ever to have an upper edge on iWork and Google’s suite of apps. The team at Redmond pushed out an update for OneNote for iPhone recently, bringing some much requested features.

Version 2.2.1 of OneNote makes it feel more at home on iOS 7 than before thanks to a UI change. Notes navigation is faster, there’s a new ‘sections and pages’ view for notebook content. The navigation bar has also been made cleaner than before.

Users can also create new notebooks and sections now without needing the desktop app and share them with others. Similar to the iPad version, the iPhone version also gets Office Lens that can be used to take pictures of whiteboards and receipts and trim and edit them to make them more readable. OneNote can also recognize text with optical character recognition (OCR) that can be used to scan text in an image. You can also create a note from anywhere in the app by tapping the encircled+ symbol at the bottom right of the screen.

Here’s the official changelog:

Updated navigation makes it easier to view and find your notes
Improved note formatting and consistency across your devices
Edit existing tables
Ink annotations and rich text formatting now viewable
Sync your notes stored in OneDrive for Business and SharePoint with your iPhone
Most recently used notebook lists sync across devices

You can pick OneNote for free from the App Store here.

Disney brings Star Wars Journeys: The Phantom Menace to iOS

Shivendra Pal

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May 2, 2014

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Like it or not Star Wars VII will be hitting cinemas sooner or later and along with that tons of other related content, most of which will be for smartphone and tablet audiences. We’re starting to see that happen with Disney today releasing “Star Wars Journeys: The Phantom Menace” on iOS.

The app narrates the first episode of the Star Wars series (which would be the first movie in the newer series) in an interesting way. It brings along features such as interactive scenes, games like anti-gravity podracing, original art and more. It also features a 180-degree parallax scrolling to add to the experience.

It wouldn’t be wrong to call is a visual storybook that tells the story of the first movie in the series. Here’s what the app has to offer:
* Uncover the story of the saga while tapping to reveal hidden content
* Sharpen your Jedi mastery and test your ability against the fastest and fiercest racers in four different galaxies
* Customize your very own podracer with visual and performance enhancements to improve your results
* Participate in tournaments, time trials, and daily racing events to win special rewards

The app can be purchased for $6.99 on the App Store for iPad, iPod and iPhone. As you might have guessed it, Star Wars Journeys: Attack of the Clones is coming very soon. Milking a popular series? Not an issue if the app is good and the fans get something more out of their favorite series.

You can pick Star Wars Journeys: The Phantom Menace on the App Store here. The download weighs 522MB, so it’s advisable to have a WiFi connection around.

Mahajong Travel, Fantasia Painter and more are Red Stripe Deals of this week on Windows Phone

Sharang Sharma

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May 2, 2014

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Microsoft’s weekly discount on certain apps called Red Stripe Deals is a nice way for Windows Phone users to grab quality apps on discounted prices. Every week six new apps are selected from games and other categories and get discounted by 50 percent or more. Here are this week’s Red Stripe Deals:

Bejeweled™ LIVE – $1.99

Swap, move and match multiple gems for dazzling, high-carat fun. Show off your Bejeweled® prowess by earning special Xbox LIVE achievements and climb up global Xbox LIVE leaderboards. Soar to gem-matching heights in Classic mode, race the clock in Action or relax and unwind with Endless play.

Fantasia Painter – $0.99

Create amazingly cool photo edits and paintings easily. Fantasia has 32 unique brushes (e.g. Fur, Makeup, paint) that adapt to your painting style, speed, direction and nearby colors to make even simple strokes look professional.
Powerful effects, like Mold and Clone, help you enlarge muscles, swap faces, body shape, and more.

Puzzle games for kids – $2.49

This app delivers 5 amazing games that helps young kids learn about various subjects!

1) WORLD MUSIC – Arrange music instruments and learn their names and sounds
2) JUNGLE SAFARI – Learn animal names and their sounds
3) THINGS THAT GO !- Learn a variety of vehicles and the sound they make
4) WORLD OF SPORTS- Learn about sports from around the globe

Clockwork Tales – $1.49

Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink is an adventure game in the steampunk genre. It is a detective drama featuring action elements such espionage, monster battles and even hang-gliding!

Farming Simulator 14 – $0.99

Start your agricultural career in Farming Simulator 14 on mobile and tablet! Take control of your farm and its fields to fulfil your harvesting dreams. As well as a refined look and feel, Farming Simulator 14 gives you double the number of farm machines to control, all authentically modelled on equipment from real agricultural manufacturers, including Case IH, Deutz-Fahr, Lamborghini, Kuhn, Amazone and Krone.

Mahjong Travel – $0.99

Mahjong Travel brings you the classic mahjong-solitaire experience with a bunch of new surprises. If you like discovering beautiful places around the world, this game is made for you!

You can also check the entire collection here.

Snapchat’s iOS app to get text messaging and video calling in the upcoming update

iOS
News

Sharang Sharma

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May 1, 2014

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Snapchat has been an interesting story so far. The developers have been brave enough to decline a $4 billion offer from Google and another $3 billion offer from Facebook. And post that, the app was in controversies, when 4.6 million usernames and phone numbers of its customers got leaked, while another security breach in February opened up the users’ iPhone to denial-of-service attacks.

Nonetheless, the app is getting an update on iOS later today and it’s a big one. The update will add two new features to the app- Chat and Here. Just like the photos that can be made to disappear, the text messages in the conversations will disappear upon leaving the window. You can always take a screenshot of the conversation, in case you wish to hold on to something. The other feature called Here, will start a video call between the two users when both of them press the blue photo button in a chat.

The update should hit the iOS version of the app any minute now. Snapchat is available for free on the App Store here. You can check the video below to get a better understanding of the two new features.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9h30NcVy4E

Foursquare splitting into Foursquare and Swarm this summer

Sharang Sharma

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May 1, 2014

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While Foursquare tells your friends where you are, it won’t in the near future. Forusquare will be splitting its app into the original and a new app called Swarm this summer.

The original Foursquare app will get a sort of makeover and will focus more on discovering new places and their reviews. It will be dropping the check-in feature completely.Swarm on the other hand will what your friends are up to and what they’ll be doing next. The app will hit iOS and Android in the coming weeks, followed by a Windows Phone version later. You can sign up on swarmapp.com and you’ll be notified via an email when the app gets released.

The move is being done to give a better future to Foursqaure, which according to the developers, is turning more into a check in button.

[Source | more coverage]

Google Search, Play Music and Play Games apps on Android receive fresh updates

Sharang Sharma

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May 1, 2014

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Google has updated three of its core Android apps – Google Search, Play Music and Play Games.

Of the three, the update for Google Search is perhaps the most interesting. The app can now remember where you parked your car using Google Now parking card that lists the address of the place where you parked it. Other added features to the app include:

New reminders interface with better arrangement of past reminders
Centralized list for nicknames under Accounts & privacy
‘Help’ and ‘Send feedback’ are now ‘Help & feedback’ (one item)
Offline mode no longer clears all cards, keeps cards from last update
Open some settings by voice

Moving on, the Play Music app now lets you edit playlists within the app and then share them after making them public.

Lastly, version 1.6.07 of the Google Play Games app adds a redesigned navigation bar, notifications for gifts. The update also sees “Matches” being renamed to ‘Inbox’. The app also gets a visual polish and regular bug fixes.

Find the three apps in the Play Store at the links below.

Google Search

Google Play Music

Google Play Games

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Photoshop Express on iOS gets updated to “a brand new editing experience”

Sharang Sharma

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May 1, 2014

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Adobe’s Photoshop version for iOS called the Photoshop Express has just been updated to version 3.3. It’s not just any other update and in fact, changes the way you interact with the tool in a lot of ways. Adobe calls it “a brand new editing experience”. The update brings a new UI, in line with the iOS 7 experience. It also adds the ability to share your edited photos on Instagram or SMS.

The app also gets a new “pet-eye mode” that removes the green eye effect when shooting pets. You can also resume your work from where you left it upon minimizing the app, without having to save it. Then there are the usual bug fixes and performance improvements. Here’s the full changelog:

A brand new editing experience with a new look for iOS7
Share via Instagram or SMS
Pet-eye (a.k.a. green-eye) correction
Save your work without saving now that the app resumes where you left off
Navigation improvements throughout the app, including Tool Tips and updates to the Photo Picker
Bug fixes and performance improvements.

You can pick the app on Apple’s App Store for free (albeit with in-app purchases) here.

Reading List app hits Windows Phone 8.1

Sharang Sharma

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May 1, 2014

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While Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8.1 hasn’t even come to devices officially, we’re seeing apps designed for it coming to the Windows Phone Store already. After Movie Moments, Reading List is the second high profile app from Microsoft’s stables to hit the platform. The app is a universal app, meaning your content on the app will be synced across devices.

Reading List allows you to save your favorite articles on the web and make them available for reading at a later point of time when you actually have the time to read them from top to bottom. You can organize the saved articles into categories, pin your favorite categories to Start Screen and share those articles on Facebook and OneNote. Here’s what the app offers in terms of features:

Add bookmarks from any app or Internet Explorer to keep track of things you want to get back to later
See your list in the Windows Reading List app that is available on all Windows 8.1 devices whether you’re on your phone or PC
Easily remove items once you’re done with them
Search through the items in your reading list to find specific things
Each item is shown in a rich display, showing the title, images, and what app it came from
Categorize items. You can group together ideas about the next place you want to vacation, articles about finance, or things you want to read for work
Filter items easily by category
Share a set of items from your list with others
Removed an item by mistake? Use the recently deleted section to find it

Sounds neat, right? Grab Reading List for you Windows Phone 8.1 device on the Windows Phone Store here.