iOS software posts - The Download Blog- Page 2

Buycott app lets you vote with your wallet in the supermarket

Supermarkets are labyrinthine behemoths laid out in a convenient linear fashion. So where's the maze? On the supermarket shelves, of course. Food products galore stare back at us, silently appealing to our penchants for sugar, salt, and fat. We pick and choose, knowing full well what we are getting into. But it's the hidden components that are increasingly becoming a salient issue.

If supermarket shelves are overwhelming due to the sheer diversity of items, imagine the corporate structure behind the packaging. Or don't; just let your phone do it. Scan any bar code (UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN8, EAN13...) with your phone and the free Buycott app (for iOS; a previously available Android version is now "Coming soon") will display the product's corporate family tree on the screen. The app takes knowing where your food comes from further, telling you not only what brand belongs to what company, but what that company does with your dollars.… Read more

Intel and McAfee join forces, the Counting Crows talk apps, and Firefox revs to v21

Every week, we compile the best new reviews, products, and features from the Download.com software catalog and blog, package them up in a tidy little newsletter, and e-mail it out to all of our lovely subscribers.

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Top Download News and Features

Mozilla Firefox updates to version 21 with a new Health Report and additional Do Not … Read more

Watch ABC app arrives with live TV for iOS, Web

ABC's new live TV video service Watch ABC has arrived on smartphones, tablets, and the Web, though its availability is highly limited for now.

Disney/ABC on Tuesday announced the availability of the live programming feature in its mobile app in New York City as well as Philadelphia though local respective networks WABC-TV and WPVI. The update adds a "live" button to ABC's newly renamed Watch ABC software for iOS devices that lets users in those markets watch live streams of those two stations, just like they would on a TV.

News of the feature came over the weekend … Read more

Fit Radio streams up-tempo tunes to motivate your workout

The more I run, the more I realize my regular playlist isn't cutting it. Even with some 150 hand-picked songs, I get bored hearing the same ones over and over. And although they're among my favorite power-pop tunes, they're quite diverse when it comes to tempo. I need songs of at least 128 beats per minute (bpm) to keep me running strong.

Enter Fit Radio, a free app (Android|iOS|Web) that streams up-tempo playlists designed to amp up your workout. It's like Songza for sprinters, or maybe Pandora for bike peddlers.

The app is divided … Read more

Easily import Astrid tasks to Any.Do on Android, iOS

The most important feature your to-do list needs is accessibility. A written grocery list you forgot on your kitchen counter doesn't help you much at the store. For this reason, among others, many people use a to-do list manager on their mobile device. But what happens when the app you're using shuts down their service? That's the thought on many users' minds following Yahoo's recent acquisition of Astrid

Fortunately, some of the other to-do list apps are stepping up to help you migrate your data. Such is the case with Any.Do, which released … Read more

Star Apps: Counting Crows

For some audiophiles, Counting Crows and The Wallflowers will forever be associated with the mid-1990s--along with Netscape Navigator, Hotmail, and of course, Windows 95. But don't call their joint summer outing a nostalgia trip. Velvet-tongued Counting Crows vocalist Adam Duritz, hot off the heels of The Outlaw Roadshow (alongside a slew of new indie bands), prefers to view his comparatively intimate Wallflowers double bill as a much-needed respite.

Other than sharing a decade, the comradely combos have shared previous tours, a track (Duritz sang on The Wallflowers' "6th Avenue Heartache"), and even a producer (T-Bone Burnett, back … Read more

Amazon cloud photos app hits iOS, syncs with camera roll

Amazon's got a new app for iOS that gives users of Apple devices a way to view and sync up with photos they have stored on Amazon's Cloud Drive, including photos they've taken on other devices.

Every time the app (iTunes) is opened up, it can tap into a user's camera roll and automatically sync up photos people have taken. Amazon is the latest company, along with Facebook, to offer such software, and the app works over both Wi-Fi and cellular connections.

Other features include the option to share stored photos on Twitter and Facebook, as … Read more

Four iOS weather apps that exude elegance

It wasn't very long ago that for a developer to make a successful weather app, it had to have the most information possible. This meant developers would compete to pack tons of graphs, maps, diagrams, written forecasts -- and even forums where people could talk about weather -- into busy, confusing apps that tried to cover it all. But what you ended up with were long, listlike menus when the only information you probably wanted was what the weather might be like for the weekend.

Don't get me wrong, the feature-packed weather apps have their place, particularly when … Read more

New Avast, Apple's $10,000 prize, and hot pizza: The Week in Downloads

Top Download News and Features

Avast Free Antivirus updates to add VPN service and target Facebook Gmail for iPhone and iPad … Read more

Pizza Compass provides a "tool for sliced success"

You're exploring a new city when time slips away. Darkness now falls and a chill settles in your bones. The growing rumble in your stomach is starting to scare small children who pass by. But don't even think about the neon-tinted, lowest-common-denominator fast food chains--what you need is a hot slice of pizza from a local joint that's still open. The new Pizza Compass app for iPhone and iPad from swaggering (and most assuredly apocryphal) "creator" Zeus Gorham Munkist and small development shop Oak Studios aims to get you there ASAP.

The Pizza Compass app … Read more