Software Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Animated Color Messages pops your Messages text

by Erica Sadun (May 10th, 2012)

For a buck, Animated Color Messages from SSA Mobile can add a certain flair to your iOS Messages conversation. It's a simple app to use. You choose a font, a text color or background pattern, or even a typing animation, and the app constructs a gif for you, pastes it into the system keyboard, ...

Garmin Fit for iOS adds Live Track to broadcast your status

by Mel Martin (May 9th, 2012)

Garmin Fit is a US$0.99 iPhone app that is used as a training tool for walking or cycling. The app uses GPS to keep track of your exercise stats, like speed, distance traveled, route traveled and an estimate of calories burned. This data can be uploaded to GarminConnect, a web-based service. The ...

Office for Mac 14.2.2 rollup patch now available (Updated)

by Steven Sande (May 9th, 2012)

Update: A reader tells us "After installing the updates from Microsoft, each of the programs wanted me to re-enter a product key as though I never entered one many months ago." He confirmed this as an issue according to a Microsoft support call, although we don't know how many people it might ...

TwitPic launches app, way too late

by Mike Schramm (May 8th, 2012)

TwitPic, which was the first photo sharing service for Twitter (and probably the most popular for a while, at least until competing services like Instagram stepped up) has finally released an iPhone app. It's ill-timed to say the least, considering that Twitter now has an official service ...

Harmon.ie brings SharePoint to iPad and iPhone

by Steven Sande (May 7th, 2012)

It's no secret that Apple's iPad is making great strides in the business market, with Apple CEO Tim Cook reporting during the Q2 2012 earnings call that about 94 percent of the Fortune 500 are either testing or deploying the iPad in business. Now harmon.ie is releasing social software to make ...

Portfolio Pro for iPad is a solid entry-level portfolio app

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (May 4th, 2012)

We took a look at several portfolio apps a few months ago, but I'm always on the look out for new ones to try on the iPad. Gone are the days of trying to shrink large articles and projects down to an 8x11 piece of paper for a portfolio. With the new iPad, high-definition video has become more ...

Parallels Mobile updated for Retina display

by Steven Sande (May 2nd, 2012)

The Parallels Mobile app (US$4.99 intro price, regular price $19.99) received an update today that provides support for the Retina display on the new iPad. The update is free to all existing users of Parallels Mobile. Parallels Mobile is designed to allow remote operation of virtual machines ...

UK National Rail app available for iPhone

by Michael Grothaus (May 2nd, 2012)

National Rail has finally released an official iPhone app that allows users to access real-time information for all overground trains in England, Wales, and Scotland. National Rail Enquiries is more than just a journey scheduler, according to the company. The app allows users to track trains in ...

Financial Times to discontinue iPad, iPhone apps, move to HTML5

by Steven Sande (May 1st, 2012)

The Financial Times has announced that it is killing its iPad and iPhone apps. That doesn't mean that iOS users are going to be left out in the cold in terms of getting the latest financial news; it just means that the company is completing the move from an app-based edition to an HTML5 web ...

Inkling releases Frommer's travel guides for iPhone and iPad

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 1st, 2012)

Frommer's and Inkling have teamed up to bring the popular series of travel guides to the iPad and the iPhone, says a report in Paid Content. The interactive titles will feature retina-optimized photographs, interactive tours, maps, notebooks, and real-time weather. Users will also be able to ...

Alfred updated with new themes, drag-and-drop support

by Dave Caolo (May 1st, 2012)

Alfred for Mac (our review from last year) has been updated to version 1.2. Alfred is a utility that's part app launcher, part navigation tool and part web service. This updated adds two new themes: Dark and Smooth & Pistachio (I prefer the original). There's also support for large type which ...

Skype for iPad 4.0 offers new video preview option, crash recovery

by Dave Caolo (Apr 30th, 2012)

Skype has released version 4.0 of its app for iPad and iPhone (both free). There are a few nice changes this time around. The app now lets you pre-position your video preview as you like. It also restarts automatically after an "unexpected shutdown." That's "crash" to you and me. Skype also ...

T.G.I. Friday's to let diners pay with their iPhones

by Steven Sande (Apr 27th, 2012)

In here, it's always Friday®, and you can always pay for your food and booze with your iPhone. Casual dining chain T.G.I. Friday's has announced that iPhone owners can now use a mobile payment option called Tabbedout to pay their bills. The option is part of a free mobile app called ...

Twitter iOS update adds improved discover, search, notifications

by Dave Caolo (Apr 27th, 2012)

Twitter for iPhone and iPad (free, universal) has been updated to version 4.2. This update introduces a number of changes, including an improved discover feature. Now, the app shows an activity feed displaying which of your tweets have been favorited or re-tweeted by other users. You'll find ...

Box releases new API, more OneCloud apps

by Mike Schramm (Apr 26th, 2012)

Cloud filesharing service Box has released a brand new version of its API, allowing iOS and Mac developers to make even easier use of Box in their apps. There several new features in the update, including Instant Mode, which lets developers instantly create and use Box accounts on behalf of ...