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Facebook iOS App Updated with Share, Improved Tagging, News Feed Sorting

Revealed yesterday, the Facebook app for iOS has now been updated to version 5.2, which includes the long-awaited Share option. Notoriously missing from its mobile app, users have long been able to re-post interesting posts on their News Feeds using desktop browsers; with the latest Facebook for iOS update, they’ll now be able to share a post natively, using a dedicated menu that keeps the original link/status but allows for an additional comment.

Another notable missing feature of mobile Facebook has also been fixed in this version: you can now tag your friends in any post, comment, or photo by using a simple “@name” syntax for including friends’ names in messages. Like the desktop websites, tags included in a post will be highlighted in blue (but they’ll still remain regular text you can copy and select).

Last, emoji and sorting. Facebook says you can now include “smileys, hearts, and other emoji” in messages, and I indeed managed to send a message to a friend including standard iOS emoji, which showed up on her end (she’s still running the 5.1 version of Facebook for iOS though). Sorting is, perhaps, more interesting, as it “finally” lets you decide how to sort your news feed: by tapping on a gear icon next to News Feed in the left panel, you can “Show Top Stories” and “Show More Recent”. For me, this is a welcome option as I never want to show top stories but I like to check out plain, old-style posts in reverse chronological order.

Facebook 5.2 is available on the App Store.

Kickstarter: Shaun Inman’s Retro Game Crunch - Six Games in Six Months

I haven’t covered many Kickstarter projects as of late: it seems many are getting funded but not delivering on time or backers are still waiting for the product to ship. Today, Shaun Inman has launched his own Kickstarter project along with his friends Rusty Moyher, of Bloop fame, and Matt Grimm, a great composer and sound designer of such games as Flip’s Escape. Together they are launching Retro Game Crunch, a Kickstarter series that will try to produce six original games in six months. Sound too good to be true? Normally yes, but with the awesome team I believe it will happen. Read more

Apple Tweaks Design Of App Store Category Pages

In its weekly App Store refresh, it appears Apple has today tweaked the design of App Store categories to include the same design of the App Store’s home page. By heading to a category like Productivity or Utilities, both from an iOS device or Mac, you can see how Apple is featuring more apps with large banners across the top of a category page, smaller banners in the middle, and the usual “New and Noteworthy” and “Essential” collections that are updated on a weekly basis. Read more

Apple Confirms iTunes Connect Holiday Shutdown December 21-28

In an email sent to developers earlier today, Apple has confirmed that iTunes Connect — the developer portal to manage applications to sell in the App Store — will be closed from December 21 to December 28. During the shutdown, access to iTunes Connect and delivery of any apps or updates will not be available.

iTunes Connect will be temporarily shut down from Friday, December 21, 2012 to Friday, December 28, 2012, for the winter holidays.

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Additionally, the following will be delayed:

Releases scheduled to appear on the App Store for the first time

Pricing changes scheduled through the interval pricing system in iTunes Connect

For the shutdown period, Apple suggest developers to not schedule price changes that would take effect between Friday, December 21 and Friday, December 28. According to Apple, price changes scheduled for the shutdown week will not take effect, and “In-App Purchase will become unavailable for purchase until after the shutdown”.

Last year, Apple shut down iTunes Connect for developer from December 22 to December 29.

Angry Birds Star Wars Now Available

Angry Birds Star Wars is now available for download on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Mac & Windows 8. The game is the fifth installment in the Angry Birds series from Rovio (following Seasons, Rio and Space) and is a collaboration with Star Wars creator Lucasfilm.

“It’s a banner day for us,” said Peter Vesterbacka, CMO of Rovio Entertainment. “This is our best Angry Birds game yet, and we’re excited for our fans to finally meet Luke, Leia, and the rest of the gang! But it’s more than just a game launch: we think fans are going to just love the new animated trailer and the Angry Birds Star Wars products, sure to be a big hit this holiday season.”

The game features more than 80 levels at launch including bonus levels that let you play as R2D2 and C-3PO birds. According to Polygon, which has a great review of the game, Angry Birds Star Wars currently “track the events of A New Hope, while a soon-to-be-released free Hoth level pack will dig into the beginning of Empire Strikes Back”. There’s also an in-app purchase for an additional level pack that is set in Dagobah that is available at launch for $1.99.

The makers of Angry Birds Star Wars have imagined how the the original Star Wars trilogy might have looked if performed by their coterie of birds and pigs — truly, a bizarre undertaking. Angry Birds Star Wars succeeds, though, because it is more than just a Star Wars tie-in. Polygon

Rovio and Lucasfilm also held a Google+ Hangout a few hours ago where they counted down to the launch whilst discussing the game and chatting with fans - that video is available to watch now.

Angry Birds Star Wars is available on:

“We can’t wait for fans around the world to experience the fun of launching the Angry Birds characters into the Star Wars universe,” said Colum Slevin, Vice President, Head of Studio Operations for Lucasfilm Ltd. “This is the kind of creative partnership that has helped Star Wars remain vibrant and beloved for over 35 years.”

Facebook 5.1 Released with Improved Messaging, Photo Sharing

Facebook today released version 5.1 of its iOS app, which adds a new way of messaging friends and sharing multiple photos at once. The updated Facebook app now comes with a friend list on the right that you can use to easily start a private conversation. You can swipe left to access the chat panel, and add friends you contact the most to the top of the list. To customize the Favorites list, you can hit an Edit button to start “pinning” your friends in the Favorites section. Read more

Instagram Profiles Now Let You View and Share Your Photos On the Web→

Instagram Profiles Now Let You View and Share Your Photos On the Web

Just announced on the Instagram blog, a long awaited feature is finally hitting the web. Instagram Profiles allow you to share your Instagram photographs online, allowing anyone to comment and like photos from their favorite web browser.

Instagram web profiles are a beautiful new way to view and share Instagram on the web! Your web profile features your photos along with your profile photo and bio, giving others a look at the content you share on Instagram.

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You can share your own profile with anyone you want to see your Instagram photos. In addition, web profiles provide an easy way to follow other users, comment & like photos, and even edit your profile directly from the web.

The address for your Instrgram profile is ridiculously simple (For example, Federico’s profile would be instagram.com/viticci). You can make your photos public so that anyone can view your profile, or make them private so that only Instagram users you’ve allowed can see your photographs. However, not all profiles are available yet. According to Instagram, online profiles will be rolling out over the next couple of weeks.

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Apple: 3 Million iPads Sold In 3 Days

With a press release, Apple just confirmed it has sold over 3 million iPads (iPad mini + iPad 4th gen) in three days. Interestingly, Apple is not separating sales figures of the iPad mini from the regular iPad; in the press release, Apple simply says it is a new record doubling the previous milestone of 1.5 million weekend sales of the iPad 3 in March.

Apple today announced it has sold three million iPads in just three days since the launch of its new iPad mini and fourth generation iPad—double the previous first weekend milestone of 1.5 million Wi-Fi only models sold for the third generation iPad in March. The Wi-Fi + Cellular versions of both iPad mini and fourth generation iPad will ship in a few weeks in the US and in many more countries later this year.

Apple notes how “demand for iPad mini exceeded the initial supply”, confirming that some pre-orders (which began on October 26) will be shipped “later this month”. Tim Cook was quoted in the press release:

Customers around the world love the new iPad mini and fourth generation iPad,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis. We’re working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand.

To put these numbers in a better context, here’s how iPad sales evolved over time since the release of the original model in 2010:

And here’s a visualization of the iPad’s growth every quarter since launch, based on Apple’s Q4 numbers (which don’t include sales for the new models).

In today’s case, however, the comparison is different as Apple is accounting for two models (iPad mini and iPad 4th gen) in a somewhat clear intention to report iPad sales as a single category without specifying models – similarly to how they do for iPod sales or iPhone sales without differentiating between device models. It’s also worth remembering how the new iPads’ rollout has been one of the largest ones for Apple to date: the iPad mini went on sale on November 2 in 34 countries, whereas the 3rd generation iPad launched in 10 initial countries, and then rolled out to 25 more a week later; both WiFi and WiFi + Cellular versions of the 3rd generation iPad were available at launch.

The iPad mini launched to positive reviews, but saw fewer and shorter lines around the world with online pre-orders quickly sold out for every model.

Evernote Announces Major Redesign Of iOS App

Following last week’s announcement of a redesigned Mac client (more details here), which was released yesterday as public beta, Evernote has today announced a major update “coming very soon” for the iOS version of the app.

Dubbed like the Mac counterpart “Evernote 5”, the new Evernote for iOS presents a brand new interface to browse notes, notebooks, and tags on the iPhone and iPad. Using a “stacked” interface for sections, Evernote has implemented a new navigation to switch views with just two taps; on the iPad’s larger screen, the team also managed to fit in a “recent notes” scrollable menu at the top, which should allow users to quickly switch between notes from different notebooks or tags.

The update seems to borrow heavily from the new Mac app. There’s an Atlas view to browse notes by location, redesigned Tags and Notebooks views, Cards, Filters, and Sorting options reminiscent of what we saw in Evernote 5 beta for Mac. The iOS app places great emphasis on three shortcuts at the top to create a new note or photo note, the latter being a feature that leverages the iPhone’s camera to snap photos and automatically save them as new notes. It’s unclear whether users will also be able to create shortcuts for notes and notebooks on iOS – shortcuts are a new major feature of Evernote 5 for Mac that, personally, I’d love to see on iOS.

We’ve learned a lot over the years about how people use Evernote on mobile devices. It’s all about speed. Whether you’re creating a note or browsing to one, everything needs to happen fast. Also, you want the app to easily support your preferred organization scheme. If you’re a tagger, then tags must be front-and-center. If you put everything into notebooks, then those need to be quickly accessible.

As an Evernote user, I’m looking forward to trying the new Evernote app for iOS. In the meantime, check out Evernote’s blog post here and official promo video below. Read more