This week’s roundup includes an update to the Apple Store app—which means it’s easier than ever to use your iOS device to buy an iOS device. Whoa.
The updated Apple Store app lets you make purchases with an Apple Store Gift Card. You can use your iOS device’s camera to scan new gift cards, or import existing gift cards from Passbook. Either way: Enjoy your shopping!
Bumble is another Tinder clone, with this twist: Women get a little extra power. “After two people mutually opt in by swiping right, they’re added to each other’s ‘hive’ of connections. The woman has to say something first within 24 hours or the connection disappears forever.” If you’re making same sex connections, one of the two of you have to “make a move” within a day. There is a built-in mulligan: Each person can extend the connection an additional 24 hours while you both think things over.
Cover launched in Version 2.0 this week, getting a major redesign for the dining app. Users can use the app to split bills, track their dining-out history, and discover great new places to eat. It’s available in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Winter is coming! A Game of Thrones: Get Into the Books helps you transition from the TV series to the books that make up its source material. There are 40 extracts from the books, and don’t worry—they come with anti-spoiler settings so you can read only as far as you’ve watched the show.
The voice features of the Google app are getting stronger. “Say ‘Ok Google’ and ask a question while on any webpage to get smart answers about what you are looking at. Try saying ‘Ok Google, where was he born’ while reading an article about William Shakespeare.” Google will answer.
Microsoft upgraded its Office apps for iOS— Word, Excel, PowerPoint—all to make interaction with the Outlook email app much more useful. Users can open files in Outlook into the correct Office app, edit it, close, and be ready to reply with the changes attached.
Fall is approaching, and we thought it would be a good time to remind you that NFL Mobile has been redesigned for the 2015 football season, with videos, highlights, stories, stats and more to help you enjoy games in real time and throughout the week.
Rdio is doing it part to stay alive and keep an edge in the streaming music wars: This week it introduced Support for live broadcast radio, including 500 Cumulus network stations in the U.S., and plenty of content from most locales as well.
Twitter now gives you unlimited characters for direct messages. No more 140-character limits behind the scenes. Is this the end of email?
InboxVudu helps you sort Gmail … Parallels Access (pictured) lets you use Mac and PC applications remotely, from your watch. … LastPass allows you to manage passwords.
Author: Joel Mathis
Joel Mathis is a regular contributor to Macworld and TechHive. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and young son.