Twitch Announces A Desktop App

Twitch has revealed a desktop app, that allows Twitch users to watch Twitch streams, mod in overlays, and more. The app also allows users to text and video chat. The app can be downloaded here. The app sounds like a nice alternative if you don’t want to use a web browser or phone or the many others ways you can watch Twitch. Still, good on Twitch for giving people options. Thoughts ?

Animal Crossing And Fire Emblem Apps Moved To A 2017 Release

In Nintendo’s recent Press Release by Nintendo, Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem have now been confirmed to be arriving “before the end of March, 2017”. This appears to be related to today’s announcement of the Super Mario Run game that will be released on the iPhone and iPad in December.

Apple App Store Predicted To Have 5 Million Apps By 2020

According to data from Sensor Tower, it predicts that the Apple App Store will feature more than 5 million apps by the end of 2020. That’s more than double its current size. There were just over 5,000 active apps on the App Store worldwide at the end of 2008, which grew to 1.75 million by the end of 2015. Sensor Tower projects that this figure will grow to 2.93 million by the end of 2016. According to their projections, the App Store will add 2.13 million apps over the next 4 years to contain 5.06 million active apps. What do you think of these predicts ?  

Apple App Store Sets New Record For Highest Monthly Bling And Developer Payments

Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced on Twitter that a new App Store record was set in July with Apple seeing its highest ever monthly billings for the store, as well as the largest amount of money paid out to developers. According to Cook, Apple has now paid out more than $50 billion to developers over the lifetime of the App Store, which debuted in 2008.  

Nintendo Exploring The Idea Of Smartphone Peripherals And More Apps

Shinya Takahashi (Nintendo‘s general manager of entertainment planning and development), mentioned that the company is exploring the mobile industry in multiple ways, including potential peripherals. Takahashi said that “physical controllers for smart device applications are available in the market and it is possible that we may also develop something new by ourselves. I believe Nintendo’s way of thinking is to look at whether action games are really not impossible (without a physical controller for smart device applications) to create and how we can make it happen to create such a game”. Takahashi also said that Nintendo was also interested in straying from the norm in mobile gaming and is committed to exploring different types of apps like Miitomo. President Tatsumi Kimishima agreed, adding that Japanese smart phone game platform provider DeNA and Nintendo have plans to launch “various projects in the future.”

Nintendo’s Next Mobile Games Will Be Based On Fire Emblem And Animal Crossing

Nintendo announced that its next 2 mobile apps would be based on the familiar and beloved Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing franchises. Nintendo plans to release both of these applications this Fall. As for the former app, while making it more accessible in comparison to the Fire Emblem games for Nintendo’s dedicated gaming systems, Nintendo aims to offer the great value of a role-playing strategy game. Nintendo will design the latter game so that it will be connected with the world of Animal Crossing for dedicated gaming systems. By playing both Animal Crossing games, users will find increased enjoyment. Both of these are pure game applications. Compared to Miitomo, they have more prominent game elements, and the game content will tie closely into Nintendo’s dedicated games business. Nintendo will provide more details about these applications closer to their launch period, and aims to have multiple types of apps that appeal to different audiences and different groups of players.

More #Nintendo apps are coming to smart devices, including Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing! pic.twitter.com/ZLsHirPltM

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 27, 2016

Is Facebook Making A Twitter Like App ?

It looks like Facebook is working on a standalone mobile news applications, according to Business Insider. The site says the app looks similar to Twitter, in that it will allows users to write in short brusts, 100 character push notifications to others when they have news to share. The app is in early alpha testing, but heres how it’s expected to work. Users download the new Facebook app and select which publications and topics they want to follow. When there is breaking news, notifications are sent out to users with a link to a news article where they can read more. There’s no word on when or if the app will see a public release. 

A List Of All Current Stores, Apps And Cards That Accept Apple Pay

Stores

Aeropostale

American Eagle Outfitters

Apple

Babies ‘R’ Us

Bi-Lo

BJ’s Wholesale Club

Bloomingdale’s

Champs Sports

Chevron

The Disney Store

Duane Reade

ExtraMile

Food Maxx

Foot Locker (All Brands Of Foot Locker)

Foot action

Harveys Supermarket

Jewel Osco

Lucky 

Macy’s

McDonald’s

Meijer

Nike

Office Depot

Panera Bread

Petco and Unleashed by Petco

RadioShack

Save Mart Supermarkets 

Sephora

Shaws

Six:02

Sports Authority

Sprouts Farmer’s Market 

Staples

Star Market

Subway

Texaco

Toys ‘R’ Us

United Supermarkets

Walgreens

Wegmans

Whole Foods Market

Winn-Dixie

Apps

Airbnb

Apple Store app

Chairish

Disney Store

EventBrite

Fancy

Groupon

HotelTonight

Houzz

Instacart

Jack threads

Levi’s Stadium

Lyft

MLB.com

OpenTable

Panera Bread

Sephora

Spring

Staples

StubHub (new)

Target

Ticketmaster

Uber

Credit/Debit Cards 

American Express

MasterCard

Visa

Bank of America

Affinity Federal Credit Union

A+ Federal Credit Union

Amegy Bank of Texas

America First Credit Union

Barclaycard

BB&T

Bethpage Federal Credit Union

Cabela’s CLUB

California Bank & Trust

CapitalOne

Central Bank

Chase

Citi

Commerce Bank

Connex Credit Union

Consumers Credit Union

Credit Union of Southern California

Customers Bank

Cyprus Federal Credit Union

Fairwinds Credit Union

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach

Fremont Bank

FirstBank

First National Bank of Omaha

First Sentry Bank

Goldenwest FCU

Grow Financial Federal Credit Union

Huntington Bank

Ideal Credit Union

J.P. Morgan

L&N Federal Credit Union

KeyPoint Credit Union

Meijer Credit Union

Merrill Lynch

M&T Bank

Morgan Stanley

Mountain America Credit Union

National Bank of Arizona

National Institutes of Health FCU

Navy Federal Credit Union

Nevada State Bank

Partners Federal Credit Union

PNC

Redwood Credit Union

Regions

Security Service Federal Credit Union

State Department Federal Credit Union

SunTrust

TD Bank

Teachers Credit Union

Technology Credit Union

The Bank of Greene County

The Northern Trust Company

TIB-The Independent BankersBank

United Federal Credit Union

USAA

US Bank

US Trust

Utah First Federal Credit Union

UW Credit Union

Vectra Bank

Virginia Credit Union

Wells Fargo

Zions First National Bank

Nintendo Working On Mii Smartphone App

It appears that Nintendo is working on a new smartphone app. Company’s President Satoru Iwatatold has said thats It’s in development now, and should be finished around the time Nintendo reports its annual earnings in May. According to Iwata, the app will feature Miis, the lovable, customizable avatars that represent players used in Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Wii U. Players will be able to customize their Mii characters, and share them on their social networks.

Best Of 2014 For The App Store And iTunes

Apple has published their Best of 2014 iTunes and App Store lists, which include editorial picks for the best releases in apps, music, movies, TV shows, books and podcasts from 2014.

Apps:

• iPhone App of the Year: Elevate Brain Training
• iPhone Game of the Year: Threes
• iPad App of the Year: Pixelmator 
• iPad Game of the Year: Monument Valley
• Mac App of the Year: Notability
• Mac Game of the Year: Tomb Raider

Music:

• Best Artist: Beyoncé
• Best Album: “1989” by Taylor Swift
• Best Song: “Fancy” (feat. Charli XCX) by Iggy Azalea
• Best New Artist: Sam Smith

Movies:

• Best Blockbuster: “Guardians of the Galaxy”
• Best Family Movie: “The LEGO Movie”
• Best Director: Richard Linklater
• Best Discovery: “Obvious Child”

TV Shows:

• TV Show of the Year: “Fargo”
• Best Performances: “True Detective”, Season 1
• Best Discovery: “The Honorable Woman”
• Best Breakthrough: “Key & Peele”, Volume 4

Books:

• Best Fiction: “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr
• Best Nonfiction: “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” by Jeff Hobbs

Could There Be a 128 GB Model For The iPhone 6 ?

In the newest schematic leak, a  document was obtained by Geekbar indicating that the iPhone 6 might have a 128 GB option. If this leaked schematics is true, it implies that Apple might drop the 32GB iPhone from its iPhone 6 line up, offering a 16GB model for $199, then jumping to 64GB model for $299.