Mitchel Broussard

This week, popular console and desktop game Fortnite hit the iOS App Store in beta form, allowing players to access the "same 100-player" Battle Royale mode found on PS4 and Mac computers while on-the-go. Following Fortnite, it's been announced that another large-scale console title is getting a full game on iOS and Android, called ARK: Survival Evolved and launching this spring (via TouchArcade)....

StackSocial this week launched the 2018 Mac Essentials Bundle, made up of ten apps that can help you be more productive, keep your online identity secure and private, clean up your Mac, and more. The bundle has an estimated value of $524.90 when adding up the cost of all ten apps included, but StackSocial knocked the price down to $19.99 for a limited time. Additionally, those interested can...

iOS and Android keyboard app SwiftKey today announced its "biggest update" since the company was acquired by Microsoft in April of 2016. SwiftKey 7.0 includes a "Toolbar" designed to give users fast access to features that are both old and new. Found under a new "+" sign to the left of the prediction bar, Toolbar will give iOS users the ability to quickly add emoji, GIFs, and items copied from ...

A small group of users have begun noticing a new voice control feature appearing within the Spotify app for iOS devices, and The Verge this week got a chance to see how the music streaming service's new voice commands work. As expected, the voice control allows users to call up their favorite artists, songs, albums, and playlists without having to navigate around the app with taps. Voice...

The latest Apple Pay promotion has launched today, and this time Apple is preparing users for Spring Break. When using Apple Pay in the TouchTunes jukebox iOS app [Direct Link], users can get three free song credits. The offer is valid through 11:59 p.m. PT on March 27, 2018 in the United States and Canada only. TouchTunes uses a network of digital jukeboxes across 65,000 bars, restaurants,...

The developers behind read-it-later service Pocket this week announced a new update for iOS and Android that will give users a simple but useful glimpse into how long each article will take them to read. After updating to version 6.6.16 on the iOS App Store, the Pocket app for iPhone and iPad will display time estimates "for every article and video" that has been saved. The time estimates will ...

macOS and Linux video game publisher Feral Interactive today announced its latest port will be Life is Strange: Before the Storm. The prequel adventure game was originally developed by Deck Nine and published by Square Enix on console and Windows PC beginning in August 2017, and will now hit Mac and Linux computers in the spring. Life is Strange: Before the Storm takes place three years...

French finance minister Bruno Le Maire today announced that the country will be taking legal action against Apple and Google for "abusive commercial practices." Specifically, Le Maire said that the tech companies are taking advantage of French developers with these practices and that the fines from such a legal action could be in the "millions of euros" (via Bloomberg and Reuters). Speaking...

Last week, movie subscription service MoviePass received negative press when CEO Mitch Lowe mentioned that the company watches "how you drive from home to the movies" and notices "where you go afterwards" using location tracking in the background on iOS. This week, through customer support emails and in an interview with Variety, MoviePass and Lowe are apologizing over this "mischaracterization"...

Fitbit today announced the Fitbit Versa, which the company described as the "smartwatch for all." The Versa has a few features that directly compare it to the Apple Watch, as well as an overall design that looks similar to Apple's wearable device. Alongside the Fitbit Versa, Fitbit announced a kid-focused Fitbit Ace device and female health tracking coming to the Fitbit iOS app. Fitbit said...

In a new survey that looks at the reputation of corporate brands, called the Harris Poll Reputation Quotient survey, Apple dropped from its previous position at #5 on the list and now sits at the #29 spot. As reported by Reuters, Apple has been sliding down the rankings over the last two years, falling from #2 in 2016. To determine the results, the poll surveyed 25,800 adults in the United...

Last October, Disney announced that its "Disney Movies Anywhere" service would be expanding to become simply "Movies Anywhere," allowing customers to collect all of their digital films into one centralized location. Previously, the digital retailers supporting the service were iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, VUDU, and Google Play, but today the latest retailer has joined: FandangoNOW. FandangoNOW...

Amazon is now allowing users to make phone calls, video calls, and send messages from an iPad, Android, or Fire tablet to an Alexa-enabled Echo device. Previously, users had to activate calls or send messages using an Echo, so now it should be easier to communicate within Amazon's Alexa ecosystem (via Engadget). To receive calls, users need any device with the Alexa app installed or an Echo...

At CES in January, Philips announced that it was working on a line of Hue lights for outdoors, so that users could connect and control their lighting on a patio, balcony, or other environment outside. Today, the company has revealed the first set of Philips Hue outdoor range products that will be launching in the United States and Europe this July. Philips noted that the outdoor products...

Over the weekend, iFixit shared its latest teardown, this one for Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S9+ smartphone. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ will both launch this Friday, March 16 for around for $720 and $840, respectively, and some initial reviews took to comparing the devices to Apple's iPhone X. iFixit did so as well in the new teardown, starting off by trying to get into the back of the S9+ to look...

eBay today launched a pre-daylight savings coupon that takes 20 percent off "everything" on the online reseller's storefront, with a few exclusions including gift cards, coupons, coins and paper money, and real estate. Outside of these categories, you're free to apply the 20 percent off coupon to any other items today, including Apple products like the HomePod. eBay explained that the coupon PS...

MBLM this week published part of its Brand Intimacy 2018 Report, with the preliminary findings focusing on responses from millennials and other young age groups. MBLM surveyed 6,000 consumers and performed 54,000 brand evaluations across 15 total industries in the United States, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates in order to discover which brands had the deepest emotional connections with...

Since Siri's introduction in the iPhone 4s in 2011, responses to Apple's AI assistant have often weighed towards the unfavorable side, most recently in several HomePod reviews that specified Siri as one of the biggest downsides of owning the speaker. This week, Siri creator, co-founder, and former board member Norman Winarsky added in his own commentary about the assistant's current state, saying ...

Netflix this week gave a briefing to a group of reporters in its Los Gatos, California company headquarters, revealing data about its subscribers' device streaming habits and how these habits might change over the course of a few months (via Recode). While the information isn't particularly shocking, it is one of the rare times that Netflix has provided data and opened up about the streaming...

Smart lock and doorbell maker August, which was acquired by Assa Abloy last October, today announced that all August Doorbell Cam Pro and Doorbell Cam owners will now have access to 24 hours of free video storage under a new subscription plan. Called the "Basic August Video Recording" subscription, users will be able to replay any moment they might have missed from the past 24 hours in the...