SideCar ride-sharing service comes to LA, Austin, and Philadelphia

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Transportation,

SideCar, our favorite on-demand ride-sharing service, has just launched in three new cities. If you're in Los Angeles, Austin (right in time for SXSW!), or Philadelphia, grab the SideCar Ride app to grab a ride. The launching cities will have active SideCars from 5:00pm on Friday until 3:00am on the weekend days. Once demand goes up, they'll move to weekday service as well. Chicago, Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. are up next. Read more about how SideCar works.

By the way, if you enter promo code ANDRU1 in the app, you'll get a free $10 credit!

Read More | SideCar Ride for iOS

Kickstarter for iPhone now available

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Social Networking, New Apps, Free Apps,

We've often wondered by a site like Kickstarter lacked an official iOS app, but that ends today with the release of Kickstarter for iPhone. The crowdsourcing site's new app allows you to view campaigns, watch the pitch videos that go along with them, and pledge your cash towards one of the reward levels offered. If you've created a campaign, you can track your progress in the app as well. The app is not yet iPad-native, but it does support iPhone 3GS and later, including support for the iPhone 5 4-inch display. Grab Kickstarter for iPhone for free.

Read More | Kickstarter for iPhone

Amazon MP3 integration comes to Ford SYNC

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Music, Software, Transportation,

Ford and Amazon have announced that Amazon MP3 for Android has been updated with Ford SYNC support, which means that you can use your Android device with Ford's admittedly awesome infotainment system to access all your tracks stored in your Amazon Cloud Player. As is typical with SYNC, you can even control playback with voice commands. Amazon MP3 2.8 for Android also includes the typical bug fixes, and the store has been redesigned to show more search results.

Read More | Amazon

Slacker Radio sees massive redesign, aims for Pandora, Spotify

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Design, Internet, Music, Software,

Slacker has been around for a few years as both a free and premium Internet radio service, and now the service has released a new redesign. The old black and gold interface is replaced with a newer, hipper, cleaner look on all platforms, including web, Xbox 360 app, and mobile apps. Slacker had to do something to take some attention away from Rdio, Spotify, Pandora, and the like, and we have to say that the new design makes things easier on the eyes, and thusly, easier to use.

Slacker pricing remains intact. You have the free version, Radio Plus for $3.99 per month, and then Slacker Premium for $9.99 per month. Updated Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 versions are on the way as well.

Tempo Smart Calendar app adds life context to your appointments

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Business, Productivity, New Apps, Free Apps,

We gave up on the native iOS calendar app in favor of Fantastical months ago, but Tempo Smart Calendar is here to challenge for the throne. What makes Tempo so special? Well, it's made by SRI, the same group that invented Siri…yep, the same Siri that Apple later acquired. What Tempo does is pull in information from your calendar, contact list, email, and services like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare. Using all of that data, it's able to pull in and give contextual data on all your calendar entries, including things like nearby parking, and the ability to send everyone else a message that you'll be late, right from within the app. Wanna wish your Facebook friends a "happy birthday" automatically? Tempo can handle that, too. Check the video out after the break, it does a great job of explaining it all.

You can download Tempo for free, right now, but you may have a challenge logging in once you have it. Tempo servers are being crushed under heavy load right now (a massive fail) and thousands are being left out in the cold currently.

Click to continue reading Tempo Smart Calendar app adds life context to your appointments

Read More | Tempo Smart Calendar

Apple slashes pricing on MacBook Pro with Retina display, MacBook Air

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Hot Deals, PC / Laptop,

Apple has announced an immediate price reduction on the entry-level 128 GB 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, slashing the price by $200 down to $1499. Additionally, for $1699 (the same price that the entry-level model used to be) you can now get the 256 GB version with a faster 2.6 GHz processor.

On the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro side of things, the $2,199 base model now features an upgraded 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7 processor (up from a 2.3 GHz chip,) while the top-of-the-line $2,799 model now sports a 2.7 GHz i7 with 16 GB RAM.

As an aside, Apple has also dropped the price of the 13-inch MacBook Air with 256 GB storage--it now sells for $1,399, $100 less than it sold for previously.

Click to continue reading Apple slashes pricing on MacBook Pro with Retina display, MacBook Air

More Microsoft Surface Pro 128 GB units in stores this Saturday

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Microsoft, PC / Laptop,

Those hoping to score a 128 GB Microsoft Surface Pro have been frustrated by lack of supply, but that should be changing this Saturday. While Microsoft has been tight-lipped regarding Surface Pro 128 GB stock since launch, the company has promised that more of the tablets will be available in stores on Saturday. This includes Microsoft stores and Best Buy, with Staples being questionable--so if you want one, we recommend going with one of the first two.

Many would-be Surface Pro purchasers were disheartened to find stock so limited upon launch, since Microsoft didn't allow for pre-orders of the devices, leading many to believe that there would be plenty for everyone, which was far from reality. You can also try your luck at grabbing a Surface Pro from the Microsoft online store.

Sonos enters home theater with Playbar

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Music, Wireless / WiFi,

Gear Live's love affair with Sonos is no secret - we love the product dearly, and with today's introduction of the Playbar, it's grown even more. With the Sonos Playbar, the company is effectively entering the home theater space, providing a soundbar that's capable of pumping out massive sound through its nine drivers (size mid-range drivers and three tweeters.) Simply connect it to your television through optical TOSlink, and you are ready to go.

The Playbar isn't just a typical soundbar speaker--it's a Sonos product, and that means it ties right in to the Sonos ecosystem. You can use it to play music streamed from your iTunes library, streaming music subscription services like Rdio and Spotify, Pandora, and many more.

It gets better, too. Sonos says you can pair the Soundbar with the Sonos SUB and/or a couple of Play:3 or Play:5 units for a full-on 5.1 surround sound experience. It'll be expensive, but it leaves us salivating. You can pick up the Sonos Playbar next month for $699, and it's available for pre-order right now.

Read More | Sonos

Skitch 2.0.3 for iOS brings improved text editing

Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Productivity, App Updates, Free Apps,

Skitch for iOS was recently updated to version 2.0.3. The 2.0.3 version brings a new text editor, allowing users to add and resize image annotations more simply and effectively. There are also several unspecified improvements to the app to fix reported bugs and increase the overall functionality and speed of Skitch for iOS.

Skitch is an Evernote designed app (through acquisition) that is used for adding annotations, shapes and sketches to graphics. Download it from the App Store for your iOS device.

Read More | Skitch

TiVo Stream review

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Home Entertainment, Product Reviews,

If there's one thing that was a glaring omission from the official TiVo iOS apps, it was the fact that they couldn't connect to the TiVo on your local network to allow you to watch content on your smartphone or tablet. Well, all that has changed with the release of the TiVo Stream. What is the TiVo Stream? Well, as you can probably guess from the name, TiVo Stream allows you to stream recordings from your TiVo Premiere DVR directly to up to three iOS devices on the same network (or four if you happen to have more than one TiVo Premiere box), simultaneously. Additionally, it also allows you to transfer recording to your iOS device for viewing when you are off the network. It's an ambitious device that provides a feature that many have been clamoring for, and it sells for $129. So, is it worth the additional investment? We've given you a look at the TiVo Stream hardware, now join us for our full TiVo Stream review for the answer.

Click to continue reading TiVo Stream review