iPhone Applications

The controversial app Bang With Friends has returned to Apple's App Store under the new name Down. The app, which encouraged Facebook friends to hookup anonymously, was removed by Apple in May due to its questionable content. The new app created by "BANG WITH FRIENDS, INC.", features new "Up to Hang" and "I'm Down" options, instead of the less subtle "Down to Bang" button it featured before.

The creators of the Bang With Friends app were also sued by developer Zynga in July for using the phrase "with friends". Zynga claimed the Bang With Friends creators selected the name of their app with the trademarked games Words With Friends and Chess With Friends fully in mind. The Words With Friends maker asked the court to stop the owners of Bang With Friends from using the term, and that they pay unspecified damages. It doesn't look like the lawsuit worked since Android users can still download the original and uncensored version from the Google Play Store.

We knew this was coming ever since Google acquired the Yelp of traffic apps, Waze, a few months ago. Google Maps users will now receive real time accident, construction and road closure reports from the Waze community, and Waze users will soon have access to Google Search and Street View.

Waze is a traffic and navigation service with over 50 million members. The Waze community uses its mobile app to keep each other informed about current traffic jams and road conditions.

"No one likes getting stuck in traffic," Google explained on its Maps blog. "That’s why the Waze and Google Maps teams are working together to harness the power of Google technology and the passion of the Waze community to make it easier to navigate your daily life."

Yelp users no longer have to wait until they get home to review Amy's Baking Company and Jersey Joe's Pizzeria. Yelp version 7.0 adds the ability to write full reviews directly from your iPhone. Yelp users could only previously write "Tips", or short reviews from their mobile devices, but the new review feature now allows Yelpers to write lengthy posts on-the-go. Short reviews that are not considered "high-quality and useful" will be resubmitted to the Tips section by the Yelp staff. However, the reviewer has the ability to edit and add more detail to his or her review at a later date. Uploaded photos will also now appear alongside a person's mobile review.

To write a review while using your iPhone, just locate the business you want to review, and tap the "add review" icon at the top of the page. It's that easy. Yelp version 7.0 is now available for all supported iOS devices. The mobile review option is "coming soon" for Android devices.

The new iOS app MixBit is ready to take on Vine and Instagram in the rapidly growing world of social video sharing. MixBit allows users to capture 16 second "bits" (1 second longer than Instagram), and edit them together to create longer videos. Users can use their own bits, or any publicly shared video content from other MixBit contributors to create their own remixes.

MixBit creators Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, who are also the founders of YouTube, say remixing other people's videos is the principal goal of the new service.

“The whole purpose of MixBit is to reuse the content within the system,” explained Hurley. “I really want to focus on great stories that people can tell.”

Hurley and Chen believe younger users will prefer MixBit to Vine and Instagram because of its video editing tools. Vine offers zero editing options, while Instagram only features a few basic choices. One thing MitBix does not offer is the ability to create individual profiles. Instead, users must upload their content anonymously to a communal pool of clips. MitBix also doesn't allow its users to comment on other people's work. However, Hurley did say they're working on adding these options in the future.

Getting the perfect action photo can be tough, especially using the iPhone camera. Normally with burst mode on a DSLR camera, a scene can be captured many times per second by simply holding down the shutter release. Now this continuous shooting capability has arrived on iOS with SnappyCam Pro.

To snap a series of photos at up to 60 frames per second, simply hold down the shutter release button in SnappyCam Pro. The volume up or down buttons can also be used, with the app storing every photo in its own roll. The best photos can be selected and exported to the iOS Camera Roll or Instagram, shared via email or copied to a computer using iTunes app file sharing.