iPhone Apps

Video sharing site Vine has announced a high quality format for bigger and better Vines. Initially launched in January 2013, the iOS app has received several updates. In the latest version, six-second looping clips known as Vines have been upgraded from 480p to 720p resolution.

iPhone owners will be able to take advantage of the upgrade immediately, with 720p coming to Android devices soon. Twitter acquired Vine shortly before its initial release, and the company continues to improve the service. An update released just last month gave the Vine app Background App Refresh capability, which makes it possible to watch already downloaded Vines without a data connection.

The developers behind the suite of sarcastic apps such as CARROT Fit and CARROT Alarm have released a new weather app for iOS devices. CARROT Weather promises to deliver "eerily accurate" weather forecasts with a "twisted" sense of humor, according to the official App Store description.

For those not familiar with CARROT, she is a mean spirited A.I. who enjoys insulting her "meat bags" when they fail to meet their daily calorie goals or when they won't get out of bed in the morning. For the new weather app CARROT uses forecast.io's weather data and more than 2,000 spoken lines to deliver 24-hour and 7-day forecasts. The app also features over 100 fun weather animations, different weather themes, 21 secret locations to unlock and a Today view widget.

Hot on the heels of Microsoft's Outlook email launch, the company has announced new features in the iOS Office suite. Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps have added Office Online integration for document viewing and editing, as well as the native iCloud file picker.

This means users of Apple's iCloud storage will have access to Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations across any iOS device or Mac connected to iCloud. On iOS 8 devices, iCloud joins Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox in the Places menu of each Office app.

After a short hiatus from the App Store, VLC media player will again be available for iOS installation. The app returns to Apple mobile devices with several enhancements and new features. The app was first pulled over licensing issues in early 2011, and did not resurface until mid-2013.

The same thing happened one year later, with VLC disappearing from the App Store yet again in mid-2014. Now version 2.4.1 of the video player promises to resolve the licensing issues, bringing with it iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus optimizations, in addition to AirPlay, passcode lock, and folder support.

Fans of Nintendo can look forward to the release of an iOS app in the coming months. Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo confirmed to Nikkei that the app was currently in development. An announcement is expected after the fiscal year ends in March.

While this may break new ground for Nintendo, Iwata described a social app based on Mii characters, not a gaming app. This is in line with previous statements from the company, signaling it has no intention of bringing popular game titles to smartphones or tablets. Nintendo will continue to make games only for its own devices and consoles.