iPhone Atlas

Mail service as we know it just doesn't work anymore. Too much junk. Too much hassle sorting, scanning, and/or filing the stuff we need to keep. And, let's be honest, so much of what arrives in our mailboxes could -- some would say should -- arrive electronically.

Austin-based startup Outbox wants to make that happen by digitizing all of your physical mail and delivering it to you electronically on your iPhone or iPad, or your PC.

Interesting proposition, wouldn't you say? Think about it: no more daily trek to the mailbox followed by the daily armload … Read more

Dropbox's app for iPhone and iPad users was updated today with a few handy enhancements.

Version 2.1 of the app now provides a more robust PDF viewer. You can easily jump to any page in the PDF by clicking on a thumbnail of that page. And a search button lets you track down any word or phrase in the file. Swiping your way through the PDF is also quicker and smoother, and you can easily see each page as you pass by it.

You can now sort your files based on modified date, with the latest files popping … Read more

Did you ever want to leave a message for a Skype buddy who just wasn't there? Skype's new video-messaging feature, now in a beta of sorts, is the interactive way to do it.

Available today for users in the U.S., U.K., and other select countries (Skype isn't listing them all,) video messaging sends a recording to friends who may be offline or on another call.

Android, iOS, and Mac users don't have to do anything to play around with the prerelease feature, except to make sure they've got the most recent software update (… Read more

Vimeo has brought aboard a new app (and new people) that can transform your videos into animations.

The company announced today that it now owns Echograph, an app that lets iPhone and iPad users create animations by blending together different parts of a video clip.

Purchased from Clear-Media, the Echograph app previously cost $3 but is now available free.

As described in a promotional video (see embedded clip below), an Echograph is a photograph that contains small slices of animation. You start off by selecting a video and then trimming it to 5 seconds. You then pick a single still frame from the clip. From there, you actually paint over an area of that still frame with a moving element from the video, creating an image with touches of animation.… Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--At an invite-only press event in San Francisco, popular streaming music service Slacker Radio last night unveiled a completely revamped brand. The company's name remains, but Slacker's look and feel have been significantly simplified.

Of course, with the rebrand, Slacker's Web site and product designs have been updated with cleaner, more modern looks as well. Gone are the dark tones, textures, and gradients that crowded Slacker's interfaces in the past. Now, Slacker's multiplatform face is made up of brighter colors, clean lines, and lots of white space, which bring it more in line with … Read more

Apple's iTunes generated revenue of $13.5 billion last year, making it the company's fourth-largest business, according to Asymco analyst Horace Dediu.

A business that simply broke even a few years ago has been rising "steadily and rapidly," Dediu said in a post yesterday. iTunes has averaged growth of more than 30 percent over the past two years. The $13.5 billion in sales in 2012 was up from $10.2 billion in 2011.

At the same time that iTunes is adding a greater chunk of sales to Apple's overall results, the Mac and iPod … Read more

Temple Run addicts have propelled its sequel into new territory.

In 13 days, Temple Run 2 has been downloaded more than 50 million times by iOS, Android, and Kindle users, developer Imangi Studios said yesterday, making it the fastest-growing mobile game ever.

In reaching this milestone, the action game topped the previous record holder, Angry Birds Space, which rocketed to 50 million downloads in 35 days.

Temple Run 2 places you in a jungle where you have to outrun a giant ape, leap over chasms, and swing on ropes to get past hazards. Along the way, you pick up gold … Read more

Wickr (download) gained new secure sending and subsequent self-destructing powers in a big update to the encryption and security app today, perhaps not coincidentally Data Privacy Day.

There are four new features in the app. You can now send and subsequently self-destruct images and PDFs from Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box to other Wickr users, which expands the limits of the original send-and-self-destruct feature. You can also send up to three 30-second videos, up to 5 MB, per message. Audio messages, which function like voice mails, have been extended to 30 seconds long, as well.

Wickr can now connect to … Read more

As a social network built on keeping things short and sweet, it's no surprise that Twitter released today a secondary app that lets users (Twitter and otherwise) shoot and upload 6-second videos.

Of course, no later than a few hours after its launch, Vine was already being called the "Instagram for video," as users began sharing short clips of kids, stop-motion drawings, food, and, of course, puppies.

Currently, Vine is only available for iOS, but Twitter assures users that its app will be coming to other platforms "soon."

The app is pretty simple … Read more