Weekly Mobile News Roundup – 22 November 2013

 Once again the week is coming to an end and that means it’s time for a roundup of the past weeks news!

Google Launches NewsstandApp for Android, Promises iOSApp in 2014 – Google today launched a Newsstand app for Android, which combines its existing Flipboard-style Currents app, its Google Play magazine app, and a new newspaper subscription service to offer a variety of paid and free publications in one spot.

iBank 5 for Mac Adds Bill Pay, Streamlined Updating, and More – IGG Software today announced the launch of iBank 5, the latest version of the popular personal finance app for Mac. iBank 5 adds a number of new features, including support for bill pay through most major U.S. banks, streamlined one-button updating for connected accounts and device syncing, and support for the subscription Direct Access transaction tracking service first introduced in iBank for iPad last year.

Apple starts providing phone support to publishers for iBooks Author – In an email sent out to book publishers, Apple has informed iBooks Author users of a new phone support system for the iBooks Publisher Support team rolling out in a dozen countries, which will allow those with questions about iBooks Author to contact Apple directly to receive help about the application, publishing questions, and more.

Apple owns the top 6 highest revenue apps in its own app store – In October, Apple owned the six of the highest-revenue apps in the iOS app store. And corporate friend-of-the-family Disney owned the next four, rounding out the top ten.

BaiBoard : A collaborative whiteboard for iPads and Macs – BaiBoard is an interesting free app which enables users to collaborate on a shared whiteboard as well as annotate on PDF files across the Internet on  iPads and Macs Using the app it is possible to set up a whiteboard and then have other app users connect to the same space. Anything drawn on the page from any of the users connected will be visible to all the other users.

20 Renders of Apple’s Futuristic Spaceship Headquarters – The city of Cupertino just recently greenlit the construction of Apple’s new corporate campus expansion in the southern Californian city called Campus 2—and now we’ve got some fascinating renders from the city council of what it might look like in 2016 when the construction is complete.

Fortune names Apple’s head of retail Angela Ahrendts #4 in 2013 list of top executives – Last month, Apple announced that it had finally found its new head of retail after nearly a year of searching. Her name is Angela Ahrendts, the current CEO of British fashion house Burberry, and she’s believed by many to be a great choice.

Apple Launched New Site For iPad Air – ‘Life on iPad’ – Apple has now continued with the new page “Life on iPad” what they began during their Keynote. The current U.S. special site highlights six interesting stories, how the iPad could be established in daily and professional life. From the ski slope to the operating room, the examples are various scenes out of daily life.

Apple Seeds New Build of OS X Mavericks 10.9.1 Beta to Developers – Apple today released an updated version of OS X 10.9.1 for developers, which carries a build number of 13B35. The first version of 10.9.1 seeded to developers last week had a build number of 13B27.

Find My Friends Gets A New Look For iOS 7 – Apple has updated their Find My Friends app for Apple iOS 7, this follows on from the updates last week to Apple’s iTunes U and iBooks. The latest version of Find My Friends will work with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch running Apple iOS 7 and above, and the new design looks much better than the previous version.

Apple’s app store discovery 20X better than Google Play, report says – Google Play has better search than the iOS app store, but Apple has better app discovery and content curation. It’s also much better at helping users evaluate app options, but trails the Amazon app store in a key usability score.

Tumblr for iOS gets a Redesign – given its iOS app a redesign to bring it in line with the style of Apple’s new iOS 7 platform, while adding new features.

Macy’s partners with Shopkick to launch iBeacon pilot program in select flagship stores – Apple unveiled iBeacon when it debuted iOS 7, but the details about this proximity-based service were overshadowed by the news about its mobile OS. Fast forward almost six months, and iBeacons is finally gaining some traction now that retailers are starting to explore the technology.

iMovie for Mac update enables installation on some older systems, fixes reliability issues – Apple has released a small update to iMovie for Mac today which allows the app to be installed on some older Macs. The change log doesn’t specify which machines are included, stating only that “computers with some older video cards” can now run the latest version of the video-editing software.

First iOS 7 Game Controllers Released To Take Gaming To New Heights – After this years WWDC 2013 when Apple announced new gaming controller APIs multiple companies were rumoured to begin working on creating iOS game controllers to take gaming on the platform to new heights.

Smart assistant app Donna refreshed for iOS 7, tells you when to leave for your next meeting and notifies attendees if you’re running late – ncredible Labs, the creators behind the smart assistant app Donna, has released an update that not only includes a refresh for iOS 7, but also new features to help coordinate meetings and more. The latest update comes five months after its launch.