Canadian artists and apps get named as part of Apple’s Best of 2015

What do big Canadian artists like Drake, Justin Bieber, and The Weeknd and the apps Lara Croft Go! and Dark Echo have in common? They’re among the best of the best Apple has chosen for the year. While we couldn’t beat Adele’s comeback album “25” in the top spot, the second and third spot in the Top Albums go to Drake’s “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” and Justin Bieber’s “Purpose,” respectively. Meanwhile, The Weeknd’s “Beauty Behind the Madness” clinches the seventh spot.

When it comes to apps, Canadian-made turn-based puzzle game Lara Croft Go is named the iPhone Game of the Year. Its close runner-up interactive fantasy novel Weirdwood Manor hails from Toronto. And even the Most Innovative Game for the iPhone Dark Echo comes out of Vancouver. If you want to get your hands on the best of the best, you can check the full list per category in the following links: Music, Apps, Movies, Podcasts, TV, and Books.

Pocket personalizes your recommendations further, lets you follow story creators

Pocket wants to stop the guessing game and have you get recommendations that matter to you. With version 6.1 of the app, you will get recommendations from Pocket as well as stories from curators and friends you want to follow. The stories that appear in the recommendation tab won’t be chronological though, instead they’ll be ordered according to relevance or what stories are most interesting or what you’re most likely to read. In turn, you can also recommend stories and highlight specific sections you think are interesting. These will show up in your new public profile page. It’s important to note that the stories you save will remain private. Only those you explicitly recommend will appear publicly.

Source: Android Police | Download: Google Play Store (Free) + Apple App Store (Free)

Deezer adds CarPlay support for paying subscribers

Deezer will make it easier for you to stream music to the CarPlay platform with its latest update. The service brings CarPlay support to its paying subscribers, which in Deezer’s case are its Premium+ and Elite subscribers. Premium+ account removes advertisements and adds some features, while Elite gets support for high definition audio that’s currently only available to Sonos users.

What Deezer brings to CarPlay include the ability to listen to albums, playlists, and tracks; use Flow feature to find new music; listen to Deezer Mixes; and access music in offline mode.

Source: 9to5Mac | Download: Apple App Store (Free)

eCab App launches with Royal Taxi in Toronto

By Sonya Davidson

This morning in Toronto, cabbies are staging a demonstration to push city officials for more regulations on car-on-demand app-based service Uber. As they clog up major routes into the city core, taxi drivers are speaking on the morning news about how approximately 50% of their fares have been lost since consumers have been switching over to Uber services. 

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