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Adobe Voice for iPad creates audio, video presentations quickly and easily
Adobe has released a nice story-telling app called Adobe Voice for iPad. It's available for free from the App Store, but a Creative Cloud account is required to use it. Adobe Voice lets you easily create animated videos for personal use or business presentations. You can include your own photos and graphics, and the app can easily create cinema-quality effects like animations and transitions. When you are done, your presentation can be emailed, sent to social media services like Twitter or Facebook, or you can get a link so it can be viewed on any device. The app contains more than 25,000 icons, professionally-animated themes and licensed music to fit almost any mood. Adobe places credit and attributions page at the end of each presentation, so you needn't worry usage rights. I was able to get an advance look at Adobe Voice, and generally I came across very impressed. A tutorial that leads you through your initial project, though most actions are obvious. You can record narration for each page, and if you don't like it it is easy to re-record. By answering questions before you begin, Adobe Voices can make some suggestions about how to proceed, but you can be on your own if you like. Adobe Voice makes nice-looking video presentations, and that's a good thing. an Adobe spokesman noted that about 19% of web traffic is generated by YouTube, and that video was extremely important in business and personal consumption. It's clear from using Adobe Voice that a lot of thought has gone into producing this app. I can't think of a way to make creating a professional grade presentation could be any easier. Every element can be changed after the fact. Images, icons, animations, music, and narrations. Who will use this app? Students, families, small businesses, photographers, and people who have a story they want to share and didn't previously have a way to illustrate and share that story. A couple caveats. When I created a presentation and sent a link to a friend, the video quality was far from perfect. I had used some high quality photos, and the video really did not reflect their quality. Also, I find it a bit strange that the app works only in portrait orientation on the iPad. Most video is longer in width than height, so why doesn't the app configure itself for the best view? I asked Adobe about storage limits. There are no limits at this time, so create as much as you want. Videos are stored on Adobe servers and can't be stored locally yet. Everything is in the cloud, and any server issues could send your presentations to the land of lost content. Adobe is using industry standards for video. H.264 HD video and HTML5 so people can view Adobe Voice videos on any device. Adobe Voice is an elegant and clever app. It is likely designed to push more people to the Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions the company covets, and I'm sure it will. It's a very nice benefit of Creative Cloud membership at a very nice price of free. Adobe Voice needs an iPad 2 or later, and iOS 7.
Google Docs and Sheets: A first look at the underpowered iOS apps
Two new competitors in the realm of productivity apps for iOS showed up on Wednesday in the form of Google Docs and Google Sheets. Docs is, of course, a word processing/page layout application that works like the web-based Google Docs, and Sheets is the equivalent of its web-based sibling. Both of the apps work both in sync with their online counterparts and offline, and Google's blog says that a presentation app -- Slides -- is on the way. Let's take a quick first look at both of the current apps: Google Docs Launching the Google Docs app, you're greeted with a login for your Google Drive account. Sign in, and a list of all current docs you have online appears. Either tap one of those existing docs to open it, or tap a plus sign button for a blank document. And blank is what you get. A white page with no ruler (not that it's needed in this day and age), and a toolbar with some standard mundane formatting commands: fonts, bold, italics, underline, justification (left, center, right and fully justified), numbered/unnumbered lists, and indent/outdent. If you're looking for full page layout capabilities as you see in Apple's own Pages or on the Web version of Docs, you're going to be disappointed because they're not here. On the other hand, if you're working on simple memos, letters, or notes, then Google Docs is probably up your alley. What's even better is that the app is targeted to those who want to collaborate on documents -- there's a comments button on the right side of the toolbar, along with a button showing who else is viewing the document. To share your Google Doc, just save it with a tap on the "checkmark" button, and then tap the information icon to bring up a Details pane. From that pane, you can share the document, rename it, even get a link to send to others who you'd like to have download the document. Unlike Microsoft Office for iPad, Google Docs supported printing from day one. There's a toggle on the Details pane for keeping a local copy of the document, and a graphical indication of who is currently sharing the doc. At least at this point, there's no way I could find to actually drop an image into a document -- c'mon, Google! Even the original MacWrite back in 1984 could handle copying an image and pasting it into a doc. In many iOS document apps, a tap-and-hold in a document brings up "paste" in a pop-up, or you can add an image directly by tapping a plus sign button and searching for an photo to paste in. Here? Nothing. Google Docs is also missing most of the features I've come to know and love in Pages. Things like real-time spell checking, the ability to do actual page layouts? Not there. If you're planning on writing a simple document and need to have others check or comment on your writing, then Google Docs is a workable alternative. Offline work can be immediately synced upon connecting to a network, and you can polish things drafted on an iPad or iPhone once you're using the online version of the app. The Web app is at least fully-functional and also has a variety of add-ons that you can use to make your document look beautiful and professional. The bottom line: Google Docs for iOS is an excellent bare-bones text editor that syncs with the Web-based version and can be used to create rough drafts of work that will be finished in the online version. Google Sheets For spreadsheets, Google Sheets provides an on-device-synced-to-Google-Drive solution similar to Google Docs. And by that, I mean that it's a faint replica of the Google Sheets found online. In fact, Google Sheets is only usable for portable data entry. You can't do anything even remotely spreadsheet-like with the app except for entering numbers or text into cells. Want to add a formula to a spreadsheet? You'd better know what the exact format for each function is, since Google Sheets for iOS has no way of inserting those formulas from a pop-up, nor does it give you hints when you're starting to enter a formula. At least Google Sheets has some of the collaborative tools of its Web-based sibling, so you can share documents with other or open and edit spreadsheets created online by others. But there's no way to leave a note for one of your collaborators as there is with Google Docs. You can change the font, borders, and formatting of cells, but that's about it other than just entering data or hand-typing formulae into cells. The bottom line: Google Sheets for iOS is a only good for doing basic data entry into existing spreadsheets that are created online with the Web-based version. Conclusion Both Google Sheets and Google Docs are very bare-bones and basic versions of what's available online. Rather than useful tools, both apps appear to be rushed-to-market responses to Microsoft Word and Excel for iOS. While Google Docs can at least be used to do drafts of documents and share them with other individuals while mobile, Google Sheets has nothing to commend it as a true spreadsheet other than the fact that it presents cells on a page. Anyone who is looking at getting real work done on an iOS device at this point will be better served by Apple's Pages and Numbers (US$9.99 each, free to owners of new iOS devices) or Microsoft Word for iPad and Microsoft Excel for iPad (free, but requires an annual subscription to Office 365 at $75+ per year).
Red Herring: A terrific little game from 7 Little Words creator
Last night, my daughters and I spent several hours working our way through the first levels of Red Herring (free, with in-app purchases), a twistedly difficult new game from the creator of 7 Little Words and Moxie. The game presents you with 16 phrases at a time, which you categorize into 3 meaningful groups of 4, plus a "red herrings" column for the extras. If you're playing the most difficult level -- and the game isn't nearly as much fun unless you are -- it's a true challenge to sort out the meaningful groupings from the red herrings. Like 7 Little Words, you get the initial puzzle pack for free. In Red Herring, this consists of 50 challenging puzzles to start with. Once hooked, you pay for additional packs. The puzzles can be fiendish, especially if you choose to work without the built-in categories or partial solutions offered by the easy and medium levels. 10 gateway hints are offered for free. After that you pay US$1.99 for unlimited hints. My family had a ball with this -- it was tons of fun and involved lots of brainstorming. Throw the display over to a TV via Air Play and it's the perfect party game as well. We really liked it. Recommended.
Slingshot delivers business-class iOS and PC screen sharing
Slingshot, the latest offering from the makers of Reflector and Air Parrot, introduces a paradigm for business-class screen sharing that pushes meeting software to new levels. If you're familiar with live-meeting/webcast services (like join.me, for example) you'll have encountered server-ware that enables you to share your desktop out to groups for demonstrations and presentations. The current generation provides support for phone chats, text messages, and so forth. Slingshot takes all that functionality and bumps it up. Like its competitors, this software is aimed at the business and education markets, offering both one-to-one and one-to-many sharing. It adds some really splendid features like iOS screen sharing, individual OS X app screens, and participant control. With Slingshot, you can demo your apps and present screens anywhere in the world. When testing, the TUAW team was really pleased by the quality of transmission and the ability of any participant to share materials from their system. Slingshot allows users to share individual desktop apps, their entire desktop, or to screen share from iOS via AirPlay. Each participant may opt in to use a local camera feed and microphone as well. (The service plan you select sets limits on how many cameras may participate.) Our tests made it clear, however, this was early release software. We encountered audio drop outs, software crashes, and some odd video glitches. Despite those, we were all really impressed by the feature set and overall design quality. While the service is still young, it shows great promise. Slingshot works by subscription. After a 30-day full feature trial, its plans range from 1-to-1 connections for $10/month ($110/year) to an enterprise-worthy model at $100/month ($1000/year) for up to 25 users, 5 camera feeds, and phone support. Budget-minded users might want to stick with join.me's free single-screen sharing service and Squirrel's existing Reflector app, but companies and schools with more spending flexibility will find Slingshot to offer a good feature set. We recommend you decide for yourself with the free month trial. A feature video follows below.
Hitman GO is really killing it
If you've ever played a Hitman game, your eyebrow probably immediately raised at the prospect of a new Hitman game for iOS. The stealth action titles for PC and consoles focus on picking off guards and taking out assassination targets, and in that way Hitman GO stays true to the franchise. Everything else about the game, however, is completely different. Hitman GO is a board game of sorts, with turn-based puzzles taking the place of actual sneaking and hiding. You control your character piece, the titular assassin Agent 47, on a board where your movements are restricted to pre-determined grids. Each level has its own layout, with guards who either stand still or patrol, and either an assassination target or an exit slot you must travel to in order to proceed to the next level. You can trick guards with noise generating items like cans and rocks, and either make your way around them or take them out in order to clear your path. The puzzles range from very simply early on to mind-bendingly challenging, forcing you to memorize guard patterns and use the rare pieces of cover to your advantage. Besting a level is very satisfying, especially when you take out your primary assassination target -- who are always dressed in red -- with Ave Maria playing in the background, and GO manages to feel like a real Hitman title despite a complete change in format. The most striking thing about the presentation of GO is how gorgeous the faux board game looks on a Retina display. You feel like you're actually moving pieces around the board, and the ability to tweak your viewing angle adds to this greatly. Hitman GO is available for US$4.99, and the only in-app purchases on offer are in the form of hint packs, walkthroughs, and early level unlocks, but each board is so much fun to play and beat that you'll have little reason to consider it.
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition reigns supreme on Mac
The SimCity reboot on OS X came with a whole host of launch day problems, and longtime fans of the series cried foul at the streamlined nature and much more modest city sizes. If you happened to be in that camp, SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition is exactly what you've been dreaming of, and now it's finally available on the Mac App Store. If you've somehow managed to avoid the addictive pull of the SimCity franchise, I'll lay it out for you: You play as the all-seeing mayor of your own metropolis, and must build it up from a barren piece of land. It's the ultimate micromanagement experience, and you'll zone pieces of land for residential buildings, commercial properties, as well industrial purposes. As the mayor, the life of every citizen is in your hands, and you must provide for their basic needs such as utilities, education, emergency management, mass transit, and a host of services. Your city never sleeps, and you're never truly done doing your job. New problems will pop up constantly and your team of advisors will always have a suggestion for how you could better your burg. The sense of accomplishment that comes with seeing your city thrive is countered by the inevitable failure of many of your plans. A freak fire or riot can quickly change your approach, and no two play sessions are ever the same. You might be short on cash and need to tweak the city's taxes, but even the slightest nudge can topple the local economy and send residents fleeing from your town -- the balances are that fragile. As you expand, your once quiet town will burst into a bustling city, and before you know it you'll be scrolling over dozens of city blocks to spot unrest, add a hospital, or investigate a traffic issue. If for some reason you manage to craft a utopia -- and that isn't likely to happen until you've spent dozens or even hundreds of hours learning the game's nuances -- you can increase the difficulty by prompting a natural disaster like a tornado, volcano, or meteor. Handled by seasoned Mac publisher Aspyr Games, there was little doubt that the game would enjoy a seamless transition, and the company has once again delivered on that promise. Technically speaking, the game is the true SimCity experience with zero compromises, and the game runs well on even modest systems thanks to plenty of graphics options. The Deluxe Edition includes both the base game and the Rush Hour expansion pack, which adds a whole list of new mass transit options for your citizens. It's the ultimate SimCity experience, and anyone put off by the recent series reboot will almost certainly find this version to be far superior in terms of options, size, and scope. At US$19.99, it's the cost of a couple of movie tickets, but will give you hundreds of hours of enjoyment with little issue.
You can't play Goat Simulator on Mac (yet), but you can play Goat Rampage on iOS
Goat Simulator is an amazing game. In Goat Simulator, you control a goat and destroy a small town by running into everything in sight. The game is indeed headed for OS X, but it's not there yet, which is a total bummer. However, a new iOS game has snuck in to capitalize on the goat hype, and while it's not quite as fantastic as the original, it's still a lot of fun. It's called Goat Rampage. To call Goat Rampage a "game" might be a bit of an overstatement. It's more of a physics sandbox where you control the movement of a goat. You can run and jump, but that's about it. There's no real objective, aside from wrecking everything in sight, and the game only really ends when you decide to stop playing. But while things like plot are ignored, guiding your awkward little farm animal around the large stages is somehow hypnotic and satisfying. You'll topple stacks of boxes, knock barrels flying, and even take out massive objects and animals like military tanks and elephants. Each time you hit an object you get a specific number of points, and those points are tallied towards your high score. Getting zero points offers the same reward as getting 5,000, so don't feel too bad if your point total is modest. The point here is to make your own fun. The game is US$0.99, and it's hard to deny how strangely enjoyable it is. It's not Goat Simulator, but at the moment, it's the next best thing on an Apple device.
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft arrives on iPad with zero compromises
When new games make the trip from PC to mobile it's usually a dumbed-down affair, but Blizzard's fantastic Warcraft-inspired collectable card game is anything but dumb in its iPad debut. In short, it's just as addictive, gorgeous, and slick as the version we played many months ago on Mac. You begin a game of Hearthstone by choosing a hero. This choice will dictate your overall strategy, letting you rely on your character's magic, weapons, or loyal minions to take out your adversary. Early on, your matches are chosen for you, sending you through a lengthy tutorial and story mode that pits you against many different styles of opponent. Matches play out on a single screen where your cards go up against those of your foe. Your hero has a set amount of life, and the cards your opponents play against you can harm either your hero or the minion cards you have previously played, depending on their strategy and any "Taunt" cards you have on the board (which must be attacked first). You'll grasp the rules and play style after just a game or two, but your long-term strategy will be ever evolving. At the heart of the strategy is your deck of cards, which can be customized to suit your battle plan. You can unlock card packs either by purchasing them or by earning gold through battle victories. A good strategy matched with a solid deck is crucial to besting the real-world opponents you will be matched with in the Arena mode, and you'll see an endless number of play styles as you gain experience. Hearthstone on iPad is just as good, if not better than its PC counterpart, and if you're an iPad owner who is already in love with the desktop version, you're going to adore it on a touchscreen. Dragging and dropping your cards onto the play field feels even better with your finger than it does with a mouse, and even novice players will have a blast. Hearthstone is free on the App Store and even if you don't want to toss in a few bucks for additional card packs, there's still dozens of hours of good fun to be had. Give it a shot, and you won't be disappointed.
Power Grounds is punishing and playful
I love mobile games that present a streamlined way to play while not sacrificing the difficulty or nature of the experience. Power Grounds is a role-playing game that you can control with a single finger, with a roguelike one-death difficulty curve that makes it both punishing and charming at the same time. The story behind Power Grounds -- which you'll only know if you read the app description, as there is no backstory offered in the game itself -- is that you are trapped in a temple. Monsters lurk around every corner and in order to defeat them you need to activate powered tiles on the floor. The game screen ends up looking a bit like a chess board, but you'll catch on to the game's nuances within minutes of trying it out. You start each level on one side of the screen and need to navigate to the exit without dying in between. Each time you move from one square to the next on the game's grid-like playfield, the enemies take their turn as well. If you end up right next to an enemy, chances are you're going to take damage from an attack, unless you manage to activate a magical tile first. Power-ups range from offensive weapons like electricity blasts and sword swings to freeze traps that keep the enemies from moving for a specific number of turns. It's a deceptively simple system that makes you feel totally in control, until you're surrounded by enemies and die in a matter of seconds. Each grid is randomly generated, which helps to ramp up the replayability, and you can play it as slow or as fast as you desire. Once you best the ramped-up difficulty of the later levels you can try your luck in the Arena mode where you're tasked with surviving as long as possible. Power Grounds is priced at US$0.99, and there are no in-app purchases or pay-to-win bonuses to be found. It's one of those iOS games that is both accessible and demonically difficult at the same time, which makes it an easy recommendation for anyone who wants a challenge.
The best Nintendo DS emulator on iOS doesn't require a jailbreak
Apple has a pretty strict stance on emulators in regards to the App Store, so unless you're willing to jailbreak your iPhone or iPad, the options for retro gaming are usually pretty slim. That is, unless the developers of said apps decide to ignore the App Store entirely -- that is the case with NDS4iOS, a Nintendo DS emulator from the same team that launched the jailbreak-free GBA emulator, GBA4iOS, to much acclaim. Much like its predecessor, NDS4iOS can be downloaded straight from the official website. After some finagling with the date, which is required since Apple predictably revoked the dev certificate, the app will load up and present an empty list for game ROMs. You can tweak settings like the opacity of the controller overlay as well as frame skips and other performance enhancements. When you're ready to play, you can seek out game ROMs (to games you already own, of course) via the built-in site links, which then download directly to the app or to a synced Dropbox account. Loading a game is instantaneous and the game provides save state functionality to resume previous play sessions automatically. Perhaps the best part about the app is that it features full touchscreen support for the "bottom screen" of DS games, offering a true DS experience without the system itself. I found that some games seem to suffer a bit in the transition, however, such as the unexpectedly laggy Mario Kart DS. Other games work splendidly, so it's really a bit of a crapshoot. If you're thirsty to relive your DS glory days, this is as good as it gets without dragging out your dusty Nintendo handheld and trying to remember where you left the charging cord.
Adobe Lightroom Mobile for iPad is going to make photographers very happy
As mentioned in my post earlier today, Adobe Lightroom has come to the iPad in the form of Lightroom Mobile. If you are an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber, the app is free. You download it from the App Store, sign in with your Adobe ID and you are ready to go if you have also updated your Mac version of Lightroom to the just-released version 5.4. Lightroom is based on collections, and any collection on your Mac can be quickly synced with the iPad version. Lightroom Mobile works with Smart Previews, the compressed DNG format files that Adobe added as a feature in Lightroom 5. On your Mac, your files are full size RAW format. You work on the Smart Previews on your iPad. Changes you make on your iPad are synched back to the full size versions on your Mac. The same is true the other way. Make an edit in a photo in a synced collection, and presto, the change appears on your iPad. It's best to do this over WiFi for speed, and so you are not running over any cellular data allotments you may have. Think of Lightroom Mobile as a remote extension to your Mac files. The app needs that Internet connection for updates to work, but you can edit files without an Internet connection and sync them when you're connected. The iPad version of Lightroom is very well executed. It's not just a simple port. It fully supports things like swipes and pinching, but also makes good use of taps. Tapping with two fingers shows you the meta-data in your image. A three-finger tap provides a before and after look at your edits. There are graphic elements that tell you when a file is syncing. On the iPad, you can add photos from your camera roll or any folder that the app can point to. There is also an auto-import feature -- when it is turned on, any photo saved to the camera roll is imported into Lightroom Mobile. Images can be sorted in the same ways Lightroom Mobile's big brother allows. Slide shows are supported and very attractive. You get some choices of transitions, like fades, wipes and flips. I didn't note any AirPlay support though, and hopefully it is coming in a future update. Editing is not as feature-rich as with Lightroom on the desktop, but important functions like Clarity, Vibrance, Saturation, color temperature, highlights, shadows and more are supported. There are the same presets that Lightroom has on the desktop version as well. I don't see things like lens correction, but you can make those edits on the desktop and instantly see the changes on the iPad. Lightroom Mobile is going to be terrifically popular with pro and advanced photographers. If you already use Lightroom, and have a Creative Cloud subscription, you're ready to go at no additional cost. If you don't use Adobe Products, this iPad app might bring you into the fold. Lightroom Mobile is not a quickly thrown-together app. It's going to be a big deal and right now it is only available on the iPad. Android users will have to wait, and Adobe is mum about doing anything for the slow-starting Windows Surface tablets. The app is already getting great ratings from users. Lighrtoom Mobile requires iOS 7. It's happy to run on any iPad that supports iOS 7, which takes it back to the second-generation iPad or the first-generation iPad mini. The app is a 46 MB download.
Daily App: PiggyBot is a colorful allowance tracker for both parents and kids
PiggyBot is a new allowance app from BancVue that landed in the iOS App Store earlier this month. Unlike other piggy banks that track real money in your child's physical piggy bank, PiggyBot is a ledger sheet that tracks virtual money. The virtual currency of PiggyBot is wonderful for busy parents who don't always have a five dollar bill in their pocket when it comes to paying out allowance or dispensing cash for an extra chore well done. Instead of handing over a paper bill, PiggyBot allows a parent to create an account on an iPhone and add money to that virtual account as needed. The account options in PiggyBot allow each child to have an allotment of money for savings, for sharing and for spending. When parents add money to a child's account they can determine where the money will go and then child can decide how to share or spend it. When a child is ready to make a purchase, the parent will know immediately how much the child has in their bank and can deduct that amount on the fly. The app is meant to be used by parents and children, with the parents controlling the accounts and dispensing the money, and the children adding in items they want to buy and people with which they want to share their money. Each account is locked by a pin, so children can't access the parent's account and each sibling is locked to their own account. PiggyBot has a colorful interface with enough customizations that the app can be personalized for each child, but the options are not overwhelming. Each child can change the color of their virtual bank account as well as add an image, for example. There are no syncing options, so the data resides only on a single device. PiggyBot is associated with Kasasa, a national brand of free checking and savings accounts that offers rewards. The app is meant to be a utility for parents and a learning too for children to help them manage their money wisely by allowing them to spend, share and save their cash. There are no logins and the app is not tied to any checking account services. Other than the "Powered by Kasasa" logo at the bottom, there are no ads in the app. PiggyBot is available for free. It is compatible with the iPhone and iPad and requires iOS 7.
Daily App: 2048 by ketchapp is a perfect port of the popular web-based numbers game
2048 took the web by storm when it debuted last month. Created by 19-year-old Italian web developer Gabriele Cirulli, the sliding numbers game challenges you to combine tiles and build a tile with the number 2048 before you run out of moves. It sounds easy in theory, but it is incredibly challenging. The popular web app was ported to iOS and a version of the game by ketchapp has become an instant hit, climbing to the top of iOS App Store. The 2048 app adopts the same appearance and challenging gameplay of the web version. 2048 gameplay is simple and reminiscent of Threes!, a similar sliding numbers game. You have a 4x4 grid of number tiles based on the number 2 that you combine. You can only combine tiles with the same number, a 2 tile with a 2 tile, a 4 tile with a 4 tile and so on. As you combine tiles, they are combined into one tile, their values are added together and another tile appears on the screen. You keep adding tiles until reach 2049 or your screen fills up and you can't move anymore. I've been playing 2048 and I've not been able to crack 128. I'm not the patient type with strategy games and end up randomly combining tiles until I can move anymore. There are online strategy guides for 2048 if you want to beat in style. The 2048 game by ketchapp is available for free from the iOS App Store. It is compatible with the iPhone or iPad. The app includes ads, but they do not interfere with the gameplay.
Monument Valley is proof that games can be art
If you have a dog in the never-ending "Are games art?" debate, you know that there are good arguments to be made on both sides. I firmly believe that games can be art, and to anyone who disagrees, I would eagerly point you in the direction of Monument Valley, a new puzzler from developer Ustwo. In Monument Valley you are tasked with guiding a faceless princess named Ida through various structures. But these buildings are not like anything you'd encounter in the real world; They're all impossible, relying on 2D visual trickery and MC Escher-like illusions to add a confusing but enjoyable layer of complexity to even the most trivial tasks. Finding your way to the end of each level often means manually spinning platforms to connect paths in a way that defies logic, but in the end makes perfect sense. This mechanic is made even more challenging once path-blocking "Crow People" are added a few levels into the adventure, adding an aspect of timing to each puzzle solution. There's no real timer to speak of, and the game actively encourages you to think out each move rather than rushing blindly along any paths that might be available. And while some levels might seem hideously daunting at first become manageable through a little bit of trial and error. Monument Valley is gorgeous in is design, with colorful shades and hard lines that emphasize the geometry while at the same time giving you the impression that you're interacting with a priceless painting. There's even a camera feature built-in so you can take snapshots of any level you choose, and every one of them would make for a gorgeous wallpaper on your iPad or iPhone. To top it all off, the relaxing music reacts to every move you make, and even the troublesome crows, that squawk in your face while blocking the way, come off as more charming than annoying. Monument Valley is a game that will suck you in with its gorgeous aesthetics, and then bend your brain while you search for each puzzle solution, but you'll have a smile on your face the entire time. If you're even remotely interested in puzzle games, this US$3.99 gem is money well spent.
Daily App: Faster Than Light brings real-time, rogue-like spaceship combat to your iPad
Released in 2012 for the desktop, Faster Than Light from Subset games is considered to be one of the top indie real-time strategy games. In the game, you control a spaceship from Galactic Federation that contains critical information. You must escape the pursuing rebel fleet and make it across sectors to the Federation HQ to deliver your vital data. This spaceship simulation game challenges you at every turn with rogue-like combat situations that sometimes require you to fire away with your weapons and other times practice diplomacy. Ship emergencies, often in the middle of combat, add a whole new level of complexity as you struggle to keep to vital systems like your weapons array on key sensors online. Though you start with a basic Kestrel-class cruiser, you can unlock upgrades, weapons and new ships. Gameplay can be hectic at times, but FTL does include a pause function, allowing you to stop the action so you can plan your strategy. The pause function gives you some breathing room, but it doesn't make the game any easier. Always on your mind is the game's permadeath feature that doesn't allow you to start in mid-game when you die. If you are destroyed, you must start over at the beginning. Of course, starting over means you get to try to new strategies, unlock different ships and discover new tricks the next time around. The iPad version of Faster Than Light ships with the new FTL:Advanced Edition expansion pack, which adds new ships, enemies, events, and weapons to the game. This pack can be disabled if you prefer to play the classic game. The touch interface translates nicely over to the game, making it easier and more intuitive to use than the mouse clicks of the desktop version. Faster Than Light is available for the iPad for US$9.99. If you have any interest at all in this genre of game, then you won't be disappointed in Faster Than Light. The depth of the game in incredible and the gameplay has just the right mix of slow-paced waypoint jumping and resupplying mixed with hectic combat situations that require fast thinking on your part.
Popular pin-toppler game Polar Bowler lands on iOS
Polar Bowler first debuted as a Windows PC game ten years ago and became a long-standing hit for WIldTangent and its casual game network. After bringing the popular Polar Bear and his new sidekick J to iOS last year in the 1st Frame game, the company is back with a new PB & J title that retains the pin-toppler's original name, Polar Bowler. For those who haven't played it, Polar Bowler is a bowling video game featuring a sunglasses-adorned Polar Bear and, on iOS, his valet penguin J. PB rides an inner tube as he travels down various mazes knocking over bowling pins. Your role as the player is to steer PB and knock over as many pins as you can. As you speed down the lane, you can steer using the onscreen controls. You aim for the pins, while you avoid obstacles and use other items like ramps to move your Polar Bear along its way. Occasionally, crates will appear with bonus content like specialized inner tubes to help you in your quest to topple pins. When PB finally comes to a rest, the game tallies up your "Polar Score," which is based on how many pins you knock over, the speed at which you travel, and how many bumpers you hit. To complete a level and move on, you must clear every pin the maze. The latest version of this pin-toppler game is chock full of options with souped-up tubes, custom outfits and more for your Polar Bear. Gameplay is fast and fun with plenty of mazes to keep you engaged. There also are free goodies that you earn every day, encouraging you regularly to open the app to play. Polar Bowler is available in the iOS App Store for 99-cents. It contains in-app purchases that allow you to buy crates or coins, which can be used to buy xtras like fancy, new tubes for PB.
I can't tell you why Sometimes You Die is so great
"Unique" is an overused word these days, and every game on the App Store wants you to believe it's like nothing you've ever played before, no matter how similar it is to every other app out there. Sometimes You Die doesn't really have to worry about that though, because its entire premise is based around the fact that it's less of a game and more of an exercise in thought. And yes, I promise you've never played something like this before. The mechanics of the game are familiar platformer fare: You control a small block that must navigate a bare-bones world consisting of either flat surfaces or spikes. Flat surfaces are safe, spikes and spinning blocks will kill you. That's it, for 9 chapters. Where Sometimes You Die changes things up is in how it interacts with you, the player. From the very start, the game actively engages you with text and voice, asking questions and at times mocking you. It challenges you to define what a "game" really is, and what it means to have fun. It reminds you how silly it is that you, as a player, form instant expectations of how a game will treat you. But the best part about the game, however, is that the real game only begins after you've beaten all 9 chapters. The levels fly by in quick succession and before you know it, you're at the end. Or at least what you think is the end. Saying anything more would both spoil the game's biggest trick and ruin its appeal right from the start. I promise you that you'll be glad I'm stopping right now. The game is US$1.99, which isn't the easiest sell alongside free-to-play behemoths, but for a gaming experience you've never had before it's more than worth it. Play it, and love it.
Weekend App: Handy Photo Free is a capable iOS image editor with a couple of unique features
Ah, another iOS image editor review. There are so many available in the App Store, with lots of overlapping functions. Cropping, filters, frames ... one could get lost. Handy Photo Free has all these features, but it's the unique features that make it worthy of note. First and foremost, the Move Me technology designed into the app gives it an edge on competing photo editors. Take a person or an object and move it elsewhere in the photo frame, and the background fills itself in automatically. Filters can be applied to all or just parts of an image, and there is smart retouching. Like many image editors that use the freemium app pricing model, you can upgrade to a full version that adds smart 'uncropping', full-resolution saves, more filters and RAW support. The full version is available at the reasonable price of US$1.99. In terms of filtering and image manipulation, the free Snapseed app is still superior to anything I have used in iOS but Handy Photo Free adds that very powerful Move Me feature. There are little niceties in the app. For example, when you are drawing the mask on the object you want to move, Handy Photo offsets a magnified view of where you are painting. Most apps stupidly let your finger cover the area you are working in, making it difficult to create an accurate mask. The Move Me technology works well, and on the photos where I tried it, a new natural-looking background was rendered. Handy Photo, in both the free and paid incarnations, is a first-rate editing tool. Help is built in and each feature is described. The GUI is modern and accessible for a first time user. I'm very partial to Snapseed, which can turn an ordinary picture into something memorable, but the special features of Handy Photo are well implemented and worthwhile. Try the free version and see if the features are useful to you. Handy Photo Free requires iOS 4.2 or later, and it is optimized for the iPhone 5. The app is universal.
Today in the App Store -- the best free apps, new apps and app updates
Here are some of the best free apps, app updates and new apps that have landed in the App Store recently. All app prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly, so grab them while you can. Also, check out our Daily Deals, with hand-picked sales on iOS and OS X apps as well as deals on accessories for Mac and iOS owners. Apps Now Free 2 Days [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $0.99] 2 Days is a simple and effective to-do app for your iPhone and iPad. It comes with the simplicity of use. ArtRage for iPhone [iPhone; Now free, down from $1.99] Express your artistic side with easy to use painting and drawing tools that work just like the real thing! LVL CAM [iPhone; Now free, down from $0.99] LVL CAM is the only camera app for taking perfectly balanced and level shots on your iPhone. Touchfit: GSP • The Complete Home Fitness Solution [iPhone; Now free, down from $6.99] Download Touchfit: GSP today and join the legions of others who have already achieved incredible results with the first home training program designed to adapt and evolve after every workout. Tactical Soldier - Undead Rising [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $4.99]Tactical Soldier is a tactical squad level turn based game where you control a group of soldiers trying to uncover the dark secrets of an army research base invaded by zombies. Man at Arms TD [iPad; Now free, down from $4.99] Man at Arms is the newest hit in TD strategy games! Play fast-paced action gaming with hundreds of units, then collect unique cards to increase the strength of your army! Man at Arms Pocket Edition [iPhone; Now free, down from $1.99] Man at Arms is the newest hit in TD strategy games! Play fast-paced action gaming with hundreds of units, then collect unique cards to increase the strength of your army! Carmageddon [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $0.99] Carmageddon is the original freeform driving sensation, where pedestrians (and cows!) equal points, and your opponents are a bunch of crazies in a twisted mix of automotive killing machines. DRAWNIMAL [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $1.99] Our goal with Drawnimal was to expand your device by using simple tools like pen and paper. Apple's App of the Week. NightSky HD [OS X; Now free, down from $2.99] NightSky is an action-puzzle game that offers an ambient gameplay experience unlike any other; cerebral challenges fill uniquely designed picturesque worlds. Mr Stopwatch [OS X; Now free, down from $5.99] Mr. Stopwatch is Simple and Neat Stopwatch. New and Notable Apps Incredible Numbers by Professor Ian Stewart [iPad; $4.99] Bestselling author Professor Ian Stewart is your guide through Incredible Numbers. Numbers define the patterns of sunflowers; they bring pleasure through music; and they help us answer existential questions. Star Wars: Assault Team [iOS Universal; Free] Assemble a powerful team of your favorite Star Wars™ heroes, and battle enemies and other players across the galaxy in STAR WARS™: ASSAULT TEAM. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The Official Game [iOS Universal; $2.99] Play as Captain America and lead your S.H.I.E.L.D. Strike Team as they struggle to contain a massive global attack by several nefarious criminal organizations. Logline [OS X; $24.99] Logline is a screenplay editor that let's you write your screenplay, treatment and outline in one place. WiFi Strength Indicator [OS X; Free] Provides a menu bar item that indicates the signal strength of your current WiFi connection. Choir [OS X; Free] The official client for Choir.io - Sound gives you ambient awareness without effort. Updates you don't want to miss OptimizeMe - Lifelogging [iPhone; $3.99] OptimizeMe helps you record your life to improve it. Version 2.0 brings the following changes: Integration of M7 for automatic steps count Integration of Weather Condition, Daily High and Moon Phase Integration of Period Tracking for our female users Autocomplete: OptimizeMe can automatically predict your daily activities in case you forget to record a day or two Backup and Restore with Dropbox to secure your data or transfer it between different devices More Microsoft OneNote for iPad [iPad; Free] It's time to harness the immense potential of your thoughts and discoveries by taking a note in OneNote, your very own digital notebook. Version 2.2 brings the following changes: Beautifully redesigned for iOS 7 Photos of whiteboards and documents are now auto-cropped and enhanced Bug fixes nPlayer [iOS Universal; $4.99] nPlayer provides high quality video play performance and easy control-UI supporting almost all kinds of video formats and codecs without file converting efforts. Version 2.6 brings the following changes: Support for Bitcasa, Box, OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) Support built-in web browser that can download/stream contents Fixed bugs UpTo Calendar [iPhone; Free] Life goes beyond meetings and appointments. Your calendar should too. UpTo gives you a more complete view of everything coming up that matters to you - without the clutter. Version 3.0 is a complete overhaul of the app that adds the following features: New, multi-layered calendar interface. Pinch or tap to expand your calendar. Hundreds of new calendars to follow, including TV show schedules, local concerts powered by StubHub and a series of curated calendars with popular events coming up 'This Week'. Choose which layer your personal calendars appear on. Facebook events and birthdays can be on the back layer while your work calendar is on the front layer. Integrated weather that shows the current and forecasted local weather by day. Multiple calendar views. Slide the calendar up to transition from Week View to Day View or pull it down for Month View Native meeting invites Location look-up when adding new events Privately share events with friends on UpTo, or share via email, text message, Facebook or Twitter. Send email replies to meeting invites And much more! PicGIF [OS X; $4.99] PicGIF enables you to quickly create incredible animated GIFs from photos or short videos. Version 2.0 brings the following changes: Add effects and adjustment features. Support trimming video clip. Add stickers. Support managing overlays. Set start frame & end frame for overlays. Add options for better quality export. Share GIFs directly to Tumblr. Add support for German, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. New UI. Other minor bug fixes. Lens Blur [OS X; $4.99] Transform your existing photo into true out-of-focus bokeh lens effect. Version 1.1 brings the following changes: 3 real lens profiles of Canon and Nikon added; more lenses adding soon Significant performance improvement Treble Cat - Learn To Read [OS X; Free] Treble Cat is a highly entertaining game designed to help kids and adults learn how to quickly identify notes in the treble clef. Version 1.3 brings the following changes: new practice level Fotor Photo Editor [OS X; Free] People everywhere are getting their edit on with Fotor's solid photo editor for Mac. Version 2.0.0 brings the following changes: New Batch Function for quickly editing multiple photos Added Highlights, Shadow and Curves adjustments More filters and special effects Lots more Borders and Patterns to choose from Added EXIF information when sharing photo to Flickr Added more Freestyle Collage backgrounds Better user interface to make it easier and more fun to use Smoother operation and increased stability Other bug fixes and minor improvements MyFourWalls [OS X; $29.99] MyFourWalls is an easy-to-use home planning tool that lets you play with new design choices in an existing space or plan the entire interior of a new home. Version 1.0.2 adds the following features: Print sheet redesigned 3d view is printable now Export sheet for pictures and pdfs added Ceiling fans, New stairs and New office chairs added to furniture library Several minor bugs fixed
Star Wars: Assault Team puts Star Wars: Force Collection to shame
I love Star Wars and I love collectable card games, so it should say quite a bit that I couldn't review Star Wars: Force Collection because the bare-bones production values turned me off that much. As a collectable card game, it's apparently not bad, but it's just so unacceptably ugly that it feels like more like a last-second cash-in than a marquee title, and I couldn't play it for more than a few minutes before it felt like a total waste of time. Today, Star Wars: Assault Team hits the App Store, and I booted it up with a serious knot in my stomach, anticipating the worst. That is, until I remembered that this new game comes from the still-fresh Disney-Lucasarts deal, while the previous title was a product of Konami. And wow, the difference is immediately noticeable. For starters, Assault Team isn't being marketed as a collectable card game, but it still functions as one. You collect "heroes" cards, build your team deck, and take on opponents in turn-based combat. You can unlock more characters by purchasing "Hero Crates" instead of card packs, but the end result of all this is the classic card game experience. Where Force Collection presented its story mode with cringe-worthy static images and text bubbles, Assault Team's campaign is a much more polished affair. A wide variety of objective await on various planets, and the battles are played out in fully rendered 3D environments with animated enemies and some pretty slick special effects. In short, it feels more like you're playing a movie-inspired RPG than an actual card game, and it's a lot more fun because of it. As your team auto-navigates each stage you encounter battles with iconic Star Wars enemies and creatures, all of which need to be dispatched before you continue. Depending on the makeup of your team, you'll launch all-out assaults or more strategic moves like having one of your characters taunt the opposition to provide cover for the rest of the team. Once you've gotten a respectable team deck you can challenge other real-world players for superiority. These battles don't affect the story missions but can provide bonus items and loot that will give you an edge across all the game's modes. If you were as turned off as I was by Force Collection, give Assault Team a chance, because it's likely the experience you wanted all along. The game is free on the App Store.
