Tipster
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Tipster: it's free, basic and calculates tips
Tipster is a tip calculator for iPhone. There's no bells and whistles, it's just a simple tip calculator with one job: calculating tips. As anyone even slightly familiar with the App Store knows, developers have overwhelmingly filled it with tip calculators since they're so useful, easy to create and iOS has always lacked a native utility for tips. Does Tipster do a good job of standing out from the crowd as a solid choice? That's the question I try to answer from my experience. It's free with in-app purchases requires iOS 7.1 or later. Tipster's interface is dead simple. The four stars at the top are adjustable based on the tip percentage you want to leave. One star is 10 percent, two stars is 15 percent, three stars is 18 percent and four stars is 20 percent. Use the fifth option to enter a custom percentage. Underneath the stars you have the bill total and tax amount, which you type in separately. When you input the bill total, the tip shows up rather largely on screen above the stars. The hierarchy to fill information in isn't really all that ideal. Additionally, having to put in the tax amount yourself seems a tad ridiculous. It should be an option in the settings to enable this should you choose to do it this way, but otherwise the tax should be able to calculate based on your state's sales tax percentage. Tipster also supports splitting the check. Again, the app includes four preset options for, in this case, one to four people. The fifth allows for a custom amount of people - seriously infinite. If the bill needs to be split, the app shows how much each person should pay including tip at the bottom. Tapping what looks like a menu icon on the bottom right breaks down the entire per-person amount including the subtotal, tax and tip for each person paying. The app shows a single banner ad at the very bottom. It's mostly out of the way and doesn't cover up anything or hinder usage within the app, but if you're dead set against ads, there is an in-app purchase available which ditches the ads for US$0.99. Should Tipster be your go-to tip calculator app? Well, if you're okay with ads, Tipster is free so you don't have any money to lose. I do think there's better-designed alternatives like Tips or Tippit, but they come at a price. I'm not a fan of having to input the specific tax amount in this app and the order in which certain values get displayed is a tad awkward. Don't forget that your iPhone and iPad both technically come with a tip calculator thanks to Siri. If you ask Siri what you should leave for a tip and provide the bill total and percentage, she'll give you an answer pretty quickly. Doing the multiplication on the standard Calculator app on iPhone works as well. Tipster is certainly a capable tip calculator, but I can't help but want more out of it. It's good, but with some design changes it could be great.
Ask Massively: With thanks to the tipsters
Massively's tipsters are awesome. You've probably seen acknowledgements of their contributions in posts like these. Without them, we'd be limited to just the research our fairly small staff can drum up on a moment's notice. The tipsters broaden our view and bring us news from games that might otherwise have gone overlooked. We love you guys. We do get tips we won't or can't report on, though. And it's not because we hate you. I promise.
Ask Massively: Yes, we have heard of your game
Welcome back to Ask Massively, the place where Bree dispenses random thoughts about the sitemeta because you guys are cheaper than a shrink. About 20 people asked: Hey have you guys heard about Pathfinder Online and also why aren't you writing more about Pathfinder Online. P.S. Your coverage of Pathfinder Online is inadequate to my needs. And have you heard about Pathfinder Online?? Yes, we have heard of your game.
Gamestop listing for "WorldofWarcraft Gaming Mouse"
We got sent this picture by a rogue Gamestop employee -- he says he found a listing in their computer not only for the upcoming Zboards for Warhammer and Wrath of the Lich King, but as you can see, there's also a listing for a "WorldofWarcraft Gaming Mouse." There's no company listed, so we don't know who might be making it, and no other features are listed except the price, which stands at a hefty $99.00. There have been WoW mice available in China for a while, but with the price on this one, we're guessing it'll be a little less colorful and a little more "professional." Hey, if it's got extra buttons on it to help me level up fishing, I'll give it a look.Our tipster also says it's listed as a November release date, and as you can see above, it looks like we can expect it around November 3rd (a week before Wrath's release). If your mouse is looking a little old and busted lately, and you've got some of that tax refund check still sitting around waiting to be spent, it could be just the thing to help you run around Northrend.Update: Intrepid commenter Folinger found a cache of a Gamestop page for the mouse -- apparently it's also from Ideazon, and comes adorned with WoW art and 15 programmable buttons. Hopefully one of them will help me with my current goal of powerleveling fishing.
Stargate Worlds studio faces cash flow issues
Get ready for some dubious corporate drama. We were contacted by a tipster claiming to be a Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment employee. He or she alleged, among other things, that CME/Firesky is in critical financial condition -- that it has accrued a large debt, that massive layoffs are planned, and that the future of Stargate Worlds might be in jeopardy. Knowing full well that potentially-scorned anonymous employees are rarely a wholly reliable source, we contacted the company and provided them an opportunity to comment.We were told that the tip was full of inaccuracies and overstatements. The official comment was this: "Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment is a start up, and like many start ups, we face the typical cash flow issues that all pre-revenue companies face. CME continues to fund its operations in the same way it has done for three years and the viability of the Stargate Worlds project is not in question. We fully expect to complete and ship Stargate Worlds in 2009."
