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This Weekend 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. Apps Now Free InstaPlace [iPhone; Now free, down from $1.99] A location based Photo App to let everyone know exactly where and when you were in that photo. Sago Mini Doodlecast [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $2.99] Sago Mini Doodlecast is a unique drawing app that records your voice as you draw. Touch2Day - Home Screen icon, Quick Calendar, Event Manager, Fast Scheduler [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $3.99] Touch2day of Libra will manage your plan and schedules so effectively. OPlayer Pro - The best video and music media player [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $2.99] OPlayer is support almost all audio and video formats on your iphone,ipad or ipod touch, no converting! CRUSH! [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $0.99] The creator of Slydris, 2012 iOS Game of the Year*, is back with another elegant and intense puzzle game designed specifically for touch screens. The Island: Castaway® 2 (Full) [OS X; Now free, down from $6.99] The much-anticipated sequel to the vibrant simulation game The Island: Castaway is here! Reflex – Vintage Camera and Photo Editor for Instagram [iPhone; Now free, down from $1.99] Reflex, is a digital clone of the old camera which is over 100+ years old, you can take vintage photos and share to social network like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Clima [iPhone; $0.99] Clima show you all weather information, just beautifully simple. ContactsSyncer [OS X; Free] ContactsSyncer downloads your contacts from Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+,XING and Twitter and imports them into your Mac OS Addressbook, MS Outlook, MS Excel or vCard. New and Notable Apps Deep Loot [iOS Universal; Free] Swim, dig and fight your way through the ocean depths to discover lost ruins, plunder hidden treasures and earn lots of coins! Ice Wings Plus [iOS Universal; $1.99] With a lot of new improvements and features added, Ice Wings Plus is a next step forward in the Ice Wings Saga, giving to the player an amazing game experience. MEG RVO - Battle for the Territories [iPad; $4.99] MEG RVO – Battle for the Territories is a rare online multiplayer. This action real-time strategy game is designed for players looking for an immersive and extended game play experience. Blood Bowl [iPad; $4.99] Blood Bowl is the adaptation of the famous Warhammer Fantasy football board game created by Games Workshop. Updates you don't want to miss Craftsy [iOS Universal; Free] Unleash your creativity with Craftsy! Find out how to bring ideas to life and create projects that make you proud. Version 2.5 brings the following changes: Now featuring sale pricing for users outside the US! Not sure which class to buy next? Filter classes by topic and difficulty to help find the next thing to learn. Classes are more fun with kits. This release features course kits that you can buy after purchasing classes to have a more complete Craftsy experience. A new fun, look for iPhone and iPod users for class browsing. Easily edit and delete your class notes with a quick swipe on the note A new look after you've logged in on iPhone and iPod to see your classes, inbox, wishlist and recommendations. We made some tweaks to our video loading and buffering to help classes play faster. Hatch [iPhone; $0.99] What if a tiny pet hatched on your phone? If it loved you, would you love it back? Version 1.4.1 brings the following changes: SUMMER DECOR! NEW HABITS! Ooga Jump toy will no longer be introduced in story or store back to the original icon Max will now brief you on what's new with new updates your happy 100% trust fugu will now have a smaller chance of peekabooing before resting Dr. Max figured out new things with gifting and running away, hopefully preventing stuck eggs removed remaining winter themed decor from sale until it gets wintry again
Daily Update for January 10, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some of the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Moving from Cupertino to Mountain View? Samsung's here to help (update: UK only)
Moving? We all have our reasons, but if you're transferring your stuff from iOS to a Galaxy device, Samsung and Media Mushroom are there to help with the Easy Phone Sync app. The free software installs on your Galaxy product and a PC or Mac, then shleps your stuff wholesale -- media, contacts and all -- from iTunes over to your chosen Samsung Android slate or phone. It even lets you continue to use iTunes to manage music, photos and videos, while keeping everything sync'd up with the non-Cupertino devices. We're sure that Samsung is just trying to lend a hand, and doesn't have any (ahem) other purposes in mind. Check the PR after the break to see for yourself. Update: To be clear, Easy Phone Sync's only for Galaxy-toting folks living in the UK.
Apple introduces 'free app of the week,' kicks things off with Cut the Rope: Experiments
Amazon has been offering a free app of the day for a while now, but that offer is good for Android users only. Well, Apple seems to have caught on to the fact that iOS users like to save money too, as it's debuting a "free app of the week" offer. Cupertino kicked off the new promotion yesterday via Twitter, where it announced that the game Cut the Rope: Experiments will be the first free download. Click on through to the source link, and you'll see that the Appstore indeed lists the title as "free for a limited time."
Apple announces free iBooks Author OS X app for publishing books to the App Store
We're here at Apple's education-themed event at the Guggenheim museum in New York City, and the company's just followed up its long-awaited textbook announcement with something unexpected: iBooks Author, a free OS X program for creating books. The intent is really for teachers and other educators to produce educational materials, but Apple says the format can apply to any genre. Aside from the free part, the real story here is ease of use, with the ability to drag and drop photos, videos and even Microsoft Word files into various templates. If you use Apple's own suite of office apps, in particular, you can drag and drop a Keynote presentation into the doc, and it'll live on as an interactive widget. (You can whip up other widgets, too, though you'll need to know Javascript or HTML.) Moving beyond the main text, authors can also arrange glossaries by highlighting and clicking words, and clicking again to add a definition. In a surprise move, Apple also said authors can publish straight to the store, though we're waiting for clarification that textbook writers and other scribes are actually exempt from Cupertino's notorious approval process. In any case, the app is available now in the App Store (for OS X Lion only, sadly) so you can cracking on that definitive Kurt Vonnegut glossary you never knew you had in you. Update: We've got our hands-on up! Update 2: Apple has confirmed some key approval and revenue-sharing details. First, authors will be subject to the same App Store approval process as developers. Writers can offer their books for free, or for as much as $14.99 -- the same price cap for textbooks sold in the store. And, like developers, authors must agree to a 70/30 revenue split, with writers pocketing 70 percent after Apple takes its share.
Apple kicks off 12 Days of iTunes, offers a dozen freebies to last into 2012
Find yourself something Apple-flavored underneath the Christmas tree yesterday? Need some gentle coaxing into using iTunes? Well, you're in luck; Cupertino's annual download giveaway starts today and runs through January 6th. The free gifts kick off with some Coldplay tracks and videos from the band's latest Apple-sponsored festival appearance. But don't let that put you off; we expect to see more music, some apps and even books over the next few days. Each one's available for just 24 hours, so it could be worth checking the dedicated app daily. It's up for grabs at the link below. Update: The app appears to be Europe-only at the moment. No news just yet on whether a US edition will make an appearance later today. Let us know in the comments if you're able to grab the free gifts.
Shocker! Free Android apps outnumber free iPhone apps
Good news for Android users who hate paying for stuff: according to new numbers from Netherlands-based mobile analytics group Distimo, there are now more free apps available for Google's mobile OS than the iPhone, at 134,342 to 121,845. There are a few things to consider here: first, when one adds free iPad-only apps, the total number of gratis iOS apps increases to a more competitive 132,239. And then there's Apple's sometimes rigorous vetting process, which has probably played a role in its numeric slippage -- after all, this report doesn't highlight things like legality, repetition, or the overall number of apps dedicated to making farting noises. Also, Apple has a lot more premium apps, giving it the overall lead at 333,124 to 206,143 -- but between Android's rapid growth and what the report terms iOS's relative stagnation, Distimo expects Google to take the top spot in five months' time, outnumbering iPhone and iPad apps combined -- a rough scenario for Cupertino to stomach, no doubt, but at least the company will still have Windows Phone to kick around a while longer. [Source link requires registration]
Are free digital content apps a free ride on Apple? How to move forward
Sony Reader. Amazon Kindle. Rhapsody. In the App Store, they all have (or would have, if Sony's app had been approved) one thing in common: they're represented by free apps that serve as profitable storefronts to their digital content. They all pay their $99/year entrance fee to the App Store, but once in, they're not sharing their extensive off-store revenue systems with Apple. Apple provides the infrastructure, the delivery mechanism and the customer support for millions of free applications. And now, at least for those free apps that lead to digital goods sales, Apple is asking for a slice of the pie beyond the utility and attention that free apps bring. In a move that has Rhapsody ready to pull its offerings from the App Store, Apple has demanded that providers who offer subscription content outside of App Store channels now offer the same subscriptions within the applications as well. Meanwhile, even non-subscription purchases may be coming under the App Store umbrella. That would involve a 30 percent cut for all in-app subscriptions and media buys for Apple (which makes Apple's accountants happy), as well as an insane amount of overhead to approve each and every in-app purchase item (imagine what it will take to code, submit and oversee not just Rhapsody's once-a-month charge but every e-book in Amazon's catalog).
Android Market hits 20,000 apps, over 60 percent free
Quantity rarely equals quality, of course, but it's still fairly notable that the Android Market has now managed to top 20,000 apps just a little over a year after it opened its doors -- Apple's App Store had over 50,000 apps a year into its existence, for those keeping track. Even more interesting, however, is the distribution of free and paid apps in the Market. According to AndroLib, fully 62.2% of the apps available are completely free, compared to just 37.8% that are paid apps. That's in stark contrast to the App Store, which now has over 100,000 individual apps, of which (by some recent counts) a hefty 77% are paid applications -- although only 30% of total App Store downloads are for paid apps. What does it all mean? Well, that's open for debate. But one thing's for sure: the rest of the app store contenders are going to have to work some special pie chart magic to come out looking good in this battle.
MotionX Dice lets you roll dem bones on your iPhone
The folks at Fullpower kindly sent us a note about their new iPhone app, MotionX Dice, and after giving it a try, I can say it works as promised -- if you want a good-looking and fun way to roll dice on your iPhone, this is it. There are several types of well-rendered 3D dice and tables to choose from. The actual "rolling" is done by shaking the iPhone, which is a good time. The app will eventually be raised in price, but right now it can be found for free on the App Store. Frankly, this kind of pricing change smacks of top apps list scamming to us, but we'll give Fullpower the benefit of the doubt, as they say it's a promotion.However, we do have a bone to pick with Fullpower about this app. As fun as Yahtzee is (though there is one set of Poker dice, so you can play that, too), most of the dice that TUAW nerds -- or former TUAW nerds -- roll are of the d8, d10, and d20 variety. Any chance we can get a few of those added into the dice-rolling mix? d6s are all right for some damage types, but we can't roll a Nat 20 or break out the d4 Magic Missile with the program as it is.
