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Review: Joe Danger Infinity defies death
Despite debuting on game consoles a couple of years prior to its iOS debut, the original Joe Danger was a bit of a surprise hit on the App Store. Now its sequel, Joe Danger Infinity, has landed as well, and it's just as insane -- and fun -- as its predecessor. Like the first title, Joe Danger Infinity tests your skills on various obstacle courses, where your character runs (or drives, or flies) forward automatically and it's up to you to correctly maneuver him. You play as any of a variety of pint-sized action figures, and the courses are comprised of household debris. Each track is filled with barriers, jumps, tunnels and other hazards that will both slow you down and make it harder for you to gather items like coins. Completing a course with a 100 percent rating almost always requires perfection, so memorizing the path is usually a good strategy. The app is called Joe Danger, but you can play several different characters and try out many vehicles. You can unlock these options by purchasing them using in-game currency, but oftentimes you'll find your coin count doesn't even come close to covering the bill. At this point, you can choose to either move forward with your current characters and vehicles -- which will usually mean replaying old tracks to farm more coinage -- or buy more coins using your real-life wallet. Collecting bonus items like Gumball tokens can give you a bit of a progression boost, either by providing a one-time coin reward or unlocking characters outright, but I still found several instances where I didn't have the character or vehicle needed to take on a race, despite having bested nearly all the previous challenges. The tracks are varied enough that you're not likely to get bored, unless you end up having to generate coins by replaying them ad nauseam. This won't happen often, and it'll never happen if you're willing to bow to the in-app purchase system, but for a game that costs US$2.99 out of the gate, it would have been nice to be able to play through the first dozen levels (there are more than 100 in total) without being prompted to consider shelling out even more cash. In the end, Joe Danger Infinity is a ton of fun, and that's the most important thing. Balancing in-app purchases with in-game progression is a delicate affair, and developer Hello Games seems to have leaned a bit too far in one direction, but it's nothing that should keep you from at least giving the game a spin.
Review: MeteoEarth brings detailed weather info to your Mac
I've previously reviewed MeteoEarth in its iOS incarnation, and found it a capable and useful weather app. One of the strong points of MeteoEarth has always been the quality of the graphics, largely because the company that produces the app also does professional weather graphics for TV broadcasters. Now the company has brought its skills to a Mac app (US$4.99 in the Mac App Store), and it has more detailed information and nicer graphics. Maps are presented in 3D or 2D mode with realistic shading, and there are layers for temperatures, precipitation, cloud cover, wind and pressure. All these map features can be animated, and you can drag a slider into the future to see an educated guess at the forecast. You get an option to view current conditions at your location in your menu bar, or you can make the map your full-screen desktop. There is also an option to turn the live data into a screensaver. You can turn the globe with your mouse, and zoom in for details, out for the big picture. MeteoEarth is a solid app, but the developers can't resist the temptation to sell you a subscription for more data for three months ($1.99) or 12 months ($5.99). With the tremendous availability of weather info around for free, I don't think this is a good investment. The extra information includes things like the surface temperature of water, and most people won't want it. If you are a fisherman or pilot, that information may be valuable, but chances are you get more targeted weather services anyway. Still, MeteoEarth has loads of good weather information, and provides a nice-looking desktop, menubar feature and a screensaver. Graphics are first-rate. Other nice apps in the category are Clear Day screensaver ($1.99) and Weather Tab Pro at $1.99. MeteoEarth requires OS X 10.9 or later and a 64-bit processor.
Review: Baby's Day allows you to track feeding and other vital newborn stats
It's hard taking care of a newborn -- long hours, little sleep and the never-ending cycle of feeding, sleeping and changing diapers. If you are a new mom, do yourself a favor and download Baby's Day from Anne Halsall. Baby's Day is designed for moms of newborns who need to track all those little details that ensure your baby is growing as he or she should. The first thing you'll likely use after you launch the app is its timer, which lets you specify which side you are nursing on so you can keep your milk supply even. Before you start nursing your baby, just hit the big "Left" or "Right" start button (even with your arms full of baby, the buttons are easy to press) and the timer will start ticking off the seconds. When you are done feeding, hit stop to log the session. No more looking at a clock and trying to remember when you started and when you stopped, as the app does that for you. The timer can also be used for pumping, you just get to select from "Left," "Right" or "Both" to keep track of your pumping session. The highlight of Baby Day's is its logging feature that displays each nursing session, each pumping session, every diaper change and more in a running list. The log is more than just a list. It includes important details like the amount of milk produced while pumping, the time spent nursing and whether a diaper was wet or dry. All items in the list can be edited as needed. I especially like the icons, which are based on the international symbols. They make it easy to distinguish between a left and right nursing session, a left/right or both pumping session and so on. It's these little details that are so useful, but often overlooked in similar apps. Baby's Day also has a useful "Trends" view that gives you a week-long overview of your baby's schedule. The color-coded activities allow you to quickly see how often your newborn is eating, how frequently you are changing diapers and so on. It's not as detailed as the log, but it's helpful to see the big picture. Sometimes you pick up on parts of your baby's behavior that you would miss if you were only looking at a running log. Last but not least is a baby section that tracks your little one's vital statistics like height, weight and age. Oh and if you have twins or triplets, no worries! The app will let you track more than one baby. All these features are packaged into an app that is visually pleasing and easy to use, which is exactly what you need as a new mom. You already have a lot on your plate and learning how to use a complicated app should not be an added burden. You can download Baby's Day from the iOS App Store for US$2.99. It's a must-have if you are a new mom or a mom-to-be.
Review: Yahoo News Digest for iPhone is a new way to look at the news
Yahoo is getting pretty aggressive in the iOS world. Last year, it topped the Apple weather app with one that was prettier and more useful. Apple even responded by using similar elements in iOS 7. Now, Yahoo is getting serious about news with a new app called Yahoo News Digest, which provides a summary of top news stories. The content is updated twice daily. Each story consists of an original summary, plus several "Atoms," or key quotes, images, videos, Wikipedia excerpts and other material relevant to the story. The idea is to give you more information than the typical wire service story or single-sourced report. For example, in a story on App Store sales, the app provided a good summary of the story, a relevant video and references to Associated Press, Reuters and other web links, as well as a little background on Apple. Visually, it's a unique-looking app. You scroll up for more info. You scroll to the left to get the next story, to the right to see the previous one. It's an interesting approach, but unlike news readers like Zite, it doesn't give you any choice about the topics. And it doesn't learn from what you are reading. Everybody gets the same eight or nine stories. I'm also troubled that it's updated only twice a day. What happens when there is breaking news? Yahoo News Digest probably isn't the app for that, although it did ask me if I wanted notifications to be active. The app is partly powered by Summly, a small company purchased by Yahoo that uses some smart algorithms to summarize content. It was a US$30 million dollar takeover and, at the time, no one was sure why Yahoo purchased the company. As an adjunct to other news apps, Yahoo News Digest is quite useful. It's beautifully put together, and easy to use. I hope it evolves to let me make some content choices, and it would be nice to see it update more frequently. Yahoo News Digest is not universal (drat!) and requires iOS 7. It is optimized for the iPhone 5.
Roundup of new and notable apps for iOS and OS X
It's always busy in the App Store with a never-ending flood of new apps landing on iOS and OS X. Take a few minutes and check out our list of stand-out titles from the past few weeks! If that's not enough, you can also follow our ongoing coverage of new apps as they are released. New iOS Apps Toca Lab [iOS Universal; Category: Entertainment; $2.99] Welcome to Toca Lab! Explore the colorful and electrifying world of science and meet all 118 of the elements from the periodic table. Cable's Big Game Hunter [iOS Universal; Category: Games; Free] Cabela's® Big Game Hunter lets you hunt the biggest and most dangerous animals on the planet for free. Osfoora 2 for Twitter [iPhone; Category: Social Networking; $2.99] Osfoora is a feature-rich Twitter client that's fast, elegant, and fully designed for iOS7. Castro - High Fidelity Podcasts [iPhone; Category: News; $2.99] Castro is a revolutionary podcast client that's smart, graceful, and designed exclusively for iOS 7. The Room Two [iPad; Category: Games; $4.99] Welcome to The Room Two, a physical puzzler, wrapped in a mystery game, inside a beautifully tactile 3D world. Star Trek™ Trexels [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $2.99] The USS Valiant has been destroyed by an unknown attacker, and Starfleet has chosen YOU to continue its mission deep within a mysterious area of space known as the Trexelian Expanse. Stephen Hawking's Snapshots of the Universe [iPad; Category: Education; $4.99] Stephen Hawking's Snapshots of the Universe explains the principles that control our universe through simple and fun experiments. Castle Raid 2 [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $2.99] In this unique tug-of-war you once again fight to defend your castle against the enemy's hoard. Tomb Raider I [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $0.99] Here at last! The original genre defining adventure Tomb Raider now available for your iPad & iPhone. Walking Dead: The Game - Season 2[iOS Universal; Category: Games; $4.99] The sequel to 2012's Game of the Year continues the story of Clementine, a young girl orphaned by the undead apocalypse. Hero Siege [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $2.99] The kingdom of Tarethiel has been taken over by creatures of hell. Your mission is to cleanse the kingdom and free the citizen from the agonizing wrath of the demon child called Damien. Kennedy: Capture the Now [iPhone; Category: Lifestyle; $1.99] Capture the now with Kennedy – a new way to mark moments in time complete with surrounding context of the things happening around you. Wake Alarm Clock for iPad [iPad; Category: Utilities; $3.99] Wake, the most beautiful and intuitive alarm for iPhone is now on the iPad! Journeys of Invention [iPad; Category: Education; Free] Journeys of Invention brings to life over 80 extraordinary objects from the Science Museum in London in 14 interactive stories written by the curators. Fonta [iPhone; Category: Photography & Video; $0.99] Turns Your Words into Beautiful Photo Text Design Pieces. Toy Defense 3: Fantasy [iPhone; Category: Games; $1.99] Face the fire - dragons are coming! Toy Defense 3: Fantasy features a MAGICAL new world with dashing warriors, fearless archers, crafty goblins, and immersion in a magical atmosphere! Toy Defense 3: Fantasy HD [iPad; Category: Games; $4.99] Face the fire - dragons are coming! Toy Defense 3: Fantasy features a MAGICAL new world with dashing warriors, fearless archers, crafty goblins, and immersion in a magical atmosphere! New OS X Apps Rayman Origins [OS X; Category: Games; $19.99] Rayman returns in a magical adventure that brings back the spirited 2D platforming of his celebrated first outing. Duo [OS X; Category: Developer Tools; $4.99] Duo is a dual-paned web browser that lets you browse the web in two views: your standard 'desktop' view as well as a typical 'mobile' view. 1Keyboard [OS X; Category: Utilities; Free] Type on your iPhone, iPad or Apple TV using your Mac's keyboard. QuickTab for Gmail [OS X; Category: Productivity; Free] QuickTab for Gmail is the easiest and fastest way to access Gmail on your Mac. Photo show - Movie Maker [OS X; Category: Video; Free] With Ephnic Movie Maker, you can add your digital photos and family videos to make home movies with background music. When in Rome [OS X; Category: Games; Free] Realore introduces a brand new strategy game where players can put themselves in the shoes of Flavius, experienced Roman warrior who had to retire and needs to build a new life for himself. MarkDrop [OS X; Category: Productivity; $3.99] MarkDrop is a gorgeous, powerful Markdown editor built with sharing in mind. Every MarkDrop document has a secure URL that is viewable in any browser.
Cut the Rope 2 is a lovable adventure with an interesting take on in-app purchases
Cut the Rope has spawned a massive empire of physics-centered mobile gameplay. From the first game's staggering 400 million downloads to the myriad spinoffs dropping candy into Om Nom's mouth, this game is big business. Now Om Nom is back -- exclusively for iOS -- in the series' first official sequel and Cut the Rope has never been better, even when you take into account the in-app purchases. Cut the Rope 2: Om Nom's Unexpected Adventure builds upon all of the minor details that made the first game such a smash hit. Players are tasked with cutting ropes to manipulate the environment in such a way that candy will fall into our adorable green hero's mouth. Along the way, players collect stars to get higher and higher scores. Om Nom has more personality than ever before, reacting with fear, joy, frustration and sadness depending on how you play. There were numerous times during my first play-through where I found myself audibly giggling at Om's adorable responses. He feels more like a character and less like a goal post this time around. You may find yourself poking the little guy sometimes just to make him laugh and squirm. The levels are designed to be played through quickly, but present a range of solutions, making the title appealing whether you're playing waiting for your bus or hunkering down to just focus on gaming. At launch, the game features five worlds with 120 levels in total that take Om through city parks, forests, a junk yard, a dam and under the very ground itself. There are also an extra 20 levels available for players who collect the four-leaf clovers that are scattered about the maps. Om Nom isn't alone in his quest this time around, thanks to the addition of five different Nommies, creatures that help our hero on his quest to eat all of the candy. Discovering how to use each Nommie to your advantage is part of the fun. Lick, an odd orange anteater-like creature, shoots his tongue out to form bridges or blockages when you tap him. Sometimes you'll use him to trap balloon-adorned candy from floating away; sometimes he'll provide a ramp. Other friends allow you to build blocks, fly candy and scare Om into jumping to new levels. There are power-ups available for Om's adventure, and they're a bittersweet affair. There are only three of them available, and depending on how you play, they're all useful. Players can use balloons to lift candy around levels, get hints to three star solutions and create candy storms for higher scores. The game gives you a limited number of uses of each power up, but then asks you to cough up your hard-earned dough to buy more. Thankfully, you don't need to buy power-ups to finish the game, but it's obvious you're missing out if you don't have some balloons. Here's where developers ZeptoLab are throwing addicts a bone. Yes, in-game transactions suck. It's terrible, especially in a game that you pay to buy, to have to pay extra money to get the full game experience. ZeptoLabs however has listened to the calls of people who say, "I wish I could just pay X amount and get the full game." So on top of paying a little at a time for a small number of power-ups, players are also given the option of paying one lump sum for infinite amounts of power-ups. For $49.99, you get unlimited uses of all three power-ups. It's more expensive to buy infinite supplies individually; balloons will currently only set you back $19.99 due to a sale, while a never-ending Candy Rain or solutions will cost you $24.99. It all adds up, but at least they (sort of) listened to gamers who wanted the option to be free of nickel-and-diming. You still have to pay for hats, but since they don't affect the gameplay, I have no issue with these sorts of purchases. The main game of Cut the Rope 2 will probably only take experienced players a few hours to finish, but each level has been augmented with secondary goals. Sometimes they take the form of high scores or finishing a level without cutting a single rope. It adds a nice layer of replay value to the game, although meeting these goals without shelling out more than the game's $0.99 price tag is basically impossible. This week, I've spent a good 40 minutes going back and forth with myself on if I would buy infinite balloons or not. If Cut the Rope 2 was a full game for my console with several hundred levels that cost $19.99 and came with infinite balloons I would pay that amount happily. Of course, if Super Mario Bros. was released and they expected me to pay for the right to use a mushroom power-up, I'd be furious. The power-up is part of how the game is designed to be played. Why are you charging me for it? In the end, I'm probably going to break down and buy the infinite balloons. Cut the Rope 2 is an incredibly clever game, full of humor and joy. The graphics have been subtly upgraded with minor animations that add major depth to the title. Om Nom may not be a fully realized character with a Frank Miller-worthy backstory, but you will giggle at his fears and smile when he celebrates. ZeptoLabs has shown a commitment to adding new levels to its games, so in a month or two, there are sure to be more than 120 levels available for the game. But as it stands right now on release day? Cut the Rope 2 is well worth your $0.99, and at least one argument with yourself over whether you should buy unlimited balloons.
AMC Yeah! hits iPad today, brings tasty movie facts and extras
If you're the kind of person that lives for Blu-ray bonus extras like interviews and obscure movie factoids, AMC's new streaming service might be just the fit for you. It's called Yeah! (the worst name ever, by the way) and it's available for the iPad today. The app features a wealth of classic and cult films, all with accompanying bonus features like pop-up movie facts, with rentals starting at US$5. When it comes to streaming services, there's no shortage of options on the App Store, so Yeah! will have its work cut out for it if AMC hopes to make it a go-to option. Charging $5 for a two-day rental of a movie like Scream -- regardless of how much bonus material is being offered -- seems a bit excessive, so it'll be interesting to see if Yeah! can find a market. [via Engadget]
The original Tomb Raider game comes to iOS
Seventeen years after it first launched on the PC, the first Tomb Raider game has come to iOS. Titled Tomb Raider 1, Square-Enix has ported the game for iPhone and iPad optimizing it for touch controls and also adding MOGA Ace Power and Logitech PowerShell game controller support. In my quick play at the game, it runs fluidly enough and the touch controls work well. But the biggest thing that happened when I loaded it up were the memories that came back from the mid-1990s. This was a game that set the tone for a decade and its amazing to see it today on an iOS device because it shows you just how far gaming has come. Tomb Raider 1's graphics are of the same quality as the 1996 original, but they look cheap when displayed on the iPhone. That's because gaming and graphics have gotten so good that our phones have surpassed the wildest dreams of what was possible on a gaming machine from the 1990s. Tomb Raider 1 is just US$0.99 in the App Store.
Angry Birds Go! kart racer now in the App Store
There's a new dimension to the Angry Birds gaming ecosystem today, a wild kart racer title for iOS called Angry Birds Go! (free, with in-app purchases). The famous birds and pigs are now involved in a 3D downhill race in karts that range from soapbox racers to flying supercars... provided you're willing to spend a few dollars on upgrades (anywhere from US$1.99 to $49.99) or play until you're able to upgrade on sheer talent. Tired of racing as the birds? You can switch sides and be a pig, getting your revenge on for all the times you've been blown up by the flock. There are multiple racetracks, including off-road races and stunt roads, and, as in the original classic game, each character has special powers that can be invoked. Angry Birds Go! also adds Hasbro Telepods to the gaming fun. To switch characters in a race, you just place a Telepod figure on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch (5G) camera. Guess what? Telepods are sold separately in sets ranging from $5 to $30. All in all, Angry Birds Go! looks like a lot of fun, and also looks like a potential way to spend an astonishing amount of money on upgrades and add-ons. Check out the fun in the trailer below. Oh, and by the way -- the soundtrack is available in the iTunes Store as well...
Coursera lets you learn on the go with new iPhone app
Coursera debuted its iPhone app on Tuesday, bringing more than 500 free courses to mobile devices for the first time. Coursera is an up-and-coming online learning platform known for its MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course). These courses are open to thousands of students at once and foster collaboration between students through peer-graded assignments and other interactive tools. Coursera offers courses for free in a variety of disciplines that cover everything from the arts to engineering. Each course features video tutorials from respected university professors and online quizzes to measure your progress. You can enroll in a course for free, but you have to pay if you want official credit for completing a course. Once a web-only platform, the new Coursera app brings most of the features of the website to your iPhone. You can browse and enroll in courses from your iPhone. You also can watch course video lectures either by streaming them over a cellular connection or downloading them to your device. It's perfect for anyone who wants to fill their spare time with educational activities. I know if I was commuting, I would be firing up Coursera to learn about Medical Neuroscience instead of just staring idly out the window. The Coursera app is available for free from the iOS App Store. You will need to sign up for a Coursera account if you want to access the material on your mobile device.
App claims to be able to improve your vision, and science says it works
The App Store is absolutely crammed full of apps that promise the world and don't deliver. One strange little app has appeared on the digital shelves claiming to be able to reduce the need for reading glasses, though it's not likely to be taken very seriously. However, GlassesOff has some pretty compelling scientific backing, and as The Wall Street Journal reports, a 12-week study published in Scientific Reports found the program to improve letter recognition by 1.6 times. The app includes a baseline vision test, which produces a customized training regimen that the user must follow. Training sessions are up to 15 minutes in length, three times a week, and are designed to help a person's brain better interpret information coming from the eyes of a person suffering from presbyopia (an age-related condition where vision of close-up objects, like a book page, becomes fuzzy). The app is free to download and comes with a three-week free trial. After the trial, the personalized training will (typically) set you back US$59 for a further four months, but the developers are currently holding a promotion that cuts that cost down to $10.
Fiverr goes mobile with a gorgeous iPhone app
Fiverr, the world's largest marketplace for services that are US$5, released its iPhone app today. The app allows you to browse through the available gigs and buy one from the comfort of your iPhone. As you would expect, the Fiverr app is easy on the eyes. There's a heavy emphasis on the visuals, allowing you to easily see what is being sold in each listing. If it's a graphic designer offering to stylize your logo, you can see an example of their work right on the main page of the app. When viewing an individual listing, you can view all the details about the gig, including average time to completion and customer reviews. If you find a gig that you like, you can collect it to save it for later or share it via email or Twitter. You can also purchase it via the app and then track your purchases in the shopping section. If you sell a gig through the Fiverr service, you can even monitor your sales through the app. One drawback to the app -- the syncing of the app to the website is still under development. When you add an item to your collection on the iPhone, it won't sync to your online account. Likewise, the items in your web-based account won't be pulled down to your iPhone. This syncing will go live in an upcoming version, but, for now, what you do on your iPhone stays on your iPhone. The Fiverr app is available for free. It's a must-have for folks who buy or sell gigs on the service. As part of its launch, Fiverr is giving you a free gig when you purchase your first gig. There's a catch; you have to purchase a gig within the first hour after the app has been downloaded. The free gig will be added to your account and is available for two weeks.
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition landing on iOS this month
One of the most popular RPGs of all time, Baldur's Gate II, will be coming to the App Store as an Enhanced Edition later this month. The news of the game's imminent release was announced in a tweet by Trent Oster, the creative director of the previous Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. So far, Baldur's Gate on iOS has had a contentious existence. When the first edition was released for iOS, the game was pulled from the App Store in June for legal issues. It took two months for the game to finally return. There are no signs that any such legal issues will arise this time for Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition, which is good news since the sequel is regarded by critics and users as being far superior to the original. As for what you can expect from Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition: The Final Chapter – Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition includes Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, the epic conclusion of the Bhaalspawn saga. Four New Party Members – Bundled with the PC and Mac versions and available as DLC for iPad and Android, four new characters can join you on your journey. At the behest of his dark patron, Dorn Il-Khan plunders and defiles the Sword Coast. Hunted by Red Wizards, Neera the Wild Mage evades and disrupts the Thayans at every turn. Exercising his growing combat mastery, the monk Rasaad yn Bashir leaves his former allies to hunt the dark figure that corrupted his brother. A mysterious thief in service to mysterious master seeks powerful artifacts from across the globe. Recruit them, use their powers, and uncover over 30 new locations. The Black Pits 2: Gladiators of Thay – Explore the tactical depth of high-level Dungeons & Dragons combat. Undermine your captors and prey upon their weaknesses while you dodge traps and battle for your life against Demi-Liches, Mind Flayers, and Githyanki. Easy Multiplayer – Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition makes it easy to find, list, and join multiplayer games, even while behind a firewall. Oster notes that Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition was submitted to Apple on December 8. There's no set release date for the game, which means it will likely go live as soon as Apple approves it. Most apps are generally approved within two weeks, so it looks like fans could be playing this classic by Christmas Eve.
Apple releases '12 Days of Gifts' app, now includes US users
Apple has released its annual 12 Days of Gifts app, and for the first time ever, the app is available to US customers. The company's 12 Days of Gifts allows users to download one digital gift from the iTunes store each day between December 26 and January 6th. The gifts can include apps, books, TV shows and music. From 26 December -- 6 January, you can download a gift each day -- songs, apps, books, films and more -- with the 12 Days of Gifts app. Each day's gift will only be available for 24 hours, so download the free app to make sure you don't miss out. Please note: Not all content is available in all countries. In previous years, 12 Days of Gifts was only available in various European countries and Canada. This year, for whatever reason, Apple has decided to include the United States on the list. This is also the first year Apple is calling the app "12 Days of Gifts." In previous years, the app was called "12 Days of Christmas." Apple's 12 Days of Gifts is a free download and a universal app, so it runs on both the iPhone and iPad.
New and notable apps for iOS and OS X, December 9, 2013 edition
It's always busy in the App Store with a never-ending flood of new apps landing on iOS and OS X. Take a few minutes and check out our list of stand-out titles from the past few weeks! If that's not enough, you can also follow our ongoing coverage of new apps as they are released. New iOS Apps Code Academy: Hour of Code [iPhone; Category: Education; Free] Learn how to build amazing things online by programming with Codecademy - all for free. Our app gets you started by introducing you to the basic concepts behind the apps on your phone and the websites you visit. You'll learn to understand the basic structure of code when you see it./p> Pinswift - the fast and powerful Pinboard client [iPhone; Category: News; $4.99] Bring the complete power of Pinboard.in to your pocket with Pinswift. Create bookmarks with ease and use powerful search options to quickly find what you are looking for. Heroes of Dragon Age [iOS Universal; Category: Games; Free] Build a party of famous warriors and epic monsters from Dragon Age lore. Endless Reader [iOS Universal; Category: Education; Free] As a follow-up to Endless Alphabet, set the stage for early reading success with Endless Reader! This app introduces "sight words", the most commonly used words in school, library, and children's books. The Wolf Among Us [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $4.99] As Bigby Wolf - THE big bad wolf - you will discover that a brutal, bloody murder is just a taste of things to come in a game series where your every decision can have enormous consequences. Blek [iPad; Category: Games; $2.99] Blek is a game about imagination and personality. Everything you draw keeps moving - and watching your creations move is like watching magic. Swoopster [iPad; Category: Music; $2.99] Swoopster is a wild, fuzzed out Flanger/Vibrato effect designed for Audiobus and Inter-app audio. Assassin's Creed Pirates [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $4.99] Become one of the most feared pirates of the Caribbean in this exclusive Assassin's Creed adventure on smartphones and tablets! New OS X Apps Galaxy Run [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $0.99] Suit up to join a crazy adventure to help get Rez home from the deep and dark mysteries of Space on his one way trip to adventure and fun. Anytune for Mac [OS X; Category: Music; $29.99] ANYTUNE™ is the ultimate music practice app for singers, dancers and musicians of all kinds. Artists worldwide use Anytune to learn to play, transcribe and practice songs by slowing down the tempo, adjusting the pitch, repeating loops, and sharing comments using their favorite tracks. TimeTracker [OS X; Category: Business; Free] Track the time spent on projects right from your menu bar. All data is stored on the open source time tracking web application Kimai. The Journalist (just a note-taking app) [OS X; Category: Productivity; Free] The Journalist is just a note-taking app featuring notes with unlimited images, markdown support and more. Download "The Journalist" and just start to write. **Where Are My Students "Where Are My Students" is a classroom utility designed by a 25 year veteran Elementary School Teacher. With the click of a mouse, "Where Are My Students" tracks students as they come and go from the classroom.
Inbox Cube is a promising new mail client for iOS
Apple provides a pretty efficient mail app for iOS, but third parties are always trying to be better and some users are always looking for more. Inbox Cube is a free iPhone app (it's not universal, but will work on the iPad) that makes some improvements on the basic Apple Mail app. Inbox Cube supports iCloud mail, AOL, Yahoo and Gmail. One feature I think is very strong: the ability to just see photo, video or document attachments in a single click. That includes attachments you have sent as well as received. The on-screen display is attractive, and it is easy to navigate. You get notifications of new email just as fast as you would with the Apple mail client. I had them both activated and heard the mail alerts at the same time from both. Search for content in mail is very fast. In addition to global search, you can also search by subject, text in the body of the email or the from / to fields. When emails are listed, each has a colored icon with the first letter of the senders name, which makes for a quick visual way to sort. Each letter is a different color. You can swipe through mail and attachments. You can also assign favorites for mail you want to get to easily. I don't see any support for POP or explicit support for Outlook. So, if you are outside what is supported, beware. It should be easy to set up with most IMAP-compatible systems. Outlook does support IMAP clients, but I was unable to test it. You can have multiple accounts, for example, on Gmail or the other supported mail protocols, and view them separately. In my testing, the app was solid, although I've seen some reports of crashes. Moving to a new email app is always unsettling. Nothing is ever where you expect it to be, and only by staying with the app for a while did I get comfortable. Inbox Cube is simple enough to not be intimidating. It has some good ideas that Apple should emulate, and if the features appeal to you, it is certainly worth the free download. Your mail will still come in on the Apple client, so you're not going to lose anything. I think the only question about any new email client would be about support. It's hard to get used to something and have it go away. Hopefully, Inbox Cube is here for a long ride. Inbox Cube requires iOS 6.1 or later. It's optimized for the iPhone 5. If you're looking for something with some fresh ideas, try it and see what you think. You can find some videos showing Inbox Cube in action at this link.
Fuzel is a standout collage creator for your iPhone
I've seen a lot of collage software come and go. Some are quite powerful and keep growing, such as Diptic. Others don't really have interesting templates or don't allow you enough creative freedom to let you make the collage that fits your mood or your personality. The last few days, I've been playing with a free app called Fuzel, and it helped me create some striking collages. Best of all, it gave me the flexibility to move and transform the elements without being restricted to stiff templates. Fuzel starts off with a quick tutorial, then it's time to open your camera roll and select some photos. There are plenty of templates, but the best ones are the ones that aren't just a bunch of rectangles bolted together. You can cut and divide the frames into smaller ones; you can merge frames into a single frame; and you can drag the borders around as you please. I was happy to see my new collage was saved at full resolution, but there are smaller options when you are mailing them or sending them to social networks. Swiping the screen will undo your last change, and a collage can be saved to edit later. I tried the app with some of my landscape photos, and the results were excellent. This was the first collage app that made me want to print poster-size versions of these collages for hanging on my walls. The app also features in-app purchases, which it calls credit packs. They are themed objects and labels to further customize your collage, but I didn't feel the need for them. They might be handy if I wanted holiday elements for a collage, but I let the photos speak for themselves. Fuzel is a very impressive app. It's not universal, so you'll get the best results on an iPhone or an iPod touch. The app requires iOS 7 or later, and it's optimized for the iPhone 5. With the holidays here, most of us will be taking more pictures than ever. Fuzel can give your photos a fresh look, and you'll enjoy sharing the results with family and friends.
Double Dragon trilogy comes to iOS
For anyone who spent a good deal of time in the '80s and early '90s playing Nintendo or visiting arcades, there are a few video game titles that automatically conjure up feelings of nostalgia: Street Fighter II, NBA Jam, Bad Dudes, Off Road and, of course, Double Dragon (note that this list is by no means exhaustive). If you spent your fair share of time (or quarters for that matter) beating up bad guys as a pair of ass-kicking twins, you'll be glad to know that the Double Dragon Trilogy is now available for iOS. The app will set you back US$3 and includes the following titles: Double Dragon, Double Dragon 2: The Revenge and Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone. Thankfully, the app does not also come with the atrocious Double Dragon live-action movie, considered by many to be one of the worst video game-to-big screen adaptations in history! In any event, some of the app's features include: Two game modes: "Arcade" (play the game from beginning to end and go for the high score) and "Story" (unlock new stages and achievements while playing through the game) Customizable controls Three difficulty levels: "mobile" (specially balanced for mobile games), "original" (similar to the arcade version) and "expert" (a real challenge!) Achievements & leaderboards via Game Center and Google Play Game Service Choose between the original 8-bit soundtrack and a brand-new remastered one! Co-op mode (two players) via bluetooth The game will also be compatible with third-party iOS controllers once they start hitting store shelves. You can download the game here on iTunes.
Like Counter Pro is totally probably going to lead to people stealing iPads
Like Counter Pro -- available today on the App Store -- has one purpose: to help retailers boast about their number of Facebook likes. It does this by running a live "Like" counter on one or more iPads placed inside the store itself. I can't be the only one that thinks that this will lead to a few stolen tablets, right? I don't exactly live in a high-crime area, but I can't imagine an iPad sitting on a random store shelf lasting more than a day before someone just carries it out with them. Maybe I'm not giving humanity enough credit, or maybe the iPad in the promotional image is being secured by some sort of unbreakable superglue bond, but it sure looks like a lonely, vulnerable tablet to me.
Sign up now for Mail Pilot for Mac's free public beta
Mindsense's Mail Pilot for Mac has moved to the next stage of its Mac client beta by announcing a free public review of the app. Mindsense joins other software developers in trying to overhaul the Mac email experience by focusing on inbox management in productivity. The company already has an iOS app that retails for US$14.99, and features include Reminders, the ability to set emails aside to deal with later and the ability to push messages between the iOS and Mac versions of Mail Pilot. The closed beta began in October. Those who sign up for the public preview will be notified of the available download in batches, starting on December 5. If you want to give Mail Pilot a try, you'll need to sign up early through the Mail Pilot site. We will have our take on Mail Pilot for Mac on December 5 as well. You can check out a preview video of Mail Pilot below.
