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Thunderspace for iPhone offers great 3D audio
For some reason that I don't understand, the sounds of a thunderstorm can be quite relaxing. You've probably had the experience of lying in bed while rain pelts a window and thunder rolls on and on. I'm getting sleepy just thinking about it. Natural thunderstorms occur when they're going to occur. Wouldn't it be nice to create a remarkable facsimile whenever you like? That's what Thunderspace for iPhone (US$0.99) is here to do. This app is the result of a collaboration between Taptanium and Emmy-award winning nature sound recordist, Gordon Hempton. The pair used special microphones to record sounds the way humans hear. That is, one channel for the left ear and one for the right, each with its own time and level variations. This lets our brains discern location, creating a "3D" effect. It really is impressive. %Gallery-193207% The app is very simple to use and comes with eight sounds. Three are ready to go and five are available via in-app purchase at $0.99 each. The included sounds -- Roof Garden and Waterscape -- feature rain and thunder. Waterscape adds running water of some sort, likely a stream, while Roof Garden features overhead protection of sorts. The rainwater sounds very realistic in both recordings. My favorite sound is Desert, available via in-app purchase (note that you can preview sounds you haven't bought). It features a wind of varying intensity that really does sound like it's moving past / behind you. The thunder sounds are also quite effective. Navigating Thunderspace is very easy. The main screen features a play / pause button and a lightning icon (more on that later). To browse the list of available sounds, swipe to the right (tip: swipe to the right again for a tip on using the app). From the play screen, swipe down to reveal six buttons: Restore (for restoring purchases), Support, Share (let your friends know via social media), Rate, Play intro (a nice introduction) and Gift. Here's another tip: pull down again for a weather-related factoid, like, "The average speed of a raindrop is 17kph." Now back to that icon. What's a thunderstorm without a light display? Tap the icon to engage lightning mode. Every now and then, as your virtual storm rages, your iPhone's flash will briefly fire, simulating a bolt. It's cute and kind of fun. Thunderspace is similar to Naturespace, which also provides 3D audio to the iPhone, but Naturespace offers many other types of audio, not just thunderstorms. I like the tight focus in Thunderspace, however, and they're doing a good job. Grab a copy, put on some headphones and reeeeeelax.
Limbo now available on the App Store
As expected, the creepy but excellent Limbo is now available on the iOS App Store, and playable on your iPhone or iPad. Playdead won a lot of awards and critical acclaim with this title, which takes a mysterious young boy on a journey to save his sister through several environments. The game is an excellently designed platformer with interesting physics puzzles that get increasingly complex. The overall feel of the game can be a little spooky (especially that giant spider), but even scaredy cats will appreciate the craft of it. Limbo is US$4.99 on the App Store, which may sound expensive, but the same game is still $9.99 on Steam, so we're getting it for half price right away. If you haven't sat down to play it on a PC or console yet, definitely consider picking it up.
The Walking Dead's '400 Days' episode comes to Mac this week, iOS on July 11
IGN reports that the new, extra episode of Telltale's The Walking Dead series will be arriving on both Mac and iOS very soon. And by "soon," we mean this week for the Mac (on Steam and Telltale's site), and July 11 for iOS. The episode, first revealed back at E3, is called "400 Days," and is supposed to serve as a halfway step between the game's first season and the upcoming second. The Walking Dead game is critically acclaimed as one of the best games of last year, and while I played (and enjoyed) it on the Xbox 360, it also earned a lot of praise on iOS as well. If you've played the first series already, you'll want to try and play this episode on the same platform, because your choices should carry over in the storyline. I don't want to know anything about the episode before I play it, but in case you do, here's a launch trailer from Telltale that you can watch now. I'm going to pass, though -- this game and this series are so great that I know I'll play this episode no matter what. We look forward to continuing this very gripping story.
Wibbitz is a fresh way to look at the news on your iPhone
Wibbitz is a clever, free iOS app that grabs the latest news, reads it to you and the quickly displays related images, like people who were mentioned, maps or other news service pictures that are generally relevant. When you first start the app, choose the type of news you want, like political, tech, sports or business. All the news I saw was sourced from Reuters, which is a good, reliable news service. The voices are computer-generated, of course. Headlines are read in a generic female voice with a Midwestern US accent. If you swipe up on a headline to get the whole story, the voice switches to a female with a British accent. Which is weird. There is no way to control the voices you get, or the speed of the reading. %Gallery-192845% In general, the app does a good job of matching images to the story being read. It's not perfect, but I only saw a few misses. Its main weakness is that it is limited when used in a hands-off fashion. If you want more on a story, you have to intervene. The app does read one news section and then goes on to the next section. The news selection is not very granular, so in sports, you'll get a lot of overseas sports you may not be interested in if you are a US resident. If you are reading from outside of the US, there will be probably too much US content. Some customization would be most welcome. Wibbitz is a great beginning, but basically needs more options for the user so it would be more useful in a hands-off mode. Winston is a similar app. It also uses Reuters, but includes other news sources as well. Winston also includes some pictures, but they are not as relevant as the images Wibbitz pulls up. Another iOS app, Earl, is interesting but full use requires a paid subscription. If you want a good idea of what Wibbitz can do, they have a video feed that will show you what to expect. Wibbitz is worth a look. If I could specify more detail about what I get, and if it would run hands-off without having to swipe a story for more detail, I would like it even more. Wibbitz is optimized for the iPhone 5 and requires iOS 6. It also runs fine under iOS 7 beta 2.
New and notable apps for iOS and OS X, July 1, 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 standout titles from the past few weeks! All prices are USD. New iOS Apps Wibbitz: Watch your news as video summaries [iPhone; Category: News; Free] Wibbitz creates beautiful video summaries out of text articles. It's a perfect way to stay updated on the latest news from around the world when you're on-the-go. 0h Hai [iPhone; Category: Photography & Video; Free] Load photo, make awesome, share. Thesys [iPad; Category: Music; $14.99] Thesys is an extremely powerful and intuitive MIDI stepsequencer app, giving you control over just about all aspects of your favorite MIDI devices. Weathertron - Live Rain, Snow, Clouds & Temperatures [iOS Universal; Category: Weather; $0.99] Weathertron is a live infographic of the entire day's weather. See exactly what to expect from every minute of the day - clouds, rain, snow, and temps - on one screen. GV Mobile + 3 for Google Voice [iPhone; Category: Productivity; $2.99] GV Mobile + is the original full featured Google Voice client, satisfying customers since 2009. Magic 2014 [iPad; Category: Games; Free] Magic: The Gathering is the world's premier trading card game. Become a Planeswalker and travel the planes of existence unleashing a torrent of spells and creatures. Hero of Many [iPad; Category: Games; $1.99] Hero Of Many takes you on an epic journey as a tiny hero in a dangerous world. But you're not alone; you lead a swarm of water-beings through fierce battles for freedom across four different worlds and twenty-six choreographed levels. League of Evil 3 [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $1.99] The Agent and his "bad-guy turned good guy" chum are back for more tough as nails platforming with the series that redefined touch screen mobile gaming. Motion Tennis [iPhone; Category: Games; $7.99] Motion Tennis truly puts the racquet in the palm of your hand and brings Motion Gaming to your iPhone using Apple TV. LAYTON BROTHERS MYSTERY ROOM [iOS Universal; Category: Games; Free] LAYTON BROTHERS MYSTERY ROOM is a new crime-solving mystery game featuring none other than the son of the great Professor Layton. Siegecraft TD [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $2.99] Build your own castle defense and protect the Knights from the evil Lizardmen. New OS X Apps Briefly [OS X; Category: Photography & Video; $4.99] Still motion videos are a neat and fun way to show hundreds and hundreds of your photos within a few minutes. Briefly lets you create these videos with just a few clicks. Import your photos (from your hard drive, flickr or Instagram) and a soundtrack and Briefly does the rest for you. Strata [OS X; Category: Games; $2.99] A truly unique puzzle experience embracing simplicity, elegance, and challenge. Strata paints a simple yet challenging puzzle game onto a sophisticated canvas of color and sound. NoteSuite [OS X; Category: Productivity; $4.99] NoteSuite combines world-class note-taking, to-do management, web-page clipping, and document organizing in one app. TypeMetal [OS X; Category: Productivity; $29.99] TypeMetal is both a handy HTML notepad and a serious structured writing tool, designed to help you produce modern, semantic, streamlined HTML with ease and agility.
Strange Flavour previews new iOS games
Strange Flavour is an iOS app developer (founded back in 2000) with a long history behind it. Coder Aaron Fothergill used to program games for Mac and consoles, until he switched over to iOS, and made apps for the old dev/publisher Freeverse. Freeverse was later bought by Ngmoco, and now Fothergill is on his own, getting a few games together under the banner of Strange Flavour (the "u" needs to be there: he's English). In this video from WWDC over at iMore, Fothergill talks about a few of the games the company is working on. There's a new version of Slotz Racer, which will send the game over to your Apple TV via AirPlay. The company is also getting into publishing, and Fothergill seems excited to work with other developers. There's a game called Apple Bash coming soon that's sort of a Donkey Kong-style platforming challenge with a cool parallax background trick, and another game called Any Landing, which lets you crash airplanes. Fothergill seems excited about his work lately, and he's certainly got the developer creds to make some great games. We'll look forward to seeing what Strange Flavour puts out in the future.
Magic 2014: Duels of the Planeswalkers available now on iOS
I got to see Magic 2014 in action back in May of this year, but the game is now available both on the iOS App Store and on Steam for both Mac and PC. (Update: Turns out it's not available for the Mac. Last year's version wasn't either, unfortunately.) The biggest new feature of this year's go-round is the "sealed play" mode, which allows players to build a deck using cards from a set of sealed random booster packs. Usually in these games, you have to use one of the prebuilt decks, but the sealed play mode provides another option for experienced players (or anyone looking ot mix things up). Unfortunately, you only get a couple of deck slots to build in, and you can't reset them, so you have to buy more if you need them. Kind of a cheap move on Wizards of the Coast's part. There are also brand-new cards in this game, and in fact some of the cards are available to play here even before they arrive in the paper game later on this year. Magic 2014 is a free download on the iPad, and then you can buy the whole game (or separate decks) via in-app purchase for $9.99.
NoteSuite could replace Evernote, Skitch, Reminders, PDF apps and more
NoteSuite is available for Mac and iPad, and despite the lack of an iPhone client it is putting a number of apps on notice. In particular, a lot of the stuff I do with Evernote just got replaced by NoteSuite -- and I don't have to pay a subscription to do any of them. NoteSuite is a suite, in a way, but also a tightly integrated application with a ton of well thought out, useful and efficient tools. Imagine a PDF annotation app, note-taking app, reminder app, drawing app and outliner rolled into one. While there are a number of "multi-tool" note apps out there, a few features put NoteSuite far ahead of the competition. Taking notes Almost everything you need to take notes in NoteSuite is there: typing text is a breeze and the drawing tools are executed flawlessly. I liked being able to easily slice up an image. If you like annotating images, you can do this easily and there's a "handwriting" mode that allows you to draw words but keep them shrunk down, just as you'd see in Use Your Handwriting (a simple to-do app my daughter seems to love). It's a clever solution to the problem of handwriting on a digital screen. Little touches like drawings and handwriting remaining connected to text make a big difference in everyday use, and reduce the frustration of keeping your notes the way you like them. While apps like MagicalPad offer mind mapping tools in addition to text and drawing tools, NoteSuite focuses more on metadata. You can tag notes, add links between words in notes (much as you would do in VoodooPad), or let NoteSuite's AI look for relationships between words. Everything can be sorted and filtered in ways I've not seen before in such an app. The outlining tools are impressive, although I can see these getting slightly more robust with time (think OmniOutliner). Items can be easily re-arranged in a list, and you can drag and drop bullets, which can expand and contract when needed. In addition to drawing and text, you can import photos, do some light editing or lots of annotating (although it's still not quite as robust as Skitch). You can record audio notes and put them in your documents. As with some other note apps, you can easily throw these various elements together in one document, so photos, drawings, text and audio all coexist happily in your notes, plus it's easy to move outlines and to-do items around in your documents, meaning action items are no longer off in another app. Linking tasks and notes in such a way is a powerful feature! There's also a great web clipper, allowing you to grab a stripped down version of a web page or the entire page itself, handy for research and design. Data is king Most note-taking apps offer some limited search tools. NoteSuite makes search a fundamental part of your workflow, as there's AI built in to look for keywords and link them accordingly. You can turn this off or add your own links as well. Plus there are "Active" folders, which work a lot like smart folders on the Mac, keeping related items in one place. Between tags, these intelligent folders and a robust search engine, you will likely never lose a note ever again. A lot of the intelligent filtering and search tools remind me of the best parts in DEVONthink, which is pretty amazing given the power of that software. You can also create plain old folders and cram whatever you like into those. Also, with notes and tasks and outlines all in one app and the AI in NoteSuite, making the connection between research and "what to do next" has never been easier. Power users are going to be thrilled that they won't have to keep switching between apps, and duplicating effort when trying to turn data into action items. GTD inside NoteSuite's creator told me it is "fully GTD compliant" and while I haven't fully tested his claim, I can say all the things you'd need are there. You can set reminders, create start and due dates by using natural language and even consolidate to-do items. Yes, you can assign priority levels to items as well. There are some limited collaboration tools, but they are largely limited to one-way communications. This isn't a project management tool, but if you are working in a small group the basics should suffice. NoteSuite won't replace OmniFocus for me, but having my research and related tasks in one place is useful. I can also send to-do items to my calendar, create repeating items, and using NoteSuite's powerful search tool, look up all related items quickly and easily. Sync without subscriptions The iPad and Mac versions use iCloud to sync. As the creator told me, you should own your own data. That means changes occur almost instantly across platforms, and you always have offline access to your notes. The downside to iCloud is how Apple has chosen to silo your data. iCloud isn't really a collaboration service, like Dropbox can be. The NoteSuite team might be considering other sync services, however, so keep an eye out for updates if you must store your stuff elsewhere. Who needs Office? If you work in an environment where you're getting Word and PowerPoint documents, get ready to smile. NoteSuite allows you to embed slides in notes. Office docs are converted to PDF, and can be annotated just like any PDF in NoteSuite. iWork files do the same. PDF tools There's no shortage of PDF tools out there, so NoteSuite didn't try to include every single feature of every single app out there. Instead, the features in NoteSuite are carefully implemented and work great. You can create comment balloons, bookmarks, a table of contents, and of course draw on a document, highlight and underline text and so forth. A handy feature: excerpts of highlights, so you can quickly jump around to the places in a PDF where you made notes. You can sign documents, and flatten the document for sharing. While I'd like to see more revision support for collaboration, you can duplicate notes so you keep an original and have a marked-up version for sharing. Collaboration The only chink in NoteSuite's armor would be collaboration. While these tools aren't as robust as the impressive data tools, annotation and note creation tools, there are some there. You can assign tasks to colleagues via email, for example. By adding a task to your calendar you can also collaborate. Being able to flatten and send PDF's is an obvious win for collaborators, but services like Evernote still have a slight advantage in the form of shared notebooks. I think these features will expand in future versions, so be on the look out for updates. Design that gets out of the way The thing that has caused me to abandon more note apps than anything is a kitchen sink mentality to features, and a cluttered interface as a result. While I love the tools in MagicalPad, for example, there's a lot of "mystery meat" buttons and in general too many tools distracting me from what I'm doing at any given time. NoteSuite pays close attention to what you are doing, and presents the tools you need for that task. Never mind that the design is exceptionally well done. The icons are beautiful, and everything is logically arranged on the screen. The Mac version even allows you to hide the sidebar, so it looks more like Pages than Evernote. This is a good thing. Evernote on the Mac is three panels at once, and they are always there. NoteSuite lets you work in a document before going into a side panel to look up notes, organize your work or otherwise mine data. It's a refreshing approach, really. Not only does less clutter help you focus, but NoteSuite's modes hide the tools you don't need. I realize some users might like to have everything at their fingertips at all times, but I found switching between text and drawing modes to be a refreshing way to think less about what I was doing and focus more on doing it -- a neuroscience-approved method for getting a lot of stuff done. Conclusion I've only scratched the surface of NoteSuite's power. Individually, PDF annotation, text linking and task management tools maybe aren't such a big deal. Putting all of those tools together and then some? That's a big deal indeed. If you've ever been frustrated by having to bounce among several apps to get your work connected to your research, you will be thrilled at NoteSuite's powerful toolset. The tools in NoteSuite are wrapped in a clean, uncluttered workspace, making it all the more powerful. And with a Mac and iPad app that sync in the background, you can take your data wherever you go. I'm hoping NoteSuite adds an iPhone companion at some point, because I still use Evernote as a capture tool, and I think even a stripped-down version of NoteSuite would be handy for this purpose. Considering the low cost of NoteSuite (the iPad version is currently on sale for $1.99, the Mac version is currently a mere $4.99) and the focus on getting things done, I can't imagine most users would be unhappy with the software. NoteSuite is simply one of the most powerful, well thought out applications I've seen on Mac and iPad in a long time.
AOL for iPad now in the App Store
AOL, the parent company of TUAW, Engadget, TechCrunch and Huffington Post, today announced the availability of AOL for iPad (free). While for many longtime internet users the AOL acronym may bring back nightmares of receiving daily CD-ROMs in the mail, the company is quickly turning into a very nimble content provider around the world. The app was designed from the ground up for the iPad, featuring a tiled UI with stories that can be tapped to dive in deeper. While the app opens with a window onto general featured news, users can select their area of interest to focus only on stories in that area: entertainment, food, health, money, sports, style, tech, travel and world. %Gallery-192537% For those who use AOL for free email, there's a small envelope button on the top toolbar that provides access to your inbox. Another button provides a list of AOL On Network top videos -- a tap on a video icon expands the thumbnail to a fullscreen player for a quick view of the short blurbs. Want to save content for later reading or viewing? Every story sports a pair of buttons that provide instant access to sharing (via Facebook, Twitter and email), as well as giving readers a way to mark that content as a favorite. A tap on the "heart" button starts a cute animation in which a red heart flies up to the favorites list. It's an amusing way to reinforce the message that the article has been saved for future use. If you're looking for an all-in-one source for more than just tech news, the new AOL for iPad app is definitely worth a look. And hey, it's free (ad-supported).
CrowdFlik enables ad-hoc video collaboration at events
A couple of years ago, I attended a school concert where one of my children was performing. As I looked around the gymnasium, it was immediately obvious when a particular set of parents had their children taking the stage; the phones and cameras all appeared suddenly, like gophers peeping out of their holes. "What a shame," I thought, "that there's not a good collaboration tool for all of us to securely share our photos and videos from this event. Imagine the edited version of the video, using all the different shots from around the room!" I didn't notice him hanging around, but apparently Chris Hamer was standing nearby with his mind-reading ray. The former advertising and marketing exec is now the CEO of CrowdFlik, and his company has created an event-centric video app that's aimed squarely at those soccer game and school concert videographers (plus bigger public events). Hamer's brainwave is all about synchronization. It would be prohibitively tough to sync up all the video shot at an event, unless the devices had lined up their time codes in advance. That's the CrowdFlik trick: when you open the app and create or join an event (tied into your phone's location), the app checks with the US Naval Observatory's master atomic clock to make sure it's microsecond-accurate. From that point forward, the recorded clips (in 10-second chunks) will line up perfectly with the recordings of other participants. You can watch other CrowdFlikers' videos in the app, and upload and share your own. The real fun comes in remixing, though: once the videos are processed in the cloud, you can pick an event to slice and dice at will. Each 10-second segment "stack" shows you all the available clips covering that moment, and you simply tap the one you want to move it into the video timeline. Your finished "Flik" can be synced back to the CrowdFlik cloud, and since the app is only moving the EDL (edit decision list -- the information about which clips are used when, not the clips themselves) the transfer is speedy compared to a full video upload. CrowdFlik requires Facebook authentication to log in (other services are coming), and the app's rough edges show that it's still very much a 1.0 -- although the relatively flat UI should work out nicely on iOS 7. There's no privacy option for events, for instance, although that feature is on the roadmap. Hamer has big plans for the service, though, and he anticipates some interesting use cases for big concerts, sporting events and other mass-scale crowd situations. Imagine a promoter or band offering loyalty points or other perks for CrowdFlik users who volunteer their video to be used on the band's tour site -- that sort of thing is a possibility. The CrowdFlik app is free for iPhone 4, 4S and 5 and is on the App Store now (note that the App Store description says it's compatible with the 3GS and iPod touch, but that's not recommended). An iPad-optimized version is in the works. Here's a video demo from Hamer at TechCrunch Disrupt, showing how an early beta of the CrowdFlik app works.
Digg starts rolling out its Reader app to beta users
Digg announced on its blog that its new Reader service will be available to the public on a rolling basis starting today. The beta version of the service will target Google Reader users looking to jump ship before the Google RSS service shuts down next week. Initially, the company is opening Digg Reader to survey participants who were part of the development process. Invitations then will be sent out in batches to customers who signed up for the beta. Digg is scaling up slowly in order keep the service running smoothly, but it hopes to get all beta customers on board sometime today. You can sign up here: digg.com/reader. Besides its web app, Digg Reader will also launch on the iPhone and iPad. Look for an update to the current Digg app that'll add the Reader functionality.
Leap Motion and Airspace App Store coming July 22
Leap Motion has entered a new developer beta that will lead up to the product's ship date of July 22. Its product, the Leap Motion Controller, is a tiny device you plug into your computer that allows you to interact with it through hand gestures in the air. With the announcements of the latest beta, Leap also unveiled its Airspace App Store. The Airspace App Store will feature more than 100 apps upon launch, however not all the apps will be Mac compatible. Some will be Windows only. In a blog post announcing the new beta and Airspace App Store Leap said that beta testers will have access to the following: Mac and Windows OS interaction – They'll be able to scroll and click with simple finger moves, and Windows users can open and navigate metro apps, like a recipe collection or a game, with ease. Airspace Home – The desktop launcher is where all Leap Motion apps will live. This includes other software on the computer that uses a Leap Motion API, like Google Earth. Airspace Store – Browse, buy and download apps across a wide variety of categories. Users can access the store through Airspace Home. Orientation – Our interactive tutorial, which will run after testers download the Leap Motion software, will help orient them to Leap Motion's field of view and the zone of interaction when using Leap Motion for the first time. Leap has a strong Apple connection, with its President and COO Andy Miller having come from Apple where he was the vice president of Mobile Advertising at the company, leading the iAd program. The Leap Motion Controller will cost US$79.99. Interested parties can preorder the device now.
Imgur CEO hopes official iPhone app will launch in a few weeks
Chances are that you've stumbled upon photos on Imgur before, even if you're not familiar with the site itself. Imgur is an extremely popular and free photo-sharing site that quickly grew in popularity thanks to social media sites like Reddit. It also helps that the site, which now generates upwards of 4 billion pageviews a month, requires no cumbersome user registration process. Yesterday, Imgur finally launched its official mobile app for Android. An official iPhone app, however, remains non-existent. Don't worry folks. We're not entering a world where iPhone development is taking a backseat to Android development. Speaking to VentureBeat, Imgur CEO Alan Schaaf explained that the iPhone holdup is the result of Apple's sometimes nitpicky application approval process. While the launch of the Android app is a big step for the service, Imgur initially planned to release both Android and iPhone versions of the app together. But Schaaf said Apple has routinely rejected the iPhone application it built on grounds of copyright infringement and inappropriate content. Schaaf said Imgur has submitted the app for approval from Apple several times. He said Apple first knocked the organization for having too much content sourced from copyrighted materials. But Imgur explained to Apple that it is DMCA compliant and removes any infringing images when it is notified. Then Apple didn't like how easy it was to access adult-focused content. This, of course, isn't the first time an app with user-generated content has run into trouble with Apple's app review team. You might recall that, a few months back, Apple had removed the popular photo-sharing app 500px from the App Store after deeming it too easy for users to access nude, albeit artistic, photos. The app was subsequently allowed back in the App Store with a new feature that enables users to quickly flag and report inappropriate content. The content on Imgur is a free-for-all in many respects, and it certainly lacks the artistic bent that 500px has. Nonetheless, Imgur's Schaaf relayed that the company has "made it harder to find crude content" and that the site's official iPhone app will hopefully launch in just a "few weeks."
AOL launches Reader for RSS
AOL has announced the debut of its latest online service --an RSS reader to replace the soon-to-be-defunct Google Reader. The new AOL Reader is a no-frills web app for reading your RSS feeds. There are no mobile apps, but the service does have a tablet-friendly layout for your on-the-go reading. The AOL Reader UI is straightforward with a left navigation bar that houses all your RSS feeds and a main pane that previews all your content. You can choose from a few different layouts including a list view, card view and full view that shows the entire article. Each view allows you to easily mark an item as read. You can also star it or share it on social networks like Google+, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are ads on the right side of the screen, which showcase other AOL content like AOL On. AOL Reader will let you add RSS subscriptions manually to the service or import them in bulk from your Google Reader account via an OPML file. You can also browse through AOL's catalog of suggested sites and add RSS feeds from there. AOL Reader is a decent first effort that'll give RSS fans another alternative to Feedly and Digg Reader. You can access the beta service by going to reader.aol.com and signing up for an account using your AOL login, a Facebook account or Twitter credentials. Note: TUAW is a part of AOL Tech.
New and notable apps for iOS and OS X - June 24, 2013 edition
It's always busy in the App Store with an endless flood of new apps landing on iOS and OS X, including Toca Builders and a camera app from Lytro. Take a few minutes and check out our list of standout titles from the past few weeks! You can also follow our ongoing coverage of new apps if a weekly summary is not enough newness for you (all prices are USD). New iOS Apps Boxes [iPhone; Category: Lifestyle; Free] Boxes is a tool to help you make the most of the stuff you own by organizing and keeping track of all the stuff you love in one place. Morning - Weather, To-Do, News, and more [iPad; Category: Productivity; $2.99] Morning is designed to make your routine easier than ever before. Keep track of time, stay updated, and start your day off right. With 8 customizable panels, the possibilities are endless. Cloud Spotter [iPhone; Category: Education; $2.99] Introducing 40 uniquely different cloud species and light phenomena with hundreds of spectacular photographs and extensive descriptions, CloudSpotter enables you to easily identify and spot them in the sky. Scientific 7-Minute Workout ;[iPhone;Category: Health & Fitness; $0.99] The Scientific 7 Minute Workout is specifically designed to provide the maximum fitness benefit for the minimum amount of work. Ideal for people with busy lives and can't find the time to commit to a gym, this workout is actually BETTER than jogging for 30 minutes or more. Sago Mini Forest Flyer [iOS Universal; Category: Education; $1.99] The fun begins at Robin's birdhouse. Ring the doorbell and invite your new feathered friend out to play. Discover the magical forest together as you soar through the sky, splash in the pond, do a little dance, and make new friends. Sago Mini Sound Box [iOS Universal; Category: Education; Free] Introduce children to sound and music with this magical app – just shake, rattle and tap! Listen for cheerful chimes, horns, drums, animals and more. Exbel [iPhone; Category: Photography & Video; $0.99] Exbel Allows you to add another picture from Exbel library or camera or the phone library to blend them with the original picture. Thor Polysonic Synthesizer [iPad; Category: Music; $14.99] Reason's legendary flagship synth delivers a thunderous sound, god-like sound sculpting capabilities and an innovative, lighting-fast keyboard designed for iPad. Foresee [iOS Universal; Category: Productivity; $1.99] By intelligently analyzing your ideal conditions with the latest weather data, Foresee provides you the best times for your activities. Mira Controller [iPad; Category: Music; $49.99] Mira Controller for Max is for users of Max 6 by Cycling '74 only. You should only purchase this app if you are a Max user.Mira is the easiest way to control a Max application from an iPad. Where's My Mickey? XL ;[iPad;Category: Games; $1.99] Where's My Mickey? introduces a whole new world of life-like physics-based gameplay with stimulating weather mechanics and humorous animations. XCOM®: Enemy Unknown [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $19.99] As the commander of XCOM, you must create a fully operational base, research alien technologies, plan combat missions, and lead your soldiers in fierce battles against a terrifying alien invasion. Cover Orange 2 [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $0.99] Revisit Cover Orange in this completely new and juicy sequel made by the original team. Forever Lost: Episode 2 [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $1.99] Explore what awaits in front of you and learn all you can about what you left behind. Welcome, to Episode 2. Monsters University [iOS Universal; Category: Games; $0.99] Let the scary out in 2 exciting mini games based on the Disney•Pixar film "Monsters University," and prove you're the ultimate scarer. Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage [iPhone; Category: Games; $0.99] An icy wind has swept the Vikings away, leaving them stranded throughout the land and surrounded by trolls, deadly traps, dangerous enemies, and worst of all... troll snot. Now it's up to you to save them. New OS X Apps Free Fonts - Commercial Use OpenType Fonts [OS X; Category: Graphics & Design; Free] Download a new collection of inspiring font designs. This collection currently includes 45 original fonts in OpenType font format, and can be used for any personal and business project. SimplyMpress [OS X; Category: Graphics & Design; $6.99] SimplyMpress is a typographic and layout tool that lets you quickly create vintage-looking designs for greeting cards, posters, flyers, scrapbooks, and more. Racing Glider [OS X; Category: Games; $7.99] Racing Glider is a game of acrobatics flight whose subject is a strange kind of hang glider with pedals, the same kind of glider that all flying enthusiasts have dreamed of being able to ride in their childhood. Patchworkz [OS X; Category: Games; Free] Pick up and play for 5 minutes or for 5 hours. You've been warned, this isn't your typical puzzle game. Stretch [OS X; Category: Health & Fitness; $3.99] Stretch is an innovative break reminder app.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown now available for iOS
The long-awaited XCOM: Enemy Unknown has finally arrived on the App Store for a premium price of US$19.99. This is Firaxis' turn-based strategy hit from last year (in my opinion, one of the best games of 2012), translated to the iOS platform in full. The controls have been tweaked just a bit to work with the iOS touchscreen, but otherwise this is the full game, featuring a base that you can upgrade at will, soldiers that you can outfit with bleeding-edge technology and terrific turn-based skirmishes against aliens of all kinds. The graphics, I believe, have been slowed down just a bit, and Firaxis does recommend that you use an iPad 4 to play (and they even say to turn off other apps that might take up cycles in the background). So that could be a pain, especially if you have an older device. Still, this is a modern PC game, and we're getting it here in full form on iOS, so it's hard to complain about that. It's nice that this is a full premium release. You spend one price and get all of the game's content with no IAP or freemium twists at all. XCOM is a great game from a company that is well worth supporting.
Toca Builders for iPad is a charming, delightful game
I had my 8-year-old help me test Toca Builders for iPad (US$0.99, universal), the latest iOS toy from powerhouse Toca Boca. He nearly exploded with glee. So did I. Toca Builders is an utterly charming take on the world-builder theme that's become so popular thanks to hits like Minecraft and Eden. The artwork, sound and play mechanics are stellar, and each of the six "characters" whose unique skills you must manipulate to construct your fantasy world, brick by brick, are so well executed you'll wish they were scooting, rolling and building all over your desk. Looks The play area is a large grid that's floating on a pixel-y sea. Navigating to the edge reveals that the whole thing is floating thanks to a layer of cork just below the surface. The characters are also wooden, and their hinged joints move exactly as you'd expect from a hand-crafted wooden toy. It short, it looks lovely. Game play I hesitate to call Toca Builders a game because it's really a toy. There's no goal other than to have fun building a world of you own. There's no end game state either, as you can keep building and re-building as much as you like. My kids were even inventing pretend play scenarios for the little characters and their surroundings. It was "adorbs" as the kids say. You start with a blank, flat world (most of the time) and six "builders." Each has a unique skill. For example, one can change a block's color. Another can quickly build a row. Another stacks blocks, there's one that breaks blocks and yet another to stack blocks and reach those that are high off of the ground. My favorite little guy is balancing on a large ball, circus-style. As he rolls, the ball deposits paint on the floor. You quickly realize that you must use the various characters to accomplish a certain task. For example, the boy and I wanted to build a tree. That meant using the stacking builder to produce the trunk. He couldn't reach the level of the leaves, so he had to place a few blocks on the ground for the "crane" builder to manipulate. Finally, the "painter" builder had to spray her paint all over the tree to get the right colors in place. Planning and thought are required. Like I said, you don't always get a "blank slate." While creating new worlds, I suddenly got one that was populated with trees and spare bricks. Later, my son got one with several ships and later still, huge representations of the builders themselves. We eventually figured out that every fifth world started is populated with goodies. Toca Boca is also a shining example of something this company does very well: explaining how to do everything without words. I imagine this was done to keep localization costs and effort to a minimum, and it's become a constraint that's elicited some fine creativity. Within five minutes of launching the app for the first time, my son had mastered each builder's unique function and quirks. I could go on, but suffice to say this is a great digital toy. Paint splatters and splashes, "wooden" hinges creak and the imagination is fully engaged in creativity, planning and play. Toca Boca has done it again.
Lytro announces iOS app, unlocks hidden WiFi feature in camera
Today's news brings a pleasant surprise for Lytro camera owners. It turns out the that each one of the small light-field cameras has had a hidden WiFi chip inside, waiting to be turned on. Well, the time for activation has come with the release of a new firmware update which activates the WiFi. And just in time for the release of Lytro's new iOS app. The app, called Lytro Mobile, connects to your iPhone via the WiFi transmitter and allows you to view camera images from your iOS device. Once you activate the app simply click the Camera feature and you will be told to select WiFi from the Lytro's menu screen. Once you tap the WiFi option on your Lytro screen you will be able to wirelessly upload images directly to Lytro.com. The mobile app has other tricks up its sleeve. You can use the app to refocus a picture via Perspective Shift, add captions and geotagging, and share your live pictures via your favorite social network, message service or SMS. The app also allows you to use the Lytro to make GIF images from pictures you've taken. The firmware update and app are available now from Lytro and the App Store respectively.
Avengers Alliance out now on iOS, Where's My Mickey coming tomorrow
Disney's got two big releases arriving on the App Store last week and this week, one we've been waiting on for a while, and another that combines one of the company's oldest properties with one of the newest. The first is Avengers Alliance, which is now out and available on the App Store as a free download. This game started off on Facebook, and it's still incredibly popular over there (or at least I assume it is, given all of the references and requests from it in my feed). Marvel originally teased an iOS version to us a little while back, but now the game is out in all of its glory. Unfortunately, Disney/Marvel didn't figure out a way to connect the iOS version up to the Facebook version, so the reviews on iTunes are full of people angry that they can't carry their progress over. In the meantime, however, if you've been waiting for an iOS version of the game to play, there it is. Disney has also announced a new game called Where's My Mickey, coming to the App Store this week, which combines none other than Mickey Mouse with the popular Where's My Water game. The title will have five chapters, all with animated episode intros, as well as new weather mechanics to play with. As usual, there will be collectibles that can open up new levels, and the tablet version of the game will have exclusive XL levels designed to be played on a big screen. Where's My Mickey will be US$0.99 on the iPhone, and $1.99 on the iPad, and be available on the App Store tomorrow morning.
'Max Payne 3' coming to the Mac on June 20
Rockstar Games has announced that it is bringing its popular console and PC title Max Payne 3 to the Mac on Thursday. Rockstar has yet to release its pricing, only stating that the Mac version of the game supports "a number of advanced graphics options, scalable high-resolution textures and character models, DirectX11 features, multi-monitor support and 3D." As far as what users need to run the game, Rockstar recommends the following: Mac OS X 10.7.5 Lion Intel Dual-Core Xeon / Core i Series 2.4 GHz or greater 4GB System RAM NVIDIA® 8800GT 512MB VRAM or AMD Radeon HD 4870 512 VRAM HDD Space: 35GB
