Need to know the latest and greatest apps each and every week? Look no further than 148Apps. Our reviewers comb through the vast numbers of new apps out there, find the good ones, and write about them in depth. The ones we love become Editor’s Choice, standing out above the many good apps and games with something just a little bit more to offer. Want to see what we’ve been up to this week? Take a look below for a sampling of our latest reviews. And if you want more, be sure to hit our Reviews Archive.
Granted I’ve yet to watch either of the Star Trek reboot films (I know, I know), but I seem to recall there being something about Kirk and Spock not liking each other. Or rather, they have a kind of rivalry going on. Which is appropriate since Star Trek Rivals is all about going toe-to-toe with friends. And shoving their faces in the dirt with superior tactics. In a friendly way. Star Trek Rivals is essentially the Triple Triad mini-game from Final Fantasy IX with Captain Kirk, the Enterprise, and so on. For the unfamiliar that means a 3X3 grid and a bunch of cards with a number on each of their four sides. When a card is placed next to a rival’s, and it has the higher number between the two touching sides, that card is converted to the other side. The overall goal is to have dominion over more cards than the opposition by the time the grid is full. This is done by strategically placing cards so that they either block an opponent’s attempts at assimilation or take over their cards directly. –Rob Rich
Jawfish Poker is Texas hold ‘em poker for the mobile generation. A tournament can be played in minutes against dozens and dozens of players. For those wanting a rapid-fire poker experience, this is worth checking out. Instead of sitting at a table against a multitude of players, all the matchups are heads-up against players in the same tournament. Betting has been simplified: there’s a steadily-increasing big and small blind, and the only options are to fold or to go all-in. This means that for every hand that is called, someone’s getting knocked out. It’s high-intensity poker all the time, all against real players. While the Texas hold ‘em rules remain the same, new challenges arise. Bluffing becomes a particularly risky strategy just because it’s only really possible to steal the blinds with the all-in-or-fold betting system. Thus, knowing which hands are good to bluff on becomes key because any hand could instantly be a life-or-death situation. –Carter Dotson
With hardly a sign of animated talking animals, Disney’s Story is a fairly mature storyboard creation app for those who want to combine their images to create their own tale. Immediately accessible, not much is needed to get started. Facebook sharing is there, requiring a quick log-in but it’s far from essential at first. Instead, users can get straight into the action by manipulating the images from their camera roll. Story divides these images, at first, into dates proving particularly useful for those collecting memories from a specific day. For instance, I looked for the date in which I got a new baby guinea pig and within moments, could create a collage of the memories of the first day for the piglet. –Jennifer Allen
Other 148Apps Network Sites
If you are looking for the best reviews of kids’ apps and/or Android apps, just head right over to GiggleApps and AndroidRundown. Here are just some of the reviews these sites served up this week:
Colours! is an interesting, interactive color theory app that children and their adults will enjoy. I honestly did not expect much from Colours! as teaching children how to mix primary colors to create secondary shades is not an uncommon topic, so I was pleasantly surprised how complex this app can become. Colours! allows one to mix red, yellow, blue, white and black to form any color possible. A sponge is also included to use as an eraser – a nice touch. –Amy Solomon
Zoola Deluxe is a charming interactive animal app for babies and toddlers – a companion app to the popular Zoola, also reviewed at GiggleApps. Zoola Deluxe contains a nice variety of animals one can interact with. To start, tap on one of nine animals from either Farm, Safari or Forest animals. Babies will enjoy how chunky the areas for each animal to tap are, making this app intuitive for the youngest app users. Once a selection is made, listen to the animal’s name narrated as well as see the word on the screen. Also note the mild yet effective animated elements included as well as the sounds for each creature. This app also contains a nice variety of languages, always a nice touch. –Amy Solomon
Itsy Cars is a unique interactive app that allows children to build the race track of their dreams using a combination of thirteen pieces of track which are connected to create a track that one can drive a race car through. Four differently styled cars can be chosen, and then children will build their tracks with the tap of a finger, connecting pieces of track together. When complete, start the car down the track, tapping the “Turbo Button” when players want their car to go faster. The look of this app is highly computer-generated, with the use of many angles and bright yet not terribly unrefined colors – a style I am not always a fan of but which makes a lot of sense in this app. –Amy Solomon
Sonic the Hedgehog is a classic, at least in the sense that it was the launching pad for a famous character. In reality, it’s a lot more like some bands’ first album: their later stuff is more refined, exploring their strengths better, to make for a better product. Such is the original Sonic game. Sonic 2 and 3 do a lot to make the series much better, so I must admit that when I heard that Sonic 1 was being remastered by Christian Whitehead and company a la Sonic CD, I was initially disappointed. But really, there was no reason to be: the tweaks and new features make this better. Sonic should be well-known at this point. Run, jump, fight Eggman’s robots and contraptions (though he’ll always be Dr. Robotnik to me), and avoid those darn spikes. This is the game that started the classic formula, including the most underappreciated part of the series’ gameplay: the complex levels and challenging platforming that comes from their multiple layers. –Carter Dotson
How much muck could a muck chuck chuck if a muck chuck could chuck muck? Chuck the Muck is a cool entry from KizStudios that merges nice graphics with easy-to-learn gameplay and a familiar scoring method. Bob is the name of our protagonist in this one. A blob with attitude, Bob is described as a being with an appetite, and it seems to hunger for colored gems. It just so happens that these gems are not that easy to get to. Thus Bob’s job is to use the gooey stuff in his environment to solve the physics puzzlers that the the gem placements created. The basic tool was a stretchy, springy “muck” that I could manipulate to a degree. Using it as a trampoline of sorts, I could use my finger to direct Bob in a pre-determined trajectory. This helped me collect the gems for three start score. Missing a target or a landing could lead to Bob’s demise. The controls mostly involved dragging, pulling to release and tap and hold. –Tre Lawrence
I can’t say that I expected much from Elements Battle. The name is about as unimaginative as it gets, the art looked pretty but uninspired and to top it off it’s freemium, which is a business model that I’ve never been entirely comfortable with. As it turns out though Elements Battle is substantially better than I expected. The core game is a lot like Puzzle Quest. The bulk of it is a series of puzzle battles on a grid where three or more identical symbols must be matched each turn. Those symbols correspond to elemental spells which get fired at an opponent once enough of them have been matched. The opponent does the same and the winner is the one with health left at the end. Outside of battles there are some basic RPG mechanics with quests to complete (though they all boil down to battles too), levels to gain and a store used to purchase additional spells and equipment. –James Rogerson
The indie game development scene has been around for an incredibly long time; pretty much ever since people had the opportunity to program for themselves. However it wasn’t until shareware became a common method of distribution the 90s that it began to catch the notice of the masses, and even so, it took another decade to really take off. Throughout all of that there have been a number of successes and failures, as it is with most games regardless of their budgets or marketing strategies. No one remembers the duds, of which there are always many, but people tend not to forget games like Minecraft or Fez.
One theory behind this new focus on mobile devices is that iOS’ treatment of indies is a bit more welcoming. Not to say that Microsoft is terrible or that Apple is perfect, but there have been quite a few stories of Xbox Live Indie Game headaches.
Luke Schneider/Radiangames
“I felt like I was always fighting against the grain when Radiangames was focused on XBLIG,” said Luke Schneider on the shift away from XNA development. “I wanted to try to reach a broader audience and find more success. Though really it hasn’t been significantly different in terms of success on iOS.”
It was more a case of seeing the writing on the wall for Jesse Chounard from Third Party Ninjas. Once Windows Phone 7 came out it seemed as though Microsoft forgot all about their indie developers. “XBLIG developers actually lost access to some important features,” he said. “When the phone failed to gain traction, it seemed like the blame was placed on XNA.”
Nick Mudry and Play Nimbus came to a similar conclusion once the impending “death” of Microsoft’s service was announced. “We also moved away from XBLIG and to iOS because we were unable to develop with XNA for iOS,” he said
In this particular case, the discovery of Unity is what ended up tipping their hand. “We stepped up and started redesigning our game’s prototype,” said Mudry, “and it was done 10 times quicker compared to XBLIG/XNA.”
Jesse Chounard/Third Party Ninjas
Not everyone simply jumped ship from one platform to the other, however. Mike Oliphant opted to stick around the XBLIG scene while expanding Nostatic Software’s reach to other platforms at the same time. “Last year I ported my game engine so that it also runs on top of Unity,” he said. “This gave me the ability to target iOS and Android as well.”
A smart idea that has the potential for a lot more exposure, although it also means more work to create all those ports, though he admits that more platforms ultimately means more users.
Martin Caine of Retroburn Game Studios was initially drawn to XNA because of the development tools and allure of the Xbox 360 hardware support, but it didn’t seem like he would get a whole lot of publicity on the platform. “I had heard of the limited exposure and low download figures,” he said. “I’m now just focusing on getting one game released but plan to release it across many platforms including iOS and XBLIG.”
Andy Gibson and Team Pesky actually did things the other way around when they prototyped Little Acorns on XNA, then ended up developing it for iOS once the basic framework was in place. After a few iterations the team brought the squirrel-themed platformer back to Xbox Live.
“Personally, I was really pleased to get Little Acorns out on XBLIG,” Gibson said. “The game feels great, has a good level of polish and an added split-screen co-op mode to celebrate Mr. Nibbles making it home.”
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 17th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
The Simpsons: Tapped Out has been updated with new locations and a familiar face, says Pocket Gamer. Agnes Skinner is now available in the game with a quest that revolves around her and her son, Seymour. She is also tasked with winning at bingo and taunting the elderly. Also, with the update, is an increased level cap of 29, new buildings, and more.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 17th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
N.O.V.A. 3 – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance is free for today only. In our review, Carter Dotson said, “N.O.V.A. 3‘s audience is clear: it’s for the FPS fan who wants a big, console-style game on their iPhone or iPad, and is willing to tolerate some control issues in order to get that experience.” “a lot of work has clearly been put into this to make it work as best as it can on mobile.”
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 17th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Turbo Racing League is now available on the App Store, letting players race, drift, slide, and jump their way to the top of the leaderboards, as well as customizing their own vehicles to show off on 9 unique race tracks. There is also $1,000,000 dollars worth of prize money on offer. Players can qualify in a weekly contest during the first 8 weeks, with the 10 fastest racers earning cash prizes from a pool of $500,000. 1st place winners from each week will win a trip to Los Angeles to compete for $500,000 in total cash prizes in the grand finale race.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 17th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Festival de Cannes – Official mobile app allows you to experience the festival as it happens with access to articles, photos, and videos. It provides hour-by-hour coverage of the event with news and interviews that you can share on your Facebook or Twitter page. You’ll also have access to videos from the red carpet, photo calls, and press conferences, along with film trailers.
The original Sonic the Hedgehog has been remastered for iOS, a la Sonic CD. Under the care of Christian Whitehead and his Retro Engine, the team at Sega who helped guide the port along, and Simon Thomley, aka “Stealth,” who helped put Knuckles into a Sonic 1 ROM, the original Sonic game is now even better, with tons of new extras for long-time fans. Oh, and it’s not a new app, though it certainly could have been – this is a free update to the original Sonic 1 release for iOS, which was just an emulated version of the Genesis original.
The game itself is a faithful port, with some tweaks added. It’s now friendly to multiple aspect ratios, including widescreen, which may still come to Sonic CD. The spin dash has been added as an option, which does make the game a bit easier. Spike behavior has changed to be more player-friendly and more like the later games in the series.
But it’s the extras, both big and small, that are worth getting excited about. Because the game has been rebuilt in the Retro Engine to the specifics of the original title, it’s possible to add new things in. Tails and Knuckles are unlockable by beating the game and getting all the Chaos Emeralds. This is one of the harder Sonic games, so good luck.
It’s the even more deeply buried tweaks that are more fun. iCade support is in the game, which comes recommended for two reasons: physical controls make this game a lot better, though the virtual controls are better than the emulated version and have plenty of options to configure them. But more importantly, iCade usage helps unveil one of the game’s coolest secrets that may be inaccessible otherwise. Don’t read any further if you don’t want to find out. SPOILERS!
Start up a new game in “No Save Mode” and input Up-Down-Left-Right on the controller. You’ll hear a chime. Tap Start, and you’ll see a level select screen. Initially, it’s a bit of sacrilege as it’s different from the Sonic 1 level select, but it lists plenty of neat options. All the characters can be played immediately. Individual game behaviors can be changed. Items from Sonic 2 and/or 3 can be added. The game can be played with 7 Chaos Emeralds instead of the original’s 6. Plus, there’s a sound test. Pretty much the only missing thing is the debug mode!
This might not be the end to the secrets: Tails’ name can be displayed as Miles “Tails” Prower when starting a game as him by tapping the letters in the famous SEGA logo to spell AGES. The developers have been in the Sonic Retro forums teasing out other secrets, so there’s plenty of options here.
That this all has been presented as an update to the emulated version, when Sega could have easily justified it as a new purchase – and I’d have defended it too – is a killer deal for Sonic fans. Casual fans will love getting a better version of this game. The hardcore fans will love all the additional goodies. Much like Sonic CD, this is how a port should be done. Of course, there’s two other main series Sonic games to potentially be ported, and don’t forget Knuckles Chaotix!
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 17th, 2013 iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
tenXer provides you with a way to track all that you do, with location, service, and manual tracking. It allows you to know how often you are doing something and for how many hours you do it. Also, you can set goals and track your performance as well as understand weekly trends by viewing the calendar. The App Store details show that you can even track how many cups of coffee you drink per day. Clearly, no matter how many cups I drink, it’ll never be enough.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 17th, 2013 iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
GateGuru, Airport Info & Flight Status is an app that lets you add a flight and receive full flight tracking, wait times, and airport information. The app makes it easy to know everything about your airport by providing you with amenities, tips, maps, status, weather, and more. GateGuru has been updated, adding Avis rental car bookings to let you book a car with just two quick taps and huge discounts of up to 30%.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 17th, 2013 iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
Consumr Reviews – Barcode Scanner is a product guide that allows you to browse ratings and reviews by thousands of consumers. The app lets you scan product barcodes, search, and browse to find information on the products you are most interested in. You can even share your own reviews of products you’ve tried before.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 17th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
New terrain and obstacles makes their way into the latest Temple Run 2 update. There’s a new landscape called The Narrows that brings forth treacherous terrain to run through. There are spinning saw blades that show up, too, giving players something new to avoid. The update also warns of crumbling paths that can force a last minute turn or jump. Watch out!
New iPad holders for musicians and presenters are now available from IK Multimedia, the leader in mobile music-creation apps and accessories. The iKlip 2 for iPad and iPad mini is an enhanced version of the most popular stand holder, even more useful while on stage, in the studio, or at a meeting. It provides a secure grip for your iPad or iPad mini and is fully adjustable with multiple angles for ideal viewing. The iKlip 2 is available at electronic and music retailers for $39.99.
Freemium city-building games have been hugely popular on the App Store for nearly as long as the App Store has been around. With their trickle feeding approach to progress, and that temptation to spend real money to expand one’s virtual empire, it’s no wonder that everyone ends up intrigued. Like any genre, though, there are good and bad examples. I take a look at four of my favorite city or village builders.
CityVille Hometown
The mighty behemoth of Zynga starts us off, courtesy of the rather charming CityVille Hometown. Players focus on building up their town, keeping the residents happy and getting new people involved. There’s a little bit of everything here with decorating, farming and business growth all playing a part. Keeping things focused on the residents gives the game a suitably homely feel.
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-06-29 :: Category: Games
PLAYMOBIL Pirates
When I was a child, I adored playing with Playmobil, creating stories with the constantly happy, plastic people. PLAYMOBIL Pirates brings such fun to iOS with players able to develop their own pirate camp, recruit new members of the crew and complete a variety of fun missions. Yes, it’s not city building in the conventional sense, but it’s charming and cute. The allure of in-app purchases isn’t too strong either, with patience fixing that problem.
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-12-13 :: Category: Games
My Little Pony – Friendship is Magic
A series that has benefited from quite a resurgence in recent times, My Little Pony transfers the city building motif to Ponyville. Usual village building techniques play a role here, but it’s all backed up by a selection of mini-games which keep things more interactive than most. The cute factor is off the scale, too!
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-11-08 :: Category: Games
Pixel People
Quite different from the others in the list, Pixel People is more focused on the genetic splicing of people rather than village building, but it’s still an important part of progression. There’s charm aplenty here, plus immediately accessible yet addictive gameplay, with players combining characters to create new ones. It’ll take quite a while to collect every single one of the over 200 characters, as well as some careful thought, but it’s terrific fun along the way.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 17th, 2013 iPad Only App - Designed for iPad
PayPal Here for iPad accepts credit cards from anywhere with the app and free credit card reader, with the intent to simplify a point-of-sale system for small business using an iPad. There are no setup costs or monthly fees and it accepts major debit and credit cards for 2.7% per swipe. The app also enables users to set up a product list, scan an item’s barcode with your camera to add it to a list, connect a cash drawer and receipt printer, email receipts to customers, and more.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 16th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Tunetrace is an interesting new app as it takes photos of your drawings and turns them into music. The Next Web reports that the app translates your photos into a skeleton of line endings and crossings, and displays twinklings lights on the screen as it begins to play music based on the lines of your image.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 16th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Nikko RC Racer gives users the opportunity to race 10 actual Nikko RC cars, each with their own attributes, on 9 different off-road tracks. Players can challenge their Facebook friends and race against their ghost replay, battling for the best times. Players are also able to pick up power-ups to shoot rockets, race through water and to boost their overall speed.
Paramount Digital Entertainment teams up with Phosphor Games Studio to bring you World War Z, which will release on May 30th. The game offers a first-person experience with 28 action-packed levels that are full of combat and puzzles as you do your best to survive. Wolrd War Z is based on the upcoming Brad Pitt movie that revolves around a pandemic that threatens humanity, due out June 21st.
“We were excited to be able to use the cutting-edge Unreal Engine 3 to bring World War Z to life,” said Chip Sineni in a press release, director at Phosphor Games Studio. “Our goal was to build Paramount a AAA game, and with that came all our favorite bells and whistles, like ambient occlusion lighting, multipass blended textures, and hordes of enemies to fight.”
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 16th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Haunting Melissa, from the producer of The Ring and Mulholland Drive, is a mysterious ghost story that changes the way stories are told. Neal Edelstein, who is a vetern storyteller, has reinvented film making by bringing episodic content to the App Store, through this app. Haunting Melissa offers mystery and intrigue as the story is told in unpredictable ways that will maximize your anticipation, never knowing when the next piece of the story will come or how long it will be.
In a press release, Neal Edelstein said, “The amazing technology contained in the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch has allowed us to present stories in a dramatically different way. The technology supports story first and foremost. As viewers move further into Melissa’s world, they will understand why this new app technology will change distribution forever,”
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 16th, 2013 iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
Pudding Monsters has been updated and is now available for free. In the Sky View update, it’s your job to help the monsters climb mountains and reach the sky as you play through 25 levels with new gameplay elements. Mr. Powerlifter is a new available monster who has the ability to move mountains, helping you to collect all the available stars. Pudding!
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 16th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Where’s My Water? says hello to Allie, a creative and sassy alligator that brings a new chapter to the game. Pocket Gamer reports that there are 40 new levels available in the update. It’s your job to guide water from one side of a level to the other in order to power a musical organ. 5 of the new levels are available for free while the other 35 will run you an extra $0.99 cents. And hey, there are bonus levels to unlock if you collect musical instruments.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 16th, 2013 iPad Only App - Designed for iPad
The Abra-Ca-Bacon update is now available for Rovio’sAngry Birds Seasons, bringing portals and 30 new levels of gaming to your devices. Pocket Gamer reports that the levels are carnival themed and feature magic hats and secrets to uncover. There is also a magic box that explodes whenever you hit it, a new power up that’s called AllakaBAM. Now, go fling your birds through portals!
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 16th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Walking Dead fans with the iPhone 5 will be happy to learn that The Walking Dead: The Game has been updated, adding support for the iPhone 5. “The Walking Dead: The Game is one of the finer examples of interactive fiction in recent years. Giving players some tough decisions that can have far reaching consequences ensures that every choice made is one that’s pondered thoroughly,” said Jennifer Allen, in our review.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 16th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Fast & Furious 6: The Game has launched on the App Store, giving you the ability to drift and drag your way through the streets of London. You’ll be taking on a number of jobs in a heist mode as you go against an organization of mercenary drivers. Check out our Preview of the game for more info.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 16th, 2013 iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
Clashot offers the chance to make a little profit for the photos you take, earning commission for each image sold. All you need to do is take a few photographs and upload them to clashot.com where people from all over the world can rate, comment, and purchase your images.
☆ Combine thematic photo reports from the separate frames (made on the built-in camera or loaded from the library)
☆ Reports editor allowing you to create new ones or make changes to current
☆ Ability to view, comment and like reports of other users, share photoevents in social networks (Facebook, Twitter)
☆ Convenient interface for watch the tape allowing you to stay informed
☆ Detailed profile data and current user’s balance
☆ Convenient funds withdrawal
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 16th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Star Trek Rivals is a strategic card battle game that is now available in the App Store, giving Star Trek fans the ability to challenge friends in turn-based gameplay. The game has over 100 cards to collect and upgrade that are based on characters, aliens, and starships from 2009′s Star Trek and the upcoming Star Trek: Into Darkness movies.
The App Store has hit 50 billion downloads, providing one winner with a $10,000 dollar gift card and 50 others with a $500 dollar gift card. Now, the countdown begins again with a march towards 100 billion downloads. I wonder what kind of contest will be held for that?
Update – Congratulations to Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio! Brandon downloaded the app Say the Same Thing by Space Inch as the 50 billionth app downloaded on the Apple App Store!
“Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years.”
Fresh from the (ahem) crushing success of King’s Candy Crush Saga, the Facebook and mobile casual game developer announced today that yet another top ten Facebook game, Pet Rescue Saga, is scheduled to release on mobile early this summer.
King says that the current Facebook iteration of Pet Rescue Saga is the third overall largest game on Facebook with over six million daily players. The iOS and Android app will be available early this summer on iTunes and Google Play. This is the third mobile release for the casual gaming company, with Candy Crush Saga seeing over 500 million plays a day on mobile. A day. Sheesh.
Stay tuned for more details as they become available.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 15th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Google Play Books has been updated, giving you the capability to read your own PDF or EPUB files in the app by uploading them to the Google Play website. Once your files have been uploaded, you’ll be able to access and read them on all of your devices.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 15th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Today, Google launched Hangouts, giving you the ability to have one-on-one and group conversations for free. You can connect with friends through computers and mobile devices and share images and emoji with each other. You can also have a video call with up to 10 friends.
– View and continue your Hangouts across devices.
– Get notifications just once. After you see an alert, it’ll be removed on other devices.
– Snooze your notifications if you’d prefer to respond later.
– See what you talked about in the past, including shared photos and your video call history.
– Keep a record of any Hangout for just a short period of time by turning history off.
– View collections of photos shared from each of your Hangouts.
– Choose from over 850 emoji to express what’s on your mind.
Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 15th, 2013 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Tech Crunch reports that Google announced new updates for Google Now, which is currently under the Google Search name. Google announced that they will add six card types, including location-based reminders, public transit travel times, and information about music, TV shows, and videos games. People can also use their voice to set reminders based on time, people, and location.
The update will likely be on the server-side, but we haven’t seen evidence of new cards just yet in the Google Search app.
We cover it all. The latest games, apps and more are all reviewed across the 148Apps network of sites. Just take a look at what you might have missed this week.
The indie game development scene has been around for 
One theory behind this new focus on mobile devices is that iOS’ treatment of indies is a bit more welcoming. Not to say that Microsoft is terrible or that Apple is perfect, but there have been quite a few stories of Xbox Live Indie Game headaches. 
