Anyone looking for a mentally challenging and head-scratching experience on iOS need look no farther than The Fourth Dimension. The Fourth Dimension is a 30-page interactive book that attempts to explain to all of us non-mathematicians what exactly a 4D world and tesseracts are. The app made it to the top five in the App Store in Education shortly after its release.

Despite the serious and intellectual nature of the app, the developers obviously have a sense of humor. They describe the app as “hand-crafted from fine Corinthian ones and zeros” and “probably safe for children.”

Instead of being a simple book with text and pictures, the app actually lets users interact with a 3D environment to help them understand the fourth dimension. The text is obviously important as well. Users will get to see more of that nerd humor in the text as well as easy to understand metaphors to help readers grasp the 4D world.

The Fourth Dimension is a universal app and is available for $2.99.

$2.99

The Fourth Dimension

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-03-19 :: Category: Education

Like it or not, the 3D craze does not seem to be going away any time soon. Paying a little more for a 3D movie ticket is one thing but who wants to go out and buy a brand new 3D camera? Now, with Snapily3D from HumanEyes Technologies, iPhone and iPad owners do not have to.

Using the simple on-screen instructions, users can take their own 3D pictures. From there, they have the option to order 3D prints directly from the app, share pictures through services like Facebook and Twitter, or view the photo right on their phone using various kinds of 3D glasses. There is even a glasses-free, cross-eyed mode and the option to manipulate a 2D photo, in 3D space, with the gyroscope. The app also features more conventional camera functionality like face detection and high definition shooting modes.

Preserve precious memories in three glorious dimensions. Snapily3D is available now on the App Store.

$1.99

Snapily3D

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-12-01 :: Category: Photography

The Bane of Yoto Animotion Comic Episode I: Monster is the first installment of a new stand-alone comic app released by Squiddle Games for enjoyment on the iOS device of your choice. The story of The Bane of Yoto is an original story created by Josh Voila and based on the novel The Bane of Yoto: Blade of the Arbitrators written by the same Josh Viola and Nicholas Karpuk in collaboration with New York Times best-seller Steve Alten, JC Hutchins and Keith Ferrell. In this sweeping sci-fi fantasy tale readers will learn the fate of Yoto, who is turned into a powerful beast when a magical dagger is stabbed into his chest. Yoto will have to choose whether to save his downtrodden race or destroy them with his new power.

The Bane of Yoto is more than just a comic book to read, though. This app integrates 3D animation and 2D artwork created by Nick Runge of IDW Comics and Tyler Kirkham of DC. The comic is also narrated.

This is currently available in the App Store for free, and is compatible with the iPhone 4 and 4S as well as the iPad and iPad 2.

FREE!

The Bane Of Yoto Episode 1: Monster

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-03-01 :: Category: Books

Gamesmold, developer of games like Puzzle Dozer and Cart Cow, has schedule the release for their upcoming 3-D runner, Blood Roofs, for next month.

Gameplay looks similar to recent hit, Temple Run. The player controls the runner by tilting the iOS device left and right to avoid obstacles and jumps by tapping the left side of the screen. In addition, the running character is carrying another female character that can fire her gun at incoming monsters by tapping the right side of the screen.

The game has some high quality 3-D graphics but the developers claim that it will work on some older devices such as the iPhone 3GS and iPad 1. According to comments on YouTube from the developers, it uses the Unity game engine. Also, the pricing isn’t fixed but it “won’t be too expensive.”

The storyline is supposedly inspired by H. P. Lovecraft. There’s a glimpse of a huge monster bursting out of a large building at the end of the trailer attached below.

This week at 148Apps, once we were all finished with our Halloween and post-Halloween merriment, writer Lisa Caplan explored the vast landscape of camera replacement apps for the iPhone. Caplan writes, “Apple has done a lot to improve the native camera app with iOS 5 and lucky iPhone 4S owners are already taking the highest quality iPhone images ever. But, even with the tune up, many of the most requested features from manual adjustments to photo bursts, darkroom effects to more sharing options (Facebook anyone?) are still lacking. But, the app store is filled with alternatives so this week we look at our favorite four camera replacement apps.”

Unlock your iPhone’s photo potential by reading the full article on 148Apps.com.

$0.99

Camera+

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-06-06 :: Category: Photography

Over at our kid’s apps headquarters, GiggleApps, Amy Solomon took a closer look at an innovative 3D comic book called The Gwaii. Solomon states, “This app does have some 3D effects as well that are best seen as one moves the device, looking at the additional angles that this provides. The 3D here is effective but somewhat overly sensitive to touch and there have been moments that I wish I would have turned this element off, trying to keep my hand steady to minimize the screen movements. I think this effect may be a distraction for some children, while others may really enjoy this effect.”

Read more about this new interactive storybook on GiggleApps.com.

$1.99

The Gwaii - 3D Comic Book

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-07-18 :: Category: Books

Finally, AndroidRundown featured an article by Carter Dotson that attempted to address the iOS versus Android ongoing argument head-on. Dotson says, “The thing to remember, though, is that Android and iOS are different in their very natures. iOS is a piece of Apple software, following Apple principles; it is designed to run on specific hardware. That is a big part of why the experience is often smoother. Android is designed to run on many, many forms of hardware, not just what Google has intended for it to run on. Yes, Google has their stock devices that run a pure Android, but Android is meant to be something bigger, and not as something tailored to one set of hardware. That Android is on the caliber of Android is impressive.”

Add your voice to the argument after reading the full article on AndroidRundown.com.

That is the week that was. What started with Halloween ended with the first onslaught of holiday commercials on television, so keep your eye on 148Apps.com and our Facebook and Twitter streams for the latest reviews and helpful hints to get you through the holiday season. See you next week, readers!

This week at 148Apps.com, writer Blake Grundman offered part one of his developer interview with the folks behind Squishy’s Revenge, Toy Studio. Grundman writes, “Despite only having been in existence since September of 2009 the team working behind the scenes at Toy Studio have been hard at work, churning out an impressive thirteen games in that short span. Having successfully released titles on both the Nook Color and Facebook, it seemed like the next logical step was to transition into the iOS space.”

Read the rest of part one at 148Apps.com, and keep checking in for parts two and three soon.

FREE!

Squishys Revenge

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-09-29 :: Category: Games

Over at 148Apps.biz, founder Jeff Scott reported on Unity’s big announcement at Unite11. Scott says, “Shown during the Unite11 keynote, Unity 3.5 includes lots of new, very impressive sounding features like Multi-threaded rendering, Improved occlusion culling, and Radiosity Normal Mapping lightmaps. All in all, about 40 major new features. I’m thinking this will make some developers very happy — and me, as a game player will reap the benefits! For a full list of new features in Unity 3.5, check out the press release.”

Read more about the big announcement on 148Apps.biz.

GiggleApps writer Amy Solomon contributed a review of Snap and Share Kids Cam, stating, “I take a lot of photos of my son, who will also now ask me to take a snapshot many times of things he finds amusing, sometimes asking me to email them to family members. This app easily allows a child his age to take and send photos himself, as this app is very simple to use and contains nice spoken prompts explaining each event leading up to the emailing of photos. So easy to use in fact, that I plan to use it myself as this application is surely quicker than taking a picture, finding it on the camera roll, tapping to email, typing the recipient’s email address and tapping again to send the email on its way.”

Read the rest of Solomon’s review on GiggleApps.

$1.99

Snap & Share Kids Cam

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-09-06 :: Category: Photography

And thus we come to another weekly round-up of 148Apps network goodness. There’s so much more to see on the various sites, so check them out for yourself – and don’t forget to follow our Twitter and Facebook feeds for daily news updates and contests galore. See you next time.

3D screens have come a heck of a long way in recent years. Once seen as a gimmicky technology that never quite achieved the desired affect, they’re now taking over the technological world. 3D screens at the cinema work great with the current biggest film at the box office being a 3D version of classic Disney flick, The Lion King. 3D TVs are spreading throughout people’s living rooms and even the handheld world benefits from the Nintendo 3DS and its glasses-less 3D capabilities. Now the potential of 3D reaches iOS devices courtesy of the CineXPlayer.

The potential is pretty impressive with users being able to watch 3D movies on their iPad with or without 3D glasses. The CineXPlayer software supports viewing with regular standard glasses, otherwise known as anaglyph (red/blue) glasses. These work by providing different images to the left and right eye through different colored filters. Another option is thanks to a partnership with GRilli3D. Users can also watch without glasses thanks to the GRilli3D protective filter on the screen that provides the glasses-free experience by placing a series of ‘barrier lines’ across the display, thus blocking different parts of the image to each eye. This 3D filter sheet is available for about $30.

Even more exciting is the potential for converting 2D imagery to 3D courtesy of CineXPlayer‘s real-time conversion capabilities which can generate a 3D effect for any Xvid video file. CineXPlayer‘s 3D capabilities also work with 3D content from 3D cameras providing a well rounded experience for those users keen to embrace all things 3D.

To further enhance such technological innovations, come October 28th, CineXPlayer will be updated with AC3 (Dolby Mobile) support making it the first app with official Dolby support. Impressive stuff, indeed, and a mere glimpse of what the future could hold for handheld technology.

CineXPlayer is available now for $2.99 with an in-app purchase for $1.99 to enable 3D support.

$3.99

CineXPlayer HD – The best way to enjoy your movies

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-08-06 :: Category: Utilities