This week at 148Apps.com, we celebrated the release of Tweetbot, version 2.0. Blake Grundman and Jennifer Allen broke the news, then Carter Dotson wrote the full review. Dotson says, “There are very few apps that someone could say ‘this has been released!’ that I would buy immediately. Tweetbot for iPad was apparently on that list, because as soon as I saw on Twitter that the iPhone/iPod touch Twitter client was now available on iPad, I went out and bought it sight-unseen with an urgency unlike the way I approach many other things in my life.”
Released: 2012-02-08 :: Category: Social Networking
Meanwhile, on Giggleapps, reviewer Amy Solomon took a closer look at interactive storybook The Gnat and the Lion. She says, “My kids (ages 10 and 7) and I listened to the read-aloud story and watched the animated short film together before bedtime. We liked the animation, and watching African animals such as the lion and the rhino encouraged a discussion about African grasslands and the animals that live there. We liked the fact that the words are highlighted as the narrator reads them, which is very helpful for children who are learning to read. We also liked the narrator’s voice and accent and how it tied into the African-themed story.”
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-02-03 :: Category: Books
Finally, at 148Apps.biz, writer Brad Hilderbrand reported on the explosion of app usage during last week’s Super Bowl. Hildebrand states, “Sunday night’s Super Bowl matchup between the New England Patriots and New York Giants was a classic, but according to a new report from Flurry most viewers were just as likely to be staring at their smartphone screen as they were the game. The company used analytics software built into many popular apps to surmise that of the 111 million people watching the Super Bowl, an estimated 98 million spent at least some time futzing with an app.”
Another week down, but don’t forget to stay on top of all things related to the app-nation through us. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest news, reviews and contests right out of the gate. In the immortal words of Garrison Keillor, be well, do good work, and keep in touch. See you next week.
U-verse has released an app for subscribers to their TV and high-speed internet service that brings both control of their receiver, along with access to on demand video. By downloading AT&T U-verse for iPad and logging in to the user’s AT&T U-verse account, the app’s functions become available.
The app’s first function is to serve as a remote for a U-verse receiver. By setting up the U-verse receiver by turning to channel 9301 and enabling remote device access, it can then be discovered by the app. The app offers virtual remote buttons for changing the channel, rewind/fast-forward controls for recordings and live TV, pause/record buttons, and all the other basic commands available on the U-verse remote. As well, the app has an easy-access guide with the ability to quickly jump to the channel, and to record future programs easily. Receivers can be independently named and controlled, so it’s possible for multiple iPads to control different TVs in a house.
For those who have a secondary router on their network to extend their network or because of device incompatibility (AirPlay to an Apple TV has issues with the U-verse router in particular) will need to connect to the U-verse router directly, as even having both devices on the same secondary router will not work.
The app also offers on-demand video from U-verse’s on-demand selection that can actually be watched on the iPad itself. These videos can be watched anywhere, not just on the U-verse network. It ironically also supports AirPlay to a TV, which may explain just why the AirPlay protocol has issues with U-verse routers. The app does have the notable lack of any kind of live TV – especially considering that Comcast launched their own iPad app with live TV just a month ago.
Still, this app should make it much easier for U-verse users to control their TV and watch the content they want, thanks to the touch interface provided by the app. AT&T U-verse for iPad is available now.
American Express has launched an app for members and subscribers to their magazine, Departures, to help them find the best shopping, eating, drinking, and hotels in a variety of cities around the world with Departures Ultimate City Guides.
While there are plenty of apps for finding just those things in cities around the globe, this app clearly caters to more of a “high roller” crowd than those other apps. The magazine Departures is only available for Platinum and Centurion card members of American Express. Loosely translated, that means that this magazine and this app is for those that make a lot of money only. Getting a Platinum card apparently requires a six-figure income minimum. The Centurion card is available by invitation only, requires $150,000 of annual spending with American Express, and has a $2500/year membership fee, but it does come with a personal concierge service. Oh, and the card is made of titanium. The magazine also has content focused on issues of the 99% such as: plastic surgery addiction, custom clothing for men, and all kinds of articles on world travel.
This is an app for those who are looking for a higher class of digital travel guide, one that will not point out all the hotels around them, but the five-star hotels. This is for finding restaurants where the gratuity would likely feed a middle-class family of five for a week. This is for finding lounges where the cost of a bottle of wine would let a college student party for a full four years.
Note that while the app is free to download, to enter it, it requires an authentication code from an issue of the Departures magazine, which again, is only for those high-earning Platinum and Centurion cardholders with American Express. The app is universal, as having to download two separate versions of an app is just so upper-middle-class.
A photography app for switching around two faces in a photograph automatically, without any necessary configuration or input from the user? Sounds unlikely, right? Well, there are many, many apps out there for transforming our faces. Ones to make our faces fatter, ones to make our faces skinnier, Photo Booth is on the iPad for all kinds of crazy effects, and we can even turn ourselves into Star Wars characters now. But switching faces with someone else? Surely, that’s impossible! Face Fun says “No it’s not!” and “Don’t call me Shirley.”
Face Fun works by taking pictures of two people, and then automatically processing the image and switching their faces around. This does require an internet connection to work, as it utilizes Face.com’s face recognition API. This creates an immediate swap of the two faces, which can look rather freaky at first, as people have different face sizes, or the subjects might not be facing entirely forward. Thankfully, the app does let users manually adjust the faces to get them perfect. Swapped faces can be moved about, pinched and expanded to scale them, double-tapped to flip them around, and rotated around with a two-finger-twisting gesture. Photos can be imported from the Camera Roll, but the app recommends taking photos directly from within the app itself.
Face Fun comes with social features – photos can be saved to the Camera Roll, shared via email, Twitter, or Facebook. Facebook friends can also be tagged in photos with the app. Face Fun is thankfully and surprisingly universal – the iPad’s benefit for storing and viewing photographs is a selling point of the device, yet many photography apps tend to avoid iPad support, likely due to the iPad 2’s poor cameras and the iPad 1’s nonexistent cameras. So, while this might not be optimal for taking new photos on the iPad, importing and editing photos work very well on the larger screen. Face Fun is available now.
So, for those ready to file their taxes – they have all their paperwork ready at hand, their dependents counted, deductions itemized and ready to go, this means that it’s time to start filling out confusing paperwork, or hop on the computer, or just go down to a local tax professional, right? Nope. TurboTax doesn’t just have a way to estimate tax returns, there’s now a full-fledged iPad app for filing and submitting taxes. TurboTax guides users through the tax filing process with handy, user-friendly steps and language that is designed to hopefully make the process less confusing, and to help find deductions. As well, info from past TurboTax returns can be imported into the app to speed along the process.
TurboTax is free to download and use, with the only fees coming when it is time to e-file, then the app charges an in-app purchase for filing. The app supports both filing federal and state income taxes, though there is a separate fee for each filing. Still, for those looking to do their taxes the easy and technologically-savvy way on their iPad, this is a definite option. The app is available now.
With Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace being re-released in theaters with post-processed 3D, LucasArts has released an app called Darth Maul Me. Do note that the name is not an invitation for a Sith Lord to come and maul the user, but an app for turning the user into Darth Maul, Sith apprentice in the first prequel episode of the Star Wars series. Users can either import or take a photo of their face, zoom in and out to line up the eyes and get their head in frame. Then, they adjust the area of their face, and select from one of three Darth Maul effects, from the full-on makeup and horns look to just the crazy Sith eyes. Then, the image processes and the user is ready to go out and share to the world that they are a Sith, and proud of it, and there’s Facebook connectivity to help prove it. The Dark Side will only truly win if they receive enough likes on Facebook.
Launch Center has gotten a major new update that brings new automatic app detection. While the app launched with support for built-in notifications, now the app supports launching third-party apps with specific commands, that can be scheduled to appear as notifications on iPhone and iPod touch.
The way it launches third-party apps is that iOS lets apps register with the device a specific URL scheme. Like how websites begin with http://, apps can register as tweetbot:// or facebook://, for example. Thus, when the device prompts to open up one of these URLs, the app will open. As well, special commands can be added after the // that will perform actions in those apps. Launch Center has commands for a selection of apps with registered URL schemes that it can launch. Those apps that are installed are displayed at the top of Launch Center‘s list, and then the specific control options are given. Then, the command can either be just displayed in the Launch Center main list, or scheduled to be appear at a certain date and time.
The uses for this are many. Want to be reminded to post a tweet with Tweetbot, with the specific text automatically entered in, at a certain time? That can be done with this app. As well, an app like Camera+ that supports launching from external apps can be queued up, reminding users to launch it at a certain time. These notifications can also be customized with particular titles in Notification Center for greater convenience.
Note that the feature is not perfect: apps sometimes crash, or work better if they’ve been closed from the multitasking bar, instead of being loaded into an app currently in memory. These are more the fault of the apps in question, rather than anything Launch Center does, as it is just using the app URL schemes that apps have baked in to them. This update to Launch Center is available now as a free update.
In keeping with January’s health & fitness theme I’m taking a stab at some self-disclosure. I have a spinal cord injury with a host of related 14-karat diagnoses. I don’t use apps for the disabled, though, like those to help remind me to take my meds, find handicapped parking, get medical information or find online support communities. I don’t think anything on my iPad – including pictures – would hint that I have “special needs.” Nonetheless, iOS devices and apps have improved my health, both physical and mental.
I used to work for a major(ish) search engine and loved it. I made a decent wage, too. When they went belly-up I was recruited by a dream company, as first tier as it gets. But Canada has socialized medicine – something someone in my situation avails herself of often – and my husband is disabled too. He’s legally blind. Very. We joke it’s the crippled leading the blind around here – I’m allowed, you’re not and don’t we hide it well? We have a young son, live in a mortgage-free cottage in a wonderful little village with lots of community support. In the end, a move cross-country and below our Southern border proved imprudent.
That reasonable decision, however, left me in a bind that quickly became a stupor. Finding legit online work isn’t easy, much less something that accommodates the daily, often hourly, vagaries of my health. Nor does it come close to replacing what I was earning. When my son was in pre-school he was home enough to occupy a lot of my time, but when he started kindergarden full-time I fell into a mental malaise. If my leg muscles were atrophying from lack of use, my cerebral muscles were doing likewise from lack of social and intellectual stimulation.
Enter the iPad. In December 2010 I got one on what I now call iHanukkah. I received an iPhone upgrade too, but as much as I love it, smartphones are for people on the move. I am shut-in five to eight months a year so I use it for Slacker Radio, SMS, the camera and GPS. For me, the iPad was the transformative device.
I am an art nut, a history obsessed bookworm, talentless musician, and I used to indulge my backpacking wanderlust frequently. Discovering apps like MonetHD, Art Authority, Six Strings, Paris: DK Eyewitness and one revelatory digital book, Virtual History ROMA made my synapses salivate and reignited my passions – albeit in sedentary form.
I discovered styluses, capacitive brushes, and amazing art apps like procreate and Zen Brush that let my creativity flow. I loaded iBooks, Kindle, Zinio and PressReader – all with scalable fonts – and my mental muscles started to flex. I awakened to find a new way to use my creative writing background. There were no reviews of $9.99 Roma when I spotted it upon its debut. That’s a lot of coin on a disability pension, but temptation won and at first tap my eyes popped. I wrote a review myself. And then another. One was picked up by a review site, a couple of gigs followed and ta-da! I’m a bonafide blogger.
I am not out hiking because of my iPads and apps, nor do I break fewer bones nor get fewer infections. I have great apps that could help, like iMuscle for physical therapy and My Medical for health tracking, but I am organizationally impaired and forget (read skip) PT. But the use of mobile technology has allowed me post reviews from every local hospital, at home lying prone in bed and, in the summer, poolside. I can’t say I make even 1/2 of what I did before, but the freelancing is starting to add up – enough that I started my own iOS review and giveaway site.
I feel better. My mental health is improved, which is important when fighting any illness and linked to successful pain management. I have self-esteem and above all I am a role model to the squishy red-head in the pics who is now eight. As he sees me testing and tapping from dawn often to new dawn, 6 days a week, he learns that there are no real dis-abilities, just different abilities. Cliche? Maybe, but if one year with this tech can change my life so much, the future holds wondrous possibilities for access and inclusion for every kind of special need. Now all I need is an app to cure appaholism!
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If you have special needs and an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with their apps help you in unexpected ways, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.
The developer of Geom-E-Tree is back with a new app that combines artwork with the dark art of mathematics. PolygonFlux works using geometric principles to create what are called fluxagons, designs that are formed by vectors bouncing off the insides of a polygon. Users determine the starting point, determine the angle that it will fire off at, and watch as fluxagons are formed. Equilateral polygons can be formed in a number of sides from three to fourteen. The number of bounces can be controlled by pinching in and out, and double-tapping to return to 300 bounces, as higher numbers of bounces can cause even the latest iOS hardware to lag under the weight of the calculations. Precise angle measurements can be made as well; by tapping or swiping on different parts of the screen, the angles can be adjusted in degrees, minutes, and seconds.
There are a variety of themes to use with PolygonFlux to add style to the fluxagons, including “Fat Binary,” which uses alternating white and black lines to look like the design from Eddie Van Halen’s guitar. Fluxagons can be emailed to other people, saved to the Camera Roll, or saved to an internal album to be called back up specifically. PolygonFlux is available now for the iPad.
MyCityWay has a new app designed to help visitors find their way around their latest destination, or even their current one. MyCityWay USA offers information on restaurants, bars, hotels, shopping, tourist attractions, and more. Users choose the city which they want to view, from over 50 cities across the US offered in the app, a short information download initiates, and hten a variety of info on various types of places can be pulled up based on type. Location and phone info are offered, with the ability to call the place directly, view it on a map, and get directions to it. Restaurants that support OpenTable for reservations can be accessed through the app as well. Locations can be added to a list of favorites in the app, shared on Evernote, or added to contacts.
MyCityWay USA is not just for visitors – residents of cities. can use the app to find places that might be more appropriate to them, such as grocery stores, laundromats, and Craigslist listings. Of course, the two key essentials can be found in both app views: restrooms and wifi. Jobs also appears in both views – in case that vacation destination should turn into a new home. MyCityWay USA is available as a free download.
Whether your New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, have more energy, or just take better care of yourself, the iOS App Store has lots of fitness and health apps to help. We’ve taken a closer look at the best from Apple’s own New Year, New You list to help you pick the ones right for you.
P90X – By Beachbody, LLC
The P90X can be a punishing workout. Use this app to keep on track and keep the muscles burning with a schedule, track and sync progression with the P90X website, and purchase P90X workout bundles with video and audio guides.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-11-08 :: Category: Healthcare & Fitness
Gorilla Workout : Athletic Fitness Training on a Budget – By Heckr LLC
Working out is great, but unless a substantial in-home gym is available, it usually requires a trip to the gym. However, this app will instruct users on tons of different workouts at 4 different levels that require no equipment at all. A great way to get fit on a budget.
Pocket Yoga – By Rainfrog, LLC
Yoga is a great way to workout out at home, but unless a trained yoga instructor is handy it can be hard to do it right. This app will guide users through various yoga workouts with voice instructions and illustrated instructions. Airplay can also be used to play on a larger screen.
New Year, resolutions, and the like. Everyone, from local papers to Apple to us here at 148Apps are getting the word out about ways to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle. We’ve already taken a look at some apps that help us all acheive our goals, and we plan to continue that trend for the entire month, with personal stories from our crack writing team, continued reviews, and focused features like our Favorite Four.
Here’s what we have for you from the past couple of weeks. Stay tuned right here for even more Health and Fitness goodness for your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Abs Workout For iPad Review
“Abs Workout for iPad is definitely a good place for the user to start on their quest for a better body, although Levels 2 and 3 will need to be purchased after a while, as abs gets stronger, and exercises become easier.”
All-in-Pedometer Review
“For the walker, All-in Pedometer is ideal, focusing on one key aspect and doing a fine job of keeping the user informed throughout.”
Favorite Four iPhone Apps for Sticking to a New Year’s Diet
“As we mentioned in our favorite four apps for keeping New Year resolutions, weight loss (as well as getting into and staying in good healthy shape) tops most people’s list of desired self-improvements. Few other goals are harder to achieve, however. We don’t have the secret formula, but we do have four iPhone apps that make getting into the right shape a lot easier.”
WANT! is an app for essentially irrationally exuberant window shopping in a digital world where the windows are our LCD screens. Users look through the various categories of items in the app, searchable by name, or through the most popular categories. Photographs can then be swiped through, and users can indicate which items they want, by “wanting” it, similar to “liking” a post on Facebook. Items can be viewed on the web for purchasing, in case “wanting” turns into really wanting. Items can also be commented on, shared to Facebook, Twitter, or email. Users can be asynchronously followed in order to see their list of wants, and favorite WANT! categories can be saved. Of course, users can easily share their own items to the service, by either taking a photo of it with their device’s camera, or by uploading a photo from their Camera Roll. Sure, it’s social window shopping, but it means the whole practice of window shopping can be done in the privacy of one’s own home, without wearing pants. That’s usually frowned upon in public. Usually.
Recently, a startup named CloudOn launched their eponymous app that offers users the ability to edit Microsoft Office files on their iPad. The app supported Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and Excel spreadsheets, all available through CloudOn’s WorkSpace technology. As well, it supported Dropbox synchronization for uploading and editing files from the cloud-based storage service, and the ability to open attachments from the email client in the app directly. The app also launched for free, which compared to most apps with similar functionality was a steep discount.
Astute readers will notice the usage of past tense throughout the article so far. That’s because a free app with the ability to use Microsoft Office on the iPad was apparently quite popular. The app launched on January 3rd, and was so initially popular that CloudOn had to pull the app from the App Store in order to meet demand. They’re currently accepting invitations to get back in to the service when the app relaunches, though no date has been offered for when it will be back up for download. Until then, we’ll have to suffer the tyranny of editing our Office documents on our computer, or with pricey paid apps!
Rebel and Bird AB and Springworks AB have announced an upcoming application that will try to help Spotify users — or at least those with Spotify Premium — discover new music while on the go. Their app, SpotON Radio, will allow users to log in to their Spotify accounts and have custom radio stations built for them based on their Spotify data. According to Rebel and Bird’s Peter Blom, “We’re all passionate music fans and love discovering new music which can often be a challenge. Even though you now have access to an endless library thanks to Spotify, it’s hard to seek out new songs and you often end up listening to the same playlists over and over again. We wanted to change that and that’s where the idea for SpotON Radio started.”
It will work similarly to Pandora, where users enter in a starting point like their favorite artist, and then the app will find similar tracks based on that. This is all based on Spotify’s API, using their library of music (accessible through the user’s premium subscription which offers the access to the tracks) to supply the tracks for the service. SpotON Radio launches on January 9th as a free app with no ads at all, though the developers tease that it may not stay that way always. The app will be available from this link, so Spotify Premium users will want to keep an eye out for this.
We live in a digital era. We carry powerful computers around, able to communicate with anyone in the world, in our pockets! So why are we still trying to share our contact information through tiny little cards on printed paper stock? Card Swapp asks, why not share this information through QR codes? This app allows for users to encode their vital contact info – name, address, email, phone number, and social media usernames – into a QR code that can be shared with anyone. Users of Card Swapp can scan the code into the app directly through its quick and easy QR code reader. Non-Card Swapp users will be directed to a website that will display the contact’s information for them. Users of the Lite version of the app can export the information to email; the Pro version allows for the export of contacts to Google, Yahoo, and Outlook. For users looking to make it easier to share their information using an easily-distributable QR code, this is a viable option.
New classified service Antengo is trying to change up the way that users use online classified services by mixing elements of social networking apps like Twitter and Instagram to try and streamline and improve the experience. Users post their classifeieds to Antengo, using 140 characters or less to describe their item (sounds just like some other service!), posting a photo and the geolocation of the item or service being offered. Users of Antengo can send messages through a variety of methods: Antengo’s own messaging service, SMS, calling, email, Facebook, or Twitter, depending on the seller’s settings. Lists can be browsed either through a list of each item, map display of items in nearby proximity, or even in a photo-by-photo view. Antengo isn’t just for random people trying to sell the stuff they don’t want any more – businesses are using the service to advertise deals, like bars posting their drink specials to the service. $1 well whiskey Wednesdays? I want to go to there. Antengo is free to download and use for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Happy Holidays! If you’re like many folks, you’ll have gotten a new iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch this holiday season. And if you’re looking for a place to learn all about this new magical device in your life, you’ve come to the right place. 148Apps has tons of resources on using your new device and filling it with the best thing about it: apps.
Learning The Basics
The operating system of these devices is one of the most intuitive around. However, there’s always more waiting under the hood to make things just that much easier or better on us. While your new iPhone or iPad may not come with a manual, you can download one fairly simply from the iBooks Store. First, grab iBooks (FREE!, + Universal App), then grab the manual for your new iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.
Speaking of the operating system, we’ve written a few articles about the latest and greatest from Cupertino right here on 148Apps. Check out our Full Feature Roundup on iOS 5.
We even published some downloadable magazine-style User Guides last year, on each of the devices. Feel free to grab them and read through them – many of the tips and tricks included there are just as relevant today as they were then. iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
To the iCloud!!!
You may have seen some of the information about iCloud in the Apple TV commercials. It’s a great system that gives you unprecedented storage and sharing options. Here’s a short intro to iCloud from Apple.
We’ve got you covered with iCloud as well. Here’s information on both moving your data to the iCloud to help keep things synced and backed up. You may also need more information on how you set up iCloud in a multiple user family. This details all the ins and outs of multiple user groups who may otherwise share iTunes accounts.
There Really is an App for That
Once you’ve got a good handle on using that sleek new iOS device, you’ll of course want to dive in and start downloading apps. Whether you’re an avid gamer, a music lover, a book reader or even (gasp) all three, you’ll find everything you need in the iTunes Store.
When it comes to Apps, iOS has no peer. There are over 500,000 apps in the App Store, so you’ll doubtlessly find something you like. The trick, however, is filtering through all of those apps to find the specific things you want. That can be tricky, but luckily there are many ways to help.
First off are our very own reviews. We review a ton of apps weekly to give you the best recommendations about the best apps we find. Be sure to look through our Reviews lists, which can be filtered by type of app as well as sorted by date, app name, or app rating. If you just want to read reviews of our highest rated iPad games, for example, it’s an easy click. And for on the go browsing of 148Apps reviews, grab the 148Apps App (FREE!, iPhone App).
In addition, we have our famous Price Drops lists, which can be sorted to just show the latest drops in prices, or even just the latest FREE apps. Very handy, if we say so ourselves. If you’re looking for the very latest additions to the App Store, we have a list for that, as well as one for the Top Apps across all the App Store categories for each device. Then of course there’s always the very best of the best in free apps available in the free games and free apps lists.
If you want even more app discovering goodness, you might want to check out a few apps made to help you wade through the App Store. Some of our favorites are AppShopper (FREE!, + Universal App), Chomp (FREE!, iPhone App), and AppZapp (FREE!, iPhone App). There are even specific apps to help you find the latest free apps. Some of the best include Free App A Day (FREE!, iPhone App), Apps Gone Free (FREE!, iPhone App), and Free App Alliance (FREE!, iPhone App). These will all help you sort and find and browse apps and games to your heart’s content; we use them all the time to find new great apps to use and write about on the site.
Where Else To Find 148Apps?
We’re everywhere, really. However, the best places to find us are on Twitter, Facebook, and now even Google+. Be sure to come visit and chat with us there. We’re ever so responsive.
Free Apps You Shouldn’t Do Without
Now, we wouldn’t be the premier Apps review site without some sort of parting gift, now would we? How about some apps you really should try out? To make the deal even sweeter, let’s make them free apps.
iBooks, Nook, & Kindle – Reading ebooks is all the rage these days, especially on these fancy new iOS devices. We love reading on our iPad, and have even been known to crack a virtual spine or two on our iPhone while waiting at the doctor’s office. For those of you with shorter attention spans, there’s always Newsstand, iOS’s magazine subscription service. Some of the best ereader apps include iBooks (FREE!, + Universal App), Nook for iPhone (FREE!, + Universal App), Nook for iPad (FREE!, iPad App), and Kindle (FREE!, + Universal App). Happy reading!
Facebook, Twitter, & Instant Messaging – Keep in touch with family, friends, and us – your favorite Apps website – with these free social networking apps. Tell ‘em 148Apps sent you!
There’s Facebook (FREE!, + Universal App), Twitter (FREE!, + Universal App) though Tweetbot ($2.99, iPhone App) is much better, though not free like the official Twitter app.
For instant messaging, check out imo (FREE!, iPhone App) and imo for iPad (FREE!, iPad App). And don’t forget Skype (FREE!, iPhone App) and Skype for iPad (FREE!, iPad App). We’ve become big fans of GroupMe (FREE!, iPhone App) lately too for group communication.
Gaming on the Cheap – Now, we put out a sweet weekly article that tells you about the latest FREE gaming apps, but here are a few we think you won’t want to miss. We could go on for hours about it, really, but these should get you off to a good start.
For a great free endless runner, check out Temple Run (FREE!, + Universal App). A wonderful game. For some great physics puzzle fun, the new king is Where's My Water? Free (FREE!, + Universal App) and you can never go wrong with the classic Angry Birds Free (FREE!, iPhone App). A couple other free games we really like include The Sims Freeplay (FREE!, + Universal App) and TinyTower (FREE!, + Universal App).
You should also check out our massive iOS game and app sale post. There are tons of great deals and quite a few temporarily free apps there. Be sure to grab the great Jetpack Joyride (FREE!, + Universal App) while it’s free. It’s one of our favorite games of the year.
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about your new magical iOS devices. The iPad, iPhone and iPod touch are some of the best new gadgets to give or receive. Be sure to come back often to see what we have for you; we’re always looking to find the news or apps you want to know about first. From all of us here to all of you out there, Happy Holidays!!!
Music and programming seem very different, but upon some reflection, and after using Glitch Machine, I realize their similiarities. Both essentially use a language that must be learned and manipulated in order to create the desired output. Glitch Machine is essentially music creation for programmers. It is a “generative music synthesizer” where chiptune-esque beats are created through the use of expressions to create beats. Lines of code help create beats, which can be edited in real time.
To say this app has a learning curve would be an understatement – it is very sharp, because it essentially requires the learning of a new programming language. Thankfully, there are a variety of pre-made example songs in the app which are user-editable; this is the easiest way to figure out how to make sounds that aren’t just loud screeches, or how to make sounds period! When actually listenable, comprehensible music is made, the songs can be exported through iTunes File Sharing as WAV files, and can be shared with the world through Twitter.
Netflix has recently updated their app to version 2.0, bringing a pair of major changes to it. The first is that the app is now available in Latin America, so our friends south of the border can now enjoy streaming movies and TV shows. The other big update is for iPad users, as the interface has been entirely revamped. Categories and users’ instant queue are now displayed as horizontally-scrollable lists, with the ability to resume recently watched items at the top. This UI update brings it more in line with Netflix interfaces on other platforms, as they use similarly-organized display lists. Along with a similar update for the Xbox 360, it appears that Netflix is trying to bring some kind of unified interface across the many platforms they are on. The iPhone/iPod touch interface has not received a similar redesign, but this is probably due to issues with getting such an interface working on the smaller screens.
Between the recent announcement of Fruit Ninja plush toys and inadvertent reveal of the Fruit Ninja followup, the franchise is everywhere. It may be easy to forget that their Puss in Boots tie-in came out recently. For those that live under a rock (and who can blame them, the rent is cheap there), a new Lite version of Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots is now available. This allows players to sample the game’s new mode, Bandito mode. Here, players can sample the first 2 rounds of Bandito, taking on challenges to slice certain quantities of fruit in a certain amount of time, with a variety of different setups to try and master. This Bandito mode is the main selling point of the full game, and this gives players that haven’t checked it out to see what’s new. Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots Lite is available in versions for both the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad.
iA Writer has made a breakthrough, allowing for writers to seamlessly work between their iPad and their Mac. Because no one’s truly a writer without being a Mac owner. But wait, I’m a Windows owner! I might not be for much longer, though, after hearing about this news: iA Writer now supports iCloud synchronization of text files between the Mac and iPad versions of the software, with text files updating on the fly between the two platforms. Text files can even be left open on one device and picked up on the othe, then can be continued on the other as the user desires. While the app continues to offer Dropbox syncing, it does not offer the live synchronization that this app does at the moment. iA Writer is now available on sale for $1.99 for iPad, and $8.99 for Mac. An iPhone/iPod touch version is planned, but not currently available, and so the complete writing synchronization dream goes deferred…
This week at 148Apps.com was all about the US celebration of Thanksgiving, and the inevitable retail aftermath known as Black Friday. Rather than fight the crowds, 148Apps founder Jeff Scott put together a comprehensive Black Friday app sale list that continues to grow, and grow and grow. Scott says, “App sales are nothing new, but the biggest of the year is here, and we’ll be tracking the best of the sale apps right here. Expect lots of updates over the weekend.”
Jeff Scott also invited faithful 148Apps.biz readers to attend the upcoming AppNation III conference, saying, “Want to attend AppNation III? 148Apps network readers can get a 30% discount on the registration fee by using code 148APPS on the registration page.”
Meanwhile, at AndroidRundown, site editor Rob LeFebvre celebrated the release of Disney interactive’s Where’s My Water? for the Android platform. LeFebvre writes, “Android has been part of the plan since the development of Where’s My Water? for the iPhone crowd. In fact, the game was originally developed with C++, to make it easier to port to Android. The challenge, he said, is making sure the game is the same high quality experience across the myriad devices represented by Google’s hip operating system.”
Finally, on our parent-friendly GiggleApps site, Amy Solomon reviewed Don’t Let The Pigeon Run This App! Solomon writes, “I love these books. Pigeon can be cheeky, and my son has used pigeons’s one-liners, such as offering to “Give you five bucks” himself to try to stay up late. For this reason, some parents may feel that this pigeon is a bad influence on children, but I love the idea of my son practicing his ability to say “no” to this scheming pigeon as I want him to be prepared to stand his ground later in life when he is confronted by peer pressure, and I want him to recognize when he is being manipulated.”
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-10-27 :: Category: Books
And that’s a wrap for this Thanksgiving week! But don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook to get the latest news, reviews and contests. See you next time!
This week at 148Apps.com, site founder Jeff Scott welcomed the Kindle Fire into the tablet fold with an overview of his impressions of the device. Scott says, “…while the Kindle Fire is around 40 percent the cost of a base level iPad, it’s capabilities are even less. It just so happens that those capabilities match up well with what a typical consumer uses a tablet device for. Because of that, the Kindle Fire will be a strong competitive device to the iPad. When it comes down to it, it’s the cost that matters to a very large portion of the buying public, not the capabilities.”
Meanwhile, our sister site, GiggleApps, took a closer look at a new educational app for children, iLuv Drawing Animals. Reviewer Amy Solomon writes, “iLuv Drawing Animals is a nice choice for kids who are interested in learning the very basics of drawing cartoony animals that are cute and relatively easy to draw. I like how these illustrations are broken down into smaller shapes that kids will easily understand and have had experience with, and the narration is pleasant and easy to follow.”
iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2011-10-10 :: Category: Education
Finally, on AndroidRundown, Carter Dotson announced the public availability of Google Music, an interesting development for all music lovers, no matter the device. Dotson writes, “Most importantly, this means that Google is now in the business of one of the big pillars of media, and it addresses a gaping hole in the Android Market. With videos and books already addressed, now the store is complete with music to go along with apps. Google is directly putting themselves in competition with iTunes, and they are making their operating system much closer in terms of features to iOS devices. This was a necessary move for Google.”
As we head into the week of Thanksgiving here in the US, remember that you can still enter to win an iPhone 4S, courtesy of 148Apps and Gameloft. To enter, just become a 148Apps and Gameloft Facebook fan – www.facebook.com/gameloft and www.facebook.com/148apps.
Or you can follow both of us on Twitter as well at www.twitter.com/148apps and www.twitter.com/gameloft. Then, write the following public tweet: “Upgrade to a 4S yet? Follow @Gameloft & @148Apps & RT for a chance to win an iPhone 4S! Gameloft gaming on the 4S: http://glft.co/uIR3Y1″
See you next week, true believers! Start thawing that turkey!
The beauty of the .fm TLD is that when a site or service uses it, it almost automatically denotes that a music-related service is located here. Shuffler.fm proudly does not lie, as it is in fact a music service, with an iPad app now available. Shuffler.fm aggregates music blogs, and organizes them into channels of individual genres. The beauty of the app is that there are few if any videos that aren’t available, as the app uses some trickery to appear as if YouTube videos aren’t being viewed from mobile, so all songs and videos I attempted to play worked properly, even when the source web pages appeared to have the embedded videos blocked. As well, videos can be minimized and listened to while searching through other channels. Note that the channel aggregation is far from perfect. The evidence for that? Beyonce and Bette Midler songs popped up in the Black Metal channel. That’s about as far away from black metal as one could possibly get, I think. With some more curation of the source blogs that make up the channels, this app could prove to be a truly great music discovery tool, though even in its current state there are some gems to be found.
The idea of the “second screen” during TV viewing has arisen recently, as TV watchers increasingly use their phones and now tablets while watching TV. An app called Umami is now available that allows users to interact with their TV shows as they’re on. Users can see social feeds from the general public and show cast members, browse information on recent episodes, and more. Some shows offer interactive elements such as polls for users to share their opinions, along with Twitter and Facebook support. The app uses audio fingerprinting recognition to detect what show is currently being watched, and to automatically pull up the correct show and episode information. This doesn’t just work with live TV; recorded shows that have recently aired can also be matched by the app. Shows can also be manually pulled up by users if they want to look up another show while not watching TV or watching something else. Umami is available now for free from the App Store.
This week at 148Apps, Tweetbot was on a roll, a new storybook app joined the fold, and - oops - apps broke the Super Bowl. There's more to read, so get to it!
:: WELL-BUILT MACHINE
Finally, at 148Apps.biz, writer Brad Hilderbrand reported on the explosion of app usage during last week’s Super Bowl. Hildebrand states, “Sunday night’s Super Bowl matchup between the New England Patriots and New York Giants was a classic, but according to a new report from Flurry most viewers were just as likely to be staring at their smartphone screen as they were the game. The company used analytics software built into many popular apps to surmise that of the 111 million people watching the Super Bowl, an estimated 98 million spent at least some time futzing with an app.”
:: A BIT LIGHT
In keeping with January’s 
Enter the iPad. In December 2010 I got one on what I now call iHanukkah. I received an iPhone upgrade too, but as much as I love it, smartphones are for people on the move. I am shut-in five to eight months a year so I use it for 
I am not out hiking because of my iPads and apps, nor do I break fewer bones nor get fewer infections. I have great apps that could help, like 
The developer of 
MyCityWay has a new app designed to help visitors find their way around their latest destination, or even their current one. MyCityWay USA offers information on restaurants, bars, hotels, shopping, tourist attractions, and more. Users choose the city which they want to view, from over 50 cities across the US offered in the app, a short information download initiates, and hten a variety of info on various types of places can be pulled up based on type. Location and phone info are offered, with the ability to call the place directly, view it on a map, and get directions to it. Restaurants that support OpenTable for reservations can be accessed through the app as well. Locations can be added to a list of favorites in the app, shared on Evernote, or added to contacts.
WANT! is an app for essentially irrationally exuberant window shopping in a digital world where the windows are our LCD screens. Users look through the various categories of items in the app, searchable by name, or through the most popular categories. Photographs can then be swiped through, and users can indicate which items they want, by “wanting” it, similar to “liking” a post on Facebook. Items can be viewed on the web for purchasing, in case “wanting” turns into really wanting. Items can also be commented on, shared to Facebook, Twitter, or email. Users can be asynchronously followed in order to see their list of wants, and favorite WANT! categories can be saved. Of course, users can easily share their own items to the service, by either taking a photo of it with their device’s camera, or by uploading a photo from their Camera Roll. Sure, it’s social window shopping, but it means the whole practice of window shopping can be done in the privacy of one’s own home, without wearing pants. That’s usually frowned upon in public. Usually.
Recently, a startup named CloudOn launched their eponymous app that offers users the ability to edit Microsoft Office files on their iPad. The app supported Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and Excel spreadsheets, all available through CloudOn’s WorkSpace technology. As well, it supported Dropbox synchronization for uploading and editing files from the cloud-based storage service, and the ability to open attachments from the email client in the app directly. The app also launched for free, which compared to most apps with similar functionality was a steep discount.
Rebel and Bird AB and Springworks AB have announced an upcoming application that will try to help Spotify users — or at least those with Spotify Premium — discover new music while on the go. Their app, SpotON Radio, will allow users to log in to their Spotify accounts and have custom radio stations built for them based on their Spotify data. According to Rebel and Bird’s Peter Blom, “We’re all passionate music fans and love discovering new music which can often be a challenge. Even though you now have access to an endless library thanks to Spotify, it’s hard to seek out new songs and you often end up listening to the same playlists over and over again. We wanted to change that and that’s where the idea for SpotON Radio started.”
We live in a digital era. We carry powerful computers around, able to communicate with anyone in the world, in our pockets! So why are we still trying to share our contact information through tiny little cards on printed paper stock? Card Swapp asks, why not share this information through QR codes? This app allows for users to encode their vital contact info – name, address, email, phone number, and social media usernames – into a QR code that can be shared with anyone. Users of Card Swapp can scan the code into the app directly through its quick and easy QR code reader. Non-Card Swapp users will be directed to a website that will display the contact’s information for them. Users of the Lite version of the app can export the information to email; the Pro version allows for the export of contacts to Google, Yahoo, and Outlook. For users looking to make it easier to share their information using an easily-distributable QR code, this is a viable option.
New classified service Antengo is trying to change up the way that users use online classified services by mixing elements of social networking apps like Twitter and Instagram to try and streamline and improve the experience. Users post their classifeieds to Antengo, using 140 characters or less to describe their item (sounds just like some other service!), posting a photo and the geolocation of the item or service being offered. Users of Antengo can send messages through a variety of methods: Antengo’s own messaging service, SMS, calling, email, Facebook, or Twitter, depending on the seller’s settings. Lists can be browsed either through a list of each item, map display of items in nearby proximity, or even in a photo-by-photo view. Antengo isn’t just for random people trying to sell the stuff they don’t want any more – businesses are using the service to advertise deals, like bars posting their drink specials to the service. $1 well whiskey Wednesdays? I want to go to there. Antengo is free to download and use for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Music and programming seem very different, but upon some reflection, and after using Glitch Machine, I realize their similiarities. Both essentially use a language that must be learned and manipulated in order to create the desired output. Glitch Machine is essentially music creation for programmers. It is a “generative music synthesizer” where chiptune-esque beats are created through the use of expressions to create beats. Lines of code help create beats, which can be edited in real time.
Netflix has recently updated their app to version 2.0, bringing a pair of major changes to it. The first is that the app is now available in Latin America, so our friends south of the border can now enjoy streaming movies and TV shows. The other big update is for iPad users, as the interface has been entirely revamped. Categories and users’ instant queue are now displayed as horizontally-scrollable lists, with the ability to resume recently watched items at the top. This UI update brings it more in line with Netflix interfaces on other platforms, as they use similarly-organized display lists. Along with a similar update for the Xbox 360, it appears that Netflix is trying to bring some kind of unified interface across the many platforms they are on. The iPhone/iPod touch interface has not received a similar redesign, but this is probably due to issues with getting such an interface working on the smaller screens.
Between the 
iA Writer has made a breakthrough, allowing for writers to seamlessly work between their iPad and their Mac. Because no one’s truly a writer without being a Mac owner. But wait, I’m a Windows owner! I might not be for much longer, though, after hearing about this news: iA Writer now supports iCloud synchronization of text files between the Mac and iPad versions of the software, with text files updating on the fly between the two platforms. Text files can even be left open on one device and picked up on the othe, then can be continued on the other as the user desires. While the app continues to offer Dropbox syncing, it does not offer the live synchronization that this app does at the moment. iA Writer is now available on sale for $1.99 for iPad, and 
This week at 148Apps.com was all about the US celebration of Thanksgiving, and the inevitable retail aftermath known as Black Friday. Rather than fight the crowds, 148Apps founder 
This week at 
Finally, on AndroidRundown, 
The beauty of the .fm TLD is that when a site or service uses it, it almost automatically denotes that a music-related service is located here. Shuffler.fm proudly does not lie, as it is in fact a music service, with an iPad app now available. Shuffler.fm aggregates music blogs, and organizes them into channels of individual genres. The beauty of the app is that there are few if any videos that aren’t available, as the app uses some trickery to appear as if YouTube videos aren’t being viewed from mobile, so all songs and videos I attempted to play worked properly, even when the source web pages appeared to have the embedded videos blocked. As well, videos can be minimized and listened to while searching through other channels. Note that the channel aggregation is far from perfect. The evidence for that? Beyonce and Bette Midler songs popped up in the Black Metal channel. That’s about as far away from black metal as one could possibly get, I think. With some more curation of the source blogs that make up the channels, this app could prove to be a truly great music discovery tool, though even in its current state there are some gems to be found.
]
