(Abridged – With serious apologies to Clement Moore)

Twas the week before Christmas, and at 148Apps
All our writers were writing, and no one took naps.
The reviews were written and posted with care,
In hopes that our readers would soon find them there.

The staff were nestled and ready for sleep,
with visions of iPads, and not jumping sheep.
My iMac in sleep mode, my iPhone now mute,
I settled my brain and sighed a large, “w00t.”

When out of my office there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to my iPad I flew like a flash,
And searched for an app I could boot in a dash.

The light of my iPhone on the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a ping from the app store; new apps are now here.

When a little old email arrived on the spot,
I knew in a moment it must be Jeff Scott.
More rapid than IMs his websites they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now GiggleApps! now, 148Apps! both .com and .biz!
On, Android Rundown! On, BestAppEver! That’s all there is!
From the greatest new games, to the best apps of all!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

He spoke not to me, but to my device,
And Jeff quickly asked Siri if I had been nice.
Her answer was good, so he connected Wi-Fi,
And filled my gadgets with even more apps to try!

His work here now done, he gestured with a wave,
And called for his assistant, the jolly Rob LeFebvre.
But I heard them exclaim, as they logged off for the night,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

This week at 148Apps.com, founder Jeff Scott unleashed the mighty iPhone Service Survey onto an unsuspecting public. Editor Rob LeFebvre writes, “The iPhone 5 should be coming along fairly soon, and we wanted to take a moment to gauge where our readers were at with their current service and their plans for their future service. Because, of course you’re gonna get an iPhone 5, right? We hope to use this data to make some recommendations on what the best provider for the iPhone 5 will be for you, in your area.”

Read more about how you can help spread the word, and maybe win a $100 iTunes gift card, on 148Apps.com.

Not to be outdone, 148Apps.biz also featured a story about a new survey, this one courtesy of iOS developer Owen Goss. Owen “is wanting to get some data about iOS game revenue. His perspective is that smaller, independent game developers and studios really need better market dat, without hiring super expensive consulting firms to do so. He’s created a short, eight question survey that gathers no personally identifying information to that end. Now, he just needs iOS game developers to take it.”

Read the entire story on 148Apps.biz, and take the survey by clicking here.

On our apps-for-kids site, GiggleApps, writer Amy Solomon reviewed Food Heroes, “an application for iPad consisting of activities focused on teaching nutritious food choices with the nice use of colorful and fun illustrations. A simple matching game is included where the player turns over cards looking for pairs – here with a healthy food theme.A coloring page is also offered where children can fill in these drawings as well as food themes, with the tap of a color and the drag of a finger. An eraser is offered here, as if one has the ability to control the size of the line used when filling in these pages, and one can save his work as well – always nice options to have.”

Read more about Food Heroes on GiggleApps.

$1.99

Food Heroes

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2011-03-29 :: Category: Games

There’s always more heading your way across the 148Apps network, so tune in to our Facebook and Twitter channels for more news, and even a giveaway or two. See you next week!

Dedicated devices like the Kindle remain popular among book lovers—but did you know that you can get your eBook fix on your iPhone or iPod, too? There are a ton of great apps out there, most of them free, which put all that eReading power right at your fingertips.

Which one to use, however? In this roundup, we take a look at some of the top eReader contenders on the App Store. Scroll to the bottom to see which app we like best! Please note that this roundup focuses on the iPhone and iPod, not the iPad, though many of these apps are universal.

Kindle
Amazon’s Kindle app has a lot going for it. First and foremost is the Kindle Store, which is probably the most robust of all eBook stores and has relatively good prices. Kindle owners should be happy to know that you can transfer any Kindle eBooks attached to your account straight to your iPhone with this app! Reading ebooks in the Kindle app is also a breeze—the app’s interface is clean and simple, with some customizability and quick response times. I particularly like the free sample chapters. Keep in mind that Kindle books have their own DRM, so you can’t transfer them to other eReaders.

FREE!

Kindle – Read Books, Magazines & More – Over 1 Million eBooks & Newspapers

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Our Rating: :: RECOMMENDED
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-03-04 :: Category: Books

Stanza
Stanza was arguably the first successful eReader in the App Store, and it remains a contender. Stanza allows you to import your own eBooks from a variety of formats and offers the most customization options out of all the eReaders. (It was the App Store pioneer of the reversed black-screen-white-text option, which is beloved by those reading at night.) Additionally, Stanza makes it easy to access Project Gutenberg’s archives of free classics as well as integrating with a number of partner stores. Alas, Stanza lacks the coherency of the Kindle or Nook book stores (and their lower prices!). But if you want total control over your eBook library, Stanza remains the way to go. Note that Amazon now owns Stanza, giving them two strong contenders in the eReader ring!

FREE!

Stanza

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Our Rating: :: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2008-07-13 :: Category: Books

NOOK
Formerly the B&N eReader, Barnes and Nobles’ NOOK eBook app is similar to the Kindle app in that it comes tied to B&N’s preexisting eBook store. So, if you own a NOOK, you can access your full B&N library from your iPhone. Barnes and Nobles’ store seems to be somewhat smaller than Amazon’s Kindle store, but still boasts an impressive selection and low prices. The iPhone app itself is gorgeous, featuring colorful book covers and the usual bevy of customization options for the reader. The reader responds snappily. One unique feature to Barnes and Nobles’ eBook approach is the “LendMe” feature, which lets you share books with other users. Nice!

FREE!

NOOK from Barnes & Noble - Read 2 Million Books, Free Books, Magazines, and Newspapers

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2010-08-17 :: Category: Books

Kobo
Kobo is relatively new, and focuses on new and best-selling books. The glossy interface focuses on being pretty, but there’s a fair amount of functionality here, too. The store section of the app works wonderfully, with a number of handy categories. One new book is offered as a free download each week, and the prices are fair. Unfortunately, some trouble comes with the reader aspect. While the interface mostly stays out of your way and feels quite natural, it also suffers from the occasional crash. Ah, well; Kobo remains a nice contender, and it does support Instapaper integration.

FREE!

Kobo - 1 million FREE Books – Read eBooks!

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2009-02-26 :: Category: Books

iBooks
You’d think that Apple’s own pet bookstore would have shown up earlier, right? Unfortunately, the iBookstore leaves much to be desired in terms of both pricing and selection—I don’t think it’s comparable to Barnes and Nobles’ selection yet, let alone Amazon’s massive Kindle Store. Additionally, iBooks has a nasty habit of crashing right when you’re getting to the exciting part. I complained about many of these issues last June, and yet many of the problems persist half a year later.

FREE!

iBooks

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2010-04-02 :: Category: Books

The Conclusion
There are many strong contenders in the eBook space, and almost all of the popular apps are very, very good. If you own a Kindle or a NOOK, stick with the corresponding app. None of the eReader apps are sufficiently advanced to warrant giving up your existing library.

Otherwise, it’s a much tougher decision. After careful deliberation, I favor Kindle for iPhone. The Kindle app works wonderfully, with few bugs and a consistent history of updates. Additionally, its massive Kindle Store provides more eBooks than you could ever read. It’s a close race, but the Kindle app’s confident competence makes it the winner in my book.

DECISION: Kindle for iPhone

The weekend is almost here. Just a few more hours. Looking for a new game to play this weekend? Bored with what you have? Xbox-360 red ring of death (like me)? Well we’ve gone through and picked out a few really good games. Many you may never have heard of and most we haven’t had time to publish reviews of yet. But we think you’ll be happy with all of them.

Continue reading Looking For Something New to Play This Weekend? »