Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 3rd, 2013 iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
Instagram, the popular app that lets you create and share photos, has been updated and adds photos of you. Now, before sharing your images, you can add people to each photo and share the profile of the person who’s accompanying you on your latest outing. This also includes a new tab on your profile page that allows you to see what images people have tagged you in.
Wow, what a month it’s been for racing fans. Specifically Real Racing fans! You might recall how we kicked things off with our three-part series documenting the history of the Real Racing series, Firemint’s (now Firemonkeys’) approach to designing the first two games, and a peek at Real Racing 3’s Time Shifted Multiplayer that everyone’s been talking about. If you don’t recall you should give them a read. You know, for science or something. Not because I wrote them and am proud of my work or anything.
Since it’s been something of a non-stop Real Racing 3 party here at 148Apps we wanted to draw things to a close with a bit of style. Which is why we’re going to capitalize on all the spirit of Time Shifted competition and challenge you, our readers, to a race. Specifically the Pure Stock Challenge, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Nissan Silvia (S15) Showcase Cup race pictured above. I think I’ve typed that out correctly. Why this event? Because it requires one of the first cars new players will have access to and doesn’t allow for any other; providing as even and easily accessible a playing field as we could find.
All you have to do is drive your heart out. Snap a screen shot (hit the Power and Home buttons on your iOS device at the same time) of your best time and post it in the comments below along with your Game Center username. We’ll pick random winners from all of the entries and post the results here on Monday (3/4) afternoon.
The prizes? We’ll give away three $10 iTunes gift cards to spend how you see fit. Although in the spirit of the contest we’d suggest something like, oh, maybe the Race Car Booster Pack that includes 65 gold and a 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR-X?
Update: We’ll contact our three winners via email. Thanks for playing and look for more Real Racing 3 contests coming up soon.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted February 1st, 2013 by Jennifer Allen Our Rating: :: FLAWED AUDIO SHARING
Digisocial is a quick and easy way of sharing voice clips and pictures with the world, but it lacks some all-important privacy options for the more wary of us out there.
Posted November 14th, 2012 by Carter Dotson Our Rating: :: HEAD IN THE CLOUD
Knightly Adventure's individual social and action-RPG components may not be all that remarkable when apart, but put together with cloud-based saving? It's a solid package.
Posted by Rob LeFebvre on November 8th, 2012 + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Social newsreader Pulse updates its iPhone app to include iPad in this new update, adding a fully redesigned interface and other great features. Will it replace Editor’s Choice recipient, Flipboard, as the king of the hill? Check it out and let us know in the comments below.
★ Unlimited Pages: Add as many sources as you want to follow via Pulse!
★ Improved Navigation: Access any page, settings, catalog and your saved stories effortlessly via a brand new sidebar!
★ Comprehensive Search: Search for any website, person, brand or topic and find results from Tumblr, Youtube, Reddit, Facebook, Google, Flickr, Blekko, and more!
★ Simpler Customization: Edit button on every page to quickly personalize your Pulse.
★ Infinite Scrolling: Keep swiping horizontally to read as many stories as you want from any source in Pulse.
Posted by Jeff Scott on October 26th, 2012 iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
High Limit Sports is a free to play social game all based on sports betting. I liken it to a Betting with Friends type game. The game allows you to bet on NFL, College Football, MLB, NBA, NHL, College Basketball and they are adding more sports regularly.
Posted by Jeff Scott on October 23rd, 2012 iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
Timehop is an interesting idea. It goes through your social history, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Foursquare, and even the photos on your phone and looks for events. It will then show you what you were doing on this date a year ago, or more. It’s your own personal “This day in history” app.
Socialvest is the latest app that hopes to give something back to worthy causes.
Previously a desktop based product, the app lets users shop with their iPhones, before receiving money back from each purchase that can be used to donate to over 1.5M different non-profit organisations.
Hundreds of different stores are available through the app, covering a wide range of different wants and needs. Major stores such as Amazon and Best Buy are available, as well as other more niche examples.
Each store offers a different percentage of spend that will go to a charity, making it clear to see what money is going where. It’s then similarly easy to decide on a charity or cause and watch the money go towards helping someone or something less fortunate.
It’s a neat idea and it’ll be fascinating to see how much Socialvest raises for good causes in the long term.
Socialvest is available now for the iPhone, and it’s free to download.
Freemium social games are all well and good, but a number of them are decidedly lacking in certain places. Namely in action. That’s probably why it’s so easy to take notice when companies like Pangalore announce a game like Knightly Adventure.
Knightly Adventure is indeed a social game, and it does indeed possess a bunch of typical fantasy RPG elements; stuff like medieval kingdoms, quests, hostile monsters, colorful storybook-like graphics, and so on. But while it adheres to many freemium norms, it also attempts to deviate in that one key area. Amidst all the kingdom building, character customizing, friend gathering, and so on is a much more interactive action RPG approach to the quests. With the option of choosing between four character classes (swordsman, wizard, bowman, or knight) available to further sweeten the deal.
This free-to-play cross-platform (mobile, tablet, or Facebook) super-hyphenated fantasy adventure will be setting up shop in the App Store sometime next month. Presumably and preferably soon.
Brewster has less to do with drinking beer than the name suggests. It could make it a heck of a lot easier to arrange meeting up with friends, however.
The app offers a personalized address book experience. Appreciating that everyone is involved with numerous different social networks, Brewster brings everything together to create a personalized and merged view of your contacts.
Working in conjunction with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Gmail, Foursquare and the iPhone Contacts list, Brewster adds images to every contact, while also providing updates and trends, job changes, house moves, and everything else anyone could ever want from such a consolidated service. It’ll even figure out mutual connections which can uncover some surprising results.
Lists ensure that nothing feels too overwhelming, with a favorites list for extra organization. Throughout the app, everything about Brewster is stylish and intuitive to use.
A lot of people enjoy Scrabble. Like a lot. But while the current official iOS rendition is doing okay, it’s been in need of a little tweaking for a while. Well the time for tweaking is nigh.
The list of changes includes a much-improved user interface that not only looks nice but makes setting up matches and finding friends a lot easier. In fact, it makes the act of setting up a game into about as painless a process as I’ve seen yet. The chat features have also been updated, and even include some pretty wacky emoticons. There’s also a rather handy new feature that will allow players to see what other words they might have made with their letters after (emphasis on after) their turn is submitted, which should help to even out the playing field a little for the less spell-savvy while still keeping things fair during multiplayer matches.
However, the most exciting change by far has got to be the cross-platform integration. The Facebook rendition is already available, but once the iOS and Android updates are ready to roll out players will be able to get their spell on across all three platforms. This means PC/Mac users can play against iOS/Android users, and that one user’s account can span multiple devices. So one could play a few rounds on their mobile device, then come home and continue the game on the computer via Facebook. Effectively, just about anyone will be able to play Scrabble with just about anyone else just about anywhere.
Scrabble is already available and is free, but these changes won’t hit until sometime this summer. Do any of these changes have you current players excited? Then chime in below!
Many people have privacy concerns when it comes to social networks such as Facebook, understandably so, especially when dealing with images of family members such as children.
Burst is the latest app hoping to encourage users away from bigger networks, with a focus on sharing just with close friends and family. The app requires just one touch to capture then store and organize mobile videos and photos. It’s then simple to share such moments with the special people in one’s life.
Burst can tag and title those moments along with information from the user’s calendar with everything securely stored in the cloud.
Users can restrict who views the content and be notified via Push notifications, email or SMS when a family member comments on the images.
For those looking for a more secure social networking app, Burst will prove invaluable.
I covered a social trivia game a couple months ago named TriviaPad. That particular game provided a trivia experience on the iPad only. A new trivia game, Trivie, has recently been released that provides a social trivia experience on the iPhone (and is playable on the iPad). Players can play Trivie with their friends by challenging them over Facebook, by contact list, or by username.
The asynchronous system for multiplayer games has become the go-to method for playing games with friends. Like most of those games, Trivie gives players a push notification when their friend has completed their turn and it’s then their turn to participate. Trivie is built to look and feel like a game show (reminding me slightly of my favorite game show-like trivia game, You Don’t Know Jack).
The game has over 75,000 questions in over 60 categories. The game also users slot machine mechanics and wagering to add to that game show feel. Trivie may also have real-time multiplayer in the future; the MMO infrastructure has already been built to handle it.
Insanely popular and recently Zynga-purchased game, Draw Something, has updated with many features that fans have been asking for since the app released back in February. Features to get excited about include Say Something!, Share Something!, and Save Something!
Say Something! allows players to comment on each other drawings. This adds a sort of chat system to the game that lets players tell them what they thought of each others drawings. Share Something! lets players share their favorite drawing to Facebook and Twitter for their friends’ amusement. Right after a drawing is finished, a Facebook and Twitter button becomes readily available for users to press and instantly share with their friends.
And Save Something!, probably the most desired feature from people I’ve talked to, gives users the ability to save drawings to the iOS device’s camera roll. In the same screen that displays the social networking sharing buttons, a save to device button is presented. It’s an easy way to save those special drawings players spent their valuable minutes on. Sharing options from the camera roll then become limitless.
Other features include Undo Something! and Refresh Something!, adding the ability to undo the last line and refresh game updates by pulling the list down. More updates are sure to come soon.
Gameloft has released a new game based on the Ice Age franchise, with Ice Age Village. As the title somewhat implies, this is a simulation/social game, where players must try to build a home for all the ice-dwelling creatures that the movie series is known for. Not only do players try to complete missions, sidequests, and daily challenges by building up their village and visiting friends’ villages, but they can also play mini-games featuring series main character Scrat. Villages can be shared either through Gameloft Live, or through Facebook. The game also boasts sneak peeks of the upcoming movie Ice Age: Continental Drift, which is sure to be hot! I apologize for the cheap pun.
This game explains why the Two Tribes-developed Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs game was pulled from the App Store; Chillingo lost the license to the property as Gameloft acquired it. While some gamers may grumble, fans of the Ice Age franchise may find this social game up their alley. It’s available now as a free to play universal app.
All things considered, it’s a little odd how much of a phenomenon the social farm sim has become. Farming in real life is such a boring, tedious process and yet millions of people are spending loads of time and money doing it virtually. Com2us is hoping to plant some more excitement in those people’s lives with their new game Magic Tree.
Magic Tree’s gameplay consists of the same kind of seed gathering and crop harvesting one would expect from the genre. However, everything has been given a fantasy twist. Furthermore, the visuals are all rendered in full, colorful 3D that brings life to the fields, forests and animals. Besides farming, players can also raise pets, build beauty salons, go on rides, cook gourmet meals and defend their homes from invading creatures.
Magic Tree looks to offer a more fantastical farming experience. The game is available now for free on the App Store.
GREE’s push into the US continues with a new game, Alien Family. This is the second GREE-developed title for the US, after last week’s Zombie Jombie. GREE claims that where Zombie Jombie was aimed more at a core gamer crowd, Alien Family is intended more for a casual crowd.
Players build a village of aliens on Earth, bringing in a variety of colorful aliens to live in their village. They do this by building homes and facilities, farming for resources, and exploring for new aliens. Players will send off UFOs that will bring in new aliens, that they can then power up using the Fuse Machine to send them off to explore for new aliens, in order to help create the best alien village possible.
Zombie Jombie had a solid launch for GREE, reaching #9 on the top free games chart, and #37 on the top grossing chart. Despite being new to the market, their promotional methods appear to be already in high gear, and with a more casual title, those numbers could increase. Alien Family is available now.
It is funny how once someone cracks midlife, suddenly their calendar becomes a constant companion. Thankfully the age of smartphone has made keeping track of life’s goings-on so much easier. But what if you were a person that wanted to share meetings, events and plans with others? Thankfully the tool UpTo can help bring the worlds of scheduling and social interaction together.
Integrating into your existing calendar software of choice, UpTo allows users to share events, view friends’ schedules, even seamlessly tie into Twitter and Facebook. All users need to do is fill their contact list with co-workers and friends to communicate, and suddenly the app becomes a social Swiss Army Knife that you can’t afford to go without. As an icing on the cake, the software is a completely free download in the App Store, so what are you waiting for? Be sure to share your hands-on impressions in the comments.
Strategy game creator, Slitherine, unleashes Armageddon, its first Warhammer 40,000-based title. Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon is set during the Second War of Armageddon as players lead Imperial forces of the Armageddon Steel Legion, along with a few Space Marines, against Ghazghkull Thraka’s massive Ork Waaagh! invasion, says Pocket Gamer. The game will feature over 30 turn-based [...]
Wow, what a month it’s been for racing fans. Specifically Real Racing fans! You might recall how we kicked things off with our three-part series documenting the 
Social newsreader Pulse updates its iPhone app to include iPad in this new update, adding a fully redesigned interface and other great features. Will it replace Editor’s Choice recipient, 
Socialvest is the latest app that hopes to give something back to worthy causes.
Freemium social games are all well and good, but a number of them are decidedly lacking in certain places. Namely in action. That’s probably why it’s so easy to take notice when companies like 
Brewster has less to do with drinking beer than the name suggests. It could make it a heck of a lot easier to arrange meeting up with friends, however.
A lot of people enjoy Scrabble. Like a lot. But while the current official iOS rendition is doing okay, it’s been in need of a little tweaking for a while. Well the time for tweaking is nigh.
Many people have privacy concerns when it comes to social networks such as Facebook, understandably so, especially when dealing with images of family members such as children. 
I covered a social trivia game a couple months ago named 
Insanely popular and recently Zynga-purchased game, Draw Something, has updated with many features that fans have been asking for since the app released back in February. Features to get excited about include Say Something!, Share Something!, and Save Something!
Gameloft has released a new game based on the Ice Age franchise, with Ice Age Village. As the title somewhat implies, this is a simulation/social game, where players must try to build a home for all the ice-dwelling creatures that the movie series is known for. Not only do players try to complete missions, sidequests, and daily challenges by building up their village and visiting friends’ villages, but they can also play mini-games featuring series main character Scrat. Villages can be shared either through Gameloft Live, or through Facebook. The game also boasts sneak peeks of the upcoming movie Ice Age: Continental Drift, which is sure to be hot! I apologize for the cheap pun.
GREE’s push into the US continues with a new game, Alien Family. This is the second GREE-developed title for the US, 
It is funny how once someone cracks midlife, suddenly their calendar becomes a constant companion. Thankfully the age of smartphone has made keeping track of life’s goings-on so much easier. But what if you were a person that wanted to share meetings, events and plans with others? Thankfully the tool 
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