This week at 148Apps.com, writer Carter Dotson reviewed one of the most anticipated iOS games in recent memory – Infinity Blade II. Dotson writes, “Most of what is new here is a modified and extended progression structure. Instead of one path leading to a final boss, where failure means starting over, there are now several of them, with more branching paths to explore. There are 3 different weapon types now: the traditional swords, slow and heavy axes that deal more damage, and speedy dual swords that deal less base damage, but can do double damage once combos are started. The story is more fleshed out, with actual speaking dialogue from characters besides the God King.”

Read the full review at 148Apps.com.

$6.99

Infinity Blade II

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Our Rating: :: MORE INFINITE
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2011-12-01 :: Category: Games

Meanwhile, our attention was turned to more artistic matters at GiggleApps, as Amy Solomon reviewed Auryn – Van Gogh and the Sunflowers. Solomon says, “The look of this app is terrific, with illustrations evoking the style that Van Gogh is known for, complete with bold color choices and noticeable use of brush strokes, but maintains a childlike quality that fits well within this storybook. The jazzy music used is also wonderful, relaxing as well as engaging and very enjoyable to listen to even for long periods of time. The narration used here is also quite good. Parents will also like that each spoken word is highlighted red to aid the young children new to the world of reading.”

Read more about our take on Auryn – Van Gogh and the Sunflowers at GiggleApps.

$0.99

Auryn – Van Gogh and the Sunflowers

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2011-10-21 :: Category: Books

Finally, 148Apps.biz site editor Rob Lefebvre reported on tablet users and their media consumption. LeFebvre writes, “In a study put out by comScore and reported by Fierce Mobile Content and the appside, interested parties can see that the number one use of tablet devices is games, with 67% of surveyed tablet users saying they’ve played a game at least once in the past month, as compared to 49% of smartphone users surveyed. 23% of those surveyed said they’d played a game on their tablet EVERY DAY. That’s a good number.”

Dig deeper into this study and read the full report on 148Apps.biz.

That’s our wrap-up for this week. While you’re out getting all of your holiday shopping done, don’t forget to check us out on our Facebook and Twitter feeds to find out the latest and greatest news, reviews and contests. Feliz Navidad!

When it comes to areas of our personal life that are sacred, I would consider my top three to be religion, relationship status and browser history.  While I have never been one for perusing sites of ill repute, occasionally a twitter link may send me awry, not to mention a not-so-well thought out Google search for girls and teacups. These indiscretions aside, I have always been one for protecting myself against the prying eye of “big brother.”  I swear, I’m not paranoid, but what if I told you that your iPhone may be revealing more about you than many thought possible?

If a new report authored by Bucknell University Assistant Director of Information Security and Networking, Eric Smith, is to be believed, you may be revealing far more about yourself than you realize.

“…Amazon’s application communicates the logged-in user’s real name in plain text, along with the UDID, permitting both Amazon.com and network eavesdroppers to easily match a phone’s UDID with the name of the phone’s owner. The CBS News application transmits both the UDID and the iPhone device’s user-assigned name, which frequently contains the owner’s real name” — VIA Smith’s Report

Sure, these may be isolated examples of only two different applications that are passing back your personal information, but when a poll was conducted of fifty-seven free applications on the App Store, sixty-eight percent passed along your UDID to their servers.  When you combine that with cookies that have a twenty year expiration cycle, as noted by ArsTechnica’s formal report, this could be a serious cause for concern.

All it would take is a bit of social engineering for an industrious person to connect the dots and suddenly your secrets would be no more.  This information isn’t typically shared amongst other sites, but this information is being logged and you better assume that some day these companies plan to cash in.  I am calling it now, Skynet is coming — so be careful where you are surfing.

Sources:
[ via ArsTechnica ]

[ via iPhone Applications & Privacy Issues: An Analysis of Application Transmission of iPhone Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) ]