Category: Contest »

Readdle have created some of the best business focused apps we've seen for iOS. And to celebrate being in the app business for 4 years, they are having a 30% off sale on all of their apps. In addition, they are giving away 4 iPads in a retweet contest.

Some other interesting stats. Readdle have seen over 3,150,000 people are actively using Readdle apps. 900,000 users of the Readdle Terra Browser, Scanner Pro has seen over 250,000 users on the iPhone.

Check out all of Readdles apps on iTunes.

To get details on the contest for a free iPad, check out the Readdle 4th Anniversary page on their site.

Very few things pique my curiosity as quickly as the combo of slugs, sci-fi and outer space. Leave it to app developer Bit Barons to create a new brainteasing puzzle game with a theme as unique as Astroslugs. Set in a time before time, Astroslugs challenges players to help the slugs gather Slug Energy through 35 levels. Controls are designed specifically with the iPad in mind, requiring players to slide their fingers to create paths for the slugs to travel. In a clever change of pace, each level of Astroslugs has multiple paths to a solution, so a deft mind can find numerous ways to achieve victory.

There's a good introduction to the game via the Lite Version on the App Store, but for those hungering for more slugs, 148Apps and developer BitBarons have teamed up to offer five promo codes for the full version of Astroslugs. Just leave a comment below to enter. We'll pull five names a little later in the week. Good luck, and happy slug hunting!

Spotify has landed in the US with a great deal of press coverage and speculation, but what is it, exactly?

Spotify is a streaming music service - more akin to Rdio or MOG than the randomly-generated playlists of Pandora - that has one killer feature its competitors don't. It's free. Yep, once an account is established (which is tricky at the moment - more on that in a bit), streaming is enabled for Macs and PCs through the iTunes-like Spotify desktop client. The catches are relatively minor. The free service is ad-supported, so expect to hear song snippets when you least expect them, or see an ad for Coke dominate your Spotify screen for a few seconds. Taken as a whole, however, it's a lot of content for the surprising cost of nothing.

For those wanting more, Spotify offers an Unlimited Plan for $4.95 which features unlimited streaming to PC/Mac with no ads or a Premiere Plan for $9.95 a month to stream all content to the iPhone and select other devices. If you're hurting for an invite to join the fun, you can jump to the head of the line by purchasing an Unlimited or Premiere plan...or...

You can win one of two invites to Spotify USA by helping us reach 2,000 fans on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/148apps. Once we hit that magic number, all of our recent fans' names go into a hat for a random drawing. Two lucky winners will receive invites to the music party of the year.

Gameloft have released a new app today, not a game, but an app. Their Warplanes: A History of Aerial Combat is an interactive look at warplanes of the world. We're teaming with them to celebrate that game with a contest!

Sure, the iPad is a great productivity tool, and a great game device, but when you can present real educational content on a device this easily, the device just pops. Jay Franco, producer of Warplanes comments:

This app was designed especially for the iPad screen and interface. We use a larger display for our rotating 3D models. We also designed various interfaces depending on what content the user is looking at (i.e., photos, technical drawings, etc.). We are convinced that Warplanes: A History of Aerial Combat is the kind of app for which the iPad was created.

Warplanes takes a look at 43 influential planes across the world and through history, looking at the important role each has played. For each plane you can look at multiple photos, read a description, and perhaps the most engaging aspect, interact with an accurate 3D representation of the plane. Also included is detailed information about the plane and a stats feature that lets you compare, side by side, the features of two different planes. It must have been difficult to gather all of this information, all of it likely classified at one point in time. Again, Jay Franco comments:

This project differed from our first book effort, War in the Pacific, which was a straight digital adaptation of an existing print book with additional features added on. With Warplanes, we had to research everything that went into it from various sources and fit them all together. In the end, I think it turned out well and is both a fun and instructive book app experience.

Overall it's a very impressive application, filled with information and fantastic to interact with. And it's on a subject that has always interested me.

Contest: Because we liked this app so much when we first saw it, we've teamed up with Gameloft for a contest to celebrate this release. This contest is a pretty simple one. To enter, you guess the plane on the front cover of this application (see the top image above). To enter, fill out the entry form hosted over at their Facebook page.

One lucky winner drawn from all of the right answers will receive a Altec Lansing iPad Dock with a retail value of $120.

Have any thoughts? Feel free to discuss theories below. I think I know which plane it is. But....

Good luck!

148Apps has connected with Gameloft to bring you a new way to enhance your virtual ride. Five lucky winners (USA only, please) will receive a $10 iTunes gift card to purchase in-game credits for Gameloft's new freemium iPhone game, GT Racing: Motor Academy Free. It's simple to enter. All you have to do is:

1. Subscribe to Gameloft's YouTube channel (easy to do by clicking here).
2. View the GT Racing Motor Academy Free+ trailer
3. Answer the following question: How many car manufacturers did GT Racing Motor Academy Free+ work with?
4. Post your answer as a comment on this blog post.

That's it! After two weeks, on April 15th, we'll choose five winners at random from the blog post comments, and each will receive a $10 iTunes card.

The checkered flag is out....So get to it!
For official rules and eligibility, please click here.

So, you've broken free of AT&T and now own a shiny new Verizon iPhone 4. How are you going to protect it? Speck has the answer with new fitted cases for the Verizon iPhone 4, and we have ten to give away starting Thursday, February 10th.

All you have to do to win is keep watching our Facebook page. Sometime on the 10th, and then for the next ten days, we'll post on our wall that the daily contest is on. You then have to "like" our post and comment below it to be eligible to win. We'll choose one winner at random from all of the commenters, so please keep it to just one comment per contest day.

Winners will need to provide us with a valid email address as well as a physical mailing address, since we can't electronically transmit your case to you. :)

Keep watching www.facebook.com/148apps for more information.

Nominees of the 2010 Best App Ever Awards have donated hundreds of promo codes for a bunch of fantastic apps and games. And over the next two weeks, we're giving them away!

Head on over to the Best App Ever Awards Contest site to see the rules, the apps available, and info on how to enter.

There are dozens of great apps and games for the iPhone and iPad available, what are you waiting for?

A huge thanks to all of the developers who have donated to the contest! [ Enter the contest now! ]

Giveaway what? Where? Well, here and there.

To celebrate their release of Doodle Lab 101, and Christmas (the season of giving! Ping me and I'll send you my PayPal account info for donations.), FunTribe is giving away a $10 iTunes gift card to a lucky winner. There are stipulations though, so don't think that you'll win just for being on the "nice" list.

Here is how to win a $10 iTunes Gift Card:

STEP 1: Write a review about Doodle Lab 101 ver1.1, not Lite.

STEP 2: Follow FunTribe (http://twitter.com/FunTribe) on Twitter and tweet the following message: "Follow & RT @FunTribe to receive a $10 iTunes Gift card by buying Doodle Lab 101 for $0.99. More details http://on.fb.me/cnVEiU"

STEP 3: Send an e-mail to [email protected] with the following details:
- Your Twitter ID
- Your AppStore nickname from which the review was posted

The giveaway runs to December 22nd, so hurry up and buy your copy of Doodle Lab 101 so you can get in on the drawing (you have to buy the game to review it on iTunes... just an FYI). If you feel like livin' on the edge like Aerosmith though, you can enter our drawing for one of ten promo codes for the game, thus allowing you to enter the contest for free. We'll go easy on the requirements though.

Here's how to win one of the ten promo codes:

STEP 1: Comment on this post.

STEP 2: Pray that you are selected by our completely random automated system.

That's right, there's no need to be the fastest person in the world. All you have to do is comment on this post. This one right here that you're reading RIGHT NOW. You could say, "Merry Christmas!" or "Happy Hanukkah!" if you want, or you could ask me for that PayPal donation info - you know, whatever works best for you.

Good luck and happy holidays, from our family to yours!

To celebrate the holiday season, Gameloft is announcing a free item a day holiday giveaway through its Twitter Advent Calendar. Like the vast majority of Gameloft titles, the idea of an advent calendar that gives away apps isn't an original idea (Appvent Calendar anyone?), but it sure is welcome for all the gamers out there that like freebies. To participate, follow Gameloft on Twitter (@Gameloft) and click on the link in their daily giveaway tweets.

As Gameloft says on their blog, "This is not a contest! There are no questions to answer and no lotteries to enter. You can grab a present once you see the Advent Calendar tweet of the day and time hasn’t run out yet. Just click on the link in the tweet to access your present." The giveaway items will include free apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, and Facebook, as well as discounts to exclusive in-game content, sneak peaks at holiday titles, and cool random goodies.

The Twitter Advent Calendar is running from December 1 to December 24th, ending the day before Christmas. Be fast though, as the gifts are only available for a limited time each day (24 hours from the posting time). There isn't a download cap, so there's no reason to knock over your Christmas tree while rushing to the computer the second the tweet hits, but be sure to check the Twitter page every day to get your free gift.

Hopefully we'll all get to download a free copy of NOVA 2 whenever it comes out, or maybe we'll get a free t-shirt or something (I'm a sucker for free clothes). I can't wait!

Happy Holidays!

Being a developer in the iPhone world is a tough life to live. You're bombarded every day with all sorts of worries like "Where is my app in the App Store?", "What if people don't like our new app?", and "How many shots of espresso should I get in my latte?" While some people handle the stress quite well, many fall into the dark world of addiction. From the sounds of things, employees at Two Tribes, makers of the hit game app (Toki Tori), fall into the latter category.

There have been reports from inside Two Tribes that their employees have been experiencing some sort of mass confusion. Items are going missing, things are being found in absurd locations, and people have been doing jobs that they weren't hired on for. Most importantly, the staff at Two Tribes has completely forgotten what kind of app they were developing.

All that they have to go by is an obscure game trailer (see below) and a picture that is too pixelated to make out, and they need your help solving the mystery.

If you have any idea what kind of app they are producing, send Two Tribes an email; they would be extremely grateful. According to Two Tribes, they will reward the most helpful answers with "an exclusive goodie-bag as well as a free copy of the game when it hits the iTunes store!" The deadline for emailing your thoughts is Wednesday August 18th, so don't miss out on your chance to do a good developer a favor.

Click here for more information on the addiction and related contest. And remember, friends don't let friends forget what they are developing.

Readdle, the developer best known for Readdle Docs and Scanner Pro, is turning 3 in August. In celebration, they are dropping all of their apps to $0.99 for 48 hours starting August 1st and the giving away 3 iPad's via Twitter.

The iPad giveaway starts on August 1st and ends on the 7th. To participate, users should:

- own any Readdle app (a free one is fine too, e.g. Shakespeare)
- follow us on twiiter (@Readdle)
- tweet the message: “Readdle turns 3: RT to win an #iPad. $0.99 for any app (48 hours sale). http://readdle.com/3years”

For more information, head over to their giveaway website.

Have fun celebrating your first 3 years Readdle! Hopefully we'll see some iPad winners come from 148apps.

This weekend, we're going to have fun in another brain game. This time, it's a game similar to Risk, Strategery.

Strategery is a land battle game where you battle up to 4 other players on random maps of various sizes. You start out controlling an equal part of the world map and battle to control more. You initiate a battle against another country on the board and then automatic dice rolls determine the winner. You turn continues until you have done all of the valid battles you wish. After your turn you can reinforce your troops in the countries that you still control to give you stronger forces for the next round. The game continues until one player or the other obliterates the others and controls all of the countries on the map.

The game takes strategy, planning, and a little bit of luck.

Strategery includes an online, 2 player battle mode that works similar to last weeks Words With Friends. Each player takes their turn on their own time and there are push notifications to let you know when it's your turn. While the multiplayer system isn't very robust, it gets the job done.

Now, the contest part! Add your Strategery user name below so that we can have a group of willing players to play against. I am, as usual, Jeff148Apps, feel free to hit me up for a game. We'll pick a random winner for a $15 US iTunes gift card from all the entries and announce it next weekend.

If you want to check the game out before buying, there's a Lite version available for the iPhone, but it lacks the online battle mode.

Check our our previous Weekend Fun posts.

Appular and Brainium Studios, developers of Hand Of Greed, have announced a competition to promote their new blade-dodging game.

A huge collection of prizes are available from free copies of the game through to an iPad as the grand prize. Using Twitter, Facebook and Email entry methods, prizes are being given away regularly until the closing date of 5/12.

For more information on how to enter, head to the Appular Facebook page here

Note: This competition is open to US iTunes Store account holders only

Update 5/8: Wow! What a great response. Over 300 of you joined us in playing Words With Friends. Of the 20+ games I've got going, I'm losing most of them. No big surprise there! As mentioned below, we picked a winner, emailed them and once they respond we'll send them the $15 iTunes gift card. Check back later for another Weekend Fun post about another multiplayer game and a $15 iTunes gift card winner.

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Last week, we kicked off our Weekend Fun series with We Rule. 99 of you joined us to build our kingdoms to new levels. We've announced the winner of last weekends $15 iTunes gift card on that page and emailed the winner. This week, it's time to step it up a notch and start to exercise our vocabularies a little.

Words With Friends is our Weekend Fun contest for this week. If you aren't familiar with Words With Friends, it's a multiplayer Scrabble type game. What makes it work so well on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad (with HD version), is that you play it at your own pace. Once you play your move, the control passes to the other player who will play at their own pace.

Want to play Words With Friends? The cheapest way is to download the free version (link below), set up an account, and get started. From there you can initiate a game with someone you know, or have the game pick a random player for you. If you are looking for opponents, please add your username in the comments below and I'm sure someone will be more than happy to challenge you! Feel free to challenge me if you feel like winning (jeff148apps) -- I have about a 3rd grade vocabulary. (and yes, vocabulary is the largest word I know how to spell)

We'll pick a random player to win a $15 iTunes gift card (for the US iTunes Store) -- all you have to do to win is leave your Words With Friends id (not email address) in the comments below.

Good luck, and happy wordsmithing!

Update 5/1/2010: gokbert is our winner -- check your email and respond and we'll send you the iTunes gift card code.

We Rule from ngmoco:) is one of the more popular community trading games. A genre of game most popularized by Farmville. This type of game revolves around building things and trading goods and services with other players. In We Rule one of the best ways to gain experience points and in-game currency is to sell and buy services with other players. Both buyers and sellers gain in these transactions.

To sell services, you just need to build buildings that sell goods and services. This is basically any of the buildings other than farms and homes. Users can then come to your kingdom and order from those buildings just by touching them. This is the same way that you can order services from other kingdoms. Visit other kingdoms and look for open signs to see what's available.

So let's use this post as a place to share each our Plus+ Network usernames so that we can start trading with each other. The idea being that we build a community within the We Rule community all trading with each other to build our XP as fast as possible. I'll start, I'm jeff148apps.

Add your Plus+ Network username below, in the comments. We can then all add each other as friends and start building up experience points and gold. To make it a little more enticing, we'll pick a random user from below for a $15 iTunes Gift card so you can buy more mojo in the game. We'll give away the gift card next weekend.

Also, make sure you have the latest version installed. Ngmoco recently fixed some bugs related to open businesses that should make things easier for us all.