Tag: $7.99 »

Cooking is one of the most valuable life skills out there. It's also one that's very easy to miss out on for too long. Cooking Basics is an app that teaches its users the absolute basics (right down to how to mash potatoes properly) while also offering some great recipe ideas. These ideas can easily be applied elsewhere, too, ensuring that users have the foundations to be great cooks.

Laid out much like an interactive book, Cooking Basics is easy to browse. Its introduction offers up a series of class for learning the basics. These include lessons on how to set up the kitchen appropriately, how to chop safely, and how to measure accurately. In many of the cases, tasty recipes are used to illustrate a point as well as immediately teach the user how to prepare certain meals.

Delving further into the app demonstrates how much more information is contained within. A series of basic tutorials cover simple things like how to tell if pasta is cooked and how to peel fruits and vegetables effectively. It's all then reinforced by the huge selection of recipes. There's no fine-dining here, it's all about typical meal ideas that people would actually want to cook regularly.

All kinds of scenarios are covered here, from breakfast to supper and with plenty of light snacks in between. It's a great mix that covers loads of ground. Each recipe is clearly described with step by step instructions ensuring users know what they're doing at all times, as well as focuses placed on specific techniques. A shopping list feature as well as timer settings make things all the simpler. When it comes to identifying a specific leaf or vegetable, the app clearly labels them so it's easy to learn as one goes along.

Using various different forms of media, from videos, audio clips to images and text, Cooking Basics is an ideal starting point for beginners. There are great recipes for experienced cooks too, but I'd lean towards only truly recommending this to newbies, given the price. Nothing quite beats the satisfaction of cooking a great meal all by one's self and it beats takeout or ready meals easily. For $7.99, this is a great, fun and healthy step to take for the apprehensive chef.

Ready, Set, Baby! The Watch and Learn Guide to Your Baby’s First Year is an app for new parents that will guide them to becoming more informed and confident with their newborn. Ready, Set, Baby! features five childcare experts along with an award-winning author and also includes 80 how-to videos, slideshows and an interactive guided tour that give you the keys to raising a happy and healthy baby.

Popular password manager 1Password updated today to version 4.0.2, bringing iCloud and Dropbox support, a secure browser, and a Universal app. Purchase it for 50 percent off the normal price today, and install it on all your iOS devices to create and manage passwords, website browsing, and secure data.

Every day there are new passwords to remember. They are often forgotten. Using weak passwords or re-using them makes it easy to remember, but criminals love it when you do this. 1Password solves all these problems.

✓ Generate strong, unique passwords for every site
✓ Protect your data behind a single Master Password
✓ Secure with military grade 256-bit AES encryption
✓ Cryptographic operations use standard iOS libraries to ensure no security gaps or backdoors
✓ Auto-Lock keeps your data protected even if your device is lost or stolen

We've looked at some pretty intriguing games from Mojo Bones and Simogo, but this time round, it's the turn of a more exercise-focused app developer in the form of Six To Start.

What is Six To Start?: Six To Start describes itself as next-gen storytellers. Made up of a variety of different staff from backgrounds as diverse as the theatre and neuroscience, the company works on online games, as well as apps for iOS, each with the focus on storytelling as well as providing memorable experiences. One glance at the team page on the company site ably demonstrates just how varied skillsets the team offer.

What is Six To Start most famous for?
Zombies, Run! One of the most successful Kickstarter projects in recent times, Zombies, Run! manages to make running (or walking) fun by adding a zombie twist to proceedings. Stick your headphones in as you run and an immersive audio adventure kicks in, distracting you from the aches and pains as well as telling a fantastic story, courtesy of award-winning novelist Naomi Alderman.

What's next on the horizon?
There's been a steady stream of new content for Zombies, Run! since it launched earlier this year but CEO Adrian Hon has promised us that a new app, Zombies, Run! 5k Training, will be out in the near future, aimed directly at beginner runners. New updates for Zombies, Run! will continue, also.

Anything else I should know about Six To Start?
Yup! We asked Adrian Hon how Zombies, Run! came about.

148apps: What was the inspiration behind creating Zombies, Run?

Adrian: It came from a couple of places - I've been a runner for a long time now, but it didn't come naturally! I only really got into it with the help of gadgets like the Garmin Forerunner GPS watch, which at least helped you see how much you were improving. The problem was that they didn't make running any more interesting or fun, and even when GPS tracking apps became commonplace, no-one seemed to be making running games for smartphones, so it was something that I've wanted to do for some time.

The other half of the inspiration came from our co-creator and writer Naomi Alderman, who fairly recently joined a running club. When they asked people why they'd joined, some people said 'to get fit', others 'to lose weight', but one person said, 'to survive the zombie apocalypse'! We put two and two together, and that's where Zombies, Run! came from!

148apps: What’s your favourite thing about iOS development?

Adrian: There's a lot to like - the solid development environment, the consistency across devices (although the iPhone 5 does make our life a little more difficult!), the comparative smoothness of publishing on iTunes Connect, and the absolutely massive potential audience. It's not perfect, but it's very good.

Where can I find out more about Six To Start?
Quite a few places. The Six To Start website is a good starting place, there's also the Twitter page. For more zombie based updates, check out the official Zombies, Run! website and its Twitter account. And, of course, we'll keep you informed on any updates and the progress of Zombies, Run! 5k Training

Murky Reef 1st - 2nd Grade Reading, Science and Math is an excellent learning app for critical thinking as well as specific topics such as science, math and reading comprehension.

Parents will appreciate how this app incorporates the Common Core standards for Grades 1 and 2 while keeping children engaged and entertained, especially as children prepare for school to start again soon and need to begin to get back to the business of focusing on school work.

Murky Reef is a collection of 22 interactive games which teach a great deal about the animals of the coral reef as well as include math, logic and language exercises.

The look of this app is appealing with simple, animated sea creature characters, sometimes with included interactions as well. Narration leads players through these game activities that have a nice level of variety, both in subject matter as well as interactivity. One can follow through this app, continuing from one activity to the next as well as choosing favorite sections from a menu. It is also nice for adults to see a report of children’s progress through this app.

Murky Reef includes the re-occurring characters of Puff, a puffer fish and narrator of this app, as well as a hungry shark named Ogge, on which these games are focused, as Ogge is always looking to attack the other fish in the sea. Correct answers will allow Puff to shoot lava at Ogge to keep from attacking, creating a fun level of suspense and a fun way to time these mini-games.

This app also includes a nice reward for collecting fish related to the areas achieved in this app, allowing one to learn more about these sea creatures as one adds to his collection.

I think this app is a very nice choice for first and second grade students, but I think younger children, with the aid of an adult could also enjoy this app as well as slightly older children or those with delays who may need educational apps for a specific age. This app may be geared towards 6-9 year olds, but it will not condescend to older children who need extra help in any of these subjects.

I do wish, however, that the answer could be displayed if time runs out and Ogee attacks. Personally, I have really enjoyed these mini-games, especially those involving reading and listening comprehension, as well as the included videos from YouTube available if one is online. However, I had trouble deciphering the directions from the “Hidden Addition” and “Hidden Subtraction” as these areas worked in ways that were counter-intuitive to my thinking, although the math being taught here is quite useful. Because of this, although "help" sections do exist for these mini-games, I wish there was a feature which demonstrates the basic game play of these areas.

Even with this note, this app is great for families, especially those who home school as well as those in typical school settings. Teachers will especially appreciate the ability to set up accounts for up to ten children, keeping their progress separate as well individually selecting the speed at which Ogee attacks, thus personalizing the level of difficulty.

For these reasons, it is easy to recommend Murky Reef 1st - 2nd Grade Reading, Science and Math as a great interactive learning app, especially for those who would like to incorporate Common Core standards into their children’s daily lives.

Video recording apps are far from uncommon on the App Store. Video recording apps that allow users to control and record with up to 8 devices, all from one single device? Now that's pretty special.

That's also exactly what Video Camera offers. Besides many other great features, it lets the user connect and simultaneously record from up to eight devices, all linked across Wi-Fi.

For the aspiring film director, this is a great way of capturing all the action from numerous different angles. Film students will love this but so will people that just want to capture every adorable moment of their wedding or holiday. It's impressive stuff.

Video Camera doesn't lack other great features either, offering high resolution video recording and plenty of import/export options for the experienced video editing. Pretty much everything that needs to be done with video editing can be done via the app.

It's clever stuff from Video Camera and the best part is that it's currently free! Its normal price is $7.99, an ideal price for such a feature rich app.

Developer Two Lives Left (no relation to Tilt to Live developer One Man Left) has introduced an iPad app for those budding programmers out there.

Codify is an app that is based on the Lua programming language, and is designed for users to be able to easily set up and use projects on their iPad. This is not meant to be a compiler for large-scale projects, nor is it meant to be a Lua compiler for iPad, as projects are currently limited to the iPad alone. However, it provides an introduction to programming, with visual tools that can be used to help make a simple project easily.

The app comes with sample projects to explore, sample graphics to use in projects, and the ability to intelligently interact with code in ways that aren't quite available with just a standard Lua editor. This is an interesting option for people looking to get their hands dirty with actual programming, but in a much simpler and friendlier environment.