Thanks to DreamWalk for sponsoring the RSS feed this week.

If you have been waiting for your iPhone and your real life to collide, the time has come. Sure, we’ve had some augmented reality and social gaming apps come out in the past year, but none have put anything solid in my hands. On March 1, DreamWalk will become the first app of its kind, using the iPhone as a treasure map of sorts to put you on a quest to win real world prizes. Sometimes when I wake up I feel like a pirate, but never have I come so close!

We had a chance to talk to Joseph Russell, CEO of DreamWalk about this app. [ Read More ]

DreamWalk is available now, for free, in the App Store. [ Download ]

Instapaper has been around for a while, but it doesn’t show a speck of age. This sleek app allows you to download text from websites for on-the-go reading. Sound simple? Sure, but Instapaper reigns supreme when it comes to finesse, functionality, and elegance. Think of it like an RSS reader or document storage…but simpler, less rigid, and better suited to the iPhone.

The concept is a simple one. Bookmark a website from your computer or the iPhone’s browser using a special bookmark, and it’ll be added to your Instapaper account. From there, you can read it in the app. Instapaper removes superfluous ads and other assorted clutter, and displays it in a clean, easily readable interface. Once it’s downloaded to Instapaper, you can read your articles offline, anywhere you can take your iPhone. It’s extremely convenient, especially for longer articles and blog posts that might take a solid chunk of time to read.

The cornerstone of Instapaper is simplicity, but the app provides plenty of features and options. First, when it comes to reading articles, you can customize your display. Font choices include Helvetica, Georgia, and Verdana; you can shrink the font size; a night mode inverts the background (white-text-against-black-screen works better at night). To scroll through an article, you can flick the screen as you would normally in Safari, or use the other two options: tilt scrolling and pagination. Tilt scrolling works fluidly and simply: tap a button to enable the mode, and the text scrolls based on angle of your device. Pagination requires a single tap to advance a page, much as you’d expect from an eBook reader. I don’t really like pagination—you have to tap the bottom of the page, not the right, and there’s no real animation to show the transition—but all three options work just fine.

This version of Instapaper also includes a bevy of other features. You can organize your articles in folders, and even set up folders that automatically import articles from RSS feeds. For example, right now I have a 148apps.com folder that automatically downloads all new posts, as well as a few others like ArsTechnica and PoliticsDaily. You can share articles via Tumblr and Twitter, and look up word definitions without leaving the app. You can lock rotation in the settings menu. Instapaper even remembers where in an article you stopped reading…perfect for if you get interrupted during a super-long article!

What Instapaper does is simple on the surface, but doing it well is another thing entirely. Instapaper looks, feels, and acts like a native Apple app: it has the same level of polish and a well-designed user interface. And, more importantly, it’s incredibly useful…especially if you’re a WiFi-bound iPod Touch user or don’t have a data plan. Last year, I used the free version extensively for storing AP US History notes for quick studying between classes and on the bus; having the full version’s features makes it even better. For long blog posts and articles, it’s also a very nice touch; sitting down to read an enormous post might not fit with your browsing habits, but it’s easy to set it aside for later.

I really don’t have any complaints about Instapaper Pro. Well…I wish I could download images along with the text, but with the option to view the original file in Mobile Safari, it’s not as necessary as it might have been. Other than that small caveat? This is perfect. If you’re a literate internet user, you owe it to yourself to get this app. At the very least, give its free version a spin!

Instapaper Free

Category: Productivity
Released: 2008-07-11
Price: FREE

Moneybook is a home finance app that provides the user with tools that record income and expenses, and allows tracking and summary information to be analyzed without much work. I recorded a month worth of expenses in interacting with the app, and was surprised at how detailed the line items could become, and how easy it was to add said detail. Within 5 minutes of turning the app on, I had income already recorded and was working on recording expenses.

The entire philosophy of Moneybook is simplicity, as explained by the developers in the help section. The approach to this app is to buck the complicated financial recording systems that, while powerful, create user interfaces that are cluttered and complicated. Instead, Moneybook takes a minimalist approach, displaying information in easy to read forms and offering quickly read reports of spending habits.

One of the nicer attributes of Moneybook is its seamless operation. Rather then add four or five summary buttons, if the iDevice is turned to landscape mode while on the transaction page, a bar graph that details income and expense trends comes up for the specific month. If you want to check out a previous months graph to see if there are any changes from month to month, there is a History icon that brings up previous months, where transaction history is saved and bar graphs can be reviewed. Overtime a line chart begins showing month to month comparisons of spending and income as well.

The ability for Moneybook to set up re-occurring expenses automatically each month makes tracking expenses MUCH easier. Without much work at all, these transactions automatically upload on the day specified, and do not limit the ability to add in additional one time transactions in any way.

Unfortunately, some of these additional offerings from Moneybook are not obvious. Unless you click the settings icon on the overview screen, and then click the help button, and then make your way through the frequently asked questions, you’ll never know that some of these options exist. My initial use of the app was great, but I didn’t know there is a separate set of categories for expenses, and an entire set of alternate income transaction options, until I found the help button. Being the stereotypical man that I am, I don’t usually ask for directions. Had I not been trying to be as thorough as possible for this app review, I might not have ever found those options at all.

Being an MBA graduate, tracking finances is extremely important to me. I use a complicated excel spreadsheet that calculates monthly trends, divides out re-occurring charges and one time charges, and tracks accumulated money versus possible future issues. This app does a lot of what my excel spreadsheet does, without the added effort. It’s not a fool proof fund tracker, and certainly not a replacement for a check register, but Moneybook does a great job of warning the user if the total monthly income versus expenses gets close. The overview screen shows a meter, I’ll refer to it as a fiscal health meter, which shows if your habits are eating up too much of the total monthly income available. Additionally, the three top expense categories, and an average expense per day calculation, help to show if maybe there needs to be a re-evaluation of spending habits.

Moneybook is a simple and efficient daily finance tracker that offers powerful options without sacrificing simplicity. For those of you frightened of anything involving numbers, you can be sure that Moneybook’s simplistic user interface will have you tracking the flow of personal finances in no time. This is a must have for anyone looking for simple, but powerful, assistant in home finance monitoring.

3bot, a 3D action/puzzle game for the iPad, iPhone and iTouch, developed by DevKid, in cooperation with PIXELFEDERATION, is gearing up for it’s app store debut!

3bot is shaping up to look like an exciting, unique, 3D puzzle/action game. Game play previews feature a tripedal “bot” traversing a dynamic, multi-colored polygonal game board, set within a retro, 50’s-60’s-style cosmic universe reminiscent of a puzzle version of Q-bert set in the 50’s space-age.

According to the game’s developers, 3bot is a robot with 3 feet that thinks in three’s. Game play centers around 3bot moving and coloring 3D patterns, navigating its way around a 3D environment set in outer space.

3bot’s cosmic puzzle/action unfolds throughout 3 worlds containing 45 different levels and features multi-touch controls, global score sharing and an authentic, “retro” 50s-60s sci-fi genre atmosphere.

Features:

1. 3+3+3+3+3 levels in 3 worlds = 45 levels.
2. New features added into levels to keep players “on their toes.”
3. Global Score-sharing.
4. Simple, intuitive touch controls.
5. Multiple player profiles.

3bot was developed by DevKid, in cooperation with Pixelfederation and looks like it’s shaping up to be a unique game play experience. You can follow 3bot on Facebook.

Hit the jump for some more screen shots of 3bot.

I’m a big fan of the idea that knowledge should not come with a price tag, but conventional policies dictate that most things become a money making adventure. That’s why an app like 101 Classic Novels is so appealing to me. This free app contains some of the great books that helped establish the literary standard.

When Classic Novels is loaded, a nice easy to read scrollable listing of all the books is the first screen that pops up. In case there is some concern about how to use the app, the very first listing is the SunScroll Manual. It explains the page transition system as well as how to interact with the different menu settings.

The display settings of 101 Classic Novels are extremely detailed. Font can be adjusted completely. The type, color, and size of font are all customizable, making 101 Classic Novels completely customizable depending on the needs of the reader. Text alignment, the spacing between lines, the width at each side of the page, and the colors of external links all are customizable as well.

Additionally, there is a very nice setting for night reading that I greatly appreciated. It made reading in bed a much more enjoyable process. Something else that always bugs me is the flimsy way that the iPod seems to handle landscape to portrait transitions, and vice versa. 101 Classic Novels allows for the rotation of the screen to be locked in portrait specifically if that is the preferred reading style. The final setting is one that I couldn’t really review, and that’s the ability to turn on or off the network information for the iPhone. I’m not sure if this is an issue for iPhone users or not, so if someone would like to share the relevance of such a setting, that would be great!

101 Classic Novels boasts an extremely attractive graphical background for the pages. Each page turns upon screen transition, and there is a setting to include a sound with the page turn. The colors of the background give the feeling that an aged book is being read, and this adds to the overall experience of reading a classic novel. I’ve read a few books on both the Kindle app and the Classic Novel app at this point, and I can say that I appreciate the graphical offerings of 101 Classic Novels much better. That is to say I haven’t messed with the Kindle app settings enough to know if there are comparable features.

Overall, this is a great app for those looking for a plethora of classic novels for no cost at all. The superior settings and graphics of this app really enhance the overall reading experience, and the ability to access this many books on the go makes it an easy download for most reading enthusiasts. Even if you aren’t sure how many of the 101 Classic Novels you’ll get into, the free price tag means that it’s worth the download for even 1 of the books.

Pocket Reference is one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” apps. Its premise is simple: It’s a comprehensive list of alphabetized reference topics containing links to more than 500 reference websites. It allows users to find information regarding virtually anything and is alphabetically organized, giving users quick and easy access to its content.

Pocket Reference advertises the following features:

1. In-app links to more than 500 references, how-to, news-feed, time-waster and information websites, grouped into 50 categories.
2. More than 185 mobile-friendly websites.
3. The option to bookmark favorite or most frequented sites for quicker access.
4. The ability to suggest a link/website to the app’s developer for inclusion into the reference link library.
5. Links to language formatting guides.

Pocket Reference was created using MEDL Mobile’s App Incubator. I have the App Incubator app, but apparently a Benny Hill first aid reference is not an appealing idea to its developers.

Anywho, the idea was submitted with the intention of creating one application that consolidates as many possible stand-alone reference apps into one.

Pocket Reference is certainly the most comprehensive and efficient reference app/research tool in the app store. As stated earlier, it contains 500 reference websites, 185 of which are mobile/Safari-friendly, sorted alphabetically into 50 categories. To aid in the efficiency process, users can bookmark their favorite sites.

Also, the developers of Pocket Reference added a feature which allows users to request the addition of a new/additional reference site; so expect this app to grow even larger!

Pocket Reference’s main screen is as simple and straightforward as it gets. The top of the screen contains a search box, upon which the alphabetized category list rests (there are actually 51 categories). At the bottom of the screen is a menu option and “info” icon:

Opening the menu options brings up the following features:

“Home” brings you to the home screen, “Favorites” is your list of preferred sites, “About” allows you to suggest a link and “Extras,” like the “Info” icon on the main screen, pulls up the following screen:

After choosing a category, in this case “Dictionaries,” the reference sites are listed in alphabetical order. The “M” stamped entries indicate sites that are mobile-friendly:

Obviously, mobile-friendly sites load faster and are easier/quicker to navigate than their regular-web counterparts. Here’s a screen-capture of mobile-friendly Dictionary.com (the “+” in the upper, right corner gives you the option of adding the site to you “Favorites.”):

Here’s a screen-capture of non-mobile-friendly AmericanHeritage.com:

It’s much busier and, although the information is there, you have to pinch, flick and swipe your way to the information you are seeking. Further, because it relies on 3G/WiFi, it’s not as fast as its individual counterpart apps. However, those apps only contain a fraction of what Pocket App offers, so this is easily overlooked.

One other thing worth mentioning is that I found when selecting a topic/link which brings you to a webpage (excluding mobile-friendly links), the resulting page is not opened in Mobile Safari (future request alert). It’s opened using the app’s built-in browser. As a result, I was unable to advance and backtrack within the site, as there are no forward/back buttons. I had to exit the site and re-enter to get to a previous page/location.

All things considered, it’s hard to find any meaningful fault with Pocket Reference. Considering what it does and how much information it gives you access to, it’s an amazing app and well worth its asking price of $1.99.

iPhone gamers who’ve been trawling the App Store for a while might remember when the first chapter of Puzzle Quest made it debut. The popular match-3 / RPG mashup has been a huge hit on the DS and PSP, but the initial iPhone port was sloppy, overpriced, and almost impossible to play. Thankfully, those problems were addressed after the release, and the second chapter was added as a free update to Chapter 1. However, Puzzle Quest is a three-chapter game…and now, a year after the second chapter’s release, the full experience is finally available to play.

You can purchase the third chapter as an in-app purchase for $1.99 if you own the paid version, but I recommend you go with the lite if you don’t own Puzzle Quest yet. Not only can you get a feel for the game, but you can purchase all three chapters for a bargain $4.99 in-app. Yes, you’ll be stuck with “free” on the game’s icon…but it’ll save you two bucks!

Puzzle Quest is really a great title—despite its simplicity, the balance of light RPG elements like spells and attacks mixes very well with match-3 gameplay. Quests require you to “battle” certain monsters in match-3 face-offs, and if the plot is unimaginative, at least the game is addicting! If you’re a fan of Bejeweled and its ilk, you owe it to yourself to check this one out. Even if you don’t particularly love match-3’s, Puzzle Quest is still fun.

Puzzle Quest Free

Category: Games / Adventure
Released: 2009-02-18
Price: FREE

PuzzleQuest Chapter 1 and 2

Category: Games / Adventure
Released: 2008-12-23
Price: $4.99

I know you’re going to think I’m crazy but I think man’s greatest invention is denim. Seriously, think about it, denim has worked it’s way into every modern society around the world. It’s durable, comfortable, and stylish at the same time. It can be business casual but add some paint spots and then it’s trendy. Heck, it can even pose as formal wear in the right circles, who doesn’t love a Canadian tuxedo? There’s not a doubt in my mind that everyone reading this has a favorite pair of jeans in their closet as we speak, unless of course you’re like me and already wearing them. The only problem I ever face with my jeans is that they wear out, not in the knees or the heels, I can deal with that, but in the back pockets. I used to blame it on my George Castanza like wallet, but even when I went to a slimmer style and purged all of the loyalty cards I still found holes, bringing my jeans to premature deaths. SmrtCase has come to my rescue though with an amazing new case called the Glide which combines your wallet and iPhone case into one.

Actually let me rephrase that, the concept of the Glide is amazing, being able to carry up to two cards in your phone case is perfect for going out, especially for women who don’t want to carry a purse or a pocketbook with them. “Amazing” is a bit of a stretch though when referring to the physical case itself. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good case, but there are a few key drawbacks that keep it from reaching its full potential. Honestly I think SmrtCase put too much focus on making the case thin and lightweight that they actually took away from the overall product. The impact resistant polymer material used for the case is 100% recyclable, which is great but it’s so lightweight that it feels almost cheap or brittle. To be fair I do think it’s a misperception as I put the case through several impact tests and it withstood them all very well, but a little extra weight would oddly make me more comfortable.

Read on for the rest of our look at The Glide case

SmrtCase advertises the Glide to be capable of fitting up to two thicker cards (ID & Credit Card) comfortably together in the back slot.

The cards are secured in place by the pressure created by sandwiching them between the case and your iPhone, this method creates a few caveats. First, claiming that two cards fit comfortably is an over statement, placing both in at once causes the right side of the case to pull away from the phone’s bezel giving the user unnecessary anxiety that the case may pop off at any random moment. Secondly, it’s such a tight fit that both cards actually start to bow slightly which could ultimately warp your cards. This certainly isn’t the end of the world but nonetheless it’s annoying. Thirdly, this design has the cards making direct contact with the back of the phone instead of it being its own separate compartment which overtime could cause scratching. Fortunately SmrtCase foresaw this one and provides a protective sticker with each case. However, because of the tight fit and a need to keep it thin, the protective sticker is a much lower quality then the skins I’m used to seeing on the back of phones. Aside from the air bubbles which are impossible to eliminate, the sticker doesn’t fully adhere to the phone around the curved edges. Neither of these facts matter much when the Glide is in place but it does eliminate your ability to quickly swap with other cases if desired. All of these pitfalls could be solved by giving just a little more space to the rear compartment. I realize this would add a little bulk to it but it’s a term I’m willing to concede, given the alternative.

Enough nitpicking though, everything else with the case is pure perfection. I’ve literally gone the past week without carrying or missing my wallet. I know this may not be an option for everyone but I’m sure you could find some card you’d like quick access to, perhaps a bus/train pass, business cards, or Starbuck’s rewards card, etc. This is still a pretty new design and I’m sure the 2nd generation is going to fix all of the little issues I pointed out above but in the meantime $30 seems like a fair price to save your jean’s lives.

I don’t know what cool kids do with their Fridays, but last week I spent mine at an Academic Team competition. You know—random trivia in a quiz bowl format. That sort of thing. So when I got home and saw Quizarium, it seemed like a fitting app to review!

I’ve already played (and praised) Charadium, On5’s other title, which is an online iPhone incarnation of Pictionary. Quizarium clearly borrows much from Charadium’s structure, but this time, it’s an online trivia app. With Plus+ integration, offline play, and a variety of topics to choose from, Quizarium is a fairly comprehensive app. However, the lack of time-limited games and a mediocre question pool keep it from being as phenomenal as its Pictionary-style sibling.

If you’re not familiar with Plus+, it’s ngmoco’s online networking system for the iPhone that includes achievements, leaderboards, etc. You’ll need a Plus+ username to play Quizarium. Once you’ve got that out of the way, you can jump straight into a game. The main screen allows you to set some preferences (color, theme, auto-correct) and also displays a list of available lobbies. These range from the free-for-all “Lobby” to rooms divided by topic and difficulty. The list of topics is pretty solid, ranging from Science to Sports to Music. You can also create your own game.

Gameplay is simple. The question/answer box and the chat box are combined into the main display, and the rest of the screen hosts your keyboard. The game will display a question, and from there it’s a race to see who can answer it first. Points are awarded based on speed and question difficulty. As time goes on, the game will reveal the length and initial letters of the answer as clues, but there are still plenty of cases where you’ll be stumped.

Now here come my complaints. For the most part, the game flows smoothly, but there are still a few glaring problems. First, the keyboard lags, which can easily delay your answer and cost you points. Secondly, the questions simply aren’t that good. Many have grammatical errors; others are simple confusing. Because only one answer will be accepted, you often have to guess what the game’s looking for. Case in point: at one point, I was asked, “Ants live in a what?” We tried anthill, colony, and all manner of other guesses. It took almost all of the word being revealed before someone stumbled upon “formicary.” In another case, “marsupial” was not accepted, while “marsupials” was. And what about this question: “Capital of an South American country”? First there’s the grammatical issue with “an” instead of “a”, but more important is the vagueness. Simple problems like these show the limitations of the app. The topics covered were pretty good, but the actual implementation…not so much. You can vote questions up or down, so hopefully the pool will improve with time.

My other gripe is a less important one, but it still bothers me. Currently, all of the lobbies are in an unlimited-play format. To have an actual round-limited “game” with a winner, you must create a room yourself…and even then, the game starts without waiting for others to join! And when you finish a limited game, the winner isn’t even announced…you have to check the scores yourself. It seems like an afterthought, which is a shame; isn’t direct competition half the fun? According to the developers, default lobbies with limited rounds may be coming in the future, however.

Don’t get me wrong; Quizarium isn’t a bad game. It’s free (for now, at least), and it offers a number of excellent features like offline play, graphics customization, and Plus+ integration. And for the most part, the online trivia is a lot of fun. I just wish that the questions were better and that the keyboard didn’t lag as much. As it stands, grab it while it’s free; if this jumps up to a paid app, you might want to wait a bit before buying.

This week, historically, is the most important week of the year for the college basketball fan. It all starts with Selection Sunday when the field of 64 (or 65 as it is now) is announced. Then, college basketball fans worldwide struggle for the next 3.5 days to fill out their brackets. And finally, Thursday comes around and the first game tips off. From there it’s 4 straight days of basketball nirvana.

Here’s a quick round-up of some apps that can help you enjoy this week. Some to fill out your brackets with, and one to even help you catch the games when away from a TV.

CBS Sports NCAA® March Madness on Demand® is back for the second year. This app is on the high end price wise for an app, but it has one really special feature. Along with sports scores, news, and full bracket coverage, this app lets you stream video of every single NCAA Tournament game. That’s right every single one of the games, even over 3G and Edge. There’s also audio-only coverage if you prefer that. Last year the app worked really well for me. Great if you can’t get away from work to watch a game, you can just sneak into the bathroom and watch it there. I’m not too proud admit that I’ve had to do that once or twice…

CBS Sports NCAA® March Madness on Demand®

Category: Sports
Released: 2010-03-08
Price: $9.99

CBS Sports NCAA® March Madness On Demand® LITE

Category: Sports
Released: 2010-03-08
Price: FREE

Hit the jump for more great apps to help you enjoy March Madness.

PocketBracket Let’s admit it — the best thing about this week is the company sanctioned mass gambling in the office. This app can make keeping track of your pool and your brackets much easier than paper. Not only can you keep track of your own brackets and how they are doing, you can run bracket pools with this app.

PocketBracket: College Basketball Tournament Brackets

Category: Sports
Released: 2009-02-18
Price: $1.99 ON SALE: $0.99

Hooplytics is an app that helps you fill out your bracket and know more about the games than anyone else. Loaded with stats and the ability to simulate the games means you might know a little more than the others in your pool.

Hooplytics 2010

Category: Sports
Released: 2010-02-23
Price: $2.99 ON SALE: $1.99

ESPN Tournament Challenge if you prefer to join large online tournament bracket challenges like the one on ESPN.com, this is the app for you. It lets you keep track of all of your different brackets in the app, enter new ones, and check your progress overall and in your private groups. You can also track the progress of each game from within the app.

ESPN Tournament Challenge

Category: Sports / Strategy
Released: 2010-03-14
Price: FREE

In May of last year a mysterious video popped up on YouTube showing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 running amazingly well, it seemed, on the iPhone. That video was created to celebrate Tony Hawks birthday and to hopefully present a product idea to Tony and Activision.

Well it looks like the game might really be coming out. Tony Hawk revealed this picture on his Twitter stream over the weekend. That tweet has now been removed, but the image remains on the image hosting site. The original tweet from Tony was “In the PR world, this is considered “going rogue,” but I’m too excited to contain it. This is real & dropping soon.”

Activision have the rights to the Tony Hawk franchise so the game will be released through them. We connected with the developer of the version we saw last year to see if they were the developers of this new version. The bad news is that they are not creating it. It was apparently created by someone else for Activision or possibly internally by Activision. I’ve contacted Activision to see if they have a comment on this game, but have yet to hear back.

Hit the jump for the original YouTube video to see Tony Hawk running on the iPhone.

Take a look at the original video below to see the kind of performance we can expect when this drops — it should be really soon now.

[via Pocketgamer]

So it was my intention to get a review of Astro Ranch out much earlier than today, but the game is so immersive that I felt I needed additional time to really get a feel for the playability. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the elements existing within this game, and while not perfect, definitely provide a lot of excitement.

Astro Ranch is a farming style game that follows elements from the Harvest Moon series. Being a Harvest Moon enthusiast since it was released on the SNES, and since recently playing Animal Parade for the Wii, I was ecstatic to hear that this title was coming out. The game play in this game, while a little rough around the edges, certainly doesn’t disappoint however.

In Astro Ranch, players take on the role of a boy or girl who has crash landed on a planet. The only way to survive is to turn the surface of the planet into a farming haven. The game is complete with a stock system that shows a fluctuation of crop prices, so it is to the player’s advantage to monitor those changes, and only sell crops on days where the going price is high.

Additionally, there is animal raising, fishing, gold sifting, and a whole slew of other tasks to complete throughout the game. The ultimate goal is to rebuild your spaceship, with help of the quirky scientist that just happens to be on the planet’s surface. As actions occur, experience is awarded, and your farmer gains levels. As the levels increase, and additional options are opened, the goal becomes closer and closer to achievement.

Astro Ranch is complete with my favorite part of games like this… upgrades. I’m a sucker for upgrading tools and buildings, and in Astro Ranch as you level, upgrades become available for your items, the barn, the house, and the different seeds and animals available for use. I tend to speed as quickly as I can to that top level house upgrade, for what purpose I don’t know.

Astro Ranch provided me with a vast amount of fun, but the game is not without its glitches. The first I experienced is upon starting the game up, it froze and I needed to completely reboot my iPod. Additionally, it’s unclear in the tutorial exactly when to water your plants. In similar games, the soil goes from dry to wet upon watering, but the soil in this game went from wet to dry, implying to me that I should water my plants two and three times a day.

The fishing and gold mini-games are rough to get the hang of because of awkward controls, but they certainly aren’t impossible. I found myself spending a lot of time trying to center my fishing cast, only to be brought back to the world screen and have to start all over again. Don’t even get me started on trying to learn the gold mini game. It involves shaking the iPod, and apparently I shook it too hard, for the first 20 times I tried to get it to work.

Overall Astro Ranch is a great, yet flawed, addition to the farming style games available on the market. If you find that games such as Farmville, Animal Crossing, and Harvest Moon are your cup of tea, then Astro Ranch is a definite purchase. If the idea of watering crops just sounds like work to you, maybe you should stick with something else.

(editor note: GodFinger is not available in the US App Store yet, but ngmoco:) says that it is coming soon!)

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of playing Bolt Creative’s Pocket God, you’ll probably understand how much fun it can be acting as ‘God’ over a group of (admittedly adorable) virtual characters. Within the game, players get to control almost every aspect of every day life for the islands small inhabitants, the pygmies. While good in its own right, Pocket God only focuses its attention on one small, virtually insignificant island. Released today, GodFinger by ngmoco takes this genius concept and multiples its size by … a lot.

In GodFinger, you don’t just get to control an island … you get to control a planet. Your planet. To do with whatever you please. Your planets inhabitants are called denizens and you get control them in any which way that you please! In order to play the game you’ll first need a Plus+ account. If you’re not familar with the service, Plus+ is ngmoco:)’s own social network which allows you to interact with other players of certain ngmoco-owned games, store achievements and game progress. If you already have an account, simply login and you’re ready to roll!

Starting out the game will take you on an interactive tutorial in which you complete a number of task to make you familiar with the game and its working. As you act as God, most of the in-game elements are “power” related. For example one of your first tasks is to find and guide your followers to your shrine. Your shrine is the global source of your godly power. Having your followers worship you around this totem-like statute will generate Mana. There are three types of currency you will come into contact with and use in GodFinger. These include; Mana, Awe and Gold. Mana is the “currency” of your powers, and while you have Mana you can perform various different wonders. Wonders are events like triggering a rain shower from a cloud, commanding lightening bolts, or lighting up your planet with sunshine. Your Mana regenerates over time, but you can speed this up by forcing your followers to worship you. If you need a quick fix of Mana you can trade Awe for Mana in the Awe store.

Awe is your virtual currency for buying goodies from the in-app Awe store. Where’s the catch? I here you ask. Well Awe costs real money. You can choose from 35 Awe costing £1.79 to 206 Awe costing £5.99 or go all out and pick-up 750 Awe for £17.99. The last currency used in the game is Gold. Old fashioned, gold will allow you to buy both buildings and other amenities for your followers.

Each of you followers has a bar of energy and each will alert you of what wonder you must perform for them, to keep the level of this energy constant. Every once in a while a new non-believer will be introduced to your planet. using your Mana to perform wonders you must convince these non-believers to become your followers. To pick up a follower and move him or her to a different place on your planet simply tap, drag and drop.

Moving onto actual gameplay, the game is set out on a huge barren planet. Using your fingers as navigation tools, you can virtually turn the planet and its contents either left or right. At any time you can double tap and zoom in on a certain part of this planet and fill the screen with its contents. Using gold you can build upon your planet creating farms and other building for your followers to work in. As you do, you’ll create a system which will continuously create more gold for you. The aim of the game is level up. You do this by gaining more Level XP (experience). For example 73/140 means you have earned 73 out of 140 XP, with 140 XP being the amount of experience you need to level up. This is where the social element also comes in. Supported by ngmoco:)’s own Plus+ network, GodFinger allows you to add contacts as Mystics. Mystics periodically earn you gold on other peoples planets. Adding and assigning a mystic on your own planet will ensure that person receives a wad of gold, too.

Overall, while the game is stunning to look at, and performs well, my opinions of GodFinger fall at the feet of this argument of the ‘Freemium’ business model ngmoco seem to have adopted for most of its games lately. Personally, I can see where they are coming from. They’re not forcing you to pay for in-game elements. In fact, if you like you can play the game for free and never pay for things like Awe. But, I believe there will come a point in the game where purchase is necessary, and therefore the game has to fall into the category of ‘Pay to Play’. While your planet will run without you, you may find the constant push notification asking you to come back and sort things out a little annoying. Sure these can be turned off, bu it doesn’t stop the fact that certain elements of the game will degrade while your away.

GodFinger is a very “hands on” kind of game, and apart from its pay-to-play nature … one I think fits the iPhone nicely.

I must admit, when I first read about Radio Flare Redux, I was not impressed. While I appreciate its artistry, I’m not a fan of techno, club or house music (which I’ve never heard in any house I’ve been in). Neither am I a fan of any activity which could cause my retinas to pop (out or otherwise). That said, my expectations going into this game were admittedly low. The game, however, would prove me wrong (and keep my retinas intact).

Radio Flare Redux is the anticipated successor to the hit debut from Studio Radiolaris, Radio Flare, which was a finalist in the 2009 IGF Mobile and IndieCade competitions.

Radio Flare Redux is described as a “highly stylized, side-scrolling, multi-touch shooter” which claims to “redefine the shoot-‘em-up and rhythm action genres,” utilizing the iPhone/iPod Touch’s multi-touch capabilities:

At the beginning of each level, the game screen lists the “Track Title” and “Artist.” The upper-left screen contains the pause feature, the score/score multiplier and the length of the song track. Level play time is defined by the length of the song.

The upper-right corner contains the player’s star-status indicator: Each level begins with 5 “empty” stars. As you gain points, you gain life and your stars slowly fill until they’re all completely full. Each time you die, however, a star (whether full or empty) is taken away and that’s one less life available to you. If you run out of stars, the level ends.

There are six “pick-ups” or upgrades available during play. When a player “picks up” one of these items, it is used immediately/ automatically, i.e. the player does not have the option of using the item when he/she wants:

In order to advance in the game, players need to earn at least three stars for each level. At the conclusion of each level, players are shown two screens, displaying their play statistics for that level:

You can’t go to the next level (planet) unless you’ve reached a certain point level. On this point, I can say that as a player goes from one level to the next, it does get harder, even requiring players to switch/alternate thumbs.

As stated earlier, game play is fluid and frenetic. The action’s pace is dictated by enemy movement and the pulsing rhythm/beat of the song track. Scores of enemies will target you in waves, requiring dexterity and fine-tuned “thumb oppositionality.” The game play, visuals, and soundtrack, independently, are quality components, but the game’s integration of all three is what makes it so unique.

The game is not without flaws, however. While I had no problems with the game’s controls, some may find they take some getting used to. For example, lifting your left finger from the screen by accident can default your ship’s location to your right finger’s position. This can become annoying, but actually helped me in many instances. As the game and enemy movement progress, you will find your fingers fumbling over and around each other in an effort to quickly dispatch the oncoming horde while remaining untouched. While awkward at first, I quickly learned how to switch fingers to adapt to enemy movement and game play.

Parts of the game became a little mundane, also: While each level’s background, music, etc. are different, the basic template remains the same throughout all levels and the different types of enemies, most of which are little more than cell-shaded, embellished shapes, eventually become repetitive. Also, ironically, one of the game’s “main ingredients,” the sound track, somewhat restricts the game play experience, in that players need to wear headphones (or hook the iPhone up to a good external speaker system) in order to experience all this game has to offer. Moreover, if you use the iPhone’s ear buds/ear phones accessory, the wire (at the jack site) frustratingly impedes your play, i.e. it gets all up “in your business,” so I would strongly suggest using headphones having a 90-degree jack.

Radio Flare Redux is a visually pleasing, charming, addictive, quality side-scrolling space shooter experience whose game play (enemy movement/actions, background animation, etc.) is driven by the rhythm and beat of its quality sound tracks. Its bright, pulsating immersive environments and game play will completely engage you audibly and visually (I was drinking punch and cooking a quiche, so all my senses were engaged), have your head and heart pumping and your thumbs wiggling throughout every level of play. I thoroughly enjoyed playing through its 33 levels over and again.

Moreover, the star unlock feature, combined with Crystal online high score and achievements, give the game high replay value. At $2.99, Radio Flare Redux is well-worth its price and I recommend the game to anyone who enjoys or is looking for a quality, 2-D, cosmic side-scrolling sensory adventure.

My wife and I are expecting our first child in a couple of months, and like any overzealous new parents, we are reading as much as we can to be sure we know everything there is to know once that little bundle of joy joins the family. We both realize how ludicrous such an idea is, and that nothing really “prepares” you for having children, but that hasn’t stopped us from trying.

In the course of looking for information, I turned to my iPod, knowing full well that there was an app for that. I found a wonderful app that my wife could use called “What to Expect”. This app brings a lot of important information into a nice small easy to navigate app that makes following the progression of the baby fun and easy. Each day and week, the app is updated with new information. These transitions are based on the expected due date that we inputted.

The first screen in What to Expect is a summary screen that includes information on the estimated due date, how long the babies development has left, trimester and gestational age, and the current size of the baby. From a father’s perspective, the biggest fun from this entire app comes from this page, and specifically the current size of the baby. This app doesn’t just summarize based on weight, but includes physical objects that you can compare the baby’s size to. These are mostly vegetables, and last week we had an ear of corn growing in my wife’s belly, this week it’s an eggplant.

The next two parts of What to Expect include weekly and daily updates. The weekly updates are geared towards women, and unless you’re a father who is really into the whole medical side of the process, I would steer clear of these updates. They usually are extremely descriptive to help the mother know exactly what is going on, but the one update I did catch wasn’t exactly something I needed to know. My wife however, loves these updates, and shares all of the great changes that are occurring to the baby. This week, the baby’s eyes are opening for the first time!

The daily updates are more generalized, and provide good eating tips and healthy habits that assist in the healthy development of the baby. At certain points throughout the pregnancy, certain daily updates are time specific however, including the recent one we received about being able to possibly hear the baby’s heart beat now by putting an ear up to the belly. I haven’t been able to get this to work, but I would love to know if anyone else has.

The final two parts of the app include a photo upload section, to monitor the growth of the belly, and a link to the forums at whattoexpect.com. We weren’t very interested in photo monitoring, and haven’t done much with the forums, but I am sure that these two options are great for those that need it.

“What to Expect” is an amazing app that has increased mine and my wife’s enjoyment of this process. It’s a wonderful and education heavy app that provides excellent information on things your doctor might not cover in the visits each month. With a high price of free, every pregnant or hopeful family should check it out.

I’ve never been one to need a lot of complex passwords. If someone would like to read my various Viagra ads and the honey do list I got emailed from my wife, by all means hack my email account. There are, however certain websites where I need a more complex password. Being the super intelligent individual I am, I spend just as much time creating new passwords, after I forget my original one, that I do on the websites I need these websites for.

That’s why reviewing uP@ssw0rdz!: The Ultimate Password Generator is something I am very interested in using on a continued basis. It offers me the chance to establish a password and have it stored right on my iPod for future recovery. Well, that is before I actually got my hands on it.

Now don’t take that the wrong way. uP@ssw0rdz! is an extremely powerful and useful app. For those of you that need to generate individual passwords that are of varying complexity and able to be stored in one collective area, this is absolutely the app for you. If you’ve followed a few of my reviews however, you know I am much simpler in my approach to things. I experienced a steep learning curve and difficulty navigating the app at first, but it went smoothly once I got the hang of it.

uP@ssw0rdz! uses varying degrees of complexity, using three different specific rule categories to create its passwords. Certain letters are replaced in words, certain words are adjusted, and the order switched, depending on how complex of a password needed. These password rules can be adjusted and made standard through saved profiles, so that it’s easier to keep a standard approach to all password generation. These passwords can then be saved into the app and retrieved for later use.

This app comes complete with a fairly comprehensive set of options to adjust, a nice tutorial that eases the learning curve, and a pin that locks the entire program up. This pin is especially important if you plan to store bank account and website passwords that are important to you on this app. There is also a copy and paste feature to ease the input process from app to website.

I find myself thinking on this app, the same way I do on others. It’s a lot of initial work to get the app up and running, and additional work for upkeep as passwords require updating, new passwords are needed, etc. I don’t have a lot of free time as it is, and the additional work involved in the complexity of the app just doesn’t really fit my needs. My simplistic approach to apps shouldn’t defer anyone from using this app that might need a powerful password generator though. As I review more and more apps, I find that the more time an app takes to set up, the less chance I will spend with it past the time I invest for the review.

Most likely, you’ll know if something like this will fit your needs. I can certainly vouch for its ability to generate passwords, but personally had difficulty making good use of it.

My iPhone 3GS screen real estate is a precious commodity. I have 11 pages of apps and will seize any opportunity allowing me to conserve or consolidate my precious screen space. The developers at Fossil Software, LLC obviously share my sentiment and released 50 In 1: APPZILLA! specifically for people like me, i.e. everyone.

50 In 1: APPZILLA! cleverly enhances an idea first purported by the developers of AppBox Pro. While AppBox Pro (and subsequent similar apps) houses multiple utility or productivity applications, 50 In 1: APPZILLA! expands on this concept by featuring an assortment of applications included within the social networking, music, utility, productivity, lifestyle, reference, photography and entertainment categories.

As its name implies, 50 In 1: APPZILLA! currently houses a record 51 commonly (and not-so-commonly)-used applications, allowing iPhone users to save a considerable portion of precious screen space, not to mention money, priced at only .99, by taking popular, unique and commonly-used applications and consolidating them into one, multi-purpose application.

When describing 50 In 1: APPZILLA!, this analogy has been used ad nauseam, but I can think of no better way to summarize its use/contents: It truly is the “Swiss Army knife” of iPhone utility apps.

While there are other similar apps in the app store, 50 In 1: APPZILLA! is currently the only multi-purpose app containing a whopping 51 applications spanning the entire app store category spectrum. So, how does APPZILLA compare to its competition? How does its apps/features compare to its individually-priced counterparts?

First off, the mere idea of having 51 applications conveniently contained within one app is incredible. APPZILLA’s competition features, at the most, 34. Currently, APPZILLA features the following:

50,000 Famous Quotes

Twitter/Facebook Tools

Currency Translator

Language Translator

Touch Anywhere Camera

Timer Camera

Whiteboard

Dictionary

Digital Clock

Trip Wire

Unit Converter

Voodoo Doll

Sleep Sounds Generator

Glow Paint

Battery Life

Book Lamp

Tip Calculator

Game Buzzer

Clinometer

Bubble Level

Plumb Bob

Protractor

Ruler

Price Compare

Hot Topics

Coin Flip

Cook Timer

Crystal Ball

Tesla Meter

Decibel Meter

Advanced Random Number Generator

Sale Price Calculator

System Info

Flashlight

Music Box

Grill Timer

Homeland Security

Concert Lighter

Moon Phase Calculator

Morse Code Flasher

Password Generator

Massager

Color Picker

Metronome

Pitch Pipe

Sound Box

Strobe Light

Tally Tracker

Dice Roller

Location Tool

Fake Call

I’ll try not to cover every app in detail, but will focus on those commonly-used features/apps that have individual, dedicated counterpart apps in the app store.

There seems to be no “Golden Standard” or formula to follow when developing multi-purpose apps like 50 iN 1: APPZILLA!. Based on the existing multi-purpose apps in the app store, developers choose features using different criteria, resulting in many multi-purpose apps having at least one “much-needed” feature non-existent in its rivals. Because of this phenomenon (I like to call the based-on-the-existing-multi-purpose-apps-in-the-app-store-developers-choose-features-using-different-criteria-resulting-in-many-multi-purpose-apps-having-at-least-one-much-needed-feature-non-existent-in-its-rivals phenomenon), I find myself using multiple multi-purpose apps (What?…What?).

Visually, APPZILLA’S main menu interface is simply gorgeous and literally “out-shines” its competition. The icons are beautiful, detailed and well-designed and app animations are clear and fluid. Its sound effects, e.g. “button-clicks” are crisp and pleasing.

From APPZILLA’S main menu, users can control sound options, such as button clicks and the option to have the app “roar” when its opening doors slide open, by tapping the “Settings” icon in the main menu’s upper-right corner. Conversely, users have the option to toggle door animation, i.e. have them slide open to reveal the main menu or simply transition to the main menu without animation:

In addition, the icon in the upper-left corner allows users to customize the order of their apps, but does not provide them with the option to remove or exclude apps from the list, a badly-needed feature, given the number and variety of apps within the program. I would like to be able to display only those apps I use, without having to sift through or display pages of apps I don’t use.

APPZILLA’S apps all have a built-in help feature and customizable settings, dependent on the application. For example, the “Book Lamp” app allows users to adjust the brightness and the color of the light, although I don’t know why one wouldn’t just use the “Flashlight.” Both appear to provide the same level of brightness, but “Flashlight” doesn’t have the option to adjust its color:

The individual menu interfaces for 50 iN 1: APPZILLA!’S apps are clean, user-friendly and well-developed. While APPZILLA contains many very useful apps, it has its share of the “entertainment only” variety, such as “Voodoo” and “Buzzer:”

Conversely, 50 iN 1: APPZILLA! contains very useful, unique features/apps not found in other multi-utility apps (or possibly as individual apps within the app store), such as “Color Calculator,” which helps you choose colors based on visual selection from a color swatch, showing users the RGB, HSV and HEX values for the color they choose:

“Decibels,” a decibel meter that measures sound:

“Dictionary,” which requires an internet connection and offers users the option of emailing entries:

“Coin Flip,” which gives users the option to have the coin always land on “heads,” (for cheaters):

“Grill Timer,” (which tracks up to 4 simultaneous grilling durations; as each timer expires, the app sounds an alarm, tracks time whether you’re in the app, on a phone call or playing a game and contains a list of “Ideal Meat Temperatures.”):

“Tally” provides users with the option of counting/tracking 1-4 numbers simultaneously and even allows users to set pre-determined beginning figures:

“Music Box” and “Sleep Aid,” (both of which show the thought 50 iN 1: APPZILLA!’S developers put into their app). These apps are all well-developed and are easily comparable to their individual app-store counterparts (providing they exist):

50 iN 1: APPZILLA!’S version of those apps commonly featured in multi-utility apps, such as “Level,” “Tip Calculator,” “Currency Converter,” “Unit Converter,” “Battery Life” and “System Info,” are all intuitive, well-developed and easy to use, with, as mentioned before, a built-in “Help” screen:

I also tested “Teslameter” and when I cranked up “Love Song,” I thought my iPhone was going to spontaneously combust.

Conversely, 50 iN 1: APPZILLA! does contain its share of popular utilities that are rudimentary and/or suffer from a lack of options, such as “Ruler,” “Clock” and “Fake Call,” (3-4 out of 51 is easily overlooked):

“Locator,” while providing users with Latitude/Longitude, Altitude, Course and Speed, does not offer the option to plot users’ location on a map or find their current address:

As mentioned above, 50 iN 1: APPZILLA! also contains not-so-useful unique features/apps not found in other multi-utility apps or as individual apps within the app store. However, they are still quality, well-developed apps, such as (mentioned earlier), “Voodoo” and “Buzzer,” “Crystal Ball” (you can input 5 custom “answers”), “Homeland,” (an updated Homeland Security Advisory System; I’m sure this feature has a niche’, but I have no use for the chart, not to mention I can’t understand it) “Massager” (which has 5 different settings) and “Quotes.”:

As it turns out, “Crystal Ball” is useful. I asked it if I would finish this review in time to enjoy my Saturday and it replied:

50 iN 1: APPZILLA! also offers two additional features not commonly found in its app store counterparts: “Auto Camera” and “Full Camera.” “Auto Camera” allows its users to take pictures, using a built-in timer, in increments of 5, 10 and 30 seconds and 1, 5 and 10 minutes. “Auto Camera” allows its users to take a picture by tapping anywhere on the screen:

When taking pictures with the camera apps, the resulting photographs were comparable to the iPhone’s built-in camera, but the iPhone camera’s built-in focus provided slightly-clearer pictures. It’s all relative, however, as under proper lighting and conditions, APPZILLA is capable of taking quality photos. However, I did find that, when sometimes opening these apps, I was merely introduced to a camera screen with no options, a bug APPZILLA’S developers can easily resolve.

All things considered, 50 iN 1: APPZILLA! is truly a “beast-of-an-app” and, while it does lack useful features found in other apps, such as a date calculator, I believe after it’s next update(s) it will reign as “King” of the multi-purpose apps. Its graphics, animation and interface are beautiful, fluid and well-developed.

50 iN 1: APPZILLA! is not without flaws, however: Users need more customization when it comes to the app icon list. I would like to be able to display only those apps I use, without having to sift through pages of apps I don’t use. Other apps can be tweaked, to appeal to more users. For example, I have no use for APPZILLA’S “Voodoo” app, but providing users with the option to add a customized photo to its face, etc., would have me beating that silly, little doll mercilessly! All-in-all, the bugs I encountered were few and minor, given APPZILLA’S monstrosity of a feature-set.

Despite its flaws, while there are other similar apps in the app store, 50 In 1: APPZILLA! is currently the only multi-purpose/multi-category application-housing app containing a large number of well-developed, quality applications equal to, if not better than, their separate counterparts. Its crisp sound effects and visually-appealing, clean, fluid, user-friendly interface/animations/icons allow it to “out-shine” its competition and “stand out” as the current front-runner in a growing genre.

If you love multi-purpose apps and/or are looking for one app to consolidate utility, reference, productivity and entertainment apps, thus freeing screen real-estate, I strongly recommend 50 In 1: APPZILLA!. At only .99, it’s an invaluable app you’ll use over and over again.

]]> http://www.148apps.com/reviews/50-1-appzilla-2/feed/ 1 http://www.148apps.com/reviews/50-1-appzilla-2/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/148apps/~3/BJZwmnkEgpw/ http://www.148apps.com/news/eliminate-coop-released-frag-friends/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:00:18 +0000 Bonnie Eisenman http://www.148apps.com/?p=29698

ngmoco’s new games have all been based off of the freemium play model. Whatever your opinions of freemium in other games, there’s denying that for Eliminate, it’s been a huge success; the online FPS has legions of dedicated fans. If you’ve tired of it in recent weeks, however, this might bring you back into the fold: ngmoco has released a new Eliminate app that adds a new and much-asked-for mode to the game. Cooperative play is here!

In the new co-op mode, two players team up to fight off the attacking bots. It includes a bunch of new loot to collect, so you can earn credits to upgrade your player’s armor and weaponry. It’s a lot of fun so far, and as a free update it’s even better. Eliminate fans, go grab the new app!

Eliminate: CO-OP

Category: Games / Adventure
Released: 2010-03-13
Price: FREE

]]> http://www.148apps.com/news/eliminate-coop-released-frag-friends/feed/ 0 http://www.148apps.com/news/eliminate-coop-released-frag-friends/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/148apps/~3/cZSej_z3NTE/ http://www.148apps.com/news/ipad-preorders-device-details-emerge/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:51:55 +0000 Tony Kicks http://www.148apps.com/?p=29632

For those who have been living under a technology rock, the iPad went on pre-order today and is set for a release date of April 3rd. With a hard launch date finally in place new details have come to light about the yet to be held device. The most talked about addition thus far is the addition of a Screen Orientation Lock switch on the side which replaces the formerly announced mute switch. Personally this is a feature I wish they would build into the iPhone as well. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been texting while laying in bed and my phone can’t decide if it wants to stay in landscape mode or not. Please Apple, even if you don’t add a hard switch to the next iPhone, make a software option to turn off the accelerometer in the settings menu.

Additionally more information about the data plan for 3G users has also come up. It’s confirmed that any user subscribing to the 250MB plan per month ($15) will receive three separate warning notifications when the iPad is approaching it’s limit, popping up respectively at 20%, 10%, and 0% remaining. At any point a customer can chose to upgrade to the unlimited plan for $30. All can be done straight from the iPad itself with a credit card, no need to go into any store or call anyone, you can do it straight on the go. Combined with the ability to cancel it at any time I think it’s safe to say the 3G model is the one to buy. As an added bonus, just like the iPhone, AT&T is throwing in its access to over 20,000 hotspots, what’s not to love?

Some of the less notable details include a new terrain view being added to Google Maps, playback support for AVI & MJPEG files, and a directly integrated Voice Over feature with iBooks. Voice Over is available on all of the default applications but it appears that it will be taken to another level with iBooks. It’s also confirmed that DRM-Free ebooks will also be supported through upload via iTunes. MobileMe users will also be pleased to know that all of the features being enjoyed on the iPhone will also be brought to the iPad, including the Remote Lock/Wipe, Find My [iPad], and the Send Notifications features.

The iWork apps received some attention and sharing details too. Originally the apps were announced with the ability to import and read numerous formats including MS Office files but lacked the ability to export in anything other then iWork Files or PDFs. Well good news for iPad Pages users, the app will actually be able to export as Word files also. While Numbers & Keynote exports will still be restricted to their respective formats the addition gives me faith that Apple will eventually support Excel & PowerPoint as well. As a work-around I’m sure iWork documents created on the iPad would be convertible via their full application on your main computer. Apple’s site also encourages users to sign up for the iWork.com public beta as files can be shared directly through it, it’s been up for over a year so hopefully those beta training wheels will be coming off soon.

Overall it’s been a pretty successful day for the iPad as early reports are stating 50,000 units were sold in the first two hours of pre-sale and I’m sure the buzz is only going to continue.

]]> http://www.148apps.com/news/ipad-preorders-device-details-emerge/feed/ 0 http://www.148apps.com/news/ipad-preorders-device-details-emerge/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/148apps/~3/sc03TlRhlsA/ http://www.148apps.com/news/magellans-premium-gps-car-kit-cheaper/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:11:08 +0000 Tony Kicks http://www.148apps.com/?p=28725

The Magellan Premium Car Kit is a feature rich mounting solution with a lot of promise, but for $130 it ultimately leaves you wishing for a bit more. We’ll break these attributes down in detail later on but a brief overview shows the kit boasting a Bluetooth speakerphone, adjustable 360º bracket, GPS booster (with iPod Touch support), and in car iPhone charging through a 12v port. Built similarly to TomTom’s mount, Magellan’s Car Kit is designed to be used in conjunction with the company’s own $90 (currently on sale for $60) turn by turn navigation app, Magellan RoadMate 2010 (reviewed separately). Other navigation apps can be used successfully with this kit but some of the unique features may not function fully, more on that later also.

Bracket & Mounting Performance:

Using a suction-cup system the MPCK (Magellan Premium Car Kit) can be mounted very securely to any part of your windshield without fear of it falling or slipping. The only issue with this is one of aesthetics, being that the kit is powered off of the car means it needs to be plugged in 100% of the time and this results in an ugly cable hanging down from your windshield. To help with this MiTAC includes an adhesive dashboard disc for the mount to attach to, which while It doesn’t get rid of the cable entirely, it certainly does help with concealing it. The bracket attaches to the mount via a ball-joint which allows for a smooth 360º rotation. Be cautioned though, since the power cable hangs down rotating the mount too many times in one direction causes the cable to become taught and tangled.

The clip for securing your iPhone or iPod Touch is one of the best designs I’ve seen yet. Most hardware makers, like TomTom for example, create clips that are device specific meaning that if you buy a mount for an iPhone but down the line get an iPod Touch then you’re out of luck. The MPCK on the other hand uses an adjustable top arm and rear support switch to accommodate for devices of varying heights and widths meaning it not only allows for both iPods and iPhones but also leaves enough room for most cases to fit comfortably.

Audio & Bluetooth:

The bottom facing amplified speaker assures that all of the turn by turn directions called out by any navigation app are easily heard throughout the vehicle and its loudness can be adjusted using the manual volume control on the left side of the unit. While the speaker can also be used to casually listen to music, I can’t really see anyone using it over their in-car speakers. Fortunately MiTAC seems realize this and has added a 3.5mm audio-out port for connecting the dock to a car’s radio auxiliary input. This is another basic feature that TomTom has overlooked in its design and even though you need to provide the 3.5mm cable yourself, having the option is huge. The internal speaker’s 3rd act is its bluetooth speakerphone capabilities. Described as a premium noise canceling speaker phone on MiTAC’s website, it’s a great bonus but I found it to fall a little short of my expectations. It does support a slew of multi-function bluetooth controls which can be seen here and it allows you use the speaker phone without the iPhone being docked but the biggest drawback seems to be sound quality.

I made a couple dozen phone calls using the speakerphone and while I was able to hear others perfectly fine, most of them had complaints of hearing too much background noise over my voice. It seemed to get worse at higher speeds leading me to believe it’s more the proximity to the windshield rather than the actual build quality of the speaker itself but that hardly makes it any more useful. The saddest thing to me is that the bluetooth doesn’t support music playback through the speaker or auxiliary out. This would be an amazing feature that would allow anyone who has an iPhone to pair with the dock and play their library through the car stereo with no extra cables. At CES this year Scosche was showcasing a product that does exactly this, while it’s still in preproduction I thought the idea was brilliant and adding something like it to the MPCK could make that $130 price tag much easier to swallow.

Power & iPod GPS:

One of the coolest features the MPCK is advertising is the added GPS support for iPod Touch’s. It does this using the added GPS Chip that’s built into the mount itself which can also boost the reception for iPhones currently with GPS. As interesting as it is, it’s not as unique of an idea as it sounds and MiTAC is doing it with more limitations than some of its competitors. One such limitation is that it only adds GPS to the 2nd generation iPod Touch while TomTom’s version adds it to both 1st generation iPod Touch’s and iPhones. In addition, MiTAC states that the added GPS support will only work when using their RoadMate app while Dual Electronics’ XGPS300 Navigation Cradle adds location services to all apps on the device. The XGPS300 also has an advantage as it’s not limited to in car use since it sports its own rechargeable battery pack. The MPCK does use a mini USB port for power which makes it more universal if you have friends without iPhones needing a charge on the go.

Conclusion:

For $130 the Magellan Premium Car Kit does leave you wishing you got a bit more bang for your buck but that’s not to say there aren’t already plenty of features packed into it. Sure maybe some alternative kits out there offer additional niche features but many of them are also missing the basics this one has mastered. The truth is that these car kits only work for a certain market and there is a growing debate as to whether or not spending $200+ on a kit and app for an iPhone is worth more than buying a dedicated unit for cheaper or with more features. If you’re looking to make an iPhone your navigator then definitely go with Magellan over TomTom, but it may be worth exploring other stand alone units first.

Developer: MiTAC
Price: $129.99
Model Reviewed: Magellan Premium Car Kit 3G/S

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Pros:
-Fits both iPhones & iPod Touch’s, including cases
-Adds GPS to 2nd Gen. iPod Touchs
-Windshield mounted
-Charges with mini USB
-Amplified Speaker & Audio Out

Cons:
-No Battery power
-iPod Touch requires Magellan’s app to function
-Bluetooth does not support music playback
-Speaker phone picks up a lot of background noise

]]> http://www.148apps.com/news/magellans-premium-gps-car-kit-cheaper/feed/ 0 http://www.148apps.com/news/magellans-premium-gps-car-kit-cheaper/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/148apps/~3/A1dQXUlQ2Wc/ http://www.148apps.com/news/semi-secret-backflip-studios-talk-app-store-success-gdc/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:59:10 +0000 Arron Hirst http://www.148apps.com/?p=29548

As you probably already know, GDC or the Game Developers Conference in San Fransisco is an annual conference at which game developer get together to share development, tools, tips and technologies. This year, independent development companies Semi Secret and Backflip Studios were quick to share just how successful their dive into the App Store has been. Between the two of them, they have 8 paid applications on the store.

Yesterday, co-founder of Semi Secret, Eric Johnson revealed to Pocket Biz that the company had sold 115,000 copies of their popular side-scroller adventure Canabalt. Whats interesting though is these download statistics he said were based upon Canabalt selling at the $2.99 price point over 5 months. He was also quick to estimate the ball-park piracy rate of Canabalt, which he put at 20 percent over those 5 months.

Similarly, Backflip Studio revealed it had generated $2.5 Million in around nine and a half months of being on the store. The company stated these figure were based on enjoying a staggering 22 Million downloads overall, revealing 17 Million of those came from just one of their App Store titles – Paper Toss. On a side note Backflip also announced mobile advertising is making them a substantial $1 Million in just six months and $379,000 in December last year, alone.

]]> http://www.148apps.com/news/semi-secret-backflip-studios-talk-app-store-success-gdc/feed/ 0 http://www.148apps.com/news/semi-secret-backflip-studios-talk-app-store-success-gdc/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/148apps/~3/sDHCvLVrCz4/ http://www.148apps.com/news/namco-unveil-unite-sdk-iphonetoiphone-gaming-2009/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:25:32 +0000 Arron Hirst http://www.148apps.com/?p=29579

One for the game developers now. Since the iPhone’s launch and the App Store’s debut, we’ve seen a slurry of companies take it upon themselves to create a “social” medium or space in which gamers of all ages and skill levels can communicate and interact with each other on a device to device basis. But so far, supposedly due to the limitations of the iPhone SDK, this has been restricted to three methods of gameplay for us here gamers; iPhone to iPhone. iPhone to iPod touch or iPod touch to iPod touch.

Namco, most famous for its worldwide Pac-Man franchise, have announced at GDC yesterday that they have been working on a new, different method. Unite is a cross-platform gaming technology that will allow users to play against gamers using different types of devices and machines and challenge each other in the same game. Acting very much like a social network, Unites aim is to unite gamers the world over, no matter which device they choose to play on.

“For example, an iPhone gamer could play a game against a PC player in Pool Pro Online 3. Unite will have a single login across all platforms supported by the platform. Gamers have a profile fronted by an avatar and a score, boosted by the accumulation of achievements in Unite-powered games.And having a central web site (and soon, an iPhone app) where you can manage your account should also make it an attractive alternative to developers looking for a social solution for their games.”

The big news here is that unlike the current social platforms like ngmoco:)’s Plus+, Open Feint and Crystal, Namco’s Unite platform will apparently allow gamers to chat live with each other during gameplay. So, as well as bringing along the ability to play non-iPhone gamers the world over, this new SDK should also bring some functional aspects of a platform like Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE, for example, to the iPhone.

As with Open Feint, Namco says they’ll soon have a “central” iPhone application on the store, which you can keep track of all your Unite platform achievements on the the go! Currently there is little more information known about Unite, but we’ll be following this closely and keeping you up to date with news and announcements which come out of this new SDK – I’m sure you’ll agree, this is pretty exciting stuff!

Source: IGN UK

]]> http://www.148apps.com/news/namco-unveil-unite-sdk-iphonetoiphone-gaming-2009/feed/ 1 http://www.148apps.com/news/namco-unveil-unite-sdk-iphonetoiphone-gaming-2009/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/148apps/~3/QKYfVl4IrAE/ http://www.148apps.com/reviews/spirit/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:18:01 +0000 Arron Hirst http://www.148apps.com/?p=29120

Developer: Marco Mazzoli
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Reviewed on: iPhone 3GS

Gameplay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Controls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Graphics and Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars

I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for good-looking games. Recently, I came across another … Spirit. Spirit is a game that didn’t get much air time or pre-launch hype for that matter. It just … appeared. Resembling an art style much like Critical Thought’s geoDefense, Spirit is a tower defense title with a twist. Most tower defense titles in their genre are at this point pretty generic. They usually consist of a bunch of enemies following a pre-defined path, with your aim being to stop them in their tracks using any means necessary. Instead, Spirit’s wildly varied array of enemies choose when and were that path will be, and how they move along it.

In the game you control a vector shaped spirit with the touch of your finger. As your enemies pile into the gridded room, your aim becomes to avoid capture at all costs by dragging this little spirit around your enemies, encapsulating them. As you do, you’ll create a vortex like structure which will suck up any immediately close enemies. As with most of Spirit, the use of smooth animation makes this a kind of addicting experience. Of course, dependent on the amount of enemies you capture in the circle, you’ll earn a certain amount of points. Its important to note that you will only be able to capture your enemy or (group of enemies) if the speed of your circuit around them is fast enough. Visually, this circling of your enemies is accompanied by a stream of ghostly mist. Your speed within the room will trigger the environment to bounce at move, like elastic. Along the way you’ll meet a number of colour-coded enemies all of which will take a different path around you.

As with other tower defense titles, Spirit works off enemy waves. As you move on to defeat more waves, the games difficulty increases. Whether it be in the way of your enemies getting faster and more agile than you, or becoming elongated and twisted, as you progress through the game your enemies will become tougher to defeat. The more and more waves you manage defeat the more bonus levels you will unlock. Bonus levels are simply a frantic grab for points. In bonus levels, the game throws down hundreds of different coloured virtual chips … and against the clock, you aim to collect as many as you possibly can. The more you circuit around and manage to collect, the higher your overall total score. If you come into contract with your enemies or they touch you, you die. To re-spawn you simply tap anywhere on the screen, and you will re-spawn from where you tapped. Handy for when you’re in a sticky situation and need to get out of it!

Visually the game has an arcade modern-retro feel to it, with bright neon-like elements playing a huge part. If you’ve ever seen geoDefense, you’ll probably understand what I mean. They’re the sort of visuals you can’t really explain in full details, other than to say they look pretty damn gorgeous. The controls are extremely responsive and with the ability to tweak this responsiveness on the app’s options menu, controlling the spirit is a pleasant experience.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Spirit. Being an avid fan of geoDefense and Spirit’s visual style resembling parts of that, the game just seemed to click with me. Controls were both fluid and responsive. I for one highly recommend you give this one a look!

]]> http://www.148apps.com/reviews/spirit/feed/ 2 http://www.148apps.com/reviews/spirit/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/148apps/~3/urq2kVSxkHo/ http://www.148apps.com/reviews/hills-rivers-remain/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:12:12 +0000 Bonnie Eisenman http://www.148apps.com/?p=26800

Developer: Square Enix
Price: $6.99
Version Reviewed: 1.1.0

Graphics / Sound Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

iPhone Integration Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Unlike Square Enix’s recent ports of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II, Hills and Rivers Remain is far from a flagship franchise. Unfortunately, it shows. Hills and Rivers is a solid real-time strategy game, but its good foundations are undermined by lengthy battles, limited content, and unfriendliness towards newbies. This one will be enjoyed by hardcore fans of RTS games, but few others.

The game is a set to a feudal military theme, in which you control the Julius armies as you conquer enemy lands and defend your own. Naturally, your goal is to crush all of the enemy’s forces. The battle maps are dotted with towns, which are connected by angular roads. To conquer a town, you’ll have to send enough troops towards it in order to crush those stationed there. Each turn, your headquarters—you pick which town this is—generates more troops. And that’s all there is to it. Spread out your troops, fortify your towns, and chase your enemy from the map…it all sounds so simple on the surface, doesn’t it? There aren’t even any unit types or other variations; troops are simply troops.

Hills and Rivers Remain isn’t what I’d call simple, though. When you start a map, the enemy troops are massed at their spot, and you start at your own. However, the existing towns won’t go down without a fight, either, so while they won’t attack you, you have to be careful about where you spread your troops. When you reach multi-enemy maps, it quickly becomes a desperate juggling act between offense and defense that should provide a good challenge even to hardcore RTS fans. Key nuances of gameplay—where to place your headquarters, when to use items like attack boosters, which towns to attack first—must be mastered in order to succeed. Some “towns” have special attributes: capturing a stable improves your troops’ speed, while a castle is harder to overcome.

The controls are a bit on the rough side. Though there are only two functions—moving your headquarters and directing your troops—it’s harder than I expected. Managing to send the right number of troops in the right direction is harder than it should be, especially since this is a real-time game and therefore you can’t cancel your orders. They’re functional, certainly, but just not as precise as I would like. At least relocating headquarters is easy; you just tap and hold on the intended base. The camera is also a bit on the rough side; it’s hard, and sometimes impossible, to get a view of the entire map, so figuring out where to send your troops can be an aggravating experience.

As for the graphics and sound, they’re nothing special, but it works. The colors aren’t the bright cartoony hues that seem to populate the App Store, which is a nice change, and the pixel art definitely screams “old-school games!” Sound effects are unimpressive, but at least you can turn them off when they become monotonous. Compared to Square Enix’s full capabilities, it’s clear that this was designed with a mobile platform in mind.

My biggest gripe with the game? Its brevity. There are only ten main missions, in addition to a free-play mode, and that just doesn’t feel like enough for a premium-priced game. Because the thing is, Hills and Rivers Remain is actually fun, if you like the blend of strategy and stress that defines a real-time strategy title. It’s a simple premise, but with a solid mechanic and an often-ruthless AI. But at $6.99, with somewhat finicky controls and only ten campaign missions, Hills and Rivers Remain will only be worth it to true genre fans.

]]> http://www.148apps.com/reviews/hills-rivers-remain/feed/ 0 http://www.148apps.com/reviews/hills-rivers-remain/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/148apps/~3/nZSkAV8nImk/ http://www.148apps.com/reviews/idid-optimize-time/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:55:27 +0000 Ryan Wood http://www.148apps.com/?p=29531

Developer: Counterwinds
Price: $2.99 / Lite version available
Version Reviewed: 1.2.1

Controls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
iPhone Integration Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.44 out of 5 stars

If you are looking for an application that will help you monitor your daily activities, then iDid is the perfect app for you. Its simplistic interface and superior design allow plenty of customization for the active lifestyle.

I decided to use iDid over a 5 day period to really identify all that it could do for me. I kept the categories and headings the same, and just operated within the guidelines available without any additions or adjustments. What I found was that the ability to customize is extremely useful. Take Thursday for instance. I came home, fired up Final Fantasy XIII, used the step machine while playing FF13, cooked dinner for my wife and me, and then headed to a buddies house for my weekly geek-gasm of Dungeons and Dragons. iDid could have categorized each of these items, and without that customization you cannot hope to effectively utilize the full potential of this app.

iDid allows you to input the different amounts of time spent on any individual category, and feeds that information into a line chart. Switching to view the line chart shows you a week long summary of activities by category, neatly differentiated by different colors. If you’re looking to take a more in-depth look at your current habits, there are criteria that you can input that change the length of time analyzed, which categories are displayed, and what time period you want the program to review.

I immensely appreciate this apps effectiveness at monitoring activities on a day to day basis. It’s extremely effective for those individuals looking to commit to a vigorous workout routine, and want to monitor progress over a large period of time. Additionally, those busy individuals trying to budget time for their families can see how they’ve been doing lately using this app.

While I do enjoy this app, I find myself having difficulties with the upkeep that something like this takes. Additionally, I have offered a couple suggestions on ways to possibly use it, but I am also having trouble figuring out a reason to spend the extra time keeping up with this app. Maybe if you are a student trying to ensure equal amounts of study time, or a multiple sport athlete trying to condition for all of your sports equally, but again, I feel like I am stretching to offer a real reason to use this app.

iDid really is a well designed app, and I encourage those of you that are big into time management apps to share some uses with myself and the readers here at 148apps.com. My narrow focus tells me that the little time I do have would be better used NOT monitoring how I spend all my non-free time, but then again I might be unique case. If you’ve been looking for a way to monitor patterns in your daily activities, iDid is a sure fire way to do so. If you’re like me however, you may find that it doesn’t last long on your iDevice before it’s deleted for good.

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