Somewhere between a lovingly sculpted scrapbook and an interactive infographic, The History of Jazz brings a whole musical genre to life. From its century-old roots in ragtime up to present day artists, you’ll enjoy a tactile and fluid interface. Names, songs, and faces come alive; woven together into a family tree of sorts. The elements that make this app fabulous also make it a bit niche, though. So keep reading to find out if this iPad app is for you!

Note: This app is currently on sale at half price ($4.99) while the developer prepares some updates. If you think you want it, act now! I’m going to assume they’re working on fixing a few obvious things, and look forward to seeing what new features they incorporate in the update.

How it Works

The History of Jazz app has brains and beauty. That’s why it was a Featured App of the Week a few months back. At its core, you’ll learn about musicians and sub-genres of jazz. Each featured artist has his/her own screen with hand-selected videos, biographical info, and photos. There are two main methods to get to this detailed information – chronological or genre-based browsing. In addition, there’s a screen-saver mode, a nice help screen to get oriented, and an integrated iTunes store. Keep in mind you’ll need internet access for videos and music streaming, but you can use the rest of the app regardless.

The crowning design feature of this app is the timeline. Made of long, vertical buttons reminiscent of piano keys, it’s fun to run your fingers across it and watch the wave of movement follow. Each vertical slab represents a segment of time. Simply tap a key to bring up the artist teasers, and swipe through pages of goodies. You can also switch from a chronological timeline to a genre-picker. Really, the only thing that’s missing is holographic representation of the artists. Can you guys get on that, please?

The Price Justification

This app draws heavily on “free” information: content from Wikipedia, videos from YouTube, and music from iTunes. At first blush, you might think, why the heck do I want to spend $10 on it then? And the answer is simple. It’s packaged and curated beautifully. Think about it. Practically anything can be interesting (or boring) based on presentation. What’s a good joke without the right delivery? A poem spoken in hast? Or an irrelevant history lesson? Music is inherently interesting, I know. But this app is about more than factoids and sound bytes. It leads you through the history of jazz like a masterful 4-course meal…which makes it great for the jazz novice or enthusiast, but overkill for the jazz expert.

Quirks and Bugs

• Broken videos The app was published in January, and some of the videos have since been removed from YouTube. When I tap on a video and see a big X instead, It’s a big bummer.
• Accuracy of Information in question? I’m not a jazz aficionado myself so I can’t verify these claims. But some app store reviewers say that there are a couple artists that are improperly categorized.
• Links within the Wikipedia content don’t work. I go back and forth on this once, actually. It’s nice to take this musical journey in a cocoon, without distractions. On the other hand, I would appreciate an integrated browser that would allow me to tap links and dive a step further.

Feature Requests

• An in-app search would help novices like myself who are more apt to know an artist by name (Dizzy Gillespie) than by genre (bebop).
• Simplify movements in the interface. I love the moving parts, but some of it could be scaled back. The artist page for example, could show everything by default rather than hiding the lower half.
• Video descriptions, because after awhile the little bio blurb gets redundant. When I’m watching a video, I would love to see information relevant to that movie.
• More Photos and photo enlargements
• More user-driven action. I’m not sure what exactly I want in this respect. The sliding timeline keys seem like a teaser for something more, though. How cool would it be to have a few mini music lessons in the app? Something integrated with sheet music that lets you deconstruct the song, instrument by instrument; rhythm by rhythm. Or, some kind of instrument-loop to make your own music to.
• Optional narration. If there was a jazz artist narrating or providing supplemental commentary in this app, it would take it to a whole new level. That would tie it together and make it a teaching tool, rather than a tool for discovery.

Closing Thoughts

I am the perfect demographic for this iPad app – a jazz novice with an addiction to coffee-table books. The eye candy drew me in, and the content kept me engaged. But. It is expensive, and there’s a limit to what you can do with it. I definitely recommend you buy it while it’s on sale! This review has given you a good overview of what to expect while we wait for the update. And if all this jazz exposure brings on a new quest for mp3s, check out Gramophone HD, a retro inspired music player that will add instant patina and extra eye-candy to your music.

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What is NBC Live? Let me set the stage for you. Picture a modern cyber pajama party where people of all ages come together on common ground: television. With our lazy bones curled up on couches – or sprawled on beds like tweens gossiping with besties – we watch TV together as a nation and react in real time. NBC Live provides the chat host, a multitude of fun facts and some quiz questions, and you bring the carefree banter. But…this is 2011. Can anything really be as cute and fun as that? I’ll give you the run down as I see it. Get your bunny slippers and come with me!

NBC Live Online Streaming? Nope.

I salute NBC for having the kahunas to release a social iPad app. However, a ballsy idea does not a success make. NBC waited too long to release their apps, allowing their friends competitors to set the bar. Had NBC launched with on-demand full episodes for iPad and tacked on the social elements as a bonus, we’d be seeing high ratings. Instead of comments like, “can I give no stars?” and “You [NBC] need to learn how to do it from ABC”. Womp womp.

Double Dipping is a Crime where I Come From

During commercial breaks on TV, sponsor ads air simultaneously in the app. While it only last about 15 seconds, it stifles conversation irreparably and takes over your whole screen. If you’re in the middle of typing something – forgettaboutit – you’ll be starting over. But what annoys me more than anything is how greedy it appears. To use the app as it’s intended, you’re watching your TV, commercials and all. No DVR, no skipping ahead. NBC is essentially getting paid to throw commercials at you twice. Argh!

90% of the Time the App Does Nothing

As of this writing, NBC Live lets you interact with 3 shows: Love Bites, America’s Got Talent, and The Voice. That adds up to a few hours a week. And no matter how I spin it, I always end up at the same conclusion. It feels like an unfinished product rather than a teaser for what might come. I know, it’s impossible to please everyone. But really, NBC, can’t you fake it a little harder? Fool us into thinking you’re really into it, and people will follow. Instead, it comes across as a rushed experiment by the marketing department. Further proof: the awkward NBC Live tutorial by Rainn Wilson (a la Dwight Schrute), whose instructions are authentically apologetic. P.S. Rainn, I saw the pain in your eyes. You are forgiven.

And When you Want to do something….

…It’s hard. You can’t select text in the app. You can’t post a reply @ someone else in the room, unless you type it manually. And the typing box covers the the screen, making it impossible to follow the conversation as you type. It all adds up to a clunky interface. Besides that, I experienced bugs where one person’s message (sometimes mine) would repeat dozens of times. The only way to fix it was re-launching the app.

Is there hope for NBC Live on the iPad?

Despite all my negative comments, I have to say that NBC Live is charming. I tried it out during a couple of shows. The conversation was civilized and good-natured. I don’t know what kind of technology (or people) they have behind the scenes for monitoring, but the people chatting were enjoying it. In fact I ended up paying more attention to the conversation than the shows. There are a few nice features too, such as the ability to follow other users, time-zone filtering, and a ‘like’ button. I can see where they’re going, I just wonder if there’s enough interest to get it there.

Final Thoughts on NBC Live

If we could time travel back to the days of TGIF TV (simpler times?) this app would have been a runaway hit. But dropped into the context of today’s culture – and based on the demographic of iPad owners – it’s not a shoe-in. NBC, listen up. Pick 5 shows. Stream them live in the app. Ok, ok, make us sit through commercials, as long as we can still type. Provide a streamlined interface that fosters conversation better. Do that, and you’ll get some users back on your side. Living in the moment without strings, trolls or spam… sounds pretty nice actually. Can you do it?

Click here to download NBC Live for iPad and let us know what you think in the comments!

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TuneIn Radio is easily one of the best apps on my iPad. At the crazy price of $0.99, it still blows away all the other radio apps I’ve tried. In an era where media is increasingly delivered on-demand, TuneIn Radio provides some of that nostalgic radio experience, with all the bells and whistles we expect from our devices today. Listen to local FM stations from around the world, Internet streams and podcasts, or Talk radio. The feature list reads like my grandmother’s grocery lists – oh, delicious anticipation. And boy, it delivers. But the top selling feature for me was hands down the ability to record, so we’ll start there.

Record Live Streams on your iPad

This was a huge deal for me. I often listen to obscure global channels and like to keep a small archive of material. I can even ‘rewind’ if I decide to record mid-song (up to 30 minutes, after initiating the stream). They currently do not allow you to export your recordings, but you might be able to get at them via PhoneView if you have a mac. Recording sizes are based on bitrate and length, and can be renamed for organization.

Are Your Favs on TuneIn?

Easy. Before you purchase, I suggest browsing their website to see if your favorite stations are there. They have several pathways to find stations of interest to you, and you’ll probably discover some new favorites. Listening to radio from other countries can be liberating! Expand your foreign language vocabulary almost effortlessly just by listening, or see life from a different cultural perspective. Worth $0.99? Hell yes.

TuneIn Radio iPad App Features

• Record! on-demand, or with a recording timer. It’s DVR for your radio!
• Pause, rewind and fast-forward live streaming. Tell your car stereo to do that!
• Bookmarks and presets Create presets for your favorite stations for easy access later on
• Sleep timer and alarm clock: very bare-bones, but it works
• Supports TuneIn Radio accounts, but not required! Big thumbs up.
• Robust station finder: search or browse by keywords, locations, or genre.
• Play in the background: This was the other major draw when I purchased this app (pre-multitasking) – now it just works. But if your device doesn’t for some reason, it will open a safari player that works nicely in the background to simulate it.

My Personal Wishlist

There’s not a lot I would do to improve this app – the most obvious the ability to export recordings. But according to their FAQ, that’s a limitation imposed by Apple.

• Recording Editor I would love a rudimentary in-app editor for my recordings; an intuitive tap-and-splice function with options to save as a new track or replace the full recording. With no export function, I don’t like hanging on to a long recording when all I want is 5 minutes of it.
• Add a link to the FAQ: Don’t make us think! We need all our brain cells for watching Jeopardy. A simple link under settings would do just fine.
• Battery life seems to drain pretty fast when running TuneIn. Perhaps some reconfiguration would help?
• Allow more than one timed recording along with the interface to manage them
• A bug fix, please! I can trigger an annoying scenario with 3 factors: Set a recording timer, have the app open when it’s due to start, and *ahem* no free space on the device. When the recording is ready to start, it alerts me that it will not record due to lack of space (good) and continues to pop up every second until I shut down my iPad (bad). It’s an unlikely scenario, but very annoying when I can’t halt the popups long enough to manually stop the recording or remove the timer.

Help! My TuneIn App is _______

When questions or problems arise, head to the TuneIn website for help:

• iOS (iPad/iPhone) support: http://tunein.com/support/ios/ for answers about downloading, installing, app settings, and troubleshooting your TuneIn app.
• TuneIn Listener Support: http://tunein.com/support/listening-help/ for more general service-oriented answers about TuneIn Radio.
• The Contact Form: http://tunein.com/support/contact/ When all else fails, contact the app devs directly. Don’t just complain in your app store reviews, where they can’t reach out to help you!

Closing Thoughts

For a dollar, you can’t go wrong. The ability to record – live or by a timer – is a huge advantage over other radio apps. The interface is nice, not overdone. And it’s just a pleasure to use. The downside – not being able to export recordings, and possible battery drainage – are mitigated by the price tag. So give it a go, and let me know in the comments what you think!

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Let’s play a game. Count how many chores you do on a daily basis. For me, that includes dishes, folding laundry, making lunches – I could go on but you get the point. Each of us has them. And if you’re like me, your brain is usually absent during these mind-numbing tasks. Well, I have a great free tip for you today: TED for iPad. It brings 5 to 20-minute lectures – on everything you can imagine – directly to your frontal cortex. I guarantee your brain will perk up, and you might just start looking forward to those daily chores. Of course, you don’t need to conjure up an excuse to watch TED talks!

What is TED?

Straight from the horse’s mouth:

“TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design… The annual TED conferences, in Long Beach/Palm Springs and Edinburgh, bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).”

At first blush, it’s tempting to write these talks off as long elevator pitches – presented by people whose heads are stuck in the clouds and whose ideas have little relevance to our own lives. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. They’re real people, with real stories. Some are influential movers and shakers, and others are people we’ve never heard of, who can inspire and teach us about ourselves. Topics vary widely and issues are approached from different angles – both geographically and intellectually.

TED Talks to Fit your Schedule

TED provides all the usual methods of accessing content. But the real gem in this app lies behind an unassuming button labeled “Inspire Me” in the lower left hand corner of the screen. It’s what I call the Choose Your Own Adventure feature. Simply tell TED what you’re interested in and how much time you have, and it creates a custom video playlist for you on the spot. It’s a nice introduction to what TED is all about.

Highlights of the TED Talks iPad App

• Choose Your Own Adventure playlists as described above
• Download talks to your iPad for offline viewing
• Toggle off/on high quality playback (2.2 Mbps) during streaming, for times your connection is spotty
• Access the website within the app without being redirected to Safari

Bugs and Feature Omissions

As good as TED talks are, their app still needs a little work:

• Add buttons for sharing videos If not for usability, then on principle! (Their mission statement is ideas worth spreading for crying out loud!) Technically we can get around it, by tapping over to their website and sharing from there. But that’s a hassle.
• Add video lengths to summary pages. While browsing videos manually, you have to start a video to see how long it will run.
• Add the interactive transcript functionality and other nice bells and whistles from the website directly in the app
• Add a bookmark feature for videos we want to remember, but not download
• It’s easy to lose our place because the back buttons takes us to home base, rather than the last screen we were viewing
• Some people have reported audio problems although I haven’t had this problem myself

Final Verdict on TED’s iPad app

TED Talks are so engaging that I would have recommended them regardless of the quality of their app. Without digressing into buzz words like “html5″ and “flash” I’ll just say that the TED website works nearly perfectly on the iPad. The benefit of the app is a cleaner interface, streamlined viewing, and of course – the “inspire me” feature is the shining achievement. Try it out! And let me know what your thoughts are.

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It’s a match made in heaven – iPad fans and the entrepreneurial spirit meet up in cyberspace – and everyone wins! The crowd-funding site Kickstarter.com is where it’s all going down. Recently, while searching their site for iPad projects, I came across dozens of ideas for everything from cases to apps. These are the projects that really rang my bell:

1. PadPivot Tablet Stand

I can’t wait to try out the PadPivot stand! And I’m not alone – a couple thousand other people have signed on to back the project on Kickerstarter, too. What keeps people signing up, when the project has been funded 800% over the original need? A pivotal idea, that’s what. Watch the promo video for a taste of PadPivot’s features:

Why we love it: It will works on just about anything! iPads. iPhones. Kindles. Galaxy Tabs. Anything with a hard spine (so probably Mr. Burns from the Simpsons, too.)

2. LetterMpress: A Virtual Letterpress on your iPad

This is the coolest thing I’ve seen in awhile. Not only can you help fund what looks like a killer iPad app in the making – you’ll be helping to preserve real historical type sets used in development of the app. They’ll be housed in a living museum in Chicago. Just think, you can take your kids there someday and tell them you helped keep these pieces of our past from rotting in someone’s basement. It’s a fully developed business concept, done by people with a passion for typography. They’ve got a ways to go for funding, so I hope you’ll consider backing this project to help make it a reality.

Why we love it: It oozes vintage artisan quality. And creates a micro community for people who love type design.

3. Animal iPad Accessory

This one is an attention grabber for sure. It’s an accessory that hoists the iPad above your head so you can lay on your back and enjoy a movie or casual game. I almost gave up on it 20 seconds into the video, but I’m glad I resisted the urge. Surprisingly, it won me over in the end. But I still have a few concerns about it. Specifically: it looks like a hassle to set up and take down; I’m afraid people would mistake it for one of those bouncy baby harnesses; and what happens if you fall asleep with your iPad looming precariously in the air? That aside, I’m tickled by their solution to an annoying problem.

Why we love it: You know what they say… Keep your pillows close, and your iPad closer. It’s wacky enough that it just might work. And (if funded) Kickstarter backers will get it for half off the retail price.

That’s Just a Taste!

Head over to Kickstarter.com and start browsing open projects. Pledge as much or as little as you want, but you won’t pay a dime if the project doesn’t reach its goal by the deadline.

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We’re gearing up to celebrate our 1-year anniversary here at iPad Apps Hub. In fact, we’re so excited we’re getting an early start! Be on the lookout for a series of giveaways leading up to April. And we’re starting out with the game genre: these 6 games will keep you occupied until the next round of giveaways, for sure.

The lowdown: 6 Apps Worth $17!

3 lucky winners will receive an iPad game bundle, comprised of 6 games, and valued at just shy of $17 (US). If you already have one of these games, don’t let it stop you from entering! Each game has its own code, so you can hoard them all, or give one to 6 of your friends. Each code can be used only once though.

Sign Me Up!

All you have to do is “like” us on Facebook, and leave us a comment on this post letting us know you want to be part of the drawing. (No Disqus account? You can post using your regular email address, too.) Comments must be posted by 11:59pm Eastern Time, on Monday, February 28th, 2011.

Go ahead and like us here:

Games Included In the Bundle

• Hungry Shark Trilogy   http://www.ipadappshub.com/game-apps/hungry-shark-trilogy-hd-for-ipad/
• Azkend HD http://www.ipadappshub.com/game-apps/azkend-hd-for-ipad/
• Kiko: the Last Totem HD   http://www.ipadappshub.com/game-apps/kiko-the-last-totem-for-ipad/
• Crossroads HD   http://www.ipadappshub.com/game-apps/crossroads-hd-for-ipad-review/
• Missile Master    http://www.ipadappshub.com/game-apps/missile-master-for-ipad/
• Strikes (a bonus!) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/strikes/id372929995?mt=8

Rules:

1. Entrants must provide a valid email address in order to win
2. Duplicate email addresses will be ignored
3. Winners must redeem app coupon codes before they expire – if they go unused, it’s not our fault! (expiration dates will be sent to the winners.)
4. Rude or obscene comments (as deemed by site admins) will be removed and thereby disqualified from winning

GOOD LUCK! And remember to follow us on Twitter as well!

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Clocking in at #1 of the Top Free Apps this week is Sand Slides, a puzzle game for iPad. Sand Slides is pure, simple fun that can adapt to everyone’s level. I’ll concede: it has poorly ported graphics on the iPad version, and a few interface issues. But nonetheless, it’s a catchy concept that will relax and infuriate you at both ends of the spectrum. Download it while it’s free! And like usual, we’ll go into the caveats and gameplay hints, so stick around.

How it Works

First off, I wish they didn’t call it a puzzle game, since it’s a bit of a misnomer. The only resemblance to a puzzle is that you can play in short stints when the mood strikes, without any commitment. Instead, I’d categorize the game as smack dab between a line-drawing game and a time-management game.

The goal is simple: Streams of colored sand fall from above, and you must draw slides to guide them to the right containers at the bottom. You have a finite number of grains (depending on the difficulty level), and mixing up colors will drain your supply. When you hit zero, it’s game over.

To start out, the game is simple. You can get by with simply drawing slides to the bottom and wait for the sand to funnel down. The containers at the bottom are stationary and color-coded – while the colors at the top change positions frequently. Skill comes into play when it speeds up and there is more sand to deal with. You can draw buckets to catch sand while you wait for space to open up below. Just watch out – you can only have 3 lines on the screen at any time!

Gameplay Video

Hone your Skills

There are a few helpful pointers that I can share – none of which are earth shattering but will help in your quest for the high scores:

• The bar at the top changes colors to show what color the next sand drop is. This is always your first hint of what’s coming.
• Containers at the top become tinted a few seconds before the drop actually begins. As soon as you see that, it’s time to plan your next move.
• Create the right size bucket for the job. You can re-draw a larger bucket if you have multiple drops of the same color.
• Double tap a line to zap it so you can stay in control of your game. Otherwise, when you have 3 lines drawn, the game will automatically remove the blinking line when you draw your 4th.
• Use intersecting lines when possible; drawing buckets requires double the action on your part, because you have to contain and then redirect them. It’s more effective to use 2 intersecting lines that already point at the containers below. They’ll act as a bucket, and you’ll get 2 actions for the price of one.
• You can catch sand midway down. Once you play the game, you’ll get the rhythm down. While the timer speed may differ, the rate at which the sand falls is consistent. First there’s a plume of dust and then the stream starts. If you’re late, you can still contain it part way down the screen.
• Draw you lines as vertical as possible so you sand drops faster. You can draw a nearly horizontal line and it will still move – just much slower.
• Rack up combo points by dropping 2 or 3 colors of sand simultaneously. Trails of stars will show which containers are active.

The Downsides (make that downslides) that Threaten the Fun

As implied in the opening, Sand Slides’ iPad app lacks a bit in the graphics department. The drawing lines are horribly pixelated. The water in the background provides a nice backdrop, but is monotonous. The sand particles (while realistic in movement) are very, very square. There’s also some interface issues: no landscape support; the pause menu is hidden (tap the top bar to reveal it); some links require double taps while others don’t; and the Game Center icon in the upper left during gameplay does nothing.

My Recommendation

Sand Slides holds nothing back: what you see is what you get. I recommend playing the tutorial first, then give the easy level a good 5 minutes. If you don’t like it, there’s nothing coming down the road that will change your mind. But armed with a few tricks and techniques, I think you’ll find it a fun pick-up game for here and there – while sustaining a few long stints of play as well. The concept grabbed me right away – so much so that I can forgive the aforementioned graphic issues for awhile.

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We’re taking a short break from straight app reviews to walk you through how to load a library e-book on your iPad. Sounds like it would be straightforward, but no so. The topic came up through a comment thread on an earlier post, and I felt it was worth sharing. This is kind of a janky method – but the app suggested by libraries does not work on iPad. So until they fix it, or a credible book rental service comes on the scene – this is a good workaround. The solution I’m presenting today uses a free app called Bluefire, and I’ll run through what you need to start enjoying free e-books on your iPad!

Libraries Are Staying Relevant

(To jump straight to the instructions click here)

Most public libraries are getting on board with loaning e-books. From a survival standpoint, it’s a necessity. But it’s not just a last ditch effort to stay afloat – it’s a long term plan to stay relevant, just like when they transitioned from cassette tapes to CDs. And just like paper books, libraries have a finite number of e-books available per title. It may be as few as 1 so be prepared to wait your turn. The current industry standard for managing these licensed e-books is the ‘Adobe digital edition’. And there’s a companion app called OverDrive, which allows you to view these e-books on your desktop computer or mobile devices. If you’re tracking with me, no doubt your next question is – how do you return the e-book when your time is up? That’s the beauty of it: no more late fees. The book will simply stop working (aka self-destruct) when your loan time is up.

The Problem(s)

Since there’s an established desktop solution, I naively assumed that checking out e-books from the library to my iPad would be simple. Boy was I wrong. It came down to a host of problems with Overdrive: there’s no iPad app yet, so you’ll be installing the iPhone version. And just when it looks like you’ve made it, bam – error message. Lest you think ok, no problem..I’ll just sync it to my iPad and read it with iBooks – wrong again. The initial file linked from your library is essentially a padlock over the e-book. And it’s specific to Adobe. So most readers have no idea what to do with it. The cherry on top? The army of sweet librarians who want to help, generally aren’t experts on apple devices or apps either. So you’re pretty much on your own.

What You Need

• A free account at adobe.com This is assuming that the books they offer at your library are Adobe digital editions. If they suggest Overdrive, then this should definitely work.
• The free app called Bluefire – they have a version designed for the iPad. It will ask you to authorize it using your adobe account.
• Delete OverDrive if you have it installed – for now, it appears to be completely useless and it will just interfere with Bluefire.
• In Safari (on your iPad) load this tutorial in a new tab where you’ll go once you know the plan.

How to Make it Work

At the time of this writing, you can’t download library books from inside Bluefire; you’ll still have to use Safari on your iPad to access your library account. But the tutorial at pigsourdsandwikis.com will help set up the bridge between them. It’s called a bookmarklet – similar to a bookmark but a little more sophisticated. It remembers and performs a specific set of actions. In this case, when you’re ready to download an e-book, you’ll trigger the bookmarklet telling Bluefire to download the e-book into your iPad library.

A word of warning: the bookmarklet is tedious to set up, but you only need to do it once. And Safari’s interface has changed slightly since the tutorial was put together, but no matter. It works the same in the end. When it’s all done, you should see a new bookmark labelled ‘Overdrive bookmark’ in your iPad’s Safari bookmarks.

To set things in motion, go to the page in your library account where you can download the e-book. Instead of tapping the button to download, open your bookmarks and select the OverDrive bookmarklet. From there Bluefire will take over and give you another step or two – and then automatically open with your e-book sitting in its library. It’s worth noting that this method doesn’t work well when there’s multiple download links on a page. But hopefully your library will let you drill down to the individual book.

I was able to get this Bluefire solution working in about 5 minutes once I understood what it was doing behind the scenes. It may take longer depending on how accessible your library account is through Safari on the iPad. In the end, reading in Bluefire still isn’t as nice as iBooks but I’m hopeful that they’ll provide some updates to the app interface to make it more like the iBooks we know and love.

Good luck! And leave a comment if you found this helpful or if you couldn’t get it working using the directions.

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I’m kind of a wimp. I prefer bubble baths to swimming in shark-infested coastal waters thankyouverymuch. But something odd happened when I picked up Hungry Shark Trilogy for the first time. I ate a human…and I liked it. It made a satisfying crunching noise. And then I got a reward. What’s going on? As the name implies, Hungry Shark is all about the quest for food. And while that sounds boring, it’s not. This game has almost everything you could want (as long as you’re not looking to improve your IQ). True, Hungry Shark is a bit gory and repetitive at times. But it’s also full of silly puns, requires surgeon-precision skills, and offers just enough incentive to make it addictive. It even helped my shark cowardice. It turns out all I needed was some old fashioned emersion therapy. Sharks are actually semi-cute, witty, and just trying to get by in the harsh world we live in.

The Premise of Hungry Shark Trilogy

We all know what it’s like to be human, right? Been there, done that. Hungry Shark Trilogy turns the tables on all that. Presented with starvation and death, there’s little choice but to eat what is available. Hungry Shark takes an unapologetic approach to the shark’s dinner menu. The goal is to guide the shark around a fully stocked seascape, while avoiding mines and other dangerous animals. As you rack up points, you must head for deeper waters where there’s more food and greater challenges. There are 3 levels of gameplay – each with a unique final challenge of sorts.

The Hungry Shark Video Trailor

Future Games of London put together a couple of very amusing trailers. Here’s the first, for Hungry Shark Trilogy:

It sets the scene nicely, however it doesn’t show a whole lot of actual gameplay. Another trailer (for Hungry Shark Part 2) is great for exploring more of how the game looks. Even though it’s older, it’s still relevant, since Hungry Shark Trilogy is just a package of all three available games.

How to Win Hungry Shark Trilogy

Success with Hungry Shark Trilogy comes down to 2 things: precision and patience. There are several tips in the game menu, so be sure to check that as well.

• Use minor, smooth movements and you’ll rack up tons of points. When your shark starts thrashing and bouncing off the seascape, stop and chill. It takes nearly undetectable tilting of the iPad to get the right movements. Practice near the surface where there aren’t many dangers.
• Use the boost sparingly by tapping or holding down on the screen. The red bar at the upper right will show your available level. Boost drains quickly, but regenerates fast. While using boost, tilt your iPad all the way in the direction you’re going to get the fastest speed.
• You can eat nearly every predator and dangerous animal by approaching from behind. Test it out on the puffer fish. Your size, the speed, and angle you approach from all determine whether or not you succeed. But don’t bother with the jellyfish – they are always poisonous no matter how big you are or how you eat them. And the spikey fish in the 3rd level are inedible until you are super sized.
• The shark grows as it eats, which makes it more difficult to navigate smaller spaces. If you haven’t yet mastered the controls, head down to the deeper depths of the water, where food is worth more points and the obstacles are farther apart to compensate.
• Get binge points by eating lots of fish. The easiest thing to do is stop and smell the sea coral when you come across swarms of sealife. In addition to the ‘binge bonus’, you’ll often get anywhere from 100-600 extra points for obliterating that school of fish, so make it a habit. It’s not hard, just stay somewhat stationary and let them come back to you. And if they get smart enough to avoid you, turn your back to them and you’ll take them by surprise.
• Eat the pelicans by swimming slightly under the water surface. Then tilt up and use the boost to chomp them all while airborne. When you get large enough, you can just skim the water surface without having to jump.
• The shark eats automatically what it’s close enough to grab. I’ve seen video reviews where people tap the screen constantly to trigger chomping. This is not necessary and in fact just wastes the boost. You may need to tap (and hold) the screen occasionally to catch up to prey or launch a surprise attack. But if you’re tapping every second, you’re not enjoying the relaxing aspect to this game.
• Try the alternate game controllers: The game points out in a couple places that you don’t have to use the accelerometer, but somehow I still missed it. You can switch to touch mode instead, which relies on hot spots at the left and right of the screen to navigate.
• Adjust the sensitivity and calibrate the controllers in the options screen. The default setting was highest sensitivity. I moved it all the way down and it wasn’t as sluggish as I expected. It was perfect, actually.
• Find the hidden treasure and amass huge points. They’re hard to find, but they’re always in the same places. As you find one, make a mental note for next time too. Or you could cheat and find spoiler guides online.
• Give your eyes a rest now and then if using the default accelerometer mode. It tends to make the eyes a little…sea sick.

Low Points of Hungry Shark Trilogy HD

Putting aside the fact that you pretty much have to eat people and sweet little penguins and turtles (sniff), there are a few real game issues. The polarized ratings in the app store indicate a couple major bugs, and I’ve had a few of my own:

• Game messages show up on top of each other making them illegible. The more messages, the less readable they are.
• Having to start from scratch each time tries my patience. There’s no mid-game checkpoints to save your progress. Although judging by the high scores list, many people are doing just fine.
• Free version players have to start over when they upgrade. I (like many others) played the free version of the game many hours first. But levels 2 and 3 are locked, and you’ll have to keep on playing level 1 for awhile before you can try the new stuff.
• It’s crashing a lot: I haven’t had this experience, but people posting reviews in the app store have. Time to figure out what the issue is and get it fixed. (And jeez, app store reviewers, take a chill pill?)

My Lil’ ol Wish List

If you’re listening FGOL, I think these additions would be great:

• A depth monitor like ‘I Dig It’ has.
• A zoom-out function once you reach a certain depth, so you can get a mental bearing of where you are. Unless it makes the game too easy, in which case, forget it.
• Add a leisure mode so you can pick a spot to watch and use it like an aquarium app. Really, the graphics are good enough to support it, so why not?
• Shark duels or multiplayer mode – similar to the 3rd level where other sharks appear. Having to troll the same waters with the same food supply could be fun. As long as one shark can’t kill another.
• Don’t diss the free players!. Work under the assumption that 95% of people have already milked the free version. Don’t make them mad by forcing them to play longer to unlock what they paid for! Either figure out how to apply points accrued in the lite version to the full version or lower the number of points necessary to unlock levels. Everyone will be happier.

Putting it into Perspective

When I bought this game, it was $4.99. (Now it’s $2.99.) The price drop was a good move, since two-thirds of the game is essentially locked to casual players. But for pro (read: addicted) players, it was well worth the original price. A note to potential players: Hungry Shark requires a commitment to seeking the fun. Yes, the human nachos are an attention grabber, but it’s relatively easy to skim the surface of this game and write it off as boring. Explore the depths. There are dead ends and loops along the way. But keep at it, and the reward will be an exciting game that will keep you coming back for more.

Closing Thoughts on Hungry Shark Trilogy HD

I really like Hungry Shark. The graphics are awesome, and the gameplay is addictive enough to carry the game a long ways. I just think some of the bugs people are experiencing nibble away at the game’s potential. Once those are handled, Hungry Shark Trilogy will be a deservingly deep sea hit.

Bottom Line: Try the free version of Hungry Shark HD long enough to know whether you want to buy the upgrade. If so, switch to the full version immediately so you don’t have to deal with the frustration of starting over again.

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‘Reeder’ is an iPad app that could make your life a little better every day. I rarely make a blanket statement that bold when it comes to, well, iPad apps. So let me clarify. I’m not going to try to sell you on snake oil today, and it’s not really about one single app; it’s about making the most of your time, and finding the app that makes a pleasure out of what can be a chore. Think of it this way: The Internet is a huge fruit bowl. And we can all benefit from a juicer to extract the essential parts. Reeder does just that. Beautifully.

A Beautiful Friendship

I use Reeder every day, but I’ve procrastinated about writing a review of it. After my spiraling rant in the Whole Foods Market Recipe app review, I figured it was time to shine the light on one of the best Pad apps out there.

If you already use RSS, skip down here. Otherwise, hang tight for a friendly introduction to RSS.

The Quick and Dirty Introduction to RSS Feeds

RSS is an obtuse concept to most of us. I avoided it for several years myself. The name is unfriendly, and no one just came out and said what it was. In a nutshell, RSS takes your favorite blogs and automatically compiles a list of new articles for you to read. You no longer need to visit dozens of your favorite websites; they come to you. Whether you work in an industry that requires you to keep up with certain news stories — or you enjoy crafts, cooking, music, iPads (sorry, a little biased) or anything that’s commonly discussed on the interwebs — RSS is a great tool for you.

Happily, in the last year or two, it’s become a little less confusing too. The RSS providers waged battle, and Google has emerged as the RSS King. Shocking, I know. But it’s just as well – Google does a good job of keeping things organized, and you know they aren’t going away anytime soon. Chances are, you already have some kind of account with Google, so you can start collecting RSS feeds faster than the Magic Bullet will make you homemade salsa.

The Rule of Thumb

Some people open their RSS reader faithfully every morning and see thousands of articles to read. Not fun. My rule of thumb is: reserve RSS for sites that publish fewer than 20 pieces of new content a day. Feel free to adjust that number to whatever feels acceptable to you. The point is, huge sites like CNN and The New York Times will just clutter up your RSS readers. Twitter is a better option for sites with continuous streams of updates. But for all those cooking blogs, crafty sites and cool niche topics – RSS is perfect.

For a great RSS primer and starter help, read Google’s introduction to RSS feeds.

Why Reeder Makes Me Happy

Most RSS readers look awful. In most cases they describe themselves with naughty little adjectives like “streamlined”, “no-frills”, “content-centric”, and “pretty”. In reality, they make your feeds look like roadkill. Thankfully, Reeder solves the issue of presentation so we can focus on what really matters: the content.

Reeder’s High Points

• Provides a consistent look for articles: My brain says “Aaaaahhhh” every time I open up. This makes it faster to browse, and easier to digest Internet content. To be fair, any RSS reader should do this.
• Syncs with Google Reader so if you use multiple RSS readers, there’s no discrepancy between read and unread items.
• A beautifully simple interface goes a long way in my book. Notice I didn’t say ‘plain’. Most app developers don’t get the beauty in simplicity – that, or they feel it is overrated. Reeder has a sparse but gorgeous presentation, becoming nearly invisible once you’re using it. And that’s the highest compliment I can give. (Unless you’re a man who loves cats. Sorry, that trumps beautiful interfaces.)
• Better Readability Most of my favorite bloggers have great looking sites these days. …but not all. That’s where Reeder steps up to the plate, by offering a readability function. It quietly reformats articles that — for whatever reason — don’t display well in the RSS readers. In addition, if there’s a site that only shows a summary of the article, using this function will grab the rest of the article so you can continue reading uninterrupted.
• Landscape and Portrait mode support it’s a little disorienting to switch between them, so I recommend trying both and then sticking with the one you jive with.
• Connects to common social media platforms: Share/save directly to Facebook, Twitter, Instapaper, Delicious, and more – directly from the article. Or post to your shared feed instantly.
• Multiple viewing & sorting options: Sort articles by unread, starred, or alphabetically, and browse feeds like book covers.
• Navigate easily between articles by scrolling to the end and holding it for a second. A small arrow will appear, indicating your intent to continue. Release and voila, the next article is on your screen.
• Read articles offline once your account is synced
• Font size adjustment within one-tap reach
• The other “givens”: mark articles (or entire feeds) read/unread; set articles as favorites, etc.

Reeder’s Low Points

Despite my love affair with Reeder, I still have a few minor issues with it:

• Can’t save directly to Evernote: I wish there was a specific “add to Evernote” button under the sharing options. There is an easy enough workaround, at least. Evernote has a nifty service where you can email stuff to your account and it automatically creates a note for it. So just hit the “mail article” button and enter in your Evernote email address. Here’s a great post about emailing notes into Evernote, including where to find your address. Reeder will remember the address in the presets after you use it the first time.
• You can only save photos in photo-zoom mode which isn’t too bad once you realize that’s how to do it. That’s a brand new feature, and I was a little slow on the uptake. You can’t tap-and-save photos when viewing an article. You have to pinch-zoom to bring the photo full screen, and then you can tap and save to your camera roll. It would be nice to do that from the article view as well.
• No access to account info within the app: Once you’ve done the initial setup of your accounts, you can’t edit them from within the app. You must go to your iPad settings, and then Reeder app settings, to gain access.
• Can’t manage subscriptions within the app: which would be nice, but honestly it’s one of those things that just looks good on paper. The number of times you and I would need to update subscriptions while using the app is probably a couple times a year.
• No help menu to help out the RSS n00bs.
• Would really like alternate color schemes. Don’t get me wrong, the mono-chromatic grays are nice. But I’d love a couple other options, especially if they include more contrast between text and backgrounds.

Reeder’s Missing Help Menu

Reeder’s website does a good job of explaining a few essentials. Here’s a screenshot to save you a couple minutes:

(more here)

The Future of RSS

For awhile now, there’s been an ongoing debate over whether or not RSS is dead. TechCrunch does a good job of summing it up. But you’re not missing much. It’s basically a soap opera created for geeks and social media fiends. The question is not whether RSS is dying however; it’s how to re-brand RSS to be approachable for the masses. It’s a more introverted experience, and that’s precisely why it’s so good. Would your rather read your favorite magazine in a hammock sipping your rum and coke, or at a bowling alley during zombie prom night? I merely want to point out that there is a place for Facebook, Twitter, and RSS to happily coexist. And as Facebook and Twitter become overrun with robots and business promotions, nerdy little RSS will probably still be what it’s always been. Quiet, dependable, and bringing you content on your terms.

Closing Thoughts on Reeder

This is hands down the best RSS reader I’ve tried. It may not be the best app for absolute beginners, though. But if you’re transitioning from another RSS reader, it’ll feel like an old friend at first hello. Try it, and let me know what you think in the comments below. And feel free to ask any RSS related questions, too. Lastly, if you haven’t already, sign up for iPadAppsHub’s RSS feed!

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