Recent App Reviews
I've been on a gaming hiatus as of late but am back in the swing of it with two great casual gaming titles just in time for Memorial Day. Can Knockdown 3 is a recent release by Infinite Dreams, the latest in its ball-throwing puzzle genre. Hyper Breaker Turbo (projected late-May release date), is an indie brick-breaking game coming soon to the App Store. Without further adieu, let's dig into some block-busting, can-smashing goodness.
Can Knockdown 3 ($0.99)
Can Knockdown 3 adds to the already popular series, each of which offers some variation on the old carnival game of throwing a ball at a stack of cans. The experience is just as realistic as Can Knockdown 2, with spot-on ball flying and can bouncing physics. The concept is to "throw" by quickly finger swiping the ball toward the targeted cans, knocking as many down as possible in the fewest throws.
With more than three-quarters of a million apps in the Apple App Store, it takes something really special to make a splash in the mainstream today. While very few apps can stand up to the wild popularity of Angry Birds, Ellen DeGeneres' new game by the name of Heads Up! ($0.99) is on its way to that kind of international stardom, becoming the #1 app days after its release May 2. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to be backed by an Emmy-winning daytime talk show host. People have been using the idea behind this game at parties for years; Heads Up! just brings it into the 21st century. You can play the game with as little as two players, but it is much more fun in a group of people. The game is simple: players choose from a large selection of “decks,” which include categories like accents, singing, celebrities, movies, animals, characters, and more.
Game Centered features roundups and in-depth reviews of the best in iOS games. Among the App Store’s myriad games, it’s all too easy to overlook some of the greats. Each installment of Game Centered will take a close look at a select few worthy of special recognition. This week's installment takes a sneak peek at the upcoming movie tie-in, World War Z, as well special weekend sales from Gameloft, and the newly-released Fast and the Furious: 6 game.
New apps are arriving in the App Store at such a rapid pace it can be a real challenge to find the stellar entries. This week we'll take a look at a handful of newly released, noteworthy apps worthy of special mention. 1. The Loop (Free) This new subscription-based magazine is the brainchild of longtime Apple journalist and reporter Jim Dalrymple. He will publish The Loop magazine twice a month, and it will cost $1.99 per month. The Loop magazine app is not just a spin-off of the Loop’s website online. This stand-alone app will feature articles written by some of the great authors in the field of Apple journalism, with all if the articles being written exclusively for the magazine. While Dalrymple doesn't officially work for Apple, it's safe to say he has his finger on the pulse of the company.
As new iOS apps flood the App Store every day — recently topping 840,000 — we know it’s tough to tell which ones are worth their salt. But thanks to our Weekly Scoop, you can have the best for free! Here you’ll find a weekly roundup of the coolest apps free or at a discount for a limited-time only. Each week features the best and brightest from websites like Free App Report, AppsGoneFree, appsfire, and more. Hurry! Get 'em while they’re hot! 1. Jigsaw App (FREE) If you occasionally like to kick back and do a puzzle to help clear your head, this is a great app! You can enjoy building a puzzle from the library, or you can choose to create a puzzle from your own photos. This might be a fun one to bring to the beach this summer. It’s good for ages 4+ so even the little ones can enjoy it.
Moxtra (free) brings together real-time collaboration and personal knowledge management in an app designed to help people collect their artifacts of work or play. Moxtra lets you not only share your projects with others, but work on them together across a variety of mobile modalities. Many people compare Moxtra to Evernote or to Microsoft’s OneNote, and to be honest, there are overlaps. There is nothing new about collaboration. Lotus Development, now part of IBM Corporation, created the first large-scale enterprise solution with Lotus Notes. Developers designed and built Lotus Notes and all other current collaboration solutions during the era of client-server computing, where internal servers hosted databases accessed by desktop computers. We now live in a post-PC world where devices need different tools and workers have widely different expectations.
Sometimes a sequel to a sub-par game is so close to the original, you wonder why the game developers bothered. Other times, the sequel is so far removed from what made the first one popular that no one cares. Then there are games like G5 Entertainment's Youda Survivor 2 HD (Free, or $6.99 In-app purchase for full game). While mechanically it doesn’t seem much different than its predecessor, it’s so easy to get into and so hard to put down that you won’t care. I’m not sure what makes the style of game play so catchy, but whatever it is, the developers behind the Youda Survivor series have pretty much perfected it.
I've written about Sculpteo before, which lets you order custom 3D printed cases and accessories from its app. But its latest effort takes its capabilities a step further, which lets you create virtual works of art and then order real-life equivalents!
The app, Let's Create! Pottery HD ($4.99) is a partnership of Sculpteo with Infinite Dreams, letting you create artwork and generate it in 3D.
Let's Create! Pottery stands on its own as a fun, beautifully-designed app, which my kids have used for some time.
After seeing A Knight's Tale the movie, I seriously wanted to get in a time machine and go back to the Middle Ages (though I'd likely end up a lowly field peasant instead of a knight)! It would be awesome to see knights with swords clashing, gleaming armor, damsels in distress and well... jousting! Jousting has to be the coolest sport ever, am I right? Think two medieval maniacs thundering toward each other set on knocking the other into oblivion! Want some of that action today in modern times? Get the most excellent Knight Storm (Free) now!
Historically, ABC has led the way in making its content available through on-demand streaming, via its website and mobile apps. However, until now, that content was delayed 12–24 hours after the original broadcast. That's about to change if you live in New York City or Philadelphia. According to The New York Times, ABC will release an update this week to ABC Player (free) that will include a "Live" button. Tap that button, and you'll be able to live-stream the programming from the local ABC affiliate stations in those two cities. However, as with other streaming apps such as HBO Go, you won't be able to live-stream the program unless you subscribe to cable or satellite TV and first log into your account. The feature, according to the Times, will be available in six additional cities this summer. And ABC is in talks with affiliates in 200 other cities to offer live streaming in those cities.
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