When the game begins, you are given the chance to go through the game’s tutorial. It’s heavily advised that you do so. While some tutorials are a quick few screens that explain the basics and leave the rest up to you, Wizard Ops Tactics walks you through the game step by step. As you complete the tutorial, you soon see why. Tactics isn’t like the other games out there.

First, wizards are categorized into elemental type, and each type has multiple abilities and attacks. Some wizards will fare better in certain situations than others. Second, each arena has unique environmental effects which could critically affect your game.

The result of these options leads to a steep learning curve and a lengthy tutorial. It seems to us that this might scare off some players, and perhaps it has. Tactics offers to set games up by finding your friend by username or getting paired with a random user. Often, selecting a random user resulted in a long wait for the next turn, leading us to believe this game has not yet found its audience.

Learning curve aside, the game allows you to pick which army you wish to play each game with. You gain wizards and other units by buying packs of these characters from the shop. As Wizard Ops Tactics is free to purchase, you can spend real or in-game money on these packs. the ability to customize your army is something that isn’t seen often, and we appreciated the originality here.

Depending on the arena you choose, your objective in each game can change. You can always win by defeating your opponent’s entire team, but there are also win conditions like capturing the enemy flag or maintaining a selected position on the board. The game also features a “Fog of War” that covers unseen areas of the board. The mist only lifts as you move characters deeper into the arena, which often uncovers enemies waiting to attack.

The arenas are somewhat large, which can lead to some very interesting or very boring battles. You are not given any wizards when you begin the game, but you do earn coins for completing the tutorial. Using these coins, you can then purchase packs to start building your armies. However, you will only have a few wizards to play your first matches with. Small armies and large arenas lead to boring rounds of walking and not attacking.

Controlling your army isn’t as simple as you might think on a touchscreen device. You can select a unit by tapping on him and selecting where you want him to go. Since some arenas have poison swamps or other traps, you might want to draw out his path by tapping on the arrow icons next to him. To perform an attack, select the unit and pick his ability. Movement and attacks eat up action points, so you’ll need to spend wisely. You can also stack actions on top of each other and perform them all at once for perfect, synchronized wizardry.

Wizard Ops Tactics is a game full of content and potential. The concept of an asynchronous arena game has certainly proved appealing to mobile gamers, but the most successful ones are simple to play and difficult to master. Tactics seems difficult from the first minute, requiring a lengthy tutorial and trial-and-error in order to learn even the basics. The option to buy packs and build multiple armies is definitely a plus, but it might not be enough to entice casual players.

The game’s opening screen gives you the option of playing in the grass location or on ice depending on which one you prefer. You can also turn on the help tips and choose between a slow, medium, or fast game speed. Once you’ve selected your map, a welcome tutorial describes how to move Tido around and attack the chefs using different gestures.

Each time you hit a chef you’ll be givenn 100 points towards your Game Center leaderboard score and be able to share your top scores with players. Points earned during gameplay can then be used to purchase powerups from the in game store. You can also select whether or not you want to use touch or joystick controls and toggle the game music from the settings menu.

The game’s simple design makes this a game anyone can enjoy playing during their daily commute or break time. The app is compatible with iOS 5.0 or later and costs $0.99 to download from the iTunes app store.

Tiny Tap takes some experimenting to get acquainted with its abilities and functions, but it’s worth the effort. There are two “sample” books to get you started and spark ideas. Essentially, if you can envision multi-sensory games with simple questions that have single answers, you can create a custom Tiny Tap book. Examples of themes that can be created are body parts, shape identification, starting letter sounds, color identification and so on. The best part is you can use photos of familiar people or objects.

There are multiple steps to creating a Tiny Tap book. The books are built one page at a time and involve inserting photos or web images, followed by any text you wish to display on the page or you can draw your own. Next, users must record a question for the page. For example, in a game about finding body parts, you could use someone’s face and for each page, ask “Where is so-and-so’s eyes?” followed by ears, nose and so on. Lastly, the user “traces” the area on the screen where the child should tap to correctly answer the question.

To keep things a bit simpler and user-friendly, Tiny Tap has a built in web search for pictures. Using the search engine, typing in “apple” or “squirrel” will display available relevant images that are directly inserted into the current working page. They can be resized in the traditional pinch and zoom method, as well as rotated with multi-touch gesture. A nice selection of fonts is also available for any inserted text and there is a nice selection of stickers and stamps as well as drawing implements available for use. To round out the arsenal of tools and to create a fully, multi-sensory experience for the kiddos, a selection of several background tunes is also an option.

Tiny Tap is a truly unique app for those with a just a bit of tech savvy and an interest in creativity and fun learning-style games. Due to its flexibility and custom page building, the app can be structured to meet specific needs of specific children. Though Tiny Tap may seem to be of greater interest to educators, parents and even kids can definitely get some mileage out of the app. In fact, kids can use it to create their own games – for their parents or siblings to play. Once you get the hang of it, the possibilities are almost endless. Tiny Tap is free and available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, but works best with iPad.

Mojang has announced that the Pocket Edition of its extremely popular sandbox game Minecraft has also reached 10 million downloads, a feat made even more impressive by the fact that the app is being sold for a premium price of $6.99. The original PC version of Minecraft hit 10 million sales back on April 4, but the Pocket Edition was released later, which means it’s hit this milestone total much faster.

The Pocket Edition started out as a slimmer version of Minecraft meant solely for mobile devices, but with a constant flow of updates, it’s improved to the point where it almost matches the PC version feature for feature. And Mojang isn’t done with it either. Producer Daniel Kaplan says the backend is being updated, to make future iterations even easier to deliver.

That’s a huge success story, not just on iOS, but even within the scope of this gigantic game in general. Given this growth, we’ll have to see if Minecraft’s mobile version might even overtake the PC original before all is said and done.

Pictorious is a photo sharing startup that is faced with the unenviable task of crawling its way out of Instagram’s gigantic shadow. Today they’re releasing a bevy of updates to their iOS app, which will hopefully help it mount a better challenge against the photo sharing juggernaut.

Pictorious distinguishes itself as more than just an ill-advised Instagram clone with their photo challenges feature. Users can invite their friends to photo challenges on any given topic and earn points and rewards as they upvote or downvote pictures.

Today their update adds branded challenges to the mix, which can be used by companies to create photo challenges for their advertising campaigns. Pictorious has partnered with Popchips for the first of these branded ad campaigns, which challenges their users to build “artwork” with Popchips.

Full disclosure, we received several boxes of chips from Popchips to participate in this photo challenge. You can view my own handiwork below.

Another new feature is Photo Showdown, which you can use to vote between two randomly selected photos taken from a photo challenge. The more pictures you vote on, the more points you acquire. It’s addictive in a stupid way, but it really doesn’t accomplish anything. It wasn’t long before I was presented with two pictures that were both equally boring.

Despite the updates, Pictorious is still a little like what Instagram would be if all of your followers were complete strangers. Pictorious desperately needs a larger user base, and in spite of their best efforts, I’m pretty sure potato chips aren’t going to help them get there.

Pictorious can be downloaded from the iOS App Store here.

Cut the Rope is one of the most-downloaded apps on the App Store, and its developers, ZeptoLab, have made quite a character out of its lead, Om Nom. The series’ latest incarnation is called Cut The Rope: Time Travel, and it’s available on the App Store (in both iPhone and HD versions) right now.

As you can tell by the title, Time Travel sends Om Nom through a crazy creation off into various time periods, and the biggest innovation in this game is instead of just feeding one candy to one creature, you have two pieces of candy to safeguard through the game’s physics-based puzzles. Om Nom is joined by a period-specific friend in every level, and that friend also has some candy to eat. Additionally, every time period also offers new tools to play with, like chains that need to be cut a specific way, or a time-freezing tool you can use.

One of Cut the Rope’s charms is that it’s always been very casual, and ZeptoLab’s polish is on display here for sure. But I found some of these puzzles fairly hard, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this one is a little bit tougher than the other Cut the Rope games. It’s also interesting that while the first Cut the Rope was published by Chillingo, ZeptoLab has essentially abandoned that partnership, as they’re self-publishing this game as well. That doesn’t mean anything for the gameplay, but it is a fairly unique choice by ZeptoLab, as many developers that work with Chillingo stuck with the company.

Aside from the game’s publishing status, however, Cut the Rope: Time Travel is another excellent iteration of the popular series, offering plenty of new levels to explore, and another big helping of Om Nom’s charm. ZeptoLab has doubled up the puzzle-based gameplay, and put together another sure winner for Cut the Rope fans. The iPhone version can be had for $.99, and the HD version is $2.99.

Apple took time to update investors on the status of its ecosystem on today’s call, revealing that it has crossed the 45 billion total app download mark, just over four months after it crossed the 40 billion download mark back in January. Apps are being downloaded at a rate of 800 per second, from a total pool of 850,000 iOS apps in total, with 350,000 apps designed for iPad alone.

That 350,000 is the same as the number of total iOS apps reported by Apple as of January 2011, just a year after the launch of the iPad. At the time, Apple had only 60,000 iPad apps, which means iPad-specific titles have seen a 483 percent increase in the intervening years.

Apple also revealed that it has App Stores in 155 countries, covering 90 percent of the total iOS user population, and that it has so far paid out more than $9 billion to developers. That’s a $1 billion increase from the total it reported it had paid out to developers as of mid-February.

Apple now pays out $1 billion per quarter to devs, Oppenheimer said at the close of the call, and $4.5 billion or half of the grand total has been paid out during the past four quarters alone.

If Google is awarded the right to manage the domain registrations for .search, .app, .blog and .cloud, there is now a good chance that it won’t just use them for its own services and will open them up for non-Google properties, too. Last year, when ICANN opened up the first phase of the registration process for new generic top-level domain names, Google accounted for about 100 of the over 1,900 applications ICANN received. Among those were some that referenced Google brands and products like .google, .chrome, .android and .gmail, but Google and many of the other applicants also applied for the right to manage top-level domains with very generic terms like .blog, .show, .earth, .book and .car.

“Closed Generics”

ICANN CEO Fadi Cherhade recently announced that the organization will start recommending the first new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) for delegation around April 23. Currently, however, the question of what to do about these very generic domain names like .book remains unclear.

The companies that get the right to manage the new top-level domains don’t necessarily have to open them up to the public, so these so-called “closed generics” like .art and .music (all of which Google and at least two more companies applied for) are currently the focus of a hot debate among those interested in owning and operating these new domains.

In a letter to ICANN (PDF and embedded blow), Google VP and CIO Ben Fried writes that ICANN should “allow all closed generic string applications to proceed.” In Google’s view, he writes, the new top-level domains will allow for much-needed innovation in this space. He especially notes that “for many users, domain names remain decidedly difficult to use and manage,” so chances are Google will work on lowering the barriers for registering domain names and linking them to users’ sites.

Most importantly, however, Fried also notes that there are a number of terms in its portfolio that “have been identified by governments (via Early Warning) and others within the community as being potentially valuable and useful to the industry as a whole.” Those are .app, .blog, .cloud and .search. Google says it is amending its applications for these domain names, and while it isn’t disclosing the details of these changes, the language definitely makes it sound as if Google will open them up for use outside of Google, too. “We also believe,” Fried writes, “that for each of these terms we can create a strong set of user experiences and expectations without restricting the string to use with Google products.”

So if you are a cloud-based service or an app developer, there is some hope that you – and not just Google – could soon own a .cloud or .app domain to market your products. There is, however, still a chance that somebody else could get the rights to manage these domains and another company may just decide to keep these top-level domains for itself.

Skype for iOS has been updated to version 4.6, with improvements to the experience of making and receiving Skype calls as well as numerous bug fixes.

There’s been a complete overhaul to the UI when making and receiving calls. On first impressions, I wouldn’t say it’s any easier to use than the previous version, but it’s a cleaner look that has an air of freshness to it!

According to Skype’s blog, other major improvements include one-to-one chats appearing in the correct order and the ability to select messages as read in a few taps. Additionally, there have been bug fixes to Voice Over, conversations, file-transfer and account editing.

The update arrived yesterday. If you haven’t already done so, Skype recommends all users update as soon as possible. It’ll be waiting for you in the Updates section of the iOS App Store.

Skype is a free app that lets you make and receive voice and video calls over the internet.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) in conjunction with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is sponsoring development of an iPad app designed to teach US sailors and marines to understand their responses to stress and manage me them using biofeedback techniques. The system will be tested at the Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control in San Diego next month.

Using only an iPad and a heart rate monitor clipped to an earlobe, the person using the setup will play some games specially designed to help personnel learn to reduce stress.

It’s hoped that the training will reduce the incidence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and help service members cope with the challenges of deployment.

An article in Medical Xpress says the program is based on applying past research teaching warfighters stress management techniques. Figures provided by the miliatary say about 21 percent of miltary personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD, which in turn leads to costs of more than a billion dollars in lost productivity and treatment expenses.

Apps24h Rating:

App store Link: Major Magnet

Major Magnet is not the most observant of superheroes. In a humorously animated intro sequence, he’s so happy just flying around the city, that he doesn’t notice the dastardly Colonel Lastin pulling up alongside him to steal his cape, which sends the Major plummeting to the depths below. Luckily another specialty of our intrepid hero is the power of magnetism (in the literal sense, not the charismatic one). What follows is a series of small levels in which you use Major’s magnet to fly around nodes, collecting gems, and trying to reach the black hole that symbolizes travel to the next stage.

Major Magnet exudes polish. From the crisp cartoon visuals, to the all too catchy stage music, to the Major’s logo while the level loads. This game feels like the total package. Of course that is all for naught if it doesn’t play well, but fears of that should be put aside. The level begins by touching a node, engaging the magnet power, sending the Major spinning around it collecting gems. Touching another nearby node will transfer your orbit, and turning the node off by tapping it will result in the Major speeding in that arced direction. You also have a boost at your disposal, that is engaged by swiping the screen and this is good for re-adjusting your travel plans on the fly (as it were). Each level ends by entering the black hole, and a medal is awarded for how many gems were collected (and if you were able to keep the score multiplier going), and whether you acquired the tasty baked good hidden in each stage.

As the levels get more complex, multiple pathways will open up, encouraging more exploration of the mechanics (especially if you want to find the baked goods). The gems can be used to buy things in the store, but nothing sold there is imperative to the game. Items include puzzle pieces which unlock bonuses (which apparently can be found hidden in game), and power-ups such as the ability to freeze the Major in his tracks, allowing some thought regarding your next move.

The only real negative is that on older devices, there are some framerate issues that can screw up your magnet arc shots, but it’s not a regular occurrence. The levels are bite-sized due to the platform, but because the mechanics are so enjoyable, it would have been nice to have much larger stages to play around in. Perhaps it’s the fact that they’re quick that stops the game from wearing out its welcome, but as depressing as the endless runner genre has become, playing with mechanics like these in that field might be a lot of fun.

Back on topic, Major Magnet is a heck of a lot of fun. The high production value coupled with such enjoyable mechanics and clever level design result in an easy to recommend game that should have you playing till completion, and perhaps even to perfect each level.

Apps24h Rating:

App store Link: Sky Climb

Sky Climb is a game by PICxPIC in which you will be playing the part of a character who is running up a tree climb to sky. You’ll have a couple of locales to keep things interesting in this game such as falling rocks.

Graphically this game looks sharp. The levels are going to be simple, but the art is well done, and the different enemies that you interact with animate smoothly in the levels.

One thing I’ve got to applaud this game for is the sounds. They made sure that if you play this game, you will love it.

The controls for the game are really simple since this game does reside on the Apple iPod Touch/iPhone. You’re going to be tapping the screen when you want to switch what side you are on. Now if you time it right you can jump to sky.

This isn’t the most complicated game, and there’s no story to it, but what there is is an environment that screams for you to try again and try to beat your score. The longer you last in a level the higher you get, and the higher you get the higher your score. One of the best ways to insure that you’re going to get a high score is by trying to avoide obstacles on the way.

This might not be a game that will keep you occupied for hours, but I don’t think it was meant to be. What this game will give you is a quick little spurt of challenge and timing that feels good, and leaves you wanting to play again after its ended. If you haven’t already you’ve got to check out this game on in the Apple App Store. This game gets an 3.5 out of 5.

The free Koozoo app is based on an intriguing idea. It lets you shoot video with your iPhone and share it live with other users. You could conceivably use it to monitor the view of a city, check the line at a favorite restaurant and so on. The catch is that only San Francisco, Calif., and Austin, Texas are supported so far.

Once you’ve created a free account, you’re ready to browse the online streams. You can look for active cameras or just watch snippets that have been uploaded. You’ll find categories for traffic, parking, food, neighborhoods, etc.

The developers suggest you use your iPhone to grab some quick shots when you can, or place an old iPhone on a WiFi network in a window for use as a live webcam.

Tinyview, a startup that wants to be the “mobile browser” for product search and shopping, is expanding its functionality. Today the company has updated its iPhone app and adding a web presence for users.

Tinyview is the brainchild of Raj Lalwani, who earlier this year sold his startup birthday and holiday reminders Facebook app, Social Calendar, to Walmart. The iOS app aims to solve the pain point of mobile purchasing via search.

The startup, which originally launched last August, allows you to pre-load all of your checkout information, including addresses, email, payments and more. Within the app, you can search for a product or item, and Tinyview will show results from retailers like Amazon, Nordstrom, Zappos, Fandango and others. If you find an item you’d like to purchase on Nordstrom, the app can automatically auto-fill all the information into the checkout process.

Users can now create lists of products they want, and friends can comment, like products or suggest new products. You can also share lists on Facebook, email, etc. And TinyView now shows products that are trending and being saved to lists by others. There’s also a built-in barcode scanner and QR code reader to find products in stores in the app.

Lalwani adds that the startup will add game mechanics to the app, allowing users to earn points for certain user actions. He explains that he wants to do for e-commerce what Shopkick is doing for brick-and-mortar stores when it comes to discovery and viral sharing.

Horizon is an interesting little app that comes from a very simple idea: To combine your weather report and your calendar in one place. That may not sound like a big innovation, but it’s actually not a bad one. Horizon’s simple and straightforward design (put together by a young developer named Kyle Rosenbluth) makes browsing through your upcoming schedule very easy, and matching up outside temperatures and weather with what you’re doing is more helpful than not.

You can use Horizon as its own calendar app, or sync it up with any of your other shared calendars, including any you have available over iCloud. And you can grab weather from anywhere (Horizon will automatically pull in temperature readings based on your calendar event’s location and time), and tweak just how the time and temperature are displayed. There’s also a “night mode,” which is useful both as a visual indicator of how late it is, and for opening the app up in the dark to check your next day’s schedule.

Horizon is a really impressive app — it takes a few good ideas, and then really polishes them to a nice shine. Rosenbluth has put a lot of thought into that initial premise of combining the weather and your calendar, and it shows. Horizon Calendar is available in the App Store right now for US$0.99.

If you’ve wanted to play with High Dynamic Range Photography but want to step beyond Apple’s included HDR feature, HDR from Lucky Clan Software is worth a look.

HDR is free for a limited time. The app takes two pictures, one light and one dark. It then aligns and blends them into one image with wider dynamic range. Unique to this app is a feature that shows you 4 options for the final image, labelled Auto, Optimized, Vivid, and Contrast. The app also allows you to bring in two images for processing that are already on your camera roll. Native resolution of your photos is maintained, which is a positive feature.

In my tests I found the app to be very fast at rendering the new image. The blending options make it more flexible than the Apple provided HDR feature. What the app lacks is the extended dynamic range of some of its competitors. That’s easily tested by shooting from an interior room toward an open window. The HDR app loses a lot of detail in the shadows, while some of the other HDR apps don’t. You can see some examples of this in the gallery attached to this article. I compared HDR to the Apple HDR feature, Pro HDR, which sells for US$1.99, and the $1.99 HDR3.

All the apps had strengths and weaknesses. ProHDR and HDR3 could see more detail in the shadows. ProHDR also did better on keeping hot spots from appearing in the sky. The Apple HDR feature also rendered the skies more smoothly. Apple does better at this because it doesn’t push the HDR rendering as far as some of the other apps. Of course that can also be a negative. I didn’t change the saturation on any of the images, and used the auto mode on the HDR app.

For almost as long as Apple’s iPhone has been in existence, analysts have claimed to see visions of a low-cost version of the device aimed at developing and prepaid markets. It’s easy to see why these visions have grown in magnitude and gained a more vocal following over the years: entering that market would, in theory, broaden Apple’s potential appeal by hundreds of millions of new customers. But I refer to the low-cost iPhone as a “siren song” for a reason – there’s a significant potential downside if Apple tries such a device and fails to impress.

The latest buzz around a budget iPhone device is being generated by a new investor note from Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty (via Business Insider), who provided three reasons for why she and her firm see a low-cost iPhone on the horizon. The iPad mini’s success in China and Brazil, Chinese consumers gravitating to the latest iPhone over older models, and surprise iPhone 4 demand were all seen as indicators that Apple will go budget in the near future.

Huberty met with Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer before penning the report, but she doesn’t directly attribute any of her reasoning for a cheaper iPhone to him directly. Other encounters between analysts and Apple execs have also left similar impressions, and Tim Cook even went so far as to tell Bernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi that the company had specific “clever things” planned to target the prepaid market, and that the company wasn’t “ceding any market” despite its continued efforts to target higher-end smartphone buyers.

Recently, there have been more indications that Apple might be going low-cost with a new iPhone design, including reports from the supply chain that a new model will come out with a plastic body and design cues from the current iPod touch. More reliable sources, including the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, have also chimed in (though they’ve thrown out the same idea in the past, actually right around when Tim Cook made his original statements to Sacconaghi).

A cheap iPhone is a tantalizing story because it’s a tantalizing product for investors, for consumers and for Apple itself. But Apple’s concern isn’t beating competitors on price, as it has said time and time again; it’s about delivering a no-compromise experience. So long as it can do that at a price point that makes more sense for the prepaid market, it would be happy to field such a device. The iPad mini is another example of Apple waiting to build a product people clamored for until it could get the experience up to its standards, and waiting has proven the right strategy there.

With a cheap iPhone, striking that balance is even more important. Apple has to deliver a product that allows it to maintain its reputation as a mobile platform with the best consumer experience. Doing anything else would invite comparison to other “good enough” budget products from rivals, which would undermine all of Apple’s efforts to brand itself as a premium maker of hardware and software. It’s a slippery slope, which is why, despite allusions made by Cook two years ago to a strategy that embraces the pre-paid market, we’ve seen little, if any deviation from its standard course since then.

Analysts love the idea of a low-cost iPhone because it looks like ripe, juicy, low-hanging fruit. But Apple is rightfully cautious because it has built a brand on produce from higher up in the tree. Huawei and ZTE have shown how it can be difficult to start as a budget brand and claw your way up in consumer eyes, and their marketing struggles are probably a good indication of why Apple, if it is going to go after the prepaid crowd, will have to do so very, very carefully to avoid being lost in the deep.

Apps24h Rating:
App Store Link: Amazing Ants

MeteoEarth is a US$4.99 weather app with enough visual treats to makes your iPad’s screen look like something from a TV weathercast. In fact, much of the display tech in the app was adopted from professional weather applications.

The app offers high-resolution animated graphics of precipitation, temperature, wind, cloud cover and isobars that show barometric pressure.

You can add each item as a layer on the screen, and set up your favorite cities. In addition, the map shows what parts of the globe are in daytime or nighttime, moon phases and country borders. You can also create custom set ups and save them for later viewing. Zooming is done with common gestures.

I spent some time using the app and found it powerful, but I have a few complaints. First, it could use a help function though, because its many powerful features aren’t immediately intuitive. Also, MeteoEarth provides a one-day forecast, but access to long-range forecast information requires a subscription, which is available via in-app purchase. Three months is available for $1.99 and a year is $5.99. Frankly, I think those extra charges are ludicrous. The app is not overpriced, but having to buy the extended weather forecast strikes me as over the top. There are lots of free weather apps that give you an extended forecast. To not have it in a paid app is, in my view, just plain wrong.

MeteoEarth is an advanced, slick weather app. It is iPad-only at this point, and requires iOS 6 or later. I would put it in the top echelon of weather apps if it wasn’t for the stingy forecast info and lack of any help screens. If you are satisfied with real-time displays of worldwide weather conditions, MeteoEarth is first-rate. I would also suggest weather mavens take a look at WeatherHD which is $0.99 and Windscape, which will give you beautiful animated views of wind flow for $0.99.

Apps24h Rating

We have often heard stories and sayings about the hard working ants. But, those in the puzzler game Amazing Ants seems to be rather lazy and need your help to stock up for the winter.

Each level begins with few stranded ants, some scatter food and an ant-nest. Lead the ants to their home after collecting as many berries, plums, nuts and sugar crystals as you can. Tap on the ants and they start walking; tap again to jump. That all about the finger controls; the rest is in your brain!
These ants are dumb and they keep walking in a straight line, till they hit something and return walking. Keep sticks over pits, accelerate them for a climb, tie & cut ropes, pop bubbles, make jumps, rotate platforms, pass over sprinklers etc to move them as you want. Collect maximum fruits and make all ants reach the exit in the least time.

Currently 8 sets with 8 levels each are available; an extra mini level (with hundreds of ants and crazy themes) is also available in each set.  Stars are awarded based on you performance and coins gained can be used to unlock later levels, get hints, buy new ants, better fruits etc. Now, to the worst thing in the app. The jumps are limited and you need to buy them with coins, whenever you run out. A purchase will get you unlimited jumps which makes it equal to a payed app.

The 2D animations are sufficient for the gameplay while the music is adventurous. The puzzling experience is great and grows as game progresses because more items and obstacles are introduced, frequently. Apart from a little greed I mentioned before, this app is quite satisfactory for any puzzle game lover.

High school students Ryan Orbuch and Michael Hansen have to be pretty proud of themselves. The duo, based in Boulder, Colo., recently released their own iOS to-do app, called Finish, on the App Store — our own Dave Caolo took a look at it last month — and now reports that they’ve seen it downloaded more than 16,000 times. For a US$0.99 app from a couple of part-time developers, that’s not shabby.

The two just had their story written up by The Denver Post, and as that article points out, Apple has actually taken an active interest in Finish and its young developers as of late, promoting the app on the App Store and talking to the public about its creators. Of course, not every small developer gets that kind of attention and it’s easy for apps to get lost in the App Store (the Denver Post mentions that two-thirds move fewer than 1,000 copies in their first year) but it’s heartening to see a couple of dedicated youths and Apple fans getting their time in the spotlight.

QuikIO: Just Another Reason To Be Indolent

iCloud service has been really helpful in transferring files wirelessly. It is now much easier to conduct your files. Now it is just at the tip of your hand; easily handle files between your computer and your device alone.

Only, the atrophies here are the online storage, which is not that cheap and it is limited to a certain capacity. Add more space equal to spending some of your dime. It could be quite disturbing for some.

More options? There are. Connect your device through cable, sync your device, or even you can send it by e-mail. But using this old method could be time consuming than ever.

Now there is an app, named QuikIO that could make it even easier. Thanks to our buddy at Transcast Media Inc, for this magnificent app that enable us to control files freely, anywhere you go.

Oh yeah, as long as there is Internet connection of course.

Greatness Of Convenience

Personally, I would place QuikIO as one of usable app to date. This one has made the ability to access and transfer your files across the globe, as long as your device connected with your computer at home.

The best part – there is no limitation for the storage. At often I used this app as my wireless mini-hard disk. Plus, providing easy access to my stuff is one convenience featurethat I would live up with.

Play any files like for an instance, music files or any video files straightly from your device. No need to worry about video format anymore; QuikIO can handle it for play by automatically formatting the video.

Share your video with your loved ones through television through AirPlay with your Apple TV. Connect wirelessly and start to share the moment; no twisted cables and hassle-free.

But it is still yet to prove that QuikIOcan really assure the best service rather than other cloud-based app out there? It is one to find out.

On The Firsthand

Fire it up and you will be asked to install QuikIO on your computer. Don’t worry, as it provides you with simple step-by-step instructions for the installation process.

It will need your Facebook, Google or e-mail as verification process. Once you have created an account, choose your desired folders that you want to sync and access later. Sign in, and you are good to go.

On the first launch, you can select your personal computer to sync with your iPhone.

From there, you will be presented with options; File List, Music, Photos, Movies, Quikbox Download (Presented by your phone’s name) and Setting on your screen.

Telling from its interface, I should say it is acceptable. It is clean, feels easy to handle – just love the bluish presentation from QuikIO. No need to over-stretch your thumb as everything has been well placed.

You can easily conduct QuikIO even only at first glace, as there is no fancy way to control it. Looks like this app only keen to provide seamless accessibility to present, which is a good thing.

Everything Has Been Made Handy

QuikIO is basically using the same cloud-based service that allows you to remotely transfer your files between your computer and iPhone. Stay in sync as long as you are connected with QuikIO at home.

Options located on the left are meant to provide quick access to your files, movies and pictures. Plus, you don’t need to worry about the video format, as QuikIO is capable to play various formats right on it.

You can download your video and save it on your iPhone for offline records. With no limitation on its space, you can freely transfer any files without any cost for the space – unlike some other cloud-based service.

No need for a single nickel, really.

There is also QuikSend; instant messenger functions that will keep you updated for any transfers made to you and it let you share any files with any of your family and friends that have QuikIO service.

This is accessible by tapping the bluish QuikSend icon on the to top right side of the screen. Note that all transfer that has been made will pop out under your QuikBox menu.

How Is It?

It is great to know that QuikIO provide good features and it can be considered a bit stand out among other top competitors of cloud-based service.

It really scores on unlimited capacity of space, which is one admirable feature; alongside with its overall functionality – to transfer any media files seamlessly.

Come to think about it – could be handy if you are accidentally forgotten to transfer you important presentation files. You just need to search using QuikIO, download and save it on your iPhone.

Then, everything is settled. You have your file for your important presentation already.

Just one thing you have to make sure; stay connected within the app from both of your computer and iPhone.

I like to call a little addition that could enhance it service in the future. The team behind QuikIO should add search box options for much easy searching. This should make everything even faster, period.

For the time being, I should say that the service is kind in a stable state so you wouldn’t face any heavy problems in using QuikIO.

Sometime to play video over 3G can be a little hard to do. Frequently, the video will buffer. I only can ensure that QuikIO will hand over the best services when you are connected through WiFi rather than 3G.

The system does lack sometimes, but quickly regains control just to make sure you wouldn’t frustrate. So you will be in complete control everytime.

Boiled Down

This is one packed app that could change the way you handle files between your computer and iPhone. QuikIO does have many handy features with good reach of accessibility.

In fact, there are a hefty number of apps that features the same; Spotify, Dropbox, Google Drive is just to name some that offers the same cloud-based service.

In the end, QuikIO still manage to outshine them.

Its unique features do it all. Good accessibility, reliable, fast-function file transfer is just another way to say it. Getting hold of it is just like adding another tech-savvy ability that could be pulled out anytime right from your pocket.

One for more; it is free for a limited time and it will cost $2.99 afterwards. Make a fast action before it turns late guys. You might like it as much as I do too.

I think it would be enough for QuikIO. On personal, I think it is the best cloud service to date. The great features can really provide such an access in controlling files with ease, and I’m surely feeling glad for that.

Have any thoughts to say about QuikIO? Please do so by saying it out in the comment section below. It would be nice to share something along with others regardingits functionality and such.

iTunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quikio/id580764348?mt=8

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asheyapp.com

Evernote is a clipping and organizing tool for iOS platform, and so others. It’s brilliantly do well for its use; note taking and clipping seems very easy with Evernote around.

Since I have Evernote under my possession, it never disregards me for any notation purposes. Results? I would say that every single note that being made is precisely created, plus sync function has made it even better.

But there are questions for it. Does this app worth for anyone other than a true organizing enthusiast? Or is it only specialized for that kind of target market?

Seems that is the thing that we’re going to break on this review. Just a dear reminder: I’m no true organizing enthusiast as written above.

I’m just a plain man that being held by the use of this app, and here’s a story of what I’ve felt along the way I’m using this Evernote. You can take this for one purpose; in sharing its ability and usability in words form.

Just A Brief Intro

It’s a rare case for anyone who never heard about Evernote, but here’s the brief – it acts as a digital drawer for any tags, notebooks and OCR, and it’s everywhere you need it to be.

This app has wide coverage – from Mac, Windows, iPad, Blackberry, Android and other similar mobile hand held or computer. Of course,it includesiPhone.

Sync is part of its nerves, the basis of its life. It’s easy to sync over the cloud, provide seamless service. Expect to find your made notes in any of your device, fast and easy.

Here the bomber; it’s free. For the full-packed features that could make my life easier, it’s not necessary to pay a single dime for this goodie. I shouldn’t ask for more though, as everything is already readied for you.

There are also premium upgrades available, but this app alone is doing just fine, or perhaps more than fine for me. I believe most of the people who are already in touch with Evernote will feel the same way too.

It’s an additional option so you can upgrade later on if you choose to.

It Will Never Forget

There’s a reason why Evernote using elephant as their logo; they are not forgetful; so does this app. They have been delivering as they have promised to do, and it was kind of amusing.

It’s just like another reason you should forget about pen and papers (although I still carry it around to date) as an old-fashioned way in taking notes.

Now you can just take snapshots, insert text and you can even save audio files for your future references in Evernote. Plus, you will find it everywhere as they automatically sync all the files to your computer and other devices that carry Evernote.

Thought this would be some stories that worth to think of? There’s more for your indulgence. Keep reading.

An Express How-To

As soon you have launched Evernote, you will be presented by its well-build UI that provides easy access to your notes. You can add new note by simply tapping the plus icon located on the top left side of the screen.

You may save your snapped picture and attach it on the notes that you have been made. Plus, there is also an ability that enables you to save sound clips, which come very handy in note-taking purposes.

You can change the way you look at notes by choosing whether tile-based or listing presentation, whatever that meets your comfort. The search box provides you with fast and easy searching throughout your made notes.

Sharing is also made available for you. Share your notes with vehicles like message, e-mail, through social networking, or you can even perform printing through AirPrint, means there’s no need for any over-knotted cables.

All of it is accessible when you tapped share icon just right under the add notes icon on all notes tab.

Every tabs offers individual operation can be such a dime; all of it is well placed. But I’m fully attached for just only with certain tabs like All Notes, Notebook and Tags as I’m deriving so much function from it.

When you’re using Evernote on your mobile device, just don’t forget to install it to your computer. By then, it will provide you with such a premium-like ability in syncing your notes, so you won’t miss anything.

It will just easily mesmerize you with all its offerings, indeed.

Performance

On the performance-wise, I would clearly state that it works well starting from iPhone 4, and so on. I’m using iPhone 4 for this review just to see how well it can perform in older model of iPhone.

There should be no serious lagging issue, plus the overall performance on the older iPhone model can be said smooth and incomparable, in a way note-taking app has to offer. It really works just great.

Deriving bad things from it should be none of questions. Everything seems just tight, seamless and absolutely good in handing such wonderful features.

No wonder Evernote has been taken as one of top app available in the AppStore for some time.

Premium – The Offerings

As has been mentioned, I believe most of us will feel more than enough by using the free version of Evernote. But if you want more than amusing, the Premium version would be your best fit.

It offers with much more; the ability to add passcode to protect your account information; access to offline notes; notes history; bigger portion of uploads capacity and much more.

These features would be great if you are so much an advance user that need more upload capacity in advance. It’s an option that hard to resist, but the current Evernote version will do more than enough for me.

It really depends on how accessible you want to bewith Evernote additional features in its Premium option. That’s the reason it came with upgradeable version with much better accessibility and ability.

Conclusion

Evernote does more than well in my hands. In fact, it’s clearly giving out what they have promised along the way I’m using it. It has become irresistible, as I have used to it for such a long period.

On the bottom line, I would gladly suggest this app for everyone for any note-taking purposes. The features offered are quite unbearable for not fully utilizing them. As for me, I make use of it in 100% rate.

Your daily notation will become more productive than ever when you are using Evernote as your companion. Do feel it for yourself and tell us what you might think of it. You might never regret a second with Evernote around.

By Muhammad Asyraf Azizan

App store Link: Timmy – Feat Free

What we have here is a clone/spin-off of the very popular mobile game Angry Birds where the goal is to control this Tank character and try your best to make the monkey explode. There are multiple types of ammunition to shoot at the monkey, some similar with small tweaks and some that just act unique. There are some things that separate it apart from Angry Birds(which is good), but there are some things that it lacks as well.

The story and the characters in this game are not it’s brightest spots, so lets just focus on the gameplay.

As you can see in the screenshots, on the left side you have your ammo for the current level in the game. Then you’ll see your tank(that’s you) and on the far side of the screen is the monkey you must destroy. Scores are based on how much ammo you have left along with other factors(like maybe impact) affect the score you get for the level. Each level is different and there are more than 25 levels to challenge you(currently they’re at 30 levels I believe). There is some replay value with trying to get a full 3 stars from every level(I wish I had more details about the scoring system).

You must click your ammo to ‘load it’ first. and then you can put your finger anywhere on the screen to set the angle, force, etc. You can move your finger around and the ‘scope’ will follow your finger which is nice. Each time you aim again(after your first shot) there is a ghost image of where you last aimed and shot. This is very helpful for adjusting for your next shot. This can feel like the easy button sometimes and would be cool if it was a feature you could disable in the settings(like hardcore mode or something), but for the casual players it’s a welcomed feature.

There is a ‘coming soon’ panel in the game which makes me hopeful that the developers will keep the game up to date. Maybe add some new levels every few months or something that will continue to give the game value instead of just a promotional panel for the sequel. It will be nice to follow this game as they continue development on this title.

The game is very satisfying when you finally figure out a puzzle and I would highly recommend that anyone a fan of puzzle games check it out. However, this is not the game that will have you stumped for days on end trying to figure out a puzzle. Personally I had more issues just lining up the shot than figuring out what I needed to do. Maybe that’s where the challenge comes in?

Apps24h Rating: 

App store Link: PowerCam™

The PowerCam iPhone app intends to be a one-stop iOS photography and video app filled with editing tools, vast one-touch sharing options, collage capability, and filter and effect application. And, it is a great idea to combine many popular, desirable tools into one iPhone app, but the dull interface and lack of graphic punch makes it seem dated and wonky.

The PowerCam iPhone app’s in-app camera lets you shift back and forth between video and photography modes. You simply touch and swipe the desired mode to activate it. You can shoot a photo or video through the lens, or you can apply filters during the process by swiping them across the screen or tapping the random icon in the lower left hand corner. The icon in the bottom right corner gives you the chance to add a bold color splash, shoot a panoramic photo, create a tilt-shift image, add a timer, and add magic filters. These features work nicely and create interesting results, but the PowerCam iPhone app stalled and stranded me in that window. Hopefully, this will be fixed in an update. That’s the frustration of the PowerCam iPhone app. You’re able to do neat things, but the navigation and interface become far from intuitive and downright frustrating.

The PowerCam iPhone app photo editing capabilities are vast and generally well-organized. The interface for editing includes a couple of menu bars at the bottom of the screen. As you move through features like cropping, adding filters, and adjusting light, a second menu bar allows you to scroll horizontally through the selections. With a tap, the image adjusts to reflect your changes. There is a true level of detail you can get into with these photo and video editing features that may only appeal to iOS photography addicts.

You can also create photo collages with overly-complicated interface. There are two menu bars of icons to use to create the collage, but it could really be accomplished with just one. It seems like you should be swiping horizontally due to the arrows on the edge of the screen, but instead it treats the gesture like a tap. Again, there is a cool, popular feature that is just muddied up.

The PowerCam iPhone app has incorporated an incredible amount of sharing options. When you touch a share icon in the PowerCam iPhone app, there are four choices–share with friends, share via WeChat, send to WeChat Moments, and copy to camera roll. To access the most common sharing functions, you should select to share with friends. You can add a quick note, then share to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, and YouTube. You can also share your photos via wi-fi to your PC.

The PowerCam iPhone app has the bones to be great, but it just needs to streamline and develop a more intuitive, exciting interface.

Apps24h Rating

App store Link: Bike Race Free

How much fun can some random lines and a skinny motorcycle be? Don’t reply till you try out Bike Race by Top Free Games or you’ll miss the right answer by a mile.

Your track looks like a two-year old’s notebook with curved lines, whorls, zig-zags & cuts and you have to maneuver your tiny ride over it to reach the finish flag. Make it in the least time for three stars and that is the real challenge. The controls are simple with accelerator under your right thumb, brake under the left and the gyroscope for swaying. Do flips or twists or any stunts in the air but make sure you always land on your rubber.

The game boasts of 72 challenging tracks sorted into 11 unlockable sets. Each set is themed as Desert, Arctic, Dunes, Hills, Beach etc and increase in difficulty.When time isn’t a worthy opponent (Single player mode), connect with thousands of real experts in the Multiplayer mode. Brag to someone from your Facebook friends list or challenge a random stranger.

The animations are coarse and the sound effects are minimal. Alot of super bikes can be bought from the in-app store including a ninja bike, ghost bike, gold bike, police bike, acrobat bike etc. Options to unlock new levels, themes and modes are also available. But, none of these seems to affect the gameplay or skill and hence, can be totally avoided if you wish so.

To sum up, with a pleasing execution and addictive gameplay, Bike Race by Top Free Games doesn’t let their franchise-name down.

As we reported earlier today, news broke on Sunday that Apple has apparently reduced its orders for key iPhone 5 components by half. The decision was supposedly made based on weak demand for the phone, but as we pointed out, the move could very well be part of Apple’s plan to move to a six-month release schedule for new iOS devices. Nevertheless, the report spooked investors, prompting them to sell off Apple stock and cause its price to briefly dip below $500 today, according to AllThingsD. The stock closed today at $501.77; it closed at $520.30 on Friday, January 11.

The site makes a good point regarding the scare, which is that analysts seem unfazed by the news despite the obvious skittishness of investors. In fact, it doesn’t sound like the news was entirely unexpected among analysts, given Apple’s initial hopes of selling a whopping 65 million iPhone 5 units in one quarter.

It’s possible that Apple will address iPhone 5 demand during its Q1 2013 earnings call, which is scheduled for January 23. We’ll be covering the call and will bring you more details as they surface.

ChangeWave has released its quarterly consumer smartphone report, which tracks North American demand for devices and satisfaction with handsets. The survey covers planned purchases during the next 90 days, and indicates that Samsung sales could see strong early gains in 2013, while interest in Apple’s iPhone takes a hit. Samsung’s Galaxy Note II in particular made a promising showing, meaning consumers are eager to wrap their hands around gigantic devices.

The December survey found that while one in two North Americans still plan on buying an iPhone in early 2013, that’s down from 71 percent during the previous quarter. ChangeWave notes that this is still historically a good amount of interest for Apple, and it’s to be expected that demand would simply taper off to normal levels after a buying frenzy following the release of the new iPhone 5. Typically, Apple demand spikes immediately following an iPhone release and then returns to a lower mark, but it’s worth noting that it remained higher following the iPhone 4S launch than it has for the iPhone 5. Apple still far exceeds Samsung overall in terms of stated consumer demand, but Samsung made big gains in this survey.

Here’s what happened for the Korean company: an 8 percentage point game, bringing anticipated demand from 13 to 21 percent overall. ChangeWave says that much of a climb is “unprecedented” in their survey history. The Galaxy S III was the most desirable of Samsung handsets, with 69 percent of overall demand, but the Galaxy Note 2 was a surprise dark horse emerging in the race, with 23 percent of all Samsung consumer interest. Overall, consumers reported considerable interest in “phablet” devices, with 27 percent reporting they wanted a screen that’s at least 5-inches. The 4 to 4.9-inch category still rules with 52 percent of interest, but clearly, consumers are warming to the idea of big-screen mobile devices.

The phablet is the “new normal,” in many ways as Natasha Lomas put it in a Sunday opinion piece, and consumer research seems to agree. I still find the things incredibly unwieldy, even with my massive hands, but there are clear benefits to larger displays, and more and more, users seem willing to put up with the trade-offs those screen sizes entail.

As for mobile OS satisfaction, ChangeWave reports a surprise win for Microsoft – Windows Phone 8 now ranks higher among the over 4,000 survey respondents than Android, with 54 percent of users describing themselves as “Very Satisfied,” vs. 48 percent on Google’s mobile OS. The iPhone still reigns supreme in this arena, however, with a 71 percent high satisfaction rate for iOS. Broken down by OEM, Apple rules with 70 percent, with Samsung and Nokia tied for second with 56 percent approval ratings apiece.

If you were online at all on Thursday it was virtually impossible not to see a headline reporting on the 2013 Academy Award nominations. If you did happen to miss them, you can see all the nominees and get more information than you would ever need about every actor and film with the only official Oscars app.

Between now and Oscar Sunday (February 24th) the app lets you watch hosted specials on celebrity fashion and the nominated films and actors, access a plethora of information on the nominees, view movie trailers for the nominated films, watch exclusive videos, and view exclusive photos. A nice feature is also the ability to cast and share your virtual ballot so you can see how your vote stacks up against others. Come Oscar Sunday the app will allow users to view exclusive live footage from over a dozen feeds of backstage events.

UPDATE: Reuters has withdrawn its original report about Phil Schiller’s interview with the Shanghai Evening News based on “substantial changes” to original story, though its not clear what those changes are. The Shanghai Evening News report remains online here.

Earlier this week, reports that a cheaper iPhone is in the works caused plenty of buzz as observers speculated about how such a device could help Apple target emerging markets, including China. But an interview Apple Marketing SVP Phil Schiller gave to the Shanghai Evening News (link via Google Translate) appeared to refute the rumors. (TNW confirmed with Apple that this was an official interview).

Schiller told the newspaper that Apple is not focused on issuing a less expensive version of the iPhone to grab market share: “We are not like other companies, launching multiple products at once, then hoping one will get the attention of consumers,” Schiller said.

He added that Apple only uses top technology and high-quality components when developing new products.

Reports have circulated since early 2011 that Apple is working on a less pricey iPhone. Such a device would cost roughly half as much as current iPhones and be made with less expensive parts, like a shell made of polycarbonate plastic, or recycled components. A more affordable iPhone would help Apple compete with Android handsets in developing economies including China and India.

Schiller’s interview with Shanghai Evening News comes at the same time as Apple CEO Tim Cook’s visit to China, where he has been focused on opening the way for Apple to gain greater market share in that country.

Apps24h Rating: 

Take all the rapid gameplay of Fruit Ninja, add a Neo-Kung Fu theme, and you’ve got Gun Fu. It’s a reflex-pushing, ninja-shooting, action-packed series of minigames, and it’s not for the faint-hearted. There’s no story, and no sweeping setting. It’s just you, your guns, and a lot of angry ninjas coming your way.

Gun Fu offers four modes to tap through, with each offering small variations from the basic gameplay. The core stuff remains static throughout all modes. Shoot the appearing enemies before they shoot you, and don’t miss too many times, or it’s game over. Your character’s two pistols allow for you to tap in two places at once for double shots, which are as satisfying to pull off as they sound. Oh yeah, and there’s no health. So one shot from any enemy means game over, you fail. It sounds brutally difficult, which at times it is, but the fun factor will keep you coming back.

The first game mode, The 10 Trials, has waves of increasingly difficult enemies to survive through, as you try to rack up points for a high score. Here, you get three chances to miss, and a special bar called a “Fury Meter”. The Fury Meter increases with each scored kill. Then, when it fills up, you get a brief respite from the threat of death by grabbing a shotgun and gaining temporary invulnerability. Offering arcade-esque fun, 10 Trials works well.

The second mode, Blitz, plays almost like a memory game, by presenting you with a series of numbers before each set of enemies appears. The numbers signify the order that the enemies must be shot, and failing to shoot the bad guys in order results in a miss (you get three misses in this mode). The patterns do become easy to remember, but that doesn’t ruin the mode since the enemies compensate by appearing and attacking quicker as the game progresses. Overall, it’s a neat tweak to the basic gameplay, and plays great.

The third mode, Onslaught, makes the already simple gameplay even more so. You get your pistols, and five misses: that’s it. There’s no score for stylish kills, no special Fury meter to fill, and infinite enemies waiting to unleash hot lead on you. Your only objective is to kill as many of the oncoming horde as you can before they become too fast or too numerous to defend against. The uber-simple endless gameplay is awesome, making Onslaught as fun as any of the other modes.

IfIf you get worn out by the regular modes, you can try the less-punishing practice mode to bulk up your reflexes. This lets you practice any stage (that you’ve actually played to) from 10 Trials, and lets you try Onslaught mode on any difficulty. It replaces all enemies with cardboard cutouts, and it keeps a helpful tally of your average reaction time, your misses, and your deaths (if the enemies had weapons). This mode as a whole is sure to be a welcome break for some from the frantic main modes.

The game is as tightly polished as it can be, with slick character animations, great gun sound effects, pulsing music, GameCenter leaderboard integration, and an awesome lack of (almost all) in-app-purchases. Overall, the game is furious fun, but I do have a couple minor complaints to mention before you tap on the App Store.

The controls, while tight, can offer some frustration when it comes to double shots. Although horizontal double kills work great, the vertical (trying to shoot two enemies on the same side of the screen) double shots can lead to some weird finger positioning. While this isn’t a game breaker, it can be irritating in later levels of the 10 Trials when vertical double shots become a requirement.

Also, there are ads. They only appear in between game sessions, though, and seeing as the app is free, this is barely anything to complain about.

Apple has enjoyed a recent burst of success in China, with the new iPad mini selling out faster than supplies can be replenished, but rather than sitting back and enjoying the regional boom, the company is going on the offensive with a new Chinese New Year Gift Guide. M.I.C. Gadget reports that the new buyers guide is included in Apple’s online store in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Not surprisingly, the iPad mini is feature prominently in the guide, along with both first-party accessories like the Smart Cover and third-party wares from the likes of Logitech and Plantronics. Prices are displayed in the appropriate regional currency, and each Apple gadget on the page is accompanied by a bounty of related products. Apple is also promoting free shipping and gift wrapping as part of the holiday guide.

Apple has announced that app screenshots will be locked in iTunes Connect once an app is approved. New screenshots can only be added when developers submit a binary for an updated to an existing or new app.

This move will help combat a common scam tactic that tricks people into buying fake apps with screenshots stolen from more popular or non-iOS games. Past examples include fake descriptions for  various apps titled Halo 4 that were actually just a chess or racing game and a non-functional “Pokemon Yellow” app. Many scam developers managed to get past App Store monitors by using different screenshots when they first submitted their apps for approval and then later changing the store description

When I think of search I pretty much think of Google. I have tried Bing, and while it is pretty, a lot of my searches just don’t turn out as well as they do on Google. If you’d like to try something completely different, let me suggest you get a look at Izik, which is free. Izik is not a front end for Google or any other search engine, but it has its own search technology and methodology from Blekko, the company that created the Izik app.

The searches are very visual, yet powerful. I was getting very good results from some obscure searches. Search results get nicely divided into categories that appear at the bottom of the screen, and those categories are context sensitive. For example, if I’m searching in politics, I can easily pull in conservative or liberal stories, breaking news, etc. It’s all very organized, and rich in content.

You can also pull in images, something that Google provides as well of course. Izik is very iOS friendly, so the app supports horizontal swipes for more results, vertical swipes for more categories. After a while, it all becomes second nature and it is very fast to target the information you are looking for.

One downside is that while the app lets you share your searches via Facebook and Twitter, there is no sharing via email, which seems an odd design choice. The developers say that feature is coming, however.

The search engine also links to sites like Wikipedia and Fandango, which provides movie information and show times.

I had some initial skepticism about this app, but after using it I like it a lot. It’s free, but at some point it will likely have ads.

Izik is iPad-only and requires iOS 6 or later. It’s a quality app with quality results presented in a pleasing manner.

The report mentions that Apple has been considering a cheaper build of the iPhone since 2009, but the rapidly-changing market prompted the company to hold off on finalizing any plans. It seems that the less costly iPhone might be ready to go, however, and we could wind up seeing it in the second half of 2013. There’s no word on the device’s specs, but according to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, Apple will reportedly cut costs by using parts from older phone models as well as a polycarbonate plastic casing instead of the iPhone 5′s lightweight aluminium.

If Apple is in fact working on a more accessible iPhone, it’s not hard to fathom the reasons why. Affordable iPhone alternatives, especially Android-driven models from Samsung, have exploded in popularity. Android handsets are especially popular in China, and in countries with fledgling mobile markets.

Giga-retailer Walmart made waves this holiday season by offering the iPhone 5 for well below its suggested retail price. Now it’s going to start offering Apple’s top-of-the-line smartphone unlocked and on prepaid Straight Talk plans beginning January 11.

The iPhone 5 will cost US$649 in a 16 GB configuration — or the same price of the phone from Apple, unlocked. Walmart will also sell an unlocked iPhone 4 8 GB for $449. Customers will be able to use either phone on a Straight Talk unlimited voice, text and data plan for $45 per month, with unlimited international calling added in a $60 per month plan.

To coincide with the deal’s rollout, Walmart will offer customers an option to pay for their handset on a promotional $25 per month financing plan. All prices will be good online and in retail stores.

Add Hyundai to the list of automakers who are jumping onboard the Siri bandwagon. The Loop reports that at CES, the company announced that the Eyes Free mode added to Siri in iOS 6 will be deployed in unspecified future models.

In June, we reported that the Chevrolet Sonic and 2013 Spark from GM are supposed to have the Eyes Free feature, which allows users to interact with Siri through a voice command button on the steering wheel. Other automakers with plans for Eyes Free integration include BMW, Toyota and Honda.

Remember when Apple fired retail head John Browett at the end of October? Well, his job is still open in the company, and as AllThingsD’s John Paczkowski notes, Apple may be taking its time to replace Browett because they can’t afford to make another mistake hiring a senior VP for this critical position.

The retail stores are a key to Apple’s success; in the fourth quarter alone, the 390 worldwide Apple Stores generated an average of $6,050 per square foot. That’s huge — Tiffany & Company stores only earn about half that amount.

Paczkowski’s article lists five candidates whose names have been bandied about, including Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, Victor Luis of Coach, Jeanne Jackson of Nike, John Culver of Starbucks (China and Asia Pacific) and Paul Gainer, executive VP of Global Disney Store.

They’re all definitely qualified, but it’s entirely possible that one of three internal candidates would fit the bill much better. Steve Cano is Apple’s manager of retail stores; Bob Bridger is the current VP for retail real estate and development; and Jerry McDougal is the existing VP of retail.

Many industry sources who talked with Paczkowski seem to think that Cano is the best Apple-internal candidate. He started as the manager of Apple’s first Soho store, saw the Tokyo Ginza store through its opening, transferred to London to head international retail operations and is now head of all Apple Stores. Unlike Browett, he understands the culture at the stores.

The man Browett replaced, JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson, says that “I think Tim (Cook) will take his time with this. The internal team is very strong and capable of running well until he finds the right person.”

Apps24h Rating: 

Where would the video game world be if there were no princesses to rescue? The plot has proved amazingly durable, and Scribble Hero is the latest version of it in a long line going back to Donkey Kong.

In Scribble Hero, a kid named Sketch is pursuing his beloved Dot, who gets abducted by ten evil monsters. Sketch has to fight his way through fifty levels to get her back– though since the whole game takes place within the pages of a sketchbook, we may just be participating in his active fantasy life.

There’s certainly no shortage of imagination in the game. Scribble Hero offers a huge variety of monsters, each of which has its own pattern of behavior. The most basic creatures are unidentifiable doodles and robots which march forward on a set path or pursue Sketch, but there are also UFOs, dragons, hopping cavemen and vicious centipedes. The game constantly introduces new creatures, but it does so in a way that makes it easy to figure out their patterns and deal with them.

The power-ups are an important part of your tactics. Slain monsters drop extra-life hearts, shields, coins and other useful items. You can upgrade these using in-game currency, which is easy to earn and can also be bought via in-app purchase.

You can also buy a variety of sidekicks and other useful items to address your weaknesses. There’s a zombie sidekick who can absorb missile fire, for instance, which is a handy tool for slow-dodging reviewers. Some of the items let you play the game in a totally different way. The Red Marker of Death and the Hole Punch let you put deadly obstacles on the map and establish a safe zone free of enemies. They’re expensive and don’t work against bosses, so you won’t want to use them all the time, but they’re very useful when you get into a tight spot.

Even death has its benefits in Scribble Hero. When Sketch gets killed, a tombstone pops up that serves as another deadly obstacle. (One handy trick is to get behind your own tombstone and let a pursuing enemy destroy itself running into it.) The game also reverses time, going back a few seconds and letting you play with the ghost of your previous life. You can have one or two ghosts active at any one time, and the resulting doubling or tripling of your firepower is a tremendous help for getting past bosses or other tough situations.

Two ghosts, dozens of monsters, and a hail of bullets on the screen might stretch the graphic capabilities of the iPad a little, and we did get some low-memory warnings while playing on a first-generation iPad. However, the game ran smoothly despite the warnings. The only problems we encountered were with the item buttons at the bottom of the screen. They’re a little hard to reach in the heat of battle, and they sometimes obscure an enemy or a reward.

Aside from that, Scribble Hero does everything right. The controls are simple, but there is a variety of strategies and the game is a blast to play. It looks like there’s still life in that princess-rescuing plot after all.

Smartphones account for a little over half (53 percent) of all mobile phones in the US, and comScore’s latest numbers show that Apple’s iPhones now account for 18.5 percent of the smartphones in the hands of American mobile users.

That number, from November 2012, is up 1.4 percent from three months earlier, representing the largest jump for a smartphone manufacturer. Samsung still holds the largest share of mobile subscribers at 26.9 percent, up from 25.7 percent three months earlier. Manufacturers LG, Motorola and HTC all saw small declines in share during the survey period. Apple overtook LG in the No. 2 spot on the list.

In terms of mobile platforms, Android is still the king with a whopping 53.7 percent of the market. That share figure is up 1.1 percent over August 2012. Apple’s iOS platform also increased in market share by 0.7 percent, ending up at a 35 percent share at the end of November.

Who were the losers in terms of top smartphone platforms? RIM, Microsoft and Symbian. RIM’s BlackBerry platform now accounts for only a 7.3 percent share of the smartphone market, while various Microsoft smartphone operating systems accounted for 3 percent of the market. Symbian continued its descent into oblivion, dropping 0.2 percentage points to a barely registered 0.5 percent market share.

It’s getting harder for original gaming properties to gain a foothold on the App Store’s top paid charts, according to a report by BGR. The site points out that a majority of the best-selling paid gaming apps are either a year (or more) old or based on franchises that were established on iOS several years ago. Fresh new titles do make the top 10, but are soon pushed back out by old standbys.

The Angry Birds franchise holds three of the top 20 spots, counting the spin-off Bad Piggies. Other “oldies” such as Plants vs. Zombies, Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja are regularly among the top 10.

It’s worth noting that the makeup of the free gaming apps chart changes frequently, with a steady stream of new and sometimes innovative titles popping in and out. That’s due to the fact that App Store shoppers feel they can take a chance on these no-risk titles, while when money’s concerned they like to stick with sure things. BGR makes the point that the ability for a more varied slate of titles to stand out in the free chart is likely why many game developers are opting to take the freemium route with their releases.

Apps24h Rating: 

History is littered with ‘How’ questions. How does Teflon stick to the pan? How did the fool and his money get together in the first place? How do you know when it’s time to tune your bagpipes? How can there be such a thing as a self-help ‘group’? And now there’s a new one to add to the list: How do you write a review about Angry Birds Star Wars?

There are two basic things you need to know in order to understand everything there is to understand about this game. The first thing is Angry Birds. Assuming you have been in some sort of coma for the past three years I will go into a bit more detail below. Secondly we have Star Wars. Again, assuming you are unaware of one of the largest film phenomena of the past 40 years, I will explain all that needs explaining.

To those of you who are familiar with both Angry Birds and Star Wars you can pretty much skip the next four paragraphs while I attempt a brief education is popular culture.

Angry Birds is a game first released back in 2009 by Rovio. The story, such as it is, involves some sort of dispute between birds (the protagonists) and pigs (the antagonists). The game is made up of many levels, each of which involves you catapulting said birds across the screen to kill said pigs. These pigs are often on top of, concealed behind or hidden within a structure which you will probably also have to destroy.

Each level gives you a set number of birds of varying types, and each type of bird has a certain skill/trait which will allow you to exploit the environment. Basic birds (Reds) do nothing but follow the trajectory you give them. Yellows can zoom into structures giving you greater destruction. Blues split into three but are only really useful against ice. Black birds explode. There are more, but I think you get the idea.

For me the game worked, and still continues to work, because it does certain things very well. Each level is tiny, so you never have to commit too much time in any one sitting. As a portable game this is crucial. The controls are simple and for the most part do what you want. Restarting takes no time at all, and while that might not sound like much right now it is something you appreciate the further into the game you get. It’s quick, easy and accessible, but is also has some longevity as you inevitably struggle to get three stars on each level. It’s fun and frustrating at the same time.

Star Wars, on the other hand, is a film series that first hit the silver screens back in 1977. Created and directed by one George Lucas it was a huge commercial success. The sequels later the original trilogy cemented its place in film history, not only in terms of special effects but also merchandising (of which there was too much to shake a stick at). For years it set a new benchmark for science fiction films, a standard which many failed to meet. That’s not to say that there was Star Wars and everything else, but it certainly was able to drag sci-fi out of ‘cult’ and into ‘mainstream’. Not a lot of film series can make that claim.

What Angry Birds Star Wars manages to do is marry the two worlds of Angry Birds and Star Wars. It’s basically an Angry Birds cocktail with a twist of Star Wars. The birds from the original Angry Birds have been given a Star Wars makeover, each being made to look a bit like one of the SW characters complete with weapon or power specific to them. Original Red is now Luke Skywalker, equipped with a light-sabre to help cut through structure. Original Black is now Ben Kenobi, and rather than blowing up he has a Force Push. There are others but I won’t spoil your fun in finding out who they are and what they do.

Angry Birds Star Wars takes what it has learnt and developed from previous Angry Birds iterations and bundled them up into one delicious little package, tied up neatly with a Star Wars shaped bow. You still have the same control over the birds, catapulting them from the left to the right on a trajectory determined by your finger. The physics are all there too, from the traditional gravity based levels to the zero-G of outer space. However this time the levels are based upon Star Wars environments you will recognise from the films, assuming you have watched them.

My main gripe with Angry Birds still remains; that your ability to clear a level and get three stars is as much to do with luck as it is skill. The difference between a right and wrong trajectory can be miniscule, so much so it is often impossible to tell at the time of launch which it is. To get greater accuracy you need to zoom in but this limits how much of your environment you can see, so if timing is required you are often buggered. Add to that any small twitch in your finger before you release and it can be a very frustrating thin got play.

However that aside Angry Birds Star Wars works. It is a great addition to the Angry Birds universe, giving you more of what you had before whilst feeling fresh enough to warrant the small expenditure. And the best part is this: There’s not a bloody Jar Jar Binks in sight. Splendid.

Apps24h Rating: 

Great. Another social networking app. Luckily, Spread is on the nice list this year. It almost has a Pinterest feel to it in that the pictures of things you can click “love it,” “want it,” or “have it” display in tile format. I think Pinterest should buy his app as it’s easy to navigate, is appealing to the eye and has something that most don’t — a visual representation of where your images have been shared. It’s awesome.

Spread not only plays into our fascination with sharing images of things we like, but also plays to the side of our curiosity with viralness. You know when you see luggage with stamps from all over the world, well, this is kind of how Spread works in that you can pull up your images that have been shared and see where they have been “spread” across the city, state, country or world.

This feature gives you a visual representation of where your image or some other person’s image “spread” to. It’s displayed on a globe via a time-lapse replay of when the image was posted and the location of where the next person shared from. For instance, I liked a picture of a deck of cards made from wood blocks and it originated in Toronto, Canada and was spread to Portland, Oregon when I hit the like button. Nifty, to say the least.

Of course, there’s more to Spread than just watching where your images go. It’s a full on photo sharing site since you can upload images from your camera roll. No filters though. Again, like Pinterest, you can add your images to categories such as gadget, wine, fashion and pretty much anything else you can think of. And just as you can add to these categories, you can search them too. That’s probably one of my most fun things to do is peruse categories … specifically the tech, geek, Apple, etc. categories.

The Spread website is still sporting a Beta badge, and with the right mix of users, this app has a lot of potential to catch on quick. The spread function alone is quite addictive and will keep you checking back on where your picture has been. Who knows, it might go to a country with an affinity for your photography style and make you famous. Now is the time to start sharing as much as possible. You can sign up for a free account online or through the app using your email address or Facebook ID.

Nearly six years after the debut of the iPhone, mobile applications are beginning to mature. The best mobile apps of 2012 – with a few notable exceptions – are more about refined practicality rather than anything revolutionary.

So while this year’s list lacks medium-defining breakthroughs like Instagram and Shazam, it showcases new and meaningfully updated apps that simply work better than their competitors. In this age of algorithmic aggregation, we also salute titles that have a decidedly human touch.

Of course, any attempt to rank the “best” apps within any period of time will be questioned and debated. Ask 100 different people to rank their favorites, and you’ll likely get 100 different variations.

The apps we selected were either released or significantly updated between January 1 and December 21 of this year. Titles that debuted on iOS or Android in 2012 that were previously available on another platform are eligible for inclusion. All of our selections were sourced, ranked and finalized by Appolicious advisors and members of our community. In all, about a dozen members of the Appolicious editorial team offered their favorites. We also surveyed the most active and influential users of Appolicious sites and applications. We did not account for the number of app downloads or overall popularity. Our qualitative assessment is based primarily on the production value, utility and creativity baked into each cited application.

Here goes.

Google Maps (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android free)
While Tim Cook was a runner-up to President Obama for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2012, the app of the year comes from Apple’s primary nemesis. Google Maps was far from broken when Apple, for business reasons, elected to go with its own Map app for iOS 6. When the iPhone 5 came out, users tapping into the iOS 6 Maps app couldn’t see the Statue of Liberty. This was just one of countless Apple Maps fails. Of course, it’s easy to lambaste Apple for laying an egg here. Yet the larger point is that we take for granted the reliability, clarity, and ease of use of Google Maps. This stuff is hard. That is why we are thankful that Apple earlier this month approved a brand-new version of Google Maps for iOS 6 devices. New competition from Apple, which will inevitably improve its mapping capabilities, pushed Google to develop the best map app yet for any device.

Google Maps (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android free)
While Tim Cook was a runner-up to President Obama for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2012, the app of the year comes from Apple’s primary nemesis. Google Maps was far from broken when Apple, for business reasons, elected to go with its own Map app for iOS 6. When the iPhone 5 came out, users tapping into the iOS 6 Maps app couldn’t see the Statue of Liberty. This was just one of countless Apple Maps fails. Of course, it’s easy to lambaste Apple for laying an egg here. Yet the larger point is that we take for granted the reliability, clarity, and ease of use of Google Maps. This stuff is hard. That is why we are thankful that Apple earlier this month approved a brand-new version of Google Maps for iOS 6devices. New competition from Apple, which will inevitably improve its mapping capabilities, pushed Google to develop the best map app yet for any device.

Camera Awesome (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad free)
During our mid-year check-in, we had Camera Awesome as the best new app to come out during the first half of 2012. Developer SmugMug is not resting on any laurels. Since that time, Camera Awesome became universally available on all iOS devices and is inspiring many of us to snap pics with our iPads. Camera Awesome – which is superior to the pre-installed iPhone camera and all other third-party photography apps – also integrated with Tumblr. The app’s “1-Tap Share” feature is now accessible with all major social networks.

Slices for Twitter (iPhone, iPod touch $4.99 Android free)
From reading commentary during live news and sporting events, to sharing information about public transportation during Hurricane Sandy, to finding out what your friends are up to this weekend, Twitter in 2012 emerged as a (if not the) primary resource for real-time news and information for mainstream users. With millions of feeds to follow, however, it’s challenging for five-year veterans and newbies alike to keep this vast flow of information organized. While there are many third-party apps that help users categorize who and what they follow on Twitter, Slices is the best one for smartphones right now.

Flipboard (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android free)
The worldwide leader in socially curated news had a busy year after being named our favorite app of 2011. Highlights from 2012 include Flipboard’s arrival on Android devices, YouTube, and Google+ integration, as well as a picture-perfect partnership with the New York Times. I’d argue that it’s better to read all the news that’s fit to print via Flipboard than anywhere else.

Khan Academy (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad free)
Touchscreen devices will revolutionize education in the months and years ahead. In early 2012, Salman Khan took his library of more than 3,500 lesson-specific educational videos to iDevices. The Khan Academy app enables users to easily navigate their way through comprehensive and engaging tutorials on subjects that range from raising venture capital to the Baroque period in art history. Khan Academy also lets users view the transcripts from each lesson, and easily find and drill down on passages that are most insightful.

Songza (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android free)
Audio streaming services like Pandora, Slacker and Spotify are changing the ways in which we consume music. Rather than listening to albums or pre-programmed playlists, we now have access to entire “stations” on our computers and mobile devices built around our favorite artists and songs. This year, the Songza app added a human element to this kind of algorithmic-driven music curation with a major update that showcases playlists created for particular moods or times of day. Best of all, even after hundreds of hours of happy listening, I still haven’t heard an ad on the free service.

Viggle (iPhone, iPod touch, Android free)
You no longer need to feel guilty about wasting the day away curled up on the couch watching television. With the Viggle iPhone app, you can get compensated from the likes of Amazon.com, Starbucks and the Gap merely for watching and checking in to many of your favorite programs. Viggle uses audio recognition technology similar to what is found in apps like IntoNow and Shazam to do much of the work for you. Just sit back and appreciate that you are getting rewarded for doing absolutely nothing.

Brewster Address Book (iPhone, iPod touch free)
Keeping track of all your contacts across email, telephone numbers and social networks is challenging. Brewster is an uber contact-management tool that syncs to your iPhone’s contact list, but also Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Gmail and Foursquare. The app has a simple and visually striking interface that showcases the images and names of your contacts as you scroll across the screen. Brewster will automatically determine your “Favorites” based on activity, and lets you easily search for contacts or create your own distinct lists.

Next Draft – The Day’s Most Fascinating News (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad free)
While there is nothing technologically groundbreaking about this app, which publishes daily email newsletter content from satirist and current events junkie Dave Pell, you will feel smarter and happier after you download it. There are hundreds of apps that let you filter and curate news around your particular interests, but there is only one that compiles 10 of the “Day’s Most Fascinating News” stories with Pell’s unique wit and insight.

Action Movie FX (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad free)
From the production company of producer J.J. Abrams (Lost, Super 8, and the latest iteration of Star Trek) comes this entertaining app, which lets users superimpose special effects into video clips they record with their iDevices. While Action Movie FX suffered from early stability issues and is not really an app you’ll need to use every day, its playful production values and Skywalker-inspired sound effects make it worthy of top billing.

Atlas by Collins (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad $6.99)
The world is at your fingertips with Atlas by Collins. This robust app features satellite mapping images, physical maps, political maps with states and territories marked out, environmental maps, population statistics and even mobile technology and Internet usage maps. Atlas By Collins also features street-level viewing for any location on the map, in-depth country profiles, and 200,000 data points for cities, towns and major natural landmarks.

Crackle – Movies & TV (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android free)
While there were no technological breakthroughs from this Sony-developed video-streaming service in 2012, we salute Crackle for its exclusive programming. In August, Jerry Seinfeld returned to the small screen with his “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” online series that was shown exclusively on Crackle. Netflix and Hulu may be splashier, but neither could show Seinfeld riffing with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner while eating Chicken in the Pot soup and watching Jeopardy.

Vyclone (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad free)
Vyclone may be the next big video-editing app thanks to its social take on video recording. When users take a video with Vyclone, the app looks for others who are shooting video nearby and then edits the video clips together so the same footage can be seen from multiple angles. Ideal for large events like sports games, events and concerts, Vyclone could create a new socially focused, video-editing standard.

Stitcher Radio (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android free)
Although podcasts don’t have the same pop-culture cachet as apps, the digital audio files are a godsend to talk-radio junkies and anyone who appreciates the spoken word. From past episodes of This American Life and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! to comedy programs like The Nerdist and WTF with Marc Maron, to long-form interviews from your favorite sports commentators, there are podcasts that appeal to virtually every interest. Regrettably, the Podcasts app that Apple debuted earlier this year is buggy and – if not monitored correctly – can eat up a lot of storage. The best bet for podcast discovery on iOS and Android devices comes from the fifth-generation edition of Stitcher Radio, which rolled out earlier this year.

Highlight (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android free)
Highlight, which alerts you when a Facebook friend or individual with similar interests is in your vicinity, was the most successful app of its kind to emerge from South By Southwest in March. Since that time, Highlight has significantly improved with new features that let users send group messages to those nearby and comment on their friends’ profiles. The app’s notification system is also vastly improved.

Clear (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad $0.99)
What separates Clear from hundreds of other task-management apps are its ease of use and beautiful design. A recent update enables the app to work alongside iCloud, so you can share task lists between your MacBook and iPhone seamlessly. Other newer features include the ability to switch lists quickly, and paste text into Clear and have it auto-format into a list.

Pocket (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android free)
While many were predicting the demise of Pocket with the arrival of iOS 6 and the ability to read articles offline in Safari, the app remains the best “Read it Later” alternative for all iOS and Android devices. Accessing content through the app is a pleasure. Its other features – such as changing text size, sharing through myriad services, and archiving finished content – are simple and intuitive.

Showyou (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad free)
A fully operational Apple TV is at least six months away — likely longer. In the meantime, there are a handful of great video-discovery apps that can be viewed on the big screen thanks to Apple TV and AirPlay Mirroring. Showyou is the best. This year, Showyou completely revamped its iPhone application, making it easy to locate videos shared by Facebook and Twitter contacts, as well as via search and a curated directory. What separates Showyou from its competitors are clever in-app messaging features and a vibrant community.

Paper by FiftyThree (iPad free)
Doodlers and more serious artists alike can embrace this beautifully designed iPad application, also named by Apple as one of the best of 2012. Created by the Microsoft team that brought us Courier, Paper cleverly labels drawing tools by utility (“sketch”) rather than their actual name (“pencil”). There is a lot here that can be enjoyed for free, with extra tools on sale within the app.

Zinio (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android free)
Although Zinio first appeared on iOS devices in 2009, the digital magazine application is more recently pioneering how consumers purchase advertised and editorially curated products on touchscreen devices. A partnership with ShopAdvisor lets readers purchase and learn more about products they are interested in without leaving the page they are reading. Zinio has a roster of more than 5,500 publications that can be read seamlessly across any mobile and desktop device worth owning.

Apps24h Rating: 

Whether you’re an iPhone mom, an iPad dad, or an Apple-agnostic type who prefers Google’s Android operating system, your kids just know you as the one who buys the apps. However, with more than 1 million smartphone apps available across Apple’s iTunes Store and the Google Play market, where do you even start to find the best ones for your kids?

Amelia and Terror of the Night is the best answer for this question. This application is an extraordinary, quirky interactive story book app not only for children. It stands out for its visually stunning  presentation and interactivity. Not only in art style but also in unique 3D effect and animations.

Amelia and Terror of the Night is an excellent book on iOS, and Android platform is coming soon. It tells a story about little girl Amelia and her 3 animal friends. Big furry monster called TeddyTeddy, shy little tortoise named Little Pencil and blue two wheeled cat called Kitty Patter. Together they must face the evil, dreadful creature from the woods – The Whine.

When I see the graphic of this book, it’s really attractive me, special my children. They love every character, every detail of this book. Each of page bring to us a different suprising when you tap anything on page. Amelia and her friend are nicely done and featuring fairy realistic animations. With Amelia and Terror of the Night you can spend every free times with your children.

The song played during the book is luckily a very good one. When I hear this song I feel spine-chilling as a song in hollywood film. It is enjoyable to listen to again and again, making the application feel much more mysterious, and  I am also impressed by the voice and sound effects in this app.

Overall, Amelia and Terror of the Night is one of the best book for X’mas. I’m sure you will have as much fun checking this book as we did. And if you missed this app, it will be a big mistake with you kids. Dowload it now, it’s worth every penny!

Apps24h Rating: 

When someone says their game is for free, there’s always going to be a catch – either it’s merely a demo for something larger, or there are multiple strings attached in an effort to guide you towards their In-App Purchase store. While the former is something we’re used to, the latter is still a sore point for many gamers as developers often strip back their game, holding back gameplay behind artificial walls (often through extended waiting periods).

Middle Manager of Justice by Double Fine and Dracogen still holds to the tried-and-true management style of gameplay, but while waiting can be involved, the game does something special – it remembers your progress, allowing you to change what you’re doing at a moment’s notice.

Such a simple thing turns out to be a boon for the free title as you’re always swamped with goals to complete. Some of the heroes in your organization may need a rest; others may need their moral picked up; while the rest could be training to take on harder thugs. Of course you can also take to the streets and dish out justice directly, but players with too much on their plate can also ‘delegate’ work, wasting a minute of time and letting the AI fight it out for you.

The real fun comes in taking control of the action directly by ‘watching’ the fight and activating special abilities, items, and ‘Manager’ abilities to turn the tide. You’ll always have a battle or three to fight thanks to regularly spawning missions, and it’s in your interest to completely them as soon as possible as the ‘moral’ of the city you’re protecting will modify your modest income.

Having so much back and forth between turn-based combat and base building and management makes for a full experience, and one that only gets better as you bulk up your fighting force with new heroes, each with their own distinct skill set. Crush enough bad guys and you’ll unlock a boss fight, granting access to new areas and potentially higher incomes.

Middle Manager of Justice is freemium done right – it’s basic, but addictive thanks to its multitude of tiny, yet meaningful goals. Throwing cash at the IAP store isn’t needed, and while it does provide some advantages, it won’t ruin the challenge.

You’re strapped for cash or you need yet another insanely addictive management title, we recommend this game.

Apps24h Rating: 

Lumigon by Henry Kim is a nice iPhone endless runner game which kept me coming back round after round thanks to its rock-solid and responsive controls.

The story of this game talk about Pina and her adorable dragon Purumi, as they venture into the wild and mysterious world of Vanster. Collect moon fragments, called Lunas, and strengthen Purumi to unleash his super cute abilities! Lumigon is a casual running adventure game with a cute twist and a simple but charming story.

Lumigon is attractive players because  none of story levels are endless. Explore this cute and memorable tale through ‘Story mode’, where you follow alongside Pina and Purumi as they collect all the pieces of the shattered moon. Play ‘Survival mode’ and show off to your Facebook friends by getting top score!

In each level, you try to collect as many Lunas as possible. If you can collect multiple Lunas in a row will unleash special powers. For example, eating chain Luna combos together to release an outrageous flamethrower or pump out a ballistic bubble to protect yourself, or Grab a flaming power orb and turn Purumi into a super cute fireball.

There are a few other abilities that are activated in the same way, by consuming Lunas that are collected as you progress through each level. Some of these abilities will change Lumigon’s shape, granting him impressive powers.

Graphic of this game is super cute. I really love this style characters. The game supports iPhone 5 larger screen at launch. I am happy to be able to play the game in full screen on my new iPhone 5.

Lumigon has stuffed full of extras, keeping the replay value high. Its action-based take does enough right to be an entertaining game, and a worthy purchase for those looking for more endless platformers for their iOS device.

Apps24h Rating: 

Let us conclude this one before we write the actual concluding part. There’s no question of hating Dead Trigger. We love it and, we bet, you’ll love it too!

It’s difficult to find the right adjective to define this masterpiece. This arrives as a savior, when you are left stranded on a deserted island. Honestly, we had lost hope of seeing a game worth writing about, after the last few debacles.

Dead Trigger comes in as a breath of fresh air, when we needed it the most. The game that is available on iOS and Android for a small fee is already creating waves. The gameplay is simple – you are stuck in a city full of zombies, whom you have to blow up to move ahead. This, we agree, doesn’t sound exciting and reminds of other shooting games. However, once you’ve played it, you’ll realize that Dead Trigger is in a different league altogether.

The way the zombies’ heads explode makes up for great entertainment. Well, we strongly recommend marshmallows to stay away from it, as the game is definitely not for the faint heart. Call us cruel, but we loved the killing!

When the game begins, you have the option to choose the main quest or the side quest. Basically, both the quests are kind of same as the game revolves around killing zombies and earning points to get weapons and other power ups.

The shooting is simple and straightforward. Practice your aim by hitting the zombies’ head and blowing it away in one shot, or fire aimlessly to kill the zombie. However, the latter option is dangerous as you may run out of ammunition or get overwhelmed by baddies.

The missions are similar, yet different. Some revolve around escaping the horror and surviving in the world full of zombies. Others are about saving an area or reaching a point. The plan might be different, but the gameplay remains same.

The game indeed has the déjà vu feeling as it has striking resemblance with the highly likeable Call of Duty Zombies. But, there’s no denying that this game is a notch above that. It packs in better graphics and friendlier-interface. Do yourself a favor and see a video of this game on YouTube to know how good the graphics are. It has the console game feel to it as the makers have paid attention to every detail. The last few games we have reviewed also boasted of great graphics, but this one undoubtedly has the best by far.

Unlike some other games, good graphics aren’t the only thing this game banks on. Madfinger has focused on game play too. However, a back story is what we found missing here. Some argue that a back story isn’t required as long as the game is fun, but we tend to disagree. How we wish they’d paid a little more attention to this factor. It’s like going on a blind date, not knowing what really to expect.

These days, almost all the games have in app buying option. This game too has a store which allows you to buy shortcuts or cheats to pass the difficult parts of the game. We don’t think you should buy them – what’s the point? – as it’s not really fun if the game isn’t challenging.

We know such games are very difficult to produce, as they require special attention to the controls and other factors. Dead Trigger, fortunately, has excellent controls. Several shooting games have fallen victim to such glitches, but Dead Trigger keeps its head high. Each player can carry four weapons, and can change them easily, when needed. Once you get accustomed to the controls, all things fall into place and the real fun begins.

Overall, this is an excellent game. The makers struck the right chord by balancing everything. There are a few glitches here and there, but it’s easy to ignore them. Dead Trigger is immensely likeable, and worth the price.

Here at TUAW central, the third anniversary of Angry Birds caught our attention. These delightful scamps — bird and pig — have now been with us for the average lifespan of the mosquitofish. Admittedly, the now-elderly pigs are increasingly taking fiber supplements in addition to seeking counseling for high stress working conditions and ornithophobia.

If your need for all things Angry and Birds cannot be sated by an ever-growing range of spinoffs (latest titles include Angry Bird Accountancy and Angry Bird Oral Hygiene, while fighting off the inevitable onslaught from competitors Angry Daleks, Borg Birds and Mildly Dyspeptic Angelfish), rejoice. Developer Rovio has announced John Cohen, of Despicable Me fame, will produce an Ancient Birds Angry Birds movie. David Maisel of Iron Man will produce.

The dramatic tension between pigs and birds? Well, we’re just waiting for the Academy Award on this one.

Here’s some impressive (if anecdotal) evidence that consumers are going gaga for the iPad mini. Mobile advertising platform Millennial Media says that the tiny tablet has seen a big increase in the interest level surrounding it since launching last month. According to the company’s data, views of ads for the iPad mini increased by 28 percent every day in November, something that’s lead Millennial Media to declare the device a “game changer.”

To provide some perspective, the company noted that following its launch in November 2011, the Kindle Fire — no slouch in terms of popularity itself — saw a 19 percent increase in ad impressions on its network each day during its release month. The comparison prompted Millennial Media to predict a strong holiday 2012 season for Apple, but we don’t think you need an MBA to know that’s a given.

Apple subsidiary FileMaker is an unusual, often overlooked part of the Mac maker’s empire, one that has been around almost as long as Apple Computer itself. The database management software hasn’t been cooling its heels, however; it has consistently been improving upon its mobile native iOS apps since the iPhone version’s introduction in 2010, and that has resulted in impressive user growth: to date, over 500,000 iOS device owners have downloaded FileMaker Go.

For the uninitiated, FileMaker is a tool that lets users create management systems for sales information and leads, medical records, inventory, project management and more. It’s a highly customizable database management system, that allows businesses to basically build their own solutions relatively quickly, starting either from templates or from their own data stored via Excel spreadsheets. With FileMaker Go, the company initially brought a means for its users to access all of that stored information on mobile devices; now, FileMaker VP of Marketing and Services Ryan Rosenberg says the vision has expanded, and is much more about showing businesses it’s possible not just to access pre-set productivity tools on the iPad and iPhone, but also to build their own, tailor-made for their own specific needs.

“With FileMaker, since it’s a platform for creating solutions, we find commonly people have multiple solutions with FileMaker [unlike with single-purpose apps],” he explained in an interview. “And so people will deploy it for one thing, and then they’ll start layering other solutions on top of that, because we’re a tool for creating solutions, we’re not a solution in and of ourselves.”

FileMaker essentially makes it possible for companies to go beyond using the iPad or iPhone as a way to simply access desktop content in a format that’s fit for mobile consumption. Instead, Rosenberg says that businesses are now just beginning to realize that they can create something totally unique on iPad that’s designed just for their business – a canvassing system for door-to-door surveys, for instance, or a sales tracking tool made for floor staff at a retail outlet, with fields created on a per-location or per-region basis.

“We’re very excited because we think this is just the beginning”, he said. “We know from when we talk to our customers that they’re very excited about taking the use of these devices beyond simply personal productivity, to creating custom solutions for them. We think we’re at the beginning of the curve of creating these custom solutions for organizations, and we want to help them do that.”

FileMaker has been around almost as long as Apple has, but just like Apple, the company isn’t content to stand still, and its mobile success is a reflection of that. I agree that businesses are still at a very early stage in terms of how they implement and use mobile devices, and FileMaker’s flexibility definitely puts it at the experimental forefront of what we might see next in terms of how businesses use iPads and iPhones in the field.

China Unicom announced that it received orders for more than 100,000 iPhone 5s on its first day of pre-sales, according to a report on Sina Tech. A subsidiary of rival wireless operator China Telecom said that it had received pre-orders for more than 5,000 units.

The lag between the iPhone 5′s U.S. and China release dates was thanks to the wait for final regulatory approval from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Apple announced last week that the iPhone 5 will be available in China (and 50 other countries, including Brazil, Russia and Taiwan) on December 14. The iPhone 5 has been available in 47 countries, including the U.S., UK, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, since September 21.

While this is the quickest rollout of an iPhone to date, the long wait for Apple products has turned off many Chinese consumers. China received the iPhone 4S on January 13, three months after the U.S. In August, research group IDC estimated that Apple’s share of China’s smartphone market was cut in half during the second quarter to 10 percent, as customers turned to devices made by competitors like Chinese company Lenovo, which some analysts believe will take the No. 1 smartphone slot in China next year. Lenovo’s products, including the Android-powered LePhone, benefits from strong brand recognition, nationwide availability, and affordable pricing aimed at the mid-to-lower end of the market.

But the company remains upbeat about its opportunities in the Chinese market. During Apple’s Q4 earnings call, Tim Cook said revenue for the full fiscal year was $23.8 billion for China, an increase of $10 billion year-on-year, and that sales of the iPhone in Greater China (i.e. China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) had climbed 38 percent.

Apps24h Rating:

App store Link: Trauma Ted

Motley Blocks is the latest Square Enix joint. Going along with their recent tradition of bringing out games that are nothing like Final Fantasy, it’s a hyper-intense puzzle game that we don’t recommend to anyone with high blood pressure. It’s very fun and very challenging, but it comes with a few roadblocks that might sap your enjoyment.

In concept, the game is as simple as can be. A cluster of blocks rotates through the air, and you have to tap or swipe through them to make them all disappear. The thing is, there are so many blocks that you can’t possibly tap fast enough to get rid of them all. That means swiping is important, but when you swipe to string them together, you can only string like-colored blocks. Touch a block of a different color, and you lose the whole string. If the whole cluster rotates a set number of times and you haven’t vanquished all blocks, it’s game over.

There’s some strategy here if your brain can work fast enough to implement it. The more like-colored blocks you can string together, the slower the whole cluster spins, giving you extra time to grab up blocks before they slip by. They also sprinkle in some power-ups like bombs and score multipliers, which you can also spend real money to purchase if you give up easily or you’re bad at games. You can even create your own levels if you’re feeling bored (and patient– the creation controls are kind of clunky).

However, the game comes with an inconvenience that makes it annoying to play: you have to manually log in each time you open the app. It claims it can remember your information and let you sign in through Facebook, but neither option worked for us. If it works for you, consider yourself lucky. If you don’t feel like registering, the game won’t let you play the single-player game, which seems unnecessary.

But mostly Motley Blocks is a fun, if poorly presented, puzzle game. Like all puzzlers worth your while, it’s simple to pick up and hard to master. If this sounds like something you’d be into, try the free version and see if it doesn’t turn you into a maniac zapping blocks all night.

Apps24h Rating:

App store Link: Trauma Ted

We’ve all played oh so many games like Trauma Ted. The quick, easy to play bursts of puzzle-y goodness, the simple yet endearing art and music, the level menu strewn with numbered tiles for all the options available. It seems that aside from some revolutionary gameplay ideas, the only thing that can make a game like this interesting after so many others is the premise. Well how about helping an injured cat with a migraine feed his painkiller addiction level by level, utilizing wrap around spacing and some simplistic yet clever uses of physics? Yes, by playing this game you have become a feline junkie enabler. Wear that on your conscience!

The goal of each short level is to get Ted to his magic little pill. Each pill seems to be stuck in a small labyrinth where the floor folds into the ceiling, and the walls fold into each other. Sometimes a block will need to be pushed, either to trigger a switch, or to allow Ted the height to jump and grab his medicine. The controls are very simple. Tilt to move, tap to jump. Ted responds well to your input, and the only frustration you’ll have is when you move a block into an end state position, causing you to restart the level.

Now let’s discuss the context and art style here. Ted looks clinically depressed. He supposedly has a migraine, but his head is bandaged like he suffered a nasty head wound. The patterns and muted colors of the levels give one the impression of a hospital, or a psych ward, and the entire game is based around pumping this kitty full of narcotics. It’s kind of frightening when you stop to think about it, especially as there’s such a solid theme throughout the game of sedation and chronic dependency. Even the level selection screen belittles you by insinuating you’re a quitter.

OK, so this could be reading a little too far into a simple physics puzzle game on the iOS, but what else are we going to talk about? It controls, plays, and looks well enough, but there’s nothing that makes it a crucial gaming experience. We probably should also caution those with real addiction to stay away, lest this feline pill popper trigger a less than ideal reaction. We’re watching you Ted. ]]> http://apps24h.com/11/trauma-ted-review/feed/ 0 http://apps24h.com/11/demons-score-review/ http://apps24h.com/11/demons-score-review/#comments Fri, 23 Nov 2012 07:59:40 +0000 Tommy http://apps24h.com/?p=11812 Apps24h Rating: 

Alot of people are going to either refuse to buy this game because of its iap system or they are going to be misled in to buying it thinking they are paying premium pricing for a premium title only to discover what lies within. What you get for your 6.99usd is the normal and medium difficulties for the game, the outfit your character starts with and the outfit awarded for beating the first boss. Each additional boss rewarded outfit costs an additional 2.99usd (3.99usd for the upper sets) and Hard difficulty will set you back an additional 9.99usd. The game is fully beatable without spending beyond the initial investment but it won’t have as much replayability without the additional difficulty setting and there will be a bit of grinding as you won’t benefit from the improved stats on the better equipment.

Square Enix seems to be in a state of confusion as to how they want to handle their games iap. We have seen games set at console/handheld quality and pricing. We have then seen games where the initial chapter is free with additional chapters costing iap. And now… this. The fact that the game is enjoyable and fully beatable without the iap purchases being forced down my throat is the only reason its still installed on my ipad… but even those perks won’t keep it around for very long because the gamecenter is leaderboards only.

Anyways, lets move beyond the iap blah blah and talk about the game. Square Enix also lately has been trying out variations on control schemes for their games and this title is as different from the rest as it gets. Anyone who has ever played Elite Beat Agents will be somewhat comfortable here. Circles appear at various points on your screen and your action towards them depends on what the circle is up to. Arrows mean tap when it hits optimal point. Swords mean swipe in the direction of the blade. Double circles mean two finger tap and so on. The tutorial is quite decent and is actually shown in the video above. This control scheme lends to a frantic and entertaining gameplay experience though it does bring out one long existing problem with touch games, your hands will spend most of the time covering up the screen so you won’t be paying attention to the games graphics at all. Not to worry though, 90% of the combat is the characters mindlessly swishing weapons, shooting guns and taunting eachother.

Completing fights awards you experience, leveling up increases your hit points. You spend real money to buy new outfits as you beat bosses. The outfits boost your exp gain and hit points. Thats the summary of the rpg experience of this game.

Voice acting, its a japanese company translating a japanese game in to english using voice acting that is… heh. Yea. Anyone who’s played a japanese port to usa shores knows what I’m talking about. Apparently Japan thinks we talk in deep grunty voices, high pitched excited voices and our females sound like they could cry at any moment, all the time. There is a limited variety to whats said in the game and each suit gives your character the voice of the demon you killed to get it. Most demons are male so you’ll have to get used to your female character sounding like a guy most of the time. The selection of things they say is also somewhat limited so pretty soon you’ll of heard everything a suit can possible have to say during combat, a hundred times. The exception to this is inbetween combat when the story plot advances and you talk to your companion or you talk to the boss. Regarding music, the song played in the tunnel sequence leading up to a boss is unique to the outfit you are wearing. The music played during the boss fight is unique to the boss and the outfit he rewards upon defeat matches that music.

Visuals. The visuals remind me of infinity blade 1. The enviroments are detailed, not offensive to the eyeballs but the characters looke ‘shiney’. I’m a guy here so forgive me for observing that the main characters boobs look like semi melted wax most of the time. There’s no physics here so dont expect jiggling, waving hair or tossled outfit trims.

The Story. Your father found a demon song (score), his secretary played it, a portal to hell opened, demons came out, your fathers secretary was turned in to a teddy bear and is your companion throughout the game. The main character enters the facility intent on rescueing her father and thanks to an app on her iphone she can apparently naturally fight, fly and absorb defeated boss demons. Each ‘stage’ involves a flying tunnel sequence where you shoot a bunch of lesser demons, get kicked back to the start of the tunnel, kick down the doors, have a long conversation with a demon, kill it, have a conversation with the teddy bear, go to the victory screen, have a new expensive outfit flaunted at you, hit next and start the process all over again.

Funny, reading that paragraph makes the game feel miserable. It isn’t and I do enjoy the game that my money lets me play. It gets real fast paced later on in the game and over all its very rewarding. Missing moves deducts from your hit points, hitting moves replenishes your hit point bar. The string of moves flows with the music and the plot isnt totally horrible. It looks like the game can be completed without purchases beyond the initial entry fee though the map appears to be skipping certain stages which means those stages are limited to medium and hard difficulty or those stages only popup with certain outfits. Not sure which.

My plans? I’m going to play the game until i either beat it or something else comes up with achievements and i need the space. I won’t be buying every outfit that shows up but I will probably buy the very last very best outfit when/if it becomes available.

My suggestion to squarenix? Squeenix, your full price and your pay by chapter models are nice, this pricing model sucks. The most offensive part about this pricing model is that this game in japan costs 14 bucks and has no iap in it. Your on a great roll, finally paying attention to the iOS but a warning, the iOS community will only pay so much attention to you if you keep treating us like wallets waiting to be plucked.

Apps24h Rating: 

App store Link: Monsters Slugger Free

Reviewed by Philip Chan

Like the concept of baseball combined with funny looking monsters? Then the Monsters Slugger app from developer Liberteenz.LLC. is just the app for you! It is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad, and runs on iOS 4.3 or later.

Features:

When you load the front page of Monsters Slugger, you will be able to select the “Play” function, you will be taken to the main menu where you can access additional functions such as a tutorial, sound options, record keeping, view more information about the developer, and more.

To play, you will begin with a pitch. By simply tapping on the “pitch” button on the bottom left hand corner, you can aim to target and flick to strike a monster as it approaches. If you want the monster to repelled further, than your pitch and strike must be stronger, so pitch and flick at a quicker speed. Accuracy is key here so make sure you aim just right. There will be different types of monster coming your way that have different characteristics such as: fast speed, up curves, and multiple scorings. Monitor your life gauge, along with keeping track of the critical and eye button to see what your strike power is and what the next type of monster is coming your way. Every time you master, you obtain a skill point.

You can also sign into your Game Center account to keep track of your scores there. There were times when attempting to return to the main menu when the app would force close and you would have to reload the app and start over.

Monsters Sluggers iPhone App Review

Appearance and Layout:

The overall appearance of Monsters Slugger is pretty decent. The creatures aren’t the cutest kind, but are humorous looking and are appealing. The color scheme is bright and engaging, and the action animation is smooth. The menu options are a bit vague since there aren’t any headers offered, but some clicking around will help you get the basic gist of them.

Value:

You can’t really complain about this game since it doesn’t cost you anything. If it wasn’t for the frequent force closing of the game, then this game would be better to work with. Nonetheless, it is a fun game for users of all ages and backgrounds, and will prove much entertainment for everyone. Since it is free, it is worth the try and play, and since the force closing doesn’t occur during game play it might not bother most users very much.

Apps24h Rating: 

App store Link: Art Photo Sketch

Neat filter apps for the iPhone camera are all the rage amongst iOS users. It can be hard to sort out all the good ones from the sub-par offerings. Fortunately, Art Photo Sketch , from Applistar Vietnam is one of the better such photo editing apps.  Is it right for you and your pic-happy friends?

The Art Photo Sketch app is an imaging editing app that is very simple and only serves on purpose; to apply a special rendering affect to any image on your phone or one you take with a camera, to a sketch like photo. This app does not offer any additional features. You simply select the image file or take the picture of anything you want to appear in the sketch form. Once you have selected the photo the app will automatically apply the filter it has and that will allow you to see any image you can obtain in the sketch form.

The application is so simply designed so it is very easy to use . The interface include the camera button which allows you to snap a picture or choose one from the file system on your photo album. After that you can choose a peffect effect, frame or canvas.  Before you save the file you just created which is necessary for saving the changes and sharing the pictures via facebook, twitter or it will allow you to directly email the photo to whomever you like.

All in all, I liked Art  Photo Sketch. It’s a simple yet effective app for applying sketch-type filters to your images. It can be tough to choose the best photo editing and pic effects app for your iOS device. I’d encourage you to try out a variety of these apps and keep your favorite ones with you at all times. The $1.99 price tag is a real bargain when you consider the high-quality filters offered in Art Photo Sketch. It’s definitely one app all photo fans should check out today!

Apple’s iPad mini seems to be a success, and that has attracted the criminal element’s attention. According to the New York Post, a shipment of Apple’s iPad mini, numbering 3,600 devices and with a total value of $1.5 million, was taken from JFK airport from the same location that a group stole $5 million in cash and $900,000 in jewelry in 1978.

The thieves apparently only got a fraction of their total target, since they had to leave three pallets behind when an airport worker returned from dinner and questioned their actions. Before that, however, they had already managed to grab two full pallets, which still adds up to $1.5 million in goods as mentioned above. Police suspect an inside job, but no suspects have been apprehended as of yet.

The iPad minis had just reached the U.S. from Apple’s assembly partners in China, and were destined for delivery across the U.S. Apple is known to be shipping out its first batch of LTE iPad minis this week, so it’s possible this shipment was part of that rollout. If so, it’s possible that means 3,600 expectant Apple fans are going to be disappointed, but Apple could also very theoretically redirect stock destined for store shelves to make up the difference.

The whole job was reportedly pulled off by just two guys. Fencing the stolen goods might be difficult, since posting an ad on Craigslist for 3,600 iPads might look a little suspicious, but it’s still a remarkable take for a couple of guys who apparently just drove a truck to the airport.

Short Version

This is the iPad mini you’ve no doubt heard about. The one Apple introduced in October, the one that reviewers have mostly loved, and the one that’s been my constant companion since I got one on launch day. You may know it as the iPad mini, but for all intents and purposes, this is the new iPad.

Long Version

Features:

• Thin and light design
• Same huge library of 250,000+ iPad apps
• Battery life that easily stretches into the 12 hour range

Info:

• 7.9-inch, 1024 x 768 display
• Available: Now (in Wi-Fi, with LTE versions beginning to arrive this week in the U.S.)
• MSRP: Starts at $329
• Product page

The iPad mini is…

… the best iPad. And maybe the best Apple product in recent memory. That may sound hyperbolic, and you can retort with complaints about screen resolution all you like, but as someone very well-versed in buying and using Apple products over the past 10 years, I can safely say at this point that the iPad mini is the one I’d be least inclined to give up.

Buy the iPad mini for…

… anyone who loves their existing iPad but wishes it were more portable, people new to tablets who want an easy and pleasant first experience, those who’ve tablets from other manufacturers but were disappointed and subsequently discarded them. The LTE version is likely best for frequent travelers, but the Wi-Fi model will be ideal for homebodies and people who generally split their time between two, Wi-Fi equipped locations, like home and school.

Because…

… there’s nothing quite like the full iPad experience in a package that you can hold with one hand. Critics will say this isn’t a wise purchase because Apple will inevitably introduce a Retina display to the iPad mini line. That’s likely true, but all the use you or your loved one will get out of this generation of iPad mini make it more than worthwhile to pull the trigger now, and the difference between this screen and that of the 4th generation iPad is a non-issue after just a few minutes of use. This is a gadget gift that won’t end up resting in anyone’s closet, or living exclusively on the nightstand, and it’s rare you can say that about any device.

The good times can’t last forever. Eventually the music dies off, the balloons pop and everyone goes home.

Without sounding the hyperbole alarm, let’s look at the facts. Apple’s stock price has declined steadily since September 19, two days before the iPhone 5 was released. Shares are off 25 percent since September. The stock price closed at a six-month low today. The price is still up 30 percent on the year but far from its 74 percent increase a few months back.

Analysts are still bullish on Apple. Per Yahoo Finance, more analysts list AAPL with a buy recommendation this month as they did last month or even three months ago. But the stock’s price is expensive. In order for a stock price to increase, it requires new investors, something that Apple is seemingly losing.

CNBC reminds us that mutual and hedge funds make up a sizable chunk of Apple’s stockholders. And now, for reasons not noted, they’re selling off their shares. Without the backing of these funds, the stock price will naturally decline.

Yet, when digging a little bit more, CNBC is a bit too alarming. When it comes to volume, Apple has been very stable for the past three years. If the stock price is to decline, it will happen slowly over time. Apple is not experiencing a self-defeating prophecy, in the economic sense.

Moreover, the anticipation for the iPhone 5 was important. As always, markets tend to anticipate product releases and reflect that in the stock price. Between July 2 and September 19, the stock price increased 18 percent.

In addition to that, the ratio market capitalization over revenue has actually increased for Q3 and Q4 2012, ending September 30, 2012. It’s too early to tell whether it will decrease in Q1 2013, as Apple expects to reach its biggest revenue in company history, so the stock price could fluctuate in both directions. Nevertheless, on September 30, AAPL was trading at four times Apple’s yearly revenue. It is impressive for an established company, and even more so for a giant such as Apple.

Market cap/yearly revenue

Finally, Apple has been ramping up its products for the holidays with multiple important releases in September and October — the iPhone 5, the iPad mini, new iPods, the new iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, and the Mac mini. Releasing this many products in such a short timeframe is an unprecedented choice for Apple, and it will certainly boost Q1 2013 revenue. Investors are waiting for those earnings after two quarters below or right on expectations. Mutual and hedge funds could also make a comeback.

Apple is still the same company today it was three months ago. It still has the same balance sheet and blockbuster products. Don’t think for a second that something like the competing Nexus 4 or Mapgate can move markets like this. The iPad mini will likely be this year’s hottest holiday gift, and the iPhone 5 will likely outsell every other smartphone on earth. None of that has changed.

But it’s hard to deny that something has changed at Apple.

There’s a different feeling around the company. Once a scrappy underdog fighting the establishment, the company’s popularity (and stock price) shot up with each newly released product. Then, nearly overnight, Apple went from being the little guy to the one to beat. It went from David to Goliath. And with that change, a lot of the hopeful optimism slowly faded.

Apple is slowly transforming from being a superstar stock to one that pays a fair dividend at a modest rate in order to make existing investors happy. A classic blue chip. The next IBM or Home Depot. For just the second time since 1995, Apple paid a quarterly dividend last week.

A stock price is a silly metric to weigh a company’s health. It might just say something about Apple’s identity. While Apple’s stock price might decline for the foresable future, the company itself will continue to pump out best-selling products and services.

Apple’s iPhone 5 is a popular grey market item, and the proximity of Hong Kong to mainland China makes it a particularly popular choice for stocking up on Apple hardware to be resold in the latter country. Now, there’s been a huge bust by Hong Kong Customs, according to a report by MIC Gadget. A truck containing 227 iPhone 5s, 22 iPads and a number of other electronics was caught yesterday trying to smuggle the goods into China.

The shipment contained roughly 1 million HKD in iPhones (around $129,000 U.S.), some of which were hidden within the actually dash of the truck itself. MIC Gadget notes that the use of a truck with a huge shipment like this is a relatively new development in Chinese smuggling operations, since before tightening security it was more common to just have individuals cross the border with much smaller, separate stashes of grey market Apple goods.

The iPhone 5 has yet to officially go on sale in China, which is likely only driving up demand for the device, though grey market channels remain popular for Apple’s hardware even after it hits store shelves officially in China, because shoppers are often interested in getting the smartphone off contract, which allows them to use it with China Mobile, for instance. And a recent report suggested that about half of the one million iPads sold in China during Q2 2011 were from the grey market. That’s because pricing outside China vs. pricing within the country allows grey market importers to collect a tidy profit and still undersell traditional channels.

The iPhone 5 is commanding very high prices, according to stories from near the device’s launch. It was reportedly selling for around 3,000 HKD more than retail, or nearly $400 at launch. That kind of market has resulted in Apple implementing special measures in China to try to curb the problem, but so far, that’s not really having much effect on stemming the tide of illegal goods crossing the border.

There are currently six versions of the Golden Dreams iPhone 5 on offer, with touches like 24-carat gold accents, and yes, even the choice to replace that dull, lifeless Apple-emblazoned backplate with one wrapped in the skin of a dead alligator. Oh, and should you worry that your peers at the Friday night horse ballet won’t realize that exquisite device in your hand is indeed yours, you can request your own personalized touch be added — for an additional fee, of course.

So how much will it cost you for the privilege of hauling around an alligator-clad iPhone 5? Believe it or not, one of these monuments to excess will set you back just $3,000 or so, depending on the model. Talk about a bargain!

Apps24h Rating: 

App store Link: Blend InstaCamera

There are so many photo filter apps for the iPhone, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Among the  crowd,  Blend InstaCamera from Applistar stands out as worthy of a second look. This US $0.99 app emulates the style of several different with others processing image application.

Some filter apps are all-or-nothing affairs, but Blend InstaCamera lets you play with the intensity of each effect so you can adjust it to your liking. When editing images, subtlety can be a good thing, and the range of effects with this app leaves you free to experiment and not overdo it.

Blend InstaCamera also lets you use shoot with the iPhone camera from within the app, and it has the usual image sharing options like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and email.

Beyond the film styles, the app offers a selection of frames for your photos, and the usual ability to adjust brightness. There is no overall contrast adjustment, however; contrast is controlled by the individual filters. Images are not reduced in resolution after they are edited, which is a plus. I also like the ability to add a caption to an image when you send it, along with location information.

Blend InstaCamera has an original GUI that takes a moment to learn, but it then is very intuitive. It lacks any kind of built-in help, and I think apps should always include that. Overall, I put this app in the same category as Snapseed, which is also excellent.

Blend InstaCamera is not just another ‘me too’ app, but an original approach at a reasonable price. Applistar is well known to pro and semi-pro photographers who use its filters in Photoshop, so it’s nice to see some of that expertise passed along to the iPhone. The app requires iOS 5, and is not universal, which I hope will be remedied soon. It is optimized for the iPhone 5 Check the gallery for some screen grabs.

Getting an iPhone in China has always been hard. For most of its life-cycle, the phone has been unavailable in the Mainland except through the grey market. Now that Apple is allowed to sell units in Shenzhen, however, it’s gotten amazingly strict on sales per-person.

The primary limit is on walk-in sales. Users cannot buy iPhones at the store and instead are limited to picking one up per-day, per-customer. You can also only buy ten iPhones per credit card and you can buy limited amounts using gift cards, a loophole the grey market discovered early on.

Apple’s Chinese website also controls the numbers of orders coming in at once, effectively reducing the possibility that hundreds of consumers walk in to pick up the iPhone after a massive flood of orders. Apple also forced buyers to have their phones activated on the spot by employees and there are a number of safeguards in place to prevent repeat offenders from shopping.

Not surprisingly, little of this really works. Pallets of Apple products still flood the grey market and, like most normal consumers, the Chinese buyers resent this intrusion, thereby giving more power to the markets. It’s an endless, clever circle that often involves older Chinese ladies standing outside of Apple stores in New York waiting for iPads Mini while smugglers shoot iPads across rivers into the Mainland with a crossbow.

Arguably, I doubt there’s much grey market demand for, say, the Lenovo Yoga so it may be worth the effort just to keep demand high.

Apps24h Rating: 

App store Link: Outwitters

Outwitters, released by OIL on iOS, is one of a kind. The exciting game that initially looks cute, thanks to the presence of anthropomorphic mice and teddy bears, is not cute at all. It’s a strategy game that makes you wear your thinking cap. It’s not really aimed for kids, don’t be fooled by the teddy bears, it’s for subversives who love fighting sharks, elephants and disembodied brains.

Does it create a horrible picture? The game isn’t really horrible. It actually delivers in all aspects and comes out as a winner in the already impressive lineup of strategy games on the iOS. It’s a turn-based squad tactical game, which is played on a hex grid. There are 1 vs. 1 and 2 vs. 2 mayhem modes, which means you can challenge your mates and see who can nail it. It’s a deeply gratifying multiplayer game, which has the power to keep you hooked.

The game comes free with one army, and allows you to buy more, if required. You move on in the game by defending your base and destroying that of your opponent’s. For every right move you earn points, called wits. The game has maps to guide you so that you don’t feel lost and keep on track. The maps, fortunately, are designed specifically for Apple devices and are not too big or too small. They serve their purpose pretty well and guide you, whenever needed.

It’s one of the most polished games on the iOS. Everything gleams and is in perfect sync. The game is very fast and loads at lightening speed. If you face trouble with it, believe us, it probably has to do with the device than the game. We played it on an iPad and it worked like a dream. The developers have put in their best effort to make this the number one game in the market, and they’ve succeeded in it to a great extent.

With its menu, interface, and animations, Outwitters sets the bar high. It has outdone all its predecessor. The makers, OML, have carved a niche with this one. We cannot wait to see what more they have in store for us, as they have always outdone themselves and come out on top by producing games that always reach an unprecedented success level.

The controls are fine, but one might face problems initially, especially when you are required to pass the device, since the game is turn based. Nevertheless, once you’ve played it twice or thrice, you get in the mood and handle it like a pro. This isn’t much of a problem.

One of the best things about Outwitters is that it allows you to play against real opponents. You can go against Game Center mates or random opponents to see your skills. The icing on the cake is the ranking meter, which gives you points based on your performance. The ranking meter is automatically updated and is used to set you against opponents that fall in the same category as you do. This sophistication is hardly witnessed on mobile games. It’s the first of its kind, and we’re sure more will follow.

However, for some it might be a drawback as the game can only be played when there is a player. Since the game is new and hot in the market, it’s always easy to find a player. We don’t know what the future holds for it though, giving the constant change in the games market. But, one thing is for sure, Outwitters isn’t disappearing anytime soon. It’s too powerful to neglect!

Overall, Outwitters is one of the best games in the market today. The fact that it is available for free download makes it irresistible. It’s so good, you won’t regret spending a few dollars to buy the extra armies and enjoy it fully. It’s a perfect game that has it all. Asking for more would render you greedy!

Now that the iPad mini has hit the market, choices for consumers have become a bit more complex. After all, the iPad mini (US$329), the Kindle Fire HD ($199) and Google Nexus 7 ($199) are all small tablets that are targeting the same market, each with its own app ecosystem (Apple App Store for the iPad mini, Kindle Appstore for Kindle Fire HD, Google Play for the Nexus) and fan base. One real difference to consumers is where the eye meets the app — the display. DisplayMate Technologies Corp. did a “Display Technology Shootout” for Gizmodo comparing the displays on the three tiny tablets, and the results were … interesting.

The full results of the shootout are here for your viewing pleasure, but TUAW will provide you with a couple of highlights. First, the iPad mini placed third in the comparison behind its competitors, but still managed a “B” in terms of “overall display grade.” Next, the iPad mini received a “poor” score for reflectance (the amount of light reflected from a pencil beam of light). Finally, the iPad mini has the shortest battery life of the three devices tested, although at 6.1 hours it’s still rated as good.

An informal tally of personal results from a weekend of iPad mini usage compiled from tweets seems to show that most owners are quite happy with the display. A number of those tweeting said that the light weight more than compensates for the non-Retina display. What’s your take on the iPad mini display?

This is tomorrow’s democracy. Barack Obama has just announced his win in the presidential election by sending a tweet and an email to supporters before going on stage in person to deliver his acceptance speech. With the subject line “How This Happened”, Obama’s email noted “I want you to know that this wasn’t fate, and it wasn’t an accident. You made this happen.”

Shortly before sending the email Obama tweeted a photo of him and his wife hugging with the description “Four more years.” It’s since become the most retweeted tweet of all time.

Apple has just announced that the iPad mini and 4th generation iPad, both of which debuted on October 23 in San Francisco, have just topped 3 million sales in 3 days.

The smaller, lighter tablet had been rumored for years, yet its arrival was somewhat overshadowed by Hurricane Sandy devastating the North East. And the 4th gen iPad came as a bit of a surprise, though it was also rumored prior to launch.

On the November 2 launch date, a week after pre-orders began, lines weren’t quite as long as they have been for other Apple products, despite having two new models on sale.

Still, Apple has managed to sell a whopping 3 million of both devices in a very short period of time. For reference, Asus has said that the company sells around 1 million Nexus 7 tablets per month.

At the same time, this isn’t exactly the level of opening day, weekend, or week sales we usually see out of Apple. Apple’s 3rd generation iPad, however, sold 3 million on its own during its opening weekend last March, so this time around two separate device lines are splitting the same number of sales. The iPhone 5 had 2 million pre-orders in 24 hours, and sold 5 million in the first weekend.

Apple likely won’t break out sales by device type, but we’ll see if analysts or supply chain information provides a better breakdown.

Second screen experiences are increasingly common; startups like Fanatix, GetGlue, MOVL, and countless others are developing platforms and apps to help users get more out of their TV viewing experiences, and networks are encouraging hashtag campaigns and turning to Twitter to leverage the conversations already happening there. A recent Nielsen report showed that 86 percent of smartphone owners and 88 percent of tablet owners use their devices while watching TV, and smartphone ownership in the U.S. recently crossed the 50 percent threshold, meaning a huge number of TV viewers are dividing their attention. Second screen isn’t a trend to watch; it’s a living, breathing phenomenon that’s already arrived.

Before the iPad mini arrived, the iPad was the perfect venue for reaching out to TV viewers with value-add experiences. Users of Apple’s tablet tend to be more affluent, more receptive to online advertising and more likely to spend money on their devices. If you’re losing eyeballs during commercial breaks to mobile devices, in a best-case scenario you’re driving additional content complete with related promotions from your advertising partners to those same devices, and in a perfect world, those audiences fit the demographic tendencies of iPad owners.

While it’s too early to tell for sure, I’m willing to bet the iPad mini’s user base will resemble the iPad’s more so than it’ll look like the ownership population of cheaper, Android-based devices. And because of the iPad mini’s key areas of difference compared to the iPad (over 50 percent lighter, 23 percent thinner), it’s a much more convenient device to pick up and put down frequently while watching TV programming. Plus, it has access to the same software library as its bigger cousin, meaning developers don’t necessarily need to go back to the drawing board to create second screen apps for a new form factor.

The iPad mini’s size makes it a take-anywhere device, and its screen real estate ensures that users won’t just give up on engaging with content that might involve a lot of reading or might be a better handled on a desktop than on a tiny smartphone screen. And the device isn’t compromised in terms of connectivity or capabilities, either; the cameras are good, it’s got Bluetooth, optional cellular connectivity and all of the AirPlay capabilities of its bigger sibling, all of which could potentially be leveraged by developers to make second screen activities more engaging.

In reality, the iPad mini is better for a number of use cases than its larger predecessor, but it seems like the perfect couch companion after a few days of thorough testing of that theory. With mobile tech moving steadily toward a place of prominence in the family living room, watch for the iPad mini to become the pace setter  in this key changing facet of home entertainment.

“The art of narration and dramatic presentation, together with a keen sense of the oral epic style, became a characteristic quality of the Russian people.” —Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folktale

At the end of a week filled with product launches and press conferences, it’s hard not to compare those marketing events. Without even talking about the products, some were much more compelling than others. And it all comes down to the story that you tell, as a company. Failing at that task will greatly endanger your product.

Over the past few days, I had the chance to watch and write about iPad mini‘s keynote, attend Samsung’s Galaxy Note II launch event in New York, and go to Microsoft’s Windows 8 conference (and its secret Surface conference).

It’s no mistake that all of those things are happening at the same time. Even though Google had to reschedule its Nexus event, it’s only due to a hurricane. The company would have gladly unveiled its new devices shortly after its competitors.

They want to dominate the news, retaliate and change the subject as quickly as possible. That’s why Surface reviews were all published at 8PM on the day of Apple’s keynote. It’s a coverage war.

Yet, timing and money are only a small part of the equation. What many companies fail to realize is that you have to tell a compelling story in order to stay relevant, convince potential customers and drive sales growth.

Even though technology as we know it is very young, the art of narration has existed for centuries. Building on the work of Russian linguist Vladimir Propp and French philosopher Gilles Deleuze is essential. Propp demonstrated in its book Morphology of the Folktale that Russian fairy tales all had a common structure. He rigorously explained the complex pattern and analyzed all the little details that make those stories work so well.

Just like technology is ruled by science, storytelling is ruled by theorems and implications.

Are you telling a story?

As we’ve recently learned, Wayne Goodrich played a key role at Apple. He was the person working behind the scene before an Apple keynote, writing the text. Even more important, he created a narration around the product launches. It was his job.

Years after those keynotes, I can still remember Scott Forstall asking questions to Siri, Steve Jobs awkwardly browsing the web on a couch with the iPad, and of course the now famous iPhone unveiling. “An iPod. A phone. And an internet communicator.”

If you present things properly, if you go further than the specs, they will stick in your mind. You just get it.

On Tuesday, Apple unveiled the iPad mini. The anticipation was incredible and we knew nearly everything before the event. In those cases, narration is key. When you ask me about the keynote, all I can think of is that the iPad mini is small and light. In other words, specs.

The emphasis of the conference was on the fact that you can hold it with one hand. This is not a story, this is a use case. I still don’t know why it’s better to be able to hold it with one hand. Now I’ll just have to wait and see one to understand whether it is a better form factor.

Samsung and Windows 8 events

At Samsung’s press conference, the company talked a bit about the brand in the U.S. and how it has gained a lot of recognition over the past year. The Twitter and Facebook numbers were really impressive.

As there was nothing new at that conference, I spent the rest of the conference thinking about the little things that could have triggered Samsung’s incredibly successful year with its smartphones. Of course, products play an important part, but there are many Android smartphones out there. So there must be something else.

And it hit me when seeing the video ad and reading “The Next Big Thing Is Already Here”. The aggressive ads against Apple didn’t start before the launch of the iPhone 5. It started a year before that, with the Galaxy S II commercial.

Samsung has stubbornly sticked with the same narrating strategy over the past year. When talking with friends who aren’t working in this industry, it’s easy to realize that it has definitely worked. Every few days, I get the question “what does the iPhone do better than Samsung phones?”

As you can read in the comments everyday, people are passionate about their phones. By talking to these very vocal people, Samsung has found a way to spread its message very effectively. It’s all about the story.

At Microsoft’s event, it was something completely different. The audience was composed of two very distinct groups of people: media people and OEM partners. The company went through all the new features of the Windows 8 modern UI and all the new tablet/laptop hybrids from its partners. It was both boring and uninspired.

I’m very excited about the new operating system, the Surface and, more generally, the paradigm shift occurring with Windows 8. I think it’s an important tech launch this year — maybe even the most important one. But the excitement wasn’t there. I wanted them to tell me a story, and they failed.

Is the story compelling?

Telling a story is one thing, but it has to be a good one as well. Otherwise, at best it doesn’t resonate with the potential customers, at worst it becomes awkward.

An example would be the Windows Phone 7 ads: “it’s time for our phone to save us from our phones.” Yes, the little scenette showing people forgetting about their environment because they are focused on their phones are funny.

But if I’m concentrated on my phone, it’s because I like it. I don’t want to have a phone to ignore it. It would mean that I have nothing to do with it.

What do the users have to say about your product?

If you get the story right, the salespeople, the early adopters and the early majority will propagate the right message around your product. Otherwise, the salespeople will just say meaningless ineffective things about the product.

Are your clients interested by your story? Could they become the main character? Thanks to the story, the clients can become product advocates. And who hasn’t talked recently with a friend who couldn’t help saying all the wonderful things that happen when you own a Galaxy S III.

Caring about propagating the story is as important as the story itself. When I received my Kindle Paperwhite, there was letter from Jeff Bezos. I remembered that it was on my first Kindle too and expected the same kind of letter. But Amazon wrote a different letter, a version for existing Kindle owners. Here’s how it starts:

Dear Romain,

Thank you for upgrading to Kindle Paperwhite. As a previous Kindle owner, we think you’ll love Kindle Paperwhite. You are holding our best Kindle yet.

The attention to the little details makes me want to tell the story as well, even if it is one of the simplest ones with the Kindle — it’s not a device, it’s a way to read. I’m still waiting for the company who will crack the code of storytelling — just like Vladimir Propp did for fairy tales — and get it right every time, with every product launch.

Apple continues to go global with its App Store ambitions: the company has made eight additions to the list of supported currencies. The new currencies are the Russian Ruble, Turkey’s Lire, India’s Rupee, Indonesia’s Rupiah, Israel’s New Shekel, Saudi Arabia’s Riyal, South Africa’s Rand, and United Arab Emirates’ Dirham. The additions came after developers were told earlier in the week that iTunes Connect, the portal that lets developers control pricing and app availability, would be down for a period of time on the 25th.

In the past, users in these countries would not have been able to pay for apps in their local currencies. Instead, they would have had to pay in U.S. dollars in their local app stores, using cards that processed payments in dollars, only use free apps, or perhaps get paid apps by illegal means. That was definitely one issue in China leading up to Apple accepting Yuan payments in the App Store, which it did in November 2011.

Apple announced the news to developers in a note to them (excerpted below). In it, Apple also noted that the retail price has been adjusted for the Mexican Peso, the Euro, and the Danish Kroner. Others have also been reporting that the new base price for apps sold in Euros has increased up to €0.89, with some speculating that the changes have been made because of foreign exchange rates on currencies, or because of Apple’s tax situation in the region. (It pays a value-added tax of 15% in Luxembourg, where its Euro iTunes operation is based, and it passes this on to developers.)

The move to offering local currencies will help Apple in a couple of ways: it will help it grow local use of paid apps, and it could spur the creation of more localized apps. In some of these markets, such as India, the company has yet to launch the iPhone 5 — the India site notes “coming soon” although there have been reports that it will do so today — so the currency expansion could also be linked in part to that.

Apple also notes that the 8 new territories will become their own report regions, meaning that payment reports via iTunes Connect will include individual reports from the 8 new currencies. October will be split into two: one part before the change all in US Dollars for “rest of the world”, and the other part after the change.

In yesterday’s earnings, Apple noted that it had set an all-time record for App Store sales for app sales in the quarter, with $6.5 billion paid out to developers. The company did not reveal how much it made in overall sales in the store itself, however. There are now 700,000 apps now available in the store, 275,000 for the iPad.

If you’re looking to get your hands on an iPad mini after the big reveal this past Tuesday, now’s the time to pre-order, as Apple has launched pre-orders via its mobile app and online retail store, and shoppers can choose any version of the iPad mini or 4th generation iPad for the first batch of orders. If you want to have one in your hands next Friday, November 2, however, you’ll need to get the Wi-Fi only versions, as the Wi-Fi + Cellular editions ships at least a couple of weeks later, as Apple explained at its event this week.

For U.S. shoppers, the iPad mini with LTE ships “Mid November.” In Canada and other markets, expected lead times show estimated shipping at late November. The 4th Gen iPad also shows “Mid November” in the U.S. and simply “November” elsewhere. Apple hasn’t offered up any specific reasons why the Wi-Fi + Cellular iPads will take longer to arrive, but CEO Tim Cook did talk about the challenges of the manufacturing process for the iPad mini on Apple’s earnings call yesterday, so that could have something to do with it.

And of course you have to be living in one of the launch countries to pre-order today. That group includes the U.S., Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. A few other regions, including Bulgaria, Hungary, Iceland, Liechtentein, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, will also have the iPad for sale beginning November 2 at select retailers, but customers in those locales won’t be able to pre-order. That’s a much larger initial launch pool than the 3rd gen iPad’s 12 kick-off markets.

So who’s getting either the iPad mini or the 4th generation iPad this morning (or both/neither), and what’s your reason for doing so?

Apps24h Rating: 

App store Link: Hello Cappuccino

Story:
Your dream is to own a cafe. Finally it comes true. It starts from a very small business. With your effort and the satisfaction from the customers, the shop expands greater and greater.

Design:
The game is a fresh new management game from KTH. Your goal is to run the cafe shop and serve all customers. Select a recipe and make different coffee or drinks. The tutorial is very detailed and easy to learn how to play the game. It’s not just some slices to show the still gameplay, but some basic skills and missions to let you know really how to do. Buy new items to decorate your shop will make the shop look better and attract more customers. You can customize your characters by changing their hairstyle, suits, accessories and emotions. When you level up, you can also move your cafe to beach.

Don’t forget the other big part of the game – social. You can add friends, visit their cafes, or drop by the nearby cafes. At others’ cafes, you can leave a tip or stamp a nice mark to show your affection.

There’s some ways to earn extra gold in the game. For instance, the daily quiz is an excellent choice. Solve the quiz correctly and earn the bonus prize. The mission rewards are also very considerable. Try finish as many missions as possible. You can also buy gold via In-App-Purchase faster.

Graphics:
The game is super cute. I really love the Asian style characters. The game supports iPhone 5 larger screen at launch. I am happy to be able to play the game in full screen on my new iPhone 5.

Conclusion:
The game is very causal. You don’t have to rush leveling up. Just play a while when you are free. I think it’s wonderful to play the game during the afternoon tea. Cute characters with pleasant sound effects . You will love this game!

Some suggestions:

1. We all know that the game is a social game, which must be play when the device is connected to WiFi or cellular networks. But I think it’s better to make it playable during offline without the social parts. Game data can be saved locally. Once the device is connected to the Internet, new saves can be uploaded to the server.

2. Add Game Center support when Award system is online.

In Apple’s Q4 earnings call today, Tim Cook today said that Apple had a “fantastic” quarter in Greater China, with revenues at $5.7 billion, up 26% year on year, but actually that revenue was flat on Q3. Still, the year-on-year growth is an important story for it to be telling in a quarter where the company missed expectations on earnings, iPhone sales and iPad sales.

Cook said that the iPhone 5 launch “will happen in December” in China.

Cook also gave some stats on how sales of its wireless products are growing in the country: the company saw iPad sales up 45%, and iPhone was up 38%. For the year, the company had total revenues of $23.8 billion for China, “which is really phenomenal when you think about it,” and more than double what it made in China in 2011. All told, a whopping 15% of Apple’s revenues are currently attributed to sales in the region, which includes Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and Macau.

Apple is using its strong retail presence in the country to drive that even further. “We are continuing to invest in our retail stores there and continue to expand with channel partners, [it's an] extremely exciting market with more and more people wanting Apple products,” he said.

Indeed, retail stores in the region hit a milestone: Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer earlier in the call noted that the second store that it opened in Hong Kong in the quarter has been the biggest store opening of the year for the company anywhere.

Revenues from Asia Pacific overall were $7.537 billion, up 15% on last year, although down 4% on the quarter before.

Asia Pacific remained Apple’s third-biggest region in terms of revenues, although combined with Japan’s $2.367 billion in revenues, all of Asia makes about $10 billion, putting it into second position after the Americas, which was $13.8 billion.

Apple breaks out Mac unit sales and says that they were up 20% on 877,000 units in the region, up 40% on the quarter before. This represented a big recovery on Q3, when it sold 593,000 units.

China has long been a major growth driver for the company in its international revenues. As a point of comparison, in the Q3 revenues for China were $5.7 billion, up 48% on the same period a year before; in the quarter before that, Apple’s “mind boggling” revenue in that quarter was $7.9 billion, up threefold year-over-year. In 2011 the company made $13.3 billion in China.

But it has also been the source of some of Apple’s most negative publicity, specifically around the production of its highly sought after devices.

That pressure to produce is likely set to continue. Tim Cook today mentioned on the earnings call today that Apple was seeing ”a significant state of backlog right now” in terms of iPhone 5 production, and the “largest volume ramp in Apple’s history.”

And although the iPhone has had a strong run in China, in the last quarter, it actually saw its share of the smartphone market in the country halved as people hung back waiting for the newest iPhone, which was only launched in September and has not yet launched in China. It has not been helped, either, by the fact that there are so many cheap Android devices hitting the market, too.

It’s easy to forget the big picture when you report on a quarterly earnings. Apple has seen a tremendous year. With $156 billion in revenue representing 45 percent growth compared to 2011, and an incredible 61 percent increase of net income compared to 2011. But even more impressive, Apple now has $121.3 billion in cash, enough to buy Amazon or a space station, and still having some left.

Amazon’s market capitalization ticks at $100.77 billion today. And many of what you could consider big tech companies have a smaller market cap. Yahoo’s market cap is $19.68 billion, Facebook’s is $48.33 billion. And let’s not compare to Dell or HP who have a $16.03 billion and $27.90 billion market cap.

As long as Apple keeps generation such profits, there is no end to this cash pile. Three months ago, Apple had $117.2 billion in the bank (short term financial investments or equivalent).

Apple has been very shy when it comes to acquisitions. Over the years, it has only bought a handful of companies, including Lala, Chomp and Siri.

Even compared to Apple’s own market capitalization, its cash represents more than 20 percent of its gigantic $571.38 billion market cap. Yet, the ratio cash versus market cap is slowly going down, because Apple shares are raising even more. Here’s the percentage evolution:

And of course, there are the funny comparisons. Beautiful buildings and monuments are cool, but let’s not stop there. As we’ve learned recently, a space station “only” costs around $100 billion. Space is the next frontier, right?

It seems the cuteness of ZeptoLab’s charming iOS puzzle game Cut the Rope can’t be contained by the small screens of iPhones and iPads. The developer has debuted a web series starring the game’s lovable protagonist, Om Nom, that combines live action footage with traditional animation.

Called Om Nom Stories, the series is comprised of 10 episodes that tell the tale of Om Nom coming to live with a young boy named Evan. The episodes will be released on a regular basis and can be watched either on YouTube or directly from within Cut the Rope: Experiments via a new app update released today.

A second season of Om Nom Stories is already planned and will get a bump to an impressive 40 episodes. In addition to the web series and other tie-ins, ZeptoLab is teaming up with Sony Pictures Television to develop a game show based on Cut the Rope, which sounds just bizarre enough to actually work.

Apps24h Rating: 

App store Link: Tender Loving Care

There is a Yiddish word, “narishkeit,” that translates roughly into “foolishness,” or “kids’ stuff.” Though it sounds like a harsh word at first blush, context can soften it. It’s generally accepted that “everyone has their own narishkeit,” for instance– seemingly empty, childish purists that are actually of value because they make us happy. Tender Loving Care is a good example of narishkeit. It’s dated, it’s a bit silly, but if you crave old-fashioned adventure games, it’ll make you grin.

Tender Loving Care was initially released for the PC in 1998, and it wears its age as well as a Chihuahua wears neon-laced LA Gears. As you comb through the game’s scenery, you’ll spy huge monitors with bulbous screens, bulky tape-based voice recorders, loud keyboards, and 486 laptops heavy enough to kill a man with. It’s obviously not the game’s fault that it’s a victim of its own age, but it becomes that much harder to sit through the dead-serious story with a straight face.

And having originally come from a time when video games were desperately trying to grab an adult audience, Tender Loving Care is very serious about its story. The game, which is presented almost entirely through full-motion video scenes, follows the trials of Michael and Allison Overton, a young married couple that has been thrown into turmoil by an accident that killed their young daughter. Allison is particularly distraught, and she loses the ability to function as an adult. A live-in nurse named Kathryn comes to live with the couple, and her seductive body language quickly unravels that sex-starved Michael. Chaos and shenanigans ensue.

There are several endings to pursue, and the entire shebang is narrated by John Hurt. Hurt interacts with you as a therapist, and asks you several multiple-choice questions after each gameplay chapter concludes. Your answers supposedly drive the game’s story, but more intriguingly, they’re used to assemble a personal psychological profile at the end of the game. It’s all bunk, obviously, but it’s still fun to imagine yourself spilling your troubles to John Hurt while lying with your head in his lap.

In between chapters you’re also invited to scour the Overtons’ house and rummage through their personal belongings to get a sense of what they’re like. Not surprisingly, most of their scribblings and recordings are of the melodramatic, conflicted variety. There is a lack of subtitles, which is problematic in a game with so much voice acting.

Tender Loving Care is best appreciated as a relic of the past. It’s a product of its genre and its era, and that’s not a bad thing if that’s what you want. It’s definitely one of the better adventure games that were born of the late ‘90s, though you shouldn’t expect a stellar experience. If you grab Tender Loving Care, it’s because you are wholly in the mood for a game with a two-star plot (that’s still kind of compelling, if predictable) and acting that’s a touch below professional (with the obvious exception of John Hurt).

In other words, if you’re an FMV fan and your 3D0 was snatched up at a garage sale, or if you can’t be bothered to dig through your stack of Windows 98 CDs, treat yourself to some TLC.

Startup Ad Hoc Labs, creators of temporary phone number generator app Burner, today announced a new investment round of undisclosed quantity that includes some notable Silicon Valley angels like Dave McClure’s 500 Startups, David Cohen, Kevin Slavin, Ted Rheingold and others. The money will go towards helping the company add new hires, and also continue its ambitious goals of expanding its mobile privacy protecting services.

For those not yet familiar with Burner, it’s an iOS app that generates disposable numbers with fixed expiry dates that can be disposed of with a single tap and used to make phone calls and send texts, which can be purchased via credits bought in-app. The concept has led to a lot of interest, both positive and negative, from media outlets and from consumers. Burner enjoyed a lot of time riding the top of the app charts shortly after its initial release, and continues to be among the top 2 percent of App Store titles overall.

Burner’s critics see it as a potential way to conduct criminal activity, like the kind the physical, disposable “burner” phones it’s named after are used for. But Ad Hoc Labs co-founder and CEO Greg Cohn says that Burner use is subject to the same laws as any telephony service operating in the U.S., and emphasizes that the app is designed more around helping users protect their privacy in situations where being selective about how much info you give out is prudent. Some such situations include online dating, buying and selling through Craigslist, and maybe sharing your number with fans or followers if you enjoy a certain degree of heightened celebrity online.

Burner’s present use cases are interesting and fairly broad, but it wasn’t always that way. At first, Cohn tells me that Burner in an early idea phase more closely resembled Dan Martell’s Clarity, and was literally a tool for setting up virtual office hours. The team felt that approach was too narrow in scope, however, and wanted to serve a wider range of customer needs, hence the app’s current, use-agnostic approach.

Next up, Burner wants to extend its reach even further. In a recent update, it already snuck in a preview version of a feature that allows third-party app developers to round-trip calls through Burner, so that users could in theory select a Burner number to make a phone call from an online classifieds or dating app. In this way, Cohn said that Burner hopes to become a sort of “wallet for numbers,” in a “Passbook style of approach,” and intends to pursue discussions with potential partners it sees as benefitting the most from such an application of its tech.

Burner had an interesting start, to say the least. But by looking towards other ways it can help provide users with varying degrees of mobile identity anonymity and accessibility, and to partnerships with other companies and products (white-label solutions look to be another future consideration), things should only get more interesting for the startup from here on out.

We’re now hearing from a source close to Apple’s accessory manufacturing partner that the company plans to hold a conference in Shenzen, China for its Made for iPod/iPhone/iPad (MFI) program partners on November 7 and 8, similar to the one it held last year between December 7-9 when it expanded the MFI program to promote adoption of new AirPlay and Bluetooth standards. We’re also hearing that Apple will strictly regulate sales of Lightning connectors for MFI partners, and that the cost per part for those components, while not unreasonable, is fairly high compared to other widely-available standards like USB.

iLounge reported earlier in October that the confab in Shenzen for MFI partners was planned for November, and that it would detail new rules. One of those new rules, according to one of our sources close to the program,is that Apple’s Lightning pin supply is controlled by the company itself, and it supplies approved MFI partners with production quantities of the pin once their product is determined to have met its standards and specifications. It sells them in volume, and our source says the pricing is actually very fair when you consider the advanced technology involved in the connector’s construction.

Another source believes that while Apple regulating sales isn’t surprising in the least, unauthorized copies from Chinese engineers are likely to still appear, but that using their products in accessories could incur legal action or goods being confiscated by customs authorities at border checkpoints. That source also noted that Apple seems to have provided additional security against low-quality copies, something supported by a new Chipworks teardown in which a potential security chip was found. Still, there is evidence that some companies are already ramping up to create off-brand Lightning cables at prices that undercut Apple’s, as one of our tipsters was able to negotiate a quote for volume orders of the same at between $10 and $12 per piece, with an estimated ship date for later this month.

Of course, as with any product as popular as Apple’s mobile devices, a shadow economy of unauthorized goods and accessories is bound to pop up. The good news on the official side is that once Apple lays out its MFI guidelines in this upcoming forum, we’ll likely see a lot more Lightning-enabled accessories come to market, with some hitting shelves in time for the holiday shopping rush. Apple’s extensive dock connector-based gadget ecosystem won’t be easy to replace, but getting the wheels turning on the expanded Lightning MFI program certainly should help.

As if our recent exploration of the Angry Birds universe didn’t convey the franchise’s might, here’s another sign. A Bad Piggies cookbook is available. Actually, the hardcover, real-life version of Angry Birds: Bad Piggies’ Egg Recipes was out for the holiday season last year, long before the Bad Piggies game was ever announced. But now that the game itself is out, Rovio has decided to take the book digital, and so you can now buy the cookbook on the iPad as an interactive app.

For a limited time, the book is debuting at a price of just 99 cents, so grab it quick if you like. Rovio has reached out its Angry Birds claws into yet another merchandising realm — where to next?

Apple finally seems to be ready to show off a new iPad mini to the world, according to invites it sent out to members of the media today. The invitations are likely for the unveiling of a smaller tablet device, set for announcement on October 23 in San Jose at the California Theater at a 10 AM PT event.

The iPad mini is rumored to have a number of different characteristics, including an aluminum design with two color options like the latest iPhone 5, cellular network connectivity, a display that may not provide true Retina resolution in order to keep costs down, and an estimated delivery date of late October or early November. There are also rumors that Apple will introduce a slightly refreshed full-sized iPad at this event, with a Lightning dock connector and slightly improved specs. Price will be the big wildcard here, for the iPad mini especially: estimates range from as low as $249 to around $399 as a starting price for the new tablet.

Earlier today, we also saw rumors that could indicate a variety of model options for the iPad mini, including different wireless connectivity options or display specs. If Apple does go in for a large number of configuration options, this could be one of the most significant divergences from its existing product launch strategies to date.

Here’s about all we do really know about the iPad mini: It’s smaller (probably around 7.85-inches) – and that’s about it. Apple will go into detail about screen resolution, how it will work for developers, battery life and camera capabilities next week, so stay tuned as we bring you the news live. And look out for news about refreshed Macs, too, including possibly a new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and a refreshed iMac design.

We’ve got some new and interesting numbers to share about iOS 6 adoption three weeks after launch, from a couple of different sources, both of which show users continue to update to the new mobile OS from Apple. There are also some interesting differences depending on region, with some countries lagging far behind the U.S. in terms of adoption and some surging far ahead.

First, from Chitika, the news that iOS 6 adoption has climbed to just a hair shy of 68 percent on iPhone devices, based on a snapshot taken October 10 of the traffic coming through millions of ad impressions on Chitika’s network. The iPad is at 51 percent running iOS 6, passing the tipping point of more than half of all users, and the iPod rose to just over 42 percent. Chitika thinks that part of the reason behind the differences might be the overabundance of older devices still in use in the iPod segment that can’t upgrade to iOS 6, whereas all but first-generation iPads are currently compatible, and iPhones enjoy a quicker turnover cycle with consumers thanks to carrier upgrade incentives. Overall, iOS 6 adoption sits at 58.88 percent, according to Chitika’s data.

The numbers from Chartboost paint a slightly different picture. Overall, they see iOS 6 adoption sitting at just under 50 percent. That’s still an improvement from when it showed growth nearly stalling last week, but considerably under Chitika’s picture. But both continue to show an upwards trend.

First, John Pacszkowski reported this morning that an event will be held October 23 at which Apple will reveal its iPad mini, according to “people familiar with the matter.” He notes that it’s unusual to have this on a Tuesday (Apple generally holds these kinds of events on Wednesday during the past few years), but he suggests Microsoft’s impending Surface launch could be a driver.

Information about what we’ll see are slim, but the new report says we’ll probably see the expected 7.85-inch display and Lightning for cable connectivity, plus a slimmer design than on the current iPad. That doesn’t answer any of the big questions around Retina resolution or cost, however.

Pacszkowski has a good track record on his own, but The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple posted one of his famous monosyllabic blog entries shortly following the appearance of the report, with an affirmative “Yep.” Generally speaking, if Jim feels its worth weighing in, then that’s as close to an official confirmation as you’re going to get before the actual press invites go out.

Apps24h Rating:

App store Link: Gun Fighter – Free

A title of a game usually doesn’t give much to what the game is really about. In this case however, Gun Fighter  is basically what the game is. Taking very little from the imagination, Gun Fighter  is at times fun to play, especially with friends. Sadly the lack of diversity in enemies and the unnecessary representation of the character you play will mostly bring you to find little to care about in this game. Gun Fighter  is basically a shooting game that takes very little risks to bringing something that is just simply fun.

Gun Fighter is simple. Throughout the entire game you will simply shoot an enemy cowboy. Sounds fun? Well it kind of is, but then it isn’t. The story is unimportant, which is good because the basic premise is to shoot as quickly as possible. The game does feature a nice level up system that you earn with the more enemy cowboy you kill.

Don’t get me wrong, Gun Fighter is fun at times. However, the entire game is just too simple and requires very little from the gamer, this could be a good thing or not. I expected more, but still found the game decent enough. You will either love it or just find it boring.

Graphic is nice, it’s simple but looks so attractive as well as it interface design. Moreover, Gun Fighter has a  cool design, simple menu. It helps user easy to interactive and so that’s I don’t have any complain about graphics.  Special, I really love sound of it with sign of “PANG” which make player feel as the same sound of pistol in real.

Overall, Gun Fighter is a free-to-play game, so I shouldn’t be too surprised or nonplussed about having my sessions limited. That doesn’t make it less irritating of course. Still, it’s a fun game that’s sectioned off in great little chunks ideal for a quick game or two whenever the opportunity arises.

A brand new iPod touch has ascended from the depths of Apple HQ, and as sure as the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, iFixit has torn the thing apart with heat guns and spudgers. If you kindly recall Apple’s iPhone/iPod/iTunes announcement last month, you know that the fifth-gen iPod touch has quite the spec bump, but unfortunately is more difficult to repair than the fourth generation model.

In fact, it’s more difficult to repair than the iPhone 5, by a lot.

iFixit gave the music player a 3 out of 10 on the repairability scale, compared to the iPhone 5′s shocking 7 out of 10. For a little perspective, the fifth generation model scored one point less than the fourth generation model, which got a 4 out of 10.

Apparently dealing with the battery isn’t all that difficult, which is good news considering battery problems are relatively standard.

But iFixit says that Apple soldered many of the components together. And to top that off, there are no external screws on the device, but rather clips and adhesive. It’s a shame considering the iPod update cycle seems generally longer for most users.

Generally speaking, be careful when handling and try to avoid having to repair it altogether.

In related news, Apple recently launched a new iPod TV ad called Bounce, featuring all three updated iPod products, including the touch, nano, and shuffle. Welcome to a world of color.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is back at it with another survey looking at Apple ownership. As reported by MacRumors, this latest report focuses on US teenagers and asks 7,700 of them about their gadget-buying habits. Not surprisingly, the iPhone and iPad are growing in popularity among consumers in this age group.

The report shows that 40 percent of the teenage respondents currently own an iPhone, up from 34 percent in spring 2012. Of those who are planning to buy a new phone, 62 percent say they plan to buy an iPhone.

A similar increase was noted for tablets, with 44 percent of teenagers in the survey owning a tablet device. Of those with a tablet, a whopping 72 percent have an iPad. This is a trend that will likely continue as 20 percent of those surveyed say they plan to buy a tablet in the next six months. About 74 percent of these tablet buyers will buy an iPad over competing devices such as the Kindle Fire HD and Galaxy Note II.

Apps24h Rating: 

App store Link: Manilla – Free

No matter how hard one tries, making and following a budget is a hassle. You have to save your receipts, record all your purchases, add up your expenses, calculate how much you have left to spend and save or monitor travell rewards & subcriptions. Most of the time, that final number sends you into complete shock, and you wonder how your money goes so quickly.

Well, you’re not the only one who feels this way. About half of adults say they are concerned they have not paid enough attention to managing their finances, and 48 percent are concerned they don’t know enough about financial planning.

But don’t worry. This just means that your traditional methods for adhering to a budget simply don’t work. Now is the time to try a new approach to managing your personal finances, something that takes as little effort on your part as possible. The following Bills & Accounts Manager apps will do all of the this work for you. The app lets you manage your personal accounts. The app can multiple currency support, and charts out your income and expenses. The app can manage multiple accounts and allows you to organize them into groups. The app also features multiple currency support, budgets, manage shared expenses, transferring of money, easy import/export of transactions in a variety of formats

Moreover, account manager & Bill organizer supports more than 3000 providers and is adding more each week, making bill management easier than ever. At Manilla, your security is the No.1 priority. It has top level security and is monitor 24/7 for your protection and does not store passwords or secure information on your iPhone.

Overall, Account manager & Bill is a slick and feature rich finance suite and It will help you management your finance the best!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CpDl2sUSpQI

When Apple first announced the 5th-generation iPod touch, the only timeframe given for shipping was October. And here we are, receiving word that the first orders for the new iPod touch with a four-inch display have already begun shipping.

We heard a few days ago that orders were “preparing to ship,” but according to AppleInsider, those shipments are now on their way.

Estimated delivery times for standard shipping are around next Monday, October 15. Apple has even published the iPod touch 5th generation user guide on iBooks, just in case you’re looking for a little extra info.

In the meantime, if you’re one of the future owners of an iPod touch, and placed your order around the middle of September, chances are your precious is on a plane or boat or some vessel from China on its way to you.

The only concern you should have should be whether or not Apple can keep up with demand. The iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5th gen have the same 4-inch display, and clearly the iPhone 5 is in high demand right now.

Readers who received shipping notifications shared with AppleInsider on Tuesday that their orders for the new iPod touch have now shipped from China and are en route to the U.S. Estimated deliveries for standard shipping are before next Monday, Oct. 15.

One reader who provided detailed information on their shipment revealed that the package has been shipped via FedEx from one of the shipper’s origin facilities in Kunshan, China. That order was placed on Sept. 14.

Hong Kong residents have iPhone 5 fever, and they are buying the smartphone at an astounding rate, according to a report in AppleInsider. This information comes from analyst Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets who is visiting the Asian-Pacific region.

White claims customers have a better chance at winning the actual lottery than getting an iPhone via Apple’s online ordering process. Apple uses a lottery method to select customers who can pick up the phone the next day in the Apple store. All the stores White visited were sold out of the iPhone 5.

The iPhone 5 went on sale in Hong Kong on September 28, a week after its initial September 21 launch. By December, Apple expects to sell the phone in 100 countries and with 240 carriers worldwide.

A long time ago, in an iOS app far, far away….

Back in 2009, an iPhone-exclusive game called Angry Birds arrived and became an instant hit. The game has become a huge franchise, with five sequels generating over 1 billion downloads on a number of platforms. Now Rovio has released a trailer for Angry Birds Star Wars, to be released November 8 on iOS, Android, OS X and Windows.

Angry Birds Star Wars follows on the heels of Bad Piggies, the spin-off game that lets players experience the viewpoint of the much-maligned pigs in the original game. There’s no word yet on the price for the new addition to the Angry Birds universe.

Apple’s iOS 6 adoption got off to a quick start, but now, two weeks on, it looks like it may be evening out. New data from Chartboost today, covering the time between iOS 6′s launch and Wednesday, suggests that user uptake of Apple’s latest mobile OS might be leveling off after an initial rush. It took just five days to reach over 30 percent adoption, and only eight for iOS 6 to become the dominant version, but now there’s been relatively little growth in the past week, with overall adoption staying at 45.3 percent both for both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

As with other data we’ve seen from different sources, Chartboost shows the iPhone out ahead in terms of iOS 6 adoption, with the iPad coming in second and the iPod touch as the laggard in terms of hardware being upgraded. But whereas we’ve seen claims of over 60 percent adoption from Onswipe and Chitika, Chartboost says that’s much lower. Chartboost’s sample pool covers millions of unique devices through its publisher’s apps every hour, however, so its sample size is significant.

A leveling off of iOS 6 installs could be a sign that news of Maps and other problems users aren’t crazy about are spreading, and outweighing the many benefits of upgrading. It could also just be that a drop-off in upgrade pace is natural, as early adopters are all now on board, and additional users will take their time and upgrade at a slower pace. Even without a continued high growth rate, the penetration iOS 6 has achieved to date is already very impressive, and a rarity among mobile software update patterns, regardless of platform.

Plenty of digital ink has been spilled about the iPhone 5 camera’s occasional tendency to capture purple flares (even though it’s not an issue exclusive to Apple’s latest handheld), and Apple released an official response to the issue earlier today. The company’s advice?

“Moving the camera slightly to change the position at which the bright light is entering the lens, or shielding the lens with your hand, should minimize or eliminate the effect.”

The company has already stated that this purple flaring issue is considered “normal” behavior for the iPhone 5, but now there’s a more thorough explanation for the issue. As some have already suspected, it has nothing to do with the iPhone’s new lens or a change in how the camera sensor handles noise. Instead, light entering the camera at an angle can cause a “reflection off the surfaces inside the camera module and onto the camera sensor.”

That said, the quick software fix that some users were hoping for is probably out of the question for the time being. If you’ll recall, Apple has been doling out that particular morsel of advice for at least a few days now. After reaching out to the company for instance, an iPhone 5 user named Matt Van Gastel received an email response recommending that he (what else?) angle the camera away from bright light sources when snapping photos. This new response smacks a bit of Steve Jobs’ recommendation to hold iPhone 4s differently in the wake of 2010′s Antennagate situation, but really — a bit of purple popping up in your photos is nothing compared to sketchy wireless connections.

Apps24h Rating:

App store Link: Milky Way sky map – 0,79 €

The Milky Way is a new, augmented reality stargazing app. It stands out by offering suberb speed of operation, user friendliness and beautiful visual imagery. Just raise the iPhone above your head to see amazingly illustrated 3D constellations displayed right in front of the stars you are pointing at. Move it around, and you will see that Milky Way works completely in realtime, with no delay whatsoever.

The app was built by astronomy enthusiasts, and even though it gained recognition within the community, it is really made for regular people. Anybody who wants to learn a little about what hangs over his head will give this app a lot of credit.

There are a few features worth a mention here. First, any object you tap becomes highlighted and the app will show your relation to it. This way, it is always easy to go back to it, even if you move your phone to the opposite part of the sky. And the other way around – you can pick an object such as Mars planet from the list and the app will help you locate it. It will keep guiding you as you move your phone until you find it. Another interesting feature is integration with Wikipedia. Just tap a star and hit Wikipedia icon to get more information about it. What is important, all these features do not clutter the user interface. You can dig deeper and get to them if you want, or you can just open the app and enjoy watching the beautifully illustrated sky right away.

Milky Way is a great gadget for a late night barbecue with friends and at the same time, it is also a full-featured education tool for your kids. It will also prove itself during a romantic evening. Turn on background, ambient music and impress her with the kind of technology that can definitely be appreciated by women.

Apps24h Rating:

App store Link: Block Struggle Free

Block Struggle is probably the game that comes to mind when you think about match-3 games. The screen is full of squares of  various colors, and your job is to swap adjacent color square to form matching lines of three or more. This makes those squares disappear and new ones fall into their place. If you’re clever, you can engineer combos that give you lots of points and create explosive square.

The Block Struggle comes with a fun and fast-paced multiplayer game where the objective is to connect as many consecutive blocks of the same color as you can in 2 minutes. It is a multiplayer puzzle game simple to play. You can challenge friends and random opponents and play in up to 20 games simultaneously.

The playing field consists of 5×5 blocks of 5 different colors, each block having a certain value. Swipe your finger across the screen to select consecutive blocks of the same color and remove them to add their value to your score. Special blocks are included that double, triple, or even quadruple the value of a given selection of blocks, so use them wisely! When playing against friends, the game ensures that you and your opponent are given the same blocks.

Moreover, this game support online leaderboards and  having  Game Center to connect with friends and see their high scores so that you can compare with all your friend or with who loves to play this game all over the world.

Block Struggle is, as always, a very familiar but always exciting experience. The visuals are spot on, really taking advantage of the retina display, and the various modes give players some good choices so they don’t get burned out.

Carlos Rosillo, the CEO of Bell & Ross, has built and maintained one of the most interesting and recognizable watch brands in the world. His watches – angular, dark, and designed for rough treatment – are an homage to the military watches of the past and he uses very specific materials in very specific ways to build watches that can withstand nearly anything.

In light of Apple’s claims that they’ve borrowed some design elements and technologies from watchmaking – most notably the use of sapphire crystal over the camera, we decided to talk to Rosillo about his assessment of Apple’s design, manufacturing, and tech from a horologist’s perspective.

TC: Apple has focused on using “watchmaking” techniques and materials in this version of the iPhone. Do you agree that they’re watchmaking quality?

Carlos Rosillo: Comparing an iPhone to watchmaking has its limitations. While both are about breakthrough technologies and using state-of-the art materials, the end product is significantly different. An iPhone is a gadget, a mini computer, a communication tool. A watch is a timepiece that no matter how many complications, it is still about telling the time in numerous forms. It is something that adorns the wrist. It embodies craftsmanship, decoration, a tradition dating centuries.

A fine watch is meant to be kept for life, it becomes an heirloom piece. An iPhone really only lasts until the next version comes out. What I can say about watchmaking techniques is that at Bell & Ross, in order to create exceptional timepieces we gather the expertise of master watchmakers, but also designers, engineers and professional users. Conceived to suit the requirements of those professionals, Bell & Ross watches meet four basic principles: legibility, functionality, precision and water-resistance.

TC: B&R focuses quite a bit on the utilitarian. What’s the hardest problem to solve when it comes to durable materials and mechanisms?

CR: Precisely that, that the materials and mechanisms withstand the test of time. That they are of a quality that works today and will continue to function in the future, so they maintain their utilitarian characteristics down the road. As a reference watchmaker for professionals, Bell & Ross works closely with those who experience daily these extreme situations such as exceptional temperatures or dangerous pressures, to provide them with a real ally in their daily mission. Hence the materials and mechanisms Bell & Ross uses are tailored to last even in extreme conditions. That is why, Astronauts, fighter pilots, police and elite law enforcement officer teams are wearing and using Bell & Ross watches as tools for their daily missions.

TC: Is it difficult to create precision parts these days? Has something changed in the past few years that has made it easier?

CR: Being a reference for professional users, precision is one of Bell & Ross’ 4 founding principles. To guarantee precision, our timepieces are assembled and fine-tuned by our master watchmakers in our production facility in Switzerland. State of the art craftsmanship combined to the strictest quality controls at all production stages ensure we meet the toughest professional criteria.

In essence, we are not engaged in a quest for ultimate technology: our creations extend a traditional craftsmanship and their design orchestrates the coherency of the whole. At Bell & Ross the creation and production of sustainable and balanced pieces come first.

TC: What happens if Apple uses up all the sapphire crystal and watchmakers can’t get any? Has that been a problem?

CR: We have not experienced or heard of any problems in sourcing Sapphire crystal.

TC: Do you carry an iPhone?

CR: Yes I do and I also use it daily to access our new Bell & Ross mobile website. This new platform is actually a great example of our avant-garde spirit by offering the best client service and experience in the digital field.

Apple’s iPad mini is now the subject of a bumper crop of fall rumors, and the stakes are getting higher now that the Wall Street Journal has chimed in with a report that production is underway on the smaller-sized tablet, and in fact began in September. Already this week we’ve also seen leaked parts in photographs, too, and news that invites for an event could go out as early as next week. But what does it all mean?

Watching Apple rumors is a lot of guesswork, but it’s also about pattern identification. The same sources tend to crop up with reports, and there’s also a rough timeline that seems to follow in terms of how we get information about upcoming products. Putting the iPad mini talk in that context helps give an idea of what to expect, and when it might arrive.

The Wall Street Journal is a good source, with a track record that’s better than most when it comes to unearthing details about pre-production devices. The newspaper originally reported that Apple’s suppliers would be preparing for a September production start date for iPad mini back in July, and this morning’s news backs that up, with reports that LG Display and AU Optronics started making 7.85-inch displays for the new tablet last month. WSJ has been spot on in the past, for example when it claimed that the next iPhone would be slimmer and use in-cell display tech in July, well ahead of the iPhone’s release. The newspaper also correctly reported that suppliers for the iPhone 5 screen would be LG Display, Sharp and Japan Display in August, and got the screen size right in May.

But despite the WSJ’s impressive track record, the publication didn’t say anything about release timelines in this morning’s report, meaning that we’re still going on other sources for an October/early November launch. The latest of those is iMore, which this morning reported in conjunction with an article on the iPad mini’s production that it’s still on track for October, according to independent sources. That follows Fortune’s Phillip Elmer-Dewitt claiming October 10 as the date invites go out to the press, and a likely October 17 media unveiling. We’ve also separately heard buzz that Apple should indeed stick to this schedule, but none of these sources are quite as rock solid as the WSJ. Still, evidence is mounting for a release within the next month. But does September production agree with that?

Taking as fact the WSJ report that iPhone 5 mass production of displays began in August, and the iPhone 5 became available to consumers in September, it makes sense that mass production would start in September for a wide release in late October. As another example, the original iPad was rumored to have started production in February, and then shipped at the very beginning of April, following roughly the same timeline.

At this point, it also seems quite likely that we’ll see the iPad mini look a lot like the mock-ups that have surfaced, too, which is being used by case manufacturers who aren’t waiting for official confirmation. The recent parts leaks suggest we may see two different-colored versions, too. Unknown variables include screen resolution, which the WSJ report called “lower” than that of the current iPad. That doesn’t necessarily suggest a non-Retina iPad, however, as my colleague Natasha Lomas suggested earlier. Instead, it could just be lower resolution as a result of smaller overall dimensions, but with a pixel density that still exceeds the technical barrier for being called “Retina.” It seems unlikely that Apple will release a non-Retina mobile device at this point, especially with the Kindle Fire HD crossing over into “Retina” pixel density territory.

Of course, it’ll also have Lightning on board, and may even adopt the new A6 processor, though we could also see it take on the A5X from the latest iPad, if Apple wants to save the latest and greatest for a full-sized iPad update in the spring. Pricing is also an issue that’s not really been discussed much. Some have suggested it’ll be around the $349 range, in order to keep it from competing too closely with the iPod touch at $299, but I suspect this may be where Apple keeps its cards closest to the chest, since it could have the biggest potential impact on consumer appetite for the iPad mini.

The European Union’s Commissioner For The Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes told a conference in Brussels on Tuesday that the EU’s member nations should throw their support behind a plan to invest EU funds in 4G network expansion and improvement, in order to provide their citizens with consistent, widespread access to next-gen networks on the latest mobile devices. Apple’s iPhone and iPad both offer only limited connectivity in the EU, where spectrum differences and, in some cases, an absence of 4G networks altogether, force the LTE-capable devices to use 3G connections.

“Where countries don’t make enough spectrum available, quite simply their citizens can’t enjoy 4G connections on the latest gadgets,” Ms. Kroes said, according to the Dow Jones news service. “Without faster 4G roll-out, device makers won’t take Europe into account when planning their latest smartphones.”

Kroes, who has been a vocal supporter of expanding Europe’s next-generation broadband networks in the past, indicated that not only more 4G networks are important, but also those working on the right radio spectrum to ensure device compatibility. That’s something EU member countries seem at least in part eager to make happen, according to our own Natasha Lomas’ report on the European LTE landscape following the iPhone 5′s
release. This morning, the BBC also reports that the U.K. might be pushing for a faster 4G rollout.

The plan Kroes espouses is to take around $64.27 billion out of the EU budget, and use that to invest in projects to expand 4G spectrum reach and availability. Kroes emphasizes that this isn’t a handout, it’s a loan and an investment on the EU’s part designed to be paid back with interest. The plan isn’t popular with everyone; some countries want to go it alone rather than taking money out of EU coffers to fund a widespread approach.

Whatever route EU states end up taking, one things is clear: The iPhone 5 and latest iPad are adding a sense of urgency to Europe’s plans to expand 4G availability.

Apps24h Rating:

App store Link: Find the Way

If you have a few minutes, or few hours to spare, and are looking for something challenging, yet fun, this is a great way to end your boredom.

Find the Way is a fresh and exciting game. It is an experimental game in which you must flow through a space and be on the right path at the right moment in order to get out.

Find the Way is quite simple. Players need to guide “snake” with pentagonal shape across each level. On its exciting journey, it will explore 12 mazes and 4 exotic strange worlds. In each level, players can learn the right patterns progressively and collect secret artifacts hidden, and many levels have strange and surprising boundaries which make this game a unique experience.

Find the way is kind of snake race, but it’s not only race, “Snake” is a race to find the finish line. Along the way through each level, Along the way through each maze, players can collect blue orbs to add time to the clock while dodging red orbs that drain time away, as long as a player hovers over them. There’s also an artifact to collect on each level. Moreover, player would be enjoyed  in this game with the serene graphics and ambient music.

With game control,  players are easy to use button because it has only one button so Players can choose to play with the Accelerometer Tilt sensor or with a Swipe to move around. It’s convenience for player to control. Try to through all mazes and get highscore to compare with your friend in Leaderboards.

Overall I’m really in love with this game. I find it fun, challenging and entertaining and I’m not getting tired of it too quickly. it’s great for any age, even smaller kids. The concept is pretty easy and it doesn’t take much to get the hang of how to actually play so it makes it great for everyone.

Apple launched the iPhone last week in nine countries and today, the company is rolling out the phone in 22 additional nations. As evidenced in the videos compiled by AppleInsider, the launch was greeted enthusiastically by customers who waited in line to get Apple’s latest smartphone.

In addition to these new markets, the iPhone 5 is also going on sale at several regional carriers including Cellcom, nTelos, Appalachian Wireless, C Spire, GCI and Cricket. This is one of Apple’s most aggressive iPhone launches with the handset going on sale in 31 countries within two weeks of the announcement.

The new markets launching the iPhone on September 28 include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

This crazy game of poker continues between Apple and Google in what has been dubbed by some people as #mapsgate. Today, Apple CEO Tim Cook stepped out and apologized for the poor experience that its 100 million iOS 6 users were experiencing trying to navigate the world using their new offering.

Well played, Mr. Cook.

I don’t mean that sarcastically. The letter that Tim Cook and Apple PR wrote was a bold move, but a necessary one for consumers and shareholders alike. It showed that Apple isn’t afraid to say “hey, we didn’t nail this one.” If you remember, no such declaration was made after Ping’s launch and subsequent failure.

Here’s the deal. For whatever reason, Apple decided to go its own way for maps, and that’s awesome. It’s awesome because it creates competition, which in turn creates better products. However, this is business, and that does mean that there is maneuvering going on behind the scenes. It’s Google’s move now.

We’re all wondering when the native iOS 6 Google Maps app will hit Apple’s App Store, and from Apple’s letter today, it doesn’t sound like the company will stand in Google’s way. Meaning, we’re not going to get into a situation over core functionality conflict. That’s a good sign, and I’m proud of Apple for taking that position.

Google has almost eight years of experience with mapping. Its service is lightyears ahead of anyone else on the planet. It has more data, more information, and more usage than just about anyone else in the game. It’s time to step up to the plate and show the world what you’re made of, Google.

We want a beautiful iOS 6 experience for Google Maps, and nothing less. See, Apple took the piss out of this whole back and forth by taking the blame, admitting that it can get better and being gracious when it comes to competition. Apple suggested alternatives to its Map app today, and that’s pretty amazing.

So, back to Google. Some say the app is waiting for approval. Some say the app is a lifetime away and that Google is “scrambling.” All of that is bullshit, because every move is calculated. Just assume that. Google has let Apple feel pain when it comes to going on its own for maps, and Apple skipped the pain by saying “Hey, our bad.” Genius.

Google now has to go back to the drawing board because the clock is ticking. Now we expect a native Google Maps app, and there’s no reason to wait, like I had previously suggested.

Apple is playing the game, has a killer poker face, and Google has its shot to go all in. Bring it, Google.