148Apps Main |
- App Reviewers Wanted
- Cannibal Bunnies Review
- Photosynth: An App From Microsoft to Create 360° Panoramas
- Healthycloud Review
- iPhone Location Services Stays On When Turned Off
- Hector: Badge of Carnage Comedically Accosts iPad April 27th
- Zapd Review
- NFL ’11 Asks If You Are Ready For Some Football
- SplitApple Review
- Look Behind The Curtain With The Final Hours of Portal 2
- City of Secrets for iPad Review
- Make Your Own Ringtones on Your iPhone with Ringtone Remix Pro
| Posted: 25 Apr 2011 02:13 PM PDT
That’s where you come in. Who are you? You’re a dedicated lover of the iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad. You eat apps for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and possibly dessert, too. You’re the girl or guy whose friends and family call up when they’re looking for a new app or game for their device of choice. You use the phrase, “There’s an app for that,” twice weekly, if not more. You’re a good writer. You know how to use a semi-colon and an em dash. You capitalize and check tenses with the best of them. You know how to build an intro paragraph and then build in the details for the big conclusion finish without sounding like a writing template. You have a solid voice in your writing, and a quirky yet generous sense of humor. You can write quickly, and authoritatively, while still having fun. You like to play games on the iOS but also get a kick out of innovative new non-gaming apps. You can commit to a regular written output and you enjoy the challenge of the every once in a while deadline to spark your creative juices. You’re comfortable with using the web to publish your words, and you’ve had some experience using CMS systems in the past. Email isn’t a mystery, and you spend as much time on Twitter and/or Facebook as you do at your day job (hint – there’s a reason for that). Lucky for you, you want to make money at this writing thing, and you want people to read your words. We have both of those things in spades, so never you fear. We also have enough apps and games for you to fill your iOS device with that you may burst with joy. Basically, it’s win/win. If this sounds like you, we want you to come write with us. Send us the following info to help.wanted [at] 148apps [dot] com, and we’ll get right back to you. Because, you know, we care. SEND US THE DEETS:
Thanks for taking the time to read all the way through, but really, shouldn’t you be sending us an email right about now? [ App Reviewers Wanted is a post from 148Apps ] |
| Posted: 25 Apr 2011 11:04 AM PDT  Cannibal Bunnies ReviewBy Timothy Smith on April 25th, 2011Our Rating:    :: TASTY ENOUGHiPad Only App - Designed for the iPad If you love little bunnies now is your chance to save a few from becoming dinner, or if you’re a little more sadistic you can sit back and watch them get cannibalized.
Developer: Creative Drops Studios Price: $2.99 Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Each level starts from a zoomed out perspective, so that you have a little time to strategize. Once you’ve decided where your best moves are you can tap the screen to zoom in and the bunnies start going about their business. You have to grab the bunnies by tapping them and then drag them to one of several hanging cages. It sounds simple enough right? Well to spice things up the developers made sure there were all sorts of obstacles and trickery to get in your way. There are several types of bunnies and not all of them are friendly.
The game offers a solid casual experience with enough new twists and turns to keep it interesting during the first play through. The levels all have a similar layout, but they stay fresh due to changes in scenery. I didn’t experience any glitches, but I did get a little annoyed when I accidentally dropped a few bunnies to their deaths by missing the cages. I know it was probably my frantic, nervous play style, but I wouldn’t mind if the cages were a little larger in a future update. Their is a moderate amount of replay-ability in the form of unlockable bonus levels and the precious Cannibal Medals (really fun achievement system), but I couldn’t see myself playing it after unlocking all the goodies. If the game gets continuously updated I could see myself returning to it, but until then I will just say it was fun while it lasted. [ Cannibal Bunnies Review is a post from 148Apps ]  Cannibal BunniesiPad Only App - Designed for the iPad Buy Now: $2.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-01-05 :: Category: Games / Family :: TASTY ENOUGHRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Cannibal Bunnies |
| Photosynth: An App From Microsoft to Create 360° Panoramas Posted: 25 Apr 2011 10:30 AM PDT
The app has a few drawbacks. Your photos need to be taken in consistent lighting conditions, or else the stitching process will make your photos look weird, as different photos might have different exposures. There is an exposure lock in the settings you might want to turn on to help this out. The app occasionally loses your position as you move around, which can create spots where a photo may be randomly mismatched with the rest of the panorama. Finally, it seems difficult to create a photo with straight edges, if not impossible, so you photos will largely be jagged-edge affairs. However, this app still lets you create some unique-looking panoramas that even a standard panoramic photo app can’t match. The irony of this situation is that Photosynth is actually not available on Microsoft’s own Windows Phone 7 yet. The reason apparently has to do with the level of camera access that iOS provides to apps – apparently they can access the camera API in ways that Windows Phone 7 does not yet allow, so the app won’t be on there for the near future. Photosynth is available for free, with support for 3rd generation and up iOS devices, including the iPad 2′s camera, although the app does not run natively in iPad mode yet.  [ Photosynth: An App From Microsoft to Create 360° Panoramas is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: Photosynth |
| Posted: 25 Apr 2011 10:04 AM PDT  Healthycloud ReviewBy Jennifer Allen on April 25th, 2011Our Rating: :: USEFULiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Healthycloud is a fitness and health tracking tool that offers plenty of options
Developer: Healthy Cloud Price: $3.99 Version Reviewed: 1.2 Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4 iPhone Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.92 out of 5 stars Keeping track of your fitness levels is a pretty useful thing to do, especially if you’re like me and have a fairly sedentary lifestyle. While there’s a whole bunch of different apps that you can use individually to check various different things, Healthycloud sets out to provide you with one place for everything possible.
A bit more depth is available in the form of the Nutrition & Exercise tracker which enables you to keep track of what you’ve eaten as well as how much exercise you’ve done that day. You can add the nutritional information manually or you can look up the item in mind. The lists of items are quite heavily weighted to US food types although some restaurant options such as McDonalds are also available in different variations such as Australian or British. You can also keep track of what forms of exercise you’ve conducted and how many calories you’ve burned through doing them. You can keep track of all of the features for up to a year making Healthycloud a pretty useful app if you’re someone who likes to keep an eye on how your body’s doing and what exercise you’ve been partaking in. My only request is that I wish you could email such information to yourself or your physician for further consultation. Keeping everything in one place saves you time as well as the cost of buying numerous other apps. For the fitness and health conscious, this is an extremely useful purchase. [ Healthycloud Review is a post from 148Apps ]  healthycloud - complete health tracking by heal...Buy Now: $3.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-04-25 :: Category: Healthcare & Fitness :: USEFULRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: healthycloud - complete health tracking by heal... |
| iPhone Location Services Stays On When Turned Off Posted: 25 Apr 2011 09:30 AM PDT
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that “Apple Inc.’s iPhone is collecting and storing location information even when location services are turned off” by way of nearby cellphone towers and Wi-Fi hotspots. Although the data “[doesn't] appear to be transmitted back to Apple,” it opens new questions with regards to privacy and technology on Apple’s flagship mobile device. The test device was an iPhone 4 running iOS 4, the latest software released by Apple in June. “Over the span of several hours as the phone was moved [with location services off], it continued to collect location data from new places.” The data comes in the form of GPS co-ordinates and time stamps, but WSJ note “the coordinates were not from the exact locations that the phone traveled, and some of them were several miles away.” Apple has not yet responded for a comment. MacRumors reports that one of its readers mailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs for clarification on the issue, to which Jobs replied: “We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.” Technically speaking, Apple does not collect location services data, but it now appears as if the iPhone does. The data is not encrypted. The issue has sparked controversy on both a national and international level, with Senator Al Franken writing an open letter to Steve Jobs including nine questions related to the matter. Representative Edward Markey has called for a congressional investigation. And Bloomberg reports that South Korea’s communications regulator has opened an investigation into whether Apple is breaking Korean law by storing the data. So what does all this mean? For those who use Location Services constantly, like Google Latitude users or those travelling by way of Maps, it means little. But for those who don’t use Location Services frequently, or have turned the feature off altogether, it puts into question how private the location data really is. On a computer that an iPhone has been synced on, the unencrypted file can be opened. All eyes are on Apple now. [ iPhone Location Services Stays On When Turned Off is a post from 148Apps ] |
| Hector: Badge of Carnage Comedically Accosts iPad April 27th Posted: 25 Apr 2011 09:30 AM PDT
In their upcoming iPad release Hector: Badge of Carnage, players get to know a hard talking, yet lovably bumbling British cop by the name of Hector. Lets just say that when you have the moniker of, "the fat arse of the law," you can bet that some hilarity is bound to ensue. The first installment in this episodic series, entitled We Negotiate with Terrorists, will pit Hector against the vile forces of terrorism, as they target the already crime infested city of Clapper's Wreake. How will he live up to the pressure? Only God knows, but be sure to download the app when it debuts on April 27th, so you can know as well. We will leave you with a brief trailer showing you what Hector has in store for us all, later this week. [ Hector: Badge of Carnage Comedically Accosts iPad April 27th is a post from 148Apps ] |
| Posted: 25 Apr 2011 09:04 AM PDT  Zapd ReviewBy Jennifer Allen on April 25th, 2011Our Rating: :: CONVENIENTiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Zapd offers a simple way of creating your own website in a matter of seconds.
Developer: PressPlane Price: FREE Version Reviewed: 1.1 Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4 iPhone Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.92 out of 5 stars Constructing your own website from scratch is something that can be rather intimidating to many. While you can always set up your own blog via WordPress.com or set up a Flickr account to share your photos, sometimes it’s nice to feel like you’ve got more control over things. Enter Zapd, a free app that aims to help you create your own website in a matter of a couple of minutes.
Once the page has been set up, you can share via Facebook, Twitter or email at the tap of a couple of buttons. These options certainly appear helpful if, for instance, you want to share photos of your newborn baby easily and quickly to a mass of friends and family. The website is provided with its own link and you can easily view it in all browsers without any problems. You’re by no means restricted to just iOS devices here. Zapd is a little simple admittedly and it’d be great to see some more options such as the ones previously mentioned. However for a free app, it still does the job right. The app’s developers state on their App Store page that new features such as extra themes, group sharing and video posting functionality will be added in the future, which certainly makes Zapd one to keep a close eye on. [ Zapd Review is a post from 148Apps ]  ZapdiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: FREE Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-25 :: Category: Lifestyle :: CONVENIENTRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Zapd |
| NFL ’11 Asks If You Are Ready For Some Football Posted: 25 Apr 2011 08:30 AM PDT
Their first step in reinforcing this positive outlooks is the most recent update to the official NFL iPad app, which adds in tons of new draft centric features, all bent on distracting you from any current personnel conflicts. Some of these new tools include:
Included in this already free application is the full schedule for the upcoming 2011 season, pending they get started on time, as well individual news tickers for each team. This will allow you to pick and chose the coverage that you would like to receive, so that you can maximize your time spent in front of the iPad. It should also be mentioned that this is the kind of software that is constantly evolving to be meet the needs of the hardcore fans. So rest assured that if you could ever want something from this kind of application you can bet that it will be coming eventually. For that reason alone, it should be a permanent fixture on every iPad. Be sure to give it a download so you can watch every game of the upcoming season in style.  [ NFL ’11 Asks If You Are Ready For Some Football is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: NFL '11 for iPad |
| Posted: 25 Apr 2011 08:04 AM PDT  SplitApple ReviewBy Phillip Levin on April 25th, 2011Our Rating: :: REQUIRES SKILLiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad An archery game that allows players to develop true skills.
Developer: MKO Games Price: $1.99 Version Reviewed: 1.1 Device Reviewed On: iPhone Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
Your first impression of SplitApple will probably be that it’s not particularly difficult to play – at least at first. Even if you’ve never played the game before, you can fairly easily pick it up, play around with it and enjoy yourself. However, the game is well designed in the sense that it’s easy to play but quite difficult to master. The game definitely takes skill to play really well. This is because there’s more to the game than simply aiming your bow and firing your arrows. In addition to having good aim, you must also deal with other factors, such as wind and distance. What’s more, distance plays a key role in landing successful shots because you’ll have to aim higher than further you are away from the target. It takes practice to develop your skill at SplitApple. Your main goal here is to hit the bullseye, but the game rewards you for playing daringly. If you can manage to shoot down any of the apples in the tree hanging overhead — and thereby perform a “SplitApple” — you’ll score big, earning an extra reward.
SplitApple is one of those games that may not feature a lot of modes and extras, but that is okay. The meat and potatoes of the game is its archery system, which is designed well enough that there’s room for true skill to develop. For anyone who feels intrigued by what’s been described here, then do check it out. It’s only $1.99 and it’s a well-designed game for iOS. [ SplitApple Review is a post from 148Apps ]  SplitAppleBuy Now: $1.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-04-22 :: Category: Games :: REQUIRES SKILLRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: SplitApple |
| Look Behind The Curtain With The Final Hours of Portal 2 Posted: 25 Apr 2011 07:30 AM PDT
 [ Look Behind The Curtain With The Final Hours of Portal 2 is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: The Final Hours of Portal 2 |
| City of Secrets for iPad Review Posted: 25 Apr 2011 07:04 AM PDT  City of Secrets for iPad ReviewBy Chris Kirby on April 25th, 2011Our Rating: iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad Looking to re-experience that classic LucasArts point-and-click style adventure? There are pieces of it here, but the whole is less than the sum of the parts.
Developer: Aidem Media Price: $0.99 Version Reviewed: 1.1 Device Reviewed On: iPad Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
For those unfamiliar with the main characters, as I was, apparently Rex the Dog and Mr. Moles have been featured in various games throughout the years in Europe. They share some similarities with “Wallace and Gromit,” including an unusual, European-style sense of humor, but where Wallace and Gromit have crossover appeal to American audiences, I’m not sure the same can be said for Rex and Mr. Moles.
So if you’re looking for an inexpensive point-and-click adventure, you could certainly do worse than City of Secrets. It’s pretty to look at, and the puzzles are so-so (some are patently obvious; others require the fortunately-included help system to EVER figure out). Just don’t expect too much out of it. There may yet be room in America for Rex the Dog and Mr. Moles, but City of Secret wasn’t the best way to introduce them. [ City of Secrets for iPad Review is a post from 148Apps ]  City of SecretsiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $0.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-27 :: Category: Games / Adventure :: Read Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: City of Secrets |
| Make Your Own Ringtones on Your iPhone with Ringtone Remix Pro Posted: 25 Apr 2011 06:04 AM PDT
The app lets you take tracks from your iPod music collection and then convert them into a ringtone file, allowing you to use that file as either a ringtone or alarm clock sound effect. With the waveform editor, you can easily choose where your ringtone begins and ends or you can use the Magic Tone Maker feature to automatically select just the part of the track that has audio, ignoring any silent parts of the track. Thankfully, the app goes for only a dollar on the iTunes App Store, so head on over and check it out now.  Ringtone Remix Pro (with Dropbox support)iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $0.99 Released: 2010-12-23 :: Category: Music [ Make Your Own Ringtones on Your iPhone with Ringtone Remix Pro is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: Ringtone Remix Pro (with Dropbox support) |
I’m sure most of you are pretty tired of fluffy little bunnies by now, but if Easter hasn’t worn down your resolve for something obnoxiously cute (yet slightly disturbing) then prepare to dive into a world where bunnies eat their own kind and only you can save them. Cannibal Bunnies by Creative Drops Studios is a lemmings-esque action puzzle game that tasks you with locking little rabbits in hanging cages for their own protection. Their are tons of levels spread out over three worlds (plus a bonus holiday package), the graphics are adorable, and the soundtrack is so peppy it will make you sick.
The little pink bunnies are harmless enough, but they need extra attention because they will walk right off of cliffs if you don’t scoop them up quick enough, and they will eat any carrots they come across. If they eat a good carrot they bulk up and you can’t life them, and if they eat a bad carrot they get some vomit inducing food poisoning. If you put a sick bunny in one of your cages it becomes a useless quarantine zone. The purple and red bunnies are a little more devious because they have a strong appetite for their own kind. They will snack on any harmless pink bunnies that get in their way. You can lock the purple bunnies up if your quick enough, but the red bunnies are too strong to move. The red bunnies also have access to some strange weaponry (canons, boulders, etc.) that will definitely hinder your progress. By saving a specific number of bunnies each level you can unlock new levels and eventually new worlds.
Microsoft may have a competing smartphone OS, but that isn’t stopping them from releasing apps for their competition. Their latest iOS app is Photosynth, an app that allows you to take 360 degree, three-dimensional panoramic photos with your iOS device. You launch the app, tap to take a starting picture, then move around to take pictures to add to the panorama, trying to line up the center dot with the dashed lines to add new photos to the panorama, adding new photos until you feel that it’s complete. When you’re finished, the app saves a 2D version of it to your Camera Roll. This process is invisible and automatic, though – you won’t even know that it’s saved there unless you check, as even App Store reviews complain that there’s no way to save photos to your Camera Roll from the app, despite the automatic saving. You can also share to Bing Maps, Facebook, and Photosynth.net.
It’s a tracking app basically, one that you use to enter fitness and nutritional information into on a regular basis. The graphing functionality then enables you to track your performance and see how you’re doing with achieving your goals. In all, there are 10 trackers within the app. There’s the typical tracking tools such as a calorie counter, weight tracker and water tracker, then there’s the more specialist ones such as blood sugar levels, cholesterol, asthma, blood levels and temperature trackers. Each of them are simple to set up, simply entering the relevant figures as and when you have them. 
Location Services is a necessary component of iOS, used to determine your location for applications like Maps and Compass. Without it, these applications would be unable to function to their best ability (for example – the blue ball telling you where you are in Maps). Third-party applications can also make use of Location Services, provided you offer your consent by tapping “OK” when a request message pops up. It can be turned “off” by tapping Settings > General > Location Services. But does it really turn off?
There just isn’t enough humor in law enforcement these days. Everyone is too focused on being the next Jack Bauer, instead of the next Carl Winslow. Luckily 
It’s a pretty neat app too. Clearly designed to be simple to figure out, once you’ve signed up, it’s a simple matter of choosing a template to work from. There’s a wide range of different templates ranging from quite generic themes to suit anything to travel based looks, wedding themes and new born announcements too. Once you’ve chosen a template, you can then simply add some text, links and images to the page. Unfortunately, for now at least, you’re restricted to just those three options. You can’t upload video yet, or the date and time of your post. You also can’t accept comments on your images or words either which is a shame. Still, as something that you can use solely to display some images and captions, Zapd certainly does the trick just fine.
Lets face it, for true football fans there really is no such thing as an offseason. Even with the looming threat of at least a lockout shortened season, the National Football League has gone forward full bore into the player combine and draft season. With the draft’s start a mere handful of days away (April 28th, for those of you that have been living under a rock) the league seems intent on reminding all of the fans that there is still plenty to be excited about in the 2011 NFL season.
Watch a live video stream of NFL.com’s Draft coverage, which includes live look-ins to Radio City Music Hall as well as exclusive studio analysis
SplitApple comes from developer MKO Games and lets you take on the role of an archer.
The game features three different modes. In Tournament, you must complete five rounds on an increasingly distant target. In Time Trial, you must get as many points as you can in under a minute. Finally, there’s Practice, which lets you hone your archery skill within the confines of a practice screen. 
This is why I was beyond ecstatic to learn that one of my new favorite games of all time is now the topic of a written documentary spanning Portal 2′s entire development process. Except here is the cool part: it is an interactive iPad application, dedicated to telling the story, behind the story. Here is what you can expect from 
When a quality journalist like Geoff Keighley is behind a literary work of this magnitude, it can’t help but throw a tremendous amount of credibility to the software. I have read several of the features that he used to write like this for GameSpot way back in the day and they were page-turners to say the very least. If you have ever been at least slightly interested in the game development process, this unprecedented look behind the curtain is a must own. Maybe this is finally the excuse I have been looking for to get an iPad…
Just because a game hearkens back to classic point-and-click adventures doesn’t mean it’s an instant classic. Take, for instance, City of Secrets for the iPad. At first glance, it’s an impressive game: colorful, sophisticated graphics, full voice casting and relatively responsive controls. What it’s lacking, however, is substantive. There is an interesting game here, but some may find it lackluster even given the low $0.99 price point.
Perhaps that’s an unfair assessment. There may be some really sophisticated humor at work in the game, but the translation is muddy and the English-speaking narrator and character voices are often equally shaky both with their delivery and with their grammar. Thus, the humor is generally either lost on Americans or thuddingly banal. Bad news in both cases for anyone looking for a good laugh in the game. Guybrush Threepwood these characters are not.
Despite my love for my iPhone, I have to admit that one area it’s kind of weak in is ringtone support. However, with Ringtone Remix Pro, the door is opened, and you’re able to create whatever ringtone you like – and all from the convenience of your iPhone itself. | You are subscribed to email updates from 148Apps - iPhone App Reviews, iPhone Game Reviews, and iPhone News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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