Just when I thought I had played or reviewed just about every puzzle collapse game, I found Collapse! Chaos Free. The game was number two on the free app rankings this week so I gave it a try. At first I was leery of another match the color blocks collapse game and did not expect anything we have not seen many times. To my surprise, this is a fresh and fun version of an old favorite style of game. Details after the break…
Last night, Navigon released another significant update to their MobileNavigator product for iPhone – version 1.5. In this latest update, we get some interesting features including social networking connections to Facebook and Twitter, we get the presentation of multiple routing choices (Navigon calls this MyRoutes), as well as the addition of a 3D terrain display called Panorama 3D View (for an additional fee). I went right out and I bought the 3D update and have been taking a look at it as well as the other new features. So let’s go take a quick look at the new features of…
It’s times like this that are hard to write a lead-in for a review. Anyone who has been interested in handheld gadgets since the days of the original Palm devices are going to recognize the name BugMe! So, it’s hard not to start off by talking about how much I liked BugMe! back in the days when I used a Palm, and how pleased I was when Electric Pocket finally released it for Windows Mobile, and now the iPhone, blah, blah, blah… So, let’s presume that you, the reader, are not someone who has been using handhelds for the past…
We all know how easy it is to purchase applications in the iTunes App. Store. Once you have a credit card on file you simply “click” once or twice and bam! Your new application is automatically downloaded to your iTunes library. Even 99¢ applications add up over time. Apple has made it so easy to spend money in their App Store, that often times I find that I don’t even think about purchases when I’m making them. “Hey, it’s only 99¢, no big deal.” Then my monthly bill comes; I find I clicked on thirty .99¢ apps, and $30 is…
I discovered Zinio’s electronic magazines when I first started using Tablet PCs In the mid-00s. The company has been in existence for 10 years, so I was a fairly early user. I found that despite the Tablet PC’s relatively significant weight, short battery life and tendency to get hot, somethings VERY hot, the experience of using Zinio to read was a pleasant one. The magazines looked good on the relatively high resolution screens. The links in ads and some articles jumped you right to the product’s page. And I often got notice of my Zino downloads a day or two…
This past week I did a review of Documents to Go Premium. I really like that product – it does a wonderful job of working with MS Office documents. But a lot but my main use of it is as a PDF reader – really a secondary function of that program. So when I saw a new stand-alone PDF reader program for only 99 cents I decided I had to take a look so I bought a copy and started playing. So how did it do? Let’s take a look!
The last few weeks have been interesting. We saw the release of a lot of new products during CES earlier this year. One of those products was the version 3.x of Documents to Go Premium from DataVis. Now, quickly on the heels of that, they have release version 3.1 which adds even more improvements including Google Docs support! On a personal note – my own life has been a crazy roller coaster with my day job sending me all over the place and then getting seriously ill, all of it ramping up to this past week where I had to rush…
This week’s Blue Plate is time sensitive, so read quickly and get to downloading. Most of the games featured in the weekly column have been puzzle type games. Cops and Robbers is going to break this streak with a 3D scroller that is sure to provide an entertaining diversion. The game is usually $2.99 but is free for the time being, so if this one looks interesting you better jump on it; I think you will not be disappointed. Details after the break…
Scanner Pro is a powerful iPhone app that “transforms the device into portable scanner”. Just updated to version 2.0, the app adds GoogleDocs integration, camera stabilization, automatic edge detection and passcode protection. It costs $6.99 in the App Store but is a free update to existing users. With Scanner Pro 2.0 comes in handy when a hard copy document should be scanned and there is no scanner nearby. It lets people scan multipage documents, email them and even upload to Dropbox, Evernote, MobileMe iDisk or any other WebDAV enabled server. The application incorporates special algorithms to enhance image quality and…
What does it say when Final Fantasy VII is released on the PSN Store as a downloadable game for the PSP & PS3 for $9.99 and everyone rejoices, yet when the original Final Fantasy comes along for the iPhone for $8.99 and there is a general sense of being over-charged? Perhaps it is the reality that all business models aren’t created equal. I will talk about the business model in a bit, but for now … let’s explore the iPhone release of the original Final Fantasy!
I play a lot of hunt and find type games on my iPhone 3Gs. Many of them look and run the same. You use the pinch and zoom function of the iPhone OS to move around the screen searching for a items in a list. While this can be incredibly fun it can be difficult to find the sometimes tiny items amongst the various screens. StarHunt takes the point and click adventure genre to a whole different level with stunning 3-D graphics, quick rendering and over 1,000 detailed still frame images. You task is to explore a house which contains…
The number of puzzle games in the App Store is staggering. I have played or reviewed a fair amount of them myself. Many of the games are very similar with their own different twist. Once in a while we run across a puzzle game that is unique. Finger Physics Free is one such game. Find out what it is after the break.
As a fan of language learning, I just discovered something very cool. Through today, iPhone and iPod Touch users can download Byki’s Irish language app from the App Store for free! Normally, most of the Byki apps are $7.99, so this is an excellent way to see how Byki approaches vocabulary and phrase learning while putting on a little Irish! I have the Byki apps for a few different languages on my iPhone and computer. The Byki language apps are really good at helping you learn vocabulary and phrases from a wide variety of languages and now, for St….
I came across this picture over at Howard Forums and couldn’t help but laugh at what the person had named his/her iPhone and what happened when it was “syncing” (look at the text at the top-middle 😉 ) Then I thought about it and wondered, how many people even know that the name of their iPhone or iPod can be changed? Or how many of you, in the excitement of setting up your new device simply left the default name in the set up box when you first synced it with iTunes? If you’re tired of seeing your beloved device…
I ordered a 64 GB iPad because I have long subscribed to the belief that you should always order and purchase the device with the largest amount of memory that you can afford. (The only exception to this comes into play when you’re purchasing a new notebook. In that case I believe that you should only order an SSD drive, but still… the largest solid-state drive that you can.) So I ordered a 64 GB iPad. It should be a good amount of space, and will likely hold me for quite some time. Then again, if I end up loading…
The iTunes App Store is filled with GPS applications. Destinator 9 from Intrinsyc is the latest addition to the category. Destinator has been running on a variety of other mobile devices and GPS units for a while now and it’s achieved a large following. The iPhone version of the application brings a rich, featured filled GPS client complete with real time traffic updates, on-board maps, voice guided directions, extended POIs and more. I recently downloaded the free trial of Destinator 9 from the App Store and took it out on the road for a drive. Here are my thoughts.
My addiction to word games is still growing at a dangerous rate. Forming words seems to have become one of my favorite past times! I am not sure if my vocabulary has improved or if my ability to apply spelling rules has improved, but I am improving on a number of word puzzle games. Several weeks ago I reviewed Word Warp Free for the Blue Plate Special. I enjoyed the game and continued playing until I found Word Warp Xtreme which is the sequel to Word Warp Free. Find out what new features are included after the break.
Back in June, Jason took at look at the Poynt application for the Blackberry OS. He called it a “staple” on his Blackberry and one of the best applications available. Well Poynt is back, this time with a release for the iPhone OS. The free application hit the iTunes App Store early last week, and I’ve had some time to play with the all-in-one location based search powerhouse. Has Poynt become a staple on my iPhone like it did on Jason’s Blackberry? Read on to find out.
$6 for an Internet radio application? That’s crazy, right? That’s exactly what I thought when I went to check out the Spark Radio app. I thought the pricing on it was absolutely ridiculous. After all, you can get a host of different Internet radio applications for free. You can use Pandora or Slacker Radio without paying a penny. And the list goes on and on. So why is it that you should spend $6 up front to get this application? It’s actually quite reasonable question. And there is a reasonable answer… I was given a review copy of the application…
Browsers have become a huge part of all of our computing lives. Internet, operating systems, phones, music players all use a browser. It is interesting that most browsing experiences are similar. Other than slight differences or innovations, they really stay the same. The same rings true with the iPod function on the iPhone/Touch. Nothing is wrong with the music browser, but what if you wanted something different or new? Milk Crater takes browsing to the future turning your iPod library into a visual field of cover art. Click through to find out more.
Sometimes applications are big and splashy and exciting. Sometimes they are quite, unassuming, and just do what they do very well. But it’s not often you run into applications that don’t even really present you with a startup splash screen before going into the actual program. Memorize Words for Spanish isn’t flashy, it goes right into the program with out announcing itself via a title screen, and its name isn’t particularly flashy or clever, but it clearly speaks to the thing that this application does – it helps you memorize Spanish words. I’ve looked at a lot of different language applications over the past…