Apps

First Strike Game review: start a nuclear war from your iPad

Lory Gil ∙ March 21, 2014

At risk starting a political debate amongst our readers, this past year or so has triggered a fear of nuclear attack that I haven’t really felt since the dying throes of the Cold War in the late 1980s. Ever since I watched Red Dawn (the original) I’ve wondered what a nuclear war would be like.

First Strike Game is a real-time strategy game that lets you act as the government power in charge of a nation that is either determined to overthrow the world, or just wants to protect the country from a nuclear attack…

Watch Jimmy Fallon introducing Billy Joel to iPad beatboxing app Loopy HD

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Jimmy Fallon, the host of NBC's Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, gave Apple's iPad and a beatboxing thirdy-party app called Loopy HD a cool exposure during last night's show. Loopy HD costs eight bucks in the App Store and with it anyone can create music by layering looped recordings of singing, beatboxing or playing an instrument.

Loopy HD is rather sophisticated: it can receive live audio directly from other Audiobus-compatible apps like Apple's free GarageBand and more.

Jimmy and Billy Joel have used the app on air to loop their voices and form a two-man doo-wop group singing 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' by The Tokens in four-part harmony.

The video is a nice reminder that one can create quite remarkable music on the iPad. Even Apple's boss Tim Cook enthused over their "magical" performance...

Tweetbot for Mac gains thumbnail size option and three-finger swiping

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Tapbot's popular Twitter client for iOS and OS X, Tweetbot, has been refreshed on the Mac with a few fixes and two new features.

Version 1.5, now available in the Mac App Store as a free upgrade to existing users, lets you choose the size of inline image thumbnails in your timelines, a feature developers added to the iPhone and iPod touch client earlier this month.

And for those who take advantage of multitouch gestures in OS X, Tweetbot now supports swiping left and right with three fingers to navigate through your timelines without having to manually click on the back button...

Avadon 2: The Corruption HD review – the role-playing adventure continues

Lory Gil ∙ March 21, 2014

Spiderweb Software makes amazing role-playing adventure games that let players follow deep storylines and utilize teams of fighters in order to complete missions and destroy bad guys.

Avadon: The Black Fortress HD first launched in mid-2011, back when companies were not as interested in putting expansive, explorative games on the iPad. Today, there are plenty of team-based RPGs to satisfy my love of the genre, but Avadon holds a special place in my heart.

Two-and-a-half years after the first story made it to the iPad, Spiderweb Software has finally launched its sequel, Avadon 2: The Corruption HD, in the App Store…

Medium launches read-only iPhone app

Cody Lee ∙ March 20, 2014

After somewhat of a brief delay, Medium's app finally landed in the App Store today. It's for the iPhone only, and has a focus on reading and recommending stories. In fact, that's about all it's capable of doing right now, as there's no way to write using the app.

"It’s a simple app because every week, thousands of people come to Medium to write," says Medium's founder Ev Williams in a blog post. "They share their stories, their ideas, their dreams and visions. That’s the hard part. We’re just helping amplify their voices."

Luna Calculator puts a unique twist on a basic calculator app

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

I don’t normally focus too much attention on calculator apps. Some of them can be pretty cool. But for the most part, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. There has to be something special about a calculator app to catch my attention.

Luna Calculator is an app that has something special. In addition to the simple mathematical equations that the average calculator app includes, this one lets you create lists of numbers and save them for future reference…

GarageBand for Mac gains three new Drummers, can now export to MP3 and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 20, 2014

If you're an aspiring musician and a user of Apple's free music-making software for the Mac, you should know there's a new GarageBand update sitting in the Mac App Store.

The free GarageBand version 10.0.2 edition contains multiple enhancements to Accessibility and adds the option to export a song as an MP3 file.

The latter is much welcomed as you were previously required to export songs as QuickTime or some other format and then use iTunes or a similar app to manually convert the digital file into the commonly used MP3 format. There are also some new Drummers, but more on that after the break...

Starbucks 3.0 is out with new iOS 7 design, shake-to-pay and tipping

Cody Lee ∙ March 20, 2014

That big Starbucks app update we told you about last week has arrived in the App Store today. The update, which brings the client to version 3.o, includes the long-awaited redesign for iOS 7 as well as a handful of major new features and improvements.

On the new features side, we have shake-to-pay, which will allow you to bring up your barcode with the flick of a wrist to pay for your Starbucks order. There's also a new digital tipping function that lets you tip your barista, and a new Dashboard view...

Pandora upping monthly ‘One’ fee, dropping annual subscriptions

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

Pandora announced this week that it is going to making some significant changes to its Pandora One subscription service over the next couple of months. Most notably, it's going to be raising the monthly subscription cost and eliminating the annual option.

Citing rising licensing costs, Pandora says that it's raising its 'One' fee from $3.99 per month to $4.99 per month, and taking away the discounted annual plan altogether. The company says that royalty rates it pays to artists have increased 53% since it began...

On-rails shooter Star Horizon now available in the App Store

Cody Lee ∙ March 20, 2014

Great news gamers, that beautiful on-rails space shooter 'Star Horizon' we told you about earlier this month is now available in the App Store. This means you can download it now to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch (running iOS 6 or later) and get to playing.

Star Horizon was developed by Tabasco Interactive, and is powered by the brawny Unity engine. The game follows John, a private in the service of the Federation, in his journey through the cosmos as he rescues friends and battles the enemy in his warship...

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes companion app hits the App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Konami today released the next installment in its popular action-adventure stealth franchise, Metal Gear Solid. The game is officially called Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and available for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

And to go with it, Konami has created a namesake iOS companion app, now available free in the App Store.

Although the iPhone and iPad application connects to the main Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, some modes do not require console connectivity. Jump past the fold for full details...

Checkmark 2 review: this location-based reminder app gets even better

Lory Gil ∙ March 19, 2014

In July of 2012, Christian wrote a very positive article about Checkmark, calling it the app that Reminders should have been. Thanks to location and time-based reminders, the app made it much easier for users to be notified at the right time and place about an upcoming event or task.

Checkmark 2 just launched in the App Store. Not only has the app received a complete iOS 7 redesign, but it also now includes iCloud sync and recurring reminders. Plus, a whole slew of new features make Checkmark 2 the app that Checkmark should have been…