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By Leanna Lofte, Friday, Jul 29, 2011 | Tweetcaster Pro has been updated as a universal application for iPhone and iPad. I really like Tweetcaster’s UI. It has a very nice design and makes good use of popups without overusing them. I’ll likely be using Tweetcaster as my primary Twitter app on the iPad. Tweetcaster Pro is available for $4.99. Screenshots after the break. Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look. Read More

We continue our countdown of ten iOS apps which bear a considerable similarity to some of Nintendo’s famous titles, seeing as the company isn’t planning on releasing the real things any time soon!  You can find Part One of the list here, and the final five below: Also known as Star Fox, this shooter was one of the first console titles to make good use of 3D filled polygon graphics.  Star Battalion and Galaxy on Fire 2 are your best bets for something similar on the iPhone, but they don’t quite capture the wonderful simplicity of Star Wing.  Still, they’re both brilliant games on their own, so you won’t regret buying either. Want Donkey Kong? Um… Another Nintendo property which needs no introduction, but desperately needs a presence in the App Store.  The choice is limited here, with Elevators being a rough-looking homage and um, that’s about it.  A clone named iDonkeyKong did appear for a few days back in 2009, but unsurprisingly it disappeared rather quickly. Want Excite Truck? Try Death Rally. There are plenty of racing games for the iPhone and iPad, yet not all that many which have that casual yet exciting feel provided by Excite Truck or its PS3 equivalent Motorstorm.  Death Rally’s a brilliant game and is always being updated with new content, and Reckless Racing is equally as good if you want something without the weapons. Want F-Zero? Try Phaze. Yet another Nintendo property with masses of sequels and alternatives!  Phaze certainly has the look of F-Zero, but hasn’t been updated since 2009!  Although Supersonic doesn’t have the same racing element, the design is reminiscent of F-Zero and speedy reactions are still very much needed.  Alternatively, try Orion Racer. Want Wii Sports? Try Yoo! Sports. Probably the most unlikely Nintendo game to be cloned on the iPhone is Wii Sports, given the way the game is controlled on the console!  But Yoo! Sports has done it, bringing together a variety of sporting mini games, including bowling, archery and tennis; all accompanied by cheerful little characters. Read More

Holy cow, spending Monday fully engrossed in 4th of July festivities, Wednesday snuck up on me by surprise. But really, what surprise is better than a ton of new games being released? Anyway, this week works like all previous weeks on the App Store. Developers can set specific future release dates for their games, and since the App Store is a global market broken up into regions, things are released incrementally. Thanks to New Zealand's proximity to the International Date Line, their App Store gets updated with new releases first. These releases then propagate out to the rest of the world until finally reaching the US App Store at 11:00 PM Eastern. Here's an alphabetical listing of things coming out tonight that has caught our eye. Since there's been some confusion, keep in mind the screenshots come before the game link and description: Block Breaker 3 Unlimited, 99¢ / HD - Forum Thread - I imagine the creation of this game involving a brain storming session where Gameloft just threw every idea everyone shouted for things that could be in a block breaking game onto a whiteboard… Then used that whiteboard as the feature list. There's tons of power-ups, multi-screen levels, boss battles, and so much more. Deathsmiles, $4.99 / Lite - Forum ThreadIf bullet hell bullet curtain games are your cup of tea, there's no finer purveyor of said games on the App Store than Cave. Deathsmiles is of the horizontal variety, and instead of a traditional lives system has a "life point" system where you won't always be penalized by death depending on what you run into. Finger Shoes, 99¢ / HD - Forum Thread - The object of this game seems to be fairly simple, you just walk with your fingers through the game world, tapping on all the star tiles as you go. Flick Golf Extreme HD, $4.99 - Forum Thread - Joining the existing iPhone-specific version of Flick Golf Extreme [$2.99] comes its HD counterpart. We liked the original Flick Golf, and thought the Extreme redo was just as much fun. If you've been holding out for an iPad-specific version, now is your chance. Jules - Unboxing the World, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This game has been available for the iPad for quite some time, and is only now getting re-released on the iPhone. Gameplay is a little on the simple side, and hinges entirely Read More

A smartphone is a great companion for every trip. There are a number of apps that can make your travel easier, whether it’s about finding a place to stay, monuments and historical sights to see, or learning more about the city/place you’re visiting… there’s (usually) an app for that. Here are some apps I’ve found useful in my travels. Please note that I’m linking to iOS apps and that not all of them are available on other platforms. The point is to get the idea which apps to use for what purpose, to better plan and ultimately enjoy your trip. Let’s start with the flight search… Flight search Pretty much every major airline now has its iPhone app. Moreover, some companies support Android and BlackBerry whereas some others are experimenting with newer platforms like Windows Phone 7. If you live near a major airport, you should grab the app of the airline which uses that airport as one of its hubs. Additionally, there are other apps that could be of help such as Kayak and Orbitz. If you’re not using an iOS-based device, you can search for “flights” in the app store you’re using to see what’s available. Accommodation Hotels.com and Expedia Hotels are two apps every frequent traveler with an iPhone should have installed on his or her smartphone. For those feeling adventurous, Hotel Tonight provides last-minute hotel booking in several cities across the U.S. As they recently got a fresh influx of capital, we’re hoping they’ll be expanding to Europe and Asia in the near future. Budget conscious travelers and the backpacking community will appreciate the Hostel Hero app which queries the same-named website, searching for a low-cost place to stay in a number of cities. Again, I would advise non-iPhone owners to search for “hotel” and “hostel” in their respective app stores. Know the place It’s a good practice to learn something about your destination prior to arrival. Luckily there’s an abundance of choice when it comes to “guide apps.” Lonely Planet has quite a few titles in Apple’s App Store, and there are other guides produced by smaller companies, some of which even come with ever-useful offline maps. Moreover, TripAdvisor’s mobile app is available for multiple platforms, showing you what people think about pretty much any point of interest in cities all around the world. Getting around the city Presuming you’ll be visiting a city, you may Read More

Posted 05/09/2011 at 11:01am | by The Mac|Life Staff Ready for your summer holiday? Who isn’t? Researching, planning, and booking can, for many, be as much fun as the actual vacation itself. The anticipation, the build-up of excitement, and no opportunity yet for lost luggage, wet weather, or “gastric difficulty.” Regardless of careful planning, once you get there you may need new things to do, places to see, treasures to find. Turns out your iPhone or iPad can be your best travel companion, getting you into places and out of jams. Follow along and you’ll be well on your way to the best vacation ever. From the practicalities of finding flights and hotels to the vagaries of knowing and adhering to local customs, these apps will ensure you’re fully prepared for the trip before you leave. This travel site has consolidated a ton of information, pulling data from flight, hotel, and car rental sites, to become one of the most effective search tools for travelers you can find. The app brings it all together in a very well-organized package. Aside from simple flight information and status details, you can find hotel rooms and car rental deals. This basic coverage is supplemented by handy travel tools like a quick currency converter and even a packing list to help keep all your travel planning in one handy spot. Oh, and it’s free, which means browsing it during a work lull to daydream about the perfect getaway won’t cost you a penny. If your travel plans are vital to your business—or even if you just take your entertainment flight-planning very seriously—the FlightTrack Pro app will provide everything you need (and probably snippets of data you never knew you wanted). Covering airports around the globe (some 4,000, apparently) it provides real-time updates on weather delays, cancellations, and schedules. Of course, all this data can be pushed to your iPhone if you’re in a meeting and can’t be checking all the time. It’s also most effective to sync with your TripIt online travel itinerary (tripit.com), so that all your details are housed in one place and synced efficiently. Knowing what’s going on with all legs of your travel plans is likely a crucial step for organized vacationers or business travelers, so this app stands out as the best of the flight-tracking bunch. FlightTrack Pro 4.0.2Mobiatamobiata.com$9.99 Passport? Check. iPhone? Check. Downloaded offline apps, music, and videos for Read More

iPhone users now have another Twitter app to consider. Developed by Handmark, TweetCaster offers a free ad-supported version and a non-ad $4.99 professional version. Designed for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users, the app made its debut in the App Store this week following its one-year anniversary in the Android Market. Opening the app initially displays a screen where you can see the top tweets of the day and categories of suggested Tweeters that you may want to follow. From there, logging into your own account brings up the familiar Twitter timeline. The interface is nicely designed. It's colorful but clean, with none of the frills or clumsy dialogue balloons found in other Twitter apps. Tapping the home button on the bottom menu bar displays a timeline of the tweets you follow. Your own tweets are highlighted by a yellowish tint, so you can easily identify them. The menu bar also offers icons to view tweets in which you're mentioned, direct messages, and favorite tweets. Viewing tweets from your timeline works well. Clicking on a URL within a tweet opens up a browser-type window to let you view the content. You can easily respond to, retweet, or e-mail an existing tweet. There's even an option to "zip" or temporarily mute tweets based on a specific person, trend, or keyword, a handy option if you're getting tired of all those tweets about Charlie Sheen. The one limitation I found here is that the app only works in portrait mode, so there's no way to view tweets or their linked content in landscape. Posting a new tweet also works cleanly. I liked the way the app gives you access to your followers and followees to let you send direct messages. You can easily attach a photo, either by snapping a new one or grabbing one from your library. You can also attach a link to any piece of music stored on your device. That link then points to that particular music in iTunes in case your followers want to purchase it. This feature only seems to work for music, because when I tried to link to podcasts, it failed to open the right content in iTunes. TweetCaster can lead you to a variety of useful Twitter features, all from a single window launched from the menu bar. You can view all the tweets that you've retweeted as well as those that your followees Read More

By Carter Dotson on February 23rd, 2011 Handmark have announced the release of a pair of new games: pen-and-paper game OXO, and time/path management game Subway Line. Handmark, publishers and developers of a wide variety of apps for mobile devices, including a bunch for the App Store, have a pair of new games out to add to their massive library of apps under their name. OXO Extreme: Best Tic Tac Toe is an adaptation of a pen and paper game, where you and another person draw Xs and Os on a piece of paper. That’s what I call misdirection, as I’m not talking about tic-tac-toe, instead you’re trying to create as many O-X-O combinations as you can on an 8 by 8 grid. You may think that O has the advantage here, as X-O-X means nothing, but O has to be careful not to place Os in positions where X can take advantage of Os laying around the board. The game kind of plays like Go in the turn-based nature, though you can’t surround more than one X with Os. The game comes in both an ad-supported free version and a paid ad-free version for $0.99. $0.99 iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Released: 2011-01-28 :: Category: Games FREE! iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Released: 2011-01-28 :: Category: Games Their other new release, Subway Line, is developed by veteran iOS developer Fishing Cactus. The game is a take on path and time management games, where you have to switch around train tracks as subways cross the paths. If a train has to wait at a crossroads, then people get cranky and your general happiness bar drops, and when it drops all the way, then it’s game over. The game comes in both an ad-supported Lite version and a $1.99 paid version. As well, the full version comes with Game Center support for leaderboards. $1.99 iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Released: 2011-01-27 :: Category: Games FREE! iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Released: 2011-01-25 :: Category: Games While both games are continuing the Lite/Paid split, it’s unlikely that the model will disappear any time soon, still. Android users who are somehow reading this article on an iOS site (Android Rundown is that way, folks) and wishing they could play these Read More

If you haven’t looked at your iCal recently, we’re less than a week away from Valentine’s Day. If you haven’t made your dining plans yet, time’s running out. Pull out your iPhone, and let’s look at apps that will help you with your culinary plans. Zagat is one of the best-known sources for finding the best restaurant for any special night. Zagat’s printed guide is what your parents or grandparents used before they had the Internet, and initially I was skeptical of an iPhone app based on such an outdated and analog approach. However, I’m glad I took a look. Zagat to Go ($9.99) is perfect for finding a great place to eat. Restaurants are ranked on a 0-30 scale based on food, decor and service. Each entry includes key data about the restaurant such as price, location and features, and when applicable, the website and a link to OpenTable to make a reservation. In select metro markets such as New York, Paris and San Francisco, the app walks you through a series of questions to find the perfect restaurant based on scenarios such as (using a type of date as an example) first date, “dating,” anniversary or break-up. One downside of Zagat is that there are very few entries for smaller cities. For information junkies looking for crowd-sourced reviews, the Yelp (Free) app is the market leader. Yelp is especially good in smaller and medium-sized cities where apps like Zagat’s don’t have much of a presence. In big cities, Yelp’s information can be simply overwhelming. One of San Francisco’s famous restaurants, The Slanted Door, had over 2000 detailed reviews. Light reading anyone? In my hometown market of Kansas City, with reviews numbering in two- to three-digit range, the app was much more useful. Since it’s free, you’ve got nothing to lose here. Alternatively, UrbanSpoon (Free) and Google Places (Free) aggregate information from multiple sources in order to help you make a balanced choice about where to dine. They give you a general score, then allow you to drill down to detailed reviews from other restaurant sites and even local food blogs. Google Places is location-based, as the name suggests. It’s best for “what’s nearby” rather than as an advanced research tool to find the ideal place to eat. UrbanSpoon has location-based options, but also allows you to browse places not nearby as well as adding additional search criteria such as type Read More

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Nov 6, 2010 | ‘Tis the season to be gifting and with iPhone and iPad being pretty much the perfect travel companions, there will be lots of vacationers to shop for this year. That means not only devices like iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad all wrapped up and ready to go, but all the great apps and accessories that go with them. Do you know someone special who’ll be traveling over the holidays? If so, here’s TiPb helpful holiday gift guide! Don’t need anything for a traveler? Check out the recommendations anyway, something great might still catch your eye. If not, no worries, we’ll have plenty more holiday gifts guides coming your way this month! iPhones and iPads are great… dropping them in the sand or surf really, truly isn’t. That’s why we never go near the beach or poolside without a waterproof case. Both the Overboard and the Aquapac have a lot to recommend them. Aquapac’s design makes it a little easier to see through but Overboard has just turned it up a notch with a new model complete with waterproof headphones. Hot tub. Ready. If we’re not so much swimming as hiking, we want something a little more secure and for that we like the Golla Bag. Tons of styles, tons more functionality. Nothing harshens our vacation mellow more than overcast skies and rainy days, so we use Weather Channel Max or AccuWeather.com to keep as up-to-date and informed as possible about the climate. Both are US-centric, however, so if you’re traveling outside the states, the quality and quantity of information declines. If there’s a golf course nearby, V1 Golf or Golfplan with Paul Azinger can help tune our swings either before travel or between hitting the links. Need a few good books to get us through a hard day’s lounging? We like iTunes or Amazon gift certificates so we can download iTunes movies, TV shows, and iBooks or Amazon Kindle books. iBooks is frankly the better reading experience but Kindle has a much bigger library and works on a wide range of devices, so it comes down style vs. quantity and compatibility. When we’re heading home for the holidays, and that means snow and pine trees, we keep the same waterproof cases we mentioned above handy in case our iPhone or iPad takes a tumble in the snow. And since we don’t want our Read More

Last month, Handmark released the 3D object manipulation puzzler Blaze: Fire Puzzle for both the iPhone [link] and the iPad [link]. We didn't cover the title at the time, but I've spent a good bit of time with the title this weekend and have had a pretty good time of it. The first thing you might notice upon seeing our gameplay video or trying your hand at the title is its similarity to Zen Bound. Indeed, the game is basically Zen Bound, but with fire and candles instead of a paint-soaked rope (and classical tunes instead of ambient audioscapes accentuated with plucks of the koto). It's a definite derivative title, but given the ridiculous amount of time I've played the Zen Bounds, it's an interesting variation on what's undisputedly Secret Exit's formula. Blaze takes you through 45 different candle-adorned 3D objects with the objective of lighting every single candle -- and fast. This is done by way of touch controls -- one finger to twist, two fingers to rotate -- just like Zen Bound or, in the case of the iPhone 4, using the integrated gyroscope if you choose. (I recommend not choosing, though -- it's a far inferior method of manipulation as compared to straight-up touch.) You start off with but one of the many candles on your object lit. From there, the goal is to manipulate the object such that all candles become lit, with a gold medal achieved for completing the task in a stated (and short) number of seconds. The physics of fire-lights-what's-above is an interesting twist (ugh...) on the Zen Bound formula. The iPhone version of Blaze utilizes the Retina display for high resolution rendering, while the iPad version takes full advantage of its screen real estate. Both versions feature social networking integration with OpenFeint, Twitter, and Facebook. So, if you're a seasoned Zen Bound veteran, is this game for you? I consider myself a member of that camp and have had a great time with Blaze. If you're all wet behind the ears and have clocked zero time behind either title...and have to choose just one, I would probably urge you towards Zen Bound, as it feels a bit more polished, more refined -- but the enjoyability of both titles is quite similar. Anyone on the fence can try out the limited, free version of the game for both devices:   #12   12-28-2011, 03:03 Read More