iOS - page 27

Despite being a world where one-third of new iOS games are Flappy Bird clones, it’s impossible to say that the App Store doesn’t serve up some genuinely original game fare from time to time.

The eccentrically titled Floyd’s Worthwhile Endeavor is one such title. Resembling one of Terry Gilliam’s surreal animated openings to Monty Python’s Flying Circus, this is a 2-D platformer, that borrows its inspiration (and its graphics) from the the 19th century photography of photo-pioneer Eadward Muybridge.

Cult of Mac Deals has assembled a wide variety of promotional offers over the years, and this time around we’ve got two that will appeal to anyone who’s trying to learn more, build better-looking apps and workflows, and save money all in one go.

First up is the iPhone App Interface Design For Beginners course, which will teach you how to build better-looking apps. We’ve also got Pixa, an app that will easily organize your images and build a better workflow in the process. You can get the iPhone App Interface Design For Beginners course for only $29 and Pixa for just $9.99 – all thanks to Cult of Mac Deals!

Google released a new update for its Gmail iOS that makes it getting email faster than ever thanks to a new background refresh feature.

The Gmail 3.0 update will now retrieve your mail while the app is not open so you don’t have to keep refreshing to see if your boss finally replied to that important email in the last 5 minutes.

Also included in the update is a new simplified sign-in feature that automatically signs you into all of your Google apps once your login to just one. The free update requires iOS 7.0 or greater and is available now in the App Store.

Here are the release notes:

Watching so much True Detective — among other shows — that you need an iOS app to track what it is that you’ve already seen?

To help with this very quandary, and generally to help you sift through the television trash pile for the hidden gems, TV-tracking app Trak TV Show has just received a major update — adding universal support for optimizing the app for iPad and iPad mini, in addition to iPhone and iPod touch.

The more and more we use our devices daily, the easier it is to become tired of them. In the effort to rejuvenate your experience with your device, changing your wallpaper can make a big difference. From the developers behind the hit app “Pimp Your Screen” is a new app called Wallpapers for iOS 7 that can give you access to tons of great wallpapers right away. Are you ready to love your device again?

Take a look at Wallpapers for iOS 7 By Pimp Your Screen and find out what you think.

This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the iOS application Wallpapers for iOS 7 By Pimp Your Screen brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”

Flappy Bird may be gone from the App Store, but that’s not to say it’s been forgotten.

French urban artist Invader — whose work appropriates the pixelated look of 8-bit video games — just unveiled a giant piece of street art in Paris depicting the iconic pipe-dodging avian itself.

For readers in France, the piece can be checked out at 81 Rue De La Boetie.

Developers Tabasco Interactive have released the trailer to their new game Star Horizon.

A gorgeous on-rails shooter, with a $3.99 asking price and no IAP, Tabasco has submitted the game to Apple, and is hoping to launch it on March 20.

You play as John, a disenfranchised human pilot whose ship is controlled by Ellie, an Artificial Intelligence which is programmed to help pilots stay mentally strong throughout combat and and which cannot kill human beings. After being placed into hibernation for 1,000 years John must discover what has happened to the galaxy and try his best to save it.

One month after being launched, Paper – stories from Facebook has received its first significant update.

The addition allows users to share articles via Facebook Messages, text message, or email, as well as create stories in languages that use multi-stage input, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

There’s also the possibility of turning off sound effects to “enjoy the silence,” alongside a variety of other improvements designed to make Paper more reliable.

Arguably the App Store needs another ninja game like it needs another Flappy Bird clone. So what does the boldly-titled Epic Ninja Game offer that you don’t get from, say, Clumsy Ninja or Ninja Chaos?

Volvo today confirmed that it will be one of the first to support Apple’s new CarPlay platform in its upcoming XC90 SUV, and it has released a new video that demonstrates how the technology will be used on the road to send messages, view maps, and control apps like Spotify.

Did you ever try to write a blog post on your iPad? It’s easy, right? But did you ever try to add an image to that post? It’s a major pain in the ass. Plink is here to fix that. It’s an iOS app that will upload a photo to its own storage cloud, and generate a URL that is automatically copied to your clipboard. All you need to do is switch back to your writing app and paste it in.

And of course this isn’t just for bloggers. Anywhere you need to link an image – forum posts for example – you can use Plink.

Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk has revealed that he’s working on a new skateboarding game for mobile devices.

Hawk made references to the game in two recent interviews: one with Larry King and the other with Bloomberg.

The new light-based physics puzzle game from developers Playmous sure looks interesting!

Called God of Light, the game features 3 different game worlds, and 75 dozens of mind-expanding, puzzle-filled levels. Your mission is to join game mascot, Shiny, to save the universe from impending darkness — which means seeking out game objects that reflect, split, combine, paint, bend and teleport rays of light energy to activate the mythical “Sources of Life.”

If that sounds all a bit confusing, the above video may help shed some light (pun intended!) on what we’re talking about.

Nearly one third of all games released in the App Store in a 24-hour period are Flappy Bird clones.

That’s according to the Guardian newspaper’s Stuart Dredge, who used an RSS feed of the Appshopper site to get his hands on a list of every game released in the 24-hour period, ending 5am on February 27.

Of the 293 new iOS games, he discovered that 95 (just over 32%) were clones of the recently deceased Flappy Bird.

The NBA Game Time app for iPhone and NBA Game Time for iPad have just been updated, adding support for classic games.

As its name suggests, Endless Surf is pretty much an endless runner with a whole lot more water involved. If you’re looking for a true to life surfing sim, complete with realistic board dynamics and the like, you’re going to be disappointed. But if you can look past that, Endless Surf is a giant wave of fun.

While movie streaming applications like Netflix and Hulu Plus remain popular for what they have to offer, Disney has just released their own take on the genre. Disney Movies Anywhere is Disney’s latest application, giving users the ability to access an extensive library of Disney movies on the go. With plenty of great options and features available will Disney Movies Anywhere find its way on your devices.

Take a look at Disney Movies Anywhere and find out what you think.

This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the application “Disney Movies Anywhere” brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”

Popular numerical puzzle game Threes! has received its first ever update, adding several player-requested features.

For those who haven’t played Threes!, it’s a game which challengers players to come up with multiples of 3 by sliding and matching pairs of cards. The object is to gain the highest score possible by combining numbers to first make 3s, then 6s, then putting those together to get 12s, and so on.

It’s surprisingly fun and addictive, and has been met with a number of positive reviews since its release earlier this month.

Anyone who’s done their time babysitting knows the pain of kids wanting to watch the same Disney movie over, and over, and over, all in one day. To make Little Mermaid marathons that much easier/bearable, Disney’s got a new iOS app that lets you watch all your Disney, Pixar and Marvel movies from anywhere without using iTunes.

Internet Radio has some fierce competition. Since the launch of iTunes Radio in 2013, it became much harder to single out one service in particular that reigns supreme. Does the popular US service Pandora still have what it takes to surpass all others? Is Slacker Radio more your personal preference?

Either way, following on from last week’s column where we compared on-demand music services, we have taken it upon ourselves to narrow down the competition, including iTunes Radio, Pandora,  Slacker Radio, iHeartRadio, Last.fm and TuneIn Radio; see the table below. We’ve also done some hands-on testing and in-depth research in order to determine just who has the leading edge and what they offer in terms of functionality, catalog size, features and usability.

2014 isn’t only the thirtieth anniversary of the Macintosh. It’s also the thirtieth anniversary of Infocom’s classic game The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — a title that will likely be fondly remembered by anyone who was gaming in the mid-80s.

To mark the game’s thirtieth birthday, and to coincide with the 36th anniversary of the series’ first radio broadcast, the BBC has announced that on March 8 it will publish a new online version of the game, featuring new high definition graphics, social media support, and smartphone/tablet optimization.

The iOS game controller market is growing at a pretty healthy pace, but there has yet to be a controller that really steals the limelight. We’ve gone hands on with several options, and they all seem to fall into the same boat: a decent upgrade from touch, but not console-level quality.

Demoed at Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona, the Mad Catz C.T.R.L.i might be the new controller to beat.

Released early in 2014, Bloodstroke marks Face/Off director John Woo’s first venture into the world of mobile gaming. A Flappy Bird clone ultraviolent actioner from developers Chillingo, Tiger Hill Entertainment, Moonshark, and Chimera Entertainment (enough names for you?), this has the potential to be the most stylishly bloody iOS game of the year.

Are you tired of running from zombies, but looking for another way to distract yourself from boring yet obviously beneficial exercise?

The Walk–developed jointly by the UK’s National Health Service and Department of Health–has you walking the length of the UK while listening to an original story in which you’ll need to figure out why a bomb exploded in the tube station, evade hostile agents and the police, and discover how a mysterious package you’re given might save the world.

Yahoo has released the first update to its new summarization iOS app, Yahoo News Digest.

Arriving in the App Store last month, Yahoo News Digest is based on the Summly app acquired by Yahoo for $30 million in 2013. It provides a summary of all the important, need-to-know news each day — with digests of news stories (called “atoms”) delivered once in the morning and again in the evening.