Sefirah is an epic story based on a fantasy world with a thousand years of history. Demons have invaded the ancient Yggdrasil empire, and only Aron and Benjamin can form an army of mercenary rebels to defeat the darkness. This role-playing game for iPhone / iPod touch is an engaging portal to a legendary struggle….
The Mummy from Loop Attachment — the creators of the wonderful Loop wristband for the sixth-generation iPod nano — is a premium silicone case for iPhone 5 that aims to provide your handset with all-around protection while preserving its identity.
It’s designed to leave a lot of your handset on show, so you can admire its sleek and sexy form factor, and its Apple logo, while still providing plenty of protection against scratches, scuffs, and drops.
The case boasts an incredibly lightweight design that provides easy access to all your ports, buttons, and switches. Its special feature is that it allows you to slip a credit card into the back of the case so that you can grab a coffee on your way to work without taking your whole wallet.
The Mummy costs $25, and it’s available in a whole range of colors — ten in total.
Raise your hand if you think spelling and grammar are fun. Raise it up. A little higher. Aha, I see you there. And your friend! Both of you, come closer and listen, because I need to tell you about this unique new iOS game where you win points by spotting spelling mistakes.
Lekh Diagram is a clever and potentially useful diagramming app for iPad, “free” on the App Store, but not if you want to make serious use of it.
New on the App Store, and just in time for a Christmas gift to a Beatles fan, is this rather lovely app collating 250 of John Lennon’s letters. It’s been made with affection for the great man, and provides an interesting insight into his mind.
Nyne’s new NB-250 portable speaker is a modern update on the venerable boombox: portable and loud.
But it’s a lot smaller and more discreet than a boombox of old.
The Bluetooth speaker comes in a trendy, unobtrusive black shoulder bag for transporting to park, pool or a party. It not only looks good but sounds nice as well.
In my line of work, I see a lot of plastic-y, rubbery, or other kinds of cheaply-made iPhone cases. So when I saw Crimson’s new iPhone 5 case ($45), looking all svelte and made from the same aluminum they bolt into Boeing planes, I just had to see if it was truly first class, or just another case made for coach.
I’ve been a fan of Wunderlist for a long time. When it comes to task managers, it has just always been one of the best. Today it has been taken to the next level. In version 2, Wunderlist has been redesigned and rebuilt into a native application on all devices. The app is faster with more features, a web version, and a social experience that makes sharing and collaborating on lists feel smooth as butter.
6Wunderkinder, the Berlin-based company behind Wunderlist, recently canned another app called Wunderkit. The collaborative, team-focused backbone of Wunderkit has been infused into Wunderlist 2. Whether you want to get things done by yourself or with the help of others, Wunderlist 2 is an excellent task manager for all of your devices.
I’ll admit it: I loved the BookBook for iPad. Yet less than a week after I’d written the review, the BookBook Case for iPad was already in a bin with all the other iPad cases that I’ve tried (and failed) to love longer term.
Why? The issue is pretty simple. The BookBook for iPad is a wonderfully made case, but at the end of the day, I find myself using needing a case for my iPad that is effortlessly pulled off and re-applied. Ironically, the reason why is because I’m constantly using another TwelveSouth product with my iPad: the HoverBar, a fantastic articulating arm for the iPad that I’ve got attached over my bedboard as a makeshift streaming video and audio console. Ironically, there’s just no way to fit an iPad into the Hoverbar if you’re using a BookBook as your case.
Now that the BookBook for iPad mini is here, though, I think I finally have a BookBook that will stay on my iDevice for more than a week or so. The iPad mini is simply the device the BookBook was made for.
We’re very stingy with our five-star ratings, and it’s even more rare for us to slap all five onto a gadget. So pay attention — because today we’re awarding the full five stars to the Logitech UE Boombox ($250), a portable, battery-equipped, eight-driver Bluetooth speaker that sounds absolutely astounding. In fact, the Boombox does a better job of rocking out than some non-portable, home systems costing much more.
These Scosche Realm RH656 ($130) headphones compete in the same league as with headphones like the Beats (formerly Monster) Solo HD, the Incase Reflex and the Fanny Wang 1000 Series. These ‘phones have a lot in common: they have smallish earcups that sit on the ear, instead of over; they all have track and volume controls (remember though that the volume control won’t work on Android devices); and they’ve all had a dash of fashion added.
But there are some key differences too. And as you’re about to find out, the RH656 does pretty well against its competition.
Back in the 90s, I was in a modern rock band. Yeah, I know, who wasn’t? Anyway, one of the thing we did, as most rock bands do, was to create our own demo tapes and recorded music. We used a variety of hardware to get our music onto tape, and then when I got my first Mac, I started using it to record multitrack demos right in my living room.
The thing about home recordings is that they sound like they’ve been recorded in your home. We wanted a more highly polished, stuiod sound. That’s when we found out about T-rackS, a Mac application that worked like a mini mastering studio, letting us apply various audio processing sets to our mixed down songs, without having to pay someone a lot of money to do the same thing. It made our music sound a LOT more professional.
I lost track of T-rackS software, and I assumed that it had gone the way of System 8, honestly. Then IK Multimedia came up with a revamped T-RackS, ready to purchase and use right now, and I knew I had to try it out.
Every now and then – less often these days – you hear about an app that’s really new, genuinely new. It does something you’ve not seen done before. It’s a whole new idea. Foldify is one those apps: it’s fun for kids and grown-ups alike, it’s reasonably-priced, and above all it smacks of genius.
Three months after the release of iOS 6 and the subsequent PR disaster that was Apple’s renewed (and Google-less) Maps app, Google has got a replacement back into the App Store. It’s slick, speedy and, most importantly, a good deal more accurate than Apple’s data. Thank goodness for that.
The WINGStand, from the guys at BiteMyApple, is another accessory that was born on Kickstarter. It allows you to combine your iPad, iPad mini, and iPhone with your Apple Wireless Keyboard in the simplest way possible — without carrying additional an additional stand, dock, or case.
Simply attach the WINGStand clips to the back of your keyboard — they cling onto its battery compartment — and they form a stand in which you can sit your iOS devices. As you can see from the photograph above, the two almost merge into one to create a pretty little computer that’s perfect for getting things done on the go.
When you’ve finished working, simply pull the WINGStand clips off your keyboard, clip them together, and throw them in your bag.
The WINGStand is available in white and “eco friendly” black and it costs just $15. Is it worth it?
A day after Twitter unveiled its first foray into photo filters, here’s a whole new app from the folks at Flickr. They know a thing or two about photography, and this new version of their iOS app is fantastic. It has filters, but who cares? Flickr is about a helluva lot more than just filter effects.
Twitter might have been a bit previous announcing it ahead of its actual appearance in the App Store, but it’s here now: Twitter for iOS 5.2 is out, and comes with Twitter’s very own Instagrammish photo filters. Are they any good?
Think Tank’s new Airport Commuter camera bag ($199) is something of a paradox: Though it’s the size of a normal backpack, it manages to fit an abnormal amount of glass, gear, a full-size a Macbook Pro, and an iPad.
But could such a compact bag hold so many precious items in harmony? I packed it up, strapped it on, and set out to find out.
We liked Cobook first time round, when it appeared on OS X as a clever little contacts database hidden inside a tiny Menu Bar icon. Now it’s on iPhone, and just as clever as before.
We checked out Olympus‘s gorgeous new M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 60mm f/2.8 “Nature Macro” lens, along with this fall’s additional release to the Japanese company’s excellent PEN series cameras, the PEN E-PM2 ($599). This new PEN compact system digital camera will please both experienced and neophyte photographers alike.
One truly great feature of these PEN series cameras is the highly responsive touch shutter release, which instantly autofocuses on the tapped area of the camera’s high-resolution 3″ LCD screen and captures. It’s amazing, allowing intricate images of even the smallest close-up subjects at lightning-fast speeds.
This is the original Parrot Asteroid Classic car stereo head-unit ($349), and it made quite a splash when it launched last year. The single-DIN, 4×55 watt receiver boasts a formidable array of features: Bluetooth connectivity, powerfully accurate voice recognition for both calls and music, a GPS receiver, a bright, 3.2-inch LED screen and a quiver of apps that run off its customized, upgradeable, early-vintage Android 1.5 OS (all of which require a data connection via a dongle).
Though this model was originally called the the Asteroid (no Classic), the Classic nomen was added to lessen confusion as three new models were announced a few months ago. However, the Asteroid Classic still very much in play; in fact, as this review goes live, the Classic is the only member of the Asteroid family currently available, as its new siblings haven’t shipped yet.
With its Android-based OS, you’d be forgiven if you thought the Asteroid Classic was more friendly to Android phones than the iPhone. In fact, the opposite is true, as I’ll explain later. And while it suffers from something that can probably be described as teething trouble, it’s still a lust-worthy system.
Catcha Catcha Aliens calls itself “a mission-based catching game”, which in English means it’s an infinite runner in the style of Temple Run. With a bit of a twist, some great music, and celebrity voiceovers. What’s not to like?
Macally was one of the first manufacturers to get its iPad mini cases onto the market when the device was launched back in early November, and this one from the guys at MobileFun caught my eye for a number of reasons.
It provides protection for both the front and back of the device, with a hard plastic shell that houses the iPad mini, and a plastic cover that’s lined in soft, suede-like material. The cover also doubles as a stand for typing and watching movies.
The case provides access to your all of your device’s ports and buttons, and includes a cutout for its rear-facing camera. It’s priced at $47 and comes in a range of colors, but is it worth that price tag?
Many don’t know that Twitter didn’t actually invent the word “tweet.” It was a small group of developers at The Iconfactory who thought up the clever moniker when they made Twitterrific, the first real Twitter client. Twitterrific started way back in 2007 as the first Twitter app on the Mac, and the first iPhone version went live when Apple launched the App Store in 2008. Since then, the app has continued to evolve on both iOS and OS X. Twitterrific was the first app to use a bird icon, show a character counter as you tweet, and show replies and conversation threads in-app.
Twitterrific was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the likes of Tweetie and Tweetbot, and the The Iconfactory’s work is a shining example of how third-party devs can enhance a service like Twitter and make the experience better for the user. Without Twitterrific, the Twitter app landscape would probably look very different.
Last week, The Iconfactory announced the upcoming release of Twitterrific 5, a totally new redesign on the iPhone and iPad. I’ve been playing with the new app for the past week, and it has now gone live for everyone in the App Store. After taking it for a test run and speaking with The Iconfactory, I can easily call Twitterrific 5 the best version of the first Twitter app.
Although a bag fancier, there have not been many backpacks in my life that I have cared for. There was a plastic Optimus Prime knapsack when I was six that was pretty boss, and I traveled through over three dozen countries in my early 20s lugging around an 80 pound rucksack, but otherwise, backpacks are the accomplice of unpleasant memories: of inexplicable and unpublished high school rules of coolness dictating the correct number of straps to use in order to silently advertise your relative merit on the cosmic scale of “phat”-ness; of bags torn from my shoulders by laughing cromagnons and tossed into open sewers.
Worse? I think backpacks look dumb on adult men. I know there’s a vocal brotherhood who thinks that any bag on a man looks dumb, but at least I know that a messenger bag or satchel is as much a conscious fashion decision as it is a utilitarian method of hauling around your stuff. A backpack, though, makes even the most slender-of-hip, effortlessly dressed and stubbled metrosexual look as if he were a be-moobed 13 year old gasping and wheezing his way home after school with a backpack overstuffed with text books and X-Men comics. And I should know, because I was that 13 year old.
But backpacks have their purpose, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become a little more enamored with their practicality. They are easier on the back, and easier to lug around while biking. If only they didn’t look so ridiculous.
Enter the HEX Drake Origin, a fashionable backpack with a slim form factor that is none the less big enough to fit a 15-inch MacBook, and even has a dedicated pocket for a 10-inch iPad. This is a backpack I not only like; I’m not embarassed to wear it.