All Articles in Apps

Metallica and iPhone apps seem to be pretty popular as of late. First they released Live Metallica and now Tap Tap Revenge Metallica has just been released into the App Store. [$4.99 - iTunes Link] For your money you get the following 10 tracks:

• Enter Sandman
• Sad But True
• King Nothing
• All Nightmare Long
• Some Kind of Monster
• Master of Puppets
• Seek and Destroy
• Fuel
• One
• For Whom the Bell Tolls

This Tap Tap game may seem to be no different than the rest but it the first of the series to include battles over Bluetooth. This Bluetooth battle mode allows players to challenge their friends to a point-by-point battle where they can deploy bombs and other special objects to distract the opposition and come out victorious. Tapulous then added another all new fast-paced Arcade Mode where players are challenged with even more bombs and other objects that make the game that much more difficult.

So if you are a Metallica fan and have $4.99 to spend, we highly recommend checking this one out as you will not be disappointed.

[Thanks to Phil for the tip!]

NASA for iPhone [Free - iTunes link] lets you:

enjoy fast, direct access to accurate, up-to-date space mission content from a wide range of U.S. Space Agency sources – all in one easy-to-use mobile platform. [...] Receive and share dynamic NASA mission updates, out-of-this-world images, and intriguing video links. Follow the path and progress of space exploration in real time while tracking the global orbits of your favorite spacecraft, all in the palm of your hand.

Our buddy Bla1ze from CrackBerry.com also tells us:

NASA Ares I-X set for launch tomorrow morning watch it on tv or iPhone users you can check out the Ares I-X via the NASA iPhone app!

[Thanks Bla1ze!]

Recently, I have been doing some freelance job hunting and I’ve found CraigsMobileList [$0.99 - iTunes link] to be quite helful in sifting through the craigslist search results.

The app also allows you to bookmark searches, post ads, favorite certain results and set filters for your searches. Also, you can keep a recent city search list (helpful if you are looking state-wide results.)

If you’re a “usual” on Craigslist, then this app if for you!

(Card Ninja Forum Review. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Card Ninja – just the name conjures up interesting ideas as to what the iPhone (and iPod touch) game might be. As it turns out, the ideas may not be that far from the truth.

Read the rest of this entry »

TechCrunch is reporting that sales of the iPhone app iFog [$0.99 - iTunes link] have shot up following a T-Mobile commercial for the myTouch (their rebranded Google Android Magic, which in no way is meant to glom any mind share from i(Pod) touch), where Saturday Night Live alum, Dana Carvey demonstrates a similar Android app.

Given Apple’s much vaunted 85,000+ apps, it’s interesting to see that iPhone owners will look to the App Store, rather than competing platforms, even when competitors show off apps. Congrats to the developers for the boom-by-proxy.

Maybe Carvey should have shown off Google Voice?

One of TiPb’s favorite iPhone games, indeed the game that cost some of us fingerprints on our index fingers, StoneLoops! of Jurassica has been pulled from the iTunes App Store following a copyright infringement complaint from Luxor-maker MumboJumbo. According to the developers’ blog Casual Games Harmony:

About 3 weeks ago we have learned that MumboJumbo supplied Apple with a formal complaint and a request to remove StoneLoops! from the AppStore. The reason? Infringing Luxor copyright, confusing customers, stealing Luxor’s look & feel and even stealing their source code! This might sound absurd to anyone who knows both games but apparently Apple decided otherwise as we’ve been requested to prepare a formal response, which we did. We described how ungrounded each claim is and supplied various materials to back our claims.

The developers responded, denying all but one complaint (the word Luxor appeared in the text of a quoted review, which they offered to remove). Apple, it seems, removed StoneLoops of Jurassica anyway. This led to the developer further pondering that:

if Apple stands by its decision this will create a dangerous precedence. If you are a developer and have an application in the AppStore you should quickly request Apple to remove the apps of your competition, before someone else requests to remove you! I don’t believe this can get any more absurd, but this is exactly where this reasoning is getting us.

Copyright and infringement is a messy, litigious business, one which Apple puts itself squarely in the middle of by virtue of acting as sole App Store custodian. How can they determine merit all on their own, and avoid action by either affected party regardless of what they decide?

We love StoneLoops! We want it back immediately, but more than that — we need a better way for these disputes to be handled. Is there one?

[via AppAdvice, thanks Tyler!]

With Star Wars: Trench Wars THQ Wireless is finally giving all of the Star Wars fans what seems to be a quality game based off of the classic films. To us it looks like a nice remake of the classic Star Wars arcade game.

Use the Force to overthrow the evil Galactic Empire as they attempt to destroy the small Rebel base on Yavins jungle moon. As part of the Rebel Alliances Red Squadron you dogfight with TIE Fighters above the Death Stars surface before heading into a trench where you are inundated by cannon fire. Dodge obstacles, and stay out of Darth Vaders sights as he tries to gun you down before you have the chance to fire your proton torpedoes into a thermal exhaust port the size of a womp rat. If successful, a direct hit will cause a chain reaction that destroys the Death Star, thus saving the Rebel base from impending doom.

While no price or exact release date has been given, the game is showing promise. I’ve grown up a fan of the Star Wars films and yes, the last three films were unfortunate but hopefully games like this will make us all feel a little bit better. Maybe?

[Via Touch Arcade]

One of the many, many “great unknowns” of Apple’s iPhone App Store is how the top-grossing list is calculated, specifically whether or not it factors in revenue from in-app purchases. While we could theoretically wait and see if, now that they too can use in-app purchase, a free app makes its way up the list, the folks at Freeverse wanted an answer now. And they think they’ve found it:

Top Grossing Freeverse Apps are Skee-Ball (#17), Flick Fishing (#97), and Top Gun. Now, interestingly, the Top Paid Apps Chart lists Top Gun as #60 and Flick Fishing as #72. How does this happen? The games are priced the same…but Flick Fishing features DLC. This leads us to conclude that the Top Grossing Apps list seems to include In-App Purchases in its calculations.

What if anything does this mean for developers? Will they be able to land on the Top Free and Top Grossing lists at the same time now? And so what if they do?

Interesting times…

[via Daring Fireball]

my6sense [Free - iTunes link] tries to solve one of the biggest problems of the information age — with so much data coming at us so fast, how do we sift through it and find what we need, when we need it? Using what they dub “digital intuition”, my6sense pays attention to the news you read, and then tries to figure out, and present to you, what’s more important.

Transparent on the user end, and displayed in the built-in, full featured RSS reader, my6sense “just works” (we’re guessing using a combination of artificial intelligence algorithms and mythical news pixies). If you give it a try, let us know how well it predicts what you want.

Tap Tap Revenge 3 [$0.99 - iTunes link] is scorching up the charts, and so to thank their fans the fine folks at Tapulous are tripling up on the give-aways.

First, if you’ve already got the app, they want to give you the TTR3 version of #1 hit on iTunes, “Fireflies” by Owl City for FREE for the next 7 days! That’s right, just fire the game up and download away!

Second, for those who haven’t yet upgraded from Tap Tap Revenge 2, buy the game in the next 2 days (through midnight Friday, PST), gets a FREE credit for a premium two-pack bundle (by top artists like Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, Blink 182, Smashing Pumpkins, and more being added every day). To get your free tracks,just email your iTunes receipt or screenshot to freemusic[at]tapulous[dot]com with your Tap Tap Revenge 3 username (and nothing else) in the subject line. Clear?

Third, they’re giving away a chance to win the entire premium catalog of Tap Tap Revenge 3 for FREE (over 100+ sensational songs). Want that chance? Drop a comment below (through midnight Sunday, PST), telling us who you’d most like to challenge on TTR3. Anyone in history, any where, any when. Who do you most want to play off the TTR3 stage and leave begging for music mercy? (Me, I’m claiming Shatner! He tasks me and I will have at him!)

Note: You’ll need a copy of your TTR3 iTunes receipt to claim your winnings, so keep it handy. Also, be sure to leave a valid email address so we can contact you. Now get going!