Daily App Digest – July 11, 2011

Interactive entertainment company Ludia Inc. announced today that the free Planet Fish game is now available worldwide for  iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Players launch suction bubbles from their underwater craft to catch exotic marine life in a variety of colorful deep-sea environments, all the while trying to avoid obstacles and dangerous species lurking in the depths. Fish are kept in the player’s personal aquarium which can be customized to their heart’s content with hundreds of beautiful undersea decorations. Snapshots of the spectacular aquarium creations can then be posted to the player’s wall on Facebook® to be admired by friends and family.

 “We’re doubly excited at Ludia to bring our first original game to the App Store, and also to make it a free download so that anyone with an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch can enjoy thrilling fishing adventures and show off their spectacular catches on Facebook,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc.

Free/Download

Light Sleepers Studios, an imaginative new mobile application developer with a focus on e-books, has today announced the recent release of A Leaf In My Hair for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Boasting an engaging story geared towards young readers, A Leaf in My Hair is a beautifully animated storybook app that throws users into the whimsical world of Jarvis the hedgehog. The app’s story follows Jarvis and the wacky games and adventures he embarks on while trying to get a leaf out of his hair. This kid friendly e-book is a guaranteed blast for young ones and features dynamic original animation and optional audio narration as well. A Leaf in My Hair is currently available for download on the Apple App Store for $1.99 in the Books category.

With vividly colorful computer generated animation and automatic narration options in hand, this children’s e-book engages young users with a simple-to-follow story that is at once engrossing and relatable. This leisurely app was developed for kids to be able to use whenever they find some free time, whether it’s during lunch or before bed.

The app stars a clever and cutely designed hedgehog named Jarvis and follows of the day to day adventures he gets into after making a new friend, including his mission to get a stubborn leaf out of his hair once and for all. Recognizing it’s young audience, A Leaf in My Hair utilizes basic easily comprehendible words and audio narration that kids can use if they have trouble reading through certain sections or if they simply want to sit back and enjoy the app’s story more passively.

$1.99/Download here

ALK Technologies today is pleased to announce that its new CoPilot Live Premium GPS navigation apps have been approved by Apple and are available for iPhone and 3G iPads via iTunes. Featuring a new intuitive user interface, personalised routing and integral connection to social content, CoPilot Live Premium guides you everywhere you need to go, via the way that suits you best. Detailed street maps are stored on-board the iPhone or iPad, not downloaded each trip.

The new apps are available at an introductory discount for the first 7 days, with CoPilot Live Premium USA just $9.99. European regional apps are available from 14.99 / Euro14.99.

Highlights in CoPilot Live Premium include:
Personal Routes(TM): CoPilot Live Premium helps you find your best way to any destination with a choice of up to three alternate routes, displaying journey time and mileage for each. Fine-tuning the route is easy: simply drag the route to the preferred street you wish to take or destination to navigate to.

Intuitive User Interface: CoPilot Live Premium puts all the navigation features you need right at your fingertips, when you need them. Simply tap on the map within the app to add it as a destination, access location-specific information, or share it with friends.

Social Navigation: Share your journey details and check ins with in-app Facebook and Twitter updates. Fully integrated Bing(TM) local internet search and Wikipedia make it easy to find all the nearby businesses, services and local attractions you need.

$9.99/Download here

Sigma Game today is pleased to announce Fish Galaxy 1.1 for iOS, and update to their 3D, animated, arcade shooter and medal game set underwater. Expanding on other popular undersea shooters, the game includes: 42 different kinds of animated 3D fish, 6 different environments, points for capturing fish with a bubble gun, 11 different mini-games, 42 collectibles, 2 bosses, a jackpot game, combo shots for extra medals, experience-based levels of play, super shot capability, a built-in tutorial, and Game Center connectivity. Played in portrait orientation, fish are caught by firing a rising bubble, which expands and contracts as it rises. Some fish are too big to be caught in a bubble, but repeated bubble attacks make them susceptible to capture.

The graphics and 3D animation in Fish Galaxy are quite hypnotic, as if looking into an aquarium. Fish movement and coloring are quite realistic, and the developers have even included some just-for-fun creatures like a smiling turtle, goofy frogs, and an acrobatic bass. Eels and tadpoles swim in their distinctive style, and colorful fishes have moving, mouths, tails, and fins, and are able to swim in any direction and even do rolls. Adding to the illusion of a watery environment are gentle currents of sand and water caustics.

In comparison with other underwater shooters, there is a greater emphasis on sharp shooting in Fish Galaxy, where only one fish is caught per shot. Shooting three fish of the same kind in a row confers combination medals, and the mini-games, activated at reaching various scores, also feature one fish/one shot contests. When a bubble does capture a fish, the bubble bursts and the weight of the fish (usually 1 kg) is displayed, and an animated wave carries the number into the score window on the lower right. Each bubble-shot costs one medal.

Free/Download here

Memory Lane Calendar provides a new and enhanced way for users to browse their Apple iOS Calendar. Instead of paging through simple text entries, the app brings the Calendar to life. Whether browsing through past entries or events yet to come, Memory Lane Calendar allows the diarist to add just the right picture and sound to make the day a memorable one.

On launch in either portrait or landscape orientation, the app displays the current date and a scrolling window containing all the entries made into the iOS Calendar for that date. Above is a custom photo, selected by the user from their Photo Library. Swipe the date forward or backward (or touch the left and right arrows) and the photo and Calendar entries change accordingly. Songs, if associated with the dates, automatically play. And the photo, date, and calendar text windows all appear on a single, user definable, background photo or color.

Memory Lane Calendar displays seven navigation photo icons: Games, Today in History, Photo List, Add Event, Choose Date, So Long song, and Information and Settings. Choose Date is the button that allows the user to link any date with the picture and song of their choice. After setting the date on the picker display, the user goes to the Add Annotation screen where they can easily browse through their Photo Albums (Saved Photos, Photo Library, and Camera Roll) and select a photo and optional photo caption. Songs are assigned similarly, and there is a toggle to display that photo every year on the chosen date.

$0.99/Download

Coladia has announced that Destination: Treasure Island Lite for iPhone is now available on the AppStore. Destination: Treasure Island is a Point & Click adventure game, with pristine photo-realistic graphics and environments, inspired by the Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Treasure Island.

With a unique interactive inventory using object combinations and a new system of knot puzzles, users will have to resolve dozens of fascinating enigmas. In a highly coloured varied and exotic environment, they’ll play Jim Hawkins, the hero, to reach the treasure that Long John Silver hide on Emerald Island.

The Story:
Four years have passed since the end of the adventure recounted in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel. Jim Hawkins has become an upstanding adventurous young man, attentive to those around him. Imagine his surprise when, one morning, he sees a parrot enter his bedroom window: none other than Captain Flint, Long John’s own companion. The bird brings him a message from his master. In the message the old pirate announces that he has buried a marvelous treasure on the secret isle where he retired : Emerald Island. Jim is going to have to hurry though. Pirates, old enemies of Long John, are on his trail.

Free/Download

Independent developer James Hollender has released version 2.4 his Vitamin K app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The Vitamin K app allows users to easily find out how much vitamin K there is in over 900 different foods which is critical in helping keep the effectiveness of their blood thinning medications working properly. The new version allows for keeping track of personal Vitamin K intake and the ability to backup and restore the personal information.

If you take blood thinning medications like Coumadin(R) or Warfarin (also known as Jantoven, Marfarin, Lawarin, Waran and Marevan), then this is an app you will truly make use of on a regular basis. Most lists providing information on the content of vitamin K in foods generally contain only a limited number of foods, and often they don’t indicate the serving size. It is important to understand that the goal isn’t to not eat any foods with vitamin K, but rather to keep relatively constant the amount of vitamin K ingested each day so the amount of Coumadin(R) prescribed can work effectively. This can be different for every person using blood thinning medications, and this is why doctors require occasional blood tests as they indicate if the dosage needs to be adjusted.

$1.99/Download

In RabbitDash, the main character is a whimsically animated rabbit who must dash and leap his way forward, to keep ahead of the edge of the ever advancing scrolling screen. The game is inspired by Aesop’s fable, The Turtle and the Hare, and it’s the player’s goal to prove that old yarn wrong. The main character sprints through a variety of changing backgrounds, including ancient Greece and Egypt. To keep ahead of the race and to avoid falling in one of the many pits, he must use every special item and combination move available.

RabbitDash is a high-speed, 3D, action scroller which provides the sort of hypnotic, addictive gaming experience which endless-running genre fans find irresistible. And in addition to being a great addition to the genre in terms of general game design, RabbitDash also offers a plethora of features unique to the game. For more information, check RabbitDash out on iTunes or in the App Store.

$0.99/Download here

Orlando based Djinn Masterminds has announced an ongoing sale on Wild Wild Text, the company’s typing based game for iOS devices. Wild Wild Text challenges players to write designated words faster than the game’s many villains in order to capture them all. Fully integrated with Apple’s Game Center and sporting online leader boards, Wild Wild Text allows gamers duel each other online to see who the top dog is.

Though this fun filled texting game encourages players to compete against friends and other players online via Game Center, Wild Wild Text boasts two entertaining single player modes as well. In wanted mode gamers are tasked with capturing the campaign’s twelve sequentially quicker villains by out-texting them during adrenaline pumping show downs throughout a variety of colorful western themed locations. Meanwhile, shootout mode allows players to see how many villains they can out-type in a row before they’re finally out tested. The game features a diverse array of customization options that give users the chance to make their in-game character uniquely theirs as well.

Though it has great single player modes, Wild Wild Text shines brightest when it comes to its multiplayer capabilities. The game is fully integrated with Apple’s Game Center and includes a multitude of multiplayer achievements for players to achieve and rack up points with. Users a free to battle other players from anywhere in the world via the game’s online-enabled multiplayer mode, and online leaderboards are available allow the whole Wild Wild Text community to compete for ultimate speed typing glory as well. The app includes a bank of 10,000  kid-friendly words which ensures gameplay never gets stale or predictable, while an engaging points system keeps players motivated and hungry for more typing action. As addicting as it is entertaining, Wild Wild Text is a mobile game that the whole family can enjoy, and one that might just help you get better at texting too.

$0.99/Download here

The Star Scales Pro 3.0.0 app shows scale patterns with fingerings for every position on the fretboard, so they can easily be learned by right- and left-handed players. The scale patterns approach shrinks the learning curve and gives the important base for guitar improvisation. The Star Scales Pro 3.0.0 update also supports scale sharing of one pattern of scale as image or all patterns of scale as PDF (by e-mail, or on Facebook, twitter, tumblr, etc.), so everyone can send scale patterns to their friends or teachers can use it to send lessons to their students.

Beginners and pros alike can improve speed accuracy as well as building muscle memory and confidence playing the guitar by choosing one of various scales patterns from blues to rock to jazz. Users are given the option to switch between different fretboard views and playback modes, as well as to create favorite scale patterns and manage their own practice lessons.

Feature Highlights:
* Clustered scales for easy orientation
* Share one pattern of scale as image or all patterns of scale as PDF (by e-mail, or on Facebook, twitter, tumblr, etc.)
* Zoom in/out of fretboard to view pattern
* Rotate fretboard to vertical position in portrait view
* Scale pattern on the whole fretboard in landscape mode
* Random generator to practice scale patterns according to settings
* Find scales with search bar tool

$5.99/Download

The premise of Rat Fishing is quite simple: kill all the rats. Moves are also quite simple: players have a set number of bits of cheese that they can place anywhere at any time. The cheese emanates a tempting smell, whose vapors are visible as they spread only horizontally for a limited distance. Rats, whether in their holes or not, are irresistibly drawn to any cheese in their proximity and eat it as quickly as they can. The premise and moves may be simple; but the solutions to the puzzles are not.

At the easy end of the scale, the player simply puts a piece of cheese down on the sidewalk in such a way that the rat must inadvertently step into a hole on his way to reaching his dinner. At the more difficult end of the scale, players must carefully time the placement of each bit of cheese, anticipating the mechanical chain reaction of flying planks, stones, boxes, sticks, and more set in motion as a side effect of a rat trying to reach it. Each bit of cheese must be placed at the right place and the right time for the complete mechanical puzzle to perfectly function, killing every rat.

The three packs or environments are part of the cartoon narrative involving a cat that must sharpen his skills at killing rats. The characters, environments, and animation are all of high quality, and the relentless logic of the game will intrigue even the most hardened puzzle fans. Also included are in-game achievements, Open Feint and Game Center leaderboards, and game hints available as in-app purchases.

$0.99/Download here

KiwiObjects today announces Task and Cal 1.26, an update to their productivity app for iOS devices. Effortlessly manage your personal or professional tasks for the next days and weeks, in accordance with your iOS calendar. Define your tasks and easily gain access to a global or detailed view of their status along the time by day, by week or by month. Create your own color code and prioritize your tasks as you see fit in order to recognize them in the blink of an eye.

"Task and Cal" is automatically synchronized with your iPhone or iPad calendar and displays the tasks and events it contains. Use the daily, weekly and monthly overviews to have a complete and precise vision of your tasks. Add or modify tasks and events with a single tap. Add daily notes if you wish to comment your schedule.

"Task and Cal" automatically puts back late tasks to the next days (procrastination) and alerts you when the deadline approaches, so you’ll never be surprised by forgotten tasks anymore. Keep a history of performed tasks and easily retrieve them thanks to the featured search engine.

$1.99/Download

CalamitySoft today is very excited to announce its first foray into game development with the release of its first iOS game, Fljott! Available now on the iTunes App Store. Fljott is a vibrant side scrolling platformer with a unique twist: The game is completely controlled by the human voice, adding a fresh layer of immersion to a longstanding and beloved genre. Players will engage in a thrilling, high-speed chase across rooftops to a groovy funk soundtrack while racking up as many combo points as they can. It’s old school fun with new school style.

Fljott features:
* Control the game using only the human voice
* Two playable characters
* Destructible Environmental obstacles
* Original Funky soundtrack
* Smoothly animated sprites which make the characters come alive
* Unique taunting enemy AI
* Touch input for areas with too much noise

$0.99/Download

Tenlin Studios today is pleased to introduce Birds to the Rescue 1.0 for iOS, their new action game that is fun for the whole family. Willy the bird lost Mama’s eggs, now he needs your help to bring them back home. Willy will need to eat a ‘quota’ of seeds in order to pass each level, each of them being progressively more difficult than the last. To add more challenges, later levels introduce different obstacles that will keep players on their toes. Birds to the Rescue’s unique one-touch game play allows it to reach a wide audience of players. Adults and kids alike will quickly grasp how to play the game without much intervention. For first-time players, an in-game tutorial walks the player through the simple game mechanic of touching the screen to open Willy’s beak.

Featured in Apple’s "New and Noteworthy" listings, Birds to the Rescue is not just another bird game in the App Store. Tenlin Studios has created a game that is simple enough for kids of all ages to play, but difficult enough to keep adults entertained for many hours. Birds to the Rescue has a high quality hand-drawn art style that sets it apart from other games in it’s category. Tenlin Studios has left no stone unturned with every aspect of the game. With it’s easy-to-learn game play, fun sounds, and high-quality art style, player’s will find it difficult to put the game down.

$0.99/Download

Corporate Smalltalk Consulting today is pleased to introduce Aeronautical Charts 1.7.4 for iPad, their Navigation app that provides an advanced document viewer that accommodates highly detailed documents at high magnifications. As airlines continue moving toward the paperless cockpit, and iPads are appearing increasingly in pilot flight bags, Aeronautical Charts, with its proprietary LargeViewer technology allowing rapid scrolling and minimal drawing lag times, is becoming a widely used app.

While aeronautical charts can be a small, 60 x 20 cm (24 x 8 in), such documents, when converted to high-resolution TIFFs or PDFs, can become more than 64 megapixels in size. Attempting to manipulate 64,000,000 pixels, ordinary iPad document viewers slow to a crawl or simply crash and scrolling is extremely difficult. Aeronautical Charts has been specifically designed to provide effortless, real-time scrolling both horizontally and vertically, and quick zooms in and out. The app features TIFF, PDF, and Dropbox download compatibility, quick-view thumbnails, multi-tasking support, and iOS and/or OS X pre-rendering.

As reported in the 7/4/11 edition of the New York Times, "Because Apple’s tablet computer weighs less and is more compact than a laptop and its touch screen easier to manipulate, its introduction in 2010 made the move away from paper in the cockpit easier. Switching to the iPad is also expected to reduce health care costs and absenteeism from shoulder and back injuries associated with hoisting heavy flight bags, said David Clark, pilot and manager of the connected aircraft program at American Airlines."

$9.99/Download

EvolutionRGB – Forces of Nature 1.0 for iOS, their artificial life simulation game, where players set up initial biological and physical conditions and then watch as their world evolves by itself. More an activity than a game, the app allows users to employ six different elements plus gravity to create unique worlds. Players will continue to admire and marvel at the beauty of nature at work every time they strategically place elements and let evolution do its work.

$0.99/Download

Saggio Technologies today announces Spanish Flashcards 2.0 – 1,000 Nouns for iOS, their app that uses prioritization to help students learn Spanish. Unlike other flashcards that simply repeat words, the app employs the Leitner cardfile system. It keeps three lists, based on student performance: Unseen (new), Correct (right once), and Mastered (right twice). Each time a new deck is dealt, cards from each group are included in a ratio of 50%-30%-20%. A scoring system tracks the student’s progress.

$5.99/Download

Personal Calculator is one of the most fun and easiest calculator apps to use. You can easily look up previous calculations. It gives you a "live history" feature that is very useful. This area keeps track of your calculations and keeps a history of what you’ve done. When adding copy and paste feature, big easy to read numbers, and percentage calculations this calculator is bound to be a hit!  What makes it even more unique is you can select from one of several built-in themes for the background or choose an image from your photos and make  your calculator more personable. If you want to spruce up your calculator even more, you can purchase theme packs that will give you up to 25 more themes to choose from.

Free/Download

Touch! Safari-Free is a newly launched application designed for young children between the ages of two and six years. Although it costs nothing to download, the app is a valuable educational tool that teaches youngsters in a fun way, about safari animals.

Each screen in Touch! Safari-Free is very colorful, a kid magnet. The characters are adorable Aniballs, which are safari animals shaped like balls to look cute and cuddly. With a finger tap to an animal, a picture card is displayed and a voice tells the child what that animal is called. Little ones see the picture, hear the name and also see it spelled out beneath the picture.

All that is cute and teaches children about what an animal looks like and what it’s called but there’s more to this app than that. In Touch! Safari-Free, children and their parents are taken on a wild adventure with interactive action. Tap the cloud to make it start raining, put a finger on the tree to drop leaves for the giraffes to eat, poke the wildebeests to make them run. There are several elements and animals that kick into animated action by the mere tap of a finger.

Free/Download

Announcing that Tony Lahood , the developer of House-Ball, has released a gaming product for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users. This is a new game launch in the Arcade and Puzzle Game category of the App Store that is addictively fun and charmingly displayed. Players must move Electric Ball through the neighborhoods of seven different worlds and 145 levels to restore power to the homes in each one. Along the way, they are challenged by menacing foe who are capable of causing great harm. Games are auto-saved for reviewing strategies used.
$0.99/download here

BabySteps Motor Milestones is a newly launched product that guides parents to learning about their child’s gross motor skills development and allows them to compare their baby or toddler’s rate of progress to that of the World Health Organization (WHO) motor milestones chart.

Within the BabySteps app, users can very quickly and easily add a child’s name and date of birth. After that, parents can view where a child of that age should be in their motor development levels, directly on the WHO chart. Users merely open the app, tap the child’s name and the table automatically scrolls to the right point on the chart.

This application is a great aid for discovering any potential delays in development, or for realizing perfectly normal or accelerated progress.

These are some of the features offered in BabySteps Motor Milestones:
* Super simple to use
* Approved by the World Health Organization
* Contains the WHO motor milestones chart
* Includes information about six gross motor development milestones
* Check baby’s progress to see what to expect now and in coming weeks

$0.99/Download

Leaping Bytes today is pleased to announce the release of Ruduko, the new game for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Ruduko is a puzzle strategy combination under one roof. Feeling that your logical skills need a little "tune-up"? Or are you in the mood to test your luck, but Las Vegas weather is too hot and Monte Carlo is too far? This is where Ruduko comes to the rescue. Game difficulty gradually increases with each round/level and uncovers new ways to "guess a right move" along the way. Go ahead: stretch your brain and try your luck.

Ruduko is equally interesting for all ages: from kids to adults. It tests players memory by providing subtle hints and challenges logical skills.

Ruduko features:
* Unlimited number of levels
* 6 objects (2 piramids, 2 balls and 2 cubes) are hidden on the 3×3 board
* Shapes around the board provide some clues
* Number of clues decreases with each game level
* Supports Game Center
$0.99/Download here

Mitchell Applications, an independent mobile app developer, today is pleased to announce the launch of their newest app, "The Coupon Magnet" for iPhone. This app features daily deals that can save the user tons of money as well as the ability for the user to submit their own deals that they’ve discovered.

The app also allows the user to look at deals by category such as Online, Restaurants and as well as by stores like Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreens and more. Favorite deals can be shared via Twitter, Facebook and Email. The app also includes a Pharmacy Card courtesy of Honest Discounts for those without Health Insurance that can save people 10-75% off of their prescriptions.

Exclusive to the iPhone version is the ability for users to "like" their favorite deal which saves them for later viewing as well as the ability to create a user profile to comment on posts. Also included in the app is the Daily Groupon deal built in so you don’t need two apps to save.

The Android Version was released first with over 15,000 downloads in its first three weeks of release reaching #82 in the Top Free Lifestyle Category of the Android Marketplace. Mitchell Applications hopes to duplicate this success on the Apple Appstore.
Free/Download

Independent developer Software Prodigy has just released to the App Store "Flip Them All", which is a mind-bending puzzler inspired by the classic "Lights Out" game. Although the rules for the game seem simple enough at first, you quickly become absorbed in its challenging intricacies.

Your objective is to flip a grid of tiles from one color (blue) to another color (orange), and as easy as that sounds the real challenge lies in the fact that each type of tile behaves differently. There is the "Side Switcher" which flips tiles horizontally, the "Vertical Switcher" which flips tiles vertically (surprise!), and then there are "The Cross" and the "The All-Rounder", and what they do you have to discover on your own!

"Flip Them All" is easy to learn, yet addictive for all ages and features an astounding 150  addicting puzzles, 4 difficulty settings, Game Center Support and Openfeint integration allowing you to compete for the best high-scores, win achievements, and post them on your personal Facebook or Twitter account for everyone to see. "Flip Them All" is fully compatible with all iOS devices, with HD graphics for the Apple iPad(R) and Retina displays.
Free/Download

QWIZZLY has now incorporated exciting additions into their New Medley 1.1, which is now available in the App store. Medley for iPhone offers a creative and entertaining new approach to the classic Anagram Word Puzzles. Medley players are invited to solve the puzzles by flipping tiled letters horizontally. Words are comprised of 5, 6 or 7 letters depending upon the Beginner, Medium, Advanced and Challenge levels. The faster you uncover the words, the more points you gain.

QWIZZLY has now listened to all of the gamer comments, and has incorporated exciting additions into their new Medley 1.1, which is now available in the App store. New In Version 1.1:

* Two different modes – Classic and Puzzle
* Longer Timer
* When time expires, you can still continue to play
* High Score keeper in Puzzle mode

$0.99/Download

Ohio based 5 Hit Combo Entertainment, LLC today introduces Super Bean 1.0, the company’s first game for iOS devices. Super Bean is a casual, fun, mobile game that allows friends to compete to see who can propel their hero the highest into the air to set the self propelled maximum height record. The higher he flies the thinner the air becomes, and eventually gravity will overcome his propulsion. Try to fly higher than friends on Game Center or OpenFeint leaderboards.

$0.99/Download