Daily App Digest – February 15, 2012

five81, a London based startup announces the launch of WorkAround.me, a real-time location-based recruitment app, for casual jobs. WorkAround.me helps local candidates and employers (from individuals to small business to charities) get in touch with each other.

"With the current state of the economy we wondered if small businesses and individuals might prefer to employ local people on a more flexible basis as and when they need someone rather than engaging people on a fixed term contract. With this in mind we created WorkAround.me."said Devang Chouhan, five81’s founder.

WorkAround.me’s unique self-service software allows you to register as a candidate or as an employer. Candidates can create profiles, browse local vacancies, get in touch with employers and receive notifications on new vacancies. Employers can advertise and manage vacancies, view relevant local candidates and get in touch with them – in just minutes.

The app has a very simple and clean interface and all the settings are customisable, including notifications, search radius and search status.

Free/download

Everyone’s favorite brother and sister bunny combo are back, in Max & Ruby: Max’s Mole Mash! Now Watch More TV Interactive Inc. is offering this family friendly app for free on Saturday, February 18th.

Max’s Mole Mash will entertain your child for hours and hours with hilarious game play as they help Max mash moles before Grandma gets home. Tap the screen every time a mole appears and watch as they quickly disappear back into their holes. Mash all the moles before time runs out to win!

This highly addictive app offers plenty of fun filled features including:
* Select from 8 Max & Ruby themed mole mash machines
* Play in Arcade or Puzzle mode
* Enjoy an unlimited number of levels to play and mash
* Unlock a mini version of the racing game, Speedy Max
* Collect 8 Max & Ruby Wallpapers
$1.99/£1.49/download

Quake Escape, a new mobile app game produced by P&D Capital, launched in the iTunes market today. This fun and interactive game is based on the Mayan calendar prophecy that the world will end after 2012. The game takes place in multiple points on the earth during a huge earthquake, where the character must collect supplies and avoid obstacles to survive the apocalypse. Loaded with multiple story lines, clean graphics, and an addictive assortment of ways to gain points and ward off attackers, Quake Escape capitalizes on the Mayan Calendar interest that has taken the world by storm. Developed by App Partners, this game marks the beginning of their foray into mobile applications.

"This game is great for the casual gamer and apocalypse enthusiast alike," said Peter Garcia, President of P&D Capital. "There’s a heightened awareness about the end of the world because of the Mayan Calendar, and we believe that it’s a hot topic which deserves an awesome mobile app game."

Quake Escape has 13 levels taking place in countries such as India, Pacific Ocean, South America, and many more. Each level has unique goals to survive the apocalypse, including collecting backpacks, canteens, and avoiding scorpions and skulls. The character has to collect a certain amount of supplies before the clock runs out.

$0.99/£0.69/download
$1.99/£1.49/download

Swarmbit is the new social proximity network in beta for iPhone and now for  ANDROID too, downloadable for free. It is an application unique in its kind which is based on the sharing of location-aware, temporary files and folders.

The idea of Swarmbit comes from the concept of "swarming", developed by the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, which can be summarized as follows: "swarms disperse and assemble and gather again from one occasion to another, guided by shifting relevancies, attracted by changing and moving targets."

The function of Swarmbit is to connect people who may not know each other but who, by participating in an event, share the same interest at the same time, and who need to interact and share/distribute photos, videos, music, presentations, documents and other files quickly and easily and without limits!

Swarmbit is:
* Location-Based: files and folders shared through Swarmbit are visible only to members of the swarm, i.e. those who are physically located in the same place. It is also not necessary to be "friends" of other users in order to watch, comment, and download files in shared folders.

* Temporary: files and folders shared through Swarmbit are available for a limited period of time. It is for the users themselves to decide on the "expiration date": when there is no person to upload/download files, the application deletes them from the list of available files.

Free/download

YUYAO Software today announced that the next update of PDF Reader Pro, a universal document viewing and editing application for iPhone and iPad, will hit the market around the end of February and incorporate much requested functions by the users. The new version of PDF Reader Pro will feature more powerful file transferring functions, provide support to iCloud and SugarSync, and give an enhanced viewing engine with faster rendering speed. With the significant update, PDF Reader Pro will offer users a richer reading environment and increases users’ working efficiency.

Top ranked in the business category of iTunes App Stores throughout the world, PDF Reader Pro continues to be the most cost-effective mobile PDF solution among competitors. In the next update, PDF Reader Pro will feature iCloud service, a new function that will not only make syncing files easier but also allow users to enjoy stronger backup support and greater storage convenience. The upcoming version of PDF Reader Pro will also support SugarSync, a popular online cloud storage service, to provide users more transferring options. An enhanced viewing engine is another highlight of PDF Reader Pro 2.7. "Users will be amazed by the fast and smooth rendering speed even when they view large PDF files," said Po-Chou Su, CEO of YUYAO Software.

PDF Reader Pro has been recognized as a leading file viewing app for iPhone and iPad. The app was also selected as the Best Business App of App Store Rewind 2011 in Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. "We appreciate the wide support for PDF Reader Pro and care about users’ feedback. That’s why we keep adding functions to the app. We simply want to bring users better reading experiences," remarked Su. YUYAO is committed to deliver a full-featured PDF solution for mobile devices by quickly responding to the market need, as evident in the company’s constant updates for PDF Reader Pro.

$6.99/£4.99/download

ABBYY(R), a leading provider of document recognition, document capture, and linguistic technologies and services, today announced that it has expanded the content available for purchase and use in ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries for iOS with Collins Italian Dictionary (2nd edition), a premium quality dictionary from one of the world’s largest English-language publishers,

Collins Italian Dictionary is the ideal dictionary for learners of Italian. It has been completely revised and updated with thousands of new references to cover all the latest vocabulary, culture notes to broaden users’ knowledge of Italian culture, and web addresses to enable further research.

ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries for iOS is a comprehensive dictionary and translation application for Apple(R) mobile devices. Empowered with the breakthrough OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, it delivers the easiest way to translate unfamiliar words by photographing them with the iPhone’s camera. With the expanded content available for purchase and download, ABBYY Lingvo Dictionaries for iOS provides access to a total of 280 general translation, specialized and explanatory dictionaries for a wide variety of languages.

$0.99/£0.69/download

Cue the spy music. Grab your secret code watch. And download the new elementary app that has kids everywhere learning math – and loving it. Fresh from the makers of the award-winning Tots Education Series comes Operation Math with 105 missions designed to transform mundane math into a global adventure.

From the Pyramids of Egypt to the streets of Paris, players will join the elite agents of Base10 on the global quest to destroy the menacing machines of Dr. Odd, while using their knowledge of math to unlock the doors blocking their escape. With every mission, they’ll have just 60 seconds, to complete their goal and earn the uniforms and watches of an elite master spy while making the world a safer place for math. Designed for ages 5-12, Operation Math features:

* 105 missions based on three different skill levels
* All binomial addition/subtraction equations for numbers 1-20
* All binomial multiplication/division equations for numbers 1-12
* Ability to select missions based on skill and operatives (+,-, +/-, x, ÷, x/÷ and +/-/x/÷)
* Training runs that prep players for active missions
* 30 unlockable watches and uniforms that encourage game play
* Quick reference addition and multiplication tables
* 15 exotic geographic locations
* Animated mission-tracking map
* Professional narration and soundtrack
* Ability to create three named player profiles on same device

$0.99/£0.69/download

Tiktak Games today is pleased to announce a new version of Terapets, the game of pets that are raising in the App Store. Teraland is a fantastic world where humans live together with some monsters called Terapets. In Terapets you can play with a lot of players about the world with your pets in the multiplayer mode. A Thousands of players are downloading this game in this moment.

In Terapets you need to train you team of Terapets for save the world of Sollow the Goddness of sillence. You have a lot of monsters for make your team, but you need to go with caution, because you have more than 300 pets with alot of evolutions for make this. You need to use your brain and your strategy for reach the 30 zones in Teraland.

Features:
* Save hundreds of TERAPETS from darkness playing their unique melody with your OCARINA
* Use one of the 7 OCARINAS to rescue and capture as many TERAPETS as you can
* Create your own fighting MONSTER TEAM with up to 6 Terapets
* Train your monster team to level up characteristics until level 100
* Choose your terapets well among the 13 BASIC TYPES and their combinations to create YOUR OWN STRATEGY
* Learn new attacks to level up. Strength is not always the most important thing, some attacks level up characteristics, put to sleep or freeze.. your oponent
* Make your terapets EVOLVE into new pets to change your (Some Terapets may evolve up to 7 times)
* Use Objects, in and out the battle
* Use the EXPLORE mode to capture wild Terapets and the BATTLE mode to fight against other petleaders and and move forward in the story
* Defeat the GODDESS SOLLOW and save TERALAND from darkness and silence
* if you are able to, capture all the TERAPETS and fill the JOURNAL completely
* Face your friends from all over the world using the MULTIPLAYER MODE

Free/download

Independent software developer, Workhorse Bytes, has released their first app, Fuzzy Cubes 1.0. The game is best described as Tetris meets Rubix cube (with fuzzy creatures and grenades).

Set in an exciting and comical world, Fuzzy Cubes explodes with a new and innovative approach to the puzzle genre. Its core gameplay centers around the basic tasks of shape and color matching. Players begin with a single side of the cube, then strive to achieve a perfect clear (clearing all blocks on a face). In addition to clearing blocks, you must also defuse deadly bomb attacks. The 40 captivating levels are spread over 6 story-driven episodes, each with it’s own unique challenges and jammin’ theme music!

Fuzzy Cubes is the brainchild of real-life Kung Fu Master Des "the Whirlwind" Jackson and one of his Top Disciples, Simon "the Dragon" Chen! One day, while nursing a well earned concussion, Disciple Simon asked his teacher how others could share in the joy of his blissful predicament without risking a coma. Master Des stroked his beard and replied, "Hah-hah-hah-hah…Fuzzy Cubes." And the game was born. For the next year, the two toiled respectively in their own apartments, putting down their swords, in exchange for pencils and laptops. They toiled over 40,000 lines of code, countless renditions of concept art, music, and gameplay mechanics. The results were an addictive game that’s the puzzle equivalent to the Five Finger Death Punch!  Are you fuzzy?

$1.99/£1.49/download

GlasseyStrategy announced upgrades to its StratPad family of iPad apps for business planning and strategy. New features let StratPad users:

* Add a color logo to all reports including the summary business plan
* Email StratFiles to their colleagues and clients who have iPads
* Export financial information to spreadsheets with a month-by-month CSV file

Along with these upgrades all StratPad users can register for free, live, introductory training.

"We have been overwhelmed with the positive response to StratPad since we released it in December 2011," said Alex Glassey, managing partner of GlasseyStrategy. "Our customers have made StratPad the highest-rated strategy and business planning app in the world. Today’s upgrades directly respond to their suggestions for how we could make the apps even better."

StratPad helps small- and medium-sized businesses and their consultants create high-quality summary business plans quickly and easily with a unique step-by-step approach. Users share their strategy with nine high-quality reports including a Project Plan, a Gantt chart and a detailed Agenda. Reports are prepared instantly and can be viewed on their iPad’s screen, printed wirelessly or emailed as high-resolution PDFs.

$9.99/£5.99/download

Ready Made Wonder LLC, is proud to announce the release of muser 1.0, its first productivity app for iOS devices. muser is a beautiful and fun inspiration App for fiction writers. It works like a large deck of cards full of photos and ideas that you shuffle to come up with a story. Every time you shake or swipe your device, muser picks one photograph and 3 idea cards at random. Then it’s up to the writer to think about how they might fit together to make a story. There are 350 photos and 8 categories of idea cards, each with 100 different ideas. There are millions of possible combinations.

The idea for muser came to designer and developer Dan Barrio while he was enrolled in a year long sketch comedy writing program at The Second City Los Angeles Training Center. "During the program, we would use a lot of improv games and techniques to free associate story ideas. I thought it would be fun to have an App that created a similar experience where you had to justify how these random elements might fit together as a story." says Dan Barrio.

The 350 photographs have been selected from 6 different photographers around the world to provide an interesting mix of places, objects and scenarios. The 8 categories of idea cards have 100 different variations each and can be a simple as a single word, a short phrase or the beginning of a line. They are designed to get the writer thinking about character, conflict and plot in surprising and indirect ways.

$2.99/£1.99/download

TourBuddy Systems has launched the Bird Song Alarm Clock, bringing a gorgeous collection of colorful high-fidelity bird songs to users’ pockets. The app, a delight for both birders and everyday users, offers a host of common and exotic bird songs and calls to gently wake users or simply provide daily reminders. Bird Song Alarm Clock contains more than 20 different songs, calls and medleys, including: Robins, Curlews, Finches, Owls, Warblers and many more.

Bird Song Alarm Clock allows users to select their favorite bird songs or to have the app choose a new bird song at random each time an alarm sounds. As with all of TourBuddy Systems alarm clocks, users may create as many alarms as they like, specify weekly recurrences, create custom snooze settings and name alarms for easy editing later on. Users may also sample each bird song before assigning it to an alarm.

Designed for both casual nature lovers and birdwatchers alike, the calming sounds are certain to raise eyebrows, ears and smiles, rather than the buzzes, bleeps and bloops often found in iPhone alarms.

$1.99/£1.49/download

Shacked Software is proud to announce that its Flickpad HD for Facebook and Flickr app has been selected by Apple to be included in it’s "App Store Essentials Camera & Photography" list.

Flickpad HD for Facebook and Flickr, a previous Apple "New and Noteworthy" recipient, allows you to quickly keep up on all the photos your friends and family are posting to Facebook and Flickr. Browse the photos that your friends and family are sharing by date, daily, weekly, and never miss another precious memory again. Flickpad makes viewing and exploring photos an entirely new, fun, and addictive experience.

Flickpad uses the unique multi-touch capabilities of the iPad to make interacting with your photos almost life like. Don’t like a photo? Flick it off the screen and a new one appears. Want to make the photo larger? Just pinch to zoom. Like to check out the entire album? Just double tap a photo. Find an awesome photo to save and look at for later? Just touch the photo with two fingers.

Feature Highlights:
* Integration with Flickr and Facebook, the top two photo platforms on the planet
* Facebook and Twitter photo sharing
* Supports Flickr photo sets, favorites, comments, views, Interestingness, and more
* Supports Facebook albums, album comments, album likes, photo comments, photo likes, and more
* Fast user switching. Share an iPad with someone? No problem, quickly and easily switch between user accounts

$1.99/£1.49/download

Polymash, Inc is excited that one of its iPad apps, Embracing Change has rocketed to a #2 ranking on iTunes in the Top Business Free iPad App Category this week. What’s intriguing, and delightful at the same time, is that Embracing Change stands uniquely apart from other top ten apps in the business category. It’s a content-driven app with a focus on personal development. All the other apps are utilitarian in nature.

The content creator takes users through a world renowned change methodology to embrace change. It’s a coaching and learning app. With video and audio tips throughout the app, the author explains the change methodology and guides users as they go through their nominated changes. Users are coached throughout the process with interactive graphics, slide shows and questions sets. They write up their own strategies and tactics right within the app. The inputs can be cleared and reused for the next change initiative.

What’s exciting about this rise to the top is that it could mean the market is opening up to self-help, self-directed learning apps. After all, the mobile market has not only exploded in size but also in sophistication. Users have higher expectations of apps. Quality apps with good, reusable content are being valued more highly.
Free/download

Whether you’re skiing, cycling, mountaineering, off-roading or simply traveling – the Maps 3D iPhone app is the GPS navigation system for all your outdoor activities. The features are a delight – mountains, valleys and your own route are displayed in 3D from start to finish for a totally new navigation experience! Head developer Moritz Gaupp, previously responsible for the map displays at Navigon, combined precise NASA scans of the Earth’s elevation profile with the topographical maps of OpenStreetMap (OSM) for the first time to bring you this innovative app. The app displays an outdoor route network that is up to 30 percent more extensive than traditional maps – depending on the country. Maps 3D utilizes the best data currently available for outdoor use. You will benefit from the app’s unparalleled terrain display, which shows you a realistic mini-model of the surrounding region. This makes the 3D representation very intuitive to grasp compared to the classic 2D
displays with contour lines (which Maps 3D can also generate, if desired). Skiers will be especially excited that the app shows more than 340 skiing regions around the world with countless slopes and cross-country ski trails.

Maps 3D not only provides orientation, but also helps with planning, plotting and segmenting of trips. When you plan your trip at home, first select the region of your choice at one of three zoom levels and download the data to your iPhone. Next you can download free tracks, trails and routes from trip portals such as EveryTrail or similar websites. With its clear elevation profile graphics, Maps 3D helps you assess how challenging the route will be and lets you maintain a precise overview during the planning phase and when trekking. Maps 3D displays various natural reference points along the way, such as mountains, lakes, rivers and landmarks to make orientation even easier for you. Hikers can plan for intermediate stops, so-called waypoints, which can be imported or created from scratch during the preparation stage. A compass, an altimeter that displays the exact height above sea level for every point on the map, and a line showing the most direct path between current location and
destination further help with orientation. Geocachers will appreciate the option of being guided to a fixed set of coordinates. Users can also send recorded tracks to their friends by email.

The man behind the development of Maps 3D is Moritz Gaupp, a former feature product manager at Garmin/Navigon, where he was responsible for the successful navigation system’s map display until 2011. "We believe that users want solutions for better orientation outside of the car, particularly on their smartphones. This applies especially to all those who enjoy exploring the great outdoors. We want to drive this area forward with our app development centre, movingworld," says Moritz Gaupp, movingworld founder and head developer.

$2.99/£1.99/download

Boolba Labs LLC proudly presents its new platformer "Wizard Runner" for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Guide the running Wizard through the various colorful locations. Unlock the powerful spells and useful upgrades to run faster, jump higher and strike harder!

During gameplay you earn coins that you can spend on special skills and bonuses, e.g. skill which gives your magician the power of teleport from one platform to another. Arcade fans will enjoy leading the Wizard throughout the campaign by fighting ghosts, robots and steam machines In this glorious adventure. Players are provided with a wide variety of power ups that keep their interest in the game on high level. Global leaderboard provided by Openfeint is included. It also lets players and friends compete with each other.

Features:
* HD version for iPad
* Classical RPG elements
* Challenging gameplay
* Skills upgrades
* Endless mode
* Three different locations to play
* Superb state of the art animation, sounds and music
Free/download

Word Trick is an evolution of the crossword tile board game genre that keeps players fixated on their letters as they battle friends for the highest score. Going beyond the restrictions of Triple Letter or Triple Word spaces, players can up their game against seven-letter pros by unlocking Trick Bonuses to double, triple or quadruple a word’s score.
 
"With Word Trick, we wanted to enhance the traditional crossword gameplay experience by providing a socially fun, yet challenging, evolution in the genre," said Doug Hare, founder and CEO of Outplay Entertainment Ltd. "The game’s Trick Tile feature creates a completely unique gameplay challenge, and players are no longer restricted to multiplier score squares on the board — they can score big anywhere."
 
Featuring multiplayer for up to four and the ability to play 21 games at once, Word Trick delivers a social experience and keeps players glued to their mobile devices. The game’s slick chat features, complete history of moves and instant push notifications allow players to never miss their turn and achieve word domination. Word Trick has been a sensation on Facebook since last December.
 
Free/download