Daily App Digest – February 29, 2012

Mobile game developer, Fiddly Bits Software, today is proud to announce the release of its Free, Universal,  action-packed, iPod touch/iPhone/ iPad game "Torpedo Away!" to the iTunes App Store. Prowl the waters of the South Pacific during WWII. Engage in unrestricted submarine warfare against the merchant and naval vessels of the enemy. And most importantly, survive to tell the tale!

Stalk, target and destroy your enemy’s ships. Avoid the inevitable, massive depth charge retaliation. "Torpedo Away!" puts you in command of a US Navy Gato class submarine circa 1943, and provides you a target rich environment. The rest is up to you. Just make sure You are not the one who ends up down in Davy Jones’ Locker!

The tense, life or death battles are brought to life through actual historical imagery mined from the United States National Archives. Compete worldwide for highest score through Game Center leaderboards. Win prestigious commendations such as the Bronze Star, Silver Star, Navy Cross, and the illustrious Navy Medal of Honor for your heroism, skill, and daring as a submarine commander. Retina graphics supported. Includes Game Center integration.

Free/download

Independent developer Robert Srahol today is pleased to introduce Costa Concordia In Memory 1.0 for iPad, his multimedia Travel app that relates the dramatic tale of the largest luxury liner ever built in Italy, which struck a rock on Jan. 13, 2012 and forced the evacuation 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew. The app includes text, color diagrams, HD photos, and video to tell the story of the breathtaking opulence and design of the ill-fated ship, and the details of the rescue in which 32 people lost their lives. Costa Concordia In Memory is a historic document, a memoriam to the ship and those who died, and an object lesson in the vulnerability of technology against the forces of nature.

$0.99/£0.69/download

The Tortoise and the Hare: REMATCH! storybook app for iPad and iPhone was released today by award-winning digital publisher See Here Studios LLC. Written and illustrated by Wallace E. Keller, the creator of the best-selling children’s book app "The Wrong Side of the Bed 3D," REMATCH begins with a retelling of the classic fable and adds a hilarious new continuation to the story.

What happens After the Tortoise and the Hare’s famous race? While the Tortoise has become quite famous after winning the race, the Hare is left with a badly bruised ego. Seeking advice from the wise old Owl – "If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again" – Hare realizes what he needs to do…he challenges Tortoise to – a rematch!

The Tortoise and the Hare: REMATCH! incorporates the signature high-quality production elements that made Keller’s first children’s book app, The Wrong Side of the Bed, a top 10 ranking iPad paid book app and a standout digital book according to Kirkus Reviews: "For readers still unconvinced that the features of the iPad can translate printed children’s books into full-blown multimedia experiences, this one will change your point of view."

While maintaining the high standards of story and illustration established by the print industry, The Tortoise and the Hare: REMATCH! storybook app goes far beyond a printed children’s book with animated movie introductions for key book pages, touch animations that show character reactions, a musical score supporting each page of the story and professional narration by the author.

Keller explains, "These additional digital book elements are carefully selected and crafted to enhance rather than distract from the storytelling experience. They reflect our recognition of the educational value of narrative storytelling in children’s books, as well as the company’s commitment to providing a reading-based alternative to games."

$2.99/£1.99/download

Enup Games is pleased to announce the release of Perfect People 1.01, their new life simulation game title for iPhone and iPod touch. Perfect People gives the player the experience of living an entire lifetime in 7 minutes. There’s so much to do in such a short time, that every decision the player makes has an impact on how their life will turn out.

There are twelve levels in the game. Each level presents the player with a new set of goals to achieve. The goals includes things such as making a friend, flirting with someone, buying a home, making money in the stock market, or having a baby. While trying to achieve their goals, the player must make sure to maintain their needs, keep their grades up, and avoid bankruptcy.

The excellent balance between goals and needs, coupled with a short time frame, makes for truly intense gameplay. Imagine being able to play your life over and over to get it just right. That’s what Perfect People is all about.

$0.99/£0.69/download

Mobile smart phones are changing the way we live, socialize and do our businesses. Our phones have replaced many other once-common tools, from GPS devices to handheld gaming consoles, notebooks, calendars, point-and-shoot cameras, newspapers and portable audio players.

At a local technology event in San Jose, Nexscience, a California based startup, announced the release of a new mobile application called ‘Turbo Scanner’ for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. The app is the latest in a series of innovative ideas introduced to the Apple users by the developer community. Click

The new application allows the users to Scan, Print, Download, View and Share files on their iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. It supports Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, PDF, Text and wide variety of sound and image file formats. Users can download files from virtually anywhere: from the internet, from a computer in their wifi network, through a USB cable or from an external file management system like Dropbox or Google Docs.

"Mobile Smart Phones are now capable of doing what we used to do with our desktop computers" said Faisal Faruqi, CTO for Nexscience and an Industry veteran. "With more and more computing power and rich hardware capability in smart phones, the innovation in applications is taking the benefits of mobile technology directly to common users"
$3.99/£2.99/download

The Virtual Frog Dissection app from PunFlay has once again been featured in the "What’s Hot" category on Apple iTunes. Hand-picked by the editors at iTunes to feature on the "What’s Hot" list, the Frog Dissection app was also mentioned last month at the Apple Educational Keynote Presentation in New York.

The Virtual Frog Dissection app is an ethical and educative alternative to real animal dissections. "Thanks to its competitive cost and educational content, the Frog Dissection app has been very popular amongst teachers and students, with several schools adopting the app either as a replacement or as a supplement to lab dissections," said Sesh Kumar, CEO of Emantras.

Available for desktops, laptops, Macs, iPads, netbooks and interactive whiteboards, students can learn all about frogs and their biological functions, without unnecessary loss to animal life.

Other Accolades:
Frog Dissection app has won several awards including the IEAR best science app award, and the Mark Twain’s Ethical Science Award from Peta. The app has also been graded as A  by Wired Educator, who also commented, "Best Science app we have ever reviewed. A perfect match for the iPad. Should be in every Science classroom."

$3.99/£2.99/download

Enterprise developer iber4 today is pleased to announce Porkin Hood 1.2.1 for iOS devices. Porkin Hood in the pure style of Angry Birds, exploits the benefits of the existing physics engines on mobile devices and recreates a little adventure of strategy and precision, with an angry pork as protagonist.

With a very elegant graphical interface and worth seeing scenarios, Porkin Hood is a game to play on your spare time. It does not require continuous gameplay to achieve long-term goals, leading to frequent micro achievements for the joy of the player. This game includes optional integration with:

* OpenFeint
* Game Center
* Facebook

$0.99/£0.69/download

QismaLabs has released ‘Pirate Charge, its first iOS app. Pirate Charge is a free multiplayer race to the treasure. The game can be enjoyed by all ages and has two player and four player modes. It’s fast and furious and only the fastest tappers will reach the treasure first. Get ready to count your loot and let the other Pirates walk the plank as you savor your victory!

When the game starts choose two player or four player mode, select your pirate ship and get close to the screen. Once the race is on you will have to tap like crazy to send your ship racing to the treasure. X marks the spot and only the fastest tapping pirates will win the treasure.

‘Pirate Charge’ works on iPads and iPhones and can be played anywhere with friends. It features great graphics and an addictive soundtrack. Kids will love the engaging graphics and the interactivity of the game play, and adults will love challenging their friends.

QismaLabs, a dubai based game and mobile development laboratory looks forward to bringing more cutting edge games to the iPhones and iPads in the near future, with a focus on great design and usability for all ages.
Free/download

Independent developer, Chris O‚Shea today is pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of Makego 1.01, an update to his fun educational app for iOS devices. Makego turns your iPhone and iPod touch into a toy vehicle. It encourages fun, open ended collaborative play between parent and child. Combining creativity and imagination with the virtual world on screen. Select your vehicle within Makego, then interact with the drivers and their world through animations and sound. This release has 3 vehicles to play with: a race car, ice-cream truck, and river boat:

Race Car:
* Motion activated engine noises & turbo boost selector
* Change the car‚s paint colour
* Working speedometer and petrol gauge
* Refuel the petrol tank when you‚ve raced it dry

Ice-Cream Truck:
* Serve the correct ice-creams to customers
* Collect the money and put it in the till
* Toggle the musical jingle to tell everyone you‚ve arrived

River Boat:
* Start and stop the engine for a leisurely trip along the waterways
* Feed bread to the hungry ducks along the way
* Sprung a leak?! Fix holes in the boat using a hammer from your toolbox

$1.99/£1.49/download

Independent software developer, Scott Jackson today is proud to announce the release of Double Feature for iPhone. The app allows users to search for people based on the films they’ve been in, or search for movies based on casts and crews. Double Feature is the film fan’s one-stop shop for answering the question: "hey, wasn’t that the guy from [insert movie name here]?"

Movie buffs can use Double Feature to cross-reference movies, actors and crew to find out who worked together on what films. The app is a simple, quick way to figure out who was in what, or discover a new favorite based on what you already like.

Double Feature has two features. With Movie Match, users can punch in two movie titles and get back the all the people who were involved in both productions. Alternatively, Name Search lets users type in two people’s names, and get back all the movies they worked on together. Both of these features incorporate iTunes, Amazon, Wikipedia, and IMDb links  –  users can look up details about movies and people on Wikipedia or IMDb, or search iTunes or Amazon for movies.

Double Feature for iPhone is a new way of using casts, crews, and filmographies to find people and movies. At just $1.99 on the App Store, it’s the app that belongs on every movie buff’s home screen.

$1.99/£1.49/download

UK based EuroSmartz today introduces WritePDF 1.0, their powerful new PDF reader, converter and PDF modifying app for iPad devices. WritePDF enables anyone to quickly and easily carry out various editing tasks on a PDF document without having to use a computer. WritePDF has a vast range of tools built into the app. From inserting images and merging Office & iWork documents, to arrows, highlighting and countless other drawing and modifying options.

$4.99/£2.99/download

Remoter Labs today is pleased to announce the release of Remoter VNC 3.4 for iPhone and iPad, an update to their productivity app that enables users to remotely control Macs via Screen Sharing, and Windows or Linux computers using the VNC or RDP standards right from their iOS devices. The app uses Bonjour and NetBIOS to make setup a cinch, and it features a novel and highly praised "virtual trackpad" that allows to control the mouse cursor intuitively. RemoterFusion, which provides sound redirection and easy setup, RDP, Telnet and SSH support are available as in-app purchases.

The app offers one of the fastest implementations of the VNC and RDP protocols on the iOS platform. Operation is intuitive, with a well thought out interface that allows users to either tap on the screen and have taps converted into clicks on the remote system, or use a unique "virtual trackpad" that gives users precise control, and ease of use. A drag or stylus mode on the iPad version is also provided, which gives users the ability of easily dragging items, or drawing on their computers directly from their iPad just by using their fingers or a stylus.

On Macs, setup is now ultra-simple with the RemoterFusion add-on. Port-forwarding and/or dynamic DNS is no longer needed in order to establish connections from outside the computer’s network. This add-on also provides sound redirection, which allows listening to music tracks, or any sound playing remotely on the computer from the iOS device. RemoterFusion can be tested for free for 24 hours.

$1.99/£1.49/download

n a move that makes traditional weather forecasts as outdated as the typewriter, RainAware LLC today introduces RainAware, its breakthrough new app for the iPhone and iPad that uses a proprietary forecasting system to predict within minutes when rain, snow, sleet, and storms will reach the user’s exact location. An Android version of RainAware will be released in the spring.

After years of testing, the meteorologists behind RainAware have developed a groundbreaking system to tell users precisely what time precipitation will begin and end, up to 3 hours in advance. RainAware uses the phone’s GPS location, local radar, and their exclusive algorithms to produce a reliable and precise weather forecast.

"With RainAware, a new era of weather forecasting has begun," said the creators of RainAware. "We’ve been conditioned to expect bad forecasts, but hopefully this is about to change."

The app’s creators, who have nearly 40 years of combined experience in meteorology and computer programming, sought out to improve upon what they saw as an outdated system of inaccurate and confusing weather forecasts virtually everywhere you look.

"Ask ten people what a ‘50% chance of rain today’ means and you might get ten different answers. It doesn’t tell you for sure if it’s going to rain, and certainly not what time," said the creators of RainAware.

Conventional forecasts from TV and newspapers, weather sites and other mobile apps can only give generalized predictions about when precipitation will arrive in your area. As a result, many times the forecast ends up being wrong. "Weather can change rapidly over a very short distance. It might rain on half the people in the area, but that leaves the other half with a bad forecast," the app’s creators said.

$6.99/£4.99/download

JRSoftWorX, an innovative new mobile game developer, was excited today to announce the launch of a newly updated version of Bouncing Bubbles LITE for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Bouncing Bubbles LITE 2.0 represents a dynamic new spin on the classic bubble shooter arcade game which challenges users to blast away every bubble in their column in as little shots as possible. The game’s newest update gives players access to an all new game mode called Quattro that ups the challenge – and the action – as well as integration with an innovative score sharing service called AddThis. Offered as a free download, access to the full game via in-app purchase is available for die-hard bubble shooters as well. Offering a more varied bubble shooting experience than ever before, Bouncing Bubbles LITE 2.55 is currently available on the Apple App Store for free in the Games category.

This is a well-rounded app to say the least. Bouncing Bubble LITE 2.55 includes ultra-realistic bubble motion courtesy of a powerful physics engine, and offers users a number of wild features and modes of play to keep players motivated and interested for hours on end. Upping the social integration ante the game now offers full integration with AddThis, which lets users share scores on Facebook, Twitter, and hundreds of other social networks too. Adding to its wealth of exciting play modes, the newest version of Bouncing Bubbles LITE introduces Quattro, a game mode tailor-made for dedicated bubble shooters. It’s an eloquently simple step up in stakes, and in Quattro players are charged with firing four same colored bubbles into a row instead of three if they want to explode them!

$0.99/£0.69/download

Help Purple, a fanciful adventure game for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from seller Gameday has launched. While the naming of characters (Purple, his friends, the antagonist Huge Monster) is delightfully simplistic, Help Purple conjures up plenty of challenge and well-paced complexity for adventure game genre devotees. Purple must rescue his elemental friends, represented by cuddly monstrosities bearing one eye apiece and each wearing a different color of the rainbow, from the clutches of Huge Monster.

To aid Purple in his quest, the player will navigate through a variety of beautifully rendered environments, enhanced by polished animation. Like any true adventurer, Purple will face numerous obstacles and challenges, and face each of them armed with his good nature and magical abilities. From physical challenges and brain teasing puzzles to those with less pure hearts that he must defeat, Purple will need every advantage to secure victory. As he saves each of the rainbow-dwelling deities, Purple will absorb the powers of his friend to strengthen him in his battle against the monster that threatens them all.

Gameday expects that the vibrantly beautiful graphics and animation, heart-warming character design, and classic story will appeal to potential players, while the game’s excellent overall design, engaging play, and challenge will make fans of them.

$0.99/£0.69/download

Simplinova LLC today announced that their first App, EQUiTrail, is available exclusively for the iPhone through the Apple App Store. EQUiTrail offers real-time access to trail maps that horseback riders create as EQUiTrail tracks their location while they ride.

EQUiTrail tracks your location in the background for hands-free use while riding and allows you to place trail markers and photos you take on the map to identify natural obstacles, cross country fences, hazardous terrain, or a favorite lookout point. After your ride is complete, you can save your trail and access trail information including total distance traveled, ride duration, average speed, photos and trail markers placed on the map during the ride.

EQUiTrail users can also share their trail maps with other EQUiTrail users via email and have the ability to follow their own trails as well as trails shared by other users. EQUiTrail gives riders the ability to document and learn local riding trails and share them with the riding community. "As an avid trail rider and member of several land associations that allow riders to access hundreds of acres of trails, I needed a way to be able to track, document and share trail rides with other riders as well as find local trails that others had suggested I ride", says one of EQUiTrail’s developers, "EQUiTrail offers a simple, easy and fun way to do just that. I have been using the app to track both recreational and competitive trail rides with my family and friends every weekend!".

$4.99/£2.99/download

Comicorp presents Striding Bird, a loveable character with a meaningful tale to share amongst everyone and anyone open to learning something new about life. An engaging and truly inspiring iPad app, Striding Bird ties together great storytelling with fun animations and unique interactivity.

Striding Bird is an original animated and interactive story about a young bird finding his way in the world.

Join Striding Bird as he struggles to make sense of the world around him. Follow his footsteps in self discovery and engage in his journey to discover the true meaning of happiness and self-identity.

A truly splendid and inspirational tale that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Lessons that will truly ring throughout a lifetime.

Striding Bird Features:
* An original and compelling story
* Warm, friendly and charming narration
* Beautiful illustrations and fun animations
* Interactive elements on every page
* Original music, voice over and sound effects

Striding Bird is the first of a series of original stories to be brought to you in various forms under the Comicorp Worlds banner. All Comicorp Worlds artwork, music and stories are original and created with the goal of inspiring and sharing meaning and joy with all that they reach.
$2.99/£1.99/download