"If there is an app for that"

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 04/05/2017

April 05, 2017 by RSS Feed

Water Reminder - Drink Water Tracker & Daily Alert , Nice Shark! Good Kitty Cat and Penguin Too! Emoji , Toca Life: School and more

iPhone:

Water Reminder - Drink Water Tracker & Daily Alert ( $2.99 → Free ) Ahmad Rakib Uddin The human body is made up of around 60 percent of water, making it vital to your health. Water Reminder will ensure you drink enough by helping you track your intake throughout the day. The app asks you to determine what a small glass and a big glass will be along with your daily goal. Then every time you drink water, just choose between the two. The app also includes customizable reminders, Apple Watch support, HealthKit integration, and a lock screen widget.

Universal:

Nice Shark! Good Kitty Cat and Penguin Too! Emoji ( $0.99 → Free ) Eggroll Games LLC This sticker pack will brighten everyone's day. It includes more than 30 unique stickers to peel and stick onto your messages. You’ll find a happy kitten, loving penguin, sweet snowman, and, of course, a nice shark.

Toca Life: School ( $2.99 → Free ) Toca Boca AB Anything goes in Toca Life: School. Children are able to navigate a house, cafeteria, school building, youth club, and playground with taps. Along the way they’ll be able to play sports, start food fights, play in band, perform science experiments, and so much more. Each location is its own mini adventure with tons of interactions to discover. The app includes a total of 34 characters to play with and different outfits to wear.

Big Clock - Alarm and Weather ( $0.99 → Free ) Rao Studios, Inc. With Big Clock, there will be no more squinting. No matter if you place your iDevice in portrait or landscape orientation, you’ll get to see big clock numbers. The app is also able to display the date if you wish. Big Clock features a fully customizable alarm clock, allowing you to set music from your library as your alarm, set a time between snooze button hits, and set a maximum number of snooze button hits. A weather widget is available via in-app purchase, but you can give it a one month test run free of charge.

SharpScan Pro + OCR: scan documents to clean PDF ( $2.99 → Free ) Pixelnetica Scanning is a breeze with SharpScan Pro. You’re able to scan a single page or multiple pages rapidly. The app’s powerful camera engine ensures every pixel counts, getting rid of noise, shadows, distortions, and other artifacts. It’s also able to automatically detect the edges of your documents, but you can manually adjust them if need be. After scanning your documents you’re able to recognize the text in over 50 languages. Documents can be stored in the app, on your iDevice, or in the cloud.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free

Microsoft Launches ‘Sprinkles’ Camera App With Machine Learning Features

April 04, 2017 by RSS Feed

Microsoft is no stranger to camera apps for iOS devices, and the company is back with yet another one.

As originally reported by TechCrunch, Microsoft recently launched a camera app for iOS called “Sprinkles.” Microsoft says it can make the user’s photos fun in two seconds, and it does so with machine learning and other features based on artificial intelligence. The new camera app’s features allow it to detect the subject’s age and emotion, which means it can pull up a caption to use with the photo all on its own.

As an example, if someone in your picture is frowning, Sprinkles is aware of the emotion on display, and can pull up a caption that suggests the subject “turn that frown upside down.” The app can also figure out a subject’s celebrity look-a-like, and more. All of this is available for free from the iOS App Store now.

On top of all that, Sprinkles also includes emoji and stickers, and they can change based on the day of the week and time of day, just like other camera-focused apps out there.

“However, Sprinkles is the first to really aim young, with an app that’s a bit derivative in terms of its inspiration (decorate your photos!), but also cleverly aggregates a lot of the silly but fun technology Microsoft before showcased only in its standalone side projects. Sprinkles similarly feels like just another side project that’s meant to act as a demonstration of its technology.”

The app is available now (it launched on April 1).

Download

[via TechCrunch]

Source link: http://www.iphonehacks.com/2017/04/microsoft-sprinkles-ios-app.html

Hack and Blast Through the Tough-as-Nails Meganoid(2017)

April 04, 2017 by RSS Feed

Meganoid(2017) ($4.99) by Pascal Bestebroer of OrangePixel fame is a tough-as-nails roguelike platformer that is essentially a modernized remake of the original classic Meganoid that came out nearly six years ago. If you are a fan of games like Star Knight and Le Parker: Sous Chef Extraordinaire, then Meganoid will be a good addition to your collection.

While much of my gaming time is spent on my Nintendo Switch these days, I like to take a break every now and then and return to my iPhone for some quality gaming time. Though my preferred cup of tea for iOS games are puzzles, I need some action packed titles when I have to de-stress. I find platformers to be a good choice for this, because they’re stimulating and also pack in a good amount of action if there are enemies robot enemies or the like involved somehow. Back when Meganoid first came out in 2011, I fell in love with the awesomeness of the game because it was one of the first few memorable action platformer games around. It got drowned out by later platformers, but I’m glad that it is making a return now in Meganoid(2017), though it’s a bit different than the original version. If you’re a fan of roguelike games and love platforming action, then this will not disappoint.

If you grew up with the old-school 16-bit games of yesteryear, then you’ll feel right at home with the visual style of Meganoid. The game is packed with high-quality 16-bit graphics that don’t leave any detail out, as the game features insanely detailed environments, textures, and even lighting effects. The colors used range from dark and gloomy tones to more bright and vibrant shades, and everything is easy to spot from a distance. Animations are smooth and fluid with no lag on my iPhone 7. In terms of music, the game has an atmospheric soundtrack in the background that just adds to the overall tone of the game, and the sound effects are fun and quirky. Like his other games, Meganoid(2017) follows in the retro pixel footsteps, and it works out well for this type of game.

Unlike the original Meganoid, this remade version is procedurally generated, so it will always be a different level layout each time you play. This means much more variety and unpredictability when starting a new run, but this does not appeal to everyone, so be warned. It is also a roguelike, so whatever progress you made previously in terms of progression and items is reset on each run. Personally, I like randomly generated roguelike games, so these don’t bother me, but I know it isn’t for everyone. There’s a basic plot in Meganoid(2017), and it involves a broken Meganoid space ship, and you’ve been called upon to fix it. The goal is to descend deep into the space ship to fix the problem (teleporter pads are your friends), but making sure you collect all of the loot along the way while eliminating foes like security drones that come after you if you are caught lingering around too long. It all sounds simple enough on the surface, but you will end up dying — a lot. You only get three lives to start with, but they go by rather quickly.

Controls in Meganoid(2017) are simple enough, but unfortunately feel rather clunky in practice. In the bottom left corner of the screen will be two directional buttons for moving your character left and right. On the other side, you have two buttons, X and A, for jumping and action, respectively. However, the size and placement of the buttons meant little forgiveness when it came to the touch zone for each button, so I ended up not going in the direction I wanted or I wouldn’t move at all, or I end up jumping instead of using an item. The game’s options let you change the size of the buttons between small and large, and you can change the positioning of the buttons. Despite this, I still felt that the controls were not as streamlined as they should be since the touch zones don’t change.

Fortunately, if you have a MFi controller like the SteelSeries or GameVice, then you are able to use it flawlessly with the game. The controls will take a bit of time to get used to depending on the MFi controller that you have, but it works infinitely better than the touch screen option. So if you have a MFi controller, it’s recommended to use it with Meganoid(2017).

Meganoid has always been a tough game, but it seems the ante has been upped in this version. I have been dying a lot while just trying to get used to controls, and I have managed to blow myself up a few times with detonators as well. There are a ton of different items that you can find in the game, including hackable items, which can help you out a lot if you survive long enough to get some use out of them. To make things even more exciting, there are hidden areas that you can explore, so there’s plenty of reason to check every nook and cranny in this game rather than rushing to the teleporter pad. And each enemy you encounter will be logged, so you can read up on them to better prepare yourself on the next run.

I’ve only just started Meganoid, so I’m not very far, but the game is incredibly difficult so it will take some time to master. I love the vintage aesthetic because it takes me back to my childhood, and the music is well done. The roguelike and randomly generated levels may not be for everyone, but I do like that it keeps things fresh and interesting every time you play. The touch screen controls do need a bit more work before they feel streamlined for a touch interface, though, so hopefully that is coming sooner rather than later.

I do recommend Meganoid(2017) if you enjoy tough roguelike platformer games. You can find Meganoid(2017) on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $4.99. There are no in-app purchases.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

credit : appadvice

from : Mid Atlantic Consulting, Inc.

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 04/04/2017

April 04, 2017 by RSS Feed

Guitar Tuner+ Tuning Simplified , ScanBee - Scanner & copier to digitize your papers , Escaping Blocks and more

iPhone:

Change - Currency Converter | Foreign Exchange Rates ( $0.99 → Free ) Sigalit Amsalem Change adds a bit of a style to a normally dull app category. You’re able to choose the currencies you’re converting from and to by swiping across the fields at the top of the screen. As you swipe, you’ll see the conversions instantly performed. You’re also able to reorder, activate, and deactivate currencies by tapping on the “+” button at the bottom of the screen. Change includes a total of 85 currencies.

Universal:

Guitar Tuner+ Tuning Simplified ( $2.99 → Free ) Dynamic App Design LLC Guitar Tuner+ is all about simplicity. It automatically hears the string you are tuning and expands the area for maximum visibility. After you’re done tuning a string, you’ll see its last tuned position represented as a line. Tap on a note to play a reference pitch to help tune by ear. The app includes adjustable fine tuning, 25 alternate tunings, light and dark themes, and iPad split screen support.

ScanBee - Scanner & copier to digitize your papers ( $2.99 → Free ) Claire Reynaud ScanBee’s interface is clutter-free, making it easy to get the job done quickly. Just tap the “New Scan” button at the bottom of the screen and snap a photo of your document. You’re then able to manually adjust the borders and crop it down. Multiple scans can be included in a single PDF file, and you’re able to share them via email or open them within other apps. Scans can also be stored within ScanBee for later use.

Escaping Blocks ( $0.99 → Free ) Casper Riboe In a world of blocks, there’s only one thing to do: Run! You play as a simple stickman capable of running across and jumping over an assortment of blocks. Blocks are made up of a variety of colors, most of which are safe to touch, except for the black ones. Simply tap to jump over and swipe to glide underneath them. Go as far as you can to achieve a high score. New characters can be unlocked by discovering special coins and traveling great distances.

Sea Of Giants: Explore A Secret Island ( $0.99 → Free ) Zoolax Inc. The story begins on a dark and stormy night in your mother’s house where you discover a letter that may lead you to her whereabouts. It’s up to you to travel across exotic and uncharted lands gathering items and searching for clues in order to reunite with your mother. The game includes two levels of difficulty, in-game hints, and five languages to choose from.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free

Downtime- April 4-6 and April 19-21

April 04, 2017 by macjeff

We may have some downtime (mostly at night EST) due to some web and DNS changes. Please accept our apologies and thank you for your understanding. The Team at Mid Atlantic Consulting and HotMacNews.