"If there is an app for that"

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 04/28/2016

April 28, 2016 by macjeff

Huerons: A challenging Puzzle , Monki Home - Language Learning for Kids and Toddlers , MyBrushes Pro - Sketch, Paint and Draw and more

iPhone:

What sets MyBrushes Pro apart from other art creation apps is its powerful drawing and painting engine. Every stroke is fast and silky smooth, no matter if you’re looking for precision or filling in large sections of the canvas. By the way, the canvas is infinite as are the layers, allowing you to create quite complex pieces of art. MyBrushes Pro also includes more than 100 preset brushes to choose from.

OftenType requires a little bit of setting up, but once you’re done, you’ll be happy with the results. You’re able to create an unlimited number of quick keys that contain all of your most used content. Keys can take on different icons to help better distinguish them, and you’re able to add up to four snippets of content per key. When you need a piece of content, simply tap the appropriate key and it will be instantly placed within your document.

Universal:

Huerons is both simple and complex. The idea is to merge Huerons of the same color by tapping the open space between them. Only one Hueron can remain, and only adjacent Huerons can be merged. The first few levels will introduce the basic mechanics. As you progress, you’ll come across new colors and new ways to merge Huerons, further complicating matters. The game includes a total of 125 levels.

Today only: Unlock the full version of Monki Home free of charge! All you have to do is access a piece of locked content, and then confirm your action. Monki Home will teach your child more than 50 new words through fun activities. The 11 activities are spread out among four mini-games. Your child will learn everyday words like food and cooking, clothes, commonly used verbs, bathroom vocabulary, and opposite adjectives. The app includes more than 100 audio tracks with grammatical structures, and more than 40 animations.

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

A bad quarter for Apple: Is a great one for anyone else

April 28, 2016 by macjeff

Apple’s most recent quarterly results were less than spectacular but, while that’s probably better news for its competitors than its usual continual record-setting, don’t schedule the victory parade yet.

Writing for the Forbes contributor network and candy cane freebasing den, Ewan Spence says “A Weakened Apple Is Vulnerable To Samsung's Attack.” (Tip o’ the antlers to @JonyIveParody.)

Samsung?

[The Macalope runs to the window]

Macalope: You, there! What year is it?!

Boy: ’Tis 2016, sir!

Macalope: And people are still saying Samsung is going to beat Apple?!

Boy: [Shrugs, wanders off to buy a goose.]

…Samsung is on a roll. Momentum is building…

Samsung’s year-over-year growth? Down 0.6 percent.

That’s some roll. Is that a potato roll? Poppy seed? Dinner roll? California roll? Salmon skin hand roll? Because it’s seeming not a business roll.

Hey, they did do better than Apple. But the smartphone market has gone flat. Now it’s mostly a game of stealing share from others. Samsung has high customer satisfaction but so does Apple and Apple’s share is famously low, so it has more room to grow. Ben Bajarin at least thinks Apple has an edge. We’ll see. The Macalope doesn’t like to make predictions about things that have more moving parts than the Game of Thrones title sequence.

Remember how Xiaomi was highly touted as the company that was going to dethrone Apple because their phones were so cheap and if there’s one thing that Apple customers want it’s cheap phones? That was a good one. Remember how even Lenovo was going to crush it after buying Motorola from Google because… uh, mumble, mumble, look out Apple? Yeah, now they’re both no longer in the top five.

More importantly, Samsung’s ascendancy is kicking in just as Apple hits one of its roughest patches of the decade.

It is a rough patch, to be sure. For Apple. For any other company it’s a kittens and puppies surprise birthday cake delivered by a dozen adorable talking wombats when it isn’t even your birthday. Why, you’d have to go all the way back to 2014 to find a first calendar quarter so bad for Apple.

While the raw numbers are a concern, the bigger risk for Apple is the damage to the perception of the iPhone brand…

Yeah, people really think iPhones are crap now.

The move to larger screened devices ignored a product cycle of iPhone 5, 5C and 5S users refusing to upgrade - and now the four-inch iPhone SE has arrived it’s cannibalizing sales of the larger and more expensive devices in the portfolio.

Wow, the Macalope is so old he remembers when pundits said everyone wanted big phone because big phones are big and big is always better.

Pundits like Ewan Spence who said last September before the introduction of the iPhone 6s:

The potential for the iPhone is greater now than it has ever been.

Now what does he think?

Every [Apple] product line has a black mark against it in the media…

And this is different from any other year how, exactly? Every single product has announced has come pre-failed by the media.

…the game isn’t always about reality, it’s about perception.

And, rest assured, Forbes will always be there to not help clear up the difference between the two.

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 04/27/2016

April 27, 2016 by macjeff

Dragon Hills , Robbery Bob 2: Double Trouble , Anthill and more

Universal:

Not all princesses are waiting for a knight in shining armor to save them. At least not this one. Hop on your trusty dragon and lay waste to those who did you wrong. The simple one-touch controls allow you to dig into the terrain to avoid obstacles and pop out to attack your enemies. Everything in the environment is destructible, so show no mercy! The coins you collect on each run can be used to upgrade weapons, armor, and power-ups.

You're able to steer Bob past security guards, residents, and sleeping dogs via an on-screen joystick. Grab all of the loot in each level as quickly as possible and without being detected to earn a perfect rating. The game includes three environments, 60 levels, all kinds of crazy gadgets to utilize, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

You're able to direct your ant troops to form strategic battle formations by drawing lines on the screen. Bring the carcasses of your enemies back to your hill to dine on and create more units. The game includes almost 40 missions, an endless mode, all kinds of different ant units, a variety of upgrades to choose from, and leaderboards via Game Center. Additional level packs are available via in-app purchase.

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

Snapchat takes face-swapping to new levels with iOS update

April 27, 2016 by macjeff

Now you don’t have to be sitting side-by-side to take a hilarious face-swap selfie with your friends, babies, or celebrities you’ve never met. Snapchat’s latest iOS update lets you face-swap with photos in your Camera Roll.

This adds a new layer of hilarity to Snapchat’s already ridiculous feature, which lets you trade faces for selfie snapshots and videos. The new face-swap filter works similarly to the original. Open Snapchat, turn the selfie camera on, then do a long press on your face to bring up the variety of filters that Snapchat offers every day. The new option is next to the original face-swap filter, but the icon is purple instead of yellow.

Snapchat will automatically bring up a gallery of faces from your recent Camera Roll snaps that you can swipe through. My obvious choices included my friends, partner, and new baby nephew, all of which looked incredibly creepy. So I decided to see what I would look like as some of my favorite celebrities, which is easy to do by saving images online to your Camera Roll. Not surprisingly, Angelina Jolie’s face is ultra flattering if you need an ego boost.

Snapchat typically doesn’t allow you to use images from your Camera Roll, limiting you to shooting photos and videos in-app. But people love the face-swap feature, and even Facebook is getting in on the action with its recent acquisition of a dedicated face-swapping video app, Masquerade. Snapchat knows that variety is key to keep people coming back for more, and though it’s had some missteps lately (see: the controversial Bob Marley filter for 4/20), its constantly changing options are usually a hit with users.

The iOS update also eliminates the option to buy replays of snaps, indicating that Snapchat will focus its money-making efforts on advertising instead of in-app purchases.

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 04/26/2016

April 26, 2016 by macjeff

Tasker: To Do List | Task Manager , PhotoWidget and Viewer , Star Wars™ Pinball 4 and more

Universal:

Tasker’s biggest asset is how customizable it is. You’re able to create tasks with colors, tags, and contexts, and categorize them however you wish. Actions allow you to link tasks to contacts, photos, maps, or URLs. Tasks can remain on their own, or they can be dumped into projects. They can also be filtered and prioritized. A Today widget allows you to quickly retrieve your tasks. If you have an Apple Watch, you’re also able to view and add tasks from your wrist.

PhotoWidget is further proof there’s an app for everything. It provides you with the ability to place a photo or animated GIF in the Today view in Notification Center. You’re able to select as many photos as you want from your library, and you can have them randomly appear in the view or you can choose one to remain there.

You're able to join the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Alliance and battle with your friends for leaderboard dominance. Launch your ball onto the table by pulling back on and releasing your finger from the lightsaber. Tap each side of the screen to control your flippers. The table features multiple camera angles to choose from, and quotes and music pulled right from The Empire Strikes Back. Multiple additional themed tables are available via in-app purchase.

CarTally will take your child on a ride from the country to the big city. Along their journey they’ll be required to count, compare, sort, and analyze a variety of cars. Each region will introduce a new and more complex concept for them to tackle, allowing you to see just how well they progress. The app is appropriate for both readers and pre-readers.

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