MyTaxiRank.com, the UK’s only online taxi booking service has just launched their new free iPhone app.
Commuters can order a taxi in three easy steps straight from their iPhone. Simply enter your postcode or tap “Near Me” to find the closest companies, choose an available taxi firm and complete the online booking form.
It’s thats simple! The taxi firm will then reply by email with details, which could include the car registration, colour, make, model and a photo of the driver – so there are no hidden network charges for ring-backs or SMS replies.
If you've been following App Store gaming for a while, you may remember a retro-inspired RPG named Undercroft from developer Rake in Grass. It was a turn-based RPG that replicated the faux first-person exploring of old-school titles that used scaling of 2D images and sprites to simulate a 3D world. Undercroft was released last October to a largely positive reception in our forums, but strangely the title was pulled from the App Store last month. After some confusion as to why, a representative from Rake in Grass informed our forum members that the Undercroft IP and the game engine that it ran on had been sold to fellow developer Jagex, who many may recognize as the creators of the online MMO Runescape but who also have an assortment of titles available for the iPhone.
Due to being busy with several upcoming games, Rake in Grass didn't feel they would have the time or resources to devote to Undercroft and hence turned the title over to Jagex. The old version was taken down, and a new version published under Jagex was sent to the App Store and released earlier today, surprisingly for free. This is essentially the exact same Undercroft that you would have paid $5 for up until last month, and when questioned in our forums about ulterior motives behind this Jagex responded that there are no plans for in-app purchases and Undercroft will remain free for the foreseeable future. There is an unobtrusive advertisement for Runescape on the title screen, but other than that this is the full game for free.
Jagex will support this current version of Undercroft and most likely is working on expansion packs or a sequel to the game. My guess is that they made this version of Undercroft free so as to build up a large user base that would want to buy into these future endeavors. Regardless of any of that, there's no reason not to take a look at Undercroft now that it's free. It may be old-school at the core, but it offers a compelling gameplay experience that lets you build a team from many different classes, complete quests, fight enemies, explore an interesting world, and more. Undercroft was definitely a solid choice for $5 before and is pretty much a no-brainer now that it has returned for free.
Backflip Studios has released their latest free game to the App Store. The release of Buganoids follows their other summer launches including Tunnel Shoot, Graffiti Ball, and Ninjump. We profiled Backflip Studios' success in the App Store back at WWDC. As of this writing, they report that their games have seen over 48 million downloads with up to 2 million unique players playing each day.
For this latest App Store entry, Backflip enlisted the help of a developer we're very familiar with around here – Dan Bliss. Bliss' App Store career [iTunes link] has been pretty much exclusively dedicated to retro-inspired games, so his involvement made a lot of sense for Buganoids.
The developers accurately describe Buganoids as "Tempest" meets "Centipede" with a dash of "Gyruss" thrown in. The game is a circumferential shooter where your goal is to destroy the spawning bugs coming up from the planet. Your only ability is to shoot down — straight into the planet. So, in order to adjust your aim, you need to walk around the planet. If a bug makes its way to the surface, you're going to have to shoot form the opposite side to take it out. It's a pretty simply mechanic that offers a surprising amount of depth.
The game offers five different weapons across seven different globes and includes 3 levels of difficulty. Like all of Backflip's free games, they are ad-supported by offer the customer the ability to buy-out of the ads.
There's both an iPhone and iPad version of the game, and they are both free. So, no reason not to try it out.
Developer: NimbleBit
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 2.9 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.41 out of 5 stars
Pocket Frogs is perhaps the first “freemium” game that I’ve played on the app store that lets you do something other than sit and wait for something to happen. As much as I like organizing crops and barnyards, it is nice to have something to play.
In Pocket Frogs, you are in charge of a frog nursery that breeds frogs and either sells them for profit or keeps them for, well, pleasure. Most of the game is just like any other Farmville-esque game, just with a few extras. You still have to wait for your frogs to hatch and “mature,” there are plenty of add-ons that you can spend in-game coins on to make your habitat “prettier,” and of course there are growth potions to speed up the process. If you want to really speed the game up, which is by no means necessary, prepare to shell out some dough.
While you’re waiting for your little froggies to hatch though, there is a “Pond” minigame that at least gives you something to do while you wait. At first, the pond is used to mature your frog so you can sell or breed it, but it soon becomes a platform to find all sorts of goodies. While you jump around in the pond from toadstool to toadstool, you encounter gift baskets, money, and other frogs that you can breed with. Fortunately for the gamers out there, every time you breed you also gain XP, so there are ways to gain XP without waiting. Once your place becomes full though you can’t take any more in, so you have to either get a new tank, or sell off some buddies.
Throughout the game, you are given little missions that ask for certain frogs. Once you get a mission, it is up to you to “create” the frog by doing some selective breeding. It’s not a ton of excitement, but it is something to do.
All in all, if you are a fan of “freemium” games (you know who you are), Pocket Frogs is a pretty good option. I personally prefer more of a Sim City like experience (e.g., We Rule), but I do see the value in having something to do all the time instead of waiting for hours on end. Having a game that I can’t play for X number of hours just drives me nuts, and if I’m going to spend money, I’d rather get a game that brings me constant enjoyment.
Note: As of this writing, Pocket Frogs is available in Australia, New Zealand, and other App Stores which reside in time zones where it's currently 9/15. It will appear in App Stores across the world over the day until it finally shows up for download in the US App Store at 11:00 PM EST.
We've been following the development of NimbleBit'sPocket Frogs [Free] for quite some time now; the thread in our upcoming games forum has even grown to over 800 posts. Beta testers loved the game and the excitement surrounding a freemium game that was designed from the ground up to provide a great gameplay experience without making gamers feel nickel and dimed seemed contagious. Having spent a considerable amount of time with pre-release builds of the game and the final pre-release copy of the game, and Pocket Frogs really is something that everyone should try– even if you've shied away from freemium games in the past.
In Pocket Frogs, as the title may suggest, you are responsible for breeding, growing, and maintaining a habitat (or eventually, multiple habitats) of cute little frogs. The process goes a little something like this: Tapping a frog brings up a menu, initially you have the option to move the frog to another habitat, take the frog out to the pond, or just sell the frog for coins. Usually you will want to take frogs to the pond, which consists of a quasi-exploration mini-game where you hop around on lily pads somewhat similar to Dizzypad [$1.99 / HD]. After eating a certain number of dragon flies in the pond, the frog is tamed. A tamed frog when tapped in its habitat has three additional options. You can breed it (more on that later). You can catalog it, which allows you to essentially re-order a frog in the in-game mail if you sell it or need another one. Finally, you can gift the frog to any friend via the Plus+ network.
At any time you can take any of your frogs back to the pond, which will allow them to fill up on dragonflies to increase their happiness. In addition, you will randomly stumble across presents which could be an additional frog, new backgrounds or objects for your habitat, coins, or the various in-game consumables. Also, there are other frogs bouncing about the pond which you will run in to, and when you jump to the same lilly pad you have the option to breed with said frog.
Initially, breeding frogs seems fairly simple but as you progress further in to the game it actually gets quite complex. Basically, frogs have three traits: Their base color, their pattern color, and the pattern itself. When you breed two frogs you're shown the possible outcome, which could be up to 8 different combinations of colors and patterns. You can either breed frogs just for the fun of creating new frogs with cool colors and patterns, or you can shoot for the various goals in the game.
Pocket Frogs is host to tons of different awards (each coming with their own experience point bonus) which involve breeding to collect a certain number of specific frogs of various colors. You can either complete these challenges entirely on your own by breeding your existing frogs and collecting new ones either by buying them with coins at the in-game store, finding them in the pond, or breeding with other frogs in the pond. Alternatively, if you have other friends playing the game, they can send you the frogs you're missing (or the ones you need to breed with) via an in-game mail system. In addition to awards, there are also frog requests that you can take which act like an in-game quest system that require a specific breed of frog. These are completed the same way.
It seems like people are (understandably) skeptical about any freemium game, as often whatever in-app purchase fuels the game doesn't feel optional at all. Pocket Frogs has the best balance of free gameplay and in-app purchases of any free game I've played both on the App Store and in other freemium markets such as Facebook games. Like any freemium game, Pocket Frogs is monetized both through iAds that appear in a few of the submenus (but never in any actual gameplay screens) as well as buying in-game consumables.
When you breed frogs, little frog eggs appear in your nursery. Different frogs take different amounts of time to hatch, and you can either wait for them or spend growth potions to get them to hatch instantly. Frogs that are bought from the frog shop or sent to you by friends appear in your in-game inbox, and take time to be delivered. Just like the frog eggs, you can either wait, or spend stamps to have them delivered instantly. Also, if you mail frogs to friends, that costs stamps too.
The cool part is that you can always take your frogs out to the pond, and if you hop around enough, you can find both stamps and growth potions randomly. Unlike nearly every other freemium game I've played, it doesn't seem like you're ever at a point where there is nothing to do in Pocket Frogs. Even if your nursery is full and you can't breed anymore and your mailbox is full preventing you from getting any goodies and you're waiting on the timers of frog eggs and mail, you can still jump around collecting coins. Overall the entire experience doesn't seem to be anywhere near as limited as most freemium games if you decide to not pay, you just won't get the instant gratification of seeing what your eggs hatch in to.
Pocket Frogs is a fantastic game loaded with cute graphics, tons of content, and a free/paid system that is masterfully balanced to truly feel optional instead of required like many freemium games. Even if cute graphics aren't your thing, the depth of the game is extremely impressive and breeding the rarest frogs could serve as a great goal for the hardcore. I've barely scratched the surface of what there is to do in Pocket Frogs in this review, but if all this sounds even remotely interesting you really should give this game a try. To sweeten the deal, it even comes loaded with Retina Display graphics and is universal to play on either the iPhone or the iPad. If you've already got the game and are looking to friends to play with, stop by this thread on our forums.
App Store Link:
http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/pocket-frogs/id386644958?mt=8″>Pocket Frogs, Free (Currently only available in international App Stores, will be available in the US App Store at 11:00 PM EST)
I found that one of the most irritating things in college was trying to keep up with some of my professors taking notes. There’s just so much information in some classes that sometimes it’s hard to decide what you need to write down. If you have one of those classes you may want to check out Audio Class Notes Free on your iPhone or iPod Touch!
When you open up the app the first thing you’ll see is a menu with three options. You can “Record a new file,” “Play A Recorded File,” or view and edit preferences in the “Options” menu. Inside the options menu you’ll see buttons to select the recording quality, remove all data from the app, and to add/remove “Classes” which is how all of your recordings are organized!
Once you’re ready to start recording you’ll need to make sure you’ve set up the class that you’re recording notes for, and then touch the “Record a new file” button. To start recording just touch the “Record” button in the upper left corner. At any time you can pause recording, or when you’re finished just touch the stop button stop and save it. You’ll be asked for a name for the recording, and if you don’t give it one then it will be named “Recording #?”.
Once you’ve recorded your class notes to review them later just touch the “Play A Recorded File” button. You’ll be given a list of all the files that you currently have. You can remove items from the list by swiping and touching the “Delete” button that comes up, or by touching the “Delete Mode” button in the lower right corner and using the “-” buttons to the left of the recordings.
To play a recording just touch it and you’ll open the the playback screen. From here you can not only listen to your recordings, but you can also tag certain parts so that you can quickly find them later. This is extremely easy to do, my only comment would be that there really needs to be a way to delete “tags” just in case you add one in a place where you didn’t want it, or you named it wrong.
All things aside this is a very useful app, and I was very impressed with how well this app was able to pick up people’s voices, even at a distance. Best of all though it’s totally free! The only thing you’ll have to deal with are the ads that you see at the top of the screen. They are not obtrusive though, and if you choose to view them they are Apple’s new “iAds” so you don’t have to leave the app to check them out!
If you’ve been looking for a voice recording app similar to this one, there is no reason that you shouldn’t at least give this a try. While there may be apps out there with a few extra “bells and whistles,” it is very doubtful that you’ll be able to find a better, easier to use app than this one for free. So what are you waiting for? Click the link below and check it out for yourself today!
- David H.
Download Now!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Developer – Michael Parks
URL: http://www.blackmusesoftware.com
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We spend so much time reviewing games and novelty apps and the big-boy utilities that sometimes it seems silly to take a quick look at super simple and free applications.
Which is ironic, really, considering that some of the most simple applications on the iTunes store are the apps that I use most often. So today, we’re taking a look at a simple pitch pipe guitar tuner application. It’s stupid simple and has no bells or whistles. But it does the job, and it’s free.
As far as app designs go, give this one a failing grade. For simple function, though, it’s an A+.
With thanks to developer Vito Technology, The iPhone App Review is happy to give away 3 free copies of their best-selling $2.99 astronomy app Star Walk. Utilizing a digital compass and gyroscope (for iPhone 4 users) Star Walk is makes discovering stars, planets and constellations easier than it ever has been before.
Enter via Twitter in two easy steps:
Follow us on Twitter – if you don’t follow, we won’t be able to send you a direct message with your promo code!
Click http://clicktotweet.com/ 332R9 and our contest message will automatically be added to your Twitter status box. Then simply click to tweet!
Imangi Studios'Harbor Master HD has seen a number of additions since its original iPad launch in April. The base game includes a single map and can be downloaded for free, but they've since added four new maps for $0.99 each as in-app purchases. The map above is called the Bermuda Triangle and includes pirates, monsters and cyclones to make your line-drawing life a bit more difficult.
But with the latest updates, they've also added a clever rewind feature that lets you restart the game right before that last fatal mistake:
We've also added a really cool feature – rewinds. With rewinds, after you crash, you can choose to rewind (or undo) the crash, and continue playing where you left off. You can only use ONE rewind in a game, and you get a limited number of rewinds total. When we launched the update, we gave people 5 rewinds, and then they could earn 1 rewind for each 1000 pieces of cargo they ship. So they more you play, the more rewinds you earn, and therefore you can use a rewind more often.
You start off with 5 rewinds and can use one in any particular game. Rewinds are then earned for longer play time or can be purchased via in-app purchase ($0.99 for $2.99 for 20, $4.99 for 40).
Balancing in-app purchases is always a challenging problem for a developer. On the one hand, in app purchases need to offer a legitimate value in a consumable product. But that product can't be one that gamers feel is a necessary component of the game. I feel like the rewinds fill this sort of niche well, and I'd expect we'll see it more often in the future. As an added bonus, I've always thought the compelling feature of these chaos management games is the "oh no!" last second regret when death comes suddenly. Now you get a second chance.
I still remember all you can eat steak night at the local Ponderosa. My cousin and I would chomp down four or five steaks each before we were both ready to burst at the seams. What we were eating was just a shadow of what steak is supposed to be, however.
Early in 2010 I took a vacation to Chicago. During my stay I visited a high end steak house, the Grill Room. This was my first interaction with how great “real” steak was. Our waiter (are they called waiters at steak houses?) brought out a huge plate of meat to display to us, explaining what each piece of meat was, how it was prepared, and the methods of cooking. It was at this visit that I learned “real” steak places won’t prepare steak past medium.
Steak Grilling Timer & Recipes is a grill timer for steak that provides much of the information I learned at a “real” steak house. Multiple steaks can be added, with each being allowed unique cuts, thickness, and cooking levels. Each steak timer can be started separately, to ensure that all of the steaks get done at the same time. Setting up each steak for cooking is the easiest process I think I’ve experienced in an app on the iPhone. The app even takes into consideration preparation on a gas grill, a charcoal grill, or inside.
Steak Timer is much more than a timer, however. Each cut of steak has a laundry list of facts, including how it was cut, cooking techniques, and the various forms that particular cut comes in. Recipe information can be searched through for individual cuts as well, ensuring multiple preparation techniques for each cut. Did I mention all of the above is available without an internet connection?
For those with an active internet connection, additional features are available. A Steak-Enthusiast blog is available directly inside the app, and Kansas City Steak Company runs a monthly drawing for a $75.00 gift card that can also be accessed directly inside the app.
If you’re a steak lover, you owe it to yourself to check out this free steak timer and database from Kansas City Steak Company. It doesn’t provide endless amounts of information, but provides the most important information that any steak lover would need, each time steak is for dinner. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to return to my daydreaming about the masterpiece of a dinner I had at the Grill Room in Chicago again.
Our sister site AppShopper finally launched a native iPhone and iPad app that offers the same App tracking functionality as the full website.
AppShopper tracks all the major changes to the App store, including new apps, updates and sales. For example, with the right combination of filters you can find every app that has gone from Paid to Free. For a less overwhelming view, you can just view popular changes amongst other AppShopper readers.
You can then add apps to your own personal wishlist to get notified of sales or price changes. The app now lets you maintain that list on the go.
It's what we use to keep track of interesting game sales, and now you can monitor them on your iPhone or iPad. The app is being discussed on the forums.
After the multitude of sales that went down over the Labor Day weekend in the US, there are still some pretty great deals to be had entering into this shortened work week. As with all the sales that occur on the App Store, prices are subject to change at any time, so make sure and take advantage of them while you can.
Stair Dismount Universal, Free From the originators of ragdoll physics pain infliction Secret Exit, Stair Dismount Universal has gone free for a day. Give poor Mr. Dismount a hearty push down one of 12 different sets of stairs, inflicting pain and earning high scores to compete on the OpenFeint leaderboards.
The game was recently updated with universal iPad support and a DLC character pack. If you haven't picked it up already, definitely give Stair Dismount Universal a download while free, and if you like it you can throw a buck at the DLC for 3 additional characters.
Pinball Ride Unlimited, $2.99Pinball Ride is a game that we took a look at back in April and determined it to be a fun pinball experience, but it felt slightly high priced at $5 compared to the other options available on the App Store. A couple of weeks ago, Pinball Ride received a huge update that added universal iPad support as well as some heavily tweaked gameplay. Story Mode has been fleshed out with new goals and achievements, and Burst Mode has been completely redesigned to offer more substantial gameplay.
Pinball Ride is a great looking game, rendered entirely in 3D and runs incredibly fast and smooth. If you've felt like the $5 price tag was too steep before, you can currently get the game at the discounted rate of $2.99 and there is a lite version to check out as well.
Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion!, $0.99 While light on gameplay but heavy on fan service, 8-Bit Rebellion is an arcade style beat ‘em up with an emphasis on social interaction featuring the popular band Linkin Park. It’s a simplistic button masher at its core, but features a ton of cool items to collect and real-time interaction with other players online. I’m not really a fan of Linkin Park, but was surprised by how much there was to like when we reviewed the game in April.
One of my favorite parts about 8-Bit Rebellion are the excellent 8-bit renditions of some of the band's most popular songs, which should really appeal to fans of Linkin Park. In addition to the iPhone version sale, the iPad version has also dropped to 99¢ and there is a lite version if you want to take the game for a test drive first.
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In Pocket Frogs, you are in charge of a frog nursery that breeds frogs and either sells them for profit or keeps them for, well, pleasure. Most of the game is just like any other Farmville-esque game, just with a few extras. You still have to wait for your frogs to hatch and “mature,” there are plenty of add-ons that you can spend in-game coins on to make your habitat “prettier,” and of course there are growth potions to speed up the process. If you want to really speed the game up, which is by no means necessary, prepare to shell out some dough.
We've been following the development of 
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Early in 2010 I took a vacation to Chicago. During my stay I visited a high end steak house, the Grill Room. This was my first interaction with how great “real” steak was. Our waiter (are they called waiters at steak houses?) brought out a huge plate of meat to display to us, explaining what each piece of meat was, how it was prepared, and the methods of cooking. It was at this visit that I learned “real” steak places won’t prepare steak past medium.
For those with an active internet connection, additional features are available. A Steak-Enthusiast blog is available directly inside the app, and Kansas City Steak Company runs a monthly drawing for a $75.00 gift card that can also be accessed directly inside the app.
After the multitude of sales that went down over the Labor Day weekend in the US, there are still some pretty great deals to be had entering into this shortened work week. As with all the sales that occur on the App Store, prices are subject to change at any time, so make sure and take advantage of them while you can.
