iPad Apps and Development

iPhone iPad Apps for Christians

Lara — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:36:34 +0000

From inspirational Christian backgrounds to daily devotionals or Bible trivia games, here we have gathered some great iPhone and iPad apps that will help you stay motivated, get closer to the Lord and become a better person.

Bible Videos

Experience the life of Jesus Christ and deepen yourself in various Bible stories through beautiful videos, interactive Biblical environments, slideshows and more.
Engage in stories, get to know more about the Lord and strengthen your faith with Bible Videos.
Kids will love it as well.
Price:Free

Holy Bible

This the most used Bible reader app. It features 150+ Bible versions in various languages and more than 200 study plans to help on your journey.
You can take notes, track your progress, search the Bible, bookmark your favorite verses, keep in touch with more than 30 million people who read the Scriptures.
Price:Free

Our Daily Bread

ODB is a great daily devotional by RBC Ministries distributed in 40 languages.
Every day you will get a Bible verse, linking to that specific passage and a related inspirational story to help and motivate you.
The app lets you download devotionals up to 30 days in advance and stream the audio version of each one.
For a comfortable reading you can adjust font size and color.
Price:$0.99

The Love Dare: 40 Dares

40 dares to strengthen your marriage and become a better wife and husband.
Inspirational Bible verses, detailed action points will help you complete each dare, grow in Him and maintain a happy relationship.There is a also a handy section, where you can take notes (what you’ve learned, what you can make better etc. ).It comes with in-text Scripture reference and Bible search as well. It is an amazing daily reminder for everybody to motivate you be a better, loving, forgiving person.
Price:$0.99

The Bible Trivia Game

Test and improve your knowledge of the Bible and get closer to God with this fun quiz game.
There are more than 160 multiple-choice questions with. You can choose from 5, 10, 20, 50 question game, track your scores and earn achievements via Game Center.
The app also lets you check out the Bible chapter and verse for every question.
Price:$0.99

Bible or Not

This is another fun trivia game, an entertaining Bible and pop culture quiz.
You are given various popular quotes from the Bible, from famous people, movies, wisdom books, songs etc. and your job is to answer the simple question, if the quote is from the “Bible or Not ?”.
It features hundreds of questions, scoreboards. Enjoy it alone or with friends and family.
Price:$1.99

Bible Lock and Home Screens

Dress up your iPhone and iPad and stay encouraged with these beautiful and inspirational Bible backgrounds.
High quality images with Scripture verses and reminders will stimulate and motivate wherever you are.
Backgrounds come with retina-display support and can be emailed and saved to your Library.
The app is frequently updated with new backgrounds.
Price:$0.99

Using Car Accessories for Your Smart Phone

Lara — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:01:45 +0000

It can be hard to keep up with the amount of accessories that exist for your smart phone. Not only are there hands free kits, you can even have portable power for your phone when it runs out of batteries. Some of the accessories are just for fun but the most useful ones have to be those that connect your smart phone with your car.

The main aspects you will want accessories for in your vehicle are:

Hands free option – many countries have now banned the manual use of mobile phones in cars making hands free options a mandatory accessory.
Playing Music – forget mp3 players as you can now just use your mobile phone for playing all your favourite tunes.
Navigation – likewise for navigators, smart phones have tried to take all of your digital devices and put them into one device.
Charging – with all of the above options a mobile phone eats a lot of power so no car is complete without some form of spare power or charger.

Hands Free Options
Hands free kits have become popular and even mandatory due to the proven accidents caused by people using phones while driving. There are now a wide variety of hand free options available that do not even involve wearing a pair of headphones. It is called Bluetooth and has been a great breakthrough for the world of hands free phone operation.

Bluetooth works wirelessly and a hands free car kit automatically detects your smart phone once you are in the vehicle. It will then direct a call through speakers (usually through your sound system) and detect your voice via microphone. This means that you will not have to connect anything when you jump in the car and can simply start taking calls. Even motorcycle bluetooth exists for safe phone usage while riding your bike.

Playing Music Through Your Phone
It is now easy to play music stored on your smart phone through your car stereo instead of using CDs, ipods or even mp3 players. Via the bluetooth system (mentioned previously) you can directly connect your phone’s music to be played through your car’s sound system. This is ideal for music lovers because they can even share songs with their friends in their car if they have similar systems.

Navigating With Your Phone
Navigating has become easier with smart phones and most now come with at least basic navigation applications. While GPS devices will always be more reliable and accurate for car trips, if you need to just get from A to B then your phone’s navigation system will do fine to get you there.

Charging Your Phone on the Go
If you are using your phone a lot then having the right kind of backup power is essential. It is no good having the best phone if it runs out of power due to heavy usage and this can be easily overcome with a basic car phone charger, which charge directly through the cigarette lighter in all vehicles.

Whatever you need your phone to do in your car there seems to be a gadget around for that already. There is, however, no doubt that we will continue to improve and develop communication devices for our everyday vehicles.

Firefly Hero HD Game Review

Lara — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:43:44 +0000

Firefly Hero for the iPhone and iPad comes with 75 levels full of fun, loaded with challenge and entertainment.
Every level features a unique puzzle with a dynamic gameplay and increasing difficulty.
To solve the puzzles you will have to successfully guide the firefly and collect all the stars.
Because the firefly is attracted to light, you can control him by tapping on the bulbs to turn them on or off. Whenever a light bulb is turned on the firefly will move towards it.
The lights are placed in clever positions and strategical thinking plays a great role, because it is important in what order and which lights you turn on, in order to collect the stars.
The game is further challenged with various obstacles, such as deadly spiders, shooting flowers, spikes, bulbs that shatter and turn off when you need them.
In each level you can earn the golden leave as well, if you can solve the puzzles with as few taps as possible.
Its creative gameplay and challenging levels make Firefly Hero highly entertaining and engaging. Kids will love it as well.
The game looks and plays great and comes with Hd graphics and some nice sounds and music.
It is available in free (20 levels) and paid version (75 levels) as well.

Size: 6.7 MB
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad.Requires iOS 4.1+

Firefly Free
Firefly for iPhone ($0.99)
Firefly for iPad ($1.99)

Relaxing Sounds of Nature – iPhone, iPad App

Lara — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:35:57 +0000

Relaxing Sounds of Nature for the iPhone and iPad is definitely a welcomed app for those who can’t fall asleep, have too much stress in their life or just want to relax and feel better.
It comes with a nice collection of beautiful nature sounds and ambient music.
Sounds include Birds Chirping, Night Ambiance, White Noise, Lounge Ambiance, Grasshopper, Wind, Owl, Whale Sining, Soft Melody, Bubbles, Forest, Zen Music, Ocean Storm, Sparrow and many more.
You can play them alone or mix them in the Soundboard to create a harmonious experience depending on your personal needs. Mixed soundtracks can be saved and replayed.
The app also features three great timers: one wakeup and two night timers that you will love. By setting the time and your preferred sounds, the timers will help you wake up and fall asleep relaxed and restful.
The wake up timer comes with a snooze, while the night timer with a fade out feature as well.
Furthermore, the application includes over 30 delightful nature backgrounds, flashlight and various lullabies for babies.
Overall, Relaxing Sounds of Nature is an amazing app for relaxation and meditation, bringing more harmony in your life with its great collection of nature sounds and handy timers.
Price: $0.99

Language: English
Size: 374 MB
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad.Requires iOS 3.0+

Visit Relaxing Sounds of Nature>>

Fitness Apps for iPhone and iPad

Lara — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:04:50 +0000

The iPad and iPhone can serve as great fitness tools to help you track and achieve your goals when comes to living healthier and losing weight. Here are some of the best fitness apps for you

Calorie Tracker by Livestrong

This is one of the best and most used calorie and exercise tracker app for the iPhone and iPad It comes with a huge database with over 1 million food and restaurant menu items, providing detailed nutrition facts (fat, carbs, protein, fiber, sugars, sodium etc.). You can also track the amount of calories burned during various exercises and activities and record water intake.
What is even better the app lets you set your own weight and nutritional goals, track your progress and calorie loss based on your measurements. To help you achieve your target, Calorie Tracker also features daily motivational goal reminders and a inspirational community to help each other.

5K Runner

5K Runner is the best beginner friendly runner app out there. It comes with a 8 week, 3 times a week program that gradually increases from zero to 5K, alternating walks and runs.
The app will give you voice reminders when to walk and when to run, guiding and motivating you. You can listen to music, track your GPS location (works with many GPS apps, like Nike+ Gps).
The app tracks each workout and shows your progress.
With its guided workout plan, stimulating audio coach and achievement badges, 5K Runner is must have, helping you enjoy running while steadily improving your pace and distance.

Daily Workouts

Get full body or targeted workouts for your abs, legs, butt, arms and cardio.
Each exercises come with detailed instructions and videos. You can choose from 10, 15 , 20, 25 and 30 minute workouts depending on your own needs.
What i liked is that it gives you the option to get workouts with exercises pulled at random. This way you will get different routines, so your body doesn’t get used to them and you will see quicker and better results.
Furthermore there is also a handy timers.

Free iPad/iPhone Puzzle Game- Dummy Defense

Lara — Tue, 01 May 2012 07:16:27 +0000

Dummy Defense is one of those games that will keep you challenged and entertained.
Your goal is to build the cheapest and strongest structures to protect Melvin dummy from various dangerous situations, such as explosions, falling rocks, moving trains, hammers.
There is a handy blueprint editor that you can use to make the actual constructions, test and edit them. You can also see how the pressure is distributed,allowing you to make the needed modifications to your designs. Areas under high pressure will be colored in red. If there is no strain involved everything will be green.
The editor is very easy to use, you can easily draw your structures, zoom in and out and undo mistakes.
Dummy Defense is a double challenge game because it is not enough to build a structure strong enough to protect Melvin, but it has to be the cheapest as well, using the minimum amount of materials in order to earn as many stars as possible. These materials range from wood to concrete.
The game comes with 25 levels featuring different worlds of various difficulties.
The app supports retina display and also lets you email the blueprints to your friends.
Overall, Dummy Defense is a exciting and brain teasing free puzzle game with beautiful graphics and realistic physics simulation.

Language: English
Rated 9+ for the following:
Requirements: Compatible with iPhones, iPod touch, and the iPad.Requires iOS 3.0+

Visit Dummy Defense>>

Nintendo’s First Loss

Lara — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:01:35 +0000

With the exponential growth of tablet and smartphone market there is no surprise game consoles remain in the background.
Nintendo, the Japan video game company has reported losses of more than $500 million. This is its very first fiscal year indicating loss since its humble beginnings in the early 1980s.
Nintendo it is known for its various products, like SNES, Virtual Boy, Nintendo 64, Wii, 3DS, while shorthly becoming the number one in the gaming industry. In interesting data, as of 2010 the company has sold more than 3.4 billion software units and 565 million hardware units.
While the versatile tablet and phone industry is gaining more and more traction, niche companies such as Nintendo will experience a downward path.
People are interested in highly mobile multifunctional devices that can satisfy most of their needs wherever they are.
At this point there is no question that Apple, Google and Amazon will be the clear winners.

Stylus for iPad 3

Lara — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:46:43 +0000

For those who are looking for a stylus for iPad 3, here is a list with some of the best performing ones.

Griffin iPad 3 Stylus

The Griffin stylus has a flexible rubbery tip that is precise and accurate, giving a finer degree of control over the iPad.
Works like an extended fingertip, no need to apply hard pressure to get it work. What is even better the tip is omni-directional, functions in 360 degrees. Doesn’t matter if your left or right handed,it will adapt to whatever angle you are using.
It looks like a regular pen with a clip and a loop on the top, that can be attached easily on your case. Whether hand sketching, drawing or gaming, the Griffin stylus is a great choice.
Compatible with all touchscreens.

AmazonBasics for iPad 3

The stylus by AmazonBasics is another great addition for your iPad 3. Features a large and durable rubbery tip that is highly responsive and slides easily on the screen. As of its dimensions, has a length of 4.1 inches and a well balanced weight and thickess, making it comfortable for long use and perfect for bigger hands as well.

BoxWave Capacitive Stylus

If compared to the Pogo stylus, the BoxWave Stylus comes with a rounded tip in a larger and thicker pen like design
The tip is made of a dense rubber foam for durability and accurate detailing.
Light touches are enough to ensure perfect contact over multiple writing styles and angles.
BoxWave is another high quality stylus that offers a high level of precision in various circumstances.
It is great for bigger hands as well.
Compatible with all touchscreens.
Comes in different colors to choose from.

CCM 3-pack capacitive stylus

For its price, $5 per piece you get a well performing and nicely designed stylus.
It has a soft rubbery tip to avoid eventual scratches that works and responds above average.
The height and width of the stylus offers a comfortable hold and seems to be a great solution for biggerhands as well.

iPad 3 Stylus by RooCASE

RooCASE offers a quality and sturdy stylus for the new iPad.
What concerns its height, it is 4.5 inch, featuring a long lasting rubbery tip with aluminum pen body and cap attachment.
The stylus is available in 3 colors:black, silver and red

The Mobile Gaming Industry and the iPad

Lara — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:55:27 +0000

Taken into consideration the millions of tablets and smartphones sold every year mobile gaming is becoming the industry’s most important market.
An interesting report by Business Degree shows the huge growth of mobile gaming.
When comes to the most used apps, games are number one followed by weather applications. People spend an average 7.8 hours a month playing games in their bed (31%), while traveling (16%) or in the bathroom (12%) An other interesting data is that more users are willing to download a paid game app than any other application, such as in the entertainment or productivity category.
The freemium model is highly popular among developers. Freemiium games with in-app purchases (virtual goods, pro version etc) or ads make $12.92 a month per user More than one third of the top 100 grossing apps use the freemium model. For example Angry Birds makes $6 million/month from advertisements.

These are good news, but developers should not forget their huge impact on society, especially kids and the future.
Shooting and other violent games don’t do anything just to promote an aggressive lifestyle, making people insensitive, narcissistic and violent. Why not turn to the educational side of games and develop engaging trivia, puzzles, funny strategic and social games.

Created by: BusinessDegree.net

iPad Development on Windows

Lara — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:25:44 +0000

If you are looking to create iPad apps on Windows, here you will find some useful options.
There are many companies who offer development platforms, game engines that can be used on Windows. They come integrated with various assets like OpenGL, Blender, Cinema3D etc. and generally feature their own Apis with some of the major native features.
That being said, these are some of the best and highly used platforms for PCs.
Note, in order to submit your app to the App Store you will need a Mac. The cheapest option out there is to buy used Mac Mini or maybe you can borrow one.

Corona SDK

Corona is a powerful app development platform for iPad and other mobile devices (Android, Nook and Kindle).
There are over 500 Apis to choose from, such as In-App Purchases, Physics, Storyboard, Native Ui, Facebook, Animation and many more.
A great advantage is that there is no need to know Objective-C, the Lua code makes development way more easier with lightweight and fast apps.
For game apps there is GameCenter and OpenFeint integration, and some great time saving templates as well. Corona also supports in app advertising (Inmobi and Inneractive) .
When comes to developer support, you will find pretty much anything you need for your projects trough videos, roadmaps, helpful forum and detailed docs.

Language: LUA
Price: $199/year for iOS and $349 for all platforms.
Apps build with Corona: Critter Quitter, College Tracker or Word Ball

Unity 3D

Unity is a well known engine among 3D game developers.
If you are familiar with C# or Javascript you will find it easy to use. Thanks to its intuitive editor and integrated assets development process can be quite fast. For example Alistair, developer of Flick Buddies mentions that he prototyped 12 game levels within 40 hours
It offers some great visuals with 100 built-in shades, lightmapping, HDR rendering detail texture painting and many other effects.
As of physics Unity contains NVIDIA® PhysX® engine, while the game logic runs on Mono, .NET platform.
Wiki, tutorials, sample codes. videos and a supportive forum will help you on your journey.

Languages: JavaScript, C#, and a dialect of Python named Boo
Price: Unity Basic + iOS – $400 (one time fee)
Unity Pro + iOS – $3000 (one time fee)
Apps built with Unity: Drift Mania, Paper Monsters or Einstein™ Brain Trainer HD

Appcelerator

Appcelerator Titanium lets you build iPad apps with HTML5, CSS and Javascript, while supporting native UI and hardware controls.
Based on Eclipse IDE, Titanium Studio is where you will build your applications. You can test them in the iOS simulator or directly on your device. Some great advantages are the Git and debugger integrations, automated code completion and app packaging.
Titanium will work just great for all kind of apps, such as ebooks, simple games, music or utility apps etc.

Languages: HTML5, CSS and Javascript,
Price: Free or $49/month
Apps built with Titanium: NBC for iPad, Terminology or ScoutMob

Other Development Platforms

PhoneGap

-HTML5, Javascript and CSS3
-basic native features
-easy to use, intuitive development environment
-many helpful additional tools and plugins
-great support
Price: Free and 3 other paid versions (from $120/year to $900/year)
Apps built with PhoneGap: City Touch, Doodle Duel, 1000 Best Games

Marmalade

-native features
-Objective-C or HTML5 with CSS3 and Javascript
-UI frameworks
-EDK to directly use iOS Apis
Price: Free and 3 other paid versions ($149/year , $499/year and PRO)
Apps created with Marmalade: Need for Speed Shft, WorkSnug or Golf Battle 3D

Shiva 3D

-3D Game Engine
-basic native features
-Objective-C
-great visuals and game physics
Price: $400 or $2000
Apps built with Shiva 3D: Texting of the Bread, Zombilution