Today’s Apps Gone Free: Glowfish, HABU Music, JumiCam And More.

by Casey Tschida from appadvice.

Help a luminous sea creature rescue his pals and lady friend from the evil Dr. Urchin in MumboJumbo’s underwater adventure game, Glowfish. We also have an app that will help you discover music to match your mood, and an app that allows you to stream live video from your webcam.

All app prices are subject to change at any time and without notice regardless of stated free duration. Price changes are solely under the control of the developers.

iPhone:

JumiCam Webcam streamer ($4.99 → Free, 11.6 MB): This remote monitoring app allows you to stream live video and audio from multiple webcams. You must first download and install the JumiController companion app for your PC. Then launch JumiCam on your iPhone and it will auto-detect all PCs within range. The app allows you to stream video and bi-directional audio over Wi-Fi, 3G, or Edge. It also includes support for unlimited cameras and locations, password protection, the ability to share camera feeds, and the ability to snap, save, and share photos.

JumiCam Webcam streamer is available for free for a limited time. It has a 3.5-star rating with a total of 821 ratings.

DrawRace – Turbo Edition ($0.99 → Free, 16.5 MB): Speed around courses by tracing your vehicle’s path in this line-drawing racing game. To speed ahead of your opponents, you need to determine the best possible path and drag your finger across the screen at the optimal speed. The game includes 20 courses, a single-player mode, and local and online multiplayer modes.

DrawRace – Turbo Edition is available for free for a limited time. It has a 3.5-star rating with a total of 3144 ratings.

Glowfish (Full) ($0.99 → Free, 70.4 MB): Explore the depths of the ocean to help Glowfish rescue his sea pals and lady friend from the evil Dr. Urchin in this adventure game. You’re able to guide Glowfish through the water via an on-screen joystick. Collect your sea pals by swimming over them, and they will tail and assist you on your adventure. The game includes 50 levels, eight upgradable friends to discover, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Glowfish (Full) is available for free for a limited time. It has a 5-star rating with a total of 157 ratings.

Luxor 2 ($2.99 → Free, 63.1 MB): The follow-up title to MumboJumbo’s popular orb launching game, Luxor. Luxor 2 features everything you know and love about the original, but it kicks things up a notch by introducing a variety of brand new power-ups. The game includes three modes, 88 levels, 13 power-ups, stat tracking and personal rankings, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Luxor 2 is available for free for a limited time. It has a 3.5-star rating with a total of 38 ratings.

Taxiball ($0.99 → Free, 8.4 MB): Take control of the yellow Taxiball and try to collect as much fare as you can before time expires in this arcade game. All you have to do is tilt your iDevice to guide your Taxiball around the environments. Pick up passengers by rolling up next to them, and then safely reach the checkpoints to collect your cash. The game includes nine cities to roll through, in-game awards, global leaderboards, and an all-vocal soundtrack by beatboxer Wes Carroll.

Taxiball is available for free for a limited time. It has a 3.5-star rating with a total of 210 ratings.

Universal:

Monkey Drum Deluxe ($3.99 → Free, 16.0 MB): Keep your child entertained with this music creation app. Your child is able to create their own unique tunes just by tapping away on instruments or by filling in squares on a grid to create patterns. They can then sit back and watch as little creatures of the forest repeat their tunes. The app includes six different instruments to choose from, three customizable characters, and the ability to save and remix songs.

Monkey Drum Deluxe is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 12 ratings.

Move the Turtle. Programming for kids ($2.99 → Free, 24.9 MB): An educational game that will teach your child the basics of creating computer programs by utilizing intuitive graphic commands. The object of the game is to get the friendly turtle to perform tasks by adding, adjusting, and reordering commands. The app includes three chapters, 27 levels, and the ability to freely compose programs.

Move the Turtle. Programming for kids is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 26 ratings.

HABU music ($0.99 → Free, 2.2 MB): An app that creates playlists to match your every mood. The app’s interface consists of a whole bunch of circles, each of which represents a different mood. As it analyzes your music, the circles will fill in with color based on how many songs match the profile. Tap on a circle to listen to all of the songs that match its specific mood. The app includes 100 granular moods and 25 group moods, the ability to share your mood map via Facebook, and a discovery mode.

HABU music is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 67 ratings.

Word Seek HD ($1.99 → Free, 18.5 MB): Discover as many words as possible within a limited amount of time in this classic word search game. You can choose from two different grid sizes and a variety of time limits. At the end of each game, you’re able to see how many words were possible with the given tile set and how many you actually discovered. The game also includes badges to collect, and online multiplayer via Game Center.

Word Seek HD is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 2709 ratings.

CarrotFantasy ($0.99 → Free, 73.1 MB): An adorable fixed-path tower defense game. Your job is to protect the helpless carrot from being eaten by wave after wave of monsters. You’re able to place towers anywhere outside of the path with a tap, and you can upgrade them with the points earned for taking out the monsters. The game includes three environments, 48 levels, 12 boss levels, 14 towers, more than 50 monsters and 100 sound effects, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

CarrotFantasy is available for free for a limited time. It has a 5-star rating with a total of 15 ratings.

Retro Racing ($0.99 → Free, 5.5 MB): A top-down retro racer where you must skid, slide, spin, and speed by your opponents to claim first place. You’re able to steer your car via on-screen controls, and you must try to find the fastest path around the track to gain an advantage over your opponents. Grab the many different power-ups littered across the track to upgrade your car temporarily. The game includes single-player and split screen multiplayer modes, 18 tracks, three cars to choose from, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Retro Racing is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 198 ratings.

iPad:

Intro to Geography – North America, by Montessorium ($1.99 → Free, 21.5 MB): An interactive educational app that will teach your child all about the countries in North America. The app includes 10 different activities, all of which are laid out on an interactive road map. Through these activities your child will learn to identify and discern the shapes of countries, recognize flags, develop spatial relationships, and further developer their motor skills and vocabulary.

Intro to Geography – North America, by Montessorium is available for free today only (08/31). It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 81 ratings.

Cassette to iPod Converter will digitize your tapes.

by Kelly Hodgkins from tuaw.

If you have a box of cassette tapes left over from your Walkman days, then you might want to pay a visit to Hammacher Schlemmer. The online retailer is selling a cassette to iPod converter that could help you finally clear those aging tapes from your shelves.

The device is a cradle case with a cassette player that attaches to your iPhone or iPod touch. A free app lets you convert the incoming audio from the player to an mp3 file, which can then be downloaded to your computer. If you like the sound of tape-based music, you can even attach your phone to some speakers and listen to the cassette while it plays.

The Cassette to iPod Converter is available for US$80 and will ship at the end of September.

iOS 6 preview: Guided Access and single-app mode.

 

by Rene Ritchie from imore.

Something that Apple absolutely does not get enough credit for is their longstanding — and outstanding — support for accessibility features, and iOS 6 is no exception. To the already impressive list of accessibility features, Apple is adding Guided Access, a way to lock the iPad into a single app, to help people with autism or similar challenges work independently, without having to worry about accidentally closing an app. It also provides single-app mode functionality for everyone, which makes the iPad far more useful for everything from school tests to mall kiosks.

Here’s how Apple describes accessibility and Guided Access in iOS 6:

iOS 6 comes with even more features to make it easier for people with vision, hearing, learning, and mobility disabilities to get the most from their iOS devices. Guided Access helps students with disabilities such as autism remain on task and focused on content. It allows a parent, teacher, or administrator to limit an iOS device to one app by disabling the Home button, as well as restrict touch input on certain areas of the screen. VoiceOver, the revolutionary screen reader for blind and low-vision users, is now integrated with Maps, AssistiveTouch, and Zoom. And Apple is working with top manufacturers to introduce Made for iPhone hearing aids that will deliver a power-efficient, high-quality digital audio experience.

And here’s what they’ve shown off of it so far:

• Even dedicated, focused apps can have buttons or controls that, if unintentionally triggered, can alter app behavior or even exit the app completely.

• By activating Guided Access, you can toggle off hardware buttons like the Home button, touch controls completely, or shake controls.

• You can also selectively disable only certain controls by circling them with your finger.

• iOS will then disable those controls so they can no longer be triggered in-app.

• With the Home button disabled, Guided Access also becomes single-app mode. So, for example, a school could provide exams on an iPad without having to worry about students leaving the app, looking up the answers on Safari, and then cheating on the test.

• Beyond schools, it could serve as a kiosk-mode for museums, stores, restaurants, and numerous other types of businesses and institutions.

Taken by itself, Guided Access is another in a long line of excellent accessibilities features for iOS, in this case the iPad in particular. Combined with single-app, or kiosk-mode, it becomes a powerful tool for any school, business, or institution. It lets them provide highly specific applications, in highly controlled environments, keeping things simple yet still powerful for users and customers.

It’s not protected access mode or guest mode, but it’s important and it’s there.

 

 

 

 

Take iPhone Video Recording To The Next Level With MoviePro.

by Brent Dirk from appadvice.

If you’re not happy with the number of video recording options available in the stock Camera app, MoviePro may be for you.

To say the app is feature rich would be an understatement. Users can select video resolution from the standard 1920×1080 all the way down to 320×240 on the iPhone 4S.

And users can also select the frame rate that video is recorded at – from the standard 30 fps to 1 fps.

Along with the ability to choose the aspect ratio and recording quality, users can even capture still photos while recording, which definitely can come in handy.

Some of the other great features include timer-triggered recording, the ability to send to Dropbox, YouTube, and Facebook directly through the app in full resolution, and the ability to select the recording duration.

MoviePro is designed for the iPhone/iPod touch, but is compatible with the iPad. Unfortunately, only some of the features are available for iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4G users. For a limited time, it is available in the App Store for $0.99.

In just a few minutes of using MoviePro, I am definitely impressed. While I might not use all of the options consistently, I was pleased with the video quality and ease-of-use of the app.

Garmin’s iOS Apps To Include City-Centric, Google 3D Maps Features This Fall.

Garmin has announced new updates to their popular line of navigation apps for iOS. Announced at the IFA Consumer Electronics Show in Berlin, Germany, these updates largely focus on city travel, and include new Google Maps features announced earlier this year.

With Urban Guidance, users are able to integrate public transportation into their route, and include detailed intineraries of transit stops. The new feature will be available for the StreetPilot Onboard iPhone app and the NAVIGON app for iPhone as an in-app purchase. Originally priced at $4.99, the Urban Guidance feature will be available at a reduced price of $2.99 for the first two weeks.

Last Mile Navigation, by contrast, automatically saves the location of the user’s car when continuing by foot. Naturally, this makes it easier to find your car once you return. This functionality is already available for the NAVIGON Android app but will be new to the NAVIGON iPhone app with the upcoming update. The Last Mile feature will not be available for the Garmin StreetPilot iPhone app at this point.

Finally, Garmin is implementing Google Street View and Panorama View 3D technology into their StreetPilot Onboard app for iPhone. The latter will be available as an in-app purchase of $9.99. Google Street View and Panorama View 3D are already available for the NAVIGON Android and iPhone apps but will now also be added to the Garmin StreetPilot Onboard app for iPhone.

In June, Apple announced that they would be replacing Google Maps functionality in their native Maps app. Instead, Cupertino will be using technology from Garmin’s main competitor, TomTom.

According to Joern Watzke, vice president mobile phone business at Garmin:

Taking into account the specific needs of city navigation, our upcoming app updates streamline directions for driving, walking and public transportation. Users can now get directions for different forms of locomotion, all integrated in one app right on their smartphone.

Garmin will release updates for the StreetPilot Onboard iPhone app, and the NAVIGON apps for iPhone in the fall.

Garmin StreetPilot Onboard for iPhone is available in two versions:Garmin U.S.A. ($49.99) and Garmin N. America for $59.99. NAVIGON for iPhone is available in the following versions: U.S West ($29.99), U.S. East($29.99), USA ($49.99), and North America ($59.99).

Sharp Might Invest $1 Billion Into Their Plant To Boost Apple’s Display Supply.

by Buster Heine from cultofmac.

The success of the iPhone hasn’t been a huge money maker for just Apple. Component manufacturers make a killing off it as well because it means they’re able to sell millions of units for each iPhone launch as Apple gogbles up all available supply.

While Apple’s relationship with Samsung as a components supplier has become strained, other companies are ready to join the fight and invest some serious moolah to help Apple and secure better contracts themselves. Sharp, seeing a big opportunity, says they may invest $1 Billion into their plant to boost capacity for Apple’s iPhone displays.

The news comes after Hon Hai – the parent company of Foxconn – has tried to secure a stake in Sharp Corp. The two companies share ownership of Sharp’s LCD panel factory in western Japan, but Hon Hai wants to help Sharp even more and use their expertise to increase effiiciency to make more display panels for the iPhone.

Hon Hai’s strong relationship with Apple through Foxconn might help Sharp’s factories become profitable again because they know how to produce high quality products for cheap. The main struggle Sharp faces is that a lot of Sharp’s components are expensive because they are made by Japanese companies.

Terry Gou is trying to strike a deal that would give Hon Hai a 9.9% ownership stake in Sharp. Sharp’s Sakai factory produces credit card-thin panels of LCD displays, but their output levels have been as low as 30percent capacity recently.

Control your home from your iPhone/iPad with Belkin’s WeMo system.

by Cam Bunton from todaysiphone.

This weekend the IFA show will be kicking off in Berlin, Germany. You probably gathered as much from the onslaught of pre-event announcements making their way online over the past few days. One that caught my eye came through from Belkin yesterday. The UK based tech firm has released a new range of connected accessories that help control your home environment.

The WeMe range features three key elements: WeMo Switch ($49.99), WeMo Switch + Motion ($99.99) and WeMo Baby ($99.99). The main hub of the range is the WeMo Switch. It’s what Belkin calls the “building block” of the gathering. The Switch connects to your home wireless network and is the central point of the entire WeMo system. Once it’s connected to your network, you can attach any electrical product to it and switch it on or off from anywhere, or even set it to a schedule from your iDevice.

For instance, you could have a light or lamp in your living set to turn on at set times during the day. The other scenario (more likely in my home) is if you’ve forgotten to switch it off at night, you can do so from your bedroom without having to go all the way back downstairs to switch it off. I know, it’s laziness, but it’s super cool. Add the “+Motion” option and you can have devices set to switch on when they detect motion. Example: your TV/Console/HiFi could turn on when you enter your living room/bedroom. In fact, you don’t even have to be in the house. You can control it all when you’re out shopping, at work, or anywhere you can get a data connection.

If you’re a parent of an infant or infants for that matter, you could be intrigued by the WeMo Baby system. In simple terms: it’s a baby monitor. I’d love this to have been released 3 years ago. Sadly, I’m a little too late to take advantage. But, it’s looks fantastic. It’s stylish, modern design is a marvel. It also is controllable from your iPhone. As you can tell, I’m a little excited by all this. Check the press release below for more information or hit the link to the WeMo page on Belkin’s site.

Full Press Release: 

Belkin announces European launch of WeMo home automation range at IFA 2012, Berlin

(Rushden, UK). – 29 August, 2012 – Belkin, creators of people-inspired products, today unveiled the WeMo range of modular, Wi-Fi-based home automation products at IFA 2012 in Berlin. WeMo is a family of simple, ingenious products that allow you to control home electronics remotely, turning them on or off, triggering them with motion, or even putting them on a schedule.

Bringing your home to your fingertips, WeMo is a scalable and customisable solution that makes home automation simple and inexpensive. WeMo works with a dedicated app to enable you to control individual or multiple devices from your iPhone, iPad or iPod, so you can turn off a lamp from the other side of the house, or turn on the living room lights from the garden.

The new WeMo range comprises three products: WeMo Switch, WeMo Switch + Motion and WeMo Baby.

The WeMo Switch is a small device that plugs directly into any electrical socket and serves as the main building block for WeMo. Once the Switch is connected to the home Wi-Fi network, any device plugged into it can then be turned on or off from anywhere, whether at home or on the go with the WeMo app. The app also enables users to put devices on a timed schedule, so they can be turned on or off at pre-set times.

The WeMo Switch + Motion adds a sensor that detects motion within 3 metres and will turn on or off anything plugged into the switch when activated. The WeMo app tells any device plugged into the corresponding WeMo Switch what to do when motion is sensed. The app also allows users to create rules or schedules based on customised intervals, such as turning off a lamp if no motion is sensed in the room after 10 minutes.

WeMo Baby enables users to listen to their baby on their iPhone, iPad or iPod with clear digital sound from anywhere in the home or outside. Working with the WeMo Baby app and existing WiFi router, one or more users can monitor sounds from the baby’s room, so you can listen from the lounge, kitchen, garden, or even if you’re away from home. WeMo Baby even allows users to receive cry notifications, as well as access your baby’s cry history with an upgraded app.

WeMo also features integration with IFTTT (if this then that), an online service that allows you to create tasks combining different Internet-based services from one platform. Through the WeMo channel on IFTTT, you can use a WeMo Switch or Motion to trigger a variety of services, including email, weather, phone calls, Twitter, Facebook, etc. For example, you can set up a motion sensor by your front door and use IFTTT to create a rule that will send a text message to your phone anytime motion is sensed.

WeMo Switch (F7C027) – £39.99 / €49.99

• ·        A pug that becomes a programmable on and off switch for any household device

• Accessible from within the home Wi-Fi network, and anywhere else you have an internet connection, either Wi-Fi or via GPRS/3G
• Works in tandem with WeMo Motion, or as a stand-alone device
• Modular system makes it easy to add additional WeMo devices
• Works with iPhone 3GS upwards, iPad and iPod touch 3^rd generation
• Creates schedules for devices to turn on or off
• Free WeMo app for iOS available from the App Store
• Available in selected UK retailers and online from mid-September

WeMo Switch + Motion (F5Z0340) – £79.99 / €99.99

• ·        Detects movement so devices plugged into the WeMo Motion can be programmed to react to motion

• 1.8 metre power cable and 3 metre, 120° motion sensitivity range allow for optimal placement of sensor
• Accessible from within the home Wi-Fi network, and anywhere else you have an internet connection, either Wi-Fi or via GPRS/3G
• Modular system makes it easy to add additional WeMo devices
• Motion sensor sold bundled with WeMo Switch, not available separately
• Works with iPhone 3GS upwards, iPad and iPod touch 3^rd generation
• Free WeMo app for iOS available from the App Store
• Available in selected UK retailers and online from mid-September

WeMo Baby (F8J007) – £79.99 / €99.99

• ·        Allows you to monitor your baby from anywhere over Wi-Fiwith iPhone 3GS upwards, iPad and iPod touch 3^rd generation
• ·        Offers clear digital sound
• ·        Listening access from multiple devices simultaneously
• ·        Unlimited remote listening
• ·        Additional features available with upgraded app (Powered by Evoz): cry notification – SMS/Push/Email alerts based on cry duration, cry history, crying insights and patterns, sleep tips and coaching
• ·        Free WeMo app for iOS available from the App Store
• ·        Available in Europe from 1^st November.

Today’s Apps Gone Free: Extreme Skater, Doodlecast Pro, Robbery Bob And More.

by Casey Tschida from appadvice.

Go extreme skateboarding down treacherous hills in Miniclip’s side-scrolling arcade game, Extreme Skater. We also have a productivity app that allows you to throw together entire presentations in a snap, and a top-down stealth game from Chillingo.

All app prices are subject to change at any time and without notice regardless of stated free duration. Price changes are solely under the control of the developers.

iPhone:

Animation Desk™ for iPhone ($1.99 → Free, 48.8 MB): Create your own animated works of art with this entertainment app. It features an intuitive interface that’s meant to look and feel like a professional animator’s work environment, providing you with quick access to all of your tools. The app includes layer support, dynamic and static backgrounds, audio support, stamps, a frame manager, onion skinning, and the ability to share your work via YouTube and Facebook.

Animation Desk™ for iPhone is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 78 ratings.

Extreme Skater ($0.99 → Free, 31.0 MB): Go extreme skateboarding down huge hills and through lush environments in this side-scrolling arcade game. You’re able to jump into the air by swiping up on the screen and perform crazy tricks by tilting. Grab coins along your journey to unlock all kinds of new content. The game includes two worlds, 78 levels, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Extreme Skater is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 970 ratings.

AnyShape – Photo Editor ($1.99 → Free, 3.4 MB): This powerful photo editor allows you to crop even the most irregular shapes. The app’s main selling point is its highly effective bezier selection tool, which allows you to crop almost any shape by adding points all over the screen. The app also includes 15 professional photo enhancement tools, the ability to select the inverse of your image, 30 colors to choose from, 20 photo filters, undo, and the ability to process images up to 25MB in size.

AnyShape – Photo Editor is available for free for a limited time. It has a 5-star rating with a total of 2 ratings.

Universal:

National Gallery, London HD ($1.99 → Free, 265.8 MB): A collection of 1,635 of the best paintings stored in the National Gallery in London. The collection can be broken up by genre, name, or century. You can also search for specific paintings by artist or name. Paintings can be saved as favorites, viewed in a slideshow, and even saved to your library. The app also includes 20 classical melodies that are played as background music.

National Gallery, London HD is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 29 ratings.

Word Tumble ($1.99 → Free, 19.2 MB): String together letters to create words and then watch them tumble in this simple word game. You’re able to gain more points by not only including multiple letter tiles in your words but also by attaching letter tiles diagonally. The game includes five modes, and achievements for finding groups of related words.

Word Tumble is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 116 ratings.

Robbery Bob™ ($0.99 → Free, 69.7 MB): Help Bob steal his way out of the crime life in this top-down stealth game. 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, loads of levels, the ability to upgrade Bob’s skills, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Robbery Bob™ is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 334 ratings.

iPad:

Extreme Skater HD ($2.99 → Free, 33.8 MB): Go extreme skateboarding down huge hills and through lush environments in this side-scrolling arcade game. You’re able to jump into the air by swiping up on the screen and perform crazy tricks by tilting. Grab coins along your journey to unlock all kinds of new content. The game includes two worlds, 78 levels, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Extreme Skater HD is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 147 ratings.

Doodlecast Pro ($1.99 → Free, 7.5 MB): Create presentations for almost any occasion with this productivity app. It allows you record your voice as you draw, and then share your presentation as a video. The app includes multiple brush and pointer styles, the ability to import your own images or choose from one of the many built-in backgrounds, undo and redo, and support for multiple pages.

Doodlecast Pro is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 14 ratings.

Cursed Treasure HD ($2.99 → Free, 31.5 MB): Defend your ill-gotten gains in this fixed-path tower defense game. Play as a ruthless overlord that has amassed a treasure of stolen gems, and try to defend them from the heroes trying to take them back. You’re able to place towers along the path just by dragging them into place. Towers can be upgraded with the loot earned during battle. The game includes 30 levels, 12 tower types, 33 skills to unlock, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Cursed Treasure HD is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 90 ratings.

iColorama ($2.99 → Free, 16.8 MB): Edit and enhance your photos with all kinds of filters and effects with this photography app. You’re able to apply filters and effects by swiping your finger over areas of your photo, or you can choose from more than 200 presets and make quick work of it. When you’re project is finished, you can share it via email, Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.

iColorama is available for free for a limited time. It has a 5-star rating with a total of 2 ratings.

Parallels 8 Brings Tighter Integration Between OS X and Windows.

by Matthew Panzarino from thenextweb.

If you’ve ever fired up a virtual machine on your Mac, then there’s a good chance you did so with one of the top two suites out there: Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion. Both are perennial favorites among Macheads and there’s a lot to like in both suites.

But Parallels 8 throws the gauntlet in a major way, offering closer integration between OS X and Windows than I’ve ever seen in a virtual machine environment. The team pulled out all of the stops to make using Windows apps and even entire desktops a seamless and pleasant experience on any Mac, including the new Retina MacBook Pro.

Right out of the gate, Parallels 8 brings the big guns, fully supporting a Retina Windows 7 experience on your shiny new MacBook Pro. If you’ve tried it, you know that Windows running in Bootcamp isn’t Retina-ready by a longshot. That means that the Parallels team had to figure out a way to render its own version of a Retina enhanced Windows desktop, and it did, Windows apps and most UI elements look great at Retina resolutions when used as a VM.

But Retina isn’t the only thing that Parallels 8 brings to Windows. You also get Windows apps built right into your Mountain Lion launchpad, clearly marked with the Parallels bars so you know that they’re just guests. Each app can be run in the Windows virtual machine or in  seamless Coherence mode that lets you run them in a window right alongside your Mac apps. The apps can be run in full-screen as well, with complete support for Mission Control.

They’ve even pulled some fancy tricks with the mouse cursor. If you move at speed toward the edge of a VM window, it will pass over the border without pause. If, however, you’re moving more slowly, it will stop at the edge of the window. This lets you hit those tricky hot corners and side pixels that are so prevalent in Windows 8.

The app-by-app integration doesn’t stop there, though. There’s an ‘open in IE’ button added to Safari for you so that you can open pages hard coded to work in Internet Explorer seamlessly without even having to dip into your VM to launch it. Apps like PowerPoint also work perfectly in presentation mode, letting you mirror a slideshow right from inside a VM. If you want to start a new mail in Outlook that already has a picture attached, you can just drag an image right onto the Outlook icon, just as you do with Mail.app.

Beyond individual apps, a bunch more of Mountain Lion’s most distinctive features are also supported in Parallels 8.

You can use Mountain Lion’s new voice dictation feature in any Windows app that accepts text. This behavior mimics the way that it works natively in OS X so well that the effect is almost completely seamless, it just works.

They’ve also hooked Parallels up to Notification Center, allowing Windows apps to send notifications out to the center instead of their standard alerts in Windows. Their icon, superimposed with the Parallels bars, even appears right in the notification. It’s really an incredible implementation.

You can also drag and drop any file right between your VM and your OS X machine, or vice-versa. This is one of the most requested features for any VM user, so it’s nice to see it arrive in the new Parallels.

All the stock Mountain Lion gestures are also supported in any of your unlimited allowance of Virtual Machines. Any changes made to keyboard language in OS X automatically sync up with Windows as well, it’s all very slick.

Parallels Desktop 8 also gets a nice performance boost over version 7. Parallels says it’s up to 30% faster for read/write operations, 30% faster for games and up to 25% faster on boot, suspend, shutdown and resume actions.

You can run Parallels from a USB stick, and it also supports downloading the Windows 8 Release Preview right from inside the new VM wizard.

Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac is available starting today as an upgrade for current Parallels Desktop for Mac users only for $49.99. New customers will have to wait until September 4th when they can get it in Apple stores, or a bunch of other online and in-store outlets.

Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac is $79.99, and the Student Edition will be $39.99. Parallels 8 also comes in a Switch to Mac Edition with cables and special instructions for switchers at $99.99.

If you’re currently using Parallels competitor VMware Fusion, they’ll also give you the $49.99 upgrade price. There are also a bunch of subscription and enterprise options.

If you bought Parallels 7 for Mac any time after July 25th, you’ll get a free upgrade at no charge.

Keep Your Kids Entertained with These Educational iPad Video Apps.

by Juli from padgadget.

It’s no secret that kids are naturally drawn to iPads, which can work to your favor. If you have an upcoming car trip or doctor’s appointment and need to keep your kids entertained, download one of these video apps that are fun and exciting to watch, but also educational. Your kids will be little angels, quietly watching entertaining videos – and as a bonus, they might just learn a thing or two.

PBS Kids Video (Free) – The PBS kids app is the gold standard in educational video content for kids. This app has more than 1,000 videos from top PBS shows, like Curious George, Sesame Street, and Dinosaur Train. This app provides a kid-friendly viewing experience, and the app adds new content each and every week. You can also access your local PBS TV schedule, and keep track of all your kids shows right in the app. PBS has several great shows that all have an underlying educational message.

Sprout Games & Videos (Free) – Sprout is a 24-hour preschool channel that’s designed for kids and parents to watch together. This app comes equipped with shows, activities, and games to play, recreating the experience of SproutOnline.com. This app has a video player where kids can watch their favorite Sprout clips, plus two games with Sprout characters, cute animations, funny voiceovers, and more. New videos are added to this app on a regular basis, so there’s always something new for kids to watch.

Pinch Video (Free) – This app is a bit of a stretch in the educational video category, but it is a fun video addition that will encourage kids to think creatively and experiment. Pinch Video is actually a cartoon music video creator that allows children to become the music video director, telling a fun 3-D character what to wear, when to dance, and controlling the cameras, the scenes, and the special effects. This app includes fun music, and is perfect for kids that are aspiring musicians, directors or dancers.

Gube: Kid Safe Videos ($3.99) – This ultra useful app from Shacked Software provides parents and kids with a catalog of pre-screened, moderated and safe yet fun YouTube videos to watch, turning the iPad into a fantastic learning and entertainment device. The app includes videos that are appropriate for young children (infants up to grade school), and it will prevent kids from watching content that is inappropriate. It does, however, provide a huge library of videos so kids can pick out exactly what they want to watch all on their own.

BabyTV Mobile HD (Free) – This last selection is an app that’s designed for babies and toddlers, featuring content from the BabyTV channel. This app has hundreds of episodes, so kids can watch their favorite episodes wherever they are. With a $4.99 subscription, parents can download videos to the iPad and store them so they can be watched even when offline, without the need for a Wi-Fi or 3G connection. This will keep small children entertained at home, in the car, and even on long flights. Plus it’s filled with cute, educational content, making it well worth the subscription price.