Today’s Apps Gone Free: Tread Of The Dead, Land-a Panda, Notes On A Roll And More.

Fight off the zombie horde by throwing everything you’ve got at them in the tilt-based arcade game, Tread of the Dead. We also have a physics puzzler where you must help a lonely panda find a partner, and a note-taking app that allows you to record your thoughts on a roll of toilet paper.

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:

Land-a Panda ($0.99 → Free, 15.1 MB): Help a lonely panda named Yang Guang meet his dream partner in this physics-based puzzle game. Launch Yang Guang from stationary and moving cannons just by tapping on them to get him safely from one side of the screen to the other. Collect the three coins in each level to impress his partner even more. The game includes seven worlds, 140 levels, all kinds of different obstacles, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Land-a Panda is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 641 ratings.

SpeakToSnooze ($0.99 → Free, 14.5 MB): Control your alarm clock without ever touching your iPhone with this handy utility app. You’re able to create multiple alarms and attach any one of the five included tones. The moment your alarm sounds, you can snooze or disable it with your voice. You can also set a “I have to get up by” time, which plays a diabolically annoying sound and disables your snooze.

SpeakToSnooze is available for free today only (09/30). It has a 5-star rating with a total of 28 ratings.

Universal:

Tread of the Dead ($0.99 → Free, 49.0 MB): Try to survive the zombie apocalypse by throwing different weapons at the approaching horde in this arcade game. The camera flies over the zombies at the beginning of each level to give you an idea of what you have to deal with. Your character then chucks your chosen weapon through the air and you must guide it into the pack of zombies to take them out. You’re given bonus points for creating combos and having unused weapons. The game includes five modes, 100 levels, tilt and swipe controls, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Tread of the Dead is available for free for a limited time. It has a 5-star rating with a total of 48 ratings.

Stardust HD ($4.99 → Free, 48.0 MB): Interact with thousands of stardust particles to create beautiful works of art with this entertainment app. You’re able to manipulate the particles by tapping and dragging your fingers all over the screen. You can also adjust the amount of particles on the screen along with their size, tail length, speed, and color. The app includes a time freezing mode, the ability to snap a picture of your work, and multitouch support.

Stardust HD is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 10 ratings.

Notes on a Roll ($0.99 → Free, 7.8 MB): Record your thoughts on a roll of toilet paper with this note-taking app. It allows you to record text, picture, audio, and video notes. You can choose to include your location and attach a reminder to your note if necessary. The app also includes password protection, the ability to organize your notes within folders, and the ability to share your notes via Facebook, Twitter, or email.

Notes on a Roll is available for free today only (09/30). It has a 5-star rating with a total of 47 ratings.

iPad:

TypeDrawing for iPad V3.0 ($2.99 → Free, 2.2 MB): Draw with your words with this fun art creation app. Type a name or any kind of message you want into the empty field, and then just drag your finger across the screen to draw with it. The app includes a number of ways to customize your text thanks to its huge selection of fonts and colors, and size, spacing, and rotation options. You can also replay your drawings, and share them via Twitter or save them to your library. The app includes undo and redo, a color eyedropper tool, the ability to import photos as backgrounds, and a gallery view.

TypeDrawing for iPad V3.0 is available for free today only (09/30). It has a 4-star rating with a total of 287 ratings.

Source: AppAdvice.

Weekend iPad Wallpapers: Mountain Lion Desktop Images at iPad Retina Size.

This weekend’s iPad wallpaper picks are a few Mountain Lion desktop images resized for the new iPad’s retina display. The first one, shown above, is titled Blue and White – although I think White & Blue might be even more appropriate.

All three iPad wallpapers this week were shared by Brett Jordan (no relation) to our iPad Insight Flickr group. I’m hugely grateful to Brett – as he’s easily the most prolific contributor to our Flickr group, and regularly shares striking images for use on our iPad home and lock screens.

 

The next two wallpaper images for this week are Blue Swathes and Hills n Lakes:

I think all three look great on the iPad home screen, though my favorite for today is the Blue and White image.

 

 

Source: iPad Insight

If TV Guide is too boring, Zeebox might be the best new app for your iPad/iPhone.

If your iOS devices are your main platforms for checking what’s on TV, then chances are you’ve already formed an opinion about the new TV Guide app. The new design is slick, but does it pack the punch necessary to beat out newcomer Zeebox? 

The latest addition to the TV-related offerings of the App Store comes from Ernesto Schmitt—former EMI executive. It’s not to be thought of as a Netflix/Hulu+ competitor, but rather it’s an app to assist viewers who want to check out TV listings and make their viewing experience more social. The concept behind Zeebox seems pretty sound so long as the execution is there—but even better than the idea are the early supporters, which include the likes of HBO, Cinemax, NBCUniversal, and Comcast Cable.

Zeebox sounds like the kind of app that will require hands-on time to form an opinion, but this is how Schmitt puts it into words:

“As consumers continue to flock to social media and the web to experience a program beyond what is on the screen, zeebox gives content owners and programmers a direct line of communication, feedback and engagement that has never before been possible.”

So where do you stand with your current television viewing habits? Longing for this sort of companion app or perfectly content without it? From the App Store description, Zeebox is like “having a quiet, cool, incredibly well-connected companion right there on the sofa next to you.” Now who doesn’t want that?

Source: App Chronicles.

Emblem: OS X-Inspired Notifications For Your Jailbroken iPad.

A new jailbreak tweak to hit the Cydia Store is Emblem, which can apply OS X-style notifications to a jailbroken iPad.

After downloading and installing the tweak, incoming notifications will “pop-up” on the top-right of the iPad’s screen, just like how OS X notifications appear on a Mac. Touching such a notification launches the respective application (i.e., the Messages app for iMessage notifications), and swiping the notification dismisses it.

If more than one notification appears at the same time, Emblem will first display the notifications separately, and will then combine them to create one cluster of notifications. Swiping through this notification cluster will display each individual message, which is a nice touch.

All in all, Emblem is an impressive jailbreak tweak. If the iPad notification system doesn’t cut it for you, consider downloading and installing this replacement system from the Cydia Store (via the BigBoss repository). Currently, Emblem is available for $1.99.

Source: AppAdvice

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ESPN College Football.

One of the best things about using an iPad is the great apps that we can run on it. There are excellent apps for just about any purpose you can think of.

This pick is one for all of us who are fans of NCAA Football: ESPN College Football. The App Store page for it describes it as the ultimate, year-round companion for every college football fan.

Here are some of its key features:

• All new design for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch
• In-progress video alerts of the biggest plays pushed right to you moments after they happen.
• Easy access to live games on WatchESPN
• Personalized My Games scoreboard featuring any college football game you care about
• Comprehensive editorial coverage featuring game previews, recaps, analysis and highlights.
• Signature ESPN analysis videos from our college football team plus exclusive clips from College GameDay, ESPNU and more
• Be the expert with College GameDay voting, video features and matchup breakdowns.
• Team by team Twitter content and discussions.
• Breaking news alerts, scoring alerts, potential upsets and video highlights and analysis alerts
• Bowl Bound section with weekly projections from Brad Edwards for every bowl game
• Team alerts for all 124 FBS schools

I’ve been using the app over the last couple of weeks, as the college football season has got into gear, and it’s a fun resource. It’s got good content during the week and superb content on Saturdays of course.

It’s got lots of good team-specific content if you want to keep a close eye on your favorite or favorites. You can browse through all the major conferences and teams in them. For each team you get news, videos, team leader stats, their full season schedule, and tweets and discussion about them.

You can set score alerts for games you’re particularly interested in – with checkboxes for things like start of game, end of quarters, score alerts and more.The Top Stories section is always full of good video highlights, headline news stories, and previews of some of the week’s biggest games.

I like the Make Your Picks feature – where you can use a single tap to pick the winner in some of the top games and then see the overall results.

The app has some banner ads at the bottom of its screens, but I really haven’t found them distracting or bothersome.

This app isn’t going to keep you away from a TV set on Saturdays, but just as ESPN advertises it, it’s a pretty fine companion app on game days and throughout the week.

Here’s an App Store link for ESPN College Football.

Source: ipadinsight.

Google Maps Web App In Fullscreen On iOS 6.

I’ve been lucky enough to have generally decent experiences with Apple’s new Maps app. I’ve had my share of quirks, but the data is definitely ‘right enough’ in my areas for me to use it as my primary mapping tool.

But, every once in a while, I still find myself wanting to check to see if a restaurant or store is really where it says it is. So I use the Google Maps web app from my home screen once in a while. The frustration with that is that the app launches from the home screen with the Safari browser chrome still attached, which takes up space that could be used for more maps. And it uses Google’s web app icon, not the old classic iOS 5 Maps app icon, which I like a lot better.

Well, web developer Ben Guild felt the same and way back in July, he designed two special installable web profiles (mobile configurations) for the iPhone and iPad that will install the Google Maps web app to your home screen with the original iOS 5 icon and launch the apps full-screen. And they’re super easy to get running, just tap a link and hit the install button on the profile.

Here’s what the icon will look like and a comparison shot of the web app running from Guild’s shortcut vs. from the standard web clip:

 

To install the profiles, visit Guild’s blog here and click on the appropriate link for your device. Enter your passcode and you’ve got a fullscreen, original icon Maps app ready to go.

Source: thenextweb.

Pinky Fingers-On With The Nano SIM Adapter.

This kit has almost every option covered.

Today the iPhone 5 goes on sale in The Rest Of The World, and it goes out into that world naked and empty, free of contracts and lock-ins. Yes, you can hook up with your favorite carrier and get a subsidized handset, but real men go commando.

And in this case, unless you have some forward-thinking telcos in your country, “going commando” means “cutting your own SIM.”

Which is why we’re taking a timely look at this natty Nano SIM adapter, which will let you put just about any SIM into any phone.

The kit consists of three adapters: NanoSIM-to-MicroSIM (the smallest one in the photo); NanoSIM-to-SIM; and MicroSIM-to-SIM. You can even stack the smallest one into the biggest one to emulate the medium-sized one. There’s a joke about Goldilocks in there somewhere.

It’s worth noting here that the full-sized SIM isn’t the one you think it is. The standard thumbnail-sized card we have all used and hated for years is in fact a mini SIM. The full-sized one is as big as a credit card, and was used in some phones that I actually owned. That a credit-card sized slice of plastic could fit into a phone will give you an idea of how big those handsets were.

I’ll skip the usual The Good and The Bad sections for this review. Suffice it to say that these cards work just fine, and that they’re dirt cheap, at just €2 for a set, or around $2.60. They come from Germany, though, so you’ll likely be paying quite a bit more than that for the shipping.

Instead, I’ll point out a rather excellent extra feature of this kit: you can use it as a template to cut your iPhone 4/S SIM, or any other SIM, down to fit in the iPhone 5.

I’m a veteran of SIM chopping, having skirted O2 Germany’s stupid rules that would only sell pre-paid iPad SIMs to residents by buying a regular SIM, an X-Acto and a metal ruler, plus sundry other SIM-slicing exploits.

Homunculus-tastic!

The trick is to make the cuts so that you trim off excess plastic, while leaving the metal contacts in the right spot for the iPhone’s internal contacts to touch them.

Previously, I have used another, correct-sized SIM to act as a guide. This can be hit-and-miss though. Way better is a SIM cutter. Next best is – you guessed it – an adapter.

Using this adapter you can draw the cutting lines on your old fat SIM just by putting one on top of the other. The only trick here is to make sure you get the card the right way up.

Then you’re on your own. You’ll need to transfer the various carrier settings over to the new phone for it to work, or you may be lucky enough to have it just work. Either way, you can always go back to your old phone using your adapter.

The Verdict

For the price, you really can’t beat this kit. For piece of mind alone it’s worth the money, and once you have it, it can sit in your wallet alongside your SIM-removal tool and wait for the time you need it. Build-quality is kind of moot in this case – it’s not like an adapter is going to take much of a beating – but this adapter is built just fine.

Source: Cult of Mac.

Today’s Apps Gone Free: CoinKeeper HD, Tiled, Nighty Night! HD And More.

Take control of your personal budget and savings with SMS Services’ easy to use finance app, CoinKeeper HD. We also have a feature-rich photo framing app, and an interactive bedtime app for kids.

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:

Flashlight & More ® (FlashlighM). ($0.99 → Free, 18.4 MB): A five-in-one utility app. It includes an instant-on flashlight, battery status meter, mirror, magnifying glass, and white noise machine. Each utility includes its own set of features as well, allowing you to send morse code, calculate the time left for different activities, zoom multiple levels, and listen to three different sounds to fall asleep.

Flashlight & More ® (FlashlighM). is available for free today only (09/29). It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 43 ratings.

Moments! – A Diary Entry to Frame Up Your Precious Moments($1.99 → Free, 32.0 MB): Capture all of the important moments in your life with this journaling app. When creating a new entry, you’re able to add a mood icon, weather, photos from your library, a doodle, a voice memo, and even attach music. Entries can be organized and discovered in a list view or via the built-in calendar. Your diary can also be locked with a passcode and backed up over Wi-Fi.

Moments! – A Diary Entry to Frame Up Your Precious Moments is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 365 ratings.

Insulterator – the insulting insult generator of talking insults($0.99 → Free, 31.6 MB): This entertainment app has no problem insulting your friends and family. Just enter someone’s name into the field at the top of the screen, slide the switch, and Insulterator will come up with a random zinger. The app can then speak the insult out loud, or you can share it via email or SMS. Insulterator includes over three million ways to insult your friends, the ability to add and delete your own words, four customizable voices, favorites, and six color themes

Insulterator – the insulting insult generator of talking insults is available for free for a limited time. It has a 5-star rating with a total of 14 ratings.

Groove Pillars: All Seasons ($3.99 → Free, 24.5 MB): A matching game with a bit of a twist. Instead of being able to swap any piece on the screen, you can only move those contained within the row at the very bottom to create vertical matches of three or more. The game includes two modes, three skins, and leaderboards via Game Center.

Groove Pillars: All Seasons is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 86 ratings.

Virtual City (Full) ($4.99 → Free, 61.9 MB): Build and manage your very own city in this simulation game from G5. As mayor, you’ll be tasked with everything from sending vehicles on delivery routes to upgrading buildings. The game includes 50 levels in five states, two modes, 18 mission scenarios, 25 types of goods to transport, more than 50 building types, 25 types of goods to transport, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Virtual City (Full) is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 1042 ratings.

Demolition Master: Project Implode All ($0.99 → Free, 27.1 MB): Become a demolition master by flattening structures using a limited amount of explosives in this physics-based puzzle game. Attach explosives to the structures by dragging and dropping them into place. Then just sit back and watch as they come tumbling down. The game includes 15 locations, 240 levels, and leaderboards via Game Center.

Demolition Master: Project Implode All is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 4281 ratings.

Universal:

Tiled ($0.99 → Free, 11.2 MB): A feature-rich photo framing app. You’re able to select from 72 frame templates and decorate each tile with different colors, patterns, and gradients. You can also add photos from your library to each tile, and edit and customize them with a variety of filters and customizable text. The app also includes four round border options, stickers, and the ability to share your creations via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Instagram, or email.

Tiled is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 8 ratings.

Synesthetic ($1.99 → Free, 17.2 MB): Ride down a vibrant tube and try to dodge all of the obstacles that are generated from the music in your library in this tilt-based game. You’re able to pick any non-DRM track from your library, and then speed down the tube while trying to dodge the obstacles. You’ll know if you hit one because the music will fade out. The game includes three modes per song, multiple color themes, two control schemes, and achievements via Game Center.

Synesthetic is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 61 ratings.

iPad:

Nighty Night! HD ($2.99 → Free, 137.9 MB): An interactive bedtime app for kids. Your child is able to put a variety of barnyard animals to bed by switching their lights off one by one. An animation will play for each of the seven interactive animals before their stalls go dark. By the time your child is finished putting all of the animals to bed, they should be ready to doze off themselves. The app includes beautiful 2D illustrations, melodic lullaby music, and actor Alistair Findlay as a story narrator.

Nighty Night! HD is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 706 ratings.

Virtual City HD (Full) ($6.99 → Free, 54.0 MB): Build and manage your very own city in this simulation game from G5. As mayor, you’ll be tasked with everything from sending vehicles on delivery routes to upgrading buildings. The game includes 50 levels in five states, two modes, 18 mission scenarios, 25 types of goods to transport, more than 50 building types, 25 types of goods to transport, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Virtual City HD (Full) is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 779 ratings.

CoinKeeper HD: personal finance app for budget, bills and expense tracking ($9.99 → Free, 26.9 MB): Take control of your budget and savings with this easy to use finance app. Before you’re able to generate a budget, you must first enter a monthly salary and create an account. You can then have the app automatically generate a budget for you, or you can manually enter the values. CoinKeeper features an intuitive gesture-driven interface that allows you to drag and drop coins to record transactions, and swipe to view more items or hide them. The app also includes reminders, the ability to set goals, gorgeous and detailed charts, password protection, and automatic daily server backups.

CoinKeeper HD: personal finance app for budget, bills and expense tracking is available for free today only (09/29). It has a 5-star rating with a total of 6 ratings.

Source: AppAdvice.

Facebook Messenger for iPhone goes 2.0, includes iPhone 5 support.

Facebook Messenger for iPhone has gone 4.0 and includes some UI improvements as well as support for the iPhone 5’s larger display. The conversation view has a new design and now you can swipe left anywhere in the app to quickly see a list of who’s available to send message. At the top of this list you can also mark the friends you message most as favorites. The speed and reliability of Facebook Messenger has also been noticeably improved.

I never thought the day would come where I started liking Facebook apps (no pun intended), but Facebook has been doing a great job with their recent updates. This update to Facebook Messenger is no exception.

Source: iMore.

iOS 6: iPhone 4 & 4S Users Report Excessive Battery Drain.

For many iPhone 4 and 4S owners, iOS 6 has been a mixed blessing. The features are terrific, but many users are reporting huge amounts of battery drainage that never was the case before the system upgrade.

As an iPhone 4S owner, I can tell you from first hand knowledge that my iPhone loses about ten percent of its charge per hour without doing anything but sitting in my pocket. I noticed that with the lock screen set to two minutes, and the screen turned off, the iPhone feels quite warm, as if it’s doing something.

Many have blamed this on the Maps app, but I haven’t even run the Maps app, so for me, that isn’t the problem.

An Apple Discussion board thread has more than 200 entries discussing this problem and some solutions that may provide a fix in rare cases, but it is no panacea for the great majority of users.

Here are a few comments from the Apple Support Boards:

Only1jb: “Used my 4S the same as every other work day. Usually come home with about 60 percent. Came home today with 17 percent.”

John Smith 1882: “100 percent at 8am this morning when I took it off the charger. 0 percent within four hours. No calls. No GPS, no Internet use, but battery was dropping one percent every few minutes. I turned off location services, no change.”

LocalBus: “Thinking of switching back to 5.1.1 now!! 9am to 10:30am the battery drain is 100 percent to 52 percent!!!!! Something is very wrong.”

There are scores of other  complaints.

Suggestions have been offered, such as turning off location services, Maps, Passbook etc. Nothing seems to work for more than one person.

The problem is not limited to those on the Support Discussion. This problem is not just being reported on the Support Site. On MacRumors forums, a user with the handle of DArsenault reported that “Battery life on the 4 is terrible. Since I’ve upgraded my phone drains rapidly when it’s not even in use. My phone dropped from 63 percent to 30 percent in about an hour of just sitting on my desk unused.”

Others have reported no excessive battery drain, but enough have to make this a salient issue that needs to be addressed and quickly. I’ve gotten used to carrying my two battery back-up cases to just get through the day.

Source: Mac Observer.