Android – Iphone – Applications

The fact that Shakespeare was one of the greatest creators of insults is indisputable (whether or not the man actually existed, alas, is another matter for another time). Read through almost any of the Bard’s plays, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Henry IV, and you’ll find them replete with creative, dynamic, and, best of all, highly effective insults. Online, there are entire sites dedicated to the analysis of Shakespeare’s put-downs and generators for dynamically creating your own using bits and pieces of his own words.

Is it any wonder, then, that the Shakespearean insult has finally found its way onto the iPhone? Developer rbjz postindustries’ Sound+Fury provides a simple interface for accessing a repository of Shakespeare’s most famous insults. Unfortunately, there’s not enough in the app at the moment to warrant a purchase.

Opening Sound+Fury takes a user directly to the main interface screen. There, you find three dials: one for the gender of the individual (or, if you prefer, you may choose a genderless group) you intend to insult, one for whether you intend to insult him face-to-face or behind his backs, and one for whether you want to insult his looks, his character or his smarts. Once these variables are chosen, you click the Insult button and a famous (or, in some cases, not so famous) Shakespearean insult is revealed, along with the title of the source play.

Note that Sound+Fury is NOT a Shakespearean insult generator, as it does not create anything new. Rather, it is an interesting way to search a library of established Shakespearean insults. My only problem with this is that the insults aren’t all that good (there are certainly better ones out there in the Bard’s plays) and sometimes the variables you choose result in no insult at all. This is particularly odd, since there are so few variables to choose from.

The conceit of the app is that you can use it to “dial up” an insult as your personal situation warrants, but the possibilities are so limited at the moment it doesn’t seem to do this job very well. And if you want to peruse a listing of Shakespeare’s insults, well there are plenty of places to do just that for free online.

Sound+Fury benefits from a streamlined, simple interface; it simply needs to grant users greater flexibility and creativity. No insult intended.

[ Sound+Fury Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by pietro842 \\ tags: analysis, entertainment, gender, moment, opening-sound, overall-rating, price, shakespearean, time

Vortex Dream is a sort of visualizer app with an interesting concept, decent graphics, and room to grow into a fun and useful app. However, as it stands it’s less than a one-trick pony. Since I do believe that there is decent potential for it, I will try to highlight what is great about this app before providing my ‘constructive’ feedback.

Firstly, the graphics are wonderful, and the methods of interaction with the ‘vortex’ are responsive. You can pinch or stretch, using multi-touch, and you can brush the vortex to speed up or spin around inside the vortex. You can also tap to change your color scheme; this is my favorite option as it flashes between colors – it’s quite pretty. Finally, you can shake your iPhone to quickly ‘zoom out,’ which offers a cool effect too. So, being honest, this technique of visualization is very appealing and well done. However, it doesn’t do anything. If you’re not playing with it, it just sits there. What this app is lacking is a function or purpose.

Here is what the developer should think about adding – and then it would be a more appealing and useful app. First, remove the top-bar from within the app – it’s distracting and useless. The second most logical step would be to build in the option to listen to your music while having the vortex affected by it, as a visualizer, while keeping the manual effects, too. I can see this perched in a cradle on desks everywhere spinning and pulsing along to Dance Music and Smooth Jazz alike. This would make this app infinitely cooler. Worst case option, include the ability to ’start up’ the motion at whatever speed you prefer, add a clock and call it “Vortex Dream Clock” – that, at least would be worth the $0.99. Until then, this app should be free.

As the photos don’t really show the animation very well, check out the video below to see this app in action.

[ Vortex Dream Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by Debra \\ tags: $0.99, animation, Application, christopher adams, dream, graphics, Iphone, iphone apps and games, music, overall-rating, photos, rating, visualization, vortex-dream

I have mixed emotions when it comes to magic tricks. One the one hand, I am almost always amazed and wowed by an illusion and its effect, and when given the opportunity to learn how to do it I’m chomping at the bit. On the other hand, once I learn the secret behind the trick, it always seems a bit petty and cheap, regardless of how impressive it appears to others. I suppose deep down I really want there to be more mysticism, or at least a more complicated mechanic, behind the trick, but there rarely is. This holds true for X-Card, the latest card trick app for the iPad. With it, you can perform one signature illusion fairly easily. Whether it impresses anyone is another matter.

With X-Card, you can have a random person pick a card from an ordinary deck of cards, reveal that card to everyone (including you) and then (after considerable concentration on your part) have it magically appear on your iPad screen. That’s the trick, and it’s all this app does. Generally, though, it delivers this effect quite well. My only gripe is that it was difficult at first to know where the tutorials were while in the app. I actually had to do a bit of digging, including going into the main settings menu on the iPad. Somehow, I just don’t think something this simple needs to require so many steps. The first thing you’re going to want to do is learn the secret to the trick, so hiding it from the person who is going to be performing it seems counterproductive.

I’m not going to reveal any of X-Card’s secrets here in this review. If the trick sounds interesting to you, pick up the app. It’s inexpensive and relatively easy to learn and perform – just don’t have any of your friends touch the screen while you’re performing the trick if you want it to work; believe me. X-Card probably isn’t going to blow anyone’s mind, but it might be a fun diversion among friends – as long as you can handle learning the ugly truth of how the trick actually works.

Red Ball of Goo is a game that was miraculously produced in a 24-hour period. Now, this may make some people skeptical of the game’s quality, but rest assured, this is not some bland fart app with a red ball. Red Ball of Goo is a simple puzzle game set to grab your addiction at full force.

There is one objective to this game, and that is collecting all the balls with your red goo circle without meeting an untimely demise by falling off the screen. This sounds easy at first, but the game quickly tests your abilities of stopping on a dime, nailing jumps, and calculating projectile paths. Once all the purple balls are gathered, you simply have to make it to the exit hoop. All of this is accomplished with two simple controls, left or right (input with on screen keys, or tilt mechanics). This may all sound like a walk in the park, but there is a fair amount of challenge that comes into play within just a few stages.

Read the Full Review on The Portable Gamer

[ Red Ball of Goo Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by zulu \\ tags: $0.99, Game, Games, Iphone, iphone apps and games, left-or-right, overall-rating, park, rating, review, untimely-demise, utopian-games

Everyone likes big monsters, whether it be Godzilla-like beasts or Katamari balls. There’s just some kind of macho fascination with giant, indestructible things that are hell-bent on terrorizing the Earth. Flowers, though – flowers are tough. The idea to have a big killer flower has existed, and has been successful, in the past with the Little Shop of Horrors, but game developers tend to stay away altogether.

Without a degree in psychology or any kind of research, I will attempt to accurately predict people’s thoughts on flowers. Flowers are soft, pretty, smell good, and are loved by girls (and guys, but the stereotype is that they are primarily liked by girls) all over the world for one reason or another. Because of this, many guys don’t want anything to do with flowers in their video games.

BIG BAD Brush sidesteps the gender stereotype by adding BIG and BAD (in caps) to the flower, creating a gender boundary breaking game that is sure to please macho world dominators and little girls alike (not that they can’t be one and the same — Ed.). The game starts with you, a living sunflower that plans on taking over the world. The problem is that every being in the universe wants to stop you.

Each level in the decidedly simple game starts with you, as the big sunflower, at the bottom of the screen with a bunch of things overhead for people or things to appear on. For example, the first levels have the sunflower in a backyard being ravaged by all of nature’s little creatures. Birds and squirrels throw things at you, mushrooms grow and cut off your health, and little critters come parachuting down from the sky to attack.

In your arsenal is a single weapon: bubbles. Again, BIG BAD Brush skirts the gender boundary by adding cutesy bubbles as weapons. To use a bubble, you have to draw a circle around the creature that you want to capture. After the creature is captured, you must swipe your finger on the sunflower and it blows the bubble away.

I know, playing as a sunflower that blows all the planetary domination “haters” away sounds like kids stuff, but the artwork is decidedly testosterone injected. The flower looks mean – real mean. So do the military units and giant creatures that come after you in later levels. Even the icon, complete with crazy eyes, looks mean.

Aside from all the flower talk, BIG BAD Flower is an excellent game that thrives off its sense of style. The game is fun, although slightly repetitive after some time, but the total package is a complete win. I would love to see some other attacks available, like a thorny vine arm or even some fire breath, but there’s really nothing wrong with the bubble system. If you like fast paced games with a sense of humor, be sure to check out BIG BAD Flower. You won’t be disappointed.

[ BIG BAD Flower Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by iieevvn \\ tags: Application, bubble, creature, earth, flower, flower-review, Games, health, iphone apps and games, military, overall-rating, rating, video, world