It goes without saying that the Sentinel series is one of, if not the most successful tower defense franchises in the App Store. Unlike other games in the genre, the Sentinel games actually feel like games that could withstand the test of time on any portable system. They all have excellent graphics, more detailed textures than any other game of their kind, have a wide array of towers and one shot weapons, and most importantly, are challenging.

The team at Origin 8 though had their work cut out for them when they decided to create the third game of the series, Sentinel 3: Homeworld. Not only did they have to match the high bar that they had already put in place, but they also had to exceed their standards enough to keep the tower defense crazies (like me) happy… and boy am I happy.

Before the additions though, newcomers to the game will find the same formula that have delighted the seasoned vets for a few years now. Sentinel 3 is a fixed path tower defense game that adds a few tidbits to the tried and true formula. Instead of just having an allotment of creeps that you can let through, Sentinel gives you a base and an assortment of barriers that you must protect. Protecting these barriers not only prevents the creeps from getting to the main base, but they also act as a great enemy hoarder for your big guns to shoot at. The other addition to the mix is interest, something that many Sentinel players use differently. As you pass wave after wave, the money that you don’t used gains interest, letting you accumulate towers faster than you normally would in a typical tower defense game. The trick is that while you aren’t spending, you aren’t building… and the creeps sure don’t get easier as the games progress. If you plan well enough, the interest system can really be a boon to your bank account.

Not to rest on their laurels, Sentinel 3 adds some major features to the already packed game. The first is a commander unit that can finally do away with the pesky enemy units that find their way into the tiny spots on your walls and wreck havoc. Not just a typical unit though, the commander adds moral to the towers around him and gains EXP in battle, allowing you to upgrade his abilities and add combat abilities between levels. The use of the commander doesn’t effect the game quite as much as, say, the heroes in Warcraft 3, but it definitely adds a welcome RPG element to the game. Also added is the weapon selection screen which makes you buy tower and one time weapon slots for use in levels. From there, you have to make the tough decisions as to what weapons and towers you go to battle with… and if my experience is any sort of indicator, the selection often comes down to trial and error.

If you want to bypass all the RPG elements and just get right into the game with all the weapons, you can play the classic mode which works much like the old Sentinel games. There is also the standard “endless” mode that lets you play with all of your RPG-esque stats from the campaign mode, but in an endless style for Game Center high score glory.

As expected, Sentinel 3: Homeworld is one of the most polished, well designed tower defense games in the App Store. Each of its 20 levels are extremely well crafted, and the additional units, weapons, and RPG elements all come together to create the best game the series has to offer. If you are a fan of the previous Sentinel games or just love the tower defense genre, be sure to pick up Sentinel 3 as soon as you can.

[ Sentinel 3 Review is a post from 148Apps ]

From my various stints in doctors offices, mostly for sports related injuries, I’ve noticed an interesting trend in the medical field. For the most part, family doctors, particularly pediatricians, are fairly low tech. Even in the high tech world we live in, many doctors prefer to use paper based charts and graphs instead of digital devices that would speed up their work considerably. I do understand the trade-off, sacrificing speed for a guarantee of no crashes, but at some point we need to move forward.

Pediacents, a new app by Exsilico, is designed to completely take paper and guess-work out of determining pediatric blood pressure percentiles. As of now, the only way that pediatricians can determine if children need further evaluation of treatment for high blood pressure is by looking at a slew of time consuming charts and graphs, only still to come up with a number that is often imprecise. With this new app, doctors can type in a child’s blood pressure and instantly see their exact blood pressure percentile, based on CDC growth data and regression algorithms, in an instant. While figuring out the blood pressure percentiles, Pediacents also calculates BMI and BSA, and instantly shows you the child’s BMI, weight, and height percentiles… all without the use of any charts or graphs.

Apps like Pediacents will never top the app charts, but apps like this really do show the great potential that the iPhone has to do some good in this world. We’re getting to a place where a family doctor or pediatrician could almost do all of their work on an iOS device, hopefully making those long waits in the reception areas a thing of the past. If anything, it would be pretty neat to have my doctor walking around with an iPad instead of a clip board.

$1.99

PediaCents

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-07-29 :: Category: Medical

[ Pediatricians Can Eliminate The Guesswork With Pediacents is a post from 148Apps ]

Microsoft has been successful in the software world ever since their creation most notable with the uprising of Windows; their desktop operating system. On the other hand, when it comes to the mobile world things haven’t been such an easy ride as Windows Mobile has been regarded as one of the most troublesome mobile platforms.

However, with the release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is looking to redeem themselves with a new mobile platform designed from the ground up to compete with behemoths like Android and iOS. Due to the fact that WP7 is quite new, it still has a lot of catching up to do if it ever wants to stand a chance in this saturated market.

In fact, it seems that  it has so much catching up to do that Android is currently beating Windows Phone 7 15:1 in terms of sales. While this will most likely get smaller as time goes on, Android is growing at an exponential rate so Microsoft surely has their work cut out for them.

via androidspin

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Not everyone learns efficiently through the same method. There has been countless research conducted on the matter, and while some people thrive by reading relevant literature, or by soaking it all up at the last minute, others need audio stimulation. For example, some people struggle with their reading thanks to dyslexia and other conditions. Enter Video Cards, an app that allows you to create your own audio-based flash cards.

At its most basic level, Voice Cards is a speech recorder. It’s the ability to create numerous entries that can be arranged into a playlist that makes it stand out. Voice Cards also enables you to create both questions and answers for each entry, thus making everything you could possibly need easily accessible.

You can set Voice Cards to autoplay which means you can leave it alone while you concentrate on answering the questions. This offers the added advantage of being able to get on with other things while studying – providing you’re able to multitask of course! You can also use a shake mode to make the controls even simpler although I did find the default controls and touchpad controls easier to navigate. Finally, there’s an option to shuffle the cards which keeps you on your toes so that you don’t just remember everything in the exact same order every time.

Voice Cards is a fantastic little app for students. It’s also useful for anyone who’s trying to learn something for their work. For such a low price, it really is worth a shot if you want a new way of studying.

[ Voice Cards Review is a post from 148Apps ]

A few minutes ago, we explained you how to set up Find My iPhone on your iPhone 4. Technically, the newly free Find My iPhone only works for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch running iOS 4.2. There is however a trick to make this work on older devices.

The funniest part is that Apple is even telling you how to bypass their own rules… Read More