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Monster Costume, an iOS developer focused on recreating the way children interact with books, has released Bartleby's Book of Buttons Volume 2, and it's got some nice AirPlay surprises packed in. When using an AirPlay mirroring-capable device like the iPad 2, iPhone 4, or iPhone 4S, you can send the story to your Apple TV in high definition, while the device then become a controller for progressing the story. We've been fans of Bartleby since Volume 1, and you can pick up Bartleby Vol. 2 now on the App Store. Full release after the break.


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Facebook for iPad

It seemed like a no-brainer for Facebook to drop an iPad app back when the original iPad launched in early 2010, but it's taken the company a year-and-a-half to finally get things in order. The wait is now over, and today you can download the official Facebook iPad app. Within the app you can browse photos at full screen, watch videos (with AirPlay integration!), and access things like the news feed, messages, Groups, chat, and more.

If you aren't seeing it in the App Store yet, it should be live shortly.


Bartleby Book of Buttons

One of our favorite iPad apps for children, Bartleby's Book of Buttons: Volume I, is now being served up for free thanks fo the folks at Monster Costume. They're prepping Volume 2 of the storybook, and have decided to make Volume I (which typically sells for $4.99) free through WWDC 2011. If you've got an iPad, you should have Bartleby on it. Why? See our Bartleby's Book of Buttons review.

Read More | Bartleby's Book of Buttons Vol. 1

Microsoft knows the importance of the mobile audience, even when it means taking advantage of a competitor's mobile platform—in this case, Apple's. Since late 2009, iPhone users have been able to download a Bing app that offers voice search, local shopping, scrolling image search, maps and directions. Now iPad owners get a Bing app that adds a new trends feature, which lets them explore the trending search topics of the week.

The new app, which is available in the iTunes App Store starting today, sports a homepage featuring the trademark (and often stunning) Bing photo of the day, along with tiles showing local weather, news, maps, movies, and trends. The interface makes a lot of use of the swipe touch gesture, especially in image search. A dropdown menu offers all these choices plus Images, Videos, Shopping and History—that is, your search history, not the school topic.

Trends shows tiled images for the week's major current events. It can almost be thought of as a lightweight replacement for an app like The Daily or Flipboard. Touching one of its images opens a search page showing news and images about the topic, like MLB Opening Day. Some topics get a slicker treatment rather than just a Bing search results page: touching through an entry about "30 Rock's" Tina Fey labled "Ms. Bossypants" displayed a grid of stories that somewhat resembled the New York Times' Web site layout. After reading a result page, you can swipe left-to-right to get back to the trends page.


TiVo on Tuesday unveiled an iPad app that will allow TiVo Premiere owners to use their Apple tablet as a remote and TV guide.

The TiVo Premiere App for the iPad provides access to all the content available on the set-top box - from TV listings and your DVR queue to show information and social-networking link-ups.

The app will provide access to live TV and DVR recordings; to watch, just swipe and the show will start playing on the TV. When you're away, use the app to set up a TiVo recording.

The bottom menu includes several options, including Info, Guide, My Shows, Browse, and Manage. For more info about a show or celebrity, the TiVo app lets you explore biographical information without interuppting the show on the TV. To discuss what you're watching, the app provides a link to Twitter and Facebook.

There is also an advanced remote icon, which brings up a traditional remote interface. Slide your finger along the bottom of the screen to fast forward or rewind TV content.

To access, download the free app from the App Store and enter the key from your TiVo box. Users must have a TiVo Premiere or TiVo Premiere XL box and an active, paid TiVo subscription.

Read More | TiVo App

today i die again app

In conjunction with Free App A Day (FAAD), Atakamalabs has released the popular IndieCade Jury Award winning title rewrite, Today I Die Again by Daniel Benmergui, completely free. Today I Die Again  is a thought provoking adventure using words as means to action.

The scene opens underwater with the body of a dead woman floating lifeless in the dark. The rock tied around her waist suggests that her demise was no accident. A poem floats above her: “hopeless world / full of shadows / today I die”

Players must use the floating glowing words or reveal hidden ones to help you transform the ever-present poem in order to progress through the game. All along the way you battle the dark creatures from the depths in effort to break through to the surface. The oddly creative music score sets the mood perfectly as you are immersed deeper into this pixelated world. Today I Die Again is truly a unique game unlike any other, exploring new ways to express emotions through a video game experience.

Today I Die Again is available free on the iTunes store for iPhone and iPod Touch.


Last month a little gem popped unnoticed on the App Store named Cover Orange. Following a recent promotion giving away the game for free, it has now reached the top 10 list on iTunes. The premise is for you to move from level to level, protecting oranges from acid rain. The first thing you notice is how similar this one is to Angry Birds, from the way the levels are made, to the physics properties that the gameplay relies on. In this case, instead of throwing birds offensively, you have to protect your oranges from the nasty clouds and their acid rain.

Both the graphics and sounds are amazing, with the oranges themselves thanking you for saving them. The animations are excellent, with everything flowing nicely from one sequence to the next. Solving physics puzzles is the meat of the game, and you get access to various objects to try and cover your oranges with, like barrels and wheels, by interacting with the other items on the level. High scores are linked to the Game Center, but it's just a lot of fun solving each level. The controls are extremely simple, you simply grab objects and let them drop where you want, and watch how they interact with the level.

The game costs $0.99 and is available for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. It comes with 120 levels, 40 of them being new as of the latest update. The video trailer shows the game well, and at this price, it really is a must have.

Read More | iTunes

rock band reloaded review

Traveling the world has always been a lifetime goal of mine. However, with so many remote places to visit, bringing a console along to play videogames is out of the question.  Thankfully, Electronic Arts (EA) has releases their second installment of Rock Band for both iPhone and iPad platforms called Rock Band Reloaded. Singing along to some of my favorite songs while climbing the top of a mountain anywhere in the world is now a very possible scenario!

Read More | Rock Band Reloaded

iBooks 1.2iBooks 1.2 has just been released by Apple, and with it comes a bunch of new features. You get support for full illustrations, AirPrint functionality for printing PDFs and notes in books, and more text fits on the page in iOS 4.2 and higher with auto-hyphenation. iBooks 1.2 also brings a new feature called Collections. These allow you to group your books similarly to how you can group apps into folders.

You can download iBooks 1.2 now for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Read More | iBooks

Infinity Blade was released yesterday, the first true game to run on the new Unreal Engine for iPhone. As such, it's been previewed and hyped a lot in the past months. At a $5.99 price point for the universal app that works on both the iPhone and iPad, was it worth the wait?

First, just like the Unreal demo Epic Citadel was, this game right from the start impresses with it's graphics and sceneries. As you start, the initial cinematic shows you a little bit of back story as to what you'll be fighting for, and the 3D environment seen on the screen is quite impressive. On both the iPhone 4 and iPad, the graphics use the latest tricks, usually reserved to console gaming, to provide a stunning experience. Adding to that is an impressive musical score, playing throughout the game and providing a great gaming experience.

Read More | Infinity Blade

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