“The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”

Today is a sad day, Steve Jobs you changed a number of industries and the way we think. RIP and thank you for your innovation and vision. In his memory we leave you with these powerful words.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life,” he said. “Because almost everything _ all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure _ these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

This could probably be one of the last public appearances for Jobs, as he puts forth the plans for the New Apple HQ Campus to the Cupertino City Council (6/7/11)

We will always remember what you have brought us and each and everyone of us has a small part of you in our lives somehow. R.I.P

Trying to stay on track with your busy work schedule and lifestyle can sometimes be a challenging task. As we become more reliant on our iDevices to keep us up to date and on time, searching for that right app to suit our style doesn’t always hit the nail on the head.

One of the main barriers you might have faced is finding a complete app that caters to all your needs. I know, for me, I have found some really great apps but have to use 2-3 to get the end result.

miCal packs a punch when it comes to staying organised. This app succeeds where other apps have come so close. So what makes miCal an award winning app?

The developers have combined a brilliant calendar with a handy weather feature and even included a great birthday reminder system that tags right into your current contact list within the app. If all this isn’t enough they have also included an optional task list (through an in-app purchase) for $0.99c – currently for iPhone & iPod Touch only. I think this idea is great as it allows each user to choose if they need the add on or not – let’s hope this comes to the HD version soon too.

This app is really easy to use; the interface is nice and crisp and the layout is spot on. Add events with a simple touch and clearly see, the day, week, month or yearly view with ease. The level of customisation – from colour choice to how you are notified – is impressive.

Whether you’re trying to stay organised with a busy social schedule or you need a comprehensive calendar for business use, planning or appointment setting, miCal is without a doubt is a contender to replace some very top apps in your everyday use.

If you’re trying to stay organised and keep on track, look no further than miCal.

miCal – missing Calendar – $1.99

With miCal, planning your events will be much more efficient, well-arranged – and even more beautiful. (Requires iOS 4.0 or higher)

miCal 4.0 – now additionally with an optional task list (throughout In-App Purchase). Manage your tasks as easily as your events!
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

miCal HD – $2.99

miCal is different – even for business Users!
- The well-structured day-, week-, month- and year-views help you to keep an eye on your events. A list view helps you scrolling through your events with ease – Innovative functions like a customizable default time and default titles enable you to create new events faster.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

What happens when you mix a bunch of IT-experts, language engineers and teachers who love to help children learn how to read, write and speak and are all parents?  You get an app called ABC Balloons.

If you can think back to when you first started to learn your ABC’s, you will probably remember it being something mundane or quite boring. In today’s world with these new, accessible apps, it makes sense to turn something bland into something fun, and the guys over at LingApps have nailed it.

ABC Balloons is a fun and educational way not only for your kids, but maybe also non-English speaking students, to learn the alphabet.

Game Play

To start with, you’re given a few customisable options to suit your child’s experience. Choose between American English or British English, the speed, and even switch between upper and lowercase letters and then they’re on their way.

The game starts off by showing you a letter inside a balloon, your task is to match that letter while other balloons are rising to the sky; once you match five balloons you get a nice big cheer. The letter is then followed up by a word association, for example, A is for Apple, B is for Banana.

Design wise, it’s quite friendly and child-like with hand drawn animations and a sky backdrop, which makes it a perfect setting.  It’s Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.1 or later.

A few words from LingApps:

“Play is the most vital child activity, where learning actually occurs although unknowingly every time a child plays. But as a parent you must regulate the play so that it remains on an educational path. This is where educational apps come in.”

Verdict

It’s hard enough to keep kids entertained or focused at the best of times and with this in mind,  I think ABC Balloons is a great way to learn in a game playing experience.

If you’re a parent or teacher, ABC Balloons can be used as a great tool to help push the learning progress while still making it fun for the kids. It’s colourful, easy to use, and fun, whilst having obvious learning benefits.

Thanks to the guys over at LingApps we have a few promo codes to give away. Be sure to share this review with any other parents you know and keep an eye on @idevicesworld on Twitter for your chance to get an ABC Balloons promo code.

ABC Balloons - $1.19

ABC Balloons is a fun and challenging game that lets kids learn the alphabet. Drawings and handwriting create an authentic setting that has never been seen before in any app.Interactive gameplay – animations, finger touch and great audio keep your child focused and interested for a long time.

There were lots of rumours and speculation as to whether we would see the iPhone 5 (or 4.5) at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year, however the primary focus of the conference was on new software only. Today, a very skinny Steve jobs presented three main elements.

OS X Lion,  iOS 5 and iCloud.

If you don’t have time to watch the whole keynote here are some quick facts for you on OS X Lion

In the last quarter, year over year the PC market actually shrank by 1%, but the Mac Grew 28%. Apple have now given more reasons to continue this growth and popularity.

OS X Lion boasts over 250 new features – Here is 10 key new features.

OS X Lion

1. Multi Touch Gestures

As the multi touch track pads are built it, Lion takes full advantage by allowing some of the things Apple has learned through iOS.

Two finger based scrolling, tap to zoom, pinch to zoom, swipe though photos, and web pages. The days of the age old scroll bar are gone, Two finger scroll now enables you to see where you’re at and then hides the bar to get the full web page experience.

2. Full Screen applications

With an easier platform for developers to build on, users now know exactly where to tap to get full screen in the top right system control and, with the swipe of two fingers, you can now swipe back to your desktop to get something you need, then go back to your full screen application. You can have more than one full screen application running at the same time.

3. Mission Control

With a simple three-finger swipe up gesture you now can access Mission Control. This is a bird’s eye view of everything that is going on in your system. Then you just tap on any document to bring it to the front or access spaces and widgets.

5. Launch Pad

With another simple gesture, all your applications fly onto the screen no matter where they are in the system – Launchpad knows exactly where they are. Organise multiple pages of apps and create folders, just like iOS on your iDevice.

6. Resume

When you launch an application in Lion, it brings you right back to where you were when you quit; it remembers everything just how you like it. This works system wide – shut down, restart  and everything is just as you left it.

7. Auto Save

No longer do you have to save, save, save. Lion can save anything you’re working on in the background. Without you having to see anything or even think about it, your work is being saved for you. Powerful and simple – revert to last open or lock for no further save changes.

8. Version

As you create documents, add text, and insert images, Lion creates automatic versions for you at different stages. To view them, click the new top menu and click browse all versions. It looks just like Time Machine – the current version on the left and the history on the right.

9. Air Drop

Trying to get document sharing between nearby computes has always been a pain, most typically the USB or Sneaker drop, copy then walk over to the computer and drag. Lion solves this with peer-to-peer wifi-based network sharing. Drop and drag files, auto discovery and setup with confirmation are all featured, with fully encrypted transfers into each user’s downloads folder.

10. Mail

The mail is a completely new version. Full screen, two-column or three-column view have all been optimised to read your mail the way you like it. New favourites bars for things you want to get at quickly, as well as improved searching, with auto suggestions, people, and emails. The best new feature is “conversation view” – it shows your messages just as they where sent, and totally compatible to others who aren’t using Lion to email you. Just like the iPhone text message app, this is easily the best way to keep track of long conversations.

If your a Windows user there is even another really cool feature which is a Windows migration tool, this will help you migrate everything over to your new MAC product. There is so many features, OS x Lion is going to be a stand out product.

To purchase the new Lion OS, there are no more disks, no more trips to your store, this is only available in the Mac App store, allowing you to make this the easiest upgrade ever. The download and upgrade is about 4GB in size and follows the same rules as the iTunes store.

Available in July, Lion is only $29.99 (previously $129) ensuring awesome success and accessibility for all Mac users. Once again, Apple has stepped up as proven leaders in the industry.

See the full overview here: MAC OSX – What’s New

Some of you might have already been impressed by the TikTok and LunaTik we covered a few months back, but this is fresh from our inbox. I am a massive fan of all things commando so this goes straight to the top of my buy list.

From LunaTik:

“Whether you are looking to blend in or stand out, our TakTik LunaTik is inspired from woodland camouflage pattern. The compression molded band is made by hand-placing the various camo colored silicone bits in the tool. Each band is its own unique pattern. Like all of our LunaTiks, TakTik is a premium conversion kit designed for those wanting to dedicate their Nano primarily as a wrist watch.”

If you’re chasing one of these , you better hurry as we have certain intel that claims there will be multiple tango’s on your six. They are limited to a first run of only 1000 units and  I am no maths genius but I am pretty sure that’s just enough to cover a handful of Special Ops Units who have this in their sights.

Designed for iPod Nano, 6th Generation 8GB / 16GB – the TakTik LunaTik retails for $99.00 plus shipping. You can check it out at Lunatik.com.

Images Courtesy of Lunatik.

What does Cymbol do?

Cymbol is a simple program that fills a gap in the iPad word processor market.

Cymbol enables you to add subscript, superscript and symbols to your documents. Mostly not a big deal, but if you’re a student, engineer, or work in the financial, printing or legal industries then it can be inconvenient to not have access to the tools of the trade.

Of course, if you are using a keyboard then most of these tools are available using the Option key on a keyboard but this is not always the case and you have to know what combination of keys you need press to get the symbol you need.

Cymbol provides a number of pre defined buttons, each representing particular symbols, in fact these symbols:

It also provides a number of useful function buttons to make the jump between applications as simple as possible, including Clear All, Copy All, Save, and Convert Hex to Unicode.

Clear All and Copy all are fairly self explanatory
Save retains the text between application starts
The Hex to Unicode converter works well, but you need to know what the code is for the required symbol.

There is a Help button, but this is restricted to a few instructions for functions that are fairly self-evident, but it’s nice to see anyway.

Things that work.

Well, you can use it for a simple text editor with the added bonus of having 0° of editing capability outside of what is in front of you. Sometimes that is a good thing.

It would suit engineers, copywriters, students or anyone currently having to create their own shorthand for characters and symbols outside of the basic text set.

Some people won’t like the brown on vellum appearance of the interface, but it does make it obvious which application you’re in, perhaps.

Things that could work better?

Spelling correction wohld be abonus whne youre workgng on the bus or train but i suppose the idea is to copy and paste ito anoter application (if you see what I mean).

It would be nice to see an option to send the text direct to either the mail application or mail direct from the Cymbol application or direct to a cloud note pad like Evernote so that you can quickly type something in Cymbol and then not have to open another application to send it somewhere else.

The Hex to Unicode works great but perhaps the Help could contain a list of popular hex codes for symbols that dont have a dedicated button.

Even better, you could save a list of your most used codes somewhere in the application or perhaps even configure your own buttons.

I found the Clear All and Copy All buttons a little close together. Not so much of a problem if you want to clear text but a real downer if you were trying to copy and end up clearing your text. Perhaps the addition of an Undo would be a useful tool.

This might just come down to button position. If Save was placed between Clear and Copy or if Clear were repositioned next to the Cymbol name plate those unhappy accidents would not occur.

Portability being what it is I find I’m not always using my iPad on a flat and level surface, those two buttons are going to be a killer on a regular basis.

Not having to swap manually between apps would be another useful feature but I’m not sure what would be the most effective mechanism to make this happen. App switching got old very quickly. Perhaps this is an application that other developers should licence and include in their applications?

There is a small bug with the Help content that means it doesn’t handle the ipad’s rotation, meaning the text is half off screen in landscape mode and amusingly upside down if you have the iPad button at the top in portrait mode.

Word wrap.

This is a bargain application for those with a real need for accessing symbols not available to them on the iPad soft keyboard. Even Pages doesn’t provide access to symbols in their extended text and format menus.

It has its limitations, but all in all it performs admirably. 3.5 stars from me.

Cymbol - $2.49

Cymbol for iPad is easy-to-use snippet editor which gives the user quick and uncomplicated access to several of the unique trademark, text, and other glyphs that cannot be typed from the iPad onscreen keyboard.

Remember the day when you used to paint pictures with crayons, paints, and food? Most of it actually ended up on the floor or even the walls, our hands, faces – actually pretty much everything else but the canvas. Some of you might still be cleaning that off.

The guys over at Justfun have come up with a brilliant idea in Create A Monster HD. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t let kids experience the craft table, but if you’re on a plane, roadtrip or having your morning coffee, I’m pretty sure you don’t take your craft tables with you.

Create A Monster HD is creative, clean and fun, turning once a complete mess into virtual peace – anywhere, anytime.

The Details:

It’s easy to tell Justfun have put tons and tons of hours into the design elements alone for this app – everything from their website down to the tutorial is detailed and impressive. You really have to experience this for yourself.

First things first, let’s get the tutorial out of the way – you can choose to view, skip or come back to it any time.  It’s easy to understand and has clear step-by-step pictures.

Now to create the perfect monster. You start with a blank floral-type background and have up to 12 background colours to choose from.  Everything is controlled by 2 different option palettes on the bottom of the screen, which can be hidden at any stage.

The very bottom palette controls your different categories, like head shape, eyes, mouth and so on, and the secondary palette gives you the different choices within that category. It’s really easy to use and the combinations are endless.

Select your head type and, once your happy, just double tap and it gets placed onto the canvas. Then you’re onto selecting your various monster elements, you scroll through, choose what you want and drag it onto your monster’s head – you can even change the colour of most elements by pressing the colour wheel. All the elements can be re sized and rotated by using the white dots on each corner of the element; to rotate you simply hold the yellow dots and rotate. When you’re happy with that, you press the insert icon on the very bottom of the screen or you can take it back by pressing the X in the top right hand corner.

To make things even easier, they have included a mirror image option that copies any element and duplicates it on the other side. What’s really impressive is how all the elements gel together and are automatically placed in the correct order from front to back. It’s a really smooth and refined app.

Check out our iDevices Monsters – they were attending our Monster’s Ball.

Justfun have added in the social sharing capability allowing you to share your creation via Facebook, Twitter, save it as a photo on your iDevice to use as a wallpaper, or even email or print direct to a wireless printer. They have covered every base here to make sure your monsters get seen.

The Verdict

I am really impressed with the care, thought, and detail that has gone into the preparation of Create A Monster HD. It’s going to be an absolute winner with the kids, no doubt, and to all of us big kids out there, I can even see our monsters being common Facebook profile pics soon enough.

I would not be surprised if the whole family is creating monsters and sharing them within the first hour, it’s got to make you laugh and that is a great thing. It’s fun and it’s educational and these are some of the core beliefs behind the Justfun company values.

Justfun is onto something amazing with a platform like Create A Monster HD and who knows what’s next, but I am sure this is not the last we’ll see of them.

This is a must-have app for everybody – it’s not overly priced and well worth what you pay for it.

Create a Monster HD – $3.99

The Ultimate Monster Making App! Open a blank canvas and go wherever your monster making creativity leads you.In one blink of a monster’s eye you will become addicted to all the possibilities – silly monsters, colorful monsters, imaginative monsters, classic monsters, unforgettable monsters and best of all, YOUR monsters.

We’ve just spotted some fantastic bargains at Catchoftheday.com. Check them out and get in fast before they run out in under 24 hours.

Mini iPhone Speaker with Amplifier $9.95

Features:

Built-in rechargeable battery

Charge using USB (USB cable included)

Good for desktop use

Plug and play

Not compatible with iPhone 4 (only works with included adaptor)——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Envelope shape gives complete coverage and protection

Button-and-string closure keeps your iPad secure

Soft microfiber inner lining

Sleek design to minimize bulk

12 month warranty

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

If you have kids in the family, or kids on the way, or even if you have to entertain kids at some point in your life, one of the hardest challenges can be to keep them occupied, right? And we all know the best thing to do is give them lots of candy that makes them sleep better, right? WRONG.

One thing that’s really great about the iPad is it has created an entirely new platform for kids to learn, read, and play games and stay entertained for hours, all in the one device.

The guys over at Playcompass Entertainment have created Puji’s Shootout HD – a really fun and challenging game that is the next best thing to candy and could prove to be a definite winner for the kids and the family.

The Details

You play as Puji the Starfish and the ocean is in trouble; fish are trapped in bubbles and your job is to pop the bubbles and set the fish free. The menu layout is similar to other popular physics-based apps so you can virtually pick up and play in a familiar format, which is great.

In Puji’s Shootout HD, there are over 100 levels in five different sea worlds and an evil boss to defeat at the end of each – a nice touch to end the world. The game-play is like Space Invaders-meets-under the sea; you get a selection of controls and can choose to use tilt-to-move or the on-screen joystick – both easy to use, but the tilt-to-move is more precise.

The idea of the game is to move Puji along the ocean floor shooting any bubbles in his path. As the levels progress, the bubbles get larger and when you shoot them they split – it’s one ocean floor, babushka doll effect. Pretty soon you’re scrambling left and right, trying to avoid being hit by the bubbles and then, next thing, you’re trying to avoid sea urchins and taking the clam lifts to get higher up to rescue more fish. You end your turn by getting hit by pretty much anything the ocean can throw at you, so duck and cover and time your moves perfectly.

There are some solid floating walls and also some destructible walls along the way that you need to break to get your shield or upgrade to rapid fire weapons and a hook line. This comes in very handy when you’re trying to scramble from the bubbles above and stop the crabs taking you from either side – and this is just in the first world.

The Verdict

Puji’s Shootout is not only great for the kids, but the family could pass it around and try and beat the levels together for a little fun competition and some quality time.

I think if you’re looking for a really great game that is challenging, but also makes the kids think, Puji’s Shootout HD should definitely be on your list. If you have an iPad and the kids get hold of this app, you will probably never get it back. Well until it’s time for candy.

Puji’s Shootout HD – $2.49

Puji’s Shootout presents the adventures of Puji, the starfish, who has decided to pop these evil bubbles and set the fish free! In order to complete his mission, Puji has also to face the evil bosses of the sea and their minions. Puji’s journey is very long, since there are many sea worlds in danger! Can you help him? Over 100 levels • 5 uniquely designed sea worlds.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Puji’s Shootout HD – FREE

Puji’s Shootout presents the adventures of Puji, the starfish, who has decided to pop these evil bubbles and set the fish free! In order to complete his mission, Puji has also to face the evil bosses of the sea and their minions. Puji’s journey is very long, since there are many sea worlds in danger! Can you help him? 24 levels to try out • 2 worlds.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Possibly one great challenge everybody has faced at some stage in their life has been the communication barrier between the different languages. As each day passes, we become more multicultural – from the foods we eat, and even the places we visit – how do we go about trying to understand everything correctly if we don’t even speak the language?

Thanks to the guys over at Penpower Technology Limited, they might have just cracked the language barrier with Worldictionary – Instant Translator / Portable Translator. Finally your one step closer to never ordering the wrong food in a foreign country ever again.

The Details:

I tested Worldictionary using Google translator on the computer screen and also a Playstation instruction manual, both in Spanish to English.

At first glance, I was a bit unsure at what was required to get the translation happening so I just went with a point and shoot technique. I was hovering over full sentences and not having luck. Once i found the instructions hiding in the settings it made more sense. Definitely read them first.

Worldictionary has some really useful features, like “Instant View and Translate”, which allows you to either point your camera over the word or take a photo. You then get a list of similar or likely words.

Worldictionary translates up to nine languages from French, German, Italian, Spanish to Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean and the best part about it is, there’s no need for in-app purchases to get access to other languages, they are all included.

You have the ability to create your own word databases, which increases your translation efficiency as you look up more words.

What I Liked:

Overall I think Worldictionary does exactly as it says. The app is useful and, when compared with some other translation apps like World Lens, it’s half the price and already comes with nine languages with no further purchases required.

The image recognition was preferred over the view and translate, I felt it was more accurate and was handy if I needed to come back for another attempt. It was easier to translate words this way rather than holding the cross hair over each word I would like to translate – the cross hair works for a few words, but anything more might get a bit tedious and the accuracy was not 100%.

I did have a better strike rate using the photo capture with 9/10 words being correct. Larger words seemed to be the challenge and it also depended on the image quality itself.
The ability to build your own database is also another great tool.  You can easily store some common questions in your database with the translation ready to go. So, can’t find the bathroom in Germany? No problem. Let your pre-saved question do the talking and be your personal wing-man. Paid for itself right then and there, I would say.

What I didn’t like:

I can understand that trying to design an easy layout or interface for the iPhone is a challenge. The base design is there and offers some great features but the bottom left quarter of the screen is almost virtually unused in the main interface and, at first glance, I was a little unsure what to do with the app. I felt that once I found and read the instructions, it was a bit easier to understand how the app worked rather than a pick up and play interface or quick tutorial screen that a lot of other apps use.

Suggestions:

Worldictionary is a great platform and can be very handy for quick word translations. As it already connects to Google services, it would be great if it included text-to-speech translation by allowing the user to type in sentences and the text be spoken. If it had this additional feature, it would combine handy translation features into one complete package and that would be hard to beat.

I might have found it a bit easier to use the app from the get go with a pop up screen first explaining what to do, or even the (i) information symbol or (?) help symbol. The space is there on the main interface and I’m not sure why the instruction screen is hiding in the settings – even a top-to-bottom layout with small text description of the buttons for the bottom left interface might be handy.

The Verdict:

If you’re travelling overseas, or just out and about and in need of some quick word translation, then Worldictionary can get the job done. With a few more features and a design tweak it might take the cake overall and, even at this stage, it’s definitely a great base to work on and have in your utility apps.

With over 250 translation apps on the iTunes Store, trying to test them all is a lengthy process.  If you’re in the market for a handy translation app then definitely consider Worldictionary first before a more expensive app that also requires you to purchase additional languages.

Photo’s courtesy of  Penpower Technology Limited.

Worldictionary - $5.99

Point your iPhone’s camera at any word and Worldictionary will instantly define and translate it. No need to manually type words or take pictures. This app will be your indispensable travel tool primed to give you translation on-the-go.