This week’s apps includes one entry that might try to save your marriage from miscommunication and the crankiness that results. Either that, or it’ll help you choose better movies.
COULD THIS APP SAVE YOUR MARRIAGE? Um, no, probably not, but the folks behind the $1 BetterHalf Date Planning app for iPhone promise it’ll help smooth out some of the rough spots by making it easier for you and your partner to plan outings. Both of you can download the app, then sync your preferences as far as restaurants, movies, and other activites go. The latest update is minor but helpful, updating the user interface to work with Yelp’s display requirements.
Looking for a quick guide to the world’s most-celebrated cities? The $1 iTravelGo app for iPhone provides the following for each of the 36 cities on its roster (and please read this in the voice of Robin Leach from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous): the 12 best attractions, the 15 most significant restaurants, and 28 “exclusive” hotels. Hotels can be reserved via Booking.com, and the app includes both maps and language guides to help you navigate the local culture.
We can neither confirm nor deny that we sat in a dorm room in 1991 and giggled our way through early, boundary-breaking versions of the naughty Leisure Suit Larry role-playing game. Now the $5 Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded game for iPhone and iPad has appeared, and everybody’s favorite (?) tasteless aging bachelor is back on the prowl. You must be 17 to download this app, and you really probably shouldn’t be older than 20.
It’s possible that some of the new photo features of the forthcoming iOS 7 will shove some competitors from the photo app space, but for now it’s still competitive. Take Loom, a new app for iPhone and iPad. (There’s also a Mac version.) It lets you store up to 5GB of photos for free in its cloud-based storage service. The entire library is organized by date; users can make edits or create photo albums. Be warned, though: You’ll have to reserve an account at Loom.com to use the app; reservations are still limited.
This $7 stargazing app for iPhone and iPad has already won awards and received other recognition—and it keeps getting better. The latest update includes detailed 3D models of the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope, and 13 other artificial satellites. There’s also a new Calendar button to keep you apprised of interstellar events, as well as a new detailed map of Mercury. Awesome.
If you’re wondering what that persistent cough could signify, the free MedWhat app can help you make the diagnosis. It’s got a stripped-down, just-the-facts-ma’am design that strains not to impress but to inform. One bit of gadget-mindedness is apparent, though: This week’s update has modified the home page to make it easier to use the app’s voice search function.
This is probably our favorite boxing game not involving an 8-bit Mike Tyson: The $1 Real Boxing game for iPhone and iPad is challenging and fun. This week’s update includes a new animated opening scene, more hints and tips to help your boxer succeed, expanded fight statistics, and bonus coins—which help you add skill—for updating the game.
You mean Twitterrific can get better? Yup. The latest update to the $3 Twitter client includes an overhauled visual look, plus fixes like sizing a photo to the screen of your device and playing audio from in-app videos even if your sound is turned off. Other problems—including issues saving tweets to Storify—have also been addressed.
Google Drive has been updated with better integration with the Chrome browser for iOS … Salon.com (pictured) has added a video section to its app … and the VLC open-source video player has returned to the App Store.
Author: Joel Mathis
Joel Mathis is a regular contributor to Macworld and TechHive. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and young son.