Image by Rob Schultz/Macworld
This week’s roundup includes a new app from the FBI, an update from Flipboard, and several cool new games.
Image by Heiko Wichmann
If you’re an old coot who likes using plain English instead peppering your text with emoji, the new Emojiplode game (free, iPhone and iPad) might be for you: As emoji descend, Tetris-like, down the screen, you blow them up by pressing the matching button. (See a demonstration here.) It’s a lightning-fast test of your reflexes and happy faces.
Image by FBI
FBI Wanted (free, iPhone and iPad) is not a game—it’s a true-crime app designed to help track criminals and assist the FBI in solving other crimes. You can use the app to to find fugitives and missing persons by name, alias, location,and other info; sort or filter those profiles; and report information by using buttons that either call the relevant FBI field office or link directly to the FBI’s online tips page.
Image by Flipboard
Flipboard (free, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch) is the grandaddy of iOS newsreaders, but it keeps chugging along with new improvements. Version 4.0 has launched with a redesign—a home carousel to cover your main subscriptions, new “smart” magazines that let you create areas of interest and find stories about them, and an updated profile. Consider it your new hub for your likes, topics, and saved stories.
Image by Shelly Alon
If you enjoyed arcade gaming back in the 1980s, Glitchskier ($2, iPhone and iPad) will be a “back to the future” moment: It’s reminiscent of Asteroids, but features more movement and overall complexity, including boss fights and a Tron-riffic soundtrack.
Image by Okidokico Entertainment Inc.
OK Golf ($3, iPhone and iPad) “is the essence of golf, refined to a tee. Play a quick round anywhere, anytime on stylish dioramas inspired by classic golfing destinations.” Just aim, drag, and release to hit the ball.
Image by Wurqs
Ping (free, iPhone) dispenses with the hassle of trading business cards—just exchange email addresses. With that info, the app sends your new contact your personal profile via email, learns more about the person you met and the company they work for, and remembers your connections based on when you met them, letting you add notes to each contact as needed.
Image by Double Coconut LLC
Roofbot (freemium, iPhone and iPad) is a new puzzler in which your task is to help the central character—the unfortunately nicknamed “Roofie”—cure his planet and save his family by negotiating his way through “meditative” rooftops to guide colored energy balls into the proper slots. Waiting for you? The fearsome Uber-bot.
Image by Big Bucket Software
Stagehand ($2, iPhone, iPad, and iMessage) is billed as a “reverse platformer.” What does that mean, exactly? “In Stagehand, you don’t control the character, you control… THE STAGE.” Which means your job is to make sure platforms are in place before your character, Frank, walks straight into danger. (Our friends over at Six Colors haven’t stopped playing since it came out.)
Image by Microsoft
Microsoft Outlook has added support for Trello, Evernote and more…. Panols allows you to share panorama photos on Instagram … BandLab has updated with a revamped mix editor.
Author: Joel Mathis
Joel Mathis is a regular contributor to Macworld and TechHive. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and young son.