Those “Choose your own adventure” books were impressive back in the day. Nowadays, however, most people will likely want something shinier, something all new – something they’ve never seen before.

Developer NARR8 Limited has created a digital book reader that it hopes will be all that, and more.

We spoke to Alexander Vaschenko, founder of the team that developed NARR8, to find out about the what the app does, how it is constantly expanding and improving, and the reasons for making it free to download.

What exactly is NARR8 – and why should people be excited about it?

Alexander Vaschenko: There’s no all-in-one application or place where interactive books of different genres – from motion comics to non-fiction – are done in series sets with constant episode updates.



What does NARR8 offer that you can’t get from reading a comic book or ordinary book?

The integration of rich multimedia elements – such as animations, visual effects, sounds, music and interactive elements. This is a new thing, especially in non-fiction. The aforementioned series principle is also another new thing in terms of comparing NARR8 to an ordinary book.

How have you made sure the app is easy to use, and that it caters for all tastes?



There’s some tutorial in the first episodes where to click and how to navigate. Also we’ve tried to make all the navigation as obvious as we can. And we’ll improve it in the future for sure. In terms of tastes, the app is a 12+ because of some scenes in Subject 9, Prodigal Angel and Final Feat. Currently there are three enres though, which are motion comics, interactive novels (sci-fi and horror) and non-fiction (world history and popular science).

What challenges did you face during the app’s development?



The main challenge was to make rich and fast performing cross-platform content utilizing HTML-5 and other universal technologies. It’s all about making episodes again and again, remaking them until they work and look great.

The app is free to download – but are there any items that can be purchases within it?

This year the app and the content is completely free. Why? We want to get as much users as possible to polish our platform and content, but we have lots of thoughts on how to monetize the content and will decide how that will work better for users in 2013.

Have you got any famous artists or writers to work on some of the stories?

Not yet. We’ve started with unique, specially done content to show our vision. In the future we plan to sign famous artist and writers — we’re really open and will provide them the technology and the distribution platform.

How often will the updates for the app be?

Currently we update the app every eight to ten days, and new episodes in each series are coming every two weeks.

Have you any plans to bring the app to other platforms, such as Android?

Yes. In the first quarter of 2013 we plan to launch Android and Web-versions of the NARR8.

You can download the NARR8 app on your iPad for free now [iTunes link].

The trailer for the app can also be found below:

Gallery

Pixar, one of the largest and most popular filmmakers in the world is honoring one of the world’s most popular CEOs, Steve Jobs. The Emeryville, California based computer animation film studio is naming their main campus building after Jobs, calling it the “The Steve Jobs Building”. Pixar’s blog, The Pixar Times notes that the building is one of the main centers in its entire campus and that the Late CEO Steve Jobs actually participated in the designing of the building. Jobs helped design the structure of the building so that employees could not lock themselves in their office all day and would have to come out to converse with each other.

Steve Jobs holds a massive portion of shares of Disney, after the giant acquired Pixar back in 2004. At the time, Jobs was CEO of Pixar, and was paid only $1 a year. Jobs also held up the film studio for years with his own personal money, putting in millions to help keep Pixar alive until it was acquired by Disney. Samad Rizvi, writer at The Pixar Times mentioned Job’s influence and how much of an impact he had on Pixar.

“He came up with the idea that the building should be centered around a large atrium, which would lead to accidental collaboration that may not occur if everyone was stuck in their individual offices. I find this to be the perfect way to honor the legacy of Steve Jobs. Placing his name above the main building not only reminds those who walk through the entrance of his importance to the formation of the studio,” Rizvi wrote, “but is also a meaningful representation of his influence on the famed building.”

This is only one of the many influences that Jobs has left on the world, including the hundreds of small design changes and products that he left behind at Apple. Pixar dedicating its campus building to Jobs appears to be the right choice as the company was transformed with the money and vision of the late CEO.

{Via AppleInsider}

Waking up on time is so important – you don’t need me to tell you that, though. 

It’s likely you use a set tone or a panicky spouse to help you rouse from your slumber, mind, rather than a sound you actually want to hear.

EnSight Media’s latest app Radio Alarm Clock helps to make waking up as enjoyable or bearable as possible, though, offering several radio stations and tones to choose from. 

Manchul Ko, CMO of Ensight Media, spoke to us about how his company’s app stands out in a crowded market, how easy it is to use, and why it shows how the sound of smooth jazz is popular (almost) worldwide.

Accessibility is essential in an app like Radio Alarm Clock, but fortunately it’s as simple to use as you might hope.

“You can listen to just the radio function if you like, but if you want to use the app’s other features, just tap on the alarm feature and Sleep timer,” Ko says.

”

Simply touch ‘CH+’ and choose your favourite channel – you can either select the channel by country, pick from SHOUTcast channels, or search for channels directly and save them as Favourites.” According to Ko, not only is Radio Alarm Clock easy to use, but it’s also one of the more enjoyable alarm clock apps you can download.

“For heavy sleepers, it’s great that they can wake up with a smile using our app. I mean, the iPhone’s default alarm sounds are not friendly, at all,” he explains.

” For light sleepers, it’s good that our sleep timer feature will put them to sleep easily by their listening to nature sounds or radio stations or MP3s.”

What really helps separate Radio Alarm Clock from the many similar apps out there on the App Store, though, is its presentation – its design charmingly harks back to the early 20th century.

“Users of the app are touched by its unique retro UI & UX design, since nowadays everyone is really focused on a purely digitalized world,” Ko explains.

” One example of this retro design is visible when the app streams the radio channel, for the app displays a ‘Channel Streaming’ animation – the user might really think that it actually searches the channel by itself.”

Intriguing presentation and ease of use are present and correct, then, but there are also tons of different stations to explore. Ko says a few favourite stations have emerged.

“Through the SHOUTcast channels, French Kiss FM and Absolutely Smooth Jazz are popular,” he says. “In their respective regions, the BBC, Europe 1, France Info, Japan-A-Radio, and K-Pop channels are also widely used.”

Developing Radio Alarm Clock was harder than you might expect, however, and integrating the radio channels into the app was certainly being the biggest challenge.

“Our biggest difficulty was supporting the various streaming formats and overcoming the technical issues and guidelines,” Ko says.

In terms of updates, Ko tells us there are no concrete plans in place.

 “It is hard to guarantee specific features at this moment, but we will try to focus on social options that will help you interact with other Radio Alarm Clock users who listen to the same radio channels.”

You can download Radio Alarm Clock for iPhone now – it is currently free to download [iTunes link].

Even in this electronic age board games have never gone out of fashion, the only difference being that where as many of these games were once played on literal boards they are now often being played on virtual boards on iPhones, iPads and other such devices.

And that is certainly the case of the award winning Whoowasit? HD which is now available on the iPad for $4.99 from the App Store.

Whoowasit? HD is like a cross between the classic board games of Clue and Guess Who and is a team based where instead of players competing against each the players are encouraged to work together to solve the puzzles and find the thief who has stolen the ring.

Set in medieval times the game is set in the rooms of a castle and by rolling the dice players take it in turns to move their character from room to room looking for clues to who could have stolen the ring.

The board is beautifully drawn with lots of detail and small animations. Each room contains a different animal and they will have clues to help you finger the thief. However, they won’t give up they’re information for nothing and need to be encouraged to spill the beans by giving them food which can also be found in the rooms.

As it’s a team game everyone gets to see the clues that are presented and can use them themselves. You may think that as everyone is working together that catching the thief would be easy. However, you are up against the clock and failure to find the thief in the allotted time will result in the game being over.

You will also have to avoid the ghost that moves from room to room as being in the same room will see you banished back to the nursery to start your hunt again.

The thief, clues and food that the animals require are changed each time that you play the game too ensuring that no too games are ever the same which makes repeat plays of the game more attractive.

The game also provides additional features for those players that own the board game version of Whoowasit? HD as it includes an interactive chest that becomes part of the board game.

Whoowasit? HD provides is an enjoyable experience and provides a more relaxed gaming experience compared to some of the other titles that are available on the iPad. While some people may be put off by the $4.99 price tag they should remember that this is a game that the whole family can play together and is considerably cheaper than purchasing a board game in a store.

What we like

• Classic board game values
• Fun for all the family
• Easy to play
• Team play

What to know

• Won’t appeal to all children

The iPad was introduced by Apple as not only a consumption device but also a creation device and there are many apps that certainly provide that functionality. However none do it with quite the ease and impressive results that Echograph for iPad achieves.

Echograph is part photograph, part video and it gives you the ability to manually control which part of the image is still and which stays in motion by simply touching the screen with your finger.

Each new project starts with a video, you can capture this using the iPad camera or use one that is already on your camera roll, this means that while Echograph is not a universal app you can still use movies captured on your iPhone by transferring it to your iPad.

After grabbing your video you are limited to using a maximum 4 second snippet and so your next task is to confirm which 4 second section you wish to use. Again this is very easy and is completed using 2 slider controls along the bottom of the screen.

Next up you need to select a still image from the video that will act as the canvas for your creation, again this is easily completed by using the slider control.

Finally you are ready to animate the areas of the picture you wish to have motion. This is down by simply rubbing your finger across the screen to bring that portion of the image to life. You can control the size of your brush by pinch the screen so that you can be as accurate or as broad as you like.

The image that you are working with will dictate how much brushing you’ll need to do but with the brush size control it’s never going to take too long. However having multiple brush shapes or the ability to draw and cut sections out of the image would provide greater accuracy.

The resulting image then has to be produced and you can do this either in high or low definition depending on the quality of the results you require. You can then share your results via Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, or submit it to Echograph, (registration is required).

You can view both your results, and those picked by the Echograph staff and some pretty impressive results can be seen here to enjoy and inspire.

At $3.99 it’s not the cheapest photography app in the App Store but with impressive results it’s certainly worth it if you enjoy getting creative with your photography and animation.

What we like

• Easy to use
• 4 step results
• View best results in app

What to know

• Not universal
• Not cheap
• To view brush options

iOS 6 beta 2 is noted to have a build number of 10A5338d, and is a 322 megabyte download for iPhone 4S users. The update came from a source called AppleInternal which is specified for releasing the OS on a limited basis straight from the engineers at Apple.

The new update is also reported to have fixed issues that caused the SpringBoard to crash, another where the screen turned black after the user plugged in headphones or turned on speakerphone while using the phone, and an issue where the SpringBoard would crash if an iCloud account was created in the initial setup of an iPhone.

This is only the second beta release since the initial beta of iOS 6 was released by Apple about two weeks ago for developers to test and adjust their apps.The iOS 6 beta 2 is compatible with the new iPad 3, iPad 2, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and the 4th generation iPod touch.

The beta is available for download in the Settings application and comes with a new animation, where the icon with gears is now animated. The beta is accessible in Settings as an OTA update, and through iTunes via USB. Apple will likely release several more betas before releasing the Golden Master and then final version of iOS 6.

{via AppleInsider}

The first of these new tweaks is RingerX VIP by @_Yllier_ which enables you to manage your call and message alerts on a contact by contact basis. If you want your iPhone to ring or vibrate for certain contacts even when the phone is set to silence or vice-versa then this is the tweak for you.

You can also mute you whole iPhone for a given time and it will automatically come out of silence mode when the timer runs out. The sign of a good tweak is one that works with minimal setup and maintenance and RingerX VIP certainly does that.

MusicBanners by serial Jailbreak tweaker @rpetrich is an even simpler tweak that does exactly what it says. While music from your iPod is playing every time the song changes the notification banner at the to of your screen will appear and show the artist, track name and the album artwork.

Ryan Petrich also quickly rolled out a response to the issue where the social networking app Path was found to be uploading your iPhone’s contacts to their servers. While Path also responded to the issue you can now be notified when any app attempts to use your contacts by installing ContactPrivacy.

Jepit is a tweak that changes the animation method when switching between apps via the multitask bar, it’s pretty subtle but nice none the less and there are a range of options to change the animation style and speed. The latest update also includes the ability to control the number of apps in your app switcher and whether or not they show badges.

Finally it’s recommended that if you want to be able to preserve your Jailbreak that you back up your SHSH ‘blob’. Your SHSH file will allow you to keep your device jailbroken even after apple disable your ability to use a firmware that is jailbreakable. iFaith and TinyUmbrella are two pieces of software that will help you do this.

These are just a few of the great reasons to jailbreak. If you have questions or comments about anything jailbreak related post in the comments below or tweet me @4forkssake.

Weather Live Review

The app is simple to setup, locations can be setup either using the iPhone location service to set you current location or you can search locations world wide. You can also add multiple locations and switch between them with a simple swipe of the screen.

With a location set the screen loads with multiple pieces of weather related information from the current, minimum and maximum daily temperatures to current humidity, precipitation, pressure and visibility all encased in a beautifully animated weather background based on the current conditions and a digital clock in the center.

Weather Live looks beautiful, it pops off the screen and the information is presented clearly and concisely. That being said there are customizations to me made in many areas to get the display to be just how you like.

While having all of the details loaded provides you with he maximum amount of information taking it down to the text only options provides the best view of the gorgeous animated backdrops.

Also under your control are the temperature and distance units, clock settings and alerts for when the temperature drops below zero. As previously mentioned you can also enable the temperature badge to display the current temperature on your home screen. I’ve had mixed results with this and while it displays it doesn’t always update as I would expect it to without going into the app first.

Weather Live is now my new ‘screensaver’ for both my iPhone and iPad, it’s informative, great looking and simple to use, the only feature I miss is that I would love to be able to see some of the other weather animations that I may never get to see living in mid-west
USA!

What we like:

• Looks amazing
• Customizable
• Filled with information

What to know:

• Temperature icon doesn’t always update
• No way to preview other weather animations

Gallery

OZ is an interactive book that uses both sounds and animation to help bring the story to life. The subtlety of the technology doesn’t make the book seem completely different but instead helps to enhance the already amazing story. The book contains sounds that will help bring the story from the pages into your imagination and allow you visualize and feel the story. The book also contains over 20 interactive and dynamic pages that again compliment the story. This added technology helps lift the story to a new level and lets your imagination run wild.

The animation that comes from the pages is both dynamic and interactive. My favorites are the interactive images but the dynamic images are also very cool. An example of the dynamic images is when the house falls on the witch and you see a cloud of smoke around her shoes. This adds to the images that the author is trying to portray to the reader. The interactive images are very cool and my favorite would have to be when you are tasked with putting Tin man’s appendages back on him. After you do so you are also able to flail his appendages about which easily gets old but is still pretty cool. The story flows well and provides with moments to interact with the book which truly pulls your deeper and deeper into the story.

The presentation of the book is very clean and elegantly designed. This book actually contains the original illustrations by W. W. Denslow which is great. The images give the book the original feel while the interactivity help exploit the technology offered by the iPad. I am a techie but also respect the past so this is right up my alley. The sounds of the book are very clean and sound great on the speaker on the iPad. As always the beautiful display of the iPad brings a pop that you simply don’t have with paper books.

Overall I’d say if you are a fan of the original book and enjoy a great read with some interactive elements that the entire family can enjoy, pick this up. The book is a classic and the technology of the iPad doesn’t over power that but instead compliments it nicely. Immerse yourself in the adventures of Dorothy and her friends.

Pros

• Great Story
• Interactive Images
• Great Sounds to go with story

Cons

• More Interactive images would be nice

$6.99
Category: Books
Released: Apr 11, 2011
Version: 1
1
Size: 75.0 MB
Language: English
Seller: Robert Cunningham-Brown
© Boluga Apps
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Tapper World Tour for iPhone harkens its 1980s arcade roots and creates a stunning atmosphere with addictive gameplay. The new age remake brings amazing presentation with constantly changing environments and sounds with the old school gameplay. The game is fairly simple but does a great job of staying fresh with mini games and little twists along the way. Tapper World Tour is a steal at its special introductory price.

You begin as bartender and you are trying to make sure everyone gets their drinks. A simple tap sends a frosty beverage skating down the bar to a thirsty patron. The goal is to keep the advancing patrons at bay by sending drinks down the bar towards them. If a patron gets to your end of the bar without a beverage or you send too many drinks down the bar and a glass breaks, you lose a life. You have a limited number of lives so you have to pay attention and be quick.

The settings vary from a Mexican cantina, to a Boston sports bar and even a South American setting. This keeps the gameplay fresh with new faces and environments and also with new twists in gameplay. The core game never changes but the little twists vary from trying to scurry down the bar to get a tip while continuing to serve patrons to catching empty glasses while continuing to serve. These along with others keep the gameplay changing in a way that keeps the game fun and escalates the difficulty level drastically.

The mini-games were a fun change of pace as well. For example, they put a badge under a cowboy hat that is in a line of four and shuffle them up and if you pick the right hat, you get a nice little prize. This is a very subtle change of pace but a neat little way to throw you bone and get you more points. The game also introduces certain things to aid you along the way. An example is when you are serving drinks sometimes it would be nice to have a pause so that you can get caught up. Well, they offer a solution to this problem by having a show on the stage at the bar that the patrons stop and watch which gives you some time to get caught up. The changes in gameplay and aids make this game very fun and forgiving.

The scoring scheme is pretty simple as you get points for successfully serving patrons. You can also get a boost by successfully serving multiple patrons in a row. This often leads to boosts as well such as a tip. The game also has a star system to tell you how well you did in a particular stage. Get a high score and you are looking at 3 stars, poor and you’ll earn 1 star. This gives you an idea on how well you did. The game also uses Game Center so it is a great way of tracking the leaderboards and achievements and bragging to friends. I think this is a key feature of any game as social networking is a part of everyday life, like it or not.

The visual and audio presentation of this game is maybe my favorite part. The backdrops seem to always change and match the environment very well. From Mexican cantina to Boston sports bar, the characters are pretty funny to watch when you have a moment. The visual representation of your location is very suitable and the game never seems to slow down even though there is a ton of things going on. The audio is always a thing I nitpick at but I was very impressed by the way this game found a nice way to transition from place to place with a musical change. The menu music is different from the levels and each environment has its own set of sounds which set it apart from the others. These are small details but to me, they have a great impact on your gameplay experience.

Overall, I was very impressed with the presentation and the simple yet addictive game play that Tapper brings. It’s a fun loving game that has various settings and musical attributes that keep it from getting stale. I would highly recommend this game. It will provide tons of fun for a low price of 99 cents.

Pros

• Presentation
• Number of Levels and Environments
• Addictive Gameplay
• Great Graphics

Cons

• It would be cool if it supported OpenFeint

$0.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Mar 16, 2011
Version: 1.0
1.0 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
Size: 152 MB
Language: English
Seller: Warner Bros. Entertainment
TM and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc
Rated 12+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later