Snapchat a social networking app popular for sharing photos with friends that self-destruct after a few seconds has had a security breach. The servers of Snapchat were hacked that has resulted in usernames and mobile numbers of over 4.6 million users being exposed and possibly available on the internet.

According to reports, Gibson Security on August 27, 2013 had pointed out flaws in Snapchat’s “Find Friends” feature. The exploits were recently made public and as a result hackers were able to access information from Snapchat servers.

Find Friends is an optional service that asks Snapchatters to enter their phone number so that their friends can find their username. This means that if you enter your phone number into Find Friends, someone who has your phone number in his or her address book can find your username.

Snapchat has posted a blog post acknowledging the security breach and explained how the hackers got the information:

… it was possible for an attacker to use the functionality of Find Friends to upload a large number of random phone numbers and match them with Snapchat usernames. On New Years Eve, an attacker released a database of partially redacted phone numbers and usernames. No other information, including Snaps, was leaked or accessed in these attacks.

This security breach is clearly a result of Snapchat not working quick enough to patch the security holes in time. The flaws had been exposed 4 months ago however, the company failed to take action which has now resulted in 4.6 million unhappy users.

The developers are now working on an updated version of the app that will allow users to opt-out of Find Friends feature and will be “improving rate limiting and other restrictions” to avoid such attacks.

Snapchat was recently approached by Facebook for acquisition for about $3 billion however, the company refused the offer. The social networking app to share photos and short video clips is popular among teenagers. Sharing photos without leaving any tracks behind has proved to a successful strategy behind Snapchat’s user base.

Gibson Security has put up a website “GS Lookup – Snapchat” to allow users to check if their details were stolen by entering their username on the website. The site notes that only specific areas of America were included. It also suggests some steps you could take in case your details were stolen.

This is not the first time such a security breach has happened in a social networking application. Recently even Skype was targeted by hackers during the holiday season.

On Thursday, Twitter launched the music app that was nothing but a rumor for the past several weeks. Twitter released the app early Thursday, and called it Twitter #music, with a hashtag in the title to reflect the popular feature from the social networking site. The app integrates a number of other music streaming services such as Rdio and Spotify and also shows previews from iTunes.

All of the music in the app will give users a preview until they log into their Spotify Premium or Rdio account. Twitter also introduced the service on the web for users who stream music on their computers and for those who use Spotify or Rdio on the web on a regular basis. Twitter #music uses Twitter as its main source of music and aggregates the most popular emerging artists and songs and also utilizes a user’s follow lists to recommend other music that the user may like.

Twitter #music is very similar to something such as Apple’s Genius suggestions in iTunes, but uses other music streaming services and Twitter to aggregate and recommend new music. ABC News released more specific details on the Twitter #music app:

The Popular page shows you new music that’s trending across Twitter while the Emerging tab shows “hidden talent found in tweets.” While those two parts feed you information about what the collective Twitterverse is jamming to, the last two focus on who you follow and your personal music taste.

The Suggested tab shows artists you might like based on the artists you follow on the service and who they follow. And finally the #NowPlaying tab shows songs your friends are listening to or tweeting about. For instance, if your friend tweets that they are listening to a song by Justin Bieber, that song will show up on that page.

Twitter #music is now available as a free download on the App Store {Direct Link} and on the web.

{Via MacRumors}

Earlier this month, Facebook introduced their new ‘Home’ feature earlier this month. Facebook Home is an interface layer on top of the existing Android operating software developed by Google. On Monday, a report from Bloomberg suggested that the social networking giant is now in talks with Apple to bring Facebook Home to iPhone. The new software would allow iOS users to interact with their Facebook profiles directly through the mobile OS, essentially having access to Facebook on most of iOS.

Facebook Home allows users to display photos on the lock screen and chat experience through something called Chat Heads which is currently developed directly over the Android software. Apple did include Facebook into Mountain Lion and iOS 6, allowing its users to share images and status updates directly from both Notification Center and the action button in Photos and Safari.

With Facebook Home, sharing and interacting with Facebook would become the focal point of Apple’s iOS. It may also compromise privacy for iOS users, which has been an issue in the past. According to Facebook’s product director, Adam Mosseri, talks of bringing the overlay are in the works but no plans have been finalized. He also notes that Facebook may retool Home to operate on iOS, likely because Apple generally controls what companies can include on their mobile OS.

{Via MacRumors}

According to a report from Bloomberg, popular social networking and microblogging service, Twitter is planning to introduce a standalone music app, being called ‘Twitter Music’. The app will bring streaming music capabilities to iOS users, similar to other services such as Pandora and Spotify.

The report does note, however, that streaming will rely on Berlin, Germany based SoundCloud. SoundCloud allows for artists to upload their music via a web URL, which can then be embedded on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Users can then leave comments on the music and interact with one another, which is likely what is attracting Twitter to creating such a service.

News of Twitter’s new venture has been relatively recent, with music labels hearing about it earlier this week and a report from CNet noting that Twitter had acquired music discovery service, We Are Hunted last year. We Are Hunted is a San Francisco based company that allows users to discover music from blogs, social networks, and BitTorrents and organizes them in a tile-based format for easy access.

With the new ‘Twitter Music’ app, Twitter would be competing with other social networks such as Facebook and Instagram which have been making a number of changes to their services. This includes Facebook’s new Graph Search feature and News Feed. Twitter appears to be targeting iOS specifically, having also introduced video sharing app, Vine to the platform.

{Via AppleInsider}

Apple introduced its “Find My Friends” application in late 2011 with iOS 5, allowing iOS users to track their friends in real time, and display their own location using the GPS on their device. Now it seems that Facebook has something similiar in mind.

According to Bloomberg, the social networking giant is working on a location based app similiar to “Find My Friends” which would allow users to automatically share their location with their Facebook friends. The application would run in the background so it can consistently update the location of the user and friends of the user.

The app, scheduled for release by mid-March, is designed to help users find nearby friends and would run even when the program isn’t open on a handset, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.

The team developing Facebook’s location software is being led by Peter Deng, a product director who joined from Google in 2007, one person said. The group also includes engineers from Glancee, a location-tracking startup Facebook acquired in May, and Gowalla, a location-based social network whose assets were purchased in December 2011, the person said.

Although Apple was the first to introduce an app with this technology, it seems more practical for Facebook who would have a existing and significantly larger user base. The social networking site could also use the locations of its users to further understand a person’s likes and dislikes, which can be used for advertising purposes.

Facebook will likely give users the option to turn off their feature if they wish, as they have done with their Photo Sync feature. It is unclear how many users would feel comfortable having Facebook automatically upload their location, let alone use it for ad purposes.

{Via iMore}

Apple is looking to improve Siri, its digital voice assistant for iOS devices. The Cupertino, California company posted a job listing on social networking site, LinkedIn and is specifically looking for writers that can help to improve the personality of Siri.

We’re looking for a uniquely creative individual to help us evolve and enrich Siri, our virtual personal assistant. Siri’s known for ‘her’ wit, cultural knowledge, and zeal to explain things in engaging, funny, and practical ways. The ideal candidate is someone who combines a love for language, wordplay, and conversation with demonstrated experience in bringing creative content to life within an intense technical environment.

Siri is currently included in Apple’s newest iPad, iPhone lineup, as well the fifth generation iPod touch. Siri, despite initially launching to popularity has become a secondary feature for some users, who would rather do searches and scheduling themselves instead of relying on the digital assistant.

Apple is looking to improve the usability of the service, which has been somewhat of a failure and has partially contributed to the ousting of iOS chief Scott Forstall from the company. Apple appears to be molding Siri in order for it to become as similar to a human conversation as possible. During the introductory keynote, Forstall noted that Siri truly understands what a user is saying and responds as such. With this position fulfilled, Siri will continue to gain far more responses to prompts than it currently has.

{Via iMore}

With new features such as Graph Search coming to Facebook, it appears that the social networking site is looking to challenge search giant, Google. Facebook is now beginning to add new features all around, including Voice Calling to the site’s iOS Messenger app. Voice Calling through the Facebook iOS Messenger app is currently available in both the US and in Canada.

According to The Verge, the Voice Calling feature was previously limited to Canada but is now being opened up to users in the United States. The feature arrived as an update in early January, and appears to be similar to Google’s Voice feature.

What this means is that if you live in the US, you can now call other Facebook users for free over Wi-Fi or using your phone’s data connection while you’re on the go. When you call someone, a push notification appears on their screen that says “Ellis Hamburger is calling,” for example. The feature is especially critical for people with bad cell service at work or at home, and for those who want to conserve cell phone minutes. It’s also a huge step for Facebook — which with a single feature emerges as one of the largest communities of VoIP users in the world. Yes, competitors Viber, Vonage, and Skype have had the feature for some time, but all have much smaller user bases.

With Voice Calling, Facebook has an upper edge over Google, particularly because of its existing user base, and because it is a social networking site as opposed to Google’s email and search service. It is also competing with other services such as Skype. Facebook Messenger will now allow the already popular iPod touch to become a calling device for teenagers, particularly because the device is targeted towards that age-group.

Voice calling can be accessed by opening the Facebook Messenger application, opening up a chat with a friend, and click the ‘i’ button. After the page appears, a button should say “Free Call”, which will then connect the two users to a voice call. Not all Facebook users are currently able to use the feature as it is slowly rolling out across the United States. Facebook Messenger is currently available as a free app on the iOS App Store [Direct Link].

{Image via Mashable}

Jackpotjoy have released an update for their successful iOS Jackpotjoy Slots app, giving players more slots gaming action.

The new 1.0.3 version means users can now access two more popular multiline slot games on the go, Ray Gunn and The Winstones.

Free to download, the mobile app – which launched in September this year – is available for the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad.

The two new games will be familiar to users of the Jackpotjoy site, where they specialise in fun re-workings of traditional slots, a tactic that’s helped the site earn its 4 million registered users.

Ray Gunn takes players into futuristic outer space for a slot game battle against Galex E. Greed, while the Winstones heads for the Jurassic era. Packing in the prehistoric cartoon family references, players can also win free games via a stone age Wheel of Fortune bonus round.

Slots have been a mainstay of the bricks and mortar casino industry for decades, and have undergone a transformation in recent years thanks to internet.

The app’s developer, Gamesys, have taken the traditional slot game model and added more than just graphics and sounds. Gameplay innovations, bonus rounds, fun characters and storyline slots have all helped to transform the way slots are played and increase the popularity of slot gaming online and via mobile.

The app update also allows for better connectivity with Facebook. Jackpotjoy launched their free slots app for Facebook last year, keen to establish themselves on the social networking platform that has proved so successful for Zynga. 8 million players already use their Facebook slots app, which offers up over 30 slots games, and the ability to play in either guest or tournament mode.

The updated mobile app allows players to connect their mobile and Facebook play, storing and transferring any progress they’ve made and coins they’ve collected from one platform to another. It’s a cross-platform link that’s arguably vital for the success of today’s games, with smartphone and tablet ownership on the rise, and users looking for more entertainment on the move for their mobile devices.

One of the first to recognise the potential that the internet holds for bingo, slots and casino gaming, Jackpotjoy were also quick to grasp the importance that social networking would play in the world of gaming. Their Gamesys-designed Facebook app, Bingo and Slots Friendzy, made history in August, becoming the first real-money gaming app on Facebook – allowing users to play for real cash prizes for the first time.

Jackpotjoy plan to continue adding further slot games to their mobile app, including favourites from their own website and Facebook, and newly launched games too. The further players progress through the slot game rounds, the more slot games they’ll unlock.

The free app currently holds a five star customer rating in the iTunes app store, and is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad.

For the past several months, intense rumors have surrounded the likelihood that Apple was looking to introduce a television set. However, over the past several weeks and days, reports are suggesting that Apple is negotiating with cable companies in order to introduce a new set top box with the capability of streaming live television. The new box will reportedly feature an interface similar to the iPad, likely a cross with OS X as well as social networking integration and DVR-like capabilities.

While this wouldn’t necessarily be Apple “television”, it would give users live channels and likely the ability to hook up the box to almost any projector or screen. It can perhaps even hook up to Apple’s own Cinema Display. In a report from The Wall Street Journal, Jessica E. Vascellaro And Shalini Ramachandran report on Apple’s new venture:

This could just be another in the long history of periodic feeling outs that Apple and Hollywood seem to feel compelled to engage in — a tug at the thread Apple CEO Tim Cook still feels is there.

According to the report, Apple is meeting with numerous cable operators to provide service for the device and is also approaching entertainment companies with a rough outline of the device’s features in order to draw them in. At this point, it is unclear what exactly Apple is planning, as they have also been reported to be testing television prototypes. Under the supervision of Steve Jobs, the company was looking to revolutionize the TV industry and create a more expansive version of it for the market.

Apple would likely achieve this in a very similar manner to the company’s introduction of iMessage to target carriers, albeit on a much larger and more risky scale. Although the current Apple TV sells quite well on the market, the Cupertino company has yet to introduce a device that can shake up the standard and make it much better than what the Apple TV is now, a set of apps that stream music, photos, and television shows. A set top box capable of streaming live television may be exactly that,

Would you buy a new set top box? Do you think this is better than an actual television set? Let us know in the comments below.

{via iMore — Image Credit: Wired}

Google’s Orkut social networking service has finally received an iPhone app. On Wednesday, Google introduced Orkut for iPhone, allowing users of Google’s social networking site, access the service on the go.

The official Orkut app for iOS connects you to your friends and family. Now you can send scraps, see your friends updates, upload photos and browse your friends albums anywhere you go. Never miss a conversation again because you are not in front of your computer: get the free Orkut app and stay connected.

• Update your status
• Check your scraps and messages
• Reply to your friends birthdays
• Check your friends updates
• Browse your friends profiles, scraps and photos
• Take new photos and upload them directly to your Orkut albums
• Share your life anywhere, anytime with the people you care about

Although not as popular as Facebook, Orkut as gained a large amount of users from Brazil and India, with almost 80% of its users residing in those two countries. Orkut is also used in countries where Google+ is not available.

Google+ is currently offered in the United States, and with Facebook leading the way, Orkut is still lagging behind in international markets. Orkut for iPhone is now available in the App Store for Free and utilizes all features of the desktop version, similar to Google+.

{via iMore}

On Wednesday, Apple’s Online Store went down briefly and returned with new Twitter and Facebook integration. The Mac Pro selection page as well as the iPod Classic page has now changed to incorporate a drop down menu, that allows users to post a link to the product on either Twitter or Facebook.

The new menu allow users to edit the posting before publishing on the social media sites. Other product pages, including the iPhone and iPod pages have not received this new Twitter and Facebook integration. Apple has been slowly integrating it’s products into the social networking sites, first starting this off by posting product videos on their YouTube page, and eventually integrating Twitter into iOS 5 and now this.

Apple is beginning to utilize social media in order to market its products and build up a more modern perspective to its customers. Apple’s new strategy is a very smart one indeed, something that Apple has neglected in the past. This new shift in Apple’s product awareness could help the company in gaining more customers in the long run.

1. Tweetbot – A beautiful and well designed app for accessing your Twitter account. Check your timeline, mentions and dm’s. You can send tweets, send photos and videos too. If you use lists then you can add them in your main timeline section or use the bar at the bottom. The app allows you to save drafts and add locations to your tweets. It doesn’t have all the features that some of the other Twitter clients have but it is a very worth-while app to try out. The UI and sound effects are great and makes your twitter experience a great one!

2. TwitGlitch – If you are a little addicted to Twitter or just use your Twitter account professionally then this app is ideal for you. TwitGlitch will keep you informed of the status information for Twitter and when clicking further into the app it will tell you the cause of the latest ‘fail whale’. You can also view past history and it will tell you the time and date of disruption. The app will also inform you of any official annoucements and the Twitter accounts latest tweets. Within the app you can add your own Twitter account to track your rate limit. A great app for keeping you up to date on all things Twitter!

3. qTweetings – This app is perfect to use when you are on the go but want to keep all your friends on Twitter and Facebook updated. It does one thing, post your Twitter and Facebook updates. You can post photos and videos as well and even schedule your tweets to a set time. There is an option to your follow list as well should you wish to reply or send a message to one of your friends.You can even tweet music you are currently listening to. A great way to Tweet whilst out and about.

4. Trickle – Another Twitter client but this one is rather unique. If you are busy at work or doing something that prevents you from loading and reading your main Twitter client then Trickle is for you. You can simply load it up pop it in your dock at your desk and watch your tweets flow on the screen one tweet at a time. It displays all your timelines tweets covering the whole of your screen for easy reading. You can also retweet and favourite tweets within the app and add multiple user accounts.

5. Birdbrain – Keep up to date with all of your Twitter Statistics. It keeps you updated with a list of all the latest in your followers. Find out who unfollowed you or who’s started following you. It keeps a count of all your mentions and all the tweets you send out. The app also shows you a new list you have been added to, your tweets retweeted and by whom.

6. DMs – The last in the selection of Twitter apps and another app that is great to work alongside your current twitter client. DM’s is great for managing all your DM’s efficiently. You can list all your friends into set groups for easier access or just view them in one long list. If you like keeping your messages, well you can keep them here for as long as you like. You can star important messages, write notes for users and search for old messages. This app almost feels like an instant messaging app but working with your DMs. A must have app for all twitter users.

7. Instagram – A fun way to capture and share your photos on your iPhone. Choose from several filters and tilt-shift effects, add a comment and simply post. This is a great social app. You post your photos to Instagram for all your friends to see. Other users can then follow you and you can follow back. There is an option to have your pictures private if you wish but part of the fun with this app is sharing for the world to see. You can post anything you like when out and about and you don’t have to be a professional photographer to make your pictures look great.

8.Viddy – Another fun sharing app with social tie-ins. This time it is all about the videos you capture. It works the same as Instagram, you simply capture a 15 second clip on your iPhone, choose a choice of filter and sound effects and then upload on to Viddy. Other users can then like and comment and you can follow other people and their daily videos.

9. Facebook – Just in case there is someone out there that doesn’t have this app I thought it was worth a mention. The official Facebook app for managing your Facebook account. View your timeline, profile and private messages. You can also use the chat section within the app and view upcoming events and birthdays. Post your status updates easily and like or comment on all of your friends status updates.

10. Foursquare – A fun, social app to let all your friends know where you are and what you are up to. Foursqaure lets you ‘check-in’ to the place where you are. You can then add photos, comments and send to Twitter and Facebook. You can leave tips for users visiting the places you go to and on occasions certain check-in destinations offer discounts and freebies. As you go you collect badges and  earn points to battle away against your friends.

11. FitFu – A fun app to use to get fit but with a great social feature. Start slowly doing the set exercises and unlocking them as you go. Each time you do any activity you earn points to help you level up. You can also add friends to motivate you and also earn points. You can visit your friends profiles to see what level they are at, what exercises they have done. A perfect app if you want to start exercising but need a little motivation from a few friends to get you started.

12. Boxcar – If you want to know as soon as you have a mention or DM on Twitter, or if someone just wrote on your Facebook wall then Boxcar is for you. It is a notification app that sends you alerts almost instantly when you get a message. When using with twitter it not only alerts you of your mentions and DMs but you can set it to notify you when you are retweeted, if someone favourites your tweets or if you have a new follower. It also works alongside many of the twitter apps already available. You can also set it up with your email, Google voice, Google buzz and any RSS feeds. Great to ensure you don’t miss any messages.

13. Colloquy – The IRC mac client on your iPhone, great when you are out and about. Supports multi-tasking and all the common IRC commands. There is also a built-in browser so you don’t have to leave the app. You can also set it up with Instapaper to read later any links you receive. The app stays connected for 10 minutes when you leave it and you can set it to alert you if it is going to disconnect. It is very easy to set up and get started and chatting.

14. PingChat! – A great chat application that works across several other platforms. Great for chatting individually and group chats. Instant messaging that is like texting but without having to give your phone number out. You can also share videos and photos. The app notifies you of any messages and it is all very easy to reply and send back to them. It also shows when a message is sent and read and you can see if they are typing a reply back. A great app to keep you always online and in contact with your friends.

15. LiveProfile – This is very similar to PingChat but with some slightly different feaures so we thought it was worth a mention. It works the same way, instant messaging to all your friends. Again when you send and receive it will notify you when it has been delivered. You are also able to let your friends know if you are available, busy or away and set a status update to let all your friends know what you are up to.

16. Skype – This is another well known service and a popular app but again one that is worth mentioning. The app enables you to voice call, video call and chat free to other Skype users. You can also purchase Skype credit to call other phones and text and lower rates. The app is great for using over wifi or 3G perfect for when you are out and about and can’t use Facetime or don’t have an iPhone 4.

17. IM+ Pro – A great all-in-one app for all your instant messaging sevices. You can use it with Skype, Gtalk, Yahoo, MSN, AIM, ICQ, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, and Jabber! There is also a new feature called neighbours to connect with the people around you. You can locate friends on the map nearby and chat with them. The app also stays connected when you leave it and sends you push notifications. You can do group chat, view your twitter feeds and create your own status messages. There is even a built-in browser to surf the web. This is an excellant app that works well and perfect for those who have lots of different IM to log into.

18. Verbs – A beautiful, easy to use instant messaging app. This one is specifically for GTalk, AIM and Mobile Me. Chat with all your friends who use those services. It notifies you with alerts for any messages you receive and you can toggle your status from available to away. It also integrates Droplr and Cloudapp to enable you to send photos. You can also view downloaded text and documents from within the app. Update your status and let your friends know what you are up to. A lovely design and works very well.

19. Meet New People – A social networking app to meet people. An app that is used mainly for chatting and socializing and possibly leading to a date. Search around you or in an area you are wanting to meet someone. Very easy to use, just check out users profiles and then when asked whether you are interested say yes, maybe or no. You are able to see who looked at your profile and all the people that were interested in you to see if you want to chat with them. You chat privately to your friends. Very safe to use without giving out too much information.

20. WhatsApp Messenger – A cross-platform messenger service that works with your phones telephone number so no need for a PIN or user name. Instant messaging with push, use it just like you would when sending a SMS. You can also send videos and images and participate in group chat. The app is always on with no need to log off so feels just like the sms service. There is also the option to update a status to let your friends know what you are up to.

So these 20 apps cover a wide range of social networking apps available on the App Store. Which are your favourite apps? Let us know in the comments below.

The app is very easy to use and you can add an entry just with a few taps and inputting the requested details. To add an entry you first use the plus sign at the top of the screen. Then you input all the details of the meal. So information like the name of the restaurant, the location, how much your meal cost and you also have an option to rate it out of 5 stars. There is then a section to add any additional remarks and a few photos if you wish. Should you want to you can actually add multiple photos to an entry and present it in a slideshow. Good for showing off a great restaurant you have just been to.

To add a friend, just press the plus sign next to the friends entry section, it then will list all the people in your phonebook. Then you simply tap who you were there with and it adds them to that page. The app then remembers them and keeps them in your friend section within the app. If you ever want to recall where you have eaten out with your friends you tap their name and a list of the different locations is shown.

You can view the diary as a calendar view, a list or from a map and it is all easy to switch over to either display. You can post entries to Facebook or Twitter if you want to share all the details with your friends. The app also gives you an option to backup and restore if you need to.

The diary is nicely presented and gives you the sense that you are using a leather journal. You can easily add entries whilst out without it taking up all of your time and if need be you can edit or add details later.

At the moment Food X Friends is aimed at you and your friends you have at home and work. This is great if you are just happy to have a journal reminding you where you have been and what you had. If the developers wanted to expand this at all they could even turn it into a social networking app. An app where you can add friends from around the world and see their entries each time they go out. Basically see where everyone is going but the kind of food they are eating also.

Social networkng apps are becoming more and more popular. We have FourSquare to tell everyone where we have been so why not have one telling them what we are eating and where with lots of great delicious pictures to look at. It might also be an idea at a later date if it could be linked with FourSquare so you can check in at the same time.

Food X Friends is a good app if you visit a lot of places and like to take photos of them. If keeping a journal is your kind of thing then this is a great app for you to try.

Pros

• Nice User Interface
• Easy to use

Cons

• Add foursquare or Gowalla
• Open it out to more than just close friends.

$0.99
Category: Utilities
Released: Mar 30, 2011
Version: 1.0.0
1.0.0
Size: 10.3 MB
Languages: English, Chinese
Seller: Mangrove Giant
© Mangrove Giant 2011
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Gallery

You control a cyber avatar with the task of capturing targets while avoiding the geometric enemies. You can control the avatar with your finger or the accelerometer in an experience similar to Asteroids (minus the shooting). The combination of a solid game and social experience that is lacking in many games has me coming back to Cyber Dodge continually.

The visual presentation is impressive from the vivid color schema to smooth gameplay that you need to avoid the enemies as they begin to crow your screen. The colors used in this game make it very easy to differentiate between the various elements of the game. The color coded enemies helps in knowing that if you see purple you have a short amount of time to react. The music also does a great job in my mind of fitting in with the style of game. In a game such as this one, cooler heads prevail so the smooth calming rythmic music is very fitting.

The concept of this game is fairly simple, utilize your finger/accelerometer to guide your avatar to targets on the map while avoiding a number of different enemies. With enemies ranging from super fast purple that goes screaming across the map to the blue “heat-seeking” enemy that does a solid job of tracking you down, the enemies all present their own challengers. The slower moving enemies seem harmless enough at first but they become a bit of a traffic jam when trying to avoid the two previously mentioned enemies.

There is no difficulty setting as the game gets progressively more difficult with the more targets you are able to capture. I played using both my finger and the accelerometer and I grew to prefer the accelerometer. I found myself able to get more targets with my finger but your finger does seem to get in the way when you find yourself surrounded by enemies. However, I did find that by placing my finger slightly below the avatar you can alleviate that issue for the most part.

The accelerometer seemed to present more of a challenge and seemed to get me more
engaged in the action of the game, similar to when I lean when playing racing games. I really enjoyed playing this game and it became very addictive because every time you play your experience is different.

The OpenFeint social gaming network may be one of my favorite parts. OpenFeint is an open-sourced mobile, social gaming network that provides for ways to interact
with your friends and the games that you are playing. Obviously not all games are on this
network but this one was and I truly enjoyed it. I was able to jump into the OpenFeint network from “Home Screen” of the game and after I signed up I had access to Leaderboards, Forums & Chat, Who’s Playing and even join their fan club.

Replay value in a game is what most gamers look for and many games in the App Store provide a one and done feel. This game provides a different approach to getting your high score each time you start it up. That along with the frequent nudge by a friend to keep improving on your high score via the OpenFeint network was enough to make this game a very fun and competitive experience. You should definitely check this one out, especially if you are a fan of the classic game “Asteroids”. It is easily worth a buck.

Pros

• Visual & Sound are smooth and very fitting
• Directions are provided at beginning to help you grasp the concept
• Absolutely love OpenFeint Network

Cons

• One game mode

$0.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Feb 09, 2011
Version: 1.0
1.0
Size: 13.7 MB
Language: English
Seller: Yi-Lun Lin
© 2011 Spica
Rated 9+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later

The least we will see, apparently, is the ability to pull Facebook contacts into your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch directly from Facebook. But as Business Insider themselves say, this is a no-brainer. It’s little different than Apple offering automatic setups for Yahoo and GMail email accounts, for example.

It’s interesting to note that this last week or so Facebook have been busy altering some aspects of the way their security and privacy works. Quite often to the chagrin of their users, as things have not always gone smoothly (if Tweets I am seeing are anything to go by). I have to wonder if this is partly because of pressure that Apple may have put on Facebook before they commit, and the short time frame to the WWDC.

Other sources say that it’s possible that we may see some Facebook integration into the iPhone SDK, so that app developers can integrate social networking features more easily directly into their products.

Another rumor is some kind of Facebook messaging integration, or even a feature that ties phone caller info and Facebook profiles together.

It is worth noting, as Business Insider also point out, that Apple’s iPhoto app already offers Facebook features. And that some 34.2 million people were using the Facebook iPhone app as of last month. So it shouldn’t be surprising if the two companies decide to work together to some greater or lesser degree.

I am no fan of Facebook personally. But from a business perspective it seems Apple perhaps would be silly to ignore a service which is obviously so popular with the masses.

Will you welcome tighter Facebook integration on your iPhone? Let us know in the comments.

Ngmoco certaily seems to think “Freemium” is the future. And it’s hard to argue with their popularity in the AppStore charts. In November of 2009 their FPS shooter “Eliminate Pro” had already been downloaded 500,000 times, at the staggering rate of 25,000 copies an hour. These figures placed it solidly at the top of the free app chart in iTunes.

More recently they purchased longtime Mac / iPhone indie publisher “Freeverse” with venture capital money they raised with Institutional Venture Partners, and existing shareholders Kleiner Perkins, Norwest Venture Parters, and Maples Investments. Currently Freeverse’s catalog is all paid apps, but the plan apparently is to move them over to the free-to-play model also.

To date Ngmoco’s installed base of it’s most popular apps (TouchPets and Eliminate) tops 9 million copies “downloaded”, with hundreds of thousands of “plays” each day. Ngmoco are also taking a pop at the likes of Scoreloop, OpenFeint and Agon with their own entry into the social gaming network race, Plus+.

Young (Ngmoco’s CEO) is pushing to roll out more and more new games in a virtual avalanche, and plans to open up an SDK to their Plus+ social gaming system so that other developers can easily tap into it. The Plus+ system can manage virtual goods payments, player-to-player messaging, and other social aspects of iPhone games. Effectively taking on Urban AirShip as well as Scoreloop, OpenFeint and all the rest, all at the same time, in one all encompasing package. On top of that they are planning on bundling an internet based multiplayer network in with all these other features at some point in the future. At the moment that aspect of their network seems to be limited to their own creations though. I have not been able to get a timeline from them for general availability when I have made enquiries.

These figures, acquisitions and developments are hard to discount when asking yourself about Ngmoco’s future, and the success of the “Freemium” app model. But how much is to do with these games being free at the start? And is this Apple’s success or Ngmoco’s marketing we’re seeing succeed, rather than the “Freemium” model?

How is giving people the opportunity to try before they buy any different from the current system we have in premium console games? On XBox live or PlayStation Network people download a demo, and then decide whether to buy the retail item all of the time. The whole process is simply not integrated seamlessly yet as it is in iTunes, but they are getting there. Virtually every serious game purchase decision I have made personally in the last several years has been made after trying a free demo of a game. The real change that seems to be creeping into games these days is that we get less at purchase / download time and augment that with a cash stream trickle feeding the publisher for more content. All things that the big game publishers have been pushing harder and harder recently, and seems to have accelerated in iTunes since the advent of OS 3.0 on the iPhone and Apple introducing “In App Purchase”. Steve Jobs waxed lyrical about all this in his latest Keynote address stating that iTunes has around a bazillion people’s credit cards on file for buying content right now.

Scrolling through the reviews on the AppStore for some of the higher profile “Freemium” titles it seems that a fairly considerable percentage of people are not impressed by the basic “free” app they get, and the rest simply upgrade / buy app content because they like the game anyway, or get hooked. A great example is Eliminate Pro which severely limits replays in the free version, necessitating stumping up hard cash to buy more effective playing time. It’s like the “CoinOp” era all over again from where I am sitting.

To date Ngmoco’s most successful Freemium titles are in areas where games are almost guaranteed to succeed. One is the Sims style game TouchPets and the other is not only the first, but also the only multiplayer FPS on the iPhone : Eliminate Pro.
With or without a free download these games would garner quite a lot of attention anyway. So what are Ngmoco gaining from giving the title away initially? It seems to me they are quite able to market their games effectively – something which is harder for smaller developers. It’s also apparent that they have fairly high production quality when it comes to game websites, game front ends, and the overall look and feel of their products. So they would seem to be able to fair reasonably well if they simply sold their games at full price. After all they have enough backing and infrastructure to run their own global multiplayer network for “hundreds of thousands” of players. Not an insignificant undertaking!

(Yesterday I wrote about an interesting App Store pricing model experiment carried out by Indie Developer Tommy Refenes. Although an isolated unscientific study, it’s worth reading the account to get where I am coming from with this whole App Store pricing problem.) NOT PUBLISHED YET.

There is another important aspect to this method of marketing to consider. It’s a model very strongly based on the social aspect of gaming, and a certain amount of addiction to competition (passive or active), rather than the fact that something is free. It’s certainly true that by offering a free glimpse into every game you make you have a better chance of selling it to people than you do from static screen shots, or even gameplay videos. This is assuming that the entertainment value grasps the user in that trial period. But it can also canibalise your paid app sales. There is an interesting article on that here (GDC: Backflip’s Farrior On iPhone Ad Sales, Free Versions) where Julia Farrior, CEO of Backflip Studios talks about some of their hits and misses in the App Store.

I mentioned Scoreloop earlier, who’s entire business model is venture capital funded and free to Devs. Likewise with OpenFeint and the other contenders for the gaming social network crown. The difference is these startups don’t publish games, but provide the social networking back end for app developers to leverage. Something that OpenFeint and Scoreloop may have going for them is that they are more often than not part of a product that a gamer has already decided to buy. So up-selling app content is not actually part of their business model. Scoreloop, for example, very much rely on selling their own “coins” to players so that gamers can wager against each other. Gambling on their own skill, and against that of others, to amass more virtual wealth.

Let’s take a look at Eliminate Pro again. It’s a good example of what the “freemium” model is all about. Simply put the free game provides a limited amount of something. This “something” (energy in Eliminate’s case) is required in order for you to compete effectively, and then progress in the game’s hierarchy. You have two options: Put up with an arguably crippled experience after a very short introduction period, or pay some cash to compete on a level playing field – or compete at all! The great thing from the developers perspective is that they get much much more exposure with free games that are immediately accessible to gamers. The free versions of games I have been involved with are downloaded between 10 and 50 times more often than paid items. One of the older iPhone titles I worked on sells very little now, but still gets 20 or 30 free downloads a day, every day, with little or no promotion. It’s certainly a hard fact that if you want to at least get some market penetration, and a chance of being discovered in the burgeoning list of entertainment titles in the AppStore, then you need to give a free or “Lite” version of your title away. That is unless you have the marketing power of EA, or the IP of Ubisoft or RockStar. Then again you could just write a Zombie game!! I jest.

A cynical person could liken the Eliminate Pro or TouchPets model to that employed by drug dealers, or more charitably similar to that of World of Warcraft, or paintball even. First you get them hooked, and then you keep nibbling at them for a dollar here, 5 dollars there for ammo or consumables of some sort.. Simply put, this is how it works: Subscription. You want some more energy so you can go shooting people then it’s gonna cost you between $1.99 and amazingly $39.99 depending on how much “energy” or “dog chow” you want for your battle suit or virtual pet, respectively.

Having played Eliminate Pro I can honestly say the control system needs work (and many players I have spoken to repeat this complaint), but it’s eye catching and well presented. It seems to be predominantly populated with inexperienced players, which is explained by the developer chat I reported on earlier this week with the Ngmoco team, where they discuss their matchmaking efforts : (Ngmoco Gives Interesting Talk on How Eliminate Was Built | GDC 2010) However, I found I was in rooms with lots of people scraping along walls most of the time, and fragging people was somewhat satisfying simply because it was so easy! I seemed to do less “wall scraping” than my competitors at times, that’s all I guess! I am forced to wonder what the turnover of new players that never come back is. And unless you are paying you are not getting much for free.. Although if a player simply waits a fixed amount of time their energy will trickle fill again, and after a period of time they can play again for free.. But overall a lot of people find this frustrating as these kinds of comments bear out..

“This game is great. The graphics are good, frame-rate is good, gameplay is good, upgrades are good. Although, I must mention the controls don’t really work until you buy the first unlock-able weapon.”

“They really nickle and dime you for this.”

“But 4 hours to recharge for enough energy for 1 game is insane.”

After reading these comments I wondered what percentage of people who downloaded these free titles actually enjoyed their “freemium” experience, or simply left frustrated, as simply another statistic for marketing purposes. It seems that overall consumer views are split on these titles. If you look at the star rating there are a lot of high stars and a lot of low stars, very few in the middle! Which is interesting. And even the positive reviews for Eliminate (outside of the new main stream mobile gaming media) all state that it’s not really a good game *unless* you are paying for it. Again, and again.

It’s also worth noting that there are ads running on the front page of these games now. Something which is also available to any developer via AdMob and other similar services. Are Ngmoco still experimenting with where the bulk of their revenue will come from when the venture capital money runs out?

Back in the heyday of arcade games you fed 10p / 25c into a slot to keep playing. Now it seems that the plan is that you should attach a credit card to the AppStore and trickle feed your play habit that way. From a cash flow perspective this is very attractive. But as someone who enjoys his craft and is certainly not an up and coming Bill Gates with aspirations for world domination I am left feeling a little empty inside by this business model.

There are other titles out there that work on similar principals. “Baseball Slugger”, which although a paid game, offers you the option to either buy special packs for your player for cash or earn more “gold balls” to unlock those same upgrades. It’s a little similar to how Scoreloops coins work. This is a skill based model. Those players that don’t want to buy in have the option to progress based purely on skill, and at the same time I am guessing drive some other less “skillfull” players to buy upgrades to keep up. Of course I am sure many people simply buy the upgrades anyway. But at least the choice is there, and there is the satisfaction that keen players can get from having all the extras without having paid a dime!

Another slightly different example of exploiting this free to play model is our Editor (with obviously way too much free time) who takes great delight in playing “Skies of Glory” and beating players who have bought all the upgrades (“Cool bombs and a fancy plane worth $9.99″ – as he puts it) with his basic aircraft “with no upgrades at all”!

Overall these two examples, and to be fair, to a small degree Eliminate (as more skilful players can hang onto more energy each game and play for longer before they are depleted and benched), offer something for nothing without driving the need for players to pay for something. But the bottom line is they are all mini-systems designed to get the majority of players, either through friend envy, social pressure or sheer laziness, to pay a subscription of some kind to continue playing. Those top tier players who get it all for free are the constantly moving target that drives the less skilful to pay up. They are an important integral part of the overall business model. It kind of reminds me of the major players in the new SciFi (ScyFy – ugh) TV series “Caprica”, who play in the “one death and you’re out forever” VR Caprica world. Now that’s a gaming model I’d like – and one I’d pay to play in. But I digress…

“Tap Tap Revenge” is one of the standouts in this growing bunch of initially free to play apps. They provide a large number of songs with the free version, and do not seem to be pushing you to need to upgrade simply because base product is very satisfying. And yet they still make a lot of money. Part of that is they are now an established brand. But part of it is also that they provide a competitively priced, high quality product that people enjoy and want more of. Perhaps they see a friend with a cool avatar. Or perhaps they just want more variety. But either way it’s really their choice to upgrade, and they really don’t need to in order to be competitive, or to advance through any score table, or enjoy the game. In my opinion there is something to be learned there.

Now, I am not saying we shouldn’t make money from our software. Far from it. I write games myself, because I love games. I also need to eat though.

What concerns me is the way both mobile gaming and home gaming is slowly moving towards a rental model. Companies increasingly aim to push out as many products as they can in a year, all fairly formulaic, and now it seems with “Project 10$” from EA, and something similar from Sony (except twice the price!), that the idea is to turn games into revenue streams rather than outright purchases. Including when they are sold second hand. And all this by exerting more and more control over content in terms of the access to it, and the volume / timespan of that access.

With the “Freemium” App model consumers may be getting something free initially, but it’s little more than an advert / demo they would get for free anyway back in the day with more traditional models.

One individual reviewer put it very well with regards to another “freemium” title: “I’d rather pay $10.00 now and play as much as I want, than pay $1.00 every day to play.” If someone is paying a $1.00 a day to play it’s very simple maths to work out how much they might pay in a month even if they only play every other day. When compared to a one time sticker price of $10.00 (or more often $1.99) in the AppStore this starts to make real sense from a financial perspective for a publisher.

What worries me is that we are looking at a lot of energy and development time being put into a very fast moving market for the next great marketing opportunity, to sell more credits, and hook more people. Rather than crafting quality challenging and enthralling experiences for players which have some shelf life for the developers. But hey, if that’s what the market wants who am I to argue. My concern is that the market knows no better simply because they are not getting offered anything different going forward.

From a small Developers perspective keeping up with this market you are either going to have to do a lot of work to setup a system like this for yourself with server support, and lay out quite a lot of cash on bandwidth and so on to service a successful “Freemium” model. Or you are going to have to sign up with the likes of Ngmoco, OpenFeint or Scoreloop. I don’t see Ngmoco providing their networked multiplayer for free (but I’d love to be proved wrong). I also wonder how long OpenFeint and Scoreloop will continue as they are before they have to charge in some way – despite what they say to the contrary. In any case (as a developer) your future, and your potential fortune is in their hands to some degree if you go down that route. My only advice if you are leaning that way is to pick your partner carefully. Scoreloop and OpenFeint have a more focussed and mature business plan, and are in a different market than Ngmoco, as I’ve already pointed out.

Ngmoco are courting developers right now with possible publishing deals. Which is great. Lots of opportunities. But I am not convinced that this is really the creative freedom I am looking for as an Indie myself.

An alternative to all this is to craft a quality standalone game and charge a fair price for it. But as we all know it’s very hard to get exposure in the App Market these days, especially with “the race to the bottom” in pricing.

Which brings us back full circle, it seems, to the free demo, paid upgrade model – which Apple introduced with StoreKit in OS3.0. And other bigger publishers on other platforms have been doing for a while too. This is something all iPhone developers can do quite simply themselves with StoreKit, and a “Lite” version of their App which can offer in game purchases or full upgrades as part of it’s features. Or as a set of standalone “Lite” and “Premium” titles.

So have we really moved that far forward from then? I don’t think so. I just think we’ve put some lipstick on the same old pig.

Indies still have to work hard. Big venture capital startups and major publishers have the clout and existing IP to get market awareness. We all have the opportunity to produce both free and premium titles and sell them ourselves, or go with a publisher. What everyone really needs to focus on is producing quality products that people want and then getting the best exposure and marketing possible to share their idea with the world.

Disclosure : Where I work we use Scoreloop in our titles, and we too sometimes wonder how they make any money! But overall in our experience they are the most approachable and enthusiastic company for Devs and gamers alike in this industry.

Services Referenced in this article:

Social Networked Gaming Services with SDKS and various levels of Push notifications and in App Purchase.
Scoreloop : http://www.scoreloop.com/
OpenFeint : http://www.openfeint.com/

Promises Social Networking and possibly global networked play. But SDK pending.
Plus+ : http://plusplus.com/

Push Notifications and in App Purchase system. (Limited free model and premium model)
Urban Airship : http://urbanairship.com/

Monetising games with in game advertising.
AdMob : http://www.admob.com/

GUTS is based on two microscopic people attempting to navigate their way through a Communist general’s body in order to fix his multiple ailments.

We found the press release quite interesting to read so we’ll share it here!

General Schmerdiakov Hails Glorious State‐Mandated iPhone Debut

General Schmerdiakov, the cruel yet loveable dictator of Slabovia, the last communist dictatorship in Europe, has issued a formal statement and decreed a national holiday to celebrate the launch of GUTS on the App Store. The general has also arranged for each comrade within Slabovia to receive at least one free potato each as the state’s official game‐based tale of medical drama takes its miraculous story to the wider world. General Schmerdiakov’s statement is as follows:

“Comrades, it is I, your fearless leader General Schmerdiakov. Stop grovelling, put down your potatoes and hear what I have to say!

In recent times, we have seen great advances in our joyous state of Slabovia. We have exploited the technology of the West, bringing our glorious nation to the attention of the world through the Slabovia.tv website and our SlabSpace social networking regime. Now, as we enter a new era of cultural enlightenment, we shall show the world not only how beautiful my innards are, but also how advanced our medical technology has become with GUTS, a glorious re‐telling of that fateful day two micro‐comrades entered my body and gave me back my health. It can be played on the West’s iPhone and iPod touch entertainment devices.

Under orders of Professor Probious, The Slabovia 8‐Bit orchestra has joined forces with “madcap beat scientist” Si Begg to produce The Sounds of GUTS, which again demonstrates the might of Slabovia’s creative shadow ‐ it is truly massive and casts the rest of the world into darkness. The fact that the mighty App Store has bowed to the greatness of GUTS also demonstrates this. The message I now send to the West is this: BUY THIS GAME.ENJOY THIS GAME. OR PUNISHMENT WILL BE SEVERE.

That is all.”

Price: $2.99

GUTS Promo

GUTS: iPhone Game Screenshots

GUTS iPhone Game Released

GUTS iPhone Game Released_1

GUTS iPhone Game Released_2

BeejiveIM is a powerful Push enabled Instant Messaging client with great features and superior user interface!

Beejive’s reliable and efficient networking has been tested and proven on multiple platforms. Now it is available for the iPhone. Move from 3G, Edge, and wifi connections seamlessly. Stay connected after you close the application and be notified when you get a new message through push notifications. After being out of coverage BeejiveIM automatically reconnects and picks up where you left off.

Instant Messaging (IM) apps for iPhone/iPod touch have made it possible to be truly mobile and never lose out on a conversation just because you were not close to your Mac or PC. There are plenty of IM apps available on the app store and sometimes it gets difficult to choose which one meets your need. BeejiveIM 3.0 for iPhone is one of the most stable and feature rich IM applications with very intuitive User Interface.

The app allows you to set up AIM®/MobileMe®, MSN®/Windows Live®, Yahoo!®, GoogleTalk®, Facebook, MySpace, ICQ® and Jabber accounts. Setting up multiple accounts on BeejiveIM 3.0 is very easy, tap the Accounts tab and select the accounts you would like to configure and then enter your Screen-name, Password and description. Once your accounts are set up you can choose your status (Online, Away, Busy or Custom) for individual accounts or for all accounts at once.

Buddy List can be customized to show buddies by account or by group, you can also select hide offline contacts to keep your list uncluttered. Favorites is a great way to catch up with people who you chat with very frequently, avoiding the need to scroll through a long list of buddies. Tapping a buddy on the list brings up the chat window and there your conversation appears in native iChat bubble style. To bring up the text input screen you need to tap on the conversation screen which brings up the keyboard and you can also insert smilies or emoji. BeejiveIM makes it possible for you to be able to send pictures from your iPhone/iPod touch, record voice messages and send them as attachments, email the entire chat in .txt format, scroll through other active chats by flicking or end the conversation by accessing the in-chat menu options.

Push works flawlessly on BeejiveIM 3.0 sending you updates on conversation while the app is closed in almost real time. When you tap on the push notification the app restores the conversation from where it last ended, which is great to recall what you were chatting about. There are tons of options to customize the look and features of the app from the native Settings app on your iPhone. Customization options include transitions, Auto Capitalization, shake options, sounds, tweaking UI, wallpaper and many more.

BeejiveIM 3.0 is a beautiful and power packed Instant Messaging app.

Touch Reviews Highly Recommends BeejiveIM 3.0

Price $9.99

The Good

• Supports all popular instant messaging services
• PUSH enabled
• Beautiful user Interface
• Very customizable

The Not So Good

• Lacks twitter support
• Minor network instability

Touch Reviews compared the loading screens of 6 Popular/Best Twitter Apps to find out which one is the fastest!

Twitter Apps Compared: Tweetie, TwitterFon Pro, SimplyTweet, Twittelator Pro, Twitterrific, TweetDeck

Watch this Video and find out which one is the fastest!

Is it because the perfect twitter app does not exist or you just love to try out new twitter apps?

Vote for the best twitter app and leave a comment below. Two comments will be randomly chosen as app promo code winners!

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