Author Archive for TouchMyContributors

GroupMe – The Reply All Button for Texts

Our phones can access the world’s information, record beautiful photos and HD video, and even keep us entertained with thousands of games, yet text messaging with groups of people to this point has been far beyond the capabilities of our humble devices. Unlike email, there is no “reply-all” button for texting, and a single message sent to five people will quickly devolve into five fragmented conversations. Luckily, GroupMe [ iTunes ] is here to save the day.

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 in Review – An enchanting LEGO game!

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 joins a long line of LEGO themed games, available on PC and consoles for years, that you can now play on your iDevice. Those new to LEGO gaming are in for a treat. This is a very accessible game that is very careful to explain what’s going on every step of the way. There are puzzles to solve, mini-games to play, quests to complete, and spells to cast, and it’s all very engagingly overlaid on the plots from the first four Harry Potter books.

Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms in Review – Dragons and Castles, but is it Fun?

Kingdoms is the latest port to the iPhone of a board game by Reiner Knizia, a prolific, “german style” board game designer with over 500 published games to his name. Kingdoms is a game he designed back in 1994, and now it is playable on your iDevice! So what’s it all about?

iPhone Development: Developing Apps for Fun and Profit – Part 2

Hi again. This is Jesse Waites here, Founder and CEO of Beacon Hill Apps. Last week we discussed choosing the right app idea to pull the trigger on [Developing Apps for Fun and Profit – Part 1]. This week, we’re going to discuss the process of finding the right app developer for your project.

A lion in the cage, or the future of Apple computers

Apple has a great history of computer design, and these two words – computer and design, together with innovation and user experience obsession, are what made Apple and Steve Jobs what they are today.

However, in Apple’s world of perfect user experience, there’s always been one major problem – the user. The stupid thing would constantly alter it – either installing “useful” crap from all over the internet, or just opening too many apps and calling tech support because their computer is suddenly slow.

iPhone Development: Developing Apps for Fun and Profit – Part 1

Hi everyone- Jesse Waites here, Founder and CEO of Beacon Hill Apps. We are based in Boston and make iOS and Android apps for individuals and corporations. As a developer with experience in dealing with clients, I was asked to write a guest post about helping regular people bring their app concepts to reality. There are a few technical and legal hurdles that you, as an app developer, will have to go through to make it happen, but no worries – I’m an expert and I’ve got you covered.

Now that the app sales ecosystem has been around for a few years, it seems apparent that the smartphone software industry is here to stay. New platforms and devices are still launching (looking at you, Windows 7 phone), so clever folks that are attentive to the marketplace can still do very well for themselves. Whether you sell it for 99 cents or give it away for free and collect ad revenue, there is a very good chance that your app will be profitable, especially if you can keep a few things in mind.

Piczle Lines in Review – Drawing pictures one line at a time

There are certainly a lot of puzzle and line-drawing games in the App Store these days. But how many puzzle line drawing games are there?  Piczle Lines is a unique combination of the two, using line drawing to complete picture puzzles. In fact the nearly unpronounceable name of the app is derived from PICture + puzZLE = piczle. I decided on “pixel” since you are drawing pictures in a pixellated way as you will see below.

10 Useful Photography Apps

Photoshop on your iPhone

Due to the ever increasing variety of mobile applications developed today, choosing the right one for what you need can be difficult. With the vast range of photography apps alone, how do you know which ones are any good? Below is a list of ten useful photography apps, determined by functionality, customer reviews and price. I have tried to include apps that are available on as many OSes as possible, however the Symbian (Nokia), Palm, Blackberry and Android (to some degree) markets have yet to catch up with the bewildering array of apps for the iPhone.

Pix’n Love Rush in Review – Retro Gaming Done Right

Pix’n Love Rush is a splendidly fun retro game published by Bulkypix, who is also responsible for many other iPhone games, the most notable being the critically acclaimed Saving Private Sheep (TMA Review). Pix’n Love Rush is officially in the action/adventure genre, but I find it to be more of a stripped-down platformer. In the game, you play as a pixelated creature (a cat?) whose sole mission is to score points and buy cake. Let’s take a look at why this “run & jump” game is one of the more addictive games on the device.

Beyond Ynth in Review – A Cool Puzzler with a Steep Learning Curve

Beyond Ynth is a new puzzler by FDG Entertainment, who is no stranger to the App Store, having published titles like Across Age , Kryzer, and Parachute Panic. It is the official successor to Ynth, which was released over a year ago by krabl.com. In Beyond Ynth, you play as Kribl, a ladybug sent by the queen of Kriblonia on a quest to retrieve the diamonds scattered by the four dark spiders of the apocalypse. In order to do so, you must travel through wooden mazes, dodge obstacles and collect diamonds whenever possible.