Posts tagged Entertainment
App Store Music – Shazam
Feb 6th
CTA RATING: 
I know all of us have heard a song on the radio that we just can’t remember who sings it or the name of the song – I haven’t come across that situation in a while now thanks to Shazam. Â It’s been around for a while, but we’re just now getting to it. Â Essentially, you can use your iPhone’s built-in microphone and stick it next to your speaker, press tag and with a good internet connection, you’ll find out who and what the song is. Â The song is then saved for later in the tags section of the app. Â Each tag will give you links to buy it, check it out on YouTube, read the artist’s bio, check out the discography or even take a photo to commemorate the occasion. Â I mainly use it to find out what song’s playing on the radio, but it’s definitely capable of a whole lot more.
It’s not perfect, pretty much anything on popular radio stations will show up, but I listen to some obscure music and it can’t identify the song on occasion.  Maybe 1 out of 20 songs isn’t recognized – so we’re not talking about big numbers here.  It’s a great app, stable, does what it’s supposed to do, and has a purpose.  It gets the coveted perfect score because it just works. (Even if it doesn’t get the song everytime, I can’t expect an app to know everything)  Hey, it’s free so it’s definitely worth the download.  If anything to save yourself the embarrassment when your friends ask you what you’re listening to.
- Shazam Splash Screen
- Shazam Tag Page
- Shazam Analyze
- Shazam Tags
- Shazam iTunes Info
App Store Games – Mafia LIVE!
Feb 5th
CTA RATING: 
For all of the MMO players out there, I have a new app for you.  Aftershock innovations has a new game out call Mafia LIVE!  It has a limited story-line but I find the gameplay to be very addictive.  You start out the game without family, friends or any extras.  You have to complete jobs and compete with other mafia families to make money and advance through the levels.  If you have friends with iPhones, encouraging them to play will net you both some extra advantages.  Be sure you send them an invite from the app and that they redeem it through the attached link.
Let me break it down for you – the more jobs you complete, the more money you make.  The more money you make, the more equipment you can buy.  Purchasing new equipment will allow you to complete better and more rewarding jobs.  You can also buy real estate that will help you accrue money.  The more properties you have the richer you become.  The more people you have in your family, the stronger you all become.
I really recommend that you keep the money you make in the bank because each time you leave the app, it continues playing for you online. Â You can lose health, money and mafia fights while you’re away so be careful to guard your assets.
Each level you advance, you’re able to use “Zen Points” that allow you to choose what skills you increase. Â You can increase your overall health, energy, stamina, attack and defense capabilities. Â Each job requires energy, each fight uses health and stamina. Â It advantageous to increase all of these proportionally as you advance through the game. Â I actually haven’t increased my health except for one point, because you can refill it by paying a healer. Â Every level you advance, the healing increases in cost but is definitely worth it… but I’ll let you guys figure that out.
Be sure to check out the gallery for pictures of the app in progress. Â The developers promise that new updates are coming soon with improved gameplay and a prettier user interface. Â It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing application, but it works. Â I say it’s definitely worth the $2.99 while it’s on sale. Â The app information says that it’ll be going to $9.99 soon (02.08) so get it while you can! Â If I have interested you, send me an email josh@cocoatouchapps.com – I’ll send you an invite and we’ll both profit from it. Â If you already have the app, I’d be happy to add you to my family. Â Have some fun and break some knee caps.
- Mafia LIVE! Splash Screen
- Mafia LIVE! "My Hood"
- Mafia LIVE! Street Credit
- Mafia LIVE! Equipment
- Mafia LIVE! iTunes Info
CTA Update & Our Recent Favorite Games
Nov 21st
Obviously, we just posted some new updates to the site. Â Does that mean we’re back? Â Not really. Â Sorry if we got your hopes up. Â As we’ve noted before, we’ll still be posting updates as we have time. Â We actually had the latest posts sitting in the reserves… we hope you enjoy them. Â Some great games for the iPhone and iPod Touch have come out in the last month that we really want to mention… quickly. Â We’ll be working on full reviews for them later.
Fieldrunners – It’s a tower-based strategy game that we literally cannot stop playing. Â The first update/bug fix for the app came out yesterday so check it out. Â You’ll get addicted, so make sure you have time.
Frenzic – Anyone remember this from when it was a webapp? Â We do. Â It was great then and is even better now that it’s running on the Cocoa Touch platform natively. Â Take a look.
Fastlane Street Racing – It’s the best racing game we’ve played on the CT platform yet! Â Definitely can keep your interest with different game modes and plenty to do within each. Â
None of these games are free… in fact they’re all $4.99 – $5.99 but we will definitely say that each and everyone one of them is worth the money. Â Check back for full reviews soon!
As noted before, if you think you have the guts to write for us, just let us know. Â All the information you need is on the contact page.
Now Playing: Local Movie Show Times and Ratings
Nov 21st
CTA RATING:
After a brief stint as the controversial Box Office, many movie-goers’ most useful app is back in the App Store but under a different moniker: Now Playing.  We haven’t done a full review on this free app yet, so we thought we’d let you know it was available for free and explain a little bit more about its functionality all in one swing.  Did we mention that it’s free?Â
Wurdle — A Word Puzzle Game
Sep 26th
CTA RATING:
Wurdle is a great game that we’ve really begun to enjoy as of late. Â We first saw it pop up in the top paid applications last week… decided to buy and guess what? Â A week later, we’d really like to tell you that it’s a new (to us) twist on word games and definitely worth the miniscule $1.99. Â Read all about it after the break.
Pwnage Tool & QuickPwn Now 2.1 Compatible (Updated!)
Sep 22nd
***Update*** Â
Looks like the windows version of quickpwn is out. Â We did it on our brand new iPhone 3G 16 GB… all we can say is nice! Â Worked like a charm. Â Let us know your results in the comments! P.S. Â Anyone who has news about Customize.app — please share.
***End Update***
Remember what we said about iTunes 8 would need a patch to allow pwange?  Well, it seems that we — The Dev Team as well — were wrong but thankfully!  iTunes 8 no longer requires a hack to install the custom ipsw that you create with the Pwnage Tool.  You can now use the newest versions of QuickPwn and Pwnage Tool to their full capacities with iPhone Software 2.1 — note to early adopters: it is still NOT available for iPod Touch 2nd generation.  All iPhones and 1st generation iPod Touches can be pwned.  Click here for the full release from the Dev Team.  The downloads are available via Torrent infrastructure for now.  If you don’t know how to use torrents, just hold off for a bit, they’ll have direct links on their website soon.Â
Super Monkey Ball
Sep 18th
CTA RATING:
Not a full-fledged review here, but we thought that we could finally recommend this application now that it’s at version 1.01. Â It appears as though the latest release fixed the accelerometer to make gameplay a little easier and relieved our biggest frustrations with the app. Â Take a look after the break for a short write-up…
Apple’s App Store Policies Sketch? Yep.
Sep 15th
Remember Netshare (Now completely banned from the App Store as of Septemer 13th)? Â How about Box Office (Replaced with “Now Playing”)? Â Well it appears that there’s a new app that’s been rejected without probable cause: Podcaster. Â It’s designed to exist as a podcast manager on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Â Apple explained to the developer that it “assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes.” Read on for more information about Apple’s sketch policies and how one developer is getting around them…
Can I Haz iTunes 8.1? (Updated)
Sep 11th
If you couldn’t tell by the title, we found iTunes 8 to be a little on the, “I’ll wait to upgrade” side of the fence. Â We’ll definitely say that the new features appear to be promising, but what it took to get there does not. Â Read more about our love/hate relationship with iTunes 8 after the break…
Another Day Comes and Goes
Sep 10th
Yesterday marked yet another day that Apple Fan-boys dream about: Steve Jobs gave his Let’s Rock keynote address to a small media crowd in California.  We don’t know about you, but we were on the edge of our seats the whole time just waiting for that “One more thing…” Unfortunately, it never came.  Believe it or not, pretty much everything that showed up yesterday was predicted by the media, and no one was surprised.  What happened, Apple? Where’s our “One more thing”?  iPod Nanos, iPod Touches, iPod Shuffles, and iPod Classics — read about all of the updates and what they’ll mean to you after the jump.
