Software

Review: Bubble Worlds is a mediocre physics game at best

Brickbreaker-esque game Bubble Worlds will keep you busy through hundreds of levels, even though they all feel the same. Bubble Worlds is polished enough to win a few fans, but the difficultly level goes from zero to 60 too quickly. It's enough to turn a lot of gamers off.

In this game, you shoot bubbles to try to free trapped bananas. When you match three or more bubbles of the same color, they pop and send any connected bubbles flying. It sounds bizarre, but it's actually easy to figure out. You'll be able to breeze through most … Read more

Review: B-Folders Secure Organizer encrypts your personal data

B-Folders Secure Organizer can remember dozens of passwords, banking details, and more. B-Folders Secure Organizer goes above and beyond the call of duty by adding some neat bonus features and powerful encryption, too.

It's hard to decide whether the app's plain menu is a curse or a blessing. On the one hand, it makes the app quick and light. On the other, it's an eyesore and small buttons could lead to a few accidental taps. Luckily, there are no ads or other traps to click on. The app boasts some neat features, including the ability to take … Read more

Review: Benji Bananas turns users into the king of the jungle

Benji Bananas has a cute mascot, addictive gameplay, and a physics engine that is easy to figure out but difficult to master. Sounds like any other games you know? This game seems so tailor-made for superstardom that it's a wonder the app hasn't already soared to the top of the charts. It would definitely be worthy of its place if it did.

To rule the day in this app you need to swing from vine to vine, collecting bananas in a beautifully animated jungle. Timing your taps and holding your finger down changes the way your monkey flies … Read more

Review: Beauty Camera adds filters to your photos

Beauty Camera slims down a lot of the more robust photo editor offerings into a few neat features. The only problem is that some of the features in Beauty Camera don't work like you'd expect them to. The app provides cool results when they do, though.

Like many photo editing apps, this one lets you pull photos from your hard drive or snap from within the app. You can preview filters that way, but the app's camera lacks top-tier quality. The filters, themselves, are useful, but there are only six for you to choose from. Other apps … Read more

Review: Rdio gives users access to 20 million songs

Rdio takes many of the changes we've seen in music sharing over recent years and compiles them into a single, easy-to-use interface that offers a bit of everything for different types of music lovers.

Rdio's function is straightforward. Subscribe and gain instant access to 20 million songs. Create playlists, download other playlists, or search for bands or albums you want to listen to. Where it stands out is the deep social integration and the ability to create and download playlists to your device for offline listening--something other services like Pandora don't allow. The interface is very intuitive, … Read more

Review: Math: Fractions Addition & Subtraction Free is a fun learning tool

Math Fractions: Addition & Subtraction is a commendable math-training app on the iPad, because it is colorful and well designed, easy to use, and it provides immediate positive feedback whenever a math problem is completed successfully.

Combining a number of popular gaming conventions, Math Fractions creates an inclusive experience designed to engage children as they learn their fractions. The game starts by asking them to choose an avatar, name that avatar, and even choose clothing for the avatar. The interface takes place inside the avatar's bedroom, and while the menus are often hard to find, it all looks polished. … Read more

Review: Math Tool - Fraction Calculator makes computing complex problems easy

Fractions have always been a problem for calculators. Before conversion to a decimal, a fraction is hard to enter into most calculators--even those with functions or keys intended to support doing it. Converting back from a decimal to a fraction is even more troublesome. So Math Tool - Fraction Calculator is a very useful tool for anyone currently studying fractions or using them on a daily basis on the job.

Math Tool - Fraction Calculator is exactly as it sounds - a simple calculator tool built into a calculator interface. Everything looks normal except for the addition of a small … Read more

Review: Math 'n Me makes practicing arithmetic a snap

Math 'n Me, while not a very attractive app, is loaded with practice quizzes and exercises, making it a perfect fit for children studying early math concepts.

Math 'n Me has quite a few features, all of them free and easy to use for any age user. The major issue with this app is the rudimentary, often frustrating, and sometimes slow interface. Stuttering at times, unresponsive at others, and very basic in terms of presentation, it lacks the flair of many other modern, sleek-looking apps. For this reason many people will likely overlook Math 'n Me, an app that has … Read more

Review: Math for Kids makes learning arithmetic fun

Math for Kids is the newest in a line of educational apps that have been flooding the App Store in recent years--apps designed to help children learn basic math concepts in visually attractive or game-based ways. This particular app focuses mostly on the math functions, themselves, but it does so in a way that is both attractive and easy to use, a good fit for many young children.

The style of Math for Kids is the first thing you will notice. This is a well-conceived and designed app, using hand drawn graphics and playful fonts that are fun to look … Read more

Review: Index Card Magic keeps you organized

The genius of the Index Card Magic app from Evergreen Ruby LLC is that it is open ended. The format and layout of this app is perfect for creating to-do lists, flash cards, or project boards on which you can visualize data fairly easily.

The basic interface for Index Card Magic is fairly rudimentary and will take some time for students to get used to. You must create categories and then projects to fit into those categories before creating index cards to populate the project. The process takes some time to get used to, but once done, you can create … Read more