AppShopper

South by Southwest, the annual festivals for music, film, and emerging technology kick off on March 8 in Austin, Texas. The festivals feature hundreds of performances and events that draw thousands of attendees, making navigation a challenge. Fortunately, South by Southwest offers SXSW Go, a universal app that offers the full schedule of events for all of the festivals along with a map and much more.

SXSW Go will let you build your own schedule of events to attend at the festivals, placing selected events on your calendar with reminders to alert you before each event starts. The app can also use the iPhone’s GPS receiver to locate you and guide you to events (switching you to the built-in Maps app for directions).

SXSW Go also lets you share your schedule with others, find other attendees who have elected to share their schedules, and even post pictures to the official SXSW Flickr group.

SXSW Go is free to download and has been updated several times this year already in preparation for the festivals this month. I’ve never attended SXSW myself, but I’ve heard it’s incredibly fun and that many of the events can be hard to find and crowded. If SXSW Go can make it easier to locate events and get to them early, downloading it is a no-brainer unless you like living on the edge.

• FreeBuy Now
  Entertainment
  

  SXSW® GO – Official 2013...

  Last Changed:

  11 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.00 (103)

  Version:

  3.1.1

  iOS Universal

  SXSW GO® is the official mobile app for getting the most out of attending SXSW 2013. The app allows you to view/build/share your schedule, network with other Attendees, navigate the trade show, stay...

Whitaker Trebella’s Polymer is free for a limited time, down from its regular price of $1.99, as part of TouchArcade’s Free Play program. Polymer debuted in the App Store last year and offers a unique twist on the sliding puzzle genre.

In Polymer you’re presented with a grid of various shapes. Each shape has at least one dot that acts as a connection point where it can be attached to other shapes. To create a finished shape, you must slide columns and rows to put together a shape that has no exposed connection points. A shape with no exposed connection points is a polymer and you then tap on it to remove it from the board, which earns you points. The more pieces a polymer has, the more points you earn.

This probably sounds a bit confusing so here’s the trailer video where you can see how it works:

TouchArcade gave Polymer four stars in its review when it was first released and the game has received several updates since then. Polymer is an unusual puzzle game that can be played in quick bites here and there and it also has the power to draw you in for long sessions to create the biggest, baddest polymer you can make. It’s definitely worth a download now while it’s free (and even at its regular price of $1.99 if you miss this sale).

• $299Buy Now
  Games
  

  Polymer

  Last Changed:

  8 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (53)

  Version:

  2.3

  iOS Universal

  Polymer is a strategic shape-creating game that combines the logic of Rubik’s Cube, the sliding mechanism of Chuzzle, and the creativity of Lego. Slide columns and rows to create...

If you’ve been keeping an eye out for the newest entry in EA’s Real Racing series for iOS that was first revealed last September at the Apple keynote event when the iPhone 5 was announced, today is your day to hightail it over to the App Store. Real Racing 3 for iPhone and iPad debuted last night in the App Store in all its free download glory.

Real Racing 3 lets you race virtual versions of real cars on virtual versions of real tracks around the world. You can compete against others using Time Shifted Multiplayer, a feature that lets you race against other players even when they’re not playing the game right at that moment. There are over 900 events you can compete in and you earn in-game currency to buy new cars or upgrade and repair cars when you complete events.

The graphics of Real Racing 3 are crazy good. As shown in its first demo at Apple’s keynote last year, you can actually see the other cars behind and next to you in the mirrors as you drive and details and lighting are realistic and crisp. It’s truly a treat on a retina display device like the iPhone 5. Here’s the trailer to give you a peek (and yes, it looks this good as you’re playing):

While Real Racing 3 is free to download and you can play it to your heart’s content without spending a dime, you do have the option of putting down real money to speed things along. You do earn in-game currency when you complete races but it can take time to rack up enough to buy stuff. Repairs and upgrades to your virtual cars take time to complete and if you don’t want to wait for them to finish, you can spend the in-game currency you’ve earned or buy more via in-app purchase to get them done immediately. The same goes for buying new cars and upgrades if you don’t wait to wait until you’ve earned enough from completing races.

If you want to keep your Real Racing 3 experience as low-cost as you can, check out ‘Real Racing 3′ Tips on How to Spend as Little Real Money as Possible over at TouchArcade. While you’re there, check out their full review if you’re not convinced it’s worth the time to download.

I’ve spent some time playing Real Racing 3 today and it’s been super fun and more realistic than I was expecting. I haven’t come across any tracks that I’ve actually been on yet but the interior of the BMW 1 Series M Coupe I chose (which cost me $1.99 in real money that I don’t regret spending one bit) looks just like the ones I’ve seen in real life. If you like cars and racing, Real Racing 3 offers an excellent experience for a mobile game and you should hit that Buy Now button below toute de suite and get it. And if I see you on the virtual version of Laguna Seca where I’ve had the pleasure of flogging a sportbike a few times, I will give you a run for your money.

• FreeBuy Now
  Games
  

  Real Racing 3

  Last Changed:

  3 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (6606)

  Version:

  1.1.1

  iOS Universal

  **#1 Top Free App in over 90 countries** Real Racing 3 sets a new standard for mobile racing games – it really must be experienced to be believed. Trailblazing new features include officially...

The Iconfactory’s Twitterrific 5 for iPhone and iPad debuted in December (our review), featuring a gorgeous interface that was a complete redesign compared to its predecessor. However, it lacked the ability to mute users, a useful “pro” feature that hides users you don’t want to hear from temporarily. In an update last week, Twitterrific 5 gained this feature with a unique and brilliant twist.

With Tweetbot and other Twitter apps I’ve used, you can easily mute other users. This means that you won’t see any tweets or retweets by those users temporarily or even forever. It’s handy when you’re a little tired of someone’s tweets and just want to not hear from them for a little while. Or for when you really just can’t stand someone or their tweets but unfollowing them would be rude or even unprofessional. When you mute someone in Tweetbot or other apps, their tweets and retweets disappear entirely from your timeline and you have no idea if or when they’ve tweeted at all unless you specifically navigate to their profile and look.

(Yes, you could argue that muting is silly and simply unfollowing someone is the most mature and reasonable option but I’d still bet many people follow at least one friend or family member who is a horrible tweeter that you just don’t have the heart to unfollow or you have a co-worker or client you can’t unfollow without professional repercussions.)

Twitterrific 5 handles muting differently. The Iconfactory calls this feature “muffling” and you can do it to users, hashtags, or domains. The unique thing about muffling is that muffled users, tweets, or domains don’t completely disappear from your timeline – they still appear in a collapsed view so that you know that they’re there but you can still read them if you want by tapping on them, which expands the view.

Here’s a video by The Iconfactory’s Gedeon Maheux showing how muffling works:

I only muffle a couple of people I follow (don’t ask, I’m not telling who or why) and I’ve found it incredibly useful to still see when they tweet or retweet with the option to see their tweets if I want. And when you muffle someone or a hashtag, there’s even a cute shushing sound effect to go with it.

Muffling isn’t the only feature that Twitterrific 5 got in the update to version 5.1 – new image services and a new font, Avenir, also made the cut along with several improvements and bug fixes.

Twitterrific 5 still doesn’t offer push notifications but this is planned for a future update. Yet even without push notifications,Twitterrific 5 is a beautiful and feature-filled Twitter app that’s worthy of your hard-earned money.

• $299Buy Now
  Social Networking
  

  Twitterrific 5 for Twitter

  Last Changed:

  5 days ago

  Rating:

  3.50 (13)

  Version:

  5.2.2

  iOS Universal

  ★★★ Special launch price – 50% off for a limited time ★★★ Twitterrific is the award-winning, fast and elegant Twitter client that’s easy to understand and a delight to use. The...

PopCap games has made the iPhone and iPad versions of its super cute and incredibly popular game, Plants vs. Zombies, free for one week. This is the first time ever that these apps have gone free and you even have the luxury of several days to hit the Buy Now button instead of some ridiculously small window of time. But don’t wait. Don’t be fooled by the stretch of time before you until Plants vs. Zombies goes back up to $2.99 for the iPhone version and $6.99 for the iPad version next Thursday. Locate the Buy Now buttons at the bottom of this post and click them immediately.

I’ll stop pestering you for a moment and take a step back. Plants vs. Zombies is a tower-defense style game in which you need to defend your home, and ultimately your brain, from zombies. The home defense weapons at your disposal are in the form of plants. You might think that plants would be useless against zombies but you’d be wrong. These plants can shoot peas and spikes and do other amazing things to destroy the zombies marching across your lawn and even your roof with the goal of eating your warm, delicious brain. Despite the gory intent of the zombies and the rampant destruction you’ll rain down upon them, Plants vs. Zombies is cute and suitable for a wide range of ages.

If you want more information, check out the review of Plants vs. Zombies over at TouchArcade. Here’s the official trailer for Plants vs. Zombies:

Now enough talking. Move your mouse to the Buy Now buttons and click before February 28!

• $.99Buy Now
  Games
  

  Plants vs. Zombies

  Last Changed:

  3 days ago

  Rating:

  4.00 (282)

  Version:

  1.9.8

  iOS iPhone

  Get ready to soil your plants as a mob of fun-loving zombies is about to invade your home. Use your arsenal of 49 zombie-zapping plants — peashooters, wall-nuts, cherry bombs and more — to...

• $.99Buy Now
  Games
  

  Plants vs. Zombies HD

  Last Changed:

  3 days ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (181)

  Version:

  1.9.6

  iOS iPad

  Get ready to soil your plants in this high-definition, multi-touch adaptation of the PopCap hit! Winner of over 30 Game of the Year awards.* Plants vs. Zombies™ was spawned from the fertile minds...

Bump, the popular file-sharing app that debuted in the App Store in 2010, has been updated with a new feature that allows you to send files on your iPhone to any computer. To send files to a computer, you simply need to tap the space bar on the computer with your iPhone while the computer’s web browser is pointed to http://bu.mp.

Bump Technologies has created a demo video showing how this works:

If you’ve never used Bump before it can seem pretty magical. How on earth can you send files to another iPhone or computer without a direct connection via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth? Bump Technologies uses the information from the sensors in your iPhone along with a fancy algorithm in their cloud servers to match up bumps between devices around the world to transfer files. Here’s the official FAQ answer on how it all works from the Bump Technologies site:

There are two parts to Bump: the app running on your device and a smart matching algorithm running on our servers in the cloud. The app on your phone uses the phone’s sensors to literally “feel” the bump, and it sends that info up to the cloud. The matching algorithm listens to the bumps from phones around the world and pairs up phones that felt the same bump. Then we just route information between the two phones in each pair.

I’ve had Bump on my iPhone since it was released but I have to admit that I’ve never had an opportunity to use it in real life. I’m sure I know people who own iPhones and have the app as well but I default to sending photos or other files via email or SMS/MMS rather than going through the “Do you have the Bump app installed?” dance with them. I’m not sure if this new feature to send files to a computer will change my behavior and prompt me to actually use Bump outside of testing for work but it’s a cool addition nonetheless.

Bump is free to download and requires iOS 4.3 or higher on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

• FreeBuy Now
  Social Networking
  

  Bump

  Last Changed:

  5 days ago

  Rating:

  4.00 (34)

  Version:

  3.5.9

  iOS iPhone

  NEW: Now Bump works with computers too! Photos, videos, files, everything. Just go to http://bu.mp on your computer web browser. NEW: Share files on your device with a single bump! Use Bump™ to...

This isn’t exactly app related but I thought this deal was newsworthy for any app developers among AppShopper’s readers. Our sister site, TouchArcade, has worked out a deal with Sticker Mule where you can get 50% off an order of their vinyl 2-inch by 2-inch stickers with rounded corners by using the coupon code TOUCHARCADE at check-out.

TouchArcade’s Editor-in-Chief Eli Hodapp can personally vouch for the quality of Sticker Mule’s products. If you’re going to GDC or any other app-related event this year, you’ll want to get some stickers printed up of your app’s icon to do some trading. TouchArcade will have plenty on hand to trade at GDC in San Francisco next month so get in your orders soon so you’ll have them in time.

And if you haven’t already, be sure to download the official TouchArcade app to stay on top of the latest news and reviews in the world of iPhone and iPad games.

• FreeBuy Now
  Entertainment
  

  TouchArcade - The Best New Games

  Last Changed:

  3 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (376)

  Version:

  1.1.4

  iOS Universal

  Find the Hottest new games for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad before everyone else! Save money by bookmarking games to your own personal Watch List which notifies you of any sales, updates, and...

Pixel Film Studios and LightWORKS Solutions have released ProCutX for iPad, an app that lets you control Final Cut Pro X on your Mac. ProCutX connects to your Mac via Wi-Fi and offers direct access to Final Cut Pro’s editing tools to adjust color, timing, audio, and more.

Built from the ground up to meet the needs of today’s creative editors, PROCUTX breaks free from the menus and tabs to streamline editor tasks. This application gives users control over all the FCPX editing tools in one clean interface, eliminating the need for clicking and searching through the Final Cut Pro X menus. From import to export, PROCUTX can control every step of the FCPX editing process.

Freelance videographer and photographer Paul Bunyard recorded this video of ProCutX in action earlier today:

Apple released Final Cut Pro X in June 2011 to a mixed reception over the lack of key features that were present in previous versions. Apple has since updated Final Cut Pro X several times, adding many of the features missing at its launch.

ProCutX debuted in the App Store yesterday and costs $24.99. It’s compatible with the iPad only and requires iOS 5.1 or higher.

• FreeBuy Now
  Photography
  

  ProCutX for Final Cut Pro X

  Last Changed:

  7 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.00 (34)

  Version:

  1.1

  iOS iPad

  ***Requires a Mac running 10.7 or 10.8 & Final Cut Pro X*** PROCUTX for Final Cut Pro X is an iOS iPad application that allows editors to control Final Cut Pro X on their MAC through an...

Tapbots, the maker of several popular iOS and Mac apps, has made its App.net client for iOS, Netbot, free in order to “spur adoption” of the budding ad-free social network. The iPhone and iPad versions of the app will remain free for an “unspecified period of time” according to the company’s post on App.net announcing the price drop.

The price drop also coincided with the release of version 1.3, which adds support for private messaging.

App.net was created by entrepreneur and developer Dalton Caldwell. It’s an alternative to Twitter that is promised to remain ad free and flexible for developers. App.net lets users get a bit more verbose than Twitter, allowing 256 characters per post compared to Twitter’s limit of 140 characters. However, App.net isn’t free – you’ll need to shell out $5 per month or $36 per year to use App.net. In addition to posting privileges, an App.net account now comes with 10 GB of storage that can be used by client apps for file storage.

The iPad and iPhone versions of Netbot debuted in October at $4.99 each. Netbot looks exactly like Tweetbot for Twitter though it has a different color scheme and some slightly different functionality to reflect what App.net is capable of. Since it’s a paid service and doesn’t have nearly as many users as Twitter (and it’s uncertain that it ever will), the average person probably isn’t going to be interested in App.net and a client app like Netbot. However, if you prefer a smaller audience for your musings and want to avoid the advertising that Twitter forces on its users, App.net is the way to go and Netbot is definitely an excellent iPhone and iPad client for it.

• FreeBuy Now
  Social Networking
  

  Netbot for App.net (iPhone...

  Last Changed:

  12 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.50 (28)

  Version:

  1.4.1

  iOS iPhone

  App.net is your passport to great applications like Netbot. Need an App.net account? Download "App.net Passport" (http://app.net/passport ) for iOS to signup for free. Netbot is a...

• FreeBuy Now
  Social Networking
  

  Netbot for App.net (iPad edition)

  Last Changed:

  12 weeks ago

  Rating:

  4.00 (23)

  Version:

  1.4.1

  iOS iPad

  App.net is your passport to great applications like Netbot. Need an App.net account? Download "App.net Passport" (http://app.net/passport ) for iOS to signup for free. Netbot is a...

Yesterday, the National Geographic Society dropped the price of its World Atlas app from $1.99 to free. It’s not clear if this is a temporary change or a permanent one but it’s the first time this app has been available for free since it was released in the App Store in 2010. Though I hope that many of you haven’t been waiting nearly three years for it to go free so you could save $2, a deal is a deal so hop to it if you want to get this excellent app with maps and information for every country and major city on this lovely planet of ours for free.

National Geographic World Atlas gives you a virtual globe through which you can explore the world. You can zoom in on any location to see a more detailed map and read about the primary languages, religions, government type, currency, and much more for countries around the world. You can view the world in one of multiple map styles (classic, antique, satellite, or road) and even download maps to your iPhone or iPad so you can do your virtual exploration even when you don’t have an internet connection.

National Geographic World Atlas is a universal app with an interface optimized for the iPad’s larger screen and also the iPhone 5. If you have children who are curious about the world or if you like to do a little virtual exploration yourself, it’s a fantastic reference app from a highly respected institution.

• $199Buy Now
  Reference
  

  National Geographic World Atlas

  Last Changed:

  9 weeks ago

  Rating:

  2.00 (39)

  Version:

  3.0.4

  iOS Universal

  National Geographic has taken its award-winning World Atlas and updated it completely for 2013 with a new look, improved functionality, and brand new features. ALL MAPS UPDATED • All National...