Developed by newcomer Spooky Cool Labs and licenced by Warner Bros.,The Wizard of Oz takes you on a magical adventure through Oz, following the original storyline that we all know and love, but with a slight modern-day twist. Hit the jump for a nostalgic walk down memory lane, but beware of those pesky Flying Monkeys!

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Follow the Yellow Brick Road

The Wizard of Oz launches with a conversation between Dorothy Gale and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Visibly shaken by the news that her house has accidentally crushed the Wicked Witch of the East, Dorothy expresses her desire to return to Kansas which, as you have probably guessed, is not going to be easy.

Dorothy needs your help to return to Kansas.

Glinda reveals that Dorothy must rebuild the iconic Yellow Brick Road and visit the wonderful Wizard of Oz himself in Emerald City if she wishes to go home. Armed with nothing but a scruffy-looking terrier named Toto and the good people of Munchkinland, Dorothy makes a start on the long journey back to Kansas, and this, my friend, is where you come in. From now on, you are responsible for Dorothy’s departure from Oz and the welfare of its citizens. Are you up for the challenge?

We’re Off to See the Wizard

In order to rebuild the Yellow Brick Road, you will need materials such as wood, ore, and the most important thing of all: food. Munchkins simply cannot function without a hearty meal, and so it would be a wise choice to erect a restaurant or two to feed your hungry townsfolk.

Munchkins get hungry so build plenty of restaurants.

Factories and production facilities generate the supplies needed to begin construction, but first you’ll need to unlock and purchase each one individually which can be time-consuming, especially if you’re running low on funds.

Assign a munchkin to work at each facility by dragging and dropping them on the desired building. This will begin the production cycle of that particular material, with the time it takes to make each one varying per item. Don’t forget to collect supplies regularly, though, otherwise production will ground to a standstill and Emerald City will take even longer to reach!

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

As you advance down the Yellow Brick Road, you will meet familiar faces such as the Scarecrow, Tinman, and Cowardly Lion, and be rewarded with prizes for every move you make. Unlike your average city-builder, The Wizard of Oz also includes a series of mini-games to play in which you can gain a small amount of any particular material you are in need of, rather than waiting for a production cycle to end.

Prizes are awarded for every move you make down the Yellow Brick Road.

Every so often, the Wicked Witch of the West will launch an attack on Munchkinland in the form of Flying Monkeys, causing death and destruction for all who live there. Building a number of Defence Towers can help protect against this, although they must be fully charged to function. Alternatively, if you have the required quantity of Wand Pieces, Glinda will appear to save the day.

Rubies and Emeralds

To progress through the game at a reasonable pace, you will need Ruby Coins and Emeralds. Ruby Coins are earned through completing various tasks and can be used to purchase items and pay munchkins for their work. Emeralds, however, are a premium currency, meaning that you will need to spend real life cash to unlock and purchase certain goods.

In addition to Ruby Coins and Emeralds, you must also collect Experience Stars to level up, and Energy to actually have the energy to complete each task. Experience Stars are earned by completing any activity that requires the use of Energy, and by fulfilling missions or advancing down the Yellow Brick Road. Energy, on the other hand, is awarded automatically every four minutes, although additional Energy can be bought via an in-app purchase, or occasionally gained by completing tasks.

Presentation

Boasting colorful 3D graphics, along with an upbeat soundtrack and footage from the original movie, The Wizard of Oz is beautifully designed, and it is clear to see that a lot of effort has gone into developing this title.

Another simple yet nice touch is Munchkincam: a camera angle that enables you to experience Munchkinland from a munchkins point of view, and it’s the little things like this that can truly transform a game from good to great.

The Wizard of Oz includes video footage from the original movie.

The Verdict

The Wizard of Oz is a fun-filled game that will appeal to fans of both the original movie and novel. It is well-designed, and the inclusion of several mini-games and Munchkincam gives The Wizard of Oz slightly more depth than other similar freemium titles available in the App Store.

If you’re after an addictive city-builder that will have you dancing in your seat and bursting out into song every two seconds, then The Wizard of Oz is definitely the game for you.

If you’re a Mac user, you’ve probably heard of AirDrop, a useful feature built into OS X that lets you wirelessly share files between Macs without any set up. Instashare does just that on several platforms: it’s the easiest way to transfer files from a device to another, no matter what operating system you’re using.

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The Basics

Instashare is all about simplicity: it requires little setup and configuration. The only step you have to go through to have it running is to install the application on the devices you’re going to be sending files to and from. No other action is required once this process has been completed: the application will automatically detect and recognize devices on the same network that are also running Instashare. You guessed it, the app does require you to be on the same WiFi network, but can also work using a Bluetooth connection in case WiFi isn’t an option. As for the platforms, Instashare currently supports iOS and Mac OS X, but will soon extend support to Android and Windows, making it a truly cross-platform solution.

Sending Files

As mentioned above, sharing files is very easy and simple with Instashare. All you have to do is open the application, select the files you want to share and drag and drop them on the device you want to send the files to. The application shows the list of available devices on the right and lets you pick the files you want to send from the left. Instashare lets you select several files at once so you can transfer them all together to any device you want.

Transferring files is as easy as dragging and dropping

When sending files to other devices, you’ll be presented with an on-screen notification letting you know that another device — its name will be shown in the notification — wants to share a file with you. The prompt also contains information on the number of files that are being sent and their total size. You’ll be able to accept the file transfer and even mark the sending device as trusted, so future transfers can occur without you having to confirm them. In case you’re wondering about speed, Instashare needed a couple of minutes to transfer an 800 MB file from my Mac to my iPad, which is more than acceptable for such a large file.

Incoming file transfer on a Mac

Limitations

Simplifying an app usually means missing features or hard to find options. Instashare doesn’t have any of these but is still a couple of steps away from perfection, especially when it comes to what can actually be sent and the platforms that are currently supported.

The most annoying restriction the application has on iOS is the type of file you can send: it only supports photos for outbound transfers. You can, however, send various types of files to your iPad from other devices, which can be accessed from within the app. You can open these files, share them using third party apps, and even send back to other devices using Instashare. The latter makes it hard to understand why you can only send pictures when browsing your iPad’s content, while the app does support other file formats.

The Files tab shows received files. They can be opened, shared with 3rd party apps and resent

Another — temporary — restriction is the limited number of ecosystems that are supported. Indeed, Instashare can only work with iOS and Macs for the time being, even though support for Android and Windows is expected. Currently, the app lets you share files between iOS and OS X, and added support will also mean you’ll be able to share a movie from your Mac to your iPad, and send it back to your phone from your tablet.

Lastly, Instashare displays very little details on the files that are sent and the status of the transfer. When you look at the Files tab, you can only see the name, type and size of the file, but no option to reveal further information, such as the date it was sent or created etc. Worse, when sharing files, there is no way to know how long it’s going to take! Your only clue is the progress bar that appears during the transfer, but doesn’t show any estimated remaining time or percentage, no matter if you’re looking on the sending or receiving device — in my case, I sent a file form my Mac to my iPad.

No information on what’s being transferred is provided

Final Thoughts

Instashare is definitely a great and simplistic way to share files across devices and — soon — across platforms. There are still some finishing touches that should be considered in future versions, such as an estimated time of the transfer and, most importantly, the ability to send more than mere pictures from your iOS device. In any case, this is definitely a good start and I’m now hoping for even better features in the upcoming versions.

It sure would be nice to get all of that into one place, right? Gush has done that with a simple shopping app that gathers all of your favorite online stores and the stuff they sell into a single app. We’ll try it out and see if it’s really any easier than keeping fifty tabs of smart TV potential buys open in your browser.

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Shop ‘Til You Drop

There’s a lot going on in Gush, so if you’re not sure where to start, go ahead and look for some of your most frequented online retailers. Search for them by name and then mark them as favorites. When you want to visit those retailers, tap Favorite Stores, and they’ll all be there for you in a thumbnail list. It’s great to get all of your best shopping spots in one place, because if there’s a special deal going on at one of your top picks, Gush makes sure you know about it with a blue coupon badge on the store’s icon.

Find your stores and mark them as your faves.

When there’s nothing happening at your favorite stores, try the Daily Deals. Here, Gush pulls together all the quick sales from a bunch of different deals sites, saving you the trouble of visiting each storefront individually every single morning before you’ve even had your coffee. Daily deals not your thing? Gush has got this. Hit up Coupons & Savings in that case. This is Gush’s list of coupons for all of its retailers. Everything from free shipping to 40% (or more) off you order. Gush has already attached all of this to your favorite stores, so don’t worry about sorting through all the sale codes for that 20% off coupon for eFaucets.

If you know just what you’re looking for, do a search for it up top. Along with returning the stores that best match your search, Gush can give you a ton of product results, too, because it’s searching all over. Input a something really specific, though, like “E.L.F. Crimson Crush Lip Stain,” and you’ll just get the most relevant results. I found what I wanted every time, and it wasn’t always lipstick I was looking for. Once you’ve got your product, you can either buy it right there from the retailer in Gush or add it to your Gush List of watched products.

Browse the store while your browsing the app.

Sometimes you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for — you just want to browse. Gush has a bunch of product categories for that, so you can find the stores that are going to scratch your window shopping itch. There’s all sorts of places to visit in Gush, stores I’d never even heard of, so it’s not a bad idea to browse their stores if you haven’t yet pinned down what you want or are comparing prices.

The daily deals are all pulled together in one place.

Just What I Wanted

The favorites feature, both the list of products and of stores, is just so handy. I absolutely do want the option of browsing the billion of so online retailers Gush has brought together, because it’s introduced me to sites I’d never have learned about otherwise. That said, I’m still going to end up at the same stores 90% of the time anyway. Knowing that, I want to check those few regularly for specials, sales, and promotions, not mention those sweet free shipping discounts. Popping all of those awesome stores into my favorites means I can keep tabs without stressing myself out.

My Gush List lets me keep a tally of stuff I’m interested in without having to commit to a purchase. It makes a great way to compare similar products and take a look at prices at different retailers. I can also just add a bunch of stuff to my list that I’m sort of thinking about buying and put off the purchase until I’ve had a chance to sort through all of them and make a thoughtful decision.

Find something you like? Save it to your favorites or buy it in Gush.

Final Thoughts

Gush is a great shopping app. Browsing lots of different stores, especially when you’re on a mission, can be frustrating and confusing. Comparing two products side-by-side from different sites is cumbersome, and it’s easy to lose sight of what you’re looking for in a sea of open tabs or bookmarked product pages.

With the ability to purchase whatever you want right inside of the app, Gush is great for putting you in touch with what you want and then letting you decide what your next move should be. Whether you end up pulling the trigger or staring longingly at your personally curated collection of skinny jeans and upconverting DVD players, Gush makes sure you’re never tied to one seller and can look out for the best deals.

These traditional types of shareable content are cornered markets, though, and as a result, developers and startups are looking for new ways to engage our creative side. Flipboard, for example, has recently launched a network of curated-content digital magazines, and Vine‘s six-second videos are already popular with Twitter users. Meanwhile, audio sharing apps like Dubbler are seen as the rising stars of content-based social networking.

Stampsy is hoping that the next medium to go viral is a digital, magazine-book hybrid, filled with text and images. The description may sound unlikely, but Stampsy already has a solid user base, and the opportunity to share Stampsy-made publications online is proving popular. But is this new form of media just a gimmick, or the next major revolution in social creativity?

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Building a Publication

Whilst it is Stampsy‘s network of published content that greets you when the app is started, the design suite is the obvious first port of call.

Stampsy-built virtual booklets are up to 10 pages long, and can include various types of text, images, backgrounds and shapes. It’s not a large range of content to choose from — a significant downgrade from iBooks Author, for instance — but for writers and photographers, these are all of the elements required.

You add content to the pages of your Stampsy publication by dragging and dropping widgets across from the left-hand menu. Excluding the background, the editable area of content covers the central two-thirds of the iPad’s overall screen size, and it includes a grid for the sake of accurate element alignment.

The drag-and-drop style of Stampsy makes creation easy

Adding Content

Text is the theme for the first group of widgets. Headline, Subtitle, Lead (i.e. the big letter at the start of an article), Insertion and Text are your options, and each can be placed and resized however you see fit. Text can be whatever colour you like, although Stampsy helpfully provides some pre-made colour swatches. Equally, there is a tastefully stylish, if not massive, selection of fonts available. One strange omission in Stampsy‘s text toolkit is the inability to alter text size, which is irritating for those of us looking for true artistic freedom.

There’s a nice selection of fonts in Stampsy – but no font sizes

Images are the other main form of unique content you can use in your Stampsy creations. You essentially have two options here. Images can be displayed as content, meaning they are resizable, but restricted to the central content area. Alternatively, images can be used as a page background, opening up the opportunity for full-screen photos, with captions placed, magazine-style, on top.

Finally, it is also worth mentioning the shapes which can be added to Stampsy-built creations. Squares and circles — sorry, triangle fans — can be placed, resized and coloured in any way you like. Shapes tend to be most useful as text backgrounds, although, obviously, the option is there to use them in any creative way you see fit.

Squares and circles only, I’m afraid!

As an overall feeling, though, I really wish there were a few more content options available in Stampsy. I realize that video, for example, would only slow down the app (and fill up your iPad) but the addition of text links and a few more shapes — maybe even a slideshow — would elevate Stampsy publications to the next level.

The Network

The Stampsy network, known within the app as the Kiosk, can be thought of as your Stampsy timeline – a side-scrolling shelf of creations from publishers you follow.

Stampsy’s network is relatively small, but is growing

Stampsy gets you started by pre-populating your Kiosk with works from the most prolific and popular Stampsy authors, but you can also follow other publishers whose creations you find engaging. Also offered is the opportunity to follow your Stampsy-using Facebook friends.

The quality on display is impressive, and as the Kiosk automatically displays whenever you open Stampsy, you can’t help but be drawn in by the maelstrom of pretty typography and stunning imagery. I certainly found myself being sidetracked into browsing.

Many of the browsable publications on Stampsy are gorgeous.

Many early Stampsy adopters seem to be preferring to create photo essays or digital photo albums, mirroring the kind of text-and-pictures articles to be found in National Geographic or Time. This is probably what Stampsy is best suited to, although you could create a text-only work should you wish.

Conclusion

Whether or not Stampsy takes off as a network, it is certainly a fine app. The drag-and-drop editor is smooth, and the restrictions on content – 10 pages of text, images and shapes – seem to strike a reasonable balance between creative freedom and compactness of file size.

The limited content options, however, do have an effect on the creativity possible with Stampsy, and I wonder how many folks, other than keen photographers or journalists, will find ongoing content to fill their Stampsy-made creations. Additionally, Stampsy‘s network is still in its infancy, and as such, it is not as engaging as some of the more established networks.

Primarily, though, it must be said that Stampsy is enjoyable to use, and the option to share your creations online with non-iPad-owning friends gives the app on-going value, regardless of whether its in-built network gains lasting popularity.

Therefore, I can only recommend that if you’re feeling creative, you should try using Stampsy as your blank canvas.

I’m aware, of course, that most people are using Netbot these days: it’s free and it’s admittedly awesome. But it’s wearing Tweetbot‘s clothes, and I want my ADN experience to feel visually unique from Twitter without losing the power of Tapbot’s app. In the past, I’ve tried Rivr (for iPhone), which was full of features and pleasant to look at, but after several weeks of use, it didn’t capture my attention anymore and I was back to Netbot (which also has an iPad app).

Zephyr is the closest I’ve come to the Netbot experience. In colloquial terms, I’m really stoked about this app. Read on to find out why.

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The Interface

Zephyr‘s interface is, in some ways, similar to Netbot’s. Both interfaces rely on darker colour schemes and tabs along the left of the screen. That being said, there are some significant differences. Typography is an obvious difference to anybody who has used both apps, and to my pleasant surprise, the font is adjustable. I like the Medium font that the app uses as its default; it allows you to fit more posts on the screen than you can in almost any other client that I’ve tried.

Welcome to Zephyr’s take on ADN.

Beyond that, the tabs are broken up into your Stream, the Global Stream, your Profile, Search, and Settings. Tabs are sadly not adjustable. Admittedly, I’d prefer to have a Mentions tab and lose the Settings tab (my personal motto is “set it and forget it”), but Mentions and Starred Posts are available in the Profile tab.

The only place Mentions and Starred Posts are accessible from is the Profile tab.

The interface itself is incredibly fast, which Zephyr states twice in the App Store’s description. In fact, it’s so fast that if your WiFi or cellular network is slower than it normally is — your Stream or users’ avatars could have a hard time keeping up! I don’t think that’s much of a problem, but if Zephyr‘s developer is able to speed up the caching process while keeping the speed of the interface this quick, they could have the fastest social networking app on the App Store.

Getting Pretty

Visually, the app is simple and responsive. All the visual elements behave exactly as you’d expect, which makes the app feel incredibly polished (and it’s more than I can say for most of the competition). Other apps will stretch Cover Images on profiles, but Zephyr wisely leaves them alone. Reposts are indicated with elegant grey text and a bold user name for the reposter. It’s really well done and it’s incredibly pleasant to look at.

The app looks great in landscape mode too.

The colour scheme is dark without becoming overly robotic. Some elements, like the blue light that illuminates the Stream tab when there are new posts, are almost playfully beautiful. (In a nice touch, that same blue light is visible in the app icon. Smart move.)

There are some elements I miss from Netbot: I like having the avatar appear on the right instead of the left for your own posts. It helps differentiate what you’ve said and what everybody else has said. If I star a post, the Star symbol for the post becomes hollow. I feel like it should be the opposite (that being said, a starred post will always have a grey star beneath the avatar, and maybe that’s enough of an indicator in and of itself.)

The Feature Show

Zephyr supports almost every major ADN feature, mostly in grand fashion with subdued visual flair. Most of this stuff runs in the background and Zephyr doesn’t make a big deal out of it — things like synchronized posts aren’t even mentioned in the app description.

I love the pop-up window for composing a post.

Zephyr also supports multiple accounts and is a universal app, which is big for me. In my experience, using different clients across multiple devices seems to prevent proper syncing with ADN, so it’s nice to jump between the same client on two different devices and always find them in sync.

There are a couple oddities, though. Zephyr will use yfrog or CloudApp for photos, but it doesn’t use ADN’s storage (also, I wish somebody else would adopt Rivr’s Instagram-like photo filters). Zephyr supports Instapaper and Pocket, but not Readability (you’ll still need to use Netbot or Felix if you want that feature). And although Zephyr supports notifications, it doesn’t support them granularly, which means that you can’t choose to receive notifications for a mention but not a repost.

There isn’t as much access to the features as I would like in the Settings; I’d prefer a more granular set of controls for notifications especially.

That being said, who knows what you’ll receive notifications for anyway. Zephyr doesn’t tell you, but I can tell you that Netbot tells me every time I get a new follower and Zephyr does not.

My Wish List

The first item on my wish list is better notification support, preferably to the point that it’s granular. I’d also like to see photo filters, not unlike what Rivr supports, and a Night Mode. Minor visual enhancements, like adjusting where your avatar shows up in your Stream, would be nice as well.

I love the conversation thread views. Elegant and simple, but attractive.

I’d like to see more features. Zephyr should be competing with Netbot and Felix instead of Rhino and Rivr. It’s as beautiful as any app out there, but it’s missing some functionality for advanced users. And arguably, $4.99 is a lot to pay for an app that doesn’t cater to advanced users.

Beyond that, I’m not even sure development is still active. The last time the app was updated was December 2012 (and that update had some essential bug fixes), but beyond that, it’s hard to say if it will ever be updated again.

The Bottom Line

Zephyr is expensive, and it’s hard to justify the cost without assurances that development is ongoing. But it holds a lot of potential, and if the developer is working on it, we’re looking at an ADN client that could be the go-to in six months’ time. As it stands, the most feature-packed options are Netbot (which is still too similar to Tweetbot for my own liking) or Felix (which is only for iPhone).

App.net is still in its early stages, and seeing as Zephyr is currently a 1.01 app, so is it. I want to see where development goes with it and I’m really excited about the possibilities. My breakdown right now is that Zephyr is my preferred iPad client and Felix is my preferred iPhone client, but Zephyr makes me feel the way I do after a few dates with a promising woman: I like what I see, but now I want to see more of what I like. Hopefully the developer keeps updates coming.

A few weeks back, Paula DuPont took a good look at Codex – a new approach to notetaking on the iPad. The app, according to the developers, is designed to replace your trusty Moleskine (it costs about the same as a standard notebook) and there’s plenty of flexibility and notetaking tools within, allowing you to add colour, diagrams and text to your notes.

Codex on the iPad

Thanks to the kindness of the developers Logic Colony, we’ve managed to get our hands on five promotional codes (worth $12.99 each) for this great app which we are giving away to our readers!

Entering is really nice and simple:

1. First of all, follow us on Twitter. We’re at @ipadappstorm.
2. Tweet the following (in bold, including the link!): Win a free copy of Codex from @codexapp and @ipadappstorm! http://enva.to/11sqDSg
3. Post a link to your tweet in the Comments section below!

Don’t worry if your comment doesn’t show up straight away – any comments by new users have to be manually approved before they appear!

The competition will end at 13:00 (1:00 pm) GMT on Saturday, May 18th and winners will be contacted on Twitter a couple of days afterwards. You must be able to provide an e-mail address so we can send you the promotional code when the competition is over. As always, Envato staff or those who have contributed more than two articles or tutorials to any AppStorm site are ineligible to apply.

Good luck!

When the opportunity came to review the new Hangouts app for iPad, I jumped at it. I don’t need another way to communicate — in fact, I think we all communicate with each other way too much — but I wanted to give it a shot and see what all the hoopla was about. I’m always looking for a better way to communicate. Let’s find out if Google Hangouts is, in fact, a better way to chat with friends.

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Getting Smart

There’s a truckload of features that simply no other messaging platform has right now in Google Hangouts. The first question I asked was “Why is this better for me than iMessage?” There’s a lot of answers to that question, but let’s start with the obvious: everybody can use this on any platform. Google has got cross-platform down with almost all of their core products now, and that’s great.

Just chilling.

But otherwise, Hangouts supports a lot of things that iMessage simply don’t. Group chat isn’t new to iMessage, but it’s not that well implemented there. Here, you can choose to group video chat. It’s easy to leave a conversation or turn off notifications for a conversation so you’re not bothered by it. It’s also really easy to start one, and all you need to get going is Google Plus. (Yes, a Google Plus account is required to use Hangouts. Frankly, deal with it.)

The only other cross-platform chat communicator with this many features is Skype, but even with Skype, you still have to pay for group video chat. And not everybody uses Skype, while almost everybody I personally know uses Google.

Adding an image is really easy, as is starting up a video call.

The group chat is really the magic of Google Hangouts. You can chat with people on an individual basis too, of course, but it’s simply not as cool or meaningful. In fact, why should I chat with somebody on Google Hangouts? In all honesty, if people are really important to me, they probably have my phone number and I have theirs. We can text or FaceTime (if they use Apple products as well), and that might be faster and more reasonable for most people.

Getting iPad Specific

We’ve covered the basics: I love it for group chat, but I’m not sure I personally see the point in using it to chat with people on a one-on-one level. But what makes the iPad app itself worth getting? Why bother taking up the space on your device with yet another app?

Simply put? It’s extremely functional and highly usable on the iPad (and iPhone as well); in fact, I’d argue the experience is better on iPad than it is on a desktop with Chrome. For the most part, the interface is easy to understand, the font is readable, and it seamlessly syncs with whatever other devices you’re working with.

You can check out people’s Google Plus profiles from within the app and then add them to your Circles from there.

And I mean seamlessly. I walked my dog earlier and was chatting on my iPhone. When I got in the house, I continued the chat on my iPad mini whilst pouring a cup of coffee, and when I got back to my iMac, everything was there and conversations were perfectly synced, down to the millisecond. That would never happen with iMessage.

Even starting a Hangout is very Google-esque in design: Flat, mostly monochrome and Android-like.

The design is undoubtedly Google. Chrome is everywhere. The font is sans serif. It carries all the hallmark UI touches that people are used to and expect from Google, especially after the Google Plus app. My sole complaint is that some people are going to find the font way too small. My parents would never want to make this their sole way of communicating with me, for instance, just because they’d never be able to read this without putting on their glasses.

The Flaws

There’s a couple huge flaws with the service and the app though, in my opinion. The first is quite simple: you can’t leave a conversation and join it again later without an invite. You can see how this could get annoying. We have a group chat for writers here at iPad.AppStorm, and if I decide I want to take a couple days away from work (yeah, right), I should be able to leave the conversation and rejoin again later. But I can’t.

There’s a handy ability to archive conversations as well.

This leads to the other problem. If I want to simply avoid notifications, fine, I can turn off notifications. That’s done right within the conversation settings. However, within the global app settings, I can choose to snooze notifications for a set period of time. I can’t snooze individual threads though; they’re either pushing notifications to me or they’re not.

The only thing this really needs is more granular notification settings.

Granted, despite these flaws, the ability to turn off notifications or leave chats or even snooze the app’s constant pocket buzzing for an hour two are still leagues ahead of everybody else’s chat offerings. So take this with a grain of salt. But if you ask me, if you’re going to attempt something a little new or innovative, make sure it’s perfect.

The Bugs

Speaking of imperfect, the app does have a couple bugs that we’re sure Google must be ironing out double-time. One that was reported by a colleague (which I can’t seem to duplicate) is that rotating the iPad to landscape from portrait, or vice versa, causes you to lose your place in the thread. Again, I couldn’t make this happen on my iPad mini, but if you’re using a different iPad model, you may be affected.

Notifications are a different issues. Sometimes I got a notification banner, and sometimes I didn’t. Some people are getting badge icons and others are not. My badge icon was still active even when I had notifications off (but banners weren’t coming through). These are very minor things, but the app does lack the unmistakeable Google polish most of us are used to. With Google being Google, we’re sure these things will be fixed quickly in a future update, and I don’t think it’s necessarily worth passing up on the app because of a couple tiny glitches.

The Final Word

For group communication, Google Hangouts is far and away the best option I’ve experienced. It’s not perfect (what is?), but it has perfect cross-platform performance, the app is functional and it’s mostly beautiful.

I don’t have Google Plus on any of my devices because I hardly use it. But Google Hangouts instantly earned a place on them and I can’t see myself getting rid of it any time soon. I don’t see the need to communicate with people as constantly as we do, but I think if you need to reach somebody or want to have a quick group meeting with friends or colleagues, you could choose a far worse way to do so than Google Hangouts.

Think it sounds too good to be true? These guys have street cred, recognized by Saveur magazine this year as a “Best Food Blog” in the special diets category and having just released their first cookbook this past April, Vegetarian Everyday. If you’re looking for dessert recipes worthy of entertaining or something special for the weekend breakfast table, Healthy Desserts offers a wide array of cakes, cookies, muffins, bars, buns, smoothies and frozen treats.

Keep reading to learn more about making more wholesome desserts at home.

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Getting Started

Launch the app and you’re transported to the Scandinavian kitchen of David and Luise, the creative duo behind the recipes and mouth-watering food photography. Fresh berries, ripe cherries, nuts and a smattering of baking ingredients are scattered over a beautifully worn wooden table. It’s fresh and bright and inviting. Tap the arrow to immerse yourself in their lifestyle.

Launching the app reveals a refreshing Scandinavian aesthetic shown by the simple, modern style showcasing the beauty of fresh, healthy ingredients.

This app is simply a collection of recipes, each represented by photograph tiles on the home screen. Swipe up and down to view all the tiles, or just sit back and wait for something to jump out at you — literally. Watch the screen and you’ll notice occasionally a photo enlarges slightly, displaying the recipe name. This unique design feature draws you into the content, encouraging random exploration rather than working through the app in a linear fashion. It’s a fresh approach to design and a signature of the Green Kitchen apps.

The home screen is a collection of photo tiles representing each recipe. Occasionally a recipe literally jumps out at you, calling “cook me!”

Recipe tiles are just large enough to tempt you with a luscious photo of the dessert, and all the tiles together creates a strikingly beautiful ensemble of dishes. Browsing the app is an immersive experience, as there are no dead ends and you can seamlessly swipe from one recipe to another. You can read recipes in depth or flip casually through the gorgeous food photos. All content is available offline, which is great for reading during your morning commute or sitting in a waiting room. The app is beautifully designed in such a way that it’s easy to get lost in the experience, daydreaming of your next dessert.

The Recipes

Where to start? Each tile features a tempting recipe, from a healthier version of the classic lemon bar to a raw, gluten free and vegan brownie to a pomegranate and raspberry jam sweetened only with maple syrup. If you’re just getting started changing your lifestyle due to dietary issues, you’ll be delighted to find a gluten free baked crumble, vegan gingerbread cookies and a dairy-free coconut shake. Tap a tile to view the recipe title and intro, along with cooking time and portions. Each recipe is accompanied by several large photos of the dish to make you hungry.

Tap a photo tile to view the recipe title and intro, along with cooking time, portions, and several large photographs of the dish.

Tap the Read Recipe icon to view the ingredients list and steps. You’ll notice a handy little key on the upper right side of the screen detailing whether the dessert is Raw, Gluten Free, Vegan Whole Grain or Naturally Sweetened. This is a great feature for those on special diets, allowing users to quickly ascertain whether or not the recipe meets their standards. It might be more beneficial to include this key on the intro page. Note that you can select preferences in the settings to “Hide Non-Vegan Recipes” or “Hide Gluten Recipes,” as well as enable metric measurements.

The recipe cards contain clear, easy to follow instructions and a key to show whether the dessert is Raw, Gluten Free, Vegan, Whole Grain or Naturally Sweetened. Tap a highlighted ingredient for a description.

The recipes contain several useful features. For example, you can cross through each step as you cook by tapping it. The heart icon in the top left corner allows you to add recipes to your favorites list, while the grid takes you to the home screen. The recipe box icon features a scrollable list of All Recipes, with your favorites at the top. Tap the box and arrow icon at the bottom of the screen to email a shopping list for the recipe. Also, you can tap highlighted ingredients to view a description. As I criticized in their Green Kitchen app, almost every ingredient has an available definition, but often times the most unique ingredients don’t. This is disappointing because it’s the unusual ingredients that might keep someone from trying a recipe. It would be nice to see a little attention given to this area.

Conclusion

Healthy Desserts – By Green Kitchen is a beautifully designed recipe app with gorgeous food photography and 58 wholesome sweet treats. If you enjoy cooking with the seasons and working with natural ingredients, you’ll find tons of inspiration from this unique collection of recipes. From cookies to cakes to smoothies and other breakfast treats like muffins and pancakes, the app has a sweet treat for every time of day. The sleek, modern design and seamless navigation set the bar high for other apps to aspire to.

With Healthy Desserts, the easygoing style of Green Kitchen makes gluten and dairy free cooking seem approachable and, well, natural. Their tactic for taking traditional desserts and adding exotic ingredients (chai, coconut, goji berries, saffron, dates) gently encourages users to try new things without completely overwhelming them. This app is a steal at $2.99, and you’ll refer to it again and again throughout the seasons for dessert recipes that are healthy and delicious.

That’s a lot to master! Hop to it by clicking “more.”

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Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy

Maybe you’ve dreamed of commanding your own starship, but this game will have you thinking even bigger. Here, you’re in charge of an expansive interstellar civilization and everything that goes along with it.

Make treaties with alliances, wage war upon your foes, explore new star systems, research technologies and build better and faster spaceships, all for the sake of becoming master of the universe.

This is the strategy board game you know and love, but it’s been amped-up for iOS. The developers went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure the technology enhances, rather than detracts from the gameplay. Enjoy encounters with seven different species (each with its own strengths and weaknesses), three AI difficulty levels, an in-game tutorial and manual, customizable star systems and ship designs and more.

Price: $6.99
Developer: Big Daddy’s Creations
Download: iTunes

Stick Stunt Biker 2

Here we have the sequel to Stick Stunt Biker, and that means you can look forward to even more tracks, environments, obstacles and, of course, stunts. Choose your bike, or unlock new ones, like the chopper, speed bike, police bike or hovering “future” bike.

Master everything from wheelies to flips in order to avoid hazards like carnivorous plants, oil barrels, glass and more while racing against your friends in real time. Score achievements for pulling off special stunts and enjoy realistic physics that make for incredible crashes. You also have the ability to race against your ghost, share your gameplay videos with others and compete globally.

Choose from button or tilt controls, whichever you like best. There are more than 50 tracks — challenge yourself to earn up to three stars on each one. In-app purchases are purely optional, and players can unlock everything in the game just by “sticking” with it.

Price: $0.99
Developer: Robert Szeleney
Download: iTunes

Storm the Train

This sidescroller from Chillingo has you sending three little agents onto a train that has been overtaken with zombies, vampires, robots, ninjas and other demons. Meet Graham (the soldier), Carrera (the medic) and Mason (the heavy).

But don’t worry — they’re not going in empty-handed. No, they’ve got a full arsenal of guns, drones, bombs, jetpacks and other gadgets, and are prepared to do some damage. Weapons can be upgraded, and as you complete mission objectives you’ll also acquire new outfits and other perks.

All it takes to switch from one agent to the next is a swipe of your finger. Use each of their abilities to the best advantage to successfully rescue hostages and take down baddies.

Price: Free
Developer: Chillingo
Download: iTunes

Zoombies: Animales de la Muerte!

How do you say “catastrophe” en espanol? Don Eduardo in “Little Mexico” has a Big Problem — many of the animals in his zoo have come down with a case of the Undeath, effectively turning them into Zoombies!

Help main characters Marco and Maria put an end to this Zoombie-pocalypse using whatever means necessary — Aztec hatchets, roman candles, a chupacabra (yes, a chupacabra) and evil crows. Simply trace a path on the screen and watch your weapon hurtle toward the Zoombie target, but you’ll have to master the timing and precision to become efficient.

Collect gold pesos as you progress to get new “weapons” and complete Sugar Skull Missions to save the animals as you play the nearly four dozen different levels.

Price: $2.99
Developer: High Voltage Software
Download: iTunes

What Are You Playing?

Which games are you hooked on right now? Let your fellow gamers and iPad enthusiasts know in the comments section below!

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Get Going Down the Rabbit Trail

Usagi Yojimbo’s mission is to retrieve a mirror that is being held onto by priests. Somehow, obtaining this mirror will free the Old Ones, who are currently in a cave. Once they’re freed, they’re capable of ridding the world of evil, so what valiant hero wouldn’t take up arms to help out?

Start Usagi’s journey and follow this map through forests, mountains and various villages.

Usagi will engage in dialogue with the rogues he runs into. After waxing poetic grunt speak about how they plan to hurt the hero, battles ensue. Some opponents will simply be muscle, while others may carry a weapon or fire off arrows with their bows. Regardless, keep track of who’s on the screen and who has Usagi in their crosshairs, because once the rabbit’s life gauge is empty, that’s it for this hare.

The Bunny Battles Back

Of course a good offense can be a great defense against bad guys. The red and blue buttons on the bottom-right portion of the screen represent strong and not-as-strong attacks, respectively. Use them at their most simple to fend off the thugs trying to take Usagi down.

Get slicing against the variety of foes that are ready to rip Usagi Yojimbo apart.

As Usagi progresses from one stage to the next, he’ll unlock attack combos that will make short work of his enemies. Make a note of the order of which red-blue-button combination will complete the fierce techniques.

For example, double tapping an attack button may get the long-eared hero to strike someone twice or perhaps cause him to jab his sword with more force to take out the enemies. One of the more fun power-ups earned is a technique that allows Usagi to jump and spin in the air, wielding his sword to thrash enemies standing on either side. That move is helpful during fierce fights where the odds aren’t in the ronin warrior’s favor.

Learn new attack combos as Usagi progresses through fierce battles.

Friends and Other Benefits

Since a two-player game isn’t an option, Usagi Yojimbo gives players the next best thing. Throughout the anthromorphic adventure, Usagi will meet up with allies, and it usually isn’t long before a gang of toughs follows. Like some role-playing online and video games, Usagi’s allies will join the fray, controlled by the app’s internal computer, and help him slice and dice his way to the next part of the stage. This is no small advantage, so let them get in a few hits or tackle tough guys that may be more difficult to conquer. Be warned: their help is only temporary and the cast of sidekicks changes throughout the game.

Don’t worry, the rhino in the purple kimono is on Usagi’s side when the app helps out our hero.

Once an enemy has been exterminated, he’ll fall flat on his back, exhale a skull and crossbones, and may leave behind a goodie such as a coin or even a heart, which can revitalize Usagi’s health meter. Coins can purchase Health, Damage and Armor upgrades, each of which will improve how strong our hero becomes and improves how long he will hold up during the vicious battles that come his way.

Get chatty with friends and enemies.

Keep track of how much progress Usagi has made by giving the map a glance every now and then. Downward pointing arrows will indicate which stages have been completed and players can get an idea of the terrains they will battle in during future fights. During gameplay, what look like movie reels show up on the screen that ends each stage. These will rank players as to how well they have completed a level. They’ll also transition players into an educational session, where they will be schooled on a new ninja technique or weapon that they can use to Usagi’s advantage during battles. Pay special attention to these tips!

Grab the Rabbit by the Ears

Usagi Yojimbo: Way of the Ronin is a treat among iOS games. The graphics are impressive — characters are nicely drawn and have detailed facial expressions. It’s almost always easy to identify which creature they are a caricature of and it’s fun to have some underused members of the animal kingdom (walruses!) present and accounted for. The background scenery is also well done, be it the intricate design of the forest or the obvious thought put into the distinctive look of the rooms of home and buildings in village.

The action gets intense, so keep your hand close to your sword.

Gameplay is simple enough, but players bored with button mashing can use finessed techniques to add some style to their fighting. Usagi is also very responsive to the controls given to him, executing moves fluidly and efficiently during the violent confrontations.

Some of the conversations that take place between Usagi and his friends and enemies within the game can be too frequent and too long. Players who love a good story might enjoy the interludes, while those looking to beat up Noah’s Ark may get annoyed at the delay.

But overall, the intensity of the battles is challenging, as are the opponents. This is an app that will draw in and keep entertained the casual gaming fans as well as those who take the craft seriously.