Software

Trailer Pop Review

What better device is there to watch movie trailers on than an iPad? Portable, often with you when out and discussing movies, and always connected to the Internet, it's a great mobile box office. So Trailer Pop comes to the table with a strong premise. Even better, Trailer Pop integrates a clever quiz into the app, allowing you to test yourself on your knowledge of any given movie.

After installing Trailer Pop, you'll be prompted to sign in with Facebook or create a new account. After you do so, a new trailer will start playing, and quiz questions … Read more

The Particles Review

Whether you have read every book ever written by Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Richard Feynman, or you can't tell the difference between a proton and an electron, The Particles is an incredible app. Combining savvy design with riveting information about the nature of particle physics, The Particles is one part encyclopedia entry, one part interactive tour, and one part NOVA science hour.

The app is very much an educational tool. When you open it, you'll be presented with a menu that introduces you to particle physics, a glossary of all the terms used in the app, and … Read more

The Moron Test 2 Review

The Moron Test 2 is not the first app on the App Store to use the types of tests included here, but it is one of the most complete and rewarding, with a unique design, multiple tests to try your hand at, and few, if any, cheap answers that will create losing rounds. If you enjoy apps that force you to pay attention and simultaneously push your brain to really think hard, this is a must download.

The Moron Test 2 essentially runs a series of short yet rarely easy mini-games in each of the three game modes. You must … Read more

The Glowing Void 3 Review

For the first few minutes we spent playing The Glowing Void 3, we weren't quite sure what the goal was. There was no tutorial and the "obvious" (i.e. wrong) action kept getting us killed. When we finally found the instructions, the game became a revelation, providing a unique spin on the block-breaking concept that it is built on. With five different game modes, dozens of ways to win (and lose), and a fair difficulty arc that really challenges your reflexes and thought speed, this is a very solid and enjoyable iOS game.

The game's core … Read more

Strobe Light Review

Strobe Light is exactly as it sounds: a strobe light. For that reason alone, this review will be very simple. Turn on the app and it starts to flash. Not so rapidly as to give you a headache and not so slowly as to attract the attention of a nearby emergency vehicle, but as you would expect from a strobe light for a party or concert. That alone is a nice feature; it works well on both the iPad and iPhone and it doesn't drain your battery quite as rapidly as some flashlight apps that have strobe functions.

That … Read more

AVG AntiVirus Business Edition 2013 Review

AVG AntiVirus Business Edition 2013 continues the slimmer, flatter redesign from 2012, and brings the same interface improvements from its younger, smaller Free and Pro Antivirus counterparts.

The AVG installer will walk you through a few screens and present the option to install or omit additional products like Identity Protection, Email Scanner, and Surf-Shield. However, it also includes additional tools more appropriate for corporate IT environments, like Remote Admin. The AVG Toolbar is also offered, though, as opt-in as opposed to the opt-out setups found in the free counterparts. AVG does include Do Not Track, which some users may find … Read more

Simple Catapult Free Review

The most popular iOS game of all time is Angry Birds, a combination of simple puzzler and semi-intuitive physics that can be played between stops on the train and is extremely popular in all of its many forms. So it's no surprise to see a game like Simple Catapult Free, an obvious riff on the Angry Birds formula, in the App Store. The question, of course, is whether the game is unique enough to warrant a download all its own or if you are safe sticking with the tried-and-true Rovio formula.

Simple Catapult uses rocks instead of birds and … Read more

WebKit fracture puts a pinch on open-source browser efforts

The WebKit browser engine is becoming a less flexible foundation for open-source projects with the departure of Google from the project this week and Apple's consequent paring back of the project.

WebKit is a broad project that includes participation from many interested parties -- not just Apple and Google, but also BlackBerry, Samsung, Amazon, Oracle, Adobe Systems, and the programmers involved with the KDE and Gnome user interfaces for Linux. Indeed, the open-source project began as KDE's KHTML engine for the Konqueror browser before Apple got involved.

Google's Chrome team left WebKit this week, forking the open-source … Read more

Facebook touts Home's benefits for developers

Facebook launched Home to put a user's friends at the center of the phone. But for developers, it means a new way to help people discover their apps and reengage with existing users, the company said.

Facebook today launched Home, a family of apps and a skin that runs over Android. The company said users will be able to download the user interface in the Google Play store, and that links would be found in its Facebook and messenger apps. Facebook said that there would be monthly updates to add features and broader availability, and it also will expand … Read more