Lie Swatter (walk through)

Lie Swatter is a new game from the creators of You Don't Know Jack. Currently Lie Swatter is an iOS only game but an Android version is coming soon. Lie Swatter is free to download but does rely on some In App Purchases, they are not required to play though. I have been playing Lie Swatter for a few days now and have thoroughly enjoyed the game, I can't believe how much I thought I actually knew were facts that were not or vice versa.

Overall this is a terrific game for the family to play, you can add friends or family members by email address or username. If you want to challenge me to a game, my username is Total iPad.

Overall this is a very fun game and well worth the free download to play!

Download Lie Swatter in the iOS App Store: http://goo.gl/oetSt

Lie Swatter on Facebook.
Lie Swatter on Twitter.

Build your own LEGO iPad stand

I don't normally share videos on Total iPad that are not my own, I prefer to try and keep everything original but this LEGO iPad stand was just too awesome to pass up not sharing. I am a huge LEGO fan and last summer I got to visit LEGO Land while I was in Florida on vacation with my daughter. I am not sure if I will order this or try to buy the pieces and build it on my own. Either way if you are a LEGO fan and own an iPad or an iPad mini then you may want to check out this video and consider buying this awesomeness for yourself!



Buy it: http://www.thedailybrick.co.uk/lego-sets/custom/lego-custom-ipad-dock-black.html
Build it: http://www.thedailybrick.co.uk/lego_instructions/viewer?i=custom_LEGO_iPad_Dock_Instructions

MLB At Bat 2013 - UPDATED

This morning MLB At Bat 2013 was updated to version 6.1.0, this was a major upgrade to the At Bat application. I am most excited about the new video section for the iPad, I believe this was already in the iPhone version before this update. I am glad to see At Bat getting updated on the iPhone with all the features that make the iPhone version so great. If you are an Android user I almost feel bad for you, the At Bat app on Android is nowhere near as robust with features as it is on iOS.

New features:

• Multi-platform live audio access for At Bat 13 subscribers (portable to Mac/PC with a valid MLB.com account)
• Universal support for At Bat 13 subscribers, accessible on iPhone, iPad and other supported smartphones and tablets
• New video section featuring more highlights and search (iPad)
• Sortable batting, pitching and fielding statistics (iPad)
• Re-designed individual team pages (iPhone)
• Updated news section interface (iPhone)
• Classic games library featuring more than 60 historic games dating back to 1952 (iPhone and iPad)
• Re-architected navigations (iPhone and iPad)
• Additional push notification options (iPhone & iPad)
• Closed captioning availability for live video (iPhone and iPad)



You can download MLB At Bat 2013 free in the App Store (subscription required for some features):
http://goo.gl/E5PXP

Find my full review of MLB At Bat '13 here: http://totalipad.com/baseball1/

LIE SWATTER

Lie Swatter is a new game from the creators of You Don't Know Jack, another terrific, fun game. I will be uploading a live hands on demo of Lie Swatter in the next couple of days, stay tuned.

Jellyvision Games, creators of YOU DON’T KNOW JACK, announced their next game for the mobile platform: Lie Swatter.

Launched today on iOS devices with a future Android release planned, Lie Swatter is an irreverent multiplayer trivia game that asks, “Can you separate strange fiction from stranger fact?” To download Lie Swatter free on the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, please visit: Lie Swatter by Jellyvision Games, Inc.

“Lie Swatter is the further evolution, or devolution, of our brand of twisted trivia, and another chance to prove to your friends that they’re dumber than you are. Plus you get to squish bugs. Deceitful, lying bugs.” said Mike Bilder, General Manager of Jellyvision Games. “We’ve built Lie Swatter from the ground up as a quick, turn--based mobile gaming experience that we think both YOU DON’T KNOW JACK fans and insectophobes alike will love.” Note: No bugs actually harmed during game. We love all creatures of the Earth.

Lie Swatter is a free-to-play, turn-based mobile trivia game. Players may find opposing players via Facebook Connect, email, and username, or play a random unsuspecting foe if they prefer. Integration with Apple’s Game Center is also planned.

In each of the three rounds, players pick a category and are presented with seven statements... and then the swatting begins. Players find and crush ridiculous lies with a satisfying splat, while avoiding odd truths like “Christmas trees kill an average of 13 people a year.” Not feeling confident? Jellyvision Games has you covered with Category Zappers and Helpers, available for purchase with in-game tokens. Don’t worry, Jellyvision Games won’t judge you for artificially enhancing your performance.

Lie Swatter represents Jellyvision Games’ second mobile effort and a further demonstration of the developer’s focus on the social and mobile gaming world. Expect content updates and special categories to be announced soon.

For more bug splatting action, follow Lie Swatter on Facebook and Twitter at www.facebook.com/LieSwatter and www.twitter.com/LieSwatterGame.

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Be sure to Circle me on Google+: +christopher rizzo  

Topps Pennant (Baseball Part 3)

Here is the deal, I went to review Topps Pennant tonight and realized I already reviewed Pennant back in June. Instead of reviewing it again I just decided to upload it to YouTube which I originally didn't do. I figured instead of reviewing Pennant again I would just link to it in a new post since not much has changed since my last review.


Find that original review here:
http://totalipad.com/topps-pennant-review/

You can download Pennant from the App Store for only $0.99 here:
Topps Pennant - The Topps Company, Inc.



MLB At Bat '13 (Part 1): http://totalipad.com/baseball1/
Baseball Trade Rumors (Part 2): http://totalipad.com/baseballtraderumors/

Baseball Trade Rumors (Baseball Part 2)

A couple of weeks ago I said I was going to review my favorite baseball applications leading up to the start of the baseball season. I got a little sidetracked due to life but I did not forget that I said I was going to review them all so here is part 2, Baseball Trade Rumors.

If you are wanting up to the minute news on the latest trades or rumors revolving around your favorite players or teams then you will want to check out Trade Rumors. I have been a long time reader of the Trade Rumors website and having this information on my iPad is awesome, getting push notifications is even more awesome. Especially if you are a fantasy baseball player then you will find this app super useful because it will keep you up to date with all the baseball transactions and roster moves.

Baseball Trade Rumors is a universal iOS application and will work on the iPad, iPad mini, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Trade Rumors was updated in January and now fully supports the iPhone 5. I mostly use Trade Rumors on my iPad as that is where I do all my baseball related research for my fantasy team as well as keeping up with the Giants and Yankees.



FEATURES:

• Select only the players or teams you want, and receive a push notification for every related new rumor


• Be the first to know about any official trade or free agent signing with our Transaction push notifications


• By popular demand: filter the main news page to show rumors for one specific team, or only the transactions


• View the 40 latest stories, easily refreshed via pull-down


• Log in through Disqus and leave comments on MLBTradeRumors.com

Download Baseball Trade Rumors in the iOS App Store for only $2.99:


Part 1 of my baseball series: MLB At-Bat 2013



If you are interested in following allow with these post consider subscribing to my RSS feed:
http://bit.ly/12ACVYG

If you are not an RSS feed kind of person then consider following / subscribing to my YouTube channel where I will be updating my MLB app videos over the next 3 weeks:
http://youtube.com/videorizzo

Not an RSS or YouTube kind of person then how about Twitter? You can follow me here:
http://twitter.com/icrizzo

Not a Twitter, YouTube, or RSS kind of person? How about Google+? Circle me here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/110700994347677244209/

None of the above? I give up but I do thank you for reading or watching my videos all the same!

Episode 38 - Podcasting

We originally recorded this podcast about a week and half ago but I have been out of town this last week and lazily didn't get around to editing the audio until today so I apologize in advance. On this episode Boyan and I discuss some of our favorite Podcasts applications, our favorite shows, and Podcasting in general! If you are listening to this Podcast then you will probably find this episode really interesting!

For me personally Podcasting is something that I go into a little over a year ago as a hobby. Podcasting is something that enjoy doing and I think over the last year or so I have gotten a bit better and less shy about doing not only this show but also my video app reviews. When I say shy I mean nervous about not making mistakes, I've realized that mistakes are going to happen and you can either try to edit them out or just leave them and face the music. I have faced a lot of music!


Some of the Apps we talked about:
Downcast
Pocket Casts
Instacast
Podcasts by Apple



Find Total iPad:
You can find all the podcast on Total iPad: http://totalipad.com/category/podcast/
You can subscribe in iTunes here: http://goo.gl/aZHdu
Total iPad on Currents
Total iPad on Google+

Alpha Efficiency

Two-step verification for Apple ID

Apple today announced two-step verification for your Apple ID. I just hope it works as good as it does with my Google login. I don't have as much confidence in Apple when it comes to stuff like this as I do with Google. Even though I personally feel Google does security better it is great to see Apple offer this to its users. This is a step in the right direction and a much needed feature. Currently two-step verification is only available in 5 countries.

If you are not sure how to set-up 2-step verification then please read the Apple FAQ: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5570

When you set up two-step verification, you register one or more trusted devices. A trusted device is a device you control that can receive 4-digit verification codes using either Find My iPhone notifications or SMS to verify your identity.

Then, any time you sign in to manage your Apple ID at My Apple ID or make an iTunes, App Store, or iBookstore purchase from a new device, you will need to enter both your password and a 4-digit verification code as shown below.


After you sign in, you can manage your account or make purchases as usual. Without both your password and the verification code, access to your account will be denied.

You will also get a 14-digit Recovery Key for you to print and keep in a safe place. You will use your Recovery Key to regain access to your account if you ever lose access to your devices or forget your password.

Wizard Ops Tactics Revealed

Strategy and Magic Collide in Phyken’s New Title

Independent and critically acclaimed developer Phyken Media revealed Wizard Ops Tactics, an action packed strategy game for the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android. Players will find their favorite Wizards in all new environments and equipped with outrageous powers to battle against friends in nonstop, Wizardly action!

Wizard Ops Tactics lets you step into the robe of Wizard Commander as you assemble the best Wizard Army. There are over 140,000 unique Army combinations to choose from, with countless unlockable spells and enhancements. Assemble your army to fight across multiple battlefields, each with unique objectives and perilous hazards. Wizard Ops Tactics gives you options on how to play on the battlefield. Play with an actual friend via the Pass N’ Play feature or head to the online battlefield to compete against friends to see who has the strongest army.

Wizard Ops Tactics will be at GDC Play in the South Hall, Gateway Ballroom with comedian and sound FX extraordinaire Michael Winslow (Police Academy, Spaceballs). The game is coming soon to the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android compatible devices.

For more Wizard Ops Tactics spells, check out www.wizardops.com.
Follow the game on Twitter www.twitter.com/WizardOps and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/WizardOps

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About Phyken Media
Phyken Media, formed in 2010 and based in Orlando, Florida, is a developer of interactive experiences and games. Their team is experienced and battle tested over a wide variety of previous releases. Wizard Ops Tactics, a magical turn based strategy game for iOS and Android is their second title.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Currently in the iBooks store you can download The Da Vinci code by Dan Brown for free. It is a terrific book if you are into these kinds of things. Although it does have a lot of religious stuff that may not sit right with some people, if you don't mind fiction books that deal with these topics then grab it now, free.

Download:

Doodle Jump Celebrates 4 Years of Success (Free on iPad)

Doodle Jump, the perennially acclaimed chart-topping mobile gaming sensation from Lima Sky, turns 4 years old today.

March 15, 2009 seems like prehistoric times for mobile gaming, and only the very best have remained best sellers. Far more than a simple anniversary, this event is a fan-made milestone. It marks more than 5 billion games of Doodle Jump played. In that time, Doodle has made enough leaps to bounce an astronaut back and forth between the Earth and the Sun 6 times. He’s blasted nearly 60 billion nose balls (more than 900 million boxes of tissues). Like Kevin Durant staying above the rim, Doodle Jump continually stayed at the top of the mobile game charts, with the last officially released Apple’s All-Time chart placing it as the #3 Top Paid App of All Time. None of this would have been possible without the support of an energized, enthusiastic, and just plain wonderful audience of Doodle Jumpers.

To celebrate the occasion, Lima Sky has made Doodle Jump for iPad FREE for a day and released a FREE version of Doodle Jump for Android today which was developed from ground-up by Lima Sky and optimized for Android. It comes with a number of performance and graphical improvements, with more to come in future updates!

But it’s certainly not all the future holds – Doodle Jump fans can expect even bigger things. The year started off with the launch of an amazing Doodle Jump Arcade version for arcade machines with ICE/Raw Thrills, and in upcoming months the long awaited Xbox 360 Kinect version will finally launch. Outside the digital realm a whole slew of official toys, apparel, stationery, accessories, and more is coming real soon. This is the year of Doodle Jump!

App Store Link (iPad Free Today): http://goo.gl/hl8F3



About Lima Sky

Lima Sky, creators of the bestselling Doodle Jump, is an award-winning video game and app development studio. It was founded in July 2008 by Igor Pusenjak, a graduate and faculty at the MFA interactive design program at Parsons School of Design in New York, and Marko Pusenjak, a veteran mobile applications developer. As one of the world’s leading independent publishers, Lima Sky is dedicated to creating entertaining and innovative games across multiple platforms.

Sync music from iTunes to your iPad

A quick iPad tip showing how to sync music to your iPad or remove music that you currently have on your iPad and replaced it with music that you do not have on your iPad but do have in iTunes on my computer.

I know that Apple has tried to make managing media on the iPad a tad bit easier recently but I get asked quite a bit about managing media, particularly music on the iPad. I thank Irene Koehler for giving me this idea. Hopefully it helps someone who doesn't understand about syncing music from iTunes to the iPad. I will be honest, with iTunes 11 I have gotten lost myself a few times.

If you have any question feel free to contact me via Twitter @iCrizzo.
You could also circle me on Google+.

Repix

I have had the pleasure of using Repix for the last week before it officially launched and I can honestly say this is a fantastic application. Beautiful, fantastic, awesome, superb, those are some of the words that come to mind when I think of Repix. Repix launched today and you can download it in the iOS App Store for free. Repix works with both the iPad and the iPhone.

Repix inspires users to paint unique remixes from photos

Repix is not just filters it is better filters! Filters that actually let you get creative but the great thing about Repix is that you do not have to be an artist to create a masterpiece. It is simple to create or get creative you just need to play with the brushes and find that right touch to add to your photos. Of course you can easily apply just 1 filter effect to your images and be done with it but where is the fun in that? Repix gives you total control over the effects that you add to your images, you can mix and match effects or you can add 1 effect to a portion of your image and add another effect to another portion. Again, you have total control!



Not only do you have up to 21 artistic brushes to choose from you also have the ability to crop your images or adjust the following aspects to your images: Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Vibrance, Temperature, or add some Vignetting to your image. All these settings will allow you to add some extra special touches to your masterpiece.

When you are finished adding your desired effects you can share your amazing new photos to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or you can email them to a friend or family member. You can also save your photos to your camera roll which will then allow you to Photo Stream them either to another device or to a shared Photo Stream.

For a better understanding of how this application works, please check out the video above where I go into more detail!

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Pricing for the Repix brushes are as follows:

FREE:

1. Cartoonize
2. Charcoal
3. Edger
4. Dotter
5. Flares
6. Drips
7. Posterize
8. Silk
9. Bleach
10. Undoer (not a real brush)
11. Eraser

PAID:

COLOR BRUSHES (set €1.79/$1.99/£1.49)

1. Sepia
2. Hollywood
3. Vintage
4. Freshen

ARTISTIC BRUSHES (set €1.79/$1.99/£1.49)

1. Hatching
2. Daubs
3. Van Gogh
4. Spray

LIGHT BRUSHES (set €1.79/$1.99/£1.49)

1. Glow Smoke
2. Stars
3. Sparkler
4. Glow Line

OR UNLOCK EVERYTHING WITH MASTER'S COLLECTION FOR €4.49/$4.99/£3.99

 

FEATURES:

• Remix photos using Repix’s impressive selection of style brushes.


• Carefully hand-crafted Brushes include state-of-the art effect, color boosting and artistic styles.


• Repix comes with real-time Rebeca^TM processing engine that seamlessly integrates the power of the CPU and GPU enabling insane performance.


• Studio-grade technology alongside a slick and intuitive interface to inspire new levels of creativity.


• Choose images from camera roll or import from Facebook.


• Share creations with #repix to Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram or Facebook.


• Free to use with a selection of brushes, with an option to purchase more brushes.

Don't take my word for it though, you can go download Repix for free right now for both the iPad and iPhone:
Repix - Remix & Paint Photos - Sumoing Ltd


Repix website.
Be sure to check out the Repix video on Vimeo.
Check out some of the awesome artwork on Tumblr.

Google Now for iOS?

Could Google Now be coming soon to iOS? It sure looks like it. This video was posted on YouTube then quickly removed, I grabbed a cached copy of it and uploaded it myself. Hopefully I don't get in trouble for that. :)

It looks as if Google Now will work inside the Search app for iOS. Now is a terrific feature on Android, I am not sure how terrific it will be on iOS. Having to open an app and then swiping up to get the weather takes much more time than just swiping down from anywhere to access the weather widget built into iOS in notifications. Google Now does much more than that but honestly I have used an Android phone for 2 months now that is all I ever use Now for, a quick check of the weather. Most of the other information I get from Now has not been really useful to me, it is cool that it is learning my habits but the information I was getting was not really useful to me on a day to day basis.

Have you tried Google Now? Are you excited to see this on iOS? Let me know via Twitter @iCrizzo.

Mr. Reader - Updated

My favorite RSS reader application has been updated today. Mr. Reader brings a new feature for supporting browser bookmarklets.

What's New in Version 1.11.2
NEW FEATURES:

• Browser Bookmarklets support added. More infos: http://www.curioustimes.de/mrreader/bookmarklets/

IMPROVEMENTS:

• Tap on folder behavior can be changed in the Miscellaneous settings: display articles or open folder
• Theme Editor: The color and style (bold + underline) of links in the article view can be set
• Accessibility improved (VoiceOver)
• 'Launch 1Password' added to most login dialogs (only when 1Password v4 is installed)
• Service Templates: New tag/placeholder [AUTHOR] introduced to insert the article author if available
• Added a button to insert the article author in the Twitter, App.net, Buffer and Toodledo dialogs
• Added a button to insert the original URL to the Twitter, App.net and Buffer dialogs. For most users it was unknown that the original URL (instead of the shortened URL) could be inserted with a tap and hold on the 'Link' button.
• Replaced the insert value buttons (Source, Title, ...) in the Twitter, App.net and Buffer dialogs with a keyboard extension. I was running out of space displaying all of this buttons.

FIXES:

• Twitter: Upgraded to the Twitter API v1.1. v1.0 retires in March 2013.
• Twitter: Now I'm updating the t.co link lengths once a day by asking Twitter. Previously it was hard coded. Did not thought that Twitter will change them that often. ;-)
• App.net code migrated. There are some API changes that will take effect on March 20, 2013
• Posterous removed. The Posterous API is broken since December 2012 (500 Internal Error), and it will turn off on April 30, 2013
• Article View: The sharing menu button no longer uses the selected text. Was a relict and responsible for a unwanted behavior when some text was selected but no service configured to process it (opened Safari).
• Article View: Now the header values (title, author) can be selected for example for copy & paste or the text selection actions
• Article View: No more text on the right side of an image if it is larger than 3/4 of the current set article width
• Zoom Image: My Thumbpad could be used while the Zoom Image dialog was in display. It did not show the buttons, but the functionality was executed. :-(
• Articles Table: After a rotation the shadows at top and bottom were occasionally not displayed in full length
• Error message added when the image saving failed due to missing access rights (iOS Settings App -> Privacy -> Photos)
• Portrait mode: A tap on the unused space in the folders/feeds table toggles the articles table position. But it was in an undefined state when you moved the articles table manually at this time.
• Article View (only iOS 5): Tapping a link to open a installed App (via App URL scheme) did not open the App and a error message was shown (e.g. Drafts action import URL's).
• Used the wrong 'return' key description in the multiline message fields of the Twitter, App.net and Tumblr dialogs (was 'Done')
• Articles Table: Fixed the ugly cut off of the last line when you used multiline titles and a small row height

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You may also like these other post related to Mr. Reader:
http://totalipad.com/app/mr-reader-for-ipad/
http://totalipad.com/10-great-ipad-rss-feed-reader-apps/
http://totalipad.com/favoriteapps/
http://totalipad.com/episode37a/

Episode 37 (Part 2)

This is the second part to Episode 37, as I said in part 1, I wanted to try something different with this podcast and wanted to do a video version of it. I know it sucks that I had to break it up into 2 parts and I probably will not do that every time if I decide to continue doing the video portion of it, this was just a test to see how well it works or doesn't work.

Anyway, we talk about Google Currents not only the App but also how it can help content creators get their content out to the world. Google gives you the tools it is your job to build something.

If you want the audio only portion of this podcast, you can stream/download that here: http://totalipad.com/podcast/episode37b.mp3

You can download Currents here: Google Currents - Google, Inc.

Get started with Google Currents Producer: https://www.google.com/producer

Find me on YouTube

You can find all the podcast on Total iPad: http://totalipad.com/category/podcast/

You can subscribe in iTunes here: http://goo.gl/aZHdu

Find out more about Mr. Reader here: http://totalipad.com/app/mr-reader-for-ipad/

Watch my Mr. Reader video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70XLv8n1JCo

Episode 37 - RSS reading apps (part 1)

I figured I would try something different this week, normally I only upload this podcast as an audio podcast but I figured I would try to screen-cast as I recorded the audio and upload that screen-cast to YouTube and Blip.tv. I am hoping to get feedback and maybe a few more subscribers to not only my YouTube channel but also to my podcast in iTunes.

Part 2 is here: http://totalipad.com/episode37b/

This is only part 1. I am in the process of uploading the rest of this podcast where we discuss Google Currents. I will update this post with a link to part 2 as soon as I get the video edited and processed.

If you only want the audio portion of this podcast, you can download that HERE

Find me on YouTube

You can find all the podcast on Total iPad: http://totalipad.com/category/podcast/

You can subscribe in iTunes here: http://goo.gl/aZHdu

Find out more about Mr. Reader here: http://totalipad.com/app/mr-reader-for-ipad/

Watch my Mr. Reader video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70XLv8n1JCo

MLB At Bat 2013 (Baseball Part 1)

Baseball is my favorite sport to watch and keep up with, I follow baseball during the season and keep up with it even in the off-season. Over the next few weeks leading up to the start of the Major League Baseball season I plan on doing reviews of all the apps that I use, the magazines or books I read on my iPad, and the podcast I follow and listen to on my iPad. This will probably be around a 10 part series and while there are literally thousands of great baseball books and apps that I could talk about I have chosen the few that I personally think are the cream of the crop!

To start off this series I think that I should start with MLB At Bat as I feel that it is the most important baseball app to have on your iPad. My reason for it being #1 is because it gives you everything in one place, plus it is the only app that allows you to watch and listen to games of all your favorite teams.

MLB At Bat 2013 has brought some much need changes to the iPad version of the application. They have finally added all the great features that were in the iPhone version of the app but were missing from the iPad version. Of course the iPhone app still has a few features that the iPad version doesn't have but for the most part they are equal apps.

New in At Bat 2013:

• Multi-platform live audio access for At Bat 13 subscribers (portable to Mac/PC with a valid MLB.com account).


• Universal support for At Bat 13 subscribers, accessible on iPhone, iPad and other supported smart phones and tablets.


• Batting, pitching and fielding statistics.


• Classic games library.


• Re-architected (sic) navigation's.

Of these new features I think the statistics are the most important feature added to the iPad version. Last year I was continually having to use At Bat on my iPhone just to see the stats for players. Not that I mind having to pick up my iPhone but I am an iPad guy and it sucked having to use 2 devices to use 1 application.

The navigation's are also much improved, the changes give At Bat an overall cleaner look and feel to the application. You now have this pop out menu on the left with all your sections of the app available to you. Everything from the News to the Fan Cave. Let’s say you want to view the News section, you can choose to view the MLB news which is all the teams or anything happening in baseball from the WBC stuff to the off the field situations that might be going on. You can also view News by team or even designate a favorite team which will always appear at the to of the drop down in the News section. This is not a new feature but the re-design is much nicer.

Statistics

As I said this was a must needed feature on the iPad version of the application. The stats sections breaks down like this:

• Search by MLB, AL, NL, Batting, Pitching, Fielding, Position, Time-frame, All-Time, Spring Training, Regular Season, World Series, LCS, Division Series, Wild Card, Year.


• Batting Stats


• Pitching Stats


• Fielding Stats


• Historic: All-Time - Batting, Pitching


• Historic: Season - Batting, Pitching


• Player Stats


• Team Stats

As you can see the Statistics section is really robust and even more robust than what was offered in the 2012 iPhone version of At-Bat. They have really went all out this year and you can really tell they put in a lot of work to develop an awesome application and add features that should have been built into this application several years ago.

The Other Sections:

• GAME DAY - This is where you are going to find all the games that are on tap for that day, you can also change the date and go back and check out the box scores, game wrap, plays, and highlights from the previous days games. You can back track all the way to the first game of the season if you wanted.


• Scoreboard - This is where you will find you daily scores for any game that is currently in progress or you will also find who is the playing and what time the game will start at. Another great aspect is you can see which 2 starting pitchers are slated to start the game.


• News - The News section is all the latest happenings in baseball from either the previous day or things that are currently happening around the game. You can view the News section either by MLB which covers the entire league or you can view by the team. The content here is the same content you will find on the mlb.com website or the team website hosted by mlb.com.


• Standings - Want to know what your current teams record is? Want to know how many games out of first place your favorite team is? This is where you will go to find that information.


• Team Schedules - This section is self-explanatory, here you will be able to view the schedules for your favorite team. One of the really great features of this section is you can download your teams schedule to your iPad and it will load it into the calendar app on your iPad which is handy if you want to set up notifications on your calendar.


• MLB Fan Cave - This section is not active as of today, while there are videos and some blog post up that are covering some of the Spring Training stuff this section will not go into full effect until the season actually starts. If you do not know what the MLB Fan Cave is then check out this link:


• 2013 Player Preview - This is a new section to the iPad application and a great one at that. Much like the stats section of the app this is a break down of the top players in the game by ranking. You can view the list by either top 100, top pitchers, top batters, etc.. For a full break down of the Player Preview section please refer to the video above.

At Bat offers a few customization features in the application. You can setup your start screen for whenever you open the application, say you want to set it up to always show the news or the box scores, you have that option. You can also designate a favorite team(s) for the News section of the application, anytime you launch news your favorite team(s) will be affixed to the top of the News drop-down menu and noted with a “star”.

MLB.TV:

Some people are confused about how this app works. Downloading the application for free only gives you access to the News at least it does on iOS. MLB.TV is a subscription that allows you to watch game via the At Bat app[1] the pricing has two tiers broken into four options:

• Basic Yearly: $109.99 / Year


• Basic Monthly: $19.99 / Month


• Premium Yearly: $129.99 / Year


• Premium Monthly: $24.99 / Month

You can also listen to games audio as well if you do not want to stream the games say while you are at the gym or jogging. Now you can also purchase just the audio only portion of the application and this will unlock many more features of the application that the free app without MLB.TV offers. Those prices are as follows:

• $2.99 / Month


• $19.99 / Year

This will unlock the Lite version and allow you listen to games only, you will also get the Game of the Day which is 1 game that you can actually watch via the At Bat application on your device. Are you confused yet? I hope not, I am trying to explain it the best I can but it does seem like a cluster (insert bad word here) as I am reading back what I wrote.

Lite = Free. No audio. No Game of the Day.
At Bat unlock = up to $19.99 for year, audio, 1 Game per day
MLB.TV = up to $129.99 for the year, audio and all games minus blackouts.

If you sign up now for MLB.tv you will also get all the spring training games both the audio and video broadcast of those games. Just keep in mind that not all Spring Training games are broadcast. But enough of them are broadcast to make it worth buying MLB.tv early. I enjoy watching some of the prospect get a chance to face major league hitters or pitchers.

I wanted to mention a feature of the Android version of At Bat, on Android you have a couple of widgets that come with the app, you can setup a mini box-score as a widget on your home screen you can also setup a shortcut to get your favorite team(s) News feed. Really cool feature that I wish was available on my iPad.

Overall this is a fantastic update to an already fantastic application. If you are a baseball fan and you want to follow baseball on a day to day basis or maybe you just want to listen to games while you commute or exercise, the At Bat is the application for you. Honestly, I find myself listening to more games than I actually watch but I do watch my fair share of games during the season. At Bat makes this the perfect app as well as the only app that can accomplish this task.

You can download MLB At Bat in the App Store for free:


MLB At Bat is also available in the Google Play store for Android:
http://goo.gl/uGMnh

If you are interested in following allow with these post consider subscribing to my RSS feed:
http://bit.ly/12ACVYG

If you are not an RSS feed kind of person then consider following subscribing to my YouTube channel will I will be updating my MLB app videos over the next 3 weeks:
http://youtube.com/videorizzo

Not an RSS or YouTube kind of person then how about Twitter? You can follow me here:
http://twitter.com/icrizzo

Not a Twitter, YouTube, or RSS kind of person? How about Google+? Circle me here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/110700994347677244209/

None of the above? I give up but I do thank you for reading or watching my videos all the same!

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1. Blackout restrictions do apply.  ↩

Temple Run: Oz

Temple Run: Oz

Temple Run: Oz was launched yesterday on iOS and this TR [1] is inspired by the movie Oz the Great and Powerful that is releasing in theaters this weekend, March 8th, 2013. With TR: Oz some new features and twist are added to the same style of TR game play. You still swipe up to jump, down to slide, and left/right to turn in either direction. The twist comes in the format of the environment and how the backgrounds change and force you to be more alert than the previous versions of TR.

What do I mean by the changing environments? Well in this version of TR you have the option to explore different locations that do not come pre-installed in the game which you must download, for free I might add. Also in TR: Oz the roads will collapse on either side of you so you have to be careful of that. Then you have obstacles that will tumble into your path while you are running, such as boulders. There are also snapping vines grabbing for your ankles while you are being chased by flying evil baboons.

I was really impressed with the gameplay of TR: Oz it was much smoother than that of TR2 in my opinion. TR2 had a lot of lag and freezes that I do not notice with TR: Oz. The graphics seem much improved as well and since this game is based off of the Wizard of Oz or rather just OZ, you have the yellow brick road and all that comes with it. Be prepared for tornado holes and hot air balloons!

TR: Oz does offer some of the dreaded In-App Purchases which I am not very fond of. I will not get into why but I just wanted to point out that you can purchase coins and/or gems to help you unlock the power-ups in the game. Some of the power-ups include:

• Magic Magnet


• Fireworks


• Coin Bonus


• Double Coins


• Head Start


• Stumble Proof


• Run Multiplier


• plus more…

As I mentioned above there is a level that you have the option of downloading that does not come packaged with the game. The level is called Dark Forest and is a cemetery level. You can also download HD Assets which I am assuming is meaning retina graphics? I really couldn’t tell much of a difference between the HD Assets and the non-HD Assets. To be fair I only played 2 games before I downloaded the HD Assets and I honestly didn’t pay attention to the graphics of the non-HD graphics. My thinking is that they are offering these 2 downloads to keep the game at under 50MB so that the game doesn’t require Wi-Fi to download. TR: Oz comes in at 45.9MB from the App Store so I am assuming those extra features would have put TR: Oz over the limit.

Another thing I wanted to make sure I mentioned was the social sharing feature of the game. If you have your Facebook account logged into on your iOS device, before playing TR: Oz you might want to jump into settings and turn off “Autopost” to Facebook which is turned “On” by default. You will have the option of sharing to FB even though this is turned off but you will have to do it manually after each run. You can also share to Twitter, by email, by text message, and save a screenshot to your camera roll. TR: Oz also has Game Center built-in so you can compare your high scores with that of your Game Center friends.

If you link your Facebook account to the game you will also be able to compete in weekly challenges for “distance” and “score” in the game. There are also Weekly and Legendary challenges that you can compete against or try to achieve each week. Some of the challenges are currently:

• 1,000 coins


• 3 Gems in a single run


• 5x multiplier


• Pocket Change (collect 2500 coins)


• much more…

Overall this is a superb game and I have no problem recommending Temple Run: Oz. Temple Run: Oz is a universal iOS game and will run on your iPad, iPad mini, iPhone, or iPod Touch devices that are running iOS 5.0 or greater. If you are a fan of Temple Run then you will want to grab this title today. Temple Run: Oz is only $0.99 in the App Store:

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1. 
   

   TR short for Temple Run, just because it is easier and faster than spelling it out 50 times.  ↩

   
   

Learn2Code HTML

Learn2Code HTML is a universal iOS application (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) that will teach you the basics of HTML and help you get started learning HTML.

Learn2Code HTML features a colorful layout with easy step by step instructions that will teach the fundamentals of HTML while test what you have learned in the process. There are plenty of examples of how you are supposed to implement your code in each section and a “test” that you will have to pass before moving on to the next portion. Even if you already have an understanding of HTML the built in text editor makes this app worth the cost of the app.

If you are interested in learning programming then HTML is probably a good place to start, while HTML is not a programming language it will give you a better understanding of how code actually works. Maybe you want to teach your kids HTML? This is a great way and probably much cheaper than buying a book to help get started with HTML.

Some of the lessons you will learn:

• HTML Frameworks


• Links


• Lists


• Formatting


• Images


• Body tags


• more…

The features of Learn2Code HTML:

• 9 Tutorials


• Lesson walk throughs


• Built-in text editor


• Export HTML files


• Import HTML files

Learn2Code HTML is only $2.99 in the App Store:

Episode 36 - Writing Apps

On this episode of Total iPad, episdoe 36 I invited Bojan to come back and join me for a discussion on writing apps and using Drafts with those applications to create workflows via our iOS devices and our OS X machines. We did overlap a little bit of our converstation from the week before but we stayed more focused on this one topic whereas the week before we kinda bounced from topic to topic. Overall I think we had a terrific discussion and invite you listen in as well get down to the nitty gritty of how we use our iOS devices in conjunction with our daily workflows.

If you have a question or comment about anything we discussed on this podcast please feel free to send me a message on Twitter @iCrizzo.

You can subscribe to the Total iPad podcast in iTunes:

Some of the Applications we discussed:

iOS

• Drafts


• Byword


• OmniFocus


• Blogsy


• Poster

OS X

• MarsEdit


• Byword


• iA Writer

Some of the topics we discussed that we have wrote about on our blogs:

• Blogging from the iPad


• iPad Writing Tips


• Text Expander review


• Drafts + Poster


• Writing Apps fighting for attention


• The Word Factory

GoodReader - Passcode Lock Folders

This is just a quick tip for GoodReader showing the differences between the different pass code lock settings. If you are using GoodReader to store important files or documents you may want to adjust your pass code settings within the app. GoodReader has quite a few security settings, each of them offering more protection.

Within the GoodReader app you have 2 different settings for pass code locking a folder. If you have really sensitive data stored in a folder you might want to set it up to require a pass code immediately any time the application is opened. This will not require a pass code if you stay in the application only if you leave the application and come back to it. With require pass code immediately turned off you are only required to enter the pass code if the application is completely closed and re-opened.

There are also some encryption settings within GoodReader but they are not encrypted within iCloud. Make sure you read about the syncing through iCloud, you will find the dialog info below the setting to turn encryption on. As always, keeping important information local is always safer than syncing via the cloud.

You can find all my GoodReader tips and tricks here: http://totalipad.com/allaboutgoodreader/

You can download GoodReader for iPad in the App Store for only $4.99: http://goo.gl/l1UK1

Pythonista YouTube Downloader

Here is just a quick demo video showing what Pythonista is capable of. I first read about this app on MacStories.net and it got me really interested in trying things with this app to see how nerdy I could get.

The video above is just a sample to show you that it really does work. Of course this video is just for educational purposes and you shouldn't download videos that are copyrighted. Download your own videos or check Vimeo for videos that you are allowed to download. Or course this will not work with Vimeo, but you get the idea of what I am getting at.

Source: http://omz-software.com/pythonista/forums/discussion/180/youtube-downloader
Github: https://gist.github.com/crizzo/5074896


Create this bookmarklet in mobile Safari :
[box]
javascript:window.location='pythonista://YoutubeDL?action=run&argv='+encodeURIComponent(document.location.href);
[/box]



Pythonista is $6.99 in the App Store:
Pythonista - omz:software

iDownloads is free in the App Store:
iDownloads PLUS - Download Manager! - Amad Marwat

More awesome Pythonista stuff: http://www.macstories.net/tag/pythonista/

GoodReader USB

I previously uploaded a GoodReader USB video about 1 and 1/2 - 2 years ago. The video was uploaded to my old YouTube account so I no longer had access to that video. Anyway, GoodReader USB is a free tool and I find it to be very useful for file management on my iPad.

The one benefit to using GoodReader for files and documents is that your files are local, unlike services like like Dropbox where they are uploaded to the 'cloud' so they can sync between devices. Sure the cloud makes things easier to manage but do you really want to upload important files to a service and trust that your info is kept safe/private? Not that I don't trust Dropbox but somethings are best if kept local only.

Also with GoodReader you can setup passwords for each folder you have in GoodReader that way if someone has access to your iPad then they will not have access to your important files/documents.

GoodReader USB works with your iPad connected to your computer via USB cable or you can also set it up to work over your network and add files wirelessly using the browser on your desktop and your local IP-address. I personally prefer using the USB cable and that is how I use it so that is how I demo GoodReader USB in the video above.

Download GoodReader USB free for both OS X and Windows: http://www.goodreader.com/usb/
More GoodReader: http://totalipad.com/allaboutgoodreader/

If you do not own GoodReader then you can purchase it for your iPad in the App Store for only $4.99:


Did you find this video helpful? Do you have a question or comment? Contact me on Twitter @iCrizzo.

Netbot for iPad

I recently got an invite to come try out App.net as part of their freemium model. My buddy Bojan who is a paid member of App.net sent me an invite to try it out. While my account is limited it is open enough for me to enjoy what App.net has to offer. Enter Netbot.

Netbot is an iOS application that allows you view and manage your App.net account from an iPad or iPhone. Netbot is from the brilliant creators of Tweetbot my favorite way to browse Twitter on my iPad. Oddly I have never demo'd or reviewed Tweetbot for iPad. So I wanted to make sure I did a brief review of Netbot, well more like a demo.

Netbot is free to download in the iOS App Store. Netbot works on all iOS devices including the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch that are at least running iOS 5.0 or later. Netbot is almost identical to Tweetbot in every way and there is nothing wrong with that because if you use Tweetbot or have tried it then you will feel right at home with Netbot. There are a few differences like the color of the icon and the fact that App.net is a different services so things like list are not in Netbot. That is not Netbot though, that is just the way App.net was built, with no list to manage or create.

Some of the key features of Netbot:

Composing

• Drafts


• Auto URL Shortening


• Photo & Video Uploads


• Post from Another Account


• Cross-post to Twitter

Services

• URL Shortening via bit.ly Pro, CloudApp, Droplr


• Upload Images via CloudApp, Mobypicture, and Droplr


• Upload Videos via CloudApp, Mobypicture, and Droplr


• Read Later via Instapaper, Pinboard, Readability, Pocket


• Translate Posts


• Web Mobilizer via Google, Instapaper, and Readability

(For a full demo of what Netbot has to offer please view the video above.)

 

I have not upgraded my App.net account as I plan on using it for a month or two to get a better feel for the service and to decide if this is something that I want to invest in. App.net is a paid service and I don't mind paying for a great service I just want to make sure I am going to use it and make it money well spent. If you know someone with a paid account try talking to them and asking them to send you an invite. I have enjoyed using App.net these last few days and Netbot was a huge reason why. I mostly do my social network stuff from my iPad and a great app like Netbot always makes that experience better!



You can download Netbot for free:



Feel fee to follow me on App.net @crizzo

Save money on Google Drive storage on an iPad

A couple of weeks ago I was looking into purchasing more storage for my Google Drive account but the only option was to pay by the month if I wanted to do so. First, I recently purchased a Nexus 4 so that is the main reason I wanted to up my Drive storage. Looking at the "Buy Storage for Drive" you will notice as I mentioned above your only option is to purchase monthly, it is not expensive as it starts out at $2.49 a month which is really cheap if you compare that to the pricing of say Dropbox per month cost. I decided to ask on Google+ if there was a way to pay for a year of Drive storage. Sadly the answer was no. After investigating further I discovered that while $2.49 is cheap, it is also much more expensive than the old pricing of Drive.

Enter Steve Ruge on Google+, he kindly pointed out that in the Google Drive app on the iPad you could still purchase more Drive storage and pay for it for the year via an In-App purchase. Not only could you pay for the year but it will end up saving you $4.98 which is 2 months free if you used the $2.49 a month for 1 year of 25GB storage that is found on the Drive page to purchase more storage.



The odd thing is you cannot do this on an android device. I tried to purchase more via the Drive app on my android phone and it kicks me out the browser and opens the same Drive upgrade page as linked above. Clearly this is a move to get iOS users using Drive on their devices, saving $5 or getting 2 months free is a good start in my opinion. I only wished I could purchase more than 25GB though. It would have been nice to see the 100GB for $50 available as an In-App purchase. I guess Google doesn't like having to give Apple that 30% cut. Another thing to remember is you will not have to add a credit card to Google Wallet by purchasing in the iPad. This is an IAP and the money comes from your Apple account so if you want to try Drive but don't want to give Google your credit card info then there is that!

To access the upgrade in Drive:

1. Tap the settings gear on the lower left of Drive (next to your email address)


2. Tap Storage


3. Upgrade Your Storage

If you found this helpful then let me know on Twitter or send me a shout out on Google+