Atlas by Collins
There is huge scope still for connected touchscreen devices to reinvent the very idea of an atlas. Collins is one of the publishers moving in that direction, describing its Atlas by Collins app as less a book, and more a “constantly evolving data visualisation tool”. That means overlaying different sources of data on virtual globes at this stage including 3D maps, political maps, environmental data, population statistics and energy resources. More will follow.iPhone / iPad
Nigella Quick Collection for iPad
Publisher Random House has upsized Nigella Lawson’s popular iPhone cookery app to iPad, with more than 100 recipes, full-screen photos and videos, and a voice-control feature for use in floury kitchens. You can add your own voice and text notes to recipes, and an additional “Party Collection” pack is available via in-app purchase.iPad
Tunigo Play
This is the latest impressive iPhone music app to be built on top of streaming service Spotify. If you have a premium account on the latter, Tunigo Play serves up playlists from experts and other users, while also alerting you every day to new releases. Music news is thrown in for good measure.iPhone
Circa News
Circa News is the latest attempt at providing a new way to keep up with the news on iPhone, with the bold claim that “reading long articles just to stay up to date is a thing of the past”. The emphasis is thus on short, to-the-point updates on key stories, with links to the longer versions. It has more of a US spin, but may be interesting elsewhere in the world.iPhone
Rara.com
Streaming music service Rara.com wants to take on the Spotifys and Deezers of the world, and it finally has an iOS app to do it with its Android version came out earlier in the year. Expect on-demand streaming, editorial recommendations and charts, paid for with a 9.99 monthly subscription for web+mobile access.iPhone / iPad
Songbird.me
It’s also a good week for new music apps, as you can tell. This is the new app from pivoted music-startup Songbird, which gets you to sign up to artists that you like, then delivers their updates while enabling you to post photos in return and find new music you might like.iPhone / iPad
Rappel
Something more serious here: a marvellously-slick iPhone client for project management service Basecamp, using its Basecamp Next API. The app can be used to keep tabs on projects, assign tasks, create and join discussions, and upload files from the iPhone.iPhone
#PAN
Here’s the latest iPhone client for microblogging service App.net, which has positioned itself as a more-open alternative to Twitter. The app enables you to browse your stream, post updates, watch hashtags and send to Instapaper and Pocket. It costs 4.99, but that price includes media hosting for photos, video and audio on the Hashpan.com service, as well as push notification servers.iPhone
Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
StoryToys has made its name creating interactive “pop-up” book-apps for various Brothers Grimm fairytales on iOS. Its latest release is Sleeping Beauty, but with a few more features than previous apps. That means games and puzzles alongside the story, which is told over 35 pages of text, and 11 3D scenes.iPhone / iPad
Snapjoy
There are plenty of apps for sharing photos, but what about organising the ones you’ve taken? That’s the idea behind the Snapjoy app, which promises that it “organises your photos and makes them accessible anywhere”, using a timeline to sort them by year and month.iPhone
Yoga Studio
It may sound counter-intuitive to clutch an iPhone while doing the Downward-Facing Dog, but Yoga Studio looks like a very useful app for yoga beginners and veterans alike. It offers 30 yoga classes in HD video form, with the ability to stitch the videos together into custom routines, and browse photos of more than 280 poses.iPhone
The Journals of Mama Mae LeeLee
If music and children are two of the big themes on iOS this fortnight, then The Journals of Mama Mae LeeLee brings them together. It’s a storytelling app with Alicia Keys providing the music. The stories focus on a girl called LeeLee and her grandma Mama Mae, with the promise of new story-packs and songs as in-app purchases in the months ahead.iPhone / iPad
Hollywood Photobooth
This may sound like a PhotoBooth-style novelty app, and it sort-of is, but with the involvement of the VA museum. It’s based on the museum’s Hollywood Costume exhibition, and offers up 16 famous film costumes to (virtually) try on, then share the results on social networks.iPhone / iPad
Striiv Smart Pedometer
There are an increasing number of fitness apps that include pedometer functions for iOS. Striiv takes a slightly different tack to most though, by including “activity-based games” to motivate your walking and running. That includes challenges (“burn the calories in a cupcake”) as well as trophies and a virtual island to populate. It also works with calorie-counting service MyFitnessPal on the nutrition side.iPhone
Inkly Cards
We’ve seen several startups launch apps to turn photos into physical postcards over the last few years. Inkly Cards is different: it’s about making traditional greetings cards with an actual handwritten message inside. That means scribbling on real paper then taking a photo of it to upload with the card order. Independent artists and designers provide the card designs.iPhone
Man on the Moon
BBC Worldwide’s Sky at Night Magazine has launched a new iPad spin-off focusing on Apollo 11: “the crew, the spacecraft, the mission, the legend”. Expect 3D spacecraft, panoramic Moon-views, videos and interactive diagrams as well as the core text’n’pics.iPad
Guardian News and Media 2012
