NOAA Hi-Def Radar is an iOS and Android app from WeatherSphere. It’s available now for $1.99 on the App Store and Google Play and carries no additional in-app purchases.

A lot of people don’t care about detailed reports and long-term forecasts when they’re curious about the weather. Sometimes, all someone wants to do is take a look at the radar, see what’s in their area, and know what’s coming their way. There are numerous perks of using the visual aid of a radar over written forecasts, and now mobile users are in for a treat with the detailed options available in WeatherSphere’s NOAA Hi-Def Radar.

When NOAA Hi-Def Radar is first opened, users are given a look of the U.S. From there, they can zoom in and out of any location they choose, though service cuts off outside North America. By default, the map shows off current rain and snow, along with severe storm and flood warnings. The radar displays the past hour of weather, allowing users to get a good idea on how storm fronts are moving. Users can pause the radar if they’d like, and they can view a static image of activity of any point in the past hour.

Users who want to monitor multiple cities or locations can easily set bookmarked locations by typing in an address or finding the location on the map. The may also comes with three different views: Road, Satellite, and Hybrid. The road map is what looks best for weather purposes, but the satellite and hybrid maps will be useful for users who want a more realistic look at a specific area. None of these views change the actual function of the radar, however. Those looking to add or remove features will have a ton of options available.

There are a ton of customization options available in NOAA Hi-Def Radar, and it would take far too long to list them all. One of the most in-depth menus is the layers list. There are only a few layers turned on by default, such as the NOAA Base Radar and NOAA Warning Boxes. Users who desire more information can show features like cloud cover, recent lightning strikes, hurricane forecasts, and a drought map for the U.S. The expansive layers menu can also adjust the interval of the radar, allowing for a more precise or a broader look at recent weather patterns. Finally, users are also given the option to save and share screenshots of areas they want to show off to others on social media and email. (more…)

Whisper is an iPhone app from WhisperText LLC. It’s available now as a free download from the App Store and carries additional in-app purchases.

Whisper is a social networking service that relies on images and anonymity to create connections and conversations. Before users can dig into the service, they are asked to set a username and PIN. Avoiding a traditional sign-in system allows for people to limit their personal connection with Whisper. Real names, emails, and importing of contacts go unused in Whisper and even display names do not stand out as prominently as they do on most social networking services. This level of anonymity is the core focus of Whisper and it helps make the service stand out from others.

In terms of content, Whisper is all about images and text. When a user posts content to the service, they are given the choice to take a new picture, upload one from their device, or search for one on Whisper, which features an extensive image library. Once they select their image, users can apply a filter, add custom text, and upload it to the servers. From there, the new whisper is placed among the thousands of others. Finding specifically-themed whispers can be difficult, as there’s no search function, but there are a variety of sorting methods, including recent, popular, and nearby whispers. The idea behind the service is to get people sharing their secrets in a public forum. This emphasis on secrets works well because of the difficulty in tracking previous posts.

When a user is looking at a secret, they are given a small amount of information about the poster. Public display includes the user’s display name, location (if the feature is on) and when it was posted. Users also have a few options to interact with whispers. First, they are able to press a “like” button, which helps with the popularity sorting. Users are also encouraged to reply to whispers with whispers of their own. Creating a reply works the same as making a normal whisper, except replies can be easily accessed by checking out the original whisper. Users are also given the option to send direct messages to others, if they have that option available. Finally, users can share whispers on a variety of social networks, regardless of the whisper’s creator. (more…)

Japanese mobile-social gaming mammoth DeNA today announced two more games — G.I. Joe: Battleground and Dungeons & Dragons Arena of War — from its existing partnership with toy and board game company Hasbro.

After landing a three-year licensing deal with Hasbro for the Transformers franchise, the first game from DeNA and Hasbro was Transforms Legends (originally announced as Transformers Battle) for iOS and Android, a card battle game developed ngmoco (review).

Starting with G.I. Joe: Battleground for iOS and Android, producer of the game David Phan describes the title to Inside Mobile Apps as an adventure RPG where players build a team with Joe heroes, Cobra villans, or both. Users are tasked with completing missions, collecting new members (in the form of cards with an action figure as the visual), and upgrading characters’ skills. Like other DeNA games before it, G.I. Joe features special missions, raid bosses, and player vs. player events, which have been extremely successful for other DeNA titles including card battler Blood Brothers.

“We have the opportunity to make the first mobile game for G.I. Joe not based on a movie, but based on the cartoon series and comic books,” Phan says.

Gameplay unfolds in an asynchronous manner, where combat is automated either in player vs. enemy or PvP (one-on-one only), relying on the statistics and skills from a user’s team of three or five characters to determine the outcome. (more…)

Editor’s Note: Doug Scott is vice president of marketing and revenue at Japanese mobile-social gaming company DeNA. For a taste of what will be discussed at the “Platform Opportunities for Social Apps” session at Inside Network’s Inside Social Apps conference June 6 to 7, Doug answered a couple questions regarding the prospects of current mobile app platforms.

Inside Mobile Apps: Now that Google I/O just concluded, where do you see the Android platform for mobile development in the future?

Doug Scott: We have found Android to be a great development platform for several years now but the announcements at Google I/O take it to another level. By focusing on features to enhance gameplay and support game developers further, I look at this as a watershed moment for mobile gaming. This will certainly encourage more game developers to embrace Android and will allow developers of platforms such as Mobage to focus on even deeper, richer tools and communities for developers on top of these features. It is a testament to the power of gaming as the most engaging activity on these platforms.

IMA: Is there a difference between the iOS and Android platforms in terms of monetization for DeNA?

Scott: There can be differences between the platforms depending on the product but we have found that it’s possible to monetize extremely well on both Android and iOS. Without question, great businesses can be built on both platforms.

Turn Taker is a new iOS app from independent developer Malcolm Christie. It’s available now as a free download from the App Store, and carries no additional in-app purchases.

Turn Taker is a productivity app that allows teams to collaborate on various repetitive tasks and easily determine whose turn it is to do something. The examples given by the developer include mundane activities such as buying milk and taking out the garbage, but there’s no reason why it can’t be applied to more complex scenarios which involve repeated tasks.

To use Turn Taker, users must sign up for an account, which may be done using Facebook, if desired. Once signed up, the user then has a number of different options. They may create a new team, join an existing team or manage the tasks and teams they are currently involved with.

Creating a new team is a simple matter of giving it a name, tagging it with a location via GPS and determining whether or not it is “public.” The latter option determines whether or not any other Turn Taker users in the nearby area will be able to find the team and join it — this is good for situations where the team manager would like people to volunteer for the team rather than inviting people directly. The app does allow for direct invites too, of course — this may be accomplished either through the iOS contacts list or Facebook if the user has connected their account. If the team is set to private, inviting users is the only means of adding them — all team members must accept and join the team before they can participate in the activities. (more…)

Story is an iPhone app from Disney. It is now available for free in the App Store and carries no additional in-app purchases.

Disney’s Story looks to capture people’s moments and lives and allow them to show off the various stories that make life worth living. Story is a very basic app, but the services it provides and its ability to share with social networks make it an appealing photo and video management app for iPhone users.

Story will prompt users to sign in with a Disney account. If a user doesn’t have a Disney account, they can easily sign up through the app or with their Facebook credentials. Signing into an account isn’t required, but users who wish to share content or send emails through Story need to use a valid Disney login. Once the user logs in, they’re treated to the main screen, which contains two lists: “My Moments” and “My Stories.” Moments are created automatically when Story accesses the iPhone’s camera roll and attempts to sort the images by date and location. The goal is to sort every day and new location into its own moment and the process works well, though not always perfect.

The “My Stories” tab focuses on user-created albums put together as to tell a story. When a story is created, users are given three options for content: photo, video, and text. Photos and videos can be taken on the spot or uploaded from the device or the moments section. Users are also encouraged to add text, creating a bit of a photo album feel to the story. There’s not much room for text, as each entry has a 150 character limit, but Story’s idea is to tell a tale with video and images and not rely heavily on words. This is made easier with the organization in the “My Moments” section. The goal of moments is to arrange a story before the user makes it, and its accurate organization accomplishes this goal with high precision.

When the pictures, videos, and text, are set up and the story is finished, users are able to set a theme. Similar to a slide show presentation, certain themes fit with certain subjects. In Story’s case, there are only five themes, but their variety gives users a fair bit of choice. Once the theme is set, users may preview the story by simply watching it scroll from left to right. If they’re happy with the final product, they can either email the story’s link to someone, or share it on Facebook. Both methods generate a link to the story on the app’s official website. Published stories can be viewed by anyone, provided they have the URL, so users are encouraged to not upload personal information. Users who wish to remove a story from the website can delete the story in the app and it will soon be deleted online. Users who want to share their story through channels other than Facebook or email will need to wait, as Pinterest and Twitter support are still in the works.

Story is a very basic photo sharing app, but it’s simple charm and it’s ease of use make it an appealing option for users who want to share certain moments with friends and family. It’s limited sharing options hurts some of it’s appeal, but future updates look to fill that void. Story isn’t the best presentation maker, nor is it the best photo and video manager, but it does a fine job on both ends and allows users to tell a story in the process.

You can follow Story’s progress with AppData, our tracking service for mobile and social apps and developers.

Japanese mobile-social gaming giant DeNA and 22cans today announced a partnership to publish Godus, a God game from game studio 22cans.

22cans, which is led by game industry veteran Peter Molyneux, chose to partner with the Tokyo-headquartered DeNA to distribute and market Godus when it launches for Android and iOS. No official release date was revealed. The game will also utilize DeNA’s mobile social-gaming platform for western territories, Japan and Korea.

“We have huge respect for DeNA’s successes in mobile gaming,” said Peter Molyneux, founder of 22cans, in a statement. “By fusing their expertise and experience with our passion and dedication, we are going to make Godus a truly groundbreaking reinvention of the god game genre. As a global leader in developing and publishing mobile games, DeNA is the ideal partner for us to collaborate with on the launch of Godus. Their breadth of expertise working with second and third-party game developers is invaluable as we prepare for the release of Godus on mobile devices.”

Godus is God game in the same vein as Black and White, where in it the user is a God, able to wield divine powers over their devoted followers. The game starts off at the beginning of civilization, and as the user advances, the people in the game will grant the user belief. With this belief, users can create entire lands and shape them in their own vision. Also, there are other worlds and rival Gods to face and challenge via multiplayer. As a God, a user can unleash earthquakes, volcanoes, or tondos upon opponents, as well as deploy armies of their followers into battle.

“One of my first jobs in the video game industry was working on the quality assurance team for Peter’s Populous 2,” said Clive Downie, CEO of DeNAWest, in a statement. “That title and its predecessor set the tone for a whole new generation of games. Fast forward to 2013, and it’s an honor to have the opportunity to work with Peter again on the launch of Godus. Our team is looking forward to working with 22cans on a game that we know will set a new standard for the mobile generation.”

Hangouts is an Android and iOS app from Google. It’s now available on Google Play and the App Store and carries no additional in-app purchases.

Google’s new Hangouts app is the next evolution of their Talk app. When first downloading Hangouts, Google informs the user that this new program will replace Talk. Users who frequently use Talk may be a bit hesitant to make the switch, but once they download and start using Hangouts, it becomes obvious that it is more than just a new version of Talk. Instead, Hangouts combines the simplicity of Talk with the level of interaction Google has been growing within Google+ Hangouts.

When first opening Hangouts, users may be prompted to sign in if they are not already. Once they have logged on, users are greeted to a screen that shows off their most frequently contacted friends on Google+, along with their entire list of contacts (both from Google+ and imported from mobile devices). Users can interact with any of their contacts by pressing their name on the list, or by using the search bar. The search bar can find current contacts via name, email, or number, and can add new contacts in the same way. Users can also connect with entire circles at once, but are not able to edit circles directly from the Hangouts app.

Once contacts and circles are selected, users are given two options: “Message” and “video call.” Messaging works just like Google Talk’s instant messaging. Two Google users can send text-based messages to each other over the Hangouts app and in a web browser. Communication between the app and browsers is nearly flawless. The only noticeable issue with messaging is how the emoticons in Hangouts will often not load for users in a web browser. Most users won’t find this to be a problem, but those who rely on heavy use of emoticons may be somewhat disappointed. (more…)

Facebook today announced the availability of a new native share dialog for iOS, which will give developers an easy way to incorporate Facebook sharing — including Open Graph actions — in their apps.

The mobile share dialog is a standard tool that enables users to post something back to Facebook. Similar to the Like button, the share dialog can be implemented with a small amount of code across any app and it works even if users haven’t logged into the app using Facebook. The dialog includes support for location tagging, friend tagging, custom privacy settings, deep linking and more.

Previously, mobile developers would have had to program their own sharing mechanism with these features or use the old “feed dialog” or iOS 6 Share Sheet, which are more limited in functionality and can require up to three extra steps for users.

Unlike Share Sheet, the native share dialog supports Open Graph publishing, as seen in the “read a book” example to the right. This is important because until now, developers had to ask users to log into their app using Facebook and allow various publishing permissions, which some users did not like.

Now, because the share dialog opens up the main Facebook app to complete the action, users don’t need to log into a third-party app with Facebook in order to share back via the Open Graph. As long as users have the Facebook app and are logged into that, they can easily publish to Facebook from any iOS app that uses the share dialog. This could greatly increase the amount of structured sharing through Open Graph verbs and objects.

Facebook first announced the native share dialog, along with other new mobile platform features, in April. However, it was only available in limited beta for iOS until today’s wide release. It is still in development for Android. The company says the share dialog should be used by default in all mobile apps that want to enable users to share something to the social network, even if the apps don’t have deeper Facebook integration, such as login or Open Graph.

Facebook offers a detailed comparison of all of a developer’s options for sharing back to Facebook — including the new share dialog, iOS Share Sheet, web-based feed dialog and Graph API – here. Technical documentation on the native share dialog is available here.

500px is an iOS and Android app from the company of the same name. It is available now as a free download from the iTunes App Store and Google Play, and contains in-app purchases.

500px is a photo-based social networking app that encourages users to browse through the gallery of uploaded photos, upload their own, and connect with others who are checking out the same image. When 500px is first opened, users are given four options for logging in: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or a proprietary 500px account.  Signing up for a proprietary account doesn’t seem more or less beneficial than linking to a social network, as users are able to link numerous profiles to their account regardless of how they signed up. Once an account is created, users can opt for brief overview of the app, or jump right into the sea of pictures.

Users who like finding and sharing all types of photographs will find no shortage of content in 500px. Fortunately, sorting through the vast lineup of pictures is a rather simple task. Users are given a variety of sorting options, such as looking through popular images, editors’ choice, and recently added photos, among others. Users also have the options to search by certain categories. While options such as “animal” and “nature” are expected, there are some sorting options that are broader, such as “Black and White.” The lineup of photos currently available will be far more than most users will ever need, but this variety means that performing a keyword search, even for an obscure keyword, is bound to produce results.  (more…)