AppDate: Games hit SA Apple App Store

In this week’s roundup of the latest apps, SEAN BACHER highlights the arrival of games in the South African Apple App Store for the first time, MagicSolver’s Halloween 13: Daily Spooky Surprises, the updated Radio Shuffle Beta, SnappCab, the Liberty Risk Revealer and the ABBYY PDF Transformer+.

Games hit SA Apple App Store

Finally, South African users can download games from the Apple App Store on their iOS devices. This means no more buying US or UK vouchers from third party sites and paying a premium when buying a game. Simply log onto the Apple App Store, search for the game, pay for it and download it.

Platform: iOS

Stockists: Visit the Apple App Store from an iOS device.

Expect to pay: A large variety of games are available. Prices range from free to a few hundred rand.

SnappCab

Apps like this one have been around in Europe for sometime, but finally South Africa has a locally built app that lets user grab a cab directly from their smartphone or tablet. Simply download the app, register and you are ready to go. The app is easy to use, allowing users to choose their collection and drop-off points with ease. Once a cab has been ordered, users can monitor its arrival time. When it gets close, an SMS is sent with the driver’s details. Not to be confused with Uber, which offers a similar service through professional drivers of privately-owned vehicles.

Platform: Blackberry, Windows, Android and iOS devices

Stockists: Visit the store linked to your device.

Expect to pay: Free to download.

MagicSolver’s Halloween 13: Daily Spooky Surprises

Celebrate the run-up to Halloween this year with MagicSolver’s Halloween 13: Daily Spooky Surprises (2013 Edition). The app recommends the best and most ghoulish games every day and lets users download them for free. MagicSolver, the company behind the app, has put a dedicated team of researchers together, and their job is to search Google Play and the Apple App Store for the best and most ghoulish games and apps.

Platform: iOS and Android

Stockists: Visit the store linked to your device.

Expect to pay: A free download.

ABBYY PDF Transformer+

The new release of ABBYY PDF Transformer+ allows users to view, edit and search PDF documents. The app also allows for control over images, tables and hyperlinks embedded in the document. In addition, a new comment tool has been added, and the app lets users extract text, giving them total control over their PDFs.

Platform: All Windows based operating systems.

Stockists: www.pdftransformer.abbyy.com

Expect to pay: R924 for a single user license with a 30-day free trial.

Radio Shuffle Beta update

The new release of Radio Shuffle Beta now includes a data usage tracker, so users can turn off the app before the data limit is exceeded. In addition, the update adds pre-buffering to radio stations and the ability to auto-play after shuffling, providing a smoother listening experience. A variety of bugs that affected playback in the previous version have also been fixed and the user interface has been tweaked.

Platform: BlackBerry OS 10

Stockists: BlackBerry World

Expect to pay: A free download

Liberty Risk Revealer

The Liberty Risk Revealer is a web-based tool that allows potential and existing clients to calculate their level of lifestyle and accidental risk. The app takes the form of a Flash-type game with graphics to make it more interactive. Twenty questions need to be answered that range from a user’s age to height and weight to eating and drinking habits. In between each question, a ‚”Did you know‚” bit of general knowledge comes up to keep users busy while the next question loads. At the end, the user’s risk is calculated and compared to the average risk profile. Details can then be shared on Facebook.

Platform: Any computer, tablet or smartphone with a compatible browser.

Stockists: www.libertyriskrevealer.co.za

Expect to pay: Free to use.

Sean Bacher is editor of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter on @SeanBacher