Michal Marek A new version of Dragon Dictate is coming, Twitch is coming to iOS, full-screen video ads could appear on iOS, and the amazing F1™ 2013 race has arrived on the Mac. Read about this and more in our regular App Week.
News from the world of applications
Nuance Announces Dragon Dictation 4 (4/3)
Well-known company Nuance announced the arrival this week Dragon Dictate in the new version 4. The new generation of the popular tool for converting speech to writing brings some news and improves recognition accuracy. The most striking innovation is undoubtedly the creation of text from an audio recording, which can be imported into the software in seven different supported formats.
According to the creators of Dragon Dictate, the new version is tuned so much that the recognition accuracy is astonishing. The fourth version is also upgraded to a 64-bit architecture. Integration into Gmail in Safari and Firefox is also a pleasant novelty. Thanks to voice commands, it is now possible to move between mailboxes in Google e-mail, select individual messages and, for example, open relevant links. Similar features are also available in Pages 4.3 (Pages'09).
Dragon Dictate is already available for purchase on Nuance website for €199,99. The boxed version won't go on sale until March 18th (in the US).
Source: 9to5Mac
Gaming video streaming service Twitch is coming to iOS
Twitch, the number one in the field of gaming video streaming, is also coming to iPhone and iPad. On PC or Mac, thanks to this application, it has been possible to record your gaming successes and failures on video for a long time. Until now, nothing like this has been possible on iOS thanks to imperfect multitasking. However, this is changing with the newly released SDK.
Newly, developers will be able to integrate into their game the option of recording it, and players will be able to stream and record audio and video of their gameplay. The intermediary for this stream and archiving will be the popular Twitch.
Source: 9to5mac
Microsoft wants to expand its Xbox Live social gaming service to other platforms as well (3/3)
Microsoft is planning to expand its service Xbox Live. It means that a service should appear on iOS that will directly compete with the native Game Center service that Apple proudly introduced with iOS 4. The essence of both services is to interact with other game players on the given platform and compare their game results with your own.
According to The Verge, Microsoft will try to push its Xbox Live in a big way in the near future. He wants to attack primarily iOS and Android and try to bring game developers back to his side. In the past, due to the high requirements and unpleasant restrictions from Redmond, they greatly resented Microsoft's game platforms and preferred to focus on iOS, Android or Sony's PlayStation.
Source: AppleInsider
Space action Star Horizon is coming to the App Store soon (4/3)
Developers from Tabasco Interactive have announced that they will release a new game. It will bear the name Star Horizon. According to the trailer, it is supposed to be one big space adventure, and the game seems to have bestseller ambitions. The price is already set at €3,59 and the game will not be hampered by any in-app purchases. Star Horizon is now in the approval process and should hit the App Store on March 20th, less than two weeks from now.
[youtube id=”8TDBA1ib5U0″ width=”600″ height=”350″]
The main protagonist and the one the player controls is the pilot John. His spaceship is under the cybernetic thumb of a robotic assistant, Ellie, who helps John calmly navigate heated combat situations. However, she herself must not kill human beings in combat. John is brought back to reality after 1000 years in hibernation and his mission is to find out what happened to his galaxy and do everything to save it.
Full-screen video ads could appear in iOS apps (5/3)
AdAge magazine claims that Apple will allow developers to place video ads (iAds) across the entire display in their applications this year. This option would be useful, for example, in games where advertising could be inserted between individual levels and rounds.
If that were to happen, Apple would be deploying its most aggressive form of advertising to date. So far, Apple has only allowed the placement of a small iAds banner ad, and the only deviation from this strategy until now has been the audio ads used in iTunes Radio.
Source: MacRumors
New applications
F1 ™ 2013
Developers from Feral Interactive released a new game on Thursday F1 ™ 2013 for Mac. Thanks to this game, the player gets into the seat of a super-fast Formula 1 car and can compete with the robotic counterparts of real F1 drivers on faithful copies of the real tracks of this millionaire motoring competition.
The game will offer the well-known career mode as well as the Grand Prix game mode, in which you can create your own racing tracks. The icing on the cake is a mode called Scenario, which simulates 20 real Formula 1 moments and thus presents the player with really interesting challenges based on the history of this motorsport. There is also a multiplayer mode. Online multiplayer can be played through the SteamPlay service with up to fifteen other players. The Mac App Store version only supports local split-screen multiplayer.
The game is available in two versions – Standard Edition and Classic Edition. The second mentioned version is expanded with six traditional Ferrari and Williams cars from the 90s and with the legendary drivers Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher. In this "classic" version, you can also go crazy on two bonus tracks - Imola (San Marino) and Estoril (Portugal).
[app url=”https://itunes.apple.com/cz/app/f1-2013-classic-edition/id695638612?mt=12″]
Smash Hit
It is known around the world that furiously destroying things around you can have a calming effect. A new game from game creators Granny Smith and Sprinkle tries to turn this fact into a profit, and from destroying things they put together a whole game for Android and iOS. A game aptly named Smash Hit hit smartphones this week and became an instant hit.
The game is based on throwing balls against glass pyramids and walls. However, this is not just blunt destruction. The game is demanding on logical thinking and not completely simple. Thanks Smash Hit you will convince yourself that you can't even destroy without at least a little bit of intellect. The game has well developed physics and nice graphics. You can download it for free in the App Store, and there is also a premium version available, which for €1,79 offers functions such as cloud synchronization of progress or elaborate statistics.
[app url=”https://itunes.apple.com/cz/app/smash-hit/id603527166?mt=8″]
Important update
Real Racing 3
A popular game Real Racing 3 received a major update from EA. Among other things, it brings support for game controllers that iOS 7 supports. Other innovations include, for example, the possibility of customizing the appearance of the car. It is now possible to change the rims, spray different vinyls on the car and the like.
Real Racing 3 in version 2.1.0a it also brings new Aston Martin vehicles. You will now be able to race in the DB9, Vanquish and V12 Vantage S models.
Routie
A nice new function has also been added to the popular Czech tracking application Routie. Statistics of your activities can now be called up directly in the application. It is possible to view overall statistics and filter data from the last month or year. By dragging your finger across the screen, you can then click between individual activities and thus differentiate kilometers run, cycled and so on. Some minor bugs have also been fixed.
We also informed you:
- Soccerinho – the mobile soccer hit of the spring
- Learning on the iPad: Vocabulary for children
- Documents 5 is on track to become the best file manager for iOS
- Gmail for iOS finally comes with background updates
- Flipboard bought rival news aggregator Zite
Discounts
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Eeeee, where did you find out that Star Horizon is from the creators of Ridiculous Fishing? Ridiculous Fishing is by Vlambeer, which is about three dudes from the Netherlands. By all accounts, Tabasco is a fresh studio that is yet to make its debut with Star Horizon. Nor is there any indication that any original Vlambeer members are part of the team.
Thanks for the warning, the title was mistakenly changed. Ridiculous Fishing developers have nothing to do with Star Horizon.
Hello, wouldn't it be possible to process the web page programming so that links to external sites would open in a new window and I could continue reading in Jablíčkář? See Dragon Dictation article.