Free App - Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots

Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots, by Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd, is this week's Free Friday App from Barnes & Noble, price matched at Amazon (but not Google).

App Description
En Garde!

Fruit meets fairytales in Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots.

The suave, fruit-slashing swashbuckler, Puss in Boots, faces a challenge that would make Sensei proud. Prepare for a journey of familiar fruit-slicing action as Puss encounters a wealth of new and exciting challenges in his search for the Magic Beans.
Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots
Get classic fruit-slicing action in Desperado Mode
Puss in Fruits

Slice through a series of increasingly exciting challenges in the all-new Bandito Mode, and become the greatest Fruit Ninja warrior of all time. Each stage thrusts you into never-before-seen fruit frenzy adventure. Face massive fruit from the Giant's castle, precision and timing challenges, and all-out fruit onslaughts with new obstacles. Plus, for the first time ever, throw down against the much-requested tomato!
Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots
Face all-out fruit onslaughts and live to tell the tale

Real Banditos must put their best blade forward, because scoring is based on the number of fruits sliced, ninja reflexes, and slicing efficiency. A true produce warrior can upload their massive high scores to global leaderboards, and rank among the best players online.
If Kitty-Looks Could Kill

Bring your blade to Desperado Mode--an enhanced and re-mastered version of the Classic Fruit Ninja game. But this time, you will face even more fruit, unique waves, and Puss in Boots' elusive Magic Beans from the DreamWorks Animation feature film.

Finally, bask in the fruit-stained glory of Puss in Boots' own exclusive Ninja Stash, featuring a whole range of unique customizable content, including new backgrounds and blades.

Stay juicy, amigos!

Get the free App from Barnes & Noble.

App Reviews - Solitaire and 3 Hidden Objects

Abhi over at 7 Dragons Inc., whom I have known for a while and run into on some of the forums, asked if I would review a few of the newly released games that his company has been optimizing for the Kindle Fire and Fire HD platforms. Since I also have the older Nook Tablets, he agreed to also send over the Nook versions for comparison (I didn't fire up the Kindle Fire to compare non-HD versions, but I have no doubt they games will look similar to the way they do on the Nook Tablet). The B&N editions of these games support all of their tablet devices, from the original Nook Color up to the HD+, while the Amazon editions support all Kindle Fire models, from the original Fire up to both HD editions (I don't have a 2nd Edition Fire to check, but since it it nearly identical to the original Fire, which I do have, I would assume that it is supported, as well). The apps in neither store are supported on generic generic Android tablets or phones

Right now, they are also having a sale on these games, which are marked down to an even $1.00 (down from $4), for a limited time. For those with a Nook, you should be able to play the games in test mode for 1/2 hour (although I haven't tried this feature for these particular games) and you can also send an app as a gift to another account. Neither feature is available for those shopping in the Amazon Appstore, so they've come out with a special free version of the first app that allows you 15 minutes of play per day. Copies of all games reviewed below were provided to me by 7 Dragons.

Solitaire, Mahjong Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, 4 Rivers, FreeCell Solitaire, Memory Solitaire HD ($1.00 Amazon, B&N; Free Test Version Amazon)

This was definitely my favorite of the two apps. I played thru at least one game of each of the six include "mini-apps", any one of which I've seen for sale for dollar or more as stand-alone apps. You can jump into the menu options in the middle of a game and immediately change the background, face format and deck backs (for card games) and the changes take effect when you return to the game. You can get hints on any screen, if you can't figure out what to do next (or just want to verify there are no playable positions) and undo worked flawless when I tested it to move back thru several plays. When you finally give in (the solitaire games won't tell you that you've lost, so you have to quit), you have a choice of replaying the same game or starting over with a new hand.

For card games, the Solitaire game is the one you've played forever, both with cards or on your computer. Spider Solitaire adds the same game that many of us became addicted to on later Windows version and FreeCell rounds out the games that many an office worker has wasted some downtime playing. In addition to that, Memory Solitaire is a basic flip-2-and-match game, with many grid sizes available, along with other play options. The difficulty of play ranges from easy, on a small grid, to mind-twistingly difficult on a 13x4 grid (not enough challenge - play the infinite mode on the Insane level).

There are two tile games included, Mahjongg and 4 Rivers, which I had not played before. It works lot like Mahjongg, but you can match two tiles in the interior of the board, but you also must be able to "connect" matching tiles with a straight line that has no more than two right angle turns. Sounds simple, but can take a little extra strategy to make sure that you don't end up with blocked tiles.

This app made it to my Favorites list, right beside Cubistry, which I try to play once a day. No doubt the Memory Solitaire is the "best" for you (and is a lot cheaper than joining Luminosity, although it only works on one type of memory), but the Solitaire standards are the ones that I ended up playing over and over. FreeCell and Spider require you to use a bit more strategy to win, but that also means you aren't entirely at the mercy of the shuffle/deal, as you are in regular Solitaire. Overall, I'd give this one a 5 out of 5 stars - it's definitely worth a buck and will be staying on my Fire to play over and over.

App Details
Solitaire gives you - Autosave, Draw 3, Draw 1, Hints, Undo, 6 Card Front Designs, 12 Card Back Designs, 10 backgrounds, Best Score, Trophies.

Mahjong Solitaire gives you - 19 Tile layouts from Easy to Very Challenging, Every Game is Unique, Autosave, Realistic Tiles with shadows, Hints, Undo, 3 Tileset Designs, 3 Tile Colors, 7 backgrounds, Best Score, Best Time, Trophies.

Spider Solitaire gives you - Three Difficulty Levels (1 Suit, 2 Suits, 4 Suits), Autosave, Hints, Undo, 2 Spider themed Card Designs, 5 additional Card Designs, 12 Card Back Designs, 6 Spider themed backgrounds, 4 more backgrounds, Best Score, Best Time, Trophies.

FreeCell Solitaire gives you - Autosave, Hints, Undo, 6 Card Designs, 10 backgrounds.

Shared Features - Background Music, Game Sounds (can be turned off), easy and intuitive Touch & Drag gameplay.

3 Hidden Objects Adventures HD ($1.00 Kindle, B&N)

I told Abhi that Hidden Object games are not my favorite, but he sent this one over anyway. I won't say this one made me a fan, but it was quite playable in story mode. I played thru several scenes in one adventure (of three) on both the Nook Tablet and my Kindle Fire HD 8.9". I could actually see the objects easier (for the most part) on the Nook, but it was easier to move the image around after zooming in on the Kindle Fire. By default, the game starts in 15 item mode, so if you want to drop back to 5 object mode (which will give you more re-playability and faster moving between story line segments), be sure to do that before you get to the first object scene. You can change it after you start, but the switch won't take effect until the next scene. In 5-object mode, you also get one hint per scene, so use it wisely. Each scene is played against both a timer and has a minimum of 4 of 5 objects found in order to progress to the next story segment.

You'll note below that the app also needs quite a bit of space to download (those HD graphics are worth it), so plan on waiting up to 1/2 hour (we have slow DSL) after first opening the game to download the necessary files. After that first download, though, the game started up quite quickly and remembered where I was when I returned to continue. I ended up using the Zoom feature quite a bit and moved the image around on the Kindle Fire in order to track down some of the more sneakily placed items. Overall, I'd give this one a 4 out of 5 stars, simply because I thought some of the items were just too difficult to see. I didn't run into any glitches, hangups or slowdowns while playing (other than the Nook kept thinking I was randomly clicking, when I was trying to move the zoomed image, which I blame on the hardware, not the game) and you should definitely get quite a bit of playtime for the money (I played quite a while and was still on the first adventure).

3 Hidden Objects Adventures gives you three beautiful Hidden Objects Adventures in one great app.

3 Adventures, 158 scenes, 2,392 hidden objects. You will have a fun, challenging, and satisfying Hidden Objects experience.

Please Note: App needs 600 MB of free space on your NOOK (TM) to download the graphics.

Please Note: These Adventures only have Hidden Objects scenes (no mini games). These are not 'Very Easy' Hidden Objects Adventures with all items out in plain view. You might need to use Hints and the Zoom feature. For young kids you should turn on 'Extra Hints' and turn off the Timer.

Free Kindle App - My Checklist

My Checklist, a Kindle App from Amazon, is free in the Kindle store. This should work on all Kindle devices from the Kindle 2 forward (providing they are up to date with their firmware).

App Description
Do you ever arrive at the store only to find you've forgotten your shopping list? Now you can keep your list on the one thing you'd never forget - your Kindle!

My Checklist allows you to organize your life with up to 25 lists for your to do's, shopping, invitations, party planning, reading lists, whatever! You can easily enter custom lists on any Kindle, and make fresh copies of frequently used lists, like Groceries, every time you need them. You will get a great sense of accomplishment as you mark each item on the list complete. You can even see your progress on your most recent lists at a glance!

Never forget another thing with My Checklist!

Free Maps for your eReader

eReaderMaps has an even dozen of their map titles free in the Kindle store. These titles are specifically designed to be used on a Kindle device (although they are optimized for larger screens).

The only catch?

The free maps are all for cities in Australia and New Zealand (and half of them are in German). Still, looks like they may be interesting for those planning on visiting either country or those who live there, that haven't memorized every street in a particular city. I'd think they would also be quite useful for any author who is planning on setting one of their works in one of the cities covered.

Free Book - Glorious Mess (K/N/E)

Glorious Mess, by Mike Howerton, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, courtesy of Christian publisher Baker Books.

Book Description
Despite God's call on our lives, most of us spend a fair amount of time running in the other direction, chasing after our own plans and desires. Like Jonah, however, we eventually discover we've made a mess of things; we're rowing against the storms God is using to pull us back on course.

In Glorious Mess, Mike Howerton shows how God's relentless grace extends into all the messes we make in our lives, that God clearly reveals his love for imperfect people no matter how far we've strayed. He shows readers how to hear God's voice, how to embrace God's calling on their lives, how to get out of their messes, and how to see God working. The result is not just forgiveness and direction for life, but also encouragement and inspiration to be our best selves before God and others.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Free Book - Women and Stress (K/N/E)

Women and Stress, by Pam Vredevelt and Jean Lush, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble and ChristianBook, courtesy of Christian publisher Revell.

Book Description
You can live a peaceful, balanced life!

We all have to manage tension and stress--from balancing work and family to cultivating relationships and dealing with personal issues. And how we do it can determine the quality of our lives.

Women and Stress shows you how to deal with stress that is unique to women in healthy, productive ways. You'll discover practical, tried-and-true methods to manage tension, as well as reassuring advice for handling common sources of stress and their manifestations, such as

• fear
• mood swings
• jealousy and anger
• perfectionism
• unmet needs
• and more

In our high-stress times, Women and Stress can help you go beyond coping to truly rising above the chaos to a peaceful, balanced life.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Free Book - Everything the Bible Says About Money (K/N/E)

Everything the Bible Says About Money, by Lin Johnson, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble and ChristianBook, courtesy of Christian publisher Bethany House.

Book Description
How people deal with money matters to God. In fact, it is one of the most frequently mentioned subjects in the Bible. Numerous authors have given readers their ideas about how they should handle money, but it's time to hear what God has to say. Topics include everything from working, saving, and tithing to how God wants people to treat the poor. All the scriptural references to money have been collected and explained in a clear a concise format. The book's length and focus make it perfect for readers on the go who love the Word of God.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Free Book - I Love Mormons (K/N/E)

I Love Mormons: A New Way to Share Christ with Latter-day Saints, by David L. Rowe, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble and ChristianBook, courtesy of Christian publisher Baker Books.

Book Description
David L. Rowe asserts that many Mormons view Christian witnessing as Bible bashing. What Christians need to understand, he suggests, is that Latter-day Saints are an entirely separate ethnic group with their own history, values, and customs. Evangelizing Mormons can be so much more effective if Christians first know, understand, and respect Mormon heritage.

With helpful illustrations and discussions of Mormon values and theology, Rowe calls Christians away from confrontational evangelism and instead suggests active listening and respect as a way to bridge Christian beliefs and Mormon culture. A glossary in the back of the book and discussion questions at the end of each chapter will help readers apply these concepts in their own witnessing experiences. In the end, Christians will be more approachable representatives of Christ.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Seven Free Books from New Word City (K)

There are seven new free titles from New Word City today (and three still free from their earlier promotions). Here are the new titles:

1. The Real Pirates of the Caribbean, by Colin Woodard
2. The Making of The Constitution, by Thomas Fleming
3. George Washington's First Test, by Thomas Fleming
4. The Story of Flight, by Andrew Curry
5. Harry Truman Gives 'Em Hell, by Willard Sterne Randall and Nancy Nahra
6. What You Can Learn from Dwight D. Eisenhower, by Maurice Coyle and Donna Sammons Carpenter
7. The Wikinomics Way, by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams

New Year, New You - Kindle Active Content for 99 cents

Amazon's New Year, New You promotion has a number of $0.99 Kindle Active Content titles to choose from. In addition to the expected calorie counters and exercise tracking apps, there are language tutorials, notepad, two calendar/dayplanner apps, a calculator and a finance managing app to choose from, amongst a few other non-exercise apps.

Promotion Description
Start the year off right with active content for your Kindle that will help you to reach your goals for health, wellness, learning, and more. These Kindle Active Content titles are $0.99 through the end January 31 and work with Kindle, Kindle Keyboard, and Kindle DX devices.

Free Book - Leadership (K)

Leadership: The West Point Lecture, by William Deresiewicz, is free in the Kindle store, courtesy of New Word City. It's likely to only be free today, as seems to be their new marketing scheme this month.

Book Description
When former Yale University professor William Deresiewicz delivered a lecture at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2009, he never anticipated the response it would generate. Since then, he has received requests to use his lecture from the Army Command and General Staff College; the Naval War College; the Air Force Weapons School; the Defense Department’s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation; the Army’s University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies; the business schools at Stanford, the University of Chicago, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of California, Irvine; the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health; King Saud University; Zayed University in Abu Dhabi; the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad; and Whirlpool, Boeing, Verizon, Alcatel-Lucent, and United Technologies. The speech even elicited a note of appreciation from General David Petraeus. Here are the words that inspired so many.

Note: The synopsis the publisher has used at Amazon seems to have little to do with the actual book, which isn't on friendship, but is a lecture on leadership delivered at West Point.

New Kindle Games and Apps

Update: Edited to reflect the first games new, HIGHER price. There was no indication that the lower price was a limited time, but it just goes to show that prices can change at any time.

Five new Kindle Active Content games and apps, today. All five will works on the $79 Kindle, in addition to the older models.

SpongeBob Treasure Quest ($1.99 $2.99), by Mobigloo, is probably aimed more at your kids than the adults in your household.

Book Description
SpongeBob's Treasure Quest is an exciting game that combines the strategy of Sudoku with the tactics of Snakes in the rich undersea world of SpongeBob SquarePants.

SpongeBob has stumbled upon maps to hidden treasures that are buried throughout Bikini Bottom. It's up to you, with a little help from Patrick and Sandy, to guide SpongeBob through the deep to uncover the treasures for the Krusty Krab. Solve the first 50 levels, and you will enter unlimited mode and play for as long as you can survive!

There are clues to the number of treasures in each row and column, so you can deduce where the treasures are likely to be. Guess right, and you get the treasure. For each wrong guess, a plankton will start to follow you around the board. Lots of wrong guesses will mean a very long tail of plankton. Don't run into any of the plankton while looking for treasures!

SpongeBob's Treasure Quest has both Novice and Advanced modes, and your progress will be recorded in a High Score table. To keep the game fun and fresh, the levels will be different every time you replay them.

Plankton and his cousins are right on your heels! Will they grab the treasures for themselves and the Chum Bucket?

5 in a row ($0.99), by DQ Team, looks like one that the entire family can play.

Book Description
Five in a Row (also known as "Gomoku" or "Connect 5") is an abstract strategy board game, which is easy to learn but hard to master.

Players take turns placing their marks on a 19x19 board. The objective of the game is to place five marks in a row. The first player to have five unbroken marks connected diagonally, horizontally or vertically wins the game. While similar to tic-tac-toe in some ways, the larger dimensions of the board and longer string requirements open up many strategic options. 5 in a Row also requires much more tactical awareness, as many more possible victory conditions are in constant play. You play against Kindle, and can adjust the difficulty level to easy, medium or hard.

If you like exercising your abstract logic and attentiveness skills - this is the game for you!

Snakes Basic ($0.99), by Applications Innovations

Book Description
Snakes Basic is a game where you control a constantly moving snake to capture pellets.

The object of the game is to collect as many pellets as possible before your snake runs into its tail, or into a wall or other stationary object. This wouldn't be so difficult, except that with each pellet collected, your snake will get longer and possibly faster! Good luck not running into your tail now!

The game comes with three difficulty modes (Easy, Medium, and Hard) that determine the speed and growth rate of your snake. The use of the 5-way controller to change the snake's direction gives the game the feel of a classic hand-held arcade game.

If you like challenging retro-style video games, Snakes Basic is for you.

Triviac ($0.99), by Alazar GmbH & Co. KG

Book Description
Trivia anyone? Become a contestant in your own quiz show!

In Triviac you will be challenged with 15 randomly selected questions, each one slightly more difficult than the previous one. Try to answer all 15 questions correctly and hit the Jackpot. More than 1,000 questions from the following ten categories test your knowledge in a race against the clock. The categories are: US general knowledge - Sports general - Mixed Music - Famous People - Geography - Entertainment - History - Classic Movies - Literature - Science and Nature.

In case you get stuck you only have three lifelines, so use them wisely. The lifelines are: "Ask The Host" The host will make her best guess and give you the right answer - "Fifty-Fifty" Two wrong answers will be deleted - "New Question" Skip the current question and get a new one.

Good luck with Triviac. No one knows everything, but maybe you can come close?

The Periodic Table of the Elements ($0.99), by Braintonik Games

Book Description
The Periodic Table of the Elements is the classic tabulation of the atomic elements organized by increasing atomic number.

The user interface of this Periodic Table provides fast and easy access to the following data for each atomic element: atomic number and weight, classification, group, electron configuration, oxidation state, density, state of aggregation, melting and boiling temperatures, electro-negativity, ionization energy, and atomic measures of interest.

In addition to being a handy reference to have at hand, the Periodic Table of the Elements is an invaluable resource for students of the natural sciences. Let this resource be your fast and accurate reference guide to the elements whenever you need it. Don't be caught without it!

New Kindle Games and Apps

There are a number of new games out on Kindle, including several just for the Halloween season that were released today. I'll try to catch us up on all the ones that I haven't mentioned previously. If you have the newest Kindle (no keyboard, no touch), you may run into some games that don't work (don't worry, Amazon seems pretty good at preventing you from purchasing one that isn't compatible), while others have been getting updates to ensure that they do work (such as the free Dots and Boxes, updated Oct 3).

Futoshiki Halloween Edition ($0.99) is a logic puzzle by Braintonik Games

Book Description
Futoshiki Halloween Edition takes an eerie twist as witches and zombies take over in a graveyard game board.

The rules of Futoshiki remain deceptively simple but the game is challenging and addictive. Each row and column must be filled with unique numbers. However, Futoshiki has a twist. It adds greater-than or less-than signs between some cells. You must honor these signs in order to solve and complete the puzzles.

This collection of 120 spooky puzzles is grouped into four different sets ranging from easy to expert. The graveyard grids are 5x5 in easy, medium, and hard modes. Expert mode holds thirty 7x7 puzzles. The game features annotations to help you keep track of possible solutions, and a hint function to help you keep playing if you get stuck.

Get Futoshiki Halloween Edition and have a scream!

Ultimate Halloween Quiz ($0.99), by HandyX

Book Description
Do you know Mary Shelley from Marilyn Manson, or Freddy from Jason?

Bring fear to your bones and take the horror challenge. Featuring hundreds of spine chilling questions, this funny, scary, and educational quiz will test your knowledge of all things dark and evil. Questions topics include horror movies, Halloween facts, scary novels, gruesome history, magical creatures, myths and legends. Halloween will never be the same!

Answer sets of questions in rounds of 10, or in a continuous stream. If you think you know it all then crank up the tension with the question countdown timer for an even greater challenge. In the 'Timer Play' contestants in the hot seat are under increased pressure to correctly answer questions before the time runs out!

Do you have the courage to answer them all?

Blossom Halloween Edition ($1.99) is a puzzle game by Braintonik Games

Book Description
Planting takes an eerie twist in Blossom Halloween Edition, where you are challenged to create a network of pipes that feed your Jack-O-Lanterns with potion from the witch's pot.

The goal of the game is to build an irrigation system that delivers a spooky brew to pumpkins by manipulating the game tiles with pipes on them. Just select the pipe tiles and rotate them until the potion flows through them and reaches the pumpkins to make them grow.

When a pipe is connected to the witch's cauldron it will fill up with potion. Make sure the brew flows in all the pipes to keep your pumpkins menacing. You'll have to rotate the tiles with pipes, pumpkins, and that all-important cauldron to make each part of the grid connect together and fill up every tile. All the pumpkins need to be connected to the cauldron and every pipe must be used to finish the puzzle. Are you facing a drought? The Hint system is there to help you figure out the next best move.

Halloween may be just around the corner, but with Blossom Halloween Edition's 120 puzzles, waiting has never been such a guilty pleasure!

Mahjong Solitaire Halloween Edition ($3.99), by Mobigloo

Book Description
It's time to celebrate Halloween with this special edition of the popular matching game Mahjong Solitaire on Kindle.

In Mahjong Solitaire, you match pairs of identical tiles in order to remove them from the board. Only free tiles can be matched. Tiles are considered free if they do not have other tiles to either the left or right of them, or on top of them. The objective of the game is to clear all the tiles from the board. The game ends when all tiles have been removed or when there are no more free tiles left to match.

Mahjong Solitaire tracks the number of pairs of free tiles available to be matched for you. In addition, the game allows for unlimited undos, and contains a Hint feature that will give you suggestions for your next move, as well a Shuffle feature that will rearrange the tiles when you get stuck.

The Mahjong Solitaire Halloween Edition gives you 13 different game board layouts to choose from and two special Halloween tile sets. This game is so fun it's scary!

Poker of the Dead ($1.99) is a Hold'em Poker solitaire game by Gameblend Studios

Book Description
Zombies are trying to break down your door! Play "heads up" poker against them to stay alive. Fortunately, zombies aren't normal poker opponents. They have no brains, never fold, and will always call your bet. Play the odds to fend them off and earn new high scores. To win, survive all seven days (10 hands per day). At the start of a hand, you and the zombie are dealt 2 cards each. Next follows 3 betting rounds, over which 5 shared cards are dealt. At each stage, you can call, raise, fold, or go all-in (if available). The best 5-card hand wins the pot. Win 3 hands to activate the "all-in" shotgun, and use it to double your money and blast a zombie. Each new day increases the stakes with higher ante and bet amounts. If you run out of money, the game is over. Poker of the Dead features a full tutorial, detailed game statistics and 12 special challenges to complete.

Can you survive the horde of poker playing zombies? Try Poker of the Dead today!

Mystery Castle: Dawn of Illusion ($1.99), by Runestone Games Limited, is a puzzle-maze game.

Book Description
Mystery Castle: Dawn of Illusion is a puzzle adventure featuring Monty the wizard as he attempts to save the inhabitants of the castle from an evil creature of the night.

You play Monty on his quest as he outwits fiendish puzzles on his journey deeper and deeper into the mysterious castle, to the inevitable showdown with a monster too scary to name. You must tread carefully on cracked and crumbling floors, while using teleporting staircases and magical keys to enter new areas. You may even need to push boxes into dangerous crags to make new paths and use bombs to get through walls to complete your quest. If you find the Eye of Truth, you can explore places that were once hidden as you try to uncover the identity of the creature assaulting the castle.

Mystery Castle: Dawn of Illusion is well suited for people who like puzzles and brain teasers, and contains 24 levels of excitement and adventure. Can you solve all the mystery puzzles in the castle? Monte is counting on you!

Ultimate Physics Quiz ($1.99), by HandyX

Book Description
Fun with Physics? Yes, believe it with Ultimate Physics Quiz!

Learning and practicing science is always more fun when it's part of a game. This application uses game play to challenge both kids and adults alike. Questions range from basic ones, such as "What does a microphone convert?" to advanced questions, such as "When two simple harmonic waves interfere, vector addition of which characteristics takes place?" Different game play modes can be used to test your speed and understanding. For example, you can play under the pressure of a timer, or see how far you can get with continuous multiple choice questions.

Explore physics concepts by answering questions in Measurement and Units, Heat and Light, Properties of Matter, Space, Universe and Stars, Motion, Work, Power and Energy, Electricity & Magnetism Forces, Light and Sound Waves, Electricity and Nuclear Physics, and Atomic Physics.

So if you are learning physics at school, or if you just want to test your knowledge, put yourself in motion and have an Ultimate Physics Quiz moment!

The Little Stick that Could ($1.99) is an interactive book for kids by Mobilehead

Book Description
The Little Stick that Could is an interactive book in which the reader embarks on an adventure in which their choices help shape the story and ultimately the outcome.

In this story, Stick's girlfriend Sally has been captured by a Dragon! Help guide Stick through his adventures to rescue Sally by solving riddles and fighting your way to save the damsel in distress. There are multiple endings, different moral choices, and plenty of battles of swords and wits to keep young readers engaged for many readings. You can join the fun by reading with your child, and by exploring the riddles and choices Stick faces together.

Get The Little Stick that Could and embark on a memorable adventure with your child.

Anywhere Spreadsheet ($3.99), by Nickel Buddy, is the lone Kindle App in today's lineup.

Book Description
Anywhere Spreadsheet allows you to create, edit, and save spreadsheets on your Kindle.

Use and modify the included templates, or create your own to track your budget, log your running miles, maintain a price list, track your gas mileage, do unit conversions...the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

With Anywhere Spreadsheet you can insert and delete rows and columns, change row height and column width, set background shades and borders, format data as numbers, dates, currency or normal text. You can format your text by making it bold or italic and by changing its alignment, font shade and font size. You can even create charts and import and export data in CSV files to your PC.

To make it easy to be productive right away, Anywhere Spreadsheet comes with the following templates: Sale Price Calculator, Temperature Converter, Length Converter, Percent Calculator, Tip Calculator, Body Mass Index Calculator, Thank-you note list, Weight Tracker, Running Log, Road Trip Log, Gas Mileage Log and even a Chore List!

Track and calculate important data everywhere you go with Anywhere Spreadsheet.

New Kindle Games and Apps

Two new games and two new apps are available for Kindle today. I'm very tempted by both of the games.

Jewel Quest Solitaire ($3.99), by iWin

Game Description
The creative minds behind the popular Jewel Quest series return with a Solitaire card game filled with riches and adventure.

Play solitaire using jewel-themed card decks and mind-boggling layouts. The goal of the game is to remove all the cards from the board by finding cards that are either one value higher or lower than the one on the foundation pile. In this unique edition, you play young explorer Percy Pack as he works to unveil the story behind a mysterious lost jewel board that Professor Percy Pack had spent a lifetime searching for. To accomplish this, you must solve the 66 game layouts. Match card suits to earn more points, unearth buried cards, and discover wild cards with extraordinary powers.

An in-game tutorial makes it easy to get started playing right away, and you can get a hint if you get stuck in a particular game. Ten unique profiles means that different members of your family can play and without disturbing each others progress, or you can play several profiles at once to try and improve your high score along the way.

Embark on your card playing adventure in Jewel Quest Solitaire. Fortune and glory are in the cards!

Mahjong Butterfly ($2.99), by Namco Networks America

Game Description
Mahjong Butterfly is a Mahjong tile matching game with a strategic goal larger than just clearing the board.

You goal is to collect caterpillars and help them transform into beautiful butterflies. To accomplish this, you must match the correct kinds of tiles to get caterpillars, and then continue making the right matches to feed your caterpillars and help them grow.

To help you achieve this goal, Mahjong Butterfly offers you the ability to take and hold a tile in reserve, allowing you access to a previously inaccessible tile without having to remove a valuable piece you want to play later. As you collect butterflies through the 47 different games, you gain more entries in your collection of butterflies; a nice reference that shows you more about the butterflies you've raised.

If you are ready for a more engaging Mahjong experience, then take some time to play with butterflies!

Day Planner & Calendar ($0.99), by Magellan Interactive

App Description
Day Planner and Calendar is a personal planner that can track just about any scheduled event you could possibly plan for.

The Day Planner & Calendar lets you create scheduled events for meetings, anniversaries, vacations, or any other event you care to track. Each entry supports a location, start and stop information, personal notes, and an option to create an all-day event. You can even select one of over 50 fun icons to help you identify your event in the calendar.

To help you remember important events, Day Planner and Calendar lets you create recurring events every few days, or every week, month or year. Four views help you track your events: A year view, month view, day view, and an agenda view which gives you a compact list of your scheduled events.

Day Planner and Calendar also includes a Task List to help you manage non-event obligations such as shopping lists, to-do lists and even notes to yourself. Simple navigation and a check box for completion make this feature a hit for grocery lists and other tasks.

If you are looking for an easy way to enter your commitments and see your calendar at a glance, Day Planner and Calendar is for you.

Address Book ($0.99), by 7 Dragons

App Description
Use your Kindle as your address book with Address Book by 7 Dragons.

You can add up to 1,000 contacts in Address Book, and you can even import them from Outlook, Yahoo Mail, GMail or any source that supports VCF 3.0 format (VCard 3.0 format). You can organize your contacts into groups, and pick contacts to mark as 'Favorite' contacts. In addition to a search tool, Address Book provides a First Name Flipbook, a Last Name Flipbook to make finding any contact quick and easy.

You can make backups, and there is an automatic weekly backup to help you save your data. Address Book can export your contacts in VCF 3.0 format so you can load them into Outlook, Yahoo, Google and other VCF 3.0 compatible tools.

Address Book is your complete Address Book solution on the Kindle.

New Kindle App - Doodle for Kindle

Doodle for Kindle, a line drawing app from 16 Hands, really seems to be pushing the envelope, as far as possibility with the Kindle hardware. Essentially, they've given us an etch-a-sketch app on Kindle and I suspect most of us will be hard pressed to draw anything that is easily recognizable, while the artists amongst us will create breathtaking images that the rest of us can't imagine how they achieved. Unlike that etch-a-sketch, though, you can save your masterpieces. It looks like it might be a good time filler for kids (assuming you let your kids play with your Kindle, especially an app that uses the five-way extensively) and I suspect it won't be long before some enterprising groups start using it as a bar game or during charades. Amazingly, it has all 5-star reviews, so far, and I have to wonder if it will work even better on any new Kindle hardware that might be released later this year (rumors abound of a touch screen version of the Kindle).

App Description
A great drawing tool for kids, Doodle makes creating line art easy and fun.

We know how much kids like to take a break and draw every once in a while, and Doodle for Kindle helps kids create line drawings as simple or as complex as their imagination allows. Your kids can use the 5-way or keyboard to start drawing on Kindle right away, and they can use drawing features that include a press-and-hold to draw mode, a continuous mode in which they can press once to start drawing, and press again to stop, or use a step mode which lets them draw short, precise segments with each press. It's easy for them to change segment lengths, save their drawings, change drawing speeds, and choose between black on white drawings or white on black drawings.

Doodle comes with drawing samples that include an elegant swan, the Mona Lisa, a mouse, and the Seattle skyline. Don't worry about the samples being drawn over. Your child can save the drawings with their changes or reset them back to their original state.

Have fun watching your kids create their own works of art, or even enjoy the fun of doodling on Kindle yourself! Get Doodle today.

New Kindle App - TakeNote

TakeNote ($0.99), by IzzyLabs, is a new note taking app for Kindle, the first one from this publisher.

App Description
TakeNote is a tool for Kindle that lets you jot down whatever is on your mind quickly and easily.

TakeNote is designed to make note taking quick and easy. For example, as soon as TakeNote opens, you can start taking notes right away without having to press any buttons to begin. You can capture a phone number or address, add to a daily diary, take some meeting notes, and even save a shopping list while on the go.

For easy access, your notes are listed in your notebook in chronological order. You can add, edit, or delete them as you see fit. While navigating a note, you can quickly jump to the top or bottom if needed. Help pages are available from anywhere in the title.

TakeNote lets you jot down what you are thinking right now.

New Kindle App - Finance Manager

Finance Manager (Financial Tools for Kindle) ($1.99), by SwashApps, is a new App in the Kindle store. I'm not sure how much I'd use the calculator portion, but the calendar section looks pretty interesting (although if you use it, be sure to activate the password on your Kindle).

Book Description
Finance Manager is a financial calculator and financial calendar for your Kindle.

The financial calculator has 12 commonly used financial calculators including fixed and variable rate mortgages, term deposits with simple and compounding interest, regular deposit, monthly income deposits, and a credit card payment calculator to help you in evaluating your financial options. A unique feature of these calculators is evaluation of the impact of inflation on your finances over the tenure of your mortgage or investment.

Finance Manager also has a financial calendar on which you can schedule alerts. For example, you can add the amortization schedule from the financial calculator to the Calendar as a series of alerts. You can also create your own custom alerts with various recurrence options: Once only, Daily, Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly, Semi-Yearly and Yearly. To make staying on top of things easy, you can check daily, weekly, or monthly alerts in your financial calendar.

When will you be a Millionaire? Get Finance Manager and use the 'When will I be A Millionaire?' calculator to find out! Use Finance Manager to help you get and stay on top of your finances.

New Kindle App - Everywhere Exercise

Everywhere Exercise ($2.99), by Everywhere Exercise, is a new app on Kindle, joining several other apps that promise to help us keep up with our workouts.

App Description
Everywhere Exercise is a tool that helps you integrate movement and basic exercises into your busy life.

Designed to integrate into hectic schedules, Everywhere Exercise helps you do workouts in the few spare minutes you may have in your day. Tell Everywhere Exercise if you're at the office, on a plane, waiting in line, or watching TV, and it will show you exercises you can do while you're there. You can also select from routines that focus on strength, flexibility, or energy.

Correct body alignment is easy to obtain and maintain thanks to simple instructions and the use of everyday objects like your desk chair. There are 30 basic exercises plus variations, including stealth routines you can do without anybody noticing you're exercising! Everywhere Exercise also makes it easy to keep track of your progress with a log that keeps track of which exercises you've done on which days, and how long you did them.

Now, Everywhere Exercise can help you burn calories and improve your tone and flexibility without having to put your life on hold to do so.

New Kindle App - Ghostboy and the Nameless Grave

Ghostboy and the Nameless Grave ($2.99), by Robot Media, is an interactive Children's book for Kindle, creating using the same Active Content platform used for games and apps on Kindle. It says it is aimed at young readers, presumably so that they can read and choose their path on their own, but it also looks as if some of it would work for children who are still in the "reading to" stage, so that they can participate in the story as you read to them. At least one screen, though, does have you choose (for example), the missing vowel needed to make sense of a sentence, which would not work as well for non-readers. Then again, you can probably just answer those pages for them (the first time or two, thru) and still enjoy the book. If it turns out it is too advanced for your child, you can either return it for a refund (as with all Kindle content, within 7 days of purchase) or just hold on to it a bit, until your child's reading level has caught up with the story.

Book Description
Ghostboy and the Nameless Grave is an interactive children's book in which your child gets to make choices in the story and solve basic reading and writing puzzles that help advance the adventure.

Your child chooses an avatar and a name, and becomes ghostboy's best friend. The goal is to help Tristan (soon to be ghostboy) uncover the mystery of the little ghost girl. Why is she haunting Tristan on his birthday? How did she become a ghost? The answers lie within four illustrated chapters, and a secret epilogue which will be unlocked for those who solve all the puzzles.

As your child explores a town full of mysteries on the night before Halloween, their choices affect how the story unfolds, and only the most curious will achieve the maximum score. Did they miss something? They can always retrace their steps to find that detail they overlooked.

Ghostboy and the Nameless Grave is perfect for children who are established early readers. So if you are looking for a fun way to share the joy of reading with your kids, or if you are looking for a way for early readers to explore interactive fiction, then the haunting world of Ghostboy is for you.

Half Price Kindle Games/App: Crosswords and Yoga

All six volumes of the NY Times Crosswords, by The New York Times, are half price in the Kindle store until August 8, which means they are now selling for $0.99 to $2.49 each.

Game Description
Each volume of NY Times Crosswords, comes with a unique bundle of world famous easy or challenging puzzles handpicked by The New York Times and edited by Will Shortz.

You can solve unassisted or get help using the 'reveal one letter' or 'reveal entire answer' functionality. You can even check your work for errors.

Enjoy the gold standard of crossword puzzles on your Kindle!

My Yoga Studio ($1.99 $0.99 Kindle), by Nickel Buddy, is half price in the Kindle store until August 8.

App Description
My Yoga Studio is like having a personal yoga teacher on your Kindle.

There are many benefits to practicing yoga. Done properly, yoga can help you increase your strength, flexibility, and balance. It can improve your posture as you become more aware of your body, and it can help you relax, even in the midst of a stressful environment.

My Yoga Studio will guide you step-by-step through a series of poses illustrated with a picture and a text description. As you move through the routine, a timer will count down, showing you how long to hold each pose before gently transitioning to the next. 25 different poses are included. You can use one of three included routines (Sun Salutation, Stress Melter, or Balance & Peace), do poses individually, or create your own custom routine. Exercises are designed to strengthen your core, and do not require any special equipment. As you can do these exercises anywhere you have floor space, My Yoga Studio is a perfect companion for frequent travelers or home use.

My Yoga Studio is ready to be your personal guide anytime you want to steal a few moments to center yourself.