Monument Valley

I’m not one to typically play games on my devices, but a few weeks ago this game was brought to my attention by my 7 year old who needed help. Within minutes I was hooked.

Monument Valley (Apple Game of the Year 2014) is a beautiful puzzle game full of optical illusions, palaces, and temples from around the world. Every level is a unique, hand-crafted world that you must explore to help Princess Ida outsmart the Crow People. You manipulate the architecture by twisting, dragging and reshaping the layout to help Ida find her way through.

I love this game because you have to use critical thinking skills. You have to plan your moves ahead. Every action you take effects another part of the architecture, sometimes in a good way, sometimes not!

After the game is completed, two more games are opened up for you for more adventures with Princess Ida—Forgottten Shores and Ida’s Dream. We played on a KindleFire and everything was free with AmazonUnderground including the additional games. However, Apple does not offer a free version.

 

Name of App: Monument Valley

Audience: Everyone

Platform: iOS, Android

What the App does and why we recommend it: A fun, beautiful game that requires critical thinking

What platform we used to recommend the app: Android

Cost (at time of review): iOS-$3.99; Android-free with AmazonUnderground or $3.99

Guides by Lonely Planet

Many people like to travel.  But it can be cumbersome carrying around travel guides to the city of your choice.  Lonely Planet, one of the leading publishers of travel guides, has an app for you. 
Guides by Lonely Planet gives you access to guides for major U.S. cities and cities around the world.

You can find information regarding hotels, restaurants, sites to see, and places to shop. It has a nice bookmark feature so you can save the places that interest you.  They also make suggestions of other things you might like to see.

One of the best features of this app is you can access the maps offline.  Once you have downloaded the guide you want, no Wi-Fi is required. 

So on your next trip, save some time and space in your suit case and try Guides by Lonely Planet

 

Name of App:  Guides by Lonely Planet

 

Audience:  Everyone

 

Platform: IOS, Android

 

What the App does and why we recommend it: It gives the user mobile access to travel guides from cities around the world.

 

What platform we used to recommend the app: Android

 

Cost (at time of review):  Free

Get the Most Out of Your Photos with PS Express

These days you have many choices when it comes to selecting a photo app. In our last post we highlighted the Relight app.  We thought you might want to look at another photo correcting app option.

With Spring Break and summer approaching it's time to make sure you are ready to take some photos. Many people have cameras on their phones, which makes it so much easier to take pictures wherever you go. But do you ever have trouble getting them to turn out right? Sometimes poor lighting and distance can really turn those picture perfect moments into picture disasters.

PS Express (Photoshop Express) can help you with that. With tons of features this app can take your photos from blah to wow in just a few seconds. Photos too dark? Lighten them. Photos too blurry? Sharpen them. A person popping up in your picture where they shouldn't be? Remove them! (Note: Removing people from photos really only works at a distance. If it is a close up--it would look really odd.)

Notice the difference PS Express can make in the photos below, the photos on the left are the originals and the ones on the right were doctored with PS Express.

PS Express for iOS

PS Express for Android

• Name of App: PS Express
• Audience: All
• Platform: iOS, Android
• What the App Does and why we recommend it: The app helps modify and fix your pictures after they are on your camera roll.
• What platform we used to recommend the app: iOS 
• Cost (at time of review): Free, there are some in app purchases if you want premium features, but I have done just fine with the basics.