Hidden Gems - Week Two

Some apps get all the attention, sitting atop the top 25 list begging to be downloaded. Some slip down the list and out into the iTunes wilderness, never to be heard from again. Hidden Gems is about giving these apps the attention they deserve. Have2Eat, Have2Drink, Have2Snack, Have2P (All free) These apps are ridiculously simple. They do one thing and they do it fast. When you open any of them, it asks for your location and promptly gives an accurate list of places nearby. With Have2Eat, it gives places that serve food, with Have2Drink, it's alcohol and beverages, with Have2Snack it's. . . snacks and with Have2p, well, take a guess. The great thing about these apps is that it makes finding the place you want to go just a little bit faster. Usually, to find places to go I'm stuck choosing between Yelp or AroundMe. I go with Yelp to do some in-depth research about the quality of a place. I go with AroundMe when I just want to know what sort of restaurants or banks or gas stations or whatever are, you know, around me. These apps are different. They're about fulfilling a specific need at a specific time because they are limited to one activity. Because of this, it deletes a step I would have taken in AroundMe - picking out the category. That minor difference is two seconds of my life that I'll never get back. And those two seconds are important to me, especially when I'm in a rush or navigating in a car. There are also some differences in search results. Where's Golden Burger? It's completely missing from the AroundMe list and it's the fast food joint that's closest to my current location. This is not a big difference, but it's the kind of difference that would make me choose Google over Yahoo. Also, the icons are gorgeous and I want to line them all up in a row and tap 'em. Try them, they're free. Lux Touch (Free) and Lux DLX ($7.99) Lux is a version of the classic Risk board game that's been ported from the Mac and PC to the iPhone.

If you've ever played the game, you should be familiar with the classic 6 continent layout: Lux DLX, the $7.99 version, allows for a bunch of free downloadable maps that really vary the gameplay and add a ton of life to the game.

There's everything from castles and space themes to the the Wizard of Oz. There are some caveats here.While it is enjoyable, $7.99 is a hefty price to pay for a game that still has a lot of bugs that need to be worked out.

At the very least, download the free version and get to conquering the world. I also like their humor. From the App description: "Try our other game Lux DLX for...more AIs, more maps, more settings, more hot graphics, more human players, more of your dreams come true."

Weekly Gems: Apps You May Have Missed Two fun games snuck out recently that you might have missed. Both have lite versions you can try out for free. iDracula - Undead Awakening ($2.99) / iDracula Lite (Free) iDracula is an intense arcade shooter with great graphics and controls. While iDracula - Undead Awakening came out mid-March, iDracula Lite was released just a couple days ago and gives you a great sense of the gameplay available from the full version.

iPhone games seem to be really hitting their stride when it comes to controls and iDracula is a great example. Move your left thumb around the left circle and you control where the character moves. Move your right thumb around the right circle to control where he fires. Exactly like the two analog sticks seen on a traditional console video game controller. What's more, it works great because the game avoids making anything important happen over the two thumb circles.

iGem ($2.99) / iGem Lite (Free) This isn't Bejeweled. With iGem, you are swapping the positions of adjacent gems, but you can do it as much as you want until you have blocks of at least four of the same colored  gems. They eventually become one big gem that explodes when you tap it. Simple as that. Now get to it.