The Best iPhone Apps Of The Week, July 31

The AppAdvice iPhone App Of The Week: Cut the Rope: Experiments, $.99, Released August 4 The Adorable Om Nom Returns In Cut The Rope: Experiments Cut the Rope: Experiments by ZeptoLab UK Limited is finally here, fellow Nommers! The rope-cutting, candy-chomping game that you have all come to love — with the same cute Om Nom — has a new twist. A mad scientist has apparently gotten a hold of Om Nom. He's called the Professor. Who in their right mind would abandon such an adorable little candy-loving monster? I have no idea; I would keep him for my own. Nevertheless, he was put in a box again and ended up at the scientist's laboratory. New Releases Wolfram Sun Exposure Reference App, $.99 & Universal, Released August 1 Wolfram Launches Sun Exposure Reference App The Wolfram Sun Exposure Reference App is now available in the App Store. The universal app tells you how long your skin can be exposed to the sun (in your location) without burning, plus other tools. Created by Wolfram Alpha, the app is a great tool for figuring out when not to sit out in the sun. Or if you do, when you should come inside. eBay Instant Sale, Free, Released, August 2 New eBay App Tells You What Your Old iDevice Is Worth Ebay has released a new app for the iPhone/iPod touch. The eBay Instant Sale app provides a simple way to get cash for your old electronics or recycle them for free. With Instant Sale, you’ll receive an immediate cash offer for your laptops, phones, tablets, PDAs, cameras, and more. Once you accept the offer, you’ll send your item using a free shipping label sent to you via email. Then, within five business days, you’ll receive your cash via Paypal. Emberwind™, $.99, Released August 4 Emberwind Makes Platforming On The iPhone Cool Again Emberwind™ by Chillingo Ltd is a port of the indie classic for Mac and PC to the iPhone. It’s a graceful transition, and one that preserves the excellent platforming action of the original to the letter. The graphics are delightfully retro, and the depth involved is enough to keep the ball rolling for many hours of gameplay. In Emberwind, players assume the persona of Kindle, a hapless gnome sentry charged with ridding Grendale of a gremlin infestation. These gremlins come from a super villain by the curious name of CandleFinger, which sets the tone of the app perfectly. Kickin Momma, $.99, Released August 4 Punt Your Children Into Oblivion With The Awesome Puzzle Game Kickin Momma Kickin Momma by Hothead Games Inc. is a puzzle game for iOS that Peggle-lovers will go nuts for. Kickin Momma is a mother who literally punts her children so that they can collect gems for a new necklace that she so desperately wants. I don't know what kind of creature she is, but I love this woman. She is definitely my kind of momma. You know -- the kind without any sort of actual courtesy for her own flesh and blood at all. The kind that will sacrifice the safety of her little ones to feed her own selfish needs. I mean, come on, she drop kicks her children into oblivion for her own self-gain. What is there not to love about her? What is there not to love about the entire scenario? Tap Tap Glee, Free, Released August 4 Tap Tap Glee Bursts Onto The App Store Tap Tap Glee by Tapulous, Inc. is the newest offering from the Tap Tap Revenge franchise. Are you a Gleek? If so, then you cannot miss this game! By now, I think everyone with an iPhone or an iPod Touch knows how to play the Tap Tap games. Basically, you poise your fingers over three dots. Music plays, and as the balls come down the “slides” onto the dots, you tap them. Of course, there are power ups and bonuses and different skill levels you can play. Game Center Achievements will motivate you to improve your scores. Updates Word Ball Free, Free, Updated August 1 (Word Ball, $1.99, Last Updated July 30) Word Ball Game For iPhone Is Now Free (We Have Promo Codes) Word Ball is a challenging iPhone/iPod touch game that is educational and fun too. The game’s goal is to make you a “Word Master,” by making users think on their feet when building words as quickly as possible. Now, some of our readers can get the app for absolutely free because we've got some promo codes from the developer. Created by Continuous Integration, Inc., the app was recently updated to include a better help system and enhanced game play. At its basic premise, Word Ball requires users to spell words using letters that float across the screen. And yes, the letters are each in a ball, hence the title of the app. Bonkheads HD, $2.99 & Universal, Updated August 3 Prepare To Use Your Brawny Head To Keep Trollsville Safe In Bonkheads Bonkheads HD by Around the Clock Games is an arcade game where a large earthquake has created a passage from the Earth’s surface all the way down to Trollsville. It’s your job to make sure those strange earthly creatures like dogs, rats and snakes don’t make their way down to your home. Originally released in 1996, the game is an exact copy of the original, reproduced for iOS. Each map is made up of an unchanging environment. Critters walk in from the top left and top right. If you touch them in any way, you die. You start off with just bulldogs but successive levels introduce additional and more challenging critters. Tweetbot – A Twitter Client with Personality, $2.99, Updated August 3 Tweetbot Gets An Update: Improves Notifications, Link Emailing And Spam Prevention The popular Twitter client for iPhone, Tweetbot, has recently received an update. Now, users of the application can set a sleep time for push notifications (and choose to receive notifications only from people they follow), and the developer has improved link emailing and the way the application deals with spam. As outlined in the app's release notes, changes made in this version of Tweetbot (1.4.3) include:

Added Sleep time for push
Option to receive push mentions only from people you follow
When emailing a link, the subject is now the page title if sent from a web view
Blocking/Reporting for Spam now deletes associated tweets from the timeline

PlayBox, $.99, Updated August 4 PlayBox App Gets First Update & We’ve Got Promos PlayBox is a new app that improves upon the YouTube app that already comes on your iPhone/iPod touch by offering additional features. To celebrate the app’s first update some of our readers can get the app for absolutely free because we’ve got some promo codes from the developer. Created by Aio Synergy, the $.99 app is very simple to use, but is still powerful nonetheless. It lets you select YouTube videos directly from the app, each which can then be added to customized playlists. Then, you can begin watching these videos – one after another – automatically. This feature is not available using the existing YouTube app. Pop Candy, Free, Updated August 5 Get Your Pop Culture Fix In App Form With Pop Candy Pop Candy by USA TODAY is the new companion app for the Pop Candy blog written by Whitney Matheson. If you're into pop culture and are on the Internet — which I am pretty sure it's safe to say that you are — chances are you've heard of Pop Candy. This section of the USA Today site keeps up-to-date with music, news, and even comic books. The app gives you your own profile. If you don't have a Pop Candy account, you can sign in via Twitter or Facebook instead. Then, you can chat with other Pop Candy community members about a myriad of topics. Share whatever you want, or even nothing at all, but either way you can still read what others are posting. The Best iPhone Apps Of The Week is published each weekend; a companion piece, The Best iPad Apps Of The Week, is published separately. Attention developers: If you would like your app to be considered for one of our “Best Of” lists, please me know by sending me a treat @bryanmwolfe. Note: Your app must have been new or updated in the last week to make the current list.