Valentine’s Day is a week away, and if you’re anything like me you could probably use a little help with your preparations for it. And of course the iPad App Store has got a topical featured section for just that purpose – filled with apps and games for the romantic day.
The new section has got sub-sections covering themes like Be My Valentine (apps for poetry and cards and such), Cooking for Your Valentine, Games We Heart, and even one titled Lonely Hearts.
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Tomorrow is of course the climax of the 2011/12 NFL season, Super Bowl 46. If you’re feeling the need for some iPad apps to help you fully enjoy the occasion, then the iPad App Store has got you covered. There’s featured section this week for Super Bowl 46 and NFL apps for the iPad.
The Superb Bowl XLVI featured section has got a good range of Super Bowl and NFL related apps. Here’s just a few notable examples of what you’ll find:
SB XLVI Guide: Published by NFL Enterprises, this is the official guide for those lucky enough to be attending the game – with 3D maps of Indianapolis and the Lucas Oil Stadium, a guide to local restaurants and events, and more.
Super Bowl XLVI Commemorative App: Another one from NFL Enterprises and NFL Magazine, this one focused on the two teams. It offers a look at how the Giants and the Patriots got to the title game, content featuring all-star teams and Super Bowl history and, once the game is over tomorrow evening, video highlights, pictures, interviews and more recap coverage of the game.
Party Planning: There’s a whole sub-section devoted to helping you get you your Super Bowl food and drink plans together.
Games: And of course there’s a sub-section for NFL related games. It includes a recent favorite of mine, NFL Flick Kicker HD. I’m very surprised to see EA’s Madden NFL 12 is not in the group.
There are lots more apps in the Super Bowl XLVI section – check it out in the iPad App Store in the main Featured area. Let us know in the comments if you’ve got a particular app you’re planning to use during the big game tomorrow.
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The iPad App Store refreshes its Featured section every Thursday. The New and Noteworthy and Staff Favorites sections have fresh selections in them and there are new picks for the app and game of the week. There are also often new and topical featured sections. This week one of those is Space – Stellar Apps & Games.
It’s quite a nice collection of 35 space themed apps and games. Some of the great choices in the selection include Star Walk and Solar Walk for star gazers and astronomy buffs, Dead Space for iPad (Apple’s choice for iPad Game of the Year last year), two great apps from NASA, Buzz Aldrin’s Portal to Science and Space Exploration, and even a version of the old arcade classic, Space Invaders.
They missed one more superb NASA app – Ascent: Commemorating Shuttle, which is my favorite of all the excellent NASA apps.
If you’re interested in space-themed apps and games, or have kids who are and use your iPad, this new section is well worth a look. You can find it on the main Featured page in the iPad App Store.
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As you’ve probably noticed, iPad app updates have been very scarce over the last six days. The reason for this is that Apple’s iTunes Connect service was closed for its annual holiday shutdown period. This service is the portal where iOS developers manage their apps.
iTunes Connect actually re-opened a day early and now app updates are flowing again in the App Store. My number of available updates has more than doubled today.
I’m sure the early re-opening of iTunes Connect must make iPad app developers happy – and I would think all the updates are making a lot of iPad users happy as well.
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Every Thursday Apple refreshes the content in the Featured area of the iPad App Store. Yesterday’s update included a very nice little change to navigation in the Featured and Categories sections.
In the Featured area, in the New and Noteworthy and Staff Favorites sections, you used to see six picks at a time – and then have to tap on little arrows to move forward or back one page. This was always a little tedious and slow. Now you can just swipe left and right to move through the pages. This is much smoother, faster, and nicer to work with.
The change has also been applied to the What’s Hot and Release Date tabs of the Featured area. And to the Categories sections.
Although it’s only a minor change to the iPad App Store, I think it’s a very welcome one. Navigating through pages of apps is now much faster. That’s got to be good for users and for developers as the smoother experience should help app discovery.
The change also kills of an irritating problem with the old navigation method. When you were several pages deep into a section and you hit the back arrow it would often dump you back on the very first screen, rather than the previous one. This is no longer an issue with swiping through pages.
Had you already noticed this change to iPad App Store navigation? Happy with it?
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