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A free version of McAfees Mobile Security app for Android has hit Googles Play store.


Announced at MWC 2014, the move to offer McAfee Mobile Security for free is part of an intiative by its parent company, Intel, to "integrate security more deeply into the consumer experience." The plans to offer free mobile protection were unveiled by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich at CES 2014.

McAfees Mobile Security for iOS is already available for free, but its Android that particularly needs protection from online nasties. According to a report by NQ Mobile, Android malware accounted for 95% of all smartphone infections in 2012.

AV-Best

McAfee Mobile Security received a 100% detection score and was given a top ranking in recent independent testing by AV-Test. It features anti-theft, anti-virus, app protection, Web protection, call and SMS filtering functionality.

A new Wi-Fi Security feature alerts users to any risky or non-protected networks to which they may be connecting.

Additionally, a CaptureCam feature will take a picture of whoever is holding the device in the event of it being stolen and will send it to the owner, and an SOS feature can log the last location of the device before battery life expires if it is misplaced or stolen.

With the puzzle games market seemingly filled to the brim with cartoon animals, improbable projectiles, dodgy physics engines and revamps of classics, you may find yourselves wanting a slightly calmer, simpler choice.


If so, you’ll be happy to know that the premise of Flow Free couldn’t get much simpler. Fill your grid by joining together dots of the same colour using a single path. Overlapping paths will cause them to break unless you carefully utilize the bridge in the position given to you.

The two modes provided are Free Play and Time Trial, both self-explanatory. In all likelihood, you will probably spend more time using the latter, seeing that Free Play gets rather homogeneous quickly once you get the hang of doing levels.

I get the impression that much effort has been put into tweaking the little things to improve the overall product. The graphic design is crisp and attractive, avoiding any unnecessary frills which would distract from the gameplay, which is itself as smooth and as slick as you’d like it to be. No buzzing, no annoying vibrations when you draw a path, no aliens or kung-fu masters which pop-up to congratulate you upon completing a level. Minimalist, efficient and effective.

The speed of the game varies with the grid size, with 5×5 to 7×7 ones offering a quickfire approach while larger grids require a good deal of forethought before execution, a more old-fashioned type of puzzle solving perhaps. Of course, whichever style you find more appealing is purely down to you, and this is credit to the subtle variety of the game.

I’ve always thought that the sign of a good puzzle game is that nothing feels wasted. The level design is intricate yet concise and clean, and completing it feels satisfying because of that. Like all puzzle games of course, the idea either clicks with you or it doesn’t, but with Flow Free having such a simple and accessible concept, I see no reason not to install it and give it a quick try.

Rating: 4/5

Computers used to be all about expandability. Essentially you owned a box that could be tailored to your needs as your requirements evolved. A popular upgrade path was storage, adding new hard drives as your files grew in size and number. But with Apples touchscreen revolution, everything changed.


The iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are more like appliances than traditional computers - theyre sealed boxes that forever remain as they were the moment you purchased them. You can no more extend their storage capabilities than you can add a new compartment to your fridge-freezer.

A quick look at Apples modern hardware suggests its entire line-up is heading in the same direction, but iOS devices are more restricted than Apples desktops and notebooks. After all, if you need more storage for a MacBook Air, you at least have the option of offloading large documents to an external hard drive (and, of course, then sensibly backing up that data along with the internal drives, either locally or to an online service such as CrashPlan).

But iOS devices arent designed that way. They dont have a USB port or a user-accessible file structure. The intention is that you store everything on the device itself (well, almost everything - services like iTunes Match enable you to grab your music from the cloud).

Therefore, an important tip when it comes to better iOS device storage and management comes at the moment of purchase: buy the model with the most storage that you can afford, unless youre absolutely convinced you wont need it.

Even then, reconsider; be mindful that as technology evolves, demands for storage increase. Retina screens require larger applications, and iOS cameras can shoot HD video, which requires a huge amount of space.

Also, demands on iOS devices are increasing purely on the basis of what they can now do. People frequently shoot and edit video, work with photography, read magazines and compose music on iPads and iPhones. All these things require lots of storage.

If your device gets really full, it alerts you. Also, things stop working. You wont be able to install new apps or shoot video new footage. You may find that updating apps becomes problematic, because the device doesnt have enough space to download, unpack and install updates before deleting older versions.

We offer advice for dealing with such a situation, along with managing iOS storage in general. Note that this isnt intended as a start-to-finish walkthrough, more a series of ideas that can be utilised to free up space.
As ever, we should stress the importance of back-ups before making major changes to iOS devices. Even if youre backing up to iCloud, make the occasional local back-up (select your device in iTunes and click Back Up Now on the Summary page).

Local backups are also useful when it comes to dealing with app data, because you can later use iExplorer to fish out settings and other documents from such a backup, even if those things have long been removed from your device. Also ensure before making any major changes in terms of deleting content that you dont only have said content on your iOS device.

For music, sync your device with iTunes to transfer tracks to your Mac (although you can grab previous purchases from iTunes, if necessary). For photos and movies, transfer them across by attaching your device to your Mac via USB, launching iPhoto, selecting the device and clicking the Import button.

How to manage iOS device storage

1. Check device capacity in iTunes

Although iOS devices no longer require iTunes, Apples desktop app remains useful from a device management standpoint. Connect your device (via USB or over Wi-Fi) and select it from the Devices button. Across the bottom of the window, you see a chart detailing whats taking up room: audio, photos, apps, books and other.

If storage is an issue, you could free some up. For example, if youve lots of music or photos on your device, select the relevant tab, uncheck the sync box and then sync your device. The relevant media is removed. You can then perform updates and manage your apps, perhaps free up more space, and later restore your media by resyncing it.

Occasionally, you might find the other section becomes massive. In our experience, this is usually down to you having a lot of in-app data (see Step 3) or failed app updates, which can happen on trying to update without enough free space. Resyncing should help; if not, a restore from a local backup.

2. Discover app sizes 

Apps can be massive. Sizes are shown in iTunes and the App Store, but thats the size of the compressed download. Once installed, an apps size can balloon.

In iTunes, check app sizes by clicking on the Apps tab and selecting Sort by Size from the pop-up menu at the top of the apps list. Peruse the list, and if there are apps or games you no longer use, consider deleting them. You can do so by clicking Remove in iTunes; when youve done so for all apps youd like to delete, click Sync.

Alternatively, tap-hold an app on your device to make all the icons jiggle and, for each, tap the cross icon and then Delete to remove it.

3. Examine app data

Open the Settings app on your device and in the General category, select Usage. You see available and used storage and a list of apps. These are ordered by the total amount of space they require, including app data.

Newsstand and similar apps tend to be storage-hungry. Their containers might be small, but the actual magazines rarely are. If you want to see how much space an apps data is using, tap the app in the list and look at the Documents & Data figure.

If youve several such apps taking up loads of room you need, consider deleting data. For example, if you subscribe to magazines, delete old issues from within each app. You can usually redownload issues later if you need to. If you fancy taking a speedy option and dont have a capped broadband connection, deleting a Newsstand app takes all its data with it. You can then download a fresh copy from the App Store and the latest issue.

Magazine and book apps arent the only storage culprits, note. Dropbox can (optionally) store documents locally (by flagging them as favourites) and some video apps have download capability, so check those too.

4. Back-up app content

Should you no longer use a game or creative app, but think you might one day return to it, download its data to your Mac using the free version of iExplorer (macroplant.com/iexplorer).

Connect your device to your Mac via USB, select Apps from iExplorers sidebar and select the app in question. Select the Documents and Library folders, Ctrl-click and select Export to Folder. (Alternatively drag them to a Finder folder.)

The contents of these folders can later be sideloaded into a fresh install of the app, meaning you wont lose your progress in a game that doesnt support iCloud, or could get saved compositions from a music-app back to your device with a minimum of fuss.

5. Use last-chance folders

If you tend to frequently download new apps, chances are some fall out of favour, but you might not necessarily know which. Create date-based folders (07-2013, say) and place apps within that you dont think you use any more. If you find yourself using one, rescue it from the folder. Otherwise, delete the folders contents after a few months, first backing up app data as necessary.

(Note: if you dont download apps to iTunes on your Mac, sync with it before deleting the apps, so youve a back-up you can later install to your device. You can of course redownload apps from the App Store, but only if they are still made available to you.)

This is a fairly ruthless app-management method, but its useful for keeping installs current and ensuring you have space.

Microsoft-owned VoIP app Skype has updated its wares for iOS users, allowing them to send unlimited free video messages to fellow users.


The newly-tuned app lifts restrictions on video clips, which had previously limited users to just 20 free videos a month unless they upgraded to the $4.99 Skype Premium subscription.

The update comes just over a week after Skype announced it would be making video messages completely free on all platforms.

In a blog post at the time the company said: "Video messaging is now available to all Skype users. You can send and receive as many video messages as you want – completely free of charge. Video messages can be received and viewed on any platform or device running Skype."

The functionality allows users to send video messages up to three minutes in length from Skypes smartphone, tablets and Windows and Mac apps.

Its proved popular for those wishing to send personal video messages quickly and easily, while its also a good alternative if users are unable to make contact when attempting to make a live voice and video call.

As well as some general fixes and improvements, the app also improves video and audio call stability and brings more reliable photo sharing.

Earlier this month the company had rolled out the video message feature, which first appeared for iOS, Android and Mac users in February, to BlackBerry, Windows 8 and Windows desktop users.

Strangely, considering Microsoft owns the company, the feature is yet to hit Windows Phone.

A number of top iOS apps and games have seen their prices slashed to zero, coinciding with the App Stores fifth birthday.


While Apple hasnt made any official announcement yet, its clear that some special celebrations are in store to mark the iOS App Store hitting five this week.

To kick things off, some apps and games have already been made free to download. These are some premium offerings, too.

On the games front, the likes of Tiny Wings (both the iPhone and iPad versions), Infinity Blade II, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Wheres My Water? and Badland can all be picked up for nothing.

The Unreal Engine-powered Infinity Blade II in particular is a bit of a steal, as it usually costs £4.99. Badland formerly cost £2.49.

When it comes to apps, there are some even more generous offers. Traktor DJ, an acclaimed pro music mixing app, normally costs £13.99, but is now free.

Day One, a polished journal app; Over, which lets you overlay your photos with professional-looking text; and Barefoot World Atlas, an interactive 3D globe for kids, have also gone free.

None of these apps or games have any blurb to explain the price drop, but wed bet anything that Apple will announce something later this week - possibly on Wednesday, which will mark five years to the day since the iOS App Store first came online.

So youve got an iPad and have come to the dawning realisation that youve gotno cash left to buy any games for it.

Have no fear, because the App Store offers plenty of iPad gaming goodness for the (unintentional or otherwise) skinflint. Our pick of the 70 best free iPad games is listed below.


Note that apps marked "universal" will also work on an iPhone or iPod touch, scaling down controls and graphics accordingly.

1. Dumb Ways to Die (universal)

 

Based on a Webby Award winning video, Dumb Ways to Die lets you try and save those adorable characters from dying in rather dumb ways. From having private parts eaten under water and being hit by a train to having your head explode while out in space, developer Metro Trains Melbourne has created a rather fun, sometimes strange game.

2. PewPew (universal)

 

"Expect retro graphics and megatons of enemies," says the developer about this twin-stick shooter, adding: "Dont expect a story". With its vector graphics and Robotronish air, PewPew brings to mind Geometry Wars and Infinity Field, but without a price tag. Despite being free, PewPew nonetheless boasts five modes of shooty goodness.

3. Flockwork

 

It turns out if youre a sheep that thinks the grass is greener, you should check out the other side of the fence first. In Flockwork, wooly heroes make a break for freedom, but end up immersed in a kind of ruminant hell. Your task: help the sheep escape by way of finger gymnastics and fast reactions.

4. Cliffed: Norms World XL (universal)

 

This race-to-the-bottom vertical platform game lacks depth but Cliffed is fun for a quick high-score blast. Use the chunky controls to make your guy dash left or right to avoid rocks and leap down holes. If the screen catches up with him, its game over.

5. Air Hockey Gold

 

Air hockey games work much better on the iPad than the iPhone, simply due to the iPads larger screen. Air Hockey Gold isnt the only free game of this type, but it was the one that felt best during testing, and the two-player mode works nicely.

6. Jetpack Joyride (universal)

 

Endless game Jetpack Joyride is a witty, polished take on the iCopter format, with one-thumb controls dictating the heros attempts to avoid death that comes increasingly rapidly from the side of the screen. The real gems here are the power-ups, including the amusing Profit Bird (depicted), which isnt at all a swipe at Angry Birds and Tiny Wings.

7. Real Racing 3

 

Here at TechRadar, we love a good racing game, and Real Racing 3 is a real treat on an iPad. The stunning visuals on a larger iPad screen allows for a much better mobile gaming experience than you would expect - and for free! Though there are in-app purchases for upgrades and boosters, you still get a lot of tracks and cars without any purchases.

8. Escape - Norms World XL (universal)

 

IUGOs puzzler Escape has you swiping to make your silhouette leap between circles, which vanish when you leave them. The idea is to jump on every circle, whereupon you move to the next level. in-app purchases are available for tougher levels and two-player modes.

9. Frotz (universal)

 

Although it works on an iPhone, Frotz isnt great on the smaller screen. But on the iPad, with its larger keyboard, the interactive fiction player is a revelation. It uses the Z-Machine format, and you can download a selection of freely available text adventures (including the original Zork) using the app, or upload your own files to the app via FTP.

10. QatQi (universal)

 

QatQi starts off a bit like Scrabble in the dark, until you figure out that youre really immersed in a kind of Roguelike mash-up. So although the aim is to make crosswords from a selection of letters, youre also tasked with exploring dungeons to find score-boosting stars and special tiles.

11. Harbor Master HD

 

This game might look like Flight Control in the drink, but the gameplay mechanics are subtly different. As with Firemints effort, Harbor Master is a line-drawing game, this time with you drawing paths so boats can dock. However, once theyve unloaded, they must leave the screen or sometimes visit another dock, ensuring things rapidly become complex and frantic.

12. Tiny Tower (universal) 

 

Tiny people in a tiny skyscraper need you to feed then tiny sushi and do other tiny tasks. Things can, inevitably, be sped up by not-so-tiny IAP cash infusions, but if youre a patient sort, and keen on micromanagement games, Tiny Tower is a charming, enjoyable title that will eat many tiny moments out of your day.

13. Crimson: Steam Pirates 

 

This turn-based strategy game comes complete with an engaging story and a healthy dollop of yo-ho-ho. You command pirate ships, setting their courses and then watching the action unfold. Crimson: Steam Pirates gives you eight free voyages and further adventures can be bought via IAP.

14. Labyrinth 2 HD Lite

 

Another demo for a paid-for title, Labyrinth 2 HD Lite is definitely worth downloading if you dont have the full game. Its the digital equivalent of tilt-based marble games, but with crazy designs. You get a small selection of mazes here, but theyre playable and varied, and theres always a high-score to beat.

15. Frisbee Forever (universal) 

 

With almost limitless possibilities in videogames, its amazing how many are drab grey and brown affairs. Frisbee Forever is therefore a breath of fresh air with its almost eye-searing vibrance. The sense of fun continues through to the gameplay, which is all about steering a frisbee to collect stars strewn along winding paths. Initially, you explore a fairground, but soon youre soaring above the wild west and sandy bays.

16. Pocket Legends (universal)

 

Many free iPhone OS MMOs are dreary text-based affairs, so its nice to see Spacetime Studios creating something a bit more ambitious with Pocket Legends, providing us with an iOS-specific 3D world populated by the usual motley collection of fantasy characters. As always with MMOs, the game demands you invest plenty of time to get anything out of it.

17. Solitaire Ace

 

After a few hands of Klondike, we actually ended up preferring this free app to several of the iPad solitaire apps with hefty price tags. Solitaire Ace might be simple (no undo, only one theme, just three solitaire variations), but its fast and responsive, with intuitive controls and extremely clear cards.

18. Tilt to Live HD

 

The basic aim of Tilt to Live is simple: avoid the red dots, either by cunning dodging and weaving or by triggering explosive devices in the arena. The game stands apart from similar releases due to its polish and sense of humour. You get the basic mode for free, and others can be unlocked by in-app purchase.

19. Flow Free (universal)

 

Flows quite sneaky. It looks simple enough, tasking you with connecting like-coloured blobs via pathways that cannot cross. And indeed it is at first, despite you also having to fill the entire board to proceed. But once youre on larger grids, trying to figure out snaking pathways, your ears will be shooting steam.

20. 10 Pin Shuffle (Bowling) Lite (universal)

 

Were big fans of 10 Pin Shuffle, a universal app that combines ten-pin bowling and shuffleboard. Of that titles three game modes, the best one is included here in 10 Pin Shuffle Lite, for free. Called 10 Pin Poker, it adds a card game to the mix. Get a spare or strike and youre given one or two cards, respectively. At the end of the tenth frame, whoever has the best hand wins.

21. Pilgrims Punch-Out (universal)

 

Become a 1980s NES-style Scott Pilgrim in Pilgrims Punch-Out, a movie tie-in that isnt at all a massive rip-off of (sorry, tribute to) Nintendo classic Punch-Out!! Decent controls enable you to fight your way to glory, and although the games over pretty quickly, theres always a high-score to beat.

22. Fowlplay HD

 

If you ever wanted to poop on someones head from above, Fowlplay HD is the game for you. Taking on the role of a pigeon that should really cut back on fibre, you zoom around a stylised forest that appears to be populated by refugees from Minigore. Aim your deposits at their heads, avoid the trees, and grab any power-ups that come your way.

23. To-Fu 2 (universal)

 

Theres a touch of Angry Birds about To-Fu 2, at least if the birds were covered in something yucky that glued them to any walls they collided with. Said stickiness is the name of the game here, getting the squidgy hero to levels end rather than impaling him on the literally strewn spikes.

24. Choice of the Dragon (universal)

 

Its not the most interesting-looking game in the world, but luckily the magic of Choice of the Dragon is in its witty prose. Playing as a multiple-choice text adventure, akin to an extremely stripped-back RPG, this game is an amusing romp that perhaps lacks replay value, but youll enjoy it while it lasts.

25. Lux Touch (universal)

 

There are several Lux games on the App Store, but the original is now free and works very nicely on the iPad. Essentially, this is Risk, and while the computer AI isnt terribly bright, Lux Touch should nonetheless keep fans of the original board game quiet for a short while.

26. New York 3D Rollercoaster Rush HD Free

 

In all, 25 of the full games tracks are on offer in New York 3D Rollercoaster Rush HD Free. The games a simple arcade title: tilt your iPad to control the coasters speed, aiming to keep it on the track, and take risks to ensure the crazy riders have a great time (and, presumably, give the health-and-safety guy a heart attack).

27. iLifeGame (universal)

 

John Horton Conways famous Game of Life cellular automaton exists for practically every platform, and this simple iOS version, iLifeGame, gets things right with clear graphics, the ability to draw your own starting points, and a small collection of predefined patterns.

28. Pukk HD

 

Given that its another Pong clone, Pukk HD isnt the best game to play if youve no friends, because the single-player mode is extremely dull. However, with another player, it becomes an exciting battle of digital tennis - and it looks a lot nicer than Tap Blaster HD, too.

29. Grim Joggers Freestyle (universal) 

 

When we think of extreme sports, jogging isnt the first that comes to mind, although it might be now weve experienced Grim Joggers Freestyle. The games essentially Canabalt, but instead of one guy leaping across grey rooftops, you get a string of joggers trying desperately to survive in a surreal alien world.

30. Pilot Winds (universal) 

 

With Tiny Wings having spent a large amount of time troubling the App Store charts, were surprised it took so long to make it to the iPad. All along, Pilot Winds was the next best thing, and its still free. Instead of a fat bird sliding down hills, youre a daredevil penguin skier, and while the games inspiration is clear, it has plenty of tricks of its own.

31. Drop7 Free (universal)

 

Drop7 is one of the finest puzzle games on iOS. You drop numbered discs into a grid, and if the number matches the number of discs in its column or row, it vanishes. Grey discs are destroyed by twice removing discs next to them. Three modes are on offer, each demanding a different strategy. And now the games owned by Zynga, its free, with only the occasional unobtrusive advert.

32. TinkerBox

 

Myriad physics puzzlers exist for iOS, but most are twitch-oriented games where you fling objects around, and repeat with slight variation until you succeed. TinkerBox is different, because it demands you carefully consider the task at hand and then construct machines and tools using engineering concepts. Its great for educating kids and also perfect for anyone who used to love the likes of Meccano.

33. Trainyard Express (universal)

 

Trainyard Express is a puzzle game which tasks you with getting trains to stations by laying track. It starts simple, but the logic puzzles soon test you, with colour theory and other complications. In all, you get 60 puzzles, and theres no overlap with the apps commercial sibling Trainyard.

34. X-Baseball (universal)

 

As the saying goes, there are few American sports that cant be improved by the impending threat of a banana, and thats X-Baseball. Hit balls! Hit bananas thrown by fans! Also, hit annoying birds flying overhead! Just dont not hit, otherwise your game will soon be over. Its just like the real thing!

35. Paper Toss: World Tour HD

 

The original Paper Toss was pretty dry and throwaway, but in dumping the wastebasket in absurd surroundings (within a volcanic pool, in the desert, by the Taj Mahal), it gets a second wind as Paper Toss: World Tour HD and is a far more satisfying flick-based arcade game.

36. NinJump - HD

 

NinJump is a quickfire one-thumb game which has your ninja rapidly climbing, leaping between two endless towers. As he leaps, he knocks obstacles from the air, dispatching killer squirrels, deadly birds and throwing stars lobbed by enemy ninjas. Simple, addictive fun.

37. Chucks Challenge (universal)

 

Chucks Challenge has a long pedigree, being heavily based on ancient Atari Lynx game Chips Challenge. The idea is to use your brain and swiping skills to solve tile-oriented puzzles, keeping your strange purple-haired avatar alive. For no money, you get 25 puzzles, but more are available to buy.

38. Parsec (universal)

 

On playing Parsec, we had to check a couple of times that it was free, because its one of the best shooters on the App Store. The game boasts retro-style neon visuals, slick touch controls, and an exciting 20-level time-attack structure that begs you to regularly attempt to beat your high score.

39. Yolk Em (universal)

 

Yolk Em gives you a shooter game unlike any other on the iPad. Its part augmented reality, part alien shooter, part eggs. Confused? We were at first. But no matter, it is interesting enough to at least give it a go, all you got to do is print out some targets, aim your iPad at it using the camera and yolk some aliens! Itll be great to keep your kids entertained on those rainy days.

40. BIT.TRIP Beat Blitz (universal)

 

The love-child of Pong and a drug-fuelled hallucination, BIT.TRIP Beat Blitz has you deflecting hundreds of balls, in time to crunchy industrial-style dance beats. This is dazzling and pure but demanding arcade gaming, with long, tough levels. Miss too many beats and youre plunged into Nether, a soulless black-and-white realm where you must chain multiple beats to escape from.

41. Triple Town (universal)

 

In Triple Town, you have to think many moves ahead to succeed. Its a match game where trios of things combine to make other things, thereby giving you more space on the board to evolve your town. At times surreal, Triple Town is also brain-bending and thoroughly addictive. Free moves slowly replenish, but you can also unlock unlimited moves via IAP.

42. Pinball HD Collection

 

If youre a fan of spanging a metal ball about, Gameproms iPad pinball tables are as good as they come. Pinball HD Collection is the freemium incarnation of the companys output, and you get the simple but playable Wild West entirely for free. Yee-haw!

43. Temple Run (universal)

 

There are many endless running games for the iPad, but this is the only one where youre being chased by deadly evil demon monkeys. But then you did nick a priceless trinket from a temple. Tsk! The tilty swipey gameplays perhaps a tad tiring after a while of holding up an iPad, but Temple Run is great in short bursts on the larger screen.

44. Candy Train (universal)

 

Leaves on the line? Pfft! Here, youre more likely to find candy and giant cherries. Not that such hazards stop the little train—but broken tracks will. Your job is therefore to plan out a route for the cartoon chuffer, until your brain seizes up and your Candy Train journey comes to a sticky end.

45. Bejeweled Blitz (universal)

 

Bejeweled Blitz is the online incarnation of PopCaps hugely popular gem-swap game, and it looks fab on the iPads screen. As a freemium title, theres a whiff of IAP (either grind or buy coins to unlock power-ups, or youve no chance of topping the high-score tables), but youll still be addicted all the same.

46. Magnetic Shaving Derby (universal)

 

"Use the magnet to attract the razor to shave the face!" explains Magnetic Shaving Derby, presumably having first hidden any safety instructions from view. The result is an experience best described as completely bonkers, with a side order of "dont try this at home, kids, unless you enjoy the site of blood".

47. Fairway Solitaire HD

 

Fairway Solitaire HD is a perfect example of what happens when you marry simple gameplay with a bit of character. On its own, the basic card system would be fine: unlock face-down cards by selecting those one higher or lower than the current one in the draw pile. But the addition of golf scoring and a crazed gopher out for blood turns this into a surprisingly enjoyable and original title. You get nine courses for free.

48. X-Motorcycle (universal)

 

X-Motorcycle happily offers two video game cliches for the price of none: the speeding hero (this time on a motorbike), who cannot slow down, and inexplicably giant fruit that appears to be an immensely important currency. The result is a fast, playable game reminiscent of old-school thrills filtered down to their essence and squirted into your iPad.

49. Orbit1

 

One thumb per person and one glowing neon ship is the premise behind Orbit1. You grab points, aim to destroy your opponents, and just hope someone doesnt flip out, grab the iPad and fling it out of the window in a huff.

50. Zen Pinball (universal)

 

More pinball! This ones a bit less realistic than Gameproms efforts, but Zen Pinball is very pretty, with a bright and exciting free table, Sorcerers Lair. Further tables are available via IAP, including some Marvel-themed and surprisingly great Star Wars efforts, but the sole freebie should have pinball addicts happily sated for a while.

51. Word Solitaire HD

 

With a game called Word Solitaire, you might expect a kind of solitaire game that has you form words rather than use standard cards. And thats exactly what you get here - sorry, anyone waiting for a huge surprise. However, this is not a bad thing, because Word Solitaire HD is a relaxing, entertaining title.

52. Royal Revolt (universal)

 

In Royal Revolt the king is dead and his siblings have stolen his kingdom while the prince was at school. Unfortunately for them, he was studying magic and is now out for revenge. The game itself is a real-time-strategy effort with some seriously cute and well-animated graphics.

53. Letterpress (universal)

 

Who knew you could have such fun with a five-by-five grid of letters? In Letterpress, you play friends via Game Center, making words to colour lettered squares. Surround any and theyre out of reach from your friends tally. Cue: word-tug-o-war, last-minute reversals of fortune, and arguments about whether qat is a real word or not. (It is.)

54. Snuggle Truck HD

 

This one had a dubious start, initially named Smuggle Truck and featuring immigrants being smuggled across the US border. One swift rejection by Apple later and the game swapped immigrants for cuddly toys, which is significantly funnier anyway. The trials-oriented gameplay isnt bad either.

55. Frisbee Forever 2 (universal)

 

As noted elsewhere in this list, we love Frisbee Forever. This sequel is essentially more of the same: fling your plastic disc away, guide it through hoops, collect stars, and make it to the finish line. What makes Frisbee Forever 2 really stand out is the lush locations you get to fly through, including ancient ruins and beautiful snowy hillsides.

56. Gridrunner Free (universal)

 

Gridrunner Free has the look of a lost 1980s arcade game, with hints of Caterpillar and Space Invaders. But this is really a thoroughly modern affair, with perfect touch controls and bullet-hell-style gameplay, albeit bullet-hell in the video game equivalent of a shoebox. Oh, and you only get one life in survival mode, making every game a frantic bid to stay alive. (More modes can be unlocked via the 69p In-App Purchase.)

57. Hero Academy (universal)

 

Theres a point in chess where you sometimes wish your knight would just give your opponents bishop a thoroughly good trampling. Sadly, few chess games do such things (the ancient Battlechess being an exception), but Hero Academy takes the idea and runs with it. On specially designed boards, wizards attack knights, and demons defend their turf against samurais. Its an engaging turn-based effort with plenty of depth.

58. Rinth Island (universal)

 

Rinth Island is what would happen if you propped block-shifter Soko-Ban up against a wall and wrapped it around a tube. The puzzles soon become notoriously devious, as you figure out how to reach each tubes summit, but its novelty factor combined with great design will ensure you stick around.

59. Outwitters (universal)

 

Another chessish two-player effort, Outwitters has teams of angry sea creatures battling to the death, first helpfully arming them with surprisingly dangerous weapons. (It turns out crabs eschew claws when theyve a mortar cannon to hand.) Unlike Hero Academy, Outwitters has a fog of war, meaning units cannot see any further than they can move. This makes the game tougher to master but perhaps more rewarding on doing so.

60. Shadow Era (universal)

 

Proving that great ideas never die, Shadow Era brings trading cards to life on the iPad. What you lose in not being able to smell the ink and manually shuffle the deck, you gain in not being able to lose the cards or have them eaten by the dog. Its all very swords-and-fantasy oriented, and just like in real life you can also buy extra cards if you feel the need.

61. Blendoku (universal)

 

A game about blending colours, which doesnt feature an Old English Sheepdog barely avoiding tipping paint everywhere? Missed opportunity! Still, what youre left with in Blendoku is a beautifully minimal game that tasks you with putting coloured squares in order. It starts off simple, but the level design will soon have you sobbing into your crayons.

62. Into the Dead (universal)

 

You know, if infinite zombies were running towards us, wed leg it in the opposite direction. Not so in Into the Dead, where you battle on until your inevitable and bloody demise. The games oddly dream-like (well, nightmare-like), and perseverance rewards you with new weapons, such as a noisy chainsaw. VVRRRMMM! (Splutch!)

63: Score! World Goals (universal)

 

Score! takes the basic premise of a million path-drawing games and wraps it around classic footie goals. The combination works really well, with you attempting to recreate the balls path in the best goals the worlds ever seen. Failure results in a baying crowd and, frequently, improbable goalkeeping heroics.

64. Lost Treasures of Infocom (universal)

 

"You are standing in an open field west of a white house." If youre of a certain age, youre already downloading Lost Treasures of Infocom, which gives you classic text adventure Zork entirely for free. IAP enables you to buy further titles by Infocom, the masters of interactive fiction, and they all work wonderfully on the iPad.

65. Groove Coaster Zero (universal)

 

Rhythm action games are rarely complex, but Groove Coaster Zero out-simples its rivals by only demanding you use a thumb to tap, press, swipe or rub, responding to on-screen symbols. In the meantime, beats are drummed into your ears as your eyes are hurled around a breakneck disco-neon roller-coaster. Groovy!

66. Frankenword (universal)

 

Take two words that havent previously met, introduce them via a cunning overlap, and youve another iPad word game that stands out from the crowd. Warning device plus mammal with armour? Alarmadillo, of course. Its probably not in your dictionary, but it should be on your iPad, because Frankenword is ace.

67. Super Monsters Ate My Condo (universal)

 

The original Monsters Ate My Condo was like Jenga and a match-three game shoved into a blender with a massive dollop of crazy. Super Monsters Ate My Condo is a semi-sequel which takes a time-attack approach, shoe-horning the bizarre tower-building/floor-matching/monster-feeding into a tiny amount of time, breaking your brain in the process.

68. RAD Soldiers (universal)

 

Tactical war-games tend to work well on a touchscreen device, and RAD Soldiers is no exception. The turn-based action has you take on chums or the single-player mode, and the cartoon styling gives a palatable face to leaving an enemy soldier as a pair of smoking boots. Just watch out for the IAP.

69. Cubed Rally Redline (universal)

 

Argh! Thats pretty much what youll be yelling on a regular basis on playing this endless racer. Cubed Rally Redline shouldnt be difficult. You can go left or right on five clearly defined lanes, and theres a time brake for going all slow-motion, Matrix-style, to weave through tricky gaps; but youll still be smashing into cows, dinosaurs and bridges before you know it.

70. Vectrex (universal)

 

In the distant past (well, the 1980s), there was an excellent console called the Vectrex, which had a vector-based iPad-sized screen. In the Vectrex app, its been beautifully recreated on the iPad. The Asteroids-Like Minestorm is entirely free, but further games are available to buy via IAP.

It seems that if a new product hasnt had the term cloud simply crowbarred into its marketing bumf, the entire production team is set to create its own stream of personalised precipitation when it gets its marching orders.


All good board of directors know their latest product has to be in the cloud, otherwise why would anyone use it? As it is, their pulsar-dense level of thundering stupidity is our gain.

While every man and his start-up are piling free cloud storage in with their app, phone, tablet, computer, service and kitchen sink, we can benefit by taking time out to hoover up this free online storage. See, online is a perfectly good word for it, plus it takes us back to the days when AOL used to send out discs.

From just rough calculations of the services on offer, you could easily net yourself over 70GB of general internet storage. Were not even talking a huge number of services either; targeting the top eight should easily net you that much, while a little more work could almost quadruple that amount.

"Fine, but how are you suppose to combine that into an easily usable lump?" we hear you cry. Thats exactly why were here. Were going to look at the various storage services that are being offered, which are best for your needs and how you can more easily access them as a whole. Alongside that, well look at how you can maximise your free cloud storage, too.

Before we begin, an important point to note about cloud storage systems is that theres a distinction between general and specific-service storage. While DropBox only offers 2GB of general-purpose storage, an image service such as Flickr is happy to provide 500 times that, with 1TB for your photos and videos. So lets see how we can snap up terabytes of free storage.

Despite our moaning, every marketing cloud has a silver lining - in this case, free space. With broadband download speeds heading towards the sort of pace youd expect from a slower USB thumb drive, its not an outrageous statement to say you could start using online storage for generalised low-speed, long-term storage and backup. So just how much cloud storage can you snag?

It depends how determined you are to snaffle every gigabyte available and how open-minded you are to exactly what you define as storage. Even for the lazy, its an easy to job to grab at least 50GB. If youre looking for a quick and dirty solution, heading over to www.mega.co.nz and creating an account bestows you with 50GB of storage and very few limitations. In fact, there are no file size or bandwidth limits at all. Itll resume upload and downloads, and includes mobile access. The only real restriction is only a single transfer is possible per tab. It doesnt offer device synchronisation currently, but thats supposedly coming in a future update to the service.

Two words of warning, though: firstly theres no password recovery system, so if you lose it you can wave goodbye to your data, and secondly this service is run by notorious Kim Dotcom, so who knows if itll be busted by the FBI.

Clumping clouds 

Over on Wikipedia theres a useful curated list of storage services. By our maths, if you take out accounts for most of them, you could get yourself over 330GB of free space. With a few tricks you could boost this by a further 100GB. This next point might be stretching things a little, as we realise theres a big difference between general storage and specialist-service storage.

Take Flickr, for example - its happy to give you 1TB of space, for free to store your photos, but not those oddly-named MKV files of yours. Similarly, Google Music offers space to store 20,000 MP3 tracks for free. Each track can be up to 128MB, so thats technically a ludicrous 2.4TB of storage for your music, just waiting to be claimed.

We could even claim that Google+ offers infinite storage for sub-4MP photos and sub-30-minute 1080p videos, but even we know thats going a little too far. So before weve even got through the door were looking at 3.4TB of free specific online storage. Thats enough to use as a decent backup space for your media files, but lets find out what more we can do.

Starting small

Rather unimaginatively, were going to begin by looking at Dropbox. Were starting here for several reasons, the first of which is that its a damn good online storage service. Beyond the obvious, it offers multi-device file synchronisation, a basic 2GB of free starting storage, mobile app access and a number of innovative ways to boost your free storage.

In many ways were interested in that last point, as were all about the free storage and many of these cloud services offer you ways to boost your base free storage by doing simple tasks. For example, while the base free storage for Dropbox is 2GB, itll give you an extra 250MB just for following its introductory guide. Another 625MB can be gained from linking to Twitter and Facebook, plus following the Dropbox social accounts and firing off a spam tweet for them.

The best free gig is to use the camera upload feature in the mobile Dropbox app; you get 500MB of free storage for every 500MB of images you upload, up to 3GB. All of those combined make it easy to snag 5GB of free Dropbox storage.

Friend referrals are another spacemaker; for every person who installs on a referral youll get another 500MB free, up to 16GB. That brings your total free storage to 21GB or so.

Cloud seeding

As you might have noticed, this referral gig can be quite lucrative if you have gullible - sorry, gracious friends who are willing to help out.

So what other storage sites have decent referral schemes on offer? MediaFire is an excellent choice, offering 10GB to start and 1GB for each referral up to 32G. It also offers 2GB for installing the desktop tools and 2GB of the mobile app, alongside 1GB bonuses each for Twitter, Facebook and social mentions.

Just working with referrals, MiMedia gives you 7GB base storage with 1GB for each referral up to 5GB.

SugarSync is a pretty cool service in itself, as it adds its cloud storage as a mapped drive letter on your system. It gives you 5GB as a free account anyway, with up to 32GB via referrals in 500MB chunks.

Similarly, Ubuntu One provides 5GB free, with 500MB for each referral up to 20GB.

Its also worth keeping an eye open for offers, too. Over recent years manufacturers such as HP, HTC and Samsung have bundled enhanced cloud storage packages with their devices. And these have been as generous as 50GB with the HP Touchpad and some Samsung tablets. HTC has also offered 25GB with some phones, though often these offers are limited to a years subscription. Weve also seen Box.net give away 25GB and 50GB worth of space on Facebook. We havent seen one of these offers since February, but it could be worth following, just in case.

At this point, with Mega, a free Box.net 50GB bonus and referrals in full swing, you could be packing 247GB without really breaking into a sweat. Add to this little lot a generally standard 15GB of Google Drive/Gmail storage, 7GB of Microsoft SkyDrive and 5GB of Amazon Cloud (after all, you probably already have an Amazon account), and youre looking at 274GB of total cloud storage. Even ignoring the potentially dubious referrals, thats 169GB for the taking.

Joli rancher

Now that youve got a basket full of cloud storage, whats the best way to manage and access it all without going nuts? First, let us point you in the direction of www.jolicloud.com, an incredibly neat all-in-one cloud manager. It isnt a cloud consolidating system - all the services remain separated and youre unable to move files, images or anything else between them. What Jolicloud does is give all of your most-used social networks and cloud storage one pretty damn slick web interface, which you can access from anywhere.

If you happen to also use a password manager such as LastPass - the benefits of weve bored you with previously - the setup process takes just a minute, even with a long list of cloud service and social networks.

Its nothing more complex than selecting the services icon from the list of supported ones, entering your username and password then enabling access for Jolic m8loud. You can even create an account via Facebook or Google+, which makes registration a one-click process.

So Jolicloud puts all your cloud services and social networks in one place for easy perusing, but nothing beyond that; they remain separate services. How can you clump these lumps of cloud storage together to make life easier?

One solution is Otixo - a browser and app-based collaboration and cloud consolidation service. Its a paid-for service; the web version is available for a one-off fee of $39.99 for a limited time, but once thats gone its $9.99 per month.

Otixo does a number of clever tricks. It enables you to add multiple cloud services and access them from a single login. Unlike Jolicloud, it then enables you to search and view files across all of the services. You can also copy and move files between cloud storage, and upload files directly to any of your online accounts.

Setting up Otixo doesnt take long; youll need to register for an account, but once thats done, adding most service accounts is just a matter of entering the username and password, then authorising access.

One of Otixos most interesting features is its ability to organise collaborative projects. This works best if everyone involved has an Otixo account, but thats not essential. Once youve created a project, you can add files from any of your accounts and share the Space with selected collaborators. The Space logs changes and comments made, and any changes to documents are also made to the original file. The monthly fee and collaborative elements make Otixo most suitable for business use and academic projects, but if youre a power cloud user it could certainly be of interest.

If youre looking for a free alternative to Otixo, Primadesk offers a free account that is limited to adding 10 linked services. Even then the full paid-for service is just $50 for a year, offers unlimited linked services and provides an additional 10GB of storage too.

Why the additional storage? One service that Primadesk offers is cloud backup of your cloud backup. Its straightforward enough - just select the folders you want to copy and itll do the rest. It might sound overkill to you, but its a potentially life-saving service thats not well catered for, offering a lifeline if another service is cut off.

Otherwise its very much like Otixo, albeit perhaps not as slick. You can easily drag and drop files and folders between services. If you want to edit a file, a double-click takes you to the original services editing page, but theres no preview feature. Usefully the search is cross-service, and can index the contents of files too. For a free service its well worth taking the time to check out.

Little fluffy clouds

Its unlikely that youre going to run after every gigabyte of free storage, but part of the point here is that even with the basic services (Dropbox, Google Drive and Skydrive), youre likely to have upwards of 30GB of free cloud storage available. Its also likely that the files stored here will become somewhat muddled and accessing all the systems will be a pain.

Primadesk provides a single login for most (if not all) of your cloud storage services. With space for 20,000 tracks, which you can stream from anywhere, Google Music is a prime example of an excellent service that gives you terabytes of free storage.

If youre looking for something that covers all of your media, check out QVIVO. Its a paid-for streaming media service, but it offers unlimited storage and streaming for HD video and audio to your desktop for just $1.99 per month (or $2.99 for use with mobile devices).

One of the drawbacks of online storage is the time it takes to upload your files, so running a home server puts you in a better position. You probably have most or all of your media and backup files stored on a server already, so you wont have to scramble around trying to gather all of your files in one easy hub.