Free Apps Roundup for February 22, 2013

This week on the Free Apps Roundup: They say all the best things in life are free. However, they didn’t say how long they were free. This week, they aren’t free forever. So when I tell you to download a sweet game called Tiny Solar that has you playing as potentially an entire galaxy, maybe you should go download it right now. Or maybe you want to be like John McClane and save the day in the Die Hard game. That’s right, nearly everything on the list this time is a limited time freebie. Read. Set. Download.

The Top Three Free Apps:

• Audiobooks from Audible – Amazon has finished updating this app, and now it works great on iPad. It’s the official app for Audible.com, an Amazon company. It’s the perfect app (and service) for those of us who want to read more books, but don’t have the time to actually having a staring match with some paper. But maybe you do have time to listen, like when driving. Their service has over 100,000 titles which can be transferred between devices over Wi-Fi, listened to in the background, and can even help to build a library that knows your listening habits.
• Tiny Solar – Have you ever looked up towards the rest of the universe and thought to yourself, “I could totally do that?” Well, now you can. This app is an open sand-box universe simulation. You start as a small fragment and grow thanks to gravity until you eventually become a black hole, swallowing everything in your way. But don’t forget that it’s actually a game, with stages and stuff to do other than observe gravity. Sound like fun? Download it now, because it’s only free for a limited time.
• Die Hard – Yippee ki-yay! Are you ready to battle ruthless mobsters, elite commandos and shadowy politicians? Of course you are, you’re the son of Bruce Willis, er, John McClane. Blast your way out of Moscow’s mean streets and travel to the radioactive wasteland of Chernobyl. This game combines a 3D shooter with an endless runner style game. Plus, it does retina graphics at 60 FPS. And to think, they’re giving it away for a limited time.

Free Apps for a Limited Time:

• InstaFisheye – Ever wanted to take fish-eye style pictures? This app does just that. Obviously it can’t really give you a wider field of view, but it can give you a similar distortion in your photos.
• Stickyboard 2 – Imagine a giant whiteboard with a never-ending stack of sticky-notes. Not only that, but the app can intelligently rearrange your sticky notes for you. It’s a neat app with great brain-storming potential.
• Stress Check Pro – If you need help figuring out how stressed you are, you’re probably either stressed out or not stressed at all. But maybe you just don’t know or think you might be surprised. This app can do just that by measuring your heartbeat and assuming the rest. Try it out.
• Pocket Briefcase Pro – It’s an all-in-one document reader and manager. That is all.
• Weedo – Save your memories forever by storing notes in this app with a lovely warm interface. You can even password protect it, you know, if your journal is like totally secret.
• Mobi Reader – Do you use Google Reader to keep track of all of your RSS feeds? If so, you might really enjoy having an app that uses Google Reader, but reformats for use on iOS. You can read your feeds, and add, search or edits feeds. And it all syncs back to your Google Reader account.
• Mobi Reder HD – The same for iPad.
• InstaWeather Pro – If you think the standard weather app is boring, you might like this one instead. It overlays weather information on to your photos, presumably so you can brag about how great the weather is on your favorite social networks. I don’t know that anyone can beat the frigid temperatures and piles of snow around me though. It doesn’t get any better.
• Monsters, Inc. Run – Get excited for the new movie with a game based on the original Monsters, Inc. Run, jump, and power your way through this monstrously fun action game that journeys through the city of Monstropolis with all of your favorite characters.
• Raiding Company – It’s a top-down 3D dual stick shooter. There are 6 characters with unique weapons, 5 missions, plus tons of challenges, achievements and starts to collect.
• Distant Star – Here’s an old-school space game similar to Master of Orion or Sword of the Stars. The goal is to build up your fleet and conquer the galaxy, both in the game and probably in the real world too.
• Drop Sort – Think you can sort boxes better than a delivery company? I don’t doubt it, but now you can try your hand at directing workers to trucks to fill them with the correct type of boxes. The boxes just keep coming. Can you keep up?
• Lander Hero – Help our hero to navigate through rocky landscapes filled with challenging obstacles to fly from pad to pad. There are over 50 levels to keep you challenged.