Federico Kalayjian’s iPhone and iPad apps Smoody and Smoody HD have been updated with a new chapter “Underwater” and include 20 new levels. There are also new in-app purchases for new characters and additional cuts.

The Smoodies are scattered throughout the universe and are searching for one another to begin a new era. Use your wit and creativity to help them reunite while travelling through space.

• Just tap, slide and release to assist your Smoody in reaching the "black hole" using insanely realistic physics and interactive stage elements that you can actually destroy!
• Work your way through 5 chapters spanning 100 insanely addicting levels using teleporters, ropes, magnets and much more! Easy to use gameplay, challenging levels and lovable characters make Smoody impossible to put down.
• Think carefully and plan wisely to obtain the coveted 3 stars for each level. The faster and more precisely you can slice and dice your way through each level will earn you even more points! *Earn achievements and battle with friends and other players around the world for top score.
• Share your scores and achievements with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Smoody is such a fun little puzzle game! It has a similar feel to one of my favorite games, Cut the Rope. It has a simple premise but can be surprisingly challenging. If you’re into these types of games, Smoody won’t disappoint!

Smoody and Smoody HD are available for free today only! They are normally priced at $0.99 and $2.99, respectively. Screenshots and video after the break.

[iPhone iTunes link] [iPad iTunes link]

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iOS 5 beta 3 has an interesting new addition — Accessibility has been augmented with a gesture based control panel inside "AssistiveTouch" that can reproduce all the functionality of the existing hardware buttons, and much more.

Once turned on in Settings, the control panel can be activated by tapping the overlay on screen. It pops up with a menu containing Gestures, Favorites, Devices, and Home. Gestures has a sub menu for 2, 3, 4, and 5 finger gestures, and once you choose a quantity, blue circles in the appropriate amount appear on screen. Favorites contains defaults like Pinch and Swipe, and any custom gestures you’ve created. Device replicates the hardware features such as Rotate Screen, Lock Screen, Mute/Unmute, Volume Up/Volume Up, and Shake.

While some may think this heralds Apple ditching hardware buttons, remember, you would still need a way to reset your device if it locks up, to turn off the ringer or change volume if it’s in your pocket or purse, and to keep iOS accessible for children and people form whom complex UI and gestures are a barrier to entry.

Still, this could turn out to be a very interesting addition to iOS 5, especially for advanced users who want to have a software-based interface. Most importantly, it shows that Apple — who is already incredibly far ahead of the competition when it comes to accessibility — is not slowing down.

[Thanks @kyledziekan]

Hot Salsa Interactive has released their new app, Zander – Virtual Pet Alien, for iPhone and iPad. With it, you become the ‘owner’ of a new pet named Zander. However, Zander isn’t your average pet – he’s an alien!

• Play with Zander all day long. Zander requires no clean up and does not stain the carpets. Since your pet alien is from another planet, the vet bills can be kept to a minimum.
• Learn Zander’s alien language and you can speak to him and have him do what you want. But, be careful…Zander is not fond of bad words. Don’t ignore him for too long, he’ll get a little upset.
• Zander can do many things and understands over 70 commands. Try to figure out everything that he can do!
• Play music with Zander and don’t forget to send a photo of yourself with Zander to all your friends!

This app is just way too cute for words. Zander is an adorable little friend that will bring a smile to anyone’s face, kids and adults alike.

Zander – Virtual Pet Alien is available for $1.99. Screenshots after the break.

[iTunes link]

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There’s bound to be something new in iOS 5 beta 3, a new icon, a new screen, a new setting… something that shows what Apple has been up to. Already the internet and our inboxes are filling up. A lot of it is, frankly, stuff we think we’ve seen before in previous betas, but some of it looks new to us as well.

• New location services opt-in/opt-out splash screen on setup
• Settings control for system-level location services (similar to what was previously available for App Store apps)
• Settings control to toggle status bar icon for location services on/off
• New iTunes Wi-Fi sync splash screen
• New icon for Reminders
• Some new stuff with tones (not sure about it yet)Text tones can be set from iTunes ringtones

We’re going to collect it here, in this gallery. If you find anything we haven’t come across yet, let us know.

Screenshots after the break.

Apple has just released iOS 5 beta 3 (9A5259f) for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV, along with iTunes 10.5 beta 3 for Mac, and Xcode 4.3 Preview 3 for developers.

While in previous years Apple had stuck fairly closely to an every-second-Tuesday beta release schedule, iOS 5 beta 2 hit on a Friday just over two weeks after beta 1, and now beta 3 is on a Monday just under 2 weeks after beta 2. On average, the pacing remains similar, however, and Apple has previously said the release version would come this fall. (Likely September/October to coincide with iPhone 5 and perhaps other new devices.)

Interestingly, they’re once again doing a traditional, tethered release. No signs of them testing the bit-differential/delta file update system yet.

If you’re a paid, registered developer with Apple, go get it. What if any changes have been made in iOS 5… we’ll have to wait and see. As always, we have comments below and a special iOS 5 Forum for your discussion pleasure.

(Reminder: if you’re not a paid developer, stay away. Buying slots can get you scammed, and running beta software on your main device can leave you stranded. Wait for fall.)

[developer.apple.com]

With rumors of Apple exploring new ways to charge iPhones and iPads, MacRumors pulls together threads from a company called WiTricity, which is based wireless charging research from MIT, and puts it together with an Apple patent application that surfaced earlier this year.

Apple describes a scenario where your iMac could be the source of this resonance power to provide a virtual charging area in front of your computer. Keyboards, mice and even mobile electronic devices like the iPhone or iPad could be charged simply be being in a 1 meter proximity to your computer. In typical Apple fashion, they describe that “by doing away with clumsy and annoying cables and eliminating the need to replace batteries, an easy to use and efficient local computing environment can be provided to the user.”

So unlike HP/Palm’s TouchStone, it wouldn’t require direct contact, just proximity. Whether or not Apple is or will work with WiTricity, or does anything with wireless charging any time soon, it’s interesting to see what’s being explored in the labs.

I’ve used inductive charging with the Pre Plus and with PowerMat, and while it feels like the future, it feels like a very close future. Like a novelty and not that far removed from the tether (trading the socket for a surface). True wireless charging, the ability to put your iPhone or iPad down pretty much where you want, and pick it up again fully charged? Way closer to Star Trek.

TED video after the break.

AutoPlay is clever little app that enables you to create playlists from YouTube videos. The iOS stock YouTube app is very nice but it does lack a few killer features. With AutoPlay YouTube becomes a great way to watch continuous videos and even stream them to your Apple TV or HD TV; with the right hardware.

AutoPlay plays continuous YouTube videos on iOS and on TV without tapping the next button on the screen, so you can just sit back and watch the YouTube videos. You can also create an instant playlist in AutoPlay. For example, you can add YouTube videos like X-Men Episode from 1 to 10 to the instant playlist and AutoPlay plays it automatically for you.

Features:

Auto start & Auto play

• Auto start video in full screen mode on both iOS and TV.
• Automatically play next video when the video is finished. No effort needed!

Build your Instant Playlist

• Find videos, add them to the Instant Playlist, and then AutoPlay it.
• You can easily browse YouTube Videos in AutoPlay and add them to the instant playlist with the In-App YouTube browser. For example, you can search videos like “X-Men Episode” on Youtube and then add them for AutoPlay.

Watch Video Feeds Continuously

• Continuously play YouTube videos from the list of “Most Viewed” , “Top Favorited”, “Top Rated”, “Most Shared”, “Trending Video”, and other feeds.

Enter Keyword & Watch Instantly

• Just type in some keywords. It will automatically AutoPlay it for you.

Connect AutoPlay to TV

• Connect iPad / iPhone 4 to TV with HDMI Cable
• Connect iPad / iPhone 4 to TV with AirPlay (Require Apple TV)

The app is a universal binary so works with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad; it requires iOS 4.2 or later. If you want to take the plunge and try out this YouTube alternative app, it will cost you $2.99. I would guess if you're a big YouTube user, this one could be really handy to have in your app arsenal!

[$2.99 – iTunes link]

Can you not wait for Apple to release a second, Retina Display equipped iPad 3 (or iPad 2 HD/Pro/Plus) this year, or does the mere thought of it fill you with unbridled geek rage? The rumors keep getting stronger, and TiPb and many others have heard that Apple is seriously considering adding a new iPad to the already chock-a-block fall lineup.

If you just paid $500-$900 for an iPad 2, it’s understandable that that would set you off. You wanted top of the line for 2011 and you expected your investment to be top of the line until at least next spring. How could Apple try and obsolete your beautiful new iPad 2 just 6 months out of the gate?

Some of you might look at your iPad 2 and really be annoyed by the lack of Retina Display, and want Apple to address that asap, damn the costs. Or maybe you skipped iPad 2 because it wasn’t a big enough bump and have been waiting to go Retina for a while already, and the sooner the better. Hey, maybe you haven’t even gotten on the iPad train yet and this is the model you’ve been holding out for, and now is not a problem.

Apple has already sold over 20 million plus iPads and while that’s a good chunk of potential upgrades, they likely have their eyes set on a much bigger prize — the over 100 million iPhone uses who don’t have iPads yet, and beyond them, the hundreds of millions of consumers who don’t have any iOS devices at all yet.

Apple has us, understands we’ll upgrade when and if we can, but it wants them. Would a more expensive iPad be the way to increase their already market leading share of the tablet market? Maybe a little. The bigger share will be, of course, at the lower end of the market — a place Apple has eschewed in the past for everything but iPods. But an iPad Pro to fit the MacBook Pro square in the product matrix is interesting… if the standard iPad 2 gets a price drop to better address the lower end at the same time…

Either way, how do you feel about Apple potentially releasing a second iPad this year?

Randomly accurate rumor site Digitimes claims that Apple is adding a second contractor to meet iPad 3 (or iPad 2 HD/Pro/Plus) demand this fall. That’s right, they’re also throwing their hat into the “Apple launching a second iPad in 2011″ ring.

The latest market rumors also indicated that the new iPad may be named iPad 2 plus and will be thinner than its predecessors yet with upgraded display.

The new iPads will be launched at the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter, noted the sources. Total shipments of iPad tablet PCs are expected to top 13 million units in the third quarter, estimated the sources.

They’re pegging Petagron, which makes the Verizon iPhone and might get iPhone 5 business, as being the additional manufacturer. Despite being far and away the market leader, Apple has struggled to meet demand for both iPhone and iPad, and it makes sense they’d like to address this one chink in their otherwise adamantine mobile armor.

Digitimes

Sperasoft has updated their finance manager for iPhone, Money iQ, with improvements and new currencies.

Highly intelligent application packed with innovative features that make managing personal or business finances effortless. Money iQ offers multiple accounts management, smart budgeting, instant currency conversion, statistical reporting, balance view for assets, liabilities and net worth, transactions scheduling, records e-mailing and much more.

• Multiple accounts management from a single screen.
• Instant balance screen statistics.
• Record transactions on a fly.
• Recurring transactions to manage your bills.
• Generate reports, filter your data, export and e-mail your reports.
• Instant currency conversion for any transaction.
• E-mail account or transaction details.
• Create income and expenses categories.
• Add map locations, notes or images to any transaction.
• Smart budgeting with graphic alerts.
• Backup and restore all your data within moments.
• Track monthly expense tendencies with graphic charts.
• Quick search: find any record within moments.
• Localizations: English, Russian.

Money iQ is available for $4.99. Screenshots and video demo after the break.

[iTunes link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.