Whether you want to have a barbecue, plan a trip or just relax in your garden, there are some essential apps you really should download. We have listed 6 top apps to make your summer even more enjoyable!

RunKeeper (free)
What better way to start your day then with an early run! With the RunKeeper app you can track your running distance, pace, weight loss and more. Not a fan of running? Use RunKeeper to track your walks, cycling tours and other workouts! It also works on the Apple Watch when you combine it with your iPhone.

GrillTime ($1.99)
Do you want to enjoy the weather with a delicious barbecue? Grill the perfect steak or any other kind of meat with the GrillTime app. The app guides you through the actual grilling and notifies you when your meat is done. Select the meat, thickness and level of doneness you want and let GrillTime do the rest. The app can’t do absolutely everything for you, so you are needed to put the meat on the barbecue and flip it when it’s time.

Kayak (free)
Summer time usually means travelling. People are looking forward to spending their vacation in the perfect place. One thing most people do not look forward to is packing. What you need to pack, depends on the location you are headed to. Some will be staying in luxury hotels in far-flung places and calculating flying on a private jet costs to get there in style, whilst others will be planning local camping trips and adventures with their family. Either way, the packing will be necessary. Save time and do not forget a single thing with the GetPacked app. You have to answer a couple of simple questions and within a few seconds the app customizes a personal packing list. This is an iPhone and iPad app.

GetPacked ($1.99)
Summer time usually means travelling. People are looking forward to spending their vacation in the perfect place. One thing most people do not look forward to is packing. What you need to pack, depends on the location you are headed to. Save time and do not forget a single thing with the GetPacked app. You have to answer a couple of simple questions and within a few seconds the app customizes a personal packing list. This is an iPhone an iPad app.

Free WiFi Finder (free)
Nowadays most people can’t go a day without access to the internet. Not even when they are on vacation. Whether you want to find the best restaurant in town, directions to your hotel or the nearest monuments, with internet-access you have the information you’re looking for right away. However, using your mobile internet could be quite expensive. Not with the Free WiFi Finder app! The app uses your location to find free Wi-Fi access. The Free WiFi Finder app is compatible with an iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Point It app ($2.99)
Are you headed for a foreign country this summer? The English language is not spoken everywhere or at least, not as well as you would like. Even if you are familiar with the foreign language, it can sometimes be difficult to understand one and another. The Point It app is the solution! Simply choose a picture and point at it to make yourself clear. With the pictures of this app everyone can understand you. The Point It app is compatible with an iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Get the best out of your summer with these apps, which you can buy in the iTunes Store with a credit card or iTunes Gift Card. You can order an iTunes Card from iTunescard.com in an easy and fast way. It is even possible to purchase the newest movies, music and books with it.

The post 6 Apps You Should Definitely Have This Summer appeared first on AppTrawler.

Who is Green Throttle Games?

Green Throttle Games produces a game controller that was designed to connect wirelessly to mobile devices by using Bluetooth technology. This can overcome the typical limitation of gaming on smart phones and tablets, by providing physical buttons for precision controls. Let’s hope that the Santa Clara Company that now belongs to Google will bring something new to the table sometime in the future.

Green Throttle Games came up with an Android app that demanded the use of its own “Atlas” controller, which by the way looked just like the Xbox 360 joystick, only it was connected to other Android phones via Bluetooth. The app was removed from Google Play at the end of 2013, and it looks like it only had a couple of thousands downloads. The company kept selling the Atlas controller in spite of the fact that gamers couldn’t download the app anymore. But all that is in the past right now.

This acquisition feeds industry speculation that Google is working on a TV set-top game box, which would enable customers to play Android games on the big screen. This is a hot technology area right now. Apple has a product on the market now, the Apple TV, and Amazon is expected to bring their set top box out within a month.

These big players became interested in this once they found how interested consumers are in their mobile games. In fact, both the iTunes store and Google Play have so many games on offer that they are virtual arcades. With sales like this, it is obvious the market is hot, and that the big companies are taking it seriously. Apple has their offering in position, and with Amazon hot on their heels, can Google be far behind?

We have high expectations from Google

Google has attempted similar products in the past, with little success, and industry insiders are speculating about what their next box will do. Their relatively new Chromecast dongle allows mobile content to be played on a television.

How will the new box operate? While it could be something as simple as a Chromecast-style connection to the internet, experts predict that it will be more capable than that, but still far short of the powerful mainstream gaming consoles that are already  on the market. Google does have money to invest, however, and they have proven their willingness to spend on new technologies before.

At the moment, it looks like the established consoles on the market, the Microsoft XBOX One and the Sony PS4 will retain their leadership positions. It doesn’t appear that the new boxes from Google, Apple, or Amazon will be powerful enough to take a bite out of their core market. However, this could be just the start. As hardware gets cheaper and cheaper every day, and cloud computing becomes more powerful, flexible, and integrated into our lives, things could change.

The public’s gaming tastes can and do shift, also. In a few years, these two powerhouses may be facing some serious competition. Years ago, people thought it was an odd choice for Microsoft to move into the gaming market from its traditional Windows and desktop software. They thought the same when Sony made their move into gaming consoles.

Google has some big advantages at this point – incredible financial clout and money to invest, teams of highly skilled engineers, and an Android platform with millions of users worldwide. They certainly have the potential to become a big player in this market, and the purchase of Green Throttle Games looks like a step in that direction.

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