Philip Michaels

Source: iTunesWhen I was about 10 years old, I decided it was time to graduate from the Scholastic Reader-approved books of my youth to what I determined was meatier, more adult fare. I checked out a book from the library about World War II -- it may well have been one of those Time-Life overviews of the war that doubtlessly make serious historians cringe. But for a 10-year-old it was just the sort of stuff to spark an interest in history that continues to this day.

The 10-year-olds of 2012 have more sophisticated tools at their disposal in the form of Apple's iPad. And that's given developers a chance to use the iPad's touch interface and multimedia support to make history come alive in ways that few people probably imagined back in 1982. I've recently spent some time with a pair of apps -- World War II Interactive and Timeline World War 2 -- that take the same information about the war that I pored over decades ago and present it in an eye-popping new fashion. Both apps are worthwhile downloads for history buffs, particularly students, but one of them in particular does a standout job of putting its own stamp on the story of the conflict.

When I was about 10 years old, I decided it was time to graduate from the Scholastic Reader-approved books of my youth to what I determined was meatier, more adult fare. I checked out a book from the library about World War II--it may well have been one of those Time-Life overviews of the war that doubtlessly make serious historians cringe. But for a 10-year-old it was just the sort of stuff to spark an interest in history that continues to this day.

The 10-year-olds of 2012 have more sophisticated tools at their disposal in the form of Apple's iPad. And that's given developers a chance to use the iPad's touch interface and multimedia support to make history come alive in ways that few people probably imagined back in 1982. I've recently spent some time with a pair of apps--World War II Interactive and Timeline World War 2--that take the same information about the war that I pored over decades ago and present it in an eye-popping new fashion. Both apps are worthwhile downloads for history buffs, particularly students, but one of them in particular does a standout job of putting its own stamp on the story of the conflict.

Monster Flip screenshotMonster Flip screenshotThere's nothing particularly earth-shattering about Monster Flip, an iPhone and iPad puzzle game whose mechanics will be instantly recognizable to anyone who's ever played a match-three-style game. So why do I have such a hard time putting the game down? I think that's a testament to the efforts of developer Launching Pad, which worked hard to add the little details that transform a standard game into something truly engaging.

Published by PikPok, Monster Flip features a grid made up of four different species of cube-shaped monsters. Using a finger, you draw a ring around at least three of those monsters, either horizontally or vertically. That causes the targeted monsters to flip around. Your goal: Flip the monsters so that you manage to match up at least three similar-looking critters. The matched monsters will disappear, and new ones will drop into the grid to take their place. Plan out your moves properly, and you can make multiple stacks of monsters disappear with one flip; you might even get lucky and have the monsters falling into the grid drop into groups of threes, scoring you bonus points. Again, this isn't anything that will shock anyone who's ever played Bejeweled or the many match-three games that it inspired.

Apple’s mobile suite of iLife apps is now complete. On Wednesday, the company rolled out iPhoto for iOS, which joins mobile versions of GarageBand and iMovie in the App Store.

The $5 app arrives on the App Store Wednesday. While Apple executives demonstrated the mobile image editor to show off the improved display on the latest iPad, iPhoto is a universal iOS app—like GarageBand and iMovie, it will run on the iPhone and iPod touch as well as Apple's tablet.

Japanese-speaking iPhone 4S owners will now get a chance to chat with Siri. Apple on Wednesday rolled out iOS 5.1, which adds Japanese language support for the iPhone 4S’s artificial-intelligence assistant.

Announcing the iOS update during a press event, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the 5.1 update would be available Wednesday, with Siri support rolling out in Japan over the next few weeks.

Starting next month, ALK Technologies hopes to take iOS device owners in a new direction. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the navigation software maker announced plans for a free route-planning and on-board mapping app that it expects to be available for the iPhone and iPad next month. The company sees it somewhat as a alternative to Google's Maps.

CoPilot GPS will let users download maps onto their iOS device to use, even when they're not connected to a network. The app will offer mapping capabilities, including millions of pre-installed points of interest, as well as route-planning capabilities. To that end, CoPilot GPS will deliver many of the same features found in ALK's CoPilot Live North America, a $20 turn-by-turn GPS navigation app.

Spend any time with some of the iOS apps created by Moonbot Studios, and you get the sense that the developer really has a passion for words and stories. From The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore to the more recent release Numberlys, Moonbot's visually striking apps convey a love for language and an appreciation for how story-telling can add color to our lives.

Take Morris Lessmore, a masterpiece of an iPad app that we recognized with an App Gem award last year. Morris Lessmore tells the story of a Buster Keaton-esque young man whose life gets upended, only for him to find comfort in a world of books.

The price of data is going up for new AT&T wireless customers. But they’ll be getting more data for their buck.

On Wednesday, the wireless carrier announced new pricing for smartphone and tablet customers that goes into effect on Sunday. Don’t worry about your existing plan being changed if you currently do business with AT&T — the carrier says current subscribers can keep their current plans if they don’t want to pick any of the new options.

The price of data is going up for new AT&T wireless customers. But they'll be getting more data for their buck.

On Wednesday, the wireless carrier announced new pricing for smartphone and tablet customers that goes into effect on Sunday. Don't worry about your existing plan being changed if you currently do business with AT&T--the carrier says current subscribers can keep their current plans if they don't want to pick any of the new options. "

www.apple.comApple says it stepped up environmental audits of suppliers and found significantly fewer cases of underage labor at its supplier plants last year. The findings were highlighted in Apple's annual Supplier Responsibility report, which the company released Friday.

As part of the report on worker protections and factory conditions, Apple also published a list of its production suppliers-an unprecedented move for a company that tends to keep a tight lid on details about its supply chain. Apple says the list of 156 suppliers represents 97 percent of its procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing, and assembly of its products around the globe.

Strike Knight looks to recreate the puck bowling game you might find down at your local tavern. And it does a pretty good job of it, from the gleaming wood of the playing surface to the neon bar lights in the background. This iPhone offering from Backflip Studios--and its iPad counterpart, Strike Knight HD--doesn't exactly push the envelope for iOS gaming. But both versions of Strike Knight offer up a decent degree of fun, if you're either willing to put up with a lot of ads or pay for the privilege of making those ads go away.

Gameplay in Strike Knight couldn't be simpler: Use your finger to slide a puck across a wooden tabletop toward ten pins. At the far end of the table, lit-up numbers flash just above the pins. These are the points you pick up if you record a strike (knocking down all ten pins in one turn) or a spare (knocking them down in two turns); fail to record either, and you're awarded only a meager amount of points for the pins you do manage to knock down.

Every new year means at least 365 new days to speculate on what Apple might have up its sleeve. And two days into 2012, we already have a potential Apple event to talk about.

The Wall Street Journal's AllThingsD blog reported Monday that Apple is planning a media-related event for the end of January. The event would be held in New York City, says AllThingsD's Kara Swisher, citing "sources close to the situation." The Loop's Jim Dalrymple confirmed the AllThingsD report.