The makers of Crazy Penguin Catapult and Rollercoaster Rush, the team from Digital Chocolate has hit the jackpot with its newest golden release – California Gold Rush. The game is similar to the iDig It release from InMotion Software, but it will take you back in time, when the gold rush was on. The game had me hooked the very first run, and I’ve been pushing towards the final levels since. It’s freshly addictive and extremely pleasant and entertaining.

You’ll be playing the sweet Mandy as you rush to gather as much gold as possible from the depths beneath. Your task is to explore over 30 mines throughout the game, filled with golden surprises, but spiced up with sudden dangers as well. The controls are really simple. A simple tap on a square of dirt and Mandy will dig right through it [...]

With over 50,000 apps in the App Store, it’s getting pretty hard to keep track of all of them, see what’s on sale, what’s newly released and basically stay on top of what you want to now and learn about. Since the beginning we’ve been doing hard work on documenting all these changes, and have always wondered why there isn’t an app to do it for us. Yes, I know, we’re lazy.

Well, out comes AppMiner from Bitrino to the rescue. This wonderful iPhone app will work seamlessly with the iPhone’s App Store app, but will use different sorting methods to display your most wanted apps. The three navigation tabs at the bottom of the screen will let you display apps according to newly released, on sale, or top rated apps. Once you choose one of these, you’ll be able to further filter through by [...]

For those thrill seekers out there, LeapingFrogs came up with a clean little iPhone app that displays the speed at which the vehicle you’re on is traveling. How Fast requires an iPhone with a 3G connection, for best results.

By using location capabilities from your iPhone, How fast can calculate the current velocity and to display it, it uses a very readable speedometer on your screen. Easy to use, easy to understand. But pretty low on functionality. There’s basically just one thing you can do with this app: see how fast you’re going. There are a few options that come to mind, options like saving speedometer readings for later comparison, or, to give it a funny angle, funny comparisons between your speed and various vehicles (train, bus, car or space shuttle). [...]

The team over at Kinevia came up with a free iPhone and iPod Touch app that would act as your guide and cab driver in your own city. With MetrO, all you have to do is install the city from the supported list, and you’re off. The app doesn’t require an internet connection after installing the city, and it puts at your disposal routes, maps and every means of transportation such as buses, trams and subway stations.

Once you start the app, you’ll be presented with the list of supported cities, and, you’ll have to install the ones you will be using the app with to get around. You will need an internet connection for this, so make sure you’re in range of WiFi, 3G or EDGE. After installing the city, you can start searching routes and navigation maps. You will have to enter a start and an end location [...]

From Anishu came HomeBudget, a must-have app for both personal and family use, to keep track and control expenses, helping you budget accordingly. This iPhone app is fully integrated with your bank accounts, so you’re always on top of what you have versus what you spend.

With the app supporting accurate tracking of both expenses and income, HomeBudget is a more complex app that meets the eye. You’re dealing with more screens than usual, and a rather hefty configuration, but once you get the hang of it, it’s all a matter of getting used to logging every expense you have, so that the app can calculate it and take it into account for the reports.

At its core, the app is designed with 5 basic screens that are always accessible from the bottom task bar: Reports, Expense, Budget, Income and Settings. [...]

Sleepmaker is the iPhone and iPod Touch application from SoftwareX that is supposed to replace that dead-silence from your room at night with pleasant sounds of rain, storm, waves and even wildlife, giving you that well-deserved good-night’s sleep.

First off, the app comes in 5 variations: Sleepmaker Rain, Storms, Waves, Streams and Wildlife, in either a PRO, Classic or Free version, each offering you different options and more tracks to listen too. Basically they are all the same, it’s just up to you to decide which ambient sounds will most likely take you to dream land faster.

What is really enticing about Sleepmaker apps is that these are full tracks you’re listening too. There are no sounds effects of raining falling, or the occasional car horn, or a dog barking in the storm. [...]

The team of developers from FitNow took into account the not-so-exciting activity of counting calories to lose weight and created an iPhone and iPod Touch app to take all the hard work out of it and let you stay on top of everything related to weight loss, from the food you eat to the exercises you do every day.

The app keeps track of how many calories your body needs every day, how much you’re really consuming and how many you’re burning, making losing weight a not so stressful activity for your brain. Your body is of course a whole other matter. At log in, you create your own profile inside the app, by entering your weight, height, gender and age. And, depending on your weight loss goals, Lose It! will calculate daily calorie requirements and suggest exercises to keep you fit and on schedule.