Have you ever found yourself stuck at home due to a flaky friend that calls to cancel plans at the last minute? Yeah, we’ve all been there once or twice (and some of us have even been the flaky friend on occasion). Or have you spent countless hours wracking your brains to find an amazing way to celebrate a birthday or anniversary? Is this starting to sound like an infomercial? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you’ve clearly been spending too much time stuck at home watching late-night TV when you should be out having fun! And thanks to some amazing Apple apps that help you find local events, you won’t have to spend your weekends at home ordering salad shooters and skin-care products from an 800 number.

1. Facebook. Whether or not you like the Facebook, you have to admit that the amount of information it collects and distributes is incredible. And if you’re looking for some local entertainment, this social networking site can probably provide it in spades. All you have to do is become friends with event centers, bars, or other entertainment venues, download the app that links up to your page, and then check your news feed to see what’s coming up today, tomorrow, or weeks down the road. In some cases, you may be privy to early announcements and deals thanks to your association through Facebook.
2. Twitter. Like Facebook, you can get early information on events being held in your city by following venues, bands, sports teams, and more. The nice thing about using the Twitter app to get updates is that they will necessarily be short and to the point.
3. Lokalite. While this app won’t exactly help you find major events in your area, it could definitely help you out if you’re on the prowl for some last-minute plans for the evening. It populates a diverse list of local activities, including happy hours, after hours, free classes, and concerts (just to name a few) and you can also search by category, locale, or date. As a bonus, the app will apprise you of upcoming events and deals that you can take advantage of.
4. Got Eventz. Although this app is currently only available for Washington, DC residents, it has plans to expand, so look for it soon in a city near you. Businesses list their events for free so that you can find stuff to do and support local commerce at the same time. It’s a win-win for everyone in the community.
5. Live Nation. It really doesn’t get any better than this app that lets you search concerts by venue, date, or attraction. Whether you’re looking for tickets to an Adele concert, a hockey game, or a circus sideshow complete with geeks and fire dancers, you can probably find them via this handy app. And best of all, they’ll send you alerts on their exclusive presales (only available to those with the app), as well as last minute tickets sales that you can take advantage of. You can even use it to purchase tickets, peruse set lists, and check in with connected friends at the event.

Editor’s Note

Thanks to Evan Fischer for this quest post. He is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.

Need some help on Infinity Blade II? Well, don’t worry about that cause ChAIR has posted tips and tricks for mastering Infinity Blade II on their community blog. Most of the tips are relatively simple, but very effective. But anyway, hit up the list below to improve your experience with Infinity Blade II.

• Parry an enemy weapon by either swiping in the same direction as the enemy weapon strike or by swiping in the opposite direction.
• Pay attention to gem modifiers and equip them to get more gems or more gold.
• Save super moves and magic for the battles when you are really going to need them.
• Equip a Gold+ gem to earn more money quickly.
• Use a Health Regen potion before a difficult Titan to constantly heal throughout the battle.
• Keep an eye out for hidden keys. They are small and difficult to see, but they can open great treasures.
• When playing the Heavy class, doing a successful parry will also give you a block charge back.
• A successful parry will open up a Titan to more combo hits than a dodge or block.
• Perfect blocks prevent elemental damage from a Titan attack even if you don’t have the right elemental defense; it also reduces the block damage.
• Perfect parries increase the hit window on a Titan.
• To maximize damage with Heavy weapons make sure you plan to do the combo hit at the natural end of the hit window, as the slash attack always ends the hit window.
• To pull off an ultra combo with dual weapons you need to do left/right/up (or some rotated version) attacks when you are in the combo hit mode.
• Titans will tend to have the same elemental attack as each other during a Rebirth, equipping the right gems/equipment to defend against them is worth it.
• Titans are weak to the opposite elemental of their attack. If a Titan has a fire attack he will take double damage from ice elemental and ice magic.
• Using dual weapons allows you to do multiple combos, one after the other.
• Learn which moves cannot be blocked or parried, then dodge these moves.

[Epic Community]

There’s no need to hem and haw about the difficulties of the holidays; we’ve all had to face the stresses of shopping, the pressure of hosting in-laws, and the overwhelming number of obligations that are associated with this event-laden season. It’s not that there aren’t wonderful things to look forward to, like seeing loved ones, enjoying holiday goodies, and partaking of the many special traditions that only come around once a year. But it seems like there are an equal number of drawbacks that leave many people contemplating turning off the phone and crawling under the covers for an extended hibernation. Too bad we can’t all disappear and come back to find all the holiday preparations miraculously completed in our absence. Fortunately, your favorite Apple devices can now help you get everything done with less stress and time to spare. Here are a few good holiday apps (and they’re all free!).

1. Errands To-Do List. This app gets rave reviews from users who love the ease of use, “repeat” functionality, and many organizational options. For those making shopping lists (for gifts and groceries) and coordinating holiday events, it’s a great way to get everything in order, set audible reminders to keep you on track, and of course, make those lists and check them twice.
2. ShopSavvy. Are you tired of returning from a shopping trip, glowing with the success of saving on your purchases, only to look online and find the items you just bought for less somewhere else? Savvy shoppers know that the only way to get the best price when you’re on the go is with a barcode-scanning app. This one delivers a list of the best prices at both local stores and online e-Commerce sites. And it even offers coupons, shipping rebates, and notices of upcoming sales so that you can get even better deals! As comparison shopping goes, it really doesn’t get any easier.
3. Christmas Countdown Recipes Lite. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas at this time of year, this app can provide you with over 200 recipes that are great for cold weather and wintertime fun. Whether you’re looking to try a few new fondue recipes or you’d rather make traditional favorites like gingerbread houses and minty hot chocolate, this app will help you get into the spirit of the season with some tasty treats and entrees from the kitchen (plus shopping lists for every recipe).
4. Photogram. If you simply don’t have time to attend to your holiday card list this year, check out this handy app that lets you create personalized greeting cards and send them out with a flick of your finger. You can choose from a library of theme cards, add up to four photos and a personal message, and then send out e-cards to friends and family individually or by group via email, Facebook, and Twitter. It’s a quick and easy way to ensure all of your favorite people get a holiday card this year. The only thing better than getting a free cell phone is filling it with fabulous free apps like this one.
5. Christmas Carol Music and Lyrics. If you’ve always dreamed of touring your neighborhood singing carols but you were too worried about forgetting the lyrics and singing off-key, here’s your chance to do it right with music and lyrics that you can take on your local tour. With the lyrics for 22 popular holiday tunes at your fingertips and an organ to accompany you, there’s no reason to stay home (unless it’s for the fireplace and the hot cocoa).

Editor’s Note

Thanks to Evan Fischer for this quest post. He is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.

Remember those earbuds that came with your iPhone that you probably still have in the packaging? Yeah those. Here’s helpful tip: according to Macworld you can use those to take pictures simply by pressing the volume button on the earbuds. It doesn’t stop there though — this trick can even be used with a Bluetooth device that has volume buttons on it as well. So, if you’re wanting to boost your photography this is a great, simple way. Enjoy!

Last December Apple decided to add 90 second song previews up from the standard 30 seconds and finally after 8 long months this feature has now taken effect worldwide. As of now, we know the new 90 second preview is available in at least Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and various parts of Europe. As time goes on we can expect to see more countries have access to the 90 second previews as well as more songs that have a 90 second preview.