The Week in iOS Apps: Hear, hear!

18.05.2012
This week's roundup of iOS apps offers all kinds of listening options--whether you're staying at home, partying at the club, or going to see your favorite band in concert.

Already this week, we brought you guides to the for iOS, as well the for iPad and iPhone. And in the world of productivity apps, both and received spiffy new updates.

Here are other new and updated apps that caught our eye this week.

: You won't quite go to infinity and beyond, but the $2 from Iconfactory features a zealous space traveler in the Buzz Lightyear mold. You travel through galaxies, collect star shards, and face unfriendly aliens across 24 levels, all while trying to unlock the game's 40 achievements. Astronut features Game Center support, and is optimized for the new iPad's Retina display. We'd say this title will take you where no man has gone before, but the game already has more than .

: The original social media magazine wants you to do more than read--now it wants you to listen. The free app for iPhone and iPad updated this week with functionality, as well as partnerships with NPR and Public Radio International. (Flipboard's menu now has a special audio feature that lets you more easily seek out such offerings.) Click on a sound file that you want to hear and you can keep listening, even while Flipboard is in the background and you use other apps. Other updates include the ability to save stories to Readability, as well as a Twitter upgrade that lets you view just your favorites in the feed, or Tweets mentioning you.

: This free social networking iPhone app from Sepia Laps has long let users create private message boards with friends and colleagues. Now has been to keep things private, but offer the option of letting outsiders in--partly by allowing them to join the conversation from the company's new or via email; no smartphones required. (Users also now have the ability to issue invitation codes to other people they want to participate.) The iOS app now allows file sharing, as well as a offering gallery for recently posted videos and photos.