William Shatner – there’s an app for him

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – Actor William Shatner is having a moment. A couple of years after CBS canceled his Twitter-inspired “$ #*! My Dad Says” TV comedy, Shatner is at the top of the tech world.

The former “Star Trek” captain, now 81, is featured in Blindlight Apps “Shatoetry”, which catapulted to the top of the entertainment app list on Apple iTunes last week on its first day of release.

The celebrity app allows users to choose from hundreds of words to arrange sentences, which Shatner will then recite in his trademark voice and style. There is also a mode that allows Shatner fans to collaborate on “Shatisms” and there are single-player challenges like creating Haiku and poetry.

Shatner, who is currently touring the country with his critically-acclaimed one-man Broadway show, “Shatner’s World,” took a few minutes to talk technology with Reuters.

Q: How would you like to expand this app moving forward? Perhaps adding music?

A: “Well, we have that in mind. Words to music. We have in mind holiday things. We have in mind events in your life, words so that you can use them as well. We will increase this if people love it and tell other people that they love it. When we get an audience we know that is worthwhile, we will add to it.”

Q: One audience you know you definitely have out there is “Star Trek” fans. Do you see any opportunities with special app add-ons for them?

A: “Well, yes. I don’t think we’ll leave opportunity unexplored, but I wanted to be very careful about how we introduce it so it is not something that is derogatory or stupid. I want to make sure that it’s used in the way it’s meant to be used, which is for your entertainment.”

Q: Do you see opportunities for other actors to work with you on this app?

A: “We hope that it becomes popular enough to interest people into doing some words.”

Q: So users would be able to mix your words with other actors’ words through this app?

A: “Yes. Exactly. Have them do keywords like ‘love.’ There are certain words that everybody wants to use like ‘love’ and ‘hate’ and words that you use somewhere in your conversation… Commonly used words that are positive, I think that would be a way of getting a well-known person to take a chance in interpreting that word several different ways and know that they won’t look foolish, or be made to look foolish.”

Q: How are you taking advantage of today’s technology to connect with fans?

A: “I’m using it in as many ways as feasible. I’m doing podcasts. I’m certainly doing everything else, Facebook, Twitter and all that kind of thing. I’m taking advantage of communicating with the people out there as much as possible, and this app is one of those ways.”

Q: What technology do you have?

A: “I have iPhone, an iPad and I will be getting an iPad Mini shortly.”

Q: How do you use those devices?

A: “I don’t play games. I read the newspapers. I’ve got a dictation sound-to-print app and since I don’t type very well, I find myself dictating to it and sending the notes on. It’s a truly creative tool with. Once you have a means of communicating – there’s so much wrong with the world and so many crises in the mix here that, if we can communicate faster and better, we may be able to fix them before the end of the world, as far as human beings are concerned.”

Q: How’s the tour going for your show “Shatner’s World”?

A: “I’m going to be in Connecticut and New Jersey this week. I’m playing about four different places that are just opening up now. My heart goes out to the nightmare that these people are in. I feel a little awkward in talking about providing a laugh or two, but on the other hand some people may need that, and that’s what I’ll be doing….I will be with my heart on my sleeve trying to entertain people who have had a great deal of hardship in the last week.”

Q: A lot of my friends in New York and New Jersey are still without power after Hurricane Sandy.

A: “I know, and hopefully by the time I get there, there will be power. And hopefully by that time, they’ll be of a mind to be able to want to be entertained.”

(Reporting by John Gaudiosi, editing by Jill Serjeant and Marguerita Choy)

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Study: Stem cells from strangers can repair hearts

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Researchers are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks. In a study, stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as patients’ own cells for helping restore heart tissue.

The work involved just 30 patients in Miami and Baltimore, but it proves the concept that anyone’s cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are excited because this suggests that stem cells could be banked for off-the-shelf use after heart attacks, just as blood is kept on hand now.

Results were discussed Monday at an American Heart Association conference in California and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study used a specific type of stem cells from bone marrow that researchers believed would not be rejected by recipients. Unlike other cells, these lack a key feature on their surface that makes the immune system see them as foreign tissue and attack them, explained the study’s leader, Dr. Joshua Hare of the University of Miami.

The patients in the study had suffered heart attacks years earlier, some as long as 30 years ago. All had developed heart failure because the scar tissue from the heart attack had weakened their hearts so much that they grew large and flabby, unable to pump blood effectively.

Researchers advertised for people to supply marrow, which is removed using a needle into a hip bone. The cells were taken from the marrow and amplified for about a month in a lab at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University, then returned to Miami to be used for treatment, which did not involve surgery.

The cells were delivered through a tube pushed through a groin artery into the heart near the scarred area. Fifteen patients were given cells from their own marrow and 15 others, cells from strangers.

About a year later, scar tissue had been reduced by about one-third. Both groups had improvements in how far they could walk and in quality of life. There was no significant difference in one measure of how well their hearts were able to pump blood, but doctors hope these patients will continue to improve over time, or that refinements in treatment will lead to better results.

The big attraction is being able to use cells supplied by others, with no blood or tissue matching needed.

“You could have the cells ready to go in the blood bank so when the patient comes in for a therapy — there’s no delay,” Hare said. “It’s also cheaper to make the donor cells,” and a single marrow donor can supply enough cells to treat as many as 10 people.

Dr. Elliott Antman of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who heads the heart conference, praised the work.

“That opens up an entire new avenue for stem cell therapy, like a sophisticated version of a blood bank,” he said. There’s an advantage in not having to create a cell therapy for each patient, and it could spare them the pain and wait of having their own marrow harvested, he said.

The study was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Hare owns stock in a biotech company working on a treatment using a mixture of cells.

Juan Lopez received his own cells in the study, and said it improved his symptoms so much that at age 70, he was able to return to his job as an engineer and sales manager for a roofing manufacturer and ride an exercise bike.

“It has been a life-changing experience,” said Lopez, who lives in Miami. “I can feel day by day, week by week, month by month, my improvement. I don’t have any shortness of breath and my energy level is way up there. I don’t have any fluid in my lungs.”

And, he said happily, “My sex drive has improved!”

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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP .

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Online:

Heart Association: http://www.heart.org

JAMA: http://www.jama.ama-assn.org

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MF Global customers sue PricewaterhouseCoopers in amended lawsuit

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former customers of MF Global Holdings Ltd‘s broker-dealer have added accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as a defendant in a lawsuit stemming from the collapse of the brokerage.

In an amended complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday, the customers of MF Global Inc accused PwC of failing to adequately audit MF Global’s internal controls over customer funds.

The complaint also repeated prior accusations against former officials at MF Global, including former Chief Executive Jon Corzine, who is accused of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, which restricts the use of customer funds.

Caroline Nolan, a spokeswoman for PwC, said it conducted its last audit of MF Global in March 2011 “in accordance with professional standards.” The audit at the time confirmed that MF Global had maintained its customer accounts in accordance with federal regulations, she said.

“We will defend this lawsuit vigorously,” Nolan said.

The lawsuit also named as a defendant CME Group Inc , the exchange that oversaw MF Global.

Neither a lawyer for Corzine nor spokesperson for CME Group immediately responded to requests for comment on the case.

An estimated $ 1.6 billion in customer funds went missing following MF Global’s collapse. MF Global filed for bankruptcy in October 2011.

Investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are ongoing.

PwC had served as independent auditor of MF Global in 2010 and 2011, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit, which is seeking class action status, contends that PwC failed to examine MF Global’s controls over customer funds. This amounted to professional malpractice and a breach of the auditors duties to the company and customers, the lawsuit said.

“If PwC had properly executed its duties and evaluated and reported on ‘s control problems in March 2011, there would have been ample time for management to institute proper controls over customer funds,” the complaint said.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs are cooperating with James Giddens, the trustee for the liquidation of MF Global Inc. Under the deal, the plaintiffs’ lawyers say Giddens has assigned to them certain claims against MF Global’s directors and officers and PwC.

The case is DeAngelis et al v. Corzine et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-07866.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)

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Methane warnings ignored before NZ mine disaster

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand coal mining company ignored 21 warnings that methane gas had accumulated to explosive levels before an underground explosion killed 29 workers two years ago, an investigation concluded.

The official report released Monday after 11 weeks of hearings on the disaster found broad safety problems in New Zealand workplaces and said the Pike River Coal company was exposing miners to unacceptable risks as it strove to meet financial targets.

“The company completely and utterly failed to protect its workers,” New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Monday.

The country’s labor minister, Kate Wilkinson, resigned from her labor portfolio after the report’s release, saying she felt it was the honorable thing to do after the tragedy occurred on her watch. She plans to retain her remaining government responsibilities.

The Royal Commission report said New Zealand has a poor workplace safety record and its regulators failed to provide adequate oversight before the explosion.

At the time of the disaster, New Zealand had just two mine inspectors who were unable to keep up with their workload, the report said. Pike River was able to obtain a permit with no scrutiny of its initial health and safety plans and little ongoing scrutiny.

Key said he agrees with the report’s conclusion that there needs to be a philosophical shift in New Zealand from believing that companies are acting in the best interests of workers to a more proscriptive set of regulations that forces companies to do the right thing.

The commission’s report recommended a new agency be formed to focus solely on workplace health and safety problems. It also recommended a raft of measures to strengthen mine oversight.

Key said his government would consider the recommendations and hoped to implement most of them. He would not commit on forming a new agency. Workplace safety issues are currently one of the responsibilities of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

In the seven weeks before the explosion, the Pike River company received 21 warnings from mine workers that methane gas had built up to explosive levels below ground and another 27 warnings of dangerous levels, the report said. The warnings continued right up until the morning of the deadly explosion.

The company used unconventional methods to get rid of methane, the report said. Some workers even rigged their machines to bypass the methane sensors after the machines kept automatically shutting down — something they were designed to do when methane levels got too high.

The company made a “major error” by placing a ventilation fan underground instead of on the surface, the report found. The fan failed after the first of several explosions, effectively shutting down the entire ventilation system. The company was also using water jets to cut the coal face, a highly specialized technique than can release large amounts of methane.

The report did not definitively conclude what sparked the explosion itself, although it noted that a pump was switched on immediately before the explosion, raising the possibility it was triggered by an electrical arc.

The now-bankrupt Pike River Coal company is not defending itself against charges it committed nine labor violations related to the disaster. Former chief executive Peter Whittall has pleaded not guilty to 12 violations and his lawyers say he is being scapegoated.

An Australian contractor was fined last month for three safety violations after its methane detector was found to be faulty at the time of the explosion.

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Staples to have Amazon lockers in U.S. stores: spokeswoman

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Staples Inc, the largest U.S. office supply retailer, has agreed to install “Amazon Lockers” in its U.S. stores, a Staples spokeswoman said on Monday.

The Amazon lockers at Staples will allow online shoppers to have packages sent to the office supply chain’s stores. Amazon already has such storage units at grocery, convenience and drug stores, many of which stay open around the clock.

Amazon.Com Inc, the world’s largest Internet retailer, is trying to let customers avoid having to wait for ordered packages due to a missed delivery.

With the service, Amazon sends customers an email with a pickup code, which is entered on a touchscreen to open the locker containing the package. Shoppers have three days from the delivery date to pick up the package.

The online giant pays a small fee to the owners of the stores that house its lockers.

Staples did not give any further details of the service.

(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan; Editing by Dan Grebler)

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“Wreck-It Ralph” hammers box office, sails over “Flight”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Wreck-It Ralph,” Disney‘s animated film about a videogame character who destroys everything in his path, scored the highest-grossing opening weekend in Disney animation history with $ 49.1 million, as box office attendance picked up in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy.

The tally for “Wreck-It Ralph,” which features the voices of John C. Reilly and Jane Lynch, hammered the Denzel Washington film “Flight,” which generated ticket sales of $ 25 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

After a quiet box office last weekend with the U.S. East Coast preparing for superstorm Sandy, there was a jump in movie attendance this week in areas hit by the storm.

Dave Hollis, executive vice president of film distribution at Walt Disney Studios, told Reuters that movie attendance in affected areas was “very healthy,” boosted by school closures on Friday, which saw a bounce in matinee showings.

“In a nice way, ‘Wreck-It Ralph,’ in areas affected by the storm, ended up actually becoming an opportunity to relieve yourself from the reality that might be going on around you, we saw the theater business around areas affected by the storm very healthy,” Hollis said.

“The storm and its impact – I don’t know if it was a function of cabin fever or just escaping by getting into a movie theater, but there was definitely a gravitating-towards-the- theater phenomenon.”

Disney had developed “Wreck-It Ralph” for more than a decade and spent an estimated $ 165 million to produce the film, which featured cameo appearances by a Pac-Man ghost and Mentos candy.

The film was produced by the same team behind Disney‘s animated film “Tangled,” which earned the previous highest opening weekend gross with $ 48.8 million in 2010. “Wreck-It Ralph” was forecast to generate sales in the mid-$ 40 million range, according to Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office division of Hollywood.com.

New release “Flight,” in which Washington stars as an airline captain who saves his plane from crashing but is accused of drinking before the flight, beat industry analysts’ $ 13 million forecast. The film, produced by Viacom’s Paramount Pictures unit, was made on a $ 31 million budget.

STORM BOOST

Unlike “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Flight” did not experience the same benefit from school closures in parts of the East Coast, according to Don Harris, president of distribution at Paramount Pictures.

“The Disney movie would benefit from school being out in a large number of big urban and suburban eastern markets, they were always going to have a very good opening, I think they got a little help on Friday,” Harris told Reuters.

He also said that the target adult audience for “Flight” would have probably been occupied with Tuesday’s presidential election and being “more active in helping people in their neighborhood” in the aftermath of Sandy, and not necessarily attending theaters this weekend.

“We did about what we expected to do but we certainly didn’t get a bump. I don’t think it hurt us very much either,” Harris said.

Critically acclaimed Iran hostage thriller “Argo,” last week’s box office leader, came in third this weekend after generating $ 10.2 million in sales.

Directed by and starring Ben Affleck, “Argo,” produced by Warner Bros. and GK Films for $ 44 million, is based on the true story of a mission to rescue U.S. government employees held hostage in Iran in 1979. It has totaled $ 75.9 million in three weeks at movie theaters and earned Oscar buzz after stellar reviews from critics.

New release “The Man With The Iron Fists” was unable to beat “Argo’s” momentum this weekend and came in fourth with ticket sales of $ 8.2 million.

Starring Russell Crowe and hip hop artist RZA, the film, produced on a budget of $ 15 million, follows a blacksmith in 19th-century China trying to defend his village from warriors and assassins searching for gold.

In fifth place, “Taken 2,” an action-thriller starring Liam Neeson as a former spy who is kidnapped in Istanbul, earned $ 6 million this weekend. It has generated a total of $ 125.7 million at the U.S. and Canadian box office since its release last month.

Overseas, the new James Bond film, “Skyfall,” enjoyed a stellar second weekend, earning $ 156 million in ticket sales at the international box office. The film will be released in North American theaters on November 9.

Walt Disney Co released “Wreck-It Ralph.” “Flight” was distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. Warner Bros., a division of Time Warner Inc, distributed “Argo.” Universal Studios released “Man with the Iron Fists.” “Taken 2″ was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy and Ronald Grover; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Drugmakers offer to cap Greece’s medicines bill

LONDON (Reuters) – International drug companies have offered to cap the total amount the Greek government has to pay for its medicines in a bid to resolve a crisis that is jeopardizing both the supply of drugs to patients and drugmakers’ profits.

The proposal was set out by the trade group the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (Efpia) in a letter to the Greek ministers of health and finance, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

In exchange for a ceiling on outpatient pharmaceutical expenditure of 2.88 billion euros ($ 3.70 billion) in 2012, Efpia wants the government to commit to pay off all outstanding debts and promise not to allow further arrears to build up.

Under the plan, individual drug companies would be subject to a “clawback” if the cost ceiling is breached, based on their share of the Greek market.

The move follows growing concerns about the situation in Greece, where the government last month took the highly unusual step of suspending all drug exports from the country in an attempt to prevent shortages.

Richard Bergstrom, Efpia’s director general, said the industry’s offer to Greece reflected a new realism among major drug manufacturers, who have seen sales and profits eroded by steep price cuts and unpaid bills in austerity-hit Europe.

“Setting a growth cap or budget ceiling is not something we have ever liked to do in the past, but in the current environment it is better to do that and have some stability,” he said in a telephone interview.

Other pharmaceutical stability agreements have already been agreed in Portugal, Ireland and Belgium, and the model could be extended to other states in future.

“We’ve suggested this to a number of other governments as an approach to deal with the financial crisis,” Bergstrom said.

Both European and U.S.-based drugmakers have been hit by the worsening situation in Europe and executives have highlighted the issue as a drag on profits in recent third-quarter financial reports.

Andrew Witty, the chief executive of Britain’s biggest drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline , told reporters last week it was “not reasonable” for governments to think they could continue to squeeze the industry without serious knock-on effects.

In the latest sign of how the crisis is affecting the provision of healthcare services, German pharmaceuticals firm Merck KGaA said on Saturday it was no longer delivering its cancer drug Erbitux to Greek hospitals.

Another German company, Biotest , which makes products from blood plasma, was the first drugmaker to stop shipments to Greece because of unpaid bills in June.

($ 1 = 0.7785 euros)

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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About That Gold Stored in Flood-Prone Lower Manhattan

As New York City continues to dry out in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the financial world is reconsidering just how smart it is to place critical pieces of infrastructure in flood-prone areas. Citigroup’s (C) waterlogged building at 111 Wall St. will be unusable for several weeks, and two critical Verizon Communications (VZ) facilities suffered extensive flooding during the storm.

At least the material at those sites is replaceable. What about the nearly 15 million pounds of gold bricks stored at the New York Fed?

They’re safe—and will be, in theory, should floodwaters return. The bullion is so heavy that its vault sits 80 feet below street level, and 50 feet below sea level, on the bedrock beneath Manhattan. Though the bank’s fortress-like building is located far downtown, close to where other financial institutions sustained water damage, the property at 33 Liberty St. sits in the city’s evacuation zone C, where residents are told to expect storm-surge flooding only from major, category 3 or 4 hurricanes that hit the New York harbor.

The New York Fed is tight-lipped about how it secures the planet’s largest concentration of gold, referring questions on the subject to a brochure (PDF) published on its website. The pamphlet claims that the vault is protected by an “airtight and watertight seal” created by lowering a 90-ton steel cylinder just three-eighths of an inch into a 140-ton steel-and-concrete frame—an effect “similar to pushing a cork down into a bottle.” Other security measures include closed-circuit video feeds, firearms training for guards, and the weight of the gold itself. At 27 pounds per bar, it’s hard to smuggle one out in a pocket. “The Bank’s security arrangements are so trusted by depositors that few have ever asked to examine their gold,” the New York Fed writes.

That, obviously, has helped fuel a string of conspiracy theories—the gold isn’t really there, isn’t really gold, or is otherwise suspect. The Los Angeles Times reported in August that the federal government was conducting its first-ever audit of the bullion it stores beneath Liberty Street, drilling tiny holes into selected ingots and analyzing the metal.

Ordinarily, you’d be able to eye the gold bars yourself. Some 25,000 visitors tour the bank’s vault each year. Those visits, the bank says, have been canceled indefinitely “due to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.”

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Newspaper discloses new Cameron text messages

LONDON (AP) — A British lawmaker says he’s asked the country’s media ethics inquiry to consider newly disclosed text messages sent between Prime Minister David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks, the ex-chief executive of Rupert Murdoch‘s British newspaper division.

The Mail on Sunday newspaper on Sunday published two previously undisclosed messages exchanged between the pair, who are friends and neighbors.

Brooks is facing trial on conspiracy charges linked to Britain’s phone hacking scandal, which saw Murdoch close down The News of The World tabloid.

In one newly disclosed message, Cameron thanked Brooks in 2009 for allowing him to borrow a horse, joking it was “fast, unpredictable and hard to control but fun.”

Opposition lawmaker Chris Bryant has asked a judge-led inquiry scrutinizing ties between the press and the powerful to examine the messages.

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Mosaic by Mixbook tops iOS Apps of the Week

Mosaic by Mixbook is an app that actually results in its user receiving a real package of photos in the mail. Our other top apps this week are not quite as ambitious, but they’re all interesting in other ways. There’s a big update to a great music discovery app, a new recipe app, a 5K training app and an app for kids to learn about the forest.

With the glut of digital photography apps, it can be easy to forget that photos were once a tangible thing. Mosaic by Mixbook gets us back closer to that time by taking 20 photos you upload into a photo book for $ 20. You can preview the book before you purchase it, so you’ll know exactly what you’re getting before it’s actually assembled. The book arrives just four days later and suddenly your collection of digital photos now has a physical home.

Band of the Day, the app where you can discover one new musical act each day, is back with a major update. Band of the Day now features a “mix tape” feature that’s a lot like those seen in radio station apps. You can listen to a collection of tracks from previous featured bands. There’s also a new related artist tab, so you can see who else sounds like the band you’re currently listening to. Band of the Day now also features an easier-to-find biography and review section for each day’s band, so you can research while you rock out.

The recipes of Yotam Ottolenghi may be a bit pricey, but they’re a bit more advanced than the kind of recipes you’d find in your average food app. Yotam will give you step-by-step, hands free instructions for making things like Shakshuka, Chermoula-marinated whole sea bass with capers, red peppers and preserved lemon and for the sweet-tooth chefs, dark chocolate mousse with baileys and mascarpone cream. The app also has a shopping list that you can add ingredients to as well as a button to label your favorite recipes for quick reference.

Zombies, Run! 5K Training is easily the most interesting training app I have ever seen. The app features not only a professionally designed 8-week training regimen designed to prepare you to run a 5K, but it does so while featuring a narrative audio adventure about a zombie apocalypse. The idea behind the app is that listening to the story will make you want to keep training. There are 25 workouts in the 8-week program and the audio adventure will have you running to find supplies and protect your town from a horde of oncoming zombies.

Now that fall is here and the leaves have left barren tree branches, kids might have more questions than ever about their nearby forests and Scholastic First Discovery: The Forest for iPhone hopefully has the answers. The app lets kids interact with a digital forest. They can learn by tapping on different types of leaves and trees and can even change the seasons in the app to see what the forest looks like in various states. There is also a focus within the app of animals and plants that live in the forest. There is also an iPad version.

Download the Appolicious Android app

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