Jul
23
Today I've spent some time playing Labyrinth Lite Edition. I'm sure that most of you had, or at least have seen an old Labyrinth game. Basically what you had was two wooden boxes inside of another box. The inner boxes were each controlled by a different set of knobs, which you would use to tilt the innermost box. You would then have a marble set in a maze, and using the knobs you would steer the marble through the maze while trying to avoid the holes. This iPhone version is much the same, but instead of boxes and knobs, you simply tilt the iPhone to navigate the maze.
This is definitely worth the download, as it really is fun to play. My only real complaint is that there weren't enough levels. The marble is surprisingly responsive to your movements, and adjusts in speed depending on how sharply you tilt the phone. The app takes up a measly 0.6MB of space and can be downloaded for free. Of course if you want more levels, then download the full version, and you'll have access to over 500 levels. Now that will keep you entertained for quite some time The full version will run you $6.99.
Jul
23
Since the App Store made its debut with tons of wonderful games, analysts have been wondering just how long it will take before Apple's phone starts eating away at the sales of systems like the PSP and DS. While I admit that the iPhone has great potential for gaming, I don't necessarily think that it's going to greatly affect either of the two major portable gaming platforms. Of course, neither does Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.
Apparently he actually owns an iPhone and loves it. We all know that as president of Nintendo, he's not going to admit that the iPhone has greater gaming potential, but he does make a very valid point. "When I look carefully at the iPhone's users vs. the users of our Nintendo DS, I understand there are some overlaps. And if you ask 'Is the overlap too big?,' my answer is no, not so much."
I tend to agree with him on this point, as many of my DS (and PSP)-owning friends don't have an iPhone, and are plenty happy with their current console. As an owner of all three, I think that there is room for each in a gamer's life. Personally, I love not needing to keep my DS with me all the time, since I have the iPhone to keep me entertained for short bursts. I still grab one of my other games if I know I'm going to have a lot of downtime though.
[via DS Fanboy]
Jul
23
We can all expect another feature to hit the iPhone 3G soon--speech recognition. 
Now as exciting as that sounds, don't get too excited yet. This is not speech recognition in the normal sense of the term. No, you can't say "Mom" and the iPhone will automatically dial your mother's number. Not going to happen. And the reason why is AT&T is developing the feature to run as a web feature. So when you speak, the data is sent to a remote server, then comes back to perform an action on your handset.
The service, called Speech Mashups, is web-based, so iPhone first gen users will probably be out of luck if stuck with using the EDGE network.
And even though voice dialing won't work with this brand of speech recognition, it will work for a few other nifty things. There's a video online showing a man dictating a city and type of business in YellowPages and how Speech Mashups does all of the footwork for you. Pretty cool, but voice dialing would be even nicer!
[via Gadget Lab from Wired.com]
Jul
23
Can you tell I've been spending way too much time on my iPhone? Needless to say, all of the new apps have revived the entire idea of the phone for me. One such app is called Urbanspoon. It is so practical for a person like me that desperately wants to try new restaurants and types of food but doesn't want to risk picking a place at random to discover the food is vomit-inducing. 
So with this app you get the feeling of picking a place at random, without the risk. When you open the application, it will prompt you to select your location, which it can do on its own. Then, it shows three wheels of options. The first lists cities--you don't really need to mess with this one unless you're going somewhere far to eat. The second lists types of food. If you have a preference, select it, and click the lock below it. Otherwise, let it free float for a truly random pick. Last, there are dollar signs. Pick the amount that you feel comfortable spending.
Then, you can either press the "shake" button or physically shake the iPhone. When doing so, the wheels will spin and land on a choice randomly. At this point, you can select the restaurant to view contact information and reviews. Plus, you can read reviews from newspapers right within the app--it doesn't open Safari to do this.
Urbanspoon is practical and fun at the same time. I don't know that I'd use it everyday, but when in the mood to try something new, you can bet on it.
Update: A reader pointed out that I failed to include information in which countries this app works. In this case, Urbanspoon contains information for 52 cities, mostly US-based but a few Canadian cities are included as well as London. I've also been reading around that if you are in a location that this app does not recognize, it will crash. Just a head's up!
Jul
23
As you probably already know, new apps are being added to the iTunes App Store each and everyday. In fact, what started out as 500 apps at the time of launch has since grown to over 900! However, the number of free apps seems to be falling fast. But the vast majority are under $10, with many more in the $5 range, so you won't break the bank on apps anytime soon. 
And it would seem Apple and developers would be raking in a lot of cash from this app cash cow, but not so, says Apple Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook during the Q3 conference on Monday. Rather, the App Store is intended to help boost iPhone 3G and iPod Touch sales, much like the iTunes Store itself.
As the App Store continues to grow, we'll have to see what new gems pop up and what major developers decide to latch onto the platform.
[via The iPhone Blog]
Jul
23
KTLA reporter, Eric Spillman got more than he bargained for when poking fun at some anxious iPhone customers at the Apple store in Burbank, CA.
"It's a phone, I mean, come on!" he yells in exasperation at the line of people. Some look uncomfortable. Others smile and laugh. Some even look like they're seething in silent fury. But then, after some poking from the in studio anchors, Spillman rushes over to one man and asks him a rather personal question. You can tell he was expecting a meek or silly answer. But what he got instead was priceless.
I think my inner geek rather enjoys to see people that think they are so awesome knocked down a peg. Yes, it is just a phone, but really. Isn't it so much more than that? Why is the perception of being a first adopter of technology and "having a life" mutually exclusive? It baffles my poor brain.
Watch the video and have a laugh.
[via erockappel]
Jul
23
I've noticed a trend. There seems to be quite a few games for the iPhone that follow in the footsteps of Tetris and Bejeweled. But Trism by Demiforce, LLC, does have its unique aspects, allowing it to stand apart from these staples and create a new name for itself, namely due to its excellent utilization of the iPhone's accelerometer.
Trism requires that you slide the trisms so that they create a combo of three of the same color. Once you do this, they are eliminated from the board and new ones slide down into their place. Here's where the neat part comes in. You can tilt the iPhone in any direction to change the gravity so the trisms fall and fill in spaces. Open spaces in the board make it more difficult to make matches, says the tutorial, so turning the iPhone on its head can actually help you score big points!
This game only costs $4.99 and it seems to offer hours of gameplay and really, it's like three games in one. First, there is "Infinism," a game that allows you to take your time and really plan out your matches. The second version is called "Terminism" which is timed and if you can't make a match by the time the counter counts down, you lose the game. Lastly, there's "Syllogism" which is my person favorite. It really makes use of the accelerometer. To play this game, you must hold the iPhone flat and tilt it so that the trisms fall and match up with each other. It starts out easy, as you can see from the photo below, but then it picks up and can get quite complicated.
To spice it up, there's also bombs, locks and obstacles that can get in your way and require strategic matching to eliminate. And when you make a match of five trism or more, a rainbow trism will appear and, you guessed it, this allows you to match two trisms of any color with it.
All in all, I enjoyed this game. It's a fun way to pass the time and with clear graphics, fun sound effects and challenging gameplay, you're sure to get caught up in all the matching fun.
Jul
23
Whenever new technology comes out, it's a given that it will hit eBay. But if supply can't meet the demand for the product, some outrageous asking prices begin to show up on the popular bidding site. And outrageous is exactly what's going on now that many cannot find the new iPhone 3G at their local Apple stores. In fact, prices for the new phone are upwards of $1000 on eBay right now. 
But not all of the blame for the high price craziness can be placed on those putting up the auctions. Bidders are causing the prices to reach sky-high levels, with the 8GB phone selling for around $800 and the 16GB selling for more than $1,000. In fact, one auction closed $2,325, according to Macworld.
Funnily enough, some bids are even coming from countries that do not sell the iPhone. However, Apple hopes to expand the iPhone's availability from 20 countries to 70 countries by the end of the year.
[via Macworld]
Jul
23
Another game that I've had since launch is Spinner Prologue. This is another game that is played using only the accelerometer. Essentially this is simply a set of mazes that you must navigate your way through. However, rather than controlling the arrow, it moves in a single direction and you must rotate the maze in order to lead it to the end.
This game can be very frustrating at times, as it is not the easiest of titles. See, you don't just have to navigate to the end of the maze, but you also can't touch the walls. As the levels progress, you must navigate through tighter turns and more narrow areas. I've only made it to level 11 so far, but I'm determined to beat the game.
A couple things to note when playing this game. First, you need to start ever level by holding your phone vertically. Second, under no circumstances should you ever double-tap your screen. I'm not sure whether this is intended or a bug (I'm going to go with bug) but doing so will take you back to the very first level.
Spinner Prolouge takes up just 0.6MB of space, and is free. There are only a few levels, however, there will be a paid version of the game later which will have more to play.
Jul
23
One of my favorite games that I've played since I picked up the iPhone has got to be Cube Runner. It is a very simple game in which you use the accelerometer to control a ship and navigate through a series of blocks.
There's really very little to this addictive game. One thing I will note is that when you start up the game, definitely tap on the little “i” in the bottom right corner. This will flip the game into horizontal mode, which makes the game a lot more fun to play.
There are three levels of difficulty, and with ever-changing levels there is enough replayability to keep you entertained for some time. Cube Runner is only going to take up 0.1MB of storage space and is free.
