Appletell | Apple, Mac, iPhone, iPod | News, Rumors, Reviews, How-Tos

Mac highlights today include the puzzle game Zodiac Tower, a diet aid called HealthNut, and a great cross-app promotion for Strata Design 3D CX. You’re likely to find your own favorites, though, so look inside. The iPhone apps just get rude, with Snob-O-Meter, Insulting Monk, and Pingo. Pingo may not sound insulting, but I guess it depends upon you use it…you Pingo. See?

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Not content with just one “weedy species” franchise in the form of The Sims, Electronic Arts now wants to take over your gaming garden with Spore. EA studio Maxis announced last week the open beta for Spore Islands on Facebook. Spore Islands invites Facebook users to experience the Spore universe in a new way by competing against each other in the “ultimate survival of the fittest game.”

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I’m guessing there are few locations where the view from a hotel window could be an app, but it works with Yoritsuki. It’s beautifully designed; easily one of the all-around best looking apps I’ve ever tried, with graphics that make me wish my iPhone screen was four times larger. Yoritsuki will relax you, whether you’re using it as a calming break during your day or as a way to lull you to sleep at night.

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Adobe has been bringing us Photoshop Elements. This is a friendlier image manipulation program. Cheaper. You don’t get nearly the amount of power and control you get with Photoshop, but you do get enough to have some fun and produce some very cool images. With this iteration, Adobe has not only added some great new editing tools, by also improved the way you organize and share your photos, as well.

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A game, a touch and a guide for the Mac, and everything else is iPhone tonight. Gravity Sling, Checkers, Ground Effect, 365 Puzzle Club, and The World’s Hardest Game highlight the fun side, while computer game legend Al Lowe highlights the funny side. You can also learn stuff and check out some sexy refs…which in my book means a ref actually calling a fair game for the Seahawks.

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I like the BookArc; let’s start with that. This device from Twelve South is a simple but solid heavy gauge steel arc in which your MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air can rest in its closed position. Why would you need that? You wouldn’t be asking if you use an external monitor and keyboard with your MacBook. Small is good when you’re considering portability. But when doing work at your desk, it’s better for your eyes and your posture to hook your laptop up to a larger monitor.

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Scan your comics and scan your receipts on the Mac. You can scan other things too, but there’s nothing else here to help you with that. On the iPhone, you’ve got audio short stories, balloons to send floating around the world, a Mysterious Island to explore, a Bible study to plan, opera librettos to read, and plenty more. If that’s not enough for you, well, then you can just stick it! 2.1

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There’s no shortage of iPhone apps available to keep kids occupied while you wait for your bloomin’ onion to be served. There’s also no shortage of apps available to explain why you shouldn’t be eating a bloomin’ onion. In this review, though, we’ll focus on the kids, and take a look at a couple of Scholastic apps that can teach them a few things while they’re entertained: WordGirl Word Hunt and Clifford’s BE BIG with Words.

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You have a map for that, Verizon? Okay, well I see your map, and raise you an app. 100,000 apps, actually. Apple has announced that developers have created over 100,000 apps for the App Store (only a couple hundred of which have anything to do with farting). This is a number Apple’s competitors just won’t be able to reach, and I’m not even sure they understand why it’s important to try.

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Already with the Christmas apps? Well, why not. Be creative enough, and even iStopMotion and MacTuneUp could be holiday gifts, I suppose. Pretty much everything on the iPhone could, such as Minima, The Right Bite (it’ll help you lose all that holiday treat weight), Cobra, DJ Nights, and more. iMEvil, Dead Panic: Survival, and that one from the Penthouse photographer? Probably not good Christmas gifts, those.

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