Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 19, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• myTracks 2.2 has been released. The main new features of this GPS and geotagging application are a free iPhone App for synchronizing tracks and photos between iPhone and Mac, and an Aperture Plug-In for an effective way to use Aperture’s Places feature.
• Macgamestore.com has announced it it is now accepting pre-orders for UbiSoft’s upcoming strategy game, The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom. Embark on an exciting quest to create, build and manage your kingdom in the most innovative, customizable and re-playable version ever. Combat enemies all across the land in a quest to conquer a formidable kingdom. Defeat ruthless kings, forbidding lords and dark knights on your quest for victory. Uncover undisclosed traitors along your path and more.
• Tycoon Games, developers of several award-winning dating sims and visual novels, has just released the voiced version of their latest game, Heileen 2: The Hands Of Fate. This update adds hours of voiced content to one of Tycoon Games’ longest games to date. Like many of its Japanese counterparts, this visual novel leaves the main character unvoiced, but a team of seven voice actors has worked hard for several months to bring life to the rest of the cast including Black the cat, Marie, Lora, Otto, Robert, Ebele and many more.
• Music fans can now improve their music collection quickly and easily with lyrics and automatically label tracks with all available song information. equinux introduces SongGenie 2, the new version of its software for improving digital music libraries. SongGenie 2 automatically searches online for lyrics, which can be displayed on your iPod or iPhone. Using an acoustic fingerprint for each song, SongGenie recognizes incorrect or mis-labeled titles and artists, and searches for available song information.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• With over 20,000 units already made and most in the US, Hard Candy Cases is the first to ship premium protective sleeves for the iPad. A signature look from Hard Candy Cases, the Bubble Hard Sleeve pops in three distinct colors—green, black and pink—and offers premium protection and delicious style for iPad users on the go. The sleeves retail for $49.95.
• In Paper Boat Race, players blow into the microphone to make their boat travel faster as they race to win! To guide the paper boat along the course in the swimming pool, players use the accelerometer in order to pass between the flags and avoid hitting obstacles. In Paper Boat Race, the player will compete in 4 championships with 5 races each. The difficulty level will gradually increase in each circuit.
• Modern Geek has announced Our Secrets 1.1, an update to their popular app for iPhone and iPod touch. Our Secrets has been updated to include Facebook sharing. Our Secrets gives you access to real people’s secrets and an opportunity to share your own anonymously. Is there something that you want to get off your chest? You never know what secrets you’ll read. It might be a surprise that other people share similar secrets to you.
• Theme Park Nerd Ltd has announced Thrill Seeker 2.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. Thrill Seeker enhances theme park visits by offering detailed info and photos on every ride, attraction and facility. It can also show you your position on a map, display everything nearby and even generate intelligent, sat-nav like directions to any item on park. You can search through items and filter them by category. A unique “manual locations” feature offers iPod touch users full location-based functionality.
• Dusty Roads Media has announced My Spot Pro 1.0.2 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. My Spot Pro lets you tell anyone your spot in the world with a touch of a button. It marks your location and sends the GPS coordinates, and the address if available, to whomever you choose or to Facebook or Twitter. You can even easily attach a photo or audio clip of where you are and send it to a group, to a friend, or in an emergency, can even send a pre-saved Panic Message to your family or authorities.
• Humble Daisy has announced that SonicPics—the company’s iPhone and iPod touch app—will be sold for 1/3 its regular price on Monday, March 22nd. SonicPics is a tool for creating and narrating custom photo slide shows on the iPhone or iPod touch. It makes it easy to use images from the iPhone’s photo library or built in camera. The update includes a new image picker that makes it even easier to add images from the iPhone’s photo library.
• Tessera Design has announced World Builder 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. World Builder is a suite of tools that enables Game Masters of pen-and-paper Role Playing Games to Build, Map, and Explore worlds like never before. Create Locales, Non-Player Characters, and Maps in just minutes on your iPhone or iPod touch. Customize Locale and NPC characteristics to fit any genre or campaign. World Builder includes over 150 mapping symbols and tiles, and much more.
• We Are Colin has announced WordSearch Rush 1.1, an update to their unique word puzzle game for iPhone and iPod touch is now available from the App Store worldwide. WordSearch Rush is a unique twist on the conventional wordsearch game. The word list has been removed. Instead, the user is given a topic which they have to find words related to. This unique twist adds a new element not found in any other word search games currently available on Apple’s App Store.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

I hope you like games, because that’s what’s hot on the App Store this week.  They’re pretty diverse, from a first person shooter to a Tetris wannabe, so I’m sure there’s something here that will help the time go by.  But don’t worry, there are some cool tools here too, and, as always, it’s all sans charge.

• Boom Shake Free - Another music rhythm game that uses your own music.  This one looks a lot more like Rock Band, though.  You can create your own song notes and share them with others.  Or, just download what others have made.  Either way, this game has a lot of potential.  This game is OpenFeint enabled, connects with Twitter and Facebook and they’ve even slimmed it down low enough so it’s downloadable over 3G!
• Eliminate CO-OP - How do you make the best (and free-est) multiplayer first person shooter even better?  Add co-op.  And that’s just what ngmoco has done.  Now, if only it had voice chat.  Still, I think this is currently your best bet for FPSs on the App Store.
• Whiteboard Share - Ever in a meeting and someone wants you to copy what’s been written on a whiteboard?  Ugh, what a waste of your perfectly valuable time, right?  Well, you could take a picture and hope that your iPhone’s camera is enough, but this app takes it a step further; it optimizes whiteboard text by removing artifacts.  They even say it removes glare.  Give it a try; it could save some time and a hand cramp or two.
• ClassicTOY Plastic Toy Camera - As a child, I never had a toy camera.  Still, I can’t help but love the style of this camera app.  It takes images in a 3:2 format, simulates 11 different types of film and applies a vignetting effect.
• Re Universal Remote Control - The must have app for Re remote dongle owners.  Seriously, it won’t work without it.  The Re app comes with a database of IR codes so you shouldn’t need to teach it anything about your TV other than its brand and model, but you can teach it if necessary.  It’s got all the features you need, and, best of all, it’s super portable.  We’ll be keeping our eyes on the remote control scene here at Appletell, so you can expect to see more about this in the coming months.
• iLuv App Clock - iLuv just announced their newest App Station iDevice speaker dock, and this is the companion app.  Basically, it’s just a nearly fullscreen clock with alarm options.  You can wake up to your own music and control its playback inside the app.  It also displays weather, has theme choices and can be dimmed.  More features are coming.
• CardKing - Are you sick of your wallet bulging with membership cards?  I know I am.  This app lets you scan all of your cards and display them on screen. You never need to worry about forgetting a discount card again, or forgetting them on purpose to save your butt.
• Pipetrix - Tetris?  Close. This game requires you to connect pipes together, not create lines.  It’s a bit different.  The shapes have pipes embedded.  Connect those pipes to score.
• Paper Football 3D - Another 3D football game for the iPhone, this time in paper!  If you like paper football, but hate the burden of folding paper, then give this a try and waste a few minutes.
• Perfect Necktie - You have to wear a tie for most of the week, so you might as well learn to tie it properly.  This app has instructions for 10 different tie knots.  You can even try my personal favorite, the Atlantic Knot.  Be forewarned, it’s a bit difficult to do, and you have to be pretty hip to pull it off.
• Chevy iReveal - Want to play Chevy’s game?  It’s a location-based game that challenges you to find virtual Chevy vehicles across the US.  If you find a vehicle, you can unlock it and explore it in 3D augmented reality.  Sadly, it only works in selected cities, and currently it’s only Austin, Texas. More cities are coming soon.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Now that finals are approaching, it’s more important than ever to get your school day organized. Keeping all of your school work on track is not as hard as you may initially think. You don’t even have to carry around one of those dorky planners that your school gives out, you can hide all of your amazing organization on your iPhone. No fuss, no muss, no back strain.

iHomework

Seller: Paul Pilone
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or higher
File Size: 1.6 MB
Price: $99
Age Rating: 4+

Keeping track of all of your assignments can be a serious challenge, but iHomework can help. You can track them by the day that they are due, or by the subject. That way, if you have the odd urge to tackle all of your algebra for the week, you are set to go.

iHomework also gives you the ability to set up repeating reminders, so if you have a quiz every Thursday, you never have to reenter the study time each week. As a bonus, this application has a Facebook app, so you can get everything online as well.

Organizer: To Do + Calender + Lists

Seller: Yada Home
Compatibility: iPhone or iPod touch
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or higher
File Size: 1.0MB
Price: Free
Age Rating: 4+

If you want an application that can give you a wide range of tools, then this is the way to go. It gives you your calendar for deadline based tasks. That way, if you want to break up your research paper into all of its smaller tasks (a smart way to make it simpler, by the way), you can. Everything will be organized ready to go.

This one is a great choice if you have a lot of extras to manage.

Drivers Ed

Seller: Michael Thomton
Compatibility: iPhone or iPod touch
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or higher
File Size: 0.4 MB
Price: Free
Age Rating: 4+

If that time of parking between the orange cones and standing in line at the DMV is fast approaching, you will want a way to study for that driver’s license exam on the go.

Drivers Ed features a wide range of questions that you are likely to see on your exam. Now you can get your study in anywhere and any time. The length can even be set to suit your current level of ambition, from a five question quirky to a 100 question mega test.

Full Story » | Written by Katie Gatto for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Finance
Developer: ProOnGo, Llc.
File Size: 1.5MB
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later
Compatibility: iPhone or iPod touch (2nd gen)
Age Rating: 4+
Retail Price: $0.99

ProOnGo Expense with Receipt Reader is an application designed to make tracking your expenses on the iPhone both painless and powerful. It offers a variety of ways to enter the information you have and also allows you to both view and export this information in multiple ways that may be useful to you. Best of all, it does so in a simplistic manner that tries to stay out of the way to let you get your work done.

When you first open the application, you are presented with a list view of your expenses (see image below) that allows you to see where the expense was from, how much it cost, and when it took place. Tapping a blue arrow on the right side of each cell takes you to a more detailed view of the expense that can show further information such as comments and what category the expense belongs to. These categories can be created and edited as well, allowing you to make sure your expenses fit into your workflow.

In the list view, you are also able to filter what you see based on options such as time period and expense type (custom, mileage, time). You can also choose to sort them by merchant, amount, or date in ascending or descending order as well. This is done by tapping the middle item in the menu bar. Furthermore, tapping on an expense gives you the option to hide, edit, or duplicate it. These menu options are pretty self explanatory.

All that said, in order to have any information in list view to make it useful, you need to first add expenses. This is done by hitting “New” in the top right. The first option it gives you is to the program if this expense is in terms of mileage, time, or just a regular expense. Tapping each option gives you different information to edit, obviously. For instance, you can input the amount, change the date, add a comment, change the category, and alter the name of the merchant at which the expense took place. If you make a mileage expense, you can choose how many miles you went as well as where you started and ended using the GPS and Google Maps.

Interestingly enough, for regular expenses you can also choose to have it take a picture of the receipt and try to read it for you, which is nice. If you choose to do this, the app sends it to a Receipt Reader and analyzes it and then returns the results to your phone in a few minutes. It’s worth noting that this application was made with the iPhone 3GS autofocusing camera in mind, and the results from this feature aren’t very usable if you try it with an iPhone 3G.

Thankfully, the application does allow you to edit the receipt before you send it to their server in case you don’t feel safe doing so. You can conceal certain items on the receipt or turn it 90 degrees in any direction if you feel the need to do so. Once you send it to them, it is analyzed, and then you either get the results returned to you or are told that it couldn’t analyze them, in which case you are asked to verify if the information is indeed correct or if it should retry to analyze it.

Once you have the expenses added, you can do a lot with them outside of editing them. A nice feature of this application is the different ways you can view your expenses through the second item in the tab bar. Hitting it allows you to view your expense by amount in terms of a bar graph, line graph, or pie chart (see image below). It automatically adds keys and colors to the graph to make it extremely simple to see where you are spending the most money and at what times of the month, if need be.

Furthermore, ProOnGo also allows you to export your expenses as an Excel Spreadsheet, an XML file, a fax, or a QuickBooks report. You can choose to have these emailed to you so you can do with them what you want. It’s pretty cool, and it makes the application much more useful as the data can easily be sent to places beyond the iPhone itself.

Overall, I found the experience of using this application to be fairly pleasant. In terms of tracking expenses and the features you would want to go along with that, ProOnGo is perfect. The ability to view the purchases in charts right in the app makes it extremely easy to analyze your data, while the possibility of exporting it to other applications makes it just that much more useful. Also, the built in Receipt Reader puts the applications a step above some of the rest in terms of functionality. I’d certainly recommend this to someone interested in beginning to track their expenses. With a little bit more work on the interface elements, this application would be just that much better, though.

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 18, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• app4mac today released CheckUp 2.6, a major update to the innovative tool that allows you to check the health and monitor the behavior of a Mac computer. CheckUp is now able to detect the most common issues of a Mac and display details about how to fix them. CheckUp works with any Mac with a PowerPC G4, G5 or Intel Processor. With its use of the latest Mac OS X technologies, breakthrough ease-of-use and innovation, all Mac users will find CheckUp very useful and even fun.
• PocketMac has announced PocketMac for BlackBerry 5.0, the latest version of the groundbreaking sync solution. PocketMac for BlackBerry comes complete with a synchronization engine redesigned from the ground up for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. The new engine accounts for the new quicker synchronization speeds. Also included are simpler, clearer preferences, reorganized to accommodate the way users want to work.
• Zevrix Solutions has announced File Courier 1.5, a major update to its automatic digital delivery system with emphasis on needs of graphics industry professionals. File Courier delivers files and folders to FTP and local destinations and sends automatic e-mail delivery notifications. It also creates lo-res PDF files, compresses items and password-protects deliveries. The new update introduces some major new features such as delivery of multiple files, file queue and interface improvements.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• iKit has introduced their iPad Leather Folio Case, giving your iPad an elegant look. Made of genuine cow leather, the slim padded design gives you access to all your functions and protects the device in an optimal manner. It features an interior and exterior embossed design with secure access, keeping your iPad safe and giving you a sophisticated look. The wow factor for this product is the beautiful interior and exterior lining, which is accompanied by an embossed brushed plate, perfect for the executives of this world.
• The world famous H1 Longitude Sea Clock is possibly the most important timepiece ever created. Nearly 300 years ago it was the beginning of John Harrison’s quest to create a timekeeper accurate enough to determine longitude at sea. The H1 Longitude Sea Clock still exists to this day, thanks to Rupert Gould’s and Jonathan Betts’ dedication in restoring and maintaining it. It is the property of the Ministry of Defence Art Collection in London, and is on extended loan to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, where it can be viewed in the Time and Longitude Gallery at the Royal Observatory. Developer Tech Center Labs has been granted the exclusive and honored opportunity of bringing this marvelous creation to life on the Apple iPhone and Apple iPod touch.
• Demystifying iPhone/iPad App Development—a conference session given at the Macworld 2010 Conference & Expo in San Francisco in February—is now available online as a free video screencast. Parade of Progress Productions, a Los Angeles-based design, development and consulting firm specializing in the iPhone, announced that it is making its Macworld session freely available, both for streaming and as a download.
• 288 Vroom LLC has released 100 Horror Stories And Sounds 2.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. Read 100 of the greatest horror stories of all time and immerse yourself in the terror with 20 disturbing sounds and animations, and a few extra surprises that would be no fun to mention here. And now Version 2.0 has a new haunting feature called Auto-Scare. Excellent for Halloween or any time of year.
• Jasper Apps has announced My Vacation 1.1.2 for iPhone and iPod touch on the Apple App Store. My Vacation is an app for travellers which is packed with features, all within the app rather than simply being an interface to a website. Regardless of network coverage the interface makes it simple to capture the memories of a trip, rather than let them be forgotten. The release date is perfectly timed for those going on vacation during Easter, or starting to plan for the Summer.
• I-itch Inc. has announced the release of ABC Shakedown Plus 1.0, a follow-up to their very popular first app, “ABC Shakedown.” for iPhone and iPod touch devices. ABC Shakedown Plus is a teacher developed, timeless learning tool that actually teaches as it entertains. This app features three multi-sensory games that foster literacy by introducing and reinforcing letter recognition and letter sounds through interactive game play that implements delightful animation and audio.
• Alien Equation, an indie math puzzle game, is now available for the iPhone and iPod touch. When the navigation computer on your interstellar spaceship contracts a nasty virus and reverts to the intelligence of a three year old what do you do? Can you reteach the computer math while fending off the contagious invaders? Rearrange a grid of numbers and operators into enough valid equations before your system shuts down and strands you on a planet full of bipedal, hairless apes.
• kode80 LLC has released HoloToy 1.01, an update to its remarkable 3D technology app for iPhone & iPod touch. Version 1.01 introduces a remote controlled, user customizable robot that exists inside the virtual 3D space created by the HoloToy. HoloToy works by distorting the 3D scenes displayed on screen in a way our brains would expect based on the current angle of the device, all in real time. It presents a believable 3D scene that appears to extend right into the device itself.
• Kimchi Studios has presented Get Wise: Dangerous Quotes edition for iPhone and iPod touch. It contains 25,000+ powerful quotes by the world’s most brilliant and famous people. Dare to discover their secrets of success and thoughts on 160+ topics. Features include music, favorites, Twitter and Facebook posting, search, themes, notes and more. It offers web-enabled access to most viewed and top-rated quotes to help uncover the best and the most dangerous quotes of all-time.
• Electric Pocket Limited has released an iPhone version of BugMe!, the popular note-taker and reminder application. BugMe! for iPhone lets users jot quick notes and doodles - with their finger as the pen - just like a digital sticky note. The new release of BugMe! introduces a first for iPhone users: BugMe!‘s “Save to Home Screen” feature lets users save a copy of any note to the iPhone’s app launcher screen.
• TimeStream Software has announced free downloads of its new Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Notescast for the iPod Classic, iPod nano and iPod Video. Available as a free download for a limited time, it’s the classic tale of Alice’s journey down the rabbit hole filled with some of the most notable and interesting characters in literary history, and now iPod owners can read it wherever they go on their iPod Classic, nano or Video.
• Clever Coding has announced iColor Easter Eggs, the latest update to their holiday app for iPhone and iPod touch devices. iColor Easter Eggs has been completely revamped adding new features, as well overhauling the graphics for the entire app. Users are able to choose one of six custom egg designs. From the designs they are able to color the eggs in any way they would like. After color the eggs, users can pick one of eighteen colorful backgrounds for their picture.
• Let’s be honest; during the winter season, we often back out of doing too much exercise outdoors. However, spring brings new motivation. Running, cycling and skating are all on the hit list of urban athletes. The Viennese design label URBAN TOOL has the right accessories and bags for all our sporty activities, proving that we don’t need to sacrifice style when exercising. Practical and stylish at the same time, “crossHolster,” “sportHolster” and “sportStrap” present themselves in new trendy colours.
• If you’ve spent too much money on hotties and didn’t get anywhere, here’s your chance to get some back. BigStack Studios has announced the launch of Hottie Hookups Lite, available now on the App Store for free. The new lite version offers players the chance to aid the hotties by flicking and tilting nerds away on select levels as well as boasting a number of features from the full version of the game. To celebrate the release of Hottie Hookups Lite, for a limited time, the full version of Hottie Hookups is now available at $0.99.
• BCNmultimedia today is pleased to announce three months of Success in the App Store with the release of Children’s Bible 1.2 for iPhone and iPod touch. The full color Children’s Bible app tells the stories of the Old and New Testament in seven different languages and is the first comic book style Bible to be made available to iPhone and iPod touch users. This edition of the Bible allows you to read one diferent free comic book every month.
• TimeStream Software today announces Disneyland Park Guide 2.0, a major update of its popular Notescast for iPhone and iPod touch. Now guests worldwide can access a wealth of information about Disneyland Park and the Disneyland Hotels on their iPhones in over 130 pages and more than 300 colorful new photos showcasing Disneyland Park and the nearby Disneyland Hotels.
• Spoonjuice has announced the launch of a new organizational app, Daily Deeds, for the iPhone and iPod touch. Daily Deeds lets users create a task list to carry with them on-the-go, and monitor accomplishments over time. The easy-to-use task management app offers a convenient way to stay organized and motivates users to initiate and achieve new habits. Daily Deeds is now available on the App Store for $0.99.
• IDAPT has unveiled its latest portable charging system during CTIA Wireless 2010 in Las Vegas: the IDAPT i4. This innovative charging solution can charge up to 4 mobile devices simultaneously and is compatible with over 4,000 mobile electronic devices including the iPhone, iPod, Blackberry, Nintendo DS, PSP, PS3 controller, GPS systems, digital cameras, and Bluetooth products.
• Using “Digital Intuition” technology, my6sense is the first app to automatically and intuitively filter users’ Twitter and RSS streams so that their most valuable information is presented first. While the technology requires zero user intervention, it extracts rich feedback based on the user’s consumption habits and has the ability to detect the finest nuances of his interests. This system makes my6sense the only service to surface information precisely according to each user’s unique preferences.
• Scosche Industries has announced its 2010 netbook accessory lineup, which will be unveiled at CTIA 2010 in Las Vegas. The lineup features the new netBOOK Protect line which includes the netSUIT PRO carrying case for netbooks and iPad, netSUIT reversible sleeve, sCLEAN non-toxic eco-friendly screen cleaner and netKIT. The netKIT ships with a clear protective skin, screen protector, spray cleaner with micro fiber cloth, and a combo LCD/Keyboard guard and mouse pad.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Music
Developer: Rock River Communications, Inc.
File Size: 4.6MB
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later
Compatibility: iPhone or iPod touch (2nd gen)
Age Rating: 9+
Retail Price:phto Free

StarMaker is an application designed simply to bring karaoke to the iPhone, and it provides a few nice twists in doing so. It is much like the Lady Gaga application we reviewed a while back, except that it includes a wider selection of songs from which to pick. Interestingly enough, there is also the ability to record your singing as well as easily share it with your friends. In terms of bringing a form of karaoke to the iPhone and iPod Touch, it certainly does that in a way I haven’t seen before.

When you first launch the app, you are informed that if you choose to record yourself, the quality will be better if you use the iPhone headphones with a built in microphone. From there, you have the ability to choose from a few free songs that are included with your download of the application. However, if you want to purchase more songs, they are available for a slim $0.99 in the built-in store (image below). Thankfully, they download rather quickly even over 3G. That said, I found that although these songs did contain the correct instrumentals for the songs, they are not the actual vocals from the song. The lyrics are the same, but the vocals have been re-recorded. While it isn’t a huge change (the recordings are pretty good), you can certainly tell the difference. I imagine this is to avoid having to get the expensive and confusing licensing deals with the record labels to use their material.

One you have the song you want to sing, you simply tap it from your available song list and are presented with the screen below. From here, you select when to start the karaoke as well as if you want to record it or not. As the lyrics come up in the song, the scroll view on the screen scrolls to highlight the line you are on and also colors the current word orange. Furthermore, it is kind of cool in that the slider at the bottom of the screen adjusts the volume of only the vocals, so you can either sing along to just the background music or with another singer included with the track.

You can stop the recording at any time during the song to save and share. To do so, you simply tap a stop button in the lower right hand corner. From there, you are able to tap a “Finish” button in the upper right hand corner to be brought to a screen that allows you to either delete your recording, share it, or add album art to it and then share it. Adding album art consists of either taking an image or choosing one from your library to use as the main background. From there you can choose to also add clipart-type images built into the application—guitars, hats, festive stuff, and text, among other things—which is definitely a nice addition.

Once you are done with the above process, you can share it. This involves emailing a link to a known address that takes them to a website where the recording is embedded. However, you can also post it to your Facebook page for all of your friends to have the link to if you choose to sign in with Facebook Connect. In terms of sharing, this is the right route to go, and it’s a nice decision by the developers. Perhaps we will see some sort of Twitter integration in future versions of the app.

In terms of ideas, I love this application. It has all the necessary features and parts of what I would expect from a fun recording application that allows you to share with other people. That said, I do believe it needs some refinements before it will really be a killer karaoke app. For one, I found the interface to be a bit sluggish and unresponsive at times. Along with crashing once, the scroller for the song lyrics also commonly gets behind where the song actually is, especially if there are fewer words on each line. Not only is that kind of annoying at times, it also makes it very hard to sing the song if you don’t exactly know the words.

As I said, the application certainly is usable in its current state. However, some fine tuning and interface adjustments could definitely make it the little bit better it needs to be for me to recommend it as an end-all, be-all karaoke application. With that in mind, I’m sure the developers are already busily doing this to make it even better in the next iteration.

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 17, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• MacUpdate has launched its Spring 2010 software bundle featuring Parallels Desktop 5 and nine other top Mac applications 88% off. Included in this limited time bundle are Parallels Desktop 5, Bee Docs Timeline 3D, Spell Catcher, Hydra, Back-In-Time, ForeverSave, Hyperspaces, Web Snapper, MacDVDRipper Pro and MacScan. The offer runs through March 31 exclusively at MacUpdate Promo.
• iPresentee has released iWeb Themes 7.0 for Apple’s Web site building application. iWeb Themes 7.0 are available in standard and iPhone edition. The new release includes five best ever built themes for iWeb: Blue Style, Shining Star, Greenish Style, Tango and Developer. iPresentee offers a double benefit - each iWeb user may build website for desktop computer and mobile device while maintaining the same site design within iWeb.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• Little Green Software has announced Tally-O 1.1 for iPhone and iPod touch. Tally-O is a must-have iPhone app for travelers, scavenger hunters and geocaching fans: anyone with an iPhone that enjoys exploring unique places in the world. With more than 1,000 adventures worldwide, Tally-O is the only iPhone app that allows players to publish adventures to Facebook for their friends. Version 1.1 includes Google maps, Facebook status updates, 3GS compass support, and auto-save.
• From the land of down under comes a highly advanced and sophisticated Strobe Tuner developed by Jormy Games. A strobe tuner determines the difference between a reference frequency and the musical note. Even the slightest difference between the two will show up as a rotating motion in the strobe display. Using Strobe Tuner for Apple iPhone and Apple iPod touch, it is possible to tune instruments with supreme accuracy.
• Independent software developer Steve Glinberg has released 123 Color by KidCalc, version 1.2. 123 Color is a coloring book that teaches numbers, upper and lower case letters, shapes and colors in multiple languages as kids play. While teaching crucial language skills, 123 Color engages and entertains children ages 2-10 with beautiful artwork, fun sound effects and rich music. Less than two weeks after its launch, 123 Color by KidCalc became the most popular education app for iPhone/iPod touch.
• Independent software developer Steve Glinberg has announced KidCalc 7-in-1 Math Fun 1.12, the twelfth update to his popular animated math flash cards and learning activities app for iPhone and iPod touch. This new version of KidCalc Math Fun adds Easter themed graphics and voice-overs by adult speakers speaking numbers and mathematical operations. KidCalc teaches numbers and math to children, ages 2 to 10 years, using holiday themed graphics, engaging animations and voice-overs.
• Ever the celebrationists, Proporta has created two Limited Edition products in honour of St. Patrick’s Day—exclusively available to Proporta online customers. The Aluminium Lined Leather Case for the iPhone 3G/3GS and Leather Wallet have both received a makeover and now boast a green pillar box lining to give them that special St. Paddy’s Day feel. And to help you celebrate, we’d like to offer you a 15% discount off your next Proporta purchase. Simply enter the promotion code SHAMROCK at the cart page to receive your discount.
• MotionPortrait has announced PhotoAvatar 1.2 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Ideal for your online double life, PhotoAvatar transforms your beautiful mug into a realistic 3D avatar from another planet. Powered by MotionPortrait technology, PhotoAvatar includes three different alien races, each with its own distinctive in-movie action and voice. Share your alien avatar by email with friends or use it as your profile picture on Twitter, Facebook and other online services.
• MotionPortrait has announced HourFace 1.3 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Using MotionPortrait’s cutting-edge avatar-builder technology, HourFace analyzes a still photo and turns it into a living, breathing 3D movie that ages right there on the iPhone screen. HourFace ages your friends and family and generates a 3D interactive movie for you to poke, prod and be amazed by. Discover what you might look like 50 years from now - all in 3D.
• Are you the King of Tapdom? Do you utterly rule over everyone you battle? Good, then this contest is for you. Get out your iPod, polish those thumbs, and get your tap on. Every day for the next 30 days, one Kings of Leon Revenge player will win Only By the Night on CD. Then, one grand prize winner gets an autographed 10” vinyl for Red Morning Light as well as a soon-to-be-released 16GB Wi-Fi iPad.
• David Day, a widely-read hiking guide writer for trails in Utah and Colorado, and TalkingRockies, a pioneer in mobile recreation guides, have just released apps for Utah’s 5 national parks for iPhone and Android systems. These guides introduce outdoor enthusiasts worldwide to the wonders that await them in the amazing backcountry in Utah’s national parks. One guide covers the western parks, Zion, Bryce Capitol Reef, and the other covers the eastern ones, Arches and Canyonlands.
• Gamedoctors has announced the release of their debut title, ZombieSmash! A physics-driven, graphically striking castle defense game for the iPhone and iPod Touch, ZombieSmash! requires players to jump the shoes of Joey, a lone survivor fighting to survive a zombie apocalypse. Players can paint the ground red by flicking and smashing zombies with their fingers, and knock the hordes of brain-craving corpses back into the ground where they belong, taking advantage of an arsenal of unique weaponry and specials along the way.
• ClayTracker 2.0.2, the first hand-held Sporting Clays scoring app for the iPhone and iPod touch, has just released its latest upgrade that includes scoring screens for American, English and Olympic/International Skeet. ClayTracker simplifies scoring by eliminating the need for pencils, scorecards, and manually adding scores during or after the round. Shooters can instantly view their totals and standings, then begin scoring another round with the touch of a button.
• Publicist and Internet Marketing Specialist Scott Lorenz has compiled a list of 52 tips on how to promote an iPhone App - tips he garnered from his extensive experience as a public relations professional in promoting all types of products, inventions, books and services. Apple has almost 150,000 iPhone applications available for sale at its App Store and this number will grow exponentially with the growing popularity of the iPhone, iPod and the new iPad.
• Wuonm has released DisCover 1.0, their one-tap music player for iPhone, iPod and iPad devices. DisCover allows anyone to add icons onto the home screen using artwork from their music library. The album can be played by simply tapping the created icon on their springboard. DisCover automatically searches for all the music on the device. Users scroll to their favorite artist and select the album they want to add as icon.
• Just nine months after the original launch of LetSimonDecide.com, Simon is now available to offer decision-making advice via an app for the iPhone. Simon can help anyone who needs to make a personal decision—from buying a car to a more difficult decision like selecting a college, changing career paths or deciding whether to stay married or get divorced#151;by using a weighted factors-based approach to offer guidance and steer the person to the best decision.
• Handmark has announced its support of the new Apple iPad, set to launch on April 3. The company plans to bring a variety of apps it powers for media partners to the iPad, in addition to its own branded mobile apps. Handmark currently supports mobile applications for a variety of the most trusted brands around the world including Zagat, New York Daily News, Forbes, Oxford University Press, Goal.com and others.
• Handmark and MMAjunkie.com have announced the availability of a new free MMAjunkie.com mobile news application for the iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones. MMAjunkie.com is an independent news site devoted to the highly popular sport of MMA, a full-contact combat sport that combines a wide variety of fighting techniques, mixing classical martial arts with other styles of fighting as diverse as wrestling and Brazilian jiu jitsu. MMAjunkie.com has established itself as the premier go-to source for the latest news and information for millions of fans worldwide who avidly follow the sport.
• Good.iWare has released a new version of its GoodReader file viewer for iPhone that includes “server-style” support for DropBox. Now users can upload files and even entire directories to Dropbox from GoodReader, and are also able to delete files just like they could with a normal file server, such as FTP. The most recent version of GoodReader offered a web-browser connection to DropBox, which enabled users to browse DropBox accounts and download files into GoodReader, but did not enable users to reverse that process and upload files from GoodReader to DropBox.
• The Boxing Fighter app features the ability to train and engage customizable fighters to box in locations ranging from the Street Bar to Vegas, Baby! Become a brawling champ and use points earned to purchase better gear and training for your boxer. And if you’re craving that adrenaline rush that comes from laying the smack down on one of your buddies, try the “vs” feature to battle each other over a network.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

If St. Patty’s day for you means time to drink, then these applications can help you to enjoy the experience, play with your drinks and cope with the damage the morning after.

Beer Brands

Seller: Webworks
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
Requirements: iPhone OS 1.6 or higher
File Size: 1.4 MB
Price: Free
Age Rating: 17+

If you want to be the expert of all things beer, then this application will help you out with a guide to a wide range of beers. Sure, a Bud or a Sam Adams may be a find standard for everyday drinking, but on St. Patty’s Day it is time to step things up a notch and expand your pallet.

It also gives you a nice set of pairing options for each of the 7,800 beers in the listings. Good news if you want to slow down your—or a friends—consumption.

Leprechaun Drinking Game

Seller: Brand Ambassador Group
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.1.2 or higher
File Size: 4.8MB
Price: $0.99
Age Rating: 17+

Drinking is more fun with a gimmick. If you are too bombed to think of one , this application can help you. It is quite simple to play, so being too smashed won’t get you out of it.

All you have to do is tap the leprechaun. He will give you a drinking line that gives you an idea of how much you need to consume. Then, you pass it on to the next unwitting victim, and watch him/her imbibe. The amounts vary widely, and show up randomly, so do not expect a chance to hack the game.

Drink Fit

Seller: Justin Coorperman
Compatibility: iPhone or iPod touch
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or higher
File Size: 0.3MB
Price: $1.99
Age Rating: 12+

Now, we come to the dreaded morning after. If you want to know exactly how much damage you have done to your diet, this application can help you to figure out not only how bad you were, but can help you plan for the future. With nutrition information on the least damaging beers, you can consume less calories next time.

Full Story » | Written by Katie Gatto for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 16, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• Selznick Scientific Software, LLC has announced PasswordWallet 4.5, a major update to their best-selling password management solution for Macintosh and iPhone. The app now allows the user to automatically share all of their passwords between their Mac, iPhone and MobileMe accounts, as well as their Windows, Android, Windows Mobile and Palm Pre devices. Simple and secure, PasswordWallet encrypts and stores passwords and other private information in one, convenient location.
• Yazsoft has announced Playback 1.5.1, an important update to their popular zero configuration media server for Mac OS X. Playback allows anyone to share their media with any Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or other supported UPnP compatible device. Playback can also share media stored in folders or even make entire disks available to a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. By default, Playback will share almost any content on the users system.
• Pogoplug, the multimedia sharing device that allows users to access their media anywhere on the web, has added two new features to the award-winning device. Starting today, Pogoplug users can stream content to Xbox 360 and PS3 game consoles. The enhanced Active Copy feature now automatically copies files to a Pogoplug in another location. With game console support, Pogoplug owners can now easily access, share, and stream their media directly to their Xbox 360 or PS3 from any local or remotely located Pogoplug. Gamers can watch home movies from their Pogoplug connected external hard drive on their Xbox 360 or PS3, share slideshows or listen to their entire music library without ever putting down their game controller. The Xbox 360 or PS3 automatically sees the drives connected to the Pogoplug and the contents of other shared Pogoplugs.
• Xeric Design has announced EarthDesk 5.3, an update to its award-winning, real-time dynamic desktop map. EarthDesk replaces your static desktop with an image of the Earth showing current sun, moon and city illumination, as well as real-time global cloud coverage, allowing you to track hurricanes and other weather systems on your Macintosh or Windows desktop. Version 5.3 provides a work-around for a long standing screen saver hang in OS 10.6.
• In January, Steve Jobs announced that Apple had more than 140,000 applications in its App Store. That’s a lot of apps, and the number grows every day. Users are now tempted to create their own software programs to join in the action. But developing on the Mac, iPhone and iPad isn’t easy for beginners—they need a guide to show the way. In his new book, Beginning Mac Programming: Develop with Objective-C and Cocoa, author Tim Isted shows that the path from user to software developer is within reach. Step by gentle step, Isted shows non-programmers how to move from idea to application.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• apfelbaumGROUP UG has released TIOnixie - Alarm Clock - Stop Watch - Timer 1.1.1 for iPhone and iPod touch users. This three-in-one application has added even more functions to its retro Nixie tube timekeeping program. Now, in addition to the alarm, stop watch and timer, developers have included a flashlight, icon dimming and connection to a user’s iPod library. The clock can show the time in a twelve or twenty-four hour format with both modes displaying the hour, minute and seconds.
• Spurrier Group has released eyeBuy Visual Search 1.5 for iPhone and iPod touch users looking for price deals. The application offers a myriad of local shopping search engine results, which can be obtained with barcode scans, photos or used manually to find the best online deals for specific products. A combination of learned image recognition and a speedy performance makes eyeBuy Visual Search a fast, easy resource for bargain hunters.
• ScavoMed has released Pocket Therapy 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users. It is the only application available that gives very specific therapeutic routines for the fifteen most common injuries. The Pocket Therapy app is like having a physical therapist in your iPhone, providing injury specific information, advice and exercises, complete with photo and video demonstrations. The included photos and video demonstrations serve to help patients understand and safely follow the treatment steps.
• 24x7digital today announces Smiley Sight Words 1.0, an educational flash-card app for iPhone and iPod touch. Smiley Sight Words is a comprehensive learning tool containing over 1,500 high-frequency sight words, compiled from many sources including Dolch, Fry, and UK word lists. Students may tap the sight word to hear professionally recorded American-English pronunciations, swipe flash-cards to navigate the stack of words, and shake their iPhone to shuffle the flash-cards.
• IMAGIO Co., Ltd. has updated GO! GO! Rangers!, it’s J-RPG style turn-based strategy game for iPhone and iPod touch. A new hero has been added, bringing the total to 15. A new monster has also been added, for a total of 9. Character design has been refined, and a few bugs have been fixed.
• TheBusinessDesk has become the first regional business publisher to offer a free iPhone app, making it even easier for users to access its three business news sites while on the move. The application is available to download free and will complement the online news service’s websites in Yorkshire, the North West and the West Midlands. Registered users of the website will have full access to every story published on the site’s three regional homepages and more.
• Sperm Killer has been released on Apple Store. What’s the aim of the game? Sperm and viruses are flying to the “destination place.” The player’s obligation is to catch them with the help of special gun, which is firing condoms. If you miss at least one of viruses, the game is over! On each level, the speed of the sperm and viruses increases.
• PhatWare Corporation has announced an updated PhatNotes 1.3 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. PhatNotes allows users to create notes and organize them by category, color, subject, priority, creation, authorization, and modification dates. It offers natural handwriting recognition input in addition to keyboard entry as well as full synchronization with PhatNotes Desktop software. Version 1.3 features improved handwriting recognition engine and spell checker, and much more.
• Use your iPhone to keep up with breaking news from over 40 of your favorite print, television or online sources—such as USA Today, The New York Times, Digg, CNN and Fox News—with Tapmode’s News Addict. News Addict’s clear interface helps users find stories fast from news Web sites formatted for the iPhone. You can easily scroll through pages by simply tilting your iPhone.
• Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. has announced that Frogger Inferno for the iPhone and iPod touch is now available on the App Store for 99 cents. In Frogger Inferno, players must employ familiar dodge-and-run tactics to safely guide Frogger across the busy highway to his home marsh while avoiding cars, trucks and alligator-filled waters ready to stop him in his tracks. Upping the ante, players are challenged to complete their mission without the ability to double back, as trails of fire are left wherever Frogger goes.
• Wonder Warp Software has released Etude, a new iPhone app for learning music on the piano. The app combines traditional sheet music with an on-screen keyboard whose keys light up to reveal which notes are being played as well as a MIDI synthesizer that simultaneously plays the piece aloud. It also has its own in-app music store with hundreds of songs, all of which are currently offered free to users who buy the app.
• Four new limited-edition Fitted Artsprojekt cases are now available exclusively on Apple Store shelves, simultaneously bringing original designs and protective fabric-wrapped comfort to art-loving iPhone owners everywhere. Created by select members of Artsprojekt’s burgeoning international syndicate of artists, these creative cases offer original and authentically crafted artwork in an expanding array of head-turning motifs.
• i-Got-it Corp. has announced the launch and immediate availability of i-Got-Control, a plug-and-play accessory and iTunes app that boast an industry-leading database of more than 40,000 IR codes for consumer electronic devices worldwide—turning an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad into a universal remote. i-Got-Control allows users to control virtually any infrared device—TVs, stereo systems and more—at home or on the go.
• iLuv has announced that their 2010 CES Innovations and Design award winning creation, the iMM190 App Station, is now available to consumers nationwide. iLuv’s App Station, a new type of dock for iPhone and iPod fans, features a unique application called “iLuv App Clock” that transforms it into alarm clock with a large digital display and current weather conditions. The iLuv App Clock application is available globally as a free download from iTunes App Store. The App Clock also allows full cross-functional access to the user’s iTunes library while using the App in order to change alarm settings or to simply listen to music. In addition to the App, this multimedia speaker dock combines powerful amplifiers with dynamic, acoustic speaker chambers to enhance the audio experience while listening to music, watching movies, or when using VoIP chat services; thus making it the perfect iPhone accessory.
• App Cubby has announced KaleidoVid 1.0, their new app for iPhone 3G, 3GS devices. KaleidoVid is a video kaleidoscope for iPhone that creates beautiful kaleidoscopic images from every day objects using the iPhone’s built in camera. Point the camera at everyday objects to create beautiful kaleidoscopic images. Tap the screen to freeze the image. Save or share it on Twitter, Facebook, or via email, then tap to do it again.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

About a month ago we reviewed WireWay for iPhone and iPod touch, a fantastic arcade puzzle game from Konami. Now, Konami Digital Entertainment has found themselves with a couple promo codes to burn, and asked if we’d like to pass them on to you. Which, of course, we would. You have to hurry, though. The codes expire tomorrow, so enter now.

From my review:

WireWay is a game about Wiley the alien and his quest to find Elan (a precious energy source, not a kidnapped princess). You help Wiley on his way by launching him across a series of suspended wires. Wiley grabs the wires automatically, then you touch and drag down on the iPhone screen to adjust his velocity (a dotted line gives you a visual clue). Lift your finger, and watch the little guy fly up (or over) to, hopefully, the next wire. Reach your ship, and it’s on to the next level.

We’ll make this very simple. To enter to win one of two promo codes (each valued at $4.99), simply leave a comment below. Make sure you’re registered with Appletell, as we’ll need your e-mail address to notify you if you’ve won. We’ll randomly select the winners from all entries at 6:30 p.m. EDT this evening, March 16th, 2010, and immediately send the promo codes via e-mail. Remember, the codes are due to expire sometime tomorrow, March 17th, 2010, so you’ll need to use them quickly. Neither Appletell nor Konami Digital Entertainment will be held responsible for promo codes not claimed on time.

Now, get to enterin’!

Product [WireWay]

WireWay One Day Giveaway contest rules

1. Description of Offer. APPLETELL WIREWAY ONE DAY GIVEAWAY CONTEST is sponsored by Gadgetell LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of North American Publishing Co., 1500 Spring Garden Street, 12th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19130 USA. Sponsor will award two WIREWAY APPS FOR IPHONE in a random drawing of all eligible entries received during the Survey Period.
2. Survey Period. The survey begins March 16, 2010: 1:30 p.m. EDT and ends March 16, 2010: 6:30 p.m. EDT. All responses must be received during the Survey Period. 2 WINNERS will be drawn immediately after the end of the survey period.
3. How to Enter. REGISTER WITH APPLETELL. THEN, LEAVE A COMMENT IN THE COMMENT FIELD ON THIS PAGE. BY REGISTERING AND COMMENTING, you are agreeing to be notified by e-mail if you are the winner. Entries become the property of Sponsor. In the unlikely event the Sponsor encounters technical or equipment failures such as telephone network lines failing, computer online systems failing, servers and/or provider services go down, or human error in connection with the survey, etc., the Sponsor and promoters will not be held responsible. Collection and handling of personally identifiable information will be in accordance to the Privacy Policy as posted at http://www.napco.com/privacypolicy.
4. Eligibility. NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO WIN. Employees of Sponsor, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers or their immediate families are not eligible. The total number of eligible entries received during the Promotion Period determines the odds of winning. By entering, entrant agrees to abide by these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which are final and binding.
5. Description of Prize. A WIREWAY PROMO CODE will be awarded to two qualified winners. No substitution, assignment or transfer of prize is permitted, except by Sponsor, who reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value. Maximum cash value for all creative representations shall be $4.99.
6. Drawing and Awarding of Prize. A random drawing will be made of all eligible and correctly completed entries received during the Survey Period. Winner will be notified by e-mail, upon completion of survey period. By accepting the prize, winner agrees that Sponsor, its affiliates, distributors, advertising and promotional agencies and suppliers and all of their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents shall have no liability for, and shall hold all such parties harmless against damage, loss or injury that may arise in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of prizes or participation in this Sweepstakes. Offer void where prohibited.

7. Miscellaneous. APPLETELL WIREWAY ONE DAY GIVEAWAY CONTEST is subject to all applicable laws in the United States and Canada. Void where prohibited and in any country except the United States and Canada. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel or suspend APPLETELL WIREWAY ONE DAY GIVEAWAY CONTEST should virus, bugs, unauthorized human intervention, or other causes beyond the control of the Sponsor or Promoters, corrupt the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper operation of APPLETELL WIREWAY ONE DAY GIVEAWAY CONTEST. All decisions are final. Sponsor makes no warranty, representation or guarantee, express or implied, in fact or in law, relative to the use of the any prizes including, but not limited to, quality, merchantability or fitness for a particular prize.  All federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations apply.
8. Winner’s List. To see the winner of APPLETELL WIREWAY ONE DAY GIVEAWAY CONTEST, please contact KIRK HINER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF APPLETELL, AT TIPS@APPLETELL.COM.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Provides: On-ear headphones with inline microphone
Developer: urbanears
Compatibility: Any device with standard 1/8” headphone jack
Price: $59.00

Heavy hitters:

In both appearance and extra features, Urbanears’ Plattan line (pictured at right in the “army” shade) are indeed heavy hitters. The Urbanears website describes them as a “full size headphone allowing for rich, secluded sound,” which the well-padded cups and ample drivers do quite nicely. Available in a dazzling array of colors—ranging from blues with names like “Ocean” to a green “Sallad” to “Chocolate”—they certainly make a visual statement. The review unit came in a funky shade of dark blue called Navy. One thing is certain; these headphones do stand out visually!  Fit and finish on these are top notch. The head band is covered in a woven fabric, as is the cord; it is nice to see somebody change it up from the standard vinyl leather and plastic.  The fit was tight but not uncomfortable on a medium-sized head; those with larger noggins might need to give these a pass. One gripe is the lack of a carrying case. At this price point, it feels like a cheap cost cutting measure.

The integrated inline microphone is also a nice touch.  It is a bit strange at first; the headphones isolate so much external sound that you will not hear yourself speaking. Callers reported no clarity issues, and the sound from phone calls was flawless.  Another…interesting...feature included on these headphones is the Zound plug (yes, that is a “z”).  It is an extra headphone jack on the right ear cup that allows you to plug in another pair of headphones—essentially daisy chaining the sound.  It came in handy for sharing PIxar’s Up from an iPod touch on a long car trip.

Got it where it counts?

Despite excellent visual appeal, the Plattans were decidedly lacking in the audio department.  They seem to be an exercise in form over function, and although they nail the form category, they are simply mediocre in audio function.

• Pros: As advertised, they do provide excellent audio seclusion.  With the ear cups on, it was impossible to hear anything but a slight background noise from any of the following: traffic noises, television at normal volume, or a dishwasher.  In the Plattans’ favor, they consistently produced distortion-free sound, including two of my favorite test tracks: “Jazzy Bach” by Ben Charest on the Triplets of Belleville soundtrack and “He’s a Pirate” by Klaus Badelt on the original Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack.  Both contain big, loud passages that easily cause distortion on many speakers. Here, both were rendered distortion-free.  Upper bass performance was also acceptable, though not outstanding, for orchestral and instrumental music, highlighted by a clear reproduction of cellos in Mahler’s Symphony 1, 2nd movement.
• Cons: Bass. Yes, the cello reproduction is listed above as a pro, but in all other regards, the bass is a con.  Pop and dance music with electronic bass lines was often muddy and unclear.  Songs like “Starstruck” by Lady Gaga and “Teardrop” by Massive Attack (which is also the House, MD theme song) lacked balance due to drab bass performance.  Overall performance is just lacking in acoustic clarity.  Several live performance recordings (many of which I played in, as part of a concert band) were lacking in the warmth and resonance of the original performance.  Mids and high tones were similarly lacking; “Bambaleo” by Gipsy Kings lost its spicy flamenco flair on guitar and Franki Valli’s voice sounded whiny rather than angelic, much like the thready audio on a Skype call.

The Fat Lady Sings:

In the 50-100 dollar price range there are plenty of headphones—both on-ear and earbud style—that provide excellent reproduction with bright, clear sound and precise imaging.  The Plattans reproduced sound accurately, but the experience is the visual equivalent of watching a movie with the projector just slightly out of focus: all the elements are there, but the missing crispness detracts from the overall experience. For casual listeners, these are an improvement over Apple’s included earbuds and over most entry-level headphones.  If one of the 14 colors is your signature color, and you want to make sure your audio gear is a fashion-perfect accessory, Plattans are a competent choice.  The end result seems to be more fashion statement than serious sound gear, so for audiophiles, my advice is to look elsewhere.

Full Story » | Written by Aaron Kraus for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 15, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• PagePlanet Software, Inc. has announced the Golden Master release of Modular Gateway Interface (MGI) 3.2 for the Macintosh OS X and Linux operating systems. MGI is an Apache 2 module that adds full functionality to every website on your server using a simple tag structure. MGI includes 67 tags to enhance a website with everything from simple counters and form processing to custom databases and shopping carts. You can also combine MGI’s powerful programming tags to make your website do anything you can imagine.  Need to build a custom login and tracking system? No problem.
• TheMacBundles today released its March bundle and a new and innovative Build Your Own Bundle store. TheMacBundles has set a new standard of quality and value with its high quality, low priced bundles. These no-gimmick bundles provide users with the same software, support, licenses, and upgrade benefits that apply to users who paid the full price for the titles. The new BYOB store maintains these high standards and lets users create their own customized bundles with some simple mouse clicks.
• iWebTemplate has announced the addition of a free iWeb themes and templates section to be used with Apple’s iWeb Website building application. iWeb Free Themes includes seven great themes: Sky, Picture, Church, Joy, Love, Billiard and Cat. Each iWeb Free theme can be used as the basis for a great new website. Each iWeb template incorporates a number of different graphic elements which can be easily removed, moved and changed in size, opacity or color.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• A new service from DCI Mobile Studios has made the process of sending holiday cards easier through iPhone. Send free greeting cards, ecards, postcards and egreetings for friends and family on special occasions. DCI Mobile Studios designed for New Years, birthdays, bon voyages, Valentine’s Day, happy holidays, Pongal, and congratulations for buying new iPhone.
• Ivanovich Games has announced iDaze 9000 v1.2, an update to their hilarious audio feedback application for iPhone and iPod touch devices. iDaze 9000 uses advanced digital audio algorithms to create a gap between speaking, and then hearing it. Known as Delayed Audio Feedback, this effect can be so confusing that the speaker becomes dazed. iDaze 9000 will create waves of laughter as a friend attempts to recite the multiplication tables while his speech is reduced to gibberish.
• Connect The Dots Extreme from independent developer, poccaDot, offers a new twist to an old classic game. The objective is to connect a sequence of dots by drawing a line, thus revealing an outline of an image hidden underneath. Connect The Dots Extreme brings the original concept to a new level of fun. Instead of connecting the dots in old-fashioned large and bland books manufactured of recycled paper, this game comes alive, literally. As you connect the dots using speed and accuracy, the line itself becomes alive and you have to press the right dot at the exact right time in order to complete the drawing properly. The faster the line moves, the higher your score becomes; a score you can compare against your friends best performance.
• Performing magical card tricks is no longer reserved for the trained professional. All you need in addition to your iPhone iPod touch is your personal download of No Freakin’ Way from professional magician Carl Andrews. With this app, you have the opportunity to amaze, shock and surprise anyone around you with the classic “Pick a card, any card” card trick.
• Tuparev Technologies has introduced Plants 1.0 for the iPhone and iPod touch devices. The Plants application consists of a photo reference guide to plants, and a plant maintainance scheduler. Using its simple, eye-catching interface, the user can easily provide all his plants at multiple locations with individualized care. Watering, re-potting and fertilizing are now done efficiently, correctly and on time.
• Dynadel has announced Ovulation Calendar 4.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. The Ovulation Calendar application helps you determine your fertile days of the month, so you can either achieve or avoid pregnancy. It also maintains a list of your symptoms during the cycle, your BBT chart and your weight chart among other features. Using the Shettles methods it can help you get pregnant and even estimate the gender of your baby.
• With no development experience under his belt, illustrator Kyle T. Webster defeated the odds by landing his first iPhone game, White Lines in the top 50 paid apps list last week. He credits a simple idea that is suitable for all ages and language independent, as well as the proven marketing power of social media, for the game’s sudden jump into the top 50. By Wednesday of last week, the game arrived at position number 5 behind the classic puzzle favorite, Tetris.
• Obecnie has released oBemo 2.0.1, the iPhone note taking app that stores your notes, photos and locations in one place. Features include optional password protection, the ability to email your notes and integration with Google Maps to share your locations or get turn by turn directions. Addresses and maps are automatically generated for saved locations. Customizable categories keep notes organized. Data detection highlights web links, emails and phone numbers.
• Zio for Apple iPhone and Apple iPod touch is an interactive generative art visualizer enabling you to explore and interact with an endlessly generating world of organic, audio reactive visuals. To some users, Zio is considered a therapeutic aquarium, while to others it is considered a zen garden in your pocket. The app is for anyone seeking a stunningly beautiful and highly customizable interactive generative visualizer. Zio is, among other things, a sophisticated eco-graphic design tool, an endlessly generating music video for your audio library, and a performance instrument for organic visuals.
• Innerplays has introduced Star Cargo 3000 v1.0, an innovative space combat game for iPhone and iPod touch. The player is captain of a giant cargo vessel parked in orbit above an unstable mining planet. The goal is to successfully transport 10 modular cargo containers up to the ship, before it is destroyed by debris ejected into space or insurgent weapons. The game includes 3 planets, 12 different lethal projectiles, 45 levels and Openfeint connectivity.
• ALK Technologies has announced CoPilot Live 8.0.0.651, the latest updates to their award-winning GPS navigation apps for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS devices. CoPilot Live now include improved guidance at complex intersections, Facebook status updates, free local search, and the latest maps of North America. More than 15,000 miles of roads have been added, 73 completely updated counties and hundreds of map improvements submitted by the CoPilot Live User Community.
• Sustainable Softworks has announced Phone Amego 1.1.13. Phone Amego makes using your phone easier when you are near your computer by providing on-screen caller ID, letting you click to dial a phone number from your Address Book or on your screen, and optionally dialing through Google Voice. This release offers several user interface improvements including minimizing an active call window to the Dock, an option to translate mnemonics, and remotely dialing a landline phone.
• SQUAD has announced the new redesigned version of SalatTime 1.3, an indispensable app for every Muslim featuring Islamic prayer time list with automatic notifications, Calendar and Compass. This app is designed for people who want to have a push notifications assistant as well as Athan alarms always at their disposal. When the application is launched it sends prayer push alerts according to the exact prayer times specified on the list.
• 10-20 Media has announced GardenPilot 2.0, a powerful plant search tool for iPhone and iPod touch devices. GardenPilot is a unique research tool designed for the gardening professional and the inexperienced casual gardener. GardenPilot features over 12,000 beautifully illustrated plant information pages, all designed to educate today’s gardener about spectacular plants and where to buy them. The GardenPilot marketplace Navigator is the plant search web app developed to mirror the iPhone app.
• The Get the Focal Free Irish translator translates words from English to Irish (Gaeilge) and vice versa. It has a 13,000 word database, is very accurate and can even translate sentences and pronounce the words if you upgrade to the full version.
• iKit has introduced the AutoCon FM Transmitter, allowing you to take control of your iPhone or iPod in your car. The built in FM transmitter has rapid auto scan technology and lets you play music through your car radio, giving you high quality sound with no interference. Their very own AutoCon USB car charger comes with this purchase, giving you powerful rapid charge eliminating the chance of losing power. This device is a full-feature hands-free kit, with a built in microphone which provides clear crisp sound. The unit allows you to play/pause, adjust volume and track skip, and displays your selected music.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Although PCWorld would consider me an “idiot,” and our friends at Gamertell believe I’m setting myself up for failure, I’m still looking forward to getting my iPad on April 3rd, and I’m looking forward to playing games on it. My iPhone has proven itself to be a quite capable gaming machine, but that tiny screen has just never been compatible with my big thumbs. Will the larger iPad screen correct this problem? Will the accelerometer still be logical in a device that big?

The iPad, therefore, will be a more logical choice of many games because the controls won’t be as cramped. I won’t need to worry as much about my thumb hiding the action or my fingers missing the proper “buttons.”

Yet, it’s still kind of tricky because many iPhone games were designed specifically for the small screen. The iPhone is easy to tilt and turn, for example. I won’t know if this is the case with the iPad until April 3rd (2010).

And so, there are quite a few games I’m eager to try out on the iPad.

Check out the list over at Gamertell.com.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Provides: iDevice cradle
Developer: Just mobile
Minimum Requirements: iDevice
Price: $49.99
Availability: Now

JustMobile is one of those companies that continues to think a little differently from the rest of the industry. This time, I’m taking a look at their new Lounge iDevice car cradle, which doesn’t attach to your windshield like you’d expect it to. Nah, instead, it sits on your dash, which might just make more sense anyway.

There’s no suction cup to attach to your windshield. There’s no attempt at amplifying the sound of your iPhone whatsoever. There are no GPS enhancements, and there isn’t even a good place to put a USB cable to charge your iPhone while the GPS is killing your battery. I know this sounds awful, but there are a lot of things to like about Just Mobile’s Lounge car cradle.

Take, for instance, that it doesn’t attach to your windshield.  Some will hate this, while others will love it.  Depending on your vehicle, the windshield might not be the optimal placement of your iPhone for guidance.  If that’s the case for you, then your dashboard might be a lot better.  This cradle comes with a circle of metal that semi-perminently attaches to your dashboard (with a 3M adhesive strip).  This helps the already grippy cradle to stay in place, but, in practice, it’s not really necessary.  I never attached the circle and I didn’t have any issues with the cradle moving whatsoever.  Actually, it’s been sitting in the same place for two weeks while I’ve driven around daily.  That just goes to show you that this thing is heavy enough and grippy enough to stay put.  But secondarily, this cradle is just as at home in the car as it is on your desk since it doesn’t have that unsightly suction cup that belongs nowhere in my house.

Another reason to like this cradle is that you likely won’t have to take off your case to use it (unless it’s huge and shouldn’t be on your iPhone in the first place).  The way this cradle holds on to your iPhone is very unique, yet simple; there’s a very giving metal and rubber bracket that flexes to the exact shape of your iDevice+Case combo.  It holds tightly, and can rotate to a landscape orientation as well.  You’re going to need this if you’re using this for GPS guidance for an extended period of time, because connecting a USB cable while in portrait mode is not ideal.  You could do the whole thing upside down, but that’s just wrong.  Also to note, the whole clip that holds your iPhone wobbles a bit.  This is on purpose; it’s supposed to minimize how much your iPhone moves.  It won’t help if you hit a speed bump at 60 mph, but under normal usage it won’t really even move.  So, I guess I’m a little confused as to why it’s able to wobble at all.

The Just Mobile Lounge cradle’s selling point is that it’s different.  If you for some reason hate the idea of a suction cup cradle, then this is the cradle for you.  Actually, this cradle does serve dual purposes as it might find its way onto your desk at some point.  And it’ll fit right in since the styling is spot on.  But as a GPS car cradle, it’s just mediocre.  You need to have some method for powering your iPhone as GPS drains its battery even faster than your car will drain its tank on your next trip.  This cradle doesn’t support that very well.  But I do like that this cradle is much more likely to be used around your house as well since it’s not designed solely for the car.

So, really, the perfect user here is someone who infrequently uses their iPhone for GPS guidance but wants an all purpose cradle. If you’re looking only for car cradle functionality, I think you should keep looking.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Anyone who loves nature knows that camping can be both a fine art and a subtle science. When you do it right, it can be an amazing experience. Doing it wrong can make for a nightmarish evening in the woods. These applications can help make for a memorable and entertaining trip: Campwhere from Big Nerd Ranch, Firefly Night from Joseph Walters, and 100 Horror Stories, Sounds and Scares from Vroom LLC.

Campwhere

Seller: Big Nerd Ranch
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
Requirements: OS 3.0 or higher
File Size: 1 MB
Price: $3.99
Age Rating: 4+

Anytime you camp, you need to find a camp site.  No doubt if you are an outdoor lover you have some favorite sites, but visiting those places over and over again defeats the exploration spirit that drew you out to begin with. Campwhere can help you to expand your options easily.

The interface is an easy to use map that allows you to zoom in and out with a pinch.  The listings are color coded so you can tell if you are looking at a National Park, city or county park, state park or army corp of engineers site.

It also has a handy array of secondary features that let you search parks, find the closest to your location, and save easy access to a few favorites. The new version covers Canada as well as the U.S.

Firefly Night

Seller: Joseph Walters
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
Requirements: 3.0 or higher
File Size: 20.2MB
Price: $0.99
Age Rating: 4+

As things get dark, you may be in search of summer’s iconic bug: the firefly. If you can’t find any, this game can help you to get the experience.

The game mode lets you sort different color flies into jars as a speed trial. Numbers mode is all about unlocking achievements by creating sequences of numbers in jars.

100 Horror Stories, Sounds and Scares

Seller: Vroom LLC
Compatibility: iPhone or iPod Touch
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or higher
File Size: 29.9MB
Price: $0.99
Age Rating: 12+

When things get good and dark, the time has come for ghost stories. If your imagination is light or if you simply enjoy classic tales of terror, then this application is for you.  It houses more than 100 stories and has classics such as The Fall of The House of Usher, The Phantom of the Opera and The Monkey’s Paw, as well as a lot of newer, but compelling tales. Stories have two modes, scroll for continuous movement and page for people who want a book-like flipping experience.

This application also houses a large library of sounds that will add appropriate atmosphere. If you find them distracting, you can always shut them down with the pause button. Choosing your sounds is simple enough…just be sure to check out the ones labeled ??? for some extra fun.

Full Story » | Written by Katie Gatto for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Category: Action RPG
Seller: Gamevil
Requirements: iPhone OS 2.1 or later
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 12.1MB
Version Reviewed: 1.4
Price: $2.99 (free version available)
Age Rating: 9+ for infrequent/mild cartoon or fantasy violence

I’m not playing this game because I had tremendous interest in it. I mean, that’s the norm for an app reviewer, where our iPhone gaming schedule is pretty much dictated by the review requests we get. Therefore, we glossed over Zenonia at the time of its release, and that was a mistake.

Zenonia’s nearly a year old, you see, having been released in the U.S. in May of 2009. So, why play through it now? Because Zenonia 2 is due out this month, and if that game is half as cool as it looks, you owe it to yourself to work through its predecessor before it’s released.

In Zenonia, you play Regret. I kid you not, the main character is named Regret, which servers as proof to emo kids everywhere that their parents could be worse. Regret comes form unknown origins, of course. At the beginning of the game, his equally unfortunately named “father,” Pardon, (which could explain why Regret was named so maliciously) is killed, launching the lad on a mission to discover his origins and hey! Guess what! There’s evil afoot!

And this is all fine, because Zenonia is a JRPG (Japanese role-playing game), meaning you’re going to get a bunch of melodrama amongst teenaged warriors. JRPG is to adventure gamers what Twilight is to teen-aged and middle-aged women everywhere. It’s where the sad, lonely, misunderstood boy can break free from his surroundings and save the world, and maybe get a mostly naked elven archer girlfriend (or the game-specific equivalent) in the process. It’s totally contrived, but handled with a knowing sense of humor that makes it all work exceptionally well.

But Zenonia offers much more than just the necessary plot elements. For an iPhone game, it also offers an astounding amount of customizability. You can choose from between three classes—warrior, paladin and assassin—and then customize to levels that will likely frighten away some of the less hardy role-playing gamers. Spells, potions, weapons armor and more can be found/bought and managed to tremendous effect, but the iPhone is unfortunately not conducive to this much micromanagement. The inventory screen is tiny to both see and control. This is unfortunate, because you’ll need to spend quite a bit of time in there. You can assign items to quick access slots, so be wise about that. I find myself using those not for items I need most in battle, but for items that would most often keep me out of the inventory screen.

The graphics in Zenonia are not the must stunning I’ve seen, but they’re likely what they should be, considering the iPhone’s restrictions. They’re colorful and quick, harkening back to the systems on which we all spent so much time playing similar games. It’s too bad most games that look good on the iPhone do so because they look retro, but if the design works, have at it.

Audio is fine, too. Appropriate. If you’re not happy with the soundtrack, you can use your own MP3s, but I never recommend that. The in-game music is much better at conveying the appropriate mood, and always will be.

The gameplay itself involves a lot of level grinding. You and your NPC companions will fight many battles—both annoyingly small and intensely epic—across the main story and the numerous sidequests. Control is handled with a virtual D-pad on the bottom left, with action taps on the right. The buttons are fairly small, making control somewhat difficult. Even basic movement in towns was awkward, as my little Regret would often walk past the people and doors with which I wanted to interact. Add this into some fairly intense battles, and you can see how it’ll likely put off quite a few gamers.

But stick with it, and you’ll be rewarded with what is likely one of the iPhone’s deepest, most rewarding games. You won’t blame the game for the shortcomings, you’ll blame your iPhone or iPod touch, and you’ll be justified.

Zenonia is a big, satisfying game on a system that’s unsatisfyingly small. I would tell you to hold on for the iPad before you play this, but considering Zenonia 2 is just around the corner, it’s best to get this now. The game offers a rewarding enough experience to compensate for the typically annoying iPhone touchscreen controls.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 12, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• Alesis has announced that the MultiMix 6 USB six-channel USB mixer, is now shipping to retailers. The MultiMix 6 USB is a six-channel desktop mixer designed for easy integration into a computer-based recording environment. This compact mixer is perfect for use in recording setups, video editing and production studios as it outputs not only line-level analog audio, but also stereo 16-bit, 44.1 kHz digital audio over USB for low-noise, simple computer connection.
• MacinMind Software has released Radiologik DJ 1.7, optimizing loading and playback for this radio automation and DJ tool. This release includes several optimizations to help ensure the Radiologik system is as reliable and robust as possible for 24/7 radio stations both streaming and terrestrial. Radiologik DJ is the DJ music and playout system for radio or most DJ needs, offering beautiful real radio transitions by employing Track Prep through the accompanying scheduler program.
• Mode de Vie Limited has announced MyThoughts 1.1, an update to their popular Mind Mapping software for Mac OS X. Intuitive, flexible and powerful, MyThoughts for Mac provides an ideal solution for those wanting to improve their brainstorming, learning and recall abilities through the use of Mind Maps. MyThoughts for Mac features an intuitive interface that lets the user focus on expressing and developing ideas with fluid, organic, Mind Maps.
• Bohemian Coding has released Fontcase 1.5, a free update to the Apple Design Award-winning font manager that is like an iPhoto for your fonts. A few feature-highlights include versatile metadata support, the ability to share fonts on your local network and fantastic ways to preview all your fonts. Version 1.5 adds much-requested auto-activation, duplicates detection, speed increase and stability among other things.
• BKeeney Software has announced Task Timer 4.3.3, a major update to their time management software for Mac OS X and Windows. Task Timer is an easy-to-use project management tool that tracks time spent on an unlimited number of projects and tasks down to the minute. Version 4.3.3 adds the daily total to the dock and status menus for Mac OS X users. This release also fixes some minor bugs.
• Zevrix Solutions has announced public beta of Package Central 1.0, a new document packaging workflow automation solution for Adobe InDesign. Originally developed for a major publisher in the United States, the software automates InDesign packaging by processing files from hotfolders. Package Central offloads packaging to a central system leaving operator workstations free from the output process. Package Central offers font auto-activation, e-mail notifications, detailed logs and much more.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• iMusic Puzzle is a game where players need to use their skills in order to solve audio puzzles that are created with pieces of their favorite iTunes Library songs! There are two gameplay modes, including Arcade (where iMusic Puzzle will randomly select 28 songs from the user’s iTunes Library) and Quick Play (where specific songs can be selected).
• Techno Gurus has announced iBrr Bluetooth Receiver and Remote 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. This is a brand new app that uses peer-to-peer networking via WiFi or Bluetooth technology to transform an iDevice into a remote control. iBrr also provides a secure way to ensure that others have no access to the device. One device is used to control the music playing on the other, which is usually connected to a stereo or speaker system via the headphone jack or an Apple-brand docking station.
• Pariahware, Inc. has announced Biblicious 1.0, a game for iPhone and iPod touch. Players can choose a single player game, a practice game, or a fill in the blank game, called Mix and Match. The player can choose from a 10 question game to a 50 question game, as well as questions from the Old or New Testaments, or the entire Bible. After a game mode is chosen, Flip Ant will ask you the number of questions you wish to play, and from where in the Bible you’d like the questions to originate.
• Independent software developer Marco De Girolamo today has announced the release of BabelMenu 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. If you have ever happened to eat at a restaurant abroad and look doubtfully at the menu, you can now get a personal food assistant, just a click away. The BabelMenu database includes 1500 international dishes, classified in 19 categories, translated in 4 languages, completed with ingredients, description and a photo.
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand for iPhone and iPod touch is available for free today (March 12, 2010). The original price of the game is $4.99. Based on the new TV show, the game allows you to step into the arena and fight. Defeat your opponents in gruesome tooth-and-nail battles ending in shocking carnage and humiliating decapitations. Quench your thirst for bloodshed as you are the ultimate Gladiator. You are Spartacus.
• Capsulated Software Ltd., has announced the availability of Cue.Play.DJ. 1.0, the most advanced digital DJing solution ever created for the iPhone OS platform. Created with feedback from superstar DJ/Producer Ferry Corsten, April will see Capsulated and Ferry launch a worldwide promotional campaign centered around his weekly radio show, Corsten’s Countdown, and the newly launched podcast of this show.
• Renditions Design has announced Magic Card 2.0.1 for iPhone devices. Magic Card uses a real deck of cards and the iPhone’s camera to create the convincing illusion that Apple’s amazing device came with the power to see through cards. Although popular with professional magicians, the clever secret is easy enough for anyone to do on their first try. Magic Card was completely re-written to incorporate the latest iPhone OS improvements.
• On5 Games Ltd. today is pleased to announce the release of Quizarium 1.01 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Quizarium is a familiar answer-the-question thing, but far more advanced in terms of game features and payoff. You can play on your own or compete against a whole bunch of smarty pants. When the question is asked, you and your rivals have one minute to get it right. Until the correct answer is given you have as many guesses as you can possibly generate.
• ”Flying Brothers will bring you a lot of great impressions and fun. It has physics engine, interesting characters and dozens of achievements. You will enjoy nice music and lots of interesting game types. Our game is a mixture of the best mobile games. You will feel adrenaline buzz while performing the unique acrobatic tricks. The game also has a built-in Ragdoll-physics system! Flying Brothers is the game for every age!
• Mac-Chi has announced WhoPaste’s first step in time and task integration. WhoPaste version 4.5 adds instant iCal To Dos. The new iCal To Dos can be created with just a control click on Snow Leopard or with a user configurable hot key on Leopard. Mac-Chi has also enhanced the underlying data model and simplified the installation process. The older two-step installation process has been replaced with the more familiar and customer-friendly ‘drop a file on a folder’ process.
• Kerplinkus is a completely new take on the casual puzzle game. Simple to learn. Difficult to master. It’s like spinning plates. You must focus on all eight columns or one will grow out-of-control. No match 3. No movement restrictions. No special-blocks. Swap any two blocks anywhere, anytime. Just focus on removing blocks, not creating them. The game features simple retro graphics with color cycling; retro old school music and sound effects created with the SID chip from the Commodore 64; online leader board; auto save; play iPod music in the background and in-game volume control.
• Cogniflame has announced the release of StarHunt 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch devices, an exciting adventure game where players search for glowing stars scattered throughout a large pre-rendered 3D house. In StarHunt, players have the opportunity to explore a beautifully detailed mansion and lush garden in search of glowing stars. Something new and exciting awaits them inside each room—but they must find the right key before they can enter.
• Zero Emission Games has announced Short Order Cook 2.0, a fast-paced casual game from their Food for Thought collection that challenges players’ skills of recognition, concentration and trains their memory. At the outset of each level a food image on a kitchen ticket and its matching tile are revealed for a short time. Once the tiles are flipped over, the challenge is to memorize the location of the matching pairs as quickly and as precise as possible.
• Probably there have been times when a friend of yours has made a complete ass of himself, and you want to shoot him a quick text to tell him so. Now you can not only tell him, but show him what an ass he is with a fun little iPhone app called JackassFace. With JackassFace, you can take a photo of your friend and then drag and pinch/zoom to place your friend’s face where it belongs—on the face of a real ass. The app offers all sorts of sharing features so you can not only show your friend how you feel, but for really egregious offenders you can share it with everyone via Facebook, Twitter, email or MMS.
• Rocking Pocket Games has announced the availability of Puppet Jump 3D 1.2, a game that can be only described as a cross between Little Big Planet and Doodle Jump for the iPhone. Puppet Jump 3D challenges players to jump on platforms as high as they can without falling, while collecting Puppet Points that can be used to customize your character and unlock new background scenes.
• Cogniflame has announced the release of StarHunt, an exciting adventure game where players search for glowing stars scattered throughout a large pre-rendered 3D house. In StarHunt, players have the opportunity to explore a beautifully detailed mansion and lush garden in search of glowing stars. Something new and exciting awaits them inside each room—but they must find the right key before they can enter!
• SMEStorage has announced that its iSMEStorage iPhone application is live in the Apple App store. iSMEStorage is the first iPhone application to let users access and manage over 10 storage clouds from their iPhone in one Cloud file view. Clouds from which files can be viewed and managed include Amazon S3, RackSpace CloudFiles, Box, Apple Mobile Me, Microsoft SkyDrive, Microsoft Live Mesh, Gmail-as-a-cloud, Email-as-a-Cloud, FTP-as-a-Cloud, Google Docs, and WebDav enabled clouds.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

You’ve all pre-ordered your iPad, right? Better get on that before the available stock is gone. And since you’re only about three weeks away from delivery, you should also stock on free apps to transfer to it when it arrives. This week’s list is all about driving games, Twitter and limited time freebies.  Half of this list won’t be free for long, so I’d better cut to the chase.

• Brizzly - There’s a new best Twitter app on the App Store every week, it seems. This week’s new best is called Brizzly.  It has most of the snazzy features like trends and news, lists, multiple Twitter account support, pics and more.  If you don’t already have a Twitter client, this is as a great app to take for a spin.
• Mini Desktop Racing Arcade - Take a toy car for a spin on your desktop.  You control the car entirely with your finger, just don’t hit anything.
• Transformers G1: Awakening Free - You ready to roll out?  Play as the classic Autobots against the Decepticons in this turn based strategy game.  Obviously you can transform and this is to your advatage when you want to travel faster.  And it’s all in 3D; not the red and blue 3D, this is the kind that stays in the screen.
• iCupertino - This app lets you know how far away you are from Cupertino, California.  Is that useful?  Probably not.
• Volkswagen Think Blue. Challenge - The first line of description for this game is so perfect that I just can’t bring myself to modify it at all, so here it is.  “Pure driving fun without the need of high speed!”  They want you to buy that the smartest—not the fastest—driver wins.  I personally thought driving far too fast for safety was the fun in virtual driving, hhmm.  In any event, this game at least looks pretty good on the iPhone, and it might keep you occupied for a fair amount of time.  Oh, and the app maps the closest VW dealerships so you can go buy whatever slow fuel sipping car their advertising with this game.
• Raging Thunder 2 Lite - Wait, another free driving game this week?  Yup. Difference is, contrary to whatever your elementary teachers told you, this one believes in winners.  And to win, you need to be the fastest, not the smartest.  Ricky Bobby wasn’t born to think, Ricky Bobby was born to go fast…
• Yield - Here’s a game that’s free until its lite version goes live on the App Store.  It’s a game of directing traffic around town.  I’m sure you can imagine that the cars will all go different speeds and there are plenty of intersections.  Should be quite a lot like your drive to work, a tad bit irritating but always a challenge.
• iBed - Another free for a limited time app.  This one aims to solve the problem that’s supposed to be a feature.  Imagine you’re in bed trying to read something on your iDevice and it keeps trying to figure out what orientation it’s in.  How irritating.  There should be a system setting for this sort of thing, but until then you can use this app to lock the rotation of the screen and access a number of online services such as Facebook, Gmail, Twitter or any other website, really.
• PhotoMix - You know the drill, it’s free, but not forever.  This takes your images, or the picture of the day on the net, and slices it up for you to slide back to how it’s supposed to look.  Simple yet fun.
• 1Password - The app that keeps all of your sensitive information safe is free on the App Store again.  There’s still the Pro version, but if you have 1Password for Mac, then you’ll probably want one of the companion apps for your iDevice.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod updates and announcements for March 11, 2010:

Macintosh

• Benedict Lowndes has announced WindowFlow Beta for Mac OS X. WindowFlow provides powerful keyboard commands for organizing your application windows. You can seamlessly move and resize windows which will snap into alignment with each other. WindowFlow’s clean and simple interface also acts as a window switcher, allowing you to easily browse all of your open application windows. The beta is available today at a discount for early adopters.
• Maintain has announced Cocktail 4.6.1 (Leopard Edition), the latest maintenance update of Cocktail for users running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. This version adds ability to stop Cocktail from logging out, restarting or shutting down the computer at the end of a scheduled programme. The update also features improvements on the clear Adobe Flash Player caches and cookies procedure as well as overall performance improvements.
• Macgamestore.com has announced the digital download release of Warbirds: Dogfights for the Macintosh. The game is an action-air combat game that puts players in the cockpit of the greatest World War II air combat planes during the pivotal battles of the war. The game was developed and published by iEntertainment Network. The game features the ability to engage in dogfights as a member of either the Allies or Axis powers, more than 100 realistically modeled WWII aircraft.
• Newer Technology, Inc., has announced the NewerTech Mini DisplayPort/USB Stereo to HDMI Adapter, a $49.99 MSRP one cable adapter solution for outputting both high definition video up to 1080p and 2-channel stereo audio from the latest Mini DisplayPort equipped Macintosh computers through HDMI interface equipped High Definition Televisions.
• FileMaker and Bracket Science have teamed up to deliver an exciting bracket resource titled Bracket Science Slam Dunk Charts by FileMaker Pro 11. The Facebook page gives college basketball fans a competitive edge in creating their championship tournament brackets thanks to FileMaker Pro 11, the best-selling easy-to-use database software, which now features integrated charting. Fans will see a variety of daily charts, produced by the new FileMaker Pro 11 and they can select and share the charts that they find most useful in building their tourney brackets.
• JAMF Software has announced the release of Casper Suite v7.2, expanding the Suite’s reach into several additional areas of system administration for the Mac Enterprise. Casper Suite 7.2 allows administrators to extend and automate enterprise products on Mac OS X using Extension Attributes, while unifying administration of software into a single console. Additionally, new setup assistants like the Policy Assistant have been incorporated for easier day-to-day use and unleash the depth of the Casper Suite’s capabilities within a simplified and improved user interface. Finally, the ability to use Apple’s native technology in managing settings on client computers (also known as MCX) will be greatly enhanced by taking advantage of (and contributing to the expansion of) the offerings of the Manifest Destiny open-source project from the creators of AFP548.com.

iPhone/iPod

• Adam’s Trouble—an adventure game with 25 levels involving the rescue of the rotund creature Adam from a toxic pit through an exit valve—is back in the App Store. Retracted last week, it is now updated and good to go on your iPhone or iPod touch. The game is free for a limited period.
• Building on the success of the puzzle game, Chromixa, for iPhone and iPod touch, Pure Square Go has announced that update 1.1 is now available for download from the Apple App Store. But that’s not all; to celebrate the launch of the update, a Lite version has also been released, so you can sample Chromixa’s beguiling light mixing charms.
• iFaceLaugh is an original laughing game where you compete to see who can imitate recorded laughs the most accurately. You can create and save a “facelaugh” by embedding a laugh within a photo, and then launch the game with a friend (or yourself) to see how closely you come to imitating it exactly. You can compete with others in the room or over wi-fi with your friends who also have the Laugh-a-Laugh app. The best part is that Laugh-a-Laugh will save your “facelaughs” for you on the main page to share with others at any time.
• Poscitech has announced Fitaide Lite 1.0, the free version of Fitaide, for the iPhone or iPod touch. The Lite version retains the core features of Fitaide, but can be run for a maximum of 30 minutes per session. To celebrate the launch of the Lite version and to demonstrate the versatility of the app, iTunes gift certificates will be up for grabs this weekend for those who can use the app to capture the maximum number of distinct activities per day.
• SintraWorks has released Metron 2.0, an update to their professional digital metronome for iPhone and iPod touch. Featuring an intuitive front panel, Metron offers a high-precision playback engine and a bar based sequencer to provide detailed control over tempo settings & time signatures, including mixed meters, accelerandos and ritardandos. Metron incorporates an instrument tuner. Version 2.0 adds a redesigned UI, copy/paste and fully customisable rhythmic subdivisions of the beat.
• Kings Of Leon Revenge debuted today and is the latest installment in the hit series of Tap Tap Revenge games for the iPhone/iPod Touch, featuring 10 of the greatest hits from the band.
• iBabyMaker uses cutting edge facial feature recognition technology and digital image processing to create an estimated baby image from two parent images. You select the parent images, zoom in on the faces, and then tell iBabyMaker to make your baby. After a few seconds your baby is “born.” You can then e-mail the photo of your baby to your friends and family!
• Technical Made Easy has announced Easy Quilt 1.0 for the iPhone and iPod touch. Easy Quilt provides step-by-step instruction with video based lessons on every aspect of Quilt Making, with over 100 different block ideas and all the tools you need to get started right away. Easy Quilt ensures that the Art of Quilting can be taught and referenced from a mobile device. Included with the app are complete descriptions of Fabrics, Supplies, Tools, Charts, Formulas and Tips and Tricks.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

As the technology improves, voice control continues to gain popularity in everything from your iPod to alarm clocks. And whereas you expect such functionality to increase on the iPhone, you may not expect it to come via an app. But that’s what Vlingo Corporation is doing with an enhanced version of its Vlingo for iPhone App, delivering up to six voice-powered features, including email, SMS Paste, social site updates, maps and voice dial.

“Over the last year, millions of iPhone users who experienced the convenience and safety of our voice-powered app have asked for more ways to use it on the go,” said Dave Grannan, president and CEO at Vlingo. “Adding email and SMS Paste were natural extensions for busy users who want to experience better, faster ways to communicate. Now, with a single app, it’s easy to send an email or text, call a friend, search the web, update Facebook or Twitter, and use Google Maps simply by speaking into your iPhone.”

Vlingo for iPhone supports North American and U.K. English, and includes the following feature enhancements:

• EMAIL: send an email by speaking a contact, subject and message body. For example, “Email Chris, Subject Tonight, Message Running a bit late!”
• SMS Paste: send a text message by speaking a contact and message. Simply say, “Text Mike, Message How are you?”
• SEARCH: in addition to Google and Yahoo! search, Vlingo has added Bing to the mix. Just say, “Bing sushi restaurants in San Francisco,” and view results.
• AUTO-LISTEN: voice recognition can be set to start automatically when the iPhone is turned on. Simply open Vlingo and speak in one easy step.
• CONTACT SELECTION: when composing a text message, say your contact and the message in one fell swoop, “Text Erin, Message How are you?”

The Vlingo for iPhone App is available for free from the App Store, and includes voice dial, search, maps, Facebook and Twitter update functionality. The new email and SMS Paste messaging features can be added to the app for $6.99 each, or both for $9.99.

Product [Vlingo for iPhone]

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Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 10, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• iWebThemesPark has launched ten new iWeb Themes for Apple’s iWeb. In addition, a free iWeb Theme has been released for all iWeb users. Brand new, amazing and supreme quality iWeb Themes from iWebThemesPark are the perfect way to create or update a website. Some iWeb Templates are recommended for building business websites, so everyone can find a perfect theme for any kind of website. The package of ten themes for an unbelievably low price is most likely to be the best offer ever.
• iUseMac has announced that it will be featuring the innovative image identification software PhotoBrain at 50% off on Wednedsay March 10th and Thursday March 11th. PhotoBrain is an advanced software for image identification and photo matching, it’s the first image search engine on the local drive to use image identification technology. iUseMac offers popular Mac applications at reduced prices for limited time periods. This offer will start on Wednedsay March 10th and will end 48 hours later.
• Intego has announced VirusBarrier X6 Dual Protection, featuring the latest version of its acclaimed anti-malware and network security software together with BitDefender Antivirus 2010 so Mac users can protect their Windows installations. The latest version of Intego’s anti-malware and network security program includes new threat-detection techniques, improved methods of detection, combined detection protocols, proactive behavioral analysis, and a full range of defensive functions.
• Bambooapps today announce Quiet Read Pro, an important update to their popular link management application for Macintosh. Quiet Read lets you save any link for later, and is an unobtrusive, easy to use application that features a clean interface. Quiet Read Pro features a comfortable and simple user interface, providing support for bookmarklets, syncing with MobileMe, short URLs, with list searching and filtering capabilities.
• Eltima Software has announced the release of Folx 1.0, a free download manager for Mac OS X. Folx features a friendly, easy-to-use and very Mac-style interface, so all Mac users will find it convenient to use. It can download not only common files, but also torrent content. In free Folx all your downloads can be split into two threads. This makes downloading with Folx faster, than usual downloading with Internet browsers.
• Media Lab Inc. has announced SiteGrinder 3, its powerful, next generation Photoshop web site development platform. In addition to over 300 new features, Media Lab SiteGrinder 3 supports two new optional add-ons, Commerce and Control. Graphic designers, photographers, artists or anyone can easily transform their Photoshop designs into CSS and XHTML standards-compliant websites without writing a single line of code.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• Sparkle is a new premium action puzzler from the creators of Azkend. The game appeared on the #1 spot on RealArcade.com when it was first launched for Mac and PC. In the developer’s opinion, it’s maybe one of the most playable, original, and atmospheric orb shooters ever made.
• ASD Plus Inc. has announced iRetro Dialer 1.4 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. 21st century meets 20th century. iRetro Dialer is a beautiful rotary dialer for iPhone with 9 original pretty skins and a realistic sound effect. It supports contact speed dial and number editing. There are several similar apps in AppStore, but iRetro Dialer is different from them with its unique detailed skins and great usability. It is very easy to use, hopefully you will enjoy it.
• Izatt has announced it is offering the full version of MileBug for 50% off as a Tax Time Sale. As many begin preparing their taxes and sort through notebooks of logged trips, Izatt is offering MileBug at a substantial discount through April 15th so next year is much easier. MileBug helps those driving their own vehicles for business, or other reasons receive their reimbursement and/or tax deduction, and was featured in What’s Hot this January as it rose to #2 in Finance.
• Virginia based Proactive Life LLC has announced Proactive Sleep 1.2 for iPhone and iPod touch. Proactive Sleep tracks your sleep and displays your sleep patterns when you set an alarm at night. Listen to ambient music to help soothe yourself to sleep, and to help you wake up in the morning, listen to any song in iTunes and play a stimulating game. Designed with the science of sleep in mind because it tracks the two major components of sleep: the homeostatic and circadian components.
• j2sighte has announced its latest iPhone game: Doodle Kart. Doodle Kart is a Doodle style top-down driving game. It’s funny and addictive and unique amongst driving games. Items/weapons are supported during the race. You can fire a pencil/bullet to attack opponent’s cars. For some special items, you can even enlarge your car to run over the other cars!
• TruffleSoft, Inc. has introduced xSolve 1.0, their powerful new custom calculator utility for iPhone and iPod touch. Designed specifically to leverage the iPhone’s unique capabilities and touch interface, xSolve combines the power of a calculator with the simplicity of a purpose built application. It lets users automatically create their own custom solutions. Simply enter a formula, set any desired optional settings and xSolve will dutifully create their own custom utility.
• Dejal Systems, LLC has introduced Tweeps 1.0 for the iPhone and iPod touch devices, with an iPad edition in the works. Tweeps is a Twitter companion tool to manage your Twitter account. Edit your avatar, name, bio text, website URL and location, plus follow/unfollow people, see if someone follows you, block people, and find people. Read recent tweets from each person, or skim through the lists of people you’re following and who follow you, and much more.
• DSstyles has announced a new series of Swarovski Crystallized iPhone Case: the Cubical Series. Each Case featuring with the excellent combination of flat back round and flat back square Swarovski crystals. The series combines these crystals to bring new visual effect. These New Swarovski Crystallized iPhone Cases will definitely be the trend for 2010 for any Swarvoski Crystallized Cases.
• Slide To Play has released GameFinder 1.0.1, a free app now available on the App Store. GameFinder is designed to help iPhone and iPod touch owners find their new favorite games in a variety of ways. Gamers can check out games that were recently reviewed on Slide To Play, explore games by genre, or browse through exclusively programmed lists, such as STP Games of the Month, zombie-themed games, or great games under a dollar and more.
• Just Mobile has announced a new line of electronic solutions for today’s most widely used mobile devices. The Lounge, Xtand Go, and Gum Plus all feature unique design elements and a sleek appearance, providing consumers mobile freedom with a stylish flare. These latest accessories are compatible with the iPhone, iPod, and most Smartphones to provide convenient, on-the-go solutions.
• iKit has launched another installment to their eagerly anticipated 2010 product range. The new iPad Pro Dura Case is a continuation of their series for iPhone 3GS. This is the latest edition to a long line of products, which should leave consumers itching at a mere chance to purchase one. It combines a carved hard shell with a durable soft-grip border, that provides the ultimate protection for your iPad. The slim impact-resistant case is form-fitting which allows full access to all controls.
• Freeverse has announced Flick Bowling 2, the newest installment of the hit Flick Sports series, available soon on the iTunes App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Flick Bowling 2 takes you on a journey through time and space to defeat the insidious Baron Von Schtopwatch as he tries to hatch his dastardly plan to…well, he hasn’t quite figured that out yet. Play as one of six historical figures like Cleopatra or Genghis Khan as you bowl through five different bowling alleys throughout time, all created with little to no historical reference.
• Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. has announced the launch of an updated version of the smash arcade hit Frogger with Facebook Connect. Frogger will give Facebook users the opportunity to track game scores, play against others, and follow friends and family on the Frogger Leader Board. The launch of Facebook Connect for Frogger brings players the latest version of the 28-year-old successful series that challenges players to safely guide Frogger across the highway, while avoiding oncoming traffic and alligator filled streams.
• Belly Bums is based on the beloved sport of Beach Volleyball, but with a twist. Ever wondered what it would look like for a large stature guy to hit a ball with his belly over the net? Well this game reveals a whole new way of playing sports. In this game, you will control these big (and, in most cases, hanging) belly guys to hit the ball over the net with their tummy.
• PixelMags has 100+ apps ready for Apple’s iPad. PixelMags publications are releasing to top paid book app spots all over the world. 30% of readers are making subscriptions their top In App purchase. The release of the iPad is sure to increase this digital publishing phenomenon. Since PixelMags launched in December, 60+ titles for iPhone and iPod touch have been sold in 77 countries through the iTunes App Store.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 9, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• FileMaker, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of FileMaker Pro 11. Packed with new and innovative features led by charting, “on the fly” reporting, a new Quick Find capability, and a host of productivity tools for easier database creation, FileMaker Pro 11 makes using databases easier and quicker than ever. For advanced FileMaker users and developers, FileMaker Pro 11 delivers many new features for creating professional solutions in record time. Also available today with new features is the entire FileMaker 11 product line, which includes FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced, FileMaker Server 11 and FileMaker Server 11.
• Araelium Group has released Querious 1.0, its all-new database management application for Mac OS X. Querious includes the ability to view, edit, and search data, manage table schema, indexes, queries, and users for MSQL 5. Direct, SSH, and SSL connections are all supported. Querious has been built from the ground up for Mac OS X, featuring a well-crafted user experience that is both comfortable and manages to stay out of the way of experienced developers and database administrators.
• Mapdiva has announced Ortelius 1.0.7, the latest update of their map design software for Mac OS X. Ortelius is a vector-based cartography application that helps you create high-quality custom map graphics, plans, and scaled drawings. Ortelius offers a creative solution with superior quality graphics - perfect for reports, presentations, and publications. Ortelius helps you do more than just make maps - it help you communicate visually.
• Jumsoft has announced Pages Clipart 6.0, and continues to increase its collection of add-ons for Apple’s iWork suite. Pages Clipart provides users with vast options for illustrating their presentations, invitations, Web pages, posters, newsletters, and a variety of other documents. Use of the clipart images is not limited to Pages; they are also compatible with Keynote, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and various graphics editors.
• Other World Computing (OWC) has announced today its OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini is the first 2.5” 1TB “Quad Interface” bus powered portable storage solution on the market and available for immediate ordering with 10 models priced from $119.99. Featuring a “Quad Interface” of FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0, and eSATA interface connectivity for data transfer speeds up to 300MB/s, the fanless Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini delivers high performance storage/backup to Mac or PC users in a portable, brushed aluminum, no AC adapter required Plug and Play footprint.
• Digital cameras and flash technology have revolutionized photography. Originally seen simply as a way of illuminating dark scenes with portable light, flash today is used for a host of creative functions, including supplementing daylight and designing complex scenes lit by multiple light sources. Digital cameras with their preview screens make it easy to get instant feedback. But flash photography can still be a difficult artistic and technical challenge. It’s simple to get that harsh deer-in-the-headlights look from built-in automatic flash, yet creating natural-looking images is not as straightforward. Manuals are terse and the terminology is confusing. This is where Mastering Canon EOS Flash Photography comes in.
• Source R&D has announced the availability of the Warpia Easy Dock, which will allow users to wirelessly connect their notebook/netbook/Macbook to any traditional desktop setting.  With the Easy Dock’s straightforward plug-and-play interface, consumers can have both the convenience and portability of a laptop, as well as the comfort of a desktop computer.  Easier on the eyes, ears and hands, users will no longer have to squint at a miniature screen, deal with a below average sound quality, or fumble with a tiny keyboard.
• Elgato has announced the world’s smallest hybrid TV tuner stick. The next generation of EyeTV Hybrid introduces an ultra-compact enclosure in a matte aluminium finish. The TV tuner stick comes with EyeTV 3 software for Mac and a driver for Windows 7 Media Center. The price of the new version of EyeTV Hybrid remains the same at $149.95 USD.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• The iPhone 3G Flip Case from iKit allows you to enjoy hands-free video viewing at a café, desk, or anywhere with a flat surface. It features a protective polycarbonate body, unique flipstand with a mirror screen protector included with purchase. The fashionable chrome finish makes this item the complete package for your iPhone.
• WaterField Designs has introduced two cases for the Apple iPad: the well-fitted Smart Case and the super-thin iPad Slip Case. Both new cases offer protection for the iPad and come in six colors. They can be matched with the ideal-fitting personal size WaterField Muzetto metro bag. All WaterField’s iPad cases—the Ultimate SleeveCase, the Suede Jacket, the Smart Case and Slip Case—are available for pre-order and will ship shortly after the Apple iPad ship date. The Muzetto is in stock now.
• Tisha Morris has released Feng Shui Bagua Map 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users interested in an easier way to improve the flow of their lives. The application is based on westernized Feng Shui, providing a bagua map, along with easy to use and follow instructions for optimizing the energy in a person’s home or office. Users can overlay onto the bagua map existing pictures from their phone’s photo library or snap a new one of their room or floor plan.
• Infomato Inc. today released Forget, a free application for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Forget is a memory aid for people who are frequently stuck in tip-of-the-tongue moments or whose otherwise brilliant trains of thought are stalled, simply because they are forgetful. Forget is built around the psychological principles of memory association and recognition, so that even scatterbrains and disorganized people can quickly enjoy its benefits.
• Spil Games has announced the release of its second game for the iPhone and iPod touch: Uphill Rush 2. Now available at the iTunes App Store, this new version of the 2D, side-scrolling, stunt-racing game lets mobile gamers shake and race their way to bigger stunts and higher scores. The mobile version of Uphill Rush 2 offers players three difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, and Hard), Time Trial and Versus modes, twelve customized stunt vehicles, and twenty different racing outfits. High achievers can win eight different cups spanning three different worlds and can post their scores on Facebook.
• Sweetpea Software has announced Rulette 1.0, its first application for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Rulette is a fun spin on the rules of evidence. With just the flick of the wheel, you can view the rules by spinning the wheel and choosing the rule that you want to read. To view the rule that you have selected, simply press the “Read the Rule” chip. This edition of Rulette includes the North Carolina Rules of Evidence.
• Griffin Technology Inc., has unveiled a new collection of designs from the Griffin + Threadless Co-Op Initiative. Two new case patterns—Permafrost Pollution and Funkalicious—join the already popular line of cases, introducing new artists to the tech community.
• TeamViewer GmbH has just released TeamViewer and TeamViewer Pro, iPhone applications making mobile connectivity more flexible than ever before. Designed for iPhone or iPod touch, from versions 2.2.1 and newer, the innovative TeamViewer applications access or control remote computers located anywhere in the world.
• Today marks the official release of Cloak—a community-developed protective case for the Apple iPad. The Quirky community came together to develop a sleek, sturdy case with a modern design resembling that of an office folder, just in time for the iPad pre-sale launch on March 12. The Cloak is constructed from non-slip rubber with durable plastic hinge mechanisms to enable viewing at different angles.
• Gormaya has announced that their first App, TasteTimer, has been updated and is available exclusively for the iPhone and iPod Touch. TasteTimer is a precise timer with over 600 included timer recipes for tea, coffee, and food. With TasteTimer, there are 19 categories of timer recipes: Black Tea, Botanical, Chai, Coffee, Eggs, Fruit, Grain, Green Tea, Hot Chocolate, Legume, Meat, Oolong Tea, Poultry, Pu-erh Tea, Rooibos, Seafood, Vegetables, White Tea, and Yerba Maté.
• Crazy Mike’s Apps has announced an iPod touch 8GB giveaway tied to March Madness and the release of the new iPhone app, PocketBracket. PocketBracket: College Basketball Tournament is an iPhone app that easily allows people to keep track of their College Basketball Brackets. PocketBracket allows anyone to create unlimited NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament brackets. Full contest details are located online. Winners for the contest will be announced on April 11 on the contest website.
• metaio has released a completely new version of its open augmented reality browser junaio. The version 2.0 is now available in the App Store and offers new unique features. Indoor usage, web- and user-based information channels and an open API for developers are further steps on junaio ́s way to an open browser platform enabling everyone to create and experience mobile augmented reality.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Arachnadoodle

Genre: Arcade Game
Developer: Connect2Media
File Size: 9.8 MB
Version Reviewed: 0.3.5
Requirements: iPhone 2.2 Software
Compatibility: iPhone or iPod touch
Age Rating: 4+
Retail Price: $0.99

Arachnadoodle is a charming throwback to the arcade games of my youth, but with better graphics. It takes a simple premise—a spider building a web to catch flies—and makes it goofy and fun with bright colors, surprisingly difficult gameplay, and heartless rules. If this game had come out in the ‘80s, we’d have seen Arachnadoodle lunchboxes, Trapper Keepers, and a Saturday morning cartoon that hipsters would look back on with ironic fondness.

Boris the spider, in all his googly-eyed glory, must be launched by the player to connect strands of webbing to the pins scattered randomly about a room. You primary goal is to hit all the pins—fail to do that and the game ends—but your secondary goal is to attach strands to as many pins, multiple times, as possible. This makes your web stronger, and you’ll catch more flies during the bonus round that follows each level.

The game starts simply enough, then gets harder as more pins are added, along with later obstacles such as pins that change your trajectory and bombs that explode when touched, destroying the webwork. Connecting all the pins is hard enough (you only have a limited number of jumps), and at later levels figuring out how to get a web strong enough to catch the most flies will leave you puzzling over levels. It’s an odd mix of outright crazy, physics, and colorful cartoon characters.

Star*Burst

Genre: Arcade
Developer: Super Happy Fun Fun
File Size: 21.5 MB
Version Reviewed: 1.0.5
Requirements: iPhone 2.2.1 Software
Compatibility: iPhone or iPod touch
Age Rating: 4+
Retail Price: $1.99 (Free Lite version available)

Speaking of arcade throwbacks, Star*Burst was developed by the creator of KLAX, and it shows. You have to catch an endless progression of colored tiles sliding down a conveyor belt and arrange them in rows, columns, and diagonals. You get more points for more difficult arrangements (like The Big X), and must complete a certain number of stacks and, later, certain shapes to continue to the next level.

Your paddle can catch, stack, and flip the tiles (oh noooo!), giving you some strategic control, you can hold a tile to use later, flip it back to the beginning of the conveyor belt, or toss them up to the top of the screen for arrangements. Drop too many tiles and the game ends.

Simple, quick gameplay; you control the paddle by dragging to grab the tiles, touching it to toss them, or dragging it down to flip tiles. It’s frenetic gameplay in the classic old school mold.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 8, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• Zevrix Solutions is offering BatchOutput Server—its output workflow automation solution for InDesign—at 50% off on maczot on Tuesday March 9th. BatchOutput Server offloads printing and exporting to PDF and PostScript to a central system by processing InDesign files from hotfolders. Originally developed for a major magazine publisher in the United States, the software saves companies countless hours that are lost each year because operators have to wait for InDesign to output files.
• Macgamestore.com has announced Murder, She Wrote. The game was developed by leading casual games developer and publisher, Legacy Interactive. Murder, She Wrote is an interactive seek and find who-dun-it mystery adventure with unique minigames in every scene. Play as the lovable murder novelist Jessica Fletcher and solve each of the five cases by carefully and methodically investigating murders using an innovative new style of hidden object and light adventure gameplay.
• Eternal Storms Software has announced the immediate availability of flickery 1.8 for Mac OS X. flickery is a unique desktop flickr client which combines the flickr photo-community with the ease-of-use and elegance of Mac OS X. Easily upload photos and videos to your Flickr photostream, organize items in photosets and groups, browse Favorites, and more. flickery 1.8 adds Google Maps to the search functionality to bring more powerful searches to flickery users.
• Badia Software has announced the public beta release of Exportools Professional 3.0, its flagship software for high-end exporting and printing of multiple Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress documents. Exportools Professional 3.0 has been entirely rewritten in Cocoa, and it’s the first add-on for InDesign and QuarkXPress built with 64-bit code, boosting overall performance and stability. Almost every aspect of Exportools Professional’s functionality has been refined and improved.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• With MLQuote, you may be motivated by some of the wisest folks who have ever lived on our planet. Simply select one of our eight key categories and you will be presented with a random piece of wisdom. If it’s not what you are looking for, just press the “Next” key, to try again. So, whether you are struggling to find the motivation to finish an important piece of work, need to calm down in a stressful situation, or you’d like to feel happier, MLQuote will try to help.
• SpinThought has announced the launch of StoryPages 2 for the Apple iPhone. StoryPages borrows from the storyboarding format used in film and animation production, allowing users to rapidly layout drawings and associated text, including anything they need to describe in a photo, sketch or text, and deliver their custom StoryPages via email as a PDF, export to the iPhone Gallery as PNG, or deliver via MMS.  For example, StoryPages 2 can send entire stories as PDF files via email in WYSIWYG format so you can use the illustrations and text in other products. It can be used for any projects that use images with associated text such as comics, children’s books, architecture, landscape and interior designs, renovations, and help manuals, to name a few.
• Motivational content developer Bienestar LLC has released Dream Planner Lite 1.0 for iPhone, a new and intuitive, all-audience, goal-setting App tool. Dream Planner Lite is a free and unique goal setting and life balance App for the iPhone. It consists of an intuitive, all-audience tool, featuring a Wheel of Life in which users can enter their dreams in important life areas such as finance, career, relationships, physical well-being, community service and life’s “maintenance” activities.
• Kitty Code has announced Traveler’s Quest 1.4 worldwide through the Apple iTunes App Store. Made just for the iPhone and iPad 3G, Traveler’s Quest gets you off the couch and out of the house in search of virtual treasure in the real world. Treasure hunting adventures have never been more fun, or more social now that you can not only pilfer your friend’s treasures, but now you can brag about it on their Facebook wall.
• Kabuki Vision has solved the problem of shaky iPhone videos with the release of Smooth Movie 1.0 for the iPhone 3GS. Smooth Movie analyzes shaky videos and applies an image stabilization algorithm to the frames, resulting in a much smoother movie. After processing, the smoothed movie can be saved to the iPhone’s photo album for future viewing, emailing, or uploading. The app features a streamlined interface and allows anyone to get started right away.
• Izatt has announced that MatchTunes, its 41st app for iPhone and iPod touch, is now 66% OFF for a limited time. New free updates will bring more levels. MatchTunes is the game of matching song clips from the user’s own iTunes library. Choose to match on music clip, song, album, or artist. Select the genre of music to play with or select to use all genres. Use 2-player mode to challenge others. Players can submit their best scores via OpenFeint to prove to the world they know their music.
• If you like puzzlers but are looking for a little more excitement, check out Babo Crash for iPhone. It’s a fast-paced match-3 puzzle game with more depth than you’d expect from this tried-and-true genre.It’s like a fast-action Bejeweled built specially for the iPhone, where the occasional tilt-controls actually add to the experience.
• GP Imports has introduced App Genie Lite 1.1, their new suite of applications and utilities for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Designed specifically to take advantage of the iPhone’s unique capabilities and touch interface, App Genie Lite allows its users to unlock up to three applications from a selection of more than 30. The application includes a Barcode Scanner, Facebook Tools, Currency Converter, GPS Locator, Sound Meter, Voice Compass, and others.
• Sunstorm Interactive Inc. has announced Real Trophy Hunting 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. iPhone and iPod touch users can now experience the thrill of hunting the most prized big game animals of North America. Real Trophy Hunting is an ultra-realistic hunting experience developed by the founders of the hunting game genre. Building on the knowledge of over 50+ value games and hunting simulations, Real Trophy Hunting takes big game hunting to a new level of realism.
• MusicSkins LLC, has announced a licensing deal with Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE), the licensing and merchandising arm of Adult Swim, that grants MusicSkins rights to offer skins featuring the artwork from Adult Swim’s portfolio of highly-popular, original, animated programs.
• Pawn Software has released Elemental Dusk 1.2.2, their strategy card game for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Elemental Dusk is inpired by Triple Triad, a famous minigame of Final Fantasy VIII around which different communities were born on the web. Elemental Dusk offers simple rules, yet it can be very strategic and addictive in nature. It already has been covered by some online iPhone dedicated sites and received good reviews on the App Store.
• iKit has made their first introduction into the car accessory world with the new Auto USB car charger. This sleak little device allows you to charge on the move and is compatible with the iPhone and iPod. It features a high performance USB port which provides rapid charge convenience and is complimented with a ring LED charging indicator. The high gloss finish is an added bonus giving this product a slick and stylish look fit for any car.
• The sports accessory world will be introduced to something new with the iKit Audio Waist Pack. This unique product is made of special sports fabric, to help prevent sweat while you exercise. It also has an adjustable waist strap to fit any size. The waist pack has two zip pockets in the front allowing you to keep your keys, music and small items moving right along with you. The interior contains a fitted media player pocket, with a convenient cord managment solution which makes this product stand out.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 5, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• Hyperbolic Software has announced Tidy Up! 2.2.0, the latest version of the award-winning duplicate finder and disk tidying utility. Tidy Up! has become a must-have utility to reclaim disk space being taken up by duplicate files and packages. Tidy Up! locates duplicate items using a wide range of criteria including owner application, time created or modified, name, label, extension and content. Version 2 introduces nearly 50 new features to this already comprehensive tool.
• Zenopolis has released Tiptoe 1.0, a new privacy application for Mac OS X. Tiptoe is the first Mac privacy application to bring a “private browsing” like feature to all sorts of applications. This initial release supports 15 popular Mac applications, enabling users to run these applications without a trail of their actions being stored. The ability to reset (remove) existing privacy data is also included. Tiptoe is $19.95 (USD), a Universal Binary for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or later.
• St. Clair Software has announced the release of Default Folder X 4.3.6. Default Folder X enhances the file dialogs in all Mac OS X applications. It provides fast navigation to your files, convenient previews, integrated Spotlight tagging, and more. Version 4.3.6 addresses issues with Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard, Mac OS 10.4 Tiger, Google Chrome and PhotoMechanic, as well as providing smoother and more consistent operation overall.
• ExactCODE GmbH has announced the upcoming major update of ExactScan 2. The next version 2.10 features a new, unique TWAIN Bridge to enable third party applications to utilize ExactScan’s built-in drivers and image processing. Additionally the new version adds automatic color detection, automatic source selection and more OCR languages. ExactScan 2.10 is currently Beta, and will be available as free update for ExactScan 2 users at the end of March, Q1, 2010.
• Art Authority is a new application for the Macintosh and iPhone, which Open Door Networks believes is an invaluable and very affordable resource for anyone interested in Western art” students, teachers, and art lovers. The app’s 1,000+ artists and 40,000+ works of art are by far the most available for either platform. A release for the iPad is also planned.
• Zevrix Solutions has announced that BatchOutput Server, its output workflow automation solution for InDesign, is selling at 50% off on maczot on March 9th. Originally developed for a major publisher in the United States, the software automates InDesign output by processing files from hotfolders. BatchOutput Server offloads printing and exporting to PDF and PostScript to a central system leaving operator workstations free from the output process.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• Treebune’s app and web service that allows users to send instant messages from their page or Facebook profile went free the other day, releasing a fully functional Lite version of our app pushme.to. They have chosen not to limit any functionality, so the app has all the goodness of the paid version, including web widgets, Facebook support, unlimited message and image sending both from web to iPhone and between iPhones. The unobtrusive ads can be switched off using in app purchasing. User accounts are 100% compatible with Full version.
• Bottoms Up is a tongue-in-cheek “beer goggles” game that challenges players to show their beer sliding and drinking prowess. As a reward, girls in the bar get friendlier and, needless to say, hotter. Jyke the Bartender, spokesperson for Bottoms Up, indicated “I like to think of this as part of community service I do for hapless guys who walk in my bar and complain about not getting the girls around them.”
• Zidware, Inc. has announced My Colorz & Shapes, their newest educational iPhone app to join My Alphabet, My Numberz, Matheroids and ABC Invaders into the Nanoschool Kids series of personal learning for children. My Colorz & Shapes is a powerful way for young preschoolers to learn basic color and shape recognition as they read their way within a virtual classroom environment with active participation from the Nanoschool friends.
• TAS Productions has announced the release of Sleeping Pill 1.0 for the iPhone and iPod touch devices. Sleeping Pill is specifically designed to help you sleep. The developers researched various methods for accelerating the sleeping process and created a precise 3 stage procedure. Stage 1 helps clear your mind so you can relax and free yourself to fall asleep. Stage 2 - Helps you relax and relieve stress, while Stage 3 helps your eyes tire.
• Connect2Media has started offering its innovative iPhone and iPod Touch puzzler Timeloop free of charge. Timeloop follows a charismatic, yet clumsy janitor android called Nik as he attempts to save a space lab from destruction after an experiment goes horribly wrong. With many scientists to rescue and a horde of feline test subjects to contend with, it’s needless to say that everyone’s having a bad day.
• Apps & More Software Design, Inc. has announced Job Timer, a task time tracking and reporting solution designed to be run by Script Timer, its popular script, Automator workflow, and application scheduling utility for Mac OS X. With minimal setup Job Timer can automatically keep track of the time spent on files belonging to any number of specific jobs, with no need to have to remember to start or change timers.
• eeThree Software, recipients of 3 MacWorld “Best in Show” Awards, announced its first game: ImageQuest 1.0. A pictonym puzzle game for the iPhone OS, the player is asked to find the single word that links together a group of pictures. The challenge is to quickly identify the pictures, and keeping the question category in mind, type in the word that solves the puzzle. Players are scored for accuracy and speed, may advance through 30 levels, and can compete on-line.
• Independent iPhone developer Robert Chitoiu has announced the release of Balance Forecasting 2.2 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Balance Forecasting helps the user be more organized when it comes knowing how much money will be in their account on any given day in the future. At the same time, it provides a simple and streamlined user interface for accomplishing this task.
• Quirky has officially released Wrapster—a community developed earbud cord management solution. With Quirky’s Wrapster, you can say good-bye to annoying tangled earbud cords. Simply wrap your cords vertically around the Wrapster from bottom to top to keep them in place. Once wrapped, pop the earbuds through the two designated holes at the top of the Wrapster to keep them from dangling.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 4, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• app4mac has released Projector 2.0.8, an update to their powerful project management application for Mac OS X. Projector provides all the tools you need for professional project management. It is designed to keep track of tasks and calculate a project’s cost. Projector is an easy-to-learn, cost-effective tool that simplifies project scheduling. Projector is also coming soon on iPad and iPhone.
• Cocoamug Software has released CosmoPod 4.2.1, an update to their bright application for Mac OS X. CosmoPod is a one-click simple extension to Apple Safari browser that helps you saving and converting internet media content to your Mac, iPhone, AppleTV or iPod. It’s just like an extra Download window for your media. CosmoPod supports most popular web video formats, including FLV, DivX, WMV, MMS, RM, and RTSP. This update mainly improves the application capability to easily import DVD.
• Ohanaware has announced HDRtist 1.2, a free update to their HDR Photography software for Mac OS X. HDRtist is a user friendly HDR Photo processor and tone mapper for the Macintosh platform. It’s workflow has been designed to be effortless in operation, and to provide visually pleasing results. An intuitive design makes it simple to choose from our 4 different tone mapping techniques. The latest update to HDRtist fixed some issues and improves upon usability.
• Macvide has announced Macvide FlashVideo Converter 3.7, an update to its Flash to video converter for OS X. Macvide FlashVideo Converter is a powerful and versatile program for converting any flash SWF or FLV video file to one of many popular video formats including iPhone/iPod mp4, Mobile 3gp and MPEG2. Macvide FlashVideo Converter is able to convert FLV and SWF files with ActionScript 3.0 support. Version 3.7 includes miscellaneous bugs fixed and more.
• RapidWeaver theme developer seyDoggy today announces Flavorite, a smart theme with great new capabilities. Flavorite brings the power of the web to RapidWeaver with built-in selectable slideshows, smart corners, and ExtraContent. All of Flavorite’s intelligent features are included at no expense to the variety of other great and flexible features like layout width, header heights, variable width sidebar, and a myriad of font options.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• In the pantheon of comic book superheroes, it’s almost impossible to overstate the importance of GelaSkins’ newest collaborator. Spanning over 50 years, this “illuminati of illustration” has brought us some of the most beloved and championed characters in modern storytelling history. A billion dollar industry has been built upon its foundations and it’s not shocking why; we love to see the quintessential battle between good and evil. Ladies and Gents, join in giving the hugest GelaSkins welcome to Marvel Comics.
• EMI Music/Astralwerks recording artists Air, the French electronic pop duo, have teamed up with London-based music technology company RjDj to create an innovative App, Love by AIR, for the iPhone, which allows fans to experience Air’s music in a unique, immersive way. Fans can choose from five different “soundscapes,” and then use the App’s features to transform the musical experience in real-time by sampling and processing ambient sounds, the fan’s own voice and more into Air’s own music. Fans can also record their own messages or performances with the application, allowing them to share their own unique productions of Air’s music with their friends, and with the world. As a way to introduce the app to the world, RjDj and Air are launching a contest to invite fans to create and submit their own Love recording. From now until March 22, weekly winners will be selected, and a grand prize winner will also be determined. The grand prize winner will receive an iPod Touch and weekly winners will receive Air’s latest CD Love 2.
• The Three Little Pigs, is the fourth Kidztory animated storybook app from Stepworks. It’s now at large, on the lookout for piggy snacks. Launched just last week, The Three Little Pigs is already delighting parents and children and has already been in the top ten of all paid apps in the US.
• To celebrate their iPhone app download surpassing the benchmark of 8.3 million, Artificial Life is holding a promotion of “Get-Paid-Game-For-Free.”. Some of their top-rated, top-downloaded iPhone game titles will be offered for free for a limited time. The first free game is going to be iSink U (battleship boardgame title), which will be free during March 5-7 only.
• With an already successful launch on the Nintendo Wii, Cocoto and his friends are ready to wreck mayhem and havoc on the Apple iPhone and Apple iPod touch. To progress in Cocoto Magic Circus, you must use your finger as a gun and shoot the moving enemies, explode the green balloons which offer bonuses like additional time, explosions and slow-motion, but also take precautions and avoid the red balloons which shake the screen or accelerate the clock. The game offers the same visually stunning 3D environments, including the familiar animated characters, bosses and backgrounds as introduced in the console version.
• Mephisto is a pachislo simulator for iPhone and iPod Touch. Loaded with a new exciting voice function that provides a pleasant experience, Mephisto also includes world rankings and awards provided by the online gaming platform Agon Online.
• Broken Thumbs Apps has announced that Emily’s Girl Talk, a collection of four unique charming story-telling games, has been featured by Apple as “New and Noteworthy” in the US App Store. Emily’s Girl Talk features the classic M.A.S.H. (Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House) and the hilariously unpredictable Lemon, as well as other fortune-telling games for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
• 24x7digital has announced Aw Craps! 1.7, an update to their popular casino game for iPhone and iPod touch. With its realistic table layout, game play, stick calls and dice rolling, Aw Craps! takes you onto the casino floor and into the action, allowing seasoned shooters to hone their skills, as well as allowing beginners to learn enough to hit the casino tables. Version 1.7 allows you to choose from five different colored dice, each with specialized probabilities.
• Unfasten your seatbelts and abandon everything you know about safe driving as Raging Thunder 2—the sequel to the most popular mobile racing game of all time—has arrived on iPhone and Android. From Polarbit, a leading developer of high-end 3D games and middleware for mobile phones, comes the most intense, high-speed reckless driving experience ever. Featuring online, cross-platform multiplayer, Raging Thunder 2 allows players to challenge strangers around the world to heart pumping racing action whether on an iPhone or Android phone.
• Playbrains, an independent game development studio, has announced their upcoming mobile gaming debut with Babo Crash, a fast-paced action puzzler built for iPhone, iPad and Android platforms. Babo Crash starts out simple with familiar gem-swapping match-3 gameplay, rewarding players who create bigger matches—but it ramps up the intensity one level at a time, adding hero characters with special abilities, real-time enemy combat, destructive powerups, chain reactions and evolving objectives.
• Pure Concepts, LLC has announced PocketBracket 2.0 for iPhone, iPod touch, and Android powered devices. PocketBracket allows you to create unlimited brackets, organize pools, and follow the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. In addition, compete among thousands of users on the PocketBracket Network as well as your friends and coworkers. It is the only mobile application to offer all of these features in one. Game On.
• The V Phone—a mobile VoIP and SMS app for the iPhone—now supports VoIP over 3G and on WiFi using the G729 codec. The V Phone is a mobile sip client or softphone for the iPhone for making internet calls over wifi or 3G. The mobile VoIP app also enables users to send text messages or SMS’s not through your wireless carriers but through the internet. What this means for users is simple dirt cheap calls and SMS’s.
• CAZE has announced the JADE Polish Rainbow Swarovski case, a crystallized version of its JADE Polish See-Thru for iPhone 3G and 3GS. JADE Polish is a See-Thru iPhone case featuring an Anti-Interference translucent coating. The crystallized version of Jade Polish adds more than 50 Swarovski crystals of different colors at the bottom of the case to form a beautiful rainbow pattern.
• Tactile Entertainment has unveiled their first title, an open-world pet sim called Pocket Creatures. A Pocket Creature is an interactive creature that inhabits an exotic island in your iPhone or iPod Touch. On this island you’ll find a variety of plants and animals to interact with and explore. As you discover new things to do, you will notice how it affects your creature’s unique abilities and its relationship with its surroundings. Pocket Creatures is about experimentation, exploration and discovery.
• Scosche Industries has announced the availability of its reviveLITE II. The second generation iPod/iPhone charger and nightlight has a smaller footprint than the original model and was redesigned to offer greater stability when plugged into an outlet. Scosche also added a USB Port to the reviveLITE II, so users can charge another USB powered device while powering up their iPod or iPhone.  Like the original reviveLITE, the new version provides travelers with a switchable LED nightlight to avoid stubbing a toe in an unfamiliar hotel room.
• PressOK Entertainment has announced that it is teaming up with Lima Sky, the independent development studio and publisher behind the massively popular Doodle Jump, to bring the game’s Doodler character to an upcoming free update for Finger Physics. The (in)famous Doodler will make his appearance within an entire free level pack for Finger Physics, with nine brand-new levels sure to challenge even the most veteran of index and middle fingers.
• Concrete Software, Inc., has announced the release of Nintaii 2 for the iPhone and iPod Touch to be sold in the iTunes App Store.  Nintaii 2, the follow-up to the popular game Nintaii, is a strategic puzzle game that includes 100 brand new levels with new features and obstacles for enjoyable and challenging game play.
• Booq has unveiled their latest accessory specifically for the iPad. Boa skin XS combines innovative design with vibrant colors to create stylish protection for Apple’s newest creation. Available at booqbags.com and retailers throughout the country, booq combines sophisticated design and functionality to deliver high-quality bags and cases for the next generation of ambitious professionals.
• New Potato Technologies, an innovator and developer of iPod and iPhone accessories, has introduced FLPRTM, a revolutionary new accessory and app that transforms iPhone and iPod touch into a universal remote control. FLPR lets users control multiple electronic devices, including televisions, cable and satellite boxes, stereo systems, lights, ceiling fans and just about anything else that uses an infrared remote control. Available this month from Best Buy stores nationwide, and online at http://www.newpotatotech.com, the revolutionary FLPR replaces a sea of remotes cluttering up the home.
• Davka Corporation has announced iBless Torah 1.0, a tutorial program for the iPhone and iPod touch that teaches the Torah and Haftarah blessings recited in the synagogue. iBless Torah displays the text in the original Hebrew and English transliteration on screen, and chants the text, highlighting each word as it is pronounced. Users can pause after each section, tap and listen again, or go forward to the next section.
• Humble Daisy has announced the latest release of its popular mobile recording tool, SonicPics 1.2 and its free counterpart SonicPics Lite 1.2. SonicPics is a tool for creating and narrating custom photo slide shows on the iPhone or iPod touch. It makes it easy to use images from the iPhone’s photo library or built in camera. The update includes a new image picker that makes it even easier to add images from the iPhone’s photo library.
• PhatWare Corporation has released WritePad 3.1 for iPhone and iPod touch. WritePad is a text editor that incorporates advanced handwriting recognition software for text entry. It allows users to enter text for cursive, print, or mixed handwriting styles. Version 3.1 includes a new option to hide toolbar in landscape screen orientation, display scroll buttons in handwriting mode, improved recognition of some special characters, as well as a new spell checker options and more.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Provides: iDevice external battery, stand and dock
Developer: Dexim
Price: $54.90
Availability: Now

In a sea of boxy, single purpose batteries, one company dares to think different.  Dexim has put some real thought into what an iDevice battery can and perhaps should do for you.  Their P-Flip battery’s feature list only starts with providing extra juice for your iPhone.

This battery is different from your standard hunk of electrically charged chemicals. Sure, if comes in a bunch of colors, but more importantly, instead of just being a nondescript box of energy, Dexim has quite obviously designed it with the iPhone in mind.  It has a dock connector with some molded plastic that hugs the the bottom of your iPhone.  Below this is a hinge that provides for a number of features. If there’s no iPhone using the battery, you can fold the battery onto itself for more compact storage. If an iPhone is connected, you can flip it back and use it as a stand. This will position your iPhone optimally for viewing on a table top in portrait mode (though landscape might be more useful). You can tip it on its side, and it works, but then your iPhone is resting on its own corner. Uh oh! Alternatively, you can bend the hinge just a touch and pretend you’re from an alternate universe where Apple came out with an iPhone in the 90s called the iPhone flip…

The back of the battery has three LEDs to display the charge level of the 2,000mAh battery. You can display the current charge level by hitting the button close by.  Unfortunately, there isn’t an off switch anywhere.  It’s unlikely you’d have your iPhone connected to this and not want to use the external battery, but I’m told the iPhone uses more power when connected to a power source, so it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra switch. Still, you can always disconnect your iPhone from the battery. K, I’m done being picky.

What I really like about this battery is that it’s more than just a battery.  In addition to already being a stand, you can also use the battery’s recharging USB port to sync your iPhone.  That’s right, the USB connection is used for more than just power.  How come no one else does this?  I don’t know, but I hope it catches on, as I really like how you can use the P-Flip to sync, charge and view your iPhone in style. It really is more useful than just a battery, which is what batteries need to be these days since you have hundreds of choices, it seems.  Heck, the only thing this battery is missing is a laser pointer.

I’m just kidding, I don’t want that…unless it’s a green laser pointer, then it’s awesome, not tacky.

The Dexim P-Flip is among the best choices among iPhone batteries available now.  The guys at Dexim are great and they really have a great product here.  While nearly all other batteries on the market are just that—batteries—Dexim has put some useful thought into this product.  The Dexim P-Flip is more than just a battery; it’s that, a stand and a syncing cradle.  What else do you want?

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod updates and announcements for March 3, 2010:

Macintosh

• publicspace.net has announced A Better Finder Rename 8.53, an update to its popular file, music and photo renaming utility. A Better Finder Rename is a sophisticated tool that caters for the full range of file renaming tasks encountered by the modern creative professional. The new release allows diacritical marks such as accents and umlauts to be removed from file names automatically.
• BeeSoft has announced the update of ProTA and ProTA Gold, their leading stock market charting and technical analysis software for Mac OS X. Featuring a modern user interface, ProTA delivers professional-level market analysis to ordinary investors and short-term traders. Version 3.23 has been updated for compatibility with the February 2010 changes to options symbology as set forth by the Options Clearing Corporation. This upgrade is free for existing customers.
• SuperSync 3.5 is a software program that lets music fans visually compare, access and merge iTunes libraries across multiple Macs, PCs, iPods, and iPhones. Any new content that is added on one computer can be instantly uploaded to the master library. Released today, version 3.5 adds instant access to all of Apple’s iPhone and iPod products. Now users can retrieve, backup and merge their iPod/iPhone music/video collection and playlists to any computer running SuperSync.
• Managing Editor Inc. (MEI) has announced InPorter 2.0, the latest version of MEI’s versatile add-on module for the vjoon K4 Publishing System. InPorter is a server-side utility that streamlines and automates the process of moving content into K4. InPorter handles any kind of object that can be managed in the K4 system, including InCopy articles, InDesign layouts, photos, ads, and more. Version 2.0 includes support for reading XMP content embedded in files being “InPorted” into the workflow.
• SkypeCap has announced SkypeCap for Mac 3.7, an update to its video and audio session recorder for Mac OS X. SkypeCap for Mac captures and records audio and video calls made from Skype and outputs various video and audio formats, such as MP3, WMA, AAC, MOV, MPEG4, MPEG, VOB, PSP MPEG4, SWF and FLV. SkypeCap for Mac saves your Skype sessions so that you could hear and watch them again later or share them with someone else.

iPhone/iPod

• TLC IT-Consulting has released MyTasks Pro 2.2.3 for iPhone and iPod touch users. This new task management app is the first of its kind for the iPhone. MyTasks organizes the development, storage and organization of tasks with an attractive, versatile and easy-to-use interface. Adding a task is super simple and can be done in seconds. The app extremely versatile, giving it the capacity to be synchronized with a wide variety of devices and even with the online to-do list program, Toodledo.
• 3PYX has released Budget iQ 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users. Effective simplicity is what Budget iQ is all about. There are no complicated formulas or extras in this app, anyone can use it easily. Budget iQ quickly monitors a user’s financial picture, makes projections, and offers help for deciding whether or not a purchase is affordable. It does all of this in a way that promotes success, supports financial responsibility, and can even make budgeting fun.
• Packing Pro is a popular, top-ranking travel app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Recently updated, it now sports a fresh new interface and a simplified, more intuitive work-flow to match it. Spring Break is a long-deserved chance for students to take it easy and have some fun. Let Packing Pro take care of your travel packing and to do tasks, so you can concentrate on what’s really important—partying hard.
• DifferentApps has released FastCalc 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users. FastCalc is an intelligent calculator that’s very easy to see and use. FastCalc allows for copy and pasting of formulas while providing memory storage, expression display and accurate calculating rules. Whereas a device with the dimensions of an iPhone has very small keys, FastCalc’s screen has only twelve large keys which are very easy to see and use. This feature eliminates the frustration of hitting a wrong key.
• MF Software has introduced Top Rated Apps (Free) 1.5, the free version of the popular productivity app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Top Rated Apps (Free) allows you to browse only the highest-rated apps on the iTunes App Store, and store favorites for future purchase or reference. Unlike the iTunes App Store, it also lets you browse apps offline. The Top Rated Apps are organized by category, so you can browse them just like you would in the App Store.
• 99 Book Series has introduced 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Filling Out Your Hoops Bracket for the iPhone and iPod touch. Another in their line of “99 Things…” mini-guide books, 99 Book Series has enlisted five-time bracket champion Jared Trexler to create the 99 page long book. Trexler distills his years of experience as a college basketball columnist and TV host to provide the reader with 99 expert tips for filling out a winning hoops bracket before the NCAA tournament.
• 288 Vroom LLC has released 100 Sci-Fi Stories Lite, the free sampler version of their popular eBook reader for iPhone and iPod touch. 100 Sci-Fi Stories Lite has some of the great classic science fiction stories including, The Gods Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs and the timeless classic The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, and more. The app’s eerie interface will give users chills and is easy to use. 100 Sci-Fi Stories Lite is perfect for the science fiction fan in everyone and it’s free.
• FogTechnologies has released Snap + Map 1.0 for iPhone devices. Snap + Map is the first iPhone app to convert paper maps into GPS enabled maps. Users simply take a picture of a paper map using their iPhone, set two snap points and Snap + Map displays their current location on the map. Walk into a zoo, grab the park map take a picture and see where you are on the map for the day.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

If you’ve been stuck at your desk non-stop for the past few weeks, you just missed the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Don’t worry, it wasn’t amazing; the hosts took top place, with America coming in third despite having the most medals in total. Either way, if you watched some of the events and felt the need to give them a try, you can play these apps 365 days a year! We’ve got curling, snowboarding, ski jumping and ice hockey to show you, but it’s worth a mention that the official Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 game hit the app store this week, taking a cartoon angle on the favorite sports from the games. For apps specific to a single game, however, read on.

Age of Curling

It’s no surprise to learn that curling isn’t the most popular sport. Why that is could be anyone’s guess. It seems to be around for a couple of weeks for the Winter Olympics, then no one hears much about it for another four years. Maybe you haven’t been watching the Olympics, or maybe your eyes were glued to every heat, sport and race, hoping to catch another glimpse of your nation’s curlers’ smooth action on the ice. Okay, if you’re that second scenario, go take a break. Otherwise, grab your iPhone or iPod touch and check out Age of Curling in the App Store.

Age of Curling is the best curling experience on the iPhone. The graphics are crisp, and the user interaction is incredibly intuitive. For example, how would you imagine you set the stone sliding? You guessed it—swipe your finger vertically up the screen. To sweep the stone as it’s moving? Correct again—swipe horizontally as quickly as possible. Adding spin to the stone is done by twisting the stone before releasing it, and that’s all you really need to know to start playing. It’s that simple.

You can choose to play against the computer or a friend (on the same device). There are five individual venues from which to select, with great graphics in each. Despite the game feeling heavy (in the sense that there’s a lot of data/graphics involved), it shows no signs of lagging while you play. In curling, every millimeter counts, so the entire action needs to be as smooth as possible. Age of Curling has no issues in this area. If you’ve ever shown any interest in curling, or you’re simply looking for a new, interesting game to try out, take a look at Age of Curling.

X2 Snowboard

Snowboarding is likely the most popular winter-sports activity, but like most, it’s not too easy to just grab a board and have a go—what with the lack of snow in many places. As a result, there are many great games that aim to recreate the snowboarding experience, and X2 Snowboarding is one of those great titles made for the iPhone OS.

The controls are easy to understand; there are tips throughout your first run, and the graphics are similar to that of the Nintendo DS. Unfortunatley, the music is a little repeatitive and doesn’t quite fit the “coolness” of snowboarding, but it’s not a deal-breaker. The game’s physics are fairly realistic, but take a short time to get used to; hitting the ramps takes a couple of tries when you’re starting out. There is the option of multiplayer races, restricted to using the same wireless network or bluetooth connection, giving you the option to challenge your friends. Allowing multiplayer over the Internet would be a great step forward, but as the graphics and physics are quite powerful, playing over the Internet would likely cause some lagging issues, and we don’t want that.

The snowboarding itself is great in this game. Everything is right, and there are enough options for tricks, speed boost and more to keep you entertained without overloading the display. What seems to let this game down however, is the menu system. There doesn’t appear to be the option of different race types—you simply select to race, and following the loading screen, you’re on the slopes ready to go. If you’re only looking to race, this works great, but I feel more could be added to the game to make it a better experience and a little more challenging. You can select courses and characters as you progress, but when you first start out, you’re limited in what you can do.

The snowboarding itself is amongst the best I’ve seen so far on the iPhone, and if the menu structure and methods of gameplay were brought up to the same level, we’d have the snowboarding iPhone game on our hands.

Magnetic Sports Hockey

I’m no game developer, and I can’t imagine develping any game is easy, but to create a complete physics engine for any team-based sport must be one of the harder programming tasks to accomplish. Tere’s a lot that could be happening at any one time, and each time it happens, there should be some difference. As a result, Magnetic Sports Hockey takes more of a table-hockey approach. Only one player moves at a time, and even at that, only on a 360-degree spin. The puck is hit around and is given to the closest player when it has slowed down enough. The only player you have the ability to move is the goal-keeper who can slide the length of the goal to save.

You’d think this would take away from the game, but actually, it doesn’t. Sure, if you were expecting a full-on EA Sports approach, you’re maybe looking at the wrong app. This is more of an arcade game based on ice hockey, and we all love a visit to the arcades, right?

The graphics are a little simpler than the two previous games, although pixelation only occurs on the moving objects. The arenas and menu systems both look great. A bonus to using simpler graphics means you have the option of playing online through both a local wireless connection and Bluetooth, but also via the Internet. Magnetic Sports Hockey uses the (almost) standard for mobile gaming, OpenFeint, to connect you to players across the globe with minimal lag.

This game may not satisfy the ice hockey fanatic, but it can’t be denied that it’s fun playing ice hockey with both teams consisting on penguins, where the goals themselves are igloos. Thats right, go take a look.

Ski Jump & Ski Jumping 2010

As with snowboarding, there are quite a few games that can try out on the App Store when it comes to ski jumping. To make things a little easier for you, here are two for a little comparison. To start, they’re both $2.99, and both have a lite version to take for a spin, and while they both allow you to ski jump, they’re still quite different apps.

Ski Jump seems to be the smaller of the two. The artwork is focused on cartoons rather than real life, but the graphics look great for what they are. The in-game graphics are quite basic, with every passing tree looking suspiciously similar, but we can live with that.

There’s no sound in the game, which is fine with me, but it may feel a little on the quiet side for some people. The actual ski jumping appears to edge on the side of caution, with a tap and hold to ski, release to jump, and slight movements through the accelerometer to stay in the air for as long as possible. This way, at least, you find yourself improving quite quickly, and there’s a certain want to improve with every jump.

You can play friends over a local wireless network, but unlike Ski Jumping 2010, there’s no support for Open Feint to play online. If I had to, I would group Ski Jump with MS Hockey. They’re both sport-related games, but offer a more…fun approach, rather a serious competitiveness. I’ve found myself spending considerable amounts of time in Ski Jump, and so might you.

Ski Jumping 2010 takes the more competitive approach to the sport. The app starts with two videos as part of the loading process. Skipping these each time gets annoying after the first time of playing.

Within the single player mode, you’re free to try a single event, practice with the training mode, or take to the slopes with the aim to win in either a team or world cup event. In each of these, you earn trophies, and also achievements in a similar fashion to Xbox Live. The achievements come as a result of this game using Open Feint. Unfortunately, playing online via the Internet isn’t possible in Ski Jumping 2010. Instead, Open Feint simply stores data about the game and ranks you on how well you’re doing. It’s probably a good thing that the game is limited in multiplayer, as the menu systems already lag between options, so I doubt the game would cope well with online multiplayer.

So, the majority of the time you’ll be playing the single player modes. There are plenty of slopes and races to choose from, and unlike Ski Jump, the trees are made up from two different shades of green. When comparing the two, Ski Jumping 2010’s interface appears too crowded; there’s almost too much going on. It’s hard to see when the character falls on a jump, as trees are on both sides of the slope.

Given the choice between the two, I’d take Ski Jump. Not because it’s more technical and the graphics are so life-like, but because, overall, it provides the better experience and allows you to jump without any distractions.

Appletell Rating for Ski Jump: 4/5
Buy Ski Jump

Appletell Rating for Ski Jumping 2010: 3/5
Buy Ski Jumping 2010

Full Story » | Written by Ed Parry for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Maybe you didn’t think ThinkFlood’s original RedEye IR dock was the best solution for controlling your IR gear. That’s okay, because ThinkFlood listened and is preparing to release the RedEye mini; and like their original IR solution it’s just a bit different from the competition.

Instead of using the dock connector and a dongle like everyone else, the RedEye mini uses your iDevice’s headphone jack. Anyone else feeling a little deja vu? This was how Pocket PCs without built in IR added this functionality too many years ago for me to remember.  While this technology might seem a little antiquated, remember two things: IR isn’t exactly bleeding edge technology in the first place, and more importantly, your dock connection remains open. That means you can have your iDevice plugged in to a battery, a battery case or other accessory that hogs the dock connection.  This also means you don’t have to hold your iPhone upside down to use it as a remote. Yes!

The RedEye mini uses the same app as the original RedEye dock, so there are no surprises there.  Well, actually, it seems they’ve added an electronic program guide. Awesome. I’m really happy to see that one company finally gets that just because I can flip my iDevice to point a dongle at my TV doesn’t mean that I want to.  It’s also nice that this solution doesn’t require a case, which also means you can continue to use any case you might already be using.  Best of all, the RedEye mini is set to sell at just $49, making it among the cheapest solutions that will be available soon (spring). It will be fun to see how these all compare.

Via Engadget

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 2, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• The Mac Sale is now live with a new bundle. This bundle includes amazing apps such as PathFinder and VideoConverter Pro. As usual, the bundle costs $49.99—a steal for over $500 worth of applications.
• Yazsoft has announced Playback 1.5, a major update to their popular zero configuration media server for Mac OS X. Playback allows anyone to share their media with any Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or other supported UPnP compatible device. Playback can also share media stored in folders or even make entire disks available to a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. By default, Playback will share almost any content on the users system.
• UNIEA has kicked off their UNIEA Omniverse Photo Contest. They’re looking for Omniverse case users to submit photos of their Omniverse in action for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to unieastore.com. Plus, all photo submissions will be used to create a new Omniverse video that they’ll be publishing in the Spring. In order to give folks who want to be in the contest a chance to pick up an Omniverse case (in case they already don’t have one), they’re giving all registrants a 20% off coupon code to use at unieastore.com.
• Mac users can now benefit from secure connections to remote business networks over the Internet. equinux has released VPN Tracker 6.2, a further update to the market-leading IPsec based VPN client for Mac OS X. VPN Tracker 6.2 now supports the Cisco ASA 5500 series and has improved compatibility with many other Cisco devices for quicker connectivity. Available starting today, businesses can save over 50% on the price of single licenses with new business packs.
• Maintain has announced Cocktail 4.7.1 (Snow Leopard Edition), the latest maintenance update of Cocktail for users running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. This version adds compatibility with the upcoming Mac OS X 10.6.3 and ability to stop Cocktail from logging out, restarting or shutting down the computer at the end of a scheduled programme. The update also features improvements on the clear Adobe Flash Player caches and cookies procedure as well as overall performance improvements.
• Volitans software has announced SMART Utility 2.2, a significant update to the hard drive diagnostic application. SMART Utility is an application to scan the internal hardware diagnostics system of hard drives SMART is a system built into hard drives by their manufacturers to report on various measurements of a hard drive’s operation. The new features include saving and opening SMART drive reports, printing reports, and better support for SSDs.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• Apps for Me is an iPhone application recommendation app for casual and new iPhone owners. The app asks just two simple questions: “Who” (to what group do you belong?) and “What” (what’s your lifestyle?), and suggests a personalized list of great applications for each users. This version focuses on female iPhone owners, and has 86 different lifestyle categories.
• Pregnancy Countdown is an impressive set of Pregnancy Tools integrated with Facebook and so much more: Countdown to the due date, Facebook connect, Social Updates, Baby Alert, Diaper Calculator, Weekly Baby Stats and Fetus Images, Pregnancy Journal, 55 free babysamples, and a special section for pregnancy contacts!
• JISHOP Software has released three JISHOP apps for iPhone and iPod touch users looking for reliable, accurate resources for Japanese-English translation. The applications are comprehensive, user-friendly tools for learning, quick reference, translation or research. JISHOP amalgamates the best of Japanese-English lexicography and introduces extensive, unique features found in no other dictionary of its kind.
• UpscaleRiver has released Buy or Trash 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users. The application is a shopping decision engine powered by a community of fellow shoppers. Users help each other decide on purchases by voting whether or not the products are a good buy. Features such as Facebook and Twitter integration, push notifications and website syncing make the app easy to use and immensely helpful to shoppers, especially when facing impulse purchases.
• Cris Moffitt Apps has released MediMinder 1.2 for iPhone and iPod touch users. The application provides a valuable tool for keeping track of medication details, along with doctor and pharmacy contact information. MediMinder can easily be used for patients wanting to check their next dose time or to quickly supply important, sometimes lifesaving facts to doctors, pharmacists and emergency personnel.
• Turtle Apps, LLC has released The Number Vault 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users. The application provides a secure environment for the storing of iPhone contact lists. A user’s information is password protected on a remote server, which can be easily accessed from any phone or computer for downloading to a new iPhone. The Number Vault’s one button syncing means a fast, easy experience for users, much less time and labor intensive than having to relocate people and information manually.
• Mobile software developer TalkingRockies and David Day, Utah’s premier hiking guide writer, have partnered to make it easier to ever to learn about Utah’s Incredible Backcountry in Zion, Bryce and Capitol Reef National Parks. This innovative new hiking guide combines detailed and useful information with the iPhone and social networking. Incredible Backcountry provides a simple and powerful checklist feature for every hiking challenge and season.
• SimpleComplexity Games has announced Lil’ Noah 1.0, their new children’s education Bible game for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Lil’ Noah is a great way to introduce children to the story of Noah’s Ark. This adventure leads the player through the Old Testament story of Noah and the building of the Ark. Help Lil’ Noah collect materials to build the Ark, collect the animals, survive the flood, and more. Accomplish each of these tasks by playing one of the four games.
• Just in time for the Academy Awards, E! Entertainment has relaunched their E! Online mobile application for the iPhone, iPod touch and Android phones with a full set of new interactive features deigned to give fans up close and personal access during the 2010 awards season. The E! Online mobile app will bring viewers unparalleled coverage from the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 7, as well as leading up to the big event and in the days that follow.
• World Cup Countdown is the official host nation iPhone application and counts down the days, minutes, hours and seconds until the kick off of the 2010 World Cup. As well as the timer feature, World Cup Countdown also acts as a digital photoframe displaying beautiful images of South Africa. Tapping on these reveals more information about the scenes you’ve been looking at or even shows you a video clip or plays an audio track. So visit the App Store today and download a copy now—it’s free!
• EMS Options, LLC today announces upgrades to all of the ICE4me family of applications that allows the patient to talk to the EMS providers, even when they are unconscious. These iPhone and iPod applications are built with both the needs of EMS responders and their patients in mind. smart-ICE apps provide fire and EMS with intuitively designed applications that allow quick access to critical medical information, as well as meeting all the needs of the patient.
• MultiEducator has introduced Auto Buyer 1.0, their new iPhone and iPod touch reference for anyone in the market to purchase a new car. Developed specifically to leverage the iPhone’s unique capabilities and touch interface, Auto Buyer brings together key information every car purchaser should have. Program: the official US government mileage calculations each car’s carbon footprint, and the percentage chance of each car’s ove. It also includes six key financial calculations.
• Weiner Family Studios has announced they are donating all proceeds from its well-received iPhone application, A Family Matters to a Chile relief fund this week. A Family Matters is an iPhone and iPod touch application that allows parents to enjoy deeper, more meaningful conversations with their children at the dinner table or on the go. The app covers common places you may engage in conversation or need to pass the time such as restaurants, waiting rooms or on long road trips.
• Code Line has announced Color Expert 1.1, their Color Wheel, an Image Palette and a Swatch Book for the iPhone and iPod touch. Color Expert puts the power of color into your hands. And its new, updated features and user-interface are sure to streamline your workflow and keep you productive, no matter where you are. It has your favorite color libraries including PANTONE solid coated, PANTONE solid uncoated, PANTONE Goe coated, PANTONE Goe uncoated, PANTONE(R) f + h cotton and PANTONE f + h paper.
• The New York Daily News, the most widely read newspaper in New York and the sixth most-widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States, has announced a new application that delivers the most sought-after content from the newspaper directly to mobile phones. The application is immediately available for iPhone, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile smartphone users to download for free.
• Runloop Ltd has announced Dunnit! 1.0.1, their simple, yet feature rich task management app for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Developed to break the To Do list mold, Dunnit! is the first non-game/entertainment app that integrates OpenFeint, and addresses common pitfalls found in other tasks management apps on the iPhone. All tasks are listed in one section so users are constantly aware of what needs doing.
• Art.com Inc., the world’s largest online retailer of quality wall art, has announced the introduction of two new social media applications designed to offer consumers unique ways to shop for and create wall art, including a free iPhone app that allows users to preview their art selections on the walls of their own homes, and a free Facebook app that can turn personal photos into professionally-framed masterpieces.
• Neatcall, a developer of mobile and web collaboration solutions, today launched a free iPhone scheduling and communication application. The unique mobile app for iPhone handsets, which can be downloaded from iTunes, allows users to find the optimal time slot for any interaction and to connect all users to the preferred communication tool.
• TickleSpace has released Deep Stuff - Facts and Quotes Pro for the iPhone and iPod touch. Deep Stuff - Facts and Quotes Pro provides a daily dose of interesting facts, quotes, famous birthdays and historical events with an elegant, simple and intuitive interface. Thousands of quotes and facts to surprise, amuse, inspire and share that little bit of wisdom. TickleSpace has chosen to abandon using ads in its apps until a solution that provides control over what ads are shown becomes available.
• MyWeather has announced MyWeather Lite 3.0 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. MyWeather Lite features push notifications for severe weather, animated radar and satellite maps, 12-hour temperature, precipitation and wind trend graphs, 7-day forecasts and current conditions for over 10,000 U.S. and International cities. The app combines stunning, high-quality animated radar with Microsoft Bing technology, letting users view weather conditions at any location around the country.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Genre: Hidden object game
Developer: Alawar Games
File Size: 55.6MB
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Requirements: iPhone 3.0 or later
Compatibility: iPhone or iPod touch
Age Rating: 4+
Retail Price: $3.99

The Treasures of Mystery Island (TMI) takes the find-the-hidden-object game and adds dimensions and difficulties. How much these add to the game is up for debate.

There’s a backstory, of course, in case you need a reason to hunt around for random objects hidden in cluttered backgrounds. You’re a pilot on a cargo plane which crashes, and beyond finding the objects to repair your plane, you have to get in touch with your company, help the local shaman with a ritual, and reach other objectives which are all oddly dependant on your ability to find the fish on top of the lampshade.

TMI makes the hunt more difficult, though, by breaking each object into pieces. So you’re not looking for a hat, you’re looking for a brim, a hat band, and two pieces of a top. Once you’ve found all the objects on a screen, you’ll unlock other sites on the map, some of which require you to use the objects you’ve found to complete the scene.

The art within the scenarios is very good, and of course the hidden objects blend in well—exceptionally well, considering they’re broken into pieces. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, there is a hint button which outlines the piece. The button has a status bar which refills over time.

Fans of object hunts will enjoy The Treasures of Mystery Island and perhaps find it a bit more challenging; you are, after all, given no idea what the pieces of the objects look like, only their general shape and color. If the structure and story of the game are odd, it doesn’t distract from the meat of the game.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 1, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• Divine Fiat has announced The Complete Set, their entire collection of high quality themes for Apple’s Keynote presentation software. All 14 themes are now available for 60% off the individual theme set price. This is a collection representing great variety and value. Every theme comes in both standard and Widescreen formats. Each theme also includes extras such as fully customizable icon objects, custom texture and color palates and video tutorials.
• SimpleLeap Software has released Cram 1.3.4, an update to its popular flashcard and multiple-choice testing study app for Mac OS X. Cram is perfect for students, teachers, or anyone else looking to prepare for any subject matter on their Mac with flashcards and practice multiple-choice tests. Cram features multiple study modes, and the ability to share test material with friends. Version 1.3.4 updates with new easy installer and minor bug fixes.
• Keynote Zone has announced KeynoteZone Collection 7. All the best of Keynote Zone themes are now available for special price. Keynote Zone Collection 7 includes seven HD version themes. Each theme comes in 5 sizes, and you get everything you need for standard resolution, classic format projection, HD Projection systems or HD screens. Keynote Zone is a developer of professionally designed ready-to-use themes for Apple’s Keynote application.
• Digital Heaven, one of the leading third party developers for Apple Pro Apps, has announced the addition of a product directory and other enhancements to FinalCutters, a website for the Final Cut Pro community. FinalCutters now features the first ever comprehensive directory of Final Cut Pro related products with over 900 software, hardware and system products from more than 250 companies. Registered users can become a fan of products, write short reviews and give 1 to 5 star ratings.
• Clickable Bliss has announced the release and immediate availability of ProfitTrain 2.0, a significant update to its easy to use Mac OS X invoicing application that now features built-in reporting, flexible invoice workflows, line item blueprints, multiple business support and more.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• 99Games has announced the release of Mystic Emporium for iPhone. The game follows the adventure of Lilly, an enchanting young witch, as she takes over Mystic Emporium to fulfill her life-long dream of running her own magic shop. Merscom had released the Windows and Mac versions of this game in May last year, which was a huge hit. The iPhone version of the game has several tweaks in the game play as well as major user interface enhancements to suit the platform. Mystic Emporium marks the entry of 99Games into the popular genre of Time Management games.
• Oscillatr Pro is a test tone oscillator that can produce tones within the audible field, from 20Hz to 20kHz. It features a revolutionary keypad consisting of 31 bands and 1/3 octave, which allows you to directly access frequency distribution, and supports various graphic equalizers. You can access to a wide range of audible fields. The application also contains functions that are suitable for searching characteristics of a room or howling spot, or tuning an instrument.
• Oceanhouse Media is celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday and NEA’s Read Across America Day by dropping all Dr. Seuss iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad apps to $0.99 each for one day only, Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Oceanhouse Media has a license from Dr. Seuss Enterprises to bring the entire line of classic children’s books to the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. So far, they have published six eBooks, games and activity apps. All are available on Apple’s App Store.
• Ivanovich Games has released iBumpy Galaxy 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users looking for a wildly engaging challenge. The iBumpy Galaxy app has a lot of cool and unique features that promise intense gameplay, awesome music and tons of addictive fun. To celebrate this launch, developers are offering the first planet with ten levels absolutely free, as well as a motivating promotion for the first 250 players to complete the first planet.
• Weynand Training International has released iKeysToGo: iPhoto 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users who utilize iLife’s iPhoto ‘09. Developed by Weynand Training International, an Apple Authorized Gold Level Training Center, iKeysToGo: iPhoto is like having a keyboard command cheat sheet on the iPhone or iPod touch. The application is thorough, listing 300 commands, keyboard shortcuts and definitions for iPhoto ‘09. The iKeysToGo app can drastically increase learning and operation speed.
• FLAG Solutions has released Thief Buster Antitheft Alarm 1.1 for iPhone and iPod touch users. Thief Buster is real anti-theft software, complete with biometric fingercoding, motion detection and volume blocking. It is the only application available that restarts itself if a would be thief tries to turn it off. The app is a very serious security measure against iPhone theft but still has the fun feel of a James Bond gadget.
• LuuX Software has released ShowerTime 1.0.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users interested in saving time and money while contributing to the preservation of natural resources. ShowerTime’s intelligent sound recognition feature automatically signals shower duration, while the app also calculates costs and projects cost and water savings. This means lower water and energy bills for users and fewer drains on the earth’s resources.
• A new update is available for Pang Mobile. Now Live in the App Store, users will be able to download and update their current version of the 80’s arcade classic, Pang! to include new controls (a wide range of new control options, including Accelerometer tilt control, a D pad, and left or right-handed control orientation) and challenges (directly challenge a friend to beat your Tour and Infinite mode high scores via Openfient).
• Independent developer Kyle T. Webster has announced White Lines 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. Designed for all ages, White Lines asks players to redraw lines that travel across the screen in the same order and direction in which they originally appeared. The game begins with randomly generated sequences of two lines. As players successfully complete 15 sequences, they advance to the next level, in which an additional line is added to each sequence.
• Rozgo has announced Grokion, the newly coined upcoming sci-fi side scroller for the iPhone and iPod touch. An iconic action-adventure game inspired by the dark explorations of Metroid and intense platforming of Mega Man. Entwining brilliant modern game-play mechanics, physics-based puzzles and pure old-school styling, it delivers a nostalgic yet progressive gaming experience.
• App City has announced Pocket Whip Unleashed 1.1 for iPhone and iPod touch. Pocket Whip Unleashed allows the user to record his or her own voice to interact with the whip. The user taps the record button and is prompted by a 3, 2, 1 beep countdown leader. This third version of Pocket Whip records and then automatically sequences the user’s voice alongside the built-in whipping sound effects.
• Broken Thumbs Apps has announced the release of Beer Toss 1.0, an addictive, easy-to-play casual game, where the player flicks as many consecutive beers to thirsty patrons as they can. Beer Toss features 4 unique beer-loving locations, a Beer Fridge that stores special trophy beers earned while playing the game, Open Feint achievements and leaderboards, as well as original graphics and sounds that create a lively ambiance for tossing beers.
• TapFactory Apps has announced WebToolbox 1.1, a new app for the iPhone and iPod touch that features over 70 tools for mobile Safari. WebToolbox is the largest collection of iPhone bookmark tools available. Some of the tools include find in page, with over 20 search tools for quickly searching sites such as Wikipedia, Google Images, Google News, Answers, Bing, AllMusic, Dictionary, Thesaurus, IMDB, Movie Times, Rotten Tomatoes, Bible Passages, and much more.
• CJApps has launched a brand new contest to promote the hit game Finger Maniac 1.1, available on the iPhone and iPod touch. In the latest update of the game, players are invited to try the 1Million point challenge. Between the dates of 3/1 and 5/1, players will be able to play this challenging mode and the first to reach 1 million points will win a brand new Apple iPad. Player will be given 90 seconds to type out as many 10-letter words as fast as they can.
• Everyday Giants LLC has announced the official release of iSpotSwap, the most intuitive community parking application available on the iPhone, allowing users in crowded areas to find and share available street parking.
• Atinco America has introduced World Traffic 1.0, their traffic control simulation game for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Players compete to see who can achieve the smoothest flow of traffic and fewest accidents on busy city streets. By skillfully controlling stop lights at intersections, players prevent traffic jams while accommodating school buses, emergency vehicles and cars. Streets are seen in overhead view, complete with buildings, lanes, lights and vehicles.
• Ave!Comics Production has announced the launch of its new web site and new iPhone application. With these two innovations, Ave!Comics Productions presents a totally new offer, never previously seen in the digital comics market. Access the store with 300 digital comics from major comic publishers from either ave-comics.com or the iPhone application. Discover Gaston, Lanfeust, Les Blondes and many more. More titles are added to the catalog every week.
• El Jimador Tequila, the authentic 100 percent real agave tequila, has announced the launch of its first iPhone application: 100% Party Planner. Designed by Draftfcb to accompany mobile adults through every step of planning a celebration, the free application is now available for download through Apple’s App Store, just use the search term el Jimador.
• dizm Entertainment has announced that their S.K.A.T.E. game is now available in Apple’s iTunes App Store. S.K.A.T.E. is dizm’s debut application for the iPhone, the first to incorporate professional skateboarder, Greg Lutzka, and features a customizable soundtrack by some of Skullcandy’s roster of established and emerging musical artists. The game of S.K.A.T.E. is essentially the skateboarding version of basketball’s H.O.R.S.E. game. In dizm’s version of S.K.A.T.E., players memorize the sequence of tricks done by Lutzka’s in-game character and repeat them by touching the illuminating buttons that correspond to each move.
• Pioneer Electronics, Inc. has unveiled a new line of 5.1 channel A/V receivers that deliver a dynamic music experience to the living room.  For the first time, the Pioneer VSX-520-K and VSX-820-K feature wireless Bluetooth transfer of audio content allowing users to enjoy their music directly from their Bluetooth-enabled device to their home theater system and are 3D Ready with the latest HDMI, version 1.4, providing more high definition connectivity options for the Blu-ray 3D specification. The VSX-820-K also features “Works with iPhone” certification, providing a seamless user experience for iPhone owners.
• iLuv Creative Technology has announced the iMM178 Vibe Plus, the next generation model from their Shake & Awake alarm clock dock series originally launched last year with the iMM153 . This Apple iPhone-certified new improved version features a sleek and slim black body design with a bed shaker that includes a speaker and volume control. iPhone and iPod users now have ten ways to wake up to their favorite music and this dock provides a 7 day - 5 day - 2 day alarm option for waking at a set time everyday, weekdays only or weekends.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Category: Stinger Table Hockey
Seller: Stinger Games
Requirements: iPhone OS 2.2 or later
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 10.6MB
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Price: $1.99
Age Rating: 4+

Before I begin this review, I should disclose that rod hockey is my favorite arcade style table game. You can keep your air hockey and foosball. Give me something that requires a little more skill, a little more finesse, but also doesn’t take up as much room as a pool or ping pong table. I’m the guy who has priced out basement finishing jobs just so I have an excuse to buy a rod hockey table and put it somewhere appropriate.

Or, maybe I can just play it on the iPhone, thanks to Stinger Table Hockey. As all of the iPhone air hockey sims were released, I kept thinking I’d love to see rod hockey, but had no idea how someone would be able to pull it off. For the most part, I think Stinger has. But first, here’s the game…

Rod hockey (also known as bubble or table hockey, obviously) places (usually) 3D plastic players on rods, which you move in their lanes by pulling the rods at the ends of the table. You can spin them by turning the rods in an attempt to shoot the puck into the net. In Stinger Table Hockey, you move the players up and down in their lanes by tapping the player (or lane) and dragging your thumb up and down. You spin them to pass the puck or shoot by swiping your thumb left and right.

It’s a fairly easy and intuitive method of control, allowing you to use two thumbs at once to control multiple players. Unfortunately, you end up with the traditional iPhone game problem in that your thumbs are often in the way of the action. You’ll be moving the puck without actually being able to see the puck.

Also, this method of control slows the game down quite a bit from its real world inspiration. Passes and shots take longer to set up and execute if you want to be accurate. As a result, I found myself having just as much fun relying on swift player movement to handle random shots. In a way, that makes it more like foosball and air hockey, but it works on the iPhone. The camera does a great job of following the puck action, and goals are followed by instant replays of the shot.

The graphics do a great job of recreating the hockey table experience; the players are a bit jagged, but the “ice” actually looks better than the real thing. Animation is pretty smooth, although it gets choppy when the action speeds up. The audio effects are a bit clunky, but they don’t harm the game at all. Special mention should be made of the soundtrack that doesn’t annoy by being overly aggressive or having too much “attitude.” They’re just good rock songs that fit quite well into the game.

Stinger Table Hockey is not licensed by the NHL, so you don’t get real teams. Rather than create fake names, however, Stinger allows you to customize the player jerseys so you can kind of set up your players with your team’s colors. Even better, 38 international team colors are already preconfigured, so you can select your nation by choosing its flag. Very cool. One historical team is included that Stinger says, is a “... MUST HAVE for all table/bubble hockey.” I’ll let you guess just who that could be.

The one drawback to real life rod hockey is that you absolutely need another player in order to have any fun with it, preferably someone at your skill level. On the iPhone, you can play the CPU. But Stinger knows the joy of the came comes from beating a human opponent, so you also get WiFi and Bluetooth multiplayer. OpenFeint is supported for achievement tracking. A tournament mode is also included, along with three skill games to help you ramp up your skills.

I absolutely love Stinger Table Hockey (Stinger…I wonder if the developer is a Blue Jackets fan). You could say I was bound to, considering how much I enjoy the real thing, but I actually thought it’d go the other way; I was nervous my expectations would be too high, setting up the iPhone version to fail. That’s not the case. Stinger Table Hockey is exactly what fans of the game will want it to be, and it’s a game that’ll remain on their iPhone or iPod touch for quite some time.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Category: Entertainment
Seller: Bite Interactive
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 0.9MB
Version Reviewed: 1.2
Price: $2.99
Age Rating: 4+

Do the Oscars really get you excited? It’s tne night where we finally recognize the people that entertain us on the silver screen, and don’t they deserve it? Probably not, but if you’ve seen all of the movies up for nomination from the past year, you likely want to share your opinion with the world. As the old saying goes, there’s an app for that: The Red Carpet app.

This app’s main appeal is not really your ability to rate movies you’ve seen over the past year. Sure, that’s the main purpose, but probably not the reason anyone is buying this app.  It’s all about the $1,000,000 they have on the line at the Oscars.  That’s right, if you’ve seen enough movies over the past year, or maybe if you’re just lucky enough to guess all of the official Oscar winners in all categories correctly, you could win a cool million.  Actually, it’s a $1M annuity paid over 50 years, which is worth significantly less than $1M.  And just to bring it down a bit, should more than one person predict all winners successfully, the winnings are split between all correct entries. You can find all of the official rules at Bite Interactive.  I’m going to continue, because you won’t win.  Sorry, but that’s the truth in all games of chance.

Beyond the “prize,” The Red Carpet is all about movie ratings.  You can choose how you’d like to sort your ratings by “Categories,” “Movies to Rate” and “All Nominated Movies.”  Categories will group the nominees based on, you guessed it, categories, like Actor in a Leading Role, Art Direction etc.  You can also choose to rate all movies at once, or just the ones you haven’t already rated.  Rating movies/nominees is simple, though it requires too many taps. First the sorting method, then the movie, then the rating button, then the rating field, then the actual rating. That’s at least 5 taps to rate your first movie. I call that bad app design. Anyway, you can do a number of things with this rating. You can simply let the app keep it for your later reference, you can share it on Twitter or Facebook and you can submit it to the contest to win some money.

The App also integrates with NetFlix in case you haven’t seen all of the movies that have been nominated for the Oscars this year.  This seems like a strange integration to me, but Bite Interactive must have had the code laying around somewhere.  I mean, why would you buy an app who’s sole purpose is to rate movies nominated for Oscars if you haven’t seen the large majority of them?  Oh right, you still think you’re going to win a million dollars and quit your job. Still, if you add your NetFlix account details, you can add movies to your queue.  Alternatively, you can attempt to find theatres showing the movies that have been nominated for the Oscars this year.  This is also a pointless addition to the app since nearly all of these movies from the last year are already out of theatres, if not already on DVD/Blu-Ray.  If you haven’t been frustrated by this whole process thus far, you can rotate your iDevice 90 degrees to get a YouTube preview of the movie in question.  This is a neat feature that’s executed well.  That’s one.

Overall, I’m disappointed by this app.  I don’t feel the need to share my movie ratings with anyone using Twitter or Facebook.  Perhaps you disagree with me, but ultimately, this app is not worth $3.  Maybe it’s worth $1, but really the price is just trying to pay for that annuity that no one is going to win.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for February 26, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• iTacet Software has released Cookie Platter 1.0, a Mac OS X application which automatically deletes all unwanted cookies and saves specific cookies based upon a user’s favorite websites. This innovative software can process cookies for multiple web browsers simultaneously and allows customization by browser, domain and type of cookie. Users can group all domains into their root domain, as well as the ability to preview the cookie’s website without opening a browser and more.
• Codewave Software Michael Descher has announced that MyTunesRSS has been successfully introduced at Jazz at Lincoln Center for digital music library sharing. MyTunesRSS was selected from the pool of music sharing tools because of its advantageous features and overall usability. MyTunesRSS is a Media Server that makes iTunes libraries or simple watch folders available on a local or corporate network, or even over the internet.
• Zevrix Solutions has announced BatchOutput Server 4.2.8, an update to its output workflow automation solution for Adobe InDesign. Originally developed for a major publisher in the U.S., the software automates InDesign output by processing files from hotfolders. BatchOutput Server offloads printing and exporting to PDF and PostScript to a central system leaving operator workstations free from the output process. The new version addresses an issue related to auto-updating of modified links.
• iSale users can benefit more than ever from their online social networks. Equinux has unveiled iSale 5.6, a free update for the Apple Design Award-winning eBay auction manager for Mac users. iSale 5.6 has been improved so users can invite Facebook friends to check out ongoing auctions. The new iSale 5.6 also takes into account recent changes to eBay, including new feature improvements and works twice as fast.
• Lightweight, friendly, thorough, and completely up-to-date, My MacBook is the must-have companion for every MacBook user. Long-time Mac expert John Ray walks MacBook users through every task they’ll need to perform—from connecting to networks and the Internet to finding entertainment on the go, troubleshooting problems to maintaining security. Every task is presented step-by-step, using carefully annotated, full-color screenshots, all numbered so there’s no chance of getting lost of confused.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• Awhato has released Is It Me?! 1.2 for iPhone and iPod Touch users. The application mirrors half the face in a photo to produce a new image. As each side of a person’s face is different, the resulting composite shows what a person would look like if both sides were identical. The finished product produces surprises and giggles and has people asking, “Is It Me?!” The app boasts an easy to use interface with touchscreen controls that only require finger gestures to rotate, move or size images.
• Limited Securities has released iCurrency Plus 1.0.1 for iPhone and iPod Touch users. The application tracks and evaluates currency exchange rates, as well as provides trends, graphs and a currency conversion calculator. iCurrency Plus is the only app on the market that can send push notifications of changes in currency rates. Changes in currencies, whether domestic or foreign, can affect profit, as well as affordability. It is the perfect example of Simplicity to the extreme.
• iPhonky has released Pidgey 1.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch users. Players must fly Pidgey all over town, feeding him tasty bugs and keeping him safe from Vinnie, the hungry vulture. The more insects ingested, the faster the pigeon goes, which is crucial to his safety. Extra points are awarded when Pidgey relieves himself on the cars and people below. This fun, simple game features cute characters and an easy gameplay that quickly becomes addictive.
• Independent software developer Steve Glinberg has announced the release of 123 Color by KidCalc, a companion app to his top ranked math learning game for iPhone and iPod touch. 123 Color is a coloring book with a unique twist: it teaches numbers, upper and lower case letters, shapes and colors in multiple languages as kids play! 123 Color engages and entertains children ages 2-10 with beautiful artwork, fun sound effects and rich music, while at the same time teaching crucial language skills.
• Game development studio Oniric Games has announced Crunchy Planets 1.0, an insanely addictive planet eating game for the iPhone and iPod touch. In Crunchy Planets you help Snackie, a crazy-looking space creature, eat as much planets as you can while avoiding obstacles and collecting power-ups. He just can’t have enough of them. Help Snackie dodge space junk and bullets, and guide him from a galaxy-sized bite to the next one.
• Art & Mobile has announced QuadCamera 2.30 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. One of the first Multi-Shoot iPhone camera apps, QuadCamera now can post animated gifs to Twitter. By using the QuadCam, you can take 4-8 sequential pictures with beautiful retro effects. Watching Twitter Animated Gif Stream is very fun and new way to share the fun motion in daily life. Now you don’t need video for sharing animation with your friends.
• Global Delight has released Camera Plus Pro v2.0 which features the ability to record high-quality videos on the iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS besides its host of photo capture, edit and sharing features makes it to be an all-in-one camera app. Being the first All-in-one camera app on the App Store, Camera Plus Pro does away with the need to keep multiple camera applications on the device for meeting various photography and video recording needs. With the new version, users can record high-quality videos on their iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS and upload videos to popular video sharing sites.
• OutOfTheBit has announced Vintage Drum 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Vintage Drum is a music app with the sounds of the most important electronic drums of the latest 30 years. Re-experience the feeling of the ‘70, ‘80 and ‘90. The sounds are sampled directly from the original Drum Machines and let you recreate the same rhythms of the electronic drums used by Prince, Sting, Run DMC, Phil Collins and many more.
• When seeking to advance in your career, being bright, conscientious, and ambitious simply may not be enough. Everyone faces significant competition whether it’s finding that first job, landing a supervisory position, getting promoted, and so on. Career or self marketing as some call it has never been more important, yet few people truly understand what it’s all about. Rising in Your Career removes the mystery.
• Independent developer Pere Orra has announced that Touch Cams 1.5 will be on sale this weekend, February 26th through 28th. Touch Cams, the Minority Report style interface webcams viewer, lets you freely distribute the cams on as many screens you may need. Touch Cams 1.5 now includes a built in database with more than 800 webcams from 58 countries and 404 cities fully categorized. Touch Cams has a integrated browser with google search that helps you find webcams.
• App developer Amy Miller has released Oy! 1.0 the first iPhone and iPod touch app that provides recorded exclamations of dismay for any occasion! The included Oy+ also lets users listen to 20 hilarious and authentic witticisms for many of life’s most common scenarios. Whether it’s being stuck in traffic, having in-law woes, or when contemplating kids these days, there are times when everyone just needs to say Oy!

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Wow, what a list this week. We saw quite a few quality apps drop on the App Store (and I’m not referring to Apple’s removal of risqué apps). I have a bunch of apps below for you to choose from, so I’m confident you’ll find at least one to download…

• Tune Runner - This game makes use of your own music library on your iDevice already. You play the game by tracing shapes onto the screen for obstacles to keep Groov-EE dancing.  I know, it sounds a bit strange.  Each song creates its own level and worldwide scoreboard, so I’m sure you can find some obscure track to be the world’s best at.
• NASA Lunar Electric Rover Simulator - When NASA makes an app, you include it on your list.  Or at least I felt the need to.  This app is supposed to simulate a rover on the moon as if we had a base there.  Not sure why they aren’t working harder to make this a reality, but at least there’s an app right? IDK.
• 3DPong Lite - What’s better than pong?  Probably nothing, but 3DPong is at least something different.  This game is actually pretty stylish, so I dig it, and I think you will too.  Well, as long as you like Pong, but who doesn’t like Pong?
• AmbiScience - Do you have trouble releasing tension or relaxing?  AmbiScience may be able to help you simmer down now with its seven long and seamlessly looped ambient sounds.  They claims that the kind of sounds this app produces have been “scientifically proven” to gently and naturally sync your mind.  I disagree with the term “scientifically proven” because as far as I’m aware, that’s not possible, but hey, it’s marketing mumbojumbo.
• VanillaSurf - This app wasn’t released this week, but it is pretty cool.  It’s an alternative to Apple’s own mobile Safari internet browser.  It actually has more features than Safari, including full screen browsing, tabs with support for offline viewing, downloads, bookmarks (import/export), homepage, multiple search engines, private browsing, text browsing and more.  This app is awesome, and it’s free, which is why I’m highlighting it now since I missed it the first time around.
• Tony Hawk’s Trick Tips Free - So ya wanna be a hipster with some skateboard skills huh?  This app will help you get started with the basics of flatland and ledge tricks, though it will not help you get up as fast after falling as a character on any Tony Hawk game.
• Imgur Free - This app is a free and easy way to upload images straight from your iPhone to imgur.com.  That is all.
• PaPaPaRoulette - I totally thought this app’s title was going to end with a pa pa pa poker face, but I blew that one. Anyway, this app is a really clean and cool looking roulette app.  Basically it helps you randomly pick any number from however many numbers you let it set up in a sleek and fancy roulette style way.
• AirMouse Free - Another week, another iPhone to Mac touchpad app.  This one is just like the rest.  It requires a server app to be running on your Mac or PC in order to be able to control the machine.  You can use it as a touchpad, a keyboard and even to get application notifications.  This kind of app is great for controlling a Mac connected to a TV if you don’t have an extra wireless keyboard and mouse.
• miniDRAW - Do vector based graphics mean anything to you?  If so, this is an app for you.  It is an app that allows you to create vector graphics on the go.  You have control over many aspects of your image including layers, opacity, colors etc.  The app does watermark your images, but it might be fun to play around with or to test out if you’re interested in the pay version.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for February 25, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• For those who manage their money on a Mac, Quicken Essentials for Mac is now available from Intuit Inc.  Built from the ground up with the look and feel Mac users expect from their products, QEM, as it’s known, provides a simple and easy way to handle the essentials of money management.
• For AppleTV users, there hasn’t been an easy way to get Boxee’s Beta loaded since they released it publicly at CES this year. They’re now reporting that a few users teamed up to resurrect the ATV-Usb creator and craft an updated solution specifically for the Boxee Beta. Even better; if you already have Boxee Alpha installed on your AppleTV, you should be able to just update Launcher and then update Boxee to install it, no new patchstick needed.
• iEntertainment Network has announced WarBirds’ Dogfights—the latest release in the successful WWII aerial combat WarBirds series. Single-player Dogfights presents player pilots with fast-flying combat contests across the embattled skies of Europe and the Pacific. Dogfights is filled with player choices. Players can choose among 100 historically accurate aircraft to battle an armada of incoming aircraft in thousands of unique combat mission combinations. With Dogfight’s dynamic game engine, no two air battles will ever be the same.!
• As Google prepared to open its Chrome Extensions Gallery in early December, iOpus Software was working behind the scenes, creating a virtual Swiss Army Knife for the streamlined browser: iMacros for Chrome. Now absolutely anyone can use this powerful, free software to automate the most common tasks performed within the Chrome browser. iMacros for Chrome is poised to become one of the top Chrome add-ons. For the past three years, iMacros has been wildly successful as a recommended add-on for the Firefox browser, with more than 4.7 million downloads and a growing gallery of scripts shared by end users.
• Algoriddim has announced djay 3.1, the latest version of its groundbreaking DJ software. The latest version of this next-generation music software for Mac provides improved Auto-BPM detection, Quantized Cue Points, extended Plug-and-Play support for MIDI Controllers, enhanced shortcuts for international keyboards, Auto-Saving, and other improvements to existing features.
• InfoLogic, Inc. has announced MathMagic Pro Edition 6.91, their award-winning professional level equation editing software for Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress for Mac OS X. With a focus on the equation quality and productivity for publishers, MathMagic Pro Editions come with InDesign Plug-ins and Quark XTensions to help InDesign & QuarkXPress users insert and edit math equations right inside their documents. Version 6.91 supports batch conversion of equations out of MS Word documents and more.
• iPresentee has extended the finest iWeb Intros collection to be used with Apple’s Web site building application. The iWeb Intros design uses short flash animations and sounds to give visitor a delightful first impression of the web site. iWeb Intros 3.0 adds five new welcome intros: Cityscape, Sunset, Highway, Nature and Factory. Each intro can stand alone as intro page for any website or can be incorporated into any iWeb template as a part of the page.
• ProteMac has announced ProteMac LoginTrap 1.0, a tool designed to prevent unauthorized usage of a Mac computer. ProteMac LoginTrap monitors all login events and detects whether a login attempt was successful or failed. After a login attempt was made the program captures an image from the iSight camera, so that you are able to see who is trying to break into your Mac. An alarm e-mail with iSight camera snapshot attached is sent immediately after a login attempt.
• The Escapers has announced Flux 2, an update to their flagship web design application for Mac OS X. Flux is an incredibly advanced WYSIWYG web design application, which uses drag and drop to create amazing websites, that aren’t just restricted to pre-set templates. The latest release of Flux 2 includes dedicated support for jQuery and MooTools. The Escapers have also produced a tutorial screencast on creating an animated menu using jQuery.
• ActyMac today announces ActyMac DutyWatch Remote 1.0 for Mac OS X, a distant computer monitoring application that can be used on iPhone/iPod touch. The program allows to monitor a specific computer or a group of computers within local network. A DutyWatch Remote user is able to check each employee’s activity and control their productivity at any time during the day, week or month even being far away from the office.
• Zevrix Solutions has announced File Courier 1.1.2, an update to its automatic digital delivery solution with emphasis on needs of graphics industry professionals. File Courier delivers files and folders to FTP and local destinations and sends automatic e-mail delivery notifications. The software can also create a lo-res version of PDF file, compress items and protect deliveries with password. The new update addresses some issues related to SMTP authentication.
• DEVONtechnologies, LLC has released the final, non-public-beta version 2.0 of all editions of its information manager DEVONthink as well as of the smart note-keeper DEVONnote. Version 2.0 of DEVONthink and DEVONnote brings an immense number of improvements over version 1.x and many enhancements over version 2.0 public beta. This release is the first of six major releases scheduled for 2010.
• Apparent Corporation has announced Barcode Producer 5.8, a minor update to its barcode generation software for Mac and PC. Built for graphic designers, Barcode Producer is Apparent’s award-winning, industry standard barcode creation suite for Mac OS X and Windows. Barcode Producer now offers support for ITF-14 barcodes as well as Light Margin Indicators for I2of5 barcodes.
• Zevrix Solutions has announced BatchOutput 3.6.4, a maintenance update to its popular professional solution to automate printing and exporting from Adobe InDesign. Developed originally for one of the largest Canadian ad agencies, BatchOutput offers output of multiple files as single pages, link auto-update, PDF preflighting, variable file names and other time-saving features. The new update addresses several issues related to PDF auto-preflighting.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• App Inspire, LLC, has released an all-in-one application for pet parents. This brand new, easy to use app is a directory of over 130,000 businesses catering to all aspects of pets and their care, as well as a source of user ratings and reviews. As animal lovers themselves, the developers are donating 5% of all profits to the American Humane Association.
• Onederr Inc. has released Social Fun Box 1.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch users who want to liven up their Facebook and Twitter posts. The application offers seven very cool, fancy features that bring life to otherwise boring text updates. Users can add symbols, icons and emoticons, as well as share their location, photos and original drawings. Users can now replace their boring text notes with bright, noticeable posts.
• Apps For All, LLC has announced Caregiver Apps 1.0, its latest health care application for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Caregiver Apps provides peer-recommended healthcare apps from the App Store based on user feedback, and allow caregivers to take a more proactive approach to those that they care for. These apps focus on areas such as healthcare for the elderly, general health questions, medication reminders and tracking, health records, health news, illness tracking, and first aid.
• When you gotta go, you gotta know: Where to Wee is an iPhone and iPod touch appication that uses your exact location to recommend the nearest and cleanest restrooms. The App was launched this fall and already has over 60,000 worldwide washrooms in its database, with more being added every day by Where to Wee users.
• AllStays has released iExit 1.2 for iPhone and iPod Touch users who travel on the interstate. iExit determines which direction a user is driving in then loads the upcoming exits, along with the user’s favorite places to stop. It offers an incredibly easy way of looking up interstate information, usually within ten seconds. Ideal for pinpointing rest and fuel stops, iExit has native GPS, mapping and offline use capabilities.
• California based Bowers Technologies, Inc. has announced that their best selling iPhone app, PrayerJournal, broke into the top 100 sales ranking on the iTunes store. As a result, they announced a discount sale on their most popular apps in celebration. iPastor is a valuable tool for pastors, ministers, missionaries, church staff, and even volunteers. TrackMyTime is a simple to use app that allows someone to accurately record time in order to better manage billable hours.
• Inner Ear Solutions has released iTinnitus Solutions 1.1 for iPhone and iPod Touch users suffering from tinnitus. It is a comprehensive package for tracking tinnitus and sound therapy. Using validated sound therapy techniques applied to dynamic tinnitus tracking, iTinnitus Solutions can improve the degree of perceived tinnitus. It helps users pinpoint the frequencies of their tinnitus. Once done, the frequencies can be tracked on a graph and emailed to a specialist or insurance company.
• Lovett Apps has announced Love Taps 1.02 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Love Taps promises to help users navigate those squirmy, tenuous, first few weeks of a new relationship, and assists users in not screwing up the beginning of a new relationship by over-texting, calling, and/or facebook stalking a potential love interest. The application tells the user whether it’s okay to contact their love interest right then, or whether the user should wait a little while longer.
• Punflay has announced Rafter 1.3 for iPhone and iPod touch. Rafter is an engaging game with blocks and spheres which have to be dropped with precision to strike a mine. Spread over 21 plus 20 challenging levels, it tests the user’s attention and skills to strike the mine as the timer ticks. The game has the scores tied with the number of moves made. The Physics based iPhone App has received some great reviews from top iPhone reviewers.
• Stas Olekhnovich has released HereYouAre 1.1 for iPhone and iPod touch. HereYouAre provides its users with an opportunity to share their locations using the latest Apple’s Push Notification technology. Once you know your friend’s username and codeword, you can add him to that list and ask him/her a simple digitally encoded question. There is no need to keep an application running, no need to use emails or SMS and open embedded Maps links.
• Super Happy Fun Fun has announced a free, lite version of their critically acclaimed Star*Burst game. See why the critics all agree that this is a truly unique and wonderfully addicting twist on the wildly popular puzzle genre. Designed by the original designer of Klax, Star*Burst’s rich heritage shines like the well-polished gem that it is. The Lite version features a sampling of the various levels and all of the quirky and beautiful collectible achievement cards as well as the ability to link to your Facebook account. Impress your friends that you have your priorities straight and know how to spend your leisure time.
• The Cleveland International Film Festival has announced the release of its free 34th Cleveland International Film Festival app for the iPhone and iPod touch. The free app allows film fans to browse all of the festival’s films by title, category, program, or day. Users can view film details, multiple images, and real-time, up-to-the-minute screening information as we as the trailer for this year’s festival.
• Art Beat Inc has announced NYArtBeat 1.0, their new cultural event finder app for iPhone and iPod touch devices. The new NYArtBeat application enables users to easily discover art and design events happening around them as they move through New York City. The Nearby Search feature helps users visit a series of nearby events in one outing. No need to plan museum and gallery visits from home anymore. The app gives instant access to more than 600 art and design events.
• Little Guy Games has announced an update that enables multiplayer via Bluetooth for their debut title Battle Blasters, a futuristic, 1-on-1 fighting game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The most-requested feature from fans and players allows fighters to have maximum control over the battle as they swipe, flick and tap their opponents to death. Also announced today is the release of a free demo for Battle Blasters, available now in the App Store.
• Opetopic has just reduced the price and released a huge update for IsoWords, the first word search game on a three dimensional cube! While IsoWords pays homage to many of the basic principles of the word search genre, Opetopic has made it their big, hairy, audacious goal to quite literally add some dimensions of their own (pun intended!). With additions like global leaderboards, 3 local multiplayer modes, and daily challenges, Opetopic is celebrating the update by bringing the price of IsoWords to $0.99 for a limited time on the iTunes App Store.
• You’ll need more than a bright idea and great code to compete in today’s App Store arena. The Business of iPhone App Development by Dave Woolridge and Michael Schneider shows you how to incorporate marketing and business saavy into the iPhone App development process, giving you the extra insight you need to set your app apart from the six-figure crowd.
• En Masse LLC has announced Skeemo, a addictive game for all puzzle lovers. In Skeemo, you have to make horizontal, vertical or diagonal rows of the same color by dragging pieces across the board and get points and power ups.
• Handmark has introduced Power Line Mobile, a novel application enabling readers to carry “the best of the conservative web” in their pockets. Named TIME magazine’s first-ever “Blog of the Year,” describing it as “a certain Ping-Pong, finish-each-other’s-sentences conversational chemistry” merrily covering the politics and culture of the day, is read from the halls of Congress to the newsrooms of New York to offices around the world. The site attracts more than three million readers per month. The new mobile application provides users with an instant, real-time access to Power Line content, as well as special connections to other conservative commentators. Readers can download the Power Line Mobile app, inviting their favorite writers into their lives, incorporating the ‘steam’ of news and thought into the everyday.
• Aha Radio has announced a new free iPhone App: Aha Radio. Aha Radio answers drivers’ important questions, such as “what is traffic like up ahead?” and entertains them with everything from Facebook updates to their favorite podcasts. With Aha Radio, the things you want to know while driving are read aloud and organized like pre-set radio stations, letting you listen in while keeping your eyes on the road. Aha Radio is the first iPhone App that creates on-demand audio stations based on your preferences, location and driving direction. The app is now available for free in the iTunes store.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Category: Arcade action
Seller: The Code Monkeys
Requirements: iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 8.0MB
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Price: $0.99
Age Rating: 4+

Here’s a game where you throw bananas at monkeys. The monkeys are on pedestals high above the jungle floor, or a body of water, or lava. I guess it’s not terribly important. What’s important is that there are monkeys throwing bananas at each other.

Is that enough to make a game entertaining? I suppose that depends upon how you feel about dodgeball. That’s pretty much what Manic Monkey Mayhem is, after all, although you’re on platforms like Discs of Tron. And you’re a monkey. Throwing bananas. But I think I’ve covered that.

The action is quite simple to grasp, but it takes the ability to multitask to really get good. You throw your bananas by swiping forward. You select your monkey target by swiping left and right. You dodge enemy bananas by tilting the phone.

The game becomes more complicated when you factor in distance. You can’t just swipe up and expect to hit the targeted monkey; you have to gauge his distance and swipe when the strength meter is at the right spot. It’s fairly forgiving, so you should quickly be able to learn when to make your attack. But looking at the gauge means you’re not looking at your opponents and any projectiles coming your way.

This is all fairly easy to do when you’ve just got one thing going on. Combine them, and it’s…well, manic. Some would even say it’s mayhem. And of course, things get harder. Power-ups appear in boxes you can smash open, but whether they help or just confuse the issue will depend upon how good you are at controlling the game.

But that won’t factor into my review. I never felt comfortable with the control scheme, but that’s not the scheme’s fault. For the most part, everything works as it should. The side swipes for aiming sometimes wouldn’t register, but throwing/catching wasn’t a problem, and the accelerometer was quite responsive (just make sure you calibrate before each game).

What will factor into the review is that there really just isn’t a whole lot to do here. There are multiple game modes to play, but they’re just variations on the theme (team battles, pass the bomb, etc.). The levels change up a bit as you progress, but not in a way that’ll keep you hooked.

The graphics are jagged, but colorful and attractive. The music is appropriate. The game is stable. Manic Monkey Mayhem is certainly worth 99 cents. But it’s not a game that’ll keep you up past your bedtime. Rather, it’s fun in short bursts. Play a couple rounds while waiting for something else to happen, then pick it up again later.

Of course, that’s the way it is with most iPhone games. Manic Monkey Mayhem is also available on WiiWare, and I’d like to try it out there at some point so I can see if the better Wii controls enhance the feel of the game. Until then, the iPhone version will have to suffice for my monkey banana slinging action.

Until I find an adult dodgeball league, anyway.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Provides: iPhone cradle with enhanced GPS reception
Developer: Magellan
Minimum Requirements: iPhone or iPod touch (2nd Generation or above) with Magellan RoadMate app
Price: $129.99
Availability: Now

If the accuracy (or lack thereof) of the iPhone’s built-in GPS receiver isn’t cutting it for you, you have basically two options to improve it; TomTom or Magellan.  Both function nearly identically. The main difference is that there’s only one Magellan version from which to pick for both iPhone and iPod touch. But how does it compare to TomTom’s car kit?

I think the first thing I should discuss is why you might need a GPS enhancing car cradle. Obviously, you need something to hold your iPhone in the car if you plan to use it as a GPS navigation device. You could just get a standard car cradle, like the ones from JustMobile. This would work just fine, but you might notice your position in an app like TomTom or Navigon tends to jump around from time to time. That’s because the iPhone doesn’t have the world’s best GPS receiver built in. It works fine most of the time, but it tends to fail when you really need it.

That’s where a GPS enhancing car kit comes in. It has a much more powerful GPS reciever built in, which amplifies GPS signals and passes them off to the iPhone. This should enhance GPS reception on all navigation apps, not just the maker’s app since it amplifies GPS signals instead of directly providing them to the iPhone. The iPod touch is another story. This actually needs a GPS receiver in it, so this needs to happen through the dock connection.

You might also enjoy the extra features provided by some of these cradles; features like a powered speaker so you can actually hear the directions, a speakerphone so you can talk on the phone without holding anything, and device charging since the iPhone’s battery drains like an open milk jug turned upside down when using GPS. Will a standard cradle work? Yes, but you paid for an iPhone, i’s monthly cell phone bill and a navigation app. Let’s face it, you like spending money. So let’s get to this review already…

You might be familiar with TomTom app and Magellan RoadMate app, you might just decide to buy into TomTom products.  Why?  Well, currently, TomTom has more features built in and on the way for their app.  Things like lane assistance.  I sat down with TomTom back in January at CES, and it seems as if they were very tuned in to what consumers want to see in their app.  Hopefully, this means they’ll continue to update it with features such as real time traffic data.  Magellan, on the other hand, just doesn’t have the features that their competition does.  There’s no lane assistance and no traffic data, with no announcements of any of these or other enhancements planned as of this writing.  That’s two points down.

Secondly, Magellan only has one car cradle for both the iPhone and iPod touch.  TomTom doesn’t include Bluetooth functionality with their iPod touch cradle since they assume you won’t be making any calls with it, which is reasonable.  Magellan would rather have just one kit, and I actually like this approach much better.  Just because you have an iPod touch now doesn’t mean you will never have an iPhone.  Or, what if you have an iPhone and another family member has an iPod touch?  Tough crap if you have the TomTom kit.

Magellan’s decision to support both devices with one unit is immediately apparent when you look at the cradle.  The top portion allows for height adjustments in order to support numerous devices.  This is great for iPhones in cases, and should also be safe when Apple changes the dimensions of a future iPhone, so that’s great.  What’s annoying is that the cradle also needs you to adjust a spacer on the back side since the iPhone is much fatter than its anorexic brother (also to support for iDevices in cases).  Getting your iDevice in and out of the cradle could be easier, but it’s not bad.  The iDevice is connected with the dock connector first, and then pivoted backwards into the cradle.  But once it’s in, it stays put pretty well.

The cradle attaches to your windshield with a suction cup.  Nothing surprising there.  The arm is very adjustable, and it pivots in 90 degree increments.  The only thing stopping you from spinning it around forever is the power cable.  This makes the whole show run by powering the speaker, the mic and keeping your iDevice charged.  Actually, if you just want to use the cradle as an expensive Bluetooth speakerphone, you can do this since your iPhone doesn’t need to be plugged in at all.

The speaker is definitely loud enough. You’ll be able to use the Magellan app and listen to music (through your car stereo) at the same time without worrying about not hearing directions.  Or, even better, use the line out to let your iPhone control nearly every aspect of your in car experience.  The speakerphone works pretty nicely as well.  It’s still a speakerphone, so you’ll have to speak up a bit, but it is noise canceling and definitely works better than some I’ve tried.  Plus, this is way safer than holding your iPhone to your head while you’re driving.

Now I should probably clarify one thing once again just to make sure.  Magellan advertises that this cradle works with most GPS navigation apps.  But to really get the full functionality of this cradle with an iPod touch, you’ll need the Magellan RoadMate app since it won’t pass a GPS signal to the iPod touch (2nd gen) without some code.  If you have an iPhone, this whole clarification is unnecessary because the GPS enhancement for the iPhone works for all navigation apps since it is merely enhancing the GPS signal, not completely providing it.

Overall, I really like the Magellan car kit.  It works just as well as the TomTom kit and is comparatively priced. Actually, I think this cradle is more worthwhile since it’s more flexible in what devices it supports, which always makes me happy. Even if you don’t have the RoadMate app, you might opt to buy the Magellan kit for its charger, speaker, speakerphone and enhanced GPS reception for the iPhone on any other app (yes, even Navigon).  Really the only gripe I have with the kit is that you need to have the Magellan app to make any use of it with an iPod touch. Magellan has a great piece of hardware here, all that’s left is to play feature catch up with TomTom and Navigon with their app.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »