It’s been almost 2 weeks now since a Gowalla user posted about an issue on their support site at GetSatisfaction.com about the lack of bonus items dropping when checking into spots. Since that first post, Gowalla marked it as “Not a problem” yet more and more people are adding replies to the post about having the exact same issue, including me. The issue has quickly been labeled as the “Item Drought”.

I stumbled upon Gowalla back in the late summer/early fall of 2009 and quickly got addicted to it. I used it all the time, creating new spots in my spotless area and got others to start using the app. I was in love with Gowalla. I loved the fact that it had items to find and collect and I got addicted to finding the new bonus items. Then all of the sudden no bonus items were appearing.

Gowalla users have been getting quite upset and frustrated due to the lack of response from Gowalla until yesterday when a Gowalla employee finally responded. Some users where relieved that Gowalla had finally said something, although for some what was said didn’t make much sense. And with 2 new updates released this week for the iPhone, the issue was still there. I, for one, was hoping that the new updates would fix the issue. Sadly, I was disappointed that they had not. The issue isn’t related to the iPhone app alone, Android and Palm users are also experiencing this problem.

Last week Gowalla tweeted that the “item drought was over”, but it wasn’t and that tweet was eventually deleted when users continued to inform Gowalla that it wasn’t.

With the world’s attention now on SXSW (South By South West), thousands of people have flocked to Austin, Texas to partake in the interactive, film, and music parts of the conference that started today, including Gowalla. A lot of their recent changes where in preparation for SXSW, like the redesigned web site and smartphone apps. They quickly got a semi-working Android version and a WebOS (Palm) version recently to add to their original iPhone app.

One thing that has pissed off a few more Gowalla users is that a Gowalla employee said that we should have “Patience while we work (really hard) on your free app, please!” I was a bit ticked at that comment as were a few others that stated if it wasn’t for all of us Gowalla users that their app would be nothing without all of the data that we’ve been supplying them.

Some users are starting to believe that the issue has continued due to a glitch on Monday when many spots suddenly disappeared. Spots that did not go missing seem to be dropping items, while spots that went missing and new spots are not dropping any bonus items. I plan on testing this out, if possible.

So far, it seems no one at SXSW are having issues with finding the new items that are only at SXSW. Gowalla did release four new bonus items for everyone last night, but how can we find them when there are no bonus items dropping for many people? That is what is pissing me off. I’m no longer interested in using Gowalla, as are other users. Without the bonus items, Gowalla is just like Loopt, Brightkite, and Foursquare, and other users are saying the same thing. They’re removing Gowalla from their iPhone’s first home screen or deleting the app altogether until the issue is resolved. Some users think that we won’t see anything fixed until SXSW Interactive is over and for some Gowalla addicts that is too long of a wait. And I’m trying to wait and be patient. ARGH…

The Empty Pack: 20+ Check-ins, 13 days, ZERO bonus items thread at GetSatisfaction.com/Gowalla.

You can customize your SPORE Creature with over 45 unique body parts like legs, mouths, shells, and wings, plus different skins, shapes, and colors. EA Mobile says there’s over a billion possible combinations within the SPORE Creature Creator. Plus there are 20 levels across 4 different sprawling zones: Sandy Shores, Barren Desert, Dark Forest, and Icy Mountains. You will need to avoid snapping, carnivours plants, shooting urchins and more while trying to solve puzzles to complete each level. And like SPORE Origins, you will need to collect DNA to evolve. There are 5 abilities to max out to build your survival skill-set.

You can get SPORE Creatures at the App Store for $6.99.

Dilbert Mobile features a random button (called “Random Comic”) that will flash you back to hilarious Dilbert comics from the past. You can also pick the date of the comic in Calendar View or by week with Weekly View. Even select your favorites. No matter where you are you can always get your Dilbert fix.

This app is a must for any Dilbert fan. Pick up Dilbert Mobile for $3.99 at the App Store.

I was reluctant to buy the $4.99 game, but eventually succumbed to the Dark Side. For a Star Wars fan, the game is a must. Taken from the old 1980′s version of the Star Wars arcade game, Star Wars: Trench Run is just you, playing as Luke Skywalker in his X-wing fighter during the Battle for Yavin 4 (the last battle during Star Wars: A New Hope [Episode IV]), you dogfight with TIE Fighters and do the trench run (hence the name of this game) in an attempt to destroy the Death Star.

You use the iPhone’s accelerometer to control the flight of your X-wing in the game. It takes a little bit to get used to, but once you do you’ll enjoy the game. There are four parts to the screen, divided into 4 quadrants: change view (chase cam/cockpit views), pause, slow (using the Force), and fire weapon.

There are 2 modes of gameplay: Mission and Arcade. The Mission mode you must complete each mission before you can advance to the next step of the game to eventually when you get the chance to blow up the Death Star, complete with clips from the movie. In Arcade mode, you pick either doing the trench run or dogfighting the TIE Fighters. You must clear several distances or waves of TIE Fighters to see how far you can go. And there are also different levels of difficulty to play. I’ve had the game for about 24 hours and played it several times and it does get harder and harder.

Star Wars: Trench Run is definitely a good and fun game to get and a must for any Star Wars fan. It has great game play and great graphics. It’s only $4.99 so pick it up from the App Store.

Original crashing squirrel photo

First, I found Squirrelizer from iavian.com. You can score it for $0.99 from the App Store. Squirrelizer is pretty plain looking, but don’t let that fool you. You can choose if you want to use a photo from your library or take a new photo with the camera. With which ever one you pick, you’re taken to a screen where you can move or resize the squirrel. It’s a little tricky to place and resize the squirrel, but once you get the hang of it, it’s easy. Once you have the squirrel where you like it, just click the Save button and the new photo is saved to your Camera Roll. You can also have the app send the photo to your Twitter account. The app tweets text that you enter and uploads the photo to TwitPic.

Squirrelizer

The one thing I don’t like about Squirrelizer is that it puts a black border at the bottom and top of the photo. Other than that, it’s a great app. I hope that the developer changes this.

Next we have Crasher Squirrel by United Playcos. It’s also in the App Store for $0.99. The design of the app is definitely fancier than Squirrelizer and the user interface is more like other iPhone apps. With Crasher Squirrel you can zoom and pan the image, move and resize the squirrel, erase parts of the squirrel, and unerase parts that you’ve erased. The app also sends photos to Twitter, again just like Squirrelizer.

Crasher Squirrel

Unlike the previous app, Crasher Squirrel does not add any kind of black border to the photo, which I really like. Also, Crasher Squirrel uses a different squirrel than the one from the original squirrel from the photo above. Where did this squirrel come from? Why did United Playcos use a different squirrel? Did you notice? Find a larger version of the original photo and check for yourself (HINT – use Google to do a image search).

Overall, both apps are very similar, besides a few minor differences. Both are $0.99 from the App Store. If you’re lucky, you might be able to score one or both of them for free. Both developers have put their apps on sale for free. The best place to check for when they go on sale is mentioned here in a previous post.

Final thoughts… I like the original squirrel from Squirrelizer better, even with the black border at the top & bottom of the photos. iavian, please change that. If you want to be a little bit more creative, check out Crasher Squirrel.

I’ve had some time to play with this new app for the iPhone and it seems pretty nice. It recommends apps to and from people you follow on Twitter and/or friends on Facebook. Instead of just one app doing it for itself, Chorus does it for every iPhone app out there. The app uses those two social media sites to find you apps and recommend apps to your friends. It’s great idea.

I found one thing lacking (as of now) in Chorus and that is it will only pull a picture/avatar from Facebook. Why the developer, envIO Networks, left the basic functionality to import a picture directly from the iPhone or be able to log into their web site and manage your profile I have no idea.

You may not see this as an issue, but I do and hope that this is corrected soon.

If you want to check this free app out, get it here at the App Store.

There is a lite version for free and the full version of the game for $0.99. I opted for the full version since I trusted Smort (aka Smule) on the quality of their apps. I played a few times and the game is very fun, but your thumbs will eventually get tired. You might need to play a practice game or two until you figure out how to aim the dual slingshots at the incoming army of Zombie Bikini Babes from Outer Space that look like Marina. Although I do prefer to use guns while fighting zombies, this is what you got to start with since you play as a hillbilly (you’ll see when the game starts up).

You score points for killing the zombies and points to buy more weapons and upgrade them. You can upgrade your dual slingshots to better ones that fire faster. You can also get small, furry animals to slow the zombies down with. And if that doesn’t help, you can throw Molotov cocktails (and dynamite from upgrading) at them too. The blonde zombies walk at you, the red headed ones run at you, and the brunette ones take more hits to go down. Beware the large brunette ones though, they’re even harder to take down!

Of course the game has the spinning globe like Smule’s other apps that shows the scores of other people that are playing the game around the world. A nice touch to the game is the soundtrack and Smort recommends that you have the volume all of the way up. In the globe view you can hear people (pre-recorded from the soundtrack) talking over radios about the alien zombie invasion. While fighting off the zombies, you can hear Marina’s catchphrases in the background. Every third wave (I think) you have an option from the main menu to make the zombies dance. They’ll stop and start dancing to the soundtrack, giving you time to knock them out until they start coming at you again.

You can find her little video trailer on her site or the full trailer on YouTube. Again, there is a lite version for free and the full version of the game for $0.99.

Enjoy killing those zombies!

I have tried out a few of the apps that let you mark them to watch for when they drop in price like AppSniper and AppMiner, but they only work if you go into them constantly. Don’t pay those types of iPhone apps anymore! I’ve found that waiting for a specific Twitter users to tweet a promo code and then try to race to copy it and paste it into the Redeem box in iTunes is a losing battle. I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to score a promo code that way only to see that the promo code has already been used. ARGH! That is very aggravating! Forget both of those useless and futile ways!

Go to AppShopper.com, register on the site, and start browsing for apps! When you find an app that you want, but don’t want to pay the full price for it, look for the two checkboxes underneath the price of the app; Own It and Want It. Simply put a check in the Want It box. Then just wait for the app developer to lower the price of the app and you’ll get an email in your Inbox saying that the price of the app was lowered. HOW EASY IS THAT? When you do get that email, follow one of the two links in your email (one takes you to the app’s page on AppShopper.com and the other will take you directly to the app’s iTune page), click on Buy Now button, and you’re whisked over to the app’s page in iTunes to actually buy the app (like said previously, the second link will take you directly to the iTune page). Make sure that the app’s price in iTunes shows the change. A few times I’ve caught iTunes still having the full price. Sometimes AppShopper.com isn’t up to date with iTunes. The app developer can make sudden changes or do so by mistake. So be sure to check the price in iTunes before you buy the app!

Also, check the Own It box for apps that you have. You can view all the apps that you own, as long as you check the Own It box, from the orange My Apps tab at the top of the site. You can also click on the purple Wish List tab and browse the list of apps that you’ve marked that you want. If you find an app that you bought that’s on your Wish List, just check the Bought It checkbox and the app is automatically moved to your My Apps list. SO EASY! A good thing to do, if you can, is to visit the site on a regular basis and see all of the apps that are out there. You can browse all of the apps, only the apps that have been updated with a new version, only apps that have price changes, or just the new apps.

I’ve found that AppShopper.com is a great asset to any iPhone app addict! You can even use the site from Mobile Safari on your iPhone! How great is that?

Star Wars: Trench Run will be available at the iTunes store for $4.99. See below for a list of features of the iPhone / iPod Touch version:

Follow Gameloft and the Earthworm Jim game on Twitter and you might be able to score a promo code for it! If I had some promo codes, I’d love to give them out, but alas I do not.