Posts Tagged "iPhone"
Dec23

Dilbert Makes it to the iPhone

Posted at 12:38 AM • No Comments

Now you can get your favorite comic strip character on the iPhone! Dilbert Mobile is out now. It’s the official Dilbert iPhone app! Get immediate access your daily Dilbert comic as well as the 20+ year archive of the entire Dilbert collection – all from your iPhone.

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.

Nov24

FUCK YOUR SMaRTpHONe

Posted at 8:48 PM • No Comments

Caught this very creative image just a few minutes ago over at One+Infinity. If you have all the right apps and align them up properly, you can have a lot of fun!

fuck your smartphone

Nov18

Use The Force, Luke

Posted at 5:46 PM • 3 Comments

So, back in October I posted that Star Wars: Trench Run was coming out. I received a comment stating that “Not sure that this is true” and I I got a few replies to my tweets about the post saying the same thing (I don’t recall if it was the same person or not). Guess what folks, Monday Apple approved & released THQ Wireless’ STAR WARS: TRENCH RUN (App Store link). I was right. HA HA!

swtr1

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.

Nov11

iPhone Location Games

Posted at 9:17 PM • 4 Comments

I’ve come across two iPhone apps that people say are fun to have, play, and use. First, I found Gowalla (App Store link). Nice interface. Interesting GPS-based location game. You start off with a blank passport. You go to different locations (they call them ‘spots’) and check in. When you check in, you get a stamp for the spot. You can also pick up items or drop items at the spot for others to get. If you come across a new spot that no one has been to before, you can easily enter the location’s info into the app to create the new spot for Gowalla. If you drop an item in that new spot, you become the founder. You start of with five objects. Unfortunately for me, don’t live in a major city so I’ve had to drop all of items to become the founder of new spots. Not too big of a deal. I don’t think I’ll have a large collection of items until for a while. One nice thing, Gowalla will surprise you sometimes with giving you an item when you check into spots sometimes.

Gowalla

As for the finding ability of Gowalla, it uses the GPS on the iPhone and it works SPOT ON. No issues. If you make a mistake, you can edit the spot’s name, actual location on the map, category, and check-in radius. As far as I can tell, it’s for the web site only. There are multiple spots set up close together called trips. You can complete trips by going to each of the trip’s spots. You can also create trips for others to complete.

One last note about Gowalla: Do not get discourage if you drop all of your items if you live in an area where there aren’t many Gowalla users. You’ll find more when you check into spots. Trust me.

Next, is foursquare (App Store link). It seems to be popular in some major cities worldwide. It works similar to Gowalla in that you go to different locations and check into them. Instead of getting stamps in a passport, you can get badges and earn points for different things you do, like go to a new spot, bringing friends with you, and traveling some distance.

foursqure

I’ve played with the app for a few days and have be very disappointed. Since I don’t live in a big city that’s supported by foursquare, I’ve had to create new locations. After doing so a few times, I’ve discovered that this app is not GPS based, but based off of addresses from Google Maps. So my new locations are way off from their actual location because foursquare does not use GPS to pinpoint my iPhone’s location. Even if you do edit the address of a created location, it still won’t be right due to Google Maps. I’ve tested this on the iPhone and on the Google Maps web site. The problem is with Google Maps. foursquare tweeted me after I tweeted with what I’ve found and they were quick to blame the iPhone’s GPS for the errors. They said “Phone GPS can be wonky sometimes… esp when deep indoors.” That might be true IF I was indoors, but I was outside. I WAS OUTSIDE. Now this might work great if you live in a major city, but I don’t. I live in the suburbs.

If foursquare ever changes how their app finds location then I’ll give it another try, but my clear favorite is Gowalla. Both apps are free, so it doesn’t cost you anything to give them a try and see for yourself.

Nov3

Chorus

Posted at 7:21 PM • 2 Comments

This is be a brief commentary on my first impressions of the app. Not much of a review. I still need to play with the app some more.

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.

chorus

Why do I find this a missing feature? Because I keep Twitter and Facebook separate, besides a few friends that are on both sites. This basic functionality should have been present upon release of the app. I’ve been talking to their support (@ChorusSupport) and they have said “But I did just confirm that we’re working on an easier way to add photos as I write this.” And they agree with me that this should have been there. How did I spot this? I do QA at work on programs and applications all of the time. This is basic end-user functionality/design. Simple as that.

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.

Oct27

Apple Fan Fires Back

Posted at 9:17 PM • No Comments

iDon’t need vague information
iDon’t need scare tactics
iDon’t need to imitate
iDon’t need a droid…unless it’s R2D2
iDon’t have a problem with iTunes
iDon’t buy brands who bash other brands

Video from DroidDont on YouTube. Nice job!

Oct27

Zombie Bikini Babes

Posted at 8:16 PM • One Comment

I love zombie movies. I also love Marina Orlova, known to millions of fans around the world as a sexy master of language from HotForWords.com. She has two degrees in philology (the study of linguistics and origins of words), her own book out, and now a iPhone app featuring her! This app is Attack of Zombie Bikini Babes from Outer Space from Smort (the “evil twin” of Smule, who brought you Sonic Light, Sonic Boom, Ocarina, Leaf Trombone and others).

attack-bikini-babes-big

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!

Oct27

How To Get FREE iPhone Apps

Posted at 6:29 PM • One Comment

OK. Not every app will be free, but they could also be at a discounted price. Still, it’s better than paying full price for an iPhone app if you don’t want to do so. Just keep reading.

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?

Oct24

Star Wars: Trench Run on the iPhone

Posted at 6:00 PM • 4 Comments

Yes, I love Star Trek, but I also love Star Wars and a new iPhone Star Wars iPhone game is coming to us fans & iPhone/iPod Touch owners. Star Wars: Trench Run. Developed by Infrared5 and distributed by THQ Wireless Inc., you can fly through the trench of the Death Star just like Luke Skywalker from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and get the chance to blow the sucker up. Check here for a video of the game play.

trenchrun_img

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:

  • Force Power: Slow down time and increase agility using the Force to bring TIE fighters into shooting range, and to dodge obstacles while flying down the trench.
  • Breathtaking 3D Experience: Incredible 3-D graphics based on the original Star Wars movie.
  • Amazing Special Effects: Vivid lighting, advanced shaders, explosions and incredible lifelike models.
  • Authentic Star Wars Music and Sound Effects: Combined with real movie footage for complete immersion into the Star Wars universe.
  • True-Life Flight: Accelerometer controls with life-like physics.
  • Addictive Game Play: Ever increasing challenges, and tons of replay value.
  • Multiple Points of View: Featuring both chase cam and cockpit modes.
  • Mission Mode: With storyboards, music and dialogue from the original Star Wars movie.
  • Arcade Modes: For increased re-playability, includes both Trench Run and Dog Fighting modes.
  • Multiple Difficulty Levels: From Easy to Jedi.
  • Optimized Gaming Experience: To work on the 3G, with special graphical features for the 3GS, iPod Touch 2nd Gen and future devices.
  • Leader Boards: Players compete against others across the world for the top spot. Find out who are the true Jedi.

    • Oct21

    Earthworm Jim

    Posted at 4:08 PM • No Comments

    I loved this game from the 1990s! It was on some SEGA system I had access to back then and I fell in love with it after the first time I played it. I eventually found it for the PC and played it like a mad man. Today, Gameloft has released Earthworm Jim for the iPhone. You can find it in the App Store for $4.99. Here’s a quick review of it; once you master the controls on the iPhone/iPod Touch, it’s just like it the old games on the various game consoles & PC versions. If you like Earthworm Jim, GET THIS GAME!

    Play as the grooviest earthworm in the galaxy, and explore a crazy universe that offers huge gameplay possibilities:

  • Run, gun, swing from hooks with your head, launch cows, bungee jump,
    rocket through speed levels and more!
  • Face 12 types of enemies and 9 bosses!
  • 4 different styles of gameplay: Side-scrolling run & gun, space racing,
    bungee jumping and underwater levels!
  • 10 original environments divided into 16 levels!
  • 4 levels of difficulty – including the challenging mode of the original game!
  • The re-mastered cult soundtrack!
  • iPod library access to play your favorite tracks while playing the game!

    • 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.

    GROOOOOOOOOOVY!

    ewj1