17 Aug
This week we have two retro-themed games for your enjoyment. First up is Duck Hunt, which was one of the first games developed and published by Nintendo. It was released in 1984 as both an arcade and console game, and was one of the original titles that shipped with the Nintendo Entertainment System (better known as the NES). In Duck Hunt, players attempt to shoot down ducks in mid-flight. Throughout the game, the player is accompanied by a nameless dog that laughs at the player if no duck is hit, and congratulates the player if a duck is hit. It’s not quite as easy as it looks, and using your finger with the iPhone’s touch screen brings a new twist to this old game.
Next up is Carmadillio, an iPhone update of the classic game Frogger from mynumo.com. Instead of a frog however, in Carmadillo you’re an armadillo–who not only has to avoid cars, trucks, and motorcycles but snakes, wolves and obstacles as well. Just so you know, Carmadillo was created specifically for the iPhone and makes full use of the iPhone’s landscape screen.
Check them both out using the links below.
Duck Hunt (link for iPhone and desktop browsers)
Carmadillio (link for iPhone and desktop browsers)
Filed under: Games
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16 Aug
Crossroad Solutions, a small web development team based in India, has come up with an amazing web-based outliner, LooseStitch, that allows you to easily create and share outliner documents. LooseStitch has recently been adapted for the iPhone, allowing you to outline on the run.
LooseStitch can be used to create outlines for any purpose, including note taking, brainstorming, todo/task lists, project management, paper writing, and presentation notes. Outlines can be created and modified both on the desktop and iPhone. One of LooseStitch’s nicest features is the ability to share your outline with others to collaborate on a project.
Shashwat Parhi, the lead developer, sums up his software best:
“The idea behind LooseStitch is very simple. We wanted to build a “web-based outliner that makes it super easy to work on your own or with others, to bring in your existing work, and to share your ideas and documents with others when you are done.” The iPhone lets you carry the Internet in your pocket. With LooseStitch, even your ideas go for the ride.”
LooseStitch is completely free to use, though the author states that donations are welcome. There is a quick tour of LooseStitch available if you want to find out more. You can access LooseStitch directly using the link below.
LooseStitch (link for iPhone or desktop browser)
Filed under: Productivity
14 Aug
Skype, a peer-to-peer Internet telephony network, has for years provided free and low-cost voice and text communications to its users. Now Shape Services has brought their IM+ for Skype client to the iPhone through a new web service. IM+ for Skype for the iPhone allows you to place VOIP calls to Skype users around the world, as well as any landline and mobile phone, using the SkypeOut service*. Though it’s not free, it sure is a lot cheaper that at&t’s international rates.
In addition, you can check to see if other Skype users are online (to see if they are ready to receive a call) or text them for free using the integrated messaging client. IM+ for Skype was designed especially for iPhone’s touch screen and is intended to complement the iPhone interface. The current beta of the software is free for a limited time, so check it out below and let us know how it goes.
IM+ for Skype for the iPhone (information page)
IM+ for Skype for the iPhone (application link for iPhone only)
*Note–please be aware that although Shape Service’s IM+ for Skype client uses the Skype API, it is not a product of Skype (who provides the SkypeOut service).
Filed under: Communications
10 Aug
If you’ve ever fumbled your way through a foreign language phrasebook during your travels (not to mention butchering a word’s pronunciation!), then you will undoubtedly appreciate the iPhone Translator from coolgorilla.com. Sponsored by lastminute.com, the free translator provides talking phase books in five languages: French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
For each language, you can choose from a number of categories such as “Essentials,” “Food & Drink,” and “Shopping.” Clicking on any category brings up a selection of words or phases for you to choose from. Selecting the phrase gives you the English and foreign language translation along with the spoken words to provide you with the correct pronunciation.
This nifty tool should make international travel a lot more convenient. We just hope that at&t can start to provide more reasonable international roaming rates to make this great application even more useful abroad. Check it out at the link below.
iPhone Translator (Link for iPhone or desktop browser)
Filed under: Travel
8 Aug
News reports in recent days have let us know that on-time performance for U.S. airlines is at an all-time low. While your iPhone can’t make the planes run on time, a new application from Honeymoonforless.com makes it easier to find out if there are delays at any airport on your itinerary.
The airport delay site, currently in beta, lets you select an airport from a dropdown menu or by the airport’s three letter code. Clicking on “View Airport Status” provides you with information on delays by destination, as well as general departure and arrival delays. It just might give you a few extra minutes to pack your bags…
Airport Delays (Link for iPhone or desktop browser)
Filed under: Travel
6 Aug
If you want to view Word or PDF documents on the iPhone, the easiest way so far has been to email the documents to yourself and open them as attachments. Now, Ukrainian developer Igor Zhadanov brings us a more elegant solution with Readdle. Readdle.com is a service for reading books and other electronic documents on your iPhone. Formats supported include Microsoft Word and Excel files, text and RTF documents, PDF’s, GIF and JPEG images, and HTML pages.
Users upload documents they want to view from a desktop computer to their free Readdle account, which provides up to 50MB of storage space. Documents uploaded can be divided into custom categories, allowing you to create a private “bookshelf.”
On the iPhone itself, Readdle features a native interface to navigate and view your documents on readdle.com. In addition, even if you aren’t interested in creating an account, Readdle offers a public bookshelf with a collection of classic eBooks that is accessible to anyone–though the fonts are a little hard to read. Best of all, once you’ve loaded a book or document, there’s no need for an internet connection (cellular or WiFi) later.
We think that Readdle deserves a spot on your iPhone’s bookmark bookshelf. Check it out at the link below.
Readdle.com (link for iPhone or desktop browser)
Filed under: Productivity
30 Jul
We’ve left the hardcore modding scene thus far to our friends at hackingt0sh and ModMyiPhone. However, the new user-friendly application iFuntastic for Intel Mac users makes customizing your iPhone almost as easy as making toast.
iFuntastic gives you some of the capabilities that iPhone users have been clamoring for, including the ability to add their own ringtones and replace the carrier logo from AT&T to something more of your liking. In addition, the software allows you to rearrange the application icons on the home screen–and even hide icons from view and access. The current version of iFuntastic even adds support for .m4p song file formats to your iPhone.
The developers hope to provide future support for PPC Macs with a universal binary in the near future. This is a great step forward for being able to enjoy your iPhone “your way.” We can only hope this means that true third-party application support can’t be too far away.
iFuntastic (at iPhoneAlley)
Filed under: Utilities
27 Jul
This Friday’s feature is a high-quality blackjack game from myNuMo.com. If you’re a blackjack fan, then there is much to like in myNuMo’s Blackjack adaption. The visuals are top quality and the game make full use of the iPhone’s touch screen. We were impressed at the smooth and responsive game play.
You start with a balance of $500 and bets can be increased or decreased in increments of $5 using the BID + and - buttons. Once you deal a hand, you can hit, stand or double your bet. Blackjack also gives you the option to split a pair of cards of the same value, as well as buy insurance if the dealer is holding an ace as the face-up card. If you’re looking for a great way to kill time or get ready for a trip to Vegas, we’re sure you’ll give Blackjack an easy “21.”
Blackjack (Link for iPhone or desktop browser)
Filed under: Games
26 Jul
If you’re a busy person (or even if you’re not), it’s sometimes hard to keep track of when your favorite shows are on television. If you’re in that boat then TV Forecast has come to your rescue. TV Forecast from bigbucketblog.com is a unique web application that allows you to create a customized TV guide right on your iPhone. All of your favorite shows are listed along with the next date and time they’re on using data from TV.com.
To use TV forecast, simply click on “Add” to search for a show title or name, then click on the plus icon to add it to your list. Similarly, “Delete” lets your remove shows from your list. Clicking on “List” brings you back to your guide.
As you can see from the example above, TV Forecast is sleek and informative–even listing season premieres over two months out. Another great feature is a direct link to more information on each program (at TV.com) just by clicking on the listing.
TV Forecast, however, seems to have an issue with listing the correct show times of some programs (particularly recurring daily programs), and reruns don’t seem to be shown at all. Though this may be due to the availability of data from TV.com, we hope this can be fixed. Still, we’re sure TV Forecast will become a daily feature for many iPhone users.
By the way, Mac users can also install TV Forecast as a Dashboard Widget.
TV Forecast (link for iPhone or desktop browser)
Filed under: Household
24 Jul
An exciting project from Ideum (”ideas + media”) is RSS Mixer, a tool which allows you to combine up to ten RSS feeds into a new, custom feed that you can easily output to your iPhone. In addition, you also have the ability to output your custom feed as RSS, HTML, web widget, or an Apple Dashboard widget.
RSS Mixer lets you title your mix and then add the URL’s of each of your feeds. If you change your mind, you can also delete any URL from the list. When you’re done, just click “Mix it” to create your custom RSS mix. Links to the special formats are provided on the right hand side along with direct links to the mix.
A neat feature of the website is the ability to see all the mixes created with RSS Mixer by other users. There are even “featured mixes” listed. What this means, however, is that your feed will also be on display for the world to see. There is also no ability to change or delete a mix that you’ve created. We hope that future updates of RSS Mixer will allow you to log in and create private mixes as well as public ones. Overall, though, we are impressed with this prototype, both in ease of use and attractive interface.
To check out RSS Mixer, click below for the website link and an example of the mix output to the iPhone.
RSS Mixer (Link for iPhone or desktop browser)
Example Mix (Link for iPhone or desktop browser)
Filed under: RSS