First Look: Mouse House

Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, iPod touch, First Look

Mouse House is a very adorable and surprisingly complicated puzzle game from Plaid World Studios. At first look, it seems like a very simple game with graphics that appear to be on part with Super Nintendo games. But, it's actually surprisingly tough and addictive.

The game's premise is simple -- eat cheese and progress through the unlocked doors once they open. Along the way, you have to dodge bees, evil rats, crumbling floors and try not to get pinned in a corner by pushing balls the wrong way. It looks simple, but isn't. After completely the 8-level tutorial, it took me a few retries to get through the next few levels.

The sound effects are truly what make this game stand out. The little noises from eating cheese and getting through an open door successfully are quite adorable. The controls are easy to use -- tap the screen in a vertical or horizontal line from where the mouse is and he'll move to that spot. There's no game soundtrack other than the sound effects. Instead, you can listen to the music already loaded on your iPhone or iPod Touch and the sound effects will play over the music. However, I enjoy the effects so much I simply play without the music.

Mouse House (link opens iTunes) is currently available for US$.99

First Look: Mouse House originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

First Look: Mouse House originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Holidaily Double Forum Review: Weather Channel for the iPhone

The Weather Channel Forum Review by cjvitek (For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Okay, I am sort of a weather junkie. I didn’t used to be, but when I moved to Florida (with hurricanes), and the weather was directly related to my research activities, I became a little but of a junkie. Not as bad as some, but definitely more than most.

That’s why I was a little disappointed with the iPhone default weather application. Sure, it gave you temperatures…but what if I wanted more! I tried the Weatherbug program, and that was okay…but I still found myself going to the Weather Underground site often. Then I found The Weather Channel program.

Read on for the review, after the jump!

The Weather Channel program has just about most types of weather information you could want. So let’s go through what it offers.

First, you can customize your locations. I don’t know if there is a limit to how many locations you can include, but I added five with no problem.

When you access the weather data, the screens are divided into “weather”, “explore map”, “video”, “severe”, and “more”. They are navigated by hitting tabs at the bottom of the screen. The weather tab is the first you see, and you can get current conditions, hourly, 36 hour, and 10 day reports. The current conditions data includes temperature, cloud cover, “feels like” temperature, wind, humidity, UV index, and visibility. The only thing lacking are the sunrise and sunset times.

The hourly screen reports the anticipated changes on an hour by hour basis. Rather than just settle for a 60% chance of rain, you can determine when it is supposed to rain, and plan your activities accordingly. The 36 hour forecast if just that - what it will be like for the next day and a half. And the 10 day forecast is a long term look at the weather (temperature and precipitation).

The Explore map tab allows you to look at a radar map of the area. However, you are not limited to just radar - you can also look at cloud cover, radar AND clouds, temperature, “feel like” temperature, 24 hour rainfall/snowfall, and UV index. You can include cities, schools, parks, golf courses, or lakes on the map.

The video tab gives you a short (about 2 to 3 minutes) local video forecast - basically what is played on The Weather Channel station on TV. The severe tab gives you any severe weather forecasts, and the “more” tab is a help screen, an about screen, and links you to more videos (worldwide weather).

All in all, a pretty full featured weather program.

I am not sure how it would do with out of the ordinary weather items - hurricane tracking, for example. Presumably a hurricane warning would show up, but I don’t know if you would have detailed access to the prediction cones, anticipated landfall, strength data, etc. I am don’t know if it shows you the cycle of the moon (I looked last night, but I was tired and now I can’t remember). But for a casual weather junkie, or people who just are really looking for detailed information for event planning, this application covers most of the bases. It would also be nice to be able to customize a screen to show the information you want specifically.

Of course, you are still relying on the report of the weather man, but that is another issue entirely.

Pros:

• Very complete data set,
• easy interface

Cons:

• Information can almost be TOO much

Conclusion

All in all, if you want a complete weather program, this is one of the best I have seen. And to top it off, it is free.

Forum Rating

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Holidaily Double Forum Review: Weather Channel for the iPhone

SnOwned tries multiplayer snowball on the iPhone

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Humor, Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

I kind of like the idea behind snOwned, a new wintry app on the App Store that claims to be a "multiuser, online snowball fight." I think there is some great multiplayer gaming to be had with the iPhone, and, if enough people are interested, there might be some in snOwned.

You download the app from the App Store (it's 99 cents, which is cheap but maybe not cheap enough for what it is), and then sign your email up along with a username. Once you've activated, you can then "throw snowballs" (which consists of three little fun minigame steps) at anyone else with the app installed on their iPhone or iPod touch around the world. And they can throw them back at you, you can play a short game to defend, stats are kept on the site, and so on. As with most social games, it all depends on who's in the game with you -- if you've got friends along to keep up rivalries with, it could be fun. But just throwing random snowballs at random people around the globe, as I did (my ingame name is "toucansamurai") isn't really worth the dollar's admission.

Still, it's a start -- the game can also track your location when you throw, so you can see where your snowballs are going on the globe, and who's throwing at you. I think there will eventually be a runaway game of this kind, where we're all playing with each other socially on our own phones in different places all over the world (Loot Wars is another game that's interesting in this vein, even if it's not quite there yet). And snOwned is another step closer to that. But as any MMO company will tell you, the only way to make a social game great is to have everyone playing it, and I'm not sure there's enough going on in this one to pull in a lot of really interested players.

SnOwned tries multiplayer snowball on the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SnOwned tries multiplayer snowball on the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Financial site Mint.com releases iPhone app

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Odds and ends, Freeware, iPhone, App Store

I've been using Mint.com (not to be confused with Shawn Inman's great Mint web stats tracker) to track my financial information for a while now. It's very nice -- completely free, and hooks right into your bank accounts, investments, or other financial accounts online (securely, of course -- they've got over 7,500 institutions in the system) to let you know what you're spending, when, and where. I'm lazy when it comes to budgets, but Mint will automatically make budgets for you based on what you spent the month before, so I can see if my groceries, bus fare, or, ahem, iPhone app budgets go over one month.

And now they're released an iPhone app, so you can have access to all of that information on the go. It's pretty much a portable Mint -- you've got all of your usual account information, alerts are pushed off onto their own screen, so you can see at a glance where you're overspending, and you can flip through and see your expenses for the month, where your cash is going, and any budgets you've programmed into Mint. The app is quick and easy to use -- like Mint.com, but in the palm of your hand. It's free and on the App Store right now (though of course you have to set yourself up on their website first).

One security issue: the app wisely recommends that if you don't have a passcode on your phone already, you put one on it, since your financial information will be available to anyone using your phone. The Mint.com folks also tell us that you can disable iPhone app access from their website, so even if you do lose your phone, you can keep unwanted users from reaching your information. But as with everything, there's a tradeoff of convenience and security -- while it's helpful to have this information anywhere you are, the flip side is that it's that much more likely to fall into the wrong hands.

Financial site Mint.com releases iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Financial site Mint.com releases iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Review: Freedom Run for iPhone

This goofy game is good-natured fun for kids and adults of all political stripes.

How To: Re-Enable Jailbreak/Unlock for Mac OS X 10.5.6

So you say you updated to the latest Mac OS X 10.5.6 and wanted to jailbreak or unlock. Well the update severely hindered your ability to do that. The Dev-Team says it is a simple kernel bug and not a specific countermeasure by Apple, never the less, there is still a work around.

It’s a pretty straight forward fix actually, first you need to have administrator privileges. Then download the script file . Got it? Good, now continue on for the detailed instructions after the break!

[Via Gizmodo]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

How To: Re-Enable Jailbreak/Unlock for Mac OS X 10.5.6

Swedish tabloid buys 700 iPhones

Sweden's largest tabloid Aftonbladet has decided to equip 700 of its employees with iPhones.

Does Imagination license spell HD-out for future iPhones?

Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, iPhone

Over at Ars Technica, Chris Foreman dives into yesterday's story that Imagination Technologies Group, developer of the PowerVR chip for mobile device displays, has a licensing agreement with Apple for its chip designs (long suspected by AppleInsider but only just confirmed) and that Apple has picked up a chunk of ITG stock; cnet puts it at $5 million worth for a 3.6% stake. The 'smoking gun' press release from Imagination that was linked yesterday has mysteriously disappeared from the company's press page, which does lead one to wonder if the news wasn't quite ready for prime time -- but the speculation about what future iPhones might be capable of in the video-out department is still quite enticing. (You can see the Google-cached version of the PR blurb here.)

Foreman notes that the ITG chip designs Apple might use (the PowerVR SGX and VXD) would provide a dramatic boost to 3D performance, with Open GL ES 2.0 support, and also allow for HD-quality video out via the dock connector. Adding the playback power of an Apple TV (or better) to a mobile device, while reducing the power consumption required to pull off the trick? Add in a low-power 802.11n chipset for wireless streaming and you've just turned the home theater and set-top box market completely upside down.

If your iPod touch or iPhone could take over all your video playback needs at HD resolutions, would it find a home on your media center shelf? Mine would.

Does Imagination license spell HD-out for future iPhones? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Does Imagination license spell HD-out for future iPhones? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Patent Watch: Apple’s 3D Multi-Touch… er… Skin?

Apple has had more success than anyone marketing multi-touch as of late — we give you, the iPhone. But how far can even Apple push this technology? Right to the line? Past the line? Apple Insider sheds light on a new patent application that might just be way over the line:

portable multi-touch skins that can be wrapped around three-dimensional objects such as an iPod or steering wheel to provide addition GUI interfaces for those objects that can be configured via the touch skins themselves.

Too. Many. Jokes. Flooding. Blogsphere.

Apple envisions people using them to control music on steering wheels, or on tennis rackets for instruction. We’ll let you entertain yourselves with your own predictions, b’okay?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Patent Watch: Apple’s 3D Multi-Touch… er… Skin?

Apple brings back at home activation

It appears Apple and AT&T are bringing back the home activation for the iPhone. Going to their site you will find an advert telling all about purchasing the iPhone online and being able to activate it from home. It appears that this was brought fourth just for the holidays. Those of ...

iPhone Buzz Week in Review - Week 50 2008

This week we were not surprised to learn that the rumors of a 4GB version of the iPhone coming to Walmart for $99 were untrue. Walmart is indeed getting the iPhone in the 8GB and 16GB versions. They will discount the iPhone a whole $2 for those willing to pick ...

iPhone apps round-up: A free version of PCalc

Developer TLA Systems has released a free, lite version of its scientific calculator to further promote PCalc RPN Calculator on the App Store.

iPhone 3G launches in Jordan, still lacks Arabic support

Though the iPhone 3G is now available in Jordan, the phone still lacks any sort of robust support for the Arabic language.

X-Plane Airliner / Helicopter versions now available

Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod touch

X-Plane is an amazing cross-platform flight simulator app, and it has brought the thrill of flying to iPhone / iPod touch owners as well. The small screen size and limited memory of the iPhone platform made X-Plane for iPhone somewhat less impressive than the Mac and Windows versions in that you could only fly four different aircraft types.

Austin Meyer, the developer of X-Plane, has resolved this dilemma by releasing versions of X-Plane for iPhone for airliner and helicopter fanatics. X-Plane-Airliner for iPhone / iPod touch (click opens iTunes) is now available for US$4.99. You get the choice of three different present (Boeing 747, 777, and Airbus 380) and one future (Boeing 787) airliners with up to 98 airports in Southern California to fly to. Yeahhhh, I want to try landing at SNA in an A-380!

X-Plane Helicopter (click opens iTunes), also priced at US$4.99, lets you experience the helicopter flying experience with your Apple handheld. There are four helicopter types to play with: the Robinson R-22, Bell 206, BlackHawk, and Sea King.

Be sure to check out the TUAW review of the original version of X-Plane for iPhone / iPod touch.

X-Plane Airliner / Helicopter versions now available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

X-Plane Airliner / Helicopter versions now available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Round Robin: TiPb vs. BlackBerry Bold Video Preview

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]

Cursed I tell ya. Not “Steve Jobs’ isn’t keynoting Macworld cursed, (though Dieter clearly blames me for that anyway!) Cursed in that not only did UPS hold CrackBerry Kevin’s beloved BlackBerry Bold hostage for nearly a week (”it didn’t make it on the plane” — what, it decided to go bar hoping first?!), not only to BIS take days to start working (”oh, you wanted BlackBerry BIS — no, I wanted iPhone BIS?!), but then I — a rabid iPhone enthusiast — had to endure my first completely non-touch screen device! Cursed!

Did I survive? Could I even use the tic-tactile little BlackBerry beastie? Check the video above to find out, then drop a comment here for your chance to win an iPhone 3G, or post on my comment thread over in the CrackBerry.com forums and you may just win a BlackBerry Bold! Prize details after the jump…

Every day you comment here, you get one entry to win not only a supra-shiny iPhone 3G, but the Case-Mate Naked Case which allows full touch through access to the iPhone’s amazing screen. Smartphone Outlet is also kicking in the revolutionary Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset AND a runner-up prize, $50 coupon good at any SPE store, including the new Smartphone Outlet, where you can find refurb Smartphone Accessories at very (very!) low prices.

Check out our full contest rules!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Round Robin: TiPb vs. BlackBerry Bold Video Preview

iPhone 101: Add mobile websites to home screen

Filed under: iPhone, iPhone 101

Many websites and services offer great mobile versions without being packaged in an App Store application. If you want to be able to quickly access these sites from your home screen, follow these steps:

1. Launch Safari on your iPhone
2. Browse to a desired mobile site (most sites will automatically redirect you to the mobile version once they determine that you're using an iPhone)
3. Click the Favorites (+) button at the bottom of Safari
4. Click "Add to Home Screen"
5. Type a name for the icon that will appear on your home screen
6. Click the "Add" button

You will now see an icon on your home screen that will launch directly to the mobile website. Since I'm headed to Washington D.C. next week, I found this handy for the Metro mobile site and the Allpoint ATM search site.

iPhone 101: Add mobile websites to home screen originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone 101: Add mobile websites to home screen originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Evidence that Next iMacs and Mac Minis to use NVIDIA Chipsets

Configuration files buried within some versions of Mac OS X show evidence that the next iMac and Mac Mini will indeed be based on the NVIDIA MCP79 chipset. Apple recently switched their MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models to the NVIDIA chip...

Student’s tech promises 12x the battery life in your iPhone, BlackBerry

Filed under: Cellphones

Student's tech promises 12x the battery life in your iPhone, BlackBerry originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Holidaily Double Forum Reviews: SimCity for the iPhone

[Confession: I've been a little slow in getting the usual twice-weekly Forum Reviews up, and cjvitek and msbaylor, as if sensing my slacktivity level, put their production into turbo mode. So what's an editor to do? Come up with an angle, of course! So, from now until we catch up -- or I mess up again -- we'll be presenting lots more Forum Reviews. How many more? Well, we're calling it our Holidaily Double, so howzat for a clue? - Rene]

SimCity Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

My main concern before getting this application was – would it be able to handle all the animations on the screen, or would it just be an expensive crashing app? After a brief setup and I selected the tutorial, I got a white screen. I thought this was a glitch (First thought - “NO, Not the white-screen-of-death!”), but after about 15 or 20 seconds, the main Sim-screen came up and walked me through the controls and what everything meant. That alone was very nice to have - major kudos for the help explanations.

Read on for the review, after the jump!

Issues:

The first thing it caught me was – how to add roads. I immediately had problems with this, laying it exactly where it wanted me to. I felt that an offset feature would be nice, so that I could see exactly where I was laying the road instead of covering it up with my finger. I later realized I could zoom in to be more accurate, however, this might prove difficult if you want to lay down a long line of road – pave > pan > pave > pan, etc. Also if you are off when you place something, you have the ability to move it around before confirming its location (a type of “post-offset.”)

Another issue I noticed was under the help menu (not the in game help,) that the buttons are very short and a bit hard to hit if you have fat fingers.

Animations:

Other than that, the game seemed to run just fine. I like how it adjusted some of the imagery to keep from eating up too much RAM without taking away from the game play. For instance – as you zoom out, animations will stop on the structures and just become static images. If you zoom in, all the way – in, you can see you Sims in transit (vehicular movement), however the images become fuzzy and less-sharp in detail as you zoom it. This was a bit of a let down, but I guess it has to happen to keep your handy-dandy iPhone from crashing… After all if viewing one or two structures on the screen, the structures animate, i.e., smoke stack on the oil factory puffs smoke.)

Controls:

The controls are fairly intuitive, incorporating the pinch/zoom, double-tap to zoom, and other features that you would normally use in the Maps.app are implemented into the application when viewing the map.

Tutorial/Help:

If you have question regarding anything on screen, just tap the question mark in the bottom left-hand corner, then tap the area/item that you have a question about and you will be given an explanation. This app has very helpful feature if you are new to this type of game.

Display:

There is a news ticker at the bottom of the screen that alerts you to things that are going on in your Sim’s world. If it is green text, then it usually means something good or something that needs to be fixed soon. This leads me to Advisors – depending on the “news stories” that show up, you have different “advisors” That will advise you on what to do in order to make your city better.

Conclusion:

This game exceeded my expectations in how the game handles and the depth of play, however, I was a bit dismayed on how hard it has to simply lay road down and how the images deteriorated when you zoomed in (I expected more from EA on image quality). If you’re a fan of SimCity or other God-view Sim games, then you should love this game.

Pros:

• Intuitive & Familiar controls
• Numerous features
• In-depth game play
• Great help menu
• Numerous map views to help you during the game.
• Several difficulties of play.

Cons:

• Some of the menu buttons are hard to tap on.
• Laying road or other narrow landscaping accurately can be difficult & frustrating.
• Images aren’t as detailed (noticeably when zoomed into the region).

Forum Review Rating

[SimCity is available from the iTunes App Store, though some may need to search for the "international" version. iSigh.]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Holidaily Double Forum Reviews: SimCity for the iPhone

No lie: voice stress analysis on iPhone

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

So here's the thing. If the new iPhone app Agile Lie Detector really works, and I'm fairly convinced it does on some level, do you really want to have something this potentially powerful in your pocket? Do you really want an application that could ruin your marriage, destroy your faith in humanity and wreck your respect for authority, and on top of all that, pay $7.99US for it?

Yeah, you do.

I was dying to try this thing out. Truth is, I was skeptical that this app would be anything more than a novelty item.

But I had a serious moral dilemma on my hands. What kind of person interrogates his wife and purposely tries to make her cough up lies just so he can test out an app for a blog post?

Me. So I was off, for 15 minutes, asking her question after question, spanning a wide spectrum, none of which I'll get into. Very little of my prodding resulted in anything more than a blip on the Lie Graph. None of my deep, life-altering questions drew a response that warranted much more than a light yellow reading on the Lie Meter. A few other quick tests with other people did show a wider range of results.

The Agile Lie Detector uses voice stress analysis, a somewhat controversial alternative to the traditional polygraph test, to determine whether or not someone is lying. The bad side of this is that it's not considered as accurate as hooking someone up to a machine that measures more than one physiological response, like breathing and pulse. The good side is -- theoretically anyway -- you don't need to be in the same room as the person you are trying to test. In fact, it's possible to analyze speech through speakers, assuming the quality of those speakers is high enough.

To play with this a bit, I searched for video on YouTube that showed people obviously lying (think Clinton's denial of his canoodling with Monica Lewinsky) or obviously under stress (think Sarah Palin talking to Katie Couric). The results of holding my iPhone up to the speaker as these and other videos played showed, in a most unscientific and probably flawed way, a difference, however slight, versus when people not under stress spoke. The very cool part of the application is that it gives you results in real time, so you can see from moment to moment when someone is getting a bit nervous. Theoretically.

If I were the feds, I wouldn't be shipping off a crate of iPhones (liePhones?) to Gitmo quite yet. This application is filed under the Entertainment category in the App Store for a reason. It shouldn't be relied on in serious situations. You know, like asking your wife if she really, truly thinks you look good in that new jacket of yours. However, if voice stress analysis is your bag, definitely give this app a try. I won't lie though. It's a tad pricey.

No lie: voice stress analysis on iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

No lie: voice stress analysis on iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments