iHandstick snap-on dresses your iPhone / iPod Touch up as a Playstation controller

The iPod touch (and technically the iPhone as well) may well be "the funnest iPod ever," but it can also be the most awkward device to hold for prolonged gaming sessions, nor have previous attempts made things any better. The iHandstick might just do the job -- while we can't credit them for originality, this hollow cousin of the Playstation controller may satisfy owners of iPod touch 2G / 3G and iPhone 3G / 3GS. Remember, it should give a similar grip enjoyed by millions of Playstation gamers over the last 15 years. The only doubt left is whether our thumbs can easily reach the virtual buttons on the screen. Wanna give this a shot? $16.99 plus shipping and it's all yours.

iHandstick snap-on dresses your iPhone / iPod Touch up as a Playstation controller originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Hiring Video Game Artist for iPhone Gaming Group!

Apple’s job listings just got interesting again, with positions open for a Video Game Artist and a Software Engineer for the iPhone Gaming Group. That’s right, “iPhone Gaming Group”. It looks like that Game/Media Software Engineer position from last month wasn’t a one off, and Apple is finally, seriously, getting into the game… game. (Sorry, but you saw that coming!)

For the artist:

The interactive media group is looking for a skilled artist who wants to work as part of a small highly motivated team to work on interactive multimedia experiences on the iPhone and iPod Touch. The position on the team is to help design, visualize, enable and implement interface, 3D characters/environments, animation, texturing as well as original concept artwork.

For the engineer:

The iPhone Games Group is looking for a proactive, highly motivated engineer with 5 + years experience, to share their expertise in application and framework development.

So, how about it? Sounds like a lot of firepower for “Texas Holdem’ 2″, doesn’t it? Think we’ll finally see some Sony or Nintendo caliber 1st party gaming coming out of Apple? And if so, what would they be?

[via MacRumors]

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

Apple Hiring Video Game Artist for iPhone Gaming Group!

The iPhone is the worst phone in the world

That's right, we said it -- and we're not taking it back. The iPhone may be the greatest handheld surfing device ever to rock the mobile Web, and a fabulous media player to boot. It may be the highest-rated mobile phone on CNET UK, rocking the pockets of half of ...

Shutterfly Wink turns digital photos into prints

Shutterfly's Wink turns digital photos into photo booth inspired prints that can be sent anywhere in the world.

Review: Dungeon Hunter for iPhone

If you've been yearning for a Diablo-style RPG game for your iPhone or iPod touch, grab Gameloft's Dungeon Hunter. It serves up all the hack-and-slash goodness you can handle.

How to cram the entire Internet Movie Database into your iPhone

Filed under: Freeware, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look, App Review

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), an Amazon.com company, has just released a free iPhone app [iTunes Link] that puts the power of the huge repository of movie facts, fables, and trivia into the palm of your hand.

I use IMDb regularly, so when I saw that the app had been released, I downloaded it immediately. Upon launching, the app will ask if you wish to let it use your location -- this is used to display show times and movies for local theaters. While IMDb doesn't exactly have a beautiful interface, it's perfect for navigating the huge amount of information that is available.

The first page of the app displays three major areas: Movies, TV, and People. There's also an Application area, which is used only to display information about the App. Movies is subdivided into Showtimes, Coming Soon, US Box Office Results, MOVIEmeter, and the Top 250 Movies. Tapping Coming Soon brings up details about upcoming movies releases, including trailers that can be viewed on the phone. I love the Top 250 Movies, which is a list of the movies rated highest by IMDb readers. It's a treasure trove of information about many of the classic movies of all time.

IMDb's TV section is split into US TV Tonight, which is a schedule of upcoming shows on the major networks, and US TV Recaps, which provides full text synopses of what has happened on top TV shows during the previous week. Under the People heading, there's both STARmeter, which shows a listing of the top 25 stars as measured by the number of times that they've been searched for on IMDb, and Born Today, which lists actors (living and dead) who were born on the current day.

If you love movies and TV, or searching trivia about roles, actors, and directors, then you probably already spend a lot of time with IMDb. The iPhone app is just the icing on the IMDb cake, and as a free app it should be on the home screen of every movie fan's iPhone. Check out the gallery for screenshots of IMDb in action.

How to cram the entire Internet Movie Database into your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

How to cram the entire Internet Movie Database into your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More on Gaming: iPhone Games Group and Apple Seeking Video Game Artist

Through job listings and and interview comments, it's clear that Apple has finally taken an active interest in the gaming market. The company has been positioning the iPod touch as a gaming device in their advertisements both on the web and on tele...

Analyst noise: Apple tablet in March for $1k, publishers on-board, Verizon iPhone coming too

If you've been following mainstream news today, then it's likely you've seen the story doing the rounds on new Apple tablet rumors, spurred by a note sent to clients from Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner. Never heard of him? That's not surprising, since he has no real connection to Apple, and his job mainly consists of telling people how to move their money around -- a Master of the Universe gear-cranker, you might say. Anyhow, Yair is sure that Apple will be releasing its 10.1-inch, multitouch tablet around March or April, with a ramp-up on production sometime in February. He also notes that the device will sell for $1,000 (so far we've heard rumored price points from $699 all the way up to $2,000), but ultimately Reiner seems most concerned with how it will impact Amazon, the Kindle, and book and media publishers.

According to the note, Apple has been in talks with publishers concerning a "very attractive proposal" in which the company will split revenue with publishing houses 70 / 30, as they do with iTunes and App Store sales (just as we speculated in our post on the Time Inc. digimag). What's most disconcerting about the report is that it seems more interested in disrupting or dismissing what Amazon is doing (particularly noteworthy as the company is in the midst of its biggest season for Kindle sales ever). When financial analysts start squawking in this manner, we like to approach with caution. As of right now, we have zero solid evidence that Apple is even producing a tablet, let alone ready to drop one for a G come March. We have heard plenty of other rumors that corroborate much of this, but if the above is the plan, you can expect a big reveal from Cupertino around the time of Macworld or CES, so you won't have to wait long to know the truth. For now, keep your BS detectors set to "stun."

P.S.: See what we mean? Now a Piper Jaffray analyst is 70 percent certain (70 percent!) that Apple will introduce an iPhone for Verizon in 2010. Hold onto your hats folks, we've only just begun.

Analyst noise: Apple tablet in March for $1k, publishers on-board, Verizon iPhone coming too originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone Live! Tonight at 8pm ET/5pm PT (1am GMT)

Join Rene and Chad, and welcome Georgia, for all the week’s news, views, and rants. If you have any questions, leave a comment below, hit us up on Twitter @theiphoneblog, or better still — join us live in the chat room via http://www.tipb.com/live

REMINDER: You can watch us live on your iPhone with the Ustream Viewer app [Free - iTunes link]. Just wait until the show starts (8pm ET) and search for iPhone. We’ll pop up. Literally.

Chat with you soon!

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

iPhone Live! Tonight at 8pm ET/5pm PT (1am GMT)

London school children to get free loaner iPhones in experimental, educational trial

It's not the first time we've seen the iPhone used as an experimental means of education, but a London school's recent announcement of its plans has caught our attention. The Gumley House Convent School -- a small, Christian School for girls ages 11 to 18 -- in London has laid out its plan to use give Apple's smartphone to a select group of 30 students as a test educational measure. Previous efforts we've seen to rope the iPhone into modern education have been mostly at the collegiate level, but Gumley's plan is still a bit vague. The girls will have free access to all of the phone's features with the exception of actual calls, and the trial will last until the end of the school year. Like we said -- the school's not given out details as to what the actual rules of use will be -- but we have a feeling this will all end in some wild bout of texting overload.

London school children to get free loaner iPhones in experimental, educational trial originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chrome for Mac Beta Nearly Matches Safari in JavaScript Benchmarking

SunSpider JavaScript Benchmarks of Mac Browsers
(Shorter bars represent faster performance)...

Apple makes iPhone developer news available via RSS

Apple has just announced to iPhone developers that changes made to the iPhone App Store and payment process will be announced on their own RSS feed. Is that change significant enough for devs?

Analyst Predictions for 2010 iPhone: 70% Chance of Verizon, Battery Improvements, RFID

Silicon Alley Insider reports on a research note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who cites fellow analyst Chris Larsen as giving Apple a 70% chance of launching an iPhone on Verizon sometime next year. According to Silicon Alley Insider, th...

Mirror’s Edge for iPhone trailer

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

EA has released a trailer for the iPhone version of Mirror's Edge, and I have to say, it's looking good. As we surmised earlier, it's not the same first person gameplay as the console title, but instead it looks like the same running, jumping and sliding heroine has been translated onto the small screen with a nice amount of polish and flair. The Canabalt comparison continues as well (tell me you didn't see the birds flock up and think of that one), but you can see that there's also some enemies to take on, and I'd presume there's some accelerometer-based gameplay in the balancing act seen in there.

Looks good to me -- no price or date yet for the release, but I'd imagine it's just around the corner.

Mirror's Edge for iPhone trailer originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mirror's Edge for iPhone trailer originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Live Video Broadcasting Comes to iPhone With UStream Live Broadcaster iPhone App

Apple introduces iPhone developer RSS news feed, takes time off from iTunes Connect

Filed under: Internet, iPhone, App Store, SDK, iPod touch

Late yesterday, Apple introduced a RSS feed for news from the App Store Resource Center, which was introduced a few months ago, and gives iPhone developers news about what's going on with the App Store for developers. Apple promises to deliver current turnaround time for app reviews (kind of a hot topic), program updates, development and testing techniques, and much more. Add it to your reader of choice.

In related news, iTunes Connect will be unavailable from December 23rd to December 28th. You'll remember that Apple did the same thing last year. You'll won't be able to access anything in iTunes Connect in that time, which includes, sales reports, app submission, generating promo codes and more. Hey, even geeks need a holiday break, right? Make sure your pertinent business is concluded before then and enjoy the break!

Apple introduces iPhone developer RSS news feed, takes time off from iTunes Connect originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple introduces iPhone developer RSS news feed, takes time off from iTunes Connect originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T Ready to Improve Service in New York and San Francisco — Just Don’t Use that Unlimited Data

AT&T is finally opening up and coming clean about their sub par service that is offered in areas of New York and San Francisco. Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T Mobility, recently spoke at a investors conference regarding the poor service.

“This is going to get fixed, in both of those markets, I am very confident that you’re going to see significant progress.”

Obviously this is good news for those of you in these areas. Worse news? AT&T might use “unlimited” to sell you your data plan, but they obviously don’t intend for you to use it. And if you do, watch out.

Wireless data hogs who jam the airwaves by watching video on their iPhones will be put on tighter leashes.

Video. The horror!

De la Vega didn’t say exactly how or when the carrier would change its policies, but he said some form of usage-based pricing for data is inevitable.

If one stops to think about the other carriers getting more attractive smartphone options and the fact that AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity is running thin… AT&T better figure things out and fast.

[Thanks to the Reptile for the tip!]

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

AT&T Ready to Improve Service in New York and San Francisco — Just Don’t Use that Unlimited Data

Ustream iPhone app lets you stream live video

The interactive video site Ustream has released an iPhone app that allows live video streaming from your iPhone over a Wi-Fi or 3G connection.

Time Magazine Ranks the Moto Droid Ahead of the iPhone 3GS

Time magazine has made the Motorola Droid its number 1 gadget of the year while our beloved iPhone ranked in at number 4 behind the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader, and the Dyson Air Multiplier. What pushed the Droid to the top of the heap of these gadgets was the combination of its Motorola hardware and Android 2.0 software.

“A smartphone operating system isn’t all that satisfying without an actual kick-ass smartphone wrapped around it. Now Android has one: The Droid is a hefty beast, a metal behemoth without the gloss and finish of the iPhone, but you don’t miss it. The Droid’s touchscreen is phenomenally sharp and vivid, it has an actual physical (not great, but good enough) keyboard, and best of all, the Droid is on Verizon’s best-of-breed 3G network. It’s Android’s first credible challenge to the iPhone.”

The reason why the iPhone 3GS ranked in at number 4, well to put it simply, was the lack of new features.

“Take the iPhone. Make it faster. There, you’re done. Yes, the 3GS has a better camera — with video. And it has a compass and voice control. Those are all improvements over the original.”

So there you have it folks, in the past the iPhone and awards have gone hand and hand. As it stands now, the iPhone is no longer an award winner. Hopefully that all changes come this June/July.

What do you think? Should the Droid have gotten the nod?

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

Time Magazine Ranks the Moto Droid Ahead of the iPhone 3GS

Apple Looking to Revive ‘Think Different’ Advertising Campaign?

Patently Apple points to a new trademark application from Apple filed on November 30th regarding the "Think Different" advertising slogan used by the company from 1997 until 2002. While the application follows close on the heels of a renewal of an e...