Poor iPhone reception graduates to SNL ‘Weekend Update’ joke status

"It was reported this week that Google would soon launch its own cellphone as a challenge to the iPhone. Also a challenge to the iPhone? Making phone calls."

Cue uproarious applause.

Update: Video after the break! Thanks Michael!

Continue reading Poor iPhone reception graduates to SNL 'Weekend Update' joke status

Poor iPhone reception graduates to SNL 'Weekend Update' joke status originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T Dismisses Speculation of Usage Based Pricing

App Review: Grinchmas for iPhone

(Grinchmas for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Grinchmas [$1.99 - iTunes link] is a Christmas themed game designed by Oceanhorse Media. In the game, you get to choose if you play “Merry Grinch” or “Mean Grinch”. With the mean Grinch, you goal is to throw snowballs at the houses which are playing too much music (and thus bothering you). With the merry Grinch, you through presents at the houses (of matching color) trying to spread Christmas joy.

The games themselves are suitable for all ages, and my daughter had some fun trying them out. However, they do take a little bit of skill – hitting the houses with either the snowballs or the presents depends on your aim as well as the speed at which you throw (swipe your finger). Faster swiping means throwing the item farther (at the distant houses). It takes a little bit of practice to get it down pat.

Unfortunately, that’s where the game ends. The merry Grinch game is based on how many packages you can throw in a certain time limit. The mean Grinch game is based on how many houses you can silence (how long you can last) before your patience wears out. As such, both games are similar to each other. It would be nice to see a couple of different KINDS of games between the two options. In addition, while there is a nice soundtrack (or rather, music and sound effects), there is nothing else enticing. I would have loved to see some cut scenes (maybe from the TV special), some spoken lines to the TV special, some sort of bonus features (maybe Max appears, maybe some houses are worth more, etc). As it is, playing the game a few times is fun, but the novelty wears off rather quickly. The simplicity of the games is both good (easy to pick up) and it’s downfall (gets boring relatively fast).

Conclusion

All in all, the game is nice holiday themed fun, and if you have kids they may enjoy playing the Grinch. For $1.99, the price isn’t too bad, but don’t expect something you will be able to play for a long time, or something that has a high replay level. The game might help you get in the Christmas mood, but if you are looking for a detailed, complex, or long lasting game you will probably end up with a mean Grinch face. Three and a half out of five stars.

Pros:

• Fun, Christmas themed games
• Suitable for all ages
• Requires some skill when aiming

Cons:

• Games get a little boring
• No “special levels” or bonus plays
• The two games are not fundamentally different

TiPb Review Rating

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

App Review: Grinchmas for iPhone

Moodagent: Going iTunes Playlists one better

Filed under: iTunes, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review, Music

Moodagent [iTunes Link] (free for now) puts a new spin on the iTunes Genius Playlist system. Instead of leaving it up to Apple to give you category based Genius Playlists, Moodagent, gives you some control over what songs will appear in a 25 song customizable playlist of your music.

You are given 5 colored bars, each with an icon representing an aspect of music. The symbols didn't make much sense to me, but by hitting an info button, I found that the icons represented, in order: Sensual, Tender, Joy, Aggressive and Tempo. I could have used a full explanation of what they meant by Aggressive and Tempo, but trial and error gave me a rough idea. By increasing or decreasing the size of each of the bars, a 25 song Playlist is created, complete with cover art icons, that can be played or saved for later recall. Increase or decrease one or more of the bars and the playlist instantly changes, so if you like a playlist, it's a good idea to save it before changing anything. Once saved, a tap will play your chosen playlist. When saving, you are also given the opportunity to title the playlist any way you like, with the first song being the default title.

Another way of making a playlist, again similar to the iTunes Genius playlist, is to select a seed song to base the list upon. Choose one song and then adjust the bars to tailor the list to your liking.

When first loading the app, you run a sync that indexes all the music on your iPhone/iPod touch running OS 3.0 or better, with their server. My iPhone has about 2100 songs on it and syncing took about 10 minutes. When done, I was told that it couldn't sync about 750 songs. This wasn't surprising since my tastes tend toward the arcane, but there's a solution for that. You are asked to download a Moodagent Profiler application that, as does iTunes Genius playlists, upload anonymous information from the iTunes library on your computer, which is assumed to have more music on it than does your mobile device. This information is used to expand the Moodagent database. After running the Moodagent Profiler on my roughly 6100 song Macbook Pro iTunes library, which took over an hour, I re-synced Moodagent and this time the number of songs that couldn't be synced reduced to 149.

So why didn't it find 149 songs?

Continue reading Moodagent: Going iTunes Playlists one better

Moodagent: Going iTunes Playlists one better originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Moodagent: Going iTunes Playlists one better originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reports of Psystar’s Demise Appear Premature

Yesterday, we reported on a story quoting a Psystar attorney claiming that the unauthorized Mac clone manufacturer was in the process of winding down its business in the wake of a permanent injunction issued against it by a federal court judge earlie...

Review: Aliens Invade for iPhone

Fans of the old Space Invaders arcade game will appreciate this mobile offering, which provides a 21st century refresh on the old "When aliens attack" genre. Aliens Invade is fun and addicting, and you'll want to blast away often

Gamefly updates GameCenter iPhone app

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Freeware, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

GameFly (which is sort of a Netflix for video games) sent along word that they have updated their free iPhone app called Gamecenter [iTunes link]. Not only does it work as an official app -- you can update and add to your queue straight from the app, which is definitely nice, as you can go carry it around a game store an add titles at will -- but the new update adds lots and lots of game information that's even useful away from GameFly. You can browse games on all of the major systems, and check out user ratings and screenshots along with video of nearly all of them. It's pretty well done, especially for a free app.

The app also includes game news from Shacknews as well, which is a nice bonus, but hopefully by now you've got your own way to get any news you need on the iPhone. If you're a GameFly member, this one's a no-brainer, and even if you're not, there's enough per-game content (and quick access information) in the app that it's definitely worth a look.

Gamefly updates GameCenter iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gamefly updates GameCenter iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone Review from PreCentral.net’s Dieter, Smartphone Round Robin

I don’t envy Dieter’s introduction to the 3rd Annual Smartphone Round Robin — reviewing the iPhone 3GS for PreCentral.net. He’s had to review various generations of iPhone more than a few times already, both for TiPb and for the last two Round Robins. While other platforms offer skads of devices in all form of factors, the iPhone remains THE iPhone. That’s not to say it doesn’t evolve, however, and TiPb takes HUGE pride in our iPhone Forum members who offered such great help and advice, bringing Dieter fully up to speed (literally) with the iPhone 3GS and 3.1 software.

So what was Dieter’s final take away for the iPhone in 2009? Go check it out and let him, and us, know what you think. (And hey, if vociferous agreement or righteous indignation aren’t motivators enough, you can still add a reply a day in the forums for a chance to win a brand new iPhone 3GS!)

As for me, I’m about to get back into BlackBerry with the Storm2 and Bold 9700. Watch for my video, under the addicted guidance of CrackBerry Kevin, coming Monday.

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

iPhone Review from PreCentral.net’s Dieter, Smartphone Round Robin

Dock Accessory to Turn iPhone Into Universal IR Remote

Rē Remote Control is a a new plug-in accessory for the iPhone (and iPod touch?) dock port that aims to turn Apple’s mobile platform into the holy grail of living room devices — a full programmable, multitouch universal RI remote.

Word has it the unveiling will be at CES in January, and TiPb will try to check it out and see if it impresses. However, given how slick WiFi-based remote apps have been for Apple TV, Keynote, VLC, Boxee, etc. it’s safe to say we’re the tiniest bit excited at the possibilities.

The only drawback looks to be the hefty on-device dongle. What say you, is this the way to go or would you prefer a Bluetooth box that sits with your AV gear and handles the remote duties off-device? Do you prefer portability (you could take this dongle anywhere) or invisibility?

[via Chip Chick via Gizmodo]

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

Dock Accessory to Turn iPhone Into Universal IR Remote

Apple: HTTP Live Stream Technology Now Required for Streaming Video

HTTP live stream technology is now required for streaming video according to Apple’s new iPhone developer RSS feed.

An innovative feature of iPhone OS 3.0 is support for HTTP Live Streaming technology. One of the great benefits this technology delivers is the ability to dynamically adjust to varying network bandwidth conditions. It lets you store multiple video clips of different quality on the server, and then deliver the one that matches what the requesting customer is capable of viewing given the network they have access to. Use of it is now required for all applications which deliver streaming video. You must include a low quality stream of no more than 64 Kbps for your app to resort to when network conditions demand it, along with the higher quality streams you want to deliver to your customers when the network can support it.

See the HTTP Live Streaming Overview in the iPhone Reference Library for details.

We’ve read about — and seen — HTTP Live Streaming before, but with Apple insisting on it, and companies like Elgato using it in EyeTV to allow streaming to the iPhone over 3G, it could be getting interesting. Concerning EyeTV’s implementation, TUAW’s Erica Sadun says:

Powered by the EyeTV 3.3 update (free to existing owners of EyeTV software), this technology avoids App Store hassles while providing on-demand video access to your home TV recordings and live programming. [...] As an added bonus, since Mobile Safari has access to the iPhone’s TV Out capability (third-party apps can’t use it, but Apple apps can), you can use a component or composite video-out cable to display your streamed video on any convenient TV.

Win/win?

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

Apple: HTTP Live Stream Technology Now Required for Streaming Video

Amateur Surgeon Christmas Edition — Bloody Good Fun for the Holidays

Amateur Surgeon Christmas Edition [Free - iTunes link] by Adult Swim is for anyone who enjoyed the regular version, the kid’s game Operation, or whose tastes for Xmas humor turn decidedly towards the dark.

You are Dr. Alan Probe, an Amateur Surgeon who has had a horrible midair collision with Santa’s sleigh. Now it is up to you to try to heal the injured faery-folk and save Xmas. This will be a difficult feat, as you have few skills and your tools would, frankly, scare an inquisitor from the middle ages. (What, the thought of toy grabber-arms and and etch-o-sketches as surgical gear doesn’t terrify you?).

If you have a steady hand and don’t mind a splash of blood to go with your cartoony fun, give this game a shot. The power of Christmas compels you! ….flatline

Disclaimer: Only one elf was slightly tortured to make this post.

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

Amateur Surgeon Christmas Edition — Bloody Good Fun for the Holidays