Review: Phantom Mansion: The Red Chamber for the iPhone

Phantom Mansion: The Red Chamber is the first chapter of a seven-chapter puzzle game. You are Hector (the Spectre Detector), and your mission is to collect souls while avoiding zombies, skeletons, broken floors, and lava.

Apple may have upped its over-the-air download limits for App Store

Filed under: Apple, iPhone, App Store

Although Apple's just-released iTunes Connect guide for App Store developers (version 5.3) reminds them that over-the-air downloads for app purchases are still limited to 10MB, users are reporting that Apple may have quietly changed this policy. As the screen shot here (sourced from Italian website AllMobileWorld) shows, the standard 10MB complaint appears to be updated to a 20MB limit.

This is, as yet, the first TUAW has heard (or, more literally, seen) of the matter, but the screen shot does not appear faked. Given that Apple updated the iTunes Connect material on Tuesday, this could have simply been an oversight in the developer documentation that does not reflect the new policy.

Have you seen this dialog? Does it say 10MB or 20MB for you? Let us know in the comments, and do mention which carrier you are using in case it is an European-only phenomenon.

Thanks, everyone who tipped us about this

Apple may have upped its over-the-air download limits for App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple may have upped its over-the-air download limits for App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies: Verrückt

Activision’s first person shooter hit, Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies is taking advantage of in-app purchasing with a new map – Verrückt (Zombie Asylum).

This new map will run you an additional $4.99, added to the app’s original price of $9.99. (Full disclosure: Activation was nice enough cover the cost for TiPb’s test-drive of both the app and the new map). Price aside, it does not disappoint. Zombie Verrückt has been brought over pretty much exactly from console versions, electric barriers and all.

Also worth mentioning are the slew of impovements the recent free 1.2.0 update to the game brought to the table.

• Verrückt Map Now Available; Support for In-App Purchases of downloadable maps
• 9 New Weapons including FG-42, Gewehr-43, PPsh-41, M1 Garand, and the Springfield
• 13 New Achievements for Nacht der Untoten and 10 New Achievements for the new Verrückt map
• Overall game engine optimizations for a smoother, richer gameplay experience
• Leaderboard Enhancements to track Highest Wave Reached, Points Scored, Kills, and Headshots
• Control Tweaks to Touch Screen & Dual Stick configurations with Options to adjust controls based on user preferences
• Tutorial adjustments to allow for experimentation of control schemes before game start
• Multiplayer Point Display to track your comrades’ in-game progression
• Improved Network Reliability
• More connection types will be able to support online multiplayer; UPnP support to address players with Wi-Fi routers that block players’ ability to connect to MP
• Support for French localized text

This game is one heck of an experience for you to check out on your iPhone or iPod touch. If you find yourself still on the fence we highly recomend that you at least try the lite version for free. [iTunes Link] Sure you only get to play a few rounds but everything else is there including multiplayer.

We’re also curious to know what you think about the price point. Is $9.99 for the full version of the game plus an additional $4.99 for a single new map still cheap compared to console games, or does it deter you at all? Are you willing to pay a premium for premium games? Are in-app purchases like this a good way to breathe new life into existing titles? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll add a few screenshots after the break!

Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies: Verrückt is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Google Buys reMail, Kills iPhone App

Yesterday it was announced that Google is buying reMail which “downloads all your email to your phone and lets you search it at light speed”, and now as part of that deal, founder Gabor Cselle has posted that they’re killing the reMail iPhone app, effective immediately [iTunes link dead].

So now we not only have Apple not approving Google apps like Google Voice, we have Google buying companies and killing iPhone apps like reMail? Will this be like Twitter competitor, Jaiku, never heard from again, or will it be integrated into some future Gmail service and we’ll get a Google-ized version back on our iPhones one day?

Luckily, the Apple/Google relationship is still steady, steady, steady, right?

[via TechCrunch]

Google Buys reMail, Kills iPhone App is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Google acquires reMail, pulls it from App Store

The e-mail search app for iPhone is now gone from the App Store, though the main developer is (re-)joining the Gmail team.

Fourth Gen iPhone under our noses, VeriFone PAYware ships, iPhone loses market share

You probably recall that pic that turned up last week showing the iPad with an iPhone along for size comparison. Reports are now coming in that the iPhone in the pics is none other than the long rumored 4th generation device. That VeriFone PAYware iPhone credit card system that turned up ...

ITC investigates Apple over Kodak patent claim

The U.S. ITC is investigating Apple and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion for alleged violations of patents held by Kodak.

Apple raises 3G download limit for apps, media

Apple has raised the size of files that iPhone users can download from the iTunes Store and App Store while using the 3G network.

27-Inch iMac Shipping Times Continue to Improve

Several MacRumors readers have reported that Apple's shipping lead times for its 27-inch iMac models in its online stores have improved today, with the U.S. and Canada now seeing lead times of 5-7 business days instead of 2 weeks and European...

Apple Reportedly Looking to Offer More Flexible iBookstore Pricing Than Previously Thought

The New York Times reports that recent shifts in the eBook publishing industry, spurred by Apple's entrance into the market, to allow for higher prices and greater publisher control over their content may offer more flexibility in pricing than previo...

Apple Doubles 3G Download Cap for iPhone to 20MB

iLounge discovered that Apple has stealthily doubled the limit for iPhone over-the-air 3G downloads from it’s previous 10MB cap to 20MB, though the reasons remain unclear:

it could be related to the impending release of the iPad, improvements in carrier bandwidth, or simply a desire to allow users to have anywhere access to larger applications on the App Store.

We’re getting 20MB shown in our tests as well, so we’ll just add this to VoIP over 3G, and SlingPlayer over 3G, as a sign the data pipes, they might be a loosening…

So what do you think, 20MB a big difference?

Apple Doubles 3G Download Cap for iPhone to 20MB is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

NYT: Apple May Discount Best Selling iBooks to $9.99?

So after all that pushing by publishers for the 70/30 split “agency model”, and bullying of Amazon into raising eBook best-seller prices to $14.99, the New York Times is now reporting that Apple may be allowed to discount the price of those same bestsellers to $9.99 — the original Amazon price.

Yeah, we’re confused too. Amazon used to lose money selling aBooks at $9.99 because the publishers got paid the same amount regardless of price or discounts. Under the new “agency model” and 70/30 split, the publishers get less money, 70%. What they wanted, however, was a higher sticker price for consumers whether or not they lost some money on it. See, it was all about the “perceived value” of eBooks. They don’t want us to think eBooks are cheap, and they’ll take less money to charge us more. Apple, wanting to compete with Amazon (and liking the consistent 70/30 model they already use in the iTunes and App Stores) agreed to the deal with the launch of the iPad and the iBooks app. Big publishers then started pressuring Amazon to do likewise.

Which brings us — again still confused — to the New York Times story:

according to at least three people with knowledge of the discussions, who spoke anonymously because of the confidentiality of the talks, Apple inserted provisions requiring publishers to discount e-book prices on best sellers — so that $12.99-to-$14.99 range was merely a ceiling; prices for some titles could be lower, even as low as Amazon’s $9.99. Essentially, Apple wants the flexibility to offer lower prices for the hottest books, those on one of the New York Times best-seller lists, which are heavily discounted in bookstores and on rival retail sites. So, for example, a book that started at $14.99 would drop to $12.99 or less once it hit the best-seller lists.

So did Apple give publishers everything they thought they wanted, and somehow still keep the ability to charge $9.99 for bestsellers? And if our heads are throbbing from all this, is Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos’ near ready to ’splode?

NYT: Apple May Discount Best Selling iBooks to $9.99? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

1Password for iPhone and iPad (Macworld 2010) — TiPb Apps 1.5

David Chartier, Chief Media Producer for Agile Web Solutions, talks to TiPb’s Rene and Leanna about 1Password [$4.99 - iTunes link] and 1Password Pro [$7.99 - iTunes link] for the iPhone… and iPad!

Watch along after the jump, and for more on 1Password for iPad, see David’s just-blogged mockups of their initial UI concepts at SwitchersBlog.com!

1Password for iPhone and iPad (Macworld 2010) — TiPb Apps 1.5 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Review: Photo Brush for iPhone

This $1 photo-editing app is fun to play with, and it can produce some interesting results with its various brushes and effects.