iPhone App Blog

Well, I thought it was about time to do another iPhone game app spotlight. The iPhone is great for games and there have been a lot of great ones developed for the gadget. Some of these have been designed just for iPhone while others have simply been iPhone optimized. Today I’m going to feature some fun little games for iPhone.

First up, the iPhone version of the classic logic game MasterMind. In this game a pattern of four colors is chosen randomly; you then have to figure out the pattern. You’re given six colors to choose from and are told when you have the right color in the right position or the right color in the wrong position. This game can be maddening or challenging depending on how good you are at logic puzzles.

Next up, Othello, the challenging strategy game. Also known as Reversi, Turncoat, or even Iago, Othello is rather similar to chess or checkers in that there are two players; each trying to “capture” the other’s pieces. This game requires a lot of forethought and planning, and I am terrible at it. Luckily the player settings allow you to make the computer stupid and actually win…or you could play for real…whatever.

NES Roms for the iPhone have been getting some press lately, so guess what? I have some NES game apps here. First up, a really addicting version of Knock Out, the Nintendo boxing game. This version is a little tricky because you have to punch the guy and bob and weave and I think you need an extra hand.

Next in the NES game round-up is the all time classic Duck Hunt, complete with laughing retriever. The ducks can be a little hard to hit sometimes because they are so small and you may have to suppress the urge to destroy your iPhone if you see that laughing dog one more time!!! While it’s not the same as pointing a big hunk of orange plastic at your TV screen, it is a good time waster.

Last up in this spotlight is a new game made just for the iPhone. Now this game sounds deceptively simple, everything you need to know is right in the title, Stack The Log! Stack one log on top of the other as evenly as you can to gain the title of “STACKMASTER.” Thing is, depending on how off you are, you can end up with a tall stack of tiny, tiny logs.

Yesterday Cisco-owned online collaboration company WebEx announced a new version of its remote access software. WebEx PCNow ver. 3.0 is now compatible with the iPhone as well as several other mobile devices. Now you can access your home or work PC from anywhere and from any device.

PCNow is the only remote access service that is available for both PCs and mobile devices. With PCNow you can access desktop PC files, Microsoft Outlook, contacts, tasks, and appointments straight from your iPhone. Thanks to WebEx’s partnership with SoonR iPhone users can also make and recieve VoIP calls via Skype.

Programs like PCNow are allowing the iPhone to become a more business minded mobile device. Although iPhone has yet to become a heavy hitter in the corporate world, there are many applications and programs that are making it a little easier for business folk to let go of their Blackberries and other PDAs. Whether or not iPhone will ever replace those bastions of mobile business, though, will take time.

Meanwhile, WebEx’s PCNow represents a nice step in the right direction for businessmen and women on the go. If you’re interested, head over to PCNow’s website to take advantage of their free 30 day trial period. After the first 30 days PCNow offers many different package options depending on how many PCs you have.

If you’ve ever had trouble finding a clear station when using an FM transmitter in your car? If you hardly travel or live in a small town it probably isn’t that big of a deal, but if you love to go on road trips and use your iPhone, iPod, or other MP3 player you know how frustrating finding a good channel can be.

Luckily, the folks at Digital Lifestyle Outfitters(DLO) has developed a free app to help FM transmitter users to find open FM frequencies in their area. Designed to be used with DLO’s TransDock FM transmitter line, the app can be used with any transmitter. Simply enter a city and state or zip code into OpenFM to find the nearest and best open FM frequencies in the area.

This app is incredibly useful for people who love to listen to their MP3 players in the car during a road trip or long commute to work or school. Folks in big cities who have trouble finding signals from one area to another will find this service really helpful. Even if you’ve just bought an FM transmitter you can use OpenFM to find a channel quickly without fumbling around the dial.

After spending $600 on your iPhone the coffers may be running a little low. Luckily there are lots of applications developed for the iPhone that are designed to help you find the bargains you’re looking for. Whether it’s online deals, coupons, or deals on gas there’s an iPhone app out there to help.

Whenever you go shopping or to run errands the first step is to make a list. Now there are lots of iPhone list apps out there. Some are for grocery lists while others allow you type in any kind of list. One of the most flexible list apps I’ve found is iPhonedItIn, a list generator that allows you to type in what you need to buy or do, cross it off, and e-mail it off.

Now that you have your list and you’re ready to go you probably need some gas. Have you seen those prices lately? Ouch. Luckily there’s an app that helps you find the best prices at local gas stations. Simply type your zip code into Gas.app and find the cheapest gas around.

However, if you’d rather stay home and shop from the comfort of your couch there are apps that can help you find the best online deals. To find great online coupons there’s KeepCash. Just look up the name of the store and see all the online deals and coupons available right on your iPhone.

To just find really great deals on your iPhone check out iSave. Deals on electronics, games, clothing, and all kinds of good stuff can be found at iSave. Compare prices from many different online stores and find the best deal right from you couch. So make sure that you check out these and other great apps to help you save a few bucks.

This week Apple has released its second update for the iPhone. The notes on update 1.0.2 cryptically states that it includes “bug fixes” but gives no specific details. The 3.7 MB download only takes a few minutes to download, and there are lots of reports flying around as to what the update actually does.

Some users are reporting extended Wi-Fi coverage in areas where it was previously difficult or impossible to connect. Others are reporting increased speaker volume as well as fixing an issue with iPhone’s camera that caused a blue/green tint to cover photos.

If you’ve hacked your iPhone, though, getting the update becomes a bit tricky. Like update 1.0.1, hacked iPhones require a full restore to get the update working. Hacked iPhone owners will see the update as a ridiculously large 92.1 MB download. This is just because it includes the restore.

Of course restoring your hacked iPhone results in losing all of your hacks. Some users have reported that they have been able to choose past backups and restore their user settings. Of course there are now a lot of new and simple ways to get your favorite hacks and third party apps back.

While reloading your favorite hacks may seem like a pain it’s interesting to note that Apple has made no attempt to prevent future hacks. If we get up to updates 1.2 or 1.3 with no software to prevent hacking those who love to fiddle around with their iPhones may be in the clear. We’ll just have to wait till the next updates.

If you want to get super cool sweet third party apps on your iPhone, but lack the skillz to hack it then you’re in luck! Installer.app is a new UIKit based package manager for the iPhone that is super easy to download and use. It features a simple one line command download scheme that makes it easy for even the most technologically inept iPhone user to hack the phone.

The single command installer automates not only the Installer.app installation, but jailbreaking your iPhone as well. Right now the software is in its beta stages and isn’t backed up by any warranty or guarantee, but has been getting decent reviews. Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz did a full step-by-step install for Mac OS X users complete with very nerdy joke picture at the top of the article.

Another good package managment tool for the iPhone is pxl. If you have a little more technical skill/courage pxl is a fairly easy and well recieved hack to get third party apps on your iPhone. To get pxl going on your phone you’ll have to jailbreak it yourself; a daunting task for non-hackers. Fortunately iPhone Central has a very long and detailed jailbreak how-to.

Not even two months after the iPhone’s release and Apple is already offering refurbished units at a $100 discount. That’s right; if you haven’t gotten an iPhone because of the rather large price tag attached you can now pick up an “Apple Certified Refurbished” iPhone at a bit of a discount.

The refurbished units are being sold through Apple’s online store for $100 dollars off of the ticket price making the 4 GB model $399 with the 8 GB model going for $499. Both refurbished models come with a year warranty and are eligible for AppleCare Protection Program which extends repair coverage to two years. Even with the $69 AppleCare Protection Program you’ll get your refurbished iPhone at a discount.

Now the fact that these are “refurbished” units might deter some potential iPhone buyers, but the one year warranty should assuage most buyer’s fears. The reasons that an iPhone may be offered as a refurbished unit are many. Maybe it was returned days after purchase by unsatisfied customers, maybe it’s a retired loaner phone, maybe it was defective in some way. There are a lot of options.

Apple’s online store also offers refurbished Macs and iPods and includes warranties on everything it sells, so Apple has a pretty good reputation when it comes to refurbished items. Buying refurbished items can be a bit of a crap shoot, but they can be a good way to get the newest technology at a discount. For more information check out the discussions at DailyTech and Information Week.

Facebook, the social networking giant, has launched a version designed specifically for the iPhone. All the normal features like news feed, messaging, and status updates are there, but the layout has been specially reformatted to gel with iPhone’s screen; links and icons are bigger to accommodate iPhone’s touchscreen.

When viewing photos or profiles simply rotate the iPhone and the data neatly fits the landscape orientation. You can call friends directly from their profiles (ones with phone numbers listed, of course) and utilize Google Maps to get event directions on the go.

Facebook engineer Joe Hewitt wrote on Facebook’s Official Blog:

The iPhone has not even been out for two months but has already changed the way people think about the mobile web…Today we are taking our first step into that new mobile world with a new Facebook website designed just for iPhone.

It seems that every day there’s a new iPhone app portal or an iPhone formatted version of a popular website. The iPhone really is, slowly but surely, changing the way we all think of the mobile web. Some complain that part of the appeal of the iPhone was that it featured the “real web” and that specially designed iPhone sites are somehow “cheating.”

Well, that’s a discussion for another day…back to Facebook’s iPhone page…

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington calls the new Facebook page the current “gold standard” in iPhone designed sites. Wired blogger Scott Gilbertson calls it “better than the main Facebook site.” (warning: quote taken slightly out of context.) Even if you’re not addicted to Facebook, go on and take a peek at their top o’ the line iPhone page.

Book publisher HarperCollins is making digital book content available to iPhone users. Through a specially designed mobile portal iPhone users can gain access to HarperCollins’ Browse Inside service. Browse Inside allows users to read the first 10 pages of chapters one and two of selected books before they are presented with an option to buy the book.

On HarperCollins website over 10,000 books have been digitized and are available for browsing. This and their other mobile site utilize Flash necessitating a special portal for iPhone users. Right now there are 14 titles available for browsing including Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury and Soul Catcher by Michael C. White.

After previewing titles you’re given the option of buying or pre-ordering the books. Most of the featured titles are debuting in August or September, but some are available now. With 10,000 titles to choose from, HarperCollins should be enlarging the list of iPhone brows-able books soon.

In a statement Brian Murray, president of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide said:

Reaching consumers on mobile devices and the Internet is increasingly important for publishers…Our digital warehouse gives us the unique opportunity to quickly offer access to our titles on the newest technology, and we encourage people to provide feedback about their experiences.

Join the discussion on TechMeme…

The breaking news today is that the folks over at the Bladox forums are reporting that they’ve completely unlocked the iPhone. By using a Turbo SIM card (available from Bladox) you can remotely encrypt your iPhone to accept any carrier’s SIM card. Testers are reporting this method allows you full calling, texting, and SMS/GPRS data capabilities.

Unlike other unlocking methods floating around this method requires no extra hardware like card readers and doesn’t rely on your SIM card version. Unlocking the iPhone through this method requires some hacking skills, but the instructions are pretty straightforward and easy to follow. First, though, your iPhone must have been activated through official or unofficial means.

You should probably also make sure that your mobile carrier doesn’t know what you’re doing. AT&T’s exclusivity agreement with Apple could make some trouble for you and your mobile carrier if any higher ups found out about it. So, you know, keep it on the downlow if you’re going to be trying this.

The Turbo SIM card costs about $80 and is available from Bladox. If you don’t want to wade through the 15 plus page forum topic on their forums, My iTablet has a condensed version of the basic instructions. Of course if you run into troubles, you’re probably going to want to visit their forums for specific help.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to stand back and see if someone is going to crash and burn before you take your turn the folks at Gizmodo have volunteered to be an iPhone hacking guinea pig. I for one am pretty excited to see where this leads and whether or not Apple will care.