Like the traditional Rock Band experience, you’ll get to select between four instruments — vocals, guitar, bass and drums. Each will feature it’s own authentic experience for every song in the game, and when played with friends should sync up flawlessly.  Note our use of the word “should.”  This game has been in development for more than a year now, so we’d like to think that they’ve worked all the kinks out.  But until we get a room full of band geeks jamming out on their portables, we’ll never really know how well the game will sync via Bluetooth.  At the end of the day, this will likely make or break the experience.  Knowing the top notch quality of previous Rock Band efforts, we’re inclined to believe that Rock Band iPhone should pull this off without a hitch.

Touch Arcade were given a hands-on preview of the game, and are reporting that the following 20 songs will make up the initial set list;

30 Seconds To Mars – “Attack”
AFI – “Girls Not Grey”
All American Rejects – “Move Along”
Beastie Boys – “Sabotage”
Blink-182 – “All The Small Things”
Blondie – “Hanging on the Telephone”
Foo Fighters – “Learn To Fly”
Foo Fighters – “Everlong”
George Thorogood & the Destroyers – “Bad to The Bone”
Jethro Tull – “Hymn 43″
Joan Jett – “Hymn 43″
Lynard Skynard – “Simple Man”
Motorhead – “Ace of Spades ‘08″
Pixies – “Debaser”
Presidents of The United States of America – “Ladybug”
Rise Against – “Give It All”
Silversun Pickups – “Lazy Eye”
Smashing Pumpkins – “Cherub Rock”
Steve Miller Band – “Take The Money and Run”
The Go Go’s – “We Got The Beat”

The one disappointing thing we gleamed from the Touch Arcade preview was that “every instrument has its own track that you tap along with.”  If true, that means that vocals have replaced actual singing with yet another instrument track.  It’s understandable (not all App Store shoppers have access to a mic), but still disappointing.  We would have loved to learn that iPhone rockers could belt out the hits into their microphones.  Doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case.

We’re also very glad to see that this release have gone in a very different direction than Rock Band’s other recent portable incarnation, Rock Band Unplugged for the PSP.  The PSP version had players attempting to keep all four instruments in play at the same time in a frantic, mad balancing act.  It was not unlike Harmonix’s breakthrough PS2 game Frequency, but it just didn’t seem to be a great fit for the portable player in our opinion.  Keeping things streamlined and as close the original experience as possible, much as EA Mobile seems to have done here, is really the best way to bring this to the portable market.

No word on price yet, but a number of sources are reporting that this has already been submitted to Apple for approval.  Hopefully this means we’ll be seeing it in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, enjoy every second of Tap Tap Revenge you can.  Once Rock Band hits, something tells me Tap Tap won’t carry the weight it once did in the court of public opinion.

Jim Whitelaw is a man with a problem.  Jim bought his 10 year old daughter an iPod Touch so that she could play some games without having to break the bank on her allowance.  He set her up with an iTunes account, gave her an iTunes gift card, and told her to go at it.  Only, she couldn’t.  Apple Canada doesn’t allow iTunes gift cards to be used for App Store purchases.

Whitelaw contacted Apple customer support via email and was given the following reason;

“…you will not be able to purchase software, games, or applications with store credit or an iTunes Gift Card in Canada. Customers residing in Canada may only purchase software, games and applications using a credit card. This is due to Canadian Commerce Laws that the iTunes Store must strictly enforce.”

This story seemed all too familiar to me — not because I’d heard it before but because I’d lived it myself.  Earlier this year I had gone through the exact same situation.  What’s worse, the gift cards in Canada give no such warning.  At the time this occurred I attempted to look up the law in question, and failing to do so assumed the fault lie with my research abilities and not with Apple’s argument.  Jim Whitelaw, however, wasn’t content to walk away without a better answer.

When Apple customer care was unable to cite the law in question or put him in touch with someone that could, Whitelaw contacted his MPP (think Congress representative, but Canadian) for answers.  His MPP, too, could find no such law on the books, and like Whitelaw, refused to leave well enough alone.  The matter was escalated to the highest authority on the issue in Canada, the Hon. Tony Clement, Minister of Industry.  Here is the minister’s official response;

“(I) am unaware of which Canadian laws the company representatives are said to be enforcing.  I am not aware of any laws that prevent a company from accepting its own gift cards when it sells certain products.  That said, merchants are generally free to set their own policies respecting the payment methods they accept.”

So there you have it.  If the Canadian Minister of Industry can’t name the law that prevents Apple from accepting their own gift cards for certain purchases in Canada, my money says that no such law exists.  Furthermore, with no such warning printed on iTunes gift cards in Canada one could argue that this is nothing more than a dubious business practice intended to force people to spend additional funds in the iTunes Store than originally intended by referencing an imaginary law.

Mr. Whitelaw has sent an email to Steve Jobs, and is awaiting a response.  To follow his story as it develops, visit jimwhitelaw.com.

Software exclusivity is quickly becoming a thing of the past.  What once was a killer app for one system or another has now turned into the consumer connundrum of which software to buy for which device and why.  Determining a winner based on techincal differences and personal preferences takes time and research, yet one thing has become readily apparent: the iPhone is home to some tremendous bargains on some amazing software.  What you may spend $20 on elsewhere could only cost you $2 in the App Store, and it’s entirely possible you’ll end up with a better experience too!  Don’t believe us?  Take a look at these 5 examples of spectacular AppStore savings;

Burgertime Deluxe – Mac $19.95, PC $6.99, iPhone $1.99

What is it? It may not get mentioned as much as Pac-Man or Donkey Kong, but Burgertime is an old school classic that every gamer from the arcade generation holds near and dear to their hearts.  Peter Pepper needs to navigate a series of platforms to drop all the parts of a burger down to the plate, and he has to do it while battling evil foodstuffs come to life.  Namco recently resurrected this much beloved franchise with Burgertime Deluxe for the PC and Mac, with an iPhone port following shortly afterwords.  $6.99 for the PC version is an excellent price, but they have the outrageous audacity to ask nearly $20 for the Mac version!  Apple fans, don’t spill the big bills on this fast food classic.  Grab it on the value menu instead — the iPhone version is only $1.99!

Is there a difference? Technically no.  Visually the game is dead on.   So are the levels.  The controls though?  That’s a different story.  While no means a deal breaker, it’s not always as easy as it should be to get young Mr. Pepper off a ladder.  This problem only pops up from time to time, but it was definitely aggravating enough to mention.  Still — for $18 in savings it’s a small price to pay.

Star Wars Legacy: Broken – Trade Paperback $17.95, Original Issues $17.94, iPhone $1.98

What is it? Star Wars Legacy is an ongoing comics series published by Dark Horse Comics.  Set more than 100 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, it tells the story of Cade Skywalker, padawan-turned bounty hunter in a dark and sithly future.  Broken collects the first six issues of the series.  With the trade paperback you’ll need to spend $17.95 to get started on the adventure — but on the iPhone?  Broken Vol. 1 and Broken Vol. 2 are 99 cents each on the App Store, and collect all six issues when combined.

Is there a difference? You’re going to lose the tactile feel and smell of a real comic, but if you can live with that you’ll find reading comics on the iPhone is even better than the real thing.  The panels are bigger and easier to read, the backlit screen makes the colors pop, and the panel-by-panel navigation feels more comfortable than we’d like to admit.

Toki Tori – WiiWare 1000 points (roughly $10), iPhone $4.99

What is it? One of the best puzzle platformers ever created, Toki Tori tells the tale of a chicken trying to save his friends.  Rather than controlling our hero first hand, you’ll simply point him to where you want to go.  When it debuted on WiiWare last year it seemed like a good use of the system’s much touted motion controls.  But let’s be frank — this thing was made for touching.  Thankfully you can pick up our recently hatched hero on the iPhone for half the price of it’s WiiWare predecessor.

Is there a difference? Yep — it’s better on the iPhone.  Drastically in fact.  We had two major complaints with the Wii version — the default view was zoomed out much too far, and the motion controls required far too steady of a hand to be effective.  On the iPhone, both of these concerns have been addressed.  Of all the versions of Toki Tori we’ve seen over the years, the iPhone version is easily the best.

Droplitz – PC $9.99, PS3 $9.99, iPhone $1.99

What is it? Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that we become the most passionate about.  Tetris.  Bejeweled.  And now, Droplitz.  The goal in Droplitz is to rotate pipes in an attempt to guide their contents down to the drains below.  On the PC and PS3 they expect you to droplitz $10 of your hard earned cash, but on the iPhone?  You’ll only have to droplitz $1.99.

Is there a difference? The PS3 and PC versions are definitely prettier, and the larger screen allows for a bigger playfield too.  Despite this, the iPhone version is crazy addictive and captures the spirit and intent of the game perfectly.  You’ll technically be settling for less, but it’s really 10% less the experience at 80% less the price.  You do the math.

Awaken – Mac: $15, iPhone $1.99

What is it? Awaken is the Mac’s leading iTunes-friendly alarm clock.  Want to wake up to your complete collection of Anne Murray classics?  It’s all yours, Snowbird.  With everything it has to offer, $15 has always been a pretty good price for Awaken.  But if you can live with the delicate sounds of morning coming from your iPhone?  You can do that for $1.99.

Is there a difference? This is the only app on our list that has some pretty drastic differences, but that has less to do with handicapping the mobile version and more to do with the needs of each device.  While both devices serve as an alarm clock built entirely around you music library, the Mac version offers a few neat twists like the ability to set alarms to launch programs or the ability to control the alarm from across the room with your Mac remote.  If you tend to wake up, shower, watch a video podcast, and then check your email over breakfast, you can program the Mac version to do all of these things for you.  Well, almost.  You’ll need to eat that grapefruit yourself.  Awaken for the iPhone is a great choice for an iPhone alarm clock, especially if you tend to travel.  But if you want a fully-featured alarm clock that will cater to you daily desktop needs, you may actually want to spend the extra.

GPush is the first app for the iPhone that will send you a push notification any time you get a new message in your Gmail inbox.  It’s a fairly simple app that tackles a fairly simple problem, and it works.  After a simple username and password set up, you’ll receive a push notification whenever a new message pops into your Gmail account.  The push notification is similar to any text message you might receive.

One of our earlier complaints about the app, and one which we intended to focus on here was the inability to access your new mail directly from the notification.  This was addressed in a recently released update to the app, and we couldn’t be happier.  Now when you receive a new push, whether you’re in a application or not, you’ll be given the option to view the email or close the push notification.  If you choose to view the email you’ll be kicked out of your current application and taken to GPush.  Once there, GPush will take you to the new Gmail tab where it loads up a mobile-friendly version of your Gmail inbox that’s identical to the one seen in the Google Mobile App.

This new view feature is a great addition and well appreciated, but that doesn’t mean it’s not without flaws.  Clicking view only brings you to your inbox, not the email itself.  For folks like myself who much prefer using the iPhone’s built-in Mail app, having to use the web-based Gmail mobile feels a little too slow and clunky.  And the view option doesn’t work in every circumstance — if your device receives a push notification in standby you won’t have the option to view or close.  Instead sometimes you’ll be forced to open GPush the next time you unlock your device, and sometimes you won’t.  It’s flaky and inconsistent from the standby state, which is a fairly significant stumbling block when it comes to using the feature properly.

There are other annoyances with the app as well.  Many folks have multiple Gmail addresses for business, personal, etc.. but GPush only allows for one account.  And speaking of Gmail, why only the one client?  Sure Gmail is the biggest freemail provider out there, but does that mean users of Yahoo, Hotmail and Live need to be left out in the cold?  Or how about server based emails?  I happen to use several addresses, both Gmail and otherwise, and would have been delighted to have an app that could cater to all my push notification needs.

Despite our nitpicky complaints, GPush sets out with one thing in mind and it does that one thing incredibly well — it keeps me from bringing up my inbox every 5 minutes.  If it can accomplish that, it can probably accomplish anything.

GPush is available from Tiverias Apps on the iTunes AppStore for $1.99.

Accessing the Genius function is a simple enough process.  At the top of the App Store App beside the New and What’s Hot options that we’ve grown accustomed to will be a new to access Genius.  The first time you access this you’ll need to read and agree to the Genius Terms of Service, but once that’s out of the way it’s pretty much smooth sailing as it compiles a list of recommendations.

iTunes Genius has, in my experience, offered a wonderfully appropriate list of suggestions based on my listening tastes.  They’ve turned me on to new music, suggested music I already know I love — all in all it’s been a quality service since it launched.  It’s baby sibling, however, isn’t fairing as well.

While iTunes Genius seems to base it’s recommendations off of the purchases of like-minded individuals, App Store Genius feels as though it’s pulling random apps from similar categories and dumping them in your lap.  Paypal was recommended based on my use of CBC Radio.  NFL 2010 was recommended because I have Pac-Man Remix.  While these things might technically fall under the same category, their purposes and audiences couldn’t be less similar.

Still, it’s not all bad.  Based on my use of Tweetie a number of Twitter-related apps were suggested my way.  My use of Twitpic led to a recommendation for HP iPrint Photo.  These are all things that are thematically the same.  They make sense.  The problem is that more often than not I would be recommended MLB at Bat based on Twitpic or DOOM based on Civilization Revolution.

Looking at your purchases on the whole and making recommendations based on those might have made a little more sense.  If it did Genius would learn pretty quick how much I love tower defense games, and recommendations of those would have been a welcome addition to the sea of nonsense that’s currently presented.  It may break from the system used by iTunes Genius, but maybe that’s what’s needed here.  Music and apps are two very different beasts, and those beasts need two very different approaches to be tackled effectively.

One thing that surprised me was that Genius only factored in apps currently on your device.  If you’ve purchased apps in the past but removed them, those aren’t included.  One can appreciate the logic behind this — if you’ve deleted an app you probably don’t like it — but there’s a flipside to that argument.  What if you loved the app, but just didn’t need it right now?  Secret of Monkey Island SE easily ranks amongst my favorite iPhone games, but I deleted it once I was finished because of the space it took up.  In my mind, that’s something that should absolutely be factored in to any recommendation engine that’s trying to learn about my shopping habits.

App Store Genius is a great idea, but it’s execution is poor and contrary to the it’s own purposes.  Without consistently sensible recommendations, this just isn’t a part of the App Store that you’ll find yourself visiting.

It’s not a major update by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s definitely some unexpected additions in there.  Shopping for ringtones, App Store Genius, and more.  Here’s the complete breakdown;

Shopping

• Select from over 30,000 ringtones in the new Ringtones section of the iTunes app
• See available iTunes Store credit in both the iTunes and App Store apps
• Use redemption codes like iTunes gift cards and promo codes in the App Store app
• App Store Genius introduced, recommends new apps based on previous purchases

Video

• Trimmed videos can now be saved as new clips
• Save video received via email or MMS into Camera Roll

Phone

• Voice Control via Bluetooth on 3GS introduced
• Phone numbers can now be pasted into keypad

Performance

• Improved wi-fi performance when Bluetooth is active
• Improved syncing for audio, video, and photos
• Improved calendar syncing with Microsoft Exchange
• Corrects issue that displayed incorrect app icons for some

Other

• Use MobileMe to remotely lock iPhone
• Content organization for iTunes U
• Adds options to turn on 3GS accessibility features via Home button
• Safari will now warn you of dangerous/fradulent websites
• Other fixes to support changes in the upcoming release of iTunes 9

As someone who prefers shopping for apps on their iPhone, the addition of App Genius and code redemption are a welcome change.  Beyond that though, I’m not seeing a lot offered here.  Mind you, we shouldn’t really be expecting a major update so soon after the release of 3.0.  If anything, I think Apple’s spoiling us.

iPhone OS 3.0 and iPod Touch OS 3.1.1 are available as a free update on iTunes now.

Simplenote provides exactly what it says, a simple way to take and sync notes on your iPhone and iPod Touch. When you open an app, you see a simple page where you can add a new, view, search, and delete notes as well as allowing you to sign up/log in to your web account. Adding a note is as simple as touching the “+”, to manage syncing you simply touch the wrench button, and to delete a note you swipe your finger across the note and touch “Delete”.

When creating a new note or editing a preexisting note, the interface remains clean and simple with buttons to return to the notes list, email your note, or delete it. The app supports both portrait and landscape mode, which is very nice if you are typing a lot and prefer the landscape keyboard as I do. With no extra frills like titles, tags, locations, images, and file attachments, Simplenote runs extremely fast, even on old iPhones and iPod Touches.

The web app for accessing your notes on your desktop is just as clean and light as the app. It looks almost the same as the app and provides the same exact features. The app syncs automatically and stores local copies of your notes to allow you to view, search, edit, and add new notes even when you don’t have network access.

With the latest update of the app, Cloud Factory has added an API which allows for the creation of “Extras” which allows developers to create third party applications to interface with Simplenote. Currently the only app is a web application, Simple Backup, which allows you to backup/export your Simplenote notes into plain text, CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, and Evernote archive formats. I expect to see some exciting new features added with this feature in the future.

If you are looking for a simple, clean, and fast note taking app for your iPhone or iPod Touch that also syncs with the web Simplenote is my pick. Simplenote costs $1.99 which includes a free web account and can be downloaded from iTunes.

Ramp Champ takes the classic game of Skee-Ball and puts it on its head. The game play is pretty much as simple as it gets on the iPhone, you simply slide your finger from the bottom of the screen up to roll your ball at the various targets. Out of the box, Ramp Champ includes 4 different styles of Skee-Ball: Clown Town, Breakwater Bay, Space Spin, and the Icon Garden. But using the in-app purchasing you can get two add-ons, both costing $.99 and including 2 new themes as well as various new prizes.

By far the most impressive of Ramp Champ’s features is it’s design. The Iconfactory is known for it’s superb design and this game is no exception.Immediately upon launching the app you become immersed in the carnival atmosphere through the impressive typography and phenomenal use of texture. The user interface is simple and clean but does not stray away from the overall feel, the tab bar the garnishes the bottom of 99% of iPhone apps, for example, is still there in spirit but it’s face is replaced with various carnival style posters. If the design alone doesn’t put you in the midway spirit, the music and sounds will certainly get you there. They are so good, in fact, that I don’t think you should play the game without them.

The gameplay is as addictive as an iPhone game can be. Each individual ramp theme has a separate set of 3 goals, which are surprisingly motivating and I’ve found they actually give you some hint on how you should play the ramp. For every 500 points you receive you get a ticket, just like you would get at a carnival, with these tickets you can get various virtual prizes, including Ollie, the Twitterrific bird. Unfortunately, the game has a tendency to crash occasionally when “printing your tickets” and at some other times during gameplay. I’ve also found that on occasion the ball will get stuck on the dividers between the various levels of targets. Luckily, the ball disappears after a few seconds and the game play resumes. If it weren’t for the crashing and few bugs, this could be the perfect iPhone game.

Overall, I’ve found Iconfactory and DS Media Lab’s Ramp Champ to be absolutely deserving of it’s $1.99 price tag even with the bugs. For more coverage on Ramp Champ be sure to listen to the next episode of the MacApper Podcast, releasing Monday morning.

Apple also wrote that no discussion with AT&T about the application had taken place, and that all the concerns that had been raised were from Apple’s side and not from the phone company. As had been suspected before, the application was not immediately approved because it was seen to duplicate features already on the iPhone. However, these were described more specifically: the Google Voice application would replace the phone button on the iPhone, and voicemails would no longer be stored on the iPhone itself but on Google’s servers. The same concerns were raised about the SMS section of the application. Apple was also concerned about the safety of the contacts imported from the iPhone to Google, and the company’s subsequent use of those contacts.

AT&T and Google also wrote letters to the FCC as part of the investigation. AT&T confirmed that Apple had not consulted them about the application, and defended its position on internet calling programs by stating that they needed to be sure that enabling VoIP on iPhones would not reduce revenues for the company. Google, always trying to gain the upper hand, stated in its letter that it did not, unlike Apple, screen any applications for its phone operating system (Android), with the exception of pornographic and potentially offensive material. These letters are part of a larger investigation by the FCC into internet calling on smart phones initiated by complaints from Skype. The investigation is expected to continue to discern the rights of wireless networks to screen applications, and whether or not it would make the system more amenable to a monopoly.

Given PopCap’s track record it only stood to reason that PvZ would be ported to every console known to man.  That’s why it comes as no surprise when PopCap Games announced this morning that, in addition to an upcoming port to Xbox Live Arcade and a recent retail box release, Plants vs Zombies will be arriving in the AppStore for iPhone users in late 2009.

PopCap has had a tremendously good track record with iPhone Games.  Peggle, Bookworm, and Bejeweled 2 have all been ported to the popular portable with great success.  Few of these games, however, required the visual real estate that Plants vs. Zombies will.  It’s a question that’s begging to be asked — how are you going to manage to fit the fast paced, screen-filling action of Plants vs Zombies on a 3.5″ widescreen?

That’s not to say that PopCap won’t be able to do it.  I have no doubt in my mind that they’ll execute a perfect port — it’s what they’re known for.  But how?  Will they retool the game to create a smaller playfield?  Will they offer a “scan-and-pan” camera that lets you move around the board?  It’s a befuddling conundrum to be sure, but one I’m looking forward to seeing solved.

No price or solid release date has been announced, but PopCap assures us you can expect to see this one in the AppStore by the end of the year.  In the meantime, why not check out our review of the original Mac version?

TwitPic for the iPhone lets you log in to your twitpic account, upload any photo stored on your device, comment on it and tweet it…  and that’s it.  Essentially TwitPic is a twitter client for twitpic photos only.  In a world where Twitter clients offered zero photo functionality, this would be a godsend.  But that’s not the world we live in.  In fact, most iPhone Twitter clients not only offer image uploading features but allow you to pick from a list of hosts including twitpic.

The developers behind this app couldn’t have been oblivious to this fact, and yet their design decisions suggest just that very thing.  Adding in twitpic specific features such as browsing your photo history or the photo history of other users would have added something fresh and new here, but such features are conspicuously absent.  Going one step further they could have added in features that have been glaringly omitted from the site like a search functionality, but again, this app functions as little more than the image uploader you already have in a client.

Even as an image uploader, it’s far from perfect.  Once you enter the portion of the process where you “comment” on your photo, giving the tweet text, you’re officially locked in.  If, say, you change your mind at the last minute and decide you’d rather not post the image for whatever reason (logged into the wrong acct, don’t want to embarrass your wife, etc..), tough beans.  There’s no way to cancel at that point.  Even worse?  Logging out of the app will then force your pic to post when you boot it back up.

If you’re looking for a quick way to pop your photos on to Twitter without booting up your Twitter client for whatever reason, this is definitely going to be a handy little tool.  The problem?  I can’t imagine anyone who that situation might apply to.  It’s like entering the word processor market and offering a fantastic app for backspacing.  No matter how good it is, it doesn’t matter — every app already does that.  And this app?  It’s a sub-par backspacer at best.

Considering there are so many options that already exist for uploading photos to twitpic, this app feels completely edundant.  Had they added in some basic features like the ability to browse your twitpic acct or search through the photos of others, they may have had something worth checking out.  As it stands though, TwitPic for the iPhone offers a tiny set of features that you’ll already find built into the vast majority of Twitter clients in the App Store.

TwitPic is available for free on the iTunes App Store.

USAA, a company whose largest customer base is the armed forces, is no stranger to new and inventive ways to bank. Because their customers are scattered all around the world, not just around their one branch in San Antonio, Texas, they have previously released a service where a scanned check can be deposited, so the iPhone application is not a far leap. However, compared to many other online banking services offered by other banks, it is a huge step forward. While many banks, such as Bank of America, have dedicated iPhone applications, they are used primarily for checking balances, making transfers, and all in all dealing with the money already in an account. To be able to deposit money without having to visit a brick-and-mortar bank is a fascinating innovation. The customers using this application don’t need to mail in the check later, they can void the check as soon as they “deposit” it and forget about it.

iPhones are being used increasingly to deal with financial transactions, say the most popular banks in America. A cell phone is almost always on one’s person, and so is the most convenient way to bank. Perhaps other banks will soon pick up on the trend started by USAA, and we will be able to deposit and handle our money without ever setting foot in a real bank.

Facebook and Instapaper Integration: One of the biggest problems Shovel faces with the current lack of a fully-featured Digg API (coming soon!) is how difficult it is to bookmark stories for reading later and how tough it can be to share a good story with friends.

With the current version of Shovel you can email a story to yourself or a others, but that’s hardly a convenient solution.  Shovel 3.0 will introduce Facebook integration thereby allowing you to post stories to your wall for all of your friends to enjoy.  And if you want to simply bookmark something for future reading and not share it with the rest of the world?  Shovel 3.0 will also integrate with Instapaper, a fantastic web-based app that allows you to quickly shove web pages into a “I’ll read it later” file.  Instapaper also offers a free iPhone app (as well as a paid Pro version) that will let you access your temporary bookmark list on the go.

Built-in Email: Prior to the release of iPhone OS 3.0 it was incredibly difficult to compose an email in an app without simply triggering the Mail app, which in turn would close the program you were using.  Now that 3.0 is here, Shovel is more than happy to adapt with the times.  This means no more exiting and re-opening every time you choose to use the e-mail option.

Improved web browser: Again, Shovel 3.0 is all about keeping up with the Joneses.  New features introduced in OS 3.0 didn’t just automatically appear in third-party applications, which means that the current version of the Shovel browser (Shovel doesn’t simply open Safari for a host of navigation-friendly reasons) is lacking new features like cut and paste.  Except Shovel 3.0 to rectify that.

Story Search: A feature suspiciously missing from previous versions, story search will take Shovel from an app that acts as a browsable diggtionary to a full fledged search for stories of interest.

The One Way Mirror: You still can’t digg stories.  You can’t comment.  You can’t submit.  All of these things are coming just as soon as Digg releases their new API.  But what about what what other Diggers are doing?  All of the data on users in available in the current API, and Scott saw this as an opportunity to bring a touch of the social experience to the current platform;

“It’s always interesting to see where a person is coming from, and Digg comments are no exception.  By clicking on a person’s username you are taken to a profile view where you can browse their previous comments and get a feel for how they feel about various other topics.”

Again, until the new API is released this is entirely a way one street.  It’s not unlike engaging in a conversation as a mute.  You can hear what everyone else is saying, but you can’t make a peep of your own.

The Sticking Point: All of these improvements will come at a cost – literally.  Shovel has been available as a free app since it’s original release, but as it rolls into 3.0 users will have to choose between a free version and a new paid version.  While the free version will feature a number of basic enhancements over it’s 2.0 predecessor (e-mail, browser, and story search improvements) the two biggest additions, Facebook and Instapaper integration, will be exclusive to the paid app.  A newly introduced landscape mode will also be exclusive to the Pro version.

While no price has been announced, we should find out soon enough as the Pro version is expected to hit the App Store in the next few weeks.  The free version of 3.0 will be following at a slightly later date.  User’s of the current version should experience a seamless transition from one free version to the other once the update is released.

How will it all pan out?  Make sure to check back here for our review once it becomes available.  In the mean time, be sure to check out the current free version of Shovel.

We reached out to Sprikit Software’s Scott Fitzhugh, developer of the iPhone app Shovel, for comment.

As a developer you’ve  been fairly vocal about wanting Digg to open up to third-party applications such as yours.  Will the introduction of this new API mean that users will be able to login, vote, and comment from Shovel?

YES!  As a programer, one of the most difficult things to accept is that something simply “can’t be done.”  We’ve been hard at work on the newest version of the Shovel and the foundation is there.  I can say without hesitation that as soon as Digg makes these features available, they will be featured front and center in Shovel.

Has Digg directly reached out to your or other notable developers in the Digg marketplace to encourage adoption of this API?

Digg has been very responsive to thoughts and suggestions about the new API.  There’s no release date yet so they haven’t quite moved on to that phase of things, but it’s nice to know that someone is listening.

Do you have any concern that this may somehow lead to Digg developing their own iPhone app?  Does the release of this API make that possibility more or less likely in your eyes?

Yes and no.  We’ve definitely had this discussion.  But I get the feeling that Digg, in general, prefers web-apps over native apps.   With or without their public API, I suspect if they wanted to be in the iPhone app business they would have done so already.

Digg has clearly lagged behind other social networks in terms of third-party involvement.  Why is this?

One word.  Spam.  The Digg community hates it with a fiery passion that could consume a thousand suns, and the developers there have gone to great lengths to eradicate it.  Creating an API that allows for programatic submission of comments, stories, and Diggs is likely to result in bots that automatically submit mass amounts of advertising.   I’m sure they resisted the move as long as possible for this reason.

With no anticipated release date available for Digg’s new API, what can we expect to see from Shovel in the near future?

Shovel 3.0 is due out sometime in the next month (assuming the app review process goes smoothly) and will come in both free and pro flavors.  It’s been recoded from the ground up, includes a story search, Instapaper integration, Facebook integration, has built-in email, a much more full-featured built-in browser, and is far and away a MUCH more rich experience than the current version of Shovel.  We’re really excited about it.  The free version will of course be a free (seamless) update for our existing users.

Interested in checking out what Shovel has to offer?  Click here to download ver 2.0.1 absolutely free of charge.

Power Pros Touch isn’t the first baseball game to make its way to the AppStore.  In fact, with more than a dozen baseball titles currently available for purchase some might say that Power Pros is a little late to the game.  But as the old saying goes, sometimes the best things in life are worth waiting for.

Whether this is your first time stepping up to the virtual plate or your fifty-first, Power Pros Touch offers the perfect blend of exciting baseball action and accessible gameplay.  Like many baseball games, Power Pros Touch is largely about pitching and hitting.  Making excellent use of the touch screen, you’ll choose your pitch from a selection wheel and pinpoint exactly where in the batter’s box you want to throw it.  When the shoe is on the other foot and you’re stepping up to the plate, a small target will appear that you’ll need to tap at just the right time to connect with the ball.  Little touches, like sliding your finger upward to try for a power hit, round out the core experience.

The visuals in Power Pro are so sugary sweet that those judging by appearances alone would almost instantly assume this is a children’s games.  The characters, with their rounded heads and giant eyes, feel like vinyl dolls come to life.  Power Pros Touch is simply the latest handheld iteration of Japan’s wildly successful Pawapuro series, so the teams and uniforms will be unfamiliar to most.  While entirely fictional (as opposed to having roots in real world Japanese baseball), teams like the Dolphins and the Pawapuro All-Stars have long been a staple of Japanese sports gaming.

What strikes me as odd about this release though is the lack of a Major League Baseball license.  Konami had previously brought the Pawapuro series to North American gamers as MLB Power Pros for the Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 2, featuring all of the teams and players in the MLB.  While I can understand their desire to keep the roster small for the iPhone version, it’s surprising that they didn’t pick six teams from North America in an effort to appeal to a wider audience.  Still, wide eyes trump a wide audience any day, and Power Pros Touch definitely has wide, adorable eyes.

Despite it’s cute as a button presentation, an amazing amount of depth is available for players that want to amp up the challenge.  Much like its console predecessors Power Pros Touch can be customized to offer as simple or as deep an experience as you like.  By default the game boots up on the easiest settings, but a little tweaking in the options can change a number of items from automatic from manual.  The default controls automate everything outside of the pitching and batting, which means that base running and fielding are all controlled by your AI teammates.  And while the simplicity of this is downright elegant, gamers who want to step outside of the batters box and get live in the field can do so with ease thanks to the level of customization offered.  Full season and exhibition modes are also offered with adjustable numbers of innings, rules, and difficulties all popping up at the front of every game.

The team at Konami have done the seemingly impossible: they’ve created a baseball game for everyone.  Not only that, but they’ve created it to be played anywhere and for any length of time.  You can play a quick one inning match while waiting for your cab just as easily as you can work your way through a full season over a few months of lunch breaks.  There’s no doubt about it, Konami have really hit this one out of the park.  At $3.99 Power Pros Touch may be the best value you’ll find on the iPhone this summer.  You can find it exclusively in the iTunes App Store.

To start using Keymote, you need to sync your device with your computer. Just download and install the Keymote Controller to your Mac and tap “Add Computer…” in the Keymote settings. After that, you need to start creating keysets. Keysets are extremely easy to create. Just tap on the plus icon in the keysets section of the application and add a name and category. For each keyset you can add keystrokes and spacers. Spacers let you add a blank spot in between keystrokes. These custom keysets make Keymote so versatile. You can start by adding some keystrokes that you use the most often, and Keymote will definitely prove useful.

You don’t need to create all of your keysets. Keymote also has a Keyset Store where you can upload and download user-made keysets. Despite it’s name, everything on this store is free. The store already includes many keysets. There are keysets for a numerical pad and even one for Adobe Photoshop. There are many options in the store that let you easily browse the Keyset Store; it’s almost like browsing the App Store. You can check out staff picks, what’s hot, what’s new, categories, or just view an alphabetical list. You can also search the store to quickly find a keyset for the purpose you want. Adding a keyset to the store is easy. You just need to tap the plus icon on the top right and select your keyset.

I think that almost every Mac user will be able to find a good use for Keymote. With this application you won’t need to remember tons of keystrokes, you just need to tap a button. It does have a few small issues. It takes some time to set up a large custom keyset, and some keysets from the store might not work for you. You might have different keystrokes set up than the person who created the keyset. Despite it’s small flaws, Keymote is a very useful application that many Mac users will appreciate. Keymote is currently under review by Apple and should be available soon on the App Store for $3.99.

The official reason for the rejection was that the application would duplicate features that were already available on the iPhone. This is, to a certain extent, true. Google Voice is a service that routes all calls to any number of phones, and has cheap or free international calls. In addition, you can text message and call using your computer, very similar to what Skype offers. In effect, it is a phone completely on a computer, which of course is effectively what the iPhone is as well. However, general speculation is that the pressure for the rejection came less from Apple and potential conflicts with the iPhone software and more from AT&T and conflicts with their cell phone service.

Because Google Voice uses the phone line rather than the data connection, it can, in theory, replace AT&T’s actual plan. This is perhaps the main difference between the proposed application and others that came before. Whereas applications that use the Skype protocol are numerous in the App Store, they are programmed only to be used at Wifi hotspots, and not over the actual data line. Since Google Voice does not present this option, it is more difficult to regulate, from the perspective of Apple and AT&T. In addition to rejecting the official Google application, Apple also pulled some programs previously available that used aspects of the Google Voice service.

In the end, this rejection could hurt Apple. A possible effect of this decision—besides many disappointed iPhone users—is an increase in other smartphone sales. If, for example, the Palm Pre, which already has a rivalry with the iPhone, allows users access to Google Voice through its much more limited application pool, then potential buyers might prefer that option. Whatever the result, which remains to be seen, Google and Apple join Yahoo and Microsoft as two tech companies making big news this week, with a more belligerent connection.

When it comes to depth of content, lets get one thing straight; the database in Movie Genie isn’t just IMDB-like, it is IMDB.  Less a movie database and more an method of presenting IMDB in an iPhone-friendly way, Movie Genie acts as your go between for IMDB when you’re on the go and it does what it does incredibly well.  The fine folks at IMDB have been dragging their heels on developing an iPhone app for far too long.  Now that Movie Genie is here, they may very well have regretted the wait.

Any actor, director, or film can be found in seconds via the search feature.  Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, the profile is streamlined to make for easy navigation.  At the top of each page are two tabs; one that brings up a person or projects details, and one that brings up the cast & crew or filmography.

The Details page offers up all of the relevant information that you would find in an IMDB profile that’s not pertaining to the list data on the second tab.  Plot, trivia, goofs, user reviews, taglines — you name it, it’s on there.  In fact the only thing that seemed to be missing were trailers, and even they won’t be gone for too long.  The developer currently has trailers slated for a future update.  To keep things streamlined, each of the items on the details page offers up only a few short lines of text.  If you want more, you can just click on the feature to get all of the information.  This makes sure that the Details page provides access to everything you could want without ever getting cluttered.

In addition to the basic search feature Movie Genie also lets you keep track of favorites so that you can revisit material at a later time.  If you’re a big fan of Pauly Shore for example (and who isn’t?) you can bookmark his IMDB profile to your favorites for a quick visit whenever it’s needed.  Even better than the favorites feature (which, lets be honest, was totally expected) is the history tab.  Just give it a quick click and see all of the pages you’ve visited in reverse chronological order (ie most recent first).

Because it uses IMDB as its source material, Movie Genie can help you keep track of more than just movies.  TV shows and video games are also organized here, as well as all of the people associated with them.  If you want to know all the video games Ron Gilbert has worked on or all the TV shows Norman Lear has produced, the information is all at your fingertips.

The only negative to be found with Movie Genie is its nearly total lack of offline functionality.  Because it depends on IMDB for its database resources, Movie Genie needs to remain online for it to work.  And while this should pose no problem for iPhone owners, iPod Touch users will be left out in the cold.  Sure they can browse explore and enjoy when near a wifi point, but let’s be honest — how much of this app’s appeal is for users sitting near a wireless router at home and how much is it for those wanting a point of refernece while in a video store?  Or settling an argument with a friend while out and about on the town?  The idea of Movie Genie is to have a movie database on-the-go.  For iPod Touch users, that simply isn’t the case.

Still, that’s not to say the app would have zero appeal to those who are stuck offline in public.  Let’s say you’ve used your favorites tab to assemble a list of movies you’d like to see.  That list will still be visible regardless of internet connection.  If you want to go any deeper than that though, like finding out who is in the movies on your list or reading a quick synopsis, you’re fresh out of luck.

The lack of offline functionality will definitely be a dealbreaker for a number of iPod Touch users, but when it comes to everybody else?  Movie Genie is easily the best movie reference tool in the iTunes App Store so far.  IMDB should consider dealing directly with developer Taylan Pince when they finally get around to developing an iPhone app, because they’d have a hard time topping what he’s produced with Movie Genie.

Many software review sites, including this one, now have a significant amount of articles on iPhone applications. This is of course because there are new iPhone applications popping up every day. Racing games, arcade games, even new games that create their own genre. But fewer and fewer articles, at least those about gaming, mention a platform other than the iPhone. I have nothing against new programs, and I think—as I’m sure the developers do too—that the iPhone is an exciting new way to think about applications, and has such great potential as a platform. What I think is happening, however, is that the developers are so interested and so obsessed with the new possibilities of a small touch screen interface that they are abandoning what can be done with a mouse and a keyboard.

Back in the day, the Mac was revolutionary. Games like Myst or Riven, for example, took the world by storm, and were fully Apple-centric—created on, and originally for, only Macs. But now, just as the Mac begins to gain market share, and games are developed and released simultaneously on both Macs and Windows (instead of having to wait through interminable periods of jealousy, watching your PC-loving friends play the ones that you couldn’t), it seems that Apple has created the agent of its gaming downfall. No longer are games on a computer screen the forefront of exciting new ways to play.

iPhone games are now where the revolution is taking place. The touch screen, the motion and tilt sensors, all of the little pieces and features of the gadget make it a wonderful tool to use for game input. But countless times now, I have looked through the web, eagerly read news on upcoming games, and then discovered the link to the iTunes music store at the bottom of the article, crushing my dreams of ever playing it. Now, I know that a huge amount of people have iPhones, and this is a market as eager as myself, but I also know that I am not the only person without one. The Mac is still an amazing computer, capable of doing amazing things—more so now than ever, with Core Image graphics, all the other features of Leopard, and so on—, but it’s not getting the attention it deserves.

The iPhone is certainly a wonderful piece of technology. But developers have to remember that it is not the only piece of technology. Bring back new, exciting Mac games! Become forerunners of innovation, creativity, and, most of all, fun! Remember that gamers have more fingers than just their two thumbs! Either that, or someone buy me an iPhone.

The first thing to be said about Postage is how good it looks. It has an amazing UI, and it is no wonder that in won an Apple Design Award this year. But it’s not just the UI that’s nice-looking, it’s the postcards you create as well that look great. And they’re easy to make—It just takes a couple of steps.

The first step is to choose the style for the postcard. As of now, there are over 55 styles in 10 different categories, which is more than enough. In the preview of each style, it shows you exactly where the picture will go, and where the text will go too. After you have chosen a style, you can choose a picture from your iPhone’s photo library. It would be great if you could see a preview with the picture as you were browsing photos, but I think that is an issue of Apple not allowing direct access to photos, you must use the list. After you have selected a picture, you can add one of 7 effects, or keep it as-is. More effects would be nice, and maybe even sliders for exposure, and saturation. But, this is supposed to be a simple app that allows you to make a postcard in just a minute, so it is not a necessity.

The next step is text. With Postage, not only can you choose what it says, but you can also choose a font, text style and text color. There are 9 different fonts to choose from, all of which are very different. If they added more, some would look alike, and you might end up spending minutes trying to figure out which one looks best. So, maybe you should be happy there aren’t more. The styles are normal text styles: left, center or right-alligned and normal or bold. I’m surprised that italics are not in there though, but for a simple message, I’m not sure you’d usually need them.

The final step, but most important one, is the addresses. You can choose someone from your contacts, or just enter someone’s email address. And, you can choose any email address that it will be marked as being from. So, if you want to surprise them, but down a random email address. You can also choose to add the postcard to your photo library, so you can keep track of all the ones you send. I would have never thought of doing this, but it is a great idea. Then, once you have finished everything (and you can go back to the previous step at any point), you must click Send, and your postcard is complete.

Just as easy as—Actually easier than—Mailing an actual postcard and you can choose your own image, style and text style and it arrives almost instantly. All this for the (normal) price of ($4.99) about 8-10 postcards (with postage), and this allows you to send unlimited postcards. But as this is being written, Postage is 40% off, or just the price of ($2.99) 5-6 postcards (with postage). So, if you’re on vacation, or going on vacation soon, Postage can assure that you don’t have any angry relatives for not sending postcards—What’s not to like? It’s available in the App Store through This link for only $2.99 as of now.

I hate to gush about any app, but I love it.  As a Comcast user (who is not getting anything free from Comcast, other than this app, which is free to all), I was shocked and dismayed that just earlier this year, the web client to access my voice mail forced me to listen to the mail before deleting them.  No mass delete check boxes either.  Since then, Comcast rolled out comcast.net and now the iPhone app and has removed any doubts I had about Comcasts commitment to getting mobile right.

The app is extremely clean and sleek.  I honestly don’t think Apple could have done a better job designing this one.  Comcast turned to mPortal for the heavy lifting in coding the app and they’ve done an outstanding job.  Let’s take a look at the features of this instantly-essential (to me at least) application.

Digital Voice

This is the killer app of the, well, app.  See that button in the lower right-hand corner?  That one allows you to forward your number as you please.  Awesome.  Now, I can forward and unforward my number about as easy as playing a rousing game of Lexic.

Simply hit the Call Forwarding button, choose where you want to forward your number to and push the slider to turn it on.  Users can even label phone lines, like “work” so they can be recalled easier and faster.

In a very Android-like way, all your calls are shown in the “All” category.  Users ccan click on Outgoing, Missed or VM tabs to access just those calls.  If you feel that is too much info to look at, simply hit clear and you have an empty page.  Very soothing.

Access to call logs, both incoming and outgoing is there as is easy deletion of voicemails.  Everything you need, all within reach seems to be the design mantra here and it works.

SmartZone Address Book

Last year, Comcast bought Plaxo, the social networking site that sought to keep everyone’s contact information in one place.  Comcast integrates this great idea in their iPhone app.  By bringing your Plaxo address book into your iPhone you get contacts sync’d much like the Palm Pre does.  When one of your contact changes say a phone number, that change is pushed to Plaxo and thus into your Comcast SmartZone address book which can be sync’d with your iPhone address book.

Comcast bills this as a universal address book – the last one you’ll ever need.  The iPhone app also uses your on-iPhone contacts as well.  Handy.

If you are like me and keep your iPhone by your side while watching TV, there is a nifty guide that localizes based on your location to tell you what is on.   Not ground breaking but nice to have.

SmartZone Inbox

Most Comcast users are going to love this.  This feature combines your Comcast line phone data along with your Comcast email.  All in one place, organized by time and searchable.  Even your email folders are accessible through this app.

On Demand

Another nice to have feature, find out what is new from Comcast’s On Demand.  The app will display movie trailers broken down into categories or you can search for a specific title.

Settings

Good settings to me, are the tell tale mark of a well thought out application.  This app has just about every setting adjustment you could want.  Users can change the home screen from a list to Cover Flow  to a grid, alerts can be customized as can several other settings.  It is a nice touch.

Summary

Rarely am I this impressed with an iPhone app. About the only flaw I can see is the lack of push notifications, but that is a minor (and fixable in later versions) flaw.  The Comcast application is simple, easy to use and very detailed; exactly the type of application that makes the iPhone shine.

Learn more at: [Comcast] or [iTunes link]

Earlier this morning at the Developer Conference in Brighton, Chillingo (one of the iPhone’s leading game publishers) announced their plans to create a social gaming network that would become “the de-facto social gaming standard for iPhone and iPod touch” according to Chillingo director Chris Byatte.

PocketGamer.biz reports that the network will be released under the moniker Crystal and is set to feature friends lists, achievements, and the ability to issue direct challenges to other gamers on the network. Equal parts Facebook and Xbox Live, Crystal is intended to offer up a way for iPhone gamers to stay in touch while deepening the gaming experience by offering new goals and challenges that place you in direct competition with your friends.

Like many product announcements, this morning’s unveiling raised more questions than answers.  Will the network only be available for titles published by Chillingo, or will the social platform be available as a sort of middleware that any publisher can license?  Can games that predate Crystal be patched to include it, or would they need to be rebuilt from the ground up?  Will Apple adopt this as “the de facto social gaming standard,” or will this launch a dozen imitators all fighting for the crown?

Chillingo isn’t the first company to attempt to craft a social gaming experience on the iPhone.  Competitor ngmoco launched their Plus+ network last month as a means for gamers to issue challenges, track friends and earn awards — exactly like Chillingo is planning to do.  It’s hard to gauge how well Plus+ will perform as it’s barely out of the gate, however early reviews from Star Defense players (the only game supported by the service so far) have been mostly positive.

Competition isn’t the only issue Crystal faces.  In its currently announced form, the networking platform does nothing to overcome social gaming’s greatest obstacle on the iPhone: a lack of online multiplayer.  Until Apple somehow makes it easier for online-enabled games to be developed with multiplayer in mind, social gaming on the iPhone is never going to attain the level of success that it has the potential to achieve.

There’s no word on a release date as of yet, but Chillingo has committed to keeping the service free for gamers and intends to integrate other major social networks like Twitter and Facebook.  There’s a lot of potential here.  We’ll just have to wait and see what, if anything, Crystal can offer that Plus+ can’t.

It’s this spirit of preservation that has allowed the underground world of digital comics to flourish.  Rather than risking damage to that Action Comics #71 you have tucked away for a down payment on a house, digital reproductions allow you to view the comics in your collection without ever taking them out of their protective plastic.  The lack of a decent portable program that allowed for the reading of these digital iterations has kept many a reader tied to their desktop… until now.

Comic Zeal allows you to transfer your digital comic book collection directly to your iPhone or iPod Touch, and presents you a number of great viewing options for reading.  Each page can be zoomed and navigated using the same tap and zoom mechanics that iPhone users have grown used to.  Comics can be read in landscape or portrait depending on your preference, with pages being flipped through by simply sliding your finger to advance through the story.  The fundamentals of page navigation, something that is at the core of any good comics reader, should be second nature to any iPhone user.

Clarity is the other cornerstone of a solid comics reader, and here too Comic Zeal excels.  While the default view even in landscape blurs the words a little too much too be readable, a light zoom fixes that right up.  And since you can still navigate from the zoom, you can simply set it once and forget it forever.  Presentation outside of an issue is just as good as inside.  Comics are displayed in “boxes” of series, which when clicked on will give you a cover view of every comic in that box.  It’s a nice touch, and a fantastic step up from the boring old text lists that most programs of this nature rely on.  Comics is a visual medium, and Comic Zeal embraces that fact.

Not everyone who loves comics has ventured into the world of digital reproductions, and unless you’re willing to scan your own or step into some of the internet’s shadier locales to download back-ups of comics you already own (MacApper in no way supports piracy, comic books are a dying medium, please support it!) you may not have much of a use for Comic Zeal.  Thankfully the developers at bitolithic recognized this and added some built in functionality for those looking to pick up some public domain comics to get a taste of something new.  Links to downloads from the indie superhero imprint Flashback Comics as well as a selection of Golden Age classics ranging from Atomic War to The Blue Beetle are available to anyone looking to expand their collection.

Despite these inclusions, Comic Zeal isn’t really aimed towards the reader with little previous experience with digital reprints.  Those with massive collections filling their hard drives have been dying to get their hands on a convenient portable reader that would allow them to read their collections.  Fantastic single issue iPhone apps have demonstrated the devices amazing capabilities pertaining to digital comics on the go, and while Comic Zeal can’t offer the amazing readability they do, it does allow you to port your comics to the iPhone with ease.

While one might hope for out-of-the-box support for the standard .cbr file type that most comics are read in, it’s not entirely the case.  Rather than reading .cbr files, Comic Zeal require you to convert your comics to their proprietary .cbi format via their freeware desktop application.  It may seem like a nuisance, but it makes a lot of sense when you see the reason behind it.  Traditional cbr’s exist at resolutions that are ridiculously high for iPhone usage.  Converting to cbi brings these down to a reasonable size, helping to conserve battery life by putting less strain on the processor.

When the app first launched there were endless hoops you’d have to jump through to get your files converted.  Before installing the desktop coversion software Comic Zeal Creator, you had to install supporting software.  Then you had to sort out server nonsense.  It was a mess.  Bit if past experiences with Creator turned you off of Comic Zeal, you might want to give it a second shot now that they’re released Creator’s successor, ComicZeal Sync.

Sync cuts out all the run around of it’s predecessor and opts for drag and drop simplicity.  After you drop an item into Sync, it will immediately begin the conversion.  If file names follow a certain structure, Sync should be able to sort out what file belongs to what series and keep your collection tidy without any first-hand involvement from you.  If your files aren’t that tidy, don’t worry.  While processing you can add basic info for the item such as series name, issue name, and issue number.  This will make sure that when you pop open Comic Zeal on the go everything is ready and waiting for you.  The only real problem here is that you can’t go back and edit that data after the file has been converted.  It’s not a major hassle, but it’s downright silly that the option to edit after conversion isn’t available.  And while you can also bulk convert, the necessity of providing correct info to keep your collection nice and neat kind of suggests that maybe you shouldn’t.

Syncing is a fairly painless process as well.  Clicking the sync button on the desktop app and the sync button in the iPhone app will get all of your new comics copied and sorted for you with no fuss or muss.  It’s all handled on the backend through the universally-acclaimed SyncDocs, so it’s highly unlikely you’ll find yourself running into data issues as a result.

The only real downside to the app, apart from the inability to edit your collection once converted, is how it underperforms compared to those single issue apps that exist for comics like Atomic Robo or The Terminator.  Being designed to specifically capture an individual issue means that each “page” can be a single panel, navigated frame by frame.  Using pre-existing scans simply doesn’t allow for that level of ease.  Despite this, ComicZeal offers up a fantastic experience for readers looking to take their collection on the go, even if it means they’ll have to pan and zoom to get through each page.

Unless Marvel and DC start to offer single issue downloads of their complete back catalogue in the AppStore, Comic Zeal will reign king as the premiere app for comic book lovers looking to take their favorites on the go.

Comic Zeal is available on the iTunes AppStore for $2.99.

Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography. The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. The application is no longer available on the App Store.

But while Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr may have taken this stance in a comment made to CNN.com’s Wes Finley-Price, there are still questions that remain unanswered.  Why does the iPhone Developer Program allow developers to make changes directly from the server in the first place?  Shouldn’t there be a system in place that restricts any changes to an app without a formal Apple approved update?  And if Apple “will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography,” then why do they issue a rating that includes the warning “Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity”?  What are they expecting?  Tasteful, non-pornagraphic frequent and intense nudity?  Outside of a breast-cancer self-exam or a medical app, I can’t imagine  an app with frequent nudity.  And I certainly wouldn’t expect an app like that to have a 17+ rating, would you?

Apple doesn’t want to be seen as condoning pornography, and that’s understandable.  But pornography is about intent.  Covered breasts or not, Hottest Girls was approved by Apple.  If that’s the sort of content that does get approved, I can’t see why they’d have an issue with a parental-controlled version of the exact same software showing off a little bit of the boob.

Columns Deluxe, normally $1.99, offers up a tremendous value even at its regular price.  Not only does it include the classic jewel-dropping puzzle game that SEGA dreamed up to compete with Tetris back in the Genesis days, but it also includes a version of Puyo Pop built right into the same app!  While the name Puyo Pop might not be too familiar in the ears of western gamers, they’ll likely be very familiar with the formula.  Back in the day it was brought home on 16-bit machines as Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine and Kirby’s Avalanche.  Matching like-colored blobs is simple, but incredibly addicting.  And like any good puzzle game, it never really gets old.

Some might find it strange to receive a gift on such a patriotic holiday from a company few would think of as domestic, but in all actuality SEGA has some very American roots.  Originally launched in 1940, Service Games (later shortened to SEGA) was an entrepreneurial venture by three Americans looking to provide coin-op amusements to US military personnel fighting the war in the Pacific.  So when you think about it, SEGA is a company with roots as red, white and blue as they come!

Click here to grab SEGA Columns Deluxe from the iTunes AppStore. Hurry though!  Sale ends Monday!

Toki Tori is the game that just won’t die. Surprisingly, we mean this is in a good way. If you haven’t played Toki Tori yet you should absolutely stop reading this and grab it for less than a buck right now. But if you already love Toki Tori? Read on!

Originally released for the GameBoy Color back in 2001, Toki Tori was a critical success but a commercial failure. Most developers would have taken their lumps and moved on to their next projects, but Two Tribes knew that they had a true gem on their hands and weren’t ready to let go.

After allowing for a 2003 port to Windows Mobile, the team at Two Tribes took a break from Toki Tori only to re-emerge last year with a gorgeous remake on Nintendo’s WiiWare service. But with the service itself not gaining any real traction, Two Tribes still hadn’t see the commercial success that their title deserved.

Then came Chillingo. The iPhone publisher has become one of the premiere names in iPhone gaming, and they saw the potential Toki Tori had to offer. Porting the WiiWare remake to the iPhone, Chillingo has released the penultimate version of the puzzle platformer. Now that version is on sale for 99 cents. That’s 80% off the regular $4.99.

Toki Tori is the tale of a lonely bird trying to rescue all of his friends without being killed in the process. Lead Toki Tori safely past obstacles and solve environment-based puzzles to help him reach his objectives! Fans of games like Professor Fizzwizzle or Eets will find a lot to love here.  Having played both the GBC and WiiWare versions, I can easily say that the iPhone edition of Toki Tori is second to none.  Controls-wise the game has never felt more comfortable, and it looks downright mindblowing for a portable game.

No word on how long the sale is on for, but at this price picking it up is a no-brainer.  Click here to visit Toki Tori on the App Store.

Released this past December, Rolando’s iPhone tilting action and adorable personality quickly made it one of the platform’s must-own games.  Consistent critical acclaim and sales success had cemented it as one of the true cornerstones of the iTunes AppStore.  Taking that into consideration, it’s an absolute mystery why developer ngmoco has announced that Rolando is being removed from the AppStore this Wednesday, July 1st.

The pulling of this title from the AppStore, as well as it’s Lite counterpart, was a decision made to “make room for Rolando 2″ according to ngmoco representative mjmmoco.  In an announcement made on the TouchArcade forums, mjmmoco announced that both the regular and Lite versions of Rolando would be removed at the time of Rolando 2’s release.  I can’t even begin to understand why a decision like this would be made.

From a marketing standpoint, wouldn’t those checking out the franchise for the first time with Rolando 2 be inclined to go back and revisit the first Rolando, thereby driving ngmoco’s overall sales?  And if this decision wasn’t made by ngmoco but rather Apple, why would Apple want to remove one of the top selling games from their AppStore?  The game has been available for more than 6 months and still charts in the top 100 paid games in the App Store.

This whole situation reeks of confusion and poor decision making.  Regardless, if you were thinking about picking up the original Rolando, you’d better get rolling.  Unless this is all just a big marketing stunt to make a big fuss when they bring it back “due to popular demand.”  Existing Rolando fans can enjoy the new title Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid this Wednesday.

Star Walk shows you all its information based on the time of day and your location. Using Apple’s location services, you must only allow it to find your current location, and everything else is automatic. If you would like to change the time of day you’re looking at, simply click on the Clock icon (in the upper-right corner) and you can change it. To navigate around the map, you just use pinching and dragging. There are even four markers for North, East, South and West so you know exactly where to look for a specific constellation. There is also a red line for the horizon making it, again, even easier to see where something is.

Star Walk is cool enough with just the ability to look around a virtual map. But, it also adds some other features. When you press on a constellation name (in the virtual sky), you will see a white drawing of it with the stars. This feature is great for showing to kids (and for helping one find the constellation). While the name is still selected, if you hit the “i” button, you will get more information. A “W” button will also appear allowing you to see a Wikipedia article on it.

Constellations are not the only things Star Walk knows. If you click on any star or planet on the screen, you can also hit the “i” button and get more information.

What I would say is one of the most important features that Star Walk carries is its search. If you hit the search button (lower-left corner), you can search for stars, constellations, planets and messier. If the object is visible to you, its name will be in white, if not, they name will be grayed out. When you click on one, it will take you there on the map. This makes it so easy to find what you want.

Star Walk also includes some nice preferences. The first one is night mode, which basically turns everything into a red-ish color. There is also the ability to turn of the pictures of constellations and sounds. And finally, you can adjust the brightness of stars, planets, etc. All of these can be accessed from the button in the lower-right corner.

Star Walk costs $4.99 in the App Store and is the International Year of Astronomy 2009’s official product. It is extremely intuitive and also provides many features for amateurs and even pros. Anyone who likes watching the stars (and has an iPhone or iPod Touch) needs this app.

These two movies turned iPhone games bring the same concept: go fast, beat those around you who try to knock you down, win the day.  The concept is tried and true: mix high energy rock music to fast driving/piloting and you’ve got a recipe for success.  How do they work out for Freeverse?  A mixed bag is what I found.

For each game, Freeverse uses similar strategies: look a like actor dialogue in between races/missions.  The result isn’t horrible if not a little hokey, but adds some plot to the games.

Days of Thunder

For Days of Thunder, you’re rookie driver Cole Trickle looking to move up through the racing ranks.  Left and right controls are handled through the accelerometer and do a fine job allowing players to dodge traffic, navigate turns and sling-shot around cars after drafting.  An onscreen button controls acceleration and brake in the lower left and right corners.

Play is good.  You can build up draft points and get enough and you can “drop the hammer” which catapults you beyond your top speed when the yellow hammer appears on the right hand side.  A speedometer reminds you to stay off the walls in corners and away from rubbing other racers.

Players also need to keep an eye on their car’s health meter on the top of the screen.  Get too low and you’ll be “out” and forced to pause racing and have to play catch up to limp into the pits to regain health.  There is nothing to do in the pits but wait out your health restore.

One aspect of the game thrown in to make it interesting is the other cars behavoir.  Your compeition likes to bang into you like bumper cars, rubbing your health lower and lower.  Fortunately these cars have health meters too that when depleted force them to crash.  I found it a bit annoying but so would coasting around the tracks.

The game is a good play until you lose track of what circuit you are in (about 15 races in my experience) then replay value was low for me.  It certainly was addicting for the first bunch of races.  I found the dialogue silly and at one point inappropriate as the racers talked about Dr. Claire Lewicki.

As popular as NASCAR is, this game pales in comparison to the second Tom Cruise fashioned game from Freeverse.

The game is currently $.99 in the App Store. Days of Thunder link in App Store

Top Gun

This game drips with adrenaline.  Maybe it is the fond memories of the Paramount movie or the fact that this is an Afterburner clone, or the game calling you by your chosen call sign;but whatever it is, mix a decent rock soundtrack to Vulcan Cannons and sidewinder missiles and you’ve got a winning combo.

Player are still fighting the Communist Russians but this time instead of the standard issue F-14 Tomcat, your assigned a prototype F22-B (we’ll sidestep the F-22-b being canceled back in 1993 as a replacement for the Tomcat).   From the movie, Iceman and Maverick are brought back as Top Gun instructors whose dialogue is less silly than in Days of Thunder as they outline the objectives through the mission, requiring you to click through.

Controls are similar to Days of Thunder: accelerometer for left right, up and down, bottom left for Vulcan Cannons and bottom right for missiles.  Guiding your sight over enemy aircraft turns their radar diamond to red, indicating radar lock.  Your radar can lock onto three targets at once allowing you to hit the missile fire button once to launch missiles on all three simultaneously.  Fun.

Obstacles in your way are “Danger Zones”.  The screen is divided up into 3 rows and 3 columns and much like tic-tac-toe you’ve got to escape into a free area as the danger zone turns from yellow to orange to red.  If your jet is in the Danger Zone when it turns red, you lose a health point.  Lose all your health points and you’ll be forced to eject.

If you’ve seen Top Gun then undoubtedly you know the Kenny Loggins hit Danger Zone.  The song here is reproduced by Gavareal and sounds very close to the original.  Other original songs are performed by Gavareal and do a good job of keeping your pulse quick.

This game has become my favorite iPhone game.  The action is quick, you can change the hardness level simply by deciding to take down combatants with your cannons instead of missiles and fighting the Russians is fun again!  The game has high replay value and I’ve still yet to beat the final level.

The dialogue lays out an decent plot, discovering that a mole exists in Top Gun.  Some of the movie-mimicking is a bit silly at times but it holds together.  It is not too hard to figure out who it is though I still have the big unveiling at the end of the final level to put it all together.

The graphics are amazing.  From the carrier take offs to the HUD (heads-up-display) everything is very clear and easy to figure out the game in short order.  Calibration of the accelerometer is very handy from in the game: simply hit pause and tap calibrate.  The game is well thought out and a blast to play.

As a huge fan of Afterburner, Top Gun was an easy pick as my new favorite.  Days of Thunder provided some fun but lacked in advanced play.  Once you mastered getting around cars and when to pit, not much changed.

For Top Gun, the enemies became craftier, dodging your missiles better, battleships through up anti-aircraft fire forcing you to be quick with the controls and to firing options keeps it moving.

The game is currently $3.99 in the App Store. Top Gun link to App Store

Summary

With Freeverse’s licesning relationship with Paramount, could Mission Impossible games be next?  $5 says both these games are on Tom Cruise’s iPhone.  Any takers?

Developer Site: [Freeverse]

The Calorie Tracker app links directly to your LIVESTRONG.com account and syncs data between the two, allowing users to literally take their LIVESTRONG account with them wherever they go.  To understand what this app offers, it’s important to understand a little bit about the website it’s based on.  Unlike other nutrition calculators, both online and on the iPhone, LIVESTRONG offers an open nutrition database.  This means that if a member can’t find a food they’ve consumed in the database, they can add it themselves.  Once approved, that food becomes available to all members as part of the database.  Kind of like a wiki for food facts.

Every chain restaurant, brand of food, or generic item you can think of is listed (and if it’s not, you can fix that).  That’s a big part of what makes LIVESTRONG so great.  The other big factor is how detailed the stat tracking is.  A user has access to numerous graphs and tables to show them exactly what they’ve been consuming and how their diet has improved or deteriorated over time.  You can even track your daily fitness, and the system will help you to use that activity to calculate your net calories for the day rather than just your consumed ones.

Why is it so important to know so much about LIVESTRONG.com?  Because without that knowledge you might not realize just how limited the Calorie Tracker really is.  Sure you have access to their seemingly limitless nutrition database, but if what you’re eating isn’t in there don’t expect to add new foods from the app.  And while the Calorie Breakdown provided gives you a good guide on how many calories you have left to consume in a given day, it doesn’t provide anywhere near the depth of information that the actual website does.  Want to know how much fat you’ve taken in?  How about fiber?  The app doesn’t tell you that, even though that information is readily available on the website.

Another problem: if you’re on an iPod touch, you’re pretty much out of luck.  Despite other apps somehow cramming a massive database into a tiny app file (see MovieBrain) Calorie Tacker by LIVESTRONG.com has decided it best to keep their central database available via internet connection only.  That’s not to say that iPod Touch owners can’t use the app.  In fact, certain tweaks make the app more useable offline than you might expect.  If you’ve eaten a food or completed an exercise before, it should be available locally, having been saved in the app prior.  If you’re eating the same foods on a daily basis (and many people do), the app should only provide occassional inconveniences when attempting to track your meals.  Any foods that you need the database for can always be accessed the next time you’re at a WiFi point.

With so much working against it, you might be suprised to hear that this app has our whole-hearted endorsement.  Regardless of how much less it offers than its website companion, it still offers far more than any other nutrition calculator in the App Store.  So long as you’re using this on an iPhone you’ll always have access to their seemingly endless database.  The ability to sync your daily consumption and exercise to a free online account that provides you with tons of statistical data and a strong community makes Calorie Tracker by LIVESTRONG.com an app that’s second to none.  Both as a nutrition calculator and a companion to the LIVESTRONG.com website, it’s an exceptional offering.  We’d have liked to have seen more of the info that the site offers as well as an offline database, but asides from these minor complaints there’s really very little room for improvement.

Calorie Tracker by LIVESTRONG.com is available for $2.99 on the App Store.