Between the developers I spoke to, the consensus was this: Apple doesn’t appear to be opposed to ‘app generators’ and templates per se, but in the last month or so it has started cracking down on basic applications that are little more than RSS feeds or glorified business cards. In short, Apple doesn’t want people using native applications for things that a basic web app could accomplish.

Reading through the rest of the report, some extended input from Medialets CEO Eric Litman presents itself stating that Apple is looking to provide a high-quality experience on the App Store that other devices can’t provide (being that Apple’s iPhone SDK is unique to the iPhone OS and only the iPhone OS).

Apple wants iPhone apps to be superior to Web experiences because they are extremely sticky and drive people specifically to buy the iPhone over competing smartphone platforms. Apps that are too simple or largely indistinguishable from the Web, other apps or particularly other apps on other platforms send the message to end users that the iPhone app ecosystem might not be particularly special.

More specifically, Apple is targeting those applications that appear to be using the mere basic templates to generate a buzz for their products, which much of these applications are nothing more than a re-rendition of Web material that is already available and presents no physical or functional difference and apps from quality providers that do not deliver a unique and gripping experience. For instance, The Bank of America application on the App Store and the web-app presented in Safari has no difference whatsoever other than one can be obtained through the App Store and the other simply by typing bofa.com or bankofamerica.com in the address field in Safari. Or the Wikipedia app on the App Store that, again, has very little contrast to its web-app counterpart which is more responsive than the native one.

Some of the groups who fall under Apple’s recent extermination requirements have began to take the shift in quality. One group in particular, Appmakr, are making the adjustments by annexing the In-App Purchase, offline access and Push Noti services to their apps, providing the fruitful experience that Apple wants associated with the App Store, striving to become a “trusted” developer that could pass the review process of the App Store with flying colors.

Once Things is first launched, the first thing you will notice is different folders to store items to do. The categories are set up for when you think of something you need to do you can just put it right in a category for easy organization, for instance if you need to complete something on a later date you can input that in the scheduled folder. Once something has been completed you simply check it off, Things will move it to the Logbook folder, Things keeps a record of all of your entries in there, they can also be deleted from the log book for privacy.

Planning projects is another plus, adding a project allows sub to-dos to be added, for instance if your planning a wedding you can add “Plan Wedding” to your project list, set a due date when you want it done by, then you can go into the project and add items that need to be completed in there.

On top of all of the organization Things has a sister program for your Mac, called Things as well, which will allow you to sync your To-Do lists back and fourth between your Mac and iPhone over Wi-Fi. The only downside to Things is it does not sync with your calendar, allowing this would put the icing on the cake. Also $9.99 for this app is a bit much when there are dozens of other To-Do lists in the app store. If you don’t mind paying the extremely high price and need to get organized then this App is definitely for you.

Looking forward to the big game this weekend?  So are a handful of iPhone developers, and they’ve decided to slash the prices on 4 major football releases to celebrate.  Make sure to snag them quick — these sale prices are only going to last through the weekend!

Madden 10 – $4.99
Click here to download from iTunes.
Electronic Art’s unstoppable football franchise made it’s first appearance on the iPhone this past fall and met with stellar reviews.  If you’ve been humming and hawing about picking it up because of the price it’s not likely to go any lower than $4.99 — at least not until Madden 11 comes out.

NFL 2010 – $0.99
Click here to download from iTunes
Madden doesn’t see many challengers on other consoles due to NFL exclusivity rights, but on the iPhone?  It’s open game.  And while it may not get the same love that Madden 10 has, Gameloft’s NFL 2010 has been a touchdown in a lot of gamers eyes.

LED Football – Free
Click here to download from iTunes
If you’re as old as me (and god help you if you are), there’s a pretty good chance you remember the original handheld gaming device: Mattel LED Football.  This game may lack the Mattel name, but that doesn’t keep it from being a faithful recreation of an old favorite.

Flick Kick Field Goal – $0.99
Click here to download from iTunes
In the real world, I couldn’t kick a field goal to save my life.  But on the iPhone?  For 99 cents I’m willing to find out.  As an added bonus, the best flick kicker by tomorrow evening will win a $100 iTunes gift card.  For contest details, check out the official Flick Kick Field Goal Football Championship Competition page here.

If you’re new to the GPS game, let me assure you that the Magellan Roadmate 2010 app offers all the bells and whistles that you’d find if you were to buy a standalone Magellan Roadmate device.  In fact, the software this is sporting more closely resembles what you’ll see in newer models of the Roadmate rather than the budget priced entry-level devices.  But unlike other GPS devices, this one has the added benefit of playing friendly with other aspects of your iPhone/iPod Touch.  Want to play music?  You can do so from in the app.  Is someone calling?  You can answer it and then go right back to driving.

The problem is that it doesn’t do any of these features incredibly well.  If you want to take a call it kicks you out of the app and then reboots, meaning if you’re on speakerphone while driving and expecting to hear “turn left in 800 metres,” you’re going to be sorely disappointed.  And if you’re expecting the convenience and music browsability that the iPod is known for, here too you’ll find yourself out of luck.  The Magellan app will only play playlists — not individually browsed tracks.  While you can build playlists in the app, the whole experience is miles away from the “OneTouch” mentality that RoadMate is famous for.

Still — everything we’ve mentioned so far is just bells and whistles.  At the end of the day the only thing that matters here is navigation, and here the performance can be a little hit and miss.  Unless your device has an uninterrupted view of the sky the GPS signal is going to drop in and out on an incredibly regular basis.  If you have a car mount kit, though, you’ll be near enough the front window that you shouldn’t have any problems maintaining a signal.  But if you’re planning on tossing your iPhone in the passenger seat while you drive?  Forget about it.

Performance from that point gets spotty at best.  While the device is almost always good at mapping out the quickest possible routes (we had a few tiny exceptions, but nothing really worth mentioning) it failed to keep up with our actual location and kept notifying us of turns 40 feet after we were supposed to make them.  It was a nightmare.

With an experience this bad, you must be wondering how we could dare describe the navigation as “a little hit and miss.”  What we’ve described so far was the miss.  What we experienced and quickly came to love was the hit.  That hit?  It has a name;  the Magellan Premium Car Kit.

Available as a seperate purchase is Magellan’s Premium Car Kit, a $129 accessory that will boost the iPhone’s GPS signal exponentially, provide an in-car mount for your device, charge it, and provide an enhanced speaker as well.  In terms of turning your iPhone into a fully functional navigation system, this thing is a must-buy.  Our experience with the Magellan RoadMate 2010 before and after using the car kit was as different as night and day.  Once connected there was no doubt in our minds that RoadMate 2010 could easily keep up with the stiff competition from standalone GPS devices.

With the kit attached no turns were ever missed, no signal ever lost, and route recalculation would happen the moment I varied from the route.  It was fabulous.  Once we got used to it we quickly delved in to all of the other terrific features the app had to offer.  Entering new addresses is a snap, OneTouch menu options let you easily find the nearest gas stations and other points of interest.  You can even assign favorite locations to the One Touch menu in case you’re looking to make return trips.  RoadMate 2010 is a fully-featured device when compared to standalone units on the market, and with the car kit in place we couldn’t have been happier with the performance.

Still, there were a few things that we couldn’t help but nitpick about when it came to the car kit.  An enhanced speaker is nice, but what this kit really needed was an FM transmitter.  Newer cars might be built to incorporate an external audio source but those of us cruising around in 10 year old cars tend to send our audio across the airwaves.  And then there’s the price.  $129 wouldn’t seem so bad if it included a redemption code for RoadMate 2010, but it doesn’t.  You’ll have to buy both products separately to get them to work together, bringing your grand total to just under $220.  That’s about the price of a standalone mid-range GPS device.

It may sound like we’re dumping on the car kit, but nothing could be further from the truth.  It has a number of great features we’ve yet to mention.  For example, unlike most car mounts this one is designed to fit an iPhone in a protective case.  I keep my iPhone in an OtterBox case and had no problem getting it to fit.  The kit provides options for mounting to dash or window, allows you to pivot the device in any direction or position you might want, but most importantly; it boosts that GPS signal to an incredible degree.

When combined with the Magellan Premium Car Kit, Magellan RoadMate 2010 offers the same top notch performance as Magellan’s standalone RoadMate GPS device.  The two are comparable in price as well.  The only difference here is that Magellan RoadMate 2010 for the iPhone has the added bonus of simply being an iPhone.  It’s one less device to lose, it offers an enhanced speaker should anyone call, and you can play all of your music from inside the app.  It should also be noted that the Car Kit enhances the GPS of the device itself, and not just for RoadMate purposes.  If you need to check out other apps that utilize GPS the Premium Car Kit will make them infinitely more accurate.

While the Magellan RoadMate 2010 app can be purchased independent of the Car Kit, it’s not something we recommend.  On it’s own the app simply isn’t reliable enough to be counted on when trying to find your way in a strange city.  Still, it’s hard to blame Magellan.  The iPhone’s built-in GPS simply isn’t developed well enough to hand this sort of task.  Magellan saw this dilemma and came up with a solution, albeit at a price.

If you’re in the market for a new GPS device and prepared to spend what you’ll need to in the standalone marketplace, you’ll easily find Magellan’s RoadMate 2010 and Premium Car Kit to be a winning combination.  Just don’t expect satisfactory performance if you buy the app alone.

You can download Magellan RoadMate 2010 North America for $79.99 on  iTunes.  Check out magellangps.com for information on how to purchase the Magellan Premium Car Kit.

In Chinatown Wars you play as Huang Lee, the son of a murdered Triad boss. You arrive in Liberty City to delivery one of your father’s pride possessions, his sword Yu Jian, to your Uncle Kenny. Right when you arrive you get shot and kidnapped, the sword gets stolen, but you escape. Throughout the game you complete missions for Kenny and many other people that you meet while you try to find the sword.

All of the games controls are displayed on screen. While you are walking you can use the joystick to move, and the other three buttons on the right side for actions. The button to the left is your weapon, which you can switch by tapping the pause button in the top right. The button to the right is to roll, and the button above is to kick. Once you get grenades or molatovs, you can just tap your player and drag to throw one. Once you approach a vehicle a button will appear in the lower center of your screen to enter the vehicle. Controls in the car are similar. There are two arrows for turning, a button to shoot your weapon, and buttons for gas and brake. Your GPS is found in the top left of the screen. If you tap the GPS you can view the full map, and place waypoints so your GPS will guide you to that spot. If you tap the small red dot above the GPS you can view your PDA. Here you can do lots of stuff, from viewing emails to ordering weapons online.

I haven’t completed the game on my iPhone yet, but I have finished the story mode on my DS. The story lasted around 15 hours, and the missions are varied. Even after completing the story mode, there is so much more to do. There is the drug trading game, which is a lot like dope wars, but with an occasional police chase. It’s also a great way to make some extra money in the game. There are quite a few side missions, and hidden cameras for you to find and destroy. There are also rampage mini-games. In these you are given one weapon, and get to go on a rampage for a high score.

There is a ton of content in Chinatown Wars, probably more than I’ve ever seen in an iPhone game. The graphics are somewhere in between the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP, but the price is much cheaper. I did encounter a few problems with the iPhone version. It lets you use a custom playlist for listening to music while you are in a vehicle, but the playlist starts with the same song every time you launch the game, and you can’t skip tracks. The controls can also get in the way. This is one iPhone game that you will be playing for a long time, and I think any fan of sandbox games should get this. It’s currently available on iTunes for $9.99.

When the app first starts, a scanned products screen is displayed which contains a database of everything that has been scanned. Items in this database can easily be deleted just like deleting an email. There is also the ability to email the product list to a specified email address. Scanning products is a breeze, when the scan button is pressed the iPhone utilizes its camera, a box will appear with an image in the background; line the image up with the barcode and it will automatically capture it. The best part is it will auto capture it when it gets a good read so there is no need to constantly take pictures over and over trying to get a good read.

On top of taking pictures there is also the ability to manually enter a barcode, which is also useful if a good scan cannot be obtained. When a product list is emailed out it will only display the items and a link to Google Products and Amazon so the prices can be seen there. It will not send the prices in the actual email, which was a bit of a disappointment.

When it comes to barcode scanning Red Laser isn’t always perfect. It will not locate some products, which is understandable. The fact that it only searches Google Products and Amazon is a bit restrictive, Google Products does utilize a lot of websites, but a lot is not enough. When I search for cat food I would expect it to search all of the major pet retailers including Target, Wal-Mart, PetSmart, PetCo and so on but it only searched for the food in PetCo and other various online retailers. When I am buying cat food I am more interested in going down to the store instead of ordering online and paying for shipping. If this could be worked out it would be the perfect barcode app and would be well worth the $1.99. If you don’t mind comparing online prices and ordering off of the internet then this app is well worth it, if you expect it to search all of your major local retailers then you will be disappointed.

The paperless society is an interesting concept.  It’s been around long enough that we’ve all gotten used to it, but in the grand scheme of things it’s still a fairly modern invention.  10 years ago it was commonplace to visit an office that still posted paper memos on a bulletin board in the cafeteria or to have a boss that preferred using a fax machine to sending a quick email.  Those days, it would seem, are far behind us.

With the office conquered, paperless lifestyle choices have quickly invaded our personal lives.  We’ve gotten used to digital purchases on everything from books and music to comics and movies.  It was only a matter of time until someone decided to bring the print magazine boldly into the 21st century.  It turns out that GQ was that someone.

Beginning with the December 2009 issue, GQ now offers an iPhone edition of their monthly men’s magazine that includes every piece of content found in the print version.  In addition to everything you’d see at the newsstand, the iPhone edition of GQ has a number of positive traits going for it;

• exclusive audio, video and photo content not found in the print version
• better price: $2.99 iPhone, $4.50 newsstand
• back issues still available after new issues are published

The flipside, of course, is that unless Apple somehow creates a subscription model, regular readers won’t be able to save by committing to multiple issues with one purchase.  As well, there’s a massive download required once the app is purchased to take the issue around with you offline.

Small complaints aside, there’s a great deal of potential in making magazine’s available as digital downloads for the iPhone.  I can think of half a dozen or so print publications I’d love to buy digital edtions of (Wired, I’m looking in your direction).  What do you think?  Is GQ blazing a trail that other magazine publishers should follow?  Would you pay $2.99 for a digital version of your favorite print mag?  What would you like to see in a magazine app?

Jobs is a very unique iPhone app used to track billable time, clients, client jobs, and invoiced jobs. This app was created by Bjango, and sells on the App Store for $3.99 normally, but is on sale for $1.99. It is very easy to use and is very straightforward. It stores all jobs the user has done within the app and sorts it by month. It shows all active jobs, and can run multiple jobs at the same time.

Each job is tap able, which shows how much each job is being billed out as, how much time the job took, whether the client was invoiced, and it has the option to export the job. Exporting the job will email the job information to a specified email address. When exporting the job there is the option to email in standard text so it will show up in an email, or CSV format which makes it easy to import into applications like excel.

When it comes to time tracking there are a few additional options such as rounding, it will round the bill to the nearest hour, 15 minutes, or whatever the user desires. A default flag-fall can also be added, which starts the timer at an initial fee to the client and adds the time billed on to that. Adding clients is very simple; the clients can even be linked to the contacts within the iPhone. Also tapping on each client shows an each overview for the client, including all of the jobs done for the client.

This app also backs up to the iPhone, when the iPhone is synced with iTunes it stores a back up within that back up. It also has the option to back up to a computer, which is done via email, and restoring is done just the same way. The only problems with this app is the lack of invoicing, there is no way to invoice a client, also when exporting it emails from a Bjango server, it doesn’t send from the user’s email, however this app is perfect for client tracking. It is perfect for an individual contractor or consultant, or someone who is in charge of tracking multiple people out on billable jobs.

Ever since Guitar Hero hit the home console scene back in 2005, music games have been all the rage amongst gamers and music enthusiasts alike.  Tracing the iPhone’s roots back to the music-only iPods of yore, it seems only natural that the genre would eventually make its way to the iTunes App Store.  We take a look at two of this season’s most popular music games for the iPhone and let you know which one we think is the real deal.

Tap Tap Revenge 3: As the leading music game franchise on the iPhone since the platform’s launch, Tap Tap Revenge is the name to beat if you want to get anywhere in iPhone rhythm gaming.  While we’ve seen a number of licensed entries on the market over the past year (Tap Tap Coldplay, Lady Gaga Revenge) TTR3 marks the third real revision to the series formula.  This time out it brings a wealth of new changes while still maintaining everything we know and love about the franchise.

If you’re new to the series, here’s the quick rundown; Tap Tap Revenge is a music game that, like most other music games, is about tapping out notes in rhythm to the music.  Unlike other series, TTR uses a 3-note system that seems to be a perfect fit for the iPhone.  Players can wrap their hands around the device and put two thumbs on the screen, darting one of those over to the middle track when necessary.  The gameplay is easy to pick up and well-suited for the device, but the coolest feature you’re going to find here isn’t in how you play but in how you play with a friend.  Local multiplayer can be tackled via split-screen on the same iPhone, with one player holding the top of the device and one holding the bottom.  Online multiplayer is also available in a cool score-battle mode that pits you against a room full of strangers that you can chat with between rounds.

Tap Tap Revenge 3 changes things up in a few noticeable ways.  A new single player campaign mode exists where you’ll need to level up RPG-style to unlock songs.  The game now offers a customizable avatar, which can be dressed and armed via coins earned during in-game play.  And biggest of all — TTR3 now offers in-game downloads of paid content.  This means that — in addition to the 200 or so free songs available — new content from major artists will be made available for purchase every week.  Duran Duran, LCD Soundsystem, The Killers — it’s astounding the depth and range of content that’s already available.  Everything from Marilyn Manson to New Kids on the Block is in the store.  Many of these purchases have their own skin for the in-game presentation.  Oh — and did we mention you can import songs from previous premium versions of the game?  Yeah, this thing is pretty much made of win.  A+

Rock Band: Bringing a massive 4-instrument multiplayer experience to the iPhone is a hefty concept, and for what it’s worth EA Mobile handled the transition fairly well.  Rock Band has always been about that living room experience, and so long as you’re hanging out with other iPhone rockers you’ll be able to get the band back together flawlessly.  The game supports 4-person local multiplayer over bluetooth and wifi with each iPhone playing a different instrument in sync with the rest of the group.  Online multiplayer exists too, but it comes off feeling pretty pointless.  I challenge anyone to notice a difference between single player and online multi — the experiences are identical.

When playing in single player you’ll have the opportunity to jam on whichever instrument you choose, with each having it’s own individual note tracking just as Harmonix intended.  The gameplay itself isn’t without its flaws, though.  Each instrument offers up four tracks, unlike Tap Tap Revenge’s three.  This makes for tough times for the larger fingered among us, as trying to hit two notes side-by-side can just as easily spill over into the next note column.  It’s not a game-crippling issue, but it becomes pretty apparent that 4 note tracks is just too many for an iPhone music game.

The instruments themselves don’t vary as much as they do in the console version.  Removing concepts like the kick pedal and the whammy bar means that, despite different note tracking, each instrument feels pretty much identical to play.  The biggest disappointment here had to be the vocals, which — instead of offering up SingStar fanatics an opportunity to bust out our karaoke chops — just offered a vertical variation on note tracking.  Going vertical actually made the 4 tracks more user friendly than the other instruments, but I wanted to sing, dammit!  I can understand that requiring the mic to sing would have limited the available market for the game (1st gen Touch’s have no audio input), but it doesn’t seem fair to the rest of us to cripple the experience across the board.

We were also a little bummed to see that Rock Band didn’t take advantage of the franchise’s massive pre-existing music store, instead opting for an iPhone specific store that (as of this writing) offers only 11 downloadable tracks.  At least the 20 included tracks rock the casbah, offering a much better “big name” selection than TTR3.  Besides — any game that offers Freezepop’s Super Sprode as a downloadable track is a winner in my books.  B+

Winner: Tap Tap Revenge 3.

While the general vibe of the franchise is still in tact, there were simply far too many missed opportunities here to whole-heartedly recommend Rock Band over the competition.  Tap Tap has known what it’s doing since day one, and the experience is only getting better.  And to think — we made this decision without even beginning to factor the price disparity between the two into the mix!

Download Tap Tap Revenge 3 for free by clicking here, or buy Rock Band for $6.99 by clicking here.

1. Journlr – Mac OS X only- Free/$35

While development of Journlr has ceased, it is almost an essential note-taking app for your college courses. It combines the ability to type notes, record audio, video, and take photos simultaneously. All media can be incorporated into a single page of notes and organized in many ways. Smart folders let you keep track of classes, sections, chapters, or whatever you choose to organize by. Notes can then be exported to email, your blog, your iPod, or iWeb if you so choose. Additionally, audio recordings of lectures or discussions can be exported directly into a Journlr playlist in iTunes. Journlr is available for free, but a license can still be purchased from the website.

2. Schoolhouse 3 –  Mac OS X only – $14

We reviewed Schoolhouse earlier this year, and it only makes sense to feature it here again. Since our last review, it has been upgraded to version 3.1.2 from 2.2 in the last review, and it now features a slightly refined look and feel, as well as MobileMe syncing and an autosave feature. Most useful for keeping track of all your assignments and their due dates, you can also write notes, and its great for project organization utilizing the ability to add documents and other media to a project’s page. Other features include grade tracking and a multitude of customization options. Schoolhouse has now moved to a paid model that is set at a quite reasonable $14. You can try it for free with a limit of being able to input 20 assignments, but I highly recommend shelling out the 14 bucks and getting an incredibly useful organizational app. Schoolhouse is available from Logans Collins at their website.

3. iHomework – Mac- Free – iPhone/iPod Touch- $0.99

If you’re looking for an application that will wirelessly sync between your iPhone/iPod Touch and your Mac, look no further. This little app works great with just what you think…homework. While there are little to no note-taking abilities, iHomework allows you to enter all the class info you can think of, such as dates, times, instructors (mobile only), and places. The Add Work button is where you input all of your new assignments and their corresponding information like type of assignment, due date, course, and even lets you input your grade for a particular assignment. One of the great features of this app is the ability to send any and all events to iCal. The wireless syncing process is fairly straightforward, although it could use some adjustment, as the first time around is a little confusing. iHomework for OSX is free from their website, and the iHomework mobile version is just 99 cents from your friendly neighborhood App Store. Well worth it.

4. EtreTask – Mac OS X only – Free

EtreTask is a dead-simple to do list for your Mac. There’s not much to say about it, but if you’re looking for a to-do list only, this is definitely the app for you. It’s lightweight, and couldn’t be more straightforward. Input a note, and check it off when it’s done! EtreTask is free from Etresoft.

5. Circus Ponies Notebook – Mac OS X only – $49.95

Regarded in the Mac community as one of the best note-taking/organizational applications out there, Notebook is a customizable, versatile masterpiece. Upon initial launch, you’re presented with a multitude of templates from which to get started. Want to get organized at college? Notebook sets up a notebook just for you, with tabs for each class, and a contents page to show you where to input your information. Want to write a novel? Plan a trip? Keep a journal? Keep track of recipes? There’s a template for that. Notebook is $49.95 from Circus Ponies for an individual license, an academic license (with valid academic credentials) is $29.95 and a family pack can be had for $99.95.

If you’re having trouble coming up with an idea for a unique image for stand-by time, look no further as we dream up 5 fresh ideas for iPhone wallpaper.  And be sure to check out our comments for even more ideas from our readers!

The Space Age – The 1950’s was a special time.  World War II had ended, business was booming across America, and for the first time ever the world was on the brink of reaching the stars.  This lead to a boom in popular discussion and popular culture about what the future would look like.  Flying cars, houses on the moon, jetpacks — nothing was impossible!  And while the fantastic world we dreamed of more than 50 years ago never came to pass, artifacts of that idealized future can still be found strewn across the internet.  Why not check out some images of what we thought the future would look like and shrink them down to 320×480?

Telephones – The iPhone is many things to many people.  Email, GPS, Facebook, video camera…  the list goes on and on.  But how many of us actually use the thing as a phone?  Maybe you should choose a wallpaper that reminds you of its intended use.  The neat thing is, thanks to the long and storied history of the telephone, there are limitless possibilities for a hip photo opportunity.  Hand-crank phones, rotary phones, big ol’ 1980’s-style mobile phones — you name it, there’s a picture online.

Comic Book Covers – As a big comic book nerd growing up, it’s pretty easy for me to link great art with great comics.  Few things are as iconic or as personal  to a comics reader as a favorite cover, so why not share yours with the world?  Getting good scans of old comics covers used to be hard, but since 2006 one website has made it easy to find any comic cover you might be looking for – CoverBrowser.com.  With nearly half a million covers to choose from, I had very little difficulty in tracking down a specific Detective Comics cover that’s been haunting me since I was a kid.  Thanks CoverBrowser!

The Cold War – It may sound like a strange notion at first, but the Cold War brought to life some of the most unique imagery of the last 100 years.  Gas masks.  Soviet propaganda.  ICBM’s.  If you grew up any time before the fall of the Berlin Wall, you no doubt remember the daily threat of global thermonuclear war that quietly hung over all our heads.  Despite the terror it invoked at the time there’s a real kitsch nostalgia to the era and a rich photographic history to go along with it.  A quick search can find anything from Mickey Mouse breathing apparatuses to rusty old fallout shelter signs.

Video Game Art – I know what you’re thinking — using the latest screenshot from the hottest game just feels overdone and tacky.  But if you’re a gamer at heart and want to show some street cred, why not try and track down some tasteful shots or stellar fan art to show of your love of all things playable?  The screen above is a clip from 2008’s indie darling World of Goo (now available for Mac!) and offers up a great vibe without ever really feeling too fanboyish.  If you’re looking for fan art instead, you should do some searches on DeviantArt (here’s a personal favorite by NoBullet).

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As you have probably guessed by now, these are just one geek’s ideas and clearly cater to my own personal tastes. Maybe you loved these suggestions, maybe you hated them.  No matter how you felt I just hope it got you thinking a little bit more about the personality that can be added to every iPhone with just a simple image search on the web.

You’ve seen our ideas, but we’d love to see yours!  Tell us what you like to put on your iPhone standby screen.  Link to wallpapers you’ve used and loved.  Tear down that curtain and show us how cool your iPhone can be!

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A Few Words About iPhone Wallpaper: Setting your wallpaper is as easy as choosing an image from your Photos app and selecting wallpaper, but formatting it isn’t always so easy.  You can always zoom and crop on the device, but if you want something that’s going to really shine you’ll probably want to do some fiddling in a proper program.  Whether you prefer Photoshop, GIMP, or some free web-based alternative, you just need to know one thing:  iPhone wallpaper is 320×480 pixels.  Work within those dimensions and you’re good to go no matter what image you choose.  (On a side note:  all of the wallpapers featured in this articles have been sized to 320×480, so they’re ready to use.)

Resources – While we’ve mentioned DeviantArt and CoverBrowser, there are a number of other simple but prolific options out there for finding great images.  Flickr is a terrific resource, as is the simple Google Image Search.  Check out different online communities and see what’s out there in the world of photography and art!

When you open the application, it shows two folders. These allow you to keep files on your iPhone and also to sync them with your Desktop, and best of all it actually works. In order to set up the desktop sync, you need to register within the application for a desktop application to be sent to your email. It’s free and takes about 5 minutes.

Once you download the application for your desktop, you must move it to the applications folder and then you can begin working with it.

Connect your iPhone to a wireless network before proceeding with the next few steps. Then open the application. You do not have to keep it in the dock in order for it to work as it creates a sync folder on your desktop once you complete the next five steps.

As you open the application, it prompts you to setup a device, which you can do by going to the menu bar and selecting devices. Then you must open the application on your iPhone and click settings in the upper left hand corner, and then select add new desktop. It looks like this:

Once you go through the next few steps, the desktop application asks you to provide a PIN from the mobile application. Then it asks you to select the folders from your computer that you would like to sync with your iPhone. I chose several folders and it took about 5 minutes to upload. You can choose folders with images, excel sheets and word documents. Additionally you can view PDF files, but there are other applications in the iTunes store specifically dedicated to that, which do a better job of allowing you to view PDF documents. Ultimately you will see this screen which shows that the process is finished.

Now you can upload documents and sync ones created on your phone, from anywhere where Wifi is available. That is one of the cons of this device. You cannot sync to your desktop unless you iPhone and Mac are connected to the SAME wifi network. However, you can save your documents and edit them from anywhere.

The document editing allows you to change alignment, font, font colors, and also to highlight in a variety of colors. Additionally you can copy, paste, bold the font, italicize it, and underline it. This makes editing a breeze. The font colors provided are: black, three shades of grey, white, red, several shades of green, blue and pink, and a purple. You can also change the font to Arial, Calibri, Cambria, Courier New, Symbol, Times New Roman and Wingdings. Font sizes range from 8-72. You can also minimize the tool bar in order to provide a clear screen for writing and editing. The application also works in landscape mode.

All in all, despite it’s few faults, this product does exactly what it says it does– creates, edits and syncs Microsoft Word and Excel documents via iPhone and Mac.

Immediately after you launch Pastebot, the item that is currently in your iPhone’s clipboard will be copied into the app. Pastebot can store both text and images. In the clipboard you can browse your clippings and copy an item to your iPhone’s clipboard with a single tap. You can also tap the arrow next to the item to view the entire thing. After you tap on a clipboard item some information will popup. If it is a text item, you will see the character count. If it is an image, you will see the dimensions. Just to the right of this information will be two buttons. One to share it, and one to edit it. With text files, you can paste the item to your Mac, search via Google, send it as an email, or move the item to a folder in Pastebots. With an image you will also be able to save the image to the photo library on your device. You can also move multiple items to a folder, or delete multiple items, using the edit button.

Pastebot has a variety of filters to apply to both text and images. When you are viewing an image you can tap the gear icon to display the filters. For images, there are five options to choose from. You can change the brightness, convert to black and white, convert to sepia, invert the colors, and change the saturation. Tapping the edit button will also let you rotate and crop the image. There are even more options for text files. You can change the entire item to lowercase or uppercase, quote lines, find and replace words, and do much more.

Pastebot also includes one killer feature, you can sync it with your Mac! Once you install the free Mac application, anything you copy on your Mac will be sent to Pastebot (as long as your device is on the same Wi-Fi network, and Pastebot is open). If you tap and hold on an item in Pastebot, it will be sent to your Mac.

Pastebot seems to have everything covered. It’s a great clipboard application and even has a few nice editing tools. I didn’t run into many problems, but it would be nice if Mac syncing was possible with Bluetooth as well, for times when Wi-Fi is not accessible. Pastebot is currently available on iTunes for $1.99, the free Pastebot Sync utility for Mac is available on the Tapbots website.

Airlock is very easy to set up, you just need to turn bluetooth on on your iPhone and follow the directions on your Mac. Once you select your device, you can change some preferences to make sure Airlock works just how you want it to. First, you can change the range of Airlock. This is done with a nice little radar. A little blip on the radar shows your device, and you can drag the “activation range” slider to make the activation area on the radar bigger, or smaller.

Airlock has some more advanced features too. You can have Airlock automatically launch items when you come into range, or leave range, of your computer. Airlock can also increase the rate in which it scans for a device. This can decrease the battery of your iPhone or iPod if you set it very high, but it will also make your screen lock, and unlock, quicker. If you do not have your iPhone with you, you can click the small lock in the corner of the lock screen to type in your password. When you do this Airlock will be deactivated until it detects your device again. Currently Airlock only works with an iPhone or an iPod Touch, but they plan on adding support for almost any bluetooth device in the future.

Airlock does come with a few issues. If you want to save your battery, and you lower the responsiveness of the app, it will take a longer time to lock or unlock your computer. This is where the manual unlock tool comes in useful, but it still might be frustrating for some users. If you do not make the activation range large enough, you might suddenly get locked out, even if your device is near your computer. Be sure to try out the demo of Airlock first, because the developer does report that some users with bluetooth mice and keyboards are having issues. They are currently working on a fix for this.

Airlock is an interesting application. It does have a few issues, but it’s a cool app that I think everyone with an iPhone or iPod Touch should try out. A trial is available and you can purchase Airlock for $7.77 on it’s website.

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.