Posted by Tony Craine on Apr 20, 2009 9:41 pm
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Creative writers trying to wrestle their way out of a block sometimes use a simple exercise to summon the muse: They open a dictionary, pick three random words, and write a scene or a character monologue that includes those words. The specificity of the three words pulls a writer’s head out of the fog and provides some small, achievable goals to work toward.


Word Up: Find a novel way to say just about anything with Word Twiddle.

Inspiration from random stimuli isn’t exclusive to writing. It can be an effective technique to get a brainstorm brewing for all types of creative activities, from naming your new company to mocking your friends. With Word Twiddle from Double Dog Studios on your iPhone or iPod touch, you can generate arbitrary combinations of words to kick-start a stalled imagination.

Using a slot-machine-like interface, Word Twiddle works quickly to pluck up to three terms from its database of 50,000 words at the tap of a button. (The free lite version of Word Twiddle offers a library of 3,700 words.) It successfully combines simplicity with a high degree of customization. You can choose basic categories, like nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs; you can also narrow your choices by using more than 50 pre-defined subcategories, such as action verbs, colors, foods, business buzzwords, dog and cat names, and many more. Double Dog Studios even gives us some insight into its target market (or perhaps its company parties) by including subcategories for cocktails, drunkenness, vomiting, and flatulence.

Any words that you find particularly inspiring can be saved to a list of “Keepers.” You can also tap the “Send” button, and Word Twiddle launches Mail, dropping the terms into a new message.

You may still need a dictionary, because Word Twiddle sometimes spits out some pretty obscure terminology. Or you can just keep tapping until you see some words you recognize. Eventually, you’ll find the elusive phrase that sets your creativity in motion.

Word Twiddle is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running iPhone 2.1 software.

[Tony Craine is a freelance writer, playwright, and voice actor in Chicago.]

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New iPhone ad targets small business
Posted by Peter Cohen on Apr 20, 2009 6:44 pm
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* Macworld »
* Business Center

One of Apple’s new iPhone ads targets small businesses by showing them how they can use iPhone apps to process credit card transactions, print shipping labels and check on the delivery of an order.

iPhone office ad
“There’s an app for that” has become the standard refrain in a series of television advertisements that Apple runs during prime-time hours on commercial television. The ads show an iPhone in use with an off-screen narrator who describes all the things you can do on your iPhone, while The Submarines’ You Me and the Bourgeoisie plays in the background.

The new ad, entitled “Office” and available for viewing on Apple’s Web site, shows how small business users can use the iPhone to process credit card transactions using Inner Fence’s Credit Card Terminal application; print a shipping label for a package using Print & Share; and check on the status of a delivery with FedEx Mobile.

“Yup, there’s an app for just about anything,” concludes the narration. “Only on the iPhone.”

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Review: MeeHive for iPhone
Posted by Ben Boychuk on Apr 20, 2009 2:25 pm
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Personalized newspapers have been the dream of media mavens for a couple of decades now. Obviously, the Internet makes it possible for anyone to get the news they want, when they want it, no matter how broad or narrow her or her interests might be. MeeHive by Kosmix is a news aggregator that’s similar to Google and Yahoo, but a quite a bit more refined.

Although MeeHive for the iPhone and the iPod touch can’t quite match the graphic appeal or navigational ease of MeeHive’s Web site, it does provide a convenient one-stop location for all the news your handheld’s bandwidth can fit. Alas, while MeeHive lets you indulge your interests, the app gives you few tools to manage the buzz of information.


You Decide, They Report: MeeHive promises to deliver personalized news to your iPhone or iPod touch based on your interests.

The one drawback of the whole “Daily Me” approach to news is that it gives readers what they want without necessarily giving them what they need. To borrow an old Rumsfeldism, you don’t always know what you don’t know. MeeHive tries to overcome that deficiency when you launch the app by displaying a few dozen of the day’s “Hot Stories.” So you may not care about the anti-government rioting in Thailand, or American Idol’s deliberations over the two- or four-judge format, but the stories are there for you to browse or ignore.
Read more…

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Review: Speedtest.net Speed Test
Posted by Jeffrey Hatton on Apr 18, 2009 6:17 pm
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One of the simplest and best designed free apps you’ll find in the App Store, Speedtest.net Speed Test can tell you whether your network’s speed is up to snuff. Developed by the team behind speedtest.net (a site for testing broadband speeds), the app has an simple, elegant interface and does exactly what the name tells you it will.


Speedtest.net Speed Test
Launch Speed Test, and a speedometer appears with a big, shiny “Begin Test” button. You can’t resist tapping the button, and you aren’t disappointed when you do. The app immediately starts the test by connecting to speedtest.net and uploading and downloading some test files. Seconds later, you get the results. You can then compare them with previous speed tests.

While Speed Test works very well, there’s still room for improvement. It would be nice to be able to create network profiles and assign tests to one profile or another. (Perhaps that’s best for a “pro” version.) And it’s a bit cumbersome to differentiate test results—say, between 3G and Wi-Fi—as you need to go to a different screen to see this and other details. But these are minor quibbles. Speed Test is sweet.

Speed Test is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.x software update.

[Jeffrey Hatton is a freelance writer living in Virginia.]

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iPhone Game Roundup: Red Bull Air Race, Cosmic Nitro
Posted by Peter Cohen on Apr 18, 2009 3:59 am
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We’re clearing out our mailbox of some recent stuff that’s come our way, such as an aerobatic racing game, a new title from the maker of Galcon, football/soccer management game and an imaginative game involving flatulence.

Red Bull Air Race Lite Version

Red Bull Air Race Lite Version
Unlike most “Lite” versions, Red Bull Air Race still costs $1. But or that, yu get to customize a 3D aerobatic airplane and put it through its paces in sky race tracks modeled after the official Abu Dhabi and San Diego events.

Cosmic Nitro

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Report: Hulu planning iPhone app
Posted by Dan Moren on Apr 18, 2009 1:51 am
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We’re big fans of video-streaming service Hulu, as evidenced by the fact that the site made it through the tough vetting process to win an Eddy Award. So, as you might expect, even the rumor that the service may be planning on building an iPhone application is enough to bring squeals of glee to the Macworld offices. Respectable, professional squeals of glee, naturally.

According to Silicon Alley Insider, Hulu, which is jointly owned by NBC and Fox, is in the process of bringing its streaming television catalog to iPhone. And, according to an industry executive that spoke with SAI, it’s going to be—and, no, we didn’t make this up—“badass.”

As the Insider points out, there are other video-streaming apps for the iPhone, including one for CBS’s TV.com and, of course, the default YouTube application included on every device for all your skateboarding dog and rickrolling needs. But if Hulu’s application can mimic the simplicity and effectiveness of its Web site (not to mention leveraging its brand recognition), it does have a shot at becoming the preeminent source for streaming video on the iPhone.

Would the app work over both Wi-Fi and the 3G cell connection? Silicon Alley Insider says yes, though that seems iffy: AT&T hasn’t always been thrilled with applications that might chew up a lot of bandwidth (or potentially compete with its own revenue streams).

Watching television on cell phones is already popular in other countries, such as Japan, and wireless providers have been trying to push it in the U.S, though it has yet to catch on, largely due to the added expense and limited content. A good Hulu app could go a long way towards changing that, especially if the company can manage to expand its content catalog. We'll tamp down on our excitement for now, but just imagine: the ability to watch Mark Wahlberg talk to animals no matter where we are? We have seen the future and it is glorious.

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Review: Metal Gear Solid Touch for iPhone
Posted by Chris Barylick on Apr 18, 2009 12:14 am
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If you grew up in the 80s, you knew about Metal Gear for the Nintendo. It was tricky, your character Solid Snake was a veritable icon of stealth and firepower and your dreams were filled with guard dogs you’d accidentally alerted that were now chasing you.

Metal Gear Solid Touch
Shootouts like this one are a common part of the action in Metal Gear Solid Touch -- impressive graphics, but none of the stealth-based action fans expect.
Years later, Konami has brought the look and feel of Metal Gear to Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch handsets via Metal Gear Solid Touch. Following the plot for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, MGST breaks from being a stealth-focused game to become a third-person shooter in which Solid Snake must fight various Private Military Corporation (PMC) soldiers while on his quest to assassinate Liquid Ocelot.

Metal Gear Solid Touch is a marquee title and it shows. Lovingly detailed graphics and environments bring the Metal Gear characters and feel to life. Outstanding music and sound adds to the dark mood of the game. Additional touches include sand and dirt kicking up after a rocket has exploded nearby, needing to be cleared by shaking the handset. It all contributes to the sense of immersion.

Konami knew the iPhone’s touchscreen was the platform’s distinguishing factor and made the most of it, but the end result appreciably breaks away from what you’d expect of a Metal Gear title. As the level begins, Snake is situated behind cover and must shoot a certain number of soldiers or take down a boss to advance to the next level. In order to fire, tap the touchscreen, move the crosshairs over the enemy, and begin tapping to rapidly fire at a target. For longer distance targets, pinch the touchscreen with two fingers to access the sniper rifle, move the crosshair over the enemy, and take a shot by tapping the touchscreen.

Additional weapons like rocket launchers can be picked up, as can health and bonus points (by shooting frog and duck statues along the way). Goodies can be unlocked, like character art to use as iPhone wallpaper, and a Survivor game mode in which you endure wave after wave of enemies.

Fans of the Metal Gear universe may love seeing their favorite characters and environments), but Metal Gear Solid Touch has some very big problems to contend with.

The game’s controls can feel awkward. The gameplay can feel like a repetitive version of “Whack-A-Mole:” Enter a level, shoot soldiers, finish the level, repeat. This can be fun initially, and the plot is interesting, but Metal Gear Solid players expect a stealth-centered title and this is not it. Konami’s apparently rushed to create a more accessible shooter title, and one that costs $8 at that.

On the upside, the application runs well and automatically saves your progress. Hopefully it can evolve into something that much better with a few software updates.

Metal Gear Solid Touch requires iPhone OS 2.0 or later to install and run.

[Chris Barylick is a frequent contributor to Macworld. He fully realizes that Solid Snake is probably better at murdering him than he is at living.]

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Review: The New York Times Crosswords Daily 2009 for iPhone
Posted by Jonathan Seff on Apr 17, 2009 11:30 pm
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To some people, solving crossword puzzles means sitting in your favorite chair with a folded-over section of the newspaper and a pencil (or a pen if you’re really brave) with a cup of tea by your side. To others, it’s less about the ritual and the tactile sensation of paper than keeping the mind working during downtime.

nytcrosswords

If you’re more of the latter, then Magmic’s The New York Times Crosswords Daily 2009 app may be just up your alley. It offers access to the daily crossword puzzles from the New York Times, as well as the publication’s vast archives of more than 4,000 puzzles going back to October 1996. And yes, the ‘2009’ in the product’s title is significant, as it’s only good until the end of this year.

Getting started with a day’s puzzle is easy—from the main menu, you tap on Play and then on Today’s Puzzle. Getting to archived puzzles is a little more difficult. You click on the Calendar link at the bottom of the same page, which takes you to a month-by-month calendar—you can tap on arrows to move forward or back in the months as well as the years. The problem I had was that tapping on a square to download an older puzzle caused the Downloading progress indicator to come up, but the app didn't download the puzzle. In order for it to work, I had to tap on the next day, which would then cause the previous day’s square to turn blue, at which point I could then select that original day and download the puzzle.

You can pinch to zoom into specific areas to enlarge them, making it easier to see what you’re typing. Tapping on the clue bar above the on-screen keyboard toggles between across and down clues for your current location. You can also tap on a clue button at the top to see the clues and boxes in a list, and you can enter your answers in this view as well. While solving, you can bring up a menu to check letters, words, or the entire puzzle, as well as reveal letters, words, or the entire puzzle when you’ve reached your wit’s end. When you’re done with a puzzle, you can also check your answers. The app also includes social features for competing and interacting with other users, as well as tracking your individual stats for puzzle completion times (which explains the timer at the top of the screen when you’re working on a puzzle).

The app gives you a fair amount of control over its interface. You can choose whether to put the toolbar on the top or bottom of the screen, pick from three sizes for clues as well as for the keyboard—very useful, since it can be hard to enter clues with anything other than the large keyboard size—and have the app remember the level of zoom you last used when opening a new puzzle. You can also set whether you want the app to skip filled squares as you’re typing, and to automatically jump to the next clue when you finish entering a word. Unfortunately, you can’t turn off the timer if you just want to enjoy a relaxing brain teaser.

At $10, it’s a good deal, considering that it costs $7 a month or $40 a year for a New York Times Premium Crosswords subscription (or you get it for free with a subscription to the Times itself). But the app doesn’t have anything to do with that subscription, so the $10 will be on top of anything you already pay. If you already have access to the puzzles online, and would like to solve them on your iPhone as well, you might want to make a one-time purchase of Eliza Block’s $6 2 Across or Stand Alone’s $10 Crosswords apps, both of which let you enter your Times puzzle information and download and solve daily puzzles. And with a regular puzzle subscription, you can also solve puzzles online, download them to solve on your computer, or print them out.

The New York Times Crosswords Daily 2009 is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.2 software update.

[Senior news editor Jonathan Seff has had two crossword puzzles published in the Los Angeles Times.]

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Verizon CEO says 4G iPhone could be on Verizon
Posted by Dan Moren on Apr 17, 2009 11:07 pm
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Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg took advantage of a recent chat with the Wall Street Journal to talk a bit about Apple. Seidenberg said that Apple never wanted to make a version of the iPhone for Verizon’s CDMA network, since it wouldn’t be able to be as widely distributed as the GSM-based models it eventually produced. Uh, yeah, Ivan, thanks for joining the rest of us over here in the nation of Duh.

Mr. Seidenberg also addressed the notion of Apple Inc.’s iPhone ever coming to the Verizon Wireless network, saying it is more likely that Apple would be willing to work with the carrier under the fourth-generation, or 4G, network, which follows the same technology standard as AT&T Inc.’s 4G plans.

That technology, which we’ve discussed before, is called LTE and is the next step along the GSM standard after the current 3G incarnation. Among U.S. providers, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon will all be transitioning to LTE for their 4G networks, a process expected to happen over the next few years. Rival Sprint is meanwhile planning on using a version of the WiMax standard for its next-generation infrastructure.

This shows a bit of a softening towards Cupertino on the part of the Verizon CEO. Back in June 2008, he told the Financial Times that “Steve Jobs will eventually get old,” adding that Apple was still a small player in the mobile industry and the iPhone was unlikely to become a mass-market hit.

Of course, that was right around the launch of the iPhone 3G. Several million handset sales later, perhaps Seidenberg is rethinking his dessert plans, and eyeing a piece of that sweet Apple pie.

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Airfoil Speakers Touch streams audio to iPhone, iPod touch
Posted by David Chartier on Apr 17, 2009 9:57 pm
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Thanks to the App Store, your iPhone or iPod touch can be used for everything from finding a great restaurant to straightening out your paintings to replacing that Nintendo DS that's been collecting dust. Now, thanks to Rogue Amoeba, your i-device can also double as a remote speaker for your Mac or Windows PC.

On Friday, Rogue Amoeba announced Airfoil Speakers Touch, an iPhone OS app that works in conjunction with the company's Eddy award-winning Airfoil, which lets you share audio over your home network (see our Airfoil 3.1 review for an overview). The companion Airfoil Speakers program allows you to turn any computer (Mac, Windows, or Linux) into a remote speaker for iTunes or virtually any other audio you can play, including Real Player, Pandora, and Last.fm. It even sends audio to Apple’s AirPort Express or Apple TV and now, with Airfoil Speakers Touch, the iPhone and iPod touch can rock out to anything that Airfoil will stream.

Airfoil Speakers Touch allows you to apply a unique name to your i-device, require a password before a computer can stream audio to it, and enable an audio-level meter for some eye candy while streaming.

Airfoil Speakers Touch (iTunes link) is free and requires iPhone software 2.1 or higher, as well as the $25 Airfoil for either Mac OS X or Windows.