Posted by: RJ Huneke on Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments
Godzilla fans rejoice, as the awesome destructive power of the classic monster is currently free on the iPhone!
The “Fingerzilla” application takes the player’s thumb and puts it to good use…destroying cities, property, vehicles and various people.
For a limited time the “Fingerzilla” App is free to download in the App Store where it is currently the Number One Most Downloaded Free Game! Watch as a Sim City-looking cityscape fills the iPhone’s screen in the game, and as the time ticks away Fingerzilla, the player’s thumb, must do as much damage as is humanly (or monsterly) possible.
Simply press the thumb onto the buildings to level them. Hit the big skyscrapers and power plant towers multiple time to raze them to the ground and get the most points before time runs out. Cars and trucks will continue to drive bye, but the cop cars will quickly grow as they follow Fingerzilla’s trail.
Wiping out the homes, buildings and trees will cause the surviving people to flee from within the toppled pieces and run amuck to try and escape. The all-powerful Fingerzilla, with his Godzilla-like roar, can then snatch up and eat any of the lawyers, bankers and bosses that scurry about.
When the damage becomes significant news helicopters will fly toward the fiery scene, and Fingerzilla can then knock them from the sky, like annoying gnats reaping the points. Catastrophe in the “Fingerzilla” App is simple, fictional and could not be more fun.
IMPULSIVE Review Grade: B+
Posted by: RJ Huneke on Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: darnell on Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments
Often seen as a prestigious tool, the iPhone is one of the few devices that has personally saved me over a thousand dollars thanks to the glorious app store.
One prime example is office suites, as Microsoft can charge between $239-$400 just to install Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook (the latter which I loathe) upon your notebook.
Instead of building up Microsoft’s stock, iLovers can instead choose to be thrifty and download inexpensive office suite apps for under $20.
Documents To Go Premium
Documents To Go Premium (by DataViz) is an app that provides support for not only Microsoft Word and Excel, but PowerPoint as well (a rarity within the app store).
Of the dozens of office app suites that I have tested, Documents To Go has provided the most elegant interface for both Word and Excel, although its lack of folder support within the iPhone may drive a few organizing gurus crazy.
Documents To Go’s strongest asset is its deep exchange support, which allows users to import attachments from various email accounts and edit them directly upon the iPhone. You can also sync files created on your notebook or desktop to your iPhone, or import and export files from the cloud via Google Docs.
Price: $14.99
Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite
The Quickoffice iPhone app supports both Microsoft Word, Excel and Notepad (with Powerpoint support coming in the near future).
While it may lack some of the power of its rivals, Quickoffice’s app suite is a lot more intuitive, giving this app more of an “Apple feel” than either Documents To Go or Office Squared (although the apps overall are not as powerful as its rivals).
Quickoffice also heavily supports cloud services like Google Docs, MobileMe and Dropbox, making this app the perfect companion for road warriors on the go.
Price: $9.99
Office Squared
Created by Byte, Office Squared supports both Word and Excel with support for the cloud via Google Docs (plus MobileMe iDisk).
While Office Squared’s user interface is not as elegant when compared against its rivals, this app does pack a little more power as Office Squared allows users to insert multiple images and tables within a word document.
Power wise this tiny app does match most (if not all) of the features of its more expensive rivals (especially with Excel), although hopefully the company can “freshen up” the user interface (hint, hint).
Price: $4.99
Which should you buy?
If you have cash to spare, I would highly recommend you purchase Documents To Go, although Office Squared and Quickoffice are decent (if not less expensive) alternatives.
If anyone else has come across any other office suite apps (especially those supporting iWork for the iPhone) feel free to let us know in the comment section below!
Posted by: darnell on Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments
It took me a while to finally buy one, but about a year after the original PSP came out, I bought one. I had a lot of fun with that thing, although a few dead pixels pissed me off here and there, and it was perfect for road trips and long flights. Problem was, it was perfect for road trips and long flights – not much else. Since I don’t travel all that often, it seemed funny to me to have to lug the PSP, games, cases, charger and related accessories with me every time I wanted to hop on a plane. At 34, it gets kind of difficult explaining to the TSA security screener why you have the same console that the 7 year old in the next aisle has.
But besides the embarrassment factor, there are other things in play as well. The proprietary game format, for example. The discs were just clunky to carry, and expensive to purchase. $40 for a new game? No thank you, I’ll just buy the full size version for $60 and get more content. Then there was the Memory Stick, which you had to buy just to save your games. Then, when the PSP Go was released, I was told that there was no more physical game to purchase, you just buy everything online. Time to throw out that old collection. Sorry, I just wasn’t interested.
Not unless they did something different. Three years ago, I was just one of many people talking about the possibility of a PSP phone. In all their infinite wisdom, Sony figured that they had made enough money with the PS3, so they didn’t need some hokey gadget phone.
Now they do.
The Christian Science Monitor is reporting (albeit via the Wall Street Journal) that Sony is looking to take on the iPhone. Had this been three years ago, I’d care. But at this point, Sony’s lost so much ground to Apple, Microsoft and Nintendo, that I don’t know how they’re going to get a foothold in the market. Between proprietary hardware and software, hardware that turns off on specific dates, and abandoning those proprietary systems mid-stream, I just don’t have the trust in the company anymore. No reason for me to buy a PSP phone, and I bet a lot of people feel the same.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments
For years, the Mac gaming has been about kids games, new releases released a year after the PC version ships, and lousy gameplay. Now, it’s all been changed.
We first posted about this back in February, but now it’s all been confirmed. Steam is coming to the Mac.
For the uninitiated, here’s what Steam is, according to their website.
- Instantly access your favorite games
The full Steam library and all future Steam releases are at your fingertips. After you’ve purchased a game, download it immediately and start playing.
- Join the Steam Community
Now it’s easy to find someone to play with, meet up with friends, connect with groups with similar interests, and host and join chats, matches, and tournaments. Best of all, it’s all free.
- Chat with your friends while gaming
With Steam’s “Friends” service, you can talk to your friends while you play. You can also see when they’re playing games and easily join the same servers together.
- Easily browse multiplayer game servers
Steam’s integrated server browser makes it easy to navigate thousands of Internet game servers.
- Receive automatic game updates
Hunting for patches and downloading from unorganized web sites is so twentieth-century. On Steam, your games stay up-to-date by themselves. No hassles.
- Play your games on any PC
Once you have a Steam account, you can sign in from any PC to access your games. Your games are associated with your account, not your computer.
- Enjoy Steam-only special offers
From pre-release discounts to free-play weekends, Steam delivers what gamers value most.
Now take out all of those “PC” references and swap them with “Mac,” and you’ve got online gaming for the Mac, all ready to go.
But wait, there’s more.
“Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac,” said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve. “Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play.”
Meaning, if you already play Steam games on your Boot Camp drive or on another PC, you don’t have to buy anything new to play on the Mac. They also announced that the Mac is going to be under the same release schedule as games for Windows and the XBox 360. All of a sudden, things are looking up.
It’s about time someone started taking Mac gaming seriously.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments
If you were watching the Oscars last night, then you probably saw the debut iPad commercial. Maybe even more than once. But if you haven’t, head on over to the Apple website to check it out. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
A lot of sites are taking this ad apart like a Zapruder film, but I’m not going to do that here. Instead, I’ll just make witty commentary and you can tear me apart in the comments.
Here’s the challenge I see with the iPad: Behind everything in this commercial is a pair of legs. That means to type, respond to an e-mail, or just watch a movie, you have to form a wedge with your body and prop up the iPad. That’s not typically how I do things. With my iPhone, I just flip it around however I need to so I can do my work. I can typically type things out one-handed, and not have any concerns. I can also watch a movie without worrying about the people next to me watching it too, something I find a little creepy about the iPad.
Plus, this commercial doesn’t really sell me on what the iPad is. It looks like it’s a commercial for a big iPhone – which a lot of people have said it is anyways – and it doesn’t talk about all of the really unique features. What I’m hoping for is a commercial similar to the current iPhone commercials, where they discuss the functionality of the product, not just flip through a bunch of highlights. Stuff like that is what’s going to sell the product to the mainstream; we all know that the fanboys are already waiting in line.
They’ve got a month to build more hype. Can it be done?
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: lorrainemarie on Mar 8, 2010 | No Comments
I bake and sell cupcakes “in real life”, so I didn’t think I would be too impressed with the More Cupcakes app for the iPhone / iPod Touch.
I was wrong. I love this app. Here’s how it works:
- Choose your cupcake batter. White, Yellow, Chocolate, Strawberry or Carrot.
- Set your baking time. Burn them if you like- they’re virtual!
- Select your frosting. Cupcake lovers know it’s all about the frosting.
- Choose your toppings. They’ve got everything from Jelly Beans to Sprinkles in every color, to Candy Hearts.
- Select your presentation. Choose from ten kinds of plates and six tablecloths.
From there, you can share or eat the cupcake. Take a bite:
A warning: this app may make you hungry (for cupcakes). It’s actually one of the reasons I like it so much- it inspires me to get baking for real.
More Cupcakes is currently 99 cents at the App Store.
Posted by: lorrainemarie on Mar 8, 2010 | No Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 8, 2010 | 3 Comments
I really want to tether my iPhone.
More than anything, I really want AT&T to flip the switch and support tethering on the iPhone. After all, they promised they would do so by the end of 2009, now here we are, 2 weeks into March 2010, and no tethering. Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s noticed that.
Of course, that’s not a problem in other countries, because some of them have providers that **care** about their customers. Some of them are already using tethering to their advantage, which brings up a legitimate point: will the iPad be able to tether with the iPhone?
Apparently, Jezper Söderlund of Switzerland thought the same thing. According to Apple Insider, he sent off a quick e-mail to Steve Jobs to ask him about the situation. The answer? Well, why don’t you just read the question first.
I’ll keep it short.
I’m Jezper from Sweden, a long time Apple fan, currently about to replace the very last computer at home with a brand spanking new iMac i7. I’m also awaiting the release of the iPad. However, I have one question:
Will the wifi-only version somehow support tethering thru my iPhone?
Two devices, based on the same OS, with already built-in technology to share one data plan suggests a secondary contract could possibly be redundant.
From the look of your keynote, where the iPad sits well between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, I was hoping the three of them could interact as seamless as possible.
All the best,
Jezper Söderlund
The answer?
No.
Sent from my iPhone
Wow. I think that’s the most gangster answer I’ve ever seen from a CEO, and I’m not exactly sure why. Regardless, this is a bit disappointing. Two data plans is redundant, and it is frustrating. Then again, it’s not surprising, either. Either way, we still don’t have tethering in the US, so it’s a moot point. Disappointing, yes. Shocking, no.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 8, 2010 | 3 Comments
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 8, 2010 | 3 Comments
When the iPhone first came out, my boss at the time turned to me and said, “You going to get one of those fancy new iPhones?” I responded, “Not until they get MMS and can replace my old iPod.” When they introduced the 3G, it came with almost enough storage for my entire library and MMS was on the way, so I bought in, then upgraded to the 3GS a year later. This year, I probably will keep the 3GS unless it’s something really spectacular.
Which is pretty much how I feel about the iPad. I want one, I really do. But I just can’t justify the price tag for what I’d really need. That’s because I’d want at least 32gb of space plus 3G, putting me anywhere from $729 to $829. That’s almost a grand for an iPad, and since that’s pretty close in price to the Mac Mini home theater setup I’ve been dreaming of, I’m not sure if I’m willing to plunk down the money for a Gen 1 iPad. That said, I have been looking at other options which would negate the 3G, but that’s for another post.
So what about you guys and gals? Who’s pre-ordering one, what model, and what are your plans? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll discuss them in a future post.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 8, 2010 | 3 Comments
Posted by: RJ Huneke on Mar 5, 2010 | 1 Comment
“Now get green, or die!”
This is one of the slogans that greet players of the “Eco Punk” game, which is free for one day for the iPhone. Take “Grand Theft Auto” and drop onto the streets an environmentalist that is a skateboarding skeletal punk bunny with a mean attitude. Add a thrashing punk and hardcore soundtrack and you have the “Eco Punk” App!
The game is simple, fun and addictive though its message is certainly speaking to extremist ideals. The bunny with the mean looking skull with floppy ears skateboards the car-heavy streets with the dragging of a finger along the sensitive touch screen of the iPhone.
The player collects garbage and litter for points, avoiding cars, which instantly kill the radical bunny. Once the player gets enough points he can collect a blue or red circle, which allows the punk to then either skate into cars, blowing them up, or shoot at cars blasting them to pieces.
Morality is called into question immediately, as this Top Download from the App Store is adept at providing difficult and engaging gameplay that makes for a lot of fun, but at the same time is sending a very pro-extremist ideal into the hands of iPhone gamers. Extremist environmentalists have been known to blow up vehicles and more items of loggers and polluters across the globe.
The “Eco Punk” App is not even attempting to hide the fact that the game is a cultural model in which eco terrorism is rewarded, with points and more fun activities in the game, because it is reinforcing the “Eco Punk” rebel position that it is celebrating.
The fact that Apple does not approve of pornography, yet allows for a game of this nature is staggering. Society is influenced by the smallest of things, including an App, and the extremists have provided a fictional point of view where blowing up polluting cars is the biggest goal?
IMPULSIVE Review Grade: ??
Posted by: RJ Huneke on Mar 5, 2010 | 1 Comment
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 5, 2010 | No Comments
[Do a Google Image search for Ninja, and this is what you get]
Quick story before the story:
I was in high school, my senior year, and I needed to get a job. I ended up applying at a local Best Buy, and I didn’t hear from them for a long time. When I finally did, they almost sounded desperate. “Can you come in today?” I sure could, and I was in a blue polo by the end of the week.
This was in the ’90s, and most Best Buys that I knew of were setup in these little cubes for sections. In my store, when you first walked in the Video department was directly to the left, and then there was Home Audio, with a wall of overstock separating the two. I was hired to work in Car-Fi and Home Audio, since Car-Fi didn’t get a lot of traffic. Once I started working there, I learned that I was hired because they had just cleaned out the entire department for stealing, including management. Here’s how it worked.
They used to sell these huge Pioneer speakers in home audio, that were easily 4-feet high. They were also super cheap – like $99 a piece of something stupid – and as a result, super popular. Once everyone had gone home, the Home Audio guys would take one of those speakers out of the box and put it on the floor as an open-box clearance item for a discounted price. Then they would take the empty box and fill it up with product that they’d get from Video right across the aisle. See, Video kept all of their VCRs and camcorders just within reach of the Home Audio shelves, so it was an easy grab. Then they’d fill up the Pioneer box with all sorts of goodies, and put it back on the floor, way in the back.
The next day, one of the crew would come in on their day off and buy the speaker. They’d get their employee discount – natch – and then walk out the door with all of their product. They didn’t have any fancy sensor tags on the boxes, and even if an alarm did go off, security would rush them by. It was a great scan.
Eventually, they got caught. I don’t know when or how, but they did, and that’s how I got hired. Later on, I’d know other people who would steal at the store, including the security guy interestingly enough. By the time my 2 years at Best Buy were done, I learned a lot of shady things about that place.
Which is why I don’t feel bad reporting stories like this one here:
SOUTH BRUNSWICK — They never touched the floor — that would have set off an alarm.
They didn’t appear on store security cameras. They cut a hole in the roof and came in at a spot where the cameras were obscured by advertising banners.
And they left with some $26,000 in laptop computers, departing the same way they came in — down a 3-inch gas pipe that runs from the roof to the ground outside the store.
Police believe that’s how some brazen bandits managed to swipe 20 Apple notebooks early this morning at a Best Buy on Route 1 in South Brunswick without detection.
“High level of sophistication,” said Detective James Ryan, a police department spokesman. “They never set off any motion sensors. They never touched the floor. They rappelled in and rappelled out.”
Like damned ninjas, some covert team just bit a chunk out of Best Buy. I’d say that I feel bad for Best Buy, but I really don’t. Anyone who pulls of a theft that cool deserves what they got, in my book. Well, not really. But maybe I’m just bitter.
Posted by: Kevin Whipps on Mar 5, 2010 | No Comments
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