Apple Bandai Pippin, 1995

Marketed as the Pipp!n, this little machine was supposed to be a low-cost internet-enabled gaming computer. Packing a 66Mhz processor and a 14.4kbs modem, the unassuming little console was practically a pioneer in its use of a 4x CD tray while its contemporaries lumbered around with clunky cassettes. The problem was, it retailed at nearly $600 and only 18 games were made for it. The modem was a bit of a waste of time because when it was released, not many people really knew about the internet or computer networking.

The Apple III, 1980

Retailing at up to $7,800 back in the 80’s, this computer did not represent good value for money. In a decade when that sort of cash would buy a fairly reasonable car, Apple were going to have to convince customers that this business-oriented desktop model was worth the money.

Unfortunately it wasn’t. It was woefully underpowered, even for 1980, and there were several crippling design flaws which ensured its entry into this list. It would regularly overheat (thanks to Steve Jobs insisting on no fans or air vents) and the components would fail after prolonged use.

The iMac Mouse

This is the iconic mouse released at the end of the nineties. The one that was supposed to look like a hockey puck with multicoloured facets? It had just the one button, which confused many, but it was also uncomfortable and difficult to use.

The USB port on the iMac G3 was moved from the centre to the left, meaning that right-handed people found the mouse difficult to use. We know that left-handed people encounter a lot of discriminatory design features when they use tech, but we reckon this is a step in the wrong direction.

Motorola ROKR

This isn’t exactly an Apple product on the outside, but its main selling feature was that it came with Apple’s iTunes player built in. This was quite a big deal back in 2005 when smartphones hadn’t really kicked off, but sadly the Motorola ROKR was destined to fail from birth.

It could only store about 100 songs which, although more impressive than CDs, is still not much when compared to the already-established iPod range. And the clunky interface and general iTunes skulduggery meant that transferring music was a lengthy ordeal.

Apple Lisa

Unlike a lot of tech fails which can simply be left in a warehouse and forgotten, Apple actually went to the lengths of making a secure landfill site in Utah and disposing of all the unsold Lisas there. Although this was for tax reasons, it’s still the embarrassing result of a damning consumer backlash.

It wasn’t as big a commercial failure as the Apple III, and it did give rise to some internationally useful software. But its high asking price (a whopping $10,000) and fairly mediocre specifications made it something of a laughing stock. Apple had to literally throw 2,700 of them away.

Despite their overlooked failures, Gerri is a tech mistress and devours all things Apple. She also writes on behalf of a high-end furniture retailer based in the US.

[Image Via Engadget]

It would be pretty fair to say that I’m a video game guy, particularly consoles. I own every Nintendo console ever built, as well as a PS2, PS3, PSP, XBox, and XBox 360. Up until recently, they were all hooked up to a dedicated television in a dedicated game room. I think my commitment to video games is pretty clear.

So I’m the guy who would’ve bought a Sony PlayStation phone. I would’ve been one of the thousands of guys lining up to buy a PSP phone because the best gaming console you can have is the one that’s with you every day. Problem is, the iPhone came along and changed the game.

See, the PSP’s problem was that it required physical discs. Carrying your PSP around wasn’t as easy as having an iPod Touch because you had this physical media that had to go everywhere with you, which required a second pocket. I hated that about the thing, even though I loved playing it. But let’s say that Sony worked that out with a memory stick or some other kind of physical hard drive, but they came out with it in 2007. I would’ve still bought it, and then Sony would have a huge hit on its hands.

Instead, they hemmed and hawed about the concept for years until Apple proved they could make a successful gaming device in a phone, even without physical hardware buttons for controls. So they come out with an Android-powered smartphone with a slider for buttons – all good ideas – but do I really want to get rid of my iOS investment? All those apps installed on my iPhone that work for productivity, gaming, etc? Do I want to give up a perfectly good, reliable ecosystem for a Sony device which may or may not be supported in a year?

No. No I don’t, and I don’t think consumers do either. The PSP brand is outdated at this point, and it needs a hardware refresh. There’s no reason why people would drop their iPhones to get a PlayStation phone. I think they’ll sell a lot of them for sure, but it’s not going to beat the iPhone. Sorry, but Sony is too late for this one.

The design of Apple products has influenced the look of other companies across the world for the better. Remember the other day I told you about a cool desk that a friend pointed out to me? Well it’s called OneLessOffice, and it’s pretty damned cool.

I think the tagline kinda says it all:

At one time, you needed a desk that could fit a mountain of paper, two-foot-deep monitor, printer, and CPU the size of a Labrador. Today, your computer is an inch thick. You have moved forward. It’s time your desk caught up.

The desk works similar to a matryoshka doll, in that it has multiple pieces that fit together in a compact space. It starts with OneLessDesk, which is the top half and keyboard tray of the bunch. Shaped like an upside-down “U,” these pieces slide apart on teflon glides. Underneath the desk is a tray and cord wraps, built to hold your router and other accessories. The keyboard desk slides out from under that, and even comes with a padded mat. After that comes the OneLessStand, which is a printer stand that will hold the average printer and still fit underneath the keyboard. Finally is OneLessFile, which fits underneath the printer stand, and also glides on the floor.

Ultimately, I don’t think this is the desk for everybody, but I do think it would be great for those people who live in small spaces and don’t have a lot of options. It’s $699 for the desk itself, and $1047 for the whole set. Pricey? Sure. But watch the video above and tell me it’s not cool.

For fans of Attack of the Show, featuring the gorgeous Apple TV-licking bombshell from Iron Man 2, Olivia Munn, great high quality video of stories are presented in the “G4” App, as are videos for X-Play and the Feed. Just thumb through the choices and queue up Attack of the Show’s search for the ultimate G4 booth babe contest. The video focuses on the assets of the three finalists, three stunning girls who game prodigiously, one of which will be the G4 Booth Babe at the E3 mega event!

For many years now, the experts at G4 have given up to the minute news updates on everything that is popular culture. Coverage of the San Diego and New York Comic Cons, every E3 expo and every technology, Apple product and gaming event in between is found in stunning brilliance on G4 TV and, now, the “G4” App!

There is even a free gaming companion, complete with a Cheats Section, in the “G4” application, so that the X-Box Live sniping can continue with ease.

There is humor, as in “Olivia Bites Kevin’s Foil Wrapped Cucumber,” there is up to the minute news stories on everything dealing with popular culture, as in “Michael Emerson on LOST Finale & Hurley” and of course the computing and technology wisdom the serious geek would expect.

IMPULSIVE Review Grade: A+

My folks came over to my house the other day, and my dad walked into my office to check out my setup. He looked at the two Western Digital My Book for Mac boxes, and said, “Why are you using those? That’s a very unreliable, amateurish setup.” He suggested I go with a network attached storage setup. or a NAS, for the uninitiated.

I don’t know if my Dad is correct about my setup being amateurish, but getting a NAS has been something I’ve considered for a long time now. I’ve put it off mostly because of price, but also because of Mac capabilities. Most that I found were fairly universal, but the cheaper versions weren’t customizable and didn’t allow for expansion. I don’t want a bay of NAS drives floating around my place, just one will work just fine.

But I’m also ridiculously anal about backup, particularly with my more important files. I’ve also got a rapidly growing media collection, and every time I do a photo shoot I seem to burn up 10GB of hard drive space. I need something reliable and stable with expandability. That led me to Drobo.

At my old company, I remember our IT guys going nuts when they ordered a Drobo S for the office. A few weeks later, they weren’t impressed. Turns out it didn’t play well with the network. But now there’s the Drobo FS, designed for the network from the start, and very expandable. I could install 10TB worth of drives in its 5 bays, and with dual drive redundancy, my data is protected.

I’m still not sure though, so I figured I’d take it to the web and ask for your opinion. Has anyone out there used a Drobo and if so, how do you like it? Would you recommend the purchase to someone?

I love my iPhone. But the fact remains that it doesn’t have one of the features that was promised to me a long time ago, which would make my life much easier – tethering. My travel schedule varies, but when I am on the road, I’d like to use my iPad/MacBook Pro as well. That typically means paying for some hotel’s Wi-Fi, which almost always costs $10 a day depending on where you stay. And since most of my trips seem to be to Vegas, it’s typically $15 a night.

But even if the iPhone did tether, let’s face it: AT&T’s service sucks. It may be alright in some places, but in the spots where I roam, there are lots of connectivity issues. So even if I could, I really couldn’t tether my iPhone to any other device because I just wouldn’t be able to get a connection.

But let’s take this one step further. Say you have a new iPad, but didn’t spring/wait for the 3G version. What if you can’t find a Wi-Fi hotspot?

To test all of my theories, I called up Verizon and had a Mi-Fi demo unit sent to me for review, which I sent back a month later. For 30 days I blogged, used my iPhone in remote locations, and used the Mi-Fi whenever I thought about it.

The Verizon Mi-Fi is a mobile hotspot designed to provide Verizon’s 3G network to anyone who logs in. The device is password protected, and up to 5 people can connect to the device by typing in the password located on the bottom of the small black box. When you connect it to a USB source, it not only charges, but it also tethers to that device, making it a 1-man operation. When tethered, it does not allow other people to join the network.

Using the Mi-Fi without the tether was a dream. There’s really no special setup needed. Just turn on your iPad/iPhone/MacBook and search for a Wi-Fi network. Once you find the Verizon signal, type in the password and voila, you’re good to go. I used the Mi-Fi when I live blogged the iPad launch back in April, and I didn’t have any problems. I kept it in my pocket while I blogged away, with a solid signal the whole time. I used it again up in North Scottsdale – a notorious AT&T dead zone – and got a signal every time. I even used it in my living room and got comparable speeds to my 3G connection on the iPhone.

Using the Mi-Fi as a tethered device though wasn’t as promising. I used it fine without the special Verizon VZW access program, but once I installed that, everything went to hell. I actually restored from a Time Machine backup to get out of the thing, because it sucked that bad. But when it was working, I didn’t notice any faster speeds than I did when the device wasn’t tethered, leading me to believe that it’s just better to use the thing without the USB cable, unless you need to charge it.

Of course, this does come with a price. The Mi-Fi sells for $269 with a month-to-month contract, $119 for a 1-year contract, and $99 for a 2-year contract. Price plans start at $39.99 for 250MB a month, to $59.99 for 5GB.

At first, that all seemed really expensive to me. But here’s my rationalization: If I travel just 4 days out of the month, and I pay for Wi-Fi for those 4 days, then I’m covered. I’m by no means a traveling machine either, but if I was, this would make more than enough sense.

I will say that in town I didn’t use it as much as I thought I would. I don’t think this is the type of device that you carry with you every day. I think it’s more the thing that you have handy should you need it, but it won’t make the trip to Circle K when you get that Red Bull.

Would I buy one? I’m debating it, frankly. But now that some Palm devices are offering built-in Mi-Fi connectivity, making me think that AT&T is going to have to enable tethering soon or get left behind. Of course, there is still that rumored Verizon iPhone …

The end result is that this isn’t the device for everyone. If you don’t travel or have connectivity issues that requires something like this, don’t get it. But if you do, this is a pretty handy fit and it’s not priced too bad either.

I have this old HP laptop that I got years ago in trade for fixing someone’s Windows box. I haven’t used the thing in years, and for the past three it’s spent its days underneath the buffet in my dining room. After cleaning up the dining room the other day, I found the thing and looked it over. Battery doesn’t work, hard drive is tiny, and the wireless card sucks. It couldn’t even be used as an iTunes library box for my garage. So I figured the best option I had was to yank out the hard drive and throw out the rest. I considered recycling it, but I don’t even know where to go to recycle electronics in town.

iFixit.com has long been known as the website that helps people fix their Macs. They have a series of step-by-step articles showing full tear downs, upgrades and everything in between. I went to them when I wanted to upgrade my MacBook Pro, and I’ll use their guides again if I upgrade the drive in my iMac.

The other day, Twitter was all abuzz about a big change at iFixit, so yesterday I checked it out. It starts with the video above and a really sad story. were I to throw out my old HP, chances are it would be sent illegally over to Africa where it would be dumped. Then children in the area mine the junkyards for copper and other precious minerals and burn the rest. In the process of burning these circuit boards and other parts, they release arsenic and other dangerous chemicals into the air, causing cancer and making people sick. It’s a horrible tragedy, and one I never even considered.

Well, iFixit heard about the tragedy and decided to change things. They’ve upped the ante on their guides. Now they’re offering guides for anything electronic, and making it like Wikipedia where you can edit posts if need be. Now you can learn how to fix anything from game consoles to camera and everything in between. The goal is to get people to fix their broken toys instead of throwing them away.

It’s a noble plan, and it made me think about my plans for that HP laptop. I have an old 2.5-inch drive, so maybe I’ll install that instead and try to make a Hackintosh system. Or maybe I’ll just upgrade the drive enough to put my iTunes library on there so I can play it in the garage. Or I’ll use iRecycle to find a local recycler. Either way, I’m not just throwing it away.

A few years back, my wife and I bought our first house, and it didn’t come with any appliances with the exception of a stinky dishwasher and a crappy stove. As a result, we had to go out and buy everything new, which cost a pretty penny and ticked me off quite a bit. I didn’t care about most of the items – as long as they weren’t too expensive – but I did want a nice fridge. We ended up paying a good chunk of change for this gloss black Samsung model, with lots of cool cabinets and drawers. I was happy.

For months, we didn’t have anything on that obelisk, it just functioned. Then the magnets started creeping into place. First they were small yellow ones, then big ugly ones. Now I can barely see the damned fridge underneath all of the things stuck to it. Drives me nuts.

We have ugly magnets, not cool ones like these here. They’re the App Magnets, produced by Jailbreak Toys. Honestly, I don’t know how other to describe these, so let’s let Jailbreak do the hard work.

Whatever you want to do…  There’s an app for that.  That’s right.  Whether you want to buy movie tickets, read the news, write a review, pay a tip, catch a taxi, or even train your dog,  there’s an app for that.  But what if you want to hang a photo on the fridge?  Or leave a note on the microwave?  Or save that Chinese take-out menu in a place where you can’t lose it?  When it came to certain old-school tasks, the apps were coming up short.  A little reverse innovation was needed.  Well, good news, everyone… Now there’s an app for that, too.

Oh look, they used the “there’s an app for that” phrase. Twice. That’s not overused or anything. Regardless, these are pretty cool little things, and they’re not expensive either. Just $12.99 for the whole deal. Buy them now or risk having stupid magnets on your fancy fridge.

The interface requires a thumb…that is all. Open the App and see a wooden bookshelf containing the many works; click on a book and the cover is zoomed in on the iPhone’s gorgeous screen. Simply move ones finger as if actually turning a real page in a book and the page turns to a lifelike opening in the great Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Flip through pages as easily as any physical book! Simply push a symbol at the top of the screen to put a ribbon in the book to mark the page, and you are brought back to the bookshelf automatically. This is ingenious.

Some of the world’s most renowned works of literature come with this App that realistically simulates a book reading experience better than any digital reader that this reviewer has ever seen! “Classics” is simple and the ultimate portable reader for people who enjoy having a classic novel in their pocket all the time.

This amazing application currently includes the titles: Dracula, The Odyssey, The Art of War, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Iliad, The Count of Monte Cristo, Jungle Book, A Christmas Carol, Paradise Lost, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Call of the Wild, Pride & Prejudice, Frankenstein, Treasure Island, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Time Machine, Robinson Crusoe and more!

The font is large so as to compensate for the screen size of the iPhone, and though I despise the notion of reading books on any digital source I personally can nearly forget that the “Classics” App is not a paper copy of the book I am reading! More literary works are added in each update!

IMPULSIVE Review Grade: A+

The “FML Official” App, by Alkeo, is the only application developed by the “Fmylife Team” giving the user access to all of the hysterical website’s functions for free!

For any unaware of “FML” it is a collection of posts by people who have gone through a ridiculous, painful, or immoral calamity and each one of their stories ends the same way: FML (a.ka. F* My Life).

This application is the real deal and makes the ransition from the website to the iPhone seamlessly. Simply fire her up and read all of the most recent hilarity; Immediately below each post is an option to vote on whether the person’s story merits: “I agree, your life sucks; or a “You totally deserved It.”

Collect favorite stories, and see random, or categorized quips from the “FML” App. “Today I woke up with a hangover. Besides a stolen TV, someone seemingly decided to take a dump in my piano. FML.”

The “FML” application also allows for easy uploading of one’s own precarious “FML” moments, or smart comments to ease the uploader’s pain or twist the dagger in their wounds. One can also share every funny “FML” posts on Facebook, Twitter and email. FML.

IMPULSIVE Review Grade: A

The “Framed! Lite” App is a Must Have for iPhone owners who use their camera! This free application has seventeen creative photograph frames that instantly incorporate pictures taken on the iPhone.

This App could not be any easier to use! Open it and choose an FBI Top Secret File to place a picture inside, and then choose to save the pic to the iPhone, send it via email, or upload onto FaceBook instantaneously!

The “Framed! Lite” App is incredibly fun and addictive. Put friends pictures on real life photographs that are of billboards stating: “CALL ME.” This application could get this writer into some real trouble as I think of the innumerable possibilities for fun here.

Want to be on the cover of a record in a record store? Want to be on the TV screen? Want to recreate a yearbook photo? It is all possible on the “Framed! Lite” App!

These are the same backgrounds people go into tourist shops to pay all kinds of money to have done, so why not just utilize the excellent camera in the iPhone and this free application?

Enjoy the superimposing!

IMPULSIVE Review Grade: A+

The car soaring along on the German highway, with no speed limit, is only doing 81 mph when it shows the red needle pointing to 130 km/hr. This means that a user is free to then put the iPhone down and floor it!

Sorry the “GlobeConvert” application cannot make the U.S. currency worth anymore than it actually is. On January 12, 2010 the U.S. Dollar is worth 0.67 Euro. Put in the exact amount of dollars to convert what is in the wallet to what will be used in London, England: the spender’s $1165 U.S. currency is instantly shown to be equal to 781.72 Euro.

Take the currency and units of measurement from whatever location you are in and convert them to whatever you need for free. There are hundreds of different types of easily recognizable measurements in an easy to use format. Simply press to change the Currency converter to Energy, or Length, or Speed, or Temperature, or even Time conversion.

Just how many seconds are in a year? The answer is 31557600 seconds/year. How many of them have been wasted playing with exceedingly easy, brilliant and intuitive Apps on the iPhone? Quite a lot actually, but the time wasted playing is outweighed by the time saved converting things with “GlobeConvert.”

IMPULSIVE Review Grade: A+

Before we look forward to the Apple tablet, hands down a device we’d all want, consider the ION iTYPE. Before we even think of selling our iPod touch to raise enough seed money for the tablet, we may want to invigorate ourselves by getting this attachment that puts forth a real keyboard that is tangent with Apple’s sleek design philosophy. Travelers have craved for non-jailbreak ways to use a keyboard with the iPhone / iPod touch so now ION has presented a hardware-based solution that allows you to dock your iPhone into a keyboard. Announced at CES ’10, we wonder why only now? Actually, why only in the second quarter of 2010?

The ION iType is also a dock charger.

Other reports:
TUAW
iClarified
Mashable

The “8500+ Drink & Cocktail Recipes Free” App can provide this and instruction for the pouring of perfect Caribbean Boilermakers to chase down the bartender’s frothy concoctions. This “Drinks Free” application from the App Store makes the knowledge of a well-versed bartender available at a swipe of a thumb.

Search for any drink that one can think of by either typing in the name, browsing the Favorite Drinks category, the alphabetical listing, or by category. Choose to see thousands of different ways to make shots, punch for party’s, cocoa, coffee/tail, homemade liquor and of course, beer and cocktails.

What makes this free App so great is the amount of detail that is so easily bestowed on the would-be bartenders using it. Creating an Acapulco Twister can seem like a daunting task, particularly when eight ingredients are needed for it, but the “Drinks Free” App gives incredible directions: “Mix the lemon, Tabasco sauce, clamato juice, salt and pepper. Fill the glass with some ice, add the rum and full with Corona beer.”

All of the necessary drink parts are listed above the directions in increments of oz, shots, drops, or whatever is needed. If the recipe comes out perfectly there is even a button to push at the bottom of the screen to email the recipe to a friend!

IMPULSIVE Review Grade: A

In the movie “Back to the Future Part 2,” Doc Brown complains about the 21st century’s mail, but not the weather service. He knows to the minute when the rain is going to stop, and it can now be determined that the crazy-haired scientist’s knowledge came from an iPhone’s “Weather Channel” App!

The “Weather Channel” App is directly from the world-famous TV news source, the Weather Channel, one of the premier forces in determining up to the second predictions of sun, snow, global warming and everything in between.

The application is one of the App Store’s perennial Top 50 Free Downloads, because its pinpoint accuracy cannot be beat.

Firing up the program, it automatically determines one’s location, and the App then asks to save the location as a favorite for quick access to that specific town in case one should change location. This feature is extremely convenient as anyone in a place with a diverse range of different weather situations, especially New York, can tell if it will be snowing at home, raining at work, hailing on the way to and from work and icing up when one visits the never-sleeping city later that night.

The App displays the Current weather, the Hourly weather, the 36 Hour forecast and the 10-Day forecast. In every look there are vital details that the iPhone’s Weather application does not have, like not only the temperature of 28 degrees, but what it Feels Like at 16 degrees; it also shows the Wind, Humidity, UV Index, Dew Point, Visibility, Sunrise, Sunset and even the full radar map for each forecast!

IMPULSIVE Review Grade: A+

Aside from creating a physical camera tripod, dubbed the Gorillamobile, specifically to harness the iPhone, the professional photography inventors have come up with an application that drastically improves the features and capabilities of the already brilliant camera in the iPhone.

With “Gorillacam” a user can take advantage of the “Press Anywhere” feature, which allows for the entire iPhone’s screen to become a shutter button. How does one take self-portraits or proper group shots without the great customizable “Self-timer” that even provides an audible countdown to the picture taking?

This App is easy to use and gives anyone who likes to take pictures, amateur and professional alike, an essential upgrade to the portable iPhone’s camera, which is used all too often in place of a digital camera, because it is always in one’s pocket, ready to go.

The “Gorillacam” App also maxes out the potential of the iPhone camera with a “Continuous Rapid-fire” weapon which wields the ability to take unlimited photos, up to 1.6 frames per second, by pressing and holding the shutter on the screen. There are tons of features included with this remarkable free application. It is a must have!

Grade: A+

If the “Time Out New York” user is a bona fide tourist decked out in a four-foot squared map, two digital cameras with wide angle lenses and round eyes (that look as though they had spotted a bright ghost alongside the awesome skyscrapers), then this App is essential to finding friends, restaurants, museums, bars, clubs and, most importantly, unique events that are ongoing, like music concerts at Radio City, Madison Square Garden and dozens of others.

Look over a Google Maps-like picture of the city, and put pins on every potential pizza place that serves up steaming hot extra cheese pies for twelve bucks!

Even the NYC native cannot deny that the “Time Out New York” application is a city dweller’s best friend. This free iPhone program becomes invaluable to anyone and everyone in New York as it not only locates all of the arts, sports and hot dog vendors (well maybe not the vendors), but it gives critics’ reviews of whatever you desire to do, providing pertinent information such as what is free for students, what is costly to urbanites and what is somewhere worth going into for any fee.

This App works offline; so do not worry about losing service and guiltily stranding friends that you were supposed to meet at the MOMA, because the user-friendly map will still be there to guide you.

Grade: A+

Like any Microsoft product this application has it’s quirks, and at least a couple of discernable bugs: for instance half the time one asks the voice recognizer for directions it misunderstands what is said. Asking for directions without going first to the “Map” or “Directions” section, (which is only one click away) will result in businesses near to the desired destination coming up first. Scroll down and down to get past this; it is no surprise that Microsoft would favor businesses over their customers.

Still the “bing” application is interesting. Upon opening the App, it asks for the user’s current location, and uses this to discern what businesses, maps, directions, news and movies are near to that locale. Click on movies to see all of the flicks that are playing nearby, and by touching “Avatar 3D” with a thumb a summary, rating, release date and the closest theaters playing it are shown, with the movie-times as well. This functions remarkably similar to “Flixster.”

The design of “bing” looks attractive, with a sleek desert background, filled with fun facts, and it would appear that Microsoft has attempted to copy “Google Maps” and “Flixster,” among other useful applications, and combined them to provide a marginally convenient information finder.

Grade: C+/B-

The ingenious makers at the adult swim games division have come up with an addictively fun free game application for the iPhone: “Amateur Surgeon Christmas Edition.” The full version of the game does not cost a nickel, and the five difficult levels are good practice for the medical school scholar, or just bloody anatomy hobbyists in general.

Shrapnel has scattered across the inhabitants of the gift littered North Pole, and the player has to engage dying patients, as an amateur surgeon would. The moron better known as Dr. Probe is left to pick up the pieces, or rather the body parts, and more importantly perform surgery to the elves and company, which leads up to saving a dying Santa Clause.

The game is instantly funny, as anything from the adult swim network should be, enjoyable, bloody, and engaging. The first patient is an elf damaged by flying candy canes, Christmas lights and more objects that have become embedded in his body. The player must carefully conduct a surgery using objects found at hand to slice, bleed, cauterize and patch up the patient before death ruins Christmas for everyone. This game is hilarious, witty and fun! Happy Holidays!

Grade: A

Traversing this simple application one finds that there are three buttons: Next, Previous and RANDOM. At the top of the screen are the informational words associated with this boobs museum exhibit: “Select to Start.” Below the large font are six touchable sets of luscious, and scantily clad, women’s breasts.

Click on a set of gorgeous girls’ breasts to see…well to put it aptly…breasts. They are not nude, it is true, but they are breasts that are zoomed in upon as one clicks on them. There is something to say for the satisfaction one attains through this practice. Click Next to bring up six more sets of fantastically featured female chests. Click RANDOM to leave the boobs that will be focused on up to chance!

The pairs of mammaries vary in size and shape across the board. There are wet boobs, dry boobs, banana shaped boobs, angled views of boobs, bikini tops with boobs, round boobs, small boobs, brightly covered boobs, artistically designed blouses holding boobs, beads of dew sticking to boobs, glimmering and glamorous boobs, sweating boobs, soaking wet boobs, overhead shots of boobs, side shots of boobs, single boobs and finally bra filled photos of boobs. Enjoy!

Grade: BB

So this gives accessory manufacturers the opportunity to sell items like these. Apple already angered third party guys for building an FM tuner into the new 5th gen nano, but something tells me that a kick stand is something they’re never going to do.

For the holidays, this is definitely a gift you shouldn’t ignore. It’s brainless. It costs USD $29.95. It’s available on Amazon. Your iPhone charges while inside the case and though I don’t see a reason why a patent should be filed for this, it does appeal for a great digital photo stand. There are other openings in the case for the headphone jack and camera at the back.

The iPhone Back Flip Case fits both iPhone 3G and 3GS. Guess what iPod touch owners, no love for you. At least, not yet.

The free application for the iPhone provides the time, distance to and even the view of the moon for over 6000 cities worldwide! The “City Time” App is only $.99 for the full version, which does not exclude capitol cities, and does exclude advertising. The “Lite” version is not to be ignored, however. It gets the job done.

When one has to get back to the heated New York to London digital messaging, the time has to be known; otherwise the little English night owl might be asleep, or busy doing something… Simply swipe a thumb to view the time in California, England, China, or any other region she may reside in.

If one would like to impress the ladies of Machester, U.K. one can use “City Time” to tell them about the crescent moon appearing overhead in their view of the sky, across the vast Atlantic Ocean!

Grade: B+

An engineered gravity is in place, and triangles, circles, squares, and other strange non-symmetrical shapes are picked up with one’s thumb and placed on the fixed geometric shapes below the dotted line. Placing a circle on a triangle’s edge that is angled down, and the circle will fall down the slope and off the screen, or imaginary ledge.

The object of “Perfect Balance: Lost Trials” is simple: place all of the shapes below the dotted line without any falling off of the screen, as the suspenseful daredevil music thrills, like a horror movie bordering on a splatter of the fallen.

There is a free version of “Perfect Balance: Lost Trials” App and a Gold version for $.99. This game is an extraordinarily challenging one that can become addictive in a very little amount of sand falling down the hourglass. Fighting gravity is a very real predicament that is not easily overcome in real life, or in the balance of this game!

Grade: A-

Perfect Balance: Lost Trials

The revolutionary sound system has arrived! It has a name, it has a subwoofer, it has tweeters, it has wireless-integrated technology, it has superior sound, it has pure qualitative quality: it is the Sonos “ZonePlayer S5” music system.

In an age that has adopted digital music, the Sonos “ZonePlayer S5” cannot be overlooked, or go unheard! Sonos makes listening to digital music simple. For a party, turn on the “ZonePlayer S5,” and control the swinging songs via an iPhone or computer that is safely stashed away from the swaying party dancers and the clumsy fraternizers.

Sonos seems to bring to its company many of the amazing attributes that have made Apple so successful over the decades, minimalist design, functionality, quality, innovative technology and intuitiveness. As one opens the “ZonePlayer S5” packaging, that same mystique surrounding the minimal but attractive packaging of any Mac product takes over…yet it’s a Sonos.

The music player is sleek and small measuring less than nine inches tall, less than 15 inches wide and less than five inches from front to back; it fits almost anywhere. The “ZonePlayer S5” is a shining silvery gray, reminiscent of MacBook Pros and iMacs, and the minimalist design echoes the distinctive speaker set-up within, which contains five speakers: two tweeters, two speakers and a subwoofer.

There is no need to hook up a mp3 player or iPod to the Sonos music system, because the Sonos integrated program, for Mac’s and Pc’s, will allow a listener to access any music folder that is on a computer network, or iPhone. Simply install the software and plug in either a “ZonePlayer S5,” or a Sonos “ZoneBridge” to a router via an Ethernet cable (which is provided). The software disc quickly logs a user into the network and projects the listener’s music to the “ZonePlayer S5” (which is also backwards compatible with all Sonos products).

Once the “Sonos Controller” App is downloaded for free in the Apple Store, the iPhone, or iPod Touch, becomes a customizable remote control. One can access all of the music from the network, make play-lists, tweet their friends, change the volume, or access Internet radio from the palm of the hand (all of this can be done from a computer also).

Sign in to Pandora Radio, and listen to high quality customized radio stations for free on the Sonos “ZonePlayer S5” seamlessly. The Sonos Player is preprogrammed with Pandora Radio, and the album art from Eric Clapton’s “After Midnight Live” album will leap onto a display, along with the song title, song length, artist, and Pandora radio station name.

As a recommendation, the Sonos “ZoneBridge” is a near necessity to have with the “ZonePlayer S5,” as it allows one to take the player anywhere. The tiny four inch square device, the Sonos “ZoneBridge,” is an additional $99, and without it there has to be at least one S5 player hooked up to an Ethernet cable from a router (essentially keeping the player by the router); the entire Sonos system is based on this wireless technology. Though it might seem a drawback, with a single “ZoneBridge” in place, all of the actual players are then free to roam anywhere there is space and an open outlet.

The extraordinary tunes that soar from this unique surround-sound-like device cannot be put into words. The Sonos engineers put all of the necessary home audio components into a single cabinet design with the “ZonePlayer S5” and the result is a home run! The music sings, as though Sonos wishes to battle with Bose for speaker superiority, for the S5 has outstanding sound that stuns.

Where one player is a must have, two or more “ZonePlayer S5” devices is an effective way to provide top-notch audio throughout the home, without the mess of speaker wires, audio components, or even audio cables, because its completely wireless. It is true that the Sonos “ZonePlayer S5” is a bit pricey, retailing at $399, but this pays back tenfold once it is up and running, five minutes after opening the box. It is of the highest quality sound, and if one has a family, or multiple spaces where different music needs to play then multiple S5’s will truly provide a priceless experience.

When the Sonos “ZonePlayer S5” is in multiple rooms, then any iPhone or computer logged in to the Sonos devices can access all of the vast treasures of music and Internet radio. One can control the volume and songs of each room, individually, so go ahead and control an entire house, castle, mansion, or backyard with the palm of a hand!

Grade: A

Soon to be a #1 seller in Apple’s App Store, “Boxed In 2” is an amazing array of everyone’s favorite box-moving robot at work again with improved graphics combined with some incredibly catchy background music. There are now sound effects, epic tunes and more mystical mazes than ever.

Get the robot through the red portal to enter the next diabolical maze full of impeding crates. The little robot player now raises arms, as one hears gears cranking; the sound effects add a surrealistic element to a game that was already addictive.

This game was designed specifically with iPod and iPhone users in mind, and with a swipe of a thumb numerous hours of gameplay greet the robot/box lovers. The added 50 levels of this version of the game are all more difficult than the previous game’s 50 levels meaning that the goodness is near impossible to beat, and therefore the fun does not end.

If you like easy to play, yet challenging puzzle games “Boxed In 2” is the best of the best. Simply move boxes to get the robot out of the maze; such simplicity is so very awesome!

Grade: A

Boxed In 2