While Microsoft is trying to save face with their upcoming launch of Kinect, and how it relates to hardcore gamers out there, Apple is apparently vying to make their name known amidst the crowd. Sure, their titles are far more “mobile” than, say, Microsoft’s, but that doesn’t make the gamers any less hardcore. Today, Apple officially unveiled their new “Hardcore Games” section within App Store Essentials. And, as you can tell from the picture above, it’s pretty hardcore.
Titles you’ll find in there range, but you should find some familiar ones like Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Chaos Rings, and Archetype. The prices don’t seem to have changed much, though. Any hardcore gamers out there feel like this section was absolutely needed to get your favorite games their own showcase area?
via MacStories
The UK carrier O2 is working with a sustainability advisory group to put the ranking system together. It’s called the Forum for the Future, and it rates everything you might expect, and how it impacts the environment. Rating things like packaging, manufacturing, whether it can be recycled or not, and energy efficiency, among other things. Devices are scored in a zero to 5 system, and there are 63 questions that are “asked” when each device is being ranked.
As you might expect, other major manufacturers are jumping on board. Companies like Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson have already provided handsets for the ranking system. And O2 is actually making a good start, as 93 percent of their handsets currently available for purchase should be covered in the ranking system soon enough. Which is exactly why it’s strange that the iPhone isn’t included in the list. Another manufacturer that’s not present currently is the Canada-based Research in Motion, which manufactures BlackBerry handsets. However, RIM has stated that they will allow their devices to be ranked by early 2011.
In a move that may or may not be surprising for most people, when Apple was asked about their position on the new environmental ranking system, the spokesperson said nothing about it directly. Instead, they would rather you look at their own environmental tests, which they publicly release on their website. Apple suggests that the iPhone has a very minimal footprint on the environment. Organizations like Greenpeace have scolded Apple in the past for not being transparent enough in this regard, so this probably won’t help that picture at all.
via The Guardian
The dock is called the PartyDock and it has four wireless controllers that can be used with compatibly PartyDock games. The dock will have a free app that has three of the mini games to get folks started. Those games are apparently called Midway Motors, Fishing Frenzy, and Flippin’ Frogs.
There will be more games that come later and presumably, some of them will be paid apps. The dock can also be hooked to an external monitor if you are wondering how exactly four people will crowd around that small iPhone screen. The good news is that the dock will also work with the iPad as well. The price and launch date of the device is unknown.
via SlashGear
Now, you can’t have both SIMs active at the same time – that’s a limitation of the iPhone 4, sadly – but you can apparently switch between them without having to reboot the Apple smartphone. According to USBfever, you can simply pick the correct card from the SIM Applications menu in the iPhone 4?s settings, and after a minute or two it flicks over. You’ll need to be running iOS 4.0.0/4.0.1/4.0.2 for that to work, though. The adapter case is on sale now, priced at $28.99.
via Gear Diary
Independent developer Buddy Bergman today released version 1.0 of a new app called The Language Buddy that provides a simple interface to enter in a word or short phrase in your native language along with a Romanized “sounds like” spelling for another language. Add that you can also assign photos and audio clips The Language Buddy provides an easy way for you to manage new words and phrases as you make your travels to far off or local lands.
If you find yourself taking a vacation to a far off land and you don’t have time to learn the their language by heart then this app does the next best thing. You can enter in words in your native language, typically English, but it can be any language, and you also enter in the foreign language Romanized “sounds like” spelling. Now you have an easy way to reference that word again in the future. Plus, you can assign pictures and audio clips to those entries!
Lets say you are in South Korea and you go to a restaurant. You want to remember the name of the food you ate so you open up the Language Buddy and take a picture of your meal and enter the name of it plus take a picture and record an audio clip of how to properly pronounce that dish. Now you have reference to that picture anytime you think back wondering what it was that you had that one time.
FIPLAB Ltd, the graduate start-up behind the leading iPhone app for the Baclays Cycle Hire Scheme announced today that its London Cycle: Maps & Routes application has surpassed 80,000 user downloads in less than 4 weeks since its launch on the iTunes AppStore.
The app, which has been a hit success from day one, has received numerous write ups on leading publications such as the Evening Standard and has been ranked on iTunes as the Number 1 Free Travel application. FIPLAB state that the application’s continued success is down to strong word of mouth by its user community, who are passionate about providing them with valuable feedback, allowing them to work towards their goal of creating the perfect companion tool for the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme.
What’s interesting is that the application is not just being used by cycle hire members, but also regular cyclists who are using the app due to the cycle-safe routes it provides. The routes allow cyclists to avoid busy roads and minimises the number of right-hand turns required to reach a destination.
After a string of updates, the company is now planning to further expand its userbase by porting their application to the BlackBerry and Android mobile platforms.
Rock Soft, the new software start-up, today is excited to announce the launch of “ShowTime – Alarm Clock & Ambient Noise” the Modern Alarm Clock app for iPhone & iPod touch(R). Unlike other Alarm Clock apps, Show Time has the all the features you’d want and does it with style. With 58 clock themes and variations you don’t have to keep staring at the same digital alarm clock your parents had on their night stand.
Great looks and brains too with feature rich alarm settings allowing you wake up to your own playlist or 8 high quality built-in alarms. And because stressing out building the app kept the creator awake at night, it also let’s you fall asleep to 25 built-in ambient noise sounds or your favorite tunes. From ocean waves to the sounds of a prison cell, Show Time has something for everyone.
Show Time also comes in a free Lite version so you can give it a test run or you can also get the free App/Widget for your desktop, social site, or blog. The widget is available for OSX Dashboard, Myspace, Yahoo Widgets, iGoogle, Friendster, Orkut, Bebo, Hi5, and Widgetbox.
Agilitech LLC today is pleased to announce that their secret agent app, Spy Calc 2.0, is now available exclusively for iPhone and iPod touch. Spy Calc is a working calculator with a secret. Going to Vegas, now there’s an app for that! Going to a Bachelor or Bachelorette Party, Fraternity or Sorority Party there is now an app for that too. Take those pictures, videos, audio recordings of all the fun with the assurance that they’re privately hidden.
“I guess we thought, if James Bond owned an iPhone, he’d press some secret number combination and something cool would happen – so we started with that idea … and where better to put a secret password than behind the calculator,” said Lucius. Now with Spy Calc, the calculator will transform into a retro tape recorder with oscilloscope or another key combination and the keypad will flip over to reveal all your hidden files (Photos, Videos, Recordings, or Top Secret Documents).
Use Spy Calc to create secret audio and video recordings, save secret pictures or upload all of your secret plans for world domination. Advanced organization features are available for your hidden files. Folders can be created, files can be rated, tagged with keywords, copied or moved between folders.
