March 19th, 2011 by admin

If you are a keen reader but have not yet trialed the iBook store then maybe the fact that Random house has jumped on the iBook distribution wagon might get you to think about checking the iBook store out.

At the recent Apple event, Jobs ventured back from medical leave to deliver a host of impressive stats about Apple successes (as he usually does if he can) over the last year. This included the impressive results from the iBook store - due in no small part to the iPad, no doubt!

In fact, Jobs announced that in less than a year, there have been one million books downloaded from the iBook store. This is gob-smacking and a real testament to the Apple platform.

Jobs also announced that Random House have joined the more than 1500 publishers that now distribute books through the iBook store.

And was the last of the big 6 publishes to distribute through iBook store.  Random House will be adding some 17,000 new titles to the iBook selection - so that is a pretty exciting update for the iBook store.

BTW - there are plenty of free books to grab from the iBook store as well with books from authors like: Lewis Carol, Charles Darwin, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Scott fitzgerald, Freud, Ghandi, James Joyce,  Rudyard Kipling, and even A. A. Milne …..

I am in for Winnie, how about you?

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March 13th, 2011 by admin

The internet has made it possible for the ordinary person to respond generously and quickly to disasters that hit others  - whether near and far.  The Haiti disaster set a new standard for what could be achieved - not just by the quick response teams that train for these type of events and are ever ready to move into disaster zones, but by the ordinary person who can now immediately respond by providing the much needed financial support that such areas need.

And we - the ordinary people and companies that have only watched mutely from afar in the past! We have learned how we can use social media for our own form of quick response. This time companies like Google,  Twitter, Microsoft and Apple have all quickly provided communications or donation channels to assist people in the Japanese crisis.

The Japanese Google team were working on Google’s Crisis Response page within minutes of the quake! Within hours Google had its Person Finder Web site set up! Helping people to locate their  missing loved ones or post data on those who had been found is a huge help to the recovery effort.

Many companies are pointing people to the Red Cross for donations.  iPhone users can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Apple is also allowing users to donate to the Red Cross using their iTunes accounts. They assure us that 100% of the donation goes to the Red Cross. You will have to update your iTunes software to iTunes 10 (but you’ve already done that, right?) and then just follow  the  [iTunes link] to donate between $5 and $200 to the effort.

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March 11th, 2011 by admin

With the horrifying disaster of earthquakes and Tsunamis in Japan yesterday we have yet another reminder of the power of nature to dominate and terminate human affairs. But it is also clear that the better the warning we have, the more chance we have of sidestepping nature’s brutal fist.

What better time then to be aware of the iPhone apps that have been provided by services such as  The Weather Channel and Accuweather.com that provide severe weather alerts so that we can be warned and prepared as much as possible. Currently both sites provided warnings about the impact of the tsunami on USA. For example, both sites provided information about the arrival time along the West Coast:

Both sites have free apps for iPhone - Accuweather for the iPhone and The Weather Channel for the iPhone. 
With the recent earthquake in New Zealand and now this huge one in Japan we can be excused for wondering if the next one is going to be along our own West Coast!

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February 25th, 2011 by admin

Every year at around this time the Game Choice Awards are announced at the GDC  annual game show event. There are several categories and while they are all interesting to gamers, for iPhone (and iPad and Touch) owners it is really the games in the handheld class that are of interest.

That means the Best Handheld Games Award is the one to check out for insight into top games. This award recognizes the game that was the “overall best game commercially released on any handheld platform during the previous year.

Last year the winner and nominees in this category were:

Winner:  Scribblenauts (5th Cell) (not on iPhone platform)

Nominees:

• Flight Control - This game is available on the iPhone platform in both the  free (lite) and full versions for $.99
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars - This is also available for play on our iPhones in the free (Lite) and full ($9.99) versions.
• Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor - This is available for play on iPhones but only the full version at $2.99. This game has received a 4 star rating from over 400 players.
• Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo EAD) Not available for iPhones.

Although quite a few of these nominated games are available for play on iPhones there are still some really top rated games that we cannot play. Hopefully more developers will realize they are missing a huge market and will develop an iPhone version of their games! Unfortunately, quite a few of the games nominated this year are NOT available for play on our iPhones.

This year the  nominations for the Best Handheld Game 2011, are:

• God of War: Ghost of Sparta (Ready At Dawn/SCE Santa Monica) not available on the iPhone platform
•  Cut the Rope (ZeptoLab) - currently my favorite game with several free versions available on the iPhone platform plus a full version for $.99
•  Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (Kojima Productions). Not available for play on our iPhones.
• Game Dev Story (Kairosoft) - there is also a free version of this game on the iPhone platform plus a full version for a mere $.99. This has had very good reception from iPhone raters at an average 4-stars.
• Dragon Quest IX (Level 5). Also not available for play on iPhones.

Pity so many of the good ones are not available for us on iPhones as the ones on this nominations list that are available for iPhone are really excellent games. They are also pretty cheap as well.

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February 21st, 2011 by admin

The great thing about twitter is that people share the results of their hard work quite freely with the rest of the world. So if we want to get hints and tips - we no longer need to read those boring “best 5/7/10  tips on …. whatever” articles. We can just go to Twitter and browse. The upside is that we get exposed to a really wide set of results. Much more interesting, too!

So today we asked Twitter to find us what people (at 5PM ET) were saying was the “best iPhone App”. And, as always, we got an interesting array of results:

1) @MarKByZzLe try @Twitbird it’s the best iPhone app for twitter - free version

2) Phone2Anything #Best iPhone #app is available in the #appstore. This  iPhone app is mainly for travelers with the aim of helping them to find anything anywhere - its free.

3) @finaorio: Best iPhone app TigerText, deletes messages from the sender and the recipient’s phones
Free texting to anyone else who also has this app. (App is free)

4) walter25: Just have to say #boxcar is the best #iPhone app ever. Manage all your social media with this one free app.

5) eliseSMILE: Best iPhone app “do good” just one little deed a day… Provides hints for ways to “do Good” and also the means to do it. (Free App)

6) rowjoelane: So what is the best iPhone app you have found “free” of course? Currently
I’m using Viber and am rating that as my current #1.  Phone anyone who has vider app for free. Worth getting all your friends and family using the app!

7) ADanGrenier: OMG! Just discovered the best #iPhone app ever! @audiogalaxy is amazing! Streamin my whole iTunes library & its free! Keepin playlists too! Stream all your music and videos from your computer to your iPhone.

8 ) _creebby: @jaydez just get Echofon its the best iPhone app! That’s what my sister uses: Another Twitter streaming app that is also free.

I’m getting boxcar!

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February 17th, 2011 by admin

We got these recommends right from the coal face of action!`We did a Twitter search for “best iPhone game” and got 7 top rated games in the first 15 results that show. Which we consider a great result. Prices vary from zero to $6.99 but all actually do have 4+star ratings in iTunes. So proof this is a good way to find great iPhone games.

Here are the conversations in the order they appeared in Twitter:

1)  JayFrechette: Really enjoying Battleheart for iPhone/iPad. Great art & combat. Anyone else playing it? ABIFont: It’s really really good. Probably one of, if not the best iPhone game I’ve played
Our research: - Battleheart  for iPhone has received a solid 4.5 star rating with the latest version just released.  But comes with a price tag of $2.99 and no freebie version.:(

2) MissBlossyMUA: Photo: Tappi Bear xD best iPhone game everrrr!
Our research: - Tappi Bear has 8 versions of the game @ $.99 each - some versions get a 4 to 5 star ratings. There is also a recently released free version

3) maydaymag: Associate this- best iPhone game
Our research: - Associate This is an unusual game with 4 different versions - all are free and all get 3.5 stars or more.

4) MDearworth: Wow. NBA Jam for the iPhone is stellar. Best iPhone game I’ve played in a while. Two other rave revues including -  RYANESN: RT @jo5h11a: Can’t nap due to all this BOOMSHAKALAKA action. Hands down, best iPhone game EVER!
Our research: - NBA Jam is one of the Electronic Arts products - so also one of the more expensive games at $4.99. The game was recently released (1 week ago) and already has 61 raters giving it a 4.5 star rating!

5) KevinWiebe: Spiderman is by far the best iPhone game I’ve played.
Our research: - Spiderman was released last October and now has 234 raters giving it a 4.5 start rating. It cost $6.99 but there is a free version to try out and see if you like it. Free version has had 916 raters giving it a 4 star rating - so Im convinced!

6) AdamMcAvoy: Played game dev story (the best iPhone game in history) for 3 hours straight,
Our research: - Game Dev Story has had 484/576 raters gave it a 5 star thumbs up! That’s a pretty amazing result. Costs $.99 and there is a free version with similar good ratings

7) jonnyrockunit: Dead space on the iphone is seriously good. Best iphone game so far
Our research: - Dead Space is another Electronic Arts game with the usual high price ($6.99 for this one) It was only  released jan 25 and has already received 153 ratings giving it 4.5 stars.

Now neither NBA Jam nor Dead Space have free versions out - YET! We say that because Electronic Arts have 25 free (Lite) versions of their games on offer in iTunes for iPhones. It is quite possible that they will eventually bring out free versions of these two games as well.

Our conclusion? Tweets are a great way to find great iphone games. In iPhonegizmo’s last post we asked readers to let us know how easy / hard they find iTunes to use and so far 42% have rated it at “hard” to “super hard”.

In this post we have shown you a way to make finding good games a bit easier.

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February 12th, 2011 by admin

The iPhonegizmo team reckon it is shamefully difficult to find apps - ANY apps - in iTunes. That is what we think. But are we alone? We decided to ask:

Please get your friends to answer the quiz as well by clicking “share below!

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