How's My App

Whoops

2010-12-04T10:37:00.000-05:00

Sorry Blogger.
As of November 23, 2010, we migrated our blog to Wordpress.
You can access it at howsmyapp.com.
You may be thinking that because of the post title that we regretted doing so.
We don't.
Suck it, Blogger, Google.
Your service sucks.
I'd rather use a free host + self hosted wordpress then use your blogging crap.

iOS 4.3 Rumours?

2010-11-23T16:04:00.000-05:00

Post Author: Omar Bizreh

After waiting so long for the release of iOS 4.2 which was delayed because of issues discovered last minute, Apple may be releasing iOS 4.3.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball believes that for a newspaper - which requires a recurring monthly subscription - to work properly on an iOS device, it may require iTunes-based transactions. In order for the transactions to take place smoothly, The Daily, said newspaper for iPad, will require the use of billing APIs. The billing APIs would have to be delivered via software update to iOS devices. Since Apple delivered iOS 4.2.1 on November 22, it's possible that the next version of iOS will be iOS 4.3.

It's shocking to know Apple is planning to do it, but let's not forget that iOS 4.2 was delayed twice. Who knows, maybe it still includes some bugs that Apple had to leave behind to release the awaited update.

iOS 4.2.1 a Significant Update to the iOS Platform

2010-11-23T16:00:00.001-05:00

Post Author: Omar Bizreh

The long awaited update of Apple's famed iOS 4.2.1 is now out after multiple delay of its release due to major issues found last minute. iPhone and iPod users didn't gain much updates like they did since the first release of iOS 4.0 but iPad users were the luckiest with this release. iPad users can now enjoy sorting their apps in folders, switch from app to app without losing their progress or work in the other apps. Aside from those features, on top of other improvements, Apple improved the performance of it's built in internet browser, and mail app (a thing all iDevice users can enjoy). The question remains though: are those new features a reply to what Android is doing to compete with Apple's iOS platform or is it the continuation of Apple's superiority in the digital content and electronic market?

Apple Drops 4.2.1

2010-11-22T16:42:00.000-05:00

Post Author: Dennis Fan
Guess some rumours end up being true? Today, at 10 am PST (1 pm EST), Apple released 4.2.1 - iOS 4.2 and bug fixes. Here is what jailbreakers need need to know.
First of all, save your SHSH blobs. Apple is still signing them. Use TinyUmbrella and plug in your iDevice as fast as you can before it's too late.
The jailbreak will be TETHERED for everybody except users of the old bootrom iPhone 3Gs, iPod touch 2G MB models and iPhone 3G users. The Dev-Team and other trusted sources have said that an untethered jailbreak will be coming for those with SHSHs for 4.1 or 4.2b3.

I do not recommend you upgrade; wait for others to test the waters, Cydia's servers to calm down and Apple's servers to provide faster downloads.

iOS 4.2.1 Compatibility and Redsn0w Updated

2010-11-21T07:40:00.005-05:00

Post Author: Dennis Fan

Apple recently released the GM for their iOS 4.2.1 firmware update said to fix many bugs and glitches introduced by previous versions of the software. In an announcement earlier this morning, MuscleNerd of the iPhone Dev Team stated that they had recently updated their Redsn0w jailbreak utility to include 4.2.1 compatibility.
Redsn0w is now version 0.9.6b3. MuscleNerd also stated that the update made Cydia and MobileSubstrate incompatible and may lead to a restore. Cydia is available from Redsn0w after the jailbreak but it is incompatible with the firmware. In addition, most devices (with the exception of iPod touch 2G, iPhone 3G and old bootrom iPhone 3GS) are tethered on 4.2.1. Redsn0w 0.9.6b3 includes a feature that enables you to install packages that are gzipped and smaller than 15MB. It could be used to install OpenSSH or your own compiled Cydia. MuscleNerd reminds everyone that if they were to use this new feature to be sure of ownership and permissions prior to installing packages. The jailbreak landscape changed overnight and we'll definitely bring you updates as it happens.

Source: Dev-Team Blog

World iPad

2010-11-20T09:56:00.000-05:00

Post Author: Omar Bizreh

Apple is rumoured to be preparing for what is called the World iPad: an iPad that works with both CDMA and GSM networks pursuing the hope of making the magical tablet compatible with 3G carriers internationally.

"Apple is going to be ratcheting down production of the existing 3G iPad over the next two months in anticipation of ramping up a new World iPad that is powered by Qualcomm and will run on both GSM and CDMA based networks around the world," Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair was quoted saying. This rumor was the result of another rumor about the upcoming iPhone including CDMA network connection for both USA and Chinese CDMA connections.

In addition, Blair says, "We understand it requires a new type of manufacturing process as a result, similar to the company's unibody approach seen in MacBooks."

Or someday, perhaps, with a carbon fiber body as detailed in a patent filing published Thursday

Master Volume

2010-11-20T09:52:00.000-05:00

Post Author: Omar Bizreh

iDevice users - especially iPad users - have been waiting for iOS 4.2 that was rumoured to be released last week but Apple pulled it off because a major Wi-Fi issue found. This week Apple released the second Gold Master of 4.2 - usually known as pre-release or RC. Until now it's been reported that the Wi-Fi issue has been fixed but the question remains: is there going to be another issue that will make Apple push the release again or is it just a rumor started by Apple to hold up the release of unlock for the iPhone?

Never the less, few features have been added to 4.2 that makes it a special update (at least for iPad users): interface tweaks, alongside some functionality added, for example a volume control tweak that can be accessed from the home screen, in the multitasking window.

Until now this is what Apple have to offer in their long awaited update. Will they add something else before the final release or will they save some things for the next generation of iOS?

I Wouldn't Call Myself A Freak

2010-11-20T08:57:00.000-05:00

Post Author: Honson Tran
Another Apple freak, but not just an ordinary one. I also specialize in hardware fixes and repairing TVs, taking apart laptops, and fixing anything. I am also an Apple Developer in progress learning Objective C. My other hobbies are dancing, cooking, and gaming.

TwitBird

2010-11-20T08:55:00.000-05:00

App Reviewer: Craig Arnold

Twitbird is a Twitter client for the iPod Touch and iPhone available for free ($1.99 and 2.99 for Premium and Pro, respectively).

Description
*****Top 3 (#1 Twitter client) in Japan and Korea "Social Networking" applications on iTunes*****

TwitBird is a fast, flexible and full-featured Twitter client for iPhone and iPod Touch, and iPad in Pro version. It's got a lot of the cool features that you've seen separately in other Twitter clients but rarely together. From timeline to map search and four beautiful themes, Twitbird offers the advanced Twitter functionality beyond our users expect. And with its logical and intuitive interface, our users love being able to use all of Twitbird's capabilities.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
● In-App-Badges to show number of unread tweets
● Landscape mode supported everywhere
● Address Book
● Official Lists supports
● Inline picture preview
● Tweet Music/Now Playing
● Tweet Your Voice
● Tweet Video (iPhone 3Gs only)
● Save link to readitlater, instapaper or save in Twitbird
● Four gorgeous themes
● Custom background images
● Geotag support (requires activation on Twitter.com)
● Mutual follow status between you and another user
● Advanced nearby tweet searching with maps

PUSH NOTIFICATION :
● Inter TwitBird Push comes with the app and works instantly
● Global Push is available as in app purchase: it will push any mentions and direct messages to you in minutes
● Supports Mentions and Direct Messages

OTHER FEATURES:
● View your twitter timeline, replies and direct messages
● Manage your favorite tweets
● Browse your following and followers and lists
● Compose new tweets with rich features
● Reply directly to tweets and send direct messages
● Follow and unfollow people or lists
● Twitlonger supports
● Uses secure connection (https)
● Custom searches
● Save your favorite searches
● Conversational Threaded tweets
● Twitter API Proxy (use Twitbird through a proxy)
● Rich feature settings
● Trending topics
● View and edit your profile including avatar image
● Find people
● Email tweets
● Delete tweets from twitter.com
● Picture preview inside message
● Shorten URL
● Upload photo to Twitpic, yFrog, MobyPciture
● Set nearby distance
● Unread/All message filter
● Block/Unblock

TwitBird comes in three versions - Free (ad-supported, 2 accounts, PUSH capabilities), Premium ($1.99, ad-free, 2 accounts, PUSH capabilities) and Pro ($4.99, ad-free, 16 accounts, PUSH capabilities, iPad-compitable universal binary) - all integrating the best features from other Twitter apps into a single, stable client. With a simple user interface, you'll have no trouble using TwitBird. See what others are saying about TwitBird in the App Store or on Twitter: @twitbird

For news, support or feedback, please follow Twitbird on twitter : twitter.com/TwitBird, or send email to service@nibirutech.com

Is the Twitter for iPhone app missing too many features? Do you find the UI outdated? Then you need to try TwitBird. It's available for free. Why is it the best? Is it how user friendly the app is? Push notifications (only in Pro and Premium versions)? Speed? All of the above? Definitely.

The free version is ad-supported. Ads show up if you are viewing individual tweets, which is not a huge annoyance. Is it worth paying for? Definitely.

It's also fast. It loads tweets so quickly you will wonder how you put up with the Twitter for iPhone client.

Graphics: 5/5 – 4 different themes to choose from, light and dark.
UI: 5/5 – Everything is well thought out, it’s very similar to the Mail app. It also has a search function.
Simplicity/Ease of Use: 5/5 – Everything is where it should be, no unexpected crashes.
Creativity: 3/5 – It’s not the first Twitter client, but it’s certainly one of the nicer ones.
Sound: 3/5 – No sounds, which I actually prefer.
Controls: 4/5 – It’s similar to the Mail app in the way the buttons are laid out.
Speed: 4/5 – Faster than most apps, but there are some that go that tiny bit faster (like Twitteriffic).
Connectivity: 4.5/5 – Loads tweets in a flash, hardly any waiting for me.
Entertainment: 5/5 – It makes Twitter for iPhone look like a bag of hammers in terms of fun.
Value: 5/5 – Definitely worth the 2.99.
Total: 43.5/50 or 87% - Overall, it’s a nicely thought out app, with lots of room for improvement, but still lots of great things.

Mac OSX 10.6.5 Fixes MacBook Air Video Issues

2010-11-19T14:45:00.000-05:00

Post Author: Omar Bizreh

After much negative feedback on the MacBook Air's video issues, Apple has released a knowledge base document pertaining to the latest OS X 10.6.5 which solves the incompatiblity issues that 10.6.4 produced in the new Mac Book Air earlier this month. Apple should update MacBook Air with the new system update rather than letting users do it manually, which will lead to encourage users to buy the new product Apple produced earlier this month. The issue was reported to be a software based bug. In rare occurrences faults in drivers or applications leads to this kind of issue in display, and that was the case in the issues that were found in the new MacBook Air.

New iPad for the Holidays

2010-11-19T13:44:00.003-05:00

Post Author: Omar Bizreh

The holidays are just around the corner, and an iPad might be on someone's holiday wishlist. Apple has sold about 7.46 million iPads up to late September.

According to what is said on the streets about the next generation of iPads, Apple is really up to something this time after a bad year with few iPhone 4 issues and iOS 4 bugs. Here is what Apple may include in the next generation of iPad.

FaceTime: Since the iPod received Face Time, rumors say iPad will include FaceTime following the success of Apple's mobile video chat with the iPhone 4 - in other words: it's a logical expected move from Apple for the next year.
Camera: If the next generation of iPad is to come with a front facing camera, it's clear enough that a rear camera would be what it needs to complete it. Analysts at investment firm Detwiler Fenton said in late October that, based on research within Apple's supply chain, the next iPad will have a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, according to Barron's. Does an iPad need a camera though?
Mini USB: Analysts think the new iPad will have a mini USB instead of a 30-pin dock connecter - aside from being thinner and lighter. According to Taiwan-based Digitimes, Apple is getting component manufacturers ready for the next generation and will complete building in February!

Will Apple be making major changes for the next generation of iPad, to stop Android based tablets from dominating after Android based smartphones started to be a big competitor for iPhone or does Apple have different plans from rumours and speculations that are spreading like wildfire.

Legal iFile for Free?

2010-11-19T11:18:00.000-05:00

Editor's Note: The method described in this article is NOT CONFIRMED. Use at your own risk.

Post Author: Hector Rivera

This method will get you iFile for free along with BytaFont which is an application that enables you to change your font, similar to FontSwap. First open Cydia, then search for BytaFont, install it and, magically, iFile is installed! It will ask for license, but touch "Later" every time it asks you and it will work properly!

Apple Co-Founder Loses Faith in iOS

2010-11-19T09:27:00.000-05:00

Post Author: Omar Bizreh

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak raised the white flag in-front of Android platforms, believing that the Android platform will vanish iPhone platforms the same way Windows took over Apple's share in PC market. Steve thinks - or even believes - that Android will become on the top of the smartphone platform and that it's just a matter of time.

But that doesn't mean that Steve lost all hope in iPhone, he's been quoted saying, "It has very few weaknesses, but when it comes to quality, [the] iPhone is leading," which confesses that Android phones are not really consistent. Is he going to sit back and watch Google dominate smartphone market just like Microsoft took over the market with their Windows platform or is he cooking something up to crash Google's hope with Android?

Kill One Man, You're A Murderer, Kill A Million, A King. Kill Them All, A God

2010-11-17T16:40:00.001-05:00

Post Author: James Wilson

Hey all, My name is James Wilson, you can usually find me on my Xbox, my iPod, or reading.

I like writing and have been doing it for a while now and have a particular interest in writing about games/apps.

I will try and make interesting and useful reviews for all to enjoy.

I currently have a jailbroken iPod touch 2G on 3.1.3.
Editor's note: What's with the long name, dude?

FIRE MAH LAZAHS!!!

2010-11-16T18:31:00.001-05:00

Post Author: Dennis Fan
It's been too long since we've posted a funny picture.
Enjoy!

Beatles on iTunes

2010-11-16T13:02:00.003-05:00

Post Author: Philip Bernstein

As expected, a big update came to the iTunes Library today. Yesterday, Apple updated their homepage, and it showed clocks that corresponded to different time-zones. The American clock showed that at 10 o'clock this morning, there would be a big update from iTunes. As you can probably tell by the title, this update brought the Beatles to iTunes. This was just a quick story to let you know what's going on, I will write a full story about why the Beatles were not in the iTunes store to begin with, and why they were finally added.

Check back soon for the full story!

Battle of the Motion Controllers

2010-11-15T20:30:00.003-05:00

Post Author: Stephen Badry

Well, it has been over a week since the last motion controller, the Xbox 360 Kinect, was released, and after watching some gameplay footage of both, I have to say that the Kinect is pretty impressive.

The ability to game without a controller is a good prospect for getting my grandfather to buy me one

The Playstation Move, however accurate, sounds to me like an extension of the Wii, which sits in the basement and gets despised for having no good games. Even with the MotionPlus, the Wii lacks a camera, which means no full body tracking, which both the Move and Kinect offer. On the technical side, the Kinect uses a depth sensor as well as a camera and array microphone to capture users bodies. The depth sensor uses an infrared sensor as well as a monochrome CMOS sensor to track motion in any light. The sensor also uses voice recognition, gesture and facial recognition, not just for gaming, but also for movies and other multimedia. The Move, on the other hand, uses a Bluetooth controller with an accelerometer, as well as a rate sensor. The controller also has a LED lit bulb, which can change color based on the lighting and color detected by the camera. The top of the controller acts as a beacon for the camera, allowing motion to be tracked in 3 dimensions. The controller can also be used to simulate visual effects, such as the muzzle flash of a gun. I will be going to a demo event for Kinect in a few weeks (probably with a camera), so if you have any questions for the Microsoft rep leave them in the comments below.

App Hall of Fame - November Apps

2010-11-15T17:46:00.000-05:00

Post Author: Dennis Fan

This month, twelve new apps were inducted into the App Hall of Fame. Let's see what they are.

Harbor Master
OmniFocus
Blue Defense!
Reeder
Yelp
Pocket God
Real Racing
Tilt to Live
Facebook
Bebot
Fruit Ninja
Dropbox

Congratulations to all inductees and to those still waiting, good luck in December!

Speedy Reader

2010-11-15T17:07:00.007-05:00

Post Author: Nicholas Welch

Speedy Reader is a reading game available on the App Store for $2.99.

Description
Speedy Reader is a reading game. It teaches kids and English language learners the names of things in the natural and human world. It grows their spoken and written vocabularies within specific arenas in a fun, fast-paced and exciting way.

Speedy Reader gets you closer to our world with actual pictures rather than cartoonish imagery. And with Apple's Retina display on iOS 4, our pictures have incredible crispness and beauty.

Speedy Reader teaches 90+ words, some ordinary and some exotic, from 4 different arenas: desert, jungle, ocean, and space.

You can see a video of it in action here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jSmFRcHaRQ

Speedy Reader is a game where you are presented with an image, and must select its name from two choices (or vice versa), trying to be a speedier reader than a bot, or a friend. I see this being potentially very useful for people learning the English language.The images are great, and the app works quite smoothly, but the $2.99 price tag is too high for me. The Comic Sans font makes the game feel really childish (maybe that's what they were going for?), and there are only four categories to choose from (Desert, Jungle, Ocean, and Space). I would also like to see a different choice of graphics for the Settings, Credits, and Email buttons, each feels out of place. The icon is... I think a lamp maybe? It doesn't really reflect what the app is. The icon has to be instantly recognizable - "Oh! That's Speedy Reader!" The settings view is a waste of space, it should be in a popover or modal view. The sounds when you get a correct match are too digital sounding, and don't really match the theme.

The Bottom Line

It's an okay app, but the pricetag needs to go down.

Graphics: 4/5 - The pictures are high quality, but actual UI graphics could be better.

UI: 3.5/5 - Okay... The settings, credits, and email buttons should be near each other.

Gameplay: 2/5 - Four Categories. And it never gets any harder.

Creativity: 1/5 - It's a matching game, but it could be more engaging... Perhaps with videos instead of pictures. The category images on the main screen maybe changing to other images of the desert or jungle, etc.

Sound: 3/5 - Each category has background sound, I like that. Tapping the image, or text speaks the name to you, good. Correctly matching, though, produces an ugly digital sound that doesn't fit the categories and can't be disabled or changed.

Controls: 3.5/5 - Just tap your choice, easy enough, but it never tells you what to do.

Difficulty: 1/5 - It's all about hand-eye coordination, but there unless you're racing the TigerBot, it's not much of a challenge.

Longevity: 0.5/5 - Like I mentioned many times before, only 4 categories. Play it twice and it gets boring.

Entertainment: 0.5/5 - Not really entertaining, more of a kid's game.

Value: 2/5 - The app works and does what it says in the description, but $2.99 is waaay too high for a simple matching game. Add more features and round the edges, or drop the price.

Total: 20.5/50 or 41% - Good game for kids, or English-learners, but it's not worth a download until it ups it's game or lowers it's price.

Sn0wbreeze 2.1

2010-11-15T17:00:00.002-05:00

Post Author: Hector Rivera

"Xpwn GUI for Windows."
That is what the Sn0wbreeze jailbreak is about. Why do we need this? There is no unlock for 4.1, so Sn0wbreeze will do you a favour and preserve your baseband. This will allow you to use ultrasn0w to unlock your iPhone via Cydia. Sn0wbreeze will also allow you to "hacktivate" and create a custom boot logo for iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G (MB). Another useful feature is that you can install SSH without the use of Cydia. All credits for Sn0wbreeze go to iH8sn0w, the iH8sn0w Dev-Team, comex (untethered hack), geohot (Limera1n exploit) and the Chronic Dev-Team (exploit injector).

Devices Supported on 4.1:

iPhone 3G, 3Gs and 4

iPod Touch 2G, 3G and 4

AppleTV 2G

Free Live TV For Your iPad

2010-11-13T16:54:00.002-05:00

Post Author: Phillip Bernstein

I just wanted to get this story out to you, as it is very useful to a lot of you iPad and iPhone users. Before I say this, I have to mention that its legality is very questionable. The person who owns the site is fighting a legal battle, but he claims that it is completely legal. The site which i am talking about is FilmOn.com, and it lets you watch a lot of the popular TV channels live, for free. You can watch various live shows on NBC, ABC, and a few others.

This site is very convenient for watching TV in places where you don't have a television, and it could be a viable alternative to SlingBox for some people.

Link: FilmOn.com

4.2 Delayed

2010-11-13T11:04:00.000-05:00

Contrary to rumours slating the release for Apple's iOS 4.2 firmware for iPads, iPhones and iPods for Friday, November the 12th, the release of this major firmware version was delayed due to last minute issues with WiFi.

Beta testers of the latest 4.2 GM reported issues with the WiFi on the iPad and in rare cases, the iPhone. This being a big issue, the firmware was not released on the purported date and has been delayed. According to sources, it may be weeks before the bug is fixed. All this comes after a string of updates from Apple (Mac OS X 10.6.5, and iTunes 10.1 adding support for iOS 4.2). Also according to people who've used the GM, it is said that it patches comex's userland exploit keeping the Limera1n exploit untethered. With developments this big, we'll notify you of new changes in this strange situation.

- Dennis Fan

SimplyTweet 3

2010-11-13T10:42:00.000-05:00

SimplyTweet 3 by MotionObj is a beautifully designed Twitter client for iOS devices and is available on the App Store for $4.99.

Description
SimplyTweet makes using Twitter easy, keeping you informed via push notifications when someone messages or mentions you. Choose from several themes available.

4.5/5 stars, reviewed by 148Apps.

"SimplyTweet 3.1: Back at the Top of the Twitter heap!"
- Stephen Ingraham. Read detailed review at: http://bit.ly/st3review

Get a push alert when someone mentions or direct messages any of your accounts. Works just like text alerts.

SimplyTweet 3 and SimplyTweet 2 are separate apps. See http://post.ly/iI0C if you are an existing SimplyTweet 2 user.

ADVANCED FEATURES:
✓ Push notification support for Mentions and Direct Messages.
✓ Configurable push notification sounds
✓ iOS 4 Fast app switching support
✓ iPhone 4 hi-res support
✓ Multiple accounts support
✓ System Contacts linking and sending direct messages from Contacts app
✓ Themes - Silver, Twilight, Yellow, Bubbles, Pink
✓ Browse conversations reply chain
✓ Browse conversations between you and another person
✓ Lists (create groups of friends, etc. Note that anyone can be added, as long as their updates are not protected)
✓ Multiple drafts
✓ Customizable swipe-to-reveal shortcuts
✓ Unread tweet indicators for all themes, scroll to last read tweet on startup
✓ Unread counts display
✓ Full landscape support (including timelines, drafting and photo viewer)
✓ Reply to multiple people at once
✓ Tweetshrink support (both tweets and DM)
✓ Contact pickers
✓ Send direct messages longer than 140 characters
✓ Support updating of user profile and profile image within SimplyTweet
✓ Video and multiple photos in a single tweet uploading
✓ Remembers most recently used hashtags across sessions
✓ Block/Unblock support, and option to report spammer
✓ Bigger text option
✓ Saved searches
✓ Photos search
✓ Instapaper Support
✓ Read it Later Support
✓ What The Trend Support
✓ TextExpander support (you need TextExpander app installed to use it. Configure shortcuts in TextExpander app, enable sharing, and you get to use them in SimplyTweet)
✓ Option to hide avatars in blocked list
✓ Translation Support
✓ Tweet current song (#nowplaying)

STANDARD FEATURES INCLUDED:
✓ Perform search
✓ Proximity search
✓ User search
✓ Favorites support
✓ Trends support
✓ View public Twitter timeline
✓ Load older tweets and direct messages
✓ Post tweets, RT
✓ Direct messages, including browsing list recipients and autocompletion
✓ Saving of drafts
✓ Configurable image compression for uploads
✓ Posterous Support (multiple photos and video upload with hashtags converted to tags)
✓ Posterous support for long tweets
✓ TwitLonger support for long tweets
✓ TwitPic support (multiple photos)
✓ yfrog support (multiple photos and video upload)
✓ TwitrPix support (multiple photos)
✓ TwitVid support (video upload)
✓ Bookmarklet Support
✓ Built-in photo viewer
✓ Opening a user profile directly (Go to User)
✓ Twitter Lists
✓ Photos search
✓ Instapaper Support
✓ Read It Later Support
✓ Geotagging
✓ URL Shortening support with TinyURL, bit.ly, j.mp, is.gd

"A solid Twitter app that can hang with the best of them" - AppShouter

"When you load the app to read your pushed Tweets you’ll find an app with more options than you can shake a stick at."
- the-iBlog

"This twitter client is in a class by itself!"
- ki6ryg

"SimplyTweet has become simply awesome"
- mrholder

"The app is simple to use, yet does almost everything any Twit could want!"
- SunnySweet

Follow @simplytweet on Twitter.

I've used many Twitter clients recently. Clients ranging from Osfoora and Twitter for iPhone to Weet and Tweetaholic. Not one of them has the features that SimplyTweet has. Customizable in Preferences.app, you can customize anything from sounds to tweets loaded. There are themes and services and link shorteners, etc. It's one of those apps that puts twitter.com to shame. But what makes SimplyTweet better? The ease of use and simple user interface? The customization and how lovely it looks? The push notifications? I would say all of the above. One of the big things Twitter is said to be missing is push notifications. Most Twitter apps have a horrible design and interface to avoid being "just a Twitter" app. SimplyTweet has a great design and has managed to be original at the same time. I like it a lot and I feel it is a great Twitter app. One thing I don't like about it is how difficult (not exactly hard but inconvenient) it is to switch between Twitter accounts. That's my only recommendation for such a great app.

Graphics: 5/5 - Great design!

UI: 5/5 - Surprisingly not horrific.

Simplicity/Ease of Use: 4/5 - Account switching is not the best.

Creativity: 1/5 - Just a Twitter app in this sense.

Sound: 3/5 - Pretty! <3 Twitter app.

Controls: 5/5 - Account switching needs to be improved.

Speed: 4/5 - Not bad.

Connectivity: 5/5 - Sucks because of Twitter so I can't blame SimplyTweet.

Entertainment: 5/5 - SimplyTweet makes Twitter fun!
Value: 4/5 - Try $2.99?

Total: 41/50 or 82% - Great! Amazing! Spectacular! Terrific!
- Dennis Fan

Fake-A-Bank Account

2010-11-13T09:47:00.000-05:00

Fake-A-Bank Acount by Excelltech Mobile is a nice little app that lets you fool your friends into thinking you have money! It's available on the App Store for $0.99.

Description
Make others think you are filthy rich or drowning in debt with Fake-A-Bank Account!

Once installed Fake-A-Bank Account looks like any other financial information application -- however instead of actually hooking up to your bank accounts, Fake-A-Bank Account lets you provide the bank accounts you wish you had!

Add a couple six figure bank accounts and seven figure investment accounts and casually show your date your iPhone/iPod Touch.. When your date happens to touch the 'Accounts' app they will think you are a millionaire!

Add a checking account with a couple bucks and several credit card accounts with tens of thousands of dept. Show this to your friend at the end of lunch as an excuse for not paying for lunch!

Fake-A-Bank Account looks like a real financial application. The first time you run the application you will be asked to enter a password. You must enter this password to add/edit your fake bank accounts to ensure only you are in on the secret!

This app does as it is supposed to and enables you to create fale bank accounts. However, it is not convincing for a number of reasons. First of all, for iPod users, the app would still work with WiFi. Secondly, the app is just plain ugly, and no other real financial apps would look like this. The functionality of the app eventually renders it useless (you can only fool so many friends) and my friends realized it was fake after about two seconds of looking at it.

Functionality: 2/5 - Not really convincing.

Professionalism: 2/5 - Really ugly.

Longevity: 2/5 - You'd be lucky to fool someone.

Creativity: 5/5 - Original.

Entertainment: 1/5 - Not really.

Total: 12/25 or 48%.

- Dennis Fan

Meet Craig - He's A Photographer

2010-11-13T08:52:00.000-05:00

Hey, I’m Craig. I’ve had an interest in technology ever since I assisted in building a computer when I was 7. I now have an iPhone and several computers taking up room on my desk and I know a fair bit of iPhone code, HTML, PHP, and Cocoa programming. I am also an avid photographer, you can check out some of my pictures on my website as www.craigarnoldphoto.com. I love anything Apple, and I will definitely be writing about some of my favorite apps.

- Craig Arnold

What You Need To Know For 4.2

2010-11-10T20:26:00.000-05:00

By all accounts, we’re within a few days of Apple’s official public release of iOS 4.2. Here’s what you need to know.

Thanks to geohot’s Limera1n exploit, the Dev Team's pwnage2 exploit and @pod2g’s iPod 2G MC exploit, all devices on all iOS firmware versions can be jailbroken.
The untetheredness of the latest firmwares and devices depends on @comex's hacks. His hacks only go to 4.1 and 4.2 beta 3. He’s working on a way to extend it to 4.2 and beyond. Just wait for him to get it working.
iPhone 3G and 3GS unlockers will be covered by the latest Ultrasn0w.
Stay away from all iOS upgrades unless the Dev Team gives you the go ahead.
iPhone 4 unlockers are covered as well. @sherif_hashim has found some very useful things that could lead to an unlock after the 4.2 release.

via (Dev Team Blog)

- Hector Rivera

TinyUmbrella Updated For 4.2 Beta 3

2010-11-10T20:17:00.002-05:00

Why 4.2b3? @chpwn said that it might be useful for an untethered 4.2

jailbreak.

But how do we install it if we are not app developers? I don't know what the Dev-Team is planning but its gonna be big! Another feature added to TinyUmbrella is the "Enter Recovery" button, whichmay be useful for some users.

Thank @notcom on twitter!

- Hector Rivera

4.2 Firmware Unlock

2010-11-10T20:16:00.001-05:00

Yes, your not seeing things! The unlock for the iPhone is coming the same day

or immediately following the 4.2 release.

Why? Because the Dev-Team is going to test the baseband crash on 4.2. So if everything is like planned, the unlock will work on both 4.1 and 4.2. (But nobody's sure). If Apple patches the crash then it will only work on 4.1.

Note: limesn0w will never be real, according to geohot on limesn0w.com. But nobody knows; maybe he is lying.

- Hector Rivera

PhotoLoader for Facebook + PROMO CODES

2010-11-07T16:58:00.001-05:00

PhotoLoader for Facebook for iPad is an iPad only app that lets you batch upload photos to Facebook on your iPad. It is available on the iPad App Store for $2.99.

Description
PhotoLoader is the easiest and fastest way to batch upload multiple photos from your iPad to Facebook! Import your photos from the Photos app, edit and organize them and with one tap they will all get uploaded to Facebook!

Features:
✔ Import photos by selecting them in the Photos app or add them one by one using the image picker.
✔ Add photo captions.
✔ Rotate photos.
✔ Organize photos using gestures:
* use the swipe gesture to delete a photo
* use the long tap gesture to move a photo
✔ Create new photo albums before uploading.
✔ Batch upload selected photos to Facebook with one tap. PhotoLoader will preserve the order of your photos.
✔ Stay informed of the upload process with detailed progress indicators.
✔ PhotoLoader will save your pre-upload sessions. When you re-launch PhotoLoader you can continue where you left off.
✔ Uses Facebook Graph API for secure authentication and photo album operations.
✔ Efficient caching capabilities. Your Facebook photos will be cached on your iPad.
✔ Smart thumbnail generation.
✔ Upload error detection. PhotoLoader will suggest you to try uploading failed photos again.
✔ Fullscreen Facebook photo album viewer with swipe and pinch features similar to the built-in Photos app.
✔ No internet connection required for organizing new pre-upload sessions.
✔ Works on edge/3G/WiFi
✔ Sound effects

Notes:
✔ Facebook® and the F-logo are trademarks of Facebook Inc.
✔ Yakamoz Mobile is not a partner, affiliate or licensee of Facebook, nor is it in any other way formally associated with them.

Facebook on iPad is really confusing. Facebook's app hasn't been updated to take advantage of the iPad's large screen, and Zuckerburg has said that he doesn't plan on it. Their suggestion is to use www.facebook.com in Mobile Safari. Although it does work quite well, there are many features which don't work. One is photo uploading.

My solution for you is PhotoLoader. This app is an amazing photo uploader for Facebook. It fits right in with your other apps. Right away you'll notice similarities such as the refresh bar (looks like Mail's) and the Facebook-blue color scheme. I love applications which feel like they were truly made for iOS-this is one of them.

Using PhotoLoader

When you launch the app, you'll be greeted by the friendly user interface. Tap the Login to Facebook button in the top right corner, and Facebook Connect pops up. Grant PhotoLoader access to your photos, and it quickly loads your albums. I love how speedy PhotoLoader is! It is actually faster in loading your photos than the Facebook app is. To upload a photo (or several), tap the Upload New Photos button. PhotoLoader will load any photos on your clipboard. This feature is very useful because manually selecting each individual image with the iOS Photo Albums popover is quite tedious if you have many photos. Instead, in the Photos app, tap the action button and tap the desired photos. Once selected, tap the Copy button. Now go back to PhotoLoader and tap Upload New Photos. If there are any other pictures in addition to the ones from the clipboard, tap the + button. Select additional photos in the popover. Once you've selected all of the photos you want, swipe to delete, or tap to view it fullscreen. You can rotate it and set the caption from here too.

Tap the upload button and select or make a new album in the modal view that comes up. You're done!

The Bottom Line:

PhotoLoader is the best iPad app at it's price for uploading your photos to Facebook. It's really simple, and you'll feel right at home.

Score

Graphics: 5/5 - Great! It looks like it was made for iOS.

UI: 5/5 - Perfect.

Simplicity/Ease of Use: 5/5 - It's really easy.

Creativity: 4/5 - I can't really critique PhotoLoader on this topic due to the type of app, but you'll find that the creator has incorporated some idiosyncrasies of other apps.

Sound: 2.5/5 - PhotoLoader's only sound is upon a successful upload. To the developer: if you are going to have sounds, have a few more (but don't go overboard).

Controls: 5/5 - Really good!

Speed: 5/5 - Works faster than Facebook itself!

Connectivity: 5/5 - Quickly logs into Facebook and never asks you for your password again.

Value: 4/5 - $2.99 isn't a high price to pay for an iPad app, but all it does is let you upload and view your Facebook photos. I'd like to see an update that adds the ability to manage your photos.

Total: 40.5/45 or 90% - Terrific app. Works really great. Definitely worth purchasing if you need a Facebook photo uploader.
Here are the codes:

RXEAKY66RLW6

A6RKTM4AL47P

ETM3FET67FHP

- Nicholas Welch

Large Presence

2010-11-07T13:07:00.000-05:00

Hi guys! My name is Philip Bernstein and I develop applications for both Apple iOS and Palm WebOS. I run my own company, oZeta Designs, and I have a very a very big presence on the Palm Developer Forums. If you ever need a little help developing your applications, just shoot me an email. I like to help people out! I Love technology, and I will be writing about the things that interest me the most.

What About the Foreground?

2010-11-07T12:02:00.000-05:00

Hey, I'm Omar (@Deep_Unknown) and I've been on social websites for a while. I'm pretty hoocked up with electronic devices, programming and testing new stuff (OS releases, beta's, etc)

I know C#, few things in C++, HTML, CSS and Visual Basic (strong background on those languages).

My best until now is my 2nd generation iPod Touch. I've been testing lots of things on it and I'm pretty amazed it hasn't run away from me until now.

I'm new to blogging and I'm trying my best to improve.

I stopped using Microsoft products since I finally found out that other companies are way over the things Microsoft use UNTIL TODAY.

Currently using Ubuntu Linux 10.10 and I love it.

Snore Inspector

2010-11-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

Snore Inspector is a snore pattern tracker app by GRSoft Labs available on the App Store for $0.99.

Description
Do you know if you snore when you sleep? Want to stop disturbing your partner? Snore Inspector can help solve these questions. It can record other sounds too.
About
The Snore Inspector for iPhone, IPAD and iPod Touch helps people who snore and their partners. This app will help you know how often and how loudly you snore by recording your sleep sessions for review when you wake up. Keep in mind that the app is also a sleep recorder.
Snore Inspector remains always alert while you are sleeping, and when the device goes into sleep mode, it continues to record. How the Snore Inspector works is, based on the preferences you have selected before going to bed, it records your snores.
The Snore Inspector can be set up to vibrate (on the first snore sound) so that you change your sleeping position hence stopping you snoring. If you don't want it to vibrate then Snore Inspector will simply record the data to be viewed later. With Snore Inspector you can also set the alarm that will wake you up after recording your entire sleep session and store "all the sounds you make”.
When you wake up in the morning, the Summary screen will show you how long you slept, how often you snore during the night, how loud your snoring was. If you tap the "See Graph" button, you'll see all of this and more on an easy-to-read graph.
We are not saying that our app cure sleep disorders or make you quit snoring, as the most important are the diagnostic benefits of the Snore Inspector. The history feature keeps track of statistics for all previous sleep sessions.
FAQ to some user questions:
1. The sound files are large. The first night created a sound file of 202 MB. 202 X 30 = 6 GB. I can think of better use of my disk space than recordings of snoring.
ANSWER: We are doing all we can to make it smaller (have in mind it the whole night)
2. I have not found a way to delete recordings. Am I stuck with the recordings until the app is deleted and reinstalled?
ANSWER: Its easy on History and Daily View just swap your finger to the right on that recording you want to delete (Iphone default delete)
3. Must I have the power cable the whole night?
Most asked question:
How to delete the records - Just swap your finger to the right (iphone defautlt delete)
In Swedish - Hur tar man bort inspelningar - Genom att dra fingret till höger på det man vill ta bort.
ANSWER: Yes, we recommend that.
Finally we will make this app the best snore app out there - just give us time.

Snore Inspector uses your iPhone or iPod Touch 4G's mic to track your snore patterns. It then shows a graph of when and for how long you snored during the night. It is a very cool app because I snore... a lot... so this has showed me when and what time in the night I have snored. Snore Inspector also has this neat feature whenever you snore the application makes your device vibrate and you move and turn over in your sleep, according to theory. And after a while of this it may help you to quit your snoring habits! It shows a daily graph or a monthly graph and is done is a very clean looking way. It is also Facebook compatible so you can share all your recent snore records with your friends (not that you'd want to do that). This app has a very clean looking design and beautiful effects. This app was definitely well made and was made with care. The interface is easy to get around and has simple controls and instructions. This app is only a couple of pounds and is well worth it for the active snorer.

Graphics: 5/5 - Excellent!

UI: 4/5 - Outstanding!

Purpose: 5/5 - Great!

Creativity: 3/5 - Good!

Sound: 2/5 Not that much sound.

Use: 4/5 - Easy!

Difficulty: 5/5 Easy to understand!

Longevity: 5/5 Unlimited.

Entertainment: 4/5 - Brilliant!

Value: 3/5 - Pocket Money!

Total: 35/50 or 70% - Useful!

I would recommend it!

Go get it now! Support the developers!

- Brian Twomey

Catapult Madness

2010-11-07T11:14:00.001-05:00

Catapult Madness by Armor Games is a nice casual game available on the App Store for $0.99.

Description
3,000,000+ Downloads and Counting.

#1 Game in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain and Sweden
Download and Help Save the Kingdom.

Your castle is under siege! Use your catapult to launch peasants to reach a neighbor castle and ask for help. Use magic, bombs, beans, beer and other crazy stuff to reach your goal.

Unlock 4 different characters and choose from 5 different power ups.

Full integration with 'Game Center'. Unlock Achievements and Challenge your friends for High Scores.

*REBOOT YOUR DEVICE IF THE GAME CRASHES ON STARTUP*

Catapult Madness by Armor Games is an arcade launch game where the player has to launch people of a kingdom under siege by trolls to another kingdom to seek help. You get to set the angle and the launch power of the catapult. You can buy upgrades - the catapult, beans, magic and a couple more to help you

achieve 50,000 feet (end of game). While in the air you will come across enemy bombs, trolls and birds, etc. Though it doesn't bring much of creativity to the table, its strangely addictive.

Graphics: 2.5/5 - Clean cartoony work.

UI: 3/5 - Nice and clean.

Gameplay: 3/5 - Basic with respect to the game type.

Creativity: 2.5/5 - Seen before.

Sound: 3/5 - Meh.

Controls: 3/5 - Fairly simple.

Difficulty: 2/5 - Easy to touch 50000 mark after 3-4 rounds of upgrades.

Longevity: 2.5/5 - Doesn't take too long to reach 50000.

Entertainment: 2.5/5 - Weird fun.

Value: 5/5 - Really fun.

Total: 29/50 or 58% - Time killer!

- Riaz Humayun

I Really Like It

2010-11-07T11:04:00.002-05:00

Hi, im Johannes Knapp and I am now writing for How's My App! I live in Germany and I really like iPhones and all other iOS devices. My first iPod was a 2G and I directly started buying apps from the App Store. Then my friend taught me how to jailbreak my iPod (3.1.2 with blackra1n) and since then I've been testing all things I can get my hands on (apps, games, themes, firmwares...). I also have my own website (jk9357.blogspot.com) but no one ever goes on it because no one knows it. My twitter is @jk9357. Im looking forware to writing here!

Allure

2010-11-07T10:01:00.002-05:00

In news that makes me want to jump up and scream (I can combine both my websites!) Royal Carribean has announced an iPad app for their signature wine bar, Vinatages. In a press release this week, RoyalCarribean said, "It is very interactive and will give guests the opportunity to learn about different wines, regions, and food pairings and also play games. Guests will be able to order wine and tapas and “set their table.” The order will automatically go the wine tenders to place the order. The service is only available on their newest ship, Allure Of The Seas and no information has been given as to whether the devices will be provided. This is not a new concept, as Royal Carribean's sister company Celebrity X Cruises has been using iPads almost since they were introduced, for everything from menus to virtual art tours. Where will iPads fit in on a family-centered cruise line? We'll have to wait to find out, as Allure launches in a week.
- Stephen Badry

New Kid on the Block

2010-11-07T09:42:00.000-05:00

Hello, I am Riaz. I go by the nickname rise_fall_rise in the cyber world. I am the new kid on the block. Relatively new to Apple scene but looking forward to pick up a few lessons in baseband hacking. I hope to clean filter up the App Store. I will try to bring as many stories and reviews to you guys and it's awesome to be a part of this project. Cheers

FileBrowser

2010-11-06T10:51:00.004-04:00

FileBrowser by Stratospherix is an iPad application that allows you to access files from remote machines. It is available on the iPad App Store for $2.99.

Description
FileBrowser is like having Windows Explorer or Mac Finder on your iPad to access, copy and stream files from remote computers including Windows, Mac, and Network (NAS) drives.

★ NOW SUPPORTS TimeCapsule and AirportExtreme ★

★ If you like FileBrowser on your iPad, try NetPortal on your iPhone. ★

FileBrowser allows you to browse your network without leaving your armchair, coffee shop, park bench, or office, unlike other file sharing apps that make you upload files to your iPad from your Mac or PC.

Stream videos straight off your computer or NAS drive.

With FileBrowser you can view every document and media type that iPad supports. You can also launch other apps to view or edit files and NOW ALSO pass files to FileBrowser from other apps.

★ COMING SOON ★- Copy multiple files and folders. Don't miss out. Buy at the current price and get the update for free.

---- PLEASE READ ----
Whilst FileBrowser only requires a computer name or IP address, username and password, configuring home computers to share files and folders isn't so easy. If you have any problems with this, please read our online guides and if they don't get you connected please contact us.

FileBrowser is an essential app but it's not magic and it doesn't bypass network security. It will not be able to access your files on your home computer from a remote location without your computer being accessible FROM the Internet and SMB file sharing being enabled. Please see our web site for options on getting connected from a remote location.

■ Connects using the CIFS/SMB protocol to Windows 2000 and above, MacOS from 10.5 and most (but not all) NAS drives.
■ Does NOT support AFP.

FileBrowser does not work with all NAS drives. Before purchasing FileBrowser to specifically connect to a NAS drive, please try our free NetPortalLite app. If it can't connect, FileBrowser won't be able to either, although NetPortalLite is currently being updated to align with FileBrowser.

If our web site doesn't answer all your questions, please e-mail us at support@stratospherix.com and we will clarify any query you have.

One thing which bugs many users of iOS, is that there is no way to store files. Sure, images and videos can be saved to the Photos app, but files like mp3s can't be downloaded or saved anywhere. FileBrowser is exactly what the name implies. It gives you a way to browse files. Attachments in Mail can be opened in FileBrowser, and saved in the app's sandbox. From there, media can be viewed. Jailbroken users can use iFile (a file manager app) or SSH into their device, and move files from the FileBrowser Documents folder to other places.

The great thing about FileBrowser is the ability to connect to remote machines. You can add the IP/Host name of a computer (that is properly configured for file sharing) and browse and open its files. I use FileBrowser to stream music from my Mac to my iPad.

The great thing is that this is an App Store app, meaning even non-jailbroken users can have a file manager.

Graphics: 3/5 - Aren't bad, but not very iOS-esque.
UI: 4.5/5 - Well laid out, bookmarks are in two places
Simplicity/Ease of Use: 4.5/5 - Quite easy to use, but settings may be confusing for less-advanced users.
Creativity: 2/5 - Could be more elegant, but it's just a file browser.
Compatibility: 2.5/5 - Can only open file types which are natively supported by iOS
Controls: 4.5/5 - feels like a native app, easy to get the hang of, but some graphics aren't iOS-esque.
Speed: 4/5 - Fast, but takes a while to buffer remote media.
Connectivity: 5/5 - Great! Easily connects to valid remote machines quickly.
Value: 3/5 - $2.99 - App works as described, but there are similar apps for less. Also, no iPhone version.
Total: 33/40 or 82.5% - Really good for being an App Store app, but depending on what you want you may want to explore other file sharing/streaming apps.
Let us know what you think of it in the comments!

- Nicholas Welch

Fake-A-Text

2010-11-06T09:59:00.000-04:00

Fake-A-Text by Excelltech Mobile is a great app on the App Store that lets you create spoof text messages for only $0.99.

Description
Have a SMS conversation with the president or your favorite celebrity! Your friends will never know it's fake unless you tell them! A Fake-A™ product from the makers of Fake-A-Call and Fake-A-Location!

Fake an incoming text from your boss, your wife, or a celebrity at the tap of an app! Script responses and have a full conversation! Get out of bad dates, impress your friends, and prank your enemies!

* Just like a real text!

* Responds to you when you reply!

* Configure up to 50 custom responses!

* Fake A Text at the press of a button, or have it delay and text you at a specified time!

* Set text generation to random and have Fake-A-Text generate an random excuse for you!

* Even after the pre programmed responses run out, Fake-A-Text keeps responding with vague affirmative words to keep the conversation going!

* Easiest and most fully functionally fake texting application!

See what the fuss is all about and download Fake-A-Text today! You'll be glad you did!

Fake-A-Text is by far the best fake texting app out there in my opinion purely for the level of customization. When you open the app you get the Fake-A-Text screen when you choose when you receive the "text." It can be any time you want. Any.

Next is the Setup Texts screen where you can choose the name of the texter and even the texts. You can even create scripts for the texts to make it even more believable.

Then there's More Setup where you can choose the background, the wait screen and even set a password for the app. Add these together and you have one hell of a fake conversation with the non-existent friends you don't have. :)

Functionality: 5/5 - Great! I fooled my mom.
Professionalism: 3/5 - Better than Fake-A-Call
Longevity: 5/5 - With scripted texts, pure sexy.
Creativity: 2/5 - It's been done before.
Entertainment: 3/5 - Not really fun typing up a script on an iPhone/iPod using the portrait keyboard.
Total: 18/25 or 72%.
- Dennis

Apple Fanboy

2010-11-06T09:15:00.000-04:00

Hello, I'm Nicholas Welch, also known as qwertywelch. I'm a new writer here at How's My App.

I have always been a huge fan of Apple, and downloaded the iPhone SDK as soon as it was available in 2008. Although not actually knowing how to write applications at first, I loved messing around in the iPhone Simulator. My first iOS device is an iPod touch 2G, which I got in October of 2009, and have been jailbreaking since the moment geohot released blackra1n for 3.1.1. A year later, I got an iPad and now am not only using apps, but developing them.

I look forward to telling you about some of the gems of the iOS App Store and Cydia.

- Nicholas Welch

Google Instant

2010-11-05T16:37:00.002-04:00

Google has come through with their promise on making Google Instant
available on mobile devices, and they have done it in spectacular
fashion. Google Instant for Mobile is still in beta, and there are a
few requirements. You have to be using a iDevice on firmware 4.0 or
later, or an Android device running 2.2 or later. You also have to go
to google.com, as google.ca is not coded for it yet. When you go to
google.com, you have to tap "Turn Instant On" in order to enable it,
and after that, it works exactly like the desktop version, although
with the smaller screen on mobile devices, it does make it a little
harder to read anything but the suggested links. I still suggest you
check it out, as it is really cool.
- Stephen Badry

iWiFiHack Scam

2010-11-05T16:25:00.003-04:00

Thought I'd quickly write this to keep everyone on their toes about a certain app released November 1, iWiFiHack.
This program is a complete fake, so no matter how good this app seems, don't download it at all. The download link for it directs you to ShareCash, which requires you to complete a survey that makes you supply information and your email address, which can cause them to spam you if you're not careful! And most of these surveys also require you to fulfil two other services before you get to the "download", which doesn't even work. Just posting this so you guys were in the know about it.
- Mike Denton

Jailbreak for iOS 4.2 Untethered with Limera1n

2010-11-02T18:16:00.000-04:00

So the Limera1n jailbreak using Geohots bootrom exploit will still work on iOS 4.2 but, as you know, the bootrom exploit is tethered so geohot used comex's userland exploit to get it untethered on 4.1.

Apple CANNOT patch the bootrom exploit with a new firmware upgrade. They will have to release a new device. But what Apple CAN patch is the userland hack that makes limera1n untethered.Comex said that we will be able jailbreak our iOS 4.2 devices using Limera1n UNTETHERED if we have shsh blobs for 4.1 or lower.

"Anyone with blobs for 4.1 or earlier should be able to get an untethered 4.2 jailbreak; this is not done but is being actively worked on."

So save your shsh blobs now using TinyUmbrella or Cydia.

The jailbreak might not come out with the new 4.2 that will be released in a couple of days because Cydia is not working on iOS 4.2 yet. But @chpwn is working hard to get it working! So the jailbreak will be "out" when Cydia works for 4.2.

- Mattheos Mattson

App Hall of Fame - November Report

2010-11-02T16:21:00.002-04:00

Deer Hunter 3D: My app suggestion for November

It's November and that means it's time for the App Hall of Fame committee to place their votes on twelve new apps to join the App Hall of Fame for November.First off, if you missed it, the October apps are:

Angry Birds
Flight Control
Doodle Jump
Shazam
Evernote
Plants vs. Zombies
Pandora Radio
Simplenote
Twitter
Instapaper
Homerun Battle 3D
Fieldrunners

This month, there are thirty-one apps up for voting. Voting started yesterday, November 1, and ends on November 7 with the results going up on November 9.

Here are this month's nominees:

Pocket God
Fruit Ninja
Dropbox
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Jet Car Stunts
OmniFocus
Tilt to Live
Air Video
Dungeon Hunter
Modern Combat: Sandstorm
Blue Defense!
iBlast Moki
Sneezies
Real Racing
Reeder
The Creeps!
Deer Hunter 3D
Harbor Master
Bebot - Robot Synth
Scoops
Touchgrind
Yelp
Peggle
Bejeweled 2 + Blitz
The Sims 3
World Series of Power Hold'em Legend
Facebook
Doodle Jump
SimplyTweet 3
Paper Toss

Every committee member gets twelve votes each month and the twelve apps with the most votes get inducted into the App Hall of Fame.

Guess we'll just wait and see!
App Hall of Fame

Jailbreaker

2010-11-02T16:05:00.001-04:00

Jailbreaker by Triniti Interactive Limited is a nice little game available on the App Store for $0.99.

Description
SLIDE UNDER obstructions, JUMP OVER obstacles, and SPRINT toward FREEDOM before the COPS THROW you BACK IN THE SLAMMER!

★★★★★

a WEEKLY SHIFT-of-GUARD routine represents YOUR CHANCE for ESCAPE…

now CHECK out the SUPER-INTUITIVE TAP controls, FAST-PACED FRENETIC gameplay and DANGEROUS DISTRACTIONS!

★★★★★

✓ SUPER-SIMPLE controls
✓ THRILLING gameplay
✓ multiple OBSTACLES and DISTRACTIONS
✓ openfeint ONLINE LEADERBOARDS
✓ INTENSE classical soundtrack

★★★★★

twitter.com/TRINITIgames

My opinion, on Jailbreaker is it's a good time waster, nothing more. It doesn't prove a great challenge. You just really have to time it right and you can easily score in the 2000's. With a high score of 3268 without really putting much effort into it, it goes to show that it's not that hard to master in 1 or 2 tries, so the developers have the potential to make this into a better game, but with the amount of resources this simple game uses, I'd hate to see how bad it'd be if they added a "Challenge a Friend" feature, where you race a ghost, although something simple as a high score label in the track showing your current high score would be nice to show players their improvement (something like Doodle Jump's system).

Graphics: 3/5 - Basic, Simple, Really only 3 base colours and different shades of them.

UI: 4/5 - Basic, Easy to understand, maybe more settings, though.

Gameplay: 2/5 - Repetative is one word, Jailbreaker is another story.

Creativity: 0/5 - It's the same as others I've seen, but just more "gore".

Sound: 3/5 - Repetative, again. Just goes on and on, needs more variety.

Controls: 4/5 - Simple, there and don't distract players from the game.

Difficulty: 3/5 - It's more about the timing and the hand-eye coordination.

Longevity: 3/5 - One hit, death. Hitting anything (but glass) makes you die. Adds to the difficulty, but maybe having some objects that slow you down would be more enjoyable.

Entertainment: 3/5 - It's entertaining to the point of a time waster, something to play on a train.

Value: 3/5 - It's a good time waster, I got it when OpenFeint made it free, but for $0.99 (US Store), it's good to have for a train ride.

Total: 28/50 or 56% - Want a time waster? Get it. Want a real game? Maybe wait and see if it goes up for free again.

Got an opinion to this review? Leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.

- Mike Denton

Redsn0w 0.9.6b2

2010-11-02T15:55:00.001-04:00

Redsn0w 0.9.6b2 has been released for 4.1.

This will jailbreak iPod2G, 3G, 4G, iPhone3G, 3GS, 4, iPad, and AppleTV 2G. This jailbreak uses the famous "Limera1n" exploit, discovered by geohot. But it adds a few extras:

Custom bootlogos for iPhone 3G/iPhone 3GS/iPod 2G users (with qualifying bootroms)
An option that implements the "DFU" button in PwnageTool. This button lets Windows users to use PwnageTool custom IPSWs.

Let me explain: you get a trusted friend to build the IPSW on a Mac, then you use the "DFU" button to exploit your device, leaving it vulnerable. Then you Shift+Restore in iTunes, select the custom IPSW, and let iTunes do the rest.

This is good news for AppleTV users, because no other jailbreak tool supports this device entirely.

Mac and Windows downloads here:
http://tiny.dre.am/pwnage
- Hector Rivera

ChronicTV - Free and Unlimited Cartoon Shows for Your Device

2010-10-31T19:30:00.002-04:00

Note: The cartoon shows are most likely hosted illegally and this post is just for information purposes.
ChronicTV is a website that you can visit on your iPod touch/ iPhone and I am sure iPad too

Browse to this site you get free unlimited access to All South Park, Simpsons, Family Guy, Cleveland Show, Futurama and American Dad episodes! Updated daily!
You can either watch these episodes right on your device or download them using some download manager from the App Store or Safari Download Manager. This means You DO NOT need to be jailbroken to watch or download these episodes!

All you have to do is:
1. Visit http://www.chronictv.org
2. Choose your favourite cartoon
3. Choose a season
4. Choose a episode
5. Either press play and wait for play button to show up or press download and wait 30 seconds to download with Downloads.app or Safari Download Manager.

- Matheos Matteson

Research In Motion Releases Free SDK

2010-10-31T10:20:00.003-04:00

So, Research In Motion has released the SDK for Playbook. This SDK uses the Adobe AIR software, and according to developers, "The [SDK] made it simple to develop a browser for the PlayBook within a half an hour! I cannot wait to get started on my submission for App World now that I know how straight-forward it is to program for the PlayBook.”
The SDK is available free from http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/tablet/ and anyone who submits and gets an app accepted before the release date will recieve a free BlackBerry Playbook, so hurry up, download the SDK and code!
- Stephen Badry

Reckless Racing

2010-10-31T10:05:00.000-04:00

Reckless Racing is an arcade style racing game by Electronic Arts for £1.79 ($2.99)

This review will be split up into two sections: Single Player and Multiplayer.

Description
THE DIRT-ROAD RACER YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR! Made to maximize the Retina Display, Reckless Racing combines the finest in traditional top-down racing gameplay with state-of-the-art graphic environments. Skid, slip, and slide with precision controls, and challenge friends in online multiplayer. Hold on tight and get ready to go. Reckless Racing for iPhone® & iPod touch® is here!

LOOK WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
“…one of the coolest looking top-down racing games I've ever played.” (Eli Hoddap, Touch Arcade)

“The first thing that strikes home… is the sheer loveliness of the graphics… From sparkling streams… to large wooden churches looming up into the camera at the side of the worn dirt roads…” (Will Wilson, Pocket Gamer)

VISUAL QUALITY THAT’LL MAKE YOU SAY, “OOOWEEE!”
Designed from the get-go to with eye-popping graphic quality, the visual details will really make you feel like you’re rolling in the mud. And get a load of how Reckless Racing looks with the Retina Display.

RACING FOR THE RECKLESS
Dirt track or asphalt, truck or rally car – take your choice and then take it to the limit. Learn the basics as a beginner and choose from a variety of driving controls. Progress through the races and move up through Gold, Silver, and Bronze difficulty levels.

CHOOSE YOUR VEHICLE AND TEST YOUR SKILLS
Adapt your race skills and push it across 5 amazingly detailed tracks vs. vehicles controlled by some outrageous characters like Otis, Lurlene, and Bubba! Unlock the reverse tracks and take them on again!

BETTER THAN THE REST?
With online multiplayer, Reckless Racing gives you the chance to show the world your racing ability! Post your best times on online leaderboards and trade ghost races with players from all over the world. Chat functionality is also built in!

RACE IN 3 DIFFERENT MODES
Immerse yourself in the world of no-rules driving. Take on the Dirt Rally, Hot Lap time trial, or Delivery time trial. Beat other drivers or beat the clock. Either way, there’s a lot of Reckless Racing to do!
________________________________________
** DON'T MISS OUR OTHER EXCITING GAMES! ** FIFA 11 by EA SPORTS™, Mirror's Edge, TETRIS®, Rock Band®, Madden NFL 11 by EA Sports™, MONOPOLY & The Sims™ 3

COMING SOON: Need For Speed™ Hot Pursuit

GIFT THIS APP: Click the “Buy App” arrow on the iTunes® App Store

Be the first to know! Get inside EA info on great deals, plus the latest game updates, tips & more…
VISIT US: ea.com/iphone
FOLLOW US: twitter.com/eamobile
LIKE US: facebook.com/eamobile
WATCH US: youtube.com/eamobilegames

About Single Player:

There are two racing difficulties; Beginner - Where the cars are easier to handle and Advanced - The cars are much harder to handle and slide all over the place.

There are three game modes;

Dirt Rally:
Competitive races against A.I opponents.

Hot Lap:
Lets you practice the tracks by yourself.

Delivery:
Big open track where you have to pick up packages and deliver them to certain locations.

There is a total of 10 tracks in Single Player; 5 unique tracks and 5 "reversed" versions of the original tracks.

There is also 6 playable characters and 3 difficulties; Bronze, Silver and Gold.

About Multiplayer:

There is online multiplayer across a Wifi connection against other around the world!

You join a server and then you can either host or join a game.

You can pick the tracks from Single Player and you can play either the "Dirt Rally" or "Hot Lap" Game Modes.

My Impressions:

Graphics:
Score: 5/5

The graphics in this game really suit the game's style, Arcade Racer. The tracks are beautifully made and well designed. The attention to detail on this kind of racer is quite high and the detail on the cars is good too. The game has also been optimised for "Retina Display" and there is an HD version for the iPad.

User Interface:
Score: 5/5

The "User Interface" in this app is very good. The layout is very simple and the buttons are clearly labelled and their functions are easy to figure out. The Interface style suits the gameplay with everything being a thrashed metal design that looks really good,

Gameplay:
Score: 5/5

The gameplay in this app is amazingly fun! The races can be as casual or as hard as you want, thanks to the difficulty customisation. The "2.5 Dimension" Style is great because it give you more detail that a regular birds eye view. Online and Single Player are very similar and can both be enjoyed by anyone.

Creativity:
Score: 4/5

This arcade racing style has been made before but not many of the rival apps feature multiplayer but they probably have more tracks and cars. Well made, but not original.

Sound:
Score: 5/5

The sound effects in this game are of an outstanding quality, When you hit a sign or wall the sound effects are amazing. The tire squeal, dirt sliding and engine noises are top notch as well. The in-game music is of the country genre, Which I'm not a fan of usually, but this really suits this game and works really well.

Controls:
Score: 5/5

This is where the game is outstanding! The control scheme can be fully customised, With 5 different layouts.

Standard: Where there are arrows that accelerate, brake and turn.
Tank: This makes the car steer like a tank, e.g To turn right the left wheels keep going and the right wheels brake.
Tilt: Use of the accelerometer to steer the car left and right.
Half Wheel: Where there is a half steering wheel that you use to steer the car.
Full Wheel: There is a full steering wheel on the screen that you use to turn.

Not only is an amazing set of control layouts but you can also fully customise that by moving the components about.

Difficulty:

Score: 5/5

The difficulty can be adjusted to suit any ones level of expertise.

Longevity:Score: 3/5

This game is addictive for a few hours but the tracks are short and after a while they get repetitive and the online being basically the same as the Single Player doesn't add much more play time. You will have fun for a while, in fact great fun, but be warned it won't last forever.

Entertainment:

Score: 5/5
This game is amazing fun and it is a good laugh. You will have a great time playing this especially if you host a game online and get your friends to join!

Value:Score: 4/5

This game is £1.79 in the UK and roughly $2.99 in the US. The game is not worth £1.79 ($2.99) because of its lack of tracks but if you have the money to buy it and you love racing games then you can't go wrong with this game.

Total:
Score: 46/50 or 92%

Definitely a game to check out!

- Matthew Willis

'ello, Mate!

2010-10-31T08:34:00.002-04:00

Hey guys, I'm Mike.

First off, I'm Australian, so the overseas delay is gonna be a lot of fun!

I've been jailbreaking since 2.1, back when PwnageTool was Windows friendly too.

I'm in a band with some local mates and have too much free time on my hands.

You can find me on Twitter @miikedenton, my YouTube channel is a bomb with only ONE video. You can check it out at TheOddMovie.

I'll try bring as many reviews and stories to you guys as I can, so enjoy!

Oh yeah, you can email me by clicking here.

Peace.

Steve Jobs – No USB 3.0 Until Intel Adopts It

2010-10-31T08:30:00.001-04:00

Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Inc.), replying to an email received from an Apple user, has said that he “doesn’t see USB taking off.” In his usual fashion, Jobs’ reply was short and to the point.

“We don’t see USB 3 taking off at this time. No support from Intel for example.”

USB 3.0 is the latest iteration of the global standard peripheral interfaces. It claims to deliver speeds of up to 4.8 Gbps, which is 10 times faster than USB 2.0. It has already been implemented on many high-end gaming systems.

A top hardware manufacturer has said that Intel is looking to adopt USB 3.0 by late 2011, meaning we could see some USB 3.0 ready Macs by 2012.
- Mathieu Hendey

Maze Raider

2010-10-31T08:27:00.001-04:00

Maze Raider by Kishore Tipirneni is a strategy game available on the App Store for free.

Description
"By far my favorite game app . . ."

"Amazing . . ."

"Totally addicting and well done . . ."

"Just download it, you'll love it . . ."

"Can't believe it's free . . ."

Introducing Maze Raider, the action-packed game of strategy, skill, and intelligence. Maze Raider is simple to understand, but is also challenging, fun, and addicting. Use the touch screen to navigate yourself through a maze with obstacles such as land mines, sentries, and gates. Get special powers and points by landing on specific places. Set your own mines to kill the sentries or cause a chain reaction of landmine explosions. After you finish a maze, move up through an infinite number of levels.

All of the mazes are programmatically generated at random so that each time you play, it is a different game.

There is a 2-player game, which you can play with a friend using a Bluetooth connection. In this game, race to get to your opponent's base before they get to yours while setting your own mines for your opponent. Since it is Bluetooth based, you don’t need to have a network connection and you can play anywhere like in a car. 2-Player requires iPod 2nd generation or iPhone 3G or later.

Practice levels before you get to them in the actual game. The practice mode also has an option for maze only which allows you to do an unlimited number of programmatically generated simple mazes with no obstacles.

Features:
- Mazes programmatically generated so you never play the same game twice
- Infinite number of levels
- Bluetooth enabled 2-player race game to play with a friend
- Auto-saving of game when app is closed
- High scores screen
- Full instructions

This app is free and is supported by ads. You have the option of purchasing the app for a nominal price to remove the ads. Some features such as upper levels require purchase.

Try Maze Raider today!

Did you love the mazes on the back of the cereal box or newspaper?
Maze Raider brings it to the next level with some epic twists like bombs and doors.
The game itself has very good controls an makes use of apples powerful touch screen.
By swiping your finger across the screen you control this yellow dot. This dot can run into hidden bombs and you have three seconds to escape the bomb raidus befoe it detonates.
The game is billiant for wasting time. The mazes get bigger and harder (pun) after every level so its allways interesting.
This game is also GameCenter compatiable!
Go give the devolper some love, give his/her game a go!
Download it for free from the app store.

Graphics: 2/5 - Could be better.

UI: 3/5 - Nothing special.

Gameplay: 4/5 - Good!

Creativity: 4/5 - Best thing about it.

Sound: 4/5 - Retro!

Controls: 4/5 - Swipe gestures.

Difficulty: 2/5 - Too simple

Longevity: 3/5 - Lite version

Entertainment: 4/5 - Really fun!

Value: 5/5 - Free!

Total: 31/50 or 78% - Worth a download :)
- Brian Twomey

If you buy a game that I reviewed that doesnt mean that you have to buy it.
All post by me and in my own point of view.

Happy Howlin' Halloween

2010-10-31T07:18:00.001-04:00

It's been - messed up, disorganized, crazy here at How's My App. As you may have seen from the epic 9 new posts yesterday, we got new staff * :O New Staff? * That should make this blog a lot more active as William still has a broken arm and I spent the last couple weeks working on TinyDream. So, whether you read their introductions or not, they are going to be a welcomed new part of How's My App. Now, onto stuff you actually care about, it's Halloween! Tell us or tweet us what you are doing to celebrate the last day of October, 2010... 102010!

Refrigerator

2010-10-30T22:50:00.003-04:00

Hi, my name is Stephen.
I got into the jailbreak scene when Spirit came out, and I have been a devoted member ever since.
I am currently working on perfecting a VoiceOver exploit that I found, and designing my other website, teencruisereviews.com.
In case you were wondering, teencruisereviews.com is a site where teens have an open forum to review cruises.
Not much relevance to this, but, oh well.
My Twitter is @badbadbadry, my facebook, well, you're not allowed to know about, and MySpace sucks. Oh and here's a haiku:
Haikus are easy
But sometimes they dont make sense
Refrigerator.
- Stephen Badry

Get It While You Can - VLC For iOS To Be Pulled From The App Store

2010-10-30T22:38:00.009-04:00

UPDATE 1: According to Eeems on Twitter, it appears that the app has already disappeared from the Canadian iTunes store. At the time of this writing, it's still there in America, though, so act fast!

UPDATE 2: Many North American users are claiming it will not download at all for them. Many of you still looking for a way to download this are advised to download it from Installous, which is completely legal because it is a free app and ironically does not break the terms of the license.

An interesting story from Covering Web today - According to iLounge, the popular VLC Media Player app may soon be pulled from the App Store. VLC is a free media player that can read a lot of files that the iPhone wouldn't be able to do on its own. It's a great app that I would recommend to anyone with a large video collection.

Why, you ask? VLC is Open Source, which means that the developers have released the code that makes the app to the public. This is good because other developers can improve and make their own versions of Open Source applications. However, when something is Open Source it is usually released under a special license that basically says, "Hey, you can do whatever you want to this app, like make your own versions, but you have to credit me". There are many variations of this licence, but that's the gist of it.

VLC has been an open source desktop application for Windows, Mac, and Linux long before it came to the iPhone. The creators of the desktop version, VideoLAN, did not bring it to the iPhone. Instead, using the magical powers of Open Source, Applidium ported it to iOS and submitted it to the App Store, which is allowed because of the license that desktop VLC was released under.

However, the app must be taken down if it violates this license in any way. And it appears that VideoLAN have read the fine print, and found a reason to take VLC for iOS down.

VideoLAN recently sent a request to Apple to take VLC for iOS off the App Store. The reason? Apparently, the licence clearly states that a user must be able to download an application on as many devices as he/she wants. iTunes, however, only allows you to download an application on 5 devices for every account you make, which therefore technically violates the licence and is grounds for removal. The only words of advice VideoLAN has for concerned users is that they, "are advised to look for application on more open mobile platforms for the time being."

I believe that, while this specific case may not matter for some, it may lead to bigger issues. If this is grounds for VLC to be removed, doesn't that technically make it grounds for every other Open Source App Store app to be removed? This would mean that great apps like Colloquy are technically violating their own licence. What do you all think? Please don't hesitate to leave a response in the comments below!

VLC is still available at the time of this writing on the iTunes store for FREE, so quickly, get it while you can!

- Harry Prevor

Pushing The Limits

2010-10-30T20:58:00.003-04:00

Hello all, my name's Harry (aka Habstinat) and I'm a new writer here at How's My App.

I have experience writing for AppAdvice, Sackcast, and I've helped test and even code a few tools like Sackpad. I'm always on the hunt for new tech news, and I'm passionate about following the iOS Dev Scene and being the first to try out new apps.

As far as hardware goes, I own a jailbroken iPhone 4 on iOS 4.1, and a jailbroken iPad on iOS 3.2.2. I'm regularly refreshing the Cydia "changes" list, and I like experimenting with my iPhone and pushing the limits of what can be done on a mobile phone. I also own an IBM ThinkPad W700ds, dual booted with Linux Ubuntu and Windows 7, and two Macs.

I have a Twitter and a YouTube, and feel free to contact me at Habstinat@howsmyapp.com if you have any questions. I look forward to writing for How's My App and am eager to get started. :)
- Harry Prevor

Finland's Finest

2010-10-30T20:35:00.001-04:00

Hey guys :)

My name is Matheos Mattsson (@iTouchTuter) and I live in Finland :)

I am a new writer for howsmyapp.com and I will be doing some posts then and then about Apple news and jailbreaking news :)

I own a iPod Touch 3G and I am jailbroken on iOS 4.1 with limera1n :)

I do have a own blog besides this and a YouTubechanel with tutorials and a twitter account :)

I love jailbreaking and helping people with tech problems :)
And that's a part of why I make tutorials :)
- Matheos Mattsson

Hax0r in the House!

2010-10-30T18:27:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone, My name is Matthew Willis.

You can find me on Twitter and the iPhone Dev Team Blog as HMA_Matthew.

I am part of an Xbox 360 Review Team called Te4m360Review.

I have been an Apple fan for many years and I have an iPhone 3GS, which is jailbroken on version 4.0.2

I have been jailbreaking since iOS 2.1 and I hope to help everyone here in the future.

I posted regularly on a blog a year or two ago before it was shut down.

I hope to post helpful and detailed posts here.

- Matthew Willis

PwnageTool 4.1.2

2010-10-30T18:05:00.003-04:00

PwnageTool 4.1.2 was released October 20, 2010 for all devices running on 4.1, including AppleTV 2G.

This jailbreak tool will create a custom IPSW for your device and will NOT update your baseband. This is good news for ultrasn0w unlockers. Expert Mode was added by user request that lets you choose the IPSW, not spotlight search which takes forever.

iH8sn0w has been developing sn0wbreeze for Windows users running on 4.1, but has been delayed due to bugs. You can find the official torrent for PwnageTool 4.1.2 here: http://tiny.dre.am/pwnage
Mirrors:

- Hector Rivera

Hackers Prevail

2010-10-30T18:00:00.002-04:00

I am an iPhone guru, hacker, cracker, jailbreaker and blogger.
I've been interested in the iPhone and anything Apple since I was 12 years old.
I first got interested in jailbreaking when comex's JailbreakMe Star was released.
Ask me anything and I will answer your question.
Apple Fanboy
Windows Junkie
iOS Addict
- Hector Rivera

CAPS ARE ARROGANT!!!!

2010-10-30T17:35:00.002-04:00

Hey guys! My name is Mathieu Hendey (aka @capsl0ck0n on Twitter).

I know a lot about jailbreaking (I'm CAPSLOCKON on the iPhone dev team blog) and iDevices in general.

I am enthusiastic towards everything technological.

I own a triple boot PC with Hackint0sh, Ubuntu and Windows 7 64-bit and I have an iPhone 4.

I used to have an iPhone 3G. This is my first foray into blogging, so feel free to give me some feedback on what I'm doing right and wrong.

- Mathieu Hendey

It's Me! Mario!

2010-10-30T17:09:00.002-04:00

Hey! I'm Brian Twomey (aka @trusttouch) and I’m originally from Twitter but have been on a few social sites before. I’m a tech junkie and love everything electronic.
I know basic HTML and the foundations of Java.
I have a two laptops and two computers all running Windows 7 64-bit.
I have a second generation iPod touch and an LG Optimus phone running Google Android 2.1 (Éclair).
I’m currently just starting out writing blogs but I’m improving.
This is just a summary of who I am. Please check out the rest of my blog http://tiny.dre.am/ie.
- Brian Twomey

[Preview] Aqua Pearls

2010-10-23T09:46:00.001-04:00

Dun dun dun! Popular casual game developer G5 Entertainment is going to release a new puzzle game... and you get a preview!

G5 Entertainment

Title Screen

Instructions

Get Ready!

Destroy!

Grr!

Whoops! Paused

Ahh!

Game Over For Me

High Scores

This game will be released on the 28th of October for only $2.99 on the App Store. I usually avoid games of this genre but this was good! Good luck and happy gaming!

It's Time To Blog: A Fallen Community?

2010-10-21T20:00:00.005-04:00

One of the reasons. One of the reasons I love my iPod so much and that I created this site, is because of the loving iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and Apple community. A bunch of people, hackers, developers, enthusiasts, bloggers, all of the above that put together, makes a nice, respectful and embraceful community.

Having said that, how much, on a scale of one to ten, would you rank your surprise when I tell you that this community is falling apart?

Not that long ago, I started jailbreaking my iPod. I was like, all right, happy, no arguing. What do we have now?

Not too long ago (see how I avoided being repetitive? real nice huh?), half the community (hereby referred to as geeks - no offense intended, I am one too) was flaming the other half over how geohot burned a bootrom exploit at the same time as the chronic dev team was about to release GreenPois0n. Of course, people were defending geohot because SHAtter only supports new devices and the rest of the geeks were calling the supporters of geohot "selfish" because they led to the possible release of GreenPois0n.

A short while before that, tensions between iH8sn0w and chpwn are rising, the reason I am uncertain. Now, their relationship is even more strained as chpwn told iH8sn0w not to release sn0wbreeze 2.1 and iH8sn0w decided not to do so.

Obviously, I heard people arguing. One person said he no longer thought chpwn was cool because of what he did while another (cdevwill) said that iH8sn0w was being immature because he said that only to get people to hate on chpwn.

Even more recently, a parody jailbreak made by parody account p0isixninja caused mass chaos over a concentrated part of the community. A small joke equaled many pissed off people.

So where are we now? The chronic dev team hates - I guess - or at least dislikes geohot; as well as half the geeks who called him an asshole for what he did.

The end-user now has to choose between geohot or the chronic dev team - fifty fifty split.

Chpwn is having a Twitter war with iH8sn0w and again, the community is split on sides.

As a result of this, cdevwill is caught in the middle of this.

Half of the community is mad over a small button that says "make it sn0w" that is not malicious nor does it accept donations.

Tensions from every corner of the community rise, leading me to think, where has this loving, nice community gone? In hiding or gone permanently?

This leads me to think: what is tearing us apart?

[Apology] CheezeRom

2010-10-17T13:08:00.001-04:00

This is a letter of apology for the incorrect information posted by the editor of this blog.

On October 16, this blog posted an article about a jailbreak for iPod touch 2G MC models running 4.1 firmware. As it was just discovered, this is FAKE. We are sorry of this mistake, we were never informed of this information prior to posting this, as it was revealed a few minutes ago. We offer to you our sincerest apologies regarding this situation.

Apple Crowned King...

2010-10-16T09:40:00.003-04:00

Apple has recently been crowned the King of stupid worthless updates. By whom you ask? By me.
Why? Let's rewind a little bit.

Yesterday? No.

Last week? No.

Last month? About right.

Following the release of comex's JailbreakMe *star, and the PDF exploit panic that ensued, Apple released a small update. iOS Version 4.0.2. It fixes the exploit for iPod Touch 2G, 3G, 4G, iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4 and iPad. That left iPod Touch 1G and iPhone 2G users screwed.

Later that day, saurik created his PDF patch. There. Problem solved.

But, in the process, Apple's servers got pounded by loads of angry fish screaming:

"OMFGOMFGOMFGBBQ I DON'T WANNA GET HACKED OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG I LOVE MY IPHONE SO MUCH DON'T TOUCH IT YOU NASTY HACKING HOBOS!!!!!"

And that resulted in the usual iTunes lag that pretty much matched iTunes download speeds to that of FileDude. A worthless update that was bad for everyone (considering how there aren't any exploits /viruses/ using comex's PDF exploit yet) to which Steve Jobs went home and said,

"Boy, did I accomplish a lot today!"

One thing though, 4.0.2 was released right before 4.1 was. Therefore, I doubt it was useful as they could've waited an extra couple weeks to incorporate it into 4.1 instead of causing a huge inconvenience to everyone.

Now, Apple is going to release 4.1.1 [rumoured] weeks before the release of 4.2.

"WHAT????!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING AOBUT???? WHAT ABOUT MAH JAILBREAK IS LIMERAIN GON DIE WITH THIS UPDATE NONONONO JUST WHEN HE RELEASED IT IM SO SCARED OMGWTFBBQ I ---"

Shut up. This update is going to address a small issue with Oceania iPhone users that have a glitch with the Clock app. A small worthless update that they could include in the next one that is coming very soon. Of course, they could roll out the update to Austrailian iPhone users only, but, as it is Apple, they're going to release it to everyone.

Suspicions arise. What are they really doing? As you know, the SHAtter and Limera1n exploits are tethered. But why are they untethered? Because comex found a userland exploit that lets them become untethered. SHAtter and Limera1n by themselves are bootrom exploits meaning that the only way they could be patched is if Apple does something with the hardware. Userland exploits on the other hand are patched by Apple after about a week. [When the server pounding subsides]. This leads many people to believe that once 4.1.1 is released and subsequently 4.2, Limera1n is going to be tethered and then mass panic ensues.

"WTFOMFGDORA HOLY CRAP I LIEK BEING UNTETHERED I HATE YOU APPLE *slapslapslap* I DONT WANNT TO UPDATE I GOING TO PROTEST "APPLE WHY YOU NO LIKE US WE R KK GOOD BYE WYTF"????"

Yeah. Panic.

A Little Break

2010-10-12T17:01:00.001-04:00

Well, I am swamped with school work and grades - not a good sign.

We are in the process of being accepted into OATS.

For those of you unsure of what OATS is, OATS was an organization started by Jeff Scott of 148Apps.com and basically stands for Organization for App Testing Standards.

Once we are accepted, I'll post but for now, I'm really busy.

I'm so lazy right now, I have't updated the mobile site in two weeks. I know, I'm sorry I'll get around to doing so.

I'm so busy I still didn't post about Limera1n, Greenpois0n or the pending 4.1.1 update which may wipe out untethering for both of them.

Oh, and a small update for you about William: he's recovering well and will get around to writing a review soon.

That's it for now, as I sit in my seat in anticipation... :)

[Promo Codes] Hyperbowl

2010-10-10T20:49:00.000-04:00

Thank you to Phillip Chu of Technicat for once again, providing us with promo codes for his recently updated app "Hyperbowl" (advertised on right). The app retails on the App Store for $2.99 but we have some promo codes to give away courtesy of him. Be sure to not only thank him for the codes but to also write an honest review of the app on the App Store. Have fun bowling and don't forget the shoes!

Description

This authorized version of HyperBowl for the iPhone and iPad recreates the arcade feel of the original attraction game that debuted in the Sony Metreon a decade ago. Swipe the screen to push the bowling ball around the diverse worlds of the Classic, Roman, Forest and High Seas lanes. Enjoy the scenery, but remember to head for the pins!

All platforms feature the Classic, Rome, Forest and High Seas lanes. HD platforms (iPad and fourth-generation iPhone and iPod touch devices) run HyperBowl in HD and also include:

* more graphical content in the Rome lane
* a rocking ship in the High Seas lane
* the San Francisco lane

***** Reviews on the Web *****

MacLife lists HyperBowl as one of the Greatest iPhone Apps of 2009 - "Sure, there are a lot of bowling games for the iPhone, but none of them match the legacy that HyperBowl has. The gameplay feels organic, with its beautiful outdoor themed bowling lanes."

SlapApp says "HyperBowl definitely portrays a retro arcade feel that’s consistent with the original, and offers a uniquely different game-play that other traditional bowling apps simply do not offer."

HowsMyApp rates HyperBowl 5/5 for Entertainment and Value.

***** Game Info *****

Visit http://hyperbowl3d.com/ for the latest news.

HyperBowl is a trademark of Hyper Entertainment, Plc.

Credits: J. Walt Adamczyk, Zoie Alandra, TJ Bordelon, Phil Britt, Phil Chu, Brian Johnson, Christine Kanegishe, Jon Kranc, Mike Peterson, Al Podrasky, Aaron Pulkka, Wendy Rosenthal, Cary Sandvig, Dave Spencer, Mike Swinney, Ed Trillo, Gene Turnbow, Phil Zucco

This version of HyperBowl is built with the Unity game engine and FontLibrary from MacXWare.

Yappler-Tags: 3D, bowling, fantasy, Unity, Classic, Rome, Forest, High Seas, San Francisco, Fugu Games

Codes:

NRFY9NT9H7H4
H4M6JX3FKTNX
WAMRYPMHKW4R
WLF4JKAJJ67T
7R3FYLRX7XTJ

Who's The Real Pirate?

2010-10-05T16:29:00.002-04:00

So, many of you, hate piracy. But what is piracy? Who is responsible? Why does it happen?

Well, piracy is stealing basically copyrighted content (we're talking about apps right now). People say it's used for try before you buy, a feature abandoned at the bus stop by Apple. And the truth is: many people do so. But what about those who don't? Well these hardcore pirates steal and keep the app. But who is responsible for this nonsense? Is it Apple? Is it the pirates? Hackulous?

No. The people responsible for application piracy are those who host it. I'm not talking P2P, I'm talking FileDude, Hotfile, etc. Most small file hosts knowingly host pirated apps. But they take no action against it. Most traffic going to Hotfile comes from pirates who were redirected from Installous. But do they care? No. Most of their income comes from pirates who buy premium memberships for downloading apps. They could take action, like zshare, who hosts it but removes it as soon as they can, but they choose not to. They could easily remove all .ipa files or prohibit the upload of these files but they don't want to, they want. Take Mediafire for example, they're a loveable file host. They don't make you wait, they don't make you type in a captcha, but they do host .ipa files. They are a big file host and most likely would never even noticed it but I doubt that and most of the files stay. Now I'm not calling Mediafire a bunch of pirates. I'm calling FileDude (aka AppScene [the name says it all]) a bunch of pirates. It's rumoured that the host also helps run Hackulous and knowingly hosts the files. It's most likely that almost everything is an IPA there. Take their uploader system for example: a famous app cracker cracks a thousand apps and uploads them using FileDude. He gets more than a hundred million downloads and FileDude knows that he's a pirate but they don't care. No banhammering, nothing.

So, I guess it's all up to you. Who's the real pirate?

Twitter Conversation with Apalon

2010-09-28T17:44:00.001-04:00

If you don't know what's going on, read my previous post.

Me: @Apalon Do you feel that it was right to practically steal Slice It! by @Com2uS? I don't think you guys are honest people so I will never (NEVER) buy any of your apps.

Apalon: @HowsMyApp what exactly do you call stealing?

Me: @Apalon Well, the concept, the icon layout and the name.

Apalon: @HowsMyApp icon looks similar a bit, but concept is different and similar games with similar names existed years before iPhone.

Apalon: @HowsMyApp is anything with wheels stealing from Ford, for example?

Me: @Apalon So what you're telling me is that if I made a truck called the Ford F150 2 it would be okay?

Me: @Apalon And are you saying that Slice It II is a completely original piece of work with nothing in relation to Slice It! by @Com2uS?

Apalon: @HowsMyApp icon looks similar a bit, but concept is different and similar games with similar names existed years before iPhone.

Apalon: @HowsMyApp of course not, but a red bike called 2 has very little to do with a black car called 1. Though wheels are present in both.

Me: @Apalon The concept of slicing is fairly present in both games but of course assuming you're right, why would you take the name Slice It?

Me: @Apalon For example, @Gameloft made Iron Man 2 the game but there's no 1 because it's based upon the movie with permission.

Me: @Apalon But you guys based your name on a similar product of another game without permission.

Apalon: @HowsMyApp the game we released is similar to an old school game we all played as kids. As 99% iPhone games out there.

Me: @Apalon You actually almost fooled me. I actually thought Slice It II was made my @Com2uS.

Me: @Apalon Yes I do admit that that is true but it obviously seems like you are trying to follow in the footsteps of Slice It!'s success.

Me: @Apalon So why take Slice It! and put a 2 beside it? If you guys are apparently "creative" enough to make Slice It II, why can't you make an original name or icon?

Apalon: @HowsMyApp have a better idea of a name for a game that has something to do with slicing? All are taken by some slicing games already

Apalon: @HowsMyApp it might seem this way if you do not know the whole story. Watch the angry Italians)

Me: @Apalon And what would the whole story be?

Apalon: @HowsMyApp we are submitting the update to eliminate the confusion. So hopefully stories are not important any more.

Ta-da!

Oh, and they replied:

Hi Dennis,

The concept and gameplay are original and is not affiliated with the competing title. We are submitting the update with revised name to eliminate the confusion.

Faithfully,
Peter Melnikov

Now I can say Ta-da!

My Email to Apalon

2010-09-28T16:23:00.003-04:00

Hey guys. I just emailed Apalon (developers of 100 Nazi Scalps and Slice It II) regarding their direct rip off of Com2uS's Slice It! application. Here's the email:

Hello, I am contacting you regarding your application Slice It II. I was wondering how you guys have the nerve to not only steal the concept, the layout of the icon and the NAME of Com2uS's Slice It! application. I (and many others) feel that this is a direct rip off of their application and I am contacting you guys to ask for your comment on this and also ask if you feel that it was okay to publish the app. A response would be greatly appreciated and without a doubt posted on our website. Thanks! Have a great day!

I am awaiting a response but obviously not expecting one. I also received some news on the matter from Com2uS but am waiting for permission to publish it.

Don't buy this app. Apalon = Bad.
Oh and without a doubt there was a hint of sarcasm in my tone through out the email.

UPDATE 1:
Here's the reply:

Hi Dennis,

The concept and gameplay are original and is not affiliated with the competing title. We are submitting the update with revised name to eliminate the confusion.

Faithfully,
Peter Melnikov

[App Review] Soccer Superstars

2010-09-26T10:49:00.001-04:00

Soccer Superstars by GAMEVIL is a soccer game for the iOS Platform available on the Apple App Store for $2.99.

First impressions: The music and the UI reminds me of an old Pokemon game for the Gameboy Advance.

Description
Soccer Superstars™ is celebrating the opening day of all European leagues with a limited time offer!

Enjoy the spectacle of opening day matches, and replay the entire match on Soccer Superstars.

Create your own player and guide him to superstardom!

Get it now before the sale ends!

─────────────────────

MANAGE YOUR SOCCER TEAM TO SUPERSTARDOM!
The newest member of the 'Superstars' franchise!

Guide your team to world success in Season Mode, bring home a trophy in Cup Mode, or relive memorable international soccer moments in Dramatic Mode!

─────────────────────

CRITICS SAY

"Soccer Superstars is an excellent pick. You still have real soccer play, but between the RPG elements and the super-players, there’s enough 'videogame stuff' to deliver fun escapism."
IGN

"Football title with the emphasis very much on the cartoony and extravagant, with explosions leaping from boots and cutaways of your players in the style of an anime battle sequence."
PocketGamer

"You will lose entire afternoons to playing series of games to improve your customized teams and players."
Touch Arcade

"The game will be a addictive game that should turn out to be a must buy."
Appmodo

─────────────────────

FEATURES

THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE SUPERSTARS FRANCHISE
Successor of Baseball Superstars®, which has sold over 10M copies worldwide.

DEVELOP YOUR PLAYER FROM ROOKIE TO SUPERSTAR
Manage your player or team through numerous seasons. Perform events, train or buy items for players to lead them to superstardom.

FULL FEATURED SOCCER GAME
5 different modes; Exhibition, My League, Season, Cup and Dramatic Mode guarantee endless play time.

CUSTOMIZE YOUR PLAYER
Enjoy the familiar RPG elements of the Superstars franchise! Customize name, physical features and apparels of your player.

ANIME STYLE GRAPHICS
Experience the casual and fun side of the most popular sport on the planet!

─────────────────────

OTHER GAMEVIL GAMES

ZENONIA® 2 - Rebirth of ZENONIA, the Benchmark of Classic Action RPG
Baseball Superstars® 2010 - Over 10M Copies Sold Worldwide
ZENONIA® - The Return of Classic Action RPG
VANQUISH: The Oath of Brothers - An Artistic Action RPG
HYBRID: Eternal Whisper - A New Breed of Stylish Action RPG
Boom It Up! - Deceptively Simple and Addictive Casual Game!

─────────────────────

NEWS & EVENTS

Tips & Tricks http://iphone.gamevil.com
Facebook http://facebook.com/gamevil
Twitter http://twitter.com/gamevil
YouTube http://youtube.com/gamevil

I think the game has a great team selection menu but as soon as it gets past that it kind of strays past the idea of a "soccer game" with the concept of a super player. (wtf is a Blue Comer? "A man made steel robot").

I think the game has great controls, mostly because it is retro style. Other games like EA's FIFA game or Gameloft's Real Soccer 2010 has better graphics but the controls are harder to use and master.

One random tidbit: I don't like how small the ball is. You can hardly see it.
Another one: Why does the game play for you if you don't do anything?

Time to sum it up!

Graphics: 4/5 - Retro!
UI: 4/5 - GBA style.
Gameplay: 5/5 - Great!
Creativity: 0/5 - It's been done before.
Sound: 4/5 - Retro!
Controls: 4/5 - D-pad, A, B and S.
Difficulty: 5/5 - I suck at soccer.
Longevity: 4/5 - Meh.
Entertainment: 4/5 - Really fun!
Value: 5/5 - On sale for $2.99!
Total: 39/50 or 78% - Buy it now.
- Dennis

Team For Pure Piracy?

2010-09-26T10:16:00.000-04:00

HOW'S MY APP DOES NOT SUPPORT APPLICATION PIRACY IN ANY WAY.

iModZone, "developers" of the so called "IPA God" seems to be a source for pure piracy. Looking over their site for some news to report on, I find that the home page of their forum is full of "Releases."

3 out of 5 of their post recent topics are cracked apps. It is kind of misleading when an apparent team of developers are interested in providing and distributing copyrighted material.

Some of their apps, iPodMusic.Info and IPA God, was said to be made by them but with a group of outright pirates, I think they even stole those two apps. Maybe they just slapped their logo on it and said "FOR SALE."

If that doesn't make them trust worthy, there's one more piece of news relating to them: their website has "security risks" severe enough that McAfee advised to use their site with "extreme caution."

imodzone.net

McAfee TrustedSource web reputation analysis found potential security risks with this site. Use with extreme caution.

http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/imodzone.net

They are also claiming to sell the IPA God source code for lots of money so I suggest once again for you to stay away and avoid them at ALL costs.

[Promo Codes] Stick Climber

2010-09-26T09:32:00.001-04:00

Stick Climber by DeMentid Apps is a pretty awesome game!

We were given five codes to giveaway and we're giving three away over a twitter contest and two here.

7JMWTTHYJHM6
L7YPNPN4PELM

If these are taken, just retweet this post on Twitter:

Win 3 copies of @DeMentid_Apps' awesome game "Stick Climber!" Just RT and follow @HowsMyApp and @DeMentid_Apps to be entered!

Enjoy!

Please comment if you get one and remember to give the developer your honest opinion.

Description
Stick Climber is an edge of your seat action stickman ice climber game for all ages. Do you have the speed and skill to rule the mountains? How far can you get? Earn the caveman's FIRE STRIKE, or the Vulture's HELICOPTER. Can you figure out the secret POWER UPS? But all the while jump to avoid or destroy the numerous arctic characters such as the STICK YETI!

[Promo Codes] Dice Pack

2010-09-25T11:54:00.000-04:00

Dice Pack by DeMentid Apps.

We were given three codes to give away and here they are!

WWRKHR77FE34
HWETXPNF4P6H
3HY96PHNNHTH

Enjoy!

Please comment if you get one and remember to give the developer your honest opinion.

Description
Dice Pack is a group of dice games which includes the hits SLING DICE, POCKET LRM and now ADD EM UP, where the game adds the dices totals for you. Use these dice apps for numerous dice games or if you lost your board game dice. These animated dice games will fill your missing dice needs such as craps, 10,000, yahtzy, 21, pairs and includes our favorite party dice game POCKET LRM.

So have a go at it and start playing some dice!

If you have suggestions for updates let me know as I have a few ideas I'm working on as well.

[Promo Codes] Ringtone Studio

2010-09-25T11:15:00.006-04:00

Ringtone Studio by Metulia (Kemal Taskin) is a Ringtone Studio. :)

We were given five codes to giveaway and we're giving three away over a twitter contest and two here.

YX7NJ6PF7NAE

AH6L6JTLK7Y7
If these are taken, just retweet this post on Twitter:

Win 3 copies of @kemaltaskin's new app Ringtone Studio (the rest are posted on the website). Just RT and follow @HowsMyApp!

Enjoy.

Please comment if you get one and remember to give the developer your honest opinion.

Description
Ringtone Studio is the easiest and fastest app to create custom ringtones using the music in your iPhone's iPod library.

The simple and intuitive user interface allows you to create custom ringtones just by selecting a short clip of your favorite song. When you're happy with the preview of your ringtone just tap "Save" and Ringtone Studio will create your ringtone in a matter of seconds. You'll be amazed how fast Ringtone Studio works!

Features:
-------
✔ Simple and intuitive user interface with accurate start and stop knobs.
✔ HD Retina Display graphics.
✔ Fade out ringtone.
✔ Version control: each version will be timestamped.
✔ Version management: edit, delete, preview multiple versions of a ringtone.

Notes:
You need to sync the ringtones with iTunes to use them in the settings section of your iPhone. DRM protected songs cannot be used as input to create ringtones.

Draw Date for Giveaway

2010-09-22T17:30:00.000-04:00

The draw date for the $10 iTunes Gift Card Giveaway will be this Saturday. This is your last chance to enter and every entry counts.
Original Giveaway Announcement

[App Review] Fake-a-Call

2010-09-19T10:07:00.002-04:00

Excelltech Reviews Part 1 of 5.
Fake-a-Call by Excelltech is a (call faking application) call faking application for the iOS Platform available on the Apple App Store for $0.99.

Description

The #1 fake calling app! Make your iPhone (or iPod Touch) ring on demand!

Fake an incoming call from your boss, your wife, or a celebrity at the tap of an app! Get out of bad dates, impress your friends, and prank your enemies!

* Just like a real call!

* Fully functional keypad / speaker / mute / contacts buttons!

* Select from 9 voices to start talking to you when you answer the fake call. Just ad lib your end of the conversation for an ultra realistic fake call!

* Can't think of what to say to the voices? Choose from 9 scripts to play when you answer the phone. Just answer and repeat what the voice says -- answer the fake call and the app will tell you what to say to sound like a doctor, lawyer, or just someone who really needs to go!

* The 18 voices and scripts not enough? Record your own or buy additional voice / script packs with in app purchase!

* Voices fully functional with speaker and hold buttons!

* Escape a bad date, boring meeting, or just impress your friends!

* Easiest and most fully functional fake caller application!

See what the fuss is all about and download Fake-A-Call™ today! You'll be glad you did!

Visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/FakeACall to vote for new features and share your fake calling stories!

I'm just saying right now, these Excelltech app reviews will be shorter because they do not have much functionality.

Fake-a-Call is a great app, in terms of idea but sucks in terms of professionality. There are many things you can do to customize it but anybody that knows a little bit about Apple would know that something is wrong. It's even worse when it displays 3G on the top left (iPod touch much?). What's more is that it's glitchy. This took about... I don't know... 5 seconds? to do. Overall, it does what it needs to do but not well.

Functionality: 5/5 - Does what it needs to.
Professionalism: 1/5 - Hell no. Not even close.
Longevity: 4/5 - Lasts as long as you want it to.
Creativity: 1/5 - It's been done before.
Entertainment: 5/5 - Most of it coming from glitches.
Total: 16/25 or 64%.
- Dennis

Cracked App Exploit

2010-09-18T17:20:00.001-04:00

HOW'S MY APP DOES NOT SUPPORT APPLICATION PIRACY IN ANY WAY.

The app piracy scene took a turn for the stupid today when a group of apparent iPhone hackers found an exploit allowing cracked apps to be installed on a non jailbroken iDevice.

"iModZone," the name of the apparent group created an application which they entitled IPA God. There is a video on YouTube in which they supposedly use their installer to crack a paid app in an AppStore-style fashion. Here's the stupid part: f*cking geniuses stated IPA God will cost $20. What the f*ck. This is like what I said on one of my parody accounts @pod3g when I said that some crackers accept donations and that is just plain stupid. This is even worse: paying for an app to get cracked apps. We recommend you do NOT get this app and STAY AWAY from iModZone. When asked how they would distribute it as Apple would never accept it, the video's creator says "you download it from a site." Dumb shit.

Here is the video:

Mobile Site Migration Complete

2010-09-18T17:02:00.000-04:00

I have just completed moving the How's My App Mobile site to a different host. You can find the mobile site at the same domain name and all the images and posts have been properly transferred. I have also made it a tiny bit better and I'll see if you can tell what it is.

[App Review] Supermarket Mania

2010-09-18T09:55:00.003-04:00

Supermarket Mania by G5 Entertainment is a supermarket based time management game available on the Apple App Store for only $2.99!

First impression: Everything looks professional up to the point when you see the font.

Description
LIMITED TIME OFFER! 40% OFF! EXPIRES ON SEPTEMBER 20!
Supermarket Mania® is highly addictive casual time management game with millions of players on PC and other platforms. Running a grocery store can be a lot of fun! Help Nikki keep five stores stocked to the rafters with the provisions customers want, and show your adversary what a little hometown pluck can do!
The game features:
- 50 Levels in Story Mode
- Endless Shift Mode with Global Leader Board and extra bonuses
- Five Shops
- Seven types of customers
- Over a dozen products to sell
- Over 20 accessories and upgrades for your shop
- Hours of fun!

--- APP CRITIC REVIEWS! ---

"It is fun, addictive, and I know I’ll come back to it again... Supermarket Mania is cheap, addictive, and fun – what more could you ask for? I’m a fan." – AppVersity.com

"It is addictive, and I was continually coming back for more, wanting to upgrade my abilities and shelves. If you’re a fan of time management games, there’s a lot of fun to be had." – TouchMyApps.com

"I really enjoyed this app, obviously. It's hard to put down once you get on a roll. I've managed to spend an entire afternoon playing this game without even noticing that time was passing, on more than one occasion." - iPhoneApps-Review.com

"It has the elements of one great time management game: great graphics, complex rules, goals, pitstops and upgrades." – TheAppera.com

"Bag this simple and rewarding time management game that streamlines the best qualities of its competitors into one charming package", SILVER AWARD – PocketGamer.co.uk
____________________________

NOT SURE YET? Try the Lite version - "Supermarket Mania Lite"!
____________________________

Check out other great games from G5 – search “g5” in iTunes Store to find us:

VIRTUAL CITY – build a city of your dreams!
MUSHROOM AGE – save your wedding and the planet in this hidden object hit
PARANORMAL AGENCY - nearly endless hidden object fun
SUPERMARKET MANAGEMENT - manage grocery stores
JANE'S HOTEL - run a hotel in this time management hit
YUMSTERS! 2 - addictive innovative puzzle game!
SUCCESS STORY - addictive burger-serving game
STAND O' FOOD - the brand new time management hit
MAHJONGG ARTIFACTS 1 and 2 - the best Mahjong games on the App Store
THE MYSTERY OF THE CRYSTAL PORTAL - amazing hidden object game
____________________________

VISIT US: www.g5e.com
WATCH US: www.youtube.com/g5enter
FIND US: www.facebook.com/g5games
FOLLOW US: www.twitter.com/g5games

First off, this game is ~~similar in concept~~ exactly the same as their other games (see: Jane's Hotel, Supermarket Management). BUT: Just because it's similar doesn't mean it's bad! (And just me saying that doesn't mean it's good). There's two types of gameplay: Story (level based) and Endless (whatever based). In the Story mode, you play as Nikki, managing five stores through 50 levels of gameplay. And there's seven different types of customers, two of which makes the game impossible (but I completed it because I'm awesome no arguement SHALALALALALA): the thief (GET OUT OF MY STORE!) and the kids (GET OFF OF MY LAWN!). You can get various upgrades and purchases to make your store easier/harder to operate which is kind of strange (O.O). [I'd thought I would bring some comedy to app reviews.] Basically, 50 levels and hard gameplay I completed the game in an afternoon [12:30 - 3:00] and got bored with Endless mode shortly after. 50 levels is great but I believe there is lots of room for improvement here. Where exactly I'm not sure. But I know there's lots of room. (Ooh, and also, G5E, I don't think the 40% off constant sale that never ends is a good idea. I've noticed it keeps getting extended since April of this year. Just sayin'.)

Graphics: 4/5 - Vibrant, colourful, hate the font.

UI: 5/5 - Great!

Gameplay: 5/5 - Played for two and a half hours.

Creativity: 0/5 - Nope, sorry. Jane's Hotel, Supermarket Management. And those are just your games!

Sound: 2.5/5 - Sorry, I'll have to ask William with the broken arm. My speakers are broken.

Controls: 4/5 - Tap. Tap tap tap. TAP TAP TAP. TAP!!!!!!!!

Difficulty: 2/5 - Played for a few hours.

Longevity: 2/5 - Played for a few hours.

Entertainment: 4/5 - Those hours that I played it for I was on the edge of my seat.

Value: 3.5/5 - $2.99? Not really. $1.99 would be better. And stop with the infinite 40% sale!

Total: 32/50 or 64% - Meh?
- Dennis

So Like, Yeah

2010-09-18T09:27:00.000-04:00

I guess I should take this time to formally announce our Twitter giveaway. We are giving away $10 iTunes GC on Twitter and all you have to do is tweet or retweet the following:

"Enter to win a $10 iTunes GC from @HowsMyApp! Just RT and follow! Enter as many times as you want! Every entry and RT counts!"

I have not yet decided on an end date but it should come before the end of this month.

Over the course of the giveaway, there will also be extra chances to get more entries so they will be listed here.

Sorry I'm announcing this now.

UPDATE 1: How's My App Mobile is finally #1 News on OpenAppMkt! Every retweet of this post gets 2 entries AND if we get 1000 installs, every RT of this tweet will get 10 entries! http://bit.ly/aq5g40 on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch!

UPDATE 2: Wish William well (@ reply) and get 2 entries for the $10 iTunes GC Giveaway! (He broke his arm and dislocated his shoulder today).

UPDATE 3: Get HMA Mobile on the OpenAppMkt Top Apps and everyone who RTs this gets 10 entries for the $10 iTunes card giveaway! http://bit.ly/aq5g40

To Make Matters Worse

2010-09-17T16:28:00.002-04:00

William now has a dislocated shoulder and a broken arm. Wish him well.

Sorry!

2010-09-12T16:01:00.002-04:00

Sorry for lack of posts, I've had stuff.

Ugh!

2010-09-10T17:03:00.001-04:00

My iTunes account got hacked. Simple as that. Another delay! Broken iPod, hacked iTunes, school starting, great life!

[App Review] BeejiveIM

2010-09-05T09:38:00.000-04:00

BeejiveIM (With Push) by Beejive. Inc. is an extremely lightweight and ultrafast IM client for the iOS platform available on the Apple App Store for $9.99.

First impressions: The user interface is organized, clean and friendly. Seems easy to use with many features and vast customizations.

Description
Selected as one of the best apps in iTunes Rewind 2009, see what reviewers are saying about BeejiveIM.

"With support for just about every major IM protocol we ever find ourselves using alongside things like voice/image transfers, Beejive was already our IM client of choice... Background notifications really just sealed the deal, and anything else they’ve added was just frosting on the already delicious cake."
-- TechCrunch

"Overall, after testing various IM apps, Beejive is by far my favorite. The interface is slick and beautiful."
-- Wired

"BeejiveIM is an incredibly full-featured IM client, boasting capabilities that almost put it on par with desktop IM clients."
-- Macworld

"Beejive IM is one of those mobile multi-network chat clients that's a joy to use--it's fast, graphically rich, and just works."
-- CNET

"BeejiveIM is a feature rich, multiprotocol instant messaging client that blows the pants off any other chat program offered in the App Store."
-- 148Apps.com

BeejiveIM. Instant messaging anywhere. Now with Push!

Stay connected to all your instant messaging buddies anywhere you go! BeejiveIM (pronounced \bē-hīv\ IM) keeps you in touch with your friends on AIM®/MobileMe®, MSN®/Windows Live®, Yahoo!®, GoogleTalk®, Facebook, MySpace, ICQ® and Jabber... all at the same time, all on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Beejive's reliable and efficient networking has been tested and proven on multiple platforms. Now it is available for the iPhone. Move from 3G, Edge, and wifi connections seamlessly. Stay connected after you close the application and be notified when you get a new message through push notifications. After being out of coverage BeejiveIM automatically reconnects and picks up where you left off.

BeejiveIM uses your phone's existing data plan or wifi connection, so you can save money by reducing your text messages.

Check out how BeejiveIM works before you buy! View our instructional videos:
http://www.beejive.com/videos

BeejiveIM Key Features:
- BeejiveIM uses your existing data plan: no per-message charges.
- Reliable and efficient networking: be connected 24/7, and it's gentle on your battery.
- Be connected even after you close the application. Get notified instantly when you get a new message with Push Notifications.
- Works with multiple IM networks, multiple accounts per network: AIM®/iChat, MSN®, Yahoo!®, GoogleTalk®, Facebook IM, ICQ®, Jabber, and MySpace IM.
- Send and receive files, including pictures and voice notes. View and forward received documents.
- Desktop-like instant messaging with all of your IM buddies from a single intuitive user interface.

Chatting Features:
- Real-time chats: quick switch between multiple simultaneous chats.
- Group chats: chat with multiple buddies on AIM, Yahoo, GTalk, or MSN.
- Full Unicode support, chat in any language supported by your iPhone.
- Landscape option, type with a larger keyboard.
- Chat history: Email chat logs to save chat history.
- Hyperlink support, automatically parses links for web pages, YouTube videos, email addresses, and phone numbers.
- Emoticons support.
- SMS out, chat with your SMS buddies through AIM or Yahoo SMS out. SMS out is fully integrated with your iPhone/iPod Touch address book.

Account & Buddy Features:
- Manage your buddy-list, including add/remove, nicknames, groups, block, approve/deny requests.
- Merge multiple IM buddies for the same contact under a single buddy list entry with meta contacts.
- Sort/group/search your buddy list.
- Control your own availability, set auto-away and custom status messages, be invisible, change privacy controls.
- Configurable alerts, customizable sound, vibrate settings.
- Buddy icon support, view your friends' icons, set your own.

Wow. A real step forward from IM+. Since I got BeejiveIM, the only reason I kept IM+ was for the push mail and push Twitter features. Other than that, I use BeejiveIM. Why? Because Beejive is better! First of all, it's faster and has no connection issues, it loads quicker (chat and start-up), the actual user interface is much simpler to use and way easier to navigate chats (and doing that with Beejive is lag-free; see IM+). Everything is simpler and easier and there's nothing bad I can say about Beejive. It supports AIM, MobileMe, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Myspace IM, Yahoo! and Facebook. You can manage buddies and chats easily, adding buddies or starting chats inside the app itself. But what surprised me, see, I use textPlus, TextFree and TextNow to send text messages but if you have a valid AIM or Yahoo! account, you can text inside BeejiveIM too! (OMG! TEXTING!!!) So, pretty much this app has everything (except push mail). One bad thing I can say about BeejiveIM is that it took me a while to find the Settings. (Turns out it was in the Settings app.)

Graphics: 5/5 - Awesome and pretty!

UI: 5/5 - Amazingly simple and easy to use.

Simplicity/Ease of Use: 5/5 - Simple and easy to use was what I was talking about the whole time.

Creativity: 1.5/5 - Chat. Beejive is a creative name though! Beats IM+ by miles.

Sound: 2.5/5 - Only a few sounds.

Controls: 5/5 - Can't really explain this one but you get the point.

Speed: 5/5 - First place: BeejiveIM. Second to ninety-nineth are empty. One hundredth: IM+. Hundred and first: eBuddy.

Connectivity: 5/5 - Great! No connection shit like IM+.

Entertainment: 5/5 - Beejive makes chatting fun!
Value: 5/5 - IM+ isn't worth $9.99 but BeejiveIM is!

Total: 44/50 or 88% - Great! Amazing! Spectacular! Terrific!
- Dennis

[App Review] Traffic Control Game

2010-09-04T09:02:00.000-04:00

Traffic Control Game by Atinco is (guess what?) a traffic control game (!) available on the Apple App Store for only $0.99.

First impression: The app looked professional and clean. (!)

Description
Hey!.. It's amazing... take a look to some World Wide User's feedback (Lite and Full versions):

USA: ★★★★★ by tyra_rashay
This gme tha best ! lv it ! :))

USA: ★★★★★ by Aaar94
Very fun

UK: ★★★★★ by Frumpyflump
...this game is frustrating, but cos it's so frustrating you have to keep trying to get to the next level even though you are screaming everytime you crash traffic seconds into a level. It's one of the most annoying games I've ever played. Simple controls and nice clean graphics. For 59p it's worth it, but be warned, you'll be screaming in frustration.

Canada: ★★★★★ by Bren10000003777456
It was great, a have to have game

Germany: ★★★★ by Edgar)(Wallace
Witziges Spiel! Super Zeitvertreib!! Suchtgefahr!!! Lediglich gegen Ende wird's dann echt hart!!! Level 5 Stage 2 immernoch ungelöst!!!

Spain: ★★★★★ by abaraska
tengo varios records mundiales y me he pasado la mitad del juego, super sencillo y te engancha para logar superar el record de los otros jugadores. Espero que pronto hagan un traffic control Madrid

--------------

The Miami traffic control system is under a terrorist attack and has been rendered inoperable by a virus.

You must take control of the lights and regulate traffic. Each car that goes through the light without colliding with other cars adds points to your score. Each stage has a mínimum number of points and a máximum time limit. You must achieve those points within the time limit.

Enjoy more tan 25 different stages with different lanes, bridges, traffic lights that control several lanes, trucks, police cars, ambulances, motorcycles and sports cars that will certainly raise your heartbeat.

For each level that you complete, you will get a unique gift from the Miami City mayor. If you complete all the levels, you will get a huge surprise!!!!

Oh!! and don’t forget to update the points you get. You will be in the world ranking players if you are one of the best ones. All of your friends will be able to see how good you are.

Show who can control Miami!!! Don´t wait more and be the first!!!

-------

Music composed by Mike Weiser, www.mikeweisermusic.com

The game is fun. I am a big fan of these games (Traffic Control Games) though Simon and William aren't. The graphics/images of the cars and buildings aren't realistic (thank God for that) so everything is bright, colourful and vibrant. A sort of retro feel of movement is added. This game also has more elements of gameplay to control. For example, in other games, every intersection has 4 lights and you're supposed to make sure either: (a) there's not too much of a wait, (b) there's no accidents, (c) others, and so on but this game is on (d): all of the above. Not every intersection has lights so there's a big possibility of having an accident, plus, you can't keep them waiting but you also can't finish the game before the time limit. So even if you exceed your goal you still have to endure the rest of your time. I wasn't a big fan of that feature (just saying). There are five levels each with five stages making for a total of twenty five uber hard levels which equals hours of frustration and casual gameplay. Those two words don't go alongside each other.

Now, the score:

Graphics: 4/5 - Beautiful, colourful, vibrant, retro look.

UI: 5/5 - Amazingly simple and awesome.

Gameplay: 5/5 - I was frustrated because I could barely pass level 1. There are 5 levels with 25 stages. Play for days.

Creativity: 1/5 - Traffic. Control. Game. (Terrorists???)

Sound: 5/5 - (Music composed by Mike Weiser, www.mikeweisermusic.com)

Controls: 3.5/5 - Tap the screen.

Difficulty: 5/5 - What the f-. Didn't you read what I wrote before?

Longevity: 5/5 - Play for days! (Wow, that was from the Fruit Ninja review when I just realized how repetitive I am).

Entertainment: 4/5 - OMGOMGOMG I am still playing.

Value: 5/5 - Worth it.

Total: 37.5/50 or 75% - YAAAYYYY! I am on stage 4!!!!!
- Dennis.

[App Review] IM+ Pro

2010-08-30T11:46:00.001-04:00

IM+ Pro by Shape Services is an IM service available on the iOS platform for $9.99 on the Apple App Store.

First impressions: I first tried the app when iOS 4 came out and they added multitasking support but there were connection issues that took a week to fix with an update. So it worked about 15~25% of the time when I first got it.

Description
All-in-One app for GTalk, Yahoo, MSN/Live Messenger, AIM/iChat, ICQ, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, Jabber and Skype chat.
Universal iPad / iPhone / iPod app with full iOS 4 multitasking support!

NO COST PER MESSAGE! Send photos, voice msgs, and IM for FREE and save on MMS/SMS!

No pre-registration required. Just enter your account in the IM network and start the chat right away.

Stay connected even after closing IM+: you'll be notified about new IM in all supported networks via Apple Push Notifications.

IM+ has the widest selection of unique features that you won't find in any other IM client:

NEW EMAIL PUSH NOTIFICATIONS
Get notified instantly when a new email arrives in your mailbox. Supports Hotmail, Yahoo, and GMail.

SPEECH RECOGNITION (as in-app purchase)
The very FIRST and the ONLY speech recognition service for instant messaging on iPhone! Easy as 1-2-3. Dictate messages instead of typing them in! Offered on a monthly basis. English only.

SEND PHOTO / VOICE MSGS / VIDEO and IM for FREE
IM+ uses your existing data plan or Wi-Fi connection. Voice messages are sent as MP3 files and can be played back on any Mac, PC, or mobile.

SKYPE CHAT
Chat with your Skype buddies! Incoming Skype call can be recorded and played back instantly as a voice message.

TWITTER
View friends' timeline, favorites, direct messages and replies. Update your Twitter with voice, photo or geo-location messages. ReTweet, Geo Timeline, and Search!

CUSTOM STATUS and GEO-LOCATION
Use your own status messages and let your friends easily find you on a map by setting geo-location as a dynamic status message.

BUILT-IN BROWSER
Multi-task with a built-in browser! Surf the web and open links from conversations without leaving IM+.

APPLE PUSH NOTIFICATIONS
Stay connected even after closing IM+! You'll be notified when you receive a new IM or when certain contact comes online (customizable) in all supported networks up to 7 days after closing the application! (Note: Due to technical reasons IM+ keeps Skype connected up to 2 hours only. Time allowed for Skype Push may be increased soon)

ANIMATED EMOTICONS
IM+ is the only application in AppStore with cool looking animated emoticons! Emoticons can be turned on or off.

EMOJI
Emoji smileys/emoticons on your iPhone and iPod Touch! No more spending money on a special app for that!

CUSTOMIZABLE SOUNDS
Use different sounds for different events in IM+: incoming message, contact coming online, push alert, etc.

With IM+ you are guaranteed that new and revolutionary features will arrive every month!

Other features:
- Customized IM+ look with wallpapers from your Photo library or from IM+
- Animated emoticons
- Avatar support
- Copy/Paste
- Multiple accounts per network
- Multi-lingual support. Chat in any language supported by your iPhone/iPod Touch
- Landscape mode. Convenient typing

===Notes from developers===
We cannot answer you in comments. Please contact us via Feedback right from IM+ or via Twitter (@implus).
===Notes from developers===

This product uses Skype™ but is not endorsed or certified by Skype

TRADEMARKS:
IM+® is a registered trademark of SHAPE Services GmbH.
AIM®, ICQ® are registered trademarks owned by AOL LLC.
Yahoo!® is a registered trademark of Yahoo Inc.
MSN®, Windows Live™ are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Jabber® is a registered trademark of Jabber Inc.
Google™ Talk is a trademark of Google Inc.
MySpace.com™ is a trademark of MySpace Inc.
Facebook® is a trademark of Facebook, Inc.
Skype™ is a trademark of Skype Technologies S.A.

About SHAPE Services
SHAPE Services is probably the worlds' most successful mobile app development company, maker of several bestsellers for iPhone and iPad. SHAPE is the only company with apps reached the top rankings in four App Store categories: Social Networking, Business, Utilities and Productivity.

After the iOS4 multitasking/connection issues fix update came out, I quickly found out that IM+ was superior to eBuddy Pro. Far superior. Though some features are shared by both applications such as staying online for 7 days and themed backgrounds, IM+ Pro exceeds eBuddy Pro in both functionality and customization. First of all, IM+ Pro works with Skype, AOL, MSN, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, Google Talk, Jabber, ICQ and MySpace! The chats are beautiful and can be customized with their images or you can use your own! (Can eBuddy do that)? But here's something else! Push notifications: not just for chats, but for email (Do not spend $2.99 for PushMail, get IM+ Pro!) AND as I just found out, push notifications for Twitter @replies and direct messages! Something Twitter for iPhone seriously overlooked. IM+ Pro and SimplyTweet are the only apps I know that let you do that. Seriously awesome. But, the downside to this seemingly perfect app would be speed. The amount of time it takes to load up and sometimes to switch or see your chats. And I'm using an 64GB iPod touch 3G! Overall though, I think IM+ Pro is great!

Graphics: 5/5 - With Retina Display!

UI: 4.5/5 - Simple and pretty!

Simplicity/Ease of Use: 3.5/5 - Dimwits can figure it out!

Creativity: 2/5 - Chat + Push.

Sound: 2.5/5 - Meh.

Controls: 4/5 - Touch and type.

Speed: 1/5 - Second worse, eBuddy is the worst.

Connectivity: 4/5 - Better though sometimes it's screwed up.

Entertainment: 3.5/5 - Chat your friends via. Internet.
Value: 2/5 - $9.99 is a little much but the features are worth it.

Total: 32/50 or 64% - Great! If you subtract all those little annoyances.
- Dennis

[Interview] Phillip Chu of Technicat

2010-08-30T10:50:00.000-04:00

The following is an interview that took place over email last week. I may inject some of my comments to certain questions, other than that, the interview was not edited.

D: 1. Do you agree that this interview may be published on our site (How's My App - http://www.howsmyapp.com/)?

P: Yes.

D: 2. What made you decide to become an iPhone app developer?

P: I've been running my own software consulting firm, Technicat, LLC, for several years but I also wanted to work on some of my own projects, at least for fun, and potentially for profit. So I started using the Unity game engine to play around with little web minigames and a year or so after that, they added support for the iPhone, which was a convenient platform for actually selling games. Right around that time, I got the license from Hyper Entertainment to reimplement HyperBowl on the Unity engine, so it worked out perfectly.

Besides the convenience of the App Store, I enjoy working on a fixed set of hardware like the iPhone. On PC's, it's tempting to pile on as many features as you can, and then you have to figure out how to deal with different graphics cards, Windows versions, slower hardware, etc. On a console-like device, it's an exercise in taking the best advantage of what you have. Although it is getting more complicated now with so many generations of iPhones out and now the iPad.

D: I once went to this dodgy plaza. There was a store called System Consulting Inc. To this day, I still do not understand how selling T-shirts and pirated DVDs is considered System Consulting.

D: 3. Do you work alone or with a team?

P: I work alone. Just me, in the home office, with an iPod touch, an iPad, a MacBook Pro and a cat.

D: Aww! A cute li'l kitty cat! SOoooooo CUUTEE!! :3

D: 3.b How many people do you work with?

On development, it's just myself, so far, although several members of the original HyperBowl team have offered to help out on the new HyperBowl. And many of my game development colleagues are running their own service firms, too, so I can contract out to them if I need any additional sound, graphics or programming. In fact, one of my artist friends, Shane Nakamura, created my company and brand logos which are also the splash screens on my apps.

I am starting to pay other people for marketing services. For example, I tried to make a YouTube video of HyperBowl running on the iPhone and iPad, but it was just terrible. So I paid SlapApp $75 to make one that was far superior to my efforts. I stay away from those sketchy promoters saying their services "guarantee" a hit. If that's true, I don't see why they aren't running their own iPhone game studios.

D: I made a YouTube video once. Actually, fifty times. I deleted those accounts though. I'm on like my fifth one.

D: 4. How much time did it take to develop Fugu Maze/Hyperbowl/any of your other games and have it in the app store?

P: It's an interesting contrast - Fugu Maze and HyperBowl are on opposite sides of the development spectrum. When I originally made Fugu Maze, I was just experimenting with game mechanics and releasing each idea as a web minigame and widget (Fugu Bowl, Fugu Tilt...), and I made Fugu Maze to try out a maze generation algorithm I found on Wikipedia. It took only a couple of days to implement but was fairly popular as a Mac widget on the Apple software site, and then when I spent a couple more days and released it as a free app for the iPhone, the same thing happened - 20,000 downloads in the first week! So then I started charging for it. I update it whenever I think of something new I want to try out (like adding shake to rescrable the maze), and I spend 2-3 days on each update, so I'd estimate I've spent maybe 4-6 weeks total on Fugu Maze.

HyperBowl, on the other hand, has been hugely labor intensive. Not counting all the work that went into the original game (you can check the credits in-game or on the App Store description page), I spent a month inspecting the original game assets, then three months creating a pipeline to get them into the Unity game engine, and then three months getting the first lane out as HyperBowl Classic. That was last July. I released the second lane, HyperBowl Rome, around October and the third one, HyperBowl Forest, in December, at which point, I decided I had enough for a full HyperBowl game and released "HyperBowl". Since then, I've added iPad support, Scoreloop integration, the original arcade multiplayer mode, and just tried to keep up with all the Unity and Apple iOS updates. In the meantime, I've also had my consulting work (which pays the bills), so I think it's fair to say I've been working on HyperBowl maybe half time for over a year and half.

D: 5. On a scale of 1-10, how successful was Hyperbowl?

P: I would say 7. Sales of HyperBowl are not as high as I would like, but they are increasing. And I've received some good reviews and feedback on the App Store, the Facebook page and on the YouTube videos. Some people even email me directly, although sometimes it's to demand a feature. Also, the original developers of HyperBowl are happy to see it on the iPhone and iPad, and the licensor Hyper Entertainment, seems to be pleased with the results.

D: 6. Are you planning or in the progress of making any other iPhone games?

P: I have a lot of ideas I want to try out, but I don't know if I'll have time. I have a lot more work to do on HyperBowl - I plan an update with Unity 3 (currently in beta) which will be a huge amount of work and hopefully exhibit some nice new rendering features. And there are couple of HyperBowl lanes I haven't implemented, yet - San Francisco and Tokyo, which I originally thought wouldn't run on the iPhone, but the latest generation of hardware is more powerful. For example, the High Seas lane is too physics-intensive to run fully on the iPhone but it runs fine on the iPad (which personally, I think is the best HyperBowl platform).

Still, once in a while, I feel the need for a break from HyperBowl, so I try to knock out a quick app. A few months ago, I took a weekend out to convert Fugu Type, the beginnings of a typing game in the mode of a scrolling shooter, over to the iPhone and released it as a free app. It hasn't had a lot of downloads, but I know there are a few people who seemed to really like it as a Mac widget and I think they appreciate having it on the iPhone, too. And WordsEye Feature and ElektraDance are also relatively quickly-developed apps that I made to showcase some of my friends' companies. But even the simple apps turn into more work after a while, if I want to update them for the new OS's and to run full-screen on the iPad. Right now, I'm considering making app that shows the "Soup of the Day" for a local French cafe that I frequent. I'm always checking their Facebook page for that info, so it would be nice if I could just bring up an iPhone app to do that.

D: 7. Are you content with the quality of your iPhone games?

P: Well, some are admittedly simple or crude, but in those cases, I release them free, sort of a throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-if-anything-sticks approach. The way, I see it, there's no need to apologize for a free app. But once you start charging, it's a real commercial product and should be polished. Overall, I've been satisfied with that, except when there have been crash bugs. Even with free apps, I hate to see a crash. When Apple updated to iOS 3 I had to scramble to update all my apps to avoid crashes. And I also had to scramble on my latest Fugu Maze update, since my previous update was crashing on iOS4. That's what I get for using a beta game engine at the same time a new iPhone OS is released. I'm most embarrassed by a couple of bugs in the first version of HyperBowl Classic - there was a crash bug if you scored a spare in the ninth frame, and the whole physics system was a bit screwy since all the assets were imported into the game engine with a weird scaling factor and so I attempted to compensate by scaling the physics. But that just didn't work well, so the next update of HyperBowl Classic was essentially reconstructed from scratch.

D: 8. How seriously do you take criticism/app store reviews?

P: I understand now why some actors refuse to read their own reviews. It is hard to not to take some of them personally. But there are some gratifying reviews, too. I like it especially when people who like an app start arguing with people who didn't. It's nice to have some defenders! The thing that bugs me is that the reviews get snarkier for free apps - for some reason, people who don't pay for apps are grouchier. My apps drop a star during free app promotions. That's why I've never made HyperBowl free - it's got a decent set of reviews and I don't want to ruin it!

D: I get scared when I read my comments.

D: 9. Are you concerned with any of your apps being pirated?

P: I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, how cheap can you get? Pirating a $.99 app? And iPhone developers have a tough time making money, so if you want them to quit making apps, just go ahead and keep cracking their apps and give them away for free. On the other hand, I'd like to think that a pirated app is a sign that the app is popular. But I've noticed all my apps that have been cracked are ones that I made temporarily free during a promotion. So it looks like they're just cracking whatever they can find for free and then giving it away. That's another reason I don't like free-app promotions.

D: 10. A quick search through Installous finds Hyperbowl Classic and Fugu Maze cracked available on the internet for immediate download for those who have jailbroken iDevices; are you likely to take action?

P: I complained on my blog, but so far, that's it. I'm not ruling out any action, but I don't want to spend time and money on that type of thing (I just got out of jury duty on a civil action case and that's enough for me). It seems to me that job is best left to Apple - they've been taking legal efforts against jailbreaking, but I don't know if they've pointed out some jailbreaking sites appear to actively encourage app piracy. After all, if anyone is losing money from app piracy, Apple is, too. I'd expect the big guys like EA to have an interest, too, or their industry groups like ESA.

D: 11. On a scale of 1-10, how content are you with Apple and its business practices? (e.g. on censorship, etc.)

P: 6. My biggest complaint is that sometimes I have to guess whether they'll approve or reject an app and sometimes they're really vague about it. For example, my free app ElektraDance was under review for over a month before Apple rejected it as not having enough functionality. Yet they approved iFart and iMirror, so I suspect it was because of the apparent nudity, although I made it a silhouette. When they introduced their content rating system a year later, I resubmitted it and it got approved!

But then when I tried to upgrade it, they sent me email saying it infringed on a trademark. I figured they were really bothered that it looked like the old iTunes ads on TV with the dancing silhouettes, so I asked if that was really the issue (and not a trademark issue), in which case I could turn off the lighting, but then the character would be nude (since the original mocap character was provided to me that way). They answered that it couldn't resemble any Apple marketing material (but again, they didn't specify exactly what it resembled), and they didn't say whether turning off the silhouette was sufficient or the resulting nudity would be OK. So I decided not to bother updating ElektraDance, anymore - too much trouble for a free app!

But compared to the submission process for consoles - Nintendo, Playstation, etc. - Apple's process is a breeze. And inexpensive.

D: 12. What is your viewpoint on jailbreaking?

P: As a developer, I can see the appeal of jailbreaking, but as someone who's trying to sell games, it's really annoying to see jailbreaking sites describe themselves as a public service while they post download links to cracked versions of my games.

D: I guess this is what comex and the Dev-Team were talking about when they said that piracy gives jailbreaking a bad name. The truth is that many people jailbreak but not all of them have cracked apps. I have a jailbroken iPod touch and Installous but I only try before I buy. Left: jailbroken iPod touch. Right: All of the applications there were purchased legally through the App Store. (iPod touch not iPhone). And the Dev-Team does not support piracy, rather, they are against it.

D: 12.b Are you a jailbreaker?

P: No. I've been curious about it, since the first iPhone dev material I saw involved jailbroken devices, but right now I don't have any reason to.

D: 13. If you could go back and change anything about any of your games, what would it be?

P: I can't think of anything, except avoiding bugs, of course. The nice thing about developing for the iPhone is that if you want to change something, you just go ahead and change it and release an update. And then if the change turns out to be a bad idea, you can change it back!

And finally,

D: 14. What did you enjoy more: Making your games or watching the money come in?

P: Making games, definitely. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother with free apps. And I don't mess around with in-game ads, since I'd rather have the game look better than bring in a few cents here and there (although if it looks like it'll be a lot of dollars instead of a few cents, maybe I'll consider it...). It's gotten a lot easier to be an indie gamer these days, but it's still rare to make a lot of money on it, so people should be in it for the fun of it. But I do enjoy tracking the sales stats - every morning I use AppViz to bring up the latest sales figures in a nice-looking bar graph and try to figure out the trend. That's a game in itself!

D: I made $4 from selling one of my webapps on the OpenAppMkt.

[App Review] Fruit Ninja

2010-08-28T09:44:00.001-04:00

Fruit Ninja by Halfbrick Studios is a nice simple game with a lovely concept available on the Apple App Store for $0.99.

What was my first impression? "OMG SUPA AWESUM GAMEZ!!!" It looked a really fun game. The way everything was set up was very interactive making me want to see what’s in store. Although, some things are kind of MEAN, such as the bomb.

Description
OVER ONE MILLION FRUIT NINJA COPIES SOLD! A huge thanks to everyone out there, you have made this great game even greater because of your amazing support! #1 Paid App in Germany, Norway, Czech Republic, Russia, Israel, Taiwan and Macau! #2 Paid App in USA, Canada, Australia, France, New Zealand, Italy, China, UK, Sweden and more! A huge thanks to all our fans for supporting the game, proving that ninjas hate fruit all over the world!

Fruit Ninja is a juicy action game shooting up the worldwide sales charts with squishy, splatty and satisfying fruit carnage! Become the ultimate bringer of sweet, tasty destruction with every slash.

****

"It's simple, fun and best of all challenging." - Touch Arcade Review

"Fruit Ninja is fun, fun, fun. It’s an instant pleasure." IGN review

"The low price makes the game more than worth it." - TUAW Review

"Fruit Ninja is the sort of game that has come to typify the rising dominance of quick, simple and most of all additively fun gameplay." - AppSpy Review

"You'll know it's fun, and you'll know you want to keep playing." - Slide to Play Review

"Fruit Ninja epitomizes all things a great iPhone game needs." - Resumeplay Review

"The game oozes style and polish." - AppAdvice Review

"My God this game is great. Best iPhone game in a while." - User review.

"Just spent 15 minutes on the crapper in my office complex playing this little gem of a game. Productivity -1" - Touch Arcade comment

****

Swipe your finger across the screen to deliciously slash and splatter fruit like a true ninja warrior. Be careful of bombs – they are explosive to touch and will put a swift end to your juicy adventure!

Fruit Ninja also uses OpenFeint, so players can unlock achievements and shoot for the top of the global leaderboards while racking up OpenFeint points.

Your success will also please the wise ninja Sensei, who will accompany your journey with wise words and fun fruit facts.

Fruit Ninja is the messiest and most satisfying fruit game ever!

Fruit Ninja is the messiest and most satisfying fruit game ever!

This game to me was REALLY fun and addicting. I’d sometimes find myself at 1 in the morning still playing this. Maybe it’s the want to get all the achievements or maybe I just like cutting fruit up. The game is a customizable as in you can change the background and the line that follows your sword. Customization to me is very important so of course, I would very much like this game. I also find the graphics beautiful, not realistic but stunning. The fruits look delicious and makes me want to go and eat a fruit. One downside would be that the kiwi is too dark and sometimes you miss it because you don't see it.

Graphics: 5/5 - Stunning and beautiful.

UI: 4/5 - Wonderful. I have a horrible vocabulary.

Gameplay: 5/5 - Awesome! Play forever or for five minutes.

Creativity: 5/5 - Slicing fruits! Like others have thought of that!

Sound: 4/5 - Very Asian.

Controls: 5/5 - Controls are just really straight forward.

Difficulty: 3/5 - I honestly do not know what to say.

Longevity: 5/5 - Play for days!

Entertainment: 3/5 - FUUUUUUUUN!

Value: 5/5 - Worth it.

Total: 44/50 or 88% - Recommended.
- William

[App Review] Jump O'Clock

2010-08-22T13:06:00.002-04:00

Jump O'Clock by Glu Mobile is an action-adventure game similar in concept to Doodle Jump available on the Apple App Store for $1.99.

Glu makes Le0 shine in the world of iPhone gaming.

First impressions: the game looks too complicated, with many different aspects appearing in the beginning or very early on. Oh, also, I don't like the font. Great start!

Description
WARNING! HIGHLY ADDICTIVE GAMING CONTENT!

“Graphically, Jump O’Clock utilizes a beautiful steampunk style that is both visually appealing and quite fitting for the environment in which the game occurs.”
- App Smile 

"one of the most polished and easy-to-play platform jumpers on the iPhone"
- TouchGen 

iTunes USER REVIEWS (U.S.):

"Simple, fun, addicting. As advertised." 

"Great game with a steal price. Graphics and background musics are nice too." 

"It is amazing how a simple idea can be so addictive and fun. Being able to keep a scoreboard and compete with everyone else is awesome. Keep the good work!" 
____________________________________

Playing Jump O'Clock can lead to severely extended sessions of gameplay! Take control of the lovable steampunk robot LE0 and jump from gear to gear while avoiding hazards in an endless upward world. Collect bolts to fill your SUPER-JUMP METER, and BOOST the height of your jumps. Timing is crucial to keep from winding up on the wrong side of the razor-sharp teeth, scalding steam, electrified wires or broken pipes. Connect to OpenFeint and compete for the dizzying heights of high-score greatness. If you've got time, Jump O'Clock has your challenge - an endless platform adventure which never plays the same twice. Why try and beat a clock when you can JUMP O'CLOCK?

FEATURES:

✓Endless vertical platform game - LIKE DOODLE JUMP - jump from gear to gear in an effort to climb as high as possible

✓The infinite adventure is NEVER THE SAME GAME TWICE!

✓OPENFEINT ENABLED! Challenge friends and post and share the highest scores with other players, TWITTER and FACEBOOK.

✓Earn more points as LE0 climbs higher and higher in the clockworks. COLLECT BOLTS for extra points and to fill the SUPER-JUMP METER, earning BOOSTS to jump HIGHER.

✓15 additional CHALLENGES ranging from mildly tricky to devilishly difficult.

Check out other Glu games:

✓World Series of Poker Hold'em Legend
✓Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year
✓Deer Hunter 3D
✓Family Guy: Uncensored
✓TRANSFORMERS G1: AWAKENING
✓Super KO Boxing 2
✓How to Train Your Dragon
✓TRANSFORMERS CyberToy
✓Bonsai Blast
✓Jump O'Clock
✓Glyder 2
✓Build-a-lot

FOLLOW US at
twitter.com/glumobile
facebook.com/glumobile

GIFT THIS APP: Click the "Buy App" arrow in the iTunes® App Store.

At least the game never gets old, each game is randomized and can go as high as you can. The concept is simple. Just tap. Not easy though as there are many things that can cause you to fail miserably. You can collect bolts to perform super jumps, a feature which I think is all right. This game is all about timing, one second early and you fail (IF YOU WANT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT MY CONSTANT USE OF THE WORD FAIL THEN BUY ME A THESAURUS), one second late and you fail miserably. Either way it's a happy ending, right? (Fake laughter). Though the game starts a little slow, it provides casual as well as competitive gameplay for every gamer.

Graphics: 3/5 - Not the sharpest...
UI: 4/5 - Simple.
Gameplay: 5/5 - Addicting; like Doodle Jump.
Creativity: 3.5/5 - Concept is similar to Doodle Jump but how the game is actually played is not.
Sound: 4/5 - Casual gaming sounds, calming.
Controls: 5/5 - *Tap*
Difficulty: 2.5/5 - Depends on what you're playing for and the random level.
Longevity: 5/5 - As long as you want.
Entertainment: 3/5 - Get's a little boring.
Value: 3/5 - $0.99 would be better.
Total: 38/50 or 76% - Check it out!
- Dennis

[App Review] Angry Birds

2010-08-22T10:01:00.001-04:00

Angry Birds by Clickgamer.com is a 2D puzzle-strategy game available on the Apple App Store for only $0.99. (ONLY $0.99?)

First impressions? Personally, I thought it would disappoint me. Don’t get me wrong though, it is a very fun and addicting game. It was also very lively which provoked me to play and my life goal of getting all three stars kept me playing.

Description
#1 IPHONE PAID APP in US, UK, Canada, Italy, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Singapore, Poland, France, Netherlands, Malta, Greece, Austria, Australia, Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Belgium, Norway, Hungary, Malaysia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland, Romania, New Zealand, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Nicaragua, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Mauritius, Chile, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Taiwan, Colombia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Kenya, Macedonia, Croatia, Macau, Paraguay, Peru, Armenia, Philippines, Vietnam, Jordan, Kuwait and Malta.

#1 IPHONE PAID GAME in more countries than we can count!

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE for version 1.3.3 = 4.84 / 5.

“Lemme tell ya, these ain’t no ordinary finches we’re talkin’ about. These here are the Angry Birds, the ones that’s gonna kick you in the ‘nads. And they’re the ones on your side. They must be from Galapadapados, or sumptin’.” – Col. Angus, Bird Expert.

The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the green pigs who stole the Birds’ eggs. Use the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs’ fortified castles. Angry Birds features hours of gameplay, challenging physics-based castle demolition, and lots of replay value. Each of the 165 levels requires logic, skill, and brute force to crush the enemy.

Protect wildlife or play Angry Birds!
Features 165 levels, leaderboards, achievements, Facebook and Twitter integration, and lots and lots of Angry Birds!

Hold on a second, lemme count. Angry Birds was the NUMBER ONE paid app in 61 countries (Malta was there twice.) I didn't even know there were that many app stores! Some of the countries I didn't know existed! So Clickgamer, we just counted for you. 61 countries. You can add that to your next update ;)

There are many things that I like about this game. First of all, the feeling that makes me strive to always get three stars. Secondly, I think the pigs are very cute :D. And thirdly, the constant updates always bringing plenty of new levels! The only thing I don’t like? The story plot of it. I would prefer some sort of explanation. That would make things much better. Overall though, I very much enjoyed the game.

Graphics: 5/5 - Can't go wrong! But as far as I'm aware there are no iPhone 4 HD graphics.
UI: 5/5 - There is nothing bad I can say.
Gameplay: 5/5 - ADDICTING. Did I mention it was number one in 61 countries?
Creativity: 5/5 - Similar in concept to Crush the Castle by Armor Games.
Sound: 5/5 - One of the reasons I kept playing.
Controls: 5/5 - Drag and shoot, what’s so hard about that?
Difficulty: 5/5 - 63 levels where you ~~want~~ NEED to get 3 stars on each and every one of them.
Longevity: 5/5 - Entertained me for a good week.
Entertainment: 5/5 - ADDICTING.
Value: 5/5 - Worth it.
Total: 50/50 or 100% - Let me explain this to you. 100 FREAKIN' PERCENT! IT'S OVER 9000!!! What 9000?
- William
Oh and by the way, I wanted to add 9000!!! as a label.