A Game All iPhone Puzzle Lovers Ought To Have

I play a lot of games on my mobile devices and since they're covered by many other sites, I normally shy away from bring it up here. But seeing this game on Touch Arcade today, I have got to share this with you.

There's a PC version if you can't wait but the iPhone version is coming and it is a perfect match for your iPhone or iPod Touch's finger-friendly multi-touch screen.

More at Touch Arcade

iPod Classic Would Benefit Greatly With A Camera

I have debated whether I should upgrade my 2nd generation iPod Touch when Apple upgrades the iPod Touch hardware this fall with similar specs like the iPhone 3GS.

My hope is that the fall upgrade will also bring us the elusive iTablet but as I have mentioned in other posts, I don't think it'll be released until 2010.  But if we are surprised for one reason or another, this is one that I hope to be wrong about.

Back to the question of whether I should upgrade or not.  Appleinsider is reporting on a report that the iPod Classic could be upgraded this fall and it won't be the last.  Not only that, it may have a camera.  In fact, I think Apple can extend the life of the Classic with just such a move.

As I've said, this puts my upgrade plan into a tale-spin.  The new iPod Touch is likely to be upgraded with a camera as well.  So this even things up with the Classic.  However, the Classic will have a larger storage.  And I can do with a player with incredible battery life and the ability to store lots of video, music, and files.

I suppose we'll just have to wait a few weeks for Apple to wow us this fall with the upgrades.  One thing that will tip me over to the Classic is if the camera addition will also mean the ability to record video.

iPhone or Ereader Best For You? Or A Real Book?

Here is the order of how I think best to read a book today:

1. With a real book
2. On a dedicated reader like Kindle.
3. On the screen of a tablet PC.  This includes the XO.  Tablets allow the user to orient the screen.
4. On the screen of a laptop or netbook.
5. On a mobile device like the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Now, here is a list of preference in terms of overall usefully to a dedicated mobile warrior such as you and myself:

1. On a mobile device like the iPhone or iPod Touch.
2. On a dedicated reader like Kindle.
3. On the screen of a tablet PC.  This includes the XO.  Tablets allow the user to orient the screen.
4. On the screen of a laptop or netbook.
5. With a real book.

Notice the Kindle sat in the runner-up position on both list.  After coming up with the list, that was a surprising realization for me as well.  It's not just Kindle.  Sony's eReader and whatever readers Barnes and Noble will share with in early 2010 also fall into this category.

But if you're a traditional bookworm, a real page turner is what you want.  For us mobile folks, the devices like the iPhone is the best solution for us.  Why?  Because we don't use our iPhones just to read books.  We use them to access the Internet, communicate with others via phone or e-mail, and for other entertainment purposes.

Does that mean there is no room in our computer bag for a Kindle or Sony eReader?  Not at all.  For long vacations, flights, or camping trips (though I doubt I'll ever go camping again), an reader provides you with the luxury of going for days without having to charge it.  

Certainly, that is the main drawback of the iPhone or devices like it.  Battery life.  But for those of us who are near an outlet in a daily basis, the iPhone is the best device for ereading without having to carry an extra device.

Ideally, I'm hoping a future update from Apple will give the iPhone or the Touch e-ink technology or something better (Cupertino-approved innovation) that allows the iDevices function as true readers with comparable battery life to the Kindle.

TomTom's iPhone Car Kit Brings GPS to iPod Touch Owners

Eventually, the iPod Touch may get its own GPS chip. There's a lot of moving parts in the mobile landscape that has a good chance of making that happen. But before that occurs, the iPod Touch is pretty much left out of the GPS business part of the app store.

There is a solution on the way. TomTom's car kit is a cradle with its own GPS unit inside and it is suppose to work with the iPod Touch. In truth, when do you really need a GPS anyway when you live in the cities? If you said "in the car", then you're right.

Watch the video demo and you can see just how seamless TomTom has made the car kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It even comes with a charger and a connection to play your music in the car.

Impressed? Well, it will set you back $200. $100 for the TomTom app itself and $100 for the car kit.

Prediction: Apple Will Approve Spotify, Rhapsody, and Possibly Others

There's are just too much heat on Apple, ATT, and it's money making scheme, the iPhone.

I think when Apple launched its iTunes app store a year ago, it didn't expect this level of success. The growth has been phenomenal. But given the growth trajectory, there is bound to be a lot of growing pains. Hence, all those complaints from developers whose apps sat in approval purgatory or simply cast out of the bounds of the app store for one reason or another.

The latest uproar from bloggers and media (including an ongoing FCC inquiry) is the rejection of the Google Voice app. That has turned on a lot of heat on Apple. I'll leave the story out in this post but the bottom line is that all the attention on Apple is making it difficult for them to reject any apps that the bloggers will perceive as anti-competitive behaviors by Apple or ATT or Apple's approval process gone awry again.

But at the end of it all, I am not sure this has impacted the iPhone's popularity with the mobile masses. I've asked people with iPhones about what they know is going on with the app store politics and no one I know has any idea of the struggle going behind the scenes nor do they care when I told them about it.

Personally, I love for Apple to be more liberal with its approval process. It currently has 40 or so personnel working on this. I'm sure Apple can afford to hire another 40 to help streamline the process.

So, at the end of the day, Apple will approve Spotify and Rhapsody simply to avoid added attention. Also, according to jkOnTheRun, there is a button that will allow the user of Rhapsody to buy the music they like from iTunes.

Pretty Ridiculous Spin To Generate Apple Rumors

Here's one example of how Apple rumors get spun and created.

Electronista is reporting on another report about an Nvidia executive talking about a media pad.  From that, Electronista reports that it is possible they're talking about the rumored Apple tablet.

Folks, let's me be clear.  I want to the Apple tablet really really badly.  But not enough where I am going to find every post about mobile tech to be about the iPhone, iPod, or the iTablet.  And for the record, I believe it's coming.  2010 at the earliest.  Not going to be sooner.  

In fact, if past rumors are "true", Apple is likely to be using its own chip designs than off the shelf parts like Nvidia Tegra.

But I encourage you to click through and read it as it does seem that some exciting new NVidia-powered media pad is coming our way.  My take it this isn't about Apple but more about Android or WM.  Love to be wrong about that though.

Source:  Electronista, Hexus

App Store Dynamics - Not Quite An Apology From Yahoo, FB 3.0 Countdown

Yesterday, Yahoo went ahead to call out Apple on their Yahoo Messenger approval.  The lack off.  Well, it turned out that Yahoo was trying to jump on the bandwagon to bad-mouth Apple's dismal app approval process without doing it own homework first.

Reported on CNet News, Yahoo posted a blog titled "And so we wait...on Apple".  The CNet post titled to max out the effort of the Yahoo blog, Ms. Sarah Bacon of Yahoo called out Apple for the "somewhat unpredictable process". 

Well, Bacon, it's gonna get a lot more predictable for you and Yahoo from now on.  First, Yahoo needs to do something about this. Yahoo had pulled out their update to Yahoo Messenger to add more update and Bacon was left out of the loop.  It's funny because you'd figure that someone on her team might know a thing or two about what's going on.

No wonder Yahoo has been in such a dismal shape compared to Google and has to look to Microsoft for search helps.  

Two weeks ago, Yahoo submitted their app for approval only to pull it and resubmit it a week ago.  Ms. Bacon, it's only been a week.  

Anyway, something more positive.  Facebook 3.0!  You know.  Facebook, what Yahoo should have morph into.  Facebook, what Yahoo tried and failed to duplicate and become.  Anyway, that's what I'm waiting for and I think it's one of the most anticipated update.

I'll be honest about social apps.  I'm indifferent to them at best.  I'm simply don't care for them or the games that are played on there.  Having said that, Facebook's app is well thought-out and serves as a model for other app developers (ahem, Yahoo) build upon.  

Alright, I also use the Yahoo! app and it works very well.  But Facebook is leagues better in terms of usefulness for all things Facebook.  Here's a video I found on TC.

Links: Techcrunch, CNet News, Yahoo Blog (for some reason, folks don't apologize any longer)

Commodore 64 Emulator May Be Coming To the iPhone

I knew straight away that Apple would never allow the original C64 emulation to get into the app store a couple of months ago when it was first reported.  It was an exciting prospect but, honestly, Apple's knee-jerk reaction would be to turn away any emulation apps.  I think everyone knew that was going to be the case.

But for most folks, we wonder "where's the harm in a two decade old computer"?  Well, the fear is many folks will start turning out emulators for other systems.  Palm is the obvious pick.  That's what I'm interested in.  And maybe Windows Mobile and others.

But Touch Arcade is now reporting that a C64 app maybe coming to the iTunes App Store.  Apparently, the developer was contacted by a high-up at Apple and he or she tweeted "big news coming.  Thank you to EVERYONE for the support".  I don't think we can confuse this for anything other than that a Commodore 64 emulation app is on the way.

I never had a C64 or the C128.  I've messed around with the Amiga but that was a different beast altogether.  I just remembered the vivid colors and games that was possible on that small computer with the keyboard sitting on top of it.

When the app is out, I hope it does well because this is what Apple represents.  Good fun computing.  And add mobile to it.  I think it'll appeal mostly to the computer-geek crowd but I wholeheartedly encourage the rest of my fellow mobile warriors to give it a try when it's finally available.

Those pioneering days of computing where CPU measured in single digit Mhz and memory in kilobytes. C64 provides a golden opportunity for anyone who weren't into computers in the 80s to relive it and the newer gen mobile computer users to know what the old days were like.

So, the question for me now is this:  If C64 is allowed into the App Store, how closely behind is Apple II emulation?  Now, that's one app Apple fans will go nuts over.

More info on the C64 app can be found on the Manomio's C64 page (the developer).

Link:  Touch Arcade

Apple Mobile: Game Changer? You Bet!

Right now, Apple accounts for 1/3 of all Wi-Fi use by one measurement and 25% of all music sold in the United States.

And to top it off, iTunes accounts for almost 70% of digital music sold.  69% To be exact.  That means other attempts by music labels and iTunes-wannabes (ahem, Amazon, ahem) has done nothing to change how much folks embrace Apple's mobile and music strategy.

I am certain that DRM-less change and the ability for iPhone and iPod Touch users to download music wirelessly helped.

But what's incredible how iTunes continues to dominate the market.  It makes me wonder just who are buying all these music from iTunes?  But I have to offer a cautionary note.  Music industry growth aside, there may come a time when digital growth may peak or slow.  That means don't expect to see 25% share that Apple currently enjoy is going go be 30% next year or the year after that.

A large percentage of the US music buying is still being done offline.  Meaning CDs.

Now, 1/3 of all Wi-Fi traffic are going through Apple's devices?  That's from 14% last year to 32% this year.  This is a seriously beig "wow".  And this isn't just coming from Apple.  Wireless devices from other companies are also doing well.  It's just that Apple is doing better than everyone else.

The information from Appleinsider is a bit confusing and short on details.  So we'll have to go to Meraki for the charts and details.

• Apple's Wi-Fi grew at 221%, nearly 68K devices from 21K
• Nearly 1/3 of Wi-Fi traffic is from Apple devices
• RIM devices grew 419% but merely 2% of all devices.  Though it seems to be a huge jump, it means hardly anyone was using their Blackberries to connect to the Internet.  This could be a troubling sign for RIM.
• What's worry for Nokia is it only grew 100%.  

Link:  Appleinsider

iTablet Idea: Detachable Keyboard With Expandability, Longer Battery Life, and Protection

We've all assumed by now that the iTablet from Apple, imagined or otherwise, will be in the form of a tablet, making itself very much different from the netbooks that are now flooding the market.  It would satisfy the analysts and bloggers, not to mention mobile warriors like us.  

Plus, such a form factor would allow Apple to say their netbook answer is not a netbook.  But the issue many folks have, even if Apple were to go this route, is the input methods.  Some people aren't going to be happy with this - typing on a screen even if Apple has demonstrated with the 40 million + iPhone and iPod Touches in the wild that its touch implementation works just fine.  

You're always going to have to small number who swear by physical keys.  So, I think perhaps Apple might offer a different solution.  A middle ground.  Because of the large size of the iTablet, there is space for Apple to create hinges and a port for a detachable keyboard should the user choose to use one.

It would give the naysayers nothing to say, effectively, shutting them up.  And for virtual keyboard purists, they can still touch away like they're already doing on the iPhone.  

Furthermore, the detachable keyboard can serve two main functions.  It can serve as an extension for expanded ports Secondly, it can serve as an external battery source for the iTablet.  If the iTablet can allow for say ten hours of use, I think the keyboard can help double or triple the battery life. Lastly, it provides protect for the screen.

Battery life of the iTablet while at the same time, increase the expandability of the device without the iTablet itself poked full of holes for USBs or memory card slots all fit the philosophy of Apple portability and design.

I have a feeling that Apple's keyboard implementation wouldn't allow for expandability but don't be surprised for Belkin or something else to come in and offer an external keyboard with additional functionalities.  

The iTablet would enable 3rd parties to produce add-ons that duplicate the success of iPod ecosystem that helped Apple padded its billions of cash that now sit the bank.

So, there you have it.  A netbook that's not a netbook.