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CNET)
There are a few sales over the Thanksgiving long weekend here in the U.S. with some developers slashing prices on many popular iPhone games. Huge iPhone game developer, Gameloft, is having a 99 cent sale on many of their popular game titles throughout the weekend. EA Games is also in on the action, offering price cuts to several of their big titles. Some games I've talked about here like Madden NFL 10, FIFA 10, and NBA Live are $6.99 for a limited time (usually $9.99) and there are a lot of other great deals. If you've been waiting for the prices to drop on some of the bigger games, now is the time to check out the iTunes App Store--you just might be pleasantly surprised.
This week's apps include a stylish clock app and a new Star Wars game that lets you relive some of the great moments of the original movie.
Choose from many different clock skins
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)PerfectClock (Free for a limited time) lets you display stylish-looking clocks on your iPhone screen that are perfect for when your phone is sitting in an iPhone Docking Station. The app comes with a handful of clocks you can choose from, or you can easily download free clock skins from within the app. Along with the beautiful designs, PerfectClock lets you set alarms, offers a number of different ways to display information on screen (date, month, day of week) and you can disable the auto-lock so the clock stays visible while you're charging it.
PerfectClock also comes with a number of ambient sound loops like rainforest sounds, ocean waves, and more. That way if your iPhone charges on your bed-side table, you can set PerfectClock to play sounds of nature for a set amount of time (and even fade out) while you doze off to sleep. Overall, if you would like to use your iPhone as your main alarm clock and want a few more options, or would just like to check out some of the imaginitive clock designs, you should download this app.
Try to avoid Darth Vader's crosshairs as you fly down the trench
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Star Wars: Trench Run ($4.99) lets you relive the moments leading up to the destruction of the Death Star from Star Wars IV: A New Hope. You can play arcade mode and choose between a dog fight with Tie fighters on the surface of the Death Star, or Trench Run, where you fly your X-Wing fighter down the trench evading Darth Vader and blowing away gun towers. The mission mode lets you fight your way through the ending moments in sequence on up to firing your rockets in to the exhaust port and blowing up the Death Star. The controls are fairly simple: tilt your iPhone to steer your X-Wing and touch the right side of your screen to fire your weapons. You also can use a Force slow down skill by touching the left side of the screen--a great option when the action gets particularly intense.
Though Star Wars: Trench Run is a fun diversion for a little while, the game doesn't offer much in the way of long-term replay value. Once you've done each of the missions and played the different types of game modes a few times, the action gets kind of repetative. Still, with orginal sound effects and music by John Williams paired with smooth 3D graphics, this game will appeal to Star Wars fans who dreamed of doing the trench run so long ago (myself included).
What's your favorite iPhone app? Have you found any good holiday app deals? Do you have a better clock app to share? What do you think of Star Wars: Trench Run? Let me know in the comments!
Why spend upward of $100 on a navigation app when CoPilot's on sale for $20?
At $34.99, ALK's CoPilot Live North America is already one of the least-expensive navigation apps in the iTunes App Store. At $19.99, it's an outright steal.
That's the deal ALK is offering this holiday weekend, and you can grab it starting right now.
CoPilot Live offers complete turn-by-turn navigation for the U.S. and Canada. Its features include text-to-speech (meaning it announces street names), address book integration, tap-to-call POI listings, and easy switching between different modes of travel (car, bicycle, walking, and so on).
You'll definitely want to read Dong Ngo's CoPilot Live road test that covers the highlights and letdowns--but keep in mind the app's been updated since then. For example, Ngo dings it for lacking text-to-speech, but it now has that feature.
Still missing, alas, is real-time traffic information, which apparently remains on the coming-soon list. Thankfully, future updates to the app will be free, though any premium services like traffic will cost you.
Even without that option, it's hard to pass up a full-featured navigation app for just $20, especially with competitors like Navigon, iGo My Way, and TomTom still selling in the $70-100 range.
The only missing ingredient is a dashboard or windshield mount for your iPhone. I recommend heading to a Web site like Eforcity or Meritline and picking up an inexpensive gooseneck mount.
RIM's BlackBerry App World is slowly but surely gaining ground as a storefront for distributing BlackBerry applications. eBay is the latest major company to forge a presence in the storefront, in the form of an eBay app for BlackBerry auctioneers in the U.S. and Canada.
The official eBay for BlackBerry application, which was co-developed by eBay and RIM, includes features to search for, track, and buy an item from the smartphone. Unsurprisingly, the eBay app accepts PayPal payments--PayPal has not only been an eBay company since 2002, it is also currently the only payment system for purchasing BlackBerry apps through the App World.
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In addition to letting users search and buy, the eBay app will notify you of your bidding status, including when you've won or lost a bid. It can also schedule auction-related reminders in the BlackBerry calendar.
eBay's app isn't the first of its kind for the BlackBerry platform. Earlier this year, Bonfire Media released U.S. and international versions of its app, Pocket Auctions for eBay. Since Pocket Auctions doesn't include hooks into the phone's native calendar, and costs $10, we're guessing that most eBay fans will easily pick the free, official app over Bonfire Media's third-party offering.
We got a brief demo of the then-under-wraps eBay app at the BlackBerry Developer Conference earlier this month. We liked the ease of the PayPal integration, but we won't really know how well the app works until we've spent some time with it. Tune back for our first impressions.
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BlackBerry Media Sync is a straightforward desktop app for Mac and Windows that has historically let you sync music from your BlackBerry smartphone using iTunes and Windows Media Player. On Tuesday, BlackBerry-maker RIM has added new functionality to give the Windows version of the syncing app access to your photo library as well.
RIM leaves the Mac version out of the photo access equation this time around.
Like other media management software, when BlackBerry Media Sync 3.0 detects your smartphone, it will scan for photos, displaying them on a separate tab within the syncing application. You can switch between your desktop and smartphone libraries.
If you're transferring photos from your computer to your smartphone, the sync manager also lets you shrink photos to take up less space on your BlackBerry.
BlackBerry Media Sync 3.0 for Windows works with XP, Vista, and Windows 7. The music sync element is compatible with iTunes 7.7.1 or later and Windows Media Player 10 and up.
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One of the highlights of Android 2.0 has been the Google Maps Navigation app that delivers voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation on your phone for free. Until now, only Motorola Droid owners could take advantage of this sweet perk, but times they are a-changing.
On Monday, Google announced that its navigation app is now available for devices running Android 1.6 and higher, including the T-Mobile G1 and T-Mobile MyTouch 3G. While still in beta, the app provides voice-guided directions between two points, traffic information, and business searches.
This release also includes a new Layers feature that lets you overlay more information on the map, such as transit lines and Wikipedia articles about places, but it does not support the "Navigate to" voice command feature found on Android 2.0, so you'll have to input all your destinations using your phone's keyboard.
Google Maps Navigation for Android 1.6 is now available for download from the Android Market. Unlike other navigation apps or location-based services from the likes of TomTom, Garmin, and TeleNav, you don't have to pay a one-time fee or monthly subscription to use Google Maps Navigation. All you need is a data connection and you're good to go.
Another iPhone worm has been spotted in the wild.
Unlike the previous exploitation, which merely changed a jailbroken iPhone's wallpaper to a picture of Rick Astley of "Rickrolling" fame, this new threat allows hackers to steal sensitive information.
According to security firm Sophos, which wrote about the exploitation after a Dutch ISP spotted it late last week, the worm attacks jailbroken iPhone and iPod Touch devices only.
The worm "uses command-and-control, like a traditional PC botnet," Sophos wrote in a blog post on Saturday to warn users about the exploit. "It configures two startup scripts, one to execute the worm on boot-up, and the other to create a connection to a Lithuanian server to upload stolen data and cede control to the bot master."
Jailbreaking, which has been around for about two years, is a hack that enables iPhone and iPod Touch users to download applications unavailable through Apple's App Store.
Sophos wrote that the worm attacks users on several ISPs, including UPC in the Netherlands, Optus in Australia, and T-Mobile in several countries worldwide. Worse, the worm spreads faster on a Wi-Fi connection than a 3G connection. Users with affected devices might notice extremely short battery life while on Wi-Fi. According to Sophos, that's mainly due to the worm engaging in "so much network activity."
When a device is infected, it's assigned a unique number so that the attackers can easily pinpoint a single device. It also looks for authentication systems that use SMS, better known as mTANs. mTANs are frequently used by banks that send an SMS message with a password to mobile phones, allowing people to log in to their online accounts, Sophos wrote.
In essence, this threat is serious.
Sophos recommends that people with infected iPhones and iPod Touch devices restore them back to Apple's most recent firmware update. For now, there is no other way to fix the problem.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
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CNET)
With more than 100,000 apps in the iTunes App Store and huge success around the world with the iPhone, it would appear Apple has done just about everything right with the launch of its first mobile handset. But as any iPhone app developers will tell you, the app approval process is less than ideal, with some developers waiting well beyond Apple's 14-day waiting period and sometimes longer to get their apps approved. Though Apple has stated it is working on the app approval process, there has been little in the way of progress if you ask iPhone app developers.
Recently, Apple added an automated system for weeding out developers who use Apple's private APIs, a process that may be part of a larger plan to cut down on some of the wait time. Unfortunately, developers are still struggling to get their apps to the iTunes store, finding out at the end of the 14-day waiting period that it was the automated system that turned them down. Hopefully, as more time passes, Apple will be able to figure out a way to make the process more efficient while still being able to provide high-quality and secure apps for everyone. Happy iPhone app developers mean more and better apps, so it's in all of our best interests for Apple to make the process better.
This week's apps include a new (to iPhone) multiservice chat client and a stunt-racing game with beautiful 3D graphics.
Use the tabs at the top to switch conversations
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Trillian ($4.99) is a popular multiservice chat client on Windows machines that you can now use on your iPhone. Multiservice chat clients are ideal for those who have accounts across several services like Yahoo, Google, ICQ/AIM, and MSN, and want to use just one client to access them all. The interface is fairly intuitive, letting you add your user names and passwords for each service, and then letting you log on to all or specific services with only a few taps on your touch screen. Trillian does not support landscape mode for typing yet, but the developers say it is coming soon.
Once you're logged in, the Trillian interface looks a lot like it does in the Windows client, complete with your buddies' avatars, contact categories (friends, coworkers, etc.), and color-coded icons to indicate which service your friends are using. The way Trillian handles multiple chat sessions on the iPhone client is excellent, with a touch-scrollable tabbed interface, making it easy to switch conversations quickly. Also especially useful (and clever) is the push notification system, that sends you the first message of a chain so you know someone is trying to reach you, but doesn't send a huge list of messages when you don't want them. At this time, you can only stay logged-in (with the app suspended) for a maximum of 24 hours, but the folks at Trillian say it will be lengthened to seven days in future updates. Though the price is a little steep in my opinion, Trillian is a high-quality chat client that will appeal to those who use multiple services.
The screenshot doesn't do it justice, but this game looks and plays great
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Jet Car Stunts is a stunt-racing game that runs surprisingly smoothly on first gen iPhones on up to the 3GS. Beyond the beautiful graphics, the driving control system is excellent, using the accelerometer for steering and onscreen controls for gas and brakes. What makes the game unique from other racing games are the controls for your rocket boost to complete big jumps, and the braking system that works both on the ground and in the air.
You can choose from two different game types including Time Trial and Platforming. In Time Trial, you race five laps around a track with corkscrew twists, tight turns, and huge jumps, to qualify for bronze-, silver-, or gold-medal times. Platforming has no time limit, but instead records the number of tries it takes you to complete difficult tracks--and they get very difficult in both game types. Time Trial has three skill levels, with four tracks to complete in each to move on the next skill level. Platforming has five difficulty levels, with five tracks in each to pass before moving on. Overall, Jet Car Stunts is one of the more unique racing games and features excellent graphics, extremely smooth controls, and plenty of replay value, with increasingly challenging tracks. I've had the game for a week and I still can't get over both how good it looks and how smooth it plays.
What's your favorite iPhone app? Were you waiting for a big-name multiservice chat client like Trillian before spending your money? Is Jet Car Stunts hard or am I just not good enough? Let me know in the comments!
The Twitter service with the cutesy raccoon mascot is making a new home on BlackBerry and Google Android phones. The free Seesmic, like its proliferate rivals, lets you read, manage, and compose Twitter messages much more flexibly than you can do from Twitter's Web site. We crash-tested both mobile versions as soon as we heard the news.
Seesmic on Android
Seesmic 1.0 for Android is available from the Android Market app, which is located on the smartphone. It takes up just over 1MB. The interface spreads four tabs along the top in both landscape and portrait mode, one each for the timeline, replies, direct messages, and your profile. There's also a ribbon on the screen that you can tap to refresh the feed. Click to open a tweet and you can save it as a favorite, retweet, or reply as a public "@" message or as a private posting. From the menu button, you can refresh, compose, or tinker with the settings.
Although Seesmic's Android interface is much more stripped down than its desktop AIR app for Windows and Mac, the app manages to remain flexible by giving you a choice over the kinds of notifications you'd like to receive, and over the partner services you'd prefer to use to send a photo, video, or shorten a URL.
Sure, it's blurry (blaming the BlackBerry camera), but squint hard enough and you'll see that Seesmic associated a picture with my account that's not actually my face.
(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)The biggest flaws we've noticed so far? ... Read more
Cisco is offering a free iPhone app that will allow people to get customized alerts on new security threats and other information for safe Web browsing.
The app, which will be available on Friday in the Apple iTunes store, provides information about new malware signatures, bulletins for how to mitigate against threats, ways to see if particular Web sites are compromised, as well as links to podcasts and videos.
The Cisco SIO To Go iPhone app gets its information from the company's Security Intelligence Operations (SIO) system which gathers information in real time from 700,000 sensors located at customer sites, ISPs, and other sites around the world. The data from the disparate sources allows Cisco engineers to do threat correlation to detect Internet attacks and spam campaigns.
The app is designed for professionals and security geeks, not the average consumer, said Michael Weir, Cisco security marketing director.
"I can make it applicable to my needs and the security needs of my [enterprise] network," he said.
The Cisco SIO To Go iPhone app offers information about the safety of particular Web sites.
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Trillian IM is finally available to iPhone users.
(Credit: Trillian)It took a few months, but finally, Trillian IM is available to iPhone and iPod Touch users through Apple's App Store. The application costs $4.99.
Cerulean Studios, the company that created Trillian, said that Trillian for iPhone sports several features users will already find on the company's desktop software. The app displays contacts, grouped and sorted by their respective categories. Users can also view multiple chat windows in a tabbed display. Thanks to updates Apple has made to the iPhone and iPod Touch, Trillian for iPhone also supports copy and paste. As with Trillian for the desktop, users can set their status, choose an avatar, and set up different status messages.
Because the app is always connected to Cerulean Studios' Astra server, users can synchronize content across multiple IM clients. In other words, any changes made on the iPhone version of the app will immediately be reflected on the company's Windows client and the user's Astra profile. Any contacts users add will also be synchronized with their other clients.
According to Cerulean Studios, all chats are maintained on the server, so they are kept in case of a lost connection. The app will also alert users when they receive an instant message, regardless of whether Trillian for iPhone is open or not. When an IM is received, users will see a dialog box, hear the Trillian IM-notification sound, and be able to start Trillian and reply to the person.
Those interested in using Trillian for iPhone will first need a Trillian Astra account. Luckily, the iPhone app allows users to sign up for Astra from within the app.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
