The Download Blog

As announced a few months ago, the iPhone has officially made landfall in China. But even with such an enormous potential market, Apple may still have some problems selling the device. Apparently, due to issues with Chinese carriers, iPhones in China have no support for Wi-Fi. To add insult to injury among Chinese users, the price of the iPhone comes in at 4,999 yuan, or $730. If you buy the smartphone without a contract it comes in at a whopping $1,024, according to the Wall Street Journal. Fortunately, a ban on Wi-Fi by one Chinese carrier has been softened recently so iPhone 3GS users may get the faster connection speeds soon. Still, at that high price, I have to wonder just how many people will want to buy the iPhone in China. Only time will tell.

This week's apps include a feature-rich police scanner and a boxing game that reminds me of old stand-up arcade games from long ago.

Scanner 911 (99 cents) lets you listen to streaming audio of police, fire, and EMS radio channels in the U.S. and Canada. The interface is clean and easy to navigate with buttons across the bottom including available stations by location, a button to get stations near you (via GPS), a favorites section, a list of recent stations, and a recordings section. I've reviewed a police scanner app here before called Emergency Radio, that still holds up well, but the addition of recording capabilities to Scanner 911 adds a new angle that scanner afficianados will appreciate.

Though not all cities and locations are available, the developers of Scanner 911 promise that more channels are coming soon. They even have a place to vote for locations at the developer's Web site if you want to add your city to the list. Overall, if you want a solid emergency scanner on your iPhone with the ability to record that harrowing car chase or bank robbery (as examples, of course), Scanner 911 is the app to have.

Super KO Boxing 2 brings fun and challenging cartoon-like boxing to the iPhone--a lot like the old classic stand-up arcade game (and later the console game) Punch Out. This game is not about realism in any way, but instead challenges you to find the weakness of each comically-designed fighter as you rise through the ranks. There are three different game types including Circuits, Versus, and Challenge, with the Circuits option being the place you'll probably spend most of your time, fighting through progressively harder fighters. On-screen controls include buttons for dodging and blocking on the left side of the screen and high, low, and super attacks on the right side.

Just like the old classic Punch Out arcade game, the trick to Super KO Boxing 2 is figuring out the weaknesses of each opponent. Some will be vulnerable to aggressive body blows while others will only take damage by hitting with a hook at just the right time. You'll need to fight some opponents several times before you figure out their weakness, but the comically drawn boxing caricatures and funny animations make the game enjoyable even when played again and again. Entertaining feature additions like the ability to "dizzy" opponents by unleashing furious combos require that you figure out strategies to beat each opponent. To go for the super punch, you'll need to build up your energy meter through chained combos and taunts, both of which are hard to pull off without taking hits. Overall, if you're looking for a less serious boxing arcade type of game, Super KO Boxing has a lot to offer and often leaves you chuckling as you challenge each opponent.

What's your favorite iPhone app? Have you recorded any exciting emergencies in Scanner 911? Have you become the champion of the world in Super KO Boxing 2? Let me know in the comments!

Earlier today at CTIA Wireless 2009 (see all stories), Slacker Radio demoed its new apps for Windows Mobile, Android, and Blackberry phones. In typical slacker Radio fashion, the applications looked sleek, suave, and dark--we're not sure about dangerous. All three apps are gravitating toward a similar, standard look that tweaks the interface to add the same small improvements across the board: a new screen that tiles lyrics (visible in full with the Radio Plus subscription), biographies, and a review, and an area that reminds you which song is playing while you browse other categories.

The trio of Slacker Radio apps will also start seeing some integration with social networks. The first network integration, Twitter, launched on Wednesday night in a partial offering with loose ends that the native apps will hopefully tie up.

In terms of application development, that's not much to boast about. However, the Android app is slated to receive a Now Playing home screen widget with a few basic playback controls, but no capability to change stations. The BlackBerry app (version 3.0) will soon be able to sync cached stations with your computer via Wi-Fi and the data connection, not just through a USB cable, as it does now. This is the change we've been waiting for, and out of the bundle, it's the most important one Slacker is offering.

The second catch? No firm release dates yet. Slacker hints that all three apps will pop into being by the end of 2009, but the streaming music site that competes with Pandora and Last.FM hasn't been able--or willing--to commit to a time frame.

Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET Reviews.

In my business, I deal with all kinds of software from different categories and platforms every day. There's a lot of great software out there for every platform (and certainly some bad ones, too), but once in a while you find something so unique it truly shines. I wouldn't say the app I'm talking about today is the best game I've ever played, but the design, music, and interface are not really found in any other game and are truly something to behold on the iPhone. Let's just say, I've played plenty of iPhone games, but this one is in a class by itself.

This week's apps include a new public radio app and a unique game in which you explore a creepy bug-infested mansion as a spider.

NPR News (Free) is the official NPR app featuring national NPR radio listings, streaming radio, and full news stories to read. The interface includes buttons across the bottom you can select to read news stories; listen to popular programs either by streaming them live or streaming the most recent; and a stations section where you can listen to NPR streaming live from any state. You also get a playlist section where you can select and queue up several streamed stories to play continuously.

Aside from listening to the many entertaining news stories and programs, what makes the NPR News app especially cool is that you can listen and read stories simultaneously, adding an extra element to the broadcast (like looking at images as you listen). The ability to set up playlists is also useful, perfect for long exercise sessions or--if you have a car adapter--long car trips. Simply go to the Programs section, select a program you like and you'll have the option to add it to your playlist. But even with all the listening options in this app, you can still read the latest news stories in a scrollable feed. If you're an NPR fan, this free app has just about everything you need to listen to exactly what you want whenever you want it.

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor ($2.99) challenges you to play as a spider, spinning webs, catching bugs, and slowly solving a mystery as you travel from room to room. The interface is fantastic, letting you swipe your screen to jump, a single tap to anchor your web silk, and simply pressing in the direction you want to crawl. Different types of bugs fly around, each with their own challenges as you spin webs (mosquitoes run from you and hornets need to be tackled midair, for example). Each of the bugs have different point values and each room is timed, with a dialog box at the end of each level showing your best time, stats, and score. But as you live you the life of a spider, you'll also stumble upon secret locations with clues to the mystery of the Bryce family.

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor quickly becomes mesmerizing as you try to figure out the best way to make polygonal webs within your environment. The combination of the hand-drawn rooms, the movement and ability to create webs anywhere, and the mysterious music that accompanies your quest, make this not just an app, but an almost artistic experience. There are four game modes to play through including the main adventure, a Feeding Frenzy to eat as many bugs as possible; Hunger mode, which forces you to eat quickly to stay alive; and a precision mode giving you shorter threads to make webs as you complete the game. Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is truly a unique game on the iPhone, and I think it will appeal to just about anyone (even the ones who hate spiders).

What's your favorite iPhone app? Did NPR do a good job with their first foray into iPhone apps? What do you think of Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor? Let me know in the comments!

In mid-July, Verizon began automatically pushing Slacker Radio to BlackBerry Storm phones. Starting Tuesday, Verizon's partnership with Slacker Radio begins extending to BlackBerry Tour devices in its U.S. network as well.

As part of the agreement, Slacker Radio will hook into Verizon's V Cast store (which itself taps the Rhapsody catalog), giving BlackBerry Storm and Tour users the capability to purchase one of 4.5 million songs.

Slacker Radio's streaming music player competes heavily with similar Internet radio services, particularly Pandora.

Before I get to this week's apps, the folks over at Public Radio Exchange let me know there's a new version of Public Radio Tuner (which I've featured here before). Now called Public Radio Player, this new version has been redesigned from the ground up with a new interface, added station schedule information, and new On Demand radio shows you can stream. Past episodes of This American Life, Fresh Air, and many other popular public radio shows can now be streamed whenever you want to listen.

At the iTunes Store, I noticed a lot of the comments mention the new version of the app is much slower to load than Public Radio Tuner. Upon first loading the app, it locked up on the loading screen for me, but after a restart I experienced no problems whatsoever with loading the app, streams, or the on-demand features. Please let me know in the comments what your experience is. Fortunately, downloading the new app to your iPhone doesn't replace the old one, so if it doesn't work right now for you, you can always go back to Public Radio Tuner.

This week's apps include a new painting program and a great new game that refreshes some of the stand-up arcade classics of old.

Layers ($4.99) is a touch-to-paint program that's a lot like Brushes, an app I've talked about before, but with a few more options. With Layers, you get eight different brush types, a color wheel, an eye-dropper (to select onscreen colors), an eraser that has its own transparency settings, and the ability to use layers like in Adobe Photoshop. The layer functionality and interface is truly impressive, with a 3D isometric view of your layers so you can tap to pick which layer you want to work on. You also can use a fill option to fill in specific layers with a chosen color.

When you're done with your painting, Layers offers a few options for how you can share your picture. You can send it to your photo library, save as a duplicate, e-mail as a flattened JPEG image, or even e-mail as a Photoshop (PSD) file so you can keep your layers intact when you transfer the painting to your desktop computer. As an added bonus, you can download the free Layers Replay Viewer (developer's site) for Mac OS X and watch a replay of your painting in a QuickTime movie. If you're an artist or just enjoy playing with colors to see what you can create, Layers offers the most options available for touch painting and what you can do once your done with your piece.

Earth Vs. Moon ($3.99) borrows from old arcade hits like Missile Command, Space Invaders, and Pong to make a new fun and challenging game on the iPhone. You start off by playing the Story mode, in which it is your job to defend Earth by tapping on the screen to fire rockets just ahead of incoming missiles. In these stages, you'll also be able to hit UFOs that heal portions of Earth damaged by missiles and fire at strange aliens that get dropped off by enemy spaceships. Every few levels, you get a chance to play other game types. In Moon Armada levels you'll have to fight an alien armada that looks a lot like Space Invaders, but you'll shoot the armada using your three Missile Command-like gun satellites. In Moon Ball Battle, you'll play Pong against a giant spaceship by redirecting the ball using rocket explosions from your satellites. In all there are 5 different game types to challenge you--most based on old-school classics--as you move up through levels

Like any good arcade game, Earth Vs. Moon gets much harder as you progress. Fortunately you also can swipe the touchscreen to fire a barrage of rockets to hit more enemies (at the cost of ammo), or touch one of your gun satellites for a momentary shield (also costing ammo). As you complete more levels, you can unlock a couple of different game modes including a old-school "get the highest score" mode or you can play each of the variations of the game found in the story mode.

As I played Earth Vs. Moon, I couldn't help but think the touch screen is probably the best possible interface for a Missile Command type of game. Not even the original track ball can compare. In any case, with several game modes to mix up the gameplay, and an excellent touch-screen interface, this game should appeal to fans of the classic arcade games it emulates and new comers who like a unique and varied challenge.

What's your favorite iPhone app? Are you having problems with Public Radio Player? What do you think of Layers or Earth Vs. Moon? Let me know in the comments!

Don't have a streaming radio application on your BlackBerry Storm yet? If you're a Verizon user, all you have to do to get one is wait.

On Thursday, Verizon started rolling out the Slacker Radio application to every BlackBerry Storm user in its U.S. network. The free version of Slacker Personal Radio App will appear as an icon on the Storm home screen. Those who would rather opt out can hide the button and ignore the service.

In addition to discovering and rating songs, Slacker's edge on BlackBerry is its ability to cache stations for offline listening. This is particularly useful when traveling through weak Wi-Fi areas or dead data zones that would make streaming music a challenge.

A hook into Verizon's V Cast service, which itself taps the Rhapsody catalog, gives BlackBerry Storm users an opportunity to buy one of the service's 4.5 million songs without interrupting the tune's playback.

Verizon will begin pushing the Verizon version of Slacker Radio app to BlackBerry Storm users over the air Thursday and will continue to do so in waves. Slacker Radio operates a two-tiered service. The free, basic streaming service pushed to the phones can be upgraded to a premium subscription, Slacker Radio Plus.

Remember Lyrical, the free app that lets you look up lyrics for the currently playing song? TuneWiki does it one better, spooling out lyrics as the song plays. (All that's missing is the bouncing ball.)

If the name sounds familiar, it's because the TuneWiki social music site has been around for a while, and recently unveiled a TuneWiki plug-in for Windows Media Player.

With TuneWiki for iPhone (and iPod Touch), you choose a song from your library (using the TuneWiki interface, not the standard iPod menus), then watch the lyrics scroll past as it plays.

That's assuming, of course, the song has already been "time-synced" by another user. If not, you'll have the option of advancing the lyrics yourself so the app will know the sync points in the future.

TuneWiki also lets you stream music from countless Shoutcast radio stations, and works the same lyric-subtitling magic with most songs.

The app includes a YouTube video search option and supports both Twitter and Facebook: it can automatically update your status to show what song you're playing. It even emulates the TuneWiki site's mapping option to show you who's listening to what in various parts of the world--including yours.

In other words, it's a pretty cool app--or would be, if not for the generally atrocious interface. Browsing your song library is a slow, awkward process, in part because TuneWiki lacks the alphabet-shortcut menu on the right edge of the screen.

Meanwhile, menu options and icons aren't logically designed or organized. Most buttons don't look like buttons; it's too easy to get bounced out of the app by, say, the YouTube or download buttons because you didn't know their functions.

On the other hand, once you learn your way around, it's pretty cool--especially if you like to read lyrics while you're listening to music. The subtitling works pretty well, and it's hard to complain too much about an app that costs nothing to use.

Music lovers, this week's CNET Crave giveaway is for you. This time, five lucky winners will receive a yearlong subscription to Slacker Radio Plus, which Slacker is offering to CNET readers in celebration of having its service on the BlackBerry named an April 2009 CNET Editors' Choice winner.

To win, you don't have to have a BlackBerry or use Slacker Radio. The prize is good for Slacker's streaming-Internet radio in all its destinations: on the Internet, BlackBerry, iPhone, Slacker's portable G2 player, and on the Sony Brazia TV, Logitech Squeezebox Duet, or Logitech Squeezebox Boom.

Slacker's premium Radio Plus service nixes the ads and includes song lyrics, a new Mini Mode, unlimited skips (versus a six-skip limit per hour, per station), and unlimited song requests (versus 20 per station).

So, how do you attempt to win a year of Slacker Radio Plus? Good question, and a perfect segue to lay out the basic rules. Don't skip these, or you may not win.

• Age. You must be 18 years of age or older.
• Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the "Join CNET" link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, no need to register again.
• Leave a comment below. You can leave any comment you want. If it's funny or insightful it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.
• Leave only one comment. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
• Register for Slacker Radio. You must have the free, basic Slacker Radio account to win Slacker Radio Plus.
• Winners will be chosen randomly. The five (5) winners will receive one (1) year of Slacker's Radio Plus service. Approximate retail value is $50 based on a $3.99 per month subscription fee.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Monday, May 18, at 12 p.m. EDT.

And here's the disclaimer that our legal department said we had to include (sorry for the caps, but rules are rules):

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 11:59:59 a.m. EDT on May 18, 2009. See official rules for details.

Good luck. Now may the entries begin!

When I was a wee lad my family used to drive an hour north of the San Francisco Bay Area to visit my grandparents in Santa Rosa, Calif. My sister and I were at the age where we needed something to keep us busy at all times, so my grandparents often had to come up with things for us to do once the toys we brought along no longer held our interest. In one room of my grandparent's place, my grandfather had set up a recliner chair right next to a table with an emergency scanner on it. He showed me how to switch through the various channels and I would sit wide-eyed as I listened to local police and fireman go about their business on the radio.

It seems I'm not the only one with great memories of police scanners, because some savvy developers came up with a great emergency scanner for the iPhone.

This week's apps include an emergency radio scanner and a game that's sure to bring out the Maverick in you.

Emergency Radio (99 cents) lets you browse and listen to hundreds of emergency radio channels from across the United States. You can listen to anything from police chatter from the LAPD to calls from the New York Fire Department. While you listen, Emergency Radio shows you a huge list of call numbers and what they mean so you can figure out what the police or firemen are talking about. If you find the police or fire frequency for your hometown, you can add it to your favorites so it's easy to find the next time you want to listen.

Though not all cities and locations are available (I'm waiting for my hometown to be added), the developers of Emergency Radio promise that more channels are coming soon. The list of all currently available frequencies can be found here. If you want to try Emergency Radio before you buy, try the Lite version (only five frequencies) here (link opens iTunes Store).

Top Gun ($1.99), licensed by Paramount Pictures, puts you in the cockpit of a fighter to engage enemies high in the sky while following a nostalgic storyline. The game comes complete with cartoon cut scenes where you'll be given missions by Maverick and Iceman and hear music from the original '80s movie as you blow away enemies. The gameplay involves tilting your iPhone to maneuver your fighter and using the touch screen to fire machine guns or heat-seeking missiles to blow away enemy targets across several missions. When incoming missiles from enemies get too close, a "Danger Zone" square pops up on screen so you know where to move to evade the threat.

For nostalgia purposes, I can't help but like this game with all the original '80s hit music and familiar characters. But if you're looking for a flight simulator, Top Gun is not the app to get. The game is an "on rails" type of experience in which you can maneuver within a certain space while your actual flight path is predetermined. But if you like the idea of reliving the classic '80s action movie, Top Gun delivers a fun experience with plenty of missions and in-game banter between Maverick and Iceman to seal the deal.

What's your favorite iPhone app? Have you listened to any exciting emergency calls on Emergency Radio? Does the Top Gun game take your breath away? Let me know in the comments!