(Credit:
CBS Interactive)
I've been on the phone with several iPhone application developers this week and the common thread has been that all are excited about the success of the iPhone App Store. But one of the developers wanted to point out that one of his applications that's been around since the beginning, but hadn't seen much exposure yet. After checking it out, I decided to include it in this weeks post.
This week's applications include a free photo-driven social-networking application and a game that plays like a classic stand-up arcade game from the past.
Check out the recent photos to see how members use Photoshare to document their lives.
(Credit: CBS Interactive)PhotoShare (free) from Big Canvas is a photo-sharing application (shocking, I know) that makes it easy to show off your iPhone photos with a small but active community. This app has been out since July of last year, but hasn't seen as much traffic as it certainly deserves. To get started, simply create a username and password, snap a photo with your iPhone, give it a title, and post it on the network. From there you can comment on other peoples work, browse popular photos, recent additions, user collections, and much more. What makes the application particularly interesting is that it acts like a photo version of Twitter. You can follow specific users, add favorites, and post photos from your daily life complete with comments. I have a feeling this application could take off if more people got involved. Let me know what you think.
Keep your eye on the fuel gauge as you maneuver to save each scientist.
(Credit: CBS Interactive)Retro - Cave Flyer LITE is the free version of Retro - Cave Flyer (99 cents--you can upgrade from within the lite version), a Lunar Lander style game. The object is to save stranded scientists from the rugged terrain of a planet by carefully maneuvering your ship to the landing pads. Tilt your iPhone left or right to turn your ship and press anywhere on the touch screen to apply thrust. The first three levels are fairly easy (the third is pretty challenging), but the real challenge of the game is conserving fuel and your ship's shields as you battle gravity and rocky cave-like passageways to get to the scientists. The full game comes with 23 levels, and I can tell you from experience, the later levels are very challenging.
What's your favorite new app for iPhone? Do you think a Twitter-like photo-sharing app is something you would use? What's the highest level of Retro you've completed without pulling your hair out? Let me know in the comments!
If you're looking for a fun and retro way to kill a few minutes this weekend, The Tetris Game offers up a simple freeware version of the classic game. There's no frills here, but anybody who's got a craving for that four-block goodness will probably find this rendition instantly satisfying.
The controls are mapped to your keyboard's arrow keys. Up rotates the piece, left and right shift it in one direction or another, and down accelerates the rate of descent. Pieces come in red, green, gray, yellow, and blue. You can save your high scores or submit them to The Tetris Game Web site, pause the game, and start a new one, and that's about it. The main page of the Web site also features a lengthy history of the video game.
Along with the lack of complex features that newer versions of Tetris might feature, The Tetris Game has a tiny installer that weighs in at around half a megabyte and it sucks up a wonderfully underwhelming 7MB of RAM while running. The only thing missing is the minimalist electronica of the game's original soundtrack. But for a fast dose of old-school nostalgia, this game doesn't mess around.
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