That’s right folks – it’s iPhone App Roundup time again. During past weeks, we’ve only showcased 3 iPhone apps during each Friday Roundup. But this week was special. What with the iPhone 3G S being announced and all, we decided to throw in a few more. Contain your excitement, please.
App #1: Did Firefox crash in the middle of your Hulu spree, but you don’t feel like getting up off the couch to reset it? Have no fear, iInterface is here. For $7.99, NT Code Labs has created an iPhone application that allows you to connect into your home computer through your WiFi network. This isn’t the first app that does this, by any means, but it definitely continued the trend. Setup was a real pain-in-the-ass, but after I got past that (took awhile and a call to tech support), the application worked great. The interface was easy-to-use and came packed with features, complete with a touchpad, on-screen keyboard, and programmable (and pre-programmed) remotes for applications such as Firefox, Outlook, VLC, and PowerPoint. You just flip the iPhone and it changes what you get: touchpad, keyboard or remote. Not bad, but if only it could connect to your computer from anywhere via the internet like other similar apps…
App #2: I have been waiting for this for a long time: TiniWiki is the first iPhone app that brings all of wikipedia offline. Next time you’re in a dispute with your buddy about who the best hot dog eater in the world is (not Kobayashi: its this guy) while you’re stuck without a cell phone signal (damn AT&T) Don’t sweat it! You downloaded all 6.9 GB of TiniWiki! Yeah, 7GB is a bit gigantic. TiniWiki’s next step is to break up Wikipedia into “volumes” – so if you’d rather download it in chunks rather than one massive volume, hold off. Otherwise, it’ll set you back $5.99.
App #3: Most nerds pride themselves on their brain, not their brawn. So why not work it out just as you would your biceps or pectorals? Now you can, with a full suite of iPhone brain-train apps built by Lumos Labs. In last week’s roundup, we reviewed Brain Genius Deluxe, and liked it. This week, we took a look at Lumos Labs’ four brain exercise applications, and REALLY liked them. Chalkboard Challenge, Color Match, Memory Matrix and Speed Brain offer four unique ways to keep those cortexes feeling like they did back when you were acing Chemistry in college. Released this week, Chalkboard Challenge and Color Match are a little pricey at $4.99. If you can wait a bit, a little birdie told us that the price will come down soon…
App #4: Hear some jacked up sounds coming from your hard drive? Wondering what the F they mean? Download DriveSaver and learn everything you need to know about hard drives. Unless you’re already a hard drive wiz like the folks at DriveSaver Data Recovery, this app will teach you everything you could possibly want to know about hard drives. How to fix them, what they sound like when they break, how they work, and how to protect yourself from malfunction. Not bad for a free application…
App #5: At first glance,Go Go Rescue Squad might seem a bit cheesy. A cross between Lemmings and the PowderPuff girls, this App by Connect2Media seemed perfect for my 13-year-old cousin, but not for me. Though I had a hard time getting passed the look and feel of the game, I enjoyed it a lot more once I got into it. You are a cartoon firefighter trying to save all of the normal folk (or “Darwins”) within a specific level. You use the tools within the level to try and extinguish all of the fires and move all of the Darwins to the designated exits. It’s fun, and if you liked Lemmings and can get passed the screwiness of calling people “Twonks,” “Screebs” and “Funzies,” you might find yourself shamefully addicted. This game’s just $0.99, so if you liked Lemmings or other similar story-mode-puzzle-games, check it out.
App #6: When I first opened this app, it kept my attention for no less than 30 minutes. Eventually, I got frustrated beyond belief and vowed never to try it again. Yeah, that didn’t last long. TatamiBall uses the multitouch of the iPhone to create a unique type of jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle consists of multiple cubes and rectangles that fit together to make a picture. The trick is, the picture is moving. There are balls bouncing around the puzzle pieces while you try to rotate the boxes and squares into place. You have just 1 minute to get all of the pieces in the puzzle to fit together so that the balls dance across the screen in harmony. Maybe I’m just slow, but 1 minute was definitely not enough time and I wish I could increase it and get through more levels of this game. As it stands, I can’t get past level 4. Let me know if you can do better. UPDATE: Got so addicted to this game, I just beat it. It is 10 levels total and definitely an acquired skill, but wow it was fun! I hope Ibis continues to make similar games in this genre!
Hope you enjoyed this special WWDC edition of Friday App Roundup. See you next week, and don’t forget:
if you have an app worth checking out, shoot us an e-mail at gaganATcrunchgearDOTcom (with the obvious substitutions in place, of course).