Eclectic Electronics » iphone

Luxor finds its way onto the Apple iPhone and iPod touch

blued888 — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:30:49 +0000

Luxor is a highly popular game with over 75 million downloads worldwide. Game mechanics are simple, you have to shoot colored marbles and make a match of at least 3 of the same color.

In LUXOR, players will face off against the god’s evil minions threatening to ruin the mystical lands of Ancient Egypt. Players must clear chains by color-matching three or more spheres. Intuitive controls utilizing the innovative Multi-Touch user interface and accelerometer of the devices allow players to slide, tap, shake and tilt to manipulate a magical winged, side-scrolling shooter and launch power-ups. The fate of Ancient Egypt is literally in the player’s hands. The game also includes community features enabled by Plus+, the free social play network.

“We are pleased to bring the advanced capabilities of iPhone and iPod touch to our active base of LUXOR fans, and introduce LUXOR to a new audience of casual gamers,” said Mark Cottam, Chief Executive Officer, MumboJumbo. “Bringing existing fans and new ones into a mobile network that enhances gameplay for the user seemed like a natural extension of the LUXOR brand.”

“We saw MumboJumbo’s LUXOR as a darling in the premium casual game space, and perfectly suited for the iPhone and iPod touch,” said Simon Jeffery, Chief Publishing Officer, Plus+. “It’s exciting to create and serve an integrated social gaming experience in LUXOR for the iPhone and iPod touch using Plus+.”

Plus+ registrants in LUXOR can send challenges to friends via Facebook and Twitter, blaze to the top of global leaderboards and earn points in Plus+. These social play elements add to the hours of gameplay packed across 88 levels of action-packed strategy.

Luxor is available for just $2.99 on the iPhone and iPod touch via the Apple App Store. For more information regarding Luxor for the iPhone and iPod touch, visit http://www.luxoriphone.com/.

[via Business Wire]

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GPush, GMail Push application now available for the Apple iPhone

blued888 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:30:44 +0000

BlackBerrys are indispensable to corporate employees because of their push e-mail capability. Now, that feature (using GMail) is also available on the Apple iPhone via GPush.

Google brags that without GPush, iPhone users normally have to wait around an hour before the e-mail will appear, this is not the case with GPush. The GPush Application retails for $0.99, gives iPhone users the ability to choose how they want to be notified of incoming e-mail:

GPush options include having the iPhone vibrate and ring and having the GPush icon display the number of unread messages received.

GPush will also let users see previews of incoming e-mails by displaying the sender’s name and subject heading.

GPush, the GMail push application for the Apple iPhone, can be downloaded via iTunes for $0.99.

[via Business Wire]

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Apple App Store redownloads being charged, a bug according to Apple lead developer

blued888 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:30:26 +0000

iPhone/iPod Touch owners may relax now since redownloading applications direct to devices won’t actually charge you something. According to a lead developer at Apple, the message was simply a bug in the system.

The message appeared to those using iPhone OS 3.0.

[AppAdvice via TechCrunch]

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Apple to start charging when apps are redownloaded via iPhone?

blued888 — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:00:30 +0000

When new software updates arrive for smartphones or mobile phones, people always tend to think that everything is turning out for the better.

Well, apparently not for the iPhone OS 3.0, because it appears that Apple will possibly be charging you again if you want to redownload an app on your iPhone/iPod Touch that you already purchased. Redownloading via iTunes on your computer is still free though.

I don’t exactly get Apple’s mindset on this move. If they’re allowing people to redownload the purchased software via iTunes on a computer for free, why restrict it from being downloaded directly into the device? Redownloading directly to the device saves you the hassle from syncing your iPhone with iTunes.

[via The Apple Blog]

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Apple 3rd generation iPhone to come in many colors?

blued888 — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:30:42 +0000

Itching for the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) to come up and see what the iPhone would possibly look like? The guys over at iPhone Buzz apparently got an extremely colorful anonymous tip.

Do note that these photos are merely renderings. But who knows? Maybe Apple will go iPod nano-like with their upcoming iPhone. In my opinion, offering the iPhone in too many colors makes it sort of look… cheap. They should stick with professional looking colors such as black, white, silver and possibly gold.

For more photos to heighten your third-generation iPhone anticipation, head on over to iPhone Buzz where they have a more than complete gallery of skittles iPhones, along with a couple of videos.

[via CrunchGear and iPhone Buzz]

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Apple 3rd generation iPhone takes a specifications leak?

blued888 — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:00:10 +0000

A Chinese iPhone forum member is reportedly in possession of the upcoming iPhone. Some of the rumored specifications are certainly believable but don’t take any of these seriously until Apple has made its official announcement.

The processor is rumored to be getting a speed bump from 400Mhz to 600Mhz. RAM will be doubled from 128MB to 256MB. Built-in storage will increase, possibly to 32GB. The camera will sport 3.2 megapixels (I was expecting a bigger jump in this department). And word has it, that the upcoming iPhone will feature a digital compass and also FM radio.

I very much doubt that Apple would wholeheartedly integrate FM radio capability into their upcoming iPhone. They’ve been churning out iPods for years now and not one model has a FM radio feature, but who knows? Maybe somebody bonked the heads of the Apple R&D guys.

It has also been mentioned that the phone will be aesthetically the same to the 1st and 2nd generation iPhones. In my opinion, they should start varying the look a bit, this is already the 3rd generation for goodness sake! If Apple can do it with their iPods, why not the iPhone?

Shown below is a table comparing the rumored specifications of the upcoming iPhone to the current iPhone 3G:

	Upcoming iPhone	Current iPhone
Processor	600Mhz	400Mhz
Memory	256MB	128MB
Storage	32GB	8GB or 16GB
Camera	3.2 megapixel	2 megapixel
Digital compass	Yes	No
FM radio	Yes	No

[via MobileCrunch and The iPhone Blog]

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iSnort, the iPhone coccaine application.

blued888 — Sat, 02 May 2009 22:00:57 +0000

I wonder if these people would get arrested for making an application like this. I believe they’re sort of condoning the use of drugs, coccaine in particular. And… I’m still puzzled as to how they got the iPhone reacting to the chopping action they do with the card. The iPhone’s only supposed to respond to fingertips!

Obviously, there’s no chance that Apple will be selling these at their App Store. According to the iSnort site, you have to pay them £5 or $7.46 USD if you want to buy the application.

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iPod Touch being used by the US military

blued888 — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:00:46 +0000

The Apple iPhone is not just popular to regular consumers, it is also being used by the US military.

Due to the iPod Touch’s relative low cost, it is easily considered as an alternative to expensive military devices. The $229 price of the 8GB variant may very well be considered expensive among common consumers, but we’re talking about military weaponry which cost tons more!

The iPod Touch reportedly does what the military requires plus a whole lot more. The device is capable of performing many diverse functions, it can be controlled with one hand and has its own software development kit (SDK) for making custom software.

From ZDNet:

Next Wave Systems in Indiana, is expected to release iPhone software that would enable a soldier to snap a picture of a street sign and, in a few moments, receive intelligence uploaded by other soldiers (the information would be linked by the words on the street sign). This could include information about local water quality or the name and photograph of a local insurgent sympathizer. The U.S. Marine Corps is funding an application for Apple devices that would allow soldiers to upload photographs of detained suspects, along with written reports, into a biometric database. The software could match faces, making it easier to track suspects after they’re released.

From ReadWriteWeb:

Snipers in Iraq and Afghanistan now use a “ballistics calculator” called BulletFlight, made by the Florida firm Knight’s Armament for the iPod Touch and iPhone. Army researchers are developing applications to turn an iPod into a remote control for a bomb-disposal robot (tilting the iPod steers the robot). In Sudan, American military observers are using iPods to learn the appropriate etiquette for interacting with tribal leaders,

Another software includes translation capabilities:

A new program called Vcommunicator produces spoken and written translations of Arabic, Kurdish and two Afghan languages.

Time for Apple to squeeze in some additional battery life for those soldiers out there! Wouldn’t want that iPod Touch running out of juice in the middle of an important mission.

[via ReadWriteWeb and ZDNet]

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You can use a stylus on an Apple iPhone?!

blued888 — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:30:59 +0000

Someone posted over at Monster iPhone that if you repeatedly input the wrong things on the onscreen keyboard, you can use a stylus! Does the person even realize that the iPhone uses a capacitive-touch display which means it will only respond to electrical current from a person’s fingertips?

From Wikipedia

It has a higher clarity than Resistive technology, but it only responds to finger contact and will not work with a gloved hand or pen stylus unless the stylus is conductive and transmits the user’s capacitance.

Don’t go whipping out those PocketPC styli and use them on the iPhone people, might just end up scratching up the screen! You need something like the Pogo Stylus, or you can DIY something like the one on the video below. But on second thought… why bother? The iPhone was designed to be used with your bare hands.

Now, I’m not entirely sure whether the poster meant a specialized stylus for the Apple iPhone, but reading something like that on the internet is sure to spark up some curiosity.

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Palm Pre page on Sprint website now live!

blued888 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:30:05 +0000

The Palm Pre is page is up and running on Sprint’s website.

The page includes a button which searches Twitter for the phrase “Palm Pre.” (Congrats to Twitter for the free publicity!) It also indicates the current number of Google search results talking about the device.

A 360-degree view is also available along with technical specifications. You can also choose to be notified when the Palm Pre is released. YouTube videos talking about the Palm Pre are also embedded on the page.

[via The Official Palm Blog]

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