AppCraver » Clark Landry

Electoral Map a Toss-Up

Clark Landry — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:00:34 +0000

Electoral Map is a pretty straightforward application that lets you track the US presidential election with up-to-date polls by state on a map. By clicking on the info button, you can see the underlying data and sort it by state, polling date, and size of lead for either candidate.

Electoral Map is a good-looking, informational app that actually works. Unfortunately, the information provided isn’t anything that you can’t grab from dozens of sources online. If you’re enough of a political junkie to download Electoral Map, you probably don’t need it in the first place, begging the question of who the audience for this app is. More information about who did the polling and the margin of error of the polls would also be useful.

Bottom line is that it’s hard to recommend Electoral Map when it doesn’t provide anything that isn’t easily obtainable online, and since the shelf life of the app right now is about 2 weeks.

app_name: Electoral Map
rating: 3/10

LED Basketball Scores

Clark Landry — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:35:32 +0000

iPhone application developer touchGrove had a big hit with LED Football and has followed up logically enough with LED Basketball. Featuring a butter-yellow case, 70s-style players complete with booty shorts and high socks, and an overall flawless reproduction of the original game, LED Basketball is a highly entertaining retro pleasure.

No one will ever mistake LED Football or LED Basketball for cutting-edge sports games – that’s not the point. What these apps do best is conjure up memories of sitting in your basement as a kid playing what were at the time the most technically sophisticated hand held games you had ever seen. With one and two-player modes, and easy and hard settings, LED Basketball faithfully and perfectly mimics the look and gameplay of the original.

While I personally prefer LED Football, LED Basketball is a fantastic addition to touchGrove’s portfolio of retro games and a must-have app for retro gamers.

rating: 8/10
app_name: LED Basketball

Trapster – Good Idea, Not Quite Ready For Prime Time

Clark Landry — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:57:20 +0000

Trapster is an iPhone application that warns you when you’re getting close to police speed traps, red light cameras, and other traffic-related traps. Traps are reported by users, and are then rated by other users to determine credibility of the report (and the reporting user) over time. Trapster allows the user to customize the sound and vibration settings based on the type of alert.

Trapster has a simple, clean user interface and seems to have a decent number of users – there were over a dozen alerts in my immediate area.

Despite the interesting idea behind Trapster and the clean user interface, the app in its current incarnation isn’t of much use for a variety of reasons:

1. Many of the reports are old. I don’t care if someone spotted a cop car on Washington and Bundy on August 13 at 9:17 am, given the fact that it’s now almost two months later.

2. Since Apple doesn’t allow background processes, to use the app you’ll need to remember to turn it on every single time you get in the car. Got a call coming in? Can’t use Trapster anymore.

3. Knowing where speed traps are in a timely manner: useful. Knowing where red light cameras are: not so useful. Call me crazy, but I tend not to blow through red lights whether there’s a camera there or not.

Trapster is a great idea in theory that will hopefully become a great app in practice once Apple allows apps to run in the background. In areas where they give out speeding tickets based on camera information (like Washington DC) I can see how this would be very useful.

app_name: Trapster
rating: 4/10

iTunes 8.0.1 Released

Clark Landry — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:56:45 +0000

iTunes 8.0.1 is out, with substantial changes to media playback and purchase. The update also features a device synchronization tool. Specific changes include:

Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist.
Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano.
Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading.
Improves checking for updates from the App Store
Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.
Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.

Download available here.

Skizzle Video

Clark Landry — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:30:29 +0000

Friend of AppCraver Sudo Labs, developer of puzzle game Skizzle, sent us this demonstration video for Skizzle.

Review coming soon…

Polarbit Developing Wave Blazer and Armageddon Squadron for iPhone

Clark Landry — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:29:29 +0000

We’re hearing that mobile developer Polarbit is in the process of developing Wave Blazer and Armageddon Squadron for release on the iPhone by the end of the year. Polarbit is the developer of wildly popular games Raging Thunder and Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D for the iPhone. Their existing games have been very favorably reviewed; we look forward to reviewing Wave Blazer and Armageddon Squadron.

Flash coming to the iPhone?

Clark Landry — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:10:18 +0000

VentureBeat reports that Adobe is indeed working on Flash for the iPhone. Apple Insider is confirming, saying that Senior Director of Engineering at Adobe Systems Paul Betlem said at the Flash on the Beach conference that his team is working on Flash for the iPhone. According to Betlem, pending Apple’s approval the software would be available “in a very short time.” More on Flash on the iPhone from Apple Insider.

Apple Drops iPhone Developer NDA

Clark Landry — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:49:53 +0000

Apple is dropping the NDA on developers for released iPhone software. From the Apple site:

The NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Microsoft Developing an iPhone App

Clark Landry — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:47:21 +0000

Yahoo News is reporting that Microsoft acquisition Tellme is developing a speech recognition/voice-activated search application for the iPhone for release by June.

The iPhone doesn’t currently have speech recognition capabilities, so this could fill an important functionality gap for the iPhone. Say Where from developer DialDirections is another similar application preparing for imminent release.

It will be interesting to see if these applications are approved by Apple for inclusion in the app store, considering it looks like they might be adding this functionality to the iPhone themselves.

Star Wars – The Force Is Strong With This One

Clark Landry — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:59:36 +0000

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released recently on a variety of gaming platforms to middling reviews. As I haven’t played the console versions yet I can’t speak to the quality of those games; I can say that the iPhone version is an impressive and enjoyable game that is a must-download for any mobile gaming fan.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for iPhone, like the console versions, puts the player in the role of Darth Vader’s apprentice in the time period in between the 3rd and 4th installments of the film series. The game starts with the iconic scrolling text on a space backdrop and John Williams score familiar to just about anyone who’s been alive during the past 35 years. Cut scenes like this are used to great effect throughout the game to establish mood.

The gameplay is simple yet brilliant. To attack and defend against enemies encountered throughout the game, the player is required to use “the Force” by making specific motions with his finger on the iPhone touchscreen. For example, an enemy might approach with a small circular pattern above it; in this case to dispatch of the enemy the player must draw a circular pattern on the screen. To defend against blaster fire, the player might have to make a motion on the touchscreen in a specific direction. Sounds simple enough, but with multiple enemies on the screen and patterns to draw, it begins to require great concentration and reflexes.

The game is great fun. Tossing helpless Storm Troopers over a chasm using your index finger is highly gratifying. Definitely worth the $9.99 price tag.

app_name: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
rating: 8/10