I've been playing around with iHal for a bit, and I have to say that I really don't see the point.  The program basically communicates via the Internet with an artificial intelligence set up somewhere remote.  Supposedly it would learn from the conversation and customize responses to you. Sadly, it works as well as a similar program I encountered in my childhood at various science museums.  That is to say, not very well.  The program didn't seem to vary it's responses to my...Read More

As more observers look for signs that indicate the number of units sold, it seems that a few of us have been watching the sequential numbers that are generated for orders on the apple.com site. 

This morning we placed 2 orders ourselves about 2 hours apart.  The difference between those numbers is a little over 40,000.  Of course we can't assume that every online order is for the iPad, but I would bet that the vast majority of those are.

Fortune has also reported on an organized effort that seems to be showing orders in excess of 50,000 each 2 hours, roughly the same thing we found with our calculation.

Since Apple has placed a 2 order limit per customer, and that is not unlikely that some users bought more than 1 unit, it seems pretty plausable that today could bring over 200,000 units sold in their first day (assuming that demand keeps up and they don't run out of iPads)!

Today Apple announced that the App Store will have a special section for iPad designed apps.

This is great for consumers and developers who are trying to showcase their iPad specific versions of their apps.

I wonder how long it will take for there to be over 150,000 apps in that area! :)

Yes! Not Yet. I'm waiting until I can touch it in person, then maybe. No. Its still just a big iTouch

If you're a musician (particularly a guitarist) and own an iPhone and iPod touch, I can honestly say without hesitation that you'd be quite foolish not to download Gibson's all-purpose musician's helper application from the App Store.  It has pretty much every tool you need to practice or write a tune. The Gibson application comes with a tuner, a metronome, a set of chords (for those without perfect pitch), a series of lessons for learning the guitar and a link to Gibson.com.  Obviously, being...Read More

Well, it seems that the day has finally come for ordering your iPads.  TUAW reports that orders will begin tomorrow online at Apple.com at 5:30am PST.  Rumor has it that only 2 iPads will be available for each customer order, and that you will be able to reserve one for pickup in your local Apple store.

Can anyone say site slow down at Apple.com tomorrow morning? :)

Voice Changer Plus is one of the cute and fun apps to have if you dig making silly voices.  The regular version is free and the souped-up version lets you share your recordings and offers a larger selection of audio distortions costs $2.  I leave it to the individual to decide if the non-free greater price is worth it.  This review will concentrate on the free version. The app could not be more simple.  With the tap of a button, you record yourself saying a phrase.&nbsp...Read More

After playing Street Fighter IV for 30 minutes, I got enough of the game to offer the following.  This is about the best old school fighting game that is currently available on the iPhone/Touch system. At first, I wasn't really sure about the lack of using a real joystick to move the characters around and properly time and control the sequence for my attacks.  I spent a little time in the DoJo initially to go over some practice moves before moving onto Tournament mode. If you've ever played S...Read More

From the same folks that brought us Family Feud for the iPhone, we now have another classic game show, The Price is Right, 2010 version.  It's easy to tell that it's from the same creative team because there are a lot of similarities between the two games. As with Family Feud, the user starts the game by creating a customized avatar.  Once that process is done, the familiar background music starts and a voice that is neither Bob Barker nor Drew Carey lets you know the items for w...Read More

Before Tweetie 2, there was, of course, the first version of Tweetie. Even in its first implementation, Tweetie was already my weapon of choice in meeting my all-important Twitter needs. Its ease of use was remarkable and its visual scheme was nothing short of brilliant. So, when the developers behind Tweetie announced that they would be releasing a major update to my favorite Twitter client, I held my breath in hot anticipation. And when the day came, it turned out that the update worked out to an overhau...Read More

The price of Fingerzilla has been briefly reduced to zero and has shot to the top of the App Store most-downloaded list for free apps as a result.  Who wouldn't want destroy a city with their finger?  It's like taking Pocket God to the next level. The game play is ridiculously simple.  You tap your finger on the screen to destroy anything and everything.  The more you destroy, the more points you earn.  The violence is very cartoonish and even the trees seem to spontaneously...Read More

I like it when an iPhone app developer takes an idea for a game that is rather simple but then goes on to execute it in such a manner as though to tell of the developer's dedication to his or her craft, that however simple the game is in his or her mind, the developer is sure to find ways to make the idea novel. And one way of making this possible is with the visual design, as exemplified by a pick-up-and-play game called Nanodrops. Nanodrops is a game about, well, nanodrops, which are little drops of an...Read More

There are many reasons a developer would lower the cost of a game to zero.   One might be to advertise something.  One might be to promote an ideal, such as environmentalism.  Eco Punk does the latter using guns and bombs on cars. The central character is an eco-terrorist bunny-like creature on a skateboard.  His mission is to pick up all the trash and garbage at an intersection while riding a skateboard and not get hit by any cars.  Over time, the bunny gets offensive capabiliti...Read More

Once the iPad is released and the hype dies down, we'll likely get the next generation of iPhone in June or July to keep us excited.  In the interest of my own amusement, here are some ideas / predictions regarding the iPad and the activities surrounding it until the next version is released (our guess? within the first 12 months of the inital release).

1.  It will be jail broken within the first 3 days of its release.  There are some really good hackers out there, and I wouldn't be surprised if, in the short term, iPads would be available to work on T-Mobile too.  In the slightly longer term, apps that only work in jail broken iPhones, will also work on the iPad.

2.  It will become the must-have device for people in education and the arts, along with legal, medical, and just about every other industry that has mobile professionals.  I know, obvious right?  But I'm beting this happens in the first 12 months of its release.  Would you want to carry around textbooks with that musty smell?  Or all of your meeting notes and research on a heavy laptop instead of a sub $500 elegant device that gets unlimited Internet access for $30 / month?

3.  It will only slow down the inevitable destruction of the publishing industry rather than save it.  Despite the success of music sales within iTunes for the iPod, the industry still sells in terms of dollars only a fraction of what it used to.  With so much free content available online, I don't see how anybody trying to sell a form of text for money will actually survive.

4.  The next iteration of the iPad will have a front-facing camera.  The second generation needs a catch to pull in those that purchased the first generation.  That will likely be it.  Of course, that isn't going to stop us from getting our 1st gen iPads when they are released!

What do you think is going to happen?  Think it will be a game changer?

Leave it to MTV and VH1 to provide us folks that lived through the 80's with one of the most memorable trivia games ever produced for the App Store.  There are a myriad of 80's facts or trivia games out there, but I doubt many use the MTV pop-ups and dialogue that are so familiar to those that grew up in the decade. Yes, there are ads, but you can't beat the initial price.  Yes, you only get one round of questions that are the same no matter how many times you play.  Additional q...Read More

Apple announces that the iPad will be available in the US on April 3rd and that pre-ordering online and in-store will begin on March 12th.  In addition, 3G versions of the iPad will be available in late April, but either one will be able to be ordered on March 12th.

International availability for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK will also happen in late April.

The iBook store will be ready for the April 3rd launch.

Seems like some of the rumors that said the iPad might not make it until April were correct.

Read Apples Official Press Release.

Apps like Office2 prove that Microsoft really has to get on the ball in terms of providing their Microsoft Office suite for the iPhone and iPod touch.  There are already several third-party application that provide edit functionality for DOC and XLS files and I've seen least two of them make the top 50 sales.  Office2 hasn't made it there yet, but it should. It is difficult to edit Word documents on the iPod touch due to the small screen and awkward touch-keyboard.  This app makes it simpl...Read More

The game is played from a birds-eye view of your assassin.  The idea is to collect contracts and kill people while elluding the authorities.  Touching certain corners of your screen moves the character around.  Your assigned other players online, and then pick up targets to determine which player you need to kill.  Then you wander around town until you find those players and simply tap them to assassinate. Surprisingly, it requires quick a large amount of skill needed to walk...Read More

There is a certain level of quality one would expect from anything that has Martha Stewart's brand name on it.  The question one would immediate ask is: is a recipe magazine for the iPhone and iPod touch worth the $.99 investment and space on your iPhone?  By my reckoning, the answer is no.  Particularly when you consider that the Epicurious app is offered for free in the App Store and it offers more recipes. To begin, the application should not require a data or WiFi connection to get con...Read More