Speaking yesterday at the Professional Developer’s Conference, Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie explained what’s really important when it comes to the smartphone business, and it’s apparently nothing at all to do with the number of apps available on any one platform.

All the apps that count will be ported to every one of them. It’s a completely different situation from the PC market, where software’s built to run on a Windows or a Mac. Mobile apps require very little development, so it’s much easier to bring them onto every platform.

Yeah. That’s why there are more than 100,000 apps in the iTunes Store and, what, five in the Windows Marketplace? And that’s why quality apps like Facebook or Tweetie 2.0 have been ported, feature-complete, from the iPhone to Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Palm OS? Oh, wait…

The point here is that Microsoft’s senior execs apparently continue to misunderstand what’s going on in todays smartphone market. Microsoft seems to view the iPhone not as a serious competitor but more as a toy, something to disregard because grown-ups (grey-suited corporate drones) aren’t interested in all that flashy functionality and rich media. They’re not interested in the astonishing range of software available for the iPhone. They just want Mobile Powerpoint and Excel, plus a few other ageing Office apps. That’s all that really matters, right?

Wrong. We need look no further than JD Power’s recently published results of a satisfaction survey they conducted of business smartphone customers around the world. Apple came in at number one, RIM finished second.

WIRED’s Gadget Lab published an article yesterday examining some of the mistakes Microsoft has made with Windows Mobile. NPD Group analyst Ross Rubin told WIRED:

Microsoft’s mobile OS history is rooted in personal digital assistants, which were marketed toward enterprise audiences. Today, the smartphone has shifted into the mainstream as a consumer device, and yet Windows Mobile is still largely focused on enterprise features.

Perhaps Microsoft has a significant change planned for the release of Windows Mobile 7, WIRED’s Brian Chen asked Redmond HQ. They declined to discuss Windows 7 directly, but did have this to say about their mobile OS business;

The company’s mobility strategy has not changed; it is and has always been to provide a software platform for the industry. The company works closely with many mobile operators and device makers around the world because people want different experiences on a variety of phones.

Well, it’s certainly a different experience alright. A lousy one. That’s one reason Microsoft’s global smartphone market share has dropped from 11 percent in 2008 to 7.9 percent today. In the meantime, Apple and RIM have seen their market shares swell to 17.1 and 20.8 percent, respectively.

Microsoft’s Mobile strategy is out of touch. Ever-increasing numbers of enterprise customers who once used Windows phones are today carrying Blackberrys or iPhones and have entirely different expectations of their cellular devices. Mobile Outlook just won’t cut it any more.

Hopping Mad

Driving the point home is a timely article published this week by the Wall Street Journal, about the disparity between old, primitive tech used in the office, and the far more capable and empowering technology found at home. According to the WSJ’s Nick Wingfield, execs at Kraft Foods noticed the difference.

Executives began to worry that the company’s technology policies were preventing employees from staying in step with trends. Kraft was a consumer company, they figured, so workers needed to be more familiar with the technologies that consumers were using, whether the iPhone or YouTube.

So, the IT department stopped blocking access to consumer Web sites, and the company started a stipend program for smart phones: Workers get an allowance every 18 months to buy a phone of their choosing. (Over 60% picked iPhones.)

With all the above in mind, I can’t see how Microsoft’s Mobile strategy could be considered sound business. If I were a Microsoft shareholder, I’d be hopping mad at the company’s apparent inability to understand — and adapt to — the demands of today’s smartphone consumers.

It’s paradoxical, really. Microsoft has always highlighted how customer choice is of paramount importance, indeed, a key component in its success with Windows. In the quote above, Microsoft’s own spokesperson stresses how Microsoft works with mobile operators and OEM’s to provide choice. But at the PDC yesterday, Ozzie seemed to be saying that an impressive selection of apps (ie. choice) is unimportant. He mentions “apps that count” but doesn’t say what those apps are; in any case, that’s a short-sighted assertion. Apps that matter to me, may not matter so much to you. That’s precisely why an iPhone owner’s home screen is so fascinating to other iPhone owners.

The iPhone’s greatest strength is the tens of thousands of software titles available in the App Store, usually at a knock-down price. There is, literally, something for everyone, no matter how discerning ones’ taste in Games, Productivity tools, or fart apps.

I give Windows Mobile another year, max. If it can’t build its app marketplace into a substantial repository of quality titles at (very) low prices, it won’t matter how closely Microsoft works with its technology partners. Because, at that point, Windows Mobile will be reduced to a Wikipedia entry as an “also ran” in the history of the smartphone.

iPhone devs are a rebellious bunch, and they don’t like to be bullied by anyone other than their Apple, which both frustrates and affirms their existence. Now, in light of what some might call a campaign being waged against the App Store by a well-known trademark troll, many iPhone devs are protesting what they see as Apple’s cowardice in the face of unjust threats.

According to TUAW, the trademark troll in question is none other than Tim Langdell, founder of the “gaming company” Edge Games. In reality, Edge Games produces very little beyond copyright infringement suits, which it launches against any and all games that feature the word “edge” in their title. EA’s Mirror’s Edge recently fell between Langdell’s crosshairs, for example, despite the fact that the game itself bears no similarity to any of Edge Games’ roster of “planned” titles.

Apparently the App Store has been a prime target for Tim Langdell and Edge Games. Reports claim that all he has to do is contact Apple and let them know that a game is in violation of his trademarks — which again, basically means it has “edge” somewhere in the title — and Apple pulls the game without much fuss. No doubt Apple just doesn’t want to deal with yet another legal battle that could ensue if Langdell gets the opportunity to take things beyond the cease-and-desist phase, but this really seems unfair to honest game devs who actually work for their money.

In protest, a group of iPhone devs are changing the names of their games to include “edge” in the titles, with the desired outcome being that Apple will realize that to continue just disallowing the word completely will significantly affect the App Store’s catalog of offerings. So, for example, Canabalt becomes “Canabedge,” the Eliss sequel becomes “Edgeliss” and Critter Crunch becomes “Critter Credge.” All of the changes mentioned haven’t actually been made to the apps in the store, but on developer web sites as a show of solidarity.

Even though this particular protest limits itself to the area beyond Apple’s sphere of control, it does demonstrate a promising solution to App Store bully tactics. If developers could organize in a similar manner, but with bigger numbers and with the support of some of the pillars of the App Store, they could more effectively combat unfair policies. Apple will be less likely to anger content producers if it has potential ramifications across its catalog. Let’s see a developers rights advocacy group come to pass, so articles about the injustices of the App Store can become a more infrequent occurrence.

As another week passes, the seams of Apple’s App Store have been stretched even further with a deluge of new releases. Digging through the latest apps, I’ve selected four fresh picks for you to check out.

It’s Halloween and so my top pick for this week is Alive 4-ever, a top-down zombie shooter with plenty of guts and gore to go around. I’ve also been checking out TowerMadness Zero, NASA and WordPress 2.

Alive 4-ever ($1.79)

As it’s Halloween, I thought that at least one of my top picks this week should be themed for the occasion. Despite the clumsy sounding name, Alive 4-Ever is a surprisingly polished top-down shooter. The plot is simple and disgustingly cliché: for whatever reason, a zombie apocalypse happens, you take to the streets to rescue other survivors.

The game takes its inspiration from some of the best zombie titles out there, including Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead. There’s a battalion’s worth of weaponry on offer, including zombie-slaying classics like the AK-47. Plus, if you’re after more firepower you’re able to purchase bigger, stronger, faster guns in the shop after each level.

There’s also a Bluetooth multiplayer mode, allowing you to jump into the action with three other friends. Alongside guns, zombies and survivors, the game throws in experience points too. Completing a stage earns experience points, these precious points go towards upgrading your character. In effect, you’re able to become the ultimate undead-destroying warrior.

TowerMadness Zero (Free)

Earlier this month, our own Alfredo Padilla took a look at 49 different tower defense games for the iPhone. Owing to the epic nature of his list, days later Alfredo distilled the document down into five tower defense games worth owning. All of Alfredo’s picks costs a few bucks though and, in this cash-strapped climate, some of us don’t have much money to burn on iPhone games.

That’s where TowerMadness steps in. The game is available in two monetary flavors. You can purchase it for a couple of bucks, or you can download the Zero edition: a totally unrestricted ad-supported version of the game for free. The ads are unintrusive and targeted in such a way that, for the most part, they feel relevant.

Of course the iPhone doesn’t need another tower defense game. Aside from being free, TowerMadness is a pretty good representation of the best qualities of the genre. All the usual TD staples are there — waves of enemies, upgradable towers, strategic play — but it’s all wrapped up in excellent graphics too.

NASA (Free)

National organizations seem to be slowly switching on to the iPhone. Last year, the BBC decided to create an iPhone-specific version of its excellent iPlayer site. Canada’s National Film Board just released a wonderful app for viewing its content on the go. And now NASA has released its very own app, allowing us earthlings to keep up-to-date with space mission news.

The app is essentially like having a tiny mission-control in the palm of your hand. There’s a listing of all NASA Missions, all of which have awesome names like Mars Express and Mars Odyssey. Tapping through to a mission section provides a mission briefing, photos, videos and an ever-so-slightly ominous countdown timer.

For me, the best part of the app is the video section. Rather than attempt to visualize the various space happenings described in the app, the videos bring these extraordinary happens closer to home. You can observe spacecraft launches, see astronauts float around in zero gravity, listen to people in space describe their experiences, and watch history in the making.

WordPress 2 (Free)

The original WordPress app just wasn’t so hot. With a clunky and convoluted interface that was all function and no form, it immediately felt dated. And, for writers and bloggers alike, it certainly wasn’t the most inspiring environment in which to attempt to pen a post.

The user interface has been updated but still, on first look, the app looks worryingly basic. In fact, it’s disconcertingly similar to its clunky counterpart, WordPress 1. I appreciate that the WordPress app is here to serve a function, but, discounting features, surely it could have been executed with a little more pizazz?

Anyway, looks are not the most important thing with WordPress 2. This version introduces several new features to the mix. There’s automatic saving and restoring of posts. A new comments interface which includes author URL and Gravatars. The app even stores password in the keychain. If you’ve got your own WordPress blog, this is certainly an app worth checking out.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

Recently I read about the First & 20 project, an effort to share the home screens of various technorati. When I heard about it I immediately shot off to the page to look through the home screens. I was most excited about the possibility of finding new applications. As we all know, one of the hardest things about the app store is app discovery. I thought a collection of applications selected by tech-savvy people like me would be a gold mine of good, new apps I could try out.

Imagine my surprise when I found not a single new app I wanted to try. Even more surprising was how the same third-party applications appeared over and over again on people’s home screens. And the vast majority of those were applications that I either used myself or had tried in the past. Just because I have all the time in the world I decided to have fun with some math.Of the total applications found on the home screens of the First & 20 site, 77 different third-party applications were listed. 46 of those were found only once, or just under 60 percent of the total, while 31 were found multiple times. That might seem innocuous, but when you look at the total number of application slots taken up by the two groups, the numbers flip dramatically.

In total, 162 slots were taken up by third-party applications. The 40 percent of applications that were found more than once took up over 71 percent of those slots on home screens. The reason, of course, is that the distribution of applications found more than once. As you can see below, Tweetie was mentioned 11 times, while Birdfeed was mentioned eight times, etc.

To expand the sample a bit more, I took a survey of home screens of TAB writers and added that to the First & 20 data. The result was almost identical in terms of percentages, as you can see below.

Yay numbers, but what does all this actually mean? What it indicates to me is just how meaningless Apple’s constant prattering about the total number of apps in the app store is. The reality is that only a small percentage of those applications are good enough to make it onto the home screens of the most discerning users. I mentioned above the problem that led me to eagerly check out the First & 20 site: the fact that finding good applications is so hard. The more useless apps continue to enter the app store, the greater this problem becomes.

It also seems to me that the barrier to compete successfully with the app store is significantly lower than some would imagine. The reality is you don’t have to have 90,000 applications to compete with the iPhone and iPod touch. You probably actually only need 1,000 very good applications on your platform. This was driven home for me when I recently saw that Android now has applications for Facebook, Remember the Milk, Pandora, Amazon and Open Table, all apps that I use on my iPhone and apps that make it easier for me to switch to Android.

Apple seems to be trying to address the problem of too many apps through in-app purchases, which holds the promise of finally killing those extraneous “lite” applications, as well as, hopefully, killing off the plethora of single book applications available on the store. But problems remain, like the fact that you don’t see app ratings while searching through the app store. In the meantime, my aimless search for quality iPhone apps continues.

Recently we looked at the plethora of tower defense games available for the iPhone. For anyone who looked at that list and wondered where they should actually spend your money, today’s article is for you. I’m not going to argue that the following five games are the best tower defense games on the platform, but I will tell you that if you decide to spend money on any (or all) of these games, you probably won’t be disappointed. I also tried to pick from a good range of gameplay types, so you can pick up a couple of these and get relatively different gameplay experiences.

The Creeps!

Price: 99 cents

This is the hands down winner for adorable iPhone tower defense games. The premise is pretty simple, there are monsters trying to get under your bed and you have to stop them by placing your towers along set paths. The graphics are cute, in a Spongebob Squarepants kind of way, and the gameplay offers a variety of interesting features.

For example, you can attack terrain like trees or small hills in order to open more space for towers. In fact one of the gameplay modes requires you to destroy terrain and build your way across the map in order to destroy the creep’s spawning point. There are also interesting towers, like a flying saucer that you can activate a couple of times during a game and move around the map using the iPhone’s accelerometer. There’s also plenty of depth to the gameplay, with a wide variety of maps.

Fieldrunners

Price: $2.99

Fieldrunners was one of the first games I bought for my iPhone, and this grandaddy of tower defense games still holds up incredibly well. The graphics are excellent, with both the towers and the creeps very distinctive. The gameplay is focused on the open field approach, which means that the creeps don’t move along distinct paths, but instead you have to use towers to herd them in the direction you want.

I prefer this style to the path-oriented tower defense games because you have a lot more options on how to set up your defense, along with more space to make mistakes, meaning you have deeper gameplay. Fieldrunners doesn’t offer the plethora of maps some other tower defense games do, but the ones that are available offer distinctive challenges as well as various selections of towers. If you’re looking for an open field tower defense games you won’t be disappointed with Fieldrunners.

Ninja TD

Price: $2.99

This game competes with The Creeps in the cuteness factor, as your “towers” are small ninjas. The graphics are also good/cute, but Ninja TD offers its own distinctive gameplay that is different from other iPhone tower defense games. To start with, the maps are a mix of open field and path based. Creeps can’t move freely across the map, but there’s enough space in the path they follow to allow for some creative Ninja placement.

In addition to the Ninjas themselves, you can also place various Ninja powers, which can do various things like send a creep flying back to the beginning of the map. There are also invisible enemies that require specific powers to be seen and attacked. These powers need to be unlocked so you’ll have to put some effort into the game before you get the full selection of gameplay options.

Star Defense

Price: 99 cents (Free version also available)

As you may have noticed I’m partial to games with very good graphics, but Star Defense may be the most impressive of this bunch when it comes to graphics. Not so much because the game is more beautiful than the others, but because of the 3-D elements. The paths in this space oriented tower defense game are found on small worldlets, which you can spin around and zoom into with your fingers.

If the ability to wow your friends with an iPhone game isn’t enough for you, Star Defense also packs in a some good gameplay. In particular, this is the tower defense game for those who like Xbox achievements, as you can unlock a variety of different achievements. You can share those achievements online, compare your score to others and there’s even a challenge feature that let’s you send your score to friends and challenge them to beat it.

Sweetwater Defense

Price: $2.99 (Free version also available)

If you look at the iTunes ratings for Sweetwater Defense you’ll see that it doesn’t rate as highly as some of the other games in this list. There’s a good reason for that…Sweetwater Defense is hard. Really hard. I almost lost the freakin’ tutorial while playing this game.

The key to Sweetwater Defense is learning how to mix and match your towers. You’re not going to be able to get away with just plunking down a bunch of cheap towers and maxing out their upgrades, even on easy. If you’re willing to be challenged you’ll also find that the game’s graphics are excellent and the gameplay interface is intuitive.

Rumors were circulating earlier in the day, but now AT&T has made official its plans to allow Internet calling services to be used with its wireless network. That’s great news for iPhone users, at whom the news was mostly targeted, since it means we could shortly see Skype, Vonage, and Google Voice apps appear on the app store with full 3G functionality.

The official line is that AT&T is responding to customer expectation and demand considering the introduction of VOIP-capable devices like the iPhone, but in reality, with the FCC investigation into wireless industry competition hanging over its head, AT&T is probably trying to fend off government-mandated penalties in advance.

According to the Associated Press;

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, one of three Democrats on the commission, wants to impose net neutrality rules to ensure that broadband providers don’t abuse their power over Internet access to favor their own services or harm competitors. His plan has alarmed wireless carriers because it would apply these rules across different types of broadband networks, including wireless networks.

AT&T’s move is a calculated one, designed to show that the industry can successfully self-regulate without government interference. It’s kind of equivalent to the kid who wouldn’t share at recess readily giving up a toy once another kid actually leaves to tell the teacher.

Whatever the reason behind the decision to relax its rules for network use, the real winners here are iPhone users. If Skype, Google Voice, and other internet telephony apps make their way into the App Store, iPhone users will be able to avoid artificially high rates for long distance and contract minute overages by taking advantage of their existing data plans. It’s one more step towards flat data rates for all cell features, which is what should be in place anyway.

Of course, it’s still up to Apple to approve any VOIP apps before iPhone users can take advantage of the new rules. I’m willing to bet that Cupertino had a significant hand in convincing AT&T that this was a wise move, considering the negative press the computer company was receiving over the Google Voice debacle. Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris had this to say about the announcement:

“We are very happy that AT&T is now supporting VOIP applications. We will be amending our developer agreements to get VOIP apps on the App Store and in customers’ hands as soon as possible.”

The introduction of 3G VOIP will no doubt have an impact on AT&T’s network, which has seen numerous problems in the past due to the increased demand placed upon it by iPhone users. The wireless provider seems to have made improvements, as evidenced by the relatively smooth introduction of MMS earlier this month, but it remains to be seen if they can also cope with this new load.

As another week draws to a close, the App Store expands even further with a torrent of new toys and tools. As ever, I’ve hand-picked four recent iPhone releases for you to take a look at.

This week I’ve given our picks a creative vibe, selecting four different apps that let you engage with your artistic and cultural side. My top pick for the week is Xewton Music Studio, plus I’ve been looking at Snapture, GraffitiGeo and McSweeney’s.

Xewton Music Studio ($19.99)

Armed with an iPhone, there’s never been so much choice for making music on the move. Despite all the choice, the recording app I keep coming back to is FourTrack. It’s a fully-featured 4 track recorder, complete with bouncing, panning, metronome and Wi-Fi sharing.

When it comes to full on audio sequencing and sketching out bigger ideas, I head for Intua’s BeatMaker. The app costs twenty bucks, but for producers it’s definitely worth it: this is about as close to Ableton Live as you’ll get on your iPhone.

Now it looks like I might be adding Xewton Music Studio to my iPhone audio app lineup. Rather than put the focus on electronica, like Beatmaker, Music Studio is essentially a sequencer designed with traditional composers and songwriters in mind.

Xewton Music Studio includes 21 instruments, a 128-track sequencer, piano-roll note editor, real-time effects and lots more. Although the app may well take some time to learn, it’s powerful enough to potentially become a useful composition tool for many musicians.

Snapture ($1.99)

With Flickr, QuadCamera and PhotoForge handling all of the photo processing on my iPhone, I wasn’t sure if there was room for another camera app. Arriving at the App Store by way of Cydia, Snapture is a very tempting and feature-packed photo processing tool. Tempting as it is for my 3GS, this recommendation is for 3G users only.

The app rolls in a raft of useful functions, such as High Speed Multishot and Level Aid. Plus, once you’ve taken your photos, you can stay within the app to browse and manage your library.

It’s worth noting that the app currently doesn’t make use of the 3GS iPhone’s tap-to-focus functionality. While Snapture works well enough on Apple’s latest device, I would urge 3GS owners to hold out until the app integrates this much requested feature.

GraffitiGeo (Free)

Last Summer I signed a two-year contract with Sonera and received a white iPhone 3G. After arriving home and spending far too long trying to decide if I should film the unboxing (I didn’t), I tore away the packing, activated my iPhone and headed for the App Store.

One of the first apps that I downloaded was Graffitio, an old-school bulletin board that included geo-location support. After tagging various locations and adding a few messages, I got a little bored. The app’s long lists of tiny text felt too plain for my iPhone.

Released this Summer, GraffitiGeo takes the location tagging concept even further. The app feels like a fun version of Dopplr — as a tool, GraffitiGeo is useful for finding food, events and places of interest. And it’s surprisingly compelling as a toy too, as you’re able to form gangs and earn achievements. Definitely one to check out for iPhone owners in big cities.

McSweeney’s (99 cents)

McSweeney’s has always been a reliable destination for deliciously absurd, charming, silly, classy and fun literary offerings. While there are longer pieces to delve into, my favorite is a very short piece by Mike Ward called, E-mail Addresses It Would Be Really Annoying To Give Out Over The Phone.

Regular readers of McSweeney’s monochromatic online offering will be used to getting their fix for free. Although the iPhone app isn’t free, it includes access to a weekly fix of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

The most promising aspect of McSweeney’s iPhone app is that it includes a six month subscription to the Small Chair. Every single week for the next six months you’ll receive scrummy multimedia blips — songs, videos, stories and such — from clever creative folk like Spike Jonze, Chris Ware and Jonathan Ames.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

It’s fall premiere season, and that means new shows. But it also means sparkly new ads to fill all those commercial breaks. New Apple ads for the iPhone provided pleasant relief for me yesterday from the tedium of the two-hour Heroes premiere. On a side note, the Castle premiere was pretty good.

But back to those commercials. All three highlight popular and unique iPhone apps, some of which have already been featured in previous commercials. Let’s take a look at the apps featured in each commercial.

Dine

The first ad is called Dine and features a smattering of apps covering a range of different topics, including travel, dining, working and shopping. Here’s a breakdown of the apps featured.

TripCase (Free) — Flight tracking, info and travel itinerary management app. Quite a few not so great reviews on this one, but it is free.

New York Subway 09 ($4.99) — Navigate the labyrinth of the New York City subway system with painstakingly hand drawn maps. Also not very favorably reviewed.

Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List (Free) — Access Epicurious.com’s database of great recipes. I actually use and love this app, since it lets me indulge the amateur chef in me.

Zagat To Go ‘09 ($9.99) — You like restaurants? Zagat ratings will help you know what you’re getting in to. Is it worth $10? It may depend on how much you value your meals out.

Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite ($9.99) — Check out my thoughts and impressions here.

Gap StyleMixer (Free) — Coordinate Gap clothes. Could be useful if you want to outfit yourself entirely in Gap.

Nature

Money, learning, nature and pizza predilections are at the core of this ad. I’m starting to see the pattern here. Weird pairs tied together by linguistic or thematic similarity.

iXpenseIt ($4.99) — Watch what you spend by tracking expenses and preparing a monthly budget. There’s also a free Lite version available.

DailyFinance (Free) — AOL helps stock market junkies stay up to date with quotes, portfolio tracking and business news.

GuitarToolkit ($9.99) — Before I traded my acoustic guitar for a 12-inch PowerBook G4, this was one of my staples. Now it’s a cool $10 home screen icon.

Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook ($9.99) — A globetrotter’s best friend. Or maybe just if you order a lot of Mandarin food.

iBird Explorer Plus ($19.99) — I’m not a particularly avid birder, but I’ve still been tempted to pick this up. Just think of how many birds you could randomly identify. Now that’s an app.

Pizza Hut (Free) — Order pizza without using your vocal chords or a computer! Truly, the future is upon us.

Pass

Use your iPhone to help you find things, pass things (that sounds bad), read things and learn how to read to begin with. They don’t mention it here, but it can also teach you math and science. Kids, don’t worry about going to school anymore.

Fandango (Free) — The online ticketing service has created this app to help you find info about movies and buy tickets to see them.

G-Park ($0.99) — Find your car in that ridiculous infinite field of concrete outside the local Costco. Those colored, numbered pillars do nothing.

VocabWiz College Vocabulary ($4.99) — Use this app to show up snooty college guys in bars, just like Matt Damon.

365 Crosswords ($4.99) — Fight off boredom with word games. That’s what I do. Or else Sudoku, which is like this but with less hard brain thinking.

Classics ($2.99) — Public domain books made to look very, very pretty on the iPhone. One reviewer faulted it for not including Twilight. That’s the primary reason to buy, in my opinion.

ABC Animals ($1.99) — Amuse and educate the kids, or help eliminate the secret shame of your illiteracy. Not that you’d be reading this if you were illiterate, I suppose.

Oh, and in case you weren’t aware, Apple makes sure to mention in each of these adds that there are now over 75,000 apps available in the App Store. Nothing like sheer volume to outshine the competition without mentioning them directly.

This round-up of Cricket apps is dedicated to all of the Cricket lovers around the world. With the ICC Champions Trophy beginning today, I thought it’d be a great opportunity to cover and review the Cricket apps that are available on the App store.

Despite the worldwide popularity of cricket, the market for cricket applications on the iPhone is nowhere near the saturation point of some of the other popular sports. While this is most likely due to cricket’s limited appeal to the American market, there is still a fair amount of competition abroad — and some interesting innovations being put forward by iPhone developers.

As more and more people get their hands on these devices, cricket fans from around the world have a choice between nine applications, most of which can be downloaded for less than US$1 for both the iPhone and iPod touch.

Cricket (99 cents)

Now in version 1.2, when the application is loaded, the news screen displays a list of headlines from articles published on ESPN’s Cricinfo website. Clicking on a headline opens a new screen which shows a summary of the article and a link to open the full story on the Cricinfo’s website. The same news stories can be filtered on a per-country basis via the Countries screen, which arguably makes the default news screen redundant. The Live screen shows at-a-glace summaries of all current and some recent matches. Clicking through on an individual match opens the match details on the Cricinfo website — which is not easily viewable on the iPhone screen.

Overall, the application doesn’t provide much more than what a visit to the Cricinfo website would provide and may make some people wonder if paying for the application is justified, especially seeing that there are free applications that offer similar functionality.

Cricket Live (iCricket) (99 cents)
A relatively new cricket application for the iPhone (released in February 2009), it’s primary feature is a simple, yet functional news aggregator and viewer which pulls articles from several major news sources. The titles of stories, along with the first few lines of the text as well as the date and time, are listed on the main application screen. Clicking on a story launches a new screen with a summary and an ability to open the full story on the relevant website (similar to Cricket, reviewed above). The settings screen provides end users with some control over which news sources are polled.

While the application is elegant in its simplicity, the same functionality is also offered in other free cricket applications. Alternatively, spending a couple of dollars on a good quality, commercial RSS reader would provide the ability to keep up to date with more than just cricket news and provide additional control over the display of the news.

Cricket Live-007 (99 cents)

Another application recently developed (launched in February 2009), provides ICC rankings in addition to the live scores and news. Live scores and recent scores are both accessible via different main menu options, which can make it awkward to find details on a particular match if it finishes earlier than expected. However, a full scorecard for each match is provided within the application, which is commendable despite the tad-unpolished design. The ICC rankings section shows the current standings of teams and players in tabular format — however, no additional player or team statistics are available. Still yet, this is a nice addition that isn’t provided by other applications, but as with the scores section, the design is somewhat mediocre.

Overall, the application has a comprehensive set of features for the small price. Although it was developed by a company that develops a range of other iPhone applications, one would have thought that more effort would have gone into the interface design. Apple’s products in general are renowned for having intuitive user interfaces, however, this application contradicts that, resulting in a less than impressive interface that detracts from the usability.

Cricket Trivia (99 cents)

Released in April 2009, the Cricket Trivia quiz is a relatively simple application with a few added features to tailor it more towards today’s gamers. After launching the application, the user selects the number of random questions that will be included in the test. Each question is then answered, one by one with the final score presented at the end. Navigation through each question is a bit rigid, with the user unable to skip a question or go back to it. Upon the completion of each test, the score is then added to a table that allows you to keep track of your performance. While this provides an element of game play to the applications, there’s no ability to enter your name next to a score or to compare scores online, although both features are available in many similar games offered today.

This applications seems to be more suitable to an iPod than to iPhone since quitting the application (e.g. to answer a phone call) results in the quiz being interrupted. The application would benefit from a free-flow mode where the user is able to answer, skip or revisit questions as they are asked. There is also room for the interface design features to be improved. Unlike other trivia quizzes where answers remain relatively unchanged, the cricket statistics are in constant flux and one presumes that the app would need to be regularly updated to keep up with these changes.

CricketRSS (99 cents)

While its name is more accurate in regards to what to expect when you come across it, CricketRSS is functionally similar to the Cricket Live (iCricket) application reviewed above. The main screen shows a list of news headlines and truncated descriptions, conveniently grouped by date. Clicking on any one of the news items opens up the details page which shows the full description and the ability to open the full source website.

The features of the application are relatively basic and, apart from some minor design inconsistencies between different screens, is reasonably functional. Though not feature-rich, there are no flaws in the application, though for a dedicated news application, it would have been better if it had a wider range of news sources, apart from the usual suspects.

ECB Cricket (Free)

The official application of the English & Wales Cricket Board was released in time for the 2009 English summer. The application opens on the main scores screen and lists the current England international and English County Cricket (ECC) matches. Clicking on a match displays the score summary. Rotating the device horizontally displays the full scorecard for the match, with each innings on a separate screen — a novel approach which maximizes the amount of data that can be shown on a single screen. The interface of the main news screen is reminiscent of the album selection screens on iPods and displays headlines, photos and the truncated descriptions for each news item. Clicking on an item reveals the full article inside the application itself with the photo section working in a similar way. The ECBtv section is a list of video podcasts from YouTube streaming the external YouTube player.

The major, though understandable, limitation of the app is that it only shows the scores for the ECC and the England international matches. As such, the market is somewhat limited to the UK and international ECC fans only. The other notable absence is the running commentary for the matches or the ability to see the past match scores or team standings. Overall, the application is extremely well polished, even though some of the elements may appear a bit gimmicky at times.

iCricket (Free)

When this application was first released in October 2008, it started out as just a free RSS reader for Cricinfo’s news feeds. Since then it has grown to also include links to match scores. The main screen lists various categories of news and scores in a standard scrollable view, though there’s no grouping of sections, which often makes it confusing to determine where to go to access the information you’re after. This is particularly awkward in relation to the match scores and commentary — links to scorecards on the Cricinfo website appears in one section of the application while the running commentary (for selected matches only) appears in a completely different section. The news part of the application is relatively standard, broken down into per-country categories. Clicking on a category takes the user to the list of headlines with truncated descriptions. Clicking on the article opens the Cricinfo website for the full article, skipping the news detail page common to the other applications.

The application is functional, though it generally takes a lot of clicking around to find the information you want to access. The logic behind the layout of the sections leaves a lot to be desired. However, for a free app and an amateur fan effort, it is cute and a better effort than some of the commercial cricket applications reviewed.

MobiCast (Free)

This anticipated app was released in October 2008. The opening screen of the application lists the current, upcoming and recent matches. Clicking on a match displays Cricinfo’s famous ball-by-ball commentary and gives access to the full scorecard for the match. Clicking on a news item displays the full story on the iPhone itself, without opening the external website. The photos section shows photos that do not appear to be linked to any current matches nor do they behave like standard iPhone photos — they cannot be zoomed or scrolled through using the standard gestures. The podcast section is a useful bookmark of the podcasts by Cricinfo’s commentators.

There’s no question that the quality and the comprehensiveness of Cricinfo’s data is top rate, however the resulting application is both confusing and extremely frustrating to use. For example, throughout the match detail screens, notification icons for “4,” “6” etc popping constantly, regardless if matches being played or not. Even more confusingly, the “Matches” tab shows the same type of information as the main screen — only presented in a different format. One certainly expects more from professional developers backed by ESPN and it is hard not to dismiss this as a token effort in the also-ran category of the App Store.

Virtual Cricket ($1.99)

While the final application, Virtual Cricket, was only recently released, it’s clear that the developer has addressed the shortcomings that have been identified with the other applications. The matches screen displays a list of current, upcoming and recently completed matches, with single-line match status and the time of the last update. Clicking on a match shows the match summary with current score and the most recent commentary highlights (4s, 6s, wickets, etc). The news section follows the familiar pattern of listing headlines and truncated descriptions. Clicking through shows a summary of the news item, with a link to open the full article. The main difference here is that the headlines are aggregated from around 20 different news sources, grouped by source and country and catering to each user’s local preferences. The feeds also include leading cricket blogs as an alternative to the traditional news sources, as well as several video channels.

Clearly, this seems to be the most comprehensive application currently available. It takes many of the best features of every other application reviewed and presents these features in a professionally polished package. In a quest for features, it doesn’t forget the details and implements niceties.

When I first heard that some of the first PSP Minis out the gate would be ported iPhone apps, I admittedly got a little bit excited imagining the competitive power of iPhone games on a platform with actual physical hardware controls. Turns out I should’ve reserved judgment.

First, as you may have seen, Minis will be limited to games only, so that’s a whole vast uncontested field left open for the iPod touch. That was bad enough, but now it looks like Minis will only be pale shadow versions of their former selves by the time they hit the PSP. For Minis, both wireless multiplayer and DLC or feature updating will be completely forbidden.

That’s right, according to Gamasutra, Sony’s putting its foot down on anything more complicated than pass and play in terms of multiplayer, and games will be pretty much static upon release. Both restrictions are said to be in service of expediting the review and approval process, a lesson they clearly learned from the beast that is Apple’s App Store submission review system. But is it the right takeaway?

If anything, Apple’s success with the App Store should actually suggest the opposite — namely, that allowing feature-rich and dynamic content into your marketplace is well worth the time investment and criticism you bring upon yourself in the process. Pocket God couldn’t exist in the climate Sony is setting up for Minis, nor could F.A.S.T. (Fleet Air Superiority Training).

Oh, and remember, there’s a 100MB cap for any game released in Mini form. Which cuts out another huge chunk of wildly successful iPhone and iPod touch games. Great job, Sony. I’m sure you’ll have iPhone devs climbing over themselves to generate releases for your untested, extremely limited platform.

The one thing many people did not expect with a new version of iTunes was that Apple would use the opportunity to cause dissent among its fanbase by introducing another new user interface. Some classify the new styling as “needed” and “elegant and refined” while others have resorted to a variety of hacks to return to the UI of yesteryear.

We’ve gone through every corner of iTunes we could find and dug up all of the major changes in the interface. Here’s what we found.

Welcome to iTunes 9

The first thing many noticed is that iTunes 9 now launches with a Welcome to iTunes screen, offering quick links to videos showcasing some of iTunes features. Similar to apps like iPhoto and iWeb, users can disable this by ticking a checkbox.

iTunes Preferences

iTunes Preferences also featured a few notable changes, specifically adding support for grouping iTunes U content.

iTunes 9 General Preferences

iTunes 8 General Preferences

Parental Control also received a new icon (matching the icon in Snow Leopard) as well as some slight rewording.

iTunes 9 Parental Controls

iTunes 8 Parental Controls

Removed from iTunes 9 are references in the Store section to “adding to shopping cart” versus buying with Amazon’s licensed 1-Click technology. Added is an option to use the full window when browsing the iTunes Store.

iTunes 9 Store Preferences

iTunes 8 Store Preferences

Browsing Content

Browsing content within iTunes has also received a refresh. While browsing music in List Mode, the artists have been grouped along the left, making it easier to narrow down your selection rather quickly.

iTunes 9 Music List Mode

When browsing in Grid View, the first thing you will notice is that the dark black background is gone and now albums are scattered amongst an off white background. Badged content, such as Podcasts, TV Shows, iTunes U and Movies feature blue badges instead of the original red. Gone from this view are the tabs to sort content within an area (such as Music) by Albums, Artists, Genres and Composers. This can be re-enabled via the View menu.

ITunes 9 Podcasts

Cover Flow view is pretty much the same, with the refining of the “full screen” icon.

iTunes 9 CoverFlow

The iTunes 9 Equalizer also received a refresh, styling the control knobs with blue accents.

iTunes 9 Equalizer

iTunes 8 Equalizer

Icons & Buttons

Buttons and displays in iTunes 9 have been overhauled to give them a more glossy, shiny three dimensional look. The toolbar has also been realigned, removing the ‘View’ label and moving the ‘Search’ label instead the Search field. The information area has also been updated, providing more useful information during syncing and downloading of content from the iTunes Store (such as time remaining).

iTunes 9 also brings about many refreshed icons, including many of the icons in the sidebar. Specifically, playlist icons have gotten the most attention, while TVs, Movies, Audiobooks, and Applications have seen slight refreshes as well.

Syncing

Syncing is by far the area that received the most attention in this revision. Specifically, users now have the ability to sync content more selectively. When choosing a TV show, for instance, they can sync specific seasons or specific episodes. When syncing a podcast, they can choose to sync specific episodes. When syncing photos, users can take advantage of the iPhoto ‘09 Faces and Places aspect to sync photos of particular people or a particular place. Many of these areas also provide a search field, making it easier to quickly narrow down and select the specific content you’re looking for.

Syncing TV Shows

Syncing Ringtones

Syncing iTunes U

Syncing Music

Syncing Photos

The biggest feature in the redesigned sync options is the ability to organize your iPhone and iPod touch apps directly within iTunes. Check the ones you wish to add, highlight to select them and drag them to whichever home screen you desire. Selecting multiple apps is a cinch and moving them between home screens is equally easy.

Syncing Apps

Everything Else

Upon a user’s first visit to a section, such as creating a new Playlist, or visiting the Podcast area, they are greeted with a new UI that discusses how that particular concept works.

iTunes 9 New Playlist

While this overview is fairly exhaustive, there are likely many other features that users will continue to discover. If there’s one we’ve missed, please use the comments to let us know!

]]> http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/16/itunes-ui-deconstructing-8-to-9/feed/ 45 limeology iTunes Icon Welcome to iTunes 9 iTunes 9 General Preferences iTunes 8 General Preferences iTunes 9 Parental Controls iTunes 8 Parental Controls iTunes 9 Store Preferences iTunes 8 Store Preferences iTunes 9 Music List Mode ITunes 9 Podcasts iTunes 9 CoverFlow iTunes 9 Equalizer iTunes 8 Equalizer iTunes 9 vs iTunes 8 Sidebar Icons TV Shows Syncing Ringtones Sync iTunes U Syncing Music Syncing Photos Syncing Apps iTunes 9 New Playlist http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/15/zune-hd-getting-application-store-3d-games/ http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/15/zune-hd-getting-application-store-3d-games/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:00:50 +0000 Darrell Etherington http://theappleblog.com/?p=32454 ]]>

Microsoft is obviously positioning the upcoming Zune HD as a competitor to Apple’s market-dominating iPod touch media player. More evidence of that came out today, as Engadget reports that Redmond has revealed that it will support downloadable apps, including 3D games.

I’m curious about whether or not said games will play nice with their Xbox 360 counterparts, or whether gaming on the Zune HD will at all influence or be affected by the superb 360 gaming experience (minus the occasional RROD, of course). With enough interoperability between the two devices, I think Microsoft could really take some ground away from the iPod touch.

Price is another area where Microsoft could potentially cut into Apple’s business. According to Microsoft’s Zune marketing manager, speaking to the Seattle Times’ Brian Seitz, all games and apps available on the Zune HD will be free downloads. That’s because they’ll either be developed in-house or in tandem with third-party sources, so developers won’t be able to just pick up an SDK and create software for the platform, at least not yet.

Which brings us to the Zune HD’s major failing when compared to the iPod touch. A few select free games handpicked (or hand-coded) by the device’s parent company itself will definitely help the Zune avoid a lot of the chaff and terribly designed offerings available in Apple’s App Store, but it will also stifle the possibility of finding a Rolando, a Tap Tap Revenge, a Fieldrunners, or any of the unique, amazing offerings from smaller studios and developers that managed to do more with the platform than Apple probably envisioned on its own.

In addition to games, the Zune HD will also get Facebook and Twitter apps. Early game titles include Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition, Vans Sk8: Pool Service, and Audiosurf Tilt. Does this latest announcement have anyone feeling more inclined towards Microsoft’s upcoming multimedia device?

Since updating to iPhone OS 3.0 on my iPod touch, the icons of some apps periodically get replaced with a faded version of another app’s icon, or with a strange combination of multiple images. Others don’t have an icon at all. I’ve grouped together a number of affected icons on my springboard in the screen cap to the right so you can see what I mean.

Apparently this is only affecting a small portion of users running iPhone OS 3.0. It affects my iPod touch, but my iPhone isn’t showing symptoms of it, nor is my girlfriend’s. Apple hasn’t yet commented on or released an update to resolve the issues. For those who are having problems, here’s a simple fix, courtesy of the good folks at Truphone, whose app appears to be one of those affected by the bug.

Step 1 – Go to the Applications section of iTunes on your iPhone/iPod touch and uncheck the affected application.

Step 2 – Sync your iPhone iPod touch.

Step 3 – Go back into the Applications section of iTunes on your iPhone/iPod touch and recheck the relevant application.

Step 4 – Sync your iPhone/iPod touch again.

My own quick and non-scientific testing indicates that this is indeed an effective way of resolving these bizarre glitches, although I haven’t had a chance yet to do any kind of long-term test, so whether or not this is a permanent fix remains to be seen. Likely an official fix is coming in iPhone OS 3.1 anyway, and the apps affected continue to work (at least in my experience), so for now the Truphone solution is plenty good enough for me.

Those of us interested in the gaming community, as well as in all things Apple, are probably aware that Sony is set to introduce the PSPgo, a UMD-less follow-up to its PlayStation Portable handheld gaming device. The PSPgo will rely on downloadable, rather than disc or cartridge-based media, like a certain phone/media player from our beloved Apple. One might say they’re poised to compete with one another.

According to news released today, that assumption appears to be right on the money. Sony announced 15 launch titles for its PSP Mini line, with Minis being the equivalent of the iPhone’s apps. Minis will be available to all PSPs, not just the new PSPgo, but the downloadable titles are clearly designed to bolster sales of the new hardware. You’ll recognize at least a few of those titles, including Fieldrunners and Hero of Sparta, from the App Store.

Tetris and MiniGore round out the list of iPhone apps that will be getting the direct port treatment. Sony handpicked all the titles because of their success in the App Store. 50 more titles are promised for inclusion in the Mini line by the end of 2009, and I’m assuming that a good number of those will likewise be App Store success stories.

First of all, let me just say that as a gamer, this announcement excites me greatly. I love many iPhone games, including all of those announced today as PSP Mini titles, but I hate iPhone controls (Rolando being the exception). Ninety-five percent of the games I’ve played on the iPhone would’ve been infinitely more enjoyable on the DS or PSP. And now it looks like Sony is going to pick the cream of the crop and make that a reality.

Will it affect Apple’s App Store sales? Yes, because I (and gamers like me) will probably wait for a PSP Mini release of most titles, even if it’s available for both platforms. Will it kill the iPhone as a gaming device? No way, because the PSPgo will have a much smaller audience than the iPhone, and casual gamers will continue to play on their phones, mostly because many of them won’t buy a handheld gaming console.

In the end, the user wins. Being able to target multiple platforms will prompt more and better development efforts from studios, and Sony will shoulder the arduous task of filtering through the thousands of throwaway apps to bring avid gamers quality content via the Mini platform. If Minis are a success, and Sony sees the wisdom of putting a phone in its PSP, then we’ll see some sparks fly. Until then, sit back and enjoy the fruits of a little mutually beneficial jostling for attention.

The proliferation of handheld GPS units has resulted in a geocaching craze. If you’re not familiar with the sport, here’s the scoop. People venture out with GPS devices and look for containers hidden in the great outdoors by other geocachers. Once found, you jot your name in the logbook, put the container back where you found it, and go find another. Think of it as a pumped-up version of the treasure hunts we used to go on as kids.

Since iPhones come equipped with GPS capabilities, it’s no surprise there’s been a recent jump in geocaching apps and tools available in the App Store, many of which nicely complement the open source geocaching apps already available for your computer. There are dozens of iPhone apps to choose from, but here are eleven good ones to get you started. Happy hunting!

Geocaching Toolkit iGCT (Free) — There’s lots of calculations involved in geocaching: from figuring out distances based on location, to translating roman numerals into normal numbers. This toolkit helps cut through some of that drudgery with calculators that help you convert degrees, minutes, seconds, geographical coordinates and more. It will also help you decrypt hint text to plain text, intersect lines and circles, and even remind you which letters correspond to which numbers on a telephone dialpad.

Geocaching With Geosphere ($7.99) — Here’s a great navigation tool for people already familiar with geocaching. Use it to import GPX or LOC files; organize, group, highlight or ignore caches; and display a compass to keep you on track. If you fire up this app while connected to the Internet you can use it to view video tutorials, access satellite images of your surroundings, and visit geocaching.com to find out what caches are nearby.

Geocaching Buddy ($9.99) — This is a great little app for participating in multi-caches or preparing them at home for other players. Make log notes, track parking as you travel, and answer questions at waypoints along the way, then use those answers to calculate new waypoints. Check out this screencast to see the app in action before you buy.

Geocaching ($9.99) — This simply-named app offers real-time access to new information in the databases at geocaching.com. You can also browse more than 800,000 worldwide geocaches, access their details, and save them for quick retrieval later. You can even use it to log into an existing geocaching.com account and check out searches you’ve already saved.

Geopher Lite ($1.99) — This app is designed for 3G/3GS phones and meant for geocaching on the fly. Use your phone’s GPS receiver to determine your location, then tell the app the latitude and longitude of where you want to go and Geopher Lite will show you how to get there.

GPS Compass ($1.99) — If you want to go on your next geocaching adventure armed with only the basics, then make sure you download this app. Toggle back and forth between your iPhone’s internal compass or the satellite-based GPS version to find out which way you’re going. Set the display to show a beautiful brass compass, or a plate with a rubber chicken as a directional needle, depending on your mood.

GPS Kit ($9.99) — Great for more than just geocaching, this app has tons of handy tools that make it perfect for everyday use. A personalized dashboard displays real-time data in metric or imperial units, manages an unlimited number of waypoints and trackpoints, integrates well with Google Earth and Maps, and keeps track of data like stopped time and average moving speed.

iGeoCacher ($14.99) — If you’ve been using the Web app iGeoCacher for paperless geocaching, then you’ll want to grab this version for your iPhone or iPod touch to view data on your device while offline.

iMarkMySpot ($0.99) — Like to take pictures while you’re geocaching? Then “snap up” this app. Use it while you’re out and about to take photos and automatically record your waypoint data, then display them all on a Google Map or email them to friends. Once you get home, iMarkMySpot makes logging and recording your expeditions a breeze since all your images will already be geotagged when you upload them to your computer.

Seek Cache ($0.99) — If you like to hit the geocaching trails without a lot of prep and hoopla, then check this out. Open the Seek Cache app on your iPhone and wait a few seconds for it to determine your GPS coordinates. A list of nearby caches pops up in a Safari browser window, and you’re off. What could be easier?

Caching ($6.99) — Seek Cache is great if you have an unlimited data plan or happen to be in a spot with a great connection, but otherwise Caching is a better option. Use it to find and load cache descriptions, hints, logs, and other information on your iPhone before you head out, then bring up the data when you’re out in the wild — no connection necessary.

If you’re a new or experienced geocacher, what apps do you use? Let us know in the comments.

With the academic year about to begin, and having already tackled the important issues of iWork vs. Office, it’s time to turn our attentions to the iPhone. With over 65,000 apps on the App Store, even subtracting all the iFart and iTip applications there are five I feel are indispensable for any college student’s life. These apps range from the practical to the whimsy — all school and no play makes for a grumpy Crumpy.

Evernote (Free)

Evernote has quickly become the dumping ground for any information I come across on the Internet. I don’t even bother bookmarking anything anymore; I just clip it into Evernote. It’s very useful when I’m researching a paper — I’ll just tag an entry with the name of the paper, or create a notebook just for that class. Since Evernote keeps the URL for all clipped pieces, it’s very convenient when I go back to cite the work. I haven’t gotten to the point where it replaces a pen and paper notebook in class — or with my horrid handwriting, a text editor on my Mac. I do find myself combining the notes into an Evernote note. The iPhone app makes it very easy to reference a note in class, take notes, or clip URLs from Mobile Safari.

MobileMe iDisk (Free)

While I use Dropbox to sync my files between my Mac and my PC, the MobileMe iDisk app is forcing me to take a serious look at iDisk for cloud storage. It’s easy to throw files from instructors on my iDisk and view them on my iPhone. I take a ton of online classes and my instructors love PowerPoint. I can dump the syllabus, lectures, and any relevant PDFs on iDisk and read them on my commute. What’s also nice is it displays the files in whatever fonts were used in the document, even if they aren’t supported on the iPhone. You can also cache the most recently viewed files on your iPhone for viewing if you’re not attached to a network.

Quickoffice ($12.99)

The other app forcing me to look at iDisk is Quickoffice, which can read and write files to your iDisk (except iWork files and .docx formats — the latter coming in a future update). While I certainly wouldn’t want to write a full-length research paper on the iPhone, the app is handy for quick edits while waiting for class to begin or updating the syllabus when the darn teacher can’t make up his or her mind on when projects are due. Not that that’s ever happened to me, mind you. Quickoffice also has better text formatting than Evernote, so it might be easier to take notes on.

Things ($9.99)

Things has become my to-do manager of choice, especially when coupled with the desktop version ($49). Running you about $60 for the pair, it’s not cheap. Where it shines is in how easy it is to use. I’ll create a project for each assignment, and then group them in a big Area of Responsibility for each class. In class, I’ll update Things on my iPhone with assignments. Things also displays a badge showing how many items are due today — although, sadly, there’s no push notification for this

Peggle ($4.99)

Don’t look at me like that. Until you’ve had to sit through a four-hour slide show on History of Architecture, with a professor droning on about buildings, you can’t talk to me about playing Peggle in class. In all seriousness, Peggle is an incredibly addicting game where it is easy to play a level or three waiting for class to begin.

Since every time I run through a series of recommended applications I neglect to mention someone’s favorite app, now it’s your turn: what applications do you find you can’t get through a school day without?

It’s time to take a look at my recommendations for the iPhone, hand-picked from the week’s App Store releases.

This week I’ve been looking at Gomi, Ustream 3GS Recorder, Simon the Sorcerer and Minigore.

Gomi ($1.99)
I’ve been waiting for Gomi for what seems like an absolute age now. The game’s developer, Bovine Dragon, is a regular tweeter and so when I woke up this morning to read that Gomi had finally been approved by Apple and released to the App Store, without even rolling out of bed, I immediately purchased the app. I’ve mentioned it a few times over the past few months, but to recap over the premise, the game blends Katamari Damacy object-rolling with planet hopping à la Mario Galaxy. The graphics are so lo-fi they look to be drawn using MS Paint on an old IBM running Windows ‘98. It’s charming, fun from the start and really easy to get to grips with. Plus, for two bucks you get over 140 levels, eight minigames and loads of achievements and unlockables.

Ustream 3GS Recorder (Free)
We’re going to start seeing more apps that are exclusive to the iPhone 3GS as the weeks roll, on and Ustream 3GS Recorder is most definitely one of them. The app makes use of the iPhone 3GS’s video functionality, enabling you to record video on the fly. Although the app doesn’t support video trimming as with the iPhone’s native Camera app, there are some handy advantages to using Ustream. For avid social networkers, the really special thing about this app is that, alongside uploading to Ustream, the app can also publish your video on Facebook and YouTube. In effect, this free app is an easy way to activate Facebook uploading on your iPhone 3GS and will provide the perfect stopgap before Facebook comes out with its long awaited app update.

Simon the Sorcerer ($4.99)
Another week of releases and another classic retro title gets a refit for the iPhone. In the past few weeks we’ve had Space Invaders, Monkey Island, Flight of the Amazon Queen and now, rather unexpectedly, classic point ‘n’ click fun with Simon the Sorcerer. Plucky young Simon has been teleported in to a world of magic, wearing traditional sorcerer’s garb and with a typically teenage attitude, it’s up to him to defeat the bad guys and find a way home. While the games mentioned in previous weeks have been been updated for the iPhone, Simon the Sorcerer just seems to have been shrunk to fit the device. It’s still a great game though and, while it’s certainly a relic from a bygone era, it’s one worth dusting off and checking out.

Minigore (99 cents)
Behind the scenes app developers seem to be facing some serious issues, but that’s clearly not stopped a slew of brilliant games arriving at the App Store. The latest must-have game is Minigore, an ultra-cute shooter featuring a small square man called John Gore. The game is set in a forest arena inhabited by the sweetest looking bad-guys you’ll ever blow to bits. The perfectly implemented dual-controls hark back to old school arena shooters like Robotron and Smash TV and, when you’re not frantically racing round the forest avoiding getting eaten, you’ll also notice that the artwork is positively delicious.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with more picks from the App Store.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

Normally, Apple removes apps from the App Store at a rate we can digest and analyze, but it looks like it’s now adopting a different tactic, maybe to frustrate criticism with sheer volume. This time around, it has given the boot to a stunning 900 apps in one fell swoop. The apps aggregated various web content, and charged $4.99 for the service, despite not being copyright holders of any of it.

The app’s developer, a company called Perfect Acumen owned by one Khalid Shalik, employed 26 Indian and Pakistani programmers who churned out 943 apps last year alone. The purpose of all of the apps was to grab content tailored to a specific target audience and just display it on the iPhone. Even this simple task it didn’t handle very well, according to user reviews, which mainly criticized the app, and worse still, Perfect Acumen held no copyrights for any of the content they republished, including photos of hot celebrities, which tend to catch the attention of fair-use publication enforcers.

According to The iPhone Blog, Apple says it revoked Perfect Acumen’s developer account and removed the apps when Shalik or any company representative failed to respond to any of the 100+ complaints Apple received as a result of the applications. Other developers also criticized Acumen’s shady marketing tactics. All in all, it seems like for once, Apple’s review process actually got something right, albeit belatedly.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there. Perhaps as a direct result of the kinds of complaints received against Perfect Acumen, Apple seems to be clamping down on all content source provider apps, according to Erica Sadun at TUAW. First to go are e-book applications, which, according to TUAW’s sources, are now being met with a blanket rejection policy because of third-party rights infringement. Like its stance on charitable applications, it just doesn’t want the onus of having to vet each app for the accuracy of its claims.

The policy appears to be a blanket one, though, and covers even apps where the developer is the owner of the content, or has the right to reproduce it and can prove it. It’s bound to be a major door-closing for app store developers, and one that will only continue to sour developer sentiment towards Apple and the way it does business. Finally, the icing on the cake, all e-book readers apparently also now run afoul of Apple’s policies (which might explain the lack of a Stanza update in recent memory).

It’s one thing to make sure you’re covered when it comes to legitimate accusations of enabling copyright infringement, but it’s another altogether to wage war on an entire subcategory (literally, since “Books” is one of the App Store’s categories of apps) of software. I suspect this has something to do with the rumored launch of a tablet-type device in the fall, which is said in some circles to have e-reader capabilities.

If so, this preemptive thinning of competition borders on the sinister, and I’m seriously considering a permanent switch to RIM just to protest these shady business practices. That said, there’s still plenty of opportunity to prove me wrong Apple. Let’s hope you do.

The idea of an App Store for the Mac is nothing new but finally, one company is transitioning the idea from a website to an actual application. Bodega, inspired by the Spanish word for “small convenience store,” is a freeware app that does just what we want: It acts as a storefront to lots of great applications for the Mac.

The storefront itself is organized much like a store, with applications represented by their icons residing on “shelves.” This is a bit of an adjustment, as immediately my instinct is to prefer something organized more like iTunes with a more minimal UI and a greater focus within each category of which apps are popular. In the interest of fairness to developers though, perhaps Bodega’s approach isn’t a bad one.

Applications are, as one would expect, grouped by different categories (audio, entertainment, etc.). At the moment, these categories are a bit sparse and slow loading, but since Bodega hasn’t reached 1.0 status yet, I’m betting that they are still working hard on performance improvements.

Similar to the App Store, each application links to a page where more details and screenshots are provided. Users can download demo versions from within the app, or buy the full version without leaving Bodega. All transactions occur through the actual developer’s website, which is just wrapped inside of the Bodega interface. It doesn’t appear that Bodega works out a percentage of profits like Apple does on the App Store, but instead Bodega allows for advertising and featured spots.

Users are free to post reviews of the application, and similar to the App Store, users must have the particular application installed on their Mac before being able to review it.

Bodega also features a universal software update mechanism, allowing apps that are available through Bodega to be updated in one central place. Missing from Apple’s own Software Update feature, this is a really useful tool and as more applications become available through Bodega, this will become even more practical.

Another useful feature of the application is that any apps purchased through Bodega can store their licensing information inside, preventing users from needing to keep up with PDF receipts or scraps of paper with serial numbers scrawled on them.

At the moment, most of the applications on Bodega are independent and smaller developers. Larger companies like EA Games, Adobe & Microsoft are missing. It will be interesting to see if any of these companies give attention to Bodega, or if Bodega will have to work to “prove” itself worthwhile first.

Usability is a huge factor that Bodega needs to focus on as it works towards its 1.0 release. The UI itself is nice, but is missing a certain shine that keeps it from being top of the line. Other nitpicks include a more consistent UI (button styles) and better integration with screenshots of applications. With next and previous buttons showing up even if there was only one screenshot, I became confused as to how many images there actually were or if the app was just being slow.

Overall, Bodega is a great application with lots of potential. I really hope to see more developers offer their titles through Bodega. Check out the free download from the Bodega website and let us know what you think.

Apple recently introduced two brand new TV commercials, currently airing on U.S. cable and network television, that continue the “There’s an app for that” series of ads. The two new spots, called “Share” and “Travel,” both highlight features common to all currently sold iPhone models, instead of just the newer 3GS.

In “Share,” the focus is squarely on the new peer to peer connectivity introduced in OS 3.0 that allows iPhones in close proximity to discover each other for multiplayer gaming and sharing. The ad features three apps that use peer to peer in different ways. Mover (free, iTunes link) allows image sharing using an innovative and well-designed interface tailored to the iPhone’s touchscreen controls. Bump (free, iTunes link) allows contact info exchange, and is the app that won Apple’s billionth app downloaded contest. Finally, EA’s Scrabble ($4.99, iTunes link) demonstrates the iPhone’s multiplayer gaming capabilities.

“Travel” provides a selection of apps handy for the globe-trotting iPhone owner. I was expecting Apple to throw in at least one that takes advantage of the new compass features in the 3GS, but they clearly wanted to stick to apps that would work on both the 3G and the 3GS. Rick Steves’ Historic Paris Walk ($4.99, iTunes link) is the first featured app, which provides a guided, narrated tour of the celebrated European capital. Next up is Paris Metro ‘09 ($4.99, iTunes link), which provides a transit map for the Paris underground. Finally, Freeverse’s Postman ($1.99, iTunes link) allows you to create and send custom postcards using photos in your album or that you take with your iPhone’s camera.

Apple clearly wants to focus more on what both currently available iPhone generations can do, rather than on the distinguishing features of the new 3GS. Since they’ve already tried to set up that distinction in the past, I think it’s a good strategy to just try to market a unified iPhone brand and let consumers make their own choices.

This series of ads continues to be a great way to show off the iPhone’s flexibility to consumers who may not be aware of its capabilities, but I’m surprised we haven’t yet seen a fan-made parody featuring a list of unfairly rejected or hamstringed apps, i.e., “Want to use Google Voice to connect with friends and family? There’s no app for that.” or “Want to stream your own, fairly acquired media from your home Slingbox over 3G whose usage you pay for? There’s no app for that.”

Someone make it happen. And please, Apple, by all means, continue to use Matt Costa’s Mr. Pitiful, because even just hearing the instrumental intro to that song has it stuck in my head for days, which is definitely a good thing.