Up There, from Veiled Games, a game that uses a red balloon as its fundamental element, tugs at the child's soul in all of us. Just what is it about red balloons--which have been featured in music, movies and children's books, and now electronic games--that fascinate us so?
Up There sits firmly in the genre of game that requires you to navigate your boat up a winding river, wend your space ship through a cave or a roll a ball through a series of obstacles. It's a common theme that is both easy and hard.
In this iteration, you must guide your red balloon skyward, while staying clear of obstacles on five levels: bookshelves, lumber, branches, clouds and stars.
What makes this game truly unique is its simple, yet elegant graphics and a soothing soundtrack. It's the kind of game that will put you into a meditative, Zen-like state, once you let yourself go with the flow.
It's on sale $0.99 now, at half the usual cost. If red balloons fascinate you as much as they do me, then play on.
We have the technology. Behold, the brand new iPhone 3G! In all its wonder, this new piece of equipment has single-handedly revolutionized cell phones now and forever. With more tricks and gimmicks than one could learn to use in a lifetime. It wouldn’t surprise me if it could keep you alive underwater!
But like almost every brand new technology these days, there are bound to be bugs involved. And this time, the iPhone 3G contains the whole colony. Widespread around the country (and around the world) is a panic of disappointment in the almighty iPhone and its lack of quality and reliability. Not only is it neither of those, there have also been complaints about almost every aspect of the phone. Just to list a few iPhone complaints:
• The iPhone 3G doesn’t ring in sleep mode • It can’t sync notes except for using a web-based application which slows it down • Pulling up contacts to make a call slows the iPhone down immensely • Very hard to select text; even with an application that lets you copy, cut and paste • Notes are sometimes completely deleted one letter at a time if you hit Backspace • No removable battery – Must send to Apple to replace
But these are just some of the petty bugs that have been exposed about the iPhone. The main problems with the phone are of much greater importance. For example, the battery life is considered to be far below average and inferior to other cell phones that have been on the market for the past 5 years.
The lack of reception in certain areas has also been one of the largest topics of argument in iPhone complaint forums all over the web. One unsatisfied customer (from www.alliphonecomplaints.com) Liza reports, “The AT&T signal bars now indicate the phone receives the highest signal in my home….but the calls invariably drop out. I can’t begin to say how frustrating that is!!! I could kick myself for buying this piece of…so I can dump the phone”.
The customer service provided by AT&T is said to be horrendous as well. Not to mention a hundred iPhone complaints but one new customer said, “I had the phone less than 24 hours and AT&T wouldn’t replace it” (www.alliphonecomplaints.com). Originally, there was only one company providing service for the iPhone (AT&T). Can you say ‘monopoly’? Of course, now that problem has been fixed but this is just another issue going to show how many problems surround this new piece of technology. I could go on and on for light years about how many different complaints there have been regarding the new iPhone but it all boils down to one important understanding:
Overall, iPhone 3G is more of a toy than a useful tool that can be reliably used for conducting business. So if you love playing games, designing iPhone apps, and surfing the web to find weather stats in 4,901 different time zones, the iPhone 3G is perfect for you. But if you want reliability, great reception everywhere, great customer service and a flexible and competitive service plan, your best bet is to simply go with an alternative.
One of the more entertaining aspects of owning an iPhone is the plethora of apps that are available for your use and enjoyment. Some of them are really helpful, informative, or at least interesting: weather updates, celeb gossip, directions, movie times, etc. Then there are the completely superfluous apps that make you scratch your head and wonder why anyone would ever need that -- right before you download it yourself.
iBeer is probably one of the most pointless apps, yet everyone seems to have it. It's an app that turns your screen into a full pint glass of beer, and you can "drink" it by tilting your iPhone downwards. The beer then flows out of the pint glass. Sounds simple enough, yet it's enough to reduce grown men to giggles when they all use it.
Tickle Me! is another app that seems to be mainly for the amusement factor - even if that factor does wear off pretty quickly. The app enables your touchscreen to respond to you tickling it, with a slightly irritating child's laugh.
One that still makes no sense is Hold On, an app where you hold your finger in one spot on the touch screen for as long as you can. That's it. This could probably be amusing for a bunch of drunken people who are pretending to be sober, but that's about it.
Everyone loves to pop bubble wrap, which is most likely why the Bubble Wrap app is so popular. It just fills your screen with bubble wrap that you "pop" by touching each bubble.
While this one doesn't do it anything useful, it certainly is cool – the PhoneSaber. It basically turns your touchscreen into a light saber, complete with visuals and sounds. It's pretty awesome, yet there seems to be limited things you can do with it. Challenge your friends to a duel, maybe?
One that may seem silly, but has popped up at concerts and rock shows a lot lately, is the Virtual Zippo. Gone are the days when you hold up a lighter at shows if something moves you - now you have the virtual version. This is admittedly better than people just holding up their cell phones, which has always looked silly.
CoinFlip is another that goes into the "is that really necessary?" category, yet everyone seems to have it. It does exactly what its name indicates - it flips a coin.
A pretty amusing app is the Abacus, which seemingly goes against everything the iPhone really is - cutting edge technology. But again, maybe for the drunk folks trying to figure out how much money they have at the end of the night, this might work.
Too tired to yell enthusiastically for your sports team of choice? Then the "Wooo!" app may be for you. It's a button that shows up on your touchscreen, and every time you hit it, a tinny voice says "wooo!" Very exciting.
Lastly, there is the I Can Has Cheezburger app, which sends you an update every time there's a new location posted. Who doesn't need that?
There's something compelling about some of these iPod touch apps, even though they do absolutely nothing useful, and in fact, just mostly take up space on your iPhone or iPod touch. However trivial some of these applications may seem, they offer enjoyment to the hundreds of thousands of users who download them. After all, isn’t that the point of these applications?
The iPod touch phone is the newest technology to sweep both the nation and world. It has become a valuable tool for people at home or on the go, for both business and pleasure. The phone uses iPod touch apps as programs that put the world at your fingertips. While there are thousands of apps available, choosing which ones are right for you can be difficult because there are so many to choose from. Here is a list of the Top 10 Most Useful iPod touch apps available. They are in no particular order; the usefulness of each app is different for each person.
1. The Twitterific App is a great iPod touch application. It is a community based website that allows the user to keep up with "twitter" friends. The user can read and post "tweets" such as comments, messages, and blogs. It has a built-in locator and allows the user to upload photos. It is a great communication application
2. The Google Mobile App is an excellent application for research and information on the iPod touch phone from Google, while on the go. It gives you a single text box to search through the web, while typing it looks for answers. As soon as you’re done typing the results pop up instantly.
3. The Myspace App and Facebook app are fun iPod touch apps. They allows the user to access their Myspace or Facebook profile from their phone. While it depends on which website the user uses, they are both similar in their use.
4. The Google Earth app is a very helpful iPod touch app. It is a navigational app that allows the user to get directions, view maps, or plan a trip.
5. The WeatherBug app manages and operates its own weather network that pin points weather conditions in your specific area. This iPod touch app provides live weather information.
6. The NetNewsWire app is a fast and efficient iPod touch app. that allows you to read the news and access feeds wherever you are.
7. The Paypal app is a fast way to send and receive money. This iPod touch app allows the user to buy items right from their phone.
8. The NES app is a fun way to play Nintendo games on your phone. This iPod touch app. has a variety of Nintendo games that the user can download and play.
9. The Tunewiki app allows the user to build a virtual media library: files can reside locally on the android file system or as a URL to a multimedia asset at YouTube, Yahoo Music, Imeem, friends' URL based remote storage or any other URL - accessed library. This iPod touch app also allows you to listen to your music on the go.
10. The Joost app is an entertaining iPod touch app that brings television and movies to the phone. Users can download music videos, TV shows, and even movies.
These are all great iPod touch apps, which are very useful in everyday life. Users are able to do a variety of things using the various apps. It is a great technological tool that can be used to its fullest capacity. All apps can be downloaded from the Apple App Store.
Up There, from Veiled Games, a game that uses a red balloon as its fundamental element, tugs at the child's soul in all of us. Just what is it about red balloons--which have been featured in music, movies and children's books, and now electronic games--that fascinate us so?
