The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

For just US$1.99, you could do a lot worse than picking up Skyworks's new Boardwalk Games [iTunes link]. Offering three carnival-style attractions, Boardwalk Games takes you into the midway with good gameplay, quality graphics, and audible sound. To be honest, those audible sounds kind of drove me a little nuts and I couldn't find a settings screen to could turn them off.

The three mini games are all simple toss-something-at-something games: toss a ball at tiki statues, toss a ball at milk bottles, toss a dart at balloons. It's fun. Admittedly, a little limited, but fun. The fun is probably worth more than the two bucks the app costs.

Just in case you think you're getting a little bit too good of a deal, well, you are. Skywork's included some fairly heavy-handed upselling ads in the game, which appear each time you finish playing a round. It's not too bad as these things go, but clearly they intend to balance their relatively low price point with targeted advertising.

I found the games easy to play and engaging. Will the app remain on your phone for the long term? Probably not. This is one of those use-it-for-a-few-days-or-weeks-then-toss-it kinds of games. There aren't compelling learning curves and not much room has been left for the app to grow. I'd recommend this for a rainy day / DMV visit / Doctor's Appointment, but it's not so amazing that you should rush out and buy it right away. It's amusing, it's well made, and I hate that music.

TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page.

Remember Zen Bound? It's a gorgeous and fun-to-play little puzzle game. So when I heard that SecretExit, the makers of Zen Bound, were about to release a new app, I was excited to get a sneak preview.

Stair Dismount is a very different game to Zen Bound. Although, as you can see in the above video, the audio and graphics quality are consistently high, it's not really fair to compare the two. According to SecretExit, Stair Dismount is more focused on "humor and social elements" rather than problem solving.

The game basically involves pushing someone down the stairs and seeing how many bones they break. Playing this made me feel like the world's worst sadist. Hard to get game playing satisfaction other than tormenting the poor dude.

With Stair Dismount, you can add the face of a Facebook friend and send screen shots of their broken body lying at the bottom of the staircase. Secret Exit dev Jani Kahrama notes, "It feels better with a friendly Facebook face on the guy :)."

Your enjoyment of this will vary by your personal take but for me, I don't think Stair Dismount will be staying on my iPod or be exposed to my kids. Stair Dismount is due to hit the App Store within the week.

About the video: At this time, TUAW can only create preview videos for applications compiled for 3.1 or earlier using a development (not distribution or ad hoc) build and review videos for distribution-compiled apps that are 3.1 or earlier.

TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page.

Software. It doesn't matter if it's for a Mac or for an iPhone. There are certain qualities we just love, that make an app really stand out to us. As a rough approximation, we call it "Attention to Detail" but there's a lot more going on than just looking at tiny details. It's about understanding the user, what he or she wants from the app and needs it to do and how the realities of being humans with weak eyes, large fingers, and bad memory affect the way software gets designed. I asked my TUAW colleagues to share their thoughts on what makes a good app.

Brett Terpstra loves apps that are designed with a unique look but that use familiar controls. As a design philosophy, his ideal applications are both easy to use and fun to look at. Delicious, if you will. Cookie-cutter app elements may be great for prototyping an application's infrastructure but to him an app that really stands out has a unique visual voice.

He really loves Tweetie 2's ability to refresh your Twitter stream by scrolling to the top (with a tap on the title bar, of course), then pulling down and letting go. It's non-standard, but so intuitive that it should be. That's the kind of attention to detail that makes him feel warm inside.

For me, it's all about putting yourself into the mindset of the user. Were features put in place because they need to be there or because the developer thought it would be cool? Is the developer really understanding how real people might use the app? Take the iPhone. Is there a switch that lets you disable autorotation when you're using a game while lying on a couch or in bed? Because that's how real users use real games. And if the developer hasn't thought about details like this, they haven't hit that design sweet spot of matching real world needs against programming limitations.

Chris Rawson loves well-designed icons. They should give you some indication of what the app does, so you can launch it with barely a glance. Want to use multi-touch controls? Make sure those controls are intuitive and that they provide an innovative use of the technology. In his opinion, Convertbot is a great example.

Remembering already-set preferences is another hobbyhorse. Take iPhone apps that connect with the Mac over Wi-Fi for example. A brain-dead simple initial setup should be followed by only needing to push a single button (if that) to connect on all subsequent connections. And as for a finishing touch, he feels that well-polished graphics shouldn't look like something squeezed out over a single afternoon by someone with no artistic skill whatsoever.

Well designed, easy to follow instructions are key for David Winograd. In the best of all possible worlds those instructions should even include user interaction, whether via Q&A or by modeling, to make sure the key points get through to the user. In his opinion, Irene's Spirit has the best tutorial he's ever seen in an iPhone app. If the app were as good as the tutorial, the world would probably implode.

These are just a few key points from our team. Add yours to the comments below. What are the key elements that make an application, whether for Mac or iPhone or any other platform, shine for you?

More Mac 101, tips and tricks for novice Mac users.

It's so easy to take Address Book for granted, and yet that simple utility has two absolutely killer features: big phone numbers and simple envelope printing. These features do exactly what their descriptions suggest: display phone numbers in Very, Large, Type -- and print envelopes, complete with your personal return address.

To zoom a phone number, control-click or right-click the number you want to see and choose Large Type from the contextual pop-up. Address Book zooms that number way out, allowing you to see it while dialing, even if you're not standing right next to the computer. I find that it's a lot easier just to show the number to my husband than try to read it out to him. Your spousal success rate may vary.

To print a properly formatted envelope, just insert a standard envelope into your printer. Make sure the address side (and not the flap side) faces the toner cartridge. For me, that is flap side down. My printer, which is pretty darn standard, has an envelope feeding clamp in the single sheet feed. I pop open the single sheet access, adjust the clamp inward to match the envelop size and feed in the envelop flap side down.

In Address Book all I need to do is select a contact and print it. (File > Print). Make sure you've chosen Envelopes from the Style (it's my default), and that Print my address is selected so the return address is properly added to the envelope. If you're using an envelope that's not a standard business layout, choose the proper layout. Address Book supports most common envelope styles used in North America, Japan, and "International."

Address Book can also print out mailing labels, lists, and a pocket address book. See the Style pop-up for details. For the free contact manager that comes with the OS, it's got moxie.

Last year, I was introduced to Funny Farm while working on a team project with my inlaws. I absolutely loved the idea of a puzzle that grew as you solved parts of it. The game works by associating words with their natural connections, e.g. "On the Farm" could inspire you to think of cow, chicken, and farmer (among other words). You then spin out those ideas to further connections. The chicken might be associated with rooster, hen, and egg, and so forth. So I was really excited to encounter iAssociate (iTunes link).

Developed by Fredrik Wahrman, iAssociate brings Funny Farm-style interaction to the iPhone. It's a really fun (and quite challenging) implementation with over a half dozen separate puzzles to work on, promising hours and hours of game play.

Each puzzle starts you out with a core idea. It's up to you to brainstorm ideas that fit around that idea, expanding each node into a wider set of associations. The word map is easy to scroll, and even though the iPhone display is quiter small, you can interact with a virtually large puzzle.

The game play is slightly different from Funny Farm in that instead of entering text into a central guessing area, you type text directly into nodes. If there are five nodes with six letters each, enter your guess into the central node, matching against all connected nodes. (You do get partial credit for guessing the right starting letters but the wrong word.)

I have only one real beef with iAssociate, which Wahrman promises me is being addressed in the next release. And that is the text size, particularly for the instructions. As you can see in the following image, helper overlay text is tiny. Speaking as a member of the graying community with weak eyes and a growing obsession with high fiber foods, iAssociate proved to me that I really need to look into bifocals or reading glasses. The text was headache-inducing small.

Beyond that, iAssociate was a blast to play. I enjoyed stretching my neurons a little and it makes a very good game for collaborating with friends. I do wish that Wahrman had built in some kind of multi-player feature, so groups could work on the puzzle together rather than be limited to pass-and-play. Hopefully that will be added in the future.

iAssociate costs $1.99 on the App Store. You can download a few versions (under the name "Associate This" (iTunes Link) as well, allowing you to try the game play before committing to buying the full product.

TUAW received a review promo code for this write-up.

Apple has added many new HD movie titles to iTunes, according to former TUAWian David Chartier's post for Macworld. David, who is an HD-aficionado, noticed that the iTunes Store just recently stocked both classic and new release HD movies, bringing the HD movie collection to nearly 300 titles.

The new HD content is sold at a premium price (typically $20), and as far as we can tell that pricing stands regardless of whether or not the movies offer iTunes Extras. A few titles, mostly items that were already available on iTunes, sell for less -- such as Terminator 2 [iTunes link] for just $13.

Until now, Apple has offered some of its HD content as exclusive Apple TV rentals. Items could be rented from Apple TV units that were not available to rent from the normal iTunes Store. It's unclear at this time whether Apple will continue this policy of exclusive Apple TV rentals, or will expand the iTunes store-based rental system to match the Apple TV offerings.

Matthias Ringwald, of iPhone Bluetooth fame, has just released BTstack 0.1 for iPhone. This video demonstrates his group's technology in action, as an iPhone syncs with a WiiMote and then uses the WiiMote for input. Although the system does not yet have OBEX, it is, as Ringwald writes, "better than Apple's nothing."

I haven't had a chance to give the software a spin yet (you can download the source from Google Code) but I'm looking forward to playing. BTstack creates device connections using the L2CAP protocol. The code is currently aimed at jailbroken devices only. It supplies a Bluetooth daemon (BTdaemon) that you access from your apps. Given that the release is still only at version 0.1, expect a certain degree of instability and a lot of further development potential.

iPhone developer Brian Stormont pinged us this morning to share the news that Apple has quietly updated iTunes Connect with a great new feature: Status History. Appearing near recently reviewed items, this option opens a detail table showing how your application has worked its way through the App Store review process, and on to the shelf. Stormont details this update on his site.

This option does not, at this time, appear to be universally available. When I checked my personal apps this morning in the iTunes Connect "Manage Your Applications" screen, I was unable to find any Status History links on any of my application listings. However, I was able to confirm this feature with other iPhone developers.

Another new feature appears to be that the amber-bubbled status messages have been extended. In addition to the standard "In Review," iTunes Connect now offers a "Waiting for Review" status for newly uploaded material. If you see any further interface changes or new status messages, drop us a comment and let us know.

So what does this all mean? In my opinion, this is all great stuff, helping move Apple towards greater developer feedback. No, it's still not the full ticketing system that a lot of us are hoping for but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Thanks, Maior

Holiday time is drawing near, with Black Friday just over the horizon. So have you started thinking about what to get your favorite gal? You might want to subscribe to a Monoprice e-mail alert to catch the latest restocks for your beloved's iPhone or iPod touch. Last night, they sold out of their 2200 mAh charge boosters within minutes. I snagged mine just in time.

Because, gentlemen, you need to face it: cables, remotes, and batteries are made of holiday win. Why not consider a miniDisplay cable to give your lady that second Mac mini monitor she's been dreaming about? Those redesigned Apple remotes make the perfect accompaniment to the treadmill, when watching "The View." Or, for that matter, when watching the morning financial news. Whatever floats your boat.

One of my female TUAW colleagues writes, "Last year I got earrings and returned them for a MacBook. My husband also knows that on Black Friday morning, in the dark, I will be at Radio Shack or MicroCenter -- elbows out to fend off other customers -- hissing at the sunlight and hoarding hard drives, enclosures, and spindles of DVDs."

Face it: Chicks love technology. Trust me. I'm a woman.

Results are not typical or representative of all real women's buying habits. Please check with a lawyer before deciding whether purchasing Mac peripherals are right for you. Side effects, including being kicked out of your home and/or marriage, may occur. Peripherals are not a substitute for fine jewelry. Do not attempt to offer technology when the spouse is pregnant or nursing. Consult a physician should a piece of technology make an accelerated impact with your head. In case of technology overdose, seek professional assistance, or contact a family counselor immediately.

We're a pretty AIM-based blog around these parts. The fact that Weblogs, Inc. is owned by AOL may or may not play a role in that. Regardless, we TUAWians spend a lot of time in AIM chat rooms. The App Store's lack of AOL chat room support has been a real burden when we're out on the road with iPhones.

I was delighted when a recent tweet put me in contact with Björn Teichmann, author of the iPhone IRC application Rooms [iTunes link]. Rooms, claimed Teichmann, could bring AOL chat rooms to our iPhones.

Teichmann sent over a promo code for his app, which normally retails for $1.99, and spent a few hours getting me up to speed on AOL chat rooms using his software. Let me explain: It's not that setting things up ended up being difficult to accomplish, but rather there weren't a lot of clear and available instructions for doing so. What Teichmann worked out over those hours was a somewhat reliable way to access AOL chat rooms via IRC.

Read on to learn more about his solution...

Read more →