Voice Band iPhone applicatin let's you make music with your voice. By simply singing into your phone, Voice Band transforms your voice into 10 different instruments in real time. Looks really cool. Take a look:
Skype for the iPhone has been updated to add landscape mode, performance improvements, and a call quality indicator
With Skype on your iPhone or iPod touch you can call and instant message anyone else on Skype for free. You can also call landlines and mobiles and send SMS anywhere in the world, at great rates.
What's new in version 1.3:
Landscape mode for IM
Hints and Tips
General performance improvements
Call quality indicator
Fixed call drop issue when returning to a held Skype call
You can download Skype from the App Store for free (link).
Google today announced the launch of its Nexus One smartphone. It is based on the Android 2.1 operating system and offers 800x480 screen, 5 megapixel camera with flash, Qualcomm's 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. The Nexus One offers 512 MB of Flash and 512 MB of RAM, and ships with a 4 GB Micro SD card with support for cards up to 32 GB.
Nexus One is initially available from the Google web store in the US without service for $529 or starting at $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile USA. In the near future, Verizon Wireless in the US and Vodafone in Europe plan to offer similar service plans.
Here is the full list of hardware and software features:
Wind Os is a simple application that brings the feeling of using Windows on the iPhone. There is a bottom bar and user can open the Start menu and access minesweeper game and the notepad. The applications are fully functional, but there is always a possibility of some errors in the system:
This application has no real value and is therefore directed more to jokes. Just make friends think that you have installed a lightweight version of Windows on the iPhone. Wow!
Wind Os is avaliable in AppStore for $0.99 (link).
The Unreal Engine 3 is a modern 3D gaming engine which powers games such as Bioshock, Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3.
Anandtech spent some time with Mark Rein (Epic Games) last week and was shown a demo of the Unreal Engine 3 running on a 3rd Generation iPod Touch. The demo included a flythrough as well as a playable level from Unreal Tournament.
The game engine requires OpenGL 2.0 so this will restrict the game to 3rd generation iPod Touches and iPhone 3GSs only. Epic is planning on making the engine available to licensees at some point, opening the door eventually to Unreal-powered iPhone games. Epic tells Anand we're going to see Unreal running on another mobile platform at CES.
Microsoft just released an official application of its search engine "Bing". The app looks really good and is well done. It allows you to find websites, images, videos, maps, shopping, news and offers step by step directions to navigate from one point to another! There is even a voice search, a business directory, ability to add pushpins and save locations.
Bing app is avaliable for free via AppStore (link).
MacWorld has listed their 20 favorite apps of the year for the iPhone and iPod touch. With over 100,000 apps in the App Store, MacWorld focused on 20 categories and narrowed it down to the best performer in each category.
Apple created a list of the best iPhone games of 2009. The list is part of their iTunes Rewind 2009 where they are highlighting the best content across 2009 in music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts, and apps.
There is an app for about everything. iMaya is an iPhone application that shows a countdown clock until time X of 2012.
Here is a quick story about this Maya calendar. Maya civilization had several different calendars, the longest one, The Long Count, identifies a date by counting the number of days from the Mayan creation (August 11, 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar or September 6 in the Julian calendar). But instead of using a base-10 (decimal) scheme like Western numbering, the Long Count days were tallied in a modified base-20 scheme. Thus 0.0.0.1.5 is equal to 25, and 0.0.0.2.0 is equal to 40.
The Maya name for a day was k'in. Twenty of these k'ins are known as a winal or uinal. Eighteen winals make one tun. Twenty tuns are known as a k'atun. Twenty k'atuns make a b'ak'tun. Confused? Don't panic. 1 B'ak'tun is about 144,000 days or 394.3 years.
The date December 20, 2012 is simply the last day of the 13th b'ak'tun. And here is the big misinterpretation of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. There is a belief, that this date is the basis for a New Age and for a big cataclysm. For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle. But that is not the end of the Long Count because the 14th through 20th b'ak'tuns are still to come. So we need to wait for another 7 b'ak'tuns (> 2700 years), when this Long Count calendar will end.
The app costs $0.99 and is available in AppStore (link). It requires firmware 3.1.2 and is localized in various languages.
Google created a new application called Google Maps Navigator. This is a full and free navigation software supported by advertising. The app will have turn-by-turn navigation, traffic information, POI, voice search, sattelite, 3D and street views. There is only an app for the Android platfom, but an iPhone version will be released soon. Hopefully Apple will not reject it. Let's watch the video:
Otakulous manages a library of sexy manga images of great quality. New images are added to the library daily, and once downloaded they can be browsed offline. Images are displayed full screen and all have a resolution of 320 × 480 pixels, so that you can use them as wallpaper.
Otakulous is avaliable for $1.99 via AppStore (link).
The aim of the game is simple: spot the 5 differences between the two pictures shown on the screen before running out of time. The hard part is that these two pictures are photos of very sexy girls.
Features:
50 hot pictures of sexy girls
Multitouch zoom system: explore the picture by zooming in search of all the differences. An essential searching tool you won’t be able to do without!
Catchy tunes you will want to listen to every moment.
Compare your results with your friends’scores: the game provides two types of statistics, global statistics show you the average time and the average precision; single level statistics display the time, precision and number of repetition related to that single level. You will be rewarded with points at the end of every level: deploy all your spirit of observation in order to be the best!
Possibility of creating more than one user, each with its own statistics and personal settings.
The choice between 4 levels of difficulty makes this game suitable for all kinds of players.
We mentioned this in our previous sales update, but Firemint's Real Racing (AppStore link) has now dropped its price from $9.99 to $6.99 and is expected to remain there for this weekend only. Real Racing is considered one of the most technically impressive racing games on the iPhone:
Here are a few interesting sales over the past couple of days:
Silent Hill: The Escape ($7.99 -> $0.99, AppStore link) – Konami's first person shooting game set in a creepy environment has seen a massive price drop from $7.99 to $0.99. So, if you've been curious about this title, now's a good time to try it.
Resident Evil 4 ($7.99 -> $2.99, AppStore link) – The mobile edition of Resident Evil 4. There was some very split opinions between those who loved the game and those who felt it paled in comparison to the original console version. Regardless of your position, a $5 price drop certainly makes it easier to pick up.
Dirt Moto Racing ($4.99 -> $0.99, AppStore link) – A solid off-road racer that's easily worth $0.99.
Crash Bandicoot ($5.99 -> $2.99, AppStore link) – One of the original kart racers for the iPhone, it seems they are starting to feel the pressure with Konami's Krazy Kart Racing and the upcoming Shrek Kart.
And, we've heard of one major game that will be holding a sale soon. Firemint's Real Racing (App Store link) will see its first sale this weekend dropping from $9.99 to $6.99 temporarily. The sale should be live by Saturday morning, so keep that in mind if you've been holding out.
Enigmo [App Store link] was originally created in 2003, and since has become Pangea Software's most successful game. It was voted the "Best iPhone Game" of WWDC '08.
The goal of Enigmo is simple, water falls from droppers and a certain number of drops need to make it in to the tank at the end of the level. Utilizing a limited number of objects from the variety of different ones that make up the puzzle pieces in the game such as bumpers to bounce drops off of and sponges to collect drops, etc., the gameplay of Enigmo started simple but quickly made way to levels that would leave you stumped for days.
Enigmo 2 [App Store link] took the award winning gameplay of the original, made everything 3D, and even added lasers and plasma particles that must also be directed to their respective containers. Enigmo 2 takes place in space, and gravity plays an even bigger part than the original with objects that can be dropped in game to manipulate gravity to steer the plasma particles around.
User can rotate the world using two finger swiping gestures, and some puzzles will require the placing and manipulating of objects in 3D space to complete the level.
Pangea Software released demo video that details nearly every corner of Enigmo 2, and is really worth: