All Articles in Quick Apps

Chad’s excited. Why? TweekDeck for iPhone has just hit the App Store (iTunes link). Doesn’t look to be iPhone 3.0 Push Notification enabled just yet, but the hallmark feature of Twitter Groups and multiple, columnar dashboards (looks similar to tabs in Mobile Safari) are all in place. And you can “shake to refresh”.

Best of all? It’s free!

If you try it out, let us know how it works for you, and how it compares to your current favorite Twitter client.

TUAW brings word that Wolfram|Alpha, the revolutionary computational engine from the creator of Mathmatica, now has an iPhone (and iPod touch) optimized version available via http://www.wolframalpha.com/iphone.

Confession: aside from typing in “are you Skynet” and “do my taxes” I’m not quite sure how to use this new beastie, but if you’re smart enough to query up an answer to “what’s the second coolest smartphone, BlackBerry or Palm Pre?”, let us know your results!

PCalc developer James Thomson is one of our favorites because he not only makes great apps, but he seems to love doing it, and always figures out new, positive, and productive ways to get our attention.

This time around it isn’t just the release of an iPhone 3.0 compatible version of PCalc for iPhone ($9.99 – iTunes link) that includes support for copy and paste (and a couple of new vertical button layouts, one for engineers, one for programmers), it’s how he built one version of the app that supports both iPhone 2.2.1 and iPhone 3.0 at the same time. An iPhone version of Apple’s “universal binary” concept, as it were.

We’re not sure he’s the first to do this — and according to Twitter he isn’t either — but we hope he does write up the process when the 3.0 SDK NDA (non-disclosure agreement) lifts so other developers can do it as well. It’s an elegant solution to say the least.

Now to see if we can not only paste some complex calculations… but understand them!

9to5Mac (via Gizmodo) shows Push Notification already working in the latest version of Tap Rap Revenge [Free - iTunes link] when run on the iPhone 3.0 GM developer seed. Gizmodo, of course, raises the pertinent question:

It certainly isn’t the most creative use of background notifications—the messages only pop up when you’re challenged by another player—and I’m already wondering how, when all kinds of apps have this capability, the iPhone’s exceedingly simple notification system will scale.

Since Text Alerts don’t tack, a new one obliterates the one before it. What happens when an urgent IM is replaced by “Hey, dooooooode, can haz rock out?!” Sure, badges remain, but then you have to go looking for them…

Documents to Go is finally — FINALLY! — available for the iPhone. But, it currently only supports Word editing, no Excel (though they promise it via a free update), no PowerPoint (though no one else is doing that either). Yet, there’s a higher end version that includes Exchange Attachments integration!

148apps has the details, but the short and long of it is, there are two distinct versions now available:

• Documents to Go (Microsoft Word editing & Desktop sync) ($4.99 – iTunes link) allows you to create and edit Microsoft Word documents, view Excel, Powerpoint, iWork, PDF, and “other files” (presumably what’s natively supported), and includes a 2-way Wi-Fi desktop sync utility for Mac & Windows.
• Documents to Go with Exchange Attachments (Microsoft Word editing, Exchange attachments, & Desktop sync) ($9.99 – iTunes link) offers all the above plus the ability to receive, edit, and send Word docs, and view other docs attached to Microsoft Exchange emails (if you don’t have an Exchange account, don’t get this version!)

It looks like they’re still using their homebrew cut, copy, and paste solution, and with iPhone 3.0 just days away, the timing is a little awkward. Any developers Documents to Go on iPhone 3.0, let us know how that works for you. (We anticipate a 3.0 happy update ASAP)

The most important question is, however, all of you waiting on Documents to Go, is this what you wanted? Worth the wait? Sound off in the comments!

Screenshots after the break!

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PhoneView by Ecamm [$19.95 - Web link] is a Mac app that lets you get to iTunes media, photos, notes, contacts, SMS and call history data stored on your iPhone (or iPod touch), and also send files and folders back for storage on your device. What’s in the latest update?

Along with iPhone OS 3.0 compatibility, version 2.2 also adds faster note editing and fast access to the iPhone’s open browser windows, bookmarks and browser history.

Since Apple doesn’t provide any way to get some of that data off the iPhone, Mac users who want to keep call logs, SMS histories, etc. documented for posterity might find this of particular interest.

If you try it out, let us know how it works for you!

Ngmoco takes classic gaming concepts and genres, re-interprets them for the iPhone, and then makes them look better than anyone can believe an iPhone game can look. Star Defense, a galaxy-spanning take on tower defense, is no exception.

Shown off yesterday during the WWDC 2009 keynote, not only does Star Defense let you travel from planet to planet, touch, spin, and zoom your way around, deploy your firepower, and try to keep ahead of the deadly hoards of S’rath out to harshen your tower’s mellow, but it lets you challenge your friends over Facebook or Twitter for extra fun.

Star Defense is available now [$5.99 - iTunes link]

When iPhone 3.0 launches on June 17, Star Defense will use in-app purchases for expansion packs. For $2.99, for example, you can buy another galaxy of planets. A Plus Network will also allow for network play, leader-boards, and other online gaming features.

I had a chance to try the pre-release version out during the media tournament, and even though I didn’t fare to well in the rankings, I had skads of fun.

Think you can out score me? (Yeah, I do too…)

If there is one truth in the inter-verse, it’s this: Give Google time, and their WebApps will blow. your. mind. Some are brilliant, like Google Maps or Gmail. Some are tragic, like contacts, but all of them push the browserspace further and faster each and every time.

Their latest is Google Wave, revealed at I/O last week and built by the same brothers that kicked off the AJAX explosion with Google Maps. It asks the simple yet profound question: what if internet communication hadn’t been architected 40 years ago with email, but was imagined today?

Highly configurable, fabulously interactive, and — of course — entirely web-server centric, Google Wave lets users connect and work with other users via any browser and many devices. And you know the iPhone was front and center (alongside Android).

YouTube seems to be suffering lately (I blame Dieter’s Palm Pre videos for clogging the hubs!), and at an hour and twenty minutes long, the video above is time consuming to say the least, but if you watch even the beginning of it, win, lose, or draw, the glimpse it gives into the future of WebApps and especially mobile WebApps is fascinating.

We’ll avoid the obvious question (why live in a SIM world when you can live in the real one), and the metaphysical (maybe you’re just a SIM in someone else’s iPhone already…?) because, frankly, no one cares! The Sims 3 is — finally! — out for the iPhone and iPod touch:

Play with your Sim using touch and accelerometer controls while exploring stunning 3D open-world environments. Customize your Sim with personality traits and physical characteristics, as you decide whether to fulfill their destiny…or not. Do good or mischief. Fall in love or watch them get dumped. Pick a fight or make a friend. Good or bad, enjoy the ride with The Sims as they experience everything “real” life has to offer. ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE!

If you try it out, and manage to remember the rest of us still exist, let us know how you like the Sims 3 for the iPhone, okay?

[Thanks Andrew for the tip!]

A former pick of the week for me, and one of my most-used Mac and iPhone apps, has just seen the latter, mobile version updated. I had a chance to try out 1Password touch 2.0 [Free - iTunes link], and the new ability to sync Wallet Items, along with an entirely new, very robust way to sync over Wi-Fi, work the way such things ought.

If you loves security, and want the ability to take your super-strong, pseudo-random passwords, as well as credit cards, debit cards, and all that new goodness, with you, give it a try.