Do you ever do any price comparison in the grocery store? Gallons vs. liters? Ounces vs. milligrams? Fifty feet of Scotch tape vs. 15 meters? What’s the best deal? Apples2Oranges is a $2.99 app from Ilium Software and can be downloaded to your iPhone from the App Store. It employs a simple touch interface where you can compare two kinds of modes: Ingredients Mode and Price Mode. Ingredients Mode lets you compare nutritional content for food you are eating or buying. Price Mode lets you compare two products side-by-side for the best price considering different measurements for volume, length, or area.
Just enter the numerical amount of the item on the left side of the “size” window, then select the type of measurement you are comparing in the right side of the “size” window, then press “compare” for the “price.” Or, if in Ingredient Mode, you can compare different measurements and even calories. This can be a very handy app if you are trying to save money at the store or trying to watch your calorie intake. Take a look in the App Store and get it if you like what you see.
When Trillion-dollar stimulus packages are being passed and spent and the dollar seems to buy less and less, it’s nice to find some real values in the App Store, like Touchmaster Volume 1 from Midway. At only $3.99, you get 5 games for your entertainment – that’s only about $.80 cents per game (before tax, of course).
Included with this bundle are the following: 1) Spellwinder – a word search game using adjacent letters in any direction to score points; 2) Dice King – a dice puzzle game where points are scored for swapping adjacent dice to form matching combinations of three or more dice; 3) Prismatix – a hexagonal matching game requiring linking gems in color combinations displayed by a wheel at the top of your screen; 4) Combo 11 – form combinations of cards equaling 11 in value, eliminating cards as you go; 5) Carpet – similar to Solitaire, the object of the game is to discard all cards in their respective suits in sequences of Ace to King, using your deck and “carpet” of cards.
In addition to trying to get the highest score you can, you can also complete challenges and earn trophies along the way. The graphics are decent and the gameplay is easy with the touch interface. For $3.99, this 5-game package will provide hours of entertainment.
And Lo! When Apple opened the 1st seal, “Pull My Finger” was approved. When Apple opened the 2nd seal, “iFart Mobile” earned $10,000 a day. And when Apple opened the 3rd seal, there was silence in the App Store… except for a deafening cacophony of flatulence as Fartbox took to the field of battle.
Mactropolis has all the… graphic details, including sounds and languages (languages!).
Yeah. Um. Darwin kernel, BSD networking, OpenGL graphics, and the first new UI revolution in a decade, and farting is dominating the sales discussion and — doubtless — the funding pitch space.
Could the Hell Mouth hurry up and swallow us now-ish?
Alan Oppenheimer of Open Door Networks was kind enough to send us the video above from their Christmas Card page. He also provided us with a great background story:
We’ve been doing software for Apple products for over a quarter of a century. 25 years ago today I think I personally was finishing up some code for the network (”AppleTalk”) for the new “Macintosh” computer that Apple was going to introduce in less than a month (”You’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984′”). I worked at Apple for 11 years, then started Open Door Networks 14 years ago. At Open Door we’ve done mainly Macintosh security software (blog at http://www.isfym.com), but also did a consumer product called Envision. When we (Open Door Networks + Project A = We-Envision.com) went to see what type of security software we could create for the iPhone, we determined there really wasn’t any (really — see blog entries), so we looked around for what else we could do, and Envision seemed like a natural fit. And it sure was, having now evolved into 25 different products! Our first and flagship product, iEnvision, shipped on day one (July 11) and we haven’t looked back since (we haven’t had time!).
We also have a surprise planned for Macworld in a week!
If you’ve had a chance to try out any of the Envision apps, drop us a comment and let us know what you think!
We like interesting developers and interesting stories here at TiPb, and Mike Kasprzak of Smiles sent us in this gem:
I don’t know how closely you’ve been following the whole price changing fiasco in the iTunes App Store. Games launching at like $8-$10, then dropping to $1 a day or so later. Or apps jumping between 2 prices every few days to get front page exposure on aggregation sites. That sort of thing. It’s really making things hard for us developers trying to run an honest shop. Well, I did something a little different with my game Smiles. I launched the game at $4.99, but instead of dropping the price like ‘conventional wisdom’ seems to suggest, I cut it in half. This works for me, since Smiles is actually 2 games (a clever business idea that… well… hasn’t work out in my favor yet). Customers can buy my game “Smiles” individual parts (Smiles Zen, and Smiles Drop) for $2.99 each, or save about $1 by purchasing “Smiles” for $4.99.
Patrik Aronsson let us know that MadInSweden has released their first iPhone game, Whack It: Frogs, intended to deliver a high level of graphics, music, and sound enjoyment. Why target the iPhone? According to Patrik:
The capacity and the possibilities inherent in the iPhone platform is just wonderful. The benefit of having the possibilty to execute a good idea without having to compromise is a thrill. Your own time is the only limitation
If you try it out, be sure to let us know what you think!
