I was excited when I saw there would be a Scrabble game for the iPod. It works on the iPod 5th generation, the new iPod Nano and the iPod Classic. I have a 5th gen, so I bought it and downloaded.
The main problem with the game is the small screen. That and the lack of a true pointing device. Viewing the whole board on a tiny screen is too much a strain on the eyes. Scrabble is a game that really requires you to concentrate on the board, visualizing letter combinations. I can watch a movie on my iPod, but playing this game for 30 minutes is different.
Also, using the scroll wheel is difficult. Placing letters in a 2d board using a device that allows you to navigate in 1d takes a long time. It is too hard to try out letter combinations. You simply have to do so in your mind. But if you play Scrabble like I do, you are trying to create multiple words at once, by lying letters next to other letters and getting 3, 4 or even 5 words out of one turn.
What I am comparing the iPod game to is the Windows version of the game. They look similar, actually. I play the Windows game a lot. It is probably half of the reason I run Parallels on my Mac. The Windows version is so much fun to use. You can play against a variety of AIs, and quickly arrange and re-arrange letters on the board to try things out. Not only is it fun, but it has made me such a better Scrabble player.
There is a Mac version of Scrabble, too, released after I had bought the Windows one. I think if anything, this iPod version has encouraged me to download and buy the Mac game. But I doubt I’ll ever try to play the iPod version again.
So yet another rumor this week that the Beatles catalog will finally be available in downloadable format, on iTunes. But it seems to be another false rumor. There seems to have been hundreds of such stories since the launch of iTunes, and yet still no Beatles. Meanwhile, other bands go online without so much as a mention.
So, why the obsession with the Beatles?
Well, there are many reasons. When the Beatles released their music, vinyl records were the format. So it was a major shift when compact discs came out. It only took a few years for the Beatles catalog to be remastered and released on CD, and that event really marked the arrival of CDs and the death of vinyl. So I guess some people think it will finally mark the moment where downloads will be the major distribution method.
Another reason for the hype is the history between Apple and Apple Corps. The later is the company that owns and controls the Beatles recordings. In the 80s, they sued Apple over the trademark of Apple. They settled as long as Apple (then Apple Computer) agreed not to enter the music business. But with the iPod and iTunes, it certainly seemed to Apple Corps that Apple Computer was in the music business. So another lawsuit, and another settlement.
Then, of course, there is the simple popularity of the Beatles and their songs. They have 200+ songs, of which about 150+ can be heard on classic rock or oldies stations at any time. From She Loves You to Let It Be, from Yesterday to Hey Jude, from Love Me Do to Revolution. They have so many recognizable songs, that it must be the most valuable catalog from any one single band.
But there are many reasons not to care whether the Beatles are on iTunes. First, all of their music has been digitally remastered and on CD for decades. So, there is no lack of availability. I won’t be buying any Beatles downloads, as I already have all the CDs. Are there really that many people out there that want Beatles music, but are waiting for slightly-lower-quality compressed files?
Second, Apple Corps will probably opt for heavy DRM (digital rights management). So it would be available on iTunes, but as protected files. I’d love to be wrong about this. Releasing the Beatles catalog DRM-free would surely be another nail in the coffin of DRM.
In the end it still would be nice to have the Beatles up there on iTunes, maybe just to see some of the youngest generation discovering their music through an iTunes wander.
At yesterday’s press conference, developers from Electronic Arts demoed Spore on the iPhone. But was it really Spore? No. It was a game using Spore elements, yes. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this won’t actually become a real game. We’ll never see it again.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think there will be all sorts of cool games coming out for the iPhone in June. Just Spore won’t be one of them.
The applications we saw yesterday were developed in two weeks by teams of developers sent to Apple. They were testing the SDK, and giving Apple something to show at the press conference. I’m sure that Apple was thrilled when the EA guys decided to take some art from Spore to make a quick game. It looked great at the press conference and made headlines.
But Spore is going to be one of the most advanced games ever made when it comes out. It will probably take a pretty decent computer or console to run it. The real Spore just isn’t going to work on the little iPhone. A dumbed-down version of Spore, or a Spore mini-game would be the only option. But with EA trying hard to make its September release date for Spore, I don’t see them dedicating resources to make a Spore mini-game for the iPhone.
And for those of us who can’t wait for Spore to come out, we’re not going to be getting it on the iPhone. We’re going to want it for our PCs and consoles. Why play a mini-game when we can play the real thing? And why settle for a mini-game and spend our time playing a mini-game when we can be spending our time on the real thing?
So, in the end, a Spore game for the iPhone just doesn’t make sense. But there will be some great games for the iPhone no doubt. So don’t worry.
Today Apple announced it will be releasing their internal SDK (Software Development Kit) for 3rd parties to use to build iPhone applications.
This SDK includes similar pieces to the Mac SDK, but replaces the top level Cocoa used on Macs, with Cocoa Touch, specifically designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The SDK includes many core services, like the ability to exchange data with the iPhone contacts application, get the physical location of the phone, mix and record audio, access the camera, play back video, and even including an embedded version of OpenGL, the 3D rendering service on Macs.
Developers will also have access to an iPhone simulator on their Mac that will help them test iPhone software before testing on a live iPhone.
At the press conference, several demonstration applications were shown, including a mini version of the upcoming Electronic Arts game Spore, a Super Monkey Ball game from Sega, an application from SalesForce.com, another from Epocrates, and an AOL Instant Messenger client.
For distribution, there will be a new “App Store” application on the iPhone that will allow users to browse and select applications to download. Similar functionality will be available via iTunes on your computer, with the application pushed to your iPhone during the next sync.
The App Store will be the ONLY way for developers to distribute content. Developers will pick the price, and Apple will keep 30% of the revenue, paid monthly. Developers can also choose to distribute their applications for free.
This will be version 2.0 of the iPhone software, shipping to iPhone users in late June as a free update to iPhone users, but iPod Touch users will have to pay for the update.
The iPhone SDK will be available from the Apple site later today. It will cost $99 to join the developer program.
Interesting facts from the Q&A Following the press conference:
The first announcement at today’s special press conference concerns using the iPhone for enterprise. So, basically, it means a new way to connect to a Microsoft Exchange server. Apple has licensed ActiveSync, the technology that allows mobile devices to do all sorts of things with Exchange. So, soon iPhone users will be able to get Exchange email pushed to their iPhone, and also sync other data including contacts and calendars.
Also implemented will be the all-important “wipe” feature. This means if your phone gets lost or stolen, the mail, contacts and calendar data from Exchange can be remotely wiped from it to protect your information.
I received some sort of keyboard firmware update today. I was restarting my MacBook Pro and was in a rush, so when I saw a message about a keyboard update, I just accepted. I have a MacBook Pro, 15 inch, 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, for those keeping score at home.
To my surprise, when I rebooted, my trackpad and keyboard were dead! Dead dead. Not even available for a PRAM reset during boot.
So I borrowed a USB keyboard and mouse, which worked fine. I tried several things, for two hours, until I found another MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update.app from Sept. 27, 2007. I installed that, which rolled me back, I guess. Then I got my keyboard and trackpad back.
But I was minutes away from giving up and driving to the Apple Store.
Of course, without the external USB mouse and keyboard, it would have been impossible to do this. At one point I only had an external mouse, and was unable to enter my password to allow the install. I suppose it is funny in retrospect. I wish there was a on-screen keyboard of some sort.
When Steve Jobs announced movie rentals for iTunes and Apple TV, he promised 1,000 titles in the first month. We’re at less than 400 and it is easily apparent to anyone with an Apple TV that you need probably more like 10,000 to make it a decent service.
The whole idea of being able to have a library on demand in your living room is great. I love it. I can’t wait. But it has to really be a library. I really need to be able to have a good chance of finding a movie that I want to watch. As it is, I’ve only watched three movies, and only one of those three was something I really wanted to see. The other two were opportunities to use the service. Now it has been 2 weeks and I have no interest (or have already seen or own on DVD) the rest of the catalog. Meanwhile, my wife and I have thrown out dozens of ideas on various evenings of movies we’d like to see. Things from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Nothing too unusual, really. But we didn’t find them on Apple TV, so on the Tivo wish-list they went.
Apple should really work at getting the back catalogs of the major studios online. As it is, any new buzz from Apple TV take 2 is already fading. It may be too late to save Apple TV, after a brief moment where it looked like it might succeed.
You might look into your iPhone and discover that it’s full of stars. That is, if you download one of these cool astronomy apps for your iPhone.
iSkygaze provides backyard astronomers with information on where and when objects will be viewable from their location. It provides rise/set times, current location in sky and basic brightness, as well as some other information on several easily viewable night sky objects. I do wish it expressed magnitude in standard numbers though.
The folks at Space.com bring us Starry Night Mobile, an iPhone friendly version of their stellar astronomy app Starry Night.
This is a super cool web app that lets you set any time or location and see a graphic representation of the sky.
My personal hobby is to watch satellites pass overhead from my hot tub. Though I would not get an iPhone near a hot tub, there’s an app that will let me know what to look for before I get in. Look Up is another little App that will let you know when some of the bigger satellites will be passing overhead. If you want to view information all the satellites that might be visible from your location, you’ll still have to go to the Heavens-above Website.
I’m hoping that when the SDK for the iPhone arrives, that we’ll see some cool telescope control apps from the iPhone.
It didn’t take long before somebody turned an jailbroken iPhone and turned it into a musical instrument. Moo-Cow-Music did just that, in fact, they created not one but three virtual instruments for the iPhone: a Guitar, a drum, and a piano. The best part is that the applications are donation-ware. Call your friends on their iPhones and let ’em know you are getting the band back together. But you might have to get into a shred-off with the first all iPhone band, iBand. You can check out the iBand in this YouTube video.
But Moo-Cow-Music isn’t the only instrument maker out there, there’s also the open source Pocket Guitar from Shinya Kasatani. Here’s a picture of the elegant interface of the Pocket guitar:
But wait there’s more! If you were thinking that you were left out just because you play an instrument called the Gansa in a Balinese Gamelan orchestra, you’d be wrong. Just download a little app called Gangsa by Masayuki Akamatsu, who has a bunch of other handy iPhone apps including the perennial favorite iPhone electric shaver app.
It will be interesting to see,what’s going to happen to all the jailbroken iPhones and apps once the iPhone SDK is released, hopefully it will allow the developers to make more stable legitimate applications. Then let the battle of the iBands begin!
I was talking to one of my students and she said that she would switch to a Mac. But she didn’t want to have to buy all of her apps over again. I asked what apps she was talking about and she said, her office apps, Word, Excel and Powerpoint. My first thought was you could get Office for Mac and then I thought you can do all of that with online apps like Google Docs. Welcome to cloud computing.
While Macs are relatively free of viruses and spyware and malware in general there is one area that isn’t as secure as you may think. That area is identity protection. And one way criminals steal your information is from phishing.
