What it is: Archon Classic is an iPhone app that brings my favorite-ever Mac game to the iPhone — perfectly. It’s basically like extraordinarily Manichean version of chess — the battle between not just white and black pieces, but light and dark forces. And instead of merely taking other pieces as you do in chess or checkers, you must battle for each square you try to claim, with action and heated attacks. Whether you’re a phoenix, a shapeshifter, a golem, or a troll, you need quick reflexes to win.

Why it’s cool: Way back when my family got its first Mac Plus, one of the very first games we installed on it was Battle Chess, a title that had chess pieces actually fight each other instead of claiming their squares. Here’s the problem. It was actually completely lame. It was exactly like chess, except that it had slow-loading and highly repetitive animation sequences. I wanted real battle chess. I wanted to fight for each inch of precious territory. Needless to say, I stopped playing.

My frustrations were quickly remedied when my cousin introduced me to Archon for the NES. It was exactly what I had been looking for but better. We had a fierce, almost bitter rivalry. He was inevitably Light forces, I was Dark. And we would play again and again for hours. Eventually, I found Archon for Mac, and enjoyed it in its keyboard-driven black-and-white glory. Every once in a while when we get together, we still play it.

All of which is why I’m so geeked to play Archon Classic for iPhone. The $4 game has updated graphics sharper than any previous version, an intuitive touch interface, and the smoothest emulated D-Pad I have ever experienced on the platform. I played one game, and it was just like old times. Anyone who has ever enjoyed the original Archon will love this. I haven’t tried the multiplayer over WIFI yet, but I’m looking for challengers, if you’re interested.

Where to get it: You can find the App Store link here.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

What it is: Lala is a newish (about a year old) web-based music marketplace, but to brand it as simply that does an extreme disservice to an interesting, innovative Internet destination that, given enough publicity, strong management and bit of good fortune could become the first online music store to give iTunes a real run for its money as a music distributor.

Why it’s cool: When I was a kid growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, I spent uncounted hours in the music listening rooms at the back of Pop Tunes on Summer Avenue, where I discovered the heritage of the city they call the Home of the Blues, and learned about the ground-breaking artists who gave birth to the Blues’ baby, Rock & Roll.

Pop Tunes was a great spot to get in out of the hot summer sun or the cold winter rain, where I could browse the racks, amassing a stack of LPs and 45s, both old and new, and head for one of the four or five sound-proof listening rooms at the back of the store, where I’d listen to my heart’s content before deciding which of the albums or singles my meager allowance or paper route money would buy me any given week.

By the time I left home for college in another of the great music cities in the US - New Orleans - I had a music collection numbering over 1000 lp records and another few hundred 45rpm singles.

What does my ancient music-buying experience have to do with Lala and this review? Join me after the jump, where I try and tie it all together for you.

I’ve got over 10,000 songs in my iTunes collection but the overwhelming majority of them got there by my ripping CDs from my own collection and putting them into iTunes. Of course, I have bought music on the iTunes store, and there’s no denying that, as a music industry lawyer I know in Los Angeles says, “iTunes is the only online music store that matters.”

However, one thing I’ve always found limiting about iTunes, and a feature that seems to have been copied across the board by other online music retailers, is the 30 second preview.
Sure, you can check out any song in the collection, but the limitation to what can often seem like a randomly selected 30 second slice has always left me feeling short-changed.

Which is why, when I discovered Lala I was immediately transported to the halcyon days of my youth. You can listen to any of Lala’s more than 7 million songs all the way through once before being limited to a 30 second preview, and the effect of that feature is not only a feeling that the retailer is treating you fairly in the complex dance that can go on between buyers and sellers of music — but it also has the effect of providing you a way to check out whole albums and genres of music in what amounts to potential hours and hours and hours of free listening.

In my personal view, the complete listen-through feature is enough on its own to make Lala worth checking out the next time you want to buy some music.

But the site designers have built-in other innovations that make Lala a serious long range contender.

Web-only versions of songs you add to your collection, which is instantly accessible through any browser on any computer anywhere in the world, cost only 10¢s;. Most MP3 versions of songs available on Lala cost only 89¢s; (79¢s; if you’ve already bought the web only version) and are delivered in completely DRM-free 256kbps files that you own and can do with as you please forever.

Lala also has built-in social media features that allow you to find and follow other Lala members, discovering music through friends and other ‘influencers’ on the site. Songs can be rated and you can make notes about music in your collection for your own reference or to guide others in their pursuit of new music.

The clean, uncluttered, intuitive interface will be familiar to anyone who’s ever used iTunes and it allows you to easily organize your collection by artist, album or song, make playlists, share songs or albums via email, embed them into websites and post to Twitter, Facebook and Lala itself.

Using Lala’s Music Mover plug-in, uploading your current iTunes collection to Lala is effortless and instantly makes your music collection available to you anywhere in the world you can open a browser and get on the Internet.

Lala gives you 25 web songs free just for signing up so, it’s worth a look and a listen. I’ve only been using Lala for a few days, but I’m already having more fun with music than I’ve had since I was a kid riding his bike down Summer Ave. in Memphis, with Pop Tunes’ glowing neon record album beckoning me in the distance.

Where to get it: Signing up for Lala is absolutely free at http://www.lala.com.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Id Software has released Doom Resurrection for the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s the first official release for the iPhone/iPod touch in the storied Doom franchise, which is now 16 year’s old and still running strong.

The $9.99 game is an “all-new chapter in the Doom saga,” says ID Software.

The first-person-shooter is based on 2005’s Doom 3, not the seminal Doom Classic, which runs on just about every gadget known to man, including the original iPod (if it’s already hacked to run Linux).

Unlike previous versions of Doom, the gameplay is not free flow. The character moves along a pre-determined path, blasting zombies and demons and dodging oncomong projectiles. Aiming is controlled by the iPhone;s accelerometer and reportedly works well.

“We built a completely new play style for this game,” says ID Software’s CTO John Carmack. “We have no worries that we’re going to do something utterly not fun.”

Carmack says he plans to release his port of Doom Classic to the iPhone and iPod in coming weeks.

Link to Doom Resurrection on the iTunes App Store.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

UPDATE: The headline and photograph in this article have been updated to correctly state the standard agreed to by the handset makers referenced in the story.

Major cell phone handset makers including Apple, Nokia and Research in Motion (RIM) have agreed to back a European Union initiative to support standard device chargers that will charge any phone through a micro-USB port, according to a Reuters report Monday.

The agreement among 10 companies controlling 90% of the cell phone market in Europe calls for phones compatible with standard charging devices to be available in Europe beginning next year, according to EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, who said, “People will [no longer] have to throw away their charger whenever they buy a new phone.”

At its inception, the agreement applies only to data-enabled smartphones, perhaps the fastest growing segment of the mobile handset market, and will affect only devices produced for use in Europe.

Verheugen hailed the agreement as a boon for consumers as well as the environment and estimated it will help reduce tons of eWaste generated annually by consumers.

Significant unanswered questions remain: what took them so long, and where is the rest of the world in this deal? Do device manufacturers have to be cajoled by regulatory bodies continent by continent to adopt a standard that should have been in place at least a decade ago?

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

So you don’t really need a MacBook that morphs into an unmanned aerial vehicle to get your express letter delivered, but kudos to the folks who made this video showing that the French postal service might be capable of  movie-like transformer special effects.

Via The Register

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

iTunes is hosting a free month-long concert series — 31 nights, 62 bands — at  London’s  Roundhouse in July.
With that many acts, there’s bound to be something to tickle your eardrums, the line-up so far includes Oasis, Madeleine Peyroux, Kasabian, The Hoosiers and Franz Ferdinand.

Tickets for the third iTunes Live concert series are give-aways, only, drawn from a pool of friends of the free music fest on Facebook.  (And just like your real friends,  the organizers have will access to your profile information, photos and your friends’ info).

If you can’t make it to London, you can check out live broadcasts and video highlights, before the concert recordings are sold at 22 iTunes stores worldwide — again, if you become an Tunes EU fan on Facebook .

Via MacWorld

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

When I was in Miami, the Apple Store staffers told me I could buy an iPhone 3G S at the AT&T store without the account holder present, but no AT&T stores in Florida currently have them in stock, including stores in Miami, Orlando, Ocala and Gainesville.

I spent over an hour calling AT&T stores throughout the state. Why don’t AT&T employees have the capability to tell me if there is an iPhone in stock at a particular store???

I called an Apple Store in Orlando and asked how I could buy the iPhone 3G S without the AT&T account holder present, and an employee told me the only thing I could do was sign up for a new contract with AT&T… um, no thanks.

“No problem,” I thought. “I’ll order one online.”

So I went through the checkout process on Apple.com, hesitating before clicking Complete and spending $543.36, including an extra $10 for 2-3 day shipping — that is, after selling my 3G iPhone on eBay for $315.

I finally placed the order and received an email confirmation that said my iPhone should arrive between July 9 and July 13, twelve to sixteen days from yesterday. I’m not willing to wait that long.

So I canceled my order, called my dad in Miami and asked him to pick one up for me and ship it up to Gainesville. Hopefully I’ll have it in a few days. The problem is that, in the meantime, my phone will be deactivated because Apple requires you to activate the iPhone in the store when you purchase it, hence deactivating any other phone that’s using that account.

It makes no sense that I can buy an iPhone 3G S on Apple.com without a problem, but if you go to a physical Apple Store, they won’t sell it to you without the account holder by your side. In my opinion, if you’re willing to spend half a grand on a phone, you shouldn’t have to jump through hoops.

Has anyone else had trouble getting their hands on an iPhone 3G S? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments.

After using the iPhone 3GS for a week, here’s five of my favorite, non-obvious tricks I’ve picked up.

Show Battery Percentage
The iPhone battery meter is so imprecise as to be useless. But in iPhone 3, you can show the percentage charge. To show the battery percentage, go to Settings>General>Usage and turn on Battery Percentage.

Variable Speed Scrubbing
I listen to a lot of radio shows on the iPhone from my hometown, London. These shows can be a couple of hours long so I often “scrub” through to the best parts. On the iPod with a scroll wheel, this was easy. But on the iPhone, it became an ordeal — the song bar was notoriously fiddly and the track would often jump when you pulled your finger off. But with the 3.0 software, scrubbing can now done be at different speeds. When you hit the song bar it starts glowing, allowing you to scrub through the track from left to right. But the further you drag your finger vertically *down*, toward the “Home” button, the finer you can control the scrolling speed: it goes from “high speed” to “half speed,” “quarter speed,” and finally “fine scrubbing.” No more jumping tracks.

Double Tap “Home” To Launch Camera
I’m using the camera a lot on the new iPhone 3GS. Instead of going to the Home Screen and hunting for the Camera icon, the camera can be launched with a double tap of the Home button. Go to Settings>General>Home and select “Camera.”
(Alternatively, you can map the Home button double-tap to iPod, Phone Favorites, Search or Home).

Easy Email Suffixes
When typing out an email address in the “To” field, there’s a shortcut for adding .net .edu .org .com suffixes. Press and hold the “.” key (the period key) and the suffix options pop up.

Sound Check
This is really an Easter Egg, not a hidden feature, but delightful nonetheless. The new Voice Memos app shows the image of a microphone. Tap the image of the mic, and the VU meter jumps as if you were tapping a real microphone.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

A Parisian iPhone owner was recording friends in a backyard swimming pool when he accidentally dropped it in the water. Amazingly, the iPhone kept recording and was working fine when he fished it out.

“It still frickin’ works,” he says amazed into the still-recording camera. Watch the video of the entire episode below.

And it still works fine, says the owner. “Phone still working fine with no issues whatsoever,” he says in the comments to the video. “I’m probably the luckiest guy alive!!”

Although the iPhone 3GS is an exceptionally well-made piece of hardware, it is NOT waterproof. This iPhone had a rubbery condom cover on, which probably helped it survive the dip in the pool.

Via iClarified.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Phonesuit, makers of the excellent Mili PowerPack battery extender for iPhone and iPod Touch is set to leverage the video capability of iPhone 3G S and increasing interest in micro projectors with the Mili Pro, a new hand-held projector designed just for Apple mobile devices, coming in September 2009.

The Mili Pro is an iPhone / iPod compatible (all models), rechargeable, micro video projector with built-in speakers that will allow users to watch movies, video clips, podcasts and more in 640 x 480 resolution on screen surfaces up to 40 inches.

The projector will feature a variety of AV inputs, allowing users to feed AV directly through the standard dock connectors of iPhones and iPods, with two included RCA and VGA cables permitting connection directly to a laptop or PC, and to most standard AV equipment sources such as DVD players, VCR’s, etc. Users can switch between the various inputs at any time with the input source button.

The device will also ship with two removable. swappable battery packs providing up to 3 hours of uninterrupted projection power.

More hi-res pics after the jump

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

What it is: Diorama is the first stereoscopic 3D game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Think the lovechild of Labyrinth and MC Escher.

Why it’s good: With standard red/cyan 3d glasses the depth illusion of the hologram is truly hard to believe and the application of Apple’s mobile OS accelerometer makes Diorama one of the coolest things we’ve seen on the platform.

The current version, which sells for 99¢, features Jaw-dropping holographic 3D graphics, Stereoscopic rendering at 30 frames per second, and super realistic 3d physics played across 9 challenging board environments.

Plus, if you don’t happen to have a pair of 3D glasses lying around, you can send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to

American Paper Optics
3080 Bartlett Corporate Drive
Bartlett, TN 38133

and they will send you some.

Even better, Diorama’s developers provide a link to instructions for DIY 3D glasses.

Where to get it: 99¢ at the iTunes App Store

This video doesn’t even come close to doing the actual game justice, but we provide it here because that’s just how we roll.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Just how badly most iPhone owners wanted video may be seen in the spike in YouTube upload traffic since the iPhone 3GS launch — 400% since last Friday when the phone came out.

The surge follows the general pattern of upload increase from mobile phones, some 1,700% in the last six months, YouTube noted in a press release:

“This growth represents three things coming together: new video-enabled phones on the market, improvements that make it easier to post a video to YouTube from your phone, and a new feature on YouTube that allows people’s videos to be quickly and effortlessly shared through social networks.”

iPhone 3GS uploads (most are tagged “testing the iPhone 3GS,” which is how we’re guessing they culled the numbers, since they didn’t specify) range from baby Kaylee at Grandma’s to kitchen table trials and one dropped into a pool above — with a fairly surprise ending…

The vids are pretty good, content aside, clear and not too shaky. Got something interesting?
Add your upload link in the comments…

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

For two years now, Apple has had an incredibly dumb official system for handling ringtones on the iPhone. Rather than allowing you to just convert any song in your library into a ringer, Apple restricts you to only music purchased from the iTunes Store, and then charges 99 cents a song, at that.

Now, there is an elegant shareware solution to this problem, iPhone Ringtone Maker from Efiko, which costs $7.50 at the moment and can generate unlimited new tones for that initial purchase price. Which is nice, but what do you do if you just want one song in your library made into a ringer for life? Unfortunately, there is no free solution for Mac. Windows has iRinger, a serviceable (if ugly) app that does the trick for free.

And in the current era of virtualization, that suggests an incredibly kludgy solution in the making. Here’s a free (not-so-easy) 9-step process for turning any MP3 into an iPhone ringtone on your Mac. And yes, I actually did this, although I installed VirtualBox and Windows 7 for other reasons months ago, so I could at least leave that out.

1. Install VirtualBox from Sun on your computer.

2. Download and install the Release Candidate of Windows 7, following these directions.

3. Launch your Windows 7 environment in VB.

4. Direct a Windows web browser to the iRinger page, and download and install it.

5. From your Mac environment, e-mail the audio file you wish to convert to yourself.

6. Launch a webmail site in the Windows environment and download the song.

7. Import the song into iRinger, trim to just the portion you want, and export.

8. E-mail ringtone back to the Mac environment and import to iTunes.

9. Add it to your iPhone and select it.

And that’s it! Total time with downloads and installation…36 hours. Maybe you’re just better off spending $7.50, huh?

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.