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The first graphics cards that support DirectX 11—the next version of Microsoft’s gaming APIs with more fiyapowah—from both ATI and Nvidia will apparently arrive in the next couple of months. ATI’s first, with the RV870-based Radeon HD 5800 series shipping out next month (no surprise, since they were showing it off a couple months ago),…
You know what was dumb, until just now? That you had to pay, at least in Wii Points, to download the console’s Opera browser, which isn’t very good. Today, Nintendo would like to let you know that they’re (somewhat) sorry! The deal, according to ElectricPig, is as follows: If you never dropped those 500 Wii…
The Onion has drafted another startlingly important report examining how parents can use Facebook and Twitter to stay involved with their otherwise reluctant children. Click to view My favorite line on Twitter: “You just pick a name that’s very common and after it you add the year your son or daughter was born…just make sure…
Amazon’s usually the first place I look during a fit of impulse buying, which their iPhone app now makes stupidly easy. Product searches, comparisons and account management are a given, but what really pushes this one over the edge is a new feature called “Remembers.” Just snap a picture of a mysterious product or thing,…
Terribly violent little casual game, to birds. A terrible addictive little casual game, to humans. It’s a bit like a cross between a scorched earth game and a physics tool-your goal is to launch an avian cartoon into precariously stacked structures. The more you knock down, the higher you score. DOWNLOAD $1; Lite version: Free…
More free radio content than any actual radio could ever have. Tailored radio stations are great, sure, but old-fashioned programmed stations—AOL Radio’s specialty—have their charms. DOWNLOAD Free From The App Developers: AOL Radio powered by CBS Radio features over 200 stations that span more than 25 genres of music plus 150+ CBS RADIO stations from…
An exceptionally shiny first person shooter optimized for the iPhone 4, with slick, functional controls. Best of all is the 5 v 5 team deathmatch mode, which is just like the multiplayer action you’re used to on the consoles-including multiple guns, grenades, maps, and medals-except this one you play while you’re sitting on the toilet.…
It’s the first panorama app I’ve seen that doesn’t limit the image size to the camera size. You can paste together some seriously large photos with this. DOWNLOAD $3 From the App Developers: AutoStitch iPhone is a fully automatic image stitcher for the iPhone. This application unleashes the power of your iPhone’s camera to create…
Expensive? Sure. Totally essential for messaging hounds? Yup. $10 sounds steep for a messaging app, and it is—Fring, which is also on this list, can do most of what Beejive can do, for free. The difference is in the execution: Where Fring is serviceable, Beejive shines especially when it comes to multi-account management and busier…
Want to use your iPhone, but hate Google? You can sort of do that! DOWNLOAD Free From The App Developers: Make decisions and get where you need to go with Bing. See the Bing daily image and related trivia on the home screen. Search maps or the web with your voice—even say an address. Use…
Generative, ambient music by Brian Eno. If I need to say more, it’s also a mini-sequencer: Drop your finger on the liquidy pastel screen, play a note, make simple loops. Music For Airports that you can make yourself. In an airport, even. DOWNLOAD $4 From The App Developers: Developed by ambient pioneer Brian Eno and…
A lot of people buy Nintendo DSes for the sole purpose of having those Dr. Kawashima-approved brain-training games at hand. With this app, you get the exact same mind-juicing benefits for a few bucks, on hardware you already carry. You can debate the long-term efficacy of brain training games all you want, but there’s no…
If you’ve ever seen on of those spectacularly detailed “paintings” done on the iPhone, chances are it was created with this. This is fingerpainting in 2009. This is an app that started out simple—it was only after a few artists really started leveraging it that it feature set caught up with its potential. Today it’s…
There’s a lot of overlap in camera apps, so interface and novel features are generally what determine the best. (I like Snapture.) But Camera Plus Pro, already a great alternative camera app, now records video, which it competitors generally don’t. Trump card, folks! (Until everyone else does it too.) DOWNLOAD $2 From the App Developers:…
OK, very cool for Chase customers, not quite as cool for everyone else, but the latest update to Chase’s app lets you take deposit checks by snapping pictures of them with your iPhone. Chase isn’t the first bank to do this sort of thing, but they’re definitely the biggest, and when gigantic companies like JPMorgan…
You know the App Store needs an overhaul when apps like Chorus, which help you find other apps, are necessary. But alas, they are. Chorus crowdsources the effort to cut through the endless jungle of trash. Chorus is a bit like Apple’s native App Store app, except with drastically shifted emphasis: instead of giving category…
Plenty of apps can technically deal with unit conversions as well as ConvertBot can, but none of them have its fantastic, super-fast interface. The proud will always stick with the calculator/memory method, but the rest of us can indulge in Covertbot’s wheel-based controls, which, once set up properly, reduce just about any conversion into a…
I imagine there’s a huge group of people, like me, who don’t keep fastidious hour-to-hour calendars on Google or Outlook or whatever but whose days could benefit from a little more organization. Diacarta, a visual day planner, offers that type of organization (and offers it beautifully). The main screen of the app is a small…
DOWNLOAD Free From the App Developers: Dragon Diction is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon NaturallySpeaking that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text in email messages. In fact, it’s up to five (5) times faster than typing on the keyboard.
What’s the one thing I learned from playing Dreamscape? Popping bubbles is incredibly satisfying, even when those bubbles are fake. The pretty backgrounds give you a pleasant place to pop, and the bubble popping noise is just right (this, of course, is very important.) DOWNLOAD $0.99 From the app developers: jump into the #4 Arcade…