I love tools that are all about providing people with information they want, and on Tuesday, the video game industry's official ratings board got my attention with something awfully useful.
The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) announced on Tuesday its new iPhone app, which is designed to put the board's full written summaries of more than 2,500 video games right at parents' fingertips.
A new iPhone app from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board allows parents to see the full ratings summaries of more than 1,500 video games.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)The idea is that with the app--officially called ESRB Rating, and available now, for free, in Apple's App Store--parents can punch in the name of any game rated by the board after July 1, 2008, and see not just the official rating--such as "M" for those 17 and up, or "E" for everyone--but the ESRB's full written summary of the title. The ESRB began writing the full summaries on July 1, 2008. Users of the app can also search for information about titles from before that date, but they will see only the basic letter rating and a brief content description.
Just over a year ago, the ESRB began making those summaries available to the public through its Web site, and through a mobile site (m.esrb.org). But the Web site isn't convenient to a parent who is actually out shopping for junior, and the mobile site is not something that many people who have standard cell phones will use, especially if they have to pay extra for data. An iPhone app is just so much easier.
Brilliant on-the-fly tools
Add this app, then, to the growing list of tools available for the iPhone and other smartphones that give consumers the ability to arm themselves with the most information about products and pricing while they actually have boots in the Best Buy, so to speak. Others include the brilliant SnapTell, which delivers comparative pricing information about books, DVDs, video games, and other items from sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Gamespot, and others based solely on a photograph, and RedLaser, which scans items' bar codes and delivers similar pricing information.
But what makes the ESRB app so terrific, it seems to me, is that it provides parents with exactly the kind of nuanced information they need to properly choose the kinds of games they want to buy for their kids. Sure, the basic letter rating gives some context--if you're concerned about violence or racy content, you probably want to stay away from "M"-rated games--but within a single rating category, there is still a wide spectrum of content.
For example, the hottest game in the world right now is Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The game has an "M" rating, but that just doesn't say all that much. Reading the summary, though, a parent can see much more: "Realistic gunfire, explosions, and cries of pain are heard during the frequent and fast-paced combat. The most intense depiction of violence occurs during a 'No Russian' mission where players take on the role of an undercover Ranger: Several civilians are gunned down at an airport as players are given a choice to participate in the killings (e.g., players can shoot a wounded civilian that is crawling on the ground), or walk by and observe without opening fire."
The app arms parents with the information to make informed buying decisions.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)That's a little more informative than "M," isn't it.
To be sure, kids are going to be able to get the games they want regardless of what their parents buy them. But given that games can cost $60 apiece--at least for the AAA console games--it may be that they don't quite have the means to sneak off with each and every first-person shooter they desire. They may still be dependent on Santa Claus, aka their parents, to get them the bulk of their games.
And, of course, those buyers who don't have an iPhone still will have to struggle to access these summaries, and it's unlikely that retailers will be providing them in any useful form.
But all in all, I find this precisely the kind of thing that puts the power over decisions about which video games to buy right back where it belongs: in parents' hands. We are in an age where so many pundits, politicians, and others are moaning and whining about the breakdown of society, and parents are complaining about the corruption of their children.
Well, complain no more: If you've got an iPhone--and I certainly hope the ESRB puts this app out for Android and other smartphones soon--you can do the research yourself. And then if you're still unhappy about the content in the games you buy your kids, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Corrected at 12:50 p.m. PST: This story incorrectly reported how many games rated by the ESRB would have summaries available through the iPhone app. It is more than 1,500.
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There are a few sales over the Thanksgiving long weekend here in the U.S. with some developers slashing prices on many popular iPhone games. Huge iPhone game developer, Gameloft, is having a 99-cent sale on many of their popular game titles throughout the weekend. EA Games is also in on the action, offering price cuts to several of their big titles. Some games I've talked about here like Madden NFL 10, FIFA 10, and NBA Live are $6.99 for a limited time (usually $9.99) and there are a lot of other great deals. If you've been waiting for the prices to drop on some of the bigger games, now is the time to check out the iTunes App Store--you just might be pleasantly surprised.
This week's apps include a stylish clock app and a new Star Wars game that lets you relive some of the great moments of the original movie.
Choose from many different clock skins
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)PerfectClock (Free for a limited time) lets you display stylish-looking clocks on your iPhone screen that are perfect for when your phone is sitting in an iPhone Docking Station. The app comes with a handful of clocks you can choose from, or you can easily download free clock skins from within the app. Along with the beautiful designs, PerfectClock lets you set alarms, offers a number of different ways to display information on screen (date, month, day of week) and you can disable the autolock so the clock stays visible while you're charging it.
PerfectClock also comes with a number of ambient sound loops like rainforest sounds, ocean waves, and more. That way if your iPhone charges on your bedside table, you can set PerfectClock to play sounds of nature for a set amount of time (and even fade out) while you doze off. Overall, if you would like to use your iPhone as your main alarm clock and want a few more options, or would just like to check out some of the imaginative clock designs, you should download this app.
Try to avoid Darth Vader's crosshairs as you fly down the trench
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Star Wars: Trench Run ($4.99) lets you relive the moments leading up to the destruction of the Death Star from Star Wars IV: A New Hope. You can play arcade mode and choose between a dogfight with Tie Fighters on the surface of the Death Star, or Trench Run, where you fly your X-Wing fighter down the trench evading Darth Vader and blowing away gun towers. The mission mode lets you fight your way through the ending moments in sequence up to firing your rockets in to the exhaust port and blowing up the Death Star. The controls are fairly simple: tilt your iPhone to steer your X-Wing and touch the right side of your screen to fire your weapons. You also can use a Force slow-down skill by touching the left side of the screen--a great option when the action gets particularly intense.
Though Star Wars: Trench Run is a fun diversion for a little while, the game doesn't offer much in the way of long-term replay value. Once you've done each of the missions and played the different types of game modes a few times, the action gets kind of repetitive. Still, with original sound effects and music by John Williams paired with smooth 3D graphics, this game will appeal to Star Wars fans who dreamed of doing the trench run so long ago (myself included). For more on Star Wars: Trench Run, check out Rick Broida's column here.
What's your favorite iPhone app? Have you found any good holiday app deals? Do you have a better clock app to share? What do you think of Star Wars: Trench Run? Let me know in the comments!
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With more than 100,000 apps in the iTunes App Store and huge success around the world with the iPhone, it would appear Apple has done just about everything right with the launch of its first mobile handset. But as any iPhone app developers will tell you, the app approval process is less than ideal, with some developers waiting well beyond Apple's 14-day waiting period and sometimes longer to get their apps approved. Though Apple has stated it is working on the app approval process, there has been little in the way of progress if you ask iPhone app developers.
Recently, Apple added an automated system for weeding out developers who use Apple's private APIs, a process that may be part of a larger plan to cut down on some of the wait time. Unfortunately, developers are still struggling to get their apps to the iTunes store, finding out at the end of the 14-day waiting period that it was the automated system that turned them down. Hopefully, as more time passes, Apple will be able to figure out a way to make the process more efficient while still being able to provide high-quality and secure apps for everyone. Happy iPhone app developers mean more and better apps, so it's in all of our best interests for Apple to make the process better.
This week's apps include a new (to iPhone) multiservice chat client and a stunt-racing game with beautiful 3D graphics.
Use the tabs at the top to switch conversations
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Trillian ($4.99) is a popular multiservice chat client on Windows machines that you can now use on your iPhone. Multiservice chat clients are ideal for those who have accounts across several services like Yahoo, Google, ICQ/AIM, and MSN, and want to use just one client to access them all. The interface is fairly intuitive, letting you add your user names and passwords for each service, and then letting you log on to all or specific services with only a few taps on your touch screen. Trillian does not support landscape mode for typing yet, but the developers say it is coming soon.
Once you're logged in, the Trillian interface looks a lot like it does in the Windows client, complete with your buddies' avatars, contact categories (friends, coworkers, etc.), and color-coded icons to indicate which service your friends are using. The way Trillian handles multiple chat sessions on the iPhone client is excellent, with a touch-scrollable tabbed interface, making it easy to switch conversations quickly. Also especially useful (and clever) is the push notification system, that sends you the first message of a chain so you know someone is trying to reach you, but doesn't send a huge list of messages when you don't want them. At this time, you can only stay logged-in (with the app suspended) for a maximum of 24 hours, but the folks at Trillian say it will be lengthened to seven days in future updates. Though the price is a little steep in my opinion, Trillian is a high-quality chat client that will appeal to those who use multiple services.
The screenshot doesn't do it justice, but this game looks and plays great
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Jet Car Stunts is a stunt-racing game that runs surprisingly smoothly on first gen iPhones on up to the 3GS. Beyond the beautiful graphics, the driving control system is excellent, using the accelerometer for steering and onscreen controls for gas and brakes. What makes the game unique from other racing games are the controls for your rocket boost to complete big jumps, and the braking system that works both on the ground and in the air.
You can choose from two different game types including Time Trial and Platforming. In Time Trial, you race five laps around a track with corkscrew twists, tight turns, and huge jumps, to qualify for bronze-, silver-, or gold-medal times. Platforming has no time limit, but instead records the number of tries it takes you to complete difficult tracks--and they get very difficult in both game types. Time Trial has three skill levels, with four tracks to complete in each to move on the next skill level. Platforming has five difficulty levels, with five tracks in each to pass before moving on. Overall, Jet Car Stunts is one of the more unique racing games and features excellent graphics, extremely smooth controls, and plenty of replay value, with increasingly challenging tracks. I've had the game for a week and I still can't get over both how good it looks and how smooth it plays.
What's your favorite iPhone app? Were you waiting for a big-name multiservice chat client like Trillian before spending your money? Is Jet Car Stunts hard or am I just not good enough? Let me know in the comments!
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Like I've mentioned here several times before, I'm one of the people who is still using the iPhone 3G. Like many, I'm waiting for my two-year contract to be up so I can get whatever the next-gen iPhone is. It doesn't bother me too much (aside from a few app features that require 3GS), but I do long for the faster processing power and extra features found in the latest iPhone. Especially when it comes to (surprise!) games.
To give you an idea of the difference between the two iPhone processors and how they effect game performance, fellow CNET editor, Josh Lowensohn, put the two iPhone models to the test. In Josh's article, he offers up several side-by-side comparisons of many of the top iPhone games with analysis. If you're an iPhone-gaming fan or just want to see how the processing power matches up between the two models, check out his article.
This week's apps are both games, with the first complete basketball game for the iPhone and a fun sequel to one of the more unique games in the iTunes App Store.
I hope Ellis doesn't pass it to the guy with the green square around him
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)NBA Live ($9.99) is the first fully licensed and complete basketball game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. You can play as any of the 30 NBA teams featuring the actual players and stats. You can play a quick exhibition game, play through an entire season, or just play through the playoffs up to the NBA Championship. The control system includes an onscreen joystick for movement and two buttons that take care of most basketball action (shooting, passing, etc.), but with a clever system for pulling off more advanced moves. The graphics are not on par with what you'll find in the current basketball games on consoles, but for an iPhone game, it looks fairly good and plays well enough to satisfy basketball game fans.
NBA Live packs a lot of features into the game using only a couple of buttons. Advanced moves like cross-over dribbles and hardcore dunks require you touch a button then flick in a direction. Holding down on the pass button brings up icons you can touch to pass to specific players. If you want to go deeper than just running and gunning, you can touch the clipboard icon to call a play and set up an open man for an easy shot. While I'm happy with NBA Live as an iPhone basketball game, I may be spoiled by the smooth experience on console versions. The graphics are pretty good, but not great and the movement can be a bit jerky. Overall, I think it's a pretty good basketball game, but it might be worth waiting a little while to see if it goes on sale. Hardcore fans should get this game.
The simple, hand-drawn graphics are part of what makes this game charming.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)JellyCar 2 is the sequel to the unique squishy driving-puzzle game, JellyCar. JellyCar 2 expands on the hand-drawn, cartoon puzzle game with several more levels, new game types, and the capability to customize your car and create your own levels. The controls involve touching the screen on either side to go forward and backward and you can tilt your iPhone to right your car when it flips over. Play the game in the Classic Mode to navigate your car through a level to the goal in the least amount of time. You have three skill levels in classic mode with a number of tracks for each level. Long Jump mode lets you drive down a long ramp and use obstacles in the level to project your car the longest distance. The third mode adds a new game entirely, requiring you to direct Tetris-like puzzle pieces to their associated bins--strange sounding, but it's pretty fun with the JellyCar physics in play. Adding to your options for solving puzzles, you can touch the car to "go big" like the original JellyCar. You also get two extra skills you can grab while driving: a balloon that lets you take to the air and one that makes your wheels sticky--each of which you will use at different times to pass levels.
JellyCar 2 also adds a few other features to play with and will amount to a lot of replay value. You can customize your vehicle and wheels with different colors, but you can also choose different vehicles, each with their own physical properties to change how you attack various levels. A new editing mode even lets you create and save your own levels from the ground up. Overall, I think JellyCar 2 is in a class by itself, with a fun, stylistic feel to the game and plenty of challenging levels that are very enjoyable to play.
What's your favorite iPhone app? Do you think NBA Live is worth the price to play? Is JellyCar 2 a worthy sequel to JellyCar? Let me know in the comments!
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Is the iPhone finally coming to Verizon? According to an article over at Apple Insider, sources in the Taiwan handset supply chain say Apple has contracted to produce a UMTS/CDMA hybrid iPhone, making it compatible with more networks worldwide. The sources say the move indicates that Apple is specifically targeting Verizon and that we may see Verizon iPhones by the end of next year.
Whenever I talk to anyone about the iPhone, they always say the same thing; they love the device, but wish that AT&T had better coverage. I happen to agree, because even where I work in San Francisco (a supposedly "hot" AT&T zone), I get really bad coverage at my desk and often need to walk to another part of the building to get decent reception. I even have to walk over to a window to send text messages! Maybe these new Verizon rumors will light a fire under AT&T to improve its coverage, because you can bet a lot of people will be jumping ship if Verizon gets the iPhone next year (including me!).
This week's apps include a free app to explore the latest NASA info and a game where you race at high speeds on a cushion of air.
View tons of images from several NASA missions including classic Space Shuttle shots
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)The NASA app (free) gives you all the latest news, images, and video of current space missions from NASA. Get up-to-the minute updates of current missions with this official NASA app and follow the path of your favorite spacecraft. The interface is extremely easy to navigate, with buttons across the bottom for current missions, images, videos, and news updates. The missions screen lets you sort by your particular interest with info and multimedia about the International Space Station; NASA's recently unveiled ship, the Constellation; the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; and several others.
The NASA app is perfect for those interested in science and space exploration with plenty of images and video to get a window into projects NASA is currently working on. The ability to follow current and future missions is particularly interesting because if you hear about a launch, you'll be able to track a ship's progress and follow along with the latest news from the mission. Anyone with an interest in science, space exploration, and current NASA missions should definitely grab this free app. When the next mission comes, you'll have a free tool on your iPhone to follow along as astronauts trace their path across the sky.
Use the pedal on the right to boost when the outer (yellow) meter is filled up
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Ground Effect ($3.99) is a hovercraft racing game with beautiful 3D graphics and challenging gameplay. Tilt your iPhone or iPod Touch to steer your hover craft and use onscreen controls to accelerate and break. The game is set up with tracks laid out across a ring of islands in a tropical setting. Choose from 10 different styles of hovercraft and race through check points around 14 different tracks you will unlock as you progress. You can race to unlock new tracks or choose Ghost Race to try to go for your best time against a ghost of your previous best lap.
Ground Effect has excellent 3D graphics and a control system that's easy to pick up and play, but difficult to master. Your hovercraft automatically accelerates to it's cruising speed, but you'll need to use the gas pedal to get a momentary boost to push you past opponents. Once the boost meter goes down, you'll need to wait some time before you can initiate another burst. As the game progresses and you race on harder tracks, you'll need to use the brakes at just the right time to quickly navigate sharper turns. Anyone who likes racing games and wants something a little different than the usual auto-racing type of game should check out Ground Effect. Unfortunately, there is no multiplayer option at this time, but a solid Wi-Fi multiplayer might be the thing to make this game truly great.
What's your favorite iPhone app? Are you excited that the iPhone may soon become available on Verizon? What other good science apps have you tried? What do you think of Ground Effect? Let me know in the comments!
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As announced a few months ago, the iPhone has officially made landfall in China. But even with such an enormous potential market, Apple may still have some problems selling the device. Apparently, due to issues with Chinese carriers, iPhones in China have no support for Wi-Fi. To add insult to injury among Chinese users, the price of the iPhone comes in at 4,999 yuan, or $730. If you buy the smartphone without a contract it comes in at a whopping $1,024, according to the Wall Street Journal. Fortunately, a ban on Wi-Fi by one Chinese carrier has been softened recently so iPhone 3GS users may get the faster connection speeds soon. Still, at that high price, I have to wonder just how many people will want to buy the iPhone in China. Only time will tell.
This week's apps include a feature-rich police scanner and a boxing game that reminds me of old stand-up arcade games from long ago.
Hit record to capture a particularly exciting event on the scanner
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Scanner 911 (99 cents) lets you listen to streaming audio of police, fire, and EMS radio channels in the U.S. and Canada. The interface is clean and easy to navigate with buttons across the bottom including available stations by location, a button to get stations near you (via GPS), a favorites section, a list of recent stations, and a recordings section. I've reviewed a police scanner app here before called Emergency Radio, that still holds up well, but the addition of recording capabilities to Scanner 911 adds a new angle that scanner afficianados will appreciate.
Though not all cities and locations are available, the developers of Scanner 911 promise that more channels are coming soon. They even have a place to vote for locations at the developer's Web site if you want to add your city to the list. Overall, if you want a solid emergency scanner on your iPhone with the ability to record that harrowing car chase or bank robbery (as examples, of course), Scanner 911 is the app to have.
My tip is to aim for the generous gut on this particular opponent
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Super KO Boxing 2 brings fun and challenging cartoon-like boxing to the iPhone--a lot like the old classic stand-up arcade game (and later the console game) Punch Out. This game is not about realism in any way, but instead challenges you to find the weakness of each comically-designed fighter as you rise through the ranks. There are three different game types including Circuits, Versus, and Challenge, with the Circuits option being the place you'll probably spend most of your time, fighting through progressively harder fighters. On-screen controls include buttons for dodging and blocking on the left side of the screen and high, low, and super attacks on the right side.
Just like the old classic Punch Out arcade game, the trick to Super KO Boxing 2 is figuring out the weaknesses of each opponent. Some will be vulnerable to aggressive body blows while others will only take damage by hitting with a hook at just the right time. You'll need to fight some opponents several times before you figure out their weakness, but the comically drawn boxing caricatures and funny animations make the game enjoyable even when played again and again. Entertaining feature additions like the ability to "dizzy" opponents by unleashing furious combos require that you figure out strategies to beat each opponent. To go for the super punch, you'll need to build up your energy meter through chained combos and taunts, both of which are hard to pull off without taking hits. Overall, if you're looking for a less serious boxing arcade type of game, Super KO Boxing has a lot to offer and often leaves you chuckling as you challenge each opponent.
What's your favorite iPhone app? Have you recorded any exciting emergencies in Scanner 911? Have you become the champion of the world in Super KO Boxing 2? Let me know in the comments!
If you're a fan of comic books, you should also be a fan of the iPhone. Apple's smartphone is home to several neat comic-book apps designed specifically for those who want to enjoy harrowing stories of their favorite heroes in the Digital Age.
I've sifted through the many apps related to comic books and found a handful that you'll want to try out. Whether you're a DC Comics fan or you're partial to Marvel, I think you'll like what you find in these apps.
Get your comic on
Clickwheel Comic Reader if you plan to read comic books on your iPhone, the Clickwheel Comic Reader will be able to satisfy that desire.
When you start using Clickwheel Comic Reader, you'll be able to sift through comic books and find one you want to read. The app doesn't have many of the classics like those you would find from an app like Comics or iVerse Comics (see below), but it does have some comic books you might care about. Either way, the app displays all your favorite content in full color on your iPhone. And since it's free, it's probably worth trying out if you don't mind reading a relatively small collection of books.
If you want to read some comic books, Clickwheel might be your choice.
(Credit: Clickwheel)Comic Envi If you're more into comic strips than comic books, we have you covered too.
With the help of Comic Envi, you can check out some of your favorite comic strips. You can check out old, well-known comic strips, Web-only offerings, and more. You have the option of viewing them in a slideshow or by moving them with your fingers. You can also check out the daily updated strips or some of the titles in the archive. It's a neat utility, but beware that you will need to pay 99 cents to get it.
Check out Comic Strips with the help of Comic Envi.
(Credit: Comic Envi)Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Say Tweetie, and most folks think: "I tawt I taw a puddy tat."
But as a social-networking kinda guy, Tweetie is the name of my favorite iPhone Twitter app.
Tweetie lets you access all the standard Twitter features on your iPhone. You can see and respond to the tweets you follow, post your own tweets, and search for tweets by keyword.
Tweetie has always offered a clean, simple interface. But with its newly-redesigned version 2.0, the app is even friendlier. The buttons to tweet, check mentions of your name, send a direct mail (DM), and search for tweets are now within easy access at the bottom of the screen.
Checking your own profile is also smoother. A single Profile screen displays your bio, location, and URL, as well as the number of your followers, those you're following, tweets, and favorites. Tapping on a category like Followers displays the names and photos of all the people tracking your tweets.
Tweetie 2.0 also sports a neat, new feature to let you update the list of tweets that you follow--simply drag your finger down the screen, and the newest tweets appear at the top with a pop.
Tweetie provides its own interface for viewing Web pages and other linked content in a tweet. Courtesy of the iPhone 3.0 update, the interface works in both portrait and landscape mode and offers options to view the page in Safari, e-mail a link to the page, or repost the link in your own tweet.
Options are plentiful when creating your own tweets. Like Twitter, Tweetie keeps track of every character you type, so you know when you're approaching that 140-character limit. You can attach photos or videos to your tweets, either by snapping them with the iPhone camera or grabbing them from your library. Your followers can then view them on yFrog, a site that lets you share images and video via Twitter.
Geotagging is another hot trend that Tweetie offers. You can add a Google Maps link to your current location in a tweet and search for other Twitter users in your area.
Like several other iPhone apps, Tweetie ran into trouble earlier this year with the Apple police, who initially denied approval of its 1.3 version over alleged naughty words in its Twitter Trends feed. Of course, Tweetie is just a conduit that displays whatever appears on Twitter, so it's ridiculous to ding the app for the content. Fortunately, Apple eventually OK'd the update, and it's been smooth sailing for Tweetie since then.
The Apple's App Store is loaded with other Twitter apps, and I've tried a variety of them--both free and paid, including Twitterrific and TweetDeck.
Twitter fans all have their own preferences. You can even vote for your favorite Twitter app.
But Tweetie is the app I've stuck with the longest, and the one I heartily recommend.
Tweetie 2.0 will set you back $2.99--even those of us who migrated from Tweetie 1.0 have to pay for the new edition. But the upgrade is well worth it. Tweetie 2.0 requires iPhone OS 3.0 or higher and is compatible with both the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Graphic artists who work with Pantone colors may appreciate the latest iPhone offering.
Designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the $9.99 MyPantone app lets mobile users create and share palettes of colors drawn from the familiar Pantone libraries.
The app opens with a fan deck of Pantone color swatches, a virtual replica of the print Pantone swatch guide that designers carry with them. A color bar also resides at the top.
MyPantone offers colors from virtually all of the standard libraries, including Pantone Matching System (PMS) and Pantone Goe, which provides more color variations than PMS.
To create a palette, move your finger along the colors until you find the swatches you want to use. Clicking on any swatch displays its colors in a more detailed view. You can then drag any color down to the palette well below to store it.
From the fan deck, tapping on a specific color displays its values in Pantone, RGB, HTML (hex), and L*a*b (a color scale that plots values for luminance, red-green, and blue-yellow). From the palette well, tapping on a color brings up additional buttons, including a window that displays a cross-reference of harmonious colors.
You can also create a palette from a photograph. Load any photo stored on your iPhone, and the app will grab its dominant colors and automatically save them to the palette well. You can even move your finger around the photo to select a specific color shade.
Once your palette is created, you can view your colors against a different background rather than just in the palette well. This shows you how the colors might play against each other in an actual image or application.
You can save each color palette in formats compatible with popular graphic apps, including Adobe Creative Suite, QuarkExpress, or CorelDraw. You can also share your palettes by e-mail or by posting them to the MyPantone Web site.
Andy Hatkoff, Pantone's vice president of technology licensing, recently told me more about MyPantone.
Pantone thought it was important to move to a mobile environment because the company had noticed a shift in the way people work. "Designers, in particular, don't have to be or don't want to be at their desks or carry their laptops around them," said Hatkoff. "But they do take their phones everywhere, in particular their iPhones."
Pantone felt the iPhone was the right playing field for its first mobile app because, more than any other mobile device, graphic designers probably have iPhones.
MyPantone lets designers take their Pantone library with them. But it's not meant as a replacement for traditional color guides, more as a supplement. Hatkoff sees the app as playful and fun to use but with a serious side that renders it a useful tool.
"We wanted to let people use the Pantone language in a creative way, but still take advantage of a lot that the iPhone has to offer with a playful and touchable user interface," said Hatkoff.
MyPantone isn't the first color palette app for the iPhone. Color Expert from Code Line ($9.99), Palettes ($9.99) by Rick Maddy, and Color Stream ($2.99) from Sahil Lavingia serve up similar features.
The iTunes App store also offers color picker applications, more for homeowners and hobbyists, than for graphic artists. Free apps such as ColorSnap from Sherwin-Williams and Ben Color Capture from Benjamin Moore fit into this group.
But Hatkoff pointed out that most apps don't support Pantone colors (Color Expert was the only one of the bunch), and that MyPantone is the only one that can display harmonious colors.
MyPantone does have two significant limitations. It doesn't offer CMYK conversion data, disappointing to people who need to bounce between RGB and CMYK. But Pantone said it's received requests from many users for CMYK data, and that it's considering this and other features for the next update.
Also, because it's on an iPhone, you can't calibrate colors or adjust for ambient light as you can on a monitor. So the app can't offer the precise colors that a print swatch or a calibrated monitor would provide.
As a result, Hatkoff explained, MyPantone is not intended to be a color-correct environment, but more of an inspirational or directional use of color. For accuracy, designers would still need to rely on the traditional Pantone guide or a calibrated monitor.
I asked Hatkoff if color calibration and ambient light adjustment would even be possible on an iPhone? "I'm not going to say it would be impossible (to calibrate an iPhone), but it's something we are certainly investigating," he said. "We don't know the feasibility at this point. It certainly would address some interesting questions, although I don't know if iPhone users would want to calibrate their iPhones."
Correction 11:35 a.m. PDT: This story initially gave an incorrect title for Andy Hatkoff. He is vice president of technology licensing.
The iPhone app for Wolfram Alpha (iTunes store link) got approved by Apple surprisingly quickly, I was told in a breathless e-mail from Wolfram PR on Sunday. But the real surprise was the price: The app is $49.99.
The rationale is twisted.
"It's less than half the price of a graphing calculator, but it does more," the rep told me. By the way, "price of a graphing calculator" is a calculation that Wolfram Alpha can't compute.
For much, much less than the price of a graphing calculator, or $0.00, you can point your iPhone's Safari browser at Wolframalpha.com and have full access to the service for free. Divide by that, Wolfie.
Also, the $49.99 price doesn't get you an actual standalone graphing calculator, since the app doesn't work when it doesn't have a Web connection.
The Wolfram Alpha iPhone app makes it easier to enter calculation queries.
(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)Now, to be fair, the iPhone app is a much better way to use Wolfram than the Web site, for a few reasons.
The Wolfram Web site renders all answers, even text, as GIF graphics, which means that text doesn't automatically wrap, or even scale well, on the iPhone's small screen. The app fixes that, and results render nicely on the iPhone. Also, entering complex queries using numbers and symbols on the iPhone's standard keyboard is a real drag, but the Wolfram app has a special keyboard that gives fast access to the symbols you'll need if you're a heavy Wolfram user.
There are several other nice features. You can bookmark queries, e-mail them, and Twitter them. They really do make the Wolfram app very handy for frequent users, and it's those power Wolframers that the app is targeted at. If you need it, then the "price of 12 lattes from Starbucks," which I'm told is another way the team is thinking of the price, is as they might say in the halls of some physics departments, trivial.
But as they would tell you in the economics department, you're being taken for a ride.
Also, Wolfram Alpha doesn't know the price of 12 Starbucks lattes either, but it did tell me the stock price of SBUX and, to its credit, if you enter "12 lattes" as a query, you'll get all sorts of nutritional information, such as calorie content for the 12 lattes (1,654), carbohydrates (61 percent of daily recommended intake), and cholesterol (162 mg).
Just like the dozen lattes, this app is hard to swallow.
Previously: Wolfram Alpha opens API to developers.
