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Health and fitness tracker and an arcade shooter: iPhone apps of the week

As we gear up for the WWDC here in San Francisco, the rumors are flying as usual about what we might see during the keynote on Monday morning. Some people say Apple will announce new iPhones, others say we will get a precise release date for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. One thing is likely: We will probably all have the ability to download iPhone OS 3.0 sometime next week. I'm crossing my fingers.

I'll be at the keynote speech to witness the excitement and find out as much as I can about Mac OS X Snow … Read more

Bombs away and touch-screen artistry: iPhone apps of the week

You may have already read on CNET News about how artist Jorge Colombo managed to get his work on the cover of The New Yorker. To have your art featured on the cover of a widely read national magazine is a big deal, but the coolest thing about it was that it was done with an application for the iPhone.

This week's apps include the cool painting app that was used to make The New Yorker cover and a game where you pilot a bomber high over the landscape.

Brushes ($3.99 for limited time) is an easy-to-use painting … Read more

Don't get burned out

Ignite Lite is a free, seven-level preview of the innovative platformer game Ignite, in which you control a flaming, jumping ember by the name of "Iggy the Flameboy," using your fiery nature to thwart the plans of the Water Warlords. In this unusual take on the platformer genre, some of the platforms that you jump onto will actually burn beneath your feet--which can be a good thing, like when you're trying to incinerate one of the Water Warlords' minions. The game's simple, touch-and-drag interface lets you jump either left or right, adjusting the trajectory (indicated by … Read more

Slithering in 3D

Snake Galaxy puts a new spin on classic "snake" games--a game-type that's been around almost as long as personal computers, and which has become near-ubiquitous on mobile devices. The core gameplay is what you'd expect: you control a snake that grows as it eats, and the snake dies when it finally runs into its own tail. But the Snake Galaxy interface adds some fun and innovative twists: instead of a 2D game board, you travel around spherical, 3D "planets," and the snake travels towards wherever you touch your finger--which will probably have you switching … Read more

Robot synthesizer and touch-screen hack and slash: iPhone apps of the week

I read about a new term today for iPhone application fans that hits a little too close to home. The term is "Appnoxious," and describes iPhone owners who are always whipping out their iPhone to show their friends, family, or coworkers their favorite new app. Ahem.

I apologize to everyone, but I believe I might be just that: Appnoxious. In my defense, it's my job to seek out and find new iPhone apps, so I'm hoping at least some of the people I know will give me a pass? Maybe I should just embrace it...

This … Read more

E-mail while you walk and the new Star Trek game: iPhone apps of the week

The new "Star Trek" movie hit theaters last weekend and by the time the numbers rolled in Monday, it's become clear that apparently being a Trekkie isn't as nerdy as we thought. Though I'm not a costume-wearing, conference-going "Star Trek" devotee, I've been a fan since I was kid and watched all the movies and most of the TV shows surrounding the "Star Trek" universe.

This week, I decided to check out the Star Trek game for the iPhone, thinking it would probably be a cheap, simple game to provide … Read more

Countrywide police scanner and Top Gun: iPhone apps of the week

When I was a wee lad my family used to drive an hour north of the San Francisco Bay Area to visit my grandparents in Santa Rosa, Calif. My sister and I were at the age where we needed something to keep us busy at all times, so my grandparents often had to come up with things for us to do once the toys we brought along no longer held our interest. In one room of my grandparent's place, my grandfather had set up a recliner chair right next to a table with an emergency scanner on it. He … Read more

Things to organize your life

Things for iPhone is a well-designed, easy-to-use, highly scalable task-management app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and it's even better when paired with the Mac desktop app of the same name. Like its desktop counterpart (with which it can sync over Wi-Fi), Things for iPhone offers a clean, intuitive interface based around the popular "Getting Things Done" productivity method. Tasks are collected under Projects (sets of smaller subtasks), Areas (areas of responsibility, such as work or family), and an In-box "waiting area" for unsorted tasks.

Things has a handy Today list (which displays the … Read more

The stickmen are coming!

StickWars is a fun and unusual arcade-strategy game that shows promise for future versions. The game's interface--in which you defend a castle from an endless horde of stick-figure "barbarians"--is inherently entertaining, as you tap and swipe (i.e., fling) incoming invaders, hurling them off the castle walls at high speeds, to meet their bloody demises (which can be quite bloody, depending on how you set the variable cartoon blood settings) on the ground below.

The game's strategy revolves around earning money, based on how many kills you rack up, and also on capturing barbarians. Train … Read more