Applications

Earlier this week it was Myst. Now another PC classic (hell, Apple II classic) has made its way to the iPhone. Lemonade Tycoon is Electronic Arts' adaptation of the seminal Lemonade Stand, a business and economics lesson shrouded in an addictive turn-based strategy game.

Indeed, what looks like (and is) a cute little kids game about running a lemonade stand is actually a clever course in sales, marketing, and management. The goal: Build your neighborhood juice biz into a Starbucks-like lemonade empire. ("Lemonade-bucks"? Nah. Hopefully Marketing can come up with something snappier.)

To turn your lemons into yellow … Read more

As part of a series of blog posts, Google has released more information this week about some of the goodies we can expect out of version 1.5 of the Android operating system, which has been going by the code name Cupcake, and which wireless carrier T-Mobile is expected to push out to U.S. customers at the end of next week. High on the list of upgrades is the ability to record videos and upload them to Google-owned YouTube.

Based on what we can ascertain from Google's introductory video, shooting a video on the Android 1.5 platform … Read more

Version 1.5 of Google's mobile operating system is well on its way to bringing flashier features to Android phones. Some, like the virtual keyboard, are as sturdy and sensible as a bread roll, while others, like "live" dashboard folders and video recording and playback, pack in much more flavor and fat.

Until that blessed day arrives, here are nine free Android apps that take our G1 somewhere in between. You can download them all via the Market icon on your Google Android phone.

Moov: It calls itself a mobile interface, but in reality Moov is a launcher. From the dashboard view, slide open the keyboard and begin typing the first few letters of your MP3, application, address book contact, and so on to get a list of search suggestions popping up on a separate screen. Moov even helps you out by offering tabs that let you search your term in the publisher's other apps: Fbook, Quickpedia, Local (Yelp), and Dial Zero. I have to give Moov's developer, Next Mobile Web, a little credit--most of their apps made this top list, too. One setup note--for best results, make Moov the default search organism, or else you'll waste time choosing to search through the contact list or through Moov, and this app subsumes Android's own search.

Fusion Visual Voicemail: If you haven't yet discovered visual voice mail, don't waste another second. It's high time you scissor off the shackles of regular, "blind" voice mail. By simply forwarding your voice mail calls through PhoneFusion's service, you'll be able to see the messages stacked up in your in-box and listen to calls in any order you choose. You can play and pause the message, mark it unread, call or text the caller (extremely useful if you're in a meeting or another locale where it would be imprudent to field a call.) You can also add the contact, or even resurrect a deleted message. While PhoneFusion's visual voicemail service is free, it's likely that PhoneFusion will soon follow the lead of competitors on other platforms and offer premium services to transcribe voice messages into text, making them truly "visual."… Read more

All together, now: Finally! AT&T just took the wraps off MyWireless Mobile, a free app that lets you manage your AT&T account right on your iPhone.

Specifically, you can view your current bill (either a summary or a PDF of the entire thing) and authorize a payment, though the latter requires you to set up online bill-pay (via the Web) if you haven't already.

You can also add and remove various account features (roadside assistance, parental controls, and so on) and even change your text-messaging package.

Perhaps best of all, the app provides a complete … Read more

When you're traveling, it's easy to come up with excuses not to exercise, like, "There's nowhere to run near this hotel." The new WalkJogRun Routes app leverages your iPhone's geolocation skills to find routes near you.

How? By tapping WalkJogRun.net's repository of 350,000-plus user-created routes. Just run the app, wait a few seconds for it to hone in on your location, then choose a distance (1 mile, 2 miles, all distances, etc.) to see the routes in your neck of the woods.

The subsequent list tells you the name, length, and … Read more

You don't have to own a Mac to use FileMaker's new Bento for iPhone and iPod Touch--released Tuesday in the iTunes App Store--but if you do, wireless sync adds extra incentive to take your personal databases to go.

Bento ($4.99) offers non-Mac users a portable personal database for storing everything from birthdays and home expenses to recipes and an exercise log, with 25 templates to start. Integration with the address book, dialer, Safari browser, e-mail in-box, and Google Maps make Bento a useful iPhone app offering that could become a master storehouse for your separate lists; and … Read more

For a good six months now, Mint has been the go-to app for managing finances on your iPhone. Today, Quicken debuted its own money manager: Quicken Online Mobile. Like Mint, it's free. Unlike Mint, it's passcode-protected.

That protection addresses a long-standing concern: if someone makes off with your iPhone, they can fire up the Mint app and see how much money's sitting in each of your accounts.

Quicken Online Mobile, on the other hand, won't let you in without first entering your four-digit PIN.

To get started, you'll need to create a free Quicken Online account (… Read more

CoolIris for iPhone has just received a hot update...and we do mean hot. New on the list of features is the capability to turn Google's SafeSearch on or off, which according to the company was one of the most requested features. The app remembers your preferences between sessions, giving you a wider gamut of results that can be, well, NSFW.

Why is this so important? If you're familiar with Apple's app store reviews process and guidelines you'll know the company has been rather stringent. So much so, it won't even let you view the … Read more

Like most folks, I'm eagerly awaiting the Hulu app that's rumored to be heading to the iPhone. (I need my daily "Daily Show" fix!)

Of course, if and when it lands, it'll require a live Internet connection to stream content--and those are still pretty hard to come by in places like airplanes and underground government bunkers (sorry, I've been watching a lot of "Chuck"). That's why I'm using Replay Media Catcher to record shows off Fancast, not unlike a DVR records from cable.

Before you ask, no, RMC doesn't … Read more