iPhone Atlas

(Credit: CNET)

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!

Trillian IM is finally available to iPhone users.

(Credit: Trillian)

It took a few months, but finally, Trillian IM is available to iPhone and iPod Touch users through Apple's App Store. The application costs $4.99.

Cerulean Studios, the company that created Trillian, said that Trillian for iPhone sports several features users will already find on the company's desktop software. The app displays contacts, grouped and sorted by their respective categories. Users can also view multiple chat windows in a tabbed display. Thanks to updates Apple has made to the iPhone and iPod Touch, Trillian for iPhone also supports copy and paste. As with Trillian for the desktop, users can set their status, choose an avatar, and set up different status messages.

Because the app is always connected to Cerulean Studios' Astra server, users can synchronize content across multiple IM clients. In other words, any changes made on the iPhone version of the app will immediately be reflected on the company's Windows client and the user's Astra profile. Any contacts users add will also be synchronized with their other clients.

According to Cerulean Studios, all chats are maintained on the server, so they are kept in case of a lost connection. The app will also alert users when they receive an instant message, regardless of whether Trillian for iPhone is open or not. When an IM is received, users will see a dialog box, hear the Trillian IM-notification sound, and be able to start Trillian and reply to the person.

Those interested in using Trillian for iPhone will first need a Trillian Astra account. Luckily, the iPhone app allows users to sign up for Astra from within the app.

The iStetho Adapter converts an old stethoscope into an electronic one using an iPhone or iPod Touch and the iStethoscope Pro app.

(Credit: The Undercover Scientist)

If you're the kind of person who likes to take scissors to old gadgets, this one's for you. Start-up RidRx is now selling an adapter to connect old stethoscopes to an iPhone or iPod Touch, along with a phone dock/holder and an app that translates the audio your stethoscope captures into such delightful digital accoutrements as sound spectrograms.

And yes, the firm's easy-to-follow instructions include taking trauma shears to your old 'scope to fit it to the patent-pending iStetho Adapter. So the whole process, from tinkering with hardware to taking current heart-rate readings with the iStethoscope Pro app, promises to be a heart-healthy thrill.

Medgadget, which reported on the release of the adapter on Tuesday morning, is also publishing the following disclaimer:

U.S. FDA and other regulatory agencies are far behind the times that we live in, so they have no current policies to deal with the proliferation of mobile computing devices and their potential uses in medicine. Hence, none of the iPhone applications and attachments are classified as medical devices, so they are sold for nonmedical uses only.

In other words, the adapter can really only be marketed for recreational use. Still, I can see a wide range of medical applications for such a mobile stethoscope, including measuring the effect on my own cardiovascular health of the Microsoft vs. Mac comments that could very well somehow manage to work their way into this thread... (Ahem.)

For an informative, quiet, and ultimately entertaining tutorial on how to use the app, watch The Undercover Scientist's presentation below:

For a "limited time," the adapter is $29.99. And if you don't have an old stethoscope lying around, you can pick up their recommended Trimline stethoscope for $79.99. The app itself, which has been available for a few months, will set you back 99 cents.

While it's waiting to be gobbled up by Google, AdMob isn't sitting still.

The mobile ad company announced Tuesday that it will deliver interactive video ads to the iPhone and iPod Touch devices. The ads, set to run this week, will let iPhone users surf the Web and check out other videos while the video ad is playing. AdMob believes advertisers and developers will take advantage of the video format by serving up interactive ads designed to pull in consumers.

"AdMob's new Interactive Video Ad Unit brings together consumers' love of watching videos on their mobile device with advertisers' goal of providing an interactive, social experience for consumers," said AdMob Founder and CEO Omar Hamoui in a statement. "We are excited to create new ways for advertisers to engage with consumers on their mobile devices and for the developers behind the most popular and engaging iPhone applications to effectively monetize."

The video ads will automatically pop up as iPhone users access certain content and applications. The ads will also offer a video player so that people can control and interact with them. To make sure the ads run at a decent clip, AdMob uses a network of distributed servers to push them out. Each video is saved in different file sizes, with the most appropriate one streamed based on the connection type, such as 3G or Wi-Fi.

AdMob is one of the top advertising providers for the handheld and portable device market, a position that convinced Google to cough up $750 million in stock to buy out the company. With its multimedia capabilities and huge market share, the iPhone has proven a fertile ground for video ads, with the first ones popping up in early 2008 and growing since then.

Hive for the iPhone: brilliant fun

(Credit: Scott Stein/CNET)

Back when I used to work at Sony Online Entertainment many, many years ago, I became a board game geek. The game designers and producers gathered once a week to share their sizable collections and obscure finds up in Mira Mesa, Calif., and I got hooked. The fact that the Game Keeper chain of stores was simultaneously going out of business and liquidating their supplies encouraged me to start building my own game cabinet, and I profess without shame that I rapidly became a full-blown board game geek.

I still like hunting for new games, and a few years ago at the New York Toy Fair I came across the brilliant and simple tile-based game called Hive.

Like a cross between chess and dominos, Hive's hexagonal pieces are shaped like insects, each of which can move differently on their mission to surround the opponent's queen bee. I tried to order Hive online but it wasn't available, and no local game retailer would stock it. I finally found the game in a small town in Devon, England, while visiting my in-laws, and paid close to $35 for it.

This long story comes to a quick point: I found Hive on the iPhone App Store last week for $4.99, and instantly bought it. I hope this trend continues, and it should.

Hive joins my collection of Settlers of Catan, Go, Mancala, and what I'm sure will be many, many more board games shrunken to pocket-size on my iPhone. It's wonderful, and I feel like it's groundbreaking, too.

Board games on the iPhone

While game systems like the Nintendo DS and PSP have had a variety of fantastic titles, they'd certainly never proceed into European board games. The low overhead and microprices on Apple's ever-enormous App Store becomes, for both developers and consumers, a great live petri dish to grow a new legion of board game fans.

(Credit: CNET)

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!

Video host Vimeo on Wednesday is launching support for users on iPhone/iPod Touch and Google Android devices. The company has re-encoded the entirety of its staff picks and HD video showcase, both of which are the most heavily trafficked areas of the site from Vimeo's members, and referrers like Twitter.

"We've been working on it for the last few weeks," Blake Whitman, Vimeo's director of community told CNET News. "This is sort of the prelude of offering Plus members iPhone support; and in the future, an app," he said. In the meantime, the only member videos that get chosen to get the mobile encoding treatment are those that get picked by the site's editors. "In the future, like the next several weeks--maybe longer, we'll be offering Plus users the option to transcode their videos to an iPhone version too." Whitman says those special encodes could end up as a download option alongside the links to the source file, letting users save a copy that could be played back offline.

Even with the change, Vimeo continues to face stiff competition from Google-owned YouTube, which automatically encodes an iPhone-friendly version of any video that's uploaded. The popular video-sharing service has also re-encoded most of its back catalog to make its videos playable on it, and other mobile devices that don't run Adobe's Flash player. That said, YouTube had a leg up on many of its competitors (Vimeo included) by being built into the phone's OS.

The new feature, and mobile-friendly version of the site should be live right now. Whitman says that those on iPhones/iPods and Android devices will see a special mobile version of any video page for those that have been re-encoded, however some videos that work on iPhones and iPods may not work on Android right out of the gate.

Some Vimeo videos can now be watched on iPhones, iPods, and Android devices.

(Credit: CNET / Vimeo)

Although there is no shortage of portable speakers made for the iPod, the number specifically aimed toward the iPod Touch and the iPhone is significantly less. In fact, the Livespeakr Ultra-Portable Speaker is the only one we've come across that patently leaves out other iPods, with a design that caters completely to the touch-screen members of the family. This $80 unit won't blow you away with stellar sound, but the supercompact and innovative design may be enough to lure you in.

Read the Livespeakr review

Livespeakr--photos

A Mad Magazine contributor has been told by Apple that his iPhone app featuring drawings and contact information of members of the 111th Congress has been rejected because it depicts politicians in an objectionable light.

Richmond's iPhone app in action.

(Credit: Tom Richmond)

According to Tom Richmond, who wrote about his app's rejection on his personal blog, his app--dubbed Bobble Rep-111th Congress Edition--in no way should have been construed as objectionable.

Richmond said that the focus of the app was to create a "database of all the members of the United States Congress which allowed the user to find the names and contact information of their senators and congressional representative either via Zip code or by using the iPhone's GPS location services." Rather than use the politicians' individual portraits, the app depicts each senator and representative in caricature form, which Richmond drew himself. All told, the app features 540 caricatures of the politicians.