A few weeks ago, we went on a bit of a rant about how one developer launched the same app with different names, same price, and functionality.  Well, that number has since ballooned, and there appears to be no stopping this App Store polluter.

Todays app event isn’t quite so egregious, but it is a more than a bit ridiculous.  We received a number of emails from one of our readers, soundsgoodtome. He wrote–

EMAIL 1.  "wow — competing apps on the same day! Did you notice these two, competing apps, both released today?  one is $4.99, and the other is $0.99! (i predict a price-drop within 48 hours!)"

EMAIL 2.  "and a 3rd one! wtf???"

EMAIL 3.  "ok, this is ridiculous, now. (#4!) How can 4 apps that do the *same* thing all be released on the *same* day???"

Well, we had noticed too… 

UPDATED

I am a HUGE fan of Appigo’s ToDo and Notebook. Both work amazingly well at synching the web-based task management program Toodledo to your iPhone or iPod Touch. Tonight an app actually entitled Toodledo appeared in the App Atore. At $3.99 (vs $9.99 for ToDo and $4.99 for Notebook), the app is a deal!

Or is it?

I quickly got a copy and loaded my Toodledo account into its settings. The app has some powerful features. Unlike ToDo, Toodledo includes fields for Context and Goals.  Both of these are important if you use a "Getting Things Done" approach to your talk management.  In addition, it syncs quickly with Toodledo and includes useful sorting fields such as Hotlist, Starred Items, and more.  All of these are excellent and make this app much more like the web-based Toodledo than ToDo.

There is, however, a huge shortcoming in this release of Toodledo.

Update: Shaker is another game that will soon (read- hours NOT days) be MIA from the App Store.

If you want it… get it right now.

Thanks Kevin!

Alex over at WebIS (the developer behind Note2Self and Speedster GPS) was kind enough to let me know that the game Shaker, previously $9.99, is now free in the App Store.

Similar to a well-known classic puzzle game, Shaker has a twist– According to the developer-

Before the game starts choose how you want to control the game: Classic – by tapping buttons that appear on the screen below the play field, Stirred – by using simple finger gestures, and Shaken – by shaking your iPhone. As blocks fall down the playing field you can manipulate them, by moving sideways and/or rotating, with the goal of completing a row of objects without gaps. When such row is completed, it disappears, and any objects above the deleted row will fall. As the game progresses, the blocks fall faster, and the game ends when the stack reaches the top of the playing field, so no new blocks are able to enter. At the end of the game, if your score reaches the top-10 list one of 101 martini recipes stored in the program is randomly unlocked.

I haven’t played it but it looks like fun. You can get it HERE in the App Store.

Released two days ago, Story Chain (normally $.99) is FREE for the next two days.

Story Chain is a social-networking writing app. What is a social-networking writing app??? With it you can…

Write short stories with friends and strangers around the world! Add one to three lines to the story as it is passed from story teller to story teller. Make the characters and situations funny, scary, suspenseful, mysterious, gossipy, fantastical- whatever you like. The best part is you never know what twists and turns your creation will take and how your story will end. At the end of 1000 characters your story will be automatically closed and saved to be called up on the story viewer whenever you like and a new story will begin. Let your imagination run wild!!

A video tutorial is available HERE.

You can get it HERE in the App Store.

One of the first games I loaded onto my iPhone was Freeverse’s Wingnuts MotoChaser.

Freeverse describes it in this way–

Grab your hike and hit the road with Wingnuts Moto Racer. Race through checkpoints, weave through traffic. fend off dangerous biker gangs and hit some sweet jumps along the way. Racing from Miami Beach to the Andean mountains and around the globe. Moto Racer is a rockin’ arcade experience that will explode your mind!!

At the time, it was a bit pricey but worth it, as it is one game I continue to play after more than 2 1/2 months.  A while back, the price dropped to $5.99, which is a much better deal, but not nearly as good as…

Its current sale price of $.99.  It is a great deal on a good game.

You can get it HERE in the App Store.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous.

Three this weekend I realized that more than anything else (more than cut and paste, more than real bluetooth etc) what I REALLY want is… BACKGROUND PROCESSES.

Yup, the lack of background processes is starting to annoy me.

Here’s why…

I have been playing around a bit with Sketches, an amazing little app for drawing on your iPhone or iPod Touch’s touchscreen.

It recently received a huge update to version 1.3. That update brought additional functionality and some major improvements including-

-The ability to input text using the built-in soft keyboard.

-The ability to share via the web through your favorite web browser rather than needing email

-The ability to take one finger off the screen while placing images in a multi-finger gesture.    

-Additional shapes categories including "Office"

-Additions to the "Fun" and "Callouts" categories.

Well, another week, another update to Sketches. Version 1.4 is now out. This update…

We recently reviewed Air Mouse, one of the many apps that turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a touchpad/mouse.

Not only does Air Mouse work quite well, but it has the extra dimension that allows it to use the iPhone/Touch’s accelerometer to work as an "Air Mouse".

In other words, once Air Mouse was activated, and the client software was installed and running on your notebook or desktop, Air Mouse transformed your iPhone or iPod touch into an in mid-air, wireless mouse. As you move your hand, so too moves the cursor. It is pretty amazing the first (and second) time you use it!

According to the developer, with it you can;

Sit back and surf the web, browse your photo library, or control your music player from the comfort of your couch. Air Mouse uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to translate your hand motions into mouse movements on your screen. It can also operate as a touchpad, allowing you to control your computer with a single fingertip. Air Mouse is an essential part of any home theater computer and a presenters best friend.

It immediately struck me that this could be exceptionally useful in many different situations but especially if you use a slate tabletpc or UMPC, neither of which comes with a mouse or trackpad. I recommended it to a number of people who use UMPC’s and they all seemed rather taken with it.

Unfortunately, at the time of its initial release, there was one significant downside to Air Mouse…

I went to download the latest electronic edition issue of MacWorld to read on my iMac, and, thanks to Zinio, I was reminded that ZinioLabs offers a number of magazines free of charge via their iPhone web app.

The magazines include MacWorld, Men’s Health, U.S. News and World Report and (shameless plug since I have 3 articles in it) the premier issue of iPhone Life.
 

According to Zinio you can–

Just a quick update in light of my “Why I’m Getting Closer To Jailbreaking My iPhone” post from the other day. To recap- I jailbroke my first generation iPod Touch because I really wanted to use Dock and IntelliScreen, both of which are only available by first jailbreaking the device.

I jailbroke and installed them with ease. I was immediately blown away by how amazing they were and was tempted to immediately jailbreak my iPhone. For once, however, patience and wisdom won out and I decided to play with the Touch for a few days first. I am glad I did.

Two days after jailbreaking, the Touch started acting up.