“Minds of Modern Mathematics” is a new free iPad app that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

Half a century ago, the husband and wife design team Charles and Ray Eames, created the exhibit Mathematica: A World of Numbers… and Beyond. This evolved into the ground breaking IBM-sponsored exhibition at the 1964/1965 World’s Fair in New York, called Minds of Modern Mathematics (MoMM), which was seen by millions. It was a richly vivid visual display of 1000 years of mathematical history, mathematicians and their discoveries, culture and events. It included a stunning 50 foot long timeline.

Now, IBM is offering this invaluable World’s Fair-in-an-app from the comfort of your iPad, for free. Students, teachers, families, and avid fans can peruse history in new and exciting ways. You can be at any level of knowledge about math. MoMM covers the history of “Modern Mathematics”, that is from 1000 to present.

Be you right-brained or left-brained, this app has it all. You can view milestones and people in the context of their culture and history, and with detailed closeups. The Millennium view, captures a big picture view of the entire history of math, including the explosion of discoveries in recent times. View by century, with the ability to zoom on the interplay of ideas between math and culture. View the entire timeline, one object at a time. Consider the lives and biographies of these interesting men who’ve paved the path for what we have today in math and science. View the World’s Fair exhibit, as if you were there! Or check the “Men of Mathematics” poster rendition, which you, mom or dad might recall from display at school. MoMM brings all these traditions to the iPad, but now it’s paperless. Plus we have the benefit of nine original Eames educational videos and over 500 other hi-res images.

Let your fingers do the dancing, in this wonderful iPad remake of MoMM. What’s not to like?

Indulge yourself in some trivia. Who’s Fibonacci? Pascal? How did those cathedrals get built? Why do I want to know this? If you think, therefore you do.

We can all agree, nothing is sexier than a nerd. So get your geek on, slip into something comfortable, and download this app.

For more informations see the IBM Minds of Math site and the Eames Office.

There are those times in life where we are faced with emergencies that need an expert hand and the Internet is not fast enough. We know it is a crisis but it is not serious enough to call 9-1-1. For those moments there is 5Star. The popular product from greatcall is now available in App form for iPhones and Android and it provides a level of safety rarely seen from emergency response apps.

Every emergency is different, and 5Star will personalize the situation to your need. When you get the App you must go through a registration process where you fill in your information. Everything from where you live to potential allergies to the car you drive are taken into account. This can all be seen by the 5Star operator when you call in and they will make sure to cater the help to your needs.

The 24/7 operator is no joke as we tested the App in 3 different cities (Boston, Chicago and Seattle) at different times of the day and there was always someone on the other line within seconds. Furthermore the instant GPS location is a godsend when you need to get directions to the hospital or just need to find the nearest public bathroom. 5Star also offers access to a live nurse which will quickly diagnose anything from a sore throat to a serious ailment.

When we first received the App, we were not sure if we would even need it during our test time. However, in several instances (such as getting locked out of your car in a shady neighborhood or having a small medical emergency) 5Star proved to be the answer over the police or ambulance. Nonetheless, the operators can dispatch the authorities at any time they feel you are in more danger than previously expected.

5Star by greatcall is a smartly designed app that will have more uses than one expects. Several features, such as the “Shake for Help” method that will dial in 5Star when you shake your phone, stand out in the impressive package to prove that is was not designed in a rush.

Retailing for $14.99 a month, 5Star can provide the security overprotective moms seek or just help out a college student in a jam. While it may not be necessary for every month of your life, it can prove indispensable when you are visiting a new city or just moved to a strange new place.

It seems that the new iPad cannot catch a break. With news flowing around that preorders have been sold out, Signals Research reports that the new tablet may clog up 4G networks.

With the 4G networks of today being used very lightly, CEO of Signals Research, Michael Thelander says “The iPad is definitely going to be a challenge, and it will put a strain on the networks.” The new Retina display’s ability to output 1080p video will likely run up most people’s data limits and place a heavy load on the young network. At their present state, the 4G LTE networks are simply not ready for the massive bandwidth usage expected from the likely record breaking sales of the new iPad. The rise of 4G smartphones has been a gradual one, allowing for carriers such as AT&T and Verizon to prepare their networks. However, the high adoption rate for iPads will likely slow down the network, says Thelander.

AT&T’s network was torn apart by the introduction of the 3G iPhone a couple of years back. The network has since learned from that experience, yet the new 4G network is still not used to the traffic likely to be generated by the tablet.

Amit Malhotra, a vice president of Metrico Wireless, which helps test mobile device and network performance for carriers and manufacturers, says that “Most people are going to be limited by their data plans. One of the selling points of the iPad is the display; people are going to watch HD content, and that means larger files.” To add to the problem, Apple is now allowing 50 megabyte mobile apps to be installed on the App Store.

AT&T offers 3 GB of data for $30 dollars while Verizon offers 2GB for the same price. At those rates, one HD movie download will likely run up the monthly data usage for an average consumer. Verizon also offers 10GB for $80, but few people have adopted the plan. The new iPad will not be available on any other networks.

“What will likely happen is they will get very efficient at switching to Wi-Fi whenever there’s an opportunity,” says Malhotra.

Let’s face it, you just don’t reach kids with textbooks anymore. Enter the new Revolutionary War App, which aims to change how students learn.

The premise behind this iPad app is very promising and interesting, to get a more rich interaction into a history class and to add more excitement than simply reading a book. While using the app, I pictured a class room full of iPads where the teacher says to play with this app this period instead of using lectures.

Unfortunately this version of the app doesn’t live up to that expectation. There are a lot of videos, but otherwise it’s almost entirely text and pictures offering nothing that a regular text book doesn’t already offer. The videos that they do have, consist of pictures while someone talks, adding little over the text  that consists of the same information.  One such example is they include the poem of Paul Revere both as a video where they show a picture and have someone reciting it, and as the full text of the poem. The app seems to have lacked mentioning the inaccuracies of the poem, such as mentioning the other riders that warned the militia.

They do include one interactive exercise, the NY Battle Simulation. This was a good idea, but needs more polish. The Simulation is very brief on descriptions of the choices, which makes me feel like either you have to know what the expected outcome is or you randomly pick a choice.  If you pick a choice that’s different from what happened in history the simulation simply goes to a page that says “America Loses the War” with a try again button. They should have added more reasoning for why Washington took the actions he did. Information such as the state of the troops at that time, or the number of British and American troops available for the fight, and other troops that could assist in other areas. More important when you picked the wrong answer a description of why it was wrong would be helpful. Would fighting the British there have caused too many loses that they wouldn’t have been able to fight a more important battle later? Would they have likely captured all the troops including Washington?

The try again button points to another major complaint I had in this version of the app; the app has many quality assurance problems. The articles don’t have a consistency in style, the layout of one article will be completely different from another, such as the Title might be in the middle on one and Left Justified on another. There are also spelling mistakes and what looks like errors from a scanner. There are places where they replaced numbers with letters that look similar, Such as, “At z o’clock we bega.1 our march by wading through a very long ford up to our middles. After going a few miles we took 3 or 4 people who were going off to give intelligence.”  There are other places with characters that obviously are wrong, “The letter stated: “the single question then, is whether you consider Boston as now suffering a common cause, and sensibly feel and resent the injury and affront.””

One of the best parts of the app though, is that they included the full text of many important documents and diary entries of people that were relevant to the war. In a book, these documents are usually left out or put in the appendix, because of lack of interest, and the space they take up. In the American Revolution on the Go App they were able to just have a button that linked to the doc, so people could view it easily if they wanted to, or ignore it if they weren’t interested.

One of the developers, Marc Schulman, has stated that they plan “to add by the first week of September a few more interactive activities like the one at the Battle of New York as well a bibliography and of course some fixes for typos”.  I still can see them do some interesting things with more interactive scenarios, but with the version that’s available currently, I would recommend a regular text book over purchasing this app. The app still has interesting promise, but they have a lot of work still to realize that promise.

MedWatcher is an app that allows for a two-way flow of drug safety information, where users can track the latest drug safety updates via official alerts from the FDA in addition to informal channels such as the media. Users can also report information about drug side effects and view reports of adverse events submitted to the application by patients and physicians. Users will be able to set up news feeds and alerts for particular drugs and may choose to submit a review as a patient/clinician themselves about adverse events they or their patient may have experienced.

The app was developed by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in an effort to engage health care practitioners and the general public in issues of drug safety. “Our hope is that through the release of MedWatcher, we will prompt increased participation in surveillance, empowering people to participate in the public health process but also potentially allowing us to crowdsource problem drugs which will lead to better understandings of side effects of medicines, and possibly even bring about earlier detection and prevention,” said Clark Freifeld, research software developer at CHIP and one of the co-leaders of development for the app.

Two unique, user-friendly and highly-structured forms were created to support the reporting feature of the app both for clinicians and patients. Reports of serious adverse events are first reviewed by the Children’s Computational Epidemiology Group, and are then submitted to the FDA and displayed in the app. Since the data contained within MedWatcher will be from both official and unofficial sources, users are encouraged to interpret the data appropriately. The aim of the app is to make reporting such events a much easier and more available process for both clinicians, who have previously had to interrupt their workflow to submit such reports, and for patients, who may not have been aware how or where to report adverse events.

Medwatcher has been optimized for the iPHone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The app is available for download free in the iTunes App Store. For more information on MedWatcher, visit: http://www.healthmap.org/medwatcher.

You’ll soon be able to play with your Windows programs on your Apple portable device with an app from Parallels.

Announced at the DEMO Fall 2010 conference in Santa Clara, Calif, the new Parallels Mobile app will be free. It will allows users of Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac and Parallels Desktop 6 Switch to Mac Edition to use their iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch to access and utilize Windows applications running on a Mac from any network, from anywhere, at any time.

The app is available now.

Parallels also makes it possible for iPad users to do things like print, view Flash material, and use work programs like Outlook and Lotus Notes.

“With the popularity of mobile devices skyrocketing, our customers overwhelmingly desire the ability to do more from anywhere without the restrictions that usually come from working remotely,” said Serguei Beloussov, Chairman and CEO, Parallels. “With our new Parallels Mobile app and MyParallels service, we make it possible for Parallels Desktop 6 customers to access and utilize their Windows apps wherever they are.”

(ARA) – When fingers get pointed in debates over the obesity epidemic in the United States, technology sometimes shoulders some of the blame. Time in front of computer screens or television is often listed as part of the reason why Americans aren’t as healthy as they have been in the past. But the truth is there are also technological advances that have the potential to guide you in your quest for a healthier lifestyle, whether that is eating right, exercising or keeping tabs on vital numbers that are important to your health.

Take smart phone applications for example. Nowadays, you can find applications for just about anything in life that might capture your interest, and healthy living is no exception. So if you’re looking to stay fit and healthy, here are six mobile apps that give you and your family a little extra help:

1. Lose It!

Counting calories is perhaps the simplest and most effective way to keep track of your health goals, especially if it involves weight loss. But it’s difficult to do all the adding and subtracting in your head, which is where the free app Lose It! comes in. The app allows you to enter what you eat each day and calculates not only calories, but fat, protein, cholesterol and carbohydrates based on portion size. It also allows you to enter different types of workouts, from walking to yoga, to see how many calories you will burn while you are exercising.

2. Carb Counting with Lenny

This app is designed to help children with diabetes count carbohydrates to help manage their diabetes, but can be of use to anyone. Using their mascot Lenny the Lion, who also uses insulin pump therapy, Medtronic Diabetes introduced this app, which allows children with type 1 diabetes to learn about carbohydrate levels in basic foods. The application also allows users to create a customizable food guide using their own photos or ones they find on the Internet, as well as play games to test their carb-counting knowledge. Periodic contests and giveaways (www.medtronicdiabetes.com/carb-counting-contest) are announced to reward registered users who get highest game scores. Medtronic Diabetes, which makes such products as continuous glucose monitoring devices, designed the app to be useful and educational for both children with diabetes and others who are interested in monitoring carb intake.

3. Size Me Up

Another application for kids. This one allows children to enter their current height and receive estimates for how tall they might be in the future, at any given age. This can be used to help keep your child motivated to eat right, so they can grow up to be tall and healthy.

4. BP Buddy

This application allows people who are monitoring their blood pressure to input their blood pressure numbers and heart rate numbers and log them for up to 60 days. An e-mail feature allows users to send their numbers to their doctor for analysis.

5. The Carrot

As an interactive journal, this application allows you to track multiple items related to health. In addition to entering information on meals, workouts, and even medication, you can also enter your assessment of your moods or the level of job satisfaction you are feeling at the moment to see if you can pinpoint what healthy habits work best for you.

6. FitReach

This training and diet application allows you to enter information on your meals, as well as workouts. It also encourages you to do regular weigh-ins so you can compare your weight loss with your goals on graphs that are a part of the app.

Applications are available on iTunes and can also be downloaded through your iPhone, smart phone or other compatible mobile device.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

News

If you want an idea of where the iPhone could be headed, keeping tabs on what competitors have to offer is a great place to start. At Google’s I/O conference this week, Google unveiled, among a dizzying amount of new features coming from all corners of the Googlesphere, the new Android operating system, codenamed "Froyo." The OS, otherwise known as Android 2.2, has a couple of key features that Apple needs to take notice of.

First, no syncing! That’s right, any media that Android users download on their computer is automatically updated to their phone through the cloud eliminating the nuisance of plugging a phone into a computer. Any iPhone user that has been through the agony of attempting to sync their phone when they’re halfway out the door knows how big this is. Staying with the theme of easy access to media, Android 2.2 allows users to stream all of their-DRM free music from their computer’s library to their phone. Pretty cool.

Second, the platform is lightning fast. Google has claimed that the OS is up to five times faster than its predecessor, Android 2.1, and that the Froyo mobile browser will be the fastest in the world. Mobile platforms are all about ease of use, and speed plays a huge part in the user’s experience. This may be a bigger win for Google than even they currently realize as the mobile conversation shifts away from, "We have a smartphone," to "Our smartphone is better."

Third, the Android 2.2. OS will support USB tethering and can act as a WiFi hotspot for any WiFi device. The only question is whether all mobile carriers will support tethering, but the idea of a user’s mobile phone acting as a WiFi hub for all users mobile devices is titillating, to say the least.

And finally, the dagger. Froyo will support Flash 10.1, and it doesn’t look bad at all, despite Steve Jobs’ claims to the contrary. Considering what a big story Apple’s feud with Flash has become over the past couple of years, it’s no surprise that Google had their sites set on integrating their mobile OS with Flash. If Froyo’s integration with Flash turns out to be a big success, as I suspect it will, it could turn into a major black mark on Jobs’ credibility, as it completely undermines everything the Apple CEO has been claiming for years.

As it stands now, Google is done playing catch-up on the mobile platform; they’re not only keeping pace with Apple, they’re starting to outpace them. The question may soon become something unthinkable only a year ago: Can the iPhone keep pace with Android?

Apps

The past week’s weather serves as a pretty good indication of how volatile the weather is in Boston this time of year, so you need a go-to weather app before you eschew your boots for Crocs.

Outside: We want accurate and reliable weather forecasts first and foremost, sure, but a great weather application needs an enticing user interface to keep us coming back. Fortunately, Outside has the most engaging and enjoyable interface of any weather app in the App store. While most weather applications try to jam more information than the user could ever possibly need into an over-crowded screen, Outside has a simple virtual window view that gives the user a quick, appealing view of the current weather. Users can drag the screen down to see more information, but the ease of use and unique take on a weather application sets Outside apart, though at $2.99, it won’t make it’s way onto many iPhones. 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Weather Channel: The app has long been the de facto non-native weather application for the iPhone, and it’s duly deserved. The free app has everything a user could want while staying faithful to the TV channel layout we’ve all become so accustomed to. What makes the app great is that the added information The Weather Channel gives you isn’t just filler. Items like pollen forecasts, 10-day forecasts, full screen radars and traffic cams, all contribute to the most useable weather app out there. This is one app that users download and never let go of; it’s the perfect app for its genre. 4.5 out of 5 stars

Thermometer: If you travel a lot, this app may be all you need. Instead of results based on pre-set locations that can take costly time to load, Thermometer is geographically based, allowing users to quickly find, in both Celsius and Fahrenheit, what the outside temperature is. It’s simple, but the execution is flawless, and is a must own if you live out of your suitcase. 3.5 out of 5 stars

In an effort to keep dedicated gamers as connected as humanly possible to their portable devices, GameFly today announced that it has released the “GameCenter” application for Palm and Android devices.

The App, which released last Fall, was only available on Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, but due to “requests by subscribers and fans,” it’s finally showed up on Android and Palm enabled gadgets.

Examine rental queues, check out trailers and browse game news with the App, or just stare at it, like the mole on that kid’s face who sits across from you in class. We don’t judge.

Apps

Practicality apps are always put at a premium, but they rarely work exactly as advertised. Recently, however, more useful apps to provide additional functionality or ease of use for the owner have been popping up in the app store. Here are three must own applications that make the iPhone even better.

DozeGuard-If you ever fall asleep while consuming media on your iPhone, this app is well worth the $0.99 price tag. The app uses the phone’s accelerometer to detect whether the user has fallen asleep, and stops the media, be it a movie, podcast, or audiobook. When the user wakes, they can choose to restart the media from the point at which they last moved the device, or when the application stopped the media. It’s a neat idea, and further exemplifies the ingenuity of app developers today. Depending on the setting, users can set the interval DozeGuard expects them to move in, and be alerted by a chord soon before the app stops the media to alert the user that they should move the phone or the media will stop. The app just works, and those listening to long form media need to have it.

Clock Pro- This is the most versatile and high functioning clock app in the app store today. The impressive thing about it is it essentially gives the iPhone the ability to multitask by supporting alarms exteriorly, allowing users to run their iPhones to full capacity without losing their alarms, a severe limitation to many clock apps except the iPhone’s native one. The app also supports a sleep timer and alarm clock that allows the user to rise and fall asleep to music on from the iPod application. In addition to these core functions, Clock Pro features an analog clock, chess clock, world clock, stopwatch, nature times, egg timer, project clock, metronome, and a count down clock. It’s basically the temporal equivalent to AppBox Pro, and the first of its kind worth purchasing at $0.99.

StealthType SMS- One of the most common complaints new iPhone users make is that with a completely flat surface, it is now impossible for them to type text messages without looking. With StealthType, users can now type completely accurate messages without ever glancing at the screen. The interface allows them to quickly select a message recipient from a favorites screen and then type around where users expect letter or character to be. The application speaks back, letting users know what letter is selected, allowing them to toggle their finger around until they have found the right letter, and then release to select it. The delete and space keys are easily accessible, but the app has some serious limitations. Unless users have headphones plugged in or are alone, the app is basically unusable, and special characters are hard to find. If this were an option in the native messenger on the phone, it would be exponentially more useful, but as a stand-alone app, it will oftentimes be more trouble than just simply looking down at the phone. It’s a great idea though, and one Apple and iPhone users should definitely take notice of.

News

Apple announced that they will unveil the iPhone 4.0 operating system on April 8, so it only seems fit that we add to the rampant speculation surrounding it and make my predictions of what the OS will include. First is the most obvious and needed improvement: multitasking. Second, some basic enhancements to the UI while keeping a similar profile, like a fancier graphic for moving in and out of applications (or between them). I expect more customization to be allowed as well, namely wallpapers and the ability to set any song on the iPod app as a ringtone or message alert. Third, better integration with social media, like icons on the contact list screen to all the specific contact’s social media accounts. Also, voice commands like "post on Matt Schnitt’s Facebook wall" could be supported. Next, I think Apple will fully embrace the augmented reality revolution and release a killer native AR app that pushes the technology to the next level. Finally, though this is more wishful thinking than anything given the iPad’s limitation, but Flash support would make browsing exponentially more pleasant. It will be really cool to see what this OS contains, as it will set the bar for mobile platforms moving forward. I wonder how "magical" and "revolutionary" it will be.

In other news, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg clearly wants the iPhone and it seems like it’s only a matter of time. After last month’s Wall Street Journal article claiming that Apple is working on two phones, one for Verizon’s CDMA platform, Seidenberg said Tuesday that they are open to the iPhone and that they have told Apple that. The CEO wouldn’t confirm or deny whether he knew if the iPhone was coming to Verizon this year when he spoke Tuesday at the Council on Foreign Relations, but did cite the WSJ report when talking about the possibility. Meanwhile, Apple COO Tim Cook recently spoke about Apple’s gains from only partnering with AT&T, saying, “It’s important to remember that AT&T has more mobile broadband users than any other carrier in the world. In the vast majority of locations, we think iPhone customers are having a great experience.” Eventually, the iPhone will be available on all carriers. It’s inevitable. The question is how soon it will happen. As of now, I would be cautiously optimistic that the iPhone reaches Verizon customers within the next year.

Looking for more iPhone and iPad updates? Follow Matt on Twitter by clicking here.

With holiday season soon coming to an end, many iPhones will be opened and unwrapped over the course of the next few days.  Keeping that in mind, it’s probably most appropriate to start handing out some recommendations on the hottest and most intriguing apps for the newest bearers of iTech to download.

First on the list is an app that I just found out about called Turf Wars.  This GPS-focused gangster game allows players to not only enjoy the excitement of running their own mob, but to take over their local turf as well.  Nick Baicoianu, CEO of MeanFreePath LLC, was kind enough to take a few minutes during this very busy time of year and talk to me about his creation, Turf Wars.

BLAST: Can you give us a brief description of Turf Wars?

Nick Baicoianu: Turf Wars is a GPS-based Mafia game where the core aspect of the game is to control real world territory AKA "turf" from your iPhone or iPod Touch.  The gameplay is very similar to that of other games in the Mafia genre but the GPS adds several enhancements, not just with the idea that you’re taking over real world turf, but it also leads to a more enhanced economy and adds more to the social gameplay aspect as well.

BLAST: What was the inspiration for Turf Wars?

Nick Baicoianu: I got my iPhone in Feburary of this year and I noticed that there weren’t too many games that took advantage of the GPS feature.  As you know, the GPS feature has been on smartphones for many many years now, especially with the Blackberry and iPhone who’ve done a good job making that available for developers, but there just weren’t many games that took steps beyond just using it for navigation and Google Maps.  So, I thought it would be kind of fun to create an app that incorporates the fun with your GPS location.

BLAST: Incorporating standard features, such as GPS to iPhone games is an interesting way to get the most out of this platform.  Is this something you feel adds significant value to apps and games for the iPhone?

NB: Well, I think the first thing the players say when they compare Turf Wars with other games in the genre is that they love the location-based aspect; they love the idea of controlling their neighborhood, their favorite bar, favorite restaurant and kind of competing with people for that element.  So, yes I do think adding things like GPS does add a lot of value to games of this genre and I’m looking forward to, as this game gains traction, how the general public takes to it as well.

One thing that GPS adds to the game — or one of the side effects of having it, which turns into a pretty interesting gameplay benefit — is that you can have this sort of fake economy where you can own like 300 sports stadiums and only interact with players who are at a certain level, but you can do that with almost all games within the Mafia genre because everyone is playing in one giant universe, whereas with the turf and the GPS aspect, players have to see each other on the map.  So, there’s the whole scarcity of land, scarcity of money and things like that which isn’t available in those other Mafia games.  I found that I typically get bored with those types of games when I’ve made so much money and there’s nothing I can do but buy more stuff that will make me even more money, so I think the GPS feature adds a much deeper dimension to a game of this genre.

BLAST: The stylization of the game is interesting in that it’s fairly basic with the black and off-white colors; almost like a newspaper.  What made you and the developers pursue that route?

NB: The core style that I was going for when we were first storyboarding the app was to aim for a gritty, street-level feel rather than a sort of Godfather-like style.  You can imagine guys like the characters from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels fighting over a local block but you can’t imagine Sonny Corleone running down the street to claim the nearby restaurant.  We thought that a sort of grittier feel would reflect those who are playing the game and just getting started in their illustrious crime careers, so to speak.

BLAST: Version 1.1 was released a little over a month and a half ago.  What issues were resolved and features added with this update?

NB: Well, the core features that we added were primarily map related.  We improved the maps so that if there were turfs that were really small, as in they were just built, they would show up as pins; things like that which would make turf easier to locate on a map, as well as a couple of navigation improvements.  We also more tightly integrated the map with the other parts of the app, so if you were on somebody’s turf you could click over to the map and see that turf and where it was in context to the broader map.

BLAST: Are there any features you’re looking to add in the future?

NB: Well, we get a lot of feedback from our users and they’ve got a lot of good ideas, so we’ve got a few ideas in the pipeline.  Some of the more important ones would be like adding some more social features and were even considering an alliance feature where players can team up and get more involved and add a bit more depth to the game in terms of the combat and social intrigue.  For instance, two guys who wouldn’t be able to beat the local capo very easily could team up and try and take him out.  I’m really excited about the features because this is something that hasn’t been done in any of the Mafia genre games to date.  I think they’re going to add a lot to the game.

BLAST: The forums are a nice approach to get direct feedback from your customers and patrons.  Have you found this to be an effective way to communicate with the Turf Wars community?

NB: I would say that the forums have been very helpful.  The forums were actually a feature that was requested a lot by users in the beginning.  We liked it because it gives us a way of communicating directly with the community by making important announcements.  It also gives players a sort of way to interact with each other in order to put a face to a name, so to speak.  They can recruit for their mob, take down a local guy and offer each other tips and help on certain aspects of the game.  So, overall I think it’s been a very successful feature for us so far.

BLAST: What about MeanFreePath, the company that has designed Turf Wars?  Can you tell me a little about your firm?

NB: We’re a relatively new firm; we basically started when we released Turf Wars, which is our first release on the iPhone platform.  Our firm is basically me and a couple young guys — a developer and a designer — and we’re basically focusing on the iPhone platform as well as other smartphone platforms in the GPS aspect.  I think, in general, I think this genre is in its infancy and there are a lot of interesting ideas that have been thrown around that could lead to a long series of games.

BLAST: How does MeanFreePath feel about the potential of the iPhone as a platform?  Do you see it as a legitimate gaming device?

NB: Absolutely.  I think that it’s a platform that is very much in its infancy.  Although there are a lot of developers for portable devices such as the PSP, there is going to be a learning curve to get familiar with Objective C and other things like that.  But, I think that as you get more developers who are more familiar with the platform, I think you’re going to see an increase in not just the number but the production value of the games.  I also believe that the GPS capabilities are one major advantage that the iPhone and iPod Touch have over the existing portable platforms.

Even though GPS-focused games are still very rare, you’re already seeing a lot of gaming websites that focus on local leaderboards that are dealing with games that have nothing to do with GPS.  So, I think with all of that attention, I feel that GPS for the iPhone, the Android and smartphones will become a more valuable feature for the gaming aspect.

BLAST: Are there are any new or upcoming developments or projects you guys are working on or excited about?

NB: I don’t think we can talk too much about upcoming projects, but I do feel that the feature I mentioned earlier — the alliance feature — is something I’m very excited about.  I think that it’s something that hasn’t been done before in this Mafia genre and I can’t wait to see how it pans out.  I think it will be a very positive development.

Electronic Arts today launched a Need For Speed: NITRO application on the uber-popular social-networking site Facebook, so that when you’re not playing the game on your Wii and sit down to stalk check up on friends, you can get your racing fix.

Now, as a rule, I don’t install any apps on my Facebook account in an effort to stay clutter-free, but, according to word from EA this morning, the application is a mini social game where enthusiasts can pick a car, and race against friends for “cash, street cred, and bragging rights.”

Best of all, every car from the Wii version is available in the App and so is every city, and most tracks!

Need for Speed: Nitro on Facebook

You’re a concerned parent. You stroll into your local GameStop hoping to pick up a game for your child, only to find a vague ESRB rating on the back of that “Modern Warfare 2″ or “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” box. What’s a parent to do?

Enter the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and the recently releases ratings App for the iPod Touch and iPhone.

In addition to the nondescript “M-for Mature” or “E-for Everyone” tag, the App allows consumers to read a full description of just why the title in question received such classification.

ESRB president Patricia Vance said, "This new rating search app puts all this information at parents’ fingertips when they need it most, right at the store.  It’s a powerful tool that will help assure parents that the games they give as gifts are not only fun but also appropriate for their children."

I actually like this a lot, and can see it being extremely useful, especially during this crazy holiday 2009 shopping season.

This video sums it all up more than nicely.

Source: GamePolitics

As if the world needed another reason to remain enthralled with Harry Potter, Warner Bros. today launched the first official Harry Potter App for iPhone and iPod Touch users to try their wand-waving hands at.

The App, dubbed Harry Potter Spells, runs for $4.99, and lets magic enthusiasts swing their iPhone back and forth, and in doing so, cast spells within the game.

The game lets you either passively conjure magic or actively and pugnaciously engage enemies in combat.

The game, according to its press release, starts the player off in the familiar Ollivander’s Wand Shop, where you’ll choose a wand (just hopefully not one with Phoenix feathers in it!).Then you’ll hop on the train to Hogwarts and the play out the oh so comical and amusing Sorting Hat routine. Hufflepuff!!!

And from there you’ll learn spells and put them to the test against formidable opponents.

As the resident Potter-nerd here, I’ll buy this App just to play out the scene embedded below. Be sure to check out the App’s official site as well, for more information.

Expecto Patronum!

Get your drill sharpened and your air supply filled because it is time for Namco’s latest throwback release, Mr. Driller. Yes, the folks at Namco have revived another classic character from games’ past.‚  However, instead of an iconic game like Pac-Man or Galaga, this time’s revitalization is of a lesser character, everyone’s favorite too-excited, slightly flamboyant driller.

For those who don’t know, Mr. Driller stars Susumu Hori, who coincidentally is the son of Taizo Hori of Dig Dug fame.‚  Susumu’s task is much like his fathers, to drill, drill, drill.‚  The further and faster Susumu drills through the multi-colored underground blocks of his domain, the more points he accumulates.‚  However, this task is not without its perilous dangers.‚  The deeper Susumu drills, the higher the chance of unsupported pieces of earth will collapse upon.‚  Worse yet, Susumu can run out of air if he drills too long without getting his supply replenished.

Now that a little background information has been laid out, lets talk game modes.‚  Mr. Driller for the iPhone comes in three modes: Survival mode, Arcade mode, Time Attack.‚  In Survival mode, players drill as deep as they can for as long as they can.‚  Players will have to keep an eye on their air-level meter, however, if they want to survive.‚  Luckily, each level in Survival mode will have air-replenishers, which look like little blue pills, dispersed throughout the drill-scape.‚  Still, even an unlimited amount of air will not protect the younger Hori from the falling rocks”¦

Arcade mode has a more level progression-based type of gamplay.‚  On the initial menu screen for the mode, players can choose whether they would like to play levels are that 500m or 1000m long, depending on if they consider themselves “beginners” or “experts.”‚  It would have been nice to see a less extreme designation for what players consider themselves, if only to let me feel something other than severe modesty or tremendous cockiness.‚  Arcade mode is quite similar to Survival mode in that, both modes are evaluated on the distance they drill while also providing air-refilling pills.‚  However, Arcade mode does have one main distinction from Survival mode: Arcade mode players are able to go through multiple lives before the dreaded Game Over screen is bestowed upon them.‚  This one feature definitely made Arcade mode my favorite of the three.

In Time Attack, time subtraction tokens are scattered on the level instead of air bonuses.‚  This is because players are only evaluated on the time they take to clear a stage, rather than how many points they can accumulate.‚  Time Attack is fun because players can choose which level they would like to play on, making it the most customizable of the modes.

Though the game modes are entertaining, my favorite aspect of Mr. Driller is the high-quality nature of its visuals.‚  The Japanese stylization is fun and colorful, making for a less graphics-intensive gaming experience.‚  This does wonders for battery life and making Mr. Driller one of the iPhone’s most unique looking games.

Still, not all of the aesthetic features of Mr. Driller were satisfactory.‚  Every level design in this game is repetitive.‚  It seems like each level was built nearly identical to one another.‚  Sure, the backdrops change for each stage, but Mr. Driller always works on the same blocks with the same colors.‚  The game is certainly cyclical, but never really boring, which is a nice change when compared to other games of the genre and platform.

Namco also continues to implement my favorite controlling scheme in its games, with Mr. Driller being no different.‚  The use of a virtual arrow pad is key for any game like Mr. Driller, so it makes sense for Namco to maintain that approach.‚  To control Susumu, players need to simply point his drill in the desire direction by pressing down on the corresponding arrow on the pad and then pressing the drill button.‚  That’s it.‚  This is a very easily learned controlling scheme and can be used by even the most novice of iPhone gamers.‚  Namco also continues to offer the Swipe and Accelerometer controlling schemes options, but I’m not sure why.‚  It’s always nice to try and attempt to use the iPhone’s amazing features in your product, but that doesn’t mean one needs to do it.

Finally, Namco decided to add a Facebook connect feature to Mr. Driller.‚  This allows players to post their top scores on their Facebook page while also talking a little trash as well.‚  This will add a whole new level of competition between players and friends.‚  I think this is a great addition and will be key to replay value of the game.

Blast Factor: Mr. Driller is a very fun and addicting game.‚  Though it does lack diversity in its levels, Mr. Driller does have some excellent game modes and visual features to make up for it.‚  At $1.99, it has a great price and a great value.

Namco’s Mr. Driller is available exclusively at the iTunes App Store for $1.99.

Electronic Arts today unleashed the “Madden ’10 Franchise Companion App” for iPhone and iPod Touch allowing Madden-fans the ability to stay 100% connected with their teams on the go. And the best part? It’s free.

The App, available today in the App Store and on iTunes, lets Madden fans check out the latest standings, league news, propose and accept player transactions, set their depth charts and more for their Franchise.

According to EA, over 200,000 franchises have already been created, so least some of you have an iPhone/iPod Touch right? EA thinks so.

Vonage for the win!

Talk about a victory. Apple has approved a Vonage App while Google Voice can’t even get near the App Store with its own software.

“Vonage is currently conducting a beta test and general availability will be announced at a later date,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. “This new service, along with the recent launch of the Vonage World unlimited calling plan, continues Vonage’s heritage of using innovative technology to create significant value for its current and future customers.”

Vonage’s stock (NYSE: VG) soared almost 20 percent on App news.