Angry Birds

Whether you are sitting on the subway heading to work, sitting in the doctors office waiting room or bumper to bumper traffic, your iPhone and iPod apps serve as the perfect time-waster and keep you entertained during the minor lulls in your day.

The use of the multi-touch technology allows for some pretty entertaining games and one of my all-time favorites is Angry Birds.
Angry Birds is a game where you fling birds into various structures hiding smug little pigs. The birds hop into a rubber band and you use your finger to flick the bird into the piggy-filled structures. I know this may sound strange but it is actually really entertaining.

The difficult part comes from finding the right trajectory and power to flick the birds. All of the various types of birds fly differently but getting the hang of the game comes naturally. The ease of the game and funny sound effects will have you instantly hooked. This game is not new by any means, however, I still find joy in knocking those green pigs off of their perch. If you have not played Angry Birds yet, give it a free try, I guarantee you will want to spend the 99 cents to purchase the full version.

iTunes Ping is a social network for music that allows you to follow your favorite artists and friends to find out what they are listening to and discover new artists. Ping allows you to find out what your friends are listening to and downloading on iTunes

Naturally, when you think about social media and sharing, Facebook is the first medium that comes to mind. Apple AND Facebook teaming up? Everyone uses iTunes and everyone uses Facebook, it’s match made in heaven, right? Wrong. According to reports on Business Insider, Facebook and Apple continue to have trouble working out the details. Although Facebook CTO Bret Taylor is “Very confident” that Facebook and Apple will work out the kinks and figure out how to integrate Apple’s Ping into the Social Network.

Ping is a service that allows you to follow your favorite artists and become part of their inner circle. Apple’s social music network also keeps you up to date with your favorite artists with status updates and photos that you can add comments to. The integration of Ping into the latest update of iTunes is seamless, Ping is already built into the iTunes app on your iPhone and iPod Touch. This allows you to access artist updates from anywhere. Also, Ping gives lets you know what your favorite artists are listing to on their iPod.

I like the idea but it still looks like some kinks need to be worked out.

I have been a fan of the iHome since I purchased the iP9 a few years ago. The new iA5 is the first iHome that is app-enchanced and promises to be the “most connect and engaging sleep experience available.” Whatever that means. I get it, they needed a new gimic because the clock radio with an iPod dock on it was old hat. But why change what works?

The new iHome iA5 has all of the good stuff from the previous models but it allows you to stay connected to your social networks for bedtime status updates and wake up updates. I think the need to stay connected while you sleep is a little unneccessary but the people must have asked for it because it exists.

All in all, iHome makes a great product. It’s always good to wake up to music and I always liked that aspect. My favorite aspect of the iHome has always been the wakeup playlist. If you don’t own an iHome this would be a good model to get you started so I would definitely recommend.

These are the first iPhone commercials that aired back in June of 2007. It is weird to see the evolution of the iPhone. First it was all about an iPod that can make calls and browse the internet. Find a restaurant and call to make a reservation all in a matter of seconds. The first iPhone really was an incredible leap from anything that was on the market. It was really a pocket computer that had the ability to make calls.

Fast forward to the iPhone 3G. The driving force behind the 3G was the creation of “apps” for everything. Need to check snow condidtions on the mountain? There’s an app for that. The creation of apps was an ingenius way for users to be constantly interacting with their device. With the creation of the app store, users would begin to pump money into Apple like none other and an entire new business sector was created. Suddenly there were Applications developers using their talent to create an “app” that everyone would have. Think of the creators of Words with Friends

In my personal opinion, the iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4 commercials are lacking compared to the earlier iPhone commercials. Could it be that Apple is losing some of it’s cool? I’ll let you be the judge.

Verizon Wireless iPhone?

Verizon iPhone

I came across this on one of my favorite Apple sites, www.tipb.com. Apparently, the Wall Street Journal is stating the possibility that Apple could be creating an iPhone for the Verizon Wireless network and that it could possibly be out as soon as June 2010. Of course, this is all speculation. I think John Gruber of Daring Fireball nailed it with this sentiment.

iPod Technology: Accelerometer

Have you wondered how your iPod knows when you turn it on it’s side or how it can be used to play games with realistic movements?

Using a small piece of technology know as an accelerometer, the iPod touch can recognize the orientation at which it is being held at. The accelerometer uses three elements; An electrical current, silicon mass, silicon springs. The silicon springs measure the position of the silicon mass and cause a fluctuation in the electrical current. The springs do this by gauging where the electrical current is moving through the silicon mass. When the silicon moves, the current changes and the LCD screen receives a different signal. This variation then sends the electrical signal to the iPod telling it to adjust the game or whatever is on the screen. By simply flipping the device from a portrait to a landscape view, you can immediately see an entire web page, control a game using only your movements or view a photo in the proper aspect ratio.