Mac App Store is Open!

The Mac App Store is now open for business! There’s currently over 1000 free and paid apps for you to choose from. Using your iTunes account, you can download and install great new apps in just one step!

The Mac App Store offers apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and many other categories. Similar to the iTunes Store, users can also browse new and noteworthy apps as we ll as staff favorites and top charts for each category.

The Mac App Store is available for Snow Leopard® users through Software Update as part of Mac OS® X v10.6.6.

For more information, see the official Mac App website.

iPhone App Review: UC Map

Starting your first year of college? Feeling a little lost? Not to worry! There’s an app to help you find your way around campus! Logical Dimensions has developed a variety of iPhone applications that map out some of the popular college campuses.

The example app used in this review will be on the “UC Map” bundle. This app includes maps of all 10 campuses in the University of CA system. It’s perfect for college students, faculties, staff, or anyone who visits any of the UC campuses often. Also see the other campus map apps available.

The app was built with simplicity in mind. To use it, scroll and select the campus map you would like to see. Once you make your selection, click on “Buildings” at the bottom. Now, select the buildings you would like to find on the campus by tapping on them. Note, you may select more than one. Once you are done with your selection, tap on “Map” at the bottom. This will pull up Google Maps with pins on all the buildings you selected.

Tap on a pin and you will get options for “Walking Direction,” “Driving direction,” and “Public Transit.” Upon your selection, Google Maps app will open up, show your route, directions, and estimated time of arrival from your current location to the selected building. This will surely help you on your first week of classes. Note, the GPS coordination are not always exact, so be sure to use it only as a guidance.

To test out this app, you can download the UCD Map for free. All other individual campus map apps are 99 cents, and only the UC Map Bundle is $1.99 (but includes all 10 UC campuses).

See all of the Logical Dimension Apps here.

This article was originally published in iProng Magazine.

iPhone Games Page

I have to say, it’s a totally new gaming experience on the iPhone. With my iPod Touch (1st generation), I had to wear headphones to hear the sounds. But having the sound just play freely on the iPhone is pretty awesome. It makes making video reviews much more interesting as well!

The iPod Touch and iPhone have replaced my Nintendo DS Lite for some time now. You can’t blame me since iPhone games costs so much less than DS Lite ones! And after much finger flexing and icon dragging and dropping, my gaming page is organized on my iPhone. This is only the first page out of a few, but it’s the one I use the most! The only bad part about moving over to the iPhone is having to start over on all my games. At least this time, there’s sound. :) I hope there’s a way to save games in between devices in the future.

So, what are your favorite iPhone/iPod Touch games?

• Rolando / iTunes $5.99 / Lite Available
• Rolando 2 / iTunes / $9.99 / Lite Available
• Sally’s Spa / iTunes / $0.99 / Lite Available
• Sally’s Salon / iTunes / $0.99
• Dizzy Bee / iTunes / $2.99 / Lite Available
• Dizzy Bee 2 / iTunes / $2.99 / Lite Available
• Cooking Mama / iTunes / $6.99 / Lite Available
• Bed Bugs / iTunes / $1.99
• Chop Sushi / iTunes / $2.99 / Lite Available
• Topple 2 / iTunes / $0.99 / Topple 1 is Free
• SEGA Columns Deluxe / iTunes / $1.99
• Super Monkey Ball Lite / iTunes / Full Version $5.99 / (Lite version not available anymore)
• Mega Man II Lite / iTunes / Full Version $4.99
• Must.Eat.Birds / iTunes / $0.99
• I Love Katamari / iTunes / $7.99 / Lite Available
• Critter Crunch Lite / iTunes / Full Version $1.99

Tip: Always try out the LITE versions (if available) before buying games. You want to know that you’ll enjoy it before making a big purchase. Enjoy!

iPhone Photography Apps

Now that I have an iPhone, I can actually use Photography iPhone apps! I’ve downloaded a few, but I thought I’d ask the experts. ;)

So I sent out a tweet asking for Photography iPhone suggestions and got some wonderful responses! Here they are in case you’re looking for Photography iPhone Apps too:

emilychang @daynah pano (love), camerabag, mobile fotos (to upload to flickr if u don’t want to use email), pixelpipe (cross-upload to services)

christyxcore @daynah photogene/photoforge for editing. Colorsplash, camerabag, photo fx..

NctrnlBst RT @daynah: Looking for good photography iPhone apps. Any suggestions? :) ~ Eye-Fro! Hours of fun for the entire family!

Fee501st @daynah I like CameraBag http://bit.ly/v5Y4M

colinrcampbell @daynah pano

johngarcia @daynah camera bag is pretty good!

jackiefreeman photogene is my fave!!

heyitskenn @daynah Flickit for uploading to flickr… Camerabag, nightcamera, and Pano.

Thanks so much for the tweets! I greatly appreciate them. :)

Favorite Free iPhone Games

iPhone game apps are so much fun! I love playing a quick game while standing in line at the store or waiting for my food at a restaurant. I’ve stopped playing with my Nintendo DS ever since I got my iPod touch. Oops.

I really love the lite versions of games because of the “try and buy” factor. Here are a few iPhone games available in the iTunes store for free. Remember, if you enjoy it, consider purchasing the full versions!

Note: Clicking on the links below will take you to the iTunes store.

Puzzle Games

• Rolando Lite – adorable puzzle role-playing game. Lots of levels for a free version.
• Dizzy Bee Free – very adorable and one of my favorites.
• Block Classic – always a classic!
• Flood-It! – turn pixel boxes into one color in under 22 moves.

Match 3 Games

• Chop Sushi Lite – highly recommended. Cute graphics, fun, and challenging match 3 game. Full game is worth every penny.
• ChocChoc Pop Lite – for the chocolate lovers!
• Fruit Juice Tycoon Lite – nice graphics, match fruits to make drinks
• Colordrops – match color or ball number to earn points

Role-Playing Games

• Mini Golf 99 Holes Theme Park Free – try out your golfing skills.
• I Love Katamari Lite – roll around the game, collecting objects into a ball. Full version is on the expensive side.
• Chocolate Shop Frenzy (Free Version) – perform a series of tasks to create and sell chocolate
• Supermarket Mania – perform a series of tasks to keep a supermarket running
• Diner Dash Lite – perform a series of tasks to keep a diner running and its customers happy
• Rhinoball – Bolt’s friend rolls around in a ball, collecting stars. Makes good use of the accelerometer
• de Blob Lite – color a city by splashing paint on buildings and walls
• Tower Bloxx Deluxe 3D – stack apartment floors on top of each other to build the highest building.
• Spore origins LE – a cellular creature that swims around the deep ocean, constantly evolving.
• Diamond Island Free – collect diamonds

Other:

• Topple – stack block on top of one another to pass a specific goal line.
• Pacman Lite – a classic game
• Crazy Penguin Catapult – catapult penguins, saving creatures at each level.
• Gold Miner – mine for gold
• Tap Tap Revenge 2 – similar to guitar hero, but for your fingers
• Tiki Towers Lite – build paths for the monkeys to reach the bananas
• Paper Football – play football with a triangle piece of paper

These are some of my favorite free iPhone game apps. What are yours?

Favorite iPhone Apps

A few days ago, I tweeted:

daynah: What are your favorite apps on the iPhone/iPod Touch? Name 3-5 and @daynah me. Thanks! :)

I wanted to find out what were your top iPhone/iPod Touch apps. If you don’t count Mail and Safari, my top 5 favorite iPhone/iPod Touch apps are Twitterfon, Brightkite, Dizzy Bee 2, Chop Sushi, and iHeartRadio. Ok, I’m sneaking one more in — Facebook because it makes poking people easy! Ha!

Thank you for all the great responses! I really appreciate it. I was gathering data for the next issue of iProng Magazine. Check out tomorrow’s issue for the top 100 iPhone Apps. Here are the responses I got:

pzomb: @daynah NIN:Access, Tweetie and Tap Tap Revolution 2

cloud79: @daynah Daylite, FlightControl, TapDial, Birdhouse, fourquare, Analytics

ctmagnus: @daynah Tweetie, Facebook, Evernote, Remember The Milk, NightCamera

claycarnill: @daynah tweetie, idracula, Tumblr, google, and scoops.

bilalnaseer: @daynah My 5 Fav. #iPhone #Applications are: ‘Pandora’, ‘USA Today’, ‘Beejive IM’, ‘Kindle’ & ‘Things’. Yours?

NctrnlBst: @daynah twitterfon, shazam, BrightKite, showtimes, remote.

Trakix: @daynah Twitterfon, FlightControl, Facebook, Leaf Trombone, Air Mouse

phraktyl: @daynah Scrabble and Tweetie are the two I use most. I’d use location-based apps, but iPod Touch doesn’t have GSP. :(

mia_sarx: @daynah evernote, chess with friends, to do list, stanza

jobber99: @daynah paid: scrabble, Oregon trail

jobber99: @daynah free: twitterfon, facebook, midomi

jobber99: @daynah jailbroken: cydia, cycorder, winterboard

allanxpress: @daynah twitterfon. cubes lits. tap tap. last.fm. tap defense. knots. enigmo. cube runner. dactyl. ahh so many lol

delta224: @daynah Tweetie, Facebook, Kanji Flip, Safari and Mail. ;D

loumacuser: @daynah linkedin. Twettie. Bloomburg

spamboy: @daynah iPhone apps: TwitterFon, Remember the Milk, RepairPal

core: @daynah: My favorite iPhone apps: #tweetie, #tumblr, #byline, #zenbe, #cambio, #inquisitor

iPhone App Review: Rock’n’Roll

Name: Rock’n’Roll
Written By: Tag Games Limited
Category: Games
Price: FREE (time-limited, ends Oct 16th, at midnight PST)
Size: 16.3 MB
Requirements: iPhone / iPod Touch

Rock’n’Roll takes a bit of getting use to, but it’s fun nevertheless. Your character stays in the middle of the screen. But the world around you moves. You can control the movement using the movement if the iPhone or by touch. I highly recommend doing the Quest before attempting the Arcade mode. I was able to go through 3 levels in Quest mode, but couldn’t pass through the first level of Arcade. The music in this game is pretty cute too.

Download it and let me know if you enjoy it. It’s a different kind of game. (iTunes Link)