This app began as an online web app where you could log into all of your chat clients and your information was stored online, back when online apps were all you could get a lot of.  But now it has evolved into much more…

I have used most if not all of the chat apps out there including but not limited to, MobileChat, Fring, AIM, Meebo, Beejive online, and everything in between.  But every client seemed to be missing something, if one had a special service then it was missing a much needed other service and nothing ever seemed to be complete.  But with this latest app it all seems to be present!

All the features you could ever ask for are present in this app, vibrate and ringer notification, you stay logged in even when app is closed, email notification of new messages, MySpace IM, AIM, Gtalk, MSN, Yahoo!, MobileMe, ICQ, Jabber, and Windows Live.  So if you have push email either through Yahoo! or Mobile Me then you get updates immediatly so you don’t have to keep the app pulled up constantly.  The new app on Cydia called Backgrounder works well with it keeping the program running and activly giving you updates to your messages in real time.  There is also NO lag as there normally is with the online chat apps and even downloadable apps on the phone.

The one con about this app is the price tag.  At a hefty 15.99 on the iTunes Store it does put a dent in your pocketbook as far as apps go but as far as I am concerned it is worth it.  I don’t normally get apps on my phone if they aren’t free but this is one I definitely suggest.  Especially if you utilize push email and chat regularly with people.  Who knows maybe they will have a sale soon so you can get it cheaper!

Weird things were always missing from the iPhone since release. Full use of the “Accelerometer”. PDA – PDA communication. Voice recognition and dialing…..Well maybe not that last one so much anymore. A Belgian Company by the name of Creaceed, seems to be attacking this issue head on by introducing Vocalia.

Vocalia is an English speech recognition app that will allow for your “mush-mouthed” speech to be interpreted by the phone to then function as it should by voice command, through the use of key activation words. As it stands now the programs ability is very limited. So limited in fact that as it stands right now, all it does is open contacts when you say “names” and will locate a name. And then still you have to tap the screen to open the name for the numbers…..Meh. I know not ground breaking but hey…It’s a start and a good one.

So how well does it do? Test have been said to have scored 98 out of 100 names called up. Now me personally? I’ll take a 98% on any test. (That just makes the cut within the realm of an A+ for all you high school drop outs). And that was all done without Vocalia being trained (good doggy). But it puts those names in a list of 3 of the closest sounding names. In that list the tests confirmed that 83% of the lists contained the correct name right at the top.

Whew….Who would have thought getting a contact would be a multiple choice question test? But with all these percentiles being mentioned? It’s like were back in school anyway. How well this program will work with poor enunciation or English breaking accents is unknown at this time. However with the training ability this commentator is firm in the belief that these issues can be overcome.

So between now and October 18th Vocalia is being sold in the App Store for $3.99. Afterwards the price shoots up to the full price of $7.99.

(It is my opinion due to the such limited use and function, that this item like AirShare, should be free until that date at least, and at best when they actually make the App more functional. But hey, I work for you guys and not Creaceed. So they don’t take my suggestions.)

	It’s finally here!! Stack has been missing in action since 1.1.3 firmware… For those of you who’ve been jailbreaking since the original iPhone first came out, you’ll remember that it was one of the first on Installer. But mysteriously the loved application disappeared when Apple upgraded their firmware to 1.1.3 and that was back then when people used ZiPhone to jailbreak and unlock. Maybe it wasn’t ported because it was too much of a bother? There was no time? Nobody knows but the developer, Steven Troughton-Smith.
	For those who don’t know what it does, it’s a drop-dead simple application launcher that spreads like a fan from your Button Bar on touch, or if teeming with icons it displays in grid view. Simply drag & hover icons from SpringBoard to add to Stack, and to remove items again just start dragging them in the Stack and they will disappear replete with a puff of smoke. Also supports WinterBoard themes! More than 5 total icons in Stack switches it from Stack mode to Grid mode. See screenshots for examples.
	I thought Stack was gone and lost forever in the jailbreaking world. But after (probably the longest wait) it made the jump all the way to 2.1. A few extra improvements have been added and I sure love it. Things like grid view (as mentioned up above), tap and drag adding/removing, and even Preferences so you can customize it to your needs. You can turn off/on Grid View and turn on/off Curved Stack.
	This originally came with Installer but I guess Cydia is more popular nowadays and Installer is still bugged and useless (sorry Installer!). Go download and install it in Cydia and have fun with it!(It’s under the System section just to let you know.)

The company Animetrics has recently released an application for the iPhone that uses facial recognition to identify people based on a centralized database.

iFace uses standard internet protocols to send facial imagery to the Animetrics Face Identity Management System (FIMS) server to be evaluated.  According to Animetric’s website the phone is utilized for two things:

1) as an interface to a biometrics identification system for use by security, including law enforcement, military and private security; and
2) as an entertaining “biometric game” assessing a person’s similarity to popular celebrities and famous people.

This program can give law enforcement the ability to capture suspects facial image and compare to a database on-the-fly.  It can also be applied to surveillance equipment to help merchants identify shoplifters or other known criminals to get them captured quicker.

iFace is currently being evaluated by the national Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and DARPA for use by the military, and both parties have nothing but good things to say about how it performs.

Many of us have used the iPhone Modem, or iPhone Modem zsrelay, or even tried to tether the iPhone by online tutorials.  Even though all, or some, of these programs work very well none of them are as easy or as close to the ICS we all know and love.  For example, I used to have the HTC Hermes that used WM5 and it had ICS and all I had to do is connect the phone and away I went and this program is no different.

When tethering your iPhone most users think of using the SOCKS proxy because that is what each of these applications utilize but PDA Net seems to just act as router without any special strings attached.  I am not the guru of networking by any means, which is one of the reasons I am keen to this program, but I like to believe this program acts in a different manner.  The program is fairly simple, you create an ad-hoc network, connect your computer and iPhone, then turn on the router and you are done…  I was online in a matter of 30 seconds with absolutely no hassles at all!  This program seems easy enough anyone can use it, and that’s the way it should be.

Air Sharing is a brilliant program that allows you to use your iPhone as a wireless drive that is capable of connecting to any system through a self-sustained HTTP server.

Now there are already a few programs out there that are similar, but there are a few reasons this program is above the rest. First of all this program is FREE currently.  According to Avatron Software, Inc., this is only a limited time offer for the first 2 weeks after release.  The software was released on 09/08/08 so it should go to its normal price of 6.99 around 09/22/08 so time is wasting!

The program is also the easiest I have come to use.  Was set up in no time, and was able to connect without a hitch.  DataCase has a few nice features and is 6.99 as well but I have not been able to get it to work consistantly, neither have many other users who have posted reviews.

As with DataCase you can also connect via Bonjour or the IP it activly shows you for your iPhone.  There is a nice drag and drop feature once you open a network drive to the phone and it supports all the popular file types.  I was transfering videos and music in no time. For those coders out there it also supports color-coded source code files such as C/C++, Javascript, Java, C#, Ruby, Python and much more!

The last great thing about Air Sharing is not only are you getting the original app for free you get a FREE upgrade to 1.0.1 as soon as it is approved!  It is currently submitted and they are just awaiting Apple’s go ahead.

This app is to great to pass up, for the price as well as the quality. You have about 4 days to get your hands on it before you are forced to pay the 6.99 price tag!  So hurry up!

iPhone Modem zsrelay was recently put on Cydia for download claiming to be the original iPhone Modem.  They simply released a few days later so they were forced to change names.  As the first iPhone Modem, it is intended for use on Mac and currently doesn’t freely support any other operating system; but what it does do it does rather well.

Set-up was a breeze, open the program and enter the variables and you are done, no problems. I logged in, and there is an advanced page that is supposed to show you the upload and download but it never seemed to register but that was no biggie.  I then tried to login to Firefox and Adium to no avail.  So I tried changing the SOCKS settings but still got no where.  I then decided to search around and found out that the program itself is still in beta and currently only supports Safari OTB.  I feel dumb…  so I try out Safari and away I go…

After I browsed around for a while I decided to call it quits but after closing the program I couldn’t log back into normal wireless.  No matter what settings I changed I couldn’t get rid of the manual IP setting, even though manual wasn’t enabled!  I had to restart before the correct settings took effect.

Overall this program is very good but has to get a few kinks out which is to be expected from beta.  But the thing I like about the program most is the simple fact that it is FREE versus the fake iPhone Modem that is 9.99 shareware! Just give it a little while to be tested some more and built up then I am sure we will have an excellent tethering program on our hands!

 

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed looks like an amazing application for the iPhone hands down.  We have started to see, since the App Store’s debut,  an astounding number of pretty highly graphic intensive applications that push the iPhone far ahead any mobile device currently out there.  This game is of no exception.

Much like some Wii games that are out there you perform tasks or moves by creating certain patterns with your finger and the corresponding actions are performed by your character.  If anyone ever played Black & White it is very similar to that game.  You used to perform spells/rituals on B&W by drawing shapes on screen with your cursor.   The story line and graphics look very interesting but the game is VERY linear.  From the looks of things the character’s movement is not controlled by the user but simply his actions and he walks along a certain path until met by an obstruction.

Overall the game looks like a wonderful addition to the already booming App Store, and a great addition to anyone’s iPhone.  Definitely worth the 9.99 price tag.  Something that is complicated enough for fun but not to complicated that it can’t be started up and played on a 5 min. whim.   See for yourself…

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A Great game of tank busting. Tap the screen to drop bombs and destroy the tanks below. Destroy as many as you can before the time (or your bombs) run out.

http://spicyclam.com/tankbuster