Fantastic Contraption

Parking App

                        

I’ve got to admit that Parking App is an application I never would have thought of. I had resigned myself to using the simple timer function in Apple’s built in clock/timer application. I use the timer almost daily to warn me of expiring parking meters. Tickets are very costly and could amount to hundreds if not thousands in fines, tows and penalties on a annual basis.

Parking App by cgCraft LLC is an extremely well thought out and designed program. The user interface is clean, simple and easy to read. The layout is very intuitive and the app is learned in a minute or two. That’s not say it isn’t powerful, though, so read on.

The top third of the home screen is the time setting control. The graphics and simplicity of use are great. Slide the button at the bottom of the time scale to show the time remaining on the meter. I always set mine 10 to 15 minutes less, to give myself time to get a latte and still get to the meter in time to plug more quarters in. The middle half the screen is occupied by the various Parking Zones you set up. I immediately set up zones for weekly street cleaning, and the 3 pm to 6 pm No Parking Zone in front of my office. I added my house, a few of the restaurants I eat lunch at and soon I had most of the zones I regularly park in entered.

Zones can easily be modified, deleted or added. There are settings to enter times, days of the week, weeks and when to sound alert. For example street cleaning takes place from 4 am to 6 am every Thursday. I programmed this into the app with several simple clicks and now it appears on the main screen in my list of zones. Every Thursday evening I’l get an alert at 10 pm to remind me to move my car. So simple.

Another great convenience is the ability to take a photo of where you parked you car, to use later as a reminder. This could eve be used in parking lots and garages. A shot of the aisle, row number and you’re all set. It’s not infallible, but it sure makes finding your car a little easier.

There is one limitation all users need to be aware of when using this program. Apple does not allow multiple apps (except Apple Apps) to run in the background. So what does this mean to the user? Say you set the meter alert to go off in 1:45:00. In the interim you check mail, listen to iTunes, check an app to find a new lunch spot etc. You get the idea. If you don’t at least re-open Parking App after the last application was used, the alarm won’t sound. So the rule is, if you use another app, you must return to Parking App after you close the other app. Simple enough, just don’t forget. This is not a limitation of the program. It is a limitation forced on all non-Apple applications.

The only thing I would change is to have a choice of alarm sounds and a volume control. The alarm is too soft in some surroundings, such as a noisy lunch counter. Yet a little loud for the quite of my office. I really like Parking App. A few may balk at the price, $2.99, but I’ll spend that any day to save a fine and a tow. The clean design and ease of use, make it a pleasure to use daily. It’s earned 5 Stars.

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Gemmed

                        

When I look at my iPhone and the near 144 applications that reside on it, very few (less than 10) are games. I know, I know, games are the hottest selling segment for the iPhone. But at my age, a game has to have something special to hold and keep my interest. Gemmed by Wasted Pixel holds promise in earning a permanent spot on my iPhone.

The game downloaded quickly (7.5MB) and loaded with no problems. A quick reboot for preventative measure and I was ready to start. The main screen loads quickly and you’re presented with four options, Play, High Scores, Options and ?, presumably the help section. The music was a bit load for my taste, however my son who later played the game seemed to find the volume level fine. Pressing Options gives you 3 choices. You can turn on and off game play tips, I left them on and recommend doing so the first few rounds. The last two options allow you to turn music and sound FX on and off. I left all the options on and X’d out the screen.

The ? button is indeed the help section. I highly recommend reviewing this section as Gemmed has some interesting twists and turns as you go from level to level. The 14 help screens have nice graphics and are very concise and informative. High Scores has two options. One where you can track your personal scores, player by player and another section to compare your scores to other game players across the country. A nice touch. The basics took only a minute or two and now it’s time to play.

Tapping play and I’m shown another screen with my current level, 1 of 50, and the choice of new game or resume saved games. The option to turn off Tips is presented again. Time to play. The premise is to match at least 3 gems of the same color. In game terms I’m told it’s called Match 3 Gameplay. However, there are many twists and turns. There are Monsters, just one at first, but progressive levels will have increasingly more. You may ask, “what do I do with Monster’s?” The goal is to rescue all the monsters on each level. Monsters come in various colors and eat the same color gems and automatically move towards their color exit. Rescue more same colored monsters (or match same colored gems) and the power bar, located at the bottom of the game play screen, increases. When the bar reaches it’s limit a “Power Up” is placed on the board. Power Ups will remove multiple gems with a nice visual effect and helps the monsters move more quickly towards their exit. On about level 4 or 5 white gems and the Angel Monster appears. When her Power Up is complete they self activate and help save the monsters. A level or 2 later the Evil Monster appears as does black gems. When the Evil Monster’s Power Up is complete, it self activates and moves your monster farther from their colored exit.

There are other rewards such as Wild Gems, earned when matches of 5 same colored gems occur. Wormhole gems appear at certain point levels and instantly saves a monster. The faster you save your monsters the bigger the bonus you get at the end of the level. The really big point bonus’ are achieved by very fast rescues of your monsters. If you can’t make a match of at least three gems, the game is over. However, you can earn Replay options (the game starts with one replay) which enable the level to be played again.

The various Power Ups are carried over to the next level. Hints on moves are shown after 15 seconds, but with all the Power Ups, Monsters etc. match plays come fairly easy. In several hours of play, I only had to use a replay once.

The game play is smooth and has nice graphics for the various effects. The sound track is OK and songs change at various levels. I got tired of the music and turned the volume off after about 10 minutes. Hopefully, the sound track will be improved in future releases. The various Power Ups add some excitement and twists to each level. I played the game for about an hour, unusually long for me, and had completed about 30 levels and earned well over 2,000,000 points. Not bad for an old guy.

I then turned the game over to my 15 year old son, Myles, for a review. He quickly mastered the play and passed multiple levels. Hum, how do kids do that without reading the tips and tricks? After about a half hour of play I asked for his impressions. He liked the graphics as well, thought the game should have been more challenging and the music was lame. I often play Bejeweled, even had it on my Palm Treo, and thought Gemmed was equally fun to play. The game is easy to learn and will provide hours of fun. The music is easily it’s weakest point, but that’s minor. Gemmed probably isn’t for most older teens, not enough action. Game playing adults and pre-teens will most likely find hours of enjoyment playing Gemmed. I did, and Gemmed has earned a place on my iPhone. At least for several months. Four Stars.

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Where to Golf

                        

Here in Florida golf courses are fairly abundant, considering the ability to play year around. However, I typically only play a few courses. Why? I lack information, such as, fees, amenities and directions. Because of this I miss some great golfing opportunities. In comes, Where to Golf, by Carpe Diem Ventures. It’s a great app for dedicated golfers and novices alike. The application finds and provides fact filled info on golf courses near and far.

Launch the app and the main screen presents a nice golf motif interface. Four red golf tees labeled City, Golf Course name, Zip code and My location allow for basic search functions. I’m a big fan of GPS so I tapped the My location tee and in a few seconds was presented a list of 20 nearby golf course. The list is ordered nearest to farthest and provides icons showing the clubs amenities, such as food, alcohol, carts, and fees. A tap of the course name slides over a new screen with more detailed info on the course itself. I found a nearby (3.31miles) par 71, 6451 yard, rated 71.0, with a 122 slope course that I hadn’t played (now on my list of things to do). The bottom of the screen provides buttons to get directions in Google Maps, read reviews, in depth course details, and a line to instantly phone the course.

I was impressed by the extent of the detail that was provided on some courses. Everything from course designer, year built, to the golf pro’s name may be shown. The details are mostly user provided, via a submission form (Add Course) in the app. Many courses lack some of the detailed info, probably due to the newness of the app and it not being golf season in most parts of the country. However, for my area the information was complete for many courses.


Back to the home screen, via a button in the upper left, and I tried the other search functions and they all worked flawlessly. The home screen also provides access via three buttons on the bottom of the screen to the Settings screen, the Add a Course submission screen and lastly Updates. Settings are straight forward and allow you to filter and sort the course displayed by distance in miles (default is 100) or Kh and number of courses shown (default is 20) in the list. Two additional buttons allow you to turn on/off searches for private clubs and using current location. The only minor nit here is the text is too small to read easily. A larger, darker, or bolder font would be much clearer.

The Updates button works two ways. It downloads any updates directly to the program and uploads any revisions or information you’ve added to the course descriptions. Updates is a great feature and in my usage, I am getting updates of courses every day.

If you ever find info on any of the courses is incorrect, or missing the Add Course button allows you to make corrections and additions to current course listing. After the data is added (over 40 different fields) a save button, saves the data until the next Update. In this way data can be added even you aren’t ready to upload at the moment.

This application is well thought out, easy to use and makes a great addition for any golfer. It came in handy when I had out of town friends looking for a public course near their hotel. In less than a minute I had a list of courses, fees, directions and phone numbers. This would have taken considerably longer with a phone book or even Google. My only complaints are the fonts, mentioned above, and the lack of information on some courses. In my area of Florida the info was very good. However, when I searched different zip codes I found that while basic info was listed, detailed information was lacking on many courses. I recommend this for all levels of golfers and rate it 4 Stars.

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Arcade Bowling

                        

I down loaded Arcade Bowling and fired it right up. You’re instantly presented with a choice of two games, Classic and Progressive. A quick look over the screen and I found the “i” (info) button in the lower left corner. A touch to the “i” brought several options, all sound related. There are two soundtrack choices and two volume controls. The volume controls were preset to max and a quick adjust to 1/2 volume brought the sounds to a good home level. There is also a 1/2 dozen or so bullet points on how to play the games and scoring. Everything was brief and to the point. Now it’s time to play.

I selected Classic and the game screen flashed up in an instant. Waves of memories flood my mind. I was taken back 40 years to the Penny Arcades at Cedar Point. Arcade Bowling is just like the old arcade games. Several concentric rings surrounding holes in the slanted back stop provide the scoring opportunities. Single holes for 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 points. Two 100 point holes at each back corner are the real challenges.

Would this game prove worthy of all those memories? A quick flick of the index finger and my ball flew down the lane, past the holes and bounced off the backstop before falling into the 10 point score. Hum, a bit more technique will be required. I steadied my finger and took aim. I flicked about half speed and the ball raced down the board. Again 10 points. A slower flick and I added 20 points to my score. I think I got the hang of it. Flick, 40 points, flick 40 points, flick 30 points, flick 20 points. Nine balls and a final score of 210 points. Not bad for a first time out.

The end of the game brought the opportunity to enter my name. The directions seemed simple, “Touch to enter name.” A touch of the screen brought nothing. I touched again, nothing. Another touch and a long wait. After 6 to 8 seconds a keyboard slid up from the bottom and I could enter my name and a press of the “Done” button brought up a list of top 10 scores. I’d made the list. Not bad for a first attempt. I pressed the Arcade Bowling button at the top of the screen and was instantly transported to the game choices screen. After a few more games and a first place score of 260 and it was time to play Progressive.

Progressive presents you with the same game board but assigns a point goal for each game. Make the goal and you play again, but with a slightly higher goal. Flashing holes allow you to score 5x their normal point value. I played along and scored a total of 1050 points in 4 levels of play. Not enough for a top ten score. Another game and I cracked the top ten. This game is a little more challenging trying to drop the ball into the flashing holes. Tilting the iPhone allows you to guide the ball towards the flashing holes, but not guarantee of an easy score.

Arcade Bowling has earned a place on my game screen along with 15 other favorite games. The play and scoring is straight forward, but challenging enough to keep your interest. The minor glitch entering my name seemed to get better with time. The usual tricks of restarting the phone to free up memory seemed to have no effect, so maybe it was user error. The game is challenging enough to keep you wanting more, yet is over quick enough that game doesn’t get tedious. Four Stars for a fun game, that will keep you entertained for hours, or minutes, your choice. When I think about all the pennies and nickels I spent in my youth playing this game, at $1.99 this game is a steal.

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Done Drinking

                        

This app reminded me of one of those lessons in sobriety you get in high school. You know; if you drink, your motor skills will be impaired. Luckily, the character in this game, dubbed “Tipsy” is only walking down an alley and is not behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

The object for the iPhone user is to keep this sloppy guy, with his unbuttoned shirt, untucked tie and final bottle of booze, from falling down and going to sleep in the road before he makes it home. You do this by tilting the phone left and right to compensate for his leaning or by touching the right and left arrows with your thumbs accordingly. The app measures how long you keep Tipsy upright, with the highest scores going on the appropriately named “Walk of Fame.”

What I liked best about this app was actually the menu page. The logo for the game sways when you move your iPhone while you’re browsing to make a selection. There are a couple of preferences available. You can turn the music and sound on or off and you can change Tipsy’s walking distance from feet to meters if you’d like him to be drunk outside of the U.S.

The graphics on this game are good, even providing our fearless walker with fire hydrants and pieces of trash to stumble over. However, after about five minutes of watching a drunk cartoon man sway as I tried to steady my hands I began to feel a bit tipsy myself.

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iKoto 2

                        

This app lets you play a traditional Japanese string harp by “plucking” the strings with your fingers. It opens with a lovely intro screen of falling cherry blossoms. Then you touch the screen to get started. If you want to play an individual string, you simply tap it, or you can glide your finger down across more than one make a chord.

After you’ve become a master musician, you can start recording your symphonies by touching the musical note icon at the bottom right of the screen, selecting a recording number and then touching the icon with the black circle on it to start taping, so to speak. If you turn out not to be so good, don’t worry. You can also play preinstalled music by touching the musical note icon and picking one of the songs listed under demo play and then touching the play arrow. Just tell your friends that you recorded the song yesterday.

Those who want a little different sound can change the tone scale. There are 11 options that give you an array of pitches. The names are related to actual Koto instruments, so it is pretty much trial and error for anyone not familiar with them. There are also options to turn the string numbers on or off as well as the pitch bend.

This app can be a little tricky to get the hang of at first, but the help menu is your friend. Just touch the icon at the very bottom of the icon list (the circle with the white center) and you’ll be on your way to annoying – I mean, entertaining – your friends and neighbors in no time.

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Peanut Butter Jelly Time

                        

No matter how bad of a day you’ve had, this app will surely put a smile on your face. It has an incredibly pixilated banana with arms, legs, eyes and a winning grin getting down with his bad self, kicking his feet and moving his arms up and down. He’s doing something similar to what my friends and I used to call the “idiot dance,” which we attributed to people at clubs that had absolutely no rhythm.

When I first launched the app it didn’t seem to do much else, just the dancing fruit alone, but then the song started in when I touched the screen: “It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time” by my favorite unknown band, the Buckwheat Boys. I also noticed that the song’s title is at the bottom of my iPhone’s screen, though it pretty much covered up by the feet of the banana man. You can restart the song by touching the screen again or by shaking the phone to make some mad beats. No matter what you do, the dancing never changes.

I’d have to say I’m glad this app is free, but my boyfriend absolutely loved it. In fact he already had “It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time” as one of his ringtones so this was just the icing on the cake. It’s sure to be a hit at parties and on college campuses, and I’ll probably launch it every once in a while when I’m having a bad day or on the phone with an annoying telemarketer.

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Space Deadbeef

                        

This app is a lot like R-Type on the NES. You navigate your airship through fields of enemies while the screen constantly scrolls. The further you advance in a level, the harder and faster the other ships get and at the end you have to beat a powerful level boss.

There are three different weapons you can use to shoot your enemies: regular bullets, which you use by touching the screen with your left thumb, more powerful bullets you get if you hold that left thumb down until the power gauge on the top left runs down all the way and targeted missiles. To use the targeted missiles, you have to touch your targets with your right thumb until they have a blue circle around them. Some enemies cannot be killed with a single shot alone, so it’s important to plan your attacks accordingly or at least shoot off a lot of bullets in a short period of time.

At first I thought this game would be pretty dull, with its unchanging cloud background and frankly irritating sound of high pitched gun noises. However, I found it to be pretty addictive. Not only do you have to shoot your enemies, but you have to dodge them, and their guns, at the same time. I found beating the first boss, which looked like a cross between a caterpillar and a snake, to be pretty exciting. And I love that it has a continue feature so you don’t have to start all over every time you play, though you can only save one game at a time though. Be careful when you play this game as it can be engrossing.

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Road Trip Lite

                        

This app can be a pretty important tool in today’s economy. It allows you to set car profiles and then chart your gas usage to give you a good idea of how your vehicle is running and how many miles per gallon you are getting.
To enter your vehicle touch preferences at the bottom right of the screen. Then you can type in its name and choose units for the odometer and for gas depending on your country. Once that’s done just touch fuel every time you go to the gas station. There you can enter the date, the odometer reading and the price you paid per gallon. You can even mark if you were filling the tank or just topping it off.

The piece de resistance is the statistics icon, also at the bottom of the home screen. After you’ve got numbers for a couple trips to the gas station, you can see how your vehicle is doing overall. You’ll see both your average MPG as a numerical value and be able to further gauge its trend by looking at the app’s line graph. If it’s going down, you can take steps to remedy it, like finally checking your tire pressure. You’ll also see the same for the average price of the gas you’ve been buying.

I was a little disappointed that you can’t enter multiple vehicles to see how your hybrid compares to your Hummer, but that option is available in the full, paid version. It also allows you to keep maintenance records and write other notes.

The free version is still pretty helpful though and it’s easier than keeping this info on a notepad in your glove box.

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