It has built in solar panels so it can be used outside your home power-cord free! It fits a majority of iPhones and iPods but also comes with a 3.5mm audio jack so you can use it with just about anything. It goes on sale April 2010 for $2,299 and you can pre-order now with a deposit of $500 (a serious leap of faith that it sounds as good as it looks). Looks great though!
I know it seems like iPhone app day here at JS, but this is a neat little post-lunch nap, pre-early happy hour time waster. Longtime reader Pete Anderson (aka Anthropophagy) sent us a note about his new iPhone game called Stay. It’s a simple deal: keep your shapes balanced on the beam while different types of blocks try to knock it off. Trickier than it looks. The full version will be in the iTunes store soon, but for now we have promo codes for the first three readers who comment on their favorite application.
Accessing your favorite social nets on iPhone is currently a less than amazing experience, mainly because of the need to switch between networks, mapping, and contact information (it's enough to make a person frantic). But if the Paris company Never Alone Anymore has its way, the new HiMyTribe app will serve as the location-based people finder of choice. It uses the iPhone and iPod Touch's GPS capabilities to help people manage their groups (or professional and personal “tribesâ€) and identify people they would want to meet who are in their vicinity. A criteria-based search engine helps you locate people with similar interests, including business travelers, friends of friends, conference goers—even potential dates. (Imagine looking for a well-qualified designer who can meet you for espresso in Zurich on the fly.) There is a “blacklist†option, and exact locations aren't shown until the other user accepts. The free app, which the company describes as the “first truly real-time person to person application for the iPhone,†allows for 20 tribe members globally, or there's a larger network option with a monthly fee.
Last month, the iPhone Brushes app made headlines with The New Yorker cover, which Jorge Colombo finger-painted in less than an hour. New Brushes paintings are added to the Brushes Flickr group daily. So far, one of my top finds has been the work of Jhonen Vasquez whose 90s-era Johnny The Homicidal Maniac comic is a personal favorite. Writes the artist about his latest painting: “As is usually the case, this wee thing was started while waiting to feed on something or other, the way lions draw intricate images while waiting for a gazelle to run by.” The app even has a time-lapse video feature, so you can see the artists in action. Check out Vasquez’ brushwork here. Awesome.
Most people with any sort of artistic impulse don’t reserve their urge to create for when they’re seated in front of a canvas or holding their pen and sketchbook. The drive to innovate can strike at any moment and can be realized by the use of any number of resources. Last but certainly not least on that list of instruments susceptible for giving birth to the mother of invention is the iPhone. Reflect, A new app from our good friend/web design guru Joshua Davis and Sideways Mobile, encourages users to explore their spontaneous leanings by entering the universe of algorithmic art from the safety of their own cellular device. By giving users the power to “produce random, generative pieces, and then view them in a Kaleidoscopic filter” the iPhone turns into it’s own portable art gallery where the walls are covered with the whimsical wonders of your warped imagination…which is sort of a change from your usual, more practical iphone apps; though a whole lot more fun.
FingerBeat is a virtual instrument inspired by retro synthesizers & samplers, designed for creativity & self-expression. A homage to dance music and pop culture, FingerBeat is a classic for absolutely everyone. Only on iPhone & second generation iPod touch. You can check out a video of it here.
The gift that keeps on giving is sadly underused. I’m not talking about a puppy. I’m referring to what might become a relic if people don’t start having obsessions with receiving things in the snail mail again: Gift of the Month Clubs. In particular, Zine of the Month Club is one such variation, which should rank right up there with Beer of the Month Club or Cigar of the Month Club. For $75 a year, Mark Price Is a Factory will send off a zine each month by various artists published by them (or rather, him). Of course, you could just buy them individually, but that’d take the fun out of getting a neat-o present buried among the credit card statements and cable TV flyers in the mail. You canceled your newspaper and magazine subscriptions long ago when you bought your BlackBerry or iPhone. Now’s the time to start up those things you used to like before they went old school. Just make sure the Hot Sauce of the Month Club doesn’t come in the same delivery as these zines.
Going gaga over the new iPhone? Want to build iPhone applications? Thoughts so. Design Commission just introduced this handy stencil to brainstorm your application ideas using a precision cut stainless steel stencil and mechanical pencil. What’s better? You can download a PDF of iPhone screens as a template to doodle your most-awesome ideas. $16.95, available now.
Wonder what color the desert of Petra is, or that delicious Uni sushi you just had for lunch? Sherwin-Williams just launched ColorSnap, an iPhone application that allows you to snap a photo and get the matching Sherwin-Williams paint color from more than 1,500 in their database. Nice for the designers tool kit. Click here to download from iTunes.
Update: Speaking of color, check out XOLOR for a color seizure.
A series of day-long workshops around blogging and usability trends are popping up over the next two weeks in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco in the form ofWordCamps. Domestic first-time Wordpress users and experienced developers alike will be privy to conversations about monetizing blogging and managing content (not to mention the allure of microcelebrity) before similar events occur in Milan and San Paulo late this spring.
Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg says the camps, which were created using a BarCamp model and now number in the hundreds annually, are a great example of the platform’s main goal of democratizing publishing. Users from Manila to Dallas have organized their own WordCamps worldwide and pulled in local resources for co-education. Mullenweg (pictured above), who is curating the San Francisco WordCamp at the end of May, says that product innovations have come out of the get-togethers (at which he’s been asked to sign more than a few laptops and iPhones). Not bad for someone who thought he’d never leave the Lone Star State.
For the past year, the urban vinyl community has relied on Face Your Manga for all our avatar needs. But now one of our own has stepped up with an app that renders our likenesses in Kidrobocolor. That would be the awesome Tristan Eaton, whose Thunderdog Studios just released the B-BOT app for iPhone. B-BOT is the closest you will ever get your mug to a Munny. You can create your own B-BOT and also customize your contacts. When you receive a call from them, their B-BOTs will show up on the caller ID (and vice versa).
B-BOT was conceived by Tristan Eaton and Peter Cortez while working together on the 2008 Barack Obama Campaign. It was developed by Greg Elliott, the creator of SynchStep.
It is almost a euphoric moment, a private instance when you let a faint smile appear on your face that nobody else notices. I had one of these moments when I played Last Cannon for the iPhone. It’s rare that a game, especially for the Apple mobile platform, has all the key elements that make up a perfect experience – gameplay, artwork/graphics, music, controls. This hits on all points flawlessly. The story, told through journal entries, is of an post-apocalyptic world. You are the last of your kind after the knurlings rained down and destroyed your world.Â
The developer counts Geometry Wars, Dr. Mario and Ikaruga among his inspirations and I can definitely see elements of each in the game. Last Cannon is available now in the iTunes store for just $0.99. Version 1.1 promises to bring online leaderboards which will definitely add another layer to the gameplay. Â
As a bonus for the readers of joshspear.com, the creator has given us four download codes to give away. Just leave a comment below on what elements you look for in a good game and we’ll choose four of you at random.
Accessing your favorite social nets on iPhone is currently a less than amazing experience, mainly because of the need to switch between networks, mapping, and contact information (it's enough to make a person frantic). But if the Paris company Never Alone Anymore has its way, the new 
Most people with any sort of artistic impulse don’t reserve their urge to create for when they’re seated in front of a canvas or holding their pen and sketchbook. The drive to innovate can strike at any moment and can be realized by the use of any number of resources. Last but certainly not least on that list of instruments susceptible for giving birth to the mother of invention is the iPhone. 
Wonder what color the desert of Petra is, or that delicious 
A series of day-long workshops around blogging and usability trends are popping up over the next two weeks in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco in the form of
