Tech Talk

For those still waiting for that elusive action role-playing game (RPG) Diablo III, there is one pretty nice action RPG  on your iPhone now – the Dungeon Hunter.

You play a young king on a quest to eradicate the dark forces from his land. It’s a cliched storyline that gives you the excuse to hack and slash through dungeons and crypts, killing evil denizens and picking up plenty of loot along the way.

You get to choose your character class – a sword-wielding Knight, a stealthy Rogue or the magical Mage. Personally, I prefer to hack and slash my way through in true Diablo style!

The game plays very smoothly without any drops in frame rate and the controls are simple and intuitive. The graphics is fantastic for an iPhone game, and the audio track is great as well.

There are a few side-quests you can complete other than the story-driven main quests in order to get more experience points. With more experience, you level up and get more abilities to strengthen yourself for the quests ahead. Basically, it feels like playing Diablo II on an iPhone!

Fallen foes will drop plenty of loot for you to pick up, like weapons, rings, armour and potions. In fact, managing your inventory takes up as much time as your hack and slash. However, there’s no way to teleport to town to sell your loot, but you can transmute your loot into gold at a lower price.

Another quirk I have with the game is that its viewing angle sometimes gets blocked by the surroundings. In addition, although your character level is saved automatically, you can’t save your progress. In other words, if you exit when you are in the middle of the quest, you have to play again from the last checkpoint.

These quirks aside, Dungeon Hunter is one hell of a game for anyone who loves Diablo, or for anyone who loves a nice piece of action while waiting to catch your flight, or your spouse to show up or just to kill time during lunch breaks.

So, what are you waiting for? Get it at US$6.99 from iTunes Store now!

Tags: gameloft

I have been hoping to write about interesting iPhone apps on a regular basis but work just seems to take up too much of my time. Now that I have time for a slight breather, I’m going to make my first iPhone app recommendation!

There are tons of apps on iTunes Store and it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate the good apps from the bad ones. I also find it troublesome to download all those “lite” versions to test out the games or utilities.

Well, get AppReviews from iTunes Store. It is a simple app that draws all its content from iphoneapplicationlist.com – a site that provides information about the latest discounts, the hottest apps and reviews of apps. It really is a gem as it helps you to keep track of all the latest apps and discounts available.

The best part: AppReviews is free!

So, what are you waiting for?

Tags: Apple, iPhone, Mobile

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Kua Cheng Hock from Adaptive Instruments while I was covering the launch of the iPhone 3GS here. He’s also from the Guide Dogs Association of the Blind and is the only blind person in Singapore who owns a guide dog as well – he’s working on getting funding so more visually-handicapped people can get one for themselves.

So why was he at the launch anyway? This might surprise you. According to Mr Kua, the iPhone is one of the few phones that’s made to be friendly for the blind right out of the box (you simply need to tweak a few settings to switch on its accessibility features). Apart from verbally relaying what’s onscreen to him so that he can operate it, the smartphone’s built-in GPS and digital compass can help him find his way. Currently, he has to carry multiple devices just to do the same thing. The all-in-one device is much cheaper too and can help him with his email and other work-related activities as well. I’ll let him do the talking:

Oh, by the way, this was shot on location with an iPhone 3GS too.

Tags: accessibility, Apple, Gadgets, iPhone, Smartphone

As we’ve mentioned in our iPhone 3GS review today, the smartphone captures decent images and movies with its 3.2-megapixel camera. It has a really intuitive way of letting you focus as well. You simply need to tap on the desired part of the image onscreen:

The square above indicates the area I’ve tapped onscreen. On the top right, you’ll see a slider to switch between video and camera mode.

The camera churns out great photos in daylight or well-lit areas despite its relatively low resolution:

Images in low-light conditions tend to suffer from some visible noise as you can see below – but it’s a general limitation of such cameras in phones:

Here’s a typical food shot in an environment with very low lighting (hey, it was closing time). The iPhone manages to pump up the exposure so that your subject is visible:

The 3GS captures VGA-quality video and also allows you to choose an area to focus on as well, just like in picture mode. This opens up creative ways in which you can capture footage. In our example below, we used its macro focus to limit the depth of field, so you can see details on the raindrops and the texture of the car door’s faux-leather trimming:

Note that the videos on this blog have been compressed because they’ve been uploaded to YouTube straight from the iPhone. As with the camera mode, the quality of the video does tend to suffer when you’re in low-light environments, with visual noise becoming rather visible:

If you’d like to see the full quality of the footage that we’ve captured, download it from here.

Tags: Apple, Gadgets, iPhone, Mobile, phone, Smartphone

It’s encouraging to see the startup scene in Singapore grow so fast. The groundswell isn’t only happening locally though; many startups in Asia see Singapore as a hub of sorts for the region, and some are even looking to set up shop here because the country has government-backed initiatives for startups from the likes of IDA or MDA, good IT infrastructure and an active entrepreneurial community. I came to this conclusion after attending unConference Singapore 2009 last week, an annual event organised by E27, (a local grassroots community that supports entrepreneurs and startups) where startups from across Asia can network and demo their latest products and services. The event is already in its third incarnation and most of the attendees I spoke to noted how much livelier and crowded this year’s session was.

It was also a chance for me to try out something new: blogger-style video interviews. I took the chance to interview three promising startups:

1. Klout by Duration Inc.

Aung Si Thu Hein, vice-president of Singapore-based Duration Inc., presents Klout, a tool it has developed that can help Twitter users track their influence across the web, and also for companies to identify who the big influencers and connectors are in their respective industries. Singapore brands and companies are already using Twitter as an alternative way to spread the word on their services and products. I reckon tools like Klout will grow in importance as social media takes centrestage on the web, and measurement and analytical tools are needed to quantify how effective the medium is.

2. Sparkle by Genkii

Ken Brady, chief executive of Tokyo-based Genkii, gives me a peek at Sparkle, the first virtual world on the Apple iPhone. I’m particularly impressed at how easy it is to use and how neat the graphics looked on the smartphone. Virtual worlds, though exciting and immersive, can sometimes be hard to use and delve into. And you need to be tied to a desktop because it needs hefty processing power to render 3D graphics and you need to be connected to the web. But when you combine virtual worlds with the ease-of-use of devices like the iPhone and the smartphone’s ability to be mobile and perpetually connected to the Internet, it might make it all the more accessible.

3. eJAMMING AUDiiO by eJAMMING

Ben Scherrey from US-based eJAMMING showcased eJAMMING AUDiiO – a piece of software and accompanying service that allows musicians in remote places to meet and make friends and most importantly, to jam together live across the web with little latency (that’s delay to you and me) thanks to peer-to-peer technology. I’m somewhat of a bedroom musician (very amateurish at that) and love twiddling knobs on old synthesizers but find it more fun to jam with others, so I thought eJAMMING was a great idea – it’s been dubbed as a kind of Skype for musicians or an Internet-enabled incarnation of Apple’s Garageband (eJAMMING’s available for both Mac and Windows).

Tags: Music, P2P, social media, Twitter, Virtual worlds

It has been several weeks since my review of iLife ‘09 creative suite was published. You know, that multimedia software suite of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb and Garageband that gets updated annually and comes with every Macintosh machine you buy?

This creative suite has been touted as one of the reasons why people get a Mac, as it makes photo management, movie editing, web publishing and music making a breeze.

So while I was reviewing iLife ‘09, I kept wondering if Apple would make a Windows version of iLife. I mean, the success of iPod, iPhone and iTunes Store owes very much to the porting of iTunes to Windows. If there were no Windows iTunes, we wouldn’t be seeing the phenomenal success enjoyed by Apple today.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m a Mac OS X user. I just feel that such a good software suite should be enjoyed by a larger audience.

Porting the suite should not be a tumultuous task for Apple since it already has applications like Safari and Quicktime available in its friendly competitor’s operating system. Perhaps the only reason why Apple hasn’t ported the suite is because iLife is an integral part of the Mac OS X experience.

If Apple thinks that having Windows iLife might prevent Windows users from switch to Mac, I think its worries are unfounded. In fact, the contrary might happen. We have already seen Windows users switching to Mac on account of their experiences with the “it just works” iTunes. Having Windows iLife might be another “trojan horse” (if I may paraphrase Walt Mossberg) that compels Windows users to switch.

Ultimately, it’s about giving consumers choice.

Tags: iLife

Last month, Apple happily announced that more than 500 million applications have been downloaded for the iPhone since App Store’s inception in July last year.

However, a study by Pinch Media released a few days ago found that less than 5 per cent of iPhone users still use an application actively a month after downloading it. Only a paltry 1 per cent of total downloads are used long term. Unsurprisingly, paid applications retain users for a longer period of time than free applications, though the drop-off in usage is still pretty sharp.

As I don’t have the full copy of the study, I don’t know for sure how representative the sample size (30 million applications) is of App Store. Still, results of this study run contrary to the news we hear everyday, that independent iPhone developers are chalking up hundreds of thousands of dollars working out of their garage or basement.

I’m wondering if these developers are earning their fortunes from impulse purchases of App Store users, or did they just plain get lucky? Probably lucky, I think.

From personal experience, I would concur with the study results, as I’ve quickly grown tired of playing some of the games I buy from App Store. On the other hand, utilities are generally better worth the purchase as you tend to use them longer.

For example, I bought the application Things to keep track of deadlines and things I need to do, and have been using it regularly ever since. In contrast, I quickly grew tired of Real Soccer 2009 within two weeks of purchase, and soon started looking for new games to buy.

I find myself slowing down the pace I was playing games in order to enhance their longevity. In fact, I have stopped playing Hero of Sparta for fear of completing it too soon! It’s my favorite iPhone game right now, but if I complete it, I don’t think I’m going to play the whole game all over again. Yes, there will be a higher difficulty level unlocked, and you can retain all your weapons, but I still refrain from playing it.

Hero of Sparta

As a result, I’m more picky in purchasing items from App Store these days. Some of the games are either too short or will not sustain interest long enough for me.

Thus, for those lucky developers who struck gold, their pots of gold might not be full for long if they don’t come up with updates or additional contents for their iPhone applications or games. For example, new free levels for Hero of Sparta will be greatly appreciated and might attract new purchases, too.

If not, port some of the most addictive games in gaming history to iPhone, and you are sure to retain users for the long run.

Now, can I have Diablo on my iPhone please?

If you’re really into Apple, you know there’s something special about staying up late for the Macworld keynote, anticipating new products and software that might just raise the benchmark for technology (cue the iMac, iPod and the iPhone). It feels like opening presents on your birthday, or Christmas. This year’s keynote is noteworthy because it’s Apple’s last. If you plan to follow it via sites live-blogging the event, it’s happening on Jan 7 at (correct me if I’m wrong) 1am, Singapore time.

Now, I’m not one to speculate too much on rumours (because no one likes to look like a fool when they’re wrong. Hah!) but it’s fun reading them and trying to make educated guesses, seeing whether Apple will announce anything as impressive as what the rumour mills churn out. What would I like to see? An Apple home media server (crucial when you have to manage multiple Macs at home), a much-improved iMovie, a Mac mini I can easily hook up to the HDTV, maybe a cheaper MacBook with FireWire (or even USB 3.0 – wishful thinking either way), and a live demo of Snow Leopard.

Hungry for more info? Here’s a selection of my favourite sites for Apple-related news and their rumour round-ups for the Macworld keynote. You can also follow them as they live-blog the event:

• MacRumors.com
• Daring Fireball
• The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
• Gizmodo
• Ars Technica

One week after Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the latest MacBooks and MacBook Pros in the One Infinity Loop, local media finally get the chance to touch and feel the latest aluminum-clad MacBooks and MacBook Pros!

At today’s media conference held in Ritz-Carlton, Ms Angeline Tan (below), Apple’s Asia Pacific Product Marketing Manager for Portables and Wireless, took us through the new features like aluminum unibody and etc. of the new MacBook. (I think most of us sitting there already knew all about it… just let us touch the MacBooks!)

After the presentation, everyone scrambled for the tables where the MacBook and MacBook Pro rest. I sat myself on the front row and was one of the first to touch and feel the new alu-MacBook. (since I don’t have the money to buy MacBook Pro, I’m concentrating on the MacBook here)

By itself, the new MacBook is already a sight to behold with its smooth edges and curves at the corners. It gets even better when you hold the MacBook in your hands. Not only does it looks good, it feels great. The aluminum build is solid and sturdy unlike the white MacBooks of the past. Moreover, there’s not even a single grain of roughness as you run your hands through the top, rear and sides of the MacBook. Like a fellow member of the media said, “I can just do this all day long!” as he ran his palms around the MacBook.

Besides the body-caressing fetish the MacBook induces, it’s 13.3-inch display is absolutely marvelous, and a joy to look at. I queried Angeline about the potential problems that the reflective nature of the glass display poses, especially in my photojournalism work when I need to file photos out in the field. Her reply is simply to dial down the brightness of the display and the problem is solved. Since I can’t bring the alu-MacBook out for a test, I can’t know for sure if that is really the solution. (Again, when’s the review set? )

Anyway, I was eager to test out the all new glass multi-touch trackpad. It doesn’t feel like glass at all! In fact, it just feels like any trackpad there is in the market right now. However, the multi-touch trackpad makes a world of difference when you run two fingers to right click, three fingers to swipe and four fingers to activate Expose. It really feels even much cooler than my iPhone!

Finally, I put the much touted new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics engine to test by launching Call of Duty 4. After maxing the graphics specs of the game, it feels a bit laggy. Again I asked Angeline about the lackluster performance. She replied the MacBooks present at today’s media conference are production sets and not the final build, so we can’t really judge the performance from these sets.

What?! You mean after all that body-caressing and salivation, these are production sets only!

Oh man, I can’t wait to get my hands on the “final build” of Apple’s latest aluminum MacBook…

Tags: Apple, MacBook