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From Gizmodo.com: 115 More Pieces of Amazing Iranian Technology Created with Photoshop
Thanks to Doug for sending me the link.

iTunes works well for music, but not so well for selling iPhone applications.  Or at least not yet.  My main problem is trying to figure out what each application does.  For example in the category of photography:It’s difficult to figure out what any of these applications are just from the icon and the name.  Because of this, customers are forced to click on every application just to read a description.  There should be a one or two line description of the program and maybe a rating to make things easier.

The “New” section is kind of a strange category since it doesn’t look like it has been updated since the App Store opened.  The “New” section should almost be renamed “featured” since new apps are not being put there.

Third party websites like TouchArcade are emerging to fill in the gaps by providing useful and needed information about the applications in the App Store.

From NYTimes.com: McCain’s Conservative Model? Roosevelt (Theodore, That Is)

“I count myself as a conservative Republican, yet I view it to a large degree in the Theodore Roosevelt mold,” Mr. McCain said, referring to Roosevelt’s reputation for reform, environmentalism and tough foreign policy.

I wonder if John McCain and old Teddy talked political policy while serving together during the Spanish American War.

Do you have to go that far back to find a Republican that supported reform, environmentalism, and tough foreign policy?

From Time.com: Chess-Boxing Hits it Big

The matches work like this: competitors alternate between three-minute rounds of boxing and four-minute rounds of speed chess with one-minute breaks in between to get the gloves off and hunker down at the chess table.

The winner is determined by knockout, checkmate, or referee decision.

This is pretty funny.  It seems like it would favor boxers who play chess rather than the typical chess players who might box.

From CBS News: New Yorker Obama Cover Sparks Uproar

Barack Obama’s campaign is condemning as “tasteless and offensive” a New Yorker magazine cover that depicts Obama in a turban, fist-bumping his gun-slinging wife.

An American flag burns in their fireplace.

The New Yorker says it’s satire. It certainly will be candy for cable news.

From later in the article:

The magazine explains at the start of its news release previewing the issue: “On the cover of the July 21, 2008, issue of The New Yorker, in ‘The Politics of Fear,’ artist Barry Blitt satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the presidential election to derail Barack Obama’s campaign.”

From Wikipedia’s definition of satire:

Although satire is usually meant to be funny, the purpose of satire is
not primarily humor in itself so much as an attack on something of
which the author strongly disapproves, using the weapon of wit.

This cover really doesn’t seem like it fits the definition of satire to me.  Where’s the wit?  Where’s the attack on something the artist strongly disapproves of?  It shows the summary of scare tactics that are being used against Obama but it seems to validate them instead of disapproving them.  It looks like the artist is actually saying that this is what will happen if you vote Obama into the White House.

From salsa-caliente.com: Salsa on the Square – July 10, 2008

My Salsa instructor Diana Hoffman of KamaSalsa taught Salsa last night at Fountain Square and she said that there had to be 400 people in her class!  I’m going to have to move my tennis lessons to another night so I can actually go dance.  I hear it’s usually hot, but lots of fun!  Click the link above for pictures.

From Forbes.com: Premier Exhibitions dives after 1Q disappoints

The company attributed the loss to a reduced number of revenue-producing days because many of its exhibitions were traveling, negative publicity for the companies Bodies exhibit from ABC’s 20/20 news show, and an increase in administrative costs as it tries to produce more of its own exhibits.

It’s nice to hear that the growing awareness over the controversy of the Bodies the Exhibition that’s currently being shown at the Cincinnati Museum Center is actually having some negative impact on the company’s profits.

The Cincinnati Museum Center is claiming record attendance for the show, but it is clear this show is drawing at a slower rate than previous record shows.  I detailed this in an earlier blog entry: Bodies the Exhibition in Cincinnati not doing as well as expected

Auto Word Correction
There’s been some changes to the iPhone auto word correction.  Typing “its” now gives you the option of “it’s” as the default option.  Typing “ill” gets you “i’ll”.  I used type “itsa” to get “it’s”.

App Store
The ability to run third party applications is the major new feature in iPhone 2.0.  Applications are purchased and installed through Apple’s App store.  It can be accessed directly on the iPhone or through iTunes.

A few little quirks in the App Store on the iPhone.  You can browse the store through categories, featured, and top 25 in sales.  On the categories screen it lists Games (15).  I’m assuming the number in the parentheses are the number of games in the category, but there are by far more than 15 games in the category.
I haven’t been able to find out how to change the sorting view, currently alphabetical by application name.

I find that in general, there’s not enough description about the applications and the lack of a demo makes it hard for me to purchase an application that I’m not familiar with.  The good thing is that there are a lot of free applications to try out.

I did purchase two games, Super Monkey Ball by Sega and the puzzle game Enigmo by Panagea.

Mobile-Me
I don’t think it’s quite working yet.  I seem to get some mail pushed to me, but my calendars and contacts aren’t being updated yet over the air.  I’m actually having issues with the sync hanging on syncing contacts when I’m using a direct cable.

Remote for iTunes
This is an amazing free application that makes your iPhone a remote for iTunes or an Apple TV.  It works really well.

Screen Capture
Press the home button and then click the power button to snap your picture.

Calculator
Access the new scientific by rotating the screen to horizontal.  Clever!

From NYTimes.com: In an Iranian Image, a Missile Too Many

As news spread across the world of Iran’s provocative missile tests, so did an image of four missiles heading skyward in unison. Unfortunately, it appeared to contain one too many missiles, a point that had not emerged before the photo appeared on the front pages of The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, The Chicago Tribune and several other newspapers as well as on BBC News, MSNBC, Yahoo! News, NYTimes.com and many other major news Web sites.

Doctored photo that was shown on major news sites:
Original Photo

The Iranian news agency originally released the 4 missile photo, but later released the three missile photo after the authenticity of the photo was called into question.

It seems that the Iranian’s doctored the photo to cover up the failure of one of the missiles to launch.  There have been examples of altered photos showing up in the media, but this has to be one of the most blatant examples of such.  The media’s going to have to be extremely diligent in sourcing photos and confirming authenticity.

From toucharcade.com: Bomberman Touch: The Legend of Mystic Bomb

Veteran game developer Hudson Soft is breathing new life into its classic arcade-style maze game Bomberman with the forthcoming release of Bomberman Touch: The Legend of Mystic Bomb for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The interesting thing about this is how you control the game with the iPhone.  It uses a combination of flicking and tapping the screen with tilting the iPhone.  I’m interested in seeing how other developers use the strengths of the iPhone to make up for missing dedicated gaming controls.  Follow the link to see a YouTube video of the game in action.