
Hello Captain! Have a seat and welcome to command! Flight Control was developed by Firemint, which is also the company that brings you Real Racing. This fun and addictive game will only put you back 99 cents, but let me tell you why it is worth every penny. If you’ve ever wished for a simple yet entertaining game which you can spend hours playing and not get bored, then this is the app for you.
To start, you are air traffic control and the goal is to land each aircraft on its designated landing strip. There are three different types of aircraft: passenger plane, helicopter, and small-cabin/crop plane. For greater emphasis, each type of aircraft has its own specific landing strip. To land a plane, you just tap the craft with your finger, then draw a path for it to land. Sounds easy, right? Not so fast: as time goes on, more and more aircraft will need to be landed at one time, so it’s important to be as efficient and as quick as possible about the paths you draw and what aircraft you land first. All aircraft have different sizes, speeds, shapes, and turning agilities. Strategy becomes important with an increased amount of planes on the map.
Read more »
Posted in
App Store,
Review,
iPhone,
iPod Touch
While writing a post about jailbreaking (still in progress), I came across a jailbreak app called iRealSMS. In my opinion, this is one of the few apps that makes jailbreaking not only a good idea, but also a complete necessity. I have used this app (along with its less powerful sibling, iRealQuickSMS) and I can say that once you’ve used it (and been spoiled by it), going back to the regular process of texting is a displeasure.
What it does
The concept of iRealSMS is very simple: it allows you to send and receive SMS messages without quitting a currently-running app. iRealSMS runs in the background. Whenever an SMS arrives, the app displays a pop-up screen with a text entry box and a few options. The important thing to note here is that it does not close the open app the way the default Messages app does.
From the incoming SMS pop-up, you can send a reply, call the sender, or ignore the entire thing altogether (see screenshot above). When the screen is tapped to place the cursor in the text-entry box, a keyboard pops up for a quick reply (see screenshot below). After the reply is sent, iRealSMS goes away, allowing the app that was running before receiving the SMS resume.
There is also an option to send an SMS without leaving the current app. I use the volume up button to open the quick send box (press once, more than once increases volume). Now a standard feature when it comes to messaging apps, iRealSMS operates in landscape and portrait modes. Read more »
Posted in
Apple,
Apps,
Review,
iPhone App Review

Emergency Radio was developed by EdgeRift, Inc. and it lets you listen to over a thousand live fire, police, EMS, and other emergency frequencies. Think of it as a police scanner on your phone, only one that costs 99 cents. Using Edge, 3G, or WiFi, Emergency Radio connects to third-party online streams that broadcast over emergency frequencies. It is very easy to use and may just help you out in a tight situation. I tested Emergency Radio on OS 3.0 and it works flawlessly. Coming in at a convenient 830KB, the app is very lightweight and will install very quickly.
Design
The interface is very simple to use and neat to look at. It gives you three tabs on the bottom; the first, called All, gives you a list of all available stations. The tab includes a search bar, enabling you can find your station faster. The second tab, called Nearby, uses your iPhone’s GPS to find the stations closest to you. I found this really useful since it allowed me to get to my local stations much faster. The third and final tab is Favorites, which is, well, your favorites page. Here you can quickly get to the stations you’ve marked as your favorite, giving you the fastest access to what you’ve deemed the most important EMS content. The coolest aspect of Emergency Radio is the interface that appears while you’re listening to a station. You get the neat background noise of a radio to give you the feel of a scanner. There is also a list that contains all the codes emergency personnel use, along with their meaning. This way, you can know exactly what the emergency personnel is talking about over the air waves. Read more »
Posted in
App Store,
Apple,
Review,
iPhone,
iPhone App Review