Things I Think Are Kinda Cool

I love how completely ‘bitch, please’-unfazed Hitchcock looks:

-via My Modern Metropolis

***Vote for this design at Threadless and help it become your new favorite t-shirt.

Wow…this is unbelievable. It’s a snap-on lens that allows iPhone users to record fully manipulatable 360 degree videos. Amazing:

If you have an iPhone, at this point you’ve probably played a labyrinth-style game where you tilt your phone and roll a marble towards a goal while avoiding holes.  The games are fun, but after a few minutes, I find myself getting extremely bored…until now.  The new game “Dark Nebula Episode 1″, by 1337 Gamedesign, pushes this genre to a wild new level and blows every other similar game out of the water – it’s already found a place on my iPhone’s front screen, along with my other A-list applications.

The premise is deceptively simple – it’s basically “Marble Madness” on steroids.  Your mission is to roll a floating disc through 10 futuristic and beautifully designed levels, while avoiding spikes, laser beams, deadly pits, moving platforms, and so much more.  The accelerometer controls are wickedly precise and the best I’ve encountered on any iPhone game.  The levels become progressively harder, and should take the average player between 2 and 3 minutes to complete each one.  At the end of each level, you’re awarded 3 medals (gold, silver, or bronze) based on time elapsed, how many capsules you picked up, and how many lives you lost.  This medal system adds a fairly high replay factor to the game…I’m still diligently (and frustratingly) trying to earn the 3 coveted gold medals on a few levels.

The only drawback I’ve found is that the game is fairly short – I beat it in about 50 minutes.  But the developers have promised this is just the beginning – Episode 2 should arrive in the App Store in a few months.  I can say with 100% confidence that this is absolutely worth the $0.99 price tag.  Check out this trailer video to get a sense of what to expect – and then click here to download the game.  Enjoy.

If you have an iPhone, this will literally rock your world. Last night, my friend Brian showed me a way to unlock hundreds of wacky/useful/hilarious emoticons and images (called “Emoji”) that you can use in text messages, IMs, emails, notes, etc. It’s a very strange workaround that I didn’t believe would actually work, but it does. And you should do this. Trust me.

Here’s what you do. It’s ridiculously simple:

1.  Make sure all your programs are closed (hit the multi-tasking bar and manually close every single app)
2. Download a free app from iTunes called Spell Number
3. Launch the app and enter this number: 91929394.59
4. Exit the app by pressing the home button
5. Open Settings > General > Keyboard > Add New Keyboard > Emoji
6. Now, whenever you enter text on your iPhone keyboard, just click the   icon that appears to access the icon library

7. Say (yes, that’s actually a pile of sh*t)

******So, that program, Spell Number? If I told you what it was, you wouldn’t believe me. OK, I’ll tell you. It’s so ridiculous. Remember those little slips of paper you used to write a number on, and then the same number would magically disappear from your bank account? I think they were called “personal checks”? This app helps you figure out how to write the dollar amount in words – so, you type in 557.87, and the app spits out “Five Hundred Fifty Seven Dollars and 87 Cents” – because it’s insanely impossible to just SAY the number out loud and write down what you hear yourself say. Wow.

Quick disclaimers:
-If the code above doesn’t work, that’s probably because there’s an updated one. Just click here to find out)
-Only other iPhone users will be able to see these emoticons.  If you send one to a non-iPhone user, they’ll think you’re crazy

Confession Time: When I was 16, I worked at a miniature golf course called “Rinky Dink”. At the time, this was a big deal for me because I was obsessed with miniature golf my whole life. The bigger the course, the better…more hills, more waterfalls, more crazy layouts. “Rinky Dink” was a superb course – it was set at the top of a huge and steep hill, and some of the craziest holes went straight down the side – when I wasn’t selling ice cream to screaming kids or yelling at people for running, I was practicing my putting on the course. (Woah, I just googled “Rinky Dink”, and this article came up. It’s completely abandoned now – check out the photos – it looks like a post-apocalyptic amusement park…creepy, and slightly depressing.)

OK, Nerd-Alert Time: Ever since then, I’ve been on a quest to find the best miniature golf video game. I’ve bought them all…for my old PC, for all my old cell phones, for my video game consoles, and now, for the iPhone. There are already a few miniature golf games for the iPhone, and I’ve tried them all. I won’t list them out here – they just aren’t up to par. (unnecessary pun, sorry).

Until now: The new game “Mini Golf Wacky Worlds” is amazing. The graphics are bright and colorful (trippy) The hole design is creative, and ranges from ridiculously easy to wildly complex. Before each hole, you watch a video fly-over of hole’s layout – you can pause, rewind, and fast-forward the video to get a better look at the hole – it’s actually surprisingly fun to manipulate this fly-over video. Try it and you’ll see what I mean.

The characters that you play with are animated with an underlying sense of humor – for example, you start by playing as a redheaded sexpot with an impossible Barbie body. When you finish a hole under par, she does the craziest stripper move I’ve ever seen – it makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. Trust me. This pic doesn’t do it justice.

All in all, this is a fun pick-up-and-play game – it includes 4 nine-hole courses, 3 different gameplay modes, and tons of customization options. Take a look at the video blow, and then download the game here for $2.99.

Once again, I owe Touch Arcade for bringing this game to my attention. Keep up the great work, guys.

Yesterday, I was so immersed in the new game “Isotope” on my iPhone that I missed my subway stop.  This game has exceeded my expectations, and I highly recommend it.  It’s a simple spaceship shooter, loaded with quality graphics, sexy background music and design aesthetic, tons of ship/weapon upgrade potentials, and an easy pick-up-and-play format.

The controls are perfectly intuitive – you use your left thumb to move your spaceship around the level, and your right thumb to aim and fire.  Take a look at this teaser video and then download the Lite version for Free or the Full version for $0.99.