I’m an avid reader of Smashing Magazine, and welcome their wide variety of blog posts on all aspects of website design and development. I was pleasantly surprised when they announced Color Steam a couple of days ago. The free app is like a version of Adobe Kuler, allowing you to create colour schemes from scratch or from snaps using your iPhone camera. I found it easy to use, and quite fun too. The only downside is that it requires iOS4, so some older iPhone users will be excluded from the experience.

You can download the Color Steam application from the usual place.

I’ve had my first generation iPhone for over almost 3 years, so I felt I was due for an upgrade. When I read some of the speculative blog posts pointing towards a higher resolution camera and a better screen, I felt my upgrade would come with the fourth iteration of the iPhone. When I saw the keynote, I was taken aback. Steve Jobs may be a fine purveyor of hyperbole, but the iPhone4′s design and features were there to champion his cause. I had to get the iPhone4.

I’ve never queued for a product launch before, preferring instead to wait a while; avoid the launch-day craziness with its myriad fanboys and fangirls, and enter a shop at my convenience.

I had to get the iPhone4.

So – I headed into my local town centre, and prepared to queue for a product launch. I was expecting two or three people, but almost had to laugh when I saw some 20 or so standing in line. Clearly, this wasn’t going to be a quick wait, and my laughter belied a realisation that I might not get my hands on my phone due to limited units.

It’s curious, then, that the staff in the shop didn’t inform the awaiting masses if their wait would prove fruitless. They did so only when their stock had reduced to three units, with most of the people leaving after a long wait. I found it to be very inadequate that this wasn’t a consideration for them. People leaving the shop during the waiting period were too happy to speak.

I left the queue with a feeling of inevitability. There was, however, still some hope, though judging by the hush around the Vodafone shop, my hope was probably unfounded. In fact, I’d noticed that the Vodafone shop was quiet for the entire time that I stood outside the O2 shop. I was amazed when I was told that yes, they did have an iPhone, and that I could have it.

I opted not to get a PAC code, not to keep my number. I felt if I delayed, I’d be without what I’d set out to attain. The friendly assistant told me that they’d had only 5 iPhones in stock, and that I’d got the last one. I found this out when somebody further up the O2 queue came in and was told there were none left. Any guilt was tempered by a feeling of jubilation. No. There was no guilt.

Clearly, I’m not the only fan of the latest iteration, but there are already reports of reception problems. I can confirm that I’ve noticed a drop in the number of bars when I’ve actually held the phone. This isn’t acceptable, but I haven’t had any dropped calls so far. Although the problem can be resolved using ‘bumpers’ to isolate the phone from the user’s hand, these are an extra cost. Not an ideal situation, particularly when it’s been reported by so many users.

Being an owner of a first generation iPhone excludes me from the update, but I’ll be looking to get my hands on the new hardware that’s rumoured to be released in June of 2010. Speculation mounts of new iteration’s features, and there continues to be growing momentum around a higher resolution screen, better spec camera (perhaps with flash?), and a front-mounted camera. I’m pretty excited about the next version, and think it’ll complement the new OS perfectly.

The idea of the game is very simple – you must guide aeroplanes and helicopters to safety on your airport’s two runways and helipad. To guide the planes, you select one and create a flight path by moving your finger on the touch-screen. It starts of quite sedately, but soon gets hectic, requiring a good measure of tactics and reactions.

The number 1 game is a great little time waster, and at only 59p, it’s an absolute steal.

I greeted the launch of the AppStore with great excitement and expectation, especially since a version of Monkey Ball was to be released that very same day. I was however disappointed with the iPhone incarnationl, and outlined my reasons in my review. Despite pretty graphics, over-sensitive controls made the gameplay non-existent. In addition, other games that grabbed my interest also disappointed with poor controls and use of the iPhone’s accelerometer.

Spore Origins was better than I thought, with finer control over movement, but I found the gameplay rather shallow. Disappointment once again.

A couple of weeks ago, I found a gem of a game, and refreshingly, it didn’t use the accelerometer, and the touch screen interface was implemented perfectly. Not only this, but it was fun to play, addictive, and graphically reminiscent of SNES games from an era of games that I loved. That game is Fieldrunners, currently standing at Number 12 in the top paid apps in the App Store. With an average score of 5 stars from 199 reviewers, it’s obviously got it’s followers, and I’m one of them.

Fieldrunners at number 12 in the paid apps chart.

Developed by Subatomic Studios, the game is a Tower Defence derivative where you have to construct a series of defence towers to protect yourself against wave after wave of air and land combatants.

Version 1.0 of the game was released on October 15, and was a cracking game in its own right, but lacked a sound and music, and had just the one map. A free upgrade, version 1.1, was launched yesterday and features excellent sound and music, and an additional map that extends the lifespan of the game. The game offers three levels of difficulty, and comprises of 100 waves of attack that must be resisted. For each enemy unit that makes it across the field, one of 20 lives is lost. The game ends when either all lives have been lost or 100 waves have passed. The new version also offers an ‘endless’ mode where the number of waves is endless and the game ends only when the player loses their 20 lives. 20 lives may sound a lot, but the waves are relentless and things can get quite hectic. The animation is fantastic and makes the game a pleasure to watch as much as actually play.

A good overview of the game in play is available over at YouTube:

The game is simple to learn, and the following help screens perfectly describe what the game is all about:

Building towers for defence

Upgrading defences

Building strategic routes

Tower types

For anybody who hasn’t yet got the update, here is a screenshot of the new ‘Crossroads’ level:

New level 'Crossroads'

At only £2.99, the game is an absolute steal, and my faith in iPhone gaming has been restored!

It’s been a busy old month, and with so much time working, I’m going to share some of the things that have interested me during October.

Windows 7 Desktop Improvements

With hardware compatability issues and a reluctance from users and computer manufacturers to adopt it, Vista hasn’t perhaps been the success that Microsoft had hoped. The next version of Windows gets a preview over at channel9. There’s quite a lot of verbal fluff at the beginning, but forward through and you’ll get an idea of some of the features that’ll be present in the next version.

ASP.NET MVC Beta

Many of the great frameworks, such as CodeIgniter and Ruby on Rails use a MVC architecture, and it’s a concept that many web developers are familiar with. Maybe not so developers who have exclusively used ASP.NET for their development. Since the introduction of Visual Web Developer Express, developing has become very attractive for hobby developers wishing to get to grips with ASP.NET. I think the development of ASP.NET MVC will encourage those familiar with the pattern to give it a go. Scott Guthrie describes the beta release on his blog.

Microsoft to ship jQuery with future versions of Visual Studio

I’ve been using jQuery alongside ASP.NET for several months now, and find it to be an excellent JavaScript library. I was quite shocked that Microsoft will be distributing it with future versions of Visual Studio (including express versions), providing support for it, and providing intellisense support for it. Good on ‘em!

Google releases Google Earth for iPhone/iPod Touch

I’d definitely recommend a download of free app Google Earth – well worth taking a look.

For more information, head over to the Google Earth on the iPhone page.

Google Android Phone

Following the launch of Chrome , Google is pressing ahead with Mobile Device Platform Android. Now the first handset, the T-Mobile G1 has hit the market. It’s certainly no looker, but Google is a company that has the expertise to change the mobile market, and I’ll be keeping an eye on things, that’s for sure. For now though, I’ll keep my iPhone.

No opera for iPhone

Well well, a version of Opera has been developed for the iPhone, but Apple has refused to add it to their App Store, stating that it is too similar to Safari. So, I won’t be holding my breath for a version of Firefox, either. John Gruber offers his opinion over at Daring Fireball.

Just the other day, I managed to take a screenshot on my iPhone, and only realised when I browsed to my Camera Roll and saw the home screen.

Anyway, to take a screenshot, press and hold the ‘Home’ button and then pressing the Sleep/Wake button.

It seems to work on pretty much any area, such as Apps, iPod and video playback. Give it a try. :)

And now, for no reason other than to decorate this rather spartan post, are some screenshots that I’ve taken.

Super Monkey Ball was one of my favourite games on the Gamecube, combining great character design and fun. Whilst the likes of Marble Madness never appealed to me, Monkey Ball seemed to get it just right. So, when I heard that a version was in development for the iPhone, I was extremely excited, particularly because the iPhone’s accelerometer suited the gameplay so well.

After some initial problems updating my first generation iPhone’s firmware to version 2.0, I didn’t hesitate and downloaded Monkey Ball for £5.99. After a seamless download, I was presented with some flawless presentation that really showed off the iPhones superb screen.

Very soon after starting to play, I realised that the game was very sensitive. No matter, I thought, and I decided to persevere, not least that I’d just spent six quid, but also because I didn’t want to be disappointed.

I did try to get the most out of the game, but it was too sensitive. Some initial frustration that I could explain as inexperience persisted even through practice. The game was just too damn sensitive. The first few levels were fairly simple, but more complex navigation was practically impossible.

What’s more, when I tried to play lying down, I just couldn’t – there is no callibration on the game, so unless you’re holding the phone horizontally, you can’t play. So, that rules out playing in bed.

Also, I found that playing the game didn’t feel quite right. When I needed to tilt the screen to a larger extent, I thought that viewing the screen at an angle didn’t work.

Other people, including this review mention the over-sensitive controls and problem with holding the phone horizontally. I can’t understand why a score of 5 is given in light of these issues.

So, if me, and countless other people find fault so soon after first playing the game, it does beg the question why wasn’t this sorted. Was there any kind of proper play-testing? The game may look great, but it’s a bit of a turkey all in all. A big disappointment, and I struggle to recommend it.

What’s more, after a few days of buying it, the game wouldn’t start. Perhaps it had admitted defeat.

The little icons associated with a web page or site, favicons, have been around for a while now, and most sites (including this one) have one associated with them.

Now the iPhone is with us, and Apple has introduced a similar concept with its ‘webclip’ icon, a little icon that is shown on your the iPhone’s screen allowing quick and easy access to your site.

In this brief tutorial, I’ll explain how you can create your own webclip icon and have it on your iPhone in minutes.

Setting up a webclip icon is very similar to that of favicons in that you have two options:

1. Save a 57×57 webclip image as ‘apple-touch-icon.png’ and place it in the root of your website.
2. Save the square webclip image (not necessarily 57×57) as a GIF, JPEG or PNG, and then add the following to your html head section: <link rel='apple-touch-icon' href='/path/to/webclip.jpg'/>. Note that the image need not be saved in the root of the site, and can be doesn’t need to be called apple-touch-icon.png.

iPhones running version 1.1.3 will then be able to add the webclip icon by browsing to the website and selecting the ‘Add to Home Screen’ link from the ‘+’ icon at the bottom of the iPhone screen. Once the icon has been added to the home screen, you’ll notice the Apple gloss that’s been much imitated of late and you’ll have a handy little icon directly to your site. In addition, rounded corners and a drop shadow are added.

If your image has detail around the edge, you may find that some of the detail is lost when the rounded corners are applied. With some experimentation, I’ve found that applying some natural padding around the outside of the image works well.

I was extremely excited about the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2008, and so headed off to macrumors.com for a live feed of Steve Jobs’ keynote.

After a rather slow build-up, the almost inevitable announcement from Jobs that the 3G iteration of the iPhone was made. And so, there must follow an end to the enormous amount of speculation in blogs and forums about the features of the second generation iPhone.

As I saw the updates on macrumors.com, I was pleased, but not particularly surprised to see the following features:

• 3G speed. No great revelation – many of us Europeans saw the lack of 3G in first geneation as a serious drawback;
• GPS. Once again, this is now becoming standard on high-end mobiles such as Nokia’s N95, so there was almost an expectation that this would feature.
• App Store. I welcome the addition of an app store – extending the functionality of the device is most useful, and it’s an additional revenue stream for apple.
• ‘iPhone in Enterprise’. Push e-mail and integration with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync is a big plus for business users. Should Blackberry be worried?
• Now available in white. No doubt there will be a pink version soon. I’ll stick with black, thanks.

The App Store interests me – particularly the iPhone version of Super Monkey Ball. The built-in accelerometer suits the game very well, and I look forward to playing some games on a mobile platform.

What struck me more than anything, and something that was lacking from much speculation was the price. Although it’s somewhat irksome, considering I paid over £200 for my phone, I was shocked at the price of the new iPhone. $199 for the 8Gb version, and $299 for the 16Gb version is quite amazing, but let’s wait a little to see what carriers charge for a contract, and how long the minimum contract term will be.

Shortly after the announcement, Apple’s UK site was updated with the 3G iPhone details, and UK iPhone carrier O₂‘s followed with a ‘come back tomorrow’ teaser.

Well, I reckon that the 8Gb price will be £129 in the UK with an 18 month or perhaps even a 24 month contract. How much an upgrade will cost is anybody’s guess, but hopefully, as the O₂ website states, all will be revealed tomorrow.

So, much of the speculation was correct, and although the price point is certainly attactive, I’m surprised about the camera remaining at its current specs of 2 megapixel. Whilst I think that this is ok, it doesn’t deal with any kind of movement at all well, and the delay is not acceptable. Perhaps a flash would have been too large a drain on battery life; increasing the megapixels, but not including a flash would have been an even stranger position than doing nothing at all. Perhaps we’ll see that in the third generation, along with the pink colour scheme.