Jiggy puzzle game released for iPhone

Maverick Software has announced the release of Jiggy for the iPhone and iPod touch. It costs $3.99.

Described as a cross between a jigsaw puzzle and Tetris, in Jiggy, you must put together a puzzle from falling pieces as you race against the clock. Let too much time elapse and you’ll stack pieces too high. You have to put pieces into the right position to solve the puzzle.

Jiggy features 35 puzzles, multiple skill modes including a “kid mode” that gives hints and has no time limit, high score tracking, sound effects and music, automatic save and resume.

Savant home automation systems get iPhone app

Savant Systems on Friday announced a downloadable application for the iPhone and iPod touch that will enable users to control home automation systems that use Savant’s ROSIE technology. It’s coming soon to the App Store for $199, according to Savant.

ROSIE systems utilize an on-screen display (OSD) that enable users to control lighting, HVAC, security cameras and supported audio/video equipment. The iPhone application provides two-way communication from feedback-enabled ROSIE systems, and supports gesture control and tilt on the iPod and iPod touch.

Savant home integration dealers can create “themed interfaces” using RacePoint Blueprint software to come up with completely customized interfaces for their clients, as well.

Review: PCalc 1.0.2 for iPhone and iPod touch

Back in October of 2005, I enthusiastically reviewed PCalc 3, which has since been my favorite calculator for the Mac. The developer, TLA Systems, recently released the $10 PCalc for the iPhone and iPod touch, and it’s similarly slick. Although Apple updated the iPhone’s built-in calculator app considerably with the release of the iPhone 2.0 software—most notably by adding a landscape-mode scientific layout—PCalc is an appealing alternative, offering a compelling combination of advanced functions, useful conversion and constant features, and a great interface.

PCalc’s standard (vertical) mode offers all the functions of the iPhone’s own standard-calculator mode, plus percentage, parentheses for nested operations, inverse, square root, exponents, and more. Like Apple’s calculator, rotating your iPhone gives you a landscape mode with more-advanced scientific and programmers’ features. PCalc includes every function of Apple’s calculator except for a random-number generator, while adding features such as decimal, hexadecimal, octal, and binary modes, as well as a good number of additional mathematical functions.

But PCalc’s advantages go beyond having more buttons. Near and dear to my geek heart is RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) entry mode. There’s also a virtual tape, which displays a time-stamped record of your calculations, and a register (called Stack in RPN mode), which displays both memory contents and decimal-, hex-, octal-, and binary-base versions of the current number. You can even e-mail the contents of the tape or register.

EA working on Spore Origins, nine more iPhone games

Spore Origins, a game based on the new Mac and PC game Spore, came out this week for the iPod. Electronic Arts (EA) confirmed that Spore Origins will be released for the iPhone and iPod touch later this month, and EA also plans to release nine more games for the iPod touch and iPhone.

Spore Origins for the iPhone uses the device’s accelerometer to let you navigate a primordial tidepool as you try to evolve your spore. Like the iPod game, it features two gameplay modes and also sports 35 levels. You can use a Creature Editor to customize the texture, shape and body parts of your spore, as well.

AroundMe finds services near your iPhone

TweakerSoft has introduced AroundMe, a new application for the iPhone. It costs $1.99 and is available for purchase and download through the App Store.

AroundMe uses the iPhone 3G’s Global Positioning System (GPS) capability to find your location. You can then choose the nearest bank, bar, gas station, hospital, hotel, movie theater, restaurant, supermarket, theater or taxi.

The listing is displayed on a map, which then plots the route. You can add that information to your contact list or e-mail it to others. AroundMe also incorporates a “Nearby” listing, and will link to Wikipedia so you can discover information about a chosen locale.

Review: 1Password for iPhone

1Password for the iPhone is a tool that lets you record user names and passwords for Web sites, along with free-form notes, and store them securely on your iPhone. It shares a name with 1Password for the Mac (), a $35 program that makes it super-simple to not only save Web site login information, but to automatically log in to those sites in your browser of choice. 1Password for the Mac is an excellent program; we covered it briefly in this Mac Gems column from last year. Also, if you own 1Password for the Mac, you can sync your iPhone/iPod touch data with your Mac—and this works in both directions, so records can be added on the iPhone and then synced to your Mac, and vice-versa.

If you approach the mobile edition of 1Password thinking it will be a clone of the desktop application, you’re going to be disappointed. The iPhone version lacks many of the features that make the Mac version so compelling—there’s no built-in secure password generator, no automatic login to Web sites in your usual browser (Mobile Safari in the case of the iPhone or iPod touch), and no anti-phishing protection via PhishTank.

BdPricer helps you compare prices on iPhone

Bad Dog Apps has announced the release of BdPricer, an application for the iPhone and iPod touch. It costs $9.99 and is available for purchase from the App Store.

BdPricer is described as a “shopping companion” that uses a look-up directory to compare the prices of common items. The directory contains 15 main categories, with more than 150 sub-categories and 3,000 items.

BdPricer remembers your searches and lets you bookmark common searches. You can store and search for product items in the Favorites view and navigate to online stores that have the products you’re looking for at the best price.

PlayFirst brings Diner Dash to iPhone

PlayFirst has released its enormously popular task management game Diner Dash for the iPhone. It costs $9.99 and is available for purchase and download from the App Store.

Diner Dash puts you in the role of Flo, an entrepreneur who dreams of owning a chain of successful restaurants. To make Flo’s dream come true, you must help her build up her business from a “greasy spoon” diner to a fine restaurant by serving customers quickly and efficiently. You have to manage tables, get customers their food when it’s ready, clean up, collect tips and seat new customers before the time runs out.

As you’re more and more successful, you can turn the tips your customers leave into bigger and better decorations and appliances for your restaurants, making improvements along the way and eventually buying new properties.

Ambrosia offers Mondo Top 5 Solitaire for iPhone

Ambrosia Software has announced Mondo Top 5 Solitaire, a new solitaire collection for the iPhone. It costs $2.99 and is available for download from the App Store.

Mondo Top 5 Solitaire takes five of the most popular solitaire card games in Mondo Solitaire and lets you play them using the same game engine that’s found in that other iPhone game that costs $9.99. You get FreeCell, Golf, Klondike, Pyramid and Spider.

You can customize the look of Mondo Top 5 Solitaire with custom card backs and background themes. Tools in the game include a magnifying glass to help you see cards up close and a “paper clip” that helps you manage and move stacks.

Review: File storage and viewing apps for iPhone

Storing media like photos, music, and video on your iPhone is a snap: after all that’s what the device was designed for. But when it comes to carrying around other types of documents, or files that aren’t in your iTunes or iPhoto library, the iPhone falls woefully short. You can always send PDFs, Microsoft Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets to yourself, but since the Mail app lacks a search function, finding the one message with the file you want often means picking through long lists of e-mails.

A trio of worthwhile programs have sprung up to fill this void, allowing you to store and view documents of your choice on the iPhone or iPod touch. It's strictly a "look, don't touch affair," though, since the iPhone’s software does not yet allow editing of these documents.

While each program takes a slightly different approach to getting files on your phone, all have their own strengths and weaknesses depending on what your intended uses are. All three applications require that your mobile device and computer be on the same Wi-Fi network in order to transfer files and all three have roughly similar performance, both in transferring and viewing files, except in the cases noted below.