The Hidden Park involves being outdoors, using the iPhone GPS, Map and Camera functions to give a real unique and engaging augmented reality type gaming experience to you and the little ones.

The idea behind this game is that the park you are playing in is being under threat by some greedy developers looking to destroy it.  Your challenge is to use the iPhones GPS and Maps to work your way through challenges, taking pictures, playing little games and riddles as you go.

There are a collection of ‘Official Parks’ which come bundled with the game and are being added to all the time, but don’t worry if there is not a park near you as the game also comes with a park builder for you to create your own parks and games and share them with friends.  You can even submit your parks to the developer where they will be considered for inclusion into the game as an ‘Official Park’ for all to play.  A great idea!

UPDATE: My own Hidden Park game for Aberdeens Hazlehead Park has been turned into an Official Park! More details soon!

Currently on Sale for £2.39 ($3.99), The Hidden Park is a great game for kids (both big and small).

App Store > The Hidden Park

Tweetie is dead… Long live Tweetie 2…!

Well, not quite…

Since the announcement, there has been an increasing amount of both critisism and support for the decision to release this app as a ‘new’ app, and not an ‘upgrade’. Some suggesting it’s a slap in the face to Tweetie’s users, it’s supporters, who have bought the app and feel that being forced to pay full price is simply not cool. Surely an application upgrade is just that and those who have paid and supported the app should get just that?

Well, if I’m honest, I can see both sides of the coin in this debate but think the main point is being missed. Thanks to a gentle push (Thanks @GaryPacitti) I should get off the fence and join in with the debate… So here goes:

Every single person on this planet deserves to get paid for their work and effort. Tweetie 2 is the culmination of 6 months development and it’s developer deserves the right to be paid for his efforts.

I paid for Tweetie shortly after it’s release and think it’s an excellent app. Yes, it’s in desperate need of an update as there are more feature rich apps out there, but I paid for Tweetie and I got Tweetie. It was supported, bugs were fixed and features were added and for this, I paid the sum of £1.79… Bargain!

Now, there’s a new version on it’s way. Not only has it got a lot more features, but it’s been completely rebuilt. If I want this, I pay £1.79. If it turns out to be the app I hope it is… Bargain!

For a small fee, a developer gets paid for his work and I have access to great app which I am sure will be supported as required.

What about the other side of the coin?

Firstly, I want to make it clear I DO NOT think that Tweetie 2 should be a FREE upgrade to exisiting customers. In fact, I think a lot of the sound minded individuals arguing FOR a Tweetie upgrade are prepared to pay.

The problem seems to be the principal of not being offered the choice to upgrade and instead being left in the cold as a ‘new customer’ tastes a touch bitter. And who can blame them, it’s the world we live in where new sofware releases usually come with an upgrade path for existing users as a thank you for their support and relatively reduced fee to upgrade their software experience to the latest version and CONTINUE to support the product and devs. Sounds great, a win, win concept.

There’s one small problem with this, a paid upgrade is NOT available to App Store developers. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the choice is simple in the App Store – Free Upgrade or New App.

In this situation, there’s seems like no winner. Once again, the App Store shows itself not to be in the interest of developers or customers with devs being made to make tough decisions once again. I think we will see a lot of this in the near future as developers seek ways to maintain an income for the work they are doing in developing their apps.

I don’t suggest this is the position or attitude of the Tweetie dev, but faced with those options, I don’t blame him for releasing a new app. I would too…

Instead, we should divert attention to the broken app store and that once again it isn’t supporting developers and customers fairly.

Yes, from a very young boy I was a major MJ fan and have had my wife in laughing fits with some of my MJ stories (no, I won’t post them up…).

But watching the tribute, watching the dancers all joining in onstage and following the legendary dance moves we have all seen performed thousands of times seemed as fresh and amazing as ever.

Love him or hate him, there was no denying his musical/entertainer genius.

For me, that’s the one piece that still to this day gets me. The young Mitchinator inside me misses his childhood idol.

Anyway, WTF was Kanye up too?!

Then you are going to love this…

Cassetteboy, your editing skills are fantastic.  I salut you…

Love it…

Inquisitor is a Search Engine App, (originally a Safari base which i have never used) but the iPhone version is a real gem. Primarily, it’s the excellent interface which is the cornerstone of this App and what it makes it an absolute joy to use.

Startup Inquisitor and you will be ready to start a search within seconds, and here’s where it shows it shine…

Results are stacked in a simple, designed manor, including a synopsis of the result and it’s Favicon. This makes the resuts really clear to review at a glance.

Click on a result and it it opens up in a WebKit browser within the app (no open in safari here… Nice!).

As pages are loading, a larger version on the sites synopsis is displayed for you to read a little more whilstthe page actually loads. This is an EXCELLENT idea and I cannot praise this concept enough. It’s so incredibly simple, yet really effective and of value.

Not only do you get search suggestions as you type in your search, but at the bottom of the results there is a collection of alternative search queries. Yes, we have seen this before, but it’s important that it’s here.

Your Search Queries are automatically saved (and can be cleared). It’s quick tand easy to quickly grab a search you used at an earlier date.

If only this Apps capabilities could extend to to the iPhone itself offering contact, email, notes, etc. but with Apples Spotlight coming in 3.0, I doubt it ever will. Unfortunately.

So, the conclusion:

I think this is a great Search App and although I admit I do not use it for every search I have, there is definately a time to use this very well designed iPhone App.

This recommendation is The Totally Rad Show.

As this is a Show produced by Revision3 (Internet Television), you can watch this Podcast online at Revision3, or of course download it as a Podcast for watching/listening later.

So, what’s it all about:

The Totally Rad Show is the summer blockbuster of geek news shows. Every week, hosts Alex Albrecht, Dan Trachtenberg, and Jeff Cannata rip into the world of movies, video games, tv, comics, and more and pull out what’s rad.

iTunes Link: The Totally Rad Show

Revision3 Link: The Totally Rad Show

Nice!

Click here for App Store

General Apps

Tweetie – The best app IMO if you are into Twitter.
TV Plus - Great TV Guide with Added Sky Remote Recording.
Fring – For all you IM/Skype Needs… (c;
Darkroom – Create Camera App for dark lit areas.
Around Me - GPS aware app. You NEED this on your iPhone. Neem an ATM? Petrol? – Sorted.
UniCon – Units Conversion.
MMS – MMS receiving (FREE) and sending (£).
Shazam - Like Midomi, only better IMO.
Remote – Control your PCs iTunes from your iPhone (party time!)
Flixster – Movie Trailers, Synopsis, etc.
Shovel – If you are into Digg.com.
EBay – Great for keeping up to date with your EBay stuff.

Games

LightBike – Tron BABY!
Slotz – scalextric for iPhone!
Topple – GREAT accelerometer based stacking game.
Days of Thunder – Get it NOW whilst it is at 59p. Not a bad game…
Shooting – Its Free and fun. Gets addictive once you get the hand of it!
Sound Box – Because there is a child in all of us and it makes Fart noises… You can even record you own noises and assign them to buttons. Oh, and its FREE!

Got any recommendations?

Podcast recommendation time and this one is great! Familiar with Digg? A.K.A Digg.com? Yes? No? Who cares…  This is a great podcast for anyone.

Diggnation is a weekly Podcast based on the top digg.com stories presented by Kevin Rose (founder of Digg.com) and Alex Albrecht (industry ‘Dude’).  Generally, Kevin and Alex pop on the couch, crack open a beverage, pop their laptops on their… er… laps (1 Mac & 1 PC, how fair…), and discuss.

Hillarity ensues including the odd gratuitous display of affection (Alex and his dog).  Nice.

Check it out and whilst you are at it, go discover digg.com! (if you have already, well done you… x)

But before you go, for those unaware of Digg:

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You won’t find editors at Digg — we’re here to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and we’re changing the way people consume information online.

Click here for iTunes Link: Diggnation

Click here for digg.com