Dice games to go with all the iPhone dice apps

The App Store, so far, has seen a number of duplicate apps. One group of dupes we’re seeing: dice rollers. Makes sense if you twist an old saw to say “if your input involves shaking, everything starts to look like an accelerometer.” Or something.

My personal favorite for randomness is MotionX Dice. It has polish and allows you to roll one to five six-sided dice at a time. I also happen to use Dice Bag (iTunes link), but that’s because my nerd blood runs deep. Still, there are plenty to choose from.

So what to do with all those dice-rolling apps? On the next page I’ve got a roundup of games you can play with dice. Some involve a pencil and paper for score keeping or whatnot, but all use dice as the basis for the game mechanics. Next time you’re stuck in the doctor’s office, don’t just give your kids DizzyBee, play a “real” game with them!
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Popularity: 6% [?]

EA Announces SimCity and The Sims 3 for the iPhone: Spore Coming on September 7th

EA has announced that nine new titles are currently in development for the iPhone: Yahtzee Adventures, EA Mini Golf, Lemonade Tycoon, Mahjong, Monopoly: Here & Now The World Edition, SimCity, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09, Need for Speed Undercover, and The Sims 3. Many of these titles have been mentioned before, but I was pretty pumped to hear about SimCity and the Sims 3 being added to the list. EA has also revealed that they are shooting to release Spore Origins on September 7th—the same day it is released on the Mac and PC. Hit the jump for some new Spore screenshots and the official press release.
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Popularity: 2% [?]

Stress less with Meditation Timer for the iPhone

Taking time out of busy day just to meditate for a few minutes is a beautiful thing — if you can stay focused long enough.The folks at Lingon i Korg Software Creations have come up with a way to help — Meditation Timer [iTunes link] for the iPhone and iPod touch.

This cool little app does more than just bong an alarm when meditation time is up. Any old app can do that. This timer gives you a choice between two soothing screen color schemes — purple and white, or green and white — and two different alarm settings.

Just like the iPhone and touch’s native alarm, you set the hours, minutes, and seconds by scrolling through the onscreen dials to the select the length of time you want to meditate (it defaults to 10 minutes). You’ll be alerted when time’s up by a gentle chime called “Spinning Bowl.” You can also set the alarm to vibrate (iPhone only), or turn it off entirely.

If you need a reminder to start winding down to get ready for your next round of meditation, set the Preparation Timer to count down the minutes until your next session.

Meditation Timer is free to the first 5,000 customers. After that, the app will be priced at 99 cents.

Ohhhmmmm….DownloadThisNow……Ohhhhmmmm…. [Read]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Developers discuss future plans

Two popular Mac developers have taken the time to blog the future of their applications. First, Marco Arment has written about his plans for Instapaper for iPhone and iPod touch. If you haven’t tried Instapaper yet, you’re missing out. Basically, the desktop version is simply a web bookmarklet that lets you collect weblinks on a single page.

Have you found an article you’d like to read when you have some free time? Click the bookmarklet and it’s added to your Instapaper page.

The iPod touch/iPhone version syncs with your links collection so you’ve got them on-the-go. It works wonderfully, and there’s both a free version [link] and paid pro version [link] in the App Store.

In his blog post, Marco writes “…I compiled a feature list for what I want in Instapaper.app 2.0, and it’s huge. It’s easily 6 months of work … But if I can pull off the product I want for 2.0, I’ll really have something amazing.”

Meahwhile, Brent Simmons has written about NetNewsWire, the popuar RSS reader. All four of them. “I’m working on four apps. But they’re all NetNewsWire,” he says. Specifically, version 1.0.9 is almost ready for the App Store [here's the current version] while 3.1.7 is under development for the Mac. At the same time, Brent is working on versions 3.2 and 4.0 for future release.

Good luck, guys! We appreciate the dedication and love your applications. Keep up the good work. [Read]

Popularity: 2% [?]

At Bat updated to version 1.2

One of my favorite iPhone/iPod touch applications, Major League Baseball’s At Bat [App Store link] has been updated to version 1.2 with great new features.

For the unfamiliar, At Bat provides up-to-the-minute statistics on ongoing baseball games, including the count at the plate, pitching and batter statistics … even video clips of a game that’s in progress. It’s a little treasure for baseball fans (like me) who can’t always watch the day’s game.

Version 1.2 adds cool “Gameday” features, including pitch-by-pitch updates (speed, call, even placement over the plate), full box scores (both teams), a player card for each member of the roster with oodles of information and a game summary that sorts the action into top plays and runs.

At $4.99US, At Bat is a must-have for all fans of Major League Baseball, and sits easily among my top three applications. Go, Sox! [Read]

Popularity: 2% [?]