iChalky is a simple app that never fails to make me laugh.

iChalky…

is a simplistic stick figure whose posture and behavior result from the mechanical constraints that define him. He consists of a set of 8 masses connected to one another through a series of damped springs with various coefficients. Gravity and instantaneous acceleration are estimated from your iPhone’s X and Y accelerometers and transferred onto Chalky’s virtual world.
Friction was further added to the edges of his frame along with some rudimentary stepping heuristics to give him a fighting chance to maintain his balance as you rotate your phone around or take him on the bus with you. You can also grab, stretch and throw him with your multi-touch screen if you feel he’s not getting enough abuse.
Chalky also thinks he can dance and he’ll start busting his moves if he detects music through your phone’s microphone… so crank up the tunes! Unfortunately you can’t use the iPod application on your phone as I couldn’t figure out how to make that work.

While the developer tries to describe Chalky, the only way to really understand it is to try it…

I have tried a number of dictionary/thesaurus options for the iPhone and found WordBook- A Dictionary & Thesaurus of the English Language to be the best for me on both fronts.

Well, after an update and price drop it just got better on both fronts.

In order to streamline my RSS feeds process of updates, I have been trying to find a way to separate my tech feeds from my news feeds. Both have grown in number to the point of each being unruly and, when combined, the sheer number of feeds that require updating is tremendous. In recent weeks I have looked at apps such a iNewz, hoping they would allow me to get my news there and leave my RSS feeds for tech updates. Unfortunately, none of the solutions I have found have worked all that well.

Fortunately, one of the original iPhone apps just got a nice update.

Back in July, when the App Store went live, the AP Mobile News Network was immediately available as a free download.

With it you could "Select local news from your trusted local newspapers and broadcasters and combine it with the best of the AP’s videos, photo galleries, and national and international coverage."

Unfortunately, as apps go, it was somewhat feature limited and very slow. That is no longer the case…

I love Evernote, the app that

turns the iPhone and iPod Touch into your external brain. 

Evernote–

…lets you remember anything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put everything into Evernote and watch as it instantly synchronize from the iPhone to the web to your desktop.

Best of all, because Evernote is part of a larger system it works seemlessly with the free Mac and Windows desktop and web applications.

This is a huge update that finally…

One of my all-time favorite games just came way down in price- from $7.99 to just $2.99.

Bejeweled is one of the great, endlessly fun, casual games that works great on the iPhone. At just $2.99 it is definitely worth having on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

You can get it HERE in the App Store. 

In the past two posts we set the stage and then argued that the iPhone IS a netbook. Little did we know that on the day when the third and final part of this was posted the Wallstreet Journal would be jumping on the same bandwagon in an article entitled, Time to Leave the Laptop Behind – For more mobile workers, phones increasingly give them much of what they need — with a lot less hassle.

The article correctly mentions the iPhone as one of, if not the, devices leading this trend. It notes-

Faster Internet connections over wireless 3G networks are getting more pervasive. Cutting-edge devices like Apple Inc.’s iPhone are sporting bigger, touch-sensing screens that make it easier to surf the Web. And mobile software is finally getting good enough for users to get their work done when they’re on the go.

There are some excellent arguments why the iPhone might be considered a netbook. There is also, however, a case to be made that this is nonsense. In this third and final post we will look at some of the arguments as to why…

The iPhone is not a netbook (and offer some final thoughts)

As a newbie to the whole iTunes culture, I would like to take a moment to examine the App Store. 

It’s a relatively recent addition to iTunes but it takes advantage of the major difference between the iPod Touch/iPhone and all other forms of the iPod (and many other media players):  the ability to run programs.

The App Store has the same excellent level of organization as the iTunes store in general, whether using iTunes for the computer or the iTouch/iPhone itself.  Applications regarding a certain topic are relatively easy to find and the entire store is searchable for specific types of applications (such as using the term “workout” to search for exercise applications).  I particularly like how iTunes displays the Top Paid Apps and the Top Free Apps, so you know which apps you’re paying for (which leads to the fun task of treasure hunting.  That is, finding free apps that are worth more to you than the paid apps).  Being that the entire environment was developed by Apple, the graphics are superb.

The sheer volume of applications available is stunning.