Review: EatWillGrow on iPhone

EatWillGrow Game ScreenEatWillGrow is another one of those retro arcade style game with a twist.

The goal of the game is simple as with others games of this genre. You have a little green ball figure; with a smily face, that you manipulate on the screen collecting different sizes balls, while trying to avoid land mines; diamond shapes with red dot, if touch that will be game over.

The balls you collect come in different sizes and they flow down the screen in various patterns. I wish these patterns are random but they are the same each time. Mixed in the field of balls are bonus balls. Some of these balls when captured can slow down the game offering you a moment of rest, and others will speed up the game so that it can be even more challenging.

If that is all EatWillGrow does, it will be no different than the many cheap games on the NDS, fortunately there is more. How can an iPhone game, with any salt, be sucessful without using some of the native capabilities of the iPhone?

In the game you can choose to use the Steve Jobs stylus (your finger) to manipulate the little green ball figure around the screen, but that will be too lame even for the iPhone. So the devloper offers the player the option to use the iPhone’s built in accelerometer for manipulating the little green ball figure.

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Review: Sticky Licky on iPhone

Sticky LickyFrom the folks at Vision Wise Inc. comes a game called Sticky Licky.

It is as addictive as any of the old arcade genre games you spent hundreds of quarters playing at the arcade parlor in the 80’s.

What it reminds me of is the old “Space Invaders” game. Of course, with much better looking graphics, even though Sticky chose to adapt the hand drawn simplicity style graphics.

Sticky is simple enough to play, even if you do not want to drill into its, built in multi pages, instructions. All you need is to arm yourself with the knowledge that clicking on the toad will extend its long tongue to draw insets into its mouth. Eating different types of bugs will score different points, and the goal is to get as high of a score as possible to reach the next level in the game.
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Reveiw: TweetStack on iPhone

Ever since I started using TweetDeck this past January, as my desktop Twitter client, it had been my client of choice and I wished there is a similar client on my iPhone.

Just a quick description of why TweetDeck is not a normal Twitter client. It has the standard functions to allow users to see @Replies and DMs (Direct Message), perform operations to Follow and Unfollow people. The additional function that TweetDeck has, which most other clients don’t (except for the recently introduced desktop client Seesmic Desktop), is it ability to allow users to create Groups to manage the 100s or 1000s of messages (tweets) from the people you’re following. This problem is worsten when you are following 100s or more people (peeps). On average, as of this writing, there are over 2 million tweets a day posted onto the Twitter network. Without the use of clients like TweetDeck it is not practical to follow more than a 100 peeps.

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Review: Poddio on the iPhone

I got a copy of the iPhone application called “Poddio” created by the fellow Canadian, iPhone developer, VeriCorder Technology Inc. in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Poddio is an audio recorder with built in audio editing functions that you can only expects from a desktop application, at least until now.

Poddio Home Screen Poddio Record Screen

Even with the upcoming Voice Recorder application built into iPhone firmware 3.0, it will not make this application obsolete. Actually according to the developer, “firmware 3.0 will allow us to bring enhancements to Poddio that was more difficult to implement before 3.0.”

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Review: Finger on the iPhone

Finger IconToday I was sent a review copy of the iPhone application called Finger, developed the Hong Kong company duo Headnix and BeansBox. From the name you will guessed that this application involves your finger, you will be correct.

Finger is an ingenious application that takes advantage of the iPhone’s input methods allowing the user to enter text anywhere on the computer that accepts text input.

There are two components to Finger, an iPhone paid application (@ USD7.99) and a free Desktop background application; for computers running either OS X or Windows (Windows XP or Windows Vista). Since I’m a Mac guy I did not test the Windows Desktop application. The Mac version is a native application so I presume the Windows version is also a native application.

[Update: March 30, 2009]
Headnix today announced a Lite version of Finger for Free. The only difference between the Lite and regular versions is the Lite version’s limit of only allowing input of 5 characters per start. This latest decision of Headnix is definitely a welcome move. It will allow more users to discover the usefulness of Finger before they commit to the USD7.99 price of the regular version. Now that there is a Lite version, I strongly recommend everyone who has a need for entering Japanese or Chinese characters to download Finger Lite on iTunes App Store to see for themselves what this little application can do.

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Review: PeopleBrowsr

PeopleBrowsr LogoI found another mashup web site/service; I purposely avoided the term Web2.0, called PeopleBrowsr.

This site is currently brave enough to be in “open” alpha release of their site. With a recent interview from Scoble caused their membership to skyrocketed.

This site is doing what many who participate in online social networks had wanted for quite some time, plus many more. The coolest things about the site is its ability to ad-hoc’ly open up individual’s lifestreams.

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Review: Burgeroom [Update]

Tonight I decided to give Burgeroom of Causeway Bay another try after my visit last Thursday, which you can read all about in my post, Review: New Found Burger Joint.

This time I tried their “Bacon Chicken Burger” and was surprised with a very juicy piece of chicken and Canadian back bacon. Of course they did not miss out the usual fresh thickly cut tomatoes and crisp lettuce. The one thing not as good with the chicken burger compared to the regular beef burger is the chicken texture, making it hard to bite off with each mouthful.

On this visit I found out an important point with regards to eating a Burgeroom burger, that is not to cut the burger in half before eating, even if the burger may be too tall for your mouth. This is because the bun and the over diameter of the burger are not very large large, so cutting them in half will cause the burger to fall apart almost right way when you bite into it.

BTW: I found out that Burgeroom has a Facebook page for fans to join.

Review: New Found Burger Joint


Double Decker Burger @ Burgeroom

Originally uploaded by Vinko T.

Today I was introduced to a new “local” burger restaurant in Causeway Bay, called Burgeroom. By “local” I mean that it is an independent restaurant as compared to franchise or chain restaurant.

As many readers know, a few days ago I gave the new Fatburger in Wanchai a try. You can read all about it in my HK Fatburger Experience article.

Previously I pointed out there are four major “premium” hamburger restaurant chains here in Hong Kong. These being: Shake ‘em BunsTriple-O’sFreshness Burger and MOS Burger. I consider these to be a class above chains/franchises like McDonald’s and Burger King.

Being a burger enthusiast I was surprise that I had not heard of this place until now. The number of choices on their menu is quite large for a burger joint, with 19 distinctive burgers, from the Classic Burger to Lobster Burger. They even have a heart stopper Foie Gras Beef Burger.

I chose the Classic Burger with Bacon this time. Biting into the burger I receive a suitably juice piece of all beef patty. Next my palate was surprised by a familiar yet unique custom sauce. Then came the fresh thickly cut tomatoes and crispy lettuces. With the lightly toasted kaiser bun running out the bite.

The photo here is the second thickest burger they have on the menu, Double Decker, which you may have difficulties biting into, as it is at least 6″ high.

If Burgeroom survives this economic down turn, these other foreign hamburger invaders will have a strong contender on their hands.

Price: $$$$
Taste: 4Stars

Wine: Lindemans – Shiraz Cabernet

Tonight at dinner I came across a set of wines from Lindemans, Australia that are on promotion at Outback restaurant. The one I tried was their Premier Selection: Shiraz Cabernet 2007, selling for HKD220.00/bottle or HKD58.00/glass.

This wine has a dark plum colour. A medium bodied palate that leads with an initial burst of sweet berry fruit, later joined by flavours of cherry and stewed fruit. It was not too dry, I say a medium. It is best to drink without letting it breath too long.

Review: HK Fatburger Experience

On the weekend I walked by the new Hopewell property, Queens Road East, on Queen’s Road East, and noticed the long boarded up store front of Fatburger is no longer boarded up. There’s a buzz of activity, but I just finished shopping at Park N’ Shop so it was not convenient for me to check it out. Instead I went there purposely to give Fatburger a try.

As many readers and Twitter followers know, I favor burger joints and is a self proclaim burger connoisseur of hamburgers. Before Fatburger there are four main premium hamburger chains: the local “Shake ’em Buns“, Canada’s Whitespot “Triple-O’s“, Japan’s two invasion “Freshness Burger” and “MOS Burger“. By “premium” I mean more than simply McDonald’s or Burger King.

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