2 Robots

Apple seems to be getting a lot of negative press on its recent SDK announcement. Much of the criticism seems to focus around two issues: That not all functionality of the phone is accessable via the SDK, and that Apple controls the distribution method to the phone. I’ll adress the second point first. Some perspective on the history of apps on cell phones will do a lot to put this in perspective, and see why these decisions were made as tradeoffs, and actually strengthen the position of the iPhone as a leader in custom applications.

Chrome Walker has a post on some of the new phones coming out in Europe for 2008. One of the trends that seems to be emerging is the “real web.” This was kicked off by Apple with the iPhone, and its the idea that you can view the Internet on your cell phone with a reasonable interface. In other words, its formatted the same way as it would be on your computer.

Is this the future of cell phone applications? Read on …

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve released a second iPhone game. This one is a cross between Tetris and Soduku, called “Tetroku!”

If you like either of those games, there are elements here for you to get addicted to. The full version is available from iGiki.com, but the demo version is available here for free, and is also playable in Firefox (sorry IE users).

You can also check out my previous iPhone game, Space Wormy, also known as Canyon Crawler.

As always, feedback is welcome!

This week was a bad one for manned space flight. An accident at Burt Rutan’s Space Ship Company killed 2 workers during an engine test, and injured 4 others. A Nasa contractor found evidence of sabatoge in a flight computer destined to be brought up to the International Space Station in August.

However, what makes this week such a sad day for manned space travel is a recent report that NASA has been allowing astronauts to show up drunk at the space shuttle launch.

Read on for more.

Here you go … the first action game for the iPhone. While there are a handful of board and puzzle games available, this is the first action game ever released for the iPhone!

Check it out! Unfortunately, this game only works on Safari (Windows or Mac), and on the iPhone itself. No Firefox or IE

** Update — now works in Firefox! **
** Update2 — Added high scores to Space Wormy! **

http://www.2robots.com/iphone_wormy

A few days ago, the European Southern Observatory discovered the first possible Earth-like planet orbiting another star, Gliese 581 (also known as “HO Librae”). Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star — about 1/3 the size of our own sun, and about 100 times dimmer. HO Librae shines red in the sky above the the newly-discovered planet, “Gliese 581 c.” The planet has a year of only 13 days. Because it is so close, its sun would appear to be more than 4 times bigger than our sun, even though it is a smaller star. There is also known to be a neptune-like planet in the Gliese 581 system, “Gliese 581 b,” and scientists suspect there is at least one more planet as well (“Gliese 581 d”).

Gliese 581 c is five times as massive as the Earth and lies in it’s sun’s habitable zone, meaning that it is just the right distance for there to be liquid water on the surface. Further details on the planet are educated guesses, but the staff at the European Southern Observatory have put forth a few.