Touch Racing App

Touch Racing Nitro is a great racing game, though it takes some getting used to thanks to the unique controls. Instead of the virtual directional pad popular in most iPhone games you lead a race car on a virtual leash controlled by your finger.

The control system is a break from the many racing games that have the user steer the car by tilting the iPhone as if it is a steering wheel. Because the controls take a bit of getting used to, it is highly recommended that you play through the Touch Racing Nitro tutorial to get a feel for them (even the app’s home page includes the phrase “Warning! Extremely challenging” in the title).

During gameplay the race car follows your finger around the track. The race car will be sped up or slowed down based on how far your finger is from the car. Making turns or sudden speed shifts in Touch Racing Nitro can particularly take some getting used to.

Once you have the hang of things, Touch Racing Nitro is a pretty good experience. There are several different models of cars and tracks that can be unlocked by compiling victories.

Probably the trickiest piece of finger work when driving is the use of the Nitro boosts. At the bottom right of the screen are several icons that, once tapped, shoot a burst of nitro into your car. This speeds you along the track at a much faster rate. The trick here is doing this while also maintaining one finger on the screen to steer the car. Accomplishing this can be quite the feat. Even with lots of practice, it still is an awkward move.

Touch Racing Nitro is connected to the OpenFeint gaming network, which is available on several App Store games. OpenFeint is currently the king of social gaming on the iPhone, so if you’re an Xbox Live or PlayStation Network junkie this will feel right at home.

The good graphics and responsive gameplay make Touch Racing Nitro an intriguing option for racing fans. If the tricky controls don’t present a barrier, this may be another good way to kill time gaming with an iPhone.

New iPhone WebCam App

drahtwerk today is pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of iWebcamera 1.0, the only application that turns the iPhone into a real, driver-based webcamera. With iWebcamera the iPhone can be used as webcamera in applications like Skype, Windows Live Messenger, YouTube and every single webcamera enabled Windows application.

Feature Highlights:
* Turns the iPhone into a real, driver-based wireless web camera
* Two quality options
* Instant-Pause mode, pauses streaming instantly without exiting the host application on the computer
* Plug and Play ready, install the Windows drivers, connect the iPhone to the computer’s network and the camera is ready to go
* Built-in manual
* Send drivers by e-mail feature
* Beautiful User Interface fully translated in English and German
* Compatible with Windows 7, Vista and XP

Dragon Dictation iPhone App

Here is an iPhone app that has been long over due. With everyone resorting to text messaging, this is one of the handiest apps to come about. There has been some dictation apps before but Dragon Dictation by Nuance, the worlds most popular desktop dictation software, has created one that seems to be the most feasible in the bunch.

The Dragon Dictation app does almost everything you would normal do with your iPhone keyboard, but you use your voice instead. With all the people causing wrecks and other traffic mayhem due to the new texting culture rapidly developing, this is a no brainer. This also includes the ability to say your latest tweets or Facebook updates. Clipboard cutting and pasting is supported as well.

The app is free (for a limited time) and is still pending approval in the App Store. There is some concern about Nuance gathering the names and companies in your address book, which is expressed in there EULA. Other than that this looks like a nice app. Have fun and please leave commits about your experience with this app.

Epi App for iPhone

Throwing a party this season? Want to impress your guests? Let the App Store  plan your next soiree.  Buried beneath all those 100,000 apps are several clever apps that will guide you through the tedious party planning.  Fromage will help improve your cheese plate.  This handy pocket guide disguised as app gives you tons of helpful information. It has 380 cheeses from around the world. You can search by name, region, texture and even milk type.  The app also gives you cheese and wine pairings, in case your unsure.

Speaking of vino, Wine PhD is all about the grapes.  It will impress the amateurs and sommeliers (fancy word for wine-os) alike.  It has wine ratings, recommendations and wine pairings.  It also provides news articles with the latest trends from winemakers, vineyards and tips on popular wine regions and best values.

As you start thinking about your menu, you at might consult the Epi app.  The Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List, its full name, will present you with 25,000 recipes to browse.  These recipes are all from professionally tested kitchens, top gourmet magazines and top recipe sources.  So, go ahead amaze your dinner guests and take all the credit.  Whole Foods Market Recipes is another dinner app that provides meal options with all natural and organic ingredients.  For a casino approach to dinner planning, All Recipes Dinner Spinner and Big Oven Shake both equip you with meal ideas and recipes for any occasion. All Recipes is set up like a slot machine with categories like dish type, ingredients and even prep time. Big Oven Shake has over 170,000 recipes donated and shared from over 100,000 contributors and fans.  If your unsure about what to make, give your phone a shake and it will randomly pick something for you.  Grocery IQ app will help you with your grocery list and even has predictive text and a favorite’s list history.  You can even email your list to someone and  have them do your dirty work, I mean grocery shopping.

So,  save your energy for your guests,  let your iPhone do the work for you.  These are only a few of the apps you can use to your party planning advantage.  You’ll have more wine time and less whine time. These apps are all available through iTunes.  All are free except Wine PhD, which is $4.99,  Fromage is $1.99 and Grocery IQ is $.99.

iPhone Porn Star App

Porn anyone? Well the App store has just the fix for you. Apple announced that they would approve the porn store app developed by GrindHouse Mobile and the stars themselves. The apps, featuring adult actress Sunny Leone and  Pet Aria Giovanni of Penthouse, seem to be more of a way for fans to keep up with the latest from their favorite porn divas. Sunny  Leone’s app features a blog, sets of photos, and personal videos, along with a Premium section through which updates are pushed to your phone. Giovanni’s App seems to be similiar for the most part.

Apple has had some controversy with its App Store approval process, since it began accepting submissions from third-party developers. Some apps include, Eucalyptus e-book reader because it could permit access to the Kama Sutra, an ancient text known for its description of sexual encounters and positions. And an app from the widely known group Nine Inch Nails was rejected because of sexually “objectionable content” in a song.

All in all, the app is pretty tame although GrindHouse did admit that in their first attempted at having the app approved, they were “a little too ‘hot’ for Apple’s compliance department.” GrindHouse revamped the application so that they could meet the necessary guidlines that needed to be met to have the app accepted on the App Store.