In place of the roller ball, you have the capacitive touchscreen, of course, and this has both an advantage and a disadvantage. On the plus side, you can aim incredibly quickly, just in front of incoming missile tracks and spacecraft, whereas the old roller ball was large and had momentum – it took a lot of practice to use it to aim quickly and precisely, and it took time to move your aim from one point to another.

On the downside, there’s no way to control which of your three missile silos are used to fire missiles – the game’s logic simply chooses the closest. Although this might seem sensible, this system does away with one of the key expert strategies used in the original game – that of using a side silo to lay down a blanket of explosions while you used the centre silo to pick off ’smart’ bombs and anything else that got through. With the current game logic, the centre silo usually gets exhausted first and you’re then into fighting a rearguard action trying to pick off smart bombs low in the sky with just the left and rightmost silos.

On balance, the two factors rather cancel each other out, in terms of game difficulty. There are three skill settings to choose between, but most people, most of the time, will have a challenging and memorable game. The classic Missile Command characteristic learning curve, where early levels are trivial but where the incoming bombardment rapidly starts speeding up, is represented more or less perfectly here, although I did miss the multiple waves-per-level from the original – there has been a definite simplification here.

So far so good though and Missile Command would be easily earning a four star review – but Ultra mode takes it all the way to five, with a glorious reworking of the title, bringing it bang up to date in 2009, with a wealth of digitised backdrops, detailed city sprites and a glorious stereo (music and effects) soundtrack. There’s nothing whatsoever added to the gameplay, but you’ll enjoy this reworking immensely if you’ve got a bit bored of the original’s simple graphics and garish colors.

Cementing the game’s quality is the save game facility, by which (after an interruption) you’re always returned to the exact point you got to in the game. Whether you want to play ‘retro’ or whether you want to pretend Missile Command is a 2009-designed shooter, you’re guaranteed a challenge and this game comes highly recommended.

Dub Siren

With some 55,750 apps in stock, sifting through the inventory to find the gems is getting harder all the time. Then, along comes Dub Siren, which streams music from some of the top Reggae, Dub and DubStep Internet radio stations and allows you to interactively mix music with a wide variety of Reggae effects like horns, beeps, boops and many other sound samples.

Until now, these effects have been exclusive to the professional disc jocks, according to Sawa Digital, the developer. I’m not sure about that, but what I do know is this app is a neat sound effects maker.

Dub Siren has two modes: Dub Mode, modeled after ’70s classic analog synth and Dancehall Mode, which includes popular sound effects used by Reggae DJs today. Switching from one mode to the other is as simple as tilting your iPhone or iPod touch between landscape and portrait modes.

The app has several other features — too numerous to mention — such as faders for volume, pitch, speed and depth. In addition you have the option to select one of three wave effects: sine, square and saw. None of this will make much sense to you if you are not familiar with mixing (I’m not) but it’s big fun to experiment.

You’re not limited to listening to Reggae either. You can play music from your iPod’s music collection in the background by first launching your iPod app and then launching Dub Siren. That’s not a feature unique to Dub Siren. Unlike other apps, though, Dub Siren lets you throw in a spacey simulation of a machine gun over your music if you’re so inclined.

The graphics are exceptionally well rendered and the controls are responsive. I did a lot of experimentation with this app and did not encounter any glitches or bugs.

Sawa Digital says pro DJs can use the Dub Siren and a iPhone or iPod touch as a standalone Reggae sound effects machine because it features a sophisticated audio algorithm and uncompressed audio files. I’m not entirely sure what all Dub Siren is capable of doing —I don’t have a musical ear — but it sure sounds good to me.

• app_name: Dub Siren
• rating: 9/10
• price: $3.99

When did you start developing apps for the iPhone? Did you have previous experience as a developer?

I personally started in April ‘09 and it has been a roller coaster ride since! That said, my partner and I have been waiting for something like the iPhone/Touch platform for about 10 years.

What / how many apps have you made so far?

Two are up in iTunes at the moment: Animal Fun Time and Magnetic Personalities. We’ve completed 3 more for a total of 5. Approval for the other 3 completed apps is expected this month. In addition, we are working on 9 more applications at the moment and plan on releasing 2 or more applications a month is all goes as planned. We are a publisher so the effort was far from just me!

What type of apps/games/software inspires you? Where do you get your ideas?

We brainstorm, people often come to us with ideas and we make them happen if well planned, unique or just better than what the market offers. We design and we keep learning more. I spent a solid week on pure idea incubation in Los Angeles with Amith Nirgunarty, the other Co-Founder.

How do you settle on the price point for your apps?

We are relatively new so we are offering our apps for $.99 to get the word out. So far, we win on value and style and will continue to offer more as we continue to grow.

What has been the best thing about designing for the iPhone?

Although challenging,this has been the most fun I’ve had in years. There is nothing better than testing an app that is finally ready for market.

What has been the biggest challenge about designing for the iPhone?

The sheer numbers are daunting. You want to be first, but you need to get things right.

Is your company venture backed or privately held?

Venture backed as well as privately held.

Do you have any other apps in the works?

The three to be released later this month are: 1. “Audiopeople” 2. A physics novelty app tentatively titled “Block Drop” that is awaiting approval 3. “Fortune”, a gag app I can’t say too much more, but we are working on “Animal Fun Time II”, a strategy game that offers real time gameplay that is targeted to reach the top 10 list and a social networking app that will set a new world record as well as offer plenty of fun. In the queue are shoot’em ups, sports, more gags, TD, more fun and more interactive education.

What apps do you have on your iPhone?

I have about 90 right now. The most used include Trism, A great tip calculator by Raizlabs that prevents unnecessary disputes, Flight Control, Tweetie, the Moron Test, Star Defense,and of course, Animal Fun Time for when my nieces and nephews are around.

What do you like to do when you’re not coding for the iPhone?

Travel, I just returned from a trip to Peru which involved the Amazon rainforest, a wedding, and of course Machu Picchu. I have a difficult time staying in one place!

Following up on last night‘ release of iPhone 3.1 Beta 2 firmware and SDK, developers are finding more changes and new features.

• TUAW reports that the AT&T IPCC hack, where the carrier file was modified to allow iPhone tethering sans official AT&T sanction no longer works. Bummer, given AT&T still hasn’t announced anything about legitimate tethering support or pricing.
• Engadget Mobile’s been informed that new APIs have been introduced allowing for the manipulation of live video to produce “augmented reality” apps (where information is layered on top of the video).
• Ars Technica reports iPhone 3.1 Beta 2 allows developers to connect to test devices via Wi-Fi, rather than having to tether via USB as in previous releases, and still access instruments and other features.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3.1 Beta 2 Breaks AT&T Tethering Hack, Allows Wi-Fi Testing, Intros Augmented Reality APIs?

Apple has just informed developers that a new version of iPhone 3.1 Beta firmware and SDK have been released:

iPhone SDK 3.1 beta 2 and iPhone OS 3.1 beta 2 are now available on the iPhone Dev Center. These versions are for development and testing only and should be installed on devices dedicated to iPhone OS 3.1 beta software development. Please read the iPhone OS beta Pre-Install Advisory and the iPhone SDK 3.1 beta 2 release notes before downloading and installing.

Use the Apple Bug Reporter if you discover compatibility or functionality issues while testing with the iPhone OS 3.1 beta 2 release.

Registered developers can, as stated, grab it via developer.apple.com.

UPDATE: Ars Technica reports iPhone 3.1 Beta 2 allows developers to send apps to test devices via Wi-Fi, rather than having to tether via USB as in previous releases.

According to WhenWithApple, minor changes include new language for the video editing options, now called “Trim Original” and “Save As…” Screenshot after the break!

When/if we come across anything else, we’ll update and add it to our ongoing iPhone 3.1 Beta Walkthrough…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Releases iPhone 3.1 Firmware and SDK to Developers

Apple has stealthily updated their premium in-ear headset with remote and mic. What exactly did they update? Well nothing major but it’s an update regardless – they replaced the soft rubber 3.5 mm headphone plug casing with a hard plastic one. So now instead of the soft rubber falling off we will now start to see the hard plastic replacement crack.

All joking aside, Apple really got these headphones almost perfect. And as a bonus they are now fully compatible with iPhone 3GS. Sorry first generation and 3G owners, you are still missing out on the control features.

Be sure to check out Rene’s full review from this past January.

[Via AppleInsider]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Stealth-Updates Premium In-Ear Headset for iPhone 3GS

Apple says you should operate your iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a place where the temperatures are between 32º to 95º F (0º and 35º C ). Low- or high-temps might temporarily shorten battery life or cause the device to temporarily stop working properly.

Store your iPhone where the temperatures are likely to stay between 4º to 113º F (-20º and 45º C). Leaving your iPhone in your car on a sunny day is not a good idea because inside temps in a parked car can exceed this range.

Some clues that the interior temp of you iPhone is beyond normal range are:

• The device stops charging
• Display dims
• Weak cellular signal
• Temperature warning screen appears with the message “iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it”

The warning message is a safety mechanism that protects the components of your iPhone, Apple says. If the message pops up on your display, turn the device off and let it cool down before firing it up again.

No worries: Even if you get the warning message, you’ll still be able to make emergency calls, Apple adds.

You’ll see the temp warning message under the following conditions, Apple says:

• Leaving the device in a car on a hot day
• Leaving it in direct sunlight for extended amounts of time
• Using certain applications in hot conditions or direct sunlight for long periods of time, such as GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day or listening to music while in direct sunlight

For what it’s worth, I’ve been running my new iPhone 3GS nonstop since I received it 4-5 days ago and have not experienced any issues with over heating. In fact, the only issues I’ve experienced with the new phone is an over abundance of goodness.