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"Is there a word for someone who blocks themselves from accessing everything work-related, leaving them only with Twitter?" That's the question I asked shortly after blocking myself from everything Ars in an attempt to test out SelfControl, a simplistic (if not strict) distraction-blocking app for the Mac. Created by developer Steve Lambert for free under the GPL, SelfControl blocks a list of domains for a specified period of time in order to help you focus—presumably on work. The app works with websites, e-mail servers, and, as I discovered, even IRC servers and the like.
Unlike apps like WriteRoom—a word processor that visually blocks you from seeing anything in the background—and Freedom—an app that blocks all Internet access for 8 hours at a time—SelfControl lets you specify exactly what you want blocked through a blacklist while allowing everything else. So, while you'll be able to see your IRC buddies chatting away in the background (if you didn't block it), you can still access the things you need to get things done.
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iPhone forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski, who recently released the AMBER Alert for iPhone app, has a new app designed to help keep deleted data from being recovered from your iPhone. Called iErase, the app "zeros" all the free space on your iPhone and makes sure trashed files stay, well, trashed.
The iPhone, like most computing devices, doesn't actually remove files from you iPhone when you delete them. The bits are all there; the file system merely marks the space that the file was using as available. "The iPhone retains data better than most laptops because its solid state disk is designed to minimize writes," Zdziarski told Ars. "As a result, deleted photos, e-mail, keyboard caches, and other personal data are likely to stay on the device for a very long period of time. All of this information is available to someone who steals or 'borrows' our device."
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If flying a paper airplane to catch floating paperclips sounds like an appealing way to waste some time, then Paper Pilot for the iPhone is the game for you. In this first-person flier, you maneuver your aircraft through a variety of rooms, trying to catch each waiting paperclip. Catch it and it explodes for your pleasure. This reduces the outstanding clip count, and moves you closer to completing the current level.
Controlling the plane is both easier and harder than you might think. All you have to do is tilt your iPhone. Despite this, I found it difficult to plan my flight path so the plane would go exactly where I wanted it to. You must adjust for the angle of approach, your speed, and so forth. Hitting objects that are floating in 3D space is a lot more difficult than, say, running your car into a nearby light post. Paper Pilot lets you control your speed as well as your angles. Stroke the screen upwards to increase your velocity or downwards to reduce it. Slower airplanes are easier to handle with more time to react to upcoming objects.
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Consultant In-Stat just released a new forecast: It believes the number of potential mobile app store users could quadruple within five years. Some 100 million handsets that will be shipped in the next half a decade will be tied to application markets like Apple's App Store, according to In-Stat. 
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There's nothing worse than getting home from the grocery store and suddenly realizing you forgot something you needed. For those of us who aren't accustomed to making lists, it happens frequently. Paper and pen are so passé, though. Groceries, an iPhone/iPod touch app from Sophiestication Software, aims to remedy the problem by easily allowing users to make grocery lists using a huge database of name brand and generic products. We have been waiting since the App Store launched for this one, and it has finally been released. Was it worth the wait?
With Groceries, you can create and save multiple lists, which is useful if you do your shopping at more than one grocery store. Adding groceries to an existing list is a pleasure. The database of American items is gigantic with 11,259 items, while the German database is even larger with over 15,000 items. When all is said and done, the SQL database for the items is 2.6 MB—not huge, but when you consider it's all text, that's pretty big. Still, there are no real performance issues in the application, and scrolling is very smooth.
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Imagine a game where you're the sadistic god of a very small island. You can create animated people at will and then torture them to your heart's content. Feed them to sharks, strike them with lightning bolts, throw them into a nearby volcano (it's actually an acquired skill) and, if you feel especially generous, feed them by cracking coconuts on their heads. Pocket God lets you explore your wrathful side in tormenting innocent virtual people.
If that were all there was to Pocket God, we would sum up the application by saying: "cute for five minutes, possibly worth the one-dollar price, no good long-term gameplay." However, there's far more to the whole Pocket God experience, and that's due to the designers behind the product.
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The Mac's ease of use is often cited as a reason for the platform's popularity in small businesses and home offices. Apple is now offering a new seminar for those businesses not familiar with the platform but looking to use Macs for their computing needs. Titled "Your business on a Mac. A better bottom line," the seminars are being held around the US starting this week.
The three and a half hour-long seminar is intended to for business owners considering Macs, as well as existing Mac users hoping to use a Mac in an existing Windows environment. It covers the basics of Mac OS X, connecting to existing networks—including Windows-based workgroups, basic networking and file sharing, and using iWork and iLife for business purposes.
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The third-generation iPod shuffle is here, and not a soul saw it coming. (These days, that's a rarity.) Apple's new buttonless wonder has been making waves and ruffling feathers in the days since its introduction, so we took some time with it to really see whether the hype—and the hate—was warranted.
Unlike the 2G shuffle, which came in a variety of colors, the third-gen iPod shuffle now comes in only two "colors" (if you can even call them that)—black and silver. This is sure to disappoint color enthusiasts and parents who love giving shuffles as stocking stuffers, but we wouldn't be surprised to see colors return to the shuffle line in time. More importantly, however, the new shuffle now comes with 4GB of storage space for the same price ($79) as the 2G shuffle's 1GB. That's half of an iPhone 3G, or a low-end 4G iPod nano.
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A year and 5 months after releasing iWork '08, Apple finally updated its productivity suite to version '09. Keynote 5.0, Pages 4.0, and Numbers 2.0 all sport some refinements, but this time around iWork isn't joined by a new family member. Apple touts an enhanced template chooser and more ways to share for all three applications. Apart from that, Pages gains a full screen view, dynamic outlines, mail merge with Numbers, and MathType and Endnote for including mathematical equations and bibliographies. For Numbers, it's easy formulas, formula list view, table categories, and advanced charts. Keynote gains magic move, more transitions, chart animations, and Keynote remote. Finally, there is iwork.com.
In this review, I'll be looking primarily at what's new in this latest version vs. iWork '08. So if you're unfamiliar with iWork, please read our Work '08 review first for background information that isn't replicated here. And although Microsoft Office is popular among Mac users, this review compares iWork mainly against its former self. Hopefully by the end of the review you'll know whether you should upgrade to iWork '09.
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Rumors that Apple will unleash several new iPhone models when it releases new hardware this summer have picked up a notch. The speculation is that the company could unveil a cheaper, lighter iPhone, an iPhone especially designed for business use, and a netbook -- in addition to upgrading its current iPhone model. 
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The awkwardly-named 10 Balls 7 Cups provides a virtual skee ball experience on the iPhone. Like its real-world counterpart, you try to amass points by rolling balls up an inclined platform and bouncing them into a series of cups. Cups that are smaller and harder to reach offer higher point scores than the ones that are larger and closer.
If you've played skee ball at a carnival (or even at a Chuck E Cheese), you know pretty much everything you need to know. 10 Balls 7 Cups even lets you collect tickets so you can buy virtual prizes. These range from t-shirts and whistles to tanks and sports cars. The program keeps track of your loot so you can enjoy each of these non-existent prizes over time.
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How much would it cost to buy up everything in the App Store in December? Let's do some back-of-the-envelope calculations. 
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Cooking Mama is one of those love it or loathe it phenomena. It's a cooking simulator that I believe debuted on the Nintendo DS before making its way over to the Wii and, now, onto the iPhone. Cooking Mama is built on working your way through series of minigames all centered around cooking tasks. You may debone a chicken or stir a sauce, chop onions or knead dough. Each minigame involves following a particular interaction pattern, which is introduced to you by Mama. Do well at these tasks and you earn Mama's praise and advance along your recipe. (Do poorly and Mama will growl at you, but she will cover your tracks and fix your errors so you can progress. Thank you Mama!)
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This may seem like somewhat of a stretch, but I'm going to go ahead with the analogy anyway: GarageBand is the multi-function printer in the third-floor office that is iLife '09. With the addition of yet another feature, the '09 iteration of Apple's music-making app has become the ugly, multi-purpose mess that is today's printing, scanning, copying, and faxing behemoth. While such devices are handy and save space, they all suffer from the same inherent problem: they are all, at best, average at every one of their functions.
So it is with GarageBand: it's unwieldy, ugly, and lacking the functionality that any serious user needs or wants. It tries to be a combination of Apple's own Logic, Sibelius or Finale music notation software, Practic Musica, and Band-in-a-Box in one cheap package—and in one unified interface.
Some may say I'm being too critical of the application: "It's meant for consumers, and meant to be easy to use. It's not supposed to have the same features as pro apps." That may be the case, but does that preclude it from critical analysis? Let's take a look.
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Apple seems to introduce new iPhone models every June/July. Last year's iPhone offered a number of improvements over the original device, including greater storage capacity. What would you like this year's model to add/be able to do? Let's start a wish list right here. 
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