Top stories

Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

iPhone SDK: Could Motion Controls Make the iPhone a Mini Wii?

In addition to VOIP, the iPhone SDK may give programmers access to the iPhone’s motion sensors, which may result in all kinds of interesting motion-activated controls.

For example, hacker Erling Ellingsen has already built three homemade iPhone applications that are controlled by tilting, rotating or shaking the iPhone.

Ellingsen’s three demo apps are a virtual Steve Jobs bobble-head that bobs its head when the phone is shaken; a maze that is navigated by tipping and turning the phone; and a virtual box of balls that roll and bounce as he rotates the phone.

In the real world, there might kinds of interesting possibilities for game developers — think handheld portable Wii.

See Ellingsen’s impressive video:

About the author

Leander Kahney

Leander Kahney is senior editor of Cult of Mac, editor of two books about technology culture, Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, and has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Observer in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

Email the author | Read more posts by Leander Kahney.

4 comments

    So let me get this straight…
    First, Nintendo is going to buy out Apple
    Then, they’re going to merge
    Apple releases the iPhone, which is going after the Nintendo DS due to the touch-screen nature of the device
    Nintendo strikes back with motion sensitivity..a cheap, game oriented iPhone?
    Suddenly, the SDK for the iPhone is coming…iWii is the result?

    Brutal guys….just brutal. Overlapping demographics, sure, but I can’t see the iPhone as the portable wii. Unless the AppleTV starts selling games using the iPhone as the controller. NOW you have me interested….

    “Unless the AppleTV starts selling games using the iPhone as the controller. NOW you have me interested….”

    Genius!
    Except that the controllers would cost as much or more than the counsel…

    They are simply stating the possibility of Apple making a run for the portable gaming market. Sources such as The Mac Newb Tube deem it highly possible. Just think, if Apple hits their target of 10 million iPhone (plus iPod touch) users worldwide, they will be solidified at at least # 3 in handheld gaming. Strengthen by the fact that the SDK has just been announced, I think gaming is right around the corner.

    The touch screen will give developer so much freedom (imagine Okami)! Then, after the base is more wide spread, I think we’ll be seeing DS ports by Christmas 2008.

    lol,yh just a lil,
    i would like if nintendo and apple joined together or somin,that would be kl

Buy Inside Steve's Brain Buy from Amazon.com Buy from Barnes & Noble