What it is: We Rule is an addictive world-building iPhone game that blends Sim City with Facebook’s Farmville. Set in medieval times, you must build a prosperous kingdom by micromanaging the peasants and expanding trade with other online players.

Why it’s good: The game blends the best empire-building aspects of Sim City with the social aspects of Farmville.

As a teenager, I was totally addicted to games like Sid Meier’s Civilization, and Sim City. Even though they had terrible graphics and long load times on my old Pentium 1 PC, the sense of being a ‘god’ and having power over all those little guys made it a deep and immersive experience. Now Ngmoco has brought this gaming experience to the iPhone.

Fruit Ninja is a super fun game from Australian developers Halfbrick Studios that is impossible to put down!

Fruit Ninja incorporates the speed and simplicity of games like Doodle Jump with an innovative control method that makes the game addictive. I love this game. The graphics look like crap but the game proves the old adage — gameplay is king!

Apple recently updated its Backup software to v3.2, improving its reliability and efficiency.

So now is a great time to show how to use it to make offsite backups of your most important files.

One of my must-have apps from the iPhone is not only breaking down barriers between consumer shopping habits and the online marketplace, but also passing milestones left and right.

The top-selling barcode-scanning iPhone app RedLaser has recently passed 2 Million downloads, catered to 950K active users last month, and successfully completed 50 Million scans according to a press release by Occipital CEO Jeff Powers.

The 50 millionth scan was of a Deuter Backpack scanned by a RedLaser user in Germany.

RedLaser now has the ability to locate books at a local library via WorldCat and look up packaged food allergen and nutrition information based on the item’s barcode.

I have a feeling barcode tattoos will be making a comeback in the very near future.

[via MobileCrunch]

We start out with another deal on Core 2 Duo iMacs, including a 22-inch desktop machine with a 3.06GHz processor for $999. Also on tap: a 2.53GHz Core 2 Dup MacBook Pro with AppleCare for $1,699. Our final top deal is the Mac Box Set, including Mac OS X 10.6, iLife ’09 and iWork ’09 for $119.

As always, details on these and many other items (such as a Metallic Stripe hard case for the iPhone) are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Japanese blog KODAWARISAN sent us this picture of a 15″ Macbook Pro i7 with an interesting keyboard configuration. Instead of a command and option key on the bottom right of the keyboard there are two command keys.

This brings the total number of command keys to 3. The Google translation of the blog indicates that this notebook is a rare “Three-Sword Style Macbook Pro.” The name alone makes me want it now.

Imagine the amount of work you could slice through with three command keys. Here’s the translation according to Google.

Steam has arrived for your Intel chipped Mac with an impressive list of titles for your playing pleasure. We have been anxiously awaiting this contemporary gaming standard’s arrival and I for one am pleased with the titles made immediately available.

Diablo-esque Torchlight is half price at $9.99. If you want to test out Steam’s prowess without  having to spend your allowance you can download Valve’s puzzler Portal for FREE until May 24th. I know it sounds too good to be true but this cleverly worded promo page backs me up.

Head over to Joystiq.com to check out the list of titles and download link.

Adding fuel to the free MobileMe rumors, Apple began issuing invitations to its new MobileMe Mail beta to existing MobileMe users yesterday.

MobileMe Mail beta features include:

• Widescreen and compact views.
• Rules to keep your email organized everywhere.
• Single-click archiving.
• Formatting toolbar.
• Improved webmail performance.
• SSL security.

You can claim your invitation by logging into MobileMe through me.com. The invite should be on the bottom left corner. MobileMe Mail beta is currently only available in English.

[via TUAW]

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLz72XErN8U&feature=player_embedded

The iPad is a perfect accessory for the living room table, and Comcast’s forthcoming remote control app, the Xfinity Remote, capitalizes on that by pairing your iPad to your cable box through Bluetooth, allowing you to easily search listings and access movies on demand through an extremely attractive interface.

Additionally, Xfinity comes with some powerful social and sharing features, which allows you to share television or movies that you’re watching with other friends, even if they’re not in front of the same television.

You can find more information about Xfinity Remote here. It looks great, but at the end of the day, perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the app is that it’s for Comcast instead of a better cable provider.

“Everything that Apple makes is meant to be dropped”

Adam Carolla tells it like it is in his latest rant about Apple products including a demonstration using his lucite handled Apple Tower. (Anyone know the model?) And apparently everything that Apple makes is shaped like soap.

Adam’s off TV, but he’s certainly doing well for himself. Check out Adam Carolla on his podcast available in iTunes.

That Verizon iPhone we mentioned the other day? According to Digitimes, it’s already in production, with Taiwanese manufacturer Pegatron having been contracted to produce up to 10 million CDMA iPhone units a year.

The Digitimes report seems to confirm the September Verizon launch that we’d previously heard rumor about, as the new CDMA iPhone isn’t expected to contribute to Pegatron’s revenues until August or September, according to sources.

That will likely give AT&T a three month exclusive on the next iPhone. No wonder, then, that they’re pushing up their upgrade eligibility dates to late June to entice existing subscribers to sign a new contract.

Exciting stuff: if the rumors of a CDMA iPhone pan out, American iPhone owners are finally going to be able to choose their network with the same freedom that they chose their smartphone, while Apple’s iPhone profits are going to go through the roof.

[Image via BeGeek.fr]

In a double-barreled response to Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ objections to Flash, Adobe’s cofounders released a public letter rebuking the Cupertino, Calif. company for undermining the Web while releasing a new advertising campaign marked by a tough love message.

Adobe cofounders Chuck Geschke and John Warnock, in an open letter, charged no “single company” should control the Web.

iPads don’t charge through USB ports that aren’t 10 watts, which is a bummer, especially if you’ve got a laptop that won’t juice your tablet. Enter Quickertek’s iPad Charge Monitor, perhaps the most useless accessory of all time. It’s a $29.95 dongle that tells you if your iPad isn’t getting enough juice to charge… a function already provided by your non-charging iPad. Who can put a price on confirmation of the obvious, though?

[via Gizmodo]

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Wednesday filed a countersuit against Apple, asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to stop imports of key products sold by the Cupertino, Calif. company. The complaint, while centering on five patents, is the latest skirmish in a proxy war between Apple and Google.

“We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones,” Jason Mackenzie, HTC’s vice president of North America, said in a statement. In March, Apple sued HTC, claiming the handset maker infringed 20 iPhone patents. One analyst said the move was a “warning shot” for rivals building handsets aimed at the iPhone. The ITC soon announced it had begun investigating Apple’s claims.

CBS announced on Friday that they will be going the HTML5 optimized route to bring content to your iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Instead of creating a slick app like ABC’s, CBS thinks the best way to enter the post-flash mobile web is through CBS.com.

CBS Interactive SVP Anthony SooHoo confirmed to NewTeeVee.com that the 2010 Fall line-up will be available to non-flash users. I love how CBS’s move to HTML5 is based solely on the iPad:

Unlike ABC, which built an iPad app to deliver its full-length episodes and promotional clips on the device, CBS decided to focus on delivering video through its website, CBS.com. Since the Apple tablet doesn’t support Adobe Flash, CBS has created a video site for the iPad through HTML5 instead. It’s still early days, but Soohoo expects CBS to deploy more and more video that is iPad-ready, until it reaches content parity with what’s available on the website through a PC.

Interestingly enough, CBS is exploring some unique advertising opportunities to take advantage of the iPad’s multitouch capabilities.

Walmart may offer Apple’s iPad later this year as part of newly-expanded electronics sales. While the move could boost sales of the tablet device, talk of the world’s largest retailer spotlighting the iPad comes amid concerns Apple already is having trouble staying ahead of demand.

“We anticipate being able to have the iPad later this year,” Gary Stevenson, Walmart U.S. vice-president of entertainment, told Bloomberg. Although retail giant Best Buy already offers the device, Apple officially has yet to announce any retail partners for the iPad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fihOmQY-JxY&feature=player_embedded

Apple’s latest iPad ad, “What is iPad?” is a cheery nod to Apple’s classic “What is Newton?” ad, although I prefer the latter commercial’s droll, humorous tone. Still, when Apple says, “You already know how to use iPad” and then earnestly claims a new revolution has begun, it’s hard not to get a few chills down your spine.

I didn’t think anything could make me happier than Netflix coming to the iPad and soon iPhone, but I was wrong.

It’s just a mere mention, and there’s no promises or commitments, but Boxee has hinted at eventual expansion into Apple’s mobile universe. In Boxee’s post about payment system provider Vindicia, they mentioned their plans to move to the mobile platform:

Vindicia’s flexibility also makes it possible for us to enable payments on our website and across mobile platforms like the iPhone, Android and iPad. Boxee’s eventual expansion to these platforms will pave the way for universally accessible content no matter where a user is (we love this idea!).

This week a tip for Firefox power users. In addition to the Preferences accessible via the menubar, Firefox retains a comprehensive set of hidden settings that go back to it’s roots in the Netscape era.

Of course you are presented with an initial Caveat Emptor about the stability of your system and all that, but you’ve already jailbroken your iPhone and iPad (right?) so go ahead and dive right in…

Last year, we  were pretty impressed by UpNext’s 3D mapping app for the iPhone, which rendered landmarks like the Empire State Building in 3D — which is, of course, cool; but it was only available for NYC, there was no iPad version (because there was no iPad — wow) and it cost a whopping $3.

Now, UpNext 3D Cities has a new name and is available for a bunch of new cities (San Francisco, Boston, DC and Austin, home of SXSW), it’s been tweaked to play well on the iPad and its price has been reduced by $3 — yes, it’s free.

But the pretty, 3D-rendered buildings are just icing on the cake — check out the cool way the app graphically illustrates where to find Asian restaurants through a sorta infrared-vision trick toward the end of the above clip, or the way it overlays public transportation routes. And if that’s not enough, they’ve added the ability to see what’s trending and where your friends be at in Foursquare.

We start off with another deal on Apple’s newly-refreshed line of MacBook Pros. This deal spotlights a 27-inch iMac sporting Intel’s i7 processor running at 2.8GHz. ExperCom also added 8GB of RAM and AppleCare, all for $2,379. Also on tap: a new batch of iPhones, including an 8GB iPhone 3G for $49. Finally, a day of dealing wouldn’t be complete with the latest round of freebies from the App Store, including “KapselRacer,” billed as a bottlecap racing game.

As usual, we also have a number of other items, including new iPod speakers, the latest deals on iTunes albums and more. Details on these and many more bargains are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

When you have deep pockets, you’re likely to be the target of lawsuits. That maxim has never been more true than with Apple. A week after Nokia again sued the Cupertino, Calif. company, a graphics display outfit in Washington State has sued Apple, claiming the iPhone infringes its patents on scaling web graphics to mobile devices.

Patent No. 7461353, entitled “Scalable Display of Internet Content on Mobile Devices,” mentions many iPhone-centric features, including manipulating the size of on-screen graphics. “Mobile devices enabled to support resolution-independent scalable display of internet (Web) content to allow Web pages to be scaled (zoomed) and panned for better viewing on smaller screen sizes.”

A new iPhone app promises to help combat that up-all-night, zombie-by-day havoc jet lag brings.

Jet Lag Fighter, $1.99 on iTunes for the iPhone and iPod Touch, gives you a bunch of tools to shorten your next woozy flight hangover. (We have promo codes to give away, check our Twitter account for details).

The app offers two main strategies to attack jet lag: either sleep adjustment (getting you on schedule for the new time zone before you leave) or light therapy (telling you optimal times get out in the sunshine to lessen the lag time).

During the flight, the also app calculates ideal nap times and lengths; if there’s no light available when you need it or you skip a sleep session, the app adjusts your recovery schedule accordingly.

Verizon and Google are reportedly working together on a tablet device designed to rival Apple’s iPad. Although few details were provided, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam told the Wall Street Journal the device would leverage Google’s large library of content.

“We’re looking at all the things Google has in its archives that we could put on a tablet to make it a great experience,” McAdam told the newspaper. While Google’s Android was not mentioned, Verizon has heavily used the cell phone operating system to compete with Apple’s iPhone. In a similar vein, the Verizon executive admitted the carrier is behind rival AT&T in providing U.S. 3G coverage for the iPad, but said his company will have the majority of its 4G network up by the end of 2010.

McAdams also embraced the concept of tiered-pricing, where heavier users pay more. “The old model of one price plan per device is going to fall away,” he told the paper. AT&T currently offers unlimited data plans for the iPad.

The CEO’s comments come amid speculation Verizon’s CDMA network could gain access to a new iPhone later this year. Verizon’s long-time advertising company reportedly is developing a campaign possibly in preparation of the release of Apple’s fourth-generation iPhone.

[via AppleInsider and Wall Street Journal]

Virtual Aviation, which runs full-motion flight simulators in the UK, is using iPads as high-tech teacher’s assistants to train pilots.

Instead of instructors lugging around heavy cases filled with maps, charts, manuals, weather reports, flight plans and checklists every time they go into the simulator — they use iPads instead.

Using the iPad leaves busy instructors with an almost hands-free way to show would-be Airbus and Boeing pilots the ropes at Heathrow and Gatwick.