Macgasm

Kaloki Adventure (US$1.99, available now iTunes link) is a slimmed down version of the Xbox Live Arcade and PC game called Outpost Kaloki for iPhone. It is similar in style to the Tycoon style resource management sims.

Set out before each level of the game are goals to meet. Beyond that it’s primarily supply, demand, and making as much money as possible. In addition you are given a time limit for each level. The faster you can meet the goals the higher your score. Bronze, silver and gold medals are awarded as well depending on your performance.

You are tasked with balancing the desires of visitors to your station with your ability to build expansions to fulfill their desires. This is within the framework of your available resources. Specifically the money to build expansions and the power to run them.

The cute icons on the bottom are visitors to your station. They want stuff.

Kaloki Adventure is simple and straightforward while being fast paced and light hearted. The on-screen controls are well laid out and intuitive. I did have issues with the touch control however. I really like the simplicity of building onto your station which is as easy as tapping on an empty port to bring up a menu of building options. However, in my experience there were problems with the game recognizing my screentaps. I do have a screen protector on my iPhone however and this may be the reason for the difficulty.

Loading times are short, which is appreciated.

In addition to the main game mode which has 14 goal driven levels there are 6 “sandbox” scenarios which don’t have set out goals and are simply about building the most awesome station possible. Nice touch. I also dug the autosave feature which will allow you to pick up where you left off in the event you get interrupted by a phone call.

After playing this game for a while I do have one gripe with it however, which I think is most likely an easy fix for the developers; Kaloki Adventures doesn’t honor the silent mode switch on my iPhone. I learned this the hard way through the painful experience of having the game music start playing during a staff meeting at my day job. Not cool.

One thing I think is missing and that this game could benefit from would be an online component. Perhaps a way to show off your station building prowess and exchange witty quips with fellow station builders maybe? Just putting it out there.

Bottom line: if you are into resource management sims and are looking for a game that’s easy to pick up, fun to play, and has decent replay value then buy this game.

[Download] [02.1 MB] [0:04:40]
Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner

In this episode, Grant talks about The Path & Braid.

As a mother who is obsessed with anything that Apple comes out with, I was excited to find out that Apple will be offering free three-hour courses to children between the ages of 8 and 12 at selected Apple stores nationwide.  In these workshops, kids will learn about movies, photos, music, and presentations.

This is an ingenious way to introduce children to the wonderful world of Apple.  They will be able to get an early start on creating all sorts of skills that will help them in the future.

The courses are first come, first serve basis, so hurry up and sign up your little geeks now before it’s too late.  Click here to sign up.

Here are more details on what will be taught:

Movie Workshop: Lights. Camera. Action.

Kids take the director’s chair in the Movie Workshop, where they learn how to make a movie in the time it takes to watch one. From importing and cropping video clips to adding cool special effects and transitions, kids go home as up-and-coming filmmakers with a DVD of the movie they’ve just made.

What to Bring: If you have an Apple notebook running Mac OS X, a digital camcorder, or existing footage, feel free to bring them, along with any required cables.

Music Workshop: Ready to rock?

Kids become instant rock stars in the Music Workshop. With GarageBand and a MIDI keyboard, they get to play bass, electric guitar, drums, and sing their own lyrics “” even learn how to play a real instrument. Kids will also explore iTunes and see how to sync an iPod. And they’ll burn their latest hit to a CD so they can share it with adoring fans at home.

What to bring: Have your kid bring a few favorite CDs or an iPod or MP3 player to work with. Sample CDs will also be available for demonstration purposes.

Photo Workshop: Point. Shoot. Share.

The iPhoto Workshop will show kids the basics of digital photography “” and then some. They’ll learn how to import photos from a digital camera and make them look even better. Organize photos by who’s in them and where they were taken. Create slideshows with music and cool photo effects. And even build their own photo web page using iWeb to show them off to the world.

What to bring: If you have an Apple notebook running Mac OS X, a digital camera, or favorite photos, feel free to bring them, along with any required cables.

Presentation Workshop: Take the stage.

Kids are the stars in the Presentation Workshop. First, they’ll create a super-slick slideshow with movies, music, photos, and charts and graphs. Then, they’ll learn how to present it all to a captivated audience. By the time this workshop is over, they’ll go home with a multi-media presentation in hand and lots of tips to wow family, friends, and everyone at school.

What to bring: If you have an Apple notebook running Mac OS X, favorite photos, videos, or music, feel free to bring them along, with any required cables.

[photo via Sun in Photos]

[Download] [01.6 MB] [0:03:30]
Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner

In this episode, Josh talks about Apple dominating the Consumer Reports laptop lists.

For those of us either unwilling or unable to fork over US$29 for an Apple branded iPhone dock, there is now a cheap alternative. Meritline.com currently has a white charger dock for the iPhone 3G for US$5.99 with free shipping! I don’t know about you guys but for 6 bucks I’m going to buy one for the home and one for the office.

They’re shipping from Hong Kong and should arrive in about 2 weeks.

[Tip of the hat to stonegrody for the link!]

[Photo via: Cnet]

The much hyped about game for the Xbox 360 and Windows platforms has finally made its way to the Mac. It’s been “coming soon” for a while, but the day has finally arrived. Numerous hours have been spent playing the game on the 360, and now I get to focus all my time playing it on the Mac. Grant and I have spoken a little bit about Braid and other indie games on the mac in a recent podcast episode, so go give that a listen if you’re looking for our opinions about it.

It’s probably one of the most beautifully designed games I’ve seen in a long long time.

You can get it over at Play Greenhouse for the super price of 14.95 USD. It’s worth every single penny.

[Download] [02.3 MB] [0:04:50]
Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner

In this episode, Grant and Josh talk about bit torrent clients for OS X.

I am not a geek. I’m a Mac fan and have been since 1984. For years, I and others were relegated to the netherworld of applications. Programmers ignored us and we made due with whatever we could get our grubby little hands on. All that would change in the new millenium. With the OS X renaissance and eventual post 5% market-share world, it seemed like a golden age. New developers began to appear and great new apps followed.

This was a time of plenty and I was at the height of pseudo-geekdom. I would spend a good portion of my day discovering what new wares were available in the market and how I could use my lovely iMac DV to its fullest.

Its now 2009, I am using a MacBook Pro and I find myself left behind. The last useful application that I downloaded was Writeroom and that was well over two years ago. How?! What happened? Reality, maturity, employment and other interests began to creep more and more into my ‘App Discovery’ time to the point where I am lucky to visit a site like Macgasm or TUAW once every two months. Some may say that this is sufficient but its an absolute life time in the time of these sites and to trawl back through weeks of posts to find one or two nuggets of code is not efficient use of my time.

Have I really  been left behind? Absolutely. Apple has failed me. Why is it I know what newest widget will fit into my Google Apps or what idiotic application a Facebook friend is using? Why is Twitter generating a lexicon of Twit-prefaced terms born out of useful apps?

It may be that Apple has not totally let me down. Maybe they’re focused on something else. Something like the iPhone. I can happily sit there and browse through the hordes of apps (crummy or otherwise) on my phone and not be left behind. I am being bombarded with ways to increase the utility of my phone but not my MacBook Pro. If I want to  get more bang from the latter, I have to go trawl for this stuff myself. Considering the cost difference between my iPhone and my Macbook Pro, I find this laughable.

Am I the only one that has been relegated to using a $2k laptop as a fancy Netbook? Is it possible that I would get more day to day value from my iPhone if it had a full size keyboard attachment? I think not. What’s to stop me from actually purchasing a Netbook instead of a new Macbook the next time I need to make a change?

I don’t have the solutions, I’ll let someone who makes a living from that sort of stuff actually come up with one. What I do know is that I want to easily find ways to get more utility from my top of the line laptop.

[Photo via : YukonBrat]