C64 ($4.99 – iTunes link], a Commodore 64 emulator for the iPhone (and iPod touch) is now available from the App Store, despite having been previously rejected by Apple. FCC spotlight? Phil Schiller intervention? Simple change of heart? Sounds more like a slight change of code, says the C64 blog:

Ultimately, BASIC has been removed for this release; however, we hope that working with Apple further will allow us to re-enable it.

(If you’re dying to get your BASIC on, however, reader Stooovie let us know you can still access it by enabling “always show full keyboard”, starting a game, paging over to the EXTRA keyboard, and then tapping RESET. Boom, dropped into BASIC with a ready-prompt — though we clearly don’t remember enough C64 BASIC to see if it actually does anything or just sits there blinking. Commenters?)

But, as they say, who cares about BASIC, C64’s focus is games and it ships with Dragons Den, Le Mans, Jupiter Lander, Arctic Shipwreck and Jack Attack. More games will be available in the future (via in-app purchase, we believe).

The interface is gorgeous, the passion level obviously high, and the C64 is a classic (as is the Amiga, cough, want-it-next, cough), so for fans of any of those qualities — or more likely all of them — check it out and let us know what you think.

Demo video and more screen shots after the break!

[Thanks Stooovie for the tip!]

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

Quick App: C64 Commodore 64 Emulator for iPhone — Can Hack Basic!

Review FOR THE LADIES: iPeriod vs Period Tracker by llofte. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Ladies, we all know the infamous question asked by our doctor at the beginning of every visit – “When was the first day of your last period?” Now if you’re like me, you pick some date you know is accurate by plus or minus a week and your doctor shakes his head and stresses the need for keeping track of these things and you shake your head wondering why it’s even necessary when you’re there for a broken arm. Well, with the help of an app, you can easily provide your doctor with any information needed about your cycle. With so many options in the app store, it may be difficult to decide which app is best for you, so I have chosen two apps that I believe are very good and comparable in price, iPeriod and Period Tracker.

Please note that for the sake of keeping my personal information private, the data provided for these screenshots is fake.

iPeriod

The home page of iPeriod is on the Summary tab which shows your next expected period date, average cycle length, average duration, and a brief history of your last 4 periods. You can add/edit a period from here as well. When adding a period, you are asked for the first day and last day. It will automatically have your average duration length set as default.

The Calendar tab is a calendar view of information. It is here that you can add more detailed information. At the bottom, you will see which date you have selected and what day of your cycle is associated with that date. Tapping here will bring up notes for that day. There are 3 options for flow levels (light, medium, heavy), severity of cramps (none, mild, severe) and boxes to check for spotting, love connection, and 4 user defined options. There is also 33 different moods you can choose for the day, each with it’s own smiley to appear on the calendar. All information given in notes will appear on the calendar as an icon or coloring. Period days will be in various shades of pink and fertile days will be in light green with dark green signifying ovulation. iPeriod assumes a luteal phase length of 14 days, but this can be changed in settings. Remember ladies, you should not use these apps to prevent pregnancy!

You can edit/add a period from the calendar view as well. One thing I don’t like about period entry, is that you must either accurately predict the length of your period when adding it, or go back and edit it once it’s over. There should be an option in notes to select the date as a last day. Another thing I don’t like about the calendar is that there isn’t a color change for the selected date; you must read the date on the bottom to know which date you have selected. This is only a minor annoyance, but an annoyance none the less.

The ManageData tab is where you go to email your data as text or CSV.

The Next12 tab has predictions for your next 12 periods and fertile days.

In Settings, you can password protect the app and set a question in case you forgot your password. In the event that you do forget your password, iPeriod will just give it to you if you get the question right, so make sure you choose a question that only you know the answer to! You can also set up in-app and/or email alerts reminding you of an expected period or informing you that you’re late. There are other basic changes you can make in settings like setting the length of luteal phase, editing the user defined calendar icons, and specifying how many cycles to use when calculating averages.

The best and worst feature of iPeriod is it’s calendar view. Some may love it’s colorfulness and the way it provides lots of information at a glance. Others, however, may find it too busy and cluttered. For the the latter, Period Tracker may be your period tracker of choice.

Period Tracker

The home screen for Period Tracker is very simple. In big bold letters it says how many days until your next predicted period or how many days late you are. To enter a period start date, just scroll to the correct date and tap “Period Start”. At the top corners, there are two options, Settings, and Calendar.

The calendar view is much more plain in comparison to iPeriod. It’s all gray with some icons. The same data was entered into both applications, so the screenshots really show how differently they display the same information. Fertile days are represented by green dots and ovulation day has a pink flower. Period days have various shades of pink triangles, “intimate” days have a heart, and a pink droplet means spotting. A little black dot means there are notes associated with that day, even if that note is also an icon on the calendar. The selected day is green instead of gray. At the bottom, there is more information about the selected day and tapping here brings up the notes page. Notes have an on/off toggle for “Period Ended” and “Intimate Today” and selections for backaches, bloating, bodyaches, cramps, spotting, headaches, and tender breasts, all of which have 3 levels of severity. Period Tracker has the advantage over iPeriod here, but iPeriod has more moods to select from. Period Tracker has 9 moods, but you can of course type your mood into notes if you feel like none of the choices accurately depict your mood. Since the smileys don’t show up on the calendar anyway, I feel like this is an acceptable compromise.

In settings you can set your default cycle and period length, edit entries, export notes through email, and set a 4 digit passcode. Period Tracker uses the same default of 14 days for the luteal phase, but does not have an option to change it. You also cannot export in CVS format. There is no list view of future period and fertile days; you must navigate to the month of interest to see predictions.

Period Tracker also offers a companion app for $0.99 to sync period dates and fertile days with a significant other… if that’s something you’re interested in.

The best feature of Period Tracker is it’s simplicity. It’s quick to start and end a period and calendar view shows only the most important data. Period tracker also offers more note options (minus mood choices). However, iPeriod offers more summary information, a nice list view of predictions, and export in CVS format.

Conclusion

I don’t think one app is better than the other and will not proclaim one as the winner. I personally prefer Period Tracker over iPeriod, but the girl next door may prefer iPeriod. They satisfy a different set of needs and offer different types of style.

Instead of a Pros and Cons list for each app, I will provide a list of features iPeriod has that Period Tracker does not, and vice versa.

Features of iPeriod that Period Tracker lacks

• List view of predicted period dates and fertile days
• Export in CVS format
• Colorful, detailed calendar view
• Edit length of luteal phase
• Question for password retrieval
• User defined symptoms
• Lots of summary information
• Email alerts
• 33 moods

Features of Period Tracker that iPeriod lacks

• Quick entry of period start and end dates
• Simple, less cluttered calendar
• 7 symptoms, all with 3 levels of severity
• Color change for date selection
• Companion app available

iPeriod TiPb Review Rating

Period Tracker Review Rating

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FOR THE LADIES App vs. App Review: iPeriod vs. Period Tracker for iPhone

Star Walk App Review by msbaylor. For more App Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Star Walk [$4.99 - iTunes link] is the best star-gazing application I have come across for the iPhone. Many of the features found within the application cannot be found in any others! This is one of the best developed and executed applications I have seen to hit the app store.

When the app opens, it will take a moment to load. I noticed that the app states on the loading page "The Universe – Yours to Discover" This is an awesome statement and very true to the app.

The user interface is very easy to navigate. When you get into the application, the app will automatically detect your location and arrange the sky as it is currently for you. You can use your finger to pan around the sky.

For 3GS users, tap on the screen once, then lift the iPhone up over your head & "peer through the viewfinder". I could keep going on about this feature, but again, this is one of the best features of the app. Other iPhone/iTouch users can do the same however, you can only tilt vertically.

Tap on any object in the sky to select it and see its name.

I however, ran into a few instances where the name did not show up until I viewed the full details. To view the details, you simply tap on the "i" in the top left-hand corner.

Tap on it again to leave the details view. Most of the buttons that take you out of the full sky view, when tapped again, will take you back. However, the "w" button in the details view will take you to Wikipedia to view details on the Internet. This is a nice addition if you have the Internet access.

The clock in the top right-hand corner allows you to change the time of day/date to view the sky. I found it kind of fun to slide the slider so that it continued to rotate so I could view the sky as an "elapsed time" sort-of view. However, when doing this I also found it was a bit difficult to stop unless I tapped on the "now" button. Also if you have selected an object, the sky will "rotate" around it when you change the time/date.

In the bottom-left-hand corner you have a search. And finally, in the bottom right-hand corner, tap the button to make 3 more appear, the bottom one, allows you to change On/Off settings – Night Mode, Constellations, & Sounds.

You also have the ability to brighten of dim the sky (not brightness). You literally can make the smaller stars not appear or have them all appear according to your location. The middle button finds your current location or lets you view the sky from a different location.

And the last one allows you to access & modify bookmarks.

There are also some other neat things I found in the app:

I found that the sun creates a flare on you "window." It changes direction & angle as the sun revolves around you in the app. Also the sun literally dims in brightness and the flare disappears when another object comes in front it it. Another thing is the Moon. In the above screenshot you can see the moon and as it moves past the sun you can actually see the shadow move across it. These little details show that a lot of thought went into this app by the developers & designers.

Conclusion

Overall this is an outstanding application, while it does seem to have a few minor issues this is a fairly solid app. The one thing I’d really like to see would be – in the full sky view, the sky would constantly be in motion when you aren’t customizing the time/date. This way, 30 minutes later while you are still in the app, the sky is literally “tracking” with you.

I highly recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in Astronomy or star gazing. At $4.99 this is an awesome app, if you have an iPhone 3GS, then it’s a steal!

Pros:

• Intuitive Interface
• Search for planets, constellations, etc. & view details
• Current location or search for another area.
• 3GS users can utilize the compass/tilt feature, other users do not have access to the compass feature.
• Zoom in & out, tap to select object in sky
• Night view (red tint)
• View the sky for a specific time of day

Cons:

• When viewing details about some items, text is too long to fit in box (text gets cut off)
• The sound the app makes when "typing" out the object’s details is a little annoying.
• Not all objects show a label when highlighted by the green circle (does show up in details)

TiPb Review Rating

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App Review: Star Walk for iPhone

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they’re fair game.

So who’s on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad’s Pick: Modern Combat: Sandstorm

The game is a FPS in the Middle-East theater. You play a marine who is sent on numerous missions to take-out the bad guys. The frame rate is smooth and there are a few different usable control options. This game has good AI with enemies hiding and using strategy to get you. There is a promised multiplayer mode coming soon, we can only hope that it is Internet-based play. If you are looking for a fresh FPS with good action, smooth frame rate and potentially awesome multiplayer, check out Modern Combat: Sandstorm. [$6.99 - iTunes link]

James’ Pick: MyFantasyTeams Pro

I can’t remember when I started, but I love Fantasy Football. I am in a few leagues with friends and coworkers alike. And as I have said before, I am forgetful. Therefore, setting my roster can be a pain if I am not in front of a computer. MyFantasyTeams Pro is an app I have been looking for. It is compatible with all Yahoo fantasy teams and allows you to perform all of the tasks needed to make sure your fantasy team is ready for the week. You can submit lineup changes, add/drop players and even trade players from within the app. A must for all Yahoo fantasy addicts. [$3.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna’s Pick: DSLR Camera Remote Professional Edition

Use your iPhone as a remote for your Canon or Nikon DSLR with DSLR Camera Remote Pro. Not only does it act as a shutter release, but you can adjust settings like shutter speed, aperture, white balance and even bracketing, rapid fire, and self timer. Get instant previews of photos you take and for supported cameras, you can see through your camera’s viewfinder with LiveView. Although this only works over wifi, DSLR Camera Remote Pro is an awesome app and well worth the price. [$19.99 - iTunes link]

Matt’s Pick: Quick Voice Pro

Quick Voice Pro is similar to voice-memo type applications, but with one major advantage – it allows you to convert your voice memo to text via e-mail, of course the recording has to be 30 seconds or less. I, however, found that I could get a lot of information in that amount of time & the conversion is scary accurate. The memos take about 5-15mins to convert depending on length. This is recommend for anyone on the go. [$0.99 - iTunes link]

Rene’s Pick: Mophie Juice Pack Air

So we just got the Mophie Juice Pack Air in stock, and I’ll be writing it up soon enough, but yesterday I was outside helping a friend build a fence, took some video, stuck my iPhone back in my pocket, and later felt it getting really hot. Yup, I’d forgotten to turn the video off, so there it was recording away — in my pocket — battery gasping and begging for mercy. Normally I’d have to go find a plug and be without my iPhone for a while, but since I just happened to have the Mophie with me, I slapped it on, and was good to go for the rest of the day. (Just make sure you’re on firmware 3.0.1 as it fixed some issues with battery chargers). [$79.99 - TiPb Store link]

Your Pick?

You’re part of team TiPb too, so what’s your pick? What app was your absolute fav last week? Let us — and everyone — know in the comments!

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

Modern Combat, MyFantasyTeams Pro, DSLR Camera Remote, Quick Voice Pro, Mophie Juice Pack Air – TiPb Picks of the Week!