Can you believe the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, in a time when having an ecological mindset was correlated more with wearing birkenstocks and eating – the horror – foods not provided in a colorfully designed cardboard box? The environmentalists of this era are often dramatized as hemp-wearing hippies who tied themselves to trees, rioted against fur, and adopted a neo-Native American lifestyle of rediscovering simpler living, away from the granite confines of city interiors. Forty years later, environmentalism has changed into the yuppie mainstream, for the better: our entire lexicon is rife with words like biodegradable, ecosphere, carbon footprint, community supported agriculture and more, colleges around the country are building LEED certified buildings, the new wave of electric cars are emerging this coming year, and corporate America is taking a more sustainable approach to business (well, some, not all). Recycling has long been accessible on our curbs and eating locally grown food – or growing your own food – has become trendier, even, than the Prius, itself.

The problem with living an eco-intelligent lifestyle, however, is there’s so much to consider and remember. Thanks to green iPhone apps, all this information and much, much, much more is now available at your fingertips. Green apps are sprouting up faster than, well, sprouts. In honor of Earth Day’s big birthday, we at Appstruck combed through many different eco-friendly apps for shopping, travel, transportation, eating out and more, so you have them ready at your green thumbs.

1. Animal-Free – FREE
Animal-Free is a pocket reference guide for many common and hidden animal ingredients. Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, part-time veg or simply trying to shop veg-friendly, this app by Symbiotic Software will help you make conscientious shopping decisions. New vegans will appreciate the list of commonly misunderstood or unfamiliar vegan ingredients that will help expand your dietary horizons.

2. Gorgeously Green Survival Guide – 99 cents
The Gorgeously Green Survival Guide is a quick reference for busy women. Developed by bestselling author Sophie Uliano, Gorgeously Green guides you through the confusion of shopping for eco-friendly choices. One of the best features is the ability to create convenient and helpful shopping lists for everything from lip sticks to light bulbs.

3. Greenpeace Tissue Guide – FREE
The Greenpeace Tissue Guide allows you to make informed decision when shopping for recycled tissue and toilet paper. Experts have rated more than 100 brands as “recommended,” “could do better” and “avoid!”

4. Harvest – Select the Best Produce – $1.99
Harvest helps you skip packaged and processed foods with information on selecting the freshest, ripest, healthiest and best-tasting produce. Now you can knock on watermelons, smell pineapples and squeeze avocados with knowledgeable élan. (read review here)

5. Locavore – $2.99
Eat foods grown and raised locally without spending hours Googling data for tonight’s meal. Locavore provides government and NGO data by state. Click on the food item for Wikipedia info and Epicurious recipes. There’s no market-finder feature for in-season foods, but it sure beats printing lengthy lists of locally grown foods. (read review here)

6. TheGoodGuide – FREE
GoodGuide helps you find safe, healthy and sustainable products while you shop. Simply scan the product’s barcode to view detailed ratings for the health, environment and social responsibility of more than 65,000 products and companies.

7. CarCare – $4.99
CarCare automatically calculates your gas mileage at the pump and reminds you when it’s time to change the oil, rotate tires, get a wax or any other service you desire.

8. Green Gas Saver – FREE
Green Gas Saver tells you when you’re accelerating or taking a turn too fast, which can hinder your gas mileage. The idea behind the app is to keep the ball in the center of the screen. When you accelerate too quickly, the diameter of the ball increases and an alarm will sound, indicating you’re accelerating too quickly. Green Gas also keeps a running score so you can see how well you’re driving in real time. A few weeks with this app and driving efficiently will become ingrained.

9. Greenmeter – $5.99
Greenmeter by Cleantechnica tracks your car’s carbon footprint and fuel efficiency while calculating weather conditions, cost of fuel and vehicle weight. You also can measure drag coefficient, vehicle pitch and rolling resistance with estimates available at CleanTechnica.com.

10. Twavel – $1.99
Twavel isn’t just for wascally wabbits. It calculates the CO2 emissions associated with your travel choices and allows friends to compare their travel footprints.

11. Green Sushi Selector – 99 cents
Green Sushi Selector allows you to research whether the sushi fish you’re about to buy comes from threatened species or has been caught or farmed in ways harmful to the environment. Fish are listed both by their Japanese and common-market names. Additional features include health alerts for mercury and PCBs, as well as dietary recommendations.

12. VegOut – $2.99
Vegetarian offerings in many restaurants are often limited and boring. VegOut makes life a bit easier with the world’s largest international listing of vegan, vegetarian and vegetarian-friendly restaurants. Search listings by your exact location or a customized location when on the road.

13. Geocaching Toolkit – FREE
Geocaching, the green outdoors game of hiding and seeking treasures, has caught on throughout the world. Geocaching Toolkit guides players between locations with clues involving puzzles, calculations and projecting a new waypoint using distances and bearings. Sometimes the calculations are easy, but this toolkit can help when calculations become tedious .

14. Lonely Planet Travel Guides – Prices begin at 99 cents
Lonely Planet Travel Guides are the guide of choice for many frugal and green travelers. Various apps provide paperless guides for both U.S. and international destinations. Some of the guides are buggy and need work, but Lonely Planet is working on updated versions. Tip: Read the reviews before buying.

15. BraveNewFilms – FREE
Find and access the latest, hard-hitting videos on social and economic issues. From exposing abusive health insurance companies to combating unregulated Wall Street greed, the videos on BraveNewFilms inform, challenge and recommend opportunities to take action.

16. Get Green – 99 cents
Get Green, from Candied Apple, provides you with daily ammunition in the battle against climate change.You’ll receive daily updates about how you can make a difference. Tips cover everything from green workplaces to green Halloween celebrations. It even has tips on how to reduce the carbon footprint of your wedding.

17. Green Charging – 99 cents
Green Changing reduces your energy consumption when you charge your phone. Launch the app when you start charging and it’ll notify you with sound and vibration when your battery is fully charged. Some of the best things are so simple.

18. Green Wars – $1.99
Based on the classic Drug Wars game, Green Wars requires players purchase environmental products for cheap and resell them for a profit. Manage your inventory to make the biggest profit on buying and selling recycled paper, LED light bulbs, reusable shopping bags, recycled paper and fixed-gear bicycles. Once you’ve earned some street cred by making deals, you can buy and sell high-end goods like solar items, geothermal pumps, carbon credits and hybrid cars.

19. iGreen – 99 cents
Stay current on the latest solar, hybrid, green and green tech news. Aggregated new sites on iGreen include About My Planet, Azo CleanTech, VentureBeat, Green Biz, Green Computing, Hybrid Car Blog and more.

20. MeterRead – $2.99
Read your meter with ease using your iPhone. Check it again later and MeterRead provides you with data to better control your power bill. This app from Zerogate displays the total kilowatt hours used since the last reading and calculates your total usage for the next 30 days.

The Sports Illustrated iPhone app is a subscription-free, ad-subsidized application that allows users to view all the latest sports stories and photos; access all the latest scores; view the latest columns from SI’s editorial staff; and access sport-specific scores, news, and standings. Users can also view Sports Illustrated photos – which includes model shots, in case you want enough of a teaser to check out the Swimsuit Edition app – , and read about the latest truth and rumor articles. One rumor that caught my eye was the seemingly insane title, USC offers scholarship to 13-year old QB. Whoa, I know some kids can be precocious, but when it comes to physical strength? A 13-year old? Try again. The app overall tends to lean more toward the website than the magazine, in design, as the content reflects daily sports news and not the thoughtful features that are a hallmark of the magazine.

The first thing that struck me about this app was how much content it included. It’s not the entire SI.com website in an app, but it’s close. The top stories, photos, scores, columnists and breaking news are all there for you to root through. It visually has a different design from the website, but it still manages to convey the same feeling of navigation – from an aesthetic standpoint, it’s one of the better looking sports news apps you can find. I enjoyed the fact that it covers all the requisite basics – NFL, College Football, MLB, NBA, College Basketball, NHL, Tennis, Soccer – and it covers additional ones we tend not to clump alongside the aforementioned: racing, boxing, cycling, horse racing, and the Olympics. Any stories you read about are able to be shared via email or Twitter, which I found odd. Why faze out facebook?

The reason why I prefer the Sports Illustrated app to other sports-tracking apps is it includes the stellar articles that made Sports Illustrated famous, and the most highly regarded sports journalism in the world. Having a tab for the SI writers really makes this app, because you can sort through headlines and various articles by your favorite editors – it’s just a nice icing on the cake for an already excellent app. The scores tab could definitely be better organized – it’s true, I may not follow sport scores, so I am unfamiliar with navigating and deciphering the terrain, but it wasn’t at all obvious to the layman. I experienced no crashing or glitches when using the app, and I read of no such complaints from forums.

A good app to have if you’re a regular reader of Sports Illustrated, it’s even better to have given the way print publication has been going. GQ has already made the transition to uploading their monthly issues as iPhone apps – sooner or later we’ll see other popular publications taking this route, and given the ease of the SI app, it’ll likely make this transition soon.

The app’s opening screen made me chuckle a bit. Sports channels tend to be glossy nowadays, with immaculate special effects and dazzling intro scenes – it’s just marketing at its finest, building up anticipation for the actual event, which is all the fans care about anyway. In the same vein, CBS Sports Mobile opens to this glossy, glamorous page, with blue jets of light shooting in all directions, and the faded blue silhouettes of sports players in the throes of their action plays. I half expect to hear the American Idol theme song ring out, the cheese factor is so overwhelming. But, at least it’s not boring.

Like other sports-tracking apps, this app gives you the latest headlines in sports news of the NFL, the NBA, CollBK, the NHL and the MLB. Four headlines appear at a time, accompanied by a photo, and tapping on the story will link you the full story. A tab at the bottom of the screen will take you to the next page, with four more headlines. The news stories are easy enough to read, printed with blue letters on a white background, but the app curiously lacks a zoom feature. If you’re someone who squints frequently and zooms iPhone articles until they reach the numeric size of 14, then CBS Sports Mobile is not for you – at least, not without a magnifying glass, or monocle. I was a little annoyed at the bright banner at the bottom of the screen, always reading “IS YOUR CAR BATTERY OUTRAGEOUSLY DEPENDABLE?” in glaring, offensive green caps. This is my own quarrel, but the large, green letters are so bright and loud that they overpower the fine, blue print of the sports article, and so I found my eyes involuntarily drawn down all the time, magnetized to the heavy pull of the banner ad. It’s pretty distracting, but, since many apps rely on banners for additional income, my rhetoric will probably fall on deaf ears.

The app is pretty easy to nagivate, despite slower than average loading times, and I really appreciated the tab setup at the top of the screen, with a quick tap on the Sports tab revealing all the different channels (NFL, NBA, and so forth), allowing for quick switching of sports. There’s even the option to tap into your Fantasy sports team, should you have an account set up. I, myself, am not a fantasy leaguer – unless you count Magic, The Gathering (go ahead jocks, laugh it up) but just from perusing the review comments on the iTunes page, I could ascertain that perhaps the Fantasy sports option wasn’t quite up to snuff. There was plenty of negative commentary to root through, ranging from high crashing rates to poor execution, and there were enough low ratings to reduce the app’s iTunes rating to 3 stars – I can confidently guess that this substandard rating is predominantly from those let down by the Fantasty Sports. However, much of the negative feedback on the app is just drivel nonsense. The layout isn’t terrible, and I have yet to experience any crashing – should frequent crashing ever happen to me, then I’ll happily update this post to reflect that. In the meantime, this app is at part with other sports-tracking apps, and is completely functional, with an adequate layout – maybe not as intuitive as others, but it gets the job done. I think we’ve reached a point in the app universe where after being inundated with millions of apps, we expect stellar results each time – otherwise we’ll just find a better one. Something to work on for the next update, I suppose.

But, regarding regular sports tracking, it’s hard to beat Sports Mobile. Scores, videos of plays, player stats, and more are included in this app, and should you wish to learn more about specific sports (teams, W/L), then CBS Sports Mobile will provide a tab that will link you to the app store so that you may download another sub-app (part of the whole CBS Interactive) that will provide you with that additional information. This might deter you from checking it out, having to download additional parts, but hey, it’s free. Plenty of the live-streaming sports apps require purchasing, so it’s always a breath of fresh air to get quality information at no cost. CBS Sports Mobile may not be the greatest app – our fellow Appstruck writer Ocie is pretty keen on this one – but a lot of these sports-tracking apps are just a matter of preference; someone may just like the fact that one app is bare bones, while another may prefer a flashier app with more panache, despite the apps providing the same essential information. At least CBS Sports Mobile is a quick study in sports news, at a free cost, with an good setup. Who can argue with that?

Alright, so compared to yesterday’s Survival Guide, the WeatherBug app seems a little trite, a little less mind-blowing. But, as any outdoor enthusiast knows, preparing for whatever weather lies ahead is tantamount to a good trip – and your safety. With the way California weather has been going lately, with hot days lasting into November, it’s all too easy to assume random showers won’t strike at the least opportune moment. Or, you might find yourself stuck in an unforeseen, but nevertheless awesome lightning storm, as we Bay Area residents experienced out of the blue back in early October. When it comes to snowfall, and extreme temperature changes, these are weather patterns you want to be prepared for. Wearing those Hunter Wellies in the rain won’t cut it in hard ice – you’ll need to break out the Adirondack and sherpa-lined boots with duck fronts for that.

More involved than other weather apps for the iPhone – including the stock weather widget – WeatherBug gives you a vast array of information, maybe more so than you really need. What really sets WeatherBug apart from other apps is it gives you live, local weather conditions and forecasts from both NWS (National Weather Forecast) weather stations and WeatherBug’s own proprietary weather stations. This means you pick the nearest weather station to you rather than simply selecting a town, which is pretty limited in the grand scheme of things. This means if it is hailing in your neighborhood, yet sunny across town, WeatherBug will help you to determine this. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve checked the forecast for Point Reyes, had it read a very chilly 55 degrees F, only to begin my hike with sunny, blazing skies and warm enough weather for a tank top even before my heart rate starts pumping. Phooey.

Some key features of the app include 7-day and hourly forecasts; daily national weather outlook video; radar maps with zoom feature; live weather cameras of which you may view 5 at a time and view in time-lapse mode; cached weather data for offline viewing (of particular use for we, hikers); National Weather Service alerts, touch map interface that allows you to view weather conditions for any location touched; and -way cool – temperature contour and satellite infrared maps. Phew! Think that’s enough to keep you busy?

When you first open the app, the most basic and necessary information is given up-front – the current temperature with hi and lo of the day, along with a weather description for the day (”party cloudy in the morning then becoming mostly sunny…”). It’s nice that Weatherbug includes on the first page other details like wind chill, humidity and dew point, and if you want to see more specific details on any of these, just tap the arrow pointing to the right – you’ll be taken to a page of “current conditions” detailing wind gusts, rain rates, and everything else so far occurring on that day. Funnily enough, despite all these details, there’s no way to change the temperature reading from Fahrenheit to Celsius. Too bad for the Canadians, eh? Should any weather concerns be pressing, the center of the main page has a bar indicating those NWS alerts I mentioned earlier – if you’re in Pennsylvannia and a tornado warning is issued, you’ll be sure to see it blazing in that bar.

I have my WeatherBug following Petaluma, CA; Point Reyes Station, CA; San Francisco, CA; and New York, NY, but you can set WeatherBug to follow up to 10 separate locations if you wish. Flipping through these locations is just a matter of using the navigation bar along the top of the main screen, which reads “Petaluma, CA,” or whichever location you’re currently viewing. The Forecast button in the bottom navigation bar is self-explanatory – check out the written forecast blurbs, and tap on them for more detailed blurbs. The Maps page is where things get exciting. Powered by Microsoft Virtual Earth, you’re able to navigate with your finger, much like Google Maps, only this one contains weather pattern imaging; satellite, radar and temperature views; and an opacity setting (whatever that means, just pretend you’re a forecaster). You may watch live weather videos if you ever want an immediate, personal connection to your weather updates, conducted by the less-lusty-than-usual Rachel, with her dark lipstick, highlighted strands, and cat eye glasses.

Definitely worth it for outdoorsmen in the long haul, WeatherBug will keep you up-to-date with detailed information of weather patterns and forecasts from anywhere in the world. At no cost to download, it’s a small price to pay for being prepared.


Now this is a game.

Back in August I reviewed Doom Resurrection and Terminator Salvation with the idea that these two games would really impress upon iPhone users the true gaming capabilities of the iPhone, especially the iPhone 3GS. True, like any full-length game, these games were flawed in many respects, but prior to them there were scant full PC converted games for the iPhone, aside from The Sims and SimCity, both of which are apart from the first person shooter genre. So far, it’s seemed the bestselling gaming apps are usually simpler in design, like Doodle Jump, which has been repeatedly listed under Apple’s “New and Noteworthy,” “What’s Hot,” and “Staff Favorites” columns, not to mention being ranked as the top paid arcade game in various countries in the year 2008. And there’s a reason for this: simple games like Doodle Jump, classics like Chess or Trivial Pursuit, Trace, and a host of other clever but quaint games offer quick escapism for the player, without any of the commitment to story line and complex controls or objectives. These games are easy to engage in for a quick few minutes when avoiding staring into space on the bus, or when killing time on that 40 minute commute from San Francisco to Berkeley. The downtime for learning these games is next to nothing. Arguably, though, the biggest reason is one of price: simpler games are dirt cheap, the pricier ones not surpassing $2.99, while bigger, badder games like Doom Resurrection premiere at a high $9.99. Currently, Command & Conquer: Red Alert, a new release, is selling for $9.99, and Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is still holding at $6.99.

But, are these prices really that astronomical? Civilization was released more than a decade ago for the PC in 1991 but on Amazon it still holds strong at $49.99. Its many sequels range in price from $12 – $17.00, and they’re not exactly new, either. Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution for the iPhone is originally a Playstation 3 and XBox 360 game that debuted for around $30.00 and was later ported over to the Nintendo DS; when put in that perspective it seems like a real bargain. That is, until you factor in the way lesser graphical capabilities of the iPhone – it may as well be the original Civilization. Obviously, games will always a a popular distraction medium for any smartphone, and old games looking to reflame their torch with a new generation will translate a tried and true classic, like the Original Doom, for iPhone usage – a smart move by any business standards. However, with the release of the iPhone 3GS, the question we’re now asking is: Will the iPhone ever be a serious contender in the portable gaming device world? With the release of the Verizon Droid just this last Thursday, November 5, with its premiering database of already 10,000 apps, it seems Apple might want to explore the gaming market further.

I recently downloaded Eliminate Pro, a free, purely multiplayer online game that showcases the gaming capabilities of the iPhone, and introduces the concept of in-game purchasing. What is that, you may ask? Apple recently decided they would allow developers to adopt a free-to-play model, charging players for extra items or abilities, so players could download a free game and adopt a quasi pay-as-you-go system for upgrading aspects of gameplay and stats with minimal interruption. Eliminate Pro does just that, requiring you to gather “energy” points to continue playing, otherwise you have to plop down a few bucks here and there. You only get enough energy for roughly a half dozen rounds, after which you’ll either need to buy more with real money or wait for about four real-world hours. A basic unit of energy costs $1 and lasts you for another half dozen rounds or so, though you can buy the stuff in increments of $10 or even $40, should you want gameplay in bulk. It may be pricey for some, but this kind of purchasing model could really prompt more developers to commit to making complex full-fledged games, as this way people could pay incrementally rather than handing over a wad of $10 for a game like Command & Conquer: Red Alert, the main deterrent to gamers.  And, Eliminate Pro proves to be incredibly addicting. Eliminate Pro showcases some decent graphics, rivaling that of Quake 2 in its day, and the weapons, well-rounded gameplay, and mini storyline that reminds me of Starship Troopers, all combine into a quality game. It’s only too bad the one area where Eliminate Pro falls short is of vital importance – the processor speed leaves much to be desired, as gameplay can be choppy, the system not able to handle complex texture loading speeds. It seems a full blown first person shooter, when compared to the simpler track-system gameplay of Doom Resurrection, and the third person play of Terminator Salvation, really takes a toll on the iPhone’s playability. Definitely an issue to be addressed.

With that said, the iPhone does have a few edges over its rivals, even if it has yet to break into the market fully. Despite its noticeable slower speeds in Eliminate Pro, the iPhone’s processor thinks almost twice as fast as the Sony PSP’s brain, its touchscreen is more responsive than the Nintendo DS’s, Wi-Fi makes for mean multiplayer mayhem (as noted with Eliminate Pro), and cell-tower triangulation could be used for location-aware games. Also, the quick, electronic distribution method of games and apps via the iPhone’s App Store is incredibly efficient compared to buying physical copies of games; the accelerometer and multitouch display introduce new approaches to gameplay; and the iPhone’s lighter, more portable size factors in when compared to its rivals.

But, there are some attributes the iPhone falls short on: processing limitations, graphic capabilities and memory management are the ones that come to mind. The PSP’s advantage as a dedicated gaming device is that its application programming interface (API) is geared toward loading complex textures. Back in April 2008, Apple acquired semicondtuctor company PA Semi to manufacture ARM chips for future iPhones, with the iPhone 3GS – released in June 2009 – incorporating such improvements as enhanced graphics and more powerful processing capabilities. But, from the looks of it with the current state of gameplay, it seems the iPhone still has a few kinks to work out. If Apple is serious about making the iPhone a gaming platform, it’s a good bet that the next upgrade to the iPhone will more seriously address these limitations.

Yeah, I know, get your geek on.

For those who live and breathe gaming, GameCenter by GameFly is a must-have for the iPhone. With access to over 5,000 titles for all current consoles and handhelds, GameCenter provides you with information on popular, new and upcoming games; cheat codes and those sometimes shamefully necessary walkthroughs; and thousands of game videos. A tab along the top of the screen allows you to filter information based on whichever gaming platform you seek: the X360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, and the PS2. It’s only too bad GameCenter doesn’t include any current games for the PC – especially after my personal anecdote – but there is news information on the PC under the News tab. With consoles really upping the ante on their graphics and playability, over the past few years the PC world has really been feeling the crunch in terms of popularity. I mean, the PC will always have an edge on graphics (so far), but people really like their controllers. Besides, setting up a LAN takes more effort than plugging in another controller for a quick four player match. But, back to GameCenter.

Navigating the app is simple enough. Filter information based on gaming platform, or just root through them all on one page. The Games tab in the bottom navigation bar shows you all the current game releases, along with the most popular and ones soon to be released. The News Tab relays information on the entire gaming industry, with all of the articles able to read in-app. I tapped on Dragon Age: Origins on the X360 because, hey, I like games about the fantastical (Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, anyone?), and any story-crafting RPG about redemption and vengeance is gold in my books. Tapping on the game I am taken to a summary page with all the pertinent information – things like the platform, the publisher, the release date and genre, GameFly User Ratings (Dragon Age received an 8.4), a short game description, and the ever important game specs so you can figure out if cleaning out your hard drive is next on your list (0ops, we’re not talking PC here). I was surprised to see a section on Game Controls – apparently, GameCenter likes to fill you in on what buttons do what in what combinations. I guess it is helpful to have a cursory look-over prior to playing the game. If I was bowled over enough by reading through the user reviews (not to mention the professional critic review by IGN, available, it seems, for all the games on GameCenter) and the other details, I can opt to sign-up with GameCenter and rent games through the app. Neat-o.

Definitely an asset for anyone with a salivation problem for the latest in games, GameCenter keeps you up-to-date and informed on any console game you could possibly want – or possibly just the good ones.

“The position calls for someone with ‘a passion for pop culture.’ I don’t know if I have a passion for pop culture – I’m not even sure you can have passion for it, but then again I’m not even sure I know anything about pop culture.”

“Yea, this coming from someone who buys US Weekly and pours through it with the voracious hunger of someone plunging a knife through a rib eye steak. That’s about as passionate as you can get.”

It’s true, pop culture once had a definition somewhere in the blurred lines between trivial pursuit and comtemporary culture. It encompasses a knowledge of current events in a wide range of thoroughfares, from art to literature and theater, from new and notable figures to the idolized occurrences on popular shows like One Tree Hill and Fringe. It is all at once trivial and frivolous information, snubbed nosed by the ranks of high-brow society, but trickles through our lives everywhere in the form of vernacular, attitudes, and conversational interludes. Lately, however – and this is my own empirical observation – within the past several years pop culture has winnowed down into, funnily enough, a more trashy version of itself. With Gossip columns, celebrity rags, US Weekly rumor mills, and more, the word “paparazzi” has been so embedded in our colloquial usage that even a popular pop star named Lady Gaga wrote a song after it. Pop culture’s definition has mutated more into the latest celebrity rumors, who is sleeping with whom, spotted sightings – there’s even a “They’re Just Like Us!” section in the US Weekly magazine, with photos of celebrities in their sweatpants and eating. Type in any celebrity’s name in google and you’re sure to be inundated with pop culture websites of all kinds, the queen of which, in my eyes, is PopSugar.com.

PopSugar.com is one of the more popular and visited gossip sites, reaching 8.5 million users per month as of September 2008, and they now have their own iPhone app, PopSugar Mobile. Every day, postings cover the latest celebrity and entertainment news, from Kristen Stewart sightings around town while filming New Moon, to pared down interviews of the latest celebrity to be featured on the cover of Vanity Fair. Touted as “insanely addictive,” PopSugar strikes a clever medium between entertainment news spot and celebrity rag; it manages to be classy and fair without poking around in the mud. No, PopSugar is far too fashionable and savvy to mar her red-laquered Christian Louboutins, kthanks.

Just posted at 11:30 am on PopSugar, today, was a short blurb on Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady dining in Miami, with some clever sentences linking back to other related gossip news on the site. The post, itself, is short and insignificant, barely an afterthought to write, but it holds trivial news on the pregnant Gisele that so many people, particularly women, find utterly fascinating and gripping – addicting, you could say.  People clamor for this stuff, and PopSugar knows how to deliver its goods, with juicy posts and polls and plenty of pictures for pizzazz.

But, in all fairness, Sugar Inc. covers a wide spectrum of information – PopSugar is simply their biggest avenue. The company, and PopSugar Mobile, is also comprised of FabSugar, BellaSugar, TresSugar, BuzzSugar, CasaSugar, FitSugar, LilSugar, YumSugar, GeekSugar, SavvySugar, and PetSugar. Are you in a diabetic coma yet? These other sites are nowhere near as popular as PopSugar, but they always manage to include a dash of celebrity tidbit, and you may access all of them on the mobile app.

The mobile app is incredibly clean and easy to use – so easy, in fact, there’s hardly anything worth noting aside from it’s pretty and effective. All the latest stories for each of the sub sites are accessed through the main page, FabSugar and BellaSugar and all the others taking up residence as miniaturized, tab versions of themselves, with a simple tap taking you to an in-app listing of all the latest postings. Another tap will take you to the post, also in-app, with the option to mail the site link to someone if you find that article,“Are Brazilian Waxes Necessary” to the liking of your girlfriends (just FYI, I think women already abide by way too many cultural beauty expectations, and the last thing we need to add to feel pretty for a guy is to painstakingly rip out all our pubic hairs on our very tender labia. I don’t think many women like hairy ***holes. Guess men need to rip away!). When you want more stores, just tap Load More Stories at the bottom of the page. It’s actually very refreshing to read about A-Listers and the latest recipe on FitSugar on the go.

I’m actually a fan of YumSugar, GeekSugar and FitSugar, as they cover small postings and blurbs on areas of life interesting to me – the rest I could really do without. But, for comparison’s sake, against other gossip avenues, and other beauty sites, PopSugar is incredibly versatile and is pretty without the fuss – a natural, cool wave of hair middling between US Weekly’s bed hed and Vanity Fair’s heavily sprayed and manicured coif. Free for the taking, the PopSugar Mobile app is one I, and many other girls, will probably be toting around in their slinky iPhone cases.

We at Appstruck like reviewing iPhone apps. In fact, we love it. Getting down to the nitty gritty, laying it bare, showcasing the best and most interesting for our readers, so they don’t have to plow through deep space just to find a decent app. Really, researching applications is tedious, but great.

But, let’s not forget the genius behind the apps. After all, they don’t simply appear out of thin air. Someone had the insight, the talent, and the capacity to create these iPhone apps so that we may use them to their full power.

Today we have Bolt Creative, the humorous genius behind the immensely popular Pocket God, with Dave Castelnuovo at the helm. I reviewed Pocket God back in June with a worthy 5 stars, and to this day I still tinker with my tiny Pygmies, poking and prodding them, trying to stop their imminent, bodily implosion, and terrorizing them with lethal devices of all kinds (cue dinosaur flipping Pygmy into air and gulping it whole). The game takes place on the Island of Oog, where pygmies take on names similar to the island’s alliteration, of Ooga, Booga, Noogy, Dooby, Klik and Klak, and they wander around from side to side of their tiny island, unawares of what travesty will happen to them next. With another new update launching next week, I know I’m not the only one waiting for more game add-ons.

Whenever I show off a “cool app” to friends, it’s usually Pocket God – it’s one of the few games that really utilizes the iPhone’s touch-interface in a dynamic way. I’m a complete layman when it comes to most computer stuff (programming!) – if it’s at all feasible, could you explain the technology that went into making Pocket God?

Lol, well it would probably take a full course in computer science to explain everything but let’s see what I can do. We use objective C and open GL to make the game which is very common for all iphone applications. I am in the process of converting all my code to C++ which is a little more common in the game industry but objective C seems to work so far. We created an engine where it is really easy to plug different objects with their own unique logic so each week (or every 2 weeks now) we can add new functions and mini games.

When I first poked and prodded my tribal minions in Pocket God, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons with the wildly successful PC Game Black & White. What inspired you to create Pocket God. What were your influences?

I heard about Black & White back in the day but I haven’t actually played it. The inspiration for Pocket God came from a small flash game that Allan and I built a few years ago and our wicked humor did the rest. We just wanted to create something for our own enjoyment that would be fun to develop. I am a fan of shows like South Park, Ali G, Borat, etc. so I would say the game is more influenced by that that other games.

Bolt Creative is a small company that I did my flash consulting through, It was only me until Allan and I created Pocket God.

Nothing big, just a couple apps that I used to learn iPhone development on. FWARP and Slinky Ink were the precursor to Pocket God and allowed me to develop a basic engine where I could start plugging Allans art in. I also created an App called the Jackie Button where I partnered with the Ex-head writer of the Howard Stern Show.

The weekly update schedule is pretty brutal – the technology isn’t that hard given enough time but we had a streak of 14 updates where each update was built and submitted every single week like clock-work. Finally, Apple slowed down their approval process which forced us to slow down. If Apple was still able to review an update in under a week, Allan and I would probably be dead by now.

I would like longer games. I want some AA Games that have the playability of a PSP or DS title. Of course this would be more competition for us indie developers but I rarely get a game that I actually spend more than a few nights playing but there are many PSP games that took a solid month to complete.

Oh yea, and my name is Dave Castelnuovo and I’m a workaholic.

Twitterific’s portmanteau of Twitter and terrific is the most suitable description for this app. It’s just plain terrific. It does everything TwitterFon does, only better, and it is much prettier, both aesthetically and auditory-wise. I may not be a Twitter fan, biased more toward the clean, networking lines of Facebook over the gossip prone, seeming redundancy of Twitter status updates, but for those who enjoy Twitter, Twitterific offers you simple navigation and a background color palette that can be easily changed from Dark, a blackish hue, to Snowy, a dove grey, to Basic, a crisp white, depending on whether you’re more hipster dark or straight-laced white. Sure, Twitterific may have the occasional glaring advertisement running along the top of the screen, but it doesn’t detract from the showiness of the Twitter members below. And thankfully, should the chirping start to grate on your nerves, you can turn this lovely option off.

Since Twitter is not about showcasing a profile page or making reviews, or anything of the usual fashion of other social networking sites, Twitterific gives you access to the most important amenities of the Twitter.com website, namely the Public Timeline and daily, down to the minute updated tweets by your friends. Just by clicking on the Twitterific app, your iPhone vibrates, a happy chirp is heard, and all your friends’ idle thoughts, oratory gesticulations, and verbal diarrhea are ready for you to chew, digest, and spit out in your own tweet reply.

So, while most of the iPhone Twitter apps offer much of the same, since Twittering is very, very basic and uni-dimensional, why not opt for Twitterific, so you can hear a bird chirrup each time one of your friends decides to proclaim something direly important to the world.