Nevada gambling regulators have warned casinos in the state about a card-counting app found on jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches. The app is llegally helping players beat the house in blackjack. Card counting itself is not illegal under Nevada gambling laws, but it is considered a felony to use devices to help count cards.
Nevada learned of the program from gambling regulators in California, where officials at an Indian casino found customers using it and tipped state authorities.
Need I say more? Chiptole’s got an iPhone app. Grab it here.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next year with Apple, who holds a patent for ordering food through a wireless device. As cool as it is that Chipotle jumped the gun on food ordering, I would be much happier to see Apple set into motion a default, GPS enabled restaurant app to order takeout and to-go items.
Google’s iPhone app employs a very cool way to initiate a voice search: simply lift the phone to your ear and speak. In order for the voice search to be initiated, the phone must a) be moved and b) the proximity sensor near the top speaker must be triggered.
Easy, right? One problem. This can’t be done with the iPhone’s current set of SDK tools given to developers. As of now, devs can turn the proximity sensor on and off but there’s no way for an app to tell if the sensor is triggered or not.
Google dove deep into the iPhone’s SDK to find a private, undocumented feature allowing the above functionality, previously only used by native iPhone apps.
Using private APIs is strictly against the iPhone’s TOS. This means that either…
1. Apple approved the Google app without realizing what they’ve done.
2. Apple saw what Google did but didn’t care and approved it anyways.
3. Google got Apple’s permission beforehand to use this API.
John Gruber thinks its either #1 or #2, and I agree with him. Why ask for permission? Google knows there would be a lot of pressure on Apple to keep the app approved once its in the wild.
Speaking of pressure on Apple: could this be why the existence of the app was publicized by Google in the New York Times days before it was approved?
Clever. If this is the case and Apple noticed the TOS violation but buckled under the media’s created expectations, its a blow to developers everywhere. Google shouldn’t receive special treatment. All app developers should be on an even playing field.
UPDATE: Google has admitted to using private APIs to create the functionality of the app. It remains unclear under what circumstances Apple approved the app for the App Store.
SimCity is coming to the iPhone with a planned release date in December ‘09.
VentureBeat’s Mg Siegler got his hands on a near-complete demo version of the game and says its awesome, if not for a few loading issues which EA assures will be taken care of by the final build.
ESRP: $9.99.
If pulled off right, this will quickly become my most played game on the iPhone.
Between this game and Myst for the iPhone (which still has no release date) I’ll be spending a lot of time doing a lot of nothing.
Ocarina, an iPhone app that turns the phone into a digital flute, is the best selling app in the iTunes app store right now.
Hold combinations of buttons on the screen, blow into the iPhone’s microphone, and create music. Pretty cool.
Ocarina takes it a step further by letting you listen to the music others are creating with the app around the world.
Their forum has over 800 posts made by users uploading their handmade scores for songs, showing everyone else how to play them. For example: want to know how to play The Killers – Change Your Mind on the Ocarina? There you go.
Created by Smule, prior creators of an awesome virtual iPhone lighter!@ It looks real omG!#@#!
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