Engagement is also up significantly thanks to the iPhone version. In terms of usage, Flipboard went from around 650 million “flips” (page turns in the Flipboard app) per month to a pace of about 2 billion per month post-iPhone launch. The iPhone version requires users to flip more often to view the same amount of content, but that’s still a remarkable improvement.

Obviously, this is great news for Flipboard’s reach, but it has implications for the larger iPad app market, too. Specifically, branching out may be a good idea even for apps which traditionally depend on the larger screen of the iPad to deliver their content.

Flipboard isn’t the only app out there branching out from iPad roots to iPhone implementations. News app and competitor Zite also released an iPhone-formatted incarnation last week, and streaming video apps like those for networks CityTV and Global in Canada recently introduced updates to their apps that make them universal, or usable across any iOS devices.

It’s a move that makes sense for companies who want to increase the adoption rate of their software product. Apple has previously stated that there were as many as 100 million iPhone and iPod touch users worldwide; that’s more than double Apple’s total iPad sales to date, let alone the device’s active users. It makes sense that iPhone apps reach a broader potential audience as a result.

Flipboard’s success is not just the result of repackaging an iPad app for a smaller screen. Instead, the app’s designers re-imagined it in a way that totally makes sense for the iPhone. That’s no small feat for an app like Flipboard, that takes its cues from magazines and definitely benefits from more available screen real estate. If publishers like those offering apps through Apple’s Newsstand want to reap the benefits of also offering iPhone products, they have to likewise bring a tailored experience, instead of just a shoehorned app that leaves you missing the iPad. Sadly that’s exactly how I’d describe many current iPhone Newsstand titles.

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This is still Flipboard

The app does a great job of telling you from the very first that it’s still Flipboard; it shares aesthetic sensibilities and principles of content organization with its big brother on the iPad. You won’t have to relearn the experience all over again for the iPhone, either, with the small exception of having to swipe up and down instead of left and right to navigate between stories.

This is different from Flipboard

Unlike Flipboard on the iPad, the iPhone version has to deal with a few limitations, the most significant of which being available screen real estate. It does so wonderfully, but refining the Flipboard experience to a point where it’s perfect for one-handed, casual navigation to quickly sift through and find stories of interest.

On the iPhone, Flipboard doesn’t even support landscape orientation, which actually works for the app since it’s clearly aimed at more casual browsing. One-handed operation is made simpler as a result, and buttons for sharing, starring and searching and interacting are all easily within reach. This is Flipboard for a hand-held device, and this guiding principle seems to be at work throughout the app.

 

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For those new to Flipboard

If you haven’t tried out Flipboard on the iPad, then you should still try using it on the iPhone. Even if you’re not necessarily looking for the content discovery features the app itself offers, Flipboard really makes a great barebones Facebook and Twitter client; something the iPhone version especially brought home.

By signing in with your Facebook and Twitter credentials, you create specific channels for content from those sources. Browsing those channels is akin to checking out both social networks with much of the “noise” taken out of the equation. You can view your stream in a more linear fashion, making you much more likely to actually engage with others. At least, that’s my experience.

Channel surfing for your phone

Flipboard also does a great job of being a news reader for people looking for the ease of browsing found in a newspaper, but with the freedom to cull from virtually unlimited sources. Plus, you can add more targeted content vectors, too, thanks to partnerships with National Geographic, Wired and many more.

Flipboard has done a good thing with this free app, by not just settling for a straight port of its iPad experience to the smaller screen, but also by making sure the things we already love about the tablet version remain intact. Whether or not you’ve been a fan in the past, you’ll likely be one now. Don’t just take my word for it, though; Apple SVP Phil Schiller also lavished some rare love on this iPhone gem.

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This week we bring you the first game I’ve seen that takes full advantage of what iOS 5 and iCloud can mean for gaming: Scribblenauts Remix ($4.99). In addition to being a fun puzzle game, Scribblenauts  also takes full advantage of iCloud by syncing saved games across iOS devices.

The goal of Scribblenauts Remix is to help Maxwell get Starites on each level. You help him by creating objects he can use to interact with his environment. Creating objects is achieved by writing them out.

For instance, to get the Starite on the first level I wrote “hammer,” providing the main character with one he could use to attack the tree the Starite was stuck in and shake it loose. For some levels you need to get to the Startite that’s visible on-screen, while on others you need to create a number of necessary objects to unlock the Starite; in one I needed to create eight items a person in school might need. There is some level of intelligence to the notepad you use to create items; if you type in something it doesn’t recognize, it will suggest alternatives.

The laid-back nature of  the nature of the game is great for mobile gaming. You won’t find yourself in an awkward situation where you’re almost at your stop on the train, but aren’t in a position to quit the game quite yet. The graphics are fun and cartoony. Warner Bros. claims there are unlimited solutions and outcomes but I haven’t had much of a chance to test out that claim. There are definitely multiple ways to solve a level, though the goals never change. While you can create different objects each time you play the schoolhouse level, for instance, in the end you still need to create eight objects it’s happy with.

What’s really great is since it’s a Universal app and uses iCloud to sync saves, you can switch between devices at will. I didn’t have to do anything special to get fame syncing to work, but I assume you need to have Documents and Data under iCloud’s Settings ticked. What I did notice is it will sync the levels you’ve unlocked and your score, but not your progress through an individual level. How they use iCloud is exactly how I hope all game developers use it. Not being able to sync my save game state is a major pain. Since iCloud also keeps the data after you’ve deleted the game from your device, you can pick up where you left off when you reinstall. Fantastic stuff!

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I’d hate to live in the fictional condo depicted in Monsters Ate My Condo ($0.99). It’s a vertical matching game where the goal is to sacrifice floors of your condo to monsters to ensure the tower doesn’t collapse. On each side of the tower are two monsters whose colors match the colors of the floors. You can sacrifice a floor by swiping it toward one of the monsters. If the colors match, the monster is happy. Feed it enough off-color floors, though, and it will become decidedly unhappy.

When you line up three or more floors of the same color, you score points, and the tower stabilizes. Three similarly colored floors will create a bronze floor; three bronze floors form a silver, three silvers form a gold; and finally, three golds make up a diamond floor. Each of these are worth a ton of points. If the combo formed is the same color as a monster on the screen, you earn even more points. Occasionally, a bomb or concrete floor will appear. You can’t swipe these away, and instead need to form combos around it to make it go away. Have enough mis-matched floors, and the tower collapses into a gigantic pile of sad.

This is a high-scoring game. There’s an achievement to score a million points I earned in my first game. Scores of a billion are not uncommon. It’s a little over the top, but also surprisingly satisfying. There are two modes of play: Endless and Timed. Each use the same basic game mechanics, but timed mode has a two-minute countdown. Monsters Ate My Condo has intentionally cheesy graphics and sounds; it’s part of its charm. It’s a Universal game, so it works on both iPhone and iPad, but your status and score aren’t saved across devices.

These days, I find myself drawn to games that offer brief, rewarding sessions but hook me into playing them again and again. This certainly fits the bill, and for a buck, it’s a no-brainer purchase making it this week’s Games for the Weekend.

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At $7.99, ShadowGun is one of the pricier titles I’ve recommended. But it’s well worth the price of admission for graphics alone. Games like ShadowGun and Infinity Blade really show off the iPad’s capabilities as a mobile gaming platform. Strike that. Once iOS 5 is released and you can mirror your iPad 2 through an Apple TV, ShadowGun and games like it will be cutting edge, sit-comfortably-on-the-couch gaming.

In the game, you take on the role of John Slade, a bounty hunter set to punch the nefarious Dr. Simon’s ticket — I wonder if that’s a Firefly reference? While the graphics are great, the story isn’t. I didn’t care. It’s a game in which you run around and blow things up, and it does that well.

It’s very similar to Gears of War, since it’s an over-the-shoulder shooter, and cover is important. This isn’t a game where you stand there, machine guns a-blazing as hot, spent cartridges bounce off the floor. You’ll be doing a lot of taking cover behind obstacles clearly placed there for that purpose while shooting in small bursts.

You’re on rails, too. It’s pretty much impossible to get lost, but I’m surprisingly okay with that. The cover system is enjoyable enough that I don’t miss having free rein.

As with cover locations, there are many checkpoints to save your game. This keeps you from going through locations a second time to a minimum. The game seems to save your current spot when you quit the app. I did have a few crashes when I launched the game, but rebooting my iPad solved that.

I did find that I needed to adjust the controls slightly. My right thumb kept hitting the shoot button, but it’s easy to move it via the settings. The settings icon is a large plus sign and at first I thought it was a way to apply a health pack.

While ShadowGun is a universal app, I found it hard to play on the small screen of my iPhone. Also, your saved games don’t carry across the two apps. I’m really hoping developers are able to use iCloud to sync saved games in a future update.

Eight bucks is a curious price point. It’s expensive compared to most apps, and the similar (at least visually) Infinity Blade is two dollars less. I feel like I got my money’s worth, though. My last Wendy’s meal cost me nine bucks, and ShadowGun provided a lot more enjoyment. I also think the game needs multiplayer, and that addition might have made it an easier sell for the price.

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The productivity suite had been rumored to be arriving on the iPhone and iPod touch since last June, when Apple posted some iPhone 4 screenshots that gave away an “Open in ‘Keynote’” function. The redesigned iWork apps arrive just one week before WWDC 2011, where Apple has announced it will reveal details about iCloud, iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion.

The iWork apps all now include thumbnail images of documents for easy file browsing. Keynote includes a full-screen presentation mode for showing off a slideshow on the iPhone 4′s Retina Display, and it works with the Keynote Remote app if you have a second iOS device. Pages has a Smart Zoom feature that automatically follows your cursor as you edit, and Numbers also employs this feature to make editing spreadsheets on the small screen easier.

The redesigned iWork apps work on iPad and iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and 4, and 3rd- and 4th-gen iPod touch models. We’ll be sure to give them a run-through and let you know how they compare to their large-screen siblings soon.

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pocket BLU is a free download from the App Store that allows your iPhone to become a remote control for operating Blu-ray discs from Universal. It won’t work with just any movie, of course. Blu-ray discs need to be played using a Wi-Fi connected player, for one, and the title has to be specifically enabled to work with pocket BLU, something which will be indicated by a conspicuously placed logo.

The app will allow you to control playback of the film, and jump backwards and forwards to any point in the movie using a visual time line. You’ll also have access to a pop-up keyboard for entering data, which will definitely make any typing you need to do with your Blu-ray movie much easier. Finally, some titles will offer the ability to stream special content from the disc to your iPhone, which can then be stored for later viewing.

The app has promise, but limited as it is to one major distributor’s titles, it feels a little like yet another extraneous feature designed to add value to a format that’s failing to catch on with most consumers. Chances are, I’m never going to watch or care about the additional features included for pocket BLU users anyway, so why not just stick to playing back digital content on my Mac and using Rowmote or VLC Remote to control it? Take it from me, Universal, you’ll be far better off if you focus on delivering content to the iPhone platform, instead of just control mechanisms.

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Cloud computing seems to be all the rage these days, from business collaboration tools, like Document & Spreadsheet apps, to the YouTube’s and Flickr’s of the web. Either way you look at it, it would appear that universal access is getting nearer and nearer. Eventually cloud computing will be the only computing, and the only OS you’ll need will be completely location independent. But for now, there are a few choices to get started with. Between Apple’s .Mac service and Google Apps, which is more likely for consumers to choose?

Let’s breakdown the basic features and compare the two:

Basic Features	.Mac	Google Apps
Mail	IMAP	IMAP/POP
Online Storage	10 Gigs Shared	Unknown
Web Hosting
Backup
Calendar
Address Book
Syncing

.Mac

Since the most recent update, .Mac has brought new and exciting features. The .Mac Web Gallery offers unparalleled ability to share photos and slideshows. Users now have 10 gigs at their disposal to share between Mail and storing files. One feature that has most intrigued me is “Back To My Mac.” Currently it lets .Mac users access any of their computers from outside their own network. If I’m at home, I can access my work computer and vice versa. What interests me most is my hope of one day seeing very similar features across the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. Imagine throwing in a bit of Front Row access, and you’re streaming your favorite videos or music from wherever you are. .Mac also offers a complete Backup and Restore utility, the ability to Sync iCal and Address Book across multiple Macs, which can come in handy especially if you’re on the go. In total these features will cost you $99 a year.

Google Apps

Currently Google offers 5.6 gigs for Gmail and has announced GDrive, their answer to online storage. Currently the amount of online storage space is unknown but I imagine it to grow similar to Gmail. Knowing Google, this probably won’t be your average online storage. Perhaps online sharing and then some? Currently box.net is my choice for online storage. They offer the capability of sharing as well as document editing. With Google you know if they introduce something new, it’s going to go above and beyond what you expect.

Google also has Picasa and Blogger under their belt. With Picasa users can currently store and share one gig worth of photos online. Page Creator lets users create websites and upload them to Blogger. Google also features Google Docs & Spreadsheets for online editing. While you may not be able to cross sync computers, or access another computer, having your Calender and Documents stored online makes remote accessibility easy. Having everything edited and stored online means you never have to worry about syncing computers to get the most up to date information. Other features include Google Talk for online communicating, Google Reader, and your own personalized homepage. Naturally the most attractive feature offered by Google is having all these utilities completely mobile and completely free.

One Google to Rule Them All?

Gmail is the true gateway drug. As soon as you switch, you feel compelled to use all the other Google utilities and features available before you. Whether your poison is Google Reader or iGoogle, there’s a strong platform to expand on. With their rate of acquisitions, Google can only stand to gain more ground. So for this user, while .Mac may look pretty and be feature friendly, but I’m sticking with Google. You can’t beat free, and you can’t be mobile the way Google achieves it.

However, I think it’s interesting to note that the CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, is also on the Board of Directors for Apple. So while they may be competing for universal access, maybe they really are just be building off of one another.

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