What makes this news even more impressive is the fact Jetpack Joyride has achieved this goal without even setting foot on the Android marketplace. To think, millions upon millions of Android gamers around the planet have yet to experience the joy and addictiveness of Jetpack Joyride on their smartphone or tablet of choice.

Not only did Halfbrick have that bit of news to share, but they also have announced they plan to release “the biggest content update for Jetpack Joyride to date.” I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping the lovable Fruit Ninja sensei decides to make an appearance in Jetpack Joyride. I’m sure he can teach Barry Steakfries a thing or two about barreling through the air on a variety of jetpacks.

Jetpack Joyride (FREE) – [iTunes Link]

You see many pieces of Apple tech which can bring up nostalgia or even some rage. I still hate the one-button mouse and the Newton was a joke – or if you want to be kind, it was too ahead of its time for its own good. What really stands out to me in the rapid procession of products is that the iPhone gets a few seconds to stand out. It should.

It seems silly now but the iPhone was never a guaranteed hit and Steve Jobs said he would be happy to sell 10 million in the first year. It sold 37 million iPhones last quarter. The iPhone business alone is generated more revenue last quarter than all of Microsoft. Today’s stock results have also pushed Apple to being worth more than Google and Microsoft combined.

Remember, Apple was on the brink of destruction when Jobs came back, so this video is kind of a timeline to its meteoric rise to the top.

[image credit]

The numbers may not mean anything because movements always start small but this seemed like a layup for this city, as it involves workers’ rights, moral outrage and iPhones. It’s easy to pick on Apple too because it has nearly $100 billion in the bank and it could likely take a hit on its profit margin and still be fabulously wealthy, but the dirty secret about pretty much the entire consumer electronics industry is that all these awesome gadgets are generally made in working conditions that we wouldn’t accept. We’re talking about conditions where child labor is accepted and people work so hard that they commit suicide.

A great New York Times piece sheds some light on what these workers have to go through in order for us to have our fancy iDevices and some of it is heart wrenching. The part that I thought would make this protest larger is when a former Apple executive told the paper that if Apple demanded that the conditions had to improve, it would. Instead, it seems like Apple has chosen higher profit margins over the well-being of people in China.

Apple, Dell, HP and every other companies are legally obligated to maximize shareholder value and producing devices in China and other countries with abysmal labor laws can greatly add to the bottom line. Even Nokia is moving its production to China in order to save on costs but also because these factories enable companies to be more nimble with production. Nokia wants to get high-quality phones out at a quicker pace and right now, that’s only possible using Asian factories.

The moral outrage argument feels right but it may not be totally. Paul Krugman is known for leaning toward the left and even he believes that these “sweat shops” are needed and provide value because “bad jobs at bad wages are better than no jobs at all.” He also argues that these conditions may be appalling but they are better than the cruel existence of subsistence farming or or having no work at all. He writes:

In short, my correspondents are not entitled to their self-righteousness. They have not thought the matter through. And when the hopes of hundreds of millions are at stake, thinking things through is not just good intellectual practice. It is a moral duty.

Krugman has forgotten more economics than I’ll ever know but it’s tough to shake some form of moral outrage. Yes, every country may have to go through an industrial revolution of sorts which includes some nastiness but in this interconnected world, we can demand better conditions if we really want them. The only way to do this is with your dollars.

Tweetbot is a Twitter client that uses clean, useful designs and subtle sounds to make browsing Twitter an amazing experience. It’s very simple to read through you timelines, open links from tweets and even see the conversation history of tweets. Unlike the new Twitter apps, I believe Tweetbot packs both style and functionality in a neat little package.

The iPad app uses the tablet’s space well and you have all the usual actions and gestures that you’re used to if you have the iPhone version. If you’re a newbie, there are some quick instructions which make it simple to understand. The 2.0 version on the iPhone includes an updated timeline view, new thumbnails and more.

So, I now have my go-to Twitter app on my iPhone and the iPad but I’m still looking for some great solutions on Android and on PCs. What are some great Twitter apps that I should be using?

You can download the Tweetbot app for iPhone here or the iPad version here (iTunes link).

Mass Effect Infiltrator isn’t another Mass Effect Galaxy which ended up not being a very successful mobile title for BioWare. It’s being developed by IronMonkey Studios, who have released a number of successful mobile games, one of which being Dead Space. If you’re familiar with their work, then you should already be excited for this game’s release next month.

My demo time was spent landing on a snowy planet in order to rescue prisoners from a hostile Cerberus base. Once my character’s feet touched the surface of the planet, I felt right at home with the traditional FPS gaming mechanics of moving my character with the left side of the screen while moving the camera with the right. As soon as I turned a corner, a wave of approximately 4 or 5 Geth started to attack me. Infiltrator guided me through the process of combat by taking cover behind some strategically placed boxes and pipes, and tapping on my enemies to initiate combat. Once I focused in on an enemy, I could move my shooting reticule around to tweak my aiming. Once I took down one Geth, Infiltrator gives you the opportunity to take down additional enemies in order to rack up combo points. The game urges you to act quick as the ability to combine your attacks is only for a limited time.

Infiltrator will provide the usual arsenal of weapons and powers that we all expect out of a Mass Effect game. I started off attacking the Geth hostiles with an Assault Rifle, but later on in the demo, I was able to switch to a Shotgun which was a lot more satisfying for those up-close and personal moments. When I was on the opposite side of a Geth, my character was able to use a melee attack that sent the Geth backwards and onto their back.

If you’re the kind of person who prefers to use biotics to take down their enemies, you’ll be happy to know that they’ll also be available in Infiltrator. A part of my demo time was spent using the Pull biotic in order to pull my enemies out of cover and within range of my attacks. I’m sure Pull won’t be the only biotic available, but EA did not disclose which biotics would be available in Infiltrator.

Maneuvering from cover to cover was a breeze as the developer places transparent arrows in front of your character to inform you of where you can move to take cover in a different location. A simple flick of the finger will send your solider running, flipping, or hurdling towards the next possible piece of cover.

Mass Effect Infiltrator already looked quite impressive during my demo time, even though EA has said the game was currently in its alpha phase of development. IronMonkey Studios definitely shows their ability to make a visually impressive game once again for the iOS platform. EA reps said Mass Effect Infiltrator will release at the same time as Mass Effect 3 and will serve as not only a stand-alone experience, but your actions in Infiltrator will directly influence Commander Shepard’s ultimate battle.

The fact that Siri has had such a large impact on Wolfram Alpha in only a few months not only proves iPhone customers are actually using Siri, but how useful Wolfram Alpha’s technology is. It may also prove a long-term threat for Google, as technologies like Siri could become a disruptive platform that stands between users and search engines.

I’ve always been interested in Wolfram Alpha because it’s called an answer-engine rather than a search engine. This implies that there isn’t a need to search — you just get what you asked for. I own an iPhone 4 so I don’t have access to Siri, but I’d be willing to bet I would use Wolfram Alpha much more often if I had an iPhone 4S. Its website, wolframalpha.com, isn’t exactly the easiest URL for beginners to remember. Plus, since Google, Bing, and the like are all baked into most web browsers, it’s more convenient to use those search engines.

Now the tables could be turning, as technology generally simplifies as it evolves over time. The next logical step for search engines is to remove the search part of it and just get users directly to the answer they are looking for. This isn’t a viable solution for every query, but Wolfram Alpha executes this in as many ways possible. Google should feel a little bit threatened by Siri and Wolfram Alpha. Combined, search engines can seem second-rate.

[via PhoneArena]

The new update allows players to “enhance their experience” by way of in-game point packs that can be purchased via in-app purchases in order for players to receive a bunch of in-game points. The in-game points can then be used in order to purchase weapons, ammo, build barricades, and much more. Of course, players can also do all of these things by earning in-game points through the fun and sometimes tedious job of murdering zombies.

The point pack system comes in six different tiers:

• Tier 1: Point Pack 1 (12k in-game points) – $.99
• Tier 2: Point Pack 2 (30k in-game points) – $1.99
• Tier 5: Point Pack 3 (100k in-game points) – $4.99
• Tier 10: Point Pack 4 (250k in-game points) – $9.99
• Tier 20: Point Pack 5 (600k in-game points) – $19.99
• Tier 50: Point Pack 6 (2m in-game points) – $49.99

The update also makes the fan-favorites Ray Gun and Monkey Bomb available as well as some other optimizations and fixes.

If you feel you’re way too short on time to actually play Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies and would like to take advantage of obtaining a ton of points for your hard earned dough, then go right ahead and take advantage of this new addition to the game. Call me crazy, but when I purchase a game, I usually enjoy the challenge of unlocking things through hard work and zombie murdering.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies ($6.99) – [iTunes Link]

Of course, what’s great news for Apple is horrible news for other manufacturers, as Dediu’s chart of the eight largest OEMs above shows a vast difference in cash-flow. It turns out that Apple is eating everyone’s lunch when it comes to profits, with only five phone makers seeing any kind of profit at all in the mobile phone business. The only company that’s even remotely challenging Apple is rival Samsung, with a 16 percent profit share, while all the others are either barely getting by or in the red.

That said, we must keep in mind this research is based off of all phones sold around the world, not just smartphones  – so the data is even more telling. Apple is a juggernaut in the mobile phone biz, it’s crushing companies which should have the advantage of using Android and Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating systems. And when it comes to profits, manufacturers are getting their clocks clean as the gap continues to widen.

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[via Forbes, Photo via Shutterfly, Sven Hoppe

If you recall the first Capcom Nintendo DS exclusive game to jump to the iOS platform was Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney back in 2010. Ironically, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective was created by the same man: Shu Takumi. Instead of playing out courtroom drama from case to case, this mystery adventure game has players assuming the role of Sisel as he uses his Ghost Tricks powers to switch between the Land of the Living and the Ghost World.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective for iOS features intuitive touch screen controls, enhanced graphics, and a much wider viewing area to help with solving puzzles. If you enjoyed Phoenix Wright’s writing, puzzles, and intriguing story, then you’ll want to experience Ghost Trick as it offers a very similar experience.

The game is currently free to download and its first two chapters are free. If you’d like to continue the Ghost Trick adventure, the next chapters are available for purchase in three different packs for $4.99 each, or you can go all in and unlock the full game for $9.99.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (FREE) – [iTunes Link]

The controversy began in 2010 when reports of suicides from Foxconn began pouring in due to its harsh working conditions. Steve Jobs commented on them in an interview at AllThingsD‘s D8 conference and said Apple is doing everything it can to investigate Foxconn and rectify any wrongs.

The New York Times published a report a few days ago detailing the terrible working conditions in China and how little the situation has improved since 2010. It talks about the explosion of May 2011 with over a dozen casualties and paints a gruesome picture of the injuries. The SumOfUs petition also describes an eerie story of a young girl inhaling toxic gas each day in factories while she cleans iPhone glass.

Apple CEO Tim Cook responded to these claims in an email to employees by defending the company’s actions thus far. “We reported earlier this month, we’ve made a great deal of progress and improved conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers,” he said.  ”We know of no one in our industry doing as much as we are, in as many places, touching as many people.”

[via The Register]

For their sake, hopefully the iPhone hype will cool down a bit by then. According to a report from DigiTimes, vendors from around the globe including Samsung, HTC, Nokia, and LG have pushed their finest new devices further into the year to avoid being slammed with the iPhone effect — that is, millions of people buying Apple handsets while other phone makers struggle to gain any spotlight and therefore any sales.

These four manufacturers all plan to unveil their new devices for 2012 at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, taking place February 27th to March 1st. Though that is within the first quarter, the companies aren’t expected to start shipping any new devices until later in the year.

I wouldn’t doubt that popular Android and Windows Phone vendors are scared of Apple — they should be. Apple reported it sold 37 million iPhones last quarter and brought in $46 billion in revenue. There’s plenty of reasons to fear a company that sells 37 million of any gadget within three months.

[via DigiTimes]