balls

The Apple event on Wednesday was largely about the next iteration of Mac OS X (appropriately named Lion). But an interesting development came when Steve Jobs introduced the new Mac App Store, which will become available to Snow Leopard users in about 90 days.

Much like the iTunes App Store, the Mac App Store will let you purchase Mac apps and install them quickly on your computers. And as it does with the iTunes App Store, Apple will take a 30-percent cut of the sale price, leaving developers 70 percent. But Jobs was careful to point out that the Mac App Store will not mimic the closed system of the iTunes App Store--it will simply be another option to bring apps to your Mac. But do we really believe him?

It seems to me that creating the Mac App Store is Apple's way of testing whether the market will tolerate Apple getting a piece of the action on software developed for the Mac, just like it does with iPhone apps. We can be pretty sure that several developers will submit their apps right off the bat, if for no other reason than for the exposure that an iTunes-like experience can provide. But what Apple might be banking on is that once the software submissions gain momentum, the larger players may no longer have a choice but to submit their software to the new system. Am I just being paranoid?

While we certainly can't be sure what Apple hopes to achieve with the Mac App Store, this sort of soft launch makes me think there's something more going on here. Let me know what you think in the comments.

This week's apps include a 3D third-person soccer game and a new arcade space flier with a fun single-player mode.… Read more

We've talked before about the CamBall, a tiny spherical camcorder from Korea, but now we have news: it's coming to America today.

About the size of a golf ball, the CamBall shoots sub-VGA quality video to an SD card, but we're not sure how it looks as we haven't received one yet. That said, it likely uses the same type of camera as a cell phone, so we're expecting the video to look pretty similar. It has USB and VGA-out, so you can view the videos you take on a computer or a TV.

Besides … Read more

NEW YORK--"But I'm not famous!" one woman protested as she walked past the bouncer of the massive Chelsea nightclub Marquee on Tuesday night, only to be asked by ubiquitous party photographer Nick McGlynn if she might pose for a photograph on the step-and-repeat--the entertainment-industry term for that red-carpet setup with a backdrop featuring the logos of party sponsors.

"You don't have to be famous!" the ebullient McGlynn, a former Gawker Media video staffer who now runs a photography business called Random Night Out, responded. "Everyone's famous!"

Yes, everyone's famous. … Read more

Shaky Advice from Samwell is an advice-giving app--in the spirit of Mattel's famous Magic 8-Ball toy--in which you get metaphysical guidance from the putatively sassy Web celebrity Samwell.

Internet-famous for 2007's "What What (in the Butt)," Samwell can be seen here channeling the same sauciness, albeit with more G-rated, "butt"-free content. The interface is fittingly Magic 8-Ball-style: you shake your iPhone or iPod Touch, and within seconds Samwell appears with a short video that answers any yes or no question. Each of the videos (more than 30 in all, accompanied by quick sound … Read more

We recently got our hands on a trio of iPhone games all currently available in the App Store. Whether or not you think iPhone games need buttons to work, we were fairly impressed by each of these offerings.

Whether you're looking for stocking stuffer ideas or a game to keep you busy on a long holiday trip, we highly recommend checking out any and all of these solid titles. Best of all, they won't break the bank and are perfect for gamers of all ages.

Super Monkey Ball 2 ($9.99) Now before you balk at its $10 … Read more

With all eyes in the auto world this week focused on the LA Auto Show, I thought I would take a look at what else was going on. Here's a car shaped like a cricket bat. It was built by the man who brought the world the soccer ball car and the toilet car.

One of the more recent additions to Sunpak's tripod line is the 523PX Pistol Grip Tripod, an inexpensive, full-size carbon fiber tripod with a pistol grip ball head. Available for $199 from Best Buy, it's one of the cheaper carbon fiber tripods around and it's lightweight and very portable because of its carbon fiber construction.

The Sunpak 523PX Pistol Grip Tripod has seven-layer carbon fiber legs with a maximum height of 64 inches, and is 27.3 inches long when collapsed. It has three positions of leg angle locks for low-angle photography, with a minimum height of … Read more

I suck at bowling, and the only time I'll play this game is on the Wii in the comfort of my home without the guy in the next lane snickering at me. But it seems I can soon conquer my local bowling joint with this remote-controlled bowling ball from 900 Global.

The RC900 has an adjustable weight mechanism built within and it can shift around to swing the ball back to the right direction, and in my case, away from the gutter. But make sure you color the ball with some opaque paint, or else everyone will know what … Read more

Tams11 Fathom is a challenging puzzle game in which users must correctly guess the colors and order of four balls. It's not bad, but we feel that it could easily become tedious and boring, given the fact that it really only does one basic thing.

The program's interface is plain and dated-looking. The publisher's description likens the game to the board game Mastermind, which we had never played, so we had to consult the game's Help file to figure out how everything worked. The computer chooses a combination of four colored balls, and users have to &… Read more