Pimp My iPhone: #2

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software, iPhone

Pimp My iPhone: #2 - AIM

by Nik Fletcher Jun 30th 2007

With iChat not being amongst the features of the iPhone, folks looking to burn through some of that unlimited data via Instant Messaging might be interested in this neat little web-app: iPhoneChat.

You log in using your AIM credentials - however before account security becomes a concern, the author of the application states: "No data is logged, but all of your information does pass through my server. I am not harvesting any information." There are a few known issues with the service - no buddy icons or groups, some rendering and scroll issues and it becoming a little awkward with more than 4 conversations open at once (IM junkies take note!) - and it seemed to work fairly well in testing. The main problem (and this is a server limitation as apparently it's rather resource intensive) is that sessions are limited to 10 minutes.

For those of you who just have to have an AIM fix this might be an interim solution - however with iChat functionality being such a glaring omission from the handset, we'd hazard a guess and say it won't be long before we see improvements to iPhoneChat and perhaps a few other rivals offering a similar service.

The 'Read' link will take you to the app's homepage, but those of you wanting to dive in will want to go direct to the service here.

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Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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