One of the first handheld games I have ever seen and played with, although not exactly the first one, was some Chinese made Tetris. That was happening almost two decades ago, and I was really disappointed yesterday to see one on sale for about $2. No, it wasn't on eBay, and it wasn't a used one, only that...they only go for more & cheaper these days, quality is being left behind. Just look at all those iPhone 3G problems, and you'll get the idea. Anyway, since I mentioned Tetris and the iPhone, we already got our subject - a Tetris game for free, obviously running on Apple's iPhone!

Tetris fans everywhere, welcome Tris, formerly only available to jailbroken iPhones, a game that just arrived at the App Store! Unfortunately, it won't do things jailbroken apps will, but since it's free, there's no such big difference. <-250x250 Square - right->After all, I am sure there are a lot of people who won't jailbreak their iPhone in a thousand years, so having this Tetris game for free is a great thing for them. Even more, the game looks great, and for those into iPhone programming, it's worth mentioning the fact that it's open source, too.

To move the falling pieces, simply swipe left or right, and tap the screen to make the block rotate. To accelerate the fall of a certain piece, swipe down, and - I would really enjoyed this feature on my old Tetris handheld, I am sure of that - swipe up if a piece is falling to fast. Apart from just playing Tetris, this game also allows you to compare your best score with the best players around the world, and if you suddenly get a call while playing, Tris will automatically save the game for you. Sweet!

Since this game is open source and free, as I was saying earlier, I think you can spare a few minutes and give Tris a try. If you don't feel the same, maybe you're looking to download free computer games... After all, we're talking about a Tetris game for free here, not Solitaire or Blackjack!

When talking about Microsoft software for Apple computers, there's a very long story to tell, starting in the early 1980s. Don't worry, we're not going to go back that far into the past now! In the more recent years, one of my greatest disappointments regarding Microsoft's software for Macs was Internet Explorer. We all know there are sites giving you nightmares unless you're accessing them via Internet Explorer, and - from my own experience - I tell you Internet Explorer 5 is not the most reliable browser one would like to use. Why only IE 5? Because Microsoft decided to discontinue development of its browser for the Mac platform back in June 2003, when version 5.2.3 was released. Fortunately, it didn't happen the same with Office for Mac, as we're going to see right away...

I don't know about you, but I am not crazy about the latest version of Microsoft Office, no matter the platform we're taking into account, so the fact that the Redmond giant decided to come up with updates to both Office 2004 and Office 2008 for Mac is very good news. On Tuesday, Microsoft announced these two updates, both increasing stability, performance and also patching various security vulnerabilities.<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.1 Update, with a size of almost 15MB, is also updating the Japanese postal code dictionary in Entourage. Even more, an issue that caused unexpected Word 2004 exits when opening documents with numbered lists inside them has also been solved.

At last, the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 Update, a heavy 160MB download, repairs a global problem that was preventing all Office 2008 applications from running AppleScript scripts via the Script menu, but it also comes with various individual fixes for Excel, Entourage, and Word.

These being said, I finally have to give you a few hints - a few Apple authorized resellers, like Amazon.com are offering up to 30 percent off various Office 2008 productivity suites, as long as they are purchased with a new Mac. If you want a new Mac, or consider getting one for a friend, you should hurry up - the promo ends on the 8th of September!

While this has nothing to do with Queen's great hit, "Another one bites the dust" describes perfectly what just happened with PhoneSaber. It all started happening a few days ago, when Apple decided to impose a dictatorship over the App Store, removing various programs already listed there as they wished. Now, before moving on, let me remind you that we talked about PhoneSaber on the 26th of July, in the Top 10 iPhone Programs article. Back then, I wasn't thinking we would see this application go away, but this has just happened, and here's the story...

First, I Am Rich was removed only after being available for a day on the App Store. According to Armin Heinrich, the creator of this application, claims his work does not violate Apple's terms of service, and they didn't give any official reason for taking his program out of the App Store. Apart from this, other applications, such as BoxOffice or NetShare have been removed without any explanation, and now we see PhoneSaber going down as well.

The worst part of this is that PhoneSaber was a completely free application, and even worse than that - a lot of iPhone 3G users installed it. <-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->After all, there are plenty of Star Wars fans out there, so this shouldn't come as a surprise, although the application itself isn't quite useful. Fortunately, this time there's an explanation, so here you have it:

"As of now, PhoneSaber will no longer be available, I’ve had a chat with a guy from THQ Wireless (who own the rights for Star Wars apps on mobiles) and as we were always expecting, PhoneSaber is not allowed to be on there. It was a very friendly chat, and the future of PhoneSaber was discussed.

They want to do some sort of official, Star Wars branded version of PhoneSaber, and will be working with us on that one. We’re really excited about this - it means that PhoneSaber has the potential to be even better than it originally was! I don’t know any information beyond that, whether they plan to charge for it, advertise with it or what, but we’ll keep you updated on as much as we’re allowed to tell you.

Apologies to everyone who loved PhoneSaber, we didn’t really have much choice in the matter, but we’re certain that the new, official, PhoneSaber will be even more great than the original was!"

OK, I get it - Star Wars franchise-related stuff, need to pay royalties and such...so probably the new PhoneSaber will be "even more great," but will also come for a price. If I am wrong with this, please let me know, I really wish to see this app showing up again, and free as before, but I guess there are only a few chances for this to happen...

I know a lot of people that are not crazy about games at all, not even playing Solitaire or Zuma, but when I say "Atomic Bomberman," their eyes go brighter, their faces suddenly are flooded by a very large smile, and they usually ask only "when" and "where," ready for another Bomberman blast feast. Atomic Bomberman was released over a decade ago, being the first original Bomberman game for Windows, and the second one for the PC in its league, after Dyna Blaster, released in 1992. If you missed those games, but especially if they bring back pleasant memories each time you hear their name, today I have to tell you about a blast from the past available for today's Apple iPods...

The good news of the day is that, if you are looking to have a Bomberman blast party, Hudson Software can help. Following the same "storyline" of previous games - you're playing a robot bored of working in a bomb factory, so he tries to run...using bombs to remove obstacles, obviously! Anyway, this is not a clone, since there are some very interesting mini-games added, as you're going to see right away...<-125x125 Button - right->

Basically, the game has 20 levels you need to finish to complete blasting your way to the outside world but, unlike Atomic Bomberman, after every five levels left behind, you get to play bowling, a whack-a-mole style game, and one that has you jumping over bombs.

Now, the final part - if you're eager to bring back those Bomberman blast days, you should know the iPod version is priced at $4.99, and works with the iPod nano (3rd generation), iPod classic, and 5th generation iPod. If you want to get it for your Nintendo DS or PSP, just look around, and you'll also find those, too. "Enjoy your new Bomberman blast days," what else can I say? :)

The iPhone is an amazing platform to develop for, and the fact that Apple opened it to the outside world created incredible opportunities for other companies. Before the App Store became functional, it was nothing but darkness and silence, and now there are plenty of things to available so anyone could get plenty of color and sound on the iPhone without having to hack it. The interesting news is that, only a few weeks after the iPhone 3G managed to sell 1 million units in the first two days, and Apple sales are stronger than ever, a software producer managed to jump the 1 million downloads fence on App Store!

The name of the company is Tapulous, and the mastermind behind it is the ex-Delicious-Monsterer Mike Lee, who has surrounded himself in a veil of secrecy since leaving Wil Shipley and the others. Obviously, Tapulous is not a one-man-show, since the team also includes former Jabber employee Thomas Muldowney, iApp-a-Day's Sean Heber, and Tristan O'Tierney, widely known for his work at Yahoo!.<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

The "small, beautiful apps, with a focus on bringing people together," as Lee says, coming from Tapulous, include Tap Tap Revenge ("the sequel to the much ballyhooed Tap Tap Revolution"), Twinkle (a Twitter client), and Collage (a realtime collaborative art/photo sharing software), but more are expected to drop by in the near future.

Here's a small excerpt from the Tapulous Blog:
"Over the last few days of our March To A Million album giveaway we posted winners to the front page of Tapulous.com — 136 in all before the million-user cutoff. In case you missed them, they’re listed below. You weren’t one of them? As a special thanks to our first million users and to everybody else who signs up for a Tapulous Profile this weekend, we’re giving away another thousand albums. Choose any music you like from Lala’s collection of more than 5 million songs - Rihanna, Coldplay, Miley Cirus, Jonas Brothers, Katy Perry, Pussycat Dolls - they have it all! On top of that, every Tapulous member gets 100 free web songs at lala.com! All together, that’s a TON of free music."

I got nothing else to say but "impressive!" Congratulations, Tapulous!