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Daily iPhone App: Bitter Sam drops down into the depths
Bitter Sam is an interesting title, not necessarily because of its mechanics (it's basically a tilting avoidance title), but just because it's so unapologetically quirky. You play as a little kid named Sam, who swings back and forth on a rope as he's systematically lowered deeper and deeper into more and more dangerous levels. It's such a weird little premise for a game that I have to recommend it. Not that the gameplay is bad -- you swing Sam back and forth, basically trying to avoid dangerous obstacles, while also trying to collect gems as you go further and further, across 5 different worlds and over 100 different levels. But the gameplay doesn't stand out as much as the game's setting, and watching poor little, bitter Sam be so depressed as he's lowered down (and routinely dies in horrible ways) is worth the price of admission. Bitter Sam is a universal app from a developer called Moon Active. It's out and available right now for 99 cents.
Snapstick could use your iPhone to program your television
The video after the break shows off a product called Snapstick, though there's not actually a product yet, just more of an idea. The idea is that you select a bit of web content (like a YouTube video or Hulu show) on your phone, and then use a flicking motion to send that content up to a bigger screen like your TV. The company is really excited about the 'snapping" motion, but the idea is that you can use your phone to control what's shown on screen, and pull that from anywhere on the web. At this point it's all vaporware, unfortunately -- you'll obviously need something plugged into your television, whether that's an official Snapstick piece of hardware, or something like an Xbox 360 or an Apple TV that's designed to actually show that content off. But however they figure it out, the idea will be that you can use an iPhone app to program and then share web content on your television. Interested? Doesn't seem to me like much more than a glorified web browser, but Snapstick's taking sign-ups for a private beta right now. We'll have to see how this pans out.
