Last week, Handmark announced the release of Astraware Solitaire [App Store] for iPhone and iPod touch. Solitaire features a dozen different games, including the classics Klondike, Free Cell, Canfield, and Pyramid. As with most of Astraware's games, the 12 solitaire games are nicely animated, easy to play, and hard to master. The game is currently on sale for just US$0.99, so grab it before it goes up to the normal price of US$4.99.

I personally love playing solitaire as a way to pass time on planes and while waiting for meetings to start. After installing Astraware Solitaire on my iPhone 3GS, I erased four other solitaire games that just didn't match up to the quality and variety of play. The new Trophy Deck feature will keep you playing for weeks, trying to collect all of the cards by achieving goals.

Since it's Independence Day here in the U.S., you might also want to download Handmark's free fireworks app, featuring patriotic backdrops, festive fireworks, and music. From all of us here at TUAW, have a safe Fourth of July weekend!

Ever wanted to order a bunch of coffee and doughnuts along with your friends online, and then go and pick them up in the store? There is, in fact, an app for that. Dunkin' Donuts has released Dunkin' Run (iTunes link), an app that not only connects you and your friends together (through a strange love of pastries and java), but will allow you to set up an order and then go straight to the store and pick it up.

Sound unnecessary and lame? Maybe -- though it is free, even if it's adware as adware can possibly get. And apparently the app is really badly designed, not to mention that we do feel a little dirty telling you about it: you should probably eat something a little healthier, like a banana or even an (wait for it) apple.

But let's not forget where we started out here -- back in the day, we dreamed of ordering coffee on our iPhone, and now that day has basically come. Unfortunately, the best parts of the dream haven't yet materialized -- Dunkin' Runs only lets you tally up orders among your friends, not actually deliver them to the store. For that, you've still got to show the cashier your iPhone screen, and/or read them off the order. But it is a step closer to the dream. If companies are going to make apps that are actually useful for us, they have to start with apps like this, no? And if nothing else, it's an app that will tell you where Dunkin' Donuts is -- that's all I use my Bank of America app for anyway.

Sometimes you have to use Windows. Supporting clients in multiple-OS environments makes this a necessity for some Mac users, while others want to run applications that are available in Windows only. You can get a preview of the latest flavor of Windows, Windows 7, by running Release Candidate 1 of the new OS either in a virtual environment such as VMWare Fusion, Parallels, or VirtualBox, or in Apple's own Boot Camp. Christina did a thorough rundown of the options for running Win 7 on Mac back in January.

Of course, you may not own Fusion or Parallels, and perhaps you don't want to have to boot into Windows separately. In that case, you can download a copy of Sun's VirtualBox application (it's free) and then download a copy of Windows 7 RC1 from the Microsoft website (it's free, too!). Follow these detailed instructions or watch the video, and you'll have a free way to test Windows 7 until at least June 1, 2010. Windows 7 will shut down after every two hours of use after March 1, 2010, which is Microsoft's subtle way of telling you to buy the OS or update to a later build.

If you're a VMWare Fusion user, the VMWare team has instructions and a video available here. Want to try out Win7 RC1 with Boot Camp? There are instructions here. For Parallels 4 users, I was unable to find a good set of instructions, so if any TUAW readers can provide me with a link, I'll update this post.

How is Windows 7 RC1 as an operating system? It's faster than Windows Vista on my 3 year old iMac, and some features look surprisingly Mac-like. I'll leave it to you as an exercise to see how much you like or dislike it.

Two new apps both provide the same service to iPhone users -- sending postcards to U.S. addresses from your iPhone. I'm not talking about virtual electronic postcards; instead, these are real postcards that are printed at a location near your recipient's address, then delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. All you need to provide is a photo taken by your iPhone, the address(es) of the recipient(s), a personalized message, and a credit card number.

The two programs are both free, although there is a cost to send those postcards. Continue reading this post to learn more about Go Postal and TapTap Cards.

FileMaker Pro fans can now tweet and make Skype calls directly from databases, thanks to a pair of free files from FMWebSchool. There are a couple of movies that demonstrate how these files work, which you can view by clicking the links below.

The FMSkype file allows you to import your Skype address book into a FileMaker Pro database (Windows only; Mac FileMaker users must manually import their Skype info), and then click to call a contact using their Skype name or phone number.

FMTweet lets you send messages to Twitter from a FileMaker Pro database. This is not a plug-in; it's a database with associated scripting that can be customized by the user. FMTweet could be useful if you want a database to provide notification of a specific situation through Twitter -- for instance, send a tweet when someone enters information into a web-enabled Filemaker database.

To get the two files and other FileMaker goodies that may come out in the future, you do need to subscribe to the free FMWebSchool newsletter.

OmniGroup has announced that they have decided to release several of their previously shareware applications as freeware. These are: OmniWeb, one of the first Mac web browsers with roots going back beyond even OS X; OmniDazzle, a fun screen effects application, potentially useful for presentations and screencasts; OmniDiskSweeper, a very useful utility for getting a handle on large files taking up disk space; and OmniObjectMeter, a developer tool for optimizing memory usage in OS X application development.

Apparently the reason behind the decision is simply that Omni wants to focus more on their other applications and these four were not worthy of as much attention. They don't rule out future updates, but it doesn't really look that likely.

For my own part, I can't help but think that OmniWeb's day has passed, but OmniDazzle and OmniDiskSweeper are still useful tools (not being a developer I don't have much to say about OmniObjectMeter). In any case, it's a nice gesture to the Mac community from one of its older members.

All four applications are free downloads from their respective pages: OmniWeb, OmniDazzle, OmniDiskSweeper, OmniObjectMeter.

[via Daring Fireball]

My colleague Robert Palmer has reported that HearPlanet [app store link] is free for this week, so I downloaded and gave it a try. It is a nice surprise. HearPlanet for the iPhone and iPod touch is a pretty cool mash-up of detailed local information so you can search for a city, for example, and HearPlanet will tell you about all the things that are around you. There is detailed text, or better yet it will read the information to you.

Those with a 3G iPhone can use location services. HearPlanet will figure out where you are, and what things of interest are around you. The app finds items like museums, stadiums, zoos, and other landmarks or popular attractions. You click on one of the destinations, and the app starts reading about it. Some of the entries are short, others are quite detailed.

When you tap the play button HearPlanet switches you to speaker mode so you can share the information you're getting. It also makes it nice for car travel.

I wondered where all the information was coming from, and quickly found that most of the entries match the information in Wikipedia. In fact, if you scroll to the bottom of each text entry, the source of the information is identified. This has apparently confused some users of the app who thought the information from Wikipedia was stolen, but it is all properly identified and sourced.

Happily, HearPlanet is not U.S. only. There is plenty of information on destinations all over the world.

HearPlanet is not a complete travel app. There are no phone numbers and no links to Google Maps for directions to destinations. But it has lots of details on things around you that are worth visiting, and you'll certainly learn something in the process.

Now that I'm firmly situated in my hotel suite in San Francisco, it's time to get ready for Macworld Expo 2009. A couple of weeks ago iMacworld (click opens iTunes) was announced by IDG and Zami.com as an iPhone helper for Expo-goers.

Version 1.1 of this free app is much improved, with a finalized list of exhibitors, products, and sessions. There are also small banner ads at the bottom of each page that load quickly and give booth numbers for the products advertised. The update also features "stability improvements", although it locked up my iPhone 3G once when I tapped on the link to find a vendor location on a map.

iMacworld is definitely going to be a help as your TUAW team navigates around the Expo to find new and exciting items for you. Be sure to stay tuned all week as we provide coverage of everything happening here in SF...and more!

How would you like to be able to shoot photos on your iPhone, and then immediately print them on your HP printer?

HP has a new product called iPrint Photo (click opens iTunes) available in the App Store that makes it very simple to print your iPhone pictures. The free download opens to a list of photo albums that looks very similar to the list in the Photos app on the iPhone. Tapping on a photo brings up a Print Photo page with a large Print button on it (see photo at right). If you only have one networked printer available, just tapping the Print button sends a 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) print job to that printer.

If more than one HP inkjet printer is on your local Wi-Fi network, tapping on a printer search icon brings up a Chooser-like list of printers that you can select one from. This is an excellent free app -- it took no setup and I was able to print a picture immediately after downloading the software from the app store.

Between this software and HP's announcement of their Mac-compatible media server, it looks like HP is starting to play nice with Apple!

Check out the gallery below for a few more photos of this app in use.

There is no shortage of iPhone/touch apps that allow you to use the navigation capabilities of your device to figure out where you are or where you need to go. Google Maps, already built in, does a great job all by itself.

Increasingly, there are many paid and free apps that can do the job in a simpler, more specialized, or more efficient way. One of the highly praised and heavily downloaded apps is AroundMe, which can show you nearby restaurants, hotels, theaters, parking, hospitals and much more.

If you have GPS, or wi-fi location ability activated, AroundMe will take it from there. Click on a category, and you'll get a list of destinations arranged by distance. Click on a destination, and you can get an address, the distance, a link to Google Maps to show you the route, a button to add the destination to contacts, and if there is one, an email address for the place you're headed.

There is also a category of searches called 'nearby' that can identify nearby cities, parks, geographical locations, airports and attractions. Those destinations link to appropriate Wikipedia entries. Cool.

All in all this is a terrific, free app. While it has many competitors, some free, some paid, I think this is a very powerful way to use your iPhone when you are on a trip, or even in your home town to locate things you might never have known were there.

AroundMe is localized in English, French, German, Portuguese, Swedish and Japanese.

Things that would be nice to add would be some form of filtering, such as type of cuisine rather than just restaurants, or animal hospitals instead of all hospitals.

I use AroundMe several times a week because like all good apps, 'it just works'.

While a lot of us have had internet banking for years, who would have thought that AT&T would have come up with a mobile banking app that lets you check accounts and pay bills for a number of banks through a single iPhone app?

Mobile Banking on AT&T (click opens iTunes) from Firethorn Holdings, LLC is exactly that -- an iPhone app that gives you full control over your money at 50 different banks nationwide. While the majority of the banks listed appear to be in the southeast USA, several nationwide banks including Wachovia, SunTrust, and USAA are participating in the program.

I was pleased to see that my business bank, FirstBank, with brick and mortar banks in Colorado, Arizona, and California, was one of the companies on the AT&T list. You need to sign up through your bank's secure website, enter your iPhone number, pick a six-digit PIN, then perform an authorization from the device using a code displayed on the website. Once activated, you can see balances, make transfers, and pay ebills.

What's your favorite iPhone banking app? Or have you moved all of your funds to a coffee can buried in the back yard? Leave a comment!

Longtime Mac developer Mark/Space, Inc. has just announced their first app for iPhone, and it's free.

Fliq (click opens iTunes) runs on the iPhone and iPod touch and is billed as a "real-time social networking app between friends in close proximity." If you and your friends are on the same Wi-Fi network, and if the free Fliq app is running on all of your iPhone or iPod touch devices, you can send contacts and photos to each other.

Upon launching Fliq, a list of nearby devices also running Fliq is displayed (see screenshot). After selecting who to Fliq information to, a screen prompts you to send your pre-selected "business card", another contact, or a photo to the other iPhone.

In practice, Fliq works very well. My wife and I were able to send photos and contact information back and forth with no issues. I'd like to see Bluetooth transfer capabilities built in for those situations where there's no nearby Wi-Fi network.

The Fliq Web page notes that Fliq will soon have the ability to transfer contacts and photos to a Mac or Windows PC.

In the interest of full disclosure, blogger Steve Sande has done consulting work for Mark/Space in the past, although not for this product.

For individual Mac users or small businesses, it's usually not a problem deploying new Macs with a standard image -- as a Mac support specialist, you might just load each machine manually. But imagine if you need to deploy hundreds or thousands of Macs, PCs, or XServes. You'd need a small army of techs or a way to do the job automatically.

That's where DeployStudio comes in handy. This freeware tool can be used to create deployment files using Netboot, external USB or FireWire drives, or any AFP, SMB, or NFS sharepoint on the network.

DeployStudio works with Mac OS X 10.4.11 to 10.5.3 at this point, and is updated regularly to include new OS versions. The package consists of DeployStudio Server, DeployStudio Assistant, DeployStudio Admin, and diffPackageMaker.

DeployStudio Server creates a network based deployment server containing the images. Assistant is used to configure the server and to create the NetInstall sets, while Admin is used to monitor deployments, manage disk images and scripts, enter configurations, and more. diffPackageMaker can look at the difference between two file system snapshots and create installation packages based on what has been changed or added.

Detailed documentation PDFs and screencasts are available on the DeployStudio site.

In early September, TUAW published an article about iPhone exercise-tracking apps that use the built-in GPS of the iPhone 3G to track walks, hikes, runs, and bike rides. One of the apps, RunKeeper, provided instantaneous feedback of speed through a bar chart display and had a $9.99 price point.

Jason Jacobs of Fitness Keeper, the developers of RunKeeper, announced yesterday that the company is going to make the application available for free in the App Store (click opens iTunes). As noted in Jason's email, "Although we have been featured recently in TechCrunch and NY Times (and TUAW, of course!), and we have several thousand paying customers and a vibrant community, we are making a bold move and making the app free. We are doing so in order to forgo short-term revenues with the hope that our community will get to massive scale."

Fitness Keeper definitely listens to user feedback -- our September post mentioned that RunKeeper didn't track total rise or elevation vs. speed, and now both of these items are available on the tracking Web site.

Please note that Apple must approve Fitness Keeper's price change request before the new pricing goes into effect.

Departing TUAW blogger Giles Turnbull caught my attention in his recent list of favorite Mac apps. At the top of his list was an application called Bean, which had the unfortunate effect of causing me to think about Rowan Atkinson's comedy character (at right). As soon as the nausea wore off, I took a look at the app and found a lot to like.

It's a rich text editor from developer James Hoover that is surprisingly powerful, very lean, and open source. It's the perfect in-between text editor, nestled somewhere east of Microsoft Word and west of TextEdit. It's small, fast, and easy to use.

Features of Bean (the app, not the Mr.) include live word count, in-depth statistics, autosaves and dated backups, page layout mode, dictionary, word completion, and in-line graphics. If you feel a need to add some functionality to Bean, the Objective-C source code is readily available.

Bean reads and writes .rtf, .rtfd, .txt, .html, and .webarchive formats, and can transparently import and export to and from .doc, .docx, .odt, and .xml formats. It can also export to .html, .pdf, .doc, and .rtf formats (the latter two with images intact).

All I can say is that I can see why Giles likes Bean. It rocks!