Here's the latest build of iPhone Doom, sent to us by Stephen T a.k.a. psychochromatic, who recently took over the application from stepwhite. Last night on the Talkcast we were chatting about the biggest stories of 2007, and I totally should have mentioned iPhone NES and iPhone Doom-- these were two huge projects we heard about in the early days of iPhone hacking that really set the pace for putting third-party applications on there.

Psycho says that this build is not quite playable yet, but he's got it faster than ever and working in widescreen mode. The control scheme is definitely interesting, too, although not quite as intuitive as you might hope. At any rate, steps are being made. I continue to be impressed with the potential of the iPhone in terms of gaming-- here's hoping, yet again, that the official SDK will let us do this stuff as well.

Good news for you Sims completists out there (or anyone with a daughter on a MacBook): Aspyr Media has released Sims Pet Stories, the standalone Sims Pets game that lets you train, play with, and care for cats and dogs destined for the Pet Show. The reviews aren't exactly shining, but according to the user ratings at the bottom of the page, anyone who wants a cute and funny game that runs on a Mac should like it.

Of course, the more cynical side of me notes that this is yet another Electronic Arts game being ported by Aspyr instead of being released directly by EA. What did they promise us at WWDC again?

[via MacWorld]

Attention enthusiastic iPhone owners - Apple would like to hear just what it is you like so much about your new gadget. At a new page under apple.com/iphone, Apple has presented a form with which you can share your iPhone stories. Has the iPhone changed the way you work? Perhaps you warmed grandma's heart with your finger-flickin' photo albums? Or maybe your two-and-a-half year-old figured out how to use your iPhone? Whatever the tale, Apple would like to hear it, probably so they can scatter some quotes from real world folks like you around the iPhone product pages.

Personally, I had to thank Apple for finally putting the real internet in my pocket, as no other device - not even a BlackBerry or IE on Windows Mobile - has been able to handle the home-grown content management system we use for Weblogs, Inc. blogs. The iPhone can, which means I'm able to perform some of my administrative duties at Download Squad anytime, anywhere I need, and that's enough of a life-changing story for me.

[via iPhone Alley]

We've come full circle on the iPhone software merry-go-round-- the first app we saw for the iPhone was a mockup built with Digg's API, and now Digg has released their own iPhone application.

And it works pretty well, even if you're not using an iPhone. You can log in right there in the interface, and even browse topics through a drop-down menu. Perhaps the biggest new feature is a "mini-permalink" page that will automatically grab the top 5 moderated comments from the regular Digg page and only show those. That right there is almost enough to make me browse the iPhone Digg rather than the regular Digg, even on my desktop-- the fewer and more useful Digg comments I can see, the better.

Kevin Rose also promises a way to see the top stories in the iPhone interface is coming, and since there is no way to actually add comments yet (you have to go to the main Digg page for the article to do so), they may work on that in the future as well. After all this app was supposedly thrown together in 48 hours-- Rose promised coder Joe Stump that if he did it in two days, he'd get an iPhone, and apparently he did.

Beyond a doubt, Apple's retail stores have been and still are making headlines of all kinds - from business magazines hailing the stores' sleek design, to consumer reviews giving the stores high marks for their unique and (ideally) helpful Genius Bar feature. However, as some of you may know - not everyone's trip to the genius bar wraps up with a happy ending, and I'm not just talking about the customers; the Geniuses don't always have it so peachy-keen either.

Hence, Ungenius - a blog by "JC" who apparently has some stories to tell of his adventures "aton[ing] for the sins of a multinational corporation during nearly four years as a Mac Genius". JC delves into all sorts of topics surrounding the world of the Genius including QA, the obvious defects that have made headlines as of late, and even some thoughts as to why Class Actions might be bad for consumers.

Whether you've made a shrine for the last Genius who helped you out of a pickle or you're putting the finishing touches on a Genius Voodoo doll as you read this, Ungenius might be an interesting read from the other side of the cheery Apple retail store fence.

I earned my Mac chops fixing Apple computers in and out of warranty for an AASP in NYC and became intimately familiar with GSX (Apple's part-ordering and support system; née Service Source). I also learned a few tricks along the way--things that might be useful to the masses. Some of the things in my portable toolbox:

Apple's Black Stick
As Command-Tab reminds us today, Apple's technical support manuals consistently refer to this mysterious tool for performing tasks. It's available from Apple via their normal ordering channels for like $10 but you can easily find it for sale for a fraction of that cost. We always had a few of these lying around. A non-conducting and non-marring plastic tool can be a remarkably handy thing to have around when you're taking apart PowerBooks.

Why iMac Cases Used to be Translucent
Several years ago, I was working in the field on a slot-loading iMac. I don't recall exactly what I was doing, but probably replacing the modem (as there was a spate of modem failures). I had flipped the blue beasty upside-down and taken the bottom casing off to get to the logic board and modem assembly (it's connected to the I/O ports). While removing the modem assembly (or perhaps it was while removing the silver EMI shielding), I accidentally dropped a screw down inside the translucent casing. Oh crap! Anyone whose taken the slot-loading iMacs apart (like to get at the video analog board) knows that removing the top (colored) casing can be a royal pain-in-the-ass. I really didn't want to have to completely disassemble the iMac just to retrieve this screw. Damn! There must be an easier way! Fortunately, I typically carried with me in my bag, a package of those 10-12" long pull-ties for binding together cabling. I also carry with me in the winter months some chapstick. I put some chapstick on the end of one of the pull-ties and went fishing. 30 seconds and one still-assembled iMac later, I had my screw back. Heh.

Telescoping Magnet
I bought one of these after the above incident.

Your Best Friend, the Multi-bit Screwdriver
The absolute best compact screwdriver out there is actually made by Compaq for its technicians. I've had this driver for a really long time and its been a trusty companion with me on countless service calls. It comes with the Torx-8 driver for those screws that Apple seeed to use in almost every single machine they shipped between 1997 and 2004 (still are, for all I know).

Your Other Best Friend
I can't count high enough to count the number of times my Leatherman Wave multi-tool saved my rear while on site, from whittling down the plastic power buttons on the first slot-loading iMacs so they'd fit better into the molding so they machines wouldn't keep putting themselves to sleep, to the tool of last resort in deftly extracting a stuck Zip disk from a dying Zip drive, to carefully stripping a wire with the scissors tool.

Screw Kits
Self-explanatory. Keep with you a small bag of screws of many many different sizes, especially those used for securing hard drives or logic boards.

OK, techies, what tools, tips, or tricks do you have? Maybe you've rescued a HD from complete data loss by freezing it in zip-lock bag (I have, on several occasions), or maybe you've your own MacGyver tech support story.

Update: I've linked the picture to the Threadless.com T-Shirt shop. I couldn't remember where the image came from (it was among the many thousands I have squirreled away). Thanks for the info.