Do you have young children? If you do, then the following video is a sign of many things to come for iPhone owners with kids. The Mobile Art Lab based out of Japan has created a concept of what could be the next wave of uses for the iPhone.

PhoneBook: Enabling You to Share Your iPhone with Your Kids!

PhoneBook combines your iPhone into a book and allows full interaction with the iPhone and book. Now, instead of being a potential deadbeat mother or father, you can start enjoying your iPhone with your kids! If this was available in stores, I can see these flying off the shelves like hotcakes during Christmas!

Check out the following video–this is just way too cool!

[Mobile Art Lab]

Hip Holster 6000 by Mophie

If you own or plan on getting a Mophie Juice Pack, you may also want to consider a stylish leather case.

While the Juice Pack provides extended battery, it does not always look very stylish and does not come with any sort of clip.

Features 2/3

The Hip Holster 6000 from Mophie is a premium leather case that has a clip on the back to attach to pants, bags, or wherever convenient. The Holster fits the the entire line of Juice Pack products, including the Juice Pack Air, Original Juice Pack, and Juice Pack 3G. This means the holster will fit any iPhone, including the iPhone 2G, 3G, and 3GS.

The case is rather bulky but that is because the Juice Pack itself is larger than the iPhone. The case can be used alone with the iPhone, but due to the case size, the iPhone will be very loose inside. Coupled with the Juice Pack, the holster provides great protection, but without the Juice Pack, I would be looking at more form-fitting design case. This also means that in order to make good use of the case, you must own a Juice Pack, which may be a hefty investment for an iPhone accessory.

Inside the case, the Hip Holster 6000 features a pass-through design that allows you to plug the sync cable into the iPhone without having to remove the case. There is also a small hidden pocket inside the holster which just barely fits a credit card or a very small amount of coins.

The holster is held closed by a magnet which is built into the leather. During my uses, I did not see any negative affects on the iPhone or the Juice Pack as a result of the magnet.

Value 1/2

The Hip Holster provides a good amount of protection so long as you have the Juice Pack accessory to go with the holster. Without the Juice Pack, the holster provides very little value due to its bulk and size.

However, if you own a Juice Pack product, the case provides good protection, a stylish look, and neat extras such as a hidden interior pouch and pass-through design.

The price is within range of comparable cases but the case only serves a small market of Juice Pack owners and does nothing for other potential case shoppers.

The Hip Holster is scored a 3 out of 5.

The Hip Holster 6000 is available on the Mophie Online Store for $29.95.

Mac users, this is an update-filled week for you! After the slew of updates released yesterday for OS X, Apple this afternoon released a fix to Safari bringing the Mac web browser to version 4.0.4.

The 4.0.4 fix addresses a vulnerability in the web browser that could exploit Mac computers with older software. The exploit does not affect users of OS 10.5.8 and later, but could affect users of previous 10.5 versions of OS X.

The update is available via Software Update on your Mac.

List of fixes:

• Improved JavaScript performance
• Improved Full History Search performance for users with a large number of history items
• Stability improvements for third-party plug-ins, the search field and Yahoo Mail

As of November 5, 2009, the four major Canadian wireless carriers consisting of Rogers, Fido, Bell, and Telus are all finally running HSPA+ with network speeds of up to 21Mbps.

For a country that is traditionally viewed as behind the technology curve, I feel pretty good about this. Not only do our four main carriers all have HSPA+ with 21Mbps speeds, but they all now carry the iPhone.

A few months ago we reported on the network speed differences between Rogers Wireless in Canada and AT&T in the USA. What we saw is that it sucks to be an AT&T customer, as Rogers Wireless network speeds totally blew AT&T out of the water. To think that AT&T customers pay $70+ for iPhone plans on that service makes me cringe.

AT&T Rolling Out 7.2Mbps

So not to be outdone by everyone else, AT&T promised network upgrades on September 9, 2009. AT&T said they will roll out 7.2Mbps network speeds in six major American cities. Wait a second. What? 7.2Mbps? Hold on, that has to be a typo. Let me check the AT&T website:

Yikes. No typo after all. The “rollout plans” are definitely there for 7.2Mbps.

So in an attempt to improve customer service and improve their network, AT&T is rolling out (not currently implemented) 7.2Mbps service in six select American cities. Rogers and Fido have had 21Mbps (3 times the speed) for a few months now, and Telus and Bell both just rolled out their own 21Mbps network.

Over the last two years, Canadian carriers were running 7.2Mbps network speeds when AT&T was peddling along at 3.6Mbps. The Canadian carriers made the jump to 21Mbps pretty quick and AT&T is only just now rolling out 7.2Mbps and only to a tiny subset of the USA!

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again; I am proud to be Canadian. This is epic Canadian pride. Stand up and hold your iPhone high!

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

[CBC]

Less than four months ago, Google Latitude was finally released for iPhone users. Although we didn’t end up with a standalone app, the Latitude web-app does a great job, all things considering. You can see live traffic, get directions, check out satellite view, and more.

Google Latitude Now With Location History and Alerts

Our Google overlords are always working hard to make things better for us. Yesterday they announced that Latitude will now include Location History and Alerts. What is the purpose of these new features you ask? Let’s take a quick gander from the Google Mobile blog:

Location History:

• Store your past locations and visualize them on Google Maps and Earth
• Enable Latitude Alerts to get notifications when friends are nearby. Location History allows alerts to only trigger when you are in an unusual place, filtering out routine alerts.

Location Alerts:

Get alerted when your Latitude friends are nearby. Alerts only trigger when:

• You or your friend are at an unusual place, filtering out routine alert cases at home or work.
• You or your friend are at a routine place but at an unusual time.

How much information are you willing to divulge to Google? Detailed location history can come in handy when you’re trying to remember where you were last week when you woke up half naked in a roadside ditch after a drunken stupor. Aside from that, it might be fun to stalk your friends. Location History and Alerts is an opt-in feature, so you must enable it for it to work.

Try Google Latitude on your iPhone–it’s easy. Visit google.com/latitude in Safari.

I have a few minutes left in me to write up my experiences with a game I have been playing called the World’s Hardest Game. The reason I have only a few minutes is because this game is impossibly difficult and frustrating!

The World’s Hardest Game from AddictingGames.com

AddictingGames.com has done it again. They have taken one of their most addicting and truly difficult games and made it work perfectly on the iPhone.

Features 1.5/2

WHG (World’s Hardest Game) is such a simple and plain looking game that your first impression is that it will be easy. Oh how wrong that impression would be.

The game features very simple yet extremely difficult game stages to complete. These levels are unbelievably frustrating to complete and so satisfying once they actually get done. Each level offers something new and after you accumulate about 20 deaths, you’re ready to toss your iPhone but oddly enough, the game draws you in so well that you continue the self-torture.

The objective of each level is to simply avoid collision with the blue dots (the dots in the images below are moving vertically). You may be wondering why that is so hard but I urge you to download it and find out for yourself. The movement of the balls and the seemingly impossible levels makes WHG truly live up to its name. However with enough time and deaths, you can eventually beat the levels but that is highly unlikely.

WHG features 30 levels and three difficulty types; yes, you can make the game even harder and doing so means you are crazy. The three types of difficulty are Hard, Harder, and Impossible. Doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, does it?

Controls & Navigation 2/2

WHG is all about keeping your red square away from the blue dots. This is done with a choice of two different control schemes; tilt based or touch based.

Touch based allows the player to tap and hold onto the red square and move it anywhere on the screen. While some may prefer this method, your finger blocks the red square entirely and makes it harder to see.

Tilt based allows the player to tilt the iPhone and make use of the accelerometer to move the red square. There are also adjustments for tilt sensitivity to find the perfect balance of movement. I preferred tilt over touch.

Overall, both controls are fairly intuitive and work well, but one will definitely work better for the player over the other.

As is common with games from AddictingGames.com, WHG requires minimal menu navigation since the game is simple and easy to pick up, which is always appreciated.

Sounds & Visuals 1/1

The visuals are simple 2D that normally I wouldn’t like but they go so well with the game. It’s odd to say it, but the visuals are almost insulting to the player in that they are so simple that the game would seem easy to beat but that is completely incorrect.

The sounds in the game are also equally insulting, as every time you die, you are rewarded with this “face punch” sound that just makes you feel beaten. Even though I say the sounds and visuals psychologically play against you, it works well with the game and is a lot of fun.

World’s Hardest Game is scored a 4.5 out of 5.

World’s Hardest Game is available on the iTunes App Store for $0.99.

Since this blog is run out of Vancouver, BC, sometimes we tend to have a more regional focus on the Westcoast. Well, to balance the news and to make up for the dismal and appalling play of the Toronto Maple Leafs (3-8-5 record in case you forgot; use ScoreMobile to keep track if scores if you dare), I figured what better time than to write about the latest iPhone app by Toronto’s Eaton Centre?

Toronto Eaton Centre iPhone App Review

Unless you are familiar with the layout of your local mall, as a visitor it can be a daunting experience trying to find a certain retail store. Usually it requires finding the Info desk and getting a brochure directory. That’s the old school way of getting mall info. Today, we have the iPhone. And because of the iPhone, we now have apps to save the day. The Toronto Eaton Centre iPhone app provides everything you need to know about the mall–but in the palm of your hand.

Feature list:

• Instant access to store promotions
• Full store listing along with location, number, website
• Ability to add Favorites and navigate stores by Category/Promotion
• Check your Shop! Card Balance
• Interactive Mall Map  (portrait and landscape mode)
• Twitter and Facebook Connect
• Guest Services Info

The Toronto Eaton Centre iPhone app is very straightforward and easy to use. What I liked is how the entire store directory is listed just like how iPhone contacts are displayed. You can quickly scroll through the alphabetical list and find your favorite store. Each store has details on where it’s located and has phone number and website info included.

If you’re a local Torontonian, you’re probably familiar with the layout of the Toronto Eaton Centre. But for visitors, this free app will enhance any shopping experience as it’s extremely handy. Not only that, if everybody embraces the iPhone app, we’ll end up saving a tonne of paper from wasted mall directory brochures.

So there you have it, my fellow Eastcoast readers. The Toronto Eaton Centre has been well designed by the team at MobileFringe. I can definitely see this being very popular for visitors to Toronto. Click here to download the Toronto Eaton Centre app.

MobileMe users, check this out.

Google has dropped the price of their yearly storage fee and increased the amount of alotted space. This works out to Google’s cheapest option of 20GB for $5 USD per year.

If you’re confused about why Google charges for storage, don’t be. As a Gmail user, for example, you get your current 7.26GB of free storage but have the option of purchasing additional overflow storage. The point here is the price per GB.

If you are a MobileMe customer, you are paying $99.00 USD for 20GB of cloud storage from Apple. For $100 per year, you get 400GB of cloud storage from Google. If you’re a high-roller, you even have the option of purchasing up to 16TB of Google storage for a mere $4,096.00 USD per year. Wonga!

Yes, yes you get other features with MobileMe such as Find My iPhone and iDisk, but I cannot help feeling robbed when I see that I am paying $4.95 USD per GB from Apple when I could be paying $0.25 USD per GB from Google. Ouch!

Are the other features of MobileMe really worth $94 USD per year? What do you think?