San Francisco (CA) – Apple developers have released a slew of applications to coincide with the start of the WWDC, including Star Defense, Trains, Bike Your Drive and Yap’s SDK.
Star Defense (Ngmoco)
In Star Defense, players battle alien S’rath invaders in their quest to preserve human outposts across the galaxy. The game utilizes multi-touch controls to enable twist, spin, and zoom-in on 3D planets.
Armed with a powerful arsenal of five classes of towers and 15 different weapons, players strategically place turrets that discharge burning hot plasma and high-voltage shots. Players are also forced to contend with S’rathe reinforcements, new unit types and upgraded armor.
Star Defense offers access to seven unique planets, two different game modes and three different difficulty settings.
Trains (Zagg)
Trains is a fast-paced strategy game that combines the fun of operating a model train with a strategic challenge. Players control the tracks as a variety of colored trains speed through the yard. Intersections can be switched ahead of the trains to direct the cargo through the proper warehouses and safely off screen.
E(z)RF OnTheGo (Meru Networks)
E(z)RF OnTheGo is reportedly the first wireless LAN management application designed specifically for a smartphone. The app allows network administrators to work untethered from their desktop consoles, view customized dashboards and receive high-priority alerts from an iPhone over a Wi-Fi or cellular network.
E(z)RF OnTheGo does not require users to download any software into their iPhones.
Yap SDK
The Yap SDK for the iPhone provides developers with a simple interface to rapidly voice-enable existing mobile applications such as email, instant/text messaging, search, social networking and voicemail-to-text.
“Consumers have clearly expressed the need for mobile device interfaces that are easier to use, especially in situations where typing is difficult or dangerous, and the most obvious solution is voice,” explained Yap CEO Igor Jablokov. “A voice interface makes interacting with the tools we use daily for productivity and communication, like text, email and search, more effortless than typing, which can be complicated, slow and unsafe. With the Yap SDK for iPhone, developers can quickly take advantage of our machine-based speech-to-text technologies to build first class, voice-driven applications.”
Bike Your Drive (REI)
Bike Your Drive is a free interactive tool that helps cyclists track, view, and share their bicycling experiences. In addition to displaying the specific location map of a ride, users may tap the “map view” function to create a visual interactive report of their trip. Photos taken along the trip are automatically geotagged and plotted.
