Lynn La

I only recently reviewed Capcom's iOS port of Dead Rising, and here I am with yet another game starring the undead, albeit a very different one. In a game market that has been bombarded with all kinds of zombie-themed action, Stupid Zombies by GameResort is a straightforward, clean, and--dare I say it--adorable puzzle game for the iOS.

The point of Stupid Zombies is to shoot a set number of immobile zombies placed around the screen with a maximum of five bullets. Think of it as Angry Birds crossed with Army of Darkness. Because you are stuck permanently in the bottom left-hand corner, you aim by dragging the crosshair with your finger and shoot by lifting said finger. You can also tap anywhere on the screen to release a bullet. Bullets ricochet for a few hits amongst the walls, ceiling, and whatever else is included on the level (wooden planks and crates, tanks of gas that can explode, metal-coated barrels, etc.). Hopefully, if you find just the right place to aim at the perfect angle, you can take down several given zombies (sometimes all of them) with one bullet. The fewer bullets you use, the more points you get. You are also rated on how well you do, per level. Use all the ammo in one go and you'll be given the lowest rating of one star. Be economical with your bullets and master the physics around you and you'll get three stars.

The makers of Magnetar: Space Fighter, Gameprom, weren't kidding when the company stated this game "breathed new life into the good old genre of space scroller." For a genre whose origins go as far back as the days of Atari à la Space Invaders, one would think the demand for shoot 'em up games have ceased--especially considering the more complex and sophisticated tastes of modern day gamers. However, Magnetar: Space Fighter is an entertaining and visually-intense game that manages to have a contemporary feel.

For one thing, it's hard as hell. This is not a casual title that you'll be able to breeze through. Although the total number of downloads is unknown, a measly 1,722 players have finished the game on Easy (as of 02/07/2011)... while only 35 have finished the game on Hard.

The popular puzzle title Angry Birds tasked you with destroying complex fortresses so you can reach some thieving pigs. Well FDG Entertainment's Cover Orange reverses that formula in a way. Instead of going on the offensive, Cover Orange has you act as the defender of the titular oranges as they are assaulted by a villainous cloud of acid rain. Full of clever contraptions and some genuinely challenging puzzles, Cover Orange is a well-rounded title that is as refreshing as a bowl of citrus.

Each level begins with a group of oranges that you must protect using a certain number of boxes, barrels, wedges, and wheels at your disposable. By dropping these items down in whatever way necessary, you can build a fortress for your little citrus buddies. Once you use all the items, the cloud comes and rains its poisonous pellets onto the ground. If the oranges remain unscathed, you get to move onto the next level. If the oranges get exposed to the rain, however, they will shake with sickness, turn black, shrivel, and have their eye sockets empty out. Seriously. It actually looks a little disturbing for such a kid-friendly game.

What's better than a mall full of zombies? Answer: a mall full of zombies on your iPhone. Yes, Capcom has released an iPhone version of its hit console zombie game, Dead Rising. The plot for the mobile version is similar enough to the original: users play as Frank West, a photojournalist and zombie killer extraordinaire who gets trapped in a shopping mall full of the undead. But the lack of story, movement issues, and overall thin gameplay make Dead Rising a rather ho-hum port of a classic console game.

Users fight to survive, using random scattered objects. The items range from the reasonable (light sabers, rifles and katanas) to the absurd (trashcans, lawn mowers and frying pans). You can only hold one item at a time, however, and you can't use them forever. Once you lose a weapon, you either must run around to find a new weapon (which isn't a huge problem considering they're everywhere and almost anything can be used) or fight the zombies the old fashion way with your fists.

Like We Rule and We Farm, ngmoco's We City is a social strategy game tasking the player with creating a vibrant center of business. But instead of being set on a farm or a kingdom, We City allows users to build their own bustling city.

For people who are unfamiliar with its predecessors, We City is a social networking game that allows users to build their own mini city by purchasing houses, businesses, schools, and tourist attractions. The game lets you start off small, but through in-game tutorials, guides you towards the right direction. First it advises you to get some houses so your people can live, then factories so your people can work, and then schools so your people can study. After getting situated with those first steps, you're pretty much then left to your own devices.

Promise's SmartStor DS4600 is a direct-attached storage (DAS) enclosure that can house up to four hard drives. It's suitable for a direct connection to servers or workstations, it supports RAID arrays, and its design allows you to hot-swap the hard drives. Its management interface and build quality leave something to be desired, however.

The DS4600 can be connected to a Mac or server through the single eSATA, USB 2.0 or FireWire 400 ports or one of the two FireWire 800 ports. It has the same physical design as the Promise SmartStor NS4600 ( Macworld rated 3.5 out of 5 mice ) network-attached storage (NAS) device. Four drive bays sit behind a lockable front panel. Instead of caddies, the SmartStor DS4600 uses plastic rails that surround the drive in order to prevent vibration during operation. We didn't notice any vibrations, but the rails' lack of rigidity makes installing drives painful.

You've probably heard of Robot Unicorn Attack by now. An internet meme for months, this Adult Swim developed application first broke through as a free flash game. Now, this insanely difficult platformer is on your iPhone and iPod Touch in all of its ironic glory.

Considering the game itself is so simple, and has similar characteristics to games like Canabalt, the fact that it has gained a cult following is saying a lot. Adult Swim has other games on its site, including Victorian BMX, Wine Pong, and Amateur Surgeon that vary from straight parodies to just tasteless fun. But Robot Unicorn is the crown jewel of Adult Swim's flash empire. At the root of Robot Unicorn's appeal is a great mixture of over-the-top kiddish iconography (like unicorns, rainbows, and dreams) and then bizarre elements like robots, the band Erasure, and a brutally-difficult gameplay conceit.

Compact and light enough to easily fit in a backpack or briefcase, Western Digital's My Book Studio external hard drive is a cute little bugger. Designed to resemble a book, the 6.5-inch tall drive stands upright, and you have the option of digitally labeling your drive (with 12 characters or less) so it'll read like a title on the binding a book.

Designed specifically for a Mac, this plug-in-and-go drive is compatible with Apple's TimeMachine software and has two FireWire 800 ports and one USB 2.0 port, with cables for both included. The drive is relatively quiet, with its ventilation system sitting up top, and its plastic build keeps the unit lightweight at 2.6 pounds. Unfortunately, its plastic casing also makes the unit a little less durable than aluminum drives, and when we received our My Book Studio, it came with a little bulge in the backside that we had to physically snap back into place.

Editor's note: The following review is part of Macworld's GemFest 2010 series. Every day from mid July through August, the Macworld staff will use the Mac Gems blog to briefly cover a favorite free or low-cost program. Visit the Mac Gems homepage for a list of past Mac Gems.

With iCal, Google Calendar, and the classic wall-mounted calendar, you might be wondering whether or not there is a real need for yet another calendar application like PreMinder. After all, how many different ways does a person need to know that it's a Monday?

Sony has announced two new additions to its Alpha line of digital SLR cameras: the A290 and the A390. These entry-level DLRS are essentially slightly upgraded versions of two existing Sony cameras, the A230 and A380.

Both cameras have subtle design changes-the grip has been improved and a few of the upper control buttons have been shifted around. The biggest change is that the $500 A290 has 14 megapixels, which is a four megapixel increase over the A230 model. Most of its other features are the same as the A230, including the 2.7 inch LCD screen.

Still pondering what to get the mom in your life for Mother's Day? We've come up with a few suggestions for all types of mothers.

These days, it's hard deciding what you should do with items leftover from antiquated technology. Printed photographs have posed a particular problem since most people find them too sentimental to throw away, too much of a waste to box up and ignore, or too overwhelming to scan and archive.

VuPoint offers a solution to this problem with its Digital Photo Converter PC-C520-VP. Designed with the techno-phobe in mind, the PC-C520-VP lets you slip a printed picture into an appropriate photo tray (depending on whether it measures 3-by-5, 4-by-6, or 5-by-7), insert it into the PC-C520-VP's photo tray slot, and press the copy button. The unit will take care of the rest, making a digital copy of your photo.