Saw this over at bttf.com. I’ve yet to download it to my iPhone, but will check it out in the morning. Seems like it could either be pretty cool, or pretty clunky. I’ll post a followup after I’ve downloaded and played around with.

But just so you know, I’m pretty much a sucker for anything Back to the Future related.

PercyFX App Launches on iOS and Blackberry, Melding the Best of Entertainment and Technology for Back to the Future Fans

Update: OK, I can already tell you, this is pretty worthless. No video clips are included with the app itself. You have to buy credits to get clips. Then, the clips don’t have the original soundtrack, and most of the text effects are just total cheese. The flying DeLorean that ends Back to the Future and the Hill Valley clock tower getting struck by lightning with a custom message inserted just aren’t worth anything to me. I can’t see getting any utility out of this. Deleted within five minutes of installing. Don’t waste your time.

Just heard this parody of the Apple iPhone 4S/Siri commercial when I was listening to the latest episode of This Week in Tech on the drive into work. Too funny.

This is a total bummer, but not in the least surprising. Siri and the camera are the two real differentiators of it over older versions of the iPhone.

Let’s keep in mind too that Siri is still in beta, and still being ramped up. I’m more interested to see how it evolves and if and when it’s integrated into other products.

Apple Confirms No Current Plans to Bring Siri to Older Devices

Very timely post over at tuaw.com as the 2011 Tour de France is 14 stages (with Garmin-Cervelo sprinter Thor Hushovd taking yesterday’s stage in his world champion colors).

Here’s a nice little list of apps for the cycling enthusiast. I’d also add RunKeeper app and web site as well. The app is free now. I recently bought the elite setup too so my wife and son can track my rides when I’m out and about on my two wheels. While it’s not as accurate as my Garmin 500 GPS on my handlebars, the near-live location update is great piece-of-mind for the wifey.

Five iOS Apps for the Cycling Enthusiast

In case you missed a lot of the news from Apple WWDC Keynote yesterday (like I did), check out the video of the event.

Video: WWDC Keynote / Apple Special Event, June 6, 2011

If you don’t have the time, or feel the need to watch the entire video, the rundown of most everything yesterday is in the links below. I’m most excited about the iOS5 release coming this fall.

What Mac owners need to know after today’s WWDC announcements
Apple Previews iOS 5 with Notification Center, OTA Updates, Wi-Fi iTunes Syncing and More

Since buying my Subaru Impreza a few years back, I’ve never been totally satisfied with the sound quality or volume its factory stereo puts out. I’ve also wanted to populate that double DIN dash opening with a nice big GPS screen. The announcement of this Pioneer AppRadio that meshes my iPhone with my dashboard couldn’t come at a more opportune time. I’ll be waiting with baited breath to see the products that come out for this, and hopefully reviews will be favorable, leading to an eventual stock radio replacement.

Pioneer AppRadio Brings Apps, iPhone Connectivity to Your Dash

Looking to play a little uber-retro Atari on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch? Atari just released a huge number of games to the store. They’ve done a couple of little upgrades though. Some of the games allow for bluetooth-enabled multiplayer, while all the released games are compatible with ThinkGeek’s soon-to-be released iCade mini-cabinet for the iPad.

Atari Brings 100 Retro Titles to iOS in “Atari’s Greatest Hits”!

It’s always nice getting new software updates — fixing some bugs, but mainly it’s fun when there are new features. The iOS 4.3 launched today, and there’s not a whole lot of new features. The only thing I’m looking forward to getting up and running are the AirPlay improvements it’s offering:

iOS 4.3 Spotlight: AirPlay Improvements and 720p Playback

I first heard about the Griffin AirCurve with an older model – one designed for an older version of the iPhone, but I never saw, nor heard it in person. It was a curious device, able to passively amplify the iPhone’s tiny little speaker to a higher volume without power – AC or battery.

The next time I heard about the AirCurve was more recently – when people who had upgraded to Apple’s iPhone 4 found their beloved AirCurve’s passive amplification didn’t work with the fourth iPhone model, as speaker location had moved, as had the contours of the new phone. People found ways though to modify both pieces to make them work. I still hadn’t heard, nor seen a Griffin AirCurve.

Griffin has now released a version, made to mesh with the latest iPhone hardware, calling this version the AirCurve Play. They recently sent me a review unit of the new AirCurve Play, and the thing is highly impressive. It does what it promises, and it does it well, with no frills. It’s basically a big piece of clear plastic, allowing you to see the acoustic channels used to amplify the iPhone 4. The iPhone sit snuggly in the unit, and there’s a metal kickstand to allow the unit to be propped up for video playback in either landscape or portrait mode, though I preferred the looks and stability of it in landscape mode.

Kudos too to Griffin for making the AirCurve Play with iPhone cases in mind. The unit comes with a spacer “case” allowing naked iPhones to fit snug, but with the spacer removed, all three of the iPhone 4 cases I had, could be kept on the phone when installing it in the AirCurve Play. Your dock cable fits as well, allowing you to charge and/or sync as well.

As for amplification, the thing delivers on what it promises. Playing a song or video out of the iPhone 4′s built in speaker, and then installing it in the AirCurve Play, the music and videos were impressively louder. No distortion or coloring of the music was added. That being said, nothing other than volume was added – which is both a plus and a minus. It’s louder, but don’t expect this to take the place of much larger and more expensive docking speaker systems. The AirCurve Play doesn’t enhance lows or highs. It simply adds volume. But for a mere $19.99, this is a steal, making the most of iPhone 4′s built-in speaker – well worth 20 bucks in my opinion.

For full disclosure, I received this review unit free of charge from Griffin Technology, but received no other compensation for reviewing the unit. The opinions expressed above are solely my unbiased reviews of the AirCurve Play.
http://bit.ly/griffinreview

Talk about your strange and unnecessary use of technology. Then again, I can see how it’d be useful on the occasional Saturday (while the US Postal Service still delivers on Saturday, that is), to know when the mail’s arrived for the day. But then again, the walk to the mailbox is pretty damn short.

iPhone Receives Push Notifications From Real-World Mailbox