As someone who comes from a long line of race car drivers and auto enthusiasts, it always comes as a shock to me that I don't bleed straight motor oil when I get a cut or a scrape. It runs that deep, people. Living in a city that is a cinch to traverse on foot or public transit has helped to temper my vehicular attachment, but every once in a while a product like the Edsel & Elanor Ford House iPhone app will bring it writhing to the surface once again.

Truth be told, the Ford House app doesn't have much--if anything--to do with cars, at least not directly. It focuses on the life and dream home of Henry Ford's son, Edsel, and Edsel's wife, Elanor, with a little bit of automotive history thrown in for color. In fact, those with a particular fascination with architecture are likely to find the content more enthralling than car enthusiasts, although I know the most die-hard Ford fans will at least find it interesting.

The app features over 60 minutes of exclusive video, many of it exploring the grounds of the Edsel & Elanor Ford House, which stands on the shore of Lake Saint Clair just outside of Detroit, Michigan. It also offers many old family videos shot by Edsel, as well as a special short video on landscape architect Jens Jensen. You can choose whether to take a guided video tour, which takes you through each video in a prescribed order, or you can explore a map and view snippets on your own time.

It would be great if the Ford House app offered some sort of truly self-guided walk-through functionality, to give it more of an interactive feel. As it stands, it really comes across as a History Channel special packaged as an app. Still, it does have a polished look and it is both informative and free. Definitely worth a download for history or Ford buffs.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

In years of economic downturn, there are still a handful of sectors that manage to remain profitable, and the health and fitness industry is one of them. Mobile apps are also enjoying quite a bit of popularity at the moment, thanks in part to the fact that so many of them are affordable. Combine the two and you get something along the lines of MyFitnessPal, a free Webware service that offers companion apps for the iPhone and Android devices (BlackBerry coming soon).

As the name suggests, MyFitnessPal is a community-oriented site designed to help you lose weight and track fitness goals. The mobile apps let you keep these features at your fingertips wherever you are. You can input or edit your goals, enter your caloric intake (food) and output (exercise) on the go, and add new food data to the library if it doesn't already exist. There's also a progress screen that lets you track your weight and view a graphical representation of how well--or poorly--you're doing.

To test the mobile bent of the service, I downloaded the associated iPhone app and gave it a whirl. Personally, after having used Lose It for an extended period of time, I'm not particularly fond of the interface for MyFitnessPal. One issue--a minor one--is that it's not as visually appealing as Lose It, which offers little icons for the majority of the food items in the library. More of a problem for some will be the tiny writing that populates the search screen, as it creates a bit of eye-strain to read the multitude of options that are presented. On the whole, I find that the UI of MyFitnessPal is less polished than that of Lose It. I do, however, appreciate the Multi-Add function, which lets you add several foods at once; a time-saver for anyone who eats similar meals from day to day.

On the plus side, MyFitnessPal offers a community aspect not offered by the other app, as well as a dedicated Web site with a variety of handy tools. There are calculators for BMR (basal metabolic rate), BMI (body mass index), and recipe nutritional info (to be fair, Lose It offers this functionality within its app). You can also create a personalized weight loss ticker for your profile, forum signature, or blog. In the end, if you're trying to get fit, pretty much any tool or support is better than none, and MyFitnessPal is free so it's definitely worth a look.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Admit it: Ernie was always lovable enough, but Bert? That guy had it coming.

In Puppet War:FPS, you're the janitor for a "Muppets"-style TV show. One day, for reasons unknown, the cute little critters run amok, apparently hell-bent on world domination. And because everyone else has apparently gone home for the day, it falls to you to stop them.

The game plays like a traditional first-person shooter, one that takes place in a colorful, kid-themed TV studio populated by endless hoards of hilarious-looking (but angry) puppets.

You start with the janitor's weapon of choice: a mop. As the levels progress, you add firearms and other combat tools to your arsenal. (My favorite by far: the pliers, which pluck the noses right off those crazed puppets' faces.)

It's all in the name of warped fun, the kind that should delight folks who like "Avenue Q" and "Death to Smoochy." The game's controls are simple enough, and there's enough variety in the levels, weapons, and puppets (gotta love the zombies) to keep things interesting for at least a little while. (Long-term, even a game as cute as this one gets boring.)

It's fun while it lasts, though. Puppet War:FPS offers a deliciously clever twist on the FPS genre. I'd say it's well worth $1.99.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

As of Tuesday, Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger users will now be able to send instant messages to Facebook friends who are logged into the social-networking service.

Microsoft is the first of the major instant-messaging services to connect directly to Facebook Chat. It's part of an effort by the folks in Redmond to evolve Messenger from purely an instant-messaging program to a social hub with activity feeds, video chat, and other connection options.

The addition of the Facebook Chat connection comes as part of an update to the test versions of the next generation of Windows Live programs. Not all users will get the Facebook chat feature at once; Microsoft is starting with the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and Brazil.

Microsoft is also updating the other "essentials" programs including Windows Live Photo Gallery, Writer, Movie Maker, Sync, and Family Safety.

Microsoft first outlined the "Wave 4" update to Windows Live in June. Among the big changes are the addition of facial recognition and other new features that will become part of the photo editing program.

With no major update to Windows 7 coming, Microsoft is counting on the Windows Live enhancements to help give its platform a boost as it enters the all-important holiday shopping season.

As part of Tuesday's "refresh" of the beta, all of the programs get bug fixes and performance tweaks. Among the other noteworthy changes, Movie Maker users will now be able to upload to Flickr. In Photo Gallery, users will be able to locate their geotagged photos on a Bing Map.

Microsoft said the downloads should be available later Tuesday. As for the final release of the new Windows Live, Microsoft director Dharmesh Mehta said that it is planned for the next couple of months. "It's not that far off," Mehta said.

There are still a few features to be added, Mehta said, and another refresh of the beta is possible, but not a certainty.

Meanwhile, Mehta says that all Hotmail users are now moved to the new version that was unveiled earlier this year. The rollout took a bit longer than some users would have liked and there were some bumps along the way.

Most of the bugs have been ironed out, Mehta said, though there is still an issue with regard to using Hotmail in conjunction with one wireless carrier's broadband cards. That, he said, is being worked on.

Originally posted at Beyond Binary