iPhone News Updated

LEGO Announces iPhone-Based Building Set

LEGO is jumping into the mobile gaming arena with its first product that combines both software and bricks directly. The Life of George is LEGO’s newest building set, a collection of 144 LEGO bricks and a mobile game that lets you build different LEGO models and take pictures of them on your smartphone.

The Life of George is based around the Life of George iOS app, a game that provides the user with prompts for different shapes built in LEGO bricks. The user has to build that shape as fast as possible, photograph it, and place it on a card, at which point the smartphone will evaluate how accurate it is. The faster you build the model, the more points you get.

The eponymous George is a software engineer LEGO model that goes to different locations in his photo album, which show different themes for the other models. The Game mode focuses on these collections of models, while the Creation mode lets users make their own models and share them with friends for challenges.

The app is currently iOS-only and limited to the iPhone and iPod touch, though an Android version is being considered. The Life of George will retail for $29.99, and initially be available only at LEGO’s Web site and LEGO retail stores.

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Apple iPhone 5 Release: Are iPods Getting the Axe?

Sources say Apple plans to discontinue the original iPod Classic and the smaller iPod shuffle as the company enters a “product transition,” the terms Apple used in its last earnings call. Apple could potentially cut the two models during or following the company’s Oct. 4 media event at company headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., where most believe Apple will unveil the iPhone 5.

Invitations for Apple’s Oct. 4 media event say “Let’s talk iPhone,” but missing is a mention of its original flagship product, the iPod. While the iPod will celebrate 10 years of existence on Oct. 24, it seems the company wants to retire the old click wheel once and for all.

If the reports are true, the iPod Touch and iPod Nano will be the only two remaining iPod models. The Nano will be the lowest-end iPod option, while the Touch will remain Apple’s premium iPod.

Apple’s first-ever iPod was developed in less than a year, on Steve Jobs’ orders. Unveiled on Oct. 23, 2001, Jobs advertised his 5 GB Mac-compatible digital music player as “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

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