Yogi Land

Alec Baldwin, your brother Stephen wants to know when you’re coming back to Twitter.

That was apparently the message Actor Stephen Baldwin texted to big brother Alec after his in-flight Words with Friends-fueled meltdown, which led to the actor walking away from Twitter and hundreds of thousands of followers.

The younger Baldwin shared this tidbit with Mashable as he walked the red carpet at the Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol premiere. Baldwin is not in the movie, so we have no idea why he was there. What we do know is that the actor, author and radio show host is a fan of Mashable. He’s also on Twitter (@StephenBaldwin7) where his verified account has almost 12k followers. Though he has only tweeted 336 or so times, Baldwin told us he likes to tweet about “pop-cultural thoughts and spiritual thoughts. I think it’s a great tool to be able to reach a lot of people in an instant.”

Baldwin seems to be something of a technophile and told us he’s an “iPhone Geek” and is on Facebook. His kids are, too. They’re teens now, but he insists they did not get on the huge social network too early.

As for his brother Alec, Baldwin said that he didn’t tell Alec anything when he dropped out of Twitter, but then offered that he may have texted him, “When you getting back on, man?” That’s what we all want to know, too, Stephen. That’s what we all want to know.

You can see the entire exchange in the video.

More About: alec baldwin, Facebook, iphone, Twitter

The holiday season is in full swing, and smartphone and tablet app stores are flooded with products designed to capitalize on the winter cheer. Old standbys such as Angry Birds Seasons debut timely updates to revamp gamer interest, while apps such as Cut The Rope develop entirely new products to attract a new wave of gamers eager to celebrate their holiday feelings with Om Nom.

Along with this wave of new material comes apps specifically designed to provide holiday entertainment. In the sea of talking Santas and augmented reality apps, new entertainment products spring up faster than jokey novelty stocking stuffers at the sales counter of your local toy store.

Here are 8 apps that corner the market on holiday minutia. Need a way to spread holiday cheer? Turns out, there really is an app for that.

Is there a holiday unitasker you love (or loathe) to unleash on your peers? Let us know in the comments below.

1. Mr. Breen Christmas Counter

This puzzling anomaly of an Android widget features a rather intense-looking fellow in a Santa hat staring out coldly into the void and thinking about how many days left until Christmas.

If that's not enough to get you into the holiday mood, if you tap the face, Jingle Bells will begin playing.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: android, apps, Christmas, Hannukah, Holidays 2011, iphone

1. Jetpack Joyride

In this fast-paced game, players control their jetpack-clad character through hazardous corridors full of lasers, electric fields and missiles. Along the way, earn coins and tokens toward cosmetic upgrades like new jetpacks, costumes, distance credits or revival ability. Luck is a big factor in this game, but it cuts both ways.

Price: $0.99

Click here to view this gallery.

Although physical arcade games may be a dying breed, their influence lives on in mobile. Plus, many of the games still only cost quarters to play.

Traditional arcade games featured short bursts of gameplay that propelled you toward a high score. That fits mobile play just fine. These 10 mobile arcade games are perfect to play when standing in line or waiting for the bus. Short and sweet!

SEE ALSO: 10 Retro Games for the Modern Mobile

Check these out, and let us know your favorites in the comments below.

More About: contributor, features, Gaming, iOS, iphone

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1. Twickenham Riverside by Andy Blackwell

Fancy a slow stroll along the river? We don't either.

Click here to view this gallery.

At this time of year we like to indulge ourselves with as many delicious chills as we can. To this end we’ve been taking a look at some spooky iPhotography.

We have found 10 creepy iPhone photographs that made the hair stand up on the back of our necks.

SEE ALSO: Fall Foliage: 10 Fantastic iPhone Photos That Celebrate the Season

Take a look through our spooky photo gallery. Let us know in the comments which images send a shiver down your spine.

More About: apple, features, gallery, Halloween, iphone, iphotography, photography, Photos

We’re guessing that by now, the harsh reality has sunk in: the iPhone 4S is physically more or less identical to its predecessor. If you want to be special, however, there is a way to make your new toy stand out from the rest and shine in many magnificent colors.

ColorWare, the company known for its custom-colored Apple products, has added the iPhone 4S to its roster.

ColorWare‘s interactive website lets you choose a number of solid, glossy or metallic colors for your iPhone’s frame, back, button, SIM card tray – even the earbuds.

It comes with a steep price, however: $1500 for a 16 GB model, $1700 for a 64 GB one, or $250 if you opt to send your own iPhone 4S to ColorWare and let them work their magic with it.

[via Engadget]

More About: apple, colorware, iphone, iPhone 4S

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Now you can complement your collection of Angry Birds games, cases, cookbooks, plush toys and baby clothes with these speaker docks, decked out as your favorite feathered friends — and particularly compatible with iPods, iPhones and iPads.

The Red Bird speaker lets you connect any audio device with an auxiliary cable while propping up that device in its own stand that looks like it’s already taken a couple of direct hits from those avian aggressors.

The helmeted pig can charge up an iPod or iPhone with its protective headgear while playing back its audio with two stereo speakers and a subwoofer, while our favorite Angry Birds character, the powerful and explosive Black Bird, charges up an iPad and plays audio in a similar fashion.

Can’t wait, Angry Birds addicts? All three are set to smash into Apple Stores and gear4.com later this fall.

Get pricing details and a close-up look at the trio here:

Red Angry Bird

Red Bird speaker ($79.99) works with any device with an auxiliary audio output.

Green Helmet Pig

This loathsome pig (sound effects not included) will cost you $99.99, and is compatible with iPhone and iPod for charging and playback.

Black Angry Bird

Of course the Black Angry Bird, also $99.99, is powerful enough to charge up an iPad, and you can park your tablet in its special halfway destructed holder.

More About: angry birds, ipad, iphone, iPod Docks

Do you like iPhone gaming, but find yourself bored with the big, bland franchises? We’ve dug around the deepest, darkest corners of the App Store to bring you some offbeat options.

Including atmospheric, gothic platformers and stark, physics-based puzzlers, these five games offer immersive, grown-up gameplay thanks to atmospheric soundtracks, unique artwork and quirky concepts.

SEE ALSO: 4 Frighteningly Fun Zombie iPhone Games

Take a look at our hand-picked selection below. Let us know in the comments about any more unusual iPhone games you enjoy playing.

1. Spooky Hoofs

This gothic running game offers fast side-scrolling action with atmospheric backgrounds and creepy characters.

Cost: $0.99

Spooky Hoofs Gameplay

With two virtual buttons you control a horse and coach as it careers through a series of gloomy, gothic landscapes.

The game keeps you on your toes as you have to avoid obstacles and enemies while trying to collect magic orbs that give your horses special powers.

With one slip-up meaning game over, the moonlit, menacing setting, eerie sound effects and up-tempo music adding a sense of urgency will see you gripped very quickly.

2. Contre Jour

A physics-based puzzler, Contre Jour lets you control a little creature called "Petit" through a weird and wonderful landscape.

Cost: $0.99

Contre Jour Gameplay

Chillingo claims Contre Jour "blurs the lines between games and interactive art." With its orchestrated soundtrack from composer David Ari Leon and shadowy looks it's certainly different, but retains a kind of dark whimsy.

Playing the game is similar to Cut the Rope, but certainly feels fresh enough to justify the $0.99 download.

The character you control -- "Petit" -- isn't cutesy, but manages to capture your empathy, just as the game captures your attention, especially if you play with headphones, as suggested.

3. DeathFall

With gothic-slash-steampunk graphics, DeathFall offers mesmerizing gravity-led casual gaming.

DeathFall Gameplay

This is an odd little game. Through the iPhone's accelerometer you control a skull on a freefall through a strange world habited by beautifully illustrated objects.

Gameplay is surprisingly hypnotic, although you may find yourself jarred to attention when you hit obstacles.

Easy to get into, but not so easy to master, DeathFall is strangely addictive and deliciously different.

Cost: $1.99

4. DEO

Unusual and surprisingly challenging, physics-based jumping is the crux of peculiar platformer DEO.

Cost: $0.99

DEO Gameplay

With scratchy graphics and a electronic soundtrack, DEO is a stark game with a very simple, but effective, main character.

The aim of the game is to jump to each hill of a rotating level to "capture" it in order to grow your planet.

So, the concept is simple, the tap controls are simple, but playing DEO is not. It's all about timing, and it's deceptively difficult.

5. Grimm

A dark Victorian world forms the backdrop of Grimm in which you control a (possibly possessed) baby carriage with the aim of returning a lost infant to its mother.

Cost: $0.99

Grimm Gameplay

An imaginative, creative iPhone game, Grimm gives you platforming and puzzles.

Grimm may feature a baby, but it's definitely not a baby-ish game. The Victorian world is inhabited with horrible characters who threaten the infant you need to get home via the vintage carriage.

As a platformer, it's a unique take with wonderful artwork, a filmic soundtrack and excellent sound effects.

More About: features, gallery, Gaming, iphone, iphone apps, iPhone games

Apple is well known for being a tight ship, but apparently one of its board members forgot to batten down the hatches. That would be the most famous member of the board: Nobel laureate and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

Speaking at the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit in South Africa, Gore interjected the following aside into his speech: “Not to mention the new iPhones coming out next month. That was a plug.”

That may not sound like a huge blunder — after all, the fact that the iPhone 5 is going on sale at some point next month currently ranks as one of the world’s worst-kept secrets. But take note: nobody at Apple has officially confirmed it yet. Even the October 4 unveiling, leaked to AllThingsD Wednesday morning, is still just a report. Nary an invite has been seen.

Note also the plural in Gore’s aside. It is possible that he was referring to multiple copies of the iPhone 5, but that seems unlikely — especially as we’ve been hearing rumors for months of a lower-cost, lower-memory version dubbed the iCloud iPhone.

Gore has been an Apple board member for more than eight years, and this is the first time we’ve seen him let slip even the slightest detail on an upcoming product. Given the company’s code of secrecy, such an unwarranted statement in a prepared talk — he wasn’t even being interviewed — counts as a major breach of discipline.

If this were an Apple employee, or even any other board member, we’d fear for his future at 1 Infinite Loop. Gore, of course, is a heavy-hitter at the company who’s done a lot of work on making Apple products more sustainable and reducing his carbon footprint. We’re guessing he gets a pass this time. But Tim Cook, take note: Your ship is not as tight as you might like.

[via TheNextWeb]

More About: al gore, apple, iphone

The iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS are the two top-selling phones in America. But don’t let that fool you into thinking they’re cool, says Martin Fichter, acting President of HTC America.

Speaking at the Mobile Future Forward conference in Seattle, Fichter — pictured above with bicycle — related a story about taking his daughter to Reed College in Portland, where he took an informal survey of her dormitory buddies. “None of them has an iPhone,” Fichter said, “because they told me: ‘My dad has an iPhone.’ There’s an interesting thing that’s going on in the market. The iPhone becomes a little less cool than it was. They were carrying HTCs. They were carrying Samsungs. They were even carrying some Chinese manufacturer’s devices.”

Added Fichter: “Macbook Airs are cool. iPhones are not that cool anymore. We here are using iPhones, but our kids don’t find them that cool anymore.”

HTC has been making some aggressive moves in the market of late. Currently, the manufacturer uses Android and Windows Phone 7 for its operating systems; earlier Monday, its CEO suggested in an interview that he was looking around for other mobile OS options, so that the company isn’t so reliant on software from Google or Microsoft; this despite the pro-Android stance that HTC took in the wake of the Google-Motorola deal. HTC has a smartphone market share of 9% and growing fast. At some Verizon stores, according to one poll, the HTC Thunderbolt has been outselling the iPhone 4.

Now comes Fichter, launching a broadside against one of the iPhone’s strongest defenses: the elusive sense of “cool.” It’s a risky strategy, especially given the anticipation swirling around the impending iPhone 5 launch. Presenting your daughter’s college dorm as representative of a wider trend, especially when the whole world is waiting for Apple’s next phone, seems a sure-fire route to ridicule.

On the other hand, Fichter has a point: iPhone owners tend to be older and more affluent, largely because their device is more expensive than the average Android equivalent. According to a recent infographic from recommendation engine Hunch, Android owners tend to have only a high school diploma and to be aged between 18 and 34 — the cool years, as far as most marketers are concerned.

Can HTC outmaneuver Apple by attempting to marginalize the iPhone? Or will the iPhone 5 launch blow that idea out of the water? Let us know what you think in the comments.

More About: apple, htc, iphone

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Forget Sharpies and highlighters, the new back to school essentials this fall are apps for your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. While cellphones used to be classroom contraband, the burgeoning market of educational apps means iOS devices are as welcome as loose leaf and pencils.

This school year, free iOS apps can replace your pricey graphing calculator and clunky dictionary. Inexpensive planners will organize your homework, grades and finances.

SEE ALSO: Back to School: 42 Digital Resources for Students & Parents

We’ve rounded up the essentials for the season, so you won’t go back to school unprepared. These 15 apps will keep your academic and extracurricular life on track.

1. Amazon Student

Cost: Free

Supported devices: iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: No one likes to waste money on textbooks -- especially after putting your John Hancock on an increasingly fat tuition check. Amazon Student is here so you can avoid overpaying for your pile of books. Use the app to scan barcodes in the bookstore and compare your campus hub to Amazon.com's prices. Likewise, at the end of the term, exchange your used books, games, movies or gadgets for credit by scanning their barcodes. The icing on the cake? Free two-day shipping for college students.

2. AroundMe

Cost: Free

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch (with limited functions)

Why you need it: If you're headed to a new town to study, AroundMe is a great tool to help you get the lay of the land. The app finds the nearest banks, hospitals, bars, gas stations, hotels, coffee shops, restaurants, taxi companies, theaters and supermarkets. With AroundMe on your iOS device, you'll limit the perpetual U-turns and mistaken directions that come standard with learning a new city.

3. Dictionary & Thesaurus

Cost: $2.99

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: Don't consider buying a dictionary for your dorm room with this app on the market. Without an Internet connection, this mobile dictionary and thesaurus gives you access to nearly 2,000,000 words. Turn on the popular Word of the Day notifications to improve your vocabulary.

4. Documents To Go

Cost: $9.99

Supported devices: iPad and iPhone

Why you need it: Create, edit and share Word (.doc, .docx), PowerPoint and PDF files from your iOS device with Documents To Go. Add last minute edits to your papers or takes notes on presentations without lugging around your laptop. The mobile app now includes intricate formatting options, so even work done from your iPhone can look polished.

5. Free Graphing Calculator

Cost: Free

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: Don't think about dropping $100 on a ti83 now that this app in on the market. This free calculator includes your standard arithmetic and exponential functions, and can graph up to four color-coded equations at once. An added bonus is a bank of equations stored in its reference section. The only downside is we can't guarantee your professors will let you have your mobile device out during an exam.

6. Grades 2

Cost: Free

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: Are you the type that likes to know exactly where your grade-to-date stands? Grades 2 is designed to compute those pesky calculations for you, assuring you know what scores you'll need on each assignment to achieve your sought after A. You can personalize the app with each of your courses' syllabi. The app also works as a personal organizer, reminding you about deadlines and upcoming exams.

7. iHomework

Cost: $1.99

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: Before you invest in a leather-bound planner, vowing to religiously log all your to-dos, consider iHomework instead. The app will keep your schedule and workflow streamlined, alerting you with all your deadlines and assignments. If a friend sleeps though class (the app alerts you for class so you'll never be the one sleeping late) you can share missed assignments though email. Log your grades so you know what your report card will look like in advance.

8. iStudiez Pro

Cost: $2.99

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: Organize even the most complicated course schedule with iStudiez. Visualize your classes, activities and assignments on this well designed color-coded calendar. Like many of the other organization apps, you can set reminders for major events and track your grades and GPA.

9. Mint.com Personal Finance

Cost: Free

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: Many students are first-timers when it comes to money management. This app helps you establish and stick to a budget, factoring expenses from bar tabs to laundry change. The app can house your checking, credit, savings and retirement account information. Worried about what could happen to your personal finance information should you lose your phone? The app gives you a four-digit pin code to access the Mint.com website and block access to your app should something happen to your device.

10. Papers

Cost: $14.99

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: You'll never need to do a mass printout again with Papers, the app that digitizes your academic library. The PDF viewer is designed for easy reading, especially on the iPad. Papers comes with eight academic search engines -- ACM, NASA-ADS, arXiv, Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, JSTOR, Pubmed and Web of Science -- so you have many resources for finding articles.

11. Penultimate

Cost: $1.99

Supported devices: iPad

Why you need it: If you are a die-hard believer in writing notes by hand, try Penultimate, a notebook simulator allowing you scribble notes into your iPad. This app is great if you're a science or math student, using symbols that are difficult to input into a word processor. Some of Penultimate's fancy features include different colored gel pen style tips, importable paper styles and a true to life eraser. You can organize your notes into different notebooks, making your iPad a seamless replacement to paper note taking.

12. Snoozerr

Cost: $0.99

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: Even the sharpest students' minds can wander during a lecture. With Snoozerr you can record your lectures to revisit points of a class you missed the first time around. The app includes a time-stamped photo function, so you can take pictures of a graph or diagram on the board which corresponds to class notes.

13. Stanza

Cost: Free

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: Book lovers and literature students alike should make room for Stanza on their iOS devices. The app includes 50,000 free classic titles as well as another 50,000 contemporary titles from partner stores. Add your favorite books to personalize your digital library. If you're someone who rapidly breezes through books, hopefully Stanza's vast collection will satiate your reading bug for a while.

14. USB Disk

Cost: Free

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Why you need it: Eliminate your tiny, easily misplaced USB drive with the USB Disk app. Store and view all your documents and PDFs from your mobile device. USB Disk is also a great way to back up photos and videos from your computer, so you can always have your essential files at your fingertips.

15. VocabPlus Lite

Cost: Free

Supported devices: iPad, iPhone, iPod touch

Why you need it: If you're preparing for a dreaded standardized test this year, use VocabPlus Lite to integrate new words into your vocabulary. The app teaches 1,500 words through digital flashcards. Once you've mastered a word, the app removes the card from your regular drills, so you an focus on new information.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, skodonnell

More About: education, iOS apps, ipad apps, iphone apps

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