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Want a rotary iPhone dialer? You'll get one.

When Apple opened up its iPhone to third-party developers, all kinds of useful and offbeat application ideas were bandied about.

One that came up again and again: A working software facsimile of a rotary-phone dialer.

Well, Minnesota-based CodeMorphic has developed exactly that.

It's called RetroPhone, and company founders Bill Heyman and Damon Allison showed it to me today ahead of the app's public unveiling at MinneBar tomorrow (I have a story about CodeMorphic and MinneBar in the Pioneer Press).

They're also announcing Aloha, a photo-annotating program inspired in part by Comic Life. Both apps will be among the flood of iPhone programs hitting Apple's App Store in a few weeks.

Behold, RetroPhone (a downloable version of the video, suitable for computer or iPod viewing, is here):

Photoshop Express adds Flickr support, etc.

I recently reviewed Photoshop Express, Adobe's simplified, Web-based counterpart to its famed Photoshop software for photo retouching and organizing.

Now Adobe is adding new online features (you should see them sometime tonight).

The best one is Flickr integration, meaning you can pull in your pictures from that popular service for editing. At launch, Photoshop Express did provide integration with Facebook, Photobucket and Google's Picasa Web Albums.

But Flickr integration automatically makes Photoshop Express a bigger deal because so many people rely on Yahoo's photo-sharing service, and many of those folks dislike its Picnik photo editor. Having Adobe's editor as an alternative rocks.

Photoshop Express also is adding a "save as" feature for more control over your work, and an embeddable player for use on other sites -- such as Facebook, MySpace or your blog -- to show off photos in slideshow form.

Google offers a similar slideshow-player option with Picasa Web Albums.

Update: Google has delayed this. It said in a statement:

"As you know, we were preparing updates to the Photoshop Express beta on May 7th that added significant new functionality to the product. However, prior to going live, we discovered a bug that requires a fix. We're committed to delivering a quality experience with Photoshop Express and don't want to send out an update that isn't ready for prime time. We're working on a quick resolution. Stay tuned -- we'll have an exact time frame on when you can expect these new Photoshop Express features soon."

Update: In case you were still wondering, the Flickr integration is now live.

Philips' Ambilight is no more in this country

Philips once made a huge fuss about Ambilight, a feature on its superb flat-screen TVs that created ambient lighting around the edges. This supposedly increased viewing comfort -- I don't know about that, but I really liked it.

Now I get the word that Ambilight is dead, at least in the United States. That may or may not be related to this news, but it's a shame regardless.

Here's Ambilight in action on a TV I recently had on loan from Philips, partly so I could -- insert irony here -- write all about Ambilight:

"Battlestar Galactica" et al on Zune e-store

NBC got snippy with Apple and pulled all its TV shows from the iTunes Store not long ago. Now it has begun selling episodes of "Battlestar Galactica" and other programs on Microsoft's rival Zune Marketplace e-store.

This new Zune Marketplace content is part of an update today to Zune players, which compete with Apple's iPods, and the Zune desktop software for Windows.

Along with NBC Universal content (including "BG" and "Eureka" from Sci Fi Channel), the new Zune Video Store has material from MTV, Turner Broadcasting and others.

Once I heard about this, I spent the better part of a day trying to download the the awesome second-season "Pegasus" episode of "BG," but I kept getting an error message.

I finally succeeded and put the episode on a couple of Zunes. But now I can't get the video to play on either device. Hmmm.

Regardless, the iTunes Store has a lot more stuff -- including Hollywood movies, as well as many more TV shows than the Zune store offers. Video looks nicer on Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch because of a bigger, cinema-style display.

Zune, you still have a long way to go.

Update: Three Battlestar Galactica episodes now appear to be playing normally on my Zunes after syncing or re-syncing to the devices.

The apparent solution to my problem: I need to wait until the download progress bar in the PC software switches from "100 percent" to "In Collection" before attempting a sync to a Zune.

A couple of tech-y gift tips for Mother's Day

Stumped for a last-minute Mother's Day gift? Here are two tech-type options I like:

"Blush"-colored earphones. These V-Moda Vibe earbuds sound great and create a good seal in the ear canal for use in a noisy environment. They are sold in lots of colors (I tested a "midnight blue" set; see red above); a feminine "blush" set went on sale at Apple retail outlets this week -- just in time for gift giving.

Pocket photo viewers. I spotted these in Target's Sunday circular. For $20, buy pocket viewers with space for dozens of photos. Keychain and card-like versions are available for Mom to throw in her purse and gape at pictures of her little darlings whenever she likes. Trying to get review units; stay tuned.

Update: Target sent me samples of the two pocket viewers and, well, I guess you get what you pay for. They aren't bad, but an iPod nano makes a better photo viewer with more capacity, if you can afford it.

I had to poke around in Windows Vista settings for the viewers to be properly recognized by their own software, too, which is kind of a hassle for any kids trying to set this up for their mothers beforehand.

There's apparently Macintosh software on the discs that come with the viewers. But these are mini-CDs, meaning they can't be used with the slot-loading optical drives in MacBooks, MacBook Pros and iMacs.

It's also a shame the drives don't just mount as USB volumes so you can add photos via drag-and-drop.

For about $20 each, though, the viewers do make a nifty gifts once you get pics onto 'em. Try cropping first, roughly to the dimensions of each viewer -- square for the one below, say -- for the best results.

Hark! My co-workers are serious about Risk

Turns out a bunch of my co-workers get together periodically to play Risk. They seem pretty serious about it, too.

I got permission to share this recent recap (it's priceless), which included the above image. (For bonus points, try matching the playful titles below with the official bylines in our newspaper.)

That's right -- Orrick the Weasel was victorious in Saturday morning's St. Paul Skirmish #2. 

His success grew early roots in South America, which he gained in his first turn by wiping Friedrich the Great's tired armies off the continent. His cancer spread from there. 

In just the first couple of turns as well, Henderson the Young Turk had Australia, from which he launched a nibbling campaign against the Shaw of I Ran, who was slowly building a force of homeless Mongols in Asia — and brow-beating Henderson to leave him alone. 

Hapsburg Hoppin spread throughout Africa, but dreams of mastering the Dark Continent suffered from several raids by Orrick's Brazilian Brigade, which he'd beat back and pursue into Brazil. 

In what will forever be known as "The Dawn of Deceit," Henderson encouraged Friedrich's offers of peace and treaty — before suddenly and maliciously attacking his peaceful encampments in Europe. With Friedrich's elimination, the last wisp of liberty and enlightenment evaporated from the board. 

From there, the board sank into chaos, as Henderson, Hoppin and Shaw fought like children — leaving themselves unable to stop the global tunneling of the Weasel.