iPhone

 

It could be the Year of the iPhone in China, as Apple officially started selling its iconic smartphone in the world's largest mobile market Friday night.

While China saw nothing near the frenzy of the first iPhone launch day here in the U.S., crowds there did honor the tradition of lining up for the phone many hours in advance at several locations. A few hundred people queued up in the rain and cold outside The Place shopping center in Beijing, for example. There, Zhi Xianzhong became the first person to get the iPhone from Apple partner China Unicom after waiting 7 hours and 40 minutes, according to China Daily.

Read more: Wi-Fi-free iPhone officially lands in China

Time-lapse movies can be a complicated affair, and quite often involve either a lot of special equipment, and/or post-processing skills. For just a buck though, you can use the recently released Timelapser app (link opens in iTunes) to turn your iPhone into a tool that can do this time-bending filming technique using nothing more than the onboard camera.

Read more: Make easy time-lapse movies with your iPhone

Solitaire is fine once in a while, but usually it's more fun to play games with other people.

Same goes for iPhone games: There's only so much mano-a-Bejeweled a person can take. Fortunately, there are some terrific apps that let you compete in real-time against other real, live humans.

And not just humans in your immediate, Bluetooth/Wi-Fi-enabled area, either: I'm talking about games that support online competition.

These five titles let you kick the butts of players across the globe:

• Galcon An insanely addictive space-based action game, Galcon plays like Risk at warp speed. Conquer other planets while protecting your own. Multiplayer options include not only one-on-one, but also two-on-two and one-on-two. Not sold? Try the free lite version. It doesn't offer multiplayer, but I guarantee it'll get you hooked.
• Mancala: FS5 Faster-moving than chess but no less fun, Mancala is one of my all-time favorite two-player games. This version makes it a snap to find and join an online game. The only downside: jerks who abandon the game when they start losing. (Don't be that guy!) Mancala: FS5 costs $1.99, but even the ad-supported freebie version supports multiplayer.
• Raging Thunder Racing games can get old in a hurry. As any self-respecting Klingon might say, there is no honor in defeating AI-controlled opponents. (No fun, either.) Raging Thunder lets you race against up to three live drivers in arcade-style competition. If you find yourself tiring of Asphalt 4, Real Racing, and the like, you owe it to yourself to try this.
• Robocalypse A real-time strategy game in the tradition of Starcraft, the hilarious and incredibly polished Robocalypse is actually a Nintendo DS port. Online multiplayer--for up to four players--is just icing on this 99-cent cake. (That's a temporary sale price, by the way.) Even the free lite version lets you sample the multiplayer action.
• Uno The classic card game gets a classy iPhone treatment, complete with online multiplayer. It's $4.99--less than you'd pay for a real deck.