TLA Systems, the developers of
PCalc RPN Calculator for the iPhone and iPod touch, have decided to take a
tongue-in-cheek approach to Apple's mostly controversial app approval process to gain a little publicity for their most recent update, and it seems to have worked perfectly.
TLA Systems recently updated their feature-rich calculator app
PCalc RPN Calculator to v1.8. The update adds tons of new features and now includes a money saving coupon for the desktop version of the software. That's all fine and dandy, but this is simply a calculator app, a niche market, so the developers chose to promote it in an amusing way while also allowing us to remember how lowbrow humor went a long way back in the day.
Remember when you used calculators for non-mathematical purposes? C'mon, you know, like when you inputted numbers in a specific order and flipped the calculator upside down to create words. Like 5318008? Or even the more controversial 3104558? Well, TLA Systems wanted to make sure that their app didn't run into any trouble during the app approval process, so they decided to have the app block out these dirty words when flipped upside down by displaying a large "Censored!" over the top. No harm, no foul, and there is no way Apple would have a problem with it now.
Of course this was all done as a joke to market the app since there are already calculator apps that actually do display these "dirty" words when flipped upside down, such as
Calc Zero, but it is somewhat refreshing to see a developer take a more humorous approach to the approval process.
Now if only I could remember more of these calculator words of years past so I could do more "research" and test the apps censoring ability.
