We’ve got iPhone apps on the brain (and in the mag) this month, and here’s another to add to our obsession. The classic kids’ magazine Highlights for Children is taking its popular feature, the Hidden Pictures Game, digital. Much like the original game, kids search for images embedded within illustrations. Unlike the analog version, however, the black-and-white pictures turn to color as each hidden item is uncovered, and a “hint” feature nudges players in the right direction. $1.99 buys a pack of eight puzzles. Let the obsession begin!

It’s a Saturday afternoon. You’ve just attended one of the many events happening around the city with your crew—which you undoubtedly got wind of via Time Out Kids—when the inevitable question arises: What’s next? If you’re facing such a quandary, the new iPhone app iKidNY has you covered. It’s premise is simple: To help NYC parents find what they’re looking for—be it a changing table, a restaurant or an activity. iKidNY can be purchased on iTunes for $2.99. Let us know what you think of it.

Halloween’s still a couple of weeks away, but your tech-savvy kids can get a jump on the creepy and the kooky. A new iPhone app called R.L. Stine’s Haunted House of Sound, which the mega-bestselling “Goosebumps” scribe emailed us personally about (really!), lets you insert more than 150 funny, gross or scary noises into five of the author’s spine-tingling stories. So it’s like “Mad Libs,” but with menacing growls and freaky tunes instead of  non-sequitur nouns and verbs. Bonus: You’ll find reviews of other new iPhone apps for restless fingers in the November issue of Time Out Kids.

It’s every parent’s nightmare: You’re out on the town with your little one when the dreaded statement comes: “I gotta use the potty!” Then begins the lengthy search for a (preferably clean) bathroom. Now you can avoid frantic emergencies with the cool iPhone application Diaroogle, which maps out toilets in Manhattan (other boroughs to follow). You can search by street, zip or even by nearby parks and landmarks, and many of the results offer snapshots taken by locals who have seen the pooping palace firsthand. And with a rating for each porcelain thrown, you’ll always know what to expect (and how much hand sanitizer you’ll need) at each spot.

This isn’t the first time someone has attempted to round up local porcelain thrones: mizpee.com and sitorsquat.com got there first. Which one do you use? Or do you just take your chances?

Yesterday, we reported on the new “BabyShaker” application for the iPhone, and in the past 24 hours the controversy has really started to heat up. Every news outlet and blog seems to be talking about it, and there’s even a Twitter stream of opinions on the tasteless app. About an hour ago, Huffington Post reported that Apple has officially pulled the application from its iTunes store. Though a lot of users are making the case that Apple shouldn’t be the “content police,” I disagree. Someone has to moderate these apps, otherwise these “novelty” programs will water down the overall quality of Apple’s applications–not to mention its reputation.

If you want to get involved, the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation will be holding a news conference this afternoon at 2pm in front of the Apple store in Soho to “demand answers and an apology from Apple and AT&T executives.” Think they’ll get it?

As an Apple devotee, I could ramble for hours about the multibillion dollar company’s kick-ass products and how each one I own has changed my life. (They have, I swear!). But when I hear stories like this, I can’t help but wonder if technology has gone too far. Somehow Steve Jobs approved an application that—no joke here—simulates shaking a baby to death. A sketch of a baby appears on screen, with accompanying crying sounds. Then you shake your phone until the whining ceases and red Xs appear over the baby’s eyes. There are a ton of bizarre apps available, but this one is just plain disturbing. I don’t even want to think about the mind behind its creation. What’s next? Will there be an application to simulate bombing an elementary school? Looks like Apple needs to rework its app approval process, stat.

Ask any kid and he’ll tell you: Daddy’s iPhone is really Junior’s plaything. Well, Papa no longer needs to have a panic attack when he spies his son messing with his cell. This week, LeapFrog launched a line of iPhone apps that cater to the sandbox set. The first of several planned learning games, “Number Rumble” invites 6 to 10-year-olds to shake, tap and spin their way to mathematical mastery on the iPhone. The game opens with a fill-in-the-blank query. Once completed, kids shake the iPhone to move on to the next puzzler. Unlike a real math quiz, though, kids can shake past the questions they don’t know how to answer. Score! The lack of annoying sounds is, forgive me, a plus. I’m well beyond gradeschool and yet I had a blast getting jiggy with it. Education doesn’t come cheap though: LeapFrog is charging $2.99 for the application at the Apple store. On the bright side, your newly numbers-minded kid will be able to figure out how much of his allowance the app eats up.