Category: Apple

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iPhone App of the Week – Keynote Remote

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I give presentations all the time and while I’m not a big fan of slides, when I do have to give a slide presentation Apple’s Keynote is my app of choice. Prior to my iPhone I used to use Salling Clicker on my Palm Treo 650 to remote control my slides via Bluetooth. I do miss that one aspect of my old phone. As you know, I’m a big fan of Apple’s “Remote” app that allows you to control your iTunes app or Apple TV via your iPhone or iPod touch. The app is very well done and feature complete. So needless to say, I just figured that when Apple announced that they were releasing another Remote app that allowed you to remote control your Keynote ’09 presentations, it would be just as good.

 

Basic Functionality

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The Keynote Remote app pairs with your iPhone/iPod touch and your Mac running Keynote ’09 via Wi-Fi. So both your iPhone and Mac need to be on the same Wi-Fi network. That in and of itself could be an issue depending upon your presentation venue (more on this later). Once you have the two paired you can open a Keynote presentation on your Mac and then start playing it on your iPhone. Once Keynote is in “Play” mode you can see the current slide right on the iPhone’s screen including your speaker notes. To advance to the next slide you swipe your finger across the screen. You can also go back to the previous slide. There is a few second delay from the time the slide appears on the big screen until it appears on your iPhone’s screen. That’s about it!

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My slides displaying on the iPhone complete with the speaker notes that were keyed into Keynote.

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What’s missing?

Although this app does what it advertises, there is so much more that it could do. The first thing that I missed was a configurable slide/presentation timer. In other words, I’d like to see how much time I have left while doing my presentation. I’d like to configure a 10 minute and 5 minute warning beep or vibrate. While I appreciate the coolness of a finger swipe to advance slides, it would be more practical to have a large forward/back onscreen overlay button. If your thumb is at the top of the screen it would advance the slides forward, if it’s at the bottom, it would go back a slide. These are simple fixes that Apple can add. However, the big thing is that this App works over Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth. Bluetooth is such a natural fit for this kind of app. Granted the range wouldn’t be as good, but there’s no reason why the app couldn’t work over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Since it only works over Wi-Fi this means that you would either need to have a Wi-Fi connection in your presentation venue OR you would need to setup an ad-hoc network between your Mac and iPhone. Another concern that presenters shouldn’t have to worry about. Although the app allows for controlling your presentation in portrait or landscape orientation of your iPhone, you have to set it in the preferences. I would have expected Apple to take advantage of the accelerometer and simply allow you to tilt your iPhone to change the orientation.

 

The Bottom Line

The Remote app for iTunes/Apple TV sets the bar for remote apps on the iPhone! Unfortunately, the Keynote Remote app doesn’t live up to this standard. I was also stunned that Apple charged 99¢ for this app. Considering that Remote is a FREE app and the Keynote Remote app requires Keynote ’09, you would think it would just be included in iWork ’09 or FREE. With these limits, you might be wondering WHY would I name this app, App of the Week? I chose this app because it does work, but more importantly it does have potential! The things that it needs (with the exception of Bluetooth control) are easily added! If Apple quickly follows up with a 1.1 update that adds the things I listed above, then this app would kick butt. Luckily this isn’t the only app that allows you to remote control a Keynote presentation. The favorite seems to be “Stage Hand.” $7.99

Apple’s Keynote Remote app is compatible with iPhone and iPod touch and of course requires a Mac running Keynote ’09. You can check out Keynote Remote here on the App Store for 99¢.

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iTunes Store going DRM Free!

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Apple’s “one more thing” during the Phil Shiller keynote at Macworld Expo was that the iTunes store (which has 10 million songs) will go completely DRM (Digital Rights Management) free by the end of the quarter. This means that the digital copy protection on the individual tracks won’t be there any more.

 

What does this mean?

Apple calls their DRM free tracks iTunes Plus. At first Apple charged 30¢ more for iTunes Plus tracks. They were $1.29 vs. 99¢. Once Amazon launched their store of all DRM free MP3’s, iTunes dropped their price for iTunes Plus to 99¢ to be competitive. Apple’s iTunes Plus tracks are also encoded at a higher bitrate. The tracks are encoded at 256k instead of 128k AAC files. Since the tracks don’t have DRM they are also compatible with other devices besides iPods and iPhones. iTunes tracks that have DRM can only be played on up to 5 different computers you own. If they are iTunes Plus then there is no restriction.

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So I can now share all my music with my friends?

Well NO! Technically there won’t be a physical restriction anymore, but that doesn’t mean that these songs aren’t still copyrighted. I think what the music industry is finally getting through their heads is that DRM really punishes the honest people. People that are going to violate copyright and share songs are going to do it anyway. DRM doesn’t prevent theft. There are several workarounds. If you think about it Audio CDs don’t have any DRM on them. You can buy an audio CD, rip it and share the tracks (illegally). So why does the music you buy from an online store have DRM?

 

What about the songs I’ve already purchased from iTunes?

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When Apple originally came out with iTunes Plus they also offered the ability to upgrade your existing purchased tracks (based on availability) for 30¢ a track. This made sense at first because it was just the difference in price between the 99¢ and $1.29 that they were charging for DRM vs DRM Free. However, now that they’ve lowered the price to 99¢ for their iTunes Plus tracks you might wonder why do we still have to pay 30¢ for the upgrades. Apple has never really said why they still charge an upgrade price. My guess is that you’re still getting a higher quality track (256 vs 128 bitrate), and of course there’s the cost of bandwidth to download all those songs (which are bigger files). 

 

The cost of upgrading – sucks!

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Upgrading is totally OPTIONAL! You do NOT have to upgrade unless you want to. However, if you do decide to upgrade it’s all or nothing. Apple doesn’t let you pick and choose which of your tracks you want to upgrade and which ones you don’t. This kinda sucks! The reason it sucks is because you may have bought songs over the years that you really don’t care that much about anymore (that “Spice Girls Christmas Album” sounded like such a great idea at the time 🙂 ). However, in order to upgrade the songs you do care about, you’ve got to upgrade them all. My initial iTunes Plus upgrade cost me $135.57! The reason I say “initial upgrade” is because Apple is hard at work converting re-ripping tracks every day. So the first batch I upgraded included only 489 of my over 1,800 purchased tracks. As Apple gets more tracks converted to iTunes Plus, I’ll be able to upgrade again. 

 

Variable Pricing Model

Apple also gave in on the “one price fits all” model. So now songs will vary in price from $69-$1.29. The record labels have wanted this for some time now and it was probably a compromise in getting the labels to give up on DRM.

 

More drive space

Keep in mind that iTunes Plus tracks are going to be larger! This is because they are encoded at a higher quality bitrate (better sounding). While that’s not really a concern for me on my computer, I’m quickly finding out that it can cause problems on your iPod. Suddenly you could be in a situation that the same songs/playlists no longer fit on your existing iPod. You may have to do some pruning of your playlists in order to fit these larger tracks on your existing iPod/iPhone.

 

The Bottom Line

I’ll be happy to be DRM free! It will mean that I’ll get to use my music purchases in more places and on more devices without having to think about it. I wish that Apple was more flexible on the upgrade pricing/options, but it is still a choice and you don’t have to upgrade at all. All new songs/music videos you purchase will already be DRM free. Now if only Hollywood would learn from this, the world would be a much happier place.

Lastly don’t forget to BACK IT UP! One hard drive crash and all your purchased music could be gone. So backup your hard drive on a regular basis!

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New iPod/iPhone, Old Speaker System, not charging?

If you have an iPhone 3g, 2nd gen iPod touch or 4th gen iPod nano, you may have noticed an issue with plugging them into your older speaker system. As I understand it, the newest crop of iPhones and iPods no longer allow charging over the Firewire pin in the standard 30 pin iPod connector found on hundreds of iPod accessories out there. They now only charge via the USB powered pin in the same 30 pin connector.

I first noticed this problem with my iPhone 3g. I noticed it didn’t work with the integrated iPod connection in my car. I could plug it in and play music through the car’s speakers, but the iPhone wouldn’t charge. Buy a new car? Not today! Some car manufacturers started offering a newer cable to correct the problem. Rather than wait for a new cable to be produced for my car, I was lucky to find out about the passPORT by Scosche.

 

passPORT to the rescue

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The passPORT is an adapter that goes between your car’s cable and your iPhone/iPod. Since older iPods and iPhones can be charged over USB too, this adapter is backwards compatible. There’s really not much more to say about it. You plug it in and it works. Your iPhone 3g and newer iPods will now charge via your older cable. The adapter goes for $29.99. Amazon has it for $27.99. The price seems a little high, but it’s a lot cheaper than a new car 🙂

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What about your speaker system?

If you spent good money for an iPod speaker system, then chances are you want to keep using it. However, if you bought your speaker system a while back, then you may be facing the same issue I did above. Your older speaker system may not charge or work properly with your newer iPhone 3g or iPod. While I was at Macworld Expo, I stopped by the Scosche booth while I was at Macworld Expo to buy a second passPORT for my new EOS Wireless Speaker system (a review on that is coming). Although this speaker system is not that old, it’s old enough not to work properly with the new iPhone 3g or iPods. When I got to the Scosche booth I saw a display on the wall for their new passPORT Dock product.

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This adapter is designed specifically for the Universal Dock connector found in most speaker systems. As a matter of fact even Apple’s own (now discontinued) Apple iPod Hi-Fi system. When this system was being sold it retailed for $399. If you spent $400 on an iPod Hi-Fi, then you probably want to keep using it with your new iPod or iPhone 3g. Same goes for the original Bose SoundDock ($299). 

The passPORT Dock is a $40 adapter that sits right in your speaker’s universal dock connector. It sits up about an inch and has it’s own Universal Dock on top which will accept the standard Apple dock inserts that ship with the various iPods and are available for the iPhone. The passPORT dock comes in either white or black to match your speaker system. Again, I think $40 is a little pricey, but considering what you may have spent for your speaker system $40 is not much to keep using it with your newer iPhone/iPod.

You can order the passPORT Dock directly from their site.

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iPhone App of the Week – Amazon Mobile

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You may have noticed that I’m a fan of Amazon.com. I use Amazon quite a bit for my shopping needs. I like them because they are basically a one-stop-shop for just about anything. The prices are usually competitive and they have been very dependable for me. Now I’ve never tried to return anything or reach customer service, so your mileage my vary.

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Needless to say, when I saw that they had an iPhone app, I had to check it out. The Amazon Mobile app is a iPhone/iPod touch version of the store. You can search, price compare and even order all right from your iPhone. I actually used it to order my Logitech Playstation 3 Bluetooth keyboard. It was so convenient because of Amazon’s 1-click feature. I didn’t have to enter any credit card or shipping info. So far, nothing too exciting right?

 

An Amazing New Way to Shop

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Take a picture of the item you’re interested in! That’s right! Your iPhone has a built-in camera, so you can take pictures of stuff. Hidden in the Amazon Mobile app is a feature that allows you to take a picture of an item and have Amazon figure out what it is and therefore how much it costs. The reason that I say this feature is hidden is because it’s tucked away under the “Remembers” button. I’m not sure why they call this feature “Remembers” and I would have NEVER thought to look there for it.

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How well does it work?

Like I said you snap a picture of the item you want and that’s pretty much it. Once you snap the picture and confirm it, it is automatically uploaded to Amazon.com. I have to image that a human on the other end (probably under paid and in a 3rd world country) figures out what the picture is and then replies with a  link to the actual item (provided that Amazon carries it). Although one of mine was so far off that it may not be a human after all. Now they don’t claim to be 100% accurate. As a matter of fact they claim to find the “closest match.” My first 3 pictures were of simple things that were already boxed and clearly marked. It got all 3 within reason. Then I gave it more of a challenge by taking pictures of items laying around that I already owned. One of those items was my Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens and what came back wasn’t even close. It wasn’t even a lens. So that makes me think that it may be automated after all.

Out of the six items I threw at it, it got four of them dead on. The two that it got wrong, one was the lens which was not even close and the other was a portable hard drive and it came back with the desktop version. The results are sent back pretty quickly. In my case under 5 minutes (probably closer to 3 minutes). My buddy Dave tried this by taking a shot of something in the Skymall catalog and it came back with the right item. He was floored that it worked with a picture of a picture.

 

How useful is this really?

If you know what you want, then doing simple text search in the app is probably going to be faster and more accurate. However, I’m intrigued by the use of the technology and that’s why it’s my pick this week for the iPhone App of the Week.

Amazon Mobile is a FREE download for the iPhone and iPod touch. You can get it here from the App Store.

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Macworld Expo: 17″ MacBook Pro

One of Apple’s big 3 announcements during the Phil Shiller keynote was the newly redesigned 17″ MacBook Pro. As you know I reviewed the 15″ MacBook Pro earlier and the 17″ has all of those same features but adds a little more…
The one thing that I find very attractive is the ability upgrade the 17″ MacBook Pro to 8GB of RAM!!! That’s unheard of on a laptop. Although I’m still not ready to carry a 17″ laptop again, I find the new very tempting. Apple also allows an “Antiglare screen” option which should make the professionals much happier. The use of a glossy screen has been a point of contention with many users. Although this will be welcomed, the NEW controversy will be the fact that the battery is built-in and not user removable or swappable. Granted the battery life has been drastically improved (Apple is claiming 8 hours!), it will be interesting to see if people buy in to the fact that they can carry an extra battery on long trips or to do work in the field.

Also check out Apple’s other New MacBook:

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

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Macworld Expo: Leave it to Google :)

I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that with thousands of Mac users in town for Macworld Expo, there would also be thousands of iPhones in use! As a matter of fact there are so many iPhones here this week that AT&T’s data network was brought to its knees on Tuesday during and after the keynote. You could make calls, but you could just about forget about using the EDGE or 3G network.

Google is showing how they think ahead by providing an iPhone charging station for up to 8 people to charge their iPhones in the Google booth at a time. Obviously you’re not going to leave your iPhone unattended, so what are you going to do while you wait? Check out the stuff that Google has to offer. Genius!

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Live Coverage of the 2009 Macworld Expo Keynote

Today is Apple’s last Macworld Expo! I’m here live getting ready for the Apple/Phil Shiller Keynote at Macworld Expo. I’m going to attempt live updates from the keynote just like last year. If all goes well you’ll get a blow-by-blow on what’s being announced.

 

 

So if you don’t see the updates above, Click Here to follow the Live Blog starting at 9:00AM PST.

UPDATE: Apple has posted the Keynote Video – Watch it here.

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My Top 10 Favorite iPhone Apps of 2008

While it’s certainly no secret that I’m a fan of the iPhone, I’m starting to become even more of a fan of the amazing 3rd party apps out there for the iPhone (and in most cases for the iPod touch). I currently have 69 3rd party apps installed. I’ve actually downloaded/purchased more than that. However, the 69 ones that I have currently installed are the ones that are my favorites and that I use on a regular basis. Each week I get exposed to more and more new apps and my favorites are always changing. So out of those 69, which are my absolute favorites? Which ones can’t I live without? If the iPhone was suddenly limited to only 10 3rd party apps, which would I keep? Here are my Top 10 Favorite iPhone Apps of 2008:

 

#1 i.TV

FREE

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Although this was already a great app when I first reviewed it, it just keeps getting better. The latest update practically eliminated two other apps I was using and added a feature that I’ve been waiting for since day one and that’s the ability to remotely schedule my TiVo HD to record shows from anywhere I happen to be. i.TV is a TV listing, Movie listing, Netflix queue manager (search for a movie and you can either see the show times for it or add it to your Netflix queue), and now TiVo scheduler all it one! It’s an amazing app and it’s FREE (yes, it does display ads). 

Download

 

#2 Remote

FREE

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Remote is one of Apple’s apps. This App turns your iPhone/iPod touch into a Wi-Fi remote for iTunes running on your Mac or PC and your Apple TV. Change songs, switch playlists, control which Airtunes speakers the music will play from and even use the iPhone’s keyboard when you need to type things on the Apple TV like passwords, searches, etc. Very well done and definitely one of my favorites.

Download

 

#3 Say Who-Dialer

FREE

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I’ve tried to use various voice recognition technology through the years and most of it has been a disaster when it comes to recognizing MY voice. However, Say Who-Dialer does an amazing job in letting me say the name of the person I want to dial AND the particular number for that contact I want. ie. “Bruce Mandel Mobile”. It’s gets it right 99% of the time for me.

Download

 

#4 AroundMe

FREE

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I’m not sure how I missed this one earlier. AroundMe is one of those location based apps that tells you (by category) what’s near your current location. Need the closest coffee shop, bank, gas station, etc. While that’s not really too amazing, this one does one thing that I haven’t seen in the rest. It actually has a feature that I’m shocked Apple hasn’t done yet as a separate app. It will tell you where your closest Apple Store is. This is a GREAT app for travelers!

Download

 

#5 Accuweather

FREE

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If you’ve been following my “iPhone App of the Week” posts each Friday, then you know that this was last week’s pick. It is by far the best weather App I’ve used to date! I’ve even moved it to the main Home screen in place of Apple’s Weather App.

Download

 

#6  Mobile Banking

FREE

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If you’re a Bank of America customer, then this app is a MUST HAVE. Not only does it let me check my balances of all my BOA accounts, but it lets me transfer funds and even find the closest BOA ATM or branch. I hate paying ATM fees!

Download

 

#7 ToDo

$9.99

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I’ve tried the free ones and others that cost too and my favorite task manager is “ToDo”. I like it because the UI is simple, yet powerful. It has all the features I want in a task manager without being overly complex. It works the way I do. I rely on this app all the time.

Download

 

#8 SuperBall 2

$1.99

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I have a few games on my iPhone and it was really a toss up between this one and my Blackjack game. However, SuperBall 2 for me has been the most addictive and once I finished the free version, I had to have more! With this game, I’m never bored when I have to stand in a line or have some time to kill.

Download

 

#9 Facebook

FREE

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I’ve been dabbling in social networking this year and have settled on Facebook to keep tabs on friends and family. So having a native Facebook app on my iPhone is very nice. This app now in its second major release has been great. There is one major thing missing though. While it’s easy to see photos, upload photos, see/write on your friend’s wall(s), etc., the one thing that seems to be missing is the ability to send a friend request right from the iPhone. I find this to be odd. I can accept friend requests, but can’t initiate them. On more than one occasion I have been standing with friends only to discover that they are on Facebook and have to wait to I get back to my computer to add them. Otherwise, it’s a great app and if you use Facebook, it’s a must!

Download

 

#10 BigTipper

$1.99

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A tip calculator? Is this really necessary and wow, it cost money? Necessary? probably not. However, I just love the way that this one is designed. I’m a sucker for a well thought out UI and on those occasions when I’m not going to tip 20%, it’s great to have. I use this all the time. It’s the best one I’ve seen to date.

Download

 

Missing in Action!

We saw a lot of progress in less than 6 months time! Although I have a lot of favorite iPhone apps, there was one that I was hoping for that we didn’t see in 2008 and that was a native Slingbox App for the iPhone. Nor did we see a native Sirius/XM radio app. Of course I’d like to see the iPhone itself updated with Cut/Copy/Paste, Flash, MMS messaging, video recording and more. Hopefully we’ll see these things and more in 2009! Happy New Year!

 

Also be sure to check out Time Magazine’s Top 10 iPhone apps of 2008. We clearly have different tastes 🙂

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iPhone App of the Week – AccuWeather

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Another weather app? What’s my obsession with weather apps?

With all the bad weather we’ve been having this week I’m using my NEW favorite weather app more than ever. Yes it wasn’t long ago that I named MyWeather Mobile as the iPhone App of the Week. After that I got hooked on The Weather Channel app. Now I’m absolutely in love with Accuweather.

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Why AccuWeather?

Why not just use the built-in Weather App that’s already included with the iPhone and iPod touch. Anyone that lives or travels near/to snow will identify with what I’m about to say. The built-in Weather App is simply inadequate. Sure it will give the the expected high and low tempurature for the day and even tell me that it’s going to snow or rain, etc. However, what it doesn’t tell me is WHEN? and HOW MUCH? Simply seeing a little icon for Saturday that shows snow is meaningless. I need to know if it’s going to be 1 inch or 12 inches. I travel often, so up to the minute winter weather issue is critical! Now, if you live in, let’s say Florida or Hawaii where the weather is pretty constant, then you probably don’t need this level of information.

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AccuWeather is a full featured weather app. In my opinion it’s got the best UI (user interface) of all the ones I’ve tried to date including the one that I paid for (MyWeather Mobile). AccuWeather not only can give me a much more detailed forecast including hourly forecasts, but it can even show me a video of the most recent weather report for my area. Very slick! Very very slick indeed! Of course it’s location based like the others and you can save your favorite locations. You can also see an animated radar weather map. The Risk screen shows you exactly what’s likely to happen whether it be Thunder Storms, Rain, Snow, Ice, Wind, or Fog. 

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AccuWeather starts off with a very well designed display of the current conditions. This also includes a nice background photo representing what it’s doing outside right now. Cloudy, Clear, Raining, etc. I not only get to see the current temperature, but also the wind chill factor (feels like). 

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The Bottom Line

There are several weather apps out there. Some are free, some cost $, however, AccuWeather is by far the best designed one and most stable one I’ve seen and used to date. Best of all it’s FREE! You can download AccuWeather for the iPhone and iPod touch here from the App Store.

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Be sure to check back next Friday for my “Top 10 iPhone Apps of 2008”. Of course I think you already know what one of them will be. 🙂 Some come back and see the other 9.

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iPhone App of the Week – iWant

There are quite a few iPhone apps that try to be your one stop shop for all the businesses around you that you may want to go to. While I have tried many of them, for some reason I keep coming back to iWant. iWant is a location based app that allows you to quickly find the closest restaurants, bars, cafes, grocery stores, drug stores, clothing stores, movie theaters/show times, hotels, department stores, banks, gas stations and car rental places.

 

How well does it work?

The interface is quite simple. Nice big icons that cover each of the above categories. Once you tap a category it will start to display all of the businesses around your current location based on the category you tapped on. It seems to do a pretty good job of finding just about every business I could think of around me in each given category except for the banks. There are three Bank of America banks nearby and it didn’t list any of them. There is a Comerica bank about a block away and it didn’t find that one either. Not sure if there is some brand preference going on or not, but it doesn’t find every business in every category. Even with this shortfall I still like it as I’ve found the same limitation in the other apps I’ve tried as well.

 

A couple of added benefits

Once you tap on a business, you get to see the address and of course the phone number which you can tap to dial. You also get to see it on the built-in Google Map app for easy directions to if from where you are. The Action menu at the bottom of the screen allows you to email your current location to anyone you like and it will automatically generate a link with your coordinates. This is cool when you are unfamiliar with the area and you’re trying to explain where you are. You also have a built-in option to email the developer. I wish more apps included this ability. You can also easily control the search radius with a slider.

 

The Bottom Line

It’s hard to go wrong with this app. It’s easy to use, it’s fast and best of all it’s FREE! Download it from the App Store now.