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TUAW Best of 2011 wrap-up and editor picks
It's January 6th, 2012, and today marks the end of the TUAW Best of 2011 awards. This was a massive undertaking, with 25 separate categories all requiring their own nominations and voting from our readers. We've learned some lessons for next year's event -- start earlier, watch for astroturfing in the nominations, drop some unpopular categories -- and the Best of 2012 will be even better. The editorial staff here at TUAW agreed with many of the reader picks, but we had our own opinions on some others. We want to thank all of the thousands of TUAW readers who took time to consider their favorite accessories and apps, nominate them for an award, and then vote in the competition. Without further ado, here's the full list of winners as well as our picks for the TUAW Best of 2011: Mac Categories in the TUAW Best of 2011 Best Mac Hardware from Apple: 13" MacBook Air Editor picks: 13" and 11" MacBook Air, 13" MacBook Pro Best Mac Peripheral or Accessory: OWC Data Doubler and OWC Mercury 6G SSD Editor picks: Magic Trackpad, OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD Best Mac Utility App: Alfred Editor picks: Growl, 1Password, Grand Perspective Best Mac Productivity App: Evernote Editor picks: OmniFocus, Scrivener, Evernote Best Mac Game App: Machinarium Editor picks: Civilization V, Full Deck Solitaire Best Mac Music App: Reaper Editor picks: Simplify, Rdio, djay, Capo, GarageBand, iTunes Best Mac Photo App: Flare Editor picks: Pixelmator, Aperture, Adobe PhotoShop, FotoMagico Best Mac Video App: Final Cut Pro X Editor picks: Wirecast, Video Monkey iPhone Categories in the TUAW Best of 2011 Best iPhone Accessory: Apple TV (2nd Generation) Editor picks: Mophie Juice Pack Air, Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation, iChair Best iPhone Game App: Jetpack Joyride Editor picks: iMAME, Infinity Blade 2, Mage Gauntlet, Dungeon Raid, Jetpack Joyride Best iPhone Photo App: 360 Panorama Editor picks: Camera+, Instagram Best iPhone Video App: iMovie Editor picks: FiLMiC Pro, Reeli Best iPhone Social Networking App: Tweetbot Editor picks: Tweetbot, Instagram, Twitter Best iPhone Productivity App: Dropbox Editor picks: Siri, CardMunch, CalenGoo, OmniFocus, Mint, 2Do, Reminders Best iPhone Utility App: 1Password Pro Editor picks: LastPass, Groceries, Grocery IQ, Find My Friends, 1Password Pro, TripIt Best iPhone Navigation App: Navigon Editor picks: Navigon, Waze, MotionX GPS Drive Best iPhone Music App: Spotify Editor picks: Guitar Toolkit, Radio Paradise, Pandora, Shoutcast, Rdio iPad Categories in the TUAW Best of 2011 Best iPad Case: DODOcase Editor picks: Apple Smart Cover, AViiQ Smart Case,Twelve South BookBook, ModulR System, OtterBox Defender Best iPad Accessory: BubCap Editor picks: Apple TV, iCade, Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation Best iPad Game App: Osmos for iPad Editor picks: Battleship, Anomaly Warzone Earth HD, Jetpack Joyride, Sword & Sworcery, Scribblenauts Redux Best iPad Photography App: flickr hd Editor picks: iStopMotion for iPad, Photogene, PhotoSync, Snapseed, iMovie Best iPad Social Networking App: Skype for iPad Editor picks: Twitter, FaceTime, Skype, Zite Best iPad Productivity App: OmniFocus for iPad Editor picks: OmniFocus for iPad, 2Do, Pages, Pocket Informant HD, Evernote Best iPad Utility App: 1Password Pro Editor picks: AirPort Utility, Skitch, Air Display, Codea Best iPad Music App: GarageBand Editor picks: Planetary, 5-0 Radio HD
Garage Band: TUAW Best of 2011 for iPad music apps
It's been a long haul, but we've finally come to the end of the TUAW Best of 2011. The last category in which readers nominated their favorites and then voted for the top five finishers was iPad music apps. This was a huge category -- music apps cover the landscape from applications that turn the tablet into a musical instrument to apps that make it easier to organize and listen to your music. The winner was Apple's Garage Band (US$4.99), grabbing 44.1 percent of reader votes. Garage Band, of course, started life as a Mac music app. But it has really come into its own as an inexpensive iOS app, allowing musicians and would-be musicians of all ages to create and record their own music. Smart Instruments and pre-recorded loops make it possible for anyone with an iPad to generate professional-sounding music. What was the runner-up? Tango Remote Control Media Player HD ($4.99), an amazing app that can "wirelessly control music and video between iPads, iPhones and iPod touches." With one device connected to a stereo or TV, you can use another as a powerful remote with multiple playlist support, audio and video scrubbing, and more. Congratulations to Apple's software team for winning the TUAW Best of 2011 award for the best iPad music app of the year.
OmniFocus gains TUAW Best of 2011 award for iPad productivity app
"What? I thought you already named a winner for the TUAW Best of 2011 in the iPad productivity app category!" Yes, yes we did. But there were some nomination and voting irregularities, not to mention that a number of TUAW readers let us know that our previously named winner had some serious issues. As a result, we're doing the right thing and giving the crown to its rightful owner -- OmniFocus for iPad (US$39.99). Not only did OmniFocus for iPad capture 26.9 percent of the reader votes fair and square, but the app has garnered a 4.5 out of 5 star rating on the App Store with almost 1,100 ratings over several versions. It's been a favorite of many of our bloggers as well, and received a nice writeup by Erica Sadun when it first arrived on the scene in 2010. Belated congratulations to Omni Group for their win for a stellar product.
1Password Pro grabs the TUAW Best of 2011 iPad utility app award
The latest TUAW Best of 2011 award should come as no surprise, particularly since the winner also topped the iPhone utility app voting. 1Password Pro (US$14.99) was voted by TUAW readers as the best iPad utility app of 2011, pulling in a whopping 56.6 percent of the votes. Why has this app captured the attention of TUAW readers? It's because 1Password works consistently on all platforms, keeps information securely stashed away, and is constantly being updated to stay in tune with OS upgrades and provide new functionality. The runner-up, in a distant second place with 17.1 percent of the votes, was Apple's own AirPort Utility (free). It's a very useful tool for anyone who owns an Apple AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express. Congratulations to the AgileBits team for their cross-platform wins with 1Password Pro, and stay tuned tomorrow as the TUAW editors pick their cream of the 2011 crop.
Skype for iPad: TUAW Best of 2011 iPad social networking app
While the voting in this category of the TUAW Best of 2011 wasn't exactly overwhelming, the readers have spoken -- Skype for iPad (free) was voted the best iPad social networking app for the year. Since the introduction of the iPad 2 with its built-in cameras, Skype for iPad has made it possible to make bi-directional video calls from the tablet with excellent sound quality and a host of other features. The app pulled in 42.9 percent of reader votes, topping second-place winners (both tied with 20.8 percent of the vote) IntoNow and Twitter client Echofon. Skype for iPad has a number of features that aren't available with Apple's own FaceTime app, including the ability to send and receive phone calls to and from landlines or mobile phones. Our congratulations go out to the Skype Software S.a.r.l team for their continued work on improving and optimizing Skype for iPad.
Polls re-opened for voting: Best iPad productivity app of 2011
There's a saying that "to err is human -- to really screw up, you need a computer." Well, put a human and a computer together and you're likely to have a real problem. Sure enough, nobody caught the fact that we left the voting poll off of the post for the Best iPad productivity app of 2011, so we ended up with zero votes except for those that were sent to us as comments. To be fair, we're re-opening the polls. Here's the text from the post the other day describing the nominees: TUAW is asking for your votes for the best iPad productivity app of 2011. This category pulled in the largest number of nominations so far in the Best of 2011, with two apps surprising the staff here at TUAW with the number of nominations they grabbed -- "Universal Translator" app Communilator Pro (US$2.99, also available in a free version) and Virtual Office Pro ($4.99). The other nominees are: Pocket Informant HD ($14.99) OmniFocus for iPad ($39.99) GoodReader for iPad ($4.99) You have a couple of days to vote, and the winners will be announced on January 4, 2012. Let the voting begin! %Poll-72431%
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for your favorite iPad music app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! At last, we've come to the final category for TUAW Best of 2011 voting. We'd like your votes for the best iPad music app of 2011. There were a lot of nominees in this TUAW Best of 2011 category, but the finalists were: Party Playlist HD (US$3.99) -- referred to as the "Ultimate Djay on iPad" Groove for iPad ($3.99) -- creates mixes by studying your listening habits Animoog ($9.99 introductory price) -- From Moog Music, the company that defines electronic music GarageBand ($4.99) -- Apple's easy-to-use music making and recording app Tango Remote HD ($4.99) -- wirelessly control music and video between iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches You have a couple of days to vote, and the winners will be announced on January 6, 2012. Let the voting begin! %Poll-72479%
flickr hd wins TUAW Best of 2011 for iPad photography app
As the TUAW Best of 2011 awards wind down here in the first week of the new year, we're happy to announce the choice of TUAW readers for the best iPad photography app of 2011: flickr hd (US$0.99). It's not a photography tool for editing images; instead, flickr hd is designed for viewing photos that are stored on flickr.com. Whether it's your public flickr photo stream, favorites that you've found on flickr, or a custom search, flickr hd displays pictures in a "photo frame" mode that makes enjoying your photos as easy as putting your iPad on a dock. While flickr hd pulled in 39 percent of reader votes, the amazing Master Your DSLR Camera: A Better Way to Learn Digital Photography ($9.99) was a close second with 32 percent of the votes. Congratulations to flickr hd developer Alan Scully for winning the TUAW Best of 2011 award for iPad photography apps, and to Open Air Publishing for coming in close on the tail of flickr hd.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for your favorite iPad utility app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! Happy New Year, TUAW readers! If you're not struggling with the after-effects of too much partying last night, TUAW would like your votes for the best iPad utility app of 2011. The nominees in our penultimate TUAW Best of 2011 category are: 1Password Pro (US$14.99), the amazing cross-platform app for securely storing all of your important secret information and passwords Presentation Clock ($0.99), a simple but useful app for those who give presentations or do training, to make sure you're on track. Apple's AirPort Utility (free), useful for setting up and maintaining Apple Wi-Fi networks. Photon Flash Web Browser ($4.99), which allows Farmville addicts to get their fixes from an iPad. Living Earth HD ($1.99, currently on sale for $0.99), a beautiful 3D simulation of Earth with world time, weather, and forecasts. You have a couple of days to vote, and the winners will be announced on January 5, 2012. Let the voting begin! %Poll-72451%
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for your favorite iPad productivity app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your votes for the best iPad productivity app of 2011. This category pulled in the largest number of nominations so far in the Best of 2011, with two apps surprising the staff here at TUAW with the number of nominations they grabbed -- "Universal Translator" app Communilator Pro (US$2.99, also available in a free version) and Virtual Office Pro ($0.99). The rest of the nominees are: Pocket Informant HD ($14.99) OmniFocus for iPad ($39.99) GoodReader for iPad ($4.99) You have a couple of days to vote, and the winners will be announced on January 3, 2012. Let the voting begin!
Osmos for iPad: TUAW Best of 2011 game winner
We've got another winner! TUAW readers have spoken, and Osmos for iPad (US$4.99) was voted the best iPad game of 2011. Pulling in 31.1 percent of the votes, Osmos for iPad edged out Words With Friends HD ($0.99), which came in second place with 26.9 percent of votes tallied. Osmos was named iPad Game of the Year by Apple as well, so it's well-deserving of the title. The game is described at "part physics-based eat-'em-up, part ambient, cosmic simulator, and part Darwinistic game of survival." The basic idea of Osmos is to make yourself larger by absorbing smaller motes, but to move you need to eject matter behind you, making yourself smaller. Keeping this balance as you go through the various levels of the game is what makes it so absorbing and ultimately what made it the winner. Congratulations to the folks at Hemisphere Games for winning the TUAW Best of 2011 award for best iPad game.
Nominate your favorite iPad music app for TUAW's Best of 2011
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. This is it! The final category in the TUAW Best of 2011 awards. We're asking for your nominations for the best iPad music app, and since the iPad has been such an outstanding success with musicians and those who love listening to music, this should be a popular category. What's in this category? Apps such as Apple's own GarageBand (US$4.99), algoriddim's awesome djay ($19.99), TuneIn Radio Pro ($0.99), AmpliTube ($19.99) from the musical geniuses at IK Multimedia, and the recently reviewed Air Harp ($0.99) There are thousands of additional iPad apps in the music category, so let us know what you think is deserving of the Best of 2011. Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting starts soon! Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on January 1, 2012.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for your favorite iPad social networking app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your votes for the best iPad social networking app of 2011. Once again, we got only a few nominations in this category, meaning that most readers may use their iPhones more than their iPad for their social networking. In addition, several readers nominated apps that run on the iPad but are not designed specifically for the platform -- they've been disqualified. As a result, I took a quick poll of a number of tech writers and bloggers to get their take on iPad social networking apps. The nominees are: IntoNow, a rather innovative free app that "listens" to what you're watching on TV, and then provides information that is relevant to the show. It also links to Facebook and Twitter, tells you when friends are watching the same show, and more. Echofon (free, also a US$4.99 Pro version), a powerful universal Twitter client. Tapatalk Forum App ($2.99), which works to bring online forums using vBulletin, phpBB, and other systems to iPad users. Skype for iPad (free), which supports not only voice calling but video calls and instant messaging as well. Blogsy ($4.99), probably the most powerful blogging tool for the iPad, supporting WordPress, Blogger, and Posterous. You have a couple of days to vote, and the winners will be announced on January 3, 2012. Let the voting begin! %Poll-72412%
BubCap is the TUAW Best of 2011 iPad accessory
Sometimes it's the little things that count. In our nominations for the best iPad accessories, several readers raved about BubCaps. These inexpensive little Home button covers (4 for US$5) hide the iPad or iPhone Home button to keep your kids from switching to another app and doing something fun like deleting all of your contacts or calling your boss. Apparently, a lot of parents need and use BubCaps, as they topped the reader voting in our TUAW Best of 2011 iPad accessory category. Our resident alpha geekette and mom of three, Erica Sadun, wrote a review of the BubCap solution back in June of 2011. As she notes, each BubCap is a separate sticker that comes in one of three levels of rigidity -- the more rigid, the more difficult it is for tiny fingers to press that Home button. The BubCaps are removable and reusable, and do the job they're designed to do. TUAW readers responded by giving BubCap 46.2 percent of the total votes in this category. Congratulations to Rob Mitchell of Paperclip Robot for winning the TUAW Best of 2011 award for the BubCap and for saving a lot of iPad-owning parents from embarrassment and/or data loss!
Nominate your favorite iPad utility app for TUAW's Best of 2011
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. In the next category for the TUAW Best of 2011 awards, we want to know what you consider to be the top iPad utility app of the year. Before you enter your nomination into the comments at the bottom of this post, please be sure to check that the app you're thinking about is listed in the utilities category in the App Store. What's in this category? Apps like the Photon Flash (US$4.99) and Skyfire ($4.99) Web Browsers, iHandy Calculator HD Pro ($0.99), Living Earth HD ($1.99, on sale for $0.99), Air Display ($9.99), and 1Password Pro (on sale for $8.99). There are thousands of additional apps in the utilities category, so let us know what you think is deserving of the Best of 2011. Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting starts soon! Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 31, 2011.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for your favorite iPad photo app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your votes for the best iPad photo of 2011. We didn't get too many nominations in this category: first, many more readers use their iPhones for photography than they do their iPads, and second, TUAW readers might be getting a bit tired of Best of 2011 posts. Worry not! We're getting close to the end of the TUAW Best of 2011 series with just a few more categories to go. However, we didn't really get enough nominees for iPad video apps to make it a valid category for voting, so photography apps are all you get to vote for. The nominees are: Master Your DSLR Camera (US$9.99), an iPad-based tutorial to move you beyond using your DSLR as an expensive point-and-shoot. Snapseed ($4.99), an excellent iPad-based photo post-processing app. The app also works on the iPhone, but the UI on the iPad app benefits from the extra space. flickr hd ($4.99, on sale for $0.99) is a wonderful way to browse your flickr photos on the iPad. Halftone ($0.99), makes a halftoned comic or postcard out of any of your photos. The app now lets you send physical postcards via Sincerely.com, and just keeps getting better. You have a couple of days to vote, and the winners will be announced on January 2, 2012. Let the voting begin! %Poll-72399%
DODOcase wins TUAW Best of 2011 award for iPad cases
It's official! DODOcase, the San Francisco-based company that started the entire "iPad case that looks like a book" craze shortly after the release of the first iPad, was voted the best iPad case of 2011 by TUAW readers. Almost half of the readers voting (49.4 percent) chose the DODOcase (US$59.95) from a ballot of five excellent iPad cases. DODOcase took a faltering book bindery and turned it into a successful business, cranking out handmade iPad cases that look and feel like hardbound books, with a bamboo wood tray that snugly holds the tablet in place. It's been a favorite of TUAW bloggers and readers alike since April of 2010. The runners-up in this category were the Portenzo cases and ZAGGfolio Keyboard Case, which nearly split the remaining votes. Congratulations to the DODOcase team, and thanks to all of the enthusiastic TUAW readers who nominated and voted for their favorites in the popular category.
Nominate your favorite iPad productivity app for TUAW's Best of 2011
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. In the next category for the TUAW Best of 2011 awards, we want to know what you consider your favorite iPad productivity app. Before you enter your nomination into the comments at the bottom of this post, please be sure to check that the app you're thinking about is listed in the productivity category in the App Store. Some of the top apps in this category include Pages, Penultimate, Notability, GoodReader for iPad, PDF Expert, and Skitch for iPad. But there are thousands of other iPad productivity apps, one of which may be your favorite and a potential winner. It's up to you to tell TUAW about your favorite iPad productivity app. Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting starts soon! Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 30, 2011.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best iPad game
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your votes for the best iPad game of 2011. This was a tough call, as we had a wide spectrum of nominations, all of which are excellent and top-rated games for iPad. There are six nominees in this category: Osmos for iPad (US$4.99), Words With Friends HD ($0.99), Carcassonne ($9.99), The Bard's Tale ($4.99), Army of Darkness Defense HD (free), and Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer ($4.99). And now, let the voting begin! The results will be announced on December 31, 2011. %Poll-72371%
Spotify is TUAW Best of 2011 winner for iPhone music apps
TUAW readers have spoken, and Spotify has grabbed the last iPhone award in the TUAW Best of 2011 voting. The free app (there is a charge for premium access) provides access to over 15 million tracks of music. Considering that Spotify has only been available in the US for six months, the fact that the app pulled in over 56 percent of the votes shows just how popular it is with TUAW readers. The second-place winner, trailing Spotify with only 17.9 percent of the votes, is NanoStudio (US$14.99). While Spotify is an app for consumption of recorded audio, NanoStudio is a musician's dream instrument and recording studio. Congratulations to Spotify for winning the top place in our TUAW Best of 2011 voting for iPhone music apps! This is the last category for iPhone apps and hardware, and tomorrow the results of initial iPad polling begin to appear on TUAW.
