Regina Lizik
Articles by Regina Lizik
Set healthy goals with iHydrate
Despite the numerous studies about how drinking more water keeps us focused and energized and does things like help us fight off colds and stave off migraines, most of us fail at drinking the recommended eight glasses of water a day. iHydrate, US$1.99 in the App Store, helps you to get your daily 64 ounces through reminders and goal setting techniques. Before you start tracking your beverage intake, iHydrate asks you simple questions about your sex, age and weight so that it can set your water intake for each day. The app set my daily intake to 80 ounces of water. This seemed a bit ambitious to me, so, with the custom setting option, I reset it to 64 ounces. While iHydrate's goal is for you to drink more water, you can enter in any type of beverage. There are options for water, milk, soda, coffee, tea, juice, plus energy and sports drinks. Each of these is associated with a color so that you can track how much of each beverage you drink. Simply click on your drink of choice and enter in the amount of ounces to add it to your daily tally. Ounces are the default measurement, but you can change this to milliliters in the settings. Once you've added the drink, it shows up in the pie chart and iHydrate tells you how many ounces you have left for the day. The only flaw in this app is that it does not account for the variations in hydration levels of beverage types. When you drink a cup of coffee, the app counts that toward your daily 64 ounces of water. If the app's goal is hydration, then a diuretic like coffee shouldn't count the same as water. The more coffee you drink, the more water you need to consume to offset coffee's negative effects. The app should increase your recommended daily water intake based on how much coffee, tea or soda you drink. Maybe that will end up in a future update. Still, the pie chart clues you in to how much of your fluid intake is actually good for you. That's important for those of us who don't realize how much we subsist on coffee and soda. There is a reminder feature, which I never used because the idea of the app itself was motivation enough. You can set as many reminders as you need and make them recurring to help you build healthy habits. Other than the one flaw mentioned above, iHydrate is a great app that I plan to keep using. It's perfect for anyone who wants to make a small change that will have a big impact on their overall health.
Store It is a wishlist app that falls short of its potential
Store It, free in the App Store, has the potential to be more powerful than other wishlist and gift apps on the market. It has a great concept, but isn't so great in execution. You add items to your list by searching websites with the in-app browser, scanning a barcode or uploading a photo. This is in stark contrast with Instalist, an app I reviewed a few weeks ago, which only gives you a non-searchable selection of items from Amazon. With the free version, you can create two lists with up to eight items each. For US$0.99, you can build 50 lists with a maximum of 150 items per list. Search for items on the web via Google or go directly to your preferred sites by adding them to the "favorite retailers" section. You select your item by clicking on the "add new item" button at the bottom of the screen. Store It only pulls the image from the website. You have to add the name and price of the item. It would be nice if this information was automatic, the way that it is with Amazon's wishlist button. If the image doesn't show up for some reason, the app lets you take a screenshot of the product that you want. You can include notes with each item on your list for things like the size and color of the item or whether it's a must-have gift. You can also create lists for other people. I used Store It to keep track of the gift ideas I had for people on my holiday shopping list. Store-It connects with Pricegrabber to give you price comparisons. This is a cool idea, but you don't always get targeted results. For instance, I received price comparisons on iPad Mini cases alongside actual iPad Minis. There are a few quirks to the app. There are default websites included in the "favorite retailers" section, like Apple, Amazon and Pricegrabber. Even though I'm in the US, they are all UK sites. Likewise, the price on each item in your wishlist is in euros. Oddly, you can set the currency for the comparisons on Pricegrabber, but that has zero impact everything else. Store-It also has one big limitation: You cannot email a full list to anyone, however you can share individual items via social media. The point of a wishlist is to keep everything that you want in one place to make it easy for the people who are shopping for you. Why create a wishlist app that doesn't let you share your entire list? This feature is supposedly forthcoming, but I question why the developer released this app with such a critical piece missing. The option to build your lists online or offline make Store It a strong app conceptually, but until the developer adds more sharing features and cleans up some of the quirks, it's not going to live up to its potential.
Zen out with Oceen's relaxing sounds and guided meditations
Oceen, free with in-app purchases, has all of the tranquil sounds that you expect with a relaxation app, plus guided relaxations to set your mind at ease. Only one guided meditation is available with the free version, which is disappointing. The App Store is saturated with relaxation apps and the meditation feature is what makes this worth the download. It would be nice to see at least two more guided relaxations available for free. The free "short break" relaxation walks you through the basics of meditation. I should note that the developers make a point of saying the relaxations are not the same as meditations, but as a 15 year practitioner of yoga, I can't tell the difference. There are 13 meditations available for purchase with prices that range anywhere from US$5.99 to $9.99. The length of each varies; some are a few minutes, while others are roughly 20 minutes. For $49.99, you can buy a yearly subscription that unlocks all of the app's relaxations and features. Each meditation comes with a free demo allowing you to try it out before you buy it. This almost makes up for the lack of free full mediations. Some of the demos are around three minutes in length, so you can get some of the benefit without purchasing the full relaxation. Oceen comes with only four relaxing sound. You can layer these sounds with the guided relaxations or listen to them on their own. I like this feature. It adds an extra dimension to the relaxation process and helps to cancel out any noisy distractions. In addition, you get four videos for free that also layer with the sounds and relaxations. There is a video of the sea, the beach, a fire and also one of sitting ducks – which I guess is relaxing to some people. I always find the videos associated with these apps to be a bit pointless. While I may want to listen to music or white noise in my downtime, I've never found staring at an image of water on my iPhone to be particularly tranquil. I'd rather the developer ditch the videos in the free version and add on more meditations and sounds. You do not need to purchase the full version of the app to unlock all of the sounds and videos. You can access all of them when you purchase an individual guided relaxation. For the most part, the app's effectiveness depends on whether or not you enjoy the voice of the meditation coach, Gwen Hoffman. That comes down to personal preference. I wasn't that impressed, but maybe you will be. As a free app, there's not much to Oceen. To get the full effect, you'll need to spring for some, if not all, of the in-app purchases.
Tell everyone what you want for Christmas with Instalist
Without wishlists, your holidays will be full of gifts that you don't like but are forced to say that you love so that you don't offend your loved ones. Instalist, free in the App Store, attempts to avoid holiday gift-giving debacles. You pick the items you want and then send the list to your friends and family via SMS, email, Twitter or Facebook. The app is fun to use, but not very practical. It's based on Tinder's concept of swiping right to like and left to dislike. This makes it easy to use, but creates several drawbacks. There were a few times where I had gotten into the habit of swiping left and accidentally disliked an item that I wanted to put on my list. While you can remove items from your list, you cannot undo a dislike. Another negative is that you cannot search for subcategories. Everything is a random mashup of items. If you know you want a pair of jeans, you may have to swipe through dozens of items before even one pair shows up, and it probably won't be a pair that you like. This makes the app a bit of a waste of time. Then again, if you're bored and feel like doing something mindless, Instalist isn't a bad way to kill some time and possibly find some interesting gift ideas. All of Instalist's items come from Amazon. There are the standard categories of toys, clothes and gadgets, but it also has a large selection of books, both Kindle and paper. Books often get left off of lists like these. As an avid reader, I was glad to see so many of them pop up in my recommendations. There were some movie selections, but they did not show up often. Unfortunately, no home décor items popped up, neither did any shoes. I'd like to see the developer add those. There were a few kitchen items, like coffee makers and other small appliances, but not much else. There are some customization options. You can view gender specific gifts, or view gifts for both men and women. You can also omit all toys from your search, shop only for toys or include them along with the rest of your items. I first tried out the app with both genders and all toys selected. Then I switched to only women and toys. I wanted to see if Instalist would still give me the same tech and toy recommendations as it would if I included men. It did. If you're like me, you know how frustrating it is to click on "gifts for women" and discover that there is zero tech, comic book or gaming related merchandise. Major kudos goes to the developer for giving me tons of tech items and accessories, plus plenty of dresses and the like. Special thanks for giving young girls a range of toy options from Barbie to LEGOs and even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (Of course, some of the LEGOs went on my list, too.) I am so happy to see an app avoid gender gift-giving stereotypes. Instalist is worth downloading for that reason alone. But, if you're looking to create a comprehensive wishlist to send to your friends and family, you would be better off creating a regular Amazon wishlist.
Remind yourself to get things done with Air Tasks
Air Tasks is a free gesture-based app for the iPad or iPhone that's perfect for those of you who take a minimalist approach to your to-do list. In the sea of productivity apps in the App Store, Air Tasks gestures are the only thing that make the app stand out. The gestures make adding tasks fast and easy, which is important when you are trying to get things done. It does a little while to get used to the gestures, but once you've got them down they become second nature. You create a new task by swiping downward or simply tapping on the screen. You modify the task by various swipes to the right or left. Don't make one big, quick swipe to either side. The gestures on Air Task are subtle. Make a small swipe to the right to mark the task as done. Clear completed tasks from your list by swiping up. Swipe even further to set a due date. Go even more to the right to set a specific time that you want to complete the task. The repeat feature on this screen does not turn the task into a recurring one. Instead it repeats the notification every minute after the time that the task is due until you mark the task as done. If you want to delegate the task, swipe all the way to the right. Air Tasks assigns the task to one of your contacts. Once you've delegated the task, you can access that person's contact card by tapping on the icon to the left. This feature is nice for parents who want to keep track of their kids' chores. It's also great if you need a reminder to call or email someone. Assign them to the item and instantly pull up their information when you're ready to contact them. You can delete a task with your first swipe to the right. Set the task as recurring with a bigger swipe to the right. This feature is only available as an in-app purchase. I usually don't mind in-app purchases, but this is one feature that should be free. Recurring tasks is standard in almost all to-do list apps. Why make this in-app purchase when you can get this feature for free on a multitude of other apps? Air Tasks has other features that are probably worth the in-app purchase: An archive of your tasks and the ability to create subtasks. The archive helps you track your productivity and the subtasks keep you even more organized. I wish I could tell you how much the in-app purchases cost, but every time I tried to access them I received an error message that the app couldn't connect to the App Store. I did not have this problem with other apps, so it's definitely a bug the developer needs to fix. Pinch the screen to access the app's settings, which has some extra reminder features and the option to change to a dark theme. I usually prefer lighter themes, but in this case, I think the darker one is better. The free version of the Air Tasks is nice but doesn't offer anything special, unless you are a devout fan of gestures – which I know some people are. The in-app purchases of subtasks and an archive might be worth it – but until the developer fixes the bug there's no way to know for sure.
Make sense of expenses and spending habits with MonSense
If you want a money management app that's a step above basic, but not overly complicated, Monsense is a great choice. Available on all iOS devices, Monsense gives you a lot of room for customization, but also lays the groundwork for tracking expenses. You have the option to create multiple accounts, though you probably won't need that many. The term "accounts" can be a bit misleading, because Monsense does not connect directly with your bank account. Instead, these accounts refer to how you categorize your funds. You can have accounts for work, home, travel or anything else you'd like. Within each account, there are preexisting categories such as beverage, bills, food, fuel, groceries, home, etc... Click on a category and then add the corresponding transaction. This keeps things organized and helps you to track where you spend your money. To add an expense, tap the plus sign at the top of the home screen. Choose your account, your category, enter a name for your expense, the amount and you're done. Y For recurring expenses, select the weekly, monthly or yearly option and then key in the due date. Future expenses show up in the red pending bar at the top of the screen. Click on the bar to view all of your pending expenses. Swipe left to edit, delete or mark the expense as paid. To make sure that you don't forget to pay a bill, Monsense syncs with your calendar and notifies you when an item is due. The only comment I have regarding recurring expenses is that it would be nice if there was a daily option – especially for those of us with a predictable coffee habit. The best part about Monsense is how it tracks your spending habits. Click on "patterns" in the menu bar and you'll see a weekly, monthly or yearly pie chart showing you where you spend your money. View all of your transactions in one chart, or scroll through each category to see its specific percentage. Here's where things don't make a lot of sense: Monsense lets you export beautifully detailed charts and graphs to a pdf file (there is an Excel option, as well). However, you need to flip over to the export screen to view them. Only the pie chart is available in the patterns section. Really, all of the charts and graphs should be available in one place from which you can easily export the information. Another thing, unless you are using an iPad, you can't read anything but the pie chart. All of the other graphs are too small to decipher. There really should be a way to view these in-app without having to export them. Monsense is more of an expense app than a budget app, but you can enter your income, the same way that you would an expense, and then easily determine how much money you have left to spend. I like Monsense, but it does need a few improvements. Still, for US$0.99, it's simple approach to money management might be just what you need.
Beautifully chronicle and share your life with StoryPress
On the surface, StoryPress looks like any other photo journal app, but its unique mix of audio, visual and written storytelling is far more captivating. The oral traditions of storytelling are a lost art. These days, we tell all of our stories on social media, pictures and texts. While I'd rather converse on Twitter than anywhere else, something is always lost in translation when you can't hear someone's intonation. You miss out on some of the "heart" of the story. That's where StoryPress comes in. It blends the best of both worlds. It captures the spirit of oral storytelling and puts it in a digital package. Available for the iPad, iPhone and also on the web, the app lets you share every aspect of your life, not just what's happening right now. Reflect on your childhood or college years. Chronicle parenthood, travels or holidays. Recount milestones and funny moments. Use the app as a diary, so that you never forget those small, but important, moments. To help you tell your stories, there are templates called story guides. Each story guide prompts you with a different set of questions. Every question represents a chapter in your story. Some of these questions can get pretty personal. The "living bio" template asks you about your relationships with your immediate and extended families. How close are you? Do you like each other? Are holidays fraught with fighting? Okay, it may not ask that last question, but you get the idea. There are also questions about your spiritual beliefs and personal philosophies. This might seem like a turn off, but it's the point of the app. It wants to create a full picture of who you are and how you've lived your life. If you're using it to catalog deeply personal events, StoryPress gives you new way to get introspective and reflect on your life. You don't have to get personal. Record significant or funny moments, like marathons, weddings or simple get-togethers. To get started, select a story guide topic. Tag each chapter with "who," "where" and "when." Then, upload a photo or video. Next, click the microphone button and start telling your tale. When you are done answering one question, swipe to the left to reveal the next one. You do not have to answer every question in a story guide. It's up to you how much information you want to share. If you don't find any of the guides relevant or helpful, you have the option to create a custom story. While you don't make typical status updates, StoryPress is a social media app. You follow people just as you do on any other network. However, there is a "private" option so that you don't have to share every story with your followers. If you did want to give a Twitter or Facebook-like update, you'd have to create a new chapter and record your status. Not everyone is going to like this app. Recording yourself telling a story can be awkward for a lot of people, myself included. Despite that fact, I really love StoryPress. By verbally telling your story, you add layers of context to key events and memories. If you want a fun, beautiful and unique way to chronicle your life, you need to give StoryPress a try.
Ochra Light promises ambient lighting but doesn't deliver
Let's talk theory, because Ochra Light, free with ads and available on all iOS devices, is great in theory. It adds an extra layer to standard white noise relaxation apps by using color therapy. As the name suggests, the colored light aspect should be the app's primary feature, but it is completely useless. Ochra Light should light up your room with one of four color palettes - red, blue, yellow and green. These colors cycle through various shades and intensities while you listen to white noise. You can choose to apply one of 4 patterns to add dimension to the light the app emits. Given these features, you expect the app to cast ambient patterned lighting around your room, or at the very least in part of your room. Otherwise, what's the point? Unfortunately, the light is so dim that it barely reflects on the wall of a pitch-black room, even when you put your phone close to the wall. And you can forget about seeing the pattern. This fault is not lost on the developer who suggests placing a water bottle, sans label, on top of your phone to disperse the light. I did not test this method because I have an aversion to using my iPhone as a coaster. I imagine you do too. The sound options on Ochra Light are basic, but nice. You have rain, forest, bonfire and sea. As with similar apps, there is a sleep timer. There is a 30-minute interval option, which is good for people who use the pomodoro productivity method. You can set the timer and change the sound by swiping right or left respectively. However, to change the color or pattern, you need to go back to the app's home screen. It takes seconds, but a more seamless approach would provide a better experience. Another drawback is that you cannot pause the sound. If you want to stop it for any reason, you must go back to the home screen and then go through the process of selecting your color, pattern and sound all over again. This is yet another misstep. With all of the other white noise apps out there, Ochra Light isn't worth the download.
Stay organized and creative with the free version of NoteLedge
The NoteLedge iPad app, free in the App Store with in-app purchases, is built around inspiring creativity, not staying organized. Of course, it's great for that too. Unfortunately, NoteLedge gives a bad first impression. It immediately prompts you to sign up for the developer's Kdan cloud service so that you can sync your data across all of your devices. While this is not necessary to use the app, these kinds of pop-ups are extremely annoying and bad UX. On the subject of cloud backup, you need to upgrade to the paid version to sync with Box, Dropbox, Google Docs or other cloud services. The free app only comes with one basic notebook cover. You must purchase any additional covers from the NoteLedge store. This is a bit of a drawback, but not necessarily a deal breaker. Enough about the negatives, let's talk about what works: I love the look of NoteLedge. It mimics the look of a leather bound notebook. If you are hesitant to move from a traditional notebook to a digital one, this might be the app that you've been waiting for. There are 15 different types of paper to choose from. These give you everything from a variety of lined pages, to graph options, as well as templates for things like agendas. It comes with six different writing tools, but more are available to buy. The default tools are sufficient for the average user. Only power users or artists will want to add more. If you would rather use your keyboard for traditional note-taking, you have 12 font options to work with. Additionally, there are four e-card pages available. Most apps go too far into cutesy territory with things like this. NoteLedge keeps it simple. Plus, there are ten seasonal backgrounds for Halloween inspired notes. All of these elements prove that your imagination is in the driver's seat here. You can add almost anything to your notes. Create tables, add photos, record or import videos and add audio files. As an added bonus, there's a photo editor so you can crop images and add filters. Not to mention that you can use the app solely for sketching or drawing. My favorite part of NoteLedge is its navigator. From here, you can copy selections from your note and easily move them around. The best part is the in-app browser that makes copying text or adding screenshots to your notes incredibly easy. This feature is really great if you have notebooks for recipes or home decorating, but there are endless possibilities. It also has a magnifier for close-up writing or drawing. For those of you who like to have a lot of notebooks, you'll like the calendar view which lets you find notes based on their date. Despite some of my issues with it, NoteLedge does have some cool features. If you are new to note-taking apps, give it a try. If you already use an app like Evernote for organizing your life, the free version probably is not worth the switch.
Elegently manage your ideas with ClipUp
ClipUp is one of the many apps that takes a page from Pinterest's design and concept, but it has much more to offer in the way of functionality. You have everything you need to manage your ideas, plans and to-dos. Upload photos, take notes, link to websites or maps, record audio or take a video. Your first thought when you see an app like this is that it was made for the Pinterest set, but it wasn't. It was designed for journalists to keep track of their research. That should clue you in on the limitless possibilities you have here. Make a list of blog ideas and record some of your thoughts with the voice recorder. Create daily boards that work like a diary with your thoughts and photos or video of what you did that day. If you're an artist, real estate agent or party planner, use ClipUp like a portfolio. Show your boards to clients for a stunning presentation of your work. It's worth noting that if you're going to go this route, having an iPad makes for a more impressive presentation, but the iPhone will do in a pinch. And of course, there are the obvious choices for boards like party planning, recipes, home decorating or digital scrapbooking. I experimented by creating a simple to-do board. I took advantage of the photo option and used a picture of my desk to remind me that I need to organize it and I snapped a picture of my shiba so that I won't forget to take him on a long walk. Plus, I wrote a shopping list and recorded ideas for my next blog post. All of this makes for a visually interesting to-do list. The reminder feature is a huge selling point for me. It almost makes this a candidate for an everyday to-do app. I say almost because you can only set reminders for boards, not individual items within a board. This is a shame, because it would be nice to assign due dates to items. This an important feature, no matter what you use ClipUp for. Hopefully, they'll add this to a future update. I deleted items when I completed them, though it would be great if there was an option to flag completed items. You can share individual items from your boards on Facebook or Twitter. Unfortunately, you cannot share entire boards. A web app is in the works, so this may be a feature that the developer will implement down the line. A few more things to note: ClipUp has a photo editor, so you can add frames, stickers and effects to your pictures. Also, I love the look of the app. It's simple, bright and beautiful. Another nice touch, you don't scroll through each item on your board. Instead, you flip through them like you would a book. ClipUp is free in the App Store, but it has a two board limit. The paid version, which is US$4.99, gives you an unlimited amount of boards to work with. If you want a unique way to manage your ideas, skip the trial app and opt for the full-fledged version of ClipUp.
Never forget important events with Birthday Board Premium
Let's be honest with ourselves. We'd forget 90% of our loved ones' birthdays if it wasn't for Facebook. If you are like me and you don't check Facebook every day, you're probably still forgetting 50% them. Birthday Board Premium, US$1.99 in the App Store for iOS 6 or later, leaves you no excuse to forget them ever again. Birthday Board takes its design cues from the wooden perpetual calendars that are all the rage on Etsy right now. I've always found those to be clunky and a bit useless, but this, this is awesome. It could not be any simpler to use. All you do is import birthdays from Facebook or your contacts. You can add birthdays manually, as well. If you'd like, create additional boards to track events like weddings or anniversaries. You can also make boards for specific birthdays – one for family, one for coworkers, etc. Set reminders, up to a week before the event, so that you know when a birthday is coming up. There are different sound options for these alerts, which is nice. I also like that you can set the reminder to go off at a specific time of day. I never remember things if I'm reminded in the morning, but setting a reminder around lunchtime ensures that I'll take a moment to send a note or make a phone call. Birthday Board makes wishing someone a happy birthday a breeze. When you click on an event symbol, a pop-up appears with more information. This links you to the person's Facebook page so that you can write on their wall or create an e-card or video message. It also tells you the person's astrological sign. If their birthday isn't for a while, click on the hourglass in the center to see a countdown of how many days are left until the event. There are a lot of customization options available. You have 5 different themes (flat, photos and glass are pictured above) and six different color options for each. I'm crazy about this feature because anything that allows me to color-code is fantastic. I've set different themes and colors for my various event boards. Add more customization with the six different badge shape options and use different badges for family members, friends, coworkers or classmates. There is a free version available with in-app purchases, but I suggest going for the full version of Birthday Board.
Thesaurus is a simple app for quick reference
Reference apps don't get much simpler than Thesaurus. The app, which requires iOS 7 and is US$0.99 in the App Store, does exactly what it says it does: provide you with synonyms – and nothing else. This minimalist approach definitely has its drawbacks. However, there are still things to like about it. The color scheme is refreshing and bright. As someone who stares at a white screen writing copy for most of my day, I appreciated the pops of color and clean interface. When you search for a synonym, you get a variety of options, some of which are really outside of the box. Unfortunately, there are not always a lot of words from which to choose. It certainly does not offer the broad scope of alternate word choices available in Dictionary.com's Dictionary and Thesaurus combo app. You can click on one of the synonyms to open up more words. But just as above, your choices are extremely limited and sometimes non-existent. For instance, if you click on "gaud," you get the exact same synonyms you get for "novelty." This isn't like Visual Thesaurus, which really digs deep into the English language to find the exact word that you need. The lack of synonyms won't affect most users, but the lack of definitions might be a major hindrance. People often look for synonyms to help them further understand the meaning of a word. If you don't know the exact definition of a synonym, Thesaurus won't help you in that regard. It ditches definitions in favor of its simplistic approach. If the app is going to throw out words like "gewgaw," it really should tell you what they mean. (In case you are wondering, gewgaw means "a showy thing.") Plus, not all synonyms can be used in the same context. You can say "mustaches are a novelty right now," but you wouldn't say "mustaches are a bauble." You need definitions for clarity. Thesaurus also lacks an in-depth look at the word itself. Similar apps have information on the origin of the word. This may seem extraneous to some, but if you are suffering from writer's block, things like this help to spur your creativity. As a writer, I need layers of options. This app looks nice, especially compared to Dictionary.com's cluttered appearance, but it is not robust enough for a serious wordsmith. Of course, not everyone is a writer. Most people do not need or want a complicated reference app with a lot of features. If that's the case for you, then you'll probably love Thesaurus.
Polynumial teaches you to count in over 50 languages
Polynumial, free with ads in the App Store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, is a bare bones language app that focuses only on learning numbers. While the app itself doesn't do a lot, it's packed with 60 languages, which is far more than most language apps. Unfortunately, the variety of languages is all Polynumial has going for itself. The app teaches you how to count in another language. You'll also learn the proper spelling of those numbers. However, that's all it teaches you. Other than dazzling your friends at parties, when is it practical to know only how to count in a foreign language? Numbers won't help you hold a conversation when you are in another country. Polynumial is extremely basic, so it's easy to use. There are two different modes to help you learn the numbers. One is by entering the numbers via a number pad, which they call "calculator mode." In this mode you can learn decimals and negative numbers. The "odometer mode" gives you a simple scroll option. Again, there is nothing revolutionary here. There is a "drill mode" that tests your progress. This has a flashcard feel to it. You see a random number, guess how to say it and then tap the screen to see if you have guessed correctly. Enabling Speak Selection on your device is crucial here. That's the only way you will learn how to pronounce the numbers. There's an obvious problem here in that Speak Selection doesn't sound like an actual human. You miss out on the inflection and pronunciation quirks of some languages. It's hard to categorize this as a feature of Polynumial because it does not function in any way that's truly beneficial. Plus, it also does not work for all languages the app offers. You can change the look of the app with one of the six themes, three of which are pictured above. None of them are particularly appealing. They only add to the overall boring feel. There's not much to this app, but I could see it having a benefit for kids. It could lay the groundwork for higher-level language learning. For adults, however, Polynumial offers little beyond novelty. You're better off with Duolingo.
Add beauty and personality to your photos with InstaTxtr
Everyone loves Instagram, but its features are limited. InstaTxtr gives your photos a boost with its fun filters, overlays and text options. InstaTxtr, which works on all iOS devices running 5.1.1 or later, is free in the App Store with an in-app purchase of US$1.99 that gives you over 100 additional features. If you don't want to pay for more overlays, frames and filters, you can share the app on Twitter or Facebook to unlock selected options. Upgrading isn't necessary, as the free version offers a lot, like 24 picture frames that you can pair with any filter or overlay. You can customize the color and transparency of every frame, which is really nice. Some of the frames are a bit too cute for me, but they'll be a hit with a lot of people. There's a customizable square-ready frame to help you optimize your photos for Instagram. InstaTxtr has 13 preset cropping tools, as well. Thirty-four photo filters come with the free version. Many of these are similar to Instagram filters, you just get way more options here. I used the "tea time" filter in the left image. There are some novelty ones, like the "wonders" filter in the image on the right. The upgrade contains about 80 more tone, color and glow filters. In addition to the filters, you get 28 free light-leak overlays, with a variety of effects similar to the two above. You can change the intensity and color of these overlays. There are 24 more overlays in the upgrade. If that's not enough, you can adjust for brightness, clarity, saturation, contrast, exposure, gamma, vibrancy, vignette, etc... As the name suggests, InstaTxtr lets you put text on your photos. There are a variety of fonts, though some are difficult to read and not at all optimal for the task. The feature is simple to use. Pinch to increase or decrease the font size and drag the text box to position it. Once you commit to a placement, you're stuck with it. You can't move it around later if you decide you don't like it. Overall, InstaTxtr is easy to use and does a decent job jazzing up your pictures. It's definitely not for photography geeks, but it is a great way to add special touches to your photos.
White Noise HQ brings you customized focus and relaxation
There are a lot of white noise apps available in the App Store, but this one is by far the most robust. Available in both a free and a paid version for the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, White Noise HQ is packed with sounds and customization features. In general, most free apps come with extremely limited features. Even paid versions of similar apps contain only different variations of the same sounds, such as water, crickets, etc... White Noise isn't like that. The free version has 25 sounds that include everything from nature to household sounds and industrial machinery. There are also three different "noise" sounds: white, pink and brown. You can create custom mixes of up to six sounds. Create different mixes for meditation, relaxation and motivation. Another thing, Phase4 Mobile didn't just design White Noise to help you sleep. It's also built to free you from distracts and improve your productivity. There's a timer with very specific preset intervals. If you use the Pomodoro method of productivity, you'll love this for timing your tasks. Those of you who want the timer for sleep will be happy to hear that the audio fades out before shutting off. There's no sudden stopping of the noise to wake you up. My favorite feature is when you mix the white noise sounds with other apps, like Audible. Flip over to the settings panel and enable "mix with other apps." This lets White Noise run in the background while other audio apps are active. I spent some time this weekend listening to the new Lev Grossman novel with the sounds of a train in the background. Audiobooks themselves don't do much to drown out noise. Pairing Audible with White Noise helps. There is a caveat here, your audiobook and White Noise play at the same volume. You have to choose your sounds carefully. For instance, the indoor fan noise is quite loud and made it impossible for me to hear the narrator. Surprisingly, the Russian passenger train (yes, that's really a sound on here) was the perfect background for the book. Have a little fun experimenting and see which sounds compliment the mood of the book to which you are listening. Another nice thing about the free app: It's gorgeous. The high-resolution images of beautiful locations are enough to relax you. It does have ads, but they are relatively unobtrusive. If you are annoyed by the ads, you can spend the US$0.99 for the upgrade, which is labeled White Noise HQ. In addition to being ad-free, you'll get 75 sounds, instead of the 25 that come with the free version. Most of these sounds are redundant, which makes the paid version a lot more like all of its competitors. Does a creek in Texas really sound that different from a creek in a forest? Not to me. Still, there is some variety here, like the vacuum cleaner and industrial heat pump options. The best sound is the virtual space wind. The blizzard one is not bad either. Despite the lack of ads and the wider sound choices, I'm not sure that the upgrade is worth it. Yes, you are only spending $0.99, but the free app gives you plenty of options. Plus, the paid version only comes with six sounds installed. You have to manually download any other sounds that you want. It only takes seconds per sound, but it was enough to annoy me. For those of you who cannot stand ads or really need a wider selection of sounds, then spring for the paid version, otherwise, stick with the free app.
Smiley Alarm Clock is how the selfie generation wakes up
Capitalizing on the selfie craze, the Smiley Alarm Clock aims to start your morning off with a smile. Unfortunately, the app, which requires iOS 7.1 and works on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, leads to frustration and general annoyance. The concept is simple. When the alarm goes off you grab your phone and pose for a morning selfie. In theory, the app snaps a photo and the alarm turns off when it detects your smile. Once Smiley Alarm Clock takes your photo you can share the picture on Instagram or Facebook. Undoubtedly you'll include the hashtag #iwokeuplike this, or something similar. But who wants to take a picture of their morning face, let alone share it with the world? Not me. You couldn't even pay me to do it, as is evident by the loads of makeup I'm wearing in these pictures. I'm sure there are people who do this under the safety of Instagram filters, but Smiley Alarm Clock has zero filters to hide the bags under your eyes. Beyond the problematic concept, there are two major flaws with the app itself. You'll notice that I used the phrase "in theory" earlier and that's because the app doesn't do what it says it does. I spent a full 60 seconds smiling my face off and the app never took a photo and never shut off the alarm. You can manually shut off the alarm, but then what's the point of the app? This happened more than once, leaving me extremely frustrated. I tested this out in the afternoon; pretty sure it would've left me enraged had this happened at 7am. The second flaw is somewhat amusing but mostly annoying. You would think that the app would take your photo when your face is positioned nicely in the center of the screen and you look awesome. Nope. I took about 15 test shots and all but two of them turned out decently. A few of them only captured my forehead and eyes because the app didn't wait for me to position my phone correctly. Considering the camera is supposed to be triggered by a smile, those were pretty odd photos for it to take. Most of the time, I had to move my phone around randomly until it took a picture. These were the most unflattering pictures ever and were taken from very weird angles. They will never see the light of day. I wouldn't be surprised if the developer is deliberately trolling us here. Oh, and you don't even have to smile for it to work. Incidentally, this image sums up exactly how I feel about this app. When you're already not a morning person, the last thing you want is to fake a smile and pretend you don't hate how you look when you haven't had your first cup of coffee. However, if you are really into how you look in the morning, Smiley Alarm Clock is available for free in the App Store with an in-app purchase for extra alarm sounds.
Fudget uncomplicates money management
Fudget, currently free in the App Store and available for both the iPhone and the iPad running iOS 7.0 or later, is built for simplicity. This isn't an app that's loaded with features. It's streamlined and focused on taking the complications out of managing your money. To be blunt, I thought I would hate this app. I need visuals like charts and graphs showing me how and where I'm spending my money –- or I thought I needed them. After only a few minutes of playing around with Fudget, I started to question how much value there is in those charts. To me, Fudget's less-is-more approach is a Zen-like take on managing your money. You start off by creating an individual "fudget" (budget). There's no limit as to how many fudgets you can make or what you use them for. Creating monthly or weekly fudgets is the obvious choice, and daily budgets can help you tighten your wallet even further. There are no pre-populated expenses or expense categories. Everything is entirely up to you. If you have more important things to spend your money on than paying your bills, no problem. Swipe to the left to delete or star an entry. Starred entries will recur on all subsequent fudgets. This is important if you're tracking monthly budgets. Where Fudget really shines is that it lets you get creative with how you track your money. Make the most of the app by budgeting for specific tasks. Manage your money for a vacation or business trip. Allocate a fudget for business lunches or dinners. Keep track of back to school expenses or Christmas shopping. If you are like me and you're really into Halloween, it's probably a good idea to create a fudget for that too. I may have given away my top secret Halloween costume, but at least you can see that, despite its limited features, the uses for this app are endless. It's a bit weird to say that Fudget takes the stress out of managing your money, but that's exactly what it does. It doesn't yell at you when you spend too much money on movie tickets and it doesn't monitor your spending patterns in fancy charts and graphs. It's not that those charts don't have their place, but if you already know how to be responsible with your money on a general basis, you probably don't need them. However, if you do require a more robust budget app, try something like Pocket Expense. In a sea of complicated personal finance apps, Fudget's no-fuss approach to money management is a welcome change.
Qwingle is a calendar app built for families and teens
Qwingle, which requires iOS 7 and is available on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, is a family focused calendar app that might be just the thing you need to manage back to school schedules. First off, this app is designed to be basic, fun and visually appealing. Its main focus is tracking social events. Think of Qwingle like one of those family planning wall calendars with cute stickers and brightly colored labels. If you are a visual person, like me, you'll appreciate the color-coded categories and icons, as a lot of calendars don't have this. There's an option to filter events by category, as well. As far as contact management goes, you can sort your contacts into groups. There are suggested group names, but it's possible to edit them based on your needs. The default groups will clue you in on the type of person who would get the most out of Qwingle. There are some interesting social features. There's a status update option, similar to standard social networks. You can share these updates, as well as events, on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. People in a group can comment and like an event or status within Qwingle. All of this combined with the option to upload photos to events and status updates, makes the app function like a social diary. If you want an event to be visible to only yourself or a specific group, set it to private. Only those invited will see it. A few other things to note: When you add an event location, Qwingle links you to directions and a weather forecast. Plus, there are special offers for nearby restaurants, theaters, accommodations and other attractions. A big drawback here is that your contacts must also use the app. Because of this, only a very specific subset of people will use it. There will be a lot of individuals who won't want to bother with another calendar. That being said, Qwingle is great for busy families who need to stay in touch and keep track of each other's schedules. Since it's back to school season, managing everyone's time while you get back into the groove of things is a juggling act. The social features allow you to communicate with your kids when you change your schedule. Likewise, they can let you know their afterschool plans. Sure you can text, but it's nice having schedules and related conversations all in one place. Even if you have another calendar app like Tempo to keep track of your professional life, adding a family focused calendar to your productivity arsenal might be useful in maintaining your sanity. The app will also appeal to teens and college age kids who want organize and share their plans with a select group of friends. Qwingle can become something of an exclusive inner circle secret. The social sharing aspect is an added bonus. For the average person, Qwingle doesn't give you any reason to use it. But that's okay. It's not built for everyone. It's for a very specific demographic. Yet, even within the sphere of family centric calendars, Qwingle's social features likely aren't enough to make it more attractive than other options, like Cozi. Still, Qwingle is free, so it's worth the test drive, especially during the back to school rush.
Panik is an assault alert app with social integration
Currently free, with in-app purchases, the Panik assault alarm app goes beyond the standard alerts and offers layers of security to keep you safe. Panik works on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch running iOS 7.0 or later. It would be great if we lived in a world where we could walk home at 2 AM and not worry about anything, but we don't. Everyone needs an assault alarm app on their phone, especially if you live in a city and frequently travel by foot or public transportation. You may already have an alarm app, but it likely has limited options. Most apps blare a loud noise and maybe send a few SMS messages, like Attack Alarm SMS. Panik is different. When you open the app, the first thing that you see is an alarm button. You have three options here, flashing lights, a loud siren or both. For added protection, you can set a pin lock to prevent your attacker from shutting off the alarm. I can't say enough about this feature. Most people in cities will ignore a loud alarm if it only lasts a few seconds. The pin lock makes sure that people pay attention. Smartly, Panik has a shake to activate feature, because who has time to swipe an alarm on when they're being attacked? The key here is to have the app open on your phone and have your phone accessible. As someone who's lived in both New York and New Orleans, you should always keep your phone within reach when you are out. You need to draw attention to your situation quickly, you can't be fumbling with your phone. There's also a flashlight, and most importantly, an S.O.S. button. When you push it, your phone will automatically dial the number of your choice. Panik defaults this number to 911. You can change it, but your best bet is to leave it. None of the above are particularly revolutionary, so here's what Panik has that other alarm apps don't - social integration. Connect the app with your Facebook and Twitter accounts, type in a distress message (or use the default message) and Panik will post that message plus your current location when you activate the app. Like I mentioned above, there are apps that send SMS alerts to a few individuals, but Panik widens that reach to hundreds of people. This app does have an SMS feature, but there is a drawback. With iOS you can't automatically send SMS messages. You have to manually hit send. This can cost you precious time and be downright impossible to do if you are being attacked. Given this restriction, the social aspect of Panik is invaluable. The social integration feature, including SMS, is a US$0.99 purchase. A very small price to pay for your personal safety.