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5 apps for Diwali
TUAW wishes its Hindu readers - Diwali ki hardik shubhkamnaye. This holiday rejoices in the Inner Light and the underlying reality of all things. In its spirit as the festival of lights, we offer you a special edition of "5 apps for...". Here are an assortment of iOS applications to help celebrate Diwali. Interact with a Diwali diya (free) on your iOS device using swipes and puffs of air. The app provides musical background songs and various styles of ceremonial diya lamps. The $0.99 Diwali Greetings lets you create and share e-mail holiday cards with friends and family Desi Calendar (free) provides a yearly calendar with festival dates and listings for each month full moon (purnima) and new moon (amavasya). Create traditional Diwali sweets ($2.99) using this iOS recipe collection. Celebrate with Diwali Firecrackers ($0.99) with "5 firecrackers and 25 engaging levels" by illuminating the earth with bursting firecrackers. TUAW reader Sunilkumar K. Meena tells us, Diwali is the festival of Laxmi, the Goddess of prosperity and wealth. It is believed that Goddess Laxmi visit everyone during Diwali and brings peace and prosperity to all TUAW reader Raghav Sethi adds that Deepavali (Diwali) is a festival where people from all age groups participate. They light earthen 'diyas' (lamps), decorate the houses, light firecrackers and invite family and friends to feasts. Lighting lamps is a way of praying for health, wealth, knowledge, peace, valor and fame. Shubh Deepavali! Thank you Raghav Sethi and Sunilkumar K. Meena
5 iPhone apps for hiking
Now that the weather is cooling down here in the States, it's time to spend some time outdoors. I love a good hike, and they're made even more enjoyable with a good app by my side. Track distance, brag about your workout or even find a hidden "treasure" during your excursion with these apps. Have fun (all prices are USD). iMapMyHIKE (Free lite version, $1.99 pro) I used iMapMyHIKE all summer. When you start out, launch the app and note your location. As you move, the app tracks your course. It's fun to see where you've traveled as well as build a real-time map back to your starting point, should you get confused. Of course, that's just the beginning. You can share your hiking stats with friends (like distance travelled, pace and so on), spot hiking companions running the app on a map and log your data to keep track of your outdoor workouts. It's a lot of fun and was a good companion this summer. BoxFinder ($1.99) and Geocaching ($99) Here's a two-for-one deal. BoxFinder and Geocaching are apps for letterboxing and geocaching, two similar hunt-and-find games that can enhance any hike. Geocaching is the practice of finding small boxes (often Tupperware containers) that have been hidden at specific geographic coordinates around the world. Each typically contains a log book and other goodies. Letterboxing is similar, but directed at kids. Upon finding a letterbox, the "hunter" marks its logbook with his signature "stamp," while placing the box's stamp in her own log book. Both apps make the adventures much easier and enjoyable. Since the iPhone 4 is a GPS receiver, finding that box is quite easy. Use the coordinates, description and virtual logs left by other "players" to find just what you're looking for. Both apps offer to find boxes within your area and, in my experience, excel at directing you right to them. If you're interested in either of these pastimes, grab these apps. They truly enhance the experience. MyNature Animal Tracks ($6.99) When I was a Boy Scout, I loved making casts of animal tracks we found in the woods. Today my own kids like finding them, too, but I'm out of practice and can't identify them as reliably as I used to. Fortunately, MyNature Animal Tracks is here to help. This great little app features a huge database of animal tracks, both hind and forepaws. When you come across a track, perform a quick search to find what you're looking for. Once you have, the app provides an image of the animal, plus its gate, call and typical range. Best of all, the data is all within the app so it works without an Internet connection -- a likely scenario in the middle of the woods. Star Walk - 5 Stars Astronomy Guide ($2.99) Staying overnight? Then you must have this with you. There are plenty of astronomy apps out there but this one never fails to impress. When pointed at the sky, Star Walk identifies the stars, planets and other heavenly bodies overhead (including satellites!). It's extremely impressive. As you slowly move it across the sky, Star Walk points out what you're looking at. A search feature will guide you to a certain object with an arrow. For example, type "Mars" and the app prompts you to face the right direction. There's also a calendar of celestial events for planning purposes and a red-light "night mode" to preserve your dark vision. It's one of the first apps I use to show off my iPhone (iPad, too). There you have five great apps to accompany you in the great outdoors. One more thing -- grab an environment-resistant case while you're at it. The rivers, streams and hard rocks are pretty, but they don't care a tinker's cuss about your iPhone.
5 apps for the dead
Sometime a wiseacre editor (we have a few) suggests we do a Five Apps post for a particularly offbeat area of interest. And sometimes we actually start brainstorming these. While "Five apps for the lemur owner" isn't likely to hit TUAW any time soon, "Five Apps for the dead" is about to have its day. The last thing you want to worry about (literally) is whether or not your estate is in order. Last Will by Cybermill (US$9.99) provides an interactive legal form (US only) for you to fill out on your iPhone or iPad. Create a last will that details your beneficiaries and other final wishes. The app then uploads your details to Cybermill's servers, where a customized PDF or RTF version of your will is created for you to download. Wills are specific to individual states and regulations vary, so Cybermill recommends that you still have legal counsel review your documents. Frankly, trying to produce your will just on the phone is counterproductive since you still need to deal with the downloaded file eventually. While there was a Mac OS 9 version of Quicken's WillMaker product, the current version is Windows-only; however, you can use Nolo's online will tools to do the same thing. Speaking of your final wishes, for just $2.99 the scarily named PTAJ Marketing will help you understand further details about Estate Planning, helping you to learn what it means to die intestate, what kinds of estate plans are available, and, well "much more." Three dollars isn't that costly, but you can probably get as much information or more from Ye Olde Google, the aforementioned Nolo.com site or even (gasp!) your local public library. The Egyptian Book of the Dead is supposed to help you navigate through the afterlife where your sins will be weighed, compared against a feather, etcetera. You're also going to meet up with Anubis, who -- if you believe the Red Pyramid -- is supposed to be rather hunky. You'll probably not be in any state to appreciate that then, but right now you can appreciate this lovely free companion app to the British Museum exhibition that closed this past March. For those newly dead folk looking to understand what bits aren't working any more, we offer you the Human Anatomy App by Enlightened Games. Retailing for $1.99, this application shows all the wiggly parts under your skin, including "all the major processes and anatomical features of the human body." Finally, we round out this five-app collection with the Arlington Cemetery app. For $6.99, David Berndt introduces "some of the less known and most remarkable stories behind each and every headstone and marker." Full of maps and photographs, it's a way to honor the fallen who rest at this special United States military cemetery by preserving their memories and stories.
5 iOS apps for Tax Day
With roughly a week to go before taxes are due -- the federal deadline is on April 18, and many states have followed suit -- plenty of Americans are scrambling to file before the clock ticks away. We've gone and found five apps that will help you make Tax Day, and waiting for that refund, a bit easier. TurboTax SnapTax (Free, but has in-app purchases): This app from Intuit allows those who are eligible to file with the simple 1040-EZ to do their taxes straight from the iPhone. Snap a photo of your W-2, answer the questions and hit the button to zip your return to the IRS. While the app itself is free, actually filing a return costs $19.99.
5 apps for the conference-goer
Heading off to a conference? Here are five little apps you might want to consider adding to your iPhone before heading off to the airport. They all provide functionality that may come in handy when you're on the go. SpeakerClock ($0.99) provides a bright easy-to-read display showing you exactly how much time you have left to present your paper and take questions. It's a deceptively simple application full of lovely little design touches. I used it at a recent conference and found it an absolutely valuable tool to have around. This app works well both on the iPhone and the iPad -- as a conference organizer, it's really great to use the iPad's larger screen from across the room. As a speaker, the iPhone version works particularly well when placed on a small business card stand on the speaker's podium. Want to easily share your contact information? Contxts offers a simple solution. You can sign up for a free account at contxts.com, where you can enter your details. Anyone with a phone (it doesn't have to be an iPhone) and an SMS plan can text a short phrase (like "demotuaw") to 50500 and they'll receive the information you set up at their website. Their free iPhone app lets you edit that information directly. What's more, when you turn the iPhone on its side, you can display a "HELLO my name is" contact sheet that instructs people how to retrieve your contact data. What's great about Contxts is that it's a solution that works with any group of people, whether they've hopped onto the Apple iPhone train or not (of course, if they have an iPhone or an Android phone, there's always Bump).
5 Apps for leaf-peepers
It's autumn here in the northern hemisphere, and where I live, in New England (and elsewhere around the US too), that brings leaf-peepers. What's a leaf-peeper? It's a tourist, typically from New York or New Jersey, who visits rural New England to observe the beautiful autumn leaves. It's a big deal for us. Each year we New Englanders take a break from eating cranberries, disavowing the Red Sox and pahkig the cah in Harvard yahd to view nightly news reports on peak leaf-viewing projections, which states are changing first and at what rate, etc. Fortunately, there's an app for that. Five, in fact, and here they are. Rest Area If you're traveling from out-of-state, you could encounter unfamiliar highways ... not good when you got to go, if you know what I mean. Is the next rest area 5 miles away or 35? Rest Area [iTunes link] knows the answer. It displays the nearest pit stops as well as what facilities each one has, like bathrooms, vending machines, restaurants, etc. Rest Area costs $0.99US. %Gallery-74446%
5 Apps for the Gastroenterologist
Sometime this summer a wiseacre commenter (we get a few) suggested we do a "Five Apps" for a variety of somewhat offbeat topics. One wasn't so far-fetched however: gastroenterologist. One could say that a gastro doc has about the same needs as any doctor, of course, and that's an easy out. So here are 5 apps that are great for gastroenterologists and possibly any medical specialist... Coming soon: 5 apps for the lemur owner. Epocrates Rx - This free app looks up drugs and is updated weekly. Epocrates [iTunes link] has already been available for other mobile platforms for a while, this is a must-have for physicians, I would think. There's also a Pro version that is designed for medical professionals, and it requires a yearly subscription fee to work. It's $99 for one year, which is pretty reasonable for what this does -- which includes an amazing pill ID tool. DocWrite - Another free app with a service you subscribe to, but this may appeal to more than doctors. DocWrite [iTunes link] is a transcription service that sends your ramblings securely and sends you back a complete transcription in PDF or Word. DocWrite has a web-based dashboard for your stuff, too, so you'll never be without those documents in text or audio. PubSearch - PubMed is a massive database of medical research papers and PubSearch (free version) [iTunes link] is an iPhone app that'll search them. Yes, of course you need a subscription to the database (noticing a trend here?). PubSearch also has a Mac desktop app, although there does not seem to be any coordination between the two. I'd imagine something like sharing bookmarks would be helpful. PubSearch Plus [iTunes link] costs $1.99 and is really the more functional version as it will show full articles and use EZProxy (where supported). Medcalc - A free medical calculator? Yep, Medcalc [iTunes link] includes a ton of formulas for doctors, plus a few indices and charts and whatnot to keep a handy reference for those who need it. This app seems to cover a lot of ground, although I'm not sure how much applies to the field of gastroenterology. Mobile MIM for iPhone and iPod touch - Sadly, this has yet to be released. But I'm guessing it'll be at the top of many doctors' wish lists. MIMvista makes real-deal medical imaging stuff and the MIM app for iPhone was demonstrated at WWDC. The demo was astounding, showing how doctors could merge CT and PET scans right on their iPhone and make notes for later use. The app is pending FDA approval, with no release date or price set.
5 Apps for the weekend warrior
Getting through the work week is hard enough for most of us... but the minute Friday afternoon rolls around, there's a certain breed that face the weekend with a long list of "honey do" projects and household duties. Yes, the weekend warriors need iPhone app love too -- whether to help with those maintenance challenges, or find ways to make the break from the day job a bit more enjoyable. Here's a five app collection just for you, my brothers and sisters in the two-day sprint; enjoy. Weber's On The Grill™ [iTunes link] for iPhone, at $4.99, would seem to be a bit pricey compared to other grill-centric cooking apps selling for $0.99 (dadoo's Grill Guide) or the large number of free and well-regarded cookbook apps on the store (check out Epicurious Recipies & Shopping List, for one). Nevertheless, if you're serious about getting the most out of your grill, the $5 you spend on this app will be well worth it. Weber may be the world's largest grill manufacturer, but the relationship of Weber owners to their grills feels more personal than mass-marketed; in fact, the slightly obsessive and cultish fandom around the Weber brand may seem a wee bit familiar to, uh, owners of a particular company's computers, music players and cellphones. Ahem. The iPhone app takes the Weber customer very seriously, providing a great collection of hundreds of recipes along with grilling technique guides (including videos from chef Jamie Purviance), time and temperature recommendations, a handy shopping list manager, and a convenient cooking timer right in the app. About the only thing that's missing is an optional meat thermometer to plug into the dock connector (which I would totally buy if they made one). %Gallery-70121%
5 Apps (Mac & iPhone) for pilots
People who fly airplanes, either professionally or for fun, are an interesting bunch. When they're not flying, they are usually doing something to keep their skills sharp or to learn something new. This selection of five Mac and iPhone applications is a sampling of what's available for Apple platforms for the very frequent fliers who read TUAW. 1) X-Plane from Laminar Research is not just one application, but a collection of flight simulation programs for Mac and iPhone as well as "those other platforms." If you're just curious about what it takes to fly an airplane, the X-Plane mobile apps for iPhone and iPod touch are a fairly low-cost way to see if you have what it takes to be a pilot. You can actually start for free with X-Plane Trainer [App Store], which provides your iPhone or touch with a Cessna 172 in which you can learn to take off, fly, navigate, and land. X-Plane Trainer also provides you with constant tips, somewhat akin to having your own flight instructor sitting next to you correcting your mistakes. The original X-Plane app for iPhone / iPod touch was X-Plane 9 [App Store, US$9.99], which has six different aircraft and configurable weather and daylight features. Laminar Research has also added X-Plane Airliner [App Store, US$9.99, see screenshot below] for budding airline pilots, X-Plane Extreme [App Store, US$9.99], X-Plane Racing [App Store, multiplayer, US$9.99], and X-Plane Helicopter [App Store, US$9.99]. To make life interesting, Laminar also came out with X-Plane Space Shuttle [App Store, US$1.99] so you can learn how to land an orbiter.
5 Apps for the art lover
I haven't always loved art. During my life, I went through a phase where I think my engineer / logical-brain kicked the artist brain out of the nest. Now my wife and I are avid art collectors, and I'm writing this while on our annual tour of Santa Fe, New Mexico art galleries. The picture above is a panorama taken on August 6th from the Santa Fe Opera House using the outstanding Pano app for iPhone. As part of our continuing Five Apps series, I decided to take on the challenging task of finding five applications for Mac and iPhone that would be useful to the art lover or collector. Read on for my take on the cream of the art crop.
5 Apps for movie nuts
Just a few years ago, lovers of movies had one option of finding out where and when a film was playing: the newspaper. Remember them? They came sometime after scrolls and before Pong. Next came Mr. Moviefone. Who of you cannot hear a certain voice in your head as you read: 'Hello and welcome to Moviefone'? The voice has been doing it since 1989, and has recorded over three million voice prompts. Moviefone represents many theater chains including: some AMC screens, Cineplex Odeon, Clearview Cinemas, Galaxy Cinemas, and National Amusements theaters depending upon location. And then came the Internet. Some years later, in 2000 Fandango emerged to create some competition. Using a ton of funny commercials and movie trailers featuring paper bag puppets, they gave Moviefone a run for their money representing such chains as: some AMC screens, Carmike Cinema, Century Theaters, CineArts, Cinemark, Edwards, Regal, United Artists, and others depending upon location. Both have Internet sites where, for a service charge ranging from $.75 to $2.00, tickets could be bought online to make sure you wouldn't be shut out of that midnight showing of Transformers 2. Then came the iPhone/iPod Touch and things got considerably easier, although there is no clear demarcation of what service sells what, or where. I want to give you two alternatives, each using one of the two competing services. Now Playing - Free This is one of the nicest apps going. It uses Fandango for purchasing tickets, but it does a whole lot more. In fact, it has the fullest feature set of any movie app I've come across. Here are some of the things it can do: Netflix management: Many options found on the Netflix site are available here but I found them a bit harder to get to than on the web site. Queues can be re-ordered, add to or deleted from. When adding you have the option of moving your choice to the top of your queue. If you're not sure if you want it, you can be transferred to Amazon, IMDb, Wikipedia or even the Netflix site via Safari for more information. I should note that when using any of the Netflix oriented functions, the app takes quite a while to download all your Netflix account information. Movie searching by theater: Choose a theater and get show times and the option of playing a trailer. A website button brings you to all of the sites mentioned plus the Metacritic review site, or you can read the first paragraph of a number of reviews from top critics. You are also alerted if the movie is already in your Netflix Queue and given the Netflix star rating. Movie schedules can be emailed. A full list of upcoming movies along with DVD release dates can be found along with the ability of saving any upcoming title to your Netflix queue to receive it after it's released. It doesn't have the nicest interface out there, but it's jammed with functionality and the price is certainly right. Note: Fandango service charges a 'convenience fee' ranging from $.75 to $2.00 depending upon venue and location.
Five...no, Six useful Mac apps from Thoughtful Tree
TUAW receives a lot of app submissions for review, both for Mac and iPhone. But it's unusual when a developer sends us individual press releases for a relatively large number of apps. Steven Degutis is the brain behind a company called Thoughtful Tree. In his words, "I'm an indie Mac developer who writes apps that make my job easier and smoother, and then if I think they're useful enough, I share them with everyone via my company Thoughtful Tree Software. That's just how I roll."
5 Apps for the lawyer
It's official. The iPhone has come into its own in the legal world. It took a little time, and lawyers are notorious Luddites (you can pry the WordPerfect out of their cold, dead hands) but they do like Bright Shiny Objects, and nothing fills the lapel pocket like an iPhone. The iPhone finally cracked the law-firm standards stranglehold by virtue of its compatibility with Microsoft Exchange, which freed lawyers from the non-choice of "would you like a Blackberry, or a Blackberry?" Granted, the Blackberry still seems to have a better handle on business needs, but for some, the iPhone is worth getting to know. It should go without saying -- I will say it, though -- many of the productivity apps that are useful to everybody are useful to lawyers, so two of these apps are not strictly law-related. (See if you can spot them! It's a brain teaser and a post!) Also, certain obvious apps don't exist yet, such as a standalone LexisNexis or WestLaw legal research app. That said, the web will suffice for now. In fact, though I've artificially constrained myself to only standalone applications, the iPhone really shines for accessing web research sites given that Mobile Safari is (mostly) a full-featured browser. So, without further ado, here are five apps that give a glimpse into what the iPhone can do for attorneys. 1) DataViz's DocumentsToGo. Nobody expects to write a brief or a memorandum from start to finish on an iPhone (though I am waiting for a good enough voice-recognition app so that getting a draft started is feasible), but any legal writing usually goes through more revisions than your average pre-1.0 beta software. Often this happens right as you were planning on leaving for the day. DocumentsToGo allows you to edit and change documents, as well as email them over Exchange (requires $9.99US Exchange version) to other team members. Of course, iPhone OS 3.0's cut/copy/paste was a prerequisite to making any word processing application workable, but now document editing has become at least moderately feasible. Nothing replaces your desk, covered in open books or a large monitor with LexisNexis or WestLaw opened to 18 different searches, but this gives you just a bit more flexibility and just may save you a panicky trip back to the office at 11:30pm on Saturday night.
5 (really useful) Apps for everyone
Some apps are almost universal. Chances are you may find a use for one of these apps in your daily goings-on, just as I have. All links are iTunes links. Flicktunes, $0.99 Remember our chat about driving and using your iPhone? Flicktunes makes controlling the iPod in your iPhone (or touch) much easier when you have to focus on other things -- like driving. Flick your finger left or right to navigate your playlist, up or down to start or stop the music. The album art is all you see, plus a speaker icon indicating playback. It's super easy, a simple app, but very useful if you're driving or otherwise occupied while jamming out. Army Knife, $1.99 If you need to measure something in a jiffy, Army Knife is a 9-in-1 tool with several measuring tools. There's a protractor, a caliper and a tape measure, plus a level and a "heart monitor" (you tap as your heart beats). There's a unit converter with distance, volume, weight and temperature conversions, and a flashlight and whistle. The flashlight, yes, is just a screen of white, but the whistle is kind of fun and will irritate your pets (please note: I do not condone irritating your pets, please do not flame me for hating animals). Todo, $9.99 If you use Remember the Milk or Toodledoo, you should know that Todo syncs with them. There's also a free sync app for your desktop, which is essentially a backup... except there's a way to sync Todo with The Hit List via iCal. Is it optimal? No, but until THL has an iPhone app (not criticizing the developer as I'd rather it be done right than fast) this does the trick to an extent. Todo even without sync is a beautiful thing to behold and full of flexibility. In fact, the flexibility of the app is a little shocking, given the lowly status of the "to do" genre of apps. If you need a listmaker/to do/checklist app with or without sync capabilities, this is one of the best out there. Worth the $9.99 for what you get. CardStar, free If you're tired of carrying around a dozen membership or discount cards, CardStar will help you out. There are templates for many retailers and discount systems (air miles and so forth), and you can choose from a variety of barcode types. I was able to experiment with the codes a bit and test things at each of my errand stops (Blockbuster, Kroger, etc.), eventually winnowing my keychain down to just 2 keys and a door opener. BigOven, free I've toyed around with a few cooking apps, but if you're out and about (and have a signal) BigOven is a great way to throw a dish together based on an ingredient. BigOven basically makes everyone an Iron Chef -- at least as far as cool recipes goes. It can't help you cook things, and the text rendering could be a little more clear, but you can favorite stuff (with a BigOven free account), and copy an entire recipe for emailing. I'm not saying the interface is great, but the BigOven database is huge and stocked with what looks like good recipes.
5 Apps for NYC tourists
I was in NYC for a week and feeling a bit bored, so I took a look at a passel (anyone still use that word?) of NYC tourist traps apps, that I picked up last week for the heck of it. NYC Subway 24-Hour KICKMap - $1.99. Rating: Horrible. This is a generic subway map that's "24 hours" because you can tap the day/night button to switch the background from white to black. Wow! Hold your finger on a station for 3 seconds to bring up the address of the subway stop and often a disconnected phone number. Tap 'Alerts' and the app tosses you to the Manhattan Transit Authority site in Safari. HopStop - Free. Rating: Wonderful. Tell it where you want to go and it'll get you there via public transportation, just like the website hopstop.com, but with GPS built-in. UpNext 3D NYC - $2.99. Rating: Meh. Useful for finding businesses, not so useful for saving personal information. I don't want the world to know where I reside in NYC and marking it will show it to the world. Social networking eats its young -- don't trust it! Plus, how can you choose hotdogs/hamburgers near Broadway and 72nd street and not bring up Grey's Papaya first? Nice maps though. New York City Highlights - Free Rating: Horrible. This is supposed to be a walking tour of points of interest in NYC. Running it in Times Square played less than five minutes of generic and out-of-date drivel. At least a podcast has a pause button. Did you know that Virgin Records closed? They didn't. SitOrSquat - Free. Rating: Are you kidding? Help me out here, the app is, hmmmm, can I say poop? The GPS map screen can't even locate me, but searching seems to work. McDonalds is squat only. Did I need an app to tell me that? This was funded by Charmin as an afterthought. Note to Government: Don't bail out Procter and Gamble. They have more then enough cash if they paid for this.
