FREE!

You must be at least 17 years old to download this application Frequent/Intense Mature/Suggestive Themes

Requirements:Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later.

iFindz is a new browser for the iPad, that is loaded with features. It helps you with work, school, and play, while keeping everything private.

It’s main feature, to me, is the ability to create user accounts. This protects your browsing privacy, as all your history, bookmarks, tabs, and notes, are all kept only on your profile. If your family is like mine, everyone wants to use the iPad to browse the web, and our 6 year old probably shouldn’t have full access to the internet. This way, we can log her in and she can just hit the tabs of the sites she’s allowed to visit. Each account is protected by a profile name and password.

A unique feature of iFindz, is the ability to send a message, or a “request”, to web content creators, without having to search for a contact page or an email. With a tap of a button, on any webpage,  you can send a request to the creator of that page. All requests are sent anonymously, and any replies will be sent to you, by iFindz. This is great for letting web developers know there may be errors on there site, requesting info on a product you might want to buy, or to submit content to someone’s blog.

iFindz makes looking back at your history, bookmarks, notes, requests, and responses, more engaging. iFindz adds images for everything you save. As long as you recognize the web pages you have visited, you can easily browse through your lists, and find what you’re looking for. A nice feature, especially for the kids who are still learning to read.

With the ability to add notes to any web page, iFindz becomes a great research tool. Either for school or for work, iFindz can be your essential tool for finding and saving important info for your next essay at school, or your next presentation at work. Notes can also be used to remind you why you were visiting a certain page.

I found iFindz for the iPad a great alternative to Mobile Safari, although not a replacement. There are many features in iFindz that I found useful. There are many other features not mentioned here, so you have to try this for yourself. It is a free app, so why not give it a try? You may use this in conjunction with Safari, to accomplish what you need to do. The big difference for me, was the ability to have user accounts to keep your browsing private.

iFindz for the iPad is available in the App Store now, for FREE! DOWNLOAD IT NOW!

written by Mike McKinnon

© 2010, Mikem. All rights reserved.

PushMyFoot ($0.99)

Version – 1.0

Review – “Follow the 2010 World Cup from anywhere!”

If you love soccer you never want to miss when your team is playing in the World Cup. Well thanks to the PushMyFoot app for the iOS now you never have to! PushMyFoot allows you to track games live and also find information on what games are coming up!

Part of what makes this app work is the simple interface. While some may be turned off by the simple artwork, this app loads quickly and is very easy to navigate through. When you open it up you’ll start out viewing a list of games sorted by “Groups.” You can also sort the games by Date or Venue by touching the buttons at the top of the screen.

Once you find the game you want to follow all you have to do is touch it. It will bring up a full overview of what’s going on in the game. The teams playing and the score are shown at the top of the screen, and a detailed list of what’s going on in the game is shown below. The live information shows all kinds of things from offside calls to substitutions, penalties shots and exciting plays!

At the bottom of the screen you’ll find a menu with three other buttons besides the “Games” one that you start out viewing. Touching the “Groups” button will show a list of all the groups and what countries are in each group. All you have to do to find out how your country is doing is find it’s flag and touch that group to see the detailed standings of their group!

You’ll also find a list of all the players that are involved in the World Cup under the “Teams” button at the bottom of the screen. To view a list of players for any team all you have to do is find that team and touch it. The list of teams can be sorted alphabetically or by the previously mentioned “Groups.” this is toggled by touching the buttons at the top of the screen.

The final menu option is the “Venues” button. This simply brings up a list of all the stadiums that are being used for the 2010 World Cup. Touching any of them will bring up detailed information about that stadium. At the top of the screen you’ll see the city where the stadium is located and its capacity. Just below this you’ll find three buttons that allow you to view a detailed description of the stadium, a picture of it, and an overview of where the stadium is on a map!

My overall impressions of this app are that it is very functional, and offers a lot of good information in an easy to view format. If you’re a big soccer fan, but you find yourself away from the TV when a lot of the games are going on, you’ll love this app. Best of all it’s only $0.99! So what are you waiting for? Head to the App Store and check it out for yourself!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Martin Cozzi

URL: http://www.pushmyfoot.com

——————————————————————————-

DAILY APP GIVEAWAY

Each Day we give away promo-codes so you can get FREE apps!! Check
our posts daily or subscribe to our FREE spam free feed.

*** Today’s Promo Codes ***

– WhatsNextMovies –
RERKMT7MNYRR
PMPL7N9M6T6W
HLFXTMJT4RKR

– Mi Phone Book –
YKKAEY3KAA9L
J7KFNAHFM7RE
R69FWEK9EFTE
4RTXK9LLMR4W
4XEEKWLFXT73
MKPAWWRW37KJ
M69W9NRMXF7J
YHRY36EJWPEL
6A6JFYTEELKK
4HKMWY63WWPJ

If you have any questions, or are unsure how to redeem promo codes, please check out the following link on Apple’s website! — http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917

——————————————————————————-

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Version 1.0

Review – “A must have app for anyone who enjoys reading their Google Reader feeds!”

MobileRSS HD for Google RSS Reader, developed by Nibirutech, is a fantastic RSS feed reader app that a feed reader enthusiast should seriously consider adding to their collection.

The application is, in essence, a modified version of their already superior iPhone application, and includes just about all of the essential features that are on your must have list. I personally own the iPhone version of this application as well (I have the mid-range reader for the iPhone) and was thrilled to see that they have developed this app for the iPad.

While this app is an RSS Feed reader, it is specifically designed to work with the free Google Reader, available with a free account at www.google.com/reader.

Once you’ve linked this app to your Google Reader account, it will begin to load your feeds and open the chance for you to customize the look and feel of the app a bit more. You can choose whether it syncs new items when the app opens, how many articles load initially, what sharing links you want to include, font size, and many more features. Another great feature is that once you’ve loaded feeds into MobileRSS the icon on your Home Screen will show you how many unread items you have (similar to how the App Store shows you how many updates are currently available).

In my opinion, I prefer using this in landscape mode (as I do with most apps) because you have your subscription listing on the left and your active feed page showing on the right.

You can read feed items in so many different ways. You can read All Items, Kept Items, Starred Items, Shared Items, or by the categories that they are listing in within Google Reader. To the left of the Category Names you’ll see an arrow. Clicking on that arrow will show a listing of your feeds in case you want to just look at articles from a certain site. Clicking on the category name (away from the arrow) will just show you all of the feeds contained within that category listed by most recent. Once you decide on how you want to read your news articles you’ll then have the choice to decide between showing all the news articles of just the new (i.e. unread) articles available.

Clicking on an item opens the feed version of the article. From there you can read it as it is or simply hit the arrow icon that is in the upper right hand corner to open the article up in the original website version.

One thing that I love about this app are the sharing options. I love Twitter and I love to share articles to the masses, whether they want to read them or not . In the upper right hand corner you’ll see a filing cabinet icon. Click on that and it brings up a smörgåsbord of options, from sharing on Twitter or Facebook, to sharing within Google Reader to your friends, marking  it as a favorite or as an unread article, and many, many more options.

In a nutshell, they have thought about almost everything that you’d need to make your RSS feed reading top notch!

The one  addition that I’d like to see in a future version is the ability to add, edit, and delete subscriptions directly within the app. It would be great if this would even include adding a new feed and being able to categorize it within your listed categories as opposed to going through the google website itself in order to do that.

Overall, MobileRSS HD for Google RSS Reader may just be the Google Reader app that you’ve been looking for. It’s an app that is built based on the already amazing iPhone version, which has been tweaked and expanded over time based on user feedback and the dedication of Nibirutech to making quality application for our mobile needs. It’s clean, easy to use, very in depth, and works fluidly with Google Reader to make your experience top notch. I’m sure many users were thrilled to see that their favorite iPhone Google Reader app has joined the iPad family! Grab your copy today!

- Christina G

Download Now!

——————————————————————————-

DAILY APP GIVEAWAY

Each Day we give away promo-codes so you can get FREE apps!! Check
our posts daily or subscribe to our FREE spam free feed.

*** Today’s Promo Codes ***

– Rainbow Scroller –
HTTWKTWLH9LY
7WPNXHLJAHJ9
3TEM99MLM4YA
PYLHTTHWPLKP
FK9ETJW467JE
FYXRYPE3AYEY
M9J36T3W9PE4
HA7RNJP63YT7
H4N7LWA333HR
WY77L6FWWKMT
7A79LLJ34M3W
MAWP9ATP4ALN
6TEX3P3A6FFA
NTK73J9YW64L
3AJEEXWWERFN
TA6KLL6NAEEE
XELMANKA7PR6
XKA3FRNKWTFL

– Pounce –
FXNRTXXYPK96
NLTXPXYWLA3E
HW9TL33M4MN9
HWFAE7NAN7RP
W3R96PHEXWEA
RMH9X9PFMMT7
7EFHNJNF6RWM
3NRYEWXXWLRL
LETM9FK6TMYP
P7M6YTXRR4P3

If you have any questions, or are unsure how to redeem promo codes, please check out the following link on Apple’s website! — http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917

——————————————————————————-

© 2010, ChristinaG. All rights reserved.

Version 1.1

Review – “An iPad RSS Reader app that is in a class of its own!”

I love reading blogs and news online. That was one of my biggest reasons for adding an iPad to my collection. With that being said, my online reading experience is definitely related to what I’m using to read my RSS feeds. In comes The Early Edition.

Developed by Glasshouse Apps, The Early Edition is a fantastic and gorgeous app that converts your blog feeds into a simulated newspaper environment. It is definitely in a class of its own.

As of version 1.1 The Early Edition now gives you the option of importing feeds from Google Reader or an OPML file, discover feed URLs by entering web links, and even organize your feeds into sections.

When you open up the application you’ll start  by loading in your feeds. As a default The Early Edition actually loads in feeds for you, in case you haven’t built up a pile of links yet and would just like to catch up on popular news sources. Then what The Early Edition does is randomly pulls from your feeds sources and then converts the articles into different displays and layouts, simulating a newpapers like feel to the application. The end result is a very pleasant take on a traditional RSS Feed Reader.

From there you can virtually flip through the different pages as you continue to read links that are available to you. If you want to read more on a link, simply click on the news article and it will load that into a new page for you to read more in depth. Then if you want to read the original version of the article (and not the default feed version), you’ll be able to click the button to View Original where it proceeds to open the actual website for you.

If you’d like to share any news articles with other people, you have a few options to do that in The Early Edition. You can send it to Instapaper, copy the link to the article, and also email the article to someone.

When pulling feeds you also have a few options on how much you’re retrieving at once. You can pull feeds just for today only, for all dates, and even pull everything since your last fetch. If you’re a continuous reader, there is a built in option to refresh your news feeds while keeping the application open. Another cool addition is that you can actually pull articles from dates that you have used the app & pulled feed from in the past. So if you’re looking for an article that you just read the other day it’s just a click away!

Overall I’m super impressed with this application and it’s very obvious that the developers put a lot of hard work into making this a top notch app for the iPad.

My only suggestions would be to add in more sharing options because I personally like to share (or sometimes overshare .. ) links to articles on both Twitter and facebook. I also like to click the share link, within Google Reader, so that people who follow me through Buzz can see the links as well. In addition it would be nice to mark items as read on a page (which would sync back to Google Reader) so when I pull up the web application I can see what’s been read and what has not.

All in all, The Early Edition is a gorgeous app that really makes your feed reading experience that much better. It is currently selling for the bargain price of $4.99 and you’ll see that it’s a bargain once you start using this and realizing everything it has to offer. If you enjoy reading RSS feeds and / or using Google Reader, this may be the app for you.

- Christina G

Download Now!

——————————————————————————-

DAILY APP GIVEAWAY

Each Day we give away promo-codes so you can get FREE apps!! Check
our posts daily or subscribe to our FREE spam free feed.

*** Today’s Promo Codes ***

– Kids in Mind –
KKX6JKWLNKTR
PF3PMT4MX33P

– RoutePad –
K46RX6LKP76N
XER9FAJWE9TA
4R7PMHWX4AAE
74ANJWL4FYR6

– Blackjack 7 –
TKRE4XKRA494
4PRKA6AA3LAL
YTNMWPNX37AT

If you have any questions, or are unsure how to redeem promo codes, please check out the following link on Apple’s website! — http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917

——————————————————————————-

© 2010, ChristinaG. All rights reserved.

Newsy for iPad (Free)

Version – “1.0.0″

Review – “News taken to a whole new level!”

You may remember a while back when I reviewed the Newsy app for iPhone and iPod Touch. Well if you like staying up to date on all the latest news stories, and you have an iPad, Newsy has created an amazingly easy to use interface. The best thing is that even with the new interface and features, the app is still completely free!

When you open up Newsy for iPad you’ll begin on the “All” screen which will show you all the latest news stories on newsy.com! There are two great interfaces in this app, one for landscape mode, and the other for portrait mode. The landscape mode feels a lot like the iPhone app. On the right side of the screen you’ll see large thumbnails of videos. You can “swipe” through them to find one you want to watch. Once you do find one all you have to do is touch it to start playing!

On the left side of the screen is a bar full of filters that you can use to quickly find the types of stories that you’re most interested in. These filters range from Politics and World News to stories related to business and entertainment! Switching between filters is pretty seamless, and actually is surprisingly fast with the quality of the thumbnails that you see on the videos.

Now don’t get me wrong, the landscape interface is great, and it looks amazingly smooth. With that said, the portrait interface is by far my favorite in this app! Why you ask? Well in portrait mode instead of getting a bunch of large thumbnail images on top of each other you get lots of small thumbnails in a grid format. This makes it extremely easy to quickly browse a large amount of content and find the stories that you find most interesting!

Another great thing about portrait mode is that at the bottom of the screen there’s a small empty window to create a list of videos to view. All you have to do is find the videos you’re interested it, touch and hold on them for a second, and then drag them into the empty box. Once you have all of the videos that you want to see, all you have to do is touch play and it will automatically start playing the first video! After that video is done, it will display an image of the next video and show you a button to start playing the next video on your list!

Whether you’re in portrait or landscape mode, there are several options below the videos while they are playing. Not only can you view and post comments on the video, but you can actually read a full transcript of it while you watch! There are a few other options as well for viewing the “sources” for the current video and for sharing the video on various social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

In the upper right corner of the screen you’ll notice a small search bar. This is really useful if you’re looking to see if there is a video related to a specific story. another great thing about the search feature is that it actually searches the entire library of stories on Newsy, and not just the most recent ones!

The only real problem I had with this app is that I had the video quit playing for me one time. Apparently the developers are already aware of this bug though and are working to fix it. In the mean time they’re solution is to restart your iPad if/when you start having trouble playing video. When I did restart, I didn’t have any trouble playing videos once again!

If you are the kind of person that wants to stay updated on the latest stories, but you’re tired of just getting one point of view, Newsy for iPad might be just the thing you’ve been looking for! Not only do they report news from multiple points of view, but they bring it to you in a way that is extremely easy to digest, and that doesn’t require you to do hours of your own research to get the true story. so what are you waiting for? Head to to App Store and download your free copy of Newsy for iPad today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Newsy.com

URL: http://www.newsy.com

——————————————————————————-

DAILY APP GIVEAWAY

Each Day we give away promo-codes so you can get FREE apps!! Check
our posts daily or subscribe to our FREE spam free feed.

*** Today’s Promo Codes ***

– Alarm Clock Audio –
NLLLAWTT6JAA
MP7MRPP33FAP
KYFLRHKW436Y
MFPTAYHA6K7W
3F74PP34NP7P
7MJ7NKEL4RYJ
NYW6M37JRYPN
TH9HR96R3NR4
NAX79WFKYJFN
PJ7ENEM6XPMW

– Forty Seven –
YAXHP9YK3R99
EX4N6THAFKRM
Y7Y9F36J7WTJ
X3KJ7E6A6TL3
3FMA4T769MH6
67NKA3M9TNYH
9J4M4J7MLFHR
366KPK7YRRLK
NXNLA9E77TLA
7M4W39P4F7H9

If you have any questions, or are unsure how to redeem promo codes, please check out the following link on Apple’s website! — http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917

——————————————————————————-

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Version 1.3

Review – “A highly developed application that is visually stunning. You’ll open it just to look at it!”

Weather Machine, developed by Massimiliano Torregiani, is gorgeous for starters. It looks nothing like the other weather applications out there. But that is not where it ends. Built within this application is most everything you want to know on a day by day basis when planning your daily or weekly adventures. A very intuitive application with a great interface means it will be something that you will continuously rely on for daily information.

Before I get into the features I *highly* recommend watching the tutorial and reading the hints at start up. There is so much information built into this that if you don’t know how to find it you will miss out on some great information!

Also, this app has numerous ways that you can get to your information. For example, to go through the days you can flip through the pages on the main window, you can click an icon at the bottom, or you can turn the device upside down. It’s very obvious that a lot of work has gone into this application!

Some of the features built into this application are:

- Current Conditions: Temperature, Humidity, Wind Speed, Precipitation Percentage, Visibility, Dew Point, etc. The app also shows a notification if there are any weather alerts for your area.

- Hourly Forecast, including temperature, wind, % of precipitation, and humidity:

- Viewing option to see a day in quarters, or see an extended outlook for multiple days:

- Lunar and Solar Details: Rise and Set for each, moon phase

- Satellite and Radar information:

There is a bit of a learning curve to figure out how to find everything, but once you do the program is easy to navigate through.

My suggestions for this app are that I’d like to see push notifications available as a feature in futures releases because many people, like myself value push notifications for those emergency weather situations.

In addition, if we could zoom in and out of the radars that would be a great asset. I personally like to see the extents of a weather system so I’ll know how long it’s going to last and that’s not always possible without the ability to zoom.

Once you set this application up and learn your way around it, you’ll instantly fall in love with it, both for how impressive it is graphically, and how much information it provides. Adding those two features will make this weather app one that will be hard to compete with!

This app is currently on sale in the App Store, 50% off it’s regular price, so I’d advise getting it while it’s on sale. You will be impressed! More information on this application can be found on the developer’s website, http://www.maxtorregiani.net/wm/Overview.html.

- Christina G

Download Now!

© 2010, ChristinaG. All rights reserved.

Digg (Free)

Version 1.1.0

REVIEW – “Get the best news and entertainment on the internet”

With the expanse of the internet it is always hard to find the gems within the junk, well Digg does all the hard work for you. News articles on just about anything are sorted and rated so that you know what’s good and what’s best to ignore.

What I love about Digg is that it is more than just a news app, it is a news app with a ratings system. This allows you to find the news that is popular and fits your interests so that you always get directed to the best articles and the best information.

Open the app and you can see the articles that are new, popular or do a search for articles that fit whatever it is that you want to read about. The articles are displayed in an easy to read and easy to access format so there’s no squinting or struggling to click the right spot.

The articles are also displayed really well with large pictures and text and information on the source so you always know where to check back for more information or maybe similar topics.

Even better with Digg is that there is always a conversation occurring about the articles and with one touch you can easily see all the comments posted and leave your own, so online discussion and debate is easily brought to your iphone in a very unexpected way.

Overall I love how the app is put together and the usefulness is great. Instead of seeing fourteen different news sources all about the same thing I can instantly see which one is the most popular and know which one will probably give me the best pictures and information. This is also one of the first apps that makes reading article comments easy and leaving them just as easy.

Stephanie S.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Digg Inc

© 2010, StephanieS. All rights reserved.

Yahoo! Search (Free)

Version – 1.0.0

REVIEW – “A great, simple search tool!”

Even though there are already a lot of great search apps available in the App Store, Yahoo! decided to go ahead and release their own! While this app does not have a lot of customizable features, it is extremely simple to use. It also is very quick and has great speech recognition!

The icon for this app is great and makes it quick to recognize as a search app without reading the app name. Something I noticed when I first opened up this app is that it asks if you want to use your current location information. Curious as to what this was for, one of the first things I searched was for a local fast food place. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it searches not only the internet, but also Google maps to help you find things that are close to you!

The built in maps is particularly nice if you are looking for a business close to you. When you search the small map thatappears at the top of the screen will have quick links to call the phone number or get directions to the location of the closest business to your current location. This kind of thing is particularly nice for finding things like places to eat.

The overview for search results is certainly nice. Different types of search results show up in different ways. You have the location based results first if there are any, then you have everything else from “Wikipedia” results which show the main photo from the entry as well as some sub-topics to go directly to, to just regular web results.

The interface is very smooth when you touch a link to open a page. If you touch the small map it brings up a full screen version of the map with the locations listed at the bottom of the screen. If you touch a regular web link it slides the link you touched to the bottom of the screen while it loads the page above it. Once the page is fully loaded the link information goes away and reveals browsing controls.

The browsing controls are fairly basic. If you need more you’ll notice a button in the bottom right corner of your screen that will allow you to open up your current page up in the safari browser, or even send a link to the page in an email. With that said, I found the built in browser to be more than sufficient for quickly browsing pages and finding information.

All in all this is a great app that I would highly recommend. If you’re looking for lots of bells and whistles or maybe for ways to search multiple sources quickly and easily you might want to check out Dragon Search, or the Google search app which I’ve previously reviewed. However, if what you’re looking forward is speed and ease of use, I would highly recommend Yahoo! Search. So what are you waiting for? Check it out for yourself today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Yahoo! Inc.

URL: http://mobile.yahoo.com/search/iphone

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

News Addict ($0.99)

Version – 1.2

REVIEW – “Quick access to news sources that matter is what this app is about!”

While a lot of apps focus on going in depth with features, and being easy to customize, News Addict is all about quick and easy access to the news!  News Addict is an app that is designed to allow you to easily access news from all of the major players in the news world.  If being informed is important to you but your time is limitedthis may be the app you’ve been looking for!

When you open up News Addict you’re presented with a list of different news outlets to select from.  The icons you see look like little newspapers, televisions sets, and browsers which lets you know what type of outlet source is.  For example, CNN and Fox News are television sets because they are primarily known as Cable TV news providers, while USA Today and The New York Times are represented as Newspapers.

There is a toolbar at the bottom of the screen with a few basic buttons.  You have some basic browser buttons: “forward,” “backward,” and “refresh.”  There is also a button to take you back to the “News Panel” to select a different news source to view.  The final button gives you access to two different settings.  The first is the ability to calibrate and toggle “tilt scrolling.”  This allows you to scroll through a webpage without touching the screen.  The second option allows you to set the menu bar at the bottom of the screen to “Auto-Hide.”

Navigating through the different websites is simple.  All you have to do is touch one and it immediately loads up full screen.  If at any time you want to head back to the news panel to select a different news source all you have to do is touch the small arrow in the bottom right corner to bring the “tool bar” back up along the bottom of the screen, and touch the “News Panel” button.

Overall the browsing experience is very good.  The app takes you automatically to the mobile websites of each news source, allowing you to quickly and easily browse for the latest news stories of interest.  The fact that the pages use the full area of the screen is very nice for reading, and viewing the mobile sites automatically is a great plus for being able to quickly browse multiple web sites.

Something that seems to be an oversight in a news app such as this one is that there is no way to organize the news sources.  Because of this if you have 2 or 3 sites that you regularly visit but they are not close together there is no way to move them.  There is also no way to add new sites to the list if you have another site that you like to visit regularly.  While these are not necessarily deal breakers they should definitely be considered for future versions by the developers if they have not already.

All things considered, for just $0.99 this app will be worth it for some people.  If you find yourself regularly scanning the news through mobile Safari this app will definitely save you a lot of time.  I know it’s definitely something that I will keep around and use from time to time.  So what are you waiting for?  Head to the App Store and check out News Addict today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – TapMode

URL: http://www.tapmode.com/page/news-addict

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Discovery News  (Free)

Version 1.2

REVIEW – ” Get the latest science and news headlines from Discovery News right on your iPhone.”

Personally I love watching Discovery Channel and it is rare that I do not find something truly of interest with Discovery News. The app is delightfully easy to use and the articles are perfect for just about anyone.

When you first open the app it takes you right to the top news stories. These articles are meticulously researched and written in a way that anyone can understand them. One of my favorite features is that many of the articles will include The Gist which is a bullet point list of all the background information you need to know in order to fully understand the article. This is useful for when an article catches my eye but is on a subject that I am unfamiliar with.

The app also includes access to all the news stories available and with 300 new articles and features every month there is plenty in this free app to give your mind occupied, no matter how much down time you have.

As with any good news app there is also a search function where you can search for articles that are of particular interest to you.

The app even includes access to videos and short documentaries that feature the same eye-opening stories and information that you are likely to find in all of their articles.

The final section is the more section which allows you to customize your news experience by letting you choose your favorite topics such as Animals, History, Earth, Technology and more.

The app does have the downside in that it does include advertising on the bottom of the screen. Personally I was only slightly bothered by this and then only when trying to focus on reading a particularly interesting article (the advertising takes up valuable text space). But for a free app (the price dropped as of this month) it is really hard to complain.

This app is quickly becoming one of my favorite news apps because it grants me access to truly information that I am unlikely to stumble upon myself and it expands my interests beyond what I focus on day in and day out.

Stephanie S.

Download Now!

++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Discovery Communications

© 2010, StephanieS. All rights reserved.

iGovernment ($1.99)

Version – 1.0

REVIEW – “A great way to keep your eye on what big brother is up to!”

Today I’m proud to be bringing you an app that will allow you to keep up with what’s going on in all aspects of the US government!  iGovernment gives you access to information via RSS feeds on all kinds of things from breaking news to individual areas of government such as the courts, defense and the treasury.  If you’re at all politically minded be sure to stick around and check the end of this review to see how you can have a chance to win a free copy of this app!

When you open up iGovernment you’ll start out on the “News” page the first time.  This page will have some general headlines and breaking news about what’s going on currently.  Touching any of the stories will take you to a full screen view of that story with a simple menu at the top of the screen.  You can scroll through the story and read it or you can quickly and easily skip to another story using the arrows in the menu at the top, open the story on its full page in Safari or send a link to it out on Twitter!

The browser interface is very smooth and works well.  If there are links in the post that you are viewing, touching them will open them up from within the app instead of opening Safari, which is nice.  Another great thing is that if you click any links within the document it will load the mobile version of the site if one is available.  This helps the pages to load much more quickly than if you were viewing the full website, and makes the look and feel of the app much cleaner!

At the bottom of the screen you’ll notice a menu with several different options.  The ones that will start here by default are “Pictuers,” “Videos,” and “Search.”  These default buttons can be switched out with any of the other categories that you will find when you click on the “More” option in the bottom right corner.  Here you’ll find pages dedicated to the White House, Congress, the Courts, Defense, and a whole host of other areas in government!

In the upper right corner of the “More” screen is an “Edit” button.  Touching this button will bring up a page full of different main pages that you have to choose from.  From this screen you can then touch and drag any four icons that you want into the default menu bar at the bottom of the screen!  Is health care of particular interest to you?  How about the Treasury or Energy?  Whatever your interest may be it is simple to put them just one click away with this app!

Probably my favorite feature, although I did like the bulk and quality of the stories available, is the video that comes in this app.  The videos are mostly from Youtube but are so well integrated into the app that you would never even notice it.  It’s the things like this that really make this app feel like a premium app, it just works!

Now I’m sure that a lot of people have skimmed through to get to the part where I mention getting this great app for free, am I right?  Well if this is an app that interests you then all you have to do is two things to enter!  (1) Follow me on Twitter at Twitter.com/iHayward.  This is to make it easier for me to contact the winners when the contest is over.  (2) The second thing is that you need to tweet the following message, “@iHayward Win a free iGovernment iPhone app from AppShouter.com! http://bit.ly/cf57ni”.  That’s it!  I will go through all the entries and select the winners next week, Thursday the 11^th.  In the mean time feel free to read through the review and comment with any questions that you might have!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Esse Quam Videri Music Group

URL: http://essequ.am/

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

PremierGuitar (Free)

Version – 1.0

REVIEW – “Get great guitar tips for free!”

There have been a lot of apps released into the App Store for readingbooks, and even some that allow you to subscribe to magazines and read them.  PremierGuitar has taken a whole new angle and has built an iPhone app that will allow you to read their magazine in electronic format for completely free!  Whether you are interested in the latest music gear, some tips on playing guitar or even just some interesting articles about your favorite artists you can’t go wrong with free!

When you open PremierGuitar the first screen you see is the “Issues” screen.  There is a menu bar at the bottom of the screen and at the top you’ll see the covers of all the latest issues of PremierGuitar.  If you’d like to read some of the articles in an old issue all you have to do is touch and drag the issue covers from right to left to view older magazines.  Touching any magazine cover will open up a preview of the content in that issue.

The preview is really a great feature because it allows you to not just see the table of contents, but also to actually view the full text of the articles before you decide whether or not you want to download the entire issue.  Once you decide that you do want to download an issue all you have to do is touch the “View” button and it will start downloading immediately!

Once you open up a magazine to view it downloads extremely fast.  Even over a slow cell connection it loads quickly enough that you can start reading almost immediately.  On my WiFi at home I was able to scroll straight to the end of the magazine immediately after opening one up!  The content of the magazine is laid out in exactly the same manner as a print publication.  This is good aesthetics but occasionally the text is a little bit small.  This is remedied of course by the expected iPhone OS zoom functionality.  It works exactly like Safari allowing you to double click and also pinch to make text the size you want.

I was very impressed with the overall experience of this app.  Being free you would expect it to come with at least some limitations or maybe some extra ads but that is just not the case.  In face once you have a magazine open you can even touch the screen to make all the menus shrink away leaving you a full screen to work with!  If you were looking for a specific article you can quickly get to it by touching the “Cover” button which brings up a small window with all of the articles in your current issue.  Touching it will bring up a list of available articles to read.

On top of all the great magazines in this app it also includes an easy to use bookmarking feature and a “News & Views” tab from the main screen.  So not only can you read up on the latest news monthly, but you can get regular updates on stuff going on day to day in the world of music!  As a guitarist and new technology enthusiast I have always enjoyed reading magazines like this one.  This app takes it to a whole new level by allowing me to not only read it whenever I want on the go, but also being able to read it for free!  Whether you are an expert, or just a casual enthusiast I would encourage you to head to the App Store and check out PremierGuitar today.  You simply don’t know what you’re missing if you pass this app up!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Texterity Inc.

URL: http://www.texterity.com/

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

News Junkie – (Free)

Version 1.1.1

REVIEW – “Get instant access to all of your favorite news apps.”

This is one of the more inclusive news apps that I have ever found for the iPhone. News Junkie includes access to 61 different news sites with the options to add even more.

When you open the app it gives you an introduction to the features which is nice because it includes some things that you might not expect. This is a completely customizable app in that you can control what news sites are shown and it gives you the ability to create your favorite as a home page.

The 61 different news sites are featured with icons along the bottom of the app. You simply have to scroll through and click to get instant access to the news site you want.

If there are sites that you do not want, you can easily reduce clutter by clicking delete and then tapping the icon that you wish to remove from the menu bar.

If you have a favorite site you can easily add it to a special page where you can access it any time you want.

I was personally very impressed with the number of sites included and the app promises to include even more which is remarkable for people who want to get the full story from a variety of different sources.

One thing I would have liked was to have a way to remove the top and bottom bars when I was trying to read an article, just so that there is more space to read and allow for the website to display properly.

I think another nice ability would be to be able to organize the sites in order of their importance so that I could easily get to the sites that I use most often without having to scroll through the ones I use less often.

All in all this is a decent app for anyone that likes to be kept up on the latest news and wants to have easy access to all of the top news sources.

Stephanie S.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Steve Parker

© 2010, StephanieS. All rights reserved.

WPR Mobile (Free)

Version1.2

REVIEW – “Get this influential and important journal delivered right to your iPhone”

As a political science student I spent most of my time scanning through articles and political journals that are truly worth my time. What impresses me about WPR Mobile is that not only do you get access to a great journal but you get to read it right on your iphone, even when you are not online!

First off this isn’t a journal that only political science buffs can appreciate because the journal is written in such a way that anyone can follow it and it’s articles focus on very topical subjects. You get to hear the background behind many of the things you see on the news and in many cases, hear a side of the story that you might not have considered before.

World Politics Review features writers from a variety of different backgrounds from political scientists to military analysts and all of them are among the best in their fields, which means that the information you are getting is accurate and well researched. The journal features great columns like my personal favorite, War is Boring and Global Insights, The Realist Prism and The New Rules.

This is a great way to really learn about what is going on around the world from military coups in Nigeria to Security visions for Europe to the United States’ relationship with China.

The app interface is simple to use and can be used in both orientations which is great for reading longer articles. Some nice features are that you can bookmark any article to visit later and you can even email full articles to a friend.

For anyone that wants to learn something more than simple new headlines or really wants to see multiple sides to the issue, then the World Political Review is something you should check out.

The app is currently free and the articles can also be accessed on the website so you can start reading an article on your iPhone and finish it online or vice versa.

Stephanie S.

Download Now!

++++++++++++++++

Developer – World Politics Review

© 2010, StephanieS. All rights reserved.

NBC Olympics on AT&T (Free)

Version – 1.1

REVIEW – “The easiest way to follow the Olympic games!”

It’s that time again already.  In just a few days the Winter Olympics will be starting up and there will be all kinds of events from bobsled, to skiing going on again.  The question now is how are you going to follow all your favorite events while still keeping up with your regular schedule?  Well NBC and AT&T have come up with a solution for you in the form of an iPhone app, and it just received its first content in an update today!

When you open up the app you will start on the “Now” screen.  This screen contains a combination of stories, photos and videos of what’s going on with the Olympics at the time.  Since the Olympics haven’t officially started quite yet there is also a “Countdown to Vancouver” on this page as well that shows how many days, hours, minutes and seconds until the opening ceremonies!

The menu at the bottom of the screen has several different options.  You can search through information by sports, schedules or favorites.  The information is laid out well, and it looks like there will be a lot more information once the games actually get started.  One of the best features of this app is the “Social” feature.  You can link this app with your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts and actually interact with some of the athletes that are participating!

While the rest of the app is great, my favorite part is the “Schedules” screen.  On this one screen you have quick access to not just when the events are actually happening, but also what time they are showing on TV, when you are available on the internet and the ability to look at times for events based on the sport you are interested in or the country you would like to follow!  The information is easy to scan through and is detailed.  However, I was not able to preview the online schedule just yet because it has not been released.

While time will tell just how often this app gets updated, and how good the information is, the interface is certainly very good!  That combined with up to date schedules and even push notifications for your favorite sports makes this a must have app for any sports fan!  If you love the Olympics as much as I do but just don’t have the time to follow it sometimes there has never been a better solution that this app, so download it today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – AT&T Services, Inc.

URL: http://www.nbcolympics.com/mobile/?__itunes

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

C-Span Radio (Free)

Version – 1.0

REVIEW – “Congress streaming live 24/7!”

Do you enjoy keeping up with the all the latest things happening on Capital Hill?  Or maybe you really need to stay up to date but you are constantly on the move.  Well thanks to the C-Span Radio app for iPhone and iPod Touch you can not only stream audio from C-Span Radio but also from both C-Span television broadcasts no matter where you are!

The interface for this app is extremely simple, and yet manages to do everything that you would expect it to.  When you open it up you will see three bars at the bottom for each of the three C-Span broadcasts.  Touching the button to the right of them will immediately start streaming the one that you have selected.  Just above these three buttons there is a volume slider as well.  While the regular volume rocker will still work, the bar gives the app a nice polished touch.

By default the C-Span radio stream will start playing.  Of the three this one is definitely the best because it is an actual Radio broadcast.  While the other two streams offer good information sometimes, it’s just not quite the same without the video stream.  The stream quality is very good and adjusts quickly when/if you switch between different types of connections such as EDGE, 3G and/or WiFi.

Just below the three audio stream buttons there is a small “i” button that will take you to an “information page.”  From here you can find out about the developer, and you’ll also find a link to a website that will let you know what programming is coming up on the radio broadcast.

At the bottom of the screen you’ll notice a menu that offers a second page called the “podcasts” page.  This page will give you links to various podcasts that are related/released by C-span.  These podcasts range from a Q & A Podcast for C-Span to a “Podcast of the Week” which is a podcast about the unique political news during the current week.

What this app lacks in “flashiness” it more than makes up for in functionality.  While I would have liked to see some kind of RSS reader and/or web browser interface to look up news while listening, this app manages to deliver the streaming audio of C-Span  Radio live and without any noticeable problems.  I would encourage you to check out this great public service application out in the App Store today for free!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Jacobs Media

URL: http://www.jacapps.com/

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Real Time Congress (Free)

Version – 1.0

REVIEW – “Let this app help you keep tabs on congress!”

Whatever your political views are I think most if not all of America agrees that one thing we all need to be doing is keeping a closer eye on Congress.  The problem is that a lot of us have regular jobs and families that keep us busy and it seems that there are always things being done late at night and on weekends so we won’t find out about it.  Well thanks to the Real Time Congress app for iPhone and iPod touch, it’s now possible to get real time information on what is going on in Congress for free!

When you open up Real Time Congress you’ll start out on the “Floor” screen.  On this screen you can choose to view the latest information from either the House or the Senate floor.  The updates are time-stamped and sorted under headings for the date that they are from.  The list refreshes every time you open the app up, or you can choose to manually refresh it by pressing the button in the upper right corner of the screen.

The menu at the bottom has several other screens that are useful as well.  The first one is the “Whip Notices” screen.  Here you will find both daily and weekly whip notices for both the Republican and Democratic party.  These notices help you get an idea of what the leadership of the party is currently trying to get accomplished.

The next two menu options are the “Hearings” and “Documents” pages.  The hearings page currently has no information in it because there are no ongoing hearings but the “Documents” page has a lot of interesting information.  This is where you’ll find documentation on all of the policies that have been passed/are being supported by congress.  There are also GAO reports and a variety of other information including statements from the administrative branch of government.

The final tab holds an “About” link that will tell you about this app and its developers and the “News” tab which will give you headlines from several major news outlets.  Something to note is that while the order I mentioned all of the pages is the order that they appear in the menu by default, the icon’s order is actually customizable.  If you would rather have the “News” page be the first page you can do that easily by touching the “More” option and then touching the “Edit” button in the upper right corner and dragging the icons wherever you want them!

While it would have been nice to have some sort of push notification service for important things, this obviously would have forced the developer to charge for this currently free resource!  My conclusion at the end of the day is that while this app may be a little drab, and it may lack some of the fancy features of other major news apps, the fact is that this app delivers accurate information in real time and is free!  I would highly recommend this app to anyone, so head to the App Store and check it out today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Sunlight Foundation

URL: http://realtimecongress.org/

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

TweetDeck (Free)

Version – 1.3

REVIEW – “A great twitter client that syncs with your desktop!”

There are so many apps that interface with Twitter that it can be alittle daunting trying to find the “diamonds in the rough.”  While many people swear by some of the more popular paid apps like Tweetie 2 and Twittelator Pro a lot of people use twitter but would rather not pay for a app that is basically just for updating your status.  TweetDeck for iPhone and iPod Touch combines the power of a great Twitter client with a look and feel that is similar to their also free TweetDeck client for desktop computers!

When you open up TweetDeck you’ll first need to set up all your accounts.  If you have previously set up the desktop client and you decided to set up a TweetDeck user account all you’ll have to do is log into that account and it will set up all your “Columns” automatically.  If you haven’t already set it up though “Columns” are the way that TweetDeck is organized.  You can have as many of them as you want and they will who you things like all of your “Friends” messages, all of your direct messages.  You can even set up columns to show results from Twitter searches.

The interface of this app is a lot like the desktop client.  The default view shows your columns shrunk down just a little bit and allows you to flick through them quickly and easily.  Touching any column will zoom in on it and allow you to interact with it.  While interacting with a column you can still scroll to other columns by flicking but you don’t see quite as much information around it.

The menu at the bottom of the screen gives you several options.  From here you can quickly check which columns have new updates and go straight to them.  Right next to the “Updates” button is a refresh button to manually refresh and then a button that allows you to either switch to Columns view or add a new column depending on whether or not you are already in Columns view.

The “Settings” tab will take you to a screen that has quite a few customization options.  As with most Twitter clients you can enter in your credentials to automatically create shortened URL’s for your posts and track them.  Some of the other more useful options include the ability to switch between a light and dark theme, geotag settings and the option to use the new ReTweet style by default or to ask you every time which one to use.

The big advantage of TweetDeck is that if you are constantly on Twitter at home or at work and want to take it with you when you leave you won’t have to worry about rereading the same information.  This is because the interface of the iPhone app is exactly the same as the Desktop app.  You will have the same columns to view and it will even show the same messages as unread.

While a lot of the paid apps are good, there is a good chance that TweetDeck might have everything you’re looking for in this app.  And since it’s a free download, it can’t hurt to at least give it a try right?  I have actually talked with several people about Twitter apps and some of them prefer this one to some of the more popular paid apps.  So whether you are a power “Tweeter” or just a casual internet goer, I would encourage you to download this app and see if you find as easy to use and as powerful as I did!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – TweetDeck, Inc.

URL: http://www.tweetdeck.com/iphone

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Twittelator Pro($4.99)

Version – 3.6

REVIEW – “This twitter client has all the tools you need to stay in touch!”

In the world of twitter there are countless ways to send and receive messages and to find information that you’re looking for.  Some of them keep things very simple, and some of them try to incorporate everything.  Twittelator Pro definitely falls into the “comprehensive” twitter clients category, while at the same time managing to deliver a decent user experience!

An important footnote that I’ll list here is that this app comes in two flavors, “Twittellator Pro” and “Twittelator.”  While there are a few small differences in their features, the main difference between the two is that “Twittelator” is supported by ads while the pro version is not.  There are also a few extra advanced features such as being able to access multiple accounts and tighter integration between your other social networking sites.

The app loads up very quickly and brings you to your “Friends” menu when you start it up.  This screen will show all of your friend’s recent “tweets.”  At the bottom of the screen you’ll see several other menu options ranging from a page showing tweets that your twitter account(s) are mentioned, to a page for you messages and a general settings page.

As you browse through your tweets you have several options for interacting with them.  If you touch a users picture you will be taken to their profile screen.  From here you can send them messages, add them as a friend and all kinds of things.  If you see a little paperclip over on the right side touching it will bring up a dialog box with all of the available links that were included in that peak.

There are lots of other simple little shortcuts that make using this app a breeze, but where it really shines is in depth of features!  Another great thing is that all of these settings are available from within the app.  That means that there will be  no need to head to your “Settings” app to adjust something small within the app!

After having used this twitter app for a little while I’ll have to say that I was extremely impressed with just how customizable it is!  Another important thing to note is that this might not be the app that you’re looking for if you just want something that is simple to set up and use!  If; however, what you’re looking for really is an all-in-one twitter powerhouse that integrates some great desktop functionality directly into a simple iPhone app!

Whether or not you end up paying for the “Pro” version of Twittelator I would highly recommend that you download the free version and give t it a shot.  I seriously doubt that you are going to find an app that is anywhere near this effective!  So what are you waiting for?  Stop putting it off and head to the App Store today!

- David H.

Download FREE VERSION Now!

Download FULL VERSION Now! ($1.99)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Stone Design

URL: http://www.stone.com/Twittelator/

DEVELOPERS NOTES

Twittelator Pro is the ultimate Twitter client with every feature you need. The elegant design will make your social networking life run smoothly. Feel the pulse of the Twittersphere!

Just a few features of the over 200 features:

Create and tweet audio clips and hi-rez photos
Video: record, edit and tweet video
Unlimited drafts and offline tweeting
Create lists of friends
See anyone’s lists and join them
Post map of your location
Find tweets nearby anywhere
Handles multiple Twitter accounts
Tweet playing song
Create your own themes or use 4500 shared themes
Built-in browser to view links, movies, audio
Get details, follow or block any user
Advanced searching (save them too)
Email, ReTweet, and copy tweets
Translate tweets
Trending Topics
Autorefresh

One of the hottest apps of 2009, Twittelator Pro is THE twitter client for serious twitterers!

What’s new

- Dedicated Web Browser for easy navigation
- Supports TextExpander touch snippet expansion
- Paste in image from other apps like SMS, Safari
- TLists enhanced: easier to find lists via drill down of topics
- Movies made in Twittelator saved to your Photos Library
- DM conversations show all from and to that person
- Media uploads won’t stall by phone going dark
- Filter searches to just your native language
- You can reorder your drafts
- Address book in landscape
- Faster syncing to desktop
- En Français (Deutsch, Español, 日本語)!
- App has landscape everywhere
- Tweet your currently playing iPod song and album art
- See conversation threads in Messages
- Messages fully cached locally
- Compose: pull down to see tweet you’re responding to
- Update your bio, name & location from My Profile
- Geottagged tweets show pin for insty-map
- Option to show only geotagged nearby tweets
- Drag down top tweet to refresh
- Drag up the bottom tweet to get more tweets
- Search over 4,500 themes from Themes chooser
- Show Movapic thumbnails and images
- Find People by their full name, just like twitter’s!
- Search window better organized
- Tap a #hashtag to either search or define it
- Email tweet sends more rich tweet info
- Email entire list of tweets with rich tweet info
- More efficient image caching
- Conversations optimized to check your timeline first
- Blocking someone removes their tweets from timelines
- User details shows if user is protected or verified
- Lists and Profiles are archived for faster launch

fix: Trends: Featured Tweeters is back
fix: Other’s lists has quick Add to List + button now
fix: Google map links can be searched nearby by tap and hold
fix: Badges are more correctly displayed
fix: Changing accounts updates tweets correctly
fix: Fixed rare avatar loading too big bug
fix: Movie upload indicator rotates with tweets
fix: Empty tweets don’t get stuck in queue anymore
fix: Image tweets don’t get cut off

Download FREE VERSION Now!

Download FULL VERSION Now! ($1.99)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Engadget (Free)

Version – 1.0

REVIEW – “Keep up with the latest info from one of the leaders in tech news!”

I have seen a lot of apps of this type that end up being nothing but glorified RSS readersthat are dedicated to one site.  While this can be useful, it doesn’t really make an app worth downloading just to get an RSS feed.  What Engadget has managed to do is come out with an app that not only grabs the latest news but allows you to interact with it quickly and efficiently.

When you open up app you will be asked which database of information to search.  There are three sites to choose from: engadget, engadget hd and “immobile.”  Once you select a database you will be taken to the “Latest” screen where you will see all of the most recent news in a list

At the bottom of the screen you’ll notice a menu bar with several different options.  The default options are “Topics,” Videos,” and ‘Galleries.”  The “more” button in the bottom right corner of the screen brings up a men full of several options.  All of which can made into one of the four default icons!

The interface for browsing and viewing entries in this app not only looks nice, it manages to load extremely quickly!  This is perhaps the best feature of this app.  I have used countless RSS reader iPhone apps and website news aggregators, but very few of them have performed at anywhere near the level of this app.

So how does Engadget manage to load so quickly and still look so great?  The answer lies in the formatting.  It is very obvious that the developers have done a significant amount of work customizing the material that comes into this app.  In addition to great content, the Engadget app also includes in-app YouTube viewing and website browsing.  This makes it extremely simple and quick to check out multiple articles without ever leaving the Engadget app!

If you are someone that likes tokeep up on tech news regularly, then Engadget is definitely a site that you will want to visit regularly!  Thanks to this great app for your iPhone or iPod Touch, keeping up with the latest tech news has never been so easy, or this much fun.  So what are you waiting for?  Check it out in the App Store for free!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – AOL inc.

URL: http://www.engadget.com/downloads/iphone

DEVELOPERS NOTES

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.