(Air Video for iPhone Forum Review by msbaylor. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

I was quite surprised when I found Air Video for iPhone [$2.99 - iTunes link] was available in the App Store and was even more blown away with what is said it could do.

• Video Streaming: Watch videos from your computer, over the air via WiFi or 3G, on your iPhone or iPod touch. No need to sync with iTunes or transfer files.

• Live Conversion: Convert video from a non-iPhone friendly container like AVI or MKV, or codec like XviD or DivX while you're watching. No need to convert-first, watch-later.

But would it live up to it?

Besides downloading the iPhone App, you'll need to download the program for your computer (for PC & Mac OS X 10.4+). Neither app/program will work without the other. The iPhone app is basically a front end (UI) to the computer program.

The app has four main views - the server list, the file list, the file details view & and the queue view.

Installing the software and setup on my Vista computer was a breeze. The main thing here is to make sure you select what folders you want to have access to. Also there is an option to use "Internet access" which is an important option to have checked to really make this app scream! I even connected one of my NAS (Network Accessible Storage) drives to the app.

Switching back to the app, once you have everything on you Mac/PC setup, you will need to setup your iPhone app. Which, the two devices must be on the same Wifi network the first time for that the app can detect your PC/Mac

Again setting up the iPhone local and Internet connection are easy to setup. At one point I had an issue where I couldn’t get one of the servers to show up under local network & I had to enter my IP manually to get it to work.

The flow of the program is easy to navigate – you have your servers, then your file listings. You also have the option to set a password for your server to keep other out.

It seemed no matter what type of file I had, I was always able to see a screenshot next to the name whether it was converted or not.

In viewing details about the video, if it’s not in iPhone readable format, the app can either convert it for you (you can go about other things & come back to it later) or you can use the “LIVE conversion.”

When the videos convert, you’ll be left with a duplicate video file on your computer – the converted file, which is nonce to keep around other than being capable of streaming the video. Another thing you can do is add the video to iTunes and even to an optional playlist.

One of the things that really caught me by surprise was the extensive compression & ratio settings. You can even create multiple presets (ones for Edge & 3G connections) and set a default preset.

I never had an issue once I figured out the right conversion I wanted to use (the medium default preset worked out well for me to start with). I even made different conversion presets depending on what type of connection I thought I’d have.

Lastly, that other thing that caught me off guard was that the app has the ability to stream files remotely (via 3G/Edge) rather than just your local Wifi. Imagine instead of waiting tediously for a video to download from the Internet, you can leave your computer, check you iPhone, convert it and view it on-the-go!

Conclusion

Overall, this is absolutely an amazing concept & app, I surprised Apple/AT&T didn’t block this one. On a side note, I’d have to say – if you need a video converter & you “happen” to have an iPod touch or iPhone, for 3 bucks to have a well created video converter is a steal!

Pros:

• Great interface
• Live conversion of videos
• Add multiple servers
• Compression settings galore
• Select audio streams
• Create compression presets
• Conversions are very good

Cons:

• Remote server can be tricky to set up as Port forwarding doesn’t work on all networks
• Smaller, less resourceful computers, will not be able to run the software.

TiPb Review Rating

Notifications App Review by msbaylor. For more App Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Notifications [$2.99 - iTunes link] for iPhone does just what the name suggests -- hooks into Apple's push notification framework. I've never regularly used an RSS reader, because I would add a lot of feeds, then when I'd open it, I had all these things to read and that little number badge would be in the hundreds staring at me from my springboard. I happen to be one of those people that if there's a number badge on an app, then it needs to be resolved immediately. So I deleted the app. Resolved, right?!? Not exactly what should be done...

Getting back to the app - The resolution to my issue was using the Notifications app. This allowed me to set up certain RSS feeds to be checked and Push notifications to be sent to me. Notifications doesn't only do push for RSS, but Twitter, Gmail, and if you know how to code, then these are some bits of code that you can utilize on your website. So the app applies to both beginner & advanced iPhone users.

The app itself is quite simple. The main page consists of all the notifications you have received to date and the settings page, which allows you to check latency, to test sending push notifications to yourself and to show you which services you have enabled.

My main issue with this app was determining how to enter my feeds & Twitter searches so that it would send me the notifications. I ended up doing a Google search for the company and finding a login page (that I first registered for) and logged in to be able to edit my notifications. I really don't understand why they couldn't add a button in the settings pane that opens up an IN-APP BROWSER! Mind you, the website is mobile formatted; however, the blanks you type into are not, so it is a bit catty-whompus.

Right now I have about some 30 feeds that Notifications checks for me and one Twitter search. While their website states that the notification come instantly, I noticed that it can take from instantly to 15 minutes before you receive notification. A nice little feature I noticed on the web was the ability to open up a pre-selected iPhone Twitter app when you received a Twitter notification.

Conclusion

Overall, the service is great. If you are looking for a solid RSS application with PUSH, then this is NOT the app for you. If you don't care much about the app itself & its UI, then you should be just fine purchasing this app. The one main thing I’d really like to see improved is the app itself – to have the capability to marked notifications as read or unread & the ability to sort into categories would be an added bonus.

Pros:

-Unlimited notifications (as many RSS feeds as you want etc.) -Notification response time is very reasonable.

Cons:

-App navigation is horrible -Notifications appear in app all bunched up, no way to mark as read. -Must edit setting in a browser. -No RSS feed search

TiPb Review Rating

Recently, I have been doing some freelance job hunting and I've found CraigsMobileList [$0.99 - iTunes link] to be quite helful in sifting through the craigslist search results.

The app also allows you to bookmark searches, post ads, favorite certain results and set filters for your searches. Also, you can keep a recent city search list (helpful if you are looking state-wide results.)

If you're a "usual" on Craigslist, then this app if for you!

FoodScanner App Review by msbaylor. For more App Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

From the creators of the Daily Burn app & Occipital's RedLaser technology comes FoodScanner [$2.99 - iTunes link]. If you have used DailyBurn before (or if you haven't you should, but it's not required to have an account to use the app), then you should know that tracking the foods you eat can become tedious at times, especially when you can't find just the right food to enter into your Food Log.

Note: Review is for version 1.0 of app.

Well, FoodScanner simplifies the process, using Occipital's RedLaser technology. So by using your iPhone's camera, aim at the food's barcode & violá, the app will make a beeping noise and load your results nearly instantly, you don't even have to tap the annoyingly small "camera" button!

Sorry the image is blurry, hard to take a snapshot before the app picks up the barcode.

From there you can enter the food into your Food Log if you wish or you can view nutritional data for the product.

But let's say the barcode that is scanned doesn't pull up any results, well, you have the option to add the food to the database by adding the name, serving size, nutritional data & even a picture!

No barcode? No problem! Use a keyword to mind a food & it's nutritional info. But wait there's more! Not only is the product added to your database, but to the global one as well, so when they say "a database of 200,000+ items & growing" they aren't kidding. My only concern is false information, so do make sure when adding the food to your DailyBurn journal, that the nutritional info seems right.

I was really impressed by it's ability to take a picture of the UPC barcode. I first tested it on the 3GS, no problems, I turned out all the lights and was able to "scan" the barcode using only the dim light radiating off my computer monitor! I then picked up my old iPhone 2G. While yes, the camera does not have a macro lens, the outcome was nearly the same. It took a little longer for the barcode to register, but nothing I'd say I wouldn't have expected given the camera's specs.

Another thing to note is that the screen says "hold still" I literally sat down and "trembled" the iPhone 3GS it was able to pick up the UPC code (it almost seemed to pick it up faster...)

This application really starts off where the free DailyBurn app ends. I only hope that they at some point merge the two into a "PRO" application as having two application is mildly irritating, especially if you need the real estate on your home screen. Another thing I'd like to see in the app (if not a 'PRO" version, then the ability to "switch" between apps with out having to go to the home screen.) Again, realize that you do not need a DailyBurn account to use this, but if you like tracking your nutrition, then I highly recommend an account & the free DailyBurn app. The app is starting at an "introductory price" of $2.99. I hope they don't raise the price too much, as I wouldn't want to pay over the $2.99, $3.99 would be the absolute max. This is a really great concept & awesome app; however, the fact that I can't go back to simply view data on previously scanned foods is a little annoying.

Pros:

• Utilizes Occipital's RedLaser technology
• quickly get food & nutritional info from the product's UPC
• Add items to the database
• Optionally sync with DailyBurn account
• Works well on both the iPhone 3GS & iPhone 2G (from what I tested)
• Easy UI

Cons:

• Viewing previously scanned "today" objects, you cannot view their info.

TiPb Review Rating

Star Walk App Review by msbaylor. For more App Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Star Walk [$4.99 - iTunes link] is the best star-gazing application I have come across for the iPhone. Many of the features found within the application cannot be found in any others! This is one of the best developed and executed applications I have seen to hit the app store.

When the app opens, it will take a moment to load. I noticed that the app states on the loading page �The Universe � Yours to Discover� This is an awesome statement and very true to the app.

The user interface is very easy to navigate. When you get into the application, the app will automatically detect your location and arrange the sky as it is currently for you. You can use your finger to pan around the sky.

For 3GS users, tap on the screen once, then lift the iPhone up over your head & �peer through the viewfinder�. I could keep going on about this feature, but again, this is one of the best features of the app. Other iPhone/iTouch users can do the same however, you can only tilt vertically.

Tap on any object in the sky to select it and see its name.

I however, ran into a few instances where the name did not show up until I viewed the full details. To view the details, you simply tap on the �i� in the top left-hand corner.

Tap on it again to leave the details view. Most of the buttons that take you out of the full sky view, when tapped again, will take you back. However, the �w� button in the details view will take you to Wikipedia to view details on the Internet. This is a nice addition if you have the Internet access.

The clock in the top right-hand corner allows you to change the time of day/date to view the sky. I found it kind of fun to slide the slider so that it continued to rotate so I could view the sky as an �elapsed time� sort-of view. However, when doing this I also found it was a bit difficult to stop unless I tapped on the �now� button. Also if you have selected an object, the sky will �rotate� around it when you change the time/date.

In the bottom-left-hand corner you have a search. And finally, in the bottom right-hand corner, tap the button to make 3 more appear, the bottom one, allows you to change On/Off settings � Night Mode, Constellations, & Sounds.

You also have the ability to brighten of dim the sky (not brightness). You literally can make the smaller stars not appear or have them all appear according to your location. The middle button finds your current location or lets you view the sky from a different location.

And the last one allows you to access & modify bookmarks.

There are also some other neat things I found in the app:

I found that the sun creates a flare on you �window.� It changes direction & angle as the sun revolves around you in the app. Also the sun literally dims in brightness and the flare disappears when another object comes in front it it. Another thing is the Moon. In the above screenshot you can see the moon and as it moves past the sun you can actually see the shadow move across it. These little details show that a lot of thought went into this app by the developers & designers.

Conclusion

Overall this is an outstanding application, while it does seem to have a few minor issues this is a fairly solid app. The one thing I'd really like to see would be - in the full sky view, the sky would constantly be in motion when you aren't customizing the time/date. This way, 30 minutes later while you are still in the app, the sky is literally "tracking" with you.

I highly recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in Astronomy or star gazing. At $4.99 this is an awesome app, if you have an iPhone 3GS, then it's a steal!

Pros:

• Intuitive Interface
• Search for planets, constellations, etc. & view details
• Current location or search for another area.
• 3GS users can utilize the compass/tilt feature, other users do not have access to the compass feature.
• Zoom in & out, tap to select object in sky
• Night view (red tint)
• View the sky for a specific time of day

Cons:

• When viewing details about some items, text is too long to fit in box (text gets cut off)
• The sound the app makes when �typing� out the object's details is a little annoying.
• Not all objects show a label when highlighted by the green circle (does show up in details)

TiPb Review Rating

GrooveMaker Forum Review by msbaylor. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

The GrooveMaker Apps are a new way of creating great music on the go. Intermediate users of electronic music creation will find this app on top of their best music creation apps for the iPhone.

NOTE: This review is a blanket review for all the apps in the GrooveMaker series, having beta tested them all, they all operate in the same basic way (the main difference is the sound loops included in each version). Current versions include:

• GrooveMaker FREE [Free - iTunes link]
• GrooveMaker Club [$4.99 - iTunes link]
• GrooveMaker House [$9.99 - iTunes link]
• GrooveMaker Hip-Hop [$9.99 - iTunes link]

Buttons & Using the Interface:

The interface is quite intuitive and unique. When you open the app, you can choose from a set of songs. On the initial load, the song will take some time to unpack. After this is done, you will not have to do this again for that song. In the main interface you have pads in the middle, below that is a waveform. Tap on a pad and it displays the waveform for that loop, this will help you introduce loops on the beats you want especially if you are performing live.

The buttons of the right side are randomization buttons. These four buttons allow you to randomize the loops depending on the button you tap on - A - D. This is really a nice touch especially if you are just brainstorming to find your new groove.

Below these buttons is the Tempo button. By tapping on it 3 times, the app averages the beat and sets the new tempo. If you want to be more precise, you can hold down the tempo button until a set of buttons appear (about 2 seconds). You can utilize the tack wheel to speed up/down the tempo or you can even be more precise by tapping the "+" & "-" buttons. By holding down the tempo button again the tempo setting disappear. The only thing I really didn't like about this was the fact that it actually changes the pitch of the loops, that's not exactly something I like happening, I'd rather change them interdependently.

On the opposite side of the screen you have the interactive help. The interactive help is very neat as it...well... let's you interact with the app & helps you get to know how to use the application very quickly. The other buttons are your preferences - allowing you to set which pads are randomized via the randomization buttons. While I found this nice, I didn't fully enjoy it as I couldn't pick pads out of order, rather I had to choose 2-5 or 2-7, etc. The next button allows you to go back to the song menu. Next is the sequencer, more on that later, lastly, the master button, this controls the master volume for your song.

In the middle of the bottom side of the screen you have 4 very important buttons. The far right one allows you to pull up a loops list and select a loop for the pad. Tapping on the Track button pulls up another set of buttons. The one on the left coordinate the pads on screen allowing you to empty, lock, solo, and/or mute the pads. The ones ones the right side of the screen allow you to control the volume of the pad/loop and it's pan. Of course to remove the buttons you simply tap on the track button again. The play button is what gets your groove on (pun intended). Lastly, the Groove snap button, this is explained in the next section.

Music Creation:

I really loved how easy it was to create songs. You simply get the pads going the way you want to, then tap the "Groove Snap" button and this saves the "groove" you have created into the sequencer. Before I continue I must explain some terminology - A "Pad" contains a loop. A "Groove" contains a mixture of up to 8 pads playing at once within an 8 Bar/32 beat groove. The "sequencer" allows you to put multiple grooves together to create your song. With me so far? I hope so.

Continuing on... Once you have your pads in place you tap the Groove snap button, this saves you pads and whether they are on or not, you then can change the pads and press the Groove Snap button again to save another groove. These set of actions is what make Groovemaker so unique, you don't have to turn off the music to save a piece of your music. Once you feel you have saved all the grooves you want, tap on the sequence button on the right side of the screen.

All the buttons will be replaced by the sequencer except for the buttons on the right. The sequencer is separated into four portions - the top one contains all the grooves you've saved, the second one (from the top) is your sequence, the third section displays where you are listening to in your sequence and the very bottom are buttons allowing you to empty you sequencer, place certain grooves into the sequencer, play the sequence, mix browser (allows you to save you song/sequence to edit later) and finally the almighty Export button - you'll need WiFi for that.

The main thing that happens here is - you drag saved grooves (first row) into the sequencer (the second row). While I found this very easy to do, I wasn't a fan of being limited to only 15 grooves in my sequencer... it broke my groove. I suppose a way around this is to export the first 15 grooves, create a new set, then export and so on.

If you are wanting longer song exports and more control in-between groove changes, I'd recommend exporting your grooves independently, then mixing them on another sequencer. Hopefully in one of their next updates they will allow this to occur.

Performing Live:

Live performances are possible however depending on how you are soloing & muting buttons, it can easily get confusing to which pad is actually playing. However, you can select multiple pads and press the solo/mute buttons. The main issue here is you have to “hold” down one pad while tapping on other pads to select multiple pads at once.

Overall:

I found this app quite nice and easy to use I'd recommend this to anyone interested in creating music in their spare time, but for anyone that likes making their trance (for instance) songs longer that 3.5 minutes or creating sudden changes in the song rather than over a 32 beat section, this might not be the best application for you.

Check out this MP3 I created using the app LIVE with the Hip-Hop version!

I simply plugged a stereo cable from my iPhone into my computer and recorded it live in Audacity. Nothing else was edited on the song.

Pros:

• Easy to learn UI
• Export your song via WiFi (as a *.wav file)
• Multiple song pack per app
• A lot of loops per app (about 70-100 loops per song)
• Loops stay on beat - no attempting to match the beat
• Tempo modifier (& pitch)
• Loads quickly (after initial load)
• Intuitive & Interactive Help
• Save songs/layouts

Cons:

• Song created is limited to approximately 3.5 minutes/ 15 grooves per sequence
• No fading between grooves
• No filters
• Changing tempo also changes the pitch

TiPb Review Rating

AutoStitch Forum Review by msbaylor. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

AutoStitch is the only application in the App Store that gives the ability to stitch multiple rows of photos in any orientation in creating your panorama, meaning you don’t just get the normal one row, 360 degree view that Pano or the Panorama apps produce.

I was completely taking off guard when I found how utterly simple it was to use the application! Literally you “select & stitch” that all you do, no take one photo, stitch, take another photo, stitch, etc.

Overview

On the main screen you navigate to your photo album and tap to select photos, they don’t have to be in any particular order. The application will then load it into app (bottom half of screen) once that is complete; you can tap the “stitch” button. If there are photos you want to remove, just tap on the photos in the bottom pane and confirm that you want to delete it.

There is a progress bar at the bottom that I found quite accurate and you can watch you panorama build right in front of you.

Once the panorama is complete, it might be odd shaped, but you can crop it later via Photoshop or GIMP- one of the options that is really lacking. At this time you can also zoom in to view the stitching and if you want to replace a photo, you can go back and go through the process again.

There is a progress bar at the bottom that I found quite accurate and you can watch you panorama build right in front of you.

Once the panorama is complete, it might be odd shaped, but you can crop it later via Photoshop or GIMP- one of the options that is really lacking. At this time you can also zoom in to view the stitching and if you want to replace a photo, you can go back and go through the process again.

Once you are satisfied with your result, it’s time to save the photo

Here are some tests (4) that I conducted with the app

1) 4 “rows” of photos, 360 degrees horizontally:

I tool 57 photos and had it stitched into the photo below. Each iPhone (3GS) photo has a resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 (~1000kb each). The photo that I ended up with is 2,406 x 831 (784kb). So my end result is nearly smaller than the initial size of one iPhone photo – not cool. Test Grade: C-

2) 3 Rows of photos, 100 degrees horizontally:

Now the photo below, I took a total of 19 photos taken at the same resolution (obviously), ending result was a 2,350 x 851 photo – just as large as the previous panorama with less photos. I assume that the application is capping the size of the photo to reduce the RAM usage. Test Grade: C+

As In the first test photo I captured about 100 degrees vertical by 360 degrees horizontal, while the second one is only about 30 degrees vertical by 100 degrees horizontal. I am not a fan of this at all.

3) “Normal” one row panorama: The app did a good job at just creating a single row panorama Test Grade: B

4) “Really bad photographer” panorama

I decided to take a number of shots that were taken diagonally, horizontally & vertically. The result I was very pleased with: Test Grade: B-

At first, I thought this app was amazing, but after doing a thorough analysis of the app through the tests, I wasn’t happy with the results. I expected a little more on the resolution side of things. As a reference point, the photo below was created using the Panorama App – its resolution is 3,004 x 832 by combining only 5 iPhone photos, considerably better resolution over the Autostitch app.

If you are someone that’s likes taking panoramas occasionally or would like to get into taking panoramas, this is a nice app to start with; however, if you are a photography kind of person, this isn’t the best app – namely due to the resolution issue, it’s just too low to do anything “more” with it.

Conclusion

Overall I found this application to be groundbreaking on the iPhone, even if it’s not the first Panorama application to come to the App store market – it has raised the bar for other Panorama apps. The application is simple enough for anyone to use. My main complaint is the lack of cropping and picking of resolutions. I assume rendering into a larger resolution would eat up the RAM, but it would be a nice option, especially for the 3GS users. I noticed a lot of blurry areas in my pictures – this is caused by one of two issues – 1. I took a blurry shot or 2. The photo blending didn’t work out to well. Two bucks is a good deal for this tiny, yet powerful app.

Tips on Taking Panoramas with this app

• If using the 3GS, try to set the exposure on a foreground object (which initially appears darker) or vice versa
• If using the 3GS, try to focus on the furthest object, such as the horizon. Obviously this can't always happen especially if you are following the point above.
• Try to hold the iPhone as steady as possible in low light situations

Pros:

• Incredibly simple to use
• Don’t have to have photos in order to stitch
• Add photos all in one go
• Watch the building of the Panorama as it’s created
• Save to photo album is quick

Cons:

• No advanced options
• Alignment isn’t always dead on
• No cropping ability
• Resolution of panorama is low
• Only one resolution option

TiPb Review Rating

Autostitch is available for $1.99 from the iTunes App Store.

MYST Forum Review by msbaylor. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Note: I did not review this quite as in-depth as I normally would as I felt that reviews regarding Myst are all over the place and I would be just be repeating what everyone else says, so I just commented on the port itself.

For those of you that do not know what Myst is, it is a port of the old Myst computer game. Myst is an adventure puzzle game in which you are attempting to find your way off the island, or rather attempt to figure out how all the things around you work.

Having played the original Myst, the iPhone version is just like it. It consists of multiple 3D still images that fade from one to another depending on the area of the screen you touch.

Controls

Controls are very simple here. You tap in the direction that you want to go or you tap on objects to interact with them.

Graphics

Like I said before, the game is like a 3D image slide show. However, many of the objects that you will interact with do not act as a slide show, but rather as animations. Also there is video in different parts of the game, such as in the books.

Sound:

I was very impressed by the way the game handled sound. As you continue through your adventures throughout the ages, the audio is constantly changing, not just when you are interacting with objects, but also the ambient noise.

The game is quite large in file size about 720MB and is like the original, in its full scale. This is not a game that you pick up walk around a bit then come back to later, rather it is a game that you will want to sit down with and actually play for a significant amount of time. I suppose you could sit down with it for a short time, but at times the games is very complex in which you might want to take notes, so you might want pen & paper nearby.

Besides all the “usual” game properties, there is also an Options screen. The options screen allows you to “bookmark” or in other words save your game in 4 different slots. You simply drag the current screen (the largest of the boxes to one of the four smaller boxes to save the point in the game you are at. To restore a point, you simply drag in the other direction. There are also sliders that control the speed of the transitions and the volume of the sound. You also have the ability to drop a page if you have one in hand (in order to grab a different one.) Or you you can tap on the Help or Hints buttons. These two buttons will take you out of the game and into the Safari browser. The website it takes you to is formatted for the iPhone, so you should not have any issues viewing the web page. There is also a “back” button which literally takes you right back into the game. I thought the “back” to the game button was a really nice touch to have.

I was curious about what Cyan Worlds had planed for Myst, so I emailed Mark at Cyan Worlds and asked him if there would be any updates for Myst in the future. He replied stating that they would be fixing some minor items, adding an in-game browser for looking up hints “and a few other surprises” Well I can honestly say I'll be looking forward to what is coming from Cyan Worlds.

Overall

I really enjoyed playing this port of Myst. I highly recommend this game to an Myst fan and for anyone that like puzzles or adventure-puzzles for that matter. However if you are the type of person that just wants to quickly play part of this game to kill time, then this is not the game for you.

Pros:

• Full game, simply a port
• Save up to 4 different instances
• Interacting objects on screen as well as navigating by tapping in the direction you want to go

Cons:

• No in-game browser for hints (feature coming soon)
• Not a “tome-waster” (could be a “pro” as well)
• slide show movement

TiPb Review Rating

Myst is available for $5.99 from the iTunes App Store.

Convertbot Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!)

ConvertBot is by Tapbots - the developers of WeightBot and for those of you that love the way the application operates, this one will not let you down.

This is probably the sleekest conversion application I have seen with its cool animations and sounds. However, the only issues I ran into – it takes longer than I thought the program should take to load. At first I believed that it was the app itself checking an Internet connection to update the currency conversions, but when I put my iPhone in Airplane mode, it took just as long. But it is a good thing to note that even though the currencies could not update, the program is still usable.

The sleek interface is what really makes this app so nice. This has to be the coolest working Conversion app for the iPhone. The “wheel” that takes up the main part of the screen can be rotated to set the conversion type:

• Angles: Degree, Radian, & Grad
• Area: Square Meter, Square Centimeter, Square Millimeter, Square Mile, Acre, Square Kilometer, Square Yard, Square Foot, Square Inch
• Currency: Australian Dollar, Brazilian Real, Canadian Dollar, Swiss Franc, Danish Krone, Euro, Pound Sterling (UK), Japanese Yen, Mexican Peso, Swedish Krona, US Dollar
• Length: Foot, Meter, Inch, Centimeter, Mile, Kilometer, Nautical Mile, Yard, Millimeter, Foot+Inch
• Mass: Milligram, Kilogram, Pound, Ounce, Gram, Stone, Stone+Pound, Metric Ton, Pound+Ounce
• Power: Watt, Horsepower, Kilowatt, BTU/Minute, Foot-Pound/Minute, Foot-Pound/Second
• Pressure: Pound/Square Inch, Centimeters of Mercury, Inches of Mercury, Kilogram/Square Meter, Pascal, Atmospheres, Bars, Pounds/Square Foot
• Speed: Miles/Hour, Kilometers/Hour, Knots, Miles/Second, Miles/Minute, Feet/Minute, Feet/Second, Kilometers/Minutes
• Temperature: Celsius, Kelvin, Fahrenheit
• Time: Second, Millisecond, Microsecond, Nanoseconds, Year, Week, Day, Hour, Minute, Hour + Minute
• Volume: Cup, Teaspoon, Tablespoon, Cubic Feet, Gallon (UK), Quart, Pint, Ounce, Cubic Meter, Gallon (US), Liter, Milliliter, Cubic Centimeter
• Work (Energy): Kilogram Calorie, Foot Pound, Newton Meter, Joule, BTU, Erg, Watt Hour, Calorie

Once you have rotated the wheel to the type/category, then you tap on the bottom left button and you use the “wheel” to select the specific conversion unit, take the center blue button, “ok” and it locks that unit in. This unit is the unit you are converting from. The other black button is the unit you want to convert to. You repeat the same process of locking in the unit.

By tapping on the top “number screen,” this opens up a keypad so that you can type in the amount you are converting from. The application has a live update, in which the app auto converts as you type the number into the app. Tapping on the “number screen” again brings back the conversion “wheel”

You can tap on the center wheel to switch the units if you need to.

By tapping on the “i” icon you can view the Settings which allows you to turn the sound on or off as well as the choice of viewing the Demo (which is quite a nice feature in the app).

Issues:

• Would like to have the “wheel” spin more smoothly, rather than “clicking” into place.
• Not as common currencies are not available in the app. (exe.: Argentinian Pesos or Chilean Peso)

Pros:

• Sleek Interface
• Sounds & animation to go with each “screen” or tap
• Complex conversions

Cons:

• Takes quite long to update currencies at app start up (quicker in airplane mode, due to currencies not updating)
• “Wheel” ‘clicks’ into place rather than smoothly rolling.
• Uncommon currencies not available

TiPb Review Rating

[Convertbot is available for $0.99 from the iTunes App Store.]

ReaddleDocs Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!)

ReaddleDocs is a document viewer that basically covers all the ways of getting the document onto you iPhone – so there is no way that you cannot have your documents on hand.

When you purchase ReaddleDocs, you also receive 512MB of storage space on their server. This allows you to upload any documents to the server via any browser and then sync them with you iPhone via any data connection (EDGE/3G/WIFI).

When you tap on the “Online” tab, you select the server you want to connect to and then you have the ability to sync with the server so that any new documents that you have retrieved via the iPhone will backup to your server and vice versa.

Besides using your Readdle Storage space, you can also connect to your MobileMe iDisk or connect to a WebDAV enabled server.

A second way of getting documents onto your iPhone is by forwarding your attached document in an e-mail to you ReaddleDocs e-mail address (given to you when you create your online account). Then, again, you sync you iPhone with your account.

A third way, is to use the built-in browser and navigate to a document then tap on a button to download the document to your iPhone.

A fourth and final way is to transfer the documents from your computer to your iPhone via WiFi.

When viewing your documents, you can edit them - delete, move, create folders, rename folders, rename documents, mail documents, and add a document to a zip achieve.

All documents that can normally be viewed on the iPhone can be viewed via this application as well.

I really like the icons that it uses to represent the type of file (red icon for pdf files, blue icon to doc files, etc.)

Interface

Within the app you can view all your documents, view your online documents (through whichever server,) use the browser, view recently opened files and adjust settings for the app.

I think for the most part those screen are self-explanatory.

I also like the document “reader” interface. When viewing files such as *.doc, *.rtf, the viewer is simple – you can scroll through your document like you would in the iPhone document viewer, however, you have and “add” button at the top, which allows you to insert bookmarks for that document. I find this incredibly convenient when reading a large document or e-book. The toolbar at the bottom of the screen allows you to view and edit bookmarks, e-mail the document, scroll through a document quickly using the slider and a full screen button.

If you turn the iPhone to the landscape position, it automatically goes to full-screen and rotates the document accordingly.

When viewing an *.xls document, you have all the same features as above. At the top of the document, you can change between the sheets. You might also notice that when switching between sheets, arrows will appear at the bottom of the screen. These arrows are much like the arrows you would use in the browser.

When viewing images, you can view them much like you would in your photo reel, just tap the arrows to move through the pictures within that folder. You can also mail the documents via this image viewer.

Besides viewing and retrieving documents, you can also view the device photos (which might prove a faster way of delete picture on your iPhone if you have to do it that way.)

Settings

In the setting screen, you have the ability to view or hide the “device photos” folder, setup mail settings – mail from and mail signature; allow WiFi network drive and apply username and password; several different viewing options including “view HTML as book”; you can also enable a passcode lock; and setup the document encoding.

Issues Encountered

There is no way to move the images to your iPhone photo reel or set as wallpaper functions, while the picture is on my iPhone in a sense, I cannot actually do anything with it unless I email it to myself and do it that way. I don’t always have a data connection when I am traveling so it would be nice to move the images over to do what I wish with them. When viewing the a PowerPoint document, the slides seems to form one large “page” (see screen shot).

Conclusion

In my opinion the Pros out weigh the Cons and the price tag of $9.99 is completely worth it. To have the ability of getting my document on my hand held and having them at my finger tips is worth it. I was on a film set when I was asked to operate a Sony F900 camera. Luckily, I was able to go to a website using the browser interface and download the manual on my iPhone and had the ability to quickly skim through it and figure out how to use the camera.

Pros

• Multiple ways of retrieving documents onto your iPhone
• 512MB of server storage
• nice document viewer
• document logos make finding documents easier
• Ability to sync iPhone with server & vice versa
• Book marking in documents

Cons

• In doc viewer, tapping bottom of screen makes doc auto scroll, can be annoying at times
• Can’t handle large documents (over about 8MB)
• Viewing *.xls (or of the like) documents doesn’t always format correctly
• Viewing *.ppt (or of the like) format into one long page

TiPb Review Rating

[ReaddleDocs is available for $9.99 from the iTunes App Store.]

Vine2Wine Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Overall I think this is a neat little reference guide. While you might find more information about each of the term on the Internet (and I'd like to see the option for more information on the grape varieties). I think this application handles the information very well and it’s quick and easy to use.

Vine2Wine is a wine drinker's reference guide, whether you are a beginner wanted to learn the lingo or even for intermediates.

The app is simple. On the main screen you choose from three categories:

• Grape Varieties
• Wine terminology
• Wine Tastes

In the Grape Varieties list view. The different grape varieties are listed and depending on what type of grape it uses it is represented by a correlating purple of white grapes next to each variety. Also within the list view you have the phonetic pronunciation for the terms for quick reference. If you tap on one of the Varieties it will give you some information about it - such as color, flavors, & history.

Vine2Wine Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

As for the Wine terminology and Wine Tastes list views, each term is listed and a small part of the first line can be seen. If you tap on the term, rather than going to a new screen, the list expands to display the full text. I thought this was a really cool feature as it was quick and easy to navigate between the terms within the list.

All the lists are just like your contacts list in that they have the letter scroll bar on the right-hand side of the screen.

Pros

• Easy Navigation
• Interesting and quick navigation within terminology lists

Cons

• Not all the grape varieties have pronunciations
• No way to add notes.

TiPb Rating

Vine2Wine is available for $0.99 from the iTunes App Store.

Meditate Now 2 Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Meditate Now 2 is an application that contains a series of audio clips that capable of helping you alleviate stress and allow you to relax. The audio is narrated by Stin Hansen, whom is an extremely experienced speaker and an award wining meditation expert. Her voice is absolutely perfect for this type of application. Most of audios range from about nine minutes long to about 15 minutes long (with two exceptions being at three & five minutes)

The audios include (paraphrased from the iTunes description):

• Be Grateful – Relax and feel more gratitude in your life
• Anchor your Spirit – bring substance to your life
• Breathe It Out – breath meditation that is perfect for anxiety and feelings of panic
• End Pain – bring relief to arthritis, labor, chronic, and surgery pains
• Your Best Self – Connect with your full potential and move beyond daily concerns with the meditation
• Serenity Prayer Meditation – recited at a time of trouble. Used in recovering alcoholics and addicts.
• Center Your Chakras – Center and align your energy centers
• Emotional Acupuncture – for emotional emergencies (also utilities a picture to show you how)

I also found that Stin offers a free podcast through the iTunes store. So if you are hesitant to get his application, you can always check out her podcast. I definitely recommend this app to anyone that listens to audios for meditation. While the 'Emotional Acupuncture' audio displays a picture, it is a little hard to understand what it is exactly saying to do. To alleviate this, it would be nice to have only certain parts of the picture visible that relate and change with the audio.

Pros:

• Professional voice & audio
• Easy interface to switch between audios

Cons:

• Photo in audio is hard to discern, if unfamiliar with technique.
• The info icon leaves the app unexpectedly

Forum Review Rating:

[http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=299295151&mt=8">Meditate Now 2 is available for $1.99 from the iTunes App Store.]

Illuminations Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Illuminations is developed by Killer Robots and is an interesting shoot-em-up type game. It is based around the idea of a firework show. You have to shoot rockets that come up from the bottom of the screen in order to make them explode, if you miss too many, then the show is over for you. You also might find enemies that might spawn at random to keep you from “giving a good show,” these also must be eliminated (and added to the show).

Layout:

Layout is simple. The main menu allows you to begin a new game, view high scores, view options and instructions. In the options menu you can turn on and off sound and/or the music. When you tap the screen around the actual buttons, fireworks are seen exploding – nice touch.

Within the game itself you have your “show meter” in the top left corner if you miss too many rockets the meter will drop, it is drop too far then it's game over. In essence, it's a life meter. In the upper right hand corner on the screen, the blue meter displays the amount of ammo you have left, the better the weapon the faster it falls, but if you pause, the ammo will regenerate. To the right of the blue bar displays one of five ammos that you can obtain. The pink bar is your bomb reload timer is essence. When you set off a bomb, the bar has to reload before you can use another. The number at the end of the bar is how many bombs you have left. Both ammo, lives, and bombs can be obtained from shooting the enemies.

Controls:

The game utilizes the tilt controls in the Phone and by tapping on the left-side of the screen you shoot your normal ammo, double tap the right-side of the screen. To pause the game and view a menu, double tap the pause button in the upper left-hand corner.

Graphics:

The graphics in the game are fairly simple your “aircraft,” enemies, rockets and ammo all appear 2D. When explosions occur – thus the fireworks, the particle graphics are very nice for the game. The background is a 3D basic cityscape the moves around at random. While many of the graphics are very basic, I think it adds to the overall user experience of the game.

Issues:

I didn't like the fact that the neutral position for the tilt controls was when the iPhone was lying flat on its back. I'd like to see a a neutral reset button whether manual or automatically set when the game begins.

When firing you letting off a bomb, I noticed that in my mind I would switch the controls around meaning I'd shoot using the right side of the screen instead of the left side. It would be nice if there was an option to switch this.

Overall:

I find this game pretty cool and oddly addicting. At only $3.99 this game will keep you occupied for hours. Some might find the price a little steep, but if you are into asteroid-like games with much better graphics and weapon upgrades, then this game is going to be for you.

Pros:

• Good particle graphics
• Asteroid-like game play but much more colorful
• Tilt-controls are accurate (not too sensitive, but just right)
• 5 weapon upgrades to use

Cons:

• No way to reset the neutral position for tilt controls
• After dying (show meter falls too far) you must start over from level 1

TiPb Forum Review Rating

[Illuminations is available from the iTunes App Store.]

Bugz by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Bugz has to be one of the most entertaining games I’ve played (and really the only one I’ve completed all the levels on).

The game play here is simple – you create an explosion, for lack of a better tem, which if the bugs hit it, they in turn explode creating a chain reaction. From level-to-level, you must “clear” a certain amount of bugs off the screen via the chain reaction you create using only that one initial tap.

For your first time through, the game will walk you through on how to play it.

Levels:

I found the early stages harder than the later stages, as there were more bugs to hit. Well except maybe for the last few, where you had to clear all of them or all but a couple. There are 102 levels, which are really segmented off into 4 different sections (if you will.) The first section only deals with clearing a certain amount of bugs from the screen. The second section is the same, but you have to also include the one or two of the silver-colored bugs in the chain reaction. In the third section, small flowers are introduced, where they move around the screen. If the bugs get to close to them, they will slow down or even stop, which might throw off your chain reaction. And in the fourth section, you are given a time limit in which you have complete the level.

If you have a Wifi connection, you can view the leader board and/or submit your score to the leader board.

Overall I found the game play quite addicting. I beat the game within 3 or 4 sittings (within about 3 hours). So for me it was a quite quick, but even though the game play was quick, the game grabbed my attention and submerged me into the game (which all great games should do). I’d really like to see more levels added as well and some increased difficulty in the upper levels.

Pros:

• Entertaining and colorful game play.

Cons:

• Only 102 levels
• Early levels seem harder than higher levels.

Forum Review Rating

[Bugz is available from the iTunes App Store.]

Wanted by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Wanted is a simple picture editing application that turns a picture of a person into a wanted poster. The poster can then be printed out onto a piece of paper for the office. Don’t worry the output file is much larger than a normal iPhone picture.

The app begins with a menu and “wild-west” type music. You have the option to turn the music on and off as you wish. I found listening to the music relevant to the app, but turned it off after awhile.

In the menu you can select whether you want to use the camera to take a picture or if you want pick a picture from the camera roll. Here I picked a random image from Google...

The next screen you’ll see will have places to edit the title, in other words it doesn’t have to say “Wanted” also you can edit the reward, the status and the name in the poster. You can also edit the picture by tapping on the items next to the picture you have picked/taken.

You can then add pieces to the picture such as a hat, a revolver, a mustache, and/or a sheriff’s badge by tapping on it, it places is it on the picture. You can resize the objects by using two fingers to rotate and resize the objects. I noticed that after placing one object, then placing another that the 2nd objects was not automatically selected and threw my previous placement off until I realized I needed to select the second object, I also found that one of the hats, that has a curve to it on the bottom of it.

The below photo is the final picture. You can click on it to see the actual resolution of the photo itself. The developer claims that it is a printable photo, however, I have yet to do this, but when I do, I will say so below.

Overall this is an intresting app and I can see a fit for this app. I would like to see more objects added or more so more options of each object. While I like the final photo, I am not sure I quite like the wood background behind the "poster" within the final pic. I would like to see a default selection tool when placing the objects in the photo also a list of ideas for what to put in the title to make different posters. I really like the large file it exports to (noted above). Overall for the price tag of $0.99, this is a functional app for whatever purpose you plan on using it for...

Pros:

• Large resolution final pic
• Intresting Concept
• Music goes good with the teme of the app (a new one for costuming)

Cons:

• Sometimes placement of objects is hard
• "wood" behind the "poster" I feel, shouldn't be there.
• Only a few objects available

Forum Review Rating

[Wanted is available from the iTunes App Store. "Dead or Alive" Dieter? Priceless!]