Panic's ingenious all-in-one FTP, CSS, and Code editing app comes to iPad

I bought the original Coda for Mac the minute Panic put it on sale and have used it day-in, day-out ever since. Coming from Macromedia/Adobe's Dreamweaver, it was a breath of fresh air. That won't be a surprise to anyone familiar with Panic. They're among the most thoughtful, most talented interface designers outside of Apple. And now they've brought Coda to the iPad. Whimsically named Diet Coda, it doesn't provide all the functionality of it's bigger, older Mac brother, but it does provide almost exactly the functionality needed for an ultra-portable environment like the iPad.

Anyone familiar with Coda for Mac will immediately recognize how Diet Coda opens. It has the same, excellent pin-board style site manager, complete with the same terrific new backflip animation Coda 2 received on the desktop. Little touches like that, sprinkled throughout Panic's apps, make you smile no matter how many times you see them, and make what could be a boring, utilitarian UI more than a little delightful.

Diet Coda includes all the great visualizations and animations of Coda for Mac, though the lack of in-app security probably means you won't want to save your passwords.

Enter your site credentials and you're off to work. Mostly. Diet Coda supports FTP and SFTP in both GUI and Terminal, but sadly iOS doesn't support either OpenVPN or persistent background internet connections which means if, like me, you need to access sites over OpenVPN, you're out of luck. Hopefully Apple adds this capability in the future, or Panic adds it specifically to Diet Coda.

It's also worth noting that while Coda 2 now supports iCloud to sync sites between Macs, Diet Coda can't tie into those settings yet to automagically bring them over to the iPad (the way Screens does for VPN, for example). Hopefully they'll add that in the future, if for no other reason that to save time re-entering a dozen or so sites.

Lastly, since there's no per-app security in iOS, and Panic hasn't offered a PIN or password system, security paranoid users like myself won't want to let Diet Coda save any passwords. That does make it less convenient, and for strong passwords will typically require the use of a separate password manager app like 1Password or DataVault.

Once in, you can browse your server-side directories, pick the files you want to work on, and open them up in Diet Coda.

Easily browse for files on the server and open anything you want to edit right in Diet Coda.

The file editor enjoys a dedicated keyboard row with useful functions like undo and arrow keys, and symbols like comments, angle brackets, etc. It also has excellent syntax highlighting and even code completion. And their version of Apple's text editing loupe -- a full on horizontal zoom bar -- is fantastically functional.

A handy zoom bar lets you edit more comfortably at a large size.

Changing between files is as easy as tapping the bright purple open file counter button at the top right, which reveals a variation of the awesome new tab bar from Coda 2 for Mac. All your open files are shown, with thumbnails, and there's a tab for Sites and for Terminal as well. Sublime.

Just like Coda 2 for Mac, it's easy to jump back through the file path, and switch documents, sites, and even access the Terminal via the tabs.

A handy breadcrumb trail in the top bar lets you quickly jump back to grab more files from anywhere in the current path, and a quick view icon lets you preview what you're working on in a built-in web view.

(And for those who also use Coda 2 on the Mac, Diet Coda can serve as a separate preview screen.)

Syntax highlighting, code snippets, an extended keyboard, and more making editing your web files not just a breeze, but an enjoyable breeze.

There's terrific code snippet support, with global, site, and mode options, the latter of which is pre-populated with all the basics. There's find and replace, and options to manually set syntax mode, line ending type, and encoding format'

Once you're done editing, the big green checkmark button lets you save, or if you hold it down, save or duplicate.

And then you're out, as quickly and easily as you were in.

The good

• Fantastic interface
• Outstanding feature set
• Can serve as web preview for Coda 2 for Mac

The bad

• No app-wide master password
• No iCloud sync with Coda 2 for Mac

The conclusion

It's not the same experience as working in a multiple window environment like the Mac, where you can drag and drop and do all sorts of other, powerful, productive things. But for working on your iPad, in the context in which you would be working on your iPad, it's fantastic. For quick fingered bug fixes on-the-go, or for Bluetooth keyboard-power code sprints on the road, it's darn near perfect.

Seriously, if you do any web dev work, go buy it before I run out of superlatives.

$19.99 - Download now

Every week iMore's editors carefully cull through hundreds of thousands of iPhone and iPad apps and games, and countless accessories, and pick only one of each -- one app, one game, and one accessory. Innovative, interesting, or just plain exciting, they might might be the latest and greatest or the most newly updated, or they might be classics or hidden gems. The only constants are, they'll always be among our very favorites, and they'll worthy to join the exclusive ranks of iMore's new picks of the week.

This week we have an old social favorite with new social hook, the sequel to the sequel of one of the best shooters ever, and way to give your iPhone an incredible new set of eyes...

App of the Week: Flipboard with SoundCloud

Flipboard is a dynamic, up-to-date, but highly personalized magazine created from everything being shared to you from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Reeder, LinkedIn, Flickr and most recently added, SoundCloud.

That's right, now you can enjoy amazing sounds created and shared by your friends and people you follow on SoundCloud as well as explore dozens of recommended audio feeds in new Audio category in the Content Guide.

Using Flipboard is joyous. You simply flip through the different stories in your feeds that are displayed with big images and an expert of text. When reading an article, advancing through pages also requires the act of "flipping". It's actually pretty fun.

Flipboard is one of our favorite personal magazine apps, and it also supports our favorite read later services: Instapaper, Pocket, and Readability.

Free - Download Now

Game of the week: N.O.V.A. 3

This week, there was really only iOS game worth talking about: Gameloft's N.O.V.A. 3. The franchise has long been meeting the needs of hardcore Halo fans looking for something similar on their iPhone, and over time, N.O.V.A. has very much come into its own.

You play the role of Kal Wardin, a reluctant (and supposedly retired) military man who's the only one with the skills to fend off the usual intergalactic threats. Your standard assortment of shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, grenades, and missile launchers are supplemented by superhuman abilities like slowing time, telekentic force pushes, and freezing enemies. Though there's a 10-level single player campaign, the real game takes place online, where you fight 6 v 6 across a variety of classic game modes, like team deathmatch, free for all, and capture the flag. As you play, win or lose, you gain experience points and level up, which unlocks new weapons, equipment, and add-ons to spawn with. One of the most exciting elements of multiplayer is the ability to hop into a variety of awesome high-tech vehicles, like walker mechs and jeeps.

This sci-fi first-person shooter boasts Retina-optimized graphics for both iPhone and iPad, but be warned new iPad owners - the price for razor-sharp textures is steep. In order to keep the framerate up, you'll be sacrificing lots of cool effects like depth of field and motion blur. Gameloft is also trying to push in-app purchases for guns, which is a trapping generally left to free games, but luckily you can earn all the in-game currency you need through regular gameplay.

N.O.V.A. 3 provides top-notch action, great multiplayer, and graphics that you will have a hard time finding anywhere else on iOS. Although many scoff at dual-stick shooters on mobile, I find Gameloft has done a great job at integrating gyroscope control since Modern Combat 3, particularly for fine aim adjustments. I also take zero issue with the "inspiration" they pull from sci-fi games on other platforms; if Halo isn't ever going to find its way to the iPhone and iPad, then more power to Gameloft for bringing it here. For action game fans, N.O.V.A. 3 is a no-brainer.

$6.99 - Download now

Accessory of the week: olloclip lens system

The olloclip is a compact, convenient lens system that easily slides over your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S camera and turns it into a fun, flexible, photography powerhouse. The olloclip contains both a fisheye and wide-angle lens, and you can unscrew the wide-angle to reveal a macro lens as well. That's 3 extra options in one small package.

We used the olloclip extensively at both CES 2012 and Macworld|iWorld Expo 2012 and it worked fantastically well. The fisheye let us fit multiple people into frame for video interviews, and the macro let us get in really close for details. We even used the macro to capture the Retina display comparison shots for our new iPad review.

Combine it with the killer tips in our iPhone photography column and you're on your way to one fairly incredible ultra-mobile photo kit.

$69.99 - Buy now

Curated by Leanna Lofte, Simon Sage, Georgia, and Rene Ritchie

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include a jailbreak app to manage off-device media, a sheet music app, an app for social networking, a video player that lets you watch old-school movies, and a popular virtual pinboarding app.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

XBMC for iPad - Chris Oldroyd

This week’s pick is a jailbreak app that I use all the time and is the only reason I keep my iPad jailbroken. When it comes to managing off device media the iPad with App Store apps is just not good enough. Air Video and other similar apps do a decent enough job of letting you access media on a PC or Mac but everything that is in a non Apple approved format needs to be encoded on the fly and it means the process is slow and a little ugly.

With XBMC I can connect to my NAS (Networked Attached Storage) box and access all of my content straight over my network, it plays all sorts of file types like AVI and MKV as well as MP4 and M4V all without any encoding or delay; the picture quality is excellent too. XBMC is a highly customizable app and if you are prepared to invest a little bit of time with the app itself and how you store and name your media on your NAS it can look absolutely stunning with the correct meta data.

XBMC is available as a free download from Cydia and it works on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Steinway Etude - Gary Mazo

Last week I was in guitar mode, this week I am back in piano mode – my primary instrument. There are lots of apps for purchasing sheet music and others for instruction. What makes Steinway Etude unique is that it combines both functions in one app.

First off, Steinway Etude is a music store where you can purchase sheet music. There is a pretty good selection of music from pretty much every musical category. Most songs are about $3.00 which is not terrible compared to pricier services such as Musicnotes.

Once your music is purchased (and there are some free songs to download as well) you see it on a bookshelf – reminiscent of iBooks. Tap the song you want to play and you have the main screen. Touch the Play arrow and you will hear a midi version of the song play, following along the notes in the song. There is also a small keyboard at the bottom showing you which notes to play.

For beginners, this is a great feature; you can see how to play the song, hear how to play the song and then try to play it on your own. I usually maximize the window to just see the song – but its nice to know that if I ever did get stuck I could listen to parts of the music to help me along.

Options are a plenty in Steinway Etude. You can adjust the tempo, turn on or off the right and left hands on the keyboard below, differentiate the hands with unique colors, change the background and more.

Pages just slide left to right and page turns are quick (which is key for a music apps.) All in all, this is a very useful app with a good library of music to purchase and the ability to learn while you play.

Free - Download Now

Google+ for iPhone - George Lim

So, I’m one of those few people who still uses Google+. I’m also a sucker for gorgeous iOS apps, so when Google recently updated their Google+ app, I was happy.

The app is mainly a significant UI improvements. Its certainly easier for a human to understand, navigate and use, as well as overall being cleaner. Its clearer how you can switch between ‘Circles’ to get the posts you want. Instead of having multiple circles which you change by swiping side to side, you get one stream which is changeable through a simple drop down menu.

While not a new feature, I use Google+ hangouts on the iPhone all the time, and I think, for a 10-way video call it is implemented very well. I have a Google hangout with friends every weekend, with the app, I can join it where ever I am.

There are still some gaping holes in the app; the ability to post YouTube links and getting an embed preview, editing posts and comments, and the fact that your display picture is just a small landscape section on your menu-screen, so it doesn’t show your display picture properly.

However despite all these flaws, I still really like this app. Its certainly better than the Facebook app (even on iPad).

Free - Download Now

Video Time Machine - Seth Clifford

My pick this week is pure joy. Video Time Machine is a sweet little app that allows you to watch all kinds of things from years gone by. One of my favorite activities on YouTube (and the internet in general) is find and watch commercials and shows from my youth. The app allows you to do this with a great interface that makes searching for a time period easy. You just roll the dial back to the year you want, select the type of content you want to see (TV, music, ads, trailers, video games, sports, etc.) and the app serves up the goods. Sharing to Facebook and Twitter is baked in, so you can get your friends in on it quickly too. There's no direct search right now, but that's also what makes it kind of cool - it's kind of like a jukebox on random. And it's a universal app that supports AirPlay, so if you want to throw it up on the big screen, you can do so.

I'm really digging it, and I hope that more content gets added as time goes on. It's the perfect way to kill a few minutes and put a smile on your face.

$2.99 - Download Now

Pinterest - Leanna Lofte

When the Pinterest for iPhone app first released, I hated it. It was terribly buggy and miserable to use. It's had several updates since then and it's now a great app. It's beautiful and runs great. I go through phases with Pinterest, but now that they have a solid iPhone app, there's a good chance I'll use it more regularly. What would seal the deal, though, would be if they updated Pinterest to be universal for the iPad as well. Hopefully soon!

Free - Download Now

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections includes a way to monitor your electricity usage, an app that helps you learn some awesome blues licks on the guitar, a godsend for regular air travelers, an app and service for listening to your favorite music, and a beautiful way to read articles on the web.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Meter Readings - Chris Oldroyd

This week’s pick is a little utility that helps me monitor and manage my electricity usage. I have just received this quarters bill and as usual it was a shock to see how much I am paying for electricity. With this app I can now log my meter readings as often as I like and see what I am spending and how it changes during the year.

The app makes it easy to monitor your homes utility meters including water, electricity and gas; if you have it. Once you start logging your readings, you can view usage costs etc. in highly visible graphs. If you are in the UK like I am, an added feature is the comparison check. This allows you to see if you can get a better deal and what savings you can make by switching suppliers. You can even make the switch from the app!

$0.99 - Download Now

Blues Licks Lessons from Guitar Jamz - Gary Mazo

I’ve written before on iMore how I have used my iPad – pretty much exclusively – to teach myself how to play the guitar. This was a new hobby I started back in November, which has now turned into more than that.

I’m continually looking for ways to improve, things to learn and tips and tricks for my guitar.

There is a plethora of stuff in the App Store for guitar lovers; tuners, chord charts and apps, sheet music, simulators and more.

Guitar Jamz has been my go to site for watching the guitar guru – Marty Schwartz – teach me quickly and easily how to play some of my favorite songs. This week I was ready for more – I was ready to progress into the acoustic guitar blues.

Blues Licks is divided into five sections; Licks Lessons, Blues Chords, Blues Scales, Guitar Licks and a Blues Guitar Manual. I progressed through each of the lessons and slowly, I am getting the hang of the blues.

This app is great for learning those quick little licks that make you look like you really know how to play cool stuff on the guitar!

Free - Download Now

WorldMate - SimonSage

WorldMate launched for the iPad this week, and having spent my fair share of time in airports, I can safely say it will be a godsend to regular travelers. WorldMate can scan your incoming flight confirmation e-mails to automatically populate your travel itinerary. WorldMate includes a full suite of useful travel tools, including mobile hotel booking, a currency calculator, local weather forecasts, restaurant search. The app is optimized for the new iPad's Retina display, and can stay synced with your iPhone at the same time.

TripIt offers similar functionality, but there's something about the WorldMate style that I always preferred. The one downside to WorldMate is that most of the sidebar options pops open a window that's pretty much the iPhone app, rather than making use of the big display with full panes on the right. At least the trip itineraries are well-formatted.

The core app is free, but to celebrate the launch on iPad this week, they're slashing the price of the ad-less Gold version from $9.99 to $2.99. Definitely worth it.

Free - Download Now

Spotify for iPad - Ally

I've been using Spotify for about a month now and while I have found it to be a great service it left out iPad. Now that Spotify has released their iPad app I feel like it's the type of service I can actually use on a regular basis. The apps still need some work to compete with the likes of Slacker and Pandora but the Mac app is really what got me hooked.

The integrated social networking is a feature users will either love or hate. I personally don't mind it and have found it to be useful as I've found a lot of great music through my Facebook friends. The iPad app allows me to now stream to all my devices. I'd still like to see Spotify integrate some of their Mac and PC app features into the mobile apps but it's a good start. I think adding the ability to view stations and popular playlists would really complete the apps. But for my personal needs, I do fine creating playlists and starring tracks and listening to them on the go. If you haven't checked out Spotify, make sure you do and let us know what you think.

Free - Download Now

Pocket - Leanna Lofte

I am way late to the game when it comes to "read later" services and completely regret that. Since picking up Pocket (formerly Read It Later), I've become hooked. The app gorgeous and being able to save articles that I find anywhere, be it Twitter, Facebook, some random website, or my RSS feed. I'm even using Pocket as a way to bookmark my favorite articles that I think I'll want to revisit, like tutorials.

Here's another weird purpose I've found with Pocket. I have extremely sensitive eyes. I can't go out in daylight with sunglasses -- I get a headache and squint all day. Anyway, part of that sensitivity carries over to light-on-dark themes. I don't care how great the article is, if the background is dark and the text is white or very light in color, I won't read it. My eyes scream in pain and my brain starts to sting. But now I just send these articles to Pocket and read them there! It's awesome.

Free - Download Now

Screenshot Journal - Rene Ritchie

Screenshot Journal is handy little utility for developers, designers -- and bloggers. The idea is simply this -- automatically collect your screenshots in one handy place. That's right, no more digging through your Camera Roll. Screenshots are grouped by months, but you can also favorite specific screenshots to keep them even closer at hand. Zoom is available at 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, and 32x with an optional grid overlay so you can double check everything from margin width to the precision of each and every pixel.

You can also share to Twitter, email, or to the clipboard.

If you're away from Photoshop and aren't doing near-real-time preview, but still want to check over your screens -- or take a peak at the screens of others! -- Screenshot Journal is a very good, very mobile tool.

$1.99 - Download now

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include a utility, a unique Twitter client, a classic video game, a social networking iPad app, a fun photography app for creating comics, and an addicting puzzle game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

FileBrowser - Chris

This week’s pick is a little utility that helps me manage the files and folders on my NAS (Networked Attached Storage). I have just bought a D-Link NAS to store all my movies, TV shows and photographs and was looking for a way to access the content from my iPad or iPhone. FileBrowser does it all and more.

FileBrowser lets you enter the address of your NAS and then view all the files and folders right on your iPad iPhone or iPod touch. It lets you manages files, delete files, rename files and also download files and open them in apps installed on your device or even stream media in Apple approved formats.

$4.99 - Download Now

TweeTV - Chris Parsons

This week, I decided to go ahead and choose just a simple app that to me, really has no purpose yet I use it almost every day. TweeTV does nothing more than show a bunch of streaming tweets based on any number of things. It can be from a topic, a person or even just a word. I like to go ahead and airplay it to my TV while I'm working and looking for things to write. For example, set it to only pull in Apple tweets and you'll catch headlines and tweets from all over the world about Apple. It's not overly functional for collecting "up to date" info but it's fun to just watch tweets from everywhere on any chosen topic just roll by. It has themes built in just in case basic black isn't your thing but really, basic black looks the best. It's available for free in the iTunes App Store for free right now for iPhone or iPad.

Free - Download Now

Battlelog - Simon Sage

I'm a big fan of EA's Battlefield 3, so when they announced that their social network for virtual murderers was coming to iPhone, I was pretty excited. Through Battlelog for iOS, you can view the battle feed of your friends to see their latest achievements, launch directly into chat with friends online, drill down into player stats, and check your progress with various weapon and skill unlocks. There's a sub-section for checking out the latest stories on the Battlefield 3 news feed, but for the most part, this is just a good way to see which of your buddies are online and ready for a few rounds. I'd love to see some more advanced stuff like what's available in the Call of Duty: Elite app, like customizing your classes and tracking challenge progress, but this is a good start. If you're in BF3, definitely download this freebie, and feel free to add me to your buddies list.

Free - Download Now

LinkedIn for iPad - Gary Mazo

I spend a decent amount of time on various social networking sites – using my iPad as the primary tool. It is amazing that now, two years after the iPad was introduced, one of my most used social networking sites finally has an app. LinkedIn for the iPad just launched this week and while it is a bit late to the party – I am really enjoying this app.

First off, it is optimized for the retina display on the iPad – which is great. There are some new features that are very useful – one being the calendar feature. Say you have a meeting at two with someone important and you want to be prepared. With the calendar feature, you can see his/her LinkedIn profile and get set for the big meeting.

The home screen is very clean – just three large buttons to tap on the screen; All Updates, You and Inbox. Inside the All Updates section is where you find the new calendar, updates from your contacts and key news headlines from LinkedIn today.

Inside the “You” section is where you post your own updates, see who has viewed your profile and search all your LinkedIn contacts. You can also easily email your profile to a potential connection, which can be helpful, if you are searching for a new job.

Your inbox is simply where you LinkedIn messages are stored and where you will find pending invitations to connect.

All ion all, I really like the new interface and find it very useful, easy to navigate and uncluttered. It is too bad it took them so long to get this on the iPad – but, now that it is here - it is my pick of the week.

Have you tried the new LinkedIn app? Now that there is a dedicated, usable app, will you use it instead of whichever way you now access LinkedIn? Let us know in the forums!

Free - Download Now

Halftone - Rene Ritchie

When I was a kid, I'd buy comic books and read Sunday comics printed in four colors. Not four color process, mind you, but four colors and four colors only. Everything else had to be simulated by using dots of smaller or larger sizes. Looking back, it was horrible. Looking back, it was wonderful. Halftone is the name of the process used -- the smaller and bigger dots -- to make those old style comic books and Sunday comics. It's also the name of an iOS app that lets you convert photos into retro-looking comic images.

You can add filters, of course, and control the size of the dot patterns. You can also add captions, word bubbles, paper types, and special effect text.

It's not an every day app, but it's a fun one, especially for those of us who were once kids and deeply in love with halftone comics.

$0.99 - Download now

Polymer - Leanna Lofte

This week I've got yet another puzzle game! This one is called Polymer and it's a shape-creating puzzle game that is highly addicting. The goal is to slide the rows and columns around so that you create a complete, closed shape. It's very challenging.

Polymer also has really awesome, calming-like, music and sound effects. Be sure to check out my full review!

$0.99 - Download Now

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include an iPad note taking app, a utility for toggling Bluetooth on your iPhone, an app for relaxation, an app for knitters, a tower defense game, an alternative to cable television, a great iPad drawing app, and an addicting iPhone puzzle game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Notability - Alli Flowers

If you want to use your iPad instead of carrying around a clipboard or pad of paper, you have quite a few choices, but Notability is right at the top of the list of available apps. Notability's latest update includes Dropbox sync, so there's not much missing.

You can write, you can type, you can add in shapes. You can change the color and size of anything you've done if you change your mind. Of course, you can import .pdf files and take notes on them - particularly useful for, well, anyone who uses .pdf's! You can import your .pdf's email attachments, Safari, other apps that take advantage of "open in," and Dropbox.

Writing is super smooth, and there are even plenty of options within the pen tips you choose. Not only is Notability one of the best in its class, at $.99 it is also the least expensive. In plain English - you can't go wrong buying Notability.

$0.99 - Download Now

BluetoothOnOff - Chris Oldroyd

This week’s pick is a little utility that came out this week. It is called Bluetooth OnOff and was somehow approved by Apple and is still available. All it does is put a Bluetooth icon on your homescreen and it then allows you to use it in two ways.

The stock way, when you click on it, a screen loads with a Bluetooth toggle switch, you can then turn Bluetooth on. If Bluetooth is already turned on then loading the app will give you the option to turn it off. The best way of using the app is to go into the apps settings and turn the OnOff switch to on. This enables you to now toggle Bluetooth On / Off from your home screen with one tap of the app icon. There is no delay or intermediate screens just a straight on/off.

This sort of feature should be standard in iOS 5 but it's not; so if you want a quick Bluetooth toggle you have to either jailbreak or pay extra for an app. This one does what it says on the tin!

$0.99 - Download Now

Serenity - Seth Clifford

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

-- Ferris Bueller

Of course, Ferris was talking about actual life, not life's quieter moments viewed through the lens of your iPhone or iPad screen. But if that's all you've got for the moment, then by all means, revel in the peace and tranquility that Serenity can offer you. It's an app by the venerable developers tap tap tap, and displays the usual level of visual polish as their other apps. It's basically a series of really pleasant, relaxing video clips that loop over and over again. You just stare at them and feel your blood pressure drop as the soft sounds wash over you.

If you're snickering and thinking this is really dumb, believe me, I get it. At first I was skeptical too. But there is something profoundly nice about watching flames just dance in front of you, or flowers swaying in a calm breeze, or a little sleeping kitty. You can set sleep timers if you want to zone out at the end of your day, and the apps support AirPlay if you'd rather let a giant version of the videos blanket your entire room. I think good headphones are probably the way to go, though, for the full experience. And since the interface has an easygoing 70s woodgrain feel, they should probably be big over-the-ear cans.

The iPhone and iPad apps are two separate versions, presumably for the reason that combined, the video clips would total about 700 MB. So keep that in mind before you purchase, but at $1.99, you'd hardly regret it if you grabbed both. Relax wherever you are, with whatever you're holding. I think Ferris can close this one out, too.

"It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."

$1.99 - Download Now - iPhone

$1.99 - Download Now - iPad

Knit Handy - Jessica Moss

Knit Handy is handy! This app gives you an estimate of yarn requirements for your projects. It has many project categories from which to choose. Using this app couldn't be easier. Choose your project category, gauge, and size and you are set. Before Knit Handy became an app it was first a pamphlet called Knitter's Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements. I have the pamphlet and I can honestly say I like the app better. It's way more convenient to have it on my iPhone than it is to carry the pamphlet around while planning and shopping for a project. I have a knack for either forgetting to bring the pamphlet with me or losing it all together. I never lose my iPhone. I really have no issues with the app except I wish it gave a wider range of gauges to pick from.

$0.99 - Download Now

iBomber Defense Pacific - Chris Vitek

For my pick of the week, I am going with one of my standby game types - a tower defense game. Yes, there are many of them out there, but each one has it's own flavor and interesting game twists. The tower defense game iBomber Defense Pacific is a great new game that add some of it's own ideas to the tower defense genre. You have multiple upgrade options that you need to spend victory points on. You get special power ups. You even have secondary objectives (such as protecting a airplane hanger or destroying an enemy base). I have been playing the game on the iPad, and it looks great. The graphics are crisp, and on the retina display the game is beautiful. It is a universal app, but I found that after playing on the iPad, the iPhone screen is just too small to work with. If you enjoy tower defense games, iBomber Defense Pacific should definitely be on your short list of game to try.

2.99 - Download Now

Paper by FiftyThree - Gary Mazo

I have spent a good part of this week testing our various stylus pens for the iPad, iPhone or, really, any touch screen phone or tablet. The best way for me to try these all out was to use the best apps available for both writing and drawing/painting.

That brings me to Paper by FiftyThree. This week I really dove into this app and was just amazed by what I found.

Paper is a “freemium” app; it comes with one tool and all the colors, but to really take advantage of this app you need to buy more tools. You can individually purchase the color, sketch, write and outline tools for $1.99 a piece – but it makes sense to just spend the $7.99 to buy the whole “essentials” package with all the tools.

When paired with the right stylus, this is as close to actually “drawing” on your iPad as you can get. If I moved the stylus quickly – the line was thinner. If I drew a line from top to bottom and lifted up, you could see a small ink deposit at the bottom of the line – just like using a fountain pen.

I loved using the Color tool – it was sort of like using a watercolor brush. Colors actually blended when combined on screen. Once the masterpiece is completed, just pinch to reduce the image and then you can easily send it to Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter or via Email.

One function that is a killer feature in this app is the rewind tool. Just use two fingers and make a counter-clockwise motion on the screen to undo what you last did. Keep doing that to undo more. This is a great idea and avoids the need to continually use the eraser and possibly erase more than you might want to.

Have you used Paper? Do you have any of your drawings posted? Let us know in the forums!

Free, with in-app purchases - Download Now

Global Video for iPad - Rene Ritchie

I cut the cable cord months ago. We have pretty much a-la-carte cable channel selection where I live. You need to get a base package of channels, then you can get 10, 20, etc. channels a-la-carte on top of those. So it wasn't a matter of choice, it was a matter of technology. Cable still runs on a schedule. You can only watch what it's showing at the moment. Sure, PVR/DVR can let you time-shift, but that's a horrible, high maintenance, error-prone solution. The real solution is on-demand.

And that's what I'm getting with iPad (and iPhone) apps.

Global Video lets me watch most of the programs on the Global television network (a Canadian network that re-broadcasts a lot of U.S. network programming), on demand. No daytime, no primetime, no late-night windows to contend with. Just the show I want to watch, when and where I want to watch it.

To their credit, Global has also left AirPlay intact so I can, if I want, stream the video to my big screen HDTV in the living room via AirPlay and the Apple TV. (The other major Canadian network apps, CityTV and CTV shamefully disable AirPlay due to "licensing conditions" -- to which I respond, "negotiate modern licenses".)

Their in-program ads are also decent, the kind of stuff you see during regular network broadcasts. They're highly repetitive, however, which means they may not have a lot of advertisers buying in to this model yet. That's a shame. This is the near-future of content presentation and more advertisers should be getting behind it. At least if they want our attention. (And Global, and other companies doing it right, should reap the rewards.)

Global Video isn't perfect -- it hasn't updated to Retina yet, and while some new shows post almost immediately after they're broadcast over-the-air, others take a few days. But at least they seem to get it, and they're getting there.

Free - Download now

(It's Canadian only, but search the App Store for the networks in your country and you should find quite a few.)

Addidoku - Leanna Lofte

I cannot get over how addicted I am to Addidoku right now! It's a simple number puzzle game that I reviewed earlier this week that's in the same genre as Sudoku, but totally different. The goal is to group all the numbers so that one of the numbers is the sum of all the other numbers. For example, the number 3, 5, and 2 form a group because 3 plus 2 equal 5. The premise of Addidoku is very straightforward, but solving the puzzles can be quite challenging -- and it's super addicting!

Free - Download Now

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include apps a beautiful iPad weather app, apps for sports and politics, a fun camera app, an app filled with inspirations, a puzzle game, a music app, and an alternative to Instagram.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Living Earth HD - Seth Clifford

It's been a crazy week, so I'm going simple with my pick - simple and beautiful. Leanna reviewed a weather app called Living Earth recently and after reading her post, my need to see just how great this app really was took over immediately and I downloaded it. You might find a weather app that does more or has more geeky weather options for meteorology nerds, but with the possible exception of Weather HD, I've yet to see a weather app this cool.

It's a universal binary, so you get apps for both your phone and your iPad. The app has a nice forecast view as well as a cool alarm clock feature, but the interactive globe that loads live cloud and sunlight information from real-time satellite data is my favorite part. Sometimes just marveling at nature is all I've got the energy for.

You can read Leanna's review for all the gritty details, of which there are plenty. I'm just going to sit and spin the Earth and hypnotize myself for a while...

$1.99 - Download Now

FCB Mobile - Chris Oldroyd

This week’s pic is all about the beautiful game and the team that play's it in the most beautiful way. My first love is my local football team Newcastle United. My second love belongs well and truly with the most famous football club in the world FC Barcelona.

Barcelona play the game the way it should be played, one touch passing, instant control but most importantly they play it offensively with open attacking football that is an absolute joy to watch week in and week out. Anyway back to the app, I have a great app on my iPhone that keeps me up to date with all the goings on at Camp Nou and its caled FCB Mobile.

FCB Mobile is the official app for FC Barcelona and includes all the latest news, match previews, reviews, player profiles, audio, video and much much more. If you are a fan of Barcelona you need this app.

$0.99 - Download Now

Contact Congress - Gary Mazo

For years, I have been preaching to my kids (as they one by one turn 18) that one of the great things about this country is that we all do get a say; that voting is both a privilege and an obligation. I also try to impart that even if the candidate we want doesn’t get elected – we all have an obligation to still be part of the process and let them know how we feel about important issues.

Now, this is always easier said than done. Fortunately, there are some great apps to make being part of the process easier and more fun. I use Contact Congress by airship Software.

When you start up Contact Congress, it asks to either use your location or for you to input your home zip and then it finds your Senators and your Representative in Congress. Their political party is indicated by a little elephant or donkey and their picture and name is displayed in a tab.

Touch the tab with their name on it and you immediately have links to follow him/her on Twitter, go to his/her official Facebook page, Call Their Office or send them an email. It couldn’t be easier or more convenient. Because of this app, I follow all three of my elected officials on Twitter and I have fired off a few emails and even made a phone call or two along the way when something is important to me.

And there is a very fun opportunity for an in-app purchase; you can, for $.99 “Dress up Congress” by purchasing Google eyes or Horns to put on the images of the elected officials. I actually think this is sort of demeaning and takes away from the app, but I understand the need to try to “monetize” the app some how.

All in all, this perhaps the easiest way to stay involved in our political process, and, as I tell my kids, to become part of the solution.

Have you used Contact Congress? Do you use other apps to stay politically active and involved? Sound off in the iMore forum thread.

Free - Download Now

Videoscope - Alli Flowers

Back when I had my iPhone 3GS, I found a nifty little app that let me use the iPhone camera like a kaleidoscope. KaleidoVid cased to function when Apple released iOS 4, and the dev never updated it. I was disappointed, because although it wasn't a great productivity app, it kept me entertained for hours.

While browsing through the App store recently, I discovered several new kaleidoscope type apps, and one of them had much of the same functionality as that original app. Videoscope allows you to turn your iPhone camera into a kaleidoscope. You can increase or decrease the number of prisms by pinching the screen, and once you see the kaleidoscopic view you like, you can capture that view to your camera roll to use as wallpaper.

Videoscope has a feature that I recommend you not use if you've been drinking heavily or are on medication - it leverages the video camera of your iPhone and allows you to video the complete moving spectrum of the kaleidoscope. I shot some video through Videoscope while riding in the car the other night, and the results are breathtaking - and triply!

Videoscope also offers some alternate "scopes" including Pinscreen, Impressionist, and Brickbreaker. The Brckbreaker mode is particularly cool because you get to "break the bricks" by tapping on them and watching them fall away.

You are not limited to the rear camera with Videoscope. You can aim the front camera at yourself and become the Pinscreen image, or you can choose a picture from your photo library to turn into some awesome abstract art.

$0.99 - Download Now

Quotes! - Chris Parsons

Lots of people look for inspiration and motivation in different ways and one way that I enjoy is by reading quotes from others. Luckily, there is a beautiful iOS app available that offers plenty of quotes no matter what the topic may be. The app carries an obvious name, just simply -- Quotes. Love, Happiness, Motivation, Inspiration. All are covered in quotes with the ability to share and save your favourites all from within the app itself. It does cost $.99 but it's beautifully simple and enjoyable if you're into reading quotes from others.

$0.99 - Download Now

Lawnmower Challenge - Simon Sage

This week I tried out Lawnmower Challenge, a simple puzzle game launched by a Boston indie developer at PAX East 2012. The premise is simple enough: cut all the grass in the level in as few moves as possible. Things get complicated when you throw in rocks, reeds, tall grass that you can't walk through, mud you can't mow through, locked gates that require keys, and impassable rocks.

It's not fancy, but with 144 levels, you definitely won't be left wanting for a challenge.

$1.99 - Download Now

Spotify for iPhone - Ally Kazmucha

I've long been looking for a way to free up some physical space on my iOS devices. While streaming services are great, what about times where you don't want to eat up your data plan? I've found Spotify to be a great compromise. I've found most streaming services to be rather lacking or they don't let you choose want you want to listen to. Neither is the case with Spotify. You can search through millions of tracks, create your own custom playlists, and listen in seconds.

With a premium account for $9.99/month you can stream music as well as download it to your device for offline use so you aren't eating away at precious data. The free version is ad-supported and allows you to stream online, the unlimited version for $4.99 will allow you to stream with the iPhone or Android app in addition to removing ads. The premium version is the only subscription that adds offline mode. I've found that I can stream when I'm at home and just choose offline mode for the playlists I want to listen to while traveling or not near wifi. I'm saving tons of space on my iPhone by using the service.

Spotify comes with a full trial for 48 hours. Check it out and see what you think.

Free - Download Now

Tadaa - Leanna Lofte

With all the threatening on Twitter and comments to leave Instagram after Facebook acquired it, I went on a hunt for a decent alternative to Instagram. My favorite one so far is tadaa.

tadaa has a lot of what Instagram offers -- only more. It's a social network where other members can like and add comments to photos. There's a photo feed for all the friends you follow, as well as feeds for popular photos and new members.

What I really like about tadaa is that it has a lot of built-in editing tools in addition to filters. You can crop, adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation, add a tilt-shift effect, and when adding a filter, you can adjust how strong the affect appears on your photo. You also aren't restricted to square crops.

Free - Download Now

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This weeks selections includes a music app, a couple baseball apps, a photo app, an app for DIY-ers, an app for Canadian hockey followers, and more.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

TuneIn Radio Pro - Seth Clifford

I'm a big fan of internet radio, and have been for a long time. I've tried so many different radio streaming apps throughout my tenure as a smartphone user, going all the way back to my Windows Mobile days. I first got into it with my Treo 700wx (ah, memories) and have been hooked ever since. There are a wide variety of apps in the App Store that let you stream seemingly innumerable radio stations from around the world, but the best one I've found is TuneIn Radio, specifically the Pro version. It's an App Store favorite that I've been aware of for a while, but only now am I rediscovering how great it is.

First off, it's a universal app - big win there. Second, it allows you to not only stream internet stations, but can use your location to provide access to local radio as well. Lastly (and most importantly for me), you can create a TuneIn account, save your favorites and sync them between the web and your devices. I can't tell you how great this is, because one of the biggest headaches I faced when trying different radio apps was always searching for and re-adding all the stations I like to listen to over and over again. This makes things so easy, it's beautiful.

The app is nicely designed, with tons of options. You can browse stations (over 50,000) based on location, genre, language, and a few other criteria, or you can just search on an artist or song that you like and get results more tailored to what you're looking for. It's a cool feature that I have yet to fully enjoy as I've just been listening to my handful of stations that I usually do. The nice thing about the Pro version of the app is that you can also record stations and set timed recordings for yourself, which is helpful if you always want to make sure you've got what you want, when you want it. I use recordings as a kind of audio bookmark, to follow up and research artists later if I hear something I like. Finally, one of the coolest features of the app is Car Mode, in which the app interface changes to large, easy-to-hit button targets. So simple, and what a nice touch.

If you're not sure if the app is your cup of tea, grab the free version and give it a spin. If you're anything like me, you've read this far and it hasn't even crossed your mind. The Pro version is a buck, and well worth every cent.

$0.99 - Download Now

NFL '11 - Alli Flowers

It's not exactly football season, but that doesn't mean football is not on the minds of true football fans. And just because the app's name is NFL 11, doesn't mean it ended in 2011. It is keeping us up to date on all things NFL right into the 2012 season, with all the news and gossip that you'd want. (Not that my poor heart can bear any more news or gossip.)

A recent update gave us a tab titled Free Agency. Here, you can track who's available, who's interested, and who's likely going somewhere. It even includes a great glossary of the types of free agency. I must confess, I had no idea there were more than two. I'm ashamed of myself! You can click on many of the players listed, and get all their stats.

Another feature available now is the Combine news. Lists of players, their schools, and their stats. This is a great lead up to the draft. We may have a while until the season starts, but NFL 11 is right there with us!

Free - Download Now]

PicFrame - Chris Oldroyd

This week’s pic has been inspired by the amazing Leanna Lofte series on iPhone photography. If you haven’t read any of these fantastic articles yet, get onto it now! They are awesome!

Anyway, back to my pic, PicFrame is a very simple yet powerful universal app that provides you with a huge selection of picture frames. You simple insert your pictures from your camera roll into the frames and you can show off your photos in style. The app has over sixty different frames to choose from and it is so easy to use.

Once you have created your masterpiece, you can save it in your camera roll, print it, share to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr or simply email it to friends or family. A lovely app and one that I am using all the time!

$0.99 - Download Now

MLB.com At Bat - Gary Mazo

Yesterday I did a feature on all the ways baseball fans can use their iPhone/iPad to follow America’s pastime – Major League Baseball.

This was opening week for MLB, which meant that I started using one app more than just about any other– MLB.com At Bat. Each year at this time, I pay for my subscription and enjoy following each and every game of the season (at least those in which the Red Sox are playing!)

MLB.com At Bat is free for the “Lite” version – but if you are a real baseball fan, pay the $14.99 for the full season pass.

The options in this app are amazing. I can follow every pitch of every game. I get this very cool visual of the batter and can see the pitches (in real time) wiz by his head. I can look at the plays of the game or the box score at the same time on the right hand side of the screen and follow the scores from other games at the top of the screen.

I can find out the stats of every player - seeing their baseball card with last season’s info and how they are doing this year.

When you pay the subscription fee, you can follow pitch by pitch, see in game video highlights and post game videos. You can also listen to every game live via the radio broadcasts from each of the teams playing. So, while I usually listen to the local Boston station, if the Red Sox are playing the Yankees and one of our guys hits a grand slam, I like to turn to the NY station and listen to them cry.

As the season progresses, and the playoffs get close, I like having the ability to follow other division rivals and even catch their games on Red Sox travel days.

All in all, this is one of my absolute favorite apps for my iPad and iPhone. This year it is a universal app – which is amazing. Last year I paid the $14.95 for each device – this year I just pay once and log in and restore my purchases on my other iOS devices.

Do you use the MLB.com At Bat app or do you have another favorite app for following you team? – Just jump to this forum thread to share your thoughts.

Free - Download Now

CBC Hockey Night In Canada - Bla1ze

With the Stanley Cup playoffs soon-to-be underway it's time to start loading up on apps that help you keep track of all the games happening. Even if you're not a hockey fan you can still follow along with the CBC Hockey Night in Canada app, fan or not it's a basic app that will help you keep up-to-date on scores and schedules plus, it has news and video features built-in. Yes, there is much more feature rich applications available in the iTunes App Store but this one will certainly fill basic needs for free.

Free - Download Now

Sid Meier’s Pirates! – Chris Vitek

Sid Meier’s Pirates game is one that has been out for a while, and is based on a PC game of the same name. I was just looking through some old game lists, however, and I decided to give it a shot. It turns out to be a fun, RPG style game that took up much more time than I anticipated. Basically…you are a pirate. Between attacking other ships, forging alliances, plundering, and trying to woo the women (as any pirate scoundrel may want to do) you try to build up you gold, crew, and collection of ships to become the terror of the sea! It makes good use of the iPad controls, using motion controls (for things like dancing and fighting), and piloting your ship around through tapping the screen. You can complete quests and tasks, attack enemies, or just engage in barter and sale to try to build your gold hoard. While the graphics are a little dates, it is an engaging game that I sat and played for about 2 hours before I realized how long I was playing.

$4.99 – Download Now

Snapguide for iPhone - iMuggle

I recently reviewed Snapguide for iPhone and I have to say I've been addicted to it ever since. While I haven't had time to upload any guides yet, I've enjoyed weeding through other user's guides and I've found a lot of cool projects that I'd like to try myself. Not only tech projects but home projects and recipes that I probably never would have found out about without the help of Snapguide.

I'm really surprised an application like this hadn't been thought of before now. It really is ingenious. While it reminds me somewhat of the idea behind Pinterest, it seems to take it one step further and provides us with an outlet to express creativity in a whole new way and share it with the world. Every type of project from creating your own iPod dock to making Easter Egg pops, to how to fix other home gadgets can be found on Snapguide. I can see it becoming one of my most used apps as I've always had a strong interest for DIY projects and finding new ways to occupy my free time.

If you haven't checked it out already, make sure you do.

Free - Download Now

Official iMore for iPhone app - llofte

In case you missed the news, the official iMore app has hit the App Store! It's gorgeous and the perfect way to keep up with iMore news on your iPhone. So make sure to pick it up if you haven't already! Trust me -- it's way cool.

Free - Download now

Marvel - Rene Ritchie

The Marvel Comics app for iPhone and iPad -- made my comiXology who also make the awesome multi-publisher Comics as well as the DC, Image, and other apps -- has once again been updated and now offers sharing via Twitter, Facebook, and email, but more interestingly -- Infinite Comics.

Up until now the Marvel app has featured fairly straight forward ports of the traditional print comics, though an optional, guided, panel view took some advantage of the digital medium. Infinite Comics attempts to be an even more authentically digital experience. It's not animation and it's not motion comics. There are transitions but not actions, staged dialog but no spoken words.

I'm not sure if Infinite Comics are the next step in the evolution of sequential art or just an experiment, but I like that Marvel is experimenting and trying to evolve. It took them a while to turn their big ship towards the mobile technology, but now that ship seems to have engines on full.

If you want to try it out, grab the Marvel app and buy the $3.99 Avengers vs. X-Men debut issue. (Yeah, pricing is still an issue they're trying hard not to address, but this is about the format, not the business model.)

Free - Download now

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include a Twitter app, several games, an app for DirecTV subscribers, an app for taking handwritten notes with your iPad, and a great interactive children's app.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Tweetbot for iPad - @sethclifford

This week's pick is one that's been featured before, so I won't need to say too much about it, but it's worth bringing up again for a few new reasons. Tweetbot for iPad obviously has a lot of fans, and many of us were clamoring for this app for a long time before its release. When it finally arrived, I was sans iPad for a period of time, while waiting on the release of the new model. Those were dark times, and I'm happy to have made it through them mostly unscathed. Mostly.

Well, I've got that new iPad now, and I am really enjoying Tweetbot on it. It's my favorite client on the iPhone because of its great design and functionality, and the iPad version is no different - it's stellar. I'm weeks behind everyone gushing over it because I purposely waited to even look at it on a device until I had the new iPad, and man, it is something special. In addition to just loving it in general, I think it goes without saying that the update to the app to add retina graphics is nothing short of mind-blowing. It's so smooth and so crisp on that new screen, I sometimes tear up a little, remembering how our collective eyes as a culture suffered with smartphones from a bygone era.

Listen, without wandering too far into wistful hyperbole, I'll just say this: if you want the best Twitter experience on the iPad, with exceptional design and usability, this is your client. End of line.

$2.99 - Download Now

Contre Jour HD - @iMuggle

While looking for a game to test out the overheating new iPad theory, I wandered across Contre Jour HD. I'd never played it before and after reading the description, I decided I'd give it a go. I am completely addicted. It's probably one of the best games I've played on my iPad in a while. And it looks absolutely gorgeous on the new retina display.

The premise of the game is pretty simple. You play Petit, a tiny blob of a creature who needs help roaming around his world. You'll have to move the landscape and make him grab on to other objects to propel him towards the goal in each level - a shining orb of light. Along the way, you'll want to pick up as many light particles as you can for a better score. You also get more points for completing the level quickly.

While the game is dead simple, it's completely addicting. I'd almost describe it as a fusion of Angry Birds and Cut the Rope in some ways. If you haven't checked it out yet, I'd highly recommend it. It's available for both iPhone and iPad in HD. If you have a new iPad, it's a gorgeous game to play. (As a side note, my iPad didn't overheat while playing it.) : )

$2.99 - Download Now

DirecTV app for iPad - @Alli_Flowers

I will confess up front, that being able to pause my husband's television before I even walk into the room gives me a feeling of power. But it's super nice to have his attention without having to compete with whatever program is on, whether he's paying attention or not.

The DirecTV app for iPad lets you control any tv in the house, whether it's connected to your wireless network, or hardwired. I've found that it works even more reliably than the DirecTV remote that came with my receiver, and has a much more convenient UI.

Not only can I control all the tv sets in the house, I can watch some live shows, which gets me around my 2 show limit, providing my third show is on one of the channels in their list. Fortunately, since my 3rd channel is usually SyFy, I'm in business.

Live tv is not only limited to the lineup offered by DTV, but limited to your being connected to your home network. In other words - no watching live tv from work. You can, however, watch On Demand shows and movies from outside of your home network.

If you have DirecTV, and haven't tried this free app, go get it now. If nothing else, imagine the look on your spouse's face when you change the channel from another room!

Free - Download Now

Noteshelf - @gmazo1

I used to think that using a stylus with a touch screen was the future. I remember my original Palm Pilot and all my Treos with great affection. Then, the stylus gave way to the finger and styluses seemed so “90’s” in their implementation.

For that reason, I shied away from handwriting apps for my iPad – like Noteshelf. After spending a week with colleagues who swear by it and after reading Leanna’s great review: http://www.imore.com/2012/03/19/noteshelf-remarks-notability-ipad-handwriting-app-shootout/ I decided to give it a try.

What was I waiting for? This is an awesome app and my favorite new app on my iPad. I love being able to be creative with my notes. Noteshelf allows me to use different colors, highlight, erase, add emoticons and pictures and more.

I can customize my paper, the cover of my notebook and share notes to Twitter or Facebook or via email.

If that doesn’t offer me enough creativity, I can go to the Noteshelf store and buy more papers, covers, stationery, planners and more.

All in all, this is a very powerful, fun and useful app.

Are you using Noteshelf? Do you have a favorite stylus to go with it? Join in the discussion in the forums!

$5.99 - Download Now

Pix: Pixel Mixer - @Bla1ze

There is a lot of photo filter apps in the iTunes App Store. Some are great, some -- not so much. Pix: Pixel Maker is a fairly new entrant having been submitted only a little while ago but it has quickly warmed my heart (and my iPad -- see what I did there?!?) with its filter options. Rather then sticking to allowing folks to only add one filter to their images, you can actually mix and match filters to get the exact image settings you want. It's available for free in the iTunes App Store and is a universal application.

Free - Download Now

Modern Combat 3 - @simonsage

Since Modern Combat 3 went on sale this week for $0.99, I decided to give it a shot. (Pun intended.) It's Gameloft's latest "homage" to modern console and PC first-person shooters, complete with achievements, multiplayer, weapon customization, unlockables, a single-player campaign mode, and a whole lotta action.

I put a fair bit of time into the campaign mode, and despite being chocked-full of chest-thumping American bravado, the action was good, and the graphics, even on the iPhone 4, are smooth and sharp. I'm still trying to get the hang of using the accelerometer for control, but I think over time, it will become a lot more intuitive to use than the clunky dual-stick layout. You earn separate kinds of coins for playing multiplayer matches and single-player, but the abilities, weapons, and attachments you unlock carry over, which is great. In that way, I was able to gear up a little bit before getting into the multiplayer arena.

Much like PC games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, the competition online is intense. I felt the familiar pang of frustration when being taken down consistently before I could even pull up my reticle, but so far this has only served to steel my determination. With the wealth of unlockables, high production value, and competitive multiplayer, I could see myself playing this a lot, especially if I'm packing the new iPad.

$6.99 - Download Now

Angry Birds Space - @jorjlim

Angry Birds Space, completely reinvents the Angry Birds franchise. There’s not many things you can do with a simple gravity slingshot game, however Rovio have completely rewritten the franchise, by... removing gravity.

Angry Birds Space sees the birds travel through a portal to chase the pigs who are still going after those eggs.

The classic characters you knew and loved have all returned with the same abilities. (with the exception of the yellow bird who can now fly in any direction, since there is no gravity) They have even introduced a new character called ‘Ice Bird’ who can freeze structures to make them easier to break.

You now have to fling the birds around the centre of gravity of astroids and planets, or through the vacuum of deep space. There are even added ‘boss’ level, to change things up even more.

If you were a fan of the originals, you’ll definitely enjoy this sequel, and even if you weren’t a fan of the originals, give this a go anyway because its got some completely new gameplay, and is nothing like the original ‘earth-bound’ games.

$0.99 - iPhone - Download now

$2.99 - iPad - Download now

Pinterest - @phishgirl3

Social networks are a dime a dozen these days, so it takes an interesting concept to make a new one stand out above the rest. Pinterest is still fairly new on the scene but it's gaining popularity and becoming more mainstream pretty quickly. The concept behind Pinterest is kind of hard to explain; I look at it as the place to go if you hoard things on the internet. You can use it to save pictures for design ideas, recipes, images of things you want to create… there is no limit. If you see it on the internet, you can pin it to your boards, which are basically how you keep your pins organized. They're like files for the images! Other people can browse your pins and re-pin comment and favorite them.

I was super happy when I saw there was a Pinterest app for iOS, and installed it on my iPhone right away. The app is well made, giving you access to your Profile, Activity on your pins/boards, your list of Followers/Following, and Explore, which offers you a list of categories to look through. While exploring you can re-pin, like and comment on your favorite things. A couple of neat options are also included, such as a bookmarklet you can install to be able to pin things to your boards while browsing the internet. You can even access your iPhone's camera from within the app so you can pin things in the world around you. If you are signed up on Pinterest and enjoy using it, I highly recommend downloading the free app to go with it.

Free - Download Now

Little Fox Music Box - @llofte

My 18 month old daughter loves Little Fox Music Box. I am truly amazed with how long she can sit still and engage with this app. It's literally the only thing that will keep her still for longer than about 90 seconds.

Little Fox Music Box has 3 songs: London Bridge, Evening Song, and Old Mac Donald, and with each song there is a scene that's related to the theme of the song. Each of these scenes is filled with artwork and animations that your child can interact with. There are very little things on the screen that don't react to touch. My daughter loves playing by herself or with an adult who identifies everything that can be touched.

For kids learning to read, the words to the songs are displayed at the top of the screen as they are sung. In Karaoke mode, the words highlight when it's time to sing them.

Seriously, this is an awesome app for little kids and totally worth the $5 even though there's only 3 songs.

$4.99 - Download Now

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include a Dropbox-based plain text editor, a camera app that's bound to capture any action, a strategy game, a photo editing app, and a couple new Apple devices.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

PlainText - @sethclifford

It's been a while since I've talked about one directly, so yes, it's time for another Dropbox-based plain text editor. This one, appropriately enough, is called PlainText. Currently, this is my go-to text editor on iOS for a very simple reason.

Apple has shown us the value in unifying its multiple platforms visually with the preview release of Mountain Lion, incorporating both aesthetic influences and applications from iOS into OS X. Something I've tried to do for a while, well in advance of the official declaration of this agenda has been to unify my computing experience as seamlessly as possible in all places. On the desktop, I use NValt for writing notes and long form text. In fact I'm using it to write this pick right now ("You're soaking in it"). NValt is a fork of the excellent note program Notational Velocity, and is provided by Brett Terpstra of TUAW fame as well as other cool projects. The reason I like Notational Velocity is because it provides a super-clean and ultra-fast note taking interface. NValt adds some nice tweaks like Markdown support baked right in. It's quick, simple, and highly effective.

I realized I was looking for a similar experience on iOS, and although I've tried many editors, I came back to PlainText because of one major feature that accurately mimicked the most excellent part of NValt and Notational Velocity - a search field that drills through your notes like a bullet. I realized that after all my searching, what I need most on my phone is speedy access to the information I'm looking through, above all else. PlainText has a really cool search UI that works in almost exactly the same fashion, providing an experience that matches the one I like so much on my MBP.

Ultimately, PlainText doesn't have most of the bells and whistles of some of the other text editors we've discussed in the past, but it has the most important one: pure, blistering speed. And a nice, clean UI. Okay, two important ones. It's a great free app, and for two bucks, you can drop the ads and support great development.

Free - Download Now

Fast Camera - @Alli_Flowers

If you ever missed a great action shot because your iPhone camera lens didn't refresh fast enough - this app's for you. According to the iTunes description, you can take up to 800 pictures per minute! I've only taken 178 at a pop, so I can't prove it, but 178 is impressive in a few seconds.

Once you take your series of photos, you can review them and save the ones you want - delete the rest. No need to take up space with what you're not keeping. But what you're keeping are full resolution (can you say 8 megapixels?) photos. This is not like taking a video and then doing a screen capture of the good part.

You can adjust the settings so that your photos are not full resolution, but why would you do that? Settings include starting your series when you open the app for instant picture taking, or letting you press the start button.

This app is worth way more than the $.99 price tag, and should be a must for active people.

$0.99 - Download Now

Hero Academy - @simonsage

I've spent a lot of time playing Hero Academy this week. It's a free turn-based strategy game with a high fantasy theme. Either side is trying to destroy the other's other's crystal placed on a square grid. Each turn consists of five actions, which can involve playing various units, powers and upgrades held in your hand, or moving and attacking with the pieces on the board. The only army available in the free version are the humans, but if you want to give the dark elves or dwarves a shot, they're $1.99 each, and they wipe out the inter-turn ads.

I do have a few niggles. For one, you can only get the new armies through microtransactions - there's no way to unlock them through standard gameplay. Secondly, it feels like the premium armies are a little overpowered; a fully-upgraded dwarven Annihilator doesn't feel remotely equivalent to a tweaked-out Council Ninja. Pay-to-win is never a great policy.

Free - Download Now

iPhoto for iPhone and iPad - @iMuggle

Ever since I have started to take a liking to photography (mostly thanks to our own Leanna and her iPhoneography series), I've been filling up my iPhone and iPad with tons of pictures from both my iPhone 4S and my DSLR.

iPhoto has a lot of really nice editing tools that allows me to make quick edits to photos on the go without having to load them to my computer first. Of course it'll never be a replacement for tools like Photoshop but it's definitely good enough for basic editing.

Paired with a camera kit, I've been bringing both my camera and iPad with me when taking photos and loading them straight into iPhoto to view them with friends, family, and clients.

Let's also not forget the new iPad. I am blown away with how good high quality images look on the retina display. Absolutely amazing. I still wish Apple would sync albums and events back and forth. That is my biggest complaint at this point. If I create an event on my iPad I want it on my iMac too. Hopefully we will see this functionality added in an update. If you're debating picking iPhoto up you can check out our review first.

$4.99 - Download Now

NCAA March Madness Live - @gmazo1

If you are a sports fan like me, March means one thing - March Madness. For those non-sports fans among us, that is the NCAA college basketball tournament.

The Tournament is known for the “Bracket” – the seeding and schedule of the 64-team road to the final four.

This year, there is a great app called NCAA March Madness Live, which lets me follow all the action. I can see the scores and plays in real time, follow tweets about the games, listen to game day audio and watch video highlights.

If that’s not enough, I can pay a once time fee of $3.99 and watch every single second of every game right on my iPad or iPhone. This app is just amazing for the college basketball lover.

The feature I like the best is that when you first set up the app (provided you did it before the tournament started) you can “fill in your bracket” and it keeps track of your winning percentage. So far, I’m doing OK – the four teams I picked for the Final Four are still in the tournament.

I’d be curious to know if you are using this app and how your bracket is doing, so please head to our forums and join in on the discussion!

Free - Download Now

Apple TV 1080p (2012) - Rene Ritchie

Last week I picked the new iPad. This week I'm rounding that pick out with something that combines with it, like Devastator or Voltron, to be more than the sum of its parts. The new Apple TV.

Apple didn't make many changes to the new Apple TV. Design-wise it's the same black, rounded rectangle they released in the fall of 2010. Inside, however, they've made some great changes. RAM is increased, if you follow the tear-downs, but more importantly it now supports 1080p content. While that doesn't sound impressive in a 1080p HDTV and BluRay soaked society, Apple is streaming 1080p content to it, both via AirPlay from the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and the new iPad, and from iTunes in the cloud.

They've improved the look of the video without excessive file size increases by supporting higher quality H.264 encoding, but that's just a technical detail. They've made a peripheral that lets you take the absolutely stunning looking video the new iPad can play natively and beam it right to your 1080p TV to share with friends, families, or colleagues.

Apple also released an updated interface for both the new and the previous Apple TV, which I like in concept if not in individual icon-level rendering or organization. There's a lot of content there now though, and you can subscribe to Netflix or MLB right on the Apple TV, right with your iTunes account.

We're not there yet, not to where Apple TV can replace cable television for most people, most of the time, but we're getting closer.

iPad - @llofte

Turning on my new iPad for the first time was just like turning on my iPhone 4 for the first time. A-mazing. Those claiming that the new iPad is only a incremental upgrade from the iPad 2 clearly haven't actually looked at the screen on the new iPad. I literally can't stop staring at it.

I can rant and rave all night about the new iPad, but I'm sure you'll just roll your eyes at me and scream "fangirl", so instead, I'm just going to answer the question that I'm repeatedly being asked on Twitter -- yes, the new iPad is worth it.

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This weeks selections include a few games, a fun children's book, an app for writers, and an interesting photography app.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Draw Something -- @Alli_Flowers

Did you ever play Pictionary? Great party game. This is basically the same game on your phone or tablet. Notice how nonspecific I was there? That's because you can play on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone or tablet - so you can play against your friends, no matter what they use.

You're given a choice of 3 words, easy, medium, or hard. You choose the one you think you can draw, and you draw. So far so good. When your opponent's turn comes, he sees a video playback of you drawing. Beneath the drawing are some letter tiles, so he has a good chance of figuring out what you've drawn, regardless of your talent. You tap the letter and pop it into the spaces to spell out the word.

You get "coins" for guessing your words, 1 for the easy word, 2 for the medium, and 3 for the hard ones. There are a few opportunities to get help. For instance, you can choose a different set of words if you can't draw any of the words you initially pull. If you can't guess the drawing, you can get rid of some of the letters so that you have a smaller pool of letters from which to choose. But your second chances are not unlimited, so use them wisely.

There are two versions of Draw Something. One is ad sponsored and free, the other is currently on sale (on all platforms) for $.99. This is a great game that's fun for all ages. (My youngest opponent is 8!)

Free - Download Now, $0.99 - Download Now

Ladybird Classic Me Books –- @chrisoldroyd

I have a real soft spot for classic children's books as I remember them fondly from my childhood. Luckily Ladybird Classic Me Books is available in the App Store and it brings back the magic of these wonderful books.

The App is a little buggy but the way the books are reproduced to look and feel like the original hard backed books I read is very impressive and you soon forgive the bugs. The titles available are excellent and includes classics like The Gingerbread Man and The Three Little Pigs. My little girl absolutely loves this app.

The app costs $0.99 and for that you get one book included, the other books are all available through an in-app purchase at an additional $0.99 per book. I can't recommend this app enough if you have young children and enjoy reading to them!

$0.99 – Download Now

Elements for iPad - @iMuggle

I've tried several writing apps on my iPad and always find myself coming back to Elements. Sometimes I just don't want to carry around my MacBook Pro but have a need to write or take notes on the go.

Given I do a fair amount of writing with Markdown for iMore, I've found Elements to be a perfect combination of writing on the go and from my computer. Since it syncs all my notes with Dropbox, I can pick up right where I left off when I get back home or to the office.

When you're done writing you can export to PDF or HTML, print, or email the file. Elements also gives you the option to publish directly to Facebook or tumblr is either one of those services are important to you.

If you're looking for a lightweight client for anything from shared notes to lengthy articles, I highly recommend checking out Elements. I don't do much writing from my iPhone but for those that do, Elements is available as a universal binary for both iPhone and iPad.

$4.99 - Download Now

WordFoto -- @andrewwray

WordFoto is a neat little photography app that lets you turn iPhone photos into typographic masterpieces. It features a smart algorithm that inserts preselected words or user input phrases into any photo you've taken on your iPhone, or any image you've imported from your iTunes library. By letting you create your own unique word sets, the possibilites are quite literally endless, and the results are superb.

By offering up a number of fine-tuning options like Color Tolerance, Edge Threshold and more, you can really drill down to make your photo enhanced to perfection and the word set will perfectly integrate into the image without a hitch thanks to the algorithm they've come up with. You can also choose from a number of built-in styles, including classic Gray, Comic, Black Label, Howling, Prankzter, Romance and Blocky. If you're not partial to the included styles that comes with the app, you can create your own custom style to personalize the image with absolute detail. Adjust shadowing, highlights, color saturation and image contrast, padding and even font selection.

Of course, the app wouldn't be complete without social integration, so WordFoto lets you share all of your creations on Facebook or send it off to friends or family via email. Additional adjustments let you crop the image and inspect everything in great detail using zoom functionality so you get everything just the way you want it. Create amazing typographic images with WordFoto and wow your friends like never before!

$1.99 -- Download Now

Treasure Trouble - @reneritchie

We had the pleasure of speaking to Michael Flarup of Robocat on the last episode of our Iterate podcast, and during the show I downloaded their Treasure Trouble for iPad game. It looked gorgeous but I couldn't exactly launch it and start playing in the middle of the show. Things got busy, as they usually do, and I didn't have a chance to check it out until last week. And yeahbutwow is it a lot of fun. The core idea is simple -- you trace paths on a treasure maps. It starts slow but builds up fast. More paths. More complicated paths. It'll challenge your eye-hand-coordination, and your multitouch gesturing skills both. And this being a pirate themed game, there might just be some drinking involved.

Yo. Ho. Ho.

$2.99 - Download now

Circadia - @llofte

Circadia is such a fantastic puzzle game. Each level has both colored dots and a white dot. Tapping a colored dot will emit a tone and circle who's radius grows a specific rate. Each color emits a different tone and the circles for the lower tones grow slower than the higher tones. The goal is to tap the colored dots in the right timing so that they converge on the white dot at the same time.

It may sound easy, but it's actually very challenging.

The levels start out pretty easy with just two colored dots and a stationary white dot. The level I'm on now (level 41) has 3 colored dots and the white dot is moving. Crazy. I know.

The other thing I really like about Circadia is that it's just so incredibly gorgeous. The bright, vivid colors against a black backdrop is pure eye candy. That, and Circadia is geometric, so as a math nerd, I was instantly drawn in.

$0.99 - Download Now

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This weeks selections include apps for photo blogging, social gaming, podcasts, an interesting accessory, and a fun children's book.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Posterous - @sethclifford

Since I just can't leave well enough alone, I'm always tweaking my workflows and every other kind of flow I've got. This week it was all about photos for some reason. I started a Posterous account years ago when it was a new service whose main point of differentiation was that you could send an email to your blog to autopost to it and to your other sites really easily. At the time, it was super cool and worked extremely well. I eventually ended up using it more for just a photo blog, and then for some reason I can't recall, I just stopped using it all together. I was literally hovering over the "delete my account" button on the site this week because I haven't used it in so long when I decided to wait and explore a little. I'm really glad I did. The service has really grown a bit and become a really interesting place to host a blog as well as leverage as a platform through which you can post to a variety of different social channels and sites. I downloaded the new app in the App Store (there was a very basic one released a few years ago) and liked what I saw.

The design is pretty nice and clean. It's easy to get around and you know where you are and what you're doing quickly. And there's a lot packed in here. There's a reader function for people you follow - similar to Tumblr - and you can browse through posts and read your stream from your phone, but I think where the app really shines is both in the posting and management of your site(s). It's extremely easy to throw a post together and toggle which places you want it to go (it will always go to your Posterous by default anyway). You can add a title, tags, and text as well as slap a location on there in one tidy little interface.

Posterous has also done something that I really like (and think is really smart) and that's giving you some great admin controls over your sites right from the phone. From the "Profile" tab you can edit your profile and set up and modify autopost options, which means you really don't have to hit the full site very often if you don't want to. There are still more advanced things like theming that don't appear in the app, so not everything is covered, understandably. But it's still cool to have a few things you can tweak on the fly. If you're looking for a new clean place to start a sharp little blog and possibly save yourself some work cross posting between sites, you may want to give this one a look.

Free - Download Now

Scramble with friends - @Alli_Flowers

Our "friends" have done it again. First we fell in love with Words with friends, and now it's Scramble with friends. To say it's addictive is an understatement.

Similar to many word games we've known and loved in the past, Boggle, Bookworm, and others, the idea is to make as many words as you can out of sequential letters in a grid. Did I mention you only get two minutes to find your words? This is fast paced fun, and it brings out our competitive best when you play against your Facebook friends.

You can score extra points by using letters marked double point value - letter or word, depending on your level. And to keep things interesting, you can "buy" help, like the ability to turn your playing area sideways to help see the letters from a different angle; hints for additional words; and the ability to "freeze" your play for an extra five seconds to find even more words.

Free and paid versions are available, but so far only for iPhone, not iPad. Playing double screen on the iPad is acceptable for Scramble, but an iPad optimized version sure would be nice!

Free - Download Now

Pocket Casts – @chrisoldroyd

As a long time user or Instacast, I decided it was time for a change as certain features and more importantly, the interface was starting to get on my nerves. I decided to take the plunge and try out Pocket Casts by the developer with the awesome name of ShiftyJelly.

Pocket Casts is laid out very well, and is very simple yet very powerful as a podcast collector and playback tool. It even provides push notifications when a new podcast episode is available to download. You can also download episodes over the air without the 20MB restriction. All in all I find it to be a much smoother and more intuitive podcast application than any of the other ones I have tried so far.

$2.99 – Download Now

Parcel -- @andrewwray

With all the package tracking apps in the App Store, finding which one is best for you can be difficult. My personal favorite happens to be Parcel, which is designed as a universal app for both the iPhone and iPad. Parcel makes tracking packages simple and easy, with over 100 delivery services supported including UPS, DHL, USPS, FedEx, OnTrac and more.

One of the best features in Parcel is barcode scanning, allowing you to quickly input new packages to track without the need to type in a long string of numbers and/or letters. Additionally, Parcel automagically recognizes which carrier the tracking number is associated with, making the process even easier that most other package tracking apps out there. Another neat option is the ability to track your package on a map so you can pinpoint exactly where it is en route, giving you a much better idea of delivery time in case the package runs into any delays or issues.

Push Notifications are also included with Parcel so you won't need to constantly open up the app when the delivery is coming close to hitting your doorstep if you're not at home. One important thing to note is that Parcel does come with ads, and only lets you track up to three packages at a time under their free offering. It also doesn't come standard with Push Notifications. That -- along with adding more than three packages and removing the ads -- comes at a cost of $1.99 via in-app purchases. Bottom line: If you're looking for an easy way to track your packages, Parcel is definitely something you'll want to take a look at.

Free - Download Now

Gripsta - @JorjLim

As I mentioned in my most used accessories post, I don’t own that many accessories for my iPhone or iPad. However I was lucky enough to get my hands on a stand called The Gripsta.

The Gripsta is a stand for your iPhone, iPod Touch (or even Android or Blackberry, if you’re so inclined) made of foam (the same foam you’d find in a stress ball.). The unique design of the Gripsta allows you to stand it up, either in portrait or landscape, with the perfect angles for FaceTime or just watching movies.

I’m finding myself docking my iPhone into the Gripsta and just using the iPhone like normal because of the soft comfort of the Gripsta.

Its soft, comfortable, colourful, useful and a great product to pick up to spice up your desk.

£9.95 (+£2.95 P&P) - Gripsta

Hank Saves the Day (iBook) - @llofte

Hank Saves the Day is a book available in the iBookstore. It's about a big, friendly monster who has to save a bridge that was destroyed by a giant piece of Swiss cheese. I downloaded this as a recommendation from someone on Twitter and my daughter loves it! She's only 18 months old, so the big, simple pictures, big letters, and short sentences are perfect for her. She's already learning to identify objects in the book.

I recommend Hank Saves the Day to anyone with small children, especially since it's free!

Free - Download Now

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun.

So what are you waiting for? Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This weeks selections include apps for weather, for tasks, for to-dos, for design, for guitar learning, and for fitness.

WeatherMotion HD - @Alli_Flowers

Sometimes you just want to know what the temperature is. Sometimes you want a little more, but you don't really want to wait around for your local meteorologist at 5 p.m. You might even want to know what it will be like over the next 2-3 days.

If you have an iPad and an active data connection, a great solution is WeatherMotion HD. WeatherMotion HD gives you today's weather and forecast along with the forecast for the next three days - all in stunning HD. The hook with this app is the video wallpaper behind each forecast. The attached screenshot just cannot do it justice. You see simply a daisy behind today's weather information. I see a daisy blowing gently in the wind, it's petals moving from side to side on the breeze. Depending on the weather and corresponding image, you might see clouds drifting by, casting lazy shadows on the fields below, or thunderstorms unleashing the fury of Mother Nature.

WeatherMotion HD even has a sound track, if you are so inclined. The sound is always soothing, and good enough to nap to! And if the soundtrack causes you to nod off, you also get an alarm option so that WeatherMotion HD will wake you up, as well as lull you to sleep.

Set your location manually (great if you're trying to keep up with friends and relatives in different climes) or allow location services to use your current location. In a word, this app is just beautiful.

$0.99 - Download Now

Reminders - @sethclifford

I've been making a concerted effort to streamline my productivity goals in the past few weeks, because I go through periods in which I try everything under the sun, and then dial it back to almost zero to reset my brain. Part of this process relies heavily on utilizing my email inbox since I live in it all day (see my former Pick of the Week Captio for a great way to do this). Another part that I'm in the process of rediscovering is using the built-in Reminders app new to iOS 5.

When iOS 5 beta was released, I played with Reminders for exactly five minutes before I deemed it nearly useless to me, as it fell in the shadow of several more robust task apps I was using at the time. Since then, iOS 5 has been released officially, iCloud support has become reliable (I didn't risk playing with it in beta) and Siri has added an input mechanism that proves indispensable for quick addition of items. Only this week did I discover that I could set recurring reminders (I know, I don't know how I missed it) to fire every week, month, or at an interval of my choosing. So I've decided to use Reminders as an ancillary support to my inbox, and I put all my personal tasks into Reminders now.

I used to use calendar alerts to remind me of recurring items, but sometimes I'd miss the notification on the desktop, and for the longest time I had everyone's calendar in the office syncing on my iPhone, so I started dismissing and ignoring alerts since they popped up all the time. I've stopped using those types of alerts for certain things and moved them into Reminders instead. I like the way that the Reminders notifications stack up in Notification Center, and I keep them at the top so that every time I pull that shade, I'm reminded of what's coming up or what needs to be done in the next short span of time. I still use other standard calendar alerts for business meetings and such, but having iCloud sync Reminders from the Mac to the iPhone and back again has become my new favorite thing. Until my next favorite thing.

HQ: To Do - @iMuggle

After reading Leanna's review of HQ: To Do, I had to try it out. I already use the default built-in Reminders app but there was something that made me want to try HQ: To Do. Maybe it was the design or the overall feel of the app but I'm glad I did. I've found it to be an excellent way to track projects and add tasks to them on the go. Reminders will let me sort through my tasks my list but not add things to a project.

I've tried several project management apps and while I find some to be incredibly good, they aren't always easy to use. HQ: To Do solves this problem by creating a clean and appealing interface to dead easy to use controls. Not only is it easy to create projects and add tasks, the app is just beautifully designed. I've also found myself using it for grocery lists.

Now I just use my reminders apps to remind me of broad tasks and deadlines. I have started using HQ: To Do to manage individual tasks that are part of a bigger project. If you need a good project app, HQ: To Do is definitely worth checking out!

$1.99 - Download Now

Skala Preview and Skala View - @reneritchie

Skala Preview and Skala View are a brilliant piece of kit from the brilliant piece of kit makers at Bjango. It's not an app combo for everyone, but for iOS app designers who have long been seeking a way to preview pixel- and color-perfect versions of their app designs on iOS, it's a godsend. Now I'll caveat this up-frontish: Marc Edwards, who runs Bjango, is also my co-host on the Iterate podcast so some may think I'm predisposed to give his stuff a defacto recommendation. Far from it. It just means I was fortunate to have heard about it a little early, and had a chance to try it for a couple of days before release.

Here's what it does: Skala Preview is a $4.99 Mac App Store app and Skala View is a free iOS app. Get them both. Install them on your Mac and iPhone/iPad. And from then on you can take user interface designs you're working on in Photoshop (or pixel editing apps) and push them over to your iPhone or iPad, grab your magnifying glass, and see how it holds up. If you're using Adobe Photoshop CS 5 12.0.4 or up, all this can happen in real time, while you work. Nudge here, it shows up there. If you're using older versions of Photoshop, or if you're a Fireworks, Acorn, or Pixelmator guy, Skala will watch your clipboard and any time you copy to it, Skala Preview will grab it and Skala View will show it on your device. You can zoom crisply, you can preview landscape and portrait, you can test different color-blindness options, and you can push to multiple iOS devices at once.

It's not perfect, mind you. Both Photoshop, which only copies to clipboard when the app loses focus, and Apple, who tightly controls what apps can and can't do, sometimes force an extra step here or there. But in each case Skala does as much of the heavy lifting as possible, and offers simply the best workflow to date for previewing design work done on a Mac, on actual iPhones and iPads.

Kudos to Marc and Bjango. They found an itch and scratched it to the delight of designers everywhere.

$4.99 - Skala Preview for Mac

Free - Skala View for iOS

Beginner Guitar Songs - @Bla1ze

I'm going a little off the charts this week with my selection. It's something I know not everyone will be interested in but it's a good selection for those it's meant for. Beginner Guitar Lessons is an app from the folks at GuitarJamz.com, a site that is dedicated to helping you learn how to play guitar and has great video lessons for those interested. They have a few apps in the iTunes App Store, but sticking to basics I chose Beginner Guitar Lessons because it comes with a guide to help you learn how to tune your guitar, teaches you basic chords and includes built in function to playback a set of numerous beginner guitar lesson videos. The owner, Marty does a great job of explaining what you need to know and best of all -- the app is free to download. It's basic but the information in the app is great for those wanting to learn how to play guitar.

Free - Download Now

Hundred PushUps - @llofte

We're into the second week of Mobile Nations fitness month and I have have a confession to make -- I've been doing a terrible job. One of my assignments for this week was to find a great fitness app to give away to you guys, and I settled on Hundred PushUps, a training program that will have you doing 100 consecutive push ups in 6 weeks. At the same time, I decided that it's time for me to get serious about fitness month (or fitness life, really) and my husband and I are working through Hundred PushUps together.

Hundred PushUps first instructs you to do as many push ups as you can and record your result. Form there, the app will build your routine and tell you how many push ups to do each day. Today, I had to do two sets of 6 push ups, followed by two sets of 4 pushups, and finish off with one set of 5 push ups -- with a 60s timed rest between each set. I was very impressed with out accurately predicted what I would be able to do.

I'm really looking forward to finishing this fitness program and I think you should join me!

$1.99 - Download Now

Bloomberg TV+ - @andrewwray

Looking for the best way to watch live or archived business and financial news? Or maybe you're just interesting in the latest stock statistics from the companies you follow? Bloomberg TV+ is the answer, with access to live Bloomberg television 24-hours a day as well as a number of popular programs on-demand.

Bloomberg TV+ is one of the first -- if not the first -- apps to provide access to the worlds most popular networks in the business/finance realm at absolutely no cost. Think of it as an "app as a channel", where by launching Bloomberg TV+, you're basically tuning into the network without requiring a subscription or cable provider. You can even download videos directly to your iPad for offline viewing if you know you'll soon be away from a WiFi network or out of 3G range (perfect for flights or long trips). When you're done watching your favorite program, you can share with Twitter, Facebook or via email.

In addition to live news, you also have access to on-demand content from a number of popular programs including Charlie Rose, Tech Stars, Innovators, Game Changers and more. Bloomberg TV+ offers access to a multitude of high-profile interviews as well, so if business and finances is your thing, there's really no longer a need for a standard cable subscription with everything Bloomberg TV+ makes available. If you're looking for some help in "cutting the cable", Bloomberg TV+ is definitely going to help you get there!

Free - Download Now

Your pick?

What was the best app, accessory, gadget, or website you saw or used this week? How did it make your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or simply more fun? We're always on the lookout for new and amazing bits and atoms, and we'd love to know your pick of the week. Leave it in the comments below!

Every week a few of us from team iMore will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

The White House -- @andrewwray

Looking for a great way to keep tabs on the Obama administration? The White House for iPhone is your best pick, giving you access to news, photos and video of what's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

Not only will you have direct access to their blog, which is more of a news source than anything else, but you'll also be able to browse through archived photos, video and more. I was able to watch the State of the Union address in its entirety earlier this week without strapping myself down to a desk or television. Instead, I just whipped out my iPhone and within a few minutes I was watching the livestream -- no questions asked.

Next to the plethora of content, media and information about The White House at your fingertips, you can also setup push notifications to be notified of any major news stories going on in the political realm. Overall, it's a great resource and the livestream feature is a lifesaver.

• Free -- App Store Link

Zite Personalized Magazine - @sethclifford

Flipboard is the app that everyone likes talking about, but there's actually a few new apps that are doing stylish news aggregation pretty well. One that I've really been enjoying lately is Zite, which takes a similar approach to Flipboard, but allows you to customize your reading experience over time by voting stories up or down and then learning what it is you prefer to read and giving you more tailored content.

The setup for the app is pretty simple, and I really like the clean UI. There's really not much to get in the way and the content really takes center stage. I feel like it's easier to browse than Flipboard, and while the Flipboard UI conventions are cool, don't get me wrong - after a while, I feel like I'm really working to see new content, and I don't feel like I can scan as quickly on my phone (which is a prime criteria for consuming news on the go). Zite feels like it allows me to do that more easily.

The customization aspects are cool too - you basically give stories a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, and Zite will remember what it is you liked and in the future return more content like it. There's a lot of detail here as to how this is all accomplished, and since I've only been using it a short time, I can't speak to its accuracy yet. Also, the type of feeds I'm looking at (tech stuff) usually have a bit of overlap, so it's hard for me to tell right now. I'm less concerned with teaching the app though, and more concerned with the quickness of information and scanning, and it definitely succeeds there. But the app's main draw is the personalization of content, so don't let my particular use-case dissuade you from trying it out. It's free and a really nice way to get your news.

Zite Personalized Magazine - Free - iTunes link

Messages+ - @iMuggle

I can not explain how happy I am to have a jailbreak on my iPhone 4S. Along with a new jailbreak comes tons of updated utilities and applications for iOS 5. I've been using IntelliscreenX and with it comes Messages+. I've been a long time fan of BiteSMS but I'm really loving the tight integration Messages+ has with iOS. There's no separate application or icon, it just works. There's really nothing to configure. Just set up a quick reply action via Activator and you're good to go.

You can view images and files right from the quick reply window and then dismiss them. The UI blends perfectly with the default UI of iOS so it looks like something Apple themselves would have made. If you're jailbroken and haven't checked out Messages+ yet, I'd give it a try! If you already have IntelliscreenX, you already have a license for it and it comes built-in. If you don't, you can buy Messages+ separately.

$7.99 - Cydia Search Link

Going back to a #TeamPure iPhone – @chrisoldroyd

This week I decided to give the new Absinthe Jailbreak a go on my iPhone 4S. I have always tinkered around with jailbroken devovces and do love apps like BiteSMS and SBSettings. This time the experience has been awful for me.

Installing the jailbreak was simple enough, I had to wait a bit longer as I am a Windows user. Anyway, to cut a long story short, my phone is all jailbroken in minutes and I installed BiteSMS and SBSettings and nothing more. A few days later and I try and listen to my music in the car and things start to go terribly wrong. Album artwork shows the wrong song playing and most songs start to play then stop or don't play at all.

I turned iTunes Match on and off, and even synced again with iTunes, transferring all my music back on manually, still the same issue. Only option I had was to go back to a stock install and lose my jailbreak. That is where I am at now and guess what? Yep my music is now perfect again!

Squrl - @Bla1ze

I don't watch a lot of TV and the shows I do want to watch are usually found on iTunes or Netflix but there isn't a lot of good stuff out there these days any how in my opinion. For filling that void, I often scour the web looking for good online content to watch when I have some spare time but keeping track of that stuff has proven to be a difficult task over time. For Christmas I got an AppleTV and found Squrl. Squrl basically aggregates a lot of popular online video sites and various other content providers and provides a beautiful UI that allows for tracking videos, saving them for later viewing. Couple that with an AppleTV and you can amass plenty of content to watch in place of television shows. Social network integration as well as netflix, it has become a key resource of entertainment for me and it's available for free in the iTunes App Store.

• Free - App Store link

Rdio - @jdipane

Music is a huge part of my life, and the ability to have almost any song at my fingertips without eating up all the space on my iPhone is a huge plus for me. Rdio is a subscription based service similar to Spotify, but I find that more songs that I enjoy to listen to are available through Rdio. Whether I want to select a certain song, album or just listen to a particular artists stations I can do so with a few simple clicks from within the application. I have various playlist's set up, one for work out, one to relax, and I can add and remove songs with ease. Rdio also ties in with my home Sonos system which is great as I can listen to the music through my headphones, the speaker of the device or through the Sonos to keep me motivated. The application is free, but the service is paid, hit the link below to start your free 7 day trial!

• Free - App Store link

Puzzle Juice - @JorjLim

Tetris? Boggle? If you can't decide which game to play, then Puzzle Juice is a sure winner.

The game starts as a standard game of Tetris; coloured blocks fall from the top of the screen, and you have to form a line at the bottom to score points.

However, unlike traditional Tetris, once you've completed a line, it won't disappear. Instead, every block will turn into a letter and you’ll have to form words to score even more points. Here’s the fun part; while you’re looking for words, the next Tetris block has started falling. If you need more letters to form a word, tap on 3 same-colour blocks that are adjacent to one another to reveal more letters. There is also an optional Zen Mode, which challenges you to score as many points as you can in 90 seconds.

The game itself is well designed and even the menu screens have a pinch of character. You won’t see a “Ok”, or “Start” button throughout the game, instead you’ll see phrases like “Sounds Peachy” and “Totally Got It”, just to add that extra flare to the game.

The game is a mind-game, a fun-game and a challenging game all wrapped into one neat parcel, and will keep you busy for hours!

• $0.99 - App Store link

Doodlecast Pro

My day job is teaching two Intermediate Algebra courses at my local community college and this semester I'm experimenting with making videos for my students on new or difficult topics. Doodlecast Pro for iPad has turned out to be the best app to help me accomplish this. It records both my voice and handwriting and allows me to export and upload my videos directly to YouTube. If I made some mistakes along the way that I want to edit out, I can export to my Camera Roll instead and edit in another application like Avid Studio or iMovie. My only complaint is that the handwriting strokes are not really that great. I would love to see Doodlecast match the quality of handwriting to apps like Penultimate and Noteshelf.

• $3.99 - App Store link

LabTimer - Joe (Reader's Choice winner - Comment #22)

My favorite right now is Lab Timer. It’s a free universal app that gives you 16 timers. They’ll count up or down and will sound an alarm. It’s handy for work so I can have a break timer, a lunch timer and can time how long a process is taking all from the same app. It’s especially handy for the iPad since there is no built-in clock app.

• Free - App Store link

Tell us your pick, enter to win a $10 iTunes gift certificate!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. We'll pick one of you and send you a shiny $10 iTunes gift certificate so you can start stocking up for future picks! Contest starts now and ends next Friday, January 13 at 12pm PT.

So what are you waiting for? Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team iMore will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

TripAdvisor Hotels Flights Restaurants – @chrisoldroyd

I have just booked our family holiday for the summer and decided to have a nose around the App Store to see if I could find any apps that could recommend places to visit and where to eat. Luckily I stumbled upon an app called TripAdvisor Hotels Flights Restaurants. The app covers all sorts or areas and does cover Pollenca Mallorca where we are heading.

You can look at hotels, restaurants and visitor attractions, read reviews and ratings left by other visitors to the area too. It is very comprehensive, has links to Google Maps for guidance and he ability to leave your own reviews too. The app has been recently updated and is now optimized for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and is completely free. If you are planning vacation, check it out, it gives you some local knowledge right in your pocket.

• Free - App Store link

Idea Sketch - @Alli_Flowers

If you like graphic organizers, you'll love Idea Sketch. We love stuff like this in education, from K-12, but mind mapping is a concept that can be used in any profession.

If you're unfamiliar with the basic premise, you are literally mapping ideas. Drop your idea into a shape - round, square, oblong, diamond, and link it to other ideas. Expand your thoughts until you have filled in all those loose threads.

Idea Sketch allows you unlimited canvas space, so your ideas can't be constrained. You can pinch and zoom to see whatever you want, and you can change the colors to suit your whim. You can view in a list format as well as the "idea" format, and you can share it all via email or via Box.

This is a must for students and educators, and a great idea for anyone just trying to organize his thoughts.

• Free - App Store link

Sonic 4 Episode 1 - @jorjLim

Ever since I was younger, I have been a huge fan of the Sonic franchise. I owned the 3 main games, Sonic 1, 2 and 3, on original megadrive cartridge (remember them?). When I learnt that Sonic 4 Episode 1 would be coming to iOS, I got really excited. I got so excited that I bought the game for its full £6.99 price at midnight the day it came out.

The one thing I could never achieve on the older games, was collecting all the Chaos Emeralds. Collecting all 7, would unlock Super Sonic, a invincible, faster, yellow version of Sonic.

So when I downloaded Sonic 4 Episode 1, my one goal was to unlock Super Sonic, for the first time, ever. After months of struggling, having to re-do each level to play the special stages over and over again. I finally collected the last Chaos Emeralds.

My 8 year old self would have been so proud of this moment, finally being able to play as Super Sonic that I unlocked myself, and to achieve this on a updated version of the game, made it ever better. I got to have the thrill of nostalgia, side by side with awesome modern 2.5D graphics, on my phone!

If you are a fan of the Sonic franchise, you should check out Sonic 4 Episode 1. Its packed full of homages, references and levels from the original games and really does bring back the franchise with a modern look.

• $3.99 for iPhone - App Store link
• $4.99 for iPad - App Store link

Jelly Defense - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is a new tower defense game called Jelly Defense. This is a fun, light hearted casual game to play. This game takes the traditional tower defense game and doesn't change the formula too much. It does add a bit of an ongoing story, includes towers that are only effective against enemies of the same color (so blue towers can't shoot against red enemies), and includes various aspects like needing to "learn" how to make new types of towers. Where it shines, however, is with the mix of background sounds/soundtrack, and the really nice, clean graphics. The stark color contrast (red and blue jelly towers and enemies, a grey background) really give the game some character, which is needed to stand out from all the other tower defense games out there. Best of all, this is a universal binary, so you can play it on any device you have!

• $2.99 - App Store link

Birdhouse - @sethclifford

I sometimes like to revisit apps that I haven't used in a while by browsing my purchased apps on my iPhone. One that I recently rediscovered is Birdhouse. Now the thing about Birdhouse is that it hasn't been updated in a long time. Like since the summer of 2010. But it runs fine on iOS 5 and does exactly what it's supposed to. Which is to act as a notepad for your tweets. You can log in with multiple accounts, save drafts of your potential tweets, publish directly from the app, and back everything up via email. It's not a Twitter client per se, as there's no timeline to view, but it's more of a partner to your favorite Twitter app. And yeah, lots of apps save drafts now, but the nice thing about Birdhouse is that sometimes you have an idea you want to capture quickly and don't feel like opening up your main app and loading it, and then getting sidetracked and eating up time. It's a single purpose app for a simpler time.

• $1.99 - App Store link

Delivery Status - @Bla1ze

Keeping track of packages for me is a big issue, not because I get a lot of them but because I live an apartment. For some reason, if I'm not watching my package delivery dates -- I tend to miss a lot of packages that are scheduled to be delivered. To help keep my eye on things and ensure I get my deliveries I make use of Delivery Status Touch by JuneCloud. It supports a wide array of services such as Amazon, USPS, UPS and more importantly for me -- Canada Post plus it includes Google Map integration. JuneCloud also offers a desktop solution for tracking so your iOS device is always in sync with your desktop and the cloud.

• $4.99 - App Store link

Kinotopic - @phishgirl3

I'm always looking for new ways to make pictures and videos into something more than they are, and this week stumbled on an app called Kinotopic. This simple to use app turns 3-4 second videos into a kino, or cinemagraph. If you haven't heard of cinemagraph, it's a photo with a small repeated movement usually confined to one detail in the image.

All you need to do to make your own kino is shoot a quick video or pick one from your library, choose your anchor frame, then highlight the portion of the image you want to show movement. The app processes it and sends your created kino to you via email. You can share on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr as well as publish your finished creation to the public stream or mark it as private. All in all it's a fun app to use, and in my opinion worth the $1.99 price tag.

• $1.99 - App Store link

Big Lens - @reneritchie

Sometimes you just need to fake it to get it done. For all the multiple layers of glass, remarkable aperture, and overall image quality of the otherwise I-can't-believe-it's-a-phone camera on the iPhone 4S, it just can't give you the depth of field -- or bokeh if you're fancy -- of a fast 50 on a DSLR. Enter Big Lens, which attempts to do in post what Apple can't -- yet -- do in camera. Like most post-process depth of field utilities, it's a trick and there's no getting around it. Just look for the tell-tale halo around the non-blurred portions -- for example, around a webOS editor and his brief flirtation with a BlackBerry Playbook on a big-ass gold chain at CES 2012. But with automatic and manual modes, aperture, filter, lens, focus, and blur controls, Big Lens fakes it well. If you're ever in one of those awkward moments where you just have to fake it to get it done, give Big Lens a go. It might just get you to good enough.

• $0.99 - App Store link

iBooks Author - @llofte

iBooks Author is the iBooks creation tool that was announced at Apple's education event. I've done a little playing around with it and am really excited to start seriously using it. I'd be impressed if a simple book was easy to create, but so are books filled with animations and interactive material. I'm a college math instructor and hope to use iBooks Author to write short, supplementary books to offer to my students for free.

• Free - Mac App Store link

The Recipe Box - Jackie Wyan (Reader's Choice Winner)

The Recipe Box is one of my favorite “hidden gem” finds. I had been looking for an app that I could easily transfer all of my old, greasy, hand-written index card recipes to, that didn’t cost me an arm and a leg, require me to ‘create an account’ online, or force me to show my admiration for an unknown cook and their favorite recipes. The Recipe Box is it. And they have a great app developer, as the thing just keeps on getting better and better. You can easil search through all your entries by all sorts of means – a search field, a ‘type’ field, an ingredient field, etc. Plus, with the use of Dropbox, I quickly copy and pasted all of my Text file recipes over to the app.

It does come with a couple of recipes to begin with, but not so many that cleaning them out is a task, and a few worth keeping to try out. Plus, as you cook your own recipes, you can easily add photos of the results to the app, resulting in a fully customized experience!

I could continue to gush on about this app, but it is definitely worth your time and the small expense. And if you have other kitchen-savvy friends, the app gives you an easy way to share with them as well!

• $3.99 - App Store link

Tell us your pick, enter to win a $10 iTunes gift certificate!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. We'll pick one of you and send you a shiny $10 iTunes gift certificate so you can start stocking up for future picks! Contest starts now and ends next Friday, January 13 at 12pm PT.

So what are you waiting for? Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team iMore will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Airplay - @iMuggle

I never found TOO much of a need for AirPlay at home (unless I was bored and wanted to play Angry Birds on a 50" TV). I've recently started doing iOS and other various types of workshops for PXLFIX and AirPlay has been great. Instead of just showing people slides (which we all know is beat your head into a desk boring) they can actually see "how" to do things. I have an AppleTV set up and I just mirror whatever I want to explain right to the TV from my iPad 2 or iPhone 4S. The best part is that they can follow along on their own devices.

I've gotten great feedback by doing this and plan on continuing to teach workshops this way as I find it a much more interactive way to teach. Before AirPlay, teaching certain topics took a lot of extra prep work if it was possible at all.

AppShopper - @sethclifford

I think I can safely say that one of the most excellent things about iOS as a platform is the enormous availability of interesting software to try. I'm a self-avowed app nut, always trying a million things, studying different interface choices and observing design decisions, but keeping the best of the best on my phone. The AppShopper app is a great way to stay apprised of both new releases and sales on apps every day in the App Store.

Using data from the excellent AppShopper site, the app is a universal binary that has a nice clean interface and some cool ways to customize it for a more personal experience. The app is free, and for a buck you can remove ads. I'd recommend it heartily, both because it cleans up the screen and gives you a little more room to browse, and also because Arn is a great guy and you should totally support his efforts. In addition to that, a while back the site released a tool with which you can upload your app list from your computer directly to AppShopper, and then the site will keep track of updates to your own apps without you having to open up the App Store app a million times a day to check yourself. This is also really helpful if you have a notable update to an app that's not on your phone right now, so you can possibly give it another look and see what's changed.

Granted, you'll have to occasionally update the list on the site by re-running the app and re-uploading the app list to keep it current (as there's no way for the app to track your purchases in iTunes otherwise), but the whole process takes about 30 seconds in total, so it's not exactly a hardship. You can set up push notifications to alert you to sales or changes, create a wish list, and manage everything from a standard browser at home, syncing everything down to the app. If you're into apps as much as I think you might be, it's a nice addition to your devices that can snag you some great deals and keep you up on what's going on in the App Store.

• Free - App Store link

Meme Design - @Bla1ze

Yup! I'm a sucker for meme apps but that's ok because they allow me to create such glorious images like the the one above of our fearless leader of Mobile Nations, Kevin Michaluk. For them, I use Meme Design. It's available free in the iTunes App Store and just in case you're not into making your own meme's directly, it also offers all your favorite ones as templates as well. Now you too, can share your memes across email, facebook and Twitter.

Uhh.. no one tell Kevin I posted this here.

• Free - App Store link

Foursquare -- @reneritchie

I use location check-in apps for one thing and one thing only -- keeping a record of trips I've made. I don't care for the idea of people in general knowing where I am because privacy really does matter and anyone I want to meet knows where I'll be or knows how to find out. On a trip, however, whether it's a trade show like CES or conference like WWDC, I'm visiting a lot of places and need a quick and easy way to record them in case I'm ever there again and want to go back, or just want to quickly remember where I visited while I was away.

I used to use Gowalla for this, preferring their general look and take on the genre, but since Facebook will most likely suck their data dry and then dump them in a swamp, I've switched to Foursquare and it did the job well.

It's more utility for me than location-based check in gaming, and while that might make it less exciting it makes it far more useful.

• Free - App Store link

FastCustomer -- @andrewwray

Need to call customer service for something, but don't want to be put on hold for 10 minutes before actually speaking with a live person? I've been in that situation many of times, but not anymore. With FastCustomer, you can skip the wait and have the app call you when its reached a live representative.

They have over 2,000 companies in their database, it hasn't failed me yet when I've needed to call up customer service for whatever reason. Most customer service IVRs are long, annoying and not very fun. Never wait on hold or go through a lengthy customer service tree again -- just have FastCustomer give you a call once it has a live rep waiting for you!

• Free - App Store Link

Mugtuk Monsters - @llofte

By itself, this app of cute little interactive monster faces is just too adorable and make my daughter smile from ear to ear when they respond to her touch. But while at CES 2012, I had the chance to meet with Mugtuk and pick up one of their accessory cases that turn these monsters into actual stuffed animals! It's seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen and I love how excited my daughter gets at every opportunity to play with it.

• Free - App Store link

Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal - Kristy_Lyn (Reader's Choice winner)

My pick of the week is MyFitnessPal. As a new years resolution to myself I decided to get healthy. A friend recommended myfitnesspal.com, and so I searched the app store and - badda bing badda boom!

This app has all the essentials for starting out your new work out regime. I entered in my age, sex, height, weight, activity level, and goal of weight loss and it gave me a net calorie target range. Then you can add in your workouts and activity and easily customize the duration and calories burned.

For food intake, you can manually search food items that seem to be organized by users inputting their own food items which as resulted in a large data base. Upon further testing, I found the bar code scanner which makes adding eaten food as easy as a scan of a bar code.

The app graphs your workouts and food intake and shows you how much work you need to do to reach your goals. The best part is that it shows you on your daily totals exactly how much of everything you have consumed, for example, your daily total of calories, carbs, proteins, fats, sodium vitamins and so on. It shows you what you have over consumed or what you have left to consume.

Overall - a great app for my New Year’s resolution!

• Free - App Store link

Tell us your pick, enter to win a $10 iTunes gift certificate!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. We'll pick one of you and send you a shiny $10 iTunes gift certificate so you can start stocking up for future picks! Contest starts now and ends next Friday, January 20 at 12pm PT.

So what are you waiting for? Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team iMore will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Talkatone - @Alli_Flowers

I was so excited this week - I was going to pick CloudOn. But it was pulled from the App Store within hours of my installing it. Big bummer!

So my number two choice this week is Talkatone, a free app that works with your GoogleVoice account. Talkatone leverages some of the most useful features from GV and brings them to your iPad.

Yes, with Talkatone, you can make and receive calls directly on Your iPad. If you were hesitant to start using GV, this is a good reason to start, and if you were using it before, this will help you take advantage of all the features and get even more use from it.

You can text and talk using your WiFi connection (or data if you have a 3G iPad). So your iPad finally really becomes a big iPhone! You do, of course, have to use the speakerphone when using Talkatone on your iPad. And in case I neglected to mention this before, you can use Talkatone on your iPhone too. (It's just cooler on the iPad!)

While Talkatone is free, there are several tiers of in-app purchases that will allow you to do things like add multiple Google accounts. This is something that I particularly like since you can't use the same phone number for multiple GV accounts, so only one of my accounts ever rings/texts through - the others always go to voicemail/email.

This is a great, GREAT utility for any GV user.

• Free - App Store link

Emit - @sethclifford

Rene and I are both huge fans of Air Video [$2.99 - App Store link] for streaming all manner of differently formatted (read: non-iTunes) visual content around our homes. It's a fantastic app, and can handle almost anything you can throw at it. Except using it with non-iOS devices. Since I also have a few other things I like to toy around with (most recently the Kindle Fire), I was looking for a similar solution that would work across multiple devices. I found it in Emit.

Emit is very similar to Air Video in that it relies on a streaming component loaded onto a Mac/PC and then outputs video to your mobile device. The big difference here is that it also works with Android devices, and soon Windows Phone 7 devices too. The server software can run on Mac OS X, Windows or Linux, so it's as equal-opportunity as you're going to get right now. I downloaded the free server app and the Amazon Appstore version of the mobile app as well as the universal iOS app to test out.

Interface-wise, it's pretty barebones. Not exactly the kind of eye candy we're often accustomed to on iOS. But when it comes to watching videos, quite frankly, I'll put up with a lot less in terms of app design if it does the one thing I want it to do (stream my videos however and wherever I choose) successfully. Emit got that part right. Videos over my home wi-fi network on both iOS and the Kindle Fire were streamed very smoothly and I didn't run into any connection issues. I've yet to set up the internet access (to watch videos away from home), and I'm hoping that it's a similarly good experience.

Whoa, hold up... just realized something else. One additional really cool feature is that there is also a built-in web app at the app's site that allows you to watch videos right in the browser! That's pretty awesome. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have to go and try this out. If you've got a lot of different content to watch, and more than just iOS devices on which to do it, give it a look. There's a free version available on Android too if you're not sure about ponying up right away.

• $1.99 - App Store link
• $3.54 - Android Market link
• $3.50 - Amazon Appstore link

iCloud Backup – @chrisoldroyd

Not going for an app this week but the backup feature of iCloud. I try and backup my iPhone 4S every night when I plug it in to charge so my backup file is always reasonably up to date. Today, I went to the Apple Store to try and get a replacement iPhone 4S as mine was behaving a little strangely.

Everything went well as usual at the Apple Store and I got my new iPhone. This time instead of taking it home to sync with iTunes I just input my iCloud information and used the Apple Store WiFi connection. Half an hour later I was all set up with a new iPhone that had everything that the old one did. All of my apps installed and all in the correct folders. All of my text messages, emails, contacts, you name it. It just worked!

The only negative was my music, I have iTunes Match and all my music is stored on iTunes in the Cloud. To get that back I had to download everything again manually. That is not the Apple way and I expect that to be automated very soon too.

Zombieville USA 2 - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is the sequel to one of my favorite causal games of all times – Zombieville USA 2. Zombieville USA 2 brings back the same basic game play (side scrolling action, killing zombies) but adds a few unique twists from the first game to make it an entirely new experience. Zombieville USA 2 allows you to have three weapons at a time (with different buttons controlling each one), and there are plenty of weapons to choose from. You can also upgrade weapons, as well as upgrading skills with the money you earn. The side scrolling action has been expanded somewhat, so allow a 3-d movement. Lastly, and perhaps most important of all, you can now have multiplayer action! Two people can team up to shoot, stab, blow up, and obliterate zombies before they have a chance to eat your brains!

• $0.99 - App Store link

2012 International CES App - @iMuggle

With CES upon us, I've been looking for a good way to browse through all the different exhibits and events at CES to figure out which ones I want to check out. Then comes the organizing them part. While I have most of my stuff in iCal, the official app allows me to add tracks easily and share them with other friends that are attending.

Besides just adding tracks you can view maps, photos, videos, and even see who is tweeting about CES. It's a great way to actively stay up to date with what's going on around you. I plan to really test it out this week while in Vegas.

• Free - App Store Link

AccuWeather for iPhone - @bla1ze

Yeah, it's a weather app. There is a lot of weather apps in the iTunes App Store, many are free and many are paid. AccuWeather for iPhone is a free, ad supported app with a lot of features and a few, you'd not really expect from a simple weather app but are included in this one:

• iCloud Support - Settings and saved locations sync to AccuWeather apps through iCloud.
• Notification Center Support - View today’s forecast in the Notification Center drop-down.
• Calendar Integration - View 15-day forecasts in your calendar.
• Social Sharing - Share weather information with friends and family through Facebook, Twitter and email messages.
• View Contacts on weather maps – Place contacts of your choice on the radar weather display and “pin” them on the map to see current conditions for that contact.

Normally, I tend to not bother with Weather apps because well, I find it easier to look out the window but with the added features of AccuWeather for iPhone, I've learned to enjoy both -- looking out the window and checking in the app to see a longer forecast.

• Free - App Store link

Google Translate - @andrewwray

Want to know how to say something in another language on-the-fly? Well, Google Translate won't do exactly that, but it comes pretty darn close. Just speak what you need translated and tap 'GO' and, well, it'll translate your input into whatever language you desire! You can even have it speak the phrase aloud to you to help make sure you're saying it correctly.

Google Translate has some other really great options as well. For starters, you can star specific phrases for quick reference, change the language input selection (Chinese, English and Spanish are all supported with regional variations included) or type out your phrase instead of using voice input if you're so inclined.

If you've been trying to learn a new language, or even if you're heading on a trip to another country, then it's almost guaranteed that Google Translate will come in quite handy! Google Translate is available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch as a universal binary app.

• Free - App Store Link

Triple Entendre - @llofte

Triple Entendre is a very difficult riddle game and I am so addicted! I've literally lost sleep over it. It's hard to really say much about it in terms of a description, except that each level contains clues and photos for either the answer or question to the riddle. You cannot progress until you get the answer right.

Most of these levels are extremely difficult and will likely drive you mad. However, we've got a thread in the forums dedicated to offering hints to fellow players. So go pick up the app and join in! If you think you can handle it - that is.

• $0.99 for full version - App Store link
• Free for lite version - App Store link

Tripit - @reneritchie

So begins a the annual cycle of trade shows, with CES 2012, pretty much the biggest, baddest one of them all, starting the year off with a bang. Since it's far from home and I'm far from organized, I need every little app and accessory I can to get me through it.

If you haven't already, go watch or listen to Georgia and Phil Nickinson's fantastic ZENandTECH episode this week for a ton of useful tips and picks for frequent travelers, because I'm only going to echo one of them here -- Tripit.

Tripit is a web service with a universal app for iPhone and iPad that helps take the tedium and trepidation out of travel. You make a reservation for a flight or a hotel, Tripit takes it in, breaks it down, and gives you back a humanized agenda that clean on the surface but jam packed with details just a tap away. You can either manually forward confirmation emails to Tripit or set it up to monitor your Gmail address for instant updates (enter security vs. convenience argument here).

There are social networking features, so I can see where, for example, where friends and co-workers are going, and if you pay for a pro membership, which I do, you can create an inner circle for those closest to you so they automatically have all your travel info at hand. Tripit Pro will also email and/or SMS you any changes to flight schedules, gates, etc. which pretty much makes it worth it's weight in gold. (If binary bits had weight, that is.)

If you or those around you travel frequently or even occasionally, get Tripit.

• $3.99 - App Store link

Tell us your pick, enter to win a $10 iTunes gift certificate!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. We'll pick one of you and send you a shiny $10 iTunes gift certificate so you can start stocking up for future picks! Contest starts now and ends next Friday, January 13 at 12pm PT.

So what are you waiting for? Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

GTA 3 – @chrisoldroyd

I don't play many games on my iPad however the release of GTA 3 has got me hooked. I used to play this a few years back on my PS2 and PSP; so hearing it was now available for iOS, I just had to get it.

The game plays amazingly well, the graphics are true to the original PS2 version; which in my opinion is some feat on a 9.7" handheld device. The key to the success with games like these on the iPad is the controls system. Rockstar appears to have this just right, even I can control things and that's saying something. All in all this game is streets ahead of anything else that I have played on my iPad, it is utterly brilliant!

• $4.99 – App Store link

Action Movie FX - @Alli_Flowers

JJ Abrams is nothing short of brilliant. I love his movies and tv shows, and now his iPhone app - Action Movie FX. Meant to highlight the explosive effects used in his latest endeavor, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, it gives you the ability to...well...blow things up.

Action Movie FX leverages the camera in your iPhone (or iPad 2), and allows you to take live footage and then apply an explosive effect. The app comes with a missile and a car roll. I'm not crazy about the car effect as it has limited use. The missile, on the other hand, is very practical, and kept me incredibly entertained on Christmas eve as we drove around the neighborhood looking at all the festively decorated yards. "Stop here!" I would shout, and my brother would pull over. "I want to blow up that yard!" I'm sure the neighbors were tickled to death that we were spending so much time admiring and photgraphing their displays. If they only knew....

You can purchase two additional effects packages, one of which I got for $.99 that includes a fire (gun) fight and an air strike. If you ever wanted to direct expensive movies with huge special effects (or just wanted to blow things up), I highly recommend Action Movie FX.

• Free - App Store link

Batman: Arkham City Lockdown - @reneritchie

I'm not a huge fan of Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and Dark Knight movies. He simply doesn't understand the core of the character (nor is he capable of producing good endings.) Bruce Wayne doesn't dress up as Batman. Batman isn't his secret identity. He is Batman. It's Bruce Wayne that he dresses up as; that's his secret identity. And it's his job to save everyone, from the citizens of Gotham to the Joker to Ras Al Ghul. It's his job to make sure no one ever dies the way his parents died, not ever again. It's those simple, essential truths that Frank Miller nailed so transformative-ly in Dark Knight Returns in the 1980s and Paul Dini and Bruce Timm realized perhaps best of all, detective and all, in Batman: The Animated in the 1990s, that Tim Burton touched on though ultimately stumbled all over in his attempt at the Batman franchise, and that Nolan missed completely, despite the great acting and production values of his soon-to-be completed trilogy.

There's nothing wrong with Gotham that Batman can't fix with his brains and his fists. Which brings me, circuitously, to Batman: Arkham City Lockdown, the latest attempt to bring the Batman franchise to video games and the first to hit the iPhone and iPad.

It looks great. It uses the same Epic Unreal 3 engine that powers Infinity Blade, and the designs are modern but true to the spirit of the characters involved. Control is good given the limitations of multitouch, and Batman: Arkham City Lockdown takes pains to walk you through them from the get go. Gameplay is a tad repetitive -- you go from area to fairly similar area and box your way from bad guy to fairly similar bad guy. Early hyper-swiping (is that the multitouch equivalent of button mashing?) quickly stops working, however, as badder guys require more precise counters and attacks, and you need to build your skills if you want to make it past anything other than the early stages.

In general the Arkham series is an extreme take on the Batman -- ultra-violent, with female characters whose, to quote Bill Watterson, powers seem to primarily consist of keeping their costumes from falling completely off. But it's well executed (no doubt thanks to having Paul Dini involved with the franchise), with good atmosphere, and has more than enough to please both longtime Batman fans and those who just want some gritty gaming fun over the holidays.

• $5.99 - App Store link

Golden Axe - @skeetobite

It's retro day as we enter the last day of 2011. My choice for the pick of the week is Golden Axe, by Sega. This is an import of the classic arcade game from the late 1980's. You are a mighty adventurer, trying to save the King and his daughter from the evil Death Adder. Just like the arcade version, you can play as a Gilus Thunderhead, a dwarf; Tyrus Flare, an amazonian; or Ax Battler, a sword wielding barbarian. Pick up food and potions, ride dragons, and of course fight enemies along the way to the main battle to defeat Death Adder. Just like the arcade version, you can play mutliplayer here as well, using bluetooth. There are sequels (Golden Axe II and III) but this game is the real thing from the arcade. For anyone who played this game in the arcade, you MUST pick this game up asap and give it a try.

• $0.99 - App Store link

Bejeweled - @iMuggle

The new version of Bejeweled adds not only more awesome graphics but new game play modes. I've always been hugely addicted to Bejeweled Blitz so I already knew this was a purchase I wasn't going to regret.

The newer version has a Zen mode as well as a diamond mine mode. While one is timed and you have to attempt to blast away the earth and dig deeper, Zen mode is not timed and is just endless gameplay.

If you're a Bejeweled fan, make sure you pick up the new version.

• $0.99 - App Store Link

1Password - @sethclifford

I'm not much of a believer in the usefulness of New Year's Resolutions since many people make grandiose claims they'll never complete and end up feeling terrible about it, but if you make even one this January, make it to be more secure and efficient in your computing life and know outright that you can do it. 1Password is the key to unlocking success with this resolution. I chose it as one of my most-used apps of 2011 this past week (as did many of the TiPb staff), and I can't say enough about it.

It is simply put, my single most valued application on both the Mac and iOS. We've talked about it at least a zillion times on TiPb, so I won't go into everything again. But understand this: I couldn't manage my life, our office, and the feeling of control over the myriad bits of information we all interact with on a daily basis without it. You might look at the prices of the apps and balk, but to me, there's no price I can put on either security or knowing that all the important data I need to access is always at my fingertips. You can always make more money, but you can't get more time, and an app this good is worth your time.

Ok, I'll dial down the hyperbole now. But seriously, if you're not using it, why not? Don't you like making your life easier? Isn't it worth a few bucks to support fantastic software development and simplify things for yourself in the process? I think you know the answer to that. Go forth and learn a new way of living with your tech. Seriously. Go. Now.

• $14.99 for iPhone and iPad - App Store link
• $14.99 for Mac - Mac App Store link

Navigon -- andrewwray

Doing a lot of holiday traveling, and want to make sure you arrive at your destination on time? Or maybe you're going out of town for the New Year, and want to make sure you don't get lost along the way?

I've been using Navigon as my main GPS app all year, and then some. It's one of the best GPS navigation apps available for the iPhone and can even run on the iPad 3G. Navigon provides quick access to Google search, subsequently making it a breeze to search for your desired location (restaurant, gym, grocery store, gas station, whatever) and it also offers in-app purchases for things like 3D terrain mapping in a panoramic view, live traffic and even police radar location information. I'm sure some of you have personal prefecences for other GPS apps, or maybe even prefer a standalone device, but for me, Navigon does the job perfectly.

• $38.99 (North America Only) - App Store Link

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

SlingPlayer for iPad – @chrisoldroyd

Sling released its iPad app earlier this year and if I said it was a disgrace I wouldn't be exaggerating one bit. I paid quite a lot for it and it just did not deliver any sort of good experience for watching your SlingBox on the iPad. It was jerky and unwatchable.

For the past few months, I have been using the SlingPlayer for iPhone app on my iPad in 2X mode and that delivered a way superior viewing experience for me in comparison. Thankfully though Sling has seen fit to update its iPad offering and this time they have got it right. It works, its very sharp, its smooth, I love it. Its only taken them about six months which is a little long to have to wait but at least its working now. I watched a full soccer match on it last night and it didn't drop a frame, perfect!

• $29.99 – App Store link

Skitch for iPad - @Alli_Flowers

The only thing missing from Evernote was the ability to add in drawings. And while it would be better if this were simply a tab inside the Evernote app, Skitch is a great start.

Skitch reminds me a little of early versions of Corel Draw. It gives you free-style drawing, basic shapes, text, and the ability to move what you've done. Not much editing, but I'm willing to let it go since this is a first release.

You can create a "skitch" from scratch, or you can notate on top of a photo from your album, a new photo taken directly from your camera, a web page, or a map from Google maps.

Using your Evernote account allows you to save your Skitch note right to your account. Or you can tweet your creation, email it, or just save it to your camera role. The possibilities are endless.

• Free - App Store link

Die Hard (and other holiday classics) - @reneritchie

If there's one thing the holidays are for, beyond time with family and friends, beyond turkey and latkas and gelt and eggnog, beyond presents and general debauched merriment, it's movies. No, not the sanitized, commercial cut, pre-programmed network fare traditional TV foists on us, but the originals, in as good a quality as possible, presented on demand, where we want them and when.

With the iPhone or iPod touch, that can be on the go, in interstitial moments. With iPad, that can be curled up in almost any corner. With Apple TV, that can be in your living room or bedroom, up on the big screen. Whether it's courtesy of iTunes or Netflix or Air Video any of a handful of other apps, if escapist action, if seasonal romance, if holiday fable, if festive laughs, if decades of stories well told are what you're looking for, grab your iOS device of choice and tap play -- you've hit the Santa-sacked gold mine.

I started last night with Elf. Next up is my favorite Christmas classic of all -- Die Hard.

"Now I have a machine gun. Ho. Ho. Ho."

• iTunes holiday movies
• Netflix

Launch Center - @sethclifford

Since my original pick this week was unceremoniously pulled from the App Store (as I expected, but I had hoped to at least get the pick out beforehand), my follow-up pick has been moved up by a week. Launch Center is the latest in a series of very useful little apps by App Cubby, makers of Tweet Speaker and Gas Cubby among others. Its premise is pretty simple. Hit the icon, see a list of quick actions you can perform and jump right to them.

With the addition of Siri to the iPhone 4S, a lot of these kinds of things are taken care of, however I still believe that apps like this are very useful, simply because I can't always talk to Siri when I would need to do something. You can configure a few useful shortcuts like email, speed dial, message, tweet, post to Facebook and launch URL, and there's a few other tools thrown in (activate flashlight and google clipboard contents).

Naturally, as with all App Cubby apps, the design is clean and lovely, and it's easy to configure and use. Despite rumors of Apple removing the ability to configure URL schemes to launch apps in the next OS update, this is still a nice little addition to your home screen, and it'd be cool to see shortcuts added in the future if functions become available.

• $0.99 - App Store link

RadioAlarm - @andrewwray

Need to find a good app for helping you wake up at a decent hour on Christmas morning? Maybe you want to get up so early that you might get lucky enough get to catch Santa in the act? I've recently set a goal of waking up a couple of hours earlier than normal each morning to help get more things done before the day actually begins, and RadioAlarm is truly a godsend in that respect.

With RadioAlarm you have the options of waking up to the sound of your favorite songs from the iPod music library, soothing or motivational music from a long list of online radio stations and even ambient nature sounds for a more natural escalation to consciousness from a deep sleep. In addition, the app comes with a unique feature called "Shake to Wake Up", so you'll be wide awake in no-time from having to shake your iPhone before the alarm shuts off.

A sleep timer also helps for those who have trouble getting to sleep but also enjoy listening to music in bed before they fall into a deep slumber, and the sleep timer helps make it so you won't wake up in the middle of the night if a harder or louder song happens to be next in line on your favorite online radio station.

It's a really great tool at a really great price, and I highly recommend it to anyone who hates waking up to jarring alarm sounds like the ones used by the built-in Clock app in iOS. Trust me, you'll never wake up grumpy again with RadioAlarm!

• $1.99 - App Store Link

Find My Friends - @llofte

My family and I just spent the last few days moving from Denver, CO to the central coast of CA. Well, what I actually mean is that my daughter and I hopped on a plane while my husband and brother-in-law drove halfway across the country.

I always get nervous when someone I love is driving long distances. I get even more nervous when there are winter weather advisories for all the areas that said loved ones will be driving through. Find My Friends helped put my mind at ease.

It was so awesome to be able to check my husband's location whenever I wanted - which was every couple of hours. It was also awesome for when he was almost home, because I was able to get some beers chilled for the boys in time for their arrival.

Not to mention, if I didn't have Find My Friends, I would've been calling my husband every few hours, instead: "where are you?" It was a win-win solution for both of us.

• Free for iPhone and iPad - App Store link

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

PhotoPad by Zagg - @Alli_Flowers

I realize Zagg has an ulterior motive behind their app. They want you to create original artwork to turn into Zagg skins. Nothing wrong with that - Zagg skins are awesome. But this app is pretty awesome on its own.

I originally downloaded PhotoPad because I had an email I wanted to share in a public way, but needed to remove all personal information. I figured it would be simple to just draw a line through the text with one of the many photo editing apps I already owned. Not so fast! While they could all adjust hue, saturation, and crop till you drop, not one could just draw a black line over some text. PhotoPad can do this.

But I discovered that PhotoPad can do a whole lot more. Using any photo on your iPhone or iPad (it's a universal binary), you can easily remove red eye, adjust your colour, add a filter, rotate, crop, resize...you get the idea. This is a rather full featured photo editor, and once you've finished editing your masterpiece, you can email directly from PhotoPad.

And of course, you can order your Zagg skin directly from the app.

• Free - App Store link

Relax and Sleep Well – @chrisoldroyd

If you are like me and suffer from a bit of stress and have trouble getting to sleep at night, this app may be for you. Relax and Sleep Well is very simple to use, you basically lie in a comfortable bed, put on your headphones and listen to the voice and music which gently relaxes you and helps you off to sleep.

It starts with some deep breathing exercises then you just relax and slip off to sleep, it's that simple. Well it is for me anyway, I have yet to hear the end of the sequence; which lasts just 27 minutes. It is so relaxing to listen too and better still it is absolutely free! If you want a helping hand to relax and drop off to sleep, give this amazing app a try!

• Free – App Store link

Tweetlogix for Twitter - @andrewwray

I've used TweetLogix in the past as my main Twitter client for the iPhone, but ended up defaulting to Echofon Pro. Ultimately, after running into issues with Echofon, I've decided to switch back to Tweetlogix full-time -- and for good reason.

The app has so many features that are missing from other popular Twitter apps that I’ve stopped looking for the “best Twitter app” altogether at this point. Tweetlogix is polished, extremely snappy and takes up very little system resources (RAM) despite everything it can do. When testing against some of the other popular Twitter apps, I discovered the memory footprint of Tweetlogix is roughly half of apps like Tweetbot and Twitter for iPhone, which is great for power users and those who like heavy multi-tasking.

One awesome feature I find myself using on a daily basis is the ‘Now Playing’ option, which tweets what track the iPod app is currently playing and includes an iTunes link for anyone interested in checking out the tunes you’re into. This is particularly useful for me whenever I’m listening to my favorite podcasts for the week.

The app also features light and dark themes, inline image previews, customizable tap-and-hold actions for links and so much more. The feature list is so long, I’d need an entire article by itself to go over everything it can do. If you’re looking for a low-priced and feature-heavy Twitter app that’s also extremely responsive and well thought out, check out Tweetlogix — you won’t be disappointed!

• $1.99 - App Store Link

Twittelator Neue - @iMuggle

I have Twitter client ADD when it comes to my iPhone (I've yet to find a killer iPad Twitter app). Up until recently I've been switching between the official Twitter app and Tweetbot. I've now been using Twittelator Neue on my iPhone and it's by far the most gorgeous Twitter client I've ever used.

Everything from the user interface to how little things like swiping from timeline to mentions is done incredibly well. It doesn't really bother me that it doesn't have push notifications either. But if you want them, you could always use Boxcar or another service that supports them in order to supplement it.

If you haven't checked it out yet, give it a look and let us know what you think. It's currently available at an introductory price of $1.99. My guess is eventually it'll go up to Big Stone's normal price point of $4.99, so get it while it's on sale!

• $1.99 - App Store Link

GTA III: 10th Anniversary Edition - @JorjLim

If nostalgia is what you want, grab GTA III: 10th Anniversary Edition for the iPhone/iPad.

When I picked up this game, it really took me back to playing it on my PC: The blocky graphics, the terrible car handling, the inability to swim (that’s annoying) and no one can forget, the terrible police AI. The only thing missing from the mobile version of the game, are the cheats, which is a shame but doesn’t take away from the fun.

The controls have been truly optimised for the touchscreen, which dynamically change when you’re either on foot or in a vehicle, and they work surprisingly well.

I’ve also noticed a slight improvement in graphics on the iPad 2, compared to the iPhone 4, which might be due to the A5 processor, but that doesn’t stop it from making it the most played game on my iPhone.

Unlike the original, there is an autosave feature, which saves the game wherever you are, if you exit the game. Which is useful if you receive that all important text and you don’t want to have to start again at the safe house.

It’s ONLY $4.99! Bargain.

• $4.99 - App Store link

Consume - @reneritchie

Duke Nukem. Textmate. Consume. These are the sequels the inter-world has been waiting for. Well, okay, Consume is neither as high profile nor as late as either Duke Nukem or Textmate sequels, but Bjango's Marc Edwards did give TiPb a sneak peak at it way back at WWDC 2010 before putting Consume 2 on a bit of a shelf while dashing off to work on other projects. But like Duke Nukem and Textmate, Consume 2 has finally seen the light of day -- from App Store submission to release in almost record time. It's a holiday miracle.

Consume 2 picks up right where Consume 1 left off -- letting you track all your accounts and all your usage data in one, convenient, gorgeously styled place. And the big news is the big screen -- the new version is a universal app for full on, full size iPad support. How much information Consume can track depends entirely on how much your carrier, ISP, loyalty program, or other service surfaces online, but the folks at Bjango are continually working to make it do more, better, and make it easy for you to help them out.

If you have a lot to keep track of, let Consume do the heavy lifting for you. Free upgrade to existing Consumer users, ridiculously cheap purchase for new users. Get it now.

• $2.99 - App Store link

Oink - @llofte

Oink is a new app for rating stuff. Yeah, I know, there's already enought of those. But this one is different because instead of just rating the place, you rate the items in that place. I've only recently started using it, but it's pretty cool and I'd love to see it take off. There are so many times that I go to a restaurant that I know has good reviews, but I have no idea what to order from the menu. With Oink, I can look for reviews and pictures of specific entries on the menu.

I think Oink is a really great twist the to tradition review/ratings systems out there, but like with every similar app, it's worthless if people don't use it. So please use it!

• Free - App Store link

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Family Feud (& Friends) - @Alli_Flowers

If you're a fan of the tv game show, you'll probably enjoy this version on your iPhone or iPad. The sound and colors are just beautiful.

Game play is fast, and proceeds pretty much like it does on tv - without the kissing host. Some of the answers are pretty dumb, but then you have to remind yourself that of 100 people surveyed, some of them are bound to be pretty dumb.

You are matched against random people on Facebook - not necessarily your own Facebook friends. It just brings a feeling of competition. The hook into Facebook also means that when you go for the "Lightning round" you can request assistance from one of your actual Facebook contacts. Unfortunately, there is really no way of knowing which of your friends play.

• Free - App Store link

Cleartune - @sethclifford

This week's pick isn't going to be a very long one, but it's a good one, especially if you play an instrument. I've used many iOS app tuners through the years, but the one I'm using now is likely to be the last, simply because it is so good and so well-designed, my eyes are forever blinded to other tuner apps.

Cleartune is a chromatic tuner that comes as a gorgeous universal app with a range of options for different settings and instruments. It's both visually striking and shockingly accurate, compared to some of the other apps I've used. To tune, you can use the built-in mic on most iOS devices, or an external one on devices like the 2nd and 3rd gen iPod touch. The interface is clean and easy to understand, and what's really nice is that you can launch and instantly tune using the most standard setting, or make any number of adjustments to modify the tuning to suit your needs. It supports some very advanced pro-level options, but you don't need to use them to get value out of the app.

Since I got my Apogee Jam a few weeks ago, I've been trying out a lot of music apps, and this is one that's earned a permanent slot on my iPhone and iPad. I only fire it up for short periods of time before I jump into other apps, but every time I do, I really enjoy its elegant design and simplicity.

• $3.99 - App Store link

IntelliscreenX (Jailbreak) - @andrewwray

IntelliscreenX brings unique enhancements to Facebook, Twitter, RSS, enhanced Mail and the iOS 5 Notification Center/Lock Screen. The app requires you to jailbreak your iPhone in order to get the additional functionality into your Lock Screen and Notification Center, but the added value is totally worth the effort.

IntelliscreenX is extremely powerful, letting users instantly access useful information on-the-go without having to jump into individual apps to retrieve information and perform tasks and status updates. As an example of some of the awesome things you can do, imagine pulling your iPhone out of your pocket and quickly [read: instantly] glancing at your Facebook newsfeed, sending a quick update and then making a passing comment on a friend's post -- all without even opening the Facebook for iPhone app. You can view inline comments on your friends Facebook status updates, as well as 'Like' anything you see on-the-fly with no delay whatsoever.

Same goes for Twitter, where IntelliscreenX lets you tweet, retweet and even @ reply someone without having to jump into any of the many Twitter clients available in the App Store. For Twitter, you can either view your regular timeline or drill down to only mentions of you, so you're never left lacking on what's currently going on with your Twitter friends and followers. The great thing about the Twitter integration is that you can set it to refresh every few minutes, so you're never left waiting for your stream to update.

Adding RSS feeds is a breeze, and checking/clearing unread email items is extremely handy when you're not able to take the time to check individual emails outside of the Mail app itself. One of the best features of IntelliscreenX, however, is the ability to collapse sections in Notification Center. Far too often am I left with an endless list of notifications in Notification Center, and the ability to collapse individual sections is a life saver for organizational freaks like myself.

In addition to the things I've mentioned above, IntelliscreenX also comes with a handy Notification Center widget called ISX QuickSettings -- similar to SbSettings -- that gives you instant access to toggles like Bluetooth, WiFi, Data, Orientation Lock, Respring, Brightness and more.

The app is $9.99 in Cydia, but trust me when I say it's well worth the money. If you've been looking for a way to customize your Notification Center and Lockscreen, look no further than IntelliscreenX in Cydia -- it's hands-down the best option currently out there.

• $9.99 - Cydia Link

PhotoStudio - @jdipane

Taking pictures is a ton of fun on a device that has a great camera, and what I find to be even more fun at times is editing them in various ways. I don't always want to have to break out my computer to edit a photo, or make a change, and that is why I like PhotoStudio. Sure, there are a lot of applications that allow you to change the image, some allow black & white, some with other affects, but this seems to put them all in one easy to access place.

With 194 different affects to add along with text labels and much more, this application is great for those of us who love to take a photo and make it look completely different. Integrated right with most of your favorite social networks like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and more the application makes sharing your new creations a breeze. Give it a shot, I bet you like it!

• $1.99 - App Store link

Twittelator Neue - @reneritchie

I use a lot of Twitter apps because a) I use Twitter a lot and b) I run an iPhone website so I have to, but I tended to always go back to Twitter for iPhone because it was simple, elegant and it fit the way I use Twitter and how my brain works. That's an important consideration. For an end user, the user interface (UI) is the app. You can change a lot of things behind the scenes and as long as the UI remains pretty much the same, the app stays pretty much the same for the end user. Change the UI, however, and even if everything else stays the same behind it, it might as well be a whole new app.

So it was that when Twitter for iPhone went 4.0 and the interface changed significantly, it felt like I was no longer using Twitter for iPhone, and if I'm no longer using that app, I might as well check out a bunch of others. As I said, I'm familiar with a lot of them, have spent a great deal of time with some, but hadn't touched others since they launched.

Twittelator Neue was one of those and in trying it out again this week, I was reminded how delightful it was. Pure eye candy. There's a new wave of apps that are trying out new layering effects and physics, new animations and interactions. Twittelator Neue is one of those leading the way. This is not Apple's Twitter client. It's not flat an utilitarian like Mail or overly skeumorphic like Find my Friends. It's glossy, it's polished, it's fresh, and it's refreshing.

It doesn't have the functionality of some other clients. It picks and chooses its battles carefully. More functionality will likely follow in future updates but I hope they keep curating it, keep it simple.

Either way, if you're testing out new Twitter clients and you want to give your eyes a treat and your face a chance to smile, check out Twittelator Neue.

• $1.99 - App Store link

Save the Pencil -@llofte

One thing you may not know about me - I love puzzle games. I love all range of puzzle games, from the easy, relaxing games to the extremely difficult, brain-stretching ones. Save the Pencil is right in the middle. It's fun, cute, a bit stress-inducing, and challenging.

The point of the game is to help the pencil, HB, draw lines between all the dots. Easy enough, right? Well, you must go through every blue dot once, and only once. The yellows dots must also be connected to, but can be used as many times as you want. The red dot? This is the dot that you must end on. That's not all, though! You must also stay clear of the slew of enemies trying to break your lead, including paper clips, rulers, and erasers. As if that wasn't enough, for those of with OCD, there are up to 3 stars you can collect along the way.

Seriously, this game is great. Oh, and did I mention? TiPb is giving away 5 promo codes! So go enter, or better yet, grab it now!

• $0.99 - App Store link

Diptic - @andy_mellor (Reader's Choice)

Diptic is a really cool, simple app for creating photo montages.

The thing I love most about it is the simplicity! Choose from a pre-built layout (or amend one to suit) choose your pictures from your camera, library, Flickr or Facebook. Zoom and move it to fit the box and move onto the next pic. Theres a few effects you can use, like rotating and mirroring, change the borders etc. too. Then just export to your favourite social network or just save to your library.

I mainly use it for twitter to get more pics in one tweet and give a much better feel for what is going on. I recently went to see Coldplay and by the time I left the arena I'd tweeted this pic, gives such a good impression of the variety that was in the gig, much better than just one photo.

• $0.99 - App Store link

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Where's My Water? – @chrisoldroyd

I don't play that many game on my iPhone but this little gem has me addicted. Where's My Water? is a physics type game where you have to guide water past loads of different obsticals. The idea is to fill Swampy the alligators bath by guiding the water through the pipes into his bathroom.

The game has literally hundreds of levels with many different challenges along the way. From algae, toxic ooze, triggers and traps. The graphics are crisp and designed for the retina display and the soundtrack isn't bad either. Where's My Water? is a universal binary and works great with the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

[$0.99 – App Store link]

Path - @iMuggle

I had never been a user of Path before it got its recent update. I'd actually never even heard about it. Boy am I hooked now. Path is an absolutely gorgeous social networking app. I think most of the reason for this is that it's only developed for mobile. There's no website to log in to from a computer, just download the app to your iPhone or Android and start creating your path.

The overall feel and interface of the app is what makes it so enjoyable to use. They also include filters for your pictures within the app with additional ones you can purchase. I like that I can edit and filter a picture without having to jump into another app. I'm also enjoying that I can share something on Path and it will automatically share it to Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare for me. I'll take any chance I can to get away from the disaster that is the Facebook for iPhone app.

And quite honestly, I'm really enjoying Path more than I've enjoyed any social networking site. So come on, everyone get on it so I don't have to check Facebook at all anymore.

[Free - App Store Link]

Notica - @sethclifford

We all know and love apps like Evernote that allow you to document almost everything in your world, and there's no shortage of productivity criteria that they strive to meet, but I think there's still a place for more refined app experiences with a different kind of style. Notica is one of those apps. Instead of trying to do everything, it does a few things nicely and in a concise way, opting for a different visual metaphor than you might be used to on the iPhone.

The basis of the app is notecards, which consist of a few pieces of information; a date/time stamp, location, picture or video, and some text. When you capture these pieces of info, the app creates a nice little card for you, which you can then file in different piles of your choosing. The main focus of the app experience is quickly capturing a small moment contextually that you'd like to remember for any reason. For instance, if you're an artist, you may have seen a color or texture that you want to revisit at a later time, or perhaps you just want to make a note about a restaurant you want to try. You could snap a picture, stamp a location, and just write "try this place". Notica creates a little card, you stick it in your "Places to Eat" pile, and you're done. Lovely. If (and I'm showing my age) you've ever taken a Polaroid instant picture and written on the bottom white piece of the photo, you get the idea. Of course, you can't geo-tag those, but it was a simpler time... so zip it.

Naturally, me being the kind of guy I am, I'm thinking about export and backup options. Currently for sharing, you can email and post to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. To save the note for yourself, you can save it out to your camera roll. With Photo Stream, this may be enough for most people, providing you open up iPhoto and make sure you're saving into an album there. You can also create a backup file within the app that can be synced through iTunes (and restored the same way), but let's be honest, that's not a terrific experience. I reached out earlier this week to ask the developers about sync possibilities in the future, and while they do not have any immediate plans for Dropbox integration (sad Seth) they are working on integrating iCloud in a future release and told me they will be posting about it shortly. So hopefully we'll have a nice, easy way to both backup and sync or share the notecards soon enough.

I realize that for a lot of people, this app may fall short because it doesn't do all the things something like Evernote can. But I think it's still a great app for a very focused task, and it's stylish to boot. With iCloud additions, it will definitely earn a place on my phone in the long term.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Naturespace - @andrewwray

Ever needed to clear your mind and just relax? Or maybe you're trying to get some work done and need some nice ambient sound to help you focus. Enter Naturespace: Relax Meditate Escape Sleep. Naturespace provides ambient sounds and touts "Holographic Audio" to provide the listener with cyristal-clear 3D sound through your headphones or Apple earbuds.

I've been using Naturespace for a few weeks to help with a few different activities, namely meditation and writing. Whenever I feel like I'm not in an adequate mood or environment for writing my thoughts down in my journal or for TiPb, I just whip out Naturespace and within minutes I'm focused, honed and ready to go.

Naturespace utilizes Apple's In-App Purchases feature to offer up a number of additional sounds outside of the six default options for you to relax to. My personal favorite is the 'Summer Mountain Valley'. So whether you need a five-minute escape from the stresses of life, or just want to put on some background sound to ease the atmosphere, Naturespace is a great pick!

[Free -- App Store Link]

Tiny Tower - @JorjLim

I’m normally not a fan of freemium games. I don’t like playing one and then getting to a certain part of the game where you can’t continue without forking out lots of real money. Tiny Tower, is a freemium game, that sports classic 8bit graphics, and doesn’t require you to pay any real world money to progress, and above all, its extremely difficult to put down. The main objective of Tiny Tower is to build more floors and make lots of money. Simple objectives, but painfully addictive.

Each floor (creative, services, food, retail and recreation) can stock 3 types of items that take various amounts of real world time, from 2 minutes to many many hours! Each item, makes you money for sales, to help progress your tower. The last type of floor you can build is residential, which houses the staff for the other floors.

The freemium part of this game is through “Tower Bux” which you can buy with actual money, however, while you play the game you will find you’ll actually make more ‘tower bux’ than you expect. You get one everytime you build a new floor, occasionally for stocking a full shop, and for finding certain guests in your tower.

There are lots of real world references in the game as well, like certain guests who are dressed as red and green italian plumbers, and a retail store called “The Mapple Store”.

The game uses Apple’s GameCenter to connect you with your friends, who’s towers you can visit, and compete with. It also uses GameCenter to save your progress, and redownload it if you ever choose to delete the game.

Its an extremely fun and addictive game and because its free, you’ve really got nothing to lose, just give it ago. Tiny Tower is available for iPhone and iPad for free.

[Free - App Store link]

Flick Homerun - @skeetobite

Flick Homerun is your chance to participate in your own home run derby. Starting off in the minor leagues, using your finger as the bat, you simply try to hit the ball over the wall. As you progress can can increase your batting eye, contact ability, or power. You also unlock additional pitches type, including things like fast balls, balls that slow down, move up and down, and even things like ninja balls! You can also unlock other game modes - including the major leagues, game center or local multiplay, and moonshot mode. I have been addicted to this game for about two weeks now, and it doesn't show any signs of letting up! It's a great casual game that you can sit and play for 5 minutes or (in my case) an hour or so at a time.

[$0.99 - App Store link]

Best Buy - @jdipane

When looking to make a new purchase I tend to over research, I look at all the competition, and usually change my mind about 80 times. Doing this in the store can be a pain with sales people breathing down your neck, so I like to research from home, and only venture out once it is time to make the purchase. Recently the Best Buy app got a pretty large upgrade, and it made the application so much better. Now showcasing open box items from various stores, a much cleaner layout, the ability to set custom notifications and more, this is a must have application, especially going into the holiday season!

[Free - App Store link]

Infinity Blade II - @reneritchie

A predictable choice and a necessary one -- Infinity Blade II takes what was already the best looking game on iPhone and iPad and raises the bar. Considerably. Phenomenally. Yes, I wish they took some of that time and attention devoted to ray renders and leaf physics, and spent a little of it on removing the rails. That restriction, that repetitiveness aside, Infinity Blade II is quite literally candy for your eyes.

Part II is much like the original, and how you feel about that will depend on how you felt about the original. If you loved it and wanted more of the same but better, you'll be extremely happy. Extremely. If you didn't like the original, you'll think this is even more sizzle, still not enough steak.

For me, Infinity Blade fantastic enough looking and easy enough playing that I can break it out, hack the slash out of a bad guy for a few minutes, and then go back about my business. And if anyone asks me about gaming on iOS, all I have to do is show them Infinity Blade -- the new one now -- and then wait for their jaw to close again.

Universal app, so you can buy once and play on both iPhone and iPad.

[$6.99 - App Store link]

Gift Plan - @llofte

Shopping for Christmas gifts is a huge and daunting task that I both love and hate doing each year. I love it because shopping is fun and buying things for loved ones is rewarding. I hate it because I always wait until the last minute, forgot who I'm buying gifts for, lose track of how much money I've spent, and walk into the mall with no plan of action. Not this year. This year, I've got Gift Plan in my pocket.

Gift Plan is a fantastic little iPhone app made by the UI geniuses over at Glasshouse Apps. It allows you to create a list of people you buy gifts for and create occasions for them like birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, or graduations. When the occasion is approaching, Gift Plan will send you a reminder notification so that you don't forget to buy them a gift.

For each person on your list, you can record their sizing information, their likes and dislikes, and create a list of gift ideas and the prices for said gifts. Purchase something off the list? Mark it off and Gift Plan will keep a running total of how much you've spent on that person.

This is a just small taste of what Gift Plan does and the best part part is that the UI is amazingly beautiful. Even if you're not one to keep explicit lists like these, Gift Plan will make you want to.

Happy shopping!

[$2.99 - App Store link]

Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal - @jeremyeguzman (Reader's Choice)

My Fitness Pal, by MyFitnessPal LLC, is a Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker. In between the two biggest feasting holiday's of the year, is an excellent time to check out this intuitive app. The downfall of most of these apps is they are difficult to input your daily intake and don't offer enough flexibility to adapt to your life style. MFP does all of this and more, including cloud synchronization to their servers, weigh-in's with graph, social integration allowing you to friend and message those people that keep you motivated, and a diary that shows you a breakdown of your daily nutrition intake. Did I mention that you can also scan the barcode of your food for quick and easy input? But what's the best part? IT'S FREE! No ads, no trimmed down features requiring an upgrade... its just plain ole' free! Keep track of what you eat daily and be amazed at how quickly you'll lose weight or reach your fitness goals.

[Free - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Etsy - @andrewwray

A lot of you are probably already familiar with Etsy, the online e-commerce website that focuses on buying and selling handmade and vintage items, and they've recently released a really great looking iPhone app to help you browse the service on the go. Etsy for iPhone lets you browse and purchase one of a kind accessory items and clothing directly from independent sellers.

As a buyer, you can browse by category and set your own filters to narrow down your search results (there are a lot of things on Etsy!) and check out your shopping cart right from within the app. As a seller, you have most of the Etsy merchant tools readily available whenever you need to access your listings or manage your business without having to jump onto your computer. It's a great way to sell and shop! If you're into vintage items, Etsy has always been one of the best places to shop, and they've just made it that much easier by making the service accessible anywhere you are -- check it out!

[Free - App Store Link]

Type2Phone - @sethclifford

Since the very first time I jailbroke my iPhone 3G a million years ago, I've wanted a way to control it without taking it out of the dock. I've used Veency to run a VNC server on the phone and then screen share into it, but it's really overkill for what I need, which is essentially just text entry. I can manage to hit the home button and swipe around a little just fine while the phone is docked, it's the typing that becomes laborious if I'm answering a text message or if I want to quickly paste some text into a field.

Enter Type2Phone. I'm sure you can figure out what it does, but it's actually fairly slick in how it does it. You use Bluetooth to pair your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with your Mac, and activate the app on the computer. Tap into a text field and start blasting away. You're using your Mac's BT connection in lieu of a BT keyboard, but it works in exactly the same way.

Aaaaand... that's pretty much it. Which isn't a bad thing, because I'm sure if you tried to bolt a bunch of other unnecessary stuff onto an app like this, somehow it would stop working. The only thing I'd like to see would be a way to actually hit say, the "Send" button from the keyboard. Just hitting enter drops you down a line, but a Cmd-Enter would be a fine way to get that done. Then you could basically slide to reply to a text, fire off a response and not touch your phone at all. I can also see someone perhaps wanting to keep an iPad on as a secondary display for something like Twitter, away from his/her main workspace really finding this functionality pretty useful.

And for everyone who's thinking "Why don't you just use Siri to answer your messages? DUH!", well, when other people are on a conference call or working around me, I like to embrace basic social courtesies and respect their needs. Otherwise, yeah, you're totally right. In the meantime, Type2Phone is a cool little utility that makes life at least a little easier. I'm all for that.

[$4.99 - Mac App Store link]

Beauty and the Beast: Storybook Deluxe – @chrisoldroyd

My little girl adores the Disney Movie Beauty and the Beast. Now that Disney has released this app, she has completely taken over ownership of my iPad 2. Beauty and the Beast: Storybook Deluxe is based on the Disney movie and includes games, movie clips, puzzles, coloring pages and even sing-along songs from the film.

The animation, as expected is superb and the whole app is really well put together. It tells the story in an interactive way and offers a read along mode or the story can be read out to you. This one should keep any little princess happy for quite some time!

[$6.99 – App Store link]

Word Tumble - @Alli_Flowers

A familiar theme, this word game is great on either iPad and iPhone. Find a word inside the box of letters. You can go forwards, backwards, up, down, or diagonally. The longer the word, the more points you get. So far, so similar to a dozen other games, right?

Here's the catch. When you find a word, the letters disappear from the playing field, just like Bejeweled or Tetris.

There are several versions you can play, although the basic game play is the same. I like the one minute game. The one minute game can stretch out and last for quite some time, because the more you score, the more time you get back.

The only negative to this game is the background music, which is either on or off. I'd like to be able to lower it because it also lets you know when your time is running out. The music is less than great.

But the game is addictive! I even found a fun way to play with a partner, and maybe keep the game going extra long. My nephew and I play together - he finds words on the left side of the board, and I find them on the right. (Hooray for capacitive screens!)

[$0.99 - App Store link]

Instagram - @iMuggle

This week i'm going back to an app that I've used for quite a long time but just recently started "really using" again. I have always loved Instagram and the ease of which you can share pictures and add cool effects.

Ever since picking up my iPhone 4S I've been blown away by the quality of photos it produces considering it's a phone. I've found myself snapping more pictures than ever. Instagram makes is easy to share them not only with my Instagram followers but all my followers and friends on Twitter and Facebook. If I just want to share something quickly, this is the app I choose 99.9% of the time.

[Free - App Store Link]

Instacast HD - @reneritchie

My grand take-away from the original iPad launch was that it was the iPhone gone IMAX, and experiencing Instacast HD shows that, more than 18 months later, that take-away still holds true. Here's why: Instacast on iPhone is all about quickly getting, streaming, and/or caching your favorite podcasts so you can listen to them feet down on the go. Instacast HD on IPad is a different experience entirely. It's feet up, at pause, relaxed and ready to enjoy.

If that type of usage pattern sounds like it favors video podcasts, you're not wrong. Settling back in the recliner, a tasty beverage to the side, a soft light in the back, a light rain-turned-snow-turned-back-rain outside, in just a few taps I was watching Georgia kick off the last iPad Live. A few more and I was watching TED. A few more and Steve Jobs was walking out on stage to introduce the iPad 2.

The interface took a bit of getting used to. Global tools like add podcast, refresh, favorites, AirPlay, volume, and action live along the thin left edge. Album art for your shows lives beside it for easy scrolling and selection. Episode-specific controls like mark, favorite, download, action, and play/stream live at the top, while mark all, the scrubber, and the show list live at the bottom.

Show notes get the rest of the screen, with a built in web view to handle links. You can swipe the browser away to get back to show notes, and you can swipe horizontally between shows.

Video shows go full screen with controls top and bottom and there's even an embedded brightness control so you can make it look just so.

The one big bit of friction I hope gets addresses in an update is, while in video mode, tapping the "exit full screen" button takes you back to show notes while leaving the audio playing, there's no equal and opposite "go full screen button" to return to the video. I should be able to toggle back and forth without moving my finger or having to figure out I need to cross back to the play/stream button to get the video back. Also, while they deserve a lot of credit for jumping on iCloud sync quickly, it's still early days and some glitches will hopefully be worked out, by by Apple and developers.

Overall, Instacast HD makes fantastic use of the bigger iPad screen. It's all the podcasts I want, right where I want them.

[$4.99 - App Store link]

Real Racing 2 -@llofte

This Black Friday, I picked up an Apple TV (finally!) and Real Racing 2 on my iPhone and iPad. One of the really cool features about this combo is that with AirPlay, you can play multiplier on your TV with a split screen. Firemint calls this Party Play. All that's required is to have an iPhone 4S or iPad 2 work as a host. My husband and I had a lot of fun racing against each other, last night, which is saying a lot because my husband typically hates anything related to Apple.

I will say that playing with the iPad is a little awkward because of how big it is. By the end of the race, it actually begins to a feel a little heavy.

If you have an Apple TV and an iPhone 4S or iPad 2, and do not have Real Racing 2 - what are you waiting for? It's actually still on sale for Black Friday weekend, so now is the perfect time to pick it up!

[$2.99 for iPhone - App Store link] [$4.99 for iPad - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

CaptureNotes 2 - @Alli_Flowers

Holy wow! This is not just an app - this is the ultimate in note taking. Print, type, audio - you can even add .pdf documents.

Set up different binders, each containing different notebooks. Inside each notebook, keep handwritten notes, or even typed notes. You add what you want, how you want. Mix your media. Do you need to underscore the importance of something? Flag it! Just like you would with those great little sticky flags on paper - grab the colored flag that you want from the right, and drag it into your notebook. Position it where you want.

What's that? You aren't a wordsmith? You can illustrate what you want, but can't come up with the words to write? Speak the speech, I pray thee. Click the record button right there in your notebook, and embed it in the notebook with a flag for later recall.

You can change paper, too. I like graph paper in my binder. More features...Dropbox sync - who doesn't love Dropbox sync?! And export to pdf. And the devs say they have more coming in the next update. I can't wait!

[$1.99 (sale) - App Store link]

Icon Project – @chrisoldroyd

This week’s pick is an app that is a hidden gem. If you want to put shortcuts on your home screen for a settings toggle or specific contacts from your address book, this app can do it. Yes you read that right, to turn on Bluetooth normally you have to go to Settings, General, Bluetooth and then you can turn it on. With Icon Project, you can create an icon on your desktop which will take you directly to the Bluetooth toggle page in one click!

It doesn't stop there either, you can create all sorts of system services shortcuts as well as individual contacts from your address book. Make an icon of your wife's contact details and drop it on your home page, one click and you are calling or sending her a text message. Icon Project makes getting things done much quicker and is a very powerful app.

[$0.99 – App Store link]

Shortmail - @Bla1ze

This week the folks from Shortmail have released their iOS client to the masses. if you're not familiar with Shortmail it's basically an email system but the unique thing about it is that it limits you to how much you can actually send and receive. That may not sound all that compelling but if you're a person who often gets friends and family members complaining about the length of your emails then it's great. As the developers describe it:

Shortmail lets you communicate with anyone who has an email address — one-to-one or as a group. Messages are limited to 500 characters, which keeps them concise and conversational. Shortmail supports push notifications, to keep you on top of important messages. And you can also have "public" and "open" conversations, to share your discussions with the world!

With the services, you also get a free email account -- when using the app, it will be your Twitterhandle@shortmail.com. No attachments, no junk mail, no folder management. Just communication - with any email user, anywhere.

[Free - App Store link]

Verbs - @sethclifford

We use GTalk for IM at the office, and my entire contact list is essentially just the people at the company. It's pretty much a dedicated chat channel for work and little else, which is fine with me, since there's a million other ways I can communicate with people. But I still go back and forth between feeling like I need IM on my iPhone, and feeling like I don't want anyone to bother me once I leave work.

The end of the year is usually pretty busy at NF, and this year is no different. So since I have to be more available at least in the short-term, I decided to give IM on the phone a go (again). I'd purchased Verbs a long time ago when it first came out and thought it was a great app, but didn't really see myself using it all that much. The semi-recent (a few months is recent, right?) release of Verbs Pro as an in-app purchase made me revisit it as my needs had changed.

Ally's already given it a spin as a pick when Pro was released so I won't tread over the same ground. It's a good upgrade if you like the app, because it adds push notifications and allows you to stay available for up to 7 days. I noticed this week that it really works well even when iChat is running on the desktop, and that was great, because I've had issues with other iOS IM clients not working properly in the past if I was logged in somewhere else. But the thing that turned me around on having IM on my phone again was my car ride yesterday.

I had somewhere to be first thing in the morning, so I was headed into the office a little late, but because Verbs kept me logged in, people were asking me questions as I drove and I was able to get them and answer them in a timely fashion. Having Siri do the heavy lifting with the voice dictation so I didn't have to type, well, that pretty much clinched it for me right there. It's a great looking, solid app that feels right at home on the iPhone and iPad. Short of Apple bringing iChat proper over to iOS, this is the next best thing.

[$0.99 with $4.99 in-app purchase to go Pro - App Store link]

Superman - @reneritchie

I've always believed a man could fly. That we were a great people, that we wished to be, that we only lacked the light to show us our way. Part of that is because Superman was the second movie I ever saw in theaters. Superman was the second poster I ever hung up in my room. Superman -- a giant sized reproduction of Action Comics #1 -- was one of the first comics I ever owned.

As the bright side of The World's Finest, counterpoint to the Batman's darkness, Superman is half of the modern American mythos. While Batman is intent of forcibly saving the world one person at a time, Superman wants to inspire us to save ourselves. While Bruce Wayne is the mask the Batman puts on to walk among normal people, Clark Kent is the true, very human face of Superman.

Opposites in almost every way but their desire for justice, they do share one very profound thing in common -- both have been put into a lot of very crappy video games.

Batman's recent Arkham series, and a handful of other titles over the years, have helped put the Dark Knight Detective on a better path. For the Man of Steel, however, most games remain as painful as a Kryptonite splinter.

Which brings us finally to Chillingo's Superman for iPhone and iPod touch, and Superman HD for iPad. If the name sounds familiar it's because they were or the publishers behind a lot of famous games, including Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and some 250+ other titles. That should help frame Superman for you -- it's a decidedly casual game, very, very different from the aforementioned Arkham series of Batman titles.

It's also beautifully done; an old school platformer vibe rendered and powered by thoroughly new school technology. You do what you'd expect to do -- what anyone who ever played a classic side scroller adventure game would expect to do -- and that's a good thing. Sure, there's room for an amazing 3D, Paul Dini-penned epic Superman game on consoles and mobiles alike, but there's also a place for this and more of these.

And I hope we get more of them.

Cue John Williams theme

[$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link] [$2.99 for iPad - App Store link]

Ride NJT ! - Jared

Trying to figure out train times to get myself into NYC is not something I enjoy too much, and planning the return trip is usually even worse for me. Until recently I would plan my trip there, and then just hope for the best on the way back, until I stumbled upon Ride NJT, a great free app that allowed me to easily plan my trip on the go. The application is quite simple, launch it and select where I am departing and where I want to go, and it does the rest. It gives you the various train times, allows me to view the map of the path to know where I will be going, and even gives advisories about delays on any trains. Whether you travel often or occasionally this is a must have application for you.

[Free - App Store link]

BabyBump Pregnancy Pro - @llofte

That's right folks, I'm pregnant! I used BabyBump with my first pregnancy and loved keeping up with the weekly updates on Baby's progress. Since then, BabyBump has been updated to include daily updates, tips, and recommendations. This is fabulous! Now I have a reason to launch BabyBump every day, versus just once a week.

One of my other favorite features of BabyBump is that it displays an approximate weight and size of you baby and compares its size with a common item. For example, at 5 weeks, my baby is currently about the size of an appleseed. It also shows a countdown until your due date - only 243 more days to go!

Other features include a journal, kick counter, contractions tracker, a (non-graphic) video of birth, names search, forums, and a place to store photos. BabyBump truly is a full-featured pregnancy app. I just wish it was universal for the iPad.

[$3.99 - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Glow Draw - @Alli_Flowers

I would never suggest that I can draw. I have been drawing the same house since I was 7 years old. The lines are still crooked. My daughter says I can't even draw stick figures - and she's absolutely right. But I like to doodle.

I found Glow Draw while glancing through iTunes looking for something interesting for my new iPad. I don't understand why it's not one of the apps they you see in their tv commercials - it's fun. It's simple. Heck, it's even free!

As I said, it's a very simple app. You have a choice of a black, grey, or blue background, although you can use a photo from your camera roll if you want. Black is definitely the best. You have a limited choice of colors, but they're all florescent. And that's what makes it fun! When you first draw a line, you can't even tell the color. But when you stop, the glow begins. And it's cool! You can adjust the thickness of the line, and layering thin lines over thicker lines gives you an interesting textured effect.

Once you have completed your masterpiece, you can save it to your camera roll (so that you can use it as wallpaper), or send it to a friend. (Or send it to your daughter so she'll know you can draw something better than a stick figure!)

[Free - App Store link]

Everyday - @sethclifford

It's November, and that means it's time to grow some facial hair for a good cause. Around the office, we've shaved and are letting our manly beards come roaring back in while we support the defeat of prostate cancer. While this happens, a few of us are personally documenting our struggle against a smooth face with an app called Everyday.

Everyday is a simple app that allows you to take a picture of your beautiful face once (or more than once) a day. The app provides some guides to line up the shot and a ghosting mode that shows you the position of your face in the last picture so you can make sure it's as consistent as possible. When you've got a few, you can stitch them together in a little animated movie and watch your face's progress over time. It's a very cool effect.

You can set reminders within the app so that you don't forget to take your shots, and it has a bunch of sharing features too. You can choose to manually share or automatically upload to your networks of choice (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr).

I can't wait until my face forest comes back and I have a month's worth of little snaps that I can turn into an animated video. In the meantime, if you'd like to help us in our rally against that jerk, cancer, you can visit our team page here.

[$1.99 - App Store link]

Tapatalk – @chrisoldroyd

This week’s pick is an app that I nearly bought loads of times but never did. This week I took the plunge and had one of those "Why the hell did I not buy this earlier" moments.

Tapatalk works with a lot of online forums, well the best ones anyway such as TiPb's very own awesome forums. It presents them in an iPhone friendly way instead of trying to deal with a full blown forum. It provides a super easy way to read posts, see all new posts and everything else in between. I

It makes forums an absolute pleasure to view and participate in on the move with you iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. If you are on the fence, get off it and go and buy this. Your forum experience will never be the same again!

Tapatalk is a universal binary so works natively on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

[$2.99 – App Store link]

OfficeTime - @iMuggle

This week I've been using an app that Leanna dug up for a giveaway a few weeks ago. OfficeTime basically allows you to set rates for different categories of services. From there you can add projects and timesheets as well as expenses. I've found it pretty simple to use in the time that I've spent with it.

I love that I can just start a timer while I'm working on something and then when I stop it, the amount is already calculated. I simply take the time and amount and quickly e-mail invoices to all my clients via Quickbooks. I've tried a lot of different apps for tracking time spent on projects and I think OffceTime is one I'll stick with due to the ease of use and simplicity of it. I don't need anything overly complicated since I already use Quickbooks for billing and invoicing. I just need one place to have all my client data so when it's time to invoice for the week I can just view a summary and send them out.

They've also got a PC and Mac counterpart that you can sync back and forth which makes it even more convenient.

If you are a freelancer or contractor it's definitely an app you'll want to have a look at.

[$7.99 - App Store Link]

OINK - @JorjLim

Its such a simple concept, yet strangely addictive.

You can rate items, foods, websites, literally anything, creating a list of all the things you like and dislike.

For me, its replaced my need for check-in apps like Foursquare and GetGlue, because of the ability to be more concentrated with your ‘likes’. With locations, you can like and dislike individual items within the place, like individual rides at a theme park, instead of liking the entire park, and since you can re-oink, you can also like and dislike individual TV episodes instead of liking the whole show.

If you don’t go out much, you can also like and dislike websites, items around the home, drinks and more!

Its also loaded with a feature called ‘cred’, which is a more dynamic way to share. If you see someone who is a Level 6 in #beer, you could follow them for great beers, expanding the stretch of people you follow.

I added TiPb.com to the database, so go ahead and ‘love us’ up.

[Free - App Store link]

eSleep Lite - @reneritchie's sister

My sister is visiting this weekend so, eager for something new and different, I put her on the hot-seat and demanded an app pick. Her response, after a leveling stare, was eSleep Lite. What she likes about is, you have multiple music choices including RainSong and Ocean, and noise choices like PinkNoise, and WhiteNoise. You can loop the sounds, combine them together, record your own meditation on top of them, and there's a timer so you can wake up to it.

And, it's...

[Free - App Store link]

gTasks - Jared

Trying to keep up with a task list that I will actually monitor and complete has been a struggle for me. I have tried Wunderlist, Reminders, Calendar appointments and just about everything else, but since I am not always on the same computers I don't personally find them very helpful. Generally when signed into a computer I have my GMail account open, and then it clicked, I needed something that synced with Google Tasks so I could keep organized. That is when I met gTasks, a great free application that syncs with Google Tasks, and offers all the basic features that I needed. I can now sync from and to my phone any task that needs to be completed, I can select when to be reminded, and I can clear tasks right from my device, allowing me to keep up with what needs to be kept up. If you are looking to add some additional organization into your life, be sure to check out gTasks free in the AppStore today!

[Free - App Store link]

Bamboo Stylus - @llofte

A couple weeks ago, Rene chose the notetaking app, Noteshelf [$4.99 - App Store link], as his pick of the week and I just had to buy it. My love for this app turned into an obsession with finding the perfect stylus. After about a week of jumping back and forth between my options, I went with the Bamboo Stylus.

I got this beauty in the mail, today, and boy do I love it! The problem with some styli is that they feel light and cheap - not the Bamboo! The Bamboo is weighted just right and is the perfect thickness. The length is also just right - shorter than an average pen, but long enough to be comfortable to hold. The tip is very smooth and does give a little. If I was one to press hard when writing, this may be a little bothersome - but I'm not.

Not only is the function amazing, so are the looks! The Bamboo is made out of metal and extremely stylish with the added color. There are six color choices and I went with blue. Although, I admit that I'm tempted to pick up a pink, orange, and green one as well...

[$29.99 - Bamboo Stylus]

Zombieville USA 2 - @IdealBrandon

Zombieville USA is the newly released sequel to the hit game for iOS: Zombieville USA. The game takes place in a zombie apocalyptic city, and you are the only one who has survived. What's the premise of the game? Kill the zombies.

You start off with 3 simple, but useful weapons; a handgun, a baseball bat, and a shotgun. In each level, there are cities with different infection rates and as the levels get harder, the cities become infected with more zombies. The overall goal is to kill as many zombies as you can, collect money, and escape via helicopter before the times runs out. Unlike the original ZombieVille USA, once you die, you still get to keep your money and continue on your journey. Also, each weapon has different add-ons and you can always buy more weapons to help you kill the zombies. Lastly, there are more than one type of zombie, so be careful and have fun!

[$0.99 - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Brodit car mount - @chrisoldroyd

This week I decided to source a car mount for my iPhone 4S. Having previously used Brodit mounts, I was happy to look at them again and boy was I not disappointed.

Brodit mounts are quite simply the best car mounts you can get for any device, they make them for all the popular phones but who cares about that, only the iPhone matters anyway! There are two parts to the mounting system. The first part is called a Proclip and this part is car specific. The clips are all designed to fix in some way to your car’s interior without the need for any fixings and there is never any damage when they are removed.

Once you have your Proclip chosen, you then select your iPhone holder; they come in loads of different configurations, some with chargers and some with simple pass through connectors and others without anything. These holders then screw into the Proclip and that's it done!

The iPhone slots in perfectly and they are solid as a rock, a perfect way to mount your iPhone in your car, I cannot praise these mounts highly enough, they are simply the best!

[Brodit]

CatPaint - @sethclifford

"CatPaint is the premier cat-based image editor for the iPhone and iPod Touch."

And with that, my life was forever changed. Cats... and LASERS. That's all you need to know.

I'm having a busy, stressful week and this app makes me smile every time I look at it. Also, the icon is so epic, I want to weep at its awesomeness.

[CatPaint - $0.99 - iTunes link]

AssistiveTouch - @JorjLim

My iPhone 4's Sleep/Wake Button decided to stop working. It doesn't click in and doesn't turn the screen off.

After the Apple Store told me I'd have to pay £120 for an out of warranty repair, I sought other options.

I came across 'AssistiveTouch' in the Accessibility settings. When you turn it on, a little 'floating' dot appears on the screen which opens a new menu. This menu allows you to perform hardware actions, without having the press any physical buttons.

Some of the options include, rotating the device, simulating a shake, pressing the home button and of course, pressing the sleep button.

While pressing the on-screen sleep button isn't as easy as just pressing the physical sleep button, its definitely better than spending £120 on the repair.

Weather Alert USA - @azeis

This past week in the Northeast we had a bit of an unexpected snow storm blow through. It's the first time in all my years I've ever seen such a huge snow storm come through New Jersey in October, and I tried my best to be prepared. I knew I would be out of the house running errands since it was the weekend and wanted to keep up with the latest conditions as best I could, for which I'd obviously turn to my phone. While the stock weather app on iOS is decent for the most part, I knew I'd need something that went above and beyond to keep me updated on the go -- for that I discovered Weather Alert USA.

Weather Alert USA is a great app for weather geeks. Not only does it provide current temperatures and conditions, but it also has amazing depth when it comes to severe weather alerts which is just what I needed. It allows you to easily setup alerts by location and will notify you (with a rather annoying alert tone) of any weather alerts in your area. Push alerts are available for nearly everything you can think of, from hurricanes to winter storm warnings to dust advisories and more.

Day to day weather reports are a breeze as well as Weather Alert USA gives you easy access to weekly and hourly conditions, radars and warnings, detailed weather maps, sunrise/sunset times and much more. Truly one of the best weather apps I had found and more than adequate to keep even the biggest weather buff in the know. Of all the weather apps available to iPhone users, Weather Alert USA definitely gets my pick as number one.

[$3.99 - App Store Link]

Sonos - @jdipane

Music is a huge part of my daily routine, and recently I picked up a Sonos system for my house, and the Sonos controller for iOS makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable. If you have not heard of Sonos it is a wireless speaker system for your house or office which you can use your favorite music channels like Pandora, MOG, Spotify and many others. Being able to control the two different zones in my house, what is playing, and how loud it is all from the comfort of any place I can take my iPhone with me. If you have a Sonos system be sure to check the controller out, and if you don't have a Sonos system yet, check out our reviews.

[Free - App Store link]

Instapaper 4 - @reneritchie

Seth picked Instapaper a couple of weeks ago. Good for him. He got first crack at explaining why he likes it so much, and his reasons are probably much more lucid and reasoned than mine. But I'm taking my shot anyway:

Instapaper lets me read stuff. That's it.

And that's much more than I'd otherwise manage to do. The sad truth is the more I write the less I have time to read. When I come across a fascinating, insightful, provocative, or otherwise interesting article on the web, I almost never have time to read it then and there. And that means, without a way to triage and save them for later, like Kaizer Soze's devil, with a puff -- or in this case a tap -- they'd be gone.

Instapaper is that way to triage and save. If an article grabs me, I knock it over to Instapaper and then later, when I'm waiting for something, when I'm between states, when I finally get to take a break, they're waiting for me.

Everything I want to read, all in my pocket.

That's Instapaper.

[$4.99 - App Store link]

Siegecraft - @GeorgiaTiPb

I love Tower Defense games. It's my passion. Siegecraft is my current Tower Defense of choice. It has gorgeous graphics and cool weapons, and it's a lot of fun. It's a little more interactive than most, and you have to aim so that adds to the challenge. Plus, can I say trebuchets and catapults? It's universal, It's adorable, it's enjoyable, and best of all -- right now it's only a buck!

[$0.99 - App Store Link]

Newsstand - @Alli_Flowers

I admit I was one of those laughing loudest when iOS 5 was first introduced with Newsstand. It seemed especially silly on the iPhone. So I never gave it a second look - until yesterday when I got my iPad 2.

I started looking through it to see if they offered anything of any interest whatsoever, and lo-and-behold, there was Wired magazine. I love Wired and already subscribe. Sometimes I don't read it because I'll throw it down with a pile of other mail and just never get back to it. Or it's one more thing I don't want to stuff in my purse. I have a ton of excuses. But I love e-reading, so I linked my account and was up and running in no time.

Newsstand actually makes reading a magazine a pleasant experience, and it's definitely easier to carry around a bunch of magazines on your iPad than in your purse, briefcase, or hands. Side to side scrolling goes page to page, with up/down to read an entire article. I got a kick out of some of the ads and some of the headlines being animated. It's more than just an e-magazine. It should be like this!

The selection is still minimal - there aren't any other magazines that I either already subscribe to, or have any interest in, but that should come with time. If you haven't already done so, take a look and see some of the samples they give you just so you can get a feel for the product. Then just wait for your favorite publication!

WordPress - @llofte

I used to hate blogging from my iPhone or iPad, but the WordPress app for iOS has come a long way since then. Now, I can make a lot of formatting edits and insert pics at the exact size I want - this was a biggie for me.

Combined with Photo Stream, blogging photos of my daughter with my iPad is quick, painless, and can be done while relaxing on the couch. WordPress on my iPhone is great for blogging on the go or for correcting a typo that I notice on a TiPb post.

I used to strictly blog from my laptop or desktop, but about 80% of my personal blogging is now done mobile thanks to the WordPress app for iOS. I'll admit that most of TiPb writing is still done on the desktop, but that's because it involves much more and it's just faster and more productive to do it on my iMac or MacBook.

[Free - App Store link]

W.E.L.D.E.R. - @iMuggle

I haven't been playing too many games these days but this one has me hooked. It's currently featured in the App Store and on sale for 50% off regular price. I am definitely glad I stumbled upon it while simply browsing.

If you enjoy games like Words With Friends or Scrabble this is definitely a game you'll want to pick up. It's somewhat of a fusion between Scrabble, Tetris, and the old school slider puzzles. You know, the ones you'd have to slide the pieces around to make a picture with only one free space. You simply swap letters either left, right, up, down, or diagonal to make words. You only get so many swaps though and for every 250 points you score you'll earn an additional 5 swaps. When you run out of swaps the game ends.

It's definitely a great time killer if you need something that isn't fact paced and you can pick up and leave off at your leisure. It also features GameCenter integration where you can unlock achievements as well.

$1.99 - App Store Link

The Great Jitters: Pudding Panic - @mgmiller8693 (Reader's Choice)

Playing this game reminds me of the great funhouse rides at the amusement park when I was growing up, where creepy and sometimes scary characters jump out at you from out of nowhere. I've only played the first few levels so far, but I love the game's music, the fun and challenging gameplay, its sharp graphics, and the amazing sound/visual effects.

As per the game's description in the App Store, your goal in the game is to lead a fearful blob of pudding through a spooky haunted house and scary monsters with freakish weapons and get to the exit as fast as you can.

It's of course a very fitting game for the Halloween season that just passed, but it's so likeable and addictive that I can definitely see myself playing it all year long. It has Game Center built-in, which is nice. I found the first 3 or 4 levels to be fairly easy, but beyond that, it definitely gets more challenging.

[$1.99 - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on Twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Reminders - @iMuggle and @llofte

Ally: I've been using the default reminders app in iOS 5 for a few months now. I was hesitant to think it could replace my current task management apps but it pretty much has. I love that it can sync across all my Macs and other devices. I don't have to log in to some 3rd party website to view my reminders or have a Mac app launched. It just seamlessly integrates with my current workflow and iCal setup.

Adding a reminder is quick and easy and now with the addition of Siri, I'm actually not forgetting things (well most of the time anyways). Now the only thing I'm missing is a jailbreak and all those fancy themes for my iPhone 4S!

Leanna: I recently sent out a tweet saying that the combination of Siri and Reminders is greatly improving my life - it's so true! I swear I'm one of the most forgetful people on the planet, so having reminders is very helpful for me. Before the iPhone 4S, I would use various to-do apps, but they were hit or miss for me because I would think about the things I had to do at moments I couldn't add them to my list, like while driving. By the time I could add them, I'd forget. Not anymore!

Believe it or not, I've become a more productive person since getting my iPhone 4S. I tell Siri to remind me of all sorts of things at specific times or when I get home or arrive at school. If I'm driving when I remember of specific task I need to get done, it's not a problem because I can ask Siri without taking my eyes off the road.

Siri and Reminders is exactly what I needed.

AppDelete (OS X app) - @Alli_Flowers

I would never have thought of going with a Mac app for my pick of the week, but this one saved my bacon. I actually purchased AppDelete shortly after buying my first Mac. Coming from Windows, I was not only uncomfortable just dragging apps to the trash can to delete them, but it wasn't always working. And I kept finding remnants left behind. A quick search led me to AppDelete, which comes with a 5 use trial. Five uses was enough to convince me that it was well worth the $7.99 purchase price.

Skip to yesterday when I discovered that by some quirk of fate, my Lion installation of iTunes had menus in some unreadable, unrecognizable Slavic language. Nothing I tried would get my menus back to English, not even half a dozen new installations of different versions of iTunes. But I couldn't remove it, because iTunes cannot be removed from Lion...or so they think! As if by technomagic, AppDelete removed all traces of the evil iTunes and allowed me to install a nice fresh version direct from Apple.

AppDelete has a ton of features for getting rid of things. You can drag an app right to to AppDelete (instead of OS X's trash can), or you can search for things to delete including apps, files, and orphans. AppDelete is like the terminator - it will find what you want and get rid of it. Permanently.

A few of AppDelete's advertised features: - Hidden mode for full backgound operation - Finds associated items that are invisible or hidden - Archive/install from Archive feature for safekeeping and transferring items to another Mac - Preference to protect Default (Apple) apps - Keeps a log of all activities and has the ability to Undo a deletion - Force Empty Trash for stubborn to remove items - Don't wait until you find yourself in a position where you can't get rid of something.

Get AppDelete now.

[$7.99 - Purchase link]

CamScanner – @chrisoldroyd

I have been looking to apply for a new mortgage for my home this week and one of things I had to produce were scans of my payslips and passport. As I have an HP Scanner and Printer this shouldn't be a problem right? Wrong, even though the printer is installed and working wirelessly on my PC it will not work as a scanner, the software does not even see it. Total fail!

Luckily I have my trusty iPhone 4S at hand, a quick search in the App Store and CamScanner is on my home screen and its free. A couple of pictures later and it re-sizes them, squares them up and emails them as a PDF. Awesome!! It can even search text within scanned documents as it supports OCR too. With CamScanner, your iPhone is actually a portable scanner, with which all your paper documents, receipts, notes, whiteboard discussions can be archived anywhere at any time.

If you want a simple to use scanning application for your iOS device, this is very good.

[Free - App Store link]

WriteUp - @sethclifford

I'm a sucker for apps that sync with Dropbox, and I'm just as smitten with plain text editors. Naturally, as you might expect, I've tried a great number of the apps fitting this description in the App Store, and one of my favorites that I'm currently enjoying is WriteUp.

WriteUp hits all the basic notes for me out of the gate, but it has a few nice interface features that some of the other apps are missing. You have the ability to apply different themes to the app, which is nice if you want to change things up visually from time to time. There's also a very handy swipe menu (which plenty of apps have come to utilize, but it doesn't mean it's any less useful) that lets you copy text or HTML, mail text or HTML, or delete the note all from the main notes list. There's also a full-screen edit mode which is really nice, allowing just a little bit more screen space and less clutter when your keyboard is up or a simplified interface when you're just reading over notes in general.

The app has great Markdown support and allows for previews with one tap, which is great to quickly check on your formatting as you're writing. A new feature to the app is also the ability to tweet the contents of a note, so that if you want to, you can set up files to store drafts that you can access on your iOS devices and your desktop or laptop, and save ideas wherever they strike you. The settings contain plenty of font options, sort options, and the ability to change the Dropbox folder to which the app syncs, which is nice, because since I switch apps so frequently, I can have one single folder for notes, and point whichever app I'm using at that folder.

There are a lot of great choices for text editors on iOS, almost an embarrassment of riches. If you're still looking or just like to sample what's out there, WriteUp is a solid candidate for a test drive.

[$3.99 - App Store link]

Flick Home Run ! - @jdipane

Personally I get pretty bored of games on my iPhone rather quickly, I don't care for games with an intense plot or story line, I would rather something I can launch to play for a few minutes and close without worrying about having hit a save point. Flick Home Run is a great game that I came across, very similar in concept to Flick Golf, except baseball styled. They pitch the ball to you and you swipe your finger across the screen and try to hit a home run, simple right? Wrong. Some pitches come straight, others swirvy, slow, fast, all sort of craziness comes across the screen, and each has to be hit a bit differently in order to try to get a home run. In the sky are various balloons which offer different prizes and multipliers, and there are a few different home run types depending how far the ball is it.

If you are looking for something to kill some time, and to offer a small challenge, be sure to hop in the AppStore and pick up Flick Home Run today for free before it goes back up to 99 cents!

[Free - App Store link]

Noteshelf - @reneritchie

This isn't really my pick of the week. I'm donating my pick this week to Andrew, one of the big brains behind the scenes at Mobile Nations because he was so in love with this app, I just had to help give his recommendation voice.

When Andrew first got his iPad it was out of curiosity but it rapidly fell into inconsistent, infrequent use. He surfed some web, he consumed some content, but between his laptop and his iPhone there just wasn't any compelling reason for a third category of device, regardless of what Apple said.

Then he started investigating note-taking apps. Then he found Noteshelf. Now his iPad is a first-class device in his lineup, and his go-to device in meetings and brain-storming sessions. Now he's using his iPad so much he can barely keep it charged.

The levels to this app amaze him and he keeps finding new features and new combinations of features that light him up and get him praising it anew. Noteshelf is literally a note-taker's Nirvana in finely crafted App form.

He sold it so well Leanna and I have both bought it, and now, like Andrew, we've moved from looking for the best note-taking app to looking for the best stylus to help us take more detailed, less fat-fingered notes.

Look for what Andrew -- and we -- find in a future pick.

[$4.99 - App Store link]

Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels - @Barryloy (Reader's Choice)

This week, my 2 1/2 year old son found the Thomas & Friends train app in the App Store. After checking it out, I noticed it was on sale for 99 cents, instead of the original price of $4.99. This was great news, because as anybody with kids knows, things get expensive fast. The Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesel app is great! It has a story book, movie, coloring, puzzles, and matching. The games are great because there is a easy and hard setting. My son has played with it for a few hours and loves it so far.

[$0.99 - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

iOS 5 – @chrisoldroyd

Well a bit of a predictable "Pick of the week" this week for me, I am going for the iOS 5 update. It delivers so much in one update I really don't know where to start. Oh yeah, I do, read this amazing walkthrough that Rene has put together. It covers every last detail of iOS 5.

My favorite parts are iMessage, Notification Center and Wi-Fi iTunes syncing. Also iOS 5 appears to have given my iPad 2 a huge speed boost, it feel so much more responsive now. If you haven't upgraded to iOS 5 yet, go and do it now! It is the biggest iOS update ever! You are going to love it!

Gif Me! - @Alli_Flowers

This one is just flat out cool. Remember those animated gifs people used to share by email? Well now you can make your own. It's like stop motion photography made simple. Open the app, frame your subject, tap, repeat. Got everything lined up for the perfect gif? Click next and Gif Me! puts them all together.

I started drawing stick men on a napkin, and worked my way up to stuffed animals. Eventually I'll be brave enough to do something clever with action figures...not that I collect action figures or anything . It's also great just for sending hand written messages.

Oh the fun you'll have!

[Free - App Store link]

Cut the Rope: Experiments - @iMuggle

I've always been a huge fan of Cut the Rope. Every time I saw an update that added a new batch of levels I would immediately want to sit down and work my way through them. I'm a little late when it comes to picking up Cut the Rope this time but better late than never!

The newest iteration of Cut the Rope adds even more fun to the original. The Professor is very intrigued my Om Nom and has added all kinds of new inventions to the game. You can also find hidden photos throughout the game this time featuring Om Nom and the Professor.

There are currently 3 packs of levels with more coming soon. So if you haven't picked it up already, make sure you check it out!

[$0.99 - App Store Link]

Rdio - @Bla1ze

Being a fan of all sorts of music, finding the best app to cater to my tastes was no easy task. There are a lot of music apps in the app store and Rdio I feel is one that is often overshadowed by bigger names like Slacker, Spotify and Pandora.

That said; I love it because it allows for a wide array of music discovery through people you follow plus, you can cache filled for offline thus no longer needing to waste precious bandwidth. The available selection of music is great for mainstream and non mainstream music lovers alike and the app itself is nicely laid out. Give it a try with the free 7-day trial.

[Free - App Store link]

iQuickTweet - @JorjLim

One of the new features in iOS5 is the ability to share photos, maps, videos and links completely integrated into iOS. However, there is no native way to simply tweet, without an attachment.

Enter iQuickTweet. It opens up the same ‘tweet’ UI as the attachment sharing feature, just without the attachment. It also integrates with the same twitter settings, so there is no need to add your details again.

Once you send a tweet, just tap on the bird to send another. Its a very simple app, but extremely useful if you just want to send a quick tweet, without having to load up a full twitter app.

[$0.99 - App Store link]

The Amazing Typewriter - @reneritchie

I'm at the Çingleton conference right now so apologies for the brevity. John Gruber from Daring Fireball was just showing this off and I took an immediate like to the finely rendered, varied type.

[$1.99 - App Store link]

Facebook for iPad - @llofte

Facebook has finally released an iPad app and it surprising work pretty well. It is so nice to browse Facebook with all the unnecessary and distracting things stripped away. And of course, now that Facebook is on the iPad, it is finally possible to upload pictures. Thank you Facebook - it only took nearly a year and half.

[Free - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

iPhone - @sethclifford

I thought about what I wanted to talk about for this week's pick, and I decided to take a step back and look more at the bigger picture than a single application. I thought about how profoundly my day-to-day life has changed and about influences in the past few years at Nickelfish, and no week seemed more appropriate than this one to recognize the massive change the iPhone brought to users.

I've been a fan of mobile devices for a long, long time. I've forgotten more about the inner workings of Windows Mobile (PPC) and the BlackBerry OS than most people will likely know. Through the time I spent hacking and playing with all my devices, one thought kept running through my head: "this is really cool, but it just doesn't work the way I want it to". I had to do far too much to get the devices to meet my lofty expectations as a power user. Until the iPhone came along.

Admittedly, I skipped the first one, preferring to keep my Treo 700wx on Sprint. No apps? Pssh. Right there I shut down and talked trash about it. I'm a lifelong Apple fan, but I was not about to give up the "flexibility" my hacks and apps afforded me. But that was because I was unwilling to even try to understand where we were all headed. There was a plan, and I wasn't a part of it yet. It wasn't until later when I had both a BlackBerry Curve and a first-gen iPod touch that it started to come into focus.

And once it did, it became clear. Using a device shouldn't be a struggle. I shouldn't have to pull my battery multiple times a day when my phone locked up, because it shouldn't be locking up at all. These devices should be a pleasure to use, with great design, great build quality, and should do what I want, when I want, without having to hack it to make it barely usable. That was the promise of the iPhone, and that was what Steve and all the talented people at Apple delivered on. Since that time, I've purchased and played with other phones, but never have I fully given up my iPhone for any length of time. Its simple premise and elegant functionality has shown me that there is a better way, and that way is for everyone, not just people with the time to tweak.

I still remember the day I gave up my BlackBerry for the iPhone 3G vividly. I'll always remember that day, because that was the day that the first inklings of the promises we'd been made our whole lives started to come to pass. Our world will never be the same, and that is just the way Steve would have wanted it.

[price varies - Apple]

Tweet Speaker - @reneritchie

Tweet Speaker for iPhone is an ingenious gem of an app from App Cubby that does nothing more or less than the name implies -- it speaks your tweets. And it does it brilliantly. Now I'm a sucker for highly focused, special purpose Twitter apps. I loved BirdHouse. I loved Reportage. And I love Tweet Speaker.

I had a chance to try out Tweet Speaker for a couple weeks before release, and during that time I was routinely commuting to work through one to one-and-a-half hours of traffic each way. With iOS 5 Notification Center, I could see new tweets coming in during that time, but I couldn't really take my eyes off the vicious, predatory Montreal motorists to read them. So Tweet Speaker read them for me.

Rewind. There are certain developers that when you hear they're working on a new app you know they're going to put the passion and polish into it to make it truly spectacular. It's not always an app you might use, maybe not even the type of app you really like, but the care and quality transcend personal taste and need and you can appreciate them for the sheer skill and effort they signify. App Cubby is one of those developers, and everything from the user interface and experience to the icon to the voice to the way it parses out and speaks tweets just exudes that level of craftsmanship and commitment. And this is just exactly the type of app I use and like. Lucky me.

What's truly remarkable is that iOS platform enables and empowers these kinds of apps, and iOS developers encourage and extol this type of precision and polish. There's pride of platform.

Back again. If you're a big Twitter user and you like to walk or jog, if you drive or bike, if you work out or work outside, if you do anything where your life would be made easier by having your tweets spoken to you, and richer by having an amazing app do the speaking, then check out Tweet Speaker.

Then tell me what you think of it @reneritchie. I look forward to hearing it.

]$2.99 - App Store link]

DataVault - @Alli_Flowers

Quick disclaimer. I'm biased. But you have to understand the timeline - I liked the product so much, I went to work for the company. I love DataVault. I love having all my passwords right on my iPhone. I can search for anything: Labels, Values, Memos - it doesn't matter how much or how little I remember about what I'm looking for. (And in my crazy world, I don't always remember the easy part, so I search a lot.)

I use DataVault constantly throughout the day as I go to work on someone else's computer and need to look up their passwords. I no longer worry about my colleagues forgetting their passwords - I just save them in DataVault so that I can remind them when they forget.

Did you ever get to the bank to deposit a check, only to discover you don't have any deposit slips and without that you have no clue what your account number is? Not a problem if you have that information stored. Of course, being able to sync with the desktop (separate purchase) is great, especially if you do any online shopping. I can just copy/paste my credit card number.

DataVault is also really handy for those times you go to the doctor's office and they inform you that since it's been a year, you need to update all your insurance information (even though it hasn't changed in 10 years!). So instead of fumbling through your wallet for all your health insurance cards, you just copy the numbers out of your iPhone...which was probably in your hand anyway.

So yes, I'm biased, but I came by it honestly, and I love this app!

[$9.99 - App Store link]

Apple Store app – @chrisoldroyd

Well what else could I choose after iPhone 4S pre-order day. Let's set the scene, I get up early on Friday morning, alright, I am in the UK so it was actually 8am when pre-orders were supposed to start; so not that early. Nothing happens for 30 minutes, Apple Store down and everyone is complaining on twitter. Eventually it comes online but errors out all the time.

I had a moment of inspiration, pulled out my iPad, fired up the Apple Store app, chose my iPhone 4S spec and color then boom, done! It took like 45 seconds from start to finish, no hanging around on the web. Delivery to my home on the 14th October; gotta love the Apple Store app.

[Free - App Store link]

Weather HD - @iMuggle

I live in Northwest Indiana and the weather here can vary greatly from day to day. They say the Midwest is the only place you could use your heat and air conditioning in the same day. And let me tell you, it's true.

I always make a habit of checking the weather each morning to see what to prepare for. A lot of weather apps I've come across are just ugly in general. This isn't the case with Weather HD. It provides the basic information I need to prepare for the day in a unique and rather beautiful way. The images change given the weather conditions and all of them are stunning. It may not provide warnings and statements but I can always toggle between Accuweather and others for that information. On a regular day to day basis, I've found Weather HD to be the app I use. If you're looking for a new and interesting way to check the weather, Weather HD is definitely it. And it's available as a universal binary for both iPhone and iPad.

[$0.99 - App Store Link]

Hanging with Friends - @llofte

Once again, I am late to the game when it comes to a popular app. This time it's with Hanging with Friends. What a fun little game! It's very similar to Hangman. You take turns creating words for your opponent to guess. If you guess wrong, you lose a balloon, and whoever looses all their balloons first, looses the game. I'm not very good at word games, so if anyone is looking for an easy opponent, look me up!

[$1.99 - App Store link]

Spy Mouse - @applecpugeek (Reader's Choice)

Spy Mouse is a wonderful game with many challenges. I just love all of the characters in the game. My favorite part of the game is trying to get the cheese before the cats even know it! Most of the world in this game are very hard to beat!

[$0.99 - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Easy Calendar - @sethclifford

I've often felt that the native iOS calendar (particularly on the iPhone) isn't really very good, and I've longed for a good update to it with every new release of iOS. As such, I've tried many calendar replacement apps over the years, and while some are fantastic, I always find myself gravitating back to the simple look of the native calendar. Lately I've been using a new app though, and I'm feeling pretty good about it because of its exceedingly simple setup and use. It's called Easy Calendar.

Easy Calendar uses the default calendars you've set up already on your iPhone, so there's nothing to enter when you launch it; it just pulls all your data using the API introduced in iOS 4, which many apps use now. There's only one view (by week) so if you don't like it, well, tough tacos. I happen to love week views, because one day seems too limiting, and the month view in my opinion just doesn't work well in many of these apps on the smaller screen. To add an event, you just tap on the day you want and enter it in quickly. To move an existing event, tap and hold, and then select a new date when prompted. You can swipe left and right to move a week ahead or behind, and tap the title bar to jump by month. If you've got more events on a day than can display, tap the day title and a popup shows you everything, and you can quickly add a new event from here as well.

Aaaaaaannd... that's pretty much it. And I'm just fine with that. I've tried more complicated apps, and I end up not using the features. I've tried even more stripped down apps, and I find them just slightly lacking. I thought about the ways I use a calendar on my phone (quick entry and quick viewing), and it seems to be the right mix of function and simplicity. For now, this one fits my Goldilocks needs just right.

For now...

[$1.99 - App Store link]

FIFA 12 – @chrisoldroyd

FIFA 12 has just been released on most consoles and now it is also available on the iPhone and iPod touch as one app and unfortunately a separate "HD" version for the iPad. Right, now that moan is out of the way, let's get to the good stuff! FIFA 12 is an awesome game on the iPad, graphics are crisp, the AI is excellent, the game play is superb and you can even use your iPod touch or iPhone as a wireless controller.

It is an officially licensed game featuring over 22 leagues, 15,000 players and over 32 authentically recreated stadiums. There is even a management game thrown in for good measure; if you can't be bothered to run around the virtual pitch.

The game is a whopping 1GB plus download so you may have to dump your Take That music collection to shoe horn it onto your iPad. Don't worry though, it will definitely be worth it!

[$0.99 for iPad - App Store link] [$4.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

ALmu Gold - @Alli_Flowers

One of the things Apple left out of iOS was the ability to use your iPod music as an alarm. It's limiting, and frustrating. But there is finally an app that handles this brilliantly, and consistently - and you don't have to worry about leaving it as the active window before going to sleep at night. You can truly "set it and forget it." And if you're the kind who falls asleep on the couch and drags yourself to bed at 2 a.m. (don't deny it - you know who you are!), this is perfect.

ALmu Gold has all the options you want in a good alarm clock: - Set and save an alarm with a name - Set a repeat (weekdays, weekends, alternate days, etc.) - Set your snooze time - Choose from pre-set alarms like "Ships bell," "Frogs," "Sheep bell," "Car," and more; music from your collection on your iPod, or a personal voice recording

It even accounts for major US holidays! This will be great, because I frequently forget to turn my alarm OFF on holidays, and then get grumpy cause I didn't have to wake up.

ALmu Gold also has a sleep timer, so you can go to bed to your favorite music, and have it turn off after you nod off. This is a must have app, and the price is right!

[Free - App Store link]

Where's My Water - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is Where's My Water, by Walt Disney. In this game, you have to get Swampy, the sewer alligator, enough water to be able to take a shower. Working with gravity (along with various "tools" found in some levels) you need to dig a path through the dirt to eventually start the shower on Swampy. Along the way you can get bonus points by getting little rubber duckies, but you also need to look out for various obstacles - green sewer ooze, purple sewer toxic waste, bombs, and more. This is a great puzzle game that is well designed, and if both fun and easy to play. It looks great on both the iPhone and iPad, and easy for kids as well (my daughter loves it).

[$0.99 - App Store link]

Global Video, CTV, Citytv Video - @reneritchie

I recently cut the cable cord. That's right -- blacked out the box. And as a result I've been looking at alternate ways to watch some of the new US fall programming, such as it is. Since I live in Canada, it's not as easy as just downloading what US network apps there are, and setting up VPNs and such to spoof US IP addresses is tedious, so I went looking for Canadian alternatives.

I've been using the Global TV app for iPhone and iPad for a while and it's okay. For some reason ads seem even more annoying on iPad than they do on television, probably because holding an iPad demands more attention than sitting across the room while a TV takes care of itself. Global currently offers A Gifted Man, American Dad, Big Brother, Cleveland Show, Combat Hospital, Days of our Lives, Family Guy, Glee, The Good Wife, Happily Divorced, Hawaii Five-0, House, How to be a Gentleman, Kitchen Nightmares, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Office, Parenthood, Prime Suspect, Ringer, Rookie Blue, Saturday Night Live, Survivor, Wipeout, and the Young and the Restless.

That's a great selection but it isn't everything and up until recently, the other large Canadian TV network, CTV, hadn't deigned to grace iPad with its presence.

We'll now it's recently. And... the CTV app fills the gap a tiny, little bit. The app itself is fine, though iPad only (and for some reason it insists on labeling itself CTV VOD on the home screen). Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of selection. Currently, CTV offers The Bold and the Beautiful, Charlie's Angels, the Colbert Report, the Daily Show, Flashpoint, Free Agents, Law and Order: SVU, Pan Am, Unforgettable, Up all Night, and Whitney.

Luckily, while looking for the CTV app, iTunes also offered me the Citytv app. Citytv is also iPad only and doesn't have any stations in my home province of Quebec, but one tap on Toronto as my faux residence and I was good to go. Citytv currently offers 30 Rock, America's Got Talent, Bachelor Pad, Body of Proof, Canada's Got Talent, Community, Conviction Kitchen, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Fringe, Glenn Martin DDS, Happy Endings, Hell's Kitchen, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Murdoch Mysteries, Private Practice, Raising Hope, Revenge, Reviews on the Run, Suburgatory, Terra Nova, The Biggest Loser, The Middle, The Playboy Club, and 2 Broke Girls.

Unfortunately, of course, AirPlay is only offered for audio so I can't beam the shows to my Apple TV. I haven't tried video out over cable yet, but I won't get my hopes up. At any rate, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of shows available and outside a great digital antenna setup, which my current location precludes, it makes cutting the cable cord and blacking out the box more palatable than ever.

• Free - Global Video - App Store link
• Free - CTV - App Store link
• Free - Citytv Video - App Store link

If you live in the US, just go straight to the networks

• Free - ABC Player - App Store link
• Free - NBC - App Store link
• (I couldn't find a CBS app in the App Store... Seriously?!)
• (I could only find show-based apps for FOX, like Bones... Seriously?!)

SignMyPad - @llofte

My family is planning a big move from Colorado to California in December which means my husband and I are swimming in job applications, resumes, and cover letters. Even though we are submitting them all electronically, we still think it's important to have an original signature on our documents - and that's where SignMyPad has become a major asset.

After exporting my applications and cover letters as PDFs, I email them to myself as an easy way of getting them on my iPad. Then I open the attachments in SignMyPad directly from the email on my iPad. From there, I insert my signature by signing my iPad with a Ten One Pogo Sketch stylus and place and size my signature just perfectly, save as a new PDF, and email it back to myself.

Even though jumping through emails is a bit annoying, this worked perfectly and I was able to submit application materials with original signatures to potential employers.

[$3.99 - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Google Voice - @Alli_Flowers

When the apps started flowing for Google Voice, we couldn't get enough of them. But the fervor died down, and we haven't heard anything about them in a while, so I thought I'd revisit my most used of the Google Voice apps.

I'm a huge GV user, and use it primarily for my students. They can use my GV number as a homework help line, to answer bonus questions, or to call in speaking assignments. It's been a life saver. On days like this when half the student body is involved in testing, and the other half is either home waiting for it to end, or being held in a classroom or the gym, it's equally useful. All morning, my former students (who have passed the test already) text me to find out if testing is over so that they can come to school when classes actually start.

With the Google Voice app, I get push notifications of the text messages or calls and can quickly reply that no...we're still holding and there's still another hour left of testing. I love my Google Voice, and the Google Voice app makes it easy to use.

[Free - App Store link]

Noise Entertainment System - @sethclifford

If you grew up as a child of the 80s, you most likely have a soft spot in your heart for the classic video game systems of that time. And even if you didn't play a lot of games, chances are you can hum some of the more famous video game music of the era, just from having been around brothers, sisters and friends who were obsessed. I was one of those kids - the obsessed ones - and as such, those chiptunes are indelibly etched in my psyche, providing warm, fuzzy feelings of nostalgic childhood joy when I hear them.

I've had game music file players on my Macs for years, but on iOS there's just one you need to concern yourself with, and that's Shaun Inman's magnificent Noise Entertainment System. Shaun is an exceptional designer and developer with a penchant for classic 8-bit gaming, and has released some incredible games for iOS, most recently The Last Rocket. He knows the style so well that there isn't a single pixel out of place in his apps, and his games feature original chiptune music, adding even more legitimacy to the classic feel.

NoiseES is an app for playing GBS, NSF and NSFe files, which are the music files (GameBoy, NES) extracted from the game ROMs themselves. The files load just like an mp3 playlist and tracks behave much like you would expect. You'll have to do some poking around online to find the files, but they're readily available, and a lot of fun once you get into it. Shaun even has a few links on his site page for NoiseES that can get you started! I've been listening to classic game music for well over a decade, and this app is one of the best ways to do it. Even better is that there are updates coming that will add some much-desired new functionality to the app that I am super excited about.

If you're a fan of chiptune music and want to take it to go, you must get this app. For more information on game music, you can check this NSF Wikipedia Page, and this general page on game music as well.

[$1.99 - App Store link]

Official Rugby World Cup 2011 – @chrisoldroyd

You can't avoid the Rugby Worlds Cup that is going on in New Zealand for the next few weeks. Unfortunately, well depending on where you live anyway, the kick off times are a little strange. Don't worry, if you get the Official Rugby World Cup 2011 app for iPhone and iPad you will not miss a thing.

You can access the Match Center for live matches complete with live commentary, match statistics and even video highlights. The app also provides all the latest tournament news and a Rugby World Cup Daily video.

If you are lucky enough to be in New Zealand for the competition, the app will also give you information on the stadiums, locations and even seating plans and facilities. You can also find out what is going on around the area you're in when the game is over.

This really is a very well put together app for the Rugby World Cup and it is even a universal binary!

[Free - App Store link]

GoodReader - @reneritchie

We're working on a new, super-secret project here at TiPb HQ and so I've been receiving clandestine ZIP files via email containing [REDACTED] for us to plot and scheme over. Trouble is, iOS doesn't open ZIP files (why, Apple? WHY?!) nor does the Dropbox iOS app (why, Dropbox? WHY?!). Luckily, GoodReader does (Yay!). So here's what I've been doing.

1. Start playing MIssion Impossible theme
2. Launch Mail, find the ZIP attachment
3. Open the ZIP attachment in GoodReader
4. Scan through the [REDACTED].
5. If I want any in Dropbox, I just hit the Action button and tap Open In...
6. Fade music and walk off into the sunset

Sure it's a bit convoluted and involved, and it would be nice if Apple or Dropbox just built this in, but GoodReader is a powerhouse in its own right and ZIP extraction is just the icing on the power cake. (Though sadly, it's not a universal binary so you'll have to buy it twice if you want it for both iPhone and iPad.)

Now excuse me while I get back to the super secret drawing board...

[$4.99 - iPhone App Store link - iPad App Store link]

UNO - @JBaby_9783

This week I can not stop playing UNO. I've played it off an on since it debuted on the App Store but a recent update has sucked me back in. The new improvements to the Online Multiplayer are fantastic! I'm finding myself logging in everyday so I can get my 10 free coins. The coins are used to purchase bonus and luck. You can get more coins by winning games and via in-app purchase in addition to the daily 10 coins Gameloft gives you. Being able to buy a chance of drawing Draw 2/4 cards or buying a chance to peak at another players hand just adds a little punch to an already fun game! The only criticism I have is Gameloft hasn't updated UNO HD to this new Online Multiplayer mode.

If you love Uno give the latest update a try! And when you do, add me as friend so we can play together. I'm JBaby9783.

[$0.99 with in-app purchases - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Amazon Mobile - @sethclifford

I love Amazon. I visit the site multiple times a day, whether to order things for my home or the office, or just to browse and do some product research. I'm also an Amazon Prime member, which only fuels my compulsion even more, allowing for free 2-day shipping of almost anything. As a fully-grown child with instant gratification issues when it comes to purchases, Prime can't be beat. But mostly, I like being able to buy most of what I need easily, from the same place, and I also enjoy having a detailed history and actions for my purchases after they've arrived.

It's far from new, but an app I can't live without is Amazon Mobile. It's a universal app, and as a customer, it's got everything you need. You can browse the massive Amazon library of products from any of your devices, adding items to your cart quickly, and completing the order exactly when you think of something during the day, and not have to remember to do so when you get back to your computer. Once you've placed an order, you can track it and see your historical purchases, as well as check out the daily deals and manage your wish lists.

One of the great things about it is that you can snap pictures of items and scan barcodes while you're at a physical store to compare prices. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a store with my wife, killing time, when I come across something I'd like to pick up, quickly do a barcode scan and put it right back on the shelf, because I can save a ton of money and have it shipped for free - fast!

Amazon actually has a few different apps in the App Store, including a more visually oriented shopping app called Windowshop which is pretty cool too, but I always find I preferred the original. It's always worked exceptionally well for me, and I find myself using it - constantly.

[Free - App Store link]

Calorific - @andrewwray

If you've recently set a goal to drop a few pounds and need an effective calorie-counting companion app to help you along the way then look no further than Calorific for iPhone. This calorie-counting app is very simple and straightforward in design and does away with complicated food categories and menus in order to help you quickly add meals to your daily calorie intake.

Instead of presenting you with a myriad of options for different foods, meals and snacks, Calorific breaks down your intake into 'Great', 'OK' and 'Bad' food types with different serving sizes. This makes keeping up with your calorie log a fast and streamlined experience with very little effort! Just jump into the app and tap on which meal you're having for the day, then select the food score and the approximate amount of calories you think the meal contains. That's it! You can even mix and match food types and serving sizes if you're having a mixed meal, or drill down into specific foods and meals within the app itself if you aren't sure how many calories your meal contains.

Calorific will also keep a running history of the calories you've taken in on a daily basis and spits out a general score of how healthy you've been eating, along with a nice profile feature that will help tackle your weight loss goals. This app has made it easier than ever for me to keep track of my food and calorie intake on-the-fly without any hassle thanks to its unique approach to counting calories -- go ahead and give it a try!

[Free - App Store link]

Wikipanion - @JorjLim

Wikipanion is a free wikipedia app for both the iPhone and iPad. It acts as a fairly standard wikipedia app that displays articles, pretty much identical to the website.

It splits the different titles and subtitles into a really easy to navigate contents panel, to save you time, from having to scroll up and down to find a specific piece of information.

If there is word you don’t understand, you can also look it up in wiktionary (with pronunciations) from the options menu, which will also let you change the font size, or even change the font to “serif” to make it easier to read.

It has a location based search option, so you can search for articles that are relevant to things around you, which is perfect for holidays when you want to know more about your surroundings.

One of my favourite features in Wikipanion, is the ability to add custom ‘topic-specific’ wikis (Wikiquote, Apple Wiki etc.) and view them in the exact same format as regular wikipedia. If a custom wiki that you use, isn’t in their database, you can request it to be added.

There is a pro version for £2.99, which lets you save articles for offline reading, and have article queues, to load multiple articles in the background, however most casual wikipedia readers will be perfectly happy with the free version.

[Free for iPhone - App Store link] [Free for iPad - App Store link]

Magic Painter - @Alli_Flowers

I paid $2.99 for Magic Painter last week, and now it's free. I don't know if it's going to stay free, but go grab it while you can. This app is awesome! I used to have something similar on Palm that I loved, so when I saw this, I knew I had to have it.

Unlike apps like Brushes or Art Rage, Magic Painter is for those of us with no artistic talent whatsoever. I've already made wallpaper for both my iPhone and my Mac that really pop. You start with a blank canvas, and you can not only choose any colour you want, but you can also choose from a variety of textures, or a photo from your photo album. From here, you simply choose a brush that paints a design on your background, like stars, vines, or swirls. Of course, you get a fairly wide variety of colours from which to choose as well.

I've had a ton of fun with it, and I think you will, too.

[Free - iTunes link]

Hanging with Friends - @skeetobite

My pick of the week this week is Hanging with Friends. This game is by the developers of Words with Friends, but is a Hangman style game between two players. There are many aspects that are carried over from Words with Friends - points for using letters, having a tile region that gives you limited letters to spell words, and many elements of the game visually look like Words with Friends. But this is hangman, where you challenge each other to guess words, and whomever loses enough times has their avatar fall into a pit of lava! Throw in lifelines (along with a method of earning coins to use more lifelines), random triple word/double word/triple letter/double letter bonus tiles, and you have a great guessing game! I found this to be more addicting than Words with Friends. If you are Words with Friends fan, you should give this game a shot - and go ahead an challenge me, I am not too hard to beat.

[$1.99 - App Store link]

Sherlock - @reneritchie

I had to spend last weekend coding and wanted to have something on the TV to generate some noise. I fired up Netflix, checkout out the new arrivals section, and after flirting with some childhood glee in the form of War Games, Starman, and Blue Thunder, I quickly settled on the new British series, Sherlock.

A modern re-imagining of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, it has all the traditional elements smashed to bits and brilliantly cobbled back together into a smart, taught series of 3 90 minute episode. The first one is great. The second one is okay. The third one is fantastic. (Though there's this final misdirect in the third episode that I really wish they'd had the courage to just go with -- would have made for a fantastic second series.)

And, of course, an iPhone plays a pivotal part in the series. So grab some popcorn and spicy drink and queue this gorgeous show up on your iPad or Apple TV. The game is most certainly afoot.

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

LIFE for iPad - @sethclifford

I love photography, and in particular, photos that transport me to other times and depict life as it used to be. I'm fascinated by our changes as a culture, and always love comparing what we see now to the way things looked decades ago. I completely stumbled onto LIFE for iPad this week, and instantly fell in love with it, tweeting out how great it was. I've been spending a lot of time with the app this week, and I'm still enjoying it immensely.

Life magazine has been a staple of photojournalism for almost a century now, and has gone through some transitions in that time. But one thing that hasn't changed is the incredible quality of the images it brings to readers. The iPad app is a wonderful way to browse some of these libraries, both from the past and present. Much of the app focuses on current events and color photography, but for me where it really shines is with the historical archives you can page through. I spent hours poring over pictures of New York City from the 30s-50s, and gazing at pictures from the 1939 World's Fair and the construction of the Empire State Building. The captions and the summaries for each picture provide a little more insight into the moment of capture, and allow you to really immerse yourself in the scenes.

There are, unfortunately, some jarringly intrusive ads that sit within the photo sets, but you can skip them easily enough. I would really prefer if the ad content was served some other way, because it takes you out of the frame of mind in which you're viewing the content, but for now it's not so annoying that it would prevent me from using the app. There are also some sharing functions (email, Facebook, Twitter) if you want to post photos or tell friends about the app.

If you're a student of history (and you should be) and appreciate great photography, it's worth the few minutes to download. I can see this being a "must-install" whenever I restore or change my iPad out in the future.

[Free - App Store link]

Frogger Decades – @chrisoldroyd

I am showing my age here but I remember the original game and used to play it in the arcades when I was young. Anyway to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original, Konami has released Frogger Decades. It follows a similar theme to the original game but is much more colorful and has a more varied back drop than the original. It has loads of levels and even carries Game Center support!

It does look beautiful and is one of those games that you pick up instantly and enjoy forever. It is only $1.99 in the App Store so stop messing about and go and get it. It's pure gold!

[$1.99 - App Store Link]

Tangled - @Alli_Flowers

I'm not a big game player, and I hate games with a soundtrack that distracts me. I stumbled onto Tangled, which is normally $.99, but the developer is giving it away for a limited time. It's minimalistic (no soundtrack - yay!), simple, beautiful, and neither too simple nor frustrating.

The object is to untangle the lines by grabbing the round handles and moving them around. Of course, the tangles become increasingly difficult, but not impossible. You won't "die" if you don't untangle them inside 60 seconds, and you can always reset and start over if you get things more tangled than they were when you started.

This is a peaceful brain exercise that you can catch onto quickly. Go get it while it's still free!

[Free - App Store link]

1Password (Mac App Store edition) - @reneritchie

1Password has just hit the Mac App Store. Repeat, 1Password has just hit the Mac App Store. This is not a drill. Deploy. Deploy. Dep... What, too over the top?

Listen, there's a few things I do whenever I install or re-install a Mac. I a) Type in my Apple ID and start syncing down my Preferences, Keychains, etc. (which iCloud won't be doing in the near future, frakdammit), b) install Dropbox and start syncing my home directory, including the library I'll use to, c) install 1Password.

And then I'm most of the way done.

Now if you bought 1Password directly from AgileBits in the past, you might hesitate on buying it again via the Mac App Store. Don't. It's on sale for $20 and comes with a free upgrade to 1Password 4 when it launches.

If it was any more of a no-brainer, it'd be negative brained. Seriously. Especially because it's also available for iPhone and iPad as a universal app, and Windows if you swing that way (or both ways). It also plugs into Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc. to autofill your password hassles away.

There's supposed to be a continual conflict between security and convenience. 1Password does a great job of mediating that conflict. It lets you have gnarly, strong, pseudo-random passwords without having to remember them.

Get it now.

[$19.99 - Mac App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Blackout Alarm - @sethclifford

Anyone living on the East Coast last weekend either heard about or had to directly contend with Hurricane Irene as the storm tore a path northward, bringing huge amounts of rain and heavy wind. While not as damaging as predictions had indicated for many, the storm left a swath of destruction in its wake.

Our basement flooded in February of this year, due to our sump pump failing. Some of you may even remember me diving out of an iPad live show at the last minute to deal with it. We've since replaced the sump pump, but it still needs power to work. If Irene knocked out power to our neighborhood, we would have found ourselves in a similar predicament. Exhausted, very late last Saturday night, I made plans to set my iPhone to alarm every 30 minutes, and was prepared to sleep with a lamp on, so I'd at least have a clue if the power went out before it was too late. I desperately needed a way to determine the moment the power went off, and quickly, because by my estimate, I had about 10-15 minutes before water would make its way into our house.

As I was laying there, I kept thinking about how I wouldn't be getting much rest at all, periodically waking up in a panic, and turned as a last resort to the App Store. To my amazement, I found an app that did what I needed. Blackout Alarm is an app that does exactly one thing: it tells you when your power goes out. That's it. The end.

You fire up the app and plug your iPhone into its charger. If at any point, the app detects that the phone is on battery power, a loud alarm sounds, waking you up. There's also a log within the app to see exactly when the power went out and for how long. There's nothing more to it. I tested it by pulling the plug out when the phone was charging, and it worked perfectly. I cranked the volume on my phone, turned out the light, and was assured that if the power went out, I'd be up exactly when it happened, and could prepare my manual pump to keep the water at bay.

If you listen to Iterate, you know that we all love a beautifully-designed app that enriches our waking moments. However, there's a real place in our lives for apps, that despite their appearances serve a purpose so focused on what we need at that moment, that we can overlook just about everything else. Make no mistake; that screenshot below doesn't lie - this app is no supermodel. But for someone in my position, it was absolutely indispensable.

We always say things like "technology really changes our lives", but this was one of those moments (no matter how small) in which it was so obvious and tangible, I couldn't help but smile widely as I fell asleep, for a few hours of respite from the storm.

[$0.99 - App Store link]

Instapaper - @iMuggle

Ok it's not a new app but it's still one of my favorites. I know Apple has added their own native Reader support to Safari on iOS and Mac OS X but I'm still a huge fan of Instapaper. Most of my main reason for still using Instapaper is the tremendous amount of apps that support it. Everything from Twitter for iPhone, Tweetbot, Reeder, and many more have built-in support to send articles and tweets to Instapaper.

Until Reader for iOS and Mac OS X has the wide support that Instapaper has I don't think I'll really use it much. Even then, I've become so accustomed to using Instapaper I think it would be a hard habit to break. And the setup really isn't much of a big deal either. Once you've got the bookmarklet saved it's just as easy to use as Apple's built-in reader function.

[$4.99 - App Store Link]

Groupon - @Alli_Flowers

The best part about Groupon is not the incredible savings you can get - it's the app. How often do you get coupons for somewhere, and then find yourself there without the coupon? I hate to admit how often that has happened to me. But it will NEVER happen with Groupon. If you have purchased a Groupon, all you have to do is pull up the app and let your salesperson/server take down your ticket number - or better yet, scan it. I'm all about saving trees!

If you don't know about Groupon, now might be a good time to come out from under that rock and visit the Groupon website to sign up. (http://groupon.com) Groupon offers discounts on local restaurants and stores, as well as national online retailers.

[Free- App Store link]

Luminance – @chrisoldroyd

I have been looking for a good photo editing app for quite a while now and this week Luminance caught my eye. It is a very proficient app for editing your pictures directly on your iPhone or even the iPad. The app is a universal binary after all. There are filters galore to play with and the effects you can use and results created can be quite stunning. Some of the filters include White Balance, Exposure, Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Tone Curve, Split Toning, Vignette, Colors and Sepia.

The app is an absolute bargain but does have one glaring omission! There is no way to crop an image, the developer is working on this; so expect it to be included in an upcoming update.

[$0.99 - App Store link]

apple.com/feedback - @reneritchie

Does something about your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch frustrate your? Something about iOS drive you crazy? We'll complain about it on the TiPb.com front page to try and get you some attention, and we'll help you troubleshoot it on the TiPb Forums but never forget you can also let Apple know exactly how you feel via apple.com/feedback

Whether it's a new feature you really want to have or something they simply must get rid off, tell them how you feel and if enough of your fellow iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad owners do likewise, even Apple might just pay attention.

You get your choice of Enhancement Request, Bug Report, Design/Ease of Use, Efficiency/Workflow, Software/Hardware Compatibility, Connectivity/Interoperability, and Configurability, and a big old text box to tell Apple exactly how you feel.

Have at it!

[apple.com/feedback]

Bloons TD 4 HD - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is Bloons TD 4 HD. Unfortunately, I have to find a generic picture of the app online, since my daughter is currently playing the game and I am not allowed to touch the iPad (this has been true for the past three days now). It's easy to play, and evidenced by the new addiction by my daughter, loads of fun as well. Bloons TD 4 is a tower defense game, where you try to pop balloons before they get to your home base. In TD 4, as you progress, you unlock new towers (monkeys), upgrades for the towers, and new maps and game modes. This is an import of the web based flash game from Kiwi Ninja, and it works quite well on the iPad. The game play is identical to the web based version, although there are a few extra game modes thrown in (like challenge mode and some new tracks). If I ever got a chance to play, I am sure I would love it (I previously reviewed a Blood TD game, and that was a blast). Alas, I will just have to wait...

[$4.99 - App Store link]

Spy Mouse - @llofte

I am loving this game! The overall objective of Spy Mouse is to make paths for your mouse to take to collect cheese and not get caught by the cats. Every level has mini objectives like only using a certain number paths or making a cat run into a wall.

Spy Mouse is this week's Pick of the Week at Starbucks, so if you haven't already, go pick it up!

[$0.99 - App Store link]

eKEY - @HeatherMelnyk (Reader's Choice)

I'm a full time realtor. eKEY is a really convenient and easy tool that will save any realtor with an iPhone tons of time. Manually updating Supra keys and lock box information can be a headache. eKEY gives you access to lock box information and updates keys over the air. Ever since purchasing the eKEY adapter I haven't had to worry about having a computer around to sync keys.

If a client calls and wants to see a property, I don't have to worry about running home or to the office to sync a key to gain access. I can just set an appointment and go. My key will automatically update on my iPhone. It's compatible with all versions of the iPhone. You just need to be running iOS 3.1.3 or above.

The app is a free download in the App Store but you will need to purchase the eKEY adapter from your local Association of Realtors or order one from the Supra website. The adapter costs around $55 plus shipping and handling if you're getting it online. You'll also still have to pay your monthly fee like you would with any other electronic access key service.

[Free - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week the TiPb Nation comes together to give some love to our favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, Web Apps, jailbreak apps -- even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Apple TV related, they’re fair game!

ESPN Goals – @chrisoldroyd

Another football related app pick this week as the new English Premier League season is now under way. ESPN Goals is now a free app that used to require a monthly subscription. If you want to see the goals and highlights of all the games, this app has it all.

Video of goals and match action from every Barclays Premier League match, live scores and match stats, fixtures and results from around the league, match previews and weekend round-ups. You can even have push alerts for goal videos, match highlight clips and Weekend roundup clips. It is my go to app to catch up on all the days action when I am out and about. It works on WiFi and 3G connections!

[Free - App Store Link]

All-in Yoga HD: 200 Poses and Yoga Classes - @sethclifford

Since I returned from vacation, I've been re-discovering how much I enjoy doing some light yoga in the morning before work to stretch out my body and begin my day. I don't have a lot of time in the morning, so I wanted to find an app that I could customize to meet my needs, but also be able to discover and learn new poses and expand my skills.

All-in Yoga HD for iPad is a great way to do that. The app has several modes in which to use it. There are pre-built routines for every skill level ready to select and follow. You can also browse the library of poses to create your own routine, which I've done for myself based on a few criteria. If you're not sure where to start, you can also enter some information about yourself, both physical and goal-oriented, and the app will recommend a routine for you to follow.

In addition to this, there are a lot of other features as well. There is a calendar to track workouts and progress, music and narration options to guide you through your routines, 3D models to display muscle groups targeted in certain poses, social sharing, and a few other cool things as well, such as video content (downloadable on demand) to demonstrate the poses. I've only had it a few days and have barely begun to scratch the surface.

Whether you're a beginner or a yoga expert, this app looks to be a good companion piece if you enjoy performing yoga at home. Great paths for every skill level, personal customization, and a ton of additional features make it a solid purchase.

[$4.99 - App Store link]

NFB Films for iPad - @reneritchie

The National Filmboard of Canada, or NFB for short, is one of our modern cultural treasures. It's our public film producer and through it voices that would not otherwise find a platform for expression and visions that would not otherwise be produced in the "sequel of a reboot of a sequel of an adaption of a brand" purely commercial model. And much of it is breathtakingly brilliant.

Now I don't like all of it, and that's okay. My liking something is no reflection on its brilliance, just my personal tastes. There's lots of fantastic stuff that just doesn't interest me, and some real trash I just can't watch enough of. Having such wondrous, diverse, raw, creative works -- things I might not pick out on Netflix once I've noticed the new 2 star Steve Seagal movie is available -- available on demand on my iPad is part of what makes the device, if not magical, then truly delightful.

And with over 1000 free movies, a dedicated kids channel, 48 hours of offline cache, and a great looking UI, there's a lot to be delighted in. You can curl up with a documentary about the Pink and Black Attack, then hand off to the kids to watch little birds go Peep, Chirp, and Quack.

What's not to love?

[Free - App Store link]

USAA Mobile - @Alli_Flowers

A lot of banks are now offering this service, but USAA was the first to offer check deposit by iPhone. Yes, you read that right. If you haven't heard about it before, USAA allows you to take a photo of a check through this app, and use that to deposit the funds into your account. It makes sense, since USAA has almost no physical banks.

Anything that I can do from my USAA account on the web, I can do from the app - and usually faster and easier. I can transfer funds from one account to another, pay bills from my checking account, get copies of my insurance documents, or even take out a loan for a new car.

USAA Mobile is not a universal app, but they offer a separate iPad app, which is also free. You can't ask for much more than that!

[Free - App Store link]

Age of Zombies - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is Age of Zombies. This is actually an older game that I just purchased recently to give a try. It turns out…it’s GREAT! It’s a simple 3rd person shooter game, with you controlling the hero “Streakfries”, and trying to rid the world of zombies. The only problem – zombies have been sent back in time, so you need to travel through human history killing zombies. It’s easy to pick up – one joystick controls movement, one controls the fire direction. Simple to play, and quite addictive, I find myself playing it for much longer than I originally thought I would. And the best part, it is a universal app, so you can play on the iPhone or iPad!

[$0.99 - App Store link]

Peggle HD - @llofte

In case you missed the news, Peggle is now available on the iPad! This is one of my favorite games of all times and it's so addicting.

In this arcade style game, you are presented with a board of pegs. Most of them are blue, many of them are orange, two are green, and one is purple. The goal? Eliminate all the orange pegs. The green pegs will give you super power, the blue ones are worth minimal points and basically just in the way, and the purple peg will give you a point boost. The goal is simple, but achieving it isn't always an easy task.

I'm going to out a limb here and say that Peggle HD is a must-have app for your iPad. Oh, and guess what? TiPb is gifting out five copies of Peggle HD, so go try to win one!

[$2.99 - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Captio - @sethclifford

As much as I love productivity apps, if you spend all your time playing with them, well, you're not being very productive, are you? That's the main reason I try to keep things as simple and streamlined as possible. And since my email inbox is very often a makeshift to-do list by necessity, there's a handful of apps out there that extend that metaphor. One that I'm currently using and liking is Captio.

Captio does one thing and it does it really nicely. Open the app, type something you want to remember, and hit send. A few seconds later, an email shows up in your inbox, from Captio, subject line: exactly what you wrote. It's lightning fast, and as I've said before - for me, capturing information quickly and in a way in which it can be easily accessed in the future is of primary importance.

The app's design is pretty simple, which adds to its convenience. There aren't a million settings and switches to configure. In fact, the only thing you have to do is add an email address to send to. The app also archives sent tasks for one month, so if you need to look back a few days and see something, it's there, at least for a while. There's an option to bypass the Gmail server it uses by default with IMAP, which allows you to enter your own outgoing server information for extra security, if that's important to you. I didn't even bother, since my messages are never anything that sensitive. Certainly there are bigger prizes for nefarious packet sniffers than "place amazon order".

And if you really want to get fancy, Captio allows you to attach an image to the message, which is very cool, and very handy in case you want to add just one more piece of memory to your quick note. Overall, there's not much to it, and that's exactly why I like it as much as I do.

[$1.99 - App Store link]

QuickBooks Mobile - @iMuggle

I use QuickBooks online to run our business. I've always preferred the online version because I can use it from anywhere and from any computer. QuickBooks Mobile only makes my life even easier. I can create invoices on the go, see who owes me what money, and who I owe. The interface is easy to understand and to use.

If your'e familiar with QuickBooks you'll be right at home. You can easily access your existing customer lists and vendors lists with just a few taps as well.

The app is free to download and use for all QuickBooks online users. Just sign in and go. If you just have a standard license to QuickBooks as opposed to paying the monthly online fee, you'll need to sign up to use it via Intuit for an additional fee.

[Free - App Store Link]

Elements 2.0 - @reneritchie

I love me some Dropbox powered text editors and this week connoisseurs such as myself (and I'm guessing that brilliant SOB @sethclifford as well) got a fantastic update in the form of Elements 2.0. Like all good things, Elements is simple and elegant. It lets you write and easily preview plain text, or in my case Markdown, and automagically syncs that text to any and all other devices and apps linked to your Dropbox account. With full search, word, line, and character counts, a scratchpad, and... wait for it... TextExpander touch App Store link support.

(Elements 2.0 will also export your work as HTML or PDF files, including to Evernote, iTunes (sigh) or Email, if you really have to.)

It's universal, so you can get to your text on the go on your iPhone, or put your feet up and produce away on the big iPad screen. You can also open and edit the files on your desktop with your tool(s) of choice. (Mine are current BBEdit Mac App Store link and Marked Mac App Store link, the latter of which has also just gotten a terrific update.

It will be interesting to see what kind of new and updated iOS text editors come out after iCloud launches this October, but Dropbox editors like Elements 2.0 have set the bar very, very high.

[$4.99 - App Store link]

Pages for iPad - @llofte

As the fall semester approaches, I am preparing for classes and writing my syllabi for the courses I will be teaching. Writing a syllabus is never fun, but writing it with Pages on the iPad does make it a little less painful.

I used iTunes Connect to import my syllabus from last semester and edited it to be specific for the classes I'm teaching this semester. It was easy, painless, and - dare I say - relaxing.

[$9.99 - App Store link]

C25K (Couch to 5K) - @geekmomma (Reader's Choice)

C25K is a fantastic program for those of us who want to start running but need someone to help us succeed. The program was developed in 1996 by Josh Clark and has quickly gained popularity as an excellent way to get into running.

The app gives you a daily workout that starts on W1D1 and continues for nine weeks. You cannot skip days in the app but you can go back and repeat a day - making this a great program regardless of your pace/fitness level. You can listen to your own iTunes library while the program gives audio prompts for transitions between warm up, walking, jogging and cool down. Enable GPS and you can track your route, pace and calories burned. Want to share your progress and inspire others? Tweet your progress and/or post to Facebook. Thanks to multitasking in iOS4, now you can also listen to Pandora while you follow the program and still get the audio prompts from the app.

Whether you have never run a day in your life or you're looking to start training for a 5k, 10k or marathon, start with the C25K app and you won't be disappointed!

[$2.99 - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Especially with school starting back tomorrow, I figured it would be smart to get it in early. Now put it somewhere safe!!!

Google+ - @Alli_Flowers

I jumped on the Google+ bandwagon early. I never liked Facebook, and I was tiring of Twitter. If you haven't already tried Google+, there's a great forum thread where you can get an invite, if you can't already get yourself in there.

The app works a lot like the web client, only it provides notifications. So the real question is - why do I like Google+. And the answer is simple: it's like having any of your other social networks mixed with a forum, and real time updates. Take away the games from Facebook, take away the spam from Twitter - that's Google+.

Now that you have a working iOS app for Google+, there's really no reason NOT to try it. Right?!

[Free - App Store link]

Screens - @sethclifford

I'm away at the beach this week, so I thought it only right that my pick be something super-useful when you're away from home. Screens is a VNC client for iOS that works as a universal app on all your devices. What sets it apart from the many other apps that do the same thing in the App Store is that it was designed from the ground up with touch devices in mind. Where other VNC clients try to emulate your desktop exactly as a traditional client would, Screens makes excellent use of multi-touch gestures and different touch patterns to provide a really seamless remote experience.

The other feature I really like is the super easy and fast setup for connection using Screens Connect, a server assistant app you download and run from the computer you wish to control. In doing this, you're able to assign the computer a dedicated name instead of having to remember a long IP address (which may be changed without you realizing it by your ISP) and you also gain some more specific controls that make the app even more useful. Since I stream all my media now, it's invaluable for monitoring those server apps that sit on my Mac mini, and I can restart or tweak them if need be, from wherever I am.

It's a bit on the pricey side, if you're one of those people who balk at anything over $.99, but if you're a fan of solid, functional software that makes your life easier (as I am), it's worth a look.

[$19.99 - App Store link]

LiveScore – @chrisoldroyd

LiveScore is a fantastic free app that provides real time scores from many sporting events around the world; with a particular emphasis on soccer scores. As the English Premier League Football Season starts again this Saturday. The timing of this weeks pick of the week is perfect!

Every match in the UK league is covered along with most other countries. With this app you will know about goals, yellow cards, red cards, substitutions, you name it, seconds after they happen.

There are no push notifications, which is a shame however the app does auto-refresh when open. The application comes directly from LiveScore Ltd., the inventors of real-time delivery of live sport data and owners of the no.1 ranked football / soccer web site globally. No country restrictions either! Fast access and my app of choice for keeping in touch with the games that matter to me. Come on Newcastle United!

[Free - App Store link]

RedLaser - @iMuggle

QR codes are extremely convenient for many business owners, especially small businesses. We just started utilizing it for our business as well as some of our local organizations we are a part of in our community. There are several apps available for all platforms. For iOS, my favorite is RedLaser. It's simple to use and best of all, it's free. Simply open the app, tap the lightning bolt at the bottom to scan a code, and place the code between the lines.

Not only does it read them, it'll save all QR codes you scan. This is convenient for when you want to go back and view information from a code you previously scanned.

So if you live in an area where QR codes are starting to crop up, give RedLaser a spin and start scanning!

[Free - App Store Link]

Tiny Tower - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is Tiny Tower. This is one of those free games, where you spend time trying to build/earn/make something. In this case, you are building a tower, and trying to populate it with a series of stores, entertainment, services, and restaurants. All this is done to make your “bitizens” happy. As with all these games, if you get tired of waiting you can buy some additional “Tower Bux” to help speed the process along, but that isn’t much fun! Right now my tower is 34 floors tall, and slowly building up. The nice thing here is that you can check back periodically and just make sure things are progressing smoothly in your tower. It does require some attention (for example, moving bitizens in the apartments must be done manually) but it doesn’t take a huge amount of time.

[Free - App Store link]

Screens for Mac - @reneritchie

I've been using Edovia's excellent Screens for iPhone and iPad since it was in beta and still find it to be the best looking, best feeling VNC client for iOS in the App Store. So when developer Luc Vandal told me they were doing Screens for Mac, I was thrilled.

I'd been using a combination of Back to my Mac for OS X and Microsoft's Remote Desktop for Windows, but Screens puts everything -- including Linux -- in one beautifully styled, well thought out, buttery smooth place. And for OS X Lion users, you get full screen mode and a ton of multi-touch gesture support.

It works so well, in fact, a couple times I've sat down on my laptop and worked for a few minutes before realizing I was actually using my desktop via Screens. No better praise than that.

If you want the same great Screens experience from iOS on OS X, go grab Screens now.

[$19.99 - Mac App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/llofte] or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Photosync - @Alli_Flowers

Every night before going to bed, I place my iPhone on the charger and watch the little sync icon come alive. Yes, iOS 5 will sync your iPhone or iPad to your computer without wires, and without any user input. It’s all automatic. I have not plugged my iPhone into my Mac in several weeks now, and it’s an easy thing to get used to.

And then I needed a photo I’d taken with my iPhone camera. Surely I didn’t have to plug my iPhone into my Mac just to transfer the photo? So I emailed it to myself. But there had to be a better way since you can’t actually retrieve photos from your iTunes backup/sync.

A short while later, I discovered PhotoSync. Everyone is going to have to get this app: it’s the perfect solution for our new untethered world. There are options for everyone. Do you only want to sync your photos from your iPhone to your iPad? PhotoSync can do this. Happy using Dropbox and don’t want to change? PhotoSync has you covered here, too. What’s that? You’re a pc, not a Mac? No problem!

I have tried several sync methods with PhotoSync, and they are all easy, and successful. PhotoSync offers both a Mac and Windows desktop companion (at no charge!) with setup taking no time, no effort, and almost no thought.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Peppa Pig's Party Time – @chrisoldroyd

Keeping my little girl entertained is always a challenge. Luckily she absolutely adores a little pig cartoon called Peppa Pig. This week a new app called Peppa Pig's Party Time hit the App Store and she loves it.

You get to design the party invitations, make the birthday cake and create the party bags. Once done, all your friends arrive and you can play Pass the Parcel, Musical Chairs and Pinata time. It is a lot of fun for the young ones.

It is a well designed app that uses the power of the iPad touch-screen in a way that small children can master without too much effort! Unfortunately it appears that this is only available in the UK App Store at the moment!

Peppa Pig's Party Time is not available in the US App Store.

[£2.99 - iTunes link]

Southwest Airlines - @llofte

This past Tuesday, I flew from Denver to San Jose, CA on Southwest Airlines. It was really convenient to check-in and check my flight status on the my iPhone with the Southwest Airlines app. In fact, we were nearly late for our flight, so I was using the app to look up when the next flights were.

I always fly Southwest when I travel and this app always makes it a more pleasant experience.

[Free - iTunes link]

Sid Meier's Pirates! - @CrackBerryKevin

Last weekend was a long weekend where I live, so I went out to a friend's cabin. I had my PlayBook and iPad with me but didn't plan on using them. Then my buddy showed me Sid Meier's Pirates! for iPad. Now that was my original computer game on my original Tandy over 15 years ago. I wasted hours on that game, and on the 2D, trackball version they put for BlackBerry. But the iPad version? Oh. My. God. Awesome. I played 7 hours straight. Ms. CrackBerry got all dressed up to go out, but I kept playing Pirates all through the evening. Yeah. Huge, massive fight.

I've sworn off Pirates! now, but seriously, this game is so good it almost cost me my relationship. I hate you iPad and Pirates.

[$3.99 - iTunes link

Barista - @reneritchie

I played around with Barista for iPhone a couple of years ago and have recommended it before, but now that I'm once again trying to take my coffee up a notch, I looked around the App Store for an assist and ended up right back with Barista.

The design is impeccable (it's by Graham Clarke of Glasshouse Apps, so that stands to reason), the instruction clear and concise, and it's just the thing any beginner needs to start pouring latte, cappuccino, and other beverages with quality and style that'll make an overly stale, overly caffeinated, overly frothed Starbucks weep with envy.

If you want to learn how to make better, stronger coffee with silkier milk and high order swagger, check out Barista.

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

iAllowance - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is iAllowance. After seeing Leanna post a blurb about it online, I decided to try it out for my daughter. After looking over a "sample" child, we created a profile for my daughter, including her allowance, "stars" for specific tasks, as well as various rewards she can "spend" the stars on. Not only was the app a easy to use, but it was a hit with my daughter as well (she gets very excited when we register that she has completed a task). It can sync with other devices, so my wife has it on her iPhone as well. My daughter even has it on her iPod so she can check out her reward and bank status. This is a great app for tracking allowances and rewards, and can encourage children to participate in their chore tracking.

[$3.99 - iTunes link]

Notes Plus - @RedWhiteAndJew (Reader's Choice)

My choice for Picks of the Week is Notes Plus. Notes Plus is an advanced note taking app. In addition to the customizable notebook folders and freehand note taking you find in other similar apps, Notes Plus includes plenty of handy extra features that make it stand out above the rest.

The most innovative and different feature this app features is Shape Detection, which recognizes basic shapes and redraws them in precise polygons. This is helpful for students in Math and Engineering courses where notes include diagrams, graphs, and vectors. You can add voice notes to your pages, which can either be audio recorded of a professor or client's conversation, or commentary from yourself later on. One of the coolest features is the handwriting box which zooms in on the area where you are writing and automatically moves along the page and to new lines as you write giving you a larger area to write on. This app also features a palm pad that can be pulled up from the bottom which serves as a place to rest your hand while writing in the middle of the page without worrying about relocating your cursor or drawing nonsense at the bottom of the page. You have the standard toolbox of drawing utensils in different colors and thicknesses to make key points stand out more. You can also mix handwritten notes with text typed from the keyboard with multiple font options included.

Overall, Notes Plus has every feature you could want in a note taking app and a few features you didn't know you wanted. The app is only $4.99, which is less than the price of a high quality 5 subject paper notebook except that this will never run out of paper and takes up considerably less room. If you are a student, this needs to be on your must-have list.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/llofte] or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

DropVox - @sethclifford

As most of you know, I'm a huge fan of Dropbox and apps that capitalize on it by tying into the APIs to create interesting new services. I also find Apple's own Voice Memos app lacking in that there's no easy way to get those recordings off my iPhone short of syncing (for now). DropVox is a little app that solves this problem simply. All it does it record audio and throw it into your Dropbox for you. Using compressed .m4a files, the app fires up quickly and sends faster than you might expect. It's not the kind of thing you'd use to record a full album in the studio, but it's super handy for quick thoughts. You can also set it up to record immediately on launch, which makes the flow even faster (this is how I have it set up because when I'm using something like this, time is of the essence).

It's a clean-looking app, with a singular function, and it does it well. Check it out.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Twinkle Twinkle - @chrisoldroyd

My little girl loves singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star so she absolutely loves this app. "Twinkle Twinkle" tells the story of a friendship between a restless owl and a little star that watches over the forest. The simple touch animations are designed to help children relax. Touch the screen to watch the owl's wing's flap and hear the owl hoot. See the star spin around. Help the owl and the star fly across the sky with a flick of your finger!

It comes with different reading options as well as two videos showing the content of the book all beautifully rendered. It also includes a simple counting the stars game. If you have young children, they will love this app and story. Great for bedtimes!

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

OS X Lion - @reneritchie

Really, did you expect anything else? After OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, whose changes were as profound as they invisible to end users, OS X Lion finally brings some user experience refresh to Apple's aging desktop operating system -- and it brought it straight back from iOS. It's not a gimmick either. Apple has spent decades trying to simplify and mainstream the computing appliance. What started with the Apple II in a garage has thus far come closest with iPad in 20 million homes. That's not lost on Apple, Steve Jobs, or the OS X team. Lion is proof. We get full screen apps, LaunchPad which mimics the iOS home screen right down to folders and jigglies, saved state and auto-resume that blurs the distinction between open and closed apps, and multitouch gestures to swipe and pinch through it all. Even the built in apps, from the outstanding new 3-pain, threaded Mail, to the curious stitched leather iCal, look like their iPad equivalents.

It's even distributed via the Mac App Store. For $30. For all your personal machines. (And you can bump that up to full on OS X Server for $50 more.)

Lion is not without it's frustrations of course -- beyond the above-mentioned stitched leather UI. Scrolling has been reversed, also to match iOS. Give it a week, however, and you'll likely not want to go back. Pushing content really does feel more natural than pulling scroll bars (which Lion does its level best to hide anyway.)

Auto-restore, where every window comes flying back up when you re-start an app could potentially cause embarrassment depending on what kind of website you were last on, who you were last drafting an email too, or what video you last had playing, so user beware.

You can turn almost all of these fancy new features off in settings, but you can also get used to the brave new world of auto-saving, document versioning, sandbox securing, Mac App Store downloading wonder. It's a glimpse at the future and Apple's brought it to us today.

Bottom line, if you love iOS, you'll love Lion. And if you want to no more, check out Ars Technicas epic 20,000 word review, courtesy of John Siracusa, which analyzes and critiques every byte and pixel from the controls to the code. You can even enjoy it on your iPad in ebook form if the mood strikes you.

[$29.99 - Mac App Store link]

Diptic - @Alli_Flowers

Diptic is a triptych app, pure and simple: three images together in a single work of art. On your iPhone, you can use 2, 3, or 4 photos, and arrange them into a single piece. You can take a new photo from your iPhone's camera as you go, choose a photo in your album, use one of your Facebook photos, or grab something from Flickr.

There are a series of frame layouts from which to choose, and all you have to do is drop your photos into the box. Once there, you can zoom or rotate so you have just what you want. You can even get artsy and traditional and use the same photo in each box, with only a portion showing in any one section. You have total control over the frame's thickness and colour.

Diptic is great if you have trouble deciding which photo is the best - you can just use them all in a single image, or if you have pets or children, and like to show them off simultaneously.

It's an extremely easy app to use, and offers lots of flexibility.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Metal Gear Solid Touch - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is Metal Gear Solid Touch (played on the iPad). This universal binary continues the Metal Gear Solid line, a game franchise I first looked at on the Playstation! This first person shooting game is a little different than some others - you aren't moving through corridors or buildings. Instead, you are stationary, and you have to aim your gun by moving the target around on the screen. You have a couple of different kinds of guns (for sniping or closer combat) and the goal is simple - survive and kill your enemies. The interface is very very intuitive, although for a while I was expecting the target to appear wherever I tapped (it doesn't, you have to move it around the screen by sliding). The graphics are outstanding, and all in all this was a fun way to waste many hours this week. I wish there was a little more variety in some of the levels (although in fairness, I haven't gotten very far so maybe it changes). This game has been fluctuating in price between, although I missed out on the most recent sale. If you keep an eye on it, you might get it at a greatly reduced price sometime soon!

[$7.99 - iTunes link]

FX Photo Studio - @llofte

FX Photo Studio just got a big update and now it has a Masking Studio. This is exactly what this app needed! FX Photo Studio has nearly 200 different filters you can apply to your photos, but, unfortunately, not all of them look good on the entire photo. There are many times when one filters does wonders to the sky, another to buildings, and still another to skin, while simultaneously making the rest of the photos look worse. With Masking Studio, you can mask in (or out) the part of the photo you want (or don't want) to be affected by the filter. I love it! Hopefully the next update will have a "soft brush" update to better blend the edges of the masks.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Starbucks - @duscraftphoto (Reader's Choice)

America is a country that is run on C8H10N4O2 (Caffeine) and it’s our crazy schedules and long work days that are to blame... Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an app that made the consumption of this popular potable even easier? Well, the good folks over at this little Seattle based coffee company called Starbucks have heard your cries and offer a solution... The Official Starbucks app.

The Starbucks app has recently gone through a major overhaul and is vastly better than the earlier versions. You now have the ability to completely control your Starbucks card collection, monitor your Gold Points, view nutrition facts, make and share custom drinks, find store locations and even buy gifts for people you’re fond of. The app also allows you to protect all of your super secret secrets with a passcode.

Now, you’re probably asking yourself “How this can help me improve my day to day life?” Well, let’s say you’re like me and your job requires you to travel a lot and work late into the night... We all know how lame that is. If i’m out of town and I need a quick Iced Soy Cinnamon Dolce Latte fix and I can’t find a Starbucks anywhere around me (which is highly unlikely if you’re on or around Earth). I can just pop out my phone, go straight to the Starbucks app and tap on the “Stores” button and with the power of GPS and, lets face it, magic... I’m on my way! All while avoiding having to Google a location.

Not impressed yet?.. Well, you can also use the app to pay for your coffee at most locations! You don’t even have to fumble with that pesky wallet and all of it’s Velcro tyranny . Nope, you just pull out your phone and tap the pay icon and hold your phone in front of their laser ray gun and BOOM! You’ve just paid for your coffee!

Maybe you’re one of those people that always orders their drinks in the wrong order and then gets the “correction” from the barista. That minor embarrassment is a thing of the past because now you can read your drink order to them from your Favorites just the way Schultz intended. No more “Can I have a Venti Iced Vanilla Latte with Soy?” and getting this response “You mean an Iced Venti Soy Vanilla Latte?..”

So go my caffeine addict friends, go and drink the sweet nectar of modern day life with ease and serenity... And while you’re at it, get me a triple shot.

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Surfline - @sethclifford

Summer's my favorite time of the year, and I love to surf. I've been a beach kid since birth, and being in the ocean is about the greatest thing I can imagine. I'm busier now than I was when I was younger, and I can't just hang out at the beach all day, every day, and hop in the water when it looks good. I've got to plan my surf sessions to maximize the time I can spend in the water, and I use the Surfline app to do it. In addition to tons of information on thousands of surf spots around the world, I like that I can customize it to my home break and get all my local data quickly, like tides and charts, wind speed and direction, and even live surf cam footage. It's packed with stuff, and even if you don't surf, you may find a use for it. For instance, I sent the link for the app to my sister just yesterday, because she wanted an accurate way to know when to take my nephew to the beach to swim when it wouldn't be too deep or dangerous for him (he's only three).

It's a cool app, and every time I use it I miss the beach more, but I know that when I get there, I'll get some great surfing in, because I've planned it out like a Metal Gear op.

[Free - iTunes link]

Plants vs Zombies - @iMuggle

I know, I know - Plants vs Zombies is anything but new. That still doesn't mean it isn't one of the all time best games made for iPhone and iPad. No matter how many times I play through the game, it's still just as fun as the first time. Whether I'm bored on a flight or bored at home, I sometimes find myself picking up my iPad or iPhone and playing for a bit. Each time you play through the game, you can do things differently. You can also attempt to unlock achievements or play through the mini games.

I'm not a huge gamer but I do enjoy strategy and arcade games on my iPhone and iPad. Plants vs Zombies fits perfectly into both genres. It's easy to play and one of those games you can just kind of do you own thing with. PopCap is by far one of my favorite game makers with classic titles such as Bejeweled and Peggle. They may not have ridiculous graphics but they're the games I always seem to end up tapping into when taking a break or relieving myself from boredom.

If you haven't checked out Plants vs Zombies, make sure you do. I'm convinced you won't be disappointed!

[$2.99 for iPhone - iTunes Link] [$6.99 for iPad - iTunes Link]

Foreca.st - @Alli_Flowers

Foreca.st is the latest addition to the social networking scene. It ties in to your 4Square account, but in addition to being able to tell your friends where you are, it will tell them where you're going.

Only a week ago I got a text from a 4Square friend while I was standing in line at the checkout at WalMart. "Hey, are you still at WalMart? I see you checked in there on 4Square." All I could think was...if only I'd known he were going to be there, we could have coordinated the visit - maybe even carpooled! Foreca.st lets you do just that.

One of the great features of Foreca.st that I've always wished was native to 4Square is the ability to queue up your forcasted check-ins so that when you arrived, you can just tick it off, rather than locating and checking in from scratch.

Another feature that I REALLY like, is the ability to select those contacts for whom you want to receive check-in notifications. After all, for the most part, does it matter where your friends are going if they live 1,000 miles away? No, your interest lies with your local contacts. (Unless, of course, you're using 4Square for stalking purposes, but that's another matter altogether.)

Definitely worth checking out, and you can't beat the price!

[Free - iTunes link]

LockInfo [jailbreak] – @chrisoldroyd

Ok I know I am late to the jailbreak party, but as they say, better late than never right? Anyway I am now 100% #teamjailbreak!

Ok, on with this week’s pick, its Lockinfo. How have I managed to get through life without this amazing app? It’s a miracle to be honest, Lockinfo makes my iOS life complete, it makes it easy and it makes it a joy. I have it on my iPhone, I have it on my iPad.

I can see all the important information right on my lock screen. More importantly I can see all the unimportant information on my lock screen too. Like that spam email that usually involves a sound notification, a slide to unlock, firing up the mail app then the disappointment. Not anymore, I can see the heading and who it’s from in an instant with Lockinfo.

I haven’t even mentioned all the other amazing things it offers like calendar integration, twitter integration, weather plugins, missed calls notifications, SMS and of course all the other notifications you can think of. It also has a lovely Infoshade that you can pull down when you’re using your device. It is a fantastic app.

Look, stop reading this now and go jailbreak and install it - it’s that good!

[$7.99 – LockInfo]

FreeTime - @JorjLim

FreeTime is a simple, beautiful, yet powerful calendar tool.

When you launch Freetime, you’re asked to set an average day, your weekly working hours, and, to select which calendars will effect your free-time. The app then works out your total ‘time available’ for the day, which you can then view at a glance. New events can then be added directly within the app, to fill any “freetime”.

There is a built-in filter, to easily find out exactly when you are free for any length of time. for example: Find when I have [1 hour] free between [12:00pm - 3:00pm].

You can collaborate with colleagues or friends, either by email, SMS, or by using “bump” to reveal when you are both free, which is great for collaborative projects or organising a casual day out with friends.

The functionality of this app is only equalled by its beauty.

The app has already made me start inputing more events into my calendars. FreeTime is an absolute ‘no-brainer’, if you need an app to help organise your time.

[Free - iTunes link]

Power Inventory - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is Power Inventory. This is a useful app that allows you to identify and record everything you own. Yes, everything. With the start of hurricane season here in Texas, it is recommended that you have a detailed inventory (including pictures) of all your possessions for insurance purposes. Power Inventory lets you enter items, including pictures of items. It also allows you to record data include purchase date, purchase price, repairs, warranty information, condition, and even it you have loaned something out to someone! Of course, it can be time consuming to do this for everything you own, but Power Inventory at least takes some of the difficulty out. Of course, I just started this earlier this week, so I still have a long way to go. If you are a collector, or someone who deals in large purchases, Power Inventory can also help you out there.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Marked - @reneritchie

I write almost everything in John Gruber's Markdown syntax. It's quick, it's clean, and in-so-far-as bits on a screen can ever be, it's human. Everything I write for TiPb and a lot of what I write for myself starts in Markdown and stops when some plugin or script converts it for display on the web. (Now I'm thinking I need to write InDesign docs in Markdown as well... hmmm...) So when I saw Marked in the Mac App Store, I jumped on it.

Yeah, it's a Mac app, not an iOS app, so shoot me. Or better yet, use it on your Mac because there are some great Markdown tools on iOS already and being able to roundtrip thanks to Dropbox (and maybe iCloud eventually) means I don't really have to worry about platform or place any more.

Back to Marked. It's clever. It opens files written in Markdown and previews them with processed formatting. But that's not all. It waits. It watches. And any time an open document is changed in any editor, it updates the preview.

Do you understand what I'm saying? It's a social network for Markdown. No, wait, sorry. It's a live preview for Markdown, which can save you a lot of cursing and correcting when you're writing blind now and processing in a rush later.

Simple. Like most brilliant things.

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Ticket to Ride - @llofte

Perhaps you've heard of Ticket to Ride, the best selling board game? Well, it's also available on the iPad and it's awesome! I won't get into the rules of the game, but know that it is easy to learn and even playable by children. As a physical game, Ticket to Ride would take up a lot of table space and be easily messed up by small children or pets. I love playing on the iPad because I can kick back and relax on the couch to play. I have it installed on both of my iPads and my husband and I lean back on opposite ends of the couch and play against each other.

There is also a pass-and-play option for households with only one iPad and you can play against your friends on Game Center or anyone else who's logged into the game at the time.

The game comes with the US version of the game with the Europe and Switzerland maps available as in app purchases.

If you like board games, I highly recommend picking this one up!

[$6.99 - iTunes link]

Flick Golf - @jdipane (Reader's Choice)

Truth be told I am not one who is much for gaming on their device, typically because I like to use my battery for more important things, like work calls, emails, etc but when I came across Flick Golf I knew I had to try it. Immediately upon launching the application I knew I was going to love it, the graphics look simply amazing on the retina display, and the colors were amazing. After running through the tutorial, I launched into the game and next thing I knew, it was two hours later, and I was still going strong. Each flick of the golf ball sends it flying towards the hole, then you flick which direction it needs to go, hoping to get a hole in one, but settling for anything that gets you points. There are three different game modes: QuickShot, WorldTour, and QuickShot Pro, each offering different amounts of fun for different users. For only 99 cents, I would have to say this is probably the best purchase I have made on my iPhone to date.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Wunderlist – @chrisoldroyd

This app was inspired by Leanna's App for That post last week and I can see why she chose it. This app is superb for creating, sharing and syncing lists of to do items between users.

My wife and I share the grocery shopping in our home. We now make lists which are synced between out iPhones automatically. Once we have a list, either of us can add to it and it always stays in sync across our devices.

When you are in the store you can open the list and check off the items as you get them; and it works perfectly. I have been looking for an app like this for some time and now I have it. What's even better is that it is multi-platform and free! Now the wife nags me silently with Wunderlist so my ears are saved! (Hope she doesn’t read this)

Wunderlist syncs between iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, and Windows. Syncing is seamless and in the cloud. If you’re concerned about security, Wunderlist has got you covered with SSL 128 bit encryption over HTTPS too.

[Free - iTunes link]

Day One - @sethclifford

I love, love, LOVE apps that hook into Dropbox, because it means that I don't have to worry about re-syncing data when I restore devices (and lately, that's often, since it's beta season). I've got all kinds of note-taking apps, but I decided I wanted a different way to capture thoughts and little things that happen on a daily basis; more of a journal/diary type of app that I could look through by date and just recall the events of the day. I found Day One recently, and it's wonderful. It's a universal iOS app that not only syncs with Dropbox, but also has a companion Mac app that is available in the Mac App Store. It's an elegantly designed system that is simple enough to quickly jot down what's on your mind, and the fact that it's on all three platforms makes it very easy to capture items before you forget them. You've got a passcode lock, so your more private thoughts are protected, and with TextExpander support, you can save even more time. It's just text for now, but iCloud sync, tags, and photos are coming soon, and the developer was very responsive to my questions about future features. If you're looking for a nice little way to log some ideas, Day One is a contender.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Google+ web app - @iMuggle

Ok, it isn't an official App Store app (yet), but it's still implemented a lot better than that "other" social network's default iPhone app that constantly crashes or fails to push me notifications. To be honest, I use the web app version of Facebook more than the native app. Google+ is still one of the better mobile web apps I've seen.

I may not have push notifications (yet) but the layout is clean and easy to navigate. You can easily create a Google+ shortcut on your homescreen for easy access as well. While we all wait for Google+ to go public and for the native app to appear, the web app has managed to keep me entertained and meets my needs just fine for now. I actually find it quite enjoyable to browse and use.

Procreate - @reneritchie

Savage Interactive is going to be our guest on this Monday's episode of Iterate, our new mobile design podcast, and so I've been spending some time this week using the app as preparation. And loving it. There's such a visceral thrill that comes from finger painting with digital ink, with pushing colored pixels around an iPad canvas, from layering, from smudging, from bending it to your will until it realizes your imagination.

There are a lot of bitmap painting apps in the App Store, but Procreate offers all the power you'd expect in a UI that's both apparent and approachable. Your tools are all neatly laid out around your canvas, they quickly come up when you call them, and they quietly go away when you tap out of them. No fuss, no muss. Just fun.

And I do mean fun. There's something incredibly liberating about having the grid and the mouse and the pixel precision of Photoshop taken away from you. You're left to explore the touch and the color and the spaces negative and positive, and the feel of the medium. Cool screen, hot results. Just ask my little friend, the dragon....

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Camera - @Alli_Flowers

More and more I use the iPhone's camera, not just for taking video or photos, but as a document camera. I realized how dependent I had become on this feature during a recent visit to relatives.

Both my nephews received shiny new laptops from their doting grandfather, and his first recommendation was to register them. I could barely contain the laughter watching these two boys tipping their laptops up so they could copy the registration number from the bottom into the form on the screen. Both of them have smartphones with cameras, so I showed them how I deal with this kind of issue. Tilt the laptop once, snap a picture of the serial number tag from the bottom - return to productivity. Not only can you now comfortably copy the serial number (and enlarge it with a simple pinch if the numbers are too tiny to read), but by saving that .jpg, you now have a permanent record in case of loss or theft.

I do this in my classroom as well. Best idea I ever had, since the person responsible for inventory loses her database at least twice a year, causing us to have to send her serial numbers for our computers, printers, smartboards, etc. I now have a file with photos. Every time she requests serial numbers, I just email her the whole folder (which, yes, I have backed up in multiple locations).

Your iPhone's camera can be your ticket to replacements with your insurance company. In case of theft or fire, they want a list of your losses - along with serial numbers. Start now!

Numbers - @llofte

As many of you know, I am a math instructor and part of being a teacher is keeping track of grades. Numbers on my iPad is perfect for this. I have my spreadsheets set up to find the totals of each grade category and calculate their final grade. I even specifically designed them so that they determine the students' current grades so when I'm inevitably asked "what's my grade in the class right now", I can whip out my iPad and give them an immediate answer.

Students (even college students) also occasionally forget to put their names on their quizzes. So while I'm returning the graded quizzes, someone ends up claiming the unnamed quiz. Before, this would be a pain for me because I'd have to write down who gets the score and remember to add it to my spreadsheet at home. Now I just pull out my iPad during class and update their grade right there.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Flipboard - @Moe_NYC (Reader's Choice)

My pick of the week is Flipboard. It is the best way to access news, magazines and your social networks in a gorgeous magazine-style interface. You can add your networks and your desired content which will be added to the app desktop into tiles that look great.

In addition to the most popular social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, etc.), you have access to ever increasing content from news sources, magazines, editor's picks and much more. The new update provides an always accessible red ribbon which you can tap to access content broken down into categories.

Flipboard is the way I would like to see online news (CNN, NYT, WSJ) done on the iPad. This is just perfect.

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

PDF Reader Pro - @Alli_Flowers

If you're anything like me, you receive a lot of important information in .pdf format. It's become a pretty universal standard - everyone can read .pdf documents, regardless of platform, and the readers are almost always free. Newsletters, calendars, and even textbooks come in .pdf format, and with my iPhone, I always have them at my fingertips.

But what happens when I need to send a .pdf to someone else? That's when PDF Reader Pro comes in especially handy. I can snap a photo of whatever document I need to share from inside PDF Reader Pro, and it turns it into a .pdf that I can then email right from inside the app. This has been especially handy for my auto registration, license, and insurance information!

PDF Reader Pro also makes it a snap to load documents to your iPhone (or iPad). You can transfer files from your computer using WiFi, download directly from a website, or download from a variety of webdav servers including Dropbox and GoogleDocs.

Unlike some other .pdf apps I've tried, PDF Reader Pro doesn't choke on large documents. For example, I have my entire French 1 textbook loaded, and it's quite manageable even on the small screen of the iPhone.

It would be a bargain at twice the price!

[$0.99 on sale - iTunes link]

Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray - @reneritchie

One pick to rule them all. One pick to find them. One pick to bring them all. And on TiPb, bind them.

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy was as real and well executed as George Lucas' Star Wars prequels were fake and ill-conceived. In the lush environs of New Zealand, with the brilliant practical and digital effects work of Weta, Toklein's Middle Earth was brought magnificent, mesmerizing life.

And while Steve Jobs may call Blu-ray a "bag of hurt", the truth is their high-capacity physical media is still the best looking bag of hurt available to movie aficionados today. As a bonus, the package also contains a "digital copy".

If you've seen Lord of the Rings, I don't need to say much else. If you haven't, I refused to say much else. It's Lord of the Rings, dammit. It's where everything from Dungeons & Dragons to Harry Potter to Game of Thrones comes from. Go watch it.

[Amazon.com link]

Instacast – @chrisoldroyd

My quest this week has been to find a better way of managing podcasts on my iPhone. iTunes sync is a very convoluted experience on the desktop and on the iPhone itself. I wanted an app that would update my podcasts as a whole not one at a time manually. I tried out a few apps (Paid for them too, oh I wish Apple would give us a 24hr trial period) and have settled on Instacast.

Instacast does everything I need, one click update of all podcasts, a beautiful interface, download resume if you have a connection drop and full AirPlay support. One of the pains transferring to an app for podcasts, is having to re-enter all your current podcast subscription feeds. Not with Instacast, it looks at your podcasts in the iPod app and picks them all up and subscribes you to them. Fantastic! This app does it all for me and I want to thank @jjb70 for pointing out this awesome app!

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Play Dead - @andrewwray

Play Dead is an extremely simple app with one goal in mind: to prevent your friends from always using your iPhone! The only thing Play Dead does is display an endless loading screen that you usually see when shutting down your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. This can be a godsend for parents with children who constantly ask to play Angry Birds on their iPhone, and it's saved me more than once at work recently when co-workers have asked to use my iPhone to see the latest awesome app they heard about though the grapevine.

So the next time you're asked to hand over your iPhone so someone else can play with it, just fire up Play Dead with a sad face and inform them your iPhone is currently on the fritz -- then get back to playing Angry Birds!

[free - iTunes link]

Verbs - @iMuggle

Several months ago I downloaded Verbs and found the interface to be absolutely beautiful. The problem was that the functionality just wasn't there yet. No push notifications was a no go for me. The latest version of Verbs solves this problem and adds support for push (which works flawlessly).

I am also a huge fan of Droplr and Verbs offers built-in support for it. You also now have the option to stay online for 7 days. If you bought Verbs previously, you can just buy Verbs Pro as an in-app purchase for $4.99 in order to activate push notifications. I was surprised the price that high to add push but I think it's well worth it. The app is quick, beautiful, and much more "iOS like" than other messenger apps like Beejive, which has been replaced by Verbs on the first page of my iPhone.

[$2.99, with in-app purchases - iTunes Link]

iSub - @sethclifford

I've talked about this before on the TiPb shows, but it's so cool that it's worth repeating. iSub is a universal iOS application that allows you to stream and listen to your entire music collection using Subsonic to serve up tracks. Subsonic itself is an open source server application that runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Unix. Mobile clients are available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7. It requires you to have a machine on at home in order to access the tracks, but many of us might already have just such a machine that we remote into to do things. In my case, I have a Mac mini that functions as both a media server and redundant Dropbox machine, and I use this Mac to access Subsonic.

iSub is basically a mobile interface to Subsonic. I'm not overly thrilled with the design of the app and the UI could use a little work, but functionally it's very solid. Since it accesses your personal server, the information on play counts, recent albums, newly added music et. al. is always pushed to your device, so you can navigate around fairly quickly. Another cool feature is an adjustable cache within the app to store offline music. As you play tracks, iSub fetches the next one (or few) and stores them to avoid gaps in playback if you lose signal. In addition to being nice, if you find yourself without any connectivity at all, you always have at least a few things locally stored within the app to listen to in a pinch.

It's worth noting that while Subsonic is an open source project, in order to use the mobile API a donation to the project is required. However, you can determine the amount you'd like to donate, and in addition to mobile access, you gain an ad-free web interface and a personal server address so you can always access your server quickly and easily. Plus, you're supporting a cool project. Oh, I almost forgot - iSub also offers lyric support, AirPlay support, Twitter integration, and Last.fm scrobbling, among many other things. I've barely scratched the surface of the functionality. It's definitely worth a look.

Why wait for iCloud when you can have all your music on your iOS device right now?!

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Order and Chaos - @JorjLim

I picked up Order and Chaos, when it was on sale for just $0.99. I do not regret it for one second.

The game is a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) that is played across four servers worldwide. You can choose a race between Human, Elf, Orc or Undead, and play as a Warrior, Mage, Monk or Ranger. The controls are simple and intuitive and are designed perfectly for a touchscreen device. So its incredibly easy to move around the world, chat with friends, and sort your inventory.

Unfortunately, there is a small monthly fee of another $0.99 (or $1.99/3 months or $2.99/6 months) to play; however, I am happy to pay it because it's a huge game that is constantly being updated. Don’t buy this game if you have important things to do because it eats up your time when you're busy levelling up. There are nights where I’ve found myself up until 4am playing this game.

Order and Chaos is also a universal app so it will work on both the iPhone and the iPad.

[$6.99, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Starbucks - @llofte

The Starbucks iPhone app has been updated with all kinds of goodies and I love it! Now you can make Starbucks card purchases with the app (like the Starbucks Card Mobile app), transfer balances, reload your card, and my new favorite feature - eGifts!

I am horrible when it comes to getting gifts, especially "congratulations" gifts. Most of the time I end up getting a Starbucks Card and mailing it a month later than what's appropriate. Now, I will still gift Starbucks Cards, but as eGift cards and directly from this app! You can send the eGift through email or Facebook. Very cool.

The only strange thing is that now Starbucks has two apps: Starbucks and Starbucks Card Mobile. My guess is that they get rid of Starbucks Card Mobile now that Starbucks has the same functionality.

[Free - iTunes link]

Sleep Cycle alarm clock - @alfyboza (Reader's Choice)

Sleep Cycle alarm clock monitors you as you sleep and wakes you when it determines you're at your lightest phase of sleep. The app accomplishes this by detecting the intensity of your movements using the iOS device's accelerometer to determine what sleep phase you're in.

I was skeptical at first - and may not be a 100% believer just yet - but it's worked every night I've tried it! (Or my mind's playing games with me - I can't tell). I am one to usually set three alarm settings to ensure I wake up in the morning, but I haven't had to since I started using Sleep Cycle about a week ago. I am recommending it as an TiPb Pick of the Week so that perhaps someone else may benefit from it!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Agenda - @reneritchie

Agenda is a beautiful, usable, sanity restoring calendaring alternative from App Savvy. I've been beta testing it since WWDC, so I've had the opportunity to spend some time with it and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Agenda is elegantly black and white, and the default list view presents large dates on the left and spacious event listings on the right. You scroll dates with a flick, and the next update will even bring you back to today with a tap of the title bar. A left arrow at the bottom will back you into a month view, where color coded dots give quality and quantity to your appointments. Left again is a six-month view for easy date lookup and month switching. A right arrow will move you to day view. Right again will take you to a single event view.You can scroll both month and day views as well, with just a hint of elasticity to keep you from doing it unintentionally. You can also swipe horizontally between views, which has a similar tension and I prefer.

So basically, each level back gives you a higher viewer, each level forward a more granular view, with up and down providing the timeline. The cross navigation metaphor works really well in this context.

Outside Agenda, on the home screen, today's date is displayed using the notification badge work around. It's not ideal but it's all Apple currently allows and does give glance-ability to the icon.

There's a bit of a spartan, Windows Phone Metro UI vibe at work in Agenda, but unlike Panorama, none of the text is cut off which may remove the hint of information beyond the screen but prevents my typographer from cringing, so it's a fair trade. Overall, it looks great.

If Apple's built in Calendar app is too loud or too much and you want a more tastefully sedate way to manage your schedule, give Agenda a try. It just might become your new go-to event viewer.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

CrazyRemote Pro - @Alli_Flowers

It's true, I've gone Mac. But there are still a lot of things I need on my pc, and more often than not - I need them when I'm not home. So I rely on CrazyRemote Pro, which allows me to use my iPhone to take total control of my pc from anywhere in the world.

With CrazyRemote Pro, I can start any app on my pc, email myself that document that I totally forgot about, or double check how an app is supposed to work on a pc. One of the fun things I can do with CrazyRemote Pro is turn on the webcam to see what's going on at home while I'm out. I can also view my home surveillance system - which doesn't have an iPhone app.

There is no end to what I can do on my pc - from my iPhone. So if you're still tied to a pc for many things, give CrazyRemote a try - light version also available.

[$19.99 - iTunes link]

Fragger - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is a fun game called Fragger. The game seem to be somewhat similar to Angry Birds, but instead of throwing birds you are throwing grenades. Your goal is to frag each of the opponents using a limited number of grenades. In some cases, you simply have to adjust the angle and strength of your throw to reach the target. In other case, it almost takes on a puzzle like feel as you have to use grenades to destroy or move objects to make the target accessible. Just like some other seemingly simple concept games, this game is highly addictive – I spent all week playing the last few levels. There are some free versions as well as an HD version for the iPad. There are over 300 levels, so the enjoyment of destruction should last for quite some time.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Hanging with Friends - @iMuggle

I've always been a big fan of word games. Hanging with friends has been keeping me pretty entertained. It was created by the same developers of Words With Friends (another one of my favorites).

Hanging with Friends is simply a comical spin off of hangman. You make a word and your opponent has so many strikes to guess it. If they miss it, they lose a balloon and get lowered closer to the lava. Once someone loses all their balloons, the game is over and they lose.

There is a free version and a paid version. The paid version just doesn't contain ads.

[Free with ads - iTunes Link] [$1.99 ad-free - iTunes link]

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing – @chrisoldroyd

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing was released on Thursday; but it is already my favorite game. It is a fantastic game to waste a few minutes flying round a track in a strange looking kart firing missiles and dodging your opponents traps. The game has 10 characters and various modes of transport to choose from. These include cars, monster trucks, bikes, planes and even bananas! There are 25 missions to complete and three Grand Prix Cups. You can challenge your friends as long as they are within Bluetooth connectivity distance or play online with up to three friends with Game Center.

The game was an absolute steal at $1.99 but that offer has expired. It will now cost you $4.99; but it is still worth every cent! It is also a universal binary so you can play it on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad in all its glory!

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Speedtest.net Mobile Speed Test - @andrewwray

Speedtest.net has always been the preferred bandwidth test for me, and they also have a great iPhone app that offers many of the features included on the website. The animations are nice and fluid giving your a rich and enjoyable experience, and up until now I didn't think testing my bandwidth could actually be considered 'fun'.

The app lets you choose from a list of surrounding servers to get the best results, or picks the best server for you based on ping time. I've had to use this app quite a bit lately because of the trouble we've had with our internet provider, and it's never failed to impress with its style and quick results. Although it doesn't let you login for a fully personalized experience, the app does a great job as a bandwidth test and I haven't seen anything that looks as good -- give it a try!

[Free - iTunes link]

Banana TV - @coldfusion2018 (Reader's Choice)

Banana TV is a great little Mac application for those people (like me) who dont have an Apple TV, but do have a Mac that they would like to Airplay to. At the moment, Airplay doesn't support streaming to a Mac, but with Banana TV installed on my iMac, I am able to stream from the video app, YouTube app and the camera roll in the Photo app. This means that I can watch all that content fullscreen just using my local WIFI network.

Banana TV is a fantastic application and fills a hole until Apple allows us to Airplay to Macs.

[$7.99 - Banana TV]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Apple TV – @chrisoldroyd

This week I have gone for a piece of hardware and it's the Apple TV. I have resisted the urge to buy one of these for a while now. When it comes to media players, I am very fond of my Popcorn Hour which plays every video format known to man.

I decided to take the plunge and pick up an Apple TV for my bedroom; mainly for AirPlay. So far it has worked perfectly. One thing Apple always excel at is the user interface. The Apple TV is no exception, it's beautiful, simple and works so well with iTunes on your PC over home sharing or with AirPlay from an iOS device.

I use AirVideo on my PC which reads the hard drives connected to my Popcorn and trans-codes the non supported content on the fly. This makes the Apple TV a perfect solution for me. Sure it sounds a bit convoluted using an iPad with AirVideo and AirPlay but Apple makes it all so simple. I love it!!

[Apple]

TestFlight - @reneritchie

Apple only allows 100 UDID slots for developers to test their apps, and those slots are locked for one year. So, with four generations each of iPhone and iPod touch, two generations of iPad, and any replaced devices along the way, those slots can get jam packed and fast. What's a developer to do? Until recently, not much but lose out on testing and beta testers.

Enter TestFlight. TestFlight is a web-based service that intermediates the app testing model. Instead of developers registering test UDIDs themselves, TestFlight does it for them, provides a profile for the registered device, and then re-distributes the test binary on their behalf via an on-device web app (home screen WebClip).

Now, that does mean developers have to trust TestFlight with their binary, but TestFlight is hoping that in the age-old battle between convenience and security, developers will side with convenience. (They also had the fiendishly brilliant idea to park a breakfast burrito and coffee truck outside the WWDC 2011 keynote line to feed the hungry devs while promoting their service.)

I've had several developers send me TestFlight versions of their apps to test now, and while the process isn't always seamless, it works and its far better than my burdening them with UDIDs when I change devices so frequently. (I've had 2 black iPhone 4's swapped out at the Apple Store and now am on a white iPhone 4, that would be a lot of wasted slots under the traditional model.)

[Web link]

Quick Status - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is Quick Status. This nifty little app is designed for one thing - letting you update your twitter and facebook status at the same time. I often find that I want to post the same status message in both facebook and twitter, but I don't really want to type it in each of them individually. I know you have have facebook mirror your twitter status, but I don't always want the messages posted on both. With Quick Status, you have your choice! You can type in a message, and on the top choose if you want to send it to twitter, facebook, or both. In addition to just using messages, you can also include photos. geotags, and music you are listening to. It also keeps a record of the messages that you have posted, and you can save drafts of messages as well. There is a free, ad-supported version and a paid, ad-free version as well.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

dream:scape - @ JorjLim

dream:scape uses the unreal engine, that is famously used in Infinity Blade and Epic Citadel.

Rather than describe dream:scape as a game, I’d say its more of an explorable story where you play a terminally ill coma patient called ‘Wilson’ who must explore his dreamscape, to uncover the secrets of his life, You must find items along the way to get pass obstacles, like locked doors, a dog... and even an evil car.

While the graphics are nowhere near the quality of other unreal games, like Infinity Blade, and the gameplay isn’t particularly challenging, I find myself picking this purely because of its incredible storyline.

The storyline, music and voice overs combined makes this a great story to explore, and it keeps you hooked, wanting to find out what else happened in Wilson’s life.

Once you've completed the main story, you can freely explore the town of Bastion Falls.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

MiFi wireless router - @Alli_Flowers

Not an app, this week, but an "accessory" of sorts. Generally, I have broadband access everywhere I go. When I travel, even in the worst case scenario, I can buy access. However, once a year, I head up to north Alabama, to a dot on the map where cell coverage is spotty, and I have to leave base and drive 25 minutes just to get to a Starbucks.

Because I know that Verizon has the best coverage in this area, despite having my iPhone with AT&T, I purchased a MiFi router and plan from Verizon. The peace of mind it offered for those two weeks alone, is worth the monthly fee. Of course, I figured I could also use it on a daily basis back at school, where I'm blocked from everywhere that is helpful to a foreign language teacher.

Up to five people at a time can connect to the MiFi router, and you can password protect it so that not everyone who comes within 30 feet can automatically connect. (Of course, this is a feature everyone should set up on any router right away!)

Although, the bandwidth was far from 4G, it did allow me to continue reading TiPb every day, do my job answering customer support email, and send in the daily reports at camp.

Home again, I've already gotten great use from my MiFi router as well. The first time during one of our famous weather-related power outages (who can last 4 hours without internet?!), and the second time when I returned my cable modem and set up the new one. (Why do products that allow you to get online only offer you online help options?)

These MiFi routers can be purchased from any mobile provider, and have rate plans similar to cellular plans, mostly limiting you to a 5GB cap. They are not meant to be used in place of broadband internet at home, but they are a wonderful solution to internet outages, travel, and local blocks.

Carcassonne - @llofte

Perhaps you've heard of the popular strategy board game, Carcassonne? If not, and you like strategy games, you must check out Carcassonne. It is a universal game for iPhone and iPad and will provide you with hours of both fun and frustration.

The general idea of the game is to build a medieval landscape, tile by tile, and claim landmarks with your "meeple" to score points. You can play locally against the AI or against up to 4 of your Game Center friends over the internet. Yes, that's up to 5 people in a single game. There is also a "quick play" option against random opponents where each of your turns are timed. This game really is awesome. If you pick this one up, add llofte and challenge me to a duel! You're going down.

[$9.99 - iTunes link]

HBO GO - @Stubbs69 (Reader's Choice)

HBO GO is an excellent video app that brings all of your HBO shows together in a simple yet elegant package. It's a free universal app that requires you sign in with your credentials and within seconds you are ready to catch up on all your original series episodes, comedy specials, movies, documentaries, and even sports.

What I love about it is the ability to watch old shows such as The Sopranos and Deadwood or grab the newest episode of Game of Thrones soon after it airs. Start it on iPhone on break at work and pick up where you left off on your iPad on the couch at home. Select a show and it brings up the cast and a description, air date, and a list of extras and behind the scenes. Right now, AirPlay only supports audio but hopefully with iOS 5 this fall we can mirror it on our Apple TVs. There are also parental controls and the ability to set it to 3G or WiFi only.

[Free, with HBO subscription - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Pool Bar - Online Hustle – @chrisoldroyd

I have gone for another game this week that you can play over the internet with other iPad users. This week’s pick is Pool Bar – Online Hustle. Pool Bar is an excellent pick up and play game for Pool lovers.

The graphics and physics of the game are perfect. The balls move as you would expect and the sounds are really authentic too. With different skill levels and three different game modes, this one covers all your needs for that real Pool experience. You have 9 Ball, 8 Ball US and 8 Ball UK to choose from.

I have been playing this for the last few nights online with my brother and it is a lot of fun. An additional feature is the text and voice chat features which you can use whilst playing the game. A great way to catch up with your friends and family over a game of Pool!

[$1.99 – iTunes Link]

iOOTP - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is iOOTP. iOOTP (short for Out of the Park) is an iPhone import of a great simulation baseball game that has been around for quite some time. With iOOTP, you can simulate various aspects of baseball - from being a general manager to being the manager of a team. You can play in three different modes - major league, historical, or a fictional league. Personally, my favorite way to play is as the general manager - making trades, trying to entice free agents to the team, drafting new young players. But if you want a more hands on approach, you can ultimately control every facet of even the daily games - when to steal, hit and run, bunt, pinch hit, etc. Keep in mind, this isn't a baseball simulation, so you won't be acting as the player. But if simulation baseball is your fancy, iOOTP is a definite must try.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Gas Cubby - @reneritchie

I swear I'm almost paying $1.50 a liter for gas these days (roughly $5.67 a gallon for those of you in the US), and I'm sure many Europeans are paying more. I actually think they spike it high so when they drop it down to medium they trick us into thinking that's low and the bar gets reset, again, in their favor. While I can complain about the obscene prices, the lack of government oversight for oligopolistic behavior, and the other injustices of modern combustible fuel dependence, I can also do something personal and productive -- I can use Gas Cubby.

If you're a road warrior, Gas Cubby is your main man-at-arms. It's one of several excellent pieces of software by App Cubby, and it lets you keep track of just how much you're paying for gas, where, and when. Actually, it does a ton more. It let's you track your mileage and your maintenance. It'll sync that data for you or let you export it to XLS for further nerdy analysis. If you have more than one vehicle in the family, it'll keep track of all of them. You can customize the heck out of it as well so you fill in just what you want. And yeah, Canadians and Europeans can use it to keep track of our crazy, and increasingly crazier, prices.

There's also a free version if you want to try before you buy. But really, it costs less than a gallon of gas these days so just buy it already.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Cleartune Chromatic Tuner - @andrewwray

Need to get your guitar in tune? Don't want to go out and spend $50 or $75 on a quality guitar tuner? Enter ClearTune, a guitar and sting instrument tuner that comes packed with style, precision and a great user interface. Cleartune comes with a note wheel display that's more accurate than any of the other guitar tuners I've tested in the App Store.

The app has an ultra responsive 25 cent range fine-tuning display with needle dampening options, and tuning is precise to ±1/100 semitone (±1 cent). In addition, Cleartune comes with adjustable A4 calibration in 0.1 Hz increments for the best tone you could possibly imagine, making your guitar sound better than ever before. There's also a pitch pipe for manual tuning by ear, manual note selection for unique setups and support for transposing instruments. Cleartune Chromatic Tuner is the best app I've found for getting my guitar into perfect tune -- give it a try!

[$3.99 - iTunes link]

Penultimate for iPad - @iMuggle and @llofte

@iMuggle: A large part of what my business does has to do with development and design. Writing out concepts can be tough sometimes when it's hard to convey how you want something laid out. I really enjoy using Penultimate on my iPad to better convey app and web design ideas. I can e-mail my co-workers images and notebooks that they can either open on their iPads or that they can view in an e-mail.

Given my artistic ability amounts to stick figures, it still makes it easier for me to explain changes or a concept. They can get the gist of what I'm trying to do better than they could through just worded text. Leanna actually introduced me to this app a while back. I know she uses it to teach math as well. Sometimes free form writing and drawing is a lot easier than trying to type.

This would also be a great app for students who want to take notes on their iPad. Writing out formulas and charts is an extremely easy task with Penultimate. So if you're looking for an app that gives you a little room for creativity and thought flow, give Penultimate a try and let us know what you think!

@llofte: As many of you know, I'm a math teacher. This summer, I am teaching two 8 week courses as adjunct at a community college. I don't have much opportunity to hold office hours, so I have students email me their questions. Well, it's no secret that reading math explanations over email is rather difficult, so I use Penultimate and a Ten One Design Pogo Sketch to make my explanations as clear as possible. I just write out my explanation on Penultimate and email it to the student as a PDF. This mimics how it would look if I was helping a student at the whiteboard and I've received great feedback on its usefulness.

[$1.99 - iTunes Link]

Hanging with Friends - @michellerz_ (Reader's Choice)

From the creators of the popular game Words with Friends, comes the new Hanging with Friends! Hanging with Friends is a different take on the classic game of hangman. Guess the word your opponent created incorrectly and you lose one of the balloons holding you up. Lose all the balloons and into the lava you go! Invite your friends through Facebook, Twitter, and even find random opponents. There is a free ad supported version and also a paid ad free version.

[Free with ads - iTunes link] [$1.99 ad-fre - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Super Stickman Golf – @chrisoldroyd

This week’s pick is Super Stickman Golf. Since my brother bought an iPad 2 we have started playing a few online games. This is one of the most fun to play. Super Stickman Golf is a simple graphics game but a highly sophisticated physics type golf game.

The idea is obviously to get a little white ball in a hole in as few shots as possible. That is where the golf parts comes in; after that it’s not golf at all. You can stick your ball on walls and ceilings, stop the ball in mid air, it is pretty much golf gone mad but a lot of fun.

Now the latest update has brought multi-player for up to four players to the table, it is a great choice for some fun with your friends.

[$0.99 - iTunes Link]

SBRotator -- @andrewwray

SBRotator is a jailbreak tweak that lets you rotate your iPhone Homescreen into landscape orientation. The mod is slick, clean and intuitive with a number of great features to make it a complete jailbreak package you can use without any hassle. SBRotator won't add any icons to your springboard, but instead packs a number of options right into the stock Settings app.

You can scale your icons down in size to help keep a clean look while your iPhone is in landscape mode, and the developer went the extra mile by letting users choose whether or not to keep icon labels when in landscape to help cut down on visual clutter. You can also mimic the way the iPad handles landscape rotation by altering rows/columns, rotate your wallpaper and set which orientation you want your iPhone to default to after a restart or respring. Another great feature is the ability to force stock apps like Settings, Youtube, Maps and the App Store to allow landscape rotation -- something I personally love about this mod. If you love that the iPad allows landscape orientation and wish your iPhone could do the same, this is exactly what you've been looking for.

SBRotator is available for both iOS 3.x devices as well as iOS 4.x -- give it a try and tell us how you like it!

[$1.99 - Cydia link]

iWork for iPhone - @reneritchie

They dropped it in a press release. We've been waiting over a year, since Apple's iWork Suite -- Pages, Numbers, and Keynote -- was redesigned for iOS with the original iPad, for it to become a universal app that also works on iPhone. And Apple dropped it in a press release. That speaks to a couple interesting things. First, Apple won't have time for anything as "small" as iWork for iPhone during the WWDC keynote on Monday. Second, Apple will have their productivity suite ready and waiting on Mac, iPad, and iPhone come the WWDC keynote on Monday.

Taken right now, iWork for iPhone are interesting apps. They're beautifully designed, of course. They're easy to use, for touch screen productivity tools. But it's still a complete pain to move documents back and forth between iPhone, iPad, and Mac. That's a problem because as good as iWork for iPhone makes small touch screen, I'll almost never use it to create full documents. I will use it -- sometimes urgently -- to fix mistakes I made in docs created on my Mac. For that, great apps need a great way to round trip.

So I'm picking iWork for iPhone this week, because they're good apps that just need a great interconnecting service -- an iCloud -- to make them great.

[$9.99 - Pages on iTunes]

[$9.99 - Numbers on iTunes]

[$9.99 - Keynote on iTunes]

Remote - @iMuggle

We have 2 AppleTVs in the house; one in the living room and one in the bedroom. I am notorious for losing those stupid little silver remotes. But you can bet I never lose my iPhone. Ever.

The Remote app is great for controlling the AppleTV and I use it pretty much all the time (probably more than any other app on my iPhone or iPad). Typing search terms with the silver remote they come with is daunting. From my iPhone, I can type fast and get to content even faster.

It's free and a must have for anyone who owns an AppleTV. Do you use your AppleTV remote or the Remote app? Let us know!

[Free - iTunes Link]

Grocery IQ - jdipane (Reader's Choice)

For me, remembering to grab everything that we need at the grocery store is a struggle, and I hate to be caught with an old fashion grocery list, partially because my fiancée has all Hello Kitty paper in the house.

Grocery IQ is a great list application that allows users to create and share various lists so that they don't leave without buying everything that they need. Once an item is added to the list, users can check mark it which adds it to your "cart". At the end of your trip, you simply checkout from the trip and the items you marked will be removed from your list. Grocery IQ also has coupons.com integration so you can view additional coupons and save some extra money while on the go - which everyone loves to do! With all the features that are found in this application, and the ease of use, it is a must download.

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

MyPad+ - @iMuggle

I've tried a lot of Facebook replacement apps for iPad. So far, my favorite has been MyPad+. If you use the official Twitter for iPad client, you should feel right at home. I personally like Twitter for iPad so MyPad+ suits me well.

Friended and Friendly always seemed to be missing a lot of timeline information. I haven't experienced that with MyPad+ yet. I'd really like a Facebook app with notifications but I guess we can't have everything we want.

For now, MyPad+ is definitely my favorite. What about you guys?

[Free - iTunes Link] [$0.99 (Ad free) - iTunes Link]

Writing Kit - @reneritchie

Writing Kit is a text editor for iPad. But not just. It's a markdown text editor for iPad. But not just. It supports Text Expander, CloudApp, Evernote, Facebook, Posterous, Tumblr, Instapaper, and Twitter. But not just. It has a built-in outliner. But not just. It supports fonts and pinch-to-change font size. But not just. It lets you tap margins to move backwards or forwards one character at a time, or double tap for one word at a time. But not just.

It also has a built in web browser and power searcher so you can quickly jump back and forth to look up information and write up content.

And support for DropBox is coming soon.

Yeah. Just. Yeah.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Tweetlogix for Twitter - @andrewwray

I've been playing around with a few different Twitter apps recently and finally landed on Tweetlogix as my go-to Twitter client for the iPhone. The app has so many features that are missing from other popular Twitter apps that I've stopped looking for the "best Twitter app" altogether at this point. Tweetlogix is polished, extremely snappy and takes up very little system resources (RAM) despite everything it can do. When testing against some of the other popular Twitter apps, I discovered the memory footprint of Tweetlogix is roughly half of apps like Tweetbot and Twitter for iPhone, which is great for power users and those who like heavy multi-tasking.

One awesome feature I find myself using on a daily basis is the 'Now Playing' option, which tweets what track the iPod app is currently playing and includes an iTunes link for anyone interested in checking out the tunes you're into. This is particularly useful for me whenever I'm listening to my favorite podcasts for the week.

The app also features light and dark themes, inline image previews, customizable tap-and-hold actions for links and so much more. The feature list is so long, I'd need an entire article by itself to go over everything it can do. If you're looking for a low-priced and feature-heavy Twitter app that's also extremely responsive and well thought out, check out Tweetlogix -- you won't be disappointed! (Thanks for the recommendation Brad!)

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Splashtop Remote Desktop for iPad – @chrisoldroyd

This week’s pick is a remote desktop application that is simply brilliant. You install a small bit of software on your PC or Mac and then install the app on your iPad. When you run the app on your iPad, it scans your network, finds the machine running the software and you can then take control. The app works simply but perfectly. You can control screen scrolling, window scrolling and left and right mouse clicks all with gestures. The most impressive part is the speed. You can even play Flash games on your iPad using this app connected to your PC. It is one of my most used iPad applications. I just leave my laptop in the office and do any PC tasks on my iPad when at home. You can also connect remotely over 3G or even 4G. I just love this app!

[$4.99 - iTunes Link]

Easy Release - @llofte

As a photographer, I need permission to use photos of my clients online, so I have them sign a model release - on my iPad. Easy Release is a great app that is pre-bundled with industry standard release forms but also allows you to add your own. When I have a photo shoot, I just enter the client's basic information and Easy Release does the rest. It displays the custom release for the client to read, they "tap to agree", then sign the release directly on the iPad. I even have my clients sign with a Ten One Design Pogo Sketch so that the process feels more traditional. After the signature is obtained, Easy release emails a PDF version to me and my client. Perfect.

[$9.99 - iTunes link]

Labelbox - @lollerscates (Reader's Choice)

While there are plenty of apps to tweak photos, Labelbox is unique. This app allows you to add a variety of preset labels to give your photos an artistic, creative flair. It’s simple to use and there’s even a screen dedicated to step-by-step directions.

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/llofte] or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Square - @iMuggle

Taking credit card payments can be a big expense for businesses - especially for small businesses that are just starting up. Who wants to pay all those merchant fees?

The first thing I did when we looked at credit card options for our business was to look at ways to take them through our iPhones and iPads. When I heard about Square several months back, I knew we had to try it. We really couldn't be happier with it. We don't have to worry about monthly fees and the iPhone and iPad app is extremely easy to use. Just plug in your reader, sign into your account, and take a payment! Square allows you to accept Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, and Discover. They just take a nominal amount of each transaction off the top. This means no monthly transaction fee invoices.

The iPhone app allows you to take payments wherever you have service which means I can take a payment while on a consult or while out contracting. Not only does it save time and energy collecting payments for us, our clients love it too. After you set up your Square account online, simply download the app for free and you'll be taking payments in minutes! Square will send you your first reader free. You can pick up additional ones at any Apple store for $9.95.

[Free - iTunes Link, Square reader required]

Wunderlist - @ElfMinion

Make, share, and compile lists for you or your friends with Wunderlist. Wunderlist is an awesome App availible in the Apple App Store for free. Wunderlist gives you the ability to make lists, set reminders, and even share lists with your friends or co-workers who are trying to remember to do things in a timely manner. You can set alerts and reminders for as much time you need prior to en event. Wunderlist is also very easy to use. The User Interface is set up very nicely with tabs for; Starred items, Items that are due today, Items that are overdue, and a more option for more advanced settings.

[Free - iTunes Link]

First Touch Soccer – @chrisoldroyd

This week’s pick is all about the beautiful game. A previous pick of mine was FIFA 11 but this latest football (soccer) game leaves it in the dirt. First Touch Soccer is a fantastic game with good graphics; more importantly is it is fast and realistic.

The game has loads of teams to choose from but one downside is the teams are not named properly due to licensing restrictions, players are however named correctly. (You can edit the team names and club logos if it irritates you that much.) You can play single player games or multi-player over WiFi, Bluetooth or online.

This game is the best soccer game available by a mile and to make it even better, the latest update makes it a universal binary. I am downloading that now and can't wait to play it on my iPad 2! Big thanks go out to @Chris_c81 for telling me about this awesome game!

[$0.99 iTunes Link]

Cuptakes - @JBaby_9783

Cuptakes is a fun wallpaper app for your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. It's a lot like Pimp Your Screen but with a feminine touch. I think this app is so much fun. I love changing my wallpaper but sometimes they are too manly. Sometimes I just want my devices to be pretty. This app doesn't have nearly the selection that Pimp Your Screen has but it's a fairly new app. There is still a nice variety. Also, each wallpaper is made by the same person so I'm quite happy with the selection.

The app is nicely laid out and simple to use. You expect a wallpaper app to look good and this one does. I love that it doesn't require a internet connection which means I can begin using it right away. I imagine for most that isn't an issue, but my internet connection is super duper slow so I'd rather just download new content once. However, the one flaw this app has is the scrolling. It's just not smooth at all. It's very, very jerky. I cringe every time I have to scroll. With that said, the wallpapers are so beautiful that I can easily live with the jerkiness.

After all of the above I don't think I need to say that I love the app, but I'll say it anyway. I love this app and I highly recommend buying it!!! I think this app is so awesome I bought Cuptakes for my iMac. I love how my Mac, iPad, and iPhone all match!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Remote - @Alli_Flowers

I know I'm late to this game, but I'm glad I'm finally playing! Remote is a free app that, via WiFi will allow you to control your computer's iTunes or your AppleTV. Maybe it's because I've only had an AppleTV for a few months that I've just discovered it, but wow!

I have one of those fancy all in one remotes to control my tv, satellite, dvr, etc. The last thing I wanted was to keep up with the little ATV remote. Now I don't have to, because I can turn the ATV on or off using Remote on my iPhone. Actually, I can do anything using Remote that I could do with ...the remote. No more worrying about where the little silver brick is - my iPhone is always in my hand.

I can even play music on my pc in the other room. Just because. I don't know why I would want to. But I can! And isn't that part of the wonder of technology? First you find the ability, and then you find the use.

[Free - iTunes link]

OmniOutliner - @reneritchie

You have to love the Omni Group. Well, I guess you don't have to but here's why you should -- without hesitation they jumped headlong into iPad software, porting their most valuable titles to a brand new platform while being ballsy enough to charge real software prices for them. Sure, $0.99 is great to pay for a CrApp game you play once then exile to Home Screen 11, never to be tapped and launched again. It's not a price that will support fantastic developers making fantastic apps, however. The kind of app you use every day. The kind that save you so much time they're worth a real price because value isn't the same as cost.

For me, being able to take the noise that ricochets around what passes for my head, being able to quickly and easily get it recorded in text and images, being able to have some form of order imposed on it -- that's valuable.

And that's OmniOutliner by the Omni Group.

[$19.99 - iTunes link]

Delivery.com - @andrewwray

Delivery.com released their iPhone app this past Thursday and it couldn't have come at a better time -- literally. The app is used for ordering any number of items from restaurants, grocery stores, florists and the like, and has really helped me out over the past 24 hours while my car was in the shop for repair. I was able to get breakfast and later on dinner all delivered directly to my doorstep without any stress or hassle -- all I had to do was lift my finger and make a few taps, and my food came to me. It's so simple!

Upon launching the app for the first time, you're presented with options to sign in or sign up right from the device. This was convenient because I didn't have to jump on the computer to set up my account (something I wish all apps did), and the process of ordering my first meal took less than 2 minutes. Along with restaurants, I was able to find a few different flower houses, two grocery stores and a number pizza places which shows that the developers have really gone the extra mile to make sure you're taken care of by partnering with as many merchants as possible. When you drill down to a specific restaurant, the app presents a full menu -- every item they serve is at your fingertips.

The app reminded me of the Chipotle ordering app, except with Delivery.com you have the options of them coming to you, or ordering and picking up at the merchant's location. If you're looking for a neat app to show off to your friends next time you're all craving some grub but are too lazy to go out, Delivery.com is the app for you!

[Free - iTunes link]

TrackThis Package Tracking - @llofte

I ordered an iMac last week and have impatiently waited for it to arrive. I tend to be obsessive so I was checking my FedEx tracking online frequently because I wanted to know exactly where in the shipping process the iMac was and when it updated. After wasting too much time refreshing the website, I downloaded TrackThis from the App Store.

TrackThis supports 13 tracking carriers and is not only a fast way to check the shipping status of your item, but will send you push notifications every time it moves. Recieving updates on when my iMac arrived and departed various places made the shipping process exciting - and took up less of my time.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Doodle Grub - @Voitek_Dolinsky (Reader's Choice)

The Doodle Grub game is one of my favorites on my iPhone because it's a simple, yet very addictive game. The goal is to have the grub collect food while avoiding several enemies and is similar to Snake. You control the grub by tilting the iPhone. I think Doodle Grub is one of the most well done and well designed Snake type of game.

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on Twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Parkbud - @andrewwray

Can't remember where you parked your car last time you were out running errands? I've run into this problem more than once, and although there's a few other nice parking apps in the App Store, Parkbud has proven to be the best in its class for me over the past few days since it was released. Parkbud is a gem with all the right features to make it great, not to mention how visually pleasing the design and interface elements are. It's clear the developers took a lot of care when putting this app together, and it really shines when you need it most.

Features include walking directions to help you get back to your vehicle in unknown areas, as well as a handy parking garage locator that really helps when you want to get the best parking possible. You can also add notes or take a quick photo of where you're parked, which has been very useful for me at the end of a long day at the office. Parkbud also features a timer so you won't lose track of how long the meter has been running, and sends reminders before it expires -- you'll never have to worry about finding a parking ticket on your windshield again!

So if you're on the hunt for a great looking (and even better functioning) parking app, Parkbud may be exactly what you're looking for. Give it a try!

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Data Deposit - @iMuggle

I'm really bad about updating my jailbreaks. I'm talking really bad. Not because I don't want to, but because of the hassle that comes with it. I never restore from a jailbroken backup to avoid issues so it's a big headache to set up as new. Data Deposit made the process a little easier this time around. It's an extremely simple application that allows you to store your App Store app save data in your Dropbox account. After you restore and re-jailbreak, you can simply re-install Data Deposit, sign into your Dropbox, and restore all your saved games and app data.

I did notice it's a bit finicky and sometimes failed to bring down a save file but repeating the process always seemed to work. I'd really like to see them add a restore all option as right now you have to do them one by one. I'd also like to see a way to back up all. Either way, if you don't like having to re-configure all your apps after re-jailbreaking, this definitely simplifies the process. It's available for free via Cydia. Try it out and let us know what you think!

Photosynth - @Alli_Flowers

I love taking photos with my iPhone. I don't carry a camera at all anymore, and have even used some of my iPhone's video on my own blog. But sometimes you want more than just a simple video or photo. Sometimes you want something...epic.

And when you want epic, there is nothing like a full 360 degree panoramic photo. Now, Photosynth brings Microsoft's image composite editor from the pc to your iPhone. I've used this on the pc for some time, and I know that with a little practice, your panos can be almost seamless. Evidently, that is the case with the iPhone app as well. If you take a look at my first attempt you can clearly see the seams. But I just went outside and began taking photos with no pattern or direction. Had I planned out the scene, the seams might be less visible.

Either way, there is no trick or skill to making beautiful 3D panormas with Photosynth. Point and shoot. The stitching engine takes care of the rest. You can save as a 2D pano, or you can upload your shot (for free!) to the Photosynth website, where it becomes totally and gloriously 3D.

There are so many ways you can use this app! I've already told my son that when he moves into his new apartment, I expect a Photosynth 3D rendering of each room. And now I can share with my mother, every time I rearrange my living room!

This is a great app, with so many uses. Give it a try and let us know what you think.

[Free - iTunes link]

PhotoSync – @chrisoldroyd

This week’s pick is an app that I have wanted for a while but never got round to spending any time looking for it. Thanks to the TiPb App for That post, I have found something that works perfectly.

PhotoSync was recommended in the comments by one of our awesome readers and is an app that you install on your iPhone and iPad and it then allows you to transfer pictures and videos back and forth between the two devices over the air. You can also upload direct to Dropbox and other servers or computers.

I use my iPhone 4 all the time as my primary still and video camera but use my iPad to view and edit videos using iMovie. Getting the content onto the iPad could not be simpler with this app. It is really fast and convenient.

[$1.99 – iTunes Link]

Deathworm - @skeetobite

This fun, arcade style game allows you to take a worm and try to destroy the above ground world. This Tremors, for people who have seen that movie. Using a joystick, you move a worm through the ground (or temporarily in the air through massive jumps from far below ground), trying to destroy anything in your path - people, cars, planes...even little birds flying around. The surface dwellers are intent on stopping you, and send attack helicopters, tanks, and loads and loads of army men to try to prevent your rampage and destruction. As you play, you can collect power ups to make yourself longer, more durable, or even able to shoot fireballs from your mouth. This fun game brings me back to the arcades of the 1980's, where mayhem and monsters ruled. You can play a campaign mode (unlocking different worlds as you progress) or survival mode (where you try to last against a massive onslaught from those nasty humans above!). This universal binary also has a free "lite version", should you want to try out destruction before you buy.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

PCalc - @reneritchie

This week a company that doesn't seem to make much of anything other than patent infringement threats decided to go after several iOS developers who used in-app purchases as a way for users to upgrade from free/lite versions of an app to a full version. Unlike Apple, who provides the in-app purchase API as part of the iOS SDK and has a war chest in the tens of billions, most of the developers targeted are independent and it will cost them a small fortunate, one they don't have, to defend themselves. Per the iOS SDK, they're not even allowed to settle without violating their license. Hopefully Apple will step in. Or the EFF. Either way, this is going to be a stressful time for the developers threatened by lawsuits.

James Thomson is one of those developers and his app, PCalc is an amazing RPN calculator for iPad and iPhone (it's a universal app). For my part, I'm going to be gifting it, and other threatened apps, to friends and family this weekend. It's a drop in the bucket, to be certain, but it's a drop I can happily contribute.

[$9.99 - iTunes link]

iStudiez Pro - @jhoove09 (Reader's Choice)

iStudiez is an organizational tool for students with busy schedules. It offers the ability to sync your iOS calendar into the app and will automatically add your class schedule. You can track assignments, exams, and projects in the app and iStudiez offers the ability to incorporate grades to track your GPA throughout the semester. All of your professors' contact information can also be added to the app for easy access when needed.

The lite version will keep all your information locally. The Pro version allows you to sync with your iPhone with the cloud. I love that I have an app to track all of my classes, grades, instructors, and assignments. It's a must have for any student!

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/llofte] or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Ramp Champ - @reneritchie

Ramp Champ has just gone free. Here's what I said about when I picked it back in October of 2009:

Ramp Champ is co-developed by Iconfactory, so you know it's pixel perfect. A skee-ball type casual, fun, time passer it's perfect for the iPhone. Thanks to in-app purchase you can buy more ramps when -- make that if -- you get through the 4 for so that come with the app. I say if because, while the first challenge is easy, the second is hard, and I think I'll need an Ambrose Chase-style description field to get through the third. And did I mention it's gorgeous as well?

Yet another reason I'm going to have to figure out a way to slip the Icon Factory $10 at WWDC.

[Free - iTunes link]

Shop Savvy - @Alli_Flowers

Still on my scanner kick, this week I fell for Shop Savvy, another really clever app that's also available in the Android Marketplace. Find something you like in a store, and scan the barcode. In a matter of seconds, Shop Savvy will tell you where else you can find it locally, as well as where you can find it online, and the relative cost.

You can almost always count on the item being available for less on Amazon. (It just stands to reason.) But on occasion you'll find that your local shop has whatever it is at a low enough cost that once you add in shipping, you may as well buy it locally.

Tonight I was in our local Pet Supplies Plus, looking at a crinkle bag for my feline children. It was $27. A quick click with Shop Savvy showed me that on Amazon it was only $18, while at Allegro Pet shop it was a whopping $28! However, not only did it not list any other local stores carrying the totally awesome Kitty Crinkle Sack, it didn't list Pet Supplies Plus. Shop Savvy does give you the option of adding the store and the item though.

In addition to being able to add stores, you can add the items if they are not already in Shop Savvy's huge database of consumables, and photos. And of course, you can always look the item up old school, and just type in the name of the product.

There is also a premium version for $1.99. I'm almost tempted to buy it just to see if there are any more options for purchasing the amazing Kitty Crinkle Sack!

[Free - iTunes link]

Order & Chaos Online - @JBaby_9783

Order & Chaos Online is so much fun. I am a recovering World of Warcraft addict having played for 4 years. I haven't played in a year and I thought I was over my addiction. But then came Order & Chaos Online and I fell off the wagon. It's everything people love about WoW only it's on iOS. It's not exactly like WoW but it's so close. I like to think of it as a Pocket WoW. The most jarring difference, to me, is Humans and Elves can talk to and play with the Undead and Orcs. That feels unnatural to me.

I mainly play on my iPad 2 and it plays beautifully. It's even awesome on the iPhone 4. I wasn't sure if it would be since the screen is so much smaller. To my surprise I had no problems. I do prefer playing on my iPad though. You just can't beat the extra screen real estate.

There a few bugs like some quests are messed up. But for a 1.0 release they are easily overlooked. The real question I have is will Gameloft continue to update this game? MMORPGs need fresh content. Overall I'm thrilled with this game. I can't wait to see what the future will bring. Will this push Blizzard into making an official version of WoW for iOS? Sound off in the comments.

Warning: I highly recommend this game but if you value your time and/or your family STAY AWAY!!! Don't say I didn't warn you.

[$6.99, with subscription and in-app purchases - iTunes link]

iPad 2 – @chrisoldroyd

Yes, I decided to take the plunge and get an iPad 2 even though I said I wouldn't!. I managed to grab one on Tuesday this week so it is still early days but so far the upgrade is well worth the money. Went a bit cheap and got the 16GB WiFi model; it’s all I really need as I can tether to my iPhone 4 for data.

The speed increase has been the most impressive part for me, everything works that much faster. Web pages loads without seeing the checker board patterns and apps load in a flash. It is a double win for me. The wife has inherited my original iPad so she's happy too! So far, really loving my iPad 2!

[Starting at $499 - Apple.com]

MyEmpire - @JorjLim

EmpireAvenue is a unique social stock market, based on friends and other online personalities.

By integrating your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other supported social sites, you create yourself as a stock. Your activity on the connected sites, affects your share price.

MyEmpire is a great iPhone app, that allows you to monitor your stocks and shares, as well as buy and sell stock on the go. There are leaderboards built in to the app, so you can see who is best to buy or sell.

The app’s UI is quite basic on iOS, however the functionality in the app makes up for it.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

xkcd - @llofte

xkcd is "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language" that is targeted towards a special kind of geek. Most comics are related to computer science, physics, or mathematics. I love xkcd and love it even more on my iPhone. The app is very basic but sends out a push notification when a new comic is available. If you're a fan of xkdc, get this app.

[Free - iTunes link]

Barrel (Jailbreak) - @GeorgiaTiPb

Barrel is a sweet little tweak from Cydia that lets you customize the way the animation looks when you swipe between home pages. On a pure iPhone, the icons just slide over. With Barrel, they can rotate like a 3D cube, or they can slide up or down, scroll or fade, stair-step or squeeze, scatter or carousel, collect or get flippy with it. Or my favorites, curl and roll away or zoom.

It adds just that little extra touch of flare to your iPhone, makes you smile when you change screens, and is a great demo to show people who might be interested in the kind of customization Jailbreak allows.

[$2.99 - Cydia]

Notesy - @_JKK_ (Reader's Choice)

Notesy is the best of the rest in a crowded field of Dropbox-synchronizing text editors. Making use of the phenomenally stable and fast Dropbox API, Notesy is able to quickly and reliably sync notes from my Mac to my iPhone and iPod touch.

Since the notes are saved in the universal .txt file format, the notes aren't locked into any proprietary program; you can view them anywhere you have an internet connection with the online Dropbox web client.

My personal system includes syncing notes from Notational Velocity back and forth to Notesy between two iPods, an iPhone, and an iPad using Dropbox as the behind-the-scenes system; it works great, with no problems to report upon.

Notesy includes timed auto-saving (every two minutes if the file is being edited), an extremely smart, minimalist design, and is super slick; lag isn't an issue with Notesy, even whenever the library of notes approaches a ridiculous size and number.

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/llofte] or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

4oD - @chrisoldroyd

This weeks pick is hot off the press and is a TV catchup application for UK readers. Channel 4 has had an online catch up service for a while now but it uses evil Flash technology!

Luckily Channel 4 has seen fit to launch an iPad app called 4oD that now gives us access to the past 30 days of shows as well as select complete seasons. As mentioned, this is UK only due to archaic media laws; but let's not get started with that one!

Anyway what more could you want from an app that currently has the second season of "The Inbetweeners" ready to stream.

[Free - iTunes Link]

Word Search - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is actually my daughters pick of the week. At 7 years old (almost 8, as she reminds me) she enjoys playing with the iPad quite a bit. Some of the games I have reviewed are ones that she plays, but she also loves word search games. She used to play these all the time in restaurants, but when we saw this for the iPad, we just had to try it. She loves to choose the animal word lists, but you can choose from random “English” words, to SAT words, to names, weapons, and even foreign language words. I don’t know how large the actual dictionaries are, but we haven’t have much overlap.

The puzzles are fun, and selecting the words is easy (just using your finger to trace them). Unfortunately it isn’t a universal binary, but there is an iPhone version as well. I wish they had ways for people to complete the same puzzle (as a race) but they do time you to complete a puzzle. It’s a fun game for kids, that can also serve as a useful distract for adults.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Cadence and Cadence.FM - @andrewwray

Cadence is an incredibly brilliant music app that plays selected tracks at your desired BPM (beats per minute) rate. It's the perfect app to fire up when you're at the gym or working out because it knows which songs match up to your workout speed. Cadence allows you to use your own iPod library as well as the streaming radio station powered by SoundCloud. The app taps into Echonest to pull BPM data for your own music if you don't already have the data in your iTunes library. They also have a nice BPM analyzer for Mac and Windows that will scan your iTunes library and update BPM information accordingly for syncing to your iPhone.

Additional features include a nice swipe-to-control screen that lets you navigate music using gestures. This is really convenient during heavy workouts where you can quickly jump to the next song or raise the BPM level when things start to get intense. When you use Echonest as the BPM data source you can even edit this information on-the-fly, right from your iPhone! They also offer a lower priced app called Cadence.FM that just streams music from SoundCloud without the option of using music stored on the iPhone itself. If you've been looking for a powerful workout app to help keep you going then this is the one for you. I'll be giving out promo codes for Cadence and Cadence.FM throughout the day, so make sure you're following both myself and @TiPb so you can get it for free!

[$5.99 - iTunes Link]

Comic Life - @reneritchie

If you've ever used Comic Life on the Mac, then you're probably not even reading the rest of the sentence but have already leapt over the App Store and bought Comic Life for iPad. So we'll just assume anyone left following these words hasn't heard of the quintessential photo sequencing and captioning app, the one that put the fun in functional. You poor, joyless few, here it is in a nutshell:

You take your photos. You use them to create comic book-style panels and captions, effects and story flows, and then you show them off to your friends and family and make them think you are way more talented at sequential art than you have any right to claim.

Really, your kids, pets, and assorted photo subjects deserve to be the stars of the next Planetary, the next We3, the next Watchmen, the next Kickass (well, er, no, maybe not that but you get the idea.)

Go grab it true believers, and make with the mighty marvelous masterworks!

[$7.99 - iTunes link]

FaceTime for iPad 2 - @llofte

When FaceTime on the iPhone was released, I thought it was cool and all, but never used it. Even when my daughter was born and the grandparents wanted to see her over video chat, we always opted for iChat over FaceTime. Since the release of the iPad 2, however, I have yet to open iChat. Using FaceTime on the big screen makes it easy for my daughter to recognize faces and show genuine interest. It is also very easy to allow her to "chase" my parents around the room while I keep the iPad just barely out of her reach. The cameras on the iPad 2 have received a lot of bad rap, but I am so grateful they are there for FaceTime.

NBA Jam - @ch__ad (Reader's Choice)

NBA Jam is a fun, fast-paced sport game. It is pretty over the top when it comes to slam dunks and the fact that you are able to shove the other players to steal the ball. In my personal opinion, it is my favorite 2-on-2 NBA game out there, although, it's probably the least realistic.

You can unlock old NBA starters like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are in game challenges to unlock different things within the game such as players and balls, and it is not a game you can just blow right through because some teams are pretty difficult.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Infinity Blade - @GeorgiaTiPb

If you're not familiar with Infinity Blade... wait, everyone is familiar with Infinity Blade, right? It's the hack and slash game with the Epic Unreal 3 Engine where you play succeeding generations of warriors, carving your way through enemy after enemy, mastering armor and swords and rings, until you stand victorious over the deathless kings themselves? Ring a bell?

Maybe not. I never really got into Infinity Blade until iPad 2 came out. Then I couldn't put it down. The 3D graphics and textures are just flawless and while the game play is limited, the animations are incredibly smooth and the mastering all the gear is a nice addition, as is the generational element.

If you haven't tried it yet, and have an iPad 2, give it a try and tell me what you think. (And if you don't have an iPad, don't worry -- it's a universal binary so you can buy once and play on all your iOS devices!)

[$5.99 - iTunes link]

BBC iPlayer for iPad (UK Only) - @JorjLim

BBC iPlayer for iPad is an amazing way of catching-up with BBC shows. The app has a complete list of all the shows available, which you can filter by ‘genre’, ‘date’ or ‘channel’. There is even a timeline view so you can check what show was on at the time.

After watching several programmes, the BBC suggests more shows you may enjoy as well. You can even save shows as favourites, and it will show you the latest episodes when they get released. Most shows come with subtitles and a high quality option.

Personally, I use the app for TV shows, but there is a Radio catch up option as well. It’s a perfect way to catch up on all your favourite BBC shows, when you don’t have a computer handy.

[FREE - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/llofte] or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Prowl - @iMuggle

Prowl is a growl client available via the App Store that allows you to get growl notifications from your Mac on your iPhone. In order for it to work, you'll need to purchase the Prowl app from the App Store and also download the Mac version of Prowl. You can then configure Prowl settings from your computer. You can choose which Growl notifications you'd like to push to your iPhone. For example, I want Campfire notifications but I don't want a notification about a Twitter alert, so I disable Prowl from pushing those.

The set up can be a bit tricky but once configured properly, you'll never miss an important notification again. This is great for apps that don't have push as well. The Campfire app for iPhone does not have push, so I just leave my MacBook Pro running at home and after I'm idle for 5 minutes, it starts pushing Propane (Campfire app for Mac) notifications to my iPhone via Prowl. I don't ever have to disable or re-enable them.

[$2.99 - iTunes Link]

Put Things Off - @skeetobite

I admit it, I am lazy, and a procrastinator. I have tried to fight it, but it is who I am. So when I saw a task manager called "Put Things Off: The Laid-back ToDo List to Get Tasks Done", I had to give it a try. Rather than build complex to do lists, with priorities, deadlines, etc, with Put Things Off (or PTO) you have one in-box listing all your to do list items. If you look at your list, you can either mark off something as done (and it moves to the done bin) or you can tap the "put off" arrow, and it will automatically move the task

from the in-box to the "put off" box. You aren't going to be reminded constantly about what you need to do, or should have done - instead, you can focus on the tasks you have decided to do today. Focused productivity.

Now, you can add a due date (there is a box for "todays" todo items), but the key feature is the simplicity of the in-box - do it, or put it off. You select what your procrastination line is in the settings - do you put things off for a day, or longer? There are even cute sound effects that make the app more entertaining. If you are looking for a full-featured task manager, this is not your app. But if you recognize that productivity is simply a decision of what to do and when, this app might entertain, and who knows, maybe even let you control your procrastination

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Tesco Finder– @chrisoldroyd

This little app from Tesco seems rather simple form the outside. Yes it is a store finder which enables you to find your nearest store but it goes one step further.

Once you have located your nearest store, and you're actually in there, this app will let you search for products in that store. Once the search is complete it will come back and tell you which isle and approx location on the shelf the product is.

It is pure gold when you can’t find the coffee or the strange items that your significant other has sent you for!

[Free - iTunes Link]

I-Nigma - @Alli_Flowers

I have been bitten by the bar code bug. I get emails from people using QR codes in their signatures. I now send email with QR codes in my signature. My business cards use them. When I go shopping, I scan the bar codes on products to get more information - whether I'm interested in the product or not.

I have a folder on my home screen called "scanners." I have 5 apps that read various types of bar codes. The one I like best is I-Nigma. It reads all kinds of codes quickly and accurately. The funky square QR codes, traditional bar codes, I-Nigma handles them all.

Depending on the data stored in the code, the information is either presented on screen for you to use or save, or it takes you out to the web.

If you have not been bitten by the bar code bug, download I-Nigma and take a stroll to your local Best Buy and scan some stuff just for fun. It's addicting!

[Free - iTunes link]

Crackle - @reneritchie

It has Samurai X. Which if you don't know is Roruni Kenshin. Which if you don't know has the Kyoto arc. Which if you don't know you shouldn't be reading this you should be out watching the Kyoto arc of Samurai X on Crackle, aho! It's also got Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, It's got Voltron minisodes (?!). It's got T.J. Frakken Hooker (and a bunch of other shows from the wacky old days). It's also got a ton of other movies and TV shows, which I'm guessing probably vary from country to country.

IIt's not perfect. It takes its time to start videos, and to switch to full screen. There's no AirPlay integration. And video quality isn't always that great. And Kenshin is only offered dubbed as Samurai X and not as subtitled as nature and all true anime fans intend. Hopefully that and more will be addressed in an update.

Now please excuse me, I'm in the middle of episode 53, The Giant Versus Superman: Like an Arrow Shot at a Time of Despair.

So good.

[Free - iTunes link]

Death Rally - @JorjLim

Death Rally is a similar racing game to Reckless Racing Chad’s Review for iPhone and iPad.

The basic goal in the game is to win races, which can be achieved in 2 ways: coming first in a race, or destroying everyone else racing, with a weapon attached to your car. Your car starts with a basic machine gun, which, as you play you can unlock and upgrade to, mines, snipers, missiles and more.

Each normal race is against 5 other racers, around a 3-lap track, however there are several different race modes, including ‘one round’, ‘missiles-only’, ‘head to head’ (one on one), adding a great variance to the game

With its added Game Centre support, Death Rally gives you lots of achievements to unlock and leaderboards to compare ‘FAME’ with friends.

Unfortunately, there is no multiplayer support yet, but the developers have said this will be coming in a future update, so why not pick the game up now and get some practice in.

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

QuickPix - @andrewwray

QuickPix (formally known as QuickCam) is an ultra-fast camera app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. With QuickPix, you can take up to 2 pictures per second (pps) in RapidFire Mode on the iPhone 4 or as many as 14 pps on the new iPad 2 thanks to its dual-core A5 chip. The app is primarily focused on making it easier to take pictures from your iPhone at a moments notice and comes with useful features like the ability to snap a photo while taking video at the same time.

The app feels extremely lightweight and launches very quickly -- a pleasant surprise given how long it can sometimes take to launch the camera app -- and also comes with a handy option to snap a photo upon launch to help makes sure you capture that perfect shot. Of course, you'll be sure to find all the standard camera features packed in their too, including pinch to zoom (no limit on zooming!), focus/exposure/white balance manipulation via tap commands and more. QuickPix is currently on sale for just a buck right now, so there's really no going wrong with this app. Give it a try!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/llofte] or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Instacast - @reneritchie

I'm always looking for a better way to get the podcasts I want onto my iPhone. I've given up on the iPod app and iTunes because I don't want to have to sync. I used to just stream from iTunes over 3G but there's no way to subscribe and searching to see if a new episode has been posted is a pain in the apps. I've tried Podcaster and now I'm trying Instacast. So far it's fairly similar, slightly different strengths and weaknesses but overall I like it. I especially like one feature:

I can get a list of All Episodes, sorted by release date. That means I don't have to go hunting to see what's been updated and when and think about whether I've listened to it or not. I just see what's new in the order of its newness, and since I know what I just listened to, it's easy to find something around it to listen to next.

For commutes or long trips, that's all I want.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Eye TV – @chrisoldroyd

Eye TV by Elgato, is an app that requires specific hardware for it to be of any use. I have just bought an Elgato Eye TV Netstream Sat which is a small satellite receiver that plugs into a dish and then your home network. It receives all the free to air satellite television channels and converts them into a stream.

The Eye TV app for iPhone and iPad is a universal binary; so works perfectly on both platforms. Once loaded you are presented with a list of available TV channels. It also tells you what is on now and what is on next. Clicking one of the channels starts the stream and within a couple of seconds you are enjoying your TV show.

What is so special about the app is the quality of the video stream. It is beautiful, crisp, smooth and perfect to enjoy TV on your iOS device. Having previously owned a SlingBox Solo; which I though delivered awful quality TV streams; this app delivers the TV experience as it should be, perfect!

You can use this app with many of Elgato’s other TV products, however if it is not a Netstream product, you will have to have your Mac on all the time you watch TV.

[$4.99 – iTunes Link]

WorldMate Gold - @Alli_Flowers

I've been using WorldMate since my Palm os days. Although its primary purpose is as a travel aid, I use it all the time for many purposes.

Just the other day I was standing in the library at school when a student came in with a five dollar bill - in Chilean currency. He wanted to know how much it was worth, so I looked it up in WorldMate's currency converter, and was quickly able to tell him it was worth a penny. (Yes, he was very disappointed.)

WorldMate gives you the weather at home, as well as the weather in your destination city (or whatever city you want to view for any reason). It even gives you a pretty weather graphic on its home screen.

Forward WorldMate your reservation confirmation from an airline or hotel, and the information is immediately entered into WorldMate on your iPhone. My favorite part is that WorldMate tells you what gate you will pull into, and from which gate you will depart. No searching for gate agents or screens.

Book a hotel or limo from within the app, check weather, convert currency, calculate a tip, find alternate flights, book a flight, check flight status, and so much more. If you travel a lot, or even once in a while, WorldMate is a valuable tool.

[$3.99 - iTunes link]

Atari - @GeorgiaTiPb

Some of you might be into Xbox but I've always been more Atari, and the way I'm playing this new iPad version of all the classic games really isn't fair. Now I can drive around town with 100 games that I love and i'm like... well, you get the idea.

The app itself is free but you can buy different packs of games, grouped around hits like Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, etc. for $0.99 or just do what I did the instant I launched it -- buy them all for $14.99.

Adventure is my fav, what's yours?

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

QuickTumblr for iPad - @andrewwray

QuickTumblr is an iPad app that makes it easy post to Tumblr, the fast-growing blogging and social network community that has caught the internet by storm. QuickTumblr isn't a full-blown Tumblr client like the official iPhone App, but has a number of integrated features that the official app is still lacking. With QuickTumblr you can write posts in HTML or Markdown code and even use snippets from TextExpander, making the writing process more efficient and uncluttered. You can even send your markdown code, HTML or other files straight to QuickTumblr from your favorite apps with iOS file sharing built in!

The app offers additional features to streamline your posts with formatting options for making your articles rich and content-heavy, pulling from the photo-picker built into iOS for pictures and video. In addition, the app can access scheduling features in Tumblr for future posts and includes a nice group publishing option for posting to multiple accounts. It's a great value if you're looking for a good iPad Tumblr app -- give it a try!

[$2.99 - iTunes Link]

Mail Enhancer (jailbreak tweak) - @iMuggle

E-mail pretty much rules my life. I send and receive tons of e-mails on a daily basis. I heavily depend upon it for not only TiPb, but to run my business and communicate with clients. While the iPhone has a beautiful e-mail application, it isn't very customizable.

Mail Enhancer has made my life a lot simpler. It allows you to set custom e-mail tones for different accounts, adds push notifications, custom signatures for individual accounts, and much more. Heck, if you want it to, it will also read e-mail notifications to you. It's an amazing little tweak and something I recommend any jailbreaker with multiple e-mail accounts to check out.

[$2.99 via Cydia]

Tweetbot - @llofte

Tweetbot is by far the best Twitter client I have ever used. The animations and sounds that are associated with every tap really enhance the experience. Even though I wish for native push notifications and in-line photo previews, Tweetbot is my new favorite Twitter client and I can't wait to see what Tapbots brings in future updates. For more info check out my video and review.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Camera+ @elfminion

Camera+ app will let you take, edit, share, and save photos all in one simple to use application. Multiple Points of focus allows you to focus on an object to get the clarity you desire while at the same time adjusting the light in the picture to snap the perfect photo that you want. The stabilizer option gives you all the power you need to take pictures without having to worry about holding perfectly still to snap that perfect photo. The timer on this is nice. If you have your iPhone mounted on a tripod or some other device, the time gives you the option to set a countdown to get the ground or picture you desire perfect every time!

Another cool thing about this application is it not only takes awesome photos in almost any way you would like, but it also lets you edit and share photos right from the application! After you have snapped the perfect photo, you have the option to now share it on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or Email right from the application.

All around this was a great app, it was definitely worth the purchase! I will be choosing this app for all of my Photo shooting I do from my iPhone.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Zite - @ryguylawson (Reader's Choice)

I found this App this week after a story on our local news. It's called Zite and it's free on the App Store. It's back end was developed by a local Vancouver software company. It's a great iPad app, designed to be a personalized magazine. It's somewhat like Instapaper, except that it uses a magazine format versus a newspaper format. You can customize your content and have as much or as little to read through as you want. It can also link to your Twitter account and learn the topics that are of interest to you so it can customize your content automatically.

I love using my iPad for news and magazines and for the last few days this app has been awesome! For some background, I am the manager of the 911 centre for the region, and time is very very precious for me. My iPad is by my side all day, and when I get a few spare minutes to catch up on what is happening in the world, or in cyberspace, I go to my news and information apps. Zite gives me a pleasurable UI and great content (that I have self-selected and that it has learned I would likely want to see.)

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/llofte] or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Digits Calculator for the iPad + iPhone - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is the calculator app for the iPad - "Digits Calculator for the iPad + iPhone". Yes, as you can guess, this is a universal binary, but I was trying it out on the iPad since (for who knows what reason) the iPad doesn't come with a calculator. The app is pretty straightforward - you have the numbers for entry, you have a "tape" to track what you have done, you have standard options for things like percent, change the sign, memory. But the app also has a few advanced features I like. For example, you can email a copy of the tape and you can put a new "roll" of paper tape in to start a new set of calculation (while keeping the old roll intact). In addition, there are some advance math features available: square root, square function, cube function, reciprocal function, etc. Okay, maybe "advanced" was the right term...commonly used features that may not be on most simplistic calculators. But in the end, it winds up being a simple, easy to use calculator for the iPad.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Take Five - @reneritchie

This happens to me all the time. I'm listening to a podcast, something else demands my attention -- a bit of work, a phone call, an email, whatever -- and so I pause my iPhone and then... a couple hours later I realize it's still paused. All. The. Time. It happened so often I just learned to accept it.

And then I saw Take Five.

From the typically genius minds at the Iconfactory], Take Five lets you pause a podcast, music, or any type of audio playable by the iPod app, and then automagically resumes playing it later. The default is five minutes but you can start, stop, and adjust as you like.

And because it comes from the Iconfactory, it's as good looking and well thought out as it is smart.

If you have to deal with the culture of constant interruption, Take Five. You deserve it.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Atari Greatest Hits – @chrisoldroyd

This week I have chosen a games package that is wrapped in nostalgia. Atari Greatest Hits is a fantastic compilation of early console and arcade games that drags you from 2011 back to the 1980's.

If you are over 30, this is a must buy game, it has loads of original games (0ver 100) to play and literally takes me back to my childhood. Sure the graphics are basic, it stays true to the originals; I wouldn't want it any other way.

The app is free to download but the games are all purchased in-app. They can be bought as packages of 3-4 games at $0.99 a pop or you can have them all for $14.99.

Look, I can't say this any clearer, go and get it now!!!

[Free – iTunes Link]

Weight Watchers for iPhone - @iMuggle

My New Years resolution this year was to lose a couple lbs. My mom had done Weight Watchers in the past and it was extremely successful for her, so I figured I would give it a try. The Weight Watchers iPhone app has definitely helped me be a lot more rigorous about keeping track of my points and really making better decisions about what I choose to eat. If I questioned what I was eating, I didn't have to eat it and look it up later to find out it was worth a ton of points, I'd just look it up on my iPhone and know before I made an eating decision.

Not only does it have a built in points tracker and calculator, it also has a large database of restaurants with pre-calculated point values. My only peeve is that the Weight Watchers app has not been updated once in the time I've been using it and there are a lot of major places missing from the restaurant portion of the app.

Overall the app does make sticking with Weight Watchers a lot easier. It syncs with your Weight Watchers account online for easy access from your iPhone or computer. The app also contains recipe suggestions, success stories, and of course, a built-in weight tracker. Since January, I've managed to lose a little over 20 lbs. So besides the lack of updates for point values for common restaurants, I'm extremely happy with the app. If you own an iPhone or iPod Touch and are doing Weight Watchers, I highly suggest checking it out!

[Free, with active Weight Watcher subscription - iTunes Link]

iBooks - @JBaby_9783

I've been using iBooks to read a lot lately. I think iBooks is the best ereader in the App Store. I know many people will disagree with me on that point, but let me try and persuade you. Please keep in mind that my pick is about the app and not the iBooks Store. iBooks is simple and looks stunning. It doesn't rely simply on the store for content. All the books I've been reading lately haven't come from the iBookstore at all. Now you are probably asking yourself why doesn't she just use Stanza to read her DRM-free ePubs? Well the reason is simple, Stanza doesn't sync my place between my iPhone and iPad. There are other apps that sync your place but none, that I know of, sync your content that hasn't been purchased from them. That is iBooks killer feature.

There are some things I don't like about it app though. I wish the status bar would disappear so there could be a fullscreen mode. Tapping the center of screen to calls up the settings. That action could also bring up the status bar. Finally, I wish there was a night mode. You can get around that by turning Sepia off and setting your Accessibility triple click to White on Black. iBooks' killer feature trumps these very minor complaints. Give iBooks and its killer feature a try and tweet me to let me know what you think!

[Free - iTunes link]

SafeSync - @Alli_Flowers

Best discovery at CTIA 2011. SafeSync is the newest offering from our friends at TrendMicro - the antivirus people. While the service is not free, the iPhone app is. Why is it better than Dropbox? You don't need to have copies of the files you want stored in the cloud. You don't need to create separate folders to sync. If you want your music folder sync'd, just put a check by it in the settings.

SafeSync syncs in the background, and while the initial sync takes a while (depending on your connection speed and the number of files you're backing up), once the initial backup is complete, it will automagically back up changed/added files without your having to do anything. Of course, you can access your files from anywhere. You can log on to your SafeSync account from any desktop (pc or Mac) or your iPhone, via the app.

From the iPhone app, you can view your photos, or even listen to the music you have stored. This is cloud computing at its absolute finest.

[Free - iTunes link]

Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard - @andrewwray

My pick this week is the Apple Wireless Keyboard, not only because of its simplicity and mobility in nature (thin is in!), but also because it's built like a tank and can take a real beating without showing any signs of abuse. I've been using it over the past six months after I got the first iPad and realized I needed something more than the software keyboard for certain tasks that required heavy text input.

Every morning before heading to work, I throw the keyboard into my bag along with a number of other items. I won't hesitate to say that if this were any other standard keyboard, it'd probably be broken by now. Yet my Apple keyboard doesn't even have a scratch on it! The build quality is top-notch, as with anything you'd expect from Apple, and I'd highly recommend picking one up if you're looking for a better way to type on the iPad. And yes, it works with the iPhone too!

[$69 -- Apple Store]

SoundTracking -@MsLafleur82 (Reader's Choice)

SoundTracking is a new an exciting way to explore, discover and share your taste in music. It allows you to share music from iPod library or "Shazam" a song you have heard on the radio. You can also search for a song using their database to share. One of the really cool things about soundtracking is that like iTunes it gives your a friends a 30 second preview of the song you are listening to. If they feel like buying the song, they are one tap away!

You can sign in and share using Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. If geotagging isn't your cup of tea, you can choose not to sign into Foursquare. Once signed in, let the world know the soundtrack of your life. You can use the album art of the song or take a picture and add a comment for some individuality!

Soundtracking is like Instagram for music and a great alternative for Ping. You can comment, like and love a friend's musical taste without the clutter of Ping! The best thing about this app is that its free!

[Free- iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/llofte] or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

LOVEFiLM – @chrisoldroyd

LOVEFiLM is the UK version of NetFlix. Well nearly anyway. This application is reasonably simple; it allows you to view rentable movies and console games and then add them to your queue. It doesn’t offer any streaming capabilities as of yet although you can view trailers. It is a very handy app to have when your friends tell you about a must see film. You can fire up the app and add it your queue before you forget what it was called. It is a free application and it is available for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad too. The app needs to be linked to your current LOVEFilM subscription to be of any use.

[Free - iTunes link]

Comic Zeal - @reneritchie

This one was recommended by our ace TiPb Forum app reviewer, Chris Vitek (see his probably better than mine pick, above!) and I dedicate it to that angry ball of comic-loving hate, Keith Newman -- Comic Zeal for iPad. My first comic was giant-sized replica of Action Comics #1 and the first comic I bought myself was the beginning of the Dark Phoenix Saga, so I've been enjoying me some superheroics for a long time. Over the years I've stopped buying periodicals and started buying trades, then Absolutes and Omnibuses. I'd bought Marvel's awesome DVD dumps off Amazon years ago but never really enjoyed reading them on a PC.

A post-PC, however? Well, true believers, that's a match made in heaven. Whether you've also bough a ton-o-PDFs or acquired CBR and CBZ files from series of tubes, Comic Zeal is a great way to enjoy them. You can sync over from iTunes via file sharing if you absolutely have to but I just drop mine in Dropbox, hit the Dropbox app on iPad, download them, hit the action button, and tap open in Comic Zeal. (It's a universal app and while I find iPhone and iPod touch far to small to contain my comics, your mobile mileage may certainly vary.)

And then I'm in omega beaming, optic blasting, bataranging, bleed-traversing, shield and web slinging, hoary frakking hosts of hogarth incanting, bullet bouncing, speed force speeding, gamma irradiating, is-her-power-keeping-that-suit-on-ing, retconning, 4th wall busting, up up and awaying bliss.

Excelsior!

#sendgeekmeds

[$7.99 - iTunes link]

Qik Video Camera Pro - @Alli_Flowers

If you ever find yourself thinking "this is taking too long to upload to Facebook," or "I wish I'd posted that video to Twitter, too," or "it's a shame Mom/Grandma/friend can't see what I'm seeing right now," you need Qik.

I used Qik on my old Windows Mobile phone and thought it was great. You can stream video from your phone right to the Qik website. You can even get viewer comments. Once, when visiting my nephews, I had my parents watch as I streamed video from dinner so that they could join us, even if only virtually. No, it's not the same as FaceTime - it's just a one way stream. But it's more for showing what you're seeing, than interacting. It will also post automatically to your Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube account - something I find very handy, not to mention time-saving.

The latest version even includes a variety of filters, including the one in the accompanying screenshot, with a close-up popout. Filters also include, but are not limited to sepia, black and white, frost, and photo mix. The quality is good, although when viewed in full screen on your computer, it's pixely. It's still a great option for video sharing.

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Due - @andrewwray

Due is a super simple, super powerful reminder app for the iPhone. I've been using Due to replace NotifyMe 2 for all my general reminders and appointments I want to be notified of. The app delivers graceful and efficient functionality without being over-cluttered with an unfriendly UI or confusing actions, and pulls from Apple's built-in interface elements to maintain a seamless flow when using the app for the first time. When you receive a reminder notification you're taken into the app and presented with a number of options to modify the reminder or reschedule it quickly and easily without the notification actually becoming a distraction. Check out the video they did here to get a better idea of how simple it really is!

You can also setup personal timers each with their own title, which has really come in handy for me at work. I previously used the default Clock app to keep a single timer for multiple tasks, which is obviously limited by nature. A great example for multiple timers is when cooking, where Due will send a local notification when each timer is up, and you can have as many timers running as you'd like. Don't let the high price fool you, this app is a must-have for productivity junkies -- go grab it now!

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Bullfighting Hero - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is the iPhone game Bullfighting Hero. The object of this game is to proceed as a matador, building up your skills as you fight the various bulls in the arena. As you build up your skills (purchasing advances with money made from winning bouts), you start facing more and more challenging "bulls" - ones that charge faster, multiple bulls at the same time, ones that inflict more damage. This is a fun game I just found late last week, but have been playing in campaign mode each day since. There is also a survival mode where you fight wave after wave of charging bulls. This is a fun game, easy to pick, and surprisingly addictive!

[$0.99 - iTunes link

The Early Edition - @JorjLim

The Early Edition is an RSS reader, that doesn't concentrate on features, but more on how it displays the content.

It displays the RSS in a form of a newspaper, so which you can flick through and pick the stories that interest you like you would, reading a real newspaper. It comes with lots of built in RSS feeds, with, of course the option to add your own, either by yourself or in groups, so you can display multiple feeds in one paper.

If the RSS feed is only formatted to show the first view lines, you can flip the page and show the original article, as it appears on the website.

Make the app like your daily newspaper, by selecting only articles from that day, or if you've missed a couple of days you can select to see "All dates" which will show you as far back as the RSS feed will allow.

Its a great way to catch up on news and has even replaced all my other RSS readers as my morning news catchup.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

PushMail - @MarkDouangchanh (Reader's Choice)

Not everyone wants to be alerted immediately when they receive an email but there are a good number of people who do. Look out how many RIM users brag about how their emails get pushed to them right away on the Blackberry. PushMail is an app that allows your iPhone/iPod to surpass what the Blackberry can do. PushMail will notify you as soon as you get an email with a preview alert box (similar to an SMS text box) so that you can read the beginning of the email without having to open up your email. From there you can choose to view the email in your native email app or the PushMail app. PushMail will also leave a Badge on the PushMail app icon to indicate how many unread emails you have.

The App is easy to set up and works like a charm.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Grocery IQ - @Alli_Flowers

This is the sharable shopping list with all the trimmings. Yes, there's an Android version as well, so if you're in a contemporary mixed marriage (you have an iPhone, he/she has a Droid), you can still agree on what to buy for dinner. No more last minute phone calls saying "I'm stopping off at the store on my way home from work, do we need anything?" Because now, your grocery list is kept in sync and shared.

You can add items via the web portal, or on your phone. You can do it manually, or (my favorite feature), just scan the bar code of the item you need and it's automatically entered into your list! When I first installed Grocery IQ, I walked around the house scanning everything from frozen foods to health and beauty products, and it handled almost everything. It did not correctly identify bottle of rum, found no match for a tube of hand cream my sister-in-law had, and incorrectly identified a 3rd kitchen item as HD cables. Other than that, everything scanned in perfectly, including the category.

When you're at the store, you can tap the item to check it off, and when you're done, tap checkout to clear the list. This is really a powerful little app, and you can't beat the price!

[Free - iTunes link]

Teletubbies HD - @chrisoldroyd

Entertaining a 20 month old child; especially when teething, can be really hard work. This app does the job and more. Ella loves Teletubbies, (don’t ask me why) and this game provides a simple interactive experience with the four characters from the show. Children can choose to interact with the game as much as they’d like. Whether they want to make Tubby Custard, chase the Teletubbies up and down hills, or find funny noises, it’s up to them. It looks beautiful with rich colors and is very intuitive. Your young ones will love it too!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Banana TV - @reneritchie

Banana TV lets you stream content from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad over AirPlay to your Mac. (It basically lets your Mac pretend to be an Apple TV and your Mac's display pretend to be an HDTV). It comes from the gloriously ingenuous minds of Erica Sadun and Kyle Mathews and is the next generation of of the original AirPlayer hack.

And this is hella interesting for a number of reasons. Have Macs at work? Beam your presentation to them via AirPlay and Banana TV. Have a Mac Mini home theater box? Beam media right from your iPad or iPad as if it were an Apple TV (no more second class citizenship). Have friends with Macs but not Apple TVs? No problem. Beam away.

This is something Apple TV should have built into the last OS X update. They didn't. So do your Mac a favor and go pick up Banana TV.

[$7.99 - Web link]

AIM for iPad - @JorjLim

When I bought my iPad at 5:20pm on Friday, AIM for iPad was one of the first apps I installed on it. AIM for iPad is the official AIM client, but, to my surprise, it supports more networks too.

It has an absolutely gorgeous UI, for both landscape and portrait mode, that can be fully customised to your liking, by either taking advantage of it's built in themes, or adding your own photos to the background. If you don't have any friends who use AIM, you can also log in to both your Facebook Chat and your GTalk accounts, so all your friends are in the same place.

If you only use AIM, GTalk or Facebook Chat, then AIM for iPad is the ultimate IM app for you.

[Free - iTunes link]

The Daily Show - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is the Daily Show app. I am a huge fan of the Daily Show, but I don't always have time to watch it in the evening when it is on. This is why I like the Daily Show app. It gives clips and highlights of the shows, including things like quotes of the day, selected video clips. selected 60 second summary of the shows, upcoming schedules, and even a tweet feed. While I wish they had MORE video clips, this is a great way to get my daily show fix. And best of all, it is a universal app for both the iPhone AND iPad.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Smart Cover for iPad 2 - @llofte

It's been several weeks since I got my iPad 2 with a Smart Cover and I still absolutely love the Smart Cover (and iPad 2, of course!). I'm a minimalist when it comes to protecting my devices, so the Smart Cover is perfect for me. The magnetic connection to the iPad and how it automagically turns it on and off is simply brilliant. Not to mention, an iPad equipped with a Smart Cover is very obviously an iPad 2

[$39.00 - Apple Store]

City Story - @oopbuddha (Reader's Choice)

City Story is available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. A friend of mine requested that I start playing, and once I did, I've become hooked. You start with a small city and some coins, and from that you get to build and design your city. Just make sure you keep your citizens happy by providing stores and shopping and by making your city beautiful. In order to expand your city to it's maximum potential, you need to get your friends to start playing so you can link up your profiles. It's a great way to make new friends as well. I've already made one new friend through City Story.

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for my tweet each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Pimp Your Screen - @GeorgiaTiPb

I really enjoy being able to customize my iPhone background as much as possible, Pimp Your Screen allows you to do just that. I had so much fun selecting among the various wallpapers in order to get that perfect look. There is a vast amount of beautiful backgrounds that will appeal to men and women. Take this application for a spin and let me know which wallpaper you choose.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Memorable Meals - @alli_flowers

My friends love to tease me because every time we go out to eat, I take pictures of the food. Sometimes when a dish is brought out, it's like a delicious piece of art, and I want to remember it. So when I saw the app Memorable Meals, I thought it might help with this budding hobby of mine.

Memorable Meals allows you to track meals that are, well, memorable. You note what meal it is - lunch, dinner, breakfast, or if it's an appetizer. Remember where you had it and what the occasion was. Lots of room for notes, and even voice annotation. My only complaint is that you can only attach one photo per entry.

One of the nice features is the search function. Let's say you're trying to remember what you had that was especially delicious at a particular restaurant, or what someone made at a dinner party - you can easily find it.

And I discovered when using Memorable Meals tonight, that by entering the photos in an app, my friends no longer make fun of the activity. Go figure.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Consume - @andrewwray

Bjango has a lot of great apps in the App Store, but I think my favorite has to be Consume. Consume is a sort of all-in-one tracking app that lets you keep tabs on your mobile phone usage (minutes, texts, data etc), broadband use, track packages or club memberships and a number of other cool things. Recently AT&T started cracking down on unauthorized MyWi users who tether their iPhone connection to different devices without an official tethering plan. Some speculate that they're only targeting heavy data users, so I've been using Consume a lot over the past couple of days to closely monitor data transfers when I tether so I can stay under the radar.

Rene was able to talk to Marc Edwards of Bjango last year about how Consume works and some of the other cool things you can do with it, and they've done a great job of keeping the app up-to-date and functional. If you're looking for an app with awesome design and great functionality then go ahead and give Consume a try for free!

[Free - iTunes link]

Instapaper 3 - @reneritchie

Instapaper 3 is a big update to an already great app. The major focus is on social integration to aid in reading discovery but you know what, and while I'm sure many new users will appreciate that, I've grown accustomed to using Instapaper in its classical sense -- to "save" articles I want to read later. These are typically articles I come across while working that I just don't have time to read now on my Mac but hope to be able to at some point when I'm waiting with my iPhone or curled up with my iPad. It's less about discovery -- for me -- and all about getting reading done. For that it has always, and continues to shine.

There are some minor nags -- I love the tilt-to-scroll feature on the iPhone version's toolbar but it's absent on the iPad version's. It's gimmicky but cool and I'd like it on both. [Update: Tilt-scrolling can be enabled on iPad via Settings pane, Scroll mode per @instapaper. Sorry about that!] Likewise I love the pagination option on iPad and would like it on iPhone as well, along with the page-turning animation we've gotten used to in iBooks, Kindle, and other reading apps. The reason I'm bringing this up is that the developer, Marco Arment, appears to put so much thought into interface and usability. It makes you want to talk about it. For example, if you try to page and the feature isn't toggled on, it asks you if you want to turn it on. If you tap the top bar it takes you to the top as you'd expect but asks you if you meant to tap it and offers you the option to return to where you were in case you tapped it by accident.

There's so much thoughtfulness in the app that Instapaper is as much a blueprint for how to design a great app as it is a reading client.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

FX Photo Studio - @iMuggle

FX Photo Studio is available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. If you've used Instagram, you'll love this app. Just like apps like Instagram, it lets you overlay effects onto your photos. But FX Photo studio also allows you to layer effects. I spent tons of time recently experimenting with different effects and settings. It also lets you do other things like cropping, flipping, and other basic photo editing functions. If you find an effects mix that you like, you can save it to your presets tab as well for easy access later.

It's definitely a great app to have handy for anyone who edits and shares a lot of pictures online. Check it out and let us know what you think!

[$1.99 - iTunes Link]

Cooking Mana - @skeetobite

I have selected Cooking Mama as my pick of the week. Not so much for myself, but instead for my daughter who plays it ALL the time. For those unfamiliar with the game, Cooking Mama is a cooking game, where you try to prepare recipes according to the instructions. The iPhone version of the game makes full use of the iPhone features - using the accelerometer to "pour" items into a pan, using multiouch to stir, using the gyroscope to move a pan back and forth on the stove. It is actually a very interactive game. As you play, you unlock other recipes and the game gets more and more complex. There are also in app purchases for other recipes.

I will admit, I have tried it and see it as "ok". However, my daughter (7 years old) loves it, and plays it all the time on her iPod touch. So if you have a young child at home, or if you fancy yourself young at heart, you might want to give the game a try...of course, you might never get your iPhone/iPod back again!

[$6.99 - iTunes link]

Instagallery - @llofte

Since joining the Instagram crowd, I have wished it was a universal app so that I could browse the photos on my iPad. Instagallery lets me do just that. With Instagallery, I am able to view photos, like them, and leave comments. It's awesome.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

iLockScreen Maker - @RobT43 (Reader's Choice)

iLockScreen Maker is really great because it allows you take any photo on your iPhone and format it to fit your lockscreen. It's not nearly ads powerful as something like Lockinfo, but it does allow you to add some flair to your lockscreen without having to jailbreak.

You can format pictures to fit, add lots of different frames in many colors, and add calendar bars to the lockscreen.

It's quick and easy to use, and comes in a free version and a paid version (paid option has more frames and backgrounds).

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for my tweet each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Dungeon Hunter 2 HD - @skeetobite

The new iPad 2 is out, and I am sure that for the next week, you will be hearing all about it's new features, the new apps designed for it, and how wonderful it is. But in our excitement, let's not forget that the old iPad is still a pretty darn good machine, with plenty of cutting edge apps and features itself (of course, that won't prevent me from trying to get an iPad 2!). In that vein, I have selected Dungeon Hunter 2 HD as my pick of the week. A relatively new sequel to the popular and successful Dungeon Hunter app, this app takes what was good about Dungeon Hunter and adds even more deliciousness. As an action/adventure RPG game, it has many features that you would expect to see in major console games - multiple classes, cooperative multiplayer mode, unique skills and advancement options, and lots and lots of equipment and items to find. The graphics are nice, the controls are easy and straightforward, and the game itself is rather engrossing. There are also difficulty levels and "pro" clases to allow even more variability and enhanced replay. The multiplayer cooperative mode is what interests me the most - my wife like to play games like this where we "help" each other.

So while all the hoopla about the iPad 2 is nice, and the iPad 2 apps are nice (I wouldn't be surprised to see the device and the apps show up on this week or next weeks "pick of the week") let's not forget the original iPad, nor forget that it can still bring it when asked.

[$6.99 - iTunes link]

Planet Rock - @chrisoldroyd

It is a very simple app but one I use every day. Planet Rock is a UK based rock radio station, usually only available on digital radio or satellite TV. With this app you can listen on the go using either WiFi or the data connection on your iPhone.

The app streams high quality audio and also tells you what song is currently playing along with artist information. Other features are social network integration, schedule of upcoming shows, rock news, weather and a rock tribute calendar.

Planet Rock plays some amazing music from a wide array of rock artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Motorhead, Bon Jovi and lots of classic rock too. Well worth the free download if you like a bit of rock!

[Free – iTunes Link]

Wunderlist - @imuggle

Every once in a while I stumble across an amazing app by accident in the App Store. This was the case with Wunderlist. To put it short, I'm a list freak. Between TiPb, running a business, keeping clients info straight, and the 80 billion other things my brain apparently can handle, they're a necessity for my life to run smoothly.

I typically use Evernote for free form notes and ToDo by Appigo for time sensitive tasks. ToDo is powerful but I've never been a fan of the layout and complexity. I found Wunderlist while randomly browsing productivity apps. I'm extremely glad I did. Not only is it free, it offers free syncing! This is a privilege I've been paying Appigo a recurring $20/year to have. I may not be renewing it this summer.

The only thing I would like to see Wunderlist add is recurring tasks. Other than that, the UI is gorgeous and you can even choose from several beautiful backgrounds. It's easy to use and even easier to share your lists with others. You can share via e-mail or share a list and the user will be invited to join Wunderlist. This is extremely convenient for me as when I add a task to my business list, anyone I've shared that list with will see an updated list as well.

Did I mention the best part? It's free! Even the iPad HD version is available for free as well. Check it out and let us know what you think! Wunderlist has earned a permanent spot on my home screen.

[Free - iTunes Link]

WeatherAlert - @Alli_Flowers

Do you live in an area prone to changing weather? Snow storms? Flash floods? Hurricanes? Tornadoes? How about plain old winter, heat, or fog? If you're lucky enough to live somewhere unaffected by any of these things, move on to the next pick. But if you live anywhere else, you might want to take a close look at this app.

My WeatherAlert has been beeping alarms at me for two days now, as we have experienced horrible thunderstorms, flash flooding, and tornadoes. The nice thing is, you can adjust the alarms. WeatherAlert's push notifications offer the usual selections: badge, sound, alerts. You can also choose the weather type for which you receive notifications. And as you can tell from my first paragraph, there are a lot of conditions from which to choose!

WeatherAlert has consistently notified me before local news, and often before the weather actually becomes threatening. Don't get caught out in the storm. Let WeatherAlert warn you.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

GarageBand - @reneritchie

Make no mistake, GarageBand for iPad was created with three different but complementary goals in mind -- to delight and astonish users with an incredibly immersive content creation experience, to raise the bar for developers and challenge them to make mobile software of the same caliber, and to programmatically walk up to the competition, pull out a Bugs Bunny glove, fill it with a brick, and smack them back to the drawing board.

Both GarageBand and it's companion iLife app, iMovie, represent the next generation of tablet software, once again redefining perceptions on what can and can't be done with multitouch and 9.7-inches of glass and aluminum.

But that's big picture stuff and honestly, when you're laying down up to 8-tracks, tapping away on virtual drums, strumming virtual strings, tickling virtual ivory, and laying down some smoking hot vocals to top it off, you won't give a flying frak about the big picture stuff.

You'll be too busy rocking out to GarageBand for iPad.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Podcaster - @JBaby_9783

I adore Podcaster and the recent update has made this app even better. There isn't anything wrong with how iTunes handles podcasts, but I needed a way to get my podcasts while on vacation without a computer. Podcaster was my solution. I love it so much that it's become my preferred podcast aggregator. I really like how I can download, or stream, my podcasts on the fly. With the newest update watching video podcasts is even better. In addition to scrubbing through videos, I love being able to skip backward/forward 30 seconds with a single tap. If 30 seconds is too much you can tap and hold the rewind/fast forward buttons to finely tune your scrubbing. Lastly, the ability to play my video podcasts at twice the normal speed is saving me a bunch of time!

If you listen to podcasts at all this is a must have app! Podcaster is on sale so now is the perfect time to try it!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

iMovie for iPad 2 - @llofte

With the release of the iPad 2, iMovie for iPhone has be updated to be a universal app for the iPad 2 - and it's awesome. Editing video on the iPad feels so natural, and Apple has done a wonderful job with its design. I'm already familiar with editing on iMovie with a Mac, so the transition to the iPad 2 was familiar and intuitive. Most of my video editing will be done on the iPad 2 with iMovie from this day forward. Check out my hands-on video of iMovie on the iPad 2 to see what I'm talking about!

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Real Racing 2 HD - @ichadman

I have been waiting for this game on iPad and now I could not be happier! 16 cars on track plus multiplayer. A long career mode and a decent selection of cars and awesome controls make this a must-have app for any racing fan. Not only that, but if you happen to won an iPad 2, the graphics look absolutely amazing. Buy this app now!

[$9.99 - iTunes link]

Music Quiz! - @JorjLim

iPods came with a great game called Music Quiz, which played a portion of a song from your music library, and gave you 4 options to choose from. Unfortunately when the iPhone was first released, it didn’t include this iconic title.

Music Quiz! is a port of the iPod game, to iOS. You can choose to use all of your music from your iPod library, or just selected songs or playlists.

The app can play, either random points during the song or the beginning of the song. It will play for 8-12 seconds, and the longer it takes you guess your song, the less points you get.

Its a great simple little game, and lets you relive those classic iPod days.

[Free - iTunes link]

News360 - @tracym1471, reader's choice!

News360 is a free universal app that searches over 1000 news sources and presents them in a super easy way. You can read what's important or drill down to the actual source all in the app. It has a lot of great features like a GPS option to show you local events, the ability to save articles, a wiki-like built in highlighter, and excellent social network integration. The app looks totally different from landscape to portrait - going from a flowing news picture view in landscape to a scrollable list in portrait. This app rates a look, as it is a viable replacement to many single source news apps out there!

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for my tweet each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Ally's pick: Digitally Imported

I've always been a huge fan of Digitally Imported, more lovingly known to many as di.fm. I'm an even bigger fan of almost any type of electronic music. It's the main thing I listen to. I have always streamed from Digitally Imported from iTunes at home and work.

The iPhone app for Digitally Imported makes it even easier to listen to all my favorite di.fm stations. I love the fact I can use it in my car or pretty much anywhere that has a sound system I can plug into. And it has multitasking support so even if you close it out, your music will continue streaming.

For those of you not familiar with Digitally Imported and love electronic music, make sure you check it out. It is available for free but does offer a premium subscription. Current premium subscribers simply log into their accounts. If you aren't premium and would like to be, you can always purchase a premium membership in-app as well. Premium members enjoy a much higher bit rate (you really can hear a huge difference). You'll also be able to access channels like sky.fm that free users can't access.

Even if you decide to stay free, it's an amazing source for electronic music 24/7!

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes Link]

Alli's pick: Firefox Home

Firefox 4 is out in Beta for both Windows and Mac. While there are still a few things missing and add ons not yet working, the one thing it does superbly is sync bookmarks with your iPhone or iPad.

Setup takes about 12 seconds. If you haven't already signed up for a Firefox Sync account, it's as simple as putting in your email address and copying the encryption key for safe keeping. From your Mac or pc, you then click add a device and you get to enter a sync code that comes up the first time you run Firefox Home on your iOS device.

While strictly speaking, this is not a browser, Firefox Home does give you all your saved and recent links. If you have 5 tabs open on the desktop and sync, you can then see these 5 tabs from your iPhone, and go to any of them.

You can even search your browsing history from your iPhone - an awesome feature when you're away from home and can't remember the link you were browsing recently and really want to show someone, or go back for some reason.

If you are a Firefox user (and who isn't?!), this is a must!

[Free - iTunes link]

Chris O's pick: Set up as a new phone

Ok, this is not an app but it is something I have wanted to do for a while. I have been restoring from a backup with every software update since as long as I can remember. In between I have jailbroken and restored many times and I was starting to get problems. Signal strength issues, Bluetooth glitches, freezing apps etc etc.

Yesterday I decided to install iOS 4.3 GM and this time set it up as a new phone. It took ages but it gave me the opportunity to rake through my apps and delete the ones I never use. I re-synched all my media and the had to input all my usernames and passwords into apps that needed them.

This was a lengthy process from start to finish but I now have an iPhone thatt is far more responsive and less cluttered. Downside all my saved games and text messages are gone, I knew that but it was still worth it.

Chris V's pick: Little Things

Little Things is a "Where's Waldo" style game. Despite the simple concept and design, it is surprisingly fun to play! In Little Things, you are presented with a large image (a dog, wheelbarrow, scissors, sailboat, etc). You then zoom into to find out that the picture is made up of many, many smaller items, and you have to find some specific ones (such as finding 8 different sheep, or finding a watermelon and horse). You must scour the picture to find the items, tapping on them when you see them. The goal is to finish as fast as possible using as few hints as possible (the hints just sort of zoom you in to the general location where the object is hidden). Once you complete a scene, you get a puzzle piece (which you then need to arrange in the correct position to unlock further puzzles). The game keeps track of both your overall progress as well as the speed at which you are completing the puzzles. As with many games there are achievements (or badges) you can unlock - such as finishing a stage with no hints, or finding ten objects in a row with now mistakes. You can play this on your own, or with a friend, child, or spouse (or compete against someone to see who can get a faster time). It's a fun game that I have found is taking more and more of my free time recently.

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

George's pick: glif

As an amateur video-blogger, I wanted something cheap and affordable to film with, yet I still wanted HD quality. Luckily, I already had my iPhone 4 which shoots at 720p HD video - which is great, however, I couldn’t attach it to my tripod because it didn’t have the necessary screw required.

That’s where the glif comes in. The glif is a simple accessory that has 2 functions. The most important of which is, the ability to screw onto a tripod, allowing you to film or shoot with your iPhone 4 stabilised. The groove is made to exactly match the iPhone’s measurements so its a great sturdy fit, however this does mean you can’t use the glif with a case on your iPhone 4.

The glif also acts as a stand, in both portrait and landscape, and because its so sleek it fits perfectly on any desk or bedside table

[$20 - theglif.com]

Leanna's pick: 2Do

As a mom of a 6 month old, wife, writer, and math teacher, I am rather busy and I can no longer keep track of what I need to do in my head. 2Do has come to my rescue. I've never been the type to have a to-do list and actually look at it, but 2Do has such a beautiful UI that I actually enjoy looking at it. I can organize my list into separate color-coded lists for home, school, and TiPb. Setting tasks as special types of recurring items is easy and convenient. I also love how you can assign an action to an item. For example, every Friday I email TiPb staff asking them to send in their Picks of the Week, and not only do I list this in 2Do, but a quick tap opens a new email addressed appropriately to make sending the email quick and painless. 2Do is a universal app for iPhone and iPad, so with the help of Toodledo, I'm able sync data between both devices.

Seriously, I have been less stressed since introducing 2Do into my life. Now excuse me while I cross "Picks of the Week" off of my list.

[$6.99 - iTunes link]

Rene's pick: Inkpad

Developer Steve Sprang makes a bitmap painting app called Brushes, famous for being used to make several covers for the New Yorker. What's not as famous is Sprang's vector illustration app, Inkpad. Unlike painting apps which are based on pixels, vector illustration is based on paths. Blow up a bitmap painting and you get fuzzy, chunky pixels. Blow up a vector illustration and... the paths stay nice and smooth. Both types have their strengths and weaknesses -- which is why Adobe makes both Photoshop and Illustrators, and it's why Sprang makes both Brushes and Inkpad.

I found out about it from Marc Edwards of Bjango and could see instantly why he liked it. You can easily lay down paths with the pen, square, or circle tool, manipulate points and the handles that control the curves, add vector text, etc. It's not Illustrator by any stretch of the imagination but it works well and using your fingers to control vectors is loads of fun. If you want to illustrate on iPad, check out Inkpad.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Ally and George's pick: Tiny Wings

Ally: I tend to lean towards games that have a simple concept but keep you entertained for hours. Tiny Wings fits right into that category. It has beautiful graphics and backgrounds but the controls and game play are dead simple. You are a bird and you have one dream, to fly. But your wings are tiny.

You use the hills in order to make your bird propel himself high into the sky. You'll tap and hold the screen to tuck his wings and make him dive down hills. If done properly, he'll peak high into the sky after using hills to propel himself. The goal is to fly (glide) as far as you can before night falls.

It's an incredibly simple game but the graphics alone are worth the $0.99 it costs. Check it out and let us know what you think!

George: This is by far the most addicting game I have played on my iPhone! Its so simple, yet quite difficult at the same time.

Gorgeous yet basic retina graphics, extremely easy, one button controls, and amazing original background music, makes this an even more fun game to play.

Simply race against the clock, and get as far as you can, but avoid ‘night fall’ as you’ll fall asleep, and see the end of your trip.

If you think this game looks too simple, you’d be wrong, as its packed full of bonuses, like ‘fever mode’ and speedboosts, and objectives, like, getting a certain number of coins, or having to play the whole game upside down!

Pick up this game, and watch time go by, but watch out for night fall!

[0.99 - iTunes link]

Alli's pick: Soundrop

Totally free, totally mindless, totally entertaining.

The idea is to drop little balls onto tubes to make... well, sound. When the balls hit the tubes, they make a pinging sound. The pitch changes depending on the distance between the "drop" and where the ball strikes the tube.

You can change the length of the tubes to make a higher or lower pitched ping, and you can change the angle so that the balls will bounce up at a new angle where you can create new tubes for the balls to hit, thus creating more pings. If you're good, you can get the right angles, distances, and number of tubes to create simple melodies. Or you can just make annoying pinging noises.

Either way it's a nice break from anything productive!

[Free - iTunes link]

Andrew's pick: Color Splash

Color Splash is a photo app that lets you turn any picture into a black and white photo so you can touch it up with some color, making your photos unique and artistic. The effect is really quite dramatic and can turn any old photo into an inspiring piece with a 'splash' of color, redirecting the viewers' attention to the portion of your photo with color. The app also supports all of the bells and whistles of iOS 4 and the iPhone 4's Retina Display with fast app switching and high-resolution graphics.

If you want a full rundown of how the app works then check our Chris V's forum review to get a better idea of how fun it is to use. If you're looking for a quick and easy way to give your photos a new and dramatic look then head over to the App Store and check out Color Splash now!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Chris O’s pick: Movie Player

This app offers one thing that I find really useful, the ability to create video playlists. I do not understand why the built in video player for the iPhone and iPad fail to offer this simple feature.

My 20 month old daughter uses the iPad in the car to keep her entertained on long journeys. With the built in video app, I have to stop and reach over, take the iPad out of the holder, start the next video and off I go again. Using Movie Player I can create a playlist and it automatically plays the videos one after the other. Stress free driving!

Movie Player also supports lots of formats like divx, avi, flv, mov, wmv, mpg, mpeg, mpeg1, mpeg2, mpeg4, mp4, m4v , mpv, vob, ts, ogv, ogm, mkv and a few others without the need for conversion. It can be a little buggy and fussy sometimes but it is worth it for the playlist feature.

The app is a universal binary, so you only have to buy it once and it runs on the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad

[$2.00 -iTunes Link]

Chris V's pick: Weather Doodle

I am always on the hunt for nice weather apps. I don't really know why, weather is weather, but I am always looking for apps that either have a really nice user interface/display or contain all the weather data that I want available too me.

Recently, I came across Weather Doodle, which fits nicely into the former category. Weather Doodle does not display pages and pages of weather information, severe weather alerts, weather maps, etc. Instead, it has focused on graphics, and really only shows you the basic current weather (temperature, humidity, etc) as well as a five day forecast. The graphical design is reminiscent of a child's doodle (thus, the name), but it is not sloppy or poorly done. Simple but pleasing is the best way to describe it. The graphics are animated as well, so you see the rain and snow falling, the clouds moving, the sun shining. In addition, they have in app purchases available to buy other graphical schemes. If you want a simple weather app to replace the basic weather app on the iPhone, Weather Doodle is one that might be worth looking at.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Rene's pick: TouchPad

No not the terribly iPad-looking new tablet announced earlier this month by Palm HP and set to ship sometime between now and the end of the Mayan calendar (or Summer, whichever comes first), but the wonderful iOS app by Edovia that predates it by... a lot. This TouchPad turns your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into pretty much the best remote ever. It's more functional than Apple's, Boxee's, VLC's, and XBMC's combined and far better looking than anything ever produced by the company formerly known as Sony. Seriously.

If you have a Mac Mini media center or a MythBuntu box you don't even need any extra software. It just works. If you have a Windows Media PC then... well, you need to grab a VNC service but then it also just works. Well, works as in the opposite -- being lazy. One crack at TouchPad and your butt will seldom if ever need to leave the comforts of your couch again.

It's got full on gesture support, so iOS and Mac OS users will feel especially well at home. I've often asked-as-in-begged Apple for a Magic Mouse app for the iPhone. Embarrassingly, there was no need to. Edovia had already made it.

Good luck with your TouchPad HP. iOS already has a great one.

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's pick: Mediafly

Do you listen to or watch podcasts? Do you want a choice of storing them on your device (when you want), or streaming (if you want)? Do you want to be able to search from thousands of podcasts by name or genre? Do you want it all? Then you need Mediafly.

Download the free Mediafly player, and set up a free account online. It is from your online account that you will choose what podcasts you want, determine which "channel" to put them, and how many episodes you want to keep. Mediafly will even allow you to keep only those special episodes that you want to listen to again and again. Once everything is set up online, you enter your credentials in the iPhone/iPad app, and choose what you want to always download, and what you prefer to stream.

While it takes a while to set up, once it's set, your podcast listening/watching habits will change forever. And Mediafly is becoming a force in the podcast world! They currently cover iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, Android, WebOS, Blackberry, WDTV, Roku, Popcorn Hour, Boxee, Sansa, Chumby, and too many others to list. The only thing missing is AppleTV (sniff!), but hopefully we'll get that, too.

[Free - iTunes link]

Ally's pick: Gowalla

I just recently started using social check-ins again. A few months back Gowalla got a pretty awesome update. It allows you to check into multiple services at once and adds a lot of really nice UI enhancements.

The thing I like about Gowalla over Foursquare is that it isn't really a competition. It's more of building a personal passport. I love collecting new items when we are out of town and going back later to look at all the places we have been. It's more personal and I love it. It's like I have a virtual passport on my phone that I can use to collect stamps and pictures of all my adventures. If you haven't checked out Gowalla, give it a try!

[Free - iTunes Link]

Andrew's pick: Readlines

Readlines is a handy app that makes it easy to keep up with your RSS feeds at a glance by syncing with your Google Reader subscriptions and displaying a clean and minimalist review of your unread feeds. The app shows you all the information you need including the title, source, date and more on a 10-second timer before showing you the next article title. It does so in a simple and beautiful way and also lets you choose from a number of great looking fonts. If you see a story you want to read, just tap it and you'll be taken to the full story via Mobile Safari.

I've been using this app over the past few days at work to keep up with my feeds on the side. I just put my iPhone in the charging dock and take a look whenever I have a free moment. If I see something interesting and I have a minute, I'll pop into the article and continue reading. It's a great way to keep up with the news while your working or doing other activities, so go check it out!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Chris O's pick: Episodes

Episodes is a great little app to keep track of your favorite TV shows. The app provides full episode lists for each of your chosen shows, including a reasonably detailed synopsis for each.

It is a great way to keep track of the shows you want to watch and ensure you don't miss them, especially if you are outside the US. I use it to find out when shows have aired, so I know that I can go and grab them from....my sources!

The app also has recommendations which are based on the shows you have in your watch list, all in all, a nice little app.

[$0.99 - iTunes-Link]

George's pick: AppBackUp [Jailbreak]

I have joined Team Jailbreak purely because of this app.

AppBackUp backs up your saved games and settings, for apps you’ve bought from the AppStore.

AppBackUp can either backup all your apps, or individual apps, whether you want to just delete certain apps off the phone or backup all your settings and saved games before a restore.

The app is simple and intuitive to use, and saves all your files into one location allowing you to copy it off the phone so you can have a backup off all those important saved game files.

[Free via Cydia]

Leanna's pick: Instagram

I know I am late to this party, but I have finally downloaded Instagram and I'm upset at myself for waiting this long. This is not only a fantastic little photo editing app, but a great social platform as well.

Every photo has a 1:1 crop and there are many awesome filters to apply. With the tap of a button, you can share your photos to Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Tumblr, and Posterous in addition to Instagram. Just like other social networks, you can follow other members and have their photos show up in your feed where you can "like" them and leave comments. There is also a "popular" tab where you can view photos that have recieved a lot of attention in the Instagram world.

If you enjoy taking photographs, stop putting it off and download this great little app. Now!

[Free - iTunes link]

Rene's pick: PSD Viewer

Apple has thus far not seen fit to add Photoshop PSD files to their iPhone QuickView/preview system and for graphic designers, that can be beyond inconvenient. PSD Viewer mitigates that somewhat but allowing you to see PSD files. It works by hooking into the iOS 4 send-files-to action, so Mail attachments, web links, and -- in theory -- files stored online in DropBox, iDisk, etc. (I say in theory because in practice DropBox sometimes wouldn't detect PSD Viewer and so wouldn't present the send-files-to action button, which was frustrating.) Still, the ability to quickly take a peek at comps, design ideas, etc. on iPhone is huge.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's pick: Netflix

Nothing better for Valentine's Day than a sappy chick flick. Unless it's an action adventure movie with Vin Diesel, Johnny Depp, or Matt Damon...you get the idea. And how better to watch whichever movie you choose, than streaming over Netflix?

Your Netflix subscription allows you to sign into the iOS app, and view tons of classic movies on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. And while the choice of current movies isn't exactly extensive, there's still something for everyone. You can sort movies by genre: Romance, Thrillers, Action & Adventure, Comedy, Drama, and lots more.

So why not download Netflix today, and plan on spending Valentine's Day cuddled up with a good movie.

[Free with Netflix subscription - iTunes link]

Andrew's pick: Valentine's eCards

Want to surprise your significant other with a creative and romantic eCard for Valentine's this year? Valentine's eCards is the app with all the bells and whistles you're looking for! The app is pretty straightforward in its mission and lets you put together a nice eCard filled with flowers and love. You can choose from hundreds of different types of flowers from a number of categories. All you have to do is pick your flower, write a cute Valentine's Day message, send it off through email and then wait for their response!

If you're hoping for this year's Valentine's Day to go off without a hitch, then Valentine's eCards is definitely a requirement. So go on, head over to the App Store and pick up Valentine's eCards for half off through Valentine's Day -- especially if you don't want to be in the doghouse for Valentine's this year!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Brians' pick: Epicurious

With Valentines Day coming very soon what better way to treat the person you love than to cook them a home cooked meal instead of bringing them to a restaurant. It would mean more and also makes it a little more romantic with just the two of you rather than a big crowd of people. Well if you are like me cooking isnt the easiest thing in the world. But my pick this week will help make the process a little bit easier and help hopefully score you some points. Epicurious has more than 30,000 recipes from their website all contained inside this free app! The recipes are easy to follow to help prepare even something that you might think is challenging. Trust me I have used this to make food and if I can do you anyone can do it! They also have drink recipes and desserts for after dinner romance as well! So stop reading this and go get Epicurious from the app store and be romantic this Valentines Day!

[Free - iTunes Link]

Chris V's pick: Angry Birds Seasons

My Valentines pick of the week is Angry Bird Seasons. This was recently updated to include a "Valentine's Day" themed level. At this point, if you don't know about Angry Birds, you really need to read this website more! Back in Halloween, they came out with what would eventually become Angry Birds seasons - an Angry Bird variant that has themed levels for individual holidays. As you would expect, the Valentine level abounds with hearts all over the place, and like every Angry Bird level it is loads of fun to play. Go ahead and gift your significant other Angry Bird Seasons (Valentine's Day theme) through iTunes, and you will be their Valentine for a long time.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

George's pick: ColorSplash

ColorSplash is a neat little photo application that allows you to add some cool colour effects to your images, perfect for those loving pictures this Valentines day.

The app takes a photo and completely greys it out, allowing you to colour in the parts that you want to stand out, whether, thats you and your significant other on a beach, or every individual light from a night skyline, the app offers unlimited zooming, so you can be precise on what you want to colour in.

The app is super simple and quick (the picture above took me around 2 minutes to colour in)

Export your finished pictures and send it to a loved one this valentines day.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: Yelp

Still don't know where you're going out to dinner for Valentine's Day? Yelp may be exactly what you need. You can search for restaurants, read reviews, and even make a reservation with OpenTable directly in the app.

Rene's pick:

That's right. Nothing. No app for that. No site, no service. This Valentine's day put the iPhone away and give the iPad a rest. Focus on that special someone. Give them your interruption-free attention. Have a conversation. Have dinner. Have time together. Let Apple and Google take the night off so you can get the night on.

Sure it can be difficult, especially if you both are glued to your iPhones, so make it a contest. First one who even reaches for their tech loses and the winner gets a prize. (It's Valentine's day, use your imaginations. Or, you know, any of these...)

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's pick: GreenPois0n (Jailbreak)

We have been waiting for this for quite some time, but it finally hit Thursday evening - too late for some of us to try right away, but in time to install for the weekend.

This latest jailbreak tool easily jailbreaks your iPhone/iPad/AppleTV running the latest official os. While I've heard stories of it not installing Cydia for some, it loaded Cydia right up for me.

If you haven't installed it already, hit the other Ally's article on installing and get your jailbreak on! #TeamJailbreak!

Ally's pick: Due

Last week we gave away a few codes. I also had never heard of Due or tried it out. I've found it extremely convenient for little reminders. I use Appigo ToDo for projects and tasks. I use Evernote for free form note taking and lists. Neither of them provide a great quick reminder system.

For this, Due is great. If I just need to remember to call a client, send an email, pick something up, or any other random little thing - I've started using Due. It takes all of 10 seconds to add a reminder and you're done. Simple, quick, and easy! Check it out!

[$2.99 - iTunes Link]

Andrew's pick: Smartr

Twitter is a very useful service for a number of reasons, but sometimes it can get a little chaotic. Smartr for iPhone analyzes your incoming tweets and strips out all the garbage, only displaying news headlines from the links your friends tweet. The app will even display the first snippet of text from the article below the headline if you want, and does so in a way that makes using Twitter for news a seamless experience. It's given me a completely different way of consuming the news through Twitter.

When you come across something you find interesting, just tap the tweet and it will take you to the full text article. You have the ability to save interesting articles to services like Instapaper and Read It Later or publish the story to other networks like Tumblr and Posterous. You can even pin articles you want to save for reading later, right from within the app. If you have a lot of friends on Facebook who post interesting links you can also hook right into your Facebook newsfeed as well. So if you're looking for a clean, simple and streamlined way to view the news on Twitter or Facebook then you'll definitely want to give Smartr a try!

[Free - iTunes link]

Brian's pick: NinJump Deluxe

NinJump Deluxe is the newest version to the game NinJump and it is a great upgrade from the original. It has stunning crisp clear graphics and is a blast to sit and play for extended periods. The goal is to ascend the level while avoiding running into objects on the way up the level. You simply tap the screen and the ninja will jump from one side to the other to avoid obstacles. Also you can kill enemies while you jump with your intense ninja powers! The game also incorporates Game Center leader boards so you can see how you stack up compared to your friends. It is definitely a fun and addictive game and even children can have fun playing as well!

[$0.99 - iTunes Link]

Chris O’s pick: Bop It

Bop It is a simple game that most people have played before. If you haven’t played it, you basically have to follow verbal commands which ask you to push buttons, twist or pull knobs and many other things. I used to have the original version of this game and we all loved playing it in our family. This time it is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It sounds the same, but plays slightly differently. It is great fun and puts the iPhones capacitive screen to full use with different gestures for twist it, pull it etc. You can also twist the iPhone or pull it back in your hand for some of the moves.

There are two games available, solo and multiplayer then various different options after that. Since I bought the game I am struggling to put it down. Great fun!

[$2.99 - iTunes Link]

Chris V's pick: Chopper 2

My pick of the week is Chopper 2. I bought the original Chopper game when it game out, and recently bought the second version as well. It's a fun game to play - simple controls, straight forward goals, and addicting at the same time. The overall play is the same as the original version, although there are some slight differences in some of the controls. For example, you can not aim your machine gun by tapping different areas on the screen, rather than by simply aiming straight ahead. But the biggest improvement in the game is the graphics. Chopper has very simple, 2D graphics that were almost identical (or at least very similar) to the kind of graphics you might have seen in the game Choplifter (with some slight improvement based on the newer technology). Chopper 2 incorporates 3D textured landscapes, which really adds a lot to the game play. I thoght at first you would have to fly around in 3 dimensions, but the game keeps the same 2D movement graphics. In the past few days that I have been playing Chopper 2, I have found it to be rather addicting. Part pf this is due to the ease of learning and simplicity of game play. The first time I played, I was on my iPhone for about 30 minutes (until I got a low battery warning).

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: Waterlogged

I've recently been trying to make a better effort to drink more water, and Waterlogged is helping me in this endeavor. This little app allows me to log all the water I drink and watch a 64oz glass fill up with each entry that I make. After making a small in-app purchase, Waterlogged now sends me reminders to drink water throughout the day. It comes preset with a water bottle and a small 8oz glass to record, but you can also add your own cup and glass sizes (and picture) for frequent entries. If you didn't finish the full glass, select approximately how much you drank and Waterlogged will do the math and add it to your total water consumption. The visual of watching my glass fill up and frequent reminders does a fantastic job of encouraging me to drink more water.

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Rene's pick: Beluga Messenger

I hate IM. I hate it so much I really think the initials stand for Interruptive Madness. I'm incredibly easily distracted and nothing stops me working faster than someone ping'ing me on IM to talk about work. That being said, IM does have a time and place and for me that time and place was Vegas during CES. Dieter, Phil, and I set up Beluga and a CES group. Yup, me on my iPhone 4, Dieter on his iPhone 4 and Nexus S, Phil on however many Android phones he brought with (might have been 765?). Some of the writers manning the HQ also jumped on to get stories and send marching orders (looking at AC's Jerry). Sometimes it was annoying, once and a while comedic, but often it just let us get stuff done, and setting up a group cut out the chit-chat of one-on-one conversations. (No, Kevin and the CB crew didn't join in -- they shook their heads and went back to BBM. Obviously not super-appy enough for their needs!).

So while I hate IM, Beluga pulled through when we needed it to and for that it gets a pick of the week push! If you want quick, clean, albeit proprietary IM for individuals and grounds, check it out.

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's pick: Words With Friends

Words With Friends, is simply the same Scrabble we all grew up playing on a board. It scores you automatically, and with push notifications, will even tell you when it's your turn to play.

I have questioned some of the words it accepts, but for the most part it uses the lexicon found in any traditional Scrabble dictionary. The main screen is divided into games where it is your turn (top), games awaiting your opponent (center), and finished games (bottom).

While there is a free version of Words With Friends, if you are a true devoté of Scrabble, you will want to spend the $2.99 for the version that doesn't make you pause after each play to view ads. The full version also allows you unlimited games, which is especially nice if some of your opponents only make one or two moves a week. (WWF also has an HD version available for iPad.)

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Andrew's pick: Navigon Now

If you're a fan of Navigon MobileNavigator for your iPhone then you'll definitely want to check out Navigon Now, a great single-purpose app made to assist iPhone users who use Navigon as their GPS navigation system. Navigon Now is another one of those one-trick pony apps that has limited functionality and isn’t feature-rich, but at the same time is extremely useful and has become one of those apps I couldn’t live without.

If you've ever tried to manually enter an address in Navigon then you already know it can get a little finicky, involving multiple pages and steps before actually routing your destination. The app is very simple and has just one function by way of letting users enter any standard street address and launch directly into Navigon to route your destination — it even recognizes a copied address and pastes it into the input field upon launching the app! So if you're in Maps, just copy the address, launch Navigon Now and it will open Navigon and navigate to that address. Navigon Now makes the overall process of navigating to any given address in Navigon much easier. Also check out TomTom Now which, you guessed it, does the same exact thing but for the TomTom GPS app.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Brian's pick: DirecTV

My pick of the week is the DirecTV app. I recently made the switch over to DirecTV and I've got to say I have loved having their app on my iPhone. I always seem to be out when a show that I have been waiting weeks to watch airs for the first time. My problem is I tend to forget to set a recording for it because I figure I will be home to watch the show. Well now if I forget I can simply launch the DirecTV app and set my receiver to record the show. You can also browse shows and movies using their simple interface. If you have DirecTV there is no reason to not have this free application on your iPhone to help you never miss a show or movie again!

[Free - iTunes Link]

Chris V's pick: Science Mobile

I recently downloaded the free app form the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They publish a weekly professional journal, SCIENCE, that is pretty well known among researcher (it has one of the highest impact factors out there, up there with Nature and PNAS). They have recently come out with a great app, called "Science Mobile", that bundles a few nice features for people interested in the scientific fields. With the app, you can read summaries and abstracts from the most recent issue of Science Magazine, email yourself full links, get news clippings from ScienceNOW, and access various multimedia resources, including podcasts. While it doesn't give you a free subscription to the magazine, it is a useful app for people who want to keep on top of things, or people who do have a subscription but don't always find the time to look through each issue. In addition, if you are looking for a job in the field, it contains job opportunities from the website Science Careers.

AS the iPad and iPhone develop, I hope to see more and more professional services, apps, and features like this that would benefit people beyond the Busienss/Tech areas. Other apps (like Inkling) have started to look into the school/student area, but I hope that we continue to see more for the research professional/professor! But that's for the future. Now, Science Mobile is a great way to start keeping abreast on issues and cutting edge research in just about every scientific field.

[Free - iTunes link]

George's pick: TVCatchUp Web App (UK Only)

TVCatchUp is a free service that allows you to watch free Live TV on your iOS device. The service requires a free sign up, and will stream, most of the 30 FreeView Channels.

With a simple user interface, all you have to do is select the channel you want, and it will start streaming, in high quality, whether you are on wifi or 3G.

So when all you have is your iPhone or iPad for entertainment, use the TVCatchUp web app and you can watch all the TV you want, wherever you want.

[iphone.tvcatchup.com]

Leanna's pick: ArtStudio for iPad

I am by no means an artist, but I still enjoy drawing and painting with ArtStudio. Combined with my Ten One Design Pogo Sketch], it is more enjoyable to draw with this app than with real art materials because I can easily undo my many mistakes and not have the mess associated with paint. ArtStudio does a fantastic job of looking authentic with its customizable brushes and layers. And for non-artists like myself, there are lessons that teach you how to draw. If you or your child love to draw, check this one out!

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Rene's pick: Apple Store App

Apple's App Store app, tragic icon aside, is one of those apps I tend to ignore... until I need it. No, not for shopping, I still ignore that. However, whenever I have a problem with my iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Mac I go run to it like a victim in a horror movie. SAVE ME!

Then, with just a couple taps, I have my local Apple Store loaded up, I can see when the Genius Bar has a free appointment, I can book it, and I can have it remind me when I need to be there. It's part convenience, part location, and all awesome.

(Yeah, it's disappointingly US App Store only but since, like I said, I don't care to shop with it I just grabbed it and it works fine for store appointments in Canada anyway).

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Ally's pick: LockInfo 3.0

LockInfo and BiteSMS are the single 2 reasons I can't live without jailbreaking. Little tweaks and customizations I can do without, LockInfo I couldn't be without.

I was able to take a first look at LockInfo 3.0 before it was released to the public (it's currently in public beta). This is a huge update to an already great app. The update adds themes, favorites, calendar status bar alerts, and more. If you're a jailbreaker, make sure you check it out. There is a 14 day free trial as well.

[$7.99 via Cydia]

Brian's pick: Chopper 2

Chopper 2 is a very fun game not only available on iOS but also on the Mac App Store as well now. There are 36 missions that take place on 12 different levels. Your job is to escot vehicles across levels, defend different items from enemies, and even pick up civilians with your helicopter. The game allows you to use your gyroscope as well for increased controls. It features leaderboards and achievements and is universal across all of your iOS devices which is the best part! But are you ready for my favorite part about this game? If you buy the Mac version you can sit back with your computer and use your iOS device as a remote to play the game with rather than the keyboard! I tried it out and it took a bit of getting used to but I love it now! This game actually got me away from Angry Birds believe it or not! It is insanely fun so give it a shot!

[$0.99 - iTunes Link]

Chris V's pick: Ultimate Hangman

Over the last few days, I have been playing Ultimate Hangman with the family. This is a fun, well designed hangman game with a single or multiplayer mode. In single player mode, you can choose from a list of word categories (animals, SAT words, verbs, etc) although sometimes the words don't quite match the categories. In multiplayer mode you can choose words for each other to try to guess. My wife and I have been focusing on playing three letter word hangman, which is actually much more difficult that you might think!

This hangman game has multiple background themes, including "chalkboard", "snowman", and "flower power". My favorite, however, is "doodle", where the hangman comes to life as you are trying to guess the word. Nothing like seeing the little hangman throwing up his arms in disgust or putting his thumb and pointer finger on his forehead like an "L" when you guess the wrong letter! I do wish the multiplayer mode had options like keeping track of scores or selecting a specific number of games to play (it just goes on and on right now) but it still is a great way to pass the time. Best of all, the app is a universal binary, so you can play on either your iPhone or iPad!

[Free - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: Starbucks Card Mobile

I go to Starbucks every morning that I teach and, until now, I would rummage through my bag for my Starbucks card while in line. Now, I browse email, Twitter, and Facebook, order my drink when it's my turn, launch the Starbucks Card Mobile app for the barista to scan, instantly check my updated balance, and head out to class. Quick. Simple. Perfect.

[Free - iTunes link]

Rene's pick: XBMC for Apple TV, iPad [Jailbreak]

I ran my original Xbox for a long time, longer than Microsoft supported it, longer than it ought to have been run. XBMC was the reason. Originally Xbox Media Center, it showed that independent software could not only do more than Microsoft at the time (and much more than Apple who hadn't even tried yet) but do it better and more elegantly. XBMC was a set top workhorse, and thanks to XMBC we now have Plex, Boxee, and a slew of independent and open source media center software that almost always supports way more than established companies and their Hollywood overlords will allow.

And now it runs on Apple TV and iPad.

It does require a Jailbreak, which is an admittedly tethered pain in the ass for Apple TV on iOS 4.2 right now, but the leap in functionality is transformative. At $99 it literally turns Apple TV into the best deal in set top and that's saying something.

Hopefully the install process will become as easy as ATV Flash but either way, XBMC is what a lot of home media lovers have been waiting for.

[Free - XBMC]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's pick: Virtual Guitar Free

It has been said that all the great hits can be played using the same 3 chords. There was even a youtube video proving the point. So now you can play all the hits and then some!

I found this thread in the forums and gave it a try. I used to play a bit of guitar, so I was interested. You are limited in your choice of chords in this free version, but you can actually pick individual strings on the virtual guitar so that you can do some nice effects - works really well for songs like House of the Rising Sun.

So if you've ever wanted to play guitar without the headache of learning which fingers go where, or lugging around the guitar, or miss playing occasionally - you'll love this.

[Free - iTunes link]

Ally's pick: 1Password

I have a LOT of passwords. I never use the same password for more than 2 sites. Things that are super sensitive, they have their own. It can get tedious keeping track of them. Enter 1Password.

1Password not only saves passwords and identities, but can auto-fill forms for you. I use the iPhone and iPad app in conjunction with 1Password for Mac, which also has auto-fill. When it comes to saving your password data, it can sync with Dropbox to create a backup file or you can manually save a copy to a computer. So if you ever need to restore, you're critical password data is safe.

There are several price points for 1Password, so I won't list them all but the iPhone only version currently runs $9.99 while the iPad and iPhone universal binary (1Password Pro) runs $14.99. I also own a Mac license (which is a great investment). The Mac single license (and PC) is $39.99. There's also family packs available as well.

[$9.99 - iTunes Link]

Andrew's pick: Fast Food Calories

Fast Food Calories is a great nutrition guide for the iPhone that has over 9,000 menu items from a huge selection of restaurants. The app delivers nutrition facts for just about every item on the menu from places like Wendy's fast food to the Olive Garden restaurant, and it even has my favorite - Denny's!

If you're trying to keep track of your intake or want to make sure you're sticking to your new years resolution to lose a few extra pounds in 2011, this app will definitely help you along the way. It has a familiar interface with icons and pages similar to the iPhone springboard, and selecting your menu item is as easy as 3 or 4 taps. You can get the free version now, or upgrade to the pro version ($1.99) to get features like search and to remove the ads. Check it out!

[Free - iTunes link]

Chris O's pick: SoundTouch

This week I have chosen an app that my 18 month old daughter loves to use on the iPad. SoundTouch is a relatively simple application that has a grid of cartoon icons representing various animals, forms of transport musical instruments etc.When your little one clicks on one of them, a real picture appears and an actual real life sound plays. Each selection has a number of different pictures and sounds attached to it.

This app provides a great way for your little ones to identify everyday objects by the sounds they make as well as how they look. The app is a universal binary; so looks great on the iPad as well as the iPhone and iPod Touch. Trust me, your little ones will love this!

[$2.99 - iTunes Link]

Chris V's pick: The Simpsons Arcade

I just downloaded the classic Simpsons Arcade game, by EA. I remember playing this arcade game in..well, the arcade back in the 1990's, and the version of the game in the iPhone is pretty faithful to the original. The game is a classic 1990's "beat 'em up" scrolling screen game (like that classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game), where you travel from level to level (and world to world) beating up opponents as the screen scrolls by. Along the way you can pick up various things like a health boost (a donut) or even use parts of the background (like a mailbox) as weapons. The best thing about this game is the use of the Simpson's characters and locations. There is nothing like playing Homer and beating up Chief Wiggum or Krusty the Clown. And just like the arcade version, there are small minigames in-between some of the levels that are fun to play!

Unfortunately the game doesn't include the option to play as other characters (as you could do in the arcade version) or to have multiple people play (the original version could have four players at a time). But even playing by yourself can be fun for a real Simpsons fan. The controls are smooth, the graphics are good (in the classic 90's arcade sense), and the sound is direct from the Simpsons TV show. It's a fun game for any Simpsons fan, even if it is lacking a little bit from the original arcade version.

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: White Noise Lite

Sometimes the only thing that will put my 4 month old daughter to sleep is white noise. Those are the times I am extremely grateful for White Noise Lite and the 10 different noises it includes. My daughter isn't particularly picky, but for adults who have trouble sleeping, you can mix and match these sounds to make a new sound customized just for you. If 10 sounds aren't enough, check out the full version of White Noise which comes with 40 sounds - that's thousands of different noise combinations you can create. White Noise Lite also has timers to turn off the noise, set off an alarm, or exit the application. If you or your infant benefit from white noise for sleep, check this one out!

[Free - iTunes link]

Rene's pick: LockInfo (Jailbreak)

Sometimes you don't realize how much you'll miss something until it's gone. That's me right now following the loss of my Jailbreak and hence my Jailbreak/Cydia apps like LockInfo. I updated to the iOS 4.3 beta and haven't had any luck re-Jailbreaking with the unofficial pwnagetool so I'm stuck on stock and it's made me realize how much I'd come to depend on glance-able data like the mail and message icons in the status bar or the list of events and email on the lock screen.

Yes, it is a little WinMo Today screen. Yes you could choose to set it to pull down like Android's notification curtain. And yes Apple hired the guy who designed webOS' superb notification system and we just might see something official at the iOS 5 sneak preview event in a couple months. But damnit I want my LockInfo back now. Today.

Check out Ally's LockInfo how-to for more on this amazing app. Now here's her screenshot because mine is gone so I can't take one of my own.

(What, you thought I was going to pick the Verizon iPhone?

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's and Brian's pick: Skype

Alli: Skype recently updated its iOS app to include the ability to video chat over 3G. While video over 3G is mediocre, video over WiFi is great. I've found that lately I'm using Skype on my iPhone more often than Skype on my desktop.

Skype was even able to come to my rescue recently, when I had no voice or data with AT&T at the Cincinnati airport. Once the plane was at cruising altitude and the captain turned on WiFi, I was able to use Skype to send an sms to my parents to let them know where I was.

Brian: Skype may not be the newest application around but it is for sure my Pick of the Week. With it's latest update they have finally enabled video calling from your iOS device and it is a much welcomed feature. Most of my friends and family from back home don't have an iPhone 4 so video chatting for them to talk to my daughter or to see your truly wasn't possible with my phone. That being the case I hardly ever used my front facing camera. Well now that Skype allows video calls I have found myself using my front camera at least once per day to talk to the folks or other friends and family members. So if you haven't updated yet or don't have the Skype app yet it is well worth the download!

[Free - iTunes link]

Ally's pick: Tapatalk

I love browsing forums, especially interacting with members of the TiPb forums. Sometimes work and other things keep me away from a computer and browsing forums on a mobile device has not always been the best experience.

Tapatalk sets out to solve that. As long as the forum supports the plug-in, you'll be good to go. I've noticed more and more forums adding Tapatalk support every day. It's extremely fast (even over AT&T Edge for you poor saps like me that live in an area where 3G is severely lacking).

It even supports moderator accounts. I love the fact that if I need to quickly moderate, I can do so from my device just as easily as I can from a computer now. If you're a heavy forum user, it's definitely worth checking out!

[$2.99 - iTunes Link]

Chris O’s pick: The Sun

The Sun is a national tabloid Newspaper in the United Kingdom and there is now an official iPad app. The app comes with a 30 day free trial with no need to sign up, so it is well worth taking a free look.

The newspaper does not have the best reputation, but does do a good job covering sporting events. One of the great features however, for many of The Sun readers, is the page 3 girl. Basically a topless model adorns page 3 every day of the week (except Sundays). The app for iPad goes a little further and offers the page 3 girl in a 360 degree view. You can swipe to rotate the picture right round.

The app is free to download and once you fire it up, it downloads the day’s paper when you click on it, shame it is not automatic! Well worth a look, to keep abreast of the latest news and sport.

[Free - iTunes Link]

George's pick: Paperless

Paperless is an outstanding, unique list making app.

You have the choice whether you want to make a ‘checklist’ or a simple ‘list’. Checklists are great for to-do lists and shopping lists, and the ‘lists’ are great for leaving yourself notes, like quotes or ideas.

What makes Paperless great, is that it includes over 300 custom made icons and 5 themes, that make your lists eye-catching, unlike traditional checklist apps, which just show text, which can be boring.

Selected lists can be shown as a ‘bubble’ on your home screen, so you have a realistic look on all the selected, important, things you have to do, instead of everything at once.

While not supporting ‘cloud’ storage. You can send yourself an email backup of your lists, so if you lose your phone or delete the app, you can always re download the lists.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: iTouch Gloves

While at Macworld 2010, Rene and I checked out iTouch Gloves - leather gloves that work with the capacitive screen of the iPhone and iPad. I finally got a pair for Christmas this year and love them!

The iTouch Gloves look like normal leather gloves but work wonderfully with my iPhone and iPad. They are much warmer than I was expecting. I had also expected typing on the iPhone's small keyboard to be difficult, but not so! I do have to type a little slower to prevent mistakes, but I'm still remarkably accurate considering I'm wearing gloves.

If you live in cold weather, these gloves are a must-have!

[iTouch Gloves]

Rene's pick: mophie juice pack

Whenever I attend a trade show, like CES 2011 this week, my iPhone 4 battery gets hit like a freight train. First I use my iPhone so much because I'm constantly on the go, recording media, keeping up on Twitter, and -- oh ya! -- checking up on TiPb.com from the road and the show floor. Second, these shows are flooded with iPhones making AT&T's sometimes tenuous service into a full on disaster-- my iPhone radio has to fire so hard, so often, I can literally watch the battery drain from the time I unplug until the time I finish breakfast.

So, as usual, I brought 2 mophie juice packs with me, this time for iPhone 4 and both the juice pack air and the juice pack plus. The air got me back to 75% or so, the plus to full charge. I typically went through both every day and that's literally the difference between me getting the job done for TiPb or being left high and dry with a dead phone.

Air is $79, plus is $99. Both are well worth it for road warriors or anyone else who just can't -- or won't -- put their iPhone down.

[Mophie]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

This week, we have chosen apps that will help us keep our new year's resolutions. To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's Pick: WorldMate Gold

Stranded in NJ between Christmas and New Years, my New Year's resolution is to never travel without WorldMate. It kept me far more informed as to gate changes and flight cancellations than my airline did, and was way more helpful in finding alternate flights, and hotel arrangements.

If you travel, WorldMate is a must. It is jampacked with essential travel aids. Email your itinerary from the airline or travel agent to your WorldMate account, and all your terminal/gate/connection details are at your fingertips. You can book a hotel right from inside the app, find out the weather at your destination or current location, calculate tips, convert currency, or book a limo. It even tells you who lives near your trip, so if you get stranded you know who to call for help. WorldMate - don't leave home without it!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Ally's Pick: Evernote

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to become more organized, Evernote is a must. I've been using Evernote for almost 2 years in conjunction with ToDo by Appigo. I've managed to stay organized and on top of things whether it's work, development timelines, or simple things like groceries and shopping. While programs like ToDo can be used for projects and time sensitive affairs, Evernote is by far my favorite tool for free form note taking and remembering everyday things.

Evernote also has Mac and PC software you can use as well. We now keep all grocery lists and home tasks in Evernote. I use it to save pics of bar codes when I'm price shopping as well. I have over 50 tags in Evernote and I can filter my notes by tag. Chad and I are hardcore supporters of Evernote for a reason. It's simplistic, powerful, and syncs seamlessly across many platforms.

Evernote is free but you have the option to add additional monthly storage for an additional fee as well. I've always done just fine with the free version.

[Free - iTunes Link]

Andrew's pick: Weightbot

Weighbot is the perfect daily weight tracker for those looking to lose a few extra pounds for their New Years resolution! The design of the app is superb, with input mechanisms that come natural to the user and a top-notch UI scheme -- something you'd expect from Tapbots, the team behind Weighbot and other iOS releases like Convertbot and Pastebot. If you've ever used other Tapbots apps, you'll feel right at home when using Weightbot.

With Weightbot you can do cool things like check your BMI as you enter your weight on a daily basis or view your weight history on a graph by rotating your iPhone, and there are a ton of options. What I love best about Weightbot is the backup/restore system they have in place, where If you ever need to restore your iPhone or iPod Touch and don't restore from a backup in iTunes, there's no need to worry about losing any of your history. So if you're trying to shed a few pounds for the new year -- or even a few inches -- then Weightbot is the app to help you achieve your goal. Go grab it now!

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Brian's pick: Bills ~ On Your Table

Bills ~ On Your Table is the perfect app to get your finances on the right track and keep track of all your bills for 2011. It supports all 170 currencies, supports auto payments, and has a lock to protect your information along with many other features. It is perfect for bills such as car payments, mortgages, credit cards and many more types of bills. It will help you keep track of what is due and when so you won't miss a payment and it will help keep your credit and finances in tact!

[$3.99 - iTunes Link]

Chris O’s pick: RunKeeper Pro

At the start of every New Year, I always have "Get Fit", top of my list of resolutions! This year I mean it and thankfully there is an app for that. RunKeeper Pro is a great app that will let you log all your running efforts and many other activities too. It is automated by utilizing your iPhone's inbuilt GPS. The app also allows you to upload your run data to an online service where you can view your run routes and all the statistics that you could ever need. With this app I can set some goals and start my fitness resolution off on the right track in 2011. Even better, the app is free until the end of January 2011, it is usually $9.99.

[Free - iTunes-Link]

Chris V's pick: Lose It!

Lose It! is a nice weight loss/diet tracking app that has a nice set of robust features. A nice database of foods (both restaurants and name brand food) along with a tool for inputing your own foods is included. Exercise tracking allows you to keep track of additional caloric burning. One really nice feature is that you can join up with friends to share you weight loss progress and status, since dieting and losing weight is always easier when you are doing it with someone.

Other features include a weekly log, options for choosing specific nutrients to track, adjusting your goals, even putting on recipes and creating dropping lists based on your diet choices. The app makes it just about as easy as possible - now I just need to get off my lazy ass and do it myself!

[Free - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: Baby Geek

One of my resolutions for the new year is to be more organized, which means it's time to start keeping better track of my daughter's health habits. Baby Geek will help me do just that.

Baby Geek is a universal iPhone and iPad application that helps parents keep track of when their children eat, sleep, and get their diaper changed. You can also record the weight, height, and head circumference measurements of your child and view progress charts as well as see what percentiles your baby falls into. In addition, Baby Geek has a check off list of developmental milestones and much more.

There is no way I'm disciplined enough to keep track of all this with pen and paper, but with the help of Baby Geek, my daughter's pediatrician may finally not be a little disappointed in me at her next appointment.

Rene's pick: Todo

I'm remarkably disorganized for someone who's life demands so much organization. Maybe it's a form of rebellion, maybe it's a cry for help, maybe it's just my desire to impose chaos on the world around me, but my usual method for getting things done is to wait for crisis than do whatever is screaming loudest for whomever is screaming loudest. But my brain is getting softer, time is going faster, and things that need doing just won't stop needing being done. Enter Todo.

There are lots of task management apps for iPhone and iPad and I've tried -- and neglected to use -- almost all of them. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses but most of the top ones provide all the key functionality you'll need. My resolution is to pick one and use it. Right now Appigo's Todo is on sale for $0.99. In a world of $10-$30 task managers, that's a steal. (Really, I feel like I need to put a few extra bucks in an envelop and mail it to them!)

If you want to better manage your time and tasks in 2011, check it Todo.

[$0.99 on sale - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know which apps will help you keep your new year's resolutions!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked this week, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Ally's Pick - Doodle Jump Christmas

Who doesn't like Doodle Jump? Lima Sky has been ever faithful about issuing updates for well over a year now. This time they did it a bit different and released Doodle Jump Christmas as a separate app. (Users of the original version still have a Christmas theme.) At first I was a bit skeptical to download the Christmas edition, but I'm glad I did. The graphics honestly are better and the new monsters are awesome! Hopefully this app will get updates for other holidays as well. I hadn't played Doodle Jump in several months and the Christmas edition has got me hooked again. It's also got GameCenter integration so you can try and out jump your friends as well. It's a great addition to the ever growing holiday line-up of games. Between this and Angry Birds seasons, I'm less productive than ever!

[$0.99 - iTunes Link]

Brian's pick: Netflix

Netflix is my Christmas pick of the week even though it is not a Christmas app per say. However I am picking it due to it's functionality for parents as the holiday season means a lot of travel typically. With the Netflix app on your iOS device you can allow your kids or even your bored spouse to watch Christmas movies to get into the holiday spirit even more while traveling to or from friends and family. There are plenty of Christmas movies available to be viewed which will make travel that much easier and more pleasant!

[Free - iTunes Link]

George's pick: Is It Christmas?

Do you or your kids keep waking up, thinking, "Is it Christmas Yet?" What hassle it must be to rummage through a calendar trying to work out what day it is.

Well, there's an app for that.

Is It Christmas? - Does exactly what it says in the tin. Its a very simple, amusing app that tells you if it is or isn't Christmas.

The app boasts full Retina support and accelerometer support, as well as local push notifications, so you don't even have to open the app to see if the day has come.

The app was recently updated to included an iPad version to tell "Is it Christmas?" so you can see if its Christmas in HD glory.

Its not the most productive app ever, but its funny for a laugh here and there.

[Free - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: Angry Birds Seasons HD

As a member of the addicted to Angry Birds club, I could not turn down Angry Birds Seasons HD. The "Seasons Greedings" level pack is like an advent calendar - each day unlocks a new level ending with Christmas Day. I love this because I can focus on achieving 3 stars every day without being tempted to move on to the next level. A new Angry Birds level was a great way to add some more cheer (as well as frustration) to my countdown to Christmas.

Rene's pick: FaceTime

Apple didn't invent the front-facing camera phone (I believe Nokia did, back in 1812 or somesuch) but with FaceTime they did what they always do -- made a fringe technology mainstream. You pick up your iPhone 4, iPod touch 4, or go to your Mac, pick a contact, hit a button, and -- boom! -- you're looking at friend or family member across town or around the world.

It's no surprise Apple has spent half of the iPhone 4 commercials showing off FaceTime and hitting those emotional and nostalgic notes. These are Kodak moments made live and made motion. Grandparents and grandkids, fathers and mothers and sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends new and old, FaceTime brings them together and to life.

This year, if you have or just now get an iPhone 4, iPod touch 4, or Mac, turn on FaceTime, get on Wi-Fi, and call up someone you love. That's what the holidays are all about.

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your Holiday pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked this week, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's Pick: Bejeweled Blitz

The very first app I purchased the day I bought my iPhone, is still the one I use every day. Bejeweled has long been a favorite of mine. The Palm and Windows Mobile versions weren't cheap, but in iTunes, it's only 99 cents.

While most of you are probably familiar with the basic concept - match coloured jewels in rows to clear jewels and score points. Bejeweled has improved greatly even since I first purchased it for iPhone. It now includes the Blitz, which you play against your Facebook friends. Nothing better than a little friendly competition, and no better way to compete with your friends than in Bejewled Blitz.

Earn bonus coins either on Facebook or your iPhone, and use them to buy "boosts" to help give you that competitive edge. Bejeweled is simple, yet highly entertaining, and incredibly addictive. If you are one of the few people left who doesn't already own Bejeweled Blitz, now is the time to hit the iTunes link and spend the 99 cents.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Ally's Pick - Droplr for iPhone

Droplr for iPhone is a utility that allows you to quickly upload a video or image and create shortened links. You can then view stats and share content you have uploaded in numerous ways. Not only do they have an iPhone version, but a desktop version. I can simply drag an image or video to the icon on my Mac desktop and it'll copy a link to the clipboard automatically. This is much easier opposed to using Twitpic or another service that makes you manually upload pictures.

Droplr for iPhone also shows you how many times one of your links has been viewed. You also have the option to email, tweet, or copy the link to your clipboard. I've been using this service for about 3 months now and I love it. It's by far the easiest way I've found to sync content I've shared between devices and computers. Setup is easy and syncing is seamless. Give it a try!

[$3.99 - iTunes Link]

Brian's pick: PhoneCloser [Jailbreak]

If you are like me and get bothered by the little things the iPhone seems to do wrong then PhoneCloser is the perfect tweak for your jailbroken iPhones. If your phone is locked and you receive a phone call, once the call ends and you unlock your phone it automatically opens to the phone app. I found this to be incredibly annoying. Granted it's not hard to hit the home button and get out of it but I feel like I shouldn't have to do that. PhoneCloser simply will close the phone app at the conclusion of the call. When you unlock your phone you will be greeted by your springboard/home screen rather than the phone app. This tweak installs no icons and has settings you can configure through the settings app. Best of all is this is a free tweak currently available in the Cydia Store.

Chris O’s pick: Google Mobile

I have chosen this app for one main reason. The search function using pictures is absolutely brilliant. I was given lots of company branded calendars to give out to my customers this week; each month had a photograph of a beautiful building, some I knew most I didn’t recognize. I fired up the Google Mobile app and took a picture of each building and the app identified every one of them perfectly.

I was extremely impressed and that is the reason for this pick of the week. Oh and it does a lot more - like easy access to your usual Google apps and voice search.

[Free – iTunes Link]

Chris V's pick: Jenga

My pick of the week is Jenga. Ever since I saw the iPhone 4 demo this past summer (when Steve showed off the gyroscope with a Jenga-like game) I have been waiting for the game to come out in the app store. In the app, you can play Jenga with multiple people taking turns. In my opinion, this is the best way to play, although there is also an "arcade mode" where you can match colored tiles for extra points. The app doesn't take advantage of the gyroscope function like we saw with Steve's demo, but I hope this might be an "super difficult mode" that might appear in future edition (imagine having to keep the iPhone vertical to prevent the tower from falling). I can easily see how this version could be a fun, party-game type of activity.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Farbod's pick: Eternal Legacy HD

As more and more console quality games pop up on both the iPhone and the iPad, Gameloft adds a stunning JRPG to the mix with Eternal Legacy HD. Being a turn-based RPG junkie, I am thrilled that finally a quality, classic style, JRPG has been made for iOS even if its not by Square-Enix. With a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi, Eternal Legacy brings great story elements, side quests, and some dungeon crawling to the table. You can level grind, customize weapons and items, and interact with tons of characters and environments. Eternal Legacy even has a tremendous amount of voice acting and story based cut scenes. If you are an RPG fan I definitely think you should give this a try. It is a bit expensive at $9.99, but for me it was well worth it. There is also a separate iPhone App for $6.99.

Leanna's pick: Ten One Design Pogo Sketch

The Ten One Design Pogo Sketch is the perfect pair to last week's pick of Penultimate. If you desire to use your iPad to take handwritten notes or to create paintings and drawings, the Pogo Sketch is a must-have. The stylus works perfectly with the capacitive touch screens of both the iPhone and iPad.

We're getting into the cold months these days, and the Pogo Sketch is also a great tool for using your iPhone with gloves on. Say goodbye to answering your iPhone with the tip of your nose and pick one of these up!

[$14.95 - TiPb Accessory Store]

Rene's pick: Word Lens

I'm a sucker for Star Trek apps, the ones that make me think the future I've dreamed about, that childhood sci-fi so informed, is closer and closer to being reality. That's why I loved the original Google Mobile app where you could just speak search terms (always prefaced by a Scotty-like "Computer!"). That why I liked the early Augmented Reality apps like that layered information over live camera views. And that's why I'm picking Word Lens this week. The idea is as simple as it is awesome. You just hold up your iPhone's camera to a sign, menu, or any printed block text and it automagically translates and replaces the text for you. Yeah. Wow.

It's limited to English/Spanish and Spanish/English at the moment, and while it's local and not server-side it only does word-by-word translation so there's no idiom and lots of hilarity, but again -- the future. Or at least the bleeding edge of it and I admit, that's the fun part.

[Free with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked this week, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's Pick: Evernote

You may have noticed that I recommend Evernote a lot in the forums. That's because I use Evernote. A lot.

Evernote is multiplatform, so not only can you use it on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, but your Mac, your pc, your Android device, or even your Pre. One little note goes everywhere you go, regardless of hardware or geographical location.

Type a note, scribble a note on your screen, record an audio note, or attach a photo. (From your desktop, you can even add documents.) You can email your notes right from the iPhone app and share with your friends or colleagues.

Searching is a dream, and you can tag your notes to your heart's content. Of course, Evernote is free, so you have nothing to lose - everything to gain!

[Free - iTunes link]

Ally's pick: Cut the rope

The latest update to Cut The Rope adds not only a new box but new challenges to the already fun game. You'll now have anti-gravity and a few new obstacles to navigate through.

The first few boxes were relatively easy to breeze through but Cosmic proves a bit more challenging. I'm currently working my way through and 3-starring all the levels in Cosmic Box. I'm about 3/4 of the way through and can't wait for even more boxes to pop up in an update.

[$0.99 - iTunes Link]

Andrew's pick: NPR News

If you're a fan of NPR radio like I am, then you're going to love the NPR News app for iPhone. Not only can you do things like read NPR news articles and share interesting articles on Facebook and Twitter, but you can dive in even deeper to discover NPR hourly news programming in streaming audio format with playlist support. Want to get a 20 minute recap of today's news? Set up a personalized news playlist with selected news broadcasts to help you get up to speed.

What I love about this app is the live radio stream wherever you are. There's a fairly long stretch during my daily commute where I have little to no reception of the local NPR station. I just whip out my iPhone, launch NPR News and I have a crystal clear broadcast to hook into my car stereo. You can also download clips from popular NPR podcasts like Car Talk, Morning Addition and All Things Considered. So, what are you waiting for? Go grab it now!

[Free - iTunes link]

Brian's picks: Slice It!

Slice It! Is a great puzzle/brain game for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad that makes you slice different shapes into equal ratio or surface area. There are 140+ stages in the game and as you move up in stages you will encounter even tougher challenges. Each level gives you a maximum of 5 stars and you even get ribbons if you can manage to slice the shape perfectly. If you get stuck on a certain level you can even ask for a hint to help you on the road to success. Slice It! also incorporates Game Center achievements so you can keep track of all your successes. The app also utilizes the iPhone 4 retina display and is universal for all devices so you only need to purchase it once! The game is currently only $0.99 in the App Store and provides for hours of fun and challenges.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Farbod's pick: TuneIn

The best radio app on the app store, TuneIn, allows you to search and listen to over 40,000 local radio stations. You can even pause, rewind, and record live radio just like a DVR. The newest version of the app also includes multitask support and AirPlay. There is no need for an FM radio on your iPhone with TuneIn Radio!

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

George's pick: Sleep Cycle Alarm

Sleep Cycle Alarm is a unique alarm clock, that not only wakes you up, but monitors your sleep patterns as well.

It uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to monitor your sleep pattern so that it can wake you up when you’re in a light sleeping state, using either one of its 8 unique alarms, a default “beeping” alarm, or any song in your iPod Library. If that fails, your iPhone vibrates, to wake you.

It presents your sleep in a graph for you to review in the morning, and calculates your nightly sleep time and your average sleep, which you can then post to Facebook or email to a friend.

For only 99c/59p, even if you don’t see the need for it, its worth a look at anyway.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: Penultimate

Penultimate really is the ultimate note taking application for the iPad. Many people on Twitter have been seeking math help me from lately, and Penultimate is perfect for that. I can write it up on Penultimate, screenshot it, and quickly tweet it back. If desired, I can even email it.

I think what makes Penultimate stand out for me is how it makes your pen strokes look nice - they don't have a fixed width. It reminds me of using a super nice gel pen and improves the look of my handwriting (which needs all the help it can get).

If you want to use your iPad to take handwritten notes, check out Penultimate!

[$3.99 -iTunes link]

Rene's pick: Infinity Blade

I'm going to delete Infinity Blade. I swear to the lords of kobol. Not since Angry Birds has a game made me lose this much sleep. And I need sleep, though obviously not as much as I need to move through a lavishly rendered, gorgeously designed Unreal 3D environment and fight my way past seemingly endless baddies until my blood line gets strong enough to take out the biggest baddie of them all.

Sure Infinity Blade is on rails. Sure you're basically repeating the same game over and over again, gaining more power, spells, armor, and swords as you go. But as I'm wearing my adamtine helmet, frying suckers with my Odin ring, and carving them up on my way to though those amazing vistas and visuals -- I don't care. It's simple without being simplistic. And it's a ton of fun.

What's more, Infinity Blade is a universal app so you can buy it once and play it on all your iOS devices. I'll echo Jeremy's gripe that it would be nice if progress synced between the iPad and iPhone version so we could just pick up either one and keep playing, but overall it's also the most amazing graphics I've seen on iPhone and iPad to date and that's saying a lot.

[$5.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked this week, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's Pick: CalenGoo

I haven't used a day runner or paper calendar since my first Palm Pilot. To me, this is the real magic of using a handheld digital device. I got spoiled using Agendus on my Treo, and in addition to just noting my calendar events, I want multiple ways of viewing them, icons, and more.

CalenGoo really fits that niche for me. It gives me many more options than the (lousy) iPhone calendar, and syncs with Google, MobileMe, or whatever Exchange client you want to use - in combination if you choose.

Day view, list view, month view, icons, CalenGoo has it all, and in the month view, you can pinch to zoom! It also uses Tasks from Google and puts them right on your calendar. The developer is responsive and has been doing regular updates. This is a must have app for productivity!

[$6.99 - iTunes link]

Ally's Pick: ToneFXs (jailbreak)

ToneFXs allows you to change pretty much every system tone on your iPhone that you could think of. I love this app mainly because most of my friends have iPhones as well. Some are jailbroken, some aren't. When an email would chime in, all of us would look at our phones. This app solved that problem. I have my own text and email tones, as well as personalized system tones. I no longer mix up other people's iPhones going off with my own. ToneFXs is available via Cydia on any jailbroken iPhone.

Andrew's Pick: WootWatch

WootWatch is a free app in the App Store that lets you see all the daily deals from woot.com, sellout.woot, shirt.woot, wine.woot, and kids.woot. Some of the features of this app include auto-refresh, support for woot-offs and alerts for when new items become available. You can swipe up to get a detailed description of today's item complete with pictures and product specs, along with a witty overview of why you should buy the item in full Woot style. The only caveat I noticed is when you want to purchase an item, it takes you out of the app and pulls you into safari to complete the transaction. Not a deal-breaker by any means, but it would be nice to have an in-app way of doing this.

What I personally love about this app as a parent is the kids.woot support. This is an app I launch daily in order to see what great deal for the day I might snatch up for my daughter. If you've ever purchased anything on Woot, you know how low the prices can go and how good the deals can get. We highly suggest taking a look at this app, as there's no risk being that it's a free app. Go grab it now!

[Free - iTunes link]

Brian's Pick: Instagram

Instagram is a fantastic photo app that allows you another way of sharing your photos with all your friends on your favorite social networking sites. You can either use the app to take a photo or you can import photos already on your device. Once you have a photo selected you can choose between over a dozen different unique filters to apply to your pictures to make them have different feels than just a normal photo. You can follow friends and leave comments on peoples pictures and share your photos with everyone. It supports all of the iPhone models as well as the iPod Touch and iPad. The app is free in the App Store and is a blast to use and share photos with your friends.

[Free - iTunes Link]

Chris O’s pick: LED-Flashlight

This week I have chosen a very simple app for the iPhone 4. It is a flashlight app, there are many available in the app store; but I use LED-flashlight. It's simple but useful, all it does it light up your camera flash so you can use it as a torch. It is really bright! The app comes in really handy every day for me. While walking the dog, fishing out items lost under the sofa this app is killer!

[Free – iTunes Link]

Chris V's Pick: Sonic the Hedgehog

It's time to go old school! With the rapid release of new games and gaming systems recently, it is easy to overlook some of the classic games out there. Some of these games have been rereleased on the iPhone, including one of my all time favorites - Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic was a speedy little hedgehog, playing in a scrolling 2D background, but the main difference between Sonic and games like Super Mario Brothers is that Sonic was FAST! This game spawned a number of sequels, including ones I remember playing on my Sega Game Gear and Sega Dreamcast, and it is fun to just play some of these classic games. The import works well, and for $4.99, Sonic is a fun way to pass the time. I am sure that eventually many of these classic games will make their way onto my iPhone.

[$4.99 -iTunes link]

Leanna's Pick: Perfect Photo

Perfect photo has recently become my favorite photo editing application. It is loaded with many editing tools and features. One of my favorite things about Perfect Photo is that when you apply a change, the app gives you a random fact while waiting for it to save. Another huge draw to Perfect Photo is the recent addition of red-eye removal and spot healing. Now I can make sure there are no blemishes on my face the faces of my friends before uploading to Facebook and Twitter!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Rene's pick: Gift Plan

From Glasshouse Apps, makers of the excellent Barista and Cellar apps for iPhone and Early Edition for iPad, comes Gift Plan -- and it just might save your ass this holiday season. It's gorgeous, of course, and it works as good as it looks. The idea is simple -- we humans (okay, especially we male humans) are forgetful, oblivious, doomed lot who will miss birthdays, anniversaries, and even annual events like Christmas with stupefying regularity. So why keep failing when an app like Gift Plan can help us succeed.

Gift Plan will import your important dates from Calendar and even Facebook, sort, color-label, prioritize, filter, and otherwise help you get your gifting organized, and then remind you with alerts to get it all done.

Best of all, it's on introductory sale right now so save money on Gift Plan so it can help you spend money on your loved ones.

Bonus tip from the developer: Record your wife's clothing size. It'll keep you off the couch.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked this week, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's pick: Boxcar

I've used Boxcar since it first came out. I'd pay for it again, but you can get it for free. If you use Twitter, Facebook, Google Voice, or a host of other social media services - you need Boxcar

Got a mention on Twitter? Boxcar pushes it to you. Voicemail on Google Voice? Boxcar pushes you your notification. I can't say enough about this latest 4.1 update - and on the iPhone 4's retina display it looks AMAZING.

Of course, Boxcar is thoughtful, and will let you set "quiet time" if you want. But during your non quiet time, you can have audible push notifications, badges, and/or pop-up notifications. It's only as intrusive as you want it to be.

[Free - iTunes link]

Ally's pick: Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4

Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 allows you to enter the world of Harry as several different characters. You'll play through the story lines of the first 4 installments. As you complete different sections, you'll also open those areas up to free play. This allows you to roam more freely and discover other hidden secrets in the game.

The difficulty level increases at an even pace. There's tons to explore and plenty to keep you busy. It's available in the App Store for both iPhone and iPad as a universal binary. You can also check out our Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 Review as well.

[$4.99 - iTunes Link]

Andrew's pick: PowerContact

PowerContact is a group management app with a lot of great features. With PowerContact you can group contacts with colors, icons and other customizations and also includes features like FaceTime and Skype call support. Of course you can do basic group contact functions like Group SMS (or mail) in addition to being able to call, SMS or mail any contact by simply tapping their name. Adding, editing or deleting contacts is now a far more simple process from what's built into iOS.

Other great features include sending group info to your email, which is nice if you need to import contact data to other apps or if you just like backing up your contacts in an organized fashion. Next to each contact you'll see a photo of the individual, which is pulled directly from your stored contacts in iOS. I've fully replaced the default way of getting to my contact info with PowerContact because of its simplicity, ease of use and aesthetic detail. Give it a try!

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Brian's pick: Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner

Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner by THQ Wireless is probably one of the most entertaining and fun-filled games I have played recently. I'm not typically the Star Wars game kind of guy but once I saw what this game entails and the awesome features it posses I had to give it a shot and boy am I glad!

You are in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon and the object of the game is to basically destroy TIE fighters, Star Destroyers and anything else that comes near you.. The graphics are gorgeous on the retina display and the game play can be switched from auto-aim which make it super easy to manual-aim which makes it a bit more challenging. There are around 20+ levels for you to work your way through and it even comes with Game Center and Facebook integration for you to challenge and beat-up on your friends.

Probably the most entertaining part of this game is the AR Mode that you can enable and disable in the options menu. Using your phone's camera, gyroscope/compass and accelerometer, Falcon Gunner turns your earthly surroundings into epic space battles and lets you control the action by steering your body in physical space. It's like nothing you've ever seen. I found that playing this way in a swiveling office chair makes the game play intense and amazing especially to show off to your friends and family.

All in all this game is great in delivering fun, stunning graphics and showing off the awesome capabilities of the iPhone 4 and the iPod Tough 4th generation.

[$4.99 - iTunes Link]

Chris O’s pick: LiveScore

LiveScore is a fantastic free app that provides real time sores from many sporting events around the world; with a particular emphasis on soccer scores. Every match in the UK league is covered along with most other countries. With this app you will know about goals, yellow cards, red cards, substitutions, you name it, seconds after they happen. There are no push notifications, whcih is a shame however the app does auto-refresh when open. The application comes directly from LiveScore Ltd., the inventors of real-time delivery of live sport data and owners of the no.1 ranked football / soccer web site globally.

[Free - iTunes link]

Chris V's pick: AppShopper

AppShopper is a popular website for tracking apps - popularity, price, updates, etc. Recently have come out with an app of their own - AppShopper. With this app (and a corresponding free account on their website) you can tag apps as on your wish list or as ones you own. Push notifications will alert you to and changes - updated, price changes, anything. You can also track changes, popularity, anything that is available on their website. It's a great way to monitor apps that you have and apps you might be interested in getting. It makes an almost unbeatable combination when used in conjunction with the App Store. I use it almost of a daily basis. Best of all, it is a universal binary and it's free!

[Free - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: Smurfs' Village

Smurfs' Village is by far my favorite time management game. Sure, the ultimate goal of building the best village is just the same as other games, but Smurfs' Village also has a story line. After each level increase, there is a dialogue between Smurfs and they give you a quest. There are also mini games in Smurfs' Village that you can play to earn more experience. The graphics are great and the gameplay is smooth.

Smurfs' Village is free to download and play, but some items require smurfberries which are available as an in-app purchase. Smurfberries can also be used to speed up the growth of plants and building of buildings. Although smurfberries are great to have, they are not necessary in order to enjoy the game.

If you like time-management games, check this one out!

[Free - iTunes link]

Rene's pick: Due

Due is a fast and easy reminder app for iPhone. I've been using version1.2 since it was in beta and it quickly replaced Apple's built-in Clock App for simple time-based alarms, and even Calendar on occasion for things that weren't full-fledged events but still couldn't be forgotten. (Like remembering to send Leanna my pick of the week!)

New features I really liked include persistent reminders (you're not done until you tell Due you're done!), both auto and manual snooze, the ability to make alarms grow more annoying, er, powerful for things you absolutely positively cannot miss, and a bunch of other little tweaks that combine to make what was a good app really great.

If it takes too much time to set a reminder I just won't use it. I've been using Due and that's the best recommendation I can give any reminder app.

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked this week, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Ally's Pick: Bytafont (jailbreak)

Bytafont is a jailbreak tweak that allows you to change springboard fonts on your phone. As of 4.x, fontswap has not worked. Bytafont is a welcome addition to the jailbreak app store.

You simply download fonts from Cydia you like that are compatible (most are), and they show up in Bytafont where you simply select the font you'd like to use.

Bytafont is available via Cydia for free.

Andrew's Pick: iReconcile

iReconcile is a checkbook all-in-one app which includes features such as backup/restore, reports, search, budgeting, forecasting, exporting and more. The check register alone is reason enough to have this great little app.

Adding a transaction is a snap, and backing up and syncing to the cloud is automatically done after every added transaction (in-app purchase, 1.99/mo or 19.99/yr). Reports are represented in a pie chart and look stunning on the iPhone 4's Retina Display. You can also categorize each transaction in order to look back on a report and see exactly where your money is going over any amount of time. You can also export your entire check register to an excel-friendly format (something I depend on for my own personal accounting).

Another added value is that iReconcile has a browser-based client that any user can log into from a Mac or PC. Here you can do things like edit a specific transaction and look at your spending history in very polished format. I started using iReconcile (originally Checkbook) since 2008, and haven't looked back to a traditional checkbook since. Go ahead, give it a try!

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Brian's Pick: Fragger

Fragger is almost a puzzle-type game in which you will face levels in which you will need to think before acting. You play as a special soldier who has to take on terrorist-type enemies by your lonesome and all you have is some gernades with you. The terrorists could be in buildings or in ditches or anything crazy you can imagine. Your goal is to launch your gernades in a manner that will...well blow the enemy up! The fewer the gernades you use the more medals you will earn for that level. One would look at it like Angry Birds in a way just much more violent. There are nearly 130 levels to complete and they range from incredibly easy to pretty tough.

The graphics are cartoon style graphics but look absolutely stunning on the retina display. They also have included Game Center leader boards and achievements for your gaming pleasure. If you have not tried this game yet beware that it can become very addicting in seemingly no time at all and for only $0.99 in the App Store why not give it a shot?

[$0.99 - iTunes Link]

Chris V's Pick: Gifts HD

It's that time of year again, and with an ever growing extended family (new nieces, nephews, etc) it becomes even more difficult to keep track of the gifts I am going to give everyone. That's where Gifts HD comes in. This iPad app allows me to track by budget, purchases, and even post purchase "processing" (wrapping, mailed, even typing in a tracking number) to make sure the gifts get there on time. It's an easy way to keep track of things that could easily get forgotten this Christmas season. At $3.99, it's reasonably priced, especially if it means my mother in law will get her present on time this year!

[$3.99 - iTunes link]

Chris O's Pick: Tesco Groceries

Tesco Groceries is an app that is designed to save you a boat load of time, and it delivers in spades! Sure you can use the service already via a web browser but this app just makes everything much easier and accessible. From booking a delivery time to finding the items that you need, it is an easy experience from start to finish. As with all grocery shopping, you always forget something; with this app you can go back in and add it to your list in seconds; even when you are on the go. You can scan a barcode of an item you are running low on, and it will be automatically added to your basket.

Gone are the days of dragging the children round the supermarket at the weekend, wasting your valuable time. Place your order and 24 hours later it is delivered to your door.

[Free - iTunes link]

Farbod's Pick: MultiMusicInfo (Jailbreak)

MultiMusicInfo is a tweak for jailbroken phones running iOS 4.x that shows song, album, and artist info on your music player section of the app switcher. It also replaces the iPod icon with the album art of whatever song is playing. The icon overlay can also be easily modified in order to play nice with custom themes. MultiMusicInfo is available on Cydia for $0.99.

George's Pick: BBC iPlayer (web app)

BBC iPlayer is the official BBC site that let's you watch your favourite BBC shows up to a week after they aired on TV.

With all the content you would find on the desktop website, packed into a gorgeous UI, the iPhone web app is a great way to view your favourite BBC content anywhere. There is also an option to 'favourite' shows, so you always have an update of the latest episodes.

A great feature is that because its a web app, if you get interrupted by a text message or phone call, you can load up Safari, and start again where you left off.

The web app is currently only available over WIFI or Vodafone/3's 3G networks, and unfortunately is UK only.

[www.bbc.co.uk/iPlayer]

Rene's pick: Astronut

The Icon Factory makes pretty pixels and nice noises, whether it be Twitterrific, Ramp Champ, or their latest labor of love -- Astronut. The premise is simple, you have a jump and boost button, the universe has gravity, aliens, and wrap-around. You try to grab the treats and get to the end. It tries to kill you dead before you can. And therein lies the fun. It's quick enough to play while you're waiting in line or stuck on the phone, addictive enough to cost you some sleep if you let it.

The basic game is free and you can get more levels via in-app purchase.

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked this week, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's Pick: TV Forecast

Easily one of my most used apps, TV Forecast has a place of honor on my home screen. A very simple app, you add your favorite shows, and it lets you know when they're coming on.

In addition to telling you the day and time, TV Forecast gives you a synopsis of the episode and even information on past episodes. I especially like it since I never know when shows will come back from hiatus. With TV Forecast, I never miss anything!

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Brian's pick: Stardunk

Stardunk is an incredible basketball type game that allows you to play by yourself or online globally against other players using Game Center. The goal of the game is to score as many points by getting the ball through the hoop as many times as you can within the designated amount of time. You can also get multipliers for perfect shots and also gain add-ons like 3 balls at once by hitting the 4 blocks behind the rim. The graphics are stunning and the gameplay is virtually flawless. It is an intensley addictive game and for being a free app it is well worth the download.

Check out our review for Stardunk.

[Free - iTunes link]

Chris’s pick: Sky Mobile TV

Sky Mobile TV is easily my most used iOS application. It is a UK only app; it is linked to Sky Satellite TV services available in the UK. If you are a subscriber to Sky Sports channels, this app will enable you watch them over WiFi or 3G on your iOS device. The quality of the stream is simply stunning and even on a limited 1-MB ADSL connection it is flawless. The app is a universal binary so runs great on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

In my home, it is difficult to get near the TV Remote control due to my wife and two children hogging it all the time, now I can sit down in the evening, catch up on the latest sports news or watch a live Premiership football (soccer) game all from the comfort of my iPad.

A word of warning, Sky Mobile TV is not compatible with iOS 4.2. Sky is working on an update; but it may not be done in time.

[Free - iTunes link]

Farbod's pick: PdaNet (jailbreak)

Much like the popular MyWi, PdaNet allows for tethering your iPhone's 3G signal to another device via either the creation of a wifi hotspot or through a USB connection.

PdaNet requires that your iPhone be jailbroken and it comes with a 14 day free trial. Afterward, there is a $15.99 option to continue using the app without secure sites being blocked.

I very much prefer PdaNet to MyWi as the transitions from on and off are much smoother and PdaNet has a much smaller footprint than MyWi. You can get it on Cydia, give it a try!

Georgia's pick: Connectuss

This puzzle game is your old connect the dots game taken to a new level. Very simple and easy, plus lots of fun!

[Free - iTunes link]

Leanna's pick: Plants vs Zombies HD

Of all the different platforms I have played Plants vs Zombies, the iPad is by far my favorite. PopCap games got me addicted all over again (I even played while my students took an exam). Being able to touch the large screen in multiple places is what makes the experience that much greater.

If you're unfamiliar with the game, the objective is to place plants with special powers that will fight off the zombies that are trying to get into your house. If the zombies get in, they'll eat your brains! There's nothing like a good ol' zombie killing.

[$9.99 - iTunes link]

Rene's pick: Simplenote

On the surface Simplenote is just what its name implies: a simple, universal iPhone/iPad note-taking app. Scratch that surface, however, and what do you find? More surface. Kidding. You find some very interesting sync possibilities, not just for you, but for family teams as well.

We waited a long time to get notes sync on iOS and frankly it never fails to disappoint. Simplenote lets you set up an account and it automagically mirrors the content of the app not just on your iOS devices but with the cross-platform desktop Notational Velocity as well. This is great if you want to quickly type something on your iPhone, update it on your iPad and later view and edit it on your Mac, Linux, or Windows box. But that's just the beginning. Let's say you put both your and your spouse's iPhone on the same Simplenote account. You write down a shopping list and go shopping. She grabs the cereal, deletes it from the list. Boom. It's gone from the list on your iPhone as well. You child at home finishes the milk. They run over to the iPad, add milk to the list. Double boom. It's on both your and your spouse's iPhone and the race to the dairy isle is on! Change spouse to business partner and you can easily use Simplenote to share ideas back and forth on whatever project you're currently working on.

It's not a task manager. It's not a reminder. It doesn't have deep organization or triggers or alarms or location popups. It's simple as the name implies. And sometimes that's just what you need.

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked this week, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli's pick: BiteSMS (Jailbreak)