The Bible is the most read book in the world, and tiny Bibles with microscopic text have always been popular because of their portability. But, now, today, thanks to ultra-portable devices like the iPhone and iPad with their awesome Retina displays, and apps like Olive Tree's BibleReader, the Bible is more portable and easier to read than ever.

If you search for Bible in the App Store, you will be flooded with an overwhelming amount of app choices, from good to bad to just plain different. There are so many that it's almost impossible to figure out which one to get. So I went on the hunt for the perfect Bible app. It had to gorgeously rendered, packed with features, highly customizable, and run perfectly smooth. And I kept coming back to Olive Tree's BibleReader for iPhone and iPad.

Olive Tree BibleReader is a universal app for the iPhone and iPad, but I will be using screenshots of the iPad for this review. The iPhone version has the exact same features as the iPad version.

The integrated in-app store

Included in all of the Olive Tree Bible apps is an integrated store where you can buy more books including other version of the Bible, commentary, reference materials, devotionals, and more.

All books that you purchase will be synced to your Olive Tree account so that you can download them to another device at no additional cost or re-download them if you accidentally delete them or need to restore your iPhone or iPad.

Split screen UI

One of the really neat features of BibleReader is that you can split your screen into two panels. If you're using BibleReader in portrait, the screen will split horizontally, and when in landscape, it will split vertically. In each panel, you can have any of the books you have in your Olive Tree Library.

Here's a few different situations that one may find the split screen to be useful:

• While at church, your pastor has one main passage that he's covering, but also references other verses. You can use one panel for the main passage, and the other to browse to the other verses.
• You want to compare two different versions of the Bible side-by-side -- basically converting BibleReader into a parallel Bible.
• You want to read another book, like a devotional, while having your Bible open to reference at the same time. Or maybe the Bible is the main book you want open, and you want to have easy access to a reference book.

If you don't want the split screen, you can simply slide the one you don't want off the the screen. This is also nice in case you want the split screen, but not the entire time. You can keep your secondary book open in the second panel, but keep it hidden until the moments you need it.

You also have control of where on the screen you want the split to take place -- it doesn't have to be directly down the middle.

Navigation

It's no secret that Bibles are huge and that people don't typically read them from front to back like other books. Often times, someone is looking for a specific book, chapter, or even verse in the giant book, so having a good navigational system is extremely important for a Bible app -- and Olive Tree has nailed it with BibleReader.

The "Go To" button at the upper-left of the screen is how you navigate to a specific section of the Bible. Tapping it will pop up a menu that lists all the books of the Bible in chronological order. You can also pull it down to discover a search field that allows you to type in the verse. It does recognize abbreviations, so, for example, "1 Cor 13:4" will take you to 1 Corinthians 13:4. You can also choose to see the books of the Bible displayed as a grid with their abbreviations.

Another trait that most Bible's have are superscripts that reference other relevant verses. In a printed version, you would check the bottom of the page to check the reference, then flip to the verse. With BibleReader, you simply tap the superscript and a list of all the verses associated with the nearby superscripts will appear. Tapping on one of the verse references will navigate to that verse right inside of the popup. It's very cool. You can then either read it in the popup, or choose to have it opened in the main or split window.

Highlights, underlines, and notes

People love marking up their Bible with highlighters, underlinings, and notes -- BibleReader lets you do all these things.

To select a verse, you simply tap on the verse number. Or if you want more or less than one verse, tap your finger on a word to select it, then drag the handles to extend your selection. You then see a popup of choices: copy, highlight, note, bookmark, or share. These choices are pretty self explanatory.

Highlights in BibleReader are so much cooler than with physical highlighters. You can choose for your highlights to have a traditional look, or you can customize the intensity, color, and highlighter style. For underlining, you can have the underline look like it was made with either a thin highlighter or with a pen. You can do this every time you add a highlight, or you can create your favorite looks and save them for quick access.

When you create a note, a little note icon will be placed in front of your selection as an indicator of there being a note present. Tapping the icon will popup the note.

Customizations

One of the great features of Olive Tree's BibleReader is that its look is very customizable. The default look is very traditional and easy to read, but if you want to change the font type, size, color, or background, you can. Want the words of Jesus to be in something fun like pink or green? Not a problem!

You can set different customizations for each of the three different window types: main screen, split screen, and popup.

Which version?

Olive Tree has many different Bible versions available in the App Store and making a decision on which one to buy can be a big overwhelming if you don't know which version you want, or if you're interested in more than one version. The good news is that since each app allows you to sync your Olive Tree library, it ultimately doesn't matter which one you choose.

If you are only interested in a specific version, I recommend just buying that one as it will be the quickest way to get it on your iPhone or iPad.

The most confusing part of the available apps is that it isn't clear what the difference is between the free Bible+ version and $0.99 BibleReader version. BibleReader includes the ASV, KJV, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, and Jamieson, Faucett, and Brown Commentary. Bible+ comes with ASV and KJV and the Matthew Henry’s concise commentary is available for free in the integrated store. The Jamieson, Faucett, and Brown Commentary is also available, but not free. So, to sum it up, the main difference is that BibleReader comes with The Jamieson, Faucett, and Brown Commentary.

The other difference is, of course, what it will be named on your Home screen. For example, since I purchased NIV BibleReader, the icon on my Home screen is called NIV BR.

The fact that there are so many apps is confusing and overwhelming. If you're at a loss, I recommend just downloading the free version and browsing the in-app store for what you want to purchase.

The Good

• Content is stored locally to your iPhone or iPad, so an internet connection is not required
• Highly customizable
• Lots of highlighter and underlining options
• Two pane UI is very convenient.
• Keep notes and customizations synced between devices
• Universal for iPhone and iPad

The Bad

• Too many apps to choose from. Would be less confusing for users if there was only one app.

The Conclusion

Olive Tree's BibleReader is a fantastic Bible for your iPhone and iPad. The Bible has always been one of those books that I wanted to continue to read in print because of how much marking-up I like to do and I always thought it felt more personal. Since discovering BibleReader, it's the only Bible I ever read. I even bring my iPad to church and make notes and highlights into the app while my pastor gives his sermon. And not to brag or anything, but I can also navigate to verses faster than anyone else with BibleReader on my iPad.

Bible+, Free - Download Now

BibleReader, $0.99 - Download Now

NIV BibleReader, $9.99 - Download Now

All Olive Tree Bible Apps - App Store dev page

Another Monster at the end of this Book...Starring Grover and Elmo! is a fantastic interactive children's book for the iPhone and iPad. The story is about a book that Grover and Elmo encounter that is supposed to reveal another monster at its conclusion. Grover is opposed to reading it because books about monsters make him uncomfortable. Elmo, on the other hand, loves monsters and can't wait to get to the end of the book.

As you read the story with Grover and Elmo, Grover does everything in his power to prevent the next page from turning by pinning them down with paperclips, gluing the pages together, building castles, and putting up steal walls. It's the reader's job to help Elmo turn the page by removing Grover's obstacles. As Grover and Elmo engage in dialogue, the words they say appear on the page as they say it which is great for children who are learning to read.

In addition to the story, there is also a Parents Notes section to help you and you child get even more from the story. This section recommends follow-up questions to ask your child, how to add play value to the interactions (like make it a race to see how fast they can remove the paperclips), and discussion about conflict resolution and how to expression emotions. This section really is filled with a lot of good stuff for parents.

The Good

• Interactive and fun
• Funny
• Unexpected ending
• Gorgeous graphics

The Bad

• Kind of short

The Conclusion

Another Monster at the End of this Book is a great, engaging book for children and parents. The story is fun, interactive, and silly, and the Parents Notes section has great tips for parents. Oh, and did I mention? Another Monster at the End of this Book looks stunning on the new iPad's Retina display.

$3.99 - Download Now

Apple is reportedly planning a redesign for the iTunes Store and App Store for sometime later this year. Apple hasn't introduced a complete overhaul to the iTunes Store interface since late 2009 when they introduced iTunes 9. Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac reports:

The new design is said to be even simpler and more user-friendly than the current design. Apple is working on ways to enhance the speed and efficiency of finding new content, such as songs, videos, and applications. The cornerstone element of Apple’s new iTunes Store is interactivity. As Apple vaguely explained to a number of music labels and entertainment partners, Apple is looking to make the iTunes Store a much more engaging experience. [...] The interactivity that Apple wants within the digital store is something Apple could only likely pull off by housing the store within a full-fledged application, not a pure web browser experience.

They're not sure if this redesign, like iTunes 9, will require a new version number -- iTunes 11 -- or if it will just be rolled into an iTunes 10 point release. However, discoverability is said to be on the agenda, with more interactive ways to find music, movies, apps, and games being a priority. It sounds like iTunes on Windows and Mac is the current focus, and may be timed to coincide with Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion this summer, though the more traditional fall update cycle -- perhaps alongside the iPhone 5 -- could be a more likely possibility.

Source: 9to5Mac

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!

iBooks Author has but a limited selection of templates, so Jumsoft has released Book Palette, a Mac app that offers 10 additional stylish and modern templates for you with the promise to bring more. Although these templates are ready to use and don't need to be changed, the ability to customize them to your liking is possible so that you can create a book that is uniquely yours.

Each template contains an assortment of standard section and page layouts including covers, chapter pages, text pages, tables of contents, glossary pages, and more.

As if it wasn't already simple enough, Book Palette has just made creating your beautiful, multi-touch, interactive iPad book even easier.

With the new, revolutionary iBooks Author app, anyone can create and publish great Multi-Touch books for iPad, including you. Jumsoft swiftly offers you an enhanced experience in book creation with 10 beautiful templates for iBooks Author.

Each template included in the Book Palette app features an assortment of stylish and modern page layouts. You can use them as a starting point and go from there by typing or pasting your own text, adding or removing text boxes, and dropping images or other media.

Although the standard designs included in Book Palette are very polished, you are not expected to settle for default. Most objects in the templates can be easily reshaped, moved, or removed, and colors can be changed. Use a variety of pre-designed text styles or opt for fonts of your choice to format your text for the best effect.

Book Palette is available in the Mac App Store for $2.99.

• App Store link

Have an app you'd love to see featured on iMore? Email us at iosapps@imore.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

Goodnight iPad: a Parody for the next generation, by Ann Droyd (ha!) is a cute little twist to the bedtime story, Goodnight Moon. Today's children have iPad's, iPhones, computers, and all sorts of gadgets and electronics, so this book is about saying goodnight to these items instead of the traditional ones in Goodnight Moon.

Now go grab a cup of hot chocolate and join me around the fire for a reading of this modern bedtime story!

• $14.99 - Amazon link

Apple has released their 12 Days of Christmas app a little early this year. The promotion will run between December 26 and January 6 but Apple hasn't put any content in there just yet.

You and your friends can download a fantastic selection of songs, music videos, apps and books for free. Each download will only be available for 24 hours. Get our special 12 Days of Christmas app to make it even easier to access your gifts while you’re on the go.

Don’t have an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch? Don’t worry. Come back 26 December to download gifts from your computer.

Falling in line with their 12 Days of Christmas promotion last year, Apple will promote special daily deals on music, apps, books and more for the holidays. You can download the app now from the Portugal and UK App Store, but content won't start showing up until the promotion begins. If you're outside of Portugal or the UK and see the app available in the App Store, let us know in the comments!

• Free - App Store Link

The official biography of Steve Jobs authored by Walter Isaacson has made its way to number one among books sales from Amazon for the entirety of 2011, despite being released late in the year.

Originally slated for release in 2012, the date was moved up to October 24th after Jobs passed away and quickly rose among the ranks. By November it was already the #2 seller for Amazon before taking the top spot in December.



Source: MacRumors via Amazon

According to Bloomberg, the European Union Anti-trust regulators will be investigating Apple, along with five of the major eBook publishers, for possible collusion to help stifle competition within the eBook marketplace.

The European Commission in Brussels today said it opened a formal probe to examine whether the publishing groups and Apple, maker of the iPad tablet computer, engaged in agreements that would harm competition in the 27-nation EU. The probe will examine deals between Apple and Lagardere’s Hachette Livre, News Corp.’s Harper Collins, CBS Corp.’s Simon & Schuster, Pearson Plc’s Penguin and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH.

The commission believes Apple and the publishers may have formed a sort of 'cartel' in the eBook market by practicing price-fixing techniques in order to ensure an ongoing revenue stream for all parties. Apple currently takes a 30% cut of eBook sales from within their own iBookstore.

This announcement comes after the EU conducted raides on a handful of publishers back in March along with a probe held by the U.K. Office of Fair Trading. The publishers, of course, say they haven't done anything wrong and will work closely with the EU to help get to the bottom of it.

Fortune chimed in saying the reason the EU included Apple is because of a deal Steve Jobs set up with the five publishers shortly after the release of the original iPad in 2010, which was followed by a similar investigation in the U.S. looking into anti-competitive behavior with Apple and the publishers to help drive up eBook prices from Amazon.

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out and if the impact, if any, has any direct relation to eBook pricing as it currently stands.

Source: Bloomberg, Fortune

The classic Grimm Brothers' fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin, is now available on the iPhone and iPad as an interactive storybook. All scenes feature 360º viewing and tapping on objects and characters will result in animations and dialog.

Silicon Beach Software invites you and your child to explore a new type of interactive children's storybook. Created and rendered in 3D, all the scenes feature 360º viewing. In Rumpelstiltskin HD, the classic Grimm Brothers' fairy tale comes alive with narration, stirring cinematic music, and delightful animations. Tap on characters to hear what they have to say in each scene (but watch out, Rumpelstiltskin will give you a little attitude in one scene if you keep poking him).

• Tap on objects to see more animations
• All characters speak in every scene, adding to the story
• Find gold coins in each scene
• Turn narration on or off with one tap
• Tap on torches to turn them on and off, changing the lighting
• 31 fun-filled pages
• 26 pieces of music
• Developed in a 3D game engine
• 3D training room teaches how to use gestures with 3D scenes
• Magnifier allows zoom in and zoom out, as does the pinch gesture
• Universal: buy once, install on all your iOS devices

Rumpelstiltskin HD is available on the iPhone and iPad for $1.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

The inimitable Steven Sande and extraordinary Erica Sadun of TUAW fame have put together an Amazon Kindle book designed to help us help Siri help us.

This short, focused book teaches you how to use Siri from the ground up. You'll learn how to achieve the the highest recognition rate as you talk. You'll discover which categories Siri responds to and find out how to make the most of each category in your conversations. You'll discover practical how-to mixed with many examples to inspire as well as instruct.

Talking to Siri: Learning the Language of Apple's Intelligent Assistant is a available now for less than the price of a fancy mixed coffee beverage. Go grab it. Then ask Siri where to find a good fancy mixed coffee beverage that you can enjoy while reading it.

Source: Amazon.com

Looking for some last minute ways to get your Halloween gruesome on? To zone out with zombies, lose your head with horsemen, read about vampires that burst ever-so-properly into flame, and otherwise get more monstrous this weekend? Well, since you have an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you're covered! From App Store to iTunes Store to iBookstore, and with a hellish dose of Netflix and Amazon thrown in, you'll never go brain-hungry again.

App Store Halloween apps and games

If you're looking for app-solutely (sorry!) the best way to have fun and get your iPhone and iPad chills and thrills on this Halloween, check out the apps and games. And don't just check out the Halloween apps and games either, because a lot of developers large and small and holding sales this weekend as well! Note: Neither Plants vs. Zombies nor Angry Birds Seasons are to be missed!

• App Store Halloween link

iTunes Halloween movies

iTunes is having a sale on Halloween themed-movies, starting at $4.99. We'd recommend Sleepy Hollow, because the heads weren't found at all...

• iTunes Movies Halloween link

Netflix Halloween movies

If you don't want to buy or rent individual movies, you can subscribe to Netflix and stream all the Halloween content you want.

• Netflix web link

Apple iBookstore and Amazon Halloween reading

The greatest and Halloween stories all time come from the dank, dusty pages of old books, written and read by candles flickering in the chill, dark wind. Apple's iBookstore has some on sale for both young and old. Not content with just books, After all, it's never too early to start Halloween off with a good family scream.

• iBookstore Halloween link

Everything else

Not content with apps or games, movies or books? Amazon has a special Halloween page up with everything you could ever possibly want. Ever. Costumes. Candy. Seriously.

Amazon has a special Halloween page up with everything you could ever possibly want. Ever.

• Amazon Halloween link

Your picks?

Got any other great ways to enjoy your iPhone, iPad touch, and iPad over Halloween? Let us know in the comments!

Nosy Crow has released their newest animated storybook, Cinderella. It's the same story that we've all grown to love, only this version allows you to add your child's picture to the magic mirror!

What a great way to add more excitement to this classic story! Growing up, I had a book that was personalized with my name and loved it, but that's nowhere near as cool as having your face included the story! I can't wait to read this to my niece - I know she'll love it.

You know the fairytale. Now experience the magic! Created in HD especially for iPad. Nosy Crow’s Cinderella app lets you play inside the story. Beautiful illustrations, exciting animation, and original music make this a picture book app at its best.

• Help Cinderella clean the kitchen.
• Stack the King’s invitations to the ball.
• Dress up the Stepsisters for the party.
• Build the magical carriage with the Fairy Godmother.
• Select the music for the Prince and Cinderella and watch them hit the dance floor! Do you want a waltz, disco or Bollywood?
• You can even choose Cinderella’s dress!
• With the front-facing camera on iPad2 you can even see yourself in the “magic mirrors” in many scenes in the story!
• Pick a reading mode: either Read to Me, Read by Myself or Read and Play.
• Choose how long text stays on the screen so beginning readers have enough time to read by themselves.
• Choose between American or British spelling styles.
• Help is embedded into the story. Characters offer hints about what to do on each page so even very young readers can participate fully.
• Tap the characters to trigger additional dialogue.

Cinderella is available on the iPad for $5.99 .

[App Store link]

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Prison Mayhem: Devastated on discovering the shameful truth that his family is full of dangerous criminals responsible for taking innocent lives, Bluto’s choice to follow the righteous path against all odds takes him to the Prison. Help him be the ultimate Prison guard in this exciting Time Management game! [Free for iPhone - App Store link]

• BatteryLifeGuard: Get a notification whenever your iPhone battery is about to run out, along with the device GPS coordinates and accurate still-operational-battery location. [$1.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

• Faveious: Automatically gathers all your bookmarks in one single place for later viewing. Whether they be from Twitter, Greader, Youtube, Facebook and many other service. [Free - App Store link]

• The Little Engine That Could Takes Us Back To School: A new version of well-loved classic book and one more great tale of motivation and the power of positive thinking. [$0.99 for iPhone and iPad - App Store (iBooks) link]

• Counts: Count Anything: Count by swiping or tapping the screen: right to increase; left to decrease. [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

The first authorized Steve Jobs biography, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, has seen its release date move up from March 6, 2012 to November 21, 2011, and its covers shown off (above). In a private email to Fortune's Philip Elmer-Dewitt, Isaacson explained:

"The cover is the Albert Watson portrait taken for Fortune in 2009. The back is a Norman Seeff portrait of him in the lotus position holding the original Macintosh, which ran in Rolling Stone in January 1984. The title font is Helvetica. It will look as you see it, with no words on the back cover."

Isaacson further denied that the change in schedule had anything to do with Jobs' health, or anything other than the book being done, edited, and ready to go.

Book description after the break.

[Fortune, Simon & Schuster]

Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted. Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple's hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.

Oceanhouse Media has released a new Dr. Seuss book for iPhone and iPad, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! This interactive book is unique in that it sets the stage for each scene, giving the child a chance to image it themselves. Then they tap the colorful questions to watch the story appear as Dr. Seuss imagined it.

• "Read to Me" — listen to the narrated story with words highlighted as they are read
• "Read it Myself" — read the book in its traditional form
• "Auto Play" — plays like a movie, automatically reading and turning pages. Great for younger children!
• THINK! - Children hear the words of Dr. Seuss and imagine the image before it is revealed
• Picture / Word association — words zoom up and are spoken when pictures are touched
• Individual words highlight and are read aloud when tapped
• Professional audio narration
• Custom background audio for each scene
• This 'Universal App' is optimized for Retina displays and the iPad

If you pick this one up, let us know what you and your child think! Sreenshots after the break.

[$3.99 - iTunes link]

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

Disney has released their newest interactive iPhone and iPad book, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue - A Magical Adventure. In the story, Tinker Bell is trapped on the mainland and depending on her fairy friends to help her out. The reader can contribute to and control the magic by blowing in the speaker to spread fairy dust.

• Blow into your mobile device’s speaker to spread fairy dust throughout the adventure.
• Tap on characters and objects to see them come to life!
• Experience beautiful story illustrations, professional narration, and enchanting Disney Fairies music.

If you pick this one up, let us know what you, or your child, thinks! Screenshots after the break.

[$3.99 - iTunes link]

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

Could Steve Jobs have agreed to an official biography? According to Simon & Schuster, he has indeed with the book arriving in early 2012.

Walter Isaacson's "iSteve: The Book of Jobs" will be published in early 2012. Isaacson has been working on the long-rumored biography since 2009 and has interviewed Jobs, members of his family, colleagues at Apple and competitors.

Having read several of the un-authorized biographies and having listened to Jobs Stanford commencement speech, I'm very much looking forward to this. The story of the man who helped mainstream the CLI (Apple II), GUI (Mac), Multitouch (iPhone and iPad), digital music (iTunes), 3D animation (Pixar), Apple Retail, and more, with his support and input? Yes please.

Only question is iBooks or iTunes audio book?

[ABC]

The long rumored Google eBooks service appears to have gone live today... somewhat. The service allows you to not only read books on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, but on the web or on Android phones, Nook, and Sony devices. The iOS webpage boasts over 8,000 titles already available for download.

The only problem right now is the fact that the native app isn't currently available for iPhone or iPad yet. (I'm getting the "The item you've requested is not currently available in the US Store" error but we'll update when that's sorted out.)

Also, Google is using Adobe DRM for their eBooks so while they won't be compatible with iBooks (FairPlay) or Kindle, they will be compatible with other stores and readers that support Adobe Content Server 4.

If any of you guys have tried out Google eBooks, let us know what you think!

Update: Looks like the app is now available in the US app store under Google Books

[Google eBooks](http://books.google.com/ebooks) via Android Central]

iTunes 10 is here, we've been using it for a while, and now we've got a complete walkthrough for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users. If you're new to iTunes 10, especially if you're new to iOS devices, we'll help you get up and running quickly. If you're already an expert, well here's a guide you can send your new user friends and family. Let's get started, after the break.

If you haven't downloaded iTunes 10, you can do so from Apple.com. Once it's installed, plug in your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to get started.

Summary/Info

The Summary section is helpful for checking on updates for your iOS device and restoring it if you run into problems. You can also configure some preferences such as syncing automatically when you plug-in your device. If you use a service like Apple's MobileMe, you won't have to do much on the Info section, but if you don't sync over the air, you can choose/manage what to sync over here such as Contacts, Calendar and Bookmarks.

New Color Bars

When you plug in your iOS device you will notice a colored bar at the very bottom labeled "Capacity". This bar is not a new feature to iTunes 10, but it is a tweaked one. It is divided into colors showing you what you have stored on your device by Audio, Video, Photos, Apps, Books, Other and Free space. If you click in the colored space it will cycle you through few options. Click it once and it will list you how many items you have in each respective category. Next it will break down the data into volume such as days and hours. Last, the display will show you the storage taken up by each category. Depending where you begin clicking this sequence may be in a different order, but it is still quite useful.

Managing Apps

iTunes 10 brings a couple of welcome changes to how iOS devices manage apps- especially if you have an iPhone/iPod Touch and an iPad. On the Apps section of iTunes on your device you have a filter that is probably default sorted by Kind. This places the iPhone and iPod Touch apps at the top and iPad apps at the bottom. You have more filters such as Name and Category, but the really useful choice is "iPad Only". This selection only displays iPad apps for your iPad. Regretfully, iTunes does not save this filtered selection and the next time you plug in your iOS device, it gets reset to Kind.

You also have a check box at the bottom of the screen that allows you to automatically install new apps. This option works great for me, but not my wife. With this checkbox checked, she gets every app I have downloaded installed on her device. An easy way around this is to go to the preview screen to the right in iTunes and select the last screen. This is typically where new apps will go (unless you have a lot of gapping spaces on your home screen). You can delete the app by hovering over it and clicking the X in the top left corner of the app. You can also remove any other app while you are at it. Be careful though, most apps don't store their info in the cloud yet, so if you delete it, the data might go with it too.

If you have an .ipa file (Apple's app format) you can drag and drop those files to the Apps section in iTunes located in the upper left.

File Sharing

Do you have an app such as Apple iWork Pages that you would like to get some documents installed? Piece of cake. Scroll to the bottom of the Apps section in iTunes for your app device and you will see the Apps and Document area. Click on the app you want and you will see an available list of documents currently synced to that app. If you want to add more documents, click the Add... button, browse to the document(s) and click Choose. If you want to save a document from the selected application, select it and click Save to... to place it on a folder on your computer. Here is an easy tip; of you want to save multiple files from an app or all of them, click the first document then hold the Shift key and click the last document. This selects all of them. Now you can save all of the documents to your computer. You can also Ctrl (PC) and the Apple Key (Mac) to select just the apps you want when clicking on them.

Music

Getting music on your iPhone/iPod Touch or iPad has never been easier. You can choose to sync your entire music library (it won't fit on my device... my library is too big). Or pick your favorite Artists, Genres, Playlists an Albums.

Do you have a lot of music videos? I do, but I don't want to sync all of my videos; that can take up precious space. To still get music videos on your  iOS device but not all of them, create a playlist in iTunes and drag the music videos you want onto it. Make sure the Include Music Videos checkbox is checked and you are ready to Rock and Roll, so to speak.

Movies/TV Shows/Podcasts/iTunes U

These sections all work relatively the same way. Select played or unplayed content to sync or a playlist. You can even choose more robust choices like the most recent episode that has been downloaded but not played. Yikes, but it is useful so you don't get redundant content on your device.

Books

Photos

If you use iPhoto or Aperture you can sync those events and projects to your iOS device. On the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch with Retina Displays pictures looks very good. They are also fun to view on the iPad with its huge display. If you really like someone, you can even use the Faces feature and sync over just specific people; that is just too cool. If you own a PC you can sync directly from a folder.

Ping

Ah, the only really "new" feature in iTunes 10 for iOS devices (except for iPad running 3.2, gotta wait till 4.2 folks) is Ping, Apple's new social network for music. You can access Ping directly from iTunes via the Ping button from the desktop and iPhone/iPod Touch.

I really enjoy Ping. You can follow other artists, like and post songs and albums. Strangely you can only do this with music, not Audiobooks or Podcasts. I am betting in the future you will be able to.

Conclusion

Twitterrific is the grandaddy of iOS Twitter clients -- it existed on the iPhone before there was an SDK and was in the App Store on launch day, and again for iPad launch. Twitterrific has evolved from a reader-centric experience to a feature-full client and back to a highly focused app.

Craig Hockenberry, a principle at Iconfactory, the driving force behind Twitterrific, spoke to me at WWDC 2010 about getting Twitterrific ready for the iPad and how that process re-informed what will be going into (and perhaps coming out of) Twitterrific 3.0 for iPhone.

And no, Tweetie becoming the free Twitter for iPhone isn't slowing them down. (You can read more on that from Craig and Iconfactory collaborators David Lanham and Ged Maheux)

Hockenberry has also taken a turn as author, with his iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual now available from O'Reilly. It takes you through the process, from SDK signup to Xcode and Objective-C, to deploying an app. It's a treasure-trove of experience and insight for developers -- aspiring and veteran alike.

Videos after the break. (Huge apologies to everyone, especially Craig, for the annoying wind noise -- I greatly underestimated it during filming)

[Twitterrific homepage]

YouTube link

YouTube link

The iPad eBooks war just got a bit more interesting with Barnes & Noble releasing their BN eReader for iPad into the App Store today. With the following features we are curious to see what adjustments Apple makes to iBooks, and Amazon with the Kindle in the near future.

• Exclusive LendMe technology that lets you share eBooks with friends using any of our free BN eReader apps or NOOK eBook readers
• LendMe allows you to grab friends’ addresses right from your existing iPad contacts
• Free safe and secure library keeps your eBooks accessible for years and years to come
• Ready to read in your library:
• Ten free samples of current best sellers (with new accounts)
• Three free classics
• Free samples of any eBook
• Adjustable font size so you can make the text as big as you want for reading ( 10 different sizes)
• Multiple font types—so you pick the typeface you prefer
• Background and text color options for easy reading in any light
• Use our professionally designed themes or create your own
• Tap or swipe to turn pages
• Browse your library visually with big, beautiful color covers or in iPad style “list view” (like Apple’s Mail app)
• Synchronize your notes, highlights and current reading position with BN eReader for PC (and our forthcoming update to iPhone)
• 24/7 shopping -- no waiting
• Free Merriam-Webster’s Pocket Dictionary is built right in so you don’t leave the page when looking up a word

If you have given this a try let us know what you think in the comments below! Should Apple and Amazon be worried?

[iTunes Link - Free]

According to The Wall Street Journal Google is planning on introducing their very own eBook store as early as this next month, and gearing up once again to go head-to-head with Apple. This news comes just after Apple announced that in just 28 days, iPad users have downloaded over 1.5 million eBooks via iBooks.

"Google says its new service--called Google Editions--will allow users to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book search service. It will also allow book retailers to sell Google Editions on their own sites, taking the bulk of the revenue. Google has yet to release details about pricing and which publishers are expected to participate."

Unlike on devices such as the iPhone, iPad and Kindle, Google's approach will be to allow users access to the digital books from a complete range of websites and over various devices.

Would any of our readers prefer Google's eBooks over Apple's iBooks? Sound off in the comments below!

[WSJ via Mac Rumors]

iBooks on the iPad is the best ebook reading experience I've ever had (though to be fair I only have compared it to the Kindle 2nd Gen, Kindle on iPad, Kindle on iPhone, and various ebook readers on webOS and PalmOS).

Although initially I was a little concerned that reading on an LCD for extended periods of time would cause eye strain, reading for a couple of hours last night wasn't a problem at all. I will have to wait and see if even longer sessions cause problems, but my hunch is that won't be the case. You can adjust the brightness of the screen, the font size, and even the font type right from inside the app as you're reading to ensure that you're not squinting into some insanely bright screen.

You can search an entire book, look up words in the dictionary, jump to chapters, and so on. Bookmarking seems to only work on specific words, not on pages, but once you figure that out you're set to go. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to enter notes, only to highlight text in one of five colors. In other words, academics can add the inability to add margin notes to the other reasons to shy away from ebooks for now (the others including the fact that you can't trade or sell ebooks and, of course, DRM).

The iBooks Store is in-app and ties into your iTunes account, so you won't need to remember a different password to use it. Book selection seems to be slightly worse than what you can find in Amazon's Kindle store - but this early it's not completely fair to judge on selection. As with iTunes, there are plenty of top-charts like the NYT bestseller list, categories, and the ability to download samples of books to see if it's something you'd really like to read. One nice bit - iBooks uses the ePub standard, so it has the entire Gutenberg Project library

If you were thinking of buying a Kindle, don't.

Video and gallery after the break!

When Steve Jobs whipped out the iPad, the first thing I did was do a double-take on the screen's 4:3 aspect ratio. At 1024x763 it's what I used to have on my 2005 Windows XP CRT screen. It's wide. It's iPod "phatty" nano G3 [Wikipedia link] wide and that design only lasted 1 generation before Apple back-peddled to the long and slim. Apple used to default to 16:10, and the new iMac is 16:9, which is modern HDTV aspect ratio. (The iPhone and iPod touch are 3x2)

At 4x3 the iPad will require the same monstrous letterboxing on videos that old SD TVs required. (TUAW has a great post up on this). So what's the deal?

First, unlike a TV where you sit across the room and the screen fills a relatively small part of your field of vision, like the iPhone, the iPad will be held much closer. Even with monstrous letterboxing, the video will still fill a large part of your field of vision.

Of course, the iPad isn't only a video player. There are other forms of content to consume. For web browsing, even 16:10 sometimes feels too "short", and you need to scroll more than you like. For books, a narrow page may not be ideal, and with a two-page spread, those pages will seem squat, squarish.

Now don't get us wrong, if Apple added pixels and made it 16:10 (1280x800), TiPb wouldn't complain (they could pillarbox the books!). If they took pixels away to make it 16:9 (1024x576), it might lose part of that "big screen iPod touch" infamy. And it might lose functionality for anything other than video.

It's definitely a compromise, but is it a good one?

[Thanks Antony for bringing the counter-argument to our attention!]

iPhone 3G Made Simple comes by way of Martin Trautschold and Gary Mazo of Made Simple book and e-book fame -- likely familiar names to any of our CrackBerry.com friends -- have put their training talents to work on the iPhone 3G and the result? 376 pages chock full of photos and easy to understand guides.

It's available now in e-book (PDF) for $20 and is coming in August in good old printed form (soft cover). For TiPb readers, however, Martin and Gary are giving away 5 free copies of the e-book!

Just head on over to the TiPb iPhone Forum and let us know you want a copy!

Sure, we lost iGoogle, but we gained Gmail Tasks, have been promised Google Latitude, and now have been served up a piping hot portion of Google Books optimized for the iPhone.

Authors, no doubt, may continue to have a problem with Google willfully ignoring copyright for their own content lust, while mobile users jump up and down in glee, like one author and mobile accomplisher, Andy Ihnatko is doing on his Celestial Waste of Bandwidth:

Yes, all 1.5 million public-domain texts in the Google Books project are now available to mobile users, behind a fairly awesome, slick interface. [...] And I scroll down a bit and find many titles of interest. I give one of ‘em a tap, and soon I’m looking at a very credible little mobile book reader. [..] Good golly. If Google is evil, then they’re a Doctor Doom sort of evil. What’s a little evil, when the totalitarian dictator takes such wonderful, indulgent care of his subjects?

Indeed. Google is really stepping up to showcase what great WebApps can still do in the post-App Store iPhone world. Any ebook aficionados try this out yet? How does it compare to native apps like Classic and Stanza? And how does the iPhone experience compare to the Kindle for that matter?

No sooner did Apple drop the iPhone SDK Non-Disclosure Agreement (fondly referred to as the [Redacted] NDA among aficionados, as it forbade developers discussing the topic even among themselves), then the floodgates of knowledge burst open. Cases in point:

According to TUAW, iPhone coder extraordinaire Erica Sadun's The iPhone Developer's Cookbook is already available in PDF form from informIT (along with code samples!):

If you’re getting started with iPhone programming, this book brings together tested, ready-to-use code for hundreds of the challenges you’re most likely to encounter. Use this fully documented, easy-to-customize code to get productive fast—and focus your time on the specifics of your application, not boilerplate tasks.

Meanwhile, Mike Clark writes in to let us know that Pragmatic Programmers is now offering a set of screencasts targeted specifically at iPhone developers:

There's also a free (no account required) 20-minute "Getting Started with Xcode and Interface Builder" screencast [where Bill Dudney] shows you how to build the simplest of iPhone apps (a Hello World app). More important, he shows you how it works---from the main functions triggering Nib files being loaded, to wiring up interface controls, and all the way through a button push running code that you write.

Of course, Apple itself is going on a World Tour and is revving up the iPhone Developer University Program.

Seriously. Has there ever been a better time to develop for the iPhone?