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!

Georgia, Seth, and Rene discuss Apple's upcoming iPad 3 event, analyze the invitation, and round up the rumors; also: Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPad, Marvel comics for iBooks, and Nexia home automation. This is iPhone & iPad Live!

• Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
• Subscribe via RSS: Audio | Video
• Download directly: Audio | Video

Meta

• Mobile Nations Fitness Month round up!
• Editor’s desk: iPad 3 release date, iOS 5.1 GM seed, new focus, new features
• How to take amazing macro photos with your iPhone

iPad 3 event

• Apple iPad event set for March 7, 10am PT
• Quad-core, 4G LTE iPad 3 rumored for next week… in New York?
• How to sell your old iPad before upgrading to the new iPad 3
• Apple TV 3 rumored to launch alongside iPad 3, “mystery accessory”
• Apple rumored to be working on both A5X and A6 chipsets for next generation devices
• Apple rumored to be working on a new audio format to enhance streaming and music quality

News

• Apple getting ready to ditch the traditional iPhone, iPad, and iPod dock connector
• Apple airs new commercial: iCloud Harmony

Apps

• PSA: Yes, apps can access and upload your Camera Roll too (but that’s nothing new)
• Marvel comics now available in iBooks
• Transform your photos like never before with Photoshop Touch for iPad
• Apple acquires Chomp, set to revamp search and discovery for App Store apps

Accessories

• http://www.imore.com/2012/02/29/fitbit-review/
• Mercedes Benz to embrace the iPhone 4S and Siri in its new A-Class vehicles
• Fix the iPad’s tiny, tinny sound with Zooka Wireless Speaker
• Nexia Home Security Bundle review: The future of iPhone home automation is now

Hosts

• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com, or leave a comment on the website when the show goes live.

We're here every Wednesday night at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, 2am GMT at www.TiPb.com/live

For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

If you haven't already please subscribe to all our shows in iTunes and leave a rating. It helps people find the show and means a lot to us!

Thanks to the iMore Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Marvel comics has just pushed out a large set of their collected editions to Apple's iBookstore. The contents is what you're typically find in their softcover trade paperback editions, and mostly more recent fare, but there's some great stuff included.

Pricing is decent, between $6.99 for shorter volumes and $16.99 for classic Masterworks. No sign of larger collections (for example, Joss Whedon's phenomenal X-Men run is offered only as Vol 1. of 4 right now, not the entire 25 issue set that was in hardcover), nor the amazing Omnibuses. But one step at a time, right?

80 volumes are available at launch, and Marvel says there are more to come, so we have a lot to look forward to. If you're not sold on the digital format, you can even test drive a free copy of Brian Michael Bendis' New Avengers Vol. 1 -- for a limited time -- to see how you like it.

If you're into Marvel and use iBooks, I heartily recommend Astonishing X-Men by Whedon, Eternals and 1602 by Gaiman, Planet Hulk, Iron Man: Extremis by Ellis, Thor by JMS, Runaways, and Wolverine Enemy of the State and Old Man Logan by Millar. If you have any favorites, add them in the comments below.

Variable - Marvel iBooks Catalog

Full press release below.

Today, Marvel has entered a bold new era in digital comics. For the first time ever, classic stories—from the first appearance of the Avengers to the “death” of Captain America—will now be available for purchase on Apple’s iBookstore.

With an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, Marvel fans across the world can now purchase over 80 graphic novels with fan-favorite characters like Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Spider-Man and more by launching the iBooks app or going to www.itunes.com/marvelgraphicnovels.

Marvel Graphic Novels on Apple's iBookstore

The following is a complete list of available graphic novels at launch:

• Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks Vol. 1
• Astonishing X-Men Vol.1: Gifted
• Avengers Assemble Vol. 1
• Avengers Forever
• Avengers Masterworks Vol.1
• Avengers: Disassembled
• Avengers: Kree /Skrull War
• Avengers: Under Siege
• Avengers/X-Men: Utopia
• Captain America: The Death of Captain America Vol.1 - Death of the Dream
• Captain America: Winter Soldier Vol.1
• Captain America: Winter Soldier Vol.2
• Castle: Richard Castle's Deadly Storm
• Civil War
• Dark Avengers Vol.1: Assemble
• Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born
• Deadpool Vol.1: Secret Invasion
• Earth X
• Emma
• Ender's Game: Battle School
• Ender's Game: Command School
• Ender's Shadow: Battle School
• Ender's Shadow: Command School
• Eternals by Neil Gaiman
• Fallen Son: Death of Captain America
• Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Vol.1
• Ghost Rider Vol. 1: Vicious Cycle
• House of M
• Hulk Vol. 1: Red Hulk
• Hulk: Planet Hulk
• Infinity Gauntlet
• Invincible Iron Man Vol. 1: Five Nightmares
• Iron Man: Extremis
• John Carter: A Princess of Mars
• John Carter: World of Mars
• Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman
• Marvel Zombies
• Mighty Avengers Vol.1: The Ultron Initiative
• New Avengers Vol. 1: Breakout
• New Avengers Vol. 2: The Sentry
• New Avengers Vol. 3: Secrets and Lies
• New Avengers Vol. 4: The Collective
• New Avengers Vol. 5: Civil War
• Pride and Prejudice
• Runaways Vol. 1: Pride and Joy
• Secret Invasion
• Secret War
• Secret Wars
• Siege
• Spider-Man: Big Time
• Spider-Man: Blue
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day Vol.1
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day Vol.2
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day Vol.3
• Spider-Man: Crime and Punisher
• Spider-Man: Kraven's First Hunt
• Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage
• Spider-Man: New Ways to Die
• Thor by J. Michael Straczynski Vol. 1
• Ultimate Spider-Man Vol.1: Power and Responsibility
• Ultimate Spider-Man Vol.2: Learning Curve
• Ultimate Spider-Man Vol.3: Double Trouble
• Ultimate Spider-Man Vol.4: Legacy
• Ultimate Spider-Man Vol.5: Public Scrutiny
• Ultimate Spider-Man Vol.6: Venom
• Ultimate Spider-Man Vol.7: Irresponsible
• Ultimate Spider-Man Vol.8: Cats and Kings
• Ultimate X-Men Vol. 1: The Tomorrow People
• Ultimates Vol.1: Super-Human
• Ultimates Vol.2: Homeland Security
• Venom vs. Carnage
• Wolverine: Enemy of the State
• Wolverine: Old Man Logan
• Wolverine: Weapon X Vol.1: Adamantium Men
• Wonderful Wizard of Oz
• World War Hulk
• X-Force Vol. 1: Angels and Demons
• X-Men: Messiah Complex
• X-Men: Phoenix Endsong
• X-Men: Second Coming
• X-Necrosha

And that’s just for starters. Each week, more graphic novels will be added to the expanding Marvel IBookstore library, bringing to your iPad, IPhone, or iPod Touch a truly unique digital comic book reading experience that customers will never forget. But don’t take our word for it. For a limited time, customers can read the first full issue of New Avengers Vol. 1: Breakout at the iBookstore…free of charge. For experienced comic book readers or casual fans alike, there’s something for everyone: action (X-Men: Messiah Complex), suspense (Secret Invasion), mysteries (Castle: Richard Castle’s Deadly Storm), literary adaptations (Pride & Prejudice), children’s tales (Wonderful Wizard of Oz) and more!

"It's not quite iTunes for comic books yet, but Comics and the comiXology apps like Marvel and DC are getting terrifically close."

Comics is the best app for buying comic books -- and graphic novels -- on your iPad. Well, that's not exactly true. Comics is one of the best places to buy comics, but the developer, comiXology also makes dedicated versions of the app for Marvel, DC, Dynamite, IDW, Image, and other publishers. They claim over 16,000 titles, more than enough to delight anyone's inner Sheldon. Comics itself has a great selection of titles from several of their partner publishers and, taken together, the comiXology apps are everything you need to get your weekly fix of new releases and classic back issues alike.

comiXology's dedicated DC Comics app opens up with all the latest titles.

When you first load up Comics, or any of the dedicated comiXology apps, you're taken straight to the store and will have various options up top for featured titles, new or recently added title, popular or best-selling titles, and sometimes free titles as well. Browse your way through or use the tabs at the bottom to jump to series (like trade paperbacks, they're several issues collected into one easier-to-manage edition), story arcs (related issues you still have to buy and keep separately -- why not just make these into series, folks?), creators (if you're looking for specific titles by your favorite artist or writer), as well as the option to search, and My Comics/purchases to see what you've already bought.

The option to buy series (think trade paperbacks) in the dedicated apps like Marvel and DC is a nice addition.

There's a ton of content to be found. Comics proper has a good sampling of titles from the various publishers. The dedicated apps for Marvel, DC, et al have loads of current stuff, most of the popular arcs and series from the last few years, and a smattering of classics (though why I can only find something like Batman: Year One as a set of individual issues in a story arc and not as a collected series is irksome -- fix that DC!).

When you find what you like, it's just one in-app purchase away, just like iTunes.

When you find something you like, just tap the price to buy, same as you would in iTunes, and the familiar in-app-purchasing system takes over. Your comic issue or collected edition is downloaded straight into the app and made available on your reading shelf.

Pricing is okay. Individual issues are often $1.99 though some newer/hotter titles are $2.99 which is too high. As Steve Jobs told the music industry a decade ago, their competition is free -- price things fairly and make them easily available and the market will flourish. Also, while Marvel offers true collections in their series, DC doesn't seem to have embraced that yet which is baffling. (Prices for the Marvel series range from $6.99 for smaller, more obscure 130 page collections all the way up to $24.99 for large, popular 330 page collections like Planet Hulk). There's also no subscription model, let alone all-you-can-eat offering.

Thumbnails of all the pages in your issue or series are just a tap away.

The reading experience is excellent. Pages are shown one at a time, or side-by-side for double-page spreads. You can also double tap to "zoom in" and show only one panel at a time. There's no page flipping animation but swiping between pages is a breeze. You can also tap to bring up the controls which let you get info on the title, go to a thumbnail view of all pages, pull up the option for transition speed, letterboxing, etc. and get help on how the reader works.

While not extensive, basic options let you tweak the reading experience.

You can't load your own comics, or comics you've bought in PDF form (for example, on Marvel's extensive DVD volumes), but that's what apps like Comic Zeal are for.

Overall comiXology has done an amazing job. Marvel, DC, and the other companies are also tepidly inching their way into digital confidence. It would be nice to have everything all in the Comics app and not need the separate Marvel, DC, et. al apps, for example (could you imagine if Warner, Sony, etc. were all separate iTunes app clones and we couldn't keep our music or movies in one place?). It would also be great to see the bigger collections, absolutes, omnibuses, etc. available, discounted the way they are for trade paperbacks in comic book specialty shops. (Speaking of which, the comiXology apps go out of their way to point out where you can go buy real-world paper versions of the comics, which is both awkward and charming.)

Double page spreads look especially great on the iPad

The good

• Excellent availability of titles, especially in the dedicated apps
• In-app purchases are quick and efficient
• Reader is fluid and functional

The bad

• Having dedicated Marvel, DC, etc. apps is annoying, all content should also be in the main Comics app
• Can't load your own comics into the reader

The conclusion

It's not quite iTunes for comic books yet, but Comics and the comiXology apps like Marvel and DC are getting terrifically close. If you're a general fan, get the Comics apps proper. If you're a Marvel or DC purest, get the dedicated Marvel or DC apps. If you love everything, get them all. With day-and-date new releases and an expanding back catalog of classic stories, Comics makes iPad the premiere device for any comic loving geek.

FREE - Download

• Marvel version
• DC version

Marvel is starting to offer Digital Comics Cllections for iPad, the digital equivalent of the traditional trade paperback, which combines together the single issues of a story line into one volume. Only 10 titles will be available at first, focused around the Ultimate Universe and current movie properties. Hopefully more will be available soon, and hopefully DC will jump on this bandwagon as well.

• Astonishing X-Men Vol.1: Gifted

• Captain America: Winter Soldier Vol.1 
>- Invincible Iron Man Vol.1: Five Nightmares 
>- New Avengers Vol.1: Breakout

• Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage

• Thor By J. Michael Straczynski Vol.1

• Ultimate Spider-Man Vol.1: Power and Responsibility

• Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol.1: The Fantastic

• Ultimates Vol. 1: Super-Human

• Ultimate X-Men Vol. 1: The Tomorrow People


If you're in the mood to try it out, head on over to the Marvel Comics app [App Store link and pick up Astonishing X-Men (by Joss Whedon) and Ultimates (by Mark Millar) now.

[Marvel]

Attention true believers! Daring Disney dispenses 4 billion big ones to buyout mighty Marvel, its merry mutants, and stupendous superheroes!

Okay, rewind. To make that most tangential of relationships possible (just so we can blog about comics, of course): following Disney's Pixar acquisition, Steve Jobs -- then CEO of Pixar and still CEO of iPhone maker, Apple Inc. -- became Disney's largest shareholder. Now reports are circulating that Disney is buying Marvel Comics -- home of Spider-Man, the Hulk, Fantastic Four, Wolverine and the X-Men, and a literal fortunes worth of other character properties, for a cool $4 billion.

While this does mean Disney will likely be better positioned to compete against Warner Bros. and their portfolio of DC characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Watchmen, etc.), other than eventually being able to watch a Disney-produced Marvel film via iTunes, it probably doesn't mean much for Apple -- and certainly doesn't mean we'll see adamantium shelled iPhone any time ever.

But, again, it does give us the chance to geek out and project Steve Jobs as the new owner of Marvel. Or as the new Kingpin. Or Doctor Strange, if the 60s fit is better. Or...

Dunno, which Marvel Character is the most Steve Jobs?

[Thanks to our buddy Phil from WMExperts for the tip!]

Listen up, true believers! TUAW is reporting that Marvel Comics, home to the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor, and Spider-Man has announced at the New York Comic Con:

their intention to sell "In-Motion" comic books through the iTunes Store. According to Marvel, the In-Motion comics go beyond the paperback books with animated panels and voice-over work from popular actors. Sounds like something that could be a lot of fun on an iPod touch or iPhone.

New stuff? Old stuff? In between? Will we be getting the heights of the Phoenix Saga and Astonishing X-Men or the dregs of Secret Invasion and Ultimatum? The tears of the Boy Who Collected Spider-Man, the cheers of Nextwave, or the jeers of Hulk Red?

Grab your Extremis kit, pop your admantium claws, sling some webs (any size!), and let us know just how exactly Marvel needs to SMASH! it up in iTunes!

iXcelsior!