December 10th, 2008 | 
Author: I read in the last week or so that there are now over 10,000 apps available for the iPhone and that’s only in the last six months since the App Store opened.
Wow!
That’s a lot of applications for the world’s favourite, ultra-clever smart phone.
Some of them are completely pointless and fun, others are very useful and some are just plain cool. I’ve gone a bit app mad and downloaded loads of them, so many that I am going to run out space soon.
That’s ok, because at some point, I know I am going to have to cull my apps and lose the ones I hardly, if ever use. For now, though I’m all about the apps.
I’ve already reviewed some of my favourite apps, CLICK HERE to magically travel back in time to those heady, crazy days, of August 2008.
Since then, I’ve found some even cooler apps to share with you. Some of them are free, some are paid for, but nearly all of them serve a useful purpose and most of them are used by yours truly on a daily basis.
Google Search
This app has been around since day one of the App Store, but the recent update added a feature that will not only impress your mates, but actually works.
The latest version of Google’s search app doesn’t require any buttons, you put the phone to your ear, wait for the tone to cue you and then speak your search and it understands you and displays your results lightening quick!
Like if you say “ show me pictures of naked women”, it fills your screen with very pretty pictures. And if you have the “safe search” option switched off, you’ll get some hands free porn, which if you think about it, could have some applications of its own.
Seriously, its very cool and a quick demo will blow most people away.
Weather Bug
There are a lot of weather apps for your iPhone, but this one is my favourite.
You choose a weather centre nearest to you from a list provided and the app then displays the temperature, wind speed, along with all the usual stuff like humidity and barometer pressure…in real time.
You can watch the wind change direction and speed while the app is running and it also tells you what the wind chill is, a useful tool when choosing what coat to wear. The app also provides forecasts for the next few days, but here’s the other killer feature, it shows you the most recent satellite weather photo for your region.
This app is a must-have if you dig the weather, or like to know how cold it is outside. Trust me, baby its chilly.
TV Plus
This one is really only of use to you if you live in the UK and subscribe to SKY TV and have a SKY+ box. For those of you who don’t know what I mean (my pals in America!), its a combination TiVO and satellite tv receiver and is my digital platform of choice.
If you have a SKY+ and an iPhone, you will really love this one. TV Plus displays the SKY programme guide for the next seven days, with descriptions for each programme, on every channel. If you’ve signed up for a MySKY account, you can enter your details into the app, then, and here’s the killer bit, once you’re set up, you can enter recordings into your SKY+ from anywhere you have a connection via wi-fi, EDGE or 3G.
I’m not sure if I am explaining this well. Say you’re at work and you’ve forgot to put a recording in for some tv show, it doesn’t matter what. You can find the programme on the virtual programme guide on your iPhone and tap the record button and through some magic voodoo jiggery pokery, the recording just appears in your SKY+ planner as if you entered it with the remote from the proximity of your sofa. Amazing.
Set up is slightly complex, but the step-by-step instructions were very clear and easy to follow – I had it up and running in no time. It probably took longer to sign up for the MySKY account (free from SKY.com) than it did to set up the app and my SKY+ box.
Just be aware that the remote recordings work best when you have more than 30 minutes before the programme begins, otherwise there don’t seem to be any limitations. It’s well worth the price!
iTap
I wasn’t that impressed with iTap initially, but since the most recent update, it really shines. Its a simple app that turns your iPhone into a remote track pad for a Mac and just about anything you can do with a mouse, you can do with iTap, including right clicking. iTap now also has a keyboard, for remote text entry.
I have a Mac Mini connected to my tv and I can do most things with my Logitech Harmony Remote, including control Front Row and iTunes, but the one thing I’ve never been able to do is put the Mini to sleep. With the little white Apple remote, no problem, I press and hold the centre button and voila, my Mini is snoring. I can’t seem to come up with a way to replicate that command with the Harmony remote.
With iTap, I don’t have to, I can just start it and in two taps, my Mini is dreaming of electric sheep.
iTap requires a small piece of receiver software to be installed on your Mac, but it was very easy, just drag it into your apps folder, run it, then from the menu bar icon, select “open on start-up” to add it to your log in items. Then just forget about it.
Mocha VNC Lite
iTap is great, if you can see your Mac’s screen, but what if you can’t?
There are many occasions where I need to do something with the Mac Mini, while the tv is in use and I don’t want to switch over to the Mini to do something quick and simple. Instead I use Mocha VNC Lite.
VNC stands for virtual network control and if you’re running Leopard, its built into the operating system and called screen sharing. Because it is built into the operating system, its very easy to enable, just go into the preference pane under sharing, click the screen sharing box and set a password for remote login. Your Mac is now ready to be remotely controlled.
Mocha VNC Lite allows you to connect to your Mac and control it, with the touchscreen acting as a trackpad with the remote Mac’s output displayed on the iPhone’s screen.
With Mocha VNC Lite, I can start and stop downloads, I can run apps, enter text through the integrated keyboard, all from another room, or even in my back garden. I’ve only got it set up to work within my home network, but people who are better at the real tech stuff can probably get it to work over the internet, from anywhere in the world.
Its a freebie, though there is a paid version, which I should buy myself.
iTalk Recorder
Griffin’s iTalk Recorder is another simple, yet well designed and useful app that does what it says on the tin. It records sound, but it does it very well.
You can choose the quality, from good enough to be broadcast on FM radio to very low, but still listen-able and the length of the recording is only limited by your available flash memory.
Transferring your audio to your Mac is a breeze, there is an application that you need to install which wirelessly connects your Mac to your iPhone and you just drag over the files you need.
This app is works so well that I bet I could use it to do voxpops on the street that sounded good enough to be transmitted on the radio. Of course, I’d look like a dick, walking up to people and making them talk into an upside-down iPhone, but you get the idea.
AirCamLiveVideo
This app is extremely cool and I have absolutely no purpose for it, not even a nefarious one.
AirCamLiveVideo turns your iPhone into a wireless remote receiver for the built-in isight camera in your iMac or MacBook and it also works with the old external isights. It should work with other webcams as well, though best to check before downloading the app.
Again, you need to install a small piece of software on your Mac to transmit the images (and now audio too) from your Mac to your iPhone. Start the software on the Mac, run the app on your iPhone and away you go. It self-configures via Bonjour and you can password protect the live stream to keep prying eyes away.
Like I said, I have no practical application for this one, its just very cool and futuristic. I also think its the most expensive app I’ve bought so far. It was a fiver, but now that I’ve reviewed it, bang that’s coming off next year’s taxes as a website expense.
Now – Geo-networking
This is a weird one and I’ve yet to really work out its usefulness.
This app lets you post a tag on a location in real time, and they only remain there for a day or so. You can also search for other people’s tags.
Posting appears simple, you allow the app to know your location, put in your line of copy and hit send. Be careful what you post and where you post it, though.
The reason to be careful is that when you do a search, you can see what all the other people have posted, complete with directions to get there. You don’t want to be sitting at home posting “sex available, no charge”.
Or maybe, you do.
And yes, I have seen labels such as my example above posted on a map of the world. The app is global and should work wherever you are on the planet.
When you do a search, the app hands off some data to the iPhone’s built in map app, and you can watch a collection of red pins descend across the global. Tap a pin to read the attached description text, zoom in and see where they are or switch to the satellite view.
For me, its an easy, fun way to generate addresses for playing with the new “street view” function added in the iPhone’s software update to version 2.2.
The UK hasn’t been blessed with street view just yet, but most of the continental US has and guess where most of the posters on this app are from? Although bizarrely, Google did have some street views available for an Italian suburb and it does look like London will be added soon, which means I’ll be able to virtually stalk myself.
And speaking of stalking, tell me this doesn’t sound fun. Next week, I’m going to be posting “www.northlondonhippy.com” via this app, at various locations throughout London. If you’re really quick, and you can get there in time, you might catch a glimpse of me and my iPhone in action.
If you don’t, at least you’ll know that you are standing in the exact spot where I stood when I posted it. If that doesn’t make the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up, I don’t know what will!
And that my friends and iPhone fans is my latest collection of super-neat-o-cool iPhone apps, but it by no means complete. There are plenty of others I like and probably my absolute favourite is yet to come. Enjoy!
