Twitter Launches Official Tweet Buttons

Twitter recently released official tweet buttons to make it easier for content publishers to make it easy for their readers to tweet content they’re viewing. In addition to easier visitor tweeting, it’s easy to view the tweet count for that given content.

Let’s take a look at how to use Twitter’s new tweet buttons and how it can be integrated with third-party services like Bit.ly.

Basic Tweet Button

Head over to http://twitter.com/tweetbutton and you’ll be able to setup your tweet button in three quick steps, assuming you’re already signed in.

Tweet Button Step 1

Tweet Button Step 1

Step 1

You’ll start by selecting your desired button style; vertical count, horizontal count or no count. You can optionally set specific Tweet text or just go with the default setting which will use the title of the page the button is on.

Tweet Text

Tweet Text

You can also optionally select a custom URL or the default which will use the URL for the page the button is on. Lastly, you can optionally select a language other than the default of English.

Step 2

In step two you’re able to recommend up to two accounts for users to follow after they share content from your site. If you’re signed in when you create your Tweet button it will automatically fill in your account for the first recommendation.

Recommend Accounts

Recommend Accounts

Step 3

The only thing left to do is get your Tweet button code and insert it into your site wherever you want it to appear.

Get Code

Get Code

Here’s our Tweet button for this specific article. Feel free to give it a tweet!

Tweet Button Window

Tweet Button Window

Third-Party Shorteners

Although Twitter’s new Tweet button is nice, it doesn’t provide the analytics and other great features you get with third-party shorteners such as Bit.ly. Fortunately you can use the Tweet button with your URL shortener, even if it uses your own custom URL.

To do this, simply add “?url=YOUR-URL-HERE” to the end of the “http://twitter.com/share” URL within the code provided by Twitter’s Tweet button “creator”. You can alternatively add “data-url=”http://enva.to/caJthb”” to the anchor.

For example, “<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://enva.to/caJthb" data-count="horizontal" data-via="webappstorm">Tweet</a>

The URL you want to pass through needs to be URL encoded (unless passing it via data-url). Here’s an encoder/decoder hosted by meyerweb.com

Here’s an example of a Tweet button for this page, which will pass our custom shortened URL (http://enva.to/caJthb) to Twitter. This makes it easy to track your links!

Custom Shortener

Custom Shortener

Get more information on the Tweet Button and ways to use it from Twitter’s Tweet Button documentation.

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Calcbot: The Ultimate Calculator for iPhone & iPad

A few weeks ago, we took a look at the Tapbots family – highlighting the simplicity and design of their applications. Well, the folks at TapBots have been hard at work and recently released the newest member of their family.

Introducing Calcbot, a brilliantly simple and fun calculator “robot” that takes the mindless task of calculation and makes it fun and even easier to do. Let’s take a look at how Calcbot works after the break.

Features & Functionality

Available as a universal application for both iPhone and iPad, Calcbot takes the guesswork out of calculation, providing users with an intelligent display that displays not only the numbers you press but the expressions as well.

You’ll never lose your place or find yourself making errors because you weren’t sure how far in a calculation you were. As you work, Calcbot will display all the numbers you’ve pressed and live update your total as you go.

Calcbot Interface

Calcbot Interface

Advanced Expressions

Taking it a step further, Calcbot features a ton of advanced mathematical expressions. Instead of clouding your view with an intimidatingly advanced scientific display, formulas and functions that are not for every-day use can be found by swiping to the right.

The History Tape

One of the most notable features of Calcbot is the history “tape” that not only saves each of your calculations but the expressions you used to get there. Think of it like a receipt, constantly logging what you’ve typed and making it available for later use. Choose to use or save either the expression itself or just the result of it without a second thought.

History Tape

History Tape

Sharing Information

In addition to just viewing your expressions and calculations, you can choose to send that information via email or reusing it at a later time. Say you’re keeping track of all your daily expenses. With Calcbot, you can call up your latest total easily and add to it as you need. Once you’re done, it’s simple to send that information to yourself or others via email.

Control your experience even further with the ability to use sound effects of turn them off if you wish. Since most people use calculators for financial transactions, Tapbots also offers the option to round currency too.

Calcbot on the iPad

Using Calcbot on your iPad offers you the same great features but a totally new experience. With the added screen real estate of the larger iPad, calculate and view your history at the same time by turning the device to landscape.

In portrait mode, the app utilizes the entire screen as a beautiful, high-quality calculator. Calcbot feels right at home on the iPad and without a calculator application provided by Apple, this app fits right in.

On Your iPad

On Your iPad

The Motivation Behind Calcbot

Like every other Tapbot app, the team takes a simple concept that has been over-complicated and brings it back to the basics. Without compromising features and detail, the developer is able to make the application very simple and fun to use.

The motivation for the developers to create this app was very simple in nature and explained on their blog. In their eyes, there are two main problems with calculators:

  1. There is no easy way to see the calculator’s expression, so even if you are slightly distracted, you can forget where you were and have to start all over.
  2. Many people have a hard time remembering numbers and have no idea how to use a conventional calculator’s memory buttons.

After using the app for only a few minutes, it is safe to say that Tapbots has elegantly addressed both problems. From the blog, the developer actually had originally only developed the app for the iPad. After partnering with tap tap tap for marketing purposes, Calcbot was made universal.

Once you start using it, you’ll quickly see that the way it handles expressions and calculations will make you drop Apple’s default app. With support for multitasking and iPhone 4’s Retina Display, Calcbot looks awesome on whatever device you’re using.

In Summary

In my use, I found Calcbot excitingly simple to use and just plain fun. I’m not that great with math, so even using it with basic expressions and day-to-day calculations was welcomed. There is no learning curve to Calcbot.

With a elegant interface, you’ll know exactly how to use the app without reading any instructions. You’ll quickly come to rely on features such as the history tape and expression view.

The app is currently available for $1.99 on the App Store. Let us know in the comments what you think about it!

Live Documents: Office in the Cloud

Every desktop user has to create a document one time or another. Even non-PC users have likely used Microsoft Office at least once in their lifetime. MS Office is more ubiquitous and is familiar to more users than MS Windows itself.

It’s only natural for competitors to come up with similar offerings to steal some customers of MS Office. Even a single percent pull would mean tens of millions of dollars to the bottom line. Now, with the advent of Internet, conventional distribution network & physical media are fast becoming irrelevant. Hence we have more than a few companies taking their shot in this space. One among them is Live Documents and today we are going to test their claim of being the “Office for the Internet Generation”!

Overview

Live Documents is an online office productivity suite that gives you the powerful productivity features of Microsoft Office coupled with the collaboration and mobility of Google Docs at an irresistible price – free!

Overview

Overview

Round tripping is the conversion or, in some cases, the repeated conversion back and forth of a document in one format to a document in another format and then back again. Live Documents proudly claims to be the only cloud based office suite that  provides “non-lossy roundtripping” for Microsoft Office documents. So in summary, all  the formatting you have painstakingly done in the document are retained when imported/exported into Live Documents.

Sign Up

Signing up for the service was mildly irritating. First I was taken to a page with a large badge that said Sign Up and just fields for entering email address & password. When I tried to create a new account in this form, I was told the username & password does not exist. Confused, I tried once again from the home page and got the same error. After a few minutes I tried to click on the Sign Up badge itself and guess what?, there came the sign up page.

Sign up or Login

Sign up or Login

The big badge looked like an image file and this is the worst combined sign up/login page I have ever encountered. Sign up requires email activation before you can proceed further. To their credit, you have the option to sign up using existing Yahoo, Google or Google Apps accounts.

Dashboard

The desktop like dashboard design is dashing! Shortcuts to create documents, import document from desktop and importing from Google Doc are available on the left side of the pseudo desktop. On the right side we have the alerts, latest buzz and account information including the storage limits.

Dashboard

Dashboard

The launch bar hosts colorful icons for each of the document type – Word, Spreadsheet & Presentations. All the icons here lack a naming scheme making it difficult to identify one from the other.

Creating a Word Document

Clicking on any one of the icons bring up the prompt to name the file and select the file type. Now this ability to select a file type beats the point of three different icons on the launch bar, isn’t it? However, they do definitely add to the eye candy.

Creating a Document

Creating a Document

We are now presented with the collaboration screen where we can allow & disallow people to work with us on the document. You have the options to share the document publicly for anyone to see, only to registered users of the web app or to persons you invite via email.

Sharing a Document

Sharing a Document

Once you choose the collaborators, you have them in a list on the right side pane. This provides enhanced clarity avoiding confusion in the minds of paranoid porcupines like me who always are unsure if the right persons are accessing the information. Good job Live Documents.

Document Properties

Document Properties

Next up is the document properties screen to add a title, description and tags to it.

My Documents

My Documents

Once all the formalities are complete, we are taken to the My Documents window, which lists the file we have just created, in addition to previously created documents, if any. I would have preferred to have the document itself to be in front of me instead of going through another unwanted step.

Live Writer

Live Writer

Live Writer

It takes a bit of time to load (Thanks to Flash!) but Live Documents impresses with the feature rich editor. As promised by them in the homepage, the editor is more or less familiar and for those used to Microsoft Office there won’t be a steep learning curve.

Clipboard Formats

Clipboard Formats

I tried to being the review by copy, pasting a section of this article and to my surprise I got a clipboard editor allowing me actually preview in two different formats.

Formatting

Formatting

Live Documents has a nice collection fonts to play with and rich formatting options. The design and layout of the options in the right pane is easy to access and is very productive.

Inserting Shapes

Inserting Shapes

The toolbar at the bottom is stocked with features like inserting shapes, permissions, spell check, auto correct and many more. Alerts & notifications from other collaborators can be accessed from here. You can also start a discussion with others too.

Alerts

Alerts

Revision History

Revision History

Revision history of the entire document can be pulled by using the History icon in the toolbar.

Playback Mode

Playback Mode

Interestingly, there is a playback mode which I guess will display the changes made step by step visually, but I could not get it to work. But it did show the time and nature of the change on the right pane though.

Live Spreadsheets

Live Spreadsheets

Live Spreadsheets

Live Spreadsheets looks close enough to Microsoft Excel on the desktop. Playing with it for a while, I realized that it has more features than Google Spreadsheets. Standard features like formulas, multiple sheets, look ups, formatting, graphs work as advertised. Comments can be added from the Review section of the toolbar.

Reports

Reports

If you are editing a cell, you cannot use the arrow keys to move to the other cells but this works fine when you are just reading the spreadsheet. Reports option is a great way to check who accessed the document and at what time complete with their IP address.

Live Presentations

Live Presentations

Live Presentations

Ok! Live Presentations does looks exactly like a clone of Microsoft PowerPoint. Three column layout with toolbars at the top and the bottom are exactly the way they are.

Rotating the Content

Rotating the Content

I loved the option to have the content, both the title and the text in the body, rotated in any direction I want.

Themes

Themes

You can choose from the number of templates available and it is also possible to go nuts with one template per slide.

Final Thoughts

Being a professional blogger, I’ve use Google Docs multiple times a day and often for multiple hours in a stretch. I can vouch that Live Documents has more features than Google Docs and makes everyone at ease when editing the documents. However, am I going to make the switch? No. There are two reasons.

First being able get going in just a few clicks. It takes twice the number of steps to create a document with Live Documents. Second is the use of Flash. Because of Flash, every execution takes a couple of seconds to begin, process and respond.

That being said, Live Documents definitely is a worthy alternative for casual users and small businesses who are looking to save hundreds of dollars from their IT budget. They won’t even notice the difference with Live Documents!

Quick Look: Pimpy

Quick Look posts are paid submissions offering only a brief overview of an app. Vote in the polls below if you think this app is worth an in-depth AppStorm review!

In this Quick Look, we’re highlighting Pimpy. The developer describes Pimpy as an app for fun photo decoration. It’s a photography effects app, and is fully connected to Facebook so users can take and share photos from their profiles.

Pimpy has more than 500 beautiful stamps for fast, fun decoration of your photos.

Read on for more information and screenshots!

Screenshots

Pimpy Screenshots

Pimpy Screenshots

About the App

Here are the top five features you can expect to see in the latest version:

  • A library with 500+ stamps
  • Rotate, resize, flip and re-order stamps
  • Take and share photos on Facebook
  • Future updates with new stamps

Requirements: iOS 3.0+

Price: $0.99

Developer: Underplot Apps

Vote for a Review

Would you like to see us write a full review of Pimpy? Have your say in our poll:

Would you like to see a review of Pimpy published on AppStorm?survey software

Quick Look posts are paid submissions offering only a brief overview of an app. Vote in the poll if you think this app is worth an in-depth AppStorm review! If you’re a developer and would like to have your app profiled, you can submit it here.

Hulu Plus: It’s Cheap, but is it Ready?

I’m a huge fan of Hulu. In fact, Hulu is my primary source for watching TV shows and even the occasional movie. I also don’t subscribe to cable TV as I can find almost anything I’d like to watch via resources such as Hulu or iTunes.

When Hulu Plus was announced, I was both excited and hopeful. I was among the fortunate(?) first Hulu Plus subscribers as soon as invites began rolling out. Is it worth the price? Is it ready for primetime? I answer these questions and more so read on.

Hulu Plus

In case you’ve missed it, Hulu Plus is a paid addition to the free version of Hulu. For $10 per month you get content access on your iPad, iPhone, PS3, supported TVs and Blu-ray players and soon other devices like the Xbox 360 (in addition to your computer of course).

Devices

Devices

In addition to accessing content through a much greater selection of devices, you also get access to more content such as entire TV show seasons, and higher quality content at up to 720p.

Content Access

I thought I would be able to access all of Hulu’s regular content in addition to their Plus content via other devices such as the iPhone, but that’s not the case. There are different content categories for different device types; Web, Mobile and TV. Accessing Hulu via computer allows full access to all content, Mobile and TV are, however, much more limited.

Content Access

Content Access

So why is it that I can watch a show via computer but not on my iPhone? Content licensing. Hulu’s goal is to get all content available on all devices, but that, of course, depends on content providers. It will take some time to accomplish this.

Content Rights

Content Rights

You can see the full list of content available on all devices here.

One big advantage Hulu offers over competitors like Netflix is it delivers the most recent episodes of TV shows throughout the season, rather than having to wait for the season to finish (which Netflix does).

Pricing & Commercials

$10 per month for additional content availability, higher quality and better device access really isn’t a bad deal. Cable subscribers pay much more per month for what some would consider much less. Those of us who spend a lot of time on the web don’t generally take kindly to paying and still being forced to watch advertisements or commercials. With Hulu Plus you are. However, it’s really no different than cable except Hulu has no option for devices like DVRs that let you skip commercials.

At first, I really didn’t like paying and still being forced to watch commercials. After giving it some thought, I still don’t like it but it’s not reason enough for me to cancel my subscription, especially for only $10 per month.

Live TV

One massive gaping hole in Hulu is the lack of live content you get with traditional air or cable TV. Paying for Hulu seems like it deserves at least shows be posted immediately after being aired or even streamed live as if you were watching it on live TV.

With technology where it is today, I’m sitting here asking myself where my live cable TV equivalent served via the internet is.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Hulu Plus has the right potential (as we all already knew), but for many it just isn’t ready yet. As more content becomes available on more devices it may be worth it for you. Several of the shows I watch aren’t even offered in HD yet, nor via iPhone, so it’s really not worth the price for me.

Hulu Plus isn’t quite ready for primetime but that’s probably why they’re rolling it out slowly with invites. What do you think? Are you a Hulu Plus subscriber and are you happy with it? What other downfalls does Hulu Plus have?

100 iPhone Apps for Kids

Anyone without children has a pretty difficult time understanding how a person decides to hand their $200 cell phone to a three year old, but the truth is iPhone’s can be an incredibly rich learning and entertainment tool for children. The directness of the touch screen interface means that children can easily figure out a number of different apps with very little instruction.

If your kids love your iPhone as much or more than you do, you’ll definitely want to take a look at the huge list below of great apps for kids of all ages. The apps are divided into multiple categories but are almost all educational and/or focused on encouraging creativity.

Music and Audio:

screens

Toddler JukeBox

Toddler JukeBox – “Toddlers love music and singing along to great songs. This app is all about great music. It is filled with eleven classic songs plus a new original song about reading.”

Children’s Animal Sounds HD – “A fun and educational app for young children (2-5 years) to tap and hear twenty animal sounds from all over the world! Watch farm, safari, and jungle animals zoom on your screen when tapped. Works on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Designed by a school teacher and tested by a 3 year old.”

a World of Lullabies – Lullaby your Kids – “With our application your baby will fall asleep faster then ever, this will give you some free time for you to relax. The main feature of the World of Lullabies application, is the fact that for each Lullaby we have, we also give you the Lyrics.”

Kidzongs – Preschool sing-along fun – “Nothing very hi-tech about this app – all music is played using acoustic instruments. The child you love will love listening to the songs with the vocal track or singing-along by themselves. The simple animated lyric pages adds to the fun.”

Sound Shaker – “This highly intuitive musical app is also incredibly amusing. It lets children create and play with chime, whistle, drum, barnyard animal and mystery sounds by simply tapping and tilting. Repeated taps generate new sounds, while longer taps grow sounds and trigger surprise animations. Tilting makes sounds spin and collide in whimsical combinations. ”

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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Preschool Storybook Piano

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Preschool Storybook Piano – “Created by a preschool teacher and pianist. This interactive app encourages children to take a more active role in learning! It’s also a really fun way to introduce children to playing piano!”

Baby Classical Bach Vol.1 – “Baby Classical is an music appreciation app that sets out to familiarize children with some of Bach’s liveliest and most playful pieces, in a fun and interactive way. A great and effective application for a child’s music and brain development.”

Games:

screens

Bubbles

Bubbles – “For toddlers who need a fun distraction. Bubbles brings the simple pleasure of popping bubbles to your iPhone. Unlike other iPhone games, Bubbles is fun entertainment that’s great for little ones on up.”

PhotoMatchTots – “Whether you know it as Memory, Concentration, Pairs or Shinkei-suijaku, My PhotoMatch for Tots is the best, portable version of the classic card game, because you can make it your own!! With My PhotoMatch for Tots, you customize the game by using your own photos from your albums on your iPhone or iPod Touch.”

Cookie Doodle – “If you enjoy making cookies but hate the mess, this is the app for you. We provide the dough, a rolling pin, cookie cutters, your choice of frostings, sprinkles, and candies all in one easy to use package.”

MemoryBlock – “How good is your memory? Find out with MemoryBlock! Watch the computer carefully as it creates sequences for you to mimic. With 5 buttons to keep track of it’s harder than it seems! How far can you go?”

screens

Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom

Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom – “The Greedy King has taken the color crystals from the Crystal Kingdom and hidden them! Dora needs your help to ride on a magic shield to collect all the crystals and bring color back to the Crystal Kingdom!”

Itsy Bitsy Spider – “Created by parents, Itsy Bitsy Spider is a musical book based on the popular song, with fully interactive, original illustrations. Follow the spider through the captivating, inter-connected scenes as he goes up the water spout, comes down with the rain, and watches the sun dry up all the rain.”

Jirbo Match : Child Development Edition – “There are countless hours of fun to be had playing Match, the memory game where you have to match all pairs of animals!”

Giraffe’s Matching Zoo – “Your kids will have so much fun, they won’t even realize they’re learning. Giraffe’s Matching Zoo is a vibrant and exciting mind development game designed for children, but fun for all ages. Every adorable animal makes a unique and entertaining sound. Fun music, cute animations and special effects make this game a blast to play. ”

Elmo’s Monster Maker – “Elmo wants you to make a monster friend! It’s easy! Choose a monster body and touch its face to give it eyes, nose and a hat—there are lots and lots and lots to choose from. When you’re done, Elmo will dance and play with your monster! This is going to be so much fun!”

screens

Go, Diego, Go! Musical Missions

Go, Diego, Go! Musical Missions – “Shy baby animals are hiding all over the world and they won’t come out! There’s only one Animal Rescue team that can help – Diego and YOU! Help Diego to play soothing music on his Animal Rescuer flute in order to get the shy baby animals to emerge from their hiding places. Just tap the holes on the flute to help Diego play a song that will save the day.”

Apple Tree – Hangman For Kids – “With vibrant graphics and a simplistic design, your kids will be drawn to the challenge of trying to guess the hidden word before all the apples fall from the tree. Each incorrect letter guess results in an apple falling from the tree. The game is over when all the apples have fallen.”

Hide&Seek – “Not just for the backyard anymore! Now the whole family can play this fun favorite indoors. Hide from IT until the coast is clear, then head for home! But watch out! Getting home isn’t as easy as it looks… Players run and hide, while another player (IT) searches for them. When the coast is clear, or if they are discovered, they try to reach HOME safely, before IT catches them.”

Kidtivities – “100 fun and educational activities for you and your child to do together. Most of these activities are inexpensive (or free) requiring the use of nature and/or materials already found in the typical home. Help your child, 2 to 6 years, grow his/her mind, vocabulary, balance and strength with these easy but effective activities. Imagination, problem-solving, body building, confidence building and more.”

Grover’s Number Special – “Hello Everybodeeeeeee! It is I, Grover, your cute and lovable waiter, and I need your help. Charlie the cook did not come in to the restaurant today, and the Customer wants his lunch right away! Join me in the kitchen to catch—and count—ingredients to make delicious and nutritious meals.”

My first puzzles – “With 12 different puzzles, nice sound effects, beautiful graphics, this game will entertain your children while improving their motor skills.”

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Garfield Bird Crazy Free

Garfield Bird Crazy Free – “Garfield needs your help to catch as many birds as possible! Simply flick Garfield into the air then tilt your iPhone to control his movement and catch all those birds flying around. Tap Garfield to keep him in the air. Use the different bumpers to give him a boost and score big points. Don’t forget to grab the falling Collectibles while he’s up there. And if you are really lucky, you may even find a rare item or two… ”

A Ladybug Tree – Kids Bug Catching & Counting Game – “This game is very simple to learn, but nearly impossible to master. Tap on a ladybug in the tree and drag it into the jar. That’s all there is to it. There is no playing defense or complex puzzles to figure out. Kids love it! The number of ladybugs caught is counted out loud by a friendly child’s voice and displayed in an extra large font.”

DinoMixer – “Designed to please dinosaur fans of all ages, DinoMixer lets you mix and match dinosaur heads, bodies and tails to make your own crazy mixed-up dinosaurs!”

Monster Mix & Match – “Monster Mix and Match is an entertaining way for children to explore their creative side while promoting both critical thinking and problem solving. With 27000 possible monster combinations, Monster Mix and Match is an entertaining and educational diversion that will keep children coming back for more.”

Spider Jump for Kids Only! – “Who doesn’t love to jump, especially with an adorable spider? Finally, a platform jumping game specifically designed for young players – and we’ve got a SPIDER doing all the jumping! This game was designed to be more “forgiving” going from level to level so your child has tons of fun tilting the device left and right. Have a BLAST collecting points moving up and collecting spider webs on the way! Enter your name at the end and record your high score! ”

TowerSmash for – “TowerSmash lets kids build towers of blocks and knock them down over and over by throwing colorful balls at them, even while they’re sitting in the grocery cart.”

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VeggieTales Just For Me

VeggieTales Just For Me – “VeggieTales’ Bob and Larry are making iPhone magic using never-before-seen technology. “VeggieTales Personalized” is the first iPhone and iPod Touch application with name personalization. You will be amazed when the voices of Bob and Larry from VeggieTales sing and speak your name in this fun interactive experience. ”

Games for Kids: 9-in-1 – “With nine games in one app, “Games for Kids” is designed to be engaging, educational, and enriching. Developed by a team of early childhood and elementary educators, each game is designed to develop skills and knowledge that are crucial to your child’s development.”

Kids Jokes – Jokes For Kids by Kids – “With dozens of jokes sent in from kids and parents like you, the Kids Jokes app will keep you and your little one laughing and learning for hours. All jokes have been screened to ensure they are kid safe. Just swipe your finger to switch between jokes.”

Games 4 Kids – “If you want your kids to have FUN, this is the perfect challenge! Not one but SIX games in one. Games 4 Kids will keep everyone excited and laughing. Like Karaoke? Play your favorite instrument, sing along and listen to your great recording. Hide and seek fun….Want to learn how to hunt animals by hearing their sounds? Zoom to complete the puzzle before time runs out or connect the dots to bring to life lots of beautiful pictures. How about painting, become a great artist! Or challenge your memory in Sound Simon….”

My Baby Signs – ASL for toddlers – “Many toddlers try to express themselves, and you know they’re trying to say something, but you just don’t understand baby talk yet. Help them communicate with you! Use MBS to get the simple signs down, and let them tell you they are sleepy, or they need more drinks!”

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Fisher-Price: Little People Farm

Fisher-Price: Little People Farm – “Play, laugh & grow with Fisher-Price Little People friends on the farm! Oink-oink! Take a trip to the farm with Fisher-Price Little People friends! So much to see & do, with matching, Hide & Seek and so much more! Kids can even help clean up a piggy!”

iRiddles for Kids! – “With tons of great riddles, this fun application will provide lots of reading entertainment – that you can share together. iRiddles for Kids is easy to use, simply double tap a riddle to reveal the answer. Feel like a random riddle? Shake your iPhone or iPod touch!”

WHO AM I? – Animal Game (Free Version) – “This inquisitive flash card like app will present clues and let you guess the correct animal, similar to a traditional “Who am I game”. The app is designed to strengthen reading skills, memory, skills in associating pictures, words and sounds. ”

iToy – “This little toy will be interesting for everybody, starting from very little kids and up to adults. Babies as young as 9 month already love to play with this toy. It can be exactly what needed when you are on the train/in your car or waiting for a doctors appointment with your kid; or in any other situation when you need something to keep your baby entertained for a while.”

Feed Me! – PencilBot Preschool – “This simple, easy-to-use game can be enjoyed by children and their parents as they play along. Feed the little monster the correct “food” he is thinking of and unlock trophies for your trophy case! Feed the monster the wrong item and he might get sick. But don’t worry; you’ll have the chance to try the question again later in the game.”

Ike’s Workshop – “You want a car? Just go to Ike’s Workshop and place your order. You give him blueprints and he will assemble that thing for you. Help Ike the Inventor to assemble ordered things. Drag and drop parts on model contour and check it with blueprint. When you assemble parts right, model will be animated. ”

iAchieve – “iAchieve is a star chart used to track your achievements, or anything else you can think of – be creative!”

Analogy – “While Analogy (by definition) is nothing but a comparison that points out relationships between things that are different, cognitively for kids it plays a significant role in analytical thinking, problem solving, perception, spatial skills, memory, and creativity. They are often seen on IQ and placement tests as well. In this app, we present analogy questions of different types. Levels have been carefully chosen.”

Wheels on the Bus with Mango and Papaya – “The “Wheels on the Bus with Mango and Papaya” includes all your favorite verses in fun sequences that will challenge and delight your children for hours. Plus, the app includes a minute long video, “The Mouse on the Bus,” along with links to more videos from the in app store!”

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Little Colombo

Little Colombo – “Being a classic find-the-differences game, Little Colombo is intended mostly for kids. Every scene is made with love and features full of kindness graphics, cute animations, fairy tale music. Perfect to play with your kids before it’s bed time. Easy to learn, game is an adventure that helps kids focus and learn to pay attention to details.”

Hippo Blast – “Prepare to take flight! Hippo Blast is the latest craze to hit the App Store. Fire the Hippo from a cannon and see how far he can fly. Get to greater heights by throwing balls at the hippo, or by jumping off of jungle creatures.”

Blow Bubbles & Balloons – “Blow Bubbles and Balloons is an interactive game that allows you to interact with your iPhone like never before. This multi function application allows you to blow into your phone to create and pop bubbles and balloons.”

Animal Mix and Match – “Your child spins the dials until the picture is complete, gets an approving sound effect, and then can shake the device gently to get the dials to spin again. Every few matches your child gets some encouragement in the form of a congratulatory video from the Hippo Hooray cast of characters.”

Books:

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Read Me Stories

Read Me Stories – “A new talking picture book EVERY DAY teaches your child new concepts, new words and how to say them. Your child can practice reading – anywhere, anytime – while you’re driving, shopping in the grocery store, or having a quick coffee at your favorite cafe. ”

MeeGenius! Children’s Books – “Receive 12 beautifully illustrated and enhanced books featuring many of your favorite titles. Features include word highlighting, audio playback and automatic playback. (6 books come pre-installed with the app. 6 more titles are available to download for free).”

Children’s Audiobooks – Volume 1 – “Get ready for hours of enjoyment for your children as this app takes them to faraway places and exciting adventures! Ten of your most beloved children’s stories are wrapped into an easy to use, intuitive audiobook application. We selected some of the most treasured books that are appropriate for children and put them together in one place. ”

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Aesop’s Fables

Aesop’s Fables (239 Fables) – “These timeless stories are perfect for parents and children to read together. The morals at the end of each tale will spark meaningful discussions. With crisp, to-the-point tellings this collection could become a family treasure.”

A Story Before Bed – “A Story Before Bed lets parents, grandparents, and anyone with a special child in their lives record audio and video of themselves reading a children’s book into their webcam right in their web browser. Children can watch these recordings anytime they like. A Story Before Bed is a great way to permanently catch a great family moment when you’re reading to your child.”

Buddy the Bus #1: There’s Always Tomorrow – “Hop aboard and enjoy the ride with Buddy the Bus as you listen, read and learn. This charming story, introduces your child to Buddy — the big city bus with an even bigger heart”

How To Train Your Dragon- Kids Book HD – “iStoryTime brings the adventures of Vikings and dragons to the convenience of your iPhone/iPad/iPod® Touch in this entertaining kid’s book application based on the DreamWorks Animation movie, How To Train Your Dragon.”

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How The Grinch Stole Christmas

How The Grinch Stole Christmas! – Dr. Seuss – “The Grinch hates Who-ville’s holiday celebrations, and plans to steal all the presents to prevent Christmas from coming. But the Grinch soon discovers the true meaning of the holiday, changing his heart forever.”

Alice in Wonderland – “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit-hole into a world populated by peculiar and fantastic creatures. It is one of the most widely read stories of all time and around the globe.”

Elmo’s Birthday – “Now you can enjoy the beloved “Where is the Puppy” Book series from Sesame Workshop on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad! When Elmo sees a little black puppy on Sesame Street, he wants to find it a home – but first he has to catch it! Come with Elmo as he explores Sesame Street, meeting old friends, learning about the neighborhood, and looking for the little lost puppy. ”

400+ Fairy Tales – “This collection of the world’s most famous fairy tales features more than 400 stories by Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen, Brothers Grimm, and the anonymous authors of Arabian Nights.”

The Tortoise And The Hare – Kidztory animated storybook – “Hare, the big show off, is ready to race onto your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and thrill your kids with his epic race for glory against poor old Tortoise. Your child can read this app alone. Or choose the “Read to me” option for an engaging narration that will captivate your child. ”

The Big Brag – Dr. Seuss for – “The story tells of a rabbit and a bear, who both boast that they are the “best of the beasts”. The rabbit can hear far away, but the bear boasts he can smell even farther. However, both animals are humbled by a mere worm who looks ’round the world — right back to his own hill – where he sees the two biggest fools that have ever been seen!”

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Jack and the Beanstalk Children’s Interactive Storybook

Jack and the Beanstalk Children’s Interactive Storybook – “Experience Jack and the Beanstalk like never before in this wonderfully illustrated storybook, featuring over 30 pages of interactivity which your child will enjoy. This timeless tale comes alive with audio narration, read-along text, and interactive games and features. Each page contains a hidden surprise! Come and dive into the pages of Jack and the Beanstalk and join Jack in his adventure to defeat the giant!”

Curious George’s Dictionary – “The world’s most curious monkey investigates new words in this fully interactive picture dictionary for young children. Both entertaining and educationally sound, it features charming illustrations and reflects recent research in early childhood literacy. Children can navigate from A to Z with simple swipes and taps, through nearly six hundred words. ”

Math, Numbers and Time:

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MathTappers: ClockMaster

MathTappers: ClockMaster – “MathTappers: Clockmaster is a game to help children make the connection between hours and minutes and to help them become fluent in both reading and setting time on digital and analog clocks.
Special offer! Free until September 30, 2011.”

KidCalc Calculator For Children – “KidCalc Calculator for Children teaches number recognition and math to pre-schoolers, kindergarteners and elementary school aged children using beautiful and engaging artwork, animation and voice-overs. As operations are entered, KidCalc Calculator for Children animates the operation along with voice-overs by a child reading the equation.”

MathTappers: Multiples – “While flashcards have some utility in helping people memorize, they are best used after we have mastered a topic and need to build fluency – they are not magic and won’t support the development of understanding on their own. MathTappers: Multiples is a simple game designed first to help learners to make sense of multiplication and division with whole numbers, and then to support them in developing fluency while maintaining accuracy.”

Intro to Math, by Montessorium – “Created by a team of Montessori educators and parents, Intro to Math is a fun and interactive first step into the world of mathematics. It is easy to use, intuitive and, most importantly, educational! The Montessori philosophy of education is a one hundred year old proven methodology, now available to you as a universal application for the iPad & iPhone. Designed to engage children ages 2-6.”

Times Tables (Multiplication Tables) – “With timed quizes, highscores, and multiple difficulty levels, learning the multiplication tables (times tables) can become fun!”

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DotToDot number whiz

DotToDot number whiz – “DotToDot number whiz brings an old children’s favourite into the 21st century. Kids either touch the dots individually (great for accuracy) or drag their finger between dots (can be faster, but easier to make mistakes). When they’ve finished the puzzle, a colourful, original picture is revealed.”

Jungle Time – learn how to tell time – “Designed for the iPhone and iPod touch, Jungle Time is an incredibly easy, fun and interactive app that teaches kids how to tell time. Usability tested with kids ages 5 and up, Jungle Time has proven to be tremendously effective at teaching kids how to read and manipulate analog clocks. Kids go from being complete novices to experts within minutes! ”

Arithmetic Master – “Arithmetic Master will increase you and your kids’s interest of math! It provides a simple and exciting way to challenge your arithmetic ability, with very funny way and amazing graphics!”

Kid Klok – “Make time telling fun and easy to learn. Your children will love this educational clock because it is fun and has helped children world wide to master the art of time telling. The Kid Klok, praised by parents, teachers, and children, segregates the hour and minute components of time and creates a simple visual link between the numbers and the hands through size and color. This eliminates the confusion and frustration young students experience while learning and using analog time.”

Number sense – “Come and have fun in Math with Mathomatix: Number Sense – a brand new app specially designed for kindergarteners! Yes, you just read fun and Math in the same sentence. Mathomatix: Number Sense is first in a series of math apps designed to teach Number Sense to kindergarteners based on the National and California Standards. In case you’re wondering how we managed to sugar coat all that into one app.”

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123 Count with Artie

123 Count with Artie – “Based on popular counting and number activity books used in schools. Learn counting, colors and numbers with Artie the Anteater and his friends. The game display different color animals and ask the child to count one type. Each question appears and is read to the child automatically.”

Art and Coloring:

Kid Art – “Now with 2 additional themes! Go to school and under the Sea with Kid Art! Themes include more backgrounds to draw from and more animals and icons to choose from! You can even drop, move, and resize animals into your drawing! ”

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My Coloring Book Free

My Coloring Book Free – “My Coloring Book is a fun coloring activity for all ages. It has a variety of bright colors to use and show off your creativity. It will keep your children busy with a positive activity that fits right into the palm of their hand. You won’t have to worry about them crying over crayons or books that they have dropped and cannot reach. The touch sensitive screen is easy to pick up and play for both kids and adults. This is one iPhone/iPod app the whole family will be sure to enjoy.”

Finger Paint – “Now you can enjoy finger painting on your iPhone or iPod Touch, bring out the artist in yourself or your children. Finger Paint is fun for the whole family.”

123 Color Talking Coloring Book – “123 Color teaches numbers, upper and lower case letters, shapes, and colors, with voice-overs by adult speakers in English, Spanish, French, and German, engaging artwork, sound effects, music, and animation.”

Color&Draw for kids – “Color&Draw invites kids to draw, color and decorate drawings or photographs with voice over artistic invitations.”

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Glow Magic: Draw with Light

Glow Magic: Draw with Light – “Create beautiful glowing art in 12 different colors, using the best drawing tools available in any app of this kind. When you’re finished, add cool animations to enhance the fun!”

Uncolor for iPhone – “By rubbing their finger across the screen, babies enjoy uncovering the pictures beneath. When finished, there is a surprise to make little ones giggle.”

Coloring Book – “Now You can keep a coloring book in your pocket with the Coloring Book application for iPhone and iPod Touch! You can color with your fingers, select from twenty-four different crayons, zoom in for fine details, and save the results to your photo album.”

Draw with Stars! – “As you move your fingers over the night sky scenery, you create nice *animated* drawings with carefully designed stars that are glowing and spinning continuously. ”

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Learn to draw dinosaurs

Learn to draw dinosaurs – “Learn how to draw like an artist, from a professional artist. Begin by learning the fundamentals of drawing Dinosaurs with easy to follow interactive instructions. Free for a limited time!”

Coloring Book: Creatures – “Softick Coloring Book is a developmental painting game for children, even for very small ones. Simple and intuitive usage, merry design and amusing scenes will surely give your kids a great pleasure. Let them draw with their fingers, experiment with bright colors and create most unexpected color combination. You can save the results in the Photos application. ”

Neon Doodle – “Release your inner creativity with Neon Doodle! Doodle with a total of 8 different NEON colors and share them with the world! Create a masterpiece, make a shopping list, play games like hangman or tic-tac-toe, or even draw a picture and send it to a friend! Neon Doodle is a creative, colorful app that is a blast for all ages!”

Chalkboard Pro (Darkgreen) – “With the best UI design, chalkboard pro allow you to easily draw and sketch on your iPhone or iPod touch, you can quickly stroke numbers,notes,pages,or doodle whereave you can, then swipe left or right to review you great works with your finger and show it to your friends or kids.”

Alphabet and Language:

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ABC Animals

ABC Animals – “Letters, phonics and handwriting for preschoolers. It’s like having preschool in the palm of your hand! ”

Letter Tracer preschool letters writing practice – “LetterTracer is an educational tool that helps preschoolers and other pre-reading children trace and paint letter and number shapes. Early exposure to letters and numbers helps prepare children for reading and writing in grade school. LetterTracer’s three-way combination of visual letters, interactivity via tracing, and a spoken voice-over helps children learn and retain the alphabet.”

Baby Flash Cards – “All vocabularies in the new Baby Flash Cards are now organized into different categories: Animals, Objects, Food, Numbers, Shapes, Colours, and so on. You may turn on one or more categories with a simple and comprehensive setup menu, so to let your kids to learn any specific groups of words, that is entirely up to you to design the curriculum.”

Alphabets in the Zoo – “Alphabets in The Zoo features a charming new alphabet song, memory game, and talking educational flashcards, to help your child learn about letters and animals, as they play, look, listen and sing-a-long.”

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Bee Spelled

Bee Spelled – “Help a mildly overweight Spelling Bee to defend himself with word-powered attacks and abilities. Make the longest words you can to increase your score!”

ABC Dinosaurs by StoryBoy – “Young dinosaur lovers will enjoy learning and recognizing dinosaurs from A-Z in this interactive book. And they also get to learn how to pronounce the long toungue-twister names!”

Build A Word – “Enjoy WordWorld’s Build a Word app, based on the Emmy award winning television series on PBS KIDS. WordWorld is funded in part by the Department of Education and has been demonstrated to significantly improve early literacy skills, including: print awareness, letter knowledge and comprehension. WordWorld is just as it sounds: A magical world made up of words where fun rules the day.”

My first words: Animals – “The aim of the game is to arrange the letters in the correct order to make up a word. Letters are pronounced when touched. When word is completed, it’s pronounced and provided letters were arranged in the correct written sequence an animation is displayed.”

Spell Blocks with Sight Words – “Your child will learn over 200 Dolch Sight Words by spelling each one after it is spoken to them. Spell Blocks says the word and offers the scrambled letter choices for them to choose from. Your child then touches and moves each letter to the correct place.”

Sentence Builder – “Sentence Builder is designed to help elementary aged children learn how to build grammatically correct sentences. Explicit attention is paid to the connector words that make up over 80% of the english language. Sentence Builder offers a rich and fun environment for improving the grammer of all children.”

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Kid’s Spanish

Kid’s Spanish – “Kid’s Spanish helps toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergartners learn some basic spanish words. The intuitive controls and dynamic activities will keep children entertained while they learn. The multiple activities use sound effects and animation to keep children returning to the game to learn more.”

Spanish for Kids – “If you’re looking for a fun and easy way to introduce the beautiful and rich Spanish language and heritage to your child, we hope you’ll give our “labor of love” a try.”

Shapes:

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Toddler Teasers Shapes

Toddler Teasers Shapes – “Approved by teachers, parents and toddlers alike Toddler Teasers Shapes teaches while it entertains. With a focus on simplicity and full voice overs, toddlers play and learn without the need for extra help. The app displays colorful quizzes and offers positive reinforcement and fun rewards. The child-safe menu allows parents to customize game play and difficulty.”

Basic Shapes for Children – “A fun and educational app specially made for young children (1-3 years) to tap and hear shape sounds in English. Watch shapes zoom and expand on your screen when tapped! Designed by a school teacher and tested by a 2 year old. ”

GiggleTouch – “Tons of fun for your little one! Watch as they touch the screen as Shapes & Letters colorfully animate underneath their fingers. In addition, cute giggle sounds make it engaging for the little ones!”

My first Tangrams – “This game is an adaptation for kids of the famous Tangram game. Rules have been simplified (no rotation needed at all) to allow every kids to solve all the Tangrams.”

What Do Your Kids Play?

The apps above should be enough to keep your kids busy until they’re old enough to start asking to borrow the car, then you’re on your own.

The app store is overflowing with apps for children and this list barely scratches the surface. Leave a comment below and let us know what your kids are playing!

Setup Your Own Webmail with Roundcube

Now that domain names are priced in nickel and dimes, it is absolutely irresponsible for a brand not to have a custom email address. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t cost much to set up your own webmail. Eons before Gmail, Google Apps and Outlook Web Access, open source webmail solutions like SquirrelMail were widely in use.

Introduced in 1999, SquirrelMail is a pioneer of open source webmail but sadly its UI is still stuck in the Web 1.0 era. Considering how boring office email communication already is, employees could use a breath of fresh air. Notable among the new age open source webmail software is Roundcube and join me after the jump for a installation & features walkthrough.

Overview

Roundcube is an open source, browser-based multilingual IMAP client with a gorgeous Web 2.0 user interface. It provides full functionality you have come to expect from an e-mail client, including MIME support, address book, folder manipulation, message searching and spell check.

Overview

Overview

Roundcube is available in 67 languages with a desktop-like user interface which is easy to install/configure and runs on a standard LAMP server.

Setting Up the Mail Server

Downloading Roundcube

Downloading Roundcube

Download and extract the installer script that fits your server configuration. Extract the files in your computer and name the directory to align with the sub domain you have created or based on the naming conventions used in your server.

Adding a Database

Adding a Database

Navigate to the folder named Config and rename the two files – db.inc.php.dist & main.inc.php.dist – to db.inc.php and main.inc.php respectively. Now these files can be edited using a text editor. Create a new database that is compatible with Roundcube (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite or MSSQL database)  and add the username, password & localhost information as per the syntax.

As the next step, open the main.inc.php file using the text editor and set:

$rcmail_config[‘enable_installer’] = true;

Now we are good to go. Upload the folder to your webserver using a FTP server.Once the upload is complete, point your browser to http://domain.com/installer to begin the installation.

RoundCube Webmail Installer

RoundCube Webmail Installer

In the first step Roundcube check if all the installation requirements are available in you server. If there are any deficiencies, the script will warn you and you can fix them appropriately.

Accessing the Inbox

Roundcube Webmail Inbox

Roundcube Webmail Inbox

Once the installation is done, be sure to rename or delete the Installer folder. Once you have done that, type in the domain where Roundcube is installed. We will have a login screen waiting for us. Enter the login credentials along with the IMAP server address and we will be taken to the stellar Inbox.

Complete Inbox

Complete Inbox

Roundcube webmail has a familiar three pane user interface. The left pane supports unlimited folders and you can drag & drop emails into folders. HTML emails and inline image viewing are fully supported.

Composing a Message

Composing a message

Composing a message

Compose window can be toggled to use a WYSIWYG editor or a plain text editor from the drop down at the lower left corner. With the WYSIWYG editor, you can add styles to the text and add images inline.

Folder Management

Folder Management

Attachments can be added while composing the message. Uploading attachments happen by browsing for the file & uploading it and Gmail like drag & drop is not supported. However, Gmail like sending emails using multiple identities, without having to switching the accounts is possible and can enable from the Settings page. Unlike other popular webmail services, with Roundcube you can set priority to a message and request for a read receipt.

Advanced Filters

Advanced Filters

Incoming messages can be subjected to multiple filters to avoid clogging the inbox. Rules of the filter can be applied to the address fields, subject lines, body of the text or a combination of all of these just like in Gmail.

Final Thoughts

Eventhough Roundcube is in version 0.4, it is stable and can be used in production without any issues. Since it runs on top of a LAMP stack, it is very much affordable and can even run from an age old machine inside a corporate firewall.

A complete admin control panel, import/export functions, keyboard shortcuts & PGP encryption are in development and if you are very particular about these features then Roundcube may not be right for you. On the other hand, if you are tired of the feature less, dinosaur era UI theme, then you will find Roundcube to be an Oasis in the midst of the webmail desert.

Introduction image, Mail Envelopes Illustrations, by GraphicRiver.net author stigma5.

iPhone Game Friday: New Releases

This week’s Game Friday once again brings a roundup of the some of the best new games for the iPhone. We will be taking a look at the lovely Orbital Bombardment and Sim City Deluxe, among others.

Like always, if you have a game you want reviewed, please let us know!

Orbital Bombardment

Orbital Bombardment

Orbital Bombardment

On first look, the cute, cartoony graphics of Orbital Bombardment suggest a high quality game. However, I was somewhat disappointed to find that it was essentially a screen tapping frenzy. That’s not to say it isn’t a good game though, with 18 levels across 6 beautifully drawn landscapes and some great power-ups to collect, but it does, unfortunately, get boring quite quickly.

The aim is to stop the meteors from killing your little aliens by simply tapping on the rock before it hits them. Some meteors require more taps to destroy them than others and there are also 6 bosses to destroy. One to try if you like button bashing action.

Price: $2.99
Developer: Dueling Angels 
Download: App Store

Sim City Deluxe

Sim City Deluxe

Sim City Deluxe

King of the God Games, Sim City, makes it’s first appearance on the iPhone with this Deluxe version. Featuring 7 different scenarios from different locations around the world, you run a city, facing a multitude of challenges and natural disasters that keep you on your toes.

The control system is easy to use, allowing you to create fully customised cities, and the graphics are excellent. The only drawback for iPhone 4 owners is that retina display is not supported. Other than that, it’s a fantastic game for anyone who is a fan of the original series.

Price: $6.99
Developer: Electronic Arts 
Download: App Store

Kaboom's Paratrooper

Kaboom’s Paratrooper

Kaboom’s Paratrooper

A great pick-up-and-play game, Kaboom’s Paratroopers takes advantage of the iPhone’s accelerometer to create a highly enjoyable app. The aim is simple, as your paratroopers jump from the plane you must guide them to the landing zone by tilting the iPhone left or right.

Each landing scores points for the accuracy, making hitting the top score something that will keep you coming back for more. With 50 levels, there is probably too much for one or two sittings, but it is great to dive into every time you have a spare 5 minutes.

Price: $1.99
Developer: Kaboom Apps 
Download: App Store

Pool Bar HD

Pool Bar HD

Pool Bar HD

Only available on iPhone 4, Pool Bar HD brings some simply stunning graphics to the table. Featuring 9 ball, 8 ball US and 8 ball UK pool, there are 3 levels of AI difficulty to choose from and also the ability to play a game against your mates.

The control system is intuitive, with a swipe system to both aim and shoot the balls and the balls physics have been excellently implemented. Unfortunately lacks a career mode, but is a great game to pick up when you need to kill some time. Pool has never looked so good!

Price: $2.99
Developer: Future Games of London 
Download: App Store

Sports Agent

Sports Agent

Sports Agent

Sports Agent is going to be one of those games you either love or hate. It’s a simple stock market type game where you are given $2million to invest in sports players, with the aim being to make as much money as you can over 200 weeks.

You have to have a fast eye to keep track of player’s values as they fluctuate pretty rapidly and in this game, timing is everything. It’s a bit of a one-trick pony though and some people may get bored of the simplicity, but for $0.99 it is worth giving it a go.

Price: $0.99
Developer: Cobra Mobile
Download: App Store

What Have You Been Playing?

We always appreciate your feedback and suggestions for other games so please let us know what you have been playing in the comments below.

20 Killer Email Marketing and Promotion Apps

With so much competition in the marketplace, even a great product cannot survive by itself. Word of mouth is effective, but too slow. Print & electronic media promotions get a lot of attention but are too costly. Email marketing happens to be the middle ground with the ability to deliver a minimum guarantee in marketing campaigns.

One problem with email marketing is that even a tiny mistake or a misplaced keyword could mean that your email will end up in the spam folder. There are a number of apps that help you to maintain the balance between being informative and less annoying. Today we’ve rounded up a list of prominent players in the marketing & promotion field, after the break.

MailChimp

MailChimp

MailChimp

With more than 400,000 users and 20 million emails served daily, MailChimp is one of the most popular & widely used Marketing and Promotion web apps. On top of having a great list of features in its core, MailChimp has a great & free API that empowers its users to integrate with popular third party services like Google Contacts, PayPal, Twitter, Wufoo and many more. MailChimp’s email-marketing platform via third-party integrations. MailChimp offers an unbelievable free account which allows you to send up to 3000 mails to an emailing list of up to 500 people.

AWeber

AWeber

AWeber

Founded in 1998, AWeber is a well known name synonymous with the concept of email marketing itself. Some of the strong suites of AWeber that made/make them famous even among the non-tech-savvy people is its ability make it easy to create professional signup forms for websites, build an email list and stay in touch with them using the templates from a wide ranging collection. Aweber does not have a free account but there is a trial period where the customers can pay only $1 for their first month.

VerticalResponse

VerticalResponse

VerticalResponse

VerticalResponse pitches itself as being the quickest and easiest way to promote our business and they do have a large, loyal customer base. Customers are privy to free full-service support from email marketing experts via email, phone, Twitter and live chat. VerticalResponse offers a 30 day free trail period for prospective customers to check out the service.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact

Constant Contact

Constant Contact is one of the heavyweights in the field of Email marketing. As a bouquet service they also offer online survey and event marketing tools. Constant Contact offers a 60 day no risk trail period along with a free personal coach to help you get the full value of their offerings.

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is known for being the white label email marketing service for freelancers & web developers. The reason being the flexible pay per use pricing – you only pay when you send an email campaign to more than 5 people. Emails campaigns are charged a flat $5 plus 1 cent per email sent, making way for freelancers to earn a tidy profit.

Pure360

Pure360

Pure360

The USP of Pure360 is the deep integration Google Analytics in the email campaigns. With this feature you know exactly where your email traffic is coming from and what people are doing on your site after they click through, enabling insight into how email recipients are reacting to your messages. The service is a bit pricey considering the fact they charge for setup, monthly subscription and a per email delivery charge.

Breeze

Breeze

Breeze

From ElementFusion the creators of LightCMS, comes Breeze, a Web 2.0  email marketing & promotion app with a rich user interface. They follow the same pricing model of Campaign Monitor and you pay a flat delivery fee of $10 plus 2 cents per recipient if the list has more than 5 addresses.

Campaigner

Campaigner

Campaigner

Campaigner marketing & promotion web app is designed for small businesses. 97% of Campaigner emails are delivered to email inboxes and not the spam folders. A free trial with unlimited emails is available for those testing the service.

Emma

Emma

Emma

Monthly newsletters, invitations, promos and more can be sent with Emma’s real-time response tracking, to keep track of who’s opening, clicking, signing up and more. They also offer premium custom email template services to make your brand stand out. A free trial account cannot be set up without contacting the Emma team first.

dotMailer

dotMailer

dotMailer

dotMailer has been around for 11 years now and has an intuitive marketing campaign user interface. All customers have access to an exclusive account manager to be their guide around the system. If you are not satisfied with their app, there is a 14 day money refund guarantee.

iContact

iContact

iContact

With a 99% delivery rate, iContact is the right tool to engage, educate, and retain your valued customers & prospects as well with effective email marketing campaigns that can maximize your marketing and promotion efforts. A 15 day full featured trial period is offered to those who sign up for the service.

ExactTarget

ExactTarget

ExactTarget

ExactTarget helps you to initiate permission-based email marketing campaigns as well as triggered and transactional emails as a part of your promotional efforts. Unlike other competing apps, they have a comprehensive yet complex tiered service model.

JangoMail

JangoMail

JangoMail

An exclusive 24×7 emergency customer service, the most advanced HTML editor, ability to send emails in all languages and unmatched customization & personalisation happen to be the key features of JangoMail. With the free trial account you can send upto 50 promotional emails.

benchmark email

benchmark email

benchmark email

benchmark email has a host of powerful, affordable and user friendly tools to create, send and track high-performance email and newsletter campaigns. The 30 day free trail account comes with no obligations and no credit cards.

GetResponse

GetResponse

GetResponse

Searching for a tool that can help you grab eyeballs to your marketing campaign? GetResponse can hep you with the task by letting you add videos like customer testimonials, product demos etc. right into your emails. They have a perpetual free plan that supports an email list with upto 100 addresses.

StreamSend

StreamSend

StreamSend

StreamSend enables you to build creative emails and leverage your email lists to deliver the results you want. While paid plans support thousands of email addresses, the 30 day free trial supports 200 of them.

GraphicMail

GraphicMail

GraphicMail

GraphicMail is an affordable marketing & promotion app with plans starting as low as $9.95. The 60 day no obligation free trial does not require a credit card while signing up.

Silverpop

Silverpop

Silverpop

Silverpop’s Engage marketing & promotion platform empowers you to create and manage multi-channel marketing campaigns that enhances customer value and brand loyalty.

activetrail

activetrail

activetrail

Using activetrail’s proven A/B testing you can improve your marketing campaign thereby  increasing better performance and conversion rates. With activetrail you only pay for what you send and there is no flat monthly fee.

Lyris HQ

Lyris HQ

Lyris HQ

Lyris HQ is a self hosted email marketing solution that can be integrated with search, social and mobile channels, enhanced by embedded delivery and Web analytics.

Did we miss a great marketing and promotion app? Let us know which app you’re using to promote your business via comment below. Thanks!

Easy Event Registration with DoAttend

Events and parties are fun to attend but are such a chore to organize. There are simply too many variables in the equation which could make an event a dud if not executed carefully. Automating as many of those variables as possible can ensure peace of mind to the event planners. One such easiest variable is event registration, which DoAttend can help you get things set up in minutes.

Overview

DoAttend is an online event registration service that allows anyone to create, publish and promote their event free of cost. With the help of an easy-to-use registration system, within a matter of minutes, we can set up on our very own personalized event page. eTickets can also be generated and mailed to attendees, adding another layer of professional touch to event planning.

Overview

Overview

DoAttend has a neatly designed sign up page with big boxes for fields and the service needs you to activate the account from the link that has just been emailed.

Pricing

You can use DoAttend free of charge if you’re planing an event that is free for the invitees to participate. Events that require paid admissions have two pricing options.

Pricing

Pricing

You can either use DoAttend’s own payment gateway if you are processing the fee in INR (typically for events in India) or PayPal if you are from rest of the world. Do note that the PayPal payment option excludes the transaction fee that PayPal charges.

Dashboard

Clicking on the activation link automatically logs into your account and redirects to an incredibly helpful & brilliantly designed dashboard. The steps involved are neatly illustrated and elaborately described in four simple steps. I have seen similar things in the past but DoAttend dashboard takes the cake for the best instructive illustration.

Dashboard

Dashboard

Creating an Event

Creating an event page is akin to a blog, with a WYSIWYG editor for adding effects to the invitation text. An option to add the banner image for event & fields for adding venue details are available on the sight bar to the right.

Creating an Event 1

Creating an Event 1

Once the event venue details are added, you can select the dates and times of the event’s start & end from a sea of drop down menus. DoAttend has a great option where you can choose a personalized sub domain dedicated solely to this event. In the event your event (wordplay!) has its own domain, you can add that as well.

Creating an Event 2

Creating an Event 2

You can add tags & keywords to this event and, once you’re sure you have all the details, the event can be published.

Event Information Page for Web

Event Information Page for Web

The published event page has all the details you’ve entered so far and a map showing the venue of the event. The page has a number of social media links for the visitors to publicize the event.

Ticket Design

Creating a ticket for your event is fairly easy. Just upload the event logo, a header & a footer and DoAttend will generate etickets by itself. Ticketing options include adding discounts when people buy them in bulk.

Number of registrations, ticket sales and even incomplete registrations can be tracked from the Registration Summary page. A nice touch with DoAttend is the LIVE page that will feature tweets of the official twitter handle for the event, tweets marked with the official twitter hash tags for the event and also pictures of the event from Flickr.

Ticket Design

Ticket Design

Final Thoughts

I found DoAttend’s the pricing to be a bit on the steeper side. In addition to a fixed fee, DoAttend charges a percentage of the ticket price in commission. Adding this to the PayPal fee, that’s a quite a chunk of revenue out of the budget even before the event materializes.

The user interface is refined and has only the relevant links, blocks, menus & icons. In a nutshell, DoAttend is a painless event registration system with great design aesthetics.

Top 10 Facebook Apps

It’s no lie that Facebook’s popular. With over 500 million users worldwide, it’s clear that if you want a platform that has more users than anywhere else online, Facebook is the place to start. With bindings for most common programming languages, the API has proven to be extremely popular with developers as it’s more usable than ever.

550,000 apps have been built using the Facebook API so I think it’s time for a definitive list of the top 10 apps of all time. You can find more information about the apps I’ve chosen after the fold.

FarmVille

FarmVille

FarmVille

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last three years, you’ll surely have heard of FarmVille. With over 16 million average daily users, it’s hard to ignore the app that took Facebook by storm. If you’ve never heard of it, FarmVille’s an application where you can create and manage your own virtual farm. Buying animals and regularly growing and tending to crops is daily routine for those addicted to FarmVille and once you’ve gathered enough money, you can spend it on farm extensions and other big items that allow you to make your farm that extra little bit more personal.

There’s always competition with your friends thanks to the levels and experience that can be gained and overall, it’s a great example of a good use of the Facebook API. With a team of skilled designers and new items regularly added for purchase, FarmVille is just another example of the benefits that can be brought by creating a platform for developers.

Launch App

MindJolt

MindJolt

MindJolt

Everyone loves playing games. It’s a known fact. With MindJolt, you have access to hundreds of games right from the comfort of your Facebook homepage. With each game, there’s generally the ability to add highscores and with this, you can easily compete against your friends and prove once and for all who’s the best at that game. These scores can be filtered by time frame so you can see who managed to get the highest score out of you and your friends in the past week, month or all time.

The main selling point of this app is the sheer number and variety of games available. There’s something for everyone and with the added convenience of not being a dedicated website, it’s even more easier to access when you’re looking to distract yourself away from work. Although it is packed with ads, the interface is quite easy to navigate and find the right game you’re after.

Launch App

Mafia Wars

Mafia Wars

Mafia Wars

Developed by the same people behind some of the other big Facebook games like FarmVille and Cafe World, Mafia Wars is another take on an RPG. With a storyline based around mafias consisting of you and your friends, the plot revolves around doing all you can to work your way up the ladder to more money and a massive criminal empire. The name says pretty much everything.

With timers galore, it’s a race around the clock to play this game which may provide reasoning as to why so many are addicted to it. The graphics are fairly good and they’ve even got an iPhone app but this game probably isn’t for everyone. The interface is quite confusing and takes a while to grasp but overall, it’s worth it. Though it contains many faults, it’s still a great app and for those who love Zynga games, it’s definitely one to add to the collection!

Launch App

Café World

Café World

Café World

In this list, there are loads of products by Zynga – the main reason being that they’ve really taken Facebook by storm. Café World is personally my favourite one of their apps. You are a restaurant owner and your job is to create the best restaurant by regularly purchasing and preparing food, after which you can employ your friends as waiters and waitresses and its their job to take the food you’ve lovingly prepared to your customers. Limits placed on things like the amount of stoves and counters you can have are lifted as you level up and you can purchase really big expansions to your café so that you can fit more customers in.

One of the main reasons this game has caught on is because it is one of the most well-developed and is one of the easiest to use. There are regular updates to the available menu and seasonal options are added. Overall, this app is definitely one to try – even if you’ve never tried this sort of thing.

Launch App

Causes

Causes

Causes

Even in the world we live in nowadays, there are still people striving to do good. Hopefully, you’re one of them. With the Causes app, it’s now even more possible to do your bit for causes that you feel passionately about. Whether it’s a cause you’ve started yourself or one that a friend has made, it’s a great and truly inspiring way for people to do something good. The app is a great way to unite with your Facebook friends to share your support for worthwhile causes.

Causes is one of the most truly innovative uses of the Facebook application platform and it’s clear that a lot of thought and intent has gone into creating the app and I believe it all pays off. With different ways to help like completing activities to earn money for a charity you support, it’s a small step for people to do something different and is one of the most genuinely useful apps available.

Launch App

YoVille

YoVille

YoVille

There’s a reason games like The Sims have a great reception; people love virtual worlds. With YoVille, this is no different. You can create a virtual version of yourself and have that life that you always wanted but never quite worked out. You can do jobs to earn more money and then use that to purchase virtual goods for your character or environment. Though at times it does feel like a mashup of Zynga’s other apps, it does still retain a lot of individuality – the main being that it doesn’t employ a particular theme so anyone can really enjoy it.

One of the great features of YoVille is the level of customisation. You can change the appearance of your character to suit yourself as well as your homes. Personally, I don’t think that YoVille is as good as some of Zynga’s other apps like FarmVille but it’s still great enough to make it into the list.

Launch App

RockYou Live

RockYou Live

RockYou Live

Content is the main reason most people visit Facebook. Every day, 250 million people log onto the world’s most popular social network to find out what’s on their friends’ minds and to share their own current feelings. With RockYou Live, there’s a complete new way to find content and share it with your friends on Facebook. It takes major elements of what people love to browse online and brings them into a single hub where sharing is easier than ever.

Some of the content available on the platform consists of games, videos and graffiti (drawings). The games section is packed with Flash games and a highscore system to compete with friends and other people using RockYou Live, while the video section allows some of the best content from video sites like YouTube to be syndicated to your feed based on the reactions and recommendations of others. Overall, the platform has serious potential to be a great way to share more specific types of content and although it’s fairly popular, it could be more so if it branched out to other types of content too.

Launch App

Spotify

Spotify

Spotify

Though this isn’t technically an app on Facebook itself, it’s certainly worth being up there in the list because it’s one of the best uses of Facebook’s API I’ve come across so far. Spotify is a desktop application that allows you to listen to high quality streaming of almost any song with near instant playing. With one of the most recent releases of the software came a feature called Spotify Social where users can integrate their Spotify accounts with their Facebook ones to allow them to easily share their favourite tunes with their friends on Facebook.

Inside the app, it’s possible to send content to Facebook in a couple of clicks and from the main Spotify screen, all content posted by friends is clearly visible and can be played instantly. Playlists can be shared between friends and with the handy sidebar, it’s easy to view your friends’ public playlists and indulge in their musical tastes. Thanks to Facebook, Spotify has now become one of the best social music applications out there and will surely improve as Facebook grows.

Launch App

School of Wizardry

School of Wizardry

School of Wizardry

With a subtle nod to the revolutionary fantasy series by JK Rowling, School of Wizardry is another text-based role-playing game – similar to Mafia Wars in many respects. Along with a headmaster who bears a striking resemblance to Rolf Harris, the game is quite quirky and imaginative but not in a clichéd way. The objective is to level up and to earn as much gold as possible to purchase in-game items that can benefit the player as the game progresses.

The game is well-designed and is quite easy to navigate compared to the others; though it can be quite confusing at first glance – especially if you’ve never really played this type of game before. Though the app does tend to be yet another RPG app with the added ability of being social, it adds its own uniqueness to the game and is the only real fantasy-style one I’ve come across that really works.

Launch App

Social Interview

Social Interview

Social Interview

Social Interview is a fun way to find out things about your friends you may never have known otherwise. The app generates a series of questions that are based around a randomly selected group of friends and prompts you to answer them and then post them to their wall. Of course, the same can be done back and you can find the answers to some of your friends questions about you.

Complete with a really attractive iTunes-style Flash interface and an accompanying iPhone app, Social Interview is really easy to use and is just a generally fun way to socialise with your friends through Facebook. It’s used by over 10 million people each month to answer questions about friends that they may never have already known and is one of the quirky little apps that has a great public appeal.

Launch App

Final Thoughts

Facebook’s come a long way in the past four years since its public release but it must also be noted that so have the developers who have created these brilliant apps. Facebook’s API has proven to be a great way for 3rd party developers to get their work noticed and out there, but also to build upon an existing framework and standards set by Facebook.

Of course, we all have our different preferences and what entertains some may not capture the interests of others, but there are some apps that stand out as general all-rounders that people of almost any age can enjoy.

If your favourite app isn’t on the list, why not leave a comment and tell us what it is and what makes it stand out?

Get the “TOP 10″ 3D graphic, used in this roundup’s intro. image, from GraphicRiver.net by author BCWS.

30 Incredibly Useful & Fun HTML5 Mobile Apps

With a combined app count that exceeds about 400,000 in the app stores of Apple & Android, why would anyone want to use mobile web apps? Openness and a level playground are the two things that keep web developers going.

It might be in its infancy, but HTML5 is the next 500 pound Guerrilla and much more as far as Internet is concerned. With features like plugin-less video playback, offline storage, geo location etc., HTML5 is on the verge of giving walled gardens like Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, Cocoa a good run for their money. After the jump, we have compiled a list of HTML5 web apps developed for accessing from your smartphones.

Canvas

Canvas

Canvas

Canvas is a simple drawing application that allows you to quickly sketch ideas and create drawings. The available drawing area will automatically resize to fit whatever screen size of device you are using, making it ideal for Android devices. Though a bit light on the features available, the web app can come handy for drawing a quick flash of idea. The sketches can be saved as image files.

Platform: iOS & Android

Geo Meter

Geo Meter

Geo Meter

Detailed readouts of your location data, including information such as latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, heading and more can be determined using Geo Meter. You can view your current position using Google Maps and also email your current location to another person.

Platform: iOS & Android

Card Flip

Card Flip

Card Flip

The classic card to test the power of your memory is here! Just like in any platform where the game is played, all you have to do is to turn over and match pairs of identical cards to win. Try and beat your fastest time in the least number of turns.

Platform: iOS

Checklist

Checklist

Checklist

Checklist is an easy to use HTML5 web app for creating quick to dos or shopping lists. Checklist keeps a running total of all your items and tells you how many you have remaining as you check them off one by one. You can also email lists of remaining items to another person.

Platform: iOS, Web OS & Android

OpenAppMkt

OpenAppMkt

OpenAppMkt

OpenAppMkt is a marketplace for mobile HTML5 web apps. The service lets you subscribe to free and paid HTML5 web apps and without having to say it is built on the breakout programming language as well. Point your mobile browser to OpenAppMkt.com and add it to your home screen to start browsing & using mobile web apps.

Platform: iOS & Android

Google Voice

Google Voice

Google Voice

Known for the app that forever broke the Apple-Google friendship, Google Voice allows you to manage all your phones from a single Google Voice number. With its impeccable design that rivals that of a native Cocoa app, Google Voice web app lets you use a bunch of great features like voicemail transcription, call blocking, call screening and many more.

Platform: iOS & Android

Google Latitude

Google Latitude

Google Latitude

With this web app, you can see your friends’ locations on a map or in a list. In addition to keeping track of where your buddies are (more like stalking), you can get your location history, set up alerts, publish your location, integrate with your Google Talk status and more.

Platform: iOS & Android

Pie Guy

Pie Guy

Pie Guy

Are you a fan of the legendary Pacman game? Well Pie Guy is a fun arcade game that looks a knock off in the retro style of Pacman.

Platform: iOS

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube

Yes, there is a native YouTube app in a lot of smart phones including the iPhone. It incorporates the features and functionalities like search query suggestions, the options to create playlists,the ability to designate ‘favorite’, ‘like’, or ‘unlike’ videos directly from your device just like the way you do it in your desktop browser.

Platform: iOS & Android

Sudoku Superstar

Sudoku Superstar

Sudoku Superstar

Sudoku is such an additive past time, so is this app. Sudoku Superstar is a beautiful app that loads instantly, works offline and is there to provide endless hours of frustrating fun!

Platform: iOS

Flip Clock

Flip Clock

Flip Clock

Not planning to for those $1.99 flip clock apps? Here is a HTML5 equivalent for you.

Platform: iOS

Color Mail

Color Mail

Color Mail

Color Mail is a fun web app with which you can create a color styled email template and then you can use it directly in your iOS Mail app to send a colorful email to your friends. Plenty of templates are available in multiple categories.

Platform: iOS

Cambrian worm

Cambrian worm

Cambrian worm

Cambrian worm is a drag game where you drag the worm across the screen to eat snails and grow your worm longer. Remember to ensure that the worm never touches itself.

Platform: iOS

Scrabble Helper

Scrabble Helper

Scrabble Helper

Scrabble Helper is a great way t cheat your friends while playing Scrabble. Just enter your titles and you will get all the possible words!

Platform: iOS

Fillit

Fillit

Fillit

Fillit is a simple game to kill time. The objective is to fill up the 50% of the screen with the filler ball. To create a filler ball, tap the screen. It will grow until you release the screen, it hits another filler ball, or a bouncing ball runs into it.

Platform: iOS

KingdomGame

KingdomGame

KingdomGame

A browser based online in a real time ongoing strategy game that pits you against thousands of other players. Build your kingdom & fight wars till you are the ultimate ruler of the world.

Platform: iOS

Blackjack

Blackjack

Blackjack

A simple and straight forward blackjack game with no ads and clutter to distract your attention from the game.

Platform: iOS

MotionFrame Flare

MotionFrame Flare

MotionFrame Flare

MotionFrame Flare is a simple animation application which after installing to the homescreen and launched starts a powerful full- screen motion of a flare which responds to the motion of the finger.

Platform: iOS

Bejeweled

Bejeweled

Bejeweled

I never understood why the entire world goes gaga over this variant of a brick game. Anyway, from the popular game studio Popcap comes this HTML5 game.

Platform: iOS

CARMADILLO

CARMADILLO

CARMADILLO

The premise of the game is simple. You are an armadillo that not only has to avoid cars, trucks & motorcycles but also snakes,wolves and obstacles as well.

Platform: iOS

Stripr

Stripr

Stripr

For comics strip lovers, this web app brings them from hundreds of destinations. The beauty is you can download them when you have access to Internet and read them from the app when you are offline.

Platform: iOS

Meebo

Meebo

Meebo

Meebo is a very familiar name in the Internet chat universe. This fully featured chat app is easy to use and works just like a native app.

Platform: iOS & Android

iFlirt 3

iFlirt 3

iFlirt 3

An application that is for the socially challenged! The app provides hundreds of great pick up lines guaranteed to help you flirt with the ladies. There is also an option to email the lines to help out a friend in need too.

Platform: iOS & Android

Reader

Reader

Reader

This ebook Reader app makes the most of the iPhone screen real estate to read books completely offline. Once you setup an account, sync your books and launch them to read instantly.

Platform: iOS

2B

2B

2B

With a background that mimics that of a ruled note book, 2B lets your iPhone double as an impromptu scribble pad. Using your finger as an imaginary 2B pencil, you can sketch, scribble or jot in portrait or landscape mode.

Platform: iOS

Morse Code Generator

Morse Code Generator

Morse Code Generator

Centuries later, Morse codes till draws the attention of geeks. With this app you can translate any English sentence into dots and dashes.

Platform: iOS & Android

ParkingAssistant

ParkingAssistant

ParkingAssistant

This web app with the help of iPhone’s AGPS shows parking lots in your vicinity. The data of parking lots are collected from the openstreetmap project.

Platform: iOS & Android

PocketMarket

PocketMarket

PocketMarket

PocketMarket web app allows you to keep track of the latest prices for the most common commodities traded on NYMEX. Commodity price charts are also displayed throughout the duration of the current trading day.

Platform: iOS

3GSpeed

3GSpeed

3GSpeed

Highly suspect of you carrier’s data speeds? This handy little app can help you to measure your mobile & wireless Internet connection speeds accurately.

Platform: iOS & Android

Calorie Calculator

Calorie Calculator

Calorie Calculator

Are you a heath nut keeping targets to attain size zero or something? Use the Calorie Calculator to determine your daily calorie intake to help achieve your desired weight.

Platform: iOS

Did we miss a fun HTML5 web app? Please do let us know in the comments section.

Best of AppStorm in July

We’ve collected the top five reviews, roundups and how-to articles from across the AppStorm network in July. Whether you’re interested in Mac, iPhone, or Web apps, there’s bound to be something you didn’t spot over the course of the month.

Now would be a good time to explore a part of the AppStorm Network you’ve never seen before!

Best of iPhone.AppStorm

NotifyMe: Beautiful Push Notification Tasks and To Do’s

Task management has been one of the most explored categories in the App Store. There are tons of to-do list applications that all offer the same basic features and allow users to list and check off tasks as they are done. Taking a departure from this conventional way of thinking, PoweryBase has come up with a great way to manage tasks on the go.

NotifyMe is a simple reminder app for your iPhone. It’s touted as being “simple, yet so very powerful”. With a simple user interface, easy to understand graphics and a speedy experience, NotifyMe takes the task out of…well, creating tasks! Selling for $5.99, the app is a bit more pricy than the conventional to-do app, but it packs in the features to make it worthwhile.

40 More Pixel-Perfect iPhone App Interfaces

In the past, we took a look at some of the best iPhone app interface designs. Since then, more and more applications are coming out that continue to impress us. This certainly isn’t an end all list. There are plenty of gorgeous apps out there and no way to cover them all!

You may even seen some apps we’ve covered in the past, but with the App Store constantly growing and changing, software is constantly being updated and their interfaces improved. Here’s a look at some of the sexiest iPhone apps out there!

How to Listen to Any Radio Station with TuneIn

In the age of MP3s, Pandora, and Grooveshark, it’s easy to forget that the airwaves are still being endlessly pumped with great programming via old school AM/FM radio stations. The last device you would expect to cause you to listen to more radio is an iPhone, but the app below will do just that!

Today we’re going to take a look at TuneIn Radio, an app that is sure to help you reclaim your long lost love for good old fashioned radio.

Meet the TapBots: 3 Useful & Beautiful iPhone Apps

With over 225,000 applications available on the iTunes App Store, there is no shortage of apps that can do just about anything. Many of these pack in the features and over time, become more and more complex.

Enter Tapbots, a team of two guys who became interested in developing easy to use, focused and fun applications for the iPhone. Right now, Tapbots offers three unique apps (or robots, as they like to call them). Here’s a quick look at their fun and friendly robot family.

30 Essential iPad Apps for Designers and Creatives

A fancy new iPad is the perfect travel companion for any designer. The richness of the large multi-touch screen makes for some incredibly useful and fun apps that can really drive your creativity.

Below we’ll look at 30 different apps spanning several categories that can help designers and creatives out with everything from jotting down notes and wireframing to staying on task.

Best of Web.AppStorm

10 [More] Killer Dropbox Tips and Tricks

10 [More] Killer Dropbox Tips and Tricks

We recently rounded up 15 Awesome Dropbox Tips and Tricks, which was accompanied by a giveaway. Entries required a comment with your favorite Dropbox tip, trick or hack you use. From that massive collection of entries we bring you 10 [more] killer Dropbox tips and tricks to make the most of this amazing app.

10 Reasons I’m Switching from TweetDeck to HootSuite

10 Reasons I’m Switching from TweetDeck to HootSuite

TweetDeck is a fantastic app, don’t get me wrong. However, HootSuite offers the candy that’s more satisfying to my taste buds. My Twitter apps are what I call “always-on” because they’re one of the few apps I leave running and visible at all times. So, switching apps isn’t something I take lightly.

With that said, here’s ten reasons I’ve decided to switch from TweetDeck to HootSuite.

15 Web Alternatives to Popular Desktop Software

15 Web Alternatives to Popular Desktop Software

Desktop programs are great and all, but they don’t provide the same benefits as web apps that make use of cloud computing. With most web apps, you only need a browser and an internet connection to access all your data online. That beats having to install annoying programs any day. To give you a better sense of how useful web apps have become, I’ve compiled a list of web tools and apps that can very well replace some desktop programs. I hope you take the time to try them all out. You’ll be surprised how well they work.

35 of the Best Facebook Fan Pages

35 of the Best Facebook Fan Pages

Love it or hate it, Facebook is one great social network for individuals and businesses alike. With more active members (recently reaching 500 million) than the population of some countries, it’s easily one of the best places for marketers and fans.

After taking a look through tons of great Facebook fan pages we compiled 35 of our favorite and most inspiring. Have a look and share yours!

10 Great Sites to Take a Break and Have a Laugh

10 Great Sites to Take a Break and Have a Laugh

Personally, I consider this to be the golden era of hilarity online. Created by amateurs & professionals alike there is no dearth of funny content in every possible niche. After the jump we are featuring a wild mix of hilarious sites that are worth a visit.

Best of Mac.AppStorm

The Ultimate Collection of Productivity & Office Software for Mac

This post is for all you workaholics who use a Mac for your full-time career. From to-do lists and digital clutter organizers to word processors and time trackers, we’ve compiled a list of all the applications you’ll need to stay productive and efficient at work.

Below you’ll find over 100 free and premium applications that will either fit right into your current workflow or revolutionize the way you get things done. Let’s take a look!

Smoking Hot Mac Interface Design: 30 Stunning Apps

Mac applications are known for their superb design, and in the past few years UI designers have really embraced this trend by creating some really remarkable interfaces. They embrace realism, ooze texture, and generally make you stop and stare.

Today we’ll look at 30 pieces of Mac software that really push the limit of great interface design. First we’ll say what the app does, then provide a screenshot followed by a brief statement about what I really love about the interface.

iDefrag: Should You Defrag Your Mac’s Hard Drive?

When you own a PC, you need to pay attention to things like defragmenting your hard-drives, installing and updating antivirus, antivandal and firewall software. If you switch to a Mac, you need worry a lot less about such things. I’m not saying you should be complacent, but things generally just work much more easily and straightforwardly.

Today we’re taking a look at iDefrag, and deciding whether or not you really need to worry about defragging your Mac!

Add Magical Mouse Gestures to Your Mac with Quicksilver

Remember Quicksilver? OS X’s ultimate but long-dormant launcher has quietly been updated to work on OS 10.6 and above. I thought I’d take the opportunity to dredge up an old but useful trick to boost your productivity.

Below I’ll show you how to setup Abracdabra with Quicksilver and add magical mouse gestures to activate any standard QS action. It’s a relatively simple trick, but gives your mouse a power you’ve never known before!

30 Fantastic Geeky Tricks to Get The Most From Your Mac

If you’re one of those Mac users that loves to dig in and play with hidden features and settings, this post is for you.
Below you’ll find 30 tips and tricks to help both seasoned and beginner Mac users to get the most out of their OS X experience. We’ll cover everything from obscure Terminal commands to keyboard shortcuts that every Mac user should know and use. Let’s get started!

Share Your Ideas

Is there something in particular you’d like to see on the site next month? We’d absolutely love to hear your suggestions for articles, topics and giveaways – just let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading AppStorm!

How to install screensaver on the Mac

Post image for How to install screensaver on the Mac

How to install a third party screen saver that you downloaded for the Mac.

Found this cool Zombie screensaver so we’ll install it on the Mac.

Downloading Zombie ScreenSaver for the Mac

Open the downloaded file folder and you should see a “.saver” file. There are several ways you can install a screen saver on the Mac.

Zombie .saver file

1. Double click the “.saver” file and it may install itself.

2. Drag the file to the “~/Library/Screen Savers/”. The easy way to get there is by clicking on the Hard Drive icon on your desktop then click “Library” folder then the “Screen Saver” folder.

The last step is to change the our current screensaver to the new one we just installed. Right click on a empty space on the desktop. Select “Change Desktop Background”.

Click “Screen Saver”.

Your new screen saver will probably be listed under “Other”.

Desktop & Screen Saver