This guest post was written by Alex Ahlund, founder of AppVee.
We are just past of a year since the App Store launched and there are more than 60,000 applications released for the iPhone and iPod Touch. When we wrote our 2008 year-end app wrap-up, we had just surpassed the 10,000 app milestone. In early June 2009, the store reached 50,000 apps. At present, we are looking at a staggering 300 new applications being released every single day. How does the average iPhone user find the gems in this deluge?
Unfortunately, the process is entirely overwhelming for the average iPhone user. The bulk of consumers use iTunes’ Top and front page listings. Since placement on the top lists is derived entirely from unit sales, there is a disturbing skew towards the $.99 applications. This not only discourages big developers from putting high budgets and serious resources towards development of really useful applications and games, but also does a disservice to us, as iPhone users. If all we see are ninety-nine cent gimmicks and toys, how will we realize the true potential of our device? Apple attempts to offset this with editor’s picks, but this simply isn’t enough to make sense of the App Store.
There are new third party services and tools coming onto the scene to help show how to best navigate the App Store. AppVee has been doing in-depth reviews of applications since the launch of the App Store and will soon celebrate our one-year anniversary with nearly 1,000 video reviews of the top applications. We’re often asked if we are overwhelmed with the number of applications currently released and the number we are capable of covering. The answer is no. 90% of apps currently out there are of no use to anyone. There are a massive number of clones, one-off gimmicks, volumes of books and reference material, and a never-ending supply of uninteresting games. So, we try to act as a filter for consumers, directing them to what is worth their time and money.
The following is a round-up of our top picks so far this year:
Most practical
1. Slacker Radio
A fantastic alternative to Pandora, which carries a larger catalog and offers Premium accounts that offers something we’ve always loathed about Pandora – unlimited song skips. (Similar: Pandora, WunderRadio, Last.fm)
2. Hey Where Are You
A beautifully simple application that takes advantage of Push Notification, by letting users ask and answer the question “Hey, Where Are You?” (Similar: Loopt)
3. Textfree Unlimited
Currently the best alternative to high SMS plan costs, offering free text messaging using Push Notification.
4. Bento
Create simple databases to store information about every aspect of your life.
5. TweetDeck
Our new, favorite Twitter client that takes advantage of the same layout as its desktop counterpart – multiple columns, separation of user groups, and more. (Similar: Tweetie, Twinkle, TwitterFON)
6. Print and Share
Print files, emails, web pages, contacts, images and even snapshots direct from your camera, straight to your home printer. Simple setup and works perfectly.
7. Flight Tracker
Watch flights in real-time and get up-to-the-minute arrival and departure times. This has saved me countless delayed pick-ups from the airport.
8. Read It Later
Store any web page for offline reading or to mark as a reminder to read. A bit tricky to setup at first, but it will quickly replace bookmarking for articles.
9. iEmoji
Activate emoticons in your keyboard to include in emails and text messages. Works only for iPhones, but the end reader does not need the app to see emoticons in your texts.
10. Birthday Reminder
Rarely check Facebook to see upcoming birthdays? This app downloads all of that information so you can access and easily see upcoming bdays offline.
11. Mover
Swap contacts and photos with other iPhones in an easy way. Requires both users to have the application, but it is free and quick to download. (Similar: Bump)
12. Simplify Music 2
Listen to your entire music library from your home computer, streamed quickly and without any lag. (Similar: Simply Music, imeem)
13. Cell Minute Tracker
We prefer Cell Minute Tracker to AT&T’s minute tracker any day. Much simpler, easy to navigate and much faster.
14. QuickOffice
Edit Word and Excel documents on the go.
15. Photogene
There are a multitude of photo editing apps out there, but you really only need one. Crop, rotate, adjust colors, and add filters with Photogene. (Similar: Camera Bag)
16. Skype
Superb quality Skype-to-Skype over WiFi using the Skype application. Finally be free of your computer and microphone to make those long distance calls. (Similar: Truphone)
17. Kindle
Skeptical at first, but found eBook reader surprisingly easy on the eyes and good for taking in a quick chapter. Offers plenty of free content, but won’t be replacing your physical Kindle.
18. Beejive IM 3.0
We mentioned this on last year’s roundup, but it deems reiteration. So far, the best multi-IM service client on the iPhone, now with Push Notification. AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, and more.
19. Redlaser
Extremely reluctant to include this on the list, but it does deserve a bottom slot. Scan UPC codes for price comparisons on the go, but wait for an update for improved scanning and database.
Best Games
20. Real Racing
Standard track based racing game, but has the best graphics on an iPhone game to-date. Worth it alone to see what the iPhone is capable of.
21. Sims 3
Slightly watered down Sims 3, but still an excellent version on the go. Fantastic graphics and runs well.
22. My Brute
Create a fighter and compete in daily arena matches. Very simplistic, but highly addicting and will bring you back daily.
23. Mecho Wars
Advanced Wars for your iPhone and iPod Touch, enough said. Interesting art style and background story.
24. Zenonia
The first fully featured traditional 2D action RPG for your iPhone and iPod Touch.
25. Peggle
The time sucking, simple Pachinko style casual PC game from PopCap ported to your device.
26. Marble Blast Mobile
Another PC game port where you roll your marble through various levels, filled with obstacles and hazards.
http://www.appvee.com/t/iphone-app-review-marble-blast-mobile
27. Myst
Do we even need to explain this one?
28. Merlin’s Legacy
An original IP based around two dueling wizards, battling for control across a 2D side-scrolling field. Interesting game mechanic based on spells and timing.
29. Assassin’s Creed
A smaller version of Assassin’s Creed on your iPhone and iPod Touch. Plays rather smoothly and provides solid entertainment.
30. Oregon Trail
The classic Oregon Trail, updated with fantastic graphics and animation. Will keep you entertained just like when you were in school. Try not to die of dysentery.
31. Rolando 2
The sequel to the popular game of rolling little Rolandos around to save the kingdom. Your hands may cramp from hours of play.
Fun Timewasters
32. Doodle Jump
Dominated the Top 25 list for quite a while. Accelerometer based movement—you guide your Doodle to bounce off platforms, jumping to the highest point possible as you avoid getting hit.
33. Mouth Off
Cover your mouth with your device and show off an assortment of crazy mouths that animate to the input sound of your voice. I’ve annoyed dining mates with this one more than once.
34. Pocket God
Well done, episodic content based on a simple toy of dealing with your islanders. Fun to show off to friends and receive new updates.
35. Flight Control
Elegantly simple and highly addictive game. You direct various planes to different landing strips, all the while trying to avoid collisions. Updated with Bluetooth device co-op.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Durham Lumiere Festival of Light
A MAGICAL event took place in Durham last night as the spectacular Lumiere festival of light came to the North-East.
The eyes of the art world were on Durham City as its historic streets, bridges, waterways and gardens are transformed by a series of light-based sculptures and installations.
People are invited to enjoy a series of processions, events and awe-inspiring sights until Sunday 15th November.
The jewel of the festival is expected to be Crown of Light, an ambitious and inspiring commission, which will see the pages of the Lindisfarne Gospels projected in lights 100 metres across Durham Cathedral.
Onlookers who I have spoken too have described the light show projected onto Durham cathedral as out of this world. One woman said " It was something that put a lump in my throat. A truely inspiring and emotional display that I will remember Durham by forever."
In the cathedral’s cloisters, Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde invited visitors to walk through densely-planted rows of illuminated “flowers”, in a work called Dune.
The sketches of Durham Prison inmates were turned into huge neon-like structures for Nine Men Drawing, the faces of 100 North-East people of all ages will be projected on to the buildings in Durham Market Place in Heart of the City – A Place for the People, and French artists Quidams will lead a ghostly procession through the city streets for Herbert’s Dream. As we walked through the crowds that lined the streets of Durham, it was easy to sense the emotion and excitement in everyone around. The streets were so busy that Durham felt like the heart of Hollywood.
I once thought it impossible to make Durham City look more beautiful than it already is. How wrong could I possibly be.
In all, work by more than 50 artists were on display in and around Durham City, including seven new commissions.
Shops all around Durham City joined in the Light display and hung various shapes and colours of lights outside thier doors and bridges all across the city were transformed into reds, purples yellows and greens. I giant star stood on the top of Durham Castle. A truely remarkable site.
Nicky Webb, director of festival organiser Artichoke, said: “Our aim was to create a real sense of the city being different for four nights – to make it a magical place. To my mind, that’s what it’s going to be.
“There are 22 different installations all around the city – some things are huge, like the Lindisfarne Gospels on the cathedral, and others that are hidden away, like a neon ladder behind a door.
“My message to the people of the North-East is: wrap up warm and come out. There’s a real sense of excitement in the city and we are really keen that as many people possible join in.”
Lumiere is expected to bring thousands of visitors to the City of Durham, exploiting the explosion in new hotel facilities and attractions that the city now has to offer in its bid for Capital of Culture 2013.
Free Durham Lumiere guides and torches can be collected from Tesco, in Durham Market Place, or Clayport library, in Millennium Place.
More information can also be found at http://www.lumieredurham.co.uk/ Culture chiefs hope Lumiere will be a major boost to Durham’s bid to be named the first UK City of Culture in 2013.
Ms Webb said: “Lumiere is bringing lots of people into Durham, from the region and across the country. Hopefully these pictures of Durham will go around the world and really put Durham on the map.”
I have to agree. It was almost like being in Disneyland last night.
The eyes of the art world were on Durham City as its historic streets, bridges, waterways and gardens are transformed by a series of light-based sculptures and installations.
People are invited to enjoy a series of processions, events and awe-inspiring sights until Sunday 15th November.
The jewel of the festival is expected to be Crown of Light, an ambitious and inspiring commission, which will see the pages of the Lindisfarne Gospels projected in lights 100 metres across Durham Cathedral.
Onlookers who I have spoken too have described the light show projected onto Durham cathedral as out of this world. One woman said " It was something that put a lump in my throat. A truely inspiring and emotional display that I will remember Durham by forever."
In the cathedral’s cloisters, Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde invited visitors to walk through densely-planted rows of illuminated “flowers”, in a work called Dune.
The sketches of Durham Prison inmates were turned into huge neon-like structures for Nine Men Drawing, the faces of 100 North-East people of all ages will be projected on to the buildings in Durham Market Place in Heart of the City – A Place for the People, and French artists Quidams will lead a ghostly procession through the city streets for Herbert’s Dream. As we walked through the crowds that lined the streets of Durham, it was easy to sense the emotion and excitement in everyone around. The streets were so busy that Durham felt like the heart of Hollywood.
I once thought it impossible to make Durham City look more beautiful than it already is. How wrong could I possibly be.
In all, work by more than 50 artists were on display in and around Durham City, including seven new commissions.
Shops all around Durham City joined in the Light display and hung various shapes and colours of lights outside thier doors and bridges all across the city were transformed into reds, purples yellows and greens. I giant star stood on the top of Durham Castle. A truely remarkable site.
Nicky Webb, director of festival organiser Artichoke, said: “Our aim was to create a real sense of the city being different for four nights – to make it a magical place. To my mind, that’s what it’s going to be.
“There are 22 different installations all around the city – some things are huge, like the Lindisfarne Gospels on the cathedral, and others that are hidden away, like a neon ladder behind a door.
“My message to the people of the North-East is: wrap up warm and come out. There’s a real sense of excitement in the city and we are really keen that as many people possible join in.”
Lumiere is expected to bring thousands of visitors to the City of Durham, exploiting the explosion in new hotel facilities and attractions that the city now has to offer in its bid for Capital of Culture 2013.
Free Durham Lumiere guides and torches can be collected from Tesco, in Durham Market Place, or Clayport library, in Millennium Place.
More information can also be found at http://www.lumieredurham.co.uk/ Culture chiefs hope Lumiere will be a major boost to Durham’s bid to be named the first UK City of Culture in 2013.
Ms Webb said: “Lumiere is bringing lots of people into Durham, from the region and across the country. Hopefully these pictures of Durham will go around the world and really put Durham on the map.”
I have to agree. It was almost like being in Disneyland last night.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Poplar Tree Garden Centre Online
We pondered what to enter into our first review. We thought long and hard and decided that an entry of a local retailer, close to home but selling nationwide would be a great start. We set off googling online retailers in the North East and came accross Poplar Tree Garden Centre. For this review we thought we would base our findings on both our instore experience and online purchases.
We noticed that Poplar Tree Garden Centres website was full of products. When we say full, we mean full. There must be thousands of items on there. Mostly products related to gardening such as shovels, hedge trimmers and seeds. Looking a little deeper intot eh website indicated that they had diversified their range into furniture, both indoor and outdoor. It seemed a good selection. The prices were very competitive when checked against other etailers on comparison websites. Poplar Tree Garden Centre came just about cheapest on every product we tested, except certain childrens toys, which we didnt even expect them to sell so we presume that they werent able to bulk buy these items to be able to compete with toy store prices. They were still very affordable though and we liked the way they were related to gardening.
What did we decide to buy. Well we chose two products totalling over £50. The reason for this was that Poplar Tree advertise that online purchases over £50 are delivered nationwide for free. Even though we were local, we thought we would test it out. We quickly added a hand painted Martini Glass to our shopping basket and then chose a lopper. I needed my trees lopping so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. The online checkout was smooth and fast and we had paid and recieved email confirmation from Poplar Tree within seconds. Impressive so far.
Online checkout complete, we jumped in the car and headed for Poplar Tree Garden Centre located in Durham City. It was a little difficult to find, near Maiden Castle Sports Centre in Shincliffe Village but the sat Nav took us straight to the main entrance. The carpark is huge. Easily capable of holding 150 cars, with an overspill also in use on the day we arrived. We were taken back as to how full the carpark was. There were at least 80 cars there and it was only 10:30am. After a short walk to the shop entrance we had a browse around the gift section first. They stock quite a unique range of gifts. Very well presented and I quickly spotted my Hand painted Martini Glass that I had purchased online. It was the same price instore. Some stores discount online items over instore but on the other hand, some dont. They also sold items such as framed coin collections, marble and glass ornaments, beautiful handbags, outdoor clothing and wooden handcrafted toys and living room furniture.
Moving through the sections of the store, we were suprised at how big Poplar Tree Garden Centre is. After talking to a member of staff about how things were going, it sounded like the owners were spending lots of money extending the store and refurbishing many sections of it. Inside was mainly stocked with gardening products such as grass seed, gardening tools, patio furniture, artificial hanging baskets. We also noticed that Poplar Tree have a Florist business seperate to the garden centre but operating inside. They have a huge selection of fresh flowers and specialise in weddings. They also sell Interflora arrangements nationwide and I grabbed details of the website to check out later. Its here if you want to check it out. They also have a seperate Wedding and events website especially for locals who are looking for a florist near Durham. You can see it here. Its quite impressive.
We took a right and headed outside where there were products as far as the eye could see. Everything from plant pots to plants and trees. It looks like Poplar Tree sell it all. It started to get very busy so we decided to head for the coffee shop for a tea and scone. They call it Brambles. Im not sure why. It is located in a wooden pavillion style building and when we got inside, we were pleasently suprised. It was flawlessly clean and had a wonderful mixture of people. The only problem was, we couldnt get a seat. Not to worry said a member of staff as she tapped me on the shoulder, you can sit outside. We ordered a sandwich instead of a scone and it was delicious. We sat in the mid day sun for a while, taking notes and discussing our experience. For a first review, we couldnt have asked for anything better. Full of people and friendly staff, Poplar Tree Garden Centre Durham was heading for a great review. It was a thumbs up from us.
Check out Poplar Trees website for yourself and see what you think.
Positives: Wide selection of goods and very helpful staff. Online purchase was easy and fast and came the very next day. Delivered to our work address as promised.
Negatives: Can get very busy in summer but Poplar Tree Garden Centre is big enough to cope.
We noticed that Poplar Tree Garden Centres website was full of products. When we say full, we mean full. There must be thousands of items on there. Mostly products related to gardening such as shovels, hedge trimmers and seeds. Looking a little deeper intot eh website indicated that they had diversified their range into furniture, both indoor and outdoor. It seemed a good selection. The prices were very competitive when checked against other etailers on comparison websites. Poplar Tree Garden Centre came just about cheapest on every product we tested, except certain childrens toys, which we didnt even expect them to sell so we presume that they werent able to bulk buy these items to be able to compete with toy store prices. They were still very affordable though and we liked the way they were related to gardening.
What did we decide to buy. Well we chose two products totalling over £50. The reason for this was that Poplar Tree advertise that online purchases over £50 are delivered nationwide for free. Even though we were local, we thought we would test it out. We quickly added a hand painted Martini Glass to our shopping basket and then chose a lopper. I needed my trees lopping so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. The online checkout was smooth and fast and we had paid and recieved email confirmation from Poplar Tree within seconds. Impressive so far.
Online checkout complete, we jumped in the car and headed for Poplar Tree Garden Centre located in Durham City. It was a little difficult to find, near Maiden Castle Sports Centre in Shincliffe Village but the sat Nav took us straight to the main entrance. The carpark is huge. Easily capable of holding 150 cars, with an overspill also in use on the day we arrived. We were taken back as to how full the carpark was. There were at least 80 cars there and it was only 10:30am. After a short walk to the shop entrance we had a browse around the gift section first. They stock quite a unique range of gifts. Very well presented and I quickly spotted my Hand painted Martini Glass that I had purchased online. It was the same price instore. Some stores discount online items over instore but on the other hand, some dont. They also sold items such as framed coin collections, marble and glass ornaments, beautiful handbags, outdoor clothing and wooden handcrafted toys and living room furniture.
Moving through the sections of the store, we were suprised at how big Poplar Tree Garden Centre is. After talking to a member of staff about how things were going, it sounded like the owners were spending lots of money extending the store and refurbishing many sections of it. Inside was mainly stocked with gardening products such as grass seed, gardening tools, patio furniture, artificial hanging baskets. We also noticed that Poplar Tree have a Florist business seperate to the garden centre but operating inside. They have a huge selection of fresh flowers and specialise in weddings. They also sell Interflora arrangements nationwide and I grabbed details of the website to check out later. Its here if you want to check it out. They also have a seperate Wedding and events website especially for locals who are looking for a florist near Durham. You can see it here. Its quite impressive.
We took a right and headed outside where there were products as far as the eye could see. Everything from plant pots to plants and trees. It looks like Poplar Tree sell it all. It started to get very busy so we decided to head for the coffee shop for a tea and scone. They call it Brambles. Im not sure why. It is located in a wooden pavillion style building and when we got inside, we were pleasently suprised. It was flawlessly clean and had a wonderful mixture of people. The only problem was, we couldnt get a seat. Not to worry said a member of staff as she tapped me on the shoulder, you can sit outside. We ordered a sandwich instead of a scone and it was delicious. We sat in the mid day sun for a while, taking notes and discussing our experience. For a first review, we couldnt have asked for anything better. Full of people and friendly staff, Poplar Tree Garden Centre Durham was heading for a great review. It was a thumbs up from us.
Check out Poplar Trees website for yourself and see what you think.
Positives: Wide selection of goods and very helpful staff. Online purchase was easy and fast and came the very next day. Delivered to our work address as promised.
Negatives: Can get very busy in summer but Poplar Tree Garden Centre is big enough to cope.
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