Top Twenty-Four Apps.

In the spirit of giving at Christmas, we are giving you the gift of the top twenty-four apps all in one little list.  We know... you're welcome.  You should know, though, that there was no way we were going to spend Christmas day typing a blog post (even for you), so we actually typed this last week (twice, if you need to know- we deleted the first one... nice.  Ya, we were pretty happy about that.).  So, you ask, how did we type it last week and have it post on Christmas?  Did we get up at the crack of dawn Christmas morning, rush to the computer, and hit the "publish" button?  Did we hire elves?  Did we actually type it on Christmas after all (you know, third time's a charm)?  No.  No.  And, no.  If you want to know how we did it, click here.

Anyway, on to the list.  So, in no particular ranking, but in the order in which they were published, these are the twenty-four apps we reviewed:

1.    Evernote
2.    SoundHound
3.    Better Christmas List
4.    Postagram/Sincerely Ink
5.    Lose It
6.    ePrint
7.    Pandora
8.    Words With Friends
9.    Alarm Clock
10.  Fantasy Monster Football
11.  Capture
12.  Glo Bible 
13.  Silent Film Director
14.  Grocery IQ
15.  SnapTell
16.  All Recipes/Epicurious
17.  Nike Training Club
18.  Pages
19.  App Advice
20.  Card Shark Deluxe
21.  TripIt
22.  Greeting/Holiday cards by Cardmon
23.  HootSuite
24.  BlogPress

Day Twenty-Four. App Twenty-Four. BlogPress.

[Update]: The developers pulled the app to fix continuing issues. We still love the app and are using it for this update, so we have high hopes that they will get it figured out.

We waited as long as possible to post the review for today's app because it was awaiting an update to make it stop crashing. That update came just a couple of days ago and one of our favorite apps is wonderful again. We are talking about the universal app, BlogPress. Our favorite thing about BlogPress is that we can save an online or local version of whatever post we're working on.  The reason this is key, is that it enables us to begin a post on one device then continue it on another.  The local save option matters because we can work on our post (in the subway or under a rock or wherever we don't have wifi access), save it to our device, then upload it when we're back in range of those wireless signals.  We can then modify it at will and re-save the online version for access from whatever keyboard/touchpad we happen to be using next (we're pretty mobile).  We use this app ALL THE TIME for our on-the-go blogging.  If you want to see it in action, this family here used it to share their New York City vacation with selected family and friends as it happened. It's an awesome app and definitely worth downloading if you do any blogging.  Or, even if you don't and just want a fun and simple way to document a trip... and you can check out Blog2Print, which offers to make your entire blog into a book.  We haven't tried it yet, but it could be fun for something like the NYC trip example above.  Anyway, blog on (with BlogPress).

Day Twenty-Three. App Twenty-Three. HootSuite.

HootSuite is our app for today.  If you don't use Twitter or Facebook, then you can just skip this and look forward to tomorrow's app review (see you then).  However, if you have multiple Twitter accounts or want to be able to see streams from your Twitter, Facebook and Facebook Pages, Foursquare, and LinkedIn accounts in the same location, HootSuite is very useful.

We aren't huge Facebookers and don't use Foursquare or LinkedIn (are they really something we should be in to?), but on occasion we manage multiple Twitter accounts.  To get it all set up at first, all you do is enter in your name and password for each account you want added, then they appear within HootSuite (which is also available as an iPad app and on your computer at hootsuite.com).  Once you have them in HootSuite, you can edit and rearrange each stream as you like.  It's totally customizable, which is great.

We also really like the built-in URL shortener for our tweets (Is there one in the native Twitter app that we just can't find?!?).  There is also a stats portion, where you can see how many clicks your tweets receive... good for those who care, we suppose.  We think it might just depress us... unless you want to follow us on twitter (@ottoandeddie) and click on our tweets a whole bunch!  We'll go sit and wait then check our stats.

Day Twenty-Two. App Twenty-Two. Cards by Cardmon.

If you haven't sent your holiday cards by now, then we have the app for you today!  You can get out the cutest cards on the block in less than 3 minutes with Greeting/Holiday cards by Cardmon.  We had fun this morning playing with the app and creating lovely holiday cards in no time (see below).

When you open the app you choose from a variety of simple templates (e.g., invites, congrats, lovey-dovey, thanks, holiday) to use as the basis for your card.  They look very much like the templates you choose from when making cards to send out via snail mail.  Once you've made your choice, you tap on the portion of the card where the picture goes, then choose to either take a new picture or pick one from your photo library.  We just picked ones from our library.  You can move the picture around, resize it, and even rotate it at will within the card.  When your picture is as you like it, all you have left to do is choose your font (lots of choices), style, and ink color, then share your card.  You can share it in one of four ways: save it to your camera roll to print and send, email it, send it to Twitter, or send it to Facebook.


This app is a must have for anyone who wants to put together a card by yesterday that doesn't look like it was just thrown together by their pets.

Day Twenty-One. App Twenty-One. TripIt.

TripIt is an indispensable travel app, in our opinion (really, who else's opinion did you expect?).  What we like about TripIt is that it puts all of our travel information into one place.  This is wonderful!  Especially when we go on a longer trip and stay in multiple locations or use multiple "frequent this or that miles."
 
To use TripIt, all you do is forward the travel confirmations you receive from hotels, airlines, trains, etc. to plans@tripit.com and within seconds the site takes care of the rest, putting together a whole itinerary for you with everything included!  And... if you are a gmail user, it will automatically update to TripIt by just using that email address when you book your travel plans.  For every entry, the app provides links to information you may need (maps, phone numbers, websites, etc).  If needed, you can also update and customize your entries yourself (for example if you want to add in notes, additional phone numbers, maps, links, etc.).  Once you've created your trip, you can then share it with others (nice for letting parents or significant others know where to find you).

If you travel, you need TripIt.  Period.  It's like having a little travel agent/personal assistant in your phone.   Now who wouldn't want that?  

So, check it out.  Tell us what you think?  Is there something better?  We doubt it, but if you think so, let us know!

Day Twenty. App Twenty. Card Shark.

Card Shark Deluxe is our favorite solitaire app.  As of this writing, there are sixty-two different solitaire games on the Card Shark Deluxe app.  Sixty. Two.  That's A LOT of card games!  We haven't even made it through half of them; largely because we're hooked on our favorites and haven't gotten bored with those yet.  We like how straightforward the app is to use and the fact that we don't need to be online to play these games, making it a great choice for travel.

It's customizable too.  The card backs and playing table can both be changed, using a variety of choices provided.  Also, we just discovered a cool feature that allows you to use any picture in your photo library as the card back or the playing table- how fun!  In addition, you can choose from a variety of decks (front of cards) or even customize those using your photo library (although it's a bit more involved a process than choosing the card backs or table).  

There are a number of other options for customization, but you can explore those yourself and see what you think.  We love it.

Day Nineteen. App Nineteen. App Advice.

Our nineteenth app of choice is AppAdvice.  We like this app because is full of reviews... just like us, but with a team of thousands (we expect) to review and write about apps, and fuel the latest Apple related rumors.  We enjoy reading AppAdvice first thing in the morning when we have our cup of coffee.  It's like a special little present to open up and read what the latest thing is that we may be excited about.

AppAdvice is actually comprised of sections for news, guides, lists, reviews, as well as information on which apps are moving, new, updated, or on sale.  And, for the next few days they are doing a daily giveaway.  How exciting.  We aren't going to tell you more, just that you should check it out.

Day Eighteen. App Eighteen. Pages.

Pages is one of the spendier apps we've purchased.  We finally broke down and bought it as a way to view and create documents on our iPhone and iPad (mostly iPad) that were nice to look at.  There are other apps that do the same thing, but none that do it in as aesthetically pleasing a way.

Pages comes with a number of different templates (resume, recipe, party invite, flyer, etc.) that can get you started on creating your wonderful document.  For an example of a quick and easy pattern that was created using Pages, look at the pdf pictured here.

There are cool features for adding media and a variety of stock tables, charts, and shapes, all of which can be modified to meet your needs.  In addition, there is a spell check and word count available, as well as adjustments for all kinds of guides, margins, and tabs.  For a very simple design, we were amazed at the number of ways we could adjust our document.

Once you've finished your creation, you can email or print it, or send it to iWork or iTunes, or copy it to iDisk or Web Dav.  We wish there was an option for uploading it to Dropbox or Evernote, but we can work with what's there.  All in all, we feel that it's been worth our money... especially on the iPad.

Day Seventeen. App Seventeen. Nike Training Club.

It's been a few days since we've tried to motivate you to get some exercise, so we thought we'd give it a try again.  Because we have other things we'd like to do besides exercise, we're big fans of the quick, get-it-done, and get-on-with-other-things type of exercise. So, we have an app for that... and today we're sharing our review of it with you.

That app is Nike Training Club, which bills itself as "your personal trainer. anytime. anywhere."  When you open the app, you can choose whether you want to "get lean, toned, or strong," or do a 15 minute focused session (that's the quick one we like).  Once you've made your selection, the app provides you with both visual and audio instruction (that actually isn't annoying like some).  If you are unclear about the instruction, you can tap on the picture and it will take you to a more detailed video.  Then, once you're done, you can access information about your progress and unlock badges to make you feel good about your exercise.

We like it.  We use it after we've overindulged (see yesterday's app review)... and some other times too.

Day Sixteen. App Sixteen. All Recipes/Epicurious.

We like to eat.  Mostly we like ice cream.  However, at this time of year, we also like baked goods and soups (comfort foods, we suppose) and we even like to cook them.  Our app of choice for finding new recipes is actually two apps; we like both All Recipes (we splurged on the pro version, but a free option is available too) and Epicurious.  Both apps are great when you want to find a new recipe (or you're at the grocery store with only your phone and have no idea what you're having for dinner that night!  It happens.).  If you kind of know what you're after, All Recipes and Epicurious are both great, because of the ability to search for recipes based on ingredients and course, or just using a search box.  In both apps you can save your recipe, use it to create a shopping list (nice feature), or share it with others via email, Facebook, or  Twitter (Epicurious also has sharing to Google Reader, Instapaper, Pinboard, Read It Later, and Tumblr).

All Recipes also has the option to search based on the length of time it takes to prepare the item, and allows organizing of your "recipe box" by category too (soup, dessert, side dish, etc.).  Epicurious's recipe box can be organized alphabetically or by recency.   Right now, we are enjoying Epicurious's seasonal category options, including Holiday Treats, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Dinners, Holiday Desserts, Christmas Cocktails, etc.  We may need to be looking at the exercise apps again soon.  It'll be worth it though.

Day Fifteen. App Fifteen. SnapTell.

SnapTell is our featured app today. As you may have noticed, one of the primary things that drives our positive rating of an app is its ease of use. We like simple and intuitive. If we have to read a manual or watch a tutorial, our likelihood of using the app (at least as it was designed to be used), goes way down.

SnapTell scores on the ease of use factor.  It does just what its name implies; it snaps a picture (or scans a barcode) then tells you where you can find that item locally and online and for how much. You can then tap to purchase from the linked sites, or call or get directions to the local sites.  The variety of online sites are produced from amazon.com and searches of google, wikipedia, and yahoo!, so it's pretty thorough... or at least good enough for what we're after.

We've found the barcode to be more effective than the picture taking (not sure the picture taking has ever given us a result, but that may be because we so consistently use the barcode option that we'd actually rename the app ScanTell).  Anyway, SnapTell has been a good app for comparison shopping this holiday season. We've used it on multiple occasions to find the best price for an item.

So, there you go; we've saved you a little money. Merry Christmas.

Day Fourteen. App Fourteen. Grocery IQ.

We don't feel very inspired writing this app. Unlike other apps we've reviewed, we're just not that excited about this one. Knowing that, though, it should tell you a lot about the value of this app since we're recommending it in spite of our blah-ness. Now you're curious aren't you?

Okay, our blah and yet highly recommended app is GroceryIQ. Now you see why we're not "super amped" about it, don't you? It's a grocery shopping app. Whoopee. However, it's possible that our disdain for grocery shopping may be coloring our emotions.  We really do think this app is pretty awesome.

So, specifically, why do we recommend it? Because GroceryIQ takes a little of the pain out of shopping. You can enter your list by scanning barcodes (that actually does make us a little excited) or by typing in the items' names (the app provides choices to match what you've types in). It then automatically suggests what aisle/section of the store the items are in so your list is organized (that's also pretty cool). The items in your list all have little boxes next to them so you can check them off as you shop. In addition, you can add on prices, list different stores, email your list to someone else (and maybe get out of the grocery shopping?!?), etc.

All in all, it isn't enough to make us relish grocery shopping, but it definitely makes it better. If you're going to go grocery shopping, you want this app.

Day Thirteen. App Thirteen. Silent Film Director.

We decided that for Day Thirteen we'd go with a quirky little app that really does nothing other than make us laugh.  That app is called Silent Film Director.  It's a fun app that takes video (real time with your camera or from your photo library or FTP file sharing) and allows you to convert it to a silent movie in a variety of themes ranging from 20's Movie to 70's Home Video to Black & White or Sepia, etc.  You also can choose the soundtrack for your silent movie from a variety of instrumental, silent movie-ish choices.

We like the Silent Film Director app because it makes an ordinary video reel take on a whole different personality.  And, quite simply, we love the Charlie Chaplin feel it gives to our videos that makes us laugh.  You can make everyone else laugh too, because once your video is created you can email it, share it on YouTube or Facebook, or save it to your camera roll.  So, have fun with it.

As a bonus, we've included an extremely short (4 seconds?) video just to give you some idea what the end result looks like.

Day Twelve. App Twelve. Glo Bible.

The app we are reviewing today is a great example of how ALL textbooks should be designed.  We are believers that the Christmas season is about celebrating the birth of Jesus (you're just learning so much about us- we're football fans AND Jesus believers!).  Anyway, today we are reviewing an app that we think can help you in your quest to keep the season about the real reason.  If you aren't about celebrating Jesus, you may still want to check out this app simply as a REALLY cool history app.

The app we're talking about is Bible + for iPhone (previously known as GloBible).  We use it mostly on our iPad, but the iPhone version is also impressive.  What we like about this Bible app is the pictures.  We sound so simple-minded, but the maps and pictures connected throughout are really what set this Bible apart from any others we've tried.  We can go to most anywhere in the Bible and there are photos, artwork, virtual tours of the area, maps, and links to web articles.  They are truly amazing and have an incredible amount of information.  A number of these are available in the free version, but some are only available on the pro version, which is on sale right now for just over 1/2 price.  The paid version also comes with a DVD and access to even more features on your Mac or PC.  Furthermore, that access is available to you on five devices, which is awesome.  We will be making the move to the paid version.

Day Eleven. App Eleven. Capture.

"Wait, can you do that once more?!?"  That's what used to happen at our house when someone would do something worthy of the almighty video-recording.  Back in the old days, it used to mean running to the closet to dig out the clunky video recorder; remember those HUGE tapes?!?- (Hmmmm, we may have just stumbled upon the root of obesity in the US; we aren't lifting all those heavy electronics anymore- cell phones the size of Shaq's shoe and video cameras you had to perch on your shoulder to lift, not to mention TVs that you had to get up to change the channel... Yikes!  You better look back at one of our favorite fitness apps!).  These days spur of the moment video recording more likely just involves pulling our iPhone out of our pocket.... then, opening the camera app.... then switching it to video from still... then pushing record.... okay, so still not that speedy.

Anyway, no longer do we miss those video capturing opportunities, and we owe it all to Capture.  Capture is a simple little app that does one thing.  You tap it and it begins recording automatically when it opens up.  When you tap to stop it, the recording is automatically sent to your photo library where you can do with it what you like.  We have placed the Capture icon on the bottom of our phone so it is always there no matter what page of our phone we're on ("page of our phone"- now that's a phrase that wouldn't have made any sense at all a few years ago.  wow.).  So, stop missing the first half of what you want to record and try out the cheapest video recorder you'll ever buy (less than $1... barely).

Day Ten. App Ten. Fantasy Monster Football.

We like football.  There.  We said it.  Now, go ahead, make whatever assumptions you're going to make about us.  It's fine, we already made a bunch of assumptions about you too.  Over it?  Okay.

So, football.  It's a little late now, but if you have any fantasy football leagues, next Fall, you HAVE to get Fantasy Football '11 (actually, if they're smart they'll probably call it Fantasy Football '12).  The cool thing about Fantasy (Monster) Football is that you can put all your fantasy football teams from ESPN, Yahoo!, and NFL into the one app and monitor them from one place... for FREE.  We decided we were willing to pay a little ($3ish), so we could also edit our line-ups and do all that heavy duty team manager type stuff. We can read up on news on our players, make trades, message the competition, and check out the league standings.  We like it because it makes it so we can dominate our league (well, we expect to next year) all from within one app, instead of having to login to three different places.  Super slick... for football fans... like us.

Actually, in the process of writing this review, we saw that they have an all-in-one fantasy sport app for football, basketball, hockey, and baseball called Fantasy Monster Pro -$5 about, but we haven't splurged on that yet.  If you have, let us know what you think of it!

Day Nine. App Nine. Alarm Clock.

Today's app is one that we use almost every single day...except those glorious days when we can sleep in. Yep, you guessed it; it's an alarm clock. Our alarm clock of choice is the aptly named app, Alarm Clock by iHandySoft.  We like the app because it's easy to use and it works; we set the alarms we need and then just leave it.  Because waking to jarring or screeching sounds is not how we like to start our day, we especially like the ability to add our own songs and to control the setting for the gradual volume increase.  With our settings, the music begins at zero volume (not very effective for waking us) and slowly increases over a two minute period (length is adjustable) to a loud volume, which will definitely get us out of bed.  Nice.  However, if you are one who will go back to sleep after turning the alarm off and you think you may need multiple reminders to get up (slacker), there is a snooze feature.

We also like the miniature weather forecast and current temp. at the top of the screen, but it isn't a deal maker or breaker for us (like the "add your own music and make it come on slowly" was).  You can also have the screen tell you what city you are in, in case you are someone who may not know that when you wake up.  Wow.  Anyway, the app is customizable in a number of ways (color, celsius or fahrenheit, seconds or not, etc.).  The only thing we can think of that would make it better is if it got up and brought us our coffee... and from what we read, it seems that you can get a different app for that! [Update]: The latest update to Alarm Clock didn't seem to us like a big deal at first- brightness adjustment. See what we mean? It doesn't seem that impressive, especially because we could already slide our fingers to adjust the brightness of the clock. However... what we didn't realize until last night, was that the "slide the finger to adjust the brightness maneuver" now adjusts the overall brightness of the phone. The reason that's cool is because you will no longer be blinded by your bright phone when you turn off your alarm in the darkness of the early morning and begin to check your email. We like the update.

Day Eight. App Eight. Words With Friends.

Okay, you're one week into December and you've read about seven apps we love, you've learned how to savor the time with family (right? if not, click that link!), you're super organized with all your gift giving, and you're ready to kick back and play a game.  So, here's the game for you-  WordsWithFriends (Free, or you can pay a smidge and get rid of ads).  Basically the game is scrabble, but not sleep-inducing, wait-15-minutes-for-the-other-person-to-play scrabble. The beauty of Words with Friends is that you play (in theory, with your friends, but could also be with random people the computer hooks you up with) whenever you feel like it.  If you both are playing at the same time, the game can be pretty quick; if you are playing with us, it may take a day or two (maybe seven?) until we get around to playing again, so it can be much slower.  The nice thing is that you can have many games going, so whenever you want to play, there's usually a game ready for you.

No pressure, no waiting, no cost (if you don't mind the ads).  Your turn.

 [Update]: Words with Friends has an update today making it so you can see how many of any given tile there are remaining (nice if you are considering whether your wordplay could set up your friend for a massive triple pointer if they have a certain letter). It also now has a rating feature where the game basically let's you know how good or lousy your word is in comparison to the possibilities. We'll be curious to see whether or not people like these new additions to the game. Let us know what you think.

Day Seven. App Seven. Pandora.

Pandora.  If you don't know about Pandora Radio, where have you been?  It's simple, it's sweet, it's music you love.  All you do is type in the name of the song or artist that you feel like hearing and Pandora will create your own little radio station of music like that.  It's a great way to discover new music you like, and Pandora gets better and better at knowing what kind of music that is.  With every song that plays, you have the option of a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" rating to tell Pandora whether you want more that's similar or not.  We don't know exactly how it does it, but we have to assume it involves elves running around frantically pulling cd's off shelves trying to match the perfect song to you (or, maybe it is just tagging and algorithms, but we like the image of the elves better).  You also can just skip a song, but our thought is, why not rate it and keep those elves busy.  Anyway, Pandora saves your stations so you can listen to them anywhere you access Pandora.  Pretty cool.

Day Six. App Six. ePrint.

Are you one of those people who was all excited about the fact that you could wirelessly print from your phone or your tablet?  We know, we know... you thought "I will be so much more efficient because I can vacuum/change the oil in the car/take a shower while simultaneously downloading and printing my report/knitting pattern/Christmas letter."  Yes, you were... you read tech reviews, so we know what you get excited about.  Only then you found out that you have to have the special compatible (probably by HP) printer and the little "print" icon that pops in the upper right corner of your iPhone etc. is merely decorative.  Bummer.  We are too cheap careful with our money to go out and buy a special printer, so we downloaded an app that works with our wireless printer and many others just fine... and for many dollars less (2.99 versus $100+).

All you need is ePrint and most any wireless printer (NOT the special ones) or a printer hooked up to your computer (if you have a non-wireless printer and it isn't attached to your computer, we're just confused).  Once you've downloaded the app, you choose "add a printer" and the app will search the airwaves for your wireless printer or computer-tethered printer.   Once it locates the printer, click on the name of your printer, then it's all ready to go... really simple.  From within ePrint, you can open your clipboard, notes, the web, your camera, your contact list, documents, etc. and print.  Or, you can simply click the "open in" icon (it usually appears in the upper right corner when you tap on whatever you want to print).  So, if you want to print from your gadget, it's your choice... buy the expensive printer to go with your phone, or buy the cheap-o app and send us the leftover savings.  Up to you, but you know what the right choice is... we accept paypal.