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-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 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 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).