Archive for the ‘Mobile Apps’ Category
I’m a big cinema goer. In fact I go at least twice a week. There’s nothing I love more than chilling with friends in a cool movie theatre as George Clooney works his magic. Checking times is something that always gets on my grapes though.
Now, for all Android users, you can download a free app called Fandango which enables you to do just that; check movie times at any cinema.
This is just a few weeks after they put out a Beta release before Christmas.
What I liked most about this app was how it integrates so well with Android phones such as the Nexus One. For example, it uses the phone’s GPS to find nearby movie theatres and automatically downloads their screening times.
Furthermore, you can also watch movie trailers, get reviews and even buy tickets at selected cinemas. The app also has a community whereby everyone is asked to rate a movie they’ve seen already to tell fellow users what’s how and what’s not.
Definitely a must have for hardcore movie buffs! You can find it here.
All the main news sites and aggregators are developing apps to keep their readers informed on the go. This is turning out to be a lucrative moneymaking opportunity via advertising as mobile web usage doubled in 2009. So why can’t you or I get in on the action, promote our blog, gain readers and look pretty darn cool at the same time? Well for $199, you can!
You see, most of the apps which blogs release are nothing more than glorified RSS readers. Pretty simple when it all boils down to it. So you could easily release your own by using AppMakr – basically the bare bones of an RSS App. This will take your blogs feed, enable you to add some images, alter the interface design, change buttons and rearrange your app and then publish it live; all in less than 30 minute if you’re taking it slow.
There are two price models. Here’s what they say on their website:
$199 – The Easy Way: AppMakr Publishes Your App
Submit your app in minutes, with AppMakr as the publisher. Skip the difficult parts of making an iPhone app, like having to work with Xcode and figuring out the app certification and provisional process. You can even insert your own ads in the app. Apps built with this option will have a small AppMakr logo on the app splash screen.
$499 – You’re In Control: Publish Under Your Own Brand
Take control of the app building process by creating an Apple Developer Account and loading your certificates into AppMakr. We’ll take care of the rest, including the provisioning, building and management of your apps. You’ll also be able to test apps on your own phone with Ad Hoc builds.
Pretty cool, no? Check it out at AppMakr
This is a popular web app which aims to get any person of any fitness level doing one hundred push ups in just six short weeks. Having spoke to several friends who did the course (couldn’t even do ten when they started) they were able to do over one hundred in under six weeks and were much stronger.
Basically, it works like this. You first do an initial test to gauge your current fitness level. Then, you’re assigned a category depending on how well you did. You then progress up through the number of push-ups you must do three days a week for the next six weeks. If you followed the course exactly then you should be easily able to accomplish one hundred push-ups by the end. You also log your results as you go along.
This is a great web app that also has an iPhone app to go along with it. They also run similar programs such as Two Hundred Sit-Ups and Two Hundred Squats.
Ever wake up, perform the basic morning routine and then walk out the door and its pooring down with rain but no umbrella? Those are the exact times that The Smart Alarm was made for.
The Smart Alarm monitors the changing weather conditions overnight and then alerts you in the morning depending on your settings.
For example, if you set your base time wake-up for 6 am and the weather is good, then the alarm will wake you up at that time. However, if there’s bad weather, say rain, then the app will wake you up 20 minutes earlier.
If you travel a lot for business, The Smart Alarm tracks your location using the GPS, Wi-Fi and cellular to know where you are and the weather in the area.
The iPhone application currently is approved for sale in iTunes store for $1.99 in the utilities category and is only for U.S. based devices.
GrooveMaker is a new Electro and Drum and Bass app that helps musicians to create their own music. The interface itself is pretty impressive and looks much like your portable DJ Box, with 8 stereo loop tracks and a huge library of numerous drum beats, effects and lines to make your remix ever more groovy. This application seems great for the average person who wants to have a little fun and make some cool beats, but this app just isnt professional enough to actually be used as a commercial tool.
Over a year after a third-party app was released for Yammer users with an Android, Yammer have decided it’s time to release their own official app to compliment their service which enables people working within a company or group to send updates as to what they’re doing which is fed into a constant stream, like Twitter.
The app can be ran in the background while you use the phone on a day to day basis. It will vibrate or make a noise when the stream is updated by a colleague answering the boilerplate Yammer question, ‘What are you doing?’
The pre-release version is still reported to contain many bugs and I doubt it will be ready until late Spring of next year.
I think that this app will make switching from the iPhone to cheaper android devices much easier. Many people depend on Apple’s device purely because of the apps – now with many alternatives in the hands of the competitors, the iPhone could be in trouble. Expect a price drop in early 2010.
Guitar Hero, done it. Rock Band, yep, did that too! I’ve not been a big fan of the mobile versions for some of these, even on the Nintendo DS the Guitar Hero just didn’t port well without cramping up and wishing your had double joints on your double joints. Still there’s no denying that these games are a lot of fun, whether you’re playing on your own or playing with a group. Mastering the moves, hearing the songs, and remembering the days when you wanted to be a real rockstar, are all part of the experience.
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If you had a chance to update your apps today then perhaps you were surprised by an update for your Linkedin mobile app. The buzz across the media sites is Linkedin’s new shiny app that offers 100% more functionality than the prior version of the app did. For all purposes the prior version was useless. The limited functionality made it one of those apps you had because you hoped, but you just never used. Luckily, following Facebook’s recent app update, the new Linkedin app gives users more of what they want with a few interesting extras.
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LogMeIn Logo
There’s just some apps that take the concept of mobile apps to a whole other level. It was not long ago that I reviewed an iPhone application that started your car from afar, making the use of a key useless.
Most recently a new app was brought to my attention thanks to a colleague of mine. As a heavy mobile user and constantly on the go, it’s not always easy for me to access my files. I use apps like Dropbox, and Zumodrive, but sometimes I don’t place the files I need in those apps. In those cases LogMeIn Ignition has saved the day.
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Metaio is a very interesting company that has started to develop some great augmented reality iPhone applications.
Metaio has just announced a new social network called Junaio which is based around augmented reality.
The newest version of the mobile augmented reality platform includes new and improved features such as:
1) Enhanced live overlay and local search: powered using Google Local Search, now you can visually search for points of interest like restaurants, cafes, or anything in your location
2) New social features: Ability to rate, comment on others scenes, publish your own augmented reality to social networks like Facebook and Twitter
3) Improved user interface and enhancements: greater usability and fast download speed
To me this seems to be a very weird yet interesting mix between the real world and social networking online.
Slacker Internet Radio
In the battle for music player supremacy, many online music players have burst onto the scene. Now recently I’ve personally been a fan of Pandora and still support them, but other entries like imeem, and Last.fm just couldn’t grab my attention. Recently a music player that I had previously tossed into the pile of the above mentioned, uninteresting players, Slacker radio.
Slacker radio offers up an interesting hybrid of both online streaming music from pre-existing stations, the ability to create your own playlists, and functions as a shop for products that allow you to take Slacker radio with you everywhere you go. Both a web app and a mobile app, Slacker does a great job with providing an easy to navigate user interface and a decent list of stations ready to play as soon as you create an account. The stations are divided into categories offering up something for everyone, if not just a taste of the power of this application.
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Personal productivity and self help books are amazingly refreshing and can really get you on the right track. Many of us need inspiration from time to time, but not all of us have the time to read books or listen to audio in order to help us find that guidance. With the advent of all things mobile, more and more content is becoming easily accessible via your mobile devices, and now self help guidance is broken down for us in bite sized chunks that we can all benefit from.
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I’m a big cinema goer. In fact I go at least twice a week. There’s nothing I love more than chilling with friends in a cool movie theatre as George Clooney works his magic. Checking times is something that always gets on my grapes though.
