The Top 10 iPhone Applications from March 2009

Yes kids, it’s time for another adventure in Appleland

Hello, and welcome to the third installment of iWant, iNeed, iRecommend. This is a monthly series that will, simply put, talk briefly and present the top ten iPhone and iPod Touch applications from that month. At the end of the year, the 120 mentioned applications will then go head to head to see which apps become the top ten for the year. If you would like to read my previous top ten lists, as well as all my other iPhone and iPod Touch application reviews, you can see them here. While this list is subjective (as are all top ten lists), I did my best to base this on actual use, not my own opinion. Enjoy.



10. Duck and Cover
What application gives you no help in an emergency? What can’t float in the event of a tidal wave? What is guaranteed (or your $.99 back) to not repel Godzilla? If you said your iPhone, then you are wrong; however, if you said the Duck and Cover application for your iPhone, then you are 100% correct. Really, this application does absolutely nothing, but that is what is so sweet about it. Personally, I have a bit of a soft spot for satirical things, and Duck and Cover is most certainly one of those. You can get Duck and Cover for $.99.

9. Historic Sites
Historic Sites is an nice little application for your iPhone that will help you find interesting and unique historical places. Using your phones geopositioning system, this application will search the National Registry of Historic places and pull up information for you. You can find information, both from the Registry and from the internet, while still remaining in the app. Should you decide that you want to go there, Historic Sites will give you directions and/or a map. I believe that Historic Sites is great for any family road trip, and at $.99 it is a steal.

8. Darwin Collection
Even before the Kindle application for the iPhone came out, many companies were making their own Ebooks for the iPhone. IndiaNIC was one of these companies, and they made ton of Ebooks that looked unique. All of their applications have adjustable font settings, day and night modes, white noise generators, and bookmarks. With their Darwin Collection, IndiaINC combined all of the books that were published by the famed English Naturalist. I strongly recommend this application for any botanist, naturalist, scientist, or biologist out there. You can get Darwin Collection for $1.99.

7. Don’t Panic
I know what you are thinking, no, Don’t Panic has nothing to do with The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I was disappointed when I found that out too. However, it is a pretty cool little app. Basically, Don’t Panic is a collection of quotes, sayings, and other random things that are supposed to calm you down and reign you in from your hectic lifestyle. It also can play some soothing music, which should help take you out of the hustle and bustle that surrounds you. At $1.99, Don’t Panic is a good way to relax whenever you have a second at your disposal.

6. 1st in History
By now, most of you know that I love trivia and random facts. In fact, I usually have a trivia application in each of my top 10 lists. 1st in History is that trivia application from Match. 1st in History is a pretty basic application, but it does what it says. It asks you a question, then you need to guess the person or thing that did it first. You touch the screen and it gives you the answer. Though this sounds basic, this is good training for you local bar’s version of trivia, and it might help you win some bets. Plus, at a price of NOTHING, 1st in History can’t really go wrong.

5. Kindle for the iPhone
Kindle for the iPhone was launched at the beginning of March with much fanfare. Finally, people could read the Ebooks that they bought from Amazon on the iPhone. While most public domain books were already covered (see my 2nd place and my 8th place for examples), now they could read new novels. You can adjust text size, sync with your actual Kindle, and also leave bookmarks. Simply put, this application is everything you would expect from the real deal except with a smaller screen. Though you can get Kindle for the iPhone for free, most books will cost you $9.99.

4. Air Browser
Also widely discussed in early March was a change by Apple to allow other browsers in the app store. The best of these new browsers, many of which showed up on the same day, was Air Browser. Built from Safari, Air Browser allows you to do everything that you expect from a normal desktop browser. There is tabbed browsing, bookmarking, Google suggestions, and history. Plus, it tosses in things like private browsing, shake navigation, and favicons (favorite icons), which you can only find on the iPhone. If you want a better and fuller browsing experience, then drop $1.99 for Air Browser.

3. Tap Tap Revenge 2
Back on my top 10 of 2008 list, Tap Tap Revenge made it in as number 9. In March, the second take of this game has made it all the way up into spot number 3. Though it is still not my cup of tea, over 19,000 reviews on iTunes means that the iPhone owning public loves Tap Tap Revenge 2. The game is extremely simple; you tap a glowing orb when it passes through a circle at the bottom of your screen. And, just like in Guitar Hero, the taps coincide with the music that is playing. Containing over 150 songs from various artists, Tap Tap Revenge 2 is a great free application.

2. Books by Ubiklabs
Keeping with the theme of Ebooks, which does seem to be the main focus this month, the number 2 spot goes to a collection of them from Ubiklabs. The company has put out over 30 Ebooks, all of which are in the public domain, including Don Quixote, Tom Sawyer, and, you guessed it, Origin of Species. The books, which are available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish all come with bookmarks, page turning animations, and a gentle font that is easy on the eyes. You can grab individual books from Ubiklabs for $1.99 or $2.99, depending on the title.


And the #1 iPhone application from March 2009 is…

1. Steve Parker’s EZ and Easy apps
The number 1 spot, just like the number 2 spot, is a collection of applications. Ranging from a search function, to news, to weather, these applications from Steve Parker are extremely localized and extremely easy to use. EZ News is an application that links to the 6 most popular news agencies (CBS, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, Yahoo, USA Today) and shows them in a format that works perfectly for the iPhone. Though this wasn't his first application, Steve has released several iterations of EZ Radar, which is a localized radar for various regions of the country. These are easier to use then the built in weather application, and they show animated radar. You can get the EZ applications for either $.99 or $1.99, depending on the app.


Well folks, there you have it, the top 10 iPhone and iPod Touch applications from March 2009. If you have any suggestions for next months list, or want to tell me what I missed, please let me know in the comment field.
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It Is Time To Revamp The School Enrollment System

I know, I know, it is not like me to make a giant rant, but I really feel the need to here. See, I do not like how our schools function, nor how they work within a certain system. Far too many schools accept crap students and ignore the good ones. So, basically, I want to bitch about that.



So, here is my beef. I have an IQ that is easily among the highest of people you will meet; in an average room of 100 people, only 3 will be smarter than myself. I had SAT and ACT scores that were in the upper 90th percentile. I took tougher classes then most other applicants, and I did far better on exams then they did. I did more volunteer work, political work, and anything you can think of then others. I even worked with endangered animals. Yet, somehow, I didn't get into OSU for my first year of college but a bunch of kids who took theater and art with As got in.

Yep, Didn't get into the biggest school in the country, even though I deserved it.

OSU, for most graduate programs, requires a GPA of about 3.5 (3.0+ and it is considerations). They don't care what classes you took, any extra work you did, or anything like that. All they care about is the grade. To me, this is absolutely stupid, as it ignores anything outside of a grade in deciding if the person matters. For these programs, you are simply a number, nothing more, nothing less. This is the worst part of upper education, and should be stopped.

Not only does this show that you are a number, but it doesn't credit anything else that you do. Sure, grades matter, but they should not be a big factor. Outside actives and other things show more about a person, and thus should be considered more. The caliber of a person is far more important then their GPA. Additionally, the classes should be considered, as a C in calculus should be worth more than an A in geometry.

But, of course, they can ignore these requirements if you are a sports person. While volunteer work, classes, and even chess club do not matter, sports do. These athletes are not people, no, they are Gods, and they are above the rest of us. Schools let in students who fail all of there other requirements, provided that they can help the school in sports. This is, frankly, bullshit and needs to be fixed.

Schools need to focus more on who the person is, and what they have done, not what grades they have. Sure, their GPA might not be great, but if they clearly are intelligent then they deserve to be in. The person with a 2.0 who serves the community is worth far more than the 4.0 greek whore (no offense, but this is based from my observations) who took easy classes. Schools need to look into the actual merit of each person, not how they look on paper.

Of course, this can never happen until schools are actually schools, and no longer buisnesses.
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Software Review: Say Where! Application for the iPhone

Are you interested in getting directions from your location to another? Are you tired of trying to find the phone number of a Greek restaurant only to have your fat fingers mistype time and time again? If so, then the new Say Where! application from Dial Directions might be the application for you.



Say Where! (direct download link) is an application that allows you to interact with your iPhone in a brand new way. You can get directions from Google Maps, search for businesses on Googleand the Yellow Pages, check out a review on Yelp, and even check out the traffic on Traffic.com.You can do all of these things simply by saying exactly what you want. The application will decipher your voice, convert it to text, confirm that what is written is what you said, and then apply the proper external application to complete your request. Say Where! does all of this for absolutely nothing. That's right, Say Where! is a free application that is supported entirely by ads.

Pros
Say Where! has several nice features that make this application (the first of its kind) the only verbal interface that your iPhone will ever need. The interface is nice and fits perfectly within the iPhone's aura. Not only is the layout smooth and easy to navigate, the current options are also separated by topic and it appears as though they have plans to include more operations and external sites in the future.

The voice recognition in the Say Where! app had a few stumbles, like when I named specific buildings on the Ohio State University Campus it could not usually find the location, but overall it worked exceptionally well when I asked for a specific address or a more common location. In fact, the verbal recognition was much better than any other program I have used on any other phone.

Cons
When you search using Say Where! it will decode your voice, convert it, confirm it, and then open the external application or site that is needed and do the searching there. While I understand how hard it would be to create a system where you could run one app inside another, this has always been a big problem for me. I think that Say Where! should perform the search (unseen by us) and then display the results, links, phone numbers, maps, directions, etc. on its own home page. I think that using the same application to search and view the results looks much better and creates a cleaner product.

What I Want To See
I think that Say Where! is a starting application for using verbal recognition and that it is probably all that you will ever need; however, I think that there are some areas that Say Where! needs to work on (or add to) to become the only app of this style that you would ever need. I think that they need to include some more options like Mapquest, White Pages, Rotten Tomato reviews etc. The starting options are nice and cover what you need (right now), but the extra options — be they repetitive (like Mapquest would be) or new (like White Pages) — would allow the application to have some personal flavor and allow more usability.

I would also like the option to save and store common searches so that I need not say them again (or, say, want to find it in Yellow pages and then map to it in Google Maps). By creating a save option the application would become one of the few searching applications that allows you to save. This would make it highly desired by both those who are looking for a voice recognition app AND those who are looking merely for an all-around search app. Having a “Frequently Searched” option just makes it seem much more finished and polished.

Overall
The Say Where! application for the iPhone is one of the best applications that I currently have and is one of the most useful. While there are some hiccups with the recognition, and there are a few options lacking, in general the system is good. Overall, the Say Where! application is a must-have for anybody who uses their iPhone for searches or maps often.
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Top 10 Applications for the iPhone from 2008

Picking the top ten applications for the iPhone from 2008 was a very tough job to do. I had to decide between many qualified apps. Some of them are popular, some are unknown. Some are free, some cost a bit of money. Some are games, others are utilities. While this list is subjective (as are all top-ten lists), I did my best to base this on actual use, not my own opinion. Enjoy.



10) AP Mobile News Network
This is an application that I use every single day on the bus rides to and from work. Combining AP news feed for almost every single interest, the AP Mobile News Network allows you to keep up with news, sports, your local issues, and the wacky world with ease. Though the application crashed a fair bit when it was first released, the updates have made it much more stable. You can get it free from the iTunes Application Store.

9)Tap Tap Revenge
While I do not really use or like this application personally (not really into this sort of thing), there is no denying the impact this has had on the iPhone. One of the most downloaded applications, and one of the few with sequels, this app is beloved by many. With nifty graphics and enjoyable, addictive game play, TapTap Revenge is definitely one of the best free applications currently out there.

8) Urban Spoon
Far too often I am out driving around with my girlfriend trying to decide on a place to eat. We can usually figure out the type of food we want but never know where to go. Pull out our iPhones and BOOM, we have what we need. The Urban Spoon application saves time by picking a location for you. Plus, as it was featured on an Apple commercial, it clearly is a very popular download.

7) Classics
This is probably the least known of the applications that make my list but one of the better applications out there currently. Containing some of the best classic stories ever told — from The Time Machine to Paradise Lost — Classics allows you to read books on your iPhone and iPod Touch. Using a fully 3D display, it also looks (roughly) and sounds like you are flipping the pages each and every time. Temporarily on sale for $.99 from the iTunes Application Store.

6) Facebook
Not much to say about the free Facebook application. Basically, it does exactly what it should, it creates a full version of Facebook (minus the FB apps) on the iPhone. Sure, you could go to the actual Web site, but this looks and works so much better. The only thing really missing is the phonebook part of the real Facebook Web site. If that was to be included then this would be a perfect addition for any iPhone. While it might not seem like it should be on the list, the ease of use and popularity of the application makes it superior to many others.

5) Touch Physics

This is, quite frankly, my favorite game on the iPhone. Touch Physics is a game where you simply try to get a ball into a star. Seem simple? It really isn’t (as I have played probably about 36 total hours and am still playing). By making tough levels, requiring bouncing over objects, and even having an (might be more than one, stuck on it) invisible level, this "simple" game is addictive, fun, and tough. Plus, it allows you to change the constants as you so wish. It's temporarily on sale for $.99 from the iTunes Application Store.

4) Lux Touch
Risk, on the iPhone. Simply put, that is all Lux Touch is. It is a port of their popular desktop version of the game for the iPhone. Featuring full touch control, easy gameplay, and decent sounds, this application is a great time waster. While the AI is easy (the deluxe version fixes that) and the graphics are not that great, this application allows you to waste away 10 minutes at a time with the games. Plus, frankly, Risk is always fun. Get it free from the iTunes Application Store.

3) Sports Tap
Want to follow play-by-play as the Buckeyes beat the Longhorns on Jan. 5th? Interested in checking the golf scores or the basketball rankings? Well, Sports Tap is the perfect application for anybody who cares about any sport. From MLB to MLS to European Football Leagues to the Olympics, this app puts all sports information at your fingertips, and it's free from the iTunes App Store.

2) Twitterific
While this application has no real practical use in the real world, for those of us who are always twittering it is essential. With a sweet interface, easy-to-use controls, and every Twitter option, Twitterific is a great application. You can view your posts, view your friends' posts, direct message, and even geo-Twitter. For anybody who uses the site and has an iPhone or iPod Touch, this is a must-have free app.

1) Google Mobile
Sure, there are already nice searching apps for the iPhone, but none of them search your contacts, your SMS, your e-mails, and Google all at the same time. Find anything, from the restraunt you decided to eat at (using Urban Spoon, of course) to information on Godwin. The Google Mobile app. also features voice control which is just amazing. With full integration into every other app and every part of the iPhone, this application is a must have for anybody.

Honorable Mentions! These are other applications that I considered for the top ten that didn’t quite make it, in no specific order:
Baccarat Pro - $4.99
PuzzleManiak Christmas Edition - $5.99
Free Translator – Free
Hero of Sparta - $9.99
Ebay Mobile – Free
Wikipanion – Free
Spore Origins - $6.99
Night Camera - $.99
Texas Hold 'Em - $4.99
Constitution – Free
Declaration of Independence – Free

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