Reviews
Most of us iPhone old-timers in the US were grandfathered in to AT&T's Unlimited Data Plans. However, for new subscribers those data plans are gone. You now have to choose between a 200MB/month ($15/month) or 2GB/month data plan ($25/month). Of course if you're on a limited data plan here in the states or abroad you're going to also want to know when you're reaching your limits. There are a few different ways of checking your data use if you're on AT&T. You can *3282# from your iPhone and you'll get back an SMS displaying your current month's data usage. AT&T also provides an App to check your account information and usage. While these methods work, they require you to actually remember to check manually. DataMan is a neat little App that provides you more real-time data usage information while running in the background under iOS 4. Best of all you can set your own usage monitors and alarms. You can set a daily, weekly and monthly threshold for how much data you want to use and then be alerted to the fact that you're about to go over or have gone over your own preset allowance. The App does something that the AT&T methods don't and that is it not only tracks both 3G AND WiFi usage, but it even geotags where you were using the data. This key for travelers that want to data roam.
Do I need unlimited data?
If you're on an unlimited plan it's probably easy for you to dismiss this App. However, this app will help you answer the question "do I need unlimited data?" AT&T does offer a cheaper DataPlus plan that's limited to 200MB of data a month. I would dare say that there are a lot of people out there that could get by on this plan and save money. With DataMan you could track your usage on both 3G and WiFi for a couple of months to determine whether or not you really use more than 200MB or 2GB's of data each month?
A couple of Warnings! This App REQUIRES iOS 4! So if you're not running iOS 4 it may not even show up in the App Store as a download for you. Secondly, the App DOES need to run in the background in order to track your usage. You will notice that the Location indicator in the upper right corner is ALWAYS active. I asked the developer about battery life impact running Location Services all the time and he assured me that his App was using the new low power option in iOS 4 that only checks the location when you change cell towers. He claims to easily 30 hours of battery life between charges. I too have not seen any significant change in battery life on my iPhone 4 since running the App. YMMV!
You can get DataMan here from the 
As a photographer I’m always on the lookout for applications that will make my life easier. Sometimes it’s applications that help me make lighting diagrams, sometimes it’s an application that helps with new and fresh posing, and sometimes it’s an application that helps with the business end of photography. Zosh is one of the latter. Zosh takes one of the most tedious tasks in photography and simplifies it. Of course I’m talking about paperwork. Zosh takes the most popular style of documents (PDF, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, JPG, GIF, PNG, and BMP) and allows you to fill information on the fly and email a copy of that document to anyone you choose. This is great for photographers! Now fill in Model releases, wedding contracts, property releases, etc. on the go!
Functionality
Setting up your account with Zosh is as simple as any setup for an online account. You have to provide an email account that you wish to be associated with the app. If you have multiple email accounts, choose your email account carefully because this is the email account that you have to use to load documents into your Zosh document dashboard. To load a document you simply email the file from your specified email address to mydocs@zosh.com. Within two to three minutes, that document is available for you to view and use from your idevice. You will receive a confirmation email from Zosh letting you know that it is available for use.
Once you have a document in your Zosh dashboard, filling it out is easy. Simply click on the document to open it on your screen. On the top right of the screen you will see an insert button. When you tap on it, you get four choices; insert signature, insert text, insert date, and insert image. Chose whichever you would like to insert. Once you have created the content to add to the document and click “ok” the content will be added right in the middle of your document. Tap once on the content that you added and you will be presented with a number of options to place that content in your document. You will have the option to move, resize, rotate, and delete. The biggest advantage of this application to me is the ability to add signatures to your documents right on your idevice. When I sit with a wedding client we fill out the wedding contract right on the screen, tap insert signature and the client signs with their finger right there. It’s quick, easy and effective.
Once you have your document filled out, getting a copy to your client and to yourself is as easy as tapping “Transmit” at the bottom of the screen. You can then add as many recipients as you would like the document to go to. You can email it to yourself for printing at a later time.
Things I would like to see
This app is designed for the iPhone and iPod touch (when you have wifi service), there isn’t currently a native iPad app yet. This means that to use it on my iPad (which I do a lot) I have to use the up scaling option which makes the resolution less than ideal. According to the Zosh website there is a native iPad version in the works. Until then the up scaled version will have to do. The other thing that I would like to see is the option to store documents on your device. In its current form, your documents are stored in the “cloud” and not on your device locally. This means that if you don’t have 3g or wifi service you cannot access your documents. This isn’t a problem on my iPhone usually however I bought a wifi only iPad so from time to time I don’t have a connection to be able to access the forms when working with clients. I would like to see the ability to keep documents locally on the device and email them later when I’m connected to the internet.
Conclusion
Overall, this application is a winner. It simplifies my life when dealing with clients, models, and art directors; and anything that does that is a winner in my book. At $2.99 it’s well worth the money. If they get the iPad version out, and add local document storing this will be a perfect app.
You can get Zosh here from the
Yes it can be awkward signing with your finger so get a stylus!
If you're going to be a doing a lot of these, you might want to make an investment in a iPhone stylus to make it easier for your clients to sign. I got one of these and I LOVE IT! Makes it so much easier to sign!
click image above to enlarge
I was never completely satisfied with iPhone's built-in weather App. It's nice and shows you the highs and lows as well as current conditions, but living in Michigan with harsh winters, I needed more info like snow accumulation, and hourly forecasts. So I got Accuweather for the iPhone way back when and have been happy ever since. When the iPad hit the scene and didn't even have a built-in weather App of course I went in search of cool weather Apps for the iPad. However, at the time Accuweather didn't have a native iPad version. So I settled on a couple of others that were just OK. Then Accuweather, Inc. did release an iPad native version and of course it earned a spot right on my 1st home screen. They did a really good job redesigning this App for the larger iPad display instead of just upscaling the old version. I really like the graphics and the ability to put in as many locations as I want including my current location to track the weather for.
Lots of ways to look at the weather
One of the things I truly like about this App is that it's actually fun to use. For example the very next screen for your selected location is an interactive dial that shows you what the weather will be at any point within a 24 hour period just by dragging your finger around the dial. There are also up to the hour streaming videos for your location giving you the same video weather update that you would see on TV. For you Gulf Coasters there's even a hurricane map showing the locations of tropical storms/hurricanes and their current level.
If you looking for the best weather App for iPad, this is it! Yes there are others, yes the others are good, but this is my favorite!
You can get ACCU WEATHER for iPad here from the
There's also a FREE version if you don't mind Ads here on the
As a web designer and developer, tracking both my own and client websites is very important to me. The app that I have found pleases me in this area is Analytics App which ties right into Google Analytics (my tracker of choice) and is available for both the iPhone and iPad. The interface on the app is pretty similar on the iPhone and the iPad with the main difference being the larger resolution on the iPad allowing for a larger interface. Generally I like the interface although feel sometimes that it could be improved on to feel more modern. Right now it is a cross between a modern iPhone app and a not-so-nice app. iPhone : iPad: (not a universal app)
It's not every day that I get to have an App developed just the way I want it. However, that's exactly what happened with Presentation Clock and I'm thrilled that this App is now available to all of you as well 
I met with the developer Shawn Welch at Photoshop World and I expressed my frustration with my current timer Apps as I about to head off and teach a class. The two biggest problems with the main app that I was using was that number one it didn't give you any kind of audible alerts at all. You had to constantly look to see how much time was left. That wasn't so bad, but let's say you weren't paying attention and the time ran out. It would then (problem number two) just sit on ZERO. So while you would eventually know (the next time you looked at it) that your time was up, you would have no idea how much over your time you were. Were you over one minute or were you over 15 minutes?
Presentation Clock Has EVERYTHING I Asked For
Shawn did an excellent job taking my description of how I wanted this App to work and translating that into a polished easy to use App. Even when I asked for a last minute feature of being able to add more time or take time away on the fly, I had no idea how I would want it implemented, but he did it with on easy on screen + and – buttons without having to return to the presets. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a UI freak. The user interface in many cases makes or breaks the App for me. Presentation Clock is an excellent example of how to make a useful App, but also make it look good too. This universal App is native to the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Shawn used color in an effective way too. The clock starts out in green. You can then set two warning intervals. Say you have 30 minutes to present and you want a warning at 10 minutes and then another one at 5 minutes. When Presentation Clock hits the 10 minute mark, the entire clock changes to yellow AND you have the option for an audible beep as well as a Vibrate warning, which is VERY USEFUL when you're using this to record your presentation. This way the device can vibrate in your pocket and you know you need to start wrapping things up without having to hear a sound on the recording. Presentation Clock has an unlimited number of preset slots built-in. Just like the iPhone's built-in alarm clock, you can setup as many presentation clock presets as you want and each one can be configured with the warning intervals as well as your beeps and or vibrates. Lastly and most importantly Presentation Clock continues to count down (or up) once your time is up. The image reverses in red so that you have a visual that you're over your time and the timer keeps going negative to let you know how much you're over at a glance. Yes it keeps the display active the whole time so that you never have to wake up the device just to see the timer.
If you give any kind of timed presentations, this is a MUST HAVE APP! I've even gifted it to a couple of presenters I know that are always going over their time 
You can get Presentation Clock here from the
and I want to personally thank Shawn for listening!
Now that Apple has published their guidelines for App submissions and relaxed the guidelines that allow 3rd party compilers (such as Flash Professional CS5) to create iOS Apps, it seems that they are also OK with Google Voice Apps that had been previously banned from the App Store. The first two native Google Voice apps have been released back (GV Connect and GV Mobile +) onto the App Store and made their way to the public this past weekend. I'm very happy to see these Apps get approved. Although both Apps are very similar in functionality and having played with both over the weekend I prefer GV Mobile + and that's the App I'm going to focus on here. I started using Google Voice earlier this year, but it was a little disappointing to have to rely on the Web App on the iPhone. First off Google Voice is a FREE service offered by Google that allows you to have one phone number that you can configure to ring to any or all of your phones. You can do SMS texting, voicemail as well as make cheaper international calls.
GV Mobile + Makes Google Voice a First Class Citizen on the iPhone
When I give out my number now I like to give out just one number, my Google Voice number. This way I can control which phone the calls will ring through on and I can even set up different voicemail greetings for different groups of people or individual. When I'm in my home office I can set it to ring on my office phone. When I'm out and traveling I can have the calls ring through to my iPhone. Also I can set it to "do not disturb" when I'm sleeping in a different timezone and don't want the phone to wake me. GV Mobile + gives me native access to all of the Google Voice features. I can see transcriptions of the voicemail messages as well as play them back via audio. I can send and receive SMS messages (although I prefer doing it via the TextNow App). Most importantly I can make calls and even access my iPhone Contacts more easily that appear on the other end via callerID as coming from my Google Voice number. Although Google Voice is FREE, making and receiving calls actually does use cellular minutes. However, for international calls you can probably save money using Google Voice instead of roaming.
I'm happy to see this App! Like I said I did check out the other App that came out right before it (GV Connect), but I found it to be less stable and the interface is not quite as good. Since this is "Best App Site" I'm going to have to recommend GV Mobile + as the better one at this point.
You can get GV Mobile + here on the
One of the Apps I missed right off the bat when I got my iPad was the iPhone's built-in "Clock" App. On the iPhone you have an App that allows you to add in various clocks for regions around the world. You also get a timer, stop watch and Alarm Clock. Since this App isn't built-in to the iPad I started looking for alternatives. The World Clock certainly fills the gap left from not having a multiple-timezone clock on the iPad nicely. The App shows you a real-time map of the earth with the daylight and night time areas nicely displayed. You can add multiple clocks for the cities/ time zones that you want to keep track of. You can also display additional information besides the time such as the date, GMT offset, time difference (from the iPad's clock), solar noon and sunset times, and a digital time display.
It's interactive too
Besides having a pretty look to it, the map is actually interactive. Just drag the map left or right to see a time offset in all of your clocks. This can help you figure out what time it's going to be in various places when you adjust the map. This is all great, but I would like to see a few more "scheduling" type features for picking the best time in multiple timezones to have a meeting. For that feature I LOVE Time Scroller on the iPhone, but Time Scroller isn't a native iPad app yet.
If you're a frequent traveler or you deal with multiple time zones on a regular basis, this is a great App to have on your iPad.
You can get The World Clock here from the
We all have our favorite to-do list system and mine is Things from Cultured Code. I use their Mac client and a few months ago I reviewed Things for the iPhone here on BestAppSite. Since then, the iPad has gotten released and they have had an iPad version of Things out almost since the beginning. I thought today that it is high time to give Things for iPad a review.
Interface
Part of why Things is so great is its gorgeous interface. I would go as far as saying that half of Things is its interface. Throughout all the platforms it is gorgeous to look at, but I must say that the iPad beats both the iPhone and the Mac with the most beautiful Things version to date.
Navigating around the application is simple and it works well in both landscape and portrait mode. Controls are simple which makes managing your to-dos equally easy.
click the image above to see a larger screenshot
Actually it was my daughter in college who turned me on to this App. I saw it on her iPhone and said "what's that for?". BIGWORDS.com is universal (iPhone, iPad, & iPod touch) App that allows you to turn your used books into cash by selling them and more importantly find deals on used and new books and even rentals for students. Textbooks are outrageously expensive these days and you probably only need them long enough to complete your course. So if you bought the book you need, why hang on to it after the course is over and if you're in need of a book why pay top dollar for it?
BIGWORDS.com App does all the comparison shopping for you
They don't actually sell the books directly. The app simply shows you comparison pricing and then links you to the best deals. The savings can be big. The App is pretty easy to use. You can either search by title, ISBN or author. Once you find the book you're interested in you can either tap the SELL or BUY buttons. If you like the deal you find when you tap BUY you can chose to buy it now and you'll be taken to the site offering the book at that price. If you press the SELL button you'll see a list of sites and offers to buy your book and you can then tap to sell your book on the site offering the best terms. This is an extremely useful App for anyone dealing with buying and selling books and it's FREE! That's right, the app is FREE so there's no reason not to at least give it a try to find out how much your books are worth or how much you could potentially save by shopping here first. This is a must have App for any student or parent that buys books.
You can get BIGWORDS.com here for FREE from the
Yesterday I wrote about how great it was to finally have the Official Twitter App for iPad. However, when it comes to Facebook the wait continues. Unlike Twitter (they acquired a great 3rd party App and made it their own), Facebook has developed their own App for iPhone and iPod touch, but it's not yet a native iPad App. Although there is an official Facebook App for iPhone, it doesn't support all of the features of Facebook and that really bugs me considering that it comes directly from Facebook. Luckily when it comes to the iPad, Facebook works pretty good in Safari. It's not perfect, but it works. Last week Jason reviewed his favorite iPad 3rd party Facebook App, Friendly. Today, I'm reviewing a competitor to that App called Social. I was hesitant at first because usually 3rd party Apps just don't have the level of access to the service they are designed to support. This is why I want a native Netflix App with full queue and account management. 3rd Party Apps just can't access those features and the currently implementation of the "official" Netflix App for iPhone doesn't have them at all.
Social seems to have all of the features of Facebook
Wow! I was blown away by the level of Facebook feature support in this App. It supports the usual stuff like Friend, Photos, Chat and News feeds, but it also has support for Pages and Groups (the latter isn't even in the Facebook App for iPhone). The information is presented in easy to navigate (customizable) tabs. Sadly the only feature that it doesn't seem to have and it's one I use extensively is Lists. Again, this is not too surprising since the Official Facebook App doesn't have it either, but it's the only thing that I can see that's missing.
OK, sounds great what's wrong with it
Other than the missing Lists support the biggest problem with this App is that it's buggy. It quits on a regular basis and often times when I tap on something it takes me to my News feed instead of the item I tapped on. For example, I added three pages to the Favorites tab. When I go to the Favorites tab they are listed there. However, when I tap on any of them the Page never comes up, instead it goes straight to my own news feed. I can access those three pages no problem from the Pages tab. There are also some glitches playing Facebook videos.
UPDATE
Of course as soon as I wrote this review yesterday, he releases an update last night! I could have simply changed the review, but I thought it would be more interesting to see point by point what got fixed vs. what I had complained about. Also there was no time to thoroughly test the update, but the Favorites bug is fixed and although I see the lists feature via the News feed i don't see any way to actually manage the Lists via the App. Otherwise this looks very promising. Here's what the update addresses:
UPDATE #2
I just got a friend request and decided to process/accept in Social to see if the List support was there and I'm happy to say that it is! Although I can't manage the Lists themselves in the App, I'm very happy that I can add new Friends to Lists upon acceptance right in the App.
The Bottom Line
This is by far the best Facebook App I've seen to date on the iPad from a feature support standpoint. If the developer just works out the bugs, it would easily be a 4-5 star App. I'm looking forward to those updates.
You can get Social here from the
