AppCraver » Derek Walter

Master SF transit schedule with iBART Live

Derek Walter — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:00:22 +0000

Riding the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) trains are an essential part of life in the San Francisco Bay Area. Whether you live there or plan to visit, iBART Live can help you get around a bit easier. Its best feature is real-time updates about train status that can make a difference in mauvering throughout the city.

There are two versions – a free iBart and the $3.99 iBART Live. For the extra money you get real-time arrival information (especially useful if you are as impatient as I am) and the ability to save favorite trips and stations. If you are planning a short trip to the Bay Area then the free version may suit your needs. But the live updates were pretty cool, and I thought well worth the few bucks for the upgrade.

The best feature of iBART Live was the ability to get real-time departure and arrival information from specific stations. It helps if you are rushing to catch a train and want to find out if you should break into a sprint or wait for the next one. There also is a pretty good trip planning feature; visitors will enjoy this as it can tell you what stops to take or what color train to get on in order to maneuver through the San Francisco Bay Area. Information for each station is also individually – tapping on the address pulls up a Google map of the station. The only pain is that you have to leave the iBart Live app to view the Google Map – but it was nonetheless a very cool feature to include. The iBart Live app also features include a system map, which you can pinch and pull like any page in Safari.

The map and other features are also available offline, which can come in handy given that AT&T’s service can get especially spotty in many of the BART underground stations. Another section provides service advisories to be aware of. The “more info” tab gives links to important BART and emergency phone numbers, which could be quite handy if you left your computer bag on the train.

BART offers a mobile site with some of the same information, but it is nowhere near as organized or easy to access as iBART Live.

rating: 10/10
app_name: iBart Live

Manage Golf Game with Procreative Golf 09

Derek Walter — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:00:44 +0000

An increasing number of golf apps are hitting the App Store, giving golfers some pretty crafty tools to carry with them on the course. Procreative Golf 09 is another great one to consider, though it depends on what courses you frequent if it will be truly worth it.

Procreative Golf 09 lets you keep track of your round and can also use the iPhone’s GPS capabilities to be your personal iCaddy. If your battery can survive, and if you find the right course, it can make for an excellent combination.

Setting up your profile is pretty easy, with the ability to customize what clubs you carry in the bag. The first step is to find the course you plan to play – which is one of the few areas in Procreative Golf 09 that could use some growth. You may find your course is not included, or lacks GPS support (this limits some of the functionality in marking shots and calculating distances). Fortunately Procreative Golf 09 wants you to do something about it. There is a link to tap that goes to the developer’s web page where you can put in the name of the course and request for GPS support to be added in. Procreative Golf 09 boasts of support for 14,000 courses with 1,500 including GPS support (more are promised to be on the way). While that is a pretty sizable amount at launch, some mid-sized community ZIP codes did not show a course in the Procreative Golf 09 system. Given the pricetag, it would be worth checking on the developer web site first to make sure there are enough courses where you play to make a purchase worthwhile.

Procreative Golf 09 can be used to manage your game through tracking your shots. This works especially well with the GPS enabled so you can look back after a round and analyze where you went awry. The scoring features are very easy to use, making Procreative Golf 09 a great way to keep score and eliminate the need for that infamous golf pencil; which is small enough to always get lost, yet sharp enough to poke your leg while playing. Turning the iPhone on its side pulls up a traditional scorecard view if you want a different outlook on the round information. If Procreative Golf 09 grows and continues to add courses and features it could truly be a must-have for the golf enthusiast.

rating: 8/10

Sooshi – Social Sushi Still Too Raw

Derek Walter — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:00:27 +0000

A number of apps are trying to get in on the social networking experience made popular by the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Sooshi – Social Sushi tries to supplement your other online identities by creating a real-time network with users you can interact with in real-time through your iPhone.

Much like Buddy, Sooshi gives you some ways to meet people online, though just like your average Craig’s List relationship quality pickings are slim and unlikely to lead to any long-term friendships.

One good feature found in Sooshi that many other social media apps lack is the ability to sign up for a profile directly inside the app — many force you on to the web to create an account.

Once you do this you can connect your existing social networking profiles and other links such as your web site or blog to your Sooshi account. This makes your profile a bit more complete and transparent to those who may check you out in the Sooshi community.

Using Sooshi consists of mainly trolling through the list of users and trying to strike up a conversation. You can send direct messages, update your status, or check in on the profiles of other users. One annoying feature was that Sooshi forces the users to have GPS enabled. Sure it makes for a convenient way to tag your location and find other users, but the battery drain is quite significant. That is of course if you plan to make use of Sooshi. What you are likely to find is many users who pass along “whatups” to each other or, surprisingly, complain about the app itself.

Apps like Buddy and Sooshi are trying to supplement what Twitter, Facebooks and others have launched with social networking. But the experience just isn’t that satisfying. It lacks the connection that some of the more well-established networks have.

rating: 6/10
app_name: Sooshi – Social Sushi

Family Guy is ‘Freakin’ Sweet’

Derek Walter — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:00:57 +0000

Family Guy will delight fans of the snarky television series with a steady flow of clips from the show and a few games. It will serve as a nice highlight reel for those who want a quick fix of Stewie’s antics.

The clips are organized into four categories, which are continually refreshed. Among recent examples are: New Today, Brian’s World, Life of Lois, Evening News, and Farting Fun (you had to know this last one was coming). Each of the clips end with the option of purchasing the entire episode through iTunes. There are also some mixes thrown in that have a compilation of other clips, though you may find that some of the earlier videos will repeat.

If you are feeling creative, there is a video mixer for blending together some of the Family Guy videos. Maybe you want a compilation of Stewie vomiting; or blend together a mix of Peter being Peter.

There are a couple of other games included. In one, you can mix and match Stewie’s outfit, which can be turned into a wallpaper for your iPhone. In another game Peter will appear either sitting on a toilet or some other awkward position and you flick him around the screen with your finger.

Family Guy allows for sharing the video clips, but it’s not really functional because the person who receives the video only get a link to purchase the app (described in the e-mail as “freakin’ sweet) in order to view it.

If you are a dedicated fan of Family Guy, it may be worth a download to have ongoing access to some of the better moments from the animated series. If you are a more casual fan, or not one at all, then probably better to pass – although Stewie will surely have something to say about it.

rating: 8/10
app_name: Family Guy

Beejive IM 3.0 Shows Promise

Derek Walter — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:00:58 +0000

Beejive IM 3.0 With Push has the potential to expand the iPhone’s instant messaging capabilities. Despite a few bugs, it has some great features that IM power users should consider.

Beejive contains all major instant messaging applications: AIM, Google Talk, Facebook, Yahoo, ICQ, MSN, etc. If you IM, chances are your favorite service is here.

The interface is pretty easy to navigate and setting up one or multiple accounts you should find it rather easy to start chatting with your friends. The chat screen and buddies list are laid out well and make it pretty seamless to start conversations. Where Beejive promises to be a real game changer is in the ability to send an SMS through 3G, EDGE or Wi-Fi without incurring any messaging fees (you need a Google Talk, AIM, or Yahoo account to do this).

The most promising feature of Beejive is the ability to send SMS messages to anyone directly through Beejive — without incurring any SMS fees. Sending a message involves either choosing a contact from your address book, IM list, or typing in the phone number directly. You then must tap on one of your accounts that supports this feature. Your contact will receive a push notification and can then reply by sending a text.

Tapping on a user’s name at the top of the screen also gave the options to IM, text, or video message. Some of the menu options can get a bit jumbled, but after a bit of use you should get the hang of what to do.

There seemed to be some inconsistency in how often I was logged out after closing Beejive. Even when choosing to stay logged in for 24 hours, I would get a push notification that I had been logged out of AIM or Google Talk. (An update rolled out late July 5 reduced how often this occurred.)

Beejive does many things well — the instant messaging worked without any major issues and getting a push notification made IM far more useful on the iPhone. The number of account offerings made it very easy to get in touch with just about anyone I interact with online. A recent update indicated that Beejive may continue to get better with time.

app_name: Beejive IM 3.0 with Push
rating: 8/10

Create and Sync Notes with Evernote

Derek Walter — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:00:11 +0000

The notebook-on-steroids service Evernote has been steadily growing stronger since its App Store debut. Version 3.0 is the best yet with some extra features that improve its usefulness and stability.

Evernote is designed to keep notes, voice recordings, photos, and web clippings within one app and synced across multiple devices. Clip a web site on your Mac, and then view it later from within Evernote on your iPhone. Or tap out a few notes on your iPhone and then pull them up later from your Windows PC. Given that many people have two or more computers to keep in sync along with their iPhone, this is an excellent feature.

Evernote’s greatest strength is its cross-platform appeal. Along with a dedicated iPhone app there are desktop versions for both Windows and Mac. The closest thing to Evernote on the PC is Microsoft’s OneNote - an excellent notetaking app in its own right, but it lacks the over-the-air syncing and cross-platform extendability.

From within the Evernote iPhone app you can create a new text, photo, or audio note. You can take a new picture or import an existing one from the iPhone photo gallery. Notes can be assigned a name and tagged to make for easier searching. Notes created on your desktop version are available for viewing or editing – though certain notes with photos or special fonts will only allow you to append text at the end. Evernote establishes a custom e-mail and Twitter address so you can e-mail in notes or save tweets. If you are worried about heading somewhere the AT&T network coverage may be a bit spotty, mark a note as a Favorite and it will be available without an Internet connection.

An Evernote account is free (so is the app), although you get some extra perks by signing up for a $45-per-year premium account. The premium service increases the amount of data you can upload, uses SSL encryption, and removes the ads in the desktop version (a full comparison of the free and premium accounts can be found here). If you find yourself more of a casual user, then the free version will probably meet your needs.

Evernote is not perfect. It can be a bit poky at times – so much so that when I just want to write a quick note I will use the native iPhone app and then email it into Evernote (you could do the same with the new Voice memos app). Sometimes even though Evernote says your notes are all synced, the newest ones take a bit longer to show up.

Despite these minor glitches Evernote has been one of my favorite iPhone apps. It is incredibly useful and continues to get better. It is an essential productivity tool for any iPhone user.

app_name: Evernote
rating: 9/10

Cops and Robbers

Derek Walter — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:30:52 +0000

Cops and Robbers will have you jumping and speeding your way through alleys and corridors in a mad rush to avoid the cops. There is a lot of fun to be had as you try and leap your way to safety and collect cash.

The premise of Cops and Robbers is that you are a robber who must drum up enough cash and diamonds to pay your rent to a pimp-like baron who drives a stretch, white limousine. But the cops are on your tail (it also doesn’t help that you are dressed like a robber from the Eliot Ness era). Cops and Robbers is played by jumping over obstacles and tilting your iPhone/iPod touch to avoid the barrels, puddles, and walls that can get in your way. The controls are pretty easy to use, though sometimes the “junp” command, which involves tapping twice on the screen, could have been more responsive. You must beat the time limit for each round in order to advance. There is also a diamond that must be found by playing a lock-picking game, which your character must then give to his evil landlord in order to pay off his debt.

There is not much in the way of customization for your character, but it works for a mobile game. You can be either a male or female robber. And after successfully completing a round (there are checkpoints that include an excessive 360-degree close-up of the main character) within the time limit you can play it again as one of the cops. This time you try and get to the end of the line faster than the robber, who you can see a shadowy figure of while you are running.

Overall Cops and Robbers meets its goal: it is a fun game to play. There are nine levels in all; each with three different challenges. Cops and Robbers is at least mildly addicting and worth draining some of your iPhone batteries for.

rating: 7/10
app_name: Cops and Robbers

TapNext Puts Presentations in your Hand

Derek Walter — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:00:50 +0000

TapNext joins the crowd of presentation apps by giving you a remote control for PowerPoint, Apple’s Keynote or OpenOffice.org Impress.

TapNext is nothing to shout about in terms of design, but this iPhone app gets the job done. It takes a few steps to get working, but they are pretty user friendly. For a PC or Mac download and install the software from the developer’s site. The easiest way to connect is if your iPhone and computer are sharing the same Wi-Fi network. If so, they will sync automatically. If not, it is still pretty easy to get connected. The desktop software generates a key that you enter into the TapNext app and then you are off and ready to present.

One thing to keep in mind — when testing it out the TapNext software did not play nice with Windows 7. It worked just fine on XP. Probably not a big issue right now as Windows 7 is till in Beta, but when it becomes available for release in late October the developer will probably want to make sure this is not an issue. Also Mac users can opt for the free TapNext Lite, which only works with Keynote. Windows users get the shaft — you need to pay for the full version to work with PowerPoint or OpenOffice.

Once the presentation is synced it works very well. There are buttons for beginning and ending the slide show, as well as moving from one slide to another (you can also go back to a previous slide). A timer is included at the top of the screen if you want to keep an eye on how long you are speaking. There is also an alarm option if you want your iPhone to rattle you when it is time to stop talking. Also included is a voice recorder with playback – although not sure why. It does work, though.

If you give a lot of presentations and want this functionality then TapNext may be a great buy if you operate outside of the Mac universe. If you are pretty Mac-centric, then go for the free version, TapNext Lite.

app_name: TapNext
rating: 8/10

Bento Organizes Your Life

Derek Walter — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:00:18 +0000

Bento is one of the most popular personal organizers for the Mac. Now a new iPhone version is available that syncs with the popular desktop organizer-on-steroids so you can take all your essential information with you.

Bento, a product of Filemaker, is most effective if you are a Mac user and plan to use it in combination with the iPhone version. Windows users are out of luck. However, there is still a lot to like from the Bento iPhone app alone if you are the organizing type. Bento will appeal to a certain crowd — those who like to put together their records, notes, class schedule, music collection, and other information. With Bento, all these various records can be updated and accessed from within one application.

Bento integrates quite nicely with some of the native iPhone applications, such as Contacts, Safari, Mail and Google Maps. The interface is clearly Mac-centric with an overview of your notes reminiscent of the iPod album cover flow. When you tap the Bento Contacts app, you will see your iPhone contacts. Through syncing with your Mac you can then add in any other contacts or calendar events. There are plenty of libraries (as Bento calls them) to choose from or you can create one from scratch. Bento is incredibly flexible with the options to input specific data fields that suit your particular tastes.

However, Bento may be a bit too much detail overload for some. Entering data means filling out long lists and categories from within the various sections. It’s great if you want to fill out your vehicle history, keep track of what is in your wine cellar, plan out your class schedule. But if you would rather throw these paper documents in a file or just tap it in your iPhone calendar then Bento may be overkill.

Those who want a less detailed experience at keeping notes and data may prefer Evernote (works across Windows, Mac, and iPhone) or Microsoft OneNote (desktop and Windows Mobile only). However, if you are already a heavy Bento user this iPhone version is pretty much a must-have.

rating: 9/10
app_name: Bento

Send Voice Tweets with TweetMic

Derek Walter — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:00:53 +0000

TweetMic – If the same old method of typing your tweets through your favorite desktop or iPhone app is becoming mundane, then TweetMic may be the way to liven things up. TweetMic lets you record a voice message for all of your Twitter followers to hear.

TweetMic takes a “more is less” philosophy to designing the app. It is pretty easy to use — hit the giant record button and then speak slowly and clearly. Another button lets you preview your message while one more works as a pause or stop button. In order to get the most efficient upload time to the Twitter network, TweetMic works best over Wi-Fi. In fact a pop-up notice warns you if you are connected to 3G or EDGE. It is good advice to take.

How you use TwitMic can be left up to your imagination. Perhaps you have a message you feel that may come across better audibly. Or maybe that huge gripe over your favorite sports team’s poor performance is something you need to get off your chest. Go ahead and scream it into TwitMic and broadcast it to the world.

When TwitMic publishes your Tweet there is customizable introduction and link to the audio. The link came out to 25 characters, so keep that in mind when writing your introduction. If you write too much text TwitMic will cut off any excess with ellipses.

Playing audio worked good on both my desktop and iPhone version of Tweetdeck. I also tried it on Tweetie and Twitterfon and got good results — the iPhone played the audio in Quicktime with no problems. Through the TwitMic web site you can also manage your past audio tweets.

TweetMic took a brief hiatus due to the Twitpocalypse virus, but everything appears to be in working order now. If audio is a feature you have wanted or are looking to try out in your twittering, it is worth a download.

rating: 9/10