December 2010 apps

All the apps were downloaded for free (via some promotion) unless otherwise specified.

• President's Choice Recipie Box
• Micromedex Drug Information database (not comprehensive enough for hospital use, Lexi-Med (professional app) is used at my sister's hospital)
• Ocarina (iPod app)
• Holy Bible
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary (iPhone/iPod app)
• Dictionary.com Dictionary
• OTOEHON Storybook
• World Without Photoshop (animated art magazine)
• Global Video (recent tv shows from Global TV streamed to the iPad)

GAMES (nearly all the games were downloaded via the Free App A Day promotional website; others were downloaded via several Christmas promotions)

• Simply Solitaire HD
• Need for Speed Shift ($0.99 on sale from $9.99)
• Astronut (iPhone/iPod app)
• FMX Riders (extremely popular with the kids)
• Moonsters (Angry Birds clone; Lite version is available)
• Rayman2
• Reverse Maze
• Starball
• Veggie Samurai (clone of the popular Fruit Ninja)
• Bombadier's Guild
• BrainPOP (general-knowledge animated movie followed by a quiz testing your knowledge retention; popular with the oldest kid)  
• Reckless Racing Free (iPhone/iPod app; overhead-view racing game; lots of fun; popular with the kids; considering purchasing iPad edition; Tank steering mode is recommended over all the others)
• Solomon's Kingdom (overhead-view castle exploration game with a wizard casting spells, great graphics); can't seem to find it on the AppStore
• Collider
• Plasma Globe
• Brickshooter HD (Lite version available)

The game that still gets the most play with the kids is Tower Madness.

Updated Jan. 4, 2011:  links to iTunes Store.

Simplicity

... imagine for one moment that I had marched into Steve Ballmer’s office and said “Steve, our tablet PC sucks, we need to get rid of the camera, get rid of multitasking, get rid of printing, get rid of all those extra buttons on the front except for one, get rid of the ability to run Microsoft Office, oh, and make sure all those .NET apps don’t run either. Only then should we ship it.” Well, I would have gotten thrown out of his door so fast I wouldn’t have been able to say goodbye to his assistant. Google fans consistently don’t understand that fact.
--"Mobile Fanboy! Good or Bad", Robert Scoble

For me, simplicity is defined by the answers to these two questions: Will my Mom be able to use it? Will a 5-year old be able to use it?

A Review of the Merriam Webster App for iPhone/iPodTouch

I discovered the Merriam Webster App after reading an article about the top-10 words of 2010.

A unique feature of the app is the voice search-- you can search for a word by speaking it, instead of typing. The voice-recognition has 80% accuracy; of the words I spoke, it did not recognize ebullient and effervescent but recognized: diplomat, dictionary, acknowledge, recognize, mimic, etymology, apple, diplomat.

The app remembers recent words looked-up, shows completions as the word is being typed and also has audio pronunciations for words. It also has synonyms and antonyms and example sentences. The Word of the Day feature, the audio search feature and audio pronunciations require network connectivity.

It is an iPhone/iPodTouch app only, so the text looks jagged on the iPad. The app also displays Google ads along the bottom of the definition. I would use the Dictionary.com app (see my review) first and use the Merriam Webster app as a supplement.

I rate the Merriam Webster Dictionary app 3 out of 4 stars. 
1. Usability: 1
2. Usefulness: 1 
3. Looks: .5 (not iPad ready)
4. Enjoyability: .5 (voice input is a nice feature but recognition failures were frustrating) 

20MB AppStore Download Cap Over 3G Network

I cannot download an iPad App that is greater than 20MB in size via 3G. I have to either use WiFi or do it via iTunes on the Mac.

I don't know if this limit was imposed by Apple or by the carriers. I also don't know if this limit is due to a technical limitation (3G network congestion, 3G bandwidth usage, recovering from a failed or corrupt download) or something else. My parents have yet to exceed 1GB of cellular usage so it's not like I don't have the 3G bandwidth to download apps.

When "Need For Speed Shift" went on sale for $0.99, I was able to buy it at that price, but had to wait until I could connect to a WiFi network before I could download it to my iPad. There is currently a greyed-out icon titled "Waiting" and the iPad nags me for my iTunes password every time it wakes up and after I enter the password, it pops-up a dialog box with the 20MB warning. This gets really annoying very quickly.

Why can't the iPad check if it's on a WiFi network before asking for the iTunes password for a pending download? It's a simple check.

Update June 8, 2011: This article is the second-most popular posting  on this blog (60+ hits since Dec, 2010; averaging 10 hits per month). This is a problem that Apple needs to look into now that iOS5 is un-tethered from a PC. I have a few suggestions:

1. Increase the limit to 50MB (my parents have never exceeded 1GB of their 5GB monthly 3G data plan)
2. Allow more than 50MB only if the user agrees to a pop-up dialog box (which would show current data usage and how much headroom in the data-plan still exists)
3. If you feel strongly about this matter, please send Apple feedback on this issue at the iPad Feedback page.

iTunes (Canada) 12 Free Downloads of Christmas

Beginning Dec. 23rd, iTunes Canada will offer a free download of a song or TV show, etc. every day until Jan. 3rd, 2011.

Clamcase

The Clamcase is a removable keyboard/case/stand for your iPad.

It is normally priced at $119, but is on sale for $99.

I will wait for the reviews.

Big Fish Eat the Little Fish in the AppStore

Eight of the top ten paid games in the Appstore are published by Electronic Arts, the big name in gaming, who didn't have a single game in the Appstore one year ago.

What does this mean for the independent game developer? How can the small developer compete against the marketing of the big companies?

A Review of dictionary.com Dictionary and Thesaurus for iPad

The Dictionary app from Dictionary.com includes both a dictionary (Random House) and a thesaurus.

Upon launching, the top of the screen has an input field and the bottom has a tool bar with icons for dictionary, thesaurus, recent words and word-of-the-day; the middle portion of the screen is wasted with a splash-screen.
As you type the word, a list of completions, matching the portion of the word you have typed, appears in the middle part of the screen. You can either continue typing the rest of the word or can select it from the list.
 
So far, the dictionary has found meanings for all the words i have searched:

• yenta (mentioned in a NY Times article),
  
• trattoria,
  
• farrago,
  
• Manichean (my test-word, which, surprisingly, is not in the iPad's auto-correct dictionary),
  
• encephalon.
  

An additional benefit of the app is that it has audio pronunciations for the words (where I  learned the correct way to pronounce "trattoria"-- accent on the last syllable.)

There are only two items that are customizable in the Settings menu:

• automatically display the keyboard on start-up (which I enabled and which should be on by default)
• enable tracking (by dictionary.com of words you searched for; I turned this off)

The only suggestion I have for improvement is to allow the word-of-the-day to be displayed upon start-up in the middle portion of the screen currently occupied by the company logo. I rate the Dictionary.com app 4 out of 4 stars.
1. Usability: 1
2. Usefulness: 1
3. Looks: 1
4. Enjoyability: 1

Update: Corrected Roget to Random House.

Survey Results of iPad Users who Read Newspapers

The Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) recently completed a survey of 1,600 iPad users who read news content.

Summary:

• Users are predominantly well-educated, affluent men between the ages of 35 and 64 who tend to be early adopters.
• Overall satisfaction and time spent with the iPad are very high.
• Keeping up with news and current events is their most popular main use.
• iPad news consumers prefer newspaper apps to newspaper websites; less likely to use print.
• Low prices and ease of use are key factors in users' decisions to purchase newspaper subscriptions on the iPad.

The biggest problem I see with the news apps currently (NY Times, NPR, BBC News) is that:

1. you cannot go back and find that article you read a couple of hours ago or a couple of days ago, like you can with an actual paper.
2. you cannot clip-out a part of the newspaper and save it in the clippings folder in your desk drawer.

Update: I should have mentioned that I am a 7-day newspaper subscriber; the Globe and Mail 6 days a week and the Sunday NY Times.

TUAW Reviews "Infinity Blade"

Epic Citadel was a free-roaming environment with controls reminiscent of first-person shooters -- one virtual control stick moved you, and the other let you look around. If you were expecting that same degree of freedom in Infinity Blade, your opinion of the game may sour very quickly when you discover that the gameplay is "on rails."
-- Review of "Infinity Blade"

No, I won't be buying it. I enjoyed the exploration part of Epic Citadel and was dissappointed there weren't more areas I could explore.

I am disappointed that "Infinity Blade" wasn't more of an exploration game.

iPad Competitors Begin to Make Appearances

Several iPad competitors have begun making appearances recently: the first was the Samsung Galaxy Tab and now, a prototype Android tablet from Motorola.

Friendly for Facebook is Now Free

The officially unofficial Facebook app, called Friendly for Facebook, is now free, with ads. A paid version is available without ads.

It has been described as the best way to use Facebook.

Appvent Calendar (A New App Everyday Until Christmas)

The Appvent Calendar is a promotion featuring a new app (some are free) everyday until Christmas.

Print Wirelessly from your iOS4.2 device with AirPrint Activator

The AirPrint Activator  enables an  iPad or iPhone running iOS4.2 to wirelessly print to any shared printer connected to a Mac or PC.

(Apple officially only allows you to print to an AirPrint-enabled printer from HP.)

Update Jan 14, 2011: Removed link to Windows version as it was 404 and updated link to new, renamed version.

Paul Graham on the Future of Tablets

In his latest essay, Paul Graham considers the impact that tablets will have on society in the future.

A Review of The Weather Channel (TWC MAX+) App for iPad

The Weather Channel Max app displays the weather (including radar and satellite imagery) for your current location or other locations of your choosing and also provides long range forecasts in both graphical formats and with video from the TV channel.

I downloaded the app with a little trepidation because of the numerous negative comments on the AppStore. I became more worried when I ran the app and the GPS located me in a nearby city about 40km away. Not an auspicious beginning. I then manually entered the name of my location and was amazed that it was recognized!

When the app starts, the start-up screen displays TWC logo and a weather related photograph for about 7 seconds. A small map of your location then appears in the center of the screen with a toolbar below and after a few seconds the weather is displayed in the map. Tapping on the map enlages it full screen. On this screen there is an unobtrusive banner ad displayed at the top and the bottom has a floating toolbar to allow the type of imagery: precipitation, cloud coverage, UV etc. to be chosen and animated.

The second icon in the main toolbar is for local long-range forecasts. Two-thirds of the screen displays the forecast with animated icons and the bottom third displays a scrollable list of buttons for video forecasts and traffic-camera access. The forecast can be toggled between hourly or 7-day.

The third icon is for accessing The Weather Channel Videos. You have to watch a video ad for the sponsor (Sears).

The fourth icon is for severe weather alerts and storm watches.

The remaining two icons are labeled Social and TV.

The Weather Channel app has replaced the previous app (Weatherbug) I was using for weather. It is a very useful app, pleasant to use and well thought out. I do not understand the negative reviews on the AppStore.

Score

I would rate the The Weather Channel app 4 out of 4 stars. It is my current weather forecasting app.

1. Usability: 1
2. Usefulness: 1
3. Looks: 1
4. Enjoyability: 1

"Driver" Free for 24 Hours

If you like racing games on the iPad, grab "Driver" and give it a try.

It's free for 24 hours today as part of the Gameloft Twitter Advent Calendar.

Update: Fixed link.

Hybrid iPad Patent

A recent patent filing for a Macbook/iPad hybrid laptop/tablet shows what the current Macbook Air should have been (and what I was expecting it to be), rather than the $999 pedestrian netbook it was.

The patent shows a laptop device (screen and keyboard) which can convert into a tablet when the screen is folded over the keyboard, which pivots and slides under the screen.

iPad Pulls Ahead of the Kindle

According to the latest survey of iPad and Kindle owners, the Kindle is losing market share to the iPad.