As a child, i.e. currently, I used to love watching secret agents and private investigators sneak into offices/unauthorized areas and, using hi-tech tools (a camera; it’s no shoe-phone, but it got the job done), take pictures of confidential/top-secret/incriminating documents. How many times have you been in a situation requiring you to do the same (if your answer is anything other than zero, you can skip this review, as I’m sure you already have access to superior technology, e.g. micro-chip/camera embedded in eyeball(s), etc., that renders this review obsolete)?

So, imagine my delight) when I learned of DocScanner, a document scanner app created by (the assumedly non-espionage-related agency) Norfello. Among other features, it boasts Optical Character Recognition, automatic edge detection, automatic perspective and rotation correction and multi-page document support.

The premise behind DocScanner is simple: Take a photo (or an existing image) or a photo of any document with the application and save it to DocScanner or your Camera Roll, send it to Evernote or email it as an attachment (PDF or JPG).

DocScanner boasts the ability to do all the above automatically, without having to manually crop, rotate, etc. According to the developers, all one needs to do is take a photo of any document with the application, or choose a picture from your Camera Roll/Photo Library and determine the options you like, e.g. image quality, aspect ratio and paper size (as long as the target is lighter than its background, DocScanner will understand the edges of the document). The application then automatically determines the edges of the document and prompts its user to decide what they want to do with the image (see above paragraph). All the user needs to do is decide the quality and size of the document. DocScanner then automatically corrects the keystones, requiring no need for manual rotating, cropping or scaling.

Despite DocScanner’s claims, I encountered problems using the app.

DocScanner has no preset image settings and its options do not definitively delineate between color and black and white documents/images. The two image settings are “Background Whiteness” and “Sharpen Image.” “Background Whiteness” is subdivided among three settings: 1) Basic, 2) Enhanced and 3) Aggressive. While scanning color and black-and-white documents/images, I found I was receiving different results with all three options, leaving me confused as to what option was best or should be used in different situations. The other image setting, “Sharpen Image,” makes text easier to read when activated, but only speeds up the scanning process when “off.” Shouldn’t these two co-exist as a standard feature? I think modifying DocScanner’s current image settings/feature set, to include the use of “presets,” would make for an easier and more efficient use of the application.

Speaking of features, DocScanner’s current interface can be a little confusing. The functional hierarchy (especially regarding DocScanner’s OCR and its integration within the application) could be better-defined/interfaced, in a more linear, cohesive, user-friendly manner. The current interface has a separate “Spooler” option that serves as the app’s text-recognition tool (OCR). One basically has to save the scan to DocScanner, then open the “Spooler” feature to process the scan.

After taking/importing images (from the Camera Roll/Photo Library), DocScanner prompts you to crop the photo/adjust the image’s geometrical proportions/perspective, by dragging the corners of a purple crop-line tool to meet the alignment of the original image. This tool, when used with the optional magnification tool, is very precise, but not without cost: The line is hyper-sensitive to touch and I often became frustrated trying to move the line and have it stay in the spot where I moved it to (after lifting my finger).

Unfortunately, I had to do this with all images (and many documents), as there is no “select all” feature. It’s not a deal breaker, though, as, in the end, the tool’s precision overshadows it’s hyper-sensitivity. That said, I wasn’t impressed with DocScanner’s auto-recognition capabilities as they relate to images. Here’s an image I loaded from my Photo Library (isn’t he a cutie? I sure would hate to do anything to mar his cute face!):

Here’s the same image after loading it into DocScanner, showing the auto-recognition line(s):

Here’s the image after DocScanner scanned it, using it’s auto-recognition:

Aye Carumba! Move onto the next picture, STAT! Now, here’s the same image after I manually adjusted the auto-recognition lines and scanned it into DocScanner:

As you can see, the image’s integrity, while for the most part, is still intact, but it has been slightly compromised. I tried scanning the image under different image settings configurations, but the end result was consistently the same.

Here’s the same image, scanned with a comparable document scanning app, using that app’s built-in auto detection/recognition:

Photographing/scanning color documents with DocScanner, using their suggestion that the document be placed on/against a dark-colored object, works very well. The auto-recognition works as advertised and the quality/integrity of the image and its attributes remain(s), for the most part, uncompromised (uh, this is my wife’s magazine):

Photographing/scanning black and white documents also works well with DocScanner (using their suggestion that the document be placed on/against a dark-colored object). Unfortunately, I found DocScanner’s auto-detection/recognition only detects the edges of a document you are photographing [black-and-white and color] in these conditions. Otherwise you have to manually adjust/define the document’s/images edges, i.e. if you take a picture of a white letter/document on a white/light background, DocScanner can’t automatically detect the edges; the user has to do it manually.
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That said, I found it difficult to scan legible text-heavy documents, even with the use of DocScanner’s OCR (Optical Character Recognition is the mechanical or electronic translation of images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text [usually captured by a scanner] into machine-editable text). This problem is exacerbated by DocScanner’s somewhat confusing interface, which lists “Documents” separate from “Spooler,” the OCR/Text Recognition function, as opposed to integrating the two to make the app/these functions, more user-friendly.

When taking photos of any documents, especially those containing a large amount of text, the user must keep the iPhone/camera as still/steady as possible, or the words on the subsequent scan will be blurry, illegible and/or difficult to read. That said, DocScanner does not contain an on-screen camera stabilization feature in its current feature-set. Adding this feature would aid/prevent its user from taking unsteady pictures, thus saving him/her a lot of time and effort in the scanning process. Moreover, the ability to select the entire screen/image, without having to revert to (painfully) manually cropping the entire image is noticeably absent. Conversely, the option to share scans via WiFi is a nice addition to the app’s capabilities.

Despite its flaws, DocScanner works well. It’s a decent app (albeit pricey [at $5.99]) who’s developers have promised a variety of improvements/updates in the near future. They’ve created a solid foundation, but need to improve on those features the app currently boasts, e.g. automated edge detection, cropping, rotation and perspective correction (keystone mapping) and place more/added focus on simplifying their feature set/image options while adding integral features found standard in comparable apps, e.g. camera stabilization, making the app more user-friendly.

That said, I would suggest researching the free/cheaper alternatives in the app store before plunking down any of your hard-earned cash on any scanning app.

It seems the number of document scanning apps in the app store is slowly beginning to increase, as developers have (finally) identified the need for a utility which allows portable, on-the-go document/image scanning. Personally, this is a Godsend for me, as, until now, I had no way to scan and post old, embarrassing family photos of my siblings on-line (Now, I have many app solutions to choose from. One of these is Scanner Pro, a member of the Readdle document and file management app family.

Scanner Pro claims to transform the iPhone into a portable scanner, allowing one to scan multi-page documents, email them and even upload them to Dropbox, MobileMe iDisk or any other WebDAV enabled server. In addition to Evernote integration, it also boasts the ability to scan documents, business cards, receipts, notes and whiteboards and subsequently email them, all using special algorithms to enhance image quality and make the scan as readable as possible. Nothing we haven’t already heard (at least in theory). Does Scanner Pro deliver?

The very first thing I noticed when opening Scanner Pro, is it’s “New Document” menu/ interface:

It’s refreshingly clean, straight-forward and not confusing and the icons are all labeled, instructing you exactly where to go. Similar apps I’ve reviewed were clunky, confusing and non-linear. This is not the case with Scanner Pro, which also contains a built-in user guide.

Scanner Pro’s main screen is also clean, linear and intuitive. You can choose an existing document or press the “+” in the bottom-left corner to enter the “New Document” screen (above). Pressing “?” brings up the User Guide and the IP address is displayed at the bottom of the screen:

The only preset image settings within Scanner Pro’s main “Settings” are the ability to turn “Enhanced Image” on/off and the choice of using “Grayscale” by default. All other image options present themselves after the image is imported, during the “Preview” process, allowing you to make the proper adjustments after the image/document is initially scanned and before it’s final “process.” Users can make the correct image adjustments in “real-time,” (including changing the page size and image orientation) without having to rescan the image/document repeatedly, using different image setting variables. Simply choose the adjustment(s) you want to make (contrast, brightness and grayscale) and use/move the slider accordingly. After a second, the image is processed accordingly and the changes are displayed:

The “Preview” menu also features “undo” and “redo” options, making it much easier for the user to make corrections to the image. After processing the final scan, users can save the document in Scanner Pro, send it to Evernote or save the image to the Photo Library.

While Scanner Pro does not possess such advanced image processing features such as automatic perspective and rotation correction, it does feature advanced image/edge detection. Users simply tap anywhere on the screen to move the crop lines to their desired/target location. After taking/importing images (from the Camera Roll/Photo Library), Scanner Pro allows you to crop the image by dragging the corners of the image to your desired location. This feature is precise, but, like similar apps, the crop lines are sensitive to touch and I often had to move the line several times before I got it to stay in its proper spot. This issue in Scanner Pro is far less pronounced when compared to similar apps.

Because I’ve no tolerance for “sissy” applications, I went straight for the Achilles heel of those scanner apps I’ve tested/used; one area where similar apps have consistently failed: Scanning text-heavy documents.

The first document I scanned was a page from a W-9 tax form and I was amazed at the results:

The subsequent PDF scan was clear and legible. Additional scans would produce the same results. Scanner Pro: 1. Similar apps I’ve tested: 0. I was able to combine these scans, thanks to Scanner Pro’s “user-friendly,” linear interface, into a multiple-page PDF with relative ease.

Next, I scanned an imported image from my Photo Library. Here’s the original:

Here’s the scanned JPG I imported using Scanner Pro:

As you can see, aside from lighting enhancements, the image’s integrity is, by far and large, uncompromised.

Scanner Pro is capable of scanning any type of documents ranging from simple one page letters to multi-page documents. It’s “user friendly” interface allows it’s user(s) to add, move, delete pages and even combine pages in landscape and portrait orientations. These files can, in turn, be emailed, uploaded to WebDAV or any FTP application and can even be transferred to your Mac or PC via WiFi. I was able to connect to my PC via WiFi and by typing my IP address into my browser’s address bar with no problems.

In addition, to protect sensitive documents, users can assign passwords to documents/ images by tapping the lock icon on the bottom bar.

Other features included with Scanner Pro is a built-in PDF viewer which allows the user to preview his/her scans exactly the same as they will look on desktop computer, the ability to upload scans to online file storage venues, such as MobileMe iDisk, Box.Net, Humyo and any other WebDAV enabled online storage, the ability to print, via “Print n Share” provided by EuroSmartz (owners of both apps [Scanner Pro and Print n Share] can scan and then print documents to any printer via a Mac or PC), the ability to sync scans with Dropbox-enabled computers and the ability to upload processed images directly to an online Evernote account.

All said, As a result, I use Scanner Pro exclusively and it comes in handy often. At $6.99, it’s priced within the same range of other scanner apps in the App Store. I recommend Scanner Pro to anyone looking for a portable scanner app or anyone needing to scan, view or share documents (regardless of where you are), “on-the-fly.”

When I think of what really makes the iPhone an exciting device, I think of ways that the iPhone can take over other devices. To me, with so many developers working on so many apps, there is really no reason that my iPhone shouldn’t be able to perform any task I can imagine.

Touch Mouse, by Logitech isn’t exactly the most original app, but it does what it sets out to do quite well. The app acts as a mobile input device, effectively letting you control your entire computer with your iDevice. I’ve seen a few complaints on iTunes about incompatibility, but the app worked flawlessly with my MacBook Pro running the latest version of Snow Leopard.

What sets apps apart in the input device app category is the ease of the setup, ease of use, and its ability to stay connected without too much lag. The setup, possibly what is the most important thing to me with such an app, is about as simple as it gets. All you have to do is download the iTouch Server file on the Logitech website, make sure your computer and your iDevice are on the same wireless network, and then wallah! It’s really about as simple and seamless as it gets.

Using the app is about as simple as the setup process. Basically, the screen turns into a large touch screen that works in either vertical or landscape mode. At the top of the screen you get a left, center, and right mouse click, and the pad works with multitouch up to two buttons. It unfortunately doesn’t do expose due to the lack of four finger support, but in my opinion Apple ruined expose anyway with the Snow Leopard update. The app also has a pop up keyboard which works quite well. The keyboard is just like the iPhone text message keyboard, so if you are comfortable with it, then you will be fine.

If I were to pick on anything here, it would be the occasional lag that I get while using it. I will say that the lag in no way prohibitive of use, but it’s not flawless. My WiFi connection is quite solid with 20 down and around 2 up, but there is a small lag occasionally when moving the mouse around. I don’t want to make a big deal about this, because the lag is very small… so don’t let this stop you from using TouchMouse.

Overall, I’d say that Logitech’s Touch Mouse makes for quite a good touch interface on your favorite iDevice. I know that there are many other apps that do the same thing, but this one works very well and has a setup that is about as easy as it gets. If you are on the road and need a portable presentation device or if you have your computer hooked up to your TV and need a convenient wireless setup, this may be your best bet. At the price of free, I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot.

Ever since the App Store launched many people have been looking for it to provide the web browsing experience for both the iPhone and iPod touch. With many of you generally feeling Apple failed when implementing Safari into iPhone OS, alternative web browsers and web browsing experiences have become quite popular among the App Store crowd.

Developed by RichTech, Atomic Web Browser is another alternative to the native browser, Mobile Safari, which currently ships with iPhone OS. If there’s one thing that makes a browser a good browser, in my opinion, it’ the feature-set .. and Atomic Web Browser has a fairly huge one. Starting off with tabs. Instead of copying Mobile Safari and moving tabs to a separate view, Atomic Web Browser uses the ‘Desktop’ approach, placing tabs just above the actual web page. Each tab then has a cross assigned to it to allow you to close it on demand. What makes Atomic Web Browser unique though is these tabs can be turned off. Just this simple design choice allow for Atomic Web Browser to actually feel like a desktop browser. Don’t worry about adding too many tabs though, as once the number of tabs exceeds the screen space, the tab row becomes slidable. Working just like mobile Safari, the browser shows the entire web page in front of you, and then allows you to double tap or pinch to zoom.

Along the top of the browser you’ll find the usual suspects. Starting from the left you have your favorites, address bar and search. Tapping the star icons will bring your favorites panel up allowing you to add a bookmark or create a new folder for a set of bookmarks. Typing an address into Atomic Web Browser’s address bar is fairly painless and straight forward, and just like mobile Safari the app will show you previous typed addresses for which to select. The search however is where Atomic Web Browser comes into its own. While a browser such as Mobile Safari only offer one option for search, Atomic Web Browser takes this one step further adding a bunch of highly known search giants and sites and to both use and search within. The guys you’ll have the option to choose from will include: Amazon, Bing, Ebay, Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo and YouTube.

Along the bottom of the app you’ll find a number of other options which will further enhance your browsing experience. Starting off pretty basic, to the left of the toolbar we have both next and previous buttons, allowing you to navigate your browsing history one page at a time. Remember those desktop-like tabs I was harping on about before? .. Well, if you don’t like them, you can turn them off. Yep, Atomic Web Browser allows you to browse without the need for tabs if you like simply with a tap of a button. The ‘tab-like’ button 3 in from the left on the bottom toolbar will simply turn these off. Cool, huh? Now, see that plus button? Looks pretty familiar I hear you say, well, it is .. but it does some other trippy things too. Tapping it will bring the usual options to add the current page to your iPhone’s homescreen, bookmark the page and open the page in Mobile Safari .. but here’s where it gets interesting. Atomic Web Browser also allows you to lock screen rotation, view the source code and e-mail the current web address in its address bar, just with a tap. In source view mode you’ll have options to word wrap the entire code to fit the screen, search the code for tags and divs, and even edit the code (for your own purposes of course), although I did find this seemed to crash the app in my experience.

Want to browse full screen? Well, you can do that too. Tapping the far right button on the bottom toolbar will remove both the top address bar, and bottom toolbar to reveal an entire web page. From here you can turn tabs on and off while still in full screen mode, return to half screen view and move back and forth through your page history. If all that wasn’t enough, the app settings also has a fair few customizable features which will further enhance the experience. These include the ability to change the start up screen from the default homepage, to last page viewed, last session with all tabs in tact (handy if you want to resume your browsing), or a blank page. The app also offers various privacy settings, including; private mode (history is ignored), or password protection. From here you can also clear your browsing history and delete cookies. There are also settings for ad block, full screen browsing, search engines, themes and colours and tab style

Summing up, Atomic Web Browser features a number of aspects which really make it look and feel like a desktop browser on your phone. While it probably won’t be the choice of the visually picky, the app offers so many features and user configurables which are not yet present in the iPhone’s native browser, Mobile Safari, that Atomic Web Browser really becomes a must have for people looking to take the iPhone browsing experience one step further.

A few months back now the guys over at ustwo™ kindly sent me a pre-release copy of PositionApp™ to check out. Being an app reviewer and blogger, I have to say that the moment I got a sniff that this app was in development, I was excited. At first I thought Apple would never let something like this through, after all .. it kinda dawned on me that maybe an app like this couldn’t physically be created within or conform to the current SDK regulations. Now, after months of playing around with the app, I can finally let you all in of what I think of it!

The concept of PositionApp™ is to let you track the daily, weekly and monthly rankings of every application on the App Store, right from your phone, a feature that Apple probably should’ve put out themselves. Because the app centers around app ranking, PositionApp™ will more than likely appeal to both sides of the coin; App Store customers and App Store developers, but then there’s this other side. App reviewers. With PositionApp™ ability to show an applications ranking over a day, week and month, PositionApp™ really does become a must have for app reviewers like myself.

So, now we get down to the actual app. Opening PositionApp™ you’ll greeted with a list of the ‘Top 8 Movers’ from the top 100 applications across all store genres. This gives you a quick glance of the apps that are the hottest at that very moment. Need more scope? Swiping across will widen your field of search bringing back the ‘Top 8 Movers’ this time for the top 300 applications across all store genres. Swiping across again will reveal your saved favourites which we’ll get into a bit later.

The app has four tabs along the bottom ‘Dashboard’ (as just explained above), Favorites, Search and Browse. Tapping any apps icon within the app will throw you to a more detailed pane, with each position number in it’s own bubble. Here, you can see the app’s current store position, the change in it’s store position and sort position results by country. Tapping the ‘Day’ button in the bottom right will give you even more options to see this data for both that week or across a number of months. Tapping any of one the results will also flip all of the position bubbles around to reveal the app’s change in position for that week or month. You also have the option to switch between that app’s category, or see its position in the whole of it’s store. To do this simply tap ‘All’ (bottom left). PositionApp™’s absolute unique selling point though is this is the first app every to offer 6 months of retrospective app positioning data.

Okay, so .. Maybe you’d like to follow a set number of apps you want to keep an eye on more than others? This is where ‘Favorites’ comes in. Throughout the app you’ll find little stars. Tapping them will instantly add that app to your Favorites tab. Once in your Favorites tab you’ll be able to see the developer, name, its current price and date of release or last update for each app you’ve favourited. Tapping on the price of any app within PositionApp™ will take you to the App Store to purchase or download that app.

Need to find an app yourself? Head to the search tab. Here, just like the App Store, you can search for any app which takes your fancy. Maybe you’re a developer looking to keep a track on the position of your own app, or a high-profile app reviewer looking to see if your last review(s) made a positive effect. The search tab gives you the ability to search the whole store by the app’s name, developer, or if you want to search the whole store for the keyword, just tap ‘All’. The Browse tab on the other hand will let you search by country, in each category, for the app you are looking for – it’s pretty nifty.

My only little caveat is that the ‘Share’ option throughout the app, which allows for mailing app positions straight from within the app, doesn’t seem to be active in this shipping version, stating a: “This device cannot send e-mail.” error, on trying to use the feature.

Overall, I like PositionApp™ and I think that it is one app certain to make an impression on the App Store crowd. From everyday customers, to app developers and app reviewers, this app applies to everyone looking to keep an eye on what’s happening in the App Store at any given time. The best bit? – thanks to world’s largest ad network AdMob, PositionApp™ is absolutely free. Although there is word that the app will be put up for sale in a few months, so my advice to all of you is – get in quick!

Designed and developed by Tapbots, Pastebot is the third in a series of what the studio dubs “robots for your iPhone and iPod touch”. It was really in October 08 when Tapbots debuted Weightbot that the App Store crowd stood up and realized how good this start up handled iPhone development. I think it’s fair to say Tapbots approach as a studio to user interface design on the iPhone shook the App Store sideways. The studio has 3 apps on the store to date, Weightbot – a weigh management application which helps you keep on top of your current weight, Convertbot – a general unit converter for working out equivalents and their latest, Pastebot. I got the chance to be involved with Tapbots as they beta tested this in private, and I’m now here to give you my opinion of it.

Pastebot is a system utility for iPhone OS for managing and editing items on your iPhone or iPod’s clipboard. What this basically means is you can manage anything you copy and paste with iPhone OS 3.0 or later, and store it in Pastebot. When Copy and Paste was first introduced onto the iPhone with the introduction of iPhone OS 3.0, the majority of people liked the feature, and most of us I imagine still use it today. The only problem is that from an iPhone OS users point of view, this only allows access to the last item you cut or copied. Picture this, you go to a website, and copy the URL, and then go to a note and copy a section of that note. But then you needed to e-mail these to a friend or client, in this case you’d be able to paste the section of the note quite easily, as it’s the last item you copied, but you’d have to go back and re-copy the URL.

It’s a little known fact, but the iPhone’s clipboard can hold much more than just one item, and Pastebot proves it. Pastebot temporarily stores everything you cut and copy within iPhone OS, in one tidy interface. Opening the app you’ll be greeted with two sections. One stores all the current content of your iPhone’s clipboard, the other is entitled ‘Folders’ and allows for custom specific folders to be created by you, to store your clippings. Pastebot supports the copying and pasting of both text, and images. Tapping ‘Clipboard’ will bring up a list of individual items you’ve happened to cut or copy recently, along with a with a partial 5 line summary of that clipping (although it’s worth noting that if you choose to add a title to your clipping(s), the summary will be reduced to 4 lines). To add a clipping manually, simply tap on ‘Edit’ and then ‘+’. From here you can Add a text clipping, take a photo, or choose an image from your iPhone’s on-board photo library.

Tapping on the LCD-like part of a clipping will drop down a small context menu below, giving you on-the-fly previews and controls. From here you can use the clipping’s contents as a Google Search or move the clipping to a custom folder. But maybe the clipping you’ve taken isn’t in the right text format? No worries, Pastebot allows on-the-fly editing of your items, with a few presets, including: Convert to Lowercase, Convert to Uppercase, Decode HTML Entitles, Encode HTML Entitles, Find and Replace, Quote Lines, Smarten Quotes, Straighten Quotes and finally, Wrap in HTML Tags. This context menu also shows you an overall character count, word count and date and time the clipping was archived. Tapping the ‘More’ arrow next to each clipping though will throw you into the full editor. Here you can ad a title to manipulate, as well as freely edit your clipping. Once you’re done just hit ‘Save’.

So, How do you pick up a clipping from Pastebot to paste into … say .. Mail.app? Well, it’s pretty straightforward. Simply tap the clipping you want. Once the blue indicator in the top right of an item turns blue, this signifies the item is now ready and on your iPhone clipboard ready for pasting elsewhere. To move an item to a folder, or remove an item from Pastebot completely simply tap ‘Edit’. Just like in mail you can then select the items you wish to take action on, and hit the appropriate action button(s). That about sums up Paste for iPhone, but it gets better.

Pastebot can interface with Mac OSX too. In order to do this you’ll need to download Pastebot Sync available here, for FREE. Once installed, open Pastebot for iPhone and tap settings then Sync. In true Tapbots fashion Pastebot will reveal a sync combination code, simply match this with Pastebot Sync, and you’re ready to go. What’s great about this is, everytime you select a clipping or item from Pastebot on your iPhone, it will automatically be added to your OSX clipboard, meaning you can wirelessly transfer your clippings. Once connected, tapping CMD + C on your Mac’s keyboard will result in the copied item being auto-imported into Pastebot on your iPhone.

Here’s the really cool part! – Try holding a clipping down. See that? Tapping and holding any clipping down will automatically paste that clipping on your Mac (as long as you have Pastebot Sync installed and paired with your iPhone). My only little caveat with the Mac OSX Sync software is it currently only allows one device to be paired to it at any one time. While you can add multiple computers within Pastebot for iPhone’s settings, I can’t help but think you should be able to connect multiple devices to your Mac, too. And yes, it’s Mac. Unfortunately Pastebot Sync isn’t available for Windows users, however Tapbots stress that OSX interfacing is optional, and is not actually needed to use Pastebot.

Overall, after using Pastebot for a good number of weeks my verdict is – it’s fantastic. Yes it has its issues, but as a clipboard management utility for iPhone, it really does work as advertised, and in my opinion it’s a cut above the rest (see what I did there?). Of course, with Tapbots being Tapbots you won’t find a shabby interface here, either. It’s clear to me at least, that a lot of attention to detail has gone into making Pastebot for iPhone what it is. From the slick robotic sound clips when clicking and tapping, to the sheer polish of the UI itself, Pastebot falls sweetly in line with Tapbots previous two robotic-themed apps, and fills a void in the iPhone and Mac ecosystem, which in my opinion, needed filling.

If you know me well, or you happen to follow me on Twitter, you’ll probably know that I’m more of your night person, rather than your get up at the crack-of-dawn kinda person. Okay I admit it, sometimes I even find it hard to get out of bed at all. Naturally, anyone who has this “condition” needs to be physically woken up by something. Whether it be by way of a person screaming down their ears, a certain someone banging the hell out of metal based objects above their head, or simply – an alarm clock.

We all know that the alarm clock which comes out of box with the iPhone is far from perfect. In fact, in my previous use of the thing, I don’t think I can safely say it’s woken me up successfully – once yet. When I came to download Alarm Clock Pro earlier this week, my thoughts were the usual; Okay it’s an app which is in the Top 10 iTunes Chart, I reckon it’s going to be well-marketed, but with no real substance. – How wrong I was. It’s an app which is specifically designed to be used in conjunction with the iPhone dock, although if you’re just looking to leave it lying around, it also supports landscape mode.

So, What features separates this from the built in alarm clock? Well, opening the app you’ll be greeted with a clean looking digital digit display. Here you’ll see the current time shown in 24-hour format, along with a flashing ’seconds’ display and the current day of the week. Just stopping here for a second, this clean modern-looking UI is really Alarm Clock Pro’s selling point. It’s not unique. It’s been done before, but somehow the implementation and feature set sets it apart. Although the main purpose of Alarm Clock Pro to be an alarm clock, naturally I found the app also doubled for a great looking desk clock while docked, too.

Moving away from the app’s UI though, what you probably really want to know from me is; How it’s going to wake me up, with what sound(s), and how well, right? Well, there are a couple of different options and settings for the app which will likely further enhance your ‘getting up’ experience – if there actually is such a thing. To enter Alarm Clock Pro settings panel simply tap the ‘i’ info button in the bottom right. Doing so will result in the whole UI flipping over to reveal further alarm tweaks. Starting at the top the first section is all about the ‘alarm’ and it’s frequency. Tapping add alarm will bring up the ‘Add Alarm’ panel. From here you can enable the alarm, set an exact time you’d wish for it to go off, choose the day(s) you wish to include (or exclude), name your alarm, choose your alarm’s sound and choose if you want he app to offer a ‘Snooze’ option. As you get to choosing a sound for your alarm, you have a few choices. Firstly, the app comes with 7 presets. These include: Classic, Cuckoo, Digital, Electronic, High Tone, Old Clock and School Bell. but as well as this you’ll also see a ‘Music’ option. Yep, Alarm Clock Pro also supports waking-up to your own iPod music. In fact, you can choose multiple songs from your library and create a wake-up playlist! – This was a feature I really found great, but it gets better. When your alarm sounds, two buttons flip down over your clock. One from the top, the second from the bottom. Press the top for ‘Stop Alarm’ and the bottom to ‘Snooze’ the alarm. Snooze is used for when you want 10 more minutes in bed. As you’ve probably guessed, I tend to use the Snooze feature, a lot.

The second section of the settings panel focuses on the app’s gestures. Alarm Clock Pro uses two gesture based actions to preform additional functionality. These include a two finger slide to adjusting your clocks screen brightness, and shaking your device to reveal a hidden ‘flashlight’. See .. flashlights by themselves are useless. They’re the demise of the App Store. But, put them in an ‘Alarm Clock’ app, and they actually .. (kinda admittedly), do become useful.

The last section of the settings panel sees various miscellaneous options for the clocks display. With options to change the colour of the clock’s display to either Cyan, Green, Orange, Pink or Red, show the seconds counter, show the weekday, turn 24-hour time format on or off, and lastly and probably most importantly choose the interval in which your device will ‘Auto-Lock’ and return to the iPhone ‘Lock Screen’. Alarm Clock Pro in fact supports the alarm sounding when when your device is on the lock screen, as long as the application was open when the device auto-locked itself. That’s the caveat with this app. It needs to be open. That said, you’d expect it to have to be, to conform with the iPhone SDK rules and regulations.

Summing up, Alarm Clock Pro is a great addition if you can’t seem to drag yourself out of bed like me. With it’s inviting UI, full feature-set and gesture based controls (not to mention the added addition of a free flashlight!), you won’t go too far wrong with this app. My only caveat really is as I said above, the app actually needs to be open at all times, in order for the alarm to sound. Not ideal, but something which can’t be helped unfortunately. That said, it didn’t drain the battery that much, having the screen brightness setting set to half. For it’s current price, I say to definitely give it a go and see if it’s for you ..

If there’s one thing the iPhone needs, it’s video editing. With the introduction of the iPhone 3GS we saw Apple, in my opinion, make a half-thought attempt to bring this functionality to the iPhone.

As we all know, the new 3.0 software, combined with the 3GS’s video camera now allows us to do the ‘basics’ of video editing. When I say the basics, I mean it. All the 3GS can do out of the box in regards to editing video, is .. trimming. Trimming is basically the process of choosing which piece you’d like to keep, and the rest is ditched. But, for the power user or professional videographer, just being able to trim a clip on the move isn’t going to cut it, especially with a device as potentially powerful as the iPhone.

We need something, more ..

Ever since Apple introduced this feature, I’ve been longing for a developer to come up with the ‘premium’ version. The next level up. Right now, I feel there are hundreds, maybe thousands of applications which allow us to take and manipulate the perfect photo on the move, but what about video? That area seems to get neglected, especially in the editing department – and although Nexvio’s Reel Director is good, it’s certainly not the finished solution to video editing on the iPhone.

So, let’s get straight into the app itself. What does it offer? Is it really iMovie on the move? Well, no, not yet, but it could be with a little more work! Currently Reel Director does offer iMovie-esque transitions and effects, as well as taking slight elements of iMovie’s interface, but there are a few things which stop me from calling this a renamed version of iMovie for iPhone.

Opening the app for the first time, you’ll be shown a list of current saved and on-going projects you’ve been working on. To start compiling a new movie, simply tap ‘New’ in the top right. Doing so will then bring up your movie’s preferences. The first section controls the opening titles, offering settings like: Opening On/Off, Movie Title, Credits and the Style. To go into a bit more depth amount a few of these, the credits setting is fairly straight forward, offering a blank input box for you to input names of the people who made the movie possible. Just like iMovie for Mac, the ‘Style’ option allows you to choose the position is which your opening titles appear. Options for this include: top left, top center, top right, middle left, middle center, middle right, bottom left, bottom center and bottom right. Moving down the ‘New project’ settings screen, and the same three option settings as in the ‘Opening’ section, are repeated, allowing you to choose both the credits, and style of your ‘Closing’ – or if you prefer, have no credits at all.

One of the options that did catch my eye was ‘Transition’. This setting basically controls the method in which your individual video slides will appear during your movie. All in all Reel Director offers 5 transition effects, in a total 27 different variations, and have to say, the effects are of really high quality. The final option on the ‘New Project’ settings screen sees a toggle switch in which you can either activate or de-activate ‘High Quality Mode’.

So, now that we’ve created our project, How do we add clips to it? Well, it’s pretty simple – just tap ‘Done’ on the settings screen. Now at this point, you might be expecting me to say you take your project’s video from within the app, but that’s not what this app is about. It’s an editor, and so your video footage must be shot beforehand. Adding clips is as simple as tapping ‘Add’. From here you can select any video from your iPhone’s camera roll. It’s worth noting that before you add the clip to your project, iPhone OS will always give you the option to trim it.

Once you’ve added clips to Reel Director you’ll see it come into its own. You get this kind of clip organizer interface that’s really nice. Describing the interface, at the top of the screen is the actual clip organizer, followed by a preview of your video footage laid out right underneath. From here you can play, delete and add transitions to any of your video clips. To scan through a clips content, just tap, hold and slide. Need to move a clip to another position in the timeline? Just tap and drag to re-organize clips. Once you’re done, just tap ‘Done’. From the ‘Movie Info’ screen you’ll then have the option to save, delete, play and share your new creation.

Although Reel Director does allow you to create a semi-professional video on the move, its feature set for it’s price is shockingly limited. With no ability to trim your video clips in app, no option in sight to add music to any of your projects, and a plain (almost dull) interface, Reel Director’s $7.99 price tag does seem slightly unjustified to me.

That said, this is only version 1.0, and to my knowledge the app is the first of its kind, offering an easy and user intuitive way to create videos with effects, and animation on the move.

I’m pretty fond of in depth reviews… the ones where I exhaust every ounce of life out of an app before I put it anywhere near the review section of the site. I also like having the top paid app in the app store reviewed at all times, so that if anyone wants to know what the big deal is, we, as 148apps, can tell them. There comes a time though, and that time is today, that the top app in the app store is so expansive that I just don’t feel right about doing a full review. AppBox Pro, to my knowledge, is the first app that attempts to destroy all (at least most) cheap utility apps in its path, and in the process, is the most expansive app I own.

Opening up AppBox Pro, you are greeted with a screen, much like a regular Apple home screen, is loaded with icons, four across and five down. Its familiarity ends though when you look at the cringe worthy bright neon, 80’s looking background. It’s not dreadful, but the UI looks like it belongs on a Samsung phone, or something of the sort. Past the visual experience, you’ll quickly notice upon opening that you now have a new battery life meter, a cinometer, a currency calculator, a new flashlight app, a new unit converter app, a tip calculator, and so much more. It really is an app that is trying to cannibalize all other apps of its kind.

Most of the apps within AppBox Pro are pretty well made, with the unit converter app being my favorite of the bunch. The cinometer app (a level utility) is definitely my least favorite because I couldn’t get it to work right, but the problem may lie in the fact that nothing around me is perfectly level. While all of these apps are useful, my big problem here is that they just aren’t all that pretty, and they are all within another app, making getting to them a bit tricky.

So the big question here is… should you buy AppBox Pro for 99 cents? Yes and no. If you, like me, have had an iPhone for a few months to going on a few years, chances are you have a bunch of these apps already on your phone. I like the AppBox Pro version of the unit convert app, but chances are you probably already have Convertbot or Convert. Sure, getting them again is really no issue, but some of the other 3rd party apps, especially the two listed above, are far more polished that the app AppBox has to offer. I can basically build a page on my iPhone with a prettier interface that has all the same apps, just twice as polished. I also won’t have to deal with the hassle of going into another app to see the apps.

On the other hand though is the extreme value you get from buying AppBox. Just imagine being a new user to the iPhone. Instead of having these apps already hiding in your Applications folder in iTunes, you would have to go out and buy all of them individually. You’re now looking at a 99 cent purchase of AppBox vs. a potential $10-20 purchase of all the apps included. You may not wow anyone around you with your new cool apps, especially the Samsung user who will laugh at you for having the same looking apps, but each one will be quite functional. AppBox Pro seems to be expanding too, which will give you even more bang for your buck.

To me, buying AppBox Pro is like going to the dollar store. I like the dollar store, I really do, but I don’t think that any of my bathroom necessities come from there. I have regular store toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and toilet paper… and I really like them all. Dollar store toilet paper is just so incredibly rough. To each his own though… and in this economy, I completely understand the dollar store purchase.

For the most part, the apps that come with the iPhone are highly polished, smooth running machines. You may or may not ever use them, but at least you know the build quality is there. Rarely do I see an app that matches Apple’s build quality, and it’s even more rare to see an app that should probably be adopted by Apple as its own. I really think that Convert deserves this honor because it is ever so functional and polished beyond necessity, things that Apple have been known for since their inception.

For those of you that haven’t guessed yet, Convert is the unit calculator to end all unit calculators. Want to change Dollars to Yen? Not only is it done, but the currencies auto update themselves when you open the currency menu. Want to change centimeters to light years? Done, although I’m not sure why anyone would need that measurement. The app really will convert any unit of anything to anything else… in style I might add.

Because the functionality of the app is relatively straightforward (and works correctly), the basic reason why this is a must have app is the seemingly flawless polish that Convert oozes from its pores. The design is pretty straightforward, (if you want to see the design evolution of the app, check out this video) with a num pad on the bottom half of the screen and the conversion tools on the top. The num pad looks and feels much like the calculator app that is included with the iPhone, which was a good call. The top half of the screen is where it gets tricky.

There are three sections in the unit conversion area, type of conversion (i.e. length, power, force, area), what you are converting from, and what you are converting to. Typically, you would first pick what type of conversion you need, then fill the other fields. Everything is slidable, so navigating these menus is a breeze, just flick up and down until you find what you want. The other nice design feature is that in the fist conversion pane, you can type in a number, lets say 8, for a currency conversion. Instead of spending time doing multiple calculations, Convert does everything at once, quickly letting you know that $8 equals 14.961 Brazilian Reals and 1,510.28 Hungarian Forint.

I suppose that there really isn’t much more to a conversion calculator than functionality and style, things that Convert does flawlessly. The app is only $0.99 at the time of this review, and at that price it would be pretty dumb not to pick it up. It may never be your most used app, but you have an iPhone… it’s almost your responsibility to be able to quickly tell someone that 88 Kilowatts is 118.009944 Horsepower. Yes friend… of course there is an app for that.

I’ve found out over the past 2-3 months (more like 18-19 years) that I am overly competitive for really no reason at all. My newest obsession, one that was certainly born in the current age of the internet, is Google Analytics. Every day I check the stats on 148apps.com, and everyday I wonder (now wondered) if there is an easier way to feed my stat needs.

For those of you unaware, Google Analytics is a stat tracking package that Google offers for free to anyone with a website. The amount of data given by Analytics is astounding, so astounding in fact that I don’t even know what half of it means! With Analytics, I can view what browser each reader was using, what pages people went to, and even see what city each hit came from with a super nifty map view. I love seeing how many readers we have every day in Iraq… something about that just makes me happy. On top of this, and perhaps most importantly, Analytics gives you a graph with all sorts of site traffic data, including visits, page views, and page views per visit.

My issue, and one that I’m sure at least someone else out there shares, is that I always want to know the number of hits I have, no matter where I am. To remedy this, I installed a number of analytics apps (some of which I’ll review later) and gave them all a shot. Some were certainly better than others, but they all share one distinct problem… they are all quite slow. When I want my stats, I just want them to appear. Waiting on my phone for a bunch of stats to appear just isn’t very satisfying. On a last ditch, stat thirsty effort, I discovered Ego.

Sure, Ego doesn’t inundate you with stats such as where people came from or what the bounce rate is, but it does give you some very simple stats, very quickly. After you plug in your site, you can quickly view how many page views and visits you are getting that day, the day before, for the week, for the month, and for the year. The simplicity is astounding, because deep down I just want to see the visits number go up. After using the app, my ego is temporarily put at bay, and I can usually go about my day in peace… you know, after telling everyone how many visits the site is getting.

On top of the Google Analytics plugin, there is support for FeedBurner, Google Page Rank, Mint (which I haven’t tried yet, but need to), Squarespace, and a personal favorite of mine, Twitter. Each plugin gives you a minimal amount of data… but what more do I need to see outside of how many Twitter followers I have, or how much money I have via Mint?

If you have the never ending need to stroke your ego with a few simple stats, Ego is the app for you. From checking how many people are following you on Twitter to seeing how many people have read your site, Ego is the perfect solution for your needs. The only problems that I could see people having with the app would have to do with the sheer simplicity. People are undoubtedly going to want to have more stats, and while they have the right to want more, that’s really not the point of the app. Just don’t think about it… spend your $1.99, use the app, and go on with your day. Your ego, and the time that you will save by not looking at more expansive programs, needs it.

About
Playlist Alarm Clock (P.A.C.) is a great way to make your iPhone/iPod Touch into a personal alarm clock. With the option to build your own waking and sleeping playlists and features to control the fade in/fade out, this app is simple and unobtrusive, doing exactly what it says it does. I’m well pleased with it. Yes, I am.

Pros
This app is straight forward and easy to set up when you start it. Simply tap on the wake or sleep buttons, choose your songs, set your fade timer, and that’s it. Go to sleep to music and/or wake up to music. It’s great!

The built-in instructions recommend building a playlist in iTunes, and this isn’t a bad idea. But if you’re spontaneous and fly by the seat of your pants, choosing songs is easy as you have access to all of the controls you’re used to on the iPod. It’s not too bad at all.

I listened to John Denver as I went to sleep with music that night. The slow fade out of the music was well executed. I noticed it, but was drifting to sleep, so it only added to the ambiance of an evening winding to its end. The music in the morning was a much needed relief from the buzzer I’m used to. Bob Dylan’s Thunder on the Mountain is a great song to wake with and it wasn’t startling at all as the music slowly got louder allowing me to rouse gently from my slumber.

Cons
Thinking this was an clock app, I was disappointed by the brightness of the UI. I can’t consider this much of an alarm clock if its brightness is going to keep me from falling asleep. That said, I was surprised to find out later that my iPod did go to sleep. As I reviewed the iTunes page for P.A.C. it did not mention this as a feature, and as I have the app open for this review it has not fallen asleep. So I don’t know what’s going on with this.

For those who want a visible clock though I would wait until the next version comes out. Chilli X stated that there is a screen dimming feature in the works.

Conclusion
I like P.A.C. It’s easy to use and brings a much-needed feature to the iPhone/iPod Touch. As a bonus it’s only .99 so it won’t break the bank.

iCam
I must admit, I’m slightly embarrassed that there hasn’t been a review on iCam written yet. Not only is it an app that has literally been on my phone for months but it’s THE APP I use to brag about my iPhone with. When I first stumbled across it in the App Store and mustarded up the $5 to buy it, I admit that I was a bit nervous that I might of wasted my money. After 5 minutes though my fears were put to rest as I knew this app would never leave my phone again. Have I built it up enough yet? I’ve really been working on my infomercial skills (I need a 2nd job, after all it is a recession).

Ok, ready…wait for it…iCam is a video streamer! Yes a video streamer, but not like YouTube or some other knock off, oh no, this is way different. Using iCam you can actually stream video straight from your computer’s webcam to your iPhone. It’s absolutely nuts!

The way it works is by downloading a free source file from the developer’s website which can be run on both Mac and Windows based computers. Once you launch the source file you’re given a setup screen with several options, the most important being selecting your camera and creating a unique ID & password. You would then open the iCam app on your phone, enter the password and presto you’re suddenly seeing your webcam on your phone.

When I start showing people this they’re often impressed but skeptical thinking that you have to be on the same local wi-fi network. Not true, while this ususally provides the best results, the video can actually be streamed across the internet whether it be via a WAN, 3G network, or even (dare I say it) Edge! Yes Edge, slowed down significantly maybe but none the less it still works.

So what could be better than being able to watch your one streaming video straight to your phone? How about the ability to watch 4 at once? Yeah seriously, iCam can support up to 4 cameras at once by spliting the screen into 4 equal sections. If you want to see just one of them full screen then it’s as simple as a screen tap.

But wait, there’s more! (See I’m getting good at this infomercial thing). The first major update they did added something they promised from the begining, sound support. It is a bit laggy at times with the lag increasing dramatically with the slower connection you or your computer is on but it’s good enough to at least know what’s going on/being said. If this wasn’t enough though with 3.0 they did even more with motion detection and push. Now for the one time charge of $.99 you can add push support to the application, and anytime any of the cameras sense motion in it’s field of view then a notification will be sent to your phone indicating the movement. At first I was concerned this could create a bit of an annoyance, especially if you have a fan or something in the same room. I’m sure we’ve all had those outdoor motion detector lights that seem to flip on for no apparent reason and frankly the idea of receiving a text message just as frequently made me cringe. Fortunately I don’t think I was the only one with this fear and iCam supports sensitivity settings that can be changed either on the phone itself or right on the computer. If used correctly you can even have a moving object in the same room, like a fan, and it won’t detect it but once something else enters, DING DING, you’re alerted.

Everything this app does is amazing but I also want to take a moment and point out how easy they made it to use. SKJM really did their homework with this guy, when adding the source file to a computer it’s a quick download from their website and doesn’t require routing through any firewalls or anything, it just does it. Some great uses for this app are obvious like a security system, nanycam, pet watcher, etc but they are limitless at the same time and thats really what I love. I personally don’t have a whole lot of use for this guy other than watching my fish from work, haha. What it does give me though is a feeling of excitement for the iPhone and the future. Sure there are some really amazing games out there and potential for even greater ones that I’m sure will come but what makes the iPhone so special to me is it’s potential to change the way we do things all together. iCam does just that or at least makes me feel like I’m really in one of those Sci-Fi movies based in the future. Buy it, embrace it, show it off, you are an iPhone user! And you have the right to laugh when someone pulls out their Storm or their Pre because lets be honest, they’ve got nothing on us.

If there’s one thing that annoys me about my iPod, it’s the inability to see how much battery life I have left. The visual meter is mediocre at best, and I’m a fan of hard numbers: I want a percentage-based power meter!

Battery Go! from CollegeKidApp is a simple app, and rightfully so, because the problem it sets out to solve is also simple. It displays the percentage of your power remaining, and translates it into time remaining different activities: listening to music, surfing the web, watching video, and, if you have an iPhone, talk time. It also features a movable slider, allowing you to see how much time you’d have left given different percentages of battery power—another tool for the curious to play around with.

Sounds great, right? A simple, informative battery meter…gee, Apple should have given us this in the first place!

Unfortunately, Battery Go! isn’t what I’d call accurate. See, while the app does display the percentage of battery you have remaining, it uses Apple’s technical device specifications to estimate the amount of time left for each activity. Those specifications are really only good for new devices (though at the very least Battery Go! does determine what device you’re running). The batteries Apple uses all wear down (after a few hundred charges, the battery will retain only 80% or so of its maximum capacity), so if your battery doesn’t hold a charge like it used to, Battery Go! simply won’t be accurate. Also, iPhone users should note that the app doesn’t differentiate between web browsing on WiFi and web browsing with EDGE or 3G.

Still, if you just want a way to see how much juice you’ve got left, Battery Go! isn’t half bad. Just don’t expect those estimates to be spot-on, and you won’t be disappointed.

About
LCD Clock is nothing fancy. It’s a clock done in the style of an LCD… surprise right? There’s not a lot to say about an app like this, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a lot to like. I’m either using this at my work desk or on my night stand to show the time in an easy to read, customizable display so I don’t have to read a little clock.

LCD Clock gives you just enough features to be useful without being overbearing. A color theme, an alarm, and customizable dates. Personally, I’m a fan of the default green display, but the other options are nice too. There’s a built-in alarm that includes a nice surprise of additional tones outside of the default iPhone alarms. Finally, it’s great that one can view up to six months of calendar without having to switch a screen or push a button.

Settings
Getting to LCD Clock’s settings are done through the iPhone’s Settings app for the big-time adjustments, though basic functionality is accessed through the app itself. One of my favorite features is the widescreen display. It’s clean, man. Really clean. By tapping on the various icons of the clock face you access specific functions: the clock will take you to the alarm. The bulb (beside the clock) will turn on a backlight. Tapping the alarm time and symbol (center above the clock) will turn the alarm on and off. Double-tapping the screen you get to the basic settings panel. Finally, tapping the clock numbers themselves will change the time from 12-hour to 24-hour time.

The advanced settings in the Settings app are quite robust and this is where you get into some of the more advanced options. I can’t think of anything that’s left out in these settings. You can turn off the automatic sleep, choose a date format, customize your calendar, use a Rokuyo calendar, set your default number of display months, and choose from one of several holiday calendars to have the appropriate celebrations highlighted.

Dislikes
One of the things that I didn’t get with LCD Clock was the backlight. It washes out the screen and seems to be redundant when the screen is already backlit. I also found the access buttons on the clock face to be a bit difficult to tap correctly sometimes, though I do like the way the functionality is hidden in the display itself.

Conclusion
Overall, you can’t go wrong with this clock app. It looks great, has a clean and simple design, and as functional as a desktop clock (with the exception of a radio, which I don’t think is a big deal). It’s only .99 cents and a great way to display the beauty of your iPhone.

Your iTunes account. Your 148Apps forum membership. Your e-mail. Three crucial things that probably revolve around your life; and they all have one thing in common: a password. Perhaps the most sensitive data that you have. Forgetting them is a nuisance, losing them is even worse, and we won’t even go down the “but I didn’t change it” route. 1Password checks box number one – you won’t ever forget them. Box number two also – they can never be lost because they are stored until you say otherwise. Box number three – I’ll go into greater detail later.

1Password is your sensitive-data-storing-manager – sounds technological, right? (it is). But it’s seamlessly simple with what Agile Web Solutions has come up with: their new application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It allows you to store login details, for instance a forum membership or e-mail details; secure notes – a plain pad for anything; and wallet items (your gym membership details, or perhaps your social security / national insurance number). There’s also a password generator in there too. And everything is hidden behind at least a 4 digit pass code, and there’s an option to hide it behind a master password too.

If you thought “sensitive-data-storing-manager” was technological, hold up. 1Password uses a hardware-accelerated AES (that’s an Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption. No longer are words like “cryptography” words of witchcraft and “two-layer defense” words of military. 1Password has gone to great lengths to ensure that you’re sensitive data is not touched with unauthorized access.

Let’s run through each section. Login details to start. You can add a ‘regular login’ – just enter in the URL and title, and then username and password. Once you’ve created the login details – the ability to add notes (for instance “login only works from 9-5″) is at your fingertips; as well as one-tap master password protection – for the more sensitive of data. 1Password can save you a bit of time too – they’ve created popular login templates including Amazon; eBay; Facebook; Gmail .. you name it.

Next up – secure notes. No longer do your iPhone notes need to have asterisks through them. Better yet – they don’t even have to be in the “notes” application anymore. 1Password offers full notes integration right into the application – completely separate from Apple’s Notes. Give it a title and enter anything you want. Copy and paste has been integrated so you can copy sensitive information from e-mails or from the web. The interface is a bit bland, but too often you’ll find applications crowded or cluttered. It was the safer option.

Finally – wallet items. Five sub-sections will ensure that there is always a category for any piece of information: Computers (software license / MySQL database etc); Financial (credit card / bank account); Government (no nuclear launch codes – just passport; driver’s license etc); Internet (instant messenger; FTP; iTunes); and finally Membership (reward programs and so on). 1Password have really gone to the trouble of making complex, sensitive information simple. It’s exactly what they needed to do.

So, from zero to secure – here’s how you do it. In this example, I’ll do a 148Apps forum membership login:

1. Open 1Password and enter unlock code
2. Choose to add login/note/wallet item or generate a password. We’ll go with login.
3. Tap “Regular Login”
4. Enter URL (forum.148apps.com) and title (148Apps Forum)
5. Enter username (kyle148apps) and password

.. and that’s it. Fast and simple.

There’s even more to this application than what it initially shows. Under settings, this is where the real genius starts to come in. Remember box number three that we were talking about earlier (”I didn’t change my password” route)? Don’t worry about it – with Wi-Fi sync. You can pair your iPhone and mac together with the 1Password desktop application. It integrates quietly into your browser – and will only ever ‘talk’ to you whenever you enter in some sensitive data. Everything stays up to do date – so if you enter in the wrong password and it doesn’t work, you can choose to cancel saving it. Similarly, if you change your password 1Password will ask if you want to save your new details – either right there or on your next login. There’s no excuse for losing a password now. With this – 1Password for mac and 1Password for iPhone will now sync data between each other so you’ll always have it right at your fingertips, all the time. There’s even a choice to display or conceal passwords.

There is a wide variety of other features which can reduce the time of entering passwords and protecting data. The 1Password Screencast should reveal all:

Overall, the impression 1Password has given is a lasting one. It’s tough and secure (hard to break) but simple and swift (easy to use). It’s one of those applications that, once installed, will stay there as long as you keep your iPhone. Highly recommended.

The built-in calculator for the iPhone is great, sure, but…let’s be honest. Even with its scientific functions, any serious math or science student knows that it won’t be replacing their TI-83 any time soon. Third-party apps, meanwhile, always seem to be a bit too cluttered.

Pi Cubed is another attempt at a calculator application, and thankfully, it does some things very well. It’s by no means perfect, and I experienced some instability, but it’s still a good replacement for a scientific calculator and a decent complement to a TI-83.

The first thing you’ll notice upon opening Pi Cubed is its interface. Gone are traditional line-by-line displays that spit out unintelligible strings of data in mimicry of real-world calculators. Instead, Pi Cubed opts for an easier to read, intuitive interface that can best be likened to a chalkboard. Equations are displayed in their full form, and you can pinch and zoom to focus on part or another.

Initially, you begin with a blank box on the left, an equals sign, and a question mark on the right. Tapping the box allows you to enter items, and this is where the genius of Pi Cubed is revealed. Mathematical items are sorted into categories: numbers (0-9, a negative sign, and a decimal point), operations (addition, subtraction, etc.), exponents (roots, exponents, logarithms, etc.) and so on. Using these items, you can visually build equations on the screen. Being able to see equations as you build them is a huge boon, and it makes even complex equations easy to transfer to the app.

One of the best features of Pi Cubed is the ability to set variables. When you click on the category marked “x,” it gives you the options of “x,” pi, and “e.” (e, of course, is the mathematical constant.) When you select “x,” Pi Cubed inserts an x into the equation. However, if you tap the edit button (a pencil-like icon), you can change the variable to any character on your keyboard and add annotations to it. Furthermore, if you later add another variable with the same “name” (i.e., another “n” if your first variable was an “n”), they will be linked. You can tap on one of them, replace it with a numerical value, and the other will update accordingly. You can also do some funny things with this; I used an Emoji as a variable!

Problems.
While Pi Cubed can do a lot, it isn’t perfect just yet. I’ve encountered numerous crashes, usually after I’ve been fumbling frantically to undo a mistake. When Pi Cubed crashes, it resets to the last time you opened it; if you were working on a new equation, it’s likely gone. It’s annoying to say the least. I recommend “saving” from time to time; hitting the home button essentially freezes the app’s state and should protect you from crashes.

Also, using Pi Cubed isn’t always intuitive. While there’s ample in-app documentation available, actually using the app isn’t always easy. For example, when I select the addition operation, an addition sign with a new, empty box is appended to my equation. However, this new box isn’t auto selected, and if you type something, it affects the old selection. So, if I were to hit “3; addition sign; 2″ I would get “2 + __ = ?”

This is something that would be extremely easy to fix, and I hope that the dev at least provides us with that option! Also, it would be helpful if I could drag a box around a portion of an equation to select it. While the current selection method is fairly functional, it could still use some work. And lastly, here’s one of my pet peeves: a setting located in the Settings app. In order to change from Radians to Degrees, or vice versa, you have to go into Settings.app. That’s just plain annoying!

I’ve mentioned the chalkboard-like style of Pi Cubed many times, but there’s one thing missing that would make it a true chalkboard: the ability to write. Yes, I realize that the iPhone doesn’t have a stylus. Shush. How about the ability to add annotations wherever I want? A little icon in the corner that could be dragged down to add a simple, typed annotation is all that I’d need, and it would really be helpful for jotting down notes about problems.

All in all, though, Pi Cubed is a handy little application. For the same price, you could buy your own bulky scientific calculator at Rite Aid, but I like the interface and the equations database. The ability to create your own specialized equations is a real boon, and it can even be used as a reference guide. Pi Cubed won’t be replacing your TI-89 or even a TI-83, but it’s still a useful alternative to the built-in scientific calculator. And it has one thing on conventional calculators: an active developer. Updates continue to add more equations to the built-in library as well as other updates, so Pi Cubed should become even better as time goes on!

To do apps are great. Last week I reviewed Put Things Off, a different solution to the to do/note to self app. This week I stumbled across Stick It, yet another unique to do/note application. Except Put Things Off would be an alternative to any previous to do apps you would have (you don’t want to use Things and Put Things Off, it would get confusing), Stick It can be used in addition to your favorite to do app. You wouldn’t actually use Stick It as an organized, “put everything I need here” to do app – Stick It’s primary feature is to create “sticky notes” for your wallpaper. It’s great for quick reminders that you’d like to look at throughout the day: groceries, notes to self, motivational sayings, or anything else you want (I created a name tag for the screen shots. It makes a great looking background.)

Stick It is extremely customizable. You get your choice of background for your notes, a choice between different notes themselves, where and how many notes are on your wallpaper, and the font, color, and size of your text. For backgrounds, it gives you 15 preloaded themes, 15 different colors, and if none of those are good enough for you there is the option to upload any picture – allowing you to make any background you wish. As for notes, there are eight options in the “notes” category (mostly sticky notes), eight in the “comic” category (such as speech bubbles), and nine in the “misc.” category (including street signs). There are 18 fonts to choose from and sizes ranging from 8 to 30 pts. The same 15 colors that are choices for the backgrounds are the choices for text color.

You can do basically anything you like with your notes. You can stack them so that you only see the text of each one and fit a lot of notes on your screen. Or simply just place one note in the center. Once you think that you are satisfied with the note screen you can press preview to see how it would look in the unlock screen. When you are done you press export, press dismiss, go to your photos, and choose the picture you just created as your wallpaper – you now have sticky notes on your iPhone.

Problems, Wishes, and Misses
Problems. The notes are where I found my only problem with the app, the interface doesn’t work as well as I’d like it to. The double tap to add a note is awkward and doesn’t always work. Also, swiping across the screen to get to the next note is slow and also sometimes doesn’t work. My suggestion to the developer is to create a sort of grid view of the notes for each category and put thumbnails of each note to select them, that would increase the speed of choosing the notes and solve the awkward double tapping and swiping.

Wishes. I wish there was a way for the app itself to export the picture to photos and select is as your wallpaper. That way I wouldn’t have to go through the extra steps. The extra steps don’t take long, but for the sake of speed it would be great if the app can do it. I don’t think this is possible with the current SDK, maybe after 3.0 comes out it’s a possibility.

Misses. I found nothing that was useless or without a point in this app.

It’s currently on sale for $0.99, you can’t beat the price for such a useful and versatile tool.

Email n’ Walk is exactly that. How many times do you type on the go… walking to your next meeting while simultaneously trying to type on your phone and watch where you are going. I think a huge number of us have, heck I’d be willing to make up a statistic on the spot, let’s assume 78.4% of us have tried it at some point. Well, what this app essentially does is, where there normally is a white background to your email as you compose them, there is now a screen that takes the image from your inbuilt camera to show you where you are walking.

Having precious little time between classes, I tend to walk and email often. I have had colleagues over the years with interesting definitions of funny who scare me because I never watch where I am going. Well now they can’t scare me because I can finally see in front of me. I can almost liken this app to a spy tool. You can be staring at the phone in front of you ‘concentrating’ and yet actually be watching what is going on in the outside world. The developers do warn you on iTunes that they “…can not be responsible for your stupidity…” and advise against walking in traffic, which is always good advice.

You use the app by clicking the icon which launches a simple screen to compose your email. In this screen, all you have to do is enter text into the subject field and then your message. The frustrating thing here is that there is no return key as it is replaced with the send button. This can sometimes be a bit irritating if you use the return key often, because you will habitually hit it a few times writing some emails. Anyway, once your email is composed you hit send, which launches you straight into the email client so you can now choose who you are sending it to. From there, you just send it as usual.

The developer may possibly want to consider if it would be possible to have the entire screen as the camera area. The keyboard still obscures half the screen, but this is probably an Apple limitation. Other than that, I like the idea of this app a lot, there really is so much potential. Now that I have seen ‘the future’ I want this concept implemented more! I tweet a fair bit and would love for one of the twitter programs I use to implement this feature.

Don’t get me wrong, the concept is still in it’s early phase, so there is plenty of work to do to make it really fantastic, but just think about the potential. I’m really excited about this and I can’t wait to see it implemented into other programs.

I have shown this app to a number of people and almost all of them have exclaimed “No Way!” when using it, as well as walking away with my iPhone. For the price, the app is definitely worth buying. It may be that with further updates they will inflate the price due to added usefulness, so I would advise you lovely readers to grab this one while its only $0.99. Have fun showing this one off to your friends.

I have been a long time user of Gas Cubby and have really come to appreciate its many features that help keep me organized while indulging some of my more anal retentive tendencies. With a recent major upgrade and corresponding price increase, we felt it was time to put it through its paces here on 148apps.

Vehicle Information
When first using Gas Cubby you are taken to the ‘New Vehicle’ page where data on that vehicle is entered. There are fields where you can name the vehicle (for Gas Cubby purposes), enter the VIN#, license plate, insurance information, tire size and set parameters for service reminders, among other things. I find the Notes section particularly useful for entering data about a vehicle that I would otherwise be rifling through file drawers to find; examples include my XM radio ID for the car, warranty information and my Honda’s radio unlock code. I do wish this sensitive information could be password protected from within Gas Cubby.

Fuel Efficiency
I drive a Prius and am therefore more likely than most to be concerned about gas mileage. But even if you’re not a hypermiler, the price of gasoline and its environmental impact have made more of us concerned about the fuel efficiency of our vehicles. Gas Cubby makes it simple to record the details of your fill ups, including price, number of gallons, octane rating and odometer reading. Your MPG is auto-calculated and displayed after each full fill-up. In theory this works great because you always have your iPhone with you; in reality it requires all drivers of all vehicles to participate in this endeavor if you are to achieve accurate results. Gas Cubby’s 2.0 upgrade provides great data graphs showing MPG and ‘Gas Stats’ when you turn your device sideways. An anticipated new feature implemented at the end of April allows you to import old fuel data into Gas Cubby; check out the App Cubby forums here for specific instructions.

Maintenance
Whether you hate the little windshield stickers that remind you to change your car’s oil, can’t remember the last time you changed your car’s oil, or are simply looking for a more elegant solution for tracking your vehicle’s maintenance than stuffing those pink pieces of paper into the glove box each time you leave Jiffy Lube, Gas Cubby can help. In addition to logging details of each service performed, you can set up service reminders that alert you at specified intervals to change the oil, check the battery, replace windshield wipers or wax your car, for example. The new version of GC allows custom service reminders and the option of turning on Gas Cubby’s badge icon for due items. The app also tracks the total amount spent on each vehicle as well a running total for all vehicles.

Gas Cubby provides users a very detailed database for all vehicle-related information, tracking fuel efficiency and maintenance in a single application. Its latest version adds fuel data import via CSV, custom service alerts, data entry shortcuts, gas stat charts, badge icon reminders and online sync. The online sync serves to backup your information and allows data sync across multiple devices, which is very nice if multiple drivers in your household use Gas Cubby. And as always, your stored data can be exported in Excel format via email. Gas Cubby has an intuitive, beautiful user interface and is actively updated by its developers. It’s price had been $4.99 until its recent update and is now $9.99, expensive by App Store standards. There is a Lite version available for free so you can try before you buy.

After checking out this utility from Infinity Labs I was compelled to write a quick and dirty review—it’s simply too awesome to keep to myself. Mover allows you to send pictures and contacts to the iPhone or iPod touch sitting right next to you. There is no required pairing; each device simply opens the Mover application and they recognize each other over a shared wifi network. You then choose a picture or contact to send, swipe in the direction indicated on the screen and the item appears on the other device. That’s it! Mover even saves the contact or picture in the appropriate application for you. Also, when you delete items from Mover’s screen it does not delete the photo or contact from your iPhone, only from the app itself.

Mover allows the direct sharing of items that might usually require a sync or more cumbersome file transfer. I have found it to be stable and flawless in its execution thus far. My wish for a next version would be the ability to send more than one item at a time. Mover is open-source software, so who knows what enhancements may be in store. I encourage you to check it out, especially at its current price.

Another RSS feed app? Oh, dear. Yes, it’s true, there’s yet another competitor in the congested field of RSS management apps. The difference? Trackr claims that it can do something that other apps can’t: start torrent downloads on your desktop. Unfortunately, I found that the RSS feature was a poor implementation, and downloading torrents is more of a hassle than it should be.

Ordinary RSS Feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds allow you to keep track of updates to your favorite sites; using Trackr to do so, however, is far from simple. First, you have to manually punch in the URL of the RSS feed, which can be tricky to find; not only is typing it in annoying, but sometimes it won’t work. The app itself downloads headlines (there doesn’t seem to be a way to set a limit on the number) and stores them for offline reading. However, it doesn’t store the actual articles, and only saves the synopsis; to read the items in your feed, you have to use Trackr’s slow-loading built-in browser. It doesn’t download updates automatically, either, so you have to tell it to refresh. Without any standout features, the RSS reader is a poor substitute for simply using a web-based service.

Torrents
Torrents are a peer-to-peer method of file sharing. They require a BitTorrent client program in order to download (personally, I prefer µTorrent). While there are plenty of—er—questionable uses for torrents (*cough*piracy*coughcough*), there are perfectly legitimate reasons for using the P2P distribution system—downloading Linux, for example, or some other large file that has been released to the public.

Since Trackr had failed miserably as an RSS reader, I was hoping that queuing torrent downloads to my PC would be simpler. (Trackr claims that you can use µTorrent/Transmission on PC or Mac.) Unfortunately, this isn’t so easy, either. Again, you have to type in a URL—not of the torrent file itself, but of an RSS feed containing torrent files. Okay, look, most of the people who download torrents aren’t getting them from sites that maintain RSS feeds of the torrent files. And again, we have the annoyance of manually typing the RSS feed’s URL.

There are some sites that maintain such feeds, though, the Fedora project being one of them. (Fedora is a version of Linux.) I gave it a try, and after fiddling with the configurations in µTorrent, I got it to work; the Fedora files immediately appeared in my download queue. But the entire process—finding an RSS feed link in Safari, typing it into Trackr, waiting for it to load, then finally opening the torrent…it all takes too long. Plus, you have to go to the dev’s website to read the instructions; there’s no in-app help.

Overall
Trackr just isn’t useful enough to justify buying it. How many times are you going to need to remotely start a torrent download that fulfills all of Trackr’s requirements? The app even fails as an RSS reader. Unless Trackr adds some decent capabilities such as browsing a database of RSS feeds or torrent files (using a torrent search engine, perhaps), there’s no reason to waste your time on this unpolished app.