The New Twitter

Looks like I may to redesign my page to fit the New Twitter better. It looks nice. I really love the top bar because all the things I want to get to are right there. But the right column is a bit too wide for me. I like to have my browser narrow so I can work on other things while reading Twitter. The part that I love the most are the messages. The redesign is wonderful! It makes sending and finding old DMs much easier. The new “send a tweet” feature is nice too. The pop up reminds me of an iPad app interface.

Overall, I like the redesign. Still keeping it simple by adding subtle changes. Thanks Twitter!

Popularity: 1% [?]

iPhone App Review: FoodSpotting

Now be honest, when you see a beautiful dessert, can you refrain from snapping a photo of it? If you watch the Food Network, or just enjoy food in general, this community is just for you! It’s called FoodSpotting — a fun social network with food-snapping users who share their daily dishes through photos and reviews.

The website is fun to browse, but it’s much more fun to share your eateries while you’re on location. That’s why there’s a fun iPhone app for that! There are 5 major functions on the iPhone app — Browse, Find, Spot, Guides, and Profile. Let’s step through each one.

Browse. This is a photographic way to see all the foods around you! The app uses the gps to find photos of food taken near your current location. This makes it easier to find restaurants if you see something you like. The photos are displayed in a fun slideshow of postage stamps that you can swipe back and forth. See a food item you like? Tap on it to see the person’s review, their review, and the location of where you can get it. You can also tag the photo with “Want It,” “Nom it”, add in your own photo, or even leave a comment for the foodspotter.

Find. This option displays a list of restaurants that are near your current location. Click on a restaurant and view photos of the dishes taken there along with their reviews. Click on the photos for more options (similar to the Browse feature) — “Want it,” “Nom it,”, leave a comment for the foodspotter, and more.

Spot. This function is what makes the app. When you’re at a restaurant or eatery and your food comes out, click on “Spot.” It’ll prompt you to select or take a new photo of your dish. Once you pick an option to add a photo, also select the restaurant location and type of food on the top. After, click on “Add sighting” and your food photo would automatically be uploaded on the site for all to see and nom! You also have the option to connect to your Facebook, Twitter, and/or Foursquare accounts when uploading.

Guides. If you follow the Food Network and/or the Travel Channel, you’ll love this feature. Let’s say for example, you enjoy the restaurants Anthony Bourdain visits. You can follow one of his city guides on Foodspotting and it’ll list restaurants he visited in that city. You can then eat everything he ate! Add your own photos to complete the guide. Other guides include ones created by Zagat, Top Chef, Food Network, Travel Channel, 7×7 Magazine, and many more.

Profile. This section displays your Foodspotting user profile. The first page displays your recent activities, foods your spotted, foods you wanted, guides you’re following, and how many people you follow. Tap on the options to drill down deeper.

Overall, Foodspotting is a great app to really tie the Foodspotting community together. It makes it much easier to share, rate, and leave comments on food photos while on the go! So sign up, have fun and Bon Appetite! I want to see what you eat!

FoodSpotting for the iPhone is available for free in the iTunes App Store.

Website Screenshot

iPhone App Screenshots

Popularity: 2% [?]

Addicted to Pocket Frogs!

I’ve been playing Pocket Frogs (Download [Free]) on the iPad this weekend and I have to say, it’s quite addicting. The object of the game is to collect and breed frogs. There are also awards if you successfully breed specific types. You also need to keep your frogs happy by taking them to the pond and catching dragonflies. While your little one is hopping about it might just find some fun virtual gifts too!

You can play the full game offline, but will need to connect to Plus+ gaming network to send gifts to friends.

A full review is forthcoming whenever I can put this game down. ;) In the meantime, download and play. My Plus+ gamer name is ‘daynah.’ Yes the screenshots above are my real froggie collections!

Download the Universal iPhone/iPad App (Free)

Popularity: 8% [?]

Bargain iPhone Games

Looking for new iPhone games? Here are a few of this week’s best bargain apps. But hurry, get them soon before the sales are over!

Pocket Frogs – Collect, breed, and discover new species of beautiful frogs! It’s actually quite adorable. Take your frog out to the pond so it could eat dragonflies in the air. The more they eat, the happier they are. On the way, you may find fun virtual gifts on the lilypads! It could more gold coins, potions, stamps, or additional frogs! Play online or offline. And you can find your friends via Plus+ social gaming network. Universal Version (Free)

Tetris – I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know how to play Tetris. It’s a classic! Geometric pieces drop down and you need to rotate and move them to fit in rows below. Get four rows at once and you got a super powerful Tetis! The updated graphics and colors are beautiful! It’s currently on sale for both the iPhone and iPad at its lowest price ever this weekend. So get it before it’s gone! Apps are normally $2.99 and $7.99 for the iPhone and iPad, respectively. iPhone Version (99 cents) | iPad Version ($2.99)

Mr. Runner – First there was Mr. Space which was a highly addictive, fast-paced game. The object was to place Mr. Space in a safe area before the walls and ceilings could drop on him. Mr. Runner has the same concept, except you’re running and stopping in safe spots before the celling collapses. Very fast-paced as well, and it’s free! iPhone Version (Free)

TwentyFour! – It’s almost time to head back to school! This app would help sharpen your brain for those difficult math problems. You’re given 4 numbers on the screen. You need to place the +, -, *, and/or divide signs between the numbers so they end up equating to 24. It’s quite a challenge! Get as many as you can for a higher score! Normally $1.99, this app is on sale for free this week. iPhone Version (Free)

Shrek Forever After – Based on the original movie, this game is super fun! The game ties the movie together very well. Shrek heads into the forest to retrieve all the kids birthday presents that Donkey dropped. He gets attacked by Robinhood and his merry men. Punch your way through to reach the next level where Rumpelstiltskin awaits! It’s a face moving game with beautiful graphics. A definite buy for any Shrek fan. Hurry, it’s only 99 cents today so get it soon!
iPhone Version (99 cents) | iPad Version ($5.99)

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge is a story-adventure game about a pirate exploring and island. Walk around and talk to people on the island by selecting various messages. The answers and replies are quite hilarious. The graphics have been remastered and look amazing. Normally $7.99, but on sale for 99 cents just today! iPhone Version (99 cents) | iPhone Lite Version (Free) | iPad Version ($4.99) | iPad Lite Version (Free)

Popularity: 2% [?]

Angry Birds Plushies are Coming!

Watch out, Angry Birds may be coming to a… home near you! That’s right, they first invaded our iPhones and iPod Touches. Then hit the top of the charts in the app store on the iPad, and now they’re getting ready to win your hearts at home!

New Angry Bird plushies will be coming soon! RovioMobile tweets, “Sign up for info about the cool new Angry Birds plush toys. We’ll give away some now and then!” So sign up if you’re interested in getting your very own angry bird! You might even win one!

You can also read a full review of the iPhone game as well. Angry Birds is available on the iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad. The iPhone version will be updated with Game Center very soon.
iPhone/iPod Touch Full Version (99 cents) | iPhone/iPod Touch Lite Version (Free) | iPad Version ($4.99)

Video Trailer

If you don’t know already, this is how Angry Birds came to be…

(YouTube Link)

Popularity: 3% [?]

Walk-Through of Apple’s Game Center on iOS 4.1

Apple recently released their iOS 4.1 Software Update. This first major update brings new features such as Game Center, Ping (in iTunes), iTunes TV show rentals, HDR photography, and much more. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at Apple’s first major announcement — Game Center.

What is Game Center? It’s Apple implementation of social gaming on your iPhone (and later on your iPad). You can find your friends or even let Game Center auto-match you with players for various games. Game Center is one central place where you can track achievements and compare high scores on multiple games.

Installation. After installing and updating your iPhone or iPod Touch¹, a new icon will appear in the lower right of the first page. This will take you to Apple’s new Game Center. It’ll appear as an icon, just like any other app.

Signing Up. Click on it to get started. The first time, it’ll ask you to sign up for Game Center and to pick a username/password for your account. This account will be associated with your Apple ID. If you’re using a family iTunes account, you may want to sign up for another iTunes account just for the Game Center. (This is an easy process, the button is just at the bottom.)

Just like any new system, it’s a race to add all of your friends and most importantly, grab the username you want. So even if you don’t play many games, you might just want to sign up ASAP just to get your desire username!

Friend Requests. When someone requests to be your Game Center friend, fanfares sounds play and a message is displayed on your device (of course, you need to give permission to have push and sound on for Game Center). Clicking “Accept” adds the user as your friend but it doesn’t take you out of what you were doing, which I really like! Usually clicking on these sort of notifications will take me out of my current app and into another.

Playing Games. Now there’s only a handful of games that have been updated to run on Game Center. Be sure to update these apps first before trying to use Game Center. Some games include Farmville, WordsWorth, Flight Control, Real Racing, Pac-Mac, Cro-Mag Rally, Cocoto Kart Online, and a few more.

Be sure to be logged into Game Center and then launch your game of choice. You should see a sliding note on top of your app that says “Welcome back, USERNAME.” That lets your know that you’re logged in on Game Center. Now play the game just like you would. Depending on the game, you may have more options on game play as well as different types of achievements.

Game Center. Now that you played a few games², close them and launch Game Center. On the first screen, you will see your profile — your username, number of friends, games played, achievements, your status update, and your iTunes email account. At the bottom are 4 tabs — Me (current page), Friends, Games, and Requests.

The tab “Friends” lists all of your accepted friends. You are able to view their status (similar to Twitter or Facebook Status). If you drill down deeper, you can see their profiles, all the games they played, and the games you have in common. If you don’t have the games they play, you can click on the link and purchase the apps. That’s a clever way of selling apps! For the games you do have in common, another page displays that puts your scores and achievements head-to-head with theirs.

The tab “Games” lists all the games you played (that have Game Center). Clicking on them will show you the leaderboards, achievements available and which you have accomplished. There’s also a button at the bottom that says “Find Game Center Games.” Clicking on this will take you into the iTunes App Store where you can purchase apps with Game Center enabled.

Lastly, the tab “Requests” will lists all of your friend requests. The number of requests here will be the red badge number on your Game Center icon.

Overall, Game Center is a great idea for social gaming. Unfortunately, it’s still too early to really test out the system since only a few games have Game Center enabled. The idea of social gaming is not new. There are already some successful systems in placed like Plus+ and OpenFeint, so I’m interested in seeing how Game Center will affect them.

See Apple’s official website for more information about iOS 4.1 update and Game Center.

^1. iOS 4.1 only works on iPhone 3Gs and higher, iPod Touch Gen 2 and higher.
^2. Only some games have been updated to run Game Center. Be sure to read the game developer’s notes.

Note: This article was original written for Beatweek Magazine.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Plants Vs. Zombies Limited Edition

I was in Target today and saw one of my favorite games in a limited edition case! Plants vs. Zombies looks awesome! You get your very own zombie! It looks like this limited edition has a few new modes including Puzzle, Survival, and Mini-Games! *wants*

You can also purchase Plants Vs. Zombies Limited Edition on Amazon for $19.99! :)

Popularity: 4% [?]

Bargain Back-to-School iPhone/iPad Apps and More!

It’s almost time to head back to school! I thought you could use a few games as well as educational apps for the start of the school year! Here are this week’s bargain iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad apps:

Games

Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion – Help each member of Linkin Park find their stolen tracks in this 8-bit/high resolution world! Walk around in the various city districts, completing missions, destroying evil-doers and help retrieve all the music tracks back! Enjoy 8 Link Park tracks in their original and 8-bit formats and unlock a brand new exclusive song! Normally $4.99, but on sale for 99 cents for a limited time!
iPad Version (99 cents) | iPhone Version (99 cents) | iPhone Lite Version (Free)

WordsWorth – Race against the clock and make as many words as you can in this honeycomb-gameboard. Score extra points if you find the bonus world. One of the few games updated to work with Apple’s new Game Center, you can now see your scores ranked on the worldwide leader board as well as just among friends! It’s currently 50% off for a limited time. iPhone Version (99 cents)

Toy Story 3: Operation Camouflage – is a hidden object game that ties in with the movie. Two modes available – Easy and Hard. Hard mode is played with a timer, while Easy is without. Normally $1.99, but on sale this weekend for 99 cents!
Universal Version (99 cents)

Lite Brite – this apps brings back so many memories for me as a child. Although I never owned a Lite-Brite, the commercials of the popular toy kept playing ver and over again on TV that I really wanted one! It’s a black board where you get to stick colored pegs in to make images that glow in the dark. Well, now I can own a piece of my childhood right on my iPhone! Complete colorful projects and even create animation with the app! iPhone Version (99 cents)

Coin Push Frenzy – Remember those quarter-pushing machines at arcades and casinos that would eat up all your quarters as they push one or two down? Well, now you can play the same game right on your iPhone, without gambling much money! Drop you coins and push down surprise mystery boxes, bonus coins, and more. Collect various virtual gifts from the mystery boxes and store them in your trophy room! iPhone Version (Free)

Geared HD is a fun game of physics where you place cogs and gears in a way so the end contraption turns! Tap and place gears down of all sizes. Normally $2.99 for the iPad version, but it’s free this weekend only!
iPad Version (Free) | iPhone Version (99 cents) | iPhone Lite Version (Free)

Entertainment and Lifestyle Apps

Appshopper is my favorite place to find bargain iPhone/iPad apps! They finally have their own app so you won’t miss another sale again! Create a wishlist of the apps you want and you’ll be notified when their prices drop! If you’re an app-addict like me, this is a must!
Universal App (Free)

Romantic Dinner Date Recipes – flip through recipes to cook for your sweetie. Once you find something, add it to the shopping cart and your ingredients will be listed nicely for you to go purchase! So go make something yummy for your sweetheart now!
iPhone Version (Free)

Percolator is a new photo app that allows you to transform your photos into dazzling multicolor mosaics! Import or take a photo and your image will instantly be a colorful mosaic of round circles. Great app for inspiration for designers and graphic artists. Currently at introductory price of 99 cents. iPhone Version (99 cents)

I Am T-Pain is absolutely fun and hilarious. Sing and the app will auto-tune your voice so you sound just like T-Pain. Plug your iPhone into speakers and it becomes a fun karaoke app! The recently updated version has an option to T-Pain your voice messages using the T-Pain Dialer. This will send voice messages to your friends as a fun prank. ;) Normally $2.99, it’s on sale this week for 99 cents. iPhone Version (99 cents)

New York: The Best of New York by Baffled By Travel, 2010/2011 Edition – If you’re planning to head to New York anytime soon, this app is a must. It highlights some of the best some of the best museums, eateries, nightlife, shops, hotels, and attractions in NY. Explore each of NY’s cities, and add favorite items to your profile. Once you’re in the city, use the “where” option to find things near you. Normally $7.99, it’s Free for a limited time!
iPhone Version (Free)

Back-to-School Apps

EMD PTE Periodic Table – If you’re taking Chemistry this fall, or need to review the periodic tablet of elements, this comes in pretty handy. Click on the elements to get more information on it. The app is universal, working on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad!
Universal Version (Free)

3D Cell Simulation and Stain Tool is perfect for students taking Biology. Learn about what makes up the cell structure with a 3d model, as well as stain your own cell by selecting colors for each structure. Have fun rotating the cell around and finding the Golgi, Lysosomes, and Nucleus! iPad Version (Free)

NASA is a fabulous app if you want to dive deep into space exploration. Explore each of the planets closely. Read tweets from space, read NASA news, see thousands of images from space, and much much more. Internet connection is required.
iPad Version (Free) | iPhone Version (Free)

Molecules – View 3D renderings of molecules. Rotate, zoom, and pan the molecules with your the touch of your fingers. You can even download additional molecules at the RCSB Protein Data Bank. It’s the perfect app for the scientist in the family!
Universal Version (Free)

iStudiez Pro is a great app for college students. It’s like a student schedule/daily planner all rolled into one. Add class schedules, prioritize assignments, add notes, and more. Push notification to alert you of upcoming tasks and homework. Gorgeous interface. It’s a student planner good enough to accommodate even the most hectic student schedules. It’s a little more on the expensive side, but definitely worth it if you’re a student. Try out the Lite version before buying! Universal Version ($2.99)

History Maps is a collection of various historical maps. Maps included range from as early as England in 700 to the mid-1900s. Perfect for the historian in the family.
Universal Version (Free)

Popularity: 2% [?]

Review: Ten 1 Design Pogo Sketch Stylus

When the iPad first came out, I thought it’d make a magnificent artist tool. But the only way I could create sketches was by drawing with my fingers.

But there’s a great accessory to fix that. It’s the Pogo Sketch stylus. It’s like a pen for your iPad! The Pogo Sketch is about the same size of a slender pen. It’s made of a lightweight aluminum alloy that feels like a feather in your hand. One end has a clip that you can use to clip on your shirt, pocket, or purse. And on the the other end is a soft tip that you use to glide over the iPad when drawing or writing.

iPad apps like Penultimate and iDraft, and other drawing apps work very well with the Pogo Sketch. Since you’re writing with your hand (and not your fingers), the letters are more accurate to your real handwriting.

To do this, launch your preferred drawing/writing app and write as you would with a pen. Instead of writing at an angle, try writing in more of a right angle. The stylus doesn’t have a pointy end, so writing on the iPad in 90 degrees angle works better.

Just think, now you can sign your name on documents electronically. Or draw and write with a little more accuracy than your fingers would. Also, since your fingers are no longer needed to tap on the iPad surface, you can wear gloves when it’s too cold. Just tap on the icons on the screen to open and close apps like you would with your fingers!

One downfall of the stylus is it’s flat writing surface. As mentioned before, it’s not a pointy tool, so there is less precision when writing and you would need to write in a more upright angle. But that’s not much of a drawback if you need a tool like this. Think of is as a wide medium point pen instead of fine point pen.

The Pogo Sketch also works on iPhones and iPod Touches, as well as your MacBook trackpad. For the MacBook, it will need the help of a software called Inklet, you can also turn the trackpad on your Macbook into a mini tablet as well.

The Ten 1 Design Pogo Sketch is available in four fun colors — pink, orange, green, and silver for $14.95. In addition, the new Ten One Design Particle iPad Case comes with a silver Pogo Sketch stylus, packaged together for $30. You may consider getting this package if you want a place to put your stylus. Review of this item is forthcoming.

For more information on the Pogo Sketch, see the official website.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars · $14.95 · TenOneDesign.com

Disclosure: This product was sent by Ten One Design for review purposes. This is part of Beatweek Magazine’s coverage of iPad products. Opinions expressed in this article are my own.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Cute Girl Dancing Video

(YouTube Link)

I’m not sure how they did this video but it’s quite entertaining! Great move on Samsung for making this commercial. I really like the “amateur” video recording technique. :) Also, thanks to Leo Laporte for linking this video!

Popularity: 1% [?]

First Look at Google Instant

Talk about instant! Google just rolled out Google Instant this morning. Now search results display as you type, bringing you results much faster.

To see it in action, go to Google.com and start typing. The search box then turns into the results page. And as you keep typing, the search results change, bringing you a step closer to what you were looking for. It’s pretty nifty! Note: not all users have this option available yet. It may take a few days before everyone sees the new feature.

Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type. (Google.com/instant)

Introducing Google Instant Video

Related Links

• Google Blog: Search Now Faster than the Speed of Type
• Google Instant

Popularity: 2% [?]

iPad App Review: Magic Pictures HD

Want to do magic with just the touch of your hand? With the simple sway of your finger, you can make sunlight sparkle, dandelions sway, water droplets drip, and even snowflakes dance! “Magic Photos HD” is an exclusive iPad app that combines breathtaking photos with sounds that will dazzle your eyes, tickle your ears, and inspire your mind. Touch the photos and they magically come to life.

Read more at GeekBeat.TV

Popularity: 1% [?]

iPad App Review: Twitter for iPad

Twitter for iPad recently launched! The official Twitter app was updated to be a universal app, working both on the iPhone and iPad. At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much bells and whistles, but once you figure out all the little hidden secrets, you’ll definitely love the new user interface.

When you first launch the app, you have a left panel with links to your Timeline, Mentions, Lists, Messages, Profile and Search. On the right side is your timeline of tweets. If you’re holding the iPad in landscape mode, the tweets only take up the center area of the screen. You might think that it’s wasting a lot of space the first time you see it. But try tapping on a tweet. The tweet will expand and create a new panel to the right of the timeline. The edge this app has over other iPad Twitter apps is the built-in browser that will display webpages, videos, and photos linked in tweets without closing the app. Having content display in-lined makes the Twitter user experience flow much more seamlessly. If you tapped a tweet that was part of a conversation, the tweets will also be grouped together in a new panel. This makes keeping up with conversations much easier!

As you click on tweets, new panels will appear to the right. You can swipe to slide through the panels to bring up more content. I find this to be an ingenious way to use the space of the iPad. A lot of content is displayed at one time and getting to specific data is as easy as a tap away.

Tips for getting the most out of the Twitter app:

Pinch a tweet and it’ll expand. I find it much easier to use two fingers (one on each hand) and drag out (mimicking a pinch movement). Some of the tweets are one-liners, so the tabs are pretty narrow. If you find a long tweet, it’s much easier to pinch.

Another tip is to use two fingers and drag down on a tweet. This displays the conversation (@replies) in a panel below. I thought this was a very clever way to display tweets. Be sure to keep both fingers on the tweet though. Once you let go, it’ll quickly roll-up like window shades!

If you have an iPhone, you may be interested in our walk-though of Twitter for the iPhone.

Download the Twitter iPhone/iPad app for free now.

More Screenshots

Viewing @replies and a follower’s profile.

The interface for replying and sending a tweet.

This post was originally published in Beatweek Magazine.

Popularity: 1% [?]

iPhone and iPad Apps on sale for Labor Day Weekend!

Hope you’re having a great Labor Day Weekend! Some apps are on sale this weekend, so get them before the prices go up!

iPhone/iPod Touch Apps

Pizza Shop Mania – Put your pizza-making skills to the test! Get behind the counter and churn out pizzas to the customers in this face-paced game. If you love time management games, you gotta put this on your must-have list. It’s Digital Chocolate’s sequel to the hit Chocolate Shop Frenzy. Normally $2.99, it’s currently on sale for free! The lite version is linked in case the sale is over by the time you read this. iPhone Version (Free) | iPhone Lite Version (Free)

FlipWorld is a cute little platform game where you get to control gravity! Flip and turn your device and send your little guy safely across the screen. Watch out for monsters though. Tap on the screen to hop right over them. The longer you can keep this up, the more points you’ll get! The game is normally 99 cents, but is free now! iPhone Version (Free)

Rhythm Racer 2 – Race through the musical superhighway and capture bonus points along the way! The futuristic background and fast-pace music makes this game hard to put down. Best of all, it’s free!
iPhone Version (Free) | iPad Version (Free)

Plancast is an adorable way for you to share your plans and events with your friends. Just enter the event info or click on “count me in” to join an event. The app is free and has a beautiful new interface!
iPhone Version (Free)

Boggle – is just as fun as the real board game.. if not more! Shake up the game board of letters and make as many words as you can before the time runs out! Normally $2.99, the game is on sale for 99 cents! The iPad version is on sale as well.
iPhone Version (99 cents) | iPad Version ($1.99)

Woopra is an amazing comprehensive real-time web tracking and analysis software. They recently created an iPhone app so you can check your website analytics on the go. Great interface and very intuitive. A woopra account is needed to use. You can create a free account at Woopra.com. Upgrade accounts also available for sale. iPhone Version (Free)

The Game of Life Classic Edition – Any idea what your future holds? Why not play the Game of Life? Just like the old board game, but much more fun! Roll the dice and see if you own a house, have a few kids, or have a career change. Earn money as you go. Player with the most wins! Currently on sale this weekend only! iPhone Version (99 cents)

JotNot Scanner Pro – Turn your iPhone into a document scanner. You can email, send document to Evernote Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, and more within the app. Normally $4.99, this app is on sale for 99 cents this weekend.
iPhone Pro Version (99 cents) | iPhone Free Version (Free)

Line Art – dazzle your eyes as you touch and tap with this app as colorful particles respond to your touch. They move in quickly across the screen and leave behind a trail of colorful lines. There are 10 interaction modes on the iPad and 5 for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Universal Version (99 cents)

Big Box Visual Effects Pro 3200 is a fun and visually stimulating! It displays over 30 different effects including Plasma, Rain, Waterfall, Firework, Illusion, Space, Starry Sky, Acid Rain, Lava, Fire, Sand, Energy, Electricity, Dust, Smoke and more! Lots of beautiful colors, music, and is a universal app. Normally 99 cents, but free this weekend! Universal Version (Free)

Universal Apps (iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad Compatible)

Twitter- the official app has gone Universal! The iPad version was recently added and it looks lovely! At first glance, it looks simple until you pinch and expand tweets to see more info. The layout is in a columns and pages design that you have to try out for yourself. The app remains free, so get it now! Universal Version (Free)

Epic Citadel – Recently announced at the last Apple special event, this app was used to demonstrate the next steps in iPhone/iPad gaming. Walk around and explore the realm of the Epic Citadel and search for all its beautiful secrets. This game was created using the same tools and technology used to develop high-end console games. Take a peek at what’s to come for iOS devices! Universal Version (Free)

iSQL Lite is for the database programmers on the go! The app displays commonly used SQL commands. It’s a great reference tool when you’re looking for the right SQL command. The lite version has only SQL commands while the full version (on sale this weekend) also includes examples of PL/SQL. Universal iSQL Lite (Free) | Universal iSQL (99 cents)

iPad Apps

Friendly Facebook Browser is what Facebook should look like on an iPad! It displays your newsfeed, photos, and profile very nicely. You can read comment, chat with online friends, write messages, etc just like you would in the Facebook website. The layout is optimized for the iPad. Normally $4.99, it’s now only 99 cents for this weekend. iPad Version (99 cents)

Popularity: 6% [?]

New “iPod Nano” Announced Today!

Steve Jobs announced a new iPod Nano today and I think the new design is absolutely adorable! It’s 46% smaller than the previous generation, has a more square design, and has a multi-touch screen interface. There’s a built-in clip so you can easily wear it on your clothes while walking. jogging, or working out. You can rotate the Home screen as well and customize the icons on it. This new iPod Nano also has a built-in FM radio, which is nice if you need to catch the news on the go! Best of all, it comes in a variety of colors: (Red is available exclusively on Apple.com).

I would love to get one of these — in pink, blue, or green! — but I don’t really need one. I already have an older iPod Shuffle (that I got as a gift) and it works great when I’m working out. But these pretty colors and the cute multi-touch screen is quite tempting. Plus, it makes a great fashion statement, but that means you’ll need more than one to compliment your outfits!

The camera has been removed in this version, which I think is a good call on Apple. A camera on a tiny device like this wouldn’t make sense. It’s already hard to hold and the quality wouldn’t be that great.

The 8GB model is $149 and the 16GB model is $179. They’re available for purchase starting today. If you’re interested in getting one, I suggest heading down to your local Apple store to try it out. For more information about the new 6th generation iPod Nano, see the official website.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Apple iPod Announcements

Working and watching the Apple Announcement on my iPad. :) Lots of new iPod models, iOS 4.2, iTunes 10 with PING, and Apple TV so far…

Popularity: 1% [?]