Review: iZon Remote Room Monitor

Enjoy some peace of mind with the new iZon Remote Room Monitor. It’s small, stylish, and has many features and functions you’ll enjoy.

The best feature of this room monitor is not the camera itself, but its ability to be connected to your iPhone, iPod Touch, and/or iPad! Stream video right on your iOS device with the free app. This means you can be anywhere and still access your camera. There’s no need to be just a few feet away. From the app, you can record 30 second videos to a private YouTube account, or instantly record with the push of a button. Currently, there is about a 20 second latency for video in the app.

You can find many uses for the iZon. Use it as a baby monitor, home security, or just a way to check on your love ones. Never miss a moment again!

Setup is easy with the iZon Remote Room Monitor. First you’ll need to download and install the free Stem:connect iOS app on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and/or iPad. Then connect your iOS device to the iZon “stem” Wi-fi network to configure the camera. This is a really clever way to setup the device.

One downside is that it doesn’t have low light capability. Other wi-fi cameras such as the D-Link DCS-932 have the infared feature for the same price. Another downside is that you can’t send audio to the room monitor. For example, if you’re using it as a baby monitor, you can hear everything happening in the room, but you can’t talk back to your baby to calm them down. But on the flip side, unlike most baby monitors, you can hear audio and record video remotely from anywhere. You don’t have to be a few feet away to view the baby or your house. That’s a big plus and outweighs the downside.

Enjoy the iZon Room Monitor for $129.95, a fair and competitive price. It’s only available in one color, white, and you can download the app for free. The app is universal, so it works all iOS devices, including both the iPhone and iPad.

Steminnovation.com · $129.95 · Purchase online, or at Apple retail stores, Target stores and select Best Buy locations.

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

iPhone & iPad App Review: We Doodle

If you love to draw, or doodle, then I have a game for you! It’s Ngmoco’s latest title called “We Doodle.” It’s a a cross between “Pictionary” and “Win, Lose, or Draw” where you take turns drawing out words and have your friends guess what it is.

Login with your Plus+ account and start a new game. Here you have a three game choices. You can play a match with friends (people on your Plus+ friends list), a match with random players, or a live match where you draw and guess with users around the world in real-time.

Click on “Go” to create a new game. At the start of each game, you also have the option of adjusting the game’s settings. You can change the:

• Number of pictures (up to 10)
• Rounds (up to 5)
• Time Limit (4 hours to 7 days)

Once you create a game, you are given a word to draw. Draw the word to the best of your ability. You also have a selection of colors and tools to use in the lower right. Submit your drawings and wait for your friends to guess them. Your friends have 60 seconds to guess each drawing. This is a turn-based game, so you can play at your convenience.

Once your friend(s) make their guesses, it’s your turn to award them points! It’s 3 points for every drawing they get right, and if you reply within 5:30 hours, you get extra bonus points as well.

The points you earn are the amount of coins you get. Collect and save your coins to purchase new backgrounds, stencils, ink colors, pens, brushes, and more! The more your play, the more fun things you can purchase from the Doodle shop.

We Doodle is a freemium app, so you’ll get the ocassional ads. You can remove the ads by going to the “Doodle Bank” and purchasing the upgrade for $4.99. The ads are somewhat bothersome in the iPhone version, but are non-intrusive on the iPad version. Of the two versions, the game is more fun to play on the iPad because of the screen real estate.

Some tips when playing:

• If you want to save the image you drew, take a snapshot of it. You won’t see the full image again after you submit it.
• Be careful not to close the app when taking a snapshot. You will lose your image if it wasn’t submitted yet.
• Useful tools to purchase are the brushes and inks colors. I didn’t find the stencils, pen, spray can very useful in my drawings.
• If you want to earn more XP and coins quickly, play the Live mode (as games are played instantly and coins are awarded right after).
• Turn Doodle Assist off. It tries to connect all of your lines even when you don’t want them to.

Overall, it’s a fun game to play with your friends and I’m sure it’ll bring out your creativity. You might just unlock the hidden artist inside of you!

Download: iPhone/iPod Touch Version (Free) | iPad Version (Free)

iPhone and iPad App Review: Smurfs’ Village

Hooray, hooray! The Smurfs are in here! Get ready for the smurfy cuteness to invade your iPhones and iPads! If you enjoy games like We rule and Farmville, you’ll love Smurfs’ Village even more. It’s a universal app newly released by CapcomMobile. Based on the original cartoon and comic art, this game brings back a lot of childhood memories for some of us.

Read more on GeekBeat.TV..

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

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.

iPad App Review: Art in Motion

Imagine painting beautiful artwork and setting it to motion. You start with creating a scene, the interactive “painting” that you play with. Instead of painting landscapes or portraits, you add orbs that contain their own unique properties. These orbs are colorful circles that you can edit, from color, to movement, to size and elasticity. So customize away! The magic happens when your fingers touch the screen.

See the demo and read the rest of the review on GeekBeat.TV.