Ben's Blog World: TiPb Picks of the Week

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game. To see what we [...]

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To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli’s pick: Words With Friends

Words With Friends, is simply the same Scrabble we all grew up playing on a board. It scores you automatically, and with push notifications, will even tell you when it’s your turn to play.

I have questioned some of the words it accepts, but for the most part it uses the lexicon found in any traditional Scrabble dictionary. The main screen is divided into games where it is your turn (top), games awaiting your opponent (center), and finished games (bottom).

While there is a free version of Words With Friends, if you are a true devoté of Scrabble, you will want to spend the $2.99 for the version that doesn’t make you pause after each play to view ads. The full version also allows you unlimited games, which is especially nice if some of your opponents only make one or two moves a week. (WWF also has an HD version available for iPad.)

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Andrew’s pick: Navigon Now

If you’re a fan of Navigon MobileNavigator for your iPhone then you’ll definitely want to check out Navigon Now, a great single-purpose app made to assist iPhone users who use Navigon as their GPS navigation system. Navigon Now is another one of those one-trick pony apps that has limited functionality and isn’t feature-rich, but at the same time is extremely useful and has become one of those apps I couldn’t live without.

If you’ve ever tried to manually enter an address in Navigon then you already know it can get a little finicky, involving multiple pages and steps before actually routing your destination. The app is very simple and has just one function by way of letting users enter any standard street address and launch directly into Navigon to route your destination — it even recognizes a copied address and pastes it into the input field upon launching the app! So if you’re in Maps, just copy the address, launch Navigon Now and it will open Navigon and navigate to that address. Navigon Now makes the overall process of navigating to any given address in Navigon much easier. Also check out TomTom Now which, you guessed it, does the same exact thing but for the TomTom GPS app.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Brian’s pick: DirecTV

My pick of the week is the DirecTV app. I recently made the switch over to DirecTV and I’ve got to say I have loved having their app on my iPhone. I always seem to be out when a show that I have been waiting weeks to watch airs for the first time. My problem is I tend to forget to set a recording for it because I figure I will be home to watch the show. Well now if I forget I can simply launch the DirecTV app and set my receiver to record the show. You can also browse shows and movies using their simple interface. If you have DirecTV there is no reason to not have this free application on your iPhone to help you never miss a show or movie again!

[Free - iTunes Link]

Chris V’s pick: Science Mobile

I recently downloaded the free app form the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They publish a weekly professional journal, SCIENCE, that is pretty well known among researcher (it has one of the highest impact factors out there, up there with Nature and PNAS). They have recently come out with a great app, called “Science Mobile”, that bundles a few nice features for people interested in the scientific fields. With the app, you can read summaries and abstracts from the most recent issue of Science Magazine, email yourself full links, get news clippings from ScienceNOW, and access various multimedia resources, including podcasts. While it doesn’t give you a free subscription to the magazine, it is a useful app for people who want to keep on top of things, or people who do have a subscription but don’t always find the time to look through each issue. In addition, if you are looking for a job in the field, it contains job opportunities from the website Science Careers.

AS the iPad and iPhone develop, I hope to see more and more professional services, apps, and features like this that would benefit people beyond the Busienss/Tech areas. Other apps (like Inkling) have started to look into the school/student area, but I hope that we continue to see more for the research professional/professor! But that’s for the future. Now, Science Mobile is a great way to start keeping abreast on issues and cutting edge research in just about every scientific field.

[Free - iTunes link]

George’s pick: TVCatchUp Web App (UK Only)

TVCatchUp is a free service that allows you to watch free Live TV on your iOS device. The service requires a free sign up, and will stream, most of the 30 FreeView Channels.

With a simple user interface, all you have to do is select the channel you want, and it will start streaming, in high quality, whether you are on wifi or 3G.

So when all you have is your iPhone or iPad for entertainment, use the TVCatchUp web app and you can watch all the TV you want, wherever you want.

[iphone.tvcatchup.com]

Leanna’s pick: ArtStudio for iPad

I am by no means an artist, but I still enjoy drawing and painting with ArtStudio. Combined with my Ten One Design Pogo Sketch], it is more enjoyable to draw with this app than with real art materials because I can easily undo my many mistakes and not have the mess associated with paint. ArtStudio does a fantastic job of looking authentic with its customizable brushes and layers. And for non-artists like myself, there are lessons that teach you how to draw. If you or your child love to draw, check this one out!

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Rene’s pick: Apple Store App

Apple’s App Store app, tragic icon aside, is one of those apps I tend to ignore… until I need it. No, not for shopping, I still ignore that. However, whenever I have a problem with my iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Mac I go run to it like a victim in a horror movie. SAVE ME!

Then, with just a couple taps, I have my local Apple Store loaded up, I can see when the Genius Bar has a free appointment, I can book it, and I can have it remind me when I need to be there. It’s part convenience, part location, and all awesome.

(Yeah, it’s disappointingly US App Store only but since, like I said, I don’t care to shop with it I just grabbed it and it works fine for store appointments in Canada anyway).

[Free - iTunes link]