Picks of the Week
Welcome to our weekly installment of Picks of the Week at iSource where we provide our expanded coverage of Apple accessories and applications Here we will promote our favorite iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and Apple TV related items, as well as bring you occasional tips and tricks. Hopefully many of our favorite items will also be of interest to you. Please feel free to comment on our selections, and suggest picks of your own. Check out this week’s picks after the break.
Reeder (v2.2.1)
Picked by: Thomas
Every few months I think that I can go without Google Reader and then I realize that, “no, you idiot, you can’t. Reeder uses Google Reader and you LOVE Reeder.”
“Oh, right! I’d forgotten about how much I love Reeder with its gorgeous non-standard UI, easy Starring and Read Later access, and lightning fast download speeds!”, I yell out loud in quiet room (this would be my room — it is lonely).
It’s at this point that I usually remark how amazing it is that Reeder costs only $3 considering it’s such an incredibly powerful and speedy RSS app.
($2.99) iTunes link
Grinchmas (v1.1.3)
Picked by: PatrickJ
What’s more Christmas-y than The Grinch? In this game, you get to be him – and choose between Mean Grinch or Merry Grinch mode. You can either bombard Who-ville with snowballs or gifts. Either way, it’s simple good fun.
($0.99) iTunes link
Electronic Arts (EA)
Picked by: Brandon
Typically, the concept behind pick of the week is to pick one item (game, accessory, etc) but this week my iPhone has been dominated by a streak of games from EA, and their biggest sale ever was what triggered it. Between the iPhone and iPad apps being $0.99 and the quality of the titles its been darned near impossible to not spend money on EA for me since this sale started. I now own all of the Need for Speed titles (iPhone/iPad), Reckless Racing, most of the sports titles (not golf), I think today is going to be a sim city day… and by the looks of the top 20 list on the app store, I’m not the only one who has been buying EA this past week.
Link (http://www.ea.com/iphone)
RDM+ for iPad (v2.2.8)
Picked by: Jay
For two reasons, my pick this week is Shape Service’s RDM+ for Ipad remote desktop connection app.
First this and several other Shape Services apps (maker of IM+ Pro and free) are on sale. That puts this app within reach of a budget-conscious person at only $2.99 for the holidays.
Second, what makes RDM+ so great (iPhone version review here) is that there are unlimited number of computers that a single device can connect to. For example, I have three stations that I have access to – my workstation, my home desktop, and my colleagues workstation. This remote desktop access has proved invaluable when on the road and I’ve needed to either get a file or send a file that isn’t synchronized locally through Dropbox. Also, the recent upgrade has improved the UI to include using a virtual touchpad on the remote computer – a very nice touch.
The iPad version is an exceptional way to easily access a computer remotely, all without a VPN, and like the iPhone RDM+ version, comes with free access via the web at the RDM+ website should your iDevice be unaccessible. Win, win, win!
Grab your iPad edition while it’s on sale!
($2.99) iTunes link
NavFree (v1.6.0)
Picked by: jhrogersii
If you are doing any traveling this Holiday season and don’t have a paid turn by turn navigation app, then you should definitely check out Navmii’s NavFree, which was recently released here in the US. While Waze and Skobbler are both free and are great in urban areas with good data service, they struggle in areas with weak signal, and become completely useless when you hit a dead spot since they stream map data from the Internet.
While Navfree uses the same OpenStreetMap project maps as Skobbler, it stores all of the map data on your phone. This gives Navfree a distinct advantage over its ad-supported and crowd-sourced competition. Now you can travel into the mountains or far off the beaten path and be confident that you can continue to find your way, even when you leave AT&T’s Edge service far behind. You will have to sacrifice 1.8GB of space for this app, but this is no different than the paid GPS apps in the App Store, and if you have the room, the added security is definitely worth it.
Bear in mind that Navfree is still a little rough around the edges. While the maps are stored on your phone, they are still open-source, so they aren’t perfect. Also, while it has some POIs and Google Search, the interface is a little clunky and some of the features are hard to access while driving. Despite its flaws, however, Navefree is a solid GPS app and should only get better with some more time and polish. Other than 1.8GB of space, what do you have to lose?
Grab it here in the App Store before you hit the road.
(Free) iTunes link
CamCard (Business Card Reader) v2.1.0.2
Picked by: Renkman
Have you got a desk drawer full of business cards like me? Can you ever find the one you are looking for when you need it—or better yet, when you are away from your office? CamCard is a great way to scan all of your business cards so that they are available for you on your iPhone when you really need it. With its great recognition and speed capabilities you might never feel the need to keep a physical business card again. Some of the great features available include
1. Anti-shake capture image.
2. Display the corresponding image when edit business card information.
3. Automatic detect text orientation.
4. Automatic rotation of card images.
5. Automatic crop card images from the background.
6. Automatic beautify business card Images.
7. Card holder: in the cardholder, you can, based on the contact’s recognition information, make a phone call, send SMS, send an email, browse web page and locate the address on the Google map.
8. Add contact’s information to the specific group.
9. Merge with exiting contact.
($6.99) iTunes link or pick up the Free/Lite version here
There you have it! Hope you enjoyed this week’s installment of Picks of the week. Please let us know what you think, and share with us some of your favorites.
Continue reading:
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- Apple TV now only $69
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