Welcome to our weekly installment of Picks of the Week. Last week our usually dependable staff at iSource was busy measuring their white iPhone 4’s to see whose was thicker, all decided that instead of sending me their pick, they all went on a staff retreat to an unknown destination—without me! Luckily, this week they’re back to contribute to our expanded coverage of Apple accessories and applications Get ready to read about some of our favorite iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and Apple TV related items, as well as some 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
ThinkBook (v1.0.1)
Picked by: Brandon
ThinkBook (http://www.thinkbookapp.com/) is one of those applications that you can’t just pigeon hole into a single category and say “this is what it does” because the app really is what you make of it. I’ve included a screenshot of one of my ThinkBook pages just to give you a hint of what ThinkBook can do. Want to take notes for a project? Have a checklist of steps you need to perform for a task? Have sub notes or questions for a main concept? Want to make a killer speech outline? ThinkBook has you covered. But it doesn’t have to end there, as ThinkBook includes things like customizable dashboards, tagged items, “finder” notes, todo’s, questions and more. It also includes a “slider” which basically lets you take a note and move it anywhere like a universal clipboard… It’s hard to explain, but once you use it makes sense.
Anyway, I’ve been using ThinkBook for about a week now and I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of what I think I can use it for. The best part is even though it doesn’t ‘sync’ with your desktop or a cloud app – you’re not stuck without a way to get your info back if something happens as there’s great Dropbox integration. You can even export to plain text and use your notes somewhere else if you need to!
ThinkBook was just released and is available on the app store for an introductory price of $1.99. If you’re a note taker, list maker, to-doer or just like keeping your thoughts organized for later reference ThinkBook is worth considering!
Search YouTube for “bitolithicvideos” for a couple demos of what ThinkBook can do.
($1.99) iTunes Link
Aweditorium (v1.02)
Picked by: Thomas
My pick of the week is the free Aweditorium for iPad, featuring a smorgasbord of musicians laid out in tiles, just waiting to come to life at the tap of a finger.
Tap to view an artist and hear a song.
Tap to see full-screen YouTube videos of what is playing.
Tap to activate trivia, lyrics, and other songs by the artist.
Swipe to move on to someone else
or Pinch to head back to the tiles view and see how many artists you’ve checked out, and have yet to check out.
I recommend having earphones, a comfy seat, and a nice sunny afternoon nearby for maximum enjoyment.
(Free) iTunes Link
Zinio Magazine Newsstand & Reader (v1.9.7)
Picked by: AliciaB
My pick of this week is the Zinio app for iPad and iPhone. The app aspires to be a newsstand, essentially a wide-ranging collection of digital magazines that you can browse before choosing to buy a single title or splurging on a subscription. It pretty much works as advertised and has an impressive collection to choose from: Business Week, the Economist, National Geographic, MacWorld, Wallpaper, Rolling Stone just to name a few, including titles in several languages, a definite plus for us international peeps. You can browse featured titles, new arrivals and top sellers, view your stored publications, or shop for new ones to download via search. Some mags are naturally interactive while others are simple digitized versions of their printed counterparts. Of course the app includes a few article teasers and throw in a few freebies in there to get you hooked. But I’ve resisted that “buy” button. So far.
Zinio has passed my app sniff test already, meaning I actually intend to use it after the initial test. I’m definitely for browsing for new titles in one app instead of having each publication’s app on my iPad. Less app clutter is better in my book. Zinio not only makes it very easy to get new reading material onto your iPad and iPhone but does it in a really appealing, no fuss way. Find it on the App store for both iPad and iPhone.
(Free) iTunes Link / US Store
Zinio Magazine Newsstand & Reader (v1.9.7)
Picked by: AliciaB
Another app that I’ve been checking out this week is Carousel, which deserves all the attention and praise it’s been getting in the past days. The devs tout it as “the best way to experience Instagram on your Mac”. It is indeed beautiful and stylishly simple. A vertical strip displaying your Instagram feed of choice, right on your desktop. Very welcome are available customizations – letting you set theme, rate of auto-refresh, or enlarge photos, as well as the ease of action in-app. Liking, commenting, browsing – all very smooth and fluid. One thing though. I’m surprised that you can drag and drop any photo to your desktop since this makes it quite easy for people to misuse your pics without you knowing about it. The Instagram iPhone app does not allow this. I wish the devs would give users at least the option of protecting their images. Also, I’m not convinced that the app is worth $4.99. After all, Instagram on iPhone is a free experience that is in itself very satisfying. Why pay for the same experience on desktop? I’m undecided at the moment, we’ll see after my 15-day trial is over. For the moment I’m pleased to see how Instagram is being re-born on other platforms.
Get the free trial from
(Free Trial) Carousel’s website
My-Cast Weather Radar (v1.4.1)
Picked by: Renkman
With the severe summer weather fast approaching in Florida, I decided to try to upgrade my weather app to something more detailed and reliable than what I had previously been using. The app that was mentioned more than once as head and shoulders above the competition was My-Cast. It didn’t take long for me to agree—and now it’s on sale for 25% off the regular price. Here are the highlights–
• Real-time, animated radar
• Weather Map with conditions, temperatures, dew points, wind direction and wind speed overlays
• Animated Visible and Infrared Clouds
• Interactive StormWatch map with National Weather Service alerts
• Complete severe weather warnings, watches, and advisory alert text
• 7-day forecast with high/low temperatures and chance of precipitation
• Hourly forecast with temps, wind speed/direction and chance of precipitation
• Forecast graph including past, present and forecast wind, dew point, temperature, and sky conditions
• Save your favorite and recently viewed locations for anywhere in the U.S.
• Shake for live data refresh
• One-button push for GPS positioning
• No ads!
($3.99) iTunes Link
There you have it! Hope you enjoyed this week’s installment of Picks of the week. Please let us know what you think in the comments section, and share with us some of your favorites.
Continue reading:
- Everything New Apple Just Announced (Septembe
- Apple Watch Pre-Order
- Apple Research Kit launches with 5 Apps
- Apple TV now only $69
TAGS:
