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
Real Racing 2 HD (v1.11.03)
Picked by: PatrickJ
There are a number of superb racing games for the iPad, but this one is right there amongst the very best of them. Its got a great and long set of features – including 30 licensed cars, 15 different locations, hours of racing options from time trials to head-to-head, championship and more, and both local and online multiplayer options.
The game looks and feels outstanding and offers many hours worth of racing challenges.
The best thing of all about this app is that it is one of, or the, first iPad game to be optimized for AirPlay Mirrroring, and it works superbly via Apple’s HDMI cable or (in iOS 5) wirelessly. It really lets you use the iPad but look at the big screen while playing. Big fun.
($6.99) iTunes Link
Vocre (v1.0)
Picked by: Jack Hickman
Vocre is not just another translation app. With this app, you choose the language you are speaking and choose the language you want to translate to, speak into the iPhone’s mic and the app will allow the person you are speaking to hear it in their language, rather accurately. You can even choose the gender of your voice as well as the gender of the voice of the other person. Let’s say you are attempting to communicate with a woman from Spain, you choose the female voice to hear her translated response more naturally.
This app works very well, with two downsides, the first being the instructions. They’re rather lengthy and a bit confusing, and if you don’t use the app per the instructions, you have to start over. The second downside makes the first downside even worse: You have to purchase the translations! You get 10 free translations when you first use the app, then they are 10 for .99 or 100 for 8.99.
So, if you don’t get it right the first time (or the first several times if you’re me), then you quickly run out of translation credits and will have to purchase more, just to carry on a brief conversation.
The developers are currently planning to add more features to the app, such as on-the-fly translating over a phone call. That would be great, but if they continue to use the pay-per-translation credit system, a ten minute phone call could be rather costly!
In closing, this app has the potential to make language translation quick and painless, but their current purchase plans may be a deal-breaker for some, if not most.
Free (with in-app purchases of $0.99/10 translations and $8.99/100 voice translations)
(Free) iTunes Link
Cool Vienna (v2.01)
Picked by: AliciaB
My Pick of the Week is the universal iPhone/iPad app Cool Vienna – a collection of hi-res captioned images of one of the world’s prettiest cities – Vienna. Knowing the city intimately, I was especially interested in the images chosen of places familiar to me. And I was not disappointed. Très cool!
This kind of app is essentially the equivalent of a glossy coffee table picture book that one used to thumb through. Now the leisurely browsing is done by swipe, swish and tap. The images are well chosen and are visually appealing, just short of stunning. The app delivers useful tidbits of information on hotels, restaurants, shops and cool spots, discoverable by district and category. Captions are tastefully basic, nicely minimalistic. The UI is modern and colourful – navigating is logical and natural. There are the usual features for the chosen images: location info and maps, an option to share via email. There’s plenty to discover and savour in this and other sister apps: Cool New York, Cool Berlin, Cool London, Cool Paris and Cool Rome – all free.
Boot Camp Challenge (v1.0.0)
Picked by: Jay
This week, I’m excited to select lolo’s Boot Camp Challenge as my Pick. lolo is the maker of my one of go-to running apps, BeatBurn, and when the developer asked for me to take a look, I was eager. Although I haven’t gone through the entire 18-day program (yet), I’ve taken a quick peek at what Boot Camp Challenge has to offer and am impressed (video here).
According to the app’s developer, a veteran U.S. Army Trainer and Certified Personal Trainer, Lori Patterson, will lead you through a program for either Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced exercisers. Set up a profile, your available workout equipment, an account for cloud-based storage, and you’re ready to go.
Each day combines cardio, stretching, and muscular endurance training into one challenging workout. Every one of the 200+ exercises includes a video you can view DURING YOUR WORKOUT. This is actually pretty rare in fitness apps. Few apps can play videos without interrupting the flow of the workout.
FEATURES
• Includes over 200 unique exercises. Each one includes a video to help you perfect your form.
• Works anywhere! Over 125 body weight exercises to push you to your fitness goal. You can also add in equipment if you want a little extra challenge.
• lolo’s beat-sync technology perfectly matches the tempo of your music to your workout.
• Completely interactive. Swap out exercises to personalize your workouts. Increase or decrease the intensity at anytime and your trainer Lori Patterson — and your music — will respond!
One of lolo’s coolest and best features in all its apps is beat sync technology: taking your favorite songs in your iPod and adjusting the tempo without changing the pitch. It’s a component of Boot Camp Challenge and should be an unbeatable enhancement to the videos and GUI.
Who could ask for more personalization in an app for under $4? Also sitting pretty in App Store’s “New & Noteworthy” section, Boot Camp Challenge may very well rise to the top in workout apps.
iTunes link
($3.99) iTunes Link
Skitch (v1.0.7)
Picked by: Renkman
Skitch is an invaluable tool that I used each and every day. I use it with each post I write, each picture I clip and share, and for demonstrative purposes, I used it almost entirely to present it as my pick of the week!
screen shot courtesy of the Mac App Store
(Free) App Store Link
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.
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