1st Impressions

Every once in a while an app comes around that causes you to sit back in awe at the incredible depth of the application – especially when it comes at the low price of $0.99.  Diabetes Companion is just such an application.

This might seem like a rabbit trail, but stay with me for a moment. You can go into any pharmacy in the country and pick up a pair of fingernail clippers for less than a buck – but if you ever find yourself in a desperite need for one, how many of you wouldn’t gladly pay 5 times that amount in order to be able to take care of a hang nail or an ingrown toenail?

That is exactly the feeling I had when I began to explore the depth if this application. Even though it costs less than a buck, the value of the application and the benefit you will get from it is worth far more than that. I even started feeling guilty at experiencing such a great app for such a low price.

The application could have easily been divided into several different apps and each sold seperatly but the developer instead made this into one robust and yet very easy to manouver application.

The first of major components of the app is nutritional information on the foods you are eating, as well as  hundreds (if not thousands) of diabetic friendly recipes. For example I did a search on “pork chops” and the result was the nutritional info on 633 differently prepared pork chops and 711 recipes for fixing them.

The next major component contains links to a wealth of information on diabetes, including everything from tips on how to help children with diabetes, glucose monitoring, and even pets with diabetes.

The final and yet probably the most useful portion of the app is the ability to not only track your carbohydrate intake, but also how it affects your blood glucose level, and the amounts of both fast snd slow acting insulin that you use to control it.  Just as important is the ability to track the levels over different periods of time (daily, weekly, and monthly) and generate reports that might reveal important trends not only to you but to your endocrinologist as well.

And to think that you can get all this for less than a dollar. If I were diabetic, then this would rapidly become the most used app on my iPhone…

NDrive USA is an app I’ve had on my review list for a couple of weeks now.  I’ve used in in an extensive and exhaustive house hunt, and it was the very use of the app (and reason for it) that was causing the delay in getting the review done.  I was feeling guilty for not getting the review out sooner, but then saw something today that made me think the timing could not be better.

NDrive is a HUGE app.  Weighing in at 1.78 GB and a normal price of $32.99, the app does everything a GPS app would be expected to do.  But the app just made my Must-Have list.  Why?  Because the first 1 million downloads will get it at $2.99.  You can read more about the special promotion here.  If you don’t have  a GPS in your vehicle and don’t already have a turn-by-turn GPS app for your iPhone, you’d be crazy to let this steal of a deal pass you by.

Now for the review.  NDrive did a great job in locating places I was going to check out in my house hunt.  It is a very complete and complex app.  Being unfamiliar with these types of apps, there was a bit of a learning curve in using it.  The thing that threw me off initially was that I could not get it to take/find addresses.  I was trying to stick in an address in the same format as I would write it out.  But the iPhone app wants your address in the same way that the Post Office looks at it…from the largest geographical area down to the smallest.  You start out giving it the city, then the street, then the number.  Once this concept clicked,  was quickly using the app to get from place to place.

The only true issue I had with NDrive was hardware related rather than software.  Obviously, the iPhone is going to pick up better GPS accuracy in the open.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a convertible and medical issues require me to recline as much as possible.  This led to inaccurate locations and directions unless I put the iPhone near the windows.  When I say “inaccurate”, I don’t mean that it was telling me to turn left when it should have been a right.  It would tell me to “turn left ahead” and I’d already be at the intersection.  So, for best results, I’d suggest using this app with one of those windshield mounts like what a typical GPS would have.  If you put them both in the same location with the same access to the sky, NDrive provided every bit as good of a navigation experience as the built-in system in a much more expensive Lincoln Navigator that I was in on one of my “testing” days.

In case you need any further incentive to get such a comprehensive app for such an incredibly low price, check out the app features:

- Fully functional SIGNPOSTS AND INFOLANES
- Embedded store-inside-store to allow an easy download of extra features to your Application
- Highly effective search engine and fast calculations derives benefits such as fast and easy calculation of alternative routes and re-routing
- Car, Pedestrian and Adventure Mode
-ADVENTURE MODE will guide the way while trekking, bike riding, off-road in cars, on boats and even on light aircrafts
- Simple and intuitive user interface
- MULTI-TOUCH TECHNOLOGY with gesture recognition for menu, zooming, tilting and panning will enable you to control and display maps easily
- POIs (Points of Interest) and favorites with phone/fax number, description, email and website address
- UNLIMITED NUMBER of customizable favorite’s entries and user defined categories
- Search and navigate to city centers, street names and numbers, crossings, postal codes, favorite places, recent locations, coordinates and nearby POIs
- Advanced itinerary with multiple waypoints which enhanced planning
- Keyboard available in either ABC or QWERTY mode
- Integration with iPod, offers listening to music while driving
- Automatic Day/Night mode
- Sound and visual alerts for desired and fixed maximum speed limits
- Automatic Portrait/Landscape display mode
- Free access to the NDRIVE COMMUNITY where sharing POIs with other users anywhere in the world is possible
- Search Online from your NDrive application using search engines like GoogleTM to find additional POIs in any location
- Actual and complete map of the USA (March 2010)
- OVER 1,500,000 POIs representing restaurants, gas stations, tourism attractions, hotels, landmarks, etc.
- Precise voice instruction and full interface language support for: English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch and Portuguese.

As guys grow up they are more than likely going to accumulate an entire black book full of contact info on all their old girlfriends. When they get into a bind they will often pull a name out of their book for an emergency date (to a wedding for example) and discover that they really like the girl after all and finds himself at the beginning of a long and happy relationship.

That is exactly the same kind of situation I found myself in a couple of days ago – but with iPhone apps and not old girlfriends. In this case I dusted off an application I hadn’t used in some time (not that I ever “used” any if my girlfriends) and found that it fit my needs even better now then when I first purchased it. That application was Easy Relax Ultimate.

If any of you read my article on The Perfect Alarm Clock then you will know that I was getting frustrated with my ability to listen to soothing music at night, have a clock on my nightstand, and then wake up to an alarm that is louder than the music I slept to. This problem was made worse when my phone began having difficulty properly repeating the music tracts I used to sleep to.

Unlike many other apps in the same genre, Easy Relax Ultimate not only gives you a set number (in this case 16) different sound collections but will also let you use any one of 22 different base sounds and add up to 3 different intermittant sounds as well an one binaural tones to create your own perfect melodic collection.

Let me give you an example. The top selection on the screen shot was one I created myself. I began with the sounds of gentle lapping of some soft ocean waves. I then added a healthy dose of a breeze blowing through trees and the occasional cricket chirp and distant melody of a wind chime. Each of these intermuttant sounds are customizable not only by controlling their individual volume but also their interval, randomness, and speed.

I completed the masterpiece by adding a barely audible binaural tune designed to assist in deep dreamless sleep. The end result was magical. If it wasn’t for the lack of sand on my feet, the smell of sea air, and no strings in my back than all I have to do is close my eyes and I an transported to a hammock on the beach with a breeze softly blowing through the palms and sea grass and with the faint sound of the wind chimes across the dune from me.

While I love the app it, just like the girls in that black book, could use some added features or upgrades. I would not only like to have the option to download new sounds but also switch between a timer with an alarm at the end and instead just be able to set the alarm for a specific time. I also wish that changes to the color and brightness clock were saved so that it wasn’t just bright green each time it started.

In the past I have tried several apps of this type but always find myself returning to this one. At $2.99 it might cost a tad more than some of its competitors but I think it is worth it.

This article is not a review of the perfect alarm clock but rather a “wish list” if you will about what I wish I could fine in one single application.

Since first acquiring my iPhone about 2.5 years ago I have purchased numerous alarm clock or apps designed to soothe you to sleep with relaxing music or sounds.  While it would be ideal to have both kinds of apps combines into one (and some developers have tried with varying degrees of success), I would like to focus this article on what I think would be the ideal alarm clock application.

Before getting into those features, let me explain how I typically use my iPhone at night.

• First of all, I have a hard time sleeping much of the time so I enjoy listening to soothing music or playlists full or babbling brooks or rain showers accompanied by binaural tones designed to help you sleep.
• Next I have to dim the brightness of my iPhone so that the brightness of the clock don’t keep me awake.
• I then have to make sure that my jail-broken phone has the correct profile running (I wouldn’t need to jail-break it if Apple would release apps like that…) to block all pop-ups by turning off WIFI and placing the phone into airplane mode. (It doesn’t do any good to have a clock running during the night if a pop-up blocks the display….)
• If I need to get up at a specific time I then need to turn on an alarm in the default clock application so that, regardless of the volume level I have my soft music playing, the alarm will go off loud enough to wake me.
• Finally I can start the night-stand type clock application I use and place my phone in a charging dock for the night.

So, what would an ideal alarm clock application need to have in order to make me happy?

1.       Provide me with sleep timer during which it will fade in and then fade out music of my choice or built in “go to sleep” music or sounds

2.       Access the camera for the first few minutes to adjust the brightness of the clock as you prepare for bed and get the lights turned out

3.       Provide the option to either block all pop-up notifications or, at least, remove them from the screen after a pre-determined time period

4.       Allow for separate volume levels for the music that is playing and the alarm that is set from within the app

SO… are those four things too much to ask for in a single application? You tell me. Better yet, if you know of an application that comes close to offering those features, leave a comment and let me know.  I would love to check it out.

Spots is an excellent WiFi finder. What sets this app apart from others that I have tried is that you don’t need an Internet connection in order to find one. This $1.99 app has a frequently-updated internal database of thousands of free hotspots. Launching the app displays the closest ones in both a list and in a graphical map. Touching the map icons will highlight the corresponding item in the list.

Launching the item from the list displays the name, address, phone number, and the type of service. Quick links allow you to call and/or get directions.

The only thing I can conceivably think to add to the app us the ability to submit items to the database. I could see where this information may need to be verified or indicate that it is unverified, but it would really complement this application with something I have not seen elsewhere.

Overall, the app is very comprehensive and fills a need. My only concern us the price point. With free alternatives out there, some may balk at the $2 price tag for the interface. But, on the other hand, there is plenty of competition at that price point as well.

OK.  I admit.  This is first part is a bit of a rant.  The one thing I hate the most about the iPhone is the hubris of Steve Jobs in thinking that no one can do it better than he can.  The internal clock app is a perfect example.  While not allowing other developers to run background processes (like an alarm clock) because of alleged performance issues and battery drain, it’s actually all about control.  Steve has no problem at all with you running an alarm clock in the background as long as it is HIS alarm clock.  The iPhone is basically marketed as not only a phone, but a mini-computer with thousands of programs that you can run on it – as long as they are programs that Steve approves of.  If Microsoft were to sell you a computer and only allow you to run their chosen programs on it, folks would go nuts.  If GM were to sell you a car and tell you where you could drive it, they’d go nuts.  But in the cult that is Apple, the sheeple buy the party line of “it’s for our own good” and see the hubris of Mr. Jobs as a good thing.  But, thinking outside the box, now there is an app for that…or rather to get around that.  Fishbone Studios has, until Steve figures out someone has created a better mousetrap, created an app that gets around the “background processes” limitations of the iPhone and does it in style.  The way they did this is pure genius.

Alarm Clock is a $0.99 utility in the App Store that gets around the “background processes” limitation of the iPhone with an ingenious use of push notifications – alarms that are synchronized with a push server.  It is such an obvious solution that it leaves you smacking your forehead for not thinking of it first.  Not being satisfied with getting one over on Steve though, they went further and created one of the most comprehensive and feature-rich clock apps I’ve ever seen.  Not only does it support both portrait and landscape modes, but the interface is fully customizable with built-in themes and manual overrides and will allow the user to select separate brightness levels for both the clock and the background.  Even fonts (standard or italics) can be selected.  Alarms can be chosen from included sounds or selections from your iPod library (shuffled or not) and can be faded in over a chosen period of time.  Snooze times are also configurable up to 30 minutes and alarms can be set to repeat on certain days of the week.  The alarm can trigger the standard push notification, no push notification at all, or a selection of a couple of other sounds.  This is in addition to the sound selected for the alarm itself.  (Be warned though that without the push notification set to trigger the alarm, you need to have the app running in order for the app itself to trigger it.)  One of the handiest features though is the built-in flashlight mode.  If your alarm goes off in the dark, a shake of the iPhone will fade in a “flashlight” white screen to illuminate your surroundings.

This app is so feature-rich that I had to really search for my typical list of suggestions….but I did come up with a list.  Right now, the app has very few built-in sounds and no access to the iPhone’s regular alarm sound library.  The ability to choose any sound from your music library allows for all kinds of opportunities, but it would be nice if there were other alarm sounds available.  Also, while the alarms can be repeated on particular days of the week, it would be nice if they could be set like a calendar function with specific dates and repeat weekly, monthly, annually, and so forth.  I don’t know if there is a way to have a “silent” push notification that automatically triggers the selected alarm sound from the app, but that too would be cool.  Maybe one way around this is to have the required push notification to play a selected song from the iTunes library at the selected volume level so that “viewing” the push notification is not required in order to hear the selected alarm sound.  Finally, and this is the one feature I expected and was surprised not to find, it would be cool if you could select an image from your own photos to use as a background.  That, in conjunction with the adjustable placement of the clock digits, would make this app pretty much perfect.

All in all, I’m very impressed with this app.  With push notifications for an alarm turned off, it acts like most other alarm apps.  With them turned on (particularly with that obnoxious “digital nightstand” sound), it alerts/wakes you no matter what you have running.  If/when Apple ever allows a push alert to automatically launch an app, you’d already have all your alarms set up for that.  For those of you that ask me privately if I’d recommend this app for you, the answer is yes.  It’s a buck well spent and definitely makes my Must Have list as it will be replacing the other alarm apps on my iPhone permanently.  The fact that it gets around some of Steve Jobs hubris is just icing on the cake.   Even if you don’t use your iPhone as an alarm clock, support the ingenuity of this great little work-around.

MyTtuner (as in “Mighty-Tuner”) is an interesting take on an Internet radio app. Instead of searching by genre or station ID, MyTuner shows you a list of all the song artists currently being played. By selecting the artist name, you are presented with a screen showing a selection of stations currently playing that artist. Obviously, the more current and popular the artist, the more choices you have. Once playing the selected station, you can add it to your favorites list or pull up a page of information about the song.

One nice feature of this $2.99 app is the ability to not only scroll through a list of playing artists, but create a list of favorite artists and/or song titles. When you launch the app, it shows you if any stations are playing each of those favorites.  This screen is also updated every time you update the current selections screen as well.

I do have some suggestions for the app. I would love to see counters next to the artist list showing station count like there is on the screen of searched for artists. The addition of current artist and song on the page of favorite stations would be nice as well. Finally, I would love to see some kind of filtering or color coding based on genre and/or favorite stations would really help when sorting through the long list of artists.

Overall, this app is unique enough to stand out. My concern is the price point though. With so many other free alternatives, I think that the $3 price tag is going to limit sales. That being said though, the app seems solid and I would recommend it to the fans of Internet radio.

UPDATE: I just saw that MyTtuner is now on sale for $0.99.  Makes trying it out that much easier!

MyReef 3D Aquarium is an application that really has to be experienced to really appreciate.  It is gorgeous!  While there is a light free version, the on-sale $0.99 version is well worth the price.  It has some of the most incredible visuals of anything I have seen on the iPhone.  Options not only include selection of what fish you want in your reef, choice of background and substrate, and placement of the reef pieces, but also lets you set the volume of the sound (bubbles) and allows you to listed to a playlist while you watch your reef.

It doesn’t just stop there though.  You can “tap on the glass” to freak out your fish, feed them and watch them gather for it, have the “camera” view automatically move around the tank, or “tie” it to a chosen fish and have it follow it around.  Both landscape as well as portrait modes are supported, and you can zoom and pan around as you would expect.  Screenshots of your reef also make for great wallpaper on you lock screen.

The developers also have a second fish tank experience available.  The interface is slightly different, but the concept is the same.  It is priced at $2.99 and a free version is available.  The 3D Aquarium app is a bit more expensive, but it allows you to allows you to set up multiple tanks (three total).  Other than having multiple tanks and a slightly different interface, the most obvious difference is that (1) you cannot move reef parts around in your tank, and (2) the accelerometer acts differently.  In MyReef 3D, turning your iPhone changes from portrait to landscape.  In 3D Aquarium, it rotates your camera around in your tank.  It also seems to lack the ability to zoom and pan like MyReef 3D.

Between the two, and considering the price, I’d choose MyReef 3D over 3D Aquarium if I were only going to select one of them.  And if I were going to offer a suggestion, I love the way MyReef 3D behaves in my iPhone dock.  It would be nice if you could have a small opaque time indicator in the bottom of the screen.  It would make a great desktop clock (or even an alarm clock).  An option added to the apps that would require regular care/feeding would also turn them into more of a virtual pet application for those that like that kind of thing.  Having a timer on the playing of the playlist and/or the app as a whole would be nice as well in case you wanted to use it to go to sleep to or something.

Overall, these are both quality apps worth checking out.  They really show off the video capabilities of the iPhone.

Drug Prescription Info is a $2.99 app in the App Store.  It is the answer to all those little folded drug sheets that come with a prescription.  You know, those little squint-print fold-outs that you can’t even read.  Well now you can.  Containing pages and pages of information for each prescription, this app will even email you a link where you can view your drug information online  (here is a sample).

I found reading the information on my laptop to be easier than the iPhone screen, but it is nice to be able to look up a drug without having to be tied to a computer.

Overall, this is a pretty simple app.  It does one thing, and does it well.  I can’t think of any problems with the app, or any suggestions for that matter.  I had initially thought of drug interaction cautions for bookmarked drugs, but that is probably a lot more of a situation of giving medical advice than an iphone app wants to get into.

While this same information is probably available online if you know where to go find it, having it in a single application and being able to bookmark your meds is a nice thing to have.  I’m not sure about the $2.99 price point though.  Considering that this is not new information, but information that already comes with your prescription, I would probably recommend this app a bit stronger if it were a bit cheaper.  It’s a good app though and does what it does very well.

If there were ever two things that don’t go together, it’s pregnancy and drugs.  When my wife was pregnant, she was cautious to the point of being paranoid.  Now, you don’t have to be paranoid because there’s an app for that!

The $2.99 application is, in my eyes, a must-have application for anyone who is pregnant, planning on getting that way one day, or loves someone that will.  By looking up a drug’s name, you are not only shown warnings as it relates to human pregnancy, but also animal studies on things like pregnant rats and mice, and information for post-pregnancy labor and nursing.  You can also bookmark a drug for easy location later.

I didn’t find the drug database in this to be as robust as the one in Side Effect Check, and I also had an issue in the email function where it sent a “{null}” emails instead of the information described on the screen, but I found this to be a very useful application.  It makes my Must Have list.