Tag Archives: downloads

Top 5 iPhone and iPod touch apps – January 2011

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Sorry it’s been such a long time since I last blogged. It’s been a busy year so far with countless AS level exams, coursework and other projects I’ve been getting up to out of college. However, I have a little free time so I thought I’d rekindle the site with a new post – I was getting worried that I might not make a single post within January!

Anyway, here’s your top 5 iPhone and iPod touch apps for January 2011:

5. Family Guy Time Warped [£0.59 for full version]

If you enjoy Family Guy, you’ll really enjoy this great app. You play characters from the game in various challenges. The game is very entertaining although sometimes it can get quite frustrating as, at times, you die repeatedly! Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a game that’ll occupy you for a few hours, try it.

4. FleetMaster [FREE]

FleetMaster is a brilliant free battleships game which works via online multiplayer. The game uses “Game Center” to find others players for you to challenge. Whilst the game is a little sluggish at times, it does work very effectively and can be good entertainment if you’ve got internet to hand.

3. Cover Orange [£0.59]

Sadly this game is no longer free, but even at £0.59 it is well worth the purchase. This is an extremely addictive game with seemingly endless levels to complete. You play to save oranges that need to be saved from deadly “rain”. Sounds random, but it is extremely good fun (and often very frustrating).

2. Words With Friends [Free version available]

This free game (ad supported, full version available) is a classic attempt at a digital interactive version of Scrabble. It does actually work very well with online multiplayer. However, if you’ve got many games running at the same time, the push notifications can become extremely irritating so you may want to consider turning those off. Otherwise, it’s another great way to waste some time.

1. Sunday Lawn [Free for a limited time]

I discovered this game some time ago, but it came to my attention that this is now free for a limited time. This has to be one of my favourite classic iOS games – but I almost find it too addictive.

So there you go – nothing very productive this month (!!) but definitely some great games to try. I apologize that there was no top 5 for December – I admit I simply ran out of time. I’ll try and get posts back on the go soon, but for the mean time I hope these keep your i-device stocked up for a while!

If I don’t get time to post, please remember that you can follow me with @geekonthepc on twitter for any personal updates.

Top 5 iPhone and iPod touch apps – November 2010

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Since I’ve had my new iPod touch 4G, I’ve been downloading, installing and often deleting a huge number of apps. If you have to give Apple credit for one of their creations, the App Store would be where credit is due. It is, undoubtedly, the most popular store for mobile devices.

So, I’ve decided to start writing monthly top 5 app charts for the iPhone and iPod touch. Don’t ask me whether this will last – I haven’t got a clue! But I shall remain optimistic for the time being and begin now.

Here we go then. Here’s your top 5 roundup for November 2010 in reverse order.

Oh, and I’ll take the opportunity to point out that (for this month at least) there may be some older apps in the charts. You can’t ignore the classics and the most useful apps just because they’ve been out for some time. Basically, what I’m saying is, the month this refers to doesn’t necessarily mean that the app was launched during this month.

5. thetrainline [FREE]

This has to be one of my most used transport apps. This has been around for some time (I can remember it having a permanent residence on my old iPod touch as well as my new one) but, nevertheless, it is extremely useful for finding trains across the UK at the last minute. It’s only downside is that you can’t check ticket prices without registering for an account, which is a bit of a bummer if you need to know in a hurry. It does memorize your home location, though, which is handy as you can just tell the app to find the nearest station to your current location and get you a train home. If you use trains regularly, this is a must have.

4. OpenFeint (Free App a Day) [FREE]

The title gives the app away really. Every day, OpenFeint make an app on the App Store free for a day, and it’s your opportunity to get something for nothing. It’s pot luck really – sometimes the apps are great and other times they just aren’t worth the bandwidth. But as they’re free, I guess you haven’t got much to loose.

3. VLC [FREE]

If you know about VLC Media Player for your computer, it won’t take you long to work out what this app does. However, it does do an extremely good job. It plays a wide range of video formats so I can finally play videos that aren’t in the annoying, space hungry MP4 format. It doesn’t always display videos in the centre of the screen, though, which you might find irritating. However, if you have videos in various formats on your computer, it is well worth the download.

2. eBuddy Pro [£2.99]

If you want a decent portable IM client, this can’t really be beaten. There is a free version of eBuddy for iPhone (and iPod touch) but it’s full of adverts and limitations – so I would suggest buying the full version if you’re going to be using IM frequently on the go. I prefer eBuddy Pro to other IM clients (such as the official WLM app) mainly because it is clean, quick and I find the notifications are much more responsive in this app than any other app of it’s kind. It also handles multitasking very well.

1. RedLaser [FREE]

As previously reviewed on GEEK!, I think this has to be my first number 1 app. If you like comparing prices for products and saving money online, this app will be your new companion. The app utilises the camera built into the iPhone (and iPod touch 4G) and uses it is to scan barcodes. Yes, you’ve heard of this concept many times before – however this app actually works! It’s found the vast majority of barcodes I’ve tried to scan with it, and also managed to get good price comparisons. This app is undoubtedly a huge time saver. It’s also a good entertainer for half an hour if you’ve got plenty of DVD’s or the likes in your home!!

So there you go. Let’s see if I remember to post up next month’s roundup.

Microsoft Dreamspark – free Microsoft software for students

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I can’t believe I’ve only just stumbled across this, but Microsoft are now offering a whole bundle of professional software to students for free.

They call it Microsoft Dreamspark, and it’s a website ran by the company. If you’re in post-16 or university education, you can get a hefty chunk of their professional software for free. Being a student myself, this is very handy.

Amongst other things, you can get Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 Pro, Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Ultimate and Windows Server 2008 for free until you finish university.

All you have to do is prove your education. This is relatively easy – if you have an ISIS card, an .edu (or .ac.uk) email address you can activate within a few minutes. If not, you can go through the process of applying for activation from your college or uni. You have to re-activate every year to get continued use of your software, but it’s well worth it.

It’s available in multiple countries, so don’t hesitate to check if you aren’t in the US or UK.

If you are a student computer enthusiast or programmer, head over to www.dreamspark.com and claim your free software!

Cloud Unlimted Music review – unlimited public wi-fi for the iPod Touch

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Get unlimited wi-fi for your iPod Touch at a tiny price

I recently subscribed to The Cloud’s iPod Touch service, dubbed “Cloud Unlimited Music”. It is a service designed specifically for the iPod Touch and gives unlimited browsing and downloading at The Cloud’s wi-fi hotspots for just £3.99 per month.

I decided it was worth it as it is handy to have instant internet access in many public train station. The company’s hotspots can be found in many public places – such as train stations, pubs, hotels, restaurants and as most O2 stores. Considering the small price, I can head out and just catch my emails or finish a download.

I’m really impressed at how well the system works. I signed up and added my debit card as payment, and then 2 days later (today) headed out to my local town to try it out. I walked into an O2 shop and tried to connect. Straight away I was on the net – no need to log on or anything like that.

You don’t need to log on because the system works by checking your iPod’s MAC address rather than a username or password. When you sign up, you provide your device’s MAC address and your account is locked to that code. By doing this, it means that you no longer have to log on when joining a hotspot.

In addition, I was also really impressed at the speeds. My local O2 store gave me a download speed of over 8 megabits per second (which is more than twice the speed of my home broadband).

So overall, I’m very happy with it. It’s great value and works very efficiently. If you need wi-fi access for your iPod Touch in town – this is for you.

Manage your downloads from your iPhone or iPod Touch

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Manage your overnight downloads without running up the electricity bill!

Do you ever find it annoying when you know you’ve got so much overnight download allowance with your broadband, but don’t want to use it because you’re computer uses so much electricity.

I have that problem regularly. It’s all very well having tonnes of usage allowance between midnight and 9am, but I don’t really want to run my computer overnight as a) it’s a fire hazard and b) it consumes a large amount of electricity.

So, yesterday, I found a solution to the issue. I found an app that will download your files for you and store them on the iPod. Then, when they are done, it will open up a port (8080) that you can browse to on your computer and download the files back locally.

The screenshot below is the file server page that can be browsed to in any web browser on your local network once it is activated within the app (click to see larger size):

I find this app so useful because I can run it all night and it won’t make a sound and won’t cost the Earth. Perfect!

You can get the full version here at £1.19, or get the free version here – but bear in mind that with the free version you can only store 10 files at a time.