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Familiar Desktop Features Make Up For Full Browser's Quirks November 19, 2009 
If you search for "browser" in the App Store, you'll get dozens of applications, each purporting to be an alternative to the iPhone and iPod touch's built-in Safari browser. In a sense, they are alternatives, since they look different and might have a few unique features. But they're really all Safari underneath.
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RedLaser for iPhone: There's a Bargain for That November 12, 2009 
It's easy to see why the retail industry has been in love with the bar code for the past several decades. It makes checkout faster, and it probably makes inventory a lot easier when you've got a computer system to keep track of everything that passes over the counter. But some retailers abuse the technology by using it as an excuse to not put an actual price tag anywhere on or near the products on their shelves.
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Chorus Should Sound Great Once More Singers Join In November 05, 2009 
The iTunes App Store became 100,000 applications strong this week, and it took less than a year and a half to get there. Would it surprise you to know that not every last one of those apps is a perfect work of art? Yes, believe it or not, many of the apps that compete for your attention in the App Store are pretty worthless.
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Song Sift Solves a Problem for Picky Podsters October 29, 2009 
It's been about a decade since the first practical MP3 players started popping up, and 10 years is plenty of time to collect a positively bloated library of digital music. Perhaps you got in at the ground floor with Napster in '99 and loaded up on free tunes before the music industry decided to do something about it. Maybe you remain a proud pirate, Bay or no Bay.
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'Rock Band' for iPhone Knows the Words, but the Tone Is Flat October 22, 2009 
When it comes to games, Apple's App Store isn't just a flea market where independent and small-scale developers can earn a few bucks peddling momentary amusements for 99 cents a pop. Giant game makers like EA, Capcom and Ubisoft sometimes set up shop, and when they do, they're not afraid to charge top dollar, as App Store games go.
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Photoshop for iPhone: Premium Version, Please October 15, 2009 
It's slowly becoming apparent that cellphone photos need not look awful. Some phone are hitting the market with 8 or more megapixels, approaching the sort of resolution you'd get on a low-cost pocket cam. That's still not nearly professional hardware, but it sure will come out better than the muddy, washed-out tile mosaics you used to get from camera phones.
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Charging Station Smackdown: Powermat vs. Duracell October 08, 2009 
It's a pain to keep track of the chargers that go with cellphones, media players and other small electronics. It's even more annoying to stuff multiple power cords and adapters in your bag when you go out of town. What if you could charge things without plugging them in? I've started doing just that.
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Trope: A Softer Shade of Bloom October 08, 2009 
Two weeks ago, when I reviewed an application called "Air," I referred to it as the follow-up to a similar app called "Bloom." One of the developers, Peter Chilvers, wrote in with a point of clarification: Air was not actually intended as the official follow-up to Bloom, an app that Chilvers wrote in collaboration with Brian Eno. The real follow-up, also created by Chilvers and Eno, is called "Trope."
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CNN Mobile: One Small Step for a News App October 01, 2009 
When CNN released its new iPhone application this week, the big news wasn't so much that the app was out there, but that CNN had the audacity to charge money for it. Nearly two whole dollars for news? In this online land of plenty? Bah! The Associated Press has a free news app -- as it didn't fail to point out when it covered the release of the CNN application.
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Air: Breezy Autopilot, Light on Interaction September 24, 2009 
The iPhone has an odd sort of potential as a musical instrument. From the moment the App Store opened, there have been applications that attempt to approximate real instruments, even giving you the ability to make multitrack recordings. I've yet to hear a real magnum opus composed on one, though I'm sure someone somewhere has tried.
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New Nano Rocks, Zune Learns a Few Good Steps September 20, 2009 
Back in 2004, when I got my first MP3 player, I never cared that it lacked a camera, Web browser and crystal-clear video playback -- features that are now common on digital media devices. Apple's latest iPod nano and Microsoft's freshest Zune, both released within the past week, offer these kinds of perks and plenty more.
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MindNode: Free Thinking Isn't Free September 17, 2009 
Brain mapping is essentially the act of recording a brainstorming or planning session in an organized diagram. Start with a general idea relating to what you're trying to accomplish -- your central node -- then just start throwing up related ideas, connecting them to the node that inspired them, and building nodes upon nodes.
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iFrogz Timbre Earbuds a Deft Mix of Sound, Looks and Price September 15, 2009 
There are hundreds of decent sets of headphones and earbuds available for iPods, and there are dozens made specifically for the iPhone, including the now ubiquitous white earbuds that ship with the devices. But what if you'd like something a little different, yet aren't willing to shell out audiophile-level cash?
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Snow Leopard: It's the Little Things That Thrill September 10, 2009 
Apple's previous version of its Mac OS X operating system, Leopard, was already great, so what does Apple's latest upgrade -- Snow Leopard -- bring to the table? More importantly, is it worth bothering with? I've been using Snow Leopard since FedEx brought it to me late last month, and at the upgrade price of just $29, yes, it's worth getting.
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'Geared': Like Tetris for Watchmakers September 03, 2009 
Having played a few games from a lot of different genres on the iPhone, my own prejudices have become more apparent to me. I just don't like playing certain types of games on this platform, even types of games I usually enjoy on a PC or console. First-person shooters are too difficult to control, for example.
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Put Things Off: A Practical, Pragmatic Prioritizer for Procrastinators August 27, 2009 
Once you've set up MobileMe, Google Sync or any other syncing service to wirelessly coordinate a desktop calendar to the Calendar app on the iPhone, it's easy to start entrusting your every waking task short of heartbeat and respiration to a "ding!" and a pop-up notice.
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