Weather Maps, Moto X Mayhem, Google Mobile, Globall and Awesome Facts…

Weather Maps – (Requires Data Connection)

It’s that time again for another week of Top 5 Apps! The Weather Maps App is great if your living in the UK. Just like the weather on TV the App shows the full map of the UK and shows radar information including rain, cloud, snow. It shows sun too not that we get much of it in the UK The App even shows temperatures and wind information exactly like the forecast you see on the BBC weather website and News.

The App shows you radar information for the next 5 days. Overall this is a great app to see what is going on over the whole of the UK all on one screen. Also the data seems much more precise than the information given on the standard Weather App.

Moto X Mayhem App

Moto X Mayhem is a great game that takes full advantage of the accelerometer. The idea is to get to the end of the course without crashing the motorbike. You touch the right side of the screen for Throttle (gas) and the left to brake. But you need to tilt the iPhone in the direction you want the rider to lean. Going up a hill while leaning back will cause you to fall off or leaning forwards while going down hill will cause the rider to go right over the handle bars! There’s several courses and for 59p its another great coffee break game!

Google Mobile App – (Requires Data Connection)

This next App I have has been out for a while but it’s really useful. Google is taking over the world and it has it’s sights set on Apples iPhone with the latest Google Voice app being banned from the App Store we are lucky this hasn’t! The best part of this app is the search, click a button speak into the microphone for example, “Apple iPhone 3GS” and the Google App will instantly search for these terms and list you the results all within seconds if not milliseconds. If only Apple had integrated this into Safari! The app also links you straight to GMail, calendar, docs, tasks, reader etc so all your Google related apps can be found within one place.

GloBall App – (Requires Data Connection and GPS for Advanced Features)

GloBall is another game which can get very addictive, so be careful! The idea is to tilt the phone to roll the ball and break blocks! Sounds rather simple! However there are enemies who want to eat you up so you need to either avoid them or get a power up in order to squish them! Whats great about this game too is there’s a lite version available. As you know I’m all for apps with lite versions as it allows you to try the game and see if its for you or not! If you like it though definitely upgrade to full for the 59p as you get more levels to play. Another great feature is you can submit your high score to the world and even your location so you can see whether you dominate in your city, country and then the world! Download the lite version and see what you think!

Awesome Facts Apps

My Final App of this Week is a bit a fun. If you want to broaden your mind, and learn some interesting facts then this is the app for you. Interesting, amusing and some odd facts like, ” “Seven Lego sets are sold every second worldwide”, can be found in this app. I will inform you don’t use these “Facts” as 100% true as some may be false, but it’s good to know for a laugh and also many of the facts seem to be based on the US. There are several Awesome Facts on the App Store this is Awesome Facts Free.

So that’s another week of fantastic apps for you to try. If you have any apps you want me to check out Tweet me (@marksblog) , add a comment, e-mail me just get in iTouch! (See what I did there! )

Google Earth – £0.59

Google Earth – (Requires Data Connection)

It’s the start of another week which means another set of Top 5 Apps! To start this week off, I have selected the Google Earth App. Ok so you are probably thinking well we already have Google Maps with the iPhone so how would Google Earth be any different. Well, it isn’t that much different in all honesty but it does have a couple of nice points. Firstly the Google Earth App allows you to zoom out enough to actually show the Earth which looks sleek. Ok so that wasn’t a great point but i’m saving the best until last… The navigation on the Google Earth Map seems somewhat better than the integrated Google Maps built into the iPhone. You seem to be able to zoom in much quicker and the images render really fast. Also you can spin the earth around with ease. The next positive is the Landscape View. Google Earth lets you use your iPhone in Landscape, something that the Google Maps App is missing. Finally the Google Earth App takes advantage of the Accelerometer and when you tilt the iPhone the map tilts with it which looks really cool! Overall it’s an App you might as well install. If you like looking at Satellite imagery the Google Earth App will be quicker than the Google Maps App too.

Car Mania App

This next app is for gamers who like strategy! Car Mania is another Flight Control, Harbour Master, style game but this time its… Cars! The objective is to guide the cars to the correct buildings without letting them crash! Unlike Flight Control and Harbour Master though you can actually stop the cars by tapping them. But leave them standing still too long and they will get very mad! Also you need to watch out for road works as they pop up now and again and need to be fixed quickly before there is too much congestion. Car Mania is a great little App for a mere 59p you can get some great fun from it and it’s definitely one of those Coffee Break Apps! The Graphics are nothing special but look nice and inviting. There is sadly no Lite version but for 59p you can’t go wrong! Overall I defiantly recommend you add this app to your collection. Any fans of Flight Control and Harbour Master are sure to love this too!

iEmoji App – (Only works iPhone to iPhone)

This next App I have had for a while. Sadly Apple failed to add in emotes for the iPhone (crazy Apple). This App however fixes that, well it does to some extent. iEmoji adds a whole host of emotes that you can send to fellow iPhone Users. Faces, Buildings, Cars, Sports, Plants, Thumbs Up, Clocks, there is lots in the collection. You can send these over SMS or use them in your notes etc. The App unlocks the ability to use them and you use them within your normal Apps by simply clicking the globe icon on the iPhone keyboard. (Full set up instructions come with the App). The only downside though is only other iPhone users can see these if you use them in your SMS, I have a few friends with iPhones so it was ok for me but if you use them when sending to a non iPhone the recipient just sees squares. In order to send non iPhone users emotes just use the standard   : )  : P   as these will be converted on the majority of phones to a emote. Overall it’s an excellent App if you know people with an iPhone as there is lots of emotes otherwise don’t bother!

Flickr Sendr App – (Requires Data Connection)

Next Up is Flickr Sendr. Your out and about, you spot something unbelievable, something you will never get to witness again, something so amazing that your finding it difficult to breathe! What do you do? Get your iPhone out snap away and upload the images to Flickr of course! Flickr is probably has the largest collection in the world of some fantastic and not so fantastic. The iPhone has become the highest used device on Flickr and now there is an easy way to upload you images. Flickr Sendr is a great little App that allows you to choose an existing image or take a new one and with the click on a button upload it directly to your Flickr Account. It does take a few minutes to set up as you need to allow Flickr Sendr to have access to your account via an API key. But once you have done this your ready to go. Take a picture click upload and seconds later it’s on your account. The only problem at the moment and I believe this will be fixed in further updates is that users are reporting landscape images are being cropped and added to Flickr. Not sure why but I’m sure it will be fixed soon.

myConvert App

My Final App of this Week is a useful tool. If you have ever been in a shop as Mum has given you a shopping list… 4 Ounces of flour…. 6 Eggs… We have gone metric for many things now in the UK and have been for some time but there’s bound to be some time you need to actually work out what 4 Ounces is in grams… Well that is what myConvert is for. It Converts everything form Volume to Speed, Temperature, to Weight, Fuel Consumption to Data Download. It can convert anything. You might think, I don’t need this App, but I’m pretty sure one day you will, and that day will probably be the same day you can’t get a connection to the App Store to Download this little gem! Definitely download this, it’s Free! Leave it there on your iPhone / iTouch and one day you will thank me that you did!

So that’s another week of fantastic apps for you to try. If you have any apps you want me to check out Tweet me (@marksblog) , add a comment, e-mail me just get in iTouch! (See what I did there! )

Internet Radio Box – £0.59

Internet Radio Box – (Requires Data Connection)

To kick this weeks Top 5 Apps I begin with a 59p App. Internet Radio Box does exactly what it’s called, and it does it well! With hundreds if not thousands of songs and podcasts on my iPhone, you think I’d have all the entertainment I could possibly want and need in my pocket. However there was always something missing, Radio! I really enjoy listening to BBC Radio 1. It keeps me up to date with the latest tunes, news and for Chris Moyles Listeners a great laugh too. The problem is I can only listen to the radio if I’m either in the Car or stream it when I get home. Well lets bring on Internet Radio Box, Radio Box for short. This fantastic and very cheap app allows you to listen to radio from pretty much anyone broadcasting over the Web. In the UK there are over 40 stations. Most stations available tend to be the main stream national stations not local but personally I never listen to local radio, apart from when I was on it many years ago but that’s another story. Radio Box streams the music at 128kbps on Wifi and 64kbps on 3G/EDGE you can increase this but do be wary of data usage. 02 in the UK say ‘Unlimited’ usage but there is a hidden fair usage policy so if you use too much you could get a bill. But don’t worry radio box shows you exactly how much data usage you have used. Overall definitely worth 59p, if you love radio you will love this!

Harbour Master App - (Requires Sign Up)

This next app is for gamers who like strategy and for anyone currently playing Flight Control. Harbour Master is another great game on the App Store. At only 59p you will be having hours, (it’s possible I got addicted) of fun playing. If you have ever played Flight Control then it’s the same sort of idea but this time docking boats in a harbour the only difference is you have to unload the boats and set them off again. If you haven’t had a go of Flight Control, firstly are you mad, basically the boats large, small, fast, slow enter the harbour and you have to dock them in the right bay, wait for them to unload then set them off again. Sounds easy I hear you say. Try it with few ports and lots of boats its hard to time it right and be sure not to crash the boats or else games over! Overall this game is one of those great coffee break apps. A nice fun and challenging app to keep you busy for a while.

Twitterrific App – (Requires Data Access and a Twitter Account)

A few weeks ago I recommended the TwitterFon App. It’s a great app for anyone who wants Twitter Access and updates wherever they go. Well this week I decided to try out Twitterrific. Now this app is pretty much the same, from what I can see of TwitterFon and like TwitterFon also has a premium version available for those who just cant simply stand advertising. The app is really simple to use has great colour schemes and does exactly what I want it too as did TwitterFon so is there anything that sets the two apart? Well not much apart from Twitteriffic supports location and allows you to see who’s twittering or should that be tweeting, anyway it shows you who’s near you and their messages which is kinda nice. The layout of the two is a little different but not much apart from Twitterrific has a little more of a glossy, sleek feel to it. Personally I feel its very much personal preference so try both Twitterriffic and TwitterFon and see which you prefer. Ill be sticking with Twitterriffic for a little bit more at least to get a bit more of a feel for it.

Memory Info App

Most crashes on the iPhone 3G and First Gen iPhone the 2G I suppose you call it, was because there was a lack of RAM. If your not sure what RAM is simply put, it’s memory that applications that are running can use to dump information so they can run and run quickly. RAM stands for Random Access Memory and applications dump data they need to access quickly in order to give you the best experience. Anyway the Original iPhone and the iPhone 3G has 128MB of RAM. The 3GS has double, so 256MB and therefore there are, or in theory far less crashes on the iPhone 3GS than previous models. If you have a look at my article HERE comparing the 3GS and 3G you can see memory tests near the bottom. Anyway enough waffle whats memory info? Well it’s what Memory Info can do that’s interesting. When you close an app the RAM isn’t always cleared and so your phone slows down and can crash. If you load Memory Info, click Free Memory, it will free up your ram and make your phone fast again. Now if you have a 3GS and think I’m ok I don’t need it then your so wrong. Memory info shows what free ram you have and after a few apps had been used and closed on my 3GS I only had around 30MB free one click of Free Memory in Memory Info and I got 149MB back! Overall if your someone who uses lots of apps or intensive apps like games get this app. For 59p it will save you having to reboot your iPhone every time it slows up!

Rope ‘n’ Fly App

My Final App of this Week is another game! Rope ‘n’ Fly is a very simple yet addictive game where you are a man swinging on ropes that come from your hands across buildings. No, not Spiderman, don’t know where you could of got that idea from, it’s just a simple man who just so happens to have the amazing powers exactly like Spiderman. Anyway it’s not a game you get for amazing graphics or amazing sound, far from it, it’s just simple and fun. It’s another Coffee break game that you might just end up playing for longer than you thought and possibly get in trouble! Plus what I like about this game is there is a Lite Version available. You don’t get to do much in the lite version but at least you can see what the game is like without spending a penny, which is great! Definitely give this a try!

So that’s another week of fantastic apps for you to try. If you have any apps you want me to check out Tweet me, add a comment, e-mail me just get in touch!

However the problem is finding who is cheapest! Even though we are sitting down typing a few words into the browser, we humans are still lazy and usually unless the item we are buying is very expensive, we buy the product from the first perhaps second website we come across.

There are compare price websites out there for most things now, I mentioned several just for Car Insurance in my “Car Insurance” Post I made on 18th May 2009. There’s Food Compare websites, Electricity, Broadband, you name it there’s probably a comparison website out there.

Well a year or two ago a friend of mine showed me GamesTracker. This website is the best Game Price Comparison website I have come across and has saved me a small fortune. GamesTracker compares prices from many websites, including Amazon, Play, HMV, Asda, GAME, Tesco, Games Station, Simply Games, and lots more.

GamesTracker in Action.

GamesTracker also stores prices for New and Used  and even Downloadable games for all the major Platforms like PC, PS3, XBOX 360, Wii, DS, PSP, PS2, XBOX, and GBA. The website is really simple too use and you don’t have to register which is always a plus. The prices are listed clearly and even show you the Postage and Packing Prices aswell. In the above example I looked searched for inFamous a fairly new arrival to the PS3. The site showed me that in the UK Toys R Us are selling the game for £44.94 inc P&P but Powerplay Direct are selling it for £34.98 thats nearly a saving of £10 instantly!

Overall in these times when most people are having to be careful with there spending GamesTracker is one of the best ways I believe you can save money, on video games anyway.

Ill be giving posting some more “moneysaving” tips soon so keep checking the blog!