iPad - App Review

It's been a few months since I purchased my iPad (16Gb Wi-Fi Only) and thought I'd revisit some of the apps I've downloaded.  I've already written reviews on some of them, but there are others that are worthy of a mention too.

There's no obvious place to start, and with the lack of folders on the current OS (will have to wait for OS4 in November before we get them) I have split my apps into various screens.

A screen for business apps, one for news etc, another for games.  And so on.

Firstly; the apps that I have docked at the bottom of the screen are:
Toodledo - Task management has never been so easy; and it synchronises with the web too
Informant HD - Diary and task management (integrated with Toodledo, see above)
FeeddlerPro - An RSS feeder that synchronises with Google Reader
Kindle - THE ebook reader, from Amazon
Also Safari and iPod

Screen 1 - Apart from some of the standard, pre-loaded apps, I have
BBC iPlayer (which technically isn't an app; but a link to the site)
CineXPlayer - for watching XVid movies; now you're not tied to iTunes
DocsToGo - Familiar to BlackBerry users, this app gives you word, excel and more
Dropbox
AccuWeather - Need to know the forecast - this is a great free app
PrintCentral - An app to print from the iPad via Wi-Fi; excellent application
ZumoCast - Listen to music or watch films hosted on your desktop PC; via Wi-Fi

Screen 2
Facebook - This is the iPhone app; which doesn't look good at all - but it works!
Twitter - The app for iPad is very well thought out
Photo fx Ultra - Ideal for photo editing / enhancing
Wikihood - What's around the area you're in - Wikipedia for the local area
IMDb - The No.1 app for movie fans
Sky+ - Full access to the Sky programme schedules, and you can set it to record too
NASA - Pictures, video, news and more about space
LinkedIn - This is the iPhone app, and looks rubbish on the iPad; but it works
Instapaper - Download webpages to read offline

Screen 3
BBC News
TripIt - Online journey planner
Flipboard - A personalised, 'Live', magazine; which displays Facebook and Twitter in an interesting format
Sky Sports - General sports news; would be better if more video provided
Eurosport - Access to more sports news

Screen 4
Bloomberg - Business news.  Plus, how are your shares performing?
Teamviewer - A great, free, app for remote-access to other PCs/Laptops.  Ideal for helping others
Other pre-loaded iPad apps, that I don't use

Screen 5
Angry Birds - Very addictive (I have the iPhone version; but there is an iPad specific one too)
NFS Shift - Racing cars through cityscapes!!
Tesla Wars - Defend your area type game
MultiPong - Shows off the touch aspect of the iPad, with excellent graphics
Real Solitaire - Solitaire - nuff said!
Conquist - Like Risk, only playing against computers as well as your friends
Slice It - Addictive or what?  Very clever, and frustrating.

So there you go; just some of the apps that reside on my iPad. 

What iPad apps do you have that might be worth considering?

AFC Bournemouth - The Campaign Continues

Last weekend, The Cherries took on the current leaders of League One - Brighton; and held them to a one-all draw.

You can see the match report here.  It's great to see them performing so well; and they're currently riding 4th in the league.  Not bad for a team that almost went out of business; and were handicapped last season due to a transfer ban.

The next game is at home, on Saturday, against MK Dons.

Birthdays - Present Giving in the Past

Tomorrow, my middle son celebrates his 9th birthday.

No, that's not quite true.  Tomorrow, we all celebrate his 9th birthday.  The excitement and anticipation is over-powering, and it got me thinking.  Where does the time-honoured tradition of giving presents came from?

Birthday celebrations vary by culture and gender, as does the history of birthday gifts. 
Beginning perhaps as early as Roman times, traditions were taken from other, often pagan, celebrations and applied to celebrating an individual’s birthday. But, like other holidays, religion influenced these traditions.  
Christianity introduced the calendar of saints, which associated each day with a saint or martyr. This calendar led to the custom of individuals taking for his or her baptismal or confirmation name the name of the saint honored on his or her day of birth. Thus, even today, some Catholics celebrate the saint on his or her “name day” rather than celebrating a “birth day”.  
Some Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays because of the pagan origin of the birthday tradition.


An alternative view is that years ago in Europe, people believed that evil spirits would seek out and haunt someone on their birthday, most importantly the king. 
Therefore, on one’s birthday, people would gather to protect that person and would bring with them good wishes. 
These gatherings became our modern day birthday parties, and over time, people brought more than just good wishes to ward off evil spirits; they brought presents too.


So, there you have it.  Either Christianity, or warding off evil spirits, is, ironically, the birth of birthday present giving.


Now, where did I put the wrapping paper?

I've Seen The Light

It's THAT time of year.

The Season of the Blues is upon us once again.  Last year I wrote my story, about SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder.

As we are now approaching the turning back of time; the early and dark nights, weak sunlight (if any at all) and cold, chilly, days; I thought I'd post it again.

For those of you who wondered why you're always blue in the winter (and not just because of the temperature), then this could be for you.

Winter Blues - originally posted November 2009

BlackBerry Messenger - Theme Song

OK, so not many applications get a theme tune, but here's a video and song called "Ping Me Baby..."

The song is a little catchy, but the video is inspired.

This is for all you BBM fans out there.....