My original idea was to speak my entire review, email it to myself through QuickVoice Pro, and (Voila!) complete my review. Unfortunately the Voice-Recognition Gods were not with me on this one. QuickVoice Pro has a good service which is exceptionally accurate. The primary drawback of this app (for my purposes) was that conversion only takes place for audio under 30 seconds. If you’ve ever been on the spot before, 30 seconds goes by quickly with minimal output (not nearly enough to constitute an article).

QuickVoice Pro redeems itself though due to the quality of its service. Even if you did jabber on past 30 seconds (try two minutes for a few of my test runs), the QuickVoice Pro iPhone app will still email you the .caf Quicktime file. If you are concise enough to speak under 30 seconds, the email sent to you is quite accurate:

I spoke:

“Of course, if they offered the ability to edit your audio, I could splice each of my clips into an under-30-second clip. Unfortunately, I’m unable to do so at this point. Now I just have a shmancy voice recorder.” Okay, so I was a bit perturbed.

I was emailed:

“Of course, this they offered to ability to edit your audio. I could splice each of my clips into an under 30 seconds clip. Unfortunately I’m unable to do so at this point. Now I just have a Smansey(?) voice recorder.”

The email was sent to me within 15 minutes, which wasn’t too bad considering the accuracy. I also like the question mark next to my made up word.

I thought I’d figured the system out, realizing that QuickVoice Pro uses SpinVox software, and saw my efficient workflow process on the horizon. I signed up for a SpinVox account. Quickly I realized that my workflow would only be dampered by using QuickVoice Pro, as I could just call the SpinVox number (after signing up for a free account) and my phone call would be emailed to me transcribed.

This takes so much time, that I might as well bring my laptop and type, or just thumb type.

Frustrations aside, QuickVoice Pro is the best app out there currently for transcription. I tried so many other apps that had hidden monthly fees or false promises. QuickVoice Pro brings to the table exactly what they promise. I appreciate this and their services.

Hopeful Updates:

• Organization of Audio files
• Extended time allocation of transcribed emails
• Audio editing ability
• Auto Pause recording/playback when alarm/incoming call occurs

With these updates, I would give QuickVoice Pro a perfect score. Without them, QuickVoice Pro is still a viable option to transcribe your mutterings.

Currently you may rename your audio files (while listening to other recorded files). This is a great start, but the ability to reorder your files is currently nonexistent and is stored purely in chronological order of recording.

The ability to edit the audio would be a great bandaid to the 30 second time problem, but perhaps unnecessary as it would probably take more time to edit the audio than just type with your thumbs.

A definite fix needs to be an auto pause when your receive a call. This became quite annoying as I had to begin my work over again.

Bottom Line

Get it! It’s the best voice recognition out there right now, and I can only see it getting better.

It’s finally arrived. The space Droid with the ominous, glowing red eye has come to conquer the denizens of Earth. Or, so it seems from the fantastic ad campaigns. With xenophobe meteors plummeting to the Earth and perplexed, onlooking people tiptoeing toward the crash site, to be greeted by the metallic, grating voice of “D-R-O-I-D,” it’s hard not to be excited about the Droid’s premiere, even if you know nothing about the phone, and, more so, what it could mean for the iPhone. Even without the cinema-like grandeur, the pared down, bare-bones offense Motorola devised, complete with “iDon’t customize. iDon’t have a real keyboard. iDon’t allow for open development” hits a clever bulls-eye on Apple’s shortcomings. Man, it really sucks to be an earthling right now. A wholesome, nonthreatening fruit at that.

Other phones within this nascent group of “smartphones” haven’t premiered with the same awaited gusto, the same collective hushed breaths, as the Droid. The Droid even resembles the iPhone – with their chic black exteriors and penchant for minimalism, both the Droid and the iPhone from the get-go seem in a class of their own. But, hold the outcry. The two are very different.

Upon first, superficial viewing, the Droid is not as slick and suave as the iPhone. With its heavier body (it’s noticeably heavier to the hand for those accustomed to iPhones), sharply cut angles, and deep matte black finish, it’s a phone metrosexual men and woodsmen could both feel at home using. The iPhone is definitely more keen on the feminine aura, with its sleek, curvaceous lines and glossy finish, lined in chrome for a sassy kick. The two phones actually remind me of car trends over the past two decades: the more modern the car, the more curving lines it develops, forging a correlation between futuristic and those difficult, rounded geometries. The iPhone certainly has that futuristic feel to it, all showy and ostentatious; meanwhile, the Droid is more a throwback to the 80’s aesthetic. Like the cars of that decade, the boxy stodginess of the Droid almost seems dated, cumbersome. But, while the iPhone flaunts its bling bling, its paparazzi nature, the Droid is a monk in robes, a pragmatist, an ode to functionalism. Undeniably, they are both elegant in their own right.

When you turn on the Droid, though, your eyes suddenly open to the beauty within. The screen, mark my words, is absolutely fantastic, besting the iPhone in both pixel density and size (3.7″ and 265 ppi for Droid, 3.5″ and 185 ppi for the iPhone). It’s more matte and defined than the iPhone’s – after casting glances back and forth, the iPhone screen now looks a bit fuzzy after tinkering with the Droid. The standard Droid contains a 16 GB microSD card, but is expandable up to 32 GB, allowing it to match the highest-capacity iPhone 3GS (which does not have expandable memory). The phone is ever-so-slightly thicker than the iPhone, at 13.7 mm (vs. 12 mm for the iPhone 3GS). It also packs a slide-out physical keyboard, which many customers may prefer (I, personally, prefer the virtual keyboard – it saves space and they’re surprisingly easy to use, despite what others may claim).

My elation over the amazing screen continued when I checked out the general interface. The pull-down screens are a nice touch to differentiate from the iPhone’s setup, and the whole getup is intuitive with a very responsive touchscreen like the iPhone’s. Browser navigation is also noticeably faster on the Droid. I could never understand the reasoning behind using black backgrounds with white font, as many of the setting tabs and information screens on the Droid use. Aside from it being momentarily hip-looking, it just leads to eye fatigue. I also couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed in the app icons for the Droid – they look almost dated, miniaturized and scrunched. The resemblance to a PC platform is definitely apparent in contrast to the iPhone’s chipper, hip, young groove that’s inherent to Apple. For those looking for less flash, less cutesy animations, this may be an asset, because if there’s one thing the iPhone fell short on, it was mass appeal.

The iPhone upon each of its releases was a huge success. Huge, just absolutely massive. It was futuristic and beautiful in one intuitive and flashy little package that appealed to the materialistic techie in all of us. But, it wasn’t exactly an accessible phone to older generations, or people who wanted a phone with the same perks that didn’t blatantly scream Apple. After all, the Rubicon study pointed out the main iPhone user demographic is largely young professionals in their 20s and 30s. With the Droid, you have a less flashy, more practical package that will certainly appeal to those other people, and still deliver the goods. In favor of the Droid, too, is that the price is at par with the iPhone’s current selling price – with 8 more gigs to spare (the Droid’s 16 gig phone is priced the same as the iPhone 8 gig).  This is assuming, of course, that you’re just starting a plan. My mother-in-law recently purchased a Droid on an existing Verizon plan for a scant, drool-inducing $99.99.

Considering my mother-in-law is a part of that aforementioned demographic, I found her personal, laymen experience with the Droid to be an invaluable critique. Granted she had never used a smartphone before, she couldn’t even figure out how to turn on the Droid; it turns out the foreign symbols on the opening screen threw her off, unlike the “Slide to Unlock” phrase clearly dictated on the iPhone. I admit the opening screen is a bit jazzier than the iPhone’s, but I think her initial confusion over symbols could easily parallel her initial experience with cellphones. It’s just a matter of learning a new set of pictorial tools.

Her big problem with the Droid? The manual. The Droid doesn’t come with a manual – or, at least, it doesn’t come with a proper one detailing all the ins and outs of your phone. The phone arrives (or crashes down in a meteorite, your pick), and all you see when you open the box is an ornate, glossy Quick Start Guide going over the basic details – how to make a phone call, what are apps, how to access this and that, etc. For some people, my mother-in-law included, having a full manual is of utmost importance – some people simply prefer reading through the material over just winging it. It’s true that the Droid and other smartphones can generally get away without an in-depth manual because the assumption is most users are capable of learning by using. However, after playing around with the Droid I was almost tempted to download the user guide from the Motorola site – the Droid’s interface is complex and convoluted compared to the iPhone and even I – young-blooded youth that I am – had initial troubles navigating the many hills and troughs of the Droid (for one, I’m still unclear if you have to slide out the keyboard to turn on the screen. I can’t figure out another way, but there must be one, right?). All I can say is, trust me, those people unable to intuitively figure out a gadget just by using it will need the manual. Apparently, when my mother-in-law tried to download the manual in the first week of the Droid’s release, the Motorola site was so backlogged and slow, sometimes didn’t even load, that she couldn’t get her hands on a manual until last week. While I cannot personally attest to this claim, I don’t doubt there are hordes of people desperately seeking more information on their intricate, robotic, Droid systems. Didn’t expect that horde of humans coming, did you Droid?

But, on to using the Droid. The first thing I wanted to experiment with was the keyboard. In their iDon’t marketing campaign, one of Motorola’s biggest complaints regards the iPhone’s lack of a physical keyboard. Okay, that’s a legitimate claim – the iPhone sure doesn’t have a physical keyboard. But, this has to be the most hackneyed and unfounded of complaints for the iPhone. I know people who’ve switched from Blackberries to iPhones with nary a hitch, and after adjusting to the virtual keyboard, they found that depressing a key on a physical keyboard actually took more of a concerted effort than to just tap, tap, tap with increasing speed. The Droid’s physical keyboard is okay in a pinch – if you just have to use a physical keyboard – but the keys are too miniaturized, overly compartmentalized into a small space. Those with large fingers beware – trying to push down on those tiny, individual keys will take some getting used to (I have small fingers and I had problems). At least the four-pad navigator to the right of the keyboard is useful in navigating browser windows, and looks super cool, like an exposed security scanner circuit.

The virtual keyboard, in contrast, is an absolute breeze. From the landscape mode, I will tiptoe over the line of loyalty and admit I prefer it to the iPhone landscape keyboard – the Droid’s keys are better spaced despite actually being closer together, and I like the pared down minimalist look to the keyboard, with its typewriter letters and slate gray palette. The iPhone keyboard looks hokey almost, by comparison. But, they both work well and are on equal planes. Lukas Mathis of Ignore the Code wrote extensively on the Droid keyboard, if you’re interested in further reading.

Other claims from the iDon’t marketing campaign fail to impress me, as well. The flaunting of allowing open development and customization are particular yawn-inducers because, who, aside from the absolute tech geeks who actually know what this jargon means, will care? Seriously. Same with the “iDon’t run widgets.” Who even uses widgets? Frankly, I need to be reminded: what is a widget? As for the Droid’s ability to run simultaneous apps, they needed a boost because the iPhone App Store just kills with sheer volume and availability. Besides, the iPhone uses push notification – maybe not the greatest, but it works well enough when an app wants our attention – which already drains the iPhone battery like hell. I shudder to think how quickly running simultaneous apps will drain the Droid’s battery life, no matter how much longer it’s touted to last.

Despite these almost frivolous claims, the Droid does have some amazing qualities that push it past the iPhone’s established glory. First off, the camera. Boy, is this a great camera. With 5-megapixels, your pictures will be far clearer than on the iPhone, and the factory equipment included for the Droid’s camera is vastly superior. You can adjust color schemes, white output, contrast and more, and hey, there’s even a flash. A flash! Good thing “iDon’t take pictures in the dark” really holds true. Also, switching from camera to video use is as easy as moving a little slider icon up one centimeter. Done. You may easily access each gallery by switching back and forth between camera and video mode. And, just like the iPhone, you may share photos (MMS, email), upload images, and use images as wallpapers.

At first, I was deterred by the camera interface. The awful, pebbled gray palette for the camera’s background is not exactly pleasing to the eyes, and reminded me of the very first Diablo Game, with its pixelated dungeon labyrinths and medieval setting. The image quality when viewed through the Droid’s screen was just plain awful, possibly more awful to look at than the iPhone, but once imported to a computer, of course, the image quality spoke for itself. As for the camera, itself, it was annoyingly slow to cooperate – I found myself pushing some buttons repeatedly before they’d fire, and when accessing the camera, this odd, clunky noise is heard, like an old camera booting up. Not a necessary sound, and not enjoyable to hear. However, the many options and features, and the fantastic image quality more than make up for these deficits. It definitely leaves the iPhone in the dust with its, what, no factory options other than just point and shoot? No wonder the iPhone has so many photo apps.

I had to try out some games next. I was just aching to see how they’d pan out, considering the Android store has a mere estimated 10,000 to the more than 100,000 available on iTunes. Frankly, though, numbers won’t win this game. If the Droid’s touch interface proves to be just as sensitive as the iPhone’s, then this coupled with its faster processing speed and higher resolution screen could spell greater gaming platform. <cue Twilight Zone music>. For a fair analysis, I tried out Labyrinth Lite on the Droid, since I recently played and reviewed Wooden Labyrinth 3D for the iPhone. Though the screenshot come out fine, while on the Droid, the image/playing field was oddly stretched, despite the better resolution on the Droid (maybe it was ported over without translation from the iTunes store? Doubtful, with the Android software). But, despite the odd, strange stretching of the image, the game was thoroughly enjoyable, just as enjoyable as the iPhone game. Dare I say the sounds were even a bit better on the Droid – the metal ball clacking against the wooden sides are so lifelike, I may as well have been playing the actual board.

The best feature, by far, on the Droid, is the Maps. After feeling both the slick, red flush of elation and the droopy demeanor of disappointment, I had to save the best for last. Wow. Just wow. Google mobile maps is a thing of pure beauty. The best aspect is its built-in GPS navigation. For the iPhone, users have to purchase a GPS navigation app, the truly good ones (TOM TOM) costing upwards of $100.00. They’re mighty expensive if they’re going to work. Not only is the Droid’s GPS Navigator built-in, it offers nice perks, like voice command directions, interactive touch map directions (touch a destination on the map), and the Droid will even voice direct you (albeit, with old-school digitized voice a la Dragon Naturally Speaking). Another feature is the option for filter views like layer terrains (yes, you can use street view with Droid – in 3D with directions, no less), restaurants, traffic, and more. It’s just superior to the iPhone Maps in every way possible.

With all this said, It does take awhile to get adjusted to the Droid – this coming from someone accustomed to an iPhone. The iPhone – I’ll give Apple some kudos here – is just so damn easy to understand. It’s incredibly intuitive. The Droid, by comparison, can seem daunting, like a jumble of information and settings panels. For those wishing to know how to operate their Droid without a manual, don’t bother with the phone tutorial. It’s barely two paragraphs long and won’t help you a bit. It’s laughably brief.  Also, the black background with white writing may aggravate some users after awhile, and there’s no option to change this feature. The Droid’s heft, despite its comparable size to the iPhone, is slightly unwieldy and cumbersome, and I wince at thinking of carrying this phone with me when I jog, or in the pockets of my snug sweaters, where its sharp corners may dig into my sides.

But, these are minor quibbles, and for a phone that opened with 100,000 units sold in its first weekend, I’d say it’s about time another phone made the iPhone sweat. Let’s face it, Verizon provides better service than AT&T, and the biggest grumble iPhone users have had over the years is the unwavering contract with AT&T. Apple is going to have to kick itself, and its mantras into shape, now that a new smartphone has cast a menacing red eye of offense. Yes, the Droid has broken through our atmosphere and landed with a bang, forever altering our biosphere.

This has set the bar quite high for eTodo, and now I’ve put this iPhone and iPod Touch app to the test. To begin, I tapped through the bottom menus until I found the last option on the last menu that shows you how to use the app. I found eTodo intuitive enough to figure out on my own though, and it is probably a good thing to have this written out for iPhone users new to technology.

I began by inputting my variety of activities and gave them corresponding icons, dates, etc.

Satisfaction

• Simple layout
• Prioritizing and Tagging of Tasks
• Filters/Search
• Various icons

As my day requires the juggling of multiple tasks, and I am a visually oriented person, the option to assign one of a variety of icons to the task at hand is priceless for me. This along with the ability to assign tasks multiple tags (which corresponds to a filter system that allows multiple filters) is brilliant. Above all, you are simply able to see everything you need right at your fingertips.

There’s also an ability to determine how the tasks are ordered. So far eTodo really taps into the new generation of customization. Everything can be changed to fit your need. I was only able to find a few minor changes I would suggest for this app.

What I’d like to see in an update

• Task due date has an optional hour setting
• Option to export tasks to outlook, google calendar, etc
• Show data in a visual layout (much like a Gantt chart)
• Option to import icons?

I know that simplicity truly matters, when you want to make your to-do list arranged and yourself focused. To further an ease of functionality, setting push alarms set to a specific time (set at onset of task due date) could strengthen the use of eTodo, currently mine gives a little vibration, but sometimes that just doesn’t get my attention, and there’s no specific time that it yells at me.

My suggestion for a visual layout of tasks (Gantt Chart status) could benefit some task masters. Of course this is extraneous and my imagination is wildly active today, so I wouldn’t consider this to be a decision maker on buying this app.

Last on my suggestion list, is that for importing icons. So I’m picky. That’s why they made me the ambassador to the bear community. I’m also a graphic artist during the day, so my pickiness over icons might be a bit biased. There’s nothing wrong or bad with the current icons, I just want more. Silliness would be nice (although I am extremely serious), but is not necessary. Maybe an option to download more from the developer’s website? There goes that imagination again!

Bottom Line

eTodo is worth every penny. You are able to keep your life in order in an extremely user friendly interface and the option to search through tasks for multiple tags. I am so glad to have found a task calendar app that like this.

For those who are unfamiliar with a Gantt Chart, it is a bar chart to keep a project’s schedule. Baie Design Limited attempts to create an iPhone App version of this (an idea which I applaud).

This application will:

• Display the individual tasks in a chart
• Give the duration of each of the tasks
• Show or hide the start and finish dates
• Select from a range of colors
• Show the current day
• Display landscape or portrait mode

Successes of the iPhone App

• Tasks require end date input
• Multiple Projects can be tracked at the same time
• Simple aesthetic design
• Some customization of Gantt chart (color and view of duration/start & end dates)

Initially a required end date really put a kink in my plans for peace, as often I must make a quick plan and implement it quicker (lasers and claws are quick to turn on you). I came to realize that a required task end date will only benefit me in my project timeline, especially while in a rush. If there were simply an auto end date inserted, my attempts at making contact with the Prime Grizzly of Sierra would be cut short by days. Because you are prompted before saving a task to insert an end date, you are more likely to check your facts.

Necessary Tasks for Future Updates

• Day of the week should be listed with calendar date while inputting data
• Control over column width in report
• Tasks should be able to be moved into a different order
• Today’s date in Gantt Chart should be different color than dates associated with tasks
• Ability to export to Excel (or comparable software) or as a .pdf

What is really needed is more. Much more. I want this app to be the next Gantt Chart, Gantt Chart 2.0. The iPhone offers a platform to get past the drawbacks of the Gantt Chart structure. For larger projects you should be able to zoom in and out and search for keywords. One could even switch on or off the breakdown of hours instead of just days – or link an hourly Gantt chart within the normal daily Gantt chart.

The possibilities are seemingly endless in increasing workflow through the use of linking pages. I should be able to tap a title or a colored task box on the date (or any of the boxes in the chart for that matter), and find all of the tools necessary to complete this task.

I understand that this is asking a lot; and this Gantt Chart did not ask to be the king of all task charts. I figure if it is billed as an ideal way to design a website, build a house, or plan a wedding we need to be completely realistic about these. I want to breakdown the hour to know exactly when each task is occurring (I’m more than a one task a day kind of guy, and fifty tasks tagged with the same date without any allowance for prioritization is almost as rediculous as the plight of the cubs in the bear/ robot debackle).

This is a bit of tough love. I think that what has been included in the current version is a great start, but it isn’t effective or communicative enough to use in managing real projects.

All being said, I’ve never been so excited for an update. I could really REALLY use this, but only if at least some of these changes occurred. Once they do, I’ll be the first to jump on and support Gantt Chart, but until then I am left with charred fur in my mouth.

Bottom Line

The basics are here and are quite functional, but I would wait for an update because this isn’t worth $.99 yet.

SketchBook is the iPhone and iPod Touch version of Autodesk’s Sketchbook Pro software. The app is like opening a sketchbook inside your iPhone, only unlike Sketchbook Pro which is designed around using a pen/tablet, in SketchBook we are fingerpainting.

This is fine, perhaps a bit nostalgic, and I’ll admit a bit clunky on my part to begin, but I won’t chock up my inexperience with digital finger painting to the performance of the app. There are some great features in SketchBook and this is the most functional iPhone drawing app that I’ve come across.

Great Features

• Full customization of brushes – including opacity
• Multiple layers – visiblity can be turned on/off
• Embedded help feature
• Zoom
• Import photos as layers/Save project/export .jpg
• Offset drawing feature

There are more positive features in this app, but these were some that were extremely helpful in my experience. The drawing field can be zoomed into and out of using the intuitive iPhone pinch. Hotkeys are in each of the corners and a menu is accessed by tapping a small button at the bottom of the screen. The menu allows for tools and customization of color/brushes as well as access to the help menu.

Offset drawing was a feature I came across which allows the “tip of the brush” to be offset from where you are touching the screen. I found this to be helpful as my primary issue with this app is that if I am tracing something (and zooming in to provide an attempt at accuracy) I cannot always see what I’m drawing as my hand is in the way. Offset Drawing helps this a bit. I’m still getting used to how offset it is though. Great job with the undo/redo hotkeys.

Suggested Updates

• Control over layer interaction

It would be nice to control the opacity for an entire layer, or be able to use some color filters.

My Experience

I imported a photo of myself over a photo of fireworks. As there is no layer opacity, I erased out the background on the photo of me so that the fireworks came through. I was happy to see control over the eraser’s properties, as well as a physical control was easy enough.

But this wasn’t enough drawing for me, so I imported a drawing I did recently and began attempting to trace it. This is a true test of the accuracy of both the functionality of this app (for me), as well as the retention of my finger painting skills from my childhood.

You can see for yourself that I was not accurate on tracing lines (the SketchBook drawing is in red). Whenever I’d finish a line and lift my finger, there is a bit of recoil on the line that was beginning to frustrate me. I was not able to overcome this. Larger brush sizes and opacity altered, I came across the same problem.

Doing my research, I found that this had not been mentioned on Autodesk’s forum, so maybe I’m the only one who has lost the ability to accurately finger paint. If there was a pen I could use, this would no longer be a problem. But this is of no fault to SketchBook, but to the hardware.

The Bottom Line

There are many functional features that make this app worthwhile. Try the lite version to see if you are capable of drawing with your finger first, otherwise you’ll find an intense appreciation for the work that went into the app and an equal frustration to its uselessness to you. I lie somewhere in between, as I see the potential this app allows me once I have become one with the fingerpainter within.

The app itself is simple, but a little buggy.

Bugs

• Emails to PhotoFame
• Portrait oriented photos are sometimes Shmooshed (yes it’s a technical term!)

I wouldn’t normally let simple bugs bother me, but in this case they do because they infringe upon the success of the app working. You take a photo, add a simple note with it, and email if off to (hopefully) be picked up for massive distribution. The bugs take place in the portrait oriented photo’s dimensions in your outgoing mail, and in emailing your photo.

After choosing which of my babies, er photos, I wanted to sell, I uploaded and filled out the comment form attempting to make the who-what-where aid the photo’s appeal. When the PhotoFame email was generated for me, the portrait photo was stretched. I hardly think an agency will want a stretched photo! After that point my outbox continuously sent the photo automatically and I received over six emails back (all the same) telling me that SWNS cannot reply to every email individually (Apparently not as they can only reply to each email six times).

The irony was the best part of this app (that last sentence may be amended if I am contacted for the photos I sent, because the paycheck will then trump irony). Even then, the Terms and Conditions of SWNS states that I incur all copyright/intellectual property infringement and any other sort of liability. I also found it amusing that the contract states that content needs to be “not defamatory of any person, business or undertaking, does not bring any person, business or undertaking into disrepute and is not unfair, libelous, misleading or obscene…”. This is only amusing when considering that the Q and A suggests snapping celebrity photos (they do preface not to invade the celebrity’s privacy though…).

One last Negative Nancy to throw in: While choosing photos from my album, I can only look at the thumbnails. If I could scroll through them, I could more easily discern which photo is my winning ticket.

There is a bright side to this app. I can see the benefits to aspiring photographers, or lucky people. It’s never been so easy to send your work to a major agency! PhotoFame is an innovative idea, but the current version has a few kinks to work out. Once the problems have been eradicated, I can see this becoming not only frustration-free, but wildly popular in celebrity frequenting areas.

Bottom Line

For $0.99 this app is worth it depending upon how often you are surrounded by stunning/media hyped things. My suggestion is that if you happen to take a photo of amazement, download the app immediately following your photo capture. If you happen to have a binary warehouse of exquisite photos, download this app. You can be the judge.

+) Receipts lets you take pictures of your receipts (and crop the photos)

It has never been easier to track your spending. I found that I needn’t worry about forgetting a purchase from earlier in the day as Receipts is so quick that I logged all purchases immediately. Also, I like this feature because I can take a quick photo of my computer screen for online purchases and I have a backup receipt incase elves steal my fastidious filefolder catalogue of purchases since 1997.

+) Allows for + and – Receipts.

-) Does not account for the inept, and explain the advantages of + and – receipts.

I wish I had realized the potential here sooner as initially I logged all of my receipts as + figuring that I could export the compiled list as my expences. By setting all expenses as – receipts and all deposits as +, you can keep your finances in order from your phone.

+) Exports information

Now that you’re on top of your expences and income on your phone, you can easily back up the information on your computer. Export account report files over WiFi (WebDAV) or as text in email for import into spreadsheets.

+) Categorizes your expenditures

I can see where most of my money is going. It will be really interesting to see how this pans out over a month or longer.

+) Saves business names/ customizable categories

Receipts is so quick and user friendly that I am able to get rid of some pre-existing categories and input my own. I’d normally joke about my bear wrangling expenses but a) Its too pricy to mention and b) I don’t joke about money.

+) Supports international currency

This feature allows me to pretend that I have a Swiss bank account. If you do have a Swiss bank account, you may appreciate this feature for better reasons than I do.

+) Variety of charts

You can look at the totals in a variety of charts, which is very nice if you’re into pie or bars. If you aren’t into pie or bars but are into charts, you may find this helpful as well.

-) Aesthetics could use some work (is anyone else tired of simple text lists?)

+) (most importantly) Lazy proof!

I am notorious for not keeping up on my banking, let alone my receipts. This app not only gives me a system to easily keep track of my spending, it also gives me a sense of empowerment that even I, bear-wrangling number-opposing man, can keep up with his receipts!

Bottom Line

If you’ve let your banking slide, get this app! It’s the easiest thing and you’ll appreciate it in a month, then again in six months, and again… well, you get it. If anything, you can impress your banker by showing how excited you are about keeping track of the numbers.

Promotion Codes:

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*When using the promotion code to download for free, it’s on a first-come, first-served basis. Out of courtesy, please leave a comment below mentioning you’ve used the promotion code.

JobCompass is a new iPhone app that helps you job search on the go, linking you to job search results at Indeed.com. It is the only dual web and mobile job search application that helpfully plots a map of jobs in relation to your current location, so that you may select job results via map markers or through a written list of results. In the event you are not toting around your laptop in that spongy, protective carry-all we all seem to have, using JobCompass provides an easy alternative, allowing you to search millions of jobs on the spur of the moment.

Starting the application is a bit slow compared to other map functions on iPhone apps, but at least it warns you with a disclaimer of, “This may take up to 30 seconds,” while it figure out where you are and loads the ensuing map. A bright red and blue compass (JobCompass’ icon) highlights your current location on a Google map, with a search tab running along the top. Tap the Search bar to set a search radius of 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100 miles, and search using a keyword best describing your field of interest – e.g. cook, writing, administrative, nonprofit, etc, then tap “search” for a list of results, and a map with numeric markers indicating their distance from you. Below the map will be a navigation bar for the map’s ease of use, including plus and minus signs to zoom in or out (though you may use your fingers as you would any feature on the iPhone), a “map” button to view the entire map and forgo the list, and a “find me” button should your radius of 100 miles away discombobulate your orientation and you lose sight of where your current location is (granted I’m very familiar with my home state of California, I truly doubt I’d lost sight of my current location of Petaluma in relation to, say, Walnut Creek or Moraga). The full map view is quite nice, as I enjoy first picking and examining those jobs closest to me – I would much prefer the 30 minute commute to Mill Valley than the near hour commute to Hayward – but retaining a half map and half list is probably the better choice as that way I can actually match up the numbers to job titles, thus enabling me to choose Program Director over Administrative Assistant instead of trial and error choosing with just the map.

Each results page lists 10 jobs, and you can simply cycle through the different pages to view all the job search results. In the list, each job has a title (e.g. Public Affairs Associate), and a blue arrow to the right that takes you to a short job description. Tapping on the job title makes the map center on its location, and either double-tapping the job or tapping the blue arrow takes you to a page with a job description and the option to send this job listing to a specific email (in the future, JobCompass will remember the email so you don’t have to). The job description pages provides the name of the company hiring, the job title, a brief blurb of the job’s pertinent points, and then another blue arrow to navigate you to an Indeed.com page providing the full job description; thankfully, JobCompass gives you the option of navigating to the page in Safari browser, in case you wish to stay in the JobCompass app.

While I admit the map feature is nice, being able to visually tell where a specific job is located, the rest of what the app provides is fairly ubiquitous among other job search engines. JobCompass is even a bit limiting in that it only searches within your home base region, relegating its use only for those commuting long distances (the poor Lodi residents commuting to their Bay Area jobs) since its search radius is 100 miles, and not for those wishing to relocate and thus find jobs in a new area (JobCompass does prompt you with either using your current location or a set location, but the set location function has yet to work on my iPhone). But, the real question is, why do you need to search for jobs on the go? It’s more likely you’ll have a computer or at least access to a computer than afford an iPhone to use the JobCompass app, especially when the unemployed might need to re-sort their financial priorities if they hold an expensive iPhone in hand. JobCompass has a website, anyway, so the app is really just for frills, especially since I imagine when most people are job-hunting, they take the act seriously, setting aside time with a pot of coffee and a nice cushion to spend a few hours in front of the computer, sending resumes and crafting cover letters. I cannot think of a single time I would sit in a coffee shop and think “gee, I should search for a job right now,” when it’s just as easy, and perhaps more functional, to simply go home and find my computer. It’s not like the job is going to run away within that time frame, and unless you have the expensive Microsoft Office app on your iPhone, don’t expect to have your resume handy on-the-go. And who likes typing up entire Cover letters with the Word doc on the iPhone, anyway?

JobCompass has its heart in the right place, and they are trying hard to find a niche in this jobless, heartbroken land of America. But, for now, with the limitations of the iPhone, it’s better to seek the reliance of your home computer.

“45 minutes until your girlfriend leaves.”

VoiceAlarm can also be used as a speaking alarm, timer, a stopwatch, and a clock. But I have chosen this to see if my fear may be true. Is a voice alarm annoying? We’ll find out as I set it to Intelligent Annoucements, which will actively change the frequency of announcement to announce more often closer to the specified event.

VoiceApp gives you many options on what it can count down to including dinner, meeting, free food, doctor, gym, experiment, eggs… This list goes on and on. I cannot discern the categorization of events other than speculating that it must be listed in the chronological order of each epiphany the developer had for use of this application.

“35 minutes until your girlfriend leaves.”

VoiceAlarm is quite customizable, but I can’t help but wonder why would I ever need this app? Why need anything? EDITOR NOTE: Tone down the existentialism. Tone up the excitement.

Ok, ok,  so my life can be a bit crazy. From work deadlines to meetings, social obligations to personal fulfilling activities, I lead a busy life. Who doesn’t? As I sat in traffic earlier today, I kept wondering why voice apps and then it hit: traffic. As we started to merge, so did my understanding.

“20 minutes until your girlfriend leaves.”

Constantly being in a car, merging, making sure the kids don’t kill each other in the back seat, or simply driving responsibly are all good reasons for your voice alarm. Studying, cooking or sculpting also are reasons. Anytime that you are so busy that you cannot unlock your iPhone and happen to be multitasking seems to be a good time for you to use this app.

“15 minutes until your girlfriend leaves”

But why this event? My iPhone is counting down to my social apocalypse.  It must be just for fun, so I left it on waiting for my girlfriend to notice. She did at five minutes.

“What did that say? Until what? Your girlfriend leaves?”

From that point onward every voice reminder was followed by my girlfriend’s sailor language, which is her only drawback. The only drawbacks to the app are that it cannot work in the background of other apps, so don’t plan on playing a game and being warned “five minutes until your boss is on this side of the floor again.” On that note, you cannot input your own event title.

“2 minutes until your girlfriend leaves”

I am happy by the arbitrary start point of the app. Sensibly, it beings on the help tab and educates you on how to use the entire app from the beginning. Here I learned that you can change the volume on individual events.

“30 seconds until your girlfriend leaves.”

So as the seconds dwindled, I edited the event and lowered the volume, but the damage had been done. 10 seconds before scheduled my girlfriend left. She said I should stop playing with my iPhone and start writing my app review.

“Your girlfriend should leave now.”

When using the promotion code to download for free, it’s on a first-come, first-served basis. Out of courtesy, please leave a comment below mentioning you’ve used the promotion code.

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Ahem, let me step down from my all-natural, chemical-free soap-box, and give you the gist of 3rdWhale. It was created by 3^rd Whale Media Inc and lists green businesses in six categories – Health and Wellness, Food, Eco Travel, Retail, Transportation, and Service, so naturally I chose Transportation. Each category then lists subcategories; Transportation breaks down into bicycles, dealership and rental, fuel, public transit, and taxis, and as they didn’t mention seagoing vessels, obviously I chose bicycles. Then, you specify walking distance, biking distance, or driving distance to narrow your search results. The app gives you a map and listings based on GPS, but you can also search by zip code. 3^rd Whale is an ambitious app attempting to make every day a little greener.

I searched. I searched my heart out. I looked for cafes, groceries stores, bike shops, bookstores, you name it. And you know what I found? Not enough. The interface is quite easy to navigate, with a startup screen where you specify your options and bottom tabs for shopping green, tips for living green, a login feature (where you can add a business if it isn’t listed), and a search feature. However, this does not make up for the fact that I cannot find a single independent coffee shop within 20 miles of me; my green compass just wasn’t locating it. I walked a few blocks to my favorite local caffeine dealer. GPS? LMAO ASAP!

I then realized that the problem didn’t lie within the app. The problem was simply that there weren’t enough posts. This is partially due to the nature of the sustainable business niche. So here’s my catch-22: I would love to use this app once more people have updated it, but if everyone waits for others to update it, we will never use it. I’ll just bite the spear gun and do my part by updating my local sustainable businesses and pray that everyone else will join me. Then we can all hold hands and sing kumbaya around a recycled drum circle.

In my search-induced annoyance I navigated user-created posts by clicking the Live Green button on the bottom bar. Live updating streams of how to be a better human on our planet splashed me in the face with green knowledge. These are wonderfully helpful, but there is no search feature within them, so if you find something special hold on to it, otherwise it will be lost in the wake of the sustainable torrent flowing through it. I found a nice review on lightbulbs and quickly lost it later, never to find it again. I’m sure this will be fixed in the next version. This is quite nice though because it’s also user created content via CreativeCitizen.

So, overall, I was happy for my iPhone to catch 3rdWhale, despite my slight annoyance that it hasn’t fully grown in popularity yet. I’ll do my part, if you do yours (and if you do, this app gets a 5 star rating in my e-book).