Sophiestication Software

It's January 6th, 2012, and today marks the end of the TUAW Best of 2011 awards. This was a massive undertaking, with 25 separate categories all requiring their own nominations and voting from our readers. We've learned some lessons for next year's event -- start earlier, watch for astroturfing in the nominations, drop some unpopular categories -- and the Best of 2012 will be even better. The editorial staff here at TUAW agreed with many of the reader picks, but we had our own opinions on some others. We want to thank all of the thousands of TUAW readers who took time to consider their favorite accessories and apps, nominate them for an award, and then vote in the competition. Without further ado, here's the full list of winners as well as our picks for the TUAW Best of 2011: Editor picks: 13" and 11" MacBook Air, 13" MacBook Pro Peripheral or Accessory: OWC Data Doubler and OWC Mercury 6G SSD Editor picks: Magic Trackpad, OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD Editor picks: Mophie Juice Pack Air, Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation, iChair Editor picks: Apple Smart Cover, AViiQ Smart Case,Twelve South BookBook, ModulR System, OtterBox Defender Editor picks: Apple TV, iCade, Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation Read More

posted by Jacob Penderworth on Friday, December 30, 2011 at 12:45 pm.   This post is the start of a new series here at iFans. We hope to inform you of the best App Store — and other — deals available each week. Our current schedule involves one deals post per week and will usually be posted on Friday of the week, but may vary depending on which day offers the best amount of deals. We’ll update this post throughout the weekend if there are any new additions, so check back! Lastly, if I happen to know anything about the app and would recommend it, then I’ll write my thoughts in italics, so check for that before buying! And now … on to the deals! Accessories Read More

Posted 11/01/2011 at 9:30am | by J Keirn-Swanson There are almost as many Wikipedia-based apps as there are articles in Wikipedia. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but there are tons of apps that help put everyone's favorite online source of data in your pocket. While you could read Wikipedia’s article on apps, we think our article is much better [need citation]. Articles is a pretty skin for Wikipedia whether in its iPhone or iPad version. Sophiestication Software has chosen a pleasing design for replicating articles. Everything is laid out like a very well designed one-columned magazine with light sepia toning to the page.  A very nice looking layout wins you lots of points with Steve Navigation buttons as discrete as Safari’s, running across the top on the iPad and bottom on the iPhone. That's not the only place it resembles mobile Safari, as multiple pages can be loaded and accessed very similarly to the iPhone’s “tabs.” Next to that, a familiar bookmark button allows you see a list of saved entries, to access articles about where you currently are, and a Surprise Me! feature which delivers a random page. Tabs like Safari on the iPhone On the iPad, a search bar takes up the bulk of the top navigation, then a Table of Contents button. A globe next to that will let you see alternate language versions of the same subject (though articles in other languages will often have different amounts of information). On the iPhone, tap and hold a button to edit which ones are available. A similar tap and hold feature on links in articles sends them a Read Later list for future consultation. Let's read this article on Dickens later, okay? We stacked Articles, as page skinner, up against Safari's Reader feature and found the app won the contest for reading pleasure hands down. The features the apps sports are useful, but for reading it's definitely an improvement on Wikipedia's bare bones presentation. When you open Cooliris, Inc.'s  Discover, it pulls up the featured article of the day just like the full site does. This is presented as a magazine cover. Flick the screen to the left to see Wikipedia's Photo of the day. Open the app in landscape and you get the story of the day plus a few random articles. Shake your iPad to get a new randomized cover. Encyclopedia Britannica won't touch the things Wikipedia will Read More

Oft nachgefragt: ein Beitrags-Update über meine ‘Homescreens‘. Seit März 2011, als die letzte Aktualisierung dieser Artikel-Serie erfolgte, hat sich die eine oder andere App verschoben, geändert und aussortiert. Der derzeit aktuellen Stand ist an dieser Stelle festgehalten. Vielleicht finden an diesem Montag ja speziell frische 4S-Käufer, die einen ersten Grundbedarf an Software benötigen, die eine oder andere Anregung. Ich persönlich ziehe jede individuelle Empfehlungen allen generischen ‘Hitlisten’ vor. Genau deshalb soll mein privater Einblick auch nicht alleine bleiben: Wer Screenshots oder Tipps von seinen verwendeten Apps in den Kommentaren kundtun möchte, ist dazu herzlich eingeladen. Zwei Anmerkungen noch: Die zwei benutzten Hintergrundbilder gibt es hier und hier. Auf meinem Standby-Screen befinden sich dieses und dieses Bild. Außerdem führe ich zwei Ordner mit ‘Review’-Software, die ich mir für dieses Blog noch genauer anschauen möchte. Da diese Programme (noch) keine Empfehlungen sind, verbleiben sie für diesen Artikel ohne Erwähnung. Außerdem verstecken sich in den iPhone-Ordnern: Delivery Status touch (3.99 €); Dropbox (kostenlos); eBay (kostenlos); iCab Mobile (1.59 €); Skype (kostenlos); WeatherPro (2.99 €); Tumblr (kostenlos); Verbs (0.79 €); WhatsApp (kostenlos); PayPal (kostenlos); Analytics Pro (4.99 €); Boxcar (kostenlos); Articles (2.39 €); Instapaper (3.99 €); Facebook (kostenlos); Kicktipp (kostenlos); Flickit Pro (3.99 €); 360 Panorama (0.79 €); Lab (0.79 €); Halftone (0.79 €); Instagram (kostenlos); Finnish English (2.39 €); Evernote (kostenlos); Reeder (2.39 €); CrashPlan (kostenlos); Meine Freunde suchen (kostenlos); Shazam (kostenlos); Synonymwörterbuch (19.99 €); iSSH (7.99 €); Handoff (1.59 €); Screens (15.99 €); Google+ (kostenlos) und AirPort Dienstprogramm (kostenlos). Außerdem verstecken sich in den Ordnern: Evernote (kostenlos); iOutBank (9.99 €); Pages (7.99 €); iSSH (7.99 €); Dropbox (kostenlos); iMovie (3.99 €); Skype (kostenlos); Numbers (7.99 €); Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery (3.99 €); Bumpy Road (2.39 €); Cut the Rope (1.59 €); Emberwind HD (1.59 €); Groove Coaster (2.39 €); The Last Rocket (2.39 €); Contre Jour HD (2.39 €); ShadowGun (3.99 €); Comic Zeal (5.99 €); Flipboard (kostenlos); Kindle (kostenlos); Tagesschau (kostenlos); Wired (2.99 €); Zeit Online (kostenlos); Big Picture (2.39 €); Color Splash (1.59 €); Instagallery (1.59 €); Instamap (1.59 €); PhotoSync (1.59 €); Remote (kostenlos); Boxee (kostenlos); iCab Mobile (1.59 €); Simplenote (kostenlos); Air Display (7.99 €) und PDF Expert (7.99 €). * Alle Affiliate-Links (Danke!) führen direkt in den App Store. Read More

id's Rage app went free earlier on this week, and that seems to have inspired a little avalanche of free and discounted apps on the App Store. Good news for us, of course: There are quite a few solid apps to pick up if you haven't yet. So there's a few to pick up. Have fun this weekend! Read More

Posted 08/19/2011 at 4:24pm | by Susie Ochs August, the month that could really use a holiday but doesn't have any for some crazy reason, is dragging on. It's Friday again. That's a good thing, but if you have time to kill this weekend, whether you're hiding from lousy weather or wiling away the hours in an airport, we've found some great time-killers on sale in the App Store, at low, low prices of free to $1.99. Treat yourself... Remember the days when you could spend your entire weekend, or what seemed like it, in an arcade? Between games and Orange Juliuses, you probably spent a fortune. Well, you can relive the glory days with Warblade HD, a top-down arcade shoot-em-up for iPad. This remake of the Amiga classic Deluxe Galaga has 100 levels, iCade support, and it's super addictive. And it'll only set you back $0.99, down from $2.99. Or you could get creative this weekend. From MacPhun, the makers of FX Photo Studio, iPhone app Doodle Cam is free, down from 99 cents. You can record videos that look hand-drawn, perfect for your re-creation of A-Ha's classic "Take On Me" video. It's got 11 effects in all, and you can even switch between them while recording. If you'd like to spend your weekend actually learning something, clever, full-featured Wikipedia reader Articles is $0.99 (from $2.99) for iPhone and $1.99 (from $4.99) for iPad. Articles won an Apple Design Award at WWDC in 2010, and it's easy to see why. It's got a lovely interface, "read later" queue, and can even find articles for nearby places and events. Jaw-dropping on-rails shooter RAGE HD is free, formerly $1.99. It's universal for iPad and iPhone, although you need an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, any iPad, or a 3rd-gen or later iPod touch. If you are rocking older hardware, try RAGE, which is also free, also universal, and down from 99 cents. Fruit Ninja developer Halfbrick's Age of Zombies is $0.99 for the weekend, down from $2.99. Play as pint-sized hero Barry Steakfries an blast away zombies in this cute and addictive action romp. It's universal for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. And it'll help you train for the zombie apocalypse. Which probably isn't coming this weekend, but you never know... Tags: Read More

Jul 20th 2010 at 8:30AM Very nice looking app. Marred only by very poor implementation of TableOfContents access which requires you lose your current position in article - dumb design decision. I guess I'm a little confused. The mobile version of Wikipedia seems to already allow you to do what you describe as the best feature of the application. "However, if you've participated in a few marathon Wikipedia sessions just by following a few random reference links, it's well worth the purchase." Sure, it's only $3, but why clutter up your iPhone with an app that simply re-invents the wheel? Wikipanion is free, and seems to do the same thing I would just echo your comment and say that while (I've never tried it) "Articles" probably provides some additional features, I would definitely suggest trying out the free Wikipanion application first. I've been using Wikipanion for at least a year now, and It appears to have all the features any causal user of Wikipedia would usually need. The free Wikipanion application is also regularly updated and new features are added every so often. TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple. © 2011 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved. We value our readership, especially when we receive tips which help us write compelling content. Use this form to send us a tip. Note: Some fields are required. Read More

posted by Trey Trawick on Monday, July 5, 2010 at 2:02 pm.   Wikipedia is one of the greatest resources ever created, and should be easily accessible by anyone, no matter where they are. Here’s a roundup of some of the most popular Wikipedia applications on the App Store. All of them will have the most up-to-date information, and work on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Wikipedia Mobile is the official Wikipedia app, so naturally it is completely free and ad-less. One of the unique features is the ability to view nearby points of interest on a map, which can be pretty interesting. The main downsides are that the app is quite slow compared to the others and has limited features, as it is essentially the mobile Wikipedia site rolled into an app. There are no tabs, so you can only view one article at a time which makes it harder to browse multiple articles. The app is open source and community built, so if you’re a developer this could be a major plus. It’s the most basic solution and feels just like Wikipedia should, but I would stay away until they get the kinks worked out. Articles works on all of Apples touch-screen devices, and does so quite beautifully. It looks like one of Darwin’s journals, especially on the iPad. It has support for multiple tabs which comes in handy when bouncing around an article, and you can pull down the page to lock the orientation for bedtime reading. It is fast and has bookmark support, as well and the ability to email links. At $2.99, it is the most expensive option, but makes browsing the worlds largest encyclopedia very enjoyable. Articles is my personal favorite because of its aesthetics and ease of use. The only downside is the lack of navigation support, so you’ll be doing a fair amount of scrolling. Wapedia is much more well known for its Android counterpart, but the iPhone version does the job decently too. It’s free, but ad supported, which can be a big turn off to some. It’s not the best looking but has the benefit of fullscreen browsing to maximize your screen real-estate. It is also available in many different languages and on many different platforms. It’s very flexible, and has support for different Wikis, from Appropedia to the Zelda Wiki. Like a few of the others, it has a button that shows the contents of the page for quick browsing. If you’re Read More

Apple seems to be on a roll of late with App Store app lists. First came The Best Games You’ve Never Played, a roundup of hidden gems that haven’t quite burned up the app charts. Now they’ve released the Awesome iOS 4 Apps list, a collection of apps and games that have been updated to take advantage of iOS 4′s new features, like support for the Retina Display and Multitasking/Fast App Switching. Here are some notable that have made the list: Now I haven’t tried all 42 apps on the list, but I don’t think I’d consider all of them to be awesome. I suppose it’s all a matter of personal preference and interests (and of course, apps that actually have been updated for iOS 4 already). The entire Apple roundup can be found right here on iTunes. Read More

We’ve been covering some of the new and notable iOS 4 updates as we find them going live in the App Store, but Apple’s new Awesome iOS 4 Apps section in the iTunes App Store has just made that task a little easier. Check them out to see Apple’s favorites, and hit the jump to see some more of ours… I think Bejeweled 2 was one of the first games I downloaded (ok that’s probably an exaggeration), but it’s one of the ones that sticks in my head as an all time favorite. It’s extremely addicting and links up with Bejeweled Blitz so if you have Facebook, you can show off your scores on Facebook as well. Bejeweled 2 has added fast app switching support as of now. An incredibly useful app just got even more useful. Instapaper has added multitasking support as of now and say they’ll have more updates to come. For those of you not familiar with Instapaper, it allows you to save web pages for offline reading at your convenience. So if you’re bored in class or at work and you happen to be somewhere with sucky service, Instapaper is awesome. iTeleport is an amazing app that allows you to access your desktop computer from anywhere. It is compatible with Mac and PC. Have a file you forgot to send before you left home? Use iTeleport to log in to your home computer and send it to yourself. Easy as that! Articles is definitely one of the better Wikipedia sources out there. If you’re looking for a good reference app that’s got an awesome layout and pleasing to the eye, you won’t get any better. Especially since it’s now completely compatible with iOS4 and adds not only multitasking support but optimization for the retina display for iPhone 4. The grand daddy of iPhone Twitter apps has once again gone back to the drawing board for version 3.0, this time drawing inspiration from the simplicity and focus forced by their iPad re-design. That’s right — it’s a universal binary so you only need to buy it once. It’s free but you can co ad-free and multi-account with an in-app purchase (which applies to both iPad and iPhone version). Like always, if you see any that are your favorites, send us a tip or a comment! Read More