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By Leanna Lofte, Wednesday, May 18, 2011 | Student enrolled in math classes? Have a job that requires the use of math? Simply someone with a love for mathematics? Whether it’s arithmetic, calculus, or hacking the code of the universe, there are dozens of iPhone and iPad math apps to choose from. Read on for TiPb’s Top 5, must have favorites to get you started! WolframAlpha is a much more than a math app, but the computational and mathematical abilities it possesses are phenomenal. Need to not only calculate a complicated integral, but know the steps to get the answer on your own? WolframAlpha can do it. Need to quickly solve a cubic equation? WolframAlpha will calculate all real and complex solutions. Or perhaps you want to look up Fermat’s little theorem or the Riemann Hypothesis – WolframAlpha’s got you covered. From basic mathematics to advanced calculus, statistics, physics and other topics, WolframAlpha is an excellent tool to have in your pocket. Calcbot is a beautifully designed calculator the iPhone and iPad. In addition to being UI candy, Calcbot offers many features that makes it a great candidate to replace the native calculator on the iPhone (and fill the gap on the iPad). The more advanced, scientific functions are accessible by a swipe and Calcbot records your history onto a tape that you can email or send values back into the calculator. And true to Tapbots’ style, Calcbot comes to life with finely machined animation and sound. Also Check out: Apollonius is a must-have application for Geometry students. With it, you can make geometric constructions as if you were using a straightedge and compass. While making constructions, you can move points around to adjust the sizes, angles, and distances to visually see how these changes affect your constructions. Even with complicated constructions, the app runs very smoothly. If you’ve had any experience with Geometer’s Sketchpad, Apollonius is very similar. My only complaint it’s not a universal app for the iPhone and iPad. Math Ref is an excellent reference app for mathematics that includes over 1,400 helpful formulas, figures, tips and examples of the equations, and concepts. It also includes example problems and solutions that you may see in specific subject areas. Math Ref doesn’t have a fancy UI, but the information is there; it is clear; and it is easily searchable. Since the UI is basic, Math Ref is very snappy Read More

By Leanna Lofte, Monday, May 16, 2011 | Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you! PCalc RPN Calculator: A robust calculator with an optional RPN mode and multi-line display, a choice of button layouts, an extensive set of unit conversions, a paper tape, multiple undo and redo, engineering and scientific notation, as well as support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations. Update to version 2.4 brings many enhancements. [$0.99 - iTunes link] Doodle Jump: New multiplayer racing achievements! Can you become the Racing Legend by winning 1000 races? or a Racing Hero by winning 500? Win 100 races and you’ll be the Racing Champ! [$0.99 - iTunes link] Pulse : Volume One: Enter an absorbing world where players become part conductor, part note-captor, part multi-touch master. Tap speeding notes as they cross the radiant pulse to conduct gorgeous original melodies. [$4.99 - iTunes link] Face Up! Greetings: Send a customized, animated greeting to anyone by choosing a high-quality background, adding one of your photos and recording a greeting. You can even change your voice! [Free - iTunes link] MyPad – for Facebook: A Facebook app for the iPad. Now with chat, re-share, auto-login and more! [Free - iTunes link] Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think! Read More

By Leanna Lofte, Saturday, May 14, 2011 | Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game. To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break! Can’t remember where you parked your car last time you were out running errands? I’ve run into this problem more than once, and although there’s a few other nice parking apps in the App Store, Parkbud has proven to be the best in its class for me over the past few days since it was released. Parkbud is a gem with all the right features to make it great, not to mention how visually pleasing the design and interface elements are. It’s clear the developers took a lot of care when putting this app together, and it really shines when you need it most. Features include walking directions to help you get back to your vehicle in unknown areas, as well as a handy parking garage locator that really helps when you want to get the best parking possible. You can also add notes or take a quick photo of where you’re parked, which has been very useful for me at the end of a long day at the office. Parkbud also features a timer so you won’t lose track of how long the meter has been running, and sends reminders before it expires — you’ll never have to worry about finding a parking ticket on your windshield again! So if you’re on the hunt for a great looking (and even better functioning) parking app, Parkbud may be exactly what you’re looking for. Give it a try! I’m really bad about updating my jailbreaks. I’m talking really bad. Not because I don’t want to, but because of the hassle that comes with it. I never restore from a jailbroken backup to avoid issues so it’s a big headache to set up as new. Data Deposit made the process a little easier this time around. It’s an extremely simple application that allows you to store your App Store app save data in your Dropbox account. After you restore and re-jailbreak, you can simply re-install Data Deposit, Read More

PCalc, one of our favorite iPhone and iPad calculator apps (see Leanna’s PCalc review), has just hit version 2.3, and in celebration the developer has very kindly offered us a bunch of promo codes to give away. To you. But first things first: This free update has many improvements, but the key one is taking advantage of the additional screen space on the iPad. You can now permanently show the paper tape, RPN stack, and memories onscreen in a new sidebar area. This was the number one requested feature from iPad users, and we’re happy to be able to add it now. The tape, stack, and memories have had a complete overhaul for the iPhone and iPod touch too, and are now easier to read across all devices, appropriately themed, and with enhanced email support. PCalc is distributed as a universal app – one purchase will work on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. No need to buy a separate “HD” version. It requires an iPhone or an iPod touch running OS 3.0 or later, or an iPad running OS 3.2 or later. Give away: Let’s make this one simple, shall we? Head on over to our iPad Apps Forum and give us your best, most creative way to let people know about the PCalc update (other than doing a promo code give-away or adding some angry feathered creatures to the app, of course), we’ll pick the ones we like best, and you’ll get a great app for free. Sound good? (Promo codes only work in the US App Store, Apple’s rule, not ours, and they expire so if you get one, use it quickly!) Read More

by Today Tapbots, makers of iPhone utility apps Pastebot and Convertbot, have released their latest application, Calcbot for the iPhone and iPad. The $0.99 app [iTunes link] is great looking, highly functional and works beautifully on both the iPad and the iPhone. It has also been fully optimized for the iPhone 4. To help promote the app, Tapbots has teamed up with the MacHeist guys and their company tap tap tap to try to make the release a little more viral. What’s the viral marketing plan? Free software. If you go to the special MacHeist page for Calcbot, you’ll see an option to get Socialite for Mac for free. Simply share the news about Calcbot with your friends on Facebook and you’ll get a full license for Socialite from Realmac Software for free. Socialite is a really solid social media client for Mac OS X that lets you manage Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Digg and RSS feeds all from one app. This is an interesting way to promote a new mobile app release and we’re curious to see how Calcbot performs. Incidentally, Calcbot is a solid application in its own right. In addition to having support for basic and scientific functions, the app also stores your calculations on a sort of virtual receipt tape feature. That means you can access your past calculations, including all the steps involved in getting to that figure, and you can either access them instantly in the calculator (to add on expressions) or copy or e-mail the string. Calcbot also uses a live expression view so that you can see the history of your calculation quickly and easily. This is handy if you frequently start a calculation and then forget where you are. The iPad doesn’t include a calculator app and the built-in app on the iPhone is completely usable, but not nearly as spiffy. While Calcbot isn’t going to be as advanced as, say, PCalc, it’s also less expensive. What do you think of the app and its launch promotion? Read More

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Jul 1, 2010 | We’ve been keeping our eye out as more iOS 4 app updates keep hitting the App Store filled with multitasking, state saving, Retina Display-ing goodness. Hit the jump to see some of the latest we’ve found! One of the best IM clients on iPhone gets better with: We spoke with iHound back at Macworld and now their already solid location tracking service has been beefed up: If your device supports multi-tasking, then it checks in with the iHound server every 10 minutes, and the following new features become available for you in your Security Dashboard at www.ihoundsoftware.com: PowerSave Tracking: Your device determines its location, transmits to the server, then shuts down until the next check-in. Full On Tracking: Your device’s GPS will run continually as iHound transmits to the server every 30 seconds. Siren: Plays a siren alarm on your device. It will not quit until you shut it off from the web site. No Google Voice app on iPhone? No problem, Line2 offers many of the same services, some extras for business, and now background support so you can use it like a real phone replacement. (Requires Line2 service). They had us at the purple brush-metal icon. If it’s beyond 2 + 3 = apple, it’s beyond me but smart mathamagicians like Leanna tell me numbers are good and PCalc has consistently been one of the best. Now it’s better. And sharper. That’s what we’ve found so far, but if you find any you think deserve a post-up let us know in the comments or send us a tip! Read More

By Leanna Lofte, Friday, Apr 16, 2010 | PCalc [$9.99 - iTunes link] is one of the leading calculators for iPhone and now its computing power has been updated (as in universal binary) to include support for iPad. PCalc is an (optional) RPN calculator that is great for scientists, engineers, programmers, and students. It includes a list of common constants, an ample amount of conversions, a paper tape that can be shared via email, and support for binary, hexadecimal, and octal calculations. You can also customize the look of PCalc with different themes and digit fonts. The interface on iPad is rather beautiful in both landscape and portrait. The buttons are nice and big and everything is easy to read. Navigation between the menus is a much more pleasant experience than on the iPhone. To see PCalc in action, watch the video after the break! Read More

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Apr 2, 2010 | Unlike the iPhone 3GS, the iPad doesn’t have built-in stocks, weather, voice memo, clock, calculator, or compass apps. It does, however, have the brand new iPad App Store, and yeah… there are apps for all that! Check out our picks after the break! Bloomberg for iPad [Free - iTunes link] offers not just stocks but news, company info, price charts, trends, analysis and… you get the idea. It could just be information overload on a 9.7″ screen, but that’s likely just what you stockies want! Weather Channel Max [Free - iTunes link] costs nothing (thanks to Toyota) but packs in the weathery-goodness. Full screen, customizable maps, in-motion radar, local, regional, and national video, and more make it not so much of a replacement as a escalation. Voice memos for iPad [Free - iTunes link] is the “I can’t believe it’s not butter” of replacement apps. It looks similar to Apple’s iPhone Voice Memo app, but it’s scaled up to iPad size. Unlimited recording, tagging, pause, levels, timer, and email options make it a great fill in option. Clock… We haven’t found a good replacement for Clock yet. If you know of one that matches the functionality and the grace of the iPhone Clock app, let us know in the comments. And developers — make a good one, with a great icon. Seriously. PCalc Lite [Free - iTunes] or PCalc [$9.99 - iTunes link] make the iPhone calculator look anemic by comparison. It includes an optional RPN mode, multiple undo and redo, unit conversions and constants, a couple of themes, and much more in the paid version. Compass HD + Vector Magnetometer / Gravitometer [Free for now - iTunes link] is an app that, frankly, we may not be smart enough to properly describe. It has absolute mode, north mode, declination mode, and relative modes, and a bunch of different display modes for acceleration visualization. Get it while it’s free! So there you have it, App Store to the rescue! Did we miss any (other than clocks!)? Are there alternatives your like better? Let us know in the comments! Read More

PCalc [$9.99 - iTunes link] is a great RPN Calculator for the iPhone but now developer James Thomson is curious as to what users would like to see in an iPad version. How curious? He’s made a cardboard version to play around with (above) and is offering TiPb readers ten (10) free copies of PCalc to tell him what you think! Give-away starts now and ends Monday at 12pm, PT. Promo codes require a US App Store account (Apple’s rule, not ours). Read More

by Pups aren’t the only furry pals that get love on the iPhone. Our feline friends are well looked after in the App Store, as well, with a wealth of kitty-themed widgets available for download. Narrowing down the best cat-friendly apps can be a challenge, though. That’s why we’re here to help you out with a list of feline apps that are truly the cat’s pajamas. If you’re a mad cat person, or at least well on the way to being one, then check out our list of nine purrfect apps for cat lovers. Arguably, felines aren’t the most biddable of creatures, so this cat training app could help with kitty manners, offering advice on everything from litter-box training, scratching and clawing, to how to stop a cat from jumping up on tables. Cost: $0.99 We all know cats have nine lives and this app is designed to help your kitty keep hold of as many of them as possible. The PetMD First Aid & Emergency for Cats app gives you fast and clear advice for the most common cat emergencies right on your handset. Cost: $1.99 Catbook is a community of over one million cat lovers on Facebook and the iPhone, so if you fancy hooking up online with fellow feline fanciers for some meows and more, then this free download will likely prove more addictive than cat nip. Cost: Free Keep track of kitty’s vital statistics, store useful cat-related contact info and don’t forget vaccinations and other appointments with this information manager app that will help you organize all things puss. Cost: $0.99 A reference app that, as well as letting you know the difference between a Bengal and a Burmese, offers info on the breed’s characteristics such as how easy to handle it is, its activity level, and how vocal it will be, all vital data when considering which breed is best. Cost: $0.99 If you think that encouraging your cat to claw at your beloved iPhone is a good idea, then the Cat Game app, that recreates the red laser dot on a variety of surfaces right on your phone’s shiny screen, is for you. Just don’t come crying to us when it all goes wrong. Cost: Free This clever app is brilliantly simple and works with the iPhone’s camera to make a noise, such as a meow or a bell ring, so that you can capture Read More