app review: Notability

by Enuh Iglesias

Got an iPad for school or work? Then you must know how it feels to be on perpetual quest for a note taking app that will fit right in with your needs.

Having tried a fair number of note taking apps, Notability comes as a welcome discovery.

The first thing you’ll notice is its clean user interface. This makes it quite easy to find your way around the app. The clean UI, in fact, is almost misleading because beneath the simple and elegant veneer is a slew of powerful features. Everything that you need is right on the screen, such as navigation buttons for your notes, a share button, some text formatting tools, a plus button that allows you to create notebooks and separate notes within them, with a handy search button that lets you search for text across all notebooks (by title or by content), within a particular notebook and within a note itself. In addition, you can upload your photos (with limited editing capability), create scribbles, record audio and insert web clips for reference.

The large default font size (22 pt) makes the text easier to read, but there are plenty of customizable options for font, font size, text color,  and effects.  Notability also offers many ways by which you can share files and in a variety of formats, whether as RTF or PDF or via email, Dropbox, iTunes, iDisk and WebDAV. In addition, files are not only ready to print, you can even choose to protect your document from further editing.

There are only very minor tweaks that I’d like to see addressed in future updates. One is to provide just a little more photo editing capability – namely the ability to rotate pictures and a way to edit the captions of photos in such a way that the keyboard doesn’t obstruct the view of the picture. In addition, I hope that the app can preserve the original size of the photo when imported into the app or at least when exported in RTF. In addition, the ability to highlight text would be a great update as well.

Notability stands out because it makes note taking intuitive, easy and enjoyable for a broad spectrum of users. It’s a near-perfect notetaking app/word processor in one that is indispensable on my iPad as it should be on yours.

5 out of 5 stars · Ginger Labs: Notability ($2.99 – on sale at 40% off)

Schlage LiNK: Beatweek Best of Show at Macworld 2011

Home automation has long been a fantasy for the future, but the LiNK system from Schlage has made it real: you can control your door locks, your house lights, and your thermostat from your computer – and now your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch thanks to the corresponding app. As you might expect, the LiNK system is hundreds of dollars, depending on how you configure it.

review: AmpliTube iRig for iPad and iPhone

by Al Morita

Looking for a way to play the guitar while travelling or a way to play guitar without waking up your neighbors? Enter the IK Multimedia AmpliTube iRig, an instrument adapter for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad devices. Setup is easy as plugging in your guitar instrument cable and headphones to the iRig and running a guitar app. The adapter features a quality 1/8” cable connected to an input for a ¼” instrument cable and a headphone output jack.

I tried running the iRig with the free version of AmpliTube, which simulates a guitar amp with a number of effect pedals. The app is easy to navigate through with its easy-to-use interface and graphics that look like the actual device. The audio quality of AmpliTube is very good with usable clean and distortion tones. Additional amps and effect pedals are available for purchase.

I highly recommend registering the free AmpliTube app to unlock the distortion pedal for free. This gives a really nice heavy distortion that I enjoy playing with. Other features include a built-in metronome,recording option, tuner, mic, and guitar cabinet selection. The combination of the $39.99 iRig adapter and the free version of the AmpliTube app provides hours of entertainment for guitarists with a iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad device. The end result is a good practice amp for rocking out on your guitar without waking up your neighbors.

Pros: The iRig adapter features excellent audio quality, low latency, and well designed connectors. The free AmpliTube app is a great value with its easy-to-use interface, stable software, built-in tuner, good effects and amp tones, and fully customizable settings.

Cons:  AmpliTube uses a lot of battery power.  It runs in standby like a phone call when the home button is pressed, rather than closing the app. The only way to close the app is via the double home button tap method in IOS4.

rating: five stars out of five • price: variable • IKMultimedia.com

app review: Humail email app for iPhone and iPod touch

Email. It’s become such a lifeline to our lives that we don’t think much about it anymore. But what if there’s a new way to look at email again? A more ‘emotional’ way? Well, there is, and that’s where Humail comes in.

Humail is a new email client for your iPhone. When it’s launched, the first thing it does is sync your contacts. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sync your email accounts, so you’ll have to add those in manually.

When you view all new emails, you’ll be presented with folders and envelopes to flick through, almost like Cover Flow in iTunes, but in the up and down direction. All of your various email accounts will be separated by a translucent tab that informs you of which email account it is and how many new messages are in there. This interface is also present when you go to view mail accounts separately and the different folders.

The reasoning behind this ‘envelope’ view is to make your email more ‘emotional’ again, kind of like how real mail is. The envelope colors can be different to distinguish from contacts you know and unknown contacts. 

On the envelopes you’ll find some nice details: the date of the email is marked as the ‘postmark stamp’, and if there is a contact photo or logo, it’s placed as the postage stamp. The subject of the email is included next to these two things, and in the middle there is a brief preview of the message itself. Tapping on that message preview will bring you to the actual message.

In this envelope view, you can also filter out messages by contacts, attachments, and unread messages. Select a message by scrolling to it, and there will be some options on the envelope as well: Reply/Forward, Move to folder, and Bookmark. Off to the right will be the trash can to can the message.

The Settings is where you want to go for things like setting how many messages to show at once, the preview, and ask before delete. There’s five envelope designs to choose from to distinguish the unknown contacts from your own contacts. As far as contacts go, you can choose how often the address book in Humail is updated – Weekly, Hourly, or Daily.

This app holds a very interesting concept, but I’m not sure how other users will think of it. After all, you are essentially paying for an email client on the iPhone. 

Personally, I like eye-candy apps, and this is one of them. I’m not sure how much more practical this is to use than the regular iPhone mail app, but it sure is nice to look at. If you don’t go through tons of emails a day, then this could work out better for you. For me and the dozens of emails I get a day, it can slow me down. The personal touch to email is very nice though, if you’re into that. 

The only thing I want to see improvement on is the graphics (not Retina display ready) and speed. I noticed some lag when refreshing my emails in that envelope view. The iPhone may slow down if you are using the app for a while too – I noticed the device animation when going back to the home screen was a little jerky after using Humail for an extended amount of time.

It’s a promising little email client though. If you’re just bored of Mail.app, give Humail a try.

review by Christine Chan

rating: 3.5 stars out of five • App Store link

app review: Time Crisis 2nd Strike

When I was younger and visited arcades, Time Crisis was one of the games that I had to hunt down. Popping in and out of cover by pressing and releasing a giant pedal, while feeling like an unstoppable 80’s action star was worth the 4 tokens. Luckily, Namco has decided to release Time Crisis 2nd Strike for the iPhone and surprisingly almost complete a seamless transition.

The game is simple to understand, you are Global Agent Giorgio Bruno, who looks like Capt. Jack Sparrow, and your job is to kill anything that moves onscreen. You do this with the help of a variety of guns that you come in possession of (Pistol, Shotgun, Uzi, Grenade launcher). You pop in and out cover by pressing and releasing the pedals on the bottom corners of the screen, and attempt to finish each section before time runs out. The swapping of guns is also very intuitive, as you just tap on their icons located on the bottom of the screen. This sounds like everything that would want in a Time Crisis game, but some problems do arise by being on the iPhone.

A big problem in transitioning the Time Crisis franchise to the iPhone is the tap control. With the arcade cabinet, you have a large screen, and an actual light gun to fire upon the baddies with. In the iPhone version, you will utilize your finger to fire at henchmen with. What this then leads to is henchmen firing at you from a distance: you tapping on them to fire, your finger covering a portion of the screen, covering up other enemies, or realizing that you are not firing at the exact right place. Possibly, making the enemies a little larger could help? There is then the voice-over work, during the cut-scenes, that seem as if the actress was handed the script two seconds before recording. Namco seems to be proud of the scenes, enough to have them be a selling point on the App. store, but they are mostly cringe worthy.

Even with its problems there is fun to be had: the tap controls are almost a suitable replacement for the light gun, the visuals are almost on par with its arcade big brother, and it captures the challenge that makes the franchise fun. Besides the story mode, the game also includes: Time Attack mode and Score Assault mode. These two modes allow you to run through completed stages to achieve the fastest speed or highest score. If you really desire a shooter or in need of some nostalgia on your iPhone, then this game is worth the pricey $9.99. Just make sure to pull out your headphones during the cut-scenes.

review by Bagner Estrada

rating: 3.5 stars out of five • App Store link

iPhone 4 app complexity lampooned in SNL 911 sketch

Andy Samberg could have just called 911 on his iPhone 4 when he saw would-be attackers outside his bedroom window in a digital short on tonight’s episode of Saturday Night Live. But instead Samberg made the mistake of using a “Rescue Dogs 3D” app in an attempt to seek help. The (fictional) iPhone app turned out to be an overly complex piece of work which featured everything from interstitial ads to overlong questionnaires about the nature of the emergency. The “Automated Dispatch Rescue Application” included a promo for a Rescue Dogs 3G movie with a cameo from RED star Helen Mirren, and then the app tried to sell Samberg tickets to the movie before trying to sell him a pizza, then text messages about the movie and so on.

The sketch wasn’t specifically about the iPhone 4 or even the iPhone platform, but rather appeared to be lampooning the nature of certain free third-party iPhone apps which appear to exist for purely self-promotional reasons. While the sketch wasn’t that funny, Samberg did get a happy ending as the “rescue” dog showed up at the end and promptly bit the arm off one of the attackers (we didn’t know there was an app for that). Oddly enough, a commercial break or two later, Apple aired an ad not for the iPhone but for the iPod touch. Go figure.

app review: Tilt To Live for iPhone

At first glance, Tilt To Live seems like a Geometry Wars knockoff. This thought is quickly forgotten as it provides its own spin on the genre, and utilizes the iPhone’s accelerometer to challenge the player’s evasive maneuvers. This game is One Man Left Studios’ debut title and showcases the power of the App. Store for unheard of talent.

In Tilt To Live, the player takes control of a cursor that must evade hundreds of enemies ranging from simple red dots, to various other forms attempting to stop your quest for the ultimate high score. Unlike Geometry Wars, the player does not possess unlimited ammo and must rely on power ups generating throughout the map. Thankfully, the choices of power ups are varied: heat seeking cluster missiles, freeze beams, nukes and many more. The game is intelligently designed as it challenges the most hardcore of gamers, while providing the simplicity of pick up and play for the casual gamer. It also helps that within its simplicity the game is visually appealing with bright colors onscreen at all times. Tilt To Live’s melodic music juxtaposes the violence onscreen but is never intrusive on the game play.

The most impressive aspect about this $2.99 game is that One Man Left Studios continues to build upon their hit game. Recently releasing the new Frostbite mode, which brings its total modes to four. In Frostbite mode, the player must eliminate as many falling frozen enemies before hitting the bottom, and reanimating. Previous modes such as Gauntlet carry enemies from right to left. The player must attempt to duck, dive, dodge and collect orbs that supply a few more seconds of precious life. Code Red is a hyper version of Classic mode, which means that enemies immediately go for the kill and think about your feelings second. There is also the inclusion of the aGon system, which keeps record of all unlocked achievements, unlocked weapons and friends’ scores.

All of these modes, and the possibly more to come, turn this frenetic shooter into a must-have. Minor negatives though are the exclusion of any multiplayer modes (hopefully to be remedied in the sequel), and the occasional fickleness of the gyroscope controls that may cause some frustration. With these minor quips said, if you need a healthy dose of adrenaline while waiting in line for your panini, then this game is more than sufficient.

rating: four stars out of five • App Store link

review by Bagner Estrada

iPhone app launches for Alex Rodriguez 600th home run – and it’s a snow globe

“There’s an app for that” is a fun catch phrase for the seemingly nearly infinite variety of iPhone apps available in the App Store, but some entries leave users to wonder just how far app developers will go to cover every angle. One of them is an app aimed at commemorating the sixth hundredth career home run hit by New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez – and if that doesn’t sound strange enough, the app in question is a snow globe. Actually, it’s not a standalone app, but rather it’s somehow tied in with the existing “ShakyPlanet” app which is free. We won’t pretend to understand how Alex Rodriguez and a snow globe go hand in hand, but for Yankees fans (and perhaps snow globe fans) who want to take a look, it’s right here.

Bumper Bummer: iPhone 4 free case app won’t install on some iPhones

Those who don’t yet have an iPhone 4 but are curious as to which free iPhone 4 cases are being offered to users by Apple are out of luck. Users of the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G can’t even officially take a peek at the offerings (which include several third party options in addition to Apple’s own Bumper case), as Apple is running the free iPhone 4 case program through a free App Store app – and while the app can be downloaded onto any computer via iTunes, it won’t even so much as sync to to an older iPhone (or for that matter, an iPad or iPod touch). Even though the free case app is technically compatible with all of the above, Apple has flagged the app such that it can’t be installed on anything but an iPhone 4.

Part of this is due to the fact that the app confirms you actually have an iPhone 4 by examining the device it’s been installed on (thus also ensuring a limit of one per customer) without putting anyone through the hassle of manually producing a receipt or even a serial number. It’s a clever and efficient idea, but it does keep current users of Apple’s older iPhones from being able to browse the app to see which free case they might want to pick out if they do end up buying an iPhone 4 before the expiration of the free case program (September 30th for new purchases; August 22nd if you bought your iPhone 4 prior to July 23rd). Fortunately, we’ve done hands-on tests with the highest rated (Speck PixelSkin HD – full review here) and the lowest rated (oddly enough, Apple’s own Bumper – full review here) and we’ve got the reviews for your perusal.

iPad and iPhone users unlikely to see Android wallpaper app breach

One of the fundamental differences between the iPhone and Android platforms is that while Apple manually tests and approves every third party iPhone app before it becomes available to users (more than 95% of submitted apps are ultimately approved), the Android “app store” is more like the wild west. And while breaches can and do happen on the Apple side of the fence (on the Fourth of July, a rogue individual posing as an iPhone app developer hacked the App Store to briefly push his own phony eBooks up the App Store sales charts), millions of Android users have now been hit by what reads like a Kindergarten-level hack: a simple wallpaper app available in the Android app store was downloaded by millions before anyone caught on to the fact that the app was rigged to steal users’ data and send it wirelessly back to the unscrupulous app developer.

There’s no way to know for sure that Apple, with its stringent testing and approval process for third party apps for its iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch platforms, would have caught such an app before it went live – but it’s doubtful that it would have gotten past Apple’s testers. While geek-leaning Android users brag about the “open” nature of their platform (in other words, they find it to be more recreationally hackable), the flipside of that “openness” is that malware thinly veiled as a harmless wallpaper app is far more likely to be a problem for Android users than iPhone users. While Apple has approved about a quarter million free and paid third-party apps for the iPhone and iPad, none of them have ever been a free wallpaper app that steals users’ data.

Source: Venturebeat, relayed by @lvdjgarcia via Daring Fireball’s @gruber

Free iPhone tethering arrives via flashlight app, quickly burns out

iPhone tethering, long a contentious issue due to its continual delay in arriving as well as AT&T’s intention to charge an arm and a leg for it on top of an iPhone user’s regular monthly bill, arrived briefly in the App Store via the most underhanded of ways: buried within a ninety-nine cent app which Apple unwittingly approved because it appeared to be a simple flashlight app, says Geekologie. If you missed out it, sorry, it’s already been yanked from the App Store and the trick is unlikely to work the next time an app developer tries a similar tactic. The big surprise is not so much that it got past Apple in the first place, but that the app developer who came up with the idea is a mere fifteen years old. It’s still not clear whether any iPhone users outside the geekdom is actually interested in (the odds are that most mainstream iPhone users don’t even know what “tethering” means, let alone would be interested in jury-rigging one of their devices to the other in such a fashion), but AT&T’s continued insistence on milking the iPhone users who do want the feature is yet another motivation for iPhone users to dislike AT&T by an ever-increasing margin.

Despicable Me comes to iPad

Despicable Me, a 3D animated comedy by Universal Pictures, opened in theaters this past weekend and has already hit number one in the box office! The movie stars Steve Carrel as the voice of Gru, a Scrooge-like character who is determined to become a supervillain . And if you enjoyed the lovely voice of Mary Poppins, you’ll be happy to know that Julie Andrews played the voice of Gru’s mother!

Immerse yourself in Gru’s villainous world right on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad! Despicable Me: Minion Mania is available for your gaming pleasure. The game is an adorable puzzler that will surely tickle your brain cells. Guide the minions through various puzzles by moving them in around in Gru’s top secret laboratory! Put them in the right positions to unlock the next level.

For more information about the Despicable Me: Minions Mania iPhone game, see the official website. An iPad version available too. Both versions are currently on sale for 99 cents! But hurry, this sale won’t last very long. A free lite version is also available if you want to try it out.

Amazon gives Kindle books for iPad+iPhone embedded audio/video

Amazon has upgraded its Kindle app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch with new technology which allows for embedded audio and video within eBooks – with the first crop of Kindle-compatible apps to take advantage of the new functionality including “Rick Steves’ London” by Rick Steves and “Together We Cannot Fail” by Terry Golway. The book giant also says it’s also optimized the iPhone version of the Kindle app to take advantage of the sharper “Retina Display” screen technology built into iPhone 4. The free Kindle app, which competes with Apple’s own iBooks platform, is now at version 2.1.1 for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch in the App Store.

app review: Egretlist for iPhone and iPod touch

There are just so many things one has to do each day, it’s hard to keep track of it all. But when you have an iPhone, keeping yourself and your tasks organized is one of the many things that you can do with the device. And Evernote is a service to help you ‘remember everything.’ But Evernote is a heavy-duty note-taking app, what does it have to do with organizing those little tasks you have everyday? Well, with Egretlist, those tasks that you make in Evernote will show up in Egretlist in a beautiful Moleskine-style UI, almost like the real thing!

Evernote is much more than just ‘notes’, the desktop clients and web interface let you create checklist items in a note, so that users can create lists and check them off when they are complete. Egretlist syncs with a users Evernote account (free and paid accounts are available) and pulls any checkbox items from any notebook that the user has.

The main screen will show a list of active notebooks with any tasks in them as a count on the right hand side. This screen will also show archived To-Dos, which is simply just storing the completed tasks as a future reference point in case one may need them. At the bottom of this screen there will be three tabs: Create New List, New List In, and Sync. For the record, I find that the two options, Create New List and New List In to be very similar and end up with the same result – perhaps one can be eliminated since it seems redundant, but that’s just me.

When you view a notebook and the to-dos that are in it, they’ll be separated by List title, which will appear in a tan colored piece of Scotch tape, with the checkbox items below. The entire interface is reminiscent of a Molkeskine notebook, complete with signature elastic band, with the lists and items appearing on a rich paper-like background. If you’re done with something, tapping a checkbox will fade the item out and add it to the archive. Swiping on an item will bring up an Edit option or Trash option.

A neat thing about Egretlist is the ability to add a picture from the Camera Roll or take a new one with the camera, audio recording, or note to a task, even pulling something from the device clipboard and pasting it automatically if needed. All of these additional features will also be added into Evernote as attachments. The ‘notes’ that can be appended will appear as an image within Evernote itself.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of five • App Store link

Hot and Rising app: Twitter official for iPhone

Twitter’s acquisition of popular independent iPhone app Tweetie (and the hiring of Tweetie’s sole developer in the process) earlier this year has finally paid off for users in the form of Twitter for iPhone, which is based on Tweetie and still performs quite a bit like it but is now a completely free app for iPhone and iPod touch users. While there are still dozens of third party Twitter apps in the App Store which each have various features and cater to various niches, it’s fairly easy to recommend Twitter for iPhone as the best place for users to start.

The app comes complete with support for Twitter lists, search, retweeting, trending topics, and the ability to be logged into multiple Twitter accounts simultaneously (handy if you’ve got professional and personal Twitter accounts). The only widespread complaint from users thus far is that the new icon, which features a bird in white silhouette with no eyes, looks a bit creepy.

A more serious, but much more rare, complaint is that a few users are still suffering from the same caching issues that plagued a handful of Tweetie users, in which leaving the app and then relaunching it would cause hours or even days worth of tweets to disappear and have to be reloaded. But this issue appears not to affect the vast majority of users, and combined with its free price tag and the potential it has going forward now that it’s got Twitter’s official backing (and funding), makes Twitter for iPhone both hot and rising.

Farmville comes to iPhone platform

Farmville, the highly popular game on Facebook, is coming to the iPhone platform, according to its developer. The move comes at a time when relations are reportedly strained between Farmville developer Zynga and Facebook. The iPhone version of Farmville will come complete with push notifications to alert users that their crops are withering. The iPhone version will also include the ability to add a “Snow Leopard” to ones farm as part of in-app purchases. The game will obviously not be made in Flash, which is not supported on the iPhone and iPod touch platform. Source: Engadget.

iPad turned into barbecue grill for Memorial Day

Apple’s iPad has been turned into an interactive virtual barbecue grill thanks to an app appropriately titled Barbecue HD. The app places a digital barbecue grill surface on the iPad’s screen and displays items such as steaks and shish kabobs on screen, allowing you to “cook” them and maneuver them via the touchscreen. The iPad app is one of the stranger ones we’ve seen yet, but the timing is good heading into the Memorial Day weekend, in which barbecues are sure to be a part of the festivities for some – and others who can’t light up a real barbecue will at least be able to use their iPad to pretend they’ve having one. We’re not sure whether using the iPad app instead of simply walking outside and firing up a real barbecue grill makes one pathetic or merely creative, but we do know that the former might work as a good diet plan, and the latter makes us exceedingly hungry for steak.

Barnes and Noble app comes to the iPad

Do you need a wider selection of books for your iPad? Barnes and Noble for the iPad just arrived in the app store today! More than a million titles have been digitalized and available at your fingertips. There’s also more than half a million free classics available from Google Books for you to download.

Pages slide forward and backward in the eBooks. Users can also adjust font sizes, text justification, font type, and margin size, and background colors in the options. These options can also be saved as a theme for you to refer back to. Purchasing books however will take you to the Barnes and Noble website. After you purchase the book, there’s no way of getting back to the B&N iPad app unless you close the browser and start it back up. That would be one drawback. But other than that, it’s another great app for your iPad, especially if you invested lot of money in eBooks for your Nook.

You can download the BN eReader for iPad app here.

Glee: iPhone and iPad app review

Smule has done it again with another hit musical app! They teamed up with Fox and made the lovely Glee app — a must-have app for every Gleek! Get your Gleek on and have fun singing with your favorite Glee cast members and friends!

Glee is a universal app (works with iPod Touches, iPhones, and iPads) that allows you to sing your favorite Glee songs with real-time harmonies and pitch correction. The four main features of the app are: Listen, Join, Sing, and Share.

Listen. As your fellow gleeks broadcast their songs, you’re able to listen to the amazing talents around the world. This is a signature feature in most Smule apps.

Join. Want to do a duet with a friend? “Join” in on a song you hear and add your voice to it! You can also create a club by adding Smule friends as singers to your songs or by joining a song on the Glee Globe.

There’s also song requests from the Gleeks inviting you to sing with them! You can sing with Rachel Berry or Finn Hudson. They’ll sing one part, and you’ll sing the other. When the song is done, it’ll be uploaded automatically to the server.

Sing. The main part of the app is definitely singing! Three songs are available when your purchase the app: Rehab, Keep Me Hanging On, and Somebody to Love. New songs are added every week and costs $0.99 each. To purchase a new song, simply click on it and confirm. The song and lyrics will download afterward.

Sing loudly and clearly into the mic of your device. If you are using an iPad, the mic is located on the top, next to the headphone jack. I recommend using your iPhone headset since the mic would be closer to your mouth and the background noise will be canceled out.

Simply pick a song and hit “start” for the recording to begin. While recording, you have the option to toggle on/off the pitch correction and the harmonies. Make your selections and sing your heart out! You can save or discard the recording at anytime. If you finish the whole song, it will automatically save into your library.

In the latest version of the app, you can also sing songs from your iTunes library. Select a song from your collection and start recording. For the best experience, I suggest selecting a karaoke version of the song or one you can sing a duet with. Keep in mind, iTunes song will not be broadcast or shared due to licensing restrictions.

Share. When you’re done recording, your files are saved in the “Share” box. There are three options on how you can share your song — share, broadcast, and add singers. No matter which option you pick, they all will upload your song to the server, so you’ll need to be connected to the internet.

• Share will allow you to email, Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace your link.
• Broadcast will upload it to the server and add you to the musical globe.
• Add singers will share your song with another Smule member so they can add their voice to it.

Here are some tips on how to make the Glee app experience more enjoyable:

Before you start using the app, turn off all notifications on your device. That way, you won’t get interrupted while recording a song.

Also, if you’re using pitch correction, be sure to sing on the same note. If you vary from high to low notes, it may sound a bit strange when the app tries to correct it. You may want to practice with pitch on and off to see which sounds better.

Lastly, when you’re listening to others sing, keep in mind some songs will sound better than others. I suggest selecting “Top Performances” from the top menu to hear the cream of the crop. These performances usually have a lot of Gleek followers.

This app is designed to be played in portrait mode on either the iPhone or iPad. It’s nicely designed and every page in the app displays a colorful photo of your favorite glee character. Overall, the app is worth the 99 cents, but believe me, if you’re a true Gleek, you’ll find yourself spending a lot more on in-app purchases! New songs are added every week so check back frequently.

The Glee app is currently on sale today for just 99 cents (originally $2.99). You can purchase it in the iTunes app store.

For more information, see their official website.

Taylor Swift goes cat crazy on her iPhone

Taylor Swift apparently has a new addiction, and it centers around her iPhone. It’s an app called Catpaint, which simply allows you to add images of random cats to any of your real photos. “It will change your life,” Taylor says of the ninety-nine cent app, and she’s posted a string of photographic evidence via twitpic to prove it. First there’s the picture of her on the red carpet steps surrounded by cats who don’t seem to notice her, then there’s a dancing couple with a really really heavy set cat in the background. Then there’s her complaint that hanging out with fellow pop star Katy Perry is “super fun except for the herd of domestic cats that follow her around” – along with the photo at left.

While Taylor Swift apparently had a little bit of time on her hands to have found such good use for the Catpaint iPhone app, she’s also in the news for a more important reason this week for having donated half a million dollars to relief for for recent fatal flooding in Nashville, which she calls home. Meanwhile, Taylor’s full Catpaint Twitter gallery can be found on TwitPic.

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