Tag: Favorite four »

This week at 148Apps.com, we pondered life after the change from Google Maps to Apple Maps. Carter Dotson took a look at his Favorite Four alternatives to Apple's built-in guidance system: "So, there’s a bit of a brouhaha over iOS 6 switching its maps provider from Google Maps to TomTom and other Apple sources. Yes, the 3D flybys in the maps are pretty, but the lack of details once had in Google Maps and loss of transit directions is a backbreaker for some. Sure, Google Maps has a mobile website that can be added as a web app, but maybe it’s time for something all new. Unless or until a separate Google Maps application is released, here’s four fine alternatives for mapping and directions."

Take a look at Carter's choices on 148Apps.

GiggleApps writer Amy Solomon got cooking with a kids' game called Dr. Panda's Restaurant: "My son and I are thoroughly enjoying Dr. Panda’s Restaurant as this app has so much to offer in cooking fun for children of all ages. This app consists of a two-story restaurant, each containing a two-person table to be filled with the animals who get welcomed by Dr. Panda, now the chef of this restaurant as well as the one who greets these animals before they are sent to their table. Eight animals are included, as are ten recipes to cook."

Read more of what's on the menu at GiggleApps.com.

And finally, AndroidRundown.com featured a KickStarter Spotlight on Lifx. Joseph Bertolini writes, "Lifx is an LED light that connects to any home wireless network and is controlled by a smartphone. It would have been easy for the developers to just simply stop at changing the color, and I, frankly, would have been satisfied. But seeing as this is a KickStarter project, it is a safe bet that these developers did not become complacent. Some simple additions, such as dimming and batch operation are included, but the one that I am most impressed by is the ability for the light to deliver phone notifications. Imagine every time a text message comes in the room blinks green or blue for Facebook notifications. There is also an option to program lights onto specific actions and cycles, such as dimming over a period of time or turning on every day at 8 am."

Read more about this potential product at AndroidRundown.

And that about covers it for the week that was. Joins us every day for the latest news, reviews and contests - and keep track of it all by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook. See you in 7.

Are you ready for some football, in particular the 2012–2013 season of the premier American football league, the National Football League? Well, with the season kicking off tonight with the Super Bowl champion New York Giants playing the Dallas Cowboys, I’ve collected four apps to help make the game-watching and fantasy-football-playing experience better. No matter what, they’re better than the replacement refs are going to be!

NFL ’12: The NFL’s official app offers video, including a single screen scoreboard of all the week’s games on the iPad. Get score alerts for individual games. See highlights and analysis videos from NFL.com, along with news stories. Is that significant other clueless about sportball, and expects you to leave the house on Sunday afternoons? Or do you live outside your favorite team’s market, and don’t want to pay for Sunday Ticket, which costs about as much as operating J.P. Morgan’s yacht? Then for $29.99, you can listen to every game from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.

NFL Game Rewind: Every fan of their team has plenty of things to say about what they think they saw while watching. However, there’s a reason why NFL coaches don’t eat buffalo wings and drink beer while coaching, because it doesn’t provide them cogent analysis. So sober up, and subscribe to NFL Game Rewind, a service that provides the ability to rewatch past games on a play-by-play basis. The $69.99 subscription offers even coaches’ film, which will provide more in-depth looks at games, with deeper archives available. The $49.99 subscription offers this year’s games, available commercial-free and in condensed forms, to relive games in short time frames.

Thumb: Fantasy football is an integral part of the football fandom experience. After all, nothing makes a meaningless blowout more exciting than when your wide receiver scores a touchdown in garbage time to win your matchup that week. But deciding who to start is a pain. Why not rely on the wisdom of random internet strangers? Use Thumb’s fantasy football section to post simple thumbs-up-or-down questions on whether someone should be started on your team, and watch as the guy you benched scores 3 touchdowns in one game and the guy you started sets the NFL fumbles record your fantasy team is led to victory by listening to the opinions of others!

Fantasy Football ’12: You’re the Ludacris of fantasy football, in that you have fantasy football teams in different area codes, or at least on ESPN, Yahoo, and NFL.com. If only there was one app that could manage teams on all those different sites! There is! Based off of Fantasy Monster, this is designed solely for managing fantasy teams from all across different leagues. Remember, the more fantasy leagues you’re in, the more likely you’ll be able to call yourself a fantasy football champion.

Casual gamers need never look far to find a Hidden Object based treat on the App Store. It's one of the most plentiful of genres with each title involving a series of puzzles and a variety of different scenes to explore. Because there's so much choice, this seemed like the perfect time for us to round up our four favorite titles and explain just why they're so great.

Time Trap HdO
Time Trap is a particularly distinctive title thanks to its beautiful if surreal landscapes. Deviating away from more conventional Hidden Object settings, the game sticks with a Sci-Fi post apocalyptic style theme for its suitably long story. Its moodiness juxtaposes with its hidden object ways but that makes it stand out all the more. It gains extra value through its spooky soundtrack.

Little Things Forever
Little Things Forever is the antithesis of Time Trap. It's immensely colorful and cheery. There's no storyline to follow with the focus entirely on solving Hidden Object based puzzles, but there's plenty of fun within. Players find objects within intricate pieces of artwork, simply for the joy of doing so. The game's lists are randomly generated, also, so there's limitless fun to be had.

Midnight Mysteries: Devil On The Mississippi
The Midnight Mysteries series is great for combining Hidden Object elements with adventure gaming tropes. Devil On The Mississippi offers precisely that. There's a spooky story to be told but alongside that are plenty of puzzles to be solved and objects to be found. In each case, such interactive elements are some of the finest you can discover within the genre.

Strange Cases: The Lighthouse Mystery
What stands out most about this title is the variety of types of objects to be found. It's a fairly typical but enjoyable title from Hidden Object experts, Big Fish Games, but it keeps things interesting. Some scenes offer a standard list of objects to find while some offer merely the silhouette or clues to what needs finding. It'll keep players on their toes but happy.

Arguably the biggest and most famous of soccer leagues, the English Premier League begins once more tomorrow with fans eagerly awaiting a season of soccer that will last them until May 2013. Will Manchester City retain the title once more or will Manchester United manage to snatch it from their grasp? Either way, I'll be keen to see if Swansea City can stay up for another season. We're celebrating the start of the season by taking a look at the four best apps to use alongside your soccer watching experience.

Caught Offside
Caught Offside has been an immensely popular independent soccer website for a while now and its app supplements matters all the more. It offers a wide variety of content from up to the minute news, video highlights, rumors to in-depth features and analysis. As expected, there are also the all important live scores and stats to keep fans up to date.

Live Score Addicts
The ideal way to check the latest scores at speed, Live Score Addicts is guaranteed to keep fans up to date on scores for 420 different leagues and cups around the world, as well as the crucial English Premier League. Push Notifications means you'll never miss a change of score or the presence of an ominous red card. Other information such as substitutions, attendance and even Head2Head comparisons are available.

Premier League 20 Seasons
Premier League 20 Seasons won't keep you informed on the latest developments this season but it will give you fantastic insight on the past 20 seasons of the Premier League. The app offers more than 100 classic moments from that time, along with interactive quizzes to test your knowledge of the Premier League. It's not always perfect at streaming the content but there's no denying it's exciting stuff checking back on the iconic moments that have been and gone.

FourFourTwo Soccer Stats Zone
Predominantly UK based soccer magazine FourFourTwo has released an app that stat fans will absolutely adore. Soccer Stats Zone doesn't stop where other apps do, it provides every stat imaginable from passes and tackles completed to a broken down analysis of every single manoeuvre performed during a match. Analysis on how a match has changed after a key incident such as a goal or red card is included as well as player versus player and team versus team comparisons. Your head will explode with facts in no time.

Many of us don't solely game on our iPhones or iPads, we game on consoles and PCs, too. Coinciding with that is one of the most exciting developments when it comes to iOS: apps that tie into other games. Whether it be through providing the latest match statistics while on the move, or through providing a new and cool way of controlling a console, there are some great crossovers going on. We take a look at the four best out there at the moment.

My Xbox Live
My Xbox Live ably demonstrates just how an official app for a console should deal with things. It leaves the currently EU only Official Playstation app behind in terms of functionality. Users can easily track and compare their achievements, change their Xbox Live avatar and check in with friends, all via the app. Most excitingly, iPad users can control their Xbox 360 with the app with media controls as well as access to a quick list of recent console activity.

World of Warcraft Mobile Armory
Despite a lull in subscriber numbers, World of Warcraft has continued to dominate the hearts and free time of many MMO gamers. The Mobile Armory means that even away from your PC, you can't escape the allure of the game. The app provides a way to view all your characters, along with stats, equipment and achievements. Guild stats and the in-game calendar are also viewable, so there's no excuse to miss that all-important raid. For the aspiring auctioneer, it's also possible to view how the latest auctions are progressing.

Call of Duty Elite
The biggest multiplayer FPS of them all? Maybe. Call of Duty Elite requires an Elite subscription but the app provides a plethora of statistics to make it worthwhile. Users can review recent matches, check how they're improving over time and what areas of the game they need to work on, such as if they excel at a particular weapon or not. It's also possible to view and edit custom classes, ready to implement when you're back in front of a console or PC.

Halo Waypoint
Another hugely popular multiplayer FPS is Halo. Unlike Call of Duty, there's no need for a separate subscription, users can dive right into Halo Waypoint. The app provides similar stats, offering game history breakdowns, campaign progress, weapon stats, as well as overhead views of all the maps. Challenges can also be created and tracked from the app, making it an ideal tool to dabble in during a lunch break.

Last week, we brought you a list of apps to watch and track the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games from anywhere in the world, because let's face it - most of us are not going to the UK for the games. For those of us who are able to get there, or who already live there, here's a nice list of four of our favorite apps to help you get around the Games this year.

London 2012: Official Join In App for the Olympic and Paralympic Games
This app, by The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, is for the folks at the games this year. It provides a full-featured guide to being there, including maps, event and venue schedules, and up-to-date calendars of the events happening around the Olumpic games themselves, with free and paid local and cultural events listings. There are searchable maps, facilities details, and even augmented reality views to help you get the most out of your trip to the London games. Create a personalized schedule and then share with friends on Facebook, Twitter, and FourSquare. This is a pretty comprehensive app for the Olympic visitor this summer.

London 2012 Information
In addition to the Olympic information contained in this app, like medal and athlete info, London 2012 Information includes something the other big apps don't: the ability to search for nearby useful things, like banks, bars, take-out food stalls, ATMs and the like. Get stuck without cash when on the way to a particular event? Use this app to search near the venue and find one that doesn't take you too far out of your way.

Journey Pro - London UK by NAVITIME
Available in both free, ad-supported and ad-free paid versions, Journey Pro covers the London tube, London bus, DLR, Overground, Tramlink, River Service, National Rail, Birmingham Tram, Glasgow Subway and domestic flights. Trying to see an out-of the way event? This app will help you plan your route across all these public transportation services. The app includes interactive, zoomable maps if you have an internet connection, live departure information, and real-time push notifications for London tube service updates and weekend closures. You can even share your routes with friends from within the app itself.

London Bus Checker Live Countdown
London Bus Checker offers a live countdown for all of London's 20,000 bus stops. That's got to be helpful in getting around the city by bus, right? And surely any olympic event trip will involve some bus travel at some point. This app doesn't use schedules, but real-time information relayed to servers from each bus as it travels around London. It includes route maps of all 700 bus routes, letting you search by name or post code. Heck, it'll even notify you with an alarm when you reach your destination.

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This week at 148Apps.com was all about the red, white, and blue as we celebrated the 4th of July. Writer Lisa Caplan contributed to the festivities with her list of Favorite Four apps for Independence Day. She writes, "It’s July 4th, so we hope most Americans are out celebrating and reading this on an iPhone or iPad or between activities. But if you are still looking for apps to help make the day even better, we’ve rounded up four of our favorties that commemorate everything from US History to the traditional BBQ for you here."

See Lisa's complete list at 148Apps.com.

GiggleApps stayed on a vacation theme with its review of Miny Moe Car. Reviewer Amy Solomon says, "Miny Moe Car is a charming and fun simulated driving app that toddlers and children in preschool will enjoy. I have always been a fan of this type of toy, both as an arcade game as well as a simple children’s plaything. I remember when my son was just a year old, I bought him the most realistic driver I could find – a toy he still enjoys today. A search on iTunes will find a few applications of this type that mostly show a POV from the driver’s seat of a car or other vehicle. This is also the case for this application which does a really nice job of recreating the driving experience for toddlers."

Read Amy's complete review on GiggleApps.com.

And finally at 148Apps.biz, Carter Dotson reported on a new study revealing the iPad as the number one gaming platform. Dotson writes, "Tablets and phones are vastly different devices. This seems obvious, but in reality, they really aren’t: the difference between the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 is basically different sized screens. However, the way that users, especially gamers, use the two devices is still dramatically different, according to PlayFirst, via Pocket Gamer. Tablet users are playing more games than phone users are, and they’re spending more on games."

Read the full report at 148Apps.biz.

That's the end of this week's happenings, but there's always more news, reviews and contests headed your way across the 148Apps network. Just follow us on Twitter or Like us on Facebook to keep track of all the goings-on. Until next week, enjoy the fireworks!

This week at 148Apps.com, writer Lisa Caplan helped all of us out by providing her Favorite Four apps for Mother's Day. Caplan says, "Mother’s Day means so many different things to so many different people that it’s hard to create a list of just four apps for the occasion. There are great gifts to purchase right from iTunes and the App Store, and tons of apps to help you find the right present. But we decided to keep the focus on free or inexpensive apps that will make moms feel special this Sunday and leave them with more than a memory to treasure all year long."

See the full list of suggestions at 148Apps.

And what's Mother's Day without children? GiggleApps appeals to the younger crowd with a review of Color Dots. Reviewer Amy Solomon writes, "Color Dots is a bright and fun universal application that the youngest of app users will enjoy. Color Dots is very simple and is geared towards babies and toddlers as colored dots are popped with a tap of a finger as they move around the screen."

Read Amy's full review on GiggleApps.com.

148Apps.biz reporter Kevin Stout writes about the latest research into American app spending habits: "International market research firm Newzoo has just released a report concerning mobile gaming in the U.S. The report claims that the amount of American mobile gamers has risen by over 25 million gamers in the last year and the number of paying players has gone up to 36% of all mobile gamers."

Read more about this research on 148Apps.biz.

And that's the week that was! Join us here next week for another quick recap, but until then make sure you check out our Twitter and Facebook feeds for the latest news, reviews and contests. Now go see Dark Shadows and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

It’s coming down to the time for us procrastinators to either suck it up and do our taxes or file an extension. Taxes, and finance in general, are not the most exciting of tasks. And on a yearly basis, I seem to wait until the last minute to get this done (just did mine today). When taxes and finance are put into app form, they can be a little less boring. Check out our four favorite tax season apps for taxes and generally being in a better mood about finance and budgeting.

Tax Receipt Log: The most important thing about finance apps is speed and organization. Tax Receipt Log makes the process of saving receipts both quick and organized. Users snap a picture of the receipt, enter an amount, and tag it under a category. Text and voice notes can also be added to the entries. And when tax season comes around, all of the expenses can be exported as a spreadsheet and sent out via email. It may be a little late to organize receipts in this way this year, but now’s a great time to start for next tax season.

CoinKeeper: This is a recent favorite of mine and we even awarded it an Editor’s Choice award here at 148Apps. CoinKeeper does what most finance and budgeting apps fail to do, it makes the process of entering all transactions into an app make sense. CoinKeeper has a beautiful and unique interface. The motion of dragging a coin from an income to an account and from an account to a budget just simply makes sense. It’s a quick motion and is intensely visual. Seeing a monthly budget in terms of colors and coins filled up by percentage is exactly what I need to keep my money in check. Anyone serious about their budgeting absolutely must have this app.

PocketMoney: I reviewed this one back in 2009. Like CoinKeeper, PocketMoney is a way to keep track of all transactions through the year. It has budgeting options, multiple accounts, and everything most would need out of a budgeting app. There are even advanced options like category splitting which allows users to put parts of a transaction in one category and other parts in another (like buying a DVD while grocery shopping... partially in entertainment and partially in food). Unlike CoinKeeper, PocketMoney doesn’t have a unique and revolutionary interface. It has the more traditional iOS interface with simple rows of transactions and bottom buttons. I would suggest this one for users that can’t get attached to the CoinKeeper interface.

Mint.com: Mint is a service that helps users track all of the information that PocketMoney and CoinKeeper need inputted manually. Mint keeps track of accounts and transactions automatically and does its best to sort the transactions into categories. Budgeting is fairly easy with Mint but the automation isn’t exactly perfect. Transactions will sometimes be categorized in the wrong place and need to be manually fixed. Also, Mint doesn’t work with all banks. Billy Miller, who reviewed Mint on 148Apps back in 2009, had some trouble with the app supporting small banks and credit unions, “A lot of people who prefer small banks or credit unions will probably run into the same situation.”

Whether you chalk it up to climate change or not, it's been one heck of a strange winter. Now it's March, notorious for its leonine bitter entry and mild sheepish departure. With everything else turned on its head, who knows what's in store as we make our annual seasonal transition. We've put together our favorite four iOS weather apps to keep you informed of what's coming your way as we bid goodbye to old man winter.

AccuWeather for iPhone

From AccuWeather.com comes a feature rich app which bears the same name. Accuweather for iPhone provides local and international hourly and 15-day forecasts with radar animations, satellite imagery and storm warnings. Cool features include Pin Location for tracking friends and family, social media griping, er, sharing on Twitter and Facebook and all kinds of special health and lifestyle forecast categories ranging from allergy and arthritis reports to dog walking and early golf course conditions. The app's sleek utilitarian design takes maximum advantage of iOS 5's best features too. From iCloud support to Notification Center and calendar integration, this app does it all. An iPad version is also available, but it gets less enthusiastic user reviews.

Weather+

Presently on sale to celebrate the end of winter, Weather+ is a universal app that wows critics and users. This app balances function and design with something near perfection. According to the developers every worldwide weather station is included, and the app serves up five-day forecasts for them all with stunning fullscreen video. Along with the basics this app gives users wind direction and speed information along with the humidity index, and rain and snowfall expectations. The app includes a gorgeous old-school flip-style alarm clock and swipe gestures switch locations with ease.

Magical Weather

Optimized for the big iPad display and meant to be left running to show off its good looks, Magical Weather is still feature-packed. Along with the visual representations of 16 weather conditions it has daily, even hourly, forecasts for up to nine of two million locations world-wide. It dishes on highs and lows, humidity, wind speeds, UV indexes and atmospheric pressure and displays in Celsius or Fahrenheit. It's eye candy to a meteorological end.

Weather Live

Ignore that Santa's hat, Weather Live's icon and app have just been updated. This beautiful universal package is feature dense too. The app puts form first, in that it's like looking out a magic window at something akin to what's out the kitchen window. But, alongside the amazing design are current conditions and seven-day forecasts. It has the 411 on the humidex or windchill - and in March we can easily see both - with sunrise and sunset details, wind, visibility, all that good stuff. The app lets users search for locations by postal/zip code, IP, and geo-positioning and the icon has a badge indicating the current temperature. Weather Live speaks Metric and Imperial and has customizable widgets so users see as much, or as little, as they prefer.

Last week, as part of our Health & Fitness themed month, Lisa looked at how apps can help people keep track of the calories they consume. That's great but weight loss and general improved fitness levels won't be achieved without some exercise thrown into the equation. While iOS apps can't force anyone to exercise but they can go a long way to encouraging someone to work harder to achieve their goals. We round up four of the best apps when it comes to tracking progress.

RunKeeper

RunKeeper should be the first port of call for anyone planning on partaking in some outside exercise such as running, walking or cycling to get fit. Other exercises are catered for like swimming, skiing and rowing too with the app's strength stemming from its GPS functionality although indoors use is also possible. RunKeeper tracks more than just how far the user has travelled with speed, pace and calories calculated. Via the GPS functionality, the app even tracks the route taken. All that information is then synced to the RunKeeper website for additional stats and profiling. Interval workouts and target pacing can also be set for the competitive user.

Fleetly

Fleetly is an incredibly simple idea that taps into one key thing that all humans react well to: a feeling of achievement. Within Fleetly, users enter the workout that they've previously performed with the app then allocating points according to how tough the exercise was. Those points then go towards a levelling up system and a global leaderboard with numerous challenges to join and medals to gain. There's a workout generator and coaching side to the app too but the real beauty is in the way it makes its users compete with themselves as much as with others.

All-in-Fitness

All-in Fitness sets out to encompass everything possible fitness wise with 100 ready-made workouts, 1000 fitness & yoga exercises and a calorie counter. The focus here however is on its tracking. The app allows its users to enter numerous different kinds of exercise in order to track calorie consumption and general performance levels. It's a very in-depth app that seems determined to miss nothing (it even includes sex in exercise type) so it might take a little time to fully figure out, but it's ideal for those who need both guidance and a way of tracking all in one app.

Gym Hero

In comparison to the previous app, Gym Hero is incredibly simple. That's where it's ideal for experienced gym rats. For those who don't need to be told what exercises will work for them or how to achieve better results, Gym Hero enables a simple and quick way of entering workout progress without the need to repeatedly enter words like sets and reps. It's even possible to set up different workouts making it incredibly quick to use for those juggling different routines depending on the day.

This week at 148Apps, we took your New Year's resolutions seriously and started our "Health and Fitness" month. Editor Rob LeFebvre writes, "We’ve already taken a look at some apps that help us all acheive our goals, and we plan to continue that trend for the entire month, with personal stories from our crack writing team, continued reviews, and focused features like our Favorite Four."

See our first group of Health & Fitness reviews at 148Apps.

Our apps-for-kids site, GiggleApps, offered a review of Odd Spotting. Reviewer Amy Solomon says, "Odd Spotting, developed by Micromicon Media Limit, is an “odd one out” game with 144 levels, the goal of each being to spot the object that is different from all the others in the group. As I began to explore how Odd Spotting works, I couldn’t help but to remember the lyrics from a classic Sesame Street song, “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong.”

Learn more and read the full review on GiggleApps.

Finally, on 148Apps.biz, writer Jeff Hughes commented on Apple's recent (and quiet) changes to app categorization on the App Store, saying "Just like Google, when iTunes makes the slightest change to their App Store search algorithm, it has an impact on how many people see your app. The recent changes to the category ordering have also impacted sales for many app vendors for better or worse. Some developers have been helped because their app is now in a category that is displayed higher on the mobile screen...Other developers may be adversely impacted due to the decrease in exposure for their app because their category now appears further down the list."

Read more on 148Apps.biz.

And that, my friends, completes our rundown of happenings across the 148Apps network for the week of January 9-13. Keep track of all the latest news, reviews and contests by following us on Twitter or Liking us on Facebook. See you in a week!

As we mentioned in our favourite four apps for keeping New Year resolutions, weight loss (as well as getting into and staying in good healthy shape) tops most people's list of desired self-improvements. Few other goals are harder to achieve, however. We don't have the secret formula, but we do have four iPhone apps that make getting into the right shape a lot easier. Hit the break for our favorite four apps to do just that.

OK, so it's already five days into 2012, and if you are like some of us, it's very likely you are already off track, or about to get there. But, of course, there are a slew of iPhone apps that can help. Whether you are looking to make a proactive change for the better or eliminate an old habit, now or any time of year, here are our favourite four apps to help.

Commit

Commit is a new app, and we love it. The simple iPhone offering is all about keeping the most important commitments: the ones we make to ourselves. There is little to this great app - upon launch users are greeted by a simple fill-in-the-blank. "I will ___ every day." Just pick something, jogging, writing, mediation, whatever, and set a reminder time. A push notice will prompt the action, and the app will log streaks. The unobtrusive GUI makes it fun to try again too.

Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal

If there is one resolution that is repeated annually - almost ritually for every big occasion in fact - by most everyone it is losing weight and to getting into or staying in good, healthy shape. No app makes all that possible, and does it as well, as this one by MyFitnessPal. It's easy to use, has a vast database of calorie counts and other important nutritional information on food choices, and has 350 exercises for strength and cardio fitness goals. The app is social, feature packed, as has so much important information anyone serious about health should check it out.

LIVESTRONG MyQuit Coach - Dare to Quit Smoking

Ok, so in 2012, are people even allowed to admit they smoke anymore? It may not be on TV and in movies much today, at least not here in North America, since there are laws in place making it costly to show people doing it, but statistics suggest the reality may be better than 20 years ago, but millions worldwide are still hooked on coffin nails. No one really needs to tell a smoker why quitting is a good idea, but cancer avoidance tops most lists. So what better branding, and in this case, a system and an app worthy of it, to help make the very difficult process easier than LIVESTRONG. MyQuit Coach helps identify triggers, set a realistic quitting schedule, has social network support and even game-like achievements to reward progress.

Ideal Me

Ideal Me is ideally suited to anyone who anyone wanting to stop or start a common or wholly unique habit or goal. The app has some suggestions for a broad range of users from students to travelers, to those facing serious addictions, but encourages us to create our own aspirations as well. After a goal is set, the app allows users to create a step-by-step plan including a time frame, for, say the stages of writing a novel, or adhering to a work out regimen, and positively reinforces reaching benchmarks - their apt term for not just starting a New Year's resolve, but getting it done too. A free "lite" version is available too.

It's four days until Christmas and if you are like many of us, you likely have some last minute holiday shopping to do. Inside stores lines are long and prices change daily, and at this point if you order online you might want to upgrade shipping, but if you still have some people on your "nice" list here are our four favorite apps to help you find a great gift at a great price even at this late date.

Amazon Mobile

What's there to say. If you want to find anything, and get last minute shipping the best place online is amazon.com. Amazon Mobile allows iPhone shoppers to navigate Amazon's labyrinthian site quickly, compare prices, read reviews and purchase directly through the app. Search options include keyword searches, as well as barcode scanning or even upload a picture.

Bakado

With Bakodo on their iPhones shoppers can scan barcodes for in-store price checking , but there that's not all. Bakado includes product reviews, and can search by keywords too. The app makes shopping social allowing the indecisive to post what they are looking for on Facebook and get feedback from their friends.

Gilt on the Go

Have a taste for the finer things in life, but not necessarily the budget? Gilt has been providing a service that offers deep discounts on highly sought after items for some time, and they also have several apps. To use Gilt, you need to be a member and have an account on their site, but in-app shoppers can browse before they decide to sign up. For the brand name bargain hunter, Gilt is a guilt-light shopping experience.

Target

Target is not only considered upscale compared to Wal-Mart, while still offering deep discounts, their app is preferred too. The Target app allow seasonal spenders on a budget to shop at any Target store. The app sends daily deals straight to the iPhone, locates the nearest store and keeps track of gift lists with TargetLists. This app also includes a bar code scanner to make extra sure Target's deals are the best.