Tag: Lifestyle »

We all know that recycling is great for the planet but how often do we actually remember to recycle? I know I'm pretty terrible for it especially when in the midst of a busy week. So how about a way of being rewarded for doing so? There's a new app on the horizon that promises to do exactly that.

It's called RecyclePix and it allows users to snap and share their photos of their recycling actions at any time and anywhere. Once taken, such photos can then be used to earn Greenopolis Rewards Points which can then be redeemed for real rewards such as discounts at places like Domino's Pizza and exclusive deals with Marriott Hotels. More offers are planned such as discount cinema tickets once the app is launched next week.

It looks like a pretty neat idea, offering a genuine reason to recycle as well as being a fun and social way of saving the planet. There's even a form of community set with users able to vote on photos submitted by others thus gaining extra points.

RecyclePix is set to be released August 4th. It'll be interesting to see how it takes off. I for one will certainly be checking it out.

Dreaming is a uniquely human activity. Philosophers, thinkers and psychologists have long encouraged others to use the power of their dreams to become better people, solve their problems or even predict the future. Developer AppMania brings six of these "dream books" to a new universal app, using the writings of Sigmund Freud, Gustavus Miller, Nostradamus, Hasse and Bulgarian foreteller Vanga to help modern iOS users interpret and understand their own dreaming selves.

DreamBook allows interested users to search a large database, with a purported 11,000 different dream interpretation data points. In addition, developers allow users to submit dreams that are unable to be interpreted within the app - unfound dreams will be added to future updates after being interpreted.

The app includes Facebook and Twitter integration, for those inclined to share their innermost dreaming selves, as well as Retina Display graphics and support for iOS 3.1 through 4.3.

DreamBook is live in the App Store and available now for the low price of $0.99.

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The App Store isn't just about innocent or casual thrills, there's a more sensual and sexy side to it too, now that Apple has relaxed their rules on such things. A perfect example of this is iKamasutra, an app very much for the adult iOS device owner with a focus on spicing up its user's love life.

The standard app priced at $2.99 comes bundled with 110 different sexual positions for users to try out with their loved one. 9 categories exist in all, with each entry featuring easy to follow explanations and tasteful imagery to demonstrate the result. Users can track their progress from Novice to Master by marking the positions they've tried. They can also search for their ideal positions depending on Intimacy, Complexity and Strength levels. Even favorite and to do lists can be created for the organised user. Fortunately there's also a way of password protecting the app to ensure privacy remains.

For the user who can't decide from so many different positions, they can also simply shake the iOS device for a random position to be chosen. To add a bit of spice in the user's partner's day, positions can be emailed from within the app. Information can even be shared through Facebook or Twitter for the more exhibitionist user. Exhibitionists might also enjoy the Places challenge, purchaseable for $0.99, which keeps track of where users have their fun, not just how.

For $2.99, users get the most popular 110 positions but for an additional $1.99, users can now unlock the Summer Selection which adds 30 new water based positions that can be performed in the (private) swimming pool, in the shower, at sea or in the surf. For the same fee, users can also unlock either the Pro or Ancient Selections for even more options.

Open minded iOS device owners looking to add a bit of spice to their love life are sure to enjoy such an app. The frugal user can even download the iKamasutra Lite app which comes with 30 positions, before taking the plunge with the full app. Both apps are available now. Enjoy!

Exclusively brought to consumers by the U.S Air Force comes the release of the Last.fm Festival app. It's an app that sets out to make it easy for Last.fm users to find out which of more than 4500 upcoming festivals are most compatible to their musical interests, as determined by previous music choices.

Using a mixture of Last.fm's 'scrobbling' and its recommendation technology, personalized and informed suggestions are offered ensuring that users will always know which festivals cater best to their interest. The more they scrobble and interact with the service, the more accurate the results.

The app offers up a personalized compatibility score for each show rather than just a list, as well as offering up a recommended lineup and bio information on each band at the show. Users can also search by location, date, genre or festival name as well as by compatibility.

For now, the service is exclusive to users within the U.S., but similar apps are promised in the upcoming months for other countries.

Last.fm Festivals is available now and it's a free download.

There's a bizarre sense of fun in keeping track of statistics. This differs from person to person but there are a great many people whose brains just work better when dealing with facts and figures. An app like Life Stats could be just what these people need.

It's a new app that enables users to see at a glance just how they spend their life. It calculates how much time and what percentage of a person's life has been spent participating in various activities from sleeping to sitting to showering. The app can then organize a top 10 of most popular activities amongst their friends and post the results on their Facebook wall.

It's an intriguing looking app that could be great fun. Underneath that frivolous exterior, Life Stats could also be a great way of reassessing one's life. Feel like too much time is spent on Facebook or watching TV? Use the app to work out how you can adjust things to better suit one's life.

Life Stats is a neat idea all round and it's available now as an universal app and for the price of a few seconds time to download it.

As the advert loves to state, Red Bull gives you wings. It also now gives you a global sports, cultural and lifestyle magazine by the name of The Red Bulletin.

This new app for the iPad promises high end magazine content with up to an hour of video and animation throughout. It features numerous interviews with artists and athletes such as baseball star Tim Lincecum as well as features on the likes of art work from Banksy. Other subjects such as base jumping and formula 1 motor racing also feature.

It's a new venture for the drinks company and it certainly makes for a pretty impressive looking magazine with the issue designed specially for iPad owners, taking advantage of the technology behind the device.

The Red Bulletin app also gives access to the international issue which contains a feast of the best stories from all the print editions as well as the exclusive content.

Best of all, it's a free app for iPad owners enabling them to gain a free issue for the month of June.

It's out now in English, German and Polish.

Increasingly few people in this modern era work solely on weekdays. Many people, such as myself in the past, work on a rota system meaning that they might work anything from 8 days on to 4 days off or 4 days on and 3 days off, all depending on their type of work. An app such as Workdays aims to help users know exactly what is coming up next with their rota so that they can plan ahead easily.

The app calculates the schedule according to how many days are worked before a set amount of holiday. It can then calculate this for a number of months into the future thus ensuring that the user always knows what's coming up. Workdays are colored in grey while days off are more colorful making it easy to just glance at the calender and determine if the user is working on that day.

The color scheme can be changed according to preference and users can create and edit appointments and events for each date making Workdays a pretty flexible tool for the shift worker.

It's out now and is priced at $0.99.

In an ever frugal world, being able to save the pennies while not sacrificing enjoyment is a big thing. Along comes BiteHunter, an app that searches thousands of sources to bring its users the best dining deals all through a real-time interface.

Through the GPS functionality, users can view nearby deals on a map or via a list, then filter the results by price, rating, type of food and numerous other options.

BiteHunter promises more than 50,000 local deals in all covering the entire of the country. Daily deals such as those from Groupon and LivingSocial are implemented here as well as restaurants' tweets. Then the deals are divided up according to whether it's a deal for a specific day, a certain percent or amount off or simply if it's happy hour.

Food connoisseurs can always search for a specific restaurant too and then read reviews from multiple sources and see a menu. In some cases it's even possible to reserve a table right from the app.

BiteHunter looks like a great way of saving some precious pennies and it's a free download available now for all iOS devices.

Wine is a great delight to drink. To many, it's as great a joy to collect as it is to drink. Such people might be rather pleased to see an app such as My Wine Cellar which aims to help them keep track of their collection in an attractive and useful way.

The app which is currently available for free, allows users to track their wine from purchase to wine tasting notes. Designed by Australian fine wine supplier, Oz Bouquet, the app is clearly designed precisely for the wine drinker's interest.

For each bottle, the user is able to add information such as the name, brand, vintage, category such as if it's a sparkling wine and the country of origin. Users can then add more personal information such as when they took a drink of it, an appropriate occasion, the price and any other notes such as how it tasted. This can be further enhanced by adding ratings out of 5 stars for color, smell, taste and the overall manner of the wine.

For easy consultation, users can customize each bottle with the relevant shape, color and label to aid as a quick reference tool. It's easy enough to get everything set up just how the user wants things to be laid out, and the interface makes for an attractive wine cellar style look.

Besides being great for the individual user to quickly check their collection, My Wine Cellar could be a great tool at a dinner party. Users could demonstrate to their friends their collection so that they can easily check what wine they fancy trying with their meal. Or of course, the owner can always simply gloat at their impressive collection.

Finally, there's the ever trusty ability to share wine notes via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.

My Wine Cellar is out now for all iOS devices and it's a free download.

Apps aimed at helping save shoppers money seem to be all the rage at the moment. So Pacific Sunwear (or PacSun as many consumers may recognise it as) has chipped in with their own effort.

PacSun offers quite a few features for its customers. There's push notification which informs consumers when they're near a PacSun location via the GPS integration. They are then sent targeted messages about any discounts or deals going on at the time. Users can also scan QR codes that are on window displays, in-store advertisements or in magazines. These QR codes then allow the user to listen to music from popular New Zealand rock band, The Naked and Famous, as well as take a look at behind the scenes videos and even acquire coupon codes.

Finally, users can search and buy PacSun products right from their iPhone. They can also create and save outfits made up of PacSun products to see how different combinations would work as well as share them with friends.

PacSun, powered by Usablenet, is available now as a free download and is compatible with all iOS devices.

So in the grand old country of the United Kingdom of Britain or just plain old Britain as Brits such as I prefer to call it, the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton is extremely imminent.

Indeed, it's next Friday! Feels like only yesterday that the date was announced and a good friend of mine cursed the fact that they're marrying on the same weekend as Them (my friend's getting hitched two days afterwards). Us Brits will be enjoying a day off to enjoy watching the Royal people wander around and mingle. Plus we, as well as the rest of the world, can enjoy The Royal Wedding app courtesy of NBC News.

It's a free download that works for all iOS devices. It comes with over 300 photos and more than 40 NBC News royal reports, both new and archive footage from the NBC News Archives. Latest news is also included. On a lighter note, there's an interactive royal family tree so you can learn plenty of facts about the key members of the family and the app even comes with ideas for how to host your own Royal Wedding tea party and what appropriate food you could prepare.

Get downloading now and revel in your Royalist side in time for the Wedding next week.

Every now and then, an app comes along that makes you scratch your head in wonder at just how it works. One such app is What's On Air. It kind of reminds me of the traffic alert system on my car radio but while I understand that, I'm intrigued as to how What's On Air figures things out.

You see, this app keeps track of your favorite music then detects what songs and bands are playing currently on all manners of internet radio stations. Once it's tracked the song or band name down, it can then switch to that station with the shake of your iOS device. Plus you can always browse through what's currently being played on air.

There's more too with multitasking meaning you can listen from outside of the app and you can browse through information about your favorite band courtesy of Wikipedia, YouTube and a full discography.

Priced at $1.99, What's On Air looks set to be an ideal way of ensuring you get the best out of the radio airwaves.

Directed Electronics, manufacturers of Viper vehicle security products and developers of the Viper SmartStart app, have released a new accessory called the Viper SmartStart GPS. This vehicle accessory, available for $299.99, can be used either as a standalone device, or interfaced with Directed Electronics security and remote start systems to provide expanded access to users' vehicles through the Viper SmartStart app.

Some of the new features included through the Viper SmartStart app include a vehicle locator, which shows you where your car is located, as well as its speed and directed. You can also share your car's location via text, email, or even through social networks. Now, this may seem like a tremendously dangerous use of geolocation in social media, but you can get notifications if your vehicle is moved without your approval. As well, you can check to find out if your vehicle exceeds a certain speed, so if little Johnny has a distaste for speed limits, you can get notified when he's going too quickly for your tastes, and have your belt ready when he comes home to deliver some corporal punishment. These features are available as part of the Secure Service Plan for $5/month.

For just under $6/month, you can add a variety of additional features to the Viper SmartStart app. You can create a virtual 'smart fence' so that if you vehicle leaves the specified zone, you'll be alerted. As well, you can create zones that will alert you if your car enters there. You can also set up schedules for when you'll be notified of all these features. As well, if your Viper SmartStart GPS is integrated with a Viper system, you can access all the standard Viper features, like starting your engine remotely, locking and unlocking doors, popping the trunk, and honking the horn. The 2.2 update that supports these features is available right now for free from the App Store.