This week at 148Apps.com we delved into the latest from the developers of Hipstamatic, the “disposable” Hipstamatic D-Series app. 148Apps founder Jeff Scott says, “I got a chance to try out the new app and can report that Hipstamatic D-Series does indeed bring back the nostalgic memories of sharing a disposable camera and swapping double prints into the digital age. It’s a great idea and well executed. There’s even the anxious need to burn the last shot by taking a picture of your foot, just to get the roll developed quicker. It’s indeed very fun.

Delve further by reading the full run-down on 148Apps.com.

FREE!

Disposable Hipstamatic

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-12-15 :: Category: Photography

$1.99

Hipstamatic

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

Our Rating: :: SHOOTING FROM THE HIP
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-12-09 :: Category: Photography

At GiggleApps.com, reviewer Amy Solomon took a close look at the first interactive book from The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library, There’s No Place Like Space. Solomon says, “There’s No Place Like Space, although a creative, fun and educational book, is not written by Seuss himself, although it is written in a Seuss-like style. I enjoy this book, as does my son, but my husband and I did comment to ourselves that the text is not as well-written as the classic books by Seuss.”

Read the full review at GiggleApps.

$5.99

There’s No Place Like Space!: All About Our Solar System

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-11-16 :: Category: Education

Finally, 148Apps.biz site editor Rob LeFebvre reported on a new report from mobile analytics company Flurry. LeFebvre writes, “Flurry shows the fact that developers are making more money on iOS than on Android, even as the numbers of Android OS enabled smartphones continues to increase, commanding as much as 53% of the market, according to an NPD Group study released yesterday as well.”

Intrigued? Read more on 148Apps.biz.

As your advent calendar continues to count towards December 25th, don’t forget to vote for our 2011 Best App Ever, and keep track of the latest news, reviews and contests via our Facebook and Twitter streams.

During the holidays retailers are so desperate to unload as much product as possible it seems like they’re offering new deals and promotions every other minute. Between managing coupons and having to wake up at five in the morning, just trying to save a few dollars can become overwhelming. Billeo is attempting to make that process a bit easier with their new ShopSmart app for iPad.

Using information from users’ credit card loyalty programs, services like Groupon, and the retailers themselves, ShopSmart scours the web looking for deals that may interest users. By using so many data sources ShopSmart is able to present the largest possible savings with the average being 10 percent saved per purchase. Facebook support allows friends to offer opinions on items before purchases are made and the eWallet feature fills in payment and shipping information making checkouts quick and easy.

Maybe Black Friday won’t be so bad this year. ShopSmart is free and available now on the App Store.

FREE!

ShopSmart by Billeo

iPad Only App - Designed for the iPad
Released: 2011-11-08 :: Category: Lifestyle

By now you’ve probably spent a decent amount of money on iPhone apps, so wouldn’t it be nice if you could make some of that money back?

Well the Field Agent app might be able to help you do just that, claiming to be the first app that actually pays you, the user. By signing up to become an “Agent” you fit into a very simple ecosystem: A “Client” creates a job, the “Agent” (you) completes the job, the client and agent are happy.

What does this mean in the real word? Well, a client is a company or service that has signed up at FieldAgent.net and needs information on competitors, consumers or wants to check whether its products are being correctly sold. The agent is someone who has download the Field Agent app and receives notification that a client needs a job done, carries it out and is paid a small fee for their troubles.

While it sounds very James Bond meets Foursquare, the app and its assignments are for real as far as we can tell and actually do pay. While no explicit information is given as to the purpose or beneficiaries of these “assignments”, it’s a safe bet that most of them are market research for the Fortune 50 clients who back the app.

Fortunately, the agent jobs required by the clients don’t involve horses heads in beds or extortion either. Most of the assignments involve checking prices at stores or filling out surveys and pay between $3 and $12 if completed properly and within a set time limit. Jobs often require a verifiable GPS location and a photograph in order to keep the clients happy so an iPhone 3G or 3GS is recommend.

Once an agent has made their money it can be transferred to a PayPal account within 48 hours.

Agents also develop a Rep Score that shows how good a job you’re doing for your clients. Starting with 85 points, agents gain points up to a maximum of 100 for successful, accurate jobs with higher rep leading to more frequent jobs. Of course, if you fail at your task or submit inaccurate results you lose points and aren’t at the top of the pile when the next assignment comes in.

It seems that agent jobs are somewhat scarce at the moment with a number of iTunes reviewers giving some pretty harsh feedback that has prompted a response from the company. Apparently the number of agents has increased by 500% in a week and they are waiting for the client growth to catch up. This does sound like a cleverly worded way of saying “companies aren’t quite as interested in the service as consumers who stand to make money” but apparently more jobs are coming soon.

We’re keeping a close eye on this intriguing service that has the potential to be groundbreaking but could also end up wasting a lot of people’s time.

Oh, infaltion, thou art a wretched beast. A dollar fifty years ago is not the same as a dollar today—just look at the concept of a dime store to tell you that much. DimeTravel is the app to tell you exactly how your money has changed over time. Here’s the developer’s take on a typical usage scenario:

You’re watching an old episode of Columbo on a lazy Sunday afternoon. An episode from 1976. He gets a haircut and it costs him $25. He is shocked with the cost. You open up DimeTravel and ask it how much $25 from 1976 would be today. (answer = almost $100 – NOW i can feel poor old Columbo’s pain).

Pretty staggering, no? Of course, the app can calculate things the other way around, too. Here are a few samples for your amusement, with the numbers taken from this site:

• Coffee cost $1.11/lb in 1954…which is $14.47 today!
• A car (a Henry J, to be precise) for sale in New Jersey in 1950 was listed at $1,299…which is a whopping $27,771 today.
• $1 bought you two large bottles of Clorox Bleach in 1970…that would be $9.55 today.
• Someone needed an accountant and was willing to pay a $9,000 annual salary in 1970…or $85,942 in today’s money!

Conversely, if you take modern numbers and change them:

• A $60 video game would sell for a paltry $4.92 half a century ago,
• and that $200 you spent on your iPhone 3GS would have been just $153 back in 2000.

Playing with numbers is always fun. Sadly, DimeTravel only goes back to 1948 for us Americans. I don’t know why—Wolfram Alpha can handle prior centuries just fine—but even with the current data, it’s still nifty to look at these numbers! And you can look at them, too, because DimeTravel displays the path of inflation as a nice graph. If you’re a sucker for realizing how transient your money is, go ahead and give DimeTravel a look. And more importantly, invest your remaining money wisely, because if you leave it under your mattress, it’s likely to vanish into grasp of good ol’ inflation.

$0.99

DimeTravel

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-04-16 :: Category: Finance

Do you remember the billionth app downloaded on the App Store? It was Bump, a free app that lets you swap pictures and contact info by bumping two iPhones together. The concept was simple, the app was cheap, and lo and behold: people like gimmicks. For a while, Bump was a chart-topper.

PayPal has long had a free app on the App Store, which provided mundane features like managing your PayPal account. (Who needs that?) But recently, they added a new feature: just like Bump, PayPal’s app now allows you to exchange things by simply bumping phones. The difference is that PayPal lets you actually exchange money with the person you’re bumping phones with.

It looks like a gimmick on the surface, but the feature is actually pretty useful. If you’re using an iPhone and have a PayPal account, you can download the app from anywhere and quickly complete a transaction. The process is painless, requires no exchange of information, and it’s free. What more could you want?

It’s a neat feature, that’s for sure. I can just see it now: instead of paying the normal way, you’ll bump fists with an iPhone clenched in your fingers. Passersby will stare in bafflement, but that’s okay—because you’ll know that you’re at the cutting-edge of technology. Yeah, you could pay for stuff in cash, but this is the twenty-first century!

Yeah, it’s silly, but it’s still cool. And there’s nothing wrong with that. If you have a PayPal account, it’s probably worth downloading the free app just to manage your account and check your balance. And, hey, if the opportunity arises…bump-money-transfers are the way to go.

FREE!

PayPal

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2008-07-11 :: Category: Finance

The new year just recently passed, it’s only been a few weeks, but you might find yourself faltering a little on your new years resolutions. Now is the time to re-commit to your resolutions, before it’s too late. And maybe the iPhone can help.

Some of the most common resolutions have to do with health, money, and organization. Three things that the iPhone can help you track and organize. We’re going to share some of the best applications for this, hoping to help you stick to those resolutions.

Continue reading Let the iPhone Help You Stick to Your New Year’s Resolutions »