Tag: Utilities »

While sordid and illicit motives spring to mind when we think of reasons for having a burner cell, the truth is there are dozens of legitimate uses for hiding your iPhone’s real number. Case in point, we all deal with tons of developers and publishers here and sometimes they want to actually speak - like on a telephone, rather than email, IM, Skype, or FaceTime. It’s also useful to have a dedicated and private number  if you are hosting a public event, selling something, or meeting people on the Internet. Whatever your motivation. Burner - Disposable Phone Numbers offers a paid service for iPhone owners that replicates the toss-away cellular phones made famous in every gangster movie and crime TV show of the past several decades.

The app has a one time purchase price, and then you buy burners using credits purchased in-app, the virtual equivalent of disposal cell phones. They add a layer of privacy to your call, displaying whatever caller ID name you want and a useable phone number on the other end. Burners work for texts too. A one-week mini burner good for 20 calls and 60 texts costs $1.99 while $4.99 will get you two months with 75 voice and 225 texts. There are also extension packs and you can add as many burners as you need. If you do online dating, you might want one for that, while you might want another to manage a craigslist help-wanted post.

Once a number is gone, it stays gone, leaving no traces back to you. Just play nice - the possibilities for mayhem-making with this app are endless.

It's 2012 and everyone has all manner of overly intricate phones that do way more than a phone really should. Remember when phones (even cell phones) weer just that? Phones? Well Writers Hi, Inc does, and they're going back to the basics. The very basics. Now we can all take a step back and enjoy knowing just how far we've come thanks to Landline - Analog Dialer.

In essence, Landline turns the iPhone into a rotary phone. For anyone old enough to remember those things, it involves manually spinning a dial repeatedly in order to input a number. About the only older phones out there are the hand-crank models that could only connect with the operator. Access to contacts and redialing is always a possibility, but users will still need to touch and drag the rotary over and over again when they wish to dial out. It's so ridiculous in contrast to what we've all grown accustomed to that it's hilarious. At least to me.

It looks like more of a reminder/homage rather than a really useful app, but I think that's the point. Plus it makes for something of a conversation piece to have a sleek smartphone with an archaic dialing mechanism. Also it's free, so there's no harm in having a little fun with it.

It’s surprising sometimes, after accumulating so many apps, to see what we actually use on a regular basis. While setting up so many new iPhones recently, we really had to think - in a post iOS 5 world that rendered many staples obsolete - which of the dozens of utility apps we've stockpiled we still actually use. Here are our favorite four "classics" that we can’t get through most days without.

Flashlight

If you have an iPhone or iPod touch with a front-facing camera, no flashlight app we have seen is better or simpler than this one. The app uses the LED camera flash and a simple slider as a switch to provide bright reliable illumination in dark parking lots, while stumbling for door keys after a late night, or when trying to make a quiet escape from a dark room.

Mobile Mouse Pro

Many people use larger widescreen iMacs as TVs, alarm clocks or to manage urgent morning reminders. We've tried pricey wireless controllers that work with no flat surface, say from a bed, but none are more comfortable, much less so affordable - particularly for browsing and playing media - than Mobile Mouse Pro. Setup is so simple and the interface so intuitive, using it feels like something Apple would, or more aptly should, have made. The shake-to-toggle keyboard feature is wonderful, particularly when a locked screensaver kicks in after a period of inactivity. An iPad version is sold separately.

Pastebot

While not iPad native, we use Pastebot on all our Apple gear, and can’t imagine getting much done at all with out it. Aside from being a robust iOS clipboard manager, it integrates seamlessly with Macs so users can instantly send copied links, text or anything else including images, back and forth from pad to phone to 'puter with no effort after simple set-up.

Evernote

We’ve all set up iCloud and like what we’ve seen, but when it comes to simple file sharing there is still no better app around than Evernote. The cloud storage app and its integration both into iOS and OS X are so smooth, users will forget it's not just part of their hard drive that they can share with anyone, anytime. For work, for sharing photos, or just to send notes to oneself, it’s still our go-to cloud app and the GUI is as gorgeous and intuitive as ever.

We at 148apps know how tough it is to find the right games and apps for children. That's why we have sister site GiggleApps. For those looking for a different sort of guidance, however, Apps For Girls and Apps For Boys might just be what they need.

Both freely available, these are apps that offer gender specific versions of the app store, presenting apps that have been recommended by other parents for children of the relevant gender. Different categories include the likes of Games, Fashion (for girls), Books, Utilities and Education. For users who have spotted an app worthy of being featured, there's a handy app recommendation section which ensures others can discover exceptional apps.

While having always been a bit of a tomboy as a child, I'm not so sure about the color schemes available for the two types of apps. If you can get past the stereotypical color scheme, there's no denying that this is bound to be a helping hand for many parents and children.

Both apps are available now.

Keeping track of everything that needs doing to maintain a car can get a little overwhelming, which is precisely why there's an app for that. MyCarCare remembers everything any automobile owner could possibly need to know.

Users can store numerous vehicles and their information within the app ranging from cars to motorcycles and scooters. Information can then be added to include maintenance information such as when the last service was performed, how long since the tyre pressure was checked or the oil and water in the engine. The user can keep track of upcoming deadlines such as when the car tax or MOT is coming up to expiration time and needs to be conducted once more.

Expenses can also be tracked from within the app allowing users to keep an eye on just how much their finances are going to be stretched by their vehicle in the coming months. It's all available in one very convenient package.

MyCarCare is available now priced at $0.99 for the universal app.