Reviews - page 137

Optimal Layout is a new window manager for OS X. It’s fully Lion compatible and available now on the Mac App Store.

The TRTL STAND iPhone 4 case ($30) is an eco-friendly case from TRTL BOT that, similar to its cousin the Minimalist 4, is made in the U.S. entirely from recycled plastic bottles. Not only does it aim to protect your device from scratches, scuffs, and scrapes, but it also boasts a built-in stand with a choice of three viewing angles.

Plantronics is without a doubt one of the biggest names associated with Bluetooth headsets, and quite possibly has one of the — if not the — largest catalog of headsets of any manufacturer. The Plantronics Savor M1100 ($80) is positioned at the high-end of their consumer line, with an emphasis on high-tech features, including a voice-controlled commands, and a nod toward aesthetics. Considering Plantronics stellar reputation for consistently producing solid performers, expectations for the Savor M1100 were high as the plastic came off the box…

Structurer is a clever free tool for rapidly creating file and folder trees without any messing about in Finder.

I’ve had one particular conversation with Windows blockheads far too often; you know, the one where the blockhead says something like “Macs are overpriced marketing gimmicks created to sell nothing but empty fashion to upscale fops!” (only it’s usually expressed as an eloquent “Macs are stupid!”) Which, of course, is nonsense — and so you confidently and patiently ladle responses over the blockhead’s statement like thick gravy, watching his ego deflate further and further…until the blockhead’s eyes light up as his addled brain finally digs up the winning phrase: “But gaming sucks on the Mac!” And all you can do is begin to protest by muttering something about Civilization or Borderlands, and then slowly hang your head in shame.

Unless you know about OnLive — in which case he’s toast. Oh, and you might want to mention the iPad app as well.

This week’s must-have games roundup features Gameloft’s latest Block Breaker release — the ultimate ball breaker for iOS — which boasts deeper, more intricate levels that take you far beyond a single screen full of blocks.

The revival of Bungie’s Marathon on the iPad — the first ever Mac FPS — is also on our list, in addition to an impressive 3D combat game from Glu, and more!

This week saw the launch of a brand new MTV app for the iPhone called MTV PUSH — our first must-have app of the week — which aims to introduce music lovers to the hottest new and up-and-coming artists; featuring videos, photos, news, and plenty of additional content that will help you discover the best new music.

We’ve also chosen a great new photography app that will help you discover Instagram photos from the people around you; the quickest and easiest way of recording video on your iPhone; and a highly-polished finance app for monitoring your budget.

It’s difficult to find stuff made on U.S. soil these days. Heck, sometimes it seems like nothing is made here. But that’s not true of the elite, exo-skeletal Rockform Rokbed iPhone 4 case ($80), intricately machined from a solid block of aluminum: It’s designed and manufactured in the good ol’ U.S.A. (and it’s not shy about saying so), in Orange County, California by one of the most unlikely outfits to make an iPhone case — the motorcycle fanatics at Two Brothers Racing.

Oooh, this is nice. Capture is a one-trick video recording app for iPhones that reduces the whole concept of snapping a video down to its very basics.

Magic Hour is a photo app for people who love the filter effects you get from apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic.

Our roundup of must-have iOS games this week includes 1-bit Ninja — a unique new platformer that boasts retro gameplay in a stylised 2D side-scrolling world, which you can drag into 3D at any time to reveal hidden paths — like no other platform game you’ve ever played.

Also on our list is Pocket Academy, the latest release from Kairosoft, the developers behind Game Dev Story; and the official Transformers game from Electronic Arts.

If you, like me, have lusted after the Tenori-on electronic musical instrument for years since it was first announced in 2005, then here’s some good news: an official iOS port of the device is now on sale in the App Store.

The iTunes Festival 2011 is now well under way in London, boasting 31 nights of music from 62 artists including Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Bruno Mars, My Chemical Romance, and many more. If you weren’t lucky enough to bag yourself some tickets, you can still enjoy every show live and on demand with the iTunes Festival London 2011 app for your iOS device — the first of this week’s must-have iOS applications!

We’ve also included the brand new Starbucks app, which boasts Mobile Pay, reward card management and eGifts; and the Photosynth app from Microsoft, which just got an awesome update!

Aviiq’s Portable Laptop Stand ($60) is very similar to the manufacturer’s other stand we reviewed a few weeks ago, the Portable Quick Stand. The big difference? You can actually use this one on your lap, and it’ll even work with an iPad. It’s also considerably more expensive.

The TRTL BOT Minimalist 4 ($30) is an eco-friendly iPhone 4 case made entirely from recycled plastic bottles. It attempts to substitute your wallet by providing a card slot on the back of the case which will house up to three credit cards, while protecting your device from scratches, scuffs and scrapes with a sturdy plastic shell that clings to the stainless steel band around your iPhone. 

“Dude, your laptop case is, like, totally sick, brah!”

I looked up. It was my waiter, every inch of him a bro. He looked like the kind of guy whose cocktail of choice was a pounder of vodka and Mountain Dew, who spelled extreme with triple x-es, who never met a problem he couldn’t jump a skateboard over. He wore an Offspring t-shirt and a wallet on a chain covered in stickers. His goatee looked like a mullet growing out of his face.

I looked down. The “sick” case in question was the BookBook Case by TwelveSouth ($80) — a case which was designed to make my 11-inch MacBook Air look like some dusty vellum tome plucked from an ancient library.

It’s been a great week for iOS gamers, with fantastic new releases from Gameloft, Chillingo, Sega and Telltale Games. Picking our favorites has been some task.

Here’s this week’s roundup — featuring the return of Sonic in a brand new arcade kart racer, an iPad platformer that uses your iPhone as a controller, and the final episode of Monkey Island.

Here’s a little gem I found on the App Store this week. +Loop is a video recorder app for iDevices, but it stands out from the crowd because it records multiple mini video clips in one, and costs nothing.

This is Monster Soup, my latest favorite puzzle for iOS. It’s a fast-paced color-matching game with lots of personality and a great sense of humor.

This week’s roundup of must-have applications features one of the most unique video apps we’ve ever seen for the iPhone, a fantastic new note-taking app from tablet-maker Wacom, and a simplistic calendar app that aims to bring old-school desktop calendars to your iPhone.

Check out all of this and more below!

Here’s an interesting idea: Take a thoughtfully designed, well-rounded, high-tech Bluetooth headset and mate it to a dedicated iPhone app (called EarPrint) with a boatload of mostly useful functions, and — voila, the dazzling result would look exactly like the Sound ID 510 Bluetooth headset ($129).

Nailing down the design and functionality of a Bluetooth headset seems like it’d be a fairly easy task. Yet if you’ve ever been in the market for a new headset, you’ve probably noticed that their aren’t many models out there that offer great design and functionality at a fair price. Jabra’s Extreme Headset ($79) is here to the rescue to provide a great experience at a reasonable price.

Review by Kelly Keltner

Despite the word “Droid” plastered everywhere, the new Motorola CommandOne Bluetooth headset ($100) has already become my friend. True, it’ll never learn to pronounce my name correctly, is misunderstood by some of my other friends and has questionable fashion sense. We remain friends, however, because it’s easy to understand and comfortably fits in my ear. It’s unlike most relationships, but it works for us.

Although BlueAnt focuses exclusively on Bluetooth communication gadgets (and now earphones), they aren’t as well recognized as some of the other names coming up in our review, and they don’t proffer up a ton of offerings. In fact, they currently only offer five; with the BlueAnt Q2 Headset ($100) positioned as their marquis headset.

This week’s roundup of must-have games kicks off with the Nintendo DS classic Zookeeper — a vivid and engaging puzzle game in which your mission is to capture the animals and become the world’s best zookeeper. There’s more puzzle fun in Feevo HD, which boasts Bejeweled-like match gameplay from the makers of Tetris Online; and Bunny Shooter will be a huge hit with Angry Birds fans thanks to its physics-based bunny assassination with a bow & arrow.