Wondering what the best new apps for your iPhone are? Wonder no more, readers...MacTribe always comes through! We've tested and researched the latest in gaming, social media and productivity apps to make sure the time you spend on your devices is quality, and trust us, we've lined up some excellent choices. Whether you're looking to get work done, have fun or just incite envy in your friends we've got something here for you: check out the top ten apps you've got to get on your iPhone!
Skee-Ball
The Onion
Dropbox
Gowalla
Tan Timer
Angry Birds
Isn't physics fun? We think so! And after you spend a few minutes playing Angry Birds we know you'll agree. Quirky games have always caught our eye and this is no exception: a contingent of green pigs has stolen eggs from the Birds...and they are Not Amused. Help the Birds get their eggs back by launching super-powered avian fiends at the pig's defenses and embark on the 165-level journey that will take all of your logic, skill and force to complete!
Price: $0.99
We're kind of in love with Skee-ball. And this app has made our summer because it means we don't have to travel all over our fair metropolis in the blazing heat to find an arcade or bar that might have skee-ball but definitely doesn't have AC. The premise of the app is very straight forward, but the 3D graphics are great and if you rack up enough tickets you can go to the prize counter to redeem them for awesome vampire teeth, just like when you were a kid!
Price: $0.99
Apple Store App
We often think that if the only news we had was from the Apple Store we'd be totally fine. Staying on the cutting edge is important for fanboys and girls everywhere; after all, we pride ourselves on it! Now you can indulge all of your rumor mongering and impulse buys in one easy click, and we're sure going to be poorer for the access. It's so much easier to use than going to the Apple Store website and the app is designed incredibly well...any surprises there?
Price: Free
Misinforming millions of readers each month, The Onion is our go to source for the ridiculous and the sublime. Hilarious headlines, outrageous stories and completely outlandish reporting make this one of the best places online to get a giggle, and now there's an app for that, too! Trend spot, watch video, share your favorite gut-busters with Twitter and Facebook and prepare to be stared at as you laugh your way down the street reading the latest "news" from this un-reliable source.
Price: Free
Evernote
We've come a long way from tying a string around our fingers as a reminder of a task, but sometimes even the most photographic memories can use a little help. Snap pictures, write notes to yourself and geo-tag locations to create a visual reminder of errands, appointments and dates to keep yourself on track all the time. You can even record voice memos and class notes, and transfer it all to your computer with any data connection. Best of all? The price.
Price: Free
Ever wish you had a few extra gigabytes of cloud storage space hanging around so you could transfer data seamlessly from your iPhone to your laptop? Apparently a few other people had the same wish, and Dropbox was born. If you have multiple iTunes accounts and just want to bypass the hassle of syncing, pop your pictures, videos, documents or presentations in the Dropbox on your phone to access it from any other computer or device with an internet connection. We've taken to installing the app on anything we get our hands on...because you just never know when you're going to need those files!
Price: Free
Skype
Although it seems like a no-brainer, we thought we'd give the Skype App a little love considering that this is the last year 3G calls are going to be free! A "small monthly fee" will be charged for 3G Skype-to-Skype calls starting in 2011, so start calling your neglected international friends and relative...and maybe your national ones...and take advantage! Call, IM or video chat with your buddies wherever they may be with the gold standard in VoIP before the charges start.
Price: Free
This free alternative to Foursquare has gotten some serious upgrades for iPhone 4: they're currently re-working the app and its icons to be "pixel-polished" for the new Retina display. Use the gorgeous interface to discover and note new restaurants, nightclubs, shops and museums and share them with your Facebook and Twitter friends, then stamp your Gowalla passport at every location to get rewarded for your business while enjoying the fun of mapping and sharing your day with people who like the same places you do!
Price: Free
Audiobooks Premium
Whether you like to have them on hand for long runs, car trips, or just to save yourself all that hard work associated with turning pages, Audiobooks are a pretty common part of life. And now that this app is hitting the market it's easier than ever to find, download and play them! There's free content galore but some of the classics of the modern age can be had in app for $0.99...quite a bargain, if you ask us! Invaluable for students, this app lets you take your learning with you on commutes, to the gym, or anywhere else you'd like to have a book handy.
Price: $0.99
The best ideas are often the simplest, we find, and that's definitely the case with the Tan Timer app. Being at the beach is a great part of summer, but skin cancer shouldn't be on the agenda...avoid burns with this app! You can determine the amount of time you'd like to be in the sun, set alarms for "flip time" and see the total time you've spent soaking up the rays for the season. Pause the timer while you're grabbing an ice cream or taking a dip and settle back in secure in the knowledge that even if you fall asleep your timer will go off and save you some skin damage!
Price: $0.99
Home Page images and review photos by Daniel Robillard. All product images courtesy of respective companies.
More Apple
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Apple Market Report
Everyone's taking a tilt at Apple. If it's not a never-ending stream of iPhone clones, it's a wave of iPad look-a-likes. You'd have thought that would be enough to pull Apple's stock price down. Not a bit of it. Apple's stock has made a very strong move towards new highs after a nasty dip which would have shaken the resolve of even the bravest investor. Since late August the stock has shot up 15%. The overall market has done pretty well and the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which Apple is part of, has done even better. Yet even still Apple has flown up even further with little apparent resistance.
Apple is still leagues ahead of its competition and it could simply be that now the market has had a look at the me-too emulators they are re-assured of Apple supremacy for quite some time.
However, Apple's valuation remains lofty and for now - at least - it is trading in the $240-$280 price channel it's been stuck in for six months. Can it break out and head into the $300-$400 range?
The strength of its recent rally suggests yes, its medium-term channel of trading says no. The way I look at it is Apple has gone up 500% in the last five years; it's unlikely to go up 50% from here, ever. As such, a long-term investor doesn't really need to even look. Within 10 or 20%, this is the highest Apple is ever going to get. Do you have the answer? Tell us on Twitter!
We Did It!
Apple finally did it. It is now more valuable than Microsoft. To stubborn old realists this seems wrong, but to an army of Apple fans and the veteran legions of Apple believers this seems very right.
It may just be the case that the recent stock market correction, which has seen the market "fall out of bed", is the cause of this victory. Apple just hasn't fallen as far as Microsoft in the stock market rout.
Apple's Risen
However nothing takes away from the fact that, long left for dead, Apple has risen and crawled hand over hand from the edge of going out of business to becoming the second largest company listed on Wall Street.
This promotion to number two position of most valued company on Wall Street is remarkable and kind of historic. I promised myself to short Apple when this happened but I will hold off because the market will rally for a week or two and shorting anything will be a bad idea.
Apple Bullish?
For Bulls it's been a hard grinding year. The post credit crunch rally started in March 2009 and since May 2010 the stock markets have gone into a bear market which has seen a nasty correction.
This correction has marked the limit of Apple's stellar share price rise.
Following this, Apple's stock has performed unpredictably, suffering little crashes and enjoying little booms, while stuck in a range.
I have maintained for some time that it is hard to imagine Apple going up much more as it's already the second most valuable stock in America; and it seems plain silly for Apple to turn into the most valuable business in the USA - however amazing the company. For now the market agrees.
Meanwhile Apple is making a ton of money and all products appear to be doing well. Even though Apple is collecting competitors like a dog collects fleas, it is hard to see how, in the short term, anyone can beat the Apple mystique even though Google appears to be making inroads with its Android. No one, as yet, seems to be close to knocking off any of Apple's reflective shine.
So the $300 billion dollar question is: what can Apple do next to propel it above $300 a share?
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