Gowalla

- Design: A fresh new experience that is more flexible, readable and usable than ever
- Photos: Upload a photo after checking in, browse photos from friends and see photos taken at a spot.
- Checkin Commenting: When a friend checks in someplace awesome, tell them what you think!
- Multiple checkin messages: Skipped typing a checkin message? Come back and add one.
- Hot Spots: Discover the most popular spots nearby
- Browse your friends… and friends of friends.
- Browse friends’ bookmarked spots and created trips.
- More ways to get in touch with Facebook, Twitter and web links for friends.
- Spot details (when available): address, phone number, Twitter name, Facebook page, website

Price: Free

foursquare

- Brand new look and feel!
- Faster, more efficient checkin and shout flow
- “Places” view now supports categories
- Easily see a history of places you’ve been
- Pull-to-refresh

Price: Free

Loopt

-Friend Map has its own tab thanks to your feedback (got more feedback? e-mail feedback@loopt.com)
-Loopt Pulse is even better at helping you plan your next move with new Events info from Metromix, ZVents, and SonicLiving
-Listen to music clips from concert Events and RSVP to see who else is going on Facebook!
-Search for Events and Places by date and distance around you, your friends, or specific places
-Share button on Events and Places to share them with friends

Price: Free

Video

Live Cams is one of the few apps that make it right on the front page of my iPhone. I’ll tell you the reason right up front before the entire review. I only use a few of their features but there are many more. So why is it on my front page? Because when opening the app, I can customize it to show thumbnails of the camera’s I’ve added myself. I’ve got it set to show 8 cameras all at once, then I tap on a camera to see it full screen. This way I can monitor all of our cameras at work from anywhere. The reason I can do this is because the app lets you customize what tab gets opened when the app loads.

Now for some of the many features offered by this app. The first tab is the search tab. Once opened you see a list of presorted categories of cameras. If you’re looking for a camera in your locations or of a specific topic not on list there is a custom search button in the top right. This is more like an advanced search not just giving you the option to type in your search but from what category, country, state, and more. For the example below, I did a search for Hawaii.

The next tab is the favorites tab. When viewing any camera, there is a grey heart in the top right corner. Tapping this changes it to the color red and then adds it to the favorites tab.

The random tab is pretty self explanitory. It loads 9 pages of random cameras it it’s database. You can swipe through them by swiping left and right.

Again, self explanatory is the recent tab. It shows the 9 most pages of cameras you’ve checked out.

Adding your own cameras is pretty easy and this app supports all kinds of cameras. There’s even support for PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) cameras. I like using it to add security cameras from work and traffic cams from around town. All you have to do is add the web address of the camera. This lists them under the “My Cams”.

Overall, this is a simple app with a lot of features. It supports lots of cameras and file types and you can customize the app the way you want it. It’s also very stable. I’ve also used an app called “Webcam” but I like “Live Cameras” much better.

ScreenShots

I will admit, I may have a slight addiction to recipe applications. I just love the ease of using my iPhone while cooking (though, I am occasionally concerned for it’s safety!). So, when I came across a relatively new application titled Mixing Bowl, I installed it on the spot! The Mixing Bowl application is based off the website MixingBowl.com (which I had not indulged in prior to installing the iPhone application). I found MixingBowl.com to be an upbeat, social cooking website that is largely member maintained.

In order to use the Mixing Bowl iPhone application, you will need to become a member of MixingBowl.com. Normally I’m not big on apps that require you to become a member in order to use them but, I make exceptions for cooking apps!

After becoming a member (a painless process), I found the app to have many of the same features the website offers. The main menu allows you to view Recipes, Groups, Friends and Blogs. Since I am mainly interested in the Recipes, I headed there. I found the recipes to broken into a few main categories (Course, Foods, Popular Topics, Holidays, Level of Difficulty and Special Diets) and quite a few subcategories.

After making my way to the Dessert category… yep, that’s right, the dessert category! I was greeted by a decent array of recipes. Because the website is largely member maintained I did find that quite a few of the recipes did not contain images. A slight disappointment, I’m a stickler for pictures! However, you are able to quickly see the ratings for each recipe which is helpful.

There are a few things I like about this application, it allow you to easily; save a recipe to your favorites, read the reviews for the recipe, add a review to the recipe, rate the recipe, view more recipes by that member, add a photo to the recipe… etc. At times I do feel like it is all a bit too “social” for me. Many times the comments are things like… “This sounds yummy” or “Can’t wait to try this” instead of helpful comments from people who have actually tried the recipe. Also, because the recipes can be uploaded by anyone who is a member, you will run into a few duds.

Overall, I found the recipes easy to navigate, the design to be user friendly and the amount of recipes to be plentiful (if not overwhelming at times!). If you are a stickler for cooking applications, Mixing Bowl is definitely worth checking out.

ScreenShots:

App Store Description:

As a member of MixingBowl.com, food and friends are made fresh daily. Once you join, we’ll deliver a customized food experience just for you. You’ll be able to meet like-minded cooks and bakers, swap recipes, share photos, get cooking tips, read (and write) blogs, and much more.

Friends are just one click away on MixingBowl.com, the first social network centered on food.

From the new-nest neophyte just learning how to turn on a stove to the young mom holding a baby in one arm and cooking with the other to the passionate baker looking for kindred spirits, Mixing Bowl unites everyday home cooks. Once you join, we deliver a customized food experience just for you. You can meet others like you, swap recipes, share photos, get cooking tips, read (and write) blogs, and much more.

Have you ever wanted to learn how to make authentic pho or bouillabaisse? We’ve got hundreds of ethnic recipes from home cooks around the world. Want to start your own restaurant? Get advice from someone who already owns one. Need dinner ideas for picky eaters? Ask another Mom. Starting a special diet? Let someone who’s on that diet help guide your way.

This application gives you the power to create and access your own personal cooking network from anywhere. Simply key in a member name and password, or log in using your Facebook credentials, and join. You can share everything that you post with the whole community, or just a few close friends. You decide.

Facebook integration allows you to easily share your latest culinary triumphs (and trials), as well as the gems you discover on Mixing Bowl, with all of your friends.

Brothers In Arms® 2: Global Front, by Gameloft, was released yesterday. It is available in the App Store for $7.99 which is a little cheaper than the launch price of Brothers In Arms® Hour of Heroes. See the video trailer for Brothers In Arms® 2: Global Front here.

ScreenShots:

App Store Description:

The highly acclaimed Brothers in Arms series returns for its most compelling battle yet amidst the fires of WWII.

JOIN YOUR ALLIES ONLINE
For the first time, challenge up to 5 friends to multiplayer battles on a variety of five maps in 3 different modes (Free For All, Team Deathmatch, Domination). You can connect locally via Bluetooth or even go online with Wi-Fi to battle friends anywhere.

A FIGHT ACROSS THE GLOBE
Experience every front of the war with battles raging across 5 locations and 13 levels: Pacific, Normandy, North Africa, Germany, Sicily.

WAR MACHINES
Take control of 3 different vehicles including the tank, off-road vehicle or glider to overrun your opponents – or to make a daring escape. You can even jump behind the vehicle turret to lay waste to foes with the machine gun.

THE BATTLE COMES TO LIFE
The stunning graphics and authentic settings are inspired by real life battlefields from WWII and created in detailed 3D.

AN EPIC EXPERIENCE
Witness compelling cinematic moments with more interaction between you and your squad members that deepens the gameplay.

AN ARSENAL AT YOUR DISPOSAL
Grab a wide variety of historically accurate weapons including machine guns, bazookas, sniper rifles and flamethrowers.

Unlock 26 trophies and show them off to friends over Gameloft LIVE!

1. No images of women in bikinis
2. No images of men in bikinis!
3. No skin
4. No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs
5. No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex – all banned
6. Nothing that can be sexually arousing!!
7. No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content

Ok, so first of all, I can tell you that so far it seems to be true. Last week I just taught a class teaching parents how to use the parental control features of the iPhone and iPod touch to protect their kids against apps in the App Store. I was showing them that even in the top 25 free apps, adult apps would show up even without searching for terms. These apps are no longer there and they were there for quite a while. What’s also strange is that apps like the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and the Playboy apps are still in the store.

Apple originally banned these types of apps and then later allowed them. Now they are banning them again. Maybe they started to ban them at the beginning of the App Store days and then started getting sued and decided to allow them. Now, after getting legal things straightened out, they started banning again? Who knows…

Note: I’ve noticed that apps that have textual descriptions about sex positions are still in the store… Maybe it’s just a visual thing.

Trailer:

G5 Entertainment, the developers of Supermarket Mania and Stand O’Food, have released a new application, Supermarket Management.

“Supermarket Management is a mile-a-minute time-management game, and follows Kate, a recent college graduate, as she builds her career in a grocery store. From keeping customers happy and shelves stocked, to hiring and supervising employees as a manager, Supermarket Management challenges players at every step. As Kate’s responsibilities increase from low-level tasks to managing multiple stores, Supermarket Management becomes more complex.

The fast-paced, addictive gameplay of Supermarket Management includes a wide variety of mini-games in addition to classic time-management action. Each store can be embellished with unique upgrades, and a huge variety of delicious foods are available to satisfy customers. Colorful graphics and a cheerful soundtrack provide players with a top-notch handheld gaming experience.”

ScreenShots:

Demo Video:

App Store Description:

Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian.

Help Kate climb her way to the top and become Supermarket Manager! Fresh out of college, a job has fallen into Kate`s lap and now she needs your help to succeed. Keep your customers happy as you manage a supermarket in this mile-a-minute Time Management game. Purchase upgrades and hire co-workers to make your store run more efficiently and increase profits. Open new shops and make it to the top of the corporate ladder!

• Develop and run a series of grocery stores
• Follow Kate as she grows her career
• Enhance each store with unique upgrades
• Serve your customers a huge variety of scrumptious treats
• Enjoy colorful full-screen graphics and a stirring soundtrack

Meebo has released it’s official app in the App Store. If you are not familiar with Meebo, it is a web based Instant Messaging client that allows you to connect to just about any IM service.

Sticking to Meebo’s simple and sleek style, the iPhone app is just that… simple and sleek (and not to mention pretty quick!). Once you have signed in, you can quickly navigate through your buddy list. Chatting is easy and totally awesome with push notifications!!

In the Account options, you have the ability to change your status, view your accounts and add additional services (there is an extensive list of services available… see list below). Though, I did find Skype Chat missing from the list of available services.

A few cool features of the app are the ability to search the chat history and the ability to quickly switch between chat conversations by swiping left and right.

Overall if you are looking for something simple and snappy… meebo just might be the app for you! Not to mention it’s free! Check out the App Store Description below for the full list of features for the app.

ScreenShots

App Store Description:

Meebo is integrated, all-in-one instant messaging that connects you with your friends everywhere.

Meebo has been the leading platform for multi-protocol IM on the web since 2005. With that knowledge and experience, we optimized Meebo on the iPhone for speed, simplicity, and performance.

Meebo supports all the major IM networks:
AOL / AIM, Yahoo!, MSN / Windows Live, Gmail / Google Talk, Facebook, MySpace, and 100+ other networks!

Reliability / Connectivity
- Push notifications even when the app is closed
- Stay connected as you move from Edge to 3G to WiFi
- Meebo’s proven multi-network access protocols
- Automatically reconnect if you lose coverage so you don’t miss a message

Access / Integration
- Searchable, synchronized chat history on your iPhone and meebo.com
- Get Meebo on the web, your desktop, or your iPhone
- Tap any links to open the built-in browser
- Advanced chat session management lets you go seamlessly back and forth between Meebo on the iPhone and meebo.com

Chat features
- Swipe to switch between multiple conversations
- Rotate for landscape mode and a wider keyboard.
- Message preview from the Chats List
- Full Meebo emoticon support
- Push notifications
- Searchable Chat History
- Sort chats by most recent or full view
- Support for all the major IM networks, and many more

Account features
- Buddylist search as you type
- View profile info, status messages, and buddy icons
- Add/Remove individual buddies
- Add/Remove network accounts
- Open and close buddy groups in your Buddy List
- Set custom status messages
- Sign on/off individual accounts
- Set presence to Available/Invisible/Away for individual accounts, or all at once

List of Available Services:

- AIM
- Are You Interested
- aujourdhui.com
- BasilMarket
- Batanga
- CafeMom
- Chess.com
- DailyStrength
- DanceTrippin
- Decayenne
- Dhingana
- EliteCastingNetwork
- eBaum’s World
- Fabulously40
- Facebook
- Fanpop
- Flirtbox
- Flixster
- FooPets
- Footytube
- Fupa
- GGL
- GamerNook
- Gamevance
- GirlsAskGuys
- Google Talk
- ICQ
- imageChef
- Indianelement
- ibeatyou
- Jabber
- JacketFlap
- JamLegend
- Justin.tv
- Klikot
- MSN
- MingleVille
- MixPod
- MuchGames
- MySpace
- MyWorkster
- myYearbook
- Operation Sports
- OrangeShark
- Outspark
- Packed
- PlayedOnline
- Playfire
- Playlist
- Quepasa
- SocialSplash
- Sonico
- SparkPeople
- Sparkteens
- Starpulse
- Tehkseven
- Threadsy
- Ultimate Guitar
- Wadja
- Wixi
- Yahoo!
- Yonja
- Zinch
- Zorpia

* List via Mashable

SlingPlayer Mobile, an application that allows you to “watch and control your home TV and DVR on your iPhone or iPod touch,” was updated today to version 1.2. The update does one thing, it adds the long awaited feature of streaming over 3G! YAY! Some of you probably already have this feature using a hack however, those unjailbroken folks are now able to stream over 3G as well!

ScreenShots

App Store Description:

When connected over 3G or Wi-Fi to a Slingbox SOLO, PRO, or PRO-HD (Slingboxes sold separately), the award winning SlingPlayer Mobile software will play anything you can see on your TV at home on your iPhone or iPod touch. Now you can change channels, control your DVR and watch your favorite shows right on your phone. View and control video sources such as:

-Cable set-top box and DVR
-Satellite set-top box and DVR
-Telco / IPTV set-top box and DVR
-Basic cable
-Digital Over-the-Air broadcasts (Slingbox PRO-HD only)
-Tivo
-Apple TV
-Home security cameras

You already pay for great content at home. Why settle for other iPhone TV applications that only offer a limited selection of content when you can enjoy everything that’s on real TV? Once you see the quality of the viewing experience, you’ll know why SlingPlayer Mobile won Best of Show at Macworld 2009. Get SlingPlayer Mobile and a Slingbox* and turn your iPhone or iPod touch into your home TV. To learn more about Slingbox visit www.slingmedia.com.

*The Slingbox Classic, AV, and TUNER are not supported for use with SlingPlayer Mobile on the iPhone and iPod touch, although they may stream with some configurations. To take advantage of our special upgrade offer, please visit www.slingmedia.com/upgrade.

What’s new

3G streaming enabled