We first told you about Waveboard, a very simple front end for Google Wave, a few weeks ago while it was still in review. It has now hit the App Store and is available for $0.99.

The application in itself does not have push notifications but Waveboard has been integrated into Prowl and you can get push notifications that way. For more info on setting up push notifications check out http://www.getwaveboard.com

ScreenShots:

App Store Description:

A very simple front end for Google Wave. This client shows the standard web presence for mobile devices provided by Google Wave.

Website links will be shown in an integrated separate web browser view. Pages can be handed over to Safari from within the app. Landscape view is supported.

By shaking the device you get access to ‘Logout’ and ‘Reload’ actions.

Use this tool to get Google Wave on your springboard screen. No distracting browser controls where they are not needed.

For more information about Google Wave and getting an account please visit http://wave.google.com.

The MacOS X Desktop version is also available for download and can be used for notification on changed Waves.

Visit http://www.getwaveboard.com

Readdle recently releases a new application, BookReader. It is a sleek, well designed e-book reader. The app has quite a few features and nice options that make it unique.

“BookReader can open TXT, FB2, RTF, EPUB, HTML, and PDF files. You can user either WiFi or EDGE/3G network to copy the e-book to iPhone or iPod Touch. Once you connected to BookReader from any Mac OS X, Windows XP and Windows Vista computer, just drag and drop a book to save it to your device. Yes, it’s just that simple.”

Check out the Screenshots, App Store description and Press Release below for more info.

ScreenShots

App Store Description:

BookReader is a beautiful way to bring your entire collection of e-books to your pocket. For the first time you can read digital books from your private collection like the paper ones. Just feel how natural is to read e-books with BookReader.

We’ve seen stylish and intuitive readers for the classics books, as well as for project Guttenberg collection. BookReader extends this realistic reading experience to your own e-book library. Don’t worry, Project Guttenberg is also supported.

BookReader can open TXT, FB2, RTF, EPUB, HTML, and PDF files. You can user either WiFi or EDGE/3G network to copy the e-book to iPhone or iPod Touch. Once you connected to BookReader from any Mac OS X, Windows XP and Windows Vista computer, just drag and drop a book to save it to your device. Yes, it’s just that simple.

With BookReader you can:

ENJOY READING AT ITS BEST
- Read in the dark using night mode.
- Lock BookReader orientation to prevent it from rotating the book.
- Adjust text size and font to fit your preferences.
- Focus on reading thanks to BookReader intuitive interface .

TRANSFER BOOKS IN THE NUMBER OF WAYS
- Upload your books to free Readdle Storage account using regular Internet connection and instantly access them from BookReader via EDGE or 3G.
- Mount Books as a shared network drive over Wi-Fi network to any computer and copy e-books to the iPhone. No additional software required.
- Download free e-books from Project Guttenberg collection. You can even find Kamasutra of Vatsaiana there.

EASILY NAVIGATE THROUGH THE BOOK
- Bookmark any page in the book.
- Find any necessary phrase or a word using full text search.
- Use fast scroll slider to quickly open any position.

ENJOY BOOKS IN MANY FORMATS
- TXT
- HTML
- EPUB
- RTF
- FB2
- PDF

If you have any questions regarding BookReader feel free to contact us.

IMPORTANT NOTE!
eReader, iSilo, MobiPocket, Kindle, Plucker e-books are not supported. Only TXT, FB2, RTF and HTML as well as EPub and PDF files without DRM protection.

Press Release:

Title
BookReader makes reading e-books on iPhone simple

Summary
Odessa, Ukraine – October 16, 2009 – Today Readdle announces the immediate availability
of BookReader, a stylish e-book reader iPhone application, that lets people read digital books
from their collections like the paper ones. BookReader opens TXT, FB2, RTF, EPUB, HTML,
and PDF e-books that could be copied from reader’s computer to the iPhone over Wi-Fi, 3G,
EDGE and USB as well as searches and downloads books from Project Gutenberg.
BookReader is available exclusively on the Apple App Store at USD $4.99

Body
Today Readdle announces the immediate availability of BookReader, a stylish e-book reader
iPhone application, that lets people read digital books from their collections like the paper
ones. BookReader opens TXT, FB2, RTF, EPUB, HTML, and PDF e-books without DRM
protection that could be copied from reader’s computer to the iPhone over Wi-Fi, 3G and USB
as well as searches and downloads books from Project Gutenberg.

BookReader has number of small handy functions like animated page flipping, night mode for
reading in the dark, locking book orientation and adjustable text size. It also provides
everything that people need to quickly navigate through the book: configurable bookmarks,
full text search and fast scroll slider. It’s very natural to read e-books with BookReader.
“We’ve seen stylish and intuitive readers for the classics books, as well as for project
Gutenberg collection. BookReader extends this realistic reading experience to your own e-
book library. By the way, Project Gutenberg is also supported,” – explains Alexander
Tyagulsky, Readdle CMO.

BookReader is designed to work with non DRM protected e-books in TXT, FB2, RTF, HTML,
EPUB and PDF formats. eReader, iSilo, MobiPocket, Kindle, Plucker e-books are not
supported. Also, people who don’t have wireless connection between their Mac or PC and
iPhone could transfer their e-book to BookReader using USB cable and ReaddleWire
software available at Readdle’s web site.

Pricing and Availability:
BookReader is available exclusively on the Apple App Store at USD $4.99:

The application is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch running iPhone OS 3.0 and later.

Tasker is a task management application that allows you to keep track of your tasks based on when they start (or are due) and where they occur.

The thing that makes this task application a little different from the rest is that you can view your tasks by where they occur. This is helpful for those times when you are out running errands… instead of wondering what you needed to accomplish while at a specific store, you can click on the Place in the Tasker application and it will display a list of all the tasks for that store. Very cool.

The actual usability of the application is very nice. Tasks are simple and easy to set-up. You just enter a task title, select a Start/Due date and select the place where the task takes place.

There are quite a few options that make entering a task quick including; Today, Tomorrow and Next Week buttons which allow for a one tap date entry, a Next button which allows you to quickly enter the next task without having to go back to the main menu and the ability to set a task to a previously used location.

Once tasks have been entered, they can be viewed by Date or Place. The Date option allows you to see today’s tasks and upcoming task. The Place option allows you to select a location and view all the tasks for that location.

Once tasks have been marked off, they are added to the Completed list which can then be archived.

The app does have a decent amount of Settings. In the Settings you are given the ability to connect the app to your Twitter account, view your archived tasks, reset the archived tasks, select the map type (Map, Satellite, Hybrid), enable/disable the sounds, enable/disable the badge icon and learn more about the app.

This is a no frills type of application, you enter tasks and mark them off. Just the way I like it… keeps things simple.

Tasker is clean, easy-to-use and the location based tasks feature won me over.

ScreenShots

App Store Description:

Tasker is a simple, yet powerful task manager for the iPhone and iPod touch. Tasker lets you organize your tasks using the two core elements of any task: When and Where.

✔ Dates

Tasker’s Dates view lets you see all your tasks arranged according to their date in a clean intuitive list. View todos that you need to do today in the “today” section and see all the tasks that are scheduled for the future in the “upcoming” section. You can easily set lots of tasks to start today by going into “Edit” mode in the “All Tasks” list. Just tap on each task you want to start today and its date will be set.

✔ Places

Tasker’s Places view lets you see your tasks as pins on a map so you can easily figure out which errands are near you and where you need to go today. You can navigate through all your tasks on the map using the “previous” and “next” buttons and you can create multiple tasks in one place. Do you have 10 groceries you need to get at the grocery store? Easily see them by tapping on the grocery store’s pin and check them off as you find them in the store.

✔ Twitter

Tasker lets you twitter any tasks you would like to share with your followers. Simply tap the twitter icon in a task and its text will be posted to your twitter account when you check it off. Easily keep your family or friends informed of what you’re getting done today.

✔ Super-fast Task Entry

If you’re anything like us, when you think of one thing to do you can think of ten. Tasker lets you quickly dump all those things swimming around in your head so you can focus on what’s important. Create many tasks very quickly by tapping the ‘next’ button after each. You’ll immediately be taken to another new-task screen.

✔ Sounds and Animations

As you check off a task the list animates and plays a sound to celebrate your accomplishment. The sound effects can be easily turned off in the settings menu if you value peace and quiet.

Learn more at: www.TaskerApp.com

You are going to love this application! It allows you to create a custom list of apps and get push notifications of price changes. So, if you have an app you’ve always wanted but would only pay $0.99 for it, just search for the app, add it to the list, and set the price. If the prices ever changes to your price, the app will send you an push notification. This also works for when apps become free. AWESOME!

Now that’s not all. This app lets you browse apps via category and sort them by recent price changes (bargin), popularity or free. For example, I went into the photography category and found all the sweet apps and added them to my list for when they become free. Now whenever they become free I’ll get a push notification. Other sweet features included app screenshots, descriptions, & a direct link to App Store.

Video Demo

ScreenShots

Having a hard time deciding who’s turn it is to make the coffee run or who’s turn it is to pick up the tab or even who’s turn it is to take out the garbage? Volunteer-O-Matic is the app for you. A simple, yet handy, application that allows you to randomly choose from a list of names (or numbers).

So lets say you need to decide who’s turn it is to make the coffee run at work. Just create a “Coffee Run” list and add the names of the people in the office. Then, give it a “spin” and it will randomly choose a name from the list.

One cool feature of the app is the ability to remove a name from the next spin. That way if Mike isn’t at work that day, you can temporarily remove his name from the list. You can remove as many people as needed from the next spin then, just reset the list to bring the names back.

As simple as this application is, it is very well designed and has a great user interface. It is worth the $0.99 to prevent the five minutes wasted while everyone tries to decide who’s turn it is to get coffee!

ScreenShots

App Store Description:

Ever need to quickly pick a random name from a list for someone to

- handle the check
- go first taking turns
- make a pizza run
- kick off a discussion?

Maybe you want to make a list of tasks or chores you have been putting off and then randomly select one?

Well, with Volunteer-O-Matic you can create lists of names, tasks, chores, or numbers in seconds and then let the app do all the hard work for you!

Volunteer-O-Matic features

- unlimited capacity for making lists of names, chores, tasks, and numbers
- convenient one-click interface to pick names right from your Address Book
- one-touch number list generation
- temporary removal of entries from next spin
- shiny buttons

Remember the Milk, and to-do list application, was update today to version 1.1.1 (see full change log below). The update adds some new push notification features and options! The push notification will now automatically keep your badge up-to-date allowing the badge to display either; None, Tasks Due Today or Incomplete Tasks. The update also allows you to choose between four alert sounds for your notifications; None, Default, Moo and Cow Bell. All of these options can be selected in Remember the Milk’s setting which are located in the stock Settings application on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Note: You can also turn on/off the Badge, Alert and Sound notifications for Remember the Milk via the stock Settings application the Notification option the Remember the Milk option.

Version 1.1.1 Change Log:
    • Customizable alert sounds (none, default, moo, cow bell) for Push Notification reminders.
    • App badge automatically kept up-to-date with Push Notifications.
    • ‘View’ on a reminder with one task takes you to that task.
    • Added localization for Czech and Greek.
    • Updated localization for Danish, Finnish, Russian and Spanish.

ScreenShots

I was on the bus to work when it occurred to me that I might be able to get my Exchange account back. You see, I have become very attached to Google calendar and more recently Google contacts. When GoogleSync was released, I was very excited to have the push capabilities of Calendar and Contacts. With ease, I set up and was able to push my calendar, along with my wife’s and our joint calendars. Although the initial sync of contacts was a bit frustrating (I relied on MS Outlook for a long time), I was pleased with the overall results. The one downside was the fact that GoogleSync used the Exchange Account, and the iPhone frustratingly only allows you to use one Exchange account. Thus, I was unable to link my work email to my iPhone and instead had to rely on a bookmark and a much more cumbersome web based interface. With the release of iPhone OS 3.0, CalDAV support was included, and after I read a bit more about this, the wheels started rolling.

Step one: I needed to read up on how to set up CalDAV on the iPhone. Google offers a forum post here, and I found a work around for multiple accounts here. Once I felt comfortable with this potential setup, I was ready to start the process of getting my Exchange account back. Honestly, I was willing to give up syncing my contacts for the ability to get my work email back and integrated with the iPhone’s Mail app. However, a quick search in the App Store revealed an application called Sync in a Blink that claimed to sync your Google contacts over the air and without using an Exchange account.

So, off went the Google calendar and contacts from the Exchange account. This was indeed scary as all of my calendar events and contacts were quickly wiped from my iPhone. I’d recommend a backup before you try this just in case, though my backup times have been excessively long so I played with fire here. With the CalDAV accounts set up (see above links), my calendars were now on my iPhone and syncing correctly both ways. A nice bonus was that the colors on Google calendar were showing up correctly on the iPhone. This was often a crapshoot using GoogleSync, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw green, purple, and blue displayed correctly on my native iPhone calendar. Next up was the import of my Google contacts.

Again, deleting all of the contacts from my iPhone was scary, but required. Upon opening Sync in a Blink, I entered my Gmail account info and started the sync. Without interruption, the sync took 7 minutes, but keep in mind, I had over 1,000 contacts (1,332 to be exact), so this was a reasonable amount of time in my opinion. I chose the “merge” option since I wiped all contacts from my phone, so all Gmail contacts would override any conflicts. This resulted in some duplicates, but this was largely the result of my upload from Outlook to Google awhile ago. I don’t blame Sync in a Blink for this slight annoyance. To test the app further, I made some changes on the iPhone and in my Google contacts, synced again, and in less than 1 minute, all changes were correctly reflected in both places.

Each time you start a sync process, Sync in a Blink downloads your Gmail contacts, processes iPhone contacts, adds contacts, makes changes to Google contacts, deletes Gmail contacts, and concludes with a summary report. All of this took less than one minute, and I tested in both WiFi and in 3G environments. I experienced only a handful of hiccups by the app during a week of testing. Other nice features included with the application are a conflicts tab which allows you to manually resolve any changes made to both the iPhone and in Gmail, a history tab that allows you to access your summary reports, and a settings screen that allows you to change options involving groups, accounts, and images.

All in all, Sync in a Blink provided the final piece needed for me to stay in sync with Google and yet also use my Exchange account for my work email and calendar. The application is well organized and its execution is simple and nearly flawless. If you’re in a similar situation to mine, heavily connected to Google apps, but want to access your Exchange account for work, I highly recommend Sync in a Blink in conjunction with CalDAV accounts. My one recommendation for the developers would be to incorporate an scheduled auto sync, but this might be a limitation that has more to do with Apple. Until then, for $4.99, Sync in a Blink is well worth the money and despite not having a free lite version, you can take it from this reviewer that you won’t be disappointed.

ScreenShots

This application review was done by a guest writer. Tom is not a writer on AppleiPhoneSchool.com but, he a friend of Doug’s and is an appliance enthusiast! Below is his review of Laundry Pro.

Laundry Pro is app full of mysterious laundry symbols in which most people don’t even know what they they stand for! In this app, you will find out how to wash your clothes according to the directions on the care tab of your favorite garment. I find it easy to use, just look at your garment tab and tap on the symbol and you will find directions how to wash, dry, and iron.

One suggestion about the directions, it says to start by filling the washer drum with what water it tells you, adding soap, and adding the garments. However, most washers these days work differently compared to 10 years ago. Some of them require adding the soap and the garments to sense how much water and time is needed to wash the clothes therefore, it would not work to fill the drum with water first. It would be sweet if you could choose from options such as High Efficiency Top-loader/Traditional Top-loader to High Efficiency Front- loader…I think that would make the instructions more specific and teach you how to do laundry the right way for your appliance type.

I did find the graphics are very random; when you first open the app the laundry Pro is viewed in bright orange and then takes you to the home page which has a cool metallic background with blue, green and orange icons. I think the app could use more consistency with the colors and design. Not some random bright orange to a metallic color! Other than those things, a helpful application.

ScreenShots

With the new site design we’ve been tracking site statistics which got me wondering if there were any good Google Analytics apps. I’m pretty sure I’ve check before but when looking this time I found an app called “Analytics”. The screenshot previews looked good but the price was a little high at $5.99. At the time, it had 12 reviews with 4 out of 5 stars. After reading the reviews, only the first version had bad reviews. After an update to version 1.2 most reviews were 5 out of 5. Another selling point was the developer offers a refund via paypal if you’re not satisfied.

There are tons of features and I’m not going to break down every one. The biggest features are the ability to see all of your sites, ability to change date ranges, and great interface. The loading time is a bit slow on EDGE (5-15 seconds depending on info requested) but is normal on 3G or Wifi. There are also nice graphs and not just a list of numbers. Really, screenshots are what will show off this app so here’s a bunch

Note: Their loading graphic looks like the SWOD (Spinning Wheel of Death) but it’s all good, no worries!

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you’ve come to know me as a person who’s very interested in being organized and a big believer in Getting Things Done. As mentioned in my recent review of Organizer, I’m a pretty Type A type of guy. Lots of usage with Outlook, GCal, Toodledo, etc. So, I was excited to give ListOmni a test run to see if it would be able to earn a coveted spot in my organization regimen.

Overview
Listomni is a detailed application that allows you to create and edit numerous lists. The built-in lists include a grocery list, a to do list, a gifts list, but the program has several other lists to keep track of books, movies, cards, and more. You can create lists of your own using a generic list template, and options include backing up lists, sorting through lists, and creating budgets for lists that would benefit from such an ability.

Keeping a List of all of the Lists.
Honestly, I was blown away with the amount of options and customization that this app contains. I’m actually overwhelmed by all of the features that Listomni has, but I suppose this is better than having an app that is overly simplistic. I love being able to keep track of my grocery list on Listomni as I can check off items that we’ve purchased and uncheck them when the time comes to pick up a new carton of milk. I’m a sucker for apps that have badge counts (a la Tweetie, Facebook, Phone, Mail, and To Do) and I currently set Listomni to display the number of items that I need to shop for the next time I’m at the store.


Can you really have too many lists?
I suppose there is such a thing as having too many options. Less is more after all, and it seems that Listomni can scare away users who get lost in the myriad of lists and details that come with those lists. My advice is to just take things one list at a time, and add options as you need them or see a potential use for them. Another downside is the lack of any syncing options. You can backup your lists and email them to yourself, but if you use any web based to-do list such as Toodledo or Remember the Milk, there is no support for you here.


Conclusion
Due to its successful implementation of a grocery list, Listomni has earned the distinction of being my first AppleiPhoneSchool reviewed app to make it on my home page. As mentioned above, for some reason, I like having applications that come with badges to let me know if attention is needed (even if they’re not running in the background, I know…) Thus, Listomni sits alongside favorite apps such as Tweetie, Facebook, USA Today, and Sportacular. At $6.99, Listomni is not a cheap application, but given all of the features that are included, I’d feel safe in recommending its purchase, especially if you are not tied to a web based to-do list program. In comments, I’d love to hear what other apps you have decided to dedicate precious home page real estate to. You can see mine in the included pic (granted, I’m still a non-jailbreaker), but let’s hear about some of yours!