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

You can activate Voice Control by pressing and holding the Home Button on your iPhone. You can also activate it by pressing and holding the center button on your iPhone headphones. Once you hear the beep…you can start commanding. Below is a list of the available commands.

Things to Note:
    • Voice Commands uses your default language setting (Settings > General > International > Language Setting) however, you can change the language that the Voice Control uses for the spoken commands. Some languages even have different dialects and accents to choose from! You can change the Voice Control language by going to Settings > General > International > Voice Control and then selecting the language you would like to use.

    • You can turn off the ability to use Voice Control on the lock screen (for security reasons) by going to the Settings app, the General option and then the Passcode Lock option (Settings > General > Passcode Lock)….where you can then turn Voice Dial off.

    • When Voice dialing an (800) number you can say “eight hundred.”

    • Voice Control may not be available for all languages.

~ Info via iPhone User Manual.

ScreenShots

First off, most all regular apps should work on 3.0. The changes were not that severe for most apps to stop working. So if the app is not in the list, it probably works. What probably does not work are apps that rely on mobile substrate or any sort of springboard patching. These all use undocumented APIs.

Next is to understand why some things are not working *for you* that are listed on the “working” list. Many apps require root access and use a trick that involves the dirname command. This command was not present in some older packages in Saurik’s older repository. Saurik set up a newer version of his repository for 3.0 (which will merge back in to the trunk soon). The point is, many of you may have his older repository instead due to one of these reasons:

1) You used an early Icy without its essential updates that do not fix saurik’s repo.
2) You used apt backup to restore your packages and it restored the old repository.
3) You did not accept some essential updates.
4) Some other thing that I am not aware of. But the cause is most likely failing dirname command.

You can check if you have this issue in Cydia: Load Cydia, wait for it to do its thing then go to manage, sources, then look for Telesphoreo in the list. If you see this line of text *exactly*, you have the new repository “Distribution of Unix Software for iPhoneOS 3″ (this is good!) If you see this line: “Distribution of Unix Software for iPhoneOS” (this is bad) you have the *old* repository.

One more thing. If you install something and get an immediate spinning wheel of death, reboot. Some times mobilesubstrate’s install causes this and after a reboot it will be fine.

You can see the full post and view the compatibility list HERE.

Lately I have been trying to get into the habit of using my iPhone to create my shopping lists (I’m totally a paper and pencil shopping list kind of girl). If you are anything like me, then you have tried using a few different application for making your shopping list. Yet, I tend to find each one lacking is some way. Well, not any more! I have been testing Grocery iQ for a while now and must say that I am becoming a huge fan. It has basically all the features I could want in a shopping list application and even a few I hadn’t thought of!

When you first open Grocery iQ, you will be on the main List page. The first thing you will get is a nice hint menu instructing you on how to use the List feature. You can choose to hide the hint (which will hide it until you close and reopen the application) or you can choose to not show the hint again. Adding an item to the list is easy, just select the + icon in the upper right corner and search for the item you are looking for. The database is extensive and detailed. I personally like to go with the basic Kleenex Tissue option and not the Kleenex Anti-Viral Tissue; 3 Ply option. Only because I already know which kind I am going to get! If you find that something you need isn’t on the list you can quickly add it to the list by selecting Done in the upper right corner.

Once you have selected an item that you would like added to your list…you can add specifics based on that items. So lets say you add Tomatoes to your list, you can then enter the variety of tomato, the size, the aisle tomatoes are located in your store, the quantity and even your own notes about the item. These option changes based on the product. I personally love the ability to add notes to the items (a feature my current shopping list apps does not have). Once you have all the info entered about an item, select Save in the upper right corner and the item will be added to your list.

On the lower menu bar you will notice a few more options; Favorites, History and Aisles. Favorites and History are two feature that allow you to quickly choose items to add to your list. If you almost always get Avacados when you go to the store (as we do), you can add it to your Favorite which then allows you to quickly add it to your shopping list without searching for it every time. The Favorites option takes a little time to set-up but once you do, it makes things much faster. The History option is also nice.

When you are finished at the store, you can select the Grocery Cart icon, while on your list menu, and you are able to clear your list. When you clear your shopping list, the items are added to your History. This allows you to quickly go into your History and add items to your current shopping list.

Another great feature is Aisles. In the Aisles option, you are able to create new aisles, delete aisles and arrange the aisles. I LOVE this feature. Every item that you add to your shopping list will ask you to choose an aisle…your items are then put in order by aisle on your list. Now, what I love is that if my store doesn’t have a certain aisle or I know that I will never use a certain aisle such as Beer, Wine & Spirits, I can delete it off the list. I can also create new aisles that my store has that are not on the list. But, the best feature of all is that you can arrange the aisles based on the order they are in your store. That way, your list is right in order and you can go right down your list as you shop! It’s really sweet!!

Overall, I really really like this application. I honestly can only think of one option that I think the application is missing and that is the ability to have multiple stores and/or lists. But, the developer says that version 1.1, due to be released in late October, will have that option!! Also, version 2.0, due to be released in mid to late November, will have the ability to for sharing/syncing lists to other iPhones via a free service hosted by Grocery iQ servers. The only thing Doug would like to see now is the ability to add a photo to items (he thinks that will help him when I send him to the store for something!!). Grocery iQ is definitely an application worth it’s $4.99.

Click here to download Grocery iQ via the App Store

We wrote about GroceryZen back in May and were very excited about this application. The application is now available in the App Store and we have not been disappointed. GroceryZen is a grocery list designed how all todo type apps should be… simple. There are three tabs across the bottom: Items, Recipes, and Shop.

Starting with the Item tab, you have a search bar and a list of all the possible items to add to your shopping list. There is also an alphabet scroll bar on the right to quickly scroll to an item. If you search for an item and it doesn’t show up in the list, you can select the plus button and permanently add it to the list of choices. This makes the app customizable and personal to you. Tapping an item adds it to your Shop list. If you’d like to change something about an item, tap the edit button and you can change the title, aisle or area it’s located in the store (this comes in later with the Shop Tab), quantity, and an “Add to recipes” button. Of course you can also delete an item when in edit mode by tapping the red minus button and then tapping delete.

On to the Recipes button which makes this application awesome. If you’re like my wife, she plans out the meals we’re going to have, then creates her shopping list from that meal list. Well the recipes tab lets you create mini lists that include all items for a specific recipe. Tapping it brings up a list of what is needed to make that recipe and you can then add all those items, or add them individually. There is also a nice photo of the finished result. Of course you can create you’re own and even add your own photos and notes.

Finally the Shop tab is where you go once you’re at the store. This gives you a list of everything you need and you can check them off as you buy them. They are nicely organized by aisle or area in the store. Once shopping is complete you can tap “Check Out” and it resets your lists.

I have a few ideas of what would make this application perfect to me. First, adding a thumbnail image to each item in my list that would have a stock image or I could edit. This way when I go shopping, I can see the exact branding or packaging we’ve used before. It would also be nice if tapping the image would give me a full screen image. The thumbnail could be smaller than the recipe ones this way the text height can stay the same. Next, I would figure out a way to make the aisle categories include a way to tell what store I need to get the items at, then make the app location based and when I’m at a specific store, it only shows that list, or shows it first in priority kinda like Omnifocus.

This is a great app and just a little pricey in my opinion at $4.99. If it had the features above then I’m all for $4.99.

Click here to download GroceryZen via the App Store

Dobot Todos is a very simple, yet very functional To-Do list application. It allows you to create categories and then add tasks inside each category. When you open the application, you will find two default categories; Personal and Work. You can create your own category by selecting the + icon in the upper right corner. You can delete a category by swiping it and then selecting delete. When you select a category, you can add a task to that category using the + icon in the upper right corner. You can enter the task’s title, due date, priority and add notes to the task. Once you finished entering all of the task info, select done on the keyboard and then you can select Save in the upper right corner of the screen.

This will bring you back to the task list screen where it will display the Title, due date and priority of each task. The priority is represented by the bars to the right of the task. One bar is low priority, two bars is medium priority and three bars is high priority. You can quickly change the priority by tapping on the bars. You can also edit the task by tapping on the arrow to the right of the task. On the lower menu bar you will notice two options; Sort Options and View Options. In the Sort Options you have the ability to view sort the tasks by Priority, Due Date or Creation. In the View Options you have the ability to view All tasks, Hide Finished tasks or to only view Today’s tasks. If you choose to Hide Finished tasks, it will display how many tasks are hidden on the lower menu bar. When you have completed a task just tap the box to the left of the task and it will be checked off. You can get back to the main To-Do categories list by selecting the Todo Lists option in the upper left corner.

I do find it to be a little tricky to try to change the priority of a task without accidentally selecting the edit arrow. But, I do like that the it saves a task you have created even if you forget to select the Save button before going back to the task list. Overall, this is a decent To-Do application…especially for the price! You can download the app here from the App Store.

Doug is starting to do video reviews of App Store applications so, I was trying to find a few applications that I could review that didn’t necessarily need a video. So, I decided to go with a few familiar apps..all of which are free (which is nice!). Most people in the jailbreak community are familiar with the name Erica Sadun…she has developed quite a few applications for the jailbroken iPhone. It seems Light, Moo and To Do have made their way from Installer to the App Store. Below are quick descriptions of each application.

Light:
Light is a simple application that turns your iPhone into a flashlight. Once the application is installed, all you need to do is tap the icon on your SpringBoard and voilà, you have an instant flashlight. This really does work…I used it all the time on my jailbroken iPhone. They only problem with Light is that you cannot adjust the brightness. So, if you are trying to check on a sleeping baby…it can sometimes be too bright! A flashlight application is a must have for any iPhone or iPod Touch! (Doug just used this app to plug in a mic to the back of his computer! Ha!).

Moo:
This is another simple little application. When you open the app, it will play audio of a cow mooing. You can also shake your iPhone and it will play the sounds again. Kids love this one! However, I actually like the Installer version of this application better, it does a few different barnyard animal sounds including; a pig, sheep, horse, duck, donkey, roster and a cow.

Plan your trip in seconds – Once you have entered an item into your grocery list, it will stay. Meaning the next time you need that item all you have to do is select it!

Your favorite recipes – Here is what the list of recipes looks like. The next time you want to make a certain meal, just tap on the recipe and it will add all the ingredients you need to your list! YAY!

Your list rewrites itself – Your grocery list stays organized by product. This is great because then all your Produce items are together and all your Dairy items are together. No more going back through the store because you forgot an item!

Aisle by aisle – This is another feature that I really like. You can rearrange the product categories based on your grocery store. You can move produce first and cereal second if that is how your grocery store is set-up.

For more info head over to groceryzen.com.