If you're like me the first time that you fired up the weather App on your iPhone or iPad you were left wanting a little more. Sure, the built in App shows you the temperature outside and the 7 day forecast but it shows little else. I wanted to see more. I wanted the ability to see the hour by hour, radar maps and more. Unfortunately the App that comes standard doesn't do any of that. I went searching and found the iOS companion for my favorite weather website, www.weatherchannel.com. This App keeps up the standard of the website and more!
The Usual Suspects
Just like the Weather App that's built in to iOS, The Weather Channel shows you the current temperature outside as well as the next 10 days. These are the things that you would expect from a weather App and TWC doesn't disappoint.
The Extras
Features that TWC offers beyond the built in App are numerous. My favorite feature is the bar at the bottom of the screen allowing you to switch between "Now, Hourly, 36 Hour, and 10 day". These are all different views of the weather showing their respective information. Another of the features that I find really useful is the "Map" section. Under this tab is the radar maps like you find on the desktop version of The Weather Channel. I use the
A Few More
Also housed within TWC are settings for social media allowing you to see tweets about local weather. There are videos to watch including content from your local area, the world, all of the U.S. and "must see" video clips.
The Bottom Line
If you're looking for a free, full featured App that provides just about any option that you could want from a weather App in an easy to use package, TWC is for you.
If you just got your 1st iPhone, iPad or iPod touch then chances are you're looking for some great Apps to have. Although I have literally hundreds of Apps loaded on my iPhone and iPad, I do have a recommended list of "Must Have Apps". I'm keeping the list to 20 which means that there are still dozens that I would recommend, but don't want to overwhelm you with here. Stay tuned for our Top 100 Apps of 2011! In the meantime these are 20 Apps that you should look at sooner rather than later. In most cases the Apps I'm listing today are Universal Apps and therefore work natively on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch including taking advantage of the iPad screen size. However, there are some Apps that will work on iPad, but don't take advantage of the screen size. This being the case if the App is a Universal App I will put a (+) in front of the download link so that you know it works across all iOS devices. In no particular order:
Camera+
Camera+ (pictured above) is my favorite iPhone camera special effects App. You can not only snap photos with this App, but you can really create some very cool effects, including a nice HDR look and feel.
PS Express
Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard photo manipulation App. Photoshop Express allows for some basic editing beyond what's included in iOS 5 and a few special effects and borders as well. Best of all for the time being it's FREE.
Snapseed
While Photoshop Express above does a fine job with basic edits and exposure adjustments, Snapseed is much more robust. Apple also named it iPad App of the Year for 2011. There are certainly more full featured editors out there, but Snapseed definitely has an easier interface than most and unique features that don't require any masking.
Taxi Magic
I travel for a living and therefore I use a large number of Apps in the Travel category. One of the coolest travel Apps is Taxi Magic. This location based App will show you the Taxi companies that service the area you're in and let you dial them directly. However, where the cool factor really shines is when you're in an area that supports "Direct Dispatch". When you're in one of these metropolitan areas you'll be able to book your taxi directly from the App, see when it's been dispatched, know the taxi cab number and driver's name as well as see where it is on the integrated map. Once your ride is over you'll be able to pay the fare directly from the App as well if you choose
Evernote
Evernote is the end all be all notes App for iOS that allows you to sync notes and documents with the cloud. While I'm not really an Evernote fan (the built-in Notes App with iCloud syncing serves me well), it's one of those Apps that If I don't list someone will say "how can you not list Evernote?"
Red Laser
Red Laser is an old favorite that keeps getting better. First off Red Laser lets you scan the barcodes on retail products that you're thinking of buying and show you the online prices for that item so that you can price compare on the spot. It also offers "Local" search so you can see if a nearby store has it cheaper. This latest version also has support for QR codes. Yes, this one App does it all and it's FREE. However, it's not a universal App, so if you're looking for a just a good QR scan App then I'd recommend "Scan" which is Universal.
Twitter, Facebook, Google+ & Flipboard
If you're into social media then chances are you're going to want the native App for the social media network that you use the most. Therefore, I've listed the most popular ones. Flipboard gives you a visual view of your Facebook and Twitter timelines as well as great photos on the internet and RSS news feeds.
Delivery Status touch
I've been using Delivery Status touch to track packages on my iDevices for a long time. This App is great! You can track packages from all the major carriers simultaneously complete with push notifications and a built-in Map to see where your packages are. This latest version allows you to scan the tracking label for the items you're shipping to cut down on tedious data entry.
Flixster
Flixster is a great multi-purpose Movie and TV App. The main reason I use it is to see show times for my local theater as well as trailers. However, you can also use it to add DVDs to your Netflix queue and see which movies are coming to disc and when. Once you watch a movie you can rate/review it and automatically share that rating on your Facebook or Twitter stream.
Dropbox
Dropbox.com is my favorite cloud based storage service. With your FREE Dropbox account you can store up to 2GB's of data. The Free Dropbox App lets you easily access your files as well as share them. Also many Apps allow you to use Dropbox to back up and share data
Navigon
The Built-in Maps App is pretty cool, but it lacks voice turn-by-turn directions. There are a few good GPS Voice turn-by-turn Apps out there on the App Store, However, my top pick is Navigon. They offer a variety of different Apps depending on how much coverage you need in terms of driving territory. You can buy one just for your region or the entire country. The latest 2.0 version also allows you to just download the maps for the areas you're going to be in, which reduces the amount of storage space required significantly.
