Ordering food online is by far one of the most convenient ways of securing a meal, and using an app on your iPhone is even simpler. Waiting in line or being put on hold on the phone are a thing of the past with more and more restaurants becoming online-order-friendly every day.

The apps featured in this article are tried and tested methods of ordering your favourite pizza with minimum fuss. Of course some are designed to order all kinds of take-away, so if you’re craving Indian, Chinese, Mexican or something else entirely you’ll only be limited by your local selection. I can tell I’m going to be hungry by the time I’ve finished this.

Pizza Hut (US & AU)

Regardless of what you think of Pizza Hut food, there’s no arguing that they’ve got one of the best mobile apps, at least in the US anyway. Not only do they let you order food and locate restaurants but they also provide a bit of fun, allowing you to construct your meal from scratch as part of the process (or use the app in demo mode without ordering).

Don’t worry, there are quick ways of ordering too (favourites and previous orders) so if you’re in a hurry there’s no messing around.

Currently Pizza Hut have US and Australian apps, though the US edition is better kitted out at the moment. I’d also expect the UK and other parts of Europe to get a similar app before long. US residents can see the full line-up of apps (including Android, iPad and Windows Phone 7 versions) here.

Download: Pizza Hut US @ App Store
Download: Pizza Hut Australia @ App Store

GrubHub (US)

If you’re lucky to live in one of the 19 supported US cities then your pizza and other take-away needs will be satisfied with the official GrubHub app. Featuring more than 20,000 eateries from Los Angeles to Miami to New York, this app will serve up all kinds of food based on the local selections.

The app is loaded with features including GPS location detection, multiple address storage, the ability to quickly order past purchases with a few taps and the ability to save payment information for an even quicker checkout process. GrubHub also has an Android app which can be found here.

Download: GrubHub @ App Store

Snapfinger (US)

Snapfinger isn’t just another restaurant ordering and delivery app, but a listing for pretty much every restaurant local to you. What this means is that though you can’t order from all of the restaurants featured on the service, you do get fairly quick access to menus, phone numbers, prices and the full local selection when choosing where and what to eat.

Ideally this should help you make a more informed decision, even if you have to make a phone call to get what you want. That said, it’s easy to order from those restaurants that are compatible with the service, and of course you can search by cuisine in order to get your pizza fix. The app features more than 500,000 restaurant listings, local eatery discovery and handy features like repeat ordering and directions.

Download: Snapfinger @ AppStore

Menulog (AU & NZ)

I’m currently living in Melbourne, Victoria and have found this service incredibly useful over the past few months. Menulog makes it really easy to order a pizza from the finest local participating restaurants. By now I’ve found my favourite places and meals so ordering takes no time at all. Unfortunately the app is only available on the Australian app store, so my UK account is useless.

Never mind because it plugs into the same great service, providing the same selection depending on where you are. SMS confirmations are usually here within a minute or two, and new businesses are added each week. Now, if only the app were available internationally – for some reason the New Zealand edition is…

Download: Menulog (Home Delivery and Takeaway) @ App Store

HungryHouse (UK)

Unfortunately the UK’s selection of food ordering apps is a bit disappointing at the moment. There are great services like Just-Eat, which sets up many independent businesses with a way to make money online but no iPhone app. Step in HungryHouse, a mobile version of the popular website that features restaurants and deliveries from all over the country.

The service is still growing and at present operates best in large urban areas including London, the Midlands and the North West (Liverpool and Manchester). View more than 3,500 menus, filter by cuisine or simply use your iPhone’s GPS to find nearby restaurants. Even if the service isn’t up and running near you yet it might be worth keeping an eye on it.

Download: HungryHouse @ App Store

Domino’s (US, UK & AU)

Last but not least (or is it?) comes Domino’s, featuring 3 separate apps for 3 separate territories – the US, Britain and Australia. Domino’s Pizza is an entirely subjective experience, so if you like it you’re bound to enjoy being able to order it from your phone. The US version (pictured) appears to exhibit the best design, with the recently launched Aussie version looking considerably better than its British cousin.

Of course all of the apps allow you to order pizza, sides and whatever else you want from Domino’s. That’s the point here, though the UK version does seem to be poorly designed and inferior to the other two.

Download: Domino’s Pizza USA @ App Store
Download: Domino’s UK @ App Store
Download: Domino’s Australia @ App Store

Conclusion

If you thought ordering food in your web browser was easy then your iPhone will delight you. The ability to order anywhere you like, choose delivery times or simply plan ahead is great. Of course this could all have been accomplished with a simple phone call, but that’s no fun now is it?

Hopefully more and more services will launch mobile apps (especially in the UK, which already has some leading online ordering services – but few apps) in the near future to provide an even better selection than we’ve got now.

Do you know of any great apps for ordering pizza? How about web services? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Image credit: Shutterstock

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Valve’s ever-popular content delivery platform Steam has taken its first steps into the mobile world with the launch of two apps for iOS and Android users. Despite both being available for anyone to download on the App Store and Android Market, Valve have so far only allowed a small number of users use the service.

Currently in beta, both apps provide quick access to  friend statuses, chat and the store front where games can be purchased using saved credentials. In addition to this there is a “Friend Activity” area that logs purchases, achievements and other events and news sections for updates from blogs and Valve themselves.

As it stands these news sections are pretty bare, but the game catalogue is complete and fully functional, allowing for the purchase of full titles from your Android or iOS device. Valve’s president and co-founder, Gabe Newell, said:

“Seeing which of your friends are online and playing a game, sending quick messages, looking at screenshots for an upcoming game, or catching a sale — these are all features customers have requested. Mobile is changing way people interact, play games and consume media, and the Steam app is part of our commitment to meet customer demands and expand the service functionality of Steam.”

Don’t worry if you’re not in the beta just yet, simply by downloading one of the apps and logging in (as well as providing the Steam Guard code sent to your email address) Valve will add you to the list of users awaiting beta entry.

If you’ve been lucky enough to get beta access already then let us know what you think!

Download: Steam for iOS @ App Store
Download: Steam for Android @ Android Market

Source: Steam

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You must have spotted at least one QR code by now. If not, then you are a certifiable alien from Mars. QR codes are quite the rage. We have them on everything from food labels to car bumpers. And yes, tattoos too!

Well, if you have just taken off your green space suit and wondering what the hullaballoo is all about, check out our very previous What Are QR Codes? Digitize your World & Back Again. It was an emerging technology then which runs rampant now as observed through the sampling of 7 Great Uses For QR Codes & How To Generate Your Own For Free. QR codes are definitely mainstream now, given a boost up the use of smartphones and intelligent scanning apps that reside in them.

So, here are five more web apps which show us how QR codes have gone conventional.

Send a Wikipedia link as a QR Code

If you have a smartphone, QR codes give you the quickest way of opening a link. Take for instance, if you are a knowledge buff and need to send someone a Wikipedia reference. Use QRpedia to generate a quick mobile-friendly QR code. What’s great about that you might say as any online QR code generator can do that! QRPedia is a language detecting QR code generator. It displays the Wikipedia page in the language of the mobile that is used to scan and read the Wikipedia article. Of course, a Wikipedia article in that particular language should exist in the first place. According to its own entry, it is currently in use at institutions including museums in the United Kingdom, United States and Spain.

Read classic books on a bar code

We know that QR codes digitize any information. Books2Barcodes is a QR code exploiting web service which miniaturizes entire pieces of classical literature into a 2D QR code and makes the book device readable. The current catalog is limited but Books2Barcodes is an ongoing effort to digitize classics of literature this way and make them available across any device that can scan a QR code.

QR codes are being in fact used by book publishers to connect readers to interactive content like videos, graphics, and music.

Text to speech with QR codes

Think up some creative uses of this text to speech service called QR Voice which takes the generated audio file and digitizes the speech information in a QR code. The audio file is stored online and anyone who scans the QR code is taken to the speech’s URL where they can listen to the converted speech. QR Voice uses Google’s translation service and supports a range of spoken languages.

Create notes (with photos) and turn them into QR codes

This is the QR code web app which you could end up using the most. QRnot.es helps you transmit a page (with images if need be) via the compact medium of QR codes. You can create a piece of text under 500 words, give it a headline, and attach an image in JPG, BMP, or PNG format. The QR code generated points to this text file. You can print this code, or download it as GIF so that anyone can scan it and reach the byte of information. QRnot.es seems like a simple application to spread some little pieces of information around.

Link LinkedIn with QR codes

A QR code on a business card looks real cool. Of course, it should point to something useful. How about your LinkedIn profile page – PingTags helps you do just that. PingTags is a beta QR code service which makes your LinkedIn profile available via a click on a QR code reader. The reader is directed to the LinkedIn profile page, and he can also easily contact you thanks to the contact info provided. He need not key in any information. You can also check out how many people scanned your barcode, what links they clicked, and a map showing exactly where they scanned the code.

Unfortunately, from the time I checked out this app to the time of writing this article, something went wrong as the site is in the bout of a temporary glitch.

Alternatively, you can use this simple LinkedIn QR code generator if the glitch remains unresolved. Or use any QR code generator which takes a URL (in this case, your LinkedIn profile URL) and outputs a QR code.

QR codes are neat little ways to transmit information and catch them using a QR friendly mobile phone. What other web apps do you know of that help you use QR codes in our day to day lives? Send in some in our comments section.

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Nowadays, we are all signed up for so many different services, it can be hard to keep track of them all. We all have Gmail, Google Apps, Twitter and so many more accounts. When you need to find something specific, it can be a real hassle. CloudMagic is a service that is designed to help you search Google Apps, Gmail and Twitter, all from one convenient place. With one simple search query, you will be able to find results from these services, without having to check each one individually.

CloudMagic is available as an application for Android and iPhone, as well in your web browser via their website, a handy Google Chrome extension and a Firefox add-on. Basically, if you are looking for a way to make searching for stuff easier, there is a one hundred percent chance that CloudMagic offers a way for you to use their service. We all want to make our lives a little easier, and CloudMagic could be just the solution you need.

What Does CloudMagic Do?

CloudMagic allows you to import your Gmail, Google Apps and Twitter account so they can all be searched from one place quickly and easily. With CloudMagic, you can type in a search query, and it will scan all three of the accounts for that term.

Therefore, if you typed in the name “John”, for example, it would find any instances of John appearing in your Google Apps, any emails with the name John and tweets. This makes it much easier to find something that could be on any of the accounts.

Setting Up Cloud Magic

Of course, if you are going to be using the Chrome, Firefox, iOS or Android version of the app, you will need to download and install them. If you are using the browser-based version, you can simply point your browser to cloudmagic.com.

Setting up Cloud Magic is a breeze. Whether using one of their mobile apps or doing it from your browser, the first step is creating a new account. Creating an account only requires an email address and a password. It literally takes about two seconds.

Once you have created an account the next step is to link your account with your Google and Twitter accounts. To do this, you will need to click on “Settings” on the mobile app and “Services” on the browser-based app. From there you will need to click “Add New Service” and log in with whichever service you would like to add.

If you log in with your Google and Twitter accounts on your phone, these accounts will be there when you log in on the computer, and vice versa. This makes it easy to use your mobile app while on the phone and your computer when you are at home.

Using Cloud Magic

Using CloudMagic is a snap. Once you have your accounts synced, simply click the search bar and enter what you are looking for. It will quickly scan all of your accounts to find items matching the term you entered. The search is blazing fast; it is quite impressive.

You can narrow your search to only specific things. If you only wanted to find calendar events that match your query, you can simply click the “Events” button. This way, if you wanted to find a doctor’s appointment without seeing tweets and emails about it, you could do so.

Of course, simply showing you the results would be useless. That is why you can click any result to be quickly directed to the proper application, either from your phone or from your computer.

Conclusion

This is a great application for quickly finding what you need from select services. I hope that they incorporate other services such as Facebook and other email clients (but let us be honest, almost everyone uses Gmail). As it stands, it is a great solution for organizing your Google and Twitter account, and I definitely recommend checking it out on your platform of choice.

Web Link
iTunes Link
Android Link
Chrome Link
Firefox Link

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Being heavily interested in areas of fringe science and technology, I am always intrigued and fascinated by any claims of technology affecting biology, or the other way around. It goes without saying that I am enthralled with all of the new brain-controlled games coming out in the toy market, like the new Mindflex games where you control a floating ball with your mind.

I am also intrigued by the other way around – devices and apps that have the ability to affect your brain. Jackson seems to be equally as intrigued as I. In 2009 he wrote a couple of cool articles covering just such apps, like his list of apps that help you sleep, relax or concentrate. His list of 9 iPhone apps that help you sleep were along the same lines as well. This week, I was complaining at work about being tired and not getting enough sleep, and one of my colleagues mentioned that I might want to consider trying binaural beats.

Improving Your Life With Binaural Beats

“Binaural what?” you ask.

That’s right, binaural beats – sounds of varying frequencies that, when played in each ear, supposedly produces a sort of “resonant frequency” in the center of the brain that can actually induce a specific mental state. The evidence for this interesting brain artifact comes from published research at the University of Florida, the University of California, and discussed in publications like the MIT Press and Scientific American.

If you want to try this phenomenon for yourself and you have an Android, you can. The goal with the apps I’m going to review in this article is to play those frequencies long enough to induce your brain toward that desired mental state.

Binaural Beats Therapy

If you’re ready to try this out, I highly suggest you first download my favorite app, Binaural Beats Therapy. This app consists of 7 preset frequency configurations that will play a carefully modulated tone in each ear, in order to produce the desired mental state that you choose in the main menu.

The display screen while the tone is playing is fairly boring – just flashing dots on the screen or the entire screen may flash different colors.

The audio itself is pretty high quality, and with this app there doesn’t seem to be any lag at all, even for audio that lasts about 2 hours.

Brainwave Tuner Lite

A similar app is Brainwave Tuner Lite, which has only three selections to choose from – one for each major “state of mind”. That includes “sleep and healing”, “meditation and relaxation” and “Focus and Learning”.

It took me a while to choose between using this one or the previous app the majority of the time that I was writing this article. I like the constant tone of Binaural Beats Therapy – Brainwave Tuner fades in and out, which I don’t particularly like. However, it does have a more creative screen while the sound is playing, which I do like.

One of the things that my colleague described to me is an iPhone app he uses to run through an entire program of frequencies. That’s really what I want to do, so I continued hunting for just such an app.

Binality

I found such an app in Binality. Like the previous two binaural beat apps, Binality offers a decent list of target mental states that you may want to pursue. These include concentration, lucid dreaming and meditation and more. Although, I’m not so sure about the “out of body experience” option…

What I really like about this app is the display while the tone is playing. It shows you the entire programmed frequency range as the program works its way through it.

You can jump around if you’d like by choosing a spot on the control bar, but I hear that you get the best results if you allow the entire program from start to finish.

edenBeats

Another interesting binaural beats app is edenBeats. It offers far fewer options as far as preset frequency tones – the menu only lists four at the moment – but the app is much more flexible because it allows you to alter each frequency as you see fit.

The tone generation screen allows you to turn off or on each base and beat frequency settings if you want to.

Best of all, you can create your own custom binaural beats from scratch if you want – and if you really know what you’re doing.

One-Use Binaural Beat Apps

There are two other apps that I should mention briefly. These are intended to be used for one particular purpose – as very targeted therapy. The first app is called Confidence Now. Be forewarned, when you first launch the app, you’ll need to download multiple large files, so try to do it while on Wi-Fi.

Confidence now offers a very long session created by certified hypnotherapist David Ridgeway, which takes you through relaxation, hypnotic induction, and the main session where Ridgeway makes hypnotic suggestions to improve your confidence, with a binaural beat in the background.

The last app is one that claims it can help people that suffer from depression, called Depression Help. This is a very simple app that just plays one preset setup of tones which the app creators claim can eventually alleviate symptoms of depression.

As to its effectiveness, I can’t really say. The comments area for the app has about half of the users saying it worked and half saying it did zilch.

So why not give binaural therapy a shot, and see if you notice any impact in your daily life. If you’re always tired, groggy or distracted, maybe one of these apps could give you the mental boost that you need. If you do give any apps a try, let us know how it works out. And if you know of any other cool Android apps similar to these, please share them in the comments section below.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Last week we asked you if tablets will eventually replace laptops. We got all sorts of interesting opinions in the comments, but at the end of the day, most of you thought that tablets will never replace laptops, and that they will always have different niches to fill.

Out of 415 readers who voted, 48% think tablets will never entirely replace laptops, 32% think it might actually happen, but that today’s tablets are still missing some key components, 20% think it’s a sure thing, and is only a matter of time, and 1% think that the iPad will replace laptops, but other tablets won’t.

Full results and this week’s poll after the jump.

As you can see, 3 voters thought that Apple’s iPad will manage to replace laptops, while other tablets won’t. Would be interesting to know the reasons behind these votes!

This week’s poll question is: Do You Use Social Recommendation Apps To Find A Good Place To Eat?

Social recommendation apps for restaurants are all the rage lately. Apps and websites such as Yelp and Urbanspoon are highly popular, and many people use them as a gauge when deciding where to have dinner. These apps can be a great source of information when you’re looking for a good place to eat in a new town, and can also be used to find new places in your own local city. This method is not foolproof, however, and you can find yourself in a place you would not otherwise go to, just because you trusted a stranger’s recommendation. Some people still prefer asking their own friends for help, and thus reduce the chance of falling on a dud. So what is your view on the matter?

Have you had good or bad experience with these social recommendation apps? Or maybe you never even tried them? And if so, why? Share everything in the comments.

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Do you have a USB stick? How about a Dropbox account, or a shared folder of some sort? If so, I want you to pause for a moment and take a peek inside. What software do you carry with you wherever you go? What applications that don’t require installation, but that are essential to your workflow? We are compiling another list of The Best Of, this time featuring exclusively portable software. If it has an installer, it doesn’t go on the list. Only stuff you can unzip, drop in a folder, and run. Oh, and it has to be for Windows – sorry, Linux and Mac fans.

Help us build the list! All you need to do is leave a comment below, with your favorite portable apps (and links), as well as why you love them. Make sure these apps are not in the list below, which our staff compiled. The five commenters we deem most helpful will win a free MakeUseOf T-shirt! It’s our way of saying thanks.

What are you waiting for? Check out this list and leave your suggestions below!

Security/Privacy

• ToddlerTrap
• ClamWin
• LicenseCrawler
• Magical Jellybean Finder
• KeePass

Productivity

• OpenOffice
• CorruptOffice2txt
• WriteMonkey
• FocusWriter
• Notepad2
• Abiword

Communication

• Pidgin
• Miranda IM
• Skype
• Email Stripper

Web/FTP

• Google Chrome
• Firefox
• Filezilla

System Tools

• 7-Zip
• Zip2Fix
• CCleaner
• GetFolderSize
• SpaceSniffer
• Recuva
• TeraCopy
• Zscreen

Multimedia

• CoolPlayer
• Easy Image Modifier
• SharePod
• Audacity
• CDex
• GIMP
• VirtualDub
• VLC Player
• AndreaMosaic
• Avidemux
• Camstudio
• Fotografix
• Snaptimer
• Splayer

So voice out in the comments with your suggestions and you could win a free MakeUseOf t-shirt!

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Some people are just not quick witted. Coming up with things to talk about while with people can be a real chore for them. There is nothing worse than being in a social setting and drawing a complete blank on topics of conversation. This leads to awkward silence, and no one enjoys that moment of frantically trying to say something. When this happens, you can assume that whatever you come up with will probably be dumb, and will stand to make things even worse.

Thankfully, technology can help to rectify the situation. With these three iPhone conversation applications, you will be a conversation guru. They will come up with the topics for you. All you have to do is use your brain to keep the conversation flowing. If that does not work, you can just use the apps to find a new topic and start over from square one. If you still cannot make conversation, even with these apps, maybe you should just not communicate with others.

Hypotheticals

As the name implies, this application creates hypothetical situations for discussion. For example, would you rather kill your mom, or be killed by your mom? Another example is would you rather always feel like you have to pee, but really don’t have to, or never know when you have to go?

Obviously, these are extreme situations, but they make for some interesting conversation.

The free version of this application comes with two packs, the base pack and the WTF pack (the example about killing your mom is from the WTF pack). You can get a bonus pack by linking the application to your Facebook account. Linking the application also allows it to post hypothetical situations to your wall, which can make for some interesting comments from your friends.

To choose a set, simply click on it from the main screen. Once you are done with a situation, simply swipe your finger over it to move on to the next one.

If you see a situation you like, you can easily click the favorite button on the bottom right of the screen. These are accessible from the main screen of the application after all the different packs. There are numerous other packs available for purchase, if you want to expand your hypothetical fun.

What If?

This application is similar to Hypotheticals, but it is a little simpler. It simply asks you a question and you can hit random, next or previous in order to move on to a different question. An example of a question from What If? is: If you had to choose one of your friends as a bodyguard, who would you choose?

These types of questions make for some interesting conversation. That example of the friends as bodyguards could be funny if you were with those friends when using the app. A friend may think they are the toughest, but you might choose someone else.

While this app lacks some of the extra features of Hypotheticals, it still does the job of helping you come up with funny and interesting things to talk about, and that is what we are looking for.

Conversation Shaker

This application is a little more serious than the other two. Instead of being all about crazy situations, this app is about showing you some more normal topics of conversation. It is fun to talk about biting a cat or being bit by one, but in some situations that will not work.

This app organizes their topics into categories. The categories are generally based on where you would be having the conversation, such as on a date or at a dinner party. With the free version, each category has 10 topics, and there are 10 categories. A quick tabulation tells me that there are 100 conversation topics in the free version. If you are looking for more, you can pay $0.99 to upgrade to the premium version. This adds 900 more topics, spread across the various categories.

The app allows you to share any topic on Twitter, or via email. You can also store them in your favorites, so you can access them quickly if you are in a situation where you need a good topic. If you are looking for some more serious conversation starters, this app is the way to go.

Conclusion

If you are a little socially awkward, or maybe you just draw a blank sometimes, these application will help you out. Simply pretend you received an important message or email, pull up one of these apps, and become the king of conversation starting.

Have you tried these iPhone conversation apps? Are you the coolest of your friends? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: ShutterStock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/shutterstock_47033620.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split bills" />Nothing can spoil a great group lunch or dinner than having to spend quality time calculating the cost of splitting the bill. Sure it’s easy when you split the cost between yourself and your girlfriend or boyfriend, but what happens when you have more than five people in the group?

You could use a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/variety-calculator-apps-basic-advanced-calculations-ipad/">calculator or the old pen and paper method, but if you have a iPhone or other iOS device, there are apps that make splitting up expenses less of a chore and are even more accurate than the mental calculations we perform. There are several such apps in the iTunes Store.

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tip-calculator-free/id330270120?mt=8">Tip Calculator Free

Tip Calculator Free not only manages the splitting of the bill, but will also figure out the waiter’s and waitress’s tip as well. While this can be easily done on an iPhone calculator, Tip Calculator does it faster, and is better to look at.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bill_splitter_app_5.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split bills" width="580" height="428" border="0" />

To use the app, all you have to do is input the Check Amount, select the number of people to split the payment, and then select the quality of the service you receive from the waiter or waitress.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bill_splitter_app_1.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split the bill" width="580" height="431" border="0" />

The service quality feature means that your tip can be based on 5 to 50% of the bill. Tip Calculator allows you to split the bill between up to 50 people, or you can select no split and use it simply for tip calculation.

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trip-splitter-lite/id417029244?mt=8">Trip Splitter

If you’re needing to split expenses for a trip you take with two or more people, Trip Splitter Lite is an app you should give a try.

With Trip Splitter, you have presets for dividing up lodging, gas, transportation, food, entertainment, supplies, and your own set of custom expenses.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bill_splitter_app_21.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split the bill" width="580" height="369" border="0" />

To use the app, you set up a name for a new trip, and then add the names of the people you will be splitting expenses with. Next, you add an expense item, such as gas, and either calculate the amount for each time you purchase gas or for the total amount of gas expenses. Tip Splitter also allows you to keep tabs on who paid, and even how they paid – e.g. cash, credit, debit.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bill_splitter_app_3.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split bills" width="580" height="379" border="0" />

Expenses are categorized into items and days, and each person and item gets color-coded for easy visual reading. The href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trip-splitter/id374395458?mt=8">paid version ($1.99) of the app allows you to handle up to six people. The free version allows for two people.

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spotme-payments/id443369076?mt=8">SpotMe Payments

The newest app in this personal finance category is SpotMe Payments. It’s geared toward groups of people that you may share expenses with on a regular basis, such as roommates, family, co-workers, and close friends.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bill_splitter_app_4.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split bills" width="580" height="426" border="0" />

With SpotMe, you set up groups for sharing expenses, and then add individuals – including their phone number or email, and photo – from your Address Book, Facebook and Twitter account

SpotMe enables you to split and track bills, lend and borrow money, and send out regular reminders. It is fairly easy and straightforward to use.

Let us know that you think about these and other bill splitting apps. Do you have a favorite one on your iPhone that you use?

Image Credit: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=47033620" rel="nofollow">Shutterstock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/beer-icon.jpg?323f2c" alt="beer apps for android" />I love beer. I love drinking it, I love discovering new kinds of it and I love learning about it. Are you a beer lover too? Well, it’s your lucky day! I’ve recently decided to move my beer passion to the next level, and take it with me wherever I go.

As a result, I am presenting to you the ultimate list of free, informative, helpful and fun beer apps for your Android device. Whether you want to learn about new beers, record your drinking habits or even brew some beers yourself, you’re going to find something you can use in this list.

href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.transmutex.bjcpdroid&hl=en">BJCPDroid [1.6+]

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/BJCPdroid.jpg?323f2c" alt="beer apps for android" width="547" height="443" border="0" />

BJCP stands for Beer Judge Certification Program. The BJCP’s goal is to train beer experts, and their Android app is a very informative beer index which includes everything you ever wanted to know about beer styles, flavors, aromas, ingredients, etc.

If you’ve always wanted to know the difference between a brown porter and a robust porter, or to get to know some classic examples for amber hybrid beer, you’re going to love BJCP’s app. There are no frills here, just information, and lots of it.

The app includes ads, but if you happen to be a BJCP member, you can remove them by entering your BJCP number.

href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dangiulvezan.hoptopia&feature=also_installed_confirmation">Hoptopia [1.6+]

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Hoptopia is a great source for craft beer reviews, which you can browse by name, beer style and brewery. The beers are reviewed by real people, and each is given an overall score (out of 100). You can also read an in-depth review about each beer, and see what price you should expect it to go for.

After reading about a beer, you can add it to your favorites, which you can access from the “More” tab. This way, you can get to know lots of new beers by browsing, and create your own collections of interesting beers you want to try. The beer database is not huge, but definitely comprehensive, and will provide an interesting read for any beer lover.

href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.beerdiary&feature=also_installed">BeerDiary [1.6+]

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/beerdiary.jpg?323f2c" alt="android beer app" width="552" height="442" border="0" />

BeerDiary is a very simple app, which I nonetheless find extremely useful and fun to use. If you often feel the urge to record your drinking habits or to list the different beers you drink so as to never forget them again, you’re going to love BeerDiary.

With BeerDiary, you can add all your favorite beers, including the brewer’s name and location, a description and tag. You can then view your beer list at any time, and tap the beer-glass icon to signify that you’ve now drunk that beer. What you get is a list with all the beers you’ve drunk, and the exact times and days you’ve done so. You can browse your beers by name, brewer or tag.

The app doesn’t do any more than this at the moment, but a simple app is sometimes all you need for a simple task.

href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.metosphere.beerfree&feature=search_result">Beer [1.6+]

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/beer3.jpg?323f2c" alt="android beer app" width="554" height="442" border="0" />

With a name like that, where can an app go wrong? Beer, or by its full name, Beer – List, Ratings & Reviews, is for those who are looking for a beer diary with more capabilities than BeerDiary, and are also interested in reading other people’s opinions.

For each beer you add to your list, you can input a name, style, barcode, photo, ratings, and much, much more. You can also share each beer you add via Twitter, Facebook or email. For your own records, you can view stats, export to CSV, backup and restore, and more. You can search through all your beers, and also search through beers other people reviewed, read their opinions and comment.

href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.brewzor.calculator&feature=related_apps">Brewzor Calculator FREE [1.5+]

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/brewzor.jpg?323f2c" alt="best beer app android" width="560" height="441" border="0" />

If you’ve ever brewed beer by yourself, you’ve probably done some calculations. Depending on the process you’re using and on your level, there are all kinds of parameters you need to take into considerations when brewing beer.

Brewzor calculator is a free app aimed at both home brewers and professional brewers, and provides an impressive number of brewing calculators, some of which I’ve never even heard of before. You can set up the app to use your exact measurements, and also configure what kind of equipment you’re using. If you’re not sure what a calculator does, visit the href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.brewzor.calculator&feature=related_apps">app’s page for some explanations.

You can also try href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.brewzor.pro.beta&feature=search_result">Brewzor Pro Beta, a beer recipe manager, which includes all these calculators and an elaborate recipe manager for any brewer.

href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.weekendcoders.brewr&feature=related_apps">BrewR [2.1+]

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BrewR is another app aimed at brewers, and will especially appeal to home brewers. You can add your own recipes, complete with ingredients (which you can choose from the vast ingredient database), recipe notes and specific batch notes. It also includes several timers to use while brewing, such as a boil time countdown and hopping time alerts.

The ingredients in the database are editable, so you can pretty much add any ingredient you can dream of. You can also add your own notes to each ingredient. When you have a list of recipes, you can filter them and sort them in various ways, and even share them with friends through all the regular social channels.

href="https://market.android.com/details?id=org.icount.beer&feature=search_result">Beer Counter [2.2+]

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Beer Counter is yet another of those simple apps that do one thing well. If you want to keep track of how much you had to drink or of how much money you need to pay for your drinks when you hang out with friends, Beer Counter is the perfect solution. All you have to do is set your currency and the beer price, and then just tap the huge number every time you have another drink.

The app will save your stats for you, complete with time and place, and will tally up the costs for the night, until you start it over. You can view your activities on a map and automatically share your drinking ventures on Twitter and Facebook.

Bottom Line

Do you love beer but don’t own an Andoird device? Don’t despair! Check out href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-free-beer-related-applications-iphone/">this list of awesome beer-related iPhone apps or href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-6-websites-visit-love-drink/">this list of great drink-related websites you should visit.

Do you know of some  more great beer-related apps? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: href="http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/301324/301324,1315317713,1/stock-vector-beer-app-icon-for-mobile-devices-84120178.jpg" rel="nofollow">Shutterstock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/choice_of_year.jpg?323f2c" alt="" />As a devout Mac geek, I think there should be a People’s Magazine devoted solely to app developers. Let’s be honest, computer apps are what make our lives easier, not celebrities and cheating spouses. So with that said, I’m honored to release my personal list of my top 10 most used inexpensive and free iOS apps of 2011.

Some of these apps have been reviewed in MUO, while a few others may not have received the attention they deserve.

NewsRack

After checking email, the iOS and OS X RSS reader href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/newsrack/id288815275?mt=8">NewsRack ($4.99) is the app I start off with every morning. I tried several other RSS readers, but none provided the synchronization features I get with NewsRack. Talk about a time saver. I use NewsRack to synchronize with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-desktop-ebook-readers-reading-home-work/">Google Reader, so that when I check and read feeds on my Mac, iPhone, or iPad, they automatically get updated on all those devices. The app also allows you to share articles on social network sites and services including href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/instapaper-huge-update-ios-devices-news/">Instapaper.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/newsrack.jpg?323f2c" alt="Newsrack" width="485" height="358" border="0" />

Instacast

When I finally go to bed at night, href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instacast/id420368235?mt=8">Instacast ($1.99) is the app I use to download and check the handful of podcasts I choose from to listen to as I fall asleep. Instacast makes it easy to discover, subscribe, and listen to audio and video podcasts over Wi-Fi and 3G.

The latest iOS 5 version synchronizes podcasts between devices via iCloud. In terms of podcast downloads, Instacast makes iTunes obsolete for end users.

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Handoff

For some odd reason Apple has yet to make it easy to simply send documents from your Mac or iOS device to another Apple device. So I use href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/handoff/id407771575?mt=8">Handoff ($1.99) nearly every day to wirelessly send articles over my local network, using the Handoff Safari extension, to my iPhone and iPad. Handoff should be a built-in feature in Apple devices using iCloud.

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Photosync

Nearly every iOS screenshot you see in my MUO articles gets sent to my Mac desktop using href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photosync-wirelessly-transfers/id415850124?mt=8">PhotoSync ($1.99). I simply launch the app, select screenshots in my Camera Roll, and push and hold my finger on a button that automatically sends selected shots, via wireless transfer, to my computer. PhotoSync also works with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/dropbox/">Dropbox, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/flickr/">Flickr, and other photo sharing sites.

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PriceCheck

I feel a little guilty every time I use href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/price-check-by-amazon/id398434750?mt=8">PriceCheck, because now whenever I go shopping at say BestBuy, the local Apple Store, or Borders, I pull out href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/smartphone-personal-wallet/">PriceCheck and see how much I would save by ordering online, particularly from Amazon. As much as I would like to buy locally, 20% to 30% savings is something I can’t ignore. PriceCheck makes the process way easy with its built-in barcode scanner.

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Mint.com

I’ve written several articles about href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/mint-budget-spending-online/">Mint.com, the free online personal finance tracking and budget management service. Each iOS href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/mintcom-releases-newly-designed-ios-5-ipad-app-news/">version of this href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mint.com-personal-finance/id300238550?mt=8">Mint app (free) has gotten increasingly better. I can easily launch this app and get balances on my financial accounts and see if I’m staying within budget. If you want to save money, use Mint.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/mint.jpg?323f2c" alt="Mint" width="580" height="412" border="0" />

JotNot

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jotnot-scanner-pro/id307868751?mt=8">JotNot Scanner Pro ($1.99, free version also available) is one of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/paperless-scanning-important-documents-lemon-jotnot-web-smartphone/">several apps that enabled me to use my href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/smartphone-personal-wallet/">iPhone as my wallet. When I need to keep track of receipts or other documents, I simply launch JotNot, snap a photo, tag it, and toss the paper receipt in the trash or a desk drawer. The iPhone camera shots are nearly the same, if not better, as traditional scanners.

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iMovie for iPhone

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imovie/id377298193?mt=8">iMovie for the iPhone ($4.99) makes it totally easy to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/edit-video-iphone-imovie/">edit family and event videos I shoot with my iPhone. After using iMovie for over a decade on my Mac, I thought it would be cumbersome to do so on an iPhone, but it’s not. iMovie is a fun, practical, creative, and easy-to-use video editor for your iPhone or iPad.

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Dragon Mic

This year, I finally learned how to effectively use the speech to text application Dragon Dictate. On days I don’t feel like typing, I can simply dictate text, and the typing gets done three times faster with about 95% accuracy. Dragon Dictate for the Mac is expensive, but its developer Nuance has released href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/stop-tapping-start-talking-voice-control-iphone/">free voice to text apps for the iPhone and other iOS devices. It also produced href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-remote-microphone/id436624808?mt=8">Dragon Remote Mic (Free) for the iPhone, which turns out to be very good for dictation.

So when I want to get my butt off my office chair and still type, I launch Dragon Mic, increase the font size of the document I’m writing, and dictate text as I walk around my office. Dragon Mic and Dragon Dictate prove that voice technology will only get better over time.

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Zite

I’m a huge fan and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/features-magazine-style-apps-ipad/">reviewer of magazine style apps for the iPad – the device I use now to do most of all my extended reading, including ebooks, PDFs, and articles. I have and use href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/flipboard-optimized-iphone-news/">Flipboard, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pulse-free-visual-display-rss-news-reader-ipad/">Pulse, and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-currents-google-releases-magazine-style-app-ios-android/">Google Currents on my iPad, but href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/zite-ipad-rss-feed-contender/">Zite (Free) is the app I browse the most.

Why is that? Well, because Zite offers less, not more to read. It delivers articles based on my reading interests. The content of Zite is based on chosen topics, not direct RSS feeds. I discovered that this is a good thing because it prevents me from adding lots of RSS feeds, as I have done in my Google Reader account. It also means that I get content from sites other than the ones I regularly visit.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/zite_magazine.png?323f2c" alt="Zite magazine" width="484" height="367" border="0" />

Well, that’s it for my top 10 iOS apps of the year. If I had more space I would href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ia-writer/id392502056?mt=8">iA Writer, href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/evernote-hello/id484359282?mt=8">Hello, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/apple-picks-instagram-iphone-app-year-news/">Instagram, and href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iannotate-pdf/id363998953?mt=8">iAnnotate. Which apps that came out in 2011 would you add to the list?

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/iphone-apps.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" />We’re in the habit of reviewing hundreds of new apps here at MakeUseOf, and though most of us probably have pages and pages of random apps on our iPhones, how many of those can we honestly say we use on a regular basis – like at least once a week? Once I took a cold hard look at my home screen, I narrowed it down to the following 10.

I’m not including built-in system functions like Mail, Safari, camera, iBooks, and Google Maps – although those are all daily use apps for me. Though if you want to be pedantic, add those to the list and call it my top 15 then.

In no particular order whatsoever…

Byline [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/byline/id284946773?mt=8">iTunes link - $1.99]

Although title="Keep Google Reader On Your Desktop With Reeder [Mac]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-reader-desktop-reeder-mac/">Reeder is my RSS reader of choice for my iPad and Mac, I prefer the speed and simplicity of Byline for my iPhone. I don’t need an elaborately designed experience with masses of functionality – just a way to drill through the 300+ stories a day that come in from my feeds (link) and mark some off for further reading. Byline syncs well with Google, and provides a basic and speedy interface, as well as caching images when I’m not looking.

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BBC News [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bbc-news/id364147881?mt=8">iTunes link]

I must admit, having a free, non-biased news source makes me proud to be British. The BBC News app not only provides a simple breakdown on various customisable categories of news (so you can hide the pointless entertainment “news” for instance), but also allows users to watch around-the-clock video streams from the BBC News TV channel on Wi-fi or 3G data connections.

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Sleep Cycle [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sleep-cycle-alarm-clock/id320606217?mt=8">iTunes link]

I was using this as my main alarm clock, but it doesn’t work so well with our new foam mattress. Still, I thought it was worth mentioning. After learning the characteristics of your sleep movements and cycles, this app will continually monitor your sleep and wake you up at some point during a set window of time when you’re in the lightest sleep cycle – thereby avoiding that groggy feeling and instant need to hit the snooze button for another 10 minutes.

As I said, it’s not going to work with very stiff mattresses like foam, but for the most part this app really does work, and 90% of the time it will wake you up feeling fresh and ready.

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Find My iPhone [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648?mt=8">iTunes link]

Armed with my wife’s title="DOWNLOAD Using iOS: Your Guide To The Latest & Greatest Mobile Operating System" href="/tag/download-ios-guide-latest-greatest-mobile-operating-system/">iCloud login data, I use this to see if she’s on the way home from work, and if not, I send a barrage of non-silencable messages reminding her that she technically finished 30 minutes ago.

Before you accuse me of being something horrible, know that mostly I use it to see when she’s getting close to the house so I can go and greet her with a big welcome home hug. Awww. I also described in a previous post how we used it title="How To Use Find My iPhone To Get Your Stolen iPhone Back" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-iphone-stolen-iphone/">to trace her phone when it was stolen.

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BoardGame Companion [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/boardgame-companion/id336086695?mt=8">iTunes link]

Despite development having been seemingly abandoned on this app, I still use it regularly to calculate scores in Agricola games, and for that single purpose it works beautifully. For those of you who don’t know, Agricola is a board game in which you try to build the most varied and efficient farm, and as fun as it is, counting your score can be tiring.

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Amazon [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-mobile/id297606951?mt=8">iTunes link]

Perfect for when I’m out and about and see something I want – a quick price check using the barcode scanner tells me if it’s cheaper on Amazon, and I can save it to my basket right there with a single click. Great for the title="4 Ways To Save With Your Online Christmas Shopping" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-ways-save-online-christmas-shopping/">money saving tactic I described before of leaving it in your basket for a month before you’re allowed to buy it.

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eBay [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ebay/id282614216?mt=8">iTunes link]

I do try to follow the “buy nothing new” movement, and for that eBay is a lifeline. The iPhone app gives me on-the-go mobile notifications for auctions I’m planning on sniping at the last minute, all with a nice mobile-optimised interface. It also makes selling a breeze.

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Ticket To Ride Pocket [iTunes link]

A perfectly executed title="The Top 5 iPad Designer Board Games You Can Gift This Christmas" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-ipad-designer-board-games-gift-christmas/">board game to iPhone conversion from Days of Wonder, with local multiplayer to other iDevices and vs AI modes. A great little diversion when my wife and I are travelling.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ticket-to-ride.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="387" />

Trillian [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trillian/id327603487?mt=8">iTunes link]

I recently switched my desktop messaging client from Adium to Trillian, a free IM client which integrates pretty much every kind of messaging platform you could hope for – including Facebook. The iPhone version is also the most reliable way I’ve found to get all sorts of IM messages on the go – previously I’d used BeeJiveGT and other iOS clients, but found there was a short delay in receiving messages.

I’m pleased with Trillian so far, and it means I never miss a message from either of my awesome bosses.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/trillian.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="435" />

Tumblr [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tumblr/id305343404?mt=8">iTunes link]

I maintain a Tumblr blog as a single-purpose photolog which I then import as a widget to my href="http://www.selfsufficiencyguide.org/blog">Self Sufficiency blog. The Tumblr app is fast, easy, and works with minimal fuss. Simple, effective – I love it.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tumblr.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Those are my top 10, but how about you? Care to share a few absolute essentials that you use on a daily basis? Are you an obsessive app downloader but never actually use them? Let us know in the comments.

Don’t forget to check our full href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-iphone-apps">Best of iPhone Apps and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-ipad-apps">Best of iPad Apps pages too for loads more hand picked app recommendations.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/iphone-apps.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" />We’re in the habit of reviewing hundreds of new apps here at MakeUseOf, and though most of us probably have pages and pages of random apps on our iPhones, how many of those can we honestly say we use on a regular basis – like at least once a week? Once I took a cold hard look at my home screen, I narrowed it down to the following 10.

I’m not including built-in system functions like Mail, Safari, camera, iBooks, and Google Maps – although those are all daily use apps for me. Though if you want to be pedantic, add those to the list and call it my top 15 then.

In no particular order whatsoever…

Byline [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/byline/id284946773?mt=8">iTunes link - $1.99]

Although title="Keep Google Reader On Your Desktop With Reeder [Mac]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-reader-desktop-reeder-mac/">Reeder is my RSS reader of choice for my iPad and Mac, I prefer the speed and simplicity of Byline for my iPhone. I don’t need an elaborately designed experience with masses of functionality – just a way to drill through the 300+ stories a day that come in from my feeds (link) and mark some off for further reading. Byline syncs well with Google, and provides a basic and speedy interface, as well as caching images when I’m not looking.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/byline.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

BBC News [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bbc-news/id364147881?mt=8">iTunes link]

I must admit, having a free, non-biased news source makes me proud to be British. The BBC News app not only provides a simple breakdown on various customisable categories of news (so you can hide the pointless entertainment “news” for instance), but also allows users to watch around-the-clock video streams from the BBC News TV channel on Wi-fi or 3G data connections.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bbc-news.jpg?323f2c" alt="free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Sleep Cycle [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sleep-cycle-alarm-clock/id320606217?mt=8">iTunes link]

I was using this as my main alarm clock, but it doesn’t work so well with our new foam mattress. Still, I thought it was worth mentioning. After learning the characteristics of your sleep movements and cycles, this app will continually monitor your sleep and wake you up at some point during a set window of time when you’re in the lightest sleep cycle – thereby avoiding that groggy feeling and instant need to hit the snooze button for another 10 minutes.

As I said, it’s not going to work with very stiff mattresses like foam, but for the most part this app really does work, and 90% of the time it will wake you up feeling fresh and ready.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/sleepcycle.jpg?323f2c" alt="free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Find My iPhone [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648?mt=8">iTunes link]

Armed with my wife’s title="DOWNLOAD Using iOS: Your Guide To The Latest & Greatest Mobile Operating System" href="/tag/download-ios-guide-latest-greatest-mobile-operating-system/">iCloud login data, I use this to see if she’s on the way home from work, and if not, I send a barrage of non-silencable messages reminding her that she technically finished 30 minutes ago.

Before you accuse me of being something horrible, know that mostly I use it to see when she’s getting close to the house so I can go and greet her with a big welcome home hug. Awww. I also described in a previous post how we used it title="How To Use Find My iPhone To Get Your Stolen iPhone Back" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-iphone-stolen-iphone/">to trace her phone when it was stolen.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/find-my-iphone.jpg?323f2c" alt="free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

BoardGame Companion [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/boardgame-companion/id336086695?mt=8">iTunes link]

Despite development having been seemingly abandoned on this app, I still use it regularly to calculate scores in Agricola games, and for that single purpose it works beautifully. For those of you who don’t know, Agricola is a board game in which you try to build the most varied and efficient farm, and as fun as it is, counting your score can be tiring.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/boardgame-companion.jpg?323f2c" alt="best iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Amazon [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-mobile/id297606951?mt=8">iTunes link]

Perfect for when I’m out and about and see something I want – a quick price check using the barcode scanner tells me if it’s cheaper on Amazon, and I can save it to my basket right there with a single click. Great for the title="4 Ways To Save With Your Online Christmas Shopping" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-ways-save-online-christmas-shopping/">money saving tactic I described before of leaving it in your basket for a month before you’re allowed to buy it.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/amazon.jpg?323f2c" alt="best iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

eBay [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ebay/id282614216?mt=8">iTunes link]

I do try to follow the “buy nothing new” movement, and for that eBay is a lifeline. The iPhone app gives me on-the-go mobile notifications for auctions I’m planning on sniping at the last minute, all with a nice mobile-optimised interface. It also makes selling a breeze.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ebay.jpg?323f2c" alt="best iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Ticket To Ride Pocket [iTunes link]

A perfectly executed title="The Top 5 iPad Designer Board Games You Can Gift This Christmas" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-ipad-designer-board-games-gift-christmas/">board game to iPhone conversion from Days of Wonder, with local multiplayer to other iDevices and vs AI modes. A great little diversion when my wife and I are travelling.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ticket-to-ride.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="387" />

Trillian [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trillian/id327603487?mt=8">iTunes link]

I recently switched my desktop messaging client from Adium to Trillian, a free IM client which integrates pretty much every kind of messaging platform you could hope for – including Facebook. The iPhone version is also the most reliable way I’ve found to get all sorts of IM messages on the go – previously I’d used BeeJiveGT and other iOS clients, but found there was a short delay in receiving messages.

I’m pleased with Trillian so far, and it means I never miss a message from either of my awesome bosses.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/trillian.jpg?323f2c" alt="" width="580" height="435" />

Tumblr [ href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tumblr/id305343404?mt=8">iTunes link]

I maintain a Tumblr blog as a single-purpose photolog which I then import as a widget to my href="http://www.selfsufficiencyguide.org/blog">Self Sufficiency blog. The Tumblr app is fast, easy, and works with minimal fuss. Simple, effective – I love it.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tumblr.jpg?323f2c" alt="top free iphone apps" width="580" height="435" />

Those are my top 10, but how about you? Care to share a few absolute essentials that you use on a daily basis? Are you an obsessive app downloader but never actually use them? Let us know in the comments.

Don’t forget to check our full href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-iphone-apps">Best of iPhone Apps and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-ipad-apps">Best of iPad Apps pages too for loads more hand picked app recommendations.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/skyrim-dragonfight-with-iphone.jpg?323f2c" alt="iphone app dragon" />If you have no idea what Skyrim is, you might want to read Dave’s title="3 Reasons All Gamers Need To Play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [MUO Gaming]" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-reasons-gamers-play-elder-scrolls-skyrim-muo-gaming/">3 reasons why you should play Skyrim now, or listen to our lengthy discussion in href="http://technophiliapodcast.com/2011/episode-3-skyrim-and-other-stuff/">episode 3 of our weekly Technophilia Podcast (nsfw language).

The sheer scale of Skyrim – not only in terms of explorable areas, but also the stories and lore contained within characters, books, and taverns – results in a game that many will never get to fully experience. So here are 4 iPhone apps and 1 eBook to aid you in your epic quest and help you get the most out this amazing game – because unlike href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/author/dleclair/">Dave, we don’t all have 12 hours a day to play video games!

Unofficial Guide to Skyrim ( href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/unofficial-guide-for-skyrim/id479632357?mt=8">iTunes – $1.99)

A text-only affair, this is a full walkthrough and guide to all the quests in Skyrim, as well as some extras in the way of FAQs, achievements, talents trees, and tips.

Generally, I deplore the use of walkthroughs and people like Dave who look up sneaky ways of levelling up faster. In a game with these many quests though, there have been occasions where my clairvoyance spell (which usually shows a path to the objective) has been useless, and I just can’t figure out something which the designers clearly intended to be patently obvious. In those cases, where my experience of the game is being detracted from – this guide can be a lifesaver.

Is the app worth $1.99 when you can basically find the same information online? Right now, having been without a home internet connection for a week – thank you very much Virgin Media – I would be inclined to say yes. The content in the app is 100% original work, so if a quick help guide to use offline or without significantly taking away from important Skyrim time is what you’re after, this could be it.

DragonShout ( href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-shout/id483488468?mt=8">iTunes – free):

For iPhone and iPad, DragonShout is a personal map, to-do list and journey log for the really hardcore role-players. The app doesn’t reveal any locations, walkthroughs or facilitate any kind of cheating or fast-levelling – rather, it’s just a blank map slate onto which you can record your thoughts, significant moments etc. It’s incredibly helpful for those times when you discover an abandoned Dwarven mine and promise to come back to explore it later, only to find you’ve then bought a house, found a life partner and suddenly all your epic exploration goals have slowly faded to the wayside.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/dragonshout.jpg?323f2c" alt="iphone app dragon" width="580" height="378" />

Social features href="http://www.dragonshoutapp.com/">are also promised, whereby you can share locations and journal entries with other users – though the idea of reading endless tweets of “w000t, just killed my first dragon here” is not particularly appealing to me.

Skyrim Alchemist ( href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skyrim-alchemist/id484305110?mt=8">iTunes – $0.99)

Alchemy is something that has completed eluded me in Skyrim, much as chemistry did in high school. Though I obsessively collect alchemical components, they’re all sitting as yet unused in a big chest. I just can’t seem to find any recipes, and combining things randomly just results in a big mess of greenish gloop on my newly waxed wooden floor that my trusty thane Lydia is forced to mop up.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/alchemist-app.jpg?323f2c" alt="battle dragons game" width="580" height="428" />

This simple app – a steal at 99 cents – is like the Wikipedia of Alchemy, showing the exact effects of each ingredient and cross referencing them with other ingredients with the same effect. Epic. Is this cheating? Probably. I’ll justify it to myself as having summoned a fire demon who just happens to have an incredible knowledge of alchemical components though, so that’s my conscience in the clear. “Lydia, tidy this mess up, I think I just snorted some vampire dust”

MAppZ – Skyrim Edition ( href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mappz-skyrim-edition/id480785855?mt=8">iTunes – $2.99)

This is one for the real cheaters out there, and it’s a straight up labelled map of every location in the Skyrim universe. With downloadable updates from other users and a gorgeous UI that works on the iPad too, the only downside is the somewhat expensive price. I’m not sure I could justify this myself, but if you’re happy playing like a dirty cheat (just kidding!) then it’s certainly a useful little app to have.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/skyrim-mappz.jpeg?323f2c" alt="battle dragons game" width="480" height="320" />

Books of Skyrim Compendium EBook ( href="http://capane.us/2011/11/24/dovahkiin-gutenberg/">free):

Honestly, I’m usually not one to actually read the books in Skyrim. Like most people I open them hoping to find a beneficial perk, then sell the expensive ones on to some intellectual type in the nearest town in the hope of saving enough to purchase an ever larger strip of sharpened metal or perhaps a new rug for the house.

But if you do find the urge to engross yourself even further into the lore of Elder Scrolls, one happy chap has helpfully extracted, formatted and compiled them all into a single ebook for your download pleasure – thats 1665 pages in the smallest font size apparently. These probably aren’t technically legal, but I also doubt that Bethesda will complain of lost revenue. href="http://capane.us/2011/11/24/dovahkiin-gutenberg/">Download either from here.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/books-of-skyrim.jpg?323f2c" alt="iphone app dragon" width="580" height="296" />

The fact that there’s an app for that just goes to show how enormous Skyrim really is, so however you choose to play I do hope you’re enjoying your experience. Found any other cool Skyrim apps you’d like to share, or perhaps even some stories you’re dying to tell? Well, I’d love to hear them in the comments, so do share.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/evernotehello.png?323f2c" alt="evernote apps for iphone"/>For many of us savvy computer users, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-ways-to-make-use-of-evernote/">Evernote is among the top 10 essential apps for our computer and mobile devices. Even as a free app, Evernote provides a lot of online storage and app space to stuff notes, web clippings, screenshots, small PDFs, etc.

Though Evernote is just a file cabinet for collecting all sorts of stuff, its attractive design and simple user interface make it stand out above the rest.

And it is also its design appeal that makes Evernote’s two recently released iPhone and iPod touch apps, Hello and Food, worthy of a download.

Evernote Hello

On a few occasions I’ve taken out my iPhone and recorded the contact information of people I’ve met. It’s no big deal, for it’s part of what you do with a smartphone. I’ve also handed my phone to others and asked them to type in their contact information for me. Again, no big deal, but that’s exactly what href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/evernote-hello/id484359282?mt=8">Evernote Hello app does. It’s a simple way to collect someone’s contact information, except the user interface looks more like a greeting card than the techie text fields of an address book.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/evernote_hello_1.jpg?323f2c" alt="evernote apps for iphone" width="580" height="424"/>

Let’s say you’re at network business meeting, event, or party and you meet someone who you want to keep in touch with it. You launch Hello on your iPhone, tap the + button, and then hand that person your phone. Your recipient enters his or her contact information and then snaps a photo of him or herself using the iOS self-facing camera.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/evernote_hello_2.png?323f2c" alt="evernote iphone app" width="328" height="487"/>

The user interface for Hello consists of your photo and a personal small greeting that I would imagine — for I haven’t tried it on anyone yet — would make the recipient feel more comfortable about entering information into your phone.

If the recipient includes an email address, your contact information along with your snapped photo gets automatically emailed to your recipient. This email feature alleviates the problem of your contact not having an iPhone with the app installed on it to exchange information. (Remember the old Bump app that required you to “bump” another person’s iPhone to exchange information? Yeah, right…how many people did you ever get around to bumping with?)

Now of course if you meet someone who would give you a dazed look when handing them your iPhone, you could simply enter the information yourself and snap their photo, making sure you switch the lens direction of the camera.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/evernote_hello_5.jpg?323f2c" alt="evernote iphone app" width="331" height="487"/>

Personally I can’t wait to use this app, for I can’t count how many times I’ve lost someone’s business card or didn’t have pen and paper to write down their contact information. I use my href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/smartphone-personal-wallet/">iPhone as my wallet now, so an app like this is perfect for storing contact information. The contact information you receive is also synced to your Evernote account for instant backup, but unfortunately it doesn’t get copied to your Address Book.

Of course with the first version of an app like this, there are many things you wish it could or would not do. First off, the camera snaps four photos, all of which are retained in the app. (Thankfully they are not copied to your device’s Camera Roll.) However, the camera starts snapping photos when the person raises the iPhone to his face. This may feel a little awkward for some users, which will probably mean retaking the photo several times to get it “right.”

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Evernote_hello_6.png?323f2c" alt="evernote iphone app" width="386" height="580"/>

It would be better if the recipient could just select one photo from the four that are snapped, though that would take away from the mini slideshow effect for each of your contacts on the homepage.

It’s also great that your contact information is sent to the recipient, but it would be even better if you could somehow select from a few previously setup profiles, say one for business and one for social contacts.

And many users will wonder why they can’t add their Facebook info, like they can their Twitter address.

Evernote Food

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/evernote-food/id481893372?mt=8">Evernote Food is another simple information gathering app that is quite frankly similar to how you probably already use Evernote or another note application that can also capture images.

Evernote Food has a clean easy-to-use interface, in which you simply launch the app, tap the + button, and snap a photo of a memorable meal that you have eaten at home or at a restaurant.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/evernote_4.jpg?323f2c" alt="evernote iphone review" width="580" height="420"/>

I have already started such an image collection in the aNote app I use on my iPhone. But honestly, I will now start using Food because the layout is more attractive.

Food will also record, using GPS integration, the location in which you take a photo, as well as allowing you to tag your images and write your own captions and additional notes.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/evernote_1.jpg?323f2c" alt="evernote iphone review" width="580" height="448"/>

You can share your captured content via e-mail, Twitter or your Facebook account.

The photos you take in Food are also copied to your Camera Roll, and the content can be saved to a notebook in your Evernote account.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/evernote_2.jpg?323f2c" alt="evernote apps for iphone" width="489" height="337"/>

Food might be very useful for recording recipes, restaurant meals and menus, wines and special types of coffee that you want to remember. But this Evernote app doesn’t have a folder structure, nor can you search content by tags, which are used in your Evernote account and related apps.

Let us know what you think about Evernote Hello and Food. As free apps, requiring iOS 5.0 or later, they are so well designed that you will want to check them out for their sheer simplicity.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/books.png?323f2c" alt="iphone book reviews app"/>One of the coolest uses of the iPhone is the fact that the internet is always on, and when you are out trying to make a purchasing decision, you can turn to your iPhone for advice. Buying books is one situation where you will seek the opinions of others before you take the plunge. After all, reading a book can be a serious time commitment, and you want to make sure it is good before you dig in and start reading.

All that said; searching the web would lead you all over the place. It is much easier to have applications dedicated to book reviews, this way you do not waste time with all that other stuff. That is where these applications come in.

They are dedicated to book reviews and nothing else. They will always be on your phone, ready to lend you buying advice before you throw down your hard earned money for the next great read. Best of all, they are all free!

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goodreads/id355833469?mt=8">Goodreads

Goodreads is an awesome application for getting book reviews and recommendations. Average people, not haughty book reviewers, leave the reviews. Let’s be honest, most book reviewers don’t look favorably on popular fiction, and even if you enjoy reading it, you may find it hard to find a professional review that isn’t biased.

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You can explore books based on genre. This is great if you know a genre that interests you but aren’t sure of a particular book. You can also view the most popular books overall, so you can get a feel for what the community as a whole is enjoying.

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In addition to book reviews, Goodreads has their href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/track-book-goodreads/">bookshelves, where users can keep track of the things they have read. This feature is available on the iPhone application and their website. You need to create an account to use this feature, and registering for an account takes only a couple of minutes. You can view the books on your virtual bookshelf as well as add new one right from the app. You can add a book under the each books page, or use the apps built-in bar code scanner.

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bookyap/id431669122?mt=8">BookYap

BookYap is similar to Goodreads, but it lacks the bookshelf. Their recommendation engine is very good though. The top of the browse screen says “Find a book fit for a…” and shows a whole bunch of types of people. Some examples are a CEO, an alpha male, a wizard and a foodie. There are many more categories, and this is a cool way to narrow down the millions of books out there and find some that fits in with what you are in to.

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Once you are in a type of book, you can click the filter button on the top right of the screen and trim the results even more. There are keywords that you can remove, as well as deciding if you want fiction or non-fiction and a slew of other parameters.

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Once you find a book that interests you, click on it and you will be able to see what other BookYap users are saying about it. You can sort the reviews either by newest, oldest or most helpful.

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-mobile/id297606951?mt=8">Amazon Mobile

Amazon may be the online giant that sells everything under the sun, but they started as an online bookstore, and the fact is, they still are one of the best booksellers in the world. If you browse and buy many of your books on Amazon, it gains an insight into what you like, and it will show you books that suit you.

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Even if you don’t buy your books on Amazon, you can still use the mobile application’s search function to read the thousands of user reviews left on there, and find a description and plot synapses. In addition, you can use the Amazon Kindle Store to order a free sample of any book and read it right on the Kindle iPhone app.

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Because Amazon is a retailer, when you read the reviews and see something you like, you can easily purchase it right from your iPhone.

Conclusion

With these three iPhone applications, you will be ready to head to the bookstore and decide which books are best for you. Before you commit hours to reading a book, make sure to find out if it’s worth your time. These apps will do exactly that!

Have you found some great books through these applications? Let us know in the comments!

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