Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

If you’ve got a case of Siri Envy because you’re too cheap to upgrade to an iPhone 4S, Wake Smarter might make you feel just a tiny bit better about setting your alarm when you go to bed. I’ve seen prettier alarm clocks out there but, in terms of features, Wake Smarter is probably the fanciest alarm clock you’ll ever meet!

The most obvious thing that’s different about this alarm clock is the Siri-like voice control option, but it’s also packed full of alarm options that range from funny to useful to just plain weird… unless you think it’s somehow normal to wake up to Facebook status updates.

When you set an alarm in Wake Smarter, you can add and queue up any number of “Alarm Actions” that include:

• Alarm sound – choose from internet radio, your Music playlists, or built-in ringtones
• Custom message – type it, record it, or choose from “celebrity” wake-ups done with hilariously bad voice impersonators who imitate Barack Obama, Homer Simpson, Stewie Griffin, and others
• Today’s weather forecast
• Calendar events
• RSS news feeds
• Facebook posts
• Twitter posts

You don’t have to choose just one… you can use a bunch and arrange them in any order you want. Wake up to Siri-ish readings of the weather, then posts from your Facebook friends, then music… line ‘em up and hopefully one of them will get you out of bed. Setting the alarm with voice commands is easy enough, but it’ll take some practice before you can do it all with voice because Wake Smarter isn’t quite as smart as Siri and requires very specific voice commands to do everything.

I never thought I’d want or need any alarm clock outside of the default alarm built into iOS, but Wake Smarter is pretty cool! It also has some prank potential with its ability to play recorded messages at specific times, but that’s probably not what Crop Duster Media had in mind when they put this app together. This is definitely an interesting and versatile alarm clock.

Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

I have a confession to make. I love unit converter apps; perhaps even as much as I like calculator apps, so I’m always keen to try out new ones when given the chance.

Convert Any Unit is a sleek minimalistic app, sporting a brushed steel finish that’s straightforward to use and has 24 categories of units, covering over 3600 different units.

3600 different units sounds an obscene amount of units if you ask me. Delve a little deeper and 2 of the 24 categories stand out: density has 1200 units and pressure has 1002 units. I won’t pretend to understand most of these units but I’m sure somebody out there needs to convert some of the more obscure units this app has to offer.

Convert Any Unit makes a good job of simplifying the selection of particular units by having a search/ autocomplete box that intelligently brings up relevant units as you start to type. This can be further refined by filtering units from their respective categories (e.g. length, area, energy etc).

Other things of note are the app’s copy/ paste function, the ability to reverse units, currency exchange rate conversions and bookmarks… Now bookmarks is where I really don’t get it. I really can’t see the point of bookmarks as the majority of conversions (at least that I do) are one-off in nature and so I’d never need to save a conversion calculation for later reference.

In summary I’d say that Convert Any Unit, is a pleasant looking, easy to use app that simplifies unit selection for quick conversions. Strangely, I think there may be too many units to choose from (particularly under the pressure and density category), which when picking from a list may unnecessarily complicate matters.

Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Carrying out a search for the word “calculator” on the App Store brings up 6601 results (for iPhone apps alone). It’s safe to say that the market is pretty crowded out there. So when we were asked to review Acc Calculator, I was wondering whether or not the app could make a big enough dent to get noticed.

The first thing I noticed about the app, even before launching it, was how busy the app’s icon is! That aside, it doesn’t look too bad on the home screen and I guess what other type of icon could you use for a calculator any way?

Acc Calculator offers basic arithmetic calculations that are packaged in a pleasantly slick looking user interface. It operates in both portrait and landscape views, with the latter also offering a rather useful paper tape perspective showing calculation steps.

After using it for a while, I think that some of the developer’s interface decisions are peculiar. Seven rows of buttons are viewable in landscape mode and only six can be seen in portrait view (the memory related buttons are only viewable in landscape mode). In both views the iPhone’s status bar area is hidden. I would prefer this not to be the case, at least in portrait mode.

Apart from a few user interface issues, it works well, with nicely sized buttons (including an enlarged addition button) and a clean looking interface. The expected functions are present, including thousand separators, copy and paste and number rounding. It also has a button ‘clicker’ sound that can be enabled/ disabled as desired, which means you don’t have to rely on the iPhone’s mute switch to silence sounds.

I’m not convinced that the Acc Calculator will make a big enough splash to stand out in the App Store; but if you’re after a very simple, basic calculator that has a paper tape then it might be a good choice for you.

For the past few days IAR has gotten a bunch of review requests for iPhone 4 LED flashlights, apparently a booming market in the app store. Unfortunately, I don’t have the means to acquire Apple’s latest gadget, so I’m going to be giving away the promo codes in the comments for all you lucky iPhone 4 owners.

LED Flashlight, only for iPhone 4

The Flashlight App (For some reason, the iTunes Link Maker was screwing up on this one and wouldn’t give me the link. But rest assured, it’s a flashlight app.)

LED iLight

LED Light for iPhone4

For the low, low price of free, this can all be yours!

Being too lazy to find my iPod Touch’s UDID* by manually plugging it into iTunes, I stumbled upon Ad Hoc Helper, by Erica Sadun. This no-frills utility basically snatches up some info about your device, such as your device name, model, system version, memory, free space and UDID and automatically pops open Mail so you can get that info where it needs to be.  While this not be necessary for everybody, Ad Hoc Helper an awesome way for you to quickly get info about your device, and I recommend you scoop this app in case you’re ever in a pinch.

*A 40 digit serial code unique to your iDevice. Useful for app developers who are beta testing, debugging or adjusting their app. More info here, at TUAW.

iTunes Link – Ad Hoc Helper

Have you ever wanted to use your iPod Touch or iPhone (or iPad, I should add) as a wireless multi-purpose combination mouse and keyboard gizmo? The thought never really occurred to be. However, HippoRemote LITE by RoboHippo LLC offers some pretty neat functionality in a simple and easy to use utility.

Setting up the application for a Windows  OS involves downloading and installing a VNC client as opposed to a shorter route for Macs and computers running Linux. Thankfully, following the step by step guide in the app makes it very simple. Soon, I was able to surf the web and type on my computer using only my iTouch. Pretty neat. I’m sure everyone will have different results with this app, but I found the mouse and keyboard to be pretty responsive and easy to use, but in no way a replacement for my actual keyboard and mouse sitting on my desk about half a foot away.

The LITE version only offers up the mouse and keyboard function, but that’s basically the bulk of the app. Paid versions are ad-free, and contain some more intricate stuff like browser plugins, an arrow pad and macros.

All in all, HippoRemote LITE gives some pretty neat features and definitely warrants a download just to experiment with and play around with its features.

iTunes Link – HippoRemote LITE

Internet Alert, from Modern Digital Media AB, is about as straightforward an app as you can imagine. Its purpose is amazingly simple: to notify you whenever a web page is updated. 

Sometimes the easy decisions are the hardest to make. Sometimes the hard decisions are even harder to make. That’s why sometimes, you need dice.  Complete and utter randomness can make a daunting task into a relatively simple one. That’s right, there is no need for you to worry your pretty little head over these things. Let the dice decide for you.  The problem is that nobody, with very few exceptions, carries dice around in their pocket at all times. If you’re looking at this site though, you probably carry around an iPhone or iPod touch at all times. The developer hnm has created an excellent, simple application that will make the rest of your decisions for you.

Kidding aside, this application really does have a ton of uses. It allows you to bust out a set of dice at any time. Did you lose the dice for your favorite board game? Of course you did, everybody has. Well, pull out this handy app and you’re set. You can choose between black, white and wooden six sided dice.  The dice are easy to add to the board as well as take away. Give the device a shake and the dice tumble about the screen using realistic physics. If you get tired of shaking the device, you can just press a button instead.  My only real gripe would be that you can only roll three dice at a time.  At this point, I can’t think of a reason to roll more, but I’d like to think that I could.  The background table that the dice roll around on can change colors or be set to a picture from your photo album. They even make little clattering noises as they roll around like real dice but you can turn this off if you want. Make Dice is very customizable.

The biggest customization would be the ability to “make” your own dice. You can literally type whatever you want onto the sides of a die, save it and then roll to your heart’s content. This process is simple and fun. This feature makes it easy for us to decide who will go pick up the dry cleaning, what we’re having for dinner or what movie we’re going to watch.  The best part is, nobody can really be upset by the result, because it’s random. Well, I suppose they could still be upset, but they’re just sore losers.

It is a simple app, but it works great.  Make those old broken board games work again. Make better (or at least more fun) decisions. Make randomness a part of your life.  Make Dice.

iTunes Link – Make Dice
Version 1.0
Reviewed on iPhone 3GS OS 3.1.3

The Boy Scouts of America have a motto nearly every adult male knows by heart.  The motto?  Be prepared.  Although I was never more than a Cub Scout myself, I’ve always admired that motto and, whenever possible, tried to live my life according to it.

One of the easiest ways to be prepared in life is to own a Swiss Army knife.  There’s just something about a Swiss Army knife and its many uses that I find comforting.  An iPhone or iPod Touch with its many various applications is a kind of technological Swiss Army knife capable of performing a number of different functions.

But is there a multi-function knife for the iPhone or iPod Touch?  Actually, there is, and it would have to be Ryan Bertrand’s App Crate.  This one app houses 33 different applications, any one of which you could find in the App Store listed at a price similar to or much higher than the current sale price of this one.  Think about that: over $30 worth (if not much, much more) of applications available to you for less than a dollar.

I know what you’re thinking: what exactly would I be getting for .99 cents? 

Facebook and Twitter updaters, Notes, Voice Memo, Fake Call, Fake SMS, RSS Reader, Flashlight, FullScreen Private Web Browser, Battery, Multi-function Camera, Battery, Random Number Generator, Bubble Level, Light Strobe, Tip Calculator, Password Generator, Altimeter, Metronome, BMI Calculator, Emoji Enabler, Task Timer, Parking Spot Locator, Periodic Elements Listing, and 8 other applications.  Granted, a few of them will only work on the iPhone and not the iPod Touch (e.g, Camera, Walk-N-Text, Teslameter, etc.), but even taking those  into account, I found myself very impressed with the extensiveness of offerings.

And at its current .99 cent price tag, App Crate is irresistible.  The applications worked well for me and I didn’t experience a single crash.  So if you’re in the market for the Swiss Army Knife of iTunes Apps, App Crate will definitely give you the most bang for your buck. 

AppCrate 

Version 1.1

Reviewed on iPod Touch 3.1.2

When you see the name of the app, you know that it has to be good. I have seen many apps that claim to do lots of things, but I believe this app is the best. It packs 24, that’s right 24 apps into one package. It doesn’t just have boring stuff that you know you won’t use but unique things I haven’t seen elsewhere.

First of all, it has a date calculator that tells you things like how many days are between a certain date and certain date, exactly how old you are, and what day of the week a date is on. It also sports things like price comparison (see if buying one brand in a certain size is better than the other), the Bible, and an alarm clock.

My favorite part about this app is the weird and interesting apps. There is iPlasma where you can be mesmerized by a simulate plasma in anything from fire to liquid gold. The Guitar Machine shows you how to finger chords, has a metronome, tunes strings, and has a tuner, which makes this sub-app a 4-in-1!

The most unique app in my opinion is the Parking Buddy app. Parking Buddy uses your iPhone’s built in function to locate your spot on the map (in your case, where you parked your car) and use it to place a point on a map. Say you are in a big city and park your car in a paid parking spot and walk to some shops. When you finish shopping, you can just open the app and press “Locate You Car” and you will get directions back to where you parked! Pretty nifty huh?

Overall, this app is great for packing everything you need from the normal tip calculator to the not so normal iPlasma. So check out this $.99 app by C3 Software today (it’s on sale, normally $2.99, so get it fast)! :)

iTunes Link – App Vault Pro

Reviewed on iPhone 3GS OS 3.1.2

Version 1.2

Injured on your Caribbean vacation? Whip out that trusty iPhone if you don't remember what to do.

The My Attorney App supplies information and accident guideline checklists, all leading the wallets of prospective customers to the service of good lawyers.

I don’t have any immediate usage for this app (I don’t really hope I will need a lawyer any time soon), but the My Attorney App does provide a useful, everyday and free service. And, most importantly, the phone number of a lawyer (especially helpful after that long night at the bar).

My Attorney is on my cell phone – Is it on yours?

iTunes Link

Version 1.01

Reviewed on iPod Touch 3.1.2

RiskDice Shaker is a virtual set of dice for playing Risk and, according to the developer, “you can actually finish the game in a timely manner.” Anything that makes the game or Risk go by faster sounds good to me!

iTunes Link : RiskDice Shaker

On deck: Daily Paint Deluxe (Games)