Despite the worldwide popularity of cricket, the market for cricket applications on the iPhone is nowhere near the saturation point of some of the other popular sports. While this is most likely due to cricket’s limited appeal to the American market, there is still a fair amount of competition abroad — and some interesting innovations being put forward by iPhone developers.

As more and more people get their hands on these devices, cricket fans from around the world have a choice between nine applications, most of which can be downloaded for less than US$1 for both the iPhone and iPod touch.

Cricket (99 cents)

Now in version 1.2, when the application is loaded, the news screen displays a list of headlines from articles published on ESPN’s Cricinfo website. Clicking on a headline opens a new screen which shows a summary of the article and a link to open the full story on the Cricinfo’s website. The same news stories can be filtered on a per-country basis via the Countries screen, which arguably makes the default news screen redundant. The Live screen shows at-a-glace summaries of all current and some recent matches. Clicking through on an individual match opens the match details on the Cricinfo website — which is not easily viewable on the iPhone screen.

Overall, the application doesn’t provide much more than what a visit to the Cricinfo website would provide and may make some people wonder if paying for the application is justified, especially seeing that there are free applications that offer similar functionality.

Cricket Live (iCricket) (99 cents)
A relatively new cricket application for the iPhone (released in February 2009), it’s primary feature is a simple, yet functional news aggregator and viewer which pulls articles from several major news sources. The titles of stories, along with the first few lines of the text as well as the date and time, are listed on the main application screen. Clicking on a story launches a new screen with a summary and an ability to open the full story on the relevant website (similar to Cricket, reviewed above). The settings screen provides end users with some control over which news sources are polled.

While the application is elegant in its simplicity, the same functionality is also offered in other free cricket applications. Alternatively, spending a couple of dollars on a good quality, commercial RSS reader would provide the ability to keep up to date with more than just cricket news and provide additional control over the display of the news.

Cricket Live-007 (99 cents)

Another application recently developed (launched in February 2009), provides ICC rankings in addition to the live scores and news. Live scores and recent scores are both accessible via different main menu options, which can make it awkward to find details on a particular match if it finishes earlier than expected. However, a full scorecard for each match is provided within the application, which is commendable despite the tad-unpolished design. The ICC rankings section shows the current standings of teams and players in tabular format — however, no additional player or team statistics are available. Still yet, this is a nice addition that isn’t provided by other applications, but as with the scores section, the design is somewhat mediocre.

Overall, the application has a comprehensive set of features for the small price. Although it was developed by a company that develops a range of other iPhone applications, one would have thought that more effort would have gone into the interface design. Apple’s products in general are renowned for having intuitive user interfaces, however, this application contradicts that, resulting in a less than impressive interface that detracts from the usability.

Cricket Trivia (99 cents)

Released in April 2009, the Cricket Trivia quiz is a relatively simple application with a few added features to tailor it more towards today’s gamers. After launching the application, the user selects the number of random questions that will be included in the test. Each question is then answered, one by one with the final score presented at the end. Navigation through each question is a bit rigid, with the user unable to skip a question or go back to it. Upon the completion of each test, the score is then added to a table that allows you to keep track of your performance. While this provides an element of game play to the applications, there’s no ability to enter your name next to a score or to compare scores online, although both features are available in many similar games offered today.

This applications seems to be more suitable to an iPod than to iPhone since quitting the application (e.g. to answer a phone call) results in the quiz being interrupted. The application would benefit from a free-flow mode where the user is able to answer, skip or revisit questions as they are asked. There is also room for the interface design features to be improved. Unlike other trivia quizzes where answers remain relatively unchanged, the cricket statistics are in constant flux and one presumes that the app would need to be regularly updated to keep up with these changes.

CricketRSS (99 cents)

While its name is more accurate in regards to what to expect when you come across it, CricketRSS is functionally similar to the Cricket Live (iCricket) application reviewed above. The main screen shows a list of news headlines and truncated descriptions, conveniently grouped by date. Clicking on any one of the news items opens up the details page which shows the full description and the ability to open the full source website.

The features of the application are relatively basic and, apart from some minor design inconsistencies between different screens, is reasonably functional. Though not feature-rich, there are no flaws in the application, though for a dedicated news application, it would have been better if it had a wider range of news sources, apart from the usual suspects.

ECB Cricket (Free)

The official application of the English & Wales Cricket Board was released in time for the 2009 English summer. The application opens on the main scores screen and lists the current England international and English County Cricket (ECC) matches. Clicking on a match displays the score summary. Rotating the device horizontally displays the full scorecard for the match, with each innings on a separate screen — a novel approach which maximizes the amount of data that can be shown on a single screen. The interface of the main news screen is reminiscent of the album selection screens on iPods and displays headlines, photos and the truncated descriptions for each news item. Clicking on an item reveals the full article inside the application itself with the photo section working in a similar way. The ECBtv section is a list of video podcasts from YouTube streaming the external YouTube player.

The major, though understandable, limitation of the app is that it only shows the scores for the ECC and the England international matches. As such, the market is somewhat limited to the UK and international ECC fans only. The other notable absence is the running commentary for the matches or the ability to see the past match scores or team standings. Overall, the application is extremely well polished, even though some of the elements may appear a bit gimmicky at times.

iCricket (Free)

When this application was first released in October 2008, it started out as just a free RSS reader for Cricinfo’s news feeds. Since then it has grown to also include links to match scores. The main screen lists various categories of news and scores in a standard scrollable view, though there’s no grouping of sections, which often makes it confusing to determine where to go to access the information you’re after. This is particularly awkward in relation to the match scores and commentary — links to scorecards on the Cricinfo website appears in one section of the application while the running commentary (for selected matches only) appears in a completely different section. The news part of the application is relatively standard, broken down into per-country categories. Clicking on a category takes the user to the list of headlines with truncated descriptions. Clicking on the article opens the Cricinfo website for the full article, skipping the news detail page common to the other applications.

The application is functional, though it generally takes a lot of clicking around to find the information you want to access. The logic behind the layout of the sections leaves a lot to be desired. However, for a free app and an amateur fan effort, it is cute and a better effort than some of the commercial cricket applications reviewed.

MobiCast (Free)

This anticipated app was released in October 2008. The opening screen of the application lists the current, upcoming and recent matches. Clicking on a match displays Cricinfo’s famous ball-by-ball commentary and gives access to the full scorecard for the match. Clicking on a news item displays the full story on the iPhone itself, without opening the external website. The photos section shows photos that do not appear to be linked to any current matches nor do they behave like standard iPhone photos — they cannot be zoomed or scrolled through using the standard gestures. The podcast section is a useful bookmark of the podcasts by Cricinfo’s commentators.

There’s no question that the quality and the comprehensiveness of Cricinfo’s data is top rate, however the resulting application is both confusing and extremely frustrating to use. For example, throughout the match detail screens, notification icons for “4,” “6” etc popping constantly, regardless if matches being played or not. Even more confusingly, the “Matches” tab shows the same type of information as the main screen — only presented in a different format. One certainly expects more from professional developers backed by ESPN and it is hard not to dismiss this as a token effort in the also-ran category of the App Store.

Virtual Cricket ($1.99)

While the final application, Virtual Cricket, was only recently released, it’s clear that the developer has addressed the shortcomings that have been identified with the other applications. The matches screen displays a list of current, upcoming and recently completed matches, with single-line match status and the time of the last update. Clicking on a match shows the match summary with current score and the most recent commentary highlights (4s, 6s, wickets, etc). The news section follows the familiar pattern of listing headlines and truncated descriptions. Clicking through shows a summary of the news item, with a link to open the full article. The main difference here is that the headlines are aggregated from around 20 different news sources, grouped by source and country and catering to each user’s local preferences. The feeds also include leading cricket blogs as an alternative to the traditional news sources, as well as several video channels.

Clearly, this seems to be the most comprehensive application currently available. It takes many of the best features of every other application reviewed and presents these features in a professionally polished package. In a quest for features, it doesn’t forget the details and implements niceties.

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EyeTV Hybrid

Compliments of the folks at Elgato, this slick little TV Tuner Stick accommodates both unencrypted Digital and HDTV reception, as well analog reception. Weighing in at just 30 grams and with dimensions just a bit bigger than a pack of gum, the EyeTV Hybrid ushers in clear and pristine picture to the high resolution of your Mac. What’s more, EyeTV Hybrid also receives FM radio. Since EyeTV Hybrid is also a DVR (Digital Video Recorder), it can put your television recordings on your Mac, iPod, iPhone and Apple TV. And for gamers out there, EyeTV Hybrid also allows you to connect most game consoles to your Mac. Sweet.

ATI TV Wonder

The ATI TV Wonder HD 650 Series is a high-definition personal video recorder built just for your Mac (and even works on PC too). Not only is this particular model stacked with the latest in TV technologies such as noise reduction, 3D comb filtering and automatic screen control, but this mighty tuner packs a punch by offering edge enhancement through automatic color control, which produces sharp video that in theory, rivals high-end consumer television sets.

Slingbox PRO-HD + iPhone version

Never again will you be away from home and stuck with that terrible feeling of anxiety because you forgot to set your tuner to record that special program. With the Slingbox PRO-HD, you can watch and control multiple devices, including your standard or high-definition DVR, digital cable, satellite receiver, or DVD player from anywhere in the world via your Mac or iPhone. Your high definition programming streams in HD quality for a truly stellar picture.

Pinnacle PCTV HD mini Stick

Pinnacle’s all digital Mini HD TV Stick (now owned and offered by Hauppauge Digital) brings an easy-to-use TV experience to Mac owners. Pinnacle TV for Mac HD mini Stick is a smooth, ultra-compact, USB-powered TV tuner that compliments Apple’s slim line of notebooks elegantly. Effortlessly watch, record and ‘TimeShift’ your favorite programs while the integrated signal booster improves reception sensitivity even if the signal isn’t very strong. Pinnacle TV for Mac HD mini Stick is available for digital TV reception and even comes with a mini remote control as well as a high-gain telescopic antenna.

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 950 Hybrid TV Stick

Watch and record TV, in a window or full screen, with WinTV-HVR-950Q. This hybrid tuner brings over-the-air high definition ATSC digital TV plus analog cable TV effortlessly to your Mac or PC with either Elgato’s EyeTV Lite for Mac or Hauppauge’s WinTV v6 for PC. Use the scheduler to record your favorite analog or digital TV shows and play your TV recordings back to your MAC or PC screen any time.

HDHomeRun Networked Digital TV Tuner

Now you can watch TV from any computer on your local network thanks to HDHomeRun Networked Digital TV Tuner. Forget about the hassle of multiple TV tuners for individual computers in your household; now all you need is one. Easily record full 1080i broadcast resolution so that you can enjoy, pause, rewind and fast-forward live TV. With the added ability to schedule and record all your favorite TV shows, this tuner won’t ever let you miss anything again thanks to its integrated TV guide provided by the DVR software.

TubeStick QAM Hybrid

TubeStick hybrid is one of the few small TV receivers exclusively for Mac users. Encompassing two receivers for watching digital over-the-air HDTV or digital (Clear QAM) and analog cable television, the TubeStick QAM Hybrid combines both digital and analog television in one tiny stick and includes a white mini-antenna for reception of free-to-air SD and HDTV. TubeStick hybrid is available in the U.S. only.

Miglia TVMax

With a box just about as small and as stylish as an Apple TV or Mac mini, you are in control of your TV viewing: watch, pause, rewind, skip forward and record live TV. TVMax receives analog over the air (antenna) as well as analog cable TV. In addition, TVMax can also capture VHS tapes, allowing you to store them on your hard drive.

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In an effort to make your business trips (and really, any kind of trip) more manageable and efficient, I’ve put together a roundup of some of my favorite apps for the iPhone that can be used while on the road or in the air, and I hope that they’ll come to good use for your next trip.

TripIt (Free)
Briefly mentioned in my 10 Father’s Day Apps for Your No. 1 Dad article as a companion to the application TravelTracker, I only thought it would be fair to give this genius a close-up, because it’s just so darned worthy. Think of all of the itineraries and travel confirmations you deal with such as air, hotel and car — and multiply that by however many destinations you have in one trip. That’s a lot of paper juggling that I don’t need while I’m on route. Now there’s a way to keep and organize all travel documentation in one central accessible location — TripIt for iPhone/iPod touch.

Once you book your travel and have signed up on tripit.com (membership is free), just email your itinerary to TripIt’s designated itinerary email address, and in a matter of minutes, your itinerary will be read-in, parsed and displayed into your account like magic. Once you launch the TripIt application, you’ll see your confirmations displayed and organized elegantly and so efficiently, it’ll make your trip that much more effortless.

When you sign-up, TripIt collects some basic information about you, as well as multiple email addresses you might have, so that they recognize your emailed itineraries from wherever you’re sending it. Some things I noticed while testing is that your email confirmations have to come from a TripIt-supported site. All of the major airlines and hotels are on the list, and even if yours is not (Holiday Autos was not on the list for my car rental), you can simply add the info manually, and it will be displayed along with all of the other automated confirmations you might have already sent in.

Timing: The International Clock (99 cents)
If you’re like me and on the road (or in the air) quite a bit, working with international clients and suppliers and scheduling meetings for a foreign time zone from within a different zone than I’m used to can be a bit messy — but not anymore. I’d like to introduce you to one of my new travel companions called Timing by SplashData.

We’re all aware that our iPhones come with a standard (but pretty slick) app called Clock which allows us to track the current time of multiple cities around the world; but what happens when you need to know a specific future time of city A while in city B? Among other things, Timing takes the guesswork out about calculating time zones.

Now all I have to do is launch Timing on my iPhone and choose Time Calculator. I select the current city I’m in (or the city I will be in), along with the time I need calculated, and I can then select up to four other cities to view their respective times. Sweet.

1Password Pro ($5.99)
Previously, since there wasn’t a method of sending vCards from my iPhone, I didn’t bother sending them from my desktop, either, as a quick copy and paste from my address book did the job. To that end, I was quite guilty of storing sensitive data within those vCards, such as banking info and credit card numbers. With the recent release of iPhone software 3.0, we’ve all gained (or will soon gain) the ability of MMS and also sending contacts (vCards) via MMS or email. Since then, I’ve been scrambling to clean all the sensitive data out of my vCards and immediately began my crusade to find a new home for my sensitive data.

Like many others, I’ve always been reluctant of using third-party apps to store this kind of data. Discussed in Weldon Dodd’s Password Management Roundup article, Weldon effectively covered the major features of 1Password, and since then, Agile Web Solutions has revised the app for the iPhone, which is now called 1Password Pro, and it is my new confidant. The Pro version now includes a special easy switching mode that allows you to quickly copy and paste credit card info and usernames and passwords to other apps such as Mobile Safari; and they say more features are on the way. This is in addition to their already brawny list of invaluable features such as two-way Wi-Fi synchronization with the desktop application.

You now have at your fingertips, a two-layer defense (unlock code and master password) for your most sensitive data which include your electronic wallet (for all of your banking and credit card info) as well as passwords and logins to your most frequented (and secure) web sites.

1Password Pro is $5.99 for now, and will increase to $14.99 once the anticipated features are in place.

Remember The Milk ($25 per year)
Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a list nut. I keep lists for practically everything, and it was truly heaven-sent when I heard about Remember The Milk. Your business trip (or any trip) wouldn’t be efficiently organized without the best to-do list application around.

Remember The Milk is an online to-do list manager, which comes with a spiffy app for the iPhone or iPod touch. Use it as your packing list, your to-do list before trip and even your to-do list while on your trip. Remember The Milk isn’t like any other to-do application you’ve seen. You can create tasks based on locations so when you’re going about planning your day, you can easily map out each task location and follow the most practical route to complete those tasks when going from point A to point B. Among many other things, Remember The Milk also comes with your own inbox email address which you can use as a sharing point to collect tasks from other applications you might be using, so that all of your tasks are consolidated in one central location.

The best thing about Remember The Milk is that it integrates with a large number of popular online services such as Gmail, Twitter, AIM, MSN, Facebook, as well as SMS (if your mobile network is supported). What’s more, Remember The Milk now supports push notifications. With all of these reminder methods at your disposal, you would have to try really hard to miss a task.

iTranslate (Free)
Never again will you have to worry about being lost in translation, or having to hire an expensive personal translator — no matter where you go. The developers over at Sonico have come up with an application that allows you to translate over 42 different languages right on your iPhone.

The iTranslate engine is based off of Google Translate and is compatible with both iPhone and iPod touch. Now you can ditch the expensive and pesky human translator and travel with confidence.

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Feeling the cash crunch around this particular time? Not to worry, most of the applications mentioned here are free or just a couple bucks. A nice print-out of your gift tucked or wrapped nicely in a festive Father’s Day envelope will more than likely communicate your genuine appreciation for your dad. So since all dads are obviously not the same, breeze through our list and find our top picks for your kind of dad.

The Stay at Home Dad

iHandy Level (Free)
For the Stay-at-Home Handy Dad — utility belts and their attachments are so passé! Consider surprising your stay-at-home Dad this Father’s Day with gadgets that reside in his iPhone.

iHandy Level is a free application brought to you by iHandySoft Inc. This stunning application exploits the iPhone’s Accelerometer and Proximity sensor to bring your stay-at-home Handy Dad a truly unique handyman experience. From balancing and centering picture frames on the wall, to leveling a floor tile — this is definitely one unique application that no handy dad should be without!

If you’re feeling extra generous this Father’s Day, you may consider the iHandy Carpenter which includes five handyman tools in one for the ridiculous price of $1.99!

iHandy Carpenter Notable Features

• iHandy Level
• Plumb Bob – the easy method of verifying the verticality of walls
• Surface Level – the best tool to level any flat surface
• Steel protractor – OK so it’s not made of steel, but it sure is pretty and measures angles beautifully
• Steel Ruler – again, not real steel – but smarter and more compact than any steel ruler you may have come across and it actually measures a few times longer than the iPhone, too

Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner (Free)
If your stay-at-home Dad isn’t particularly the handyman type, but perhaps more of the kitchen connoisseur, the Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner app may be more his taste.

He can swipe away at the Spinner sorting by Dish Type, Ingredients, and Prep/Cook time to view recipe matches of his choice — or, if he’s feeling “saucy,” he could simply tap the Spin Categories function for a totally impromptu pick. One thing is for sure, the recipe of choice will definitely be one to delight since all recipes are based on ratings and reviews of millions of home cooks. To top it off, each recipe comes complete with its own Nutritional Information chart to keep a stay-at-home Dad’s family happy and healthy.

Notable Features

• Choose by Dish Type from Appetizers through to Dessert (cocktails included)
• Choose by Ingredient
• Choose by desired Prep/Cook time
• A light shake will present random recipe ideas

The Sports Fan Dad

ESPN ScoreCenter (Free)
Forget about losing your sports fan Dad’s attention to the TV, that’s a worry of the past. A glance is all it will take to get the latest scores, results and stats of his favorite sports team — all from a one-tap access interface. With the recent release of the iPhone and iPod touch 3.0 software update, the new ESPN ScoreCenter will also feature push notifications.

Results are available for:

• Football/Soccer
• Baseball (MLB)
• American Football (NFL)
• Basketball (NBA)
• Ice Hockey (NHL)
• NCAA College Football, Basketball
• NASCAE, Formula 1, Indycar
• Golf
• Tennis
• Cricket & Rugby are both coming soon

Sports Radio (99 cents)
Is your sports fan Dad a multinational sports fan Dad? Place the world of sports radio into the palm of his hand with a single app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Not only can your dad tune in to over 6,400 sports radio stations around the world, but with the newly added Facebook and Twitter integration, he can keep his friends in the know as well.

Notable Features

• Includes users favorite MP3 iTunes stations
• Pick from favorites or recently played stations
• Includes Public Radio streams and over 2,100 MP3 stations from Europe, Australia, and Canada
• Dynamic directory for adding new directories and stations without application updates, 
email links to a station stream to friends using iPhone or iPod touch Mail application,
 Radio for iPhone supports MP3 and AAC stream formats and then some

The Athletic Dad

Yoga STRETCH (99 cents)
Now don’t let the womanly image fool you; these days yoga is a very acceptable, manly athletic activity (and I’m not saying so just because I do it — cough).

Having the mind in tune with the body through yoga has proven to yield many benefits, especially for me. These include lowering blood pressure, weight normalization, and an increase to energy and endurance levels. This progressive app displays traditional yoga poses at individual intervals and comes complete with a personal yoga instructor that walks students through a successful session. Since the application is designed exclusively for the iPhone and iPod touch, your athletic Dad can strike his pose in his office or from the comfort of his own hiding place.

Notable Features

• Consists of traditional yoga poses sequencing with a Vinyasa flow
• Designed to improve strength, balance, posture and flexibility
• A personal yoga instructor walking each through a full session including audio commentary, images and music

iFitness ($1.99)
If your athletic Dad doesn’t happen to be the posing, flexing type, iFitness may just be what he needs for an all-around healthy, accurate and comprehensive workout. Forget about breaking the bank to get your dad a personal trainer for Father’s Day — a single solution has been developed just for the tech- (and financially-) savvy individual and it’s available on none other than the iPhone and iPod touch.

Notable Features

• Over 110 beautifully illustrated exercises with accompanying text
• Favorites option to create your own custom routine
• Preset routines that our experts have made for reaching different goals
• Exercises organized by the muscles they target

The Business Dad

TravelTracker with TripIt ($7.99)
With just one tap you can download all of your trip information into TravelTracker. Not only will it download each of the your critical trip details, such as flights, hotel reservations and car rentals, but it also goes the extra mile to fetch the pertinent details of your trip, such as your meetings, activities, notes and yes — even your restaurant reservations. Yum!

Does your airport lack sufficient mobile coverage and/or is not yet equipped with free Wi-Fi? Never fear! TravelTracker with TripIt works sufficiently offline just as beautifully as it does online. Oh, and if you’re still trying to figure out what exactly TripIt is, check out this amazing free add-on: tripit.com.

TravelTracker is your all-in-one virtual travel assistant and companion. It stores all vital information for your trip and displays it in a convenient optimized itinerary screen that allows you to record all of the key aspects you need before, during and after your trip. This is every business Dad’s winner.

Notable Features

• One-touch flight status
• Customizable packing lists
• Records all details of your travel expenses
• Record-keeping of all of your frequent traveler award programs
• Airplane database with link to seating charts
• Email your itinerary and expenses to contacts
• Download current weather conditions & forecasts for your chosen airport
• Download current exchange rates to determine your trip total in your own currency

Currency (Free)
These days, with business deals flowing like water across oceans, the Internet has skyrocketed business transactions into oblivion and the only way for your business Dad to keep up with the world’s currencies is through a single intuitive application such as Currency. This app provides the latest conversions in every exchange language (18 languages, to be exact) and in every currency (which total 90 currencies for over 100 countries).

Notable Features

• 18 exchange languages
• Up-to-date exchange rate information for over 90 currencies and 100 countries
• Common currencies: Dollar, Pound, Yen, Peso, Dinar, Yuan, Baht, Dirham, Real, Kuna, Riyal, Lira plus many others

The Single Dad

Urban Spoon (Free)
No single Dad will ever be without ideas as to where to take the kids (or a hot date) for the best eats in town! With similar functionality as Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner, the shake of the iPhone or iPod touch will jolt Urban Spoon into emulating the function of a classic slot machine to present a random restaurant pick in the vicinity. Another shake will simply pull up another selection — and just keep on shaking until satisfied. Arm getting tired yet? Just set a lock on any of the three criteria items (Neighborhood, Cuisine, Price) to narrow the selection.

Notable Features

• Use GPS to find a restaurant nearest you
• Filter by Neighborhood, Cuisine and Price
• Search and browse local restaurant and check out their reviews
• See a list of all nearby restaurants
• Compare restaurant picks with your friends

NYTimes App (Free)
For the single Dads (or really any dad) who are always on the go, they’ll never miss a beat (or an important news update) from the newly polished NYTimes App. No longer is this news application painfully sluggish, as its version 1.0 predecessor was. In fact, NYTimes App zips across the wire to download up-to-the-minute news in a flash and even works just as feverishly offline or in airplane mode (just as long as the app has downloaded the articles previously, which is still quite instant).

Notable Features

• Gorgeous and sophisticated interface
• Access to the latest articles and photos of the day
• Customizable toolbar with favorite sections of NYTimes.com
• Read anywhere – After a quick sync, articles and photos are available offline

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G’day fellow Apple Enthusiasts! I’m Peter Venero writing from the land down under! Just to be clear, I’m not actually Australian — but rather an “American Transplant” (as they call me) living in gorgeous Sydney, Australia.

I’ll be the first to admit; I don’t boast the chops of my fellow contributors here at TheAppleBlog. I didn’t grow up on a Mac (my first Mac was the Titanium Powerbook G4, which was when OS X made it’s debut); and I’ve definitely never worked for Apple so therefore, I’ve never had any random run-ins with Steve.

What I can say however, is that I’m a true Apple enthusiast. In fact, although I love my career as a business owner and design professional, I’ve actually contemplated applying for a casual weekend job at my local Apple Store as a Personal Shopper just so I could help others find the Apple product that would make them glow. There’s just something serendipitous that I find quite therapeutic about tailoring a solution for someone’s home or business so they too can live in a sophisticated and simplified world.

So I figure, that’s my goal here at TheAppleBlog — to show that through the Mac, we can all live and work harmoniously. I look forward to engaging with you by bringing you “How-To” articles as well as Application reviews for both Mac and iPhone. It will be my pleasure to usher you the sweetness of Apple and to show the others that the grass really is greener!

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