Toddlers (Aged 2 to 6)

Fish School HD ($1.99)

This great-looking app teaches your kids their letters, numbers, shapes colors and provides a selection of games that will keep your inquisitive young child amused for hours. The developer behind Fish School HD, Duck Duck Moose, has a strong history of delivering quality kids’ content for the iPhone platform, so you can rest assured you’re in the hands of experts with this one. A free-form playtime mode provides an interactive environment for kids to just have fun with when the learning aspects get old.

Color & Draw ($1.99)

Color & Draw has all the fun of finger painting, but without the mess. This versatile app features a library of 50 custom images to choose from, and has a drawing feature that allows them to sketch and complete partial images, guided by voice over instructions. Another great feature allows you to import your own images, so mom and dad can create their own images once the library gets boring.

Tweens (Aged 6 to 12)

Story Patch ($4.99)

I used to love writing stories and making picture books when I was a kid, and Story Patch brings that to the iPad with additional tools that should make story time enjoyable for all. The app includes more than 800 illustrations to choose from, and also features customizable characters, the ability to import from the iPad’s photo library, and PDF sharing. You can use Story Patch’s guided mode for younger children, which has users answer questions and generates a story automatically, or kids can take full control themselves.

Strip Designer ($2.99)

In the same vein as Story Patch, Strip Designer lets you create your own tale, but this time you use your own photos and create comics. You can add text balloons and sound effects, choose from a number of layout templates, and even import your own fonts. It’s a great distraction for comics-crazy boys and girls, and very easy to use.

Teens (Aged 12 to 16)

Beejive IM or IM+ ($9.99 or Free)

Oh, the messaging. When will it end? At least if they’re chatting with friends, your teenage kids won’t be fighting amongst themselves or complaining of boredom. Both of these apps provide access to most major IM services, including AIM, MSN, and, most importantly, Facebook. This one requires data access to use.

VEVO HD (Free)

When I was young, we had MTV for music videos. Nowadays, MTV basically just shows reality programming and the occasional award show. VEVO HD is the dedicated iPad app for the YouTube/record label partnership that sees music videos available for online streaming on the web. I find the app to have a relatively limited library, but it does have a lot of today’s chart-toppers. This is another app that needs a data connection, but the app itself is at least free. Be warned that some of the content here may not be suitable for all audiences, so exercise your own discretion.

Apps for Everyone

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 ($4.99)

This game is great for all ages, especially now that there’s a virtual D-pad, introduced in a recent update. It provides hours and hours of gameplay, and does so without managing to feel too repetitive or boring. Plus, it makes unique use of the iPad’s touch interface, and it’s a universal app, so it works on both iPad and iPhone.

Fun Felt ($2.99)

Some teens might scoff at this one, but everyone else, from small kids to adults, will probably love it. Basically it lets you create your own virtual felt crafts, by combining different shapes and colors creatively. You can even add text and share your creations via email or save it to your device’s local library.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

• How to Market Your iPhone App: A Developer’s Guide
• Mobile App Developer Survey: Profiles, Platforms and Monetization
• App Developers: Are You Ready for HTML5 and Metered Data?

Many feature phones from other parts of the world have QR readers built-in, but not the iPhone. Fortunately, we have the App Store. I tested a whole range of different QR reader iPhone apps, and picked out five of the best. All are free to download. I tested each with three QR codes representing different content: a phone number, a piece of text (The quick brown fox…), and a URL (http://theappleblog.com).

#5: QR App

The interface for QR App can be a little confusing; in scan mode, what looks like the standard camera app shows up, making it seem as though you have to press the shutter button then the Use button. However, this isn’t the case — if the app detects a QR code anywhere in its view, it’ll automatically take the photo and read the barcode. I did have some trouble getting it to recognize codes sometimes, though.

Another annoyance I had with QR App was that the app will automatically open Safari or the Phone app without prompt f the code contains a URL or a phone number. Sometimes I like to be able to grab the information, but use it later on. The app does save a history of the codes you read, but I just don’t like the way it switches apps without asking permission first.

#4: i-nigma 4

There are two versions of i-nigma: i-nigma 4 for devices running iOS 4 and the other made for iOS 3. Like QR App, i-nigma saves a history of the codes you’ve read. However, i-nigma has a few sharing options for the codes in your history. You can display the code itself on your device’s screen for someone else to scan, or you can share on Facebook and Twitter. Unfortunately, sharing on social networks requires closing the app and opening the i-nigma website in Safari.

i-nigma has a few limited customization options: You can change the sound which plays when you scan a code, choose whether codes are automatically saved in the history, and whether you want URLs to be launched instantly or not. You can also save phone numbers you pick up into your contacts. It’s not the most flexible of apps, but it also isn’t the worst.

#3: TapReader

I’ll start with a downside to TapReader: when you launch the app for the first time, you need to give it an email address and set up a password, which it says is so that your QR codes are saved to your account for later viewing. However, the app has a local archive of recent QR codes, so I don’t see the need for an account.

My favourite feature of TapReader is that, although it can be a little hard to find at first, there’s a mode where you can scan multiple codes in succession without visiting the archive between scans. There may not be many occasions where you need to scan more than one code in a row, but at events like trade shows where you might be meeting a lot of people at once, it could come in handy.

There are also some settings in the app which allow you to turn off sound and vibration, and to decide which data types automatically launch other apps. This is good if you’d like phone numbers to automatically dial, for instance, but you don’t want URLs to open automatically.

#2: QR Scanner

Coming in at an extremely close second, QR Scanner is fast; you don’t have to align the code with the scanner on-screen; and it has settings similar to TapReader’s, which allow you to customise the apps which automatically launch when you scan a code. In its Recent Scans view, you can tap an item and have the option to open it with the appropriate app (it even suggests View on Map for addresses), or copy it to the clipboard.

The only reason QR Scanner falls to second is because of its interface. To put it simply, it’s ugly. Look at the screenshots in the gallery below for proof. Other than that, I can’t fault the app, but when it comes down to it, this is an iPhone, so I expect my apps to look good and work well.

#1: QR Reader for iPhone

The developers of QR Reader for iPhone got it exactly right. It’s the quickest to scan out of the five apps; it has a huge range usability and sharing options; and it also looks good.

When you read a code, the app will show you a “details” view which allows you to launch another app to open the information, except text and URLs, which both open within the app itself. For URLs, there’s a built-in web browser which cuts out the need for launching Safari. There are ads within the web browser view, but that’s a small price to pay with an app as nice as this.

Tapping Share in the details view brings up a list of ways to get the information out of the app, including email, Facebook, Twitter and Copy to Clipboard. The Facebook and Twitter options post to the service without leaving the app, so once you’ve logged in the first time, it’s a one-step process from then on.

Like I said, QR Reader for iPhone is the best app of the five, so if you’re going to download just one code reader, make it this one. Happy scanning!

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

• Shopping Matters When it Comes to Location-Based Apps
• Transient Apps: The Consumer Influence on Enterprise Mobility, Part 2
• Why Google’s “Favorite Places” Will Push QR Codes Into the Mainstream

Easy Books (Free)

Easy Books was anything but! For a business using strict accounting methods, I’m sure the application has merit, but for balancing your checkbook and tracking credit cards, it doesn’t cut it. The app gives you a variety of templates to choose from, but it was extremely confusing for tracking money coming into and out of accounts.

Annoyingly, all data must be entered by hand since there’s no direct bank download option. The in-app purchase option does give business owners the option to create invoices ($16.99) and track hours worked ($12.99) on the iPad, but without a desktop companion application, all your work has to be done on-device.

MoneyDance(Free)

MoneyDance acts as a satellite application to its desktop version ($49.99). Transactions can be edited and classified on the iPad, but account setup and transaction downloads must be done on your computer. Synchronization with the desktop was clunky, requiring you to type a very long string of alphanumerics to establish pairing, a process which wasn’t always successful.

As a cross-platform Java-based app, MoneyDance was slow and clunky and not very Mac-like. If all you want to do is modify transactions while away from your desktop, MoneyDance for the iPad will suffice, but otherwise, this app is probably one to avoid.

PocketMoney ($4.99)

PocketMoney has the potential to be a great financial management app. The program can stand on its own, and allows you to add accounts and transactions. Budgeting is included, as are options for in-app upgrades for charting ($2.99) and photo receipt tracking ($.99).

It also synchronizes with a full cross-platform desktop client. And though this release doesn’t yet allow for direct downloads from banks, the feature is slated for a future release. If you just want to track your checkbook and credit cards and don’t mind typing in transactions directly, PocketMoney is an excellent choice for the average user.

SplashMoney($4.99)

SplashMoney is by far the most powerful iPad financial app out there, and it’s extremely easy to use: a rare combination when dealing with money. SplashMoney can run fully independent of the desktop. Setup of accounts, budgets and reports can all be done on the iPad.

Unique among its competitors is the ability to download transactions from your bank while away from the desktop. The ability to fully manage credit card downloads while away from a computer is a killer feature. Obviously, printing of reports or registers isn’t currently supported by the iPad OS, but that will likely change in iOS 4.2.

Because SplashMoney fully supports .qif import and export, I can try it without commitment, but I suspect as time marches on, I’ll have a long-term relationship with this app.

PageOnce Premium($6.99)

PageOnce is a direct competitor in terms of both features and benefits to Mint. Unfortunately Mint doesn’t yet have an iPad app.  Like Mint, PageOnce downloads your transactions from your bank and credit cards in order to give you a dashboard view of your spending, and is nearly identical to its web counterpart.

No direct registers are supported and an Internet connection is required for usage. PageOnce take full advantage of the iPad’s real estate to give you a great overview of your financial situation. The application and its website counterpart don’t allow for budgeting or reclassification of transactions. Many users will find this annoying, but fortunately no commitment is involved, so you can test it out for yourselves.

Unlike Mint, PageOnce gives you a dashboard view of your entire digital life and includes your frequent flyer miles, gift cards, social media accounts, etc. If it can be accessed via the web, PageOnce has it. The Premium version includes the ability to password lock the application, and additional travel options.

I can’t recommend the free version because of the inability to secure the data in the app. Lovers of Mint will find this application just as sweet with a few extra benefits.

Overall, Splash Money seems to be the only mature application in the iPad financial management field and is the recommended choice. PageOnce is a great alternative or companion to existing applications out there, but shame on them for not allowing free users to lock and protect their data.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

• Who Owns Your Data in the Cloud?
• Can Anyone Compete With the iPad?
• How to Manage Consumer-Grade Collaborative Tools in the Workplace

Instant messaging apps on the iPad underscore the fact that the iPad is more likely to stay in my bag than be used while out and about. Very rarely do I have a serious conversation via IM, and I tend to use it as a form of text messaging while I’m on the train home or running errands. However, I do find myself using an iPad IM client when I’m using the device as an accessory computer. Often, while playing a game on my Mac, I’ll have the iPad next to me with an IM client open.

Last year, I wrote an article highlighting 10 Instant Messaging Apps for the iPhone. This year’s iPad version is slightly different. As with the iPhone apps, I found it really came down to BeejiveIM, IM+ Pro, and AIM, so I’m going to take a closer look at those this time.

Before I get to the analysis, here are a few explanations: Both BeejiveIM and IM+ connect to the usual services: AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, MySpace, Yahoo and Facebook. IM+ also connects to Skype chat and Twitter. AIM will connect to AIM, MobileMe, and Facebook.

Obviously, none of these will connect to any proprietary corporate IM service.

You can also change your background in both paid apps, but I find that to be of limited value.

Beejive IM ($9.99)

I’ll get the one big strike against Beejive out of the way early: It’s not a Universal app, so if you own the iPhone version, be prepared to pony up another 10 bucks.

Of the two paid apps, I feel Beejive has the better interface. The screenshot below is a sample shot, but under where it says “new chat” is where the list of active chats is displayed. It’s very easy to see who’s online and what chats you have going.

One feature BeejiveIM has that I couldn’t find in IM+ is the ability to e-mail the chat log. This is very handy if you need a record of the conversation. I’ve never used it, since most of my chats seem to be about why the Red Sox bullpen is imploding this year as opposed to discussions of actual work, but that feature may be necessary for those using IM on the iPad for business discussions.

I didn’t run into any major problems using Beejive, but I’ve seen reports of folks having crashing issues when they reviewed this on the App Store.I didn’t encounter any stability issues.

IM+ Pro ($9.99)

Unlike BeejiveIM, IM+ Pro is a universal app, so you can buy it once and it use it on both devices. I’m not a big fan of the interface, however. BeejiveIM has one window that shows active chat participants, the chat you’re typing in, and your contacts list, but with IM+ Pro, it’s a toggle between chat participants and contacts. It’s not a gigantic hassle, and the chat window itself is larger this way, so depending on your likes, it can be a wash. I did find myself warming to it over time. You can also send voice messages via this app. Also available (as an in-app purchase) is speech recognition for messages.

I mentioned it earlier, but it bears repeating: IM+ also connects to Skype chat as well as Facebook.

While BeejiveIM had no noticeable stability issues, I can’t say the same about IM+. One time I got an error when sending a message telling me the account was disconnected, but the account settings showed me still active. (I had actually dropped off, according to the person I was messaging.) I also noticed frequently it would say “reconnecting” when I launched the app to send a message, and according to my lucky test subject, I’d also dropped off the wire. It appears there may be some serious issues with this app staying connected, at least through Google Talk.

IM+ Lite (Free)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention IM+ has a free version. This version differs from the paid version in two notable ways: It doesn’t connect to Skype chat, and there are small ads at the bottom of your chat window. You also don’t get the ability to purchase of speech recognition in-app.

AIM (Free)

If you’re lucky and all your friends just use AIM, the free AIM app is likely all you need. My testing with this falls into the “very limited” category since most of my contacts are scattered across the IM service sands. Given that limited testing, I give it a cautious Mark Crump It Seems To Work Just Fine award.

Conclusion

Going into this, I felt this was IM+ Pro’s battle to be lost. Given that it’s a universal app, I hoped that would give it the edge. Unfortunately, the connection problems were too frequent for me ignore. Therefore, my choice in the multi-protocol IM client battle is BeejiveIM. Yes, it sucks you need to pay twice if you’ve got the iPhone version, but a lot of apps I own aren’t universal, so paying twice is something I’m grudgingly getting used to. If you just use AIM, then there’s nothing wrong with the free AIM for iPad app.

What iPad IM client do you prefer?

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Can Anyone Compete With the iPad?

Calorie Tracker — LIVESTRONG.COM ($2.99)

This application is an iPad version of Livestrong.com, a website developed by Demand Media and the Lance Armstrong Foundation (remember those ubiquitous yellow wristbands?). The iOS app is universal, and syncs your food diary among all your iOS devices and on the web.

Of all the apps I reviewed, Livestrong had the most extensive database of food and exercise. I was simply amazed at the details it had on various ethnic dishes and esoteric foodstuffs. You have no excuse for not counting your calories with this app, except if you lack an internet connection. Like many other apps, Internet access is required in order to track calories.

The user interface of the app features the standard yellow and black of the Livestrong brand, and is lacking in terms of pizazz. Every food entry shows up as a generic apple and any exercise shows up with a dumbbell icon. Although the application was best of breed in recording food and exercise, it made poor use of the screen size and power of the iPad. Still, this is the app I settled on for my own weight loss program due to its stellar database of information.

MyNetDiary — Food and Exercise Diary for iPad ($9.99)

Unlike Livestrong, MyNetDiary is a complete rewrite of their companion iPhone App, “My NetDiary,” and is sold separately. The use of screen real estate is outstanding, and the user interface is reminiscent of the top screen tabs of “Numbers.” Not only can you see what you ate for the day, but on the same screen you can see the calories, fat, carbs and protein breakdown to more accurately plan your next eating choice.

The other tabs in the app include “Plan,” in which you set your goals and calculate your Body Mass Index and your Basal Metabolic rate: two key factors in determining your weight loss strategy. “Exercise” is tracked in a separate tab and leaves rooms for notes so you can track how winded or refreshed you were after the workout.

Included with the app is a great little library of weight loss topics such as “the dreaded weight Plateaus” and “vegetarian diets.” Similar to Livestrong, the MyNetDiary website database requires internet access and syncs your data among your devices. MyNetDiary is an excellent use of the iPad features and is a great choice if you’d prefer a more feature-rich app, though with a slightly smaller food information database.

Calorie Counter by FatSecret for iPad (Free)

If you want most of the features of Livestrong and MyNetDiary, but don’t want to shell out the money, then FatSecret is the app for you. Fat Secret supports syncing to a website and other iOS devices and is ad-supported. This iPad-only app is very similar to its separate FatSecret iPhone counterpart, but uses the larger iPad screen to ease navigation and display more nutritional data.

Unique to FatSecret is the ability to scan or enter the barcode of the item you are eating and receive nutrition information if you’re connected to the internet. If you want to start tracking what you eat, but also want to save a few bucks, and don’t mind ads and a more limited food and exercise database, then this app is a great value.
GoMeals HD (Free)

For people who only want to track what they eat and have no desire to sync their food diary with other devices or a website, GoMeals HD might be the app for you. Unlike the previously mentioned apps, the database is accessible offline, making this app ideal for those calorie counters who don’t always have internet access.

The application is supported by the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis, but doesn’t have any direct ads. When the iPad is connected to the Internet, the map function will look up restaurants nearby so you can make healthy eating choices. This is a great free app for those needing basic calorie counting.

FoodTrackerPro – Daily Eating Log ($1.99)

If calorie counting isn’t your goal, and all you want is to be aware of what you eat, this universal app keeps things simple. Just click on the picture of the food group you ate from, mark the number of servings and you’re good to go. I’m not sure “sweets” count as a food group, but they’re included in FoodTracker.

This app contains no database and no syncing — just some pictures. The app might be good for those for whom literacy is a barrier to their calorie counting, and pictorial representations serve as a simple way to provide rudimentary tracking.

iFoodDiary($2.99)

For free-form entry of calories consumed, iFood Diary is a great app. Unlike Foodtracker, this is all about words. Write down what you ate, where you ate it, and any notes you want to add. Although the app doesn’t support syncing, it does allow you to email your diary to yourself and your nutritionist.

There you have it! Of course, none of these will actually remind you to log what you eat, but they should at least provide a helping hand on the path to weight loss.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Why Apple Hasn’t Sewn Up the Tablet Market — Yet

I was first introduced to the world of tower defense games a couple of years back with the venerable Desktop Tower Defense. I do have to admit that I wondered if the whole idea of the game, placing various types of gun turrets to try and annihilate a group of small creatures/people before they can escape from you, might indicate some deep homicidal impulse on my part. But when I realized that the creatures where aptly named “creeps,” my worries dissipated.

When the iPhone came along it was immediately apparent to me that this was the perfect platform for tower defense games, with the touch screen an excellent way to place my maze of death. Sure enough the genre has sprouted no fewer than 49 different iPhone games for those who share my intense desire to keep creeps from crossing the screen. I’m not going to tell you which are my favorite, that will come later, but I am going to try and give you a complete snapshot of what’s available in the App store today. Because, let’s face it, if you don’t have at least half a dozen of these installed you’re not really exercising your homicidal instincts to their full potential.

geoDefense

Price: $1.99 (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 4.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: Futuristic Tron-like graphics, high-speed gameplay and path oriented maps.

geoDefense Swarm

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: 4.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: Same purposefully (I hope) unsophisticated, futuristic graphics as the standard geoDefense, but with an open field approach to maps.

TowerMadness: 3D Tower Defense

Price: $2.99 (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: This games gives you a reason for your killing, to protect your sheep from aliens. Also you get a 3-D interface, although the graphics leave something to be desired.

Fieldrunners

Price: $2.99
Current Rating: 4.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: Fieldrunners offers a relatively vanilla tower defense experience, but is distinguished by its extremely smooth interface and high quality graphics.

Star Defense

Price: 99 cents (free “prelude” version also available)
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: This space-based tower defense game has you playing on small worlds that you can rotate and zoom into. The graphics are definitely the key feature here.

Dungeon Defense

Price: 99 cents (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: In this version of tower defense you play the bad guys, in the form of skeletons, and you kill the heroes. I kind of like that idea. There does seem to be a limited amount of gameplay, however, with only three skeleton types to place.

Sentinel: Mars Defense

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: 4 stars
Distinguishing Features: You place towers to defend Mars from aliens. There seem to be a good selection of tower types and the graphics look impressive.

Sentinel 2: Earth Defense

Price: $2.99
Current Rating: 4 stars
Distinguishing Features: The same idea as its predecessor Mars Defense, only this time the alien buggers are invading earth. Impressive graphics are once again the highlight of this tower defense game.

Navy Patrol: Coastal Defense

Price: $1.99
Current Rating: 4 stars
Distinguishing Features: Tower defense on the water, you place your navy to defend against an invader. Graphics are not overly impressive and the interface can get a bit cluttered, but gameplay seems to be deep.

The Creeps!

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: 4 stars
Distinguishing Features: This time the creeps aren’t just trying to innocently cross the screen, they’re trying to get under your bed! This take on the tower defense genre offers cute graphics and some interesting features like destroyable terrain.

TapDefense

Price: Free
Current Rating: 4 stars
Distinguishing Features: Solid graphics and gameplay seem to be marred by some user complaints about advertisements. Still, it’s hard to argue with free.

7 Cities

Price: $2.99
Current Rating: 4 stars
Distinguishing Features: Coastal tower defense, you build towers next to waterways to destroy invading ships. Towers can gain experience to get more powerful. The graphics are impressive and you can even build your own maps.

Battle Field – Nuclear Bomb

Price: $2.99 (free version also available)
Current Rating: 4 stars
Distinguishing Features: A wide selection of towers, with 10 different types. There’s also a leveling system and, of course, nuclear bombs.

TowerDefense

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: Not available
Distinguishing Features: Cartoonish graphics look decent but the description is strangely short and there aren’t enough ratings to merit a score. I kind of feel bad for the developer.

A Bugs Defense

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: 2 stars
Distinguishing Features: The premise is pretty simple, bugs are invading the house and you stop them with various insecticides. The graphics are cute and cartoonish. Unfortunately there seem to be some game-play “bugs” that bother reviewers.

SG Tower Defence

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: 2 stars
Distinguishing Features: Graphics are… unimpressive. There’s a strange wooden background to everything and the towers and creeps look like something out of 1985, and not in a good retro way.

Besiegement

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: Interesting mix of graphics for a fairly vanilla tower defense game. The point of view is different from most, and you do have a good selection of tower types.

Port Defender – 2D Tower Defense

Price: $1.99 (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 2.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: Not a lot special here, the graphics aren’t anything to swoon over and the selection of maps and towers are pretty standard.

Warp Defense

Price: Free
Current Rating: 2.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: I was a bit curious to see how the “warp” in the title would be implemented in the game, but it turns out it’s just a path-based tower defense game with laser-showesque graphics.

Dragon Slaughter Episode I

Price: $2.99 (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: Fantasy oriented game with excellent graphics. Interesting tower purchasing system requires you to combine orb types, with various strength and weaknesses.

Ninja TD

Price: $2.99
Current Rating: 4 stars
Distinguishing Features: OK, there are Ninjas, what else do you want? Well, there also seem to be some beautiful graphics here, along with magic based ninja powers. Unfortunately your enemies are not pirates.

Moonlight Minions

Price: $1.99
Current Rating: 4 stars
Distinguishing Features: Impressive graphics, with an underground path-oriented theme. Your “towers” are various fungal compositions, I’ll let you make what you will of that.

Garden War

Price: 99 cents (free version also available)
Current Rating: 4 stars
Distinguishing Features: A pest oriented tower defense game, in this one you defend your garden from various creepy buggers. Maps appear to be path-oriented and graphics are very good.

TriDefense

Price: $3.99 (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: This version of tower defense offers decent graphics and some interesting features for example creeps can appear from anywhere on the screen and you can modify the terrain.

Bloons Tower Defense

Price: $2.99
Current Rating: 4.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: In this path-based tower defense game you want to pop the escaping balloons, but you get to use dart-throwing monkeys to do it, sounds good to me.

Booom Brigade

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: An interesting mix of shooter and tower game. You get three types of troops to fire at the incoming creeps, but they don’t do it automatically, instead you have to draw their attacks onto the screen. Reviewers indicate it’s a hard proposition.

Defender Chronicles – Legend of The Desert King

Price: $3.99
Current Rating: 4.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: Fantasy oriented path-based tower defense game with a leveling system for your general that gives you bonuses for troop types.

Zombie Attack!

Price: $2.99 (free version also available)
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: There are zombies, you need to kill them…pretty self-explanatory really. The best part is the hand drawn (as in pencil on lined paper) tower picker.

Tribal Trouble Tower Defense

Price: $2.99
Current Rating: 2 stars
Distinguishing Features: Decent graphics and interface, but be warned that there’s only one level in this game.

Kill All Bugs!

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: Basic tower defense game except the creeps are giant bugs. Graphics are nothing impressive, but there does seem to be a good depth of gameplay.

Hextop Tower Defense

Price: 99 cents (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: Yes, it’s hexagonal, apart from that there’s nothing special here.

iDefend

Price: $1.99 (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: A lot of gameplay with 36 levels, but you better be a fan of retro graphics.

Exal Tower Defense

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Features: A basic open field tower defense games with mediocre graphics.

Mote-M

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: Another basic tower defense game, this one with path-oriented maps.

Nemesis Defence

Price: $1.99
Current Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Features: Path-based tower defense game with a good selection of towers but only three different maps.

Circuit Defenders

Price: $1.99 (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: The premise is that you’re defending a circuit board from viruses. The graphics are… not bad. The gameplay is endless, and by that I don’t mean that you will want to play forever (although you might) but rather that you keep on going until you’ve lost all your lives.

Retro Defense

Price: $3.99 (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: Retro arcade style tower defense game with path-oriented maps and 15 levels.

Sweetwater

Price: $2.99 (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: This coastal defense oriented game features some very nice graphics and 3D effects. Be prepared, however, that this one is no pushover, reviewers rate it as one of the hardest tower defense games they’ve played.

Last Portal

Price: $1.99
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: The graphics are a bit simple, but well designed. The interesting feature of this game is that you need to defend a central point rather than a maze or a side of the screen.

Galactic Invasion

Price: $1.99
Current Rating: 2.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: Your towers in this game are orbital emplacements to stop alien invaders from reaching earth. Unfortunately the interface seems a bit difficult to use.

INKoming

Price: $1.99 (free lite version also available)
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: Interesting resource management features require you to turn towers on/off to make the best use of your capabilities.

touchDefense

Price: $3.99
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: Simple but well designed graphics in this basic tower defense game.

Defense Station Touchable

Price: $2.99
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: Average graphics and a pretty standard path-based setup without a ton of depth.

TowerDefend

Price: $1.99
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: Nice if you like old arcade graphics, but not much else compelling here.

Mars Defence

Price: Free
Current Rating: 2.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: Very basic from graphics to gameplay. Reviews indicate this is a work in progress.

Tides of War

Price: 99 cents
Current Rating: 3 stars
Distinguishing Features: A mix of real-time-strategy and tower defense. You have both units and buildings that you can deploy on the map to keep an invading horde of pirates from overwhelming you.

Power Towers

Price: $1.99 (free version also available)
Current Rating: 3.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: There seems to be a lot of depth to the gameplay, with nine tower types and eight different mission types. The graphics look like something from the DOS era, however.

StopTheBoxes

Price: $1.99
Current Rating: 1.5 stars
Distinguishing Features: The developer says it’s a tower defense game, some of the reviewers agree, but I sure can’t figure it out.

Defense Grid Companion

Price: Free
Current Rating: 2 stars
Distinguishing Features: The graphics look nice, but there’s not a lot of information from the developer, nor a lot of reviews. Of course it doesn’t cost you anything to give it a shot.

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Despite feeds becoming a regular part of web sites, people continue to struggle with how to use them, and don’t want to have to schlep from site to site to find feeds that might interest them. Enter topic-based readers. With these services, you don’t need to seek out sites that cover the topics of interest to you. Instead, search for those topics and the service delivers what it thinks best fits your needs.

I’ve yet to find two sites offering topic-based aggregation doing things the same way. So your best bet is to try out the different services and see which suits you. The features you will most likely want to look at are topic selection, usability and “scannability.” You’ll discover that some sites are easier to use than others, while some do a better job of selecting and saving topics. The following four sites deliver content by topic to simplify your task of receiving content that interests you (Twine is another topic-specific aggregator that we’ve covered previously.)

ensembli

Your ensembli dashboard is divided into three zones: “Follow,” “Discover” and “Explore.” “Follow” lists the topics you’re following. “Discover” lists the latest articles about specific topics. You can rearrange and delete topics at will. Every headline in the “Discover” zone comes with a summary; email, Twitter and Facebook sharing options; a link to read the full story; the ability to “favorite” the article and the option to delete it. If you’re not looking for anything specific, then you might want to head to the “Explore” area for a list of hot topics and editor’s picks.

The well-organized dashboard makes it easy to navigate and use. The “Discover” section needs more rich content, as the current selections only return okay results, but the service is still new and undergoing improvement.

Evri

Evri, currently in beta, splits its contents into two main sections: one showing your current topic or collections and the other splitting the content into different types such as articles, images, videos, quotes and tweets. However, the service only offers a limited topics. For example, if you want to search for freelance-related topics, instead of retrieving articles about freelancing, Evri delivers content related to companies, brands, people and web sites.

While the service does have some conceptual topics like “small business,” “cash flow” and “email marketing,” its major focus is on people and companies.

The topic page has a cool visual that shows your current topic and its connections to other topics:

This demonstrates the limited topic selection. The “Small Business” map shows connections to companies, countries and products; nothing about finance, management or strategy. Evri is probably best suited to research on companies or individuals, not conceptual topics. It also has a few usability quirks, such as taking too many clicks to get where you want to go.

Guzzle.it

Guzzle.it is similar in approach to popurls. The aggregator posts all your topics and a handful of headlines in columns for easy scanning. Enter the keywords for your topics, and arrange the topics however you like. For trend followers, the service includes popular headlines, as well as the latest images.

The quality and accuracy of available headlines is mixed. Some articles are on target, while others don’t come close. You can’t delete any of the articles to improve your results or view more results — even though some high-quality sites might have more recent articles than those showing in the results. Guzzle.it does a good job with its organization, topics, customization and usability, but could stand improvement on the provided content. For example, the topic “writing” has results including articles on a business reporting financial losses, vintage coats, programming and Canadian town halls.

Lazyfeed

Lazyfeed provides live updates for your selected topics. The topic of “Writing” produces related subtopics of poetry, marketing, copywriting, business, books and so on, in order to narrow the topic’s results — a great feature. After browsing and discovering a topic you like, you can save the topic to receive real-time updates. When a topic receives an update, it moves to the top of your topics list. Getting around the service takes no time with its minimal design and status bar navigation.

You can block a site if you don’t like its content, but you can’t delete articles to move them out of your way. If you find a poor quality site, you can block and report the site.  Lazyfeed doesn’t like more than one word in topic titles, so instead of “social networking,” you’ll need to use “socialnetworking,” for example. Annoying, but it produces good results. You can read most articles of interest right inside Lazyfeed and share them on Twitter, Facebook or by email.

Lazyfeed has an original feature that allows you to “connect to a site.” You can connect to Twitter, Flickr, Delicious and blogs; once connected, results from those sites will start to feature in your feed. The very impressive Twitter results show hashtag topics, along with extra notes.

What content aggregator do you use? What do you like about it?

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Evernote (Free)

Evernote has quickly become the dumping ground for any information I come across on the Internet. I don’t even bother bookmarking anything anymore; I just clip it into Evernote. It’s very useful when I’m researching a paper — I’ll just tag an entry with the name of the paper, or create a notebook just for that class. Since Evernote keeps the URL for all clipped pieces, it’s very convenient when I go back to cite the work. I haven’t gotten to the point where it replaces a pen and paper notebook in class — or with my horrid handwriting, a text editor on my Mac. I do find myself combining the notes into an Evernote note. The iPhone app makes it very easy to reference a note in class, take notes, or clip URLs from Mobile Safari.

MobileMe iDisk (Free)

While I use Dropbox to sync my files between my Mac and my PC, the MobileMe iDisk app is forcing me to take a serious look at iDisk for cloud storage. It’s easy to throw files from instructors on my iDisk and view them on my iPhone. I take a ton of online classes and my instructors love PowerPoint. I can dump the syllabus, lectures, and any relevant PDFs on iDisk and read them on my commute. What’s also nice is it displays the files in whatever fonts were used in the document, even if they aren’t supported on the iPhone. You can also cache the most recently viewed files on your iPhone for viewing if you’re not attached to a network.

Quickoffice ($12.99)

The other app forcing me to look at iDisk is Quickoffice, which can read and write files to your iDisk (except iWork files and .docx formats — the latter coming in a future update). While I certainly wouldn’t want to write a full-length research paper on the iPhone, the app is handy for quick edits while waiting for class to begin or updating the syllabus when the darn teacher can’t make up his or her mind on when projects are due. Not that that’s ever happened to me, mind you. Quickoffice also has better text formatting than Evernote, so it might be easier to take notes on.

Things ($9.99)

Things has become my to-do manager of choice, especially when coupled with the desktop version ($49). Running you about $60 for the pair, it’s not cheap. Where it shines is in how easy it is to use. I’ll create a project for each assignment, and then group them in a big Area of Responsibility for each class. In class, I’ll update Things on my iPhone with assignments. Things also displays a badge showing how many items are due today — although, sadly, there’s no push notification for this

Peggle ($4.99)

Don’t look at me like that. Until you’ve had to sit through a four-hour slide show on History of Architecture, with a professor droning on about buildings, you can’t talk to me about playing Peggle in class. In all seriousness, Peggle is an incredibly addicting game where it is easy to play a level or three waiting for class to begin.

Since every time I run through a series of recommended applications I neglect to mention someone’s favorite app, now it’s your turn: what applications do you find you can’t get through a school day without?

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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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