Alarm: the one phone feature predating mobile internet and color screens, and as useful as any other feature to this day. Some of us find it hard to wake up each morning and getting to your ‘office’ on time is just as important if you are working from home as it is if you leave the house for work. Here’s a few alarm clock apps we recommend for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7 users.
The saying “there’s an app for that” has become incredibly trite given its short lifespan. No matter how common the saying might be, the fact of the matter is that there probably is an app for whatever you are looking for. With so many apps available for so many different platforms, app discovery has become a problem. To help ease the pain, we found some amazing discovery resources for all of your favorite platforms.
iOS App Discovery With hundreds of thousands of apps available through Apple’s App Store, finding the best measurement convertor can be a daunting task. AppShopper helps by not only providing recommendations, but also showing update history, reviews, and even price changes. AppShopper also has an iOS app along with RSS feeds so you never miss a chance to discover the next great app.
Android App DiscoveryBecause of the “open” nature of the Android platform, there are quite a few more resources that allow for more robust discovery on Android. AppAware is an application that allows users to find new apps by tracking installs, updates, and removals. AppAware goes a step further by adding location into the mix. This provides great exposure for local apps who thrive based on usage in a specific area rather than around the globe.
Chrome Web App Discovery Playing off the fact that there really is an app for almost everything, the Google Chrome extension – aptly named There’s a web app for that – provides users with app suggestions based on their browsing history. No need to randomly guess if there is a an app that could replace your web browsing. Now just browse normally and this extension will search for you.
If none of these work for you, or if you are looking for a more curated way to discover apps, the be sure to check out Unplggd’s Weekly App Recommendations, where we cover everything from mobile, to desktop, to web apps.
By Jesse Leikin
This story appears in partnership with Unplggd, a site for people who embrace technology and design in their home.
Often times we find ourselves complacent with the Windows and Mac applications that we already own. However, once you check out these great apps you will be wondering why you haven’t heard about or used all of these before. From design to productivity, we have you covered in this weeks edition of Unplggd’s Weekly Download Recommendations.
IrfanView: Great for beginners and experienced users, IrfanView is a freeware graphic viewer that has many unique and interesting features. This application supports a plethora of file types including Adobe Photoshop filters. For the incredible price of free, it’s hard to find a better option for the last majority of your photo needs (pictured above).
As the battle between traditional desktop apps and web apps rages on, there an interesting middle ground forming: desktop apps that bring the best features of web apps right to your desktop. As part of Unplggd’s Weekly Download Recommendations, this week we rounded up some of the best native applications that replace popular web apps. Now you don’t need to leave those same tabs open all the time in your browser; they’ll have their own home on your desktop.
Over on Twitter we’ve started a Twtpoll asking what iPad apps are helping you be more productive at work? I am pointing this out rather selfishly because we are FINALLY getting an iPad.
My husband is chief technology officer in the family. He’s my IT guy and general wizard when it comes to things you plug in (thankfully not in that weird Charlie Sheen wizard way). He is also a serious early adopter. I only realized how much I appreciated that when he decided we really should wait for the second generation iPad to come out. What!? We were going to have to wait for that gorgeous piece of design? Yep. Surely I need it for work. Surely. But after much discussion we agreed to wait. And the wait seemed eternal.
Tomorrow we have a date at the Apple store It’s our 11th wedding anniversary and we’re going to treat ourselves to the iPad 2. Romantic? For some, no. For us, yes! And let’s hope there are still some in stock. I am too old to camp out so we definitely wont be first in line at 5am when the store opens. I called Apple to find out if there was anything we could do to ‘book’ one and the guy just laughed at me. I even tried the wedding anniversary line and he wasn’t buying it. We’ll just have to line up like everyone else.
Let’s say that we will have that iPad in our hot little hands tomorrow. I would really like to know what apps you use. Which ones help your work life run more smoothly? I use Simplenote but there’s got to be so much more out there. Take the Twtpoll and I will report back in a week or so the results. Hopefully we’ll have a great list of apps to share.
