Have you ever wanted to copy or convert your personal collection of DVDs for backup or easy viewing on your Apple TV, only to be thwarted by CSS encryption? I feel your pain, and so do the good folks at Metakine. Lucky for us, Fairmount is here to help, and it’s free!

CSS, or Content Scramble System, is an approach used by most DVD manufacturers as a way to prevent unauthorized copies and unlicensed playback of DVD content. Unfortunately for consumers, this kind of digital rights management can be cumbersome for those who want to take advantage of their fair use rights. Fairmount makes setting aside this type of DRM extremely easy.

Fairmount works together with the VLC Media Player to decrypt your mounted DVD and replace it with a unencrypted disk image. It’s really simple to do. With a DVD mounted, just launch the Fairmount application and it will automatically and transparently hand off the decryption to VLC and then begin mounting a new decrypted image of the disk.

Once the DVD is decrypted, and the new disk image is mounted, you can then save the video files on to your network, convert them for playback on other devices, or burn the image back to a disk. The decryption is very fast and the exchange with VLC happens completely in the background. You even get a nice animation as the mounted DVD is smeared over with cream cheese, “Bagels are good!”

If you’re planning on burning the image to DVD, the Fairmount download comes bundled with another application from Metakine called DVDRemaster which will let you do just that. If you’re just interested in converting files for viewing on your Apple TV, iPhone, or iPod, I’d like to take this opportunity to recommend an excellent and free application called HandBrake.

Fairmount, VLC, and HandBrake are all free applications released under a General Public License. DVDRemaster is available in both standard and pro versions for $39.99 and $49.99, respectively.

The fear of freedom that Zengobi’s Curio offers users has caused me to write and rewrite this post many times over the past few months. I just haven’t known how best to embody its essence. So before I confuse (and frighten) myself more, I’m kicking this post off with my conclusion of Curio: It’s the ideal place to marry disparate pieces of information. Or more accurately, disparate pieces of information, each of which are organized in their own way — think Visio-style drawings, mind mappings, spreadsheets, outlines, etc. Curio is flexible enough to use for just about any data gathering or task organizing that you may be facing.

What Curio is Not

There are many applications on the market that fulfill fairly singular functions. XMind allows you to capture Mind Maps. Keynote helps you create great slides for presentations. Microsoft Office products like Word and Excel assist with creating somewhat formal collections of information. Quicktime can capture video.

Well, Curio is not any one of these things. Just the opposite, it’s all of these tools (and more) in a single package. At this point the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none” may be flitting through your mind. But while Curio doesn’t master the features of all of the aforementioned specialized applications, it certainly does a great job of handling the important functions of each — and then melding them together for a seamless user experience.

Features as Far as the Eye Can See

Covering all of Curio’s features and capabilities is better suited for a book, not a blog. But since I’m writing for TheAppleBlog, and not publishing my own book (or one for Zengobi — unless they’re hiring), I’ll just hit the most compelling points from this vast product.

Knowledge Base – Thinking of a Curio file as a Legal Pad may be a good place to begin. This Legal Pad contains all kinds of information you may want to keep track of — drag anything you want into Curio, create diagrams, record audio or video to embed into your document, snap images with your iSight or take screen grabs. And the list goes on. All of this information is flag-able, tag-able and searchable for later use. I’ve considered (though haven’t had the chance to try yet) using Curio in professional training courses to capture notes in a contextual manner.

Library – All of your content is kept in the Curio Library. So even if you’ve brought something into a Curio file and decided not to use it there, it can be stored in the Library for later use. This is a great way to keep important information available across all of your files.

Project Management/Task Tracking – Who knew Curio could function as a Project Manager? It’s no Microsoft Project, but you can certainly create tasks out of your Legal Pad notes. Those tasks can be assigned priorities and due dates. And then all of it can be tracked from within the Status view of Curio.

Flashlight – The systemwide search capability built directly into Curio is Flashlight…like Spotlight in OS X. This gives users a super simple and quick way to find anything to drag into your Legal Pad and associate with something you’re currently working on.

Sleuth – System files aren’t all you can grab, either. Sleuth is the built-in browser that allows you to search all kinds of web media and sites for things you may need to incorporate into your Legal Pad. Once you find what you want, drag the content of the search results, or the URL, into Curio’s workspace and do what you like with it.

Presentations – Because the content of your Curio file may be so diverse, converting it into a Keynote file for presentation may turn into a minor migraine headache. So why bother? Curio has its own presentation mode, which allows you to take full advantage of all the content you may have included in your notes (whether it be text, images, web links or movies).

Evernote – The go-anywhere note-taking solution (it’s great on the iPhone!) is integrated right into Curio. So anything you log in Evernote becomes immediately available for use directly inside your Legal Pad. Imagine the power of being able to capture ideas anywhere, and have them fully integrated into your note-capturing knowledge base built with Curio!

Extensibility – You can go to the Community part of Zengobi’s site and download different styles, themes and plug-ins to take your Curio notes to the next level.

Conclusion

The free-form methodology of Curio is truly powerful. No matter what kind of information you have, or how you want to mash it up, this is the software that will put it together for you, and make it completely usable and beautiful. But the power comes in the right situation and with the right user. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to decide what that situation is for my own use, and it frustrates me. You can purchase Curio in Standard or Pro versions — $99 and $149, respectively — or if you’re a student, you can get the Pro version for $69. Download a trial of Curio, and check out their Tutorinis (toward the bottom of the page) for more explanation and examples uses. You’re bound to find a great use for this amazingly flexible tool.

If you’re a Curio power-user, please share your use of this tremendous tool with the rest of our readers.

Presenter Pro is a learning resource for professionals and interns alike, coaching you in the ways of effective presenting.

There are three heroes of presenting for me: Merlin Mann, with his deliciously witty and yet precise style; Lawrence Lessig, who takes a high-speed, word-by-word approach; and of course, Steve Jobs, who is alternately expressive, passionate and evangelistic, all of which contributes to his famed reality distortion field.

While Rexi Media might not turn you into a Mann, Lessig or Jobs overnight, the company does specialize in enhancing your presentation skills. It organizes seminars across the U.S., designs bespoke presentation templates, and even has a virtual storefront in Second Life. Its app contains hundreds of tips, alongside an assortment of videos and even quizzes.

Before jumping into the review, it’s worth pointing out that, prior to going freelance as a journalist and creative consultant, one of my specialist areas was presentations — designing them, coaching colleagues, and even delivering them. Over the years, I’ve helped CEOs prepare for presentations, guiding them through the process and helping give their ideas structure. Plus, I’ve presented to some big companies, including 20th Century Fox, Taito, BBC and Marvel Comics.

With my previous experience in presentations, I was particularly keen to see if Rexi Media’s Presenter Pro would really distill all of the necessary strategies for effective presenting into a single iPhone app.

The app itself is split into four different sections: Home, Notes, Video and Checklist. Presenter Pro is, unlike many other e-learning iPhone apps, well-designed. It features large, clearly labeled buttons and is easy to navigate.

Learning At Home

The main hub of the app, Home, breaks down into different subject categories, such as Structure, Visuals and Gestures. Each section contains several paragraphs of text on a given topic; some even include video and audio, which enhances the learning experience.

The Home section guides you through constructing a presentation; from structuring your message to creating visuals all the way to the art of persuasion and projecting your voice. While some beginners may feel overwhelmed by the information overload, it’s important to note that these are all essential areas to cover.

Without proper guidance, though, I worry that certain techniques could go down like a party balloon that’s been dipped in lead, filled with pennies and dropped off the Eiffel Tower. And what’s more, these techniques could potentially be even more damaging to onlookers than the hypothetical effect of my extended simile.

For instance, there’s a section exploring the notion of incongruity — creating conflict or contradiction as a way of grabbing your audience’s attention. It seems like a risky technique, though, especially for beginners. There’s the possibility that it could irritate the audience, or worse, garner a feeling of doubt when you should be gaining the audience’s trust.

Watch And Learn

There are seven videos packaged with the app. It would be great to have more, though — even if it meant compromising on quality — as watching someone deliver information can be an incredibly effective approach for learning.

Each video is around a minute long. They explore salient techniques, such as building anticipation in your audience and using inquiry as a method for garnering interest in a given subject.

The videos don’t feature any instruction or tutorial; they’re simply fictional excerpts from larger presentations, making use of a certain technique. It would have been fun, and certainly more effective, to include a director’s commentary-style voiceover to enhance the learning experience.

It’s good to have these examples, though. However I worry that poor presenters, desperate to become more effective, will literally copy the lines from the video, rather than identifying the essence of the lesson and making use of it.

Summing Up

While there are a couple of questionable pieces of advice — not necessarily awful, just techniques that I wouldn’t advise a beginner makes use of — in general, the lessons are clear, concise and certainly appropriate for individuals looking to boost their presentation skills.

There are some cute extra features, too, like sending text to the Checklist section for future reference. Plus, the presentation tips are an unexpected, but certainly welcome feature, popping up at random intervals.

The iPhone is potentially a great medium for delivering rich learning experiences. While it’s not a replacement for the real thing, e-learning via the iPhone can reinforce real-world experiences. Paired with the opportunity to regularly test out your presentation skills regularly, Presenter Pro would prove to be an invaluable tool.

The great thing about Twitter is that there are a million different ways to both access and contribute to the content being shared there. The bad thing about Twitter is that there are a million different ways to both access and contribute to the content being shared there.

Nambu is a native OS X application for Twitter that packs advanced features with a slick user interface to help you make some sense out of all that control. Its latest release adds a couple of additional tricks on the search front by integrating continuously updated results from FriendFeed, OneRiot and Yahoo! News.

The Problem

I don’t know how many different tools for Twitter are available at the moment, but I’m sure that by the time I finish writing this, two new ones will have been released. For a while, my own improvised solution included Twitterrific, RSS feeds, MicroPlaza for meme tracking of external links, TwitterSpy via Adium for search tracking, Safari 140, and Newsfire for posting, and Growl for desktop notifications.

While my system worked well enough, it was nevertheless a pain to manage, especially across multiple machines. What I really wanted was a single, easy-to-manage application that would still provide the kind of fine control over the content that I was able to achieve with the convoluted solution above.

A Solution

Though still in beta, Nambu already offers a healthy set of features aimed at the advanced user. With support for multiple accounts and groups, you can organize those you’re following in a way that makes sense. Personally, I use accounts as a way to bring together users based on the level of quality in their posts and then, within each account, group users based on the type of content shared.

With search and trends functionality built in, you can quickly adjust a filter to return content of short-term interest for conferences like WWDC or for watching the buildup of mass hysteria over things like swine flu. Search results appear in a continuously updating stream and can be filtered by keyword or service.

Maybe the best thing about all this advanced user goodness is that it’s all wrapped up in a nice Cocoa package. If you’ve been stuck using janky Adobe Air applications, the slick user interface of Nambu will be a welcome respite. There are plenty of nice little touches like multiple visual layout options, control over Growl notifications for each account, visually threading @replies to make following conversations easier, and the ability to quickly jump to specific user windows.

Bottom Line

It’s not all sunshine and roses, though. Nambu still has a fair amount of work to do in the stability department as the application crashes more often than it should. The latest version (1.2) does seem more stable, but I’ve only been able to test it for the better part of a day. There is some talk from the developers about more fully featured support for FriendFeed and Facebook, but at the moment, those account options remain disabled. To be fair, it is still in beta, and I would expect the stability and feature set to improve as the application moves closer to a final version.

All in all, it’s the most full-featured native OS X Twitter client I’ve come across, though I still need to have a look at the two new ones that were released while I was writing this post. Do you have a favorite Twitter client of your own, or a custom built solution you want to share? Tell us about your approach in the comments or drop me a line on Twitter @BryanSchuetz.

Presenter Pro is a learning resource for professionals and interns alike, coaching you in the ways of effective presenting.

There are three heroes of presenting for me: Merlin Mann, with his deliciously witty and yet precise style; Lawrence Lessig, who takes a high-speed, word-by-word approach; and of course, Steve Jobs, who is alternately expressive, passionate and evangelistic, all of which contributes to his famed reality distortion field.

While Rexi Media might not turn you into a Mann, Lessig or Jobs overnight, the company does specialize in enhancing your presentation skills. It organizes seminars across the U.S., designs bespoke presentation templates, and even has a virtual storefront in Second Life. Its app contains hundreds of tips, alongside an assortment of videos and even quizzes.

Before jumping into the review, it’s worth pointing out that, prior to going freelance as a journalist and creative consultant, one of my specialist areas was presentations — designing them, coaching colleagues, and even delivering them. Over the years, I’ve helped CEOs prepare for presentations, guiding them through the process and helping give their ideas structure. Plus, I’ve presented to some big companies, including 20th Century Fox, Taito, BBC and Marvel Comics.

With my previous experience in presentations, I was particularly keen to see if Rexi Media’s Presenter Pro would really distill all of the necessary strategies for effective presenting into a single iPhone app.

The app itself is split into four different sections: Home, Notes, Video and Checklist. Presenter Pro is, unlike many other e-learning iPhone apps, well-designed. It features large, clearly labeled buttons and is easy to navigate.

Learning At Home

The main hub of the app, Home, breaks down into different subject categories, such as Structure, Visuals and Gestures. Each section contains several paragraphs of text on a given topic; some even include video and audio, which enhances the learning experience.

The Home section guides you through constructing a presentation; from structuring your message to creating visuals all the way to the art of persuasion and projecting your voice. While some beginners may feel overwhelmed by the information overload, it’s important to note that these are all essential areas to cover.

Without proper guidance, though, I worry that certain techniques could go down like a party balloon that’s been dipped in lead, filled with pennies and dropped off the Eiffel Tower. And what’s more, these techniques could potentially be even more damaging to onlookers than the hypothetical effect of my extended simile.

For instance, there’s a section exploring the notion of incongruity — creating conflict or contradiction as a way of grabbing your audience’s attention. It seems like a risky technique, though, especially for beginners. There’s the possibility that it could irritate the audience, or worse, garner a feeling of doubt when you should be gaining the audience’s trust.

Watch And Learn

There are seven videos packaged with the app. It would be great to have more, though — even if it meant compromising on quality — as watching someone deliver information can be an incredibly effective approach for learning.

Each video is around a minute long. They explore salient techniques, such as building anticipation in your audience and using inquiry as a method for garnering interest in a given subject.

The videos don’t feature any instruction or tutorial; they’re simply fictional excerpts from larger presentations, making use of a certain technique. It would have been fun, and certainly more effective, to include a director’s commentary-style voiceover to enhance the learning experience.

It’s good to have these examples, though. However I worry that poor presenters, desperate to become more effective, will literally copy the lines from the video, rather than identifying the essence of the lesson and making use of it.

Summing Up

While there are a couple of questionable pieces of advice — not necessarily awful, just techniques that I wouldn’t advise a beginner makes use of — in general, the lessons are clear, concise and certainly appropriate for individuals looking to boost their presentation skills.

There are some cute extra features, too, like sending text to the Checklist section for future reference. Plus, the presentation tips are an unexpected, but certainly welcome feature, popping up at random intervals.

The iPhone is potentially a great medium for delivering rich learning experiences. While it’s not a replacement for the real thing, e-learning via the iPhone can reinforce real-world experiences. Paired with the opportunity to regularly test out your presentation skills regularly, Presenter Pro would prove to be an invaluable tool.

The great thing about Twitter is that there are a million different ways to both access and contribute to the content being shared there. The bad thing about Twitter is that there are a million different ways to both access and contribute to the content being shared there.

Nambu is a native OS X application for Twitter that packs advanced features with a slick user interface to help you make some sense out of all that control. Its latest release adds a couple of additional tricks on the search front by integrating continuously updated results from FriendFeed, OneRiot and Yahoo! News.

The Problem

I don’t know how many different tools for Twitter are available at the moment, but I’m sure that by the time I finish writing this, two new ones will have been released. For a while, my own improvised solution included Twitterrific, RSS feeds, MicroPlaza for meme tracking of external links, TwitterSpy via Adium for search tracking, Safari 140, and Newsfire for posting, and Growl for desktop notifications.

While my system worked well enough, it was nevertheless a pain to manage, especially across multiple machines. What I really wanted was a single, easy-to-manage application that would still provide the kind of fine control over the content that I was able to achieve with the convoluted solution above.

A Solution

Though still in beta, Nambu already offers a healthy set of features aimed at the advanced user. With support for multiple accounts and groups, you can organize those you’re following in a way that makes sense. Personally, I use accounts as a way to bring together users based on the level of quality in their posts and then, within each account, group users based on the type of content shared.

With search and trends functionality built in, you can quickly adjust a filter to return content of short-term interest for conferences like WWDC or for watching the buildup of mass hysteria over things like swine flu. Search results appear in a continuously updating stream and can be filtered by keyword or service.

Maybe the best thing about all this advanced user goodness is that it’s all wrapped up in a nice Cocoa package. If you’ve been stuck using janky Adobe Air applications, the slick user interface of Nambu will be a welcome respite. There are plenty of nice little touches like multiple visual layout options, control over Growl notifications for each account, visually threading @replies to make following conversations easier, and the ability to quickly jump to specific user windows.

Bottom Line

It’s not all sunshine and roses, though. Nambu still has a fair amount of work to do in the stability department as the application crashes more often than it should. The latest version (1.2) does seem more stable, but I’ve only been able to test it for the better part of a day. There is some talk from the developers about more fully featured support for FriendFeed and Facebook, but at the moment, those account options remain disabled. To be fair, it is still in beta, and I would expect the stability and feature set to improve as the application moves closer to a final version.

All in all, it’s the most full-featured native OS X Twitter client I’ve come across, though I still need to have a look at the two new ones that were released while I was writing this post. Do you have a favorite Twitter client of your own, or a custom built solution you want to share? Tell us about your approach in the comments or drop me a line on Twitter @BryanSchuetz.

A little while ago, QuickOffice ($19.99, iTunes link) brought Word document editing to the iPhone. This week, however, QuickOffice officially loses its corner on that market with the introduction of Documents to Go ($4.99, iTunes link) by Dataviz, a seasoned contender.

The iPhone may not be my device of choice when it comes to doing significant edits to text documents, but in times of duress, it might be the quickest, most convenient, or even the only option available, so I like to have the capability. Let’s see which of these two apps will earn a place of honor on my springboard.

User Interface

Full-featured word processing on an iPhone might not make for a very pretty experience no matter how you slice it, but there are definitely ways to make it more or less pleasurable, depending on your UI choices. It’s a challenging task, taking the ribbon and/or menu bar of a full-featured desktop app and trying to somehow incorporate the same features into a mobile app interface.

Both Documents to Go and QuickOffice try to tackle the problem in much the same way: Store features in a menu bar across the bottom using expandable icons that open up to reveal more functions. While both apps use this feature, they both do so in a very different way, and you will probably vastly prefer one over the other, depending on your personal taste.

Documents to Go editing interface

QuickOffice editing interface

As for me, I like the implementation found in Documents to Go. The main difference between the two is a multipage menu bar that you can scroll by swiping left or right. It means that more features are available to you in fewer steps. There are three pages worth of menu bar items for word editing, including document info, bulleting and numbering. QuickOffice offers far fewer functions from its own bottom menu bar, although both include a very necessary document search function.

Some might prefer QuickOffice’s full-text menu list items, but I like the icons used by Documents to Go. They may be a little harder to grasp at first, but the space they save is well worth the learning curve.

Features

In both cases, most of the features are spot on in terms of what you’d expect from a mobile word editor. You won’t get table editing/creation capabilities, but you will get font and paragraph formatting, list creation, and copy and paste. Interestingly, neither takes advantage of the newly built-in copy/paste functions of OS 3.0.

QuickOffice loses out to Documents to Go by not allowing you to create numbered lists, only bulleted. But it does offer some macro-level features that definitely trump Dataviz’s offering. For one, it has MobileMe iDisk integration baked in, so that all you have to do is enter your credentials and you’re off. Another incredibly useful feature is the ability to email documents you create to anyone from right within the app. Documents to Go doesn’t even have an export to mail function.

Documents to Go does have the ability to sync with a desktop client they offer for free, and to save directly to the desktop should you so desire, as long as you have a network connection. I tend to prefer not having to install any client software on my Mac, though.

Usability

In terms of actual editing mechanics for individual documents, Documents to Go beats QuickOffice on usability. The interface is nicer, you have more control at your finger tips, and the keyboard button is more conveniently located. It’s also just much more pleasant to look at, in my opinion, which can be a big plus if you’re stuck staring at a small screen for any length of time.

With overall usability, though, QuickOffice takes the cake. Being able to share docs so easily via email and iDisk is a huge bonus, and loads easier than using Documents to Go’s desktop client sync.

Verdict

I actually had a hard time picking a winner in this rumble. For the purposes of this comparison, I was only looking at document editing, so I didn’t take into consideration the fact that Documents to Go can’t yet handle Excel file editing. That’s supposed to be on its way in a future update, though.

What I did look at was price. There’s a big difference between the two apps in that regard. QuickOffice is $19.99, and even QuickWord is $12.99. Documents to Go, on the other hand, is only $4.99 ($9.99 for a version with exchange support), and will eventually include Excel editing for no extra charge. That’s a quarter of the price of QuickOffice.

Given that the primary reason I’d even want to have a Word document editor on my iPhone in the first place is for quick edits at the request of a client or employer, and that I don’t use Microsoft Exchange-based email, I decided that the ability to share via email trumps any advantage Documents to Go has with pricing and usability. If future updates introduce Mail integration, consider my verdict officially reversed, but for now, I have to give this one to QuickOffice.

With Father’s Day just around the corner (Sunday, to be exact), we here at TheAppleBlog thought what better gift to get that special father in your life than a thoughtful yet handy iPhone or iPod touch application.

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

A little while ago, QuickOffice ($19.99, iTunes link) brought Word document editing to the iPhone. This week, however, QuickOffice officially loses its corner on that market with the introduction of Documents to Go ($4.99, iTunes link) by Dataviz, a seasoned contender.

The iPhone may not be my device of choice when it comes to doing significant edits to text documents, but in times of duress, it might be the quickest, most convenient, or even the only option available, so I like to have the capability. Let’s see which of these two apps will earn a place of honor on my springboard.

User Interface

Full-featured word processing on an iPhone might not make for a very pretty experience no matter how you slice it, but there are definitely ways to make it more or less pleasurable, depending on your UI choices. It’s a challenging task, taking the ribbon and/or menu bar of a full-featured desktop app and trying to somehow incorporate the same features into a mobile app interface.

Both Documents to Go and QuickOffice try to tackle the problem in much the same way: Store features in a menu bar across the bottom using expandable icons that open up to reveal more functions. While both apps use this feature, they both do so in a very different way, and you will probably vastly prefer one over the other, depending on your personal taste.

Documents to Go editing interface

QuickOffice editing interface

As for me, I like the implementation found in Documents to Go. The main difference between the two is a multipage menu bar that you can scroll by swiping left or right. It means that more features are available to you in fewer steps. There are three pages worth of menu bar items for word editing, including document info, bulleting and numbering. QuickOffice offers far fewer functions from its own bottom menu bar, although both include a very necessary document search function.

Some might prefer QuickOffice’s full-text menu list items, but I like the icons used by Documents to Go. They may be a little harder to grasp at first, but the space they save is well worth the learning curve.

Features

In both cases, most of the features are spot on in terms of what you’d expect from a mobile word editor. You won’t get table editing/creation capabilities, but you will get font and paragraph formatting, list creation, and copy and paste. Interestingly, neither takes advantage of the newly built-in copy/paste functions of OS 3.0.

QuickOffice loses out to Documents to Go by not allowing you to create numbered lists, only bulleted. But it does offer some macro-level features that definitely trump Dataviz’s offering. For one, it has MobileMe iDisk integration baked in, so that all you have to do is enter your credentials and you’re off. Another incredibly useful feature is the ability to email documents you create to anyone from right within the app. Documents to Go doesn’t even have an export to mail function.

Documents to Go does have the ability to sync with a desktop client they offer for free, and to save directly to the desktop should you so desire, as long as you have a network connection. I tend to prefer not having to install any client software on my Mac, though.

Usability

In terms of actual editing mechanics for individual documents, Documents to Go beats QuickOffice on usability. The interface is nicer, you have more control at your finger tips, and the keyboard button is more conveniently located. It’s also just much more pleasant to look at, in my opinion, which can be a big plus if you’re stuck staring at a small screen for any length of time.

With overall usability, though, QuickOffice takes the cake. Being able to share docs so easily via email and iDisk is a huge bonus, and loads easier than using Documents to Go’s desktop client sync.

Verdict

I actually had a hard time picking a winner in this rumble. For the purposes of this comparison, I was only looking at document editing, so I didn’t take into consideration the fact that Documents to Go can’t yet handle Excel file editing. That’s supposed to be on its way in a future update, though.

What I did look at was price. There’s a big difference between the two apps in that regard. QuickOffice is $19.99, and even QuickWord is $12.99. Documents to Go, on the other hand, is only $4.99 ($9.99 for a version with exchange support), and will eventually include Excel editing for no extra charge. That’s a quarter of the price of QuickOffice.

Given that the primary reason I’d even want to have a Word document editor on my iPhone in the first place is for quick edits at the request of a client or employer, and that I don’t use Microsoft Exchange-based email, I decided that the ability to share via email trumps any advantage Documents to Go has with pricing and usability. If future updates introduce Mail integration, consider my verdict officially reversed, but for now, I have to give this one to QuickOffice.

With Father’s Day just around the corner (Sunday, to be exact), we here at TheAppleBlog thought what better gift to get that special father in your life than a thoughtful yet handy iPhone or iPod touch application.

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