For digital-age music lovers, the biggest advantage that iTunes has is the ability to play well with large-scale music collections. Add-sort-search and other library management tasks could be done easily and flawlessly.

But to some people, two of those great features become iTunes major limitations. First, iTunes only manages and synchronizes to Apple music players i.e. iPods. And second, the only store accessible from iTunes is (obviously) Apple’s iTunes Store.

A DoubleTwist Mac Review – Considering the alternative

Not everybody have iPods and/or iPhones. And for those who own one, it’s very likely that they also have other gadgets. To be able to synchronize our music collection to these non-Apple gadgets, we need help from other sources.

There are several alternatives that available for Windows, but the option is more limited for Mac users. So I did some searching and one of the few tools that I managed to find is doubleTwist. We’ve covered it once before.

This app is available for Mac and Windows and promises to give users the ability to synchronize their collection to other multimedia-capable devices. It also provide alternatives to iTunes Store to purchase and download music: Amazon MP3 Store.

Being the opposite of a shopaholic (especially everything related to digital online shopping), I don’t think that I would use the store feature. But I surely could use some help in synchronizing my music and movie collections to my mobile devices.

The first impression

The first time you open doubleTwist, a log-in window will appear. If you already have an account, just fill in your email address and password and click “Log In”.

Or else, click “Create Account” to open the registration window, fill in the needed information and click “Sign Up”.

The first thing that I wanted to check after the main window open is how much of my system memory used by doubleTwist. Users from Windows version reported that this app is not memory-friendly. Sadly, the same thing goes for Mac version that I’ve tried.

It consumes a major portion of the memory, even when it’s idle. I tried to compare it with the idle iTunes and the result is a bit shocking.

But memory-hog aside, let’s see how useful this app really is.

Connecting the devices

I have to admit that I’ve prepared myself to do some copying from my collections into doubleTwist library. At the very least, there should be some folder synchronization process that I must go through. But I was wrong.

You’ll notice that doubleTwist automatically uses the Music folder plus the existing iTunes Music Library and playlists as its own “Music” Library. This really is a nice time saver because no effort is necessary from user’s side.

The same thing goes for doubleTwist’s “Photos” library – it uses your Mac’s Photos folder and iPhoto library;

and “Movies” library that uses your Mac’s Movies folder and iTunes Movie Library.

The developer claims that this app is compatible with hundreds of devices – Blackberries, Androids and Palm Pre are among them – and there is the complete list on their website.

My Windows Mobile phone hasn’t been supported by doubleTwist Mac version yet, but I tried it anyway because many users reported successful media synchronization to unsupported device. But no such luck.

Then I plugged in my MP3 players one by one, and they all appeared on the device list and I could drag and drop my music to them easily. Unfortunately, doubleTwist doesn’t support folders so all the items from every folder are there in one list.

One easy way to manage the transferring process is by creating one playlist for each device that you have, and put your selected songs there. This way, you’ll only need to select the playlist and move the songs to your device in one go.

Wish list and wrap up

This app still has a lot of things to fix and is too far behind in terms of features to be in the same level as iTunes. One feature that I really love to see is the ability to automatically synchronizes a playlist to a specific device. I also hope that the memory hog could be trimmed down to minimum.

So to wrap everything up, I have to say that despite all the negatives, I still think this app would be useful for Mac users who want to make their music collection available to non-Apple devices.

Have you tried doubleTwist? Do you know other alternatives to synchronize your multimedia collection to non-Apple devices? Share using the comment below.

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• Sync iTunes Library to iPod and your Music Folder (Windows) (10)
• Sync All of Your Media Files in One Place with doubleTwist (12)
• The BIG Book of iTunes [Free PDF Download] (49)
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• Manage your iPod with SharePod (15)

One innovation over the last couple of years has been the e-reader, which should solve some of the problems of reading off the computer screen. While these look very promising to me, they’re still in the early stages of adoption and above all, they are still quite expensive. And many of you already carry around a perfectly good e-reader substitute in your pocket, in the form of an iPhone or an iPod Touch. I’ve been using my iPod Touch and I’ll tell you how to read documents such as PDFs or even MS Word documents on your iPhone’s native apps as well as a third party application.

Using your email

The easiest way (and quite usable) to read pdf files on your iPhone is to email yourself the PDF as an attachment. This is simple and you don’t need to install any app to do this. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to organize your emails in folders, so it really is best used for something simple to read. It does have a way to read in landscape mode. It works for MS Word, MS Excel files and most images. The attachments are saved on your device after loading them once so you don’t need a connection the next time you want to read it.

Using Files lite

Files lite is actually the best free app to read documents and PDF files on the iPhone or iPod touch. You create a virtual folder on your computer into which you drag and drop the files you want to read. You can create folders in the application or the virtual folder, so it’s easy to manage a lot of books and articles. I tested this on Windows 7 but it should also work on other version of Windows, Mac and even Linux. I’ll quickly show you how to set it up so you’ll have an idea of how easy it is. The app also comes with a good guide too.

1. Download the app.
2. Setup a network folder using WebDAV. It’s very easy and can be read about in their tutorial.
3. You can setup subfolders in the application or on your computer.
4. Now drag your files to the network folder, make sure that your iPhone is connected to the same Wifi network.

It’s that easy. Now you can carry around your documents and read them wherever you go, without having dying forests on your conscience. And you read it correctly, you don’t need any cables to synchronize the documents. If only iTunes would work that easy when syncing your music!

Alternatives

There are many apps in the App Store that can perform similarly to Files lite, but that you have to pay for. One restriction of Files lite is that you only have 200 MB available to play around with on your iPhone, but that can hold many PDF files. The other apps differ from each other mostly in the way you transfer files, such as over the air, via USB, FTP or downloading from a web address. A good paid app is Good Reader ($0.99) and another is Stanza (free), which is more a complete e-reader which has a PC suite to manage your books and the possibility to download many free e-books.

Do you find reading from your iPhone as comfortable as reading from paper? If you like the e-reader apps, then you don’t really have an excuse to not read your articles and books.

Image credit: nxb

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If I have problems with iTunes, then I’m sure there are plenty of other people who do, also. So here I am with ”How Do I Download Songs onto iTunes” so you can get them on your iPod and you can go about your iDay.

I’m going to assume that you already have iTunes (download here) installed – we’re using iTunes 8.2 on a Windows XP Home laptop. I’m also going to assume that you have an iTunes Store account. If you don’t, refer to this article to learn how to get one.

Adding Songs from iTunes Store

Let’s look at adding music from the iTunes Store first. Once you have iTunes open, just click where it reads iTunes Store.

Shortly, the iTunes Store will be visible in the right-hand window. Hmmm, Jets Overhead has a free single, that sounds interesting. Because it is free. Now, I will click on that selection.

iTunes will open up to a page that tells you about the band and song as well as some comments from people who have downloaded the song. That’s nice. What we’re interested in, is at the bottom of the page. This is where we get the song. Look for the Get Song button. Just click on that.

If you are already signed in, the song will start to download. This can be checked by looking in the left-hand side of iTunes for the Downloads label. There it is! Downloads equal one. Now where did it go? Into the Library of course, under Music. Just click on Music and you’ll see the song on the right-hand side.

Adding Songs from a CD

I’m using a CD made by a band with a guy I sort of know, Jeffry Houser. He’s an Adobe/ColdFusion guru who is also a good musician. The band was known as Far Cry Fly. Anyway…

Put the CD into your computer’s CD/DVD player. iTunes should automagically ask you if you want to import the contents of the CD. Click on good old Yes. Has clicking indescriminately on Yes ever let us down? Oh, yes, I guess it has.

iTunes will begin importing all the music off of the CD. You can tell which song is being imported and which ones are completed by the icons next to the songs.

The check mark in the green circle means great success in importing the song. The squiggle in the orange circle means that the import is in progress. Eventually, all the songs will be imported. “Where did they go?” you ask, with childlike wonder dancing in your eyes like so many little sprites rejoicing in your innocent thoughts. Well, into the Library of course!

Voila! There they are!

Adding Songs from a Directory on Your Computer

You can either do this song by song or you can add a whole directory of music. The whole directory method is the best approach if you’ve already legitimately and legally created back-ups of your lawfully purchased music collection. So, here’s how that goes.

Click on File> Add Folder to Library.

A new window opens up that allows you to navigate to the folder you want to add.

Ah, there it is! Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans. I urge you to check them out. Definitely a favourite of mine. Select the folder by clicking once on it and then click on the OK button. How was that? Was it… OK? Tee hee.

Ala Peanut Butter Sandwiches and pow! Your folder of music is added to the Library.

Those are the three ways to add music to your iTunes library, so bookmark this page in case you ever find yourself wondering, “How do I download songs onto iTunes again?” Now that you’ve got that power, go crazy and fill that library up and rock out. Or in my case, country out. That doesn’t work, does it?

If this little tutorial has helped you out in anyway, please let me know. Now, I’m going to send a link to this article to my daughter, since she’s been bugging me for months to show her how to do this stuff. Don’t tell her I just figured it out myself.

For more tutorials on iTunes, check out our MakeUseOf Big Book of iTunes free PDF download.

Do you know any other way to add music to iTunes? Is there an automated way of doing it? Let us know in the comments.

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• Synchronize MP3s To Non-Apple Devices with doubleTwist [Mac] (0)
• Get Any Youtube Video to Your iPhone/iPod Touch in 2 Clicks [Mac] (5)
• Sync iTunes Library to iPod and your Music Folder (Windows) (10)
• Sync All of Your Media Files in One Place with doubleTwist (12)
• One-click backup of your iPod with podUP [Mac Only] (6)

In this article, I will point out 6 other ways that you can transfer music to your iPhone without iTunes.

(Note: When I refer to “iPhone” in the article, it includes the iPod Touch as well)

1. Media Monkey (Windows)

MediaMonkey is a heavy-duty, fully-featured media player for Windows. It is just like iTunes in Mac, allowing you to manage your music, video, podcast, rip CD, organize album art etc. In their latest version 3 release, they implemented iPhone/iPod Touch support and you can now transfer/sync your music easily.

In order to use Media Monkey to manage your iPhone music, you have to first install iTunes (version 8.1.0.52 and before). That could be ironical since the purpose of it all is to do without iTunes completely. However, iTunes comes with the device driver for iPhone/iPod Touch that is required by many third-party media players to detect and access the database of the iPhone. As soon as you install iTunes, you will be able to use Media Monkey to sync your music.

For those who don’t want to install iTunes, there is a hack:

1. Download the iTunes.exe file
2. Rename the .exe to .zip
3. Open up the zipped file and extract AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi and QuickTime.msi
4. Install these two files.

You can then sync your iPhone with Media Monkey without iTunes.

2) Winamp and the ml_ipod plugin (Windows)

For those who have been using Winamp since the first day it was launched, there is no need to migrate all your music library to iTunes just because you bought a iPhone. With the ml_ipod plugin, you will be able to sync your music.

Firstly, you have to install iTunes (ml_ipod was tested with iTunes 7.4.2 and 8.0.2. If you are using a later version of iTunes, might not work), or use the above hack to install the driver without installing iTunes.

Secondly, install Winamp (recommended version 5 and above), follow by ml_ipod (version 3.08 or later). Plug in your iPhone and start Winamp. You should be able to see the device appear on the left side of the panel (see above screenshot).

One good thing about using this combination is, unlike iTunes, this is a bidirectional sync – you can download the songs back to your computer.

3) SharePod (Windows)

If you are looking for a simple and lightweight software to get the synchronization done quickly and easily, then Sharepod would be a good choice.

Sharepod is nothing more than a software for you to sync your iPod and iPhone. While you can play music directly from your iPhone within Sharepod, the music player is only minimal and does not offer much options.

SharePod also offers bidirectional synchronization between your iPhone and computer. Did I also mention that there is no installation required for Sharepod? It just works!

Just like the above two softwares, you’ll need to install iTunes (or perform the hack) for SharePod to recognize your iPhone.

4) CopyTransManager (Windows)

If you are still using firmware 1.x on your iPhone, CopyTrans Manager will work out of the box to sync your iPhone. However, if you are using firmware 2.x, it will prompt you to apply a fix to downgrade the iPhone database so that it can be read by the software. If you are not comfortable with it modifying the internal structure of your iPhone, this software might not be for you.

Editor’s note: Downgrading your iPhone firmware may render your iPhone incapable of using newer applications which require firmwares 2.2 and higher.

Unlike all other software listed above, you don’t need to install iTunes to use CopyTrans Manager. It claims to be the alternative to iTunes. Perhaps in the field of syncing your music library, it can be a good alternative. Other than that, it is clearly lacking in features and does not offer as many features as iTunes.

5) PwnPlayer (any platform)

Pwnplayer is an iPhone music player app that acts as an alternative to the default ipod.app in your iPhone. Its user interface is almost similar to the iPod.app, allowing you to view your songs in Artists, Albums, Songs, Genre list etc. It also supports album art display.

To use Pwnplayer, you have to first jailbreak your iPhone, then install the PwnPlayer application from Cydia. Once you have jailbroken your iPhone, you can then transfer your songs (over SSH) to any folder in your iPhone (for more information about transferring files over to the iPhone, refer to my older article: 6 Ways To Use iPhone As An External Hard Drive). Pwnplayer will scan the whole iPhone hard disk and add the songs to its library. You don’t have to worry about any compatibility with OS platform since it works regardless which OS you are using. As long as you can perform SSH in your computer, you can get Pwnplayer to work.

6) GtkPod (Linux)

Gtkpod seems to be the only solution to sync music to your iPhone in Linux (The older version of Amarok will work too, but Amarok 2.x doesn’t support iPhone syncing yet), but getting it to work is not as easy.

Image source: Gtkpod screenshot page

For those who are geeky and advantageous enough, here are the full instructions to hack your iPhone to get it to sync in Linux with gtkpod.

Enjoyed this article? Maybe you’ll be interested to know that you may also sync any MP3 player with iTunes. Also, find out how you can easily make ringtones for your iPhone.

What other ways do you use to sync your music to iPhone without iTunes? Let us know in the comments.

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• Synchronize MP3s To Non-Apple Devices with doubleTwist [Mac] (0)
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“What you don’t have any videos for me to watch? I have about an hour and a half to kill each way hook me up!

I did have a crap load of new video files but nothing that was converted to play on the PSP. (This will work for almost all popular video playing devices.)  Yeah that sucks. But I remembered a little application I had seen that would allow my friend to convert these videos himself – and easily.

This application is so simple anyone can use it that can click a mouse!

I burned the video files for him and a little program called EncodeHD. I downloaded the 5.5MB Zip file, Extracted and ran the EncodeHD.exe file.. He was almost ready to rock and roll.

I decided to show him how to use the application before he left and took screenshots of my actions for everyone to follow along. Before we get started I should tell you guys how it works. This awesomely easy front end launched these 3 great tools without you having to know how they work:

1. FFmpeg
2. Atomic Parsley
3. MP4Box from the GPAC Project

With that said let’s see how she works!

The application is totally portable so there is no installation necessary. After launching the exe you will see a window like the one below. Select what type of device you have and want to convert your media for.

Drag and drop your media files into the window below like so:

If your computer can play it – EncodeHD can convert it! The advanced options are pretty simple but this is also where you can find the log file – if something goes wrong.

Check the box to specify an output folder if you do not want to write it to your source folder. You can select your PSP drive if it is connected to write the videos directly to your device so you do not have to copy them later. In this instance I am writing to a folder called EncodeHD on my D:\ drive.

Then simply hit start and you are on your way!

It seemed to take about half as long as the video to convert. So for example a hour episode of something took about 26 minutes to convert. Mileage will vary depending on your hardware!

EncodeHD will batch run each file and when it is complete you can happily watch your media anywhere you want it!

How do you convert your media? Do you have something that is even easier than this? We would love to hear about it in the comments!

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Shozu is a software for mobile devices that serves as a hub for you to connect to a long list of social networks. With Shozu, it is not about how fast you can upload your photos, it is about how many social platforms you can connect to at the same time and how effortless you can get everything done.

When I first tried out Shozu on my iPod Touch, I was overwhelmed to see the huge number of social platforms that it supports. Other than the popular Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, Facebook, Twitter, it also supports some of the smaller networks such as HotSMS, Hyves, Ipernity, ITV Uploaded, moblog:UK, Netlog and many many more.

While Shozu is mainly an application for you to upload and share your photos on the various social networks, there are some additional features that makes it stand out from the rest.

Blog from Shozu

If you are using Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, Typepad, or the less familiar Vox, you can now post text/photos to your blog right within Shozu.

Become an online journalist

If you have always dreamt of becoming a journalist, Shozu has just make it slightly easier for you. You can now submit your photos to the various news networks such as CNN Express, BBC News and Reuters. You can even leave your name and telephone in the signature so that the news network can contact you in the event that your materials are picked up by them.

Receive updates from friends

What use does it have if it can’t connect to the popular Facebook and Twitter and receive friends’ updates? Luckily, it can. Shozu has a rather good Twitter and Facebook support. For Facebook, you can receive friends feeds, download their photos to your mobile devices, update your status and get notifications on events.

Listen to podcasts

The podcast features in Shozu comes with a great list of podcast channels that you can subscribe, download and listen to while on the move. While there are plenty of choices to choose from, one thing that I don’t like here is that I cannot add my custom podcast or RSS feeds.

Conclusion

If you need a no-brainer tool to upload and share your photos to various social networks quickly and easily, then Shozu is definitely the application to go for. It is free and works on a large variety of handsets, so you shouldn’t have any problem getting it to run on yours.

iPhone and iPod Touch users can get Shozu at this link.

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While there are many games available in the App Store, some with excellent graphics and AI, some people (perhaps the older generation) still prefer to get their hands on the old console games which they spent their childhood playing.

To be able to play console games on your iPhone, there are three things that you must do:

1. Jailbreak Your iPhone

I have previously discussed how to jailbreak your iPhone with the Pwnage tool, so this should be an easy task for you.

2. Be Able To Access Your iPhone Filesystem From The Computer

I have also discussed 6 different ways that you can use your iPhone as an external hard disk. For Windows users, DiskAid or iPhone browser are great software that you can use to transfer files to your iPhone. In Mac, the OpenSSH or Netatalk method is preferred.

3. Get working ROMs for the respective game consoles

There are plenty of sites on the Internet that allows you to download ROMs for different game consoles. If you own the game, it is nearly always legal to own the ROMs and use them on various platforms. Similarly, if you do not own the game, download the ROMs at your own risk.

CoolROM is one great site that allows you to download ROMs that are not protected by the ESA (Entertainment Software Association). They have plenty of ROMs for different consoles, ranging from Atari to GameBoy, Super Nintendo and Sony Playstation, so you shouldn’t have much problem finding the game you like.

Let’s get started…

Assuming that you have got the above three steps ready, here’s what you do to install the various game consoles on your iPhone.

On your iPhone, load up the Cydia application. (the Cydia application will appear only if you have jailbroken your iPhone). Navigate to the Games section. This will be the place where you will find most of the emulator.

Sega Genesis Emulator for iPhone

genesis4iphone is the iPhone emulator for Sega Genesis (MegaDrive) that you can use to play sega games on iPhone. It is based on the popular PicoDrive emulator.

In your Cydia, install genesis4iphone from the Games. You should see the GENESIS icon on your iPhone main screen.

Using your OpenSSH (or DiskAid), transfer your Genesis game ROM into the folder /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/GENESIS/ in your iPhone.

Back to your iPhone main screen, load the Genesis application and you can start to enjoy your Sega Genesis game.

GameBoy Advance Emulator

To play GameBoy Advance games on your iPhone, first install gpSPhone from the Cydia installer.

Search and download the gba_bios.bin file that is required for the emulator to function.

Using your OpenSSH (or DiskAid), transfer your GBA ROMs and the gba_bios.bin file into the folder /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/GBA/ in your iPhone.

Load the GBA application from your iPhone main screen and enjoy your game.

Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME)

If you are a fan of arcade games, then MAME is the application that allows you to play all your favorite arcade game on your iPhone. The MAME version in the iPhone supports many arcade machines from the 1970’s to 2000.

Install mame4iphone from Cydia.

If you have downloaded your favorite MAME game ROMs in zipped format, do not unzip.

Using your OpenSSH (or DiskAid), transfer your MAME zipped ROM into the folder /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/MAME/roms/ to your iPhone.

Load the MAME application from the iPhone main screen. Once a game is started, it will ask you to press OK. Use RIGHT then LEFT then RIGHT then LEFT to press OK.

Nintendo Emulator

Nintendo is one of the most popular old school game consoles, so we definitely won’t miss it in this list.

Install NES from Cydia.

Using your OpenSSH (or DiskAid), transfer your NES ROMs into the folder /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/NES/ in your iPhone.

Load the NES application from the iPhone main screen.

ScummVM

For those who miss the LucasArts SCUMM interpreter, used in games such as Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Day Of The Tentacle and Sam and Max, here is the emulator for the iPhone.

In your Cydia, you have to first add the Scumm repositories. Go to the Repositories section in Cydia and install the package Urban Fanatics’ Source.

Next, go to the Games section, you should now find the ScummVM package available for installation.

If you have difficulty finding ScummVM files, the home page does have quite a number of games available for download.

Using your OpenSSH (or DiskAid), transfer your ScummVM files into the folder /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/ScummVM/.

Load the application from the iPhone main screen and you are good to go.

Sony Playstation Emulator

This emulator refers to Playstation 1, not versions 2 or 3.

Install psx4iphone from Cydia.

Search and download the scph1001.bin file in Yahoo (Yahoo gives better search results than Google in this case). This is the BIOS file required to play all PS games.

Using your OpenSSH (or DiskAid), transfer your PS ROMs and the bios file into the folder /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/PSX/ in your iPhone.

Due to the hardware limitation, some of the graphics intensive games could be slow and sluggish.

Super Nintendo emulator

Install snes4iphone from Cydia.

Using your OpenSSH (or DiskAid), transfer your SNES ROMs into the folder /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/SNES/. If you have a ROM in the zipped format, that is fine. You can upload the zipped file to the iPhone folder.

Load the SNES application from the iPhone main screen.

That’s it. Enjoy your old console games on your iPhone.

If you have installed and played console games on your iPhone, tell us about your experiences, whether it was good, bad, sluggish performance, exciting etc..

Image credit: Mustafa Maluka

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For all those who are still not sure what Cooliris is, it is a browser plugin that enables you to surf the Web with a cinematic style. The wall on which it shows thumbnails of images, videos, news pulled from various sources and so on, allows you to be fully immersed in a 3D environment. You can easily surf the Web simply by dragging, sliding, clicking and selecting the thumbnails with your mouse.

On the iPhone, you will get a similar experience to that in your computer browser. There is the same 3D wall loaded with rows of picture thumbnails. What is different is that you are using your finger to slide, click and select rather than using the mouse.

To slide the 3D wall across the screen, you just need to do a ’swipe’ left or ’swipe’ right with your finger. Alternatively, if you are too lazy to use your finger, simply tilt iPhone up, down, left, right and you can see the wall move accordingly to the direction you tilt.

When you tap on a thumbnail, Cooliris will zoom the image and position it to the center of the screen. Description of the image and its URL will be loaded at the bottom of the screen. There is also an ‘email’ and ‘download’ icons so that you can easily share the image with your friends.

To checkout the image’s URL, simply tap on the URL and the mobile Safari will load within Cooliris. Once you are done, tap on the ‘Webview’ and it will bring you back to the Cooliris interface.

There are two main features in Cooliris for iPhone: ‘Discover’ and ‘Search’. The Shopping function that is found in the browser version is not available in this iPhone version.

In the Discover section, Cooliris can cleverly detect your location and serve you the information that is closely related to your locale. It is just like an image-based StumbleUpon for iPhone, except that it is more customized to your preferences. You can also select from the channels to get it to display interesting images/videos/news. Personally, I like to use the Wallpaper channel to discover and download new wallpaper for my iPhone.

The Search function allows you to search from a variety of sites, including Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Flickr, deviantArt and SmugMug. I do not have any success with the YouTube search. When I perform a search in YouTube, nothing loads up even after 5 minutes of waiting. I have no problem searching and playing video in the in-built YouTube app, so I guess this is one of the bugs on the Cooliris app. Other than this, the search on the rest of the search engine works perfectly fine.

Cooliris for iPhone has given a new definition to Web surfing on the iPhone. This is not just another app that you use to ‘wow’ your friends, but an app that truly maximizes the touch action and accelerometer of the iPhone and brings your Web surfing experience to the next level. This is definitely the app that I would recommend to everyone.

Cooliris for the iPhone is available for the iPhone/iPod Touch and can be downloaded for free in the iPhone App store.

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On a separate note, the iPod Touch and the iPhone has (already) taken the world by storm as portable yet powerful media players. YouTube is even integrated into them, allowing you to fulfill your video-watching urges. What if you could save any* online video onto your iPod Touch/iPhone in just 2 mouse clicks?

TubeTV is a great application which allows you to surf and download videos so easily, it’s unbelievable. It is essentially a web browser with additional features for video detection and downloading. After launching it, I’d recommend that you head over to the program’s Preferences and set everything the way you want it, the quality of the converted video for example.

At the top of TubeTV, there are search and address bars, reminiscent of Safari but at the right hand corner, there are 3 added buttons: Grab URL from Safari, Email Link and Download. It’s the last button which we’re interested in.

You could enter the address of your favorite online video site in the address bar and navigate as usual or you could enter a search query in the Search Field. By default, it searches YouTube for results but you can change that in its Preferences. They also have Google, Google Video and Dailymotion as search options.

After you’ve watched an interesting video and would like to save it to your iPod Touch/iPhone, click on the Download button which I mentioned earlier – click #1.

The video will be downloaded, converted and added into iTunes automatically. Assuming you’ve set your iPhone/iPod Touch settings to synchronize your iTunes Movies, all you have to do is to plug it in and click Sync – click #2. Too easy, isn’t it?

I haven’t done very extensive testing on this program, which is why I added an asterisk after the word any. So far, I’ve managed to download videos from every website I visited, including those which didn’t offer a download option unless I purchased its “Premium” account. All I needed to do was copy the URL over to TubeTV and boom! It’s done.

TubeTV is available for free and runs fine on Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard

If you don’t have a Mac, other MakeUseOf authors have written very comprehensive lists of websites you can go to download videos. Aibek has this amazing list of website, browser plugins and programs to perform this function. He also recently praised online video downloader tool called xVideoServiceThief. Aseem once wrote of 18 ways to download videos from the Internet. Finally, Abhijeet showed 4 other ways you could download YouTube videos. There’s an even cooler trick you could try with Safari if there are annoying videos which you can’t seem to download.

Are there any other applications or methods to get online videos quicker onto your iPhone/iPod Touch? What do you normally use? What about jailbroken applications, are there any which serves this purpose? Let me know in the comments!

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Flashlight/myLite

If you’ve ever been in a dark room and waved your iPhone around in order to see, you’ll understand the point of these two apps immediately. The iPhone’s screen can be pumped up to an eye-blistering brightness. The apps make the screen go white and turn it into a hand torch. There are more options on both apps though. You can choose a different color to display or even turn on a strobe light that’s perfect for any rave (myLite actually lets you wave your phone around to make the colors change).

A better app, called Light, used to actually max out the iPhone’s screen brightness, but unfortunately it was taken off the App Store for just that reason. These two other apps are the next best thing.

Compass

The last set of apps are great for finding your way around in the dark, but what if you’re lost in broad daylight? Well, with Compass, you can easily identify the cardinal directions.

Upon opening the app, it displays a compass rose with a patch of light running across it.

As the directions explain, simply get in the sun and lay the iPhone flat on a table. Placing your finger in the center of the compass will cast a shadow down one side of it. If you re-orient the shadow to line up with the “ray of light,” the compass on the iPhone will point to North. [Note: if you're below the equator, North and South are switched on the compass.]

Ruler

“Measure twice, cut once.”

That old proverb is just as applicable in today’s digital world as it was when people first began measuring lumber for dwellings.

Ruler helps you make the best of your iPhone any time you need to get the length or width of a small object. The interface can be tuned to either Inches or Centimeters. Once set, your iPhone’s screen is laid out in tick marks for precise measurements.

Even better, there is a set of horizontal and vertical axes that allow you to mark your desired dimensions. There have been other, web-based rulers for the iPhone, but this App trumps them all. Definitely download this one…you’ll never know when you’re going to need it.

[Note: if you don't love this one, there is a similar ruler for longer measurements here.]

Dual Level

Moving into a new apartment and need to hang some pictures or posters? Dual Level will help you get the job done.

Place your iPhone on a flat surface to calibrate it (make sure that surface is already level with a “real” one). Press the calibrate button and you’re ready to go. Your phone will now be able to ensure anything you hang is just the way it needs to be.

I think if my dad had an iPhone, this would be the first App he’d download.

If Found

This last app is something you’ll never actually have to use…hopefully.

If Found creates an icon on your home screen with the words “If Found” displayed prominently under it. A single click brings up your address and contact information for anyone who finds your phone. The icon is a money sign and you can post a reward on the app if you would like.

Another feature is that it will set your information as your wallpaper so whenever your phone is locked it will display the info to the finder. This is the best option if you lock your phone with a password and still want to use the app.

A little bit of prior planning could save you a lot of money and data in the future. I suggest placing the icon on the front page of your home screen.

*Here’s a Bonus App*

More Cowbell!

With all of these utilities, don’t forget to have a bit of fun with your iPhone too! More Cowbell! is a neat way to personally re-live one of the greatest Saturday Night Live skits of all time. The app opens up to a picture of a cowbell and immediately plays Christopher Walken’s “I gotta have more cowbell” line.

Tapping the cowbell makes your iPhone sound just like the app’s namesake so you can play along to “Don’t Fear the Reaper” or any other song of your choosing. A new rev of the app has also added a “shake the iPhone” option in case you want to play it that way instead.

If you’ve somehow missed it in the past, here’s the video :

Got any other great utility apps you use all the time? Post them in the comments! Also, if there are any versions of these apps that you like better, let us know!

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It struck me as a great idea, but the simplicity of the thing got me thinking that a) I could have done this myself with Photoshop and a little trial and error and b) I could have made something a lot nicer. So I did and you can too even if you have an older device and don’t feel like shelling out the $10 for the 2.0 software update.

Here’s how:

Open a blank 320×480 image in your favourite image editor (Photoshop, MSPaint, Pixelmator, Gimp, etc.) Add a background of your choice. I chose one from Social Wallpapering and played with it a little to get it just the way I wanted it.

Starting about 120 pixels down, type your message. Include contact details like phone number and email address and a reward amount, if you’d like to offer one and any other message you’d like. Don’t go below the 370 pixel mark.

Save your image as a .jpg and sync it to your iPod Touch/iPhone.

Now, on your iPhone/iPod Touch tap Settings, then General and then Wallpaper. Find and tap on the image you just created and then tap Set Wallpaper.

That’s it. Now whenever you’re on the Slide to Unlock screen (and your device is not connected to the computer) your If Found message will be shown, increasing your chances it’ll be returned in case you leave it in a coffee shop or on the bus.

Unfortunately, you can’t take a screenshot of the Slide to Unlock screen, so here’s the next best thing.

(By) Jason Mayoff is a radio newscaster, tech geek and the Make Use Of Podcast Editor. If you’re ever in Montreal, Canada you can hear him on CJAD 800. You can also find Jason at Podcasters4Hire.com and pleasantnights.com, where he talks about keeping an organized and clutter-free home.

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Information / News Web Apps :

CBS News: www.cbsnews.com/iphone
Fox News: iphone.foxnews.com
Google: Google.com
Reuters Mobile: mobile.reuters.com
BrainyQuote: www.brainyquote.com/iphone.html

Social Apps :

Digg: www.digg.com/iphone
Facebook: iphone.Facebook.com
Twitter: m.twitter.com/login

Reference:

Wikipedia: www.keishi.net/ipodia/
People Finder: www.2robots.com/iphone/#_ByNumber
Urban Dictionary: www.idotg.com/apps/iwurd.php
Realtor: iphone.realtor.com

Weather Web Apps :

AccuWeather: apple.accuweather.com/widget/iphone1/iphone.html
Weather Underground: i.wund.com
Weather.com: www.weather.com/iphone

Shopping :

eBay: iphone.ebay.com
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com
iCoupie (coupons and deals): www.icoupie.com

iPhone optimized games :

Tetris: iphone-tetris.com
Bejeweled: static.popcap.com/iphone
iBowl: mynumo.com/iphone/ibowl/ibowl.php
Jacks or Better: elenor.net/iphone/poker
Mahjong: 38i.biz/mahjong/

Productivity / ToDo lists :

Tada List: tadalist.com
iNozbe: www.inozbe.com
Remember the Milk: i.rememberthemilk.com

Chat Messengers (MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, GTalk etc.) :

Meebo: www.meebo.com
Beejive: iphone.beejive.com

Just Neat:

Guitar Tuner for iPhone: iphoneguitartuner.com

Are you an iPhone user? Have any more great iPhone websites for us? Leave them in the comments and we’ll be sure to update our directory.

(By) Travis is a husband, engineer, entrepreneur, visual communicator, web developer and writer in his spare time. You can check out his personal blog at TQuizzle.com

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