Flipboard aggregates the data from your favorite online services and displays them in an elegant display. It pulls feeds from your accounts at Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Instagram, Google Reader, LinkedIn and more. The resulting combined output is displayed in a beautiful tiled format that you simply flip through with your fingertips. All of your favorite activity from across the web is organized and simplified into a single app that you can browse with fluid ease and elegance.

I can confidently say that Flipboard has the single best design and stunning fluidity of any mobile app I have ever experienced, hands down. It is nothing short of spectacular. And it’s completely free! If you’re an iOS user, go download this app right now and experience the future in the palm of your hand. You’ll love it!

The first app you should check out is called Plaintext. It has replaced the Notes app for me on my iPhone. Plaintext is a free and simple barebones text editor. What makes it so useful is that there is no local saving of text files. It automatically saves everything you type into a folder on Dropbox. Plaintext makes note-taking much easier than using the Notes app where you sync files via iTunes. I can now jot down notes on the go and when I get home to my computer, the notes are already there waiting for me. It works in the opposite direction as well. I can write and save files to the Plaintext folder in Dropbox on my computer and I can access and edit them on my phone. There are other apps that do the same type of thing that Plaintext does, but Plaintext is completely free and does works perfectly. I highly recommend it.

Sometimes I don’t feel like typing long notes on my phone and would rather record a voice memo. Say hello to Dropvox. It is a simple voice recorder where the recordings are automatically saved to Dropbox. The Dropvox app is extremely basic, almost to a fault. You can’t go back and listen to what you just recorded, or see a list of files saved. It is a one-way street. Of course, you could use the Dropbox iOS app if you want to browse what is in the folder. Limitations aside, it’s nice to sit at my computer and see the files of my recordings waiting for me. This is easier than using the Voice Memos app included in iOS where you have to sync the phone to iTunes to get the files. Granted, the audio quality is compressed with Dropvox, so you wouldn’t want to use it in situations where you want the best audio quality. I tend to use it when I’m driving and I want to remind myself of something to look up later, or something to add to my hate list, for instance. Dropvox costs 99 cents.

Apple is rumored to make a big cloud push this year, and the release of iOS 5 may bring this type of functionality to the native Notes and Voice Memos apps. We shall see. For now, try the two solutions above. Both Plaintext and Dropvox work on the iPad as well.

Before I get into my list of features I want in the iPhone app, I would like to point out a glaring omission with the Google Voice system as a whole. That omission is that MMS texting is not allowed. If anyone sends me a text message that includes a picture, I receive absolutely nothing. No notification, no bounceback. Absolutely nothing. I don’t know why this isn’t fully supported. It couldn’t be a storage issue since Google owns enormous properties like YouTube. The amount of data to manage MMS messaging would be less than a drop in the bucket of the data management for YouTube videos. At the very least, I wish Google would deliver me the text portion of a MMS message with an “attachment not included” warning. Get on this already!

Back to the iPhone app. For some unknown reason, composing text in landscape mode is not supported. I most always lock my phone in portrait mode, so it’s not a huge deal for me, but not everyone uses it the way I do. Landscape mode for the Google Voice app is surely needed, especially for people used to typing in that fashion.

There are no zero options for notification sounds! The only sound the app makes is the generic iOS default notify ding. I’ve used the TextFree app in the past and it had a dozen or so options for notification sounds. This would be a very welcomed feature for Google Voice. The fact that it doesn’t exist already is outrageous. This is one of my biggest complaints.

The font size for text composition is entirely too small. If I compose a brand new text message, the font size and window for typing is just right. However, when working in the inbox timeline of a text thread, the font is really tiny, and replying is done in an incredibly small window. I would like this to change. I would even like to see some font size options in the app settings. In fact, the entire interface of the app could be a lot more attractive overall. I’m calling for a complete overhaul of the user interface.

I use the Google Voice app a lot during the course of a day and I feel like the app is a battery and resource hog. I have no evidence to back this up, mind you. It’s just a hunch. At times it can feel a bit slow and clunky. I don’t know what could be done about this, if anything, but I can’t get past the feeling that the app is making my phone work harder than it should. This issue is the least important in my wishlist and for all I know, it isn’t really an issue at all, but I had to toss it in at the end.

I’ve never used Google Voice on an Android phone so I can’t comment on that experience. I do love the service as a whole. I just wish the iPhone app would receive the overhaul it desperately needs. Get on it, Google!

In August, I wrote about the awesome TextFree iPhone app. I’ve used it for a while now and definitely would recommend it to replace the expensive text plans from the mobile carriers. I even paid $5.99 for a year of ad-free use of the app, which I think is well worth it.

However, last week, the free Google Voice app suddenly appeared in the App Store. I immediately downloaded the app. Calls to my Google Voice number will automatically ring my phone, and all text messages are displayed through a push notification. It’s pretty awesome. I don’t intend to replace my voice calls with my Google number, but I do intend to use it exclusively to replace native texting. Make sure you disable the forwarding of texts to your actual mobile number in the preferences to avoid being charged for texts by your carrier.

With Google Voice, all text messages are saved and can be browsed in a web interface that looks and behaves like GMail. That is an impressive feature that TextFree doesn’t offer. I hate to abandon TextFree, but I find Google Voice to be incredibly slick, and the app to be more responsive overall. It will be my exclusive means of mobile texting from now on.

I already pay $5 per month for a 200-limit text message plan with AT&T. For a few of months, I’d even boosted it to the next level which gave me 1500 texts per month for $15. I think the entire texting industry is absurdly high priced. If I am already paying for 3G Internet data, simple 160-character text-only messages should come and go for free. I’m tired of paying such ridiculously high fees for texting.

It looks like I’ll no longer have to. I’ve found Textfree and it gives me a completely new phone number to use for unlimited texting, all for FREE. No longer will I be taking it in the rear from the phone company. I highly recommend this app to every iOS user, which includes iPad and iPod Touch users. The app is ad-supported in the free version, but you can eliminate all ads if you subscribe as a paying customer for $6 per year. Even as a paying customer, the price is a steal compared to paying for traditional texting via the mobile carrier.

Do yourself a favor. Check this out. Save some money.

I’ve now found the perfect solution for my needs. I downloaded the MotionX GPS Drive app, which is currently on sale for $1. I think it usually goes for $7, but I am not exactly sure about the standard price.

I don’t need a GPS unit on a daily basis. I mainly want it for the occasional road trip. This app provides a very cheap solution for those needs. MotionX GPS Drive has turned out to be awesome! You have to pay for the speaking turn-by-turn navigation feature, but you get to use for free for the first month. After that is only $3 for a single month of use, which you can purchase any time. If you want to pay for a full year, it is $25. You could do that year after year and still make out for less than a standalone GPS unit, or the Tom Tom app. I’m sold.

One advantage of using this solution is that the maps are downloaded to the phone and cached. By default, it will use up to 2 GB of storage for the map data. You can clear and reset the maps at any time, and you always have the latest up-to-date maps for your area. The fresh maps are the advantage over using a standalone GPS unit.

I’ve been using MotionX GPS for a few days to try it out. I am very impressed. It has performed well. A bluetooth earpiece is handy if you want to talk on the phone at the same time and still be able to see the maps. My phone does get a little warm to the touch after using the navigation. Also, expect this app to eat away at your battery when you use it. The phone is doing a lot of thinking, so that doesn’t surprise me.

iOS4 now has multitasking, and MotionX supports multitasking. I can easily jump out of the app and do other things on my phone and it will continue to tell me where to go. iOS4 also includes a portrait-locking mode to keep the screen from rotating when you turn it. I love this feature of the new OS, but MotionX GPS Drive is one app that looks better in landscape mode. It still works in portrait mode, but the map and directions feel cramped.

This app has received very positive reviews. Definitely give it a try. It is the probably the cheapest professional voice navigation app on the iPhone, to my knowledge. If you have an Android phone, you’re probably snickering, as Android phones include free navigation software from Google. I am quite aware of this. If you have an Android phone, then congratulations. If you have an iPhone, get MotionX GPS Drive.

Opera Mini is touting faster speeds and more features over the built-in Safari browser for the iPhone. That said, I don’t see any speed improvement in my experience. As for the extra features (such as tabbed browsing), they all serve to make the Opera interface look too cluttered. There are simply too many buttons, options, bells and whistles. It looks as if they tried to cram all of the features of a desktop application into an iPhone app. For me, that strategy just doesn’t work for a mobile device. The screen real estate for the actual web page is cut in half by all of Opera’s interface clutter.

I applaud Apple for relaxing their tight grip on third-party web browsers. If you’re interested in Opera Mini, then by all means, give it a try. As for me, I’m going to stick with the ease and simplicity of Safari. Any speed increase for Opera is negated by the fact that I hardly ever use a web browser on my iPhone to begin with. On the whole, I honestly don’t see use in Opera taking off for any platform. I doubt Apple does either, which is probably why they accepted the app in the first place.

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, I have an easy way to find which channels your neighbors are using. Grab the app WiFiFoFum and see all channels which are in use in your WiFi area. I love this app. It is extremely helpful in many ways beyond this single example. I highly recommend it. I’m sure desktop solutions are available, but I prefer using my iPhone for portability.

Once you can see a map of channels in use nearby, choose a channel for your network that is not in use by other nearby networks. Technically, each channel number represents a range of frequencies, many of which still overlap each other. To get as far away from other networks in the channel spectrum, choose a channel number that is 5 points away from other networks. For example, if everyone around you uses channel 6, choosing channel 1 or 11 would be best in that case. You won’t always be able to space your network that far from the others, but choosing any number not being used by others would still be helpful. I am providing a link that you can read for more information about this topic.

In addition to wisely choosing your WiFi channel, also make sure you also have renamed your network from the default (such as “linksys”) and have turned on WPA or higher security. For additional security, it is also wise to change the router login/password and disable wireless access to the router setup page.

Foursquare is an app for your mobile phone that allows you to check-in to places around town, meet up with friends, and explore your city. Foursquare users collect achievement badges and become the official mayor of places that they visit more often than other users.

I originally heard about Foursquare on the TWiT podcast network. Once I finally got an iPhone a few weeks ago, I was eager to try Foursquare, having heard so much about it. I installed Foursquare on my iPhone, as well as GoWalla, a Foursquare competitor. I’ll go ahead and say that I prefer Foursquare, largely because of the badges and overall fun nature of the app. It also helps that it is much more popular in my area than GoWalla. I’ve never had to add a location into Foursquare in any of my check-ins.

I found GoWalla to be adequate. The user interface is nice. The problem for me was that after many check-ins using both services, GoWalla did not have the place I was visiting in their database even once. I found myself having to add places manually, which eventually wore on my nerves and took some of the fun out of using the app. If it is popular where you live, you may feel otherwise.

Give Foursquare a try. You can install it on iPhone, Android, Palm, and Blackberry devices. I have my check-ins forwarded to my Facebook account so that my friends can see where I am even if they aren’t using Foursquare. Sure, it’s kind of nerdy, but I enjoy it.

The iPhone version of Plants vs. Zombies is absolutely fantastic. It is likely the best iPhone game I have ever played. The desktop version is perfectly recreated on the iPhone. The touch interface fits the game like a glove. I played for hours last night. If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, this game is a must-have.

I dabbled with WifiTrak a while ago, but when iPhone OS 3.0 was released, the version of WifiTrak that I had wasn’t compatible. I removed the app and didn’t think about it after that.

WiFiFoFum is my latest choice to sniff out Wi-Fi networks. It is very detailed, showing the channel of each network, security method, signal strength, and more. If you want to gather info about networks in the area, it is the one to use. The app even has a radar which displays on a radar screen the location of each network source. I don’t know how accurate the radar is, but in my simple tests, it did a good job.

One benefit of using an app such as WiFiFoFum is being able to see the channel number of each network within the area. I realized that my own home network was using channel 6, as well was nearly ever other network within reach. I changed my channel to 8 to avoid any potential interference that may exist.

General Apps:

1. TextPlus – Free, simple, easy text messaging via an iPhone app. Send free texts to any of your contacts.
2. Fandango – The best app to find movie reviews, showtimes, trailers, and even buy tickets!
3. AudioBoo – Awesome new service, allowing you to easily record and post audio posts to AudioBoo.fm. Free!
4. Pandora – The best free streaming Internet radio for your iPhone/iPod Touch.
5. Public Radio – Find public radio stations in your area and even stream them live! For free! If you are a fan of NPR, or instance, this app can be very handy.
6. WhiteNoise – A fantastic app that generates great, high-quality white noise for your listening ears. A giant array of choices are available. Examples include a cat purring, a fireplace, hair dryers, dishwashers, fans, rain, the ocean, etc.. Over forty sounds available!
7. iFitness – A terrific fitness app that shows you the best ways to exercise and stay fit. You can even track your progress. Very handy if you frequent the gym (I don’t).
8. WikiHow – This offline app can tell you how to do just about anything, from CPR to how to tie a bowtie. No Internet necessary to scroll the abundant articles. This could come in handy when you least expect it.
9. Carpenter – A well-made, clever app that includes a toolkit including the iHandy Level, which I have found to be very handy indeed.
10. Diggle – The best and (only?) Digg article reader for the iPhone. This app is really cool, but still does not allow you to log in and rate articles yourself. I wish the Digg folks would make their own “real” iPhone app that does it all!

Games:

1. Zombieville – A fun and addictive game of shooting and smashing zombies. Great graphics and sounds.
2. iFighter – A terrific tilt/scroll aircraft fighter game. Great graphics and sounds. Fun to play, but occasionally somewhat difficult.
3. Rope’n'Fly – A truly addictive game. Very simple graphics. You fall from the sky and have to catch and sling yourself via a rope from building to building. This is a side-scrolling game. Kind of Spiderman-esque. I can play this over and over for hours.
4. Parachute Panic – A very creative game. Simple graphics are in the form of a graphing paper/penciled look. Parachuters fall from the sky and you have to safely guide them to land on ships below, whilst avoiding helicopters, UFOs, storms, and sharks.
5. iMobsters – A text-based iPhone game that is basically a clone of Mob Wars and/or Mafia Wars on Facebook. Internet connection required to play.
6. Bejeweled 2 – A fantastic port of the classic Bejeweled game to the iPhone. Terrific graphics and gameplay.
7. Sticky Licky – A cute game. You are a frog which is fixed at the bottom of the screen. You must use your frog tongue to catch the bugs and insects that fly by. Some bugs are poisonous. Flashy graphics and simple fun.
8. Let’s Golf – A very creative golf game for the iPhone. I didn’t know how a golfing game would go over on this device, but the creators of this game got it right. True physics and creative gameplay.
9. StickWars – A fun game where you have to defend your fortress against an onslaught of stick-figure warriors.
10. Drop7 – A fun numbers puzzle game.

The service is simply amazing, and so very easy to use. Simply create an account at their website, then download the iPhone app from the App Store (free). You can then create simple voice recordings using your iPhone or iPod Touch and upload them to AudioBoo. The quality and clarity of the recordings is stunningly good. You can even have AudioBoo automatically post a link to your recordings via Twitter or Facebook.

I just signed up today for AudioBoo, and I’ve made my first recording. You can hear all of my boos on my AudioBoo page.

General Apps:

1. Facebook – nicely done!
2. Tweetie – my favorite twitter app.
3. The New York Times – superb news reader.
4. USA Today – great news reader.
5. WeatherBug Elite – all things weather-related, including live animated weather maps.
6. CoolIris – pulls pics from your online photo site (like flickr). browse your photos as if they were on your phone already.
7. Google Mobile – instant access to all things google.
8. Shopper – a very handy grocery shopping tool and list maker.
9. AllRecipes – awesome recipe app. i loved their website already.
10. iConvert – convert any measurement to anything. my favorite conversion app. extremely handy.

Games:

1. FieldRunners – a tower defense game. my favorite game! so addictive.
2. Flight Control – very fun game. in my top 5. you are an air traffic controller.
3. X-Plane – beautiful flight simulator.
4. Chopper – fun horizontal scrolling helicopter game.
5. Flick Fishing – a clever fishing game with nice hand gesture casting. very creative.
6. Blocked – i love the simple notebook paper background and pencil drawing. this is a fun mind/puzzle game.
7. Wolfenstein 3D – wow! it’s the original DOS game on the iphone. not very practical, but i had to see it.
8. Simon Says – the old-school simon color memorization game. just for kicks. it gets old very fast.
9. Peggle – super fun game. a great port of the original pc game.
10. Sudoku – outstandingly well done, in my opinion.

I am using the free ad-based version, in which the ads are barely even noticable. To purchase the program, the author is only asking $14.95. In addition to Tweetie for Mac, a version for the iPhone is also available. This little program is a gem on any platform.