Promised Land Of Heavy Metal (or PLOHM) is a little different to most, as at it’s heart is a full length, 52 minute documentary film which tells the story of Finnish Metal, Its history and it’s philosophy. A nice looking interface (yep, I did that bit) allows you to access the apps other sections which include A guide book to Finland (the Promised Land Of Heavy Metal), Photo Galleries, Links to travel information, festivals and Merchandise.

Finland is particularly significant in the Metal scene, as it is probably the only country in the world where Metal has become mainstream. As you will see in the film; the Finnish church has Metal Masses, Finland has had a winning entry into the Eurovision song contest with LORDI and even the Finnish President approves of its Metal connections. It is this bizarre and diverse nature of the film that makes it fascinating to watch for the non Metal fan as well as the true Metal enthusiast.

The Film is Narrated by Kimmo Kuusniemi, now a film maker and guitarist for the very influential band Sarcofagus but originally a forefather of Finnish Metal. It also features a plethora of famous faces and bands such as HIM, Killswitch Engage, Nightwish, Alice Cooper, Lordi, Apocalyptica, Blake and Iron Maiden to name just a few.

Without wishing to blow my own trumpet (or should that be play my own axe) This is a nice looking app containing a fascinating and well made film with some great reviews. Perhaps this is the first of a new breed of app which offer full length films with lots of additional media tied together with an interface that gives it a good DVD feel.

iTunes link: Promised Land Of Heavy Metal

Don’t forget that you are able to connect your device to your TV using one of the systems below, which I wrote about in my previous post “Ten Christmas Gifts For an iPod Touch or iPhone User“

The Klipsch iGroove SXT MFI iPod Speaker System which also provides an S-video output.

The Logic3 WIP040 Prodock

A beautiful selection of quality iPhone and iPod Touch accessories

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Speaker dock
A speaker dock is one of the most used accessories I have ever bought. The JBL On Stage IIIP is a highly rated unit with good sound quality. I own a JBL On Stage speaker and have found it to be well made, faultless and produce high sound quality. If you want the added ability to view your video and photos on a television screen you could consider the Klipsch iGroove SXT MFI iPod Speaker System which also provides an S-video output.

The JBL On Stage IIIP

Klipsch iGroove SXT MFI

Alarm Clock
If you are wanting to pair your device with your radio alarm clock; the Sony ICFC7IP Clock Radio for iPod looks like a choice that a lot of people are very happy with. It is a reasonable price and includes a full function remote control. The only thing that some people have highlighted as a problem is the display being too bright.

Sony ICFC7IP Clock Radio

Device stand
If you use your iPod or iPhone at your desk, as an alarm clock or like to watch a lot of video content you may find a stand useful. The Mobis Technology Xtand for iPod Touch 2G or iPhone is a well engineered solid aluminum king of stands.

Mobis Technology Xtand for iPod Touch 2G

Mobis Technology St-188 Xtand for iPhone 3g

iPod Touch microphone
The features of the iPod Touch can be extended considerably with the addition of a microphone. Adding a microphone allows you to make recordings, take voice notes and even use your Touch as a Skype phone. There are a few different microphones available but I feel the tiny ones are most useful. I would like to get a ThumbTack Micro-Microphone but it looks like the Mini Microphone is also a good option.

ThumbTack Micro-Microphone Black for iPod Touch 2g & iPod Nano 4G

Mini Microphone Mike & Speaker for ALL Apple iPod & iPhones

Stylus Pen
Yes I know what you’re thinking; Why would anybody need a stylus for an iPhone or Touch when you can just use your finger. I agree, in most cases your finger is fine but I have a few drawing app which I think could be easier to use with a stylus, as well as a couple of freehand writing apps. Its not easy writing with your finger. I also think if you wear gloves a lot a stylus could be particularly useful. It seems the stylus of the moment is the Pogo Stylus which also comes with a useful clip that keeps it attached to your device.

SELECT Pogo Stylus Pen for Apple iPhone 3G, 3G S (Black)

FM transmitter for the car
Perhaps the most useful FM transmitter is one that not only transmits your music to your car radio but also charges your device and provides a means to hold it. The Griffin RoadTrip 6195-RDTRPB with Smartscan seems to be a reasonable option as does the Cygnett GrooveTransmit. Both of these devices provide a cradle for your iPhone or Touch which is supported by a short flexible gooseneck with a cigarette plug on the end. If you feel you don’t need the charger or cradle you could try TeckNet MT-096 or Griffin iTrip

Griffin RoadTrip 6265-RDTRPB2 for iPhone and iPod

Cygnett GrooveTransmit FM Transmitter/Charger and Cradle for iPod and iPhone

TeckNet MT-096 Apple FM Transmitter For Apple iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S and other iPod Player

Car mount
If you don’t need an FM transmitter but just want to mount your device in your car, perhaps to use as a GPS you may want a simple car mount. The Kensington Car Mount seems to be a simple solution with good reviews. Alternatively the Sunwire – In Car Holder & Charger looks good and comes with a charger. The possible advantage of the Kensington option is it seems it will take a wider range of devices plus you don’t need to remove them from their cases. Macally make a mount that fits into your car cup holder. If your cup holder is rarely used the Macally mCup could be a great solution. Be aware that unless very thin you will probably need to remove your case with the Macally solution.

Kensington Car Mount for iPod and MP3 Players

Sunwire – In Car Holder & Charger – iPhone 3G/3GS

MCUP Adjustable Car cup holder mount for iphone and ipod

AV dock
There are a range of docks and cables that allow you to plug your device into sound systems and/or televisions. In my opinion a dock is a little more convenient than cables as it means you don’t have to fiddle about with…well…cables. The Logic3 WIP040 Prodock is a versatile dock with great reviews on Amazon. If you prefer cables you could try the Griffin HomeConnect – iPod audio / video cable. Please note that the video component of this cable does not work with the iPhone or Touch but does work with other video iPods that can send video through their headphone jacks.

Logic3 WIP040 Prodock for iPhone/iPod

Griffin HomeConnect – iPod audio / video cable (video does not work with iPod Touch or iPhone)

Protective case
I spent a lot of time looking for a case before I settled on the one I currently have. I was looking for one that was quick and easy to use, protected the whole device yet when in use covered the face as little as possible. It also had to look good. I didn’t want film covering the screen, case on the front of the device or the need to remove the device from a pouch to use it. What do you mean I’m fussy? My searching finally paid off when I found the Proporta Leather Style Protective Case. It is a very smart looking leather effect case with a flip up front cover. The iPhone or Touch is held to the back cover of the case by a couple of covered metal grips so when open your device is fully exposed. I have owned this case for almost a year now and still love it.

Proporta Leather Style Protective Case (Apple 2G iPod touch) – Black

Proporta Leather Style Protective Case for Apple 3G iPhone

Additional battery power
The battery on the iPhone or iPod Touch runs down quite quickly when being used for video, games and other graphic or processor intensive applications (See my post on extending battery life here). When traveling, this can become quite an issue. The solution is an additional battery and or solar charger. In a previous post I recommended the Freeloader Globe Trotter, a portable charger/battery system that can be charged by its solar panels. This appears to be a perfect solution but having owned it for a couple of months I find my self unable to recommend it again. If you’re away for long periods of time and unable to find regular charge points you may require a battery with a solar charger. The PowerMonkey Explorer’ Portable Charger has some very good reviews and is an incredible versatile device. If you don’t require the option to charge via the sun I would consider the Kensington Battery Pack And Charger or the mStation Mohpie Juice Pack- Case & Rechargeable 1800mA Battery. The advantage of the mStation option is it takes the form of a case which means you don’t have to worry about separate batteries and cables.

PowerMonkey Explorer’ Portable Charger – Yellow

Kensington Battery Pack And Charger For iPhone And iPod

mStation Mohpie Juice Pack- Case & Rechargeable 1800mA Battery for iPod Touch 2nd Gen

mStation Mohpie Juice Pack- Case & Rechargeable 1800mA Battery for iPhone 3G

There you go! Ten suggested Christmas gifts for the iPhone or iPod Touch user. I won’t be at all offended if you want to send me one of them

The links in the copy above are my Amazon affiliate links. I searched many many different sites for products I would want to buy and in every case the products I selected were available at Amazon and at a lower cost.

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There are few things in life as addictive as the need to check your various web stats. once you start creating a web presence; be it a web site, social media, internet marketing, or blogging you immediately adopt the patience of a child in the back of a car wanting to know if we are nearly there yet. Checking the numbers of visitors to your site can become quite compulsive stuff.

There have always been ways of tracking your visitor numbers but Google analytics has turned this service into an easy to use product providing detailed visitor statistics. This of course not only lets you know how well you are doing but gives you clues as to how you could make improvements.

The Google analytics web site doesn’t work on the iPhone or Touch due to their inability to handle Flash but if you really want to check your stat’s on the move you do have a few options.

Analytics App by AnalyticsApp.com

This is a comprehensive application with all of the features you would expect plus a few more. It is nicely designed, easy to use and has some very good user reviews. One key feature that makes this app really stand out is its “Today” report, Something that Google doesn’t even have on its website. This app is currently the most expensive of the group

Analytics Agent Pro by Global Agent

Analytics Agent Pro is another fully featured application with very good user reviews. In my opinion this application has some of the easiest to read and most attractive graphs and displays of the bunch. In use I found this app a little less intuitive than Analytics App.

Analytics Pro by Cart Hero, LLC

This app seems to work a little differently. Rather than interpreting the data in its own way it looks like you are viewing snapshots of the Google Analytics website pages. The pages are presented in a long list and It feels a little like you are viewing a pdf document.

BAM Analytics by Blast Advanced Media

At the time of writing this app was free. It doesn’t offer the extensive infomation of other apps but if all you want is a quick view of your basic visits, views and activity this app is quite good. Its simplicity makes it quick and easy to use.

Touchlytics by Newstreet Software

Another extensive, feature-rich application, easy to use application. It clearly presents its information and is the only one that supports landscape view.

Which one of the above you select will probably depend on your requirements and budget. Analytics App, Analytics Agent Pro and Touchlytics are all fully featured and competent apps. I think if your budget permits, the “Today” data you get with Analytics app gives it the edge. The best value for money app is almost certainly Analytics Agent Pro. If all you require is basic data then you can’t go far wrong with the free BAM Analytics.

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fring http://www.fring.com

Skype http://www.skype.com

Setup:

This is one of those “does one thing well” apps. It’s very easy to get started. You either enter your existing Skype details or create a new account.

In use:

Your contacts list is presented in a similar way to the iPhone’s built in address book with an alphabet index down the right hand side. Two buttons at the top allow you to view just your Skype contacts or your entire address book. This makes it easy to use SkypeOut to call standard land lines. Alternatively you could press the call button at the bottom to dial a number that is not in your address book. Skype text chat is nicely presented with icons and speech bubbles, but no landscape keyboard.

All in all Skype is a nicely finished, competent app. It’s ideal if you only want to use the Skype service or you want to use it for free or low cost calls.

Palringo http://www.palringo.com

Services it works with:

MSN, AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, iChat / MobileMe, QQ, Gadu-Gadu and Facebook Chat (Alpha)

Setup

As with other multi service messengers you are first required to set up an account which ties together the various services you may belong to. Setting up a new account is reasonably straight forward, though its done through web pages that don’t feel like they have been optimised for a mobile device. An additional screen then allows you to add optional, additional  information. I just hit the save and done buttons and returned to the main application.

In use:

At first I was left wondering what to do next?. I had an empty buddy list and no obvious way of adding anyone apart from other Palringo contacts. I could hit the support button but instead opt for random button tapping until something looks familiar. I quickly find out how to add additional chat networks and return to my main contacts list.

Instant messages are sent in the usual way but again there is no landscape keyboard. Palringo say they have plans to implement this feature at some time in the future. Interestingly you can also send a voice message which can either be heard within the recipients Palringo app or via a web link. In addition to this you can send pictures, which is a nice feature that seems to be unique to this app.

Another unique feature of this app are its social groups. You can join a growing number of different groups each developed around a particular interest. If you can’t find the group you want, you can create one. I joined the itouch fans group. Once you have joined a group you have direct communication with all other members of that group.

Palringo isn’t quite as intuitive as the other messenger app’s but It does have some unique and interesting features.

To Conclude:

Its difficult to pick an app that really stands out above the rest. If I only wanted to use Skype or just wanted cheap calls I would probably go with the Skype app for its simplicity. Palringo is a fully featured app with some interesting functionality and a pro looking interface, but of the four, I feel most comfortable with Nimbuzz. It has a good feature set, is very easy to use and works with a large range of services.

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I still find the London tube system an impressive achievement but navigation around this complex network of tunnels would be extremely difficult if it weren’t for the simplified schematic map created by Harry Beck in 1932. Fast forward 78 years and we have the option of having the famous London tube map on our iPhones and iPods. 

I have to be honest and say I’m still a little unconvinced that an iPhone app would help you around the tubes of London any better than the plethora of existing signs,posters, leaflets and booklets but then again, I suppose as you have your iPhone or touch with you all of the time it can do no harm to have a tube guide to hand. An iPhone tube guide can also give you additional information such as journey times, line problems and how to find the station in the first place.

I have looked at three of what appeared to be the more fully functional and well rated of the available London Tube apps and it should be noted that I have not tried these apps out in a real world situation but simply researched and tested them from the comfort of my office. Here are my findings.

London tube -
http://www.londontubeiphone.com/

Launching this immediately pops up that familiar map. It offers little in the way of interactivity but can be scaled a little by pinching and also works in landscape mode. Back in portrait mode we have five icons along the bottom of the screen which allow you to search by line or station, specify a route, find your location and return to the main map. 

Lines - This allows you to check the status of lines to make sure they are running without delays and shows a linear version of just that line; similar to the line maps found running above the windows inside the carriages. This is particularly useful for tracking how far along the line you are and how many stops until your destination. 

Stations - This also presents you with a searchable list allowing you to locate the station on the tube map or Google maps; which is very useful for finding your station in the first place. This screen also allows you to enter a destination station resulting in your route and journey times presented in list or map form. 

location - If you have location services switched on this may be able to automatically locate you. 

Route - The final button is dedicated to showing and providing you with information about your route. You enter your start and end destinations by selecting stations from a list or actually on the map.

On the whole this app has most of the features you would need but its operation can be a little convoluted. 

TubeDeluxe - 
http://mbarclay.net/

Upon launching TubeDelux you are presented with a nice list of tube lines displaying icons which determine the status of the line. Clicking a line gives more in-depth information about any problems there may be. Additional buttons along the bottom allow you to view the main map, plan a route, check out departure times and identify your location.

Map - This view again offers you a limited amount of zooming in and out, works in landscape mode; You can also directly select stations o. Selecting a station allows you to specify it as a starting point or final destination, view its departures board and view the stations location on Google maps.

Plan - This is where you can plan your journey. You can specify your start and end points and the app will present your journey in list or map view. The map view offers interactivity allowing the journey to be displayed one step at a time.

Departures - Departure times can often change and this is the place to check them. Updates to this information can be received by simply shaking your device.

Once again I found this app to do what is required of it but it does it in a rather confusing way.

Tube London City 09 - http://visualit.co.uk/Apple/iphone.htm

Launching Tube presents the usual tube map. Zooming in and out is via tapping the screen rather than pinching and there is no landscape mode. At the top of the map is a search box, red and green marker buttons and a small blue arrow. Along the bottom are four buttons; the standard map view, a route finder, information and options. 

Brows - This map view works surprisingly well. Stations can be selected without leaving the screen either by using the search box at the top or by directly tapping on the map. Once a station has been selected, tapping the small blue arrow at the top reveals a box containing information about the station including contact information, connections and other station details. Tapping the green marker button highlights this station as the starting destination. Selecting your destination station and tapping the red marker selects this as the destination. Tapping the route button at the bottom then draws your route between the stations. The green and red marker buttons have now turned into arrows allowing you to step through the stages of your journey and the map animates to show these steps. Tapping the blue arrow at the top now gives you information about the selected route. Its worth noting here that we still haven’t left the main map screen which is good as this really simplifies the workflow and avoids confusing navigation.

Information - Its now time to leave this screen and head over to the information button. This is where you realize that this app is a whole lot more than a simple tube map. Here we find an extensive list of information about the application, the city, the transport system, airports, hospitals, hotels and much more. Tapping many of the items highlights their location on the map and once again tapping the small blue arrow provides you with information about the location.

Options - Finally there is the options button. This allows you set preferred route preferences and also has a handy feature that allows you to instruct the app to ignore certain lines. This means that if you know a certain line is out of action, you can deselect it and the app will create an alternative route for you.

This app is well designed and easy to understand and use.

Conclusion

In my opinion of the three app’s I tested, Tube London City 09 really stands out. It is easy to use, has a far less convoluted workflow than the other two app’s and presents its extensive information in a clear way. Just goes to show, you cant judge an app by its icon.

For more information about London tube map history please visit http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html or http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/communityandeducation/2443.aspx

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