If you travel a lot, this 99 cent application might just save your day. Icoon is offering an iPhone/iPod Touch version of their best selling global picture dictionary.

It’s basically a bunch of drawings classified into 12 categories. Line drawn icons that will address basic things that you need to communicate while traveling. An image can communicate a lot of things and can transcend language barriers. So if you can’t say bathroom in Chinese, you just pop-up your iPhone and show them the icon of the bathroom.

Sure you can technically take pictures/draw the icons that are found in Icoon but seriously for 99 cents, why go through the hassle. Just download this baby and save yourself the trouble.

Check out Icoon’s web site here and the buy the app here.

Post from: EveryJoe

App of the Week: Icoon – A Bunch of Drawings That Might Save The Day

[image courtesy of GadgetTrak]

Ken Westin from GadgetTrak left me a comment in my entry about the recovery of a stolen MacBook Pro. GadgetTrak is the maker of MacTrak, an anti-theft software for Mac OS X.

MacTrak boasts of advanced WiFi positioning, Flickr integration and privacy and tamper proof features.

When your Mac gets stolen you can use the web based activation feature to activate tracking. The next time your Mac connects to the internet it will activate MacTrak. The software will start sending data to you.

The software uses the built-in camera of Macs to take pictures of the thief. It will send the photos to your Flickr account along with other information. The images are set to private but you can also configure it to be public.

The software is $59.95. It might seem like a steep price to pay for something that you may not use. However, I’m sure you’ll be thankful if this helps recover your Mac.

Post from: EveryJoe

App of the Week: MacTrak

Instead of opening the several networking apps in several browser windows, EventBox packs it all for you in one neat interface. You just have one app open and it retrieves your data for you.

A great idea but the app is still in beta and there are some kinks that need to be worked out. I had a little trouble authenticating my Facebook account. But it seems to be working now.

One of the things I’m not so hot about right now is that there’s no slideshow feature for the pictures I’m viewing. Especially Flickr. You can scroll to the photos but there’s no automatic way to play them all. You also can’t view the bigger versions without it opening a browser window for you.

Right now as a beta release this is ok with room for improvement but so far I don’t see myself paying $20 ($15 during the beta period) for this.

Post from: EveryJoe

App Of The Week: EventBox

This week’s chosen app is an iPhone/iPod Touch app called VLC remote. This app allows you to control VLC on your Mac or PC. It’s 99 cents for a limited time according to the developer.

I found this through Lifehacker.

I watch a lot of tv shows and videos on my computer. Much more than what I watch on TV. I have a nice 17″ MacBook Pro and when it’s about several feet away it’s still good to watch on. But controlling VLC was always a bit of a pain. Not unless I had my wireless mouse with me. But since I usually watch on the couch, there’s no flat surface to move the mouse in.

Now before you all go say I’m a lazy ass bastard, let me just qualify and say that I have a disability and it’s really hard for me to move and control my computer from afar. So the VLC Remote is almost a godsend.

It’s a fairly simple app but it does its job well. The response is quick. You almost feel no lag when you control VLC. You can open and browse through your computers folders to play the videos that you want.

The only problem I have so far with it is that you can’t remotely open VLC. You need to open VLC from your computer for the VLC Remote app to connect. Hopefully this is something that the developers can work on.

I’ve also been playing with it for a short time but I can’t find a way to delete the ones I’ve played already from the playlist. Every time I open a new video file it just adds to the playlist.

Apart from these, it’s pretty much worked as advertised. You need to download the latest version of VLC as well as these setup instructions so you can configure everything.

There’s a free version but it only offers basic controls and comes with some advertising.

VLC Remote is developed by Hobbyist Software. Go try it out now.

Post from: EveryJoe

App Of The Week: VLC Remote

I recently got locked out of a Finance web site I use a lot. With the tons of username and passwords I have to remember, I just forgot my details with this one. Usually I don’t like writing down my finance passwords for fear of losing the piece of paper. Thus, it took me a long phone call and several tense moments before I was able to log in again.

By sheer luck I was gifted with a single license of 1password. I’ve been thinking of buying this app but wasn’t really convinced I needed it. Since it’s free, I said “why not”. So off I went to download the application and give it a go.

I must say I’m generally happy with the app. I’m thinking it’s worth the $40 price tag.

It’s just plain easier to have an app remember your passwords but not only that you can create identities and have it fill up the fields that you need to fill up when signing up for a new service. It can also generate new passwords for you. Cool.

One of the drawbacks I’ve seen is that it doesn’t work too well with some AJAX driven sites such as Digg or Flash driven sites such as Picnik. I don’t know if it’s just me but I had trouble logging in to both using this app. Apart from that it’s been good.

There’s a free iPhone/iPod Touch app that you can use in tandem with the desktop app.

Check out their video here. Download a trial version here.

[Image courtesy of Agile Web Solutions]

Post from: EveryJoe

App Of The Week: 1Password