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THE CHANCES ARE if you personally didn’t get an iPhone or iPad for Christmas this year, and you’re not a bit jealous about that, you might already be an iPhone or iPad owner.
But if you’re one of the lucky souls who opened some wrapping paper this year to find a shiny new iWhatever in your hands, then congratulations: welcome to the leagues of the undead who walk the streets with their new gadgets glued to their hands forevermore.
Just one problem, though: if you’re going to become a fully-fledged member of the Apple brigade and merit keeping your new toy firmly in your grasp, you’re going to need help deciding what to put on it. That’s why we’ve put together this list of the apps you should instantly check out. (We didn’t even put ourselves on it!)
For the sake of simplicity for any new user, the ‘download here’ link underneath the name of each app brings you straight to the App Store where you can download that program. That way, you don’t need to go looking for it yourself.
1. FacebookLet's start with the basics. While for other social outlets like Twitter there are dozen of various apps you can use, for Facebook the imitations are few and far between. Realistically, there is only one proper Facebook app: the Facebook app itself. It's free, which makes it a good starting point too.
Sadly, in the grand scheme of things, it's not a particularly brilliant app; in terms of the actual functions it does what it's meant to, but doesn't do it with any great aplomb or finesse. Still, as with Facebook itself, the app will be indispensible. Download here.
2. Osfoora
As we mentioned, there's any number of various Twitter apps you can use to access the microblogging service du jour. For free options you can use the official Twitter app, or indeed the one that's preferred by your writer, the nifty Echofon.
But for those who take their Twitter seriously, it's worth shelling out for Osfoora, a fast, pretty and very elegantly-put-together app that can handle pretty much anything you'll ever need - including, for example, the ability to attach more than one image to a tweet. Beautiful in its simplicity. Download here for iPhone, and here for iPad.
3. IMOThere are any number of different 'chat' clients you can get for your new device - apps that build in the function of Windows Live Messenger, AIM, Google Talk and anything else - but IMO is a pretty handy way of taking care of all of them at once.
Using this you can keep your Yahoo chat, AIM, Skype, Google Talk, Windows Live (MSN) contacts in one place, and easily manage your various identities for each of those services. Simple, elegant, and free. Download here for iPhone, and here for iPad.
4. InstapaperYou know that feeling of frustration you get when you're browsing online and you come across a lengthy but really interesting newspaper or magazine article? And you don't want to print out a physical copy, but nor do you want to spend a few hours sitting in front of the screen reading it all at once? And you just don't have the time to read it now?
The premise of Instapaper is simple: 'Read It Later'. These apps combine with a bookmark you can put on the toolbar of your web browser. So, next time you find an article online that you'd like to set aside for reading at a later date - just click the bookmark, it'll be noted, and when you fire up the Instapaper app on your phone or iPad you can read it in its entirety.
There's a free version for the iPhone, and premium versions for the iPhone and iPad.
5. Angry BirdsLast week it was announced that the surprise and undisputed iPhone Game of the Year had sold over 50 million copies - netting its makers Rovio Mobile millions. Angry Birds is one of those simple games, done very well: you command a fleet of birds, who seek revenge on a herd of pigs (yes, pigs) after they've stolen the eggs containing your offspring.
Revenge is sought in a simple way: by battering your birds, kamikaze-style, through the pigs - who defend themselves in progressively more elaborate wooden and stone structures. 79c for iPhone, and €3.99 for iPad. Either is more than worth it for the enjoyment.
6. ScrabbleIf the ornithologist in you is a little uneasy about flinging defenceless birds into various structures, then the more leisurely game of Scrabble could well be more appealing for you.
There's little to be said about Scrabble that you probably don't already know, but what's great about this app is that it allows for solo play, playing against others alongside you, or playing over a network with friends and strangers near and far. Both the iPhone and iPad versions are on sale right now for 79c each.
7. GearedAnother one of those puzzle games where a simple concept is made brilliantly complex. The premise is simple: place a sequence of cogs on the screen so that the moving gear at the bottom begins to move the one at the top. Not as easy as it sounds.
There's a free teaser version for iPhone, before you hand over 79c for the iPhone edition or €2.99 for the iPad one.
8. KindleIf you've been given an iPad for Christmas, there's a reasonable chance that the person who bought it for you might have considered getting you Amazon's Kindle - the electronic book reading device that's quickly become the standard bearer in its field. Thankfully, to make your iPad that little bit more multipurpose, there's a free official Kindle app.
Amazon have the sales model worked out brilliantly: just go to the Amazon website, buy the Kindle edition of a book, and the new purchase instantly loads itself onto the Kindle program on whatever device you have. There's apps for the iPhone, iPad, Android, PC and Mac - and you can read your new book on each of them, saving your progress as you go along. Download it here.
9. FlipboardApple's official iPad App of the Year and probably deservedly so. Like most of the other entries in the list, Flipboard is a simple premise made brilliant by how it's carried out.
Flipboard, basically, is a magazine - it turns the stories that your contacts on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Google Reader are sharing into a magazine layout, which allows you to easily scan the various stories that your pals find something. Quite simply, words can't do it justice - it's worth checking out just to try it. And it's free, so there's nothing to lose. Download here.
10. FlightRadar24The last entry in our list might not, strictly speaking, be the most useful of the apps in the list, but if you're looking for something to show off the sheer range of data you can show on your new toy, this one is up there - especially given the travel headaches we're still getting to grips with.
FlightRadar24 simply shows the volume of air traffic flying in any particular area over Europe at that particular moment - tap any individual plane and it'll tell you what plane it is, and where it's going. Handy if you're trying to follow a plane's physical progress, but still pretty cool if you just want to see how the world is still moving. Download it here.
Don't forget that you can also download TheJournal.ie's free iPhone and iPad apps right now - making it very easy for you to find the latest news on the go.
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They could just as easily write similar articles about events over here – for example the ridiculous public reaction to Princess Diana’s death. I really wish people would stop believing our media’s black and white portrayal of North Korea. We are just as prone to propaganda as they are – the truth most definitely lies in between what they are being fed and what we are. I have visited North Korea and guess what, they are as human as you or I. Let’s get off this ridiculous moral high horse of thinking they are just deluded simpletons and we are so much better than they. We are all victims of the information that our media dishes out, I wish we’d all just think a little before we swallow it so easily.
I Agree with you 100%
The difference is that not even the staunchest republican would accuse Diana of starving a large proportion of her population. Yes we are fed content from traditional media but we are also free to communicate with people all around the world ourselves through social media. Your comment is ridiculous.
Michael my comment is referring to the people of DPRK not particularly their leaders. My word of caution is basically to be careful of being so cocksure you know the truth – something westerners seem to think they have the monopoly on.
I could give you many examples of what I saw there that challenges the ‘truth’ we are told (if you ARE interested then drop me a line). We seem to find it so easy to label and ridicule what we know very little about – and let’s face it most people who write about DPRK haven’t a clue what it’s really like there. It’s always good to question – sorry you feel that’s ridiculous.
You may have visited North Korea but did you have full and free access to go anywhere you wished. Yes, the media in the west are very quick to portray things the way they want them to be seen, but as far as North Korea goes they don’t need propaganda, it’s pretty obvious from looking at the film and pictures released by the North Korean’s themselves. Even in the hysteria over Princess Di you didn’t have army officers falling around crying. I suggest you read some of the UNHCR reports on DPRK, they provide some stark pictures of life for ordinary citizens, particularly those outside of Pyongyang.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/KPIndex.aspx
Indeed I have read many such reports and I am horribly aware of the suffering that has occurred there. All I am saying – and it’s as simple a point as it is an important one – there are always two sides to a story. Our media chooses to portray DPRK in one particular way, their media does the same in reverse. Our media chooses to portray the US in a particular way, their media does the same in reverse. I could go on..
And on a silly pedantic note I did see images of officers crying at Di’s funeral.- It’s very simple to put a spin on any story and I truly believe the west does it just as much as they do – and both of us are absolutely convinced of our superiority, righteousness and truthfulness.
“cocksure” now there’s a word. Wonder what the etemology of dat is? Nuttin naughty i hope!
Weird trying to find words to describe seeing so many in tears as they are. What a messed up country.
what about,, opressed, forced, coerced, staged, internment, ?
Why are they weird? It’s a funeral, hardly a source of entertainment.
It’s more that it’s intriguing seeing these pictures because it’s so rare to see photographs from North Korea – and these are particularly unusual. A lot of these are clearly highly choreographed and stage-managed, but who’s to say that these people aren’t generally upset by what’s happening – after all, there have been funerals of major public figures in the western world which have seen similar open displays of grief (thinking particularly of Diana’s funeral in 1997)
So it’s not meant to be entertainment, it’s more a look at a society we don’t get to see a lot of.
Christine
I do not think they are strange either a state funeral is a funeral , and Stage managed ? Probably there are only 12 photos and they are taken it seems in the one area . So they appear staged … These people are more to be pitied for being handled and for their lack of social freedom .But they are doing what they deem respectful .!
In this case, I think it’s a great source of entertainment. It’s a funeral of a nutjob, that’s been stage-managed by his nutjob army, with a populace too afraid not to mourn. Hilarious!
Good to see Kelly advocating respect for someone, dead or alive.
Is Kim Jong Il’s coffin on the roof of the hearse? Reminds me of Aki Kaurismäki’s Leningrad Cowboys Go America
I see you’ve changed the title from weirdest to strangest. Hardly much of an improvement.
No, the headline hasn’t been touched, it always said ‘strangest’. I’ve outlined the reasons why above, but basically it’s showing how unusual the situation is – and the fact that the rest of the world is privy to such a moment.
The sub heading said weirdest and strangest photos and now says most grabbing. Maybe you change the main headline to that too as its less insulting to the mourners and the dead.
I don’t know what’s funnier, Kim Jong Il’s comedy funeral, or Kelly getting offended by the world having a good laugh at Kim Jong Il’s comedy funeral.
Sean, what really is strange is that profile photo of yours. Your surfing stance sucks-too far back and way too upright to get any drive off a wave like the one you’re on. I suspect you faded out shortly after this photo was taken and then spent the next 30 minutes trying to make it back to the line up.
But as your from Limerick and working in Dublin, you can be forgiven for not having much experience in surfing. Hope you’re looking forward to summer when you can go out and play in the ankle snappers with the rest of the sunshine crew.
Oh thanks Kelly! I knew I was doing something wrong for the last 12 years, though I never knew Kim Jong Il would be partly responsible for correcting it. And let’s not forget his 11 holes in one in his first attempt at golf.
http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2011/12/19/worlds-greatest-golfer-dies-farewell-kim-jong-il/
Was there nothing this man couldn’t do?
Saying the displays of grief in these state supplied pictures of this funeral are similar to the genuine out-pouring of grief in response to Princess Diana’s death is idiotic. Last time I checked, mourners at her funeral, who didn’t mourne vigorously enough weren’t thrown into labour camps. Perhaps because there are no labour camps for political prisoners in the UK.
Plus we have a free press in the West. Something some of our fore-bearers fought and died for. Comparing the press of the DPRK with that in the West, as one comment did, is …..beyond belief. But, thanks to the sacrifice of many in past wars, you’re free to make such silly comments, unlike your fellow human beings in the DPRK.
We aren’t reliant on the press to inform our opinions. The web is full of independently verified reports from trusted sources, such as the UN and Amnesty, of conditions inside the DPRK. Fortunuately we can also read this source material and make our own minds up, unlike the writer of this ‘article’ whose only contribution seems to be uninformed opinion.
As to the person who claims to have visited the DPRK. I believe you have to be part of an organised tour to visit and thus are controlled by state security handlers during your time in the country, so you most certainly did not receive a balanced view of the state.
‘Giant Soldier’ Pictured At Kim Jong Il’s Funeral In North Korea: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/30/giant-soldier-kim-jong-il-funeral-_n_1176302.html?1325258773&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008 Huffington Post
I find it strange that a man who hated the U.S.A. that the hearse carrying him is a Lincoln Continental.
not sure if the sorrow is staged, the north korean people after all have no access to the outside world, all they know is what their government tells them and many probably believe it. its not so long ago the people of ireland believed everything the church told them
If there wasn’t so many people suffering in that fucked up country it would be hilarious ….
take the beam out of your own eye you tulip
He’s dead? I can’t bereave it.
Fake crying is strange. Standing in a line to wait to get your opportunity to fake cry is even stranger. If the North Koreans don’t like western media propaganda they can loosen journalist restrictions and let reporters interact with the population without government minders.
About the only thing I find strange is that the hearse is an American Lincoln Continental. The crying generals are more amusing than strange – but who am I to question their grief – it could be genuine.
i was wondering what make the car was………. that’s a bit hypocritical isn’t it!
It’s not the first time we’ve seen the oppressors indulge themselves in luxuries obtained from the west, while simultaneously condemning the west. Of course the hoi polloi are denied such things.
Kim Jong-il loved ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘Rambo’. He also had all the albums by ‘Steps’, and he didn’t like Louis Walsh very much.
Christine, may I suggest that perhaps the title of the article could be changed to reflect the fact that the photos are not strange at all really. Interesting indeed but not strange.
noticed all the women wearing the exact same shoes, now thats strange!
I find that very erotic
Ah lads! The fookin shoes dose auld ones are wearin in picture four! Get dem down to Clarks IMMEDIATELY!
Surprised no body from workers party/democratic left/labour party was in attendance did some of that group not visit there to discuss quantitive easing?
?
Michaels ?
Workers party visited north Korea many moons ago Frank Ross I believe A K A
P De Rossa was there.
Some terrible whispers about north Korea printing dollars totally untrue by the way.
This and other matters recently in papers/courts add up to interesting story.
Hang on to that tinfoil hat there John, you’re going to need it.
Didn’t find the pictures strange. They show a state funeral where eveyone appears “appropriately” distraught, no different than the propaganda images provided by other countries. True, we don’t often see images from inside North Korea that haven’t been smuggled out at great risk, but strange doesn’t fit the subject matter.
Appropriately distraught? Have you ever seen military members in a state funeral breaking down weeping before? Why are they all acting the same? Some people just don’t cry, some people are just not emotional. What about the defectors who have confirmed that many people will act when the cameras are put in front of them?
correct RDX862, its just amazing that the rest of the world is a mish mash of all different sorts of people with different emotions and different ways of dealing with things BUT in north Korea they’re all the same!!… oscars for everyone in the DPRK… except for the girl in the pink coat in picture 4, her heart just isn’t in it!!… give her an emmy!!:)
Picture 7. The soldier to the right looks like a north Korean Brian O’Driscoll :)
Strange? Not really!
Ireland and the Irish are equally when you think of it, seriously.
‘equally strange’
Does anyone actually believe you ‘re a male foreigner?
I am a male and I am not irish original, but I am not a foreigner. We are all foreigners friend
Picture six looks like there going to fire him out of something
It ties in nicely with the elder Kim’s extravagant tastes that his last ride was on the top of a ’76 Lincoln, a Detroit dinosaur dating from the height of the era of cheap oil, and rampant consumerism, that is so at odds with the collective pauperism foisted upon his people.
I don’t find these pictures weird or strange either. They look like the last state funeral in NK. Unless you find looking at foreign people strange. I think the above comment about the influence of the catholic church in Ireland is a valid one. Would a third of the country go to the phoenix park nowadays to hear the pope? I hope not…
You did notice the quotes around appropriate didn’t you? “Appropriate” meaning what is expected of them, not what they really want to do.
A lot of words have been used – entertaining, strange, weird. I wonder do they use the same description of us? I am not a supporter of North Korea and I do really wait to see what is going to happen with the next regime but please have some level of respect for these people. They may appear to be totally inconsolable with grief and we can see that it is not all real but that is what they know. Its the way to behave in that circumstance. We are no better, we fake so many emotions and we also have fake gods.
How these pictures are strangest!? All I can see mourners at their ex-leader’s funereal. I don’t see anything strange in there! Just because it’s North Korea so everything they do is strange? Even a funereal?
You must attend very strange funerals. I have been to many funerals and outside of a couple of people losing control I have never seen anything remotely similar to the fake grief these North Koreans are acting out.
we will act like this when brian cowen passes on!
incidently im not wishing death on our last great leader……………… just piles…………. piles of them………and cronic itchy arse syndrome!! thats all
I don’t know where you lot trained as “journalists” but to claim ” bizzarre incidents as you would expect from the world’s most secretive nation” is just bad, bad editing. No subs, obviously.
clearly all 3 of you must be working the late shift 2nite
I’m all for constructive criticism Rory, but that sentence fragment you’ve quoted doesn’t appear anywhere in the article…
i think rory is a north korean spy!! :)
@Christine
admittedly my comment was a bit of a swipe, but I quote the opening paragraph:
“and as can be expected from the world’s most secretive nation, there’s been some bizarre scenes.”
North Korea may be a basket case of a country but this is no reason for a lack of journalistic integrity on your part. There is no established relation between “a secretive nation” and “bizarre scenes”, and you should not presume that to be the case as if it were a unversal truth.
Je reste ma valise, as the Frenchman said….
They are not hearses but stretch limos that date back to the 1970s. The same cars were used for Kim il sings funeral in 1994. I don’t think they even have hearses in north Korea.
either way joey’s point remains, its hipocrytical to say the least, hearse or no hearse
U
They may be cut off from the world, cold, poor and hungry, but at least they’ve got flat screen tv’s!
@RDX862, yes I did have attended a few funereals but I don’t call them strange just because if they don’t fall in western culture or customs. Why do we have to make a mockery about someones funereal?
Anyone know why the ‘weeping’ citizens are all wearing the same shoes? I’m just wondering.
Because they only make one type of shoe in North Korea?
Nobody seems to have noticed or pointed out the strangeness of the 25/30 year old German-made Mercedes or the equally ancient American made Lincoln cars that were used as hearse/limos – neither could hardly be categoriesed as great symbols of the communist way.
Did Prionsias de Rossa show up to pay his respects to his former associate as he joined The Great Proletariat in the sky?
have your say