If you are a newspaper freak, and you simply have to read every single newspaper that comes out in your town then this is the perfect app for you. But why stop at your town, why not the country, and when we are at that, why not the world? -This app has it all. PressReader is an iPhone and iPad app from NewsPaper Direct Inc. that lets you buy and read daily newspapers from around the world in full PDF format. Think of it as a TiVo for newspapers. You can find and instantly download over 1,500 newspapers from 90 countries and 47 languages. The newspapers cost about 99 cents per issue, and there is also an option to subscribe to the newspapers of your choice to have them delivered to you automatically. When you get started with the PressReader app you get your first 7 issues for free, which is a great way to try out the features of the app. The app has 4 tabs: 1) My Library where you have a list of all the publications you’ve purchased. Tap “Select Title” to browse papers by Country or by Language. Unfortunately United States is all the way on the bottom of the list, so you have to scroll down each time. Another great feature in PressReader is its ability to store you older newspapers. You can’t do text based searches on the content of your newspapers. 2) Top Stories - lists an RSS feed reader style list of the headlines from various publications. Tap any headline to read the full story. 3) Search - here is where you can find stories by keyword, and narrow them down by language and newspapers. The search results here again have the very slow to respond web based experience, like the Top Stories section. 4) Settings - this is where you enter your PressDisplay account information and authorize yourself for downloads after your 7 free issues have been completed. So now you can stay informed everywhere you go without tripping over the papers around you.

Lutron has unveiled an interface that controls its HomeWorks whole-home lighting system via iPhone or iPod Touch.The HomeWorks Light Control application allows you to control your Lutron HomeWorks system over a Wi-Fi, Edge, or 3G network with the convenience of iPhone and iPod touch. A key feature of this application is that it automatically configures itself using the information stored in the HomeWorks system. This application works with Lutron’s HomeWorks system and requires setup by a qualified HomeWorks installer. Users will have complete control of their HomeWorks keypads no matter where they are. The interface will be able to control scenes in any room by choosing from a list of keypads. Thus, in order for it to work efficiently, each keypad in the home should be labeled properly. Lutron has hinted at releasing an iPhone application in the past. The iPhone application can be accessed by touching the Lutron icon that will appear on the iPhone or iPod Touch after download.

The company says its new application can:

• Set the mood for arriving guests
• Save energy by turning off lights that may have been left on
• Control lights, music and ambiance in a home to create a complete entertainment experience

National Geographic’s maps do benefit from the extra screen real estate. We are, after all, dealing with digital versions of wall maps: other things being equal (like pixel density), a larger screen will always be better. On the iPad, you have a far better balance between detail and context: that is to say, you can see the map’s detail without having to sacrifice a view of the surrounding areas. For example, if I look at Ethiopia on the lowest zoom for the regional maps, on the iPod touch I see very little else: Eritrea and Djibouti, and bits of Somalia/Somaliland, Yemen and northern Kenya. On the iPad, I see most of eastern Africa and the southern Arabian peninsula, from Darfur to Oman, and from Cairo to the Seychelles. The included Bing Maps viewer also benefits from the extra screen real estate. (It’s safe to say that every iPad map viewer will look better than its iPhone/iPod touch counterpart.) Like the iPhone app, it’s GPS-enabled, and it works. (Most iPad map apps I’ve run across have a GPS location button, and they all work: if they don’t, then there’s something seriously wrong with the app’s georeferencing or it’s a system-wide problem.) The Nations feature, providing data on every country and territory on the planet, is now a pull-down menu; choosing a country highlights it on the map. It’s a nice iPad-specific touch, but the map doesn’t change its zoom, which is problematic if you’re zoomed too far in and look up a large country or vice versa.

Come on, admit it… there was at least one time when you were in high school that you procrastinated a bit too long, backed yourself into a corner and were saved by the Cliff Notes of the book you never quite got around to reading. I know I have. We love books. But we love our time even more. And sometimes you just don’t have time to read every book you *need* to read, at least not right this moment. So we give you Book Bites - convenient, compact summaries of books that tell you exactly what you need to know about a book, and not much more…all in a handy little app. Don’t be left clueless at that office meeting or cocktail party, and definitely don’t miss out on a little self-help or bomb on that big test. From the latest business books to literary classics to self-improvement, Book Bites are your one-stop source for bite-sized knowledge. Key features include:  Save time on the go with the compact format and concise summary, Explore key quotations from the book - shake your device for a random quote!,  Both portrait and landscape reading modes are supported, as well as an adjustable font size for reading flexibility, Pick up where you left off with the auto-bookmarking feature Read through the summary seamlessly with Next and Previous buttons at the end of each chapter and many more conveniences that will bring you even closer to all the best literatures in the world.

WriteWords has a simple opening menu that lets kids choose between numbers, capital letters, lower case letters, words in all caps, words in all lower case. Kids trace the letters with their finger, guided by a little crab that they drag for each stroke. Crab will not respond to wrong motions, and will hang around till the motion is completed. Your kid will hear praise for each completed letter – “Excellent” “great job!” as well as cute sounds for each stroke, and shaking off the letters when they complete. The app has been engaging enough for Sal to take an interest in practicing his letters and has helped certain letters like lower case e that he has ingrained a different motion pattern than normal.    From a reward perspective, it allows you to shake down the letters into a virtual hole before progressing, not a strong reward, but a fun element.  The whole app is delightful to behold. Bright background colors are juxtaposed against equally bright and scribbly child-like artwork that convey the word being spelled. You and your child will enjoy tracing your finger along those necessary building blocks of language. With its memorable artwork and way cool physics engine, it is sure to entertain and teach your child. Its got an intuitive interface for young children. It has high quality graphics and effects. I have no hesitation in recommending this app for children ready to start learning to write. To me, this is exactly the sort of app I am looking for in my quest to have apps that are fun, but teach my kids something really useful in the real world.

We give you another highly addictive iPod Touch game that is going to take hours of your spare time, leaving very little time for boredom. Based on the best-selling PC game, Turbo Subs is now available on iPhone and iPod Touch!  Are you ready for this super-charged Time Management game?  Embark on a tasty new adventure as Rebecca and Robert create successful sandwich shops in the most peculiar sites around New York City! It’s a tough town, so they will both have to work fast to satisfy impatient customers and fend off villainous thieves. With loads of upgrades, secret sauces and more, Turbo Subs is a tasty treat for all! Like most time management games, you have to serve your customers on time in order to keep them happy and satisfied. Only a happy customer pays the order and gives big tips. An unhappy customer, well let’s just say that things might become ugly.

Key features:

•Race through 60 levels of fast-food fun
•8 types of hungry customers
•Satisfy customers and fend off thieves.
•Ultra easy touch screen controls
•Upgrade appliances, condiments & more.

Supermarket Mania is a fun resource management game for the iPhone and iPod touch. You are a girl who is in charge of restocking all the shelves, cleaning up spills and catching thieves in a supermarket. You have a bunch of customers, mostly old ladies, coming in with shopping carts buying all sorts of stuff, like pineapples, sausages, bananas, cheese, chicken, etc, and you have to constantly keep them happy by cleaning up any spills, filling up the counters by taking food from the back to the shelves and watching out for thieves by reporting them to the security officer. When customers don’t have anything to buy they get sad faces on the screen, and if you get them really upset, they will leave your store, costing you mucho dinero. Your overall goal is to earn enough money before closing time each day so you can move to the next level. The game has a whopping 50 levels, with 5 shops, seven customer types, and 7 accessories to upgrade your shops with. Supermarket Mania is a fun game and is backed by a cartoon style storyline to add to the drama. The graphics are sharp, the background music is enthusing, and the gameplay is excellent and addictive. We would definitely recommend Supermarket Mania to anyone who enjoys time/resource management games for the iPod touch. This one is a definite crowd pleaser. Maybe now you can learn some shopping skills, and appreciate  all the employees at your local supermarket.

Manage your own virtual beauty salon! Help Sally spread her salon savvy from the shopping mall to the glittering lights of Hollywood in this stylish and engaging challenge based on the hit online game. Work with Sally to revamp everyone, from little old ladies to punk rockers to impatient celebrities, in five unique salon locations. Wash, dye, cut, style and more in 50 levels of fashionable fun. Use your earnings to hire helpful employees and purchase salon upgrades to keep your clients looking and feeling their best. Only the stylist with the happiest (and best-looking!) customers will make the cut in this fashionably fun game for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Five unique locations with 10 levels each: The Mall, Ski Resort, The Ritz, Ocean Pier and Star Studios. Two game modes and 9 unique customer types guarantee endless fun. The goal is to make your clients look fabulous quickly, so they don’t get angry and storm out. By tapping on the touch screen, you move customers, who walk in one by one, from station to station. Leave them sitting anywhere too long - in the waiting area, in the barber’s chair, at the cash register - and they’ll head straight for the door, taking their money with them. Earn enough cash though, and you’ll not only pass the level, but get a chance to buy items to upgrade your salon.This game’s survival mode is a real challenge for all the true lovers of the genre. Here the players are challenged to satisfy an increasing number of customers, running back and forth between them until one walks out to end the round. This mode provides much more of an immediate challenge. And since Sally’s Salon has a statistics screen, there’s plenty of incentive to play again and again, beating old scores. All that being said, all that is left for you to do is to download this game and check it out yourself.

Gameplay for Sally’s Spa is very similar to Diner Dash. So it really isn’t anything new. The basis of the game is that you run a salon, and you have different stations, such as a sauna, nail station, spa, massage table, and hair station. You have customers that come in to get certain treatments. Your goal is to get all your customers through their treatments and out the door with a smile on their face and a huge tip for you. But this can be much more challenging than you may originally think. You start out running a little salon on the west coast. The customers are patient and there aren’t too many station to worry about and run. But after that initial location, you begin to pick up in speed and difficulty. There are 5 levels to a location, and over 10 locations in different spots in the world that you play. Each location introduces new customer types and new stations to manage.In order to make it somewhat easier there are a lot of upgrades. These upgrades you could make to the stations and equipment in the salon really gave the game an added layer of depth. You had to choose wisely in order to maximize your spending in a way that would benefit you most during the rush out at the salon. You could also purchase employees to man some of the stations in the salon. This greatly alleviates some of the stress of managing customers, as some are taken care of without your participation, and that helps move the line right along. Overall, Sally’s Spa is a great game that kept my interest the entire way through. The upgrades and merchandise helped add depth to a game that would otherwise be very basic. Though not without its flaws, it is a game I would recommend to a wide audience.

There are really only a handful of iPod Touch games that can truly make you relax. Tangram games ore one of those games. Relax and expand your mind with tangrams, the classic geometry puzzle. Featuring 540 puzzles to complete in any order, play for a few minutes or a few hours – the choice is yours. But the one thing I am absolutely certain is that you are going to be addicted to this game from the first time you play. I mean, the 540 level leave hardly any room for dullness and boredom. Intuitive one-finger controls let you slide and spin shapes, and a convenient shape tray keeps things organized. Soothing music and sound effects help you relax. Do you need anything more?

Features:

- 540 challenging puzzles
- Intuitive one-finger touch controls
- Relax and engage your mind
- Listen to your own tunes or the included music
- Facebook Connect lets you show off your progress
- Snap your wrist to throw your Tans into the puzzle area
- Great for all ages