Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Site Review: Grab My Table
GrabMyTable is a new website that aims to provide visitors with access to customer reviews for restaurants across Dublin. It is elegantly designed and very simplistic in terms of what it displays to the visitor. Finding restaurants can be quite tedious however, unless you know the name of the restaurant you are looking for. You cannot browse by cuisine, for example, or find restaurants in a certain price range. Worst of all, you can’t see restaurants by area or location. Although I understand the minimalist approach the site owners are trying to take, it’s almost a bit too minimalist to be all that useful. There is no way of booking a table and there is no rewards scheme, like the one offered at rival site Menupages.ie. The nail in the coffin for me is that the site only lists Dublin restaurants.
Pros:
- Elegant Design
- Quick Sign Up
- Lots of Restaurants
- No ads
Cons:
- Dublin only
- Lack of Information (Opening Hours, Website, Facilities)
- Poor Navigation
- No bookings or rewards scheme
Score: 6/10
Visit GrabMyTable
My Top 10 iPhone Apps
I bought an iPhone (unlocked UK model from eBay) back in April and unlike any other phone I’ve ever owned, I can honestly say that the novelty has yet to wear off. This is in no small part due to some of the brilliant applications available from Apple’s App Store. Here are my ten favourite iPhone apps:
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Home Screen
Sudoku
If I had to pick a favourite app, I would probably say the paid version of Sudoku from Mighty Good Games. With 400 different puzzles spread over 4 different levels, there’s enough Sudoku in this game to keep you going for a long time. My girlfriend complains about how long I take in the bathroom sometimes, and it’s usually because I’m playing this game! So far I’ve gotten through all the easy puzzles (with my record time at 1 minute and 55 seconds) and 19 of the Medium puzzles (my Medium record time is 5 minutes 17 seconds). I imagine I’ll be playing this one until my iPhone dies! I must admit I’m slow to upgrade my iPhone’s firmware as I don’t want to lose my Sudoku records!
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Sudoku
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Sudoku
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Sudoku
TwitterFon
An essential app for any twitterer, TwitterFon has improved with each release and in my opinion is the best Twitter client for the iPhone. This app provides every feature I want from my mobile twitter client.
Top 10 iPhone Apps: TwitterFon
Top 10 iPhone Apps: TwitterFon
Top 10 iPhone Apps: TwitterFon
Remote
If you use iTunes to manage your music, TV shows and movies, and especially if you have an Apple TV, the Apple Remote iPhone app is absolutely essential. I have a Mac Mini and Apple TV in my house and I control both using this brilliant app. My home computer setup is centered around one monitor, keyboard and mouse that I switch between my Mac Mini and my Windows work laptop using a Belkin KVM switch. The great thing about the Remote app is that I can find and play the music on my Mac Mini while I’m working on my laptop.
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Remote
Trace
Other than Sudoku, Trace is my favourite iPhone game. The graphics are very simple but it’s such an addictive and playable game that will provide hours of fun. One night I stayed up until 3am to finish this game off! If you haven’t got this on your phone, I’d advise you get it!
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Trace
Pool
Before I made Sudoku my bathroom game of choice, Pool was the king. I’ve been playing this game since the Installer.app days and while newer versions have brought some new features and improvements, I feel it has lost some of its original charm. Still a great game though! Some prefer the graphics intensive Virtual Pool and others, but the raw simplicity and playability makes this one the winner for me.
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Pool
Level
I bought a house last May and since then I’ve found myself needing to put up pictures, paintings, mirrors and so on up on my walls. Now I’m no DIY man so my toolbox doesn’t contain much other than the obligatory hammer and screwdrivers. One thing I don’t own is a spirit level. Why would I when I have this excellent little iPhone app?
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Level
iSSH
I sometimes find myself nattering on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and at the time of writing I have yet to find a good IRC app for the iPhone. My favourite client is irssi and I use the iSSH app to connect to my home Mac Mini and use irssi from there. It’s also great for checking that my VPS is up and running OK when I’m having issues there.
Top 10 iPhone Apps: iSSH
Top 10 iPhone Apps: iSSH
Clowdy
I’m not a photographer by any means and although I have a Flickr Pro account, I rarely find myself using it. The thing I like about Clowdy is the raw simplicity of it. You take a picture with your iPhone and it appears on the web instantly. You can then access your photos on your computer via the Clowdy website or via an RSS feed.
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Clowdy
Shazam
This neat little app is a definite crowdpleaser at parties – especially when some music comes on the telly and everyone is trying to name the artist. Open Shazam, let it listen to the track and in less than twenty seconds, you’ll have the answer. It has a very high accuracy rate and is great for those songs on adverts that you want to get hold of.
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Shazam
Top 10 iPhone Apps: Shazam
Last but not least for me is the LinkedIn app. A stunning example of how iPhone apps should be made, LinkedIn provides you with on demand access to your connections wherever you are in the world. I love the feature that allows you to add any of your connections as a contact on your phone, with LinkedIn prepopulating the photo and email address fields when possible.
Top 10 iPhone Apps: LinkedIn
As is usual with posts like these, people are bound to agree/disagree with me on the above apps, and I’m sure you all have your own favourites. Feel free to voice your opinion and leave a comment with your own favourites.
