Virtual Earth

This year has been an innovative year for the iPhone as applications push the iPhone’s capabilities to the limits! Regardless of who you are, there are just some iPhone apps that are enjoyed by nearly everyone. Here are ten of highest rated iPhone applications around and best of all nearly all of them are available completely free!

Pandora Radio Price: FREE

If you enjoy music the least bit then this may be the program that takes care of everything you need. First of all the Pandora app is free to download! That’s always a good start. Pandora essentially allows you to pick a genre of music that you enjoy and it plays songs based upon your choice. Don’t like a song you hear? Give it a thumbs down and you’ll never hear it again. The more you use Pandora, the more it learns you and your musical interest so that after a while you’ll enjoy just about any song you come across. It surprised me how many of my friends had never used or even heard of Pandora but now nearly everybody I know has adopted it.

Wikipanion App Price: FREE

A world of knowledge at your fingertips. That’s what Wikipedia gives computer users everywhere and now its available for your iPhone. What more could be said other than having a complete self updating encyclopedia on your iPhone will come in handy when the time comes to check some facts. In addition, the Wikipedia app has one very cool feature. Hit a button and it will pull up all the information it has about where you’re at. Visiting the Golden Gate Bridge and want to know more about it? Well, just fire up the app and enjoy your virtual tour!

IMDb App Price: FREE

Quick! What’s the casting lineup in “The A-Team” or when is “Ghost Busters 3″ finally supposed to come out? This app gets its biggest workout around the water cooler at work. Become an instant movie guru with quick access to info on any movie released! When you get tired of schooling others, check out the “trailers” page for the latest on the new flicks coming out!

Angry Birds Price: .99

The best-selling, most downloaded and arguably most addicting game released for the iPhone, “Angry Birds” is by far the biggest time waster on my phone. The basics of the game is this: Shoot angry birds out of a slingshot at structures filled with egg stealing green pigs! Each angry bird has different abilities. (One bounces around after landing, another plows right through anything in its way and so on.) Angry Birds is this decade’s Tetris. For less than one dollar, the price is right too!

Dropbox App Price: FREE

Some of the best applications are those that are useful even when you don’t have your iPod/iPad around and “Dropbox” is one of those applications. This application stores files remotely and lets you access or download them to your iPod from anywhere! With Dropbox, you can use your iPod memory for more useful items like more apps! Dropbox also has one button sharing capabilities allowing you to share audio, video, pdf, txt, image files and more with a single click! Finally, by being able to upload files from your computer to Dropbox and then accessing them via the iPhone, it allows easy transfer of files between computer and iPod from anywhere!

VLC Media Player Price: FREE

One of the major complaints of the iPhone is its lack of video and audio playing capabilities. Unless you are viewing your media through one of the few supported Apple extensions, you’re pretty much out of luck until now. VLC media player will play just about any kind of audio or video format you throw at it. It supports drag and drop playing, conversions, and an option list that’s easy enough for novices but with enough advanced features to keep even the best video gurus pleased.

Facebook App Price: FREE

When the Facebook App first came out a while ago, it was completely shunned. It ran slow, didn’t integrate well and left out many features to be desired. This week, Facebook just launched the next edition of its Facebook App and its no wonder why the Facebook App is the most used application in existence. With over 300 million mobile users now, Facebook has and will continue to put major resources into improving and expanding the apps capabilities. In many ways, the current app makes Facebook more simple than it already is and being able to snap a shot with your camera and immediately post it to Facebook is the easiest way to share your photos.

Kindle App Price: FREE

You may ask yourself why get the Kindle application when a free e-book viewer “i-Book” that looks good and has an integrated store is available. Three words: “Selection and Features.” The Kindle offers a massive choice of books compared to Apple’s app and the reading experience is great. You can also buy e-books from amazon.com with the Kindle app’s near flawless sync capabilities. A must for any reader.

Google Earth Price: FREE

Now you can hold the world in the palm of your hand, literally. With all the functions of the Google Earth computer application now on the iPhone, you can get satellite photos, driving directions and just plain kill time while waiting in a waiting room. One of the greatest features is the panoramic view. In this mode, you can hold the phone out in front of you and it’ll tell you businesses or items of interest in that direction. For example, if you’re sitting on your porch and there is a McDonald’s a half mile from your porch… Just hold the phone out in front of you and it’ll tell you “Keep traveling in that general direction and in a half mile you’ll be at a McDonald’s.” As you spin around in a circle, other fast food joints pop up! Pretty cool stuff.

IM + App: Price: FREE

If you’re into instant messaging, IM+is for you! It gives you access to Yahoo, MSN/Live Messenger, GTalk, AIM/iChat, MySpace, ICQ, Facebook, Twitter and several more. With multitasking and push notifications in iOS 4, IM+ has been transformed from a curiosity into a gotta-have application, To have that many messaging services collectively under one roof is good enough! But one button messaging through multiple networks is icing on the cake! Its all I use anymore and it allows me to keep tabs on my friends spread throughout 3 networks.

If making IPod apps is something you’re thinking of getting into here’s where I learned: Check it out!

With 3D printing becoming more cost effective with every year that passes, what is 3D printing typically used for and in which industries does it prove to be most successful?

The primary criteria for implementing 3D printing is that the user requires a physical model of a part / product / assembly / design / character for a purpose where a virtual model usually existing in software or on paper isn’t up to the task required. Beyond the applications for models and the industries in which they are used are virtually endless but typically include product design, architecture, model making, art and teaching

There are, however, a number of applications which cover the vast majority of 3D printing uses.

Proof of Concept

With 3D CAD systems so widely used it is easier than ever to create innovative designs in software. While these designs provide the designer with the ability to visualise the product virtually there is no way of determining how the product will feel or handle.

By using 3D printing the concept can quickly be proved allowing the user to handle the physical design and evaluate its feel, size, weight and appearance in real terms. Comparisons between different concepts can be made immediately enabling the design to progress quickly.

Product Mockups

With a 3D Printer, you can create functional mock-ups of your product in robust materials in a matter of hours. It’s an efficient, cost-effective way to catch design flaws and enhance your designs early and often throughout the design process.

Product Cost Reduction

Remove cost from your designs by reducing errors and shortening iteration times. Reduce time and costs over traditional prototyping methods and outsourced service bureaus. In many cases a 3D Printer can pay for itself in its first project.

Product Confidentiality

Using your own 3D Printer ensures that your company’s valuable intellectual property remains inside your company. Any time you send data outside the secure environment of your own company, you increase the possibility of a security leak. Risk can be substantially reduced in an environment where time to market and product innovation are crucial.

Functional Testing

It’s now easier than ever to print truly functional models not just models suitable for visualisation purposes. Some 3D printers build parts in real engineering materials such as ABS, which means that design features like snap fits can be evaluated on the prototype models.

Tooling, Jigs and fixtures

3D printing can be used in areas other than for developing the products themselves. There are many applications where tooling or moulds are required including vacuum forming tools or moulds for silicon or other low temperature applications. Another area is for assembly jigs and fixtures.

Marketing Tools

One of the most valuable aspects of 3D printing occurs when you’re able to place a real-life, functional model into the hands of a new prospect to demonstrate a design. Handling a 3D product provides so much more instant information and meaning than using sketches, illustrations or drawings.