Reviews Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

iCade, the almost-ultimate gaming accessory for your iPad (updated)

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Jun 24th, 2011)

I've been playtesting the iCade for a few weeks now to see how it holds up under "real world" use. The iCade began as a joke product on ThinkGeek's website but was then produced by ION Audio as a real, working arcade cabinet for the iPad. Using Bluetooth to connect to your iPad, the iCade ...

Roadshow from Fetch Softworks downloads videos to iPad for offline viewing

by Steven Sande (Jun 22nd, 2011)

Longtime Mac users are very familiar with Fetch Softworks. The company has been around since 1989, and is named after the classic Mac FTP client -- Fetch. Now Fetch Softworks has branched out with a new addition to the family named Roadshow. Roadshow (free download, $4.99 in-app purchase to ...

Agenda is a fast, tidy calendar app for iPhone

by Dave Caolo (Jun 22nd, 2011)

Agenda (US$1.99), from Washington, DC developers savvy apps, is a calendar app for the iPhone that's legible, fast, bursting with Multi-Touch support and reminiscent of the desktop organizers we used before apps replaced archaic paper. Nearly every function is a swipe away, and even the icon ...

Aluratek Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station: Pocket-sized power package

by Steven Sande (Jun 21st, 2011)

One of my major gripes while traveling is the lack of available wall sockets in hotels, as I often have two or three devices while my wife brings her iPhone and iPad. To help keep us from fighting over where to plug in our gadgets, Aluratek is now shipping the Mini Surge Dual USB Charging ...

Kanex AirBlue: A portable Bluetooth music solution

by Steven Sande (Jun 21st, 2011)

Kanex is well-known for their cable solutions; items like the Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable are great for pumping video from Macs to HDTVs. Now the company has come out with the AirBlue Portable Bluetooth Music Receiver (US$49) -- a small device that you plug into speakers, AV receivers, ...

Create photo albums right on your iPhone with Album App Mini

by Mel Martin (Jun 21st, 2011)

As we're well into vacation season, Album App Mini is a well-timed app to send your pictures to friends and family, in nicely formatted photo albums, without having to invoke software on your laptop or desktop. Album App Mini lets you import photos from your camera roll or online photo ...

NYPL Biblion: World's Fair iPad app a compelling look at yesterday's future

by Steven Sande (Jun 18th, 2011)

In 1939 and 1940, a world that was beginning to climb out of the Great Depression and about to descend into World War II had a brief glimpse of a bright future at the New York World's Fair. After the Fair shut its gates for the last time in 1940, the organizers took their meticulous records of ...

Recco claims to provide hyperlocal restaurant savvy

by Mike Schramm (Jun 16th, 2011)

The New York Times recently profiled a new iOS app named Recco. It's yet another social network app, but this time one built around restaurant recommendations. Rather than a service like Yelp, Recco is attempting to be extremely local, picking up restaurant recommendations not from people in ...

DODOcase for iPad 2 as good as the original

by Dave Caolo (Apr 14th, 2011)

My love affair with the DODOcase is well documented. I've used one since day one, and I even credit one with saving my iPad's life (though the manufacturers note that the DODOcase is not an impact case). So, I was thrilled to be able to test a DODOcase for iPad 2 for the last week. As a bonus, ...

Vimeo for iPhone doesn't disappoint

by Dave Caolo (Mar 31st, 2011)

Vimeo released an official iPhone app yesterday, and it does not disappoint. As a 1.0 release, it's impressive. Consider it a one-stop shop for watching, recording, editing and delivering video to Vimeo. There are a few bumps in the road, but all-in-all Vimeo for iPhone is a solid offering. Here's ...

Due for iPad brings reminders to the big screen

by Dave Caolo (Mar 16th, 2011)

Due, the simple and almost supernaturally useful reminder app for the iPhone (our review) has finally gone universal. Due on the iPad (US$4.99) offers the same great look and functionality as its iPhone-exclusive predecessor, and it introduces over-the-air sync of reminders thanks to the magic of ...

Metacritic now charting iOS games

by Mike Schramm (Mar 15th, 2011)

Gaming review aggregation site Metacritic has posted that it is now charting for iOS games through its service. The site has long charted movies, music and video games as an overall average of all the scores found online (out of 100), and now it's going to do the same thing for iOS games. ...

BOOKback for iPad and iPhone offers sleek scratch protection

by Dave Caolo (Mar 11th, 2011)

The BOOKback from DODOcase is an adhesive fabric skin for the iPad (original and iPad 2) and iPhone 4. It feels nice (think Moleskine notebook), is easily re-positioned and looks good to boot. I spent two weeks with a BOOKback on my iPhone 4 and 1st-generation iPad. My overall impression is that ...

Should you buy an iPad 2? Here's what the reviews say...

by Matt Tinsley (Mar 11th, 2011)

The iPad 2 is available today. At present it's only available online, but will hit retail stores in the U.S. later on today. The big questions is: are you going to buy an iPad 2? If you're like me, you decided to skip the first iPad and hold out for the 2nd version. Not because you didn't ...

Alfred for Mac enhances Apple's Finder

by Dave Caolo (Feb 28th, 2011)

Alfred is a utility for Mac OS X that's part app launcher, part navigation tool and part web service. In short, it's a productivity tool that sits quietly in the background until you need something -- fast. Imagine a fully fueled 1987 Buick GNX 223 idling in your driveway with the door open, and ...