App101: ShopShop

This App101 features ShopShop, a shopping list for the everyday consumer.

ShopShop is not just another app from the AppStore... o.k., technically it is another app from the AppStore, but unlike every other app its an app worth mentioning which is not like every other app from the AppStore, so there... yeah - and it's free, too ;)

Anyway, ShopShop isn't only for groceries as you may think, it's good for just about anything. The app allows you to make multiple lists, and you can name them, so you have them named for the store you need to buy your items from, or the day you go shopping, or the type of things you're shopping for, and as a bonus feature, it automatically sorts your lists alphabetically (whether you want to or not).

It's pretty good for adding items to the lists, too. When you add an item, you can enter a quantity and it shows up on the list (always a useful feature). When you add an item, anything you've ever entered before that is similar to what you're typing, but if something you previously entered was a one-time thing then you can delete it with just a swipe of your finger across the name. Easy, huh?

When you're done with the item, you can cross it off your list by just touching it, that's even easier to do that swiping. Talk about easy to use. And remember, you don't have to restrict yourself to a grocery list, you could use it as a to-do list if you wanted to, I mean, it's an app, it's not too picky, it just likes to be used.

The only problems I've found with this app is that an item is restricted to a single line, so if your item is more than a line, you've got to cut it down, or else the app does it for you. The other thing is that you can't set a price for the item, which many people probably wouldn't care about, but if there are many similar products on the shelf, the price would make a nice reference. That's my two-cents on it anyway.

Overall, I give it a 4/5 stars, 4 for usefulness, but it lost one for not being shiny enough :P

One more thing, if you have your own opinion, maybe a comparible, but better app, tell me in the comments, I just might give it a review, too.

App101: Discover

This is the first of the App101 Series, where you'll find all the everything you need to  know about the featured app. Who knows how often you'll find a new one of these, but be sure that they'll be here.

Anyway, this App101 features Discover, a file sharing app. You may have seen this on my Top 12 Free Apps, and if you haven't, check it out now. So as you may have already gathered, Discover is another one of those amazing free apps from the AppStore, and yes, it is sponsered by ads.

You can do all sorts of stuff with this app. You can send files from one iPhone to another (only files in the app's disk space and photos from the camera roll) or to/from a PC or Mac. The only restriction is that you have to use Wifi on the iPhones. 

To use it with other iPhones, just hit the "browse" button, and it will discover any other iPhones using Discover. To use it with a PC or Mac, just enter the iPhone IP and Port 8888 (i.e. http://192.168.1.100:8888/) into your web browswer and you get a simple and easy to use interface for uploading and downloading files. If you're using Windows and prefer Windows' drag and drop interface, you can use the alternative method. Go to My Computer and click on Map Network Drive (these instructions are for Windows Vista, I don't know exactly how to do this on XP, but its quite similar) and enter the same thing you would enter in the web browser and you should see the iPhone just as you see any other folder on your computer.

When you have that done, you can transfer any file to your iPhone, or download any file in the Discover folder of your iPhone or photo to your computer. This is great if you happen to be at your friends house and wanna get a file from them. Comes in quite handy, huh?

You can also use this app over the internet, but you have to make sure that you have port 8888 open on your router, otherwise it won't work. This way if you want a file from your friend, they can send it straight to your iPhone. The only difference is that instead of using your iPhone's LAN IP (the one used between computers on the same network), you have to use the WAN IP (the one from your router to the internet).

In case you happen to care about the files on your iPhone, there is the option of setting a password to protect some nosy people from seeing those private files  ;P

This is definately one of my favourite apps, the only thing I don't like, however, is that you can't change the port number used to access the iPhone. Ya, I know that most of you don't care about that, but for those that do, there is always Air Sharing for $4.99 (it was at one point free, so if you had downloaded it back then, it's still free for you) which does pretty much the exact same thing, but with a few more options (like changing the port number).

So, I give this an overall rating of 4/5, it's got just about everything you need from an app like this, except the port thing, and it has ads, and we all know how annoying those can be.