Are you Spanish, German, Russian, French or Italian? Is your English poor and would like to improve? There are thousands of apps for that. One of them is Learn English Reading Obama, where presumably you get to improve your command of the English language by reading through President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech from January 20, 2009.

The first thing you see when you first open the app is a list of dictionaries. This basically means that your native language must be Spanish, German, Russian, French or Italian, or you won’t find much use for this app. Personally, I wish there was an English-to-English dictionary, where advanced English speakers could polish up on their vocabulary.

After selecting a dictionary and accepting the terms and conditions (a lengthy document I’m sure no one really reads through), the idea is that you learn by listening [...]

I had a dream* last night. I dreamt I was a chicken on the farm, freshly hatched from my egg. All the other animals on the farm hated me and wanted to cut down my wings. All I wanted was to fly higher and faster than anyone else. My only weapons were my speed, agility and, oh yeah, ye old corn gun. Woke up this morning and found out there was an app for that: Go Chick Go Free.

There’s one rule in this iPhone game: never stop flying. Your goal is to fly as high as you can and avoid the other animals. To avoid them, all you have to do is move your chicken from side to side. There’s no up or down in the game, just left and right. You can’t accelerate or break. Your only defense is your agility here.

Be careful to avoid the animals at all costs. You have an energy bar to look after too. If too many animals hit you, you lose energy and you won’t [...]

There are two modes to Zuma Seasons. In the Quick mode, you’ll play a quick game with no real stake. In the Adventure mode, you’ll have to go through 60 different levels, divided into 4 major categories – the four seasons: Spring Island, Summer Island, Autumn Island and the Winter Island – each containing 15 levels filled with fun. These will make up a few good hours of fun.

Select your level and start your game. Game play is intuitive. Look at the row of balls sliding along the path and tap where you want your own ball to be placed. If you have two or more balls of the same color already in the row, you’ll take them all out with just one more ball of the same color. It’s a connect-three that just doesn’t get old!

As with most of the Zuma games I’ve seen around, the graphics make up a lot of the quality of the [...]

There’s nothing new about Bricks Buster. It’s just your regular brick-breaking game, but this seems to bring up more issues than innovative solutions. The point of the game is darn simple. Move your paddle left and right to direct your ball and break through the bricks laid out at the top of your screen and collect the upgrades that some of the bricks will give you.

You have twenty levels to complete the game and four lives to spare. Each new level will increase in difficulty. The problem is the game itself is not separated into these levels. New levels are not unlocked once and accessible later. You need to start with level 1 and play up to level 20. You can’t replay a specific level, if you wish to. For me this seems like the developers were rushing me to complete the game already. “No, you can’t play level 14, why would [...]

Even if you’re fed up with ToDo apps, even if iOS5 will have its own Reminder app, even if you still use pen and paper, iTask is definitely worth a look. The iPhone app from TopLineSoft Systems provides its users with a more complex look at your classic ToDo lists. Its most notable characteristic is the diagramming interface it uses to create tasks and link them together in complex (or simple) dependencies.

You use them all the time, but perhaps you don’t call them that. Every project you work on is comprised of a number of tasks that follow a certain flow, a certain sequence, if you will. When writing a review for an iPhone app, for example, I first need to download the app (Task A), then test it and play with it (Task B), then I can work on any of the following, in any order I want (cutting my screenshots, getting the icon for the app, writing the review) and [...]

Ghostwriter Notes – Handwriting for the iPad. Multiple writing implements, pens, markers, highlighters. 9 paper styles. Export to Email, PDF, Dropbox.

I’ve played *a lot* of games from the App Store. I can remember most of them and have enjoyed almost every one. But I can only name a few that have kept me playing for quite some time right from the first launch. Giggle Bear is such a game. Now, I know, this is a kids game, but I believe inside all of us lies a kid just waiting to break free. Well now is the time to do it! All you hardcore gamers! All you first-person-shooter fans, you RPG geeks and RTS lovers! Unite! Let your inner kid break free and take control, for lo and behold, Giggle Bear wants to come out and play with you!

Giggle Bear is your personal stuffed toy that comes alive every time you open up the game on your iPhone. It giggles, it plays games with you, you can dress it, accessorize it, bathe it and air-dry it. It listens to your iPod music and bounces around the room when you throw it up in the [...]