The Best iPhone And iPad Apps You Missed This Week

Apps to help you take measurements around the house, Google Translate's new iPad app, and Samsung's iMessage-killer.

1. Instapad is a full-on Instagram client for iPad.

Instagram hasn't built an iPad app yet, so developer Red Foundry went ahead and built one for them.

While you can't upload pictures yet (due to limitations in the Instagram API), the app is still a great way to browse your Instagram feed, check notifications, and search for photos.

Price : Free


2. Measured is a swiss army knife for handymen.

Measured uses some very complex math and a few magic tricks to help you actually take measurements of distances, while looking at them through your iPhone.

Measured asks you to take a picture, walk a few steps, then take another picture. Using this information, combined with your shoe size (oddly enough) the app pretty accurately calculates measurements.


Price : $5.99


3. Square isn't the only mobile payments company on the scene.

Looking for an alternative to Square?

PayAnywhere will ship you a free reader and let you process credit card transactions right on your cell phone, but the cool thing about PayAnywhere is that you can even build its tools right into an app of your own.


Price : Free


4. Google Translate for iPad gets a new interface.

Google just launched Google Translate for iPad. While it's essentially the same app as before, it's been reformatted for the iPad's larger screen.

Price : Free






5. Clingle lets you leave hidden messages at specific places for friends to find.

Clingle is an audio and video check in app with a twist: you can leave hidden messages around the city for your friends.

When they're near a location, they activate the message, which might contain a note, video, or picture. Plus, there's an Explore section which contains deals and places to go near you.

Price : Free


6. Temple Run is the top free app in the App Store.

Temple Run is kind of like that one scene in Indiana Jones when Indy has to outrun the rolling boulder.

Avoid zombies, booby traps, and other obstacles just by swiping your finger.

Price : Free



7. Samsung's ChatON lets you text friends for free over your data plan.

ChatON is Samsung's version of iMessage, except it doesn't only work on iPhones.

It's a free chatting app that lets you text friends over your data network and hopefully cut down on pricey text messages.

Price : Free

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Apple wins $920K tax refund from 1989, loses appeal for overseas tax reprieve

Apple wins $920K tax refund from 1989, loses appeal for overseas tax reprieve

California's Supreme Court has affirmed a $920,000 tax refund for Apple dating back to 1989, but it refused to hear the company's request to lower its tax bill for income earned abroad.

The court upheld an appellate ruling earlier this week that returned $231,000 in taxes to Apple, along with $689,000 in interest, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. The Franchise Tax Board was ordered to return the money because Apple should have been allowed to deduct interest from loans for its U.S. operations

However, the final ruling came as only a partial win, as the Supreme Court rejected Apple's request to reevaluate tax rates on foreign-earned income. After California reduced taxes on overseas income in 1989, the Cupertino, Calif., company sought to reclassify the status of income it received as dividends from its foreign holdings.

"Apple argued that its foreign dividends from that year should be attributed to income from previous years that had already been taxed," the report read.

But the appeals court sided with the tax board's assertion that companies should be taxed on foreign dividends from income generated that year.

Apple's lawyer warned the decision could have expensive ramifications in the future. "It creates some potential issues for companies that want to repatriate earnings from overseas," Jeffrey Vesely told the publication on Thursday.

According to the report, two organizations, the California Taxpayers Association and the Council on State Taxation in Washington, D.C., backed Apple in petitioning the state Supreme Court to hear the case.

The issue of overseas earnings has reached "heightened importance during our current economic climate, as it affects the ability of United States companies to bring billions of dollars of foreign earnings back into the United States economy," the California Taxpayers Association told the court.

Deputy Attorney General Kristian Whitten, speaking for the Franchise Tax Board, argued that Apple was "attempting to avoid, or at least indefinitely defer, the payment of tax on its remaining foreign-source income."

As the portion of Apple's income that it earns outside of the U.S. has surpassed its domestic earnings, the company has taken to lobbying for a tax holiday that would allow it to repatriate its cash with a reduced tax load. A consortium of companies, which includes Apple, has proposed a one-year break that would let companies pay just 5 percent to bring their money home, rather than the 35 percent tax rate they currently face.

Two-thirds of Apple's cash hoard, which reached $81 billion in the September 2010 quarter, is located offshore. The company's participation in the WIN America group fighting for the tax holiday has drawn the ire of a group opposing the proposed tax cuts. US Uncut staged several protests outside of Apple retail stores last year.

Source : AppleInsider | By Josh Ong
Original Content : Apple wins $920K tax refund from 1989, loses appeal for overseas tax reprieve

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iPad becomes newest weapon for Packers

Control over the DVD player used to be a nightly power struggle at the Driver household.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver didn't always win, either.

His children watch everything - "Cars 2," "Dolphin Tale" - whatever's current. The movies "go on and on and on," Driver said. He'd often take refuge in the basement to watch game film, and his son would follow.

"And then my son wants to play Madden on PS3," Driver said. "So then you have to give him the TV and go somewhere else. But then, he wants you to play with him."

Driver doesn't have those problems anymore. Like all of Green Bay's receivers, he's bringing his work home and seeing the results. The Packers tied an NFL record this season with 51 touchdowns through the air. Each week, the receivers find and exploit mismatches.

Their secret weapon? The iPad.

Like some other position groups, the Packers receivers watch film through an application on their personal iPad. Driver can spend time with his three kids and study film all at once.

"It makes it easy, it makes it easy," Driver said. "It's more convenient for me so I don't have to force a DVD in or say to my wife, 'Hey, babe, can I put a DVD in so I can watch film?' and she leaves up to the bedroom. I kind of like that intimate time with my whole family. I'm still able to sit there with my iPad."

Technology blended harmoniously with strategy. Coach Mike McCarthy has built this offense on abusing mismatches. He zigzags receivers across every possible contour of a defense and has arguably the best triggerman in the game. Green Bay went 15-1, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers likely will win most valuable player honors. But for this system to work, receivers must all be on the same page.

They don't necessarily need pre-snap audibles. They recognize coverages and - through football telepathy - adjust. This app fosters such synergy. It carefully categorizes film of each opponent. All receivers study what coverages a defense plays on first down, second down and third down.

Receivers stalk players for hours. They target a cornerback's tendencies in specific situations.

"You watch so much and watch the individual so much, you know his weaknesses," said James Jones, who caught 38 passes for 635 yards and seven touchdowns. "You know on certain routes you can do this to him and he can't cover that. From watching film, that's what we catch up on. We use some of that in our routes.

"You can say, 'OK, this guy, when he's in press coverage he likes to use his hands a lot. He likes to get his hands on you. And this guy, when he's in press coverage, he likes to mirror you and not put his hands on you.' It's 'OK, No. 29 is on me. He's going to put his hands on me. I have to be ready to knock his hands down. If I knock his hands down, he's in trouble.' "

Each Wednesday, the team loads film of that week's opponent onto the iPad app. From that point, it's up to the player. Coaches don't demand that receivers watch a certain amount of film. Jones says he invests four to five hours a day.

"This is your own preparation," Jones said. "When you leave the stadium, it's all on you. So if you want to prepare longer and get better, you do. If you don't, you don't. But everybody's a pro in here. They want to get better."

No, they didn't have these contraptions back in Edgar Bennett's day. When he played running back for the Packers in the mid-1990s, players toted home VHS tapes. Nothing was organized. Those held a small amount of footage that required constant rewinding and fast-forwarding to find certain plays. DVDs could hold more film, but even those remain finite.

That's what the wide receivers coach admires most about the iPad - the sheer wealth of film the app allows. They still have group meetings, of course. The receivers haven't gone 100% digital.

But now when the receivers reconvene, there are more advanced discussions about players and schemes.

"You go more in depth from that on a technique standpoint," Bennett said, "breaking it down from each position - what their linebackers are doing, what their D-Linemen are doing, what their perimeter guys, the DBs and safeties are doing.

"It's another way to stay mentally sharp off the field. You're focusing, you're ready to go."

Probably most important, players are more likely to watch film. The iPad is portable. As Bennett said, they don't need to lug around a television. Jones sets son "Little James" on his lap, and the two watch film together.

It has become a wallet, a cellphone, car keys. He brings it everywhere.

"On the plane. At the hotel. Wherever you go, you're taking this iPad with you," Jones said. "Wherever you go, you have game film with you. Even if it's before the game and A-Rod says, 'Man, did you see this play? Did you see that play?' And we can say, 'What play? Let's look at it.' It's a lot easier."

And a lot easier for Driver, too.

"I can still be in the conversation while I'm watching film," Driver said. "If I had to put a DVD in, my family's not going to sit and watch film with me. They're going to leave. It's hands on. The good thing about the iPad is it's all in one."

Source : JSOnline | By Tyler Dunne
Original Content : iPad becomes newest weapon for Packers

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