There are many social media apps out there on the App Store, and navigating through them and finding the best ones can be rather challenging. That’s why we decided to sort out some of the best apps we found on the App Store, and we hope this list will be useful for you, too.

1. Facebook

Facebook is one of the most famous social networks at the moment, and its app designed for mobile phones is very popular now, so I just had to mention it in my list first. This free app has a number of advantages over the mobile version of the Facebook website – first of all, it offers easier and faster browsing and navigation through news feeds, photos, messages and groups. Swiping through photo albums and using pinch-to-zoom to examine the pics more closely is also much easier in the app.

All the other key features of Facebook, including the chat and search, are also included in the iOS app. You can even play your favorite FB games on your iPhone or iPad and watch videos.

2. HootSuite

HootSuite is the next great iPhone app for social media addicts, and it gives you the opportunity to operate all your social networking accounts at once. Using this app, you can submit the same post or status update to all or some of your accounts, see the feeds of your friends and read the private messages you get. You can also make the app to upload the pics taken by your phone’s camera to one of your social networks.

You can even find out how many people have read your tweets and how many people have clicked on your links, so the HootSuite all can be very useful for business users, too. The app works on both iPhone and iPad, and it’s available via iTunes for free. There is an Android version, too, and it works on all Android devices, including the newest phones manufactured by Sony.

3. Sociable

Similar to the previous app, Sociable enables you to operate up to five different accounts in Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Flickr, Tumblr, LinkedIn and Reddit. The app offers user friendly and easy to use interface that gives you the opportunity to update your status, photos and location in any of your networks. The app is available for $0.99 from iTunes.

4. Google Apps Browser

Using Gmail and other services by Google on Apple’s devices has always been a bit problematic, that’s why the Google Apps Browser is a must for all iPhone and iPad owners who still want to use Google’s apps. The app is available for $2.99, which is a good price if you take into consideration that it gives you access to more than 20 Google apps, including Gmail, Google Voice, Google Docs, Calendar and some social networking apps like FB, Twitter and Google+.

5. Meebo

If chatting is what you like most in social networking sites, the Meebo app is made just for you, since it includes the chat services of a number of networks including Facebook, MySpace, AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t support Skype yet, but we hope this feature will be added in one of the upcoming updates. The app can be downloaded on your mobile phone for free, so if you’re a chatting fan, don’t miss it.

Apple’s iTunes holds a big number of different apps for all occasions and tastes. Most of them are either free or cost some $1-5; sometimes you can see apps for $10 or more, but it’s more an exception than a rule. Until yesterday I used to think that the most expensive iPhone apps cost something like $15-20, but yesterday I suddenly stumbled upon an app for almost $1000.

Then I found some other applications that cost from several hundreds to $1000. Unfortunately, I cannot afford them, but still it was rather interesting to find out that they exist. So here they are – the most expensive iPhone apps I’ve managed to find at iTunes:

1. BarMax CA

I was looking for some music streaming apps for my iPhone 4S when I accidentally stumbled upon BarMax CA by BarMax LLC – one of the most expensive iPhone apps ever, available for $999.99 (even the new iPhone 4S is cheaper…). The app is actually the most complete bar exam prep course including lectures for 12 subjects, tests, task list and much more – everything to help you study and keep organized. It’s designed by Harvard lawyers together with the best developers of iPhone apps, so if you ever decide to buy it, you can at least know you’re giving $1000 for getting the most valuable thing ever – knowledge.

2. Agro

Agro is the next app available for the same $999.99, and it’s designed to help agronomists (despite of the field agronomy they’re specialized in) easily create field inspection reports. To tell the truth, I don’t really know much about agronomy, but I guess this app is really useful for agronomists and really helps them save much time and effort on making those reports.

3. MobiGage Laser

Just like Agro, MobiGage Laser can be useful for people working in a specific area. It’s actually a metrology app that works with a Leica laser and can be used to measure and inspect manufactured parts and assemblies, so it can be really effective if used in manufacturing plants. The developers say that the app is so accurate that it can be used even for making airplanes and cars, and it costs only $999.99 only because Apple wouldn’t let them charge $25,000, which is the price for the PC version of the program.

4. iVIP Black

The iVIP Black app designed by iVIP Ltd. will make sure you’ll get VIP treatment in a number of luxury restaurants, hotels, theatres and casinos, including presents, room upgrades and much more. But if for buying the previous apps you only had to pay the necessary sum, here you’ll have to be a real millionaire and a VIP person to get it (besides, only iPhone users can get it, to the great disappointment of Android, Symbian, MeeGo and WP users). So if you haven’t started saving to get your first million yet, now’s the right time.

5. iStutter

iStutter that is available at iTunes for €799,99 (which is more than $1000 today) is designed to help stutterers get rid of their speech problems by analyzing their vocal fold activity and providing detailed feedback.

There are countless other browsers in the iPad app store that are better than Safari, that is, until iOS 5 came out Safari got a massive facelift. I was so impressed with the updated Safari browser I dumped my paid browser and switched back to Safari. Let me go through a list of the changes made on Safari on the iPad.

Tabbed Browsing

Back in the old days of web browsing on your PC if you wanted to open a new webpage you would have to open an entirely new window. Things got messy and eventually tabs were created to help alleviate the mess. Now, we all use one window with multiple tabs open to browse websites. With Safari, additional web pages used to be opened separately. But with the iOS 5 update to the iPad, tabbed browsing has finally arrived for Safari.

Reader

When you come across an article on a webpage, like the one you’re reading now, tap the Reader icon. When you do that, the ads, extra images and formatting disappear, allowing you to read the article without all the clutter. When you add an item to your “Reading List” on your iPad it is saved so you can read it later. The neat thing about your reading list is that it’s saved in the cloud so you can read your saved articles later on your iPhone.

Private Browsing

You may sometimes want to share your iPad with someone else. But you don’t want to save your browsing history. With the updated Safari you can now activate private browsing. Once private browsing has been turned on, the toolbar turns black to let you know that private browsing mode is active.

Search / Find

It’s easier than ever now to conduct searches on Safari. When the keyboard opens you’ll find a “Find On Page” option above the keyboard. You can also conduct Google searches (or searches within the page) by tapping on the dedicated search bar which is located next to the address bar. As you type you will be given search suggestions to help complete your search quicklier.

Previous Pages

When you visit a few pages you can go back to the previous page by tapping on the left arrow on the toolbar. But what if you wanted to go back to a page you visited 5 minutes ago, say 8 pages ago? Well now when you tap and hold the left arrow on the toolbar you will see a list of your previously visited pages.

When OSX 10.7 Lion came out it featured some iOS features like Launchpad, new multi-touch gestures for the magic mouse, auto-correct and auto save. But the latest Apple operating system, named OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, brings even more iPad-like features to their laptops and desktops. Full integration of all iOS features now not only seems possible, but likely in future OSX upgrades. Now all Apple needs to do is make touch-screen MacBooks and iMacs and we’ll really have the best of both worlds.

Apple has given us a preview of their latest upgrade to their operating system for Macs, so let’s take a look at 5 great features of OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion.

1. iMessage

Communicating with other Apple users just got easier. When iMessage was brought to the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad it allowed users to send unlimited messages, pictures or videos to anyone running iOS 5. Messages sent did not count toward your text message limit since they were sent within the iMessage ecosystem. Now we can add Mac users to the list. With iMessage you can see when your message has been received or when someone is typing a response. You can also begin a conversation on your Mac and continue it on your iPad.

2. iCloud

iCloud, the cloud-based storage system for the iPhone and iPad will now be integrated with your Mac. Now your contacts, mail, calendar, notes, reminders documents and pictures will automatically be synced across your Apple devices. So when you edit a document on your Mac the update will appear on your iPad and when you delete a picture on your iPhone it’s removed from your Mac as well.

3. Notification Center

There’s always something going on in your life and sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of it all. Apple seeks to make things easier with a unified Notification Center where you can be kept up to date on the latest application updates, messages, mail and upcoming calendar events. In iOS 5, the Notification Center is at the top of your iPhone/iPad, but in Mountain Lion it will appear on the right side of the screen. When something new comes up, a notification banner appears and quickly disappears in the upper right hand corner of your monitor.

4. AirPlay Mirroring

For the iPad, AirPlay allowed you to transmit what’s on your iPad your HDTV via the Apple TV. Now with Mountain Lion 10.8, Macs get AirPlay mirroring too, and it’s all wireless. You can view your pictures and videos on the big screen, browse websites like never before and share your presentations created with KeyNote in the conference room.

5. Twitter Integration

I was surprised to see Twitter integration built right into the iPad, but I was even more surprised to know that Apple is adding it to Macs as well. Now, you can tweet to your hearts’ content right from inside many of your favorite apps. If you’re using Safari and want to share a picture or a link, just click the new Share button right on the browser and create a tweet without ever leaving the page. You can also tweet directly from iPhoto or Photo Booth and other third-party apps. And when you get a message on Twitter you’ll see the notification in the new Notification Center mentioned earlier.

It’s 2012 and the world (well maybe Apple fans) are awaiting the release of the iPad 3. As is typical, Apple is not confirming nor denying what specs the iPad 3 will have. In fact, they’re not even confirming that a new iPad is on its way.

Before a product is released, Apple has to contract with other companies since Apple doesn’t make the iPad nor its accessories in-house. These other companies make everything from the processor to the cases. Even though these companies are sworn to secrecy, details still manage to leak out.

Until the next iPad comes out, all the information that’s out there are simply rumors. With that said, here are some of the juicier tidbits that have been swirling out on the internets.

No iPad 3

The rumor is that there will be no iPad 3. There will still be a new tablet released though. It will be called the iPad 2S. In other words, it’s a product refresh rather than an entirely new product. This makes sense and now seems likely. Apple did the same thing with their last major product release, the iPhone 4 / iPhone 4S.

Design Change

Usually when a product changes model numbers there is a big design change. If it stays as the iPad 2S the design will stay the same. If it’s the iPad 3 you can expect a new look. There is a rumor going around that the next iPad will be thicker in order to accommodate a retina display. Another rumor says the dock connector will be smaller.

iPad Mini

iPad sales are still doing great, but there countless competitors out there that are aiming to take a bite of the Apple. One such competitor is the Kindle Fire. This smaller tablet had success because of it’s lower price tag and perhaps the smaller size. If Apple wants to dominate the small tablet market they could release a smaller cheaper tablet.

Performance Upgrades

The iPad 3 will have a faster processor, possibly a quad-core called A6. The cameras (both the front and the rear) may get an upgrade and the display will have an upgraded resolution. You can also expect the next iPad to have voice enabled Siri like the iPhone 4S had.

1.  Hostelworld.com

Wherever you are traveling, unless you are Paris Hilton and her well-funded cohorts, the chances are you will be staying in a hostel. Most backpackers would agree that staying in hostels is one of the best parts of traveling, not just because you get to see the world from as little as about a pound a night but because this is also where you will meet many like-minded individuals. With the Hostelworld app, you get all the benefits of the full website – not just limited to the ability to search for and book hostels, but get maps to where they are, read reviews by others who have visited there and view photos of inside the hostels.

2.  Skyscanner

Skyscanner is the comparison service of the skies – allowing you to quickly search all of the major airline carriers for a flight to and from any destination in the world. Whether it’s swapping Thailand for China, skipping Australia for New Zealand or returning triumphantly to your home country – the Skyscanner app will find you a flight and find you the cheapest one. It comes in 28 different languages and whilst you can’t book directly through the app, just a quick tap and you’re redirected to the airlines site to enter your details and complete the booking. Then it’s just a case of getting yourself to the airport online and jetting off to your new destination.

3.  Gorillacam

For most, the experiences they have whilst backpacking will last a lifetime and there is no better way to record these experiences than with your trusty iPhone. With the ever-improving camera and impressive memory, the iPhone is becoming increasingly utilised for its photo-taking capabilities and the Gorillacam app makes it that little bit easier.  Arguably the best benefit of the app is the ability to set a self-timer, meaning nobody has to be missing from the photos. However, there are many other features to make taking photos easier including selectable image size, anti-shake, digital zoom, rapid-fire photography, auto-save and much more.

4.  Lingopal

With most holiday destinations you visit, you can usually rely on the locals speaking enough English to mean you can limit your use of the native language to “please”, “good morning” and “thank you”. However, when you’re heading off the beaten track and exploring new places, it’s not unheard of to get to a town where not a single word of English is spoken. Lingopal helps solve this problem providing easy translation of thousands of common phrases in 44 different languages from Japanese to Norwegian – meaning that wherever you are, the chances are you’ll have enough knowledge of the local lingo to get by.

5.  Skype

Even the most technophobic travelers will likely have heard of Skype by now and the iPhone app is no different to the website itself. Particularly suited to the new iPhones with the front-facing cameras, the Skype app allows users to converse via Wi-Fi (or even 3G) with other Skype users anywhere in the world, regardless of whether or not they have an iPhone. Whether you’re having a video conversation or just like to make normal phone calls on your mobile phones, Skype allows users around the world stay in touch and best of all is completely free.

Simon writes on behalf of Best Mobile Contracts, a UK comparison website for finding the best iPhone deals and contracts for mobile phones.

When the iPad was released I wondered whether this device was really going to take off. Since it was an Apple product I figured it would initially be a big hit since their previous major product release, the iPhone, had been so successful. But the bigger question I had was whether the tablet device itself was ready for prime time.

Apple didn’t invent the tablet. There were plenty made before the iPad came out. There were also touch-screen laptops / tablet PC’s in existence as well. But none had proven that we should add another computing device to our homes. The iPad was different because of its size, the app library and of course because of the company behind it.

I wasn’t the only one who had their reservations about tablets. When Bill Gates was asked about the iPad he said the tablet isn’t there yet, that it isn’t quite ready to be a serious computing device. He stated that you needed to have better user input like a tablet PC has. Sure he may be right that the iPad isn’t quite a laptop replacement. Sure he is right that the iPad might not be a serious computing device. Sure he may be right in suggesting that for him the iPad is like a toy. But while he sits there trying to create the perfect tablet, Apple is readying the release of the iPad 3 and is raking in billions of dollars in tablet sales.

The iPad still can’t handle flash based websites like sites with embedded flash videos or sites with flash games. It’s difficult to edit pictures and movies when compared to a laptop. Typing with speed is also a problem. So yes, the iPad can’t do everything. But then again, neither can a smartphone and you won’t hear anyone complaining about their existence.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that kids love using the iPad and that it’s full of games. You can use the iPad to research stuff, read books,  check your mail and more. In fact, this post itself was created on an iPad. I’m sure there are countless people who use the iPad for business and wouldn’t even know what an angry bird is.

So is the iPad just a toy? No, the iPad is what you make it. Toy or not, there is a clear demand for these products, and it’s not just a fad though. Many have purchased a tablet, then purchased another upgraded model. Clearly, the tablet is here to stay.

Whenever I buy a product, like a refrigerator, television or a computer, I am offered the option of buying an extended warranty by a pushy salesperson. Warranties are how some stores make their money. The profit margins are often times so small that the store makes more money on selling warranties than on selling the actual item itself. I have always stayed away from purchasing extended warranties for any product. I do not to buy AppleCare for my Apple purchases either. Let me tell you my reasons why.

I’m Already Covered The First Year

Apple products already come with a limited one-year warranty and 90 days of free telephone support. If I bought a defective product I will most likely figure that out in the first few months, within the warranty. As far as phone support goes, one of the only times I would need to use telephone support is to set up my new product. If I bought an iMac I’ll want to learn how I can edit photos or use the gestures on the magic mouse. These things I would normally need within the first few months after my purchase, when phone support would still be free.

Apple Care Is Too Expensive

Apple products are expensive so you would think that it’s wise to protect them with AppleCare. But I take good care of my items so I generally do not need to buy an extended warranty. One reason why I stay away from AppleCare is because of the high cost. If you have a MacBook Pro, an AppleCare protection plan will set you back $349. If in the span of 5 years I buy 2 MacBook Pro’s, I would pay $698 total for warranties I may not even use. If something goes wrong with one of them the cost of taking my MacBook to the repair shop is probably going to be less than $698.

Do It Yourself

Whenever I’ve encountered a problem in the past I would research and try to solve it myself. Usually you can type in your symptoms into Google and you’ll get some good suggestions. You can also go to any of the popular Mac forums, describe your problem and get some helpful suggestions to fix the problem. If you need a new part you can order it, find a do-it-yourself tutorial online and fix it yourself at home.

I Can Get A Replacement

Another reason why I don’t buy AppleCare is because I can always get a replacement if my product has problems after the free one year warranty is up. With products like the iPod Touch or the iPad, they release new versions every year. An easy way to decide whether to upgrade or not is to see how your item is working. If it’s working fine skip the upgrade and wait for next years edition.

I Can Sell It On eBay

If I drop my Macbook Air and the whole thing is a mess, I can sell it for parts on eBay. It will surely still get me a few hundred bucks. I can use that money toward the purchase of a new Macbook Air. If it’s been 2-3 years since my last laptop purchase, I’m probably due for an upgrade anyway. It seems like every year or so the processors go from 1GHz to 2GHz to 3GHz, the hard drive goes from 100GB to 500GB to 1TB and the RAM goes from 2GB to 4GB to 8GB.

PS: Are there reasons to get AppleCare? Absolutely. If you travel with a laptop AppleCare may be a good idea considering you might drop or damage your laptop during your travels. If you have a $2,500 iMac and use your iMac for work and need immediate fixes, I can understand how getting AppleCare is a great idea too. But it’s just not for me.

The iPad is not just a toy that kids can use to play Angry Birds. The iPad can help students in the classroom as well. Increasingly we’re seeing iPads being integrated into the classroom environment. News stories have shown iPads in elementary schools in helping kids learn math as they play some educational games.

But the iPad can be useful to high school students as well. One way in which the iPad can help students is by replacing their physical text books with interactive iPad textbooks. When you have textbooks on the iPad instead of in print there are countless advantages. Let me go through a few of the problems physical textbooks cause and the ways iPad textbooks can solve those problems.

Weight

Textbooks are often times heavy. High school students don’t just have one class, they have several. Each class can assign a heavy textbook. Carrying these books around can strain the backs of students. But on the iPad you can pack as many textbooks as you want and it won’t increase the weight of your iPad. Students can say goodbye to backpacks full of books and back problems forever.

Price

Textbook companies are after one thing: profit. To them, it doesn’t really matter how students get their books as long as they make money in the process. If they can make a profit then this concept will take off. One key concern for schools is of course the cost. Schools will be interested in the idea if it’s cost effective. Therein lies the problem. At the moment, there is not a big difference in price between print and digital versions of textbooks. Most of the cost of the textbook is due to the time and research it takes to create it, not necessarily the cost of printing them. However schools have to replace text books when they are lost or damaged, this won’t be the case if they’re on the iPad. That might be enough savings for schools to consider digital textbooks instead.

Updates

When you buy an app on your iPad you will almost always get free updates for life. It would be great if a school could buy a textbook on the iPad and get updated versions to use for next years’ crop of students. But the textbook companies aren’t going to go for the idea of free lifetime updates. Right now they make money by selling future editions of the textbook at full price and they don’t want that to change. It is exciting to think though about the possibility of having recent information being updated in a history book for example.

Interactivity

Physical text books are simple. They are full of text and sometimes pictures with captions. But the iPad is an interactive device. Textbooks can and should incorporate videos in addition to text and pictures. An interactive textbook can also have links to reference other parts of the book. You should be able to click on the references in a text book and the table of contents should take you directly to the section you want. An interactive iPad textbook can also let students jot down notes on pages and bookmark other sections of interest.

Until now, there has been no way for owners of an iDevice such as an iPad or iPhone to connect to a USB flash drive. USB flash drives have undoubtedly become a necessity for many PC and Mac users, as it allows for portable storage of important documents, media, etc. The lack of a USB port on Apple’s iDevices has made it impossible to connect a standard USB flash drive, although the iFlashDrive is now the first one in existence to change this. Unfortunately, the iFlashDrive does not come cheap at $99.95 for 8 GB of storage, $149.95 for 16 GB of storage and $199.95 for 32 GB of storage, although hopefully this will spawn the release of similar clones and increase competition in terms of pricing.

The iFlashDrive is compatible with iDevices as well as Macs and PCs (or anything with a USB port) thanks to the use of the thirty-pin connector in addition to USB. It allows users to move data from their iDevices to any USB-capable device or even another iDevice. There are only two slight downsides to the iFlashDrive: that you’ll need to install an application from the App Store to use it, and that it’s size and design takes up so much space that it will likely block the use of other ports on your PC or Mac while in use. For example, when using the iFlashDrive on a MacBook Pro, you will be blocking the second USB port as well as the SD card slot.

However, an additional feature that might make up for the iFlashDrive’s faults is that the application that users must download from the App Store allows users to sync their data to and from Dropbox, and soon Evernote and Box.net as well. Although HyperDrive, the company behind the iFlashDrive, has a lot of work to do in order to improve the product’s design and hopefully drop the price down to something reasonable (who would really pay $200 for a 32 GB flash drive these days), this is still truly a significant product release as it is the first of its kind. Hopefully we’ll either see some improvements or some competition in the near future so that making the purchase is truly justifiable.

The iFlashDrive is available now for purchase in its three storage capacity options from HyperDrive.