Back in December I tweeted about a new app called TUN3R, a sort of visual dial for Internet Radio. The app is interesting if you like Internet radio, but doesn’t really go beyond that. The same folks have just released another application called Milk Crater which they claim to be the world’s first real-time audio iPod browser. Okay, but how does it actually work?

Milk Crater generates a large grid created from your iPod collection. It uses cover art to generate the tiles, or if no cover art is available for a song, then it uses the song title.

The first time you run the app, it starts a “Dial Rebuild” process which can take anywhere from 10 seconds to a couple of minutes. It does this in order to generate a giant “dial” (which is more like a grid of cover art and song titles). This is where the fun begins. After generating this “dial”, you can move around it by sliding your fingers.

What really sets Milk Crater apart from other music apps (including the iPod app itself) is the fact that it switches audio in real-time as you slip and slide around the grid with your fingers.

Once you get the hang of it, you can start doing more interesting things like building playlists on-the-fly as you browse. It’s also possible to export these playlists back into your iPod, through an e-mail export (the only way possible).

Another worthwhile feature is its search capability, which begins highlighting results on the “dial” as you type.

At this point, it’s tough to say if it will replace the iPod app itself, but it may give it a run for its $1.99.

These are actually my favorite apps of February but I’m a little late…

Power Downloader [iTunes link] – This is a free app that lets you download a host of files to your iPhone like JPG, GIF, HTML, MP3, MP4, 3GP and more.  But, what I like to use it for is downloading YouTube videos for later viewing at full resolution.  However, you can only watch the video from within the app and there’s no way to get the video off your iPhone.  Obviously, Apple wouldn’t have an app that would pirate YouTube videos.  Since YouTube videos don’t stream on 3G at full resolution on the iPhone, this helps to watch your videos more cleanly. There doesn’t seem to be a size limit when downloading on 3G.

Which location-based app has more than double the amount of users of Foursquare and Gowalla combined and is free?  If the answer is MyTown [iTunes link] you’d be correct!  Unlike other location-sharing apps, MyTown plays much more like a real game.  When you check in to places, you have the option of buying them for your virtual town.  The properties you buy give you constant income and to upgrade them you need money.  To level up, you need points and you get that by checking in to more places.  I have to admit I’m kind of addicted to this.  However, the GPS locating on this app is not very good and I have to type in my location most of the time.

I used Beejive for the longest time to instant message on my iPhone.  I loved it for the most part but the app loading time was horrendous.  Plus, I paid $9.99 for the app.  Then came Meebo [iTunes link].  It’s free and I believe it does load a little faster than Beejive.  I’m sure it’s even more magnified for me since I have the older 3G.  3GS users may or may not see that much of a difference.  Sure, Beejive has a lot more features.  But, I don’t use most of them.  I just want to IM.  Meebo supports push notifications and when you bring up Meebo on your desktop, push notifications are disabled on your iPhone.  Nice touch.

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock [iTunes link] – Apparently, we sleep in cycles of light and deep sleep.  Every night, we set our alarm to go off at a certain time in the morning but many times it is when we are in a deep sleep cycle.  So, we’re very groggy when it’s time to get up.  The Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock is app designed to change that.  The app will sound a soothing alarm when you’re in a light sleep cycle and then you can gradually get up.  Just as a warning, sometimes your light sleep cycle could come 30 minutes before you actually want to get up.  The accelerometer tracks the movement on your bed and knows if you’re in a light or deep sleep cycle.  So, yes, you will have to sleep with your iPhone on your bed.  And, yes, I have knocked my iPhone off my bed a couple of times.  What I really like the $.99  app for is tracking how long I’m in light and deep sleep.  I posted a sample of one of my night’s sleep.  I have a lot of peaks and valleys.  I am a light sleeper.

What are your favorite apps of the month?

I’m curious to see what App Store or stock apps you use on a daily basis.

Here are my 5 most used apps, in no specific order:

• Tweetie 2
• Byline
• Mail
• Safari
• Camera

I usually don’t use the camera app much but since I started traveling a few months ago, I now use it several times a day.

Please take a few seconds to share your most used apps by leaving a comment.

As my fiancee and I are a few minutes away from boarding a flight to Cambodia, I’m freaking out at the idea that I might not be able to get a data plan for my iPhone over there.

I’ve been doing a little bit of research online and the information I got is not reassuring. Apparently you have to be a Cambodian citizen to be able to buy a SIM card. Not much of a problem as you can always pay someone to go get a SIM card for you.

The real bad news for me is that it seems you only get coverage in larger cities.

I’ve been expressing my concern to my fiancee about this several times during the past day and I think she’s getting over it. Today she said to me: “you’re nothing without your iPhone, aren’t you?”

It made me think about it for a minute and I came to realize that it’s not really my iPhone that I need most, it’s the mobile Internet access I get anywhere, anytime.

So no, I am not nothing without my iPhone. However, I’m totally miserable without a connection to the Internet that fits in my pocket.

Do you feel the same?

Here is a summary of the articles that were published on the site this past week. If you like any of them, please feel free to share them on Facebook, Twitter, etc…

• Is GeoHot working on unlocking baseband 05.12.01 on iPhone 3.1.3?
• F0recast: find out if you can jailbreak, unlock, downgrade
• What is unlocking an iPhone?
• Hey Apple, ban this!
• Pocket Blu: control your Blu-Ray from your iPhone
• Who said the iPhone camera sucks?
• Traveling with an iPhone: my experience in Thailand
• Is Steve Jobs using a jailbroken iPhone?

9 to 5 Mac has an article today about a Mac user who emailed Steve Jobs and received an answer back from him, showing that Steve-o was still using an iPhone running OS 3.1.2.

Why would Steve Jobs use an iPhone with 3.1.2? Well, my guess is that he simply has a jailbroken iPhone and he doesn’t want to update to 3.1.3 because he knows it brings nothing more than 3.1.2, except the few usual “bug fixes”.

Additionally, I believe Steve doesn’t want to lose the ability to unlock his iPhone so he can use it with T-Mobile.

Any other reason why you think Steve Jobs would still be using an iPhone on 3.1.2?

If you follow this blog on a regular basis, you probably know that I’m traveling for a few months and that I am sharing my experience getting pay-as-you-go plans for my iPhone in every country I visit. So far, I’ve documented my experiences in Australia, New Zealand, Bali, and it is now time to tell you about Thailand.

Before even going to Thailand, I had done a little research on the web about possible options. Turns out that there are only 2 mobile carriers in Thailand. Additionally, I learned that there is no 3G in Thailand as the communication infrastructures to support 3G haven’t been put in place yet.

As soon as we went through the customs at Bangkok airport, I turned on my iPhone, which was still under my Balinese carrier. I received a text message telling me to switch to the Balinese partner in Thailand called DTAC. So I did just this, hoping that I’d be able to get on Edge to at least check my emails. No luck for me. While I was able to make calls, I couldn’t get on the Internet.

Easily enough, there was a DTAC store right inside the airport. I went to the counter and inquired about prices. The guy was super friendly and spoke a better English than I do, which is always nice.

So he told me that for $3 I could buy a SIM card, and that they had various plans for talk time and data. Since I’m more interested in data than talk time, I asked him if it was possible to have unlimited Internet for a month.

He gave me a pricing sheet that showed me the various options. For unlimited Internet for 30 days, the price was about $30. So I chose this plan and added $10 worth of talk time so we can call hotels and stuff.

In about 5 minutes from the time I walked in to the time I walked out, I had a brand new Thai phone number with unlimited Internet and about 2 hours of talk time. That was without a doubt the most painless experience ever!

Edge is not very fast but I’m used to it now. And to be honest, it feels like Edge in Thailand is as fast as 3G in Bali or Australia.

The coverage is amazing too! We’ve been traveling to remote little islands and I’ve always been able to get coverage. Heck, even on ferries while island hopping, I was still able to tweet and email.

Next stop for us is Cambodia. Hopefully my experience getting a plan for my iPhone there will be as pleasant and easy as it was here in Thailand. To be continued…

I said the iPhone camera sucks so many times that I can’t even count. Lately though, I have rediscovered the CameraBag app and I have been playing with it. I say “rediscover” because I had completely forgotten about this app and stumbled on it again by accident.

If you don’t know CameraBag, basically it’s an app that allows you to apply some cool filters to your pictures.

Here are a few images I tweaked with Camerabag (pix from my Australia and Thailand trip)

While CameraBag can’t improve the quality of the images, I think it does a great job at getting the most out of them.

CameraBag is available from the App Store for $1.99. I know there are other apps in the Store that pretty much do the same job but I’m too lazy to look for them. If you know any, please let us know by leaving a comment.

Any iPhone totin’ PS3 users out there? You might want to turn your bluetooths up, the folks over at Deluxe Digital Studios have a killer app for your 2 favorite gadgets. It’s called Pocket Blu, a lovely little client application that talks to any internet capable Blu-ray player (PS3) that happens to be playing a BLU capable DVD.

Awesome thing is, it turns your iPhone into a Blu-ray remote for your PS3. Not so awesome thing is that it doesn’t work on all Blu-rays, just ones that are BLU capable, which judging by their library isn’t too many.

The app also has some special features for the movies like lost scenes, interviews with the actors, even live reviews from other Pocket Blu users, of the movie you’re watching. Debbie Downer told me that it requires a wifi connection to the PS3, but I have a feeling that’s not a huge problem for most of our readers.

Overall its a pretty sweet little app, easily worth the free download. If you’re a frequent Blu-ray watcher with a PS3, you’ll find some space on your springboard for this guy. Imagine you’re getting ready to watch a movie, you got your snacks, and your drink. You’ve forgotten what you wanted in the kitchen twice already and can’t wait to finally sit down and start the show. You sit in your favorite chair, and just as you go to recline back and start the movie, you realize, you don’t have the PS3 remote. As your left eye starts to twitch, you’ll remember you read this article and you’ll say to yourself “Thank you Cody” and pull out your iPhone.

Hey, your welcome, and here’s hoping we see many more movies become “BLU” capable.

UPDATE: Interestingly enough, there is an extremely similar application is BD Touch Remote by BD Touch LLC. Exact same premise except with “BD Touch” capable blu ray discs. I call this, 2 apps, 1 review.

Any question or comment, please feel free to write us a comment below!

You may have heard that Apple removed over 4,000 sexy apps from the App Store. Apple SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller explained in the NY Times the reason behind the ban:

It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see.

I think it’s very hypocritical from Apple to do that, especially because they still allow apps such as Sports Illustrated Swimsuit or Play Boy. Why keep those apps then?

When asked about the Sports Illustrated app, Mr. Schiller said Apple took the source and intent of an app into consideration. “The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,” he said.

So I guess parents won’t be as upset at what their kids can see on those 2 apps because they come from well-known companies. I fail to understand the reasoning behind this…

Next step for Apple might be to ban Google or even Safari from the iPhone because a simple search on Google Images brings up the following results.

I could have gone much more graphical with the image but you get my point.

I understand the App Store is Apple’s own playground and that they can do whatever they want there. What’s bugging me though is the dictatorship they have put in place. Not allowing sexy apps in the first place would have been one thing, but removing thousands of sexy apps that were perfectly ok a few days ago is just a Hitler-like move.

Whether you like it or not, it’s just the way it is. Personally, I really don’t care about these sexy apps but I think it is scary how Apple can change the rules at will. But what are we going to do? Meh, we’ll just write a blog post about it, and let it go, because that’s all we can do. Once again, I feel like Apple has stabbed iPhone users and developers in the back.

What do you think?