Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they're iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they're fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Grocery IQ – @Alli_Flowers

This is the sharable shopping list with all the trimmings. Yes, there’s an Android version as well, so if you’re in a contemporary mixed marriage (you have an iPhone, he/she has a Droid), you can still agree on what to buy for dinner. No more last minute phone calls saying “I’m stopping off at the store on my way home from work, do we need anything?” Because now, your grocery list is kept in sync and shared.

You can add items via the web portal, or on your phone. You can do it manually, or (my favorite feature), just scan the bar code of the item you need and it’s automatically entered into your list! When I first installed Grocery IQ, I walked around the house scanning everything from frozen foods to health and beauty products, and it handled almost everything. It did not correctly identify bottle of rum, found no match for a tube of hand cream my sister-in-law had, and incorrectly identified a 3rd kitchen item as HD cables. Other than that, everything scanned in perfectly, including the category.

When you’re at the store, you can tap the item to check it off, and when you’re done, tap checkout to clear the list. This is really a powerful little app, and you can’t beat the price!

[Free - iTunes link]

Teletubbies HD – @chrisoldroyd

Entertaining a 20 month old child; especially when teething, can be really hard work. This app does the job and more. Ella loves Teletubbies, (don't ask me why) and this game provides a simple interactive experience with the four characters from the show. Children can choose to interact with the game as much as they'd like. Whether they want to make Tubby Custard, chase the Teletubbies up and down hills, or find funny noises, it's up to them. It looks beautiful with rich colors and is very intuitive. Your young ones will love it too!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Banana TV – @reneritchie

Banana TV lets you stream content from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad over AirPlay to your Mac. (It basically lets your Mac pretend to be an Apple TV and your Mac’s display pretend to be an HDTV). It comes from the gloriously ingenuous minds of Erica Sadun and Kyle Mathews and is the next generation of of the original AirPlayer hack.

And this is hella interesting for a number of reasons. Have Macs at work? Beam your presentation to them via AirPlay and Banana TV. Have a Mac Mini home theater box? Beam media right from your iPad or iPad as if it were an Apple TV (no more second class citizenship). Have friends with Macs but not Apple TVs? No problem. Beam away.

This is something Apple TV should have built into the last OS X update. They didn’t. So do your Mac a favor and go pick up Banana TV.

[$7.99 - Web link]

AIM for iPad – @JorjLim

When I bought my iPad at 5:20pm on Friday, AIM for iPad was one of the first apps I installed on it. AIM for iPad is the official AIM client, but, to my surprise, it supports more networks too.

It has an absolutely gorgeous UI, for both landscape and portrait mode, that can be fully customised to your liking, by either taking advantage of it’s built in themes, or adding your own photos to the background. If you don’t have any friends who use AIM, you can also log in to both your Facebook Chat and your GTalk accounts, so all your friends are in the same place.

If you only use AIM, GTalk or Facebook Chat, then AIM for iPad is the ultimate IM app for you.

[Free - iTunes link]

The Daily Show – @skeetobite

My pick of the week is the Daily Show app. I am a huge fan of the Daily Show, but I don’t always have time to watch it in the evening when it is on. This is why I like the Daily Show app. It gives clips and highlights of the shows, including things like quotes of the day, selected video clips. selected 60 second summary of the shows, upcoming schedules, and even a tweet feed. While I wish they had MORE video clips, this is a great way to get my daily show fix. And best of all, it is a universal app for both the iPhone AND iPad.

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Smart Cover for iPad 2 – @llofte

It’s been several weeks since I got my iPad 2 with a Smart Cover and I still absolutely love the Smart Cover (and iPad 2, of course!). I’m a minimalist when it comes to protecting my devices, so the Smart Cover is perfect for me. The magnetic connection to the iPad and how it automagically turns it on and off is simply brilliant. Not to mention, an iPad equipped with a Smart Cover is very obviously an iPad 2

[$39.00 - Apple Store]

City Story – @oopbuddha (Reader’s Choice)

City Story is available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. A friend of mine requested that I start playing, and once I did, I’ve become hooked. You start with a small city and some coins, and from that you get to build and design your city. Just make sure you keep your citizens happy by providing stores and shopping and by making your city beautiful. In order to expand your city to it’s maximum potential, you need to get your friends to start playing so you can link up your profiles. It’s a great way to make new friends as well. I’ve already made one new friend through City Story.

[Free - iTunes link]

Your pick?

You're part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for my tweet each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

TiPb Picks of the Week is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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iPad Live is back tonight at 9pm ET, 6pm PT, 2am BST and this is a BIG one! We have @CrackBerryKevin from CrackBerry.com and @PhilNickinson from Android Central joining me (@GeorgiaTiPb) and Rene from right here at TiPb.com for a… TABLET ROUND TABLE!

That’s right, iPad vs. Playbook vs. 101 Android Honeycombs (and counting!).

Place: http://www.tipb.com/live/

If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to discuss, just leave them in the comments then come be part of the show!

(And yes, you can watch from iPhone via Ustream Viewer app (here’s how) and iPad (we recommend Duet Browser.)

Chat with you soon!

Special edition iPad Live, 9pm ET — Tablet round-table with CrackBerry.com, Android Central! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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TiPb brings you a glossary of common Internet and SMS/Text slang terms, from the hipster to the 1337, and more

Just getting online or into SMS and trying to figure out what all the abbreviations, acronyms, and random-seeming jumbles of letters and numbers actually mean? Internet slag is changing and evolving faster than any known language so far. From gaming chats to blog comments to text messages to who knows what’s next, there are more and more terms cropping up everyday and it’s getting harder and harder to keep up with them.

To help you get started we’ve compiled a list of common, basic internet and SMS/Text slang… after the break!

For iOS and Apple-related terms see our complete iPhone and iPad glossary, for Twitter and Facebook terms, see our Social Network glossary. And as always, if we’re missing anything, add additions and corrections in the comments below!

• AFAIK: As far as I know
• AFK: Away from keyboard
• ASAP: As soon as possible
• ASL: Age, sex, location (the second is a gender, not yes/no question!)
• BBL: Be back later
• BBS: Be back soon
• BRB: Be right back
• BRT: Be right there
• BTW: By the way
• CCL: Couldn’t care less
• CSWS: Can’t stop won’t stop
• GTG: Got to go
• IDC: I don’t care
• IDK: I don’t know
• IK: I know
• IKR: I know, right?
• IMHO: in my humble/honest opinion
• IMO: In my opinion
• J: Joke/joking
• JK: Just kidding
• L8R: Later
• LMAO: Laughing my ass off
• LOL: Laughing out Loud
• LULZ: Derivation of “LOL”, often mischievous
• NSFW: Not safe for work (because of nudity, language, etc.)
• NVM: Never mind
• OMFG: Oh my [f-word] god
• OMG: Oh my god
• ORLY: Oh, really?
• POS: Piece of [s-word]
• PWN: Derivation of “own”, to beat or dominate something
• ROFL: Rolling on the floor
• SFW: Safe for work
• TTYL: Talk to you later
• TTYL: Talk to you later
• WTF: What the [f-word]?
• WTH: What the hell?
• YW: Your welcome
• ZOMG: Derivation of “OMG”

What common terms do you use a lot and are not yet part of this glossary. Let me know in the comments below and we will add them!

TiPb Guide: Common Internet and SMS/Text slang is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Either you can’t get enough Angry Birds or you’re ready to kill the franchise just to watch it die. Either way, this movie trailer spoof will make you love or hate one of iPhone and iPad’s most popular casual games in a whole new way.

(And it will probably get the creatively bankrupt blockbuster machine in Hollywood actual revving into high gear…)

Video after the break.

[YouTube via The Next Web]

Angry Birds movie trailer spoof – Sunday fun video is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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AT&T has been offering iPhone 3GS 8GB at $49 lately but Bell and Telus in Canada now have it on sale for $0 for a limited time. Sure it comes with a typically ridiculous 3-year contract, sure you can get the much better iPhone 4 on sale on the same networks for $159, sure you can get an unlocked iPhone 3GS straight from Apple for $549, but if you absolutely, positively have to have an iPhone for FREE (with contract!) get on over to Bell or Telus before the sale ends.

Anyone think iPhone 3GS at $0 is compelling? Want it on your network?

[Bell and Telus]

iPhone 3GS on sale for $0 at Bell, Telus is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Instead of keeping to the last 3 years of tradition and showing off iOS 5 at an April preview event and releasing it with iPhone 5 this June, could Apple instead preview it at WWDC and only release it this fall? That’s the rumor TechCrunch’s MG Siegler has posted tonight:

• iOS 5 will launch in the fall and will be a major revamp of the OS.
• It could well be previewed at WWDC, it just won't be released then.
• The iOS 5 launch is also likely to coincide with the release of a new type of iPad, which we previously reported on.
• The new iOS will be heavily built around the cloud, and we could see several new services launch from Apple that take advantage of this.
• Yes, one of those is very likely a "music locker" service. There is also a fall launch aim for this, during Apple's annual music-themed event.
• But much of the cloud stuff will first be talked about at WWDC, Apple's developer event which will take place in June.
• One of the new cloud service elements is likely a location service that focuses on finding friends and family members.
• As we said yesterday, OS X Lion is still on pace for a summer release — some of the new cloud components are likely to be baked into it as well.

While anything is possible, this doesn’t sound very much like Apple. Release numbers are marketing driven, not engineering driven (which is why internal release numbers aren’t always the same as external, like Windows 7 actually being Windows 6.1 and Apple TV 4.2.1 actually being Apple TV 4.3.1).

Competition is heating up with Google still iterating Android at a breakneck pace, webOS hitting 2.x and 3.0 this year, and the first BlackBerry QNX-based device shipping next month. Apple going 18 months between iOS refreshes would be perceived as falling behind.

Sure Apple will want to have quite a few “tent pole” features to tout for iOS 5 to be certain, but if any one of them — even cloud connectivity — isn’t ready for the spring there’s nothing to stop Apple from rolling out a less ambitious iOS 5 in April anyway. Remember, there were rumors iPad 2 would be delayed and it wasn’t (it just didn’t get a Retina Display.)

(And yes, that does mean that, just like there are rumors of an iPad 3 coming this fall with Retina Display, there may well be iOS 5.1 (or, hey, iOS 6!) rumors for the fall as well.)

So what do you think? Will Apple make us wait an extra 3 months for iOS 5?

[TechCrunch]

Could iOS 5 only be coming this fall? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Google won’t be releasing the source code for Android 3.0 Honeycomb any time soon. (For an excellent overview of why that is and what it means, see Jerry Hildenbrand’s article over at our sibling site, Android Central.) What makes this interesting for TiPb is that, for a while now, Google has used the term “open” as a hammer to differentiate themselves from Apple, iOS, and the iPhone. From Eric Schmidt’s “completely open” quips to Vic Gundotra I/O smack-talk to Andy Rubin’s now-ironic tweet, it’s been clear from the start that “open” wasn’t a development philosophy for Google so much as a business and marketing strategy. It was a brilliant if disingenuous move that rallied many hardcore free and open-source software advocates to their cause (and platform) and got a bevy of tech writers to skewer Apple for being equally and oppositely “closed”.

That it was business and marketing rather than philosophy was fairly clear from the start — “open” is such a nebulous term to begin with. Open to whom and in what way? Even if we restrict ourselves to open-source, Android was never Stallman-class open, GPL licensed and patent unencumbered. It was never even Mozilla-class open, where the source was freely available even during development phases (most of us couldn’t download, compile, and contribute back to Gingerbread before the Nexus S debuted). It was Google-class open, which meant it was only released when it benefitted Google, and only really meant for manufacturers and carriers. We’ve spoken about it plenty of times here at TiPb, and so has Android Central. (Phil Nickinson and I even did a special podcast on it back in October.)

It’s kind of like that popsicle you get at the corner store — it’s not chocolate, it’s chocolaty. Android was never open. It was openy.

That’s fine. It’s even good. It let Google make the arrangements they needed to make with manufacturers and carriers to get Android accepted and deployed at the scale it enjoys today. An Android that didn’t let manufacturers lock down bootloaders and carriers lock out sideloaders, that didn’t allow for bloatware and feature removal, wouldn’t be the number one fastest growing phone OS on the planet. (webOS, though proprietary, is arguably far more meaningfully open to developers and users than Android, but didn’t get anywhere near the carrier support.)

Likewise, if Google has open-sourced their search algorithms, AdWords and AdSense code, and internal infrastructure programming it would likely have been bought by Oracle instead of being sued by them.

Apple’s the same way. They protect their revenue streams — their interfaces and designs, products and presentations, and they open source WebKit and a large number of other ancillary projects. Both are for-profit companies after all, tightly controlling the areas they dominate with proprietary code and fragmenting those they don’t with free software. Google simply chose to deliberately use (is mis-used) the term “open” as a way to counter-program Apple…

And because of Honeycomb it’s come back to bite them in the @$$ this week.

That’s too bad. Android is a fantastic OS and is getting better and better with each iteration. It’s powerful, customizable, and functional in ways iOS simply can’t be at the moment. (Hopefully Matias Duarte will soon give it an interface to match, if Google can get those 40 shades of blue out of his way.)

It’s just not now nor has it ever been “open” — it has been and remains “openy”.

Now that Schmidt can’t get away with “completely open”, Gundotra needs to fear for a future of his own creation, and Rubin’s make command will error out with file not found, maybe we’ll get less rhetoric from Google and Apple both. Ultimately I don’t care who’s more open or more integrated — I just care who makes me the better phone and tablet.

Openy is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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La Verita is a delicious little Italian restaurant in Montreal with home made pastries that the waiters show off… on an iPad! From classic tiramisu to espresso creme brule to maple marscapone cheese cake, the only thing better than watching the desserts getting flicked through in the iPad photo app is… the desserts themselves!

We’ve posted about iPads in restaurants before and many of you weren’t too happy with the idea of having them at your tables. So what about having them with your waiters? What do you think of iPads as the next generation dessert cart?

Check out the video above and let us know!

[La Verita]

iPad as dessert menu is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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