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!

Square – @iMuggle

Taking credit card payments can be a big expense for businesses – especially for small businesses that are just starting up. Who wants to pay all those merchant fees?

The first thing I did when we looked at credit card options for our business was to look at ways to take them through our iPhones and iPads. When I heard about Square several months back, I knew we had to try it. We really couldn’t be happier with it. We don’t have to worry about monthly fees and the iPhone and iPad app is extremely easy to use. Just plug in your reader, sign into your account, and take a payment! Square allows you to accept Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, and Discover. They just take a nominal amount of each transaction off the top. This means no monthly transaction fee invoices.

The iPhone app allows you to take payments wherever you have service which means I can take a payment while on a consult or while out contracting. Not only does it save time and energy collecting payments for us, our clients love it too. After you set up your Square account online, simply download the app for free and you’ll be taking payments in minutes! Square will send you your first reader free. You can pick up additional ones at any Apple store for $9.95.

[Free - iTunes Link, Square reader required]

Wunderlist – @ElfMinion

Make, share, and compile lists for you or your friends with Wunderlist. Wunderlist is an awesome App availible in the Apple App Store for free. Wunderlist gives you the ability to make lists, set reminders, and even share lists with your friends or co-workers who are trying to remember to do things in a timely manner. You can set alerts and reminders for as much time you need prior to en event. Wunderlist is also very easy to use. The User Interface is set up very nicely with tabs for; Starred items, Items that are due today, Items that are overdue, and a more option for more advanced settings.

Free – iTunes Link

First Touch Soccer – @chrisoldroyd

This week's pick is all about the beautiful game. A previous pick of mine was FIFA 11 but this latest football (soccer) game leaves it in the dirt. First Touch Soccer is a fantastic game with good graphics; more importantly is it is fast and realistic.

The game has loads of teams to choose from but one downside is the teams are not named properly due to licensing restrictions, players are however named correctly. (You can edit the team names and club logos if it irritates you that much.) You can play single player games or multi-player over WiFi, Bluetooth or online.

This game is the best soccer game available by a mile and to make it even better, the latest update makes it a universal binary. I am downloading that now and can’t wait to play it on my iPad 2! Big thanks go out to @Chris_c81 for telling me about this awesome game!

[$0.99 iTunes Link]

Cuptakes – @JBaby_9783

Cuptakes is a fun wallpaper app for your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. It’s a lot like Pimp Your Screen but with a feminine touch. I think this app is so much fun. I love changing my wallpaper but sometimes they are too manly. Sometimes I just want my devices to be pretty. This app doesn’t have nearly the selection that Pimp Your Screen has but it’s a fairly new app. There is still a nice variety. Also, each wallpaper is made by the same person so I’m quite happy with the selection.

The app is nicely laid out and simple to use. You expect a wallpaper app to look good and this one does. I love that it doesn’t require a internet connection which means I can begin using it right away. I imagine for most that isn’t an issue, but my internet connection is super duper slow so I’d rather just download new content once. However, the one flaw this app has is the scrolling. It’s just not smooth at all. It’s very, very jerky. I cringe every time I have to scroll. With that said, the wallpapers are so beautiful that I can easily live with the jerkiness.

After all of the above I don’t think I need to say that I love the app, but I’ll say it anyway. I love this app and I highly recommend buying it!!! I think this app is so awesome I bought Cuptakes for my iMac. I love how my Mac, iPad, and iPhone all match!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Remote – @Alli_Flowers

I know I’m late to this game, but I’m glad I’m finally playing! Remote is a free app that, via WiFi will allow you to control your computer’s iTunes or your AppleTV. Maybe it’s because I’ve only had an AppleTV for a few months that I’ve just discovered it, but wow!

I have one of those fancy all in one remotes to control my tv, satellite, dvr, etc. The last thing I wanted was to keep up with the little ATV remote. Now I don’t have to, because I can turn the ATV on or off using Remote on my iPhone. Actually, I can do anything using Remote that I could do with …the remote. No more worrying about where the little silver brick is – my iPhone is always in my hand.

I can even play music on my pc in the other room. Just because. I don’t know why I would want to. But I can! And isn’t that part of the wonder of technology? First you find the ability, and then you find the use.

[Free - iTunes link]

OmniOutliner – @reneritchie

You have to love the Omni Group. Well, I guess you don’t have to but here’s why you should — without hesitation they jumped headlong into iPad software, porting their most valuable titles to a brand new platform while being ballsy enough to charge real software prices for them. Sure, $0.99 is great to pay for a CrApp game you play once then exile to Home Screen 11, never to be tapped and launched again. It’s not a price that will support fantastic developers making fantastic apps, however. The kind of app you use every day. The kind that save you so much time they’re worth a real price because value isn’t the same as cost.

For me, being able to take the noise that ricochets around what passes for my head, being able to quickly and easily get it recorded in text and images, being able to have some form of order imposed on it — that’s valuable.

And that’s OmniOutliner by the Omni Group.

[$19.99 - iTunes link]

Delivery.com – @andrewwray

Delivery.com released their iPhone app this past Thursday and it couldn’t have come at a better time — literally. The app is used for ordering any number of items from restaurants, grocery stores, florists and the like, and has really helped me out over the past 24 hours while my car was in the shop for repair. I was able to get breakfast and later on dinner all delivered directly to my doorstep without any stress or hassle — all I had to do was lift my finger and make a few taps, and my food came to me. It’s so simple!

Upon launching the app for the first time, you’re presented with options to sign in or sign up right from the device. This was convenient because I didn’t have to jump on the computer to set up my account (something I wish all apps did), and the process of ordering my first meal took less than 2 minutes. Along with restaurants, I was able to find a few different flower houses, two grocery stores and a number pizza places which shows that the developers have really gone the extra mile to make sure you’re taken care of by partnering with as many merchants as possible. When you drill down to a specific restaurant, the app presents a full menu — every item they serve is at your fingertips.

The app reminded me of the Chipotle ordering app, except with Delivery.com you have the options of them coming to you, or ordering and picking up at the merchant’s location. If you’re looking for a neat app to show off to your friends next time you’re all craving some grub but are too lazy to go out, Delivery.com is the app for you!

[Free - iTunes link]

TrackThis Package Tracking – @llofte

I ordered an iMac last week an have impatiently waiting for it to arrive. I tend to be obsessive, so I was checking my FedEx tracking online frequently because I wanted to know exactly where in the shipping process the iMac was and when it updated. After wasting too much time refreshing the website, I downloaded TrackThis from the App Store.

TrackThis supports 13 tracking carriers and is not only a fast way to check the shipping status of your item, but will send you push notifications every time it moves. Recieving updates on when my iMac arrived and departed various places made the shipping process exciting – and took up less of my time.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Doodle Grub – @Voitek_Dolinsky (Reader’s Choice)

The Doodle Grub game is one of my favorites on my iPhone because it’s a simple, yet very addictive game. The goal is to have the grub collect food while avoiding several enemies and is similar to Snake. You control the grub by tilting the iPhone. I think Doodle Grub is one of the most well done and well designed Snake type of game.

[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 the announcement on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/llofte] or our Facebook page 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.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

While the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad come with built in, Apple made Gmail, Maps, and YouTube native apps, Google also provides Google made Gmail, Maps, and YouTube web apps. Apple native apps gain all the benefits of being part of the OS, including attachments, uploads, contact integration, etc. but Google updates their web apps quickly, gives you labels, stars, and ties them into the rest of your Google info, and keeps the experience the same regardless of the device you’re using.

Do you have a preference? Do you prefer Apple’s design and the unique iOS look and feel of Mail, Maps, and YouTube, or you prefer the Google vibe and want everything to look like the web regardless of where you’re accessing it from?

Apple vs. Google. Native vs. Web.

Vote in the poll and give me the details in the comments!

Poll: Do you prefer Apple apps or Google web apps? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Google has updated their online HTML5 Maps web app for both Android and iOS. But wait, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch already have built in Google Maps, right? Well, they have built-in Maps apps that use Google data, but the apps themselves are made by Apple and Apple hasn’t exactly been updating them at a brisk pace.

So, like they’ve done in the past for Gmail and YouTube, Google is using Apple’s “second development platform” — complete with location services and local storage cache — to get their own versions of their apps onto iOS and into the hands of users.

Now, when you visit maps.google.com on your phone or tablet's browser and opt-in to share your location, you can use many of the same Google Maps features you're used to from the desktop. This will allow you to:

• See your current location
• Search for what's nearby with suggest and auto complete
• Have clickable icons of popular businesses and transit stations
• Get driving, transit, biking, and walking directions
• Turn on satellite, transit, traffic, biking, and other layers
• View Place pages with photos, ratings, hours, and more
• When signed into your Google account, access your starred locations and My Maps

It’s a smart move by Google, especially if rumors of Apple working on their own, next-generation maps app pans out. Apple has already replaced both Skyhook and Google with their own location database, and Apple has bought a couple of their own map-related technology companies as well.

Google is arguably the best in the world at web apps and while Apple would prefer everyone buy their shiny boxes and use commodity apps and services, Google wants the box to be commodity and the services to be the real, ad-driven value. By going HTML5, Google gets to dictate the look-and-feel across platform, ensuring a Google experience.

And like with Gmail, they even offer to help you put a WebClip icon right on your home page so you can use the HTML5 Maps web app rather than the iOS Maps app with the tap for a finger.

[Google Mobile]

Google continues to work around Apple with new HTML5 Maps app is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

If you find gaming on the iPad with a virtual joystick hard work, the Fling joystick may be just the solution. Apple seems to agree as it is now stocking Fling in Apple Stores nationwide.

The Fling joystick made by Ten One Design is a conductive joystick nub surrounded by an inner and outer plastic spiral; these allow the joystick to move within the rings which creates the feel of an analog stick. The Fling attaches to the iPad screen via the age old method of two tiny suction cups and allows you to replace the virtual joystick used in many iOS games.

This is interesting news as Apple doesn't usually stock third party add-ons like this. It demonstrates that the touch screen is not the be all and end all for gaming interaction; which Apple would like us to believe. In this case, Apple acknowledge that some games are just better suited to a more physical interface.

I am picking one of these up as soon as I can, as it is definitely an area that I struggle with. My thumb is constantly slipping off the virtual stick when gaming and I know this will dramatically improve the experience!

Do any of our readers already have a Fling or plan on picking one up from an Apple Store? Let us know what you think in the comments!

[Ten One Design via Touch Arcade]

Fling iPad joystick now available in Apple Stores nationwide is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Amazon has just added a few new devices to its Electronics Trade-In program, including iPhones and iPads. The Amazon Trade-In Program allows you to receive an Amazon Gift Card in exchange for sending in your unwanted electronics. This could be a viable alternative if you decide you want to cash in on an iPhone or iPad prior to upgrading and really can't face the shark infested waters of eBay or Craigs List.

Amazon is currently offering prices of up to $69 for an original iPhone 4GB model, $235 for an iPhone 3GS 32GB model and $398 for an iPhone 4 32GB model. iPads are offered at $235 for a first generation 16GB WiFi model right up to $433 for a 64GB WiFi and 3G model. This is just a sample and all models seem to be covered; even the iPad 2. All devices must be in full working order and in good cosmetic condition.

This seems like a good alternative to get rid of your unwanted iOS devices in a safe and responsible way. Have any of our readers used the Amazon Trade-In service? Let us know in the comments!

[Amazon via TUAW]

 

Amazon now accepting iPhone and iPads in its Electronic Trade-In program is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog