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!

Google Voice – @Alli_Flowers

When the apps started flowing for Google Voice, we couldn’t get enough of them. But the fervor died down, and we haven’t heard anything about them in a while, so I thought I’d revisit my most used of the Google Voice apps.

I’m a huge GV user, and use it primarily for my students. They can use my GV number as a homework help line, to answer bonus questions, or to call in speaking assignments. It’s been a life saver. On days like this when half the student body is involved in testing, and the other half is either home waiting for it to end, or being held in a classroom or the gym, it’s equally useful. All morning, my former students (who have passed the test already) text me to find out if testing is over so that they can come to school when classes actually start.

With the Google Voice app, I get push notifications of the text messages or calls and can quickly reply that no…we’re still holding and there’s still another hour left of testing. I love my Google Voice, and the Google Voice app makes it easy to use.

[Free - App Store link]

Noise Entertainment System – @sethclifford

If you grew up as a child of the 80s, you most likely have a soft spot in your heart for the classic video game systems of that time. And even if you didn’t play a lot of games, chances are you can hum some of the more famous video game music of the era, just from having been around brothers, sisters and friends who were obsessed. I was one of those kids – the obsessed ones – and as such, those chiptunes are indelibly etched in my psyche, providing warm, fuzzy feelings of nostalgic childhood joy when I hear them.

I’ve had game music file players on my Macs for years, but on iOS there’s just one you need to concern yourself with, and that’s Shaun Inman’s magnificent Noise Entertainment System. Shaun is an exceptional designer and developer with a penchant for classic 8-bit gaming, and has released some incredible games for iOS, most recently The Last Rocket. He knows the style so well that there isn’t a single pixel out of place in his apps, and his games feature original chiptune music, adding even more legitimacy to the classic feel.

NoiseES is an app for playing GBS, NSF and NSFe files, which are the music files (GameBoy, NES) extracted from the game ROMs themselves. The files load just like an mp3 playlist and tracks behave much like you would expect. You’ll have to do some poking around online to find the files, but they’re readily available, and a lot of fun once you get into it. Shaun even has a few links on his site page for NoiseES that can get you started! I’ve been listening to classic game music for well over a decade, and this app is one of the best ways to do it. Even better is that there are updates coming that will add some much-desired new functionality to the app that I am super excited about.

If you’re a fan of chiptune music and want to take it to go, you must get this app. For more information on game music, you can check this NSF Wikipedia Page, and this general page on game music as well.

[$1.99 - App Store link]

Official Rugby World Cup 2011 – @chrisoldroyd

You can’t avoid the Rugby Worlds Cup that is going on in New Zealand for the next few weeks. Unfortunately, well depending on where you live anyway, the kick off times are a little strange. Don’t worry, if you get the Official Rugby World Cup 2011 app for iPhone and iPad you will not miss a thing.

You can access the Match Center for live matches complete with live commentary, match statistics and even video highlights. The app also provides all the latest tournament news and a Rugby World Cup Daily video.

If you are lucky enough to be in New Zealand for the competition, the app will also give you information on the stadiums, locations and even seating plans and facilities. You can also find out what is going on around the area you’re in when the game is over.

This really is a very well put together app for the Rugby World Cup and it is even a universal binary!

[Free - App Store link]

GoodReader – @reneritchie

We’re working on a new, super-secret project here at TiPb HQ and so I’ve been receiving clandestine ZIP files via email containing [REDACTED] for us to plot and scheme over. Trouble is, iOS doesn’t open ZIP files (why, Apple? WHY?!) nor does the Dropbox iOS app (why, Dropbox? WHY?!). Luckily, GoodReader does (Yay!). So here’s what I’ve been doing.

1. Start playing MIssion Impossible theme
2. Launch Mail, find the ZIP attachment
3. Open the ZIP attachment in GoodReader
4. Scan through the [REDACTED].
5. If I want any in Dropbox, I just hit the Action button and tap Open In…
6. Fade music and walk off into the sunset

Sure it’s a bit convoluted and involved, and it would be nice if Apple or Dropbox just built this in, but GoodReader is a powerhouse in its own right and ZIP extraction is just the icing on the power cake. (Though sadly, it’s not a universal binary so you’ll have to buy it twice if you want it for both iPhone and iPad.)

Now excuse me while I get back to the super secret drawing board…

[$4.99 - iPhone App Store link - iPad App Store link]

UNO – @JBaby_9783

This week I can not stop playing UNO. I’ve played it off an on since it debuted on the App Store but a recent update has sucked me back in. The new improvements to the Online Multiplayer are fantastic! I’m finding myself logging in everyday so I can get my 10 free coins. The coins are used to purchase bonus and luck. You can get more coins by winning games and via in-app purchase in addition to the daily 10 coins Gameloft gives you. Being able to buy a chance of drawing Draw 2/4 cards or buying a chance to peak at another players hand just adds a little punch to an already fun game! The only criticism I have is Gameloft hasn’t updated UNO HD to this new Online Multiplayer mode.

If you love Uno give the latest update a try! And when you do, add me as friend so we can play together. I’m JBaby9783.

[$0.99 with in-app purchases - App Store 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 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!

Another week, another baddest ass Android phone on the market, and right now that’s the Samsung Galaxy S II — and Android Central has their full Sprint Galaxy II Epic 4G Touch review up for your reading pleasure. Now Sprint doesn’t have an iPhone (yet?) so if you’re on Medium Yellow and you need a phone this week then the Galaxy S II is hard to beat. If you’re on AT&T, however, you have a tougher decision to make — namely iPhone 4 today, or perhaps iPhone 5 next month vs. the AT&T Galaxy S II.

Since we don’t live in the future, however, if really you really need that phone today, which should you get?

Hardware

iPhone 4 is compact, with a 3.5 Retina Display (960×640 IPS LCD) screen, stainless steel antenna band, and glass on both sides. It’s as much object d’art as mobile device, and some 15 months later it’s still one of the best designed, best manufactured, best finished devices on the planet. The AT&T Galaxy S II isn’t the almost obscene behemoth that Sprint has released, but at 4.3 inches and 800×480 pixels of Super AMOLED Plus, it’s by no means small — though it’s considerably less than dense than iPhone or even some other Android devices. Even the plastic feels slightly better on the new generation of Galaxy. It’s still Hasbro, but it’s the higher-end Hasbro.

While iPhone 4 has a great 5 megapixel rear camera with nice, big, photon-friendly sensor that also shoots 720p video, the Galaxy S II will do 8mp with 1080p.

3G vs. 4G

iPhone 4 uses AT&T’s 3G network with support for 7.2mbps HSPA downloads. The Galaxy II S uses AT&T’s so-called 4G network with support for — what, 14.4mbps? — HSPA+ downloads. In real life, will you see a difference? Hey, insert AT&T network joke here.

Galaxy S II wins in a pinch, but it’s only by a pinch.

iOS vs. Android

While iOS 5 is just around the corner, we haven’t rounded that corner yet so we can only base this on the current version available, iOS 4.3. It’s well polished, highly functional, and addresses previously lacking features multitasking, folder organization, FaceTime video calls, personal hotspot, and other features. Check out our complete iOS 4 walkthrough for more.

The Galaxy S II is running Android Gingerbread 2.3.4. You also get TouchWiz on top of that, which might look litigiously iPhone like, and could be a plus or a minus depending on your tastes. Still, Gingerbread is powerful, flexible and begins to address issues of consistency and UI polish. See Android Central for more on Gingerbread

Both iOS and Android handle Google services very well, though Android has more of them, including Google Navigation. However, only iOS gets Apple software and services.

Apps vs. Apps

Apple still technically has more apps in the iPhone app store than Google does in the Android Market, but the truth is most of the types of apps you’re likely to want are available for both platforms.

iPhone apps tend to look better and provide a better user experience but Android apps tend to be able to do more and offer more options.

Accessories

iPhone 4 has been on the market approaching 15 months so there’s a ton of accessories available for it (just check out the TiPb Store for a taste of what’s available). Plus it ties into the massive iTunes and Apple ecosystems. Chances are you can find everything from the perfect case to peripherals that will check your blood or fly your toy helicopter.

Because Galaxy S II is so new and there are so many different Android phones, you can still find the basics but it will take a while for more accessories to show up and they’ll fade faster when the next big Android phones splashes down in a few weeks (keep and eye on the Android Central store to see what I mean. Then again, it works with Motorola’s laptop-style keyboard and screen terminal, which is very cool.

Conclusion

Here’s what TiPb had to say about iPhone 4 when it launched:

An impressive new design, amazing new display, key features like multitasking, and an attempt to mainstream video calls, along with hundreds of other little improvements combine together to make this a substantial upgrade and clearly the best iPhone ever. (Given the success of previous iPhones, that's no faint praise).

Here’s what Android Central had to say about the Galaxy S II:

Here’s the bottom line: The Galaxy S II is easily the fastest, thinnest and lightest Android smartphone you can get.

By now you’ve read our Epic 4G Touch review. (If not, go ahead. We’ll wait. … OK. Ready?) Much of what you read there stands for AT&T’s version. They both have the same 1.2GHz processor and 1GB (more or less) of RAM, and so they pretty much feel the same in our initial use.

So if you’re in the US and on AT&T, and you need a phone now, today, and are trying to decide between iPhone 4 and Galaxy S II, which should you get?

If you want the elegance of iOS and don’t want to fuss around, if you want it to just work, if you want the biggest choice possible of apps and accessories — as long as Apple approves them, if you want to stay in the iTunes ecosystem, and you want it wrapped up in what’s arguably still the most solid, most iconic hardware on the market, get an iPhone 4 and enjoy.

If you want the sheer power of Android and like to tinker, if you want the latest, greatest specs on the market — for the moment — if you want to be able to customize without having to hack your phone, and if you want a big phone with big functionality, get the Galaxy S II.

However, if you can wait, if October isn’t too far away for you, then hold off a few weeks. Apple just change the equation again with iPhone 5, and rumors of another Nexus are already in the wind.

If you need more help deciding, read TiPb‘s complete iPhone 4 review, compare it to Android Central‘s full Sprint Galaxy S II Epic 4G review and their AT&T Galaxy II S comparison, and if you have any questions, jump into our forums and ask away!

Here are the winners from our last few contests, including our Case-Mate Chrome Case giveaway for iPhone, Seidio Innocase for iPhone, iPhone Made Simple training videos [APPS]! If you didn’t win, don’t worry, we also have a bunch of great new contests under way, so check them out and enter now!

Case-Mate Chrome Case

• jguzman89

Seidio Innocase

• Trtgt99

iPhone Made Simple training videos

• ttaylor
• HankAZ
• kcroyaljosh
• Jimwestza

YouMail Subscription

• Tla6944
• CPMSBOSS
• Vyrenee

More chances to win!

These contests are still open, so hurry up and enter!

• Win one of three FREE Golla Bags for your iPhone!
• App Giveaway: The Cleveland Show Dance Off
• App Giveaway: iMovie for iPhone and iPad
• App Giveaway: Calculate the cost of gas with Cost2Drive for iPhone
• App Giveaway: Bop It! for iPad

If you won you will be receiving an email either from us or directly from the retailer/developer in the next few days. (If for some reason you don’t receive an email within 7-14 days — be sure to check your spam/junk folder just in case — you can email us at news@tipb.com and we’ll be sure to get you taken care of! Please be patient as some prizes may take longer than others to arrive. Congrats to all the winners, and if you didn’t win this time, we have lots of contests you can enter now, and more on their way!

Florian Mueller from FOSS Patents reports on Verizon’s filing of an amicus brief in the long going Apple vs. Samsung legal dispute, claiming any injunction would harm Verizon’s ability to deploy LTE, and no doubt otherwise decimate small children, candy, and puppy dogs:

This attempt by Verizon to interfere with Apple’s enforcement of intellectual property rights against Android in general and Samsung in particular is a declaration of war that may have far-reaching consequences in the U.S. market. I’m sure that Apple will view this move as a self-serving attempt to game the system in Android’s and Samsung’s favor, as another sign of Verizon being staunchly Android-aligned in exchange for market-distorting favors from Google, and as an attack on the intellectual property-centric business model of Apple and other innovators.

Apple gives them a shiny, best-selling box Verizon isn’t allowed to touch, Samsung gives them carte-blanche to swap out Google for Bing, install crapware, stamp logos everywhere, and otherwise control the experience to their user-hostile heart’s content. What’s so hard to understand?

Source: FOSS Patents

Friday Saturday Freebie time again, and since I’m doing the post again this week I get to pick some my favorite cases from the TiPb iPhone Accessory Store to give away FREE — and this time it’s the Galla Bags!!

I’ve always said that if Sarah Connor had an iPhone case, this would be it. It’s really the only case stylish and sturdy enough to survive Judgement Day with your precious iPhone or iPod touch intact. All you have to do to enter is:

1. Go to the TiPb Accessory Store’s Golla Bag page and choose just exactly the case you like best (there are a ton of options!)
2. Copy and paste the URL for your Golla of Choice into the official contest thread on our new iPod touch accessory forum (be sure to note which color you want, if there are several).
3. That’s it! What could be easier?!

We’ll be giving away 3 Golla Bags total so that’s 3 chances to win! Giveaway starts now and ends Monday at 12pm PDT. Ready… set… ENTER NOW!

Apple has announced that it will reset developers iTunes Match iCloud Libraries on Monday September 26.

This is a similar to lasts week’s announcement, where we saw Apple resetting developer's iOS 5 iCloud backups.

To continue to improve the overall quality and reliability of iTunes Match, it has become necessary to delete all current iCloud libraries.

All iCloud libraries will be deleted on Monday, September 26th at 9AM PDT. To prepare, please turn off iTunes Match on all of your computers and iOS devices. On your computer, choose Store > Turn off iTunes Match. On your iOS device, tap Settings > Music, then turn off iTunes Match.

The songs on your computer should not be affected. As always, please backup regularly and do not delete the music you add to iCloud from your computer.

Apple is probably resetting iCloud data in preparation for an early October launch of iOS 5. We should hopefully find out on October, which is the rumored date for the next iPhone launch event. However Apple has still not confirmed this date or even an event as of yet. Hopefully that will happen next week.

Google+ has been updated and brings many new improvements and changes including turning Huddle into Messenger. Another welcomed feature is the ability to +1 on comments.

Here’s the full list changes:

• Join Hangouts from the mobile app
• Huddle is now Messenger
• Send photos in Messenger
• +1 on comments
• Reliability improvements in Messenger
• Granular push notification settings
• Map view in profile for places you've lived
• Improved +mention support
• Share a post with individuals
• Improved public search for people
• Various bug and performance improvements

Google+ is available on the iPhone for free.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

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Rene, Georgia, and Seth talk iPhone 5 event on the horizon, which iPhone we’re getting on what carrier, ringbacks, iCloud beta getting wiped, and Netflix (and Qwikster) losing their minds. This is iPhone Live!

Hosts

Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)

Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb)

Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

Rogers just update you to the latest iPhone value pack, or figure out some other way to stick you with their ringbacks service, and you’re desperate to find out how to turn it off? They don’t want to make it easy — they want you to pay money for more Ringbacks — but after over an hour of waiting on 3 different customer service and tech support reps, I got the answer. Here it is:

1. From your Rogers iPhone, text 555 with the word OFF.
2. You’ll get an autoreponder with a link to http://rogers.com/ringbacksoff
3. Tap the link. You need to be on Rogers’ network (i.e. not Wi-Fi) to access this page!
4. Scroll down to the bottom and turn OFF both Ringbacks and Voice Greetings.
5. (Yes, Ringbacks are so annoying they require and additionally annoying Voice Greeting to beg the people who call you not to hang up while they’re annoyed by the Ringback.)

Rogers tried to get me to give Ringbacks a chance, saying if I loved the Beatles and my friends new I loved the Beatles, I could entertain them with a Beatles track while they waited for me to answer. I politely replied that the ringing-until-the-phone-is-answered interface was so common as to be off-putting when removed, and said I wanted to kill it just to watch it die.

(I’ve heard that’s been a very common request.)

The problem here is that Ringbacks are forced on others. They confuse parents and they could offend those trying to reach you (Seth swears if he hears Nickelback even one time when he calls me, he’s deleting me as a contact). If you like Ringbacks, more power to you. If you despise this latest attempt to add feature bloat to cell plans, just say no. Or text OFF. whatever works for you.

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward…)

Watch Me Change is an iPhone app for creating time lapse videos of your changing face, pregnancy, weight. Just snap a photo every day and Watch Me Change will turn those photos into a time lapse video with the tap of a button.

I wish I had this app when I was pregnant! I was planning to create a time lapse video of the growth of my belly, but I wasn’t consistent enough with it. If I had Watch Me Change, I would’ve been reminded on a daily basis and been able to quickly snap the pics with my phone.

With the touch of a button Watch Me Change Face takes those photos you have taken and mixes them into a short video that plays them sequentially, flashing each one for a very short period of time, making it look as though the faces are changing in real time. Watch face change videos right from your iPhone or upload them to social networking websites like YouTube or Facebook, sharing them with family members over the internet.

• Timed reminders to help you take pictures every day of the face you want to capture in motion with an integrated delay function if the time is not right
• Complete flexibility in taking the pictures of faces changing. There is no need to have your subject in the same place or wearing the same things every day – the overlay feature takes care of making your photos match up
• Full control over the final product, including removing specific images from the video or adjusting its length
• Tools to upload your video to social networking sites with a simple click

Watch Me Change, Watch Me Change Pregnancy, and Watch Me Change Weight Watch are available on the iPhone for $0.99. The Pregnancy version will include how many weeks pregnant you are and the Weight Watch version will show your weight scrolling down in the video.

[Watch Me Change App Store link] [Watch Me Change Pregnancy - App Store link] [Watch Me Change Weight Watch - App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.