Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week’s selections includes a way to monitor your electricity usage, an app that helps you learn some awesome blues licks on the guitar, a godsend for regular air travelers, an app and service for listening to your favorite music, and a beautiful way to read articles on the web.

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

Meter Readings – Chris Oldroyd

This week's pick is a little utility that helps me monitor and manage my electricity usage. I have just received this quarters bill and as usual it was a shock to see how much I am paying for electricity. With this app I can now log my meter readings as often as I like and see what I am spending and how it changes during the year.

The app makes it easy to monitor your homes utility meters including water, electricity and gas; if you have it. Once you start logging your readings, you can view usage costs etc. in highly visible graphs. If you are in the UK like I am, an added feature is the comparison check. This allows you to see if you can get a better deal and what savings you can make by switching suppliers. You can even make the switch from the app!

$0.99 – Download Now

Blues Licks Lessons from Guitar Jamz – Gary Mazo

I've written before on iMore how I have used my iPad – pretty much exclusively – to teach myself how to play the guitar. This was a new hobby I started back in November, which has now turned into more than that.

I'm continually looking for ways to improve, things to learn and tips and tricks for my guitar.

There is a plethora of stuff in the App Store for guitar lovers; tuners, chord charts and apps, sheet music, simulators and more.

Guitar Jamz has been my go to site for watching the guitar guru – Marty Schwartz – teach me quickly and easily how to play some of my favorite songs. This week I was ready for more – I was ready to progress into the acoustic guitar blues.

Blues Licks is divided into five sections; Licks Lessons, Blues Chords, Blues Scales, Guitar Licks and a Blues Guitar Manual. I progressed through each of the lessons and slowly, I am getting the hang of the blues.

This app is great for learning those quick little licks that make you look like you really know how to play cool stuff on the guitar!

Free – Download Now

WorldMate – SimonSage

WorldMate launched for the iPad this week, and having spent my fair share of time in airports, I can safely say it will be a godsend to regular travelers. WorldMate can scan your incoming flight confirmation e-mails to automatically populate your travel itinerary. WorldMate includes a full suite of useful travel tools, including mobile hotel booking, a currency calculator, local weather forecasts, restaurant search. The app is optimized for the new iPad’s Retina display, and can stay synced with your iPhone at the same time.

TripIt offers similar functionality, but there’s something about the WorldMate style that I always preferred. The one downside to WorldMate is that most of the sidebar options pops open a window that’s pretty much the iPhone app, rather than making use of the big display with full panes on the right. At least the trip itineraries are well-formatted.

The core app is free, but to celebrate the launch on iPad this week, they’re slashing the price of the ad-less Gold version from $9.99 to $2.99. Definitely worth it.

Free – Download Now

Spotify for iPad – Ally

I’ve been using Spotify for about a month now and while I have found it to be a great service it left out iPad. Now that Spotify has released their iPad app I feel like it’s the type of service I can actually use on a regular basis. The apps still need some work to compete with the likes of Slacker and Pandora but the Mac app is really what got me hooked.

The integrated social networking is a feature users will either love or hate. I personally don’t mind it and have found it to be useful as I’ve found a lot of great music through my Facebook friends. The iPad app allows me to now stream to all my devices. I’d still like to see Spotify integrate some of their Mac and PC app features into the mobile apps but it’s a good start. I think adding the ability to view stations and popular playlists would really complete the apps. But for my personal needs, I do fine creating playlists and starring tracks and listening to them on the go. If you haven’t checked out Spotify, make sure you do and let us know what you think.

Free – Download Now

Pocket – Leanna Lofte

I am way late to the game when it comes to “read later” services and completely regret that. Since picking up Pocket (formerly Read It Later), I’ve become hooked. The app gorgeous and being able to save articles that I find anywhere, be it Twitter, Facebook, some random website, or my RSS feed. I’m even using Pocket as a way to bookmark my favorite articles that I think I’ll want to revisit, like tutorials.

Here’s another weird purpose I’ve found with Pocket. I have extremely sensitive eyes. I can’t go out in daylight with sunglasses — I get a headache and squint all day. Anyway, part of that sensitivity carries over to light-on-dark themes. I don’t care how great the article is, if the background is dark and the text is white or very light in color, I won’t read it. My eyes scream in pain and my brain starts to sting. But now I just send these articles to Pocket and read them there! It’s awesome.

Free – Download Now

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it’s your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

i Learn With – Planet Boing! HD is part of a series of iPad apps that combine learning with fun for toddlers and young children. This particular app in the series is great for the younger players and is the central zone for both parents and kids with a free-play environment filled with lots of bright colors, music, and interactivity.

Before jumping into the fun, bouncy, colorful world, you can customize your character’s look. This includes the shape of the torso, head, feet, hands, ears, and more, as well as his or her color. You can also roll the dice for a random customization.

When making customizations, you’ll discover some that aren’t available. If you tap it, a window will popup tell you how to unlock the item. This typically must be done by completing levels in other apps. This is a great way to motivate your child to play these learning games, but it can also get annoying for the younger kids who don’t understand why the window popped up or what it says.

The main part of this app is Planet Boing, the fun world where you take your character to bounce around and gather bubbles that release things like music, shapes, characters, colors, and more. You can drag your character around the world with your finger or flick the character and watch him or her fly and bounce around.

In addition to interacting with your character in Planet Boing, you can also interact with different elements in the world, like trees and flowers, by tapping on them. You can also add more bubbles to the screen by tapping on the magic chest.

One of the fun elements of Planet Boing, is that if you have the new iPad or an iPad 2, you can use the front-facing camera to bring the fun to your world. My daughter thinks this is just hilarious.

In the Parents Center, you can see how your child is progressing in the other “i Learn with” apps and see recommendations of which apps you should get next. (Must register for a free account). These other apps are only $0.99 each and offer a lot of fun, educational content. I’ll briefly share some features of i Learn With Boing: Ice Land Adventures! with you.

i Learn With Boing: Ice Land Adventures!

i Learn With Boing: Ice Land Adventures! has three main mini-games: Letters, Phonics, and Words.

In the Letters game, you have to pick the polar bear that’s holding the letter shown at the bottom of the slide and guide him down the slide to help him collect all the ice cream balls.

In the Phonics game, you are given a sound, like “ma”, and one letter of that sound. It’s your job to fling your letter at the penguin that has the other letter on his hat. For example, if you are given the letter “a” and the sound “ma”, your goal is to use the slingshot to hit a penguin with the “m_” on his hat.

In the Words game, you are given a word with a blank spot above each letter of the word. This word is actually on the back of a whale, and there are seals swimming in the water with a letter on each of their hats. It’s your job to drag the penguins to their corresponding spots on the whale. When you get it right, the whale jumps up in excitement.

The Good

• Colorful
• Musical
• Fun
• Parents section is helpful for tracking kid’s learning

The Bad

• Too much nagging to register and download other apps
• The location of the register button on the home screen is in the same location as the home button on the other screens. Young children like to push buttons over and over again, and my daughter hits the home button several times to go back to the home screen, but ends up at the register screen and gets frustrated.

The Conclusion

At only 20 months old, my daughter really loves this app. It may seem boring to the average adult, but for a young toddler, bouncing characters around on the screen and seeing bursts of color and shapes provides endless entertainment. She’s still a little to young for the educational apps in the series, but I’m sure she will love them once she gets a little older, especially since she’s already familiar with the characters.

i Learn With – Planet Boing!, Free – Download Now

i Learn With Boing: Ice Land Adventures!, $0.99 – Download Now

According to P.T. Barnum, no one ever went broke overestimating the stupidity of the American public. Sprint CEO, Dan Hesse, however, is going to lose $3.5 million for underestimating the stupidity of his shareholders. This, after Sprint was rumored to have broken their piggy bank wide open by agreeing to buy 30.5 million iPhones from Apple for a whopping $15 billion over the next four years.

Shareholders are upset because the iPhone is expensive — upwards of $200 more than competing smartphones from other vendors. The problem Sprint faced, however, is that not as many people wanted those cheaper competing phones. They wanted the iPhone. No other single phone in the industry sells as well or increases customer retention as much as the iPhone. Sprint waited as long as they could, almost a year longer than Verizon, and through all sorts of webOS and Android devices at their customers, and they just couldn’t fill the iPhone void. So they made the deal with Apple. Since then Sprint sold 1.8 million iPhones and added 5 million net new customers in Q4 2011, and they sold 1.5 million iPhones, 44% of which went to new customers, in Q1 2012. Yes, the upfront cost of subsidizing the handsets have hurt short term profits, but it could be worse. They could be T-Mobile, who places the blame for their slump squarely on not having the iPhone.

Given how much of AT&T and Verizon’s sales last quarter consisted of the iPhone, it be interesting to see what the brain trust behind Sprint’s shareholder discontent thinks Dan Hesse should have done instead. Invested the money in a time machine so he could take them back to a pre-2007 smartphone world?

Still, executive compensation being tied to actual performance is never a bad thing and if Dan Hesse is reducing his incentives in the face of Sprint losses, that’s a great gesture to the company in general, never mind the iPhone complainers.

“These voluntary actions regarding my personal compensation, which total $3,250,830, will eliminate any benefit for me to the discretionary adjustment the compensation committee made earlier this year,” Hesse said in a letter to the company’s human resources department.

So basically, Hesse’s 2012 incentives are now back down to 2010 levels. He’ll still be making more money than most of our towns, Apple will still be making more money than many of our nations, and Sprint’s investors will still be making more complaints than a 3 year when the toy store closes.

No word on who’s getting their pay docked or hand slapped for wasting years on WiMax before finally turning towards LTE a year late and billions short. Obviously that’s no where near as bad as getting the best selling phone in the U.S. on your network…

Source: Reuters

Once again proving the velocity of jailbreak, no sooner did Daniel Hooper’s concept video for an overhauled, gesture-based, keyboard-board iPad text editing update get reported, but it’s now been coded up by Kyle Howells as SwipeSelection.

Hooper’s concept involved a combination of single and double finger gestures and a Shift key modifier to make text selection faster when doing heavy duty editing. SwipeSelection implements that functionality for both iPad and iPhone. iDownloadBlog‘s Jeff Benjamin gave it a test drive and liked the way it handled.

It works extremely well, so much so, that I was totally used to it within minutes. SwipeSelection feels incredibly native, and perfectly natural. [..] I've tried SwipeSelection on my iPhone, and it works there as well! The only issue is that there isn't a shift key on the right side of the keyboard like there is on the iPad, so selecting text works better from left to right instead of from right to left. The single finger, and two finger drags work exactly like they do on the iPad, which makes text editing so much more intuitive.

Given Apple’s history of adopting ideas that were first implemented by the jailbreak community, and hiring jailbreak developers, there has been some speculation that Hooper and/or his text editing concept could be next.

I’m still not convinced Apple would do anything to divide the text editing experience into distinct keyboard and keyboard-less mode, though a higher level gesture “keyboard shortcut” mode for expert users could be interesting. (Bluetooth keyboard implementation is not a precedent since your hands are physically removed from the multitouch display when using a keyboard and base functionality has to be remapped to match the different input mode.)

The most important thing here is that text editing on iOS has gotten some much-needed attention. Apple took 3 years to introduce text editing into iOS, and while they’ve been adding options to their popup ever since, they have improved the basic mechanics at all. Coming up with a better, finer grained text selection system across iOS, regardless of keyboard state, would be yet another excellent improvement for iOS 6.

Source: iDownloadBlog

An iPhone 4 that began smoking and glowing on a passenger flight has been found to have been badly repaired. Thankfully, when the incident took place, the plane had already landed at Sydney airport and airline staff managed to deal with the alarming discovery. The ATSB (Australian Transport Safety Bureau) has now carried out a full investigation and discovered that the iPhone 4 had been tampered with.

The technical examinations found that a small metal screw had been misplaced in the battery bay of the mobile telephone; the screw puncturing the battery casing and causing an internal short circuit leading to heating and thermal runaway. It was probable that the screw had been misplaced during an earlier repair carried out on the telephone. That repair had not been conducted by an authorised service provider.

This was a very small incident however it could have turned into something much worse. The CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) recommends that devices like this should always be carried in the cabin and never stored in the checked-in baggage.

Source: ATSB

Found an interesting article you want to share with iMore? Have a burning question about that feature you just can’t figure out? There is ALWAYS more happening just a click away in the forums. You can always head over and join in the conversation, search for answers, or lend your expertise to other members of our community. You check out some of the threads below:

• Should iOS get Windows Phone-style Live Tiles?
• iPhone 4S vs new iPad: Which should I buy?
• Where are the iCloud-enabled Apps?
• Thinking of jumping ship from iPhone 4S to Motorola RAZR MAXX
• Star Wars day wallpapers
• The ladies of the Avengers wallpapers [May be NSFW]

If you’re not already a member of the iMore Forums, register now!

The Ness is a both a gorgeous and effective way to find places to eat near you

The Ness Dining Guide for iPhone is a gorgeous way to discover restaurants and cafes that you’ll like. The Ness will make recommendations based on the ratings you’ve given to various places. You can also read reviews, add reviews of your own, and browse photos from Instagram that are matched with the places in Ness.

The first time you launch Ness, you will be asked to rate a bunch of places near you. You must give 4 or 5 stars to at least 10 locations before Ness has enough information to start giving recommendations.

The search screen is the main screen on Ness — and boy is it beautiful! It features six pages, each with six categories. Each category is represented by a tall, gorgeous, and vibrant mouthwatering photo. You can tap on a category or type into the search bar in the center. The results page uses the photo for that category in the background and has the results overlaid on top of it. Each result shows its star rating and how far away it is from you.

Tapping on the place is where you’ll find more information like contact info, your rating, reviews of “what’s good” and “what’s bad”, how many times it’s been mentioned on Facebook or Twitter, and a photo gallery of photos from Instagram that are matched with the place.

From the side panel, you can refine your personalization by rating more places, check out where your friends are going from the newsfeed, edit your profile, add friends, and look up your saved places. Unfortunately, The Ness doesn’t let you connect with Twitter, so you can only add friends from Facebook, or via text message or email.

The Good

• Gorgeous, mouthwatering photography
• Makes recommends based on what you do and don’t like
• Share favorite locations with friends
• Views photos from Instagram that are matched with the places on Ness
• The more you use it, the smarter it gets
• Connect with Facebook and Foursquare

The Bad

• Can’t connect with Twitter

The Conclusion

You’re probably sick of me saying it, but The Ness is beautiful! With these types of apps, the experience improves as more users jump on board, so please, pick this one up!

Free – Download Now

iPad 3 accessories — or new iPad accessories if you don’t mind the ambiguity — are now plentifully available via the iMore iPad 3 Accessory Store. There’s a lot of great cases, cables, screen protectors, stylus, chargers, keyboards, and Bluetooth headsets to choose from and we’ve got some highlight for you immediately below!

iPad 3 cases

That gorgeous new Retina display screen? Yeah, you’re going to want to protect it. Nothing ruins a new iPad more than hideous scratch you can never stop seeing. Even the aluminum backing is worth protecting. You spent hundreds of dollars on your new iPad — keep that investment safe!

Incipio Smart feather Ultralight Hard Shell Case for The new iPad

Feather is made of an ultra light, ultra strong polymer for light as a feather, form-fitting durable protection without the added bulk. Feather features a soft touch matte finish. Feather by Incipio is so thin that it allows the The new iPad to be used with many of the docks on the market. There’s over a dozen colors to choose from, so get an Incipio Smart feather Ultralight Hard Shell Case and make your new iPad your own!

• Shop Incipio Smart feather Ultralight Hard Shell Case for The new iPad now!

Seidio ACTIVE Case for The new iPad

Created for those that have and want to maintain their active lifestyle, the ACTIVE case provides great shock absorption while adding minimal bulk to your The new iPad. This two-layer case features a compact and lightweight rubber polymer with a precisely positioned hard skeleton for added protection on the corners and sides. Additionally, the multi-purpose protective cover can be placed over the screen to protect your device during transit and can be easily removed and used as a stand to prop up your new iPad.

• Shop Seidio ACTIVE Case for The new iPad

OtterBox Defender Series Case for The new iPad

Developed with your active lifestyle in mind, the new iPad Defender Series case employs multi-layer technology combined with high-quality materials to create the most solid protective solution. The integrated shield stand acts as a protective cover on the front or the back and doubles as a stand for typing or viewing. Magnets on the shield stand activate the device’s sleep mode when the cover is snapped on the front of the screen. The shield stand also allows for viewing in landscape and portrait mode.

• Shop OtterBox Defender Series Case for The new iPad

BodyGuardz ScreenGuardz HD for The new iPad

ScreenGuardz is the perfect The new iPad screen protector. It provides unmatched screen protection without changing the look and feel of your The new iPad. ScreenGuardz is designed to custom fit the The new iPad. These invisible protectors are made of an ultra-slim polymer and shield your screen from abrasive elements such as keys and dust. ScreenGuardz is the ideal accessory to go along with your The new iPad case, cover or protector.

• Shop BodyGuardz ScreenGuardz HD for The new iPad

iPad 3 stylus

While Apple downplays the need for a stylus, anyone whose used a hand-written note-taking app, drawing or art app, or many types of games knows it has value. With a stylus you get precision and articulation, and you get your hand out of your way. Once you go stylus, you don’t go back.

SGP kuel H12 Stylus Pen for The new iPad

The SGP kuel H12 Stylus Pen is specifically designed and optimized for use with capacitive touch screens. The tip of the H12 Stylus Pen is made with a special silicone featuring a high polymer abrasion-resistant coating that offers a smooth touch and incredible abrasion resistance. The body of the H12 Stylus Pen is made with a plated brass to offer light weight and a smooth grip.

• Shop SGP kuel H12 Stylus Pen for The new iPad

Wacom Bamboo Stylus for The new iPad

A premium digital pen for the The new iPad, Bamboo Stylus delivers a high-end look and natural weighted feel of a real pen, to give you capabilities for drawing, sketching and note taking on your device.

• Shop Wacom Bamboo Stylus for The new iPad

iPad 3 Bluetooth keyboards

The iPad’s virtual keyboard is great for light typing and editing but if you need to pound out a large amount of text, you’re going to want a real, laptop-style keyboard. Luckily, the iPad pairs easily with Bluetooth so you can get the power of a keyboard when you need it, and easily stow and carry it when you don’t.

Qmadix Portfolio with Removable Bluetooth Keyboard for The new iPad

The Qmadix Portfolio with Removable Bluetooth Keyboard is the ultimate companion for the new iPad or iPad 2. The portfolio features a removable Bluetooth keyboard that seamlessly connects for quicker, more comfortable typing. The Portfolio offers a unique design element that allows you to position the new iPad or iPad 2 in an ideal viewing position while using the Bluetooth keyboard. Designed for the professional on the go, the Qmadix Portfolio offers stylish protection as well as an increased level of functionality that other carry solutions simply don’t provide.

• Shop Qmadix Portfolio with Removable Bluetooth Keyboard for The new iPad

iPad 3 chargers

The new iPad has a new battery. It’s big. It has to be to power that screen! But that also means that, while it still gets 10 hours of batter life, it takes even longer to re-charge when its done. You don’t have to plug it in more often, but you do have to keep it plugged in longer. That makes convenience key.

Griffin 3 Meter USB to Dock Cable for The new iPad

The Griffin 3 Meter USB to Dock Cable is almost 10 feet long and built with heavy-duty 20-gauge conductors to handle the 2.1 amp power needs of your The new iPad. Connect this cable to your computer’s USB port to sync your The new iPad; or to any 2 amp USB power source.

• Shop Griffin 3 Meter USB to Dock Cable for The new iPad

Belkin Swivel Charger 2.1 AMP for The new iPad

Charge your new iPad even in crowded outlets with this compact charger that rotates for ease of use. Folding prongs make it simple to stick in a bag for charging on the go. The included 4-foot ChargeSync cable lets you connect to your desktop or laptop computer too.

• Shop Belkin Swivel Charger 2.1 AMP for The new iPad