That’s right, its baaaack! After a short hiatus, the Blue Plate Special is back! I will be tweaking the format a bit to hopefully bring you more applications more often. Some of the apps may be on sale and require immediate download for the low price and some posts may contain several apps. Get your phones, iPads and iPod touches ready and check back often for the best deals in the app store! Without further ado, let’s get to saving!
There are tons of options for everyone to get news and blog posts on a daily basis. Just look up RSS readers in any app store and you will find pages of solutions to gather just about any kind of post or story you are interested in. We will save hashing out which ones are the best for another day, but however you decide to do it, reading tons of stories is simple. When I discovered Squrl on my iPhone, it never dawned on me that the same could be done with videos. Squrl brings the day’s videos from around the web into one central location for easy discovery.
Squrl’s interest-based channel guide now unites in one place thousands of playlists and millions of videos from quality sources from sources like Hulu, CNN, ESPN, NASA, CNBC, Devour, Reddit, TMZ, TED, Tech Crunch, Vimeo, Pitchfork, Food Network, Funny or Die, IGN and many more.
Connect with your friends and see what they are watching and sharing via Facebook and Twitter. Squrl automatically creates channels of the videos posted to Facebook by your friends and shared on Twitter by those you follow.
With Squrl you can…
– Find the freshest videos from across your interests in Fresh
– Watch what’s popular and trending on Squrl in What’s Hot
– Queue up videos to watch later within the app, from your browser with the Squrl bookmarklet and via email
– Share videos with friends on Facebook, Twitter, email and within Squrl
– Search for videos across Squrl and YouTube
– Build and organize your own playlists and channels
– Lean back and use Squrl as a remote with Airplay and Apple TV
Squrl is a universal iOS app and while it works well to watch channels on the iPhone, the application really shines on the iPad. I think the developers did a great job of maximizing the screen real-estate while also making the app intuitive and attractive. The app helps create a unique experience by allowing users to choose categories of interest, such as Technology. Once that is chosen, there is a large list of providers to narrow your video searches. Basically creating customized channels for daily viewing. I found the iPad version to be much easier to customize and find extra material, but both versions are great. I even searched Gear Diary from the app and found a list of several videos that have been posted on our website. This can be a quick and easy way to watch some podcasts or daily video posts you enjoy and kind of cut out the middle man browsing to them or downloading.
If you are not sure what to look at and just want to browse some popular videos, go to the Fresh or What’s Hot sections and see lists of what other users have been enjoying. I particularly liked doing this with the comedy section. Quite entertaining. For those who like to tie in their social network experiences, Squrl also allows users to connect to Facebook and Twitter to share and find other videos. This is truly a unique way to get more media for your consumption. Get Squrl for free, here in the app store and get to watching!
What I like: Intuitive method to gather many types of fresh videos in one place.
What could be improved: I have seen a message that the service is down several times on my iPad.
Current App Bargains!
Reckless Racing HD
On Sale from $4.99 to $.99 through President’s Day
DESIGNED JUST FOR iPAD™! THE DIRT-ROAD RACING GAME YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR! Reckless Racing blends the finest top-down racer style with HD-quality graphics that are so stunning you’ll shout, “Oowee!” Skid, slip, and slide through down-and-dirty racetracks with precision iPad controls, and challenge friends in online multiplayer. Hold on tight and get ready to go. This here is Reckless Racing for iPad! Yeehaw!
Scrabble For iPad
On sale from $9.99 to $.99 through President’s Day
CONNECT AND PLAY WITH FRIENDS! Now it’s easier than ever to find friends playing SCRABBLE. Square off and play up to 25 games at once and sharpen your skills against challenging computer opponents. See why SCRABBLE is America’s Favorite Word Game!
Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars HD
On sale from $9.99 to $.99 through Monday, February 20.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars HD brings the most-critically acclaimed handheld title of this generation to the iPad with stunning 1024 X 768 HD graphics. With new control layouts optimized for the iPad, higher polygon-count models and all new lighting and effects, this is your chance to get behind the wheel of the best looking Chinatown Wars ever.