More free apps from the App Store – August 22, 2008

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had to cut back on the amount of apps I sync to my iPhone. It’s getting a little painful to have all these pages full of apps. But when there are all these great ones coming out, what’s a guy to do? I’m thinking Apple will have to come up with a better way to organize the home screen. Maybe we could have two dimensions of pages to swipe through? How about just one big page that you can scroll and zoom? Perhaps a folder structure to pages? I really don’t know what the best answer is, but I’d like to see some improvements to app management. That said, here’s this week’s list to help solidify that there really is a problem in the first place.

GPS Tracker – Here’s a free app to record and broadcast your location. Currently, it only works on iPhone 3G, but support for the original iPhone is in the works, though it won’t be as accurate. After signing up for an account on their website, you can broadcast your location to the web, and even embed a map on your own website. Location is updated every five seconds, and they say you can expect battery life of about five hours. Pretty nifty.

Mr. Trivia Lite – Here’s the slimmed down version of the regular trivia question game that boasts over 500 questions. This version has a little over 80 questions, and some other corners cut, but it’s enough to get your feet wet in this 50s style game show trivia game. You can even win some real faux prizes; what more could you ask for?

1337pwn XBOX Live Friends Application – Okay, if you’re still here after a name like that, chances are you have an Xbox 360 and a Live subscription. First it was $8, then it was $5, and now it’s on this list, so you can guess how much this guy costs. All the info you need is at your fingertips. Gamer pictures, online status, gamerscore, last game played, and other info is kept up to date automatically. You can do just about everything that you would want to do with this app. Give it a try, Microsoft freed the Xbox Live iPhone apps, so there’s no money involved.

Epocrates Rx – An app for healthcare professionals to have drug information readily available. It has a database of 3,300 drugs with detailed information about all of them. Also, each drug has a picture, so you can make sure which one you are reading about. If you’re not in the healthcare field, you can still check out the info about any prescriptions you may have.

Dual Level – So you don’t want to use Labyrinth’s calibration utility to hang pictures, but you still want to use your iPhone as a level? Good, because that’s what this program does. Horizontal and Vertical levels both in one package so you can start levelling up right away.

Audi A4 Driving Challenge – Become the driver of an Audi A4 for free! It’s a top down driving game. Control the car with accelerometers, though it’s not as easy as it might seem. You may find yourself losing orientation often since the camera stays focused on the car without turning. I think this game would be a lot more fun with a camera that turns, but hey, that’s what updates are for.

Newton’s Cradle – Play with gravity and some shiny balls. I’m sure you’ve seen this as an ornament on the desk of your high school physics teacher. And you just can’t help but play with it when you get the chance. Now you can have that chance any time you please. It even obeys gravity, just like we are all forced into doing.

Fat-Free Video Poker (free) – I personally don’t think it’s fat-free, it’s got ads after all. But the ads pay the bills so you don’t have to. Play some video poker on a game that has “Huge progressive payouts!” But be warned, this title is for ages 12+ because of the “frequent/intense simulated gambling.” You’ve been warned, so if you lose your paycheck to your iPhone playing video poker, it was completely your fault.

Wikipanion – I’ve asked for it in the past, and here’s as close as it gets right now. Wikipedia in your pocket, formatted to fit your device’s screen. It’s designed so everything about Wikipedia is easier to do: searching, navigating, and reading. While the app doesn’t save Wikipedia info to your iPhone or iPod Touch, it does claim to load that data faster than Safari can. So, it’s not the whole Wikipedia in your pocket without an internet connection, but it’s the best deal out there right now.