StoryCorps is a terrific nonprofit organization dedicated to recording, sharing, and preserving stories told by friends and family members. If you listen to NPR’s Morning Edition, you’ve almost certainly heard some clips. The StoryCorps app for iPhone lets you listen to some of these stories, then learn how to record and share interviews of your …

Know what I just realized? I’m on game overload. There are too many great games for the iPhone and iPod Touch and not nearly enough hours in the day. In fact, I’m concerned about the platform’s effect on national productivity. I can’t prove it, but I think Apple is responsible for lowering the country’s GDP. Thankfully, I was able to …

Remember the Novophone, that nifty retro handset that plugs into your iPhone for old-school, crook-of-the-neck gab-fests? It was cool, but it was only half the picture. The iRetrofone completes it, combining a similar corded handset with a big, black, 50s-style base. It looks like something right out of a Humphrey Bogart movie, one with private eyes, dangerous dames, and a …

Microsoft isn’t known for giving away software, but right now you can download the Top 100s by Year by Bing app free of charge. (Catchy name, huh?) The app streams the top 100 songs of every year from 1947 to 2009. That’s 62 years, for a grand total of 6,200 songs. Whose top 100? Not Billboard’s, as you might expect. …

If it looks like a newspaper and reads like a newspaper, it must be a newspaper, right? Actually, The Early Edition serves up RSS feeds. Beautifully. Rick Broida When people ask me how I like my new iPad and what I’m using it for, I answer as follows: “I like it, and I’m using it mostly for reading.” Not books–I …

I’ve now been an iPad owner for exactly four hours. First impressions? It’s heavier than I thought, and I’m furious with iTunes for hanging–repeatedly–during my initial sync attempts. (Weird workaround: After successfully syncing my iPhone, the iPad started syncing normally.) Newspaper apps? Fantastic. JamPad? Dazzling. Netflix? I think a tear escaped my eye. But you know which app I’ll probably …

This shouldn’t come as news to anyone, but the older your iPhone or iPod gets, the worse its battery performs. Don’t blame Apple: it’s just the nature of rechargeable batteries. OK, you can blame Apple for one thing: You can’t just swap in a new battery–not without some warranty-voiding surgery. However,  you can plug in external power, which is cheap, …

The newly updated Avatar game brings Na’vi action to your iPad in glorious HD. Gameloft My iPad arrives tomorrow. (Woo!) Thanks to everyone who shared their suggestions for what apps I should install first. Of course, as eager as I am to check out popular stuff like iBooks, Netflix, and The Elements, I’m even more eager to test the iPad’s …

This is what wireless iPhone syncing looks like: Too bad you probably won’t get to enjoy it. Earlier this month, just ahead of Apple’s iPhone OS 4 announcement, I posted a poll asking what new feature you wanted the most. Though multitasking was the clear winner with 36 percent of the vote, nearly 10 percent of voters named “syncing over …

Believe it or not, my stomach is looking forward to the arrival of my iPad (hurry up, UPS!) just as much as my brain. That’s because I can envision the tablet on my kitchen counter (sitting upright in a dirt-cheap stand, of course), serving up page after page of delicious recipes, each with tantalizing photos and large, easy-to-read text. In …