Productivity

GateGuru

It comes as no surprise that GateGuru by Mobility Apps LLC is one of the top rated apps for the iPhone and Android. Pertinent information like airport amenities, push notifications and data about flight is within your reach. GateGuru has four modules namely Airports, High Flyers, Account and Trips. Most of the time you will be at the airport section. Its coverage is extensive; you can search the entire list, by city, airport code or location. Favorite amenities and airports can be bookmarked. You can even track your flights in real time.

Offline Gmail

Offline Gmail by Google gives you access to your mail even without an Internet connection. At first this seems unnecessary; aren’t we always online with desktop computers, laptops, smartphones and Wi-Fi hotspots? Actually, it is necessary. Web connections are plentiful in the US and many other countries. But what if you’re traveling to a place or country where Web access is choppy?

Cobook

Cobook is an app that enhances your Mac Address Book. Basically what it does is make the information more accessible. With Cobook, the information is linked to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. It is a totally enhanced, more powerful version of the Mac Address Book. You get more images and details as well.

iHandy Level Free

iHandysoft is known for making a lot of useful apps for the iOS and Android, and iHandy Level Free is one of them. This nifty app turns your device into an alignment tool. This spirit level app has no fancy features, but it does the job right. IHandy Level can be used for a variety of household tasks like roof pitch calculations. It can also be used to measure walls, furniture, decors and take various angles. Students can rely on this to perform assorted measurements. Because iHandy Level uses the iPhone’s accelerometer, the results are spot-on. In fact the app can be used for measuring vehicle inclination.

Foursquare

Foursquare is an app that lets you record the places you’ve been to and share them with friends. Developed by Foursquare Labs, you will also get recommendations based on the places you and your friends have been to. The app is not just a basic travel companion. It’s a tool for finding promos and sales close by. For the budget traveler, this can be a real lifesaver. Foursquare’s interface is simple enough that new users will have no problems learning. Clear explanations are given as to why they point to a particular recommendation.

UberSocial

UberSocial for Twitter has been called the Swiss Army Knife of Twitter apps. This nifty little software from Ubermedia, Inc allows you to create a "favorite users" list. You will never miss a tweet from your friends again. For those who get a lot of tweets, this feature will save time scrolling through hundreds of messages. But the app has many other features. You can mute users or hashtags for a specific period (or permanently). Menus can be customized so only the most used items appear. Facebook users will be glad to know that they can post Tweets there.

Feedreader

There are a lot of RSS feed clients, and it can be hard for an app to stand out. Feedreader fortunately has features that make it simple to follow news. It will notify you when articles come out. The interface is easy to work with too. You can change views with one mouse click. Feedreader has a useful search feature to find keywords. It also has folders that will organize news. The pop-up notifier ensures you are always on top of the news. As an RSS client, it works pretty well. The program uses a three pane to display news contents. All the news items are available for offline viewing. You can set up the program to remove old news.

Pepperplate Cooking Planner

The Internet is home to millions of recipes. But it’s a pain to save each one and print them out. Pepperplate Cooking Planner allows you to make an electronic cookbook. Created by Pepperplate Inc, it helps you arrange recipes. The app is like a complete meal planner. The app can link to several recipe websites. You can create an account on their website so all the recipes are synchronized. IPad users can attach tags to recipes, useful when your collection grows. There are a lot of features in the app. But you can think of it as a meal planner, food shopping guide and recipe organizer. Pepperplate Cooking Planner makes it easy to sort and search recipes you made.

PeaZip

PeaZip is a powerful but easy to use open source archiving tool. There are many free compression utilities out there, but few are as robust as this one. In many ways, it is more powerful than some paid archive apps. The program is user friendly. Thanks to its drag and drop support, a user just has to drag a zip file on the interface and it will be decompressed. The archiving screen pops open when you drop a file there. All the basic functions are labeled clearly so new users will have no trouble using the program. File browse tools and function buttons make it a snap to add folders and files.